In an article reported by Search Engine Watch today, Google has announced that they are introducing expandable advertisements within their AdSense network. These new versions of AdSense ads actually increase in size on the page when they are clicked-on by a viewer. Similar ads in other networks expand when an individual “mouses over” the online ad or scrolls down the page.
In December 2008, PhoCusWright, the travel industry’s research authority and annual presenter of The PhoCusWright Conference (which EngineWorks representatives attended in Hollywood, California last November), released a study that identifies the most popular type of online booking methods used by today’s traveler.
In a move that will surely have the real estate industry talking, Century 21, a long-time television advertiser, has decided to pull all of its national TV ads in 2009, and shift this budget to online channels.
In a January 14, 2009 AdAge article, Beverly Thorne, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Century 21, stated that in years past the company has spent up to half of its advertising budget on television marketing. However, in an unprecedented move, the company will now focus the majority of that money to its online efforts in 2009. Mr. Thorne identified the ability online advertising, especially Search Engine Marketing, to directly target consumers interested in making a purchase in the near term as the main factor in making this decision.
To directly quote this AdAge Article, “With the beleaguered real-estate market showing no signs of a turnaround, the realtor has decided to play the numbers and go where the buyers and sellers are: online.”
A compelling article this month from eMarketer reports that a study conducted by Atlas Solutions using Microsoft’s Engagement Mapping data found a direct correlation in increase of conversion-to-sales performance when an online display campaign is implemented along-side a Paid Search Marketing campaign. The article titled ‘Display Boost Search Performance’ stated that the study revealed that search engine users who were exposed to display advertising, and who clicked on a search listing, were twenty-two percent (22%) more likely to convert to a sale than individuals not exposed to an online display advertisement.
Each week my feed reader and email inbox fill up with great links on search engine optimization, paid search marketing, social media marketing, and general search industry news. Many of the links become popular on sites like Sphinn, and others end up flying under the radar. Each week I am going to highlight articles, blog posts, and online discussions that I feel are particularly valuable. So without further ado, here are this week’s trophy links:
Let’s face it (!), by now most savvy marketers know that Paid Search Marketing delivers a compelling value proposition that cannot be achieved through most traditional media channels such as print, television, and outdoor. Paid Search Marketing is able to definitively measure the return on each advertising dollar.
Today, DMNews released the 2008 edition of their Essential Guide to Search Marketing which features an insightful article written by our co-founder and president here at EngineWorks, Sean McMahon, titled “SEM Turns the Media World Upside Down”.
This morning, DMNews posted an article proclaiming that within the next couple of weeks, Google will incorporate the length of time it takes for Web site landing pages to load as a component of the site’s Quality Score in their AdWords system. The article titled ‘Google’s AdWord changes to go into effect by mid-June’ alerts the search marketing community to this important new Quality Score factor.
Here at EngineWorks, we are all about optimization! And, I’m not just talking about our clients’ Web sites. We also continuously strive to optimize the structure of our talented search marketing fulfillment team.
It’s important for professional Search Engine Marketing companies to maintain an ideal company structure to effectively integrate new campaigns into their fulfillment department, to rapidly achieve and exceed client performance goals, and to accommodate the expansion of their client roster and employee base (all while maintaining profitability).
To accomplish this, you must clearly define the skills and responsibilities of each position. I perceive that the following structure represents an ideal fulfillment department for accomplishing the mission critical tasks above.
The Google Content Network has become an important part of our daily campaign optimization strategies here at EngineWorks since Google launched their “Placement Performance Reporting”. This new service shows statistics for ads that appear on specific domains or URLs in their content network. Prior to this introduction (approximately a year ago), we had no idea where client ads were shown, whether the sites were contextually targeted to our ads, or how our campaigns were performing on specific Web sites.
