1. Merchant SEM Tactics Selecting Tail Terms Ad Copy Inverted Optimization Pyramid Duplicate Content Issues Being Creative in a Dynamic Marketplace

2. Tail Terms ● “Common” phrases will have many competitors ● dewalt parts ● dewalt saw parts ● dewalt drill parts

3. Tail Terms ● Going into the tail allows for very specific phrases without competitors ● We don't need ads for many of them ● dewalt dw744 switch ● dewalt dw744 brushes ● dewalt dw744 armature ● Instead of a few terms to optimize for, we have 682,000+ very specific terms

4. Ad Copy & Creative Value Proposition

5. What makes a value proposition? ● “Free” stuff

6. Putting the “Free” message first. ● First ad maintained a decent CTR over 22,000 clicks ● Using Dynamic KeyWord Insertion in the title made no difference for CTR ● Updated ad increase CTR by 20% and maintained for well over 100,000 clicks by moving the “Free” line

7. Other “Free Stuffs” ● Free Shipping ● Free Quotes ● Free Trial ● Free Consultation ● Free Gifts ● Use your imagination... ● Free Shipping ● Free Quotes ● Free Trial ● Free Consultation ● Free Gifts ● Use your imagination...

8. What makes a value proposition? ● “Free” stuff ● Variety / selection ● Ways your store is unique

9. Selection & a unique solution ● First ad focused on variety and value ● Second ad increased selection message, but lowered response rate ● Third ad put value back in, but had a low response rate ● Fourth ad saw 10% lower CTR, but 45% higher conversion Net result: 65% more sales

10. What makes a value proposition? ● “Free” stuff ● Variety / selection ● Ways your store is unique ● Ways you can help them address a need

11. Addressing A Need ● Under 3% CTR ● Increased 12% ● Increased 22% ● Increased 18% ● Overall, 61% CTR increase and CPC dropped by 66% for more clicks and more sales Customers don't want a drill, they want a hole. Address their need, not your product.

12. Inverted Optimization Pyramid Working for the conversion first

13. Typical Optimization Pyramid ● Typical “SEO” approach is to start with the homepage ● Homepages are best suited for very general terms ● General terms don't result in sales all that often

14. Inverted Optimization Pyramid ● People can't buy a product if they can't find it ● By working on making the pages closer to products rank, the conversion rate goes up ● Inversed thinking can really increase revenues

15. Optimize Specific to General ● Specific phrases convert much better ● Easier to rank for organically ● Lower cost per click for advertising ● Creates a snowball growth opportunity

16. Duplicate Content

17. Obvious sources ● “Copy & Paste” to add product information ● Scraper sites ● “Mirror” sites ● Old pages (oops) Hidden Sources ● Competitors ● Splogs ● Your web designer ● “Under Construction” sites ● eBay

18. eBay, Competitors, and Other Thieves ● We have tracked as many as 40 eBay auctions at once that have used our content and formatting. ● We have taken an active approach since eBay hasn't addressed the matter, even when we email them about specific auctions. Hint: This is the part where you may have ideas This isn't a totally new idea, just a newer approach to make content theft profitable instead of detrimental

19. ModRewrite – More than pretty URLs ● By using referrer data, we can change images ● Some images were 1x1 pixels on our own site with absolute links to the same page ● Some images just get promotional text added ● We have this entirely automated via ModRewrite and a simple CGI script ● We can manually edit any text / changes on a per page (auction) level ● We've caught other interesting thieves

20. Formerly 1x1 pixel, now on eBay

21. Dynamic Text on eBay

22. Image on Competitor's Site

23. Profiting from Duplication ● If someone is using our content, they may accidentally send some traffic to us ● Many of the auctions get edited quite a bit when the person sees what happened. We don't mind, the content isn't duplicate any more. ● We contact repeat offenders directly and ask them not to duplicate our content.* ● * Unless the conversion rate from their auctions is good for us.

24. What's Number 1?

25. Merchant SEM Tactics Summary ● We've got a little tougher job as retailers since our products have set, usually low, margins. ● Our ads need to not only hit broad audiences, but also need to convey a helpful image. ● As merchants, we can have more duplicate content issues than other types of sites. ● Keep an eye on what's going on and you just may find yourself ahead of others in your space. ● Creativity can turn into opportunity. Think outside the box.

26. Thank you Brian Mark www.ToolBarn.com brianm@toolbarn.com brianmark.blogspot.com blogs.toolbarn.com/brianm/