PPC is not for Miss Cleo

The development of forward thinking proprietary technology that can predict major Pay-Per-Click (PPC) outcomes such as conversions, revenue, and ROI is a current industry trend. Predictive optimization is one such advancement; a bid management tool used primarily at the keyword level. It establishes optimal bids for advertisers by leveraging historical and overall performance data.  If properly implemented, predictive optimization could allow those in paid search to focus more on driving revenue rather than costly bidding and monotonous keyword practices.

Predictive optimization involves analyzing complex outcome and predictor variables to come up with a best fit line. The line illustrates, with the least amount of possible error, the relationship between your predictor and outcome variables. In addition to the regression line, the process also produces massive migraines affecting laymen and search professionals alike. Feeling one coming on? Go pop an Advil. Back? Great. OK, simply speaking, predictive optimization helps you determine your ultimate ROI, cost-per-click and click-through rate.

For predictive optimization to truly be effective, it must adhere to a cycle of continuous improvement – ongoing testing, analyzing and evaluating. This is where many agencies cease and desist with their predictive program. That’s a problem because the power of predictive optimization is in the data, which changes rapidly in the short-term and the long-term. If an agency does not disclose the statistical significance of their models, how can folks be expected to trust their predictions? Accepting the results of a linear regression without at least knowing the significance of the model is like accepting a loan without knowing the interest rate. The results could be devastating.

Predictive optimization can be a useful, even revolutionary proprietary tool – if utilized correctly. It is the responsibility of performance marketers to thoroughly investigate such predictions before we implement them into PPC campaigns.

The Science behind SEO

Allow me to take a trip down search memory lane. With the advancements in social and mobile mediums, it may be hard to remember a time when algorithms were the star of the SEO show. In fact, the science of SEO is what enables marketers to deliver high performing campaigns. This is worth remembering, if only for a Monday morning blog.

For the majority of SEO experts, driving qualified, relevant search results for high page rankings and conversion rates is the pinnacle of success. The search algorithms used to calculate SEO rankings are continuously evolving as search engines try to take advantage of proprietary technology. For instance, Google used the algorithm PageRank to kick start its monumental industry rise. But in keeping with the need to improve, search marketers understand that it was the algorithm Hilltop that helped Google peak.

Establishing link authority was proving to be too difficult for PageRank. There wasn’t a criterion in place for determining link authority, which enabled links from irrelevant sources to rank high. The Hilltop algorithm is similar to Google PageRank in that the amount and quality of inbound links constitutes the ranking. But unlike PageRank, Hilltop only considers "expert" sources from authority sites when evaluating incoming links.

Since SEO programs rely on relevancy for high performance, Hilltop was and continues to be an important member of the Google algorithm family. It is a testament to its functionality and utility that Hilltop, along with Google’s many search algorithms, remain significant SEO metrics.

The Highs and Lowes of Black Friday

Perhaps September was a bit early to start planning for Black Friday. That annual rite of shopping passage was the focus of a blog written by yours truly two months ago. I suppose I couldn't help my enthusiasm. The holidays do it for me. And now that November has arrived, they do it for big brands looking to effectively leverage social media as well. 

Retail Giant Lowe's is making a major PPC Search and Display Advertising pre-Black Friday push to drive customers to its Facebook Fan page. There, loyal Lowes consumers can take advantage of coupon codes and discounts for upwards of 90% off. Take that Home Depot. After hearing their Black Friday social strategy, I couldn't help but wonder if the Lowes powers that be read this blog. In the September blog post I wrote "Online coupons figure to be used heavily by savvy shoppers but focusing primarily on this tactic to generate new business could alienate existing customers." By rewarding their current consumer base, Lowes is keeping their loyal customers top of mind and simultaneously creating buzz to attract newbies through online performance channels.

The Black Friday Sneak Peak campaign certainly is an inspired idea. However, it has experienced some technical hiccups. Traffic to the Lowes Facebook hosting party on November 4th was so robust it took down the online shopping site. When the site was functional, check-out times were impossibly long. Customers got cranky. Yes, this could be par for the Black Friday course but it would be interesting to know whether or not Lowes consulted an online performance marketing team to run the campaign. After all, inspired ideas could only benefit from continuous optimization and improvement strategies.

Logo a No Go – The Gap and Online Brand Worth

In a classic branding example of “If it ain’t broke, why in the world are you fixing it”, Gap changed its logo last week and search space exploded with negativity. Gap’s Facebook page fanned the flames of logo anger with the vast majority of users opted to “Like” the old logo. Though Gap CEO Marka Hansen wrote an op-ed for the Huffington Post defending her decision, the social outrage appears to have taken its toll. Hansen is inviting loyal Gap customers to come up with replacement logo concepts. While that is a clever corrective marketing strategy, Hansen should be more concerned with the damage this logo fiasco has caused the Gap brand online.

It would have behooved Hansen to consider what the Gap’s brand image was worth before she put this marketing mishap in motion. If she utilized a brand calculator to gage the value of the Gap’s online reputation, perhaps she would have thought twice about revamping the logo. Online performance marketers should utilize a brand calculator to help their clients, small and large businesses alike, avoid a similar, unnecessary rebranding nightmare.

Corporate America Embraces ORM

To paraphrase Warren Buffet, it takes years to build a reputation and only minutes to ruin it. This has long been the rallying cry for performance marketers pitching Online Reputation Management (ORM). According to a recent published report in AdWeek, the message is resonating.
This summer, much maligned oil producer BP drastically increased its Search advertising spend from around $60,000 a month to over $3.6 million in June. Of course, this investment in ORM was in response to the devastating Gulf oil spill. The bulk of BP's initial spending on advertising after the disaster was targeted toward traditional mediums. The company was forced to adjust its strategy upon realizing that people were actively seeking information on BP and openly expressing disdain for BP. BP wasn’t controlling their brand message effectively. They weren’t being proactive.
Had a robust ORM platform been in place for BP ahead of the spill, negative user posts on blogs, social media networks and websites would have been better monitored. Though the disaster still would have occurred, the aftermath in search space wouldn’t have been as far-reaching nor would the investment to clean up BP’s online reputation been as costly.

Search Results in Real-Time – The PPC Effect

The trend of the moment in Search is speed. Projects like Google Caffeine are designed to make the web a faster place. A byproduct of a speedier search is the generation of the immediate, real-time result – being able to see Search working for you as you type. Google has adapted this concept into a new live update metric that revises search results as keywords are entered into a search box. I’ve watched the update do its thing on YouTube. You should look for it. It’s pretty trippy.

Search professionals that struggle with motion sickness may have to brace themselves before utilizing the new feature. The page changes with each character entered into the search box. The innovation has some Pay-Per-Click (PPC) search experts concerned fearing fickle potential customers may shift their click focus in mid-search decreasing click-throughs. This would be true if PPC campaign success was dependent on a fly-by-night consumer. People intent on looking for a particular product will conduct a search for that product and click accordingly. For example, if a user is searching for jeans, the user is unlikely to be swayed from PPC jean ads in favor of ads for JetBlue simply because they both begin with JE.

Though a web page may be faster and more real-time based, that doesn’t mean a serious, relevant user will fail to convert. If anything, Google’s new live update feature will ensure PPC campaigns are effectively leveraging the right audience.

Generic Keywords – Key To Search Positioning

In a recent study conducted by Covario, a surprising number of global online retailers ranked poorly in Google searches due in large part to a lack of generic keyword optimization. For instance, Home Depot ranked 16th in keyword search for “home repair.” Considering the retailer is a home repair and home improvement juggernaut, its paltry position seems pretty illogical. But it proves that even the most successful brands need help getting their message across and understanding the value of search.

According to Covario, the top four spots on Google can be worth upwards of $100 million in annual revenue. Performance marketers should digest the findings in the Covario study and incorporate them into an overall sales strategy emphasizing the search value proposition. We need to stress the value of click-throughs as positions fluctuate; they can increase ROI. In terms of tracking processes, Paid Search is highly measurable and easy to monitor. As for Organic Search, enhanced Webmaster Tools on Google make it possible for clients to see the breakdown of impressions and conversions on their site.

The value proposition of search begins and evolves with continuous optimization. Any plan for improving search optimization must include generic keywording. The value of search to a brand is undeniable but only if that brand can be found.

Google Me or Not

When I first heard about Google Me, the search engine’s latest foray into the social media space, I thought of the numerous times I have googled myself. Though I never knew what I was looking for or hoping to find, I was confident in and trusting of Google to come through on page one. With Google, reality and perception have proved to be one in the same. Google Search’s propensity toward reliability and relevance could turn out to be the keys in making Google Me a success, even in what is becoming an over-saturated social environment.

Simplicity and user-friendliness are what set Google apart from other search engines. There’s nothing flashy about the homepage. It’s not cluttered with celebrity news, sports scores or trending alerts. It’s a search engine. People find that comforting. Advertisers are rather fond of it, as well, especially when it comes to ad dollars and cents. Mirroring Google Me after the search engine should drive similar results for individual users and those controlling ad spend. Yet, many industry insiders are concerned about Google’s chances of making a dent in Facebook’s stronghold of social media. There is no arguing that in spite of its recent privacy kerfuffle, Facebook remains the social network of choice for individuals, businesses and advertisers. But in the seemingly infinite online space, it’s hard to imagine that anything Google related would have a difficult time catching on.

Getting in Tune with Music Search

Search always seems to be searching for the next big thing to drive traffic and results. This time, it’s music.  Microsoft states that 10 percent of online searches are entertainment-based. Nearly three quarters of that percentage pertains to searches of music lyrics. That may not seem like much but it is enough of a sampling to propel Bing and Google into music search. Both Bing and Google will look to include song streaming, tour dates, lyrics and link acquisition opportunities within their search capabilities. For performance marketers, link acquisition’s role in music search is most important.

With the popularity of online song streaming on the rise, music downloads have stalled. Stalled downloads mean diminished returns. The logical next step in streaming is an ad-supported system. The music industry as a whole is still reeling from piracy issues, which threatened to permanently cripple record labels. The emergence of an ad-supported system has prompted some record executives to develop their own ad-supported streaming websites. As the music industry prepares to go digital by necessity, digital marketers and SEO link acquisition teams should collaborate with record executives to ensure they buy relevant ads that will target the right audience. The music industry has lost millions via illegal downloads. The pitch from link acquisition experts should focus on helping record executives sing a happy authority song.

Themes of Legal Tech

Recurring themes of Legal Tech West, held last week in Los Angeles, were privacy, risk management and demands for cost efficiency. Sound familiar? It turns out that online marketing trends are mirroring the needs of the legal sector, perhaps more than initially thought.

Privacy, Security Breaches and Accountability was the title of the Opening Day Keynote Address delivered by David Lazarus, Business Columnist with the Los Angeles Times. I was not in attendance to hear the speech though I can surmise it at least touched on the rise of social media and its impact on promoting and protecting the reputations of law firms both domestically and abroad. The speech preview posted on the Legal Tech website stated his intention to discuss whether or not traditional business best practices are enough in dealing with these issues.  I’m sure Mr. Lazarus gave an informative, thought-provoking speech. However, I believe the message might have resonated even more had it been delivered by an expert in Online Reputation Management (ORM).

Legal Tech New York will not commence until late January 2011. It is widely and rightfully regarded as the most important law-based technology event of the year. As the digital landscape continually changes and improves across all genres, Legal Tech should leverage the knowledge and experience of ORM marketers for its East Coast Convention. Obviously, the overriding focus of Legal Tech should remain law-specific but increasing the number of panel discussions centering on social media, search and ORM would stress to law firms the importance of implementing digital strategies into their marketing plan.

Legal Goes Social

An increasing number of plaintiff law firms are leveraging social networking to cultivate their client base with highly targeted campaigns and profitable results. Firms are creating websites, blogs and news sites highlighting a practice specialty, marketing initiatives that are attracting visitors and prospective clients. For example, Parker Waichman Alonso LLP has created three websites, bigspills.com, oilspillclaims.com and oil-rig-explosions.com, to attract potential clients to the firm. The strategy is driving results. More than 1000 people have filled out contact forms and close to a dozen law suits have been filed. The firm’s approach is intriguing; a balancing act between utilizing social reach and exploiting a catastrophe. The latter of the two speaks to the need of law firms to invest in Search and Online Reputation Management (ORM).

Law firms like Parker Waichman Alonso may be tempted to implement Search and ORM within their internal marketing structure citing the success of Parker’s website launches. Regardless of their size or ranking, law firms must not take their reach or reputation for granted. Outsourcing Search and ORM to knowledgeable performance marketers can provide firms with a cost-efficient, fully optimized keyword research program designed to maximize marketing spend and drive relevant traffic to their site. Implementing a robust ORM system will provide firms with continuously improved monitoring of and protection from negative user posts. It will also enhance positioning of positive and negative results on the first page of major search engines, generate online buzz through blogs and reviews and offer better communications management of social media sites.

Performance marketers attending LegalTech West on June 23rd and 24th should take this opportunity to promote their valuable services to law firms. By outlining the value proposition of Search and ORM and their clear results-driving benefits, the legal community should have little objection.

Will Click-Through Rates Get Caught In the Web App? Does It Matter?

Native apps still hold many advantages over emerging web apps. Depending on publisher size and industry, native apps provide better bang for the click with greater monetization and value among smaller and pay-per-download providers. But according to findings in a new Global Intelligence Alliance (GIA) whitepaper, it’s only a matter of time before the native app gives way to the webbie.

The paper theorizes that web apps will become a superior publishing platform able to increase and improve developer attention. User tracking and engagement are its strengths. By 2013, web app functionality will rival that of native apps on multiple channels. GIA believes that its tracking and engagement advantages along with its versatile functionality will decrease the native apps mind-share by 1/5th, down to 24%. Large publishers are big fans of the web app. Web apps fit in nicely with their business philosophy – distribution and development cost control.

If the web app has an Achilles heel, it’s the click-through rate. By and large, native apps generate better CTRs. But in lieu of cross-channel attribution and the multi-channel effectiveness of the web app, does the native apps click-through advantage really matter? And when you throw the cost, speed and simplicity of the web app into the mix, those smaller and pay-per-download providers may get caught up in the web app sooner than expected.

Accentuate the Positive – Combating Shared Negative Brand Experiences with ORM

Social media users get a kick out of feeling important and influential without the risk of face to face confrontation. The relative anonymity of the web makes it a breeding ground for complaining consumers, especially in the realm of social media.  Negative comments about a particular brand or product can be severely detrimental to a company’s short-term and long-term growth and profitability. This seems like a common sense deduction but a recent Opinion Research study suggests that companies have missed that memo.

According to the survey, 20% of those polled have used social media to speak negatively about a brand. Shockingly, 64% of companies do not have a social media policy or structure in place to combat such negative reporting. And in keeping with the non-confrontational benefits of spewing negativity online, 18% of those surveyed admitted to using an alias in social media circles exclusively. These findings scream out for Online Reputation Management.

The numbers don’t lie, which should make it easier for digital marketers to explain the advantages of instituting an ORM platform into a client’s business model. It’s all about accentuating the positive – controlling the branding message, generating buzz around a product or service, monitoring user postings and improving visibility and enhancing their page one search engine position. By employing this level of due diligence, existing and potential clients will experience the short-term and long-term growth and profitability currently eluding them. But it is up to those in the digital marketing industry to get this positive message out.

Open Graph – Facebook’s Map to Rule Search

Privacy be damned. With Open Graph, Facebook’s addition to its online platform, the social networking giant is making a thinly veiled play to steal the search crown from Google. Open Graph will allow users to tailor social features on any website and share their modifications through Facebook. For publishers, Open Graph is a search marketing coup d’état allowing them access to Facebook’s four hundred million users whether or not they possess a brand page. For performance marketers, this unprecedented amount of information could improve targeted advertising. Oh and then there’s that little privacy thing.

Open Graph offers a “Like” button, which enables users to put their stamp of approval on certain products and services. In actuality, this feature enhances search utility. Why is this important? Well, in lieu of the recently revealed Nielson Facebook study results, social advocacy on ads increased buyer intent fourfold. The privacy implications of Open Graph may come back to bite Facebook but if it doesn’t, lead generation experts should send Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg a Christmas card. While Google’s philosophy is to improve the way the world accesses and searches for information, Facebook adheres to the belief that social advocacy in the extreme is the key to online advertising dominance.

Making a Good Overall Impression on Facebook

We’ve all heard the old adage, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Now, before you panic, this blog post will not regress into a litany of clichés. And you have Facebook and Nielson to thank for that. In a study examining the reach and effectiveness of Facebook impressions, Nielson determined that users of the social networking site were more prone to notice ads and purchase brands if they featured earned media and social advocacy. Alas, good impressions that incorporate positive word of mouth win out.

Nielson’s research involved analyzing three forms of Facebook impressions: Homepage ads, Social impressions and Organic impressions. Essentially, Nielson was evaluating the strength of paid and earned media, the former referring to advertising publicity and the latter alluding to publicity gained through favorable opinion. A “Become a Fan” ad created solely to engage the user with a brand is a homepage ad, an example of paid media. A “Become a Fan” ad that also lists the names of other fans in the user’s friend network is a social impression, a blending of earned and paid media. Lastly, an organic impression is a promotional tool that appears on a page belonging to the user’s friend. This impression announces that the friend is a fan of a brand, a type of earned media.

Nielson concluded that social advocacy in Facebook ads doubled awareness among users. More importantly, it resulted in a 4x increase in buyer intent. The lead generation significance in the wake of these findings is palpable. Performance marketers should incorporate the Nielson study into their CPM pitch. The message to advertisers shouldn’t be about making a good first impression. The message should focus on making three – creating a compelling home page to foster organic impressions, stressing the importance of social impressions by investing in paid media and giving due consideration to each impression category for premium campaign effectiveness.

Managing social media amid real-time search results

Along with the rise in the importance of social media is the rise in the need to manage your social media presence on search engines. Google has recently begun to include listing from the likes of twitter and facebook in their SERPs, and our Director of Search Marketing, Adam Riff penned a great article on the topic for DMNews that can be found here.
Look for more great thought leadership in the coming days from the Mediawhiz team

Death of the marketing budget

In a recent article penned by Mediawhiz CEO Jonathan Shapiro and published by iMedia Connection, Jonathan makes the argument that traditional marketing budgets should be tossed out the window. To his point, the Internet allows brands more visibility into the performance of their marketing efforts than ever had before. Combine the visibility the Internet allows with performance based distribution channels and you'll see there is no cap on what you can spend.

In Jonathan's words;

"Future winners in the online marketing space will understand that success means investing in performance marketing programs of continuous improvement that provide increasing and demonstrable profits. That's performance marketing, and you won't want to cap its success with an annual budget."

Read the whole article here.

Death of the Marketing Budget

Fusion search: How you can find the right mix of data

Adam Riff, the Director of Search at MediaWhiz was published in DMNews on June 30, 2008. Read his article below.






With increasing costs and competition in search, marketers must continue to be creative to achieve a high return on advertising spend. One answer may be fusion search, which is a method of “fusing” data to execute multiple search techniques simultaneously. These methods include pay-per-click (PPC), search engine optimization (SEO) and, more recently, social media optimization (SMO) and video SEO.

PPC is at the top of the list for two basic reasons. First, there is no other method that can deliver more data in less time. Also, PPC data will allow you to identify the long-tail keywords that you will use in your fusion campaign (provided you did your keyword research). Fusion campaigns are based on those long-tail keywords that cost little and return a lot.

For example, let's say you're running an account for a travel client that sells trips to the Bahamas. You'll likely come up with several thousand key­words that include misspellings, buying phrases, long-tail and competitor domains. After iden­tifying these keywords, you can run a PPC campaign and begin accumulating your data.

Search marketers know that “Bahamas trip” will elicit high volume and a low conversion rate. It will also be expensive and highly competitive, which will result in a cost per action that your client may or may not be able to afford. Savvy search marketers will begin mining their PPC data for the thousands of long-tail terms they added, such as “Bahamas cruises” or “look­ing for the best price on a Bahamas cruise,” that have one to two conversions over a sufficient data period (let's say two weeks). You would then utilize these long-tail or “fusion” keywords to formulate a multifaceted search campaign across the other chan­nels at your disposal that include SEO, SMO and video SEO.

For SMO, you could create a lens on HubPages, a popular social media site, that centers around your keyword “looking for the best price on a Bahamas cruise” and will link to your client's site. With the right methodology, your client's site and the Hub­Pages lens will likely get ranked organically for “looking for the best price on a Bahamas cruise.”

For video SEO — assuming that the client has video content or you create it for them — you can tag that video with the same keyword used in the above example and use specific techniques to get your video ranked for that keyword.

You've now utilized your data to fuse the highest converting, lowest competition keywords into an extremely effective, multi-faceted strategy, which will achieve a higher return as well as build long-term organic reach.

Read the original article here


Learn more about MediaWhiz Search

Check Us Out At SES NYC

Make sure you stop by the Text-Link-Ads/AuctionAds booth and rap with our co-founders at SES NYC. Also don't forget to ask for our new Awesome t-shirts!

Interview with Loren Baker from Search Engine Journal

Loren Baker from Search Engine Journal has been doing a SEO site clinic which has been helping website owners increase their traffic, rankings and links. Because of this I decided to do a short interview with him:

What is Search Engine Journal's benefit from doing a SEO site clinic?

Search Engine Journal benefits by helping the SEO community and companies which are starting their initial SEO by total transparency. We are working together, with our co-authors and guest contributors as a team to offer SEO advice to not only the sites which we have accepted into the SEO Clinic project but also the readers of our column who are working on their SEO. For example, when doing an SEO Clinic for a WordPress powered blog, our goal is that numerous WordPress bloggers will benefit from our SEO recommendations.

Our Resident SEO Pimps benefit via expanded recognition of their expertise and services to the SEO community. I think that it would be easy to charge anywhere from $5,000 to $15,000 in consulting fees for such SEO oriented information and recommendation, but our ultimate mission is to help smaller sites and charities which cannot afford such SEO consultancy fees. In essence, such transparency should benefit the SEO and search marketing community as a whole.

How popular are your SEO clinics? Are they heavily linked to?

These posts have become quite popular throughout the SEO industry and the searchosphere. Many blogs and informational sites have linked to our SEO Clinic pieces, and our hope is that for each Clinic we provide, more sites which fall into the categories of our Clinic "patients" and link to the recommendations.

Do you have any recommendations for bloggers or website owners who looking to increase their links?

In each SEO Clinic, to date, we have discussed ideas for sites, such as TechSmith.com and BigOceans.com to attract links. In essence, the SEO Clinic will attract links to our patients from SEO blogs which cover the free SEO Clinic advice, but in each clinic we provide recommendations to improve links via building relationships with blogs in the niche categories our patients appeal to, and via social media marketing via Digg.com, StumbleUpon and other major traffic and inherent link building avenues.