May
22nd

Use Tools, Feel Human – Is Ask's TV Campaign Working?

Posted by admin on May 22, 2006 at 9:23 am

I have to admit, I find Ask.com’s “Use Tools. Feel Human” television commercials rather entertaining and humorous. But I find myself wondering if the ads are more than just comical. Are they actually working?

My girlfriend is not the most savvy search engine user. If Yahoo! is the homepage, that is where she searches from. And yes, if she wants to visit the Gap’s website, chances are she’ll type www.gap.com into Yahoo!’s search box, versus plugging it into the address bar or simply searching for the gap. I’ve seen her do the same thing on MSN. I’m not even sure if she has ever used Google to start a search. Why would she? There’s no content. Google won’t tell her that Elliot Yamin was voted off American Idol, or that Eva Longoria topped Maxim’s “Hot 100″ List. Okay, so I happen to check out Yahoo! every now and then as well. But this isn’t about me or my fascination with Eva Longoria. This is about search.

So you can imagine how surprised I was to find her on Ask.com searching for… well, God only knows what, but I’m sure it involved some kind of purchase that I don’t understand and, more importantly, have learned not to question.

But I was curious; “Why are you using Ask?” The answer: she had seen the TV commercials and thought she’d check it out. Simple enough. And a simple reminder that consumers are not all that loyal, and can be easily tempted to switch brands.

Jess may not be the most savvy search engine user, but she is a very experienced shopper. And she is a shopper who goes online only when she’s ready to buy. There is no extensive research. Maybe a handful of sites are visited before the credit card comes out. Her online demographic provides proof that any search engine can be an important revenue channel, and that online retailers should try to avoid getting caught in the Google silo.

In terms of numbers, I don’t know how effective Ask’s television commercials have been overall. But if the goal of the campaign is to reach a consumer market that has no loyalty to the Big Three search engines, and could care less about Google’s next Beta tool, Microsoft’s adCenter launch, or Yahoo!’s shares hitting a new low on analyst day, then it’s working.

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May
19th

New Search Engine Marketing Magazine Just Misses Target

Posted by Duncan on May 19, 2006 at 9:41 am

May 2006 marked the arrival of the first issue of Search Marketing Standard. I pulled my copy from the snail mail box at my home in Traverse City last week. I was quick to start paging through the issue even while I walked up the steps and sidewalk back to my house. Dumping a stack of unwanted credit card offers and local coupon booklets on my kitchen table, I took the magazine to my reading chair to see what it had to offer.

As I began to dig in I found that Search Marketing Standard is a new magazine devoted to the search marketing industry. It comes out of Brooklyn, New York, and the publisher is Boris Mordkich. Current plans are to issue the magazine on a quarterly basis. The mag was a fairly quick read being only 32 pages in length. Many full and half page ads filled the 32 pages leaving less than half of the real estate for articles and product reviews.

Featured articles included information on the biggest myths in search marketing, pay-per-click tactics to consider, an interview with a well known search marketing veteran, and a bid management software tool review. Having been in the search marketing industry over five years myself, I didn’t find any new ground breaking information. The articles would however be of interest to marketers that are just learning about this complex industry. I shouldn’t be too hard on this first offering as it clearly has value to the beginner.

As I closed the back cover, I decided that I’d give this first issue a rating of 3 out of 4. Between the ads and other graphics there were pictures of no less than 6 bull’s-eyes featured in this issue. At work the next day I joked with a colleague who also noticed this right away. We both wondered why so many people feel the need to use the bull’s-eye metaphor when trying to sell search marketing services. Well if nothing else it gave me the urge to go throw some darts in the play room at the back of the house.

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May
18th

AdWords Delivery Method Raises New Questions

Posted by admin on May 18, 2006 at 9:39 am

While altering the daily budget for a paid search client the other day, I noticed a new setting that’s available in Google AdWords Campaign Settings. Not just any setting, but a new option that will likely impact the way most pay per click marketers manage campaigns.

Google recently made available an option on the campaign settings screen called Delivery Method.

Oh, it’s probably worth mentioning that what you’ll read by following the above link, is all you’re going to read from the good folks in Mountain View. Yup, that’s right. In true Google fashion, another new feature has been rolled out, unpublicized, and accompanied only by superficial, nebulous documentation to support its users. Extensive digging through Google’s own, terminally insipid Inside AdWords blog failed to turn up anything but a link back to that same Adwords help page.

In short, the Delivery Method feature toggles between two modes: Standard Delivery and Accelerated Delivery. Standard Delivery will spread your ad impressions evenly throughout the day. By contrast, Accelerated Delivery will display ads as often as possible during the day until the daily budget is exhausted. Of course, in either scenario, if the daily budget is too low, one runs the risk of not receiving all possible impressions.

Accelerated Delivery is pretty straight forward – Google will see to it your ads will be shown as often as possible, happily spending your money with abandon. Standard Delivery (the default), however, seems a bit more complex. The help documentation states that “With standard delivery, your ads would appear throughout the day, from 12:00 a.m. to 11:59 p.m.”

This poses a number of questions, to which Google does not offer answers:

How does this new methodology compare to the previous delivery system?

How does Standard Delivery mode affect existing day-parting schedules?

What good will my PPC ads for “Bob the Builder” characters do while being shown at 2 a.m. when every school-aged kid in the nation should be sleeping?

So, it’s evidently up to us, PPC marketing professionals, to press on in the coming months, to examine results, compare historical data, and ultimately determine how Google’s latest curveball affects us.

New challenges are good, right? Sure they are. What’s tough to swallow is the seemingly intentional lack of practical information that would actually aid in the day-to-day management of a PPC campaign.

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May
17th

LIVESTRONG Day

Posted by admin on May 17, 2006 at 1:23 pm

1/31/98
It was a Saturday and I remember everything about that day, right down to the clothes I was wearing. It is a day that every cancer survivor knows. It was one of the most pivotal moments of my life. B.C. (Before Cancer) my health was my last concern. I was an athlete, a long distance runner. I had run nine marathons, including Boston and New York only months before. I won a five mile race the previous weekend. Everything was about to change. My life was about to change. I was about to change.

A.D. (After Diagnosis) I became a different person. No one wants to be part of the Cancer Club. I was as reluctant as anybody. I was angry. Anger may have helped me at first, to get through the surgeries, to convince myself that I would survive because I was mad. Then something happened that was even more powerful, I stopped being the angry victim and I took charge. As every cancer survivor knows, family, friends and a great medical team are indispensable. Yet, there were three other things that really helped me: attitude, Lance Armstrong and the internet.

I made the decision to stop thinking about how unfair it was that I had cancer. Instead, I thought about how lucky I was that it had been found. I had been given a gift. I now have more time to enjoy this life, not less.

Lance Armstrong helped me to become a “warrior survivor.” While I will never win the Tour de France, I refuse to sit back and give in to cancer. I know that Lance does not like to be called a hero. I consider him to be an inspiration. I plan to run in the Detroit Free Press/Flagstar Bank Marathon this October, my first A.D. Marathon.

The internet is my other weapon. Because of the internet, I became my own best informed advocate, of my treatment plan. I had a million questions and the internet had a million answers. I connected with other cancer survivors. I also found alternatives to traditional medicine. Knowledge is power and if there was ever a time that I needed to feel empowered, it was being diagnosed with cancer.

The internet has also provided a venue for mobilization of people and resources and for promotion of events like LIVESTRONG Day. The internet is a strong motivating factor and makes a huge difference in the number of people that can be reached and encouraged to participate in the race to find a cure.

5/17/06
It is a Wednesday, and I’m wearing my yellow band and LIVESTRONG T-shirt. Today is LIVESTRONG Day. According to the Lance Armstrong Foundation website, “On Wednesday, May 17, you can help Lance and the LAF be a voice for change. Thousands of people will take part in LIVESTRONG Day events across the country to raise awareness of and bring attention to an issue that impacts all Americans – cancer.”

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May
16th

Google Goes Hungry when IE Serves Up MSN Part 2

Posted by Steve on May 16, 2006 at 11:28 am

Even though Google has a problem with Internet Explorer 7 serving up MSN Search as the default engine, the Department of Justice doesn’t. The DOJ has concluded that Microsoft’s inclusion of the MSN Search toolbar in IE 7 does not raise any antitrust issues and has approved implementation of it. What does this mean for search? Will Google’s hold on the search engine market become threatened? It’s certainly possible.

Firefox, Safari and Opera all have built-in search boxes that default to Google, and currently a large number of Google searches come from people using these built-in toolbars. Now Microsoft is putting its own search toolbar in IE 7, and with 85% of Internet users surfing with the IE browser, this could spell trouble for Google.

Google is complaining that switching the default search engine in IE 7 isn’t easy enough. Well it’s not difficult. Users can simply click on a dropdown arrow next to the search box to choose Google or other search options from a list (which is easier than changing from Google to Microsoft in Mozilla Firefox). Does this really even matter, though?

For most people, Google equals search. And, yes, it will likely continue to be the dominant player in the search engine market for years to come. But I think convenience can affect people’s habits, and Microsoft just took a huge step in the right direction.

I guess only time will tell whether or not the MSN search box will have a large effect on how users search the internet, but one thing’s for sure, Microsoft has no where to go but up.

Read Part 1 of this post for Straight Up talk on how Google could solve this problem.

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