The Week in Review

Strategies for Creating Ads with a Facebook Page Tab as the Destination

This post provides "strategies for how to maximize returns from destination tab ads that point to welcome tabs that are appropriate for all visitors, Facebook’s native tabs, tabs that drive specific types of conversion such as contact info collection or sales, and demographic-specific custom welcome tabs." (Inside Facebook)

Early Results for YouTube’s In-Stream Ads

According to GoPro, a company that makes sports cameras and one of YouTube’s first TrueView advertisers, 35 percent of viewers who were served its in-stream ads watched them in their entirety. Still, YouTube notes that it observes a large variation from one ad to the next, and that completion rates depend on the context. (ClickZ)

The Importance of Click-to-Sale Conversion Rates for Affiliate Campaigns

The click-to-sale conversion rate is an obvious-yet-overlooked place to start when optimizing affiliate campaigns. In order to boost conversion rates, advertisers should share knowledge with affiliates, work closely with individual affiliates and encourage users to purchase online, among other things. (Econsultancy)

7 Paid-Promotional Tactics to Test

White-hat paid-promotion tactics should have a place in your holistic online marketing plan. "They can help pour fuel on the embers your digital initiatives have lit and, executed properly, in time actually contribute to sustainable organic traffic building." Facebook ads, Reddit sponsored links, StumbleUpon ads and LinkedIn Ads are among the seven platforms to test. (The Future Buzz)

Facebook Improves its Search Results

While this is far from news that will make Google and Bing shake in their boots, Facebook has indeed improved its search results — well, for the most part. "The new display is organized into different content types, replacing the old version which showed results in a straight list format with no organization." However, "clicking the ‘more results’ link at the bottom of the drop-down leads to the still unorganized full search results page." (Search Engine Land)

5 Easy Ways to Test Your Landing Pages

After you’ve identified your testing goals, tested variables that directly impact your goals and make sure that you’re using statistically significant data, it’s time to do some testing. Among the five simple tests are testing different call-to-actions, testing different headlines and testing prices. (Search Engine Land)

5 Free Tools for Competitor Keyword Research

If you don’t have access to the premium SEO tools out there, you still have access to the free ones. These five free tools will help you see what keywords your competitors are ranking for: SEOmoz Term Extractor, Open Site Explorer, Google AdWords Keyword Tool, SEMrush and Alexa. (Search Engine Journal)

14 Tips for Making the Most of Feeds

"To be successful you need to be more than simply informed — you need to be a thought leader and agenda-setter rather than another voice in the echo chamber. But feeds are at a disadvantage on this front, as a headline that appears on a feed must have already been written about. The goal then is to use feeds, as quickly as possible, to ensure that you’re among the first writing about a topic." Among the tips for doing this are to us Google Reader, build your own feeds from searches and to use full text in your RSS feeds. (Search Engine Watch)

3 Facebook Commerce Success Stories

Facebook commerce hasn’t yielded that many success stories to learn from just yet. That said, there are still good reasons to start a virtual storefront on the giant social networking site. BabyAndMeGifts.com, Livescribe and Ettitude are three companies that got it right. (Mashable)

Why Bother with Display Ads?

Banner ads are great for raising awareness for your business/brand, which means though they might not be ideal for driving huge amounts of traffic, they are prime-time tools for the long haul. "If they’re seen by the right eyes, they’ll build brand recognition and trust, and prime the pump for customers to click on a text ad, or visit a real-world store. They can also inspire users to do a web search, leading them to websites or text ads. The trick is making sure that display ads get seen by the right eyeballs in the first place." Read on for tips about how to approach display ads. (The Globe and Mail)

Why Most Facebook Marketing Flops

What works and doesn’t work when it comes to Facebook marketing? Well, first off, deep campaigns don’t work. Then you’ve got the issues of too many apps on one tab, sweepstakes, photo and video contests, extended permissions, and unbranded apps, among other things that fail. What works are promotions and consistent, lightweight engagement. (ReadWriteWeb)

8 Must-Have WordPress SEO Plugins

If you’re using WordPress and are looking for some excellent SEO helpers, this is your post. SEO Rank Reporter, All in One SEO Pack and SEO Content Control are among the eight WordPress SEO plugins that you should seriously consider. (Six Revisions)

Mobile Marketing, According to Razorfish

Matt Cava, account director for mobile at Razorfish, shares his thoughts on mobile marketing. Included in the Q-and-A session are the topics of clients’ biggest concerns in 2011, any focus shifting away from apps to the mobile Web and emerging trends to watch this year. (MediaPost)

PPC Trademark Rules

Here’s a rundown of the basic rules for the U.S. and Canada when it comes to trademarks and PPC. In the end, “it is your job to understand all of the rules and regulations tied to trademarks before you begin…As a trademark owner (or representative if working on behalf of your client) it is your job to monitor competitors and make sure the trademarked name is not being used improperly.” (PPC Hero)

Why SEOs Shouldn’t Focus too Much on Keyword Rankings

Many businesses put too much weight on keyword ranking. “But focusing on position, especially for a small group of keywords — and especially to the detriment of other factors — is a terrible idea. It’s usually isn’t best investment in a campaign or a good indicator of the overall health of a campaign.” What you should be doing is working with a range of keywords, going for long-tail traffic, and working with analytics and conversion optimization. (Search Engine Watch)

Value-Based Pricing

Value-based pricing, the "holy grail" of online lead generation, is getting buzz lately. "What’s needed is data, and lots of it, that can be tracked back through the sales funnel to determine which creatives and landing pages work best and then arrive at an appropriate lead price for the particular supplier or channel." (Econsultancy)

What it Takes to Be an Independent Search Marketer

"If you’re a Search Marketer working at an agency, in-house or are out-of-work entirely, you’ve probably considered going independent at least once. A bad day at the office can inspire daydreams of earning more money and working from home in your pajamas. There are clear advantages to becoming your own boss but the grass isn’t always greener, as they say." Here are a few findings from the 2010 SEO Industry Survey, along with the skills it takes to be an independent search marketer. (SEOmoz)

Pre-Roll Ads Dominate Video Advertising, Females Have Higher Completion Rates

According to recent figures from YuMe’s 2010 Video Advertising Metrics Report, 96.7 percent of the company’s ad volume was of the pre-roll variety in the fourth quarter of 2010. Also, the female audience had a video completion rate of 74 percent, versus 67 percent for males. (Business Wire)

Google Social Search Expands

Google has announced that its search results are getting more social, which should come as a surprise to no one. This post breaks down the changes, which include social search being blended into regular results, social connections boosting a page’s ranking and the absence of Facebook "Likes" for the time being. (Search Engine Land, TechCrunch)

How Ad Exchanges Work

How much can be said about a process that takes less than one-third of a second to complete? Three pages’ worth, apparently. This rundown covers the process starting from the publisher, to the publisher ad server, to the exchanges, to the demand-side platforms, to the bid, to the verification systems and beyond. (iMediaConnection.com)

5 Reasons to Create a Facebook Fan Page and 5 Reasons Not to

There are reasons to create a Facebook fan page and there are reasons not to. This post has five of each. One reason to go for one is the closer ties Facebook and SEO have these days. One reason not to is the amount of time and attention it will require. (Search Engine Journal)

How and When Google’s Ranking Penalties Are Removed

In a video, Matt Cutts talks about how and when Google will remove a search ranking penalty for a website. He touches on manual penalties and algorithmic penalties. (Search Engine Land)

33 Ways to Measure Your Online Competition

"If you want to go after keywords that will provide a big return, do your research and invest in the right tools and resources. When you are contemplating pursuing that trophy keyword, you might want to take an in-depth look at your competitors to determine if you really measure up." This post uses an example for "online education" and "online degrees." (SEO.com)

Use Symbols in PPC Ads to Lift Conversions

Using symbols in PPC ad text helped one brand campaign see an 89 percent boost in conversions. "Acting on good PPC advice can make a big difference in your campaign’s performance, especially when it comes to ad testing." (WordStream)

Using Incentives to Get Opt-In E-mail Addresses

Renting lists and "harvesting" aren’t recommended ways to grow your lists anymore. Still, there are plenty of other ways to get active, engaged and "clean" e-mail lists. Try using "online campaigns where the competition element is central and participants have to register," or "send-to-a-friend or recruit-a-friend campaigns where existing subscribers are given something for every new subscriber introduced by them." Read on for more ideas, along with benefits and dangers to using incentives and competitions to grow e-mail lists. (Social Email Marketing)