The Participatory Marketing Network have released details of a new study, suggesting that only 22 percent of 18 – 24 year olds are using Twitter: “The Participatory Marketing Network (PMN), an organization that helps marketers transition from push and permission marketing to participatory marketing, today released results of a new study showing that only 22 percent of Generation Y consumers … Read More
U.S. Online Ad Revenue Now Shrinking
From the Silicon Alley Insider: “For the first time since the dot-com bust, the U.S. online ad market is shrinking, including search. That’s a stunning drop in growth from a year ago, when the market was still growing more than 20%.” As a person who spends a large amount of time handling Google AdWords accounts, this reinforces what I already … Read More
AdWords Editor headed for retirement
As a long-term user of Google’s AdWords Editor, I have a strong (but treasured) love-hate relationship with the software. I love it because it saves me time and makes my life easier. And I hate it because it’s quirky, ugly and feature-limited. But as is often the case in a love-hate scenario, love wins. And I wouldn’t be without it. … Read More
Google AdWords are lifting the veils of secrecy
Okay so I’m getting a little carried away. Google are lifting one of their layers of secrecy within AdWords. Allow me to explain. Google have a complex and incredibly effective strategy in place within their AdWords system. With one hand they calm their advertisers down and gently point them towards the information they need. And with the other hand they … Read More
AdWords trademark policy changes – U-turn or a 720 degree circle?
The Inside AdWords blog details an update to Google’s US ad text trademark policy: “Imagine opening your Sunday paper and seeing ads from a large supermarket chain that didn’t list actual products for sale; instead, they simply listed the categories of products available – offers like “Buy discount cola” and “Snacks on sale.” The ads wouldn’t be useful since you … Read More
New AdWords interface – bad news for most advertisers
Google are renowned for their incredibly long BETA testing cycles, but it appears that the new Google AdWords interface is now more or less live. I have to admit to being surprised by this, as our own experiences have uncovered many issues with the new system, often resulting in the interface “crashing”, kicking us out of the client’s account and … Read More
Ask not what Google can do for you, but what you can do for Google
Software developers, product designers and manufactures can learn a lot from Google. They churn out new features at an incredible rate. Their new ideas are (mostly) useful. They don’t wait too long before releasing their offerings to the world (Gmail is still in beta). And they don’t dilute a great product with superfluous features. Their latest most visible development has … Read More
Life insurance that promises life after death: Is the AdWords content network Google’s ultimate safety net?
Here’s the beauty of AdWords in four lines: Most AdWords account holders don’t know what the content network is, or even that they’re using it for their ads. Most AdWords account holders using the content network are paying far too much for their ads. Many AdWords account holders think the content network is a waste of time and turn it … Read More
AdWords Placement Performance Report Tip
The Placement Performance report provides data detailing ad performance on specific domains and URLs in Google’s Content Network. Similar to what a Search Query report does with keywords, the Placement Performance report allows advertisers to weed-out poorly performing sites, so that ads will only appear on the best performing domains and URLs. This is accomplished by adding those poorly performing … Read More
McDonald’s advertising – inspired!
I thankfully don’t even remember the last time I ate a McDonalds meal, but a quick look at their advertising slogans makes for interesting reading. I personally suspect there’s more nutrition in our household waste than a McDonalds meal, but have to admit that when it comes to advertising, McDonalds truly know what they’re doing. I recently went shopping in … Read More
