As millions of businesses try to capitalize on the Black Friday sales and prepare for the looming year-end madness of the holidays, November is always a busy month – and the WordStream blog was no exception this year.
This month, plenty of stories struck a chord with our readers. From competitive keyword research and imaginative ways to make the most of ad extensions, there was a lot going on at the WordStream blog last month.
If you were among the business owners frantically trying to get everything together for your holiday campaigns, fear not – here, for your reading pleasure, are the most popular posts from the WordStream blog in November.
1. The 8 Best Tools for Finding Competitor Keywords
With more businesses than ever competing for their slice of the pie, competitive intelligence research is more important than ever. But how do you go about finding your competitors’ keywords?
In our most popular post of the month, yours truly explores eight tools that will help you find out which keywords your competitors are ranking for and how you leverage this vital information in your own campaigns.
2. Ultimate Guide to Dominating Black Friday PPC in 2017
November may be a time to look forward to (or dread) spending time with family, at least in the U.S., but for many people, there’s only one show in town – Black Friday. The day after Thanksgiving is one of the biggest shopping days of the year, and with so much at stake, it’s vital that businesses make the most of this unique opportunity. In our second-most popular post of November, Andrew Lolk explains how to crush the competition on Black Friday.
3. 3 Creative Ways to Use Ad Extensions (that Google Won’t Tell You About!)
Ad extensions are among the most versatile tools at digital marketers’ disposal, but there’s more to ad extensions than meets the eye. In this post, Allen shows you three imaginative ways to get even more mileage out of your ad extensions. How many of these techniques have you used?
4. The Inverted Unicorn Ad Targeting Strategy that Doubles Facebook Relevance Score
It’s no secret that WordStream founder Larry Kim has kind of a thing for a certain mythological creature. However, Larry’s affinity for magical horse-like beasts isn’t just an idiosyncratic preoccupation – it actually informs many of Larry’s unique approaches to digital marketing. Case in point, the “Inverted Unicorn Ad Targeting Strategy.”
In this post, Larry shows you how this technique can double – yes, double – the Relevance Score of your Facebook ads. Mythological creatures and improved Relevance Scores? What are you waiting for?
5. 4 New AdWords Features You Need to Try
AdWords is always changing. In any given year, Google makes hundreds of little tweaks to its AdWords platform, many of which go unnoticed. Sometimes, however, we’re treated to extra-special new features that make advertisers’ lives easier. In this post, Allen explains how to take advantage of three brand-new AdWords features you might not have had a chance to play around with yet. Essential reading for advertisers seeking to gain an edge over the competition!
6. 75 Super-Useful Facebook Statistics for 2018
Did you know that almost 80% of Americans use Facebook, and that more than half use the site several times per day? Or that roughly 400 new users sign up for Facebook every minute? Facebook is truly a juggernaut in the social media space, and no other platform even comes close to rivaling its dominance. Check out these 75(!) amazing facts about Facebook to see how influential Facebook has become.
7. 9 Ways to Lower Your Facebook Ad Costs
As powerful and cost-effective as Facebook Ads can be, there are always ways to stretch your ad budget even further. In this guest post, Lisa Lacy outlines nine different ways you can bring your Facebook advertising costs down without hamstringing your campaigns or sacrificing your targeting parameters.
Even if your Facebook campaigns are tightly optimized, you may be able to save even more money on your Facebook ads.
8. The Complete Guide to Advertising on Instagram
Facebook may be the biggest player in social, but Instagram is a powerhouse in its own right. However, as popular as Instagram may be (especially among those cool-kid Millennial types), advertising on Instagram can still be a little intimidating to newcomers, particularly smaller businesses with more modest advertising budgets. In this post, Margot runs through everything you need to know about advertising on Instagram, from initial setup to ongoing campaign monitoring. A must-read if you’re thinking of diversifying your social presence into Instagram.
9. 3 Underrated Metrics That Will Improve Your PPC Performance
With so much data at their disposal, some advertisers can fall into the trap of focusing on the wrong metrics when evaluating the success (or failure) of their campaigns. As many advertisers can attest, not all metrics are created equal, and in this guest post, Funnel.io’s Juuso Lyytikkä explores three commonly underrated PPC metrics than can significantly boost the performance of your campaigns. How many of these metrics do you look at on the regular?
10. Bing Ads Benchmarks for YOUR Industry
Advertisers often want as much data as they can get their hands on, but oftentimes, the most actionable and insightful data – such as clearly defined advertising benchmarks for specific industries – remain the most elusive.
That’s why we produced this original research data on Bing Ads performance benchmarks for YOUR industry. Feast your eyes on the average CPCs, CPAs, and CTRs for Bing Ads in your vertical and see how your campaigns measure up.