Originally uploaded by TimCohn
For the last nine months Google has been testing the display of Google Maps information in their Local Google sponsored links results.
Today I discovered my own local Google Adwords ad displaying both information about my business from Google Maps and from my Google Local Business Center account.
However, the Google Maps and Google Local Business Center information still aren’t appearing in all Google search results.
The following are some initial questions I ask potential clients when evaluating the search engine marketing potential of their business.
This multiple-choice Search Engine Marketing Communications Survey takes about two minutes to complete.
Download your copy of the Search Engine Marketing Communications Survey PDF.
What is your primary business?
A. Store-based merchant
B. Catalog
C. Virtual merchant
D. Consumer brand manufacturer
Which type of search engine marketing do you use the most?
A. More pay-per-click than organic
B. More organic than paid
C. Both equally
How does search engine marketing perform compared with your other marketing programs?
A. Better
B. Much better
C. Same
D. Worse
E. Much worse
How large is your keyword inventory?
A. Less than 50 words
B. 51 words to 100 words
C. 101 words to 200 words
D. 251 words to 500 words
E. 501 words to 750 words
F. 751 words to 1,000 words
G. 1,001 words to 5,000 words
H. 5,001 words to 10,000 words
I. More than 10,000 words
What percent of your online sales are attributable to search engine marketing?
A. 5% or less
B. 5.1% to 10%
C. 10.1% to 15%
D. 15.1% to 20%
E. 20.1% to 25%
F. 25.1% to 30%
G. 30.1% to 40%
H. 40.1% to 50%
I. More than 50%
What percent of shoppers who come to your site through your paid search program make a purchase?
A. 0.5% to 1%
B. 1.1% to 2%
C. 2.1% to 3%
D. 3.1% to 4%
E. 4.1% to 5%
F. 5.1% to 6%
G. 6.1% to 7%
H. 7.1% to 8%
I. 8.1% to 9%
J. 9.1% to 10%
K. 10.1% TO 15%
L. More than 15%
In the past year your pay-per-click conversion rate:
A. Went up
B. Went down
C. Stayed the same
By what percent did your pay-per-click conversion rate increase?
A. 2% or less
B. 2.1% to 5%
C. 5.1% to 6%
D. 6.1% to 7%
E. 7.1% to 8%
F. 8.1% to 9%
G. 9.1% to 10%
H. 10.1% to 12%
I. 12.1% to 15%
J. More than 15%
How much do you spend in a typical month on all types of search engine marketing (pay-per-click and search engine optimization)?
A. Less than $1,000
B. $1,001 to $2,000
C. $2,001 to $4,000
D. $4,001 to $6,000
E. $6,001 to $10,000
F. $10,001 to $20,000
G. $20,001 to $30,000
H. $30,001 to $40,000
I. $40,001 to $50,000
J. $50,001 to $60,000
K. $60,001 to $75,000
L. $75,001 to $100,000
M. More than $100,000
What percent of your online marketing budget is spent on search engine marketing?
A. 5% or less
B. 5.1% to 10%
C. 10.1% to 15%
D. 15.1% to 20%
E. 20.1% to 30%
F. 30.1% to 40%
G. 40.1% to 50%
H. 50.1% to 60%
I. 60.1% to 75%
J. More than 75%
What is the average amount you pay per click?
A. 5 cents or less
B. 6 to 10 cents
C. 11 to 15 cents
D. 16 to 20 cents
E. 21 to 25 cents
F. 26 to 40 cents
G. 41 to 50 cents
H. 51 to 75 cents
I. 76 to $1
J. More than $1
Will you increase your amount of pay-per click advertising this year?
A. Yes
B. No.
Do you manage your search engine marketing program in-house?
A. Yes
B. No
Do you plan to outsource your search engine marketing program?
A. Yes, within six months
B. Yes, within one year
C. Yes, within two years
D. No plans
Which search engine produces the best web sales results?
A. Google
B. Yahoo
C. AOL
D. MSN
E. LookSmart
F. Other
Which of the following programs or strategies are you using to improve your paid search program? (Check all that apply)
A. Adding more multiple word phrases to keyword inventory
B. Writing more descriptive ad copy
C. Testing keywords and phrases to land on appropriate home or product pages
D. Monitoring competitors’ use of keywords and phrases
E. Syncing keywords and phrases with product availability
F. Testing keyword inventory effectiveness using cluster analysis, data modeling and other tools
G. Other
Which of the following programs or strategies are you using to improve your organic search engine optimization? (Check all that apply)
A. Rewriting keyword descriptions on the home and product pages
B. Including the actual phrases commonly used by searchers on product pages
C. Including common product keywords in the image file names and in image display captions
D. Designing customized landing pages and creating exclusive merchandising sections
E. Enhancing site navigation
F. Increasing the use of header tags in content on the home page and product pages
G. Better use of web analytics
H. Other
What benchmarks do you use to measure the effectiveness of your search engine marketing program? (Check up to 3)
A. Site traffic
B. Sales
C. Conversions
D. Average order size
E. New customers
F. Click-throughs
G. Cost-per-clicks
H. Rank on main search engine page
I. Other
Did you allow your affiliates or other third-party resellers to bid on your brand name?
A. Yes
B. No
Do you bid on the brand names of your competitors?
A. Yes
B. No
What is the annual sales range of your online retail business?
A. Less than $1 million
B. $1 million to $4.9 million
C. $5 million to $9.9 million
D. $10 million to $24.9 million
E. $25 million to $50 million
F. More than $50 million
Thanks for taking the Search Engine Marketing Communications Survey.
I bought a Trackstick II Personal GPS Tracker today to try out over spring break.
Tracksticks are tiny GPS location recorders capable of continuously logging their own location histories for extended periods of time.
The Trackstick records its own location, time, date, speed, heading and altitude at preset intervals from anywhere on Planet Earth. I can set the record time intervals to once every 5 seconds or from once every minute to once every 15 minutes.
It includes a GPX photo stamping feature for adding my favorite photos to my own maps too.
I can view my travels in Google Earth, Google Maps and Microsoft Live.
I am going to see if and how well it works in the “user-created content” section of Google Maps.
Amazing.
Nature abhors a vacuum and apparently so does the relatively new user-created content section of Google Maps.
Today while drilling down into Google Maps to inspect local Google Adwords placements, I discovered the user-created content section of Google Maps has been overrun if not monopolized by spammers.
The spam isn’t exactly visible from the surface, however I am not so sure these are the types of results Google wants its Google Maps users to find.
Aren’t all forms of platform level user-created content ultimately a vacuum waiting to be filled with spam?
Are the following results spam or are they “content”?
1. Google Maps User Created Content: User created content
2. Google Maps User Created Content: User-created content Results 1-10
3. Google Maps User Created Content: D. “Work from home, easy…
“Work from home, easy… Oklahoma City OK …the email ‘Payment for Internet Marketing’. THIS KEEPS THE PROGRAM …that says ‘Payment for Internet Marketing 5th’. Once you have . …1 of 50 placemarks in Yakaz – oklahoma.yakaz.co”
4. Google Maps User Created Content: “Displaying content from oklahoma.yakaz.com”
“The content overlaid onto this map is provided by a third party, and Google is not responsible for it.”
Could Yahoo! find its White Knight in IBM?
Since it now seems highly unlikely a bolted together advertising partnership with Google, News Corp. or AOL will materialize and dissuade Microsoft from its proposed takeover of Yahoo!, shouldn’t Yahoo! be looking outside the search box for possible solutions?
An IBM+Yahoo! or IBMY! combination makes as much sense as a MicroHoo.
Short of something as crazy as Yahoo! partnering with IBM, Yahoo will soon be otherwise assimilated by Microsoft.
I am sure there are millions even billions of reasons why IBM shouldn’t even consider it, but there only has to be one “good enough” financial reason for Yahoo! to justify its seeking and getting either IBM’s defensive or offensive investment at this their defining and possibly Yahoo’s final moment in time.
I wonder which particular financial reason would be compelling enough for both IBM and Yahoo to seek each other’s company now – if there is any at all?
BusinessWeek.com interviewed me about new product marketing several years ago.
Because I also own NewProductMarketing.com, I regularly get emails and calls from new product developers looking for help marketing their new products.
A wide variety of new inventions have made their way across my desk. Some are still just an idea in their inventor’s mind while others have seen the light of day in the form of models and even working prototypes.
Eventually only a small percentage of these new inventors and their inventions commit to actually putting their money where their mouth is beyond tying up any potential intellectual property rights they may or may not be entitled to – a subject by the way – which could populate an entirely different blog.
When an “inventor” has reached this level of commitment i.e., manufactures a minimum production run of their product either locally or in China, they predictably then produce two new problems.
One is a “good problem” the other is a “bad problem.”
The good problem is that their product is an instant success and they can’t build enough of them to satisfy demand. I don’t ever get calls from these types of inventors!
Even after nearly twenty years consulting, I am not so sure they exist.
Instead, I get calls from inventors with the “bad problem”, a problem which falls somewhere on the following continuum. Mr. Inventor has just sunk his lifesavings or mortgaged his house to pay a manufacturer to build the first production run of his new product.
Mr. Inventor calls me because he realizes he needs to sell the 5,000 new widgets he just bought and paid for and he needs to sell them fast!
It is here where Mr. Inventor comes to grips with the fact that his belief in his invention does not necessarily translate into the market’s belief in the commercial viability or value of his invention.
For inventions that have reached this enviable position, I have again determined they fall into two categories. Inherent in both is a degree of obviousness although not the obviousness germane to patent law.
Mr. Inventor’s invention is either “obviously useless” or it is “obviously useful.” Both of which are determined in the commercial marketplace.
Granted, obviously useless products are available for sale but more often than not it is a product’s obvious usefulness that sustains its presence in a marketplace.
Discerning which products will be commercial successes from those that won’t ought to be a science.
Consider the new product called “Feet on the Desk” which crossed my desk today.
Gary the inventor called me today to ask for help selling all the units he just had delivered from China.
I don’t know which of the above “obvious” categories his product fits in but I told him he should call the “Relax The Back” chain.
He hadn’t ever heard of the company.
Whether he makes the call or not is up to him. It will be interesting to learn if in a year from now Gary’s new product is on store shelves or if it has ended up like thousands of other new products – shelved and gathering dust in its inventor’s garage.
In the end, only buyers in the market or the absence thereof will ultimately tell us whether this new product – Feet on the Desk – was Obviously Useless or Obviously Useful.
Feet on the Desk Product Description:
“The FEET ON THE DESK is a footrest for placing feet on the desk or coffee table softly. The feet on the desk elevates your feet and legs to enhance circulation and helps to prevent Varicose Veins, Spider Veins and more. Once you try it, you’ll wonder how you ever put your feet on the desk, or coffee table without it. Enjoy circulation enhancing, fatigue relieving bliss as you rest your feet softly on the desk.
This product is also Doctor Recommended and a U.S and world wide patent is pending.’
The recent book Innovate Like Edison by Michael Geb and Sarah Caldicott provides an excellent schematic to both individuals and businesses looking for a systematic approach to innovation.
Thomas Edison is without question the greatest inventor in American history. Edison generated 1,093 United States and 1,293 international patents over a 62 year period.
Many of his innovations have become multi-billion worldwide industries.
Edison established General Electric and a world first: General Electric’s industrial research laboratory. In doing so, GE pioneered the lighting, movie, phonograph, cement and battery industries.
According to Peter Drucker, “Every organization – not just business – needs one core competence: innovation.”
What other more powerful means exists for differentiating yourself or your business from the rest than through innovation?
Caldicott is a great-grandniece of Thomas Edison.
Edison’s had Five Competencies for innovation:
1. Have a solution-centric mindset
2. Use “kaleidoscope” thinking
3. Engage full spectrum engagement
4. Develop and harness a mastermind collaboration
5. Focus intensely on creating value
Each of his five competencies has an additional five performance benchmarks.
Through their book, Geb and Caldicott show how Edison may have been an even greater innovator of procedures than products by delineating what steps Edison took to produce innovation.
I don’t know whether thus was a bulk request or not but every email addressed “Hi Friend” is guilty until proven innocent.
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Yahoo! Groups is a free service that allows you to stay in touch with friends and family or meet new people who share your interests. Yahoo! Groups values your privacy. It is a violation of our service rules for members to abuse this invitation feature. If you feel this has happened, please notify us. You may also change your email preferences to stop receiving group invitations in the future. Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to our Terms of Service.
I recently had approximately 1,000 of my warehoused and indexed domains along with their accompanying websites deleted from Google. Google also stopped delivering Adsense ads units on all of my sites that were hosted at WhyPark.com.
I don’t know whether WhyPark.com’s new customers will initially have the same experience I did, but I imagine they too will end up experiencing the same results I did – sooner or later.
Normally, I like to Beta test software or services for an extended period of time before I roll it out across my network. I tested several sites at WhyPark.com for nearly ten months with no adverse effects. Doing so still didn’t stop what have now become obvious and painful results.
And I thought I was already a dubious buyer of nearly all purported “time” and “money” saving internet software and services prior to buying software services from WhyPark.com…
Let’s look at two areas where search will play a role in winning new audience and their keystrokes: Local and Mobile search.
Here are how Microsoft, Yahoo and Google web property’s search are performing today.
Its been reported nearly 50% of searches are local in nature. Let’s see how Microsoft’s Live handles a local brand search for Verizon Wireless in New York, NY.
Live is able to locate Verizon Wireless stores in New York and provides five viewing options: Road, Aerial, Hybrid, Bird’s Eye and Traffic. Are their results relevant? Yes. Could we make our way to Verizon Wireless store or reach them by phone with the information Live provides? Yes.
With the Bird’s Eye view we may even be able to see what our destination looks like. Pretty cool.
Microsoft (US) Brand Search: Verizon Wireless New York, NY
Microsoft Live Verizon Wireless NY Road Map
Microsoft Live Verizon Wireless NY Aerial Map
Microsoft Live Verizon Wireless NY Hybrid Map
Microsoft Live Verizon Wireless NY Bird’s Eye Map
Microsoft Live Verizon Wireless NY Traffic Map
How does Live perform outside the United States? A search for HSBC in London yields similar results. This particular brand search result is for a location near Trafalgar Square. If you aren’t going to be able to stop by a bank branch in London today, you can still take in the sights.
Microsoft (UK) Brand Search: HSBC London, England
Microsoft HSBC London UK Bird’s Eye Map
Now let’s try the same searches in Yahoo. Yahoo offers similar results. The look and feel isn’t too much different from those we received from Microsoft.
Initially though, I had difficulty locating the results I was hoping to find. Eventually I did find them – must have been my error.
Our options for connecting with one of the stores include: Getting directions, Save for later, Send to phone and Write a review.
Yahoo (US) Brand Search: Verizon Wireless, New York, NY
Yahoo Verizon Wireless NY “Find a Business”
Yahoo Verizon Wireless New York
I can get the same type of UK map results from Yahoo however; I have to pull Yahoo’s UK web property up to get London results whereas with Microsoft I was able to get results from their US site.
Yahoo (UK) Brand Search: HSBC London, England
Yahoo HSBC UK Brand US Search
Yahoo HSBC UK London UK Search
Now, let’s run searches for the same terms in Google. Like Microsoft, Google returns five types of views albeit under different button terms: Map, Street, Traffic, Satellite and Terrain Views.
The look and feel of Google’s views seem more visually pleasing than both the Microsoft and Yahoo products, however my appraisal is subjective.
Microsoft’s search and map features seem to be evenly matched with Googles’ and beyond those of Yahoo’s. Microsoft’s “Bird’s Eye” view does appear to ahead of its counterpart – Google’s satellite view.
Google (US) Brand Search: Verizon Wireless New York, NY
Google Verizon Wireless NY Map View
Google Verizon Wireless NY Street View
Google Verizon Wireless Traffic View
Google Verizon Wireless NY Satellite View
Google Verizon Wireless Terrain View
Google offers only three viewing options in the UK at this time compared to Microsoft’s five, yet I can fetch the results from Google’s US property unlike with Yahoo.
Google (UK) Brand Search: HSBC, London England
Google US HSBC Brand Search London UK Map View
Overall Microsoft, Google and Yahoo each offer their version of both business and brand rich search results.
From what I can tell, businesses and brands have yet to scratch the surface so to speak when it comes to reaching their potential customers in this new geographically rich and fertile target marketing environment.
Search Marketing Communications 
