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Show archive of November 2008

    1. PPC Bid Management

      November 26, 2008
       

      Bruce, Susan and Virginia start off the show by taking a look at a recent FCC ruling to open the unused frequencies between television channels for use as a national broadband network. The fight to open the unused frequencies, known as “white space”, was championed by companies including Microsoft, Dell, Motorola and Google. The ability to extend broadband penetration to under-served areas of the company could help bring U.S. Internet users up to speed. In 2007, the U.S. was ranked fifth in the world as far as high speed Internet access.

      Jon Kelly, president of SureHits, then talks to Virginia about managing PPC bids and the challenges faced by large companies. SureHits manages ad accounts within publisher networks as well as on search engines. He shares a number of recommendations, including those from his PubCon 2008 panel Large Scale Bid Management. He says that keyword buckets are not a good method of management because they don’t allow for the necessary level of granularity. He also talks about the three actions that should be part of any PPC campaign: calculate the click value, reward the user’s choice, and watch the campaign data.

      Wrapping up the show, Michael joins Susan and Virginia to review industry news. The big news of the week was that Jerry Yang stepped down from the position of Yahoo CEO and will be returning to the position of chief Yahoo. Baidu was in the spotlight for including unlicensed pharmaceutical companies in results and possibly accepting money in return for boosted rankings. And in a popular move Gmail rolled out themes.

    2. PubCon 2008 Wrap Up

      November 19, 2008
       

      After a week in Vegas for PubCon, Susan Esparza and Scott Polk recall the highlights and takeaways of the conference. A number of sessions were liveblogged on a variety of industry blogs and Susan shared her post-show analysis in the SEO Newsletter.

      Then Virginia talks to Sage Lewis, Web marketing blogger and founder of Internet marketing company SageRock.com. Sage will be speaking at the upcoming SES Chicago as a panelist in the session Maps: They’re Not Just For Driving Anymore. Virginia and Sage talk about maps, social media and the fate of Yahoo.

      Wrapping up the show, Scott, Susan and Virginia explain best practices for getting a maps local listing. The major engines (Google, Yahoo, Live Search) all have local listings centers that provide a useful starting point. Including a physical address on your site is a good indicator to local search engines. You should also manually submit your business’s information to the local listings centers.

    3. Turning Traffic Into Conversions

      November 12, 2008
       

      Focusing on conversions and conversion tracking, Michael Terry, Virginia Nussey and Maryann Robbins discuss the importance of landing page optimization. An optimized landing page is essential to getting clicks, let alone conversions. First impressions have a big impact in whether or not the visitor will stay or leave. A strong call to action in an easy-to-scan format are key. Be sure to test, but don’t over do it. You also do not want to ask for more information than is necessary, because every additional piece of info you request could cause a user to bail altogether.

      Lauren Vacarello, founder of Internet marketing consultant firm lvlogic.com, talks to Virginia about the challenges of turning traffic into conversions. From identifying abandonment points to effective design elements to the best tools available, Lauren gives listeners lots to consider when trying to increase conversions. Tracking offline conversions and starting your conversion tracking program are also discussed.

      Then Michael and Maryann return to look at conversion tracking for SEO. When you find out where traffic is leaving your site, you can make changes to increase the time spent on the site and the number of pages viewed. Some conversion tracking tools include Google Analytics, ClickTracks, WebTrends, Urchin, SiteMeter and Extreme Tracking.

    4. International Search Marketing

      November 5, 2008
       

      On today’s show, the discussion revolves around international search engine marketing. Susan, Michael and Virginia start off by looking at search marketing in Europe. Currency and payment options, language, search engines and searcher expectations differ from country to country. Our hosts consider these differences as well as country-specific Internet user statistics and adoption rates.

      Then Virginia speaks to Motoko Hunt, founder and Japanese search marketing strategist of AJPR. Motoko’s company specializes in optimizing sites for companies marketing in Japan. She explains the difference between how search marketing is viewed in Japan versus how it is viewed in the U.S., lessons that can be learned from how mobile marketing is done in Japan, and the misconception of Yahoo’s dominance in Japan.

      The hosts turn to Asia Pacific and Latin American markets to close out the show. With China’s online population now exceeding the U.S.’s, considering a presence with Chinese Internet users could be a smart decision. Latin America is also experiencing a boom of Internet users.