Google’s 2011 earnings were announced recently as “disappointing,” but they still made $37.9 billion in advertising revenues. Have you ever wondered which industries are contributing the most to that number? Our friends at Wordstream have put together a stellar infographic detailing who spent what in Google AdWords, as well as the top five biggest spenders in each industry. Check out the infographic below, and head over to Wordsteam’s blog to see Larry Kim’s analysis of the results. 
Top 10 Industries in AdWords Spending
January 24, 2012 By Leave a Comment
2012 Marketing Predictions
January 11, 2012 By 2 Comments
Well, we’ve started a new year, and what blog worth its salt would be complete without a New Year’s predictions post!? So without further ado, here are my marketing predictions for 2012.
Social media will grow throughout the organization.
Social media has predominantly been the domain of the marketing department. This year, you’ll see it extend into other parts of the organization such as sales, customer support and account management. This creates both a challenge and an opportunity for Marketing. On the one hand, you have the opportunity to “outsource” social media to tens or hundreds of individuals throughout your organization and radically amplify your marketing messages. On the other hand, with all those individuals blogging, tweeting, etc. to the world, you have the potential to lose control of your message. Get ahead of this problem by working closely with other departments to provide them with training and messaging, and leverage social media monitoring tools to keep an eye on things.
Mobile marketing will become a priority.
According to comScore, 234 million Americans age 13 and older used mobile devices between September and November of last year. This marketing channel can no longer be ignored by marketing departments. At a minimum, you need to be sure your web site is mobile compatible. Beyond that, you should start testing marketing programs that let you interact with your prospects on their mobile devices, whether that’s using QR codes, click to call in your mobile ads, location based social media, etc. [Read more...]
Tips from the Boosters
January 4, 2012 By Leave a Comment
Guest Post by Jeff Sexton of BoostCTR
So you offer nut-free cookies, created specifically for those who suffer from sever nut allergies. And naturally, you’re advertising for keyword phrase Nut-Free Cookies through Google AdWords.
So when writing the ad for this keyword phrase, what do you think will prove most effective:
A) Repeating the “Nut-Free Cookies” phrase in the body copy, or
B) Giving the reader more info on your cookies, related to their chief concern
Well if you guessed B, you got it right. Take a look:
So why would “Nut-Free Bakery” work better than “Delicious Nut-Free Cookies”?
[PODCAST] Internet Ads Update: Google’s AdWords for Video
October 21, 2011 By 5 Comments
Google’s AdWords for Video – but what does this have to do with you?
Everything! Google’s AdWords for Video has made video marketing accessible, familiar and measurable. In this episode of Trada’s Internet Ads Update, Matt Hessler and Anna Sawyer call in from their trip around the world (this week: Lima, Peru!) to give a rundown of the four new types of video advertising available through AdWords: TrueView in-stream, TrueView in-search, TrueView in-display and TrueView in-slate.
The new AdWords for Video reporting is vastly more robust than that of Promoted Videos, and Matt and Anna offer suggestions for using the reporting features to make your video marketing content even better! Finally, a wrap-up of how bidding will work, and a quick rundown of the downsides.
For the latest internet advertising news delivered straight to your iTunes…
[PODCAST] Internet Ads Update: New Ad Formats from Facebook and Google!
October 14, 2011 By Leave a Comment
New ad formats. But why should you care?
According to Google, 1/3 of searches with ads now show an enhanced ad format. And Facebook has announced some exciting changes in the ad world, too!
Online advertising smarties Matt Hessler and Anna Sawyer call in from their trip around the world (today: Paris, France!) to offer insight, info and commentary on the new Facebook expandable Like! ads, as well as Google’s rich media, social and product extensions.
For the latest internet advertising news delivered straight to your iTunes…
5 Traits You Should Look For In a Marketing Internship
October 3, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Whether you are a business school undergrad, MBA, or just looking for a career change, getting an internship is a good way to get a foot in the door. Unfortunately, internships often conjure up images of coffee runs, data entry, and becoming too well acquainted with a copy machine. But it doesn’t have to be that way! Knowing what you want out of a marketing internship can allow you to shape it into the professional stepping stone you hope it will be. This list of five things you should look for in a marketing internship is more attainable than you might think, but you might have to get a little pushy.
Learn something new
One of the great things about being an intern is that your responsibilities will be limited, so it’s a perfect time to get out of your comfort zone and learn something new. Chances are, someone will be looking over your shoulder or expecting to review all your work before it’s released, so look for an internship that will have you working on something that will help you develop new skills, like paid search, copy writing, or data analysis. Being able to include new skills on your resume is one of the most important parts of having an internship, and it will be easier to make mistakes as an intern than when you are in a position of real responsibility.
Understanding Cost Per Action Marketing
September 22, 2011 By 3 Comments
Guest post by Marianne Pratt
Cost Per Action marketing refers to advertising where a marketer only pays when a person viewing an ad takes an action. The specific action that must be taken, for example buying a product or service, is the choice of the advertiser. Cost Per Action (CPA) is also called Pay Per Action (PPA) and, while sometimes people use the phrase Cost Per Acquisition, not all Pay Per Action Advertising is considered Cost Per Acquisition. Acquisition usually refers to making a purchase or filling in a form.
Types of Cost Per Action Advertising
There are several different types of cost per action advertising, which vary depending on the action taken:
- In addition to the action of making a purchase, an action may also consist of filling out a form or downloading something.
- Sometimes the action is simply signing up for a newsletter.
Cost Per Lead, another form of cost-per-action is a way for advertisers to get prospective customers. It usually involves the consumer signing up for something, like further information. Information about a lead may be just email information or may include a multi-page form requiring the user to complete additional demographic information.
A Guide to PPC Dayparting
September 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment
Although it may sound counter-intuitive, there may be times when a business owner doesn’t want business. For example, the store may be closed or he may be unavailable. Small business owners often run pay-per-click, or PPC, campaigns 24/7 in order to reap the most financial benefit. However, if someone clicks on an ad for that business and decides to call, receives no response and moves on, prime business is lost. Interaction is often necessary for sales.
Unfortunately, there is no way of ensuring that people only call when a store is open, but there is a technique that can help direct the majority of traffic flow to occur during a time convenient for its owner. This technique is known as dayparting, or, as Google AdSense refers to it, ad scheduling.
What is Dayparting?
Dayparting is the process of scheduling ads to be shown at specific times and days, and at those times only. Broadcasters use dayparting on TV to appeal to a certain audience at carefully chosen times. This is where metrics come in handy (we’ll address this below in the sections headed “Is Dayparting Difficult?” and “How Can Bid Adjustment Be Used With Dayparting?”).
How Can Dayparting Help My Business?
Business owners can use dayparting to attract more web traffic when their stores are open and they are prepared to handle it, whether by email, IM or phone. Dayparting even allows business owners to set up landing pages geared toward their contact availability method – again, email, IM, or phone – and times.
Choosing when ads run and how frequently allows business owners to test different time factors that might affect traffic (work, lunchtime, etc.). They can then use the results of that data to streamline when their ads have the most desirable effect even more precisely [Read more...]
The Human Element in Marketing – How to Give Your Online Presence a Personality
September 8, 2011 By 1 Comment
Guest Post by Dimitris Tsakos
Stand out from the crowd
Great. You just got your sales funnel going. Those new leads are being generated via paid advertizing, organic search and social media. People are window-shopping. What next? [Read more...]
Agency Metrics That Matter
August 30, 2011 By Leave a Comment
In paid search marketing, one thing is painfully clear: success relies on good data, and good data can be hard to find. Search marketers use data points to understand trends and make optimization changes, but lots of data can make it hard to focus.
When you understand paid search objectives combined with metrics that matter, you’re better equipped to make profitable decisions. So get back in the driver’s seat – learn the basics of important and misunderstood metrics to propel agency relationship results.
Important Metrics When online marketers talk about paid search metrics, they are referring to different measures of data generated from paid online marketing campaigns such as Pay Per Click (PPC) campaigns for Google Adwords or the Search Alliance of Yahoo! and Microsoft Bing.
