If you’ve been visiting PPC Ian for a while, it will not surprise you at all that today’s post is about SEM automation software. After all, this is probably my favorite topic in the world. I’m particularly excited about today’s post, however, because I’m going to be discussing a new type of SEM automation software. I’m going to discuss software that fills a huge void in the world of large scale, corporate SEM. I’m going to talk about software that saved one retail advertiser $120,000 of potentially wasted ad spend (and $250,000 of potentially lost sales revenue) within just one short week after implementation. I’m thrilled to discuss the brand new Kenshoo Watchdog Platform.
What Is Kenshoo Watchdog?
So, what is Kenshoo Watchdog? Watchdog is basically software that functions as a 24/7 member of your team scouring your SEM campaigns for broken links, an abundance of redirects (bad for quality score), website failures, out of date products and promotions, and more. This patent-pending solution is the ultimate money-saver for those of us with enormous search engine marketing accounts with thousands upon thousands of ad copy all with different URLs, different promotions, and different messages. Watchdog comes from Sequoia-backed Kenshoo, one of the best and most innovative software companies I have ever seen. Due to the team backing this software, it’s jam-packed with innovative features such as prioritizing its audits on adgroups with the most spend and pages that were recently changed. If you’re in the corporate world of SEM (especially in a managerial level position), it’s really your duty to audition this tool, in my opinion.
Large SEM Accounts Can Get Out of Control
I’ve been in this corporate search engine marketing world long enough to know that it’s impossible to QA all campaigns, adgroups, and keywords on an ongoing basis. When you’re dealing with multiple accounts, hundreds of campaigns, tens of thousands (or even hundreds of thousands of adgroups), and millions of keywords, there’s no way you’re going to be able to QA it all manually. Now, throw into the mix that your website is constantly changing with new site releases. Once relevant offers are consistently changing, pages that once worked now fail to resolve at all. Despite your best efforts to make sure your program is perfect, that’s just not realistic in a manual fashion. Large SEM accounts at one point or another will get out of your control.
Even worse, your reputation as an online marketer is at stake. Executives at your company, investors, and customers are out there clicking your ads. The last thing you want is a broken link, bad offer, or outdated landing page tarnishing your reputation. So, what can you do to make sure your account is always in the perfect state and you’re spending all of your budget efficiently? Check out the next section…
Watchdog: Keeping Your Program In Check
I’m here to say that Kenshoo Watchdog is the perfect companion to your existing search marketing systems and practices, a companion that makes large scale audits of ad copy, URLs, offers, and landing pages possible.The best part of it all? Watchdog will work with any bidding and campaign management system you may already have in place. It’s a standalone solution. My prediction: I believe a huge percentage of large SEM spenders will be leveraging Kenshoo Watchdog within the next year because it’s so flexible and can basically plug into any existing program.
Kenshoo: Empowering The SEM Industry
I first got to know the Kenshoo team in 2009 and have been nothing but impressed. I know a good number of employees at Kenshoo across many teams (management, client services, marketing, and engineering), and they’re true thought leaders and innovators in our industry. As just one example, I highly recommend checking out my three part interview with Chad Baldwin, VP of Sales at Kenshoo (part 1, part 2, part 3). In short, these guys are doing amazing stuff and I truly recommend checking out Kenshoo, their world class Kenshoo Search platform ($15 billion+ annual sales revenue and $1 billion annual marketing spend is directed via this platform by the way), and of course the brand new standalone Kenshoo Watchdog platform. Watchdog is the platform to audition in 2011, in my opinion.
All images in this post © Kenshoo.com
Kenshoo Watchdog seems like a great software to acquire to save more money and watch out for those bad links. Totally worth a try!
Free Landing Pages,
Thanks so much for the comment, very much appreciate it! 🙂
All the best,
Ian
I think Kenshoo Watchdog would be a great time saver even if you are not a large SEM spender. After all the idea of successful Internet Marketing is to free up time so you can enjoy life isn’t it?
Maybe I missed it but what is the cost of this software?
IM Success,
You are absolutely right. I think this is a super tool for both large and also smaller spenders. Online marketing automation is huge and can help businesses of any size. Thanks so much for the comment. 🙂
All the best,
Ian
Cool info! “Executives at your company, investors, and customers are out there clicking your ads. The last thing you want is a broken link, bad offer, or outdated landing page tarnishing your reputation.” < This part is specially important for PPC & SEM Agencies where the growth of your business is directly affected by the good/bad performance you give your clients. The same can be said about a career in PPC & SEM as well! 🙂 I'm checking into it now. Thanks for reviewing this!
John,
Thanks so much for your question! That is a great one. The price really depends on your personal situation: number of sites, URLs, landing pages, etc. The best way to get a price is to contact Kenshoo (link in the post) and get a free quote. They will work closely with you to evaluate your personal situation and quote a price. Kenshoo is all about driving significant value for their partners (as is evidenced through their rapid growth and number of clients). They will work with you to make sure to drive major value, and craft an agreement tailored to you.
All the best,
Ian
Thanks so much, Darren! Really appreciate the comment! 🙂
Thanks for the info Ian, I’ll have to go contact them!
John,
You are very welcome! Thank you for all the great comments and questions. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if I can be of assistance. 🙂
All the best,
Ian
How big does one’s business need to be in order to become a Watchdog client? Since pricing isn’t published, that leads me to believe they likely have a “minimum size” requirement for this kind of service. Either that, or there actually is an unpublished minimum price, which ensures they don’t end up with any clients with a poor revenue/cost ratio.
Kevin,
Thanks so much for the super question. 🙂 To the best of my knowledge, Kenshoo Watchdog will work wonders for any sized business. My recommendation is to reach out to Kenshoo. They can provide you a price quote right away. Price is based on the size and complexity of one’s account, so smaller businesses will certainly benefit from lower cost pricing (to the best of my knowledge).
All the best,
Ian