« August 2005 | Main | October 2005 »
September 28, 2005
Update: Google to move to "Best Practices Funding" vs. Commissions in 2006
Little known in the US but in Europe and Asia most of the search providers have offered a media commission to SEM and Interactive agencies to gain their business. This is a hold over from traditional media and still very much in place for interactive advertising.
In his keynote speech at Ad:Tech London, Nikesh Arora, VP, European Operations from Google announced Google will moved from the traditional media commission program to a new program based around " Best Practices Funding". This change has been implemented in a few European markets currently but will take place in all markets in Europe effective January 1, 2006. In his presentation, Mr. Arora, commented that the following will be some of the key elements of the program. The actual press release is not available at this time.
Best Practices Funding -- this appears to be a form of "reimbursement" for implementing key top line elements of the program.
Technology and Tools - New tools for bid management and program management will be available to advertisers and agencies to manage these programs. Based on an audience question, one of the key tools expected will be a better campaign and traffic estimator tool.
Process Enhancement -- tools, methodologies and training to enhance the handling of campaigns from start to finish. A key part of this will be certification as an "AdWords Professional" which is currently available in the US.
Essentially this program will now reward performance of the top agencies managing large budgets for their clients. The actual amount of the rewards were presented in a range of 6-8% this is significantly less than the traditional 15%.
Will keep on this topic as the week progresses since this form of rebate is a key part of the remuneration for interactive and search agencies.
Posted by whunt at 10:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 23, 2005
Tool Review: Link Survey
A tool that I am finding indespendible for link popularity checking is Link Survey. I use this tool to final all of the "shared" links of a set of sites.
For example, if I want to see where the top 5 listed sites all have links I can simply use this application to find them. Enter a name and the URL for the sites you want to check and run the tool.
It will produce a report that lists all of the links found for any of the products and annotates them to show the ones that are shared. Then you want to focus reviewing those pages that link to all of the top listed sites. In most cases this page is one of the authorities in that category.
You can get a demo copy of Link Survey the application via our affiliate link.
Posted by whunt at 12:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 19, 2005
Google to notify sites violating guidelines
According to a recent post in Threadwatch it appears Google is piloting a new program where they will attempt to alert site owners when they remove a site from the index for violating Google's guidelines.
The program confirmed by Matt Cutts a Senior Google Engineer and SEM Liaison that they are trying this pilot first on those sites using JavaScript redirects are the first trial. Matt went on to say they have also sent a few emails about hidden text.
Matt pointed out they are not necessarily doing this for the aggressive techniques but more for those site owners with good content who may not know they [or their SEM agency] are violating Google's guidelines.
Other forum posts from site owners who have received these notes indicated they are being sent to the Webmaster and to the WHOIS contacts for a site. I would recommend you see where these e-mails go and make sure that the recipients know to send them to the appropriate person in your organization.
Posted by whunt at 02:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 18, 2005
Yahoo! Shopping Mobile Launches
Yahoo has just announced the new Yahoo! Shopping Search on Mobile (Beta). According to the Yahoo! Search Blog this new service "allows you to price compare product prices from your mobile phone, accessing our database of millions of offers."
To use this new service enter http://shopping.yahoo.com into your WAP 2.0-enabled browser, search for a product, and start comparing.
I tried this on my Treo 650 and it worked perfectly. It brought back 10 highly relevant results almost immediately. I was able to do a product/price comparison right in the store.
Posted by whunt at 02:56 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Review: Chris Sherman - Search Day
This is an excerpt of Chris Sherman's Search Day review of the book.
Search Engine Marketing, Inc., a new book from Mike Moran and Bill Hunt, addresses the needs of search marketers running large campaigns, and that's what makes the book unique and valuable. Moran and Hunt are responsible for search marketing for one of the largest companies in the world, managing efforts for IBM.com. Their experiences and insights gained from directing search marketing at this global behemoth are infused throughout the book.
Need to assemble and manage a team within your organization to do search marketing? The book shows you how to create a budget, allocate resources and pitch top management to back your efforts. Have a problem with internecine squabbling over turf or performance among different groups in the organization? The book also illustrates management techniques used within IBM itself to get everyone on a large, global team operating from the same playbook.
That's not to say the book isn't useful for individuals wanting to learn more about search marketing—it is. Search Engine Marketing, Inc. is packed with scads of useful tactical information covering all aspects of tuning web sites for search engines and creating effective search advertising campaigns.
The first few chapters offer a basic overview of the fundamentals of search engine marketing. While these chapters are aimed primarily at newcomers to the field, the examples used and some of the market research cited make them a worthwhile read even for experienced search marketers.
There are also a number of chapters that offer step-by-step approaches to crucial activities, such as keyword planning, landing page design, link building and so on. These serve to demystify and objectify activities that many consider to be something of an art.
The book also offers a lot of useful background information not found in similar works. For example, there are sections devoted to understanding searcher behavior, and how best to use persuasion to make your search marketing efforts more effective.
The authors are also well-aware of subtleties that can make or break search marketing efforts. Throughout the book, icons flag sections that deal with two very important concerns: spam and the defacto global implications of search marketing campaigns. Many beginners run into trouble when they push the limits of search engine optimization, often risking spam penalties without even realizing what they're doing. Likewise, the global nature of search marketing has pitfalls that need to be recognized and dealt with.
Skull-and-crossbones icons flag sections where the authors describe techniques that while important for effective rankings can lead to trouble if misused. And globe icons tag content that's especially relevant to international search marketing campaigns. Again, virtually all of this information is drawn from direct experience the authors have had running campaigns in countries throughout the world.
The book also features one of the most comprehensive glossaries of search engine and search marketing terms I've seen, a highly valuable aid for anyone trying to decipher the plentiful jargon you'll invariably encounter as you learn search marketing.
I've just scratched the surface of what's offered in this comprehensive 560 page volume. There's very little in the search marketing arena that the book doesn't touch on in one way or another.
Search Engine Marketing, Inc. sets a new standard for quality in the ever-growing list of books dedicated to a complex and often arcane topic. Regardless of your experience or skill level, you should buy and read this book—and read it again.
Posted by whunt at 02:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 17, 2005
Event: Ad:Tech Shanghai China
Bill will be speaking on Global Search Engine Optimization at Ad:Tech Shanghai November 15 - 17, 2005.
This is a not to be missed event if you are in the region. Search in China is explodng and this is the kick off event for China.
Posted by whunt at 04:45 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Event: Search Engine Strategies Stockholm
Bill will be presenting at the upcoming Search Engine Strategies Conference in Stockholm Sweden.
Wednesday Oct 19th 1:15pm - 2:30pm -- Multi-Country Campaign Management -- This is a highly recommended session for large and small companies that are trying to manage search programs in multiple countries.
Planning a search engine marketing campaign that covers Scandinavia, Europe or other countries throughout the world requires different strategies than doing SEM for a single-country. Get tips and advice on how to proceed in an efficient, effective manner.
Thursday Oct 20th 10:45am - 12:00pm -- Dynamic Web Sites & Server Issues -- This is a highly recommended session for attendees who are struggling with some of the more complex issues of maintaing sites.
What's the best way to move a site from one web server to another, from a search engine marketing perspective? How about switching domain names? What's the best way to handle redirection? How do you deal with a web site where several domain names resolve to the same location? What impact can server response time or download time have on indexing? This session, especially for advanced marketers, looks at these and other server-specific issues.
Posted by whunt at 03:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Event: Ad-Tech London
Bill will be speaking on Branding and Search Engine Marketing at Ad:Tech London September 28 - 29, 2005.
This is a not to be missed event if you are in the region. Bill will be joined by and excellent panel talking about how you can leverage search as part of your branding programs to increase teh value from your program.
Posted by whunt at 02:00 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 15, 2005
Tool Review: SeoElite
I have been using SeoElite for a while now. The latest version 3.2 is one of the fastest and most robust link analysis tools on the market. It gives us all of the information we need to quickly identify the current link popularity of any site.
To order your copy and learn more about SeoElite visit their site via our affiliate link.
Posted by whunt at 11:02 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 13, 2005
Event: Silicon Valley AMA
Bill will presenting at the monthly meeting of the Silicon Valley Chapter of the American Marketing Association on October 12th. The theme for the night is "Global Now" with an emphasis on marketing to overseas markets.
Bill will give a presentation on "Using Search Engines to Reach Overseas Markets" -- he will be presenting with Lucie M. Newcomb, Amy Rubin and Robert M. Wright.
Time: 6:00 - 8:30 pm
Location: Network Meeting Center, in the Techmart building on Great America Parkway Santa Clara
Posted by whunt at 03:08 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
September 08, 2005
Interview: Computer Outlook Radio Show
Wednesday night at 8pm EST and 5pm PST Mike Moran and I will be the guests of John Iasiuolo on live broadcast of Computer Outlook.
John has read the book and has invited us on teh show to talk about the book and Search Engine Marketing.
The show is aired on 90 radio stations, including the flagship KLAV 1230 AM in Las Vegas, and is also streamed from www.computeroutlook.com.
You can also call in with questions or ask them over a live chat facility, so fire away. John promised that the audio will be recorded and available from the site within a few days if you miss it.
Posted by whunt at 12:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack