Local Search: Is It Really Ready For The Red Carpet?
Posted by on March 31, 2006 at 02:33 PM
A rainy Friday afternoon and I’m in the mood for a movie. I can’t easily recall any recent movie previews and I am not really sure what’s out there. So, I decide to grab the laptop and search for the local movie theater listings. Sounds simple enough, especially since we only have two local cinemas, but what I think will take all of three minutes to find the local movie listings online turns into a major production of trying 3 different Search Engines’ local search functions. I was surprised by what I discovered.
My first instinct is to turn to Google Local search. Google’s Local Search page is definitely more cluttered than Google’s Web Search page as it provides example searches, a very large map of the US and Canada and the familiar search bar at the top.
My local search is simple enough; I am looking for movie theater listings in Traverse City, which happens to be my first search query. The results on Google range from a listing for one of the two movie theaters in town, a local bar and several sponsored links (one for eBay that looks to be selling theater times.)
I click on the first result for the local cinema expecting to find show time listings at this particular theater, Grand Traverse Cinema. Instead, after clicking the link, the location of the cinema pops up on the map with the address and phone number. I’m not interested in calling as I want to find the listings online. So, I click the back button and try the second result which is the Grand Traverse Mall Movie Line Yes, just what I am looking for. I click on the link and am pleased to discover the listings for the day in question. Nice.
It was relatively easy to find the listings on Google Local for one of the theaters, but I could not find the second theater represented anywhere in Google. Also, the abundance of clutter on the Google results page as well as the potential to get lost navigating through irrelevant links and sponsored ads was distracting and really took away from the user/searcher experience.
Yahoo’s Local Search page is identical to its web search page with the exception of the search bar. On Yahoo Local I type in the same query, movie theater listings, Traverse City. I get a results page telling me that no movie theater listings were found in or nearby Traverse City, MI. My first instinct is to ditch Yahoo and try Ask, but I give Yahoo one more chance and add the zip code to my search query.
Ten results appear on the first page. The first result Moviefone: Closest Theaters sends me to a forbidden page. Frustrated and almost ready to give up I click the back button and try the second link which appears to be more promising and thus gives me false hope. MovieTickets.com GKC Grand Travers Cinemas. Movies,showtimes and tickets.Unfortunately this link does not have the show times available for this theater. My search for movie listings on Yahoo Local proved useless.
My last attempt to find quick and easy local movie listings ends with Ask Local Search. Ask’s Local Search page is clean and concise. I like the simplicity of it.
Optimistically, I type in my query and Ask provides me with one result and a map. GKC Grand Traverse Cinema 9 Very nice, I like the fact that I don’t get the clutter that I saw on Google with sponsored ads and other irrelevant links. The only down side is that like Google, the second movie theater is not listed anywhere.
After clicking on the link, I arrive at the local movie listings provided by CitySearch. The page gives me the theater information and show times for specific days, again, very nice. The page even has a spot at the bottom where I can get driving directions. All I need to do is enter my starting address; the destination address is already filled in, very convenient.
For fun, I try it out and type in my home address and click “calculate directions.‎ The directions are clear and accurate as is the map, but it does take me to the theater on a slightly longer route than I would choose myself. However, the extra drive time is of little consequence especially considering the ease of using Ask Local and the time I could potentially save using Ask Local when compared to the time I could potentially waste using Yahoo and navigating around Google.
Next time I’m in the mood for a movie, I’ll save myself the frustration of using Yahoo and the time of using Google by using only Ask.
What We Want and What We Get!
Posted by jak on March 30, 2006 at 03:59 PM
If you have been using computers and the Internet for a while, you have probably figured out what works and what doesn’t when it comes to searching for the things you want. Most of the younger generation understands the Internet fairly well. Unfortunately, most of the older generation still doesn’t quite grasp the concept. After years of working on computers for the older generation here in northern Michigan, I have found that even though they have used their computers for years, they still cannot find what they want. It should be easier for them to find information on what they want by using simple keywords. If Grandpa Joe needs to get a new pair of underwear, he might type in drawers. A simple search of Google brought up 13,200,000 matches. Guess what? There was no underwear listed in the first few pages. A search for underwear gave me 28,500,000 matches. I probably shouldn’t even name some of the matches on the first page. We need to be thinking about what keywords are most likely to be used for a particular item, and then make a filter process that asks simple questions to narrow the results. I know that I have searched for something and received the “Ungodly Amount‎ of matches. Then, what I really wanted was somewhere on page 14 of those matches. Companies that are using SEO’s know that being at the top of that search list is the best advertising for the buck. I wonder how many companies out there have ever tried to find their web site by using a search engine, and if they have, were they happy with the results? My guess is that they look at their sites position and just hope that it will get better with time. Meanwhile, Grandpa Joe still can’t find his underwear online because he only browses the first two pages of search results. It’s too bad too, because Grandpa Joe would rather buy online instead of driving to the store. Oh well, maybe next time.
Ask vs. Google - An Observation of Search Results
Posted by keirsun on March 29, 2006 at 11:57 AM
I have always considered it a good idea to use multiple search engines when performing a specific search. Since most search engines provide differing results, it just makes sense to me to utilize more than one source to find the best results. I get my news from more than one source, why not my search results?
But when I'm short on time (as most of us are) I tend to fall into a rut of using just one search engine to get a quick answer or make an impulse purchase. For the most part, my engine of choice has been Google. But recently I find myself calling upon Ask to answer my daily searches. Since the dismissal of Jeeves, Ask's results have been more... satisfying. Coincidence?
Regardless, in the interest of Search and search engine users everywhere, I have decided to perform an off-the-cuff comparison of Google and Ask search results. Specifically looking at the web site that holds the #1 position.
Sidenote: I have purposely avoided opening the Pandora's box of "search engine tools comparisons". Aren't there enough of those critiques (and promotions) out there already. My intent is to focus strictly on the engine's bread and butter - web search results.
I believe there are 3 basic forms a search can take: Educational, Commercial, and Recreational. So I'll start there:
1. Educational Search: Split Pea Soup Recipe
Ask #1 - http://www.selectappliance.com/exec/ce-recipe/split_pea_soup
Pros:
* Recipe on First Page
* Simple Design/ Easy to Read
* "Return to Recipes" Text Link - Since this is my landing page I can't hit the Back Button
Cons:
* None come to mind
Google #1 - http://www.cdkitchen.com/recipes/cat/232/0.shtml
Pros:
* Links to many Split Pea Soup recipes
* Rating System (4 out of 5 Stars)
* "You Are Here" Breadcrumb
Cons:
* Ads, Ads and More Ads - "Your Are a Winner" Flash Ads - Those annoying "Where are your friends from high school" ads - Pop Up Ads - Google Adsense
* Red Background Color makes for unwelcome feelings
Winner: Ask - I personally prefer simplicity, not overload, when looking for a quick answer, or recipe in this case.
2. Commercial Search: Easter Bunny Costume
Ask #1 - http://www.easterbunnycostumes.com/
Pros:
* Touts "OVER 30 EASTER BUNNY MASCOT COSTUMES TO CHOOSE FROM"
* Page is Focused on Easter Costumes - Even tells me when Easter is this year
Cons:
* Unprofessional Site Design
* Only 1 View of Featured Costume
Google #1 - http://www.hollywoodtoys.com/
Pros:
* More Professional Design (but barely)
Cons:
* No real info about easter bunny costumes except for a clipped off image of some bunny costumes (which links somewhere) and 3 text links scattered across the page that read "Easter Bunny Costumes"
* First text on page reads: "Mardi Gras 2006 Parade Calendar" Isn't Mardi Gras over?
Winner: Ask - Call me crazy, but I like to have useful info pertaining to my search on the first page I land on.
3. Recreational Search: Fred Sanford Favorite Sayings
Ask #1 - http://www.tvacres.com/catch_y.htm
Google #1 - http://www.tvacres.com/catch_y.htm
Winner: It appears we have a tie "You big DUMMY!"
Overall, I believe Ask produced the more useful results for this minuscule sampling of possible searches. And frankly, it's good to see quality results coming from another search engine besides the market leader. Search on.
Disclaimer: In the words of Michael Feldman's guests, "All questions are painstakingly researched, though the answers are not." Which means, all opinions expressed here are personal. If you don't agree, make a comment.
Taking Candy from a Baby
Posted by admin on March 28, 2006 at 09:16 AM
The new Starter Edition of Google AdWords offers a solution to advertisers who don't have the time or the money to spend on creating an effective PPC campaign... Right? Or, is it just another way for Google to maintain their leadership?
I think the Starter Edition can be compared to taking candy form a baby... it’s easy to do, but in the end all that is left is one disappointed baby. The Starter Edition of AdWords allows an advertiser to set up an account with ONE ad, a list of keywords and a monthly budget, no CPC... but don't worry Google will figure that our for you. The advertiser won't be able to run reports, or have any type of tracking through Google. What they will be able to see is the impressions, clicks and total cost of their keywords.
It takes constant management of a campaign, creative ads, strategic bidding, a good landing page, and a little time and money to run a successful PPC campaign. And let’s not forget the importance of conversion tracking. There’s little chance that a new advertiser, with a small budget, is going to be able to come in and be competitive with the big guys who have been there since the start. Think quality score. Think big monthly budgets. Even if the new advertiser makes it on the first page, how many times is their ad going to be able to be shown to searchers? You need to have a presence in order to be successful.
I think that there comes a point when, to protect the value of your product, you need to tell somebody that your product is not right for them. Whatever the reason may be. I used to be an Account Executive for a television station and we had a rule of thumb; if a new advertiser couldn't at least give us a commitment of X consecutive months at a minimum of $X then we would tell them it would be a waste of their money and efforts. We knew without that commitment from them, there was little chance we could run a successful advertising campaign, one that we would be proud of.
Advertisers who use the Starter Edition of Google AdWords are most likely going to get poor results and walk away thinking PPC doesn't work; after all, it’s like taking candy from a baby.
Shelf Life of SEO
Posted by anne on March 27, 2006 at 10:07 AM
As we move into the information age of technology, positioning on the internet rollercoaster is just that, “a whirl of a ride.‎ What may be in place one day can conceivably change the next. It’s all about the positioning of a company - where one ranks in the search engine listings can equate to the success or demise of a company. It made me wonder how we evolved to this era of technology. Did we anticipate a wide-world market at our fingertips allowing us the power and ability to promote a product or service? How does one anticipate the juncture in which the market will change or evolve in the next decade? How do we prepare our children and our educators to learn and teach for the upcoming season or passage of time? How, as a society, do we become proactive and not reactive to the demands of the consumers in their conquest of searching for the perfect match in a limited amount of time?
The answer to all these questions came to me during my last visit to our local grocery store. In search of a product that met the desire of my taste buds, I realized that it’s all about positioning. We tend not to look at the bottom shelves for a particular brand since it’s proven to be the most difficult to reach. According to hearsay, bending over causing misalignment of the shoulder muscles with the middle-toe muscle causing life-long damage to the left ear lobe. Of course, one should not reach above ones own shoulder to know that extended height extension wears down the padding of your left index finger causing inability to point or make a point. So you ask, “What is your point?‎ My reply is that search engine optimization is just that, finding just the right place on the World Wide Web for your product or service. You don’t want consumers to find your website on the 30th page of search engine results, nor do you want them to spend too much time perusing the listings, making them vulnerable and at risk of falling into the laps of your online competitors. You want to be smack dab, ninety degrees, forward motion, in their face. As a consumer in a grocery store or the internet, you don’t have the time to search aisle after aisle for a product, or page after page of the listings; you want to be able to glance at the labels above each aisle or type in that keyword phrase, find your product or the website, make the easy reach and sprint for the shopping cart for the easy purchase. The labels are the keywords, and it’s just a matter of making sure that your product appears in that aisle and positioned at just the right height for the consumer to grab it.
So the next time you decide to pick up a gallon of milk at your local grocery store, think about search engine marketing. The positioning concept is the same, and your ability to find what you are looking for becomes more of a challenge as more products enter the market. And sometimes, even a quality product can find itself at the end of the aisle in the “clearance‎ cart, one step away from the dumpster. Search engine optimization does indeed have a shelf life; it just depends on selecting the right shelf for you.
It's All Relevant
Posted by vern on March 24, 2006 at 03:30 PM
A funny thing happened on the way to writing this examination of the Yahoo! trademark policy. Recently, a notice sent to advertisers included the following: "Yahoo! Search Marketing has determined that we will no longer allow bidding on keywords containing competitor trademarks"
This is all well and good, not to mention overdue. I applaud Yahoo! for this move but thought they could have gone even further to enhance their search customer's experience. Why not ban bidding on all trademarked terms (and other keywords for that matter) that have no relevancy to the company bidding on the terms? This would go a long way towards reducing the clutter of questionable and undoubtedly ineffective paid search ads.
In researching this concept, I discovered why search marketing, and particularly paid search marketing, is so powerful. For example: Why would eBay bid on the trademarked term Muzak? Muzak is the leader in brand enhancement through music - "the intangible that creates experiences that builds brands" according to their flashy website. I knew I wouldn't be able to bid on contracting Muzak services on the auction site, so why is eBay bidding on the Muzak keyword?
Little did I know what I would find searching for "Muzak" on eBay's site. I must live a sheltered life. I couldn't believe the tremendous assortment of Muzak logo items and used equipment. Not to mention all of the music CD's with Muzak in the title. Talk about a brand enhancement experience!
Well, how about a non-trademarked keyword phrase? I performed a Yahoo! search for "rocket fuel". This was more like it - a virtual treasure trove of irrelevancy! Nextag.com invites me to "Compare Bargain Rocket Fuel Prices". I am enticed to "Shop Amazon for low prices on a vast selection". And who can say no to a "Great Discount on Rocket Fuel" at Herballoveshop.com.
Well it turns out you can buy rocket fuel at both Nextag and Amazon. Model rocket fuel and CD's for the band Rocket Fuel. (I have to get out of the house more!) But I was puzzled as to why Herballoveshop.com would be bidding on "rocket fuel." The answer was right in front of me. A1Supplements.com is displaying an ad for JetFuel weight loss supplements. "What was the name of that weight loss capsule? Rocket fuel, jet fuel?" You get the idea.
Well, another dead end in my quest for ads so irrelevant that they're a waste of a searcher's time and an advertiser's money. Then the truth hit me like a runaway Virgin Megastore supply truck. All searches are related and share at least a minuscule shred of relevancy. Hmmm... I wonder if Muzak has ever used Rocket Fuel in their music programming?
Dear Online Diary,
Posted by angie on March 23, 2006 at 03:18 PM
A diary can be a young girl's best friend, a place to list her utmost secret thoughts and desires. She can store all of her personal information there and know it will be safe from others. The thought of a diary being the place to store personal information as an adult seems unsafe and, frankly, can't possibly hold all we have to protect.
While using our computers daily for personal and business tasks, it just makes sense to store personal information there. The only problem is when we are away from our trusty PC (the non-laptop version) and don't have access to this information, we are totally out of the loop. If only there was a place that could be accessed from anywhere at anytime, where we can store files and information. Well the wait is over.
According to Reuters, Google has mistakenly released information on a new service that would store your data online. No release date has been set yet; Google is apparently still working out all the kinks with broadband barriers, trying to cope with the massive amounts of data the service will house. According to Google's notes, the online data storage would allow you to "house all user files, including: emails, web history, pictures, bookmarks, etc and make it accessible from anywhere (any device, any platform, etc)".
Amazon has already released their version of the online diary to the public - Amazon S3. The service is offered for a mere $0.15 per GB per Month of storage used. An unlimited amount can be stored on their system and you only pay for what is used. One of the features that seems to be especially useful is being able to allow multiple user access to stored information. Amazon also uses S3 internally and voices its reliability as well as its speed and simplicity to use.
Could these programs be the answer to all our worries or just another place that could be hacked into, with our privacy revealed to the entire world? Adding simplicity to our daily lives would be much welcomed but what are we willing to risk for it? While visiting an online diary service's website, I noticed a definite lack of guaranteed privacy. In fact, the site's privacy policy went as far as announcing that if something bad were to happen they might not have everything stored. I hope Google is taking its time to put into place the necessary precautions - for the sake of keeping my secrets secure.
Landing Pages, Sales & A Life-sized Green Moose
Posted by on March 22, 2006 at 01:41 PM
In sales, everyone knows it's a lot easier to call a potential client from a pre-qualified lead, rather than making a cold call. With landing pages, the only people viewing your page are pre-qualified leads. That mom who searched for a "life sized stuffed green moose" for her son's birthday ended up on your stuffed animal landing page. The toy company that paid for the landing page is crossing its fingers, hoping that this mom will click the "buy now" button to graciously add a life-sized moose to the shopping cart. It's not green, but it will do. She clicks buy now, and… oh wait, the landing page doesn't go to the shopping cart, it goes to the homepage. Oops.
This actually happened to me. Not the buying of a large stuffed moose, but ending up on a homepage after clicking through a landing page. Being in the landing page design bizzz myself, I've been much more observant of landing page usability issues out there… and to be honest I've been disappointed — a lot. I've endured landing pages that have all of their site's normal navigation, others that link to the homepage instead of directing me to what I want, and still others that inundate me with multiple products. These left me confused, and more importantly, kind of sad. There are a lot of people out there who are spending a lot of time and money to create landing pages, and some simple changes could make them more effective.
People! Have we forgotten about what we are here to do? We cannot expect people to stay focused and click the "Buy Now" button when the design distracts them with navigation links. Even worse, why lead them astray with actual pictures of other products and eventually off the landing page.
Keep it simple. The purpose of the landing page is to keep the person on a direct path, a direct path to the shopping cart, or whatever gauges your conversion. You don't need to show all of your products on a landing page, just the one they want to buy. You can show them that later. And save the navigation bar for your actual website. These are some quick changes that will help you sell more life-sized moose — green or otherwise.
Podcasting - Is Anybody Really Listening?
Posted by on March 21, 2006 at 01:35 PM
Is it me, or is everyone podcasting these days? On nearly every website I visit there is a block of text or graphic taunting me to download the company's most recent podcast. Last year's Pew Internet study showed 11% of American adults (22 mil.) own an iPod or other MP3 player, of which 29% downloaded podcasts. With the sudden influx of iPod sales in 2005 it comes as no surprise that a recent study by eMarketer shows the total podcast audience to be 10 million strong and growing, with a prediction of 50 million by 2010! According to the study, 3 million people are actively downloading 1+ podcasts a week, anticipating to hit the 15 million mark by 2010.
What do all these numbers mean? It's apparent that podcasts are moving beyond the introduction phase and well into the mainstream. With the increase of broadband connections, comes an increase in video and audio downloads. Many companies are realizing this and introducing podcasts into their marketing mix. What an excellent idea I say, and if you are part of a company currently using, or looking at using podcasts as a way to extend your brand to Joe public, I applaud you! Especially since it seems there are half a dozen search engines specific to podcasts. However, much like your website, podcasting is a direct extension of your company's image. Therefore, before users hear your image, many will need to explore your website. Once again, website optimization can prove to be your friend, in a slightly different format.
Even though some of the podcast specific search engines recognize bits of audio, it's still a good idea to optimize your podcast and the page it resides on. Include a brief description of the podcast, letting the user know what they are about to download. Include this description at the beginning of your podcast (in audio form) to help with those "audio enabled" engines. One last note: if your podcast is created through iTunes, it may not be accessible to all users because the AAC format is specific to iPods. To make matters more difficult, iTunes does not redistribute podcasts. Separate media feeds must be generated in order to thoroughly catch the attention of the masses. Now here I thought podcasting was suppose to be easy for anyone to do. Apparently it is, however, if you want to be seen and heard it involves a bit more work.
As podcasting evolves into a mecca of information, I think optimizing your podcast and the pages attributed to it will be imperative to your efforts. So if you want this growing audience to become familiar with your company's products and services, do yourself a favor, stay in tune with the podcasting nation and remember to optimize wisely.
The Madness of March
Posted by on March 20, 2006 at 03:05 PM
It's the playoffs. March Madness. Diehard fans and people who never watch a game of basketball all year join together to fill out their brackets. It's a tradition for many. Some do it the old fashioned way, get the local paper, copy the bracket, pass it out to their friends and sit down in front of the TV for a few weekends to enjoy the best college basketball of the season.
Yet for many, the face of March Madness is changing. Even the typical office pool has gone high tech, via the internet. Websites have been set up specifically for March Madness. Log in, enter your password, fill in your bracket, submit your entry and go live when the ball is tipped. Then you can sit back and review your competitors' bracket and talk some smack on the blog. Awesome, baby!
Watching the game is changing too. Sure we all enjoy sitting down with the gang around the tube with some wings and nachos. Yet, that may not always be possible. Now you can subscribe to receive instant updates that take only a second to get real time scores on your computer or phone.
The internet can help you set up your bracket, too. Want to know your team's latest stats, or the odds of them advancing? Research to your heart's content. Speaking of heart, the internet still hasn't figured that one out. Good thing, that's what makes it fun. I've certainly heard more than one alumni say, "I have to pick my alma mater for at least one round. Otherwise, I'm a traitor." Hey, it could work. Some people win by picking their favorite color uniforms or favorite mascots.
March Madness is still another example of how user generated activities can be passed over to the internet, continue to thrive and maintain that feeling of fun, tradition and heart. Game on.
5 Lessons in Expertise - A Blogger's Evolution
Posted by admin on March 17, 2006 at 11:18 AM
I always wanted to be an expert in something. After six years of college and two degrees, I thought I was a political expert. My dad made quick work of that delusion. I knew nothing. Apparently he was right, because to this day I can't win a barroom debate with the average high school dropout who caught Rush Limbaugh that morning. Facts are such poor ammunition when confronting "The Truth".
Lesson 1: Expertise is not conferred academically.
My next brush with expert status came as a government employee. Hired directly out of grad school I joined a scandal-ridden office that soon after I arrived was forty minutes of a 60 Minutes program. Almost immediately, amidst the scandal and incompetence of my government job, I was being touted to the public as "an expert". I knew so little, but with title in hand I was sent to the field to tell experienced managers, business owners and career bureaucrats that I knew more than they did about something. Unfortunately, that "something" was illogical, ill-conceived government programs and regulations that I barely understood myself. I was the clerk at Best Buy who, after his two days of new employee training, was your computer "expert".
Lesson 2: Expertise does not come with the title.
I changed careers, took a substantial pay cut and entered a field where I had no academic training whatsoever. I was a natural... I hoped. Two years after I entered the field, I took a terrifying leap and started my own company. With two years experience and some industry-endorsed awards, I represented myself as an expert - a savant of sorts, whose work met immediate acclaim. The fact was, though I possessed a certain talent for the work, I knew very little more than the people I was advising. Frightened that I was in over my head I consulted my "expert", the revered CEO of a much larger competitor who had already been installed in our industry's "Hall of Fame". Over drinks he revealed the frightening truth, "we're all just one step ahead of our clients; it's the inevitable nature of our business."
Lesson 3: Expertise is a very relative term.
Still, I worshipped at the expert shrine. After years of writing a humor column in a magazine I bristled one day as some lame "morning zoo" radio team unofficially laid claim to being the local kings of comedy. I called them out on it in my column which prompted some on-air name calling dutifully reported back to me by my children ("Dad, my friends said KLQ called you a scumbag on the radio today"). Once again, it was a question of my "expertise". So, sitting down with my editors I devised a test - 10 minutes of stand-up comedy in front of a neutral audience. The zoo was a no-show that first year, but some of their equally unfunny peers tried and died; I beat them all. A month later my delusions were mercilessly quashed as I bombed horrendously while performing at a real comedy show.
Lesson 4: There is a difference between experts and expert observers.
Recently, I entered the blogosphere, where a new "expert" is born every 30 seconds. Of the few blogs I have visited, some have proven quite informational, others minimally so. Many are entertaining; I enjoy good writing. And others have become the "pundits" of our generation. I greatly distrust pundits. It's more than their dubious "expertise", it's their total lack of accountability. A recent piece of research tracked the predictions made in 2005 by the most oft-quoted political pundits. Our nationally-worshipped political gurus were less accurate than the National Weather Service on a rainy Memorial Day weekend. But none has been fired, reprimanded, sent to pundit school or any relevant institution for that matter (not that schooling counts, see Lesson 1) - for their inability to predict anything more difficult than the days of the week.
Lesson 5: The evolving expert: "I speak, therefore I am".
The wonderful enabling quality of the Internet is its ability to distribute information about any subject to anyone who asks. The wonderful thing about blogs is how they democratize the process. As recent Congressional hearings have illustrated, search engines can control the online flow and quality of information in countries such as China where knowledge is considered a controlled substance. Blogging has enabled millions to skirt the censorship process, if only sporadically. Through blogs the downtrodden and others can vent, exchange rumors, sources, sites and sometimes accurate information in over 100 different languages.
For those of us seeking analysis of facts and events from time to time, blogs provide us a broader perspective. But is it an expert analysis? What is an expert other than someone smart who agrees with us? Well, you can ask me. I think after all these years I have finally achieved expert status. I have become an expert in observing those who claim to be experts. If my dad could see me now.
Defining Paid Search Networks
Posted by admin on March 16, 2006 at 10:59 AM
Reading any of the major search engines' explanations of their paid search networks and where they will display ads is at minimum misleading. The leeway given is vast and the statements made are vague. I feel for any new advertiser getting started with pay-per-click advertising without the help of an agency or at least an analytics tool. The potential to increase site traffic and boost conversions is definitely there, but when the most basic segment of the paid search advertising system is not clearly defined by the search engines, it's a bit frightening.
The question is simple, "Where will the ads be shown?" On the two major PPC engines, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Google AdWords, advertisers can choose to have their ads shown on search or content networks. Each network has its value and can be very effective, but it would be nice to see the engines give their advertisers more control over where their ads are shown.
Simply working to better define the search network would be a great help to many advertisers.
The search network on Google AdWords gives advertisers the option of having their ads shown solely on Google or they can expand the coverage to include the network. The Google network is defined as being "made up of sites and products who partner with Google to publish targeted AdWords ads via their site or product." This means advertisers can opt in to the entire Google network, therefore increasing the reach of their ads, but will have limited control of where ads will be shown and knowledge of whether or not those sites and products are truly relevant? Sure, Google will throw you a bone and share an abbreviated list of partners, but as Google points out, "[they] are constantly expanding the number of sites and products in [their] network."
Yahoo! Search Marketing doesn't even go as far as to give advertisers the option. When ads are run on their network the advertiser has no choice whether or not to be shown on partner sites. Yahoo does post a list of its search properties where ads will potentially be shown, including MSN and InfoSpace, however, the list is also abbreviated.
What's with the secrecy? If someone wants to run paid search ads shouldn't they have the right to know where their ads will be shown? I can't think of any other form of media where this occurs. As an example - your company wants to run an ad in the local newspaper, so you pay a predetermined amount and voila, your ad appears in the location of your choosing. In comparison, PPC ads can appear on a host of different sites, but with limited control given to the advertiser.
Most advertisers would be more than happy to have their ads widely distributed if they were seeing good results. Therefore, it would be helpful if the engines could pass along more data and give advertisers more options.
Currently, Google Sitemaps provides stats on top search queries that direct traffic to the site from a natural listing. This type of information would also be helpful to paid search advertisers. Giving advertisers the option to eliminate specific partners or referrers from ad distribution would also be beneficial. In the end the more targeted the traffic, the more advertisers make, the more advertisers spend. It's a win, win.
Calling All Conversions
Posted by steve on March 15, 2006 at 04:11 PM
Well it's that time again - time to renew my cell phone contract. Should I keep the same provider? They don't necessarily have the best coverage. Then again, that can work to my advantage when I don't really feel like talking: "Oh no, I'm losing you." What about minutes? I could probably use more of them. Oh, and how about one of those cool camera phones? Imagine the fun I could have.
I figured the best way to find what I was looking for was not to waste a whole afternoon going from store to store, but instead research online from the comfort of my own home. So I did. "Cell phone" was the search term. 309 million websites were the results - that should be enough. I followed a link to a site where I found a great deal on a phone. The problem was, I didn't want to buy it online and there was no site feature to help me find a local store. Back. Back. Back. I follow the next link. Another great deal, and right in front of me, clear as day, there is a link: "Store Locator." Oh splendid, there's one right down the street!
Now I realize that I could've easily looked up the first provider I came across in the phone book, but that's not the point of this story. The point is that I shouldn't have to. The internet is saturated with billions of websites. For virtually any product or service, users are provided with thousands, sometimes millions of options. But not all of these users want to buy online. In fact, studies have shown that a majority of shoppers will perform the necessary research online, but will complete their purchase offline. My plan, precisely. And while the first website I came across did an excellent job of positioning for such a competitive term, it failed to direct users to an offline point of conversion.
There is a significant upside to being positioned well for targeted terms relating to your business, but just as important is giving potential customers what they want when they find you. Usability is a crucial aspect to the design of any website, and it is an aspect that is all too often overlooked.
You may think this posting was sparked from sheer laziness, but I disagree. I believe it was my high expectations. I didn't feel I should have to use the phone book to find the local cell phone provider I was looking for, and guess what, I didn't have to. Establishing an online presence can generate an enormous amount of increased traffic for your website, and when that website is effectively designed from a user's perspective, it can also generate enormous conversion rates, both online and offline.
Training with the Perfect Integrated Marketing Machine
Posted by on March 14, 2006 at 12:47 PM
"Da Da Da. Da Da Da." Not to be confused with The Police song "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" from 1980's Zenyatta Mondatta album. But rather the most recognizable intro to the most popular sports program to ever hit the airwaves - ESPN's Sports Center. Now, try it again. "Da Da Da. Da Da Da." This pretty little ditty is perhaps the cornerstone to ESPN's evolution into the perfect integrated marketing machine.
Let's take a quick look at the various ESPN business units: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN Classic, ESPNU, ESPN News, ESPN Deportes, ESPN the Magazine, ESPN.go.com, ESPN Wireless, ESPN Zone, ESPN Radio, ESPY Awards, ESPN Video Games, etc. And this is a partial list!
Google sports and of the close to 2 billion results, ESPN sits in the number 1 organic position. Watch any ESPN TV station, and you see commercials for other ESPN stations. Head to Borders and leaf through ESPN the Magazine. While watching this year's Super Bowl you may have witnessed an ad for the recently launched ESPN Wireless. Visiting New York or Chicago? Eat and drink at the ESPN Zone. Shopping at Best Buy for the new PS2? ESPN video games are popular favorites. For new Sirius subscribers, it's not just about Howard; ESPN Radio is on the satellite radio scene.
Is ESPN the perfect integrated marketing machine? To me the answer is a simple yes. Or as my favorite Sports Center anchor Stuart Scott would say, "Booya!" I'm sure there is an argument for many other brands, but it is March Madness and I fall smack dab in the middle of ESPN's target market.
ESPN is the blueprint for any company striving for a consistent marketing and branding message, online and offline. Sure, ESPN is a powerhouse with deep pockets, but that doesn't mean that Entrepreneur Joe Somebody, with a vision of running his own brick-and-mortar specialized sporting goods store, shouldn't emulate ESPN's model. After all, back in 1979, ESPN was a start up with a small audience and its share of naysayers.
Comparing niche networks, what does the "M" in MTV stand for anyway? At one time it stood for "Music." But that surely isn't the case anymore. ESPN has always been about sports entertainment and its customers. It has not lost focus. As a result, new ESPN products are a must have for its audience. This has not happened by accident or by luck, but by staying consistent throughout the years and refusing to waver from its core business of everything sports.
For promising start-ups (or as Dicky V. would say, "a true blue chipper, a diaper dandy Baby!") and large, established enterprises, there is much to learn from the perfect integrated marketing machine about creating a focused plan that is "as cool as the other side of the pillow." Thanks again Stuart.
King Loser: My Life on Dial Up
Posted by Christopher on March 13, 2006 at 09:24 AM
I'm no big fan of NASCAR, but I'm a big fan of metaphors, and I think this one holds water (See? There's one right there!): You drive a race car. This is your job. You're good. You win. A lot. The number of your car is plastered in the rear window of jacked-up pickups nationwide. People purchase soda based solely upon your endorsement of said soda. You win again. You accept a giant trophy from a knockout blonde in a bikini. Expensive champagne is sprayed indiscriminately. Whoooo! Is what you say. Repeatedly. Then, giddy with the thrill of victory, you walk to your everyday vehicle. And it's a fricking Yugo.
This is my life. Sorta. I've taken liberties. But anyway, I work at optimizing websites. My day is spent helping clients with not only search engine optimization, but also site usability and marketing. All day, I'm on a T-1 line. Then I go home, and there it is - a tan phone cord linking my computer to a phone jack in the wall. If I have my speakers on when I get online, I get a dial tone, phone number beeps, then that squelchy computer squeal. Like in The Matrix, but not cool.
This is, admittedly, a source of no little embarrassment. I'm laughed at. I'm a little sensitive about it. Sometimes I cry.
The dial-up does, however, give me an increasingly unique perspective into usability. When I'm looking at a site, and it's taking a while to load, or even timing out, on our T-1 line, I know from cruel experience that there's no way anyone's ever getting there on dial-up. And despite my urge to throw my computer out into the road, I don't think I suffer from a pathological lack of patience. I'm pretty normal, but I am not going to sit there for a year while your site loads. Count me out. My sanity depends upon it. Sure, flash is pretty, but it's keeping me, a potential source of revenue, from your products and services. And I'm not alone, friends. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project's Report on Rural Broadband Internet Use (PDF), only 24% of rural Americans have high-speed Internet at home. 29% of us (most, I'd imagine, reluctantly) suffer through the dial-up. Even scarier, 21% of urban Internet users are on dial-up. That's a lot of folks. That's a whole mess of potential customers who maybe are trying to access your site, then giving up, going to one that's maybe a little less "flashy" but that will actually load.
For this reason, this special insight, I appreciate my dial-up connection. I can apply my home situation to my job, give clients a little edge into all aspects of the marketplace. A little flash goes a long way, is what I say. And I say "thank you, dial-up!"
No, never mind. It still sucks.
What is *Real* SEO?
Posted by on March 10, 2006 at 01:00 PM
About four years ago, I took a job with the marketing department of a certain unnamed online company. On my first day, I sat down next to my new manager's desk, eager to see how we were going to improve content of our clients' web sites. Unfortunately, instead of bothering to inspect any sites at all, we headed straight for a dismal piece of software that monitored... search engine submissions.
"This is how it goes," he intoned as he waved his mouse around, pointing to a screen that displayed a dizzying array of random search engine names. How would we ever get our clients included in them all? I watched as we checked different sites, pouncing on the "submit" button if we saw missing gaps in inclusion. I didn't actually recognize any of these "important" search engines we were bulk submitting to. Now, four years later, I still can't remember what their names were. That's because the search engines themselves didn't especially matter, and it also didn't really matter if our clients' sites were in them or not. That software was out-of-date and I knew it then.
I only lasted two weeks at that job, although I think it was the cold calling to grumpy automobile dealerships that eventually did me in (please don't ask). Now, here I am, four years later, beginning a brand new job with Oneupweb. Don't worry, it's going a lot better than the other job. Before I started, I wondered to myself - what would it be like to finally work for a company that does *real* search engine optimization? How would the tactics be different and, hopefully, better? Would I (god forbid) soon be grimacing at my own self-taught work done on previous sites?
The answer? Both yes and no. In many ways, I've been introduced to a fascinating new world of Internet marketing. Oneupweb abounds with ingenious methodology, insight, and innovation. More than once during my training I've been overwhelmed by the malaise of "the more I learn, the more I learn I still have to learn". But I've also learned that I'm also not such an SEO-dummy as I feared. Largely because I didn't know any complicated premises, my work has always centered around a simple one: strong copy and relevant keywords. I thought that maybe someday, if I ever got lucky enough to get a job with a *real* SEO company, I'd learn the true tricks of the trade, but in the meantime, I'd keep plugging away.
Although I can't divulge every one of Oneupweb's delicious strategies, my new co-workers have definitely caused me to think about what *real* SEO is. I could start by telling you that it's a combination of those bread-and-butter favorites - keywords and copy - combined with a gazillion methods of subtler reinforcement. But more importantly, real SEO is about dedication, a proactive attention to detail, and ultimately taking a holistic approach to the overall design of an entire site. It's both simple and amazingly complex at the same time. I'm just glad to finally be at a place that's truly dedicated to uncovering the real way, and the right way, to optimize a website.
One Small Step for PayPal, One Giant Leap for Mobile Commerce
Posted by chip on March 09, 2006 at 04:32 PM
In the ever-evolving world of mobile commerce, a logical area of future opportunity is payments made through mobile devices. It is only natural that as mobile search grows, so should the ability to process mobile payments.
Don't think that PayPal is not aware of this. As one of the most popular online payment options already, the step into mobile commerce is not a big one for PayPal. In fact considering that they were originally a company that developed software designed to transfer money between cell phones and handheld devices, this step appears to be even smaller than one might have thought. There are even those out there, like Dan Schatt of Celent (as reported in Business 2.0), who feel PayPal could launch its mobile payment application by June of this year.
Moving mobile commerce forward into the realm of texting is not reliant on PayPal though, even if they aren't able to develop and release this service in the near future, companies like TextPayMe are positioned to fill this space in a hurry. In fact their 25 year old CEO, Phil Yuen, has said "PayPal has done a great job online…we feel there's more to be done in the real world, where the Internet is not involved".
This raises the question as to what the possible real world applications of this technology really are. Beyond simply purchasing ring tones and other mobile device oriented items; this technology could be used to buy that tasseled floor lamp from the neighbor's garage sale, or grab a delicious corndog from the friendly carnies at the local festival. Even though the cell phone to cell phone applications are plentiful, maybe we should be thinking even bigger than that. Combine text message payments with GPS enabled point and shop cell phone advertising and it becomes clear that we are at the dawn of a brave new world of mobile commerce.
The Pitch... Just a bit Outside
Posted by tim on March 08, 2006 at 05:09 PM
The Cactus and Grapefruit leagues are up and swinging now and that's got my head dancing with thoughts of spring; always one of my favorite times of the year, especially living in the North as we do. We start to think of the snow melting, the trees blossoming, the grass coming back.
As much as I think of new beginnings though, I can't help but get a little nostalgic around now too. Thinking of the anticipation and excitement Spring brought with it as a kid. Heck, even seeing baseball teams dust off their cleats and knock off the rust in spring training can get the old memory banks churning as I remember favorite teams from seasons long ago.
I guess that all makes the timing feel almost poetic for a recent sales pitch one of our clients got the other day. They were cold called after an ambitious firm saw them running a PPC campaign. This other firm thought they might have just the answer for our client and could help them rank in the natural results (even though they already rank for terms that are bringing the excellent, qualified traffic).
The answer (drum roll please) is doorway pages!!! Ahhh for the days of yore. Of course they weren't called doorway pages, and there was a grand explanation for how effective they would be, but hey, at some point you have to call a spade a spade. It's nice to know that even as Search Marketing evolves at a breakneck pace, some people never forget the classics, no matter how out of date or ineffective they are.