Whoa, didn’t see this one coming. In a surprising move yesterday, Google announced that advertisers would be allowed to use trademarked terms in their search ads, making for quite the conversation piece admidst legal uncertainty surrounding rights-holders. The older rule allowed advertisers to request Google remove trademark and brand names from ad text, thereby providing some protection for owners. Is this good or bad? Depends which side of the fence you’re sitting on. Read more…
Continuing my pre-show coverage of Search Engine Strategies Toronto, I have the privilege of introducing Janice Hatch of Google Canada. Janice is scheduled to speak on Day 2 of the conference in a session called “Campaign Performance Tracking” and was nice enough to spare some time to answer a few questions that relate to Google Adwords and the future of search marketing. Read more…
Categories: Economics, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, Landing Pages, Mobile, PPC Basics, SES Tour Tags: ad writing tips, google adwords platform, Google Analytics, google canada, google market share, mobile advertising, search engine strategies
Attending the eMetrics conference this week in Toronto wasn’t necessarily a huge eye-opener for me, but several insightful discussions did arise from the show’s fundamentally significant panels and presentations. One such topic included a sore spot for all online marketers and analysts at some point in their career: campaign attribution a.k.a. who gets the final credit for a conversion.
Who gets the credit? Traditional Marketing? Online advertising? Last source of conversion? Sales? Or maybe customer service? Who gets blamed for bad leads? Someone’s gotta take the heat, right?
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With the winter months dragging ever-so-slowly forward, and the markets showing very little signs of improvement in the foreseeable future, many online retailers are rethinking their strategies to weather the storm and continue a long-term drudge through this lousy economy. Or are they? Don’t be fooled! While most stocks are plummeting to 25 year lows, online retailers are able to go further than ever before, with less than ever before.
What can you do to ensure your business stays afloat while all others sink like the Titanic? Read more…
Categories: Analytics Tools, Economics, Landing Pages, PPC Basics, SEO Tags: advertising trends, conversion testing, online advertising, optimization, ppc, recession, SEO
It can’t go without saying, the enthusiasm around the new American president is astonishing. I almost feel sorry for poor old G.W. because as John Stewart said “he’s so oblivious he probably thought Barack was talking about Clinton”. Although the impact of Obama’s new policies is yet to be seen, several indicators show a reemergence of economic signposts of success. Let’s take a look at what really happened yesterday. Read more…
Despite the recession and tough economic times, there still seems to be a huge demand for analytics talent in the industry, especially when it comes to individuals well-versed in implementing and supporting Omniture. You have to hand it to them, they’ve become the defacto standard in web analytics through incremental in-house development of SiteCatalyst, and also through strategic acquisition of names such as HBX and Visual Sciences. But before you go rushing into signing a long-term contract with Omniture, here’s a few things you should know.
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Categories: Analytics Tools, Economics, Omniture, PPC Basics, Webmaster Tips Tags: data extract, data warehouse, discover on premise, excel client, gotchas, implementing omniture, limitations, omniture consulting, omniture searchcenter, omniture sitecatalyst, sitecatalyst, video tracking
It pains me to have to write this post, because anyone who’s willing to throw their money at online marketing shouldn’t have to bear the cross of sitting through boldface lies. Unfortunately, I’m brought into meeting after meeting to consult for my clients in an effort to qualify online marketing vendors that promise the world. Fortunately, I’m always up for a good show, and don’t mind playing the naive web analyst. Read more…
Categories: Economics, Google Adwords, PPC Programs, Search Engines, SEO, Webmaster Tips Tags: Google Adwords, guaranteed first page, guaranteed first position, ppc scams, register keywords, reserved keywords, unlimited clicks
Happy New Year to all my loyal readers and those of you finding my blog for the first time. This past year has been an overwhelming success for PPC-Advice, with a record amount of visitors, pagevies, and referrals. I’ve been lucky enough to meet several of you face-to-face in various conferences, and look forward to what 2009 has to offer. That being said, let’s have a quick look at my 2008 Year in Review, the best and most popular posts that made 2008 special. Read more…
Talking with numerous friends and family around the world, from the United States to Europe and from Asia to Africa, there is one thing everyone agrees upon. Economic changes we’re facing right now in the late phases of 2008 will lay the foundation for strong growth in 2009. Forget mention of bailouts, down-sizing and bankruptcies. What we’re facing right now is a hard lesson in economic consequence, with a strong course correction paving the way for the future. How will this impact advertising? Read more…
If there ever was a reason to tighten your budgets and increase campaign conversion, this worsening economic climate is forcing many to reconsider the “eyeballs over all” marketing objective. It used to be that many companies threw caution to the wind (and many still do) just to drive traffic, not for any particular goal, “just cuz”. While that may work for some, e-commerce and retail sites are feeling the pinch, but search users are hunting for bargains out there – do you have what it takes? Read more…
