sucess in the content network

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1> For Content Network, there is possibility that you receive 10k impressions and 1 Click.
2> Therefore, don't go for impressions, go for CPC on Content Network.
3> This is because it will convert better than Impression ads.

Ask yourself a question, when you goto some website like Digg, how many times do you click the Image ads? This will get you a clear picture!
 
First off, test both image and text ads. Make diff ad groups for each. You can duplicate the keywords
So make a group like Loan Modification_Text and Loan Modification_Image. Target the same 20ish keywords for both. You may have to bid a little differently.
7k impressions on content should at least be enough to get SOME clicks. Try new creative...

Also, make sure you add image ads for ALL sizes google allows. You never know which sites may have an odd size spot that performs.

also, make sure you break your ad groups into tightly related word groups. Don't make one ad group with all types of keywords.

So maybe something like:

Ad Group 1:
Jumbo mortgage refinance
jumbo mortgage refinancing
Jumbo loan refinance
jumbo loans refinance
how to refinance jumbo mortgage
Jumbo loan modification
(See if you can get 20 total keywords related to this product)

Ad Group 2:
Refinance ARM
Refinance adjustable rate loan
refinance adjustable rate mortgage
ARM mortgage refinance
Get out of your ARM mortgage
New ARM mortgage
etc...
 
What I'm struggling with 2 strategies at the moment:

1) bid low to start with and use placements/exclusions to get good placements on the sites that send me cheap clicks,

or

2) big high, get high spots on big sites, focus on CTR to bring my CPC down (like I do with Search).

I've been doing #2, but I think that is wrong.
 
If you bid too low you'll never see any imps on the good performing sites in your niche because everyone else is already doing placement targeting on them and your bid won't compete.
 
when did you upload your bannerads? it can take up to 1 week until your ads get approved and you star seeing impressions.
 
cdc said:
If you bid too low you'll never see any imps on the good performing sites in your niche because everyone else is already doing placement targeting on them and your bid won't compete.
Click to expand...

So, bid high and then cull with exclusions?

or bid high for a test campaign, and then do placements on the keepers.
 
Whether you're using keywords or placements, your first priority is to get data and find out which sites/keywords are working and which aren't.

WHEN YOU"RE STARTING A NEW CAMPAIGN, DATA IS KING.

Bid high enough so that your ads are getting shown in top 3 spots.

Here's one way to run Content:

  • Create a keyword based campaign for Content only
  • Create 5-10 ad groups that are each based around a particular theme within your topic. For example, if you're doing Soccer Equipment you might have had groups for Soccer Balls, Soccer Shoes, Soccer Uniforms, Soccer Balls, etc and in each ad group have 20-50 keywords that are all related to each topic.
  • GET PIXELS PLACED
  • Bid $1 a click or higher and let it run for 4 or 5 days
  • Look at your Placements and sort by Impressions - Exclude all that have high impression counts and few/no clicks
  • Look at your cost per conversion. If it is above break even for your payout, exclude those placements and put them into a new campaign and reduce your bids by 50%.
  • Do this once a week until all you have left are your main campaign with sites that you convert profitably and a second campaign that has sites that converted but not profitably with lower bids (over time you should see the cost per conversion go down and hopefully become profitable).
  • Tweak your bids/positions on your main campaign to find the sweet spot.
  • Add other ad groups and keywords to expand your reach.
That's just a basic outline of one way to run it. There are other ways to do it obviously. Keep in mind you still have to split test ads/landing pages/offers to find a good return. And, of course, not everything is going to work.

THIS COSTS MONEY TO DO. The more you spend, the faster you can get your data and optimize or cut bait.

Hope that's useful to someone. This shouldn't come as much of a surprise since it's the same process for all Performance Marketing, spend money to find what works, ditch what doesn't and keep what does.
 
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Reactions: jeff_p
Awesome post, dickarmy. +1 to you.

That's almost exactly what I had been doing, so I feel kinda vindicated in the spending I've been doing!

My first +ve day today for this campaign :)
 
affiliatearmy said:
Good post DICK, but I cant seem to get impressions across various domains, regardless of $1-$3 click bids...poss my account is slapped.............?
Click to expand...

They don't like what you're running most likely. If it's image ads, every site that Google targets for your keywords/placements has the ability to block them and they get manually reviewed by most sites individually, not just by Google (this is one of the reasons it takes forever to get image ads approved). If that's the case, they may have been denied by most of the available placements.

Content has really tightened up over the past few months. In the end it's just another Ad Network and they are definitely moving towards common Ad Network functionality (Channel targeting, Behavioral and Retargeting is slowly being implemented). If you run media buys, you get the same approval process from most networks.
 
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