Thorne Washington, a recent grad from Northern's IM program, and Brad Hawk, both from Leapfrog Online, came to class this week to share their experiences and tips on Paid Search as the students prepare for the Google Adwords Online Marketing Challenge.

What I really appreciated was their clear approach to the problem. They suggested a framework for the project that they use for their own work. They suggested that the best way to approach paid search is to Research, Build, Launch and then Analyze/Report.

I agree that planning is key to effective Search Engine Marketing (SEM). If you don't understand the customer and the keywords they are searching for it is not even useful to start a campaign. Google Adwords provides many useful analysis tools to modify the campaign once it has been launched. Some other helpful tips included bidding 1.5 or 2 times more than the suggested initial bid in Adwords to get a high ranking and improve your click through rate, setting the geographic area of the search, setting the devices used (mobile clicks are more expensive) and limiting the campaign to the hours of operation of the business. Thanks to both Brad and Thorne for coming out and sharing their expertise.