Nearly every craft uses tools to get the job done. Carpenters have hammers and saws. Doctors have expensive medical devices like MRI machines and tests. Writers have a computer (or a typewriter, or pen and paper).
PPC is no different. While it's certainly possible to manage PPC using only the AdWords and Bing Ads online interfaces, doing so will be less than optimal.
20 PPC experts were asked to share their must-have PPC tools and below are their answers. Here are their top recommendations for 27 free, must-have tools for PPC success.
When it comes to free tools, Google is king. One-third of the tools on the list are from Google! Enjoy !
A few of us old-timers remember life before AdWords Editor. It wasn't fun. I was doing in-house PPC at the time, and we actually hired an intern to update ad copy for us, it was that arduous to do manually. With Adwords Editor and its many bulk editing features, those days disappeared. Several experts mentioned Editor, most with a comment like "Duh! It's essential."
The AdWords and Bing interfaces only go so far. They don't tell you what happens after the ad click. Use Google Analytics to gauge bounce rate, pages visited, and many other analytical gems that will help optimize your marketing efforts.
We've recently started using AdWords Scripts, and it's become obvious they're a must-have. Use them for exception reporting, daily stats, and client reporting – amongst other things.
Leo Sussan recommended this plugin to help develop AdWords Scripts.
Larry Kim of Wordstream suggested Google Docs. I love creating shared docs for internal and external use. It's even possible to have multiple users editing them at once – something you can't do with Microsoft Office.
My coworker Ben Nusekabel likes Google Drive to store Google Docs and other files.
Who wants to update thousands of product listing ads manually? Take Matt Vaillancourt's advice and use FTP to send your merchant feed to Google automatically.
Aaron Levy of SEER Interactive offered Google Suggest as a fun and enlightening way to do keyword research.
Not to be outdone, Bing Ads has some great free tools of its own. While Bing Ads Editor isn't as robust as AdWords Editor, it's still a must-have PPC tool for those using Bing Ads.
I love this Excel plugin for keyword research. It'll show search volume, create ad groups, and provide demographic data – all in Excel.
If you're running more than one simple Facebook Ads campaign, you need to be using Power Editor. It's like AdWords Editor for Facebook. Use it to create audiences, play around with targeting, and create an image bank for your campaigns.
OK, it's free if your computer has Microsoft Office, which 90 percent or so of us do. Excel is necessary to analyze and manipulate PPC data, and many of the experts named it a must-have.
Arianne Donoghue (twitter.com/ArianneDonoghue) likes this plugin to pull Google Analytics data into Excel and make reporting easier. I'm definitely going to check this one out.
Andrew Bethel (twitter.com/@AndrewPPC) mentioned this simple, yet often overlooked, way to streamline tracking of ad copy and landing page tests.
Another free Excel plugin from Leo Sussan. Use Analysis ToolPak to add advanced hypothesis testing to Excel at no cost.
Levy likes Uber Suggest for keyword research. I've even used Uber Suggest for blog topic idea generation.
Mark Kennedy (twitter.com/markkennedysem) of SEOM offered this easy-to-use tool for quickly creating keyword sets in all match types. Build out your keyword list in minutes with this tool.
Another tool from SEOM. Enter a few words, and Phrase Builder will mash them up into keywords.
Yet another keyword tool from Levy, Soovle serves up common searches on a multitude of sites, including YouTube, Answers.com, and Amazon, in addition to the usual search engine subjects.
Convertable is a free lead generation tracking service (in beta). If you aren't ready to give Salesforce a try, check out Convertable.
SplitTester is my favorite free online statistical significance tester. Just plug in clicks and CTR (or conversion rate) for 2 ad variations to see which one is the winner, and at what level of significance.
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PPC is no different. While it's certainly possible to manage PPC using only the AdWords and Bing Ads online interfaces, doing so will be less than optimal.
20 PPC experts were asked to share their must-have PPC tools and below are their answers. Here are their top recommendations for 27 free, must-have tools for PPC success.
When it comes to free tools, Google is king. One-third of the tools on the list are from Google! Enjoy !
21 FREE PPC Tools for Pay Per Click Marketing
1. AdWords Editor
A few of us old-timers remember life before AdWords Editor. It wasn't fun. I was doing in-house PPC at the time, and we actually hired an intern to update ad copy for us, it was that arduous to do manually. With Adwords Editor and its many bulk editing features, those days disappeared. Several experts mentioned Editor, most with a comment like "Duh! It's essential."
2. Google Analytics
The AdWords and Bing interfaces only go so far. They don't tell you what happens after the ad click. Use Google Analytics to gauge bounce rate, pages visited, and many other analytical gems that will help optimize your marketing efforts.
3. AdWords Scripts
We've recently started using AdWords Scripts, and it's become obvious they're a must-have. Use them for exception reporting, daily stats, and client reporting – amongst other things.
4. Google Plugin for Eclipse
Leo Sussan recommended this plugin to help develop AdWords Scripts.
5. Google Documents
Larry Kim of Wordstream suggested Google Docs. I love creating shared docs for internal and external use. It's even possible to have multiple users editing them at once – something you can't do with Microsoft Office.
6. Google Drive
My coworker Ben Nusekabel likes Google Drive to store Google Docs and other files.
7. FTP for Google Merchant accounts
Who wants to update thousands of product listing ads manually? Take Matt Vaillancourt's advice and use FTP to send your merchant feed to Google automatically.
8. Google Suggest
Aaron Levy of SEER Interactive offered Google Suggest as a fun and enlightening way to do keyword research.
9. Bing Ads Editor
Not to be outdone, Bing Ads has some great free tools of its own. While Bing Ads Editor isn't as robust as AdWords Editor, it's still a must-have PPC tool for those using Bing Ads.
10. Bing Ads Intelligence
I love this Excel plugin for keyword research. It'll show search volume, create ad groups, and provide demographic data – all in Excel.
11. Facebook Power Editor
If you're running more than one simple Facebook Ads campaign, you need to be using Power Editor. It's like AdWords Editor for Facebook. Use it to create audiences, play around with targeting, and create an image bank for your campaigns.
12. Excel
OK, it's free if your computer has Microsoft Office, which 90 percent or so of us do. Excel is necessary to analyze and manipulate PPC data, and many of the experts named it a must-have.
13. Excellent Analytics Plugin for Excel
Arianne Donoghue (twitter.com/ArianneDonoghue) likes this plugin to pull Google Analytics data into Excel and make reporting easier. I'm definitely going to check this one out.
14. Statistical Significance Spreadsheet
Andrew Bethel (twitter.com/@AndrewPPC) mentioned this simple, yet often overlooked, way to streamline tracking of ad copy and landing page tests.
15. Analysis ToolPak for Excel
Another free Excel plugin from Leo Sussan. Use Analysis ToolPak to add advanced hypothesis testing to Excel at no cost.
16. Uber Suggest
Levy likes Uber Suggest for keyword research. I've even used Uber Suggest for blog topic idea generation.
17. Keyword Wrapper
Mark Kennedy (twitter.com/markkennedysem) of SEOM offered this easy-to-use tool for quickly creating keyword sets in all match types. Build out your keyword list in minutes with this tool.
18. Phrase Builder
Another tool from SEOM. Enter a few words, and Phrase Builder will mash them up into keywords.
19. Soovle
Yet another keyword tool from Levy, Soovle serves up common searches on a multitude of sites, including YouTube, Answers.com, and Amazon, in addition to the usual search engine subjects.
20. Convertable
Convertable is a free lead generation tracking service (in beta). If you aren't ready to give Salesforce a try, check out Convertable.
21. SplitTester
SplitTester is my favorite free online statistical significance tester. Just plug in clicks and CTR (or conversion rate) for 2 ad variations to see which one is the winner, and at what level of significance.
