That’s one recommendation I thought I would never make.

As anyone who has read my prior posts would tell you, I am a strong believer in conversion over clicks. That has long been the reason I have avoided advertising on Google’s content network. I had seen the numbers on content ads and the return on ad spend was terrible.

I have now changed my mind. That does not come easy for me to say, but again I have seen the numbers.

Currently my content network ads are performing just as well, if not better then my search ads. Of course, that did not arrive by accident. There were several steps I took to get to a good return on ad spend on Google’s content network.

Below are a few tips for better content network performance

1. Don’t get swooned by big brands - Google publicizes their content network by noting that ads will show on big sites such as About.com, NYTimes.com, FoodNetwork.com, and many other big branded sites. Although these sites are impressive in their own industry, the ultimate result may be high cost and low conversion. Often the better performing sites are the unknown, but very specific sites. Give the smaller guys a try.
2. Start with a low CPC – Cost will quickly rise with content ads. It’s important to dip your foot into the pool slowly and test the waters, before jumping in. After testing and tweaking, then increase the cost-per-click on well performing AdGroups.
3. Separate content from search – Although the content ads may perform well, the CPC and budgets will be different the search network. It is important to be able to adjust one without affecting performance of the other. Separating content from search is a necessity in measuring performance.
4. Exclude not converting sites – This one is crucial. Thankfully, Google now provides performance data on specific sites. That data allows you to see content sites that perform well and most importantly which ones are performing poorly. For example, for me content ads on MySpace bring in a lot of traffic, thus a lot of cost. However, the conversion is terrible if any at all. Therefore, I exclude my ads from MySpace. Obviously, that will vary per industry. This is why it’s extremely important to run AdWords’ Placement Reports.

I have long been a fan Rose Sylvia’s work at PPCThink.com. If you haven’t read much of her work I encourage you to subscribe and read often.

Her latest article: “Improving Your Conversion Rate is FAR More Important Than Driving More Traffic” is no exception.

PPCThink.com mentions what I have said often, “Conversion Matters not Clicks”. She sums up several great articles that have recently been published, so I can’t give her complete credit, but either way it’s still a great post.

She makes one terrific point: “The most important conversion rate for you is yours”. Don’t get caught up in industry standards and statistics, discover your own averages. After continuous monitoring of cost per conversion and knowing how much of a markup you have on your product, only you know your conversion average.

Getting traffic is easy. However, getting customers is where true pay-per-click professionals earn their money. It’s important to monitor the cost per conversion per product. Every product has a price. You and your analytics can determine what that is.

If you are coming to the VRMA conference in New Orleans next week, I would love to meet you.

This is the 23rd annual VRMA conference, but my first. VRMA is Vacation Rental Managers Association.

The conference, in New Orleans, allows vacation rental property managers and marketers a chance to learn, network, and socialize with others in the vacation rental business.

If you plan to go to the VRMA conference, please post a note here. Let’s get together and discuss online marketing, I am always looking for new ideas and suggestions.

See you at VRMA.

I just returned from attending RezFest 2007 in Aspen, Colorado. RezFest is the annual Instant Software user conference. It featured many classes and product demos focuses exclusively on the vacation rental market.

This was my first year attending RezFest. Although, there were many sessions that were not relevant to me, it was still a great learning opportunity. And most important, it was opportunity to meet some great people.

Obviously, there was a lot of focus at RezFest on what’s working in the vacation rental industry. It’s great to be at a conference that was clearly focused what it was.

I saw some interesting presenters at RezFest. Below are two of my favorites:

• Terry Jones, founder and former CEO of Travelocity.com (www.tbjones.com)
• Trent Blizzard, CEO & Co-owner, Blizzard Internet Marketing (www.blizzardinternet.com)