Wow! What a beating Google took on the heels of the comScore data showing Google’s paid search ads were down 12% in January from October, and flat from a year prior.

“Has Google Peaked?”

Google’s shares drop as surfers cease clicking, another wails.

Dear Goth, has there been more fraught chest-thumping, more moaning, since last Celine performed that song at the 69th Annual Academy Awards®?

Google will go on. And oddly enough, if surfers have stopped clicking and are now only treading water like Leonardo’s Jack Dawson just before succumbing in that movie where Celine performed that song then why haven’t Yahoo and MSN been just as negatively affected?

Have you ever thought to yourself (or had a client say to you), if I triple my budget, I should see at least triple the results … right?

Unfortunately NOT … at least in most cases that have anything to do with search!

Why:
Plain and simple; any reputable search company will target the easiest and least expensive wins first where limited budgets are involved (or as I like to refer to it, the preverbial low hanging fruit). Let me explain using a very simple example.

Imagine you’re a caveman or cavewomen, and you’re obviously always hungry. You find an apple tree brimming with tasty ripe red apples.

Einstein’s definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Look or sound familiar?

For example, having the same dialogue with the same client and expecting different results. Or having the same conversations with a peer or associate and expecting different results.

Words get tossed around in such dialogues and conversations; words like stubborn, non-responsiveness or negativity more often than not with fingers as pointed as the barbed dialogue behind them. At first blush, bad words all but in reality, not so much bad as emotionally charged, which may in fact be good because they intimate an emotional investment in projects, clients or responsibilities. Whether good or bad, they tend to be taken to heart, and taken personally.

Affiliate Marketing today is so much more than what it used to be, when simply having someone place your banner on their website to drive traffic was the norm.  Back in the day, your banner would catch someones eye, they would click on it, and you would pay the person displaying your banner for each click that came through to your site from theirs.  (Not so different from Pay Per Click on the search engines today).

Cartoon Courtesy of: http://www.marketingmentor.net

Greed is good but a little common sense is even better.

While cyber Monday and online holiday shopping have every marketing manager wringing hands in anticipation, too often, I find one of the biggest mistakes a marketing department or company can make happens at this time of year.

Changing campaigns or web sites.

December is absolutely, positively the worst time of year to do this and for so many different reasons.

Why risk your business?

Hmmmm…..Sometimes you find things when you least expect it. Like when you happen to be in a meeting, doing a sample search and find yourself standing bolt upright, pointing and exclaiming, “OHMYGOD WHAT’S THAT?!?!” noting, “hmmm, that’s interesting”, as I found myself doing this morning.

Google has gone a step beyond maps to introduce addresses directly into Adwords ads and apparently is running a small test sample.

Do I like it? I’m not convinced.

Is it functional? Perhaps a little.

Codicil: Anyone who knows me know I’m the second last person in the world to suck up to the boss… (I’d say last but that’s too much like aspiring to a recognizable title, which I don’t as a rule do.)

I would like to think I’m a good employee, showing up on time, putting in an honest day’s work, playing nice with all the other kids, telling all the other kids where I got my toys (cause let’s face it, no one really likes to share).

It is with great pride that I get to announce another Canadian first (to the best of our knowledge) for Search Engine People. We are the newest addition to the list of Microsoft adExcellence accredited companies.

Due to the determined effort of a certain SEP paid search director, and you know who you are, we are the first Canadian company to become adExcellence approved.

In short, Search Engine People is a triple threat company. Yahoo! Ambassadors, the first Canadian Google Adwords Qualified Company, and now the first Canadian Microsoft adExcellence company.

photo © Darren Hester for openphoto.net

Google SiteMatch Ads

If you’re not using Google SiteMatch Ads as part of you Pay Per Click campaign yet, you may be missing out on a significant amount of high quality, targeted, and most importantly, low cost traffic. Assuming you know your niche and industry like the back of your hand, using the SiteMatch or Placement Targeting options in Google Adwords can help gain great Brand Visibility and Goal Conversions for your website or online service.

Do you intuitively understand the strengths and weaknesses of search as it relates to all other media? I mean, most of us get that paid search has distinct pros and cons, as does organic search, but what about search in general relative to other media?

For example … why would search not be the ideal tool to create awareness of a brand new revolutionary type of laser drill for the home handyman? In the remainder of this post, I’ll explore the role of search in advertising, as it has implications for such questions.