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Video units feature to be discontinued:

Written by power @ 11:26 PM permanent link on Tuesday, March 31, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Google has discontinued its video unit feature. Google adsense video units feature allows you to show YouTube contents and videos as well as ads on your pages. According to Google adsense blog this didn't work for them as they expected. This feature is ending end of April. Youtube can still be used by embedding videos on your site but you will not earn any adsense income from it. video ads may appear in your Adsense for content ad units if you've opted into image ads, and Adsense for video is still accepting applications from eligible publishers who produce video content.

We used to run video unit ads on few of our websites now we removed the code as per Google's recommendation. Google adsense is no longer accepting sign up for video units.
Once video units are retired at the end of April, any remaining Leader board or Skyscraper video units on your pages will direct users to YouTube.com, while other video unit sizes will automatically be changed to standard embedded YouTube players. These standard video players will display top YouTube videos, but you won't generate earnings from them once this change occurs. If you have less than three ad units on your page, you may prefer to replace your video unit with a regular ad unit.

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Ideas to learn affiliate marketing:

Written by power @ 11:13 PM permanent link on Monday, March 30, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Affiliate marketing if done properly is one of the most successful strategies in online Business. If you hit the right way to do it I assure quality income from it.

Affiliate marketing is mostly trial and error. You need to try different types of affiliate marketing programs and select the one best suit you. There are 1000s of good affiliate programs available online and there are people making 10s of 1000s of dollars from being a good affiliate.

1. Learning to be an affiliate will not come in a day you need to keep updating yourself from various quality resources. A forum like webmaster world is a good start you can go through the affiliate programs thread. You can find tons of quality information from great affiliates in this forum.

2. EBooks': Most eBooks' are meant to be sold to the customer don't get over excited about eBooks' thought some eBooks' provide some decent advise most of them are just sales copies.

3. Using Adwords and other PPC programs for affiliate marketing has been around for a long time. But now Adwords also penalizes site that are strictly affiliate so be careful and make a site valuable for your visitors.

4. Time and money is important: Be prepared to spend 2 to 5 hours per day (depending on how fast you read and learn), a minimum of 4 days a week, for at least two months to really know if this is something you want to become a profession at or if you want to peruse something else.

5. Attend WebMasterWorld conference or affiliate summit and network with other affiliates. This is a community I recommend for new affiliates, there's a lot of noise there, but there's also some real good people that will help you some, like this place as well, but there it's all affiliate subject matter.

Some tips from an affiliate:

"I didn't go looking for the highest paying offer or the latest fad or any of that.
I took a look at my life and the various systems I've developed for doing various things, and asked myself if there was anything I was doing that was relatively unique to *me* - maybe an uncommon way of performing a common task or need, and could I find a niche there?
Didn't take long, because I have several such. I took the one I thought had the most 'commercial' appeal and went to see if the vendor for one of the products I use for this had an affiliate program, and lo and behold - they did! Not only that, I found a vendor for some accessory products as well.
Then I built out the site on a Word Press format, adding my own personal experiences with this system, why I thought it was better than the 'standard' way of doing things, and I'm now in the process of making some videos to demonstrate it, and adding various other enhancements.
It's early yet, but I'm pretty sure it'll be a success, because I'm not just tossing up a product feed and relying on the thing to sell itself; I'm adding my own personal experiences, my own methods, video demonstrations, related stories, tips, etc.
It's also a pretty expandable topic, so if it takes off like I hope, there's a lot more I can add to it, including guest posts, new products, recommendations, reviews, the possibilities are pretty endless.
THAT kind of affiliate site has no problem doing well with Adwords (and in fact, I have no quality score issues at all so far) It brings more value than just the product offer, and that makes it a lot easier to deliver a quality user experience.
The world doesn't need more sites with outsourced content devoted to weight loss berries."

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Yahoo! adds video, images and custom links to search ads

Written by power @ 2:05 AM permanent link on | Post a Comment | 0 comments

With Yahoo!'s new Rich Ads in Search, they can see great new innovations. Yahoo! has been testing a new service that lets advertisers add video, images and custom search boxes to their search ads. The results are ads that can combine the relevance of search with the impact of rich media. A small group of advertisers tested it in the fourth quarter of 2008 and saw click-through rates rise by as much as 25 percent. They've also seen improved brand exposure and conversion rates.

What can rich ads do?
The Rich Ads in Search program is being shared with a small number of brand advertisers such as Pedigree and Esurance and agencies such as Razorfish. The program lets advertisers:

  • Post images and video, which can increase the branding impact of search advertising. Pedigree has added video to its campaigns, for instance.

  • Create deep links to relevant pages, which can help drive conversions directly from the Yahoo! search results page.

  • Include boxes within the listing that lets users search for their desired product or a store location directly without additional navigation. Esurance's listing lets users enter their ZIP codes from the results page for insurance quotes.

  • Show their logo, which enhances user trust.

Rich Ads in Search is currently by invitation only to a small group of our brand advertisers, but we will update you as it opens up. In the meantime, start thinking of what your search ads could do for you.

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Disadvantages of Quality score:

Written by power @ 4:16 AM permanent link on Friday, March 27, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

1. Quality score in Google Adwords works under a weird algorithm, some times great content sites, no rhyme or reason get slapped. Thinner sites get extremely low bids. So why does this happen fact only Google knows 1000% what's the reason behind this.

2. In quality score you need to make sure you have the ad very much relevant to the landing page, landing page should be highly relevant to the Ads that you have. Even a small difference can make sure you have bad quality score. This is a definite disadvantage with Google Adwords quality score.

3. Bad ads can also result in lower quality score. Lower quality score will result in higher bid value since its all automated you need to be very sensitive when creating ads. This is not the case before few years in Adwords and you don't have such a thing in Yahoo search marketing or MSN ad center.

4. Bad landing pages of a bad website can also affect quality score, you need to have contact pages, perfect privacy policy , good outgoing links to relevant or quality websites etc. There are lots of factors like this that will affect your quality score. I am sure not everyone will be aware of this so I feel this is a disadvantage.

Good keyword research tools for your PPC campaign:

Written by power @ 10:13 PM permanent link on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Keyword research is one of the primary factor when it comes to effective SEO / PPC campaigns. Good keyword research before any PPC campaign will increase your ROI considerably. People tend to search more and more targeted phrases if they cant find for generic phrases. So its important to have a good list of keywords to get started with your PPC management campaign.
Today there are lots of keyword research tools, leading the market in keyword research tool is ofcourse Google Adwords keyword suggestion tool.

Google Adwords tool can be gauged more accurate since it comes directly from Google itself. Google can relied for their data because it tends to be more accurate. They use Adwords real time data to feed the keyword suggestion tool and this works out to be effective and reliable.

Word tracker: A traditional hit tool which has been online for more than 10 years long before Google Adwords keyword suggestion tool. This tool formerly used Google data to populate keyword suggestion. It seems to be the same case right now. Wordtracker helps website owners and search engine marketers identify keywords and phrases that are relevant to their or their client's business and most likely to be used as queries by search engine visitors. Marketers can also determine how many competing sites are using those keywords and can identify the phrases that have the greatest traffic potential.

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Conversion optimizer increases conversion decreases CPA.

Written by power @ 10:15 PM permanent link on Tuesday, March 24, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Google Adwords team claim conversion optimizer a feature in Google Adwords conversion tracking when used effectively will give better conversions with lower Cost per acquisition.
Conversion tracking is a feature of Adwords conversion tracking data to get more conversions for a lower price. With the Conversion Optimizer, you bid using a maximum CPA, which is the most you're willing to pay for each conversion (such as a purchase or signup). Using historical information about your campaign, the Conversion Optimizer automatically finds the optimal equivalent cost-per-click (CPC) bid for your ad each time it's eligible to appear. You still pay per click, but you no longer need to adjust your bids manually to reach your CPA goals and can benefit from improved ROI.

To calculate the optimal equivalent CPC bid, the Conversion Optimizer first calculates a predicted conversion rate for each auction. The Conversion Optimizer takes many factors into account, including your ad's conversion history, the keyword's broad match query, the user's location, and the conversion rates of Google's search and content partner sites. The feature then generates an ad rank by combining your CPA bid, quality score and predicted conversion rate.

According to Adwords blog:

"We've just completed a new analysis on the performance of campaigns which have adopted Conversion Optimizer. We found that on average, these campaigns achieved a 21% increase in conversions while at the same time decreasing their CPA by 14%.

The analysis compares the performance of Conversion Optimizer campaigns with a control set of campaigns and represents the average impact of Conversion Optimizer. The actual impact will vary from campaign to campaign (and a small number of advertisers could conceivably perform better without Conversion.

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Written by power @ 9:56 PM permanent link on Monday, March 23, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Making adwords difficult has been an increasingly difficult problem for a long time, there are lots of people who make a fortune from adwords and there are people who lost money. It all depends on how well you use the tactics and help provided to you by Google. Also personally acquired tactics is also an important way to grow in adwords.

1. Identifying the right keywords is the first yet an important factor in Adwords. If you can get the list of right keywords I am sure you are on the right track, Google uses exact matching as well as broad matching if you have the perfect list of keywords just enable exact matching and you will see great results.

2. Identifying your targeted audience is another important thing to do , this cannot be done in a day or two multiple days of active monitoring the tool as well tweaking it with users in mind is the best way to get optimized results. Also you need to vary your bids to change positions to see which position works best for you. For some advertisers it's important to bid the maximum to get optimized results but for others it's ok to get just on 1st page or even some advertisers get good returns advertising on 2nd page its good to test with different ad pricing to see which works best.

3. Writing a good advertising copy or quality ads is very important, good ads bring more click through which will result in better ROIs. When you have a combination of a good ad-copy with an optimized landing page I am sure your conversions will be great. Landing page should be exactly matching the way you describe in your ad-text if you can do it I am sure you can even reach conversions of 15 to 20%.

4. You need to constantly monitor your account progress. There are some good PPC management companies who are dedicated to doing this job. We at Search Engine Genie is one of the company that can handle your PPC management campaigns effectively our extensive knowledge in PPC management will help boost your PPC campaigns and will bring best ROI for your website. Your account needs to be properly organized and maintained. Good organized ad-groups, keywords; campaigns will help your Adwords campaign a lot.

5. Last but not the least your Adwords quality score is important for better positions and optimized running of your ads. Its important to get everything right to get high quality score we at Search Engine Genie maintain high quality scores for most of our clients which results in good traffic and conversions.

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PPC rap - interesting:

Written by power @ 11:42 PM permanent link on Thursday, March 19, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments



This is fantastic; it's now standard training material. "Special Sauce"?, why is it every SEM guru uses this Macdonald's term? Very funny, keep it up. How about a rap on Content? This rap has more to it than sex, drugs, and swearing unlike the stereotype.

I always wondered why most online marketing acronyms rhymed, now I know. God has a plan for us after all. We need to take your message to the streets!

Adwords success secret from the mouth of a Google employee:

Written by power @ 6:06 AM permanent link on Wednesday, March 18, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Adwords is a powerful advertising tool it has brought some great success for online Businesses but also there are people who have lost a lot of money in adwords. We have clients spending easily over 30,000$ a month without any proper ROI. They rarely track their ROI I have repeatedly told them that Adwords is not working for them as they expect it to be but still they continue to spend 1000s of dollars in adwords without the campaign working.
Some clients gets an addition towards Adwords they think it like an online gambling tool. The truth it is not only a good strategy and high knowledge will do the work for them. Rather than with limited knowledge they try tactics that never works for them and they fail miserably.

According to adwords advisor:
"* Advertisers who expect to very quickly set up their account and then forget about it - and who do not have either the time or interest to really learn how AdWords works - will almost certainly be disappointed with their success and with the AdWords program itself.

* Advertisers who make only a moderate effort will likely see a moderate success rate at best.

* Advertisers who take advertising with AdWords very seriously, who spend a substantial amount of time learning the nuances of how it works, and who spend a lot of time managing their account, experimenting, learning from the results of those experiments and then updating their account, tracking their Return on Investment (ROI) using the free tools available from AdWords, etc can find AdWords to be a very effective way to affordably send highly qualified potential customers to their site - and make a healthy profit doing it.

Tips for success

1. Identify your advertising goals.
2. Organize your account for maximum effectiveness.
3. Choose relevant keywords and placements.
4. Create straightforward, targeted ads.
5. Optimize your website for conversions.
6. Track your account performance.
7. Test and modify your campaigns to get the results you want.

Google adplanner now available for everyone:

Written by power @ 9:34 PM permanent link on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Google Ad Planner is a free media planning tool that can help you identify websites your audience is likely to visit so you can make better-informed advertising decisions. With Google adplanner you can define users by languages and demographics, you can search for websites that are related your audience, get statistics of websites from over 40 countries. Google adplanner can help you get data from millions of websites and later you can sort out and decide which websites you will be advertising.

Google ad planner has auto refresh capabilities for the list of sites you compile based on change in criteria set by you.

Also if you have trouble with deciding audiences ad planner offers a list of typical audiences from which you can select. It also provides a comprehensive way of researching sites.
Manage your site results

With three new site ranking methods, you can decide how you want your site results ranked and displayed. You can choose between sites most likely to attract your target audience, larger known sites to increase your campaign scale, or a balance between the two. By applying other site filters, you can narrow your search to only sites that accept ads, sites in specific categories like "Video Games," or sites that end with a particular domain suffix like ".edu."

Visit and start using ad planner here: www.google.com/adplanner

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Complying with advertising standards when you advertise

Written by power @ 4:28 AM permanent link on Friday, March 13, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

When you advertise, the claims you make for your product or service must comply with a number of standards to ensure fair trade. They must also comply with regulations protecting:

  • the intellectual property rights of copyright holders
  • registered trade marks
  • all groups protected by discrimination law

The major pay per click (PPC) providers will ask that you comply with copyright, trade marks and anti-discrimination law when you use their services.

PPC terms and conditions will typically set out that it is your responsibility as the advertiser to:

  • check your right to use any copyright or copyrighted content - i.e. you must not promote copyrighted content without the permission of the copyright holder

  • not advertise products that are replicas or imitations of designer goods (a replica item contains the trademarked name or logo of a designer brand, but is not made by that brand)

  • avoid using words that could be considered discriminatory or offensive to any protected group

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Choosing a pay per click agency

Written by power @ 9:06 PM permanent link on Tuesday, March 10, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Pay per click (PPC) advertising agencies can help you start your PPC campaign and attract quality sales traffic to your website. A good place to start your search for an agency is to open your favourite search engine and search for one in your area. If you find a name in the top ten generic results and again in the top three sponsored links, you could click through and see whether the landing page matches your expectations.

Before contacting an agency, consider the skills and competencies you expect of an agency and your marketing goals and objectives.

There are certain similarities with traditional advertising agencies - eg you'll want prospective PPC agencies to provide testimonials and customer references or case studies. See our guide on how t0 choose and manage advertising agency.

However, PPC agencies must have different skills and a different mind set. Ask prospective agencies whether they're accredited as a Google AdWords Qualified Company, a Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador and/or a Microsoft adExcellence member.

A good agency should have proven experience in the particular complexities of a stand-alone PPC campaign and Internet marketing campaigns that include PPC and other online marketing strands - eg banner adverts. They need to be able to show:

  • an understanding of the pros and cons of the top PPC providers

  • a good grasp of your market sector and competition

  • proven experience and the necessary technology to set up, manage, track and analyse PPC campaigns

  • a creative approach to PPC essentials - keyword research, bid management, daily budget, website optimisation and advert writing

  • excellent strategic analysis and web analytic abilities

  • how they set and achieve agreed targets

  • how they plan to report to you and how often

  • how they intend to maximise and measure your return on investment

  • how they intend to charge you (eg a flat fee, a percentage of the campaign expenditure or on the basis of campaign performance)

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Writing the advert is a critical point in your pay per click (PPC) campaign. You need to attract targeted leads and you have barely 100 characters to

Written by power @ 3:53 AM permanent link on Friday, March 6, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

Writing the advert is a critical point in your pay per click (PPC) campaign. You need to attract targeted leads and you have barely 100 characters to do this. Your copy needs to be compelling and you must attract the right buyers - ie those who want your product or service.

PPC gives you the flexibility to run different adverts in different regions, at different times of the day - or night - and target your copy to specific audiences. Because of the immediacy of the internet, you can prepare several adverts and test which works best, changing them every day if necessary.

Adverts have four short lines, the most important of which is the web address from which potential customers will click through to the landing page on your website.

Key points to consider when writing your adverts are to:

  • include your keywords
  • use phrases that relate to your keywordsbe specific - if you only serve a particular city, include it
  • offer benefits - if you have a time-limited offer, say so
  • your URL is part of the advert - make your keywords part of it
  • keep your copy simple

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Tracking your pay per click campaign results

Written by power @ 3:01 AM permanent link on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

The major search engines offer online analytical tools so you can track the growth of your pay per click (PPC) campaigns. You can also take on a PPC agency to carry out these critical tasks on your behalf and provide you with real-time reports.

Typically, such tools will allow you to see:

  • how visitors find your website.
  • how they navigate through it.
  • how they become customers.

When you analyze these statistics, which you can view as graphs, summaries and other data, you will be able to improve your online results.

  • In some cases, the tools are more sophisticated. For example, the Google Analytics tool will allow you to:Assess whether your conversion rate differs between regions - the conversion rate is the number of visitors to your site that actually become customers during their visit.

  • Find out where your customers live - if you find a heavy density in a particular region, you could then target a campaign to draw them back as return customers.

  • Examine and optimize your landing pages - you can then make an informed decision as to whether to improve their design or pare them down until they match the proposition described in your keyword adverts.

  • Count how many steps there are from landing to conversion - establish whether you could reduce this number if you are losing visitors along the way.

  • Establish where drop-out visitors are going when they leave your site - if it's to a competitor, check how your copy, landing page and number of steps to conversion compares with theirs.

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do .gov links helps in better ranking of your site

Written by power @ 3:44 AM permanent link on Monday, March 2, 2009 | Post a Comment | 0 comments

There is always an misconception that .gov sites or .ac.uk sites have more than link from normal domain.

People often tend to think that .gov sites or .edu sites gets the page rank automatically. So even if you get that .edu or .gov link and people don't click to that link then you are not going to get any page rank at all. All the links are treated in the same the manner, whether it is .gov or .edu or .info sites. In short gov sites do not carry any more weight other than raw page rank scores being higher.

So in order to have better page rank is to look for other good quality and relevant sites to cultivate link regardless of being .gov or just a normal domain.