Archive for the ‘Search Engine Marketing’ Category

Work Faster In Google Adwords With Browser Local Storage

February 1, 2010

I was greeted by the following announcement in my Google Adwords account today.

Work Faster In Adwords

Work Faster In Adwords

Google has built some improvements into AdWords to help their advertiser’s data load more quickly.

This new feature takes advantage of the Google Gears plugin to store a copy of an Adwords account’s data on any computer.

Google Gears

Google Gears

Each time a Google Advertiser accesses their AdWords account, data loads directly from their computer, making the Adwords experience much faster.

From Google Adwords help:

How does Browser Local Storage work?
When local storage is enabled, Adwords will store your account data on your computer the first time it loads. After that, when you change views (selecting a different campaign or ad group, for example, or sorting by a different column), your data will load directly from your computer; you no longer have to wait for the data to download from our servers.

Data will be stored on my computer — does this mean the data I see in AdWords will be outdated?

No. AdWords will make sure your data is always fresh, and retrieve the latest statistics while you work. However, as is the case in AdWords, clicks and impressions received in the last three hours may not be included in your display immediately.

Where is my data stored?

Your data is stored on your computer via Google Gears, in the same way that your browser stores cookies. Others who use your computer with different usernames won’t be able to access your data.

How do I disable local storage?

Simply click the green check mark icon next your email address in the upper right-hand corner of your browser. Next to Local account data is enabled, click the Disable link. Local storage will be disabled and all your local data will be deleted.

What happens if I use AdWords on a different computer?

You’ll need to enable local storage on each computer you use. Remember, a copy of your account data will be stored in your browser, so be aware of enabling local storage on a shared computer.

To get started using Browser Local Storage for Google Adwords, click here for instructions.

Bill Gates Still Using Bit.ly Instead of Binged.it

January 31, 2010

Bill Gates recently launched a Twitter account and began tweeting his thoughts to the masses.

Like the majority of Twitter account holders, Gates uses the Bit.ly URL shortener to Tweet web pages addresses too long for inclusion along with his Tweets.

Bill Gates Bit.ly

Bill Gates Bit.ly

Mr. Gates apparently still isn’t aware of his old company Microsoft’s recently launched URL shortener – Binged.it.

You’d think if we was aware of it, he would be using it to bring Binged.it to the attention of his Twitter followers.

Google Click Through Rates (CTR)

January 30, 2010

The following graphic from Accuracast shows click through rates for paid positions 1 through 10.

Google Click Through Rates

Google Click Through Rates

CTR drops significantly from the first to third ad positions while click through rates at ad positions four through ten drop considerably less.

How can this data be used to evaluate the impact of raising or lowering an average ad position in a Google Adwords campaign?

November 2009 Share Of Ad Spending By Medium

January 29, 2010

Via MarketingCharts.com from Nielsen:

Share of Ad Spending By Medium 2009

Share of Ad Spending By Medium 2009

B2B Marketing: Integrated Online Communications Required

January 28, 2010

Top U.S. Social Media Sites December 2009

January 27, 2010

Via Nielsen:

U.S. Growth in Average time Person on Facebook and Twitter Outpaces Growth of Overall Category

People in the U.S. continue to spend more time on social networking and blog sites as well, with total minutes increasing 210% year-over-year and the average time per person increasing 143% year-over-year in December 2009. Year-over-year growth in average time spent by U.S. users, for both Facebook and Twitter.com, outpaced the overall growth for the category, increasing 200% and 368%, respectively. Among, the top five U.S. social networking sites, Twitter.com continued its reign as the fastest-growing in December 2009 in terms of unique visitors, increasing 579% year-over-year, from 2.7 million unique visitors in December 2008 to 18.1 million in December 2009. However, month-over-month, unique visitors decreased 5%

Top U.S. Social Media Sites December 2009

Top U.S. Social Media Sites December 2009

Twitter Local Trends: A Long Road To Hoe

January 26, 2010

Twitter has added Location settings for account holders to see what is happening in their particular city.

Twitter Local Trends

Twitter Local Trends

Twitter presently offers their location service at a Worldwide level or at the country level for Brazil, Canada, Ireland, Mexico, United Kingdom and the United States.

Further localized selections are available at the city level for fifteen cities thirteen of which are in the US.

Twitter Local

Twitter Local

If I were to guess why Twitter’s initial selections were so sparse I would guess its because they don’t yet have enough data from any other areas to populate and refresh real time lists.

I won’t expect to see the top 50 DMAs on their options list anytime soon.

Average U.S. Internet Usage December 2009

January 25, 2010

Via the Nielsen company:

The average US web user visited 83 domains, had 51 internet sessions, surfed 2,614 pages and spent an average of 56 seconds per page in December 2009.

Average U.S. Internet Usage December 2009

Average U.S. Internet Usage December 2009

How Google Search Ads Work

January 24, 2010

This video explains how Google search ads work and how they can be beneficial to Google users.

According to Google Product Manager Nundu Janakiram:

“People do web searches for three basic reasons” – Entertainment, Enlightenment and most frequently for Information.

Google search ads occur during “moments of relevance.”

Worldwide Internet User Stats

January 23, 2010
Internet User Stats

Internet User Stats