Improved Conversion Performance for Bing Ads

Nancy McCord is a Bing Ads Accredited Member.
Nancy McCord is a Bing Ads Accredited Member.

If you have not checked out Bing Ads for a while, I recommend you look again. Bing Ads has quietly and steadily been making some very nice improvements to their ad platform.

Here are just a few reasons you’ll want to take a new look.

  1. Clients are getting improved conversion performance. We have some clients who have more conversions on Bing Ads than on Google AdWords.
  2. It is very easy to import what you are doing in AdWords into Bing Ads.
  3. Quality has significantly improved this past year making Bing Ads a vital place for many businesses to expand their pay per click marketing.
  4. Although Bing Ads clicks are not cheaper than those on Google AdWords, you may have less competition for top placement; allowing your ads to be seen more readily.
  5. For e-commerce and beauty Bings Ads may actually beat AdWords performance for lead and sale generation.

If you need help trying out Bing Ads, make sure to review our Bing Ads management program and pricing.

Bing Ads Announces Product Ads

Google and Bing Product Ads Generate a Strong ROI
Google and Bing Product Ads Generate a Strong ROI

New into the e-commerce product selling market with product images in their search results, Bing Ads enters with a new service offering called Bing Product Ads. With huge returns for e-commerce stores and familiarity with Google Shopping (previously known as Product Listing Ads), Bing Product Ads is sure to be a hit. For early embracers of this new program the ability for them to own their product market on Bing is a huge incentive to move in fast. Well, at least for now, while there is not strong competition for buyers. You can read Bing’s full announcement.

I have found the biggest stumbling block to businesses moving into either Google or Bing’s product program is the creation of the data feed. It is onerous to create the taxonomy to match both Bing and Google’s criteria that allows for them to sort and return your products in ads.

I have however found that Lexity may provide the solution in regards to data feed creation. For Bing Ads, Lexity provides several tiers of service with monthly fees plus a click budget, and services over 36 different shopping carts. With big business now being done starting with consumers clicking a picture of a product in search results and then moving all the way to the purchase process Lexity provides the right service at the right time.

Although not everything that Lexity sells in their own toolbox has value, the Bing Ads and Google Shopping programs are of important note and something that e-commerce stores should definitely consider using. The ROI that I have seen from clients of mine that are using Lexity to create the product ads for Bing and Google is extremely good.

Blurring the Lines Between Paid and Organic

Check your vision that may be an ad you're looking at
Check your vision that may be an ad you’re looking at.

In 2013, I feel that Google has actively worked to blur the lines between paid and organic. With algorithms that forced businesses aggressively into Google AdWords, advertising that nearly blends in at the top of the page with organic results, Google+ Local ads that look like regular listings, and now Google Shopping ads that are scheduled to appear within the organic search results, paid ads are becoming the new “organic” way to drive traffic.

Just ask any consumer of your services, “how did you find me?” Nearly all will say “on Google”. But probe further and the consumer really does not know if they saw and organic link or a paid link.

With Google testing new ad layouts and new ad products they are pushing the envelop to move search placement almost into a fully paid arena. Although today on Google.com the ads at the top of the page sit inside a pink box, earlier this year they have sat in a very, very light blue or gray box, to being in a white box that matches the page with a small goldenrod box in front.

But Google’s not alone Bing is additionally testing some of these same exact formats. I believe that we will see even further blurring between paid and organic this next year with more emphasis on paid placement programs than paying firms to place your website content in the organic results.