Mar
9th

Oneupweb : Google Makes Your Site a Star!

Posted by Dave on March 9, 2010 at 10:55 am

Last week Google introduced their latest attempt to personalize the search experience, Google stars. This works by providing you with a star marker that shows up next to your search results. If you like a site, simply click the star, and the site will be starred for future related searches.

What does this mean for your online business? Showing up in search results is still key, but now, how you show up in those search results is even more important. By allowing users to star your site for future searches, Google stars is giving you the opportunity to turn users in the “research” phase into potential customers—and one-time buyers into long-term customers.

Here’s how it could work. Let’s say you have been tasked with finding and purchasing new shirts for your company’s softball team. The players on this team are known for being a bit persnickety, and the white t-shirt with the company logo will not do. So, you begin searching the web for a design that provides function and fashion.

You start by trying to settle on a style. Your search query is “softball t-shirts”. After searching through a number of basic, uninspired sites, you find a site that offers hundreds of different styles and colors. Perfect. Now you need to get a logo idea.

Your next search query is “softball logos”. After compiling a number of logo options, you send them out for the team to vote on. Three weeks later, when all the votes are in, you have your new shirt design.

Now, it’s time to order your shirts. Your final search query, “create custom softball shirts”, provides you with a daunting list of sites offering custom designs and graphics. Now, if you could only remember that site you came across three weeks ago. Oh, well. Looks like the white t-shirt will have to do.

How could Google stars change this? Well, when you performed your first search for “softball t-shirts”, if you had Google stars enabled, you could have “starred” that site you found. Then three weeks later, when you searched for “create custom softball shirts”, that site could have shown up above the regular search results with a star by it.

So, who will Google stars impact? It will impact sites that position well, provide a good user experience and have the ability to quickly impact users in a positive way. Does that sound like your site?

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Mar
8th

Oneupweb : Please Pay Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Posted by Christopher on March 8, 2010 at 11:28 am

I know: I’ve written about PageRank before. “Find a new topic, broken record,” is what you’re saying. I feel your pain, I really do, but you know what? If Google keeps talking about it, I’m going to have to keep talking about it. It’s my lot. It gets my blood all angried up, so it’s what I gotta do.

That said (perhaps unnecessarily), Google’s talking about PageRank again. How it doesn’t matter that much to them. How they were even thinking of renaming it, but probably won’t. And there, right there, is where my line of questioning begins—if it doesn’t matter, why are you thinking about renaming it? As reported by WebProNews, Google’s Director of Research, Peter Norvig, recently said at SMX that PageRank is “overhyped.” Well, yeah, maybe. But whose fault is that? Matt Cutts is going to speak on the topic as well. And it won’t be the last time.

I find the entire Google response disingenuous. It’s dangerous to go on the record saying anything definitive about how search works, but I’ll stake whatever reputation I have on this one: Incoming links, especially quality incoming links, play a huge factor in ranking. Everybody freaking knows that. If links didn’t matter, why would Google pay so much attention to where they come from, even to the point of requesting help in reporting sites that sell links? What does PageRank measure? Duh! So don’t come out here all passive-agressively “aw shucks-y” and “y’all are gettin’ yore purty li’l selves all riled up over nothin’,” treating us all as though, number one, we’re three years old, plus acting like we’re the ones who made a big deal out of the whole thing in the first place.

If it’s not a big deal, why did you patent it? Why do you say, on your Technology Overview, that “…Pages that we believe are important receive a higher PageRank and are more likely to appear at the top of the search results.” Guess what, Director of Research Peter Norvig? Appearing at the top of the search results is kind of a big deal. With the vast majority of people unlikely to search past the first page, if you’re not at the top, you’re not likely to be seen. Depending on the search, like say it’s for the product your website, which is the source of your income, sells, yeah, that’s a pretty big deal.

I, again, ask for your patience, dear audience. OK, wait for it…. Trumpet flourish and…here’s your analogy: you know that scene in the Wizard of Oz, where Dorothy et. al. finally get an audience with the Wizard so Dorothy can (inexplicably) ask to go back to that dusty pig farm in the middle of Tornado Alley and the other freaks can ask for all that crap they already had? (The utter irony!) Anyway, what if the Wizard, when he’s saying “don’t pay attention to that man behind the curtain,” is actually intending that they DO pay attention to the man behind the curtain because the Wizard IS actually this crazy demigod who just doesn’t want to grant wishes even though the people (and, um, whatever) asking for wishes totally killed the witch and did everything the Wizard asked them to do? Huh? HUH!?!?!

So Google’s the Wizard. Right?

So they should just shut up.

You’re welcome.

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Mar
3rd

Oneupweb : Eye Tracking Labs Zero In On Real-Time

Posted by Kathryn on March 3, 2010 at 1:03 pm

Remember Bill Nye the Science Guy? Kids across the country would sit glued to their televisions in awe because, after all, this was way cooler than any of the science demos at school. In Bill Nye’s hands, mundane things like vinegar and baking soda became explosive miracles of science. We all, hopefully, learned the importance of wearing eye protection.

Today, we sit glued in front of computer screens or, if we’re away from the desk, our mobile device is surely on. And rather than passively watching what happens when the unknown powder is mixed with the volatile liquid, we now have the opportunity every day to be a part of some newfangled online social experiment. You get to be one of the test subjects whenever a “beta version” of software or an app is released—it is the testing phase of development process. No goggles or lab coats required.

But not everything goes beta before it goes live. And sites like Facebook and Twitter are constantly rolling out new features or tweaking the platform. At Oneupweb, our team of digital marketing wizards are tracking, monitoring and analyzing all the new developments in the digital landscape—what will explode next?

Now here’s a little experiment you can try in the comfort of your own home that won’t require a fire extinguisher: whenever you’re ready, search for the “Oscars”, in Google (a current “Hot Topic”). You may have to scroll down a little depending on the dimensions of your browser window. Do you see the scrolling box of results? What about the big gorilla?

Well, when Google announced this new feature—real-time results—back in December 2009, we had a few questions. The basic idea is this: tweets, and current updates from Facebook, blogs, and websites will be integrated into the standard search results as they happen. But will people notice the real-time results and, more importantly, are these results getting clicks?

We rolled up our sleeves and headed to the Oneupweb laboratory. We were going to put the real-time results under the microscope, or rather, eye tracker.

Search is a key element of online marketing today. So it only makes sense for businesses to stay abreast of changes in the search landscape. And Google, Bing, Yahoo! and a variety of start-ups are getting into the real-time game. This is an online experiment that will have a huge impact on the future of search. Keep your eyes peeled—you don’t want to be caught off guard when real-time explodes.

But what about the gorillas? If you want to find out, download the free report, Search Gone Wild: An Eye Tracking Study On Google’s Real-Time Results.

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Mar
1st

Oneupweb : PPC Expansion & Exploration

Posted by Bob on March 1, 2010 at 10:27 am

Google AdWords is a huge piece of your Paid Search (PPC) campaign, eh? I suppose that Yahoo! and Bing also contribute to your efforts, or you plan to include them at some point on the horizon. But is that the end of the road? Are you exhausting all of your PPC resources?

If you haven’t already, it’s time to branch out and explore some new PPC marketing opportunities. Don’t get me wrong, Google is still the king when it comes to getting your company in front of a large and qualified audience. But there are other opportunities that allow you to get your message in front of other large audiences.

With social sites like Facebook and LinkedIn, you can target very specific demographics, while comparison shopping engines like Google Product Search and PriceGrabber allow you to place your product in front of interested consumers.

Both Facebook and Linked in allow you to create specifically targeted PPC ads that you can display to the demographic of your choosing. The targeted demographic can be as large or as small as you want it to be. Though these are placement ads, and the person seeing the ad is not actively searching for your product or service, the granular control over demographics helps to ensure that your message is reaching qualified prospective customers.

Expanding into shopping engines like Google Product Search allows you to highlight your product in a shopping environment. People conducting searches in shopping engines are usually deeper into the conversion funnel, meaning that it’s likely they have already done their research and are ready to purchase. This places your product in front of motivated buyers. If you’re a price leader, or offer good purchasing incentives, then shopping engines are a great place for expansion! Best of all, Google Product Search is free and can be integrated into your existing AdWords campaign.

It’s really an exciting time to be involved in PPC. There are so many opportunities, outlets and channels to leverage and explore. Expanding your campaigns outside of traditional search engine platforms and into other areas could supply the boost you’re looking for, and take your campaign to the next level!

Is your company ready to break through the boundaries of its current PPC efforts? Or are you ready to take your performance to the next level? Contact an expert like Oneupweb. Growing businesses is what we do, and we would love to help you reach your goals.

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Feb
22nd

Oneupweb : YaBing’s Future Effects On Paid Search Management

Posted by Adam on February 22, 2010 at 11:23 am

No matter which brand catchword you prefer, YaBing!, Microhoo!, BooHoo! or But It’s Not Google Yet (more catchword branding), the deal is done. It’s been approved and implementation has already begun. Microsoft and Yahoo! will team up at an attempt to produce a more profitable search business. Hopefully, this will also mean a better search experience for users.

This deal will affect search marketing on both sites for Search Engine Optimization and Paid Search. Here is some information on the specific changes effecting Paid Search advertisers’ campaign management, advertiser competition,and the implied customer service effects:

Account Management: Customer service greatly effects the ease of account management, but since that’s already been addressed I’ll focus more on the general effects that this merger will have on account management.

Overall, I suspect this partnership will be positive for advertisers, agencies and publishers. Microsoft adCenter’s platform has always been known for producing solid return on investment. The issue has been one of market/search share. Once the partnership implementation is complete, advertisers will need to manage one less account. Unfortunately, this will also increase bidding competition on both domains.

Platform Differences: By now most of the targeting is the same. Both providers have geo-targeting, demographic targeting, content network controls, etc. One of the few major changes will be keyword match types. Google has made the broad/phrase/exact/negative successful and easy to understand. Since Microsoft adCenter currently uses this style of match types, Yahoo! advertiser will soon as well. Good riddance to Yahoo!’s standard and advanced match.

The second positive change that will come of this transition is the death of the Yahoo! ‘bulksheet’. Yahoo! advertisers have craved an AdWords Editor-like application to replace the bulksheet for years. Microsoft has come to the rescue with it’s adCenter Desktop application. Although it’s still in beta and buggy at times, it’s miles ahead of the bulksheet in terms of usability.

One big downside regarding the switch from Yahoo!’s Panama management interface to Microsoft adCenter is that adCenter is buggy. From the management interface to the reports center, results have been known to report inconsistantly. Double and triple checks should become routine for Yahoo! advertisers who are new to Microsoft adCenter.

Customer Service: As a part of the arrangement, Microsoft will be keeping Yahoo!’s customer service staff. I see this as being one of the few great ideas that will come of the deal. I’ve worked with both of these companies managing PPC campaigns for several years now. Yahoo!’s customer service is far superior to Microsoft. To put it more clearly as to the magnitude of difference, I’ll rank the three leaders on a 1-10 scale:

Google – 8
Yahoo! – 9
Bing – 3

Though these opinions are solely my own, I suspect that they cannot be far from the popular opinion.

To be fair to those who work in an outsourced adCenter call center, Yahoo!’s customer service excellence is only partially due to its great people. Yahoo! also has a system in place that supports good service and allows their people to do a great job. Unfortunately, from what I can tell, Microsoft hasn’t provided a proper environment for their service staff in the past.

I can only hope that the environmental challenges Yahoo!’s service staff will encounter with Microsoft do not reduce the great service they’ve provided over the years.

Summary: In short, I’m excited about this deal, even though many of the details are still up in the air. Together, Microsoft and Yahoo! still will not be able to truely challenge Google’s dominance in the Paid Search space, but nevertheless, this change should still produce a better sponsored search experience for users of all types.

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