Google’s New Pay Per Action Service: Now Accepting Beta Testers
Google’s new pay per action service (which includes pay per lead and pay per sale) is now accepting beta testers. To enroll to become a beta tester, go to: http://services.google.com/payperaction/
Google has posted some FAQ’s to help you understand this new program better. It’s a good idea between now and when the pay per action service launches to figure out ways that you can use this incredible service to build your business. You’ll have a massive first-mover advantage before the rest of the world jumps on this next Google train!
What is pay-per-action advertising?
Pay-per-action advertising is a new pricing model that allows advertisers to pay only when specific actions that they define are completed by a user on their site. Rather than paying for clicks or impressions, advertisers can choose to pay when a user makes a purchase, signs up for a newsletter, or completes any other clearly defined action that they choose. Pay-per-action ads are eligible to appear on publisher sites in the Google content network, and publishers can choose specific pay-per-action ads that are relevant to their site to run in new ad units that they create.
How much does pay-per-action advertising cost?
Only you can decide how much you want to pay for your pay-per-action advertising. You determine how much you’re willing to offer for each specific action to be completed on your site, whether it’s $5 for a purchase or $1 for a newsletter sign-up. You can also control your spending by setting a daily budget.
What information will publishers see about my pay-per-action ads?
Publishers will be able to view your product name, your product description, your logo, and each of your defined actions along with their associated offers. They will also be able to view your complete pay-per-action ad to determine, whether it will be a good fit for their site and visitors. Google also encourages you to provide a URL for your company, product, or service that will give the publisher more details about what you are offering and how it might appear to their users.
Where will my pay-per-action ads appear?
Your pay-per-action ads are eligible to appear on publisher sites in the Google content network. Publishers can choose to place specific pay-per-action ads in new ad units that they create, or allow us to serve the highest converting pay-per-action ads that are related to a topic that they choose.
What should my pay-per-action ad say?
Your pay-per-action ad should clearly convey your product and/or service. Since you’re paying for a particular action, make sure to promote it in the text or image of your ad.
How do publishers choose my pay-per-action ad?
When you create a pay-per-action ad, you’ll enter a series of terms or phrases that will describe your product or service to website publishers who are part of the Google content network. These terms or phrases will trigger your ads to appear when a publisher searches for ads within their account. Publishers also have the option to browse (by product category or view entire advertiser inventory) through ads rather than searching.
What ad formats can I use?
You can create text, image, or text link ads for your pay-per-action campaign.
What is the text link format for pay-per-action ads?
Text links are hyperlinked brief text descriptions that take on the characteristics of a publisher’s page. Publishers can place them in line with other text to better blend the ad and promote your product.
For example, you might see the following text link embedded in a publisher’s recommendatory text: “Widgets are fun! I encourage all my friends to Buy a high-quality widget today.” (Mousing over the link will display “Ads by Google” to identify these as pay-per-action ads).
Though the maximum length of a text link is 90 characters, Google has found that shorter links perform better because they allow the publisher use the link in more places on her/his site and in different context. The maximum length is 90 characters but less than 5 words is best. Even better, just use your brand name to offer maximum flexibility to the publisher.
How should I choose a daily budget for my pay-per-action ad?
Because with pay-per-action ads you’ll only pay for precisely the actions you want users to take, your daily budget should only be constrained by physical inventory limits. Google encourages you to set your daily budget as high as possible, since you’ll only pay for the results you want.
How does my daily budget control when my pay-per-action ad will appear?
The daily budget that you set controls how often your pay-per-action ad will appear on publisher websites, and when it will stop being displayed within publishers’ accounts for them to select and place on their websites. Once your daily budget has been met on any day, your ad should no longer appear on publisher’s sites, and we will prevent it from being selected by publishers.
What kind of reports does Google offer for pay-per-action ads?
For each pay-per-action campaign, you can view clicks, impressions, conversion rate, total conversions, and total cost.
How do I define an action?
During your pay-per-action campaign set-up, Google will give you the opportunity to identify the different types of action that you’d like to pay for. You can list as many action types as you wish, either by choosing from our pre-existing action types, or by entering your own. For each type of action, you’ll need to provide a description that will be displayed to website publishers. In addition, you’ll need to make an offer for how much you are willing to pay for that type of action.
Once you’ve defined an action, you’ll need to set up tracking on your website so that we can record each time a user completes the action on your site.
How do I track my actions?
Setting up tracking for pay-per-action ads is very similar to setting up conversion tracking. In fact, if you already have conversion tracking installed on your pages, tracking your actions will be a cinch, as you can simply add a CPA bid to enable this code for your pay-per-action campaign.
Can I identify more than one type of action?
Within any campaign, you can track several different types of actions and pay different amounts for each one. For example, you could choose to pay $5 for a sign-up and $10 for a purchase.
Why might I exceed my daily budget?
With pay-per-action ads, you pay when a user, who reached your site through your ad, completes an action you’ve identified. Sometimes this action may be taken days after the user has first visited your site. Note that advertisers will remain responsible for conversions that occur up to 30 days after a pay-per-action ad was clicked.
How do I set up a pay-per-action campaign?
Once you’ve been invited to participate in the pay-per-action beta test, you’ll need to set up your first campaign. To start this process, click on the link within the pay-per-action alert in your account.
As you create your first campaign, keep in mind that this should target a single product or service. You’ll have the chance to create additional campaigns and ad groups later on. You can create a pay-per-action campaign by following these steps.
1. Create your first action. You’ll define an action, such as a lead or a sale, that you would like a user to complete on your site and set the amount (also know as the cost-per-action) that you’re willing to pay.
2. Set up conversion tracking, so that your completed actions can be tracked. You can choose to enable actions that you’re already tracking with your existing conversion tracking code or define a new action. If you define a new action, you’ll need to add the conversion tracking code to the action confirmation page of your website and verify the code.
3. Enter the name of the first product or service that you’d like to advertise. Make sure that this is accurate, as it will be shown to publishers who want to choose your ads. You’ll also name your campaign and ad group (consider using the same name as your product) and choose the language in which you’ll write your ad.
4. Submit terms and phrases that relate to your ad group, so that publishers can easily search for what you’re offering. For example, we might include ‘Widgets’ and ‘Red Widgets’ as the terms and phrases for our campaign.
5. Select the countries where your potential customers are located. Your ad will be shown to publishers located in this location.
6. Create your ad. With pay-per-action, you can create our traditional text and image ads, or try the new text link ad format. Text link ads consist of a single line of hyperlinked text that can be up to 90 characters. However, we suggest that you use shorter phrases. For example, you might use ‘Buy Red Widgets.’
7. Set a daily budget for your campaigns. The daily budget that you set controls how often your pay-per-action ad will appear on publisher websites and when it will stop being displayed within publishers’ accounts for them to select and place on their websites. Though ad serving will be slowed or stopped based on the daily budget, please note that advertisers will remain responsible for conversions that occur up to 30 days after a pay-per-action ad was clicked.
Once you’ve completed these steps, your pay-per-action campaign will be set up.
Will Google notify advertisers when they’ve been accepted to the beta test?
Yes. Google will let you know through a message in your account that you’ve been accepted to participate in our beta test. Google hopes to add users on a rolling basis over the next few months and they apologize that they may not be able to add your account right away.
This will really be interesting to watch. I hope I’m approved to be a beta tester soon!!