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PPC Conversion Expert Robert Brady Reveals His Thoughts on the Hottest Conversion Trend, Persistent Optimization Mistake, the SOPA/PIPA, and the Coolest SF Hang-out
Editor’s Note: With Conversion Conference 2012 San Francisco just around the corner, we thought it’s about time you learn a bit more from each of our speakers. So we put on our journalist/paparazzi hat and placed each speaker on the proverbial hot seat by asking four questions, including one which can be considered a burning issue for digital marketers and other professionals in the internet industry: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). From this day until the conference, we’ll be featuring a speaker and their answers to the questions so be sure to check out our blog regularly.
But wait, there’s more! You can join in and do some pre-conference engagement with our speakers by sending in your own questions through email, Twitter, or our Facebook Wall. We’ll make sure your questions get the attention they deserve and even feature them here.
We sat down (virtually, that is) with Robert Brady, Director of PPC Conversion for Trafficado to learn his thoughts on the hottest conversion trend, the most persistent optimization mistake, his opinion on SOPA/PIPA, and his fave place in San Francisco. Trafficado is a full service internet marketing agency which helps clients increase relevant traffic to their websites, in turn helping them drive higher sales conversions. If you’re wondering what a Director of PPC Conversion actually does, he’s “the guy responsible for the ads on [your] Google search results.”
1) What do you think is the hottest trend in optimization or conversion for 2012?
Depth of testing. Most companies I know have been dabbling with landing page optimization (LPO) for their paid search and email campaigns for quite some time, but now I’m seeing more conversion optimization occurring on homepages, category pages, registration pages, etc. where there can be a much larger impact.
2) What would you say is the biggest mistake people (still) make when it comes to optimization?
Not measuring (well enough). Most testing software includes general conversion metrics, but it is important to be looking at all your data as well as the environment. Did you run a promotion during the period that impacted the test? Was there a holiday or natural disaster during the time period? Too often I see decisions made on flawed, incomplete or inaccurate data.
3) What’s your take on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA)?
I understand why the MPAA, RIAA and other groups pushed for this legislation. Piracy is a very serious problem and costs producers millions of dollars. However, I didn’t support SOPA and PIPA because the wording of the bills was too broad and would have severely impacted many legitimate online businesses.
4) What’s your favorite place to hang out in San Francisco (that one place you just have to drop by/visit when you’re in the city)?
I’ve only been to San Francisco twice, but my favorite place was Fisherman’s Wharf. If you have the time, visit Alcatraz Island for a couple hours while you’re there.
So what do you think, folks? Are you up for some sightseeing in Alcatraz?
Got a question for Robert that can’t wait till March? Post it on the comments section below, tweet it to us, or post it on our wall and we’ll make sure he gets it.
More About Robert
Robert is a Google AdWords Certified Partner, Microsoft adExcellence member and is certified with Marketing Experiments for Online Testing and Landing Page Optimization. He has worked with a variety of different companies ranging from a small grass-fed beef grower in Idaho to a large B2B data storage provider.
He currently resides in Provo, Utah and can often be found skiing the greatest snow on earth, mountain biking through the Wasatch mountains or playing ultimate Frisbee at the park on a Saturday morning.
See Robert Live!
Robert will be presenting a session on “End to End PPC Conversion Optimization – From User Intent through Leaky Funnel Forensics” at Conversion Conference West 2012 in San Francisco, California. See the full agenda and read more about this session.
Want to save on your Conversion Conference Registration? Follow Robert on Twitter to say hello to him and request for a discount code!
P.S. Advance Pricing for Conversion Conference SF ends Friday, March 02, 2012. Don’t wait the last minute, register now to enjoy some savings while you still can.
