Big news for online advertisers and media buyers: There is a new alternative to search ads… Read on! Search Ads: The Holy Grail of Online Advertising Advertisers seek engagement and openness and while most ads get very little of both, it is when people search for something that they are giving their full attention. This is how search advertising, or subtly named sponsored results, became the holy grail of online advertising and still yields the highest conversion rates for advertisers. In case you’re not sure what I’m referring to, search with Google again – most of the...

The Google team has rocked the boat yet again. The recent change of the Google search algorithm has affected website publishers significantly. Some lost many visitors and even higher volumes of online advertising revenues. Other publishers actually see better results these days. Here are some thoughts based on inside information from a giant network… New Google Search Algorithm So, the Google team has rocked the boat yet again. On February 24th, 2011, Google announced a modification to their search algorithm which they referred to as “a pretty big algorithmic improvement” impacting...

Website as Storefront So much has been said and written about the importance of your website for your business efforts that it seems pointless. Yes, we all know by now that optimizing your landing page with multi-variant tests to reach the highest conversion rate is basics for online marketing ans sales. But do we actually execute? I have to admit that at least in my case, it took some time. In fact, it took a lot of time to realize that our company’s website is actually our storefront and it can’t be neglected. And I’m talking about an Internet company so I can imagine that...

Jenifer Aniston’s Sex Tape is indeed a viral video. But it’s not a sex video, don’t worry. And still, if you’re involved in marketing or advertising, you need to watch this. A little bit under 3 minutes, this commercial for Smart Water explains the essence of today’s most viral videos. Naturally, once this video is out, marketers need to work harder to evolve. Most of the exposed viral genes won’t work longly after being exposed to the sun. The Viral Video Secret So, what makes a video go viral? At least for now, as of March 2011, you need a catchy name like...

Microsoft vs Google Does Microsoft have an answer to Google AdSense? The two New World giants have open fronts in almost any field they operate in. From mobile phones through browsers and on to office applications. It’s a battle. But the golden egg is still online advertising and Google’s ability to grow fast and fight Microsoft on so many fronts is based on advertising revenues coming from the Google AdWords platform and its distribution through Google AdSense. If Microsoft wants to stand a chance in this battle of giants, it’s the online advertising distribution that needs...

Media Planning Glossary How complex has it become? The once rather simple online media plan has now become a monster. And considering the fact that it is just a fraction of the largest all encompassing advertising plan, it’s simply mind blowing. After the competitive research, campaign goals discovery, audience targeting, geographic distribution, and all the other necessary steps… Only then comes the media mix which in all template plans includes sponsored links, sponsored search and SEM, banners, rich media advertising… And then each of these is further analyzed according to...

I have a question: How can I reach the pay-per-click online advertisers in India? In most of my posts here on Online Siesta, I try sharing something I know about online marketing and in text ads. But in this post, I kindly ask to post a question hoping you can help me and others. PPC Advertisers with Google India When using Google India from an Indian IP address, search results are covered with AdWords advertising from local online advertisers. Insurance, investments and financial services, traveling, Internet related solutions – you name it. And as we know well, Google charges AdWords by the...

In Text Ads on OnlineSiesta Well, after several months of writing from my experience about In Text advertising, you can finally find double underline link ads on my site as well, and not only on the In Text Ads Example page. I will be looking forward to hearing any feedback you may have. The In Text Ads Integration: Easy! How easy or difficult was the integration? I was amazed. It took me less than a single minute to set it up and since the website was already approved (for the Example Page), the double underline links appeared immediately. I know, I sell such ads for a living and promote them…...

The Online Advertiser Advantage The advertiser’s fantasy has always been a medium where highly targeted potential customers seek specific information and knowingly choose to get exposed to ads. Sponsored search ads fulfilled this fantasy. When people search online, they are looking for specific information, their location and some other characteristics are known, and they’re willingly clicking on search results – including sponsored ads. This explains the phenomenal success of Google AdWords for both advertisers and Google. In the online world, display ads, mostly in the form of banners,...

When advertising agencies discovered the Internet they gave the new medium’s ads different names: digital advertising, online advertising, interactive and combinations of these and a few other words. But whatever the name, the first references and discussions involving the new advertising arena always came from the advertiser’s point of view – how can the advertising budget be allocated online? Only later on, the completing angle of the publishers got attention as well – why and how should websites place ads? In other words, first, there were services like Google Adwords and Yahoo Sponsored...