The Week in Review
Keyword Targeting in Paid Search: Beware the Galaxy Effect
In today’s paid-search environment, failing to target the right keywords means huge missed opportunities left on the table. " In my experience, it’s common for companies either just starting out in paid search, or companies without a lot of experience in SEM, to unknowingly limit their keyword targeting. This can lead to missed opportunities and potentially wasted budget. I call this phenomenon “The Galaxy Effect” and it can severely limit the potential performance of any SEM effort." This post takes a look at what causes "The Galaxy Effect" and how to neutralize it. (Search Engine Journal)
Most Brand Followers on Facebook Want Special Offers
According to a survey of nearly 2,500 consumers, 21.3 percent of respondents follow brands on Facebook. For this group, the most common reason was to be notified of special offers (70 percent), followed by to shop (38 percent), to follow events (38%) and to leave feedback (29 percent). "F-commerce" is still young, but one in four respondents said they have made a purchase via a brand’s Facebook page. (Econsultancy)
Fully Automated SEO and News
SEO is bound to bend its knee to machines, and "many of our jobs (yes that means yours as well) will be at risk." Research and monitoring, link building, on-site optimization, and reporting are all areas of SEO that are ripe for automation. The content-farm model (and journalism itself) is also vulnerable to robots, crowdsourcing and automation. (Search Engine Journal, GigaOM)
Revenue Will Be a More Popular Metric for Social Media Marketing
While site traffic, number of fans/members and number of positive customer mentions will continue to be popular metrics used by CMOs to measure the value of social media marketing activities, many more CMOs will be looking for conversions and revenue this year compared to 2010. (eMarketer)
Zuckerberg Was Right: Teens Don’t Use E-mail
According to numbers from comScore, there was a 59 percent decline in Web-based e-mail use for consumers ages 12-17, confirming Mark Zuckerberg’s assertion that high-school kids don’t use e-mail. Social networking sites are also grabbing a bigger share of time spent online in the U.S., with notable a noticeable increase in the last month of 2010. (TechCrunch)
Maximizing Mobile App Revenue
Mobiles apps are all the rage this year, but how do developers make money if so many of their apps are being offered for free? In-app advertising, in-app purchases and freemium versions are some alternatives. Here’s a look at some key concepts for understanding mobile advertising, as well as some tips for getting more traction from your apps. (GigaOM)
Blekko Grows in Popularity
Blekko’s saw a million queries a day in January, and has seen growth since its announcement that it was banning some content farms from its search index. If Facebook-generated "/likes" are included in Blekko’s slashtag count, the up-and-coming search engine could boast more than a million slashtags. (WebProNews, Search Engine Land)
Social Commerce Q-and-A
Richard Anson, CEO and co-founder of Reevoo, an aggregator of verified reviews for brands and retailers, answers some questions about social commerce. He discusses the importance of measurement of ROI, his company and the increasing use of incorporating reviews into search and navigation. (Econsultancy)
Link-Building Fail
A search marketer shares one painful instance of making a costly link-building mistake. Among the points made are that paid links are stinky, choosing quantity over quality is a bad idea, and "success" can come at a cost. (Search Engine Watch)
Training Tips for SEOs
Here are tips for SEOs when it comes to planning and delivering effective training sessions. Among them are to identify needs, set up a good environment conducive to learning, pick the right room layout and get feedback. (SEOmoz)
Online Retail Spending Reaches Record-Breaking $43.4 Billion in Q4 2010
According to the latest figures from comScore, online retail spending reached a record $43.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2010, up 11 percent from the same quarter in 2009. This marked the fifth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth. Computer software, consumer electronics, books and magazines, computers/peripherals/PDAs, and toys and hobbies were the top-performing product categories. (comScore)
Google Instant: Success
Google Instant was one of Google’s most radical tweaks in years, and brought with it concerns about SEO, ad impressions and brad bias. However, it appears that Google Instant is a success so far. It boasts a low 2 percent opt-out rate, and Google searchers are typing 5 percent fewer characters and reaching results 10 percent faster than they were with non-Instant search. (Fast Company)
New Tier of Search Advertising Providers?
Last year’s mergers, fallouts, acquisitions and technology achievements could lead to marketers exploring new partnerships in the broader search advertising market – namely, with ad networks. While we have clear-cut Tier 1 and Tier 2 search providers right now, we could see the emergence of Tier 1.5 this year. “These Tier 1.5 providers will differentiate themselves from the rest of the ad networks in a variety of ways, and become the trusted partners for those marketers looking to expand their reach beyond the Tier 1 engines.” (Search Engine Watch)
Yelp: 35% of Searches Now Mobile
According to Yelp, 35 percent of all searches on Yelp.com came from a Yelp mobile app in December. This is another clarion call-to-action for marketers who haven’t yet jumped into the mobile game. (Search Engine Land)
Social Monitoring: Most Use Search Alerts
Among the tools used to monitor social networks, search alerts are the most popular among IT professionals in North America, with 56 percent saying they use them. Outside vendors follow with 16 percent of the response, while specialty applications trail with 15 percent. A whopping 40 percent say they don’t know what they use to monitor social networks. (eMarketer)
Social Media Doesn’t Drive Much Traffic to Retail Websites
According to ForeSee Results, "social media interactions are a primary influence for just three percent of visitors to e-retail websites in the UK." Meanwhile familiarity with the brand influenced 46 percent of visitors, search engine results influenced 13 percent and promotional e-mails influenced 10 percent. (ForeSee Results)
Bing Fires Back at Google with Click Fraud Allegation
The scuffle between Google and Bing continues as Bing called Google’s "honeypot" attack click fraud. "That’s right, the same type of attack employed by spammers on the web to trick consumers and produce bogus search results." Meanwhile, one writer suggests that Google’s attack on Bing is vintage Larry Page. (WebProNews, AllThingsD)
Why PPC is Essential for a Successful SEO Strategy
When you don’t have any data to analyze for your site, a paid-search campaign is the ticket. "Running a paid search campaign will allow you to find out which terms convert the best for you. Once you have identified those terms you can then start building your SEO strategy." (Search Engine Journal)
R.I.P. Page Views
"Engagement is the trend, page views are dead." It’s time for Google to respond to this shift, let companies like Mixpanel move into its analytics territory. (The Next Web)
Mobile Marketing in 2011
Tony Nethercutt, general manager of mobile ad network Mojiva, shares his outlook for mobile marketing in 2011. Among the things he expects is maturity, sophisticated ad units using video and rich media, and greater transparency and results. (Mobile Marketing Watch)
7 Signs You Aren’t Thinking Big Enough in Your E-mail Campaigns
If you compare your performance to industry benchmarks rather than your own, if testing isn’t part of your strategy or if you’re testing link colors, you probably aren’t thinking big enough when it comes to your e-mail marketing efforts. Read on for four other signs that your sights might be set too low. (MediaPost)
How Affiliate Marketing Promotional Methods Are Changing
There’s a shift away from PPC affiliates toward loyalty/incentive sites. "Research carried out by Affiliate Window indicates that those most likely to lose out on the last click model are PPC and price comparison affiliates. These are considered to be ‘initiators’ rather than ‘closers.’" Advertisers need to recognize that individual affiliates offer unique brand partnership opportunities. (Econsultancy)
Blekko Blocks Content Farms, Google Doesn’t
Blekko is banning content farms from it search results. Sites like eHow.com, Answerbag.com and 123people.com are among the top 20 websites marked as spam by the search engine’s users. On the other hand, Google’s recent algorithm tweak has been confirmed as a move to tackle low-quality content scraper sites, not content farms. (TechCrunch, WebProNews)
Common HTML E-mail Design Mistakes
Failing to size images correctly, trying to use scripts and forms, and trying to use modern CSS are among the most common mistakes e-mail marketers make when designing HTML e-mails. Read on for more common mistakes and suggestions on how to avoid each. (MailerMailer)
Social Network Ad Revenues: $3 Billion in 2011
According to a forecast from eMarketer, social network ad revenues in the U.S. will reach $3.08 billion in 2011, up considerably from $1.99 billion in 2010 and $1.43 billion in 2009. This year, 10.8 percent of all U.S. online ad spending ($28.5 billion) will go to social networks. (eMarketer)
