Along with insurance companies, car companies have been one of the major holdouts when it comes to their lingering attachment to relentless, expensive television advertising. It has its place, but how much is too much? The ads show to everyone - over, and over, and over again. That feels wasteful, if ROI is your thing. If only there were better alternatives (and sufficient inventory) online, advertisers would be turning even more quickly to newer, proven...
SEM Blog
To put it in perspective, the last time Google held its on-campus Google Dance in conjunction with the SMX West conference, George W. Bush was still President. In the Democratic Primaries following Super Tuesday 2008, it was far from clear that Barack Obama would defeat Hillary Clinton for the Presidential nomination. Obama had a slight lead in delegates at that point, and was trailing in popular vote. Despite the very close race, Clinton reluctantly saw...
Page Zero News / 29.02.2016
Page Zero Delivers Full-Service Social Media Management and Content Marketing to Linxup
Since Page Zero introduced full-service social media and content marketing services in 2013 under the banner of “Findability,” we’ve found a hungry audience waiting for these services among our paid search clients. Now we’re pleased to announce the addition of another paid search client to the Findability stable -- Linxup, a St. Louis-based company that provides GPS tracking for vehicles, fleets, and assets to businesses across North America. Our expanded engagement augments our success with pay-per-click...
Paid Search Marketing / 26.02.2016
Goodbye, Right Rail: 7 Incredibly Cogent Points About the New-Look AdWords
Everyone's talking about Google's recent decision to remove AdWords ads from the right rail. Let me humbly add the most incredibly cogent response to date. A few folks noticed Google's tests prior to the rollout. Some folks, like Moz's Dr. Pete Myers, noticed a lot more than others. Are some observers overreacting? Probably. Some of those in the bleachers tend to enjoy spectating primarily in terms of the superficial look and feel of the SERP. Since the playing field is...
Recently, I had dinner in Orlando with Bill and Ted (not their real names), some pretty successful digital agency owners. (By successful, I mean more than 50 employees and strong annual revenues.) They’ve been friends of mine for a long time, so I assumed they’d be up for a little of the usual expert banter. The first punch in the gut came when I casually explained about some PPC bidding methods we routinely use. My friends had...
Paid Search Marketing / 29.01.2016
PPC Geo-Bidding, Simplified
Recently, I came across a social media post that — honest to goodness — went on at length about the price the poster would be willing to pay for a new brand of ketchup. “I’d need 50 percent off to give it a try,” opined the timid tomato tester. “If I turn out not to like the product, it’s just a whole lot of wasted time, and a waste of food .” “This calls for snark!” some alien voice...
At our company’s informal book club, we recently had a nice discussion of David Hand’s The Improbability Principle: Why Coincidences, Miracles, and Rare Events Happen Every Day. Belief in causation where there is only correlation, faulty assumptions about how “randomness” works and similar errors are shockingly common, even among the educated. Superstition can be a nightmare for the marketing practitioner, who can be praised or blamed for factors that fall outside of her control. Better measurement helps, of course — but...