Inside The Searcher's Mind - Live from SES San Jose: "Inside The Searcher's Mind - Live from SES San Jose



This session is moderated by Danny Sullivan with some of the most recognized SEM individuals in the industry. Danny says he has been looking forward to this session for a while, so have I.

Gordon Hotchkiss of Enquiro was up first. He started off saying he is hoping to make history. This session talks about the big picture, 'users'. We are talking about behavior of the searcher, what is going through the mind of the searcher. Ultimately search is a channel, connecting your business to your target audience. We need to understand the customer and how they react to your business. He said, 'we' as SEMs do not do enough of this. Ask you customers these 10 questions; (1) Which engine they use (2) where do they look in the search results page, (3) looking for product or service (4) when do you look at search during your buying process?, (5) why would you use it? etc...

What an actual search is? Based on a person's search, they might change the search phrases used. Search is circular. The 'Search Funnel' was explained through a focus group. Person one was looking to go on a cruise. She searched for 'cruise' first. Then she refined her search to 'Caribbean cruise' to narrow down the search. She then sees a 'Panama Canal Cruise' in one of the pages that interests her. So she goes back to Google and searches on 'Panama Canal Cruise' and is now looking for 3rd party reviews. Now she learns she likes the Princess cruise line and then does a search on 'Princess Pananma Cruise' and obtains information. Then she purchases offline. That is the 'Search Funnel.' As you get closer to the bottom of the search funnel, conversion rates will increase. 'Cruise' has 1.3m searches per day b"

Creating Compelling Ads & Landing Pages - Live from SES San Jose: "Lee Mills from BeyondClicks is up next. He said include keyword in ad creative always. You also want to include the keyword in the ad landing page and a strong call to action (offer free stuff if you have to). One of his clients is anonymizer. The landing page must have multiple call to actions, multiple ways to buy (top and bottom of the page). He said its also good to put price in your ads (if you are a low cost provider). They are more likely to buy if they know the cost. He stresses, like the other speakers, test continuously!

They did some A/B testing on landing pages. B2B example: Page A had a 3% conversion rate. So they made Page B which was simplified, and its conversion rate was 18%. That is huge! B2C example: Page A had a 3.2% conversion, they made a longer page with multiple offers on Page B and the conversion rate was 9.6%. He said if you have scrolling pages, then put an additional offer (call to action) at the bottom of the page. Do not use pages that do not allow for navigation to your other pages, I see this often with landing pages - he says it doesn't work (causes lack of credibility)."

Creating Compelling Ads & Landing Pages - Live from SES San Jose: "Misty Locke from Range Online Media is up now. How does the ad meet the conversion? She talks about her 6 key reminders. (1) Who are you targeting? Know your audience. (2) Conversions can vary depending on keyword and landing pages AND on CPC engine. (3) Landing pages should directly correlate to keyword and placement. (4) Remember the convenience of the online shopper. (5) Take a deep breath - use the 2 to 3 click rule, don't make the user to click too much. (6) Think conversion not traffic when selecting search terms for interior or product pages."

Insights - Trends: Expert Q&A: Handling Foreign Affairs:
Heres a really cool international tool that updates currency w/out clicking a button. This business specializes in helping you add currency-conversion tools to your site so that your customers can see the product prices in their local (and up-to-date value) currencies on your site.
Australia-based JAZConvert aims to reduce 'currency confusion' for e-tailers that sell products internationally by enabling their sites to display product prices in the currency of the visitor viewing the site - on the fly. A subscription-based service that can be purchased on a monthly or yearly basis, JAZConvert detects the country from which a Web site visitor is viewing the site and displays the appropriate currency.
The international currency rates are automatically updated every day on the eJAZ server so you don't need to manually change or update the prices. Unlike traditional pop-up currency converters, JAZconvert requires no clicking or price entry by the site visitor, removing currency confusion that can impede a sale to a potential international customer."

Google AdWords: Tutorial and Guides

This is a great page of learning information about Adwords.

Here's a thing about matvhing options -
http://services.google.com/tutorial/adwords_tutorial.html

The Search Engine Update - Number 163 - Dec. 16, 2003: "Google has introduced a feature letting you get specific answers when entering shipping tracking numbers from UPS and FedEx, US patent numbers, FAA registration numbers or FCC equipment IDs. You can also check for airport travel delays by entering the airport's three letter code followed by the word airport, such as 'sfo airport' or 'sna airport.' That brings back a hard to miss 'view conditions' link at the top of the search results page. However, it didn't work for London's Heathrow airport (lhr airport), so it may be for only US airports. More info from Google at: http://www.google.com/help/features.html"

'Tis the Season: Build a Search Engine Marketing Budget: "The reality is you need budget numbers on paper for the boss. Below are a couple of imperfect strategies, utilizing Google's and Overture's available tools:
Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool


Google AdWords Keyword Suggestions


Overture View Bids


Overture ROI Calculator"

'Tis the Season: Build a Search Engine Marketing Budget: "optimizing your Web site for the algorithmic natural search results, you could be missing a significant component of your online audience. A successful SEM campaign tightly integrates PPC search advertising, paid-inclusion, and natural SEO strategies into a cohesive solution."

Why an SEM RFP Is a Mistake, Part 1

Why an SEM RFP Is a Mistake, Part 2
Why an SEM RFP Is a Mistake, Part 2