I just wanted to take a minute and wish all a Happy Thanksgiving. Times are tough and it seems we hear more negative than positive everywhere we turn but we probably all have at least one thing we can be thankful for, I know I have many. So Happy Thanksgiving and GO COWBOYS!

The test was successful and pretty impressive. 34 minutes from the time the post How long does it take Google to add a page to their index was published it appeared in Google’s index.

What does this say for fresh, unique content? Google loves it!

What does this mean for you? You should be updating your site on a frequent basis.

This is a test of Google Indexing speed. I have added this post at 3:26 pm CST and will post a response when it has been indexed by Google. Remember this is only a test, please try this with your own site.

Since it’s the week before Thanksgiving that means Christmas is upon us and you should have started or be prepared to start a Holiday PPC campaign. I thought I would give a few tips that are the basis to all of the Holiday PPC campaigns we run for clients.

Keyword Strategy:

• Seasonal Keywords - Look for keywords that are unique to Christmas such as Christmas gifts, Xmas gift, Holiday parties, etc. Don’t forget this is a holiday season for many religions, not just Christians.
• Longtail Keywords - While researching your seasonal terms don’t forget the longtail versions. People searching for Christmas gifts may extend that to tie gifts for Christmas. Remember longtail keywords typically convert at a high rate.

Ad Copy Strategy:

• Keep the holiday season mindset when developing ad copy. Use terms that relate to Christmas, Hanukkah and typical holiday speak like “Tis the season”. Don’t forget many shoppers wait until the last minute so if you offer last minute or overnight delivery this is a great time to let people know.
• Sales - Using the term Holiday Sale can be very effective as can be catering to the early shopper with terms like Beat the rush or Order early. Providing a discount to early orders is an option to keep open as well. “Order by Dec 10, Get 20% off!

Landing Page Strategy:

• Holiday look and feel - You’ve enticed the customer to click on your holiday ad so keep them in the spirit by giving your landing pages a holiday look and feel. Maybe it’s a color scheme or adding snowflakes or using holiday lingo like “HO, HO, HO - Welcome!” or all three, keeping the holiday theme going will enhance the visitors experience.
• Expectations - If you are promoting a product that is very popular you want to keep the visitor informed as it relates to stock and delivery. The same is true for last minute shoppers, posting the drop-dead cutoff date for shipping to arrive before Christmas is not only informative but good customer service.

2009 has been a tough year and this holiday season could be make up for a lot of lost revenue. Take more time than normal and put some effort into creating your Holiday PPC Campaign and may the season be a blessed one to you.

If you’re looking for professional pay per click management we are Google Adwords Certified and Microsoft aD Excellence members and welcome the opportunity to speak with you.