I recently came across a handy tool that will make expanding on relevant key-phrases much easier. When implementing a PPC campaign it’s of vital importance to consider how users will go about searching for what you are marketing.

Choosing relevant search queries and including them in your keyword strategy will, amongst other factors, determine how successful your PPC campaign will be. If you are not including all the possible key-phrase permutations from the onset of your campaign you might lose out on niche key-terms that could lead to a high ROI.

With the Google Wonder Wheel all you need to do is insert a single search term which is relevant to your product and, with one click, you will be led to a variety of relevant search terms that can boost your campaign.

The Wonder Wheel essentially works as a “mind mapping tool“ that logically creates a visual display of all relevant terms to make your search as easy and informative as possible.

This tool, although not specifically created to assist AdWords users, will be yet another formidable tool in the AdWords arsenal to ensure paid search can truly target users efficiently.

Google is continually finding ways to make Adwords campaigns more effective by rolling out various tools to help enhance PPC campaigns. Why would Google be so eager to help you spend less per click whilst you increase conversions? Surely they would want you to spend more?

Google is smart! They definitely want to make money and they know if your campaign is not successful no one will be clicking on your ads, which means Google won’t be profiting. The better your campaign performs the more you will be able to spend on Google Adwords. In this way your successful PPC campaign also equals success for Google- it’s a win-win.

Along with old favourites such as the Conversion Optimiser, Website Optimiser and Keyword Tool Google has recently rolled out the “Opportunities Tab” in your Adwords navigation bar which helps you find keywords that you neglected to search for. This new tool makes it very easy to add keywords Ad Group by Ad Group. The tool also includes search stats, competition and CPC figures- I found a few gems that I had overlooked even after using the Keyword Tool.
Another helpful addition to Google’s knowledge base for Adwords users are the Twitter accounts following particular industries:

• Google Tech
• Google Finance
• Google Retail
• Google Travel

These tweets can be very useful if they are relevant to the industry you are marketing. For example, what if Google tweets that sales are down for travel in the East after recent natural disasters? You are now alerted as soon as these stats are made available by Google and can ensure your spend is driven to a different travel location until the tide turns. Without keeping abreast of search trends you are essentially managing your campaign in the dark.

With these tools and many more Google can help everyone boost their PPC campaigns to their full potential. Remember to keep an eye on the announcement alerts on your Adwords dashboard to get news about any new developments or roll-outs.

I had a disappointing restaurant experience this weekend, and it compelled me to take to the Net to see what others had to say about the establishment. Googling the restaurant’s name brought up some interesting results: Its own website ranks well, but on the same results page are links to various restaurant-related websites, as well as to Hello Peter, the notorious online customer service site.

Clicking through to these sites revealed a glut of customer complaints, and little response from the restaurant itself. The result? To me, the company appears disinterested and inept, clearly unmoved by a slew of customer complaints, and I feel justified in my dissatisfaction – and in my indignant vow to boycott the restaurant for ever more.

For me, this quick exercise reinforced the importance of Online Reputation Management (ORM), and the very real need for businesses to manage online conversations about their brands. Ideally, when customers search for your brand or business online, they should find a results page that lists your company, as well as its social media profiles – like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, for example. What you don’t want them to be finding is exactly what I stumbled across: Listing upon listing of unanswered customer complaints and single-star ratings.

Cory Huff of NetBiz, an online software solutions firm, says his company experienced first-hand the harm of ignoring online consumer conversations. “We came to realise that there was a storm brewing online and it caught us blindsided. NetBiz was being talked about on blogs, Twitter, LinkdedIn, and other social networks, and we didn’t pay enough attention to know the full extent of the conversation. Even though a great deal of what was being said was distorted or wrong, there was also truth to what was being said.”

Now, NetBiz makes use of Google Alerts and TweetBeep to track online mentions of their brand. Knowing when your brand is discussed online, and listening to, managing and responding to these conversations, is the essence of ORM, and critical to building and upholding a solid brand reputation – as NetBiz learnt the hard way.

Christina Keffer of Eyeflow.com says that companies need to be aware of negative comments online, as well as blog reviews and comments stemming from these. Dedicated monitoring will also alert you to any misuse your business’s material, she says, and makes the very valid point that competitors may steal – and sully – your website’s carefully-crafted content. Thus, online reputation management doesn’t only protect your brand, but also your intellectual property.

“The Internet provides an open forum for consumer opinions,” says Huff. ” The power of social network sharing combined with search engines makes it impossible to hide a company’s mistakes or customer dissatisfaction.” And it’s for this very reason that you must monitor, manage and respond to online conversations about your brand.

Cover all your bases by using free alert tools, and be sure that you have a robust online reputation management strategy in place, so that you can take proper care of your brand online.