Elizabeth Marsten will be speaking on Paid Search at Engage 2018, which will take place March 8th, 2018 in Portland, Oregon. For more information or to purchase tickets, please click here.
1) Please give us your background and let us know what you do for a living.
I am the Senior Director of e-Commerce Growth Services at CommerceHub. It’s a delightfully vague title that covers a little bit of everything. My foundation is in search engine paid search for almost 10 years and I’ve been expanding into feed management/product catalog software, selling on marketplaces and marketplace advertising for our book of brand and retail clients. If I were to use the explanation I give my in-laws as to what I do for a living – “I do internet stuff.”
2) Feed vs. text ads: What’s the current state of PPC Ads for Ecommerce?
In short, it’s a continual shift to pictures and prices. Let’s face it – we like pictures, especially when we’re looking to buy a thing that isn’t a service. (And even then, I see potential in images.) And how much it costs. Easiest, fastest way to get that information out there is through a feed. As someone who really enjoys the art of ad copy composition and testing, I hope we don’t lose that piece, but it is time-consuming in comparison. Feeds are multiplying too, the Google feed spec in particular is seeing a lot of mileage, you can re-purpose it for a lot of different engines, platforms or tools and use that product catalog wherever you need it to be with little effort.
3) What recommendations do you have for making your Google Shopping ads stand out?
If you’ve got free shipping, flaunt it – especially if you’re a re-seller and you’re competing with others that are selling the same product. You want to look good in that “Total Price” column. If you’re the brand or the manufacturer, load up good product data, make sure that title can pass the blank piece of paper test: descriptive, include gender, colors, sizes, towards the end, brand name up front and any differentiators (like if you have a special edition) up front with the brand.
And product reviews, you want the stars. If you’re the re-seller, work on your seller ratings, you’ll not only want those for standing out, but for giving you a push on comparison shopping.
Todd Mintz knows PPC…knows Social Media…knows SEO…knows Blogging…knows Domaining…and knows them all real well. He runs growth marketing for )and is also a Director & Founding Member of SEMpdx: Portland, Oregon’s Search Engine Marketing Association, and he can be found here on Twitter and Facebook.