DoubleClick’s Smart Marketing Report in a recent interview of Jamie Crouthamel, president and CEO of Performics, were treated to some words of wisdom on how to launch and optimize a paid search advertising program. Here’s some of the takeaways I got out of the interview:

• Build out your keyword portfolio. Incorporate product names, product numbers, relevant adjectives (colors, sizes, etc.), and occasions for which products could be sought. A number of linguistic exercises for the agency and client exist that can help with this process. A SEM program can encompass a keyword portfolio of as large as 50,000 keywords with varying ROIs. Although “belt” might not convert well as a keyword, it has many related terms that may convert much better, such as “leather belt,” “men’s leather belt,” “brown belt,” and “men’s brown leather belt.”
• Collect an adequate amount of data before you begin optimizing. Don’t alter a keyword until that keyword has received at least 100 clicks.
• Constantly improve your keyword portfolio by adding new search terms and improving/removing keywords that don’t produce a good ROI.
• Experiment with reducing bid prices to improve ROI.
• Optimize your search ad copy to make it as compelling and relevant as possible.
• Make the landing page as relevant to the user’s keyword as possible.
• If your products are seasonal, bid on the keywords during the season when your target audience is in need of them rather than year-round.