Dec
30th

Press Record – Breaking Audience Barriers with Video

Posted by Keirsun on December 30, 2005 at 10:21 am

Why don’t more online companies utilize television advertising? It can be a great method for generating buzz and placing product in front of a targeted market. Oh yeah, cost. Video production bills ad up quick, whether you hire a private production company or your local TV station. And if your ad needs to be formatted in High Definition Video, you better make sure your credit card has extra headroom. Even with television networks floundering for ad revenue, the best bargains can still be pricey. A 30 second spot, plus airtime during the local 6:00 PM News, could wipe out a small, online company’s annual ad budget.

So, forget television. But wait. It’s almost the New Year. Let’s look forward for a moment, with my new friend Bambi Francisco of MarketWatch. In her 2006 Prediction List, Bambi forecasts the rise of free agents in regards to online video production: “Amateur or user-generated video will emerge as entertaining content to be used in commercials.” Bambi also predicts that amateurs “will be signed up to do commercials for a major consumer brand“.

And why not? Digital camcorder prices have fallen to the $300 mark. Companies like VideoEgg are making it easier than ever to publish video content online. Google Video is already in the process of creating online television stars. And with the AOL-Google merger (think of all those juicy video resources owned by AOL’s parent company, Time Warner), there’s no script for where video production is headed.

Barriers are being broken, people. The glass that separated your business from a viewing audience is cracked and leaking advertising everywhere. Why shouldn’t companies have their own video production department, no matter how small? You pooled enough creative forces to put together a worthwile website, why not do the same for video advertising? It’s an ages-old rule: the more visible the product, the more likely it is to sell. Across the internet, content-delivery portals are being generated, the likes of which have never been seen before, that are ready to accept your personalized brand of pre-recorded advertising. And the best part is, it’s not spoon-fed television. Video content can be as unique and creative as the people behind the production. Remember BMW’s online film campaign? How long before someone drives traffic to a website with a spine-tingling series of video podcasts (better known as Vodcasts)? Broadcasting has evolved.

So go ahead, press record, inspire me to watch, and then I’ll tell everyone what I saw.

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Dec
29th

Prepare Now for Yahoo! Paid Listing Changes

Posted by admin on December 29, 2005 at 12:55 pm

When it comes to the recent news of the new look coming to Yahoo! Search Marketing, heed the words of the ancient proverb: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. For those of you who haven’t yet heard about the upcoming changes scheduled to go live January 18th, Yahoo! plans to display shorter descriptions for the Sponsored Search listings, 70 characters to be exact. How Googlesque.

At least for the time being Yahoo! is stating that the listings will be shortened to 70 characters, but according to a post from YahooSarah at the SearchEngineWatch forum, “Over time, we will fine tune the exact character count that we believe works best for advertisers and search users”. Of course the changes (according to Yahoo!) are benefiting all those involved. Searchers will see ads that are easier to read; advertisers can expect to see an increase in clicks while still maintaining conversion rates. Wow, thanks Yahoo!!

I urge all who advertise with Yahoo! to take the necessary precautions before the crisis (I mean changes) takes place January 18th. Yahoo! is telling advertisers that changes to sponsored listings do not need to be made as the sponsored listings will be automatically truncated to meet the new character limitations. What?! Automatically truncated? I can see it now, sponsored listings that contain half a sentence, or better yet sponsored listings that stop in the middle of a word.

Don’t fall victim to Yahoo! technology. Optimize your sponsored listings now. Be certain that your description is only 70 characters long and is highly relevant to your search term. Remember to focus on the most important information, as you will not have the character availability for great detail in your listing. And, one final note, get your listings updated and through the editorial review process prior to January 18th. I have a feeling that the editorial review process will take longer during this time and prove to be more frustrating than ever. The sooner you can implement your changes the better your listings will likely be during this transitional time at Yahoo!

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Dec
22nd

No Static at All: SES Wrap-up on WebmasterRadio.fm

Posted by admin on December 22, 2005 at 9:21 am

Be sure to tune into WebmasterRadio.fm today at 10:00am EST for a live special on the recent Search Engine Strategies conference held in Chicago. The special will be hosted by SES chair and organizer Danny Sullivan and WebmasterRadio co-founder Daron Babin. Guests include Bruce Clay, Dan Boberg of Yahoo! Search Marketing, Detlev Johnson of PositionTech and Oneupweb’s very own Tim Kauffold.

The special will provide an inside look at the event and help attendees get the most out of the SES experience. It will also be available via podcast immediately after the live show.

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Dec
21st

Got a SSL Certificate? Show Me!

Posted by Keirsun on December 21, 2005 at 1:42 pm

So you want me to buy something? Well, I’m already in the door and browsing down the aisles of your online store. You have some interesting products that are easy to find and your page design looks professional enough. And.. hello, what’s this? Oh, I gotta have one of these. You even have the right color and size in stock, and if I buy now I get free shipping. How can I leave without it? Actually, I don’t even care what it costs. It’s perfect!

Now all I have to do is give you my name, address, and credit card info. Hey, wait a minute! How do I know this page is secure? My Status Bar is hidden (if I even know what a Status Bar is) so I don’t see the little padlock icon that pops up a window with your site’s SSL Certificate information.

Aside from the URL changing from HTTP to HTTPS (which I am completely unaware of) there is nothing on this page that makes me feel secure about your payment processing.

Oh well. I’m sure Big.com (my current search engine of choice) will help me find one just like it somewhere else. Somewhere that I feel secure.

If you’re lucky, I bookmark your site, just in case.

This little exercise was designed to show just how easy it is to lose an online shopper because you don’t showcase your site’s digital SSL certificate.

Shoppers like to feel secure. I don’t even like getting handed a sales receipt with my entire credit card number printed out. Give me a long row of xxxx’s in front of the final 4 digits and I’m happy. Making me feel secure is that easy. And it’s the same with your website.

Handing your online shoppers proof that your store is secure is simple. If you already have a SSL Certificate (and you better), chances are your provider offers graphical proof of your secure payment processing.

SSL encryption providers such as Digicert tout the importance of displaying their Secure Site Seal which “allows customers to check your identity, and Confirm Your Integrity“.

As an online shopper, confirming your online retail integrity is important to me. If I trust you, I’ll come back for more.

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Dec
19th

Search Engines, Teens, and the Southern Oracle

Posted by admin on December 19, 2005 at 11:28 am

In a study that is both interesting and destined to get more attention than it should, A Couple of Chicks Marketing has published the findings of a 125-student survey on search engine use and online travel brands. That’s not a knock on the study itself, but rather an observation of how het up we all tend to get when research about teen online behavior comes out – as ’twere we gazing upon the marketing equivalent of the Southern Oracle.

We’ve built up this archetype of The Online Teen: He was born with a silver mouse in his hand and can program a 17-in-1 remote control with his mind while hapless adults quake in fear. His reward? The keys to the SUV. A perfect storm of disposable income and existential crisis compels him to solidify his tribal membership by spending an exorbitant amount of money on ringtones and other such in-group identifiers. His tastes are fickle and faddish, but if you, gentle marketer, can stay less behind the curve than your competitors, the rewards are great.

This is largely nonsense. Teens are actually a lot like adults. Some are smarter and savvier than others. Some are richer, some are poorer. Some are artists, athletes, scholars, techies, couch potatoes, scientists – or all of the above. But there is one crucial difference: Today’s American teens have been marketed to like no other generation before.

Which brings me back to the aforementioned study. According to the authors, teens are both tenacious and cynical when it comes to using search engines (and a whopping 85 percent prefer Google over Yahoo and MSN – though there was no mention of ubiquitous teen portal MySpace.com). Fifty-three percent say they go through as many search results as they need to find what they’re looking for, with only 18 percent staying on the first page of results only. That low number of first-page devotees may have something to do with another interesting finding: 46 percent of the teens surveyed believe the first pages of search results (both paid and natural) are advertisements.

In this, teens show a higher awareness and sensitivity to being marketed to than adults. The good news is that teens are also more comfortable making purchases online (58 percent of the teens surveyed had already done so). So respect your teen audience, and it will respect you. At least for the next 3-6 months.

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