Online Marketing Blog

Snow in Vancouver

2008-12-17T16:19:00.000-08:00

Yes, the snow has come to Vancouver, BC. It feels good, especially if you don’t have to drive around much.

Sneaky PPC Activities Aiming Competitors’ Trademarked Terms

2008-11-25T18:02:00.000-08:00

Oh my, oh my!

Christmas time is when usually a ramp up is expected on a paid search side. But coming across big public company’s names that are sneaking into paid search territories of their competitors is something that I must disapprove.

No, no, this is not the matter of a broad match. I even saw competitor’s name appearing in the title of the ads of those (sneaky) others. They used keyword insertion on their competitors’ names!!! Geronimo... (Real Geronimo would never do it, for sure as he had a heart and was simply too proud)

Furthermore, their link variables are something like “competitor_so_and_so”. Is this a call for a fight or what?!

No wonder we see more and more of big corporations that say something like “PPC is not profitable today ... we are directing our budget elsewhere” or whatever.
Sure, if you use bit of your brains, you’ll figure out what you should be focusing on. Doing a research about your competitors, YES. Abusing their TM, NO. Especially of those that obey the unwritten rule and DO NOT abuse YOUR TM space.

Adiós, muchachos!

Time For Commission Increase – Already Passed

2008-08-21T21:55:00.000-07:00

Of their total number, how many companies that sell stuff online DO NOT have affiliate programs running?

For sure, not too many, right?

Now, how many of these that DO HAVE affiliate programs running – how many of them get at least some sales driven by their affiliates through paid search, directly or indirectly (direct linking or through third party sites)?

Most of them.

Of all of these that DO HAVE paid search (PPC) affiliates driving sales, how many of them have increased commission over the past four years?

Not too many.

Of all of you (both companies, aka advertisers, and affiliates) – how many of you pay the same price per click today, as you were paying it three or four years ago? NONE! ZERO!

Do you pay less? NO!

Do you pay more? YES!

So, in order to get the performance UP, advertisers HAVE TO pay better today.

Otherwise, the constant approach by some of you with “how can I help”, will always finish in our paper waste bucket, like any junk mail.

Think about this, please.

Google AdWords Display URL Policy Update

2008-03-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

March 24, 2008. - April 1st is coming, and we are all waiting for Google AdWords display URL policy update to kick in.

Little problem we had was that we could not understand what has changed. Policy seems to be the same as three years ago.

That made us think that the change would be Google AdWords’ attitude toward ads with invalid display URLs. Such ads are creating confusion among Google users, and they artificially increase an average cost per click (CPC). In addition, by seeing ads with invalid display URL running for days, weeks, and months – “good” advertisers get encouraged to start implementing same wrong display URL tactics themselves.

Few days ago, many of us saw a note inside our accounts, pointing to this display URL policy update. What had made us worried was “… new ads …” entry with the confirmation that old ads would not be checked, but advertisers would be encouraged to fix invalid display URLs.

For us, that was a big disappointment. We hopped that notorious display URL policy offenders would actually be first to get hit.

There is nothing else left but to hope that we all will not be fooled on 2008 Fools Day.

And, certainly, to continue obeying Google’s display URL policy, and continue with reporting those that don’t.