Video Search – New sites like Truveo offer up great search marketing opportunities

In these days of viral videos, there is some pretty entertaining content out there. There are millions of videos on YouTube alone, and there are plenty of other sites out there like Break.com and Newgrounds with millions of videos all their own. Even non-traditionally video oriented sites like CNN.com and Disney are posting videos for user entertainment. With so much content spanning so many sites, it is easy to spend hours searching for “that one video I saw on that one site”…enter Truveo into this new landscape of video search.

Truveo is a video search engine that indexes many popular websites for videos. It offers users a one-stop shop for search and viewing of their favorite virals. Since it pulls content from partner sites, it offers unique opportunities for search engine marketing, giving aspiring marketers another avenue to have their content reached. An effective marketing strategy can open a completely new world of millions of possible leads.

Although they were at first regarded as a way of reaching primarily younger audiences, viral videos are quickly becoming a medium for populations for many different demographics and backgrounds to come together over their mutual interests. Many companies have already leveraged these mediums effectively to create positive public buzz, and one example is Dos Equi’s Most Interesting Man in the world, which has created buzz all over the blogosphere (like this, this, and this).

Truveo’s true potential lies in its international audience, which grows daily and has reported to constitute over 70% of their traffic. Many of their most popular videos are from young emerging markets like India and China, which creates an excellent opportunity for marketers to gain a visible presence in commercially exciting areas of growth. Marketers looking to go international may be able to leverage it as a viable option for creating buzz in different markets, and it is definitely worthy of a follow-up.

In by far the most significant move that Microsoft has made to gain a foothold in the search and advertising market, the company has bid $44.6 billion for the number 2 search giant, Yahoo! Inc.

Offering $31 per share, a full 62% over and above yesterday’s closing price, Microsoft is attempting to make it very difficult for Yahoo! to ignore the bid, presumably in the hopes that the combined forces of Yahoo! and Microsoft in the search arena can be a viable threat to Google, the company that currently controls ~60% of the extremely profitable market.

Yahoo! has struggled in recent quarters, both in financial terms and in a declining market share, and Microsoft’s MSN / Live search as of last quarter held a meager 3.55% of the market as reported by ComScore.

Advertising is the name of the game in terms of revenue generation for the search giants, and Microsoft has much to gain from Yahoo!’s Search Marketing solution. A solid rival of Google’s Adwords, Yahoo! Search Marketing provides many of the same features and has come a long way over the past year to make advertising easier and more effective. Microsoft’s adCenter has been easily recognized as the inferior of the three advertising systems, presenting difficulties primarily in usability and reach.

While Yahoo! evaluates and decides what course of action to take with respect to the bid, the rest of us will be waiting to see what implications the potential takeover would have in the search landscape.

Are you ready to set up Google Analytics on your website? If so, then you’ve found the right place. In this 7 minute video, you’ll learn how to create a Google Analytics account, install the new GA.js tracking code, and be on your way to a wealth of information about how people find and use your website:

Webshare is a Google Analytics Authorized consultancy and can help you set up, configure, and analyze this invaluable data. We offer customized analytics training as well as Google Analytics consulting for any project.

In early December Google began testing a new tool called Knol, and of course it is getting a lot of buzz. The theory behind Knol is to apply Google’s “knowledge” of relevance analysis into creating a web space where you can go to find useful information on topics “from scientific concepts, to medical information, from geographical and historical, to entertainment, from product information, to how-to-fix-it instructions.” They named it Knol because they feel this term should be known as one unit of knowledge. Udi Manber, VP of Engineering at Google explains that “A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read.” The structure of the tool will include an endless number of Knols.

With the advent of Knol, the search engine giant may intentionally or unintentionally be trying to pull traffic from Wikipedia and social networks like Facebook. The competition to Wikipedia is easily recognized when Google describes their aggregate system as a place to find knowledge. Just like Wikipedia, Google is asking people to write a trustworthy article on a particle subject for their Knols. However Google is claiming that the main idea of Knol’s design is to highlight the authors. The thought here is that if you know or recognize the author, you can then make a judgment on the level of authority the person has on that particular subject. At first it might be surprising that Google would start a competition with Wikipedia since it seems like you can’t do a search these days without getting a Wikipedia result on the first page of Google’s search results. Looks like Google has just recognized another great place to advertise and who wouldn’t want their own knowledge aggregate system on their home turf?

With respect to social networking sites, Knol may also be stealing some traffic. There is no better authority to write on yourself or your company than YOU, and this concept is similar to other social networking sites already out there. The difference here is that Knol would allow others to write on a subject with competing pages and claims of being authoritative. People like people and they don’t mind some drama - by allowing readers to know the author, they can get content with some background behind it. At this point it is too early to tell how much of a search marketing opportunity Knol could pose for individuals or organizations but it certainly looks promising.

Google has proven they are the online relevance king for search results (those results can be found in the latest search activity numbers). Thus we expect they can apply all that “knowledge” to create a great information aggregate system that is useful and relevant. Udi Manber stated “We are very excited by the potential to substantially increase the dissemination of knowledge.” We are also excited.

Microsoft’s Project Gatineau is now in beta and being tested by the public. On October 29th they began inviting certain users to sign up for the beta, although you do need to be an adCenter user to be granted an invitation. At this time it is not known when Microsoft will release it for all customers to use.

Gatineau is Microsoft’s “answer” to Google’s Analytics, and they state that it won’t be exactly the same as Analytics (and of course they say it will be better). Ian Thomas of Microsoft’s Digital Advertising Solutions group has a blog specifically discussing Gatineau, and in it he states, “We think there’s room in the market for another service of this nature; plus, we have some stuff up our sleeves that we hope you’ll like and which will differentiate us from Google’s and others’ offerings.” He went on to note that “we have more resources than DeepMetrix did (development team has more than quadrupled since the acquisition, for example), so hopefully we won’t disappoint you.” Microsoft’s attainment of DeepMetrix tipped off the internet community that the software giant was looking to get into web analytics. Gatineau is the name of the Canadian city where DeepMetrix was based for a number of years.

Ian goes on in his more recent blogs to give us just a taste of something we may see from Gatineau, and I’ve tried to capture some differences between this and Google Analytics. Perhaps the most exciting aspect of Gatineau is that it has the ability to track some demographic data (such as usage statistics between men and women) for users that have a Microsoft Live ID and are logged in as they browse the web. Another feature is the ability to map the document hierarchy from your content management system into the tool and see this in Gatineau’s reports. The tool also includes similar things that Google Analytics already does but in a different way, including funnel reports, outbound link tracking, inbound referrals, ROI reports, goal analysis, and client system reports.

At this time, Gatineau is not getting much attention, but we’ll be watching to see how Microsoft’s entry into the Analytics game unfolds. It is also likely that the features introduced with Gatineau could be incorporated into the market’s current offering of web analytics tools, but we’ll let time tell. We at WebShare are evaluating Gatineau and its capabilities to understand where it shines and where it lacks, and will continue to communicate on this new service from Microsoft and let you know how it might (or might not) benefit you.

WebShare, LLC is a full service Internet Marketing firm specializing in Search and Conversion Marketing. We offer a variety of services to help you make the most of your search marketing efforts, and get an edge on your competitors.

It appears that the search market is alive and well. ComScore released the findings from their report showing the worldwide search activity in August of 2007. Google is still the worldwide leader with over 60% of the market share. It is interesting to note that Youtube searches (5 billion) account for a little over 13% of all Google searches. Yahoo comes in at a distant second while Chinese search engine, Baidu comes in third place. Microsoft continues to hold a minor presence in the search market in fourth place.

We should note that this data does not include searches conducted on public computers or mobile devices. This would indicate that there are actually even more people performing searches on the internet. As mobile device and wireless technologies continue to become more prevalent, the number of searches performed will continue to grow. A couple of interesting notes include the fact that the Asia-Pacific market has the highest search volume of all regions, while the Latin America region having the smallest internet population has the most searches per searcher. If these markets continue to grow at their current rates, they could open some great international search marketing opportunities.

To put this all in perspective, let’s take a look at the average number of searches in a little shorter time period. Breaking down the number of worldwide searches conducted in August of 2007, you can see that the average number of searches performed worldwide on a daily basis is nearly 2 billion! That’s over 22,000 searches conducted per second, which presents a whole lot of marketing opportunity!

With an audience that size the question isn’t, “Why would I start a search marketing campaign?” It’s “Why wouldn’t I start a search marketing campaign?” WebShare is a Google Website Optimizer and Analytics Authorized Consultancy as well as a Google Adwords Qualified Company. We offer a variety of services including search engine optimization and search and conversion marketing to help you make the most of your search marketing efforts, and get an edge on your competitors.

If you’re using Site Targeting in your Google Adwords advertising strategy, then you’ll want to know about the two changes that Google announced to this feature this yesterday.

Google Adwords Site Targeting has been around for a couple of years now and has allowed advertisers to broaden the scope of where their advertisements might appear by leveraging a large and established network of websites that have the ability to display Google Ads. An advertiser had the ability to browse through the myriad websites within Google’s Content Network and choose those that it would like to display text, image, and even video ads on.

Yesterday Google took this two steps further, and here’s the highlights:

1) Advertisers may now select not only the site they wish their ads to appear on, but also the specific section and location of the website. Why is this important? Well, let’s say you’re using Google ads to generate business selling all inclusive cruise packages. Wouldn’t it be nice to tell Google to show your ads in the travel section of your chosen news site? Or the cruises section of the travel magazine website you’ve selected?

Absolutely, and now you can.As a side note, this change prompted Google to change the name of this feature from “Site Targeting” to “Placement Targeting.”

2) Advertisers now have the ability to choose a Cost Per Click (CPC) bidding option. Until now, Site Targeting (oops, “Placement Targeting”) has relied on Cost Per Impression (CPM), or a price per 1,000 impressions of your ad. If you’ve been at Adwords long enough, you know that one of the most important features of paid search is the ability to turn many dials to zero in on the optimal financial well being of your campaigns, ad groups, ads, and keywords. A CPC model gives you a little more control over what you’re willing to spend for each visitor that your ad brings to your website.

Keep in mind that CPM models still do have a purpose – if you’re interested in maximum exposure and branding type activities, you’ll still be able to choose this option.

If you’d like to give Placement Targeting a try, you can get started for as little as a $0.01 bid in the CPC model or $0.25 for your first 1,000 impressions. Just log into your account, navigate to your main “Online Campaigns” table on the Campaign Summary page, and click on “Placement-targeted” in the Create New Campaign option on the top right.

WebShare is a Google AdWords Qualified Company, and if you need consulting or training on your Google AdWords account, we can help. From in depth training modules on pay per click marketing to daily active management, WebShare has the Adwords Consulting solution to fit your needs.

This past week Google held its annual analyst day and they also recently reported their Q3 2007 earnings. Nick Fox, director of product management in the advertising division made the statement during Analyst day, “the quality of ads is still quite low”. He was referring to the sponsored ads displayed on Google’s search and content networks, and Nick was clearly telling analysts that Google Adwords can still bring in a whole lot of money for the search engine gorilla.

Now just as a majority of us tend to get sick of hearing about the “big dog” winning all the time, at first I cringed with jealousy at the thought of Google making even more money than they do today. But the reality is…he’s right. The quality of the majority of ads displayed is poor.

Why is this? Have people lost creativity in their ad writing? Maybe, but I don’t think so for the greater part. I think it is because people misunderstand the power of continually improving their pay per click campaigns. Most people seem to have a “put up a billboard and field the calls it generates” mentality when it comes to pay per click. That strategy only works for a lucky few, and even for those lucky few it can always be done better. The key to a good pay per click campaign is the pay per click management of that campaign.

It is how someone effectively oversees the ads and distribution of the bids continually. Managing a pay per click campaign requires attention at the keyword, adgroup, and ad level, and one of the most important aspects of the management is constantly improving the quality of the ads themselves with testing. Constant testing will improve your ad campaigns in their ability to (a) attract clicks and (b) attract clicks that are likely to convert. You need to be testing unless you are converting at 100%, which is highly unlikely. It makes simple business sense.

So if pay per click management is one of the most important things to do for your advertising budget, then why are people simply neglecting it? We believe it comes down to time and resources. Companies need to put in the resources to manage their pay per click campaigns to get effective results. Some campaigns need to be managed on a daily basis, and this can significantly draw time from a smaller business’s pool of people. If your business is having trouble finding the time and people to manage campaigns, then there are options that can give you an alternative to neglecting your pay per click advertising. WebShare offers different levels of pay per click management that can meet your needs, from training to active day to day management. We can provide your business the resources and consulting to effectively manage your accounts with Google Adwords, Yahoo! Marketing Solutions, or Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions.

WebShare is a Yahoo! Search Marketing Ambassador and Google AdWords Qualified Company, and can help you with your Google AdWords Management as well as your Yahoo! Search Marketing, Microsoft adCenter, and Ask.com paid search accounts. We help clients maximize their advertising budgets with solutions that range from training to active daily management. We look forward to helping bring you to the next level.

Are you using the best tools for your search marketing and conversion marketing programs, and are you using them to the best of your advantage? There are a variety of applications offered by various vendors, however Google leads the pack with three applications in particular: Analytics, Adwords and Website Optimizer. It may not be perfectly clear as to how the Google applications work together and what the function of each one is. So let’s demystify the situation. Below we highlight a few Google applications, and each one can be used to help you create, manage and implement your search and conversion marketing program. Best of all, these applications are free or are available at very reasonable costs. As an added bonus, these applications are web-based, which means you don’t have to host them on your server.

Information is power, and from that perspective Google Analytics, Google Adwords and Google Website Optimizer together are a nuclear power plant! Together, these three applications can help you answer more than just how many visitors were on you site yesterday. They can help you answer as specific of a question as, “How many visitors from Chicago who speak Spanish clicked on my pay-per-click advertisement and actually converted?” And “Which version of the specific advertisement I showed them was more effective?” Furthermore, the tools can help you use the information from those questions to identify and create tests with your site to further improve your conversion rates. Now, that’s powerful stuff!

Google Analytics houses all of the information collected about your site’s visitors, and allows you to view it in hundreds of different reports. It costs nothing (other than your time) to open a Google Analytics account for your website. Think of Google Analytics as a giant database that allows you to collect loads of data about your site’s visitors, and perform highly specific queries to slice and dice visitor data in just about any way you desire. Google Analytics can be even more powerful when used in conjunction with another Google application (Adwords or Website Optimizer) to help you manage your search and conversion marketing programs. If you’re serious about increasing your site’s traffic and conversion rate, you should be incorporating Google Analytics into just about everything you do.

Google Adwords is Google’s Pay-Per-Click (PPC) program, and its interface allows users to manage the campaigns that drive traffic to Web sites on a cost per click basis. Opening an Adwords account is easy, and only requires $5 and a few minutes. In Adwords, users can implement new PPC campaigns, edit keyword lists, change ads, and manage their PPC budget. Additionally, Adwords gives you access to a number of tools than can give you insights into everything from seasonal trends across industries to keyword research. Adwords also provides a number of reports to view your PPC campaign statistics and progress, and your Adwords account can be linked to Google Analytics to give you even more data about your ads and paid traffic. The data available in Adwords are certainly extremely useful, but any organization serious about improving their search and conversion marketing program should be exploiting the wealth of information that a solid analytics package (like Google Analytics) provides in addition to the Adwords reports.

Google Website Optimizer allows users to conduct statistical tests on their site’s pages to determine which variables will improve the probability that a visitor will convert on the website’s goals. Website Optimizer is free, but as it is accessed through the Adwords interface, it is only available to users who have an Adwords account. So technically Website Optimizer costs you the $5 you need to open an Adwords account. The variables you can test are virtually unlimited - they can range from changing the page background color, testing different ad copy, different images, different headlines, different positioning, and different layouts and designs to the combination of size and location buttons, trust logos, affiliation links, and anything in between. Website Optimizer offers two statistical analysis methods (A/B split testing and full factorial multivariate testing) to help you design and implement tests that will determine what changes on your site affect the probability of visitors converting on your site’s goals. Website Optimizer uses Analytics-like tracking code to run the tests, and you can use Google Analytics to see the long term trends that result from your Website Optimizer testing. If you’re not converting 100% of your visitors, then you should be testing your website right now.

Still not sure where to begin? WebShare offers consulting and training services to help you make the most of your search and conversion marketing programs. Webshare is one of a handful of companies in the world that is an authorized consultant for Google Analytics, Adwords and Website Optimizer as well as a certified consultant for a number of other tools including Yahoo! Search Marketing. Without a doubt, Google Analytics, Adwords and Website Optimizer can be intimidating, and they do take time to master. However, if used to their fullest potential these three applications can help you improve your search and conversion marketing programs by leaps and bounds.

We often find ourselves wondering if among the things going on at Google is the ability to read our minds. We started looking for cost-effective, in depth, usable website analytics, and bang! Google buys Urchin and makes Google Analytics free to the world. As our multivariate testing algorithms became more time intensive and complex, Google rolls out the Website Optimizer, a tool that can help us automate much of the testing process. So I felt a sense of déjà vu when I was at Google last week and watched Avinash and the GA team show off the new Google Analytics Internal Site Search tool, since we have been recently writing metrics-laden site search tools for customers.

As with Analytics and Optimizer, this set of reports promises to be extremely enlightening, to the point where you will ask “How did I get by without this before?”

When advising consulting clients, we have long professed that motivation & intent are the most important factors—but how do you measure it? Clickstream data only tells half the story—just because they ended up on a page doesn’t mean it was what they were looking for.

Internal Site Search will certainly show you what keywords are being searched for on your site, but there are three other reports that I’m particularly excited about.

Search Exits is essentially the bounce rate of a search. This means a visitor searched on a keyword and was dissatisfied with the results and decided to leave. After all the money you spent optimizing your pay-per-click campaigns, it’s a shame to lose them here. Find the keywords that are underperforming and fix it!

Segmented Search allows you to segment your results by any of the standard segmentation options. This is incredibly useful for seeing what a particular segment of your visitors came looking for.

Finally, you now have ability to see how well your search tool is converting. The report will show results of searchers vs non-searchers on a collection of metrics, such as conversion rate, time on site, revenue, per visit value, and even average order size. I have yet to see a case where those who did not use the site search tool convert better than those who do, so if you don’t have an internal site search tool get over and snag one now!

For those that truly want to understand their customer, there are a couple reports that allow you to dig even deeper. Search Term Refinement allows you to drill down and see what were the next terms the person searched for after a particular keyword. For example, you may see that visitors that searched on “TrippLite UPS”, went on to search for “TrippLite UPS 1300W sale” and so on.

Another report for the analytics junkie is the Results Pageviews/Search. The idea here is to show you how far down the list a visitor had to go before finding the item that matched their search and tuning your internal search engine to deliver more relevant results near the top.

Event Tracking

One of the most common questions we get during an analytics consulting engagement is “How can I track AJAX & ‘web 2.0′ elements with Google Analytics?”

While there have been hacks and workarounds before, the announcement of an extensible event tracking model built into GA is a welcome addition. While I haven’t personally used it yet, we were given a demo last week by Phil Mui, who is a product manager for Google Analytics, and it was fairly impressive.

Look for a more in-depth post to come soon on this topic as well as the launch of the long-awaited Urchin 6.

Webshare is proud to be a Google Partner and Google Analytics Authorized consultancy. If you are looking to get the most out of your analytics, we offer customized analytics training as well as analytics consulting for projects of any size.