Click Fraud could undermine the boom in Online Advertising

Internet advertising is booming. The industry has gone from $9.6 billion in revenue in 2001 to $27 billion this year.And it is still early days. The internet accounts for only 5% of total spending on advertising, but that figure is expected to reach at least 20% in the next few years. The single largest category within this flourishing industry, accounting for nearly half of all spending, is "Pay-Per-Click" advertising, which is used by firms both large and small to promote their wares.

It works like this. Advertisers bid on keywords that they believe potential customers will be interested in. This enables internet firms such as Google, the market leader, and Yahoo!, its smaller rival, to display advertisements alongside the results of internet searches. Somebody searching for a particular type of wine, for example, might see advertisements from wine merchants. Google, Yahoo! and other firms also place ads on affiliates' websites, so wine merchants' advertisements might also appear on a wine-appreciation site. The advertiser pays only when a consumer clicks on an ad; the owner of the website where the ad was displayed then receives a small commission.

The benefits of the pay-per-click approach over traditional advertising (television, radio, print and billboards) are obvious. Since advertisers pay only to reach the small subset who actually respond to an advertisement, the quality of the leads generated is very high, and advertisers are prepared to pay accordingly. The price per click varies from $0.10 to as much as $30, depending on the keyword, though the average is around $0.50. "Mesothelioma", for instance, the name of an asbestos-related illness, is an especially valuable keyword, because lawyers are prepared to pay a lot to make contact with sufferers in the hope of representing them in a lucrative compensation lawsuit. Google made most of its $6.1 billion in revenue last year from pay-per-click advertising.

But as pay-per-click advertising has grown into a huge industry, concern has mounted over so-called "click fraud", bogus clicks that do not come from genuinely interested customers. It takes two main forms. If you click repeatedly on the advertisements on your own website, or get other people or machines to do so on your behalf, you can generate a stream of bogus commissions. Click fraud can also be used by one company against another: clicking on a rival firm's advertisements can saddle it with a huge bill. Bogus clicks are thought to account for around 10% of all click traffic, though nobody knows for sure.

In the wake of these legal challenges, Google and Yahoo! recently joined a working group at the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB), a trade association, which will establish standards for pay-per-click advertising, including the introduction of industry-funded auditing and certification, by the middle of 2007. In February Snap, a search engine launched "pay-per-action", a new model in which advertisers pay only if a click on an ad is followed by an action such as a purchase or a download. Google is testing a similar model and Turn.com, another ad network, adopted the pay-per-action model a few weeks ago.

Update by Sunny: Will the Pay-Per-Action put an end to click fraud? Pay-per-action will be a niche, since converting a click into an action depends on a variety of factors such as the ease of use of the advertiser's website. Google and its peers will be reluctant to be so dependent on factors outside their control. But I think pay-per-action could become a real alternative to pay-per-click. As bigger companies spend more on internet advertising, they will demand more accountability and a wider range of options. At the very least, that means clamping down on click fraud, but it also presents an opportunity for entrepreneurs to invent new models that are less vulnerable to abuse.

Populist Search Vs. Social Media

Search Engine Marketing might seem old-hat and mainstream compared to emerging social media channels, but search's auction-based media buying is far more revolutionary. Despite the hype surrounding the new social advertising channels, however, some of the largest deals lately have involved sites that rebuild barriers to entry that search marketing demolished. The future of advertising might look like a mashup of the past.

One of the most radical things about search engine marketing is that anyone can take part in it. To start, you generally need a credit card, $5 for a setup fee, a basic web site, and internet access. For just $1 a day, you can start making the phone ring, and if your business can scale, you can wind up spending over $1 million a month with search.

Spending more money on search marketing, not factoring in the use of agencies or technology buys more reach and frequency, rather than perks or discounts off the rate card. For search advertising itself, the market sets the price, and advertisers can only buy more or less of it; beyond that, advertisers can then work to buy it more efficiently.

The populist dreams of search marketing haven't been perfectly realized so far in terms of every last mom-and-pop business joining in, but the search engines have come a long way. Additionally, through services like pay-per-call advertising and some types of mobile marketing, advertisers don't even need a Web site, dropping one more barrier to entry. With any advertiser being able to take part in the efficiencies of auction-based media online, the democratization of marketing is undeniably real.

While search marketing is still in its early stages, it's hardly a decade old; much attention now is turning toward social media, which is hailed as the future. Yet the future, by some indicators, looks more like the past when compared to the auction-based system. As examples, we'll turn to MySpace and YouTube, which together have reached $2.5 billion in deals with Google this year (the former through an advertising partnership, the latter through acquisition). There are some notable differences between buying with the new players and buying on Google.

The biggest differences are evident when you consider what more money buys you. On a basic level, it's possible to run text-based contextual ads on YouTube and MySpace for little money and with little effort. Yet by buying well into the five figures of display media on MySpace, you can have a custom profile that includes videos, mobile downloads, IM content, basic Flash content, and other features; six-figure spending levels buy even more features, including mashups, personalized photos, and RSS and podcast feeds. Similarly, YouTube is looking to do media deals at a certain five-figure threshold, and it sets six-figure thresholds to let marketers own custom channels.

It's a far cry from the auction-based system, and these buys lend themselves much more to martini lunches than market efficiencies. That should be very comforting to some. It's a sign that while every medium will likely flirt with the auction-based system and perhaps even adopt it for a large chunk of inventory, media buying and planning skills will remain relevant. Some media, such as a souped-up MySpace profile, don't lend themselves well to auctions. If that means some smaller businesses can't advertise there as well, those advertisers will still be welcomed by the search engines.

Auction-based media, as exemplified through search engine marketing, won't replace the old models. To enable online properties with an audience and a compelling advertising vehicle to reach users en masse, a traditional media deal established at a set price and settled with a handshake may be the most efficient kind of buy. The bigger challenge will be for Google, which has earned its billions through auctioning media and now finds itself selling media the old-fashioned way.

That the future will resemble the past shouldn't be so surprising. Social media is media, after all, no matter how you sell it.

Source: MediaPost

A Nostalgic Perspective On Search

It’s incredible how different the industry is today than when many of us got started. Since the late '90s, there have been periods of such ferocious change that it was hard to keep pace. Figuring out how to drive qualified visitors has always been the mission. Today it's still challenging, as a much larger number of Web sites is vying for presence and visitors, but the number of viable channels is much greater.

The predominant engines of the past era are largely afterthoughts today. When is the last time you did a search on WebCrawler, Northern Light or Snap / NBCi?

Paid search wasn't any sort of a factor in the early years. Then, GOTO came along and bidding for positions was born. GOTO became Overture, which is now Yahoo. Many of today's advertisers probably weren't around when the top couple of paid spots on Google were called Premium Listings and were sold on a flat rate per-keyword basis, with an annual contract.

Who can forget the travails of LookSmart? In its heyday, it supplied paid results that appeared on the front page of MSN. As early adopters of a CPC model, it was an extremely cost-efficient channel. When LookSmart lost its distribution through MSN, the expectation was that its traffic volumes would drop dramatically. The opposite occurred, as pure MSN eyeballs were substituted for, we never figured out what.

For the past few years, the industry has ridden the shoulders of the big three (Google, Yahoo & MSN). Ask Jeeves has rebranded as ASK, yet it is not core to most programs. Given the resources of IAC Corp. and the breadth of its properties (Ticketmaster, Match.com, CitySearch, etc.) along with the commitment of Barry Diller, one expects some additional brand presence and a higher percentage of searches through its channels.

A noticeable shock to the paid search movement is the click fraud issue. We are not really sure how much of an issue it is, though. It seems like a bigger deal to individuals on the sidelines than to those who are participating in the marketplace and who are capitalizing on the opportunity that paid search presents. The buzz today is social marketing. Sites like MySpace, YouTube, flickr and Facebook are capturing huge amounts of attention as both sites that people frequent, along with their impact on boosting natural presence within the major engines. In addition to showing up in the natural results of Google, etc., look for contextual ads to begin appearing there in the near future. Another powerful dynamic of these sites is that they generally appeal to a younger demographic. This is significant in that as search matures and new visitors emerge, sites that cater to the interests of a younger generation are becoming popular.

Pick any metric, and it's clear we are in a growth industry. This benefits marketers on all sides of the fence.

Change is the constant within search. That's a function of the relative newness of the industry and the amount of attention and dollars it has received. If you are new to the space, dive in, as the opportunities abound. If you have been around for a while, take a step back to see how far one has come.

Source: MediaPost

Seven Challenges Of SEM Planning And Execution

There are some common challenges that are frequently encountered from the Client Side perspective, the Web Design Agency perspective and from the Search Firm perspective while performing Search Engine Marketing {SEM} activities. A few elements are found to be recurring obstacles in the quest for high search performance on Fortune 1000 level Web sites:

1) Integrating search as a business or technical requirement. Setting up search as a business and technical requirement removes 90 percent of the headaches experienced when integrating in the middle or end of the development process. Good designers and developers are experts at solving problems, and even if they don't have a lot of search experience, they can often solve these issues when given the opportunity. If you've started in the middle or end of a design project, performance will ultimately suffer, and an additional toll will be taken out on dev and design teams who may have to rework some of the foundational aspects of the site.

2) Building business cases. This is one of the most difficult nuts to crack, because natural search is so unpredictable, and most marketers don't place monetary values on desired actions such as e-mail subscriptions, Request for Proposals or other actions. Major obstacles for building business cases include scoping potential natural rankings and traffic, lack of accuracy in keyword metrics tools, unpredictability of natural click-through rates, and lack of a dollar value on desired user actions. Although it is still difficult, an attempt should be made at making a case when possible, even if it is directional. More concrete business cases can be made by calculating the potential loss of paving over previous search engine optimization engagements in a redesign and auditing what a client is currently getting from natural search as it relates to existing business goals like leads, sales e-mail subscriptions, etc. Paid search cost-per-click bids also offer a real-world indicator of the value of natural traffic alone.

3) The "Search Chair" is missing at the table. If search is not recognized as having a major role in the development process, then performance will suffer. This means that search should help drive research, planning, content, marketing messages, development, launch and other stages of Web design and maintenance.

4) Creative adversity. Many designers view search as a threat to creativity. When requirements are laid out for a variety of different audiences, search shouldn't impede the creative process, but rather should create a new framework for a picture to be painted.

5) Search education. A little bit of search engine optimization 101 goes a long way to help meet overall search objectives. I've presented many four- to eight-hour client seminars to audiences ranging from five to 30 people, and the positive impact of education on natural search efforts is nothing short of amazing. Give an educational seminar and invite the whole gang, including senior-level executives, project managers, information architects, content writers, developers and other team members. Increased awareness also helps knock down barriers when approval is needed for a wide variety of search-related tasks.

In another section of the presentation, I outlined some of the common mistakes that search firms make when delivering recommendations to Web development and design agencies. The two following views were culled from what I observed of search firms as a search strategist and facilitator acting on behalf of Web design clients:

6) Lack of balance. Search specialists often accuse Flash designers of being one-sided by not considering search as part of their process. Optimizers are often just as guilty of this same type of omission. Consideration must be given to accessibility, creative elements, brand laws and how users will ultimately perceive the page.

7) Not tying search into tangible business goals. Rankings are great; traffic is better, but conversions contributing to defined business goals rule. Unfortunately, while many firms are good at tactical recommendations, some stop short of attributing the value of search to the bottom line. To be fair, not all clients and marketers spend their budgets with these ROI goals in mind, and they often have limited offline tracking capabilities needed to attribute search's actual business value to their business.

Source: MediaPost

Yahoo, Newspapers form Major Alliance

Yahoo and a consortium of 76 newspapers nationwide have entered into a far-reaching alliance encompassing classified advertising, content, and search that signals a new level of cooperation between newspapers and their erstwhile Internet rivals.

The first phase of the deal will allow the newspapers' help wanted advertisers to post classifieds on Yahoo HotJobs, while the newspapers' online career sections will be powered by HotJobs. The job sites will be co-branded between Yahoo and local newspapers in 38 states including The San Francisco Chronicle, The Dallas Morning News, and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Over the long term, the partnership is expected to extend to other types of advertising and content-sharing such as incorporating Yahoo search and mapping into newspapers' sites and distributing newspaper content through Yahoo search, news, and other sections of the portal.

For Yahoo, the deal provides a much-needed boost amid slowing ad revenue sales and widespread criticism that the company has missed out on key strategic opportunities to competitors such as Google and Fox Interactive Media.

Earlier this month, Google unveiled plans to sell print ads in 50 major newspapers, including publications owned by Gannett, The Tribune Company, and The New York Times Co.

For newspapers, the Yahoo alliance provides the framework for a comprehensive strategy for tackling the Web after years of losing ad market share to the Internet portals and free listings sites such as Craigslist.

To read the whole story, click here.

Source: MediaPost

Online Video Influences IT Purchases

Marketers that want to influence business executives should consider buying ads in emerging media, including online video, social networks and wikis. That's among the conclusions of a new study by Universal McCann and KnowledgeStorm.

"As B2B marketers continue to increase online spending, they need to move beyond traditional banner advertisements and search marketing to explore and experiment with emerging media such as online video, social networks and wikis," stated the study.

For the report, researchers surveyed more than 5,300 business and IT professionals last month, asking them about online video, social networks and wikis. Nearly all respondents said they viewed online video, while sizable portions also said they use wikis and social networking sites.

Specifically, 63% of respondents said they view online videos at least once a week, while an additional 27% do so once a month. Additionally, 82% of respondents said they share online video at least monthly (44% do so once a month, 32% weekly, and 6% daily).

More than half of respondents i.e. 57% said online video had an impact on work-related IT purchase decisions. Previous studies by Universal McCann and KnowledgeStorm concluded that podcasts influenced 27% of business executives, while blogs persuaded 53%.

A majority of respondents also said they used wikis, such as Wikipedia. Forty-seven percent said they were very comfortable with the wiki platform, while 39% said they were somewhat comfortable. Business executives appear to be less enthusiastic about social networking sites, with just 24% describing themselves as very comfortable and 42% saying they were somewhat comfortable with such sites. Still, 69% said they visited social networking sites at least monthly (28% once a month, 28% weekly, and 13% daily).

Source: MediaPost

Trends in User Behaviour

In a series of research studies over the past eight months, the most salient trend emerging among users is that of usability and user experience. People are no longer timidly manipulated by the technology, as they were at the inception of the Web but rather expect sites to work to meet their needs, instead of the other way around.

Of course, the issue of user needs is becoming more important as greater numbers of companies bring their business to the Web. Usability has become a differentiating factor in many cases, coupled with the trend in user expectations; users expect sites to be intuitive, easy to use and seamless across the board.

People expect sites to be intuitive: Even as recently as two or three years ago, Web users tended to blame themselves for their inability to find information or complete tasks online. People thought that they needed to adapt in order to meet the evolving demands of this new technology.

Not so today. People not only expect to be able to use Web sites in a seamless fashion, they expect sites to anticipate and meet their every need. A refreshing expectation, but one that places additional pressure on companies looking for customers.

People still don't read online: In fact, it seems that people are less patient with online copy today than they were in the past. This could be the result of smaller text, higher screen resolutions or simply because people expect an interface to communicate how it is to be used just by its very appearance. Imagine if you went to a restaurant but, in order to get inside, you had to read lengthy instructions on how to use the doorknob. This would be a pain, and you'd probably go to another restaurant. Web sites are the same way.

When evaluating a bridal Web site, one bride-to-be wanted to see how a bridesmaid dress would look in different colors. There was a series of color swatches immediately to the left of the dress in question, and the user clicked on them, expecting the dress to change colors. When nothing happened, the bride-to-be was disappointed, saying that she'd visit other sites to see if they had similar dresses in different colors.

This participant, a sophisticated user of technology, did not read the small print next to the color swatches on the left that said, "Roll over color swatches at the bottom of the page to see dress color options." Since she didn't read the copy, she couldn't figure it out, and went to a competitor's site instead. It's like the old saying goes, if the user can't find it, the functionality's not there.

People appreciate simplicity. There are a lot of beautiful Web sites out there. Unfortunately, many of these are too good-looking to use. Sites adorned with extraneous Flash animations, videos, and lots of large images confuse users and make it difficult for them to accomplish their goals. People want simple designs that are easy to use while being pleasant to look at. They don't want to wade through lengthy intros and convoluted navigation in order to find what they're looking for.

When evaluating a hospital Web site, users unfailingly complimented the compelling imagery and animation splashed across the site's home page. They liked the color scheme, the photographs and the messaging. Unfortunately, none of the participants were able to use the site to find the name of a physician, which was the task they were asked to complete.

This is not to say that sites shouldn't strive for beauty, or that Flash animations and imagery are ill-advised. Carefully designed and positioned animations can actually help users get information, and images can lead people through a task-completion process. Designers should strive for beauty in simplicity in order to foster a site's usability.

People look for user-generated content: No, users are not all clamoring for elaborate MySpace pages or detailed blogs. That type of activity is too time-consuming for people trying to make an investment decision, or figure out what their health symptoms mean. However, people do look for user feedback and customer testimonials, especially in the health-care and travel industries.

Update By Sunny: While it is possible, on some level, to "take the industry pulse" in terms of user experience, it is also important to continually explore and refine our assumptions about what users do online--to help us create sites that will provide the best experience possible.

Source: MediaPost

Click and Fly

Those of us who are advertisers and marketers have a lot to be thankful for. Despite the anxiety of past and potential terrorist attacks, the online travel industry is booming. According to the Travel Industry Association, there are approximately 90 million online travelers--about 44 percent of the U.S. adult population. Two-thirds (66%) of online travelers, or 59.4 million U.S. adults, used the Internet to make travel plans in the last year.

How are users finding out about airline schedules, airports, ticket prices and the like? To no surprise, 77% of those surveyed are using search engines as their first stop in the online travel planning process. Company-run Web sites and destination sites are also popular (used by 63 percent each). And online travel agency sites are used by over half (52%) of online travel planners.

So let's talk revenues. Online advertising revenues are expected to double over the next three years, with next year's revenues predicted to hit $80 billion. Travel accounts for 24% of this market-including online ads, search, and e-mail marketing.

If the numbers are so great, then what's the problem? Well, online travelers are used to hopping from site to site. They know how to navigate and seek out the best fares, most flexible schedules, etc. If you are a brand marketer or advertiser, it is critical to brand your company, site or service. For instance, take a look around at all the major travel sites. From booking engines to airline sites to travel agency Web sites, they all look pretty much the same.

Some solutions: Find ways to personalize your site. Make it sticky so users will come back. Offer e-mail sign-ups for users to get information on sales, promotions and the like. Consider enabling mobile applications, too. For instance, users type in their mobile numbers on the site, then any schedule change or update is sent via SMS to users' phones, bringing a positive brand association.

The eMarketer report broke out online revenues for airline tickets, lodging, rental cars, vacation packages, Amtrak, and cruises. Within that group, online revenues for airline tickets were the strongest, with projected revenues of $32.8 billion this year, according to Forrester Research data cited in the eMarketer report. Hotel revenues came in second, with only $16.4 billion, half the projected revenues of airline tickets.

Why do you think hotel revenues are so far behind? Well, it seems consumers (even those online travel planners) pick up the phone to make hotel bookings. If you have used a hotel site you'd know why. They are often hard to navigate. It also seems that many sites don't have the most updated information. For instance, a site may say that there are 10 rooms left, but when you get to the booking engine (often times many clicks away), you find there are no rooms left. Traveling with someone who is disabled and needs special room accommodations? Children or a group of people? Few sites allow any areas to input this critical information.

I hate to admit it, but a live person is often better and more effective for making a hotel booking.

Source: MediaPost

The Agency's Role in New Media

Questions abound regarding the role of the traditional agency in the new media landscape: Customization vs. Automation? Creativity vs. Standardization? Professional vs. User-Generated? What will become of an industry dedicated to planning, buying and creating media messaging as the medium and the methods shift to digital? The answer is in the technologies.

Google isn't the only one who wants to do create THE advertising OS. Microsoft is certainly concentrating pretty heavily on the area as well. It is clear why Microsoft feels the development of these advertising technologies is right in their sweet spot, since one can so readily describe the next generation of advertising technologies as an OS for a multibillion-dollar industry. Beyond the big players, start-ups are popping up everywhere, trying to enable the next generation of online advertising. Most of these start-ups want to be bolted onto (by acquisition) Microsoft's, Google's, or Yahoo's own OS solution for advertisers.

The most common misnomer is that these advancements in advertising technologies will do the job of the agency but these technologies are tools, not solutions. The human element is necessary to use these tools to find innovative solutions. This will continue to be the role of the agency.

Search Engine Marketing is a perfect example of this. Search Engine Marketing technologies spawned an entire industry of professionals. Sure, since it's easy to use the Ad Words OS, some businesses are able to create and manage their own SEM efforts but the value of the agency is in its ability to professionally and artfully wield SEM tools. If anything, because emerging advertising technologies democratize the ability for small advertisers to compete with larger advertisers, there is even a greater premium placed on having professionals executing on your behalf to separate your message from the crowd.

And since SEM, in unison with other areas of expertise, helps agencies to provide higher return through integrated marketing efforts, this makes SEM a perfect fit as a service offering for the complete 21^st century agency. So the questions become: What technologies/tools will agencies have to master to continue to deliver value to their clients? What new service industries will result from emerging advertising platforms? As with the SEM industry, will we see:

UGVM (User-Generated Video Marketing): Agencies develop divisions dedicated to optimizing platforms that allow any advertiser to slice UGV advertising opportunities by content, genre and audience demographics and bid for placement. One aspect of this service entails creating the proper creative inventory of video content, perhaps bowed by other technologies using modular video content creation to create volumes of content in real time.

DPPM (Digital Product Placement Marketing): Given the increased importance of product placement, due to the decreased effectiveness of traditional 30 second spots, digital product placement technologies, in combination with market-making technologies for product placement, will necessitate entire divisions of 2.0 agencies dedicating themselves to the optimization of client product placement within a world of highly fragmented content.

Regardless of the specific outcomes, there is one fact that will be true for any new technology offered; it will be up to the agencies to create the theories that will drive the market. It will be agencies that will build the theories that allow a scalable bid market to work outside of the comfortable world of direct and performance based online marketing (where measurable ROI determines a bid price).

The agency will be the market maker looking for the arbitrage opportunities. Agencies will use their advertising OS to find opportunities where the price of attention is below the value their theories dictate they can extract with creative and integrated marketing approaches for their clients.

Seeing the opportunity will only be the first step. It will take unprecedented collaboration and execution to gain any advantage for the client in a world where anyone can play with knobs on a Google advertising OS.

Source: MediaPost

Gone in 4 Seconds ..... Value of an Online Customer !!

The research by Akamai revealed users' dwindling patience with websites that take time to show up. It found 75% of the 1,058 people asked would not return to websites that took longer than four seconds to load.

The time it took a site to appear on screen came second to high prices and shipping costs in the list of shoppers' pet-hates, the research revealed.

Akamai consulted those who shop regularly online to find out what they like and dislike about e-tailing sites. About half of mature net-shoppers - who have been buying online for more than two years or who spend more than $1,500 (£788) a year online - ranked page-loading time as a priority.

It found that one-third of those questioned abandon sites that take time to load, are hard to navigate or take too long to handle the checkout process.

The four-second threshold is half the time previous research, conducted during the early days of the web-shopping boom, suggested that shoppers would wait for a site to finish loading.

To make matters worse, the research found that the experience shoppers have on a retail site colours their entire view of the company behind it.

About 30% of those responding said they formed a "negative perception" of a company with a badly put-together site or would tell their family and friends about their experiences.

Further research by Akamai found that almost half of the online stores in the list of the top 500 US shopping sites take longer than the four-second threshold to finish loading.

The survey questioned 1,058 net shoppers during the first six months of 2006. Consultants Jupiter Research did the survey for Akamai.

Update by Sunny: Now the above survey was of US web surfers and i have a feeling that in India it would surely not be a second wait. Dialup connections and poor internet speeds would help ecommerce website owners in India stretch that 4 seconds to atleast 10-15 seconds loading time. But it would be interesting to know how long does and Indian online customer wait before abandoning a site! It could be really valuable information now that so many ecommerce players in travel, retail and others are mushrooming in the Indian online space.

Source: BBC News

The importance of On-Page Optimization, Internal Linking, Maintenance, Content, and Internal Site Control

What is usually lost in this question is that search presence doesn't end at links alone, and that good on-page optimization is needed to round out the picture to fully take advantage of the opportunities that strong link equity and off-page factors bring.
At the end of the day, if you have off-page credibility, then the engines will pay closer attention to "What you say about yourself."
For many established Web sites, particularly for Fortune 500 company sites, deeper introspection about internal optimization strategies is often more pressing than the issue of link building.

External search factors - The Fortune 500

Over the years, one has found that most Fortune 500-level clients require different search approaches than small-to-medium sized businesses, or other companies that are building new sites, mainly because these sites are already well established in terms of theme, age, authority, freshness and trust. From an optimization perspective, these sites are like a garden ready to grow and search performance is directly proportional to how well the seeds are planted and tended.
With link development and the age of the domain being major external factors in how search engines view websites, consider these statistics for the 2006 Fortune Top 10 (Google PageRank is also provided to show overall perception of off-page factors):

1. ExxonMobil.com: 83,810 links; online since November 25, 1998, PR7
2. WalMart.com: 2,222,709 links; online since February 25, 1995, PR8
3. GM.com: 243,091 links; online since January 16, 1992, PR9
4. Chevron.com: 71,468 links; online since April 13, 1990, PR8
5. Ford.com: 294,752 links; online since September 1, 1988, PR8
6. ConocoPhillips.com: 38,249 links; online since January 13, 2001, PR8
7. GE.com: 312,236 links; online since August 5, 1986, PR8
8. Citigroup.com: 132,977 links; online since April 6, 1998, PR8
9. AIG.com: 82,227 links; online since October 25, 1995, PR7
10. IBM.com: 4,441,167 links; online since March 19, 1986, PR9
Link source:Yahoo Site Explorer

These sites already have major search engine credibility when it comes to off-page factors, thus making internal strategy even more critical for these companies. This does not mean that link building efforts should be abandoned, only that internal factors should be treated with higher importance in the grand scope of search marketing efforts and that resources should be balanced accordingly. For sites such as the ones listed above, refocusing on internal site management can also help identify future areas to target external link development, especially in thematic areas where the site may not be performing as well.

Major sites, take note: These are some additional reasons why internal site optimization and maintenance is alive and kicking for established corporations, major destination and authority sites, and other highly-popular destinations:

You've got links: Most Fortune 500 sites have already accrued anywhere from thousands to millions of links. Proportionally speaking, search efforts and resources may be best put forth into maintenance and development of the legacy site for search benefits.

Your major theme has been long established with the engines: As noted above, major site themes for legacy sites are already largely established by the major engines. So a major airline should expect to have an easier time using internal optimization strategies to rank for the term "flights to Dallas."

You're already a link magnet: Sites with Fortune 500 link momentum tend to pick up links on their own, either from news sources, blogs or efforts from their own PR department. When your CEO speaks, people link.

Your foundation is set: Fortune 500 sites are not designed on new domains, they are most often re-designed on trusted legacy domains containing volumes of existing authority links. Treat your legacy links with great care, because your search presence is more dependent on your own site handling, rather than the way engines handle your site.

Negotiating internal changes is key: The internal dynamics of Fortune 500 sites and development teams can change more often than the search engines do. This changes the SEO game, in the sense that success is determined to a certain degree by how well internal sites' changes are managed and negotiated.

Source: MediaPost

My (Early) Predictions for 2007

At the beginning of 2006, some industry analysts felt that 2006 would be a calm and quiet year of applying the knowledge and the ideas from 2005, while 2007 would be the year of breakthrough and new ideas. I guess they were off a little on that one! This year certainly saw much growth and evolution in the Internet landscape--but I think 2007 is going to be one of the most influential years we will ever see. Want to hear more predictions? Read on.

1) Copyright and user-generated content. First of all, Google will finalize the deal and will put to rest two of the larger issues surrounding the potential monetization of YouTube: copyright and user-generated content. Google will surely have to go to court to defend YouTube, but there's no doubt that legal precedent will be set and we will see the establishment of a compensation model for the redistribution of video content through the Internet. YouTube's growth is dependent on this, as is every other site looking to utilize video, so it's impossible that this will drag out beyond the coming year. In addition, Google's technology will be applied to UGC and we'll find ways to ensure brands are being shepherded through this type of content. All of the sites allowing users to upload video content and looking to run ads alongside them will be able to sell these ads at a premium, especially for in-stream, above where they are currently.

2) Archive television catalogues will go online with burn-to-order biz models. AOL's In2TV has not picked up the steam as anticipated but what one can foresee is that the other studios will start to follow suit while the general consumer becomes more aware this content is now available online. What one can predict is that major networks like ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox will begin to launch their catalogues online and may even move to "burn-to-order" business models where consumers will be able to create their very own compilations of their favorite classic TV shows and burn them to DVDs. This model has worked in the past with music, and now that iTunes is making it easier and easier to sell this type of content, one can anticipate that studios will look to offer their own solutions. It's only a matter of time before I can burn my favorite episodes of "Nash Bridges"--which will be great news, since I can't find them on TV anymore and I know they aren't available on DVD.

3) Social networks will embrace the long tail. The success of MySpace and Facebook shows us the need for social networking online, but the broad nature of these networks also opens them up to criticism. All the issues surrounding MySpace at the beginning of the year, including parents' concern for their children in that environment, may or may not have been warranted. But the backlash will be that social networks will segment down to smaller sub-segments of the audience and follow the path the long tail is pointing toward. We may see age groups focused in specific networks, or behavioral mindsets focused on these groups. My feeling is that the "everything to everyone" feel of the current social network model will go away, and as a result advertisers will have more targeted groups to speak with; these networks will be able to charge a premium to be there. Of course this opens up the opportunity for my next prediction....

4) Personal start pages will rise in importance again (with behavioral targeting). As our tastes continue to segment further, we will look to find a single site where we can start our day online, one that aggregates the passwords and links to all of our favorite sites and networks. The proverbial "digital dashboard" which we've spoken of for many years, gathered together by Yahoo, Google and some of the other portals, will likely become important again. Sites like Digg allow us to see what's new and where to go, but they don't help us aggregate our personal Internet. As I want to keep track of my news sources, my entertainment sources, my social networks and all the other places I like to visit, these sites become extremely important once again. These personal pages will likely be created by someone with a strong understanding of behavioral targeting--because if this is where I always start my day, they can keep track of where I go and how, to personalize the Web for me. As of last week, we achieved 100 million sites online, making the Internet too big for anyone to surf all on their own. They need help in making the Internet digestible, and this could possibly be the next re-refresh trend we might see.

Update by Sunny: Well, i am fully convinced on the prospects of Social Networking as the next big thing in creating user-defined groups but the 'Digital Dashboard' concept is definately what we can expect to change the face of behavioral targetting.

Source: Media Post

Google trials Newspaper Ad Sales

US newspapers, under pressure from an advertising exodus online, have decided to consort with the ‘enemy' in a Google test that allows customers to buy space in 50 top US titles.

The trial is limited to a small group of 100 advertisers initially but, if successful, will be rolled out next year. The newspapers involved include those owned by Gannett, Tribune Company and the New York Times.

The system will work similarly to Google's AdSense which sells ad space on thousands of websites via online auctions. Unlike AdSense, however, the newspaper program will enable advertisers to pick specific newspapers and even specific sections of papers. The publications may reject ads that do not fit or do not meet standards of taste and can set prices on which advertisers can bid.

Google will not earn anything from the test, but will take a cut of the advertising revenue when the service is opened up to all-comers. The company keeps around 20% of revenue for internet ads it places.

Update by Sunny: Well, i personally think that Google is on a buying spree and is now focussing on consolidating offline media by bringing Print Media under its 'Big Umbrella' of services. Only time will tell where they reach !!

Source: WARC News

Niche-Targeted Social Networks Find Audiences

Tanner Stransky, a 23-year-old editorial assistant living in Manhattan, has been a devotee of Facebook since college and has been on MySpace for the past few years as well. But recently he joined a third network, LinkedIn, which aims to be a career-oriented social-networking service for professionals.

More and more, multi-social networkers like him are becoming the norm as the social-networking space, after being carried the past year and half on the shoulders of sites such as MySpace and Facebook, gets far more diversified. And whether the talk about an exodus from MySpace and Facebook is just a seasonal slowdown or truly indicates a trend, there's a host of niche-targeted social networks just waiting to catch the defectors.

Benjamin Sun is looking for a few former MySpace devotees. Incidentally, his company, Community Connect, has been around longer than MySpace and has been profitable for several years, thanks to a revenue stream that includes advertising and subscription revenues. Soon, he'll launch Glee.com, a social network for the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender crowd. It joins his other sites, BlackPlanet, MiGente and AsianAvenue, which aim to attract blacks, Hispanics and Asians, respectively.

'Better to be niche'

"We believe it's better to be niche," he said. "Look at the real-world communities -- they're made up of pockets of people with similar interests." While social networks all look fairly similar now, he said, they're in a primordial stage. "They'll start branching out and super-serving the audience and giving value that you can't find in a general-market site."

At 1Up.com, a content-heavy social site where gamers trade tips, stories, opinions and gossip, the philosophy is that people don't need to choose a single social network -- they can be a part of several. Of its members, 50% also belong to MySpace, 18% to Facebook, 9% to Xanga and 6% to Friendster.

"If our members are blogging about general things, they'll do it on MySpace," said Sam Kennedy, editor in chief of 1Up.com, which is part of Ziff Davis Media Group. "But if it's gaming-related, they reserve that for 1Up because they get better reactions."

Drop in traffic numbers

A drop in traffic numbers has made headlines lately for the larger social-networking sites. According to Nielsen/NetRatings, MySpace's U.S. unique visitors fell 4% to 47.2 million in August, and Facebook's were down 12% to 7.8 million. But a Nielsen/NetRatings analyst wrote off the drop to seasonality and said a similar dip occurred in August last year.

Shawn Gold, senior VP-marketing and content at MySpace, said that there are definitely subcultures emerging within his massive social-networking site. And for users who want efficiency, one social network is certainly easier -- and MySpace is continuing to evolve its tools for self-expression, video, mobile and aggregation.

"The opportunity is MySpace's to lose by not evolving the platform," he said.

Tom Gerace is the CEO of Gather.com, a social network for what's been described as the NPR crowd. The site launched publicly in July and has about 90,000 contributing members today, he said. Already it's attracted marketing partners such as Starbucks, Amazon and Volvo.

"We're not trying to be the next Facebook or MySpace," he said. "They're doing a terrific job for the younger set. We're trying to go after people in the prime of their careers, people with disposable incomes, thought leaders."


Source: MediaPost

Google launches new Custom Search Engine {CSE}

How do you define successful innovation? And is it possible that a new Google service could be neither wildly successful nor innovative, and yet still have a lasting impact on how people search? Questions such as these came to mind when Google recently launched its Custom Search Engine (CSE) as part of its Google Co-Op project.

With the CSE, Google allows publishers to specify or prioritize sites to include in searches which are initiated from a search box on publishers' sites. If the publisher wants, other users can contribute to defining its CSE's search results.

I'm not fully convinced that CSEs will be one of the more widely used Google offerings. Besides, Google's not the only one to think so as others also have similar services. I've enumerated some Pros and Cons of Google's CSE, and I'll leave it to you to decide if it's right for you, or if you think CSEs have legs.

Pro: The G-Lo Effect. There's a formula that keeps reasserting itself: ‘Add Google's brand name to anything else and anything else looks better for it.’ It's a new twist on the classic halo effect. Add Google to the transaction process, and Google Checkout increases conversion rates. Add Google to a 3D atlas, and suddenly there are millions more budding cartographers. Add a Google-branded custom search bar to your site, and the use of your site's search box keeps growing. That's one of the promises, at least.

Con: A Google search box in the wrong place can serve as a distraction. For instance, a retailer would not want a Google CSE on its main page, since the goal is for consumers to make a transaction on their site, not treat the retailer as a portal. There is one way retailers can use CSEs: If a retailer has a microsite, blog, or other online touchpoint that serves as an informational resource for consumers, a CSE could be a welcome addition.

Pro: The CSE is the new and improved version of vertical search. A publisher that uses one is basically developing its own vertical search engine. Someone searching for the latest dirt on the stars would have all their favorite sources in one place, with none of the irrelevant sites. For instance, a Google search on Tom Cruise brings up fan sites, movie pages, photo galleries, and other sites that don't matter to someone who just wants the juicy dirt. A CSE can cut the clutter.

Con: Paid search targeting could suffer. The focus of the CSE results is really on the natural results, not the paid. That's because the natural results become more relevant, while nothing changes with the advertising. For instance, a search for "laptop" in the CSE on Macworld.com brings up search results predominantly related to Macs and iBooks, while the results in Google are all over the map. Yet the ads displayed for the Macworld CSE search are the same as the top ads from the Google search. Given that this includes advertisers only or largely selling PCs, the ads don't provide the same value and even take away from the value of the CSE search.

Pro: CSEs validate an existing model-like Rollyo, a site John Battelle has been touting since its inception, which has offered customized search engines for some time now. There's also Eurekster's Swicki and, the Yahoo Search Builder, which launched in August.

Con: I’m not sure if someone has experienced more traffic on these CSEs on their own blogs. As for Yahoo! Search Builder, it made some noise when it first came out, though I didn't hear much about it until Google launched its CSE site. Blogpulse confirms posts about Yahoo Search Builder spiked with Google's CSE announcement, but Google's announcement received 10 times the peak for Yahoo Search Builder.

Pro: There are already directories of CSEs at Lurpo.com and CustomSearchGuide.com Search functionality with fan pages must be great, right?

Con: There are also fan sites for Paris Hilton and serial killers.

If publishers embrace CSEs, then it could decentralize the search experience for consumers, turn CSE publishers into search engines, and create new targeting opportunities for advertisers.

This future, if it is ever to exist, will be some years away. Should it ever happen, Google might not have come up with the idea, but will be able to take credit for popularizing it. Innovation isn't everything, after all. Google is simply playing to its strengths; its real innovation is in marketing.

Source: MediaPost

Investing in Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization or SEO is often perceived as a free means to get your website on top of the Search Engine Rankings as against Pay per Click (PPC) where one has to pay for the keywords to get visibility for their website. This is because SEO helps your website to move up on the Free / Organic / Natural listings on Search Engines as compared to PPC which provides visibility for the website on the Paid / Sponsored listings.

This is a myth which many people follow without realizing the amount of time, effort and money that gets invested into the SEO process over a period of time. SEO is similar to a Brand Building exercise. One has to realize that results are not produced overnight in a SEO process as compared to PPC.

In case of SEO, the service provider will conduct an in depth analysis for the client’s website. The results will be seen after 2 to 3 months time as there are a lot of aspects covered in the analysis such as:

1) Determine Client Strategy

This involves determining whether the client wants to increase visibility for his website, improve rankings on search engines, drive quality traffic to his website, etc.

2) Doing a complete Website Analysis for the Client as well as the Competitors

SEO experts will conduct a complete competitive analysis for the client’s website. This analysis would be in terms of examining the client’s site structure and content management system, reviewing current traffic reports, researching and creating an initial list of potential search terms to optimize for, reviewing competitor’s tactics to get high rankings, etc.

3) Identify relevant keywords and include them on the client’s website

This will be followed by studying the keywords on your website and those used by the competitors by using certain keyword tools. They will then recommend the most relevant keywords for your website and include them on your website.

4) Checking the website for SEO Compliance

The SEO experts will check the website for compliance with Search Engines with respect to the overall design of the website which includes the Page Rank, Title, Body Descriptor, use of Flash elements as they are not detected by search engine crawlers, Keywords and Meta tags, writing various tags, analyzing the source code and relevance of content on the website. They will then provide recommendations to make the client’s website complaint with search engines.

5) Submitting the client’s website to Search Engines and Directories

The SEO experts will then submit pages of your website along with the sitemap to search engines so that they get indexed properly. This will help the client’s website to get more visibility when searched for, on search engines.

6) Link Building Analysis

SEO experts will help the client’s website to get more inbound links as these links result in driving more traffic to the client’s website.

7) Ongoing Review

The SEO expert will conduct an ongoing review for the client’s website after 2-3 months and see the results in terms of number of pages indexed, number of inbound links to the website, amount of traffic on the website, etc.

In spite of doing a full analysis on the client’s website and delivering the desired results, what clients fail to understand is the criticality of the SEO process. They should realize the fact that their website is an extended arm of the marketing activities of their company. Their website presents the face of the company to a global audience and therefore, one must be extra careful in terms of managing their website.

The client’s only concern with respect to a SEO campaign is the amount of time it takes to deliver results. In spite of performing several functions which enable a better ranking and more visibility for the client’s website, SEO providers find it difficult to convince clients to invest in their time.

In reality, they should sell the idea of a SEO service by convincing clients that they are investing in their own website which helps them to grow their own business.

Choosing a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) Firm

Choosing an SEM company is an important decision: the right choice can lead to tremendous initial growth in your company's online business and create the foundation for a satisfying business relationship that keeps this growth alive over the long-term.

Trust

When selecting an SEM company, you are first and foremost establishing a business relationship, and successful relationships are built on trust. You will be placing your online success in the SEM company's hands. Most of us can tell pretty quickly if someone deserves our trust. Follow your gut instincts, but also consider these questions:

Does the company answer your questions honestly and completely, or did it avoid certain topics and give fuzzy answers to others? The SEM company should have nothing to hide when it comes to describing how they optimize sites, how they manage ad campaigns, their track record, etc.

Does your SEM company have experience in the industry? If you're hiring them to handle search engine optimization on your web site, have someone experienced with creating web sites look underneath the hood of a couple sites the company has optimized, looking for any unusual coding that may be hidden from public view. If you're hiring the SEM company to handle your PPC campaign, have they managed campaigns successfully for clients of your size?

Do they have a list of references you can contact? Hearing the first-hand experiences of past clients is a great way to learn about the company. (Note that some of the company's past clients may have asked not to be included in a reference list, and the company should honor those wishes.)

Does the SEM company pressure you with sales tactics designed to force a decision before you're ready to make one? Building a relationship isn't about closing the deal; it's about doing what's best for you, the client. You should be able to speak with the individuals who will be doing the actual work on your site, not just with a salesperson.

Which Services?

Search engine marketing includes a variety of methods that can increase a web site's visibility in search engines. Before choosing an SEM company, it's imperative to know which one(s) you need.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of making a web site search engine friendly. It typically involves making changes to the web site itself that are designed to help the site rank higher in the organic (i.e. - free) search results.

Some search engines offer pay-for-inclusion (PFI) services, which allow you to pay to have various pages/URLs of your site crawled by the search engine spider, often on a regular basis.

There's also pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, which offer you the chance to pay to have your ad appear when searcher type your chosen keywords into the search engine. In these programs, you bid on certain words or phrases and your advertisement appears when a search is made for those words or phrases -- usually near, but not as part of the traditional search results.

These are just a few of the SEM services a company might offer. Some issues to consider:

Do you need SEO or PPC? Both? Something else? Ask the companies you're considering for their recommendation. Ask them to separate the time and costs of each service when they give you a cost proposal for your project so you can make a more informed decision.

If you need PPC, will the company you're hiring do that part of the project themselves? PPC advertising is a specialty that not all SEO companies practice. The ones that don't can often recommend companies to handle that aspect of your project.

If PPC advertising is part of your project, how long will the campaign last? How much will it cost? Which search engines will you use? What types of tools does the company use for managing your bids? Is the company skilled at writing targeted ad copy?

How will the company identify the best keywords and phrases for your optimization project? Whether you need SEO, PPC, or both, identifying the most appropriate keywords and phrases to target will be a key factor in the overall success of your efforts. Make sure you have input into this process since you, ultimately, know your business and industry more than anyone. If you specialize in and want to promote your blue, graphite widgets, don't allow the SEM company to emphasize widgets in general (not enough focus) or red, titanium widgets specifically (wrong focus). The SEM company should be able to provide general statistics indicating how often your preferred keywords and phrases are actually searched for on various search engines.

Know Your Risk Comfort Level

There are many ways to optimize a web site for search engine success. Some methods are more aggressive than others, and many search engines and industry professionals frown on these tactics as being too risky at best, and unethical at worst. Many search engines go so far as to warn the public about these methods, perhaps none so strongly as Google on a page it wrote for business owners :

"Many SEOs provide useful services for website owners, from writing copy to giving advice on site architecture and helping to find relevant directories to which a site can be submitted. However, a few unethical SEOs who have given the industry a black eye through their overly aggressive marketing efforts and their attempts to unfairly manipulate search engine results."

As a business owner, you have to determine how much risk you're willing to take on. If you're willing to try risky methods such as cloaking, doorway pages, and keyword stuffing (among others), you should also be aware of the potential consequences (which include being penalized by search engines). Make sure you and your SEM company are in complete agreement over the methods to be used in your optimization project, and have it clearly defined in the contract.

Executing an SEO Plan

If organic search engine optimization is one of your needs, you'll want to have a clear idea of how the company you hire will execute the project. The company should develop a plan based on your needs and budget. As the client, you may not want to know -- and may not understand -- every little detail that the project entails. But there are a number of topics you should discuss with the company to gain a better understanding of the big picture:

Will the company execute the hands-on aspects of the optimization plan, or are they only providing directions for your webmaster? There's no right or wrong answer to this. Some firms are consultants only; others offer consulting and hands-on optimization. If you don't have a webmaster, and expect the company to do the actual optimization work, ask about their experience as programmers and make sure they are as skilled at the hands-on work as they are at consulting.

What changes need to be made to your web site to make it more search engine friendly? In other words, what does the SEO company consider the full scope of work to optimize your web site? The project may or may not include things such as:

• changing the layout or design of your site
• updating the site architecture -- the menus, navigation, etc.
• rewriting and editing content -- the visible words on your web site
• improving HTML tags -- the hidden pieces of information in the code of your web site
• link building -- finding appropriate web sites and obtaining links from their site to yours (hint: avoid link farms and FFA sites at all costs; hint #2: the SEO company should not require a link from your site to theirs as part of the project)
• search engine submission -- letting search engines know about your site (hint: avoid automated tools; hint #2: avoid any company promising to submit your site to hundreds of search engines; hint #3: search engine submission is essentially obsolete)
• directory submissions -- letting web directories know about your site (hint: this is often more difficult than it sounds)

How soon will the company begin working on your project, and how long do they expect to take to complete it? It's unrealistic to expect your web site to make the top ten search results within a week after the project ends, so if you're aiming to increase holiday sales make sure you start (and the SEO company can finish) far enough ahead of time to allow the project to succeed. Which leads us right into...

Measuring Success

It's up to you to determine the goals and definition of success for your SEM project. Perhaps it's nothing more than an increase in traffic to your site. Expansion of your mailing list subscriber base? Doubling last year's online sales in the holiday season? During the initial meetings with the companies you're considering, you'll need to articulate your ultimate goals and whether they're short-term, long-term, or both.

It will, however, be the SEM's job to help you calculate success with information and statistics about the project. Things to consider:

Does the company make promises to acquire you as a customer? Building trust involves setting realistic expectations. No SEM company can promise long-term top rankings in the organic search results of any search engine because search engines are constantly changing how they index and rank web sites. (In the short-term, however, PPC advertising might include a guarantee of visibility on the first page of search results if you're bidding/paying enough to be seen there.)

What kind of reports will the SEM company provide to indicate your web site's ongoing ranking in various search engines, or the success of your PPC ad campaign? How often will you get those reports, and can the company help you understand them? Some companies may be able to provide sample reports to give you an idea of what to expect. How will you measure your ROI (return on investment) and what role (if any) will the SEM company provide in this process?

These are some of the issues and concerns any business should address when considering which SEO/SEM company to hire for marketing your business online. You might also spend time using the variety of resources available elsewhere on our web site to learn more about the value of search engine marketing and the industry itself. (But try to stay away from the water cooler -- hopefully now we won't be reading about your company there, unless it's the story of your SEO/SEM success!)

Source: SEMPO

Branding with Search Marketing

Branding is a major goal for marketers around the world. Large companies have typically allocated substantial funds for branding despite the fact that its effectiveness is long-term and difficult to measure. But much has changed since the commercial web became an advertising medium.

Online advertising started with banner ads that provided accountability through the clicks in the site's web logs. As search engine listings began to drive large volumes of targeted traffic to websites, search engine optimization became a marketing strategy.

While most advertising interrupts consumer behavior, search users are actively seeking information and want to be driven to its source. Search engine results page (SERP) listings are non-intrusive and function as a text ad. Little was it known in the early days that branding took place as users viewed the top listings.

Branding in the SERPs

The first hint of search engine branding surfaced in 2001, when NPD Group conducted a study to examine user interaction on three types of search engine ads: SERP listings, banner ads, and square "tile ads" alongside search listings. Results indicated the SERP listings were read and clicked significantly more often than banners or tile ads. Listings also produced more sales. The study concluded that SERP listings resulted in more brand awareness than any other ads in a search environment.

In 2004, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Nielsen/NetRatings conducted a study on "Internet Search Brand Effectiveness" to explore branding in SERP text ads. The study looked at various branding attributes based on SERP exposure and contextual ad placement. The branding attributes studied were: unaided brand awareness, aided ad awareness, familiarity and brand image associations. Results indicated that SERP branding is stronger than contextual ad branding and is particularly effective when the brand holds the top position in the SERPs.

The Importance of Branding

Your brand is what identifies your business to consumers. It resides in the hearts and minds of your customers and prospects as the sum total of their experiences with and perceptions of your company. Good branding results in loyal customers, and existing customer relationships are the key to profitability. So it's no wonder that branding is a major marketing goal.

SEMPO research on business marketing goals shows that most companies place "increase brand awareness" at the top of their list. Other goals include, "selling products/services online," "generating leads," "increasing traffic," "generating leads for distributors," and "providing information/education."

The Branding Component of Search Marketing

Up until now, the major goal of search engine marketing (SEM) has been to drive targeted traffic to your site for lead generation and online or offline conversions. It's taken a while for marketers to realize that during this process, another valuable advertising goal is achieved -- that of branding.

Some SEM firms don't hype branding because of the focus on driving qualified traffic to produce leads and sales. However, the branding aspect of SEM is important, accountable, and should not be overlooked.

How Search Branding Works

When indexing your site, most search engines will use your website's Title and Description, or the information therein, to create the text link that appears in the SERPs. This link, and the brief description of your site that follows, function as an "ad" when users view your search engine listing.

Every time your listing shows prominently in the SERPs, branding takes place. You can achieve better branding when you ensure that all your ad elements encourage maximum awareness upon click-through to your landing page.

There are two major factors of importance in an SEM branding campaign: your branding message on the results page (Title/Description or Paid Text Ad) and your call to action on the landing page.

Coordinating Critical Ad Elements

Your Title and Description Tags are critical elements in a professional search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. When your website structure and content are properly optimized, these elements will help bring you to prominent positioning in the SERPs.

With paid search ads, a professional SEM firm will research and identify key phrases, write the text ad, develop your bidding strategy, monitor bids, and track and fine-tune changes. Here, too, there's a Title and Description that shows in the SERPs.

Your landing page is an important ad element for both SEO and Paid Search campaigns. Copy and creative should be strategically composed as an extension of your "search ad" on the SERPs, with the landing page focused solely on the desired action. Ideally, these marketing elements should be prepared by SEM pros with some advertising expertise.

Measuring Search Branding

How do you measure the effects of branding in a search engine marketing campaign? A web analytics program such as ClickTracks or WebSideStory can do more than simply report statistics. These systems for compiling data will analyze your web logs to effectively manage your SEM campaign and measure your brand effectiveness. Below are some of the data points that can be used to measure the brand impact of an SEM campaign.

• Average Time On Site: The longer your visitors browse your site upon arrival from a search engine, the better chance you have for future conversions.
• Page Views Per Visitor: The more pages your prospects visit and read, the greater the odds of communicating your marketing message. This contributes to branding awareness.
• Path Views to Registration or Subscription Sign-Ups: This is the same as the visitor giving you permission to form a business relationship. It starts a dialog and allows you to continue building your brand, moving the visitor closer to conversion.
• White Paper Downloads: The more interest is shown in your products/services, the more branding takes place, and the user moves closer to conversion.
• Navigation Report: This shows where visitors go next, pointing prospects to distributor or retailer sites. When search listings result in a click to a seller site, there is likelihood of purchase and proof of branding.

Maximize Your Branding Efforts

With the hidden value in search listings, it's wise to extend your branding efforts through SEM campaigns. The coordination of SEM and advertising expertise ensures that all critical ad elements work together for both conversions and the elevation of your brand.

In case if you are looking for a Search Engine Marketing (SEM) firm to carry out your branding exercise, contact Position2 Inc.

Source: SEMPO