Facebook Officially Graduates to Marketing Channel Status

March 3rd, 2010

On Wednesday March 3^rd, Facebook and Omniture announced a new platform for businesses utilizing Facebook as a promotional medium. By joining forces, the two companies can provide marketers using the increasingly prevalent advertising and social medium with the ability to analyze its impact. The two companies will begin by automating the media buying process and then allow companies to better analyze their viewership with a handful metrics. Ultimately, Omniture will help companies utilizing Facebook to reach specific users based on segments.

By utilizing Omniture tools such as SearchCenter Plus, interested companies can buy ads similar to those found in a more traditional SEM function. Also, other tools in the Facebook/Omniture arsenal will allow marketers to identify and reward their loyal customers from a comprehensive dashboard.

The prominence of Facebook as a marketing channel shouldn’t be surprising since it is now the second most utilized online service below Google with 133 million users. By achieving the number two spot, advertisers are typically confident of the ROI they can expect by investing money into Facebook as a marketing channel. Now, with the improved analytics, it might be easier to extract incremental marketing dollars from the C-Suite by flashing some strong preliminary numbers.

Posted in Online Marketing, Search Marketing, Social Media by Alex W. | | 0 Comments

Retail Rebounds- Fourth Quarter SEM Spend Recap

February 9th, 2010

Performance marketing agency Efficient Frontier released a research report outlining the overall performance of the search marketing space in the fourth quarter of 2009. These results have specific implications in terms of the strength of the economic rebound and the health of industries that favor certain engines over others.

The indicator of fourth quarter performance is always retail, due to holiday shopping. In 2009, retail search marketing spend grew 17% year over year and 46% quarter over quarter. Cost per click gains were strong sequentially (quarter over quarter), however year over year they remained down about 9%. This suppressed potential growth in spend for the quarter. Year over year click-through rates have dropped over 40%, but many surmise this is due to Google and other engines simplifying the comparative shopping process within the search engine results page. Conversions per click year over year remained flat.

Outside of the retail sector, the consumer base is still leery about the economic recovery and how freely they should be spending their money. Spend on travel has dropped 20% year over year and 25% compared to Q3. Also, the impact of Cash for Clunkers wasn’t lasting, but did raise CPC 7% year over year encouraging a 2% raise in spend by the auto industry.

In Q4, Google’s share of clicks rose to 74.4% while Yahoo! lost 3.4% dropping their share to 21% and Bing held steady at 4.6%. In terms of spend, Google’s share rose to 74.5%, Yahoo! lost .5% (a strengthening CPC at Yahoo! offset the loss of clicks) and Bing dropped slightly .2% to 5.1%. For the retail segment alone, Google was the overwhelming favorite with 82.7% of spend; however, in the finance segment, Google only claimed a 60.1% share due to Yahoo!’s market leading finance software.

In the upcoming year, Efficient Frontier predicts 30% growth for Bing, which would give the engine 6-7% share of clicks. The performance marketing firm also predicts 15-20% growth in SEM spend for 2010. This growth is to be driven by further economic recovery in addition to incremental increases in online marketing budgets.

Posted in Search Marketing by Alex W. | | 0 Comments

Catch the NETexponent team at SMX in Santa Clara, California March 2nd- 4th

January 29th, 2010

Before forming a client relationship with the Search Marketing Expo, we at NETexponent had been attendees of the leading search conference for years. This convention, produced by Third Door Media, always attracts highly distinguished speakers, and SMX West-Santa Clara will not disappoint. This year’s keynote speaker, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, will bring his jovial personality and exceptional brand of technology leadership to set the stage for a highly educational and network-enriching three day experience.

In addition to Mr. Ballmer, team members from Google, Yahoo!, and Youtube (amongst others) will speak on behalf of the most knowledgeable leaders in the industry. Fear not, however, sessions are clearly labeled and expertly tailored to fit any experience level so that all visitors leave feeling educated and inspired, not bored or overwhelmed.

The NETexponent team has always found that SMX offers sessions to match any interest and an exhibition hall to generate quality leads- not just visitors looking for free stuff (although you won’t leave empty handed). Meet us at the preshow meet-and-greet or during one of the more structured networking events.

All in all, we would love to catch up with you there, so take advantage of the early bird pricing to save up to $350. To get more conference details and information about signing up for an attendance pass, visit http://tiny.cc/Meet_NETex_at_SMX.

And if you are as passionate about SMX as we are, click here to join the affiliate program.

See you in Santa Clara!

Posted in Meet Us, NETexponent Clients, Search Marketing by Alex W. | | 0 Comments

Top PPC Price Recorded In The U.S.

October 26th, 2009

Last week I read that the highest CPC (cost-per-click) price in the U.S. last month was recorded at $99.44. According to AdGooroo’s Search Engine Advertising Update: Q309, “mesothelioma” sold for $99.44 on Google and $60.68 on Yahoo for the number one ranking. The number one word on MSN was of a different persuasion altogether: “auto insurance comparison” for $55.20 per click.

First of all, if you’re like me you didn’t know what mesothelioma was. The –oma reminded me of melanoma so I knew it was probably bad, but meso- just brought to mind the Mesozoic period and dinosaurs, and I was willing to bet it didn’t mean dinosaur attack. It is, in fact, a deadly lung cancer caused largely by asbestos exposure. Law firms have been bidding on the term because of the increased number of law suits surrounding the issue.

As interesting as that is, $99.44 per click? Is it worth it, even for law firms? What kind of a return would you see on such high CPCs?

You could argue that the possible millions of dollars a law firm could take in successfully representing a mesothelioma sufferer should offset the cost to bring those new defendants to the firm, but there are a lot of variable factors: the size of the firm, exactly how they make their revenue, their budget on these keywords, and how well they convert, for example. Though instinct might tell you a $99.44 CPC is way too high to ever be profitable, AdGooroo predicts the average overall CPC to stay constant through 2010, while keywords drift in and out of the highest price list. “Mesothelioma” may not continue to go for top dollar, but if it and other keywords sell for such high CPCs I would guess that advertisers are seeing sustainable results at the time they are willing to bid at that price.

To make a comparison, let’s say your average CPC is between 60 cents and $2, and your average revenue from a single conversion ranges from $50 to close to $1,000. For argument’s sake, assuming a 2% conversion rate and 1,000 clicks and using the midpoints of the two ranges mentioned, 1,000 clicks cost you $1,300. 20 of those 1,000 clicks will convert, bringing in $10,500 in revenue. Your ROAS is almost 708%. All else being equal except the CPC and the average revenue per conversion, a $100 CPC would require revenue per conversion to average $40,400 to maintain the same ROAS.

Looking at it that way, it seems it could be reasonable to pay such a high CPC. Not every conversion will bring millions of dollars into the law firm, but you know how attorney’s fees add up! It doesn’t seem like such a stretch to rack up $40,000 from a new client.

AdGooroo suggests that the paid search industry is maturing: a lot of consolidation has occurred over the years among engines and even in ad space on each page of search results. As the changes in the PPC industry slow, advertisers have had time to catch up and become secure in their strategies. Most of these advertisers are spending more money on fewer search engines than they did in the past, so if they’ve figured out that a $100 CPC is working why not go for it? Let’s just hope the CPC on this particular keyword drops over time—the fewer people with mesothelioma the better. My prediction for the next keyword to top the list? “Dinosaur attacks.”

Posted in Search Marketing by Leslie V. | | 0 Comments

Search Engine Strategies NYC Features NETexponent

February 23rd, 2009

I am happy to announce that NETexponent CEO, Peter Figueredo, has just been asked to join an SES panel at the upcoming NYC show.

So if you are attending SES NYC feel free to stop by and enjoy his panel (described below) on Wednesday March 25th 4 - 5pm

Dealing With Affiliates: A Roadmap to Success
Join this panel for a no-holds-barred discussion where performance marketing’s top contenders square off. As SEM evolves, marketers find themselves competing head-on with affiliates. Marketers want more leads/sales, increased affiliate-generated leads/sales, and less cannibalization of search campaigns. How can this be achieved in a world filled with increasingly hostile rhetoric on both sides? Join a panel of experts as they break silence on taboo issues and work through the finer points. You’ll walk away with fresh, new perspective and the ability to collaborate profitably.

Moderator:
Jeffrey Rohrs, VP, Marketing, ExactTarget

Speakers:
Kristopher Jones, President & CEO, Pepperjam
Jeff Ferguson, Director of Online Marketing, Napster
Lori Weiman, CEO, The Search Monitor
Peter Figueredo, CEO, NETexponent

Posted in Events, Meet Us, Search Marketing by Peter Figueredo | | 1 Comments

Search-Based Keyword Tool Is Cool

November 20th, 2008

Right away, I’ll tell you that you should add the new Google Search-Based Keyword Tool to your go-to armory of keyword research solutions.

In a sort of Copernican way, the new Google keyword tool looks at what already exists on your site and pulls out relevant searchable keywords, which sets it apart from your average run-of-the-mill keyword list building tools.

What’s really cool about the search-based keyword tool is that it lets you sign into your AdWords account. Once you do this and enter a website into the word-box, it queries your current keyword mix and populates an extensive list of keywords that are not currently existent in your account. This is a great thing for marketers who have spent countless hours thinking, “Okay, I’m buying thousands of keywords, but what else am I missing?”

There’s also a small competitive advantage to the search based keyword tool, since it lets you enter any website. Even though it only returns 100 results if you are not signed into AdWords, that’s still 100 more competitive insights than you had before using it.

Posted in Online Marketing, Search Marketing, Testing/Optimization by admin | | 0 Comments

7 Minutes in SEM Heaven

November 19th, 2008

For those of you who are not search marketing experts yet, I’d like to share with you a few tips and some quick fixes that will improve your account and can be figured out in 7 minutes or less. Please note that these are more beginner tips. In addition, this applies directly to Google, but can also be used to help with other search engines like Yahoo and MSN. When you are done, you will feel like you’ve accomplished a lot and are in a nice happy place.

Heaven

Let’s focus on three key areas:

Campaign settings
Keyword match types
Keyword bid optimization

1. Campaign Settings

Check your campaign settings and ask yourself the following questions:

Are my geo-targeting settings correct? If you are selling a product that only ships within the United States, don’t target “All Countries and Locations.” I know it sounds simple, but I can’t tell you how many accounts I’ve seen that have wasted dollars on such a careless mistake.
Are my networks and bidding settings correct? Keep search and content separate…always. If one is checked, then other should not be. It’s a major money waster to not separate search and content campaigns. Refer to a more in-depth explanation in this blog post about Google Content Network Best Practices.
Is my daily budget big enough? Review the daily budgets of all your campaigns. It’s possible you might need to shift things around a bit. Your campaigns with the best conversion-driving keywords should get the most budget dollars allocated to them. You don’t want these campaigns turning off prematurely, because it could mean a huge loss in revenue.

2. Keyword Match Types

Ask yourself:

Which match types am I currently using? Which should I be using?

Think about your search terms. If you are only buying broad match keywords, you need to change this strategy right away. Ideally, you should do some keyword research and buy long-tail terms in both exact and phrase match. As a quick fix, however, you can copy and paste your entire keyword inventory into other match types in AdWords Editor. Buying multiple match types is a way of making your keyword mix more efficient, but be careful setting up the different bid amounts. If your broad match keyword bid is higher than your exact and phrase keywords, then it will be triggered and most likely have a higher average CPC. Also, if you are not using negative match keywords to block off irrelevant traffic, you are making a pretty big booboo as well. Learn more about match types.

3. Keyword Bid Optimization

Run a keyword report covering the last few months. Download the report into Excel, and look for 2 big things that might stand out:

High cost keywords - Sort keywords by cost and pick out any keywords that have not had conversions in the last few months but have spent a lot of money. For example, a keyword with $2,568 in spend and zero sales is a pretty good clue that it should be paused. If they have had a conversion or two but the cost per conversion is still pretty high, you might considering lowering the bid.
Low cost conversions - Look at the keywords with the most conversions and lowest cost. Are they in a high enough position? Can they be even higher? If the cost per conversion is really low, you might want to raise bids on these keywords for higher positions and see if it increases volume.

Posted in Online Marketing, Search Marketing, Testing/Optimization by admin | | 0 Comments

Google Quality Score Update - Will We Feel It?

November 7th, 2008

Probably not.

This week, Google announced a couple of changes to the algorithm of their magical quality score.

Position Normalizers - You know that saying, “The rich get richer?” Well, Google, right before withdrawing from their deal to form an advertising partnership with rival Yahoo! and from being subjected to the scrutiny of the anti-trust system, wanted to combat this aphorism by removing the ad position biases because of CTR. What does this mean? Ads in higher positions typically have high click-through rates because they have high positions and have high positions because they have high click-through rates. Google wants to remove the circular reasoning behind this and award truly high quality ads with distinguished positioning.
Top Ad Placements - This one is confusing. According to Google, ads get placed according to their ad rank. It’s possible that the highest ad rank has a low quality score, which disqualifies the ad from the top of the page (yellow slots), which in turn, causes there to be no ads at all in this slot. OK? Take it as it is. The bottom line is that Google now allows ads with a lower ad rank and higher quality score to jump to the top spot. Got it? Cool.

For the full spiel on what Google portends are the guidelines for running higher quality search and content campaigns with added efficiency, check out their answer page to: What is ‘quality score’ and how is it calculated?

Posted in Search Marketing by admin | | 0 Comments

Google Content Network Best Practices

November 3rd, 2008

From time to time, clients ask me if I think they should try advertising on the Google Content Network (GCN) as part of their search marketing program, saying they’re unsure if it’s worth spending money on low quality traffic. It’s true that people who see these ads are not actively searching for the product. On the other hand, how is this much different than reading an ad on a billboard?

Relevancy in advertising may have spoiled us a little but not enough to do away with the power of persuasion. So what I usually tell clients is, yes, it’s absolutely worth trying. Not only is it worth trying, but if one tries hard enough, there is a great deal of high quality traffic to be attained.

Main Reasons Advertisers Lose Money on the Google Content Network:

Ads appear on irrelevant pages, which lead to bad clicks, which lead to low conversion rates.
The language in the ad does not divert the user’s attention from site content.
Initial setup is wrong. A content campaign should be its own campaign (or account), separate from search campaigns.

To expound on this last point, you want it to be separate for bidding and budget efficiency and so you get a more accurate click-through rate (CTR) for your campaigns. Because the overall reach of the Google Content Network is so large, you’ll usually have a low CTR, and you don’t want this number skewing the direction of your regular search campaigns. Some say there’s an additional advantage to having Google Content Network as a separate account, because one important factor for quality score is the overall click-through rate (CTR) of the entire account, and CTR from the content network will obviously bring that down. On their help page with content network optimization tips, Google claims this isn’t true and says: “The performance of your ads on content pages does not affect their performance on Google or on the search network.”

Things You Should Know About Keywords:

Keywords in content ad groups need to describe the kinds of landing pages you want your ads to appear on.
The keyword list should be words that appear most frequently on the kinds of pages you want to target.
Use small tightly-themed ad groups with no more than 30-50 keywords. Even 10 keywords is fine.
Only broad match is taken into account; there’s no need for exact and phrase matches.
Keyword bids are irrelevant; bids go according to the ad group’s default (content) bid.
Negative keywords are important and can be used to block unwanted traffic.

Things You Should Know About Ads:

Ads need to distract users away from site content.
Try using more competitive language and use words like “Free” in your ads whenever you can.
Quality score for the Google Content Network is not as strict as regular search campaigns, so you can be more creative. Ads do not have to match keywords, though landing pages should still be relevant.
Magic ad positions in Google Content Network are 1-4 while in search, it’s more like 1-2 and sometimes 1-3.
Create separate ad groups for each media type in Google Content Network campaigns i.e. separate group for image ads.

Things You Should Know About Reporting:

Run Placement Performance reports - these give stats on what specific sites perform well or under-perform in your content campaign.
Use site exclusion to block sites on the Google Content Network that are costly and not performing well toward your goals.
Try using Site Exclusion Tool to block categories of sites i.e. parked domains - although it’s still possible to convert on these types of sites.
Run these reports every so often and try taking out the best sites and testing a site/placement targeting campaign.

A Great Tip When Running Site/Placement Targeting Campaigns:

The Google site-finder is a flawed tool that does not give you all the sites you could be using.
Right next to the link “Add Placements,” you’ll see another link, “Edit Placements and Bids.”
Click this link, and paste domains (you find on your own) into the box that didn’t appear when using the site-finding tool.

Try Using Demographic Targeting:

Most useful for sites that report demographic data, such as Youtube and Myspace.
Example of usage: You can set it so your bids will be 120% for ages 18-25 who are of the male gender.
Important: Using demographic targeting will not exclude other sites from displaying your ads; it just allows you to bid more/less for sites that have demographic features.

New Enhanced Site/Placement & Keyword Targeting Features:

Google now allows you to couple groups of keywords with site-targets.
In other words, you can choose sites you think will work well with your product, but can set it so ads will only show up if the keywords (or keyword mix) you chose are present on the page. This allows for additional targeting.

Whoever is reading this, I hope you find these tips helpful. Your comments, criticisms, along with any additional “tricks of the trade,” are all welcome.

Posted in Search Marketing, Testing/Optimization by admin | | 4 Comments

Facebook Officially Graduates to Marketing Channel Status

Retail Rebounds- Fourth Quarter SEM Spend Recap

Catch the NETexponent team at SMX in Santa Clara, California March 2nd- 4th

Top PPC Price Recorded In The U.S.

Search Engine Strategies NYC Features NETexponent

Speaker Profile

Search-Based Keyword Tool Is Cool

7 Minutes in SEM Heaven

Sponsored Videos on YouTube

Google Quality Score Update - Will We Feel It?

Google Content Network Best Practices

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