Content & Marketing Thoughts

Using LinkedIn for marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 09:36:00 +0000

iMediaConnection has a good interview with the co-founder, CEO and Chairman of LinkedIn, Reid Hoffman.

He talks about various topics including the LinkedIn Advertising Network, the plans for the company and how individuals can use it to promote themselves.

I liked his advice regarding the last bit: Get prepared and Get involved. Excerpt below or read the full article.
First, invest some time in making sure your profile is complete. We offer a lot of advice on the site and at our learning resource, and there was a good piece loaded with advice here on iMedia Connection recently. But at the very least, make sure you provide a descriptive headline for what you do, provide a summary of your professional accomplishments and skills, and provide your entire work history. Be selective in the recommendations you make and those you solicit and accept, and also be selective in building out your network; who you're connected to (and who you're not) says a lot about you as a professional.

Secondly, get involved with your network. Share advice and insights in Answers, join the professional groups that matter to you, and use the Status feature to let your network know what you're up to. Put the LinkedIn Application Platform to work -- you can use the SlideShare application to share presentations, you can track what's being Twittered about your company using the Company Buzz app, and you can share recommendations about books with your network.

SEO- ensure consistency in marketing message

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 11:04:00 +0000

In a recent article titled "Cheap SEO tricks and how to use them", writer Tom Crandall comments on how search engine marketers are consciously using the word "cheap" as part of their SEO strategy to attract traffic during these economically tough times. His point is that companies were previously reluctant to associate the word 'cheap' with their brand, but seem to be more pragmatic now considering the huge demand for products/services that best describe themselves as 'cheap'.

Personally, I think the question that search engine marketers need to be asking themselves is not whether the use of the cheap adjective will cheapen the brand, but whether the use of that term will accurately reflect the company's positioning of their product/ service. If the answer to the latter is "No", then there is not much point in attracting traffic using the 'cheap' tactic.

For example, does the company really believe that its products are cheap? Even though cheap and expensive are very relative, how does the product/service really compare against others in the market place? Luring visitors to the website with the promise of being cheap is one thing, but what is the cost of not delivering on that promise? Afterall, the objective of SEO is/ should not be limited to traffic acquisition, but conversion as well.

Regarding the cheapening of the brand with the use of the word "cheap", I think marketers will continue to be extremely cautious when they use it. I don't expect to see a search engine optimization specialist for Rolex trying to optimize for the keyword "cheap watches" [though I don't entirely rule out the possibility of the same guy trying to optimize for "cheap Rolex watch"]. Premium pricing is a key attribute of products/ services targeted at the 'premium'audience and I doubt if marketers dealing with those will ever embrace the word 'cheap', no matter what.

Afterall, it ultimately boils down to really knowing and understanding your target audience.

Display advertising boosts results from search: study

noreply@blogger.com (Editor) — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 13:02:00 +0000

For those who can afford it, a combination of display advertising together with search marketing will make a lot of sense. There is a direct correlation between the two, according to a new study which has been reported by eMarketer.

That such a correlation existed was always taken for granted by marketers, but it is good to see numbers demonstrating it. An excerpt from the eMarketer article:

David Hallerman, senior analyst at eMarketer, agreed that display can boost search. “There is a connection between display and search ads,” he said. “Marketers know this intuitively. Often it’s not the search ad alone that gets consumers to act, but the context of all the marketing that preceded it.”

eMarketer predicts that search and display ads will retain the highest share of online ad spending formats through 2013, and will be the only formats to maintain double-digit share through that period.

Social media marketing: Should we or shouldn't we?

noreply@blogger.com (Editor) — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 01:47:00 +0000

Is social media marketing another fad or is it the real thing? It is certainly something for real --absolutely no doubt about it-- but the fact that not everybody uses it correctly, does pose question marks.

For those who are wondering if they should play in the social media marketing game, this interview with Sandy Carter, author of The New Language of Marketing 2.0 [is marketing still in version 2.0, by the way?] is worth reading.

Sandy lists the many benefits of participating in social media marketing, three of which stand out:
a) Speed/ Nimbleness - companies will increasingly be forced to be nimble and be proactive;
b) Access to insight previously unavailable, because of all the types of 'conversations' that take place in these social networks
c) Cost

In the course of the interview, Sandy also highlights the three main challenges for corporate blogs. Lack of honesty, not really listening to the audience feedback and consistency are the biggest problems, she cites.

Based on our experience with companies wanting to "start a blog as it will boost SEO", we believe the three reasons cited above are really a consequence of a bigger gap: not defining / understanding clearly the objective of blogs and the rules of that medium. Once again, we think it is because the medium and method take precedence over the market. As Sandy says, "The best way to communicate isn't about using new media types to be hip and cool; it is about understanding your customers and how you can immerse yourself into their conversation."

Another thing about social media marketing that Sandy mentions as well in her interview: "I do not advocate for just using social media techniques however, but rather combining them into your marketing mix (which) allows you to optimize the places where you can maximize their impact.".

Everything ultimately does boil down to optimizing the marekting mix!

SEO: Durable marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 02:44:00 +0000

With marketing and advertising spend tightening by the day, the value of a good organic search marketing strategy is even greater.

Companies that invested in SEO activities in the past will continue to benefit from the visibility, traffic and leads/sales they get, without having to shell out instant cash for the instant gratification that other forms of marketing, including paid search, provide.

Granted, continuing to do well in organic search results is not without consistent SEO effort--- but then, given a choice between spending time or spending money in times of cash crunch, "time" is invariably the choice.

SEO is an investment; it is akin to medical insurance for marketing. A regular investment of "small premiums" in terms of both time and money will stay one in good stead during the hard times.

Of course, SEO results in the form of traffic and click-throughs will undoubtedly be affected by the economic environment; for example, a real estate company is likely to get fewer sales leads because fewer people have the 'intent' and urgency to buy houses. However, you can be sure to at least capture the attention of those who are still interested and looking for what you offer. The business will not suffer because you could not be found by the target audience.

Even when the money tap runs dry, the leads pipeline doesn't have necessarily have to.Which is why SEO is durable marketing.

Google SearchWiki & SEO

noreply@blogger.com (Editor) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 01:14:00 +0000

About 10 days ago, Google formally launched SearchWiki, which is designed to make search results even more personalized. (As of this writing, we have not seen the SearchWiki features here in Singapore, even when searching on Google.com; but we expect that to change soon).

The official Google notification says this about SearchWiki:
"A way for you to customize search by re-ranking, deleting, adding, and commenting on search results. With just a single click you can move the results you like to the top or add a new site. You can also write notes attached to a particular site and remove results that you don't feel belong. These modifications will be shown to you every time you do the same search in the future. SearchWiki is available to signed-in Google users."

The question that immediately crops up is: how will this affect search engine rankings? Well, at least for now, Google says that the changes will not affect rankings for others. "The changes you make only affect your own searches."

We would be naive to believe that all the user actions that will be captured with such a tool will not become a factor in actual search rankings at some point. We reckon it will be sooner rather than later.

Not just rankings, but boost clickthroughs too
With (the likelihood of) personalized search behaviour impacting rankings on the SERPs by the day, SEO professionals will have to expand their role significantly. The role of a SEO expert, until recently, was seen to be to help a website gain in the search rankings, with the assumption that as rankings went up, traffic would also grow automatically; however, as long as the rankings went up the job was done. The evolution of search algorithms mean that getting clickthroughs from the search results will become even more important; a conscious effort will have to be made to generate clickthroughs. The quality of titles of one's landing pages and the description that shows up on search results gain even more importance.

SEO: Think more traffic, conversions

noreply@blogger.com (Editor) — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:32:00 +0000

We've always believed SEO is a marketing function and less of a technical function and that's how we have approached SEO projects. With the evolution of search engines, particularly Google, into much smarter, all-knowing beasts, it becomes even more imperative for SEO practitioners to think beyond top keywords and achieving top rankings for those. Certainly, trying to obtain higher search rankings for relevant, high-demand keywords will continue to be among the key milestones to be passed for a SEO, but it can't and won't be the be-all and end-all.

More experts are increasingly echoing the same sentiments at various public platforms. In fact, Bruce Clay, President of well-known SEO firm Bruce Clay, Inc. , recently went so far as to say that "rankings are dead". The reasons for that: universal search, personalized search and intent-based search. SEO experts now have to be understand the implications of how search engines use the above three and be prepared with appropriate responses if they have to succeed, he says.

Matt Cutts of Google says something similar in an interview he gave to WebProNews.com. Here's an excerpt from the interview:
"Universal is really useful and I think it will continue to expand and what that means in 2009 you can't just think of yourself as an SEO. SEOs are starting to embrace the fact that they are marketers. It's a broader spectrum. You have to think about how you build buzz, how do you get loyal customers, how do you optimize your ROI. All those different things and that can include how do I make good videos, do I have a book, things like that."

New browser from Google, Chrome

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 01:07:00 +0000

More competition for the Internet Explorer with the launch of Google's Chrome on Monday/ Tuesday. Obviously, this is a "beta" version, where it is likely to stay for a few years as with most launches from Google.

Jason Miller of WebProNews has an in-depth piece on this development, including how other search experts view the implications of this new browser. People like John Battelle seem to think that this is another step towards the much-rumored Google operating system.

I I'm not sure if Google Chrome is "compatible" with Firefox ie. whether one can have the two browsers running at the same time. My feeling is that it doesn't since I kept getting a prompt to shut down active windows and then reload Firefox when I tried opening Firefox while Chrome was active. That's something I don't quite like because I like being able to open different browsers to access different accounts, such as viewing a particular Gmail account using browser A while also viewing Google Analytics for another account.

Asia Interactive Awards 2008 - Call for Entries

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 02 Sep 2008 11:31:00 +0000

AdAsia, a popular magazine for advertising and marketing professionals in Singapore, is organizing the third edition of Asia Interactive Awards, and the publication is inviting "specialist firms, web designers, advertising agencies, media agencies and clients based in Asia to enter these prestigious awards."

There are several categories underwhich awards will be given (far too many, I felt, to be honest)and there is an entry fee of SG$80/- per entry.

Interactive agencies and professionals wishing to enter their work for these awards can submit their application online.

Top SES coverage, Top SEO Blogs & Top "How to"

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 23:56:00 +0000

SES Coverage
Search Engine Strategies (SES) San Jose concluded last week. As the premier event for the search industry, there has been lots of coverage about the event. A list of the top articles, compiled by SearchEngineWatch.

Top SEO Blogs
If you are looking for the top blogs related to search engine marketing, check out this compilation. Looks like there's been some effort put into compiling this list; so the least I can do is link to the Top SEO blogs :)

Google Suggest
Lastly, Google has rolled out Google Suggest on its homepage, which is essentially a real-time search query prompt [Yahoo Search has had this for some time now]. Users will be shown query suggestions as users type in keywords into the search box--- another feature that'll make searchers lazy. Will a feature like Google Suggest impact the "long tail" theory of search? I reckon it could because if more people begin to use the keyword suggestions, we may see searches getting concentrated over fewer terms. We'll have to wait to see the extent of impact, as there are some ifs and buts here.

Here's something for those interested in trivia. The top "How to" list (taken with the assumption that Google Suggest is showing the most popular/ in-demand search queries)as shown on Google.com, here in Singapore on August 27, 2008 [Recording this for posterity!]:
> How to tie a tie
> How to kiss
> How to have sex
> How to lose weight
> How to draw
> How to make money
> How to write a resume
> How to play a guitar
> How to make a website

Yahoo buzz is now public

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 09:32:00 +0000

Yahoo!'s (supposed) answer to Digg!, Yahoo buzz is now "live"- it is now accepting content from all publishers, including niche bloggers.

So, something more to add to the list of traffic generation activities: put Yahoo buzz buttons to interesting non-corporate type of content. Relevant details for content publishers here.

If you've something to say, say it with a press release!

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:25:00 +0000

No points for guessing that we are great fans of online press release (PR) distribution. And mind you, it is not just a SEO tactic for getting visibility via the search engines, which by itself, is quite a compelling factor.

We have seen clients who have lots to say to the world about what is happening with their organization, but don't do so.

Typically, there are one of three reasons for companies being 'media-shy':
(a) they haven't bought into the value of online PR: it becomes a concept-selling issue for us in such cases
(b)they don't know how to do it-- in which case it becomes a matter of selling the service, and lastly (this is often the toughest!)
(c) they don't want to-- they cite strategic and competitive reasons for moving under the radar.

The ironic thing is that the same companies want more prospects to know about them, get more leads, and create a positive perception about themselves. Is there a better way to get into the minds of the target audience than by spreading the word through something worthwhile to announce?

With there are hundreds of companies waiting for the slightest opportunity to announce something ("Experienced receptionist joins Joe Bloggs & Co. to boost customer service"), our message to our prospects and clients is: don't let your company be drowned and buried in all that trash. Let the world know about the exciting things happening at your company: whether it is a new product or service launch; changes or enhancements to an exsisting product or service; a new partnership; growth in business. There are always stories to tell; stories that will be of interest to somebody who matters. Don't let these genuine marketing opportunities go begging: if you have a story to tell, go ahead and tell it!

PS: Some more tips on using PR for SEO purposes in this article.

Keyword insights with Google Insights

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 07:25:00 +0000

Yesterday (August 5), Google announced the launch of Google Insights, which builds on Google Trends and provides a whole lot more data.

According to the official Adwords blog, which announced Insights for Search, this new feature is "a new product designed with the advertiser in mind. It provides more flexibility and functionality for advertisers and marketers to understand search behavior, and adds some cool new features like a world heat map to graphically display search volume and regional interest.".

The features should certainly help get an idea of macro trends, which search marketers should definitely factor in during the planning and execution of SEM campaigns. Yet, doubts will continue to linger on the accuracy and reliability of this tool. Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim points out precisely why, with a couple of examples.

Keyword Research with the "new" Google Keyword Search Tool

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:53:00 +0000

Keyword research for search marketing campaigns just got a bit easier, and dare I say, cheaper? The Google Keyword Research tool, which until now gave a visual indication of search demand with its green bar that hardly gave anything away, is now showing "approx" numbers for the most recent calendar month. In addition, it also gives the average monthly search volume over a "recent" 12-month period.

Even though these numbers are based on searches on Google and the Google search network, I'd like to believe that these numbers are probably more representative of potential demand for a search term than the numbers we get from some of the other keyword research tools. As the reaction in the SEM community shows, this enhancement to the keyword research tool was long overdue; I sense there is a sense of relief more than elation.

There are bound to be more questions and business issues for products like Wordtracker & Keyword Discovery, as suddenly these products become a lot more dispensable, particularly for the small business. Can these products bring in more value added features that can help SEO / PPC professionals? How will they differentiate themselves from the free keyword research tool to justify the prices they charge? I doubt if the argument that the Google tool is limited to showing search volumes from Google only will fly; there better be a much stronger value proposition.

Google improves indexing of Flash files

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 15:33:00 +0000

Google can now better index content in Flash files, a news that will be greeted by web designers/ developers with a fascination for Flash. Apart from text content in Flash files, Googlebot can also detect URLs that appear within Flash files and add them to the list of the urls to be crawled.

Complete details here. And, for a quick summary the current limitations with Flash indexing as listed on the official Google Webmaster blog, see below excerpt:

1. Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript. So if your web page loads a Flash file via JavaScript, Google may not be aware of that Flash file, in which case it will not be indexed.
2. We currently do not attach content from external resources that are loaded by your Flash files. If your Flash file loads an HTML file, an XML file, another SWF file, etc., Google will separately index that resource, but it will not yet be considered to be part of the content in your Flash file.
3. While we are able to index Flash in almost all of the languages found on the web, currently there are difficulties with Flash content written in bidirectional languages. Until this is fixed, we will be unable to index Hebrew language or Arabic language content from Flash files.

The benefits of an increase in Google Toolbar PageRank (PR)

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 04:53:00 +0000

Google seems to have rolled out updates to the toolbar PageRank(PR) in the past couple of days. The last update was sometime in February.

Unlike in February, when I got the impression that there was a "general" drop --a personal view based on a very small sample of sites--this time I get the impression that the green bar has generally grown taller or longer [depending on the browser/ settings].

Benefits of an increase in the toolbar PR
The "psychological" benefits are enormous!
(a) Feel good factor: Doesn't the statement: PageRank is Google's measure of the importance of this page make you feel good, especially if you see that the PR bar is getting greener?

(b) Hope, Optimism & Re-assurance: Don't you experience highly positive emotions of hope and optimism that with a higher PR, your website is going to get greater traffic and cosequently more revenues (directly or indirectly)? Isn't it re-assuring to know that you are probably on the right track towards whatever that end goal is?

The consensus among SEO pundits is that the toolbar PR doesn't mean much and that material benefits like better search engine rankings and therefore, higher traffic are unlikely.

That is probably the case, but hey, while we are focused on the material benefits, let's continue to enjoy those wonderful feel good feelings of hope, optimism and reassurance with that little green bar.

After all, in most parts of the world, it is much better to see green than red or grey! :)

Link Building or 'Black Mailing' ?

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:41:00 +0000

A client of ours sent us the folllowing e-mail they received from a link building 'professional'.

It is a follow-up letter to his original solicitation.

**********
I have send you already a mail for link exchange if you want good links for your site than reply me fast..

I will place your link at our good site.

Send me mail for link exchange…. Here …

**********

It is obvious that this person is not a trained professional and doesn't have any sense that he is essentially trying to market his website. Most likely he is a freelancer trying to meet a set quota of links within a set time frame.

The more such e-mails go out, the more companies will be apprehensive of outsourcing link building. After all, their reputations are at stake.

On a slightly different note, notice the impatience and brashness in the tone of the e-mail? Unfortunately, I see a lot of it in the ITES/BPO generation in India. Arrogance is increasingly being mistaken for confidence. Of course, we want to see a self-confident society that can face the world on its own terms, but not an arrogant one that does not appreciate the value of humility.

Google, George Soros to fund SMEs in India?

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 02:28:00 +0000

Andy Beal of Marketing Pilgrim quotes a report from AP & Reuters that says Google along with the Soros Economic Development Fund and the Omidyar Network is going to fund SMEs in India.

It might well turn out to be a great investment for the future. Wonder what kind of businesses will be targeted for funding.

YouTube partner program- A bonus revenue opportunity for content creators

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 02:22:00 +0000

Revenue sharing with content creators is not a new concept--- numerous publishers, particularly those driven by the user-generated content (UG)model have been doing that for some time, mainly with the Google AdSense program, to incentivise content creators to contribute content.

What appears to be different about the YouTube partner program, which has been in place in the US and Canada and introduced to the UK very recently, is that the video content contributed to YouTube does not have to be exclusive ie. content creators can post/ distribute that content at multiple locations.

Without going through the terms and conditions closely, it seems like a very good opportunity for content publishers to generate additional revenue from YouTube's captive audience. Not only can these publishers monetize their content on their own properties with whatever audience they are able to attract, but they can also generate revenue from the publishing of the same content on YouTube, while still retaining the rights to license/ syndicate content anywhere else they choose to. How attractive this revenue stream will be for these publishers will depend on their reputations, ability to generate traffic to their own properties and the price the content can command, if licensing was an option.

Of course, such publishers may not be the key target for the partner program. That would be the individual/ small-time content creators who may be able to generate good-quality and relevant, niche video content, but don't have the marketing wherewithal to attract a sufficient audience and monetize the content.

SEO & keyword ranking reports

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 04:39:00 +0000

One of the questions we often get asked is: how often do you provide keyword ranking reports? Monthly, we answer. Can you provide it weekly, we get asked in return? Why would you need those weekly, we are tempted to ask, but choose to decline in a more polite manner.

Suffice to say, the obsession with "keyword rankings report" is one of those things a SEO agency has to live with. Not that it is totally bad--- afterall, it is one of the ways clients get an idea of what is happening with their SEO campaign. The problem is when that report is taken as indisputable evidence of the success or failure, or the competence or lack thereof, of the SEO agency.

The evolution of search engines means that position ranking reports need to viewed with a handful of salt. Search results may vary from location to location- why, even computer to computer. We've seen numerous examples where users sitting a couple of metres apart and searching for the same phrase have been shown a different set of results by Google, even when none of these users were logged in. So, how could one rely entirely on the ranking report, typically generated using a software?

The challenge for a SEO agency is to try and get clients (and often, prospects), focused on the right metrics. While Google Adwords says it very powerfully,"It's all about results", for us the focus has to be "It's all about results that matter".

Simple & effective link baits/ link building tactics

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 01:12:00 +0000

Jason Lee Miller at WebProNews wrote a piece today "Making Link Bait Work for You".

I liked the piece because it summarizes the three basic approaches that work when working on building link popularity. I like such categorization/grouping [let's say, the 50,000 feet view] because it often makes the problem/project at hand seem much simpler/ less daunting than when looking at the specific items. Undoubtedly, it is the latter that will ultimately get the results, but looking at the broad picture often lets us be creative and come up with "innovative" specifics.

Nevertheless, excerpts from Jason's article on link bait are included below- typically, most websites will need a good mix of all of these simple link building tactics for an effective campaign, but choose the one that suits your objectives and your website/ product/ service the most.

Long term success of any link building campaign or effort really depends on how scalable a particular approach is, how we can get "x" multiples in return (aka, links) of the effort we put in. This requires thought, time and effort (read, money)-- a fact that is not often appreciated/understood enough.

******
The Resource Approach (Becoming the Expert In Your Field/Niche)
-- Create expert articles/lists/data sheets
-- Create practical or fun tools
-- Write How-To articles
-- Create a comprehensive blog roll (give link love, get link love)
-- Compile informative news stories and articles

The News Approach
- Get the scoop. Be first with industry news
-- Interview prominent people in your field
-- Investigate a hot topic
-- Do an exposé

The Humor/Novelty Approach
-- Post funny/interesting/amazing photos related to your industry
-- Create humorous/unique videos (Use Blendtec for inspiration)
-- Create lists; people love lists – Top 10 Ways to…; 10 Signs You're…

But whatever you create as link bait, don't just post and forget it. Send out emails to industry people, drop a link into Digg, post at YouTube. In short, take advantage of every medium at your disposal.

SEO Simplified: 3 'simple' SEO tips for great search engine traffic

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 02:07:00 +0000

Most of us in the SEO business know of the scepticism with which we are viewed---- some 'luminaries' have even branded SEO professionals as glorified snake oil salesmen. SEO is not rocket science, they scream at every given opportunity.

You know what, they may well be right.

There are only 3 things anybody has to do to drive search engine traffic to your website through the roof. So, here are those 3 simple SEO tips.

Content: Create "great" content, "frequently".
Now "great" is very subjective isn't it. So let's qualify that further: Relevant, Topical/Timely.

Accessibility: Make that great content accessible
Accessible to both humans and search engine spiders....

Popularity: Make the great content/website you create "popular"-- Spread the word, make your site known.

Absolutely simple, isn't it? If you said, "Yeah, what the heck, I knew that. I want to know HOW", I'm glad.

That's the 'rocket science' SEO consultants & other SEO professionals get paid for to think and execute.

***********
SEO 'Quote of the Day':
Plan & prepare for (SEO) success, and you will achieve more (SEO) success by accident as well.

Challenges in B2B online marketing

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 10:46:00 +0000

I found a useful blog post titled, the Top 5 Challenges for B2B Demand Generation Marketers.

An excerpt that I found particularly relevant and important for companies that have second thoughts about using online marketing / search marketing for their B2B marketing efforts (emphasis mine).

**************

What matters today in marketing is to be findable when people are looking. This, of course, means being everywhere they might possibly be when they start searching.

There are two interesting implications to this. First, it implies lots of cross-media, low-volume campaign all year long rather than spending your budget on one or two big programs. This way you can spread your budget across time period and channels.

Second, you need to focus your efforts where people look – and by far, this means managing your search engine marketing campaigns, especially on Google.

*************

Lessons from Alibaba.com

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 02:12:00 +0000

Last week, Alibaba.com finally went public when it listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange after almost a couple of years of speculation and tantalising prospective investors. It was an IPO that didn't disappoint investors; it turned out to be the second biggest public offering after Google's.

Now, I have a greater interest & stake in the success of a key competitor to Alibaba.com in the B2B space, Global Sources, a company that I worked with for quite a few years, loved and learnt a lot from. My wife, who I met when at Global Sources, continues to work with the organization and owns a piece of the company [every employee and shareholder should feel that way, irrespective of the 'size of the ownership', shouldn't they?]. Though my personal preferences and sense of gratitude to Global Sources could cloud my objectivity a bit, it doesn't stop me from admiring Alibaba.com for doing more than a few things right and offering some valuable and inter-related lessons to others in the process.

a) Thinking big: The founder of Alibaba.com, Jack Ma, has talked about Alibaba.com being among the world's top 3 Internet properties in several interviews. The line between thinking big and being a visionary on the one hand and sounding pompous, arrogant and even silly on the other may be thin. Yet, as most successful Internet businesses show, there is a direct correlation between the "scale of success" and the "size of the vision". eBay is "The World's Online Marketplace", Amazon.com is the earth's largest store, Google wants to organize the world's information and so on.

b) Volume / Size: In the Internet business, volume is critical. Get very large numbers into the system. Getting 10,000 prospects to spend $10 with you is typically a much easier, viable and sustainable option than trying to get 10 people to spend $10,000 with you. Once you have the critical mass of "community", the options of what you can do to monetize it just multiply. Just look at Google, eBay, Amazon, YouTube, Facebook.....

c) Speed: Move fast. A slightly longish pit-stop is all it takes for somebody to race miles ahead.

d) Investing in visibility: Several years ago, when Alibaba.com was just a tiny start-up, I remember seeing and hearing about the company on CNBC / CNN. They were there at some of the biggest trade shows around the world. The company paid for that visibility with advertising and some smart PR and invested in market creation as much as market acquisition. Don't underestimate the value of "presence"--- whether it be attracting prospective customers, the best people to work with you or the big strategic investors [Yahoo pumped in billions of dollars into Alibaba for a stake in the group last year]. From what little I've seen & understand of investments by strategic investors, most institutional investors bet their money on projected future returns, not on past performance. So, be a bit liberal with investing in visibility [no, I am not advocating being silly and throwing away money without an eye on return on investment]--- if done well, the investment will pay off, though not in the quarterly/ half-yearly timeframe you would want it to.

There may be several arguments against the point above, ie. spending money to create visibility and waiting (what may seem ages) for the returns to come in. The biggest example that folks cite everytime there is a discussion along these lines is Google--- "Google didn't spend a penny on advertising to get where they are today", I hear. Fair enough. But Google did something else--- they invested quite a bit in product innovation to vastly differentiate their offering from the others. Product innovation/ differentiation doesn't come cheap, and it is a much harder thing to achieve than creating visibility and loyalty for a 'decent' product.

How successful Alibaba.com will be in sustaining and growing its business going forward remains to be seen. It must be said though that flush with money, they have all the key ingredients to deliver on the promise displayed thus far.

At a personal level though, I will be hopeful of my former employer taking some giant steps forward and realizing its enormous potential.

Google Adwords 'site targeting' now offers CPC bidding

noreply@blogger.com (Manoj) — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 01:56:00 +0000

The Adwords program has made an important change to its "site targeting" option. One, it will now be called placement targeting to reflect the additional targeting options now available [including specific sections/ sub-sections of a website, targeting by demographics and ad formats].

The second, and more important, change is the option for cost per click (CPC) bidding. Previously, Adwords offered CPM bidding for the site targeting feature. The flexibility to use both CPC & CPM when using placement targeting is good for advertisers and could see more advertisers using this feature now.

Our experience with the few 'site targeted' Adwords campaigns we managed was that it seemed to be significantly more expensive than the regular keyword targeting campaigns; hopefully, the latest addition will change that. It will surely be worth testing out.

Here's the official announcement on placement targeting from the Google Adwords blog.