Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing

Google AdWords Workshop In July

I have had some interest from a couple of people about running a Google AdWords course in July. It is not a workshop that I planned to deliver but if I get enough interest I will be more than happy to run it. The course is designed to give people at beginner or intermediate level a firm foundation in Google AdWords and to offer tips on how to generate more clicks and conversions. More information about the workshop can be found on the Google AdWords page.

Provisionally, I was looking at either the 24th or 25th July. If you would like to book a place, please get in touch on 02921 250650 or email me: enquiries@marketingtom.com. 

The Wrong Way To Do Google AdWords!

I was just doing some work for a client, and testing out the Ad quality, position and competition, when I came across this AdWord for the keywords "swansea hotels".

This is just the sort of untargeted approach to Google AdWords that you should avoid at all costs. The person who created this AdWord selected (possibly without knowing) the default setting of "Broad Match". For those who are not au fait with AdWords, by selecting the keyword "swansea" under a broad match, the AdWord for this company will appear for all searches which contain this word - which could include "swansea city", "swansea council", "swansea brewery", "swansea city football club".

To maintain this position the advertiser will be spending around £1.20 per click. It is more than likely that they will blow their budget very quickly, receive largely untargeted (read unwanted) traffic and will probably end up saying that Google AdWords is a load of crap and doesn't work!

£30 Google AdWords Voucher

I have had this Google AdWords voucher lying around for some time now and my 4-year old daughter commented the other day, "papi, that's absolutely disgusting. Why has she got worms in her hands?". I just replied that I didn't know, knowing full well how long it would take me to explain that this woman has a worm farm and sells them to people for composting! (what's composting?)

I was going to post the AdWords voucher up on the site and send the voucher out to the first person who emailed me. However, Google have gone one better and are now offering £30 credit to anyone who signs up for a new account with them. That means that all those who are coming on my Google AdWords course tomorrow can now add £30 (minus £5 activation fee) to their Google accounts.

Request Your AdWords Voucher Now

Yahoo! Does a Deal With Google to Display Paid Results

Yesterday, it was announced that Yahoo! would be supplementing its paid search results with those from Google. A press release from Yahoo! states:

The agreement enables Yahoo! to run ads supplied by Google alongside Yahoo!'s search results and on some of its web properties in the United States and Canada.

And goes on to say:

Under the terms of the agreement, Yahoo! will select the search term queries for which - and the pages on which - Yahoo! may offer Google paid search results. Yahoo! will define its users' experience and will determine the number and placement of the results provided by Google and the mix of paid results provided by Panama, Google or other providers. The agreement applies to paid search and content match and does not apply to algorithmic search. The agreement also applies to current partners in Yahoo's publisher network.

A statement from Google says (like Yahoo!'s) that the agreement is non-exclusive and means that Yahoo! "could enter into similar arrangements with other companies."

It will be interesting to see how this pans out for clients of Yahoo! and Google's PPC technology. Will Google now need to create some new options when selecting ad networks on campaigns? And how long before Yahoo! yields completely to Google and purely displays Google search results?

Shotgun Approach to Google Adwords

If I'm doing a Google Search for this:

what is the likelihood that I will click on this:

A Successful Google AdSense Story

For those of you who don't know Google AdSense:

is an ad serving program run by Google. Website owners can enroll in this program to enable text, image and, more recently, video advertisements on their sites. These ads are administered by Google and generate revenue on either a per-click or per-thousand-impressions basis.
(Source: Wikipedia)

I use Google AdSense on both this site and my travel blog - Mad About Madrid. Though the revenue is small, it is still consistent and pays for the odd meal, book or DVD. I was interested though to read on the Guy Kawasaki blog about a contest that Google AdSense was running to find out how AdSense has helped them. Guy featured the winner of the contest Dan Vandervort and highlighted how his "home improvement, remodeling, repair, redecorating, and do-it-yourself projects" website (Hometips.com) went from:

paying for coffee to paying for lunches to paying for all salaries, overhead, and business development.

As Guy says in the article he did what many businesses seem to find impossible:

do what you love, focus on a niche, find a viable business model, and work for yourself.

It's quite interesting that the same model that generates revenue for Google works further down the 'long tail' for smaller businesses, too. In fact, it is people just like Dan who make Google what it is today and help generate the vast profits that Google and its shareholders enjoy.

Get Yourself A Nice, Shiny £30 Google AdWords Voucher

I just came across this on .net magazine and thought I'd share it with those looking to open up a Google AdWords account.

Dectek - Best Ecommerce Site in Wales

I heard some great news yesterday - one of my clients has just won an eCommerce Award at Wales' most important Business Awards. Dectek is based just outside Cardiff, capital of Wales, and makes resin badges for businesses across the UK.

The work that I have done with them has focused on tuning their Site Structure, Search Engine Optimization and Pay-per-Click campaigns. As recognised by their Marketing Director, Dave Beese, the company now generates more than 90% of new business through their website. Over the past year Dectek Spain has opened, they will shortly be adding new premises and taken on more staff to cope with demand. I am currently working with the business to look at ways that SEO and Pay-per-click can be used try to tap into the North European market.

Google Adwords Seminars USA

If you're a beginner or intermediate user of Google AdWords, and you're based in the USA, there are a number of opportunities for you to get on one of the Google AdWords seminars. The seminars are reasonably priced ($249) and over the course of a day it looks like the trainers cover quite a bit of material. It's a pity that they don't run these seminars in other parts of the globe (like the UK!) as I know quite a few people who would benefit immensely from them.

State of the Internet: Mary Meeker

For the past couple of weeks I have been downloading Web 2.0 podcasts onto my iRiver MP3 player. Most of them came from the Web 2.0 conference in San Francisco, where there were some great 'conversations': Eric Schmidt (of Google), Jeff Bezos (Amazon) and Bob Parsons (GoDaddy), to name but a few but the podcast which I remember most is the Mary Meeker: State of the Internet, Part 3 one. The main reason is that she delivered 37 PowerPoint slides in around 10 minutes - I have used a number of them on the eMarketing courses that I deliver.

Here are the downloads:
PowerPoint Presentation Slides
Download Audio
Download Video