Easy AdWords Display Ad Builder Launched
Yesterday Google announced on the Adwords blog that it released a display ad builder that allows advertisers to build their own graphic advertisements in minutes. You may now feel free to fire your graphic designers. 
This new tool is accessible from the Create An Ad page within an Adwords campaign. Navigate to your campaign, then ad group, and then click on the Ad Variations tab. On that page, simply click on Display Ad Builder to get started.
Display ads are used on the content network and show up where publishers have enabled “image ads” through AdSense.
You can visit the Display Ad homepage here, or view the video tutorial below on how to use the ad builder, which Google has provided.
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Enough About Universal Health Insurance. Now There’s Universal Conversion Optimizer
While U.S. politicians are talking about expanding health care to more people, Google AdWords is walking its talk, as it announced this morning that its Conversion Optimizer has reduced its eligibility requirements and expanded its service to more pay per click advertisers. This will allow a very large number of advertisers to now qualify for the campaign enhancing tool.
Prior to today, advertisers were required to have a minimum of 300 conversions in the past 30 days in order to use the Conversion Optimizer. Now that number has been reduced to 50 conversions per 30 day period, a number which is far more attainable to many advertisers.
Conversion Optimizer is a tool that helps you achieve more conversions by analyzing your tracking data and adjusting ad placement. The tool figures out how you are most likely to get conversions and adjusts things accordingly. Click here to find out more about how Conversion Optimizer works.
AdWords states that many advertisers see double digit increases in conversions as well as decreased cost/conversion by using the optimizer. However, until now many advertisers were unable to use the tool and thereby benefit due to lower volume than the rigid 300 conversion/month standard. Reduced standards will allow more advertisers to increase conversions and profits, which also means that Google increases its profits.
Google also stated that the updated Conversion Optimizer will now deliver better performance overall, due to improved technology. Specific details were not given.
Read MorePPC Management for Firefox (beta)
Why This Firefox Addon Rocks!
This toolbar will display today’s basic key performance indicators at the bottom of your browser.
Double Click this toolbar for your stats to update – it may take 60 seconds to update depending on the size of your account. The data you see will be for today only.
Right click to see the tool menu and drill down into your account level statistics.
Clicks: Total number of clicks accrued today
aCPC: average Cost Per Click today
Cost: Total spent today
Conv: Total number of conversions accrued today
C/C: Cost per Conversion today
Requirements
-FF 2+ preferred while we’re confident this works from 1.5-3.0.*
Tip: Your statistics might take 60 seconds or more to load depending on the size of your account. If you still do not see data, you may need to restart FF and test your credentials again.
How to Install This Firefox Addon
Upon download, Firefox should automatically recognize the extension and install it.
If you get any errors:
Right click the logo, click ‘save link as…’, after saving you can scan it with any Anti-Virus program, then open Firefox. In FF, click file -> Open File -> Find the file and open it -> Install
How To Use PPC Management for Firefox
Credentials
Login Email: Your Client Center login email address
Password: Your Client Center login password
Developer Token: AdWords API Token found in your Client Center (My Account->AdWords API Center)
Application Token: AdWords API Token found in your Client Center (My Account->AdWords API Center)
Client Email: The email address of the account in your Client Center that you want to see stats for
Save your credentials, then test! Load is kind of a pseudo button for now…
Tip: You might need to restart FF after saving your credentials for the tool to work properly!
Keyword Estimates Tool
This tool is very similar to the Estimates tool you find in AdWords.
You don’t have to enter a Max CPC if you want to see the absolute maximum you can expect to pay with the highest possible bid ($100).
Keyword Tool (AKA Kewyord Suggestion Tool)
Search Volume and Competition are on the old scale…1 to 5 where 5 is very competitive or very high search volume and 1 is limited competition with a very low search volume relative to other keywords in that space.
In the future we will incorporate the new real number estimates currently available at Google.
Site Keywords Tool
Enter your landing page in the Site URL field and click Generate Suggestions to see what keywords Google thinks the page is targeted towards.
Account Statistics Tool
You can drill down to the keyword level statistics to find out how your account is doing for the day!
Double click your way through and new windows will open displaying the next level of statistics. For example, double click on a campaign to see the ad groups of that campaign in a new stats window. Then, double click an ad group to see the keyword stats!
Privacy and Security
We are confident that this tool is secure and your privacy is protected. QualityScores will not and will never ask for or gather the information you enter into this tool. All of your credentials are stored on your local machine, not our servers. All AdWords API calls are made via https. This project is in beta right now so there aren’t any guarantees that a site you visit might have malicious material that could crack this…or one of your buddies could borrow your computer and get your credentials, etc. Please send any privacy concerns back to us asap so we can add it to our development time line as a priority!
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AdWords API – It’s Free To Sign Up!
Seriously…I’m seconding Shane’s post about getting an AdWords API Token set…it’s so easy!
Simply log into your Client Center (yes, you need one even if you have one advertiser account!)…then click on ‘My Account’, then click ‘AdWords API Center’ and follow the instructions from there to apply!
Here are the instructions in super simplified form:
1. Get a Client Center account if you don’t already have one!
2. Log into your Client Center -> My Account -> AdWords API Center -> Sign up!
Do it…you won’t regret it!
Read MoreAdWords API – You’re Gonna Want It!
A little while ago, we posted instructions on how to sign up for the AdWords API and get a developer token. Again, the AdWords API is a way for you to tap into your AdWords account data from external programs. It comes in handy with nifty tools that are coming out all the time to help you manage your pay per click accounts more effectively and efficiently.
A couple of good resources for learning about the AdWords API are the AdWords API Blog, the Google Groups AdWords API Forum, and Google AdWords API Introduction & Help.
We recommend you sign up for this API now. You may be kicking yourself in the next couple of weeks if you don’t! That’s all I’m trying to say…
AdWords Quality Score Changes To Go Live Worldwide
As we recently reported, Google AdWords has announced three big changes in its pay per click advertising program concerning quality score and bidding. The AdWords Team said today that Google is now ready to roll out the changes to all advertisers across Google’s entire network.
So buckle up, and watch your accounts for the changes this week.
On the Inside Adwords blog, Google explained that quality scores will still be calculated using the same factors, only now several of those factors will be calculated instantaneously at the time of the search query. Google explains:
“We will still consider your account’s history, which consists of the clickthrough rate (CTR) of all the ads and keywords in your account. We will also consider your landing page quality. Although your overall Quality Score is evaluated at the time of each query, landing page quality is evaluated less frequently.”
The AdWords Team also explained that the new ‘first page bid’ metric that is replacing the old ‘minimum bid’ does not mean that it will now cost more than it used to to have your ad appear on the first page of search results. The only difference is now AdWords gives you a reference point regarding what it will cost you to get on that first page, whereas before it only told you how much you’d need to pay to have your ad show at all. Of course, now that everyone will know how much to pay to get on the first page, those costs may go up as the competition for the first page gets fiercer.
These quality score changes, increases in paid search advertising competition, and the constant innovations in the pay per click advertising industry make it necessary to lean how to maintain the top quality scores for your keywords. It may even be important for seasoned PPC managers to brush up on their skills.
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