The latest improvements come in the form of better search-term association and longer search results.

The search-term association improvement helps Google understand when search terms are related to other concepts that don’t necessarily contain the same words. Google makes use of this knowledge by providing searches related to the keywords entered at the bottom of its search results page.

I did a search for the phrase sunflower seeds. When I scrolled to the bottom of the page there has been added, “Related Search Results” this is a huge improvement to Google’s ability to keep people on the first page of results.

Google is taking great strides in data mining to improve what people see. It is kinda like your mom correcting you when you were a little kid learning to speak english. “We was at the store” no son it’s “We were at the store”

Google is just helping to search better.

Techy way of saying it:

The lengthening of search results snippets for searches with lots of keywords represents an attempt by Google to provide searchers with more context. The goal is to help searchers understand what the pages at the end of search results links are about. Reducing visits to pages that don’t really address a query means more satisfied users.

Technorati Tags: google search implrovments, search terms

Technorati Tags: video ads, video advertising, video search engine

Lego Star Wars – Vader’s Personal Day Thanks YouTube!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Sample of using the great plugin Viper’s Video Quicktags for wordpress.
Easy way to add Youtube videos to your blog!

Busted...Watching online videos.

Guess again!  A recent study showed that more online videos are watched during the week from 9 to 5.  Evidently, online video watching goes hand in hand with access to broadband internet and time in front of a computer.  To read more about online video watching habits click here.

Business owners beware, you are paying people to watch online videos.

Technorati Tags: online video

I’ve been around video internet advertising for some time now, and too many times it is just not done very well.  But when it works, it is amazing.  I’ve seen video dress up an accounting firm and make it fun and inviting, while selling the business.  Here are some tips when integrating video in internet advertising.

1. Get people to watch the video.

Obvious, yes.  Done well, rarely.

Pay attention to how the video works with the internet advertising platform.  If it starts with a still shot with a “play” button on it, make sure the first frames of the video has an “ad” on it with your company name so at least there is some name recognition even if they don’t play the video.

If there is a 10 second “pre-roll” of the video, as is the case with ExchangeMyAd.com make sure there is some movement or action that draws people’s eye to the video and makes them want to click to see the rest.

2. Make sure the video isn’t too long.

A good rule is to keep the video to 30 seconds, maybe 60 seconds if it is really good.  People just won’t wait forever to get to the good part, especially with internet advertising—they don’t have to, and they know it.
If it takes a while to explain your business and 30 or 60 seconds won’t do it, consider using a teaser video (like a movie trailer), and then post the full length version on your website.

3. Actually sell your product in the video.

Don’t get too caught up with a cool concept that the product or service is diminished.  This video is intended for internet video advertising, emphasis on the advertising.  People need to clearly know what you are selling and become loyal to your business for that product or service.  Cool is fun, just not always effective.  You must find a way to make the video advertising cool and effective.

4. You don’t have to use video.

Video is cool, it is powerful, but it isn’t the best for every business.  Some businesses prefer to use flash ads without video, because for their business it has shown to work better.  However, the right internet video advertising platform, matched with the right business and campaign is amazing to behold.

Technorati Tags: internet advertising, video advertising, video internet

Internet Video is here to stay.

First, a quick discussion on video.  Why is video such a powerful tool?  Before video the choices were print media and radio.  Both have their benefits, but the downsides are that they only appeal to one of the human senses.  Video comes along and suddenly it isn’t just graphics, but motion graphics—so not only is it visual like print, but the motion of the video catches attention.  Additionally, the audio helps to convey the message.  So attention is grabbed, visual people see the images, and the audio confirms the images—it is very persuasive.

Video on the internet has been very exciting.  Exciting to the tune of 13.5 billion videos watched in the US alone, 92 videos watched per person on the internet in a single month–according to Comscore.  Why is internet video so popular?  You can see anything you want whenever you want it.  Crazy stuff, stupid stuff, educational stuff, funny stuff, business, etc.—you name it, you can find it. 

When it comes to incorporating video in internet advertising…well people are still trying different things and figuring out what works.  Companies have tried using the video as the advertisement.  Many times, however, they start off with a still shot that doesn’t let anyone know what they are about to watch, and if the video isn’t clicked on no form of advertisement took place.

Enter the videos in internet advertising that just automatically starts playing.  First, it is annoying and makes you not want to go back to that page.  Second, it is annoying.

What does this have to with the Ad Exchange Program with ExchangeMyAd.com?  Everything.  I haven’t written much about it, because I wanted to get people up and running with the program first—patience everyone, we are told we’ll be ready to go any day now.  However using video in internet advertising is an important topic. 

The ExchangeMyAd.com platform incorporates video in internet advertising in a different way.  There will be a thumbnail sized portion of the ad that indicates that there is a video to watch—this reserves the rest of the ad space for the ad.  The video in the thumbnail will play the first 10 second of the video over and over to draw attention.   Then when the video thumbnail is clicked in the advertisement the flash viewer expands to show the video.  This process doesn’t trigger any pop-ups.  While the video is playing the person watching can click on the video to go on to the website, just like the ad itself. 

To check it out and learn more about the Ad Exchange Program, click here.

In the next article, we’ll discuss some things to keep in mind as you incorporate video in internet advertising.

Technorati Tags: ad exchange program, exchangemyad.com, internet advertising, video

Display advertisements are synergistic with paid and organic searches, increasing click rates by a 155% average.  This is in accordance with a study by Specific Media.

Across many different types of industry categories, Specific Media found that display advertising provided a significant boost to search engine click rates and even found that it affected the keywords that were entered. 

The largest increase in click rates on paid and organic search due to display advertising is in the” travel and tourism” category, at 274%.

The lowest increase came in at 22% for the “consumer packaged goods” category.

For more details on the increase in search engine click rates due to display advertising, click here.

Technorati Tags: advertisements, click rates, display advertising, search, search engines

Advertise your desired action.

Knowing how to create attractive online ads, and how that fits with your objective, now you have to make sure your online ads attract the desired action. 

If your online ads are supposed to attract a phone call, put a phone number on the ad.  If the desired action is a click, make sure they know that they are supposed to click.  Whatever the desired action is, measure it as best as you can.

I know that this seems simple, but I have seen many online advertisers whose primary business method was through the phone, but when they looked at the advertising reports they were upset by the click response—and they didn’t measure how many calls came in from their online ads.  Whatever you want, design an ad campaign that gets that desired action, and measure it.  If it is phone calls, use a different number and track the number of calls on that number.  If it is clicks use a system to track where the clicks came from or use different landing pages to see what is effective and what isn’t.

I have also seen where people desired clicks, but didn’t indicate to the person seeing the ad that they should click.  Sure it may seem amateurish, and lose a little design points, but if it works…   Now of course try to come up with something that is classy and fits with the ad and your message.  This can be accomplished with a button that says “Join Now”, “Sign Up”, “Register”, “More Info”, “Click to Site”, or “Special Offer”.

One additional word of advice, make sure the message and the graphics draw people’s eye to the desired action portion.

Technorati Tags: advertising, desired action, online ads, response

Well that’s pretty simple really. Show me a hunter and I’ll show you a trained marketing professional. I’ve spoken to many hunters and the thing that I have noticed is that they love the preparation and the hunting more than the actual killing of the animal. The dead animal is the proof that they had prepared properly, researched correctly, and tracked the target well. Whatever your dead animal (or the objective of your online advertising) is, the process is exactly the same as hunting.

First, know your target. The good hunters get out before hunting season to research locations where their targets may be. They monitor animal trails, foot prints, droppings, etc. All of this is to better understand the likelihood of getting the animal that they want. How many animals pass this point? How many times per day? What is the size of those that are passing? What research are you doing on your customers’ behavior patterns?

Next, know thyself. Take a look at what you are offering your target and how you are attempting to catch their attention. If the roles were reversed would your marketing campaign work on you? Hunters will scout out the best location to take advantage of passersby. They will actually pick out a couple of locations around a busy travel path, and use different ones based upon the time of day or direction the wind is blowing.

Finally, know your weapons. Familiarize yourself with what others in your industry are using to reach their target. Start with a couple of different methods and get good at them, and expand from there. If you try to do everything at once, you won’t get good enough at any of them. Shotguns are great for smaller, faster, and flying animals in fairly close range, but not so good with larger animals at a distance.

Here’s a tip for those of you that already have customers: Study them. Don’t assume that because you have studied them once, that you know them. The marketplace is always changing, study your most recent customers and track trends.

Technorati Tags: behavior patterns, hunting, marketing campaign, objective, Online Advertising, target

In previous posts I have discussed the choice between using a shotgun and a rifle, and how depending upon your business either could work. For those that don’t know the difference a rifle shoots a single bullet in a single path, a shotgun shoots many pellets in an ever widening path to the target. A rifle is exact, but there is a larger chance that you might miss. While a shotgun increases the chances that you’ll hit the target, the penetration of the pellets isn’t as deep. How about using many rifles at once? The only marketplace where this makes sense is on the internet, any other advertising medium would cost too much.

In Chris Anderson’s book, The Long Tail, he explains how the internet caters to niche markets and communities. He also discusses the fact that big online businesses have taken advantage of the niche markets that were “too small” and these niches have become a major portion of their businesses. Think about it, online, people can find the most random stuff—sure the popular stuff is still there, but so is a whole bunch of stuff that you can’t find in any store. Read more of Chris Anderson’s stuff at www.thelongtail.com .

If I am not selling a product or service that has mass appeal, but I can aggregate enough niches together, I’ll still be able to sell in high volumes.

So how do I do this?

Well, it takes quite a bit of work. I look at the possibilities, narrow it down to those niches that are most likely to enjoy my product or service, and then examine what modifications I need to make to make my product or service attractive to that particular niche. Then I pick a couple of niches that are prime targets and don’t require a lot of modification to my business to facilitate that new business. I’ll find the right mixes that work, and then I’ll start with modifications once I know it is worth doing. I’ll look at the marketing materials and campaigns, the look and feel of the website/landing page, the pricing strategy, and what modifications to the product or service will make it more palatable.

It can be a lot of work, but many companies have proven that the business model is effective in the online world. The result will be exact campaigns with an increased number of sales.

Technorati Tags: campaigns, chris anderson, niche markets, Online Advertising, prime targets, targeting