There is a fantastic formula in Excel which I find myself using quite often when creating ads for Geo-Targeted campaigns.  Its called: Substitute

SUBSTITUTE(text,old_text,new_text)

To demonstrate how it works, here is an example.  Keep in mind that your campaign structure will most likely be different than how it is outlined below.  You will need to take this strategy and contour it to fit your needs.  The concept is what is most important here.

*Columns F & G would contain the Display & Destination URL

To instantly create unique ads specific to the State and City follow these instructions:

1. Write the creative and use “XXXX” to signify the State and “YYYY” to signify the city.
2. Select Cells C1 through E10 >> CTRL + D
   1. This copies the creative down for each adgroup.
3. In Cell H1 write the following formula Result: “New York Cleaning Srvc.”
   1. =Substitute(C1,”XXXX”,A1)
   2. Result: “New York Cleaning Srvc.”
4. In Cell I1 write the following formula
   1. =D1
   2. Result: “Home, Office, or Vehicle.”
5. In Cell J1 write the following formula
   1. =Substitute(E1,”YYYY”,B1)
   2. Result: “Servicing the Manhattan area.”
6. Select Cells H1 through J10 >> CTRL + D
   1. This copies the formulas down for each adgroup.
7. Select Columns H,I,J >> Right Click >> Copy
8. Select Column C >> Right Click >> Paste Special >> Paste Values >> OK
   1. This converts the formulas you wrote to text.

Here is the result:

Positives: It may be hard to see the value in using this method to create ads for 10 adgroups, but when you have campaigns which work on Towns within Cities within States, you can have hundreds of Adgroups.  At that point you will see the value in creating ads in this method as this only takes a few minutes to complete.

Negatives: Once you create ads for all of your adgroups, you will find that you have exceeded the character limits in a few locations.  These will need to be manually adjusted to make them fit.  Try removing a period: “area.” To “area”, abbreviating a word: “North” to “N”, or rewrite the entire line of text.

ad creative, Adwords, Excel, geotargeting, local business center, Local Search, ppc advertising

Using Engine Ready’s Call Analytics can be an eye opening experience for all businesses. It’s primary use is to isolate where your incoming calls are coming from, which marketing source is driving the highest conversion rate, and together, help align your marketing strategy. Other secondary usages of the software can be as or even more eye-opening than its originally designed function.

As with any analytics software, it provides the data, you draw the conclusions. The main difficulty with any analytics is knowing which question to ask. 

Working with a small business owner who has Local campaigns in several cities across the United States, we wanted to ask the question: Ahould we put 800#’s on the website or Local phone numbers? - Instead of debating this question in a round-table discussion, we tested it.

Here are the results by each City (% of Total Call Volume).

Based on this test performed with Engine Ready’s Call Analytics, we have successfully concluded that it is in fact the Local# which is converting more visitors to calls; more than twice as much as a Toll-Free number!

We concluded for this particular small business owner, whose target audience is with-in a localized area, it would be an ineffective use of resources to invest in an #800.

* Every business is unique, you should test this question on your own website just to make sure. 

There are so many stratagies to test and question to ask which Call Analytics could shed light on.

With only 70 characters allowed to convey your marketing message in a PPC ad, is it effective to use that limited creative space to display your phone number? Stay tuned for more!

Call Analytics, Call Tracking, Local Search, Small Business