It’s free to sign up! AdWords charges you $5 for account activation. Don’t dump your entire AdWords account in. That’s just silly. Use the 80/20 rule. 20% of what you’re doing in Google can go over to adCenter. Just like a house fire, take only what you treasure most. Then accumulate later. There are settings [...]

This is one of those short posts that will make you squint your eyes slightly, furrow your brow, tilt your head, and say, “Wait, what? This doesn’t make sense.” Like this: I have an account in Google AdWords that has had a conversion metric calculation glitch. I first noticed it a few months ago when [...]

You remember that episode where Homer Simpson goes into space as a NASA astronaut? He only got to go because Barney Gumble has an alcoholic relapse and Homer was the second runner up. Scientist: Well, Homer, I guess you’re the winner by default. Homer: Default? Woo hoo! The two sweetest words in the English language: [...]

Pay-Per-Click advertising is a beautiful thing. Set up an AdWords or adCenter account and your ads can target thousands of potential customers looking for a product just like yours. Mmm, that’s nice. But it can be complicated and difficult. Especially on a budget. And time consuming. PPC Essentials Package That’s why Portent is rolling out [...]

Hey Everybody! Don’t forget about Portent’s free monthly webinar on Thursday, April 26 at 11am PST. This month, yours truly will be presenting: PPC for Cheapskates. Pick up great tips and tricks to maximize your PPC dollars, whatever your budget size might be. If you have not registered yet, don’t be shy, registration is quick [...]

I started working at Portent a year and a half ago as an intern. I was fresh out of college and did not know any specifics of internet marketing. I was introduced to the world of paid search during my first few weeks and found it intriguing. As I starting to do more work in [...]

Not too long ago, Bing introduced text ads appearing at the bottom of the search results page in addition to the top and along the right side. However, what you may not know is that these ads can be duplicates with different ad positions. Yes – the same exact ads on a single results page [...]

If you’re not familiar with the exciting adventure that is an AdWords Manual Review, heed my warning. It’s one of those clauses they hide in the terms and conditions and has little to no flexibility on either scheduling one or finding out more about them- like why your account was flagged in the first place. [...]

With Google seemingly rolling out ad extensions every month, the Bing/Yahoo Search Alliance has lagged frightfully behind in terms of ad innovation. Until now. Rich Ads in Search (RAIS) is a hybrid answer to Google’s Ad Sitelinks Extensions and Product Listing Ads. We’ll walk through getting RAIS setup, and the results you stand to gain [...]

Click-through rates (or CTRs as we in the business call them) are an important indicator for both your keywords and your ads. It may not be a direct indicator of your conversion performance, but it is a direct indicator of how effectively you’re reaching your target audience. If you’re dissatisfied with the CTR levels in [...]