Earlier this week, the transition from Yahoo! Search Marketing to Microsoft’s adCenter platform ramped up with advertisers being presented with their first opportunity to begin migrating their accounts.
This transition creates changes that advertisers should become familiar with, to ensure that the migration goes as smooth as possible, and that their accounts are ready to go when ad serving moves to the adCenter platform in mid-October. The Yahoo! Advertising Blog provides a list of changes to become familiar with:
“Any balance from your Yahoo! Search Marketing account will be applied to your adCenter click charges and will be used towards your next bill.”
“Currently, adCenter does not support Blocked Domains for search. Your Blocked Domains list will be transferred in full, but it will apply to content ads only.“
“Ad groups that have optimization turned “Off” in Yahoo! Search Marketing will have it turned “On” by default in adCenter.“
“The Yahoo! keyword Match Type of “Advanced” will become “Broad” in adCenter and the Yahoo! keyword Match Type of “Standard” will become “Exact” in adCenter.”
“During the transition, full day targeting settings in Yahoo! Search Marketing will also transition to adCenter. However, if you only have partial day settings in Yahoo!, the full day will be removed in adCenter.”
“adCenter supports descriptions of 70 characters in length. Short Descriptions with more than 70 characters will be truncated and the ad will be paused.”
There are many other variables that advertisers will have to take into consideration when performing the transition through the automated tool. Depending on the complexity and performance of your campaigns you may wish to simply start with a fresh adCenter account, especially if you know that your existing Yahoo! campaigns are in need of optimization. Visit the Yahoo! Advertising Blog and read the full transition checklist and feature compatibility guide before making any decisions on how you will make the move to the adCenter platform.
I just did a one word color association of road signs all the way down the rainbow. Why is the road system the only network using a color association system that can easily be recognized universally? Seth Godin just blogged about this subject in his post: Don’t Forget About Color while he was walking though the airport in circles. Seth asks: “Imagine how much easier it would be to find out where you were going if every sign with the word TAXI on it had it in yellow instead of white. Once you knew the color of where you were going, you’d just naturally scan for it.”
Take some time to look through your own website, communication pieces and signage. Here is a good place to start:
1. Does your website incorporate some or all of the colors used in your logo?
2. Are all the clickable links in your website the same color?
3. Is there a hierarchy in the colors you use for print work or on your website?
4. Does your company speak color fluently throughout the website, or are there multiple messages being directed that cause the design to feel inconsistent?
Once upon a time, to make a phone call, a person had to pickup a phone, dial a number, and wait for the person they were trying reach to pickup their phone on the other end. Then Skype came along, allowing people to talk to each other from one computer to the other. I used this quite a bit when I lived in England and wanted to reach out to my friends who were still back in the States. It was a heck of a lot cheaper than calling them on my cell phone, and had a better user experience for me than just sending off emails and waiting for them to be answered.
Of course, that was then. Today, thanks to Google, you can make phone calls and engage in video chat, straight from your Gmail account. And the good news is, only 1 person has to be at their computer. According to Google, you can now “call any phone right from Gmail.” So say it’s a gorgeous Saturday. You are stuck at the office, finishing up some work while your friends are at the beach. You have about an hour’s worth of work left, and you want to know where they’ll be when you’re done, and if they need any more beverages. Just click open your Gmail and give their cell phone a ring. And the best part is, if they’re on the beach anywhere in the USA or Canada, it’s free! According to Google, “calls to the U.K., France, Germany, China, Japan—and many more countries—(are) as little as $0.02 per minute.”
According to Mashable, one million calls were placed from Gmail in 24 hours (shortly following the official announcement last week). That’s a lot of phone calls…free phone calls.
So what do you think about the new Gmail feature? Are you going to use it to call your friends and family, or is it likely to be another Google flop (like Buzz, for instance)?
Many search engine optimization projects are sold on the premise that the client will obtain an increase in rankings. Terrific! However, increased rankings mean nothing unless they translate into an increase in leads, revenue, downloads or another desired action. In other words, SEO projects need to align metrics with business goals.
Just as managers know that their future and that of the business depends on data and information, so too do SEO professionals. In terms of an SEO project, web analytics are treated as a core strategic asset and to reap the benefits you need to manage as aggressively and efficiently as any other asset. This style of management should expose the area(s) of your website and web presence that can yield impressive returns for a relatively small investment.
Search engine optimization is not simply about rankings. It’s about putting your website data and information to work in unique and meaningful ways. At Oneupweb, that is exactly what we do. We manage your existing web assets to extract the right data, from the right place and at the right time, while making sure your web metrics align with your business goals. In fact, we have a track record to prove it.
“One ridiculously huge coupon each day, on the best things to eat, see, do and buy in your city.”
Sounds pretty cool, eh? This is the mantra of Groupon, a social-buying site that allows users to purchase coupons (AKA groupons) for local restaurants, spas, retail stores and more, but only if enough people buy the coupon too. Groupon sets a minimum number of buyers for each coupon.
Here’s how it works:
Groupon offers daily coupons for participating businesses promoting deep discounts on services and merchandise in your area.
You purchase the coupon i.e. “$8 for Two Tickets to River City Improv ($18 Value)”. However, you only pay for it if enough people purchase it too, so sharing the coupon and inviting friends and family is important if you really want it. If enough people purchase the coupon, you will receive an email from Groupon with a link to sign in and print it. The coupon has instructions and a map. If not enough people purchase the coupon, no one is charged and no one receives the coupon.
Check back the next day as a new business will be featured.
As of today, Groupon is not available in Oneupweb’s hometown of Traverse City, Mich—bummer—but several people at Oneupweb have been campaigning for its arrival.
Groupon’s fame has soared in the last several months as the service continues to expand. Recently, Gap partnered with Groupon for a nationwide campaign offering a 50 percent discount on certain clothing and accessories.
According to Inc., the Gap-Groupon partnership was selling at a rate of 10 coupons per second—Groupon’s biggest seller yet. Groupon’s previous record was 41 sales per minute.
Groupon spokesperson Julie Mossler told Mashable that “local ‘brick and mortar’ businesses are the foundation of Groupon, and that isn’t changing. Many of our customers have asked for a national deal, so we’re testing the waters with Gap. It’s a perfect back-to-school deal, and a great way for us to reach subscribers in Gap cities where Groupon hasn’t yet launched. Customer feedback (positive or negative) will be taken into consideration when we determine if we’ll do partnerships of this scale in the future.”
Do you have Groupon in your area? Do you use it? Please leave us a comment below.
