2010’s Top 10 Paid Search Tips for Holiday Ecommerce Success

The 2010 holiday shopping season is just 4 weeks away! I have 10 tips to achieve black sales figures this holiday season by using Paid Search to promote your ecommerce site! In addition to tips, I will tell you the key revenue generating dates you need to circle on your calendar:

1.) Right Now!

There is no time to waste! First, start by organizing a calendar, post a sticky note or highlight some key events, i.e., your special sales dates, Cyber Monday, Black Friday, Green Monday, dates you want ads to run, sale end dates.

2.) November

Next start analyzing your budget. If you’re already running pay-per-click campaigns see what campaigns are hitting at least 50% of their budget limits. These campaigns are most likely to reach budget limits faster during the holiday season. If these campaigns are posting ROI now then you need to focus on them over the next 8 weeks. Any campaigns that have not been performing, its time to realize a poor investment...cut your losses. Write that down.

3.) Last Year

If you ran campaigns last year its a good idea to pull out those old keyword reports. Find those branded and non-branded keywords that will again be relevant. If “Air Jordans” worked last year and its a high-demand brand again this year, boost those bids so you can be on the 1st page of the search engine.

4.) Mid November and Beyond...Prepare for Glory

5.) Take a peak at what the competition is doing. Simply run your keywords in the adwords ad preview tool

6.) Review previous days ppc performance and make sure your campaigns are aligned with your goals

7.) Base your bid adjustments on at least the last 4-to-7 days performance before you increase or decrease your bids

8.) Pull out all the stops! Run your promotions, don’t hesitate they won’t (your competition).

9.) Make sure you have stock. No one likes to hear “Sir or Madame, we don’t have your item in stock.” Big FAIL!!!

10.) Keep your last date to ship highlighted on your calendar so you don’t get angry people on Yelp bashing you when their goods are not delivered by December 25th.

As Promised key ecommerce 2010 holiday shopping dates:

Black Friday - 11/26/2010
Cyber Monday - 11/29/2010
Green Monday - 12/13/2010

If you feel that you don't have the time to DIY your online holiday marketing plan, eM-360 would be ecstatic to plan and execute a last minute game plan. We have the experience blowing holiday sales goals out of the water and would love to tell you about it. Feel free to contact us today!