The Big Wave Blog

Paid search marketing is expanding beyond Google, Yahoo, MSN and Ask. Today, discount travel sites, such as Expedia and Kayak/SideStep, are getting into the pay-per-click marketing game, offering their own paid search advertising models. These websites offer a more targeted advertising option and better consumer demographics for marketers looking to promote seasonal deals and packages.

Discount travel sites offer the user a 1-stop shop for booking hotels, flights, cars and packages. Now, with the addition of pay-per-click ads on the search results page, they will allow advertisers to post ad descriptions with different messaging, promotions and rates, as well as land users directly on the advertiser’s official site, rather than having them shop and purchase from the discount travel site.

Discount Travel Sites Offering a Paid Search Model
Expedia and Kayak/SideStep are two of the biggest discount travel sites, bringing in over 15,000,000 unique visitors per month.

Kayak, who just acquired SideStep for $196 million, now offers their own pay per click marketing platform. The same platform displays ads on both Kayak and SideStep. You can create your campaign, and then upload it using a custom bulk upload sheet, targeting local, national or international searchers. The system is very user-friendly, operating like bigger paid search models from Google, Yahoo and MSN.

The ads are shown along the right-hand side of the search results page on Kayak and SideStep:

Click on image for expanded view.

Expedia did offer its own paid search model. It displayed ads at the top and bottom of its search results.  I have not seen these results very consistently, but I will be on the lookout for these ads to reappear.

Sites Not Offering a Paid Search Model
TripAdvisor and MapQuest currently offer paid search listings at the top and right side of each search results page. These listings are served on every page of both sites, using results from Google AdWords.

Yahoo Travel currently offers a prominent search bar on every page displaying results powered by Yahoo Search Marketing. The ads are prominently displayed in 2 sections along with the standard travel deals and reviews.

Orbitz, Priceline, and Travelocity do not currently offer a paid search marketing model, but they might quickly follow suit.

Currently, Marriott, Westin, Hilton, and discount travel sites are the only brands taking advantage of paid search on Kayak and SideStep. But, this is an area of search marketing that holds great opportunity for the travel industry and independent travel companies. User behavior on these sites is much different than on search engines. A greater number of site users are in the conversion stage of the buying cycle, rather than the shopping stage. Lower CPCs, less competition, and a targeted, conversion-minded audience are some of the benefits of starting a paid search marketing campaign on either Kayak/SideStep or Expedia.

Recently, Google began optimizing AdWords campaigns for advertisers. After much curiosity, I called my Google Account Manager and asked about this service. I decided to give it a try. I figured, it is Google and they know more about paid search than anybody, right?? So, she began asking me the basic search marketing questions:

• What are my campaign goals? Lower CTR%? Lower CPA? Increase Traffic?
• Does she have permission to change my ad descriptions?

After a few days my campaign optimization was complete. Suggestions were made based on a review of my website and historical analysis of my campaign stats. Before implementing the changes to any account, Google makes each client review the keyword list, bid changes, new ad descriptions. I reviewed everything thoroughly, and uploaded the changes. They told me to let it run for at least 10 days before making any adjustments.

Naturally, things started slowly for the first few days, conversions were minimal, and CTR% was lower. After 5 days I was beginning to worry, but I refrained from making any changes, still hoping stats would improve. After 12 days my conversion was in the basement, with the door locked shut:

• Conversion had dropped by 54%
• Cost-Per-Conversion had increased by 57%

This is definitely not what I was expecting. I reverted back to my original ad descriptions and adjusted my bids.

Now, I am sure that Campaign Optimizer will improve many campaigns that are being managed by smaller businesses and advertisers. But, this definitely shows the importance of interacting with your client, and really getting to know their business and industry. Minimal client interaction will bring minimal results.

The most exciting thing that happened during our Evision Chicago weekend was the launch of our new website at www.evisionworldwide.com.

Here’s how it looked on my monitor.

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Here’s how it looked on Ronnie’s laptop.

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Well, you get the idea.  We were excited.  And it was very cool that we all got to see it go live together. It was the perfect end to a fantastic weekend, and a momentous beginning to a new year of growth and success.

We can’t thank our awesome designers and programmers enough for giving us this beautiful website. We love it!

Melanie

This past weekend, the Evision crew gathered in Chicago for a much-deserved celebration. We have such amazing and talented team members! This was our chance to thank them for all their hard work and creativity throughout 2007.

We spent 3 days listening to presentations by our fearless leaders. Vikram shared his knowledge of the search marketing marketplace, latest SEO strategies, and much more. Ronnie offered tutorials on PPC strategy and campaign management. I presented website content and usability recommendations and approaches. We heard from Suzanna, our Business Manager, and Maggie, our Client Services Director, as well.  It was a great opportunity for us all to learn from each other and gain a greater understanding of the business as a whole. We were excited to discover new ways of supporting each other and furthering the success of our clients.

Of course, all this communication was punctuated by visits
to our favorite Chicago restaurants, which include Pita Inn,
Corner Bakery, and then Pita Inn again. We probably went
through 5 boxes of tea bags as well. 

(If there’s anything we like at Evision, it’s hummus and
mint tea.)

Saturday night was the annual Evision party.  This year, we enjoyed fine Italian food at North and Wells, then took in a show at Second City called “Between Barack and a Hard Place.” We had a great evening, though it ended a bit late for Ronnie, our early-rising surfer. To his credit, he was still up bright and early the next day with an informative presentation for the group.

I am so proud to work with all of you guys! Thanks for a fabulous weekend.

Melanie