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Archive for August, 2008
Why Does Search Get Credit for Everything? – SES San Jose 2008
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Everyone is moving a little slowly and quietly today. Last night was the Google Glow in the Dark dance party out at Googleplex and they certainly delivered. There was tons to do and see plus everything was FREE!
Moderating the morning keynote once again is Kevin Ryan with Bill Hunt of Global Strategies International and features Randy Peterson of Procter and Gamble, Mikel Chertudi of Omniture and Sharon Gallacher of Neo@Ogilvy
Bill Hunt is currently speaking about companies that do not recognize the power of search and how, on average, only 4% of their media buying goes to search. For web savvy companies this almost the opposite.
Randy states that search can not only generate leads but also the branding value alone makes search a viable media buy. Banners still work but on a more branding level. Enewsletters also work but search actually puts a user in the drivers seat.
Chertudi is now talking about cookie based tracking and how it can be misleading. Visitors can be tracked using a cookie and these cookies can expire after 30/60/90 days or never. A recent study shows that 30% of web surfers clear their cookies every month. This is something to take into account when analyzing data.
Back to Randy and his experience with jumping into the search ocean with some P&G brands only to pull back the reins a little bit. Good research before attempting anything will help you run an effective campaign.
Chertudi is talking about how easy it is to throw data at someone to prove a point but we have to keep one thing in mind – Am I doing what’s best for the company. The talk is on getting credit where credit is due but not stealing credit away because you are a search marketer.
As search marketers we are kind of shunned on by traditional media. Advertisers and marketers have always butt heads but when you throw an online marketer in the mix the old guard doesn’t quite get what we do. Because our media is measurable it is quite easy to just throw a bibles worth of data at someone but don’t let ego get in the way. Always be right and always be fair
Bill Hunt has just raised the point of lead generation to sales and who gets credit. He makes the point that large companies have channels in measuring leads/sales that can be misleading. A paid search listing or banner could have created a contact form submission. Such companies require that people sign off on every step with the sales people getting the final credit for it. This can be misleading as the search/banner could have brought them to the site and the copy may have converted them before they even got to the sales team. This is something to talk about and find a way to measure it and address it.
A great thing to do is to survey your clients after a purchase and ask them when they decided they wanted to buy from you. Most users have already decided that they want to do business with you if you sell products but those that offer services need to be qualified before they use you.
For more information please contact the Search Engine Marketing Team at Schipul – sem@schipul.com
Google AdWords Seminars 101, 201 & 301 Now Available
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Whether you are managing your own paid placement campaigns or have you have an agency managing it for you it is always good to learn the basics and a bit more and now you can.
Google is offering different levels of AdWords training in various cities, so no matter if you have never done PPC or have some experience there is something for everyone. Each seminar will be broken up in to a morning and afternoon session.
Here is a list of the three levels you can attend:
- AdWords 101 Beginner – This class will introduce online advertising and Google AdWords to those that are new to the PPC world. They will go over different types of online advertising, features and benefits of AdWords, how to create a new account and understanding the stats.
- AdWords 201 Intermediate – This class is for those that already attended the 101 class. This will focus on optimization techniques such as location targeting, demographic bidding and keyword optimization. You will also learn changes with the AdWords Editor and how to create compelling ads and brief introduction to TV, audio, print and the ad creation marketplace.
- AdWords 301 Advanced – This will be a class for those that have mastered the basics and are ready for a bit more. Here you will be able to focus on the psychology of search, understanding how people search, best practices of landing pages, content network optimization, placement targeting and advanced geographic targeting.
Find out if there is a city near you offering the Google AdWords Seminars and sign up now!
Don’t miss out on this great opportunity to learn the inside scoops, you will also receive a $50 value to use toward your Google AdWords Campaign, a Google USB thumb drive with all the seminar materials and other Google goodies…How cool is that?
For more information please contact the Search Engine Marketing Team at Schipul – sem@schipul.com
What’s New With Google Analytics and Website Optmizer – SES San Jose 2008
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
After a great Keynote I am now at the second panel of the day for Avinash Kaushik of Google. He is presenting with Tom Leung pf Google Website Optimizer.
Avinash has an analogy on how to describe Bounce Rate – I came, I puked, I left. Us SEM nerds eat that stuff up. On the topic of bounce rate if you are running PPC you want to look at the terms that have a large bounce rate and either omit them or make sure that they are on your landing page. Kaushik states that if you are running campaigns don’t let Google write checks that your site can’t cash. Basically don’t over spend on PPC if you can’t make the money back through your site.
Using Google Analytics you can drill down into the long tail and get away from the ‘branded’ keywords on the left side of the graph into what he calls ‘category’ keyterms such as ‘red leather Donna Karen shoes in San Francisco’. This term is a clear indicator of someone who wants to buy. Its a little hard to optimize for these search terms but they do represent the majority of your buyers.
He says to be successful in Analytics you have to obsess but obsess efficiently. Analytics lets you analyze keyword positions in PPC and shows you how many pages a user has looked at depending on the position of your ad. This is extremely useful when bidding on keyterms.
He is a big proponent of Goals in Analytics on a way a measure your sites effectiveness. Goals can be set up and a monetary value can be assigned to this goal to further substantiate its effectiveness.
Kaushik is pointing out plugins for Google Analytics
Leung is up now talking about the cool tool that is Website Optimizer. This little tool from Google is a great thing that I wish more people would use. It is a free multi-variant tools to measure landing pages and test their effectiveness.
When running WO you create different variants of a landing page and you have to have these pages run the whole time. If certain variants don’t get any traffic you weren’t able to take them out of the equation but now they offer the ability to take them out or ‘pruning’ as Leung states.
The great thing about WO is the ability to scratch that itch that’s telling you to try something different on a landing page. Have a hunch that something else might work? Pit it against your original page. Have other people in the company submit ideas on that landing page.
Give it a try, it’s free!
If you have any questions about Website Optimizer, Google Webmaster Tools and/or Google Analytics a great video was created to help you find your way
For more information please contact the Search Engine Marketing Team at Schipul – sem@schipul.com
