Large Online Educational Client

Case Study: How An Online Public School Increased Conversions 74% And Site Visits 128% By Optimizing Existing PPC Campaigns

“Web Ad.vantage has been our trusted search marketing partner for almost 3 years. Their paid search expertise and knowledge has had a significant impact on our website lead generation programs. From 2006 - 2007, leads from our paid search programs increased 74%! Web Ad.vantage has been instrumental in helping us build online visibility and increase enrollment in the 23 states where we are currently running or developing school programs.”

-VP Marketing, Large Online Educational Client

KEY FACTS

• Client: Large Online Educational Client
• Client Origination: February 2006
• Case Study Services: Pay-Per-Click
• Project Duration: 12 months
• Project Goal: Increase Lead Generation

AN ONLINE K-12 SCHOOL LOOKING TO STRENGTHEN THEIR IN-HOUSE CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT

Our Large Online Educational Client was the first national K-12 virtual public school provider, and has active or developing schools in 23 states. Their programs are unique in that, like home schooling, they combine strong parental involvement, but they also provide the expertise and accountability of publicly-funded education with the flexibility of online, virtual classes.

Our client was self-managing its pay-per-click (PPC) campaign. The goals of the PPC campaign were to increase 1) leads and 2) enrollment through their website, but the in-house campaign was not meeting these goals, and they didn’t know why. The client contacted Web Ad.vantage to analyze the entire campaign and to provide overhaul recommendations of their paid search program.

ONLINE BUT NOT OPTIMIZED

While our Large Online Educational Client had campaigns set up in major search engines like Google, Yahoo, and MSN, the campaigns lacked clear keyword organization and had no strategic plan for bid management or increasing lead volume. Additionally, the campaign landing pages were not optimized to account for search engine quality scores or to maximize lead generation conversion. The client was unable to track secondary leads from search, including forms requesting additional information, completed requests for testimonials from parents of current students, and other important site engagement.

THE KEY? KEYWORDS.

Following the initial analysis and consulting phase, Web Ad.vantage provided a strategy to optimize our client’s PPC campaigns beginning with a thorough review and vetting of their extensive list of keywords. Web Ad.vantage removed lower performing and non-converting keywords and grouped related keywords so that ad copy was better targeted to searchers queries. This was followed by better optimization of ad copy and landing pages, including A/B split testing, brainstorming for more compelling ad offers, and improving landing page content. These efforts led to an increase in search engine Quality Scores, allowing our client to see immediate, measurable, effective increases in paid search conversion rates.

CREATING ABILITY FOR EXPANSION

In addition, as a result of Web Ad.vantage’s optimization, our client was able to develop a stronger geo-targeted PPC strategy that increased leads in targeted US states where the school offered programs and increased national visibility to support the expansion of its programs into additional states.

2006-2007 CLIENT CAMPAIGN RESULTS

Nationally targeted campaign:

• 74% increase in conversions (completed requests for information)
• 128% increase in site visits
• Conversions were acquired not to exceed the client’s target cost-per-lead value

Geo-targeted campaigns:

• Doubled or tripled conversions for all seven campaigns
• 236% average increase in site visits

DOORS OPENED FOR NEW PROMOTIONS
The improvement to and results from the PPC campaign allowed for the addition of online media and external lead generation campaigns during peak sales seasons. Web Ad.vantage continued its ongoing client relationship by providing Strategic Online Marketing Consulting, PPC Campaign Management, and Online Media Planning & Buying services for several years.

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