Abstract:
An online advertising management system and method cooperates with advertiser accounting and other data to provide improved control and performance. The management system assists with determining keywords and ad content through automating certain steps and simplifying others. The management system further monitors performance of an advertising campaign and allows automatic and manual adjustments.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/789,630, filed Apr. 5, 2006. 
     
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
       [0002]    1. Field of the Invention 
         [0003]    The present invention relates to management of online advertisements. More particularly, it relates to automated or assisted creation, analysis and control of online advertisements. 
         [0004]    2. Discussion of Related Art 
         [0005]    Traditional means of advertising, such as television, radio, and print, work by placing a brand or an image in front of as many people as possible. Early online advertising followed a similar model of broadcasting a graphic or text advertisement to as many people as possible. Later, advertising campaigns were targeted to specific users. Under these more recent developments, when a user of a search engine conducts a search, advertisements are displayed with search results according to the search terms and other data linked to that user, including advertisements. This technique of displaying ads that are related to the search results is generally known as paid search. 
         [0006]    Some search engine providers allow advertisers to create advertisements that are matched to a pre-specified set of keywords. When a user begins a search that includes search terms that are counterparts to the pre-specified keywords, relevant ads, meaning ads that correspond with those keywords, may be displayed to the search engine user. In a pay-per-click (“PPC”) model, when a user selects such an ad by means of a hyperlink (known as a click-through), the advertiser is charged for the advertisement. Some search engine providers have advertisers decide on how much they will pay for each user click-through. This amount is commonly known as the bid. Such search engine providers then decide on the frequency and position of relevant ads by considering a variety of factors, including the bid, the frequency of click-throughs when the ad is displayed, and the estimated travel to the advertiser&#39;s site (i.e., traffic estimation) versus the amount remaining in the user&#39;s advertising budget for the billing period. 
         [0007]    The PPC advertising model can be extremely beneficial to users. However, many users, particularly small business lack the resources to make effective use of such a system or to determine whether their use is effective. The process for creating ads in existing paid-search systems is complex. The advertising campaign must be created manually by having a person create ad copy and input keywords into a search engine advertising interface. The person may have to manually input large lists of keywords. In order to appear more often, many keywords may be used. However, even though the advertisement appears and may be selected, existing systems do not provide any information to the user about the success of the advertisement towards making a sale. 
       SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
       [0008]    The present invention overcomes many of the deficiencies of existing systems through providing an automated system and method for creating and monitoring advertisements. 
         [0009]    According to one aspect of the invention, an advertising management system is connected to components of an advertiser computer system. The advertising management system retrieves information from the components of the advertiser computer system for use with management of advertisements. According to one aspect of the invention, the advertising management system generates keywords from information in an advertiser accounting system. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system generates keywords from information in an advertiser system server. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system generates keywords from information in an advertiser database. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system communicates with a third party website to obtain information for generating keywords. 
         [0010]    According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system communicates with advertisement websites to gather information regarding potential performance of keywords. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system includes a user interface for displaying a list of generated keyword and potential performance information to an advertiser. The advertiser may edit the keyword list using the user interface. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system communicates with an advertisement website to supply advertisements and keywords. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertisement website includes a search engine host. 
         [0011]    According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system uses gathered information to generate advertisement content. The advertising management system includes templates for creating advertisements. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system communicates with websites to gather information on potential performance of advertisements. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system dynamically modifies the advertisement templates based upon information gathered from websites. According to other aspects of the invention, the websites include a competitors website and/or a search engine host. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system includes a user interface for displaying generated advertisements. The advertiser may edit the advertisement using the user interface. 
         [0012]    According to another aspect of the invention, an advertising management system communicates with an advertisement website to obtain information on advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system communicates with the advertiser website to obtain information on advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system communicates with an accounting system to obtain information on advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system dynamically modifies a keyword list based upon advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system dynamically adjusts advertisement content based upon advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertising management system includes a user interface for displaying a keyword list, advertisements and/or advertisement performance information. The advertiser may edit the keyword list and/or advertisements using the user interface. 
         [0013]    According to one aspect of the invention, a method for advertising management retrieves information from the components of the advertiser computer system for use in managing advertisements. According to one aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management generates keywords from information in an advertiser accounting system. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management generates keywords from information in an advertiser system server. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management generates keywords from information in an advertiser database. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes communicating with a third party website to obtain information for generating keywords. 
         [0014]    According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes communicating with advertisement websites to gather information regarding potential performance of keywords. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes displaying a list of generated keyword and potential performance information to an advertiser. The advertiser may edit the keyword list. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes communicating with an advertisement website to supply advertisements and keywords. According to another aspect of the invention, the advertisement website includes a search engine host. 
         [0015]    According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes gathering information to generate advertisement content. Templates are used to create advertisements. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes communicating with websites to gather information on potential performance of advertisements. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes dynamically modifying the advertisement templates based upon information gathered from websites. According to other aspects of the invention, the websites include a competitor&#39;s website and/or a search engine host. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes displaying generated advertisements. The advertiser may edit the advertisements. 
         [0016]    According to another aspect of the invention, a method for advertising management includes communicating with an advertisement website to obtain information on advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes communicating with the advertiser website to obtain information on advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes communicating with an accounting system to obtain information on advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes dynamically modifying a keyword list based upon advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes dynamically adjusting advertisement content based upon advertisement performance. According to another aspect of the invention, the method for advertising management includes displaying a keyword list, advertisements and/or advertisement performance information. The advertiser may edit the keyword list and/or advertisements. 
     
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0017]      FIG. 1  is a block diagram of a network including an advertising management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0018]      FIG. 2  is a flow diagram for operation of an advertising management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0019]      FIG. 3  is a flow diagram for operation of an advertising management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
           [0020]      FIG. 4  is a flow diagram for operation of an advertising management system according to an embodiment of the present invention. 
       
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
       [0021]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, an advertising management system is used to create, analyze and control online advertisements.  FIG. 1  represents a network  10  including an advertising management system of the present invention. As is known, the Internet  20  and/or other wide area or global network, connects together various servers providing services to users. A search engine host  30 , such as Yahoo® and Google® provides a searching service for users. (Search engine host  30  is representative of multiple hosts which can be accessed and utilized by the system and method of the present invention.) The search engine host  30  has a connection to the Internet  20 . Users are able to access the search engine host  30  through that connection. 
         [0022]    When the search engine host  30  receives a request for a search, it returns information relating to a set of relevant websites. As is known, a search engine host  30  also provides a set of advertisements related to the search. The advertisements are selected based upon keywords entered by the advertiser. When a user selects or “clicks” an advertisement, the user is directed, through the Internet  20 , to the advertiser&#39;s website, hosted on the advertiser web server  130 . 
         [0023]    The advertiser web server  130  is part of a computer system  100  of the advertiser. The advertiser system  100  may include a single computer or multiple computers. If the advertiser system  100  encompasses multiple computers, one or more separate networks (not shown) link the various computers. The components of the advertiser system may be located at a plurality of locations and may communicate through the Internet  20  as well as through other networks. The components may also be owned or operated by third parties, such as another entity which hosts the advertiser&#39;s website, as long as they are used in operation of the business of advertiser. 
         [0024]      FIG. 1  illustrates some of the functionality of the advertiser system  100  as it pertains to the present invention. The various components are connected together through datalines  101  or a network (not shown) to form the system. The advertiser web server  130  hosts the advertiser&#39;s web site to provide a service to businesses or the public. The service may include providing information about the advertiser or advertiser&#39;s products. It may also include an ecommerce service allowing ordering of the advertiser&#39;s products. Advertiser system server  160  provides computer services to the advertiser. It may include application programs and accompanying data used by advertiser. It may include one or more computers and storage devices. Accounting system  120  stores or processes information stored in the advertiser&#39;s financial and other accounting records. Accounting system  120  runs, for example, Intuit Quickbooks accounting software, produced by Intuit Inc., 2632 Marine Way, Mountain View, Calif. 94043. The accounting system  120  may operate on the advertiser system server  160  or may include separate hardware. The advertiser system  100  includes one or more user interfaces  150  for accessing the functionality of the components of the advertiser system  100 . One or more databases  140  may be included in the advertiser system  100 . 
         [0025]    In the present invention, the advertiser system  100  includes an advertising management system  110  to create, control and manage online advertisements. The advertising management system  110  is connected to the other components of the advertising system in order to provide its functionality. The advertising management system  110  includes a connection to the Internet  20  in order to communicate with other systems outside the advertiser system  100  in providing its functionality. 
         [0026]    While  FIG. 1  illustrates advertiser system  100  as having separate components, any or all of them may be integrated into a single computer, computer system, or program. For example, the user interface  150  may be integrated into the interface for the accounting system  120 . Thus, the advertising management system  110  could be accessed directly through the accounting system  120 . Alternatively, the user interface  150  may be integrated with the advertising management system  110 . Accounting information may be retrievable by the interface  150  through the connection between the advertising management system  110  and the accounting system  120 . Alternatively, the user interface  150  may be a separate GUI interface associated with a computer within the advertiser system  100 . 
         [0027]      FIG. 2  illustrates a process  200  for operation of the advertising management system  110  to create keywords for use in conjunction with advertisements on a search engine host  30  according to an embodiment of the present invention. The advertising management system  110  determines keywords through a number of data sources. At step  210 , the advertising management system  110  searches data created or stored by accounting system  120  to determine words frequently used in connection with sales records, inventory lists, or other business transactions. At step  220 , the advertising management system  110  searches the advertiser&#39;s website on advertiser server  130  or scanned promotional materials, business email databases, product information or other relevant sources stored in a database  140 . At step  230 , the advertising management system  110  searches third party websites  40  accessed through the Internet  20 . Such third party sites could include industry associations and competitors&#39; websites. The specific sources to be searched by the advertising management system  110  would be identified by the advertiser through the user interface  150  or automatically determined from information accessed from accounting system  120 , advertiser web server  130 , advertiser system server  160 , or database  140 . 
         [0028]    At step  240 , a list of keywords is generated from all of the words culled from different sources. At step  250 , the advertising management system  110  collects information relating to use of the various keywords. Such information may be stored in the advertising management system  110  from previous lists, may be obtained from the search engine host  30 , or may be culled from various sources connected to the Internet  20 . The information may include data on estimated traffic, associated costs, and similar ads using various combinations of the keywords. The information may include an estimation of the average display position that different bids would result in for the keyword combinations. Pricing information for the ads is also obtained. 
         [0029]    At step  260 , the list of keywords and other collected information is displayed on the user interface  150 . The advertiser can then revise and edit the list of keywords at step  260 . Once editing is complete, the advertising management system  110  retains the selected keywords for submission with advertisements, as discussed below. 
         [0030]    According to an embodiment of the present invention, as illustrated in the process of  FIG. 3 , the advertising management system  110  provides assistance in creating the advertisements through the collection and presentation of information. Advertising management system  110  accesses the database  140 , advertiser web server  130  and/or advertiser system server  160  to collect information for advertisements at step  310 . At step  320 , advertising management system  110  retrieves information from search engine host  30  relating to competitive ads (e.g., that correspond to the same keywords). Using the collected information, the advertising management system  110  generates and displays suggested ads based upon templates at step  330 . These ads are selected to demonstrate recommended wording and structuring. Since ads displayed by search engine host  30  are, at least to some degree, ranked by click-through success, ads listed first by search engine host  30  are likely to have been effective at generating traffic. Therefore, ads listed first are selected more often at step  320 . The collected information about third party ads is also displayed. At step  340 , using the interface  150 , advertiser can edit, delete or add advertisements based upon the suggested ads, examples of third party ads, and general or customized ad templates. The advertising management system  110  automatically sets an initial bid price in conjunction with the selected keywords and ads. The bid price can also be modified by the advertiser. Once the advertisements are complete and prices are set, the advertising management system  110  submits the ad campaign to search engine host  30  through an automatic process which avoids the complex manual entry system. Depending on the particular search engine host  30 , limited manual entry may be required. For example, an account may need to be created before step  350  may proceed. 
         [0031]    According to an embodiment of the invention, the advertising management system  110  monitors performance of ads after submission. Through monitoring, the advertising management system  110  uses an automated adaptive learning process to revise the suggested ads and keywords. The advertising management system  110  tracks the performance of ads it has previously created and the performance of ads of third parties. The advertising management system  110  may retrieve data from advertiser web server  130 , advertiser system sever  160 , a database  140  containing, for example, server logs, or a third-party system (not shown). The advertiser may, through user interface  150 , specify which metrics are to be optimized. For example, the advertiser may choose revenue, profitability, or other metrics. 
         [0032]    According to an embodiment of the invention, as illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the advertising management system  110  assists with control of an advertising campaign during operation. At step  410 , the advertising management system  110  collects ad campaign measurement statistics. Various reports are generated and displayed, at step  420 , on the user interface  150  based upon the collected information. The reports may include the current, past, and predicted future states of the campaign. The advertising management system  110  also maintains real-time cost of advertising and revenues generated. As discussed previously, the advertising management system  110  is connected to the accounting system  120 . The costs and revenues associated with ads can be directly retrieved from and written to the accounting system  120  or retrieved from another system. Advertiser can display the ad campaign data in a standardized or custom format that allows the advertiser to capture, manipulate, and store the data as he likes. At step  430 , the advertiser can revise the ads and/or keywords in the advertising campaign using the user interface  150  based upon the reports generated by the advertising management system  110 . The revised ads and keywords are automatically provided to the search engine host  30 . 
         [0033]    According to another embodiment of the invention, the advertising management system  110  conducts automated experiments to derive empirically optimum bid, keyword, advertisement copy, day or date of placement, and time of placement combinations. Through such experimentation, the advertising management system  110  can derive price elasticity curves for both the advertisement itself, and for the product or service that is being advertised. Through inferred user information indicated by the search engine host  30 , advertising management system  110  can optimize price discrimination strategies. The advertising management system  110  can be optimized according to inventory turnover, inventory levels, days receivable, customer lifetime value (which traces all purchases a customer makes and connects that to the initial lead for detailed return-on-investment (“ROI”) analysis), customer up-selling to a more expensive or higher-profit product, order size, shipping costs, geography, profit levels, gross sales, net sales, EBIT, cost-per-click, click-through rates, number, cost, or timing of telephone inquiries, attitudinal changes in target market (e.g., awareness, knowledge, interest) or estimated or known impact on competitors&#39; websites or businesses. For example, consider an optimization strategy that focuses on equivalent sales per click. There could be two keywords: one costs $0.10 per click while another costs $1.00 per click. If the $1.00 per click keyword generates more than 10 times as many equivalent sales per click as does the $0.10 per click keyword, it offers a better ROI. 
         [0034]    The advertising management system  110  is adapted to perform the automated analysis and optimization through integration of information tracked by search engine host  30  and accounting system  120 . The advertiser may save money by, for example, finding cost-effective advertisements. The advertising management system  110  is also capable of managing, in all the same ways that keywords are otherwise discussed, negative keywords, meaning keywords that will prevent an advertisement from displaying. For example, advertising management system  110  can optimize negative keywords to minimize click-through loss or to minimize buy-through loss. 
         [0035]    In an embodiment of the invention, advertising management system  110  collects information by explicitly linking the unique tracking identifier and its associated information (e.g., implied user location) that is created, observed or maintained by the search engine host  30  with the tracking identifier and its associated information that is created or maintained by accounting system  120 . For example, the accounting system  120  may have unique customer identifying numbers, customer accounts, email or home addresses, telephone numbers, product warranty numbers, discount coupon numbers, browser cookies, IP addresses, credit card numbers, or any combination thereof. By linking the tracking identifiers, multiple search engine searches can be associated with a single final sale, or, alternatively, a single click-through with multiple sales that occur separately over a period of time after the search engine user first saw an advertisement and clicked on it. By linking all the sales to customers, whether conducted by email, telephone, fax, or internet, with the initial customer acquisition through internet advertising and online identification, a more complete understanding of the revenue per new customer, profit per new customer, and other metrics can be obtained and compared to the cost of acquiring that new customer through online advertising. The advertising management system  110  is adapted to optimize online advertising by measuring online and offline sales. The advertising management system  110  can use the search engine tracking identifier and the accounting system  120  identifier and their related information to calculate optimum pricing levels. 
         [0036]    In another embodiment, the advertising management system  110  links a unique tracking identifier and its associated information (usually stored by a cookie on the search engine user&#39;s computer) that is created, observed or maintained by the search engine host  30  with the tracking identifier and its associated information that is created or maintained by accounting system  120  in order to allocate automatically certain advertising costs to separate cost-pools in accounting system  120 . For example, suppose there is an advertiser that is a lawn mower retailer, and he has a Google ad campaign for lawn mowers assigned a keyword “lawnmower.” The advertiser wishes to assign the ad campaigns costs two cost-pools, one for its riding mower division and another for its push mower division. System  240  can assign click-throughs that result in a riding mower purchases to the riding mower cost-pool, and click-throughs that result in push mower purchases to the push mower cost-pool, and all other click-throughs to these two cost-pools in a similar ratio. 
         [0037]    In another embodiment, advertising management system  110  provides advertising cost aggregations to accounting system  120  in order to generate automatic advertising reimbursement invoices. For example, one business forms a partnership that allows it to have some of its advertising costs reimbursed. Advertising management system  110  identifies a specified portion of advertising costs related to certain keywords and automatically generates invoices to the partnership. 
         [0038]    In another embodiment, the advertiser system  100  uses the database  140  to store or process business information created, generated, or used by the advertiser. The business information may include information stored in a customer relationship management (CRM) application, a billing system, a mailing database, any customer records, electronic mail programs or systems, checks generated or received in the course of business, transaction records, electronic trade journals, electronic commerce software, or Internet web sites. Advertising management system  110  communicates with the database  140  to retrieve the business information. Advertising management system  110  performs an automated review of information from the database  140  to generate keywords for use in online advertising. 
         [0039]    In another embodiment, the advertising management system  110  is a Windows-based application that is adapted to facilitate signing up for and maintaining a paid-search and pay-per-click (“PPC”) advertising campaign. The advertising management system may be designed using the C++ or C# programming languages on the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET platform, produced by Microsoft Corp., 1 Microsoft Way, Redmond, Wash. It communicates with a QuickBooks accounting system using the QuickBooks SDK (QBSDK) and the QuickBooks Foundation Class (QBFC) library, an object-oriented layer developed by Intuit. 
         [0040]    The present invention is not limited to advertisements on search engine host  30 . In another embodiment of the invention, the advertising management system  110  operates to provide advertisements to any advertisement publisher  60 . The advertisement publisher  60  may provide advertisements for banner or other online advertisements, text messages, emails, etc. The advertising management system  110  creates, monitors, controls and optimizes the content and possible keywords of advertisements in accordance with the processes described above. To provide the information regarding the advertisements to the advertisement publisher, the advertising management system  110  communicates through publisher&#39;s application program interface  65 . 
         [0041]    In another embodiment, the advertising management system  110  operates remotely from the advertiser system  100 . An application installed in the advertiser system  100  facilitates data analysis and transfer of accounting and sales data from the accounting system  120  to the remote advertising management system  110 . The application may also facilitate communications between the advertising management system  110  and other components of the advertiser system  100 . 
         [0042]    Having disclosed at least one embodiment of the present invention, various adaptations, modifications, additions, and improvements will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. Such adaptations, modifications, additions and improvements are considered part of the invention which is only limited by the several claims attached hereto.