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I’m Going as Yahoo! This year for Halloween

What to be for Halloween each year is a big decision. I mean, it says a lot about your personal brand…and stuff. But really, this year I have decided to go as Yahoo! and here are the key qualities I will be trying to show off:

1. I will answer the door when the children knock, but if they aren’t regulars, it will take me longer to get their candy. I prefer my Gold Status trick-or-treaters.

2. I will be great for socialization, I’ll have the coolest front yard, but don’t ask me anything.

3. I will offer games, but once you show a modicum of skill I’ll make you pay to be challenged.

4. When someone offers me $20 for my pumpkin I will not sell it, but will instead hold off for a better deal from the big pumpkin dealer, who I rent land to, that they seem to never pay for.

The more I read about Yahoo, AOL, MSN, ASK, and Google competing it gets simple…

Google needs shades…

MSN needs to stick to software solutions…

ASK needs to get the grey out of their ad text…

AOL needs to go to the retirement home…

and for Yahoo! everyday is Halloween.

Google continues to Break it Down

Recent changes in the way that data can be displayed in Google AdWords allows the advertiser to really break down data on ad distribution in any level of the account. Previously, this type of breakdown really was only available at the adgroup and keyword level. By making it possible easily break down data at the campaign level Google has made it easier for advertisers to know how each campaign is doing across the different ad distributions offered by Google AdWords.

Bringing the Search/Content breakdown up to the campaign level is one thing…          …but the real new feature here is the ability to separate the Google Search Network from the Search Partners, such as ASK.com and AOL.com. This added transparency may just be Google’s way of trying to ease concerns over the deal with Yahoo! SM.

What this shows is that in the same week that the competitors tried to start catching up to Google, Google took another leap forward in delivering a better service than the competition. With the rate of innovation seemingly not slowing down at Google, and the competitors struggling to duplicate what Google did years ago it is not surprising that Google AdWords continues to dominate the pay-per-click marketplace. The more transparent they become, the more advertisers will follow. Its all about features and benefits, and Google is continuing to pull ahead of the competition in both.

Why Branding has everything to do With Google’s Success

According to reports in <a href=”http://www.internetretailer.com/article.asp?id=27941″>Internet Retailer, October 2008</a> pay-per-click advertisers experienced an increase in ad rates by 14%. During this period Google accounted for 77% of search advertising budgets and accounted for about 62% of searches.

At the heart of this growth for Google is the user experience. User’s surveyed saw Google scoring higher in consumer satisfaction, while Yahoo slipped, and Microsoft remained steady.

For search marketing this means that as competition increases on Google AdWords advertisers must have the right strategy to harness the best clicks, and create campaigns focused on driving qualified conversions.

So why has Google continued to increase revenue, the key is in how they have branded themselves and how that translates to the understanding tat they are serving multiple customers: Searchers, Advertisers, Web Site Owners, Content Providers, Consumer protection agencies, Governments. Even as they have added advertising to many of the new acquisitions, such as YouTube, Google has kept consistent with their branding: clean layout and relevant results, both organically and paid. As long as Google continues to improve tracking and targeting features faster than the competition, which is lagging behind, they will remain as the primary platform for most paid search budgets.

Recently Ask.com  has relaunched their search engine and returned to their branding, semantic search, answering questions users ask. With a purposeful effort to constantly improve becoming more noticeable over the past six months it may only be a matter of time before Ask starts eating into the search and advertising shares of it’s competitors. The question to be answered is “<a href=”http://www.ask.com/web?q=who%E2%80%99s+share+of+search+traffic+will+ask.com+eat+into&search=search&qsrc=0&o=0&l=dir”>who’s share of search traffic will ask.com eat into?</a>”

You Down wit OPB? - Other People’s Brands

One of the first steps I take in writing a campaign structure outline and summary is to begin doing some shallow keyword research using the top organic search terms, suggestions from the client, and keywords extracted from potential destination URL’s.

For any term that is associated with a product or service there is usually a handful of keywords in the initial list that include the brand name of a product they distribute or of a competitor’s product. Knowing when and how to use these terms is not a yes/no question. For each industry customer expectations and goals while researching a product or service online differ. By understanding the motivation of the prospect we are able to determine whether or not branded keywords, other than those of your own company, should be included in the campaign and at what level of organization.

One example of how competitors’ branded keywords can be used is at the keyword level. Branded keywords in this usage are placed in the ad group organization in the ad group where the keyword would be placed if it did not have the branded term attached. This format is particularly useful when the product offered is not brand specific or when the branded term does not appear on the destination page.

By understanding where using brand names other than your company’s is appropriate you can be sure to offer an appropriate alternative to the online prospect by having your ad appear with a competitor’s search results.

Are You still Yellow about Google Local?

It happened again yesterday…

…It appeared in my driveway, inches from the curb and the rushing water from the continued storms. I wondered how many died for it to be brought to me? How many trees were being destroyed to make something little cumbersome yellow different typical? Of course I am talking about the yellow hole that sucks the life out of small businesses, intimidating them into believing that if you aren’t yellow you should be afraid not to be, because your competition is.

Seriously, when was the last time you went into your phone book to look something up? It was to find a restaurant coupon wasn’t it? Unless you are looking to have a furnace from the 1970’s serviced there really seems to be no need to consult the book forged from fear of a competitive disadvantage.

Here is the alternative:

Instead of paying thousands of dollars for an unknown number of people to view your ad spend your efforts on having an awesome Google Local listing instead. With Google Local you can set up the listing for free. There are a lot of features that can allow you to have a great web presence without even having a web site. Then spend the money you would have spent on the yellow ad on taking out your ten best customers for a great dinner. Just ask them that in return they leave a review of your business on your local listing. The testimonial will be worth way more than the dinner, and you can also pick your customers brains for what they think you can do to improve. And sell nothing. remember the dinners purpose, get the testimonials. If you are really savy, bring a video camera and take short clips of customers raving about you, then connect the videos on YouTube and your listing.

If your business hasn’t seen a provable conversion from the yellow intimidator don’t keep throwing money at it because that is what you think is part of doing business. Instead spend the money on your customers or employees and your returns will greatly outperform the big book of one line text ads.

How much Data is Best for Split-Testing Ad Copy

When trying to decide what ad copy is most effective in moving a viewer to a click, to a conversion each step of the equation offers it’s unique input into what drives a viewer of an ad to convert.

Step 1: Impression to Click

The almighty click through rate, CTR, has been regarded by pay per click marketers across the industry as the primary focus of PPC performance. Since this metric supposedly weighs heavy in the computation of the AdWords quality score it seems many marketers have no problem driving up high click through traffic even if it does not convert.
Impression to click is really the least important factor in determining the success of the bottom line of the purpose of the campaign, to convert visitors to clients. CTR is most useful when determining the strength of headlines, but becomes less useful when testing description text and display url’s.

Step 2: Click to Conversion

Conversion rate is a metric many pay per click marketers just felt they didn’t need to pay attention to. When I first began researching and managing PPC accounts I was contracting for an agency in Boulder, CO and was told not to worry about conversions, that was the job of the Web team. The idea was that it was my job to get the people there and their job to make them convert. What happened is a lot of traffic that was generated was not even qualified, much less actually going to convert. Disconnected data led to bad results.
By taking an integrated approach to Interactive design, Creative content, and Search marketing an environment is created in which departments consult with each other about the data collected and collaborate on implementing the best solution.

First, the importance of setting a baseline for when there is enough data to do the analysis is necessary. I draw the line at a thousand search network impressions. It is important to draw this line in the sand and stick to it. By knowing I have adequate quality data to analyze I can be confident that the conclusions I draw will provide the optimizations needed to continue to improve performance.

Where were you at in 2001

First, Congrats to Google for their 10th birthday!

A lot has changes on the landscape of Google’s results page since 2001, from the logo to the results the difference is striking. Back in 2001 I hadn’t become engrossed in the Internet like I am today. Robert Gniadecki, a world leading cancer researcher, was still the dominant result for a search of my last name.

So where were you at in 2001 on Google?  This look back is a really cool toy to play with and reminisce. Take a look and see where you were at, and be amazed at how far Google has come.

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