It’s common knowledge that certain markets are harder to build links for than others. For the most, part highly competitive industries are tough because they’ve been worked to death, but less competitive markets can also be difficult because of the demographic behind them. Such was the case for a client we took on awhile back […]
The adage “time is money” often proves true in business, however, these days, most of us feel like we don’t have nearly enough of either. A few months ago, I attended an industry conference and happened to strike up a conversation with the owner of a small travel agency. As I was expressing my enthusiasm […]
Many local businesses have long relied on incoming phone calls to drive their commerce. This is particularly true for needs-based businesses, such as plumbers or exterminators that require an initial conversation with a potential customer to determine whether a solution can be provided and an appointment should be made. This need is met over the […]
Many B2B marketers use web forms to facilitate registrations, generate leads, or to acquire customers. Improving implementation of online forms can have a dramatic, positive impact on increasing conversion rates and maximizing ROI associated with B2B marketing programs. In my last article, Six Usability Tips to Maximize B2B Website Conversion, I briefly touched on one […]
You have probably heard multiple pitches from advertising agencies and SEM firms looking to take over the search engine marketing campaign for your company. When was the last time one of these firms offered to pay for all of the ads up-front and be paid only for the sales and leads generated? Not too often, […]
Marin Software has introduced a new tool that the company says is unique in the industry. It’s called “Multi-Conversion Tracker.” It enables search marketers to define various kinds of actions or “conversions” (e.g., newsletter sign up, e-commerce transactions, e-mail capture, etc.). That process then enables SEMs to determine the relative performance of keywords and ad […]
Below is what happened in search today, as reported on Search Engine Land and from other places across the web.
“Death of Detroit would wallop ad world” …”… nightmares of a blue Christmas” Shocking! Tell us something we don’t already know! Turning a few more pages I see, “As site traffic slows, online marketers tighten their holiday budgets.” And that’s when I calmly fold-up my recent copy of Advertising Age and call my dentist to […]
Much has been written about B2B search marketing programs designed for lead generation and customer acquisition purposes. For lead gen efforts, success metrics typically focus on volume of leads, cost per lead, and quality of lead. Many B2B marketers are starting to question this simplistic approach and are no longer willing to ignore the opportunity […]
In the first installment of this series, Total Search Marketing, Part 1, I wrote about the eConsultancy research showing that natural search (SEO) was the most frequently used online marketing tactic for lead generation. Yet, most marketers put the bulk of their search marketing budget into paid search. Many of these marketers felt their company […]
Other than discussion of online advertising revenues, it’s an all-Google day for Search Biz: rumors of Google Mini being replaced by a hosted solution, a “public art” protest about Google doing business with the Chinese government, and speculation about the future of consumer marketing at Google.
Should marketers avoid paying for prospects who are early in the buying process and not ready to submit personal information or be contacted by a sales person? Should these “tire kickers” be avoided so that marketers can focus their attention on generating more valuable, sales-ready leads? While this approach may seem logical at first, I […]
Zillow doesn’t see itself as a real estate “vertical.” Instead, it regards itself as a media company that creates advertising opportunities around what is arguably the most significant “life events” purchase: buying a home. In that spirit, the company is developing numerous interesting marketing vehicles aimed at consumers in all phases of home buying (and […]
B2B search advertisers must confront an annoying paradox. For most advertisers the billable event is the click. Yet for most B2B advertisers success depends not on clicks, but rather on conversions: the percentage of visitors who take the desired online action, such as downloading a white paper or registering for a webinar. B2B marketers must […]
As powerful as search marketing is for B2B lead generation, it has ironically served to increase the ages-old friction between sales and marketing. This is because when buyers use search to research solutions and find vendors, they are extremely early in the buying process—often long before they are ready to engage with sales. Passing these […]
Google recently made some quite significant changes to the OneBox / Universal Search result that appears at the top of the result page when you do a query that Google determines has local intent. Previously, Google would display three local search results in the OneBox area, with a star rating and a review snippet. Now […]
Via PaidContent.org, Accoona Files for IPO from the Associated Press reports that Accoona has filed to go public, with an estimated IPO price of $80.5 million. Accoona hopes to list their stock as “ACNA” on the NASDAQ. The AP reports Accoona’s three business lines as online-lead generation, an online search engine in the U.S., Europe […]
What! No webcasts, demos or podcasts available for download on your site? Worried you’re getting left in the dust by more savvy digital marketers? Don’t despair. Business buyers continue to show a preference for fast and simple online information.
Automotive, Recruitment and Real Estate are three especially lucrative and important local advertising categories. They have been historically dominated by print newspapers, to the tune of about $17 billion last year in the U.S. But the Internet is gaining rapidly. A new report from Borrell Associates estimates that advertising in the Automotive category is now […]
A close look at recent market studies sheds some light on what’s happening in the world of business-to-business marketing, and provides several interesting insights regarding search marketing. It appears that business marketers’ perceptions are changing and as a result—budgets are starting to shift. Slower Adoption Rates As part of Forrester’s Marketing Effectiveness Survey, conducted in […]
Searcharazzi asks: Sprechen Zie Deutsch? Webmaster Radio reports that a slew of German SEOs has flooded its chat room in recent weeks, leaving many an English-speaking SEO to curse his lack of foreign language skills. Up to 160 German-speakers are now showing up on Tuesday afternoons when Marcus “Mediadonis” Tandler’s podcast commences in the evening […]