Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing

Yahoo! Rolls Out Its Version of Adsense

On Wednesday Yahoo! rolled out the beta version of its version of Adsense - tailored to he needs of small and medium-sized businesses. The idea, like Google Adsense, is that publishers (like MarketingTom.com) will be able to access Yahoo!'s products and content through a self-serve platform and, obviously, receive commission as a result of it. It has been rumoured for some time that Yahoo! was working on a contextual ad solution to rival Googl'es Adsense programme. According to ZDNet:

"...the service is designed to let publishers access Yahoo's ad products and content through a self-serve platform. The company said the beta offering will be available in the U.S. only through invitation.

With this move, Yahoo is entering a territory that has been dominated by rival Google, which provides text-only ads to small content sites, including blogs."

The "invitation-only" beta is something that Gmail offered initially to test its new product - as did Typepad. Microsoft is also following suit and according to WebProNews it will be inviting 500 advertisers and marketers to participate in MSN Keywords.

Related Links
Yahoo! Gets Ad Sense (Motley Fool)
Yahoo! Unveils AdSense Alternative (Clickz)

Technorati Tags: yahoo|ppc|google adsense

Is Yahoo! Testing Rival to Google Adwords?

In the blogosphere this is actually quite old news (it appeared a couple of days back) but I just didn't have time to write about it. It looks like Yahoo! is testing a product to rival Google's Adsense. Silicon Valley Watcher reckons that this information came from an "informed source at Yahoo!". Furthermore, Andy Baio on his blog points visitors to the blog of Yahoo! product manager, Ken Rudman, which features contextual ads.

"His homepage shows the vertical two-ad format, monthly archives show a three-ad horizontal format, and individual entries show another variation of the horizontal format.  The ads have decent relevancy, especially considering its early state."

Andy has identified that the ads are served from a Overture server - further proof that Yahoo! are tesing the market?

The Curious Tale of Seth Godin, His Toyota Prius and Google Adwords

If you're a Google Adwords Advertiser, it would be worth your while popping over to Seth Godin's blog to hear about a recent experience he had with Google Adwords. It starts off like this:

I lost the keys to my Toyota Prius (actually, someone stole my shoes when I was skiing on the snow-covered bike path, and my keys were in my shoes, but that's another story altogether--why would someone steal my shoes?)

In order to solve his dilemma he thought he'd turn to Google. Typing in the search words "replacement key toyota prius", it appeared to Seth that one of the AdWords matched his criteria. However, his relief at finding the right match was soon tempered by the fact that the Toyota parts site he ended up at had no keys for a Prius!

Seth believes there are 2 problems here:

The first is that the company is too lazy to buy just the right keywords.

The second is that the web guys are probably not the same people as the folks who are buying the ads. If they were, the entire online buying experience would be centered around me and my need for keys, not them and their need to accurately describe the hierarchy of their store.

I'm sure we have all had similar experiences with Google Adwords and other forms of banner advertising . The truth is that both advertiser and visitor lose out from such an experience - the advertiser loses money through a wasted click and the visitor wastes their time and are forced to retrace their steps to find what they're looking for. As Seth points out in his article - it's not rocket science and Google even offers people advice on how to go about it: Google AdWords Support: What are keyword matching options?.

Put simply, when you enbark on a Google Adwords (or similar) campaign, you must succeed in taking your visitor to the destination page that matches their search criteria. Looking for Apartments in Sienna? Then take visitors to a page that has Apartments in Sienna and NOT to the Tuscan Apartment Page.

If you can't exceed people's expectations, you should at least match them.

Interestingly, it would appear that this Adword is no longer being displayed on Google. Ah! the power of blogs.

Will a Paid Inclusion Program Boost my Ranking in the Organic Search Listings?

This is Jupiter Research's take on it:

Will a paid inclusion program boost my ranking in the organic search listings?

Animated GIF's to appear on Google

Looks like Google are testing out animated GIF ads for use on Google Adwords. The Clickz website reports in their article Google Testing Animated GIF Ads that the company will only use these ads on websites of Adsense Publishers who accept GIF images to be displayed.

Typepad to offer sponsored links through Kanoodle

Six Apart, the people who developed Typepad (which Marketing Tom uses), have signed an agreement with Kanoodle a provider of sponsored listings for search advertising. The agreement means that Typepad subscribers will, from the first quarter of 2005, easily be able to add Kanoodle's sponsored links to their sites. More information can be found on the Kanoodle site: Kanoodle and Six Apart to Offer First Integrated Weblog Publishing and Monetization Service

Google Adwords Guidelines

Here's an interesting article on Google Adwords from Danny Sullivan of Search Engine Watch. Entitled Google Lays Out Content Guidelines, it discusses Google's decision to publish its content policy. The company has been much criticised in the past for not letting advertisers know the reasons why their ads have been rejected. This will hopefully answer the critics. You can find Google's content policy on their website: Content Policy and you may be interested in Google AdWords Editorial Guidelines, too.

Ex-Spanish President uses Google to find work (or not!)

I just came across an interesting article from Spain, entitled Aznar Using Google AdSense to get a job which says that a Google ad had appeared offering the services of ex-Spanish President José María Aznar. However, it does look like the Google-approved ad had nothing to do with the Spanish ex-president and the campaign has been stopped.

See Also
Aznar, un falso señuelo publicitario en la red
Aznar, un falso señuelo publicitario en la red

Are you a 'Sophisticated' Search Marketer?

Pamela Parker in an article entitled Most Search Marketers Unsophisticated, discusses the findings of a recent Jupiter Research survey on Search Marketing. This research suggests that search marketers can be categorised as "Sophisticates" and "Unsophisticates"; the former being those who 'bid on keywords based on historical data or cost of goods sold, and measured performance at the keyword or keyword group level.'

The report found that of the 538 marketing correspondents only one quarter fell into the "Sophisticates" category and that they tended to be people with direct marketing experience and 2.5 - 3 years' experience in search marketing. Interestingly, retailers, financial services companies, communications firms and education providers fell into the "Sophisticates" category, with computer companies, travel companies, healthcare companies and professional services firms following into the "Unsophisticates" category.

Google Adwords Tips from the Google team

If you're looking for advice on how to maximise the effectiveness of your Google Adwords campaign, then you will find this PDF from the Google team - The Maximum Effect - very useful. Google has compiled a 41-page document offering the best tips on Google Adwords after having studied thousands of Adwords campaigns. Here's a taste of what can be found within it:

Chapter 1 – Setting Goals
Chapter 2 – Selecting Keywords (A four-step process)
Chapter 3 – Developing Ads
Chapter 5 – Tracking Results
Chapter 6 – Optimizing Again

An essential guide for those new to Adwords and an interesting read for those who already have experience with Adwords.

Related Article
Google Adwords - useful tutorials

Google Adwords and Jakob Nielsen

Most people know that about Google Adwords - they are the adverts that often appear on the right-hand side of Google search results. Companies usually create their own Google Adwords, unless they have big enough budgets and Google will help them create this, and they only pay when an advert is clicked on. In most cases the more you pay the higher you get, though companies who have written good adverts that are clicked on are rewarded by Google and can appear above those who have paid more.

It is worth considering what Jakob Nielsen (www.useit.com), the web usability expert, has to say on Google Adwords in an article he wrote way back in September 2001: ".. I have always maintained that search engines are the exception to the Web advertising rule. There are two reasons for this:
"Search engines are the only type of site that users visit with the explicit intention of finding somewhere else to go as quickly as possible.
● Because they know what users are looking for, search engines can target ads to a user's current navigation goals.
● Displaying an ad for something that the user immediately wants is much more powerful than targeting ads based on general user profiling and demographics. "

Most of the observations from the article - Designing Web Ads Using Click-Through Data - are still relevant today.

Paid Search Advertising Fraud and How To Overcome It

John Carreras is President of Impact Displays, Inc, a company which provides Trade Show Displays, Exhibits, and Booths. His company uses paid search advertising, like Overture, to drive traffic to their site. Whilst at a trade show he noticed that all his competitors were there, he also found that his clickthrough traffic dropped by one-half to two-thirds of pre-show activity. Sure that this was not a coincidence he started to do some investigating. Read this interesting article, with accompanying spreadsheet!, to find out how he managed to identify and overcome this problem:How to Stop Click Fraud (Or at Least Get a Refund)

Paid Search Engine Listings and the Importance of Ranking

According to digital marketers Atlas DMT there can be huge differences in positions 1 and 2 on Google's paid search listings. The report points out that someone in position 1 could be receiving as much as ten times more traffic than the person in position 10. There could be a 40% drop in traffic between number 1 position and number 2.

However, on Overture "Taking the number two spot is a better strategy on Overture than it is on Google." See what Janis Mara has to say in the Clickz article Study: Size May Not Matter, But Ranking Does

£50 voucher for Google AdWords (UK Only)

If you're based in the UK, you may be interested in a Google AdWords incentive which gives new companies who sign up for the service £50 worth of Google AdWords for FREE. The offer lasts until the 15th August. You simply need to type in your company name and address and wait for a voucher to come through by post.

Related Article
Google AdWords - Useful Tutorials

Google Adwords - useful tutorials

If you've thought of using Google AdWords to drive traffic to your site, you really should have a look at these on-line tutorials at the Google site. They cover virtually everything you need to know to get an AdWords up and running. Before you start, it may be an idea to type in some keywords into Google that you expect your target audiencce may use - just to get an idea of what your potential opposition is using and to get you in the right frame of mind.

• Getting Started with Google AdWords
• Keyword Matching Tutorial
• Understanding Conversion Tracking

Related Article
Google Adwords Tips from the Google team

Orange and Vodafone to display Overture search engine links

Overture, owned by Yahoo!, has just announced that it will shortly be displaying its paid search engine listings through the WAP services of both Orange and Vodafone, the largest mobile phone operators in the UK. This offers a completely new marketing channel for Overture to reach its audience.

Overture reaches out to UK mobiles

Yahoo! launches a new paid inclusion programme

In the last couple of days Yahoo! has announced a new paid inclusion programme. Coming fast on the heels of its decision to terminate its relationship with Google, the new programme will allow subscribers to be quickly indexed by Inktomi, FAST, AltaVista and obviously Yahoo! The programme is called "Site Match", is powered by Overture, a Yahoo! subsidiary and will cost $49 per URL (the more URL's, the cheaper the cost). There are a few catches to all of this, though and they are:

1. You must pay (shock, horror!!) a clickthrough rate each time your entry is clicked - starting off at $0.15
2. You pay a price for each page, not URL, that is added to the index

Here are the benefits as listed on the Site Match FAQ page:

● A fast and easy submission process
● Minimal account management, saving you valuable time
● A single point of submission into a database that powers search results for multiple engines and portals, including Yahoo!, AltaVista, AlltheWeb and others, providing access to over 75 percent* of active Internet users.
● Content refreshed every 48 hours, ensuring that your most up-to-date pages are in the database
● A quality review process that provides search users with highly relevant results, as well as additional targeted leads to the Web sites approved for inclusion in the database
● High return on investment (ROI) with a low annual subscription fee and cost-per-click pricing model
● A dedicated account representative and convenient XML feed for advertisers submitting 1,000 or more Web pages

I have taken a look at a couple of the search engine forums and the response does seem to be mixed. The Search Engine Optimization Forum on Creat8asite Forums has some interesting postings regarding the subject.

BBC buys Google Adwords related to the 'Hutton Inquiry'

The Guardian has an interesting article on how the BBC bought search words relating to the 'Hutton Inquiry' in the 48 hours running up to the release of the report. Subsequently, the BBC was heavily criticised when the report came out and 2 of the corporation's top men have already resigned. Though it does raise the question of whether UK license payers' money should be used for this purpose, it is very interesting to see how organisations like the BBC have identified the value in this form of advertising.

Overture Tutorials

Not quite sure how Overture works? or would you like to learn how to use it better?, then you'll find a couple of good tutorials and other neat ideas on the above link to Overture. The tutorials are designed in Flash and come with a voiceover.

Overture secures deal with MSN

It appears that Overture has secured a deal to provide MSN with paid search listings until June 2005. The most important MSN sites are the UK and the USA, but with MSN's global reach the potential to tap in to new markets must be very exciting.

Overture Locks in MSN