Some of the Google AdWords accounts we’re handling are showing a useful new keywords feature. Go into a campaign, and next to the Opportunities for improvement, you might see a link to Diagnose keywords: When you click on the link, you are taken to the Ads Diagnostic Tool, where you can choose specific keywords, campaigns or ad groups, and can … Read More
Prepare yourself for a shock: Last.fm – users don’t want to pay!
The BBC News website are reporting that Last.fm are going to charge some of their subscribers for streaming. “Internet radio and social music site Last.fm is to start charging listeners outside the UK, US, and Germany. Users outside those three countries will pay 3 euros [around $4] per month to listen to Last.fm Radio, the site’s streaming music service.” The … Read More
AdWords negative keywords – what, why and how
If you are running an AdWords keyword campaign, using keyword types other than exact match and you’re not using negative keywords, you need to read this. If you are familiar with negative keywords you might find this blog post useful because I will explain how to identify new negative keywords that you never thought of. What are negative keywords? They … Read More
Advertising is dying. Again.
TechCrunch are running an article on Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet. The article claims that the expected drop in internet advertising revenues hasn’t just been caused by the recession, but because of three reasons: Consumers don’t trust advertising. Consumers don’t want advertising. Consumers don’t need advertising. And this is something new? I remember when my parents bought our … Read More
UK readers are cleverer than the US – as demonstrated by The Economist
My subscription to The Economist magazine is set to expire at the end of the month, so I went to their website for some pricing information. Being in a slightly curious mood, I wanted to see how the UK pricing compared to the US. To my surprise, the prices were almost identical at around $1.99 per issue, at least if … Read More
The Beauty of Download Conversion Tracking in AdWords
Conversion tracking provides AdWords advertisers with valuable information as to how well their AdWords-derived traffic performs once it reaches the advertisers’ websites. Most advertisers who use conversion tracking do so in order to track sales or purchases. The problem with purchase conversion tracking is that it is based on a cookie which lasts for 30 days. Many people routinely delete … Read More
Proof: 50% of successful companies work with SoftwarePromotions!
On Wednesday I wrote a post entitled Doom and gloom? Share your views! I was pleased to get an interesting mix of comments, and a few people emailed me as they wished to remain anonymous. The results weren’t quite what I expected, and I’ve tried to roughly group them into categories. 45% of you felt positive about what’s happening. 25% … Read More
Social Media Fever leads to blindness & confusion
I can’t help but feel that we live in a very strange age. At risk of sounding like a miserable old man, there’s a whole generation (or maybe more than one) who believe that they’re entitled to have everything they want. Whether it’s the latest gadget, the car of their dreams, their fantasy lifestyle (no work but lots of money), … Read More
Warning: New AdWords phishing and the MySQL saga
A number of companies have received a Dear John from Google, over their use of the term “mySQL” in their ads. Google’s trademark policy is at best puzzling, and as pointed out in an earlier post, there appears to be a three-stage hierarchy: Level 1 – companies who direct enough legal heat at Google to make them wince. Sunburnt but … Read More
Ads, interruptions & blood soaked t-shirts
The Social Science Research Network have released a paper that claims advertising doesn’t necessarily negatively impact TV viewing. “Consumers prefer to watch television programs without commercials. Yet, in spite of most consumers’ extensive experience with watching television, we propose that commercial interruptions can actually improve the television viewing experience. Although consumers do not foresee it, their enjoyment diminishes over time. … Read More
