FindWhat Review

May 30, 2004

FindWhat is one of the few publicly traded pay per click search engines. When they came on the scene, they were a must use source of advertising. They slowly fell in rank until recently when they took a different approach.
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Business Marketing

May 17, 2004

In the world of business, it is commonly said that if sales is king, then marketing is queen. Making sure that you are marketing your business in the best possible manner is tantamount to ensuring success in terms of sales and profit.

Once you have laid out your business plan for research and development, site location, capital and investment funding, loans, and hiring employees, it is time to look into marketing as the best way for your business to expand and brand itself.

With the economy in a fairly slow point right now, it is especially imperative for businesses to take advantage of all the marketing techniques that currently exist. No matter what it is that you are selling, you can be assured that the modern marketing technologies will benefit your business.

In particular, the Internet is fast becoming a great place to spend your advertising dollar. For example, over 100 million people in the United States alone log onto the Internet every single day. This means that a large portion of these potential customers could be looking at your advertisement and buying your product.

By placing an ad where the people who might buy your product will see it, you are expanding your consumer base to the global level, while strengthening your position in the local market at the same time.

The new system that has been developed is known as search-based online advertising, and, basically, it uses the Internet search to provide consumers with information about you company. Placing an ad online means that anyone who searches for one of a million terms that are related to your company, your ad will be there, waiting for them to click on your link.

In fact, business marketing has never been in a better place. With online advertising representing the most cost-effective—dollar for dollar—advertising system available right now, you could be seeing the benefits of the system almost immediately.

Do not wait for your yellow pages ad to bring in one customer. Be proactive and take your product to the very people you want to see it: the customers. Business marketing has always been about striking when the iron is hot, and no iron is hotter right now than search-based online advertising. Get into it before the secret gets out and ensure that the best deals and locations are exclusively yours.

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Vertical Marketing | Comments Off

AdWords Hypothetical Formula

May 16, 2004

As usual, I was over analyzing a few data trends and got to wondering if there is a formula which could be applied to ads to determine CTR of people who would click on an ad.

This is total speculation, and yet another long post, so not sure if people will want to participate or not, but found the topic intriguing (could be that Psyche major kicking in). Feel free to disagree, would like to see others opinions.

I’m sure I missed a factor or 3, so please add more factors that I’ve missed. Of course, every factor can’t be accounted for, but the major ones can be.

In order, would you agree that the rate is determined by:

1. Ad Position - no matter how good your copy, this is going to be the major factor.
2. Relevant Keyword (I’m sure there will be disagreement that this should be #1, but I’ve just seen too many unrelated KWs in the top positions get decent CTRs).
3. Title.
4. Competiting ads near yours - makes your ad look better or worse (or every ad looks the same).
5. Branding - have they heard of/done business with you before?
6. Total number of ads
7. Description
8. URL

Is there a major factor I missed?

Now for numbers, the reason someone clicked on your ad, which is total speculation.
1. Premium Position: 5%
2. Position: 30%
3. Relevant keyword: 25%
4. Title: 15%
5. Branding: 10%
6. Description: 10%
7. URL: 5%

Other factors:
Competition: +/- 25%
Total ads: +/- 15%

So, if your ad was:
1. Premium Position, 2nd place: 2.5%
2. Number 2 position: 25%
3. Keyword very closely related: 20%
4. Very Good title: 10%
5. They’ve seen your banners: 3%
6. Average description: 4%
7. URL: Included /Folder relating to description: 2%.
Excellent competition: -20%
Full 8 ads on page: -15%.

Would 31.5% of people who would click on an ad, click on your ad?

This can be taken even further, as the recent study byiProspect (I consider this data very speculative, but useful for this formula) determined that 27.7% of G searchers clicked on an ad.

So, 27.7% of 31.5% is 8.72%.
Would the above ad gather an 8.72 CTR rate?

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Google AdWords, PPC Info | 1 Comment

Manufacturing Marketing

May 14, 2004

Great advances have been made in manufacturing in the last ten years, making it easier than ever for the small businessperson to vertically integrate themselves, or to start a manufacturing company outright, and sell their products to clients.

But in the world of manufacturing, production quantity does not mean anything without the customers to sell it to. It is not enough to have one or two steady clients for your product. Because of market fluctuations, no matter what the history between your manufacturing company and your client, the relationship can end remarkably quickly, leaving you in the lurch.

In fact, increasing customer size is the only way to expand your business, and in some cases the only way to stay afloat. But many people are often left without a clue when it comes to marketing the business they worked so hard to create.

Manufacturing marketing, in many cases, represents the only way to gain customers and expand your business. Marketing your manufacturing business clearly does not mean taking out late night television spots (not that it has not been tried). A good place to start can be trade magazines or newspapers, and of course putting that ad in the print yellow pages has never been known to hurt.

Although these are great ways to start, the actual increase in business size by these methods can be surprisingly minimal. Only by directly targeting your audience can your ad have the most potential to increase your company’s size.

Online, search-based advertising represents the best-guarded secret in terms of manufacturing marketing. By placing your ad directly where potential customers might see it, you are giving yourself the gift of a larger consumer base, and allowing your company to stay competitive regardless of market shifts and client whim.

By targeting your specific potential customer base, search-based advertising uses the Internet’s most powerful tool, the search, to put your ad directly in front of the people who may want to see it.

Marketing your manufacturing company is no longer a thing of the past. In order to stay competitive, you must use all the tools that are available to you, the most powerful of which, right now, is search-based advertising.

Written by Brad Geddes aka eWhisper · Filed Under Vertical Marketing | Comments Off

Creating Limited Time ‘Sale Campaigns’ in Google AdWords

May 12, 2004

Many companies run limited time sales. Creating ads with creatives such as:

Limited Widget Sale
Low prices from $150!
Sale ends 7/5/2004
www.example.com/Special

can have a very positive response, as the end date will compel people to check out your offer while it still lasts.
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Don’t Search For Your Own Keywords Over & Over

May 5, 2004

Your pay per click effectiveness in Google AdWords is measured by click through rate. If you search for a niche keyword (which should not gather a lot of impressions) a lot of times, you will deflate it’s click through rate unless you click on it.
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