We've designed our site, got the search engine optimization all in place. Now let's advertise. On the flip side of organic search traffic is branded search advertising. You got to spend money to make money, right? Even if you are at the top of the organic search results, paying for traffic, if done correctly, is still a great tool to get hits. In class, we will create a marketing plan, a budget, design some ads and drive traffic to unique landing pages within our site. Earlier in the semester, we established our target audience. Based on that info, we can set some conversion goals and design some effective banner ads. We will research an Ad Provider for optimization and appropriate ad placement. Then we will design landing pages and use A/B testing to get the best conversion rates.

1. SEO
Web Ad Campaigns - Design
and Optimizing
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

2. SEO
Starting Your Ad Campaign
1. Site should be ready to go by now...
2. Create a marketing plan and budget
3. Focus on your target audience
4. Set some conversion goals
- What do I want to get out of this?
5. Design some ads
6. Design some landing pages
7. Find a Ad Provider
8. Publish!
9. Optimize and refine with AB testing
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

3. SEO
Ad Publisher v. Ad Buyer
Ad Buyer - You, your company A Few Ad Providers:
- Buying ad space on internet or mobile
- Admin Control Panel for optimization
- Real Time Bidding (RTB) Rubicon
- Control ad inventory http://rubiconproject.com
Ad Provider - They sell the ad space to buyers
Middle man between you and buyer Pubmatic
Optimize ads for you http://www.pubmatic.com/
Weed out bad ones
Send out good relevant ads to publishers
Improve traffice and revenue AdMeld
http://www.admeld.com/
Ad Publisher - Any website or mobile device that displays ads
- Way to monatize a site or blog with banner ads
- Drive traffic to ad buyer site and get commision
- Can control incoming ad content and quality
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

4. SEO
Ad Types
1. Text Ads - Couple lines of type
2. Text links - Embedded into a article
3. Static ads - just an image/old school
4. Animated ads - gifs or Flash
5. Interactive ads - games or click action
6. Rich Media Ads
- Overlays
- Takerovers
- Interactive
- Pushdowns
7. Video embeds - YouTube, Hulu, Vimeo
8. Game embeds
9. Mobile
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

5. SEO
Ad Sizes and Specs
Lots of variety in sizes, shapes, and formats
Most Popular Sizes:
300 x 250 - (Rectangle)
728 x 90 - (Leaderboard)
160 x 600 - (Skyscraper)
125 x 125 - (Blog ads)
Most Click tru Rate:
300 x 250
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

6. SEO
Ad File Size and Formats
1. File sizes kept to minimum Jpegs
-”Save Optimized As...” in Photoshop
2. Slow loads will effect host site - Use setting that get you under 50k
3. They may drop you - Use web safe colors if possible
4. Ideal file sizes - 10k -50k Animated gifs
- Can create in Photoshop
5. Animation - under 15 seconds - Simple slideshow and movements
6. Use Photoshop or Flash - Smaller file sizes than flash
7. Online ad builders Flash Ads
- Small as possible - 50-60k
- Keep to minimal slides
- Don’t use bitmap images if possible
- Use Vector art and type
- Animate using tweens
- Optimize when you save
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

7. SEO
Ad Sizes - 300x250
1. 20 – 30% higher CTR
2. Great for interactive ads
3. Lots of hot spots
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

8. SEO
Ad Sizes - Blogs
1. Most common are 300x250 and 125x125 square
2. Placed in best hot spots
3. Ads are relevant to topic
300 x 250
125x125
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

9. SEO
Ad Sizes - 728x90
1. Called Leaderboards
2. Generally across top or bottom of page
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

10. SEO
Ad Sizes - 160x600
1. Called Skyscrapers
2. Generally on far left or far right column
3. 120x600s are out of fashion
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

11. SEO
Ad Design
1. Design should blend like it is part of the overall web design
2. Visitors will judge a site by ads
3. Keep it clean and simple
4. Good catchy copy
5. Good visuals
6. Some kind of interaction or animation
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

12. SEO
Effective Ad Copy
1. Catchy headline
2. Body copy - minimal
3. Headline and copy should have keywords
- Very similar to the title tags of site
4. It’s PPC - don’t deceive and waste clicks
5. Call to action - entice them!
6. Cliche buzz words
- FREE
- 30 day trial
- 15% off
- Click here!
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

13. SEO
Ad Design - Colors
1. Compliementary colors
2. Contrast but not obnoxious
3. Good White space
4. Try taking out the border
5. Dont distract - clean, elegant
6. More credible and visitors are more likely to click on them.
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

14. SEO
Ad Design - Good
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

15. SEO
Ad Design - Bad
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

16. SEO
Ad Design Cliches
1. Cheesy but effective - (sometimes)
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

17. SEO
Ad Placement - Hot Spots
Where should it go?
Middle and upper left are best,
but rarely given up
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

18. SEO
Ad Placement - Hot Spots
Somewhere in the middle
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

19. SEO
Ad Placement - Examples
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

20. SEO
Ad Placement - Examples
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

21. SEO
Ad Design - Blending In
Yes
Not so much
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

22. SEO
Ad Design
Good Blends
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

23. SEO
Ad Design
Bad Blends
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

24. SEO
Landing Pages and Optimization
Could be different than home page
Should be related to the keywords in your ad
Users will click away if they feel deceived
Make it load fast - No flash intros or large images
Make it simple to find what they are looking for
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

25. SEO
A/B Testing on Landing Pages
Try AB testing on various landing pages
- Different keywords or headlines
- Different layouts
- Different offers
- Different colors, typography, styles
- Also called Multivariate Testing
Always test pages simultaniously to compare results
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

26. SEO
A/B Testing on Landing Pages
Changing a headline - 14% to 18% CTR
Adding persona -
48% increase in CTR
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization

27. SEO
A/B Testing on Landing Pages
Adding a special offer burst - 148% increase in CTR
GCMW177 Search Engine Optimization