Findings of academic study into PPC will save brands time, money and costly mistakes

Aug. 22, 2011 - PRLog -- Advertisers can now save valuable time and investment, as well as avoid costly commercial mistakes, in their Search Optimisation process, thanks to a new piece of academic research funded by digital marketing technology specialists DC Storm.

The ground-breaking project, which was undertaken by a team within the Department of Mathematics at University of Sussex in conjunction with DC Storm, aimed to explore, define and test the relationship between bid, position, click through rate, cost per click and conversion rate. The results of the study rightly proved that Search ranking positions indeed impact on click through rates, however, more importantly, the team were able to develop a mathematical model that gives Advertisers the ability to predict results from any changes they wish to make in their optimisation activity.

Seth Richardson, CEO of DC Storm, says: “Currently, brands have to rely on timely, and often costly, testing to complete the optimisation of their Search rankings. Alongside the University of Sussex Mathematics specialists, we set out to really understand the relationship between all the variables of PPC, so we could help Advertisers to more intelligently optimise their rankings.

“The study allowed the team to develop a very valuable equation which Advertisers will be able to apply to their PPC activity, giving them the ability to make informed decisions on whether it’s worth investing more to increase their rankings, or on the flip side, to what extent a decrease in expenditure will impact volumes. The findings will therefore help Advertisers get to their most efficient positions quicker and save them money in the long term too.”  

The study focused on activity within the Travel sector, but the process can be applied to all sectors to help speed up optimisation to reach optimum position.

Seth adds: “This is an exciting piece of research, which will ultimately aid brands’ understanding of how digital marketing can be used more effectively to support the growth of their businesses. It is our goal to always stay ahead in terms of understanding the needs of our market, and this project will equip us to support clients with more knowledge and more guidance to ensure their online campaigns are optimum in delivery. ”

DC Storm won a South East England Development Agency grant to help fund the project.

-ENDS-
August, 2011

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DC Storm provides market-leading digital marketing tracking, reporting and optimisation for Advertisers, Affiliates and Agencies.