Hi there,
Just another update on how things are going for our team at the moment.
Firstly, we submitted our post campaign report on Thursday, so that's another thing we can tick off the list, yay! Next up is a presentation of our experience of the Google challenge. It's an inhouse presentation in DIT as part of the online module, where we get to present to class and the faculty on our experience and the results of the challenge.
We're hoping one of the Picturehouse lads will be able to make it down, however they are VERY busy at the moment, having taken on two new photographers in the last month, and they have bookings coming in left, right and centre! We're really pleased for them, and it's nice to think that our Google challenge might have helped contribute in some way!
Just working on the presentation now... And once that's complete its only a matter of finishing up our SEM essay and that's our online module complete! 3 and a half weeks til the end of term... so I'd better get back to it!
All the best
bella
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Thursday, April 23, 2009
Post Campaign Report...
Hiya,
Well things have been hotting up in DIT recently... we're counting down the days til the end of term... And it's coming round very, verrry quickly! Only 3 weeks of term left and then two weeks of exams and its (nearly) all over (well, that's if you don't count the 20,000 word dissertation waiting for us over the summer!)
Since winding up the campaign, we've been working on the Post-Campaign report. We've completed a rough first draft that we will now work on and improve before submitting to Google. It's been really great having this blog to look over and to remember how we've progressed through the campaign.
Today's been an interesting day for online marketing as well. First of all we had a guest lecture by Jonathon Forest from Cybercom on the future of online marketing in Ireland. In the afternoon, we also had a talk by Fiona Ellis-Chadwick from the Open University, discussing digital marketing strategies for online retailers. Both speakers were great and gave us some new insights into the world of online marketing and we came away with some great ideas as well.
Back to college work for now.
Chat laters!
Bella
Well things have been hotting up in DIT recently... we're counting down the days til the end of term... And it's coming round very, verrry quickly! Only 3 weeks of term left and then two weeks of exams and its (nearly) all over (well, that's if you don't count the 20,000 word dissertation waiting for us over the summer!)
Since winding up the campaign, we've been working on the Post-Campaign report. We've completed a rough first draft that we will now work on and improve before submitting to Google. It's been really great having this blog to look over and to remember how we've progressed through the campaign.
Today's been an interesting day for online marketing as well. First of all we had a guest lecture by Jonathon Forest from Cybercom on the future of online marketing in Ireland. In the afternoon, we also had a talk by Fiona Ellis-Chadwick from the Open University, discussing digital marketing strategies for online retailers. Both speakers were great and gave us some new insights into the world of online marketing and we came away with some great ideas as well.
Back to college work for now.
Chat laters!
Bella
Friday, April 17, 2009
The End
Hi all!
Well our challenge is complete!! The last three weeks have flown by as Roisin said, we can't get over how quickly its gone and now its all over... very sad!!
Anyhoo... We're all very pleased with our progress throughout the challenge... It's been tough keeping track of all the ads and different keywords and campaigns to ensure that we were keeping things as relevant as possible. However, by the end I think we've all improved a great deal and have a fair knowledge of how to best use AdWords. But I suppose Google will be the ultimate judge of that!!
Things were pretty close right up to the very end... We managed our budget pretty much perfectly, so that we had enough cash left to fund the last day of the challenge and a little left to spare at the end as well!
Overall we're all pleased with our CTR, although we recognise that a few early-on "learning curves" may have set us back. However, we responded quickly and in the last two weeks we were far more consistent in our impressions/clicks.
More importantly, Picturehouse Photography have really noticed the results of the campaign. Since the start they have been receiving around 2-3 calls a day specifically from internet referrals... They're delighted with the results and are seriously considering continuing the campaign themselves.
So, the next step now for our team will be the write-up of our post campaign report (any tips appreciated?!!) followed by a presentation within our college of our overall experience.
We' ll keep you updated on how it all goes anyway... and fingers crossed Google like what they see!
Ciao!
Bella
Well our challenge is complete!! The last three weeks have flown by as Roisin said, we can't get over how quickly its gone and now its all over... very sad!!
Anyhoo... We're all very pleased with our progress throughout the challenge... It's been tough keeping track of all the ads and different keywords and campaigns to ensure that we were keeping things as relevant as possible. However, by the end I think we've all improved a great deal and have a fair knowledge of how to best use AdWords. But I suppose Google will be the ultimate judge of that!!
Things were pretty close right up to the very end... We managed our budget pretty much perfectly, so that we had enough cash left to fund the last day of the challenge and a little left to spare at the end as well!
Overall we're all pleased with our CTR, although we recognise that a few early-on "learning curves" may have set us back. However, we responded quickly and in the last two weeks we were far more consistent in our impressions/clicks.
More importantly, Picturehouse Photography have really noticed the results of the campaign. Since the start they have been receiving around 2-3 calls a day specifically from internet referrals... They're delighted with the results and are seriously considering continuing the campaign themselves.
So, the next step now for our team will be the write-up of our post campaign report (any tips appreciated?!!) followed by a presentation within our college of our overall experience.
We' ll keep you updated on how it all goes anyway... and fingers crossed Google like what they see!
Ciao!
Bella
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Last Day!
Wow so we're on the last day of the challenge...it really has flown by!
As we expected Easter was a fairly quiet time for Picturehouse Photography as most people in Ireland seem to go away for the Bank holiday but traffic is up again yesterday and today.We had some success using the Easter themed special offers but have since swapped them back.
Thankfully we seem to have managed to divide our budget well and have some left to end our campaign on a high note:)
It has been an amazing learning experience for the three of us and we all know our way around the adwords site very well now which should be handy when we start working later in the year!
There's just the matter of the final report to do now-eek!
Ro x
As we expected Easter was a fairly quiet time for Picturehouse Photography as most people in Ireland seem to go away for the Bank holiday but traffic is up again yesterday and today.We had some success using the Easter themed special offers but have since swapped them back.
Thankfully we seem to have managed to divide our budget well and have some left to end our campaign on a high note:)
It has been an amazing learning experience for the three of us and we all know our way around the adwords site very well now which should be handy when we start working later in the year!
There's just the matter of the final report to do now-eek!
Ro x
Friday, April 10, 2009
Day 12-15
Hi
So we’re moving into our last week now and everything’s going great! We haven‘t had to make too many adjustments over the past few days to the campaign-there seems to be an increase in price for keywords which may be due to the time of year with all the communions and confirmations at the moment!
Earlier in the week we increased our max bid and clicks increased accordingly. With Easter weekend starting today we are expecting site traffic to drop off as weekends are never very busy and a lot of lucky people will be heading away on holidays(very jealous)!
In anticipation of this drop we have changed some of our ads to have an Easter theme and are promoting the great special offers Picturehouse have for May.
Everyone goes back to work on Tuesday so we’re hoping for two last days of high traffic to finish off the competition. I can’t believe we’re nearly finished already!!
Hope you have a great Easter weekend:)
Talk soon
Roisin x
Monday, April 6, 2009
Days 9, 10 & 11
Hiya
We've had a good weekend, there were a few days at the end of last week that seemed to be a little slow moving, so we made a few changes last week to the ads and time-scheduling so I think these may have had an effect.
Anyhow things have picked up again and the ads are getting clicks, and we've maintained a high CTR all weekend - so things are looking good!
Picturehouse's special offer for free shoots in May has definitely helped increase clicks, so we're looking forward to seeing how that adgroup does during the week (when we tend to see the greatest interest).
Other changes, that may have already been mentioned, include increasing ad-scheduling back to 5am (as per Google reports), and pausing the mobile-studio adgroup as it was attracting the least interest.
I'm back off to the library to study now.. but I hope you are getting to enjoy your Easter hols!!
Bella
We've had a good weekend, there were a few days at the end of last week that seemed to be a little slow moving, so we made a few changes last week to the ads and time-scheduling so I think these may have had an effect.
Anyhow things have picked up again and the ads are getting clicks, and we've maintained a high CTR all weekend - so things are looking good!
Picturehouse's special offer for free shoots in May has definitely helped increase clicks, so we're looking forward to seeing how that adgroup does during the week (when we tend to see the greatest interest).
Other changes, that may have already been mentioned, include increasing ad-scheduling back to 5am (as per Google reports), and pausing the mobile-studio adgroup as it was attracting the least interest.
I'm back off to the library to study now.. but I hope you are getting to enjoy your Easter hols!!
Bella
Friday, April 3, 2009
Day 7 & 8
Hey Everyone!
Just a quick update for tonight!
Not much to report - things seem to be settling nicely with the campaign! We had our weekly lecture yesterday with our Prof Edel and filled her in on all the developments and progress so far!
Today we launched our new ads for the special offer our client will be running for the month of May. It's a fantastic deal as the guys at Picturehouse are offering families the chance to get a free shoot done in their Rathmines Studio for the entire month of May- What a Deal! Here's hoping the ads will help the guys get the most from their promotion!
Other than that we have changed the times that our campaign is active. Apparently Dubliners like to rise early these days, surprising given how half of them are unemployed cos of this damn recession, but most of our clicks were coming at very early hours of the morning!! The new time slots should help improve our CTR and so on....
Well that's all for now!
We will be back next week with some more updates!
Enjoy your weekend!
Ronan A
Just a quick update for tonight!
Not much to report - things seem to be settling nicely with the campaign! We had our weekly lecture yesterday with our Prof Edel and filled her in on all the developments and progress so far!
Today we launched our new ads for the special offer our client will be running for the month of May. It's a fantastic deal as the guys at Picturehouse are offering families the chance to get a free shoot done in their Rathmines Studio for the entire month of May- What a Deal! Here's hoping the ads will help the guys get the most from their promotion!
Other than that we have changed the times that our campaign is active. Apparently Dubliners like to rise early these days, surprising given how half of them are unemployed cos of this damn recession, but most of our clicks were coming at very early hours of the morning!! The new time slots should help improve our CTR and so on....
Well that's all for now!
We will be back next week with some more updates!
Enjoy your weekend!
Ronan A
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Day 6
So we're nearly a week through our campaign now....we've learnt alot already and really know what we're doing now!
Our client Picturehouse Photography have a great promotion for the month of May which we are going to start promoting tomorrow so we've been having a look at our current ads to see what we'll change.
The ad as Gaeilge wasn't very successful for us this week so we're going back to all ads in english for the moment.We might give it another go later next week!
We've also made some adjustments to our daily budget as we've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of clicks we've received.Even better we just heard from our client and they are delighted with the increase in enquiries and site traffic they've had:)
Ok gotta go finish our presentation on SEM for tomorrow-we'll let you know how it goes!
Roisin
Our client Picturehouse Photography have a great promotion for the month of May which we are going to start promoting tomorrow so we've been having a look at our current ads to see what we'll change.
The ad as Gaeilge wasn't very successful for us this week so we're going back to all ads in english for the moment.We might give it another go later next week!
We've also made some adjustments to our daily budget as we've been pleasantly surprised by the amount of clicks we've received.Even better we just heard from our client and they are delighted with the increase in enquiries and site traffic they've had:)
Ok gotta go finish our presentation on SEM for tomorrow-we'll let you know how it goes!
Roisin
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Day 5
Yesterday was the fifth day of the challenge... So we thought it would be a good time to change some of our ads that we're using for split testing.
Within the adgroup for studio campaigns, one ad "Perfect Family Portraits" has been performing a lot better than the other ad, so we kept the successful ad and are now trialling a new ad entitled "Strike a Pose".
As this has been the adgroup attracting the most interest, we also thought it might be worthwhile testing an ad as Gaeilge. We decided to roughly model this ad on our most successful ad in English, so this one is now running on Adwords as well.
For the mobile studio, both our split tested ads have been performing similarly... However, we still thought it worthwhile to trial a new ad, this time promoting both the mobile studio as well as their studio in Rathmines. This ad has replaced the previous ad running with the least interest over the last 4 days.
We'll prob leave these new ads going for the next 4-5 days, and then reassess and trial some more!
That's all the news from day 5!
Bella
Within the adgroup for studio campaigns, one ad "Perfect Family Portraits" has been performing a lot better than the other ad, so we kept the successful ad and are now trialling a new ad entitled "Strike a Pose".
As this has been the adgroup attracting the most interest, we also thought it might be worthwhile testing an ad as Gaeilge. We decided to roughly model this ad on our most successful ad in English, so this one is now running on Adwords as well.
For the mobile studio, both our split tested ads have been performing similarly... However, we still thought it worthwhile to trial a new ad, this time promoting both the mobile studio as well as their studio in Rathmines. This ad has replaced the previous ad running with the least interest over the last 4 days.
We'll prob leave these new ads going for the next 4-5 days, and then reassess and trial some more!
That's all the news from day 5!
Bella
Monday, March 30, 2009
Days 3 & 4
Over the weekend, things quietened down a bit, which was actually the opposite of what we predicted would happen! Although traffic to the site was slower than the previous weekdays, we still achieved a number of clicks and used up our daily budget on both days.. So I think the ads were useful for attracting traffic to the sites on typically slow days.
We noticed a bit of a problem with the content targeting on Saturday - that the ads were being targeted across all types of sites globally by Google!! Ooops. Luckily, we were able to rectify that pretty quickly.
So far its been a great learning experience - but no matter how much preparation we'd done, there's always something that crops up to surprise us!! And I'm sure there's a lot more to come...
Bella
We noticed a bit of a problem with the content targeting on Saturday - that the ads were being targeted across all types of sites globally by Google!! Ooops. Luckily, we were able to rectify that pretty quickly.
So far its been a great learning experience - but no matter how much preparation we'd done, there's always something that crops up to surprise us!! And I'm sure there's a lot more to come...
Bella
Day 2
Well, day 2 went a lot more smoothly than day 1! After removing a few keywords from the campaign, our budget lasted a lot longer for the day and we appeared to have a more successful CTR. We played around with the keywords a little bit more, removing any misleading words such as "photos" and replacing them with more targeted words like "photographer" or "photography". We added some extra negative keywords also, to improve our targeting further. Our clicks doubled on the previous day, so a definite improvement!!
Bella x
Bella x
Friday, March 27, 2009
Day 1
Went live at last! After so long learning in theory it was great to finally try it out. We set everything up easily enough and sat back and enjoyed seeing Picturehouse Photography move to number one on search! Then disaster struck a few short hours later when I got a panicked phone call from Ronan to report we’d used 5% of our budget in less than 4 hours!!!!
We realized our mistake immediately-the keywords baby pictures and kids photos were too broad and had several hundred impression and some expensive clicks at around 2 dollars each!
We’ve made the changes back to our more sedate but relevant keyword list and fingers crossed that’s our one and only mistake!!! On a plus though there has been a fair amount of activity looking for family photographer which is our target market-we just need them to click through now!
Here’s hoping tomorrow goes smoother!
Roisin
We realized our mistake immediately-the keywords baby pictures and kids photos were too broad and had several hundred impression and some expensive clicks at around 2 dollars each!
We’ve made the changes back to our more sedate but relevant keyword list and fingers crossed that’s our one and only mistake!!! On a plus though there has been a fair amount of activity looking for family photographer which is our target market-we just need them to click through now!
Here’s hoping tomorrow goes smoother!
Roisin
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Two days to go!
Wow what a week it’s been with Paddy’s day madness followed by Ireland winning the Grand Slam in rugby for the first time in 61 years!!! It was a day of huge pride for Irish people worldwide-I still can’t believe how amazing the match was! With all the celebrations we haven’t been posting lately but this will change as…...we will be starting our campaign on Thursday!
We submitted our pre-campaign report last week so just a few last minute details to sort out with the client and we’re all set!
Since Picturehouse Photography changed their website the traffic has increased so we’re hoping with our AMAZING campaign efforts we’ll be on to a winner:)
We're all really looking forward to getting started now!
Talk soon
Roisin
We submitted our pre-campaign report last week so just a few last minute details to sort out with the client and we’re all set!
Since Picturehouse Photography changed their website the traffic has increased so we’re hoping with our AMAZING campaign efforts we’ll be on to a winner:)
We're all really looking forward to getting started now!
Talk soon
Roisin
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Time to Celebrate!!
Hi -Roisin here-this is my first post:)
So we finally finished the pre-campaign Strategy report this evening and we’re nearly ready to go!!
We’re feeling the need for a celebratory team night out but going to wait a few days….With St Patrick’s Day just around the corner Dublin will be buzzing all week long so a few beers will be had:)
We’ll post some photos of the team’s celebrations early next week. There’s lots of cultural events organized around the city that I think I’ll be popping along to. Have a look at: http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/cms/home.html the celebrations seem to get bigger every year!
I’m definitely going to the Spheres show at the Docklands-I actually saw this act ‘Strange Fruit’ a few years ago in Melbourne at the Commonwealth Games celebrations and thought they were amazing!! You can find them at http://www.strangefruit.net.au/ a seriously talented bunch:)
Des from Picturehouse just rang me and their new and improved website is now up and running-have a look at http://www.picturehousephotography.ie
Let us know what you think of it!
Talk to you after the weekend
Rois xx
So we finally finished the pre-campaign Strategy report this evening and we’re nearly ready to go!!
We’re feeling the need for a celebratory team night out but going to wait a few days….With St Patrick’s Day just around the corner Dublin will be buzzing all week long so a few beers will be had:)
We’ll post some photos of the team’s celebrations early next week. There’s lots of cultural events organized around the city that I think I’ll be popping along to. Have a look at: http://www.stpatricksfestival.ie/cms/home.html the celebrations seem to get bigger every year!
I’m definitely going to the Spheres show at the Docklands-I actually saw this act ‘Strange Fruit’ a few years ago in Melbourne at the Commonwealth Games celebrations and thought they were amazing!! You can find them at http://www.strangefruit.net.au/ a seriously talented bunch:)
Des from Picturehouse just rang me and their new and improved website is now up and running-have a look at http://www.picturehousephotography.ie
Let us know what you think of it!
Talk to you after the weekend
Rois xx
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
Pre-Campaign Strategy
Well, myself and the guys met yesterday to tidy up our pre-campaign strategy report.
We showed it to our lecturer last week and she gave us some great advice (Thanks Edel!!). So while sitting in the Bald Barista enjoying some lovely hot chocolates, we came across a few details that needed changing... which meant we had to contact the lads at Picturehouse Photography (our client).
They're really looking forward to going live next week and are finalising changes to their website. If you fancy a look the address is www.picturehousephotography.ie/ we will be sorting out some links for this page soon as well.
Meeting up with Ronan and Roisin tomorrow to finish off the report for hand-in on Thurs - wish us luck!
TTFN Bella xx
We showed it to our lecturer last week and she gave us some great advice (Thanks Edel!!). So while sitting in the Bald Barista enjoying some lovely hot chocolates, we came across a few details that needed changing... which meant we had to contact the lads at Picturehouse Photography (our client).
They're really looking forward to going live next week and are finalising changes to their website. If you fancy a look the address is www.picturehousephotography.ie/ we will be sorting out some links for this page soon as well.
Meeting up with Ronan and Roisin tomorrow to finish off the report for hand-in on Thurs - wish us luck!
TTFN Bella xx
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Just to Put A Face to the Names...
Now who wouldn't want to be in partnership with this lot.......
Ciao,
Rónán
And So It Begins....
Welcome to our new Blog y'all!
Here you will find our daily update of the highs and lows of our bid to win the 2009 Google Online Marketing Challenge!
Our partnership with the guys at Picturehouse Photography in Rathmines, Co. Dublin, will establish Picturehouse Photography as the premier provider of Family Portraits in the Irish Capital!
For more info. on the guys over at Picturehouse Photography check out their website below
Here you will find our daily update of the highs and lows of our bid to win the 2009 Google Online Marketing Challenge!
Our partnership with the guys at Picturehouse Photography in Rathmines, Co. Dublin, will establish Picturehouse Photography as the premier provider of Family Portraits in the Irish Capital!
For more info. on the guys over at Picturehouse Photography check out their website below
We aim to go live with the Challenge by the end of March so make sure you click below to follow us for all the info. on our progress.
So Till Next Time
Slán go Fóill
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