MarketingSherpa Blog

Michael Herman of Christianity Today just sent in this data on his paid Google text ads using the new system where they are distributed against supposedly relevant content on content sites.

“Both of my Google AdWords accounts are getting a fair amount of impressions in the new third party program, but that’s about it.

My first account has had 73,550 impressions and only 462 click-throughs for a wimpy 0.63% click-through rate.

My second account is even worse. 90,159 impressions and only 242 click-throughs for a microscopic 0.26% click-through rate.

I’ll take the free clicks, but I don’t plan on participating in the program once they start charging. My regular accounts for those same keywords and campaigns are seeing 1.5% and 1.6% click-through rates.”

Why such a difference in performance? Well people using search engines are actively looking for links to click on. People on content sites may or may not be.

UPDATE: Ed Kohler of Haystack in a Needle wrote in, “I thought it might be worth clarifying that Google doesn’t use or plan to use the click through rates from syndicating when determining the CTR for competition, pricing, etc. So someone like Michael Herman shouldn’t consider click through rate when determining whether or not to syndicate. A better focus in on the quality of that traffic.” Good point.

BTW: If you’re interested, here are links to my Case Study on how Christianity Today makes money online as a free content site, and another Case Study on how its sister-site PreachingToday sells subscriptions.

1. http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=1490

2. http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?CID=1491

http://www.HaystackInANeedle.com

Per my Blog last week about Google selling text ads to be placed contextually on 3rd party content sites (vs. other search engines), they have at last officially posted the info on this new program.

To qualify you must have at least 20 million pageviews a month, which leaves just about every niche site on the Web out of the picture. It makes sense from an implementation perspective; doing deals with a zillion little sites would be a royal admin pain. The fact is Google already sells to a zillion little advertisers who buy through its automated system, so I guess I expected the brand to serve their small publisher counterparts on the other side.

Silly me.

http://www.google.com/services/ct.html

Adam Cohen of Media Professional Newsletter, spotted a New York Post story (link no longer good; sorry) that reveals Saddam Hussein owns 2% of Hachette Filipacchi’s parent company Lagardere SCA. His stake is worth about $90 million. In the US Hachette publishes Elle, Car & Driver,and Women’s Day. Lagardere claim to be stuck with it because they say any transactions are frozen under legal sanctions. They’ve known about this since 1990 and haven’t managed to wiggle out of it yet.

Clever new content-> Commerce site out from online marketing consultant John Lawlor. BlogAnswerMan is created in Blog format with each entry answering a visitor’s question about how they can market their business with a Blog. The form to collect questions is on the home page, as well as a phone number to call for personal for-fee consulting on the topic. If your question is answered in the Blog you get that answer gratis. If it’s not chosen for public consumption, Lawlor tries to convert you into a paying consulting client.

To encourage people to give their real names (instead of Mickey Mouse) when filling out the question form, Lawlor presents the opportunity to get your name on the published question as a benefit, which appeals to visitor’s egos.

He doesn’t have enough data back yet to learn if it will be a good business model, but he’s happy to report that his search engine rankings are incredibly good “I went from zero to top 10 on Google in less than 72-hours. By Sunday evening I was in top ten positions on my targeted keywords on Google, MSN, AOL and Overture.” The terms his Blog is optimized for include: b-blog, “blog consultant,” blog consultant, “business blog,” business blog, and business-blog.

As I’ve mentioned before, Blogs are a great way to get high rankings quickly if you copywrite them using search terms. Normal sites can take up to 30 days or more to get noticed, but for reasons I don’t understand (but no doubt many of you do) Blogs tend to get picked up more quickly and more easily.

http://bloganswerman.com

“Are we done with the interview now? Got five minutes?” asked
Seth Brenzel at Atomz after we chatted for my new Case Study on
his marketing. “Let me show you something.”

It was *so* cool.

Seth’s testing adding his own relevant text-ads at the top of his
own site’s search results. It’s like taking the paid listings
you’re putting on outside search engines such as Google, and
putting them on your own site’s search function too.

Three data points make me suspect this will be a successful test:

#1. A certain segment of the Net population invariably use sites’
search functions to navigate. They don’t use your nav bar or
your lovely merchandise graphics. They skip that stuff and go
straight for your search box. If the results don’t please them,
they bail on your site.

#2. Most sites’ search results alone aren’t all that great. It’s
like the marketer assumed everyone would use regular navigation
and search is an afterthought. The chances visitors will find
useful results can be slim.

#3. About 22% of all clicks generated from search results on
Google and Yahoo are from searches clicking on paid text
listings. That means almost one out of every four searchers is
happier to click on the sponsored link instead of the actual
search results.

Put those three facts together and you’ve got a strong case for
sticking little text-listings in your own site’s search results.
I know we’ll be testing it in a few weeks ourselves.

P.S. Link to Case Study on Seth’s lead gen marketing:
http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?ContentID=2276

“Are we done with the interview now? Got five minutes?” asked
Seth Brenzel at Atomz after we chatted for my new Case Study on
his marketing. “Let me show you something.”

It was *so* cool.

Seth’s testing adding his own relevant text-ads at the top of his
own site’s search results. It’s like taking the paid listings
you’re putting on outside search engines such as Google, and
putting them on your own site’s search function too.

Three data points make me suspect this will be a successful test:

#1. A certain segment of the Net population invariably use sites’
search functions to navigate. They don’t use your nav bar or
your lovely merchandise graphics. They skip that stuff and go
straight for your search box. If the results don’t please them,
they bail on your site.

#2. Most sites’ search results alone aren’t all that great. It’s
like the marketer assumed everyone would use regular navigation
and search is an afterthought. The chances visitors will find
useful results can be slim.

#3. About 22% of all clicks generated from search results on
Google and Yahoo are from searches clicking on paid text
listings. That means almost one out of every four searchers is
happier to click on the sponsored link instead of the actual
search results.

Put those three facts together and you’ve got a strong case for
sticking little text-listings in your own site’s search results.
I know we’ll be testing it in a few weeks ourselves.

P.S. Link to Case Study on Seth’s lead gen marketing:
http://library.marketingsherpa.com/barrier.cfm?ContentID=2276

Online subscription sellers: Are you having any trouble with your bounce rates, handling expired cards, or Visa’s new regs on month-to-month charges?

I’ve been hearing murmurs from several (very) well known sites, so I’ve hired a writer who specializes in covering the credit card industry to do a special article on this stuff for ContentBiz. If you want to contribute info or questions, you can reach him directly at PNastu@msn.com.

Please be sure to let him know if you want to be quoted or anonymous. Thanks.

I’ve seen an upsurge in syndication deals and syndication-sales-hopes recently. Two examples: Financial Content who I first wrote
about two years ago have gone from selling a few clients $200 per month feeds to selling lots of clients $1500 per month feeds;
while Edmunds.com started powering the New York Times auto pages last week. http://www.nytimes.com/autos/

Yes there is a little more money these days, and far fewer players scrambling for their slice of the pie. I suspect the true reason for some sites’ success is service. You’re not in the content industry, you’re in the service industry. The easier you can make it to buy content from you, the more you’ll sell licenses.

In the case of my two examples, Financial Content’s site’s testimonials all focus on that service aspect. “Your team was
always accessible, helpful and willing to do what it takes to get the job done.” writes one client. “Implementation has been remarkably seamless and smooth,” says another.
http://www.financialcontent.com/web/clients.shtml

This Monday Edmunds.com launched a major site revamp with the specific goal of “offering unsurpassed flexibility and
modularity for efficient syndication.”

On a side note, last Friday night I was chatting with Seana Mulcahy VP, Director of Interactive Media Mullen whose team buys
hundreds of millions of dollars in online ads each year.
http://www.mullen.com

“Online publishers make it impossible to buy from them!” she ranted. She’s one of many media buyers who are increasingly frustrated with the lack of standards so art departments have to resize and redo ads constantly for each different site (the cost of which really adds up) and how hard it is to make an integrated ad buy across all of a single media company’s channels without negotiating and cutting multiple insertion orders.

Online advertising is to some degree also a service business. Being easier to buy from than your competitor may be a highly
significant advantage. It’s not content + eyeballs = profits. It’s content + friendly service = profits.

Rob Palmer over at Freelance Work Exchange wrote in to proudly say that he’s just hit 1,400 members paying $30 month for the
subscription service which serves people want to work freelance from home. The site uses a wide variety of clever subscription marketing tactics to capture the order, or failing that capture your email for future marketing efforts, including:

– A 7-day free trial, but you have to submit your credit card to get it started

– A content offer that appears to be worth more than the cost of the first month’s subscription right away. In this case an
ebook that’s full of advice for freelance professionals.

– Community to keep subscribers involved.

– A grey, functional, join-list pop-up that doesn’t require you to type in your email, just click “ok” button.

– Hugely benefit-oriented copy written using the language the target market uses themselves.

– More than 100 testimonials (and a link on the home page nav bar reading “100 testimonials”).

– A real-guy photo of the site publisher looking like, well a real trustworthy guy. Not clipart or a slick salesman.

It’s a combo between an ebook, community and classified jobs site. Interesting idea.

http://www.freelanceworkexchange.com/

My god I’m underpricing! Interactive Publishing who just put on a conference in Zurich are offering their transcript with the
ruminations of 20 experts on what will happen in interactive publishing 2003-2005 for 830EUR (about US$889). You can get a 4-page summary for free here which includes a very nice group photo of the speakers smiling together as they think about future online profits.

The main finding? Speakers felt that only 20-30% of the revenue potential of online has been realized. Plus they felt much online
media was too “mass” in nature which pleases neither users nor advertisers who want to get niche, targeted, and personal in a
way only online can provide. (Long scary link).
http://www.interactivepublishing.net/works/ipreport/freesummary.php?Contents
ummit_Session=942966cb2f5f529e5b32f17f3eddb7af

[In contrast my ContentBiz event transcripts are just $149. If you buy a ticket you get one free, but ooh that was a
shameless plug wasn’t it?]

http://www.sherpastore.com