Advertising 2.0 - a semester in review

When I embarked on this endeavor to research and blog the latest in internet advertising, I thought that I had a solid grasp on the industry. However, as I subscribed to more daily e-mails and read more blogs, I quickly discovered that this industry is moving faster than I would have imagined and advertising on the internet is improving literally on a daily basis. The speed at which advertising on the web changes and integrates into formerly all-content sites is the most surprising aspect of this industry, in my opinion.

In these past few months, I've seen the industry try to put a damper on Google's growth, with Viacom constantly refusing to partner with Google and suing them at the same time. Google came back with a vengeance by acquiring DoubleClick for a measly $3.1 billion and partnering with ClearChannel, in the same week. The web advertising industry moves very quickly and is now moving to make partnerships with offline advertising to more fully integrate the advertising industry as a whole. More offline media outlets are integrating their products online like TNT and the NBA with their myspace page. It is necessary to create a relationship between the online and offline media because it is where the consumers are and the web offers superior targeting and measurement metrics.

Another major difference between the internet and offline media is that on the internet, content is created first and then they figure out how to monetize the content, but the offline industry does not have the luxury of being able to do that. For example, FlixFind has no real way of making a profit, but the content on the site is excellent. As they gain more visitors and improve their layout, the monetization process should improve. It seems that the internet publishers are more concerned with quality content than making a profit, probably because the consumers are as well.

Though I've done a fair amount of research and exploring, I don't know if I can say where web advertising is going in the next few months. All I can say is that more money will be allocated into the internet for media plans. I think the key to sustaining the growth and success of advertising on the internet is to simply deliver content that people desire, while providing them advertisements of products they might actually buy. This has been a great learning experience, and while I probably won't keep a blog, I will continue to read the daily e-mails and proceed in my blogosphere exploration.

NBA/TNT on MySpace

In case you didn't know, the NBA playoffs are going on, yeah neither does anybody else. Apparently, the NBA and TNT think that launching a MySpace page will help boost ratings and get the younger crowd involved. Good thing it's just in time for the end of the season.

The page launched Friday, April 19, just prior to the kickoff of the pro hoops league’s two months worth of playoff action. The page is dedicated to TNT's coverage of the NBA, which will feature "exclusive video content featuring the network's Inside the NBA studio team as well as behind-the-scenes footage from the show. In addition, the page will feature both audio and video snippets from the network’s various pre-game and studio segments" (Shields, Mediaweek). TNT also plans to post pictures as well as blog posts.

Will this increase their ratings? I doubt it.

Google and Clear Channel Reach Deal

After more than a year after dMarc Broadcasting joined the Google team, Google has reached an agreement with Clear Channel, the top radio station owner in the U.S, to sell advertisements across all of Clear Channel's radio stations.

According to the press release,"under the agreement, Google™ Audio Ads advertisers will have national distribution, enabling them to reach specific audiences, at specific times, in targeted geographies. For Clear Channel, this agreement opens up an additional sales channel and provides supplemental revenue by making Clear Channel inventory available to advertisers who previously had not used radio."

Google will add 675 stations to their previous reach of 800 stations that were located primarily in smaller markets.

The New York Times reported that "the companies did not disclose the financial details of the arrangement, except to say that Clear Channel would receive the majority of the ad revenue."

Scott Silverman, Strategic Partner Development Manager at dMarc Broadcasting, declared, "this new relationship with the leading U.S. radio group gives our advertisers access to guaranteed inventory on top-rated AM and FM stations all over the U.S., making it much easier for them to reach their target customers with radio ads" (Official Google Blog)

This appears to be a situation where both parties benefit from the deal, since Clear Channel will increase their revenue, as well as gain different types of advertisers and Google will also gain revenue and more clout within the media industry. If they are able to repeat their success in radio, they will likely be able to have added success in the print and television industries.

Google's Most Recent Aquisition: DoubleClick

There have been a few weeks of chatter and bidding surrounding the sale of DoubleClick, and Google came out on top.

The $3.1 billion agreement was announced yesterday. The acquisition will combine DoubleClick's expertise in ad management technology for media buyers and sellers with Google's leading advertising platform and publisher monetization services.

Overall, it appears that Google believes this merger will further improve digital advertising: "It has been our vision to make Internet advertising better - less intrusive, more effective, and more useful. Together with DoubleClick, Google will make the Internet more efficient for end users, advertisers, and publishers," said Sergey Brin, Google's Co-Founder and President, Technology.

Further support is found on the AdWords blog, "We believe our combined efforts will give you more places to target your ads and more ways to help your online campaigns perform better."

Furthermore, Susan Wojcicki, Vice President, Product Management proclaimed on the Official Google blog that "together, Google and DoubleClick will empower agencies, advertisers, and publishers to collaborate more efficiently and effectively, which will, in turn, provide a better experience for our users."

This acquisition will certainly benefit Google, as well as the DoubleClick shareholders, but only time will tell how it will affect the already skewed competitive landscape in the digital market.

Interpublic Acquires Reprise Media

The Interpublic Group has acquired search marketing agency, Reprise Media, for an undisclosed amount.

According to Reprise Managing Partner Joshua Stylman, "the acquisition was driven by demand from Interpublic's international clients for greater search expertise and also supports Reprise's ambition to expand beyond the U.S. market" (Nelson, ClickZ News).

Reprise will remain independent and serve as a resource to the various Interpublic agencies. Reprise will be reassigned to the "Futures Marketing Group," which houses IPG's Emerging Media Lab, and will also manage IPG's investments in sites like Facebook and Spot Runner.

System Maintenance for AdWords on April 14

On the Inside AdWords blog, it was announced that this Saturday, April 14, the AdWords system will be unavailable for scheduled system maintenance. It will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

Although advertisers will be unable to access accounts, campaigns will continue to run as usual.

Viacom parnters with Yahoo!

Viacom and Google have continued their sour relationship as Viacom chose Yahoo! over Google for Search Advertising. This comes just two months after Viacom slapped Google/YouTube with a massive DMCA take down demand, and only a month after Viacom sued Google for $1 billion. Moreover, Viacom partnered with Joost over YouTube last month.

Back to the new deal, Viacom has chosen Yahoo to provide search advertising for 33 of its internet sites. The exclusive multiyear advertising partnership with Yahoo includes the sites for MTV, VH1, BET, Comedy Central, and Nickelodeon networks. More importanly, the partnership could expand to more than 140 additional sites worldwide. The deal includes sponsored and contexual search advertising.

This search deal could also lead to Yahoo gaining additional revenue through placement of Yahoo's display advertisements on Viacom sites.

New look for ads above natural results on Google

Over the past few years, the sponsored links above the search results have been displayed in a box with a blue background that a user can click on in order to reach an advertiser's landing page.


According to Daniel Dulitz, Product Manager for the Google.com ads user interface, Google has decided to make changes to the display of the ads "to improve the experience of our users and advertisers."


The first change is the actual look of the ads. Google has been testing the background color of the ads for months, and have decided to change the background color from blue to yellow.


The second change modifies what counts as a click in the box, which is not consistent with the ads on the right side of the natural results. Previously, any click in the blue box would count as a click and send the user to the advertiser's landing page. Now, users must click on the link in the top line of an ad in order to be taken to the advertiser's website.


This combination of changes will lower click through rates, but it will likely improve ROI because the ads are more visible and more qualified traffic will be directed to the advertiser's website, instead of inadvertant clicks. In addition, it will improve the overall user experience, since users won't be redirected from the search page due to an accidental click.


Google details the changes on the Inside AdWords blog.

Bar Codes and Cell Phones

New technology, already in use in parts of Asia but still in development in the United States, allows the phones to connect everyday objects with the Internet. In their new incarnation, cellphones become a sort of digital remote control. The phone can read encoded information on everyday objects and translate that into videos, pictures or text files on its screen. In Japan, customers can point their cell phones at the wrapping on a hamburgers to get nutrition information on their screens.

Ko Sasaki for The New York Times

The pattern on a building in Tokyo is filled with information that can be read by a properly programmed cellphone with a camera. The technology can also be used for many other things, like buying airline tickets.

“The cellphone is the natural tool to combine the physical world with the digital world,” that executive, Cyriac Roeding, the head of mobile-phone applications for CBS, said the other day.

"Advertisers say they are interested in offering similar capabilities in the United States, but cellphones in the States do not come with the necessary software. For now, consumers have to download the technology themselves" ("New Bar Codes Can Talk With Your Cellphone," April 1)

Still, big advertising and technology companies like Hewlett-Packard and the Publicis Groupe, an advertising conglomerate, are pushing to popularize the technology here.

This technology will help consumers get more accurate information at a more rapid rate. Also, advertisers will be able to track which consumers are searching their product, which should lead to more targetted and relevant ads.

DoubleClick sale?

The rumors about the sale of DoubleClick, a New York-based ad serving and marketing technology company, have been heating up in these past few days, especially as more big names have entered talks.

To recap the rumors, it was reported last week that Microsoft was interested in acquiring DoubleClick. "DoubleClick is majority-owned by private equity firm Hellman & Friedman. A source quoted in The Wall Street Journal story last week said the private equity firm, which took a controlling interest in DoubleClick two years ago for $1.1 billion, is seeking $2 billion for the company" (B to B, April 2). Microsoft would be able to gain share in the internet advertising sector where they have been lagging behind both Google and Yahoo.

If Microsoft is able to acquire DoubleClick, what does that mean for Yahoo and Google?

For Google, it might cause an ad revenue loss of $120 million, which is nothing for a company that reported $3 billion in profits. However, if Microsoft then acquires Yahoo, as Mark Simon argues, then Google might be in serious trouble.

Since there is a faint possibility of this happening and Google is into buying pretty much everything, they have entered the rumor mill. According to the Wall Street Journal, Google and AOL are both interested with the price tag now exceeding $2 billion, for the company that is estimated "to earn $300 million in revenue this year (up from $150 million in 2006)" (Google Watch, April 2).

Where does mobile marketing stand?

It seems like mobile marketing has been "the next big thing" for a few years now, but marketers have yet to see results in the U.S.

Despite the fact that Yahoo expanded the reach of its OneSearch mobile search application, making it available to more mobile Web users, and that Medio has now launched a PPC text ad platform for mobile search, Forrester Research has revealed that adoption for mobile marketing among interactive marketers is low, according to one of their surveys.

While mobile marketing is not being widely adopted, social media is growing rapidly. "The category has grown quickly over the past 12 months to the point where 40% of marketers are using or piloting RSS, up from 10% last year, and 34% are use or piloting blogs, up from 13% in the 2006 study. Social networks have the slowest adoption of all social media tactics but still notched 20% penetration in terms of marketer use. " (Advertising Age, "For Marketers Social Media Soars, Mobile and Gaming Lag")

However, while mobile is lagging, Forrester analyst, Brian Haven, says in his report that mobile marketing is more promising than online gaming.

The question remains, will 2007 be the year for mobile marketing? Time will tell.

Flixfind.com

While most of the internet is watching user-generated content on Youtube, Flixfind.com gives you all the information you need about full length features and then some.

Essentially, it is a reviewed list of links to movie-related sites that is coupled with a movie blog. The sites in the directory are divided by categories which include “animated, black film, festivals and awards, film genres, etc. Under each category there is a list of links to sites. There are also tools to help find movie sites. Moreover, you can find theatres, tickets, and trailers. All of these features leaves Flixfind.com touting themselves as "The only movie bookmark you'll ever need..."

While it certainly has many great features, its appearance is lacking. Overall, I just can't see people choosing Flixfind over IMDB.

aloft Hotels in Second Life

This week in class we explored Second Life a little bit to see the different ways that companies are using SL to interact with customers and prospective customers.

aloft Hotels is a company that has been in SL since September 2006. They made a replica of their proposed hotel that will open in Rancho Cucamonga, CA in 2008. People were able to go into the hotel, stay in the rooms, swim in the pool, get free aloft apparel, and most importantly provide feedback to the company about their experience.

Aloft took the feedback into account, which will be shown when the hotels open in 2008. Right now, there is a "box" around the hotel in SL so that people cannot get in until the hotels open.

I think that when the hotel reopens they should have a feature at the conceirge that will allow users to book the hotel in real life. They should also make more aloft apparel available to users, but have the apparel be more specific, such as souveneirs from hotels in specific locations. Feedback should still be accepted by the hotel, so that they can get feedback on adjustments they should make to future hotels. Also, users should be able to vote to get an aloft hotel to their region. These features will encourage brand interaction, and provide incentive for people to visit and return to the island. Moreover, it causes interaction that crosses over from Second Life into the real world.

Update on Blinkx

A couple of weeks ago I posted about the new widget by Blinkx that scans your blog posts and returns relevant video based on the content.

Recently, Blinkx issued a press release announcing the launch of its wiki-style, Video Search Optimization community forum site – to help marketers, advertisers, and content owners “maximize traffic to online video.” The new site is located at www.seowiki.blinkx.com.

Blinkx is aiming to create a hub for discussions regarding best practices and ways to maximize results for video content. The site also includes a white paper on search engine optimization (SEO) which covers metadata, optimizing titles, RSS, content management, and more.

Blinkx is the world's most comprehensive video search engine. Today,blinkx has indexed more than 7,000,000 hours of audio, video, viral and TVcontent, and made it fully searchable and available on demand.

Online Ad Spending

Numbers released on Tuesday by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) showed that online ad revenue continued to grow at a quick pace in Q4 2006, reaching nearly $4.8 billion, the highest reporte quarter for the industry. The revenue from Q4 2006 was up 32% from the same quarter in 2005. The report anticipates total 2006 revenues, to be revealed next month, to clock in at $16.8 billion, a 34 percent increase from 2005.

While spending continues to increase, the rate of growth has slowed slightly. At $4.8 billion, revenues in Q4 2006 represent an increase of 15 percent over Q3 2006, when spending on online advertising hit $4.2 billion. In Q4 2005, Internet ad revenues were up 34 percent over the same period in '04, reaching $3.6 billion.

The report determined that the increase in spending was a result of more spending by more marketers. In addition, the revenue increase was affected by the increase in the cost of online advertising and accompanying services.

The fourth quarter figures and full 2006 estimates, sponsored by the IAB, were calculated by PricewaterhouseCoopers based on surveys and aggregated data from the top 15 online advertising sellers.

Autobytel pimps it out with MyRide.com

Well, sort of.

At the 2007 National Automobile Dealers Association Conference in February, Autobytel announced the upcoming launch of MyRide.com, the world’s first fully-integrated automotive vertical search experience. MyRide.com won't be fully launched until Q2. Autobytel also had a press release that details the announcement.

MyRide.com will definitely be a huge step for automobile consumers as it provides a comprehensive array of information related to the purchase and lifecycle of the vehicle. The new site, which integrates automotive content with categorized auto search results, will also provide dealers, manufacturers and other service providers with multiple "marketing touch points."

The new site isn't just intended to be used to find information on purchasing a new car, it will allow searchers to "easily find a new or used car, car parts, accessories, and even a local business for service and repair, based on a tightly-focused combination of relevant content and auto-related web search results and user-generated content." (Press Release) MyRide.com intends on offering full-screen vehicle images from the largest online auto photo gallery, as well as extensive video assets and capabilities. Relevant multimedia content will be integrated throughout the MyRide.com search and navigational experience, not just segregated in “galleries” as on many other sites.

With all of the features available at MyRide.com, as well as the highly segmented audience provided by vertical search engines, it will definitely be a valuable investment to place text and banner ads. Moreover, Autobytel has been dedicated to the consumer in past ventures, and the consumer continues to be the main focus for MyRide.com, which will ensure that the product will continue to improve as demand increases.

If you're looking to do anything with buying cars, MyRide.com is the place for you. Therefore, if you're looking for those people, MyRide.com is also the place for you.

Google and click fraud

Click fraud has long been a issue for marketers that have voiced their qualms with Google and other search engines, but to no avail.

On March 1, Google's Shuman Ghosemajumder revealed that invalid clicks on Google AdWords ads have consistently remained under the 10-percent mark, and are generally in low single-digits. In addition, the amount of invalid clicks that are not proactively detected and are caught by advertisers is less than 0.02 percent.

In order to prevent advertisers from being billed for invalid clicks, proactive filters catch the invalid clicks in real time, which prevents the clicks from appearing on bills or metrics. Not all of the clicks removed here are fraudulent; some are questionable, or have been deemed invalid by Google, such as the second click of a double-click.

Google's click quality team also performs offline analysis. These are the clicks that show up on advertisers' statements as click quality adjustments. Clicks that are detected at this stage are still not billed to the advertiser, but they do show up in click metrics, so they affect ROI measurements.

In addition, next month, Google plans to give advertisers the ability to prevent their pay-per-click ads from being shown to competitors suspected of repeatedly clicking on the ads to drive up their cost. The announcement came via Google's AdWords blog.

Panama assesment

You may remember my earlier post about Yahoo's release of their new search marketing platform, Panama, well, it's been two weeks and it's time to assess if it has been beneficial to Yahoo and its advertisers.

According to a report issued on Monday by comScore Networks, click-through rates (CTR) for Yahoo search ads increased by 5 and 9 percent percent respectively during the first two weeks the company began delivering ads using the overly delayed Panama technology. More specifically, comScore says that CTR increased measurably in the weeks ending February 11 and February 18 versus the previous week, which ended on February 4. An increase in the CTR will result in more money for Yahoo. In addition to more money for Yahoo, the sponsored results are also more relevant to searchers, which will likely result in more searches done on Yahoo.

The entire objective behind the new technology was to close the gap between Google and everybody else in the search landscape. While two weeks is hardly enough time to claim any victories, the initial results are promising. However, the results may have been inflated because of gift hunters for Valentine's Day.

ComScore will be following the performance of the new ranking model and they will deliver analysis at the end of the first quarter.

Promoting my blog

In order to promote my blog, I posted on the BRT (first-year housing) blog that was created and maintained by the BRT RAs, about this blog and I added a link to the site. In addition, I on on Chelsea's blog about social networking because her post about Flock was relevant to my post about OurCity. I also e-mailed my blog to my boss at my summer internship at Modem Media who sent the link to the rest of the SEM staff.

Does anybody watch online video?

The answer is yes, and the percentage of people who watch online video is continually increasing, especially as more households are gaining broadband access. The graph below from emarketer and the U.S. Census Bureau shows the growing numbers and the correlation between broadband access and watching online video.

Well, who really cares if people are watching online video if you can't make money off it? Many companies have found ways to make a substantial amount of money through a sponsorship model.

Specifically, Revision 3, a company that produces online shows, has nearly perfected the model by delivering advertisers engaged audiences that are otherwise difficult to target. One of Revision 3's programs, Diggnation, which is "entertainment aimed directly at gadget-loving, commercial-skipping 18- to 34-year-old males who spend more time on the Web than in front of a TV" (CNN Money). Diggnation draws about 250,000 viewers a week and is among the most popular free video podcasts on Apple's iTunes service.

The picture below shows the two hosts of Diggnation, as well as the sponsorship model they use, which has been effective for Revision 3.


Since programming is very inexpensive to produce with a single camera, business can create shows that target niche audiences instead of the general public, which increase the value of the advertising.

With online video's ability to target such specific demographics, does it have the ability to oust TV programming? Not yet, but it can certainly supplement the expensive network advertising.

blinkx integrates video into websites

blinkx, which uses speech-to-text transcription to index online video content, now has available a new widget "blinkx it" that will allow a user to embed code to display video streams in a blog or website. This new widget allows users to add contextually relevant video to almost any page. Code and configurations are available for Blogger and Xanga, as well as instructions for how to add Blinkx it to most sites.

The widget retrieves results based on the text it scans on the web page. "blinkx it" even changes as the website is updated to deliver the most relevant results for the new page.

By embedding the “blinkx it” widget on a blog template “blinkx it” will automatically generate a list of related videos for every blog post. The widget works by reading the text of each individual post and finding videos that are about the same topic. I have imbedded it on my blog to give you an idea of how it works.

Right now this is just a feature for enhancing blogs and web sites with video content, but this has contexual video advertising written all over it.

Is there anything new in online shopping?

Online shopping has been a fixture on the internet and more and more people are doing their shopping online because it's usually just easier and sometimes cheaper. However, there haven't been too many changes in the sector.

NearbyNow is looking to change that.

NearbyNow is an online shopping search engine specifically made for local malls. It allows consumers to search various products and compare prices online, but buy the products in person. This is useful for products that consumers like to touch, feel, and experience, which applies to many higher priced items.



NearbyNow lets consumers search through the entire inventory of their local shopping malls. Now, shoppers at home can see what is new, and items that are on sale. They can search by category, but also search for things like coupons, or by stores.

NearbyNow is aiming to be within 30 miles of a NearbyNow-enabled shopping center by April 2007. Click here to take a look at the coverage map of NearbyNow.

NearbyNow provides participating shopping partners with advertising campaigns to promote the online product, as well as consumer purchasing patterns with metrics and behavioral data.

Here's a link to find out more about the type of information the site provides to customers, retailers, and advertisers.

We built OurCity

Something cool has just come out of India, a new local search product from Yahoo! It's called OurCity, and has some parallels with AskCity, but it is more comprehensive. OurCity is a city guide-like product that brings together a bunch of Yahoo! products like Del.icio.us, a social search engine, Upcoming, a social events calendar, and Flickr. It is also meant to compile geographically relevant news, blogs, and info from Wikipedia. Basically, it's all the the social media you can think of and a bag of chips.

Given its specific geographic relevance, it has the means to be an excellent addition to local advertising that is relevant to consumers.

The big question is are there going to be enough users for the product to actually work? A recent study by Pew Internet and American Life Project revealed that 28 percent of Internet users have tagged or categorized content such as photos, or blog posts. It also found that "on a typical day online," 7 percent of internet users participate in the tagging of content. I guess that's a decent amount, but is it enough for me to spend money on it? I don't know yet, but Yahoo certainly believes that it is. If they are able to get enough users and modify their metrics, OurCity has the potential to change their revenues and possibly cause a shift in the share of the search market.
Don't be surprised when Google tries to come out with a product along these lines soon.

Wikimarketing

Let's just admit it, we've all come to know and love wikipedia (6th most visited collection of web properties in the world, according to comScore). Sure we know it's not 100% accurate, but that's not the point, the information is good enough and you know it's not something put out by some marketer. Marketers are now starting to use wikis as an extension of consumer generated content. "eBay has used wikis in its customer-support section, letting users collaboratively write answers to frequently asked questions. The NBA's Dallas Mavericks announced a plan to let fans wiki every game using the same software as Wikipedia. And T-Mobile launched a Sidekick wiki that has produced collaboratively written pieces including tips on how to pimp out the inside of the phone and a wish list of improvements the community would like to see. T-Mobile said the wiki is a forum where the Sidekick's biggest fans can tell others how to get more out of the product and relay information that isn't necessarily T-Mobile-related, such as how to create ringtones and find the best wallpaper. A T-Mobile spokesman said the company won't edit out negative feedback on the product, since that is valuable as well." (http://adage.com/digital/article?article_id=114732) Wikis are a way for users to interact with the brand and make the product easier to use. They tend to be superior to message boards because boards can be very difficult to follow and you are less likely to have tangential posts on a wiki as oppossed to a message board. As long as marketers don't interfere with the wikis they should be well accepted by consumers an excellent source of brand interacation.

More keyword ideas for free?

In my last post I touched on some of the new additions that Yahoo! made to its search platform, but what I didn't mention was the very controversal removal of the Keyword tool, which helped advertisers come up with relevant keywords. The tool returned a list of similar keywords as well as a number of the approximate daily searches for the keyword. When advertisers saw this tool was removed, they were less than satisfied. Fortunately, KeywordDiscovery has developed a free search term suggestion tool.

The tool works in a similar manner as the former Yahoo! tool: you type in a keyword and similar keywords are returned. This tool returns the top 100 keywords from data compiled and collected from 180 search engines worldwide. Until this point, Yahoo! offered the only free keyword selection tool.

On the Webmaster World forums, YahooSarah said, "we do have plans to offer a new public keyword research tool, which would be hosted through Yahoo! and available to our API partners. We plan on making this new tool available later this year."

Panama released

Yahoo! has been scrutinized (and rightfully so) about their new search advertising platform that has been delayed and delayed, not to mention the difficulty in transitioning old keyword lists to the new platform. Well, today it's all a part of the past because they have officially released the new platform to all of their advertisers.

So what's the big deal? How does this affect the advertisers? How does it affect me as a searcher?

Yahoo! Search Marketing has been behind Google's AdWords as far as its usability, features, and profitablility. With the new platform, Yahoo! is adding in many features and tools that should bring its revenues closer to Google. One of the major additions to the platform is the implementation of Ad ranking. Ads will be placed higher based on a ranking system that factors in click-through-rate (CTR), relevance, and bid amount, instead of solely ranking the ads based on bid amounts. This will reward ads for being more relevant and it will provide searchers with ads that pertain to their query.
Another feature of the new platform is ad testing. This will allow advertisers to run different ad executions for the same keyword, and they will be able to see which ad has a higher CTR and Yahoo! will increase the frequency of the ad with the higher CTR. Therefore, the advertiser can see what copy appeals best to consumers, which will increase their ROI.
Yet another change in the system is the organization of the campaigns and keywords. Previously, keywords could only be organized as a campaign and there were no sub categories. Now, advertisers have the ability to create "Ad Groups" which gives advertisers the ability to create specialized keyword lists under their campaign. This makes tracking the success of certain ad groups easier, as well as making the system more user friendly because of its superior organization. The new organization method is nearly identical to Google's.
In addition to these features, Yahoo! has also added many more graphs, charts, and methods for measuring the success of ads, as well as assessing the ideal spending levels for campaigns.
Overall, the system is far superior to the previous platform, but Yahoo! still has a lot of ground to make up. For more information on Yahoo! Search Marketing, visit the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog.

All Marketers are Liars

On February 22, 2006, Seth Godin travelled to the Google campus and gave a talk about his book "All Marketers Are Liars." The bottom line in his talk was that delivering content and products to consumers when and where they want it will result in increased sales.

I think Godin really captured everything that marketing and advertising should be: a medium for consumers to find relevant products and services at the optimal time for them. If marketers focus on targeting to specific consumers, then advertising wouldn't be considered as invasive and companies would get a higher return on their investment. Targeting specific consumers through behavior will only benefit everyone because the focus of various media would not be on selling ads, it would be on producing superior content, there would be more jobs for researchers and technology experts to determine the best way to target consumers, there would be higher profit margins for marketers, and media would be able to charge more for space because of the highly relevant consumers and an increase in the return on investment.

The predicament with this situation is actually being able to target consumers based on behavior and purchasing habits outside of the internet and direct mail because of the lack of personalization in mass media advertising. Also, certain ways to track behavior and past purchases would be considered an invasion of privacy by many people. However, it would ultimately result in the best situation for all parties.

Personally, I am all for personalization and targeting in advertising, as a consumer and a future advertiser, which is exactly what web advertising is able to deliver. On a regular basis there are new developments and I hope to be able to deliver the latest news to you, so you can improve your ROI and avoid some of those irrelevant and therefore, annoying ads.

Welcome

Hi, my name is Josh Giordano. I'm a student at Ithaca College studying Integrated Marketing Communications, without a doubt the major that is most fun to say at IC, as well as the most useful to anyone who is interested in the external communications of a company or organization.
Enough about me. In this blog, I plan on exploring the plethora of new ways marketers are advertising on the Internet, their effectiveness, and how consumers will react to the advertising. I picked this topic because I feel that web advertising has the potential to deliver the best return on the marketer's investment through specific targeting and finding the most qualified users. Moreover, it is a relatively new medium that is still trying to figure out the best way to be user friendly while making a profit. Please feel free to give me feedback, so that I can cater to you because isn't that one of the things that makes the Internet so great?