Līve Ambitions

LookSmart is a popular 2nd tier search network which works based on PPC traffic.  This coupon only matches how much you spend.  It won’t give you credit like Google coupon codes.

Enter coupon code at sign up: LS-MB-50. Expires 12/31/2009.

If you’re a SEO (Search Engine Optimizer), you’re either going to love this idea or hate it.  Google has decided to show personalized results for everyone, regardless of whether someone is logged in or not.  For well-established sites, it may be easier to rank since you already have a good presence in the search engines.  However, if your website is new and has no existing traffic, then it will mostlikely be competing against more established websites.

This decision may have a drastic effect on the current SEO industry.  Since all searches are now personalized regardless of whether a user is logged in or not, the results will be heavily influenced by user search activity.  According to Google, search activity is tracked by an anonymous cookie set in your browser for 180 days.  So, if you visit a particular website frequently, it may show up in your search results most of the time, of course based on the search terms.

While I understand Google’s intent to offer more “personalized” results, it gives an unfair advantage to already-established websites.  This will mean that new websites will have to work harder than older websites to get the same results, even if the new website has better content.  This also means that online mom-and-pop shops may not get discovered simply because they are new and have to compete against the big boys on the block.

I can see arguments from the advocacy side saying users will have a better experience from “personalized” results.  However, I’d rebuttal by saying that users may “miss out” on new websites or opporunities because it’s not being shown in the 1st page.

Personalized search not only affects SEO, but also PPC.  Here’s my logic.  Since new websites won’t get much exposure through organic traffic, they’ll mostlikely have to resort to PPC marketing in order to get any type of search traffic.  I guess if there is an increase in PPC marketing, it can only mean more money for Google and Internet Marketing firms. 

So, I’m a little torn on this subject being that I’m both a SEO and Internet Marketer.

What’s your opinion?

You can think of advertorials as a cross between an informative article and a sales copy. Advertorials usually start off by presenting a problem, and ends with a solution of some kind.  The solution they offer is typically a sales pitch to subtly persuade the reader into buying something.

To give you a better picture of what I’m talking about, here are 2 ads that are frequently seen on Yahoo.  The ads themselves are not advertorials, but once clicked, you are directed to the corresponding advertorial page.

The 1st is an ad from HowLifeWorks.com, and the other is by ARALifeStyle.com.  ARALifeStyle was the 1st to use these types of ads, but HowLifeWorks was quick to jump on the business model.  It was kind of innovative because the design of the ads sort of made you feel like those articles were just a part of Yahoo.

Once you click on one of those links, you are directed to a simple looking website. The landing page offers an article, a few related articles, and some sponsored PPC ads.

So you may be asking “what is the big deal?”  Well, there really isn’t.  Simply put, these websites are nothing more than beefed up arbitrage sites.  Except, instead of flipping PPC traffic, these websites are buying CPM traffic and flipping them to PPC and affiliate revenue.  We can easily spot the PPC ads, but the affiliate links are embedded within the article itself.  So, someone who has no clue about affiliate marketing would have no idea that the article’s true intention is to promote an advertiser’s service or product.

The advertorial business model is not entirely new though.  We see it almost everyday.  Websites like eHow, About.com and HowStuffWorks.com all have the similar business models.  When you break it down, they are all websites that provide informative articles about certain topics, and they all make money from PPC ads.  The only difference is that these sites do not include sales verbiage in their articles.  For this reason, we do not look down on eHow or About.com like we do the advertorial sites.

What are your thoughts on advertorial sites?

Interesting news.  Microsoft and Yahoo has agreed to combine forces in the search market to better compete against the giant of search, Google.  They’ve launched a website dedicated to the 10 year deal called ChoiceValueInnovation.com.  The gist of the deal is that Microsoft will power Yahoo’s search for both organic and sponsored listings, and in return Yahoo will receive compensation from Microsoft.  Meanwhile, Yahoo will “become the exclusive worldwide relationship sales force for both companies’ premium search advertisers.”  Their PPC advertising platform will be handled Microsoft’s Adcenter.

So, based on current stats, this partnership deal would give Microsoft and Yahoo approximately 30% of the total search market share in the U.S..  If I were Google, I wouldn’t be too worried - its 2 competitors have had the capacity and resources for improvements, but they simply haven’t been able to gain ground on their own.  In my opinion, if Yahoo and Microsoft couldn’t compete on their own, they wouldn’t do better together.  Unless there are some significant advancements to the Microsoft/Yahoo algorithm technology, I don’t see them expanding their search market share by much, if any.

I’m not in favor of this search deal because I believe that market conditions are best when there are many competitors as opposed to only 2.  Instead of having 3 separate choices for search, now it’s only one or the other.  Microsoft and Yahoo would’ve been better off trying to improve their own search technology.  Who knows – maybe there’s a deeper underlying meaning to the deal.  Could it be a slow transition into a merger?  What do you think?

Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to manage PPC campaigns in Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing), MySpace, Facebook, Adsonar and even Business.com.  Here is how I rate them (1-7):

#1 Google Adwords - Google has not only proven to be a very effective tool for marketing, but also consistent.  Needless to say, Google brings me the most conversions at the most cost-effective rate.  In fact, in my experience, Google has brought in more conversions than all the other PPC traffic sources combined.

#2 MSN Adcenter (Bing) - Although MSN Adcenter was the late bloomer in the PPC industry, I think they’ve made significant progress in a short amount of time.  I see consistent conversions from MSN on a daily basis, however, their traffic is only about 1/10 of what Google brings.  Cost per conversion is also good.

#3 Yahoo Search Marketing - I’m a little biased against Yahoo because I never really liked them as a search engine.  Google has always been more superior in terms of relevancy, for both organic and sponsored search, so it’s no wonder why Yahoo has lagged so far behind.  Conversion volume from Yahoo may be slightly higher than Bing, however, you can also expect to spend more per click. 

#4 Facebook Ads -  I was running an ad through Facebook with a targeted audience of a little over 1 million members.  Soon after the campaign was set to active, I was surprised to see the volume of views and click-throughs.  I think I received 200 clicks within a matter an hour or two.  I tried them out for about a month, but unfortunately I couldn’t continue due to the high cost per conversion rate.

#5 Adsonar – Adsonar has a massive content network (ie. Fox, AOL, ET, People.com and many more).  In fact, their coverage is so big and fast that your balance may be used up in a matter of minutes.  If you don’t have a big budget, it may even be hard to test out a campaign.

#6 MySpace – MySpace is pretty similar to Facebook ads in that they both allow you to target a large number of members based on specific categories.  I used them for about a month, and dropped them due to lack of traffic and conversions.  At least, I didn’t spend much money to test it out.

#7 Business.com – I was pretty dissappointed with these guys.  I received a bunch of click-throughs, but 0 conversions.  I think their traffic may cater more for B2B type of businesses.

Remember, this is my personal opinion, and it is only based off my own experiences.  Your results may vary based on the type of products or services you’re selling and the profit margin involved.  Some type of products may perform better for certain types of audiences.  The bottom-line with any ad campaign is that it should be profitable.  If you spend $1000 and make $1200, you’ve still made a profit (even it’s small).  If your business is still in its infant stages, you may even opt to break-even just to get some exposure.  Finally, if you’ve tried to optimize your ad campaign and you’re still losing money, then it’s time to move on to a new PPC program or marketing strategy.  Don’t try to force something that doesn’t work.

I know there are other PPC programs out there like Bidvertiser and Clicksor, but I’ve never tried them out.

Update:  After I wrote this post, Microsoft and Yahoo joined forces to “change the search landscape.”

I’m a little late on this topic, but I wanted to share my thoughts on it.  I think it was Google who first implemented it, but the others quickly followed.

To me, the search query suggestion feature is just another blow to the SEO industry.  Although the feature adds convenience and saves time, I believe it also alters natural search behavior.  This hurts the little guys the most because people aren’t typing in the long-tail keywords anymore.  Now, people simply select the most popular suggestions even before they’re done typing the entire search query.  I often do this myself.

Undoubtedly, the search suggestion feature only helps to bring more traffic to the bigger websites (and corporations) that are already ranking in top positions for popular keywords.  Therefore, the mom-and-pop sites will have to work twice as hard to compete for the same keywords.  In addition, more money would have to be spent for SEO and marketing.

This may seem unfair for small business, but I think there is an ulterior motive behind the search query suggestion feature.  This is my theory: Since the little guys (small business) can’t compete for top 10 rankings naturally, they would have to resort to paid search marketing or PPC.  This would generate a lot more PPC business for the major search engines.  Why would they target small business?  Because small businesses account for 99.7% of all firms in the U.S.  This is a huge market, especially now that more and more small businesses are looking towards the internet for new customers.

How does this affect the users?  Sure, it adds convenience.  But does it alter natural search behavior?  I think so.  I’m not sure about everyone else, but when I do searches now, I catch myself choosing from the top 3 list of suggestions.

Has it changed your search behavior?

Once logged in your Google account, you’ll notice that search results will look a little different vs when  you’re logged off.  This is because Google has long been working to provide a more personal search experience for the user.  This means that when you’re logged into your Google account, Google keeps track of your online activity, such as which sites you visit and which sites you visit most often.  Google will also manipulate your search results based on your search behavior – placing sites you visit more often nearer the top of the results.

This search feature provides a better personal experience for the user, while at the same time allowing Google to capture greater accuracy in their data.  However, how does this personal search feature affect SEO and Internet Marketing?

I think personal search is changing the dynamics of SEO.  Google is getting their way, and so are the users.  We all know that on-site optimization has always been an important factor of SEO, but never more than now.  Website content and structure is the undisputed king of SEO.  Although link popularity is still an important factor of SEO, off-site optimization services such as link building will probably hurt the most in the long run.  This is what Google has been fighting for all along – more quality content and less SERP manipulation through unnatural link building.

From the Paid Advertising standpoint, business can only get better.  Because Paid Advertising such as display ads, PPC and affiliate marketing are not affected by the natural search results, you can expect this market to grow.  There is some sense of ”you know what you’re paying for” with paid ad placement, so I think advertisers will be more receptive to this type of online marketing.

I been meaning to take the Google Professional Advertising Exam for a while now.  I finally decided to take it yesterday after having gone over some of the tutorials in the Adwords Learning Center.  Fortunately, I passed – barely.  I’m a little embarrassed to share my score, but it was less than 80% and higher than 75%. 

The exam was a bit trickier than I had anticipated.  I’m not sure which questions I missed, but there were quite a few questions I had 2nd thoughts on.  You really have to pay attention to the wording of each question.  Also, there were some multiple selection questions which were a bit iffy. 

Personally, I don’t think there should have been so many questions related to billing and account information.  Isn’t the whole point of the exam to test your knowledge in setting up and managing an ad campaign?  I don’t see how billing or general account questions would help you optimize your client’s campaign and ROI.

I guess the bottom line is I passed, and I can now show off the logo.

There were a couple of things that I wasn’t aware of before the exam:

1. They require you to take the exam every year to renew it.  With so many frequent changes going on at Google, it would make sense to keep up-to-date.
2. You don’t get to show off an Adwords Certified logo until you’ve managed an Adwords campaign for at least 90 days and have spent over $1,000 within that period.

My Advice to You on Taking the Google Professional Advertising Exam:

1. Before you take the exam, go over every topic in the Adwords Learning Center.
2. Take the quizzes for each topic.  Many of the questions in the exam are similar, if not the same as the questions in the quizzes. 
3. Make sure the information is fresh in your mind.  It’s easy to forget if you haven’t looked over the tutorials in a while.
4. Pay close attention to the wording of each question.  Don’t breeze through - you may make costly mistakes.
5. Take the exam in a quiet, comfortable setting.  When I took the exam, I was in a room full of co-workers and their conversations distracted me.

According to an independent test done by SEO Black Hat, the bounce rate of a webpage plays a considerable role in determining its rankings within the search engines Google. 

For those of you who have not heard of bounce rates.  Here is the definition that Google gives:

Bounce rate is the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality – a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors. The more compelling your landing pages, the more visitors will stay on your site and convert. You can minimize bounce rates by tailoring landing pages to each keyword and ad that you run. Landing pages should provide the information and services that were promised in the ad copy.

Does this conclusion make sense?  Yes, I would agree that it does.  Google is all about user experience.  So why wouldn’t Google implement this little piece of algo to improve the experience of its users?  Not only does bounce rate help determine relevant sites, but it also helps to weed out some of the spam sites.

In addition to SEO, I believe that bounce rate also affects PPC performance, more specifically Quality Score.  By tracking bounce rates on each landing page, Google can assess whether or not a landing page is relevant to a given set of keywords.  So a high bounce rate would indicate that the landing page is not relevant, and therefore would receive a reduced Quality Score.

I understand the concept of arbitrage – buying cheap long-tail keywords and turning a profit for higher paying keywords.  And, I ‘ve also talked to people who’ve had incredible success with arbitrage in the past, but I question whether it still works today.

There are a few reasons why I question the effectiveness of arbitrage in today’s market:

1. Quality Score – With the advancement of Quality Score technology (Google), arbitrage sites would have a tougher time passing the filter.
2. Competition – With more people jumping into the game of arbitrage, we can expect to see competition in just about every niche we can think of.
3. Broad and Phrase Match – With the existence of broad and phrase keyword match, even non-arbitrage sites are able to compete for long-tail keywords.

I’m sure there are still some loop holes around it, but it’s pretty clear to see that things are only going to get tougher for arbitrage sites to make money.

Update:

I know I discussed long-tails as it relates to PPC/arbitrage, but how about SEO?  From an SEO perspective, long-tails are great!  Not only is it easier to rank for long-tail keywords organically, but also very cost-effective.