I am often still surprised at how many advertisers are not investing in search marketing. The basic reporting of cost and revenue can easily prove that search is a valuable tool for any marketing campaign. In fact, I often advise many people to invest in search marketing first. Then use “left over” funds to fulfill all other marketing needs. After all, if paid search is not working, then you are doing something wrong.

This need to fulfill search first, had me thinking about the history of advertising and mass marketing downfall.

It’s true that mass marketing did work at one time. However, during those times the surrounding criterion for mass marketing was a perfect storm.

Small product selection, limited television channels, consumer acceptance and many other factors all led to a great acceptance of mass marketing.

Mass marketing is dying

The environment for mass marketing has changed. Consumers have hundreds of television channels to choose from, plus various forms of other entertainment choices (MP3 players, game consoles, Internet access, etc.). Consumers are also more resistant to advertising then ever before.

Capturing attention is not required in search marketing

Consumers have already volunteered their attention, by typing in the keywords they want. They are focused, engaged and ready to pay attention to your product.

This is very unlike mass media. Over the past 30 years, television advertisers have to look for more and more creative ways to capture a consumer’s attention. Television advertisers need consumers to like them, or at least pay attention. All this has to happen before the selling even begins.

Social Media will not replace Search Marketing

As powerful as social media is becoming, it’s ultimately not going to replace search marketing. Social Marketing allows users to capture and automatically receive their custom information. By setting up RSS feeds and Email alerts, users can receive the news when and how they want it.

Ultimately, social media is nice, but it does not serve the marketing goals that search marketing does. When a user is ready to purchase, social marketing is not going to help.

Pay-per-click is much more than paid advertising. Not only is PPC the best return on marketing investment available, but it is, or should be, at the heart of all marketing campaigns.

With pay-per-click, there is very little guess work in marketing.

However, the trouble arises when traditional advertisers do not understand or believe in the power of pay-per-click marketing. Many companies still see it as separate advertising model and fail to tie the relationship back to traditional off-line campaigns.

Below are 4 examples of how to relate pay-per-click statistics to other marketing efforts

1. Ad Testing -
   The major search engines allow advertisers to run multiple ads for the same keyword. With various messages reaching potential customers, advertisers are able to see which ads attract the most visitors and more importantly which ads attract higher revenue.

   Ad rotation gives the advertiser great insight into the mind of the customer. For instance, do customers click more on ads that offer “Free Shipping” or “Free Item with Purchase?” Another example, do discount mentions convert better than guarantees?

   To get accurate measurements on ads, it is important not to let the search engines optimize the rotation of the advertiser’s ads. By default, search engines will serve the better performing ads more often. However, the problem is search engines measure “better performing” as ads with higher clickthrough rates (CTRs) and quality scores. Although, that may work for some advertisers, the real test of an ad is what happens after the user clicks on the ads.

2. Solid geo-targeting statistics can help off-line campaigns -
   Pay-per-click geo-targeting lets advertisers target ads to specific countries, regions and languages. Geo-targeting especially benefits companies with smaller budgets, by allowing product promotion strictly within the majority of customers’ region.

   Geo-targeting resolves any geographic uncertainty about customers. For example, more customers from Region A may click on ads. However, more customers from Region B may actually convert and purchase.

   By combining geo-targeting testing with ad variations, advertisers can also discover if specific messages convert better in various regions.

   With this strong geographic customer analytics, advertisers are able to target all marketing initiatives to specific regions.

3. Discover keywords for organic search rankings -
   With pay-per-click reporting advertisers are able to know what the customer is typing in search engines. By reviewing periodic reporting, they are able to tell which keywords bring in the most clicks and most importantly which keywords bring in the most revenue.

   Instead of creating search engine optimization initiatives to tackle hundreds of keywords, the top converted pay-per-click keywords are targets. Site content, link building, and various other search engine optimization techniques can push these elite keywords.

   Advertisers do not have to waste valuable time and money trying to get rankings on keywords that do not convert. The numbers are provided; it does not matter where the competition is ranked. By following the pay-per-click keyword statistics advertisers are able to get instant customer analytics to use for search engine optimization efforts.

4. Learn the customer’s language with exact keyword matching
   Often advertisers get caught up in internal jargon. Within the industry it may be an acceptable form of communication. However, it is the customer that pays the bills.

   To obtain accurate results from pay-per-click, having various match types is essential. By bidding on all variations of keywords advertisers are able to see which keywords customers are typing into a search query. Google, as an example has four different keyword matching options (broad, phrase, exact, negative), each with their own advantages and disadvantages. For example Broad Match, the default setting, includes all variations of the keyword in the query.

   However, Exact Match is the most targeted option available. It only shows ads when the exact phrase is used. Exact Match will provide instant feedback into the language of the customer. It is not to say there is not a place for broad, advance, or any other match type. Ideally, all variations should be tested. In fact, Exact Matching will inevitably bring in fewer visitors than other forms of matching. However, Exact Matching is a great way to gather instant customer analytics.

By analyzing pay-per-click reports advertisers are able to pull dramatic customer analytics. With that knowledge all marketing campaigns can benefit thus eliminating traditional guess work from traditional advertising.

With the value of the dollar decreasing and a decline in consumer confidence, it might seem counter-productive to keep spending. However, that is exactly what needs to be done.

History shows that marketers that maintained or even increased spending benefited from the silence of others. In fact, a recent study on warc.com (World Advertising Research Center) showed “that brands with sustained advertising expenditure through recessions have a competitive advantage”.

Below are several online marketing strategies to keep in mind during trying economic times.

Do not cut pay-per-click funds
When done correctly pay-per-click is the best return on advertising available. Paid Search should be the last place you look for budget cuts. Remember, if paid search is not working, then you are doing something wrong.

Put your analytics to work
Now is the time to put the “analyze” into web analytics. Without analyzing data, it’s just data. Study your numbers and look for trends. Look for ways to trim the fact. For example, if customers are coming from a general geographic area then target online efforts toward that direction.

Beware of discounting
The first instinct online marketers have in rough times is to start giving deals to customers.

However, this can start a chain reaction that is hard to shake. Not only is there a risk that customers may expect deals, they may also begin associating that brand with low value.

Discounting is not a marketing strategy.

Shoppers become addictive to discounts and so do marketers. Beware of the long-term value of your brand, especially online.

Introduce a new product or put a new face on an old one
Many new products were introduced during troubled times. For example, the iPod was released during the dot-com burst. The frequent flyer concept was born out of a marketing tactic use to stimulate interest in the recession of the early 80’s.

If you don’t have a new product to introduce, use this time to put a new front face on an existing product. Follow that up with an online press releases. Get the word out and start a social networking campaign to push the product hard.

Companies are still failing to see the benefit of online marketing, especially paid search marketing. Pay-per-click works for any budget and any product. Use these times to take advantage of your competitors’ lack of funding and knowledge. Don’t follow their lead on decrease spending, take advantage of their lack of presence.

Well, I was not chosen as a finalist for the Semmys, but its okay. As they say, “it is an honor to be nominated”. There were some great articles this past year. I definitely can not say my writings were better than the finalists.

Local Search
Anatomy & Optimization of A Local Business Profile - By Chris “Silver” Smith

Analytics
Web Analytics Demystified - By Avinash Kaushik, Occam’s Razor

Google
Google 2.0: Google Universal Search - By Danny Sullivan

SEO
SEO Linking Gotchas Even the Pros Make - By Andy Beard

Online Marketing / General
How A Pretty Face Can Push Visitors Away - By Bryan Eisenberg

PPC
Five Common Paid Search Mistakes That Can Sink Your Campaign - By Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide
* This one mentions some of the same points that I mentioned in 7 Habits of Highly Effective PPC Advertisers. However, Jennifer does a much better job of explaining in many of the points. Plus, she has some other great points that I left off. I strive to write as good as her.

Small Business
When Ignorance Isn’t Bliss: What You Don’t Know About Your Web Site Can Hurt You - By Christine Churchill

LOL Funny!
Web 3.0 Sites - By Philipp Lenssen, Google Blogoscoped

Viral Marketing
Viral Marketing is NOT the Same as Word of Mouth - By Jennifer Laycock, Search Engine Guide

1. Sell and Educate

Prepare to spend 50% of your time selling and educating the company on SEO. This is not snake oil. Search engine marketing can make or break a business. Unfortunately, in-house staff will often have to spend a large portion of time convincing the “older” generation.
Setup meetings, trainings, presentations, webinars, whatever it takes. Keep in the company informed and stay ahead of the questions. Everyone things they are an expert, but you are the only one getting paid to be the expert. A lack of continuing education will result in unwanted “experts” advising and taking SEO matters in their own hands.

2. Strong Analytics

It is hard to argue with numbers. Before taking any in-house SEM job, it’s important to make sure you have, or able to purchase, the right analytics packages. Once in place, showing results in revenue directly related to search engine marketing will bring anyone to attention.

3. Ego Rankings

Any expert in search engine marketing will tell you that certain keywords bring in high traffic and some may bring in high revenue. Often those keywords are not the same. Obviously, you want high revenue keywords.
However, there are often many keywords that management and executives want rankings with. These are Ego keywords, not money words. However, appeasing management with rankings on their personal keywords can go a long way. Plus, there may be legitimate reasons beyond immediate revenue that may pay off down the road on these keywords.

One of the most frequent comments I hear is: “Paid Ads? Oh, I never click on those”.

The fact is that’s simply not true.

I want to pass off an article that I contributed on SearchEngineLand.com that address that comment and others.

If Paid Search Isn’t Working Then You’re Doing Something Wrong

Greg Meyers posted a great article on paid search marketing here: www.semgeek.com/semgeek/2007/12/writing-effecti.html

A couple of his points that I loved:

• “First make sure Ads are set to ROTATE and NOT Optimize.”
  Do not let the search engines determine the success of your hands. Only you and your analytics can determine. Just because an ad received the most clicks, does not make it successful.
• “Understanding what Messaging works best with your customers and prospects is more important than writing and testing 10-20 different ads with the only difference being a few words being moved from description line #1 to line #2.”
  Too many people make it too complicated. Let the numbers speak for themselves.

Greg’s points coincide with my Seven Habits of Highly Effective Pay-Per-Click Advertisers:

1. Separate Content from Search
2. Control spending by adjusting bid amounts, not daily spend budget
3. Create a negative keyword list

Find the rest here: www.johnwellis.com/seven-habits-of-highly-effective-pay-per-click-advertisers/

Just in time for the ski season, vacation rentals have surpassed hotel in search popularity.

Hitwise numbers shows for the past 6 months, vacation rentals have consistently remained behind hotel searches. In mid-October vacation rentals passed the hotel demand.

This seems to be an obvious connection with ski season starting. For families on a ski vacation, vacation rentals seem to be a no-brainer. However, even in past years, ski season or not, vacation rentals were not as popular with consumers.

A recent USA Today article expressed what many vacationers are finding:

• “In resort areas such as the Florida Panhandle, some hotels are being torn down and replaced with condo rental units”.
• “Travelers are benefiting from more choices and better websites….”
• “Condos and houses have more space, including fully equipped kitchens. Condos and houses also have more amenities, such as stereo equipment, barbecue grills and laundry facilities.”

The complete article on vacation rentals can be found here.

Family vacationers want more than hotels can provide and the Hitwise numbers indicate that the word is getting out to consumers on the value of vacation rentals.

That’s one recommendation I thought I would never make.

As anyone who has read my prior posts would tell you, I am a strong believer in conversion over clicks. That has long been the reason I have avoided advertising on Google’s content network. I had seen the numbers on content ads and the return on ad spend was terrible.

I have now changed my mind. That does not come easy for me to say, but again I have seen the numbers.

Currently my content network ads are performing just as well, if not better then my search ads. Of course, that did not arrive by accident. There were several steps I took to get to a good return on ad spend on Google’s content network.

Below are a few tips for better content network performance

1. Don’t get swooned by big brands - Google publicizes their content network by noting that ads will show on big sites such as About.com, NYTimes.com, FoodNetwork.com, and many other big branded sites. Although these sites are impressive in their own industry, the ultimate result may be high cost and low conversion. Often the better performing sites are the unknown, but very specific sites. Give the smaller guys a try.
2. Start with a low CPC – Cost will quickly rise with content ads. It’s important to dip your foot into the pool slowly and test the waters, before jumping in. After testing and tweaking, then increase the cost-per-click on well performing AdGroups.
3. Separate content from search – Although the content ads may perform well, the CPC and budgets will be different the search network. It is important to be able to adjust one without affecting performance of the other. Separating content from search is a necessity in measuring performance.
4. Exclude not converting sites – This one is crucial. Thankfully, Google now provides performance data on specific sites. That data allows you to see content sites that perform well and most importantly which ones are performing poorly. For example, for me content ads on MySpace bring in a lot of traffic, thus a lot of cost. However, the conversion is terrible if any at all. Therefore, I exclude my ads from MySpace. Obviously, that will vary per industry. This is why it’s extremely important to run AdWords’ Placement Reports.

Search engine optimization is often compared to rocket science. Of course the advantage of rocket science is that there are always constants, SEO does not have that luxury.

Search engine optimization involves trying to please the search engines, while attempting to read the mind of the potential customer.

The first part of the above statement is not going to be solved anytime soon, but the later is.

With pay-per-click reporting advertisers are able to know what the customer is typing in search engines. By reviewing periodic reporting, they are able to tell which keywords bring in the most clicks and most importantly which keywords bring in the most revenue. Thus, advertisers can uses pay-per-click to discover valuable keywords to target for organic search rankings.

Since [bicycles for sale] is the exact phrase that brings in the most conversions, that phrase can be used for other marketing campaigns and search engine optimization efforts. It is irrelevant that [bicycles] brings in more visitors, because those visitors are not quality visitors (or buyers.)

Instead of creating search engine optimization initiatives to tackle hundreds of keywords, the top converted pay-per-click keywords are targets. Site content, link building, and various other search engine optimization techniques can push these elite keywords. Advertisers do not have to waste time trying to get rankings on keywords that do not convert. The numbers are provided; it does not matter where the competition is ranked. By following the pay-per-click keyword statistics advertisers are able to get instant customer analytics to use for search engine optimization efforts

With pay-per-click, there is very little guess work in marketing. However, the trouble arises when traditional advertisers do not understand or believe in the power of pay-per-click marketing. Many companies still see it as separate advertising model and fail to tie the relationship back to traditional off-line campaigns. By analyzing pay-per-click reports advertisers can pull dramatic customer analytics. With that knowledge all marketing campaigns can benefit, thus eliminating traditional guess work from traditional advertising.