Three Key Focus Areas For Paid Search Holiday Campaign Success

It’s that time of year again for online advertisers.   The holiday season proves to be a crucial time for having a clear and concise strategy from the start.  To maximize your return on ad spend it’s important to have a plan of action early on.

Black Friday and especially Cyber Monday are two crucial days to the world of e-commerce during the holiday season.  Online retail spending for these two days (and the holiday season as a whole) has continued to increase year over year.  The 2011 season will be no exception   Let’s talk about three areas to concentrate on to maximize success:

Keyword Strategies

• Have a clear understanding of what keywords worked well last year.   These keywords should be re-visited.
• If Black Friday/Cyber Monday qualified keywords make sense for your business add them.  Potential customers will likely be searching with these keyword qualifiers.  Example: cyber monday shoe sales, photo books black friday
• Leverage your search queries regularly.  Searches for deals and hot products pop up more during the holiday season.  Add these relevant keywords to your account.
• Keep an eye on position.  Increased holiday competition can cause your top performing keywords to decrease quickly.  Check on these regularly to ensure you are staying competitive.

Ad Copy Strategies

• Be sure your ad copy clearly states your holiday promotion.
• Create new ad copy to communicate longer-term holiday promos. Use site links to advertise one day promos (Black Friday/Cyber Monday).
• Reassure users that their purchase will arrive in time for the holidays.

Landing Page Strategies

• Like your ad copy, your landing pages should message the promotions you are offering clearly.
• Don’t be afraid to create landing pages specifically for Black Friday/Cyber Monday promos.
• If a promo code is needed to apply a discount, be sure that it is easy for the user to apply code during the check out process

Use the strategies above and tailor them to fit your online business.  As stated before, reviewing these strategies early on and developing a plan action is crucial to success this holiday season.