| Home > Weblog Columns > Goyami | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Goyami is celebrating its half year anniversary this month, and what a 6 month's it has been. We have seen a lot of changes in the search engine marketing and affiliate marketing industry. We have also gone from 0 visits to over 9,000 a month! Thanks Everyone! Adam & Todd
Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: ! Hot Topics March 30, 2005Google Acquires Urchin Software
Google has agreed to acquire Urchin Software. Urchin is one of the leading Web-Analytics packages, and has spent some time building out ROI tools that enable sites to track both their site visitor's behavior as well as their return on investment of their paid search engine keyword advertising. This move opens doors for Google to sell AdWords and AdSense to Website owners in Urchin's database, as well as gives them more data as to what is happening after the customer leaves Google. It is clear that Google is interested in what happens after the click and could signal a future move towards selling ads based on leads and transactions instead of clicks. This could move Google directly into the affiliate marketing business and could explain some of their recent moves that could be considered "affiliate unfriendly". It will be interesting to watch, what are you thoughts? Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: ! Hot Topics Google Logos, One a Day?
Google has been known to put up new Logos that celebrate special holidays, today they put up a logo celebrating the birthday of Vincent van Gogh. What's next, a new logo every day???
Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: ! Hot Topics March 25, 2005Ad Blocking Issue Heating up at Commission Junction
Ad Blocking Issue Heating up at Commission Junction In the latest release of Norton Internet Security, Norton enabled a feature called Ad Blocking which will attempt to strip out advertising from the web pages you are viewing. When Commission Junction realized that their domains were on the list of blocked ads, they quickly moved to add new domain names and encryption options to their merchant’s advertising urls. A series of emails, see below, indicate that the issue may be heating up and causing some friction between Commission Junction and their Merchants. Email from Merchant: Comments (1) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Affiliate Marketing March 22, 2005Word-of-Mouth Marketing Summit
Next week, I'll be doing one of my favorite things -- moderating a panel -- this time for the first ever Word of Mouth Marketing Association Summit. The event will be held in Chicago on March 29th and 30th. You're probably asking yourself, Todd, what does word-of-mouth marketing have to do with search engines or even the affiliate space? I'm glad you asked... Whatever you want to call it grassroots, grasstops, word-of-mouth, consumer-generated or user generated media one thing is clear: word-of-mouth marketing comes from a trusted source that initiates a referral. The challenge is that marketers are masquerading as fictitious consumers on blogs and message boards planting transparent brand messages as well as building out web sites and using PPC advertising to generate buzz and business. Using the referral power of an individual in a community or network is the next logical step for the advertising world so that product and service recommendations come from a trusted source. A few years ago, I authored a piece on this topic called Neighboring Marketing Model as a technique to establish trusted real-time connected conversations with consumers. Over the coming months, it will be interesting to see how affiliates use legitimate mobilization efforts to generate transactions and revenue and, what new steps search engines take to index authentic and original content. Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: March 21, 2005Ask Jeeves Sold to IAC -- Now Just Ask Barry Diller about Search
IAC/InteractiveCorp’s Chairman and CEO, Barry Diller sent the search world a wake up call Monday morning as the King of Content announced his $1.85 billion acquisition of Ask Jeeves, the 9th largest global web property. Ask Jeeves is the “I’ve got a question that needs answering” search destination that relies on natural language processing. The company generated 1.5 million searches in Q4 with $42.50 revenue per query. The company tried and failed to launch an enterprise search offering in early 2000. The news of Ask Jeeves acquisition wasn’t a big surprise but the whopping $1.85 billion price tag was. Shares of the Ask (NASDAQ: ASKJ) soared 16% higher in early Monday afternoon trading. Based on IAC's closing stock price on Friday, the deal values Ask Jeeves at $28.24 a share, a premium of approximately 17% to its Friday closing price. IAC’s online portfolio is a who’s who of destination sites including the travel site Expedia, the Home Shopping Network, Citysearch, Ticketmaster and the online dating service Match.com to name just a few. Mr. Diller’s lastest acquisition also includes the Teoma search technology. Mr. Diller’s message was clear in an earlier audiocast with investors and analysts: “Global search is the gateway to everything. We now have in one place all the pieces we need however [the market] develops," Diller said. "Throughout IAC, its sites and the technology that powers all of them, we have all the ingredients and resources to pull everything together if that's what the market demands."
Comments (1) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: March 19, 2005CGI / Think Partnership Acquires Kowabunga, a Leading Affiliate Management Tools Provider
CGI Holding (soon to be called Think Partnership Inc.) has Acquired Kowabunga Software, one of the leading providers of affiliate management tools for companies looking to run their own affiliate programs. Think Partnership also owns the following companies: Think Partnership has also entered into an agreement to merge with privately-held Meandaur, Inc. d/b/a Proceed Interactive, a full service marketing and communications agency with a core competency in search marketing, which has offices in Chicago, Ill., Dallas, Texas and Los Angeles, Calif. Finally, Think Partnership has signed a letter of intent to acquire PrimaryAds Inc., a leading provider of affiliate marketing services that connects website publishers with online advertisers (see www.PrimaryAds.com). This could be the beginnings of a new competitive threat to Commission Junction, Linkshare, and Performics. Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: Affiliate Marketing March 17, 2005Happy Saint Patrick's Day!
Happy Saint Patricks Day. Enjoy these cool Google logos...
Comments (0) + TrackBacks (1) | Category: ! Hot Topics March 16, 2005Microsoft AdCenter Annoucnement Articles - Microsoft is on the Move in PPC
Here are some more links to current articles on MSN AdCenter: Welcome to the Mi in Goyami. Microsoft is on the move. Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: PPC Search Engine Marketing Microsoft Prepares Serious PPC Challenge
The affiliate and PPC conference world is likely to start humming along once again now that Microsoft has pulled back the curtains on their new advertising system. MSN's new paid-search engine -- adCenter -- was officially introduced today at Microsoft's Strategic Account Summit. The tool is still in prototype and a pilot program will be held in Singapore and France to gather customer feedback. Here's MSN's press release on the announcement. Don't get too excited -- the pilot program is schedule to launch in the next six months. And, Microsoft's contract with Yahoo doesn’t expire until June 2006. My guess is the MSN platform tool will be ready in plenty of time for the holiday rush of 2005. The future hasn't stopped bloggers and other industry experts from chiming in now on the impact this tool is likely to have on the search wars. Clearly, the most exciting aspect of Microsoft's new PPC platform is the ability to target based on gender, age, and location from information Microsoft has captured over the years. Just what will it mean to the PPC affiliate army of advertisers and merchants waiting to fine-tune their ad campaigns based on the ability tailor buy using audience demographics? Let's not even get into the argument about the value of consumer information captured on websites especially if acquired consumer information is not linked to a credit card transaction. And, how old is this data?? As you may guess my view on ad buys based on registration data is of little value. Let's just toss that discussion to the sidelines for a minute, and chat about cost per click prices. I believe we'll start to see higher bids for two-word phrases in the short term on all the engines in part due to current advertisers protecting their positions, more advertisers coming into the market and, as advertisers jump on the new MSN bandwagon to test out their new offering. I believe Yahoo's PPC engine prices are likely to experience a slight decline as volume levels decrease. It's likely that Yahoo will start to lower the cumulative number of ad views for PPC slots in the coming months to stay ahead of the curve. ISP, web hosting, and Internet service categories may well take the hardest hit. Google's fate rests with the ease of use of MSN's new tool. If the tool is intuitive with easy to access reports and billing information on both a cumulative and by day part performance level by keyword by ad group, then Google is in for a serious fight that will be played out over the next two years. That's right. Two years. The shift will happen fast -- if it does. Here's something to think about... Microsoft made a mistake by passively entering the search world. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, noted last year at the Summit that not having a proprietary search engine was a mistake. Mr. Ballmer is certainly making up for lost time and appears ready to take MSN to the search battlefield. He's just two years behind. Please post your comments below. Many thanks, Comments (1) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: March 15, 2005
Blink ›
Microsoft to Compete with AdwordsAccording to a recent Bloomberg article Microsoft is planning to announce how they plan to sell pay-per-click ads on MSN going forward. MSN Search is currently the thrid largest search player behind Google and Yahoo. March 11, 2005
Blink ›
Web 2.0 - Search is a PlatformListen in to some of the leading players in Search discuss where things are headed. Orange, Yellow, Red -- The Eyes Have It
If you haven't already seen SearchEngineWatch.com's eyetools.com study on what page visitors focus on here you go ... 
What are the key takeaways? Should you consider revamping your affiliate pages? I believe the answer is yes -- kinda. For years, I've followed a model based on Awareness -- Consideration -- Action where awareness elements (images/brand name/product) were on the left of the page, consideration elements (offers/benefits/guarantees) were in the middle of a page, and action elements (submit buttons/call-to-action messaging) were in the lower right of the page above the screen fold. The model really utilizes a stripped down approach to messaging and creating a featured area for promotion. Clearly, the study -- and many other eyetools.com research I've been able to review -- shows us that people look left first. So left justify action elements to potentially generate more desired behavioral objectives (clicks) is a good thing. Actually, I like to think this is habitual behavior since many sites still position navigation bars on the left side of a page just like I did on my own site. Adam even positions strong selling tools on his company page IMWave.com . If only the country was leaning more toward the left during presidential elections. Comments (0) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: March 8, 2005Goyami Keeps Growing
I just wanted to take a quick moment again to thank everyone who keeps coming back and reading our blog. Goyami continues to see tremendous month over month growth. As you can see by the chart below we had approximately 3,200 visits to our site last month and are on track to do over 6,000 visits this month. So either we have a few very avid readers who are visiting Goyami hundreds of times a day or our thoughts are starting to reach a large audience. Thanks for your support! Adam & Todd
Comments (3) + TrackBacks (0) | Category: ! Hot Topics March 5, 2005Misperceptions about Search Arbitrage Affiliates
Over the past few weeks I have spent some time talking to some affiliate managers and reading some recent articles which lead me to believe that there is a lack understanding of perspectives between affiliate managers and search arbitrage affiliates, those affiliates that buy pay-per-click advertising and link directly to the merchant's site via their paid search ads. First, I got dragged into a rather lengthy online discussion with Jeff Molander on his comments regarding my "Top 10 Ways to Repel Super Affiliates from your Program" post. We clearly have two very different perspectives and I believe our online comments back and forth helped us both learn and appreciate the other's point of view. Second, I met with Beth Kirsch director of online marketing for Audible, columnist for Revenews, and co-teacher at Affiliate Boot camp. Beth and I had a nice chat in New York where I was attending the Search Engine Strategies conference. Beth had recently hired the former affiliate manager of Blue Fly, Jen Weiss, to be the new affiliate manager after Audible gave Beth a well deserved promotion. Jen had indicated to Beth that I used to market for Bluefly and stopped when she asked me not to bid on their trademark term. Jen mentioned that bidding on the trademark term was "easy money if you can get it." So I decided to do some research on my old Bluefly ads. After about a year of trying to market Bluefly, I had spent $3,985 in ads utilizing well over 20,000 keyword phrases. I had exactly 9 clicks on the Bluefly trademark term, non of which converted into sales. From my marketing efforts Bluefly made $63,631.93 in sales and after backing out an incredibly high 30.67% return rate, I earned a total of $3,990.94 in commissions. This was probably the hardest $5.94 I have ever made in my life. Easy money? No. A lack of two way communications and mutual understanding of each other's perspectives? Absolutely! I don't blame Jen, clearly I am equally or more to blame for not clearly reading their guidelines for trademark bidding and for spending so much time on one program without trying to communicate with the affiliate manager. Finally, I was reading Mary Wagner's Top Spot Column in Internet Retailer Magazine today where she talks about how marketers are wrestling over trademark use under Google's new ad policy. What stuck out to me was the quote from LinkShare's CEO, Stephen Messer: "LinkShare doesn't encourage participation from Search Arbitrage affiliates... Our entire message to our partners has been, they have to add value, so they, (the search arbitragers), probably weren't working with us." The obvious message being that Stephen Messer thinks that search arbitrage affiliates that buy ads and link directly to the merchant's site via affiliate links don't add value. To be honest I am disappointed by his comments. Being a search arbitrage affiliate isn't as easy as some might think. There seems to be this perception that all that a search arbitrage affiliate does is bid on a company's trademark and make "easy money". This is far from the truth. Perhaps we all need to spend some more time communicating with each other and sharing our different perspectives, it's the only way that a true partnership can arise and the truly valuable long term win-win relationships can be created. Comments (2) + TrackBacks (1) | Category: Affiliate Marketing
|
|
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Adam Viener
