Search Marketing or Display Ads? Part III

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With part 1 and 2 of this series we’ve headed into the following direction: display ads, as we know them, are not such an effective marketing tool anymore. It is more and more about precise targeting and innovative ways of running banner ad campaigns.

How is this for an example?

Travelocity, the popular travel website, is using real-time search data for their display ad campaigns. They use an engine called Teracent which matches the marketing message to their audience on the fly. Messages are based on a host of dynamic parameters such as search intent (e.g. when someone clicks on the star ratings for hotels, this person would only see ads for luxury hotels) and how far people drill down into a certain category.

This strategy has increased Travelocity’s online bookings by 203% !

Chip Hall, senior VP of sales and marketing at Teracent, tells AdAge:

“Display has to change, otherwise it’s headed for failure. If advertisers don’t recognize online is more challenged with the old approaches and needs to be incredibly hyper-targeted, they’re going to fail.”

Source: Econsultancy

Filed under: Display/Banner Marketing, Search Engine Marketing - SEM , banner ads, display ads, google adwords, internet marketing, search engine, Teracent, Travelocity

Search Marketing or Display Ads: the Facebook case

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Ok, forget what I said about display ads if it comes to Facebook!

I’ve just seen a blog today saying that Facebook is now the most popular social media site in the UK. Facebook has definitely made a lot of headway if it comes to advertising after much critique about their business model last year. On Econsultancy today the question is asked: Are marketers moving their Google search dollars to Facebook’s display ad business?

While this may be a bit over the top at the moment, the advantages of running display ad campaigns on Facebook are obvious. People voluntarily share information about themselves which enables marketers to target their ads much more precisely. Facebook has increased its market share and manages to engage its users more than other social media sites such as MySpace. Moreover, there is still less advertisers competing with you on Facebook than on Google AdWords and both systems are auction-based.

Research has shown, however that local advertisers are much more successful than large companies. The latter are often seenby Facebook users as being intrusive. People value information about local offers and events while they feel annoyed when they come across the same banner advertising on their community site – which they regard their private space – as they see everywhere else on the web.

For hotels, Facebook could therefore be a brilliant opportunity to advertise to the local market: meeting space, weddings, events and F&B, like those numerous Christmas parties and brunches and lunches coming up. Think about it!

Filed under: Display/Banner Marketing, Social Media Marketing , ads, advertising, banner ads, display ads, facebook, Google, google adwords, hotel, hotels, myspace, social media

Search Marketing or Display Ads: that is the question.

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I’ve just attended a webinar dealing with this question and the main argument for display ads was the time people spend browsing the web, which is much more than the time people spend searching. In percentages: 95% browsing, 5% searching. Therefore, display ads would still be an effective way to drive traffic and reach customers since search marketing only works when people actually  - search. Kind of sounds logical.

Of course, search engine marketing should be run alongside because apparently click-through rates increased by 22%, related brand searches increased and conversion rates via search ads increased when search and display were run together.

Now, what’s been said here is that display ads actually push traffic and conversion through search. If your site ranks high in the organic search, you are a winner. Otherwise, it basically means that you are paying advertising money twice.

Also, it has become much easier for people to avoid advertising as this blog entry highlights: Has the internet made it easier to hide from adverts? Which in turn makes for a substantial argument in favour of search ads.

Search ads are delivered at a point when people are actually actively looking for something: a solution, product or service, compared to unwanted and irrelevant display ads they are bombarded with while browsing.

Search marketing results are usually predictable, can be targeted effectively and measured to calculate the ROI (Return on Investment). However, it is true that the search market becomes increasingly competitive and text ads such as Google AdWords only contribute to branding and awareness in a limited way.

In my view, display ads are not dead as part of an online marketing mix, and especially not on the Google AdWords content network or in an affiliate programme. But properly evaluate who else you are running your display campaigns with and whether search ads may not be a more (cost-)effective way of driving customers to your site.

Webinar by AdReady and ClickZ, Oct 2009

Filed under: Display/Banner Marketing, Online Marketing, Search Engine Marketing - SEM , affiliate, banner ads, banner advertising, content network, conversion, display ads, display advertising, google adwords, ROI, search ads, search marketing

What is the link between social media and search behavior?

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GroupM Search and comScore just released the results of a study examining the relationship between social media exposure and search behavior.

Consumers were divided into 3 segments. Segment 1 was only exposed to a brand’s paid search. Segment 2 was exposed to social media, relevant to a brand’s category and segment 3 was influenced by social media that was specific to a brand.

Search behavior was broken into segments, based on the stage of the purchase funnel queries are made. Upper-funnel terms are usually more generic and express awareness and consideration, whereas lower-funnel terms express action and loyalty.

The findings were that consumers who searched AND engaged with social media were far more likely to search for lower-funnel terms. This was particularly the case when they belonged to group 2 and used social media exposed to a brand. In fact, these consumers were 2.8 times more likely to search for that brand’s products than consumers from group 1 that were only exposed to paid search.

Even though marketers have suspected this trend, the study supports and validates those assumptions for the first time. An estimated 50% increase in click-through rates occurred when consumers had been exposed to brand influenced social media as well as paid search. While generic keywords at the top of the funnel are popular, consumers use social media to change their mind on the products and services they would consider buying further down the decision process.

For brands this is a great opportunity to influence consumer discussions about their products and services using social media, although the challenge will be understanding how to allocate budgets between social media and paid search.

Read the comScore press release.

Filed under: Search Engine Marketing - SEM , click-through, funnel, purchase decision, search behavior, search engine marketing, sem, Social Media Marketing

New: Google Sidewiki – Chance or Curse for Hotel Marketers?

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Google has just launched it’s new product Sidewiki as part of the Google toolbar. With Sidewiki people can leave their comments on any website, page or part of the site’s content.
It has to be seen how popular the product will be, since one has to be using the Google toolbar and logged into their account in order to comment. However, it is certainly going to have an impact on hotel and tourism online marketing strategies.

Google Sidewiki

Negative comments won’t be tucked away on community and special interest sites like Tripadvisor anymore but can be found alongside your brand or individual hotel website, exactly in the very spot where you are trying very hard to convert a website visitor into a booker. Sidewiki could also be open to abuse by competitors, of course.
Sounds like Sidewiki could become quite a curse for hotel and tourism marketers. But why not see it as a chance as well? After all, if your product convinces and people leave positive comments, this may just tip an undecided visitor over and make them book.

Like most things in life this innovation has advantages and disadvantages and you can see the glass as being half full or half empty. I think, Google Sidewiki is just another step towards the truly transparent and collaborative web. Use it wisely!

More information and download Google Sidewiki.

Filed under: Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing , collaborative web, Google, google toolbar, sidewiki, web 2.0

What are the most important search engine ranking factors in 2009?

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SEOmoz have just published their bi-annual study about the most important search engine ranking factors, i.e. the factors that decide over whether your website comes up on the first or last page of Google results when a user types in a keyword that is relevant to your site. The ranking factors were rated by their panel of 72 SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) experts. Obviously, Google can change its algorithm at any time. So even if you take all the factors into consideration and are doing an excellent job, you are not operating in a static environment in which that will necessarily be the case tomorrow.

I’m quoting the top five factors from the most relevant areas for SEO below:
(see full Search Engine Ranking Factors 2009 study)

On-Page (Keyword-Specific) Ranking Factors

1. Keyword Use Anywhere in the Title Tag
2. Keyword Use as the First Word(s) of the Title Tag
3. Keyword Use in the Root Domain Name (e.g. keyword.com)
4. Keyword Use Anywhere in the H1 Headline Tag
5. Keyword Use in Internal Link Anchor Text on the Page

On-Page (Non-Keyword) Ranking Factors

1. Existence of Substantive, Unique Content on the Page
2. Recency (freshness) of Page Creation
3. Use of Links on the Page that Point to Other URLs on this Domain
4. Historical Content Changes (how often the page content has been updated)
5. Use of External-Pointing Links on the Page

Page-Specific Link Popularity Ranking Factors

1. Keyword-Focused Anchor Text from External Links
2. External Link Popularity (quantity/quality of external links)
3. Diversity of Link Sources (links from many unique root domains)
4. Page-Specific TrustRank (whether the individual page has earned links from trusted sources)
5. Iterative Algorithm-Based, Global Link Popularity (PageRank)

Site-Wide Link-Based Ranking Factors

1. Trustworthiness of the Domain Based on Link Distance from Trusted Domains (e.g. TrustRank, Domain mozTrust, etc.)
2. Global Link Popularity of the Domain Based on an Iterative Link Algorithm (e.g. PageRank on the domain graph, Domain mozRank, etc.)
3. Link Diversity of the Domain (based on number/variety of unique root domains linking to pages on this domain)
4. Links from Hubs/Authorities in a Given Topic-Specific Neighborhood (as per the “Hilltop” algorithm)
5. Temporal Growth/Shrinkage of Links to the Domain (the quantity/quality of links earned over time and the temporal distribution)

Geo-Targeting Factors

1. Country Code TLD of the Root Domain (e.g. .co.uk, .de, .fr, .com.au, etc.)
2. Language of the Content Used on the Site
3. Links from Other Domains Targeted to the Country/Region
4. Geographic Location of the Host IP Address of the Domain
5. Manual Review/Targeting by Google Engineers and/or Quality Raters

Negative Ranking Factors

1. Cloaking with Malicious/Manipulative Intent
2. Link Acquisition from Known Link Brokers/Sellers
3. Links from the Page to Web Spam Sites/Pages
4. Cloaking by User Agent
5. Frequent Server Downtime & Site Inaccessibility

Factors Negatively Affecting the Value of an External Link

1. Domain Banned from Google’s Index for Web Spam
2. Domain’s Rankings Penalized in Google for Web Spam
3. Link is Determined to be “Paid” Rather than Editorially Given
4. Domain Contains Links to a Significant Amount of Web Spam
5. Domain Has Not Earned Trusted Links

Filed under: Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation - SEO , backlink, external link, geo-targeting, Google, keyword, link, link popularity, on-page, page rank, ranking, ranking factors, search engine, search engine optimisation, seo, trusted link

What is Online Reputation Management?

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After SEO, SEM and other abbreviations you’ve had to learn in online marketing, here comes another one: ORP – Online Reputation Management. But what exactly does it mean?

Most people and companies now have profiles on many social media sites: Facebook, Trip Advisor, Twitter, YouTube to name but a few. Often, posts on those sites are being picked up by Google. For example, did you know that your Amazon wishlist can be found in Google and usually ranks quite high? Just google yourself and see. Having so much information about you or your business on the web can pose a problem. Disappointed customers, an angry ex-partner or friends can post blogs and photos that portray you or your business in a negative light. This week’s BBC fast:track programme talks about exactly that:

‘Over the past decade, travel review websites have become a primary source of travel information, especially as the web has grown. Rajan Datar investigates this trend and looks into their vulnerability to deception. Fake posts, biased reviews and intentionally negative comments to rivals have become common, as well as questions about the kind of people who post reviews. fast:track talks to industry professionals including a traditional guide writer and the Director of Trip Advisor.’

Watch video

ORP is the attempt to control hotel review sites, travel blogs and consumer-generated content in the modern world of Web 2.0. Some companies have been offering solutions for a while, e.g.: Hotel Protect by TIG Global.

The other option is doing ORP yourself, for example by setting up Google alerts or run Twitter searches but managing hundreds of profiles could be overwhelming.

It is still early days for many hotels or chains but with Web 2.0 becoming ever more important for the success of your online marketing, I am sure ORP will have to be an element of your marketing mix in future.

Filed under: Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing , amazon, blogs, facebook, Google, online reputation management, orp, review sites, trip advisor, twitter, youtube

How hotels improve their websites and service

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A recently published article by Hotels Magazine looks at examples how hotels or rather hotel chains have improved their websites. The argument is that 31% of the people who visit an online travel agency site, book directly with the supplier and therefore the supplier websites need to be providing a good service. I’ve made a similar argument in a recent blog entry: Why hotels need an individual website.

The Hotels Magazine article explains how hotel chains start optimising search results, make download times faster and provide more graphics on their websites.

For example, the Sonesta Collection has moved images and flash content from its server to a content delivery network which makes their website download twice as fast. A content delivery network employs servers strategically in multiple geographic locations, each of them containing a cached version of the website, so that delivery time is speed up dramatically.

Another good example they give is the new E-Wave feature on the Paradise by Marriot website.
Marriott has created an interactive kit for the leisure traveler or meeting organiser, including maps and video. They thereby significantly increased the time people spend on their website (+25%). Moreover, users can upload their own video, generate their own itinerary and send it to a friend or travel partner.

To read the full Hotels Magazine article, please click here.

Filed under: Hotel Websites, Online Marketing , content delivery network, download time, hotel, hotel chain, Hotel Websites, hotels

Should you use Flash as the basis of your hotel website?

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The answer is a clear and distinct NO!

While most agency clients love animated websites because they are so stylish, economically an all-Flash website just doesn’t make sense. This is for the following reasons:

1. Search engines hate Flash and how can your website generate business if it doesn’t get found?

2. Loading screens are annoying most people. In the past website optimation was a lot about download time. Even though most people now have broadband, they still don’t want to sit and wait for an entire website taking minutes to download. And even worse if you have to download a splash page first, with an intro movie you don’t want to see, before getting to the next loading screen for the actual site.

3. Flash doesn’t work on most mobile devices and they are becoming more and more popular. Who wouldn’t want to be able to book a hotel room on their iPhone?

4. Animation, if used excessively can really distract and annoy the user to the point that he leaves the site. After all, they just want information about your hotel and look at some pretty pictures. They don’t usually care about singing and dancing hotel logos.

5. Accessibility is not possible with Flash. Do you really want to lose customers that cannot navigate a Flash site?

However, while your website should not be programmed entirely in Flash, to use Flash elements is totally legitimate: Flash photo tours, for example or replace a static mood shot at the top of your page with a Flash animated movie. Even functionality can be programmed in Flash if you don’t programm for mobile devices, for example a quick reservation booking form, a location map etc. Important is, that the elements download fast and that there is enough text on the page to make it legible by search engines.

Filed under: Hotel Websites, Online Marketing , accessibility, animation, download time, Flash, iPhone, mobile devices, search engine, usability

Is Twitter trying to compete with Google?

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Twitter has just launched a new home page with a prominent search feature:

New Twitter home page promoting search

Is Twitter trying to compete with Google?

There has been talk about Twitter as a search engine for a while and it is already used as such, for example by journalists and marketers, to discover the latest trends. While Google’s News results are pretty up-to-date, they are also mainstream, i.e. news provided by the big agencies and newspapers. Twitter, however, is a social media site and therefore shows what people in the street consider news. In that sense Twitter certainly offers something Google cannot provide at the moment and fills a niche.

Trends, i.e. topics that have been tweeted about most during the last 24 hours, are listed underneath the search box on the new home page. Both, the prominent search box and list of trends will probably attract new users when they find topics that are of interest to them.

So, yes Twitter seams to be aiming for expansion and could well compete with traditional search engines in a web 2.0 world. Even more reason to use Twitter to promote your hotel. But don’t just be there – have a plan!

Filed under: Online Marketing, Social Media Marketing , Google, news, search, search engine, social media, trends, twitter, web 2.0