Archive
Speaking at OMS and SES in San Diego
Heading to the Online Marketing Summit and SES Accelerator in San Diego? I’ll be speaking in two sessions, so why not come on out? Learn more about the events on OMS website. Do You Have a Mobile PPC Advertising Strategy Yet? Location: Sapphire I Monday, February 6, 2012, 12:00 PM-3:00 PM Mobile technologies are changing our lives. Mobile shopping and search queries have experienced tremendous growth in just the past year, making it a prime opportunity to leverage for paid advertising. Advertisers can now target the fastest growing audience on the planet on their mobile devices and tablets across operating systems and mobile carriers. Learn how to integrate your current PPC strategies and forge ahead with new, powerful tips. Key takeaways include: • Learn how mobile search and ads are different • Current advertising options in Adwords • Mobile landing pages best practices and conversion tips • Conversion tracking options and KPIs • Future technologies to watch to keep your PPC on the cutting-edge Search Marketing Power Tools Set: SEO and PPC Location: Sapphire M Thursday, February 9, 2012, 11:55 AM-12:45 PM Whether you’re new or a long time search marketer, tools are critical for improving SEO and PPC efficiency, effectiveness and scale. The problem is, the web is flush with search marketing tools. Which are the best for you? This session will spotlight the most important tools to accomplish all aspects of your search marketing program from competitor and keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, landing page testing, web analytics, bid management and more.
Prediction for Google’s Realtime Search
I was recently quoted in an article on cioupdate.com. It’s part of an article by Pam Baker: Google Redefining ‘New’ with Google Instant
“Real-time search, another new Google product at google.com/realtime, is in its infancy and attempts to index our social interactions online,” explains Lisa Raehsler, SEM Strategy Consultant and programming committee chair at Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA). She said that if Google can link conversations across Twitter using the ‘Full conversation’ link, they will be able to link conversations across different social networks. “This will likely be a data miners dream and a personal privacy nightmare.”
Check out the whole article for more insights on Google Instant search and other expert opinions on what’s next in search!
List of Online Marketing Lists: 316 Tips & Ideas
In need of some online marketing inspiration? I’ve found these online marketing lists to be a great place to start for new ideas, research, and resources on hot topics.
1. 50 Ideas on Using Twitter for Business
Twitter for business? Yes, I know it all sounds so strange. You can become totally Twittertastic, but you’ll need ideas and a plan. Chris Brogan’s post can get you started on both.
2. Top 150 Social Media Marketing Blogs
Social Media is every where, there’s no escape. Use eCairn’s list of the top 150 blogs about social media as the ultimate resource.
3. 5 Tools for Keyword Brainstorming
I struggle with the keyword generation process in search engine marketing. If you need help too, Ann Smarty’s post offers great resources as starting point for keyword brainstorming. Also valuable for other types of concepting and brainstorming.
4. 101 Link Building Tips to Market Your Website
Awesome list of link building strategies for SEO from Aaron Wall. Advice on “30 Bad Ways to Build Links” is funny and demonstrates how not to implement these great ideas. While 101 actionable tips can be a little daunting, for you unorganized people I’d recommend:
- identify the tactics that apply most closely to your website (save the rest for later)
- organize into “quick wins” and “more difficult” buckets (for example, directory submissions will not take as long as writing an article or setting up RSS feeds)
- create a timeline, including “one time” tasks and “ongoing”
Ok, there’s one more…
5. Search Engine Marketing and Search Engine Optimization Books
Books are not dead! And you really could use a break from your computer. Greg Jarboe offers 10 smart recommendations.
If you just can’t get enough, I previously posted another list of resources that will also keep you busy: Best Online Marketing Lists
Web Content and Writing Tips
Ginny Redish at MIMA
I’ve been on Web content strategy binge lately. I’ve been wondering if one way we can increase the effectiveness of our online efforts is simply have smarter copy?
MIMA to the rescue. I was thrilled when MIMA recently hosted a Web Content event featuring speaker Ginny Redish, author of the best-selling book Letting Go of the Words – Writing Web Content that Works. Redish focused on the concept of speaking to the site visitor and giving them what they need. Seems like a basic concept, but this is often lost on many marketing folks who put up websites.
Consider the difference between print and online content:
Print- Push Technology, you start the engagement with the customer.
Web- Pull Technology, the visitor starts the conversation.
If the visitor is starting the conversation and the average time spent on the homepage is 30 seconds, you have to capture their attention… fast.
Overall Tips for Web Content:
- Mesh your business goals with the visitors’ goals
- Visitor is not looking for a document, he is looking for information
- Don’t focus on YOU, how wonderful you are, your mission statement, etc
- Don’t put a lot of words on the page, put the right words on the page
- Respect visitors’ time: use short paragraphs, lists, visuals
Content Writing Tips:
- Use language appropriate to the visitor based on the target audience
- Heat maps show an F pattern is used when scanning content, so using bold headings and sub-headings to make it easier to scan and break up copy
- Change paragraphs to bulleted lists
- Put the main point first (inverted pyramid)
- Use personal pronouns
- Put yourself in the place of the visitor and consider questions the visitor may have, then get to the point with the answer
- Add links, if appropriate, to keep the visitor engaged on your site and to keep them from searching elsewhere
- Name links (and anchor text) in a way that the visitor will know what to expect when they click
- Find out what keywords visitors are searching for to reach your site and write with these keywords in mind
These tips are a great starting point for anyone wanting to optimize their website content. For the complete presentation, a video can be found: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/858588
2008 Election: Who Won Online?
- Obama
We all know who won the election, but both Barack Obama and John McCain relied on online media and social networking more than in any past election. Who formed the best connections and communities online? Did this really have an impact on the outcome?
Consider the following:
According to Pewinternet.org, a record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the Internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views, and mobilize others.
Democrats are more active online than Republicans and are more likely to participate in online communities. They say they’re more heavily influenced in their voting decisions by information they find online, according to data released by Rubicon Consulting.
Perhaps the most interesting /disturbing of all to me is Google endorses Barack Obama.
Some Fun Numbers from the Internet
Google Searches: Obama-related search terms were used almost twice as much as McCain in the last 30 days, according to data from Google Insights for Search. Google has also has created a special 2008 US Election Trends page.
Website Traffic: According to compete.com, Obama’s website had twice as many visitors in the past year as McCain.
Link Power: Obama’s website has many more external links pointing to it than McCain’s website, according to Yahoo Site Explorer.
- www.barackobama.com: 2 million links to the website
- www.johnmccain.com: 900,000 links to the website
YouTube: Both candidates have YouTube Channels, but Obama’s channel has significantly more views:
- Barack Obama’s YouTube Channel Views: 18.5 million
- John McCain’s YouTube Channel Views: 2 million
Facebook: With more than 110 million active users, Obama had more supporters from this community.
- Obama: 2.2 million supporters
- McCain: 192,000 supporters
Even with this small snapshot of numbers from around the Internet, it’s clear to see the Web presence of Obama’s campaign has been significant and pivotal in the way it has rallied supporters and formed communities around the now president-elect.
And now, your moment of Zen:
Google hearts Obama
Introduction to SEM and Online Display Advertising (for Mike)
My friend Mike told me, “Lisa the blog is really entertaining, but I don’t really know much about search marketing. I’m just a programmer.” True, Mike. I almost forgot… I was too busy geeking out to ask you what you wanted. The Mavens were spewing CTR and ad networks and we haven’t written a back-to-basics for awhile. This is important since most of the clients we work with are beginners themselves. Much too busy running major brands, they leave it up to the Mavens to handle. And we appreciate that.
So Mike, this one’s for you.
Mike
Search Engine Marketing
Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is the practice of promoting a website through search engines like Google or Yahoo. Since there are millions of searches daily, it’s important that your website shows up in the search results when people are searching for you. Unfortunately, this isn’t as easy as it sounds.
When the search engines produce a results page (a list of web pages related to your search terms), they list the pages in order of relevancy, with the most relevant page appearing first, then the next, and so on. It’s desirable to appear near the top of these results to get the most traffic to your website.
There are paid and non-paid SEM tactics one would use to show up higher in the search engine results. You can see there are a list of web pages on left. These are called “organic results” (non-paid) because Google and Yahoo find these naturally while scanning the Web. On the right-hand side, you will see “sponsored links” (paid): these are ads that match up to your search terms.
Appearing in the search results, higher up on the page, using a combination of organic and sponsored listings is what search marketing is basically all about. See, that was easy. – Lisa
teach me the basics, please
Online Display Advertising
Online display advertising consists of using ad space on websites to reach a desired target audience. Sites may include web portals, blogs, casual gaming sites, social networks, instant message applications, widgets, RSS feeds, and more.
The most common type of display advertising is banner ads. Banner ads typically come in standard sizes such as 728×90, 160×600, and 300×250 which refers to pixel width x height and are most often animated through Flash. For an extra serving fee, banners can also incorporate rich media functionalities which include interactive elements such as banner expansion, data submission, and gaming. Other types of display advertising include things like site skins (wallpapers), fixed sponsorships, and video.
Online display advertising is an important consideration as part of a media mix due to the exciting array of targeting and messaging opportunities and the fact that people are spending more and more time online. -Sarah
We have already outlined success metrics for online display and SEM campaigns, but will be getting back to the basics in future posts, talking about pros, cons, and opportunities within the SEM and online display industries.
Online Marketing Mavens Jump on the Online Video Bandwagon!
Us Mavens are instrumental in educating various groups on our respective fields. Lisa came up with the stellar idea to video tape some of these sessions to post on our blog. Here is the first of the series. Check back often for more on Search and Interactive Media!
What is rich media?
Rich Media ads have an added functionality such as expansion, floating across the page, games, and in banner data submission. There are limitless things that you can do with rich media. Rich media vendors like to refer to it as “a micro-site within a banner”. Rich Media vendors are third party servers that will actually serve the ad and help us build it. They also help us measure interaction rate, time spent with the video and what people actually did when interacting with the banner ads.
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