4 Dec 2007
Posted by Vikram at 10:52 AM to Events
Craig Anderson’s Keynote Address
December 4, 2007
The Big Wave Blog was thrilled to be attending our first Pubcon ever. All the stars were out at this close knit search marketing event in the south hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.
Craig’s Anderson’s opening address was a personal treat for me. His list has found people homes, jobs, junk, girlfriends, and even wives. His list is a reflection of what the web can be if profits are not at the core of every venture. (Now, that is really a hard one to pull off.) Every great idea is usually confronted by the “monetize this quickly” mob. However, Craig has done a great job of preserving his list and keeping it the way he wanted it to be, even after all these years.
It was a pleasure to see Mr. Anderson personifying the good side of the web and what it can produce. I hope there will be more Craig Andersons who will prioritize the welfare of web users over making a quick buck.
Thanks, Craig, for your wonderful list!
2 Dec 2007
Posted by Ronnie at 11:37 AM to Pay Per Click Marketing
How? By using split A/B testing of pay per click ad descriptions online, advertisers can find out which promotions, offers, or calls to action bring in the most traffic and highest conversion rates. This is valuable information for the creation of both offline and online marketing campaigns.
Here’s how it’s done. A/B testing in the search engines allows an advertiser to write multiple ad descriptions for a targeted group of keywords. Each ad description should contain a different promotion, offer, or call to action. These ads will be rotated on the SERPs page when your keywords are queried by searchers. PPC tracking and good website analytics can track which ads produced the highest click thru rate (CTR%), the most conversions and the lowest cost per acquisition.
These ad descriptions should run in a test group for at least 2 months. There needs to be enough data to make a decision as to which ad description had the greatest impact. These findings should then be used to create offline marketing campaigns, incorporating the strongest elements from the best performing ads.
Online and offline marketing teams need to work together. A common mistake made by many companies is their failure to integrate online and offline efforts.
Moral of this blogpost: Don’t forget to consult your Ecommerce Manager when running an offline marketing campaign!
1 Dec 2007
Posted by Melanie at 10:34 AM to Assorted Thoughts
Ronnie, Vikram and I would like to welcome all of our fellow search marketing enthusiasts to the industry’s newest blog! (Newest at least for the next 10 minutes.)
The background of this photo may shed some light on our blog’s name. I am typing this welcome note from the Florida coast. We can be seen blogging - and surfing - on beaches from here to California, and even abroad. (Actually, it’s usually the boys who are surfing, while I work away in Chicago. Nice to be the one on the island for once!)
We’ll be sharing our views on search marketing regularly. Look for insights into paid search marketing from Ronnie, our PPC expert. Expect Vikram to recap industry conferences and discuss internet marketing strategy. I will have thoughts to share on SEO and website project management.
Of course, that is only the tip of the iceberg. (Even though we’d never be caught in water cold enough to freeze.)
We hope to see you around!
Melanie (the one in the middle)
