Category Archives: Sok Khann

When deciding to invest in PPC marketing, one of the first questions that needs to be answered is, “How much should I spend?” Since most car dealers know that they need to get involved in PPC since nearly 90 percent of people us the internet when shopping for cars. However, most people don’t have a clue when it comes to deciding how much of their marketing budget should be allocated to PPC advertising. Here are some things that you should consider when determining your PPC ad budget.

Your advertising target radius
First, determine what areas you want your ads to target. Are you going to be advertising your product locally? regionally? nationally? Or globally? The wider you cast your advertising net the more traffic you’ll be bringing in and the larger your budget to be. Having a $5,000 dollar monthly budget may be adequate for a business with a 20-mile target radius around their business, but that same amount would be spread quite thin on a state or national level. In fact, that amount probably wouldn’t last before your first coffee in advertised on a national level.

What is the monthly search volume on your keywords
Do a little bit of keyword research and compile a list of the keywords you want to target and also the most popular keywords in your specific industry. Use Google’s Keyword Planner tool to find out what the monthly search volumes are for the keywords you want to target. Set the target ad targeting in the keyword planner to get the most relevant search volume information. If there are a lot of high volume keywords on your list then you’re probably going to need a larger budget.

What is the CPC of the keywords on your list?
In the same Keyword Planner tool you can also find the CPC (cost-per-click) for the keywords on your list. The CPCs can vary depending on the keyword match type, type of keyword, and your specific advertising niche. Your branded keywords such as your dealership name will be much cheaper than general industry terms such as “used cars”. Exact match keywords are cheaper than high volume broad match keywords. Dealerships that want to bid on terms such as “bad credit car loan” may need to pay a premium to compete in this highly competitive finance niche.

Now do some math

Monthly Search Volume x Average CPC x 3% CTR = Your Suggest Monthly Budget

The 3% CTR is just an estimate. The CTR will vary depending on the specific industry and the quality of your ad copy.

If you’re finding that the suggested monthly budget is way more than you can afford then you may want to consider some things such as weeding out some keywords or decreasing your target radius until you find a number that you’re comfortable with.

Some of you astute, detail-orientated types may have noticed a while back that Google Analytics has changed the way that their data is displayed. Don’t panic, this isn’t a major algorithm that will alter the landscape of search marketing — they didn’t even give the update an animal code name such as Penguin or Panda. Here’s a rundown of what changes were made in Google Analytics:

• Visits are now Sessions
• Unique Visitors are now Users

Aside from a slight learning curve of adjusting to the new terminology, this shouldn’t affect Analytics users too much. A post-it it note on your computer would probably suffice in helping you adjust to the change while you get adjusted to this new terminology.

Some people have speculated that the change was made because the mobile industry doesn’t user terms like “visits” or “unique visitors”. This slight change in terminology could definitely be a sign of a sea change where analyzing data from mobile users is becoming more important.

Further Reading:
https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/2731565?hl=en

Google runs a monopoly on the search engine marketing industry. That’s evident by the fact that over here at Integrated PPC nearly 98 percent of our clients ad spend is spent on Google. Yup, a paltry 2 percent of the budget that is managed here is spent on Bingads. Apparently, Bing’s marketing blitz of “Don’t get scroogled”, a few years back, fell on deaf ears.

With 70 percent of all search traffic going through them, Google is definitely the alpha dog in the search engine marketing industry. Any business that does PPC advertising needs to be advertising on Google — such a large portion of internet traffic is too significant to ignore. Accounting for nearly 20 percent of search traffic, Bing comes in at a very distant second. Twenty percent is still quite significant and could account for millions of potential customers, so Bing shouldn’t be ignored either. Here are three reasons why you should also consider advertising on Bingads, even if you’re already advertising on Google.

Lower CPC On Bing
The cost per click to advertise on Bing is significantly cheaper than Google. The cheaper CPCs can be advantageous for those advertising in expensive niches such as the auto loan sector, where each $12 click can quickly deplete your daily budget in Google. The downside to Bing is that fewer people will see your ads. However, you may end up with a better ROI if those who do click on your ads are converting.

Bing Has More Top Page Sponsored Ads
Studies have shown that more people pay attention to the ads at the top of the page than those that appear on the sidebar. The advantage Bing has over Google is that they display more ads on the top page than Google. If you conduct the same keyword search on Google and Bing, you’ll find that at least one more ad appears above Bing organic search results than Google. This means that a fourth position placement on Bing is not only cheaper, but it also has better ad placement on the top of the organic search results.

Easy Import To Bingads
For someone looking to advertise on both Bing and Google, Bingads makes it very effortless to import your Adwords campaigns to Bingads with an import to Adwords function. With just a couple clicks you could be advertising in both advertising platforms and maximizing your search engine traffic — no tedious rebuilding of your campaign involved here.

Many auto dealerships that manage their own pay per click aren’t aware of the various guidelines that Google expects their advertisers to follow. That is until they wonder why their ads aren’t getting any traffic and they noticed the dreaded ‘your ad as been disapproved’ icon. Actually, it’s not that dreadful, but knowing what Google’s guidelines are beforehand can save you the effort of having to edit your ad copy later. Here are some of the ad copy guidelines that you need to follow when writing ad copy. For full information Google’s guidelines go to https://support.google.com/adwordspolicy/answer/1331529?hl=en

A deal you claim in the ad copy has to be on the advertised site.

Example:
Nissan GTR
Be Fast & Furious.
20% Off Vin Diesel’s Stunt Car!
sokittomecars.com

This ad would be disapproved if two of the following things was not present on the site: proof that the GTR was used in a Fast & Furious movie and information about the 20% off a GTR.

Google doesn’t allow misleading or scientifically unverifiable claims.

Example:
Jelly Bean Powered Car
Cut Down On Sweets
And Save Money On Gas!
sokittomecars.com

Common sense and Google would raise a red flag at this ridiculous claim. If you’re going to make claims like these, you need a verification that your claim is accurate and sound from a third party source.

Usage of superlatives such as “best” or “#1”

Example:
Sok It To Me Cars
The #1 Car Dealership.
Best Prices In Soktopia!
sokittomecars.com

This ad would be disapproved for the superlative claims in the ad copy. The words “best” and “#1” are not allowed unless there’s a third party verification listed on the site. In this case, Sok It To Me Cars is neither the best nor #1 dealer in Soktopia.

Millenials, those born after 1982, are often described as tech-savvy, educated, self-involved, socially connected (a product of coming to age during the social networking era), and impatient. At 80 million strong they make up the largest generation in U.S. History since the Baby Boomers. According to industry experts they carry as much as $170 billions annually in spending power. Car dealerships and automotive brands that can develop brand loyalty early are well positioned to reap a hefty portion of the millenial’s spending pie.

Selling a car to millenials is a lot different than selling to their parents. Here are two things that car dealerships can do to market to millenials.
 
Get On Social Media
For many millenials, their social network is the center of their lives. It’s the driving force that keeps them updated with their peers and the world around them. In fact, some millenials don’t make a move without consulting their social network. It’s important for car dealerships to develop a social presence. This means crafting social media content that is shareable and using social media as facilitator for communications with them.
 
Target Them Where They Spend Their Time
Millenials came of age in the era of personal computing and have fully embraced the era of the smartphone. It’s estimated that they spend as much as 8 hours a day consuming media through various devices. Whether it’s checking their e-mail on their desktop, texting their friends on their smart phones, or reading an article on their tablet; millenials spend a lot of time online. If car dealerships want to attract millenials, then they need to invest in their online presence. This means doing PPC advertising to drive traffic to their site, making sure the dealer website is SEO optimized so that it can be found on organic search results, and crafting a user friendly website that’s easy to navigate for both desktops and mobile devices.

Why not let Content Motive’s dealer marketing experts handle your social media and SEO marketing needs for you?