Don't Miss Out on this Offer!
Posted by tim on February 29, 2008 at 09:20 AM
How much would you pay for a podcast? A dime? NO! A nickel? NO WAY! How about nothing? That's right, FREE! Don't wait, listen now!
At least, that's how we might promote this podcast if we were trying to hook you in the wee hours of the morning with a fantabulous, amazing, spectacular infomercial, like Matthew Lesko.
Instead, we take a much more measured approach to talking about Andrew's post from last week: Call 1-800-GOOOGLE Today!!!!!
Sit back, relax, I promise no yelling.
Tags
StraightUpSearch
StraightUpSearch Podcast
Oneupweb
Google's Automatic Matching - Money Grab or Useful PPC Tool?
Posted by mike k on February 29, 2008 at 08:05 AM
Earlier this week Google sent out notice to a select group of AdWords advertisers that they had been selected to participate in an upcoming beta for a feature called Automatic Matching. This is how Google explains it:
Automatic Matching automatically extends your campaign's reach by using surplus budget to serve your ads on relevant search queries that are not already triggered by your keyword lists. By analyzing the structure and content of your website and AdWords campaigns, we deliver more impressions and clicks while maintaining your current CTRs and CPCs.
For example, If you sold Adidas shoes on your website, Automatic Matching would automatically crawl your landing page and target your campaigns to queries such as: "shoes" "adidas" "athletic", etc., and less obvious ones such as "slippers" that our system has determined will benefit you and likely lead to a conversion on your site.
This announcement comes in the same week that a ComScore report says Google's paid click growth was flat for the month of January compared to a year ago. Many analysts suggest this lack of growth is due to measures Google has taken internally to improve click quality and reduce accidental clicks.
If relevance is the name of the game then I don't think a new feature like Automatic Matching, which will spend an advertiser's surplus budget by making educated guesses about what a searcher may be looking for, keeps inline with improving click quality.
Most PPC marketers try to target their ads to very specific phrase/exact keywords so they can keep costs down and relevant traffic high. Automatic matching might work for businesses that have little or no time to effectively build out proper keyword lists and manage a paid campaign but I can't ever see it becoming a tool of the professional PPC marketer.
The question you have to ask yourself is would you rather have your "surplus budget" in the hands of Google or a real person that knows your business and the customers you are trying to reach?
Tags
Google
Automatic Matching
Oneupweb
The Google-ization of Yahoo! Continues
Posted by vern on February 28, 2008 at 07:54 AM
"Minimum bids no longer fixed at $.10 for Sponsored Search"
This week Yahoo! announced a change in its minimum bid policy for sponsored search keywords. In the past, the minimum bid and minimum click cost was fixed at $0.10. So regardless of relevancy, quality score and competition you could bid a dime and your ad would be served.
Here's the downside of the old policy: When bidding $0.08 on a keyword in Google you'd see a CPC of $0.05, for example. Under the old system, Yahoo! would force a minimum CPC of $0.10. That's double what is cost on Google. On the low end, Yahoo clicks were actually more expensive than on Google, contrary to what we see today on higher cost keywords.
So, the new Yahoo! policy should reduce costs to advertisers on the extremely low end as long as relevancy and quality score are high and competition is low. That's the good news.
The components of Yahoo's minimum bid determination include Quality and Value, both very subjective and cloudy concepts. Quality, a la Quality Score, is a fairly well known concept in both Google and Yahoo! How Quality Score is determined is a well guarded secret. Kinda like the Big Mac special sauce. Sure, it makes the sandwich taste better, but we can't get the recipe.
Yahoo! now adds what it calls "Value" to the mix when calculating minimum bids. The Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog states: "While figuring out the value of a keyword can be complicated, we may look at a number of things to determine what it's worth." Yikes, not much transparency there.
The danger of the bid pricing system lies in Yahoo! setting the new minimum bids artificially high. The new system hides too many elements behind the proverbial curtain. By taking a page out of the Google playbook, Yahoo! can now demand higher minimums and command higher bids in general. Just what their bottom line needs.
Tags
Yahoo
Sponsored Search
Oneupweb
More Moments in the Mobile Web
Posted by chip on February 27, 2008 at 10:35 AM
Thank you all for patiently awaiting the first mobile update of the year. If you follow the mobile space on any level, you undoubtedly know that there is always plenty happening. So without further ado, here's a few of the more significant events as I see them.
Developing Mobile Content Just Got Easier
dotMobi has released a comprehensive low-to-no cost database of mobile handset information to assist developers in creating 'device-aware' content called DeviceAtlas. Potentially eliminating the need to wade through hundreds of different specs for mobile devices in order to develop mobile sites that work with each, this should not only help accelerate the development of the mobile web but help establish the mobile web as a stand alone entity rather than the disabled internet browser that it is primarily seen as today.
Mobile Search Continues to Grow
According to a recent report by eMarketer the jump in mobile searches performed during the second half of 2007 has caused the research company to increase its mobile search revenue forecast from $83 million in 2007 to $3.8 billion in 2012. Further establishing the mobile web as an ever growing mainstay in ecommerce, eMarketer has forecast spending on mobile advertising to grow from $34 million in 2007 to over $1.4 billion in 2012.
Mobile Goes Green
For a variety of reasons, including the ever increasing demand for mobile phone base stations, the challenges of delivering fuel to new, remote locations, and the desire to run base stations efficiently and in a more environmentally conscious way, there has been a lot of progress made recently in the development of green mobile phone base stations. In fact according to E-Commerce Times, pretty much every player in this field is working on different ways to meet these challenges - including Ericsson stations that run on a mix of wind and solar energy.
Mobile Music Downloads
Learning a thing or two from Microsoft's Zune, several companies have added WiFi compatibility to their MP3 players allowing you to download new music on the go. Some of these include Apple's newest iPod, the iPod touch, Archos' 705 WiFi, Cowon Q5W and the Habier ibiza Rhapsody. You can research the pros and cons of each of these devices at Wired Magazine's website.
And if you want to take your wireless experience a step further, you may want to look into the new wireless ear buds from Sennheiser.
As you know there is plenty more going on in the mobile space that I could talk about so as always please feel free to add to the conversation by posting a comment.
Update: This was our most popular blog post for the week of February 25th. Listen to the author discuss this topic on the StraightUpSearch Podcast.
Tags
Mobile
Mobile Web
Oneupweb
Microsoft Announces Engagement Mapping
Posted by on February 26, 2008 at 08:03 AM
Watch out Sergey and Larry, Microsoft has a few more tricks up its sleeve.
Between juggling acquisitions and forceful company takeovers, Microsoft announced Monday, at the Interactive Advertising Bureau's annual meeting in Phoenix, its new initiative for measuring search marketing effectiveness. Microsoft plans to roll out the Beta version of "Engagement Mapping" on March 1st.
Engagement Mapping will try to map all internet interactions that influenced a consumer into purchasing a product online. The program will monitor the different online touch points and interactions a consumer encounters before completing a purchase. Search marketers will soon know if an ad being viewed multiple times on multiple sites influenced a consumer into their sale.
After acquiring aQuantive for $6 billion last year, current search marketer methods for measuring internet advertising effectiveness appear to be obsolete in Microsoft's eyes.
In a recent Reuters article, Brian McAndrews, the Senior Vice President of Advertiser and Publisher Solutions at Microsoft, stated, "The 'last ad clicked' is an outdated and flawed approach because it essentially ignores all prior interactions the
consumer has with a marketer's message."
Will search marketing as we know it soon be a thing of the past thanks to Engagement Mapping? We'll find out next month.
Tags
Microsoft
Engagement Mapping
Oneupweb
SEO Haiku
Posted by samantha on February 25, 2008 at 09:33 AM
Creativity. In the world of SEO, whether you're a Natural SEO Project Manager, a Paid Project Manager, or a Software Developer, creativity is a vital element. Without it, one runs the risk of being mediocre at best.
So, today, my creative friends and intelligent readers of StraightUpSearch, I present you with something a little different. It is my pleasure to present to you, some SEO Haiku.
I hope you have as much fun reading them as I did writing them. And maybe, just maybe, they'll spark some creativity in you, too.
relevant content
search engines spider with joy
positions ensue
social media
youtube, digg, facebook, myspace -
campaign so viral
use valid markup
web accessibility
css layout
oh, pr 8 page,
my linkbait summons your touch
link juice is nectar
google penalty
oh, supplemental results
hide your face from me
researching keywords
long-tail, short-tail, niche market
conversions appear
expertise and skill
oneupweb - seo firm
achieve roi
Again, I hope you had as much fun reading these as I had writing them. Feel free to comment with your own original SEO Haiku. After all, creativity is often best when shared.
Our Very Own Grammy Wrap Up
Posted by tim on February 22, 2008 at 09:11 AM
Because we still like music and the Oscars can wait a couple more days!
This week on the podcast we're talking with Teal and Scott about Teal's recent post, Who Won/Sang/Wore What? Grammy Fashion, Winners and Other Questions Answered Online.
The StraightUpSearch podcast is a weekly conversation about the most popular post of the week before, here on StraightUpSearch.com.
Your participation helps determine the show.
Thanks for listening and we'll be back again next week.
Tags
StraightUpSearch
StraightUpSearch Podcast
Oneupweb
The Complete SEO Package
Posted by steve on February 21, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Are you currently running a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign for your website?
If so, whether that campaign is run in-house or by an external vendor, you are likely familiar with some of the aspects that are a part of optimizing your site for the search engines. What you may not be familiar with, however, are all of the aspects necessary to achieve optimal search engine rankings.
And there are a lot of them.
Google's algorithm uses hundreds of different signals to determine the relevancy of your site pages. Some of the factors that determine page relevancy are certainly more important than others. To consistently drive a significant level of qualified traffic to your site, however, it is important that your SEO campaign is comprehensive enough to not only gain substantial visibility, but to maintain that visibility over the long run.
So what is the complete SEO package?
First off, let me tell you what it's not: It's not simply stuffing the title and meta tags of a site with repetitive keywords that you want to position for; it's not building inbound links by submitting a site to hundreds of low quality directories; it's not purchasing a domain name simply for ranking purposes; it's not exchanging links with anyone willing to do so; it's not stuffing the footer of a site with numerous links of varied anchor text pointing to the same page; it's not taking part in a link building campaign that results in hundreds of irrelevant links from affiliate sites.
A complete SEO package is not implementing ill-advised tactics that may result in a temporary spike in site positioning and traffic, only to have everything soon come tumbling down. These types of tactics are often utilized as they are generally much easier and less time consuming to implement than a sound SEO strategy that's going to result in long-term success.
Okay, well, what is it then?
When I say complete SEO package, I am referring to a campaign that integrates each of the elements necessary to both gain and sustain optimal search engine presence. Because there are so many factors considered when Google and the other engines apply site relevancy, it's going to take a lot of work to get to where you want to be. It's also going to involve a strategy that considers your specific goals and website, not a cookie-cutter approach used for every other client website.
Probably the most important thing to keep in mind regarding a complete SEO package is that it's an ongoing process. Online competition is fierce, and it's only getting stronger. For your site to outrank your competitors and consistently build on your current search engine presence, your approach must be evolving, and it must be relentless.
Oneupweb Launches new Paid Search Survival Guide
Posted by alex on February 21, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Being a Natural Project Manager, I don't typically dabble too much into the world of pay-per-click or paid search campaigns unless it's to consult with a fellow PPC manager on a shared client. When I do feel the need to broaden my knowledge of PPC, and get hip with the lingo, however, my first informational resource is the new
Paid Search Survival Guide from Oneupweb which launched Feb. 20th, 2008.
The guide was created to help online marketers become more familiar with the language and the real "need to know" information before starting a PPC campaign. It also offers marketers tips for their paid search program and includes common terms used by Google Adwords-branded PPC programs as well as the other leading programs. It even includes different tools marketers should understand when venturing into paid search territory.
The Paid Search Survival Guide provides the straight up facts regarding advertising outlets, your audience, the investment, and most importantly, the results. Marketers can also learn how a paid search program can help improve lead generation, obtain higher customer volume, improve conversion rates and bolster brand recognition. With so much information to learn before even beginning a paid search program, the Oneupweb Paid Search Survival Guide is a wealth of PPC knowledge.
The Paid Search Survival Guide can be your resource to jump start or gain knowledge about starting and maintaining a solid paid search campaign. Combine that with natural search engine optimization (SEO), (now what kind of natural project manager would I be if I didn't even mention natural optimization), and you are on your way into the world of landing pages and click through rates, and yes, thanks to the Guide, I know what I am talking about!
Download a free copy of the Paid Search Survival Guide at Oneupweb.com.
Tags
PPC
Paid Search Survival Guide
Oneupweb
Dear Jerry Yang...
Posted by on February 20, 2008 at 09:00 AM
On a daily basis we're inundated with predictions, theories and hypotheses as to the fate of Yahoo!. Everyone has a right to their opinion and they're happy to weigh in with slightly less certainty than we'd expect from a Magic Eight Ball. The only common theme among these forecasts seems to be that the acquisition by Microsoft is a forgone conclusion.
I'm not ready to abandon the Yahoo! ship just yet. There's a nostalgia there that you're simply not going to find any place else. I grew up with Yahoo!, as did many of my generation. It was my first real email address, the first portal I made into my homepage, the first thing I realized could be used to waste countless hours at work. Oh the memories we've shared...but I digress. The point is that it pains me to see the vultures circling above my long-time friend, squabbling over who gets the first chance to disembowel him.
So I've composed this letter to Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang to show my support in his battle for independence:
Dear Jerry Yang,
Long-time user first-time writer. I hear you're in a bit of a tight spot, but I want you to know, all is not lost. I've taken the liberty of devising a plan that should turn things around in no time flat:
- Open an AdWords account. It's quick, it's easy and it's free. Once you're in there take a good look around. It's pretty intuitive but if you have any trouble just let me know. Now that you've got the hang of it, make Yahoo Search Marketing look exactly the same. I know it's a hard pill to swallow, but it could be much worse... take MSN for example. Oh, and while you're there, download AdWords Editor; you'll need one of those too.
- Build a comprehensive social network interface. Think about it. Wouldn't it be great if you only had to go to one place to create profiles, check messages and just plain "network". You've already got seemingly dozens of social sites under your hat and with Facebook's open source apps I'd think someone on your staff could figure out a way to integrate them all. You'd own the social network scene.
- Slash and burn the services. This might sting a bit, but I think it's necessary. Let's really look at your core demographic. According to Hitwise it's 18-34 year olds without a lot of money. Now that we know that, let's purge what we don't need: Finance, Travel, Shopping and Real Estate would be a good start. When's the last time you went to Y! to search for BtoB, really? Sell what you can and scrap the rest. This will allow focus to be on what you do best.
Implement these three simple steps and you'll be well on your way to mooning the proverbial giant. There are a lot of us out here pulling for you Jerry so chin up and don't let us down.
Sincerely,
A loyal Yahoomaniac
Tags
Jerry Yang
Microsoft-Yahoo Deal
Oneupweb
CALL 1-800-GOOOGLE TODAY!!!!!!!
Posted by on February 19, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Google has rolled out, on a limited basis, video ads within AdWords search results. I have not seen any yet, and you probably haven't seen any yet but, like video and images within Universal Search results, I would imagine that, within a few months, they will have a sparing presence and, within a year, we probably won't remember what a SERP looked like without the occasional View Video button, or whatever Google might be calling it.
As always happens when a new feature is rolled out, there has been backlash. (Check out the initial comments - "This is the last straw!" - as reaction to the New York Times' first-mover story detailing the news.) It is easy to get upset or frustrated or annoyed or "Google is ruining my search results with more advertising" at news like this but, really, let us take the measured approach. (Semi-pun semi-intended.)
Pay-per-click ads have always been the province of direct-response advertisers. You have expressed an interest in something by entering a search query, and I sell that something, and poof, here it is!
Now, when you think of direct-response on television, what comes to mind? Matthew Lesko. George Foreman. Work From Home Websites. Chuck Norris, Christie Brinkley, and that home fitness center. That guy placing "tiny classified ads" in newspapers around the country and becoming a millionaire. "Did you hear, the eighties are making a comeback!" But should we be afraid of flashing 800-numbers and garishly-dressed hucksters? I doubt it.
Why has Google succeeded? Because a) their search results are the best and, b) their text ads have always been largely unintrusive. Relevance and quality results have always been the key, even within advertising. Google has never bombarded you with flashing banners, and they never will. Google is too smart for that.
So, like search ads, AdWords video ads will, over time, become a presence in your searching existence. One day, you will notice the View Video button. Maybe the next time, you will click it. Perhaps you will watch the entire video. And you will remember the brand or you will visit the site. Or you won't.
And the sun will still rise tomorrow.
Update: This was our most popular blog post for the week of February 18th. Listen to the author discuss this topic on the StraightUpSearch Podcast.
Tags
Video Ads
AdWords
Oneupweb
We say Tomayto, You Say Tomahto: When Keywords Don't Mesh with Client Messaging
Posted by on February 18, 2008 at 09:14 AM
As an SEO project manager, I recommend keywords to clients based on the following inherent principles:
- Popularity: How frequently do people search using this term?
- Competitiveness: How difficult could it be to position for this term?
- Relevance: How relevant is this keyword to the products or service the client offers?
- Conversion Potential: How likely is someone searching on this term to convert on the client's site?
The dream keyword is one that's frequently searched upon, yet relevant enough to achieve targeted, qualified traffic that's likely to convert. Who could argue with that?
You'd be surprised.
One of the first obstacles SEOs can run into is when keywords don't mesh with client messaging. What does it look like when websites take the common terms that 99.9% of searchers use and transform them into something more "branded"? Here are just a few examples:
- Software becomes a Solution
- Snow Removal becomes Snow Management
- Herbal Teas become Herbal Infusions
- Wool Sweaters become Handknit Creations
You get the idea. Unfortunately, what happens when you can't use the descriptive words on your website that searchers use?
You won't get found.
As a marketer, I understand that certain words can be at odds to the image your business is trying to convey. If you sell "discount children's clothes", then how can you also harness traffic for "cheap children's clothes" without using the word "cheap" on your site?
There isn't an easy answer. Sometimes, we have to discard high-traffic keywords with tons of conversion potential because they just won't fit with branding goals.
While I might be able to understand not using the word "cheap", I have also seen clients reject entirely reasonable keywords because of branding expectations that are dramatically out of touch with their target market.
This is unfortunate, because for all I know, a "handknit creation" could be a gigantic raspberry-colored thneed that's straight out of a Dr. Seuss novel.
Tags
Keywords
Branding
Oneupweb
StraightUpSearch Podcast Redux
Posted by tim on February 15, 2008 at 09:33 AM
We've been back at if for a couple of weeks now, and we're really starting to get our sea-legs back.
That's right, it's the long-lost, never forgotten, now returned, StraightUpSearch podcast.
We've got a new format, which for a lot of folks won't be new at all if you weren't listening back in '06. However, for everybody that was around then, we've finally gone and changed our format.
The new SUS podcast gives us a chance to take a more in depth look at the most popular post of the previous week here on StraightUpSearch. Now by popular, we mean the most traffic, but if all of you decide a post is worth commenting on, and we get some discussion going, it's possible we could have a flexible definition.
Our topic du jour for this show was Christopher's post from last week, originally published on the 7th:
Why I Shouldn't Write about Microsoft's Attempted Takeover of Yahoo!
So until next week, I bid you easy listening and adieu!
Tags
StraightUpSearch
StraightUpSearch Podcast
Oneupweb
YouTube - Broadcast Yourself And Broadcast People Treatin' You Bad
Posted by on February 14, 2008 at 04:26 PM
Has a new Bush risen up to move us towards being a kinder, gentler nation? By now, we've all heard about Eric Bush and his brush with the Baltimore police officer. Maybe the slogan should be, "YouTube - Broadcast Yourself... And Broadcast People Treatin' You Bad".
This post does not intend to ponder the over-the-top reaction of the officer (but come on, the guy needs some anger management classes!) nor is it my intention to comment on the inability of a teenager to speak up for himself beyond a muttered, "Dude." What I want us all to see is how the threat of becoming a public freak show is bound to dramatically improve our behavior as a nation!
Had the officer known his actions would be indelibly etched in the minds of his co-workers, old high school friends and potential new employers, I think he might have censored his own behavior, don't you? I know that I, for one, will now be on the lookout for a cell phone video camera aimed in my direction. Gone are the days of wild abandon, when I could bark at the drive-thru attendant who can't enunciate. And I think it is safe to say that, if I plan to dislodge someone from their wheelchair, I'll be certain to first check the room for cameras.
A new day has dawned for all of us and you can forget about telling "your side of the story" with any credibility. Online video now paints the picture that speaks 40,000 YouTube hits in a day. From now on I will conduct myself with the utmost decorum at all times. God forbid I should be enjoying a nice hamburger in my own home (sorry to hassle the Hof again) and my own child tapes it for the world to see.
Thanks, YouTube! You've done us all a service!
Tags
YouTube
Online Video
Oneupweb
Santa vs. Cupid: A Valentine's Day Social Media Showdown
Posted by amy on February 13, 2008 at 11:40 AM
Tomorrow is Valentine's Day and a frightening eventuality looms on the horizon. In a matter of hours, someone close to you may fall victim to a scantily clad, portly and homicidal flying infant wielding thorny blossoms and boxes of decay-inducing treats. A frightening prospect, I know, which is why I am happy to report that Social Media Marketing Hits & Misses: How 2007's Hot Holiday Brands & Products Performed Online, the eagerly anticipated follow-up to our September study, is available right now. Forget Cupid. Take some time to see how Santa ruled social media over the holidays.
And, for those who are beaming in anticipation of love poems, chocolates and dizzying adoration, Santa still beats the big baby for you, too! With 12 of the season's hottest products and an in-depth analysis of how they used social media over the holidays, amazing gift ideas and priceless expert analysis - the chunky sharp shooter, cards and candy can't compare.
Santa starts early, so back in September of 2007, Oneupweb looked at how social media played into the online marketing strategies of 12 of the season's hot holiday products in our study, Secrets of Social Marketing Success: How 2007 Hot Holiday Products Are Being Marketed Online. Now, get the answers to our questions, see how products like WebKinz, Starbucks and Coach fared with social media over the holidays, and learn the lessons of social media from these hot products in our Cupid-crushing post-holiday follow-up, Social Media Marketing Hits & Misses: How 2007's Hot Holiday Brands & Products Performed Online.
Here is a peek at how we broke things down:
The products and brands that were the "Best of the Best" with social media marketing strategies include:
- Nintendo Wii
- Coach
- Pronto.com
- PLEO
- Sephora
Those products and brands that had a "Nice Showing" include:
- WebKinz
- iPod Touch
- Starbucks
- Target
- Casio Exilim Camcorder
Those products and brands that "Missed Out" on social media marketing include:
- A Thousand Splendid Suns (novel)
- Taryn Rose
And, some of our predictions:
- We said: We anticipate some hits and misses with exclusive online social communities and private social networks centered around products. We expect more winners than losers, especially where these activities are designed around kids.
- We said: With the increase in interest and participation in consumer-generated media, and the two new YouTube ready cameras, we expect that consumers will be demanding even more video content as the holiday season progresses.
Forget the chocolates and haikus. Flower's die, but-as you will see - social media is true commitment. Download Social Media Marketing Hits & Misses: How 2007's Hot Holiday Brands & Products Performed Online to find out what makes the "Best of the Best." Discover whether our predictions were on the mark, see detailed product profiles and site traffic reports, and find important lessons and recommendations from Oneupweb experts.
Tags
Social Media
Social Marketing
Oneupweb
The Eyes Tell It All - Oneupweb's Eye Tracking Survival Guide
Posted by maureen on February 12, 2008 at 08:30 AM
You want to build or redesign a website. So you hire a website designer and spend countless hours talking about the correct wording, colors, links, navigation style and endless other elements. Finally, the day arrives when everything is complete, and you launch the site.
But is it accomplishing what you want? Are people seeing what you want them to when they first enter your site? Are they focusing on the items you feel are the most important? And are they clicking where you want them to click?
At Oneupweb, we recently began offering a service that can actually answer all of these questions and more - Eye Tracking. It allows us to observe the physiological movements of the human eye, analyze the psychological implications of those movements, and make adjustments to website design, usability and site features accordingly.
In other words, you can literally look at your website through the eyes of your typical visitor and see exactly what they see. And then you can use this information to refine and create the best website possible. And it doesn't just end with websites. Eye Tracking can be used with other forms of communication, including landing pages, ads, email, video, graphics and print ads.
I, for one, can't wait to see what it can do for Public Relations. I'm curious to know if I'm putting out the best release possible - one that garners the attention I want and inspires writers and editors to contact me and/or write a story. Do I have the important information where they are most likely to look? And what about images - Where is the best spot to place them in a release? Eye Tracking can tell me this, and more.
But how, exactly, does it work? Download our new Eye Tracking Survival Guide to find out. We created this guide as a starting place to explain Eye Tracking and define the terminology you'll need to know about.
Tags
Eye Tracking
Usability
Oneupweb
Who Won/Sang/Wore What? Grammy Fashion, Winners & Other Questions Answered Online
Posted by teal on February 11, 2008 at 01:58 PM
"grammy nominations", "grammy winners", "grammy performances" and "grammy fashion" are just a few of the search terms related to the popular Grammy Awards. If the rest of America is like me, bedtime arrives far before all of the awards have been handed out and all of the performances have been concluded. And I hate that. I want to see who won and who sang and of course, what they were wearing!
Waiting for the next installation of US Weekly or People isn't my style, so where else would I find pictures of the celebrities in their cutting edge fashion, videos of the performances, and lists of winners? Throughout the portion of the Grammys that I did watch, I noticed that smartly, CBS continued to advertise Grammy.com, the official Grammy Awards site devoted to providing information about the awards.
To test post-award-show coverage of performances, winners, fashion and more, I tested a few keywords (in Google) relating to some of the most important aspects of the Grammys. The topics in question include:
Test Results
Overall, Grammy.com does well in covering these important day-after questions. Positioning in Google's natural search results in the top 5 for all but grammy fashion (not specifically related to the show itself, anyway), users can find most of the show-specific information at the official site - easily. Unique title tags would be helpful in terms of usability and click-through rates.
Mahalo, the social search engine backed by Jason Calacanis, has already been updated to include many videos of the Grammy performances and positions above Grammy.com for performance related searches.
Interestingly, InStyle.com is one of the few sites listed in the PPC results for searches related to nominations and winners, but does not show up in the paid results for fashion related terms (they do position at #5 in the natural results for "2008 grammy fashion"). Even for the term "2008 grammy awards", InStyle.com is the only site appearing in the sponsored results.
Recommendations
Grammy.com, being the official site of the Grammy Awards, does an excellent job of offering information for users. There are winner lists, photo galleries, online polls, news articles, etc. all offering users an excellent wealth of information about the Grammys.
To increase coverage immediately post-show, bidding on some terms for PPC would help Grammy.com not only drive additional traffic to their site, but would also make the site more visible for these specific terms. Also, because of the social/pop-culture nature of the Grammy Awards, participating in social marketing channels would could help increase participation in online polls and contests, as well as increase the buzz around the online presence of the Grammy Awards.
For more information about how your company can capitalize on various online marketing channels, Oneupweb offers a variety of whitepapers looking specifically at how to enhance the search engine and social aspects of your internet marketing campaigns.
Update: This was our most popular blog post for the week of February 11th. Listen to the author discuss this topic on the StraightUpSearch Podcast.
Tags
Grammy
Grammy Awards
Oneupweb
Google: Vote No on Political Attack Ads!
Posted by leah on February 08, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Super Tuesday is three days behind us, and we only have 270 days until Election Day on November 4th.
So, the negative personal attack ads we hear on TV and the radio day-in and day-out have just become part of the norm. But when it comes to search engine marketing, Google AdWords put its SEM foot down and said: Vote No on Online Political Personal Attack Ads!
In a January 24th post on Google's Public Policy blog, Peter Greenberger stated:
Stating disagreement with or campaigning against a candidate for public office, a political party, or public administration is generally permissible. However, political ads must not include accusations or attacks relating to an individual's personal life, nor can they advocate against a protected group.
In other words, John McCain can get away with this:
But John Doe from Your Town, USA would not get away with this:
Vote John Doe
Joe Shmoe's Affair Leads to Your Town, USA Turmoil. Vote John Doe Today!
JohnDoe.com
But could this be a violation of freedom of speech or expression?
A valid comment was made on Greenberger's blog post concerning the tax dollar usage of a former republican presidential candidate. Allegedly, the candidate used tax dollars to meet with his mistress. I think we can safely say tax payers don't want their elected officials to use tax money to hang out with their mistresses. But what if a competitor wanted to run an ad attacking this former presidential candidate?
He (allegedly) used tax dollars (public) to visit his mistress (personal). It leads to quite a gray area.
I must admit, being free from the "He Said, She Said" of political advertising is a breath of fresh air, but at what cost? Should Google Adwords set such restrictions when it can ultimately lead to serious gray areas? I'm on the fence with this one.
Attack ads, to me, don't tell me what I want to know, which are what issues and values the candidate holds dear. On the other hand, I would have a problem if my presidential hopeful was using tax money to rendezvous with his gal pal / her boy toy.
I think Google had the best intentions with this one, but ultimately gray areas will start popping up and attack ads just may find their way into Google's sponsored links.
Why I Shouldn't Write about Microsoft's Attempted Takeover of Yahoo!
Posted by Christopher on February 07, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Why shouldn't I? Because, everybody else is. StraightUpSearch's very own Drew even talked about a Microsoft and Yahoo alliance a few days ago. Even NPR is talking about it. It's on network news. My parents probably even know about it, which means it's dead. Not newsworthy. In Internet time, this story is Jurassic.
But who cares if this isn't news? It's definitely not a dead horse, not yet. And I'm excited, because Google could use some competition and because, well, I want to see what Google does once it gets some real competition.
Yes, Google's hypocritical for complaining, and for complaining the way they're complaining. For a company that's spent the last two years buying everything they could get their hands on, and who have been embroiled in their own, more credible, antitrust dilemma (should a search engine be allowed to own a search marketing firm? Um, really? Did I ask that right? Here, let me try again...) they sure haven't had much of a problem crying like a giant baby. Nearly every sentence of their official blog post could be appended with the semi-dependent clause "but it's OK if we do it." Microsoft, whines David Drummond, is attempting to create a leviathan, a rough beast slouching toward Bethlehem* (or the Googleplex). But I like that they're officially complaining. It means something, this complaining (assuming this isn't some labyrinthine plot to dominate mobile networks; some attempt to draw attention away from the real story; some chess move no one will understand until three years down the road).
This move, says Google, threatens the innovation that's made Yahoo such a great competitor. What!?!?! In search? Look at Yahoo's homepage. While the search bar is in the right place, (i.e., where people's eyes typically end up when a page loads), you'd be hard pressed to call it prominent. Yahoo.com features news, financial tips, shopping, personals, weather, radio, and, oh yeah, what was I doing here? Right, search. Compare that to Google.com, or even Live.com, which both just feature search boxes (never mind that one works much better than the other), effectively removing the paradox of choice thrown in a searcher's face by Yahoo's crazy grab bag. Who's here to do what?
Google's complaining, which is kind of funny. Microsoft's complaining back. Some people at Flickr are staging a protest; some are saying they'll leave if the acquisition goes through. Oh no! You're going t