Methods and apparatus for generating an online marketing campaign

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention relate to generating an online marketing campaign that comprises a list of keywords to be purchased from a search engine. Keywords for a business' marketing campaign may be selected from a pre-defined template of keywords for the business service category into which the business falls. In addition, the business may add keywords not found in the template into its marketing campaign. The performance of the non-template keywords added by the business may be evaluated and, if they are determined to have been performed well, may be added into the template so that they may be used in the marketing campaigns of other businesses in the business service category.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 - 30 . (canceled) 
     
     
         31 . A method for generating keywords to be used in an online marketing campaign, the method comprising acts of:
 reviewing at least one taxonomy that specifies at least one business service category and a list of keywords that represent a proposed best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category for use in a search engine and/or online directory, wherein the at least one taxonomy is adaptive based on performance of online marketing campaigns, wherein the performance of online marketing campaigns for at least 100 businesses is evaluated in determining whether to adapt the taxonomy;   adopting, using at least one processor, a first online marketing campaign for a first business that is based, at least in part, on the taxonomy but that employs at least one new keyword for the at least one business service category that is not included in the proposed best practices list, wherein adopting the first online marketing campaign comprises placing a bid with a search engine on the at least one new keyword and/or purchasing a listing related to the at least one new keyword from an online directory;   after adopting the first online marketing campaign, evaluating the performance of the at least one new keyword in the first online marketing campaign; and   when it is determined that the at least one new keyword satisfies at least one performance criterion, adding the at least one new keyword to the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category.   
     
     
         32 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the best practices list of keywords comprises positive keywords, negative keywords and geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         33 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the at least one taxonomy is globally managed for a plurality of online marketing campaigns for a plurality of businesses. 
     
     
         34 . The method of  claim 33 , wherein the plurality of businesses comprises at least one thousand businesses. 
     
     
         35 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the adopting comprises taking a cross-product of the positive keywords and the geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         36 . The method of  claim 32 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine for each concatenation of a positive keyword and geographical modifier keyword. 
     
     
         37 . The method of  claim 31 , wherein the adopting comprises:
 placing a bid with a search engine on at least one recommended keyword in the proposed best practices list by setting the bid based at least in part on performance of the at least one recommended keyword in at least one marketing campaign.   
     
     
         38 . A method, comprising:
 reviewing a taxonomy that specifies at least one business service category and a list of keywords that represents a proposed best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category for use in a search engine;   adopting, using at least one processor, an online marketing campaign that is based, at least in part, on the taxonomy but that employs a new keyword for the at least one business service category that is not included in the proposed best practices list;   after adopting the online marketing campaign, evaluating performance of the new keyword in the online marketing campaign; and   when it is determined, based on results of the evaluating, that the new keyword satisfies at least one performance criterion, adding the new keyword to the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category.   
     
     
         39 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine on the new keyword. 
     
     
         40 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the adopting comprises:
 placing a bid with a search engine on at least one recommended keyword in the proposed best practices list of keywords by setting the bid based at least in part on performance of the at least one recommended keyword in at least one marketing campaign.   
     
     
         41 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the online marketing campaign employs a recommended keyword in the proposed best practices list of keywords, the method further comprising:
 evaluating performance of the recommended keyword in the online marketing campaign;   determining, based on results of the evaluating the performance of the recommended keyword, whether the recommended keyword satisfies the at least one performance criterion; and   when it is determined that the recommended keyword does not satisfy the at least one performance criterion, removing the recommended keyword from the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category.   
     
     
         42 . The method of  claim 38 , wherein the best practices list of keywords comprises a plurality of positive keywords, a plurality of negative keywords, and a plurality of geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         43 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine for at least one concatenation of a positive keyword in the plurality of positive keywords and a geographical modifier keyword in the plurality of geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         44 . The method of  claim 42 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine for each concatenation of a positive keyword and geographical modifier keyword in a cross-product of the plurality of positive keywords and the plurality of geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         45 . A method of adaptively updating a taxonomy that specifies at least one business service category and a list of keywords that represent a proposed best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category for use in a search engine, the method comprising:
 generating, using at least one processor, a plurality of online marketing campaigns for a plurality of businesses using the proposed best practices list of keywords, wherein each of the plurality of online marketing campaigns includes at least one keyword from the proposed best practices list, and wherein at least one of the plurality of online marketing campaigns includes a new keyword that is not in the proposed best practices list of keywords;   after generating the plurality of online marketing campaigns for the plurality of businesses, evaluating performance of the new keyword in the at least one of the plurality of online marketing campaigns that includes the new keyword;   determining, based on results of the evaluating, whether the new keyword satisfies at least one performance criterion; and   when it is determined that the new keyword satisfies the at least one performance criterion, updating the taxonomy to add the new keyword to the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category.   
     
     
         46 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein at least a subset of the plurality of online marketing campaigns includes a recommended keyword in the proposed best practices list of keywords, the method further comprising:
 evaluating performance of the recommended keyword in the subset of the plurality of online marketing campaigns;   determining, based on results of evaluating the performance of the recommended keyword, whether the recommended keyword satisfies the at least one performance criterion; and   when it is determined that the recommended keyword does not satisfy the at least one performance criterion, updating the taxonomy to remove the recommended keyword from the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category.   
     
     
         47 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the plurality of businesses comprises at least one hundred businesses. 
     
     
         48 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the plurality of businesses comprises at least one thousand businesses. 
     
     
         49 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of online marketing campaigns comprises at least one hundred online marketing campaigns. 
     
     
         50 . The method of  claim 45 , wherein the at least one of the plurality of online marketing campaigns comprises at least one thousand online marketing campaigns. 
     
     
         51 . A system, comprising:
 at least one processor; and   at least one computer readable storage medium encoded with instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform:
 reviewing a taxonomy that specifies at least one business service category and a list of keywords that represents a proposed best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category for use in a search engine; 
 adopting an online marketing campaign that is based, at least in part, on the taxonomy but that employs a new keyword for the at least one business service category that is not included in the proposed best practices list; 
 after adopting the online marketing campaign, evaluating performance of the new keyword in the online marketing campaign; and 
 when it is determined, based on results on the evaluating, that the new keyword satisfies at least one performance criterion, adding the new keyword to the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category. 
   
     
     
         52 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine on the new keyword. 
     
     
         53 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the adopting comprises:
 placing a bid with a search engine on at least one keyword in the proposed best practices list of keywords by setting the bid based at least in part on performance of the at least one keyword in at least one marketing campaign.   
     
     
         54 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the online marketing campaign employs a recommended keyword in the proposed best practices list of keywords, the method further comprising:
 evaluating performance of the recommended keyword in the online marketing campaign;   determining, based on results of evaluating the performance of the recommended keyword, whether the recommended keyword satisfies the at least one performance criterion; and   when it is determined that the recommended keyword does not satisfy the at least one performance criterion, removing the recommended keyword from the best practices list of keywords for the at least one business service category.   
     
     
         55 . The system of  claim 51 , wherein the best practices list of keywords comprises a plurality of positive keywords, a plurality of negative keywords, and a plurality of geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         56 . The system of  claim 55 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine for at least one concatenation of a positive keyword in the plurality of positive keywords and a geographical modifier keyword in the plurality of geographical modifier keywords. 
     
     
         57 . The system of  claim 55 , wherein the adopting comprises placing a bid with a search engine for each concatenation of a positive keyword and geographical modifier keyword in a cross-product of the plurality of positive keywords and the plurality of geographical modifier keywords.