The latest news surrounding Google has been the subpoenas sent by the Federal Trade Commission to investigate antitrust issues with the global giant. This comes as no surprise to many, as Google has been amassing an empire of various services since its inception. However, the most interesting part of the investigation is what is at its center: Google’s search engine results. (more…)

One significant bit of news this week surrounds the testing of click counts in Google AdWords paid search (PPC) advertising (on a very limited basis).  This move reinforces Google’s general intent to integrate social media tactics into its existing platforms.  Just as users are becoming accustomed to seeing their social network’s “likes” and “shares” appearing in the natural search results (via Google Social Search), Google is now taking another cue from Facebook – introducing a viral feel to PPC advertising.  The concept is simple – if people believe the “crowd” is very interested in a particular ad, it will increase the likelihood that they’ll click through to the advertiser’s website.  (more…)

Based on the public reaction to Google’s launch of the +1 feature for paid search ads, players in the SEM industry can be categorized into two camps: the folks who are immediately dismissing it as the next Google Wave (i.e. a soon-to-fail attempt at competing against Facebook in the social media sphere) and the folks that are choosing to just wait and see.  For those not in the know, the +1 feature allows people with Google profiles to click on a +1 button to recommend either a paid or an organic search result.  That person’s recommendations are publicly shared with his or her contacts on Google. (more…)

As a rapidly growing agency, Rise has the opportunity to audit a plethora of Paid Search (PPC) programs, and we’ve developed a strategy for analyzing PPC marketing campaigns that includes what we believe are the primary areas to focus on.  When analyzing a PPC program, you should always consider campaign structure, budget allocation, text ad copy, landing pages, quality score, bid strategy and reporting.  All these areas are crucial in a PPC program and should be part of any PPC audit process.  More detailed audits can include other components but an analysis of these seven components will provide significant insight into an account’s  status and how to improve performance if necessary. (more…)

While the economy might be showing signs of life, companies are still looking for areas to remove inefficiencies and, in the end, to reduce the cost of digital marketing efforts.  Today, we’ll show you some specific areas to look for wasted funds to help you run the most profitable marketing program possible. (more…)

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 with many tools Google rolls out to its audience, there is a lot of buzz regarding a new feature the search giant is slowly releasing to advertisers: Automated Rules. As the title of this blog implies, we feel this functionality is a double-edged sword. While the automation is definitely desirable (and something that many advertisers pay substantial monthly fees to implement), it is very important to consider all impact any automation might have on your program. (more…)

Before everyone gets out their chairs to start a chain of comments, I ask that you notice the question mark at the end of the title. As you’ll see, we’re really just discussing one aspect of the long-tail keyword – competition (and saturation). First, I want to give a quick overview of the historical perspective on the long-tail keyword. Then, I’ll show some interesting data regarding recent trends in paid search (PPC) marketing. Some of this information may truly surprise you! (more…)

Rise was recently asked to participate in the beta program for a new Google Adwords feature, Contact Form extensions. Google is continuing their trend of innovating Paid Search with another extension (Site Links, Location and Product Listing extensions are the other features rolled out recently). We’re quite excited to participate in the test to determine this feature’s feasibility for lead generation programs. We’re also a little apprehensive about the feature and beta test, as we’ll discuss later in this blog. (more…)