Dayparting (as it relates to Paid Search) is a fairly simple concept, but one many companies have failed to utilize.  Simply, dayparting is the act of limiting or suspending part of your PPC program during certain periods (and running more advertising during your peak periods).  Today I will answer two main questions:

1. Who should be using dayparting (and why)?

2. How do I determine my peak periods? (more…)

As we prepare to move into 2011, it’s a great time to evaluate the past year and peek at the upcoming year. Many of us are creating laundry lists of decrees for the New Year – make sure you’re including some Internet marketing goals in your 2011 resolutions. While losing 20 pounds would impressive, we feel improving the return of your Internet marketing program by 20% deserves some consideration (disclaimer: we are a bit biased). Obviously, the specific items you choose to include are up to you, but we’ve listed a few suggestions based on conversations with clients and other marketers. (more…)

As Internet users look for information specifically tailored to them, several niche search sites are answering the call. NPR recently highlighted several religious/faith-based search engines that are increasingly popular among Christians, Jews and Muslims around the world. We wanted to take a closer look at these Web sites to determine how viable they are as Internet marketing opportunities. (more…)

Google announced the rollout of Google Instant on Wednesday to a chorus of questions and concerns from various members of the industry. While most concerns focus on the impact of Google Instant on SEO, I want to take some time to discuss the impact of this change on Paid Search (PPC) programs. (more…)

While setting up a recent Paid Search (PPC) campaign, the client asked, “Why should we spend money on branded terms? We’re already in the top positions in natural search.” This is a common question, especially for site owners that have spent considerable resources in SEO. Many companies believe that if they’re number 1 in the natural search listings (through SEO efforts), their work is done. There are three reasons we’ll discuss why almost every company should include branded keywords in their PPC campaigns. (more…)

Stolen or copied content can be a problem when it comes to your website’s search engine optimization. Recently we learned that our Omniture vs. Google Analytics blog post was copied and translated into Japanese. This made us ask what the ramifications of our stolen content could have to our site.

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We have analyzed some of the top E-Commerce Platforms, and created this matrix to easily see which platforms can be optimized for Search. Their ability to integrate with Google Analytics and Omniture is addressed as well. Take a look before you choose one for your online storefront to ensure you are giving yourself the best opportunity for SEO.

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For those agencies and marketers with a total focus on ROI, sometimes branding campaigns can be confounding.  How can I measure the effectiveness of my branding campaign to optimize performance?  The answer is something we call a “Brand Metrics Calculator”.  A Brand Metrics Calculator will convert all brand touch points into a common unit, and thus a common financial value.  This way the marketer can determine the effectiveness of multiple brand touch points and shift budget accordingly, as they would say in determining that a paid search campaign generates leads at a lower cost than say a banner campaign.   While this is not by any means an exact science, it allows the marketer to make data-driven decisions on how to invest marketing funds. (more…)

Webinar to Focus on Search Engine Marketing for eCommerce Retailers

Rise Interactive, and Lyons Consulting Group will be joining forces in a one hour webinar on March 17 titled “Just in Time Paid Search: Cutting Edge Secrets for Engaging—and Converting—Savvy Shoppers.” The two companies recently announced the launch of an alliance with the goal of providing eCommerce retailers with a cutting edge service that uses real time competitive intelligence and inventory management to cut paid search cost. This service is designed to attract and convert savvy Internet shoppers – shoppers who are using the web to research and compare products prior to making purchases. (more…)

2010 will be a very interesting year in the search space, both in the natural and pay per click markets.  As Bing attempts to gain more traction and Yahoo concentrates on maximizing its product offerings, Google continues to release updates to its search engine asserting their progressive approach. (more…)