Internet Marketing Blog

While it’s obvious that ad position effects cost, does it effect conversion rate? For example, does the top position AdWords ad get a higher percentage of clicks turning into conversions than an ad further down the page? Google has conducted studies and developed numerical models that indicate that if such a relationship exists, it is […]

We aren’t designers, but we sure like good design. Not just pretty design. We like design that helps our clients sell more stuff, join their organization, download materials, subscribe to newsletters…, to respond to their call-to-action. Whereas our focus with search marketing is to increase the size of the sales funnel’s opening, user experience design […]

Andy Crestodina recently wrote a fantastic piece about content, using the periodic table as a model for the various content-types. Aside from its appeal to my inner geek, it does a great job of listing the various types and describing how they can relate to each other in ways that maximize SEO and referral benefits.

I’ve blogged before about how to interpret CTR and what conditions are necessary for a valid comparison of two ads. In one recent case we created two identical ads that went to different landing pages so that we could test the effectiveness of each landing page. The assumption is that each ad — being identical — […]

Google is working on a mechanism for collecting and sharing users impressions of search results. The system is called +1. It allows users to give a virtual “thumbs-up” on sites that they like by clicking on a small symbol next to their listing in search results. This applies to both ads and natural results. The […]

Microsoft has announced that as of March 3, 2011 they will no longer review keywords for trademarks. This comes almost a year to the day after we explained why limiting keyword usage is unfair to advertisers and inconsistent with most other interpretations of trademark protection. It also makes trademark usage roughly consistent between Bing, Yahoo, […]

When Ikea wanted to build awareness of a new store in Malmö, they used Facebook as the basis for a viral giveaway campaign. This video provides the details. Basically they posted photos of “rooms” within the store, and then gave away items within each room to the first person to “tag” that item in the […]

Google just gave some free, basic SEO advice for non-profits that actually applies to every website. As we’ve been saying in various posts for years: Use good page titles. Write good page descriptions. Properly apply heading styles. Use ALT text for images. We’re here to help. Contact us if you have questions about these suggestions […]

I have recently joined the board of People for Puget Sound, one of the most well-known and respected environmental organizations advancing the cause of protecting and preserving Puget Sound. It is very important to me to contribute personally and professionally, through both action and financial support, to an organization that improves the quality of life in […]

Yahoo! Clues is a new tool that offers insight into search trends. Think of it as a version of Google Trends that only provides a month’s worth of data. It does try to provide additional demographic information such as gender and income breakdown, but this data almost certainly only applies to the very small portion […]