It’s All About The Wide Tail of SEM

I’m a huge fan of PPC Associates, one of the best SEM Agencies around. PPC Associates took the Silicon Valley by storm earlier this year with their Billboards on 101, one of my favorite offline marketing campaigns of this year. Over the last few years, I’ve gotten to know David Rodnitzky (CEO of PPC Associates) quite well, and I’m here to say that he is a true leader in our industry. This all brings me to the topic of today’s post: My review of Introducing the Wide Tail of SEM eBook.

I’m a big proponent of reading eBooks and whitepapers about online marketing. The beauty of our industry is smart people are always willing to share their perspectives and insights. Via their eBook series, PPC Associates does just that. Here’s what to expect in their wide tail eBook:

An explanation of why the long tail is losing its power, except in a few rare exceptions.
The emergence of the wide tail and how it differs from the long tail.
How savvy marketers are changing their perspective from the long tail to the wide tail.
Several trends that comprise the new wide tail phenomenon.
Best practices for managing the wide tail.
13 pages packed full of SEM insights.

I really enjoyed this eBook because the content is great and because it’s a well-written quick read. I recommend taking some time today to download and read Introducing the Wide Tail of SEM. It’s free!

Image in this post © PPCAssociates.com

Managing and Measuring Social Media With Adobe

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Sep 9 0

Last Thursday, Adobe announced their brand new Adobe Social platform. As someone who understands the complexity in managing and measuring the impact of social media first hand, I highly recommend checking out their new platform. I also recommend checking out the Mashable writeup on Adobe’s new platform. Here are some of the key benefits of Adobe Social:

Save time and simplify social efforts
Keep up with fans through social advertising
Measure, analyze, and understand
Reach out and connect
Tailer permissions to your needs
Gain Adobe social expertise

In parallel to their big announcement, Adobe and Econsultancy partnered to create an amazing whitepaper titled Managing and Measuring Social Media. It’s the best whitepaper I have seen on the topic, a must-read for anyone in our industry. This 32 page whitepaper offers a variety of strategic and tactical advise in managing your social media programs. Topics covered in Adobe and Econsultancy’s whitepaper include:

Social media and brand awareness
Social media KPIs
Measuring and thinking about social ROI
Integrating social media into your organization
The role of technology in social media management
Survey results on how large advertisers are leveraging social media
So much more!

Social media continues to take off in the corporate world of online marketing. Whether your focus is PPC, SEO, email marketing, or any other channel within online marketing, you should become closely involved in your organization’s social media program. Some quick examples from the paid search perspective: Given the parallels between Facebook and Google AdWords, I always recommend having the PPC team manage paid campaigns on social platforms. Also, social media can be an important component of PPC landing pages. Make sure to stay up-to-date on social media trends and incorporate them into your PPC landing pages.

With the online marketing career path, it’s all about expanding your knowledge of all channels. I recommend reading Adobe’s new whitepaper to learn a plethora of great information about social media. And, big congrats Adobe on your new platform!

Image in this post © Adobe

The Search Marketer’s Guide To Creative Testing

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Aug 18 0

I’m a huge fan of creative testing. Just a few days ago, I wrote a post about A Few PPC Ad Copy Ideas. Today, I’m thrilled to share Marin Software’s brand new whitepaper called The Search Marketer’s Guide To Creative Testing and Optimization.

Marin offers one of the most amazing SEM Automation platforms ever, and their new 14-page whitepaper delivers some serious value. Covering topics such as maintaining keyword relevance, testing keyword tokens, prioritization of tests, implementing proper tracking, and measuring statistical significance, Marin Software’s whitepaper offers value for both beginner and advanced search engine marketers.

I highly recommend downloading this free whitepaper. It’s packed with valuable lessons and is a great weekend read. I went away inspired with some new ideas. I enjoyed the specific examples in the whitepaper and especially the “partner spotlight” case studies for partner, Boost CTR. Back at SMX San Jose 2012, I took a photo with the Boost CTR team. They have been taking the industry by storm and are a Marin Software partner. You’ll get a bit more flavor about them and so much more in this whitepaper. Paid search is all about continuously testing. Keep testing new ads and just remember that it’s all about the entire funnel (impressions to conversions). Ads with the highest CTR are only winners if your back end conversion rate also remains high.

Image in this post © Marin Software

How To Optimize Search For Mobile Devices

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jul 9 0

In 2012, it’s all about mobile search. Mobile search advertising on both smartphones and tablets is truly taking off. Both Google AdWords and also Microsoft adCenter provide a multitude of options for mobile search advertising. It’s so easy to segment out by device and even operating system. It’s exciting! It’s just like desktop-based search back in 2003-2004. We’re still in the early days of mobile…

Mobile advertising can be quite different than desktop/laptop-based search engine marketing. When it comes to strategy, you’ll want to clearly think through your mobile smartphone and tablet strategy in terms of: bidding, keyword selection, match type selection, and landing page experience. This brings us to the topic of today’s post: Adobe’s Brand New Mobile Matters On-Demand Webinar.

Recently, I wrote all about Adobe’s Going Global In A Social World whitepaper. Now, they’re back at it with their brand new on-demand webinar. In Adobe’s Mobile Matters webinar, you’ll learn all about: Recent trends in mobile advertising, best practices for mobile search campaigns, mobile landing page tips, and so much more. The best part: You can watch the webinar on your own time. It’s an on-demand webinar so you don’t have to wait for a specific date/time. One thing’s for sure: It’s all about mobile advertising in 2012. Watch Adobe’s Mobile Matters webinar today and dazzle your organization tomorrow!

Image of mobile advertising © iStockPhoto – pressureUA

The Best PPC Benchmark Data Ever

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jun 18 2

A while back, I blogged about Marin Software’s Q4, 2011 Online Advertising Report. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you Marin Software’s Q1, 2012 Online Advertising Benchmark Report. In my opinion, this is the best PPC benchmark report ever!

If you’re in the corporate world of online marketing, it’s super important to keep a pulse on the market. You need to explain trends, predict the future, and understand how you stack up against the competition. Tools such as AdGooroo can help on a tactical, keyword-by-keyword level. Benchmarks from your reps at Google and Yahoo!/Bing can help with high level industry-specific trends (especially if you spend a lot of money and have dedicated reps at the search engines).

All of these data sources are awesome! However, let’s say you want a little more information. Let’s say you want data by industry that shows trends in major search metrics (such as impressions, clicks, CTR, CPCs, spend, and usage of match types). Let’s say you want to understand trends in clicks and spend by device. Let’s say you want to understand overall search marketing strategy from leading advertisers? You will find this information (and so much more) in Marin Software’s Q1 Online Advertising Benchmark Report. Marin is in a truly unique position (with over $3.5 billion annual spend being managed by their platform) to aggregate data anonymously and provide stellar search insights.

I highly recommend downloading this report (it’s free) and then sharing with your co-workers. There are some real interesting trends and insights that will help drive your overall business. At the end of the day, benchmarking is a critical part of the online marketing planning process. Leverage Marin’s report to benchmark and plan your search marketing strategy.

Image of pie chart © iStockPhoto – Violka08

The Must Have Retargeting eBook of 2012

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Feb 7 5

Hey everyone, I have a short but incredibly important post for you tonight! Acquisio has a brand new Retargeting eBook that totally rocks. If you’re like me, retargeting is a huge initiative on your to-do list for 2012. The leverage is really there, it’s the most cost effective way to advertise on display. However, when you’re coming from a search background and your organization does not have a ton of expertise in display, a lot of questions come up quickly. Want to demystify retargeting and get the tips you need for success? Look no further than Acquisio’s eBook. Acquisio’s eBook in a nutshell:

Learn about the market opportunity with some fascinating statistics.
Understand the synergies between search and display, a winning combination.
Learn about the different types of retargeting.
My favorite part: Get four specific and actionable tips to successfully launch your retargeting campaigns.
Check out a neat B2B remarketing case study.

Retargeting is one of the most important online marketing trends of 2012. Whether you are a retargeting pro or brand new to the opportunity, I highly recommend downloading (for FREE) Acquisio’s Retargeting eBook. Once you’re done with their remarketing eBook, I also recommend the other Acquisio eBook’s I’ve reviewed here on PPC Ian:

Building An Attribution Model That Works
Using Remarketing To Drive Increased Display Ad Results (This is Acquisio’s older Retargeting eBook, a great complementary one to their new eBook reviewed in this post.)
Facebook Advertising Tips and Tactics
Choosing A PPC Management Pricing Model
Why Display Matters To Search Marketers

Image in this post © Acquisio

Knowing Trends In Online Marketing

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 20 2

Are you in the corporate world of online marketing? Want to make a strong impression at work? My tip of the day: Get to know industry trends. Of course you first need to become an expert at your own business, and of course grow your numbers. Once those are on the right trajectory, however, your ability to effectively collect and communicate industry trends will help your business (especially senior management) dramatically. All companies want to benchmark themselves against others and project the future. A solid understanding of industry trends makes all of this possible.

When it comes to pay per click, how do you get solid benchmark data? You can gather some high level information from services like Compete, Hitwise, and Quantcast. Also, you can request benchmark data from your Google and Yahoo! account management teams. I highly recommend both of these strategies.

Now, there is a third way to get benchmark data, one that’s low work on your end but super high leverage. I’m talking about benchmark reports published by SEM platforms such as Marin Software. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you Marin Software’s Q4 US Online Advertising Report. I just downloaded this report (it’s free) and can say without a doubt that you do not want to pass this one up! Following are some of my favorite highlights…

Marin’s whitepaper offers 13 pages of outstanding data
Marin compiles data from over 1,000 advertisers and agencies who spend a collective 2.7 billion in annual spend
The whitepaper features some really interesting CPC and match type trends (we’re talking about specific and actionable PPC statistics)
It breaks down trends by industry: auto, B2B, education, finance, healthcare, retail, and travel
In addition to computers, Marin covers smartphones and tablets
In addition to discussing AdWords and adCenter, Marin covers Facebook trends too

Download Marin’s Q4 US Online Advertising Report tonight and go into work tomorrow as a PPC industry trend guru!

Download The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM eBook

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Jan 9 1

I’m a huge fan of SEM eBooks and whitepapers, I try to read them all. Today I’m thrilled to share one of the best search engine marketing eBooks I have read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM by PPC Associates.

PPC Associates, one of the top SEM agencies around, is on a roll. If you work in the Silicon Valley like me, make sure to keep an eye out for the PPC Associates Billboards on 101 near Palo Alto. They absolutely rock.

PPC Associates co-founder and CEO David Rodnitzky wrote the 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM. This 25 page eBook is quite detailed, it’s single-spaced and offers specific strategies on how you can improve your paid search campaigns. In my opinion, this is a must-have guide for both beginners and advanced SEM gurus alike. It’s truly in-depth, one of the most comprehensive around. Following is an outline of the 7 Habits that David covers.

Habit #1: Choosing the Right Search Engines
Habit #2: Choosing the Right Keywords
Habit #3: Creating the Right Ad Text
Habit #4: Setting the Right Bids
Habit #5: Creating the Right Landing Pages
Habit #6: Setting Up the Right Reporting and Tracking
Habit #7: Creating the Right Targeting

It’s the beginning of a new year. The 7 Habits of Highly Effective SEM includes great strategies and tips that will spark ideas to grow your search marketing program in 2012 and beyond. After clicking this link, you simply need to enter your name, email, company, phone, and monthly budget. Upon doing so, you will be able to download the 7 Habits guide immediately. I hope you enjoy this great eBook as much as I do!

Acquisio’s Building An Attribution Model That Works

By PPC Ian Leave a Comment Oct 25 2

If you’ve been reading PPC Ian for a while, you know that I’m a huge fan of Acquisio’s whitepapers, eBooks, and webinars. Today, I’m thrilled to share with you Acquisio’s latest eBook: Building An Attribution Model That Works. This free eBook totally rocks, and I highly recommend downloading it.

What Are Attribution Models?

If you’re in the corporate world of online marketing, I’m sure you’ve heard all about attribution models. It has been a really hot topic lately, and a confusing one too. What is an attribution model? First, it involves understanding that the various marketing channels – both online and offline – work together. Rarely is a single marketing channel responsible for a conversion or sale. Rather, the various marketing channels work together, nurturing the consumer towards the sale.

Given that background, an attribution model allows marketers to take the lifetime revenue (or margin) from a sale and attribute it back to the marketing channels involved in the sales funnel. With most traditional models, the channel at the end of the funnel gets most (or all) credit. However, with a modern-day attribution model you can attribute credit back to all channels involved in a sophisticated manner. A fraction of the revenue or margin from the sale gets attributed to each channel involved in the funnel. The end result: You attribute appropriate financial credit to marketing channels so you know exactly what they’re worth (and how much to spend on them).

Acquisio’s eBook Demystifies Attribution Models

Sound confusing? It certainly can be! However, that’s where Acquisio’s Building An Attribution Model That Works comes into play. This 9-page eBook covers it all. I’m talking about diverse subjects such as:

Online vs. offline conversions and tying them togther
Pitfalls of last click attribution models
Multi-touch attribution models and how to build them
Eight easy steps to start thinking about attribution models
Formulating your appropriate attribution ratio
Seven metrics to leverage in measuring the impact of PPC on offline conversions
And, so much more!

I highly recommend giving this eBook a read. Attribution models are such a hot topic and whether you’re an affiliate marketer, own your own business, or manage campaigns at a direct advertiser/agency, you will want to master these concepts. They will definitely get you thinking at a strategic level and moreover empower you to optimize like never before. After downloading and reading Building An Attribution Model That Works, you may also want to check out Acquisio’s other eBooks, whitepapers, and webinars (my favorites highlighted below). Best of all, they are all free!