In December 2008, HomeTownRent’s first intern, Claire Berg, was hired as Account Associate for Online Sales and Operations at Google, where she will help clients optimize their online advertising using Google AdWords campaigns. Claire interned with HomeTownRent from May to September 2008 while earning a degree in Business Administration: Marketing and Entrepreneurship at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. As a HomeTownRent intern, Claire developed many successful HomeTownRent websites and helped the company manage its own Google AdWords campaigns. HomeTownRent Marketing Director Lauren Haley recently spoke with Claire about her internship with HomeTownRent and how that internship prepared her to work for Google. Read more to discover where a position with HomeTownRent can take you and learn how you can use Google AdWords to improve your online advertising!
HomeTownRent's first intern Claire Berg is now Account Associate for Online Sales and Operations at Google.
What were your main accomplishments as a HomeTownRent intern?
Claire: One of my main accomplishments at the beginning of the internship was starting the Duluth, Minnesota website. Andrew [Pearson, co-manager of HomeTownRent] gave me the chance to build traffic on that site, so it was like trial and error figuring out what works in sales. After I developed DuluthRent.com, I went into the Washington area, where I started three to four local websites, like SilverdaleRent.com and BremertonRent.com.
After working on the Washington websites, I moved on to the launch of the new Hawaii websites, which opened up a lot of new doors because we were marketing a completely new package of rental websites. Going from the United States to the Hawaiian Islands allowed me to do a lot of strategic thinking, and I love that I was given the ability to take on that challenge.
How do you think HomeTownRent’s emphasis on local advertising differentiates the company from its national competitors?
Claire: I think HomeTownRent’s local approach is brilliant because renters will often type in a query on Google and be brought to a national website like Rentals.com, which gets great traffic overall but only has a few relevant listings. As soon as someone clicks on a HomeTownRent website, they see a comprehensive list of rental properties that is laid out in a clean and user-friendly way. All local listings are right there in front of them and costs are low for property managers and landlords. HomeTownRent’s local approach enables the company to establish a personal connection with property managers and users appreciate that HomeTownRent knows their local area well.
What did you enjoy most about your experience working for HomeTownRent?
Claire: My favorite part of working for HomeTownRent was being able to have an impact on business development, because entrepreneurship is fascinating to me. There are so many things you can learn from directly building a business that you can’t learn from going to a class or working for a company that is already long-established. Working for a start-up involves many decisions, with different angles to look at — like how we can grow the business in the immediate versus the long-term future. Being able to have that big-picture thinking made me feel like a really valuable member of the team.
Would you recommend a job with HomeTownRent?
Claire: Yes, I would recommend a job with HomeTownRent, especially for self-starters and people that are self-driven. One of the best decisions I ever made was to intern with HomeTownRent, because it’s a start-up company and you can have an impact as if you’ve already been working for 5 to 6 years and have had industry experience. The skills that you learn working for HomeTownRent are transferable to any job you’ll look for in the future, and it’s a fantastic opportunity to differentiate yourself from the cookie-cutter, Fortune 500 company interns. You don’t feel as if working for HomeTownRent is a job, but it feels instead like a hobby or a project because you’re such a big part of the entrepreneurship experience.
How did your experience working for HomeTownRent prepare you for your job with Google?
Claire: Working for HomeTownRent prepared me for my job with Google because I learned how to communicate with a variety of different clients in a way that is relevant and meaningful to them. My jobs with HomeTownRent and Google are very closely related because they both involve working with big clients, small clients, entrepreneurs and big companies. All of these people have different needs, but there’s a way to tailor your business to fit those needs while still meshing with the brand you want them to know.
What are your main responsibilities as a Google employee?
Claire: I am currently part of the Google Start program, which is comprised of about 40 recent college graduates who will all go to work for different parts of the company after the 4-month program is over. In January, I will be an Account Associate for Online Sales and Operations with Google. This job involves working with clients to help them optimize their Google AdWords campaigns. I will also be part of a small team in “Torso Sales” to expand Google’s Canada market. My experience growing new markets at HomeTownRent will be especially helpful, and I’m really excited because it’s a completely new team.
How would you describe Google AdWords?
Claire: Google AdWords is a way for advertisers of all sizes — from someone selling a couch to the New York Times — to advertise their product or service on Google’s search page. Within your Google AdWords campaign, you can bid on as many or as few keywords as you want, so you’re given the liberty to make your campaign as specific as possible and tailored to the type of customers you’d like to attract. Google AdWords offers a cost per click option for its ads, which means that advertisers only pay a fee when someone clicks on their ad. Although cost per click is the main pricing method, there are other pricing options available like cost per impression if you’re trying to build brand awareness. Google AdWords is really focused on giving options to its users to meet different advertising needs.
What is the process for setting up a Google AdWords campaign?
Claire: To create a Google AdWords campaign, you first type in keywords that you think your prospective customers will be searching for. After a week or so, use Google Analytics to monitor your advertisement’s impressions (how many times the advertisement showed up on Google) and click-through rate (how many times people clicked on your site). These numbers help you determine whether or not a particular keyword is effective and if that keyword is effective, you can increase your bid to make your ad’s placement on Google higher. I highly recommend using Google Analytics to track your progress, because it’s unbeatable in finding ways to optimize your AdWords campaigns and improve them based on the data that Analytics returns.
Do you have any advice for property management or rental advertising websites that are new to using Google AdWords?
Claire: When you’re creating an AdWords campaign, think like you’re in the shoes of someone who’s trying to rent apartments or someone who’s trying to advertise properties. Think in terms of what the end users of your website are going to be looking for.
Why do you believe companies should advertise using Google AdWords?
Claire: Google AdWords is one of the safest bets for advertising your company because there are going to be results. Google does a great job in making sure the ads they display to their customers are most relevant to users’ searches, so I believe that Google AdWords has the highest cost-value for the money spent. AdWords is great because it increases the likelihood that the type of person you want brought to your ad will be.
Filed under: Company News & Updates, Renters | Tagged: Claire Berg, Google AdWords, google analytics, HomeTownRent intern, HomeTownRent internship
