Ad networks such as Google Adwords have changed the face of online advertising. The banner ads of the 90s have given way to the much more context sensitive and relevant ads delivered by these massive ad networks. So why not use these two powerful and effective technologies together?

Why use pURLs with Adwords?

Your Adwords campaigns today direct your prospect to either your corporate home page or some landing page that is coded to track where the visitors came from. The idea of using pURLs with ad networks is to create a bridge between the ad and the corporate site. By doing so, you have the ability to use a pURL application and manage landing pages on the fly. You benefit from all the added reports and analytics that a pURL platofrm provides beyond that of Adwords reporting.

How its Done

1. Start by creating an account with a pURL provider
2. Build out a landing page in your pURL application  to support your campaign. This landing page has the ability to deliver variable data, collect survey and form information, deliver dynamic content based on what ad is sending the user there.Within the landing page, add in trackable links to other landing pages and/or your corporate site.
3. Adjust your Adwords campaign to direct prospects to one of many dynamic landing pages within your campaign.
4. Login to your pURL account and adjust your landing pages on the fly, report on activity and modify campaigns as needed to maximize your ROI

See a Live Demo
Below are five distinct pURLs that make up a sample campaign for a fictitious juice bar that has 5 locations. Click on each to see how each is used to present a unified look and feel but also support variable data and custom messaging and imagry

http://sandiego.boingad.com/
http://boston.boingad.com/
http://chicago.boingad.com/
http://newyork.boingad.com/
http://keywest.boingad.com/

The Results
The end result is a new level of analysis you can perform on traffic to your interim pURL landing pages. Typical types of reports you can expect to see in a pURL platform are

• Campaign and Page Level Summary Reports showing rollup statistics such as response rate, unique response rate, surveys completed, etc
• Campaign and Page Level Detail Reports showing fine detail on pURL activity within each landing page
• Daily / Weekly / Monthy traffic as well as period-wise tracking between blocks of time
• Click Metrics on where prospects are clicking within the landing page itself
• Form and Survey analysis on a rollup and granular level
• Visit metrics with the ability to a/b test various landing pages

Step 1 – Create campaign piece

Your direct mail piece will be created the same way as you do now. Whether that be by your own designers or an outside firm, this process will remain the same. The one thing to plan for is a personal URL to be placed somewhere in the piece. Make it prominent and try to build a call to action around it by offering something if the pURL is visited.

Step 2 – Prepare your mailing list

Your mailing list will be prepared as you do it today. The mailing list will contain standard name and address information. But now, with a pURL generator, you have the power to enhance this list to leverage it within your landing pages. Add in new variable data columns that can be used to personalize landing pages even further.

For example: A car dealer has information on past clients car year, model and color. Their mailing list might look like this:

Step 3 – Build a landing page template

Within your pURL providers application navigate to the template manager area. It is here you will build the landing page that will present your clients with variable data, survey questions, data gathering forms, coupons, etc. A good template editor will give you all the tools you need to quickly create an effective landing page template.

In our car dealer example above, we might build a simple template that looks like this:

Hi %First_Name% %Last_Name%, Your %Year% %Model% vehicle is due for maintenance. Print the following coupon and bring in to our shop for 20% off service %Coupon_Code%

By mapping your data into our known fields, a sample landing page would look like this:

Hi Joe Smith, Your 1994 Ford Explorer vehicle is due for maintenance. Print the following coupon and bring in to our shop for 20% off service BNG-1234

Step 4 – Create your pURL campaign

Once you have your mailing list and template for your landing page pURLs, you are ready to create your campaign. Do this by navigating to your pURL application’s campaign creator or wizard. This portion of the application will walk you through the process of setting up a pURL campaign. Once complete, you will be presented with a modified mailing list file you can download. This modified file will contain all your mailing list data as well as a new column for pURLs. This new mailing list file is sent to your print provider as you normally would with your mailing list. A sample landing page might look something like this www.boingnet.com/MyGig/Phil_Jones

Step 5 – Send your mailing and wait!

Depending on your provider, one of the steps in the campaign creation creation should you to be notified on pURL activity with email alerts. This is a great way to keep you finger on the pulse of your campaign. During the campaign run, you can also login to the admin tool and run a variety of reports on this campaign as well as past campaigns.

Step 6 – Analyze your results

Once the campaign is complete, you can run complete reports and charts and analyze how well the campaign did. Detailed data reports will show you the actual form information submitted based on what you developed for a landing page. This data can also be downloaded to be used for lead generation and also in planning and building subsequent campaigns

Extensive How To Tutorials

We wanted to put all the information about creating , launching and managing pURLs in one easy to access place. Our how to library is filled with step by step instruction on all the various features of the Boingnet platform. You can access the How To tutorials from the top menu under Resources->How Tos.

The How To tutorials will walk you through simple tasks such as updating your account infoamtion to more advanced tasks such as disabling a pURL on visit. With these helpful guides you can feel confident in building your next campaign.

Instant Help Chat

Maybe you have a quick question about how a feature works or need help with an area you are stuck on or maybe you just want to tell us what a great product we have! Whatever the reason, we now offer an instant chat where you can contact us right now. You will find the chat box in the lower right of the screen.

If an agent is not available you also have the option to leave a note and someone will be alerted and get back to you when available.

Support Tickets

If you need more advanced help with a problem, our support team is here to help you out. Our ticket system is available to you under Support->Submit a Ticket. You will be presented with a simple web form where we ask that you explain the issue in detail.

Our support team will receive an email and get working on your request in the order it was received.  You will be notified via email once a ticket has been resolved.

Site Search

Now you can easily find the information you need with our site search tool. You will find the tool on the right side of the site at all times. Use it to find tutorials, general information or blog posts.

Blog

Since you are here, you know that we have a new blog! We will use this space to make regular posts about features and functionality on the platform as well as direct marketing and pURL news. Thank you for your interest in Boingnet. We look forward to successful relationships with you all!

The Boingnet Team