PPC-Advice.com

It’s that time of year again.  Time to look back at the last twelve months and reflect on what was a roller coaster year on PPC-Advice.com.  There were good times and there were bad, there were times a few articles were stumbled and dug, and some articles that just plain sucked.  Before we ring in the new year, and possibly a new site (OMG teaser…) let’s go over a few of my favorite posts, a few of your favorite posts, and a few odd-ball articles you may want to revisit. Read more…

WordStream seems to be on a roll of late, with an announcement just last month regarding multi-source keyword analytics and Google Analytics API integration and now two new tools to assist in search engine optimization as well as pay-per-click account management.  Used separately or as a part of an over-arching search engine marketing strategy, the new Keyword Niche Finder and the Free Keyword Grouper help marketers identify and act on keyword insights. Read more…

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 7 years, or 2 years which seems more popularly accepted, you would be blind not to notice the impact social media and networking sites have had on society.  Some say product purchasing decisions are slowly migrating from search to social, forgoing the researching and evaluating phases for instant gratification and credible influence.  So why are online marketers finding it so hard to determine the net effect of their social marketing efforts on a handful of web 2.0 sites? Read more…

In the best of scenarios, collectively, the IT department within an organization is an extremely busy place, with the hustle and bustle of scoping, engineering, implementing, and testing every phase of an online web property. Priorities on projects originating from product development, marketing, sales, and support have to be weighed accordingly.  However, with the ever-changing world of online marketing, companies have to be increasingly more agile, and aware of changes across the enterprise. Read more…

External measurement tools enable us to track the relative success of our marketing efforts with those of our competitors.  As most internal measurement tools are closed and often more guarded than Fort Knox, external analysis can be extremely helpful to put our metrics in context.  comScore offers a vast array of online measurement tools, combining the best of panel-based data collection and on-page tagging.  Eli Goodman is a 10 year veteran in technology and marketing and leads comScore’s Search division.  He sat down to talk to us at Search Engine Strategies San Jose 2009, after delivering an eye-opening presentation entitled “Where to next?” Read more…

Day two started right where Day one left off, with tons of more informative sessions.  Unfortunately, we only have two people from PPC-Advice.com covering the conference, which means we can only cover 2 of a possible 5 simultaneous tracks, hopefully next year we can get more people to come along.

Speaking of next year, the organizers of the show have already scheduled next year’s Silicon Valley show for outside of the valley, but within the bay Area.  Next year, SES will be coming from San Francisco, and no one could be happier about that than me.  Apparently, organizers, sponsors, speakers, and the engines themselves have all agreed – San Jose is hard to get to, has zero night-life, and is about the same distance from the major engine’s HQ’s in the valley.  Sweeeeeet. Read more…

Feeling fresh, alert and green coming off of EST and attending my first SES conference, I was met with a sluggish start to SES. This means low energy attendees, no freebies as was advertised from previous years’ attendees and worse of all, no brekkie! Even the coffee was weak. Those who needed more of a jolt had to make a trek to the Starbucks in the hotel next door or feed themselves with the $10 dollar fruit plate from the adjacent hotel. Read more…

Given the recent economic downturn and attendance numbers in a downward spiral over the past year or so, turnout for SES San Jose, the granddaddy of all online marketing shows, was surprisingly optimistic.  Not only are all major search engines, agencies, and tool providers on hand for the festivities, experts from all walks of marketing disciplines are presenting on their specialties.  It’s the perfect storm, in the perfect weather, at the perfect time for optimizing online marketing. Read more…

I dropped the ball on this one, it’s been over a year since Yahoo acquired IndexTools but with all the Microhoo/Yagoog/Yahbing/Binghoo news between then and now, I admit that I took my eye off Yahoo Web Analytics.  Thankfully, enough folks remained on the IndexTools/Yahoo Web Analytics team, and I was able to get my hands on membership.  With the rumors going around about how Google pimps their own Search conversion/goal attribution, it’s nice to know there’s more choice out there. Read more…

An introduction?  That could be tough, how can I possibly do justice to Tim Ash?  If you’ve seen this man talk at a conference or show before, you know the energy and charisma that comes off him is like a lightning bolt to the frontal cortex.  There’s a reason he’s usually got a solo act at every Search Engine Strategies show, if not two or three appearances.  SES San Jose next month will be no different, and with the news that he’s shared with me in this interview, his session should not be missed. Read more…