AdWords Help Page - Before

AdWords Help Page - After

What Does it All Mean?

Attached to your display URL, somewhere in Google’s system, is a historical CTR. It’s kind of a strange fact when you take into consideration that an entire ad is what gets clicked, not a display URL – that’s just one factor – but AdWords does assign CTRs to display URLs. This means if you had poorly performing ads in the past that had the same display URL, and you start up a new ad with the same display URL, the quality of that new ad will be negatively affected because of the other ads’ poor performance history. Maybe those ads didn’t perform poorly because of their display URL but because of their descriptive text? Doesn’t matter.

It’s hard to imagine this factor having heavy weighting. I don’t think I’d go out of my way to change a display URL because some of my other ads had poor performance. But for those of you who are absolutely scrupulous about covering every base, you might consider it.

The reason AdWords might consider display URLs is to detect if search engine users are avoiding (or are attracted to) a certain site. Of course, if Google users were avoiding a site, it’d seem that the ad would suffer anyways from a poor clickthrough rate and that the account on a whole would suffer because of poor CTRs. If the display URL factor was an important one, you might imagine a couple scenarios where it’d really make a difference:

1. Accounts containing multiple domains (this isn’t typically done unless the sites are highly related anyways, and I think Google discourages it).
2. Sites that have good natural listings. If you’ve already visited a site’s natural listing, you might avoid its paid listing because you’ve already seen what they’re offering.

Since you really don’t see the individual factors that contribute to overall quality scores, I’m just going to say - cheers, here’s to a little more Google mystery.

I rattled off a few, and started Googling for a list, figuring this had to be documented already. But I didn’t spot anything immediately. So here’s my first stab at a list of technology organizations in Michigan (particularly southeast Michigan), and please add comments with additional resources. I look forward to hearing about your favorite technology networking groups!

Networking “Groups” for Technology Entrepreneurs

• Digital Edge - Connecting Michigan’s Digital Entrepreneurs With a World of Resources (with some emphasis on those seeking capital)
• Michigan Innovators - A video blog of Michigan companies in the Global Innovation Economy, with real-world events in the making
• SPARK - Promotes the economic development of innovation-based businesses in the Ann Arbor region by offering programs, great resources, and more
• MSBTDC - Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center - Although not limited to technology, they have been a huge resource for us, so this list wouldn’t be complete without them!
• New Enterprise Forum - Also not exclusively focused on technology, but a place where you’ll find technology companies making their pitch for investment

Networking “Groups” for Technologists (and friends)

• A2B3 - Possibly THE networking event for job seekers and posters in technology in Ann Arbor, even though (or perhaps because) it’s one of the most informal
• Open Coffee Networking Group a group organized by SPARK for entrepreneurs to network in an informal environment (over coffee once a month in a morning), again not limited to technology, but given Ann Arbor’s environment, it includes several technology types

Niche Technology-ish Groups You Might Find PV’ers and Friends at:

• Southeast Michigan Ruby Users Group - a gathering of local Ruby enthusiasts
• Ann Arbor Drupal Users Group - a monthly meeting for the proficient and just curious about Drupal, an open source content management system
• Web Analytics Wednesday (looks like there’s not a current event scheduled, but should be soon)
• Michigan Usability Professionals Association chapter meetings - a group of user experience design, usability, and information architecture folks, meets almost monthly. Current officers include PV’s very own User Experiologist Mike Beasley and our Director of Happiness, Dunrie Greiling
• Agile Groupies - an informal networking group for those practicing and those interested in agile methods
• Refresh-Detroit - monthly forum for web professionals promoting standards, usability, and accessibility in the Ann Arbor/SE Michigan area

Annual Technology-ish Events

• Annual Collaboration for Entrepreneurship - an annual event celebrating and promoting innovative technology commercialization and development opportunities in Michigan
• Internet User Experience - an annual conference highlighting methods to improve website user experience, 5th annual event will occur winter 2009
• Startup Weekend - coming to Ann Arbor in June, 2008
• ArbCamp - an unconference social media event (our writeup of the last one) - next time and location TBD
• Agile Coach Camp an unconference on agile development, May 30-June 1, 2008

I wanted to tell you that I’m coming to Detroit to run ITEC Detroit (an IT event) on the 21st and 22nd, at the Rock Financial Showplace. First, if you’re interested in tech and want to attend, it’s free, so feel free to register, and pass on to others in the area, if it’s of interest.

Second, I’m hosting a social media breakfast on Thursday morning the 22nd, at 8:30AM. You might find that interesting, and I’d love for you to come by for that.

Finally, if you’re a Twitter type and want to put together some kind of Tweetup for Wednesday night, that’d be really fun, too.

So… who’s up for a Tweetup and knows a good place to hang out near the Rock Financial Showplace?!

Personas are part of our usability practice, and, although they’re gaining increasing acceptance in website and software design, not everyone understands them or recognizes their value.

Described by Alan Cooper in his book The Inmates are Running the Asylum, personas are sketches of individual people used in the design process. They are related to target markets and have associated demographic information, but instead of demographic descriptions of groups of people, they are narrative depictions of an individual rather than a group or population. Their particulars come from user research, such as interviews with site visitors or potential customers.

The importance of a persona is that it can be used as a filter or lens through which to view and judge the website’s success. They keep the marketing and development team honest and accountable, ensuring that we focus our efforts on the right audience - a potential customer or client rather than the stakeholders at the planning meeting.

Mirror personas get in the way
Personas are used to combat the “mirror persona” (look in the mirror and you’ll find yours). Very naturally, people unconsciously use the mirror persona when they do design and development, and of course that mirror persona is diverse and varied. Folks sitting around the same table may argue based on differing ideas of the target audience and differing individual preferences (everyone’s got a different mirror).

When design discussions get stuck in a “I say”-”you say” conflict, the “winner” might be the best debater, or perhaps the HIPPO (highest paid person’s opinion) rules. That may or may not be the right answer. The user may lose, and the site’s performance could suffer.

The antidote - user driven design
Personas, user research, and quantitative data provide a better basis for decision making.

Personas are one of many tools that can help ensure that a website remains focused on the end users, rather than the needs or beliefs of those involved in the design. Rather than asking “how would I use this site”, a persona provides a point of focus which forces everyone involved in the site to ask: “how would this person use the website”. Ideally, personas are created based upon interviews with target users, though less detailed efforts can still positively influence the development process.

Persona resources

• The Origin of Personas by Alan Cooper
• Reconciling Market Segments and Personas, Cooper Journal of Design

Over the next month or so I think I’ll be blogging pretty regularly on Social Media and how more egghead-y, skeptical types like me might quantify its value. But I’m excited, because as I’ve said repeatedly to people within my own organization, if you can get me on board with these concepts, then you’ve made your hardest sale.

I also wanted to share a link to a wonderful Social Media FAQ that started my shift on the topic. It goes deeper than many FAQs (in some way it’s really a series of detailed blog posts), but if you spend a little time in there, I think you’ll find your own understanding of social media, at least from Jeremiah Owyang’s perspective, can be easily explained to people who are just learning more about it.

So have fun, go deep. And don’t be scared; at the end of the day, I think the ride I’ll be blogging about in the next few months will look a lot more familiar and welcoming than many people believe.

I’m just not sure Nielsen really “gets it” with regard to things like Facebook, for example. “Walled garden” is an oversimplistic characterization. If Facebook is a walled garden, then it is a poorly built wall. Content from Twitter, Flickr, Youtube, LinkedIn, and more can be integrated into Facebook. You can find friends in Facebook by having Facebook search through your Gmail, Hotmail, AIM, etc. contact lists for people that have accounts.

Interconnectedness is essential to this generation of web applications, and Facebook gets this. Their entire system is based on that assumption. In fact, Facebook’s explosive growth only started after they opened their system to plugins through the API late last year.

It might be better to think of Facebook as a rich hub with some native content, almost like a USB hub, into which other applications can be plugged if someone has the proper communication protocols (also known to geeks as an API). An open API is at its very core a measure of interconnectedness and community, because it is the technical glue that makes it possible.

By that measure Facebook is one of the most interconnected tools currently available on the web.

Here are some reviews from last month’s class:

I thought the following were definite strong points about the class:

• Being comprehensive and starting with the basics
• Really good definition of key terms at the beginning and reinforced throughout the class
• It is VERY cool that we sign in and perform labs on our own accounts
• I really like the emphasis on “”pressure points”" in the process…what levers (keywords, ad copy, landing pages) can be tweaked and what their impact is on the core metrics.
• It was good length; I thought pacing was very good; time for “lecture” vs “labs” was good.

There were several things I really liked about this class. The first of which was how figuring out how much you should pay for a lead or a sale was addressed. I, for one, never considered this as an important component to setting up an AdWords campaign. The explanation of how it was calculated was very simple to understand and it’s definitely something I would have never touched on personally if you hadn’t brought it to my attention.

Secondarily I thought the class was useful to a wide range of people. I had some experience with AdWords prior to the class and I certainly learned something and [the colleague]…I brought with me had hardly any experience with AdWords at all and he learned a ton.

Lastly, I think you did a good job of taking someone from setup to activation of an account. I’m confident that anyone could setup their own account using these materials provided in this class.

I think that you also did a really nice job responding to questions and diving into topics of specific interest to our small group. I imagine that this would be much more difficult to do in a larger group (at least without blowing past your time time slots); but I felt quite privileged to be part of a small class with so much time spent on questions.

Again, this was a really great class that exceeded my expectations. Thanks very much.

Heard enough? Come on and join us for the next session! The training class is suitable for quick-witted beginners and seasoned veterans. Register now.

In his May 6, 2008 Alertbox, How Little Do Users Read, Nielsen writes about calculations he did based on research on how people behave online. He calculated that the portion of words that users read declines as there are more words. Users read only half the words on pages with 111 words or few; 28% of the text on pages with 593 words. He points out that these are maximums, and that users may, in fact, read fewer words.

A key task when writing for the web, then, is to try to control what words you users read. To do that, use best practices for writing for the web.

• Keep it short
• Break your content into small, logical chunks
• Label your sections well
• Put the most important information at the beginning of paragraphs and near the top of the page
• Use bullet lists to make scanning easier
• Carefully choose what text you will highlight with hyperlinks. Don’t waste hyperlinks on ineffective calls to action like “Click here to read more”

Throwing more words at the user is counterproductive. You want to tell your users every good thing about you and your products to try to persuade them. A more effective strategy may be to figure out the most important things to tell them, to draw them in, and then give them more information once they show an interest. This progressive disclosure will help you control the message you’re delivering to your users.

We are thrilled to announce the upcoming publication of O’Reilly Media’s Website Optimization: Speed, Search Engine and Conversion Rate Secrets. This book details search engine marketing best practices: showing readers how to optimize their conversion rates and performance tune their websites to boost the return on any Web site investment.

This is the second edition of a book written by Ann Arbor, MI website optimization guru Andy King. The book covers organic or natural search engine optimization (SEO), pay-per-click management and optimization, conversion rate optimization, web performance optimization - including CSS and AJAX optimization, plus metrics.

In this edition, Andy tapped us to contribute two chapters: Chapter 3 - Pay Per Click Optimization and Chapter 4 - PPC Case Study featuring our work for Body Glove International.

Our AdWords and PPC Optimization Guide (Chapter 3)

1. Pay Per Click Basics and Definitions
   • The Pay Per Click Work Cycle
   • Common Problems with Pay Per Click Optimization
2. Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Everybody Else
   • Differences in Bulk Editing: Uploading Spreadsheets vs. the AdWords Editor
   • Differences in Geo-Targeting
   • Differences in Minimum Bids and Quality Scoring
   • Summary of the Differences Between AdWords, adCenter, and YSM
3. Goal Setting, Measurement, Analytics Support, and Closing the Loop
   • Calculating Return On Investment
   • Goals and Values
   • Tracking and Metrics
   • Closing the Loop
     • Targeting and Qualifying Visitors
     • Qualifying Visitors Who Are Late in the Sales Cycle
     • Relevant Landing Pages
     • Closing the Loop Offline
   • Using Metrics to Set a Budget
   • Return on Investment and Profits
   • Pay Per Click Return on Investment and Goals Summary
4. Keyword Discovery, Selection, and Analysis
   • Keyword Research
   • The Right Keywords and the Myth of the Long Tail
   • Target Part and Model Numbers
   • Broad Matches versus Direct Bidding
5. Organizing and Optimizing Ad Groups
   • Guidelines for Grouping
   • Example Themed Ad Groups
   • Optimizing Ad Groups after Launch
6. Optimizing Pay Per Click Ads
   • Measuring Ad Performance
   • Optimizing Ad Copy
     • Creating Ad Copy Variation
     • Testing Ads the Easy Way: AdWords Optimized Ad Serving
     • Testing Ads the Hard Way: Confidence Interval Testing
   • Dynamic Keyword Insertion in Ads
   • Pay Per Click Ad Optimization Summary
7. Optimizing Landing Pages
   • Landing Pages for AdWords
   • Landing Pages for Visitors
     • Complete Conversions with Clear Calls to Action
     • Use Persuasive Copy
     • Support the Ad Claims that Triggered the Visitor’s Click
     • Include Multiple Conversion Points for Different Stages of the Buying Cycle
     • Display Large Images of Products or Services
     • Forgo Navigation Menus
   • Testing Landing Pages
8. Optimizing Bids
   • Penalties for New Accounts
   • Initial Bid Strategies
   • Bid Gaps
   • Adjusting Bids
   • Automated Bidding
   • The Big Picture
   • Branding
   • Bid Optimization in Action: The e-grooming Book Example
9. Other Pay Per Click Issues
   • The Content Network
   • Click Fraud
   • Trademark Issues
10. Overview of Optimization Techniques

Want to know more?

Pre-order the book (set for release mid-July). Can’t wait until July? Then sign up for our Google Adwords Success Workshop!

1. Get a general idea if Google’s spider sees a page or counts it for anything. In particular, I look out for the grey bar.
2. Get a general idea of whether a page has links or whether a page is linked to from other pages that have links.
3. Show clients that, indeed, I have gotten their site some new links, pointing out an increase in toolbar PageRank.

Of course, you always have to consider the limitations of the toolbar: it isn’t updated often, and it doesn’t represent overall link popularity (just to name a couple of major items among plenty of other quirky limitations). In particular it doesn’t measure the relevance of links to a site. All of the three points above, I back up with other methods. To see if a page is visible or a candidate for rankings (point 1), I’d also search Google’s index for a page in question and see if there’s anything cached for the page. To see if a page has good links (point 2), I might spend time looking up links to a page in Yahoo! Site Explorer, check out the links to the domain as a whole, or try to find the other pages that link to the page in question. To show clients the results of hard link building work (point 3), I might show a list of places I’ve requested links from and also show link results from Google Webmaster Tools and Yahoo! Site Explorer. Preferably, I’d just be showing a client increases in traffic, leads, and sales instead of going over details about links. So the toolbar PageRank really isn’t that important.

The topic has pretty much been beaten to death by the SEO community. Part of the reason is people become fixated on it; it’s like Google is giving your website a grade. Just about everyone I know enjoys reducing people, websites, complexity, and work-effort to a letter or number, so the appeal is definitely there as far as I can see, and it’s a great marketing tool for Google.

If you’re new to search engine optimization, I still recommend taking a look at PageRank numbers. It gets you thinking about websites in a different way, concerning how links are important, how PageRank gets passed on to other pages, and how pages visible to you may not be visible to a spider. But I also recommend not getting caught up in the numbers and not using the toolbar for final or serious judgments about a site or page. It’s also worth noting that if you enjoy your privacy, you might not want to download the toolbar for viewing PageRank.

For more information about the toolbar update, visit SearchEngineLand.com, a great place for SEO information.