Posted by Marty Weintraub on July 26th 2007 in Google, Paid Marketing
There has been chatter about it for months. Now, fellow SEM Google adWords-watchers are trafficking blog posts highlighting fascinating examples of Google PPC results which are based dynamically, in part, on previous searches. This algorithmic shift, which ostensibly makes commercial search results more relevant to the user, foreshadows upcoming generations of smart-SERPs which take users’ search behavior into account more when targeting paid ads. It’s not hard to imagine scene by scene self-configuring video ads contextually related to a user’s current session and historic inclinations.
Whereas personalized organic search affects only users who are logged in to a Google service like Gmail, the adWords algorithm modification seems to impact sponsored results whether or not the searcher is logged into a Google account.
It’s easy to test for yourself. For instance search for airfare and you’ll see generic airfare sponsored results:
Now search for Minneapolis Hotel. Note that a sponsored airfare ad shows up-NOT a hotel ad:
A new search for airfare returns ads for Minneapolis airfare.
This has far reaching implications over the long haul. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Google, Paid Marketing | 1 Comment »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on July 16th 2007 in Paid Marketing
In response to our recent posts in the Paid Marketing Category, we’ve received a number of email inquires asking for advice regarding PPC (pay per click) learning resources.
Before you get out there and spread your PPC testing wings, there are a number of outstanding blog resources which are best read prior. Even the most experienced SEM professionals read every day to keep up. Here is the list of PPC Blog Resources we monitor @ aimClear. The links below lead to a wealth of free information focused on paid search marketing. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Paid Marketing | 9 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on July 11th 2007 in Conversion, Paid Marketing
Promises, Promises
Advertisers by nature tend to tune messaging in PPC ads to drive focused traffic from keyword searches closely related to the product being sold. However at times we all take a little liberty and weave harmless hyperbole into ads to help insure a good click through rate (CTR). It’s crucial that promises made with PPC ads are fulfilled, not only in ad copy and on landing pages, but with truths surrounding the reality of the products we’re selling.
Focused traffic that results in conversion is the objective. Misleading site visitors with ad verbiage, even in subtle shades, can hurt landing page conversion because site visitors quickly discover that the ad copy was a setup. There are classic misdirection techniques which drive traffic, not immediately predisposed to a sales pitch, in an attempt to ply visitors towards purchasing a product they might otherwise not have explored. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Conversion, Paid Marketing | 2 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on June 27th 2007 in Conversion, Paid Marketing
Pay Per Click (PPC) marketing can be extremely effective. Think about it: the reason Google and Yahoo make so darn much money is because they sell ridiculous amounts of advertising, one click at a time. The reason real advertisers (like you) buy PPC in droves is because it can be a win-the-lottery marketing tool if wielded properly. Alternately PPC, for any number of reasons, can be a disappointment or a ramp up money pit to avoid.
As a rule, our agency’s historic conversion rates have been fantastic. Over time “fantastic” became the measure of success for us to the extent that we’re not happy about “good”or even “industry-standard results” for the product we’re selling. That’s a mistake because it leads to over promising clients who then perceive good results as poor.
There is a sane middle ground, neither feast nor famine, where the success of PPC ticks along at an acceptable and sustainable rate in terms of profit. What’s important is to keep PPC conversion expectations realistic in light of the product you’re selling and the cost of selling it in the “physical world” by traditional means.
A utterly fantastic result, albeit possible, should not be the only measure of success. We’ve learned that preparing clients to have realistic expectations is in everyone’s best interest. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Conversion, Paid Marketing | 8 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on June 18th 2007 in Paid Marketing
The first question most clients ask when considering pay per click for the first time is “how much should we budget.” That’s a fair question given the way business works. We budget, spend, test ROI, proceed, re-budget and refine, or abandon the tactic. That’s how things have always worked in the realm of media expenditures. First businesses budget and then they spend.
PPC Budgeting is a 2 Step Process
PPC is different in that costs are unpredictable without testing. First we spend and then we budget. It’s a 2 step process. After limted testing (while avoiding the PPC ramp up money pit) PPC costs can be quite predictable and ROI tracking tools (analytics) much more advanced. The trade-off is as follows: willingness to test in order to determine budget + modern analytics = financial predictability and absolute ROI testing.
The Old Advertising Agency Way
In the traditional advertising agency media buyer model (think broadcast television, radio, cable, newspaper, billboards, collateral print etc…) the selling-sales-representative offers the agency media buyer a “rate card” along with the flavor of the month deal. Usually the price is fixed and buyer has a budget. In this scenario it’s easy for the media buyer to plan for the next fiscal year and set aside the cash. The prices are known and fixed. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Paid Marketing | No Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on June 7th 2007 in Paid Marketing, Research
Internet display ad expenditures jumped 17% in quarter 1 while total advertising spending dropped. 2 major media research firm surveys reveal that online advertising is again the bright spot in an otherwise miserable advertising market.
As reported by CNN on Wednesday, TNS Media Intelligence research data indicates that online display advertising (excluding search) grew a whopping 16.7% to $2.7 billion for the first quarter of this year compared to last year. What’s striking is that overall advertising expenditures actually fell 0.7%. The big losers are traditional media categories with television and radio media-buys plummeting over 2% and newspaper ad revenue dropping almost 5%.
Wednesday, the Interactive Advertising Bureau in conjunction with Pricewaterhouse Coopers released data highlighting that online ad spending overall (including search) screamed out of the gates this year with a 26 % increase over last year totaling $4.9 billion.
Posted in Paid Marketing, Research | 2 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on June 5th 2007 in Paid Marketing, Yahoo
Lawyers quip about “selling the other party a vest with no arms,” which means ceding the opposition a settlement solution which sounds accommodating but gives up little.
Yesterday’s Yahoo Search Marketing announcement regarding discounted PPC click-throughs for low value traffic could be just that. The source quality tweaks purport to address the sometimes fuzzy value of PPC traffic and may impact the cost, ROI, and tactics PPC managers employ for paid search on the Panama advertising platform. I’m leery and wonder what exactly Yahoo just gave us. It sounds like more PR from a first tier PPC engine which understands the perception of rampant click fraud is partially true.
Source Quality
In an “attempt” to consider the “quality” of partner-site source traffic when an advertiser is charged for Content Match and Sponsored Search click-throughs, Yahoo “may” discount the amount charged for such clicks based on a black-box traffic source quality algorithm. Many advertisers do not use Panama Content Match because of the sometimes dubious quality and high cost of clicks such as these.
The salient fact here is that Yahoo is admitting by proxy that sometimes Content Match and Sponsored Search traffic is tainted enough that they feel the need to attempt evaluation and lower the cost for less-valuable clicks.
“The traffic quality from our partner websites is calculated based on conversion rates and other measurements of the ability to deliver quality traffic.”
What the heck does that mean? There is nothing in the program as of yet to monitor what MY conversion rate is or how useful the traffic is to our clients. Yahoo does not reveal the criteria by which they grade the quality of the traffic except to state that the “overall quality of the traffic source” is considered when “warranted.”
Another Black Box
There is no transparency whatsoever in the process. Yahoo won’t report specific information on discounts received, does not publish a list of discounted publishers or URL’s, and does not presently provide opt-out capabilities for particular sources of traffic. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Paid Marketing, Yahoo | 3 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on May 24th 2007 in Convergence, Google, Paid Marketing, Video
Inside AdWords, Google’s official source for information about AdWords, has been trumpeting the arrival of Click-to-play video ads for AdWords. Yippy Skippy I woke up this morning to find the new video ad serving features in our AdWords client manager account interface!
Video (and image) ads now appear on a high number of Google content match affiliate sites and for goods in the Google Network. Google video ads do not appear in organic SERPS (at least for now). Content provider affiliate websites must opt-in to the image ads program and only then are site’s eligible for video ads. Affiliate content providers are provided with tools to choose preset display formats for ad sizes and shapes to display. It’s only a question of time before these ads are served to cable networks, hotel rooms, satellite TV, and other broadcast streams.
What are Video Ads?
Video ads are first displayed as a static display picture. When a customer clicks the play button (or the placeholder image), the video starts to play by one of two methods: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Convergence, Google, Paid Marketing, Video | 2 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on May 14th 2007 in Google, Paid Marketing
Pay per click advertising, like most every aspect of search marketing, is about understanding and executing on the basics. When blocking and tackling new PPC accounts there is an ever present cash pit lurking if your aim is too broad. We’ve watched PPC newbies, from the traditional advertising agency world, waste obscene amounts of cash very early when ramping up new accounts (only to generate unfocused traffic with little conversion). Reciprocally we’ve seen in-house marketing folks get discouraged and prematurely discontinue worthy campaigns that might have made their company a lot of money.
I can tell you from experience that it’s disturbing to expend large chunks of budget practically before you get started. However with a little understanding of PPC basics, some patience, and a commitment to responsible early control of your PPC-spend, the potential for falling in the ramp up money pit can be avoided. There are a number of useful tools for injecting sanity early in the process to meter PPC ramp up. In this post I’ll focus on thoughtful usage of keyword matching, an informed fear of content match, geo-targeting, and limiting the early purchase of direct brand searches. All major paid search platforms including Google, Panama, and MSN have similar tools to support these objectives. I’ll focus on Google for the purpose of this discussion. We’ll save optimized ad and landing page rotation testing for another post.
Once You’ve Spent Your Money Then it’s Gone.
First, it’s not that we have an aversion to spending money to make money. In fact we’re happy to handle millions of dollars of our clients’ media buy budgets. It’s wasting cash we hate so we’ve learned to be patient and unleash a campaign’s potential a little at a time. The idea is actually quite simple: start out slowly (highly targeted) and build up to a broader deployment with measured tactics. We’d much rather refine a campaign before the budget is gone rather than launching with a larger spend and trying to figure out what the hell happened to the money. Then we gradually ramp by relaxing restrictions until we hit the conversion sweet spot. Being conservative in the first days of a new campaign has worked for our clients time and time again. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Google, Paid Marketing | 5 Comments »
Posted by Marty Weintraub on April 23rd 2007 in Google, Organic Optimization, Paid Marketing, SEM
Last week Google announced a number of changes, initiatives, and features that impact webmaster and marketers’ thinking for both paid and organic search. The world of search moves at dizzying speed. Here’s a summary of Google’s announcements, some of which already are having a significant impact on SERPs (search engine results pages) this morning.
Paid: Google’s New Preferred Bidding Option
Google AdWords announced a new bidding option enabling advertisers to an to stipulate an average CPC or CPM bid. Previously the only option was to specify a maximum CPC or CPM campaign bid, requiring third party software to manage bid-to-placement through the API.
Google does not guarantee the exact placement or cost of ads. However selecting the new CPC/CPM option means your bids will likely fall around the price-point you chose. Now advertisers have more control of campaigns within the Google AdWords platform and manual adjustment of maximum bid may be less necessary. The announcement of Google’s new AdWords Preferred Cost Bidding may signal impending obsolescence for paid search bid management software packages like Atlas, Dynamic Software, Omniture, KeyWordMax.
Organic: Google Search History is Now Web History
Google switched on search “history” for many account holders in February triggering an intense debate over the pros and cons of personalized search and privacy. Now in a provocative move Google has expanded search history to “web history.” Tracking user behavior has expanded to archive where Google users go and what they do as while surfing the web. In making this gigantic move Google has again sparked important concerns over privacy. While previously personalized search was impacted only by a user’s search history, now the SERPs are impacted by web surfing history. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in Google, Organic Optimization, Paid Marketing, SEM | 1 Comment »
