Loading ...Weekly Wrap Up - 9 May 2008
By David Sumner-Smith | May 9, 2008
Industry News:
WebVisible Software Platform Named 2008 Internet Product of the Year by AeA
Targeted Advertising For Web Printouts: The ‘PrinterStitial’
Marchex Rises After Co. Beats Analysts’ 1Q Expectations
Google Gets Closer to a Mobile Future
Microsoft to Show New Search Tech This Month
Facebook Nabs Another Google Exec
Idearc Announces First Quarter 2008 Results
Microsoft Should Sideline Search, Focus on Strengths
Yellowbook Launches New Multi-Media Campaign That Redefines the Future of Local Search
Facebook Search Box Is Low-Hanging Fruit For Microsoft
Use Universal Search to Leapfrog Local Rankings
Seven Tactics For Leveraging Paid Search To Build Brand Awareness
Yellow Book Changes Name, Flaunts New Tagline
TNS Rejects WPP Buyout Offer; Nielsen May Be Next
Google Opens Doors to TV AdWords, Offers Monetary Incentive
Topics: Pay-For-Performance, Web site, National advertisers, Weekly Wrap Up, Yellow Pages, Content, Advertising, Reports | No Comments »
Kelsey conference, Drilling Down on Local ’08 - Recaps
By David Sumner-Smith | May 7, 2008
The three day Kelsey conference, Drilling Down on Local ’08 was by most accounts a success.
Among the blogs commenting on the conference are Kate Kaye’s “Random Notes.”
Peter Krasilovsky’s comments, “Yahoo!’s Michael Yang at Kelsey Seattle: Verticals Front-and-Center,” excerpted from the advisory written for Kelsey Marketplace clients.
And Andrew Shotland’s blogs containing live updates from the event.
Kelsey has also posted some brief comments and recaps (see below) on their site:
You Ain’t Seen Nothin’ Yet – Merrill Brown, MMB Media
AOL Reinvests in Local - Chris Spanos, Director of Search Verticals
More Local Video: Fox Enters the Picture - GM Ron Berryman
More from Google and Cars.com on Verticals - Adrian Madland, Google’s head of automotive strategic partnerships
Yahoo!’s Michael Yang on Verticals
Call Genie at DDL: Location Relevance the Key to Mobile Search - Call Genie Director of Product Evolution Gary Galinsky
On the Leading (Bleeding?) Edge With Verticals – panel
The Opportunity in Geo-Domains - Dan Pulcrano - city sites: Seattle.com and SanJose.com, etc.
Online Shifts in Auto – panel
A Primer for Selling to SMBs - Kurt Weinsheimer, GM for Local Marketing Services at Spot Runner
Online Real Estate at DDL: Think Agents and Age – panel
Driving Relevant Content to Targeted Consumers - Sarah Pate, president and CEO of AdMission Corp.,
Google Says It’s All About Partnering - Cars.com President Mitch Golub
Zillow’s Rich Barton: Age of Verticals Just Beginning
Yellowbook.com’s Pat Marshall Talks Partnerships
Building Hyperlocal Content in Seattle - Patricia Lee Smith,
The Seattle Times
Live From DDL: LA Times’ Rob Barrett
Topics: The Kelsey Group, Mobile, Blogging, National advertisers, Call Tracking, Newspapers, Forecasts, Local SEO, Events, Advertising, Content, Verticals, Local Search, Data, Yellow Pages, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Weekly Wrap Up - 2 May 2008
By David Sumner-Smith | May 2, 2008
LocalPoint News:
How Low Can You Go? by Cameron Ferroni
Best User Reviews Ever by Nick Berliner
Industry News:
Online Ad Company Marchex Enters Mobile With Pay-Per-Call Service
Publishers look to social networking for brand engagement
Mobile Display Ads Have Branding Impact - Increase Awareness, Interest
Yelp For Business: New Tools Allowing Local Businesses To Speak For Themselves & More
Media Co. Cox eyes online ad growth, buys startup for $300M
Clinton, McCain, Obama: Drilling Down on Local in Campaign ‘08
CNET, Yahoo sign deal‘Paste’ Blurs Editorial-Advertising Line, Allows Ads Next to Page Numbers
Topics: Blogging, Local Advertisers, Weekly Wrap Up, Local Search | No Comments »
How Low Can You Go?
By Cameron Ferroni | April 30, 2008
Somewhat lost amidst the noise of the Microsoft/Yahoo! posturing over the last couple of weeks was a rather dramatic announcement by Yahoo! that they were changing how their minimum bid system worked. What struck me about this wasn’t that they had done it, it was that they hadn’t done it sooner, and at the outrage expressed by so many of their customers (particularly the ones that said they would move to Google as a result of this). Why does this fascinate me? Because Yahoo! still has one of the most transparent min-bid systems in the industry - far more understandable than Google!
First off some history. In the not too distant past, Yahoo! was perfectly predictable. If you are willing to bid 10 cents on a keyword (and you follow all of their creative rules etc) they will show your ads when people search on that keyword. It was this simplicity that people craved. Now, what that actually meant was that Yahoo! would show that ad, somewhere in their system. For all an advertiser knew, if they were bidding 10 cents for a particular keyword, they could end up in the first slot on the first page of results, they could have ended up in the 10th slot on the 1000th page of results, or in the case of a distribution partner, they might not show up at all since 10 cents might not meet the threshold of a partner. Suddenly it doesn’t seem so simple.
And for Yahoo! this didn’t make a lot of sense - it doesn’t drive a truly competitive market if you can have people just sitting at the low end. And it likely results in having thousands of ads all sitting at 10 cents for a particular keyword. So they took it to a new level. They now look at the competitive market for that keyword - what other people are bidding, and how much traffic your ads are getting - and dynamically tell you how much you need to spend at a minimum. Now you still may end up on the 100th page, but at least there is competition in the space. According to Yahoo! this can result in minimum bids trending lower than 10 cents, but that remains to be seen. It’s hard to imagine a world in which that makes sense for anyone.
But how does this relate to Google? Well, Google is even more aggressive about this than Yahoo!. At least, the world thinks so. Because Google is a complete black box. They take any number of factors into account when they tell you the minimum bid - and their minimum bid isn’t for a keyword, it is for an ad, keyword, domain name, content combination. That’s right, as best as people have been able to reverse engineer, Google looks at the keyword you are buying, and performs a complicated algorithm that looks at the ad copy, the domain name of the target, the content on the domain, the competitive landscape, and then determines what your minimum price will be. Forget 10 cents. I’ve seen instances where the same keyword, ad, content live on 2 different domains, and on one domain it will cost you 60 cents, and on the other it will cost you $10.
So what does all this mean? Well, it seems like Yahoo! is trying to figure out a way to make more money. As a public company, that seems like a totally prudent/responsible thing to do. In addition, it makes good sense from a user experience perspective - if something is valuable - a keyword etc - it makes sense to make people pay more to take advantage of it - that should lead to better and more relevant ads for users! And frankly, if the industry leader has already been doing this for years, then it stands to reason that everyone else will be trying to tap into the same kind of improvements as well…..
Topics: Pay-For-Performance, National advertisers, Local SEO, Local Search, PPClick, Advertising | No Comments »
Best User Reviews Ever
By Nick Berliner | April 29, 2008
Last week, Marchex announced partnerships with six local content partners to add over five million user reviews and ratings to our over 150,000 local Web sites, including our primary hub, Openlist.com. This is huge as it further establishes Openlist.com as the premiere source for locally focused business listings, reviews and ratings. With our shiny new partners all under one roof, I’d like to highlight some of the more colorful and memorable reviews in the network.
King’s Hardware, Seattle | Openlist.com via Seattle.citysearch.com
“Let’s face it. A mind numbing suburban plague has been marching over Seattle like the Red Army hopped up on Pottery Barn toffee. That being said, King’s Hardware is a lone foothold of grit in that rising sea of sameness. It harkens back to the days when walking into a Ballard bar and saying hello would either get you a 30 minute dissertation on trawl gear, or a fat lip. It’s got the best outdoor deck in the city, an open causeway to Rudy’s Barbershop next door, Skee Ball and floors of scarred timber. The burgers are top drawer and the staff knows what they’re doing. They’re easy on the eyes too…real easy. Sometimes I wish they were easier but that most likely has something to do with me. So, if you’re looking for a quiet place to schmooze your Suzy, stay home and listen to records. Otherwise, swing by King’s and find out what Seattle used to be like, before the end started marching in.”
NB: This is a great review: metaphoric, insulting and apocalyptic…
Blend, New York | Openlist.com via Urbanspoon.com
“My girlfriend and I found this place by accident. The food was awesome! Order all of the apps, they are great. Very romantic ambiance, my girl and I really loved it. I took my wife there a few weeks later and she loved it as well.”
NB: Nothing like brazenly broadcasting you have a girlfriend AND a wife over the Internet…
Earwax Café, Chicago | Openlist.com via Gusto.com
“My buddy Chad and I were vegging like zombies at his pad on Sunday night after two days of solid partying and didn’t feel like getting up for anything. But we were getting hungry and bored. No problem. My pal called Earwax Café, mumbled an order for something or other, and low and behold 20 minutes later, this delivery dude from Earwax showed up with some awesome food and a movie (“Wedding Crashers”). The next day we went by Earwax to return the movie, and grab some more grub. Very cool place. We sat in one of the booths that were painted in crazy colors and patterns. Real good vibe in the place.”
NB: Dude, where’s my brain cells…
Topics: Local Advertisers, Neighborhood, Community, Advertising, Content, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Weekly Wrap Up - 25 April 2008
By David Sumner-Smith | April 25, 2008
LocalPoint News:
Is Video Going to Break the Internet? by Teri Foley
Marchex Local Content Partnerships by Ryan Fritzky
Industry News:
Top Four Portals’ Ad Revenues to Weather Rough Economy in ‘08
3 Factors that Limit Ad Networks
Improve your brand’s reputation with search
Study: Vertical Advertising To Reach $15B by 2012
Yahoo’s New Minimum Bid Prices Now Live: Advertisers Impacted
Topics: The Kelsey Group, National advertisers, Forecasts, Newspapers, Local Advertisers, Weekly Wrap Up, Reports, Advertising, Resources, Local Search, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Is Video Going to Break the Internet?
By Teri Foley | April 24, 2008
ZDNet Australia reported Monday that Jim Cicconi, Vice President of Legislative Affairs for AT&T, who was speaking at the Westminster eForum on Web 2.0 in London recently, stated “in three years’ time, 20 typical households will generate more traffic than the entire Internet today.”
Wow. Really? I have to wonder how that is possible, even if, as Cicconi stated, “video will be 80 percent of all traffic by 2010, up from 30 percent today.”
I still work with folks across the country in various markets who claim that some small business owners they call on still don’t even have email. Now is that “typical”? Of course not, but there are still many late adapters of technology out there. These same individuals often don’t have a Web site promoting their business, nor are they uploading or watching video via the Web.
Video has certainly become popular, no doubt about it. I myself have watched a video or two on YouTube. Am I a “typical household”? Could I be one of the 20 households contributing to the mass generation of traffic on the Internet because I’ve watched a couple videos? What was the basis of this information I wonder. I think the last time I watched a video clip online was a couple of weeks ago; before that, not even sure.
Now I know that video ads are being pushed out to local advertisers as another advertising vehicle offered by yellow page publishers. And the assumption, based on the popularity of sites like YouTube, is that people want to watch more and more video online. And I know there are many stats that will show the rise in video’s popularity. But what is it we want to watch online? From a local perspective, how do we as consumers want to get our information about a plumber we need ASAP to fix the water pipe that just burst? Are there enough of you desiring to use the Internet more like a TV (including the commercials?
Topics: Forecasts | 3 Comments »
Marchex Local Content Partnerships
By Ryan Fritzky | April 22, 2008
Today Marchex announced several content partnerships, including deals with Yelp, Avvo, HealthGrades.com, Restaurant.com, lilaguide.com, and Urbanspoon.com. These partnerships in aggregate, add more than 5 million reviews and ratings to Marchex’s local network. Here is a snippet from the release:
Under the separate agreements announced today, Marchex will add more than 5 million reviews and ratings to its local network, bringing the total number of reviews and ratings covering local businesses across the United States to more than 8 million.
The content will be integrated into Marchex’s local network, which attracts more than 26 million unique monthly users¹ and features more than 150,000 local Web sites, including the hub of the network, OpenList.com. These new agreements will further Marchex’s ongoing effort to provide consumers with the most relevant content and information to help them discover and make better informed local decisions.
Topics: Local Search, Content | No Comments »
Weekly Wrap Up - 18 April 2008
By David Sumner-Smith | April 18, 2008
LocalPoint News:
ad:tech SFO 2008 by Libby Waldo
Can Someone Help Me Find Something? by Cameron Ferroni
Locally Focused Web Site Tips for Connecting With Your Customers: Part Two by Nick Berliner
Industry News:
Small Business Owners - Not All the Same
Google Beats Forecasts With 30% Increase In Profit
March Radio Revenue Decline Worst Since 2001
Urban Mapping Launches Geotargeting Platform And Publisher Solution For Local Search
SHOP.COM’s New Fixed-Rate Cost-Per-Click Platform Applauded by Merchant Community
Topics: Local Advertisers, National advertisers, Newspapers, Weekly Wrap Up, Local Search, Content, Advertising, PPCall, Uncategorized | No Comments »
ad:tech SFO 2008
By Libby Waldo | April 17, 2008
I just got back from ad:tech 2008. As always the floor was packed with a variety of advertisers and advertising solutions. During the show I attended an interesting session about the future of search. The panel included sales people from MSN and Google as well as representatives from Kodak. There were a couple of interesting points brought up, such as the challenge of providing authentic and trustworthy data, without revealing too much about your products’ “secret sauce” that makes it so much better than the competition. Related to this is the fact that advertisers want more data and greater distribution.
One panelist brought up another interesting point - companies on both sides of the spectrum need to be comfortable about “letting go of their brand.” For the solution providers this means making their distribution transparent. For the advertisers, this means looking beyond search-based advertising and accepting that with some distribution (such as social media) there will be the inevitable unfavorable remark. However, advertisers of all types need to look at this positively since it can be an identifying source for what they need to improve upon. And this is true for advertisers of all sizes. Consumers have the power to drive the future of the products they want, big or small. Recently I was at a salon which is located in a “not-so-nice” part of town. Through online reviews of her store, the owner was able to identify that while her services were ranked as top-notch, people didn’t like going there at night because of the neighborhood’s bad perception. In the end, she was able to switch the hours of her store and join an action committee dedicated to cleaning up the area around her shop.
What’s the moral of the story? Advertisers of all sizes can learn from this. We all want more data and more information. Not all the data will be favorable, but those are the instances where we can learn the most. So providers need to provide the clear and transparent information and advertisers need to be ready to accept what the information tells them, good or bad.
Topics: Uncategorized | No Comments »
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