Flights and Johannesburg traffic aside, the event was well attended and thoroughly enjoyable. The morning got off to a good start – everyone fresh and perky as a few Google gift bags were handed out and coffee and refreshments were served.

What better way to start off an event of this nature than by having Google South Africa country manager Luke Mckend introduce the event. Listening to Mr Mckend speak was hugely inspirational and a massive privilege to say the least. We were fortunate enough to have a quick one on one chat with him during a tea break, where we talked about the growth of R.O.I. Media and the local online advertising market within South Africa. It was an honour to hear his insights and suggestions, even more so as he was as enthused as us during the conversation.

After tea, the launch consisted of talks by Google account managers who explained exactly how Google is capable of helping people in Johannesburg find petrol – a problem us Capetonians are fortunate enough to not have to worry about.

After lunch there was a fascinating talk on how mobile is exploding not only internationally but locally too, with Africa often being far ahead of the rest of the world in some areas of mobile. Despite a few internet connection problems (Google was not the internet supplier, as they pointed out) the videos and examples given were amazing. A great description of how a holiday trip can be completely organised, scheduled and enjoyed by simply using a mobile was absolutely brilliant, and demonstrations of picture searches using Google Goggles on a mobile device were mind blowing too. You’re able to search brands, mountains, landmarks and more just by searching the photo you took of it (this excludes organic objects, so get your mind out of the gutter).

Once the conference wrapped, Allen and I were fortunate enough to be able to get a speed dating session with some of the Google Employees. Allen was able to have a one on one with a Google agency manager while I was able to get time with a Google account manager, which gave us valuable time to bounce ideas and questions off of real life Google employees.

After a long day of mind blowing talks, laughs, superb networking and good food, we hopped a plane back to Cape Town with a world of new knowledge to share.

At the end of the day, the Google Engage launch allowed agencies to engage with and connect with Google more easily, which is a valuable advantage. The biggest plus is that agencies are able to connect with their clients better by using Google Engage as a direct source of information, allowing them to become more knowledgeable about Adwords and the PPC market.

Google Engage = engaging and connecting to create a better PPC industry.

The question is; what does all this mean for you, the advertiser, and how can R.O.I. Media help you enhance your advertising through Google Adwords?

The most obvious reason why Google is pushing free vouchers at the moment is to make money. Google wants you to use the voucher and then spend more of your own money to continue running your campaign once it is depleted. Google, like any company, is interested in turning over a profit for their shareholders by allowing advertisers to pay for advertising space on their search results.

In turn, you could possibly make a profit within your own business by advertising on Google.

The next question is: why did I say “you could possibly make a profit within your own business” and not “you will definitely make a profit” when using Adwords? Well, that is where R.O.I. Media steps in.

Throwing a campaign together in Adwords, creating ads and setting the campaign live takes minimal effort and a very short amount of time. However, when R.O.I. Media sets up a campaign we do it meticulously while optimising, monitoring, taking control and squeezing the absolute maximum out of the campaign that you can get. This sort of Adwords management comes from years of experience and expertise in the industry.

R.O.I. Media thrives on creating and running the most highly optimised Adwords campaigns. Years of experience, as well as being a Google Adwords Certified Partner, means R.O.I. Media is able to drive relevant and highly targeted traffic to your site through Google Adwords advertising. We make sure that every cent of your budget is being spent on the most relevant clicks and on users who are most likely to bring your business ROI.

R.O.I. Media takes the hassle out of Adwords advertising, allowing you to focus on other areas of your business with the peace of mind that your budget is being spent wisely and your campaign is being tweaked and constantly monitored by professionals who eat, sleep and live Adwords advertising.

If you would like to take Google up on one of their R300 voucher offers and advertise online, or are interested in taking your existing Adwords campaign to the next level, please contact R.O.I. Media and allow us to help you get the most out of your Adwords budget. Let us help your business make ROI!

Experience:
The certification ensures current and future clients that we are highly experienced in managing large and small accounts. To get this certification we need to not only have at least one Google Adwords Certified individual but also maintain active Adwords accounts to the minimum value of $10,000, over a minimum time period of 90 days.

Google Certified:
We essentially have a Google stamp of approval, assuring clients that we have passed the tough Google Adwords exams and are used to dealing with large accounts. It also means that Google feels we are worthy enough for them to give us a certified badge of approval!

Code of Conduct:
With great power comes great responsibility. With these achievements, the qualification states that R.O.I. Media will follow Google’s terms and conditions as well as manage clients’ campaigns in a manner that is ethical and right, some of the very same principals that R.O.I. Media was founded upon.

If you need a strong online presence, whether it be from natural search result rankings through SEO or high quality, highly optimised Adwords ads, R.O.I. Media have proven time and time again to be the industry leaders. The difference now is; not only do we have our clients who can vouch for us, but now even Google has given us their stamp of approval.

The ROI Calculator works by measuring performance levels of a Google Adwords Campaign, such as CPC (Cost Per Click), CPA (Cost Per Acquisition), CTR (Click Through Rate), as well as other external factors. Then using those stats we are able to calculate via points along a graph when a Google Adwords Campaign and segments within the campaign would become profitably beneficial for your business.

To demonstrate how powerful the ROI Calculator really is, R.O.I Media is offering a free digital campaign evaluation to the first 20 readers who respond. The results of the test will empower you to improve upon your existing online ad campaign or educate on whether to launch a paid campaign through Google Adwords. To take advantage of this offer, email calculator@roimedia.co.za with your name, telephone number and website address for a free evaluation and find out ROI Media can help increase your businesses’ profits through your Paid Campaigns.

If you are advertising car rentals, your image ad won’t appear on a website about cooking, rather you can target exact sites (Managed Placements) or target a variety of sites through related keywords (Automatic Placements). This way your ad will appear to relevant users who are actively taking part in a community related to your brand or product.

Image ads are a great way to create brand recognition as well as driving traffic to your website. Image ads tend to have a higher impression count than text ads, thus being a great way to make users aware of your product/service.

Image ads are easy to create. You can create an ad using photo editing software, or better yet by simply using Googles easy to use Display Ad Builder. Display Ad Builder allows you to select templates and edit them in a variety of different ways to make your ad unique and stand out from the rest. This process isn’t time consuming, and can be completed without any hassles, and you don’t need to be an Adwords Certified Professional to figure out all the steps.

If you would like your brand/product advertising to have a wider reach, think about using image ads as a way to connect with users easily and cheaply.

Many, if not most of us have a Gmail account that we are permanently logged in to. You will notice that you are logged in by viewing the top right of your screen. This profile is associated with all your searches; by being logged in, your search results will be customised and will most definitely be dissimilar to everyone else.

So what is the simple solution; is it to logout? A few months ago, I would have replied with a definite, ‘yes’… However, the situation has now been changed. Even if you are not logged in, Google is still customising your search results on your computer. Most people are unaware that this is taking place and would appreciate knowing how to undo it. To undo it, follow the easy instructions below:

• Click Web History (top right)

• Click Disable customisations based on search activity.

Once this is done, you will begin to see pure results that are unburdened by Google’s own search activities.

Yes, if you know where to look.

Pay per click advertising has been around a while now and any business with an awareness of just how much an internet presence contributes to a successful advertising campaign is already on board. If not, get out from under that rock that is business cards and flyers and step into the realm of the greatest innovation since pre-sliced bread. Enter: Google AdWords!

Why AdWords and why does it differ from any other method of advertising? In two words: Measureable impression share.

Impressions are the number of times your ad displays itself to the world at large that you’re targeting. So it therefore makes sense that impression share would be the ‘share of voice’ you have in that market amongst your competitors.

Not only does this handy feature tell you how you fair against the rivals, but also lets you know where you’re falling short. Overall impressions can be broken down into a 3-way split in this way: Current impression share, impression share lost from budget and impression share lost from ad rank.

Impression share lost from budget is fairly self-explanatory, a daily limit will determine just how many clicks you’ll receive and in most cases you would be acquiring as many as possible, right? So long as they’re coming from worthwhile potential customers of course. You could be limited depending on your product/service as big competitors may have deeper pockets than you.

Impression share lost from ad rank is determined by how well your ads perform amongst the rest. A number of factors influence this figure and mastering the art of the perfect campaign takes time. The key areas to focus on would be the quality score that you’re granted on your ads, relevant click-through pages and, most importantly, bid price on your keywords. Bidding price will ultimately determine how high up your ad will display in the list and thus influence ad rank.

Here’s an example on how you can troubleshoot an advertising flaw using this tool:

Joe’s fax-to-email business has been on adwords for quite some time. Recently he’s spotted an inconsistency in the number of sales that he’s been making and it doesn’t look pretty. Joe’s been measuring his AdWords PPC conversions (actual sales generated online from his website), and there’s been a significant drop of late. The first place he looks: Impression share! He sets up a 3-way pie chart that determines how the ideal 100% impression share is split into the main categories. Immediately he can tell that impression share lost from adrank is now a bigger slice than before and the loss from budget remains the same. In knowing this he’ll now focus his AdWords efforts on assigning his Ads more specific landing pages on his site, pushing up the bids on his keywords that grant less-than-ideal ad position and maybe even cull a few keywords that have not converted and/or have a poor click through rate. He may also throw in a few more bucks per day to compensate for the up in bid price and not harm the impression share lost from budget.

For centuries advertisers in every industry have been plagued with approximation, ball park figures and AB testing when it comes to getting their name out there and seeing a return. The impression share tool offers surety that you’re hitting the mark, getting accurate figures and above all; determining what you’re doing wrong and how to fix it.

It is important to realise before writing the exam that it is indeed difficult, and the pass mark is 85%, which is no small feat. It also costs $50 to write the test and there are 120 questions to answer in 120 minutes, which can be a little nerve-wrecking. The first hurdle to jump is to wrap your head around the fact that the exam is passable, and with some studying and practical experience managing an Adwords campaign, you will have the knowledge required to pass.

Studying is always important, and Google does supply you with all the tools and learning material that you will need to pass. Let Google Study Centre be the first and most important place for you to get your study materials from. There are plenty of blogs and articles where you can get secondary information from, but Google is and always will be right in regards to your studying!

You will not find any questions online. Google makes sure that you will not find any websites that offer questions from the exam. Don’t bother looking, because you won’t find it. You may find some sites that offer mock tests and these can be beneficial, but there is usually a fee involved.

When writing the exam, the program that allows you to take the test shuts down all accessibility to other programs on your computer. This means that you will be unable to browse the net for answers, thus when studying take lots and lots of notes, and keep those notes with you when you write the exam. Make sure that your notes are neat and easy to read, because when averaging 1 question a minute you will need to be able to retrieve your information fast.

Lastly, when studying and taking your notes, make sure to pay particular attention to small details. Don’t just study the broad outline of a topic, rather know that topic inside and out! Every tiny detail does matter!

With these tips and some good practical Adwords campaign management experience you should be able to pass the Google Professional Advertising Exam easily, advancing your online marketing opportunities and experience

If you have been using Google Adwords for a few years you might have noticed that the time taken for new or edited ads to be approved is becoming increasingly longer. This is especially the case when creating image ads and ads focused on content networks. Why is this happening, that is the PPC question that everyone is asking?

The answer is simple, and it boils down to the sheer number of people and businesses (as well as spammers) using Adwords. The number of ads being created by current and new Adwords users is growing daily, and while Google has some strict policy guidelines about what is and isn’t allowed in ads, all ads that have been created still have to be reviewed and approve/disapproved. It seems that some ads get reviewed by computer systems and algorithms, but image ads and those targeting content network seemingly has to be viewed by a physical person. This method, unlike a computer system, is time consuming and causes a delay when waiting to get ads approved, but it does allows for more accuracy in the reviewing process.

Some PPC users have stated that Google may take up to 46 working hours to approve ads. That means that ads could be approved after approximately 7 working days. If you happen to submit an ad for approval on a Friday afternoon then you better be prepared to wait a little longer, as over weekends there is less man-power to review ads so the process is delayed even further. Google is, however, double-checking the ads. This means that all ads are being reviewed twice ever since the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) has taken a firm stance and Google was forced to become extremely strict with regard to ads.

I already hear everyone crying, “What is Google doing about increasing the speed of the review process?” Well, the answer is simple – at this moment, based on my exhaustive research into the subject, I surmise that Google is not doing anything it is telling anyone about! In all likelihood Google is working behind the scenes on an ingenious way to speed up the process, or perhaps they already have a solution. The fact of the matter is that we just don’t know yet and we will have to wait and see what Google has in store for us mere mortals.

So you’ve got this stunning looking website ‘promoting’ your business and your website has been up for months, but for some reason nothing’s happening.

Your website is not ranking in Google at all and you are wondering why is this happening. What can you do to actually be ‘noticed’ in the major Search Engines?

Now, there are many reasons that might be prohibiting your website from being ranked on a major search engine like Google. The question is, what mistakes are you currently making on or to your website that is negatively influencing your rankings?

1. You have probably heard that it doesn’t matter how good your website looks, as there is way more to ranking than exterior. Most people make the mistake of solely focusing on the appearance of their website and not working on the integral parts that search engine spiders look at.

Yes, this means that the animation and flash you are using on your website might actually be one of the reasons why your website is not ranking in Google.

Remember, the first page of your website is almost like a ‘conclusion’. It takes all the parts of your website together and has to tell people that visit your website exactly what you and your company is all about.

This counts for Google as well. When Google’s spiders visit your website, they need to gather the information on your homepage to know what your website is about. Google NEEDS WORDS to INDEX. If you only have some funky flash animation on your homepage, there are no words- No words = No ranking!

2. In essence, for a search engine like Google your website is all about TEXT, WORDS, CONTENT and KEYWORDS. That’s it. If you don’t have it, you won’t rank.

This means that if you are for instance using a lot of pictures / images on your website and not a lot of text, then this will definitely influence your chance of ranking high on Google.

This doesn’t mean you aren’t allowed to use images; you can but just make sure that you have enough text to fulfill the spiders.

3. By now you know that you need content and of course with content comes keywords that are RELEVANT to your website and company.

One of the fatal mistakes that people make is that they ‘stuff’ their websites with keywords. This will negatively influence your chance rankings as Google will think that you are spamming.

We all know spamming is bad! There is no need for you to repeat your keyword 50 times in one page of your content and then do the same on your other pages and your meta tags.

On the flipside, to little use of keywords will also negatively influence your chance of ranking as Google will think that you are not even making use of any keywords.

Many would ask what is the magic number of keywords per page? Unfortunately, no one knows the true answer for this. The Internet is full of speculation without any definite answers. The moral of this story: BEWARE of too many keywords and BEWARE of using only a few!

4. One of the MUST’S when you want your website to rank is to have quality links linking to your website. And yes, the emphasis here is on QUALITY links! This of course means that if a quality site is linking
to you, your site also exhibits quality. See the relevance?

Try to get sites that are relevant to your industry and business to link to you. Remember, the more links to your site, the more the Google spiders will ‘encounter’ your site on the net.

One of Google’s co-founder Sergey Brin emphasised in an interview: “…a page that is pointed to by many other sites is important. In other words, external approval raises a page’s ranking.”

5. How many times have you submitted your website to Google for ranking? Maybe too many times?

Try not to submit your website more than once a month. You don’t want to be known as a stalker do you? If you over-submit your website, a search engine like Google might consider it as spamming and ignore your submissions. The best advise out there is to wait four weeks, then search for the URL of your website in the search engines. If the search engines cannot find your website, it would be a safe bet to submit your website again. If the search engines find your website, do not submit your site again, it is not necessary.

Next time when you are wondering why your website is not ranking on Google, take a look at this article and ask your seo company to implement the necessary fixes.