For the first time ever Google missed it’s earnings estimates. After listening to the conference call it became clear to me that Google just flat out spent a lot of money on hiring new people and acquisitions to keep up with the potential of their runaway growth. The stock got hammered in after hours trading as momentum players bailed. We’ve seen this before, but the stock always rebounds and moves higher.

Let me say this though, Cramer and the boys on CNBC’s Fast Money didn’t have much to say about the earnings report last night on their respective shows. I get the sense they’re all waiting to see what the street says this morning. No one really dared go out on a limb. Step up boys and tell us what you really think without having to kanoodle with the trading desks the day after.

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Just mention Google to any small business owner and chances are their eyes will light up! Unless you’ve been living under a rock, and a sizable one at that, you know that ranking high on a Google search engine query can transform your business’s website into a marketing machine. But, the waters can be treacherous for business owners who haven’t done their homework. If you don’t already know Google AdWords are those small pay per click ads that are displayed on the right side of Google search results. The ads provide highly targeted text or image ads based on what words people use to search your product. To ensure success you must follow a few tried and true steps.

1) Open a Google Account: Simply go to Google’s website and sign in.

2) Focus on keywords and keyword phrases: Think of the main keywords someone would enter into a search engine that relates to your product or business. The use keyword tools like Google’s AdWords Suggesion Tool or Wordtracker.

3) Create Ad Groups: Create an ad group for each primary keyword. Use Google’s AdWords Suggestion Tool to find other keywords and make ad groups. Create ad groups for each keyword.

4) Check the number of AdWords campaigns - enter any of your main keywords in the Google search engine and see how many ads are displayed on the right side of the search results. This will tell you how many AdWord campaigns are running already. If there are only a few Google Ads displayed and your targeted keyword is in high demand (high number of searches) you have the opportunity to create a winning ad.

5) Write the ad copy using your keywords and keywords phrases. These ads must be short so make them concise and to the point .

6) Test and monitor your AdWord campaigns - start with 3 adgroups, then keep the other ad groups for later as you monitor your current campaign. Make the necessary changes to your ad copy, keywords or bid prices to improve your clickthrough rate. Google automatically tracks the click through rate for each of your ads.

7) Google Analytics will track your ads for you showing you what’s working best and what isn’t

Last but not least, check your ads account a couple of times a day. Tweak ads that aren’t working.

This will get you started on your way to a successful Google AdWords Campaing. Good luck.

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Yesterday (July 16, 2007) I received a call at my office from Google Headquarters straight from Mountain View. No it wasn’t Larry or Sergey, but rather a Google Ad Words specialist named (Anna C.) who (after many weeks) was finally responding to an email I’d sent regarding the best ways to maximize your investment with a Google Ad Words campaign.
As a user of Google Ad Words I’ve devoted many hours to writing ads, rewriting those ads and testing the effectiveness of each machination. I’ve poured over Google Analytics and modified my keywords determining the most effective keywords/keyword phrases. Through this research I’ve determined one thing (which Anna C. agrees with) and that is this: businesses offering products stand to benefit more from a “keyword campaign” and business offering a service stand to benefit more from a “site targeted” campaign. As Anna C. puts it, “Things get a little bit different when you aren’t selling widgets.” Touche, Anna C. touche!
The differences between a “keyword” campaign and a “site targeted” campaign are quite simple: a “keyword” campaign opens you up to the entire internet and a “site targeted” campaign allows you to submit your ad to certain sites (which you can hand pick or determine by age/financial demographics. I love this option as your ads then have more context, thus you’ve stepped into the world of contextual marketing. As Anna C. says, “It all depends on whether you want to “brand” your service or “sell” a product and the best option to making that happen.”

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Yahoo’s Smart Ads advertising program

by Denise Keniston

1) Behavioral Targeting

Yahoo’s new Smart Ads program takes internet marketing to a new level. Smart Ads customizes ad banners on the fly and relies entirely on behavioral marketing. According to Yahoo’s Brad King, Yahoo members are categorized by their behaviors i.e. their search habits, buying habits, likes and interests and thus put in “behavioral buckets”. These buckets can be tapped and access is given to them (for a price) by Yahoo’s Smart Ads.

2) How it Works:

Say, for example, you’ve been searching the internet for fares for a trip you’re thinking about taking to San Francisco in September. More than likely you researched the travel-related websites of airlines, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment hot spots. You might have even checked out a forum to see what the locals do there and possibly visited a job site or two. Every move you make online is tracked and cached and it tells a lot about who you are and what you’re doing. All of this information (any other information Yahoo has accumulated about you over time) places you in one of those “behavioral buckets” which advertisers view as “buckets of potential gold”.

3) The Next Step:

What happens after that is genius. You might start seeing a banner ad in your Yahoo mailbox from an airline offering special fares directly to the city to which you’re traveling, or a pop up ad for a local hotel promotion on the very dates you’ll be in town, or a rich media banner ad touting the nightlife of your destination. Yahoo thinks you’ll be much more apt to click on those ads if you’re already thinking about planning a trip. They’re probably right and, thus, you have the essence of behavioral targeting. Yahoo’s Brad King tells me upfront testing reveals the conversion rate of a Smart Ad is 5x greater than a less customized ad. If this holds true Smart Ads will be a huge success.

4) Challenges:

The greatest challenge lies in the complexity of behavioral targeting. Every Smart Ad will have to be customized because advertisers are targeting different messages to different people. This is time consuming and revisions to the creative product can be costly. Keniston & Company’s CEO Denise Keniston says, “Certain content management tools and the wealth of creative talent right now make Yahoo’s Smart Ads a very viable option.”

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