Blog

Types of Search

Posted on Jun 22, 2009 by Louise Rijk

In this presentation on Search and Digital Asset Optimization I cover the various types of search and the specific characteristics of Google Web, image, video, product shopping, news search, real-time Twitter search and the Google Adwords PPC search network.

I am showing where search fits within the overall online marketing eco-system and how and when Google pulls content from those vertical search engine databases into the regular web results (Universal search or blended search).

I also highlight the fact that paid search is still the most effective direct response marketing tactic and dominates the online advertising marketing in terms of annual spending.

Local Organic and PPC Search

Posted on Jun 22, 2009 by Louise Rijk

Since this Search and Digital Asset Optimization presentation is targeted to local businesses, I spend a large portion of the presentation on local organic (Google Maps) search and how and when the local search results appear in the Google Universal search results (10-box) and what you can do to improve the rankings of your site in Google Maps. I will also highlight that local search is not always trigged by a local keyword anymore and that search engines more and more try to discover the user intend when a search query is performed. At the end I also discuss Google Local Business Ads and provide tips for Web site optimization with local search terms.

Digital Asset Optimization

Posted on Jun 22, 2009 by Louise Rijk

In part 3 of Search and Digital Asset Optimization I will focus on an undervalued aspect of search engine optimization (SEO), which is keyword optimization of all digital content a company may posses (PDF’s, online press releases, white papers, video and audio files), the distribution of this content throughout the Web and how business owners and online marketers can benefit when their content it is leveraged in this way. I also explore the differences between hosted and posted content.

Grey Text and a White Background: What Happened to Readability of Type

Posted on Apr 21, 2009 by Joop Rijk

Readability of type must be an important subject. Ever since the invention of the printed word and movable type designers and typographers have studied and worked on ways to make type as readable as it can be. Legendary type designers and typographers like Stanley Morison, Jan Tschihold and Paul Renner have spent a large part of their careers on the subject. They very early understood that the primary goal of typography and communication design is to convey information.

With the invention of the computer CRT screen and more recently flat screens and the necessity for people to spend more time on the Web, readability of type has become even more important. Special typefaces have been developed for the Web by Matthew Carter (Verdana and Georgia) and others to better cope with the low resolution of the computer screen and improve the readability of primarily body type.

More recently, usability guru Jakob Nielsen, in his book “Prioritizing Web Usability” (Chapter 7) writes “Remember, reading online is much more difficult than reading on paper. Highly contrasting text and background colors make it easier” and “Avoid using similar colors such as light gray on white background. Low contrast can cause eye strain and discomfort.”

With so much emphasis on readability for more than a century it is surprising that we are seeing a trend in web design towards gray body type on a white background. Even people that write about typography, legibility and readability are making their web site hard to read by reducing the contrast between the type and the background.

Don’t get me wrong, those are often beautiful and professional web designs, but what happened to readability and usability. I cannot be the only person who is finding it hard to read gray text on a white background.

Who else out there is having problems reading gray text on a white background? Who is not having problems and actually find it easier on your eyes? If you have used designs with gray text on a white background, did you perform any usability testing? If so, what were the results?

Reputation Management - A Necessary Evil

Posted on Apr 13, 2009 by Louise Rijk

Recently while tackling a reputation management case for a client, I discovered several key points. First the client is often in an emotional state, wanting to get immediate retaliation and often will end up making the situation worse. Online as opposed to offline, the way you handle a situation may be entirely counter intuitive. For example having conversations with the party that is doing the damage may be exactly what you don’t want to do. Online, that conversation just feeds more online information, which may or may not be what the strategy should be.

Before doing anything, step one is to investigate. You need to investigate the actual incident to determine the parties involved and if there is anything that can be done to easily rectify the situation. After this first step you need to investigate what is happening on the Internet. That means having the deep knowledge to determine how the information is coming up in the places that are causing the damage. In the case I was referring to, it came down to which keywords are searched to get the damaging results. If you didn’t go that deep, you can’t develop a strategy that will help with the solution. Each case is different but you have to have a search specialist on board to do this part of the investigation. You also need to help your client understand that this investigation takes some time. In some cases, a quick turn-around is important so you need to look at that as well. Once you discover the answers to the investigation questions a solution needs to be orchestrated.

The best advise today, in most cases, is to add good content to get the search results off page one in the search engines, because most people go to the search engines as the first step in checking a person’s qualifications for work to hire, especially under a unique search like a person’s name. To do this there are many different tactics but again, the deep knowledge of search and keywords is essential in the solution. So best advice to a client, hire an agency that has a strategy and a good search specialist and then calm down and let them do their job.

Leveraging Social Media Marketing While Attending Face-to-Face Networking Events

Posted on Mar 02, 2009 by Louise Rijk
Jeanne Worrick's book "sell like a girl' with Louise Rijk

Everyone is talking about social media and social networking today. Bringing these concepts to face-to-face women's business networking events is a way of spreading the knowledge to this base of women. Successful businesswomen often attend different kinds of women's business networking events in their local communities throughout the US, sometimes as many as two to three times per month. At a recent event I attended, The Women's Initiative, a group created by the Chamber of Commerce for the MetroWest in Massachusetts, sponsored by Skirt Magazine, successful business women got together to hear author, Jeanne Worrick, discuss key ideas from her book, "sell like a girl".

Sucessful business women - Michelle Drolet and Robin Lorenzen

After her presentation, the discussion centered on digital asset optimization. Bringing a camera to this event, I took some pictures of several attendees. This created some buzz about what I was doing and how could this help with leveraging visibility in search engines. I shared with them some of the methods for media optimization that could work with search. First, one can take a digital image and upload this to an account at Flickr where the image caption can be optimized with relevant keywords and keyword tagging. Also you would want to link it back to your corporate website, blog article or some other landing page. If you took a very short video, you could do the same and upload that video to YouTube in your corporate channel and again optimize the description with relevant keywords and link it back to your site or landing page. With universal or blended search becoming more important any digital asset, like images, videos, press releases, etc. can be searched and appear in prominent positions on the Google search results page when optimized correctly.

Going to face-to-face networking events with a camera can give you one additional opportunity to leverage that image or video for search and put your company or brand name in front of your target audience.

Notable Attendee's

Successful women attendees - Maria Babb, Nancy Cantor and Janet Drummey
Maria Babb, Nancy Cantor and Janet Drummey

Jacy Cardoza and Nancy Cantor
Jacy Cardoza and Nancy Cantor

Integrating Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) into the Advertising Mix

Posted on Dec 15, 2008 by Louise Rijk

Integrating Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) into the Advertising Mix
Webmaster World PubCon 2008, November 2008

Louise Rijk
Vice President of Marketing and Sales
Advanced Media Productions

The rising influence of word of mouth marketing (WOMM) - when consumers exchange ideas and recommendations about products, services and brands – especially online, may be relatively small, but is quickly growing. According to TalkTrack™, when people receive a word-of-mouth endorsement of a product by a true user, they are more impressed. In fact, when the product has been advertised before, the user is even more apt to recommend the product and the prospect is equally more inclined to try it.

Social Media for Business: Using Social Networks to Connect with Prospects and Customers

Posted on Sep 24, 2008 by Louise Rijk
I’ve said before that social media is not always the best way to go for some companies, and that the ROI is usually not as good as traditional search marketing, but social media is becoming an ever more integral part of internet marketing campaigns and can play an important role for businesses of all sizes. Social networking in particular can help spread your brand name, recruit new talent and encourage potential customers to talk about you naturally.


Defining Social Media

Social media is defined as a collection of online tools, technologies and practices that enables users to collaborate on content and share opinions, insights, experiences and media, including text, images, audio and video. Social media tools include blogs, message boards, podcasts, Wikis and social networks, the focus of this presentation. These social networking and content sharing sites include MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Flickr, YouTube, Digg, Reddit and Del.icio.us.

MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn: The Major Social Networking Players

The three most well-known and widely used social networks are MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn. They are all profile-based social networks that allow users to create their own page, but each one also has its own unique features that make it better suited for certain applications, particularly for business. MySpace is more fun, LinkedIn is serious and professional, and Facebook falls somewhere in the middle.

Profile Maintenance and Content Updates

There’s a lot of activity going on on these sites at all times, so it’s important to update your profile and maintain your contacts frequently. As your tastes, attitudes and interests change, so should your profile; as your network grows, so must your friend connections. You need to be an active user to truly understand social media; as I mention in the presentation, I’m somewhat of a newbie and am not the one who actually handles social media applications for our clients.

Social Media Optimization and Reputation Management

The very nature of these profiles and sites make them full of content and easy for search engines to crawl. The benefit is that people can find you much easier; the downside is there’s a lot more stuff out there for people to find out about you, and on sites that encourage them to share and talk back. You need to proactively monitor your reputation, and be prepared to do damage control at some point. Play with privacy settings before sending these profiles live and set up and RSS feed to avoid major hassles.

The Unique Characteristics of Search Internet Leads

Posted on Sep 22, 2008 by Louise Rijk

Search Internet leads that have been generated from organic search results or paid search ads have unique characteristics that differentiate them from leads that were originated from traditional media such as TV, radio, or direct mail. I recently discovered that often sales representatives are not aware of this.

In our world of marketing and lead generation, keeping the queue full may be done in many ways. Let me highlight 3; traditional media leads (TV and Radio), direct mail, and Internet leads from search specifically.

The first two ways of generating business involves getting in front of clients who are not or may not even be in the buying cycle. They are served a TV or Radio commercial or receive a print mailing and need to be persuaded to give it any attention. Once they make the effort to react to that piece of advertising it is a good lead because there is often no competition vying for that client at that exact same moment. The Internet lead from search targets a potential client who has intent so they are in some phase of the buying cycle. However, even if they are in the final stage of the buying cycle and are ready to buy, the nature of this lead is what I want to address. Typically an Internet buyer starts with search and research so a characteristic of an Internet lead is that you are probably not the only recipient of that lead at that time because the lead generated from a search results page has various other competitors present when that search result page comes up. The potential client may have made inquires or has done research on several other sites. So the characteristic would be that a search Internet lead has to be acted on quickly because several of your competitors may have also gotten that same lead. Another characteristic is that a lead from search requires persistence. Often the person is not available at the phone number they entered in the lead form when the sales person calls, while the first human contact is essential in moving the sale along.

Sales people may find search Internet leads frustrating and they may then feel it is not a very good lead and treat it that way from the start. Another important characteristic is that every search lead has value. You may not make that sale on the first pass, but if you treat that lead with value, you may be able to find a way to use it as a first contract and think of it as building a new relationship with future sales potential. Use that call to capture information or capture an email address and use that information to create future touch points. Just as there is value in networking, it is often suggested that you treat networking “as a marathon, not a sprint.”

Since search is often the first step in research, the client may also be in the very early stage of the buying cycle, so a sales person making a compelling case and finding a way to be helpful and give information and then capture even an email address would be a worthy next step. The key here is to keep in contact by adding their email contact address to a value newsletter or great offer down the road. In other words try to establish a relationship for future business, again treating that first contact in a similar way to the first stage of networking and building your future client base.

As a sales professional, I realize that the leads generated on the Internet from search present new challenges for us. We have to examine our attitude if we are not seeing their value. We also need to develop new methods of handling them so we can successfully use this channel.

To summarize, think of search leads positively, move on them quickly, be aggressive and tenacious and think of them as not only a sale, but as a new relationship that you are building with a future client.

If you are out there and have some additional tips to offer, we would all welcome the input.

A Strategic Approach to Internet Marketing: Integrating Online and Offline Media

Posted on Jun 26, 2008 by Louise Rijk

I recently presented the keynote address at the 495/MetroWest Business Expo 2008. This presentation, recorded on May 22, 2008 at the Sheraton Hotel in Framingham, Massachusetts, discusses: the challenges in marketing today; how to move from traditional media alone to include interactive marketing; marketing strategy and tactics, both online and offline; and how (and when) to take the first steps toward implementing a strategic marketing plan.

What is Integrated Marketing?
Integrated marketing is a holistic marketing approach that crosses media channels and boundaries to promote buying and selling, as well as brand building, across two or more online and offline media channels. Integrated marketing can have many facets. Online, it can include: organic search; paid search advertising (PPC); online display advertising; email marketing; social media marketing. Offline marketing is what we think of as traditional media: television; print advertising; direct mail; radio; billboard ads.

The Interaction Between Online and Offline Media
Integrated search marketing uses the blended search (also called universal search) formula to pull a campaign together. An integrated campaign utilizes online news releases, video, images, blog posts and products to promote a brand outside standard advertising means. Television campaigns can be tied to an online campaign and used to fuel targeted searches, while providing valuable feedback on the reach of the campaign.

Multi-Campaign Tracking
Tracking and analyzing data is one of the most important features of an integrated campaign. By “looking beyond the last click,” you can determine which channel(s) were interacting the best and quantify the campaign results. This data tells you which parts of the campaign drove traffic and produced results, and which need work.



AMPTalk Episode 5: Blogging

Posted on May 20, 2008 by Louise Rijk

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Download the MP3

I’m Louise Rijk, and we’re back with the latest installment of AMP Talk. This time, it’s all about blogging. I start with a brief history of blogging, and some tips for creating a better business blog. Our Social Media Marketing Manager, Dan Zarrella, fills us in on what it takes to make a blog successful. Last but not least, Paid Search Manager David DiMartino gives us the ins and outs on using content networks to add advertising value to a blog.

A Brief History of Blogging

A “blog” (a portmanteau of weblog) is written in journal-style and usually has a single focus or theme. Originally used as online diaries, blogs and “vlogs” (video blogs) are now used by major companies in a variety of industries, making corporate blogs big business. There are a few key points to remember when blogging, especially for business: post often and on-topic, use links frequently and optimize your posts.

Buzz from the Blogosphere

It takes time and talent to make a blog really work, and not every blog is successful. Companies need their blog to support their brand, and business blogs can be even trickier to maintain effectively. SEM Manager Dan Zarrella explains what goes into a blog and what types of business should—and shouldn’t—blog.

Bringing a Blog to the Bank

The question for a lot of people is how to get their blog to “show them the money.” Paid Search Manager David DiMartino outlines how to do that with content networks, and provides insight on who this should work well for (and who it won’t) and what it takes to run a profitable ad campaign on a blog.

Planning & Integrating a Targeted Internet Marketing Campaign

Posted on Apr 22, 2008 by Louise Rijk

Planning and Integrating a Targeted Internet Marketing Campaign

Email, Social Media and Search in the Overall Internet Marketing Mix

I was recently asked to give a guest lecture on the intersection of new and old media for a class at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts. In my presentation I discussed how to plan and integrate a targeted internet marketing campaign by using organic search, paid (PPC) search, SEO, email marketing, social media, social networking, blogging and cross-channel, multi-media endeavors to complement each other in a comprehensive marketing plan.

Here’s a sampling of what I taught them. Watch the video to see the full presentation with all my tips and hints.

Search Marketing
How to optimize for and utilize Google’s Universal Search (blended search), from traditional Search Engine Optimization (SEO) techniques for natural (organic) search, to blog marketing and new advertising for paid search (PPC), as well as video and image optimization for new media.

Social Media Marketing
Explanation of the different components of social media marketing—blogging, podcasting, photo- and video-sharing, social bookmarking, social networking and social news—and how they can work together to create a powerful marketing and branding force.

Cross Channel Integration
Intersection of online and offline media marketing, and how they can work together for maximum brand awareness through cross channel integration.



Less Than Thrilled...

Posted on Feb 25, 2008 by Kenny

I'll be the first to admit that when I was asked to take over our smaller pay-per-click clients, I was less than thrilled.

However, while I was starting to "get" it, the idea of number crunching, bid management, position placement, and ad copy writing didn't scream "enjoyable 8-hour day" to me.

I was wrong.

I've come to thoroughly enjoy helping people with their accounts. And not only that, I've actually become pretty good at it (at least I think I have; check back to see if Dave's posts tell a different story).

I've always been a slave to keeping things painfully organized (thanks, Mom, for the O.C.D.), and have found that it translates beautifully to account-proactivity. Self-help websites like PPC Hero help to solidify newly acquired knowledge and provide up-to-the-minute updates on what's new, while tools like Google AdWords Editor (which I highly recommend you download if you're running any kind of PPC account of your own) are a lifesaver when it comes to a user-friendly ad building and bid management system.

As "the n00b", I figured I could win over some readers with some free advice. I'm learning a lot as I go, but here are a few things I've already figured out can make a world of difference in a PPC campaign. Without further adieu I give you: Ken's Epic Tips!

  • Patience Really Is A Virtue...
    PPC campaigns need a few weeks to get to a point where you can see what they are truly capable of. Don't give up or expect too much early on; the internet is fast, but not that fast. Gather a few months of data before making any major campaign changes or decisions.
  • Refrain From Searching Yourself On Google...
    Every click costs money, so you are wasting it if you click through to your own site through one of your pay-per-click ads. Deliberately searching for your ads interferes with the data being collected on impressions too, so if you must peek, use "Fake Google" or Google Preview Search.
  • Develop An Honest Keyword List...
    Every phrase should be a product or service that you really offer, not something "sort of similar" that gets a lot of traffic. Your Quality Score will go down if you have a lot of irrelevant terms, causing you to pay more but get less. If you're unsure ask yourself; "Would I pay to have people find me by searching for this?". If the answer is no, toss it.

Automatic and Adwords Don't Mix

Posted on Feb 25, 2008 by David
Google recently sent word out to some advertisers about a beta test for a new feature called "Automatic Matching."  The feature is designed to help you spend your extra ad budget should you be consistently under your daily spend:



Automatic Matching automatically extends your campaign's reach by using surplus budget to serve your ads on relevant search queries that are not already triggered by your keyword lists.  By analyzing the structure and content of your website and AdWords campaigns, we deliver more impressions and clicks while maintaining your current CTRs and CPCs.

The email announcement goes on to give an example of how the system works:

Automatic Matching would automatically crawl your landing page and target your campaigns to queries such as: "shoes" "adidas" "athletic", etc., and less obvious ones such as "slippers" that our system has determined will benefit you and likely lead to a conversion on your site.

So in the tradition of Broad Match and Campaign Optimizer, Google is once again offering a service that allows you to put your Adwords campaign on autopilot while they find the best way to spend your money.  Once again, this sounds great to the small advertiser who may not have the time or expertise to manage their Adwords campaign.  Unfortunately, these are exactly the people who shouldn't be automating their PPC account.  These are the small business owners who don't have the budget to compete, and need to optimize their campaign in order to turn a profit.  All too often these advertisers throw their hands up, having spent money on PPC, seen little return, eventually giving up on the medium altogether.

It's actually frustrating to see Google implement this program.  All to often I will find myself raising campaign budgets higher then some clients would like just to keep their ads appearing for most of the day.  Now, instead of having that extra budget as a backup to maintain some visibility, Automatic Matching will eat it away on keywords I wasn't prepared to bid on?  How will information about these clicks appear on Google's reports?  Will they be providing information on exactly which keywords Automatic Matching is generating traffic with?  Or will a click for an ad that appeared for "slippers" be attributed to your keyword "shoes" as if it were broad match?  This may leave you wondering why a keyword that once performed well is suddenly in the toilet.

The easy answer is keep an eye out for such automated features regularly and make sure they get turned off.  If you're a small business working with a restrained budget, maintaining tight control of your campaign and making sure your ads stay targeted is the best way to stay successful. 

Planning and Integrating a Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM) Campaign

Posted on Feb 05, 2008 by Louise Rijk

Webmaster World PubCon 2007: Word of Mouth Marketing

I’ve spoken at Webmaster World’s marketing convention the past few years. PubCon 2007 was held in November, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and I once again attended had the honor of attending as a speaker. Here’s a summary of my presentation on Word of Mouth Marketing (WOMM), along with the full video.

What is Word of Mouth Marketing?

WOMM can be organic, when consumers start talking about a product or service naturally, or amplified by marketers driving campaigns in order to create buzz and accelerate the discussion. Either way, consumers must be given a reason to talk about something in order for word to spread; in order for the “buzz” to become viral, it needs to be worth buzzing about.

The Internet’s Role in WOMM

WOMM works by getting “influencers”—highly regarded, in-the-know consumers—to talk about the product, both online and off. The internet allows influencers to reach a wider audience much more quickly through email, instant message, social networks, chat rooms, social news sites and any other form of social media on the web.

Social Media Marketing (SMM)

Social Media Marketing operates on many of the same principles as Word of Mouth Marketing, but does not rely on human influencers as much as online communication channels. SMM is strictly an online tactic and generally more outrageous and less brand specific than WOMM.

Planning, Integrating and Implementing a WOMM Campaign

A WOMM or SMM campaign generates more buzz when supported by traditional media buys and a larger marketing or advertising campaign. Successful integration requires extensive planning, carefully timed execution and comprehensive tracking and measuring.

Watch my full presentation (24 minutes) for a more in-depth look at the ins and outs of planning and executing a successful WOMM or SMM campaign.

BizAction 2007: Email, Social Media and Search in the Overall Marketing Mix

Posted on Jan 11, 2008 by Louise Rijk

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Download the MP3

This presentation, recorded at the BizAction Conference, deals with the many factors that come into play when creating an effective internet marketing plan and strategy, what I call the “internet marketing mix.” This mix is the combination of strategies and tactics applied on the internet to support an organization’s overall online marketing objectives, such as driving targeted traffic and creating brand awareness.

What is Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing consists of email marketing, affiliate marketing, website development, online display and rich media advertising, search engine marketing (including search engine optimization and search engine advertising) and various aspects of social marketing, such as online reputation management, business blog marketing, podcasting, word of mouth marketing and social media marketing and optimization. Together, these various internet avenues form a comprehensive marketing package that can be targeted and tracked for maximum results and efficiency.

Email Marketing

Permission-based email marketing is one of the most enduring and effective internet marketing tools. Used to promote products and/or services to existing or interested potential customers, email promotions are a precisely targeted, yet inexpensive means of reaching your target market.

Social Media

Social media is a network of online tools and platforms that allows users to share opinions, insights and perspectives in an online community experience. User generated content on blogs, message boards, vlogs and community sites like MySpace and Facebook create valuable marketing spaces for viral campaigns to spread through word of mouth marketing (WOMM).

AMPTalk Episode 4: Holiday Edition

Posted on Dec 27, 2007 by Louise Rijk

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Download the MP3

I’m Louise Rijk, and I’ll be your host once again for the latest installment of AMP Talk. In this special holiday edition, we dive into the holiday shopping madness, kicking off with my comparison of Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Then, Social Media Marketing Manager Dan Zarrella will explain what goes into a seasonal SEO campaign—and how soon to start it. In a special interview segment, our producer Alison Driscoll will try out the mic to get a rundown on PubCon, a convention I recently spoke at. Finally, our Paid Search Manager David DiMartino breaks out a PPC budget for the holidays.

Take Advantage of Cyber Monday with Online Promotions

“Cyber Monday,” the new “it” day of internet shopping, fall on the Monday after Thanksgiving and is the web equivalent of the cultural phenomenon “Black Friday,” the biggest day of the year for retail. To capitalize on the online shopping marketplace, etailers need to develop web promotions like free shipping and free gifts with purchase in order to drive traffic and compete with the big mall stores.

‘Tis the Season…to Develop an Effective Seasonal SEO Campaign

SEO campaigns need to be revamped for the holidays just like any traditional advertising campaign or promotion. However, the how and when are a little different on the internet and effective holiday Search Engine Optimization techniques and strategies can vary widely for different types of online businesses. Dan Zarrella gives businesses of all sizes an early gift with SEO tips for the holiday season.Matt Cutts of Google with Louise Rijk

Tales from the Road: an Interview with Louise Rijk

AMP Talk producer Alison Driscoll puts me in the hot seat for an interview on the recent PubCon Search Marketing Conference in Las Vegas, where I caught up with Matt Cutts to get the inside scoop on social media, link building and other hot topics industry insiders were buzzing about. I also give a recap of my presentation on Word of Mouth Marketing.

Cash in on Christmas Shopping with a Holiday PPC Campaign

David DiMartino gives etailers the scoop on seasonal PPC ads and promotions, detailing what to do and when to start planning. Take notes for next year, because holiday PPC campaigns are all about strategy and preparation early on, especially for smaller businesses.

Rudy Giuliani Can Rest Easy

Posted on Nov 21, 2007 by David
The folks over at Reddit are conspiring against presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani, who's currently using PPC ads to display on such keywords as "immigration," "tax cuts," and "ethanol fuel."  Realizing that Giuliani will have to pay for each click on his ads, the original poster is rallying users to begin clicking furiously in the hopes of racking up PPC costs and drain precious campaign funds.  Well, as much as I support such grassroots efforts to "participate" in the political process, I don't think Rudy has much to worry about.

Oh, I certainly expect clicks to spike for a little while.  But there are more than a few problems with making this work.  First of all, every Adwords campaign has a daily budget.  So maybe they'll see "thousands go down the drain" but it will never be any more than what the campaign was willing to spend anyway.  Also, those images of greedy Google executives who don't care about clicks without intent are a little innacurate.  Google's aware of click fraud and how it could do irreperable damage to the medium.  So your first click on Giuliani's ad might cost him something.  But repeated clicks?  Google will see right through you and filter a lot of those clicks right out.

If I were running Giuliani's PPC campaign right now I'd be keeping an eye out for keywords that are suddenly spiking in click traffic.  I can turn these keywords off, or use negative keywords to filter out some of the traffic.  In fact, the original poster links to a Google search for the word "giuliani" where, coincidentally, no PPC ads for the Giuliani campaign are currently showing.  While I'm sure some Reddit users are seeing this as a victory, to me, it looks like smart PPC management, since their ads are clearly still running elsewhere.  

I'm pretty sure I'd be running a serious analytics program on this campaign.  So I should have a lot of keyword data collected at this point.  I could bid on thousands of tail keywords and still get the traffic I need, and make it a lot harder for Reddit users to find us.  What about targeting content network ads?  AdSense publishers with presidential campaign coverage might be licking there lips about this right now, but I can counter efforts here even more easily.  I'd simply use a Site-Targeted campaign with CPM bidsYou can click on those ads all day long, and it won't cost the campaign a cent.  CPM ads are commonly used for branding campaigns that are looking to attract eyes to their message rather than visits to their sites.

Which brings us to the real point.  An election campaign using PPC ads is just another branding campaign.  Giuliani is using his PPC budget to promote his platform and spread the word about his message.  And because we're talking about it right now?  Mission Accomplished.  So click away.  For them it's money well spent.
bottom content image
ClickTracks ExpertSEMPO BBBOnLine Reliability program
Copyright © 1999 - 2009 Advanced Media Productions, Inc.

Copyright © 1999 - 2009 Advanced Media Productions, Inc.
Advanced Media Productions | 251 West Central St. | Natick Massachusetts 01760
Tel: (508) 647-5151 | Toll Free: (888) 755-5151 | Fax: (508) 647-5150 | Email:info@advmediaproductions.com