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Social developments dominated last month and one of the big news stories was the launch of Google+. Since launching, it was reported that Google+ had amassed almost 10 million users, making it one of the quickest growing social networks ever!

The new service allows individuals to share photos, messages and comments but also integrates the company’s maps and images into the service. It also aims to help users easily organise contacts within groups, which is a feature that many believe is missing from Facebook. However, some are of the opinion that Google simply copied elements of Facebook and added a video chat function, something that Facebook is certainly missing.

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Posted on July 27th, 2011 in Social Media with no comments

We’ve mentioned in previous articles that Google has a habit of playing around with the layout and general appearance of the SERPs. Well, June was no exception. This month we were treated to some amends surrounding the positioning of URLs and domains in PPC ad copy. Now, some of our ads on the right of the Organic listings look like this:

Whilst others above the Organic listings look more like this:

At this stage, the impact of such a move is undetermined. For those with domains matching their target keywords it is no bad thing – not only will their destination URL be bolded, but a big part of their headline will be in bold too. We’ll keep an eye on this change to see how it affects other domains too.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

Google’s latest contribution to their continually growing work on Local and Mobile comes in the form of Product Ads. Still in beta, these ads are designed for use in mobile campaigns and combine the location intelligence of your mobile with the product inventory of local stores.

Yes, you can already capitalise on the local aspect via a mobile campaign with location extensions, but now you can supply your PPC campaign with local product feeds. With Products Ads, users searching for ‘new bikes’ will find your store (because it’s 10mins away from where they are currently located) and they’ll know what products and how many products you have in stock matching their query. Some say this will give local small business owners a leg-up on the big-chain competitors who simply won’t have time to submit local inventory at this level.

Who says Google isn’t working for the little guys too?

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

Riding high on the positive feedback they’ve received about Site Links, which we all love, Google pushed the boat out a little further with the creation of Embedded Site Links. For those not too familiar with the original version of this add-on, here’s a quick recap:

• Site Links enable PPC managers to display additional links underneath their ads, serving as direct links to select pages on clients’ websites,
• They only show if you hold one of the positions directly above the Organic listings,
• They provide another essential set of opportunities to promote specific products/pages beyond that highlighted in the main ad copy,
• They generate some excellent results, ranging from CTR increases of at least three percentage points, additional onsite conversions and lower cost-per-sale results.

So what’s the difference? Mainly, embedded links are within the main copy ad rather than sitting underneath it. The actual text in your ad copy that matches one or more of your Site Links becomes the link in itself.

Google is sure that this version of their very popular add-on will encourage even more users to click on your ad, and, depending on how the Embedded links are formatted, this may be true. On the other hand, the additional lines of text offered by original Site Links makes the ad more noticeable, gives you 35 extra characters to gush about the product/service your site is offering, and (whilst maybe a little frowned upon) does move both the competitor directly below your ad and the Organic listings a little further down the page.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Paid Search with no comments

Lead generation, unheard of in the online environment 12 years ago, is now becoming a very important channel. More and more budgets are being allocated to the lead gen channel and more networks and agencies are breaking into the space by building their own teams that concentrate solely on this area. This can only be good news for the sector.

Somewhat generic products, whereby the consumer typically searches for the product or service rather than a specific brand, are generally better for lead gen campaigns. For example, financial services products such as insurance, mortgages and loans are perfect lead generation products as the consumer is often in comparison mode and is looking for the best deal rather than the brand that provides it.

If the product can be purchased purely online, then it can be much harder to generate leads. Without a strong incentive, consumers are less likely to submit their information, which in turn has an affect on lead quality.

In order to run a good lead generation campaign, you need to understand the metrics, know your market, use the leads quickly and understand the correct value of the lead. Every lead has a value. The market is huge, so it’s important to give lead generation a fair chance since it will play a major part of the online marketing mix when done successfully.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Affiliates with no comments

Before embarking upon a new affiliate programme launch, merchants should follow a few steps to ensure to the site is affiliate friendly and to address any leaks. Prior to the promotion of any merchant, savvy affiliates will conduct thorough audits of merchant’s websites, from the homepage all the way through to checkout or registration. It’s very important to have a site that’s attractive to affiliates.

First, know what the leaks on your site are. A traffic leak is something on the merchant’s site that will cause the visitor to get distracted and leave the merchant site, thereby leaving the affiliate with no possibility of receiving any kind of commission. Phone number leaks are by far the most common, but there are many solutions that can track phone transactions referred to by an affiliate. A pay-per-call programme, working with platforms such as RingRevenue, or network-offered solutions (such as Impact Radius) to merchant-coded are all ways of tracing the customer back to the referring affiliate.

Secondly, ensure that services such as Live Chat do not overwrite affiliate commissions. Support communications are used to help potential customers, but anything that takes the traffic that affiliates are sending to your site away will frustrate affiliates.

Thirdly, unless your affiliate programme has sub-programmes, do not link to other sites. This includes “sister sites” if affiliates will not be compensated for purchases made there.

Finally, take off AdSense because affiliates receive nothing if people click on those links.

Affiliates are investing their time, effort and money into marketing merchants on performance only basis, so it pays to make sure that performance is duly appreciated.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Affiliates with no comments

For those involved in the affiliate marketing industry, the most worrying aspects of the e-Privacy Directive are the laws involving restrictions on cookies. The Directive states that websites would have to obtain informed and explicit consent from their visitors through notifications every time a cookie is to be placed on their machine. As it stands, cookies are an essential aspect of affiliate management. They are the main source of the information that is used to properly track where customers come from and, subsequently, to reward affiliates.

The key piece of advice from the affiliate networks and the IAB is not to panic about the Directive. Since its introduction, the best approach is to educate internet users on cookies and how cookies can be used to take advantage of them, rather than regulating cookies in the manner suggested by the EU. With knowledge of cookies, it is easy to avoid being misled. For the most part, cookies are used to help rather than to deceive. The behavioural targeting industry has taken a lead in implementing a self-regulatory framework primarily because they are under the most scrutiny. It may be that the affiliate industry follows suit with a similar approach. This won’t necessarily address all advertisers but definitely shows positive intent from the affiliate sector.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Affiliates with no comments

The lines between online marketing channels continue to get more and more blurry.  Regarding ads alone, you can buy display ads on Google, you can buy display ads or affiliate ads (or both!) on affiliate sites, and you can buy ads within your social strategy publishers.  Now, just imagine what’s happening within the channels themselves.

Here’s a great case in point: sponsored stories on Facebook.  You take the social action of a friend and apply it as a paid ad.  For example, if a friend checks-in at Beanscene, an ad for Beanscene will pop up on your Facebook page. Does this cross-over pay off?

Yes. TBG Digital’s study, http://www.readwriteweb.com/biz/2011/05/facebook-sponsored-stories-are-more-effective.php found that Sponsored Stories have a CTR that’s much better than a standard ad, 46% better. Nothing mind-blowing here as you would assume that a link that’s been, in effect, recommended by a friend would be more clickable. Can anyone say Google +1?

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Display with no comments

This is not really a commentary on an article – it’s just a truly great old ad which proves you don’t need to click through to the site to be effective. The interaction and engagement rates on this must’ve been through the roof: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/pringles-banner-ad-worth-few-dozen-clicks-13661

The ad won an award in 2009. It’s simple, with one frame in which only the copy changes, it’s conversational, and it takes on a truly real tone. I actually want to be friends with the Pringles ad and I think you will too. I certainly remember it and isn’t that the point?

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Display with no comments

Over in North America, which has several time zones, everyone loves time shifting.  It means that if, for some reason, you are up at 3:30am, then you can still watch Oprah.  Now time shifting has been applied to ads: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/28/business/media/28adco.html?_r=1.

Something we always argue as media planners is that people actually do want to see relevant ads. AdKeeper agrees so strongly, that they are offering a page where viewers can save ads they want to see for later. They say that once an ad is saved to AdKeeper, the click through rate goes up to 3.4% – what they neglect to say is the percentage of ads saved in the first place.

This seems to defeat something else media planners keep arguing: that people see ads, ads are subtle and ads are remembered.  By offering time shifting, we’re trying to apply a different tactic that says, we know you don’t want to look now, but we’re sure you’ll be all over this later.  Consider this: when was the last time you ripped out an ad in a magazine and put it aside in a folder so that you could review it later?

A study by the Online Publishers Association found that 96% of participants paid attention to their ad units, 67% within the first 10 seconds and returned their eyes again to the ad. Who knows if it will work, as even the test advertisers seem doubtful, but offering time shifting slams the brakes on what we’ve been trying to argue for years and puts online advertising firmly in reverse. Boo.

Posted on July 25th, 2011 in Display with no comments