Internet Marketing Blog

Clients often ask if they need a Content Management System (CMS) to help manage website changes. In theory, these allow organizations to effectively manage their own site changes. This post will delve into the pros and cons of using a CMS. As their name implies, Content Management Systems are software packages that make website maintenance [...]

In a prior post we described a problem in Microsoft adCenter’s geo-targeting feature. Today we learned that the bug has been fixed, and we were able to verify it through the interface and web analytics. It is now possible to exclude all of any state. We have no examined how this affects metropolitan areas that [...]

We have been granted access to the Ad Sitelinks beta in Google AdWords for one of our clients. This new feature, which was announced on the Inside AdWords blog two days ago, provides advertisers in the top spot with the ability to show additional keyword links in their ads as shown in the example below. [...]

A recent post in the Google Retail Advertising Blog describes a study conducted by Google and Levi’s to see if search ads generated brand awareness. The study demonstrated increased brand awareness, but there are some significant caveats to extrapolating to other brands. The study showed a significant increase in Levi’s brand awareness among people who [...]

Original Post, October 28, 3:27 PST Double check your geographic targeting in Microsoft adCenter! We have encountered and reproduced a bug with a support representative in which selecting specific US states for inclusion/exclusion does not get saved. More specifically, we have a US campaign that we switched from national targeting to do so by state [...]

Studies indicate that “70% of U.S. Households Now Use the Internet When Shopping Locally for Products and Services.” (The Kelsey Group and ConStat Indicates) Ian White reported that “40% of [search] queries have local intent.” If you own a business that depends on local traffic – restaurants, lodging, retail stores and/or services – you simply [...]

Today is Blog Action Day, and we’re at a loss for profound additions to the deluge of climate change blog posts. This is a business blog, and we are reluctant to share personal issues here. However, climate change is more than a personal issue, and it is already affecting many businesses and — consequently — [...]

You can drive all the traffic in the world to your website, but it’s a waste the visitors don’t convert. Form design is very often a significant contributor to poor conversion rates. While Key Principles and Specific Recommendations that follow are generally written for forms that solicit contact information from potential customers, they can also [...]

When you create online advertising of any kind, it is possible to “tag” the ads in a way that website analytics software like Google Analytics and WebTrends can provide additional information about these traffic sources. For example, tagging can make it possible to tell exactly which ad among several provides the most online purchases or [...]

Here is a quick checklist of commonly missed tasks that should be undertaken when setting up an AdWords account and new AdWords campaigns. Determine if you’ll use pre-pay or post-pay. We only recommend pre-pay for those cases where you need precise control over the total budget consumed over the life of a campaign. Note that [...]