Entries from Category Paid Search

Last week I had the honor of speaking at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management for a class entitled BA 1905 — “Internet Search Economics, Google, and New Business Opportunities” - a great name for a course covering this relatively new industry, with some truly engaging curriculum around my favorite topic of conversation: Search Engines, Marketing, and creating a business model around increasing visibility on the web.

With a blank canvas to work with and many possibilities for conversation, the professor and I decided that it would be best to do an hour long presentation on Google.  The presentation pretty much wrote itself from that point on.  Here is the full slide deck:

Since I am so closely involved with, and dependent on Google (I use their products, actively read their blogs and use their search engine every day) the talk came naturally for me.   The presentation was mostly just an “off the top of my head” overview of what I know about Google from various books that I have read, interactions with teams, etc.  Here is a loose outline of what I talked about:

* “Really neat info on how to make money from Google.  Very informational, straight-forward.  Good presentation.  Cool guy.”

* “I thought this was a very interesting presentation. I learned a lot of fascinating things and this opened my eyes to a completely new industry that I was unaware of before.”

* “I thought the presentation was really good.  The presenter is very knowledgeable and passionate about what he does.  I liked hearing about what we have been learning, from the perspective of someone who is in the business.”

* “Jeff was really great.  He is very knowledgeable and willing to share information.”

* “Presented and covered many relevant topics about how Google’s innovations have made the company successful.  Suggested possible market or venues that Google could venture into.  Answered hosting and marketing questions and gave advice to explore interests in internships and find contacts and connections.”

* “He was interesting and very knowledgeable about Google.  He also had a job related to Google which made the presentation especially interesting.  Interesting to learn about the new company.  Fun to see different things about Google.”

* “I liked the real-world timely examples given.”

* “Would have been interested to hear more about Three Deep Marketing and how they grew their company.  More relevant info about online business growth and models would have been helpful and interesting.”

* “Very interesting to get a real-world perspective on some of the issues/topics we’ve talked about in class!  Very worthwhile/interesting!”

* “Some of the information was review, but speaker was very informative and gave a really strong overview of Google.  Really gained my interest when he started to analyze why Google does what it does and how to be successful through Google.”

* “I thought the presentation was very interesting.  Jeff had a lot of good, useful information that was very relevant to the class.  I like the fact that he had experience and real-life examples of certain things (such as the stories about domain names) because it was so real and put things into a good perspective.  He knew a lot about the topics he talked about and presented it in a way that was clear and easy to understand.  I learned a lot.”

* “The presentation helped to link all the different Google ideas into the real business world and how they relate.”

* “Good and clear information provided.”

* “The information about starting your own website was very useful and interesting.”

* “Useful overview and review of Google with insights from the real world.  Great personal anecdotes that related to subject matter at hand.  Material was presented in a catchy and eloquent manner but did not go over my head.”

* “I found this very interesting and I was very engaged the whole time!  Jeff knows his stuff and has a great way to get his information across and was a great speaker.  It made me want to get into starting my own website.  Great presentation!”

Here at Three Deep, we are constantly thriving to provide actionable insights for our clients. For those who are unfamiliar with our company, we are a very data-centric organization. The name Three Deep actually refers to our discipline of looking past surface-level data, and digging three levels deep into the data at hand to provide the highest quality feedback possible.

We have recently developed a way to tightly integrate phone conversions with web analytics data to paint a more accurate picture of our clients’ marketing efforts, right down to the ROI.

The idea was sparked when we identified a disconnect between the online and offline conversion data of lead generation clients in our home improvement vertical. Nearly every lead generation website (regardless of industry) includes a phone number as a point of conversion, but we never really had a concrete way to tie this to online metrics.

Our solution involves dynamically writing the phone numbers on a given website based on the traffic source and/or medium. This is done with the help of the Google Analytics cookie (_utmz to be exact) and a bit of JavaScript on the website.  The JavaScript extracts the visitor’s traffic source and medium from the cookie, which is then used to determine the phone number that displays on the site. Therefore, this can be applied to any traffic source or medium, and since multiple tracking phone numbers can be directed to the same phone number, the number of different sources tracked is essentially unlimited.

This solution is most valuable for PPC traffic, as it helps provide more accurate data for metrics including the actual number of conversions, cost per conversion, and conversion rate.

From a referral standpoint, the level of granularity is unlimited considering that referrals (such as banner ads or email campaigns) can be tagged with URL tracking elements for each unique campaign.

This can also be used to effectively measure search engine optimization efforts. Not only will this provide a more accurate count of conversions resulting from organic traffic, but the JavaScript mentioned above can be used to extract the actual search term used to find the site (this can be done for paid search traffic as well).

To take this one step further, this information could be fed into a CRM system along with the lead itself, providing the sales staff with more information about the visitor’s intent, their stage in the buying process, and so on.

You may be wondering how all of this data is consolidated. Don’t worry, Three Deep has a solution for that too. We are pleased to announce that we are currently in the process of developing a consolidated business intelligence reporting platform that will combine data from over a dozen data sources to provide some of the most accurate and insightful reporting in the interactive industry. Be sure to follow Three Deep on Twitter, Facebook, or RSS for updates!

It’s time of year again – a night of exciting football and advertising frivolity.  Sunday, February 7^th 2010 marks Super Bowl XLIV (that’s Super Bowl 44 for those that are Roman numerically challenged), an annual event where commercials command just as much attention as the game itself.  Raking in as much as $3.1 million per 30-second spot, it’s the priciest bit of commercial real estate in the advertising landscape.

Over the years, folks have tuned-in to watch Cindy Crawford sip Pepsi, witness Ali Landry pop Doritos and learn that the FedEx package Tom Hanks held so dearly in the movie Castaway, ironically, contained a survival kit.

But times have changed.

Continue Reading Super Bowl, Chips and the Internet →

Before reading too much into the title, please make note that this article pertains to the paid search engine marketing practices of Amazon and Zappos.

While getting dressed this past Monday, I found that through general laziness toward laundry and a hectic travel schedule, I was left with one pair of dress socks.  These socks were getting old, and had sprouted a few holes in them through everyday wear and tear.

For most normal people, there is a clear solution; go to the store and buy new socks.   I wish it were that easy for me. The truth is that I live in the frigid state of Minnesota, and the cold weather conditions have lead me to despise shopping in “brick and mortar” anytime during our cold season, which generally runs from October to May.

Continue Reading Why Amazon is More Relevant than Zappos →

There has been a lot of chatter on the web recently about how Google better watch out, because Facebook ads are gaining on them.   While it may be fact that Facebook is experiencing a higher percentage of growth than Google (naturally, since Google has already reached critical mass, and Facebook had minimal revenue in 2008), the reports of Facebook being the next “Google Killer” are downright irresponsible.

While I cannot definitively say that no advertisers have had positive experiences with Facebook (Shoemoney’s Facebook Ads article from earlier this year is still the best example of success that I have read to date), I can say that I have had poor experiences thus far with Facebook advertising.  I’m embarrassed by how bad they performed!

As a performance oriented marketer who tends to look at campaigns from a direct response point of view, my results from an August 2009 campaign were absolutely putrid.  Even removing my direct response glasses and putting on a “brand hat” – the results were about as poor as they get.

In fact, I’m so embarrassed by my results that I’m almost ashamed to show them in public… but in the spirit of transparency, they will be shared at the end of this post.

However, I would first prefer to share what I have learned from my recent foray into Facebook ads:

• Be Specific With Your Targeting – Demographic targeting is your friend!  Find your target market and make sure you only advertise to them.

  Continue Reading Facebook Ads Perform Poorly →

I have heard a lot of discussion over the last year about nebulous leads, especially in the home improvement industry. What do I mean by “nebulous?”  By definition, nebulous means indefinite.  A nebulous lead is prospective buyer for your product that happens to be early in the educational buying spectrum.  While they might not be at the stage of soliciting estimates yet, (and therefore won’t respond to traditional advertising), these prospects certainly have product needs on their mind and are gathering information preparing to do the project.  Putting systems in place that identify these potential customers presents a tremendous tactical opportunity for savvy companies to make contact with these prospects before their competitors.  These companies are then able to introduce their company and their products to these potential customers; building goodwill that can ultimately be translated into a sale when they are ready to buy.

Marketers typically identify this type of prospect by offering free information such as a whitepaper, or a free sample or through sweepstakes marketing efforts — the thought being that if an individual is interested enough to request a free window brochure, or sign up to win a house full of windows they will become a window buyer sometime in the foreseeable future.  Conventional wisdom suggests that 85% of respondents to these types of offers are prospects for the product.

Continue Reading Nebulous Leads – Can Your Company Turn Them Into Sales? →

In addition to reverse-engineering Google’s Local Search algorithm, we Three Deepers are always looking for more venues for expanding our reach for our local business clients, especially with Adwords.  I have been particularly intrigued of late by Google’s iPhone search application and how it pertains to local search.

If you haven’t read about it yet, the basic premise is that you open the iPhone app, hold it up to your mouth and say your search term.  Google recognizes what you say and automatically ties what you say to your geographic location (using either triangulation or GPS) and then returns search results based on where you are located.

While evaluating this application, I noticed that there were no advertisements on the search app results, or the Google search results on my phone.  Not having ads on the results pages was great for advertisers with strong organic search rankings (and especially those who had top 3 listing in the onebox), but it was a negative for PPC advertisers who wanted to push their way up to the top of the results.  I knew it was only a matter of time before Google would start allowing advertisers to place AdWords ads on these results pages (remember, it’s AdWords revenue that made the iPhone app FREE to users in the first place).

Continue Reading AdWords on Your Mobile Phone (Google’s G1/Android and the iPhone) →

November / December 2008 issue of Replacement Contractor.

Tom Audette, National Sales Manager for Home Improvements was the featured writer of the Trade Secrets column Search Friendly. This column which included contributions by Jeff Sauer and Dan Derosier, highlighted the importance of Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for a home improvement contractor’s website.

Among the highlights of the article:

Continue Reading Three Deep Marketing Featured In Replacement Contractor Magazine →

Google has consolidated several awesome new tracking features into a single view in AdWords over the last week (some features have been there a while, but are now receiving more exposure due to a recent interface update) and we at Three Deep are in the process of putting several of these into action. The first thing that we will talk about today is the call tracking feature that they have recently added.

Ever since Google acquired Grand Central in 2007, I knew it was only a matter of time before they would start adding call tracking into AdWords.  For good reason, as phone calls to local or 1-800 numbers on a landing page can account for a large percentage of leads generated from a PPC landing page.¬† In fact, for some of our clients, phone calls have outnumbered free estimate request forms at a 2 to 1 clip.  Even for those clients where request forms still dominate leads, adding a unique tracking number to a landing page has allowed us to truly track the number of leads that we generate for clients.

Continue Reading Google AdWords New Features – Call Tracking →