Outsourced SEM, PPC, and SMO

Our Favorite Los Angeles Deck Builder

2012-01-16T03:03:00.000-08:00

As online marketers we share the responsibility of generating interest for our clients' products or services with them. While we can bring eyes to their site, ultimately the buying decision is made based on the price-value axis, how the client positions their business, and how their offerings stacks up against competition. This is why it is such a treat when a client has a truly compelling offering. This is the case with California Decks, our favorite LA deck builder. The mix of workmanship, value, and look that they bring to all their projects truly is remarkable. From elevated decks in Los Angeles to pool-side Shangri-Las made of ipe they really have mastered their craft. It's a treat seeing they way they work. From understanding their clients need and budget to the custom approach they take to all their projects it is clear why they stand apart from the competition. Take a look at their California Deck gallery to see what I mean.

We can't recommend California Decks enough. If you need a deck builder in Los Angeles contact them right away.

How to Set-up a Retargeting Campaign Via Google Adwords

2012-01-16T01:56:00.000-08:00

In the past many online marketers saw site visitors who left without converting as dead leads to be given up on. In ongoing optimization work they were placed in a non or under converting ad group, perhaps even adding part of their search query as negative keywords for good measure. This runs counter to other mediums -- when a prospect walks out of the dealership a car salesman doesn't write them off as gone for good, rather he follows up with a phone-call (or perhaps several.) Why should we in the online space behave any differently? I don't think we should.

Lately retargeting campaigns have become an important part of our online advertising offerings. This is someone who has already visited your site, perhaps they would have bought, but didn't see the content or offer they were looking for. This is where retargeting comes in. Before we get into different techniques, lets cover some of the basics.

It's not the size of the list...it's how you work it.

What is retargeting?
Retargeting (also known as remarketing...think "pop" and "soda") is the method by which users who have already visited a page on your website are shown display ads across other sites on an ad network once they leave your site. This is an excellent way to raise brand awareness, and with a bit of creativity can raise response rates, capture lost leads, and even be used as a price-discovery tool.

How does retargeting work?
First you place a bit of code on your website. When a potential customer visits your site a cookie (nom nom nom) is placed into their web browser by this code. Assuming you are using Google Adwords, these tagged users then get placed into "Audiences" who can be shown specific ads. They are then managed in a similar manner as a typical display campaign.

How do I set-up a retargeting campaign using Google Adwords?
Excellent question Bold Font, it is easier than you may think. To run a retargeting campaign on Google:

Create an audience -- In AdWords head on over to "Campaigns" -> "Shared Library" -> Audiences. In the drop down "New Audience" select "Remarketing list." Name your list, add a description, and create a new tag. I usually set the membership duration to the max (365 days) because retargeting lists are like ~~guns~~ water... better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. Click "Save." Create lists for "Saw the offer" and "Completed the offer"
Placing your tag -- Once you have created a list you must then place the retargeting tag. To get the tag click "Tag" and copy the code displayed in the pop-up window. Take this code and place it between the <body> and </body> tags of your website. Place it closer to the </body> tag.
Build your list -- Google won't start serving ads to your list until it has 100 users. If your list is growing slowly contact us for an affordable PPC campaign so we can help you get the ball rolling.
Create your campaign --

Create a new campaign. Set the campaign details (budget, geography, etc...).
Under Networks make sure to turn off search and set Display to Specific Reach. That is important, otherwise the campaign will use general placements based on the keywords and ad copy.
Frequency capping -- we will address this in a future post, but as a rule don't stalk your users.
Create your ads. We recommend using text ads and as many image ad sizes as possible. This ensures your message is getting as many opportunities to be shown as possible. Generally we like to send users to a new page with a different message. For instance if your first offer was about price, maybe this one should be about quality.
In the Audiences tab select "Add audiences," head to "Remarketing Lists" "Custom Combinations" and create one that has the "saw the offer" tag, but not the "completed the offer" tag and save your list.

You are now remarketing!

Those are the basics. Retargeting campaigns can be a lot of fun with up-sells, cross-sells, variable pricing and lots of other clever techniques. We will cover those in a future post.

Interested in a retargeting campaign? Let India's leading online advertising firm or your outsourced PPC agency know how they can help.

How do videos go viral?

2011-11-14T10:00:00.001-08:00

While developing online marketing strategies a component businesses often include is a viral marketing campaign. While it is an effective technique, when it comes time for implementation things can get difficult. By nature the online community has to embrace and share a piece of content for it to go viral; it is something that can be pushed, but never forced. Not every business is as crafty as the Will It Blend? guy (180 million views and counting) or Burger King's creepy Subservient Chicken

We currently have the fun opportunity to watch, and help, a video gain traction online and we wanted to share with our readers. Day two and the video has cracked the 6,000 view mark. We will update as the views increase.

Friend and client, "Rube" is an event marketer by day, gifted rapper by night. As our US readers know, the NBA (basketball league) is in the midst of a players' lockout. Rube took his angst out in the form of a song, "NBA Lockout Anthem" Once the audio was finished a friend at Boonze created a video using images and video gathered online and posted it to YouTube. After release, we wanted to get the message out and get the NBA season back! We (Rube and a friend at Boonze took the steps below. In the comments please let us know what else you would have done, or what you would have done differently.

Create a piece of meaningful, topical content. This is pretty straightforward in the case of the NBA lockout. There is a clear pain point for the market and a song is a great way of empathizing with the common sentiments.
Share within your personal and company network. Before simply "hoping" the public takes notice, get as far as you can by leveraging people you know in the off-line world. In the case of the Anthem this yielded approximately 250 views in the first day.
Engage related bloggers, news outlets, and publishers. The internet has made engaging the media much easier than in days past. Whereas in the past a snail-mail letter would be sent to a newspaper and generally go unread, you can now directly engage writers and bloggers who are experts in their area. In this case a single post on Deadspin (Gawker Sports) pushed the video from around 300 to 2,500 views. Thanks guys!
Hope for traction amongst the online community. TBD

With no further adieu Rube "NBA Lockout Anthem"

Interested in discussing online marketing for your business? Boonze can help.

Three Questions to Ask Your Chennai Online Marketing Company

2011-11-09T10:57:00.000-08:00

Having worked in online marketing since before 2005, we have seen, and participated in, the growth of Indian ecommerce. Where once only plane tickets were bought online, Indians are now leveraging the power of the web for all their shopping needs. From finding a trusted accountant in Chennai to buying a stylish watch from their computer the Internet generation is comfortable purchasing online. This is a tremendous opportunity for business owners and smart marketers to grow their businesses. Online marketing works and we want you to be a part of it.

We do understand that it can be a difficult process finding a trusted, honest, and skilled online marketing company in Chennai. We have seen fly-by-night vendors overpromise and under-deliver, agencies which offer little to no value (but charge like it), and companies use underhanded (black hat) techniques which get their clients penalized by the search engines. While they have come and gone the high level of value we offer our clients has enabled us to grow. Whereas those types of agencies will say whatever is needed to get the sale, we operate very differently. When speaking with a prospective client the factors we consider include:

Does it make sense for this company to advertise online?
Are we adding (significantly) more value than we are charging?
Are we the best SEM agency for the job?

If the answers are yes to the above question and we project success for the client we will take the next step and ask for their business. If the answers are no, then we clearly express that to them. This is an approach all businesses should take (do I add value to my customer?), but many do not. To find the SEM Company in India that deserves your business we recommend asking the following questions:

Do you have references I can contact?

This is a critical question to ask. A quality SEM firm will have a track record of success. Note some are bound by confidentiality clauses, but this should not prevent them for sharing a report without any revealing information.

What optimization tasks will you perform on a regular basis?

A proper SEM campaign is not only the initial account set-up. All active search campaigns are regularly optimized and reviewed for new opportunities. Some of the areas in which we focus on include ad copy optimization, landing page optimization, and (positive and negative) keyword optimizations.

Do I own the Adwords™ account?

We are surprised this is even a question anymore, but sometimes our clients mention that another vendor wont give them access to their Adwords ™ account. Not only is this generally unethical, but it often suggests that less work is being performed on the account than they are charging you for. While we hope all of our clients are lifelong ones, if they do leave, they are able to bring their account with them.

We hope this article has helped you become a savvier buyer of SEM/PPC services. Interested in starting a campaign? Use the links below to contact us.

SEM Agency in India

Online Advertising Agency in India

What is Google Adwords Cost Per Call?

2011-10-25T13:11:00.000-07:00

While marketing and advertising options have exploded with innovations in the world of online advertising the fundamental need for advertisers remains the same – they want to sell their product or service with as low advertising costs as possible.

The boom in competing advertising options is allowing buyers to be more demanding than ever which is pushing parts of the industry towards lead-generation and performance based models. While not right for every offering, pay-per-action is generally a buyer friendly model. Service providers want to pay for each deal they bring in, but where this is not possible the next best thing is paying per call. The pay per call model is a reasonable compromise, with advertisers paying for a lead, but the ability to close the deal remains their responsibility.

A very common method for lead gen campaigns is of course PPC advertising using Google Adwords. This requires the agency to take on a significant amount of risk however-- even if users fail to convert the agency is still buying the clicks. Since Google owns the ad inventory it is less risky for them, so it was only a matter of time before they jumped into the fray and offered this service directly to the end user. Which brings us to the news of the day:

Google will be offering a Pay-Per-Call model for mobile advertisers.

The offering will be rolled out in the next two to three weeks in the U.S. and U.K. When a mobile ad contains a phone number smart-phone users can simply click on the number to place a call. Google will not charge the advertiser for the impression or a click, only the actual phone call. It appears that the cost will be the same as a click, which, on the surface, seems to be of tremendous value for advertisers.

We are enthusiastic about this development, as we have already seen that mobile-targeted online advertising campaigns are a great fit for many advertisers. They pay per call model will be another tool in our tool belt that enables us to continue offering a great value proposition to our clients. We welcome any new tool which gets their phone ringing at an affordable cost. While some agencies see Google’s increasing push towards a self-serve advertising model we are pleased by the recent developments and believe our optimization abilities will continue to remain above the industry standard and differentiate us from the competition.

Are you looking for a highly skilled, affordable outsourced SEM provider? Contact Boonze Media Solutions.

In need of online advertising in South India? Contact O3M Directional Marketing.

Whats New In Google Analytics?

2011-10-03T16:52:00.000-07:00

If the online marketer in your life has been difficult to get ahold of the past few days it may be because he or she has been under the hood of Google Analytics exploring some of the new features. In addition to a design update (mirroring the recent updates to Plus, Places, Docs, etc...) there is a great deal of new functionality. Additions on the backend coupled with changes on the front end give Analytics users a new, fairly unfamiliar experience. While the update does take some getting used to, at Boonze Media we welcome the changes and believe the updates are yet another tool that enables us to better serve our clients and remain ahead of the competition.

Some of the updates are immediately apparent, these include:

A more customizable homepage: like everything else on the web, Analytics now supports "widgets." Users seem to have full control over what is displayed on their dashboard.
Much more importance given to social: social media was of course important on the old Analytics but here it is showcased. What was once one "traffic source" of many now receives it's own dedicated section. With real-time tracking the effect of an individual post or Tweet can now be measured.
Real time search: The new Analytics features "Real-time reports." For high traffic sites this may be a game changer.

More to follow as our Indian SEM company and Chennai online marketing agency explore the new system. The revamped Google Analytics appears to be a very exciting development for search engine marketers and we look forward to mastering the enhanced functionality to continually optimize the SEM campaigns of our clients.

We know change can be stressful and that is why we are here to help.

If you are an international business in need of an SEM outsourcing agency in India please contact Boonze Media Solutions to learn more about our full lineup of services.
Are you the owner or manager of an Indian company looking for online marketing for the domestic Indian market? Contact O3M Directional Marketing today and we will be your internet advertising guides.

What additional functionality do you wish Google offered, Analytics or elsewhere? Let us know in the comments section below.

Is Mobile PPC Right For My Business?

2011-09-19T14:39:00.000-07:00

We at Boonze Media Solutions are grateful for, and continually impressed with, the enthusiasm our clients bring to their online marketing campaigns. While our SEO and SEM training, resources, experience, and track record of achievement are critical for a campaigns success, equally important is having clients with compelling product offerings and a sincere desire to grow their business. They push us to continually innovate, improve, and grow, and for that we are thankful. This is how we are able to stay ahead of the competition and remain a leading SEM services firm in India.

As the online marketing industry in India matures we are constantly looking for advanced techniques which will enable our clients to beat their competitors. One area we have been spending time on lately is mobile only campaigns. This post will detail what these campaigns consist of, who are prospects for running a mobile only campaign, and some of our findings.

Mobile-only PPC campaigns are created in nearly the same fashion as traditional PPC campaigns but are only shown on mobile devices such as Android phones, iPhones, Blackberrys, and tablets. A prospective customers enters a term in a search engine such as Google hoping to find a product or service. In addition to the organic (free) results, pay-per-click ads are shown alongside them. These ads, when created by experts like the folks at Boonze Media Solutions or O3M Directional Marketing, are highly targeted offerings sent directly to customers actively searching for your product and within your geographic range. Geo-targeting can be based on where the searcher is physically located or what area the user is searching for. When prospective customers click the ad they are sent to a website or landing page which details the offering and can include a "click to call" button and many other features. The reason for a mobile only campaign (as opposed to sharing clicks between computer and mobile) is that Google Adwords does not currently allowing for separate bidding on mobile and computer clicks.

Mobile only campaigns can be an excellent complement to any PPC campaign, but are particularly well suited to technology products or products that sell to the 18-30 crowd. These are buyers making informed decisions on products they understand. A mobile only campaign can be a very effective way to catch them in all stages of the buying process -- whether they are using their phone to do initial research on different models or on Google Maps looking for a local shop to stop into and buy. If your product is used by young style-makers than a mobile only campaign should be heavilly considered.

In the U.S. we are often seeing targeted, mobile only traffic come in at a significantly lower CPC. The caveat is that there is much less volume in the mobile arena than on a campaign targeting all devices. Essentially we are seeing quality cheaper traffic, but far less of it. Consider the below data from one of our U.S. clients:

This leads us to recommend a mixed portfolio approach. If a business is a good fit for mobile searchers than as much mobile traffic should be sent as possible, with the more expensive computer network traffic making up the rest of the needed volume/budget. This leads to a strong presence on both networks and affordable quality clicks.

Does this sound like a good fit for your business? Would you like to learn more about the unique online marketing, mobile marketing, and retargeting opportunities that we provide? Contact us for a free basic online marketing analysis (Indian market only).

Facebook photos and privacy updates are well received.

2011-08-30T12:23:00.000-07:00

In what is perhaps the first well received update from Facebook (chat box anyone?) the social networking site pushed significant changes affecting photos and privacy options.

Photos: Does Bigger Mean Better? In This Case, Yes

With 250 million photos posted every day Facebook remains a popular place for friends and business to share pictures. These photos are now bigger and faster, thanks to the August 26th update. Most notable the photos have increased in size from 720px to 960px. It is nice to see such a popular site force the issue of visitors needing a modern monitor as this is something web developers and designers often have to deal with. The bump up to 960px coupled with the new light-box look (cleaner with less clutter) really does improve the picture gallery.

Privacy: Learning How to Share

In perhaps the most anticipated update to the social network, Facebook has simplified and streamlined sharing functionality. Posts and content now have straightforward sharing controls (people and geo-location) allowing users to set posts to “public” “friends” or “custom.” Additional privacy options which used to be buried on a settings page now appear directly next to the “post” button. Interestingly these options are not just for posts, but also likes and basic profile page info. Perhaps the most interesting update is reminiscent of old school comments moderation. When a user is tagged in a photo or comment by friends they must first approve it for the tag to stick. Many of these privacy changes are long overdue and perhaps a direct response to the great feedback Google+ has received on their privacy features.

It’s exciting to see Facebook continue to grow and improve, not choosing to rest on their laurels instead. Perhaps it is a response to Google+ or maybe it is part of the company culture. Either way, social network users appear to be the biggest winners here.

Interested in online advertising in India or search engine marketing services? We can help.

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2010 Benchmark Data Now Available From DoubleClick

2011-08-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

DoubleClick, the subsidiary of Google which serves and manages online advertising (i.e. the reason we come into work every day), released their 2010 benchmark figures for display advertising. The full display benchmark data is worth an in-depth look by SEMs, publishers, and advertisers. At a glance some interesting points include:

Big ads work, with the report clearly stating, "Larger ad sizes tend to generate greater response." The 1/2 page (300 x 600) ad unit reported the highest CTR, interaction rate (for both in-page and expandable formats) and expansion rates of all the ad sizes tracked by DoubleClick.
Use of rich media (ads including video, audio or interactivity) has doubled. This should be pretty obvious, as anything which grabs the users attention will likely increase interaction/clicks.
The auto industry's ads consistently outperform other verticals, particularly financial services and telecom.
China has an curiously high CTR of 0.64% for display ads. Most countries are in the 0.05 to 0.15% range. Bots or eager consumers?

In general look for advertisers to use rich media campaigns to better engage consumers. Web developers and marketers must sharpen their skills creating and deploying expanding ads, pop-overs, videos, Flash-on, floating, and HTML5 ads, or anything else that jumps off the screen, to stay relevant and keep that CTR where it needs to be.

What are you hoping to get out of your online advertising campaigns in the remainder of 2011? Let us know in the comments section.

Interested in a campaign of your own? Contact Boonze Media Solutions for outsourced SEM and online display advertising services.

In India and looking to advertise? Mention the Boonze Blog at O3MDM, our recommended online marketing company for the Indian market, for free AdWords advertising credits for new accounts.

eBay Fashion Outlet US to Launch Next Month

2011-08-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

eBay Fashion Outlet, which is already open for business in the UK and Germany, is said to be launching in the US in Mid September. Essentially it is positioned as a complement to the existing eBay Fashion store, offering deep discounts of up to 60% off retail prices.

Considering the fact that eBay sold nearly $10B of apparel last year look for the store to make significant waves when launched. We like the timing as a discounted shopping experience is a logical extension of the current dealsmania surrounding sites such as Woot, Groupon, and Dealtificate. It will be interesting to see which retailers sign-up, as already Bluefly and Neiman Marcus are on board.

How do you think the eBay Fashion Outlet will impact the US online retail market?

In India and looking to open an online store of your own? Choose India's #1 online store platform

Already have a great online store and looking to increase your digital footprint? Contact the leading Indian online marketing firm. or the leader in outsourced SEM services. Mention you found them here for a free website analysis.

Edit: Aug. 12
Reader "SuperUser" Let us know about a cool deals site, The Level Up. A main concern we hear from merchants about deal sites is that the steep discounts lead to one time purchases and not loyal customers. The Level Up seems to counter this by offering deeper discounts the more a user spends. Deals are paid for and tracked by QR code. Combining a deals site and a mobile wallet? Very cool.

Anti-social? : Facebook targets business in response to Google+

2011-07-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Facebook released a new "Facebook for Business Center" today which showcases the many tools Facebook offers to business. This is most likely a (fairly direct) response to Google+'s current social only functionality. Facebook does have a significant head start on Google in the social media for business realm, but I am curious to see how Google responds and embrases businesses on +. Surely something big is in the works as they asked companies to "hold off" on creating business pages for the time being.

The new Facebook for Business page plays up to existing tools available on Facebook for marketers. The feature list incudes:

Pages
Ads
Sponsored Stories
Platform (think the apps, games, and custom pages)
Facebook credits - we are curious to see if Google+ implements similar payment functionality or something new.

So now that Facebook has responded the ball is in Google's court. Will it simply be a smooth integration of their industry-defining SEM/Adwords structure or is something disruptive in the works? Will it be a better system or one that scares people back to using Facebook full time? Let us know what you think in the comments section below.

Facebook Unveils Link Preview on Comments

2011-07-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Facebook is continuing the update frenzy of the past few weeks (chat box, video chat, etc...) with link previews for comments. The link preview display has been in use for some time on status posts (see below image), but they have finally brought it to comments and replies as well.

Facebook now allows for previews of links in replies

Youtube video links posted as comments now show in their full glory and can be played directly on Facebook. From a usability standpoint showing the videos directly on Facebook may actually keep users on the site longer. Not that this is a problem as, according to comScore, Facebook saw a 14% increase in monthly visitors from June 2010 to June 2011.

Expect more updates from Facebook as they look to innovate in hopes of staving off Google+, which may emerge as the most serious threat to Facebook's social networking dominance yet.

Are you interested in learning how social media can help your business? Contact your local online marketing expert today.

Free Display Ad for Google Content Network Campaigns

2010-12-22T19:43:00.000-08:00

Ever wondered why visuals capture more attention than words? Because a picture is worth a thousand words. Pictures are more likely to draw attention than words. Pictures convey much more than words. Even the web world is rich in images. Human eyes capture images far more than words. Thus, from a business point of view, visuals generate more leads than words. This is why we are here to create free display ads for your AdWords content network campaign(s).

Our research shows that display ads generate more leads at a lower cost than text ads. We charge you nothing for design and development of display ads. Our designs are never monotonous.

Come advertise with us for a better ROI. We will help you in boosting your online presence.

New Version of Google AdWords Keyword Tool

2010-11-23T01:21:00.001-08:00

Google has launched a new updated keyword tool. Access the Keyword Tool by login to your AdWords account, Go to the Campaign; Select the Opportunities tab, Click Keyword Tool in the Tools section. Another way of accessing the keyword tool without signing in to the AdWords account, using the URL https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

The updated Keyword Tool has more benefits over the previous tool. Though many of the features you’ll see aren’t actually new, however this new keyword tool is more prominent or simply easier to navigate to, making for a more user-friendly experience.

Features of the new Google AdWords Keyword Tool (Get these features without login into the AdWords account):

Keyword results based on regularly updated statistics, you can filter the keyword results by word/ phrase or keyword match type.
Flexible search options to search for keywords by the keywords entered, website/ URL and browse results from categories found in the sidebar.
The updated keyword tool offers the most relevant results based on your search criteria; also it provides the search results with multiple pages.
Easy to download hundreds and thousands of keywords at a same time in small compressed file.
Direct link options to Google insights; find this option next to each keyword with search icon symbol.
Advanced options: View the statistics for “Mobile Search”.
Sort your keyword result based on the following parameters: Relevance, Keyword, Competition, Global Monthly Searches, Local Monthly Searches, Estimated Avg. CPC, Ad Share, Search Share, and Extracted from Webpage.

Features of the new Google AdWords Keyword Tool (Get these features by login to the AdWords account):

Add your keyword ideas as negatives by editing the keyword, click on the drop down menu of the keyword to select the negative keyword and save it.

Avoid duplicate keywords: When you access the keyword tool within the ad group for adding the new keyword, if the keyword already exists in that ad group, message will appear like “Already in Ad group”.
One more awesome option of keyword tool is “Estimate Traffic Search”: Forecast the average estimated CPC/day, total estimated clicks/day, and total estimated cost/day for the keywords you selected, using this option.

Previous Keyword Tool Vs New Updated Keyword Tool:

The previous version of the Keyword Tool provides the search statistics based on Google.com search traffic & search partners traffic, while the updated version of the Keyword Tool provides search statistics based on Google.com traffic only.
Previous Keyword Tool shows the keyword results for the search term that you have entered, with this option “Don't show ideas for new keywords. I only want to see data about the keywords I entered.” , whereas the updated New Keyword Tool shows the keywords results for all possible combination of your search terms with this option “Ideas containing my search terms”.

On the whole this looks like a great keyword tool, hopefully Google will continue the good work over the upcoming months!

Latest updates from the SEM Industry

2010-07-23T06:27:00.000-07:00

Today’s (somewhat helpful) SEM Search Engine Marketing update will help you estimate how the Online Advertising is competition with each other. Let’s see the few updates

1) AdWords rolled out new match type called as “Modified Broad Match” globally

This is actually a modifier to your “broad match” keywords. Put a (+) symbol in front of word or words so that close variants such as misspellings, singular/plural forms, abbreviations and acronyms, and stemming (like “throw” and “throwing”) matches with user search query. Here’s how Google explains:

Applying this new change to your existing broad march keywords won’t have surprising increase in metrics such as CTR but in turn gives you less number of clicks and conversions. Instead you can add new modified broad match keywords and keep existing broad match keywords active and bid accordingly.

2) Yahoo Search Marketing + Microsoft Search Advertising è MSN adCenter

After long anticipations the time has come; the merger of two giants in the SEM field. But this merger won’t mean the search interface being one. They will remain separate for Yahoo and Microsoft but the ads users search on Yahoo will be delivered by Microsoft’s servers. As far as advertisers are concerned they will have now only one platform to launch their campaigns and that would be adCenter.

· Initially to be launched for advertisers in U.S. & Canada by end of 2010.

· Yahoo and MSN Search Alliance are coming up with new editorial policy.

· Aggregate report from each SE’s will be available.

· No option to market with any one SE.

· A new desktop tool is on the air which helps to manage the campaigns and import the campaigns from other Search Engine’s.

Yes, we all know that there are small differences between YSM & adCenter marketing strategy. Here are few things to be considered after the merge.

· For YSM the minimum keyword bid is $0.01 where as for adCenter it is $0.05. So the advertisers in YSM have to increase the bids for the keywords bided below $0.05.

· Currently in YSM there are two match types available; Standard & Advanced match type, where as in MSN three match types are available. After the merger there will be only three match types – broad, phrase and exact.

· Also in YSM either a single variation of keywords are accepted; singular or plural in a single adgroup where in MSN all the variations are accepted. So the advertisers have to expand their keyword list to both singular and plural.

By this merger both the companies are planning to attract more users and thus make themselves more visible to online search which is currently dominated by Google.

Update On Google Display Network

2010-07-17T06:36:00.000-07:00

Google Content Network is now known as Google Display Network which Google terms as an “umbrella name”. Not big changes except for new features, targeting options and measurement tools. The new umbrella name can be seen in AdWords interface.
Google AdWords Display Network interface is now with new design and brief explanation about each parameter and in all the pages with testimonials. To know more, the testimonials can be downloaded as white papers. There are no more links for learning center or any help center.
Few things about the new Google AdWords Display Network website,

1. “Tweet” symbol at the bottom of the each page is not visible at all.
2. Page designer tried to use all the colors from Google symbol but missed red color.
3. Designer will always choose meta=”name” then content=”content” but here content=”content” then meta=”name”.
4. Alt texts for the images are missing.
5. Lots of HTML tables like an HTML beginner.

Search Partners in Yahoo! Search Marketing – Pros & Cons

2010-05-19T04:00:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! search marketing has improved a lot on advertising in both search and content network. Apart from Yahoo! search, advertisers’ ads are also displayed in Yahoo! search partners such as AltaVista and AlltheWeb. Advertisers need to analyze how much traffic and revenue they are getting from Y! Search and Y! Search partners. Excluding the non performing Yahoo! search partners helps in effective optimization of the campaigns.

Sometimes advertiser may get enough benefit from Y! Search partners when compared to Y! Search. This depends on the kind of product the advertiser is promoting through Y! Search Marketing. For a better promotion, they need to work on analyzing the non-performing search partners to get benefited in cost basis. This is possible with a new reporting option available in Y! search marketing interface and ie: ” Ad Delivery Report” under “Traffic Quality Reports” section. This report gives the cumulative search partners performance data.

To generate “Ad Delivery report” , go to reports tab

Under reports tab you can find “Traffic Quality Reports”->”Ad Delivery Report”. Select at least 3 to 5 months date range. At the top of the report, change the 'Distribution' to Yahoo Partners. Then select a date range and sort the data by cost. You'll easily be able to see if certain search partners are costing high and without any conversions.

Once you find search partners that are not performing well for you, you can actually add them as blocked domains under the 'Administration' tab’. You can block both domain and sub-domains. Totally you can block up to 500 domains.

Adding search partner domains is currently only an option in Yahoo, as Google will allow you to either opt in or out of their search partner network in your AdWords campaign settings. In Google we can do the exclusion in both campaign level and adgroup level for content campaigns where as in Y! Search marketing it can be done with account level. So you have to check the domains properly before you exclude them. Let’s hope Google will come up with the search partner exclusion option soon instead of excluding the whole Google search partners.

Is Bid Management System Good For Seasonal Advertisers?

2010-05-15T05:27:00.001-07:00

On days like Christmas and Valentine the competition is fierce for bidding on event related keywords such as ‘christmas cards’ and ‘valentines day flowers’. For a seasonal advertiser those are the high converting keywords. He/she would like to bid strategically so that they won’t be a loser in the competition. Strategic bidding on major events involves close monitoring of campaigns and increase/decrease CPC based on the position, conversions and CPA. All of these happen on the fly which is not possible with a bid management system. Manual effort is required in such cases where the bidding sequence is not systematic.

A semi-automated bidding system can be more efficient since the bidding rules are not governed by a system completely. This system should support frequent updating of bids manually. A semi-automated bidding system must allow an advertiser to automate the initial bidding and then change the bids manually whenever it is required. Also such bids that are set manually shouldn’t be overridden by the system.

What PPC strategy you would like to prefer?

Manual Bidding
Semi-automated bidding
Automated bidding

AdWords For Mobile - Access wherever you go!

2010-04-05T04:33:00.000-07:00

Exciting news for the AdWords users! Google has rolled out the new Google Adwords mobile interface for Android, iPhone and Palm Pre devices. Isn’t that good to have AdWords in your hand when you are not at your laptop/desktop so that you can make changes or take care of alerts in your account. For that you need to set up few things from your desktop computer.

The Mobile view allows you to access the essentials such as keywords and campaigns. However if you want to change campaign settings or ads, click on the Desktop view situated at the bottom.

Even the alerts from Google AdWords like campaign budget status, save filters can be seen on Adwords for Mobile screen.

Enjoy having easy access to AdWords anywhere, anytime, quickly & wherever you go!

AdWords Dynamic Parameters in Ads

2010-04-03T00:10:00.000-07:00

We all are aware of the fact that Ad Rank in AdWords plays a main role in Quality Score. According to AdWords guidelines, ad rank will be lost if any changes are made to the existing ad text. For e.g. you are running an AdWords campaign for a shopping website with different offers to customers often. In this case you need to change the offer values in ad text every time. However it’s not a good idea to make changes in adcopy description often which will demolish the ad rank.

How to make changes in ad text with out losing the current ad rank? Here is the solution to change the ad text with out losing the ad rank. Have you heard about Google AdWords' new feature called Dynamic ads with Ad Parameters? Ad parameters enables you to change numeric information (for example: prices, discount percentages, etc.) within your text ad, while keeping the history and statistics associated with the ad text.

Here is an example which illustrates how Ad parameter helps to maintain ad history while allowing variable information in ad description.

Let’s say that you are selling various brands of mobiles on whole sale. After performing various tests in your Adwords ad text, you found that the ad text with price and availability of varieties attracts the users to buy mobiles from you. For this you need to update the ad description with offers and new brands that are part of your business strategies.

AdWords API Ad parameter gives a valid solution for this scenario, with Ad parameter you can create ad text like

Buy Branded Mobiles

Nokia Mobiles at {param1:a good price}

{param2:Large} varieties of latest models

BuyBrandMobiles.com/NokiaMobiles

Notice that you can specify default values for param1 and param2 within the ad text. You need to set dynamic numeric values for param1 and param2 at the keyword level via the AdParamService of the v2009 API.

Later when you are having only 15 varieties of Nokia mobiles with different starting price, you can set these values for the relevant keywords within your ad group, as follows:

keyword	param1	param2
Nokia Mobiles	$350	15

Now a user searching for Nokia mobiles will see the ad text as,

Buy Branded Mobiles

Nokia Mobiles at $350.

15 varieties of latest models.

BuyBrandMobiles.com/NokiaMobiles

Finally a few notes about this feature:

Ad parameters can only be updated via the AdWords API. Updates are not currently supported in AdWords Editor or in the AdWords interface.
API charges are applicable.
You can specify at most two parameters.
While the default value of the parameters (specified within the ad text) can be non-numeric, the dynamic value of the parameters (specified via the AdWords API) must always be numeric. Currency symbols are allowed.
As usual, your ads must comply with AdWords Advertising Policies.

Negative Keywords Playing The Positive Role

2009-04-27T03:13:00.000-07:00

A pretty good list of relevant keywords and adcopies, that are content rich with appropriate match types, are the ones that comes on top in PPC management. But are we missing something else here? Suppose, say you are running a campaign for ecards. The keywords will be "ecards", "cards", "e cards", "free ecards" and so on. If the keywords are in broad and phrase match type and if someone is searching for invitation cards or plastic cards, there are chances that your ads may appear and probably the user might click on the ad. The result - unwanted click & unwanted spend. Imagine if users are searching for something else and not for ecards, you will be spending unnecessarily for unwanted traffic.

This is where negative keywords come to the rescue (not completely but still in a reasonable way). Negative keywords can cull the unwanted traffic by not allowing your ad to be displayed for irrelevant search. For the above mentioned example you can use negatives such as "plastic" or "invitation" to eliminate unwanted clicks. Negative keywords can be of broad, phrase or exact. Usage of match types varies depending upon the product/service you are having.

So, how do you get the proper negatives? Google has the perfect answer. In Google Adwords Report Center you will find an option called Search Query Performance Report. By generating this report, you will get the search queries that have triggered your ads. This list will show the keywords that you have bid on plus the other irrelevent terms that are similar in someway to your relevant keywords. The latter are the real culprits. Adding negatives will thus result in - relevant clicks, good number of conversions and thereby better conversion rate with lower cost per conversion.

SEO Tricks That Will Lower Your Page Ranking

2009-04-08T07:50:00.000-07:00

Link building with a probably harmful site or which is not relevant to your content can be dangerous since that will lower your ranking. Crawlers will report these links as bad/irrelevant a they are navigating the user to a different content. Harmful sites such as those having a bad reputation or under black list will in turn affect your website's reputation.

Adding lots of irrelevant keywords will rule out your website from the SERPs.

Creating multiple sub pages can upset the search engines even though they can provide a great deal of content along with relevant keywords.

Borrowing content from other website will put you in trouble. A small percentage (say 1%) is okay but not on the main page. Stealing someone's content can end up in your site getting banned or you being sued for copyright infringement.

Yahoo! Search Marketing On Target

2009-03-23T05:22:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! Search Marketing has been updated with three new features which are available for both Sponsored Search and Content Match.

Demographic targeting - Targetting the desired audience by age and gender. Demographic targetting based on the concept of bid adjustment with which a premium bid can be set for the categories that are worth rather than losing traffic unnecessarily.

Ad scheduling - Running campaigns according to our timings! Sounds cool eh? Well Yahoo! has brought this feature wherein we can schedule our ads to run at particular time/time zone. So that we dont have to worry about the ads being shown when there is no business especially during midnight hours.

Enhanced ZIP-level geo-targeting - Mix and match geo-targeting settings at different levels within the same campaign or ad group. New dynamic mapping features help you select individual ZIP codes and ZIP codes surrounding them.

New Search-based Keyword Tool from Google

2008-11-21T06:47:00.000-08:00

Google has released a new keyword tool called Search-based Keyword Tool. What makes it differ from the existing Adwords tool is that it generates keywords that are not present in your current account. Isn't that an advantage of having keywords that we probably miss and may be some relevant traffic?

This is how it works - search a keyword and it gives the list of keywords not already in your account, their monthly searches, competition, sug.bid and from which webpage it is extracted. You can export these keywords as xls too.

The tool is available to US and UK users. But the drawback is the version which is Beta and Google has already stated that it wont be responsible for any issues regarding the usage of the new keywords like disapproval or violation of law.

What is Google Adsense?

2008-08-24T23:48:00.000-07:00

Google Adsense (much better if it was Adspace which makes more sense to those who are new to Google Adsense) is a program by Google which allows you to sell advertising space on your website to advertisers. Not any ad but ads that are relevant to your website and that too free of cost. You get paid by Google when someone clicks on an ad. Sounds interesting? Well, this is something that can be done without much effort. All you need is a good website with a better page rank and an Adsense account in Google. Paste a few lines of code from Google into the HTML of your site, and let Google fill in your pages with color-coordinated ads. When a visitor clicks on an ad link, Google records the click and you get paid for it. Get ready for a monthly check from Google : )