Just had to set out all the elements of an effective paid search strategy for a client. Thought it might be worth setting out some of the important areas to consider if you are to develop an effective paid search strategy. It’s not exhaustive, but it is helpful if you need a quick check list of things to cover.

1. Platform Selection – determining which of the search platforms to use. The main options are Google, MSN/Bing and Yahoo! Bear in mind that in the UK Google’s share of the search market is around 90% (Hitwise Sept 09). This raises issues about work loads versus potential returns. In my view, sadly, alternatives to Google are below critical mass now.
   
2. Network Deployment – do you run across the site’s extended network/content partners? This means your ads appear on other sites apart from the search engine you are using to create the campaign. This can be good or bad  - it depends on the ROI both options deliver to the campaign you are planning.
   
3. Campaign and Ad Group Structure - Organise your keywords into Campaigns and Ad Groups for optimal targeting efficiency. Remember that budgets can only be set at campaign level so if you want to allocate specific budgets across groups of target keywords you will have to set up individual campaigns for each set.
   
4. Keyword Selection – Select the keywords your target audience are searching. Remember that generic terms are likely to produce more traffic and fewer purchase conversions than highly targeted lower volume keywords. Given that you are likely to be paying for clicks, you need low levels of clicks and a high conversion rate.
   
5. Negative keywords – if you’re selling ‘flat pack furniture’ you don’t want to be selling ‘flats’ or ‘puncture repairs’! Negative keyword settings allow you to eliminate these problems.
   
6. Keyword matching – Search engines will return your ad against phrases that contain your target keyword terms. But because the words in a phrase can be rearranged to mean something else, poorly targeted keyword phrases may deliver searchers who are looking something different to what you are selling. You can solve this problem by using Phrase match or Exact match keyword targeting.
7. Bid Tactics - Your keyword bid will determine how high you appear in the search engine’s listings. But remember that the #1 position does not always provide the best ROI. Lower positions can have a much higher cost efficiency. You will need to set up tests to monitor this and refine it as your campaign gathers sales data. Remeber you pay for clicks but only conversions will build your business.
   
8. Day / Day parts - Your target audience may be more or less active on certain days or at certain times of day. Setting up the days and times of day that you want your ads to run allows you to target prospects when they are most active or most likely to convert to a sale.
   
9. Budget Setting – You can manage budget deployment by setting your daily / monthly budgets at the campaign Campaign level.
   
10. Budget delivery – Search engines will “spend” your money in two ways, either 1) as the searches are pulled through by consumers or 2) spread evenly throughout the day. The problem with route 1 is that you can be out of budget by lunchtime. You can set the way your budget delivered across day.
    
11. Ad Text Copy Writing – Preparing copy to fit the confines of the ad text box and reflect your keyword selection is a vital component of search marketing. You have a fixed number of characters across each of the three lines including the headline. It pays in terms of ranking and response to match the ad text as closely as possible to the keywords you are targeting. Relevance is key.
    
12. Linking / Deep Linking - Linking ads to the relevant web site page(s) and/or landing page(s) can take your prospect directly from their search, through your ad and to the page containing the product information they’re seeking. That makes for better conversion rates.
    
13. Analytics tracking – setting up Google Analytics to track your campaign in detail will allow you to generate in-depth insight about where your visitors come from, how they enter your site, what they do on it, and the pages they leave from. But perhaps best of all, once you’ve gathered enough data Analytics will allow you to start optimising your campaign parameters around sales rather than clicks.