According to a new study by iProspect, over half of internet users (52%) actively respond to display advertising on ad-supported websites. Among them, almost as many initially respond to an ad by conducting a search as those who click on the ad. Results from iProspect’s “Search Engine Marketing and Online Display Advertising Integration Study” suggest a closer relationship between search and online display than many marketers think, noting that internet users initially respond to online display advertising as follows:
Time to hire an SEM agency or consultant. Ask for referrals, search online, check the yellow pages, regardless of how you find them, please make sure that they know what they are doing. Far too often SEM consultants and agencies make the same mistakes that they are being paid to help you avoid. Check their work before engaging. The easiest place to do this, their own marketing website. Here is a list of things to be mindful of before engaging in a relationship with your vendor of choice:
1. Broken URL from PPC ad. It’s probably the worst kind of error an agency can make. Obviously, if an agency can’t manage clicks it’s buying for itself, chances are it will mismanage those its clients are going to pay for.
Search engine marketers have always known that long-tail terms are both more specific to the searcher as well as generally more affordable to bid on in competitive categories than single terms. Now, there is evidence to show that consumers are starting to increase the number of words in their searches validating what Search marketers have been doing.
In fact, the number of words in the average US search query is on the rise, with longer search queries – averaging five or more words in length – increasing 10% overall in January 2009 vs. January 2008, according to data from Hitwise.
I haven’t written about a startup in a while, mainly because there have been so few startups that have been of interest to me. Having just started a new full time role at Rogers Media in Toronto, I am much more interested in the art and science of SEO and SEM. As such, I have found a new startup that really intrigues me. The company is Concentrate.
In their own words, Concentrate is the innovative search analytics tool designed for SEO and paid search professionals who want to make sense of search keyword data and make the most of search investments.
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