Not being one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I was thrilled to be chosen as a participant in the Google Adwords Demographics Beta Test group. I feel that demographics targeting is the last piece of the puzzle the Adwords team needed to retain their dominance in pay-per-click marketing. While targeting by age group, gender, and possibly other personality traits can be an attractive prospect, it will undoubtedly have some limitations. Read more…
The rumor bin has been active lately with rumblings of an upcoming interface change for Google Adwords. In what many might consider as a topic that should fall into the “if it ain’t broke…” category, I’ll take a look at what improvements Google might make to the current Adwords interface. Read more…
There can be a definite rift between corporate search marketers and affiliate marketers. The animosity can sometimes elevate to a point where it’s almost laughable, with name calling (try searching for “affiliate cockroach”) and flame wars. The problem is that both sides share common ad space, and compete with each other for clicks and conversion. Sometimes what both sides fail to notice is that they really do need each other. Read more…
Many search marketers look to the web for meaning when trying to class observed metrics. It’s no wonder, with everyone talking about return on investment, return on ad spend, and conversion metrics with little to no contextual reference. There isn’t a one-size fits all solution for every given metric, and your ROI will differ from another marketer in a different industry. It’s true, 100% ROI isn’t for everyone. Read more…
Regardless of the analytics suite you use to track your visitors, the majority use cookies to identify unique visitors, session statistics and performance metrics effectively. No one really knows what the average lifetime of cookies are, nor can anyone ideally measure their accuracy, but they work well enough to satisfy search marketing budgets and ROI. So which factors will influence the effectiveness of a visitor cookie over time? Read more…
The latest news from Wall Street and Bay Street forewarn of an impending recession on the horizon. While news like this normally upsets the masses due to investment losses and corresponding declines in consumer spending, it need not discourage search engine marketers. Why? Read more…
Yesterday’s post hinted that many businesses are now testing campaigns in Google Adwords and other cost-per-click programs with new online marketing budgets. Many marketers don’t realize that pay-per-click campaigns can quickly get out of control. Traditional marketing metrics can usually be measured over the course of several weeks and months, whereas online marketing metrics can spike on an hourly basis. In this post, I’ll discuss the safeguards you can use when running new PPC campaigns in Google Adwords. Read more…
Many online businesses expected a slower than average December in 2007, thanks in part to less than optimistic economics figures indicating a slowdown in e-commerce spending over the holidays. Although that may be true for a few of the larger, more established brands, it may foreshadow the emergence of several new upstarts vying for attention in the e-commerce space. Read more…
