Archive for the ‘Search Marketing’ Category

Halloween Search Insights 2009

October 31, 2009

Using Google Insights for search tool is excellent way to visualize search behavior over time particularly the cyclicality of seasonal shopping.

For instance as expected, interest in Halloween is virtually non-existent during the majority of the year and then begins to gradually increase as Halloween approaches.

Halloween Web Search Interest

Halloween Web Search Interest

The commercialization of Halloween is reflected through regional search interest in the subject with the United States and Canada generating a disproportionate amount of search queries as compared to other countries.

Regional Search Interest

Regional Search Interest

Halloween costumes and parties searches illustrate the commercial nature of Halloween while also signaling purchase intent.

Halloween Search Terms

Halloween Search Terms

Businesses of all types and sizes can use Google Insights for search to investigate and identify what if any seasonal shopping trends may exist within their markets.

Google Local Business Center Testing Local Listing Ads

October 6, 2009

Greg Sterling reports on his blog and at Search Engine Land about Google’s announcing their new local advertising product called Local Listing Ads.

Google Local Listing Ads

Google Local Listing Ads

More about the features of Local Listings ads from Google’s Local Business Center:

Drive more sales
Over 80% of people look to Google for local information. Make sure your listing stands out.

See – and hear – the results
You’ll hear “this call brought to you by Google” with every call from your ad.

Free for 30 days
Try it out, risk free. You can cancel anytime.

Local targeting
We’ll make sure your ad only shows to people near your business, with no work for you.

Local Listing Ads are currently available only in San Francisco and San Diego, CA.

From a Google and Small Business Marketer’s perspective, I have to wonder what kind of resources – both human and financial – Google is putting into this new program to make it a success?

Who is running the Local Listings program within Google – a Google Maps or Google Adwords team, the “Local Business Center” team, a new team or a not yet formed team?

I think Google’s answer to this question lies the fate of the Google Local Listings advertising program.

Longer Than Google Adwords Itself

September 21, 2009

As I mentioned in a previous post, my Google Advertising Professional’s Qualified Individual status expires on September 21, 2009.

Today is September 21, 2009 and I received the folllowing message in my Adwords Pro account notifying me my Adwords Professional status had already expired.

I guess this means my perception of a September 21, 2009 expiration date and Google’s definition of “expires on September 21, 2009” were not one in the same.

Apparently Google defines an expiration date at 12:01 AM of the particular day not 11:59 PM.

Well this isn’t the first time, my Google Adwords Qualified Individual status has expired.

Google Adwords Professional Exam Expiration Date

Google Adwords Professional Exam Expiration Date

Retaking the Google Adwords Professional exam every two years while running several online businesses and managing an average amount of Adwords spend seems redundant.

Speaking of perception and time, apparently I have been managing Google Adwords campaigns for 14,496 days or 39.71 years.

14,496 Days Since first Adwords Account creation

14,496 Days Since first Adwords Account creation

You’d think since I opened a Google Adwords account over 39 years ago before Google was founded, I would automaticaly qualify as a Google Adwords Qualified Individual!

Facebook Pay Per Click Advertising

September 19, 2009

Over the last week or so, Facebook seems to have ratcheted up its pay per click advertising program’s marketing while also suggesting anecdotally Facebook social network advertising can rival the performance of Google pay per click advertising.

Anyone in the search advertising business who has ever run a content network advertising campaign that reached comparable social networking sites like MySpace would beg to differ – myself included.

How can Facebook’s audience composition or intent be any different than MySpace’s audience?

More importantly, regardless of either audience’s size or marketing potential each social network’s group attention is focused internally on themselves and their friends not externally focused on finding information or buying products – which is a common trait every one in Google’s audience shares.

Both Myspace and Facebook marketers must understand this fact because they both use Google pay per click search advertising to try and reach and convince potential social network advertising advertisers of their respective company’s advertising’s promise.

Facebook MySpace Google Pay Per Click Ads

Facebook MySpace Google Pay Per Click Ads

I guess neither Myspace or Facebook have been able to find the new advertisers they need to grow their  businesses from within own their network’s hundreds of millions of accounts.

For growing their advertiser base, both Myspace and Facebook appear to trust Google pay per click advertising to help them get the job done.

Google Adwords Qualified Individual Status

September 6, 2009

My Google Adwords Qualified Individual Status expires September 21, 2009.

Google Adwords Qualified Individual Status

Google Adwords Qualified Individual Status

The Google Advertising Professionals program has migrated from the old Adwords interface  to the new Adwords Ajax based interface.

Google Advertising Professionals Old Interface

Google Advertising Professionals Old Interface

For some reason, My Client Center data isn’t linked to my original Google Adwords account which I created on March 5, 2002.

March 5 2002 September 8 2009

March 5 2002 September 8 2009

If it were, the days since my first Adwords account creation would be closer to 3,000 than the 1,756 days reported.

Google Advertising Professionals Company

Google Advertising Professionals Company

Newspaper Enters Local Business Center Market

August 16, 2009

Today I saw an ad in my local newspaper for a new product they have launched called the Business Resource Center.

Business Resource Center

Business Resource Center

The new service appears similar to Google’s Local Business Center and looks like it provides all of the same features found in the Local Business Center.

The Business Resource Center touts the benefits of having a small business found under local searches and states:

Anything that you’d traditionally look for in the print yellow pages has become a “local search” on the Internet. For these queries, 75 percent of the top 100 keywords are non-branded, indicating that a majority of consumers have not decided on a specific brick and mortar store to do business with.

Local Search Business

Local Search Business

The site claims  “to stay on top of the internet so you don’t have to” and plans to provide the latest in local search, social networking, search engine marketing and social media optimization to its advertisers.

Local Business Resource Center

Local Business Resource Center

The newspaper’s local business resource center will provide advertisers with statistics like Google’s Local Business Center has begun providing in the US.

Local Business Resource Center Statistics

Local Business Resource Center Statistics

Like Google, the paper’s local Business Resource Center also lets advertisers “create and manage coupons and special offers to drive traffic and build customer loyalty”.

Local Business Center Coupons

Local Business Center Coupons

Similar to other directory and listing services, the newspaper’s business resource center alerts advertisers immediately when individuals rate or review their services, and allows them to reply directly to concerns or praise, giving businesses the ability to create stronger relationships with their customers.

Local Business Center Communications

Local Business Center Communications

The Beta version of their User Interface is clean and user friendly.

The site offers what appears to be primarily display advertising under keyword or category searches and claims to provide the largest local search audience reach.

Overall the newspaper’s launch of a Local Business Center is quite an accomplishment for any newspaper in this day and age.

Microsoft Consolidates Search Market With Yahoo Deal

July 30, 2009

As most everyone in the search industry already knows, yesterday Microsoft and Yahoo reached a long anticipated and rumored search pact.

Microsoft Yahoo Search Deal

Microsoft Yahoo Search Deal

Because of the capital costs of maintaining a competitive global search engine, search engine market consolidation was inevitable.

I have commented about the Microsoft Yahoo search opera on several search industry blogs and wrote a blog post back in February 2008 about the real reason Microsoft needed to do a search deal with Yahoo : Microhoo vs. Google: The Battle for Audience and Keystrokes.

Interactive Marketing Spend Annual Growth Rates

July 27, 2009

Forrester Interactive Advertising Models predicts compound annual growth rates for Interactive Marketing spend in the US through 2014.

Interactive Media Spend

Interactive Media Spend

Forrester classifies Mobile Marketing, Social media, Email marketing, Display advertising and Search Marketing as Interactive Marketing.

Interestingly – combined all other forms of Interactive Marketing spend remains half of what is spent on Search Marketing annually both in the present and future.

If the other forms of Interactive Marketing were more effective than Search Marketing, it would seem their spend would exceed the investment made in search by marketers.

Don’t Forrester’s spend predictions confirm all other forms of Interactive Marketing are less effective than Search?

Why People Go Online: To Pass Time?

July 19, 2009

A recent poll by Ruder Finn found 100% of respondents cited to “Pass time” as their top reason for going online.

Why People Go Online

Why People Go Online

“Educate self” and “Connect with others” were the second and third top reasons for people to go online.

These reasons along with all the others cited confirm internet media is almost exclusively populated by content consumers.

As such, the internet is now the content producer’s distribution channel of choice.

A First? The Bit.ly, Twitter and WordPress Mashup by Email

July 13, 2009

Today while thinking about posting content in several different places, I thought I would see if I could post to my Twitter, Bit.ly and WordPress accounts simultaneously.

While not exactly simultaneous or simple, the idea shows some promise.

Tim Cohn (tcohn@marketingprinciples.com)
Google Adwords Professional
Google Profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/timcohn
Blog: http://www.SearchMarketingCommunications.com
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/timcohn
(866) TimWCohn office
(415) 935-3608 cell