Category: Uncategorized

Why did Overture buy Altavista and FAST

I’ve kind-of ignored this recent action by Overture because I didn’t really have an feeling for the benefit of the action (unlike Google’s buy of Blogger, which makes a lot of sense).

This article (Thanks Brian) makes some hay out of it, as it affects “database publishers” (those that publish industry directories etc.). They see Overture making a big risk without a clear strategy that will disrupt the PPC marketplace. As a client of directories and Overture, their summary point is well taken:

Overture was rapidly becoming the obvious and easy answer for a lot of directory advertisers–usually to the detriment of directories…As long as paid search stays fragmented, confusing and expensive, database publishers have a window to establish viable vertical portals that provide a targeted and cost-effective alternative to most advertisers.

The future of Overture?

A funny story

I get a phone call this morning from a major CRM vendor that I’ve never talked to (or asked for info on either). He is just the front-line trying to sort out leads from the show/seminar I went to. He promised to call back in the afternoon to introduce my area’s account executive.

He calls back this afternoon a little late and says he had two “David Jungs” on his list and wasn’t sure which one he had set an appointment to call back. Are they not letting him use their own software to track his calls? If thats not funny enough, he should have also known via the software (if he was using it), that the account executive wasn’t available today. Oh boy!

Three good articles on net-marketing

Its interesting to see mainstream b2b magazine focus three articles of search-engine-optimization and pay-per-click advertising. Articles don’t break new ground, but are good educations for the uninitiated. The valuable part is that they are making saying that this type of marketing is becoming more important to business.

B to B Magazine (scroll to bottom of page for two more articles)

First month on IQS

After our first month on Industrial Quick Search’s site for my product category, we had 136 click-thrus, compared with 22 from Thomas Register. And 22 is a high number for Thomas Register after tracking them for years. With each source, I can continue to argue that these people will find my company anyway, but the sooner they find me the better!

Of course, this may be comparing apples and oranges, but IQS is targeting TR, which is why I make this comparison. To further compare, I did even better with Google AdWords.

I must really be polite in my discussions about Thomas Register. If you feel seeing them get slandered, head here:

F*****Company.com – Thomas Register discussion

Updated my bids

I did the rounds at Google AdWords and Overture today. On Overture, I was able to lower my bids again. The top three spots for the top keywords are still around $10 per click, but the positions 3-6 are getting pretty cheap. I did notice that with one low-traffic keyword I was getting 10% click-thrus, which at 5 cents a click is a good way to get leads no one else is.

On Google, I never really have to adjust my campaign, which is cool. Why competitors ignore AdWords, I don’t know. I did notice an interesting trend. For each keyword, I have two listings, the second one being the plural. For the singular versions, the click-thru rate is nearly double for all keywords. Because Google serves less relevant content if you use the singular term, the ads must be more useful to the searcher.

BTW: Only a week to go before I run the numbers and see how many clicks I got from Industrial Quick Search.

Google gobbles Blogger

The big question going around is why Google bought Blogger (which I use to post b2blog). Can’t anyone see it? Money! They can use their AdWords service and run ads on Blogs. The beauty of AdWords is that they are targeted, and blogs are targeted, get it? I had just requested my free advertising with Blogger two weeks ago (I get $10 of ads for being a Pro Blogger). The ad was reviewed last week, and according to my stats, the reviewer was already coming from a Google server!

Learned about CRM

I spent Thursday and Friday at a CRM conference, where I was undoubtly an exception, being from a “SMB” (small-medium business). I did find myself learning that doing CRM right means planning, as simple as I see our needs being. I filled a whole page in my notebook listing items that I’ll need to address prior to launching. The MBA in me is excited to see a real management/strategy project, but boy is it big, like I don’t have enough to do right now.

I talked to exactly one vendor at the show, and I’m glad I did. I will investigate their fit to our needs before I say I will add them to our list, but they did get a major award at the show and they are targeted at SMB like me. Who are they? C2 CRM

Just to prove it

Sure enough, I went and checked out some websites of pseudo-competitors in the Thomas Register. Didn’t take long to find a real beauty. So good, in fact, I submitted it to Vincent Flanders (Mr. Web Pages That Suck) who is using it for a website critique game called two minute offense. The offender is www.norlake.com, whose website is just graphic images. Well, just go and look to see how sucky it is. They are spending tons of money on TR and they can’t even figure out how to do a website? They don’t even really have a true product listing on their site.

PS: To my friends at GlobalSpec, I promise to talk about your site-search white paper. I liked it and it got me thinking. I’m just engrossed in many projects right now to discuss the subject the way I want to. As it is, I’m going to a CRM conference in Chicago tomorrow. And I really need to write more about my CRM evaluation.

Easy way to do a newsletter

Got this from BtoB.com new weekly newsletter on email newsletters:

Low-cost “smart” e-mail services are letting marketers track their messages-and monitor every point and click that occurs within their e-mail-long after those missives leave a company’s servers.

For $25 a month, for example, users of the Topica Email Publisher service (http://www.topica.com) are able to track how many e-mails they’ve sent on any campaign, how many of those e-mails were opened and which links each recipient clicked on while reading the message. The service also generates an easy-to-understand report digesting all these statistics, which downloads with a single click into Microsoft Excel.

Microsoft bCentral’s List Builder (http://www.bcentral.com/products/lb) offers a similar service starting at $30 a month, which also tracks opens, link, clicks, bounces and similar activity. The campaign tracking details are stored and retrieved from bCentral’s Web site.

Both Topica and List Builder offer a 30-day free trial.

As with all tracking services, attention to the reports is essential. But marketers who take the time to study these reports will know precise details about the people who opened their commercial e-mail. They’ll also know what elements of an e-mail should be changed and tested: By analyzing clicks, marketers will be able to see right away the efficacy of a particular phrase, image or pitch.

Moreover, by studying the reports of these services over time, marketers can segment an audience into distinct groups based on behavior. Such insight enables them to avoid one-size-fits-all mailings and instead custom design an e-mail campaign message for each subset of a subscriber base.