Jun 2
Campaign Overview
Our Google AdWords campaign did not start off as well as we would like. It started on 4th May 2008 (1 week later than the planned 28th April) for duration of 21 days. The delay was due to our client’s website not being ready before 4th May.
To make matters worse, our ads on Google search were not activated when the campaign started as their keywords’ maximum CPC bid was below the minimum CPC bid required. This forced us to increase the keywords’ maximum CPC bid and revise our target since it is dependent on the budget. Thus, by increasing our keywords’ maximum CPC bid, our target was drastically reduced from 10000 total clicks to 2000, with a new daily target of 100 clicks. On the third day of the campaign, we held a meeting with our client to review the progress and communicate the changes and our client understood our constraints and accepted our changes.
Following these initial setbacks, we received mixed results for the first three days that required our immediate attention. On one hand, our ads on Google search weren’t doing very well, with low ad impression and low ad click through. On the other hand, our ads on the content network were doing so well that its budget had overran. Thankfully, we had contingency plans for both situations (as mentioned in the pre-campaign strategy) and responded accordingly.
Though the campaign stabilized soon after and the results were consistent at around 130 clicks daily, our ads on Google search were deactivated several times more due to the same “keywords’ maximum CPC bid lower than minimum CPC bid required” problem. As a result, we had to increase the maximum CPC bid and constantly monitor the status of the ads to prevent them from being deactivated.
By the 19th day of the campaign, the budget had already run out, 2 days before the end of the campaign. Overall, we were able to achieve and exceed the revised daily target of 100 clicks on our ads. In addition to the Google AdWords campaign, we made other marketing effort such as advertising on forums, distributing Facebook and Friendster advert-game and publicizing in a local tech newspaper, Digital Life.
No commentsMay 7
First 3 Days
The Google AdWords campaign results for the first 3 days are mixed. While our customized keyword-target campaign for content network performed astonishingly well, our campaign for Google search fell miserably. The impressions from the content campaign was especially stunning at more than 200k but the click through rate wasn’t as good. Thankfully we have contingency plans for these situations:
- Low ad impression
- Low ad click through rate
- Budget overrunning
Overall, we were still able to achieve the daily target of 100 clicks on our ads.
1 commentMay 5
Our Google AdWords Strategy II
Using the worst case scenario of 50% 3G mobile service users google, 5% mobile gaming penetration rate and a damping factor of 20, we calculated that there will be 45892 potential mobile phone gamers in Singapore alone that will google frequently.
However, we considered other vitiating factors such as campaign duration and user activity during the campaign. Thus, a damping factor of 20 was introduced. To make the target more achievable, we set a target of 2000 clicks on our ads for the entire campaign duration of 21 days.
1,835,700 x 50% x 5% / 20 = 2293
No commentsMay 4
Our Google AdWords Strategy
Our Google AdWords campaign has started and it’s time to go open on our strategy.
To better tap into the vast search and content network of Google, we will run 2 different campaigns, with each campaign having 2 ad groups that contain different types of ads – text and mobile. Additionally, the campaign targeting the content network will also include image ads. Separating the two campaigns will allow us greater control and optimal monitoring of our progress, as each will act as a control group for the other.
Ads are also separated into ad groups differentiated by their type – text, mobile and image. This allows separate control of the Maximum CPC and better performance monitoring for each ads type. There will be 5 ads for each ad group, each using the ‘optimized’ mode of ad serving, which is a sufficient figure for us to make comparisons and evaluation of their performance.
Apr 27
Market Statistics
To come out with a goal for our Google AdWords campaign, we will need to source for market statistics that would help us base our target on. Thus, reliable data sources such as PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Gartner, Gamasutra and Global Market Information Databases are used. Here are some of our interesting findings:
- PriceWaterhouseCoopers predicts that the Asia/Pacific game market will grow from US$16.7 billion in 2006 to US$23.1 billion in 2011
- PWC also believes that wireless mobile games will be a huge growth area
- A Gamasutra highlighted an eMarketer’s report that ’Game Advertising To Reach $2bil By 2011′
- Gartner listed mobile gaming penetration rate at 5-20% of the target audience within the next few years
- In the latest survey, HitWise reported Google as the leading search engine with a market share of 67.25% while Nielsen/NetRatings rated Google’s share at 58.7%
- According to the latest available IDA survey (2006), 67% of Singapore’s population uses the internet. This number is expected to have grown over the past few years.
- According to another more recent IDA survey conducted in Feb 2008, the mobile phone penetration rate is 127% and there are 1,835,700 3G mobile service subscribers.
Apr 19
Exams Over!
Finally, after weeks of mugging, exams are over! It’s time to get back to Project SpreFive.
PS: “Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is a progress. Working together is a success.” - Henry Ford
No commentsApr 11
Survey on Young Mobile Phone Users
Team SpreFive is currently conducting an online survey on young mobile phone users to determine their mobile gaming preferences.
The online survey is available on:
http://sprefive.wufoo.com/forms/sprefive-survey/
Apr 6
Team SpreFive Meeting
Yesterday, Team SpreFive had a short meeting to review the progress of each team member’s task. In general, everyone is doing fine and the project is on schedule.
As part of our market analysis, Team SpreFive will be conducting an online survey that will help determine several decision variables (search keywords, ad position, etc) in Google AdWords. The online survey will be conducted soon.
No commentsApr 1
Elven Legends Trailer
It’s April and Team SpreFive has an Elven Legends video trailer for you!
Download (9.47MB)
The same trailer is available on YouTube too but that is without sound.
No comments