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Targeting
August 2nd, 2010 07:49 AM
Building a Foundation with Strong Keywords
Go wide—with a range of specific and general words and phrases
Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of posts we’re calling “The Best of the YSM Blog.” These are posts containing timeless advice and best practices that never go out of style. Even if you read it the first time, it’s not a bad idea to review this information periodically to help get maximum performance from your advertising.
Originally posted February 3, 2009
[Below is an excerpt from Yahoo!’s Smart Start guide, which is packed with helpful content to assist you in making your campaigns as effective as possible. Whether you’re an expert search marketer or just starting out, the tips from Yahoo!’s “Sharon Goodsense” offer practical search marketing insights. Download Smart Start.]
Want to increase your conversion numbers? You may need to consider bidding on more specific keywords that contain things like the brands you sell and even specific model numbers. This will appeal to searchers who are closer—or ready—to purchase.
Start by looking online—and thinking like a customer
One of the best and easiest places to begin scouting out keywords is right on your web site. Look through all your pages and pick out the words that are most relevant and interesting to your customers.
- Put yourself in searchers’ shoes to come up with all of the possible ways they might be looking for what you offer.
- Consider bidding on keywords for your most profitable products and services first to spend most effectively within your budget.
- Think about what you want your customers to do (like become better informed or make a purchase).
- Review your competitors’ web sites to see what kinds of words they use to talk to customers
- Use the Find Keywords panel, on the left side of the Choose Keywords page in your account, to get possible keywords that relate to the products and services you want to promote.
- For a more advanced way to find keywords, check your web server logs. These logs can tell you what your site visitors are searching for and how they navigate through your web pages.
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Posted by Administrator
[ 2 comments | Categories: Ad Creation, Products, Search, Targeting ]
July 13th, 2010 10:26 AM
Smarter Marketing with Smart Ads
Vacation destination Mont-Tremblant uses Yahoo! Smart Ads to increase bookings and learn more about its customers
When you serve a wide variety of people with an even wider variety of services, how do you know which products and messages will work in a marketing campaign? Mont-Tremblant, in the Laurentian region of Quebec, used Yahoo! Smart Ads to dynamically generate customized display ads that connected with its customers. These “smarter” campaigns also revealed some surprising information about its vacationers.
The Challenge
Voted best ski resort in Canada’s Northeast by Ski Magazine 14 years running, the Tremblant resort is an elegant leisure-time complex and village in Quebec with picturesque mountains. The region is thus primarily known for world-class skiing. However, Mont-Tremblant also boasts a few 4 1/2-star golf courses, relaxing spas, 5-star hotels, intimate B&Bs, events, fine dining, a casino and a host of other activities.
Mont-Tremblant’s tourism board wanted to increase bookings for its partner properties in its primary U.S. target market which account for some 40 percent of its business during the winter. For the online marketing campaign, the tourism board wanted to specifically target the greater Boston area and the surrounding New England states. Marketing was a difficult task as Mont-Tremblant offered such a wide variety of activities and deals with different consumers wanting different vacation packages.
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Posted by Administrator
[ 1 comment | Categories: Ad Creation, Display, Products, Targeting ]
May 11th, 2010 05:55 AM
Yahoo! Tops in Seven Categories
Yahoo! Green climbs on top
There are some things we never get tired of talking about. Take online ratings, for instance. Once again the numbers show Yahoo! sites at the number one spot in seven different categories.
We know we said the same thing last month, and many times before that, and it’s still true. If you want to check out the top-ranked sites in their respective fields, you simply have to join everyone else on Yahoo! Sports, News, Shopping, Finance, My Yahoo!, Yahoo! Local and omg!
Green goes up
Special congratulations this month go to Yahoo! Green, which grew more than 300 % and jumped from No. 5 rank in February to the No. 1 Green site in the U.S. in March. It’s no wonder, since everyone trying to live a more responsible lifestyle appreciates its engaging blend of news, commentary and practical information.
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[ 3 comments | Categories: Analytics, Insights, Targeting ]
April 22nd, 2010 04:13 PM
ad:tech Day 3 Wrap-Up
Local, video and social media continue to dominate the buzz
Well, the rain finally came in the last hours of ad:tech’s annual San Francisco conference, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of attendees who stuck around until the conclusion of Wednesday’s sessions.
The Ad Blog attended several of these sessions throughout the day, beginning with the “Marketing Masters: Branded Online Publications” in the temporary theater set up on the exhibit floor. We first heard from Babette Pepaj, Founder of the social networking site BakeSpace.com, who described how the small idea of creating a meeting place for people to share recipes has grown into something much larger and dynamic. BakeSpace members regularly plan weekend get-togethers, and the site works with media providers like ABC to promote recipes for dishes served by the ladies in “Desperate Housewives,” such as “Susan’s Caribbean Chimichangas.”
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March 17th, 2010 01:03 PM
Ad News and Views from Around the Web
“Mad Men” action figures; “Bing” it on up; a call for calls to action; St. Pat’s day beer bust, and more
Those “Mad Men” are such dolls
AdAge reports, via the New York Times, that Mattel will introduce a line of “Mad Men” action figures—or perhaps “inaction figures” would be the more appropriate term. The line will include Don Draper, Roger Sterling and Joan Holloway. Some ad execs apparently don’t like the idea, or the show, all that much. Writes AdAge’s Ken Wheaton, “I guess I’d be ticked off if the work of my younger days was swiped or, worse, bashed in a TV show. And if I weren’t, in fact, a booze-soaked lout myself, I might be miffed that the show portrays the entire industry as drunken, oversexed womanizers.” C’mon, Ken. Lighten up, buddy. The three-martini lunch is on us next time.
Bing on the up and up
By now you’ve no doubt heard about the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search alliance. There have been a lot of questions about it, naturally. But it looks like we’ve chosen a good ally. Microsoft’s Bing showed a 15 percent increase in traffic last month over January’s numbers, says Neilsen. Thanks to Search Engine Land for this intelligence.
Agencies’ “consultant phobia” unfounded
Agencies have feared the encroachment on their turf by big consultancies for years. But says, BNET Advertising’s Jim Edwards, they need not worry. He states, “While clients may periodically swoon in [consultancies’] presence, they ultimately return to agencies when they actually need to get the job done. The lesson here is that specialization and good old-fashioned inertia can actually be an agency’s friend.”
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March 2nd, 2010 12:29 AM
Video: Carol Bartz on Science, Art and Scale
“No one can do this as well as we can.”
In an informal conversation at the 4A’s conference, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz says that only Yahoo! can offer everything advertisers need for successful digital advertising: science, art and scale.
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March 1st, 2010 08:27 PM
Science, Art and Scale
Carol Bartz: What Yahoo! offers advertisers
Yahoo! can bring advertisers a combination of strengths that no one else can, Yahoo! CEO Carol Bartz said in a keynote speech at the 4A’s Transformation 2010 conference today, because only Yahoo! offers them three things: science, art and scale.
Carol, speaking to the advertising industry group in San Francisco, said, “We want Yahoo! to be the partner you turn to for answers and solutions, and most importantly—when you want results.” By providing science, art and scale, Yahoo can help advertisers and agencies master online advertising.
Science
“Science is incredibly important,” Carol said. “Without it, we’re all flying blind.” She said it’s even more important because the Internet is moving so fast that it’s creating chaos for advertisers. In order to help advertisers sort through that information, Yahoo! can advertisers better insights, better data, and better targeting. “This means less wasted impressions and a better ability to reach your audience,” Carol said. (more…)
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February 19th, 2010 10:58 PM
Where the Kids Are
Today’s teens are more engaged than ever in social media and online games
This is the last of a three-part series on teen behavior online. For Part One, click here. For Part Two, click here.
We already know that teens—boys and girls aged 12 to 17—are online in massive numbers, with 97 percent of the U.S.’s nearly 25 million teens spending an average of 18.5 hours a month on the Internet.
But what do teens do with all that time online? Well, for one thing, they love their games. According to one eMarketer report, 78 percent of online teens in the U.S. play games online—all kinds of them, from massive multi-player fantasies like World of Warcraft to simple racing games and shoot ’em ups. Teens also love instant messaging, with 68 percent swapping stories in quick soundbites. And they are highly engaged by social media: According to eMarketer, 58 percent of teens have a social network profile (though 66 percent of teen girls have a profile vs. 50 percent for boys).
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February 3rd, 2010 09:42 PM
Sponsored Search Features Webinar
Please join us Feb. 4, 2009 for this informative Sponsored Search webinar
Many of you have both Display and Sponsored Search campaigns. For our Sponsored Search customers, we’re offering a free webinar that explores two important features of Sponsored Search: Network Distribution, which allows you to target marketing campaigns to the entire Yahoo! Network, and Import Campaigns, which lets you import your Google AdWords campaign data into your Yahoo! Search Marketing account. For more detail on both these features, visit the Yahoo! Search Marketing blog. Or, to register, click on the link below.
When: Thursday, Feb. 4, 2009, 11 A.M., Pacific Time
Where: The Internet—go here to register. Note that you will need the password you created when you registered for Sponsored Search. Don’t already have a Sponsored Search account? Click here.
Why: Because it’s great stuff to know for improving your campaigns and results through Sponsored Search
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January 22nd, 2010 05:39 PM
Reaching Your Teens
In the first of a three-part series on teen trends, we discuss today’s teens and what they’re doing online
Ah, the kids these days. They’ve been pilloried and misunderstood—and striven to be understood—by their elders even before James Dean, Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo portrayed them with such affection in “Rebel Without a Cause.”
But today’s teens (those aged 12 to 17) not only have tremendous buying power, they also have dramatic influence over what goes on online. In 2008, teens represented nearly 25 million people in the U.S. alone, according to MRI, and, says a report by TRUStudy, pumped some $127 billion into the U.S. economy last year. In fact, according to a recent study published by the Kaiser Family Foundation, today’s youths spend about seven-and-a-half hours with electronic media each day.
Put your arithmetic cap on, because we’re going to run a few numbers past you.
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