Last night my Ohio State Buckeyes started their season of with a 45-7 romp of Marshall. It was no surprise but I still had to wear my Ohio State shirt to work today to celebrate. As I expect many more wins from my Buckeyes I’ll need to get some better gear to represent them! So while I’m shopping and as Stu promised in his last post, I’ll sort through the ads and landing pages and show you the good and the bad… From a PPC managers perspective!

I decided to go with a jersey, so I Googled “Ohio State Jerseys”. If you want to follow along, do the same:

The Good:

• Ad Text- Ohio State Buckeyes Shop   Shop Ohio State Apparel & Gifts – Jerseys, T-Shirts, Caps, Souvenirs.   CollegeFootballStore.com/Ohio_State
  • Good:
    • Ohio State mentioned and bolded 3 times which makes the ad stand out.
    • Jerseys also mentioned and bolded.
    • Google Checkout Option- Makes the ad stand out more, gives an option to buy quick.
  • Bad:
    • No Call to Action.
    • Not focused just on jerseys.
• Landing Page- http://www.collegefootballstore.com/COLLEGE_Ohio_State_Buckeyes
  • Good:
    • Clean looking, well organized.
    • I can easily find the jerseys I want to shop for.
    • Good selling points/confidence builders on top.
  • Bad:
    • I wasn’t taken directly to jerseys, which is what I wanted.

The Bad:

• Ad Text- College Store Gift Shop   Every major Schools Gift Store We sell for less free Shipping too!   www.SportsNutsOnline.com
  • Good:
    • I had to think for a second to find something good here, but their ad stands out because they have 0 keywords in there. However, I am probably the only one that would click on that ad because I think about things like that as a PPC manager! So this might actually be a bad.
  • Bad:
    • Ohio or State or Jerseys not mentioned once!
    • I don’t really know what they are selling.
    • No Call to Action.
• Landing Page- http://www.sportsnutsonline.com/
  • Good:
    • Again, hard to find… At least you feel some confidence with the “secure” logo on the right.
  • Bad:
    • Homepage as a landing page, usually a no no. Definitely a no no this time.
    • Where is your NCAA stuff?
    • Where are your jerseys?
    • Where is an Ohio State Jersey???
    • Navigation is hard to look at.
    • The logo looks trashy.
    • In all the whole website looks thrown together and I would not trust these guys with my CC info.

In order to sell online you have to have it all! Like a good pass from Terrell Pryor(the Buckeyes quarterback), you have to catch your customers and keep em until you score, or in this case sell! By having all the pieces together starting with your ad and finishing on your webpage you can make Online Marketing work for you.

-Luke