AdWords Preferred Cost Bidding
This quote from the SE Forums Spotlight just struck me as very true and simple explanation of Google's new Preferred Cost bidding. Google's bidding already revolves under a max bid, so really all it allows is Google to spend more of your money whenever they want to, up to a certain %, along with making it almost impossible to plan a budget shorter than 2 months (due to Google's 20% overage).
Google AdWords New Preferred Cost Bidding
Webmaster World
"Sounds like a great way to overspend. I wouldn't touch this one with a 10-foot pole."
Technorati Tags: Google, AdWords, PPC, Search Marketing, Marketing, Advertising, Bidding, Ironvine
adCenter Implements Quality Score
Following in the footsteps of Google, then Yahoo, MSN has decided to implement Quality Based Ranking for adCenter.
Now that they have been online for a while and have a relatively usable client base they are able to actually have some basis to judge ads against each other with a little history behind them. In my estimation this is a better way to handle the quality score than what Yahoo did with Panama just letting them all start out shooting against each other with no real historical data to go on. Google just flowed it into the system without anyone really seeing much difference (like most things they do with us blinded).
adCenter Quality-Based Ranking
On the 16th April we improved how we establish the quality and relevance of ads and landing pages in relation to the search user’s likely intent. This improvement will ensure that we maintain a high quality of ads and relevance to the Live Search user and is not a radical change, but an enhancement to our existing guidelines around relevance and quality. To ensure that we are delivering maximum benefit to the search user, we are doing the following:
• Assessing the content of the ad and landing page in relation to the user’s likely intent.
• Assessing the keywords that an advertiser selects in relation to the advertiser’s landing page content, to confirm that they are substantially relevant to both the landing page and the user’s search query.
• Trying to ensure that there is substantive content on the landing page to fulfill the user’s query.
• Assessing the duplicative nature of content in overall search results. In cases where there may be content that is duplicated within search results (including landing pages) Microsoft reserves the right to limit advertising of the duplicate content when it lessens the user experience.
In addition to this blog post, to ensure that our advertisers are aware of this upcoming change, we have contacted customers who we think may be affected by this update. However, even if you have not been contacted, we recommend using the following resources to ensure that ads you submit in the future are of the highest quality.
Resources:
Technorati Tags: MSN, adCenter, Microsoft, advertising, marketing, paid search, online marketing, Ironvine
AdWords Preferred Price
Google is adding a new bidding option. An average preferred price. What this means is that you can add an option to bid around a certain price. So having a preferred bid of .50$ means that the bid can go over or under around that price.
Honestly it seems lately that Google is stretching and pushing to find any way it can to have advertisers spend more on ads rather than less. It is a neat addition, but its usefulness could be in question unless you want to make sure you are in 1st position.
Just my 2c.
Today, we are introducing a new bidding option called preferred cost bidding -- a feature designed to help you save time while achieving your advertising cost goals more consistently. Instead of setting a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) bid, you can set a preferred CPC or CPM bid that represents the average price you want to pay.
For example, suppose you want to pay an average CPC of $0.50. Currently, you need to regularly monitor and adjust your maximum CPC bids to keep your costs at or around $0.50 per click. Using preferred cost bidding, you can simply tell us that you want your average CPC to be $0.50, and we'll manage your bids to reach that goal.
This feature will be released to all advertisers over the next few days. You'll find it on the Edit Campaign Settings page. For more information on preferred cost bidding, please refer to the FAQs.
--
Posted By Inside AdWords crew to Inside AdWords at 4/17/2007 11:05:00 AM
AdWords Downtime
On April 14, 2007, AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM Pacific Time due to system maintenance. Please note that your campaigns will continue to run normally during this short downtime.
GoDaddy Promo Codes – April 2007
Here are some GoDaddy Promotion Codes for April 2007.
Because we all work on the internet having your domain name secured, or purchasing new domains and services is an important part of everyday business. I hope these promo codes help. Check out the latest special - Register, renew or transfer TWO .NET domains for just $10!
gdm0405b: Save $10 on your order of $40 or more at GoDaddy -- Expires: 4/9/07
gdm0312: Get 6.95$ .COM registration at GoDaddy -- Expires 4/9/07
gdm0323c: Get GoDaddy's Traffic Blazer at 50% off! Get your Web Site listed today on Google, MSN, Yahoo, and more! -- Expires 4/15/07 - NEW
gdm0315k: Get 20% off a .COM registration at GoDaddy -- Expires 4/15/07
gdm0412c: Register, renew or transfer TWO .NET domains for just $10 at GoDaddy -- Expires 4/30/07 - NEW!!
Find more active GoDaddy promo codes at the dedicated GoDaddy promo page including non-expiring codes!
Technorati Tags: GoDaddy, Promo Codes, Codes, Promo, Promotion, Coupons, Domain, Hosting, Ironvine
3 Important Changes to Yahoo Search Marketing
There are three important new changes coming from Yahoo Search Marketing:
1. Short descriptions will be required when you create or modify an ad, beginning in May 2007.
Long descriptions will be optional. Currently, you have two options for your ad descriptions: long (up to 190 characters) and short (70 characters or fewer).
2. Yahoo! Search results will only show short descriptions beginning in June 2007.
If you only use long descriptions, your ad will be automatically cut off to fit within the 70-character limit, which may impact your ability to communicate valuable information to users and your results. We recommend that you create a short description for any existing ad to guarantee that your most important information is included.
3. Display URLs will be limited to 35 or fewer characters.
Please shorten your display URLs as needed.
In the example below, key messages, such as competitive pricing and free shipping, are not included in the "cut-off" ad:
Why are we making this change?
We've found that ads written more concisely give users a better experience and generally get better results. Users are exposed to higher quality search ads and advertisers may attract more interested and enthusiastic potential customers. So don't wait until June-- start now.
What You Need to Do:
• Don't have short descriptions for all of your ads?
Start now! Please create short descriptions for these ads before June 1. How to add short descriptions.
• What happens if I don't do anything?
Any "long description" of more than 70 characters will be automatically cut off in Yahoo! Search results. We will shorten the description at the complete word nearest to 70 characters, then add an ellipsis ("…"). If you haven't added short descriptions to your ads by June, your ad quality could be impacted.
• When am I "required" to provide a short description?
Beginning in May, when you create a new ad or modify an existing ad, you will be required to write a short description. We recommend that you add short descriptions to all of your existing ads so that your key messages are presented to potential customers.
• Already have short descriptions for all of your ads?
You don't need to do anything-these short descriptions will be displayed in Sponsored Search results on Yahoo!
Technorati Tags: Yahoo, Search Marketing, YSM, Ads, Paid Search, Online Marketing, Search, Blog, Ironvine
$10 off GoDaddy Promo Code
Here is a great promo code to help you save $10 at GoDaddy!
Check out our main GoDaddy Promo Codes page for more non-expiring sales!
gdm0405b: Get 10$ off any order of 40$ or more at GoDaddy. Expires 4/9/07, Shop today.
If you have more codes please share them as well. Feel free to comment about GoDaddy.com Hosting Plans or codes below.
Technorati Tags: GoDaddy, Domain, URL, Domain Name, Promo, Promotion Code, Promo Codes, Coupons, Domain Sale, Ironvine
Blue is Out, Hello Yellow
Big news from Google about how AdWords ads are displayed.
There are 2 changes.
#1 - Google AdWords has decided to switch the background color of the top ads from blue to yellow. By changing to a brighter color it will help ads stand out more on the page. Personally I liked the cool comforting of blue.
#2 - Instead of clicking anywhere in the box, users now need to click on the link in the top line of an ad in order to be taken to an advertiser's site. Together, these changes help decrease the likelihood that a user will unintentionally click on an ad, while making our highest quality ads more visible.
Now my question is, does this affect all Google ads or just the Premier section ads? And how will this affect performance since it will almost look like a natural result (or like Yahoo's paid placement)?
Good, or bad we will see.
Technorati Tags: Google, AdWords, Search, Marketing, Paid Search, Online Marketing, Sponsored Search, SEO, SEM, Ironvine
AdWords Share of Voice
NEW! Impression Share (Share of Voice) Reporting for Search
» Impression share is a new metric that represents the percentage of times ads were shown out of the total number of page impressions (i.e. pages where your ad appeared or could have appeared) in the targeted market.
Available through the Report Center, impression share can be used to gain insight into an AdWords campaign's share of voice and identify missed opportunities.
Impression share is available at the Campaign and Account-level for search. Reports will not penalize impression share for competition amongst one's own campaigns.
Advertisers can try improving ad quality, increasing bids or budget, and refining regional or time-targeting settings to increase their impression share.
Technorati Tags: Google, AdWords, Search, Paid, Marketing, Reporting, Metrics, Campaign, Ironvine
Google Website Optimizer Open to Everyone
Google has opened up its Website Optimizer for public use (sign-up to use) now, and it will be rolled out to all AdWords accounts in the next few weeks. Google is definitely beefing up its AdWords program to insure its #1 advertising position.
Last October, we put out the call for beta testers for Google's new website testing application, Website Optimizer. Today, Peter Harbison, Product Marketing Manager for Website Optimizer is here with some news many of you have been eagerly anticipating:
Since October, we've worked closely with our beta testers to improve the application and today, we're happy to offer the latest version to everyone who signs up through the Website Optimizer homepage. If you're not quite ready to sign up right away, don't worry -- Website Optimizer will be available in all AdWords accounts within the next few weeks.
If you're unfamiliar with Website Optimizer, it is a free multivariate testing application built into AdWords that helps online marketers increase visitor conversion rates and overall visitor satisfaction by enabling them to continually test different combinations of site content. Why guess what site content you think will work best, when Website Optimizer can save you time by telling you what worked best based on visitor data collected from experiments on your site?
To sign up or learn more about Website Optimizer, please visit the Website Optimizer homepage.Technorati Tags: Google, Website, Optimizer, AdWords, PPC, Online Marketing, Marketing, Paid, Search
Get Microsoft Office Live Basics for FREE
Get Microsoft Office Live Basics for FREE
Microsoft Office Live Basics is the easy way to get started on the Web. With Office Live Basics you'll get:
- Free domain name and Web hosting (You have the option of getting started with a new domain name or transferring your existing domain name.)
- Easy-to-use Web site design tools
- 500 MB of Web site storage space
- 25 company-branded e-mail accounts
- Web site reports
- Search engine advertising tool
Technorati Tags: Microsoft, Office, Live, Free, Web Hosting, Ironvine
AdWords Promotional Credit Change
For all those search marketers out there, be aware of the new change in the promotional credits policy in Google AdWords. As of March 31, 2007 AdWords promotional credit coupons will only be available to Qualified Individuals and Qualified Companies in the Google Advertising Professionals program.
Two fold win for Google. They get to cut off all the free promotional credits to non-qualified parties saving them revenue, and/or they get more people to become certified in their Google Advertising Professionals program, which has a minimum required spend to qualify for. This means you have to spend more to get the free stuff.