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BT customers interested in a free boost to their broadband can apply on-line for a free Broadband Accelerator, assuming they have the right kind of BT socket, and aren’t already getting the promised bandwidth from BT.

The device is actually BT’s I-Plate, and it has been around since last year, retailing for under a tenner. It blocks the bell wire that’s prone to picking up in-home interference, as well as providing some filtering on other lines. Anyone with extensions around the house should get one, as the improvement to ADSL connections can be dramatic. This is why BT is handing them out with such enthusiasm.

The bell wire is supposed to provide a signal to make extensions ring, but modern phones don’t use it – it doesn’t even pass through the ADSL microfilters that should be fitted to every socket. So it just acts as one big antenna picking up rogue signals from around the house – such as those generated by florescent lighting – and channelling them into the ADSL line to interfere with the data connection. Simply cutting the bell wire also works, as well explained by Jarviser, though the filters in the I-Plate may improve things even more.

Recognise this socket: then you could benefit from a free I-Plate

The I-Plate won’t help those of us who’ve been pushing our speed by any means available (currently topping 288Kb/sec, thanks for asking), but if you’ve got any extensions and the right kind of BT socket, then it seems worth a try for less than the cost of a half.

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In no particular order here are 45 SEPPC tips to help you with your paid search marketing…

1.       Use your keyword at the start of the PPC advert title, at the start of the main body and in your visible URL

2.       Create at least 2 versions of each PPC advert changing just one component at a time to test different titles, features, URL etc.

3.       Enable your Google Analytics ecommerce tacking to report the ROI of your PPC campaigns

4.       Run a weekly ‘search query’ report in your reports section to find new negative keywords

5.       Maintain a ‘change log’ detailing all changes you make so you can keep your own records of changes.

6.       Use your PPC keyword impression data to inform SEO keyword targeting

7.       Before you write an advert check out what your competitors are doing

8.       Download and use AdWords Editor if you make regular changes or want to make a lot of changes at the same time

9.       Don’t make big changes based on small time frames e.g. a day. Look at the bigger picture.

10.   Structure your account correctly

11.   Include singular and plural variations of a keyword (where applicable)

12.   Use different campaigns for the content and search networks

13.   Run reports each week to check where your content network ads are being shown. Add any under-performing or undesirable sites to the negative list.

14.   Use the Keyword insertion tool in your ads e.g. {KeyWord: Title goes here} to increase CTR

15.   Capitalise each word in your PPC ad to stand out  e.g. “Sports Trainers Sale”

16.   Don’t expect much traffic from positions 11 downwards

17.   Use exact match and phrase match keywords extensively.

18.   The content and search network partner options are turned on by default. If you don’t want to advertise there, go to ‘Campaigns’ > ‘Settings’ > ‘Campaign you want to edit’ > ‘Network & devices’

19.   Use geo-targeting if you target specific countries (e.g. UK) or regions (e.g. London)

20.   Use the AdWords preview tool to view your ads without triggering unnecessary ad impressions

21.   Don’t fire and forget. Check your campaigns daily and run regular performance reports.

22.   Use Google Analytics to research when your visitors have a higher propensity to convert and schedule your ads to be shown during these times.

23.   Read our mini-guide about researching negative keywords

24.   Read Enquiro’s eye tracking study (it’s worth the money)

25.   Understand what the ‘Google triangle’ is and how it affects your bidding strategy

26.    If you have the resources, create special landing pages for specific keywords/ ad’s. If you don’t…

27.   Deep link to the product/ service you are advertising

28.   Use “Official Site” in the title for brand terms e.g. “widget.com – Official Site”

29.   Make your visible URL readable e.g. Instead of ‘widget.com/greatdealhere’ use ‘widget.com/Great-Deal’

30.   Include common misspellings in your keyword list

31.   Seek out Google AdWords advertising credit for new accounts. There are loads out there as part of advertising inserts in magazines.

32.   Keep up to date with the latest thinking and technical changes through blogs and articles such as http://searchengineland.com/ and http://ppchero.com/

33.   Read the official Google AdWords blog

34.   Don’t be afraid to cut your losses with a campaign, ad group or keyword that isn’t performing even if you were convinced it would work. The numbers don’t lie.

35.   Understand what the Quality Score is, how it works and how it affects you and your ads

36.   Do regular searches of your brand name to check if anyone else is bidding on it. If they are, make sure you do too to block them off.

37.   Use the site targeting feature for limited budget content network graphical/ banner campaigns and/ or for testing campaigns

38.   It may sound obvious but it can easily be overlooked – If you experience any technical problems with your site that prevents conversions taking place, pause your campaigns until the issue is resolved.

39.   Bid on specific product names (more likely to be transactional searches) rather than generic product searches (more likely to be informational searches).  E.g. “Nokia 5800” rather than “Nokia mobile phones”. These types of searches tend to be cheaper and convert more.

40.   Create a sense of urgency in your ad copy for them to act now e.g. “Offer ends soon”

41.   Calculate the average value of a customer/ basket and your costs and then use that data to inform your CPA targets

42.   Don’t view your paid search as a silo, compare it’s performance with your other marketing or sources of traffic using Google Analytics

43.   Make sure you don’t let your adverts become stale and you keep your PPC adverts up to date with the latest prices, special offers and new products/ services

44.   Use Trademarks and Registered Symbols in Your Ads to Increase Click-Through Rates. Type the below number, and release the alt key

1. 1. ™ = Alt + 0153
   2. © = Alt +  0169
   3. ® = Alt + 0174

45.   If you download the SEObook toolbar for FireFox you can view the destination URL for PPC ads on Google. Using this information you can build a picture of your competitor’s campaigns (depending on the tracking they are using). For example, I can see one of ours has ’web hosting’ set to exact match within an ad group called ‘general’ which in turn is part of a campaign called ‘hosting’

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