The Pitfalls Of A/B Ad Split Testing, Part 1
Most search advertisers have no question that testing ads is a good thing, and can lead to much higher performing campaigns. But is it possible to over-test and over-optimize, actually leading to worse results? The answer may surprise you.
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Yahoo Updates Desktop Search Marketing Tool
During SMX West this week, Yahoo announced an update to its Yahoo Search Marketing Desktop tool for managing PPC campaigns. If you weren’t at the show to see it yourself, this Yahoo blog post details some of the upgrades that are now available:
Bulk editing: Easily make mass changes to settings such as status, match types [...]
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What Toyota’s Crisis Can Teach Us About Managing PPC Campaigns
It is absolutely stunning that Toyota is embroiled in such a serious quality crisis. Toyota’s well-earned reputation for quality is legendary and is the envy of carmakers worldwide. Their quality control principles and methods are taught in leading business and engineering schools everywhere.
In spite of all that, Toyota’s quality problems are now the subject [...]
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50% of Marketers Shifting Funds From Traditional to Online; Social “Top Priority”
We already know that 84% of marketers plan to shift some of their direct marketing budgets to social media. Now, a new report from the Society of Digital Agencies suggests that 50% of marketers will shift budgets from traditional to online media.
Not only that, but the highest priority for this newly allocated budget is social networks:
Now, before all of your social media experts pee your pants with excitement, consider this. While social networking is the top priority, that doesn’t mean that companies expert to spend boatloads on it. In fact, according to this chart, social networking is #4 on the pecking order:
You’ll notice that the amount to be spent on “viral campaigns” is one of the lowest numbers. I don’t think it means that companies don’t want their campaigns to “go viral,” I think it suggests a new level of maturity in thinking. As one respondent put it:
“Rather than spending another misguided year trying to “engineer” viral campaigns that will propagate themselves, regardless of consumer intentions, it’s time to refocus our marketing efforts to align with the way that people actually behave.” – Ivan Askwith, Big Spaceship
Aw look, we’re growing up! 
6 Common Mistakes In B2B PPC Advertising
B2B marketers often preach about how B2B marketing is unique, and that advertising to businesses is very different from consumer focused advertising. And while there is truth in that argument, B2B marketers should be wary that leaning on their “uniqueness” too heavily can adversely impact their PPC campaigns.
Granted, there are a number of ways in [...]
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Yahoo Search Marketing Launches New Network Distribution & Import Campaigns
Last week, I wrote about two new features coming to the Yahoo Search Marketing platform. Those two features, the new network distribution and import campaigns, are now live for Yahoo advertisers.
Yahoo has reportedly sent out an email to advertisers, notifying them of the new features.
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Yahoo Adds Feature to Import Google Adwords Campaigns
I just scanned the last six posts here at MP and they all have the Google logo attached to them. What’s strange about this story is that while Yahoo is announcing an improvement in their paid search offering it still relates to Google. As for bing? Where are you? The company that is having their search platform replaced by you is making more noise.
So what has Yahoo done? It has created an easy way for users of the Yahoo paid search platform to import data from their Google Adwords campaigns. In other words, Yahoo is saying “We know how much you use Google Adwords so just ‘copy and paste’ it to us and spend with us. Please!” MediaPost reports on this and let’s us hear Yahoo’s version.
Despite the agreement with Microsoft to power the search engine’s backend infrastructure, Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Yahoo continues to invest in advertising and consumer search tools. This time the company is releasing Network Distribution, and Import Campaigns.
David Pann, vice president and general manager of Yahoo Search Advertising, tells Online Media Daily that Yahoo’s investment in targeting tools provides another option for advertisers to reach consumers — an alternative to Google AdWords. So the hope is that these tools will end up in Microsoft’s search platform and adCenter.
Boy, if that doesn’t sound like someone who has simply decided to bow to the superiority of Google’s offering and settle for the crumbs from its table. By saying that Yahoo’s Search Advertising provides another option (read: something other than Google AdWords) it sounds like Mr. Pann is trying to remind people that “Hey, we do paid search advertising too!”
While this is all well and good one has to wonder what the impact will be for Yahoo if any. The following example provided from the article tells the tale much better than I can.
One of the biggest complaints from advertisers has been the tedious process of importing online campaigns into more than one search platform. Each engine relies on different types of files and formats. Many advertisers such as Brad Butler, chief operating officer at Asadart Ecommerce Specialty Shops, begin their campaigns on Google, simply because AdWords has been easier to understand and use.
“Nice idea, but at the end of the day I want results,” were the first words out of Butler’s mouth after hearing about the new features.
Butler runs several online stores. “It’s like putting lipstick on a pig,” he says. “It’s a good idea, but I remember talking to my rep about it a few years ago. Hey, guys, you’re three years late to the party.”
I may not be the sharpest knife in the drawer but I can smell a “So what?!” response from a mile away. How about we let Mr. Butler put it in even clearer business English, the one that involves dollar signs.
Butler’s Yahoo account reps used to import AdWords files for him. The rep would come back a week later after completing the job. It just took too long, he says. That’s one reason that last year, Butler spent about $50,000 with Yahoo, compared with $1.2 million with Google.
I have to guess that Mr. Butler won’t be moving a lot of that spend over to Yahoo but that’s just me. Well, while I am glad that at least someone else is trying to do something in the search space I hope that there might be a little more innovation and less playing catch up in the future.
Search advertisers weigh in on this and just how much you use other paid search options outside of Google. The world needs to see if there is a pulse on the industry outside of the Googleplex.
How To Use Google Analytics To Maximize B2B ROI: Part II
Previously, I covered the basic steps involved in setting up a Google Analytics account. In this column, I’ll focus on four GA reports to help you better manage your PPC campaigns.
If you are like most search marketers, you’ve often wished for more insight into your campaigns than what AdWords alone can provide. You may also [...]
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Attribution: What It Is And Why It’s Important
Forrester Research, Inc. recently released their Interactive Attribution Q4: 2009 report, a 44-criteria evaluation of interactive attribution vendors. The report opens with a statement of why accurate, interactive attribution is so crucial:
“The de facto industry standard of measuring the value of campaigns or media placements by the most recent click or interaction is ripe for [...]
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Linkable Asset Inventory: A Starting Point For New Link Building Campaigns
What is it about your website (or your organization) that is truly linkable? What’s the most effective way to structure a link building campaign? What is the most effective first task for a link builder?
By creating an inventory of link building assets, you lay the foundation for a sustainable link building campaign, whether you’re a [...]
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