July 29, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Google Launches Hotel Search Tool With Room Price Data - Mashable
“Hotel Finder, an experimental search tool, enables users to define key lodging preferences in hopes of finding the perfect hotel for their travel needs.Users input their preferred location, dates, price and rating details, and Hotel Finder delivers its top recommendations, in a list or on a Google Map. For the moment, it’s only available in the U.S.”
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Spotify Sued for Patent Infringement - Mashable
“The patent in question is for a “Device for the distribution of music information in digital form.” The patent was filed in the ’90s, and was purchased by PacketVideo a few years ago. Now, the company is claiming that Spotify is infringing on the patent, causing “irreparable harm and damage” to its business, according to the suit.”
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Business Guide to Facebook Launches- Search Engine Watch
“Launched Tuesday, Facebook for Business attempts to lay out a clear, concise, and easy-to-follow guide for businesses, making the problem of over-optimizing a thing of the past. The resource center brings value to business owners, employees tasked to handle social media, and marketers looking for science and statistics to sell and educate regarding Facebook services.”
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Five Tips on Marketing to the Millennial Mom - Advertising Age
“Millennial consumers have held marketers rapt since they burst into demographic studies as the influential ‘tween offspring of the earnest and omnipresent boomers in early 2000. The top side of millennials is just hitting 30 years of age, while the mean is about 22. As they are becoming parents themselves, this group constitutes the first generation of moms to enter motherhood replete with perpetual connectivity, myriad online and offline social networks and a yen for the triple bottom line in every purchase.”
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Twitter Intros Ability To Target Promoted Tweets To Followers - Search Engine Land
“Twitter is now allowing brands to target their promoted tweets to followers only. Like other promoted tweets, the messages appear at the top of users’ timelines upon login, and scroll down afterwards. They can also be dismissed immediately.” 
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

July 22, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

How Google+ will Transform Search and Search Marketing - Read Write Mobile
“App.net lets you make customizable landing pages for your mobile application. Using simple templates, your landing page can feature a description, a mockup of a mobile phone with a rotating carousel of the app’s screens, links to download the app on various app stores, social sharing buttons and links to your company’s online presence on sites like Facebook and Twitter.”
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Android Jobs to Surpass iPhone Jobs by Year-End, Report Finds - Read Write Mobile
“Android jobs are on pace to eclipse iPhone jobs by the end of 2012. Despite what the company describes as “solid growth” in iPhone jobs – they’re up 9% from Q1 to Q2 this year – Android jobs have increased by 20%.”
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Google Introduces AdWords Credit Card for Advertisers- Search Engine Watch
“Select U.S. search advertisers are being offered the chance to sign up for a new Google AdWords Business credit card. Google sent out invites via email starting Wednesday for the card, which can only be used to buy AdWords advertising and features an 8.99 percent interest rate and no annual fees.”
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Bing Tests Ads Within Organic Search Results? - Search Engine Land
“Placing search ads inline with organic free listings is somewhat taboo for search companies.Years ago, search engines had “paid inclusion” programs which guaranteed content to be indexed, but they had no ranking factors. In fact, Yahoo after much controversy dropped their paid inclusion program in 2009.”
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HOW TO: Integrate Google+ Into Your WordPress Site - Mashable
“Here’s an easy to use WordPress widget that displays your Google+ profile on your blog. Just install the plug-in and drag the widget into your sidebar. Then fill out the form and you’re done.” 
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A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://bit.ly/nuUyKP . Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts @reddoor.

eMarketing & Commerce (eM+C)
John Faris, Red Door Interactive

Google’s search network still dominates the pay-per-click (PPC) advertising landscape and there’s good reason for it. The channel continues to provide a lift for several key performance indicators including brand recall, direct site and post-impression visits, content engagement, and overall sales. However, there are many other options that should be explored and leveraged based on the goals of a given campaign.

Google’s Lesser Used Offerings
Google Display Network: Think display advertising is just for brand marketers? Think again. A study conducted by Google found that 51.6 percent of advertisers had an average display network cost per action (CPA) equal to or better than their search network. Google Display Network (GDN) serves over 6 billion impressions across hundreds of thousands of publisher websites. While some of these sites aren’t high quality, advertisers have a fair amount of control over where ads are served, with a myriad of targeting options. Best of all, GDN uses a PPC model, so you aren’t stuck paying for wasted impressions like you might on a cost per thousand (CPM) ad network.

Marketers should also consider retargeting ads to previous visitors of their site via Google remarketing campaigns on GDN. Remarketing can be used to cross-sell or upsell current customers or assist in a first-time conversion.

Full Article>>>

April 15th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

How to Use Geolocation in Your Marketing Initiatives - Social Media Examiner
“It’s easy to see why marketers would be interested in geolocation: You can effectively target customers at the most important point in the consideration cycle – standing right in front of you. However, most smartphone users have never used a geolocation app.  What’s holding them back?  And how should marketers approach these emerging technologies?”
Read More

Start Thinking Strategically For Content Curation - Social Media Today
“According to the content curation firm HiveFire, some of the greatest challenges facing content marketers in the United States are creating original content (73.6%) and finding high-quality content (43.0%).  In an online world of tweets, retweets, blogs and links  to other blogs, it is becoming difficult to provide content that your organization can call its own to reach marketing and business objectives. By going back to the basic business objectives of an organization, individuals involved in the content curation process can start thinking strategically. 
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Google Doesn’t Commit To Do-Not-Track - MediaPost
“Apple has added a do-not-track privacy tool to a test version of its latest Web browser. “The movement accelerated following a report released in December by the US Federal Trade Commission, urging technology makers to implement the technology into their products to protect consumer privacy,” ZDNet writes. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “The move … leaves Google Inc. as the only major browser provider that hasn’t yet committed to supporting a do-no-track capability in its browser.”
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Why Ads in Mobile Apps Have a Promising Future - Ad Age Digital
“As social media continues to infiltrate our daily lives, many more advertisers are beginning to understand the merits of advertising within these channels. Yet the irony is that the majority of my updates from my Twitter stream and Facebook wall feed are through mobile devices, like my smartphone. The social media ads that we discuss that are both PC and browser based are not truly representative of today’s audience. Advertisers are missing out on a greater opportunity to achieve better engagements with today’s consumers.”
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Search Marketing To Grow 16% This Year [REPORT] - Mashable
“Search marketing will grow 16% this year to $19.3 billion and 74% of North American ad agencies say their clients use Facebook, according to a study released Wednesday. The companies surveyed reported a rise in mobile marketing, which accounts for some of the rise in search advertising. Local search was cited as the most significant new trend, though the respondents said behavioral targeting is becoming more important as well. The survey also found that more marketers are outsourcing their SEO and social media to agencies.”
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5 Email Subscriber Acquisition Tactics, Part 2 - eMarketing & Commerce (eM+C)
“In part one of this series, I gave you five online-specific tactics to optimize your email subscriber acquisition efforts. Here are a few more tips focused on helping you maximize offline and mobile opportunities.”
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://delicous.com/RedDoorInteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://twitter.com/reddoor.

February 11th, 2011 – Welcome to another RDI Click! post. Click! is a weekly collection of digital news highlights from Red Door’s most inquiring minds.

Click, enjoy and learn.

We’ve done the hard work for you.

Smartphone Sales Can Power Mobile Ad Reach - MediaPost
“Advertisers may want to take notice of the potential to reach consumers through the total mobile market — no matter what company sells service and phones. Based on Google’s $1 billion run rate forecast for last year, Munster estimates Google generating $850 million in mobile ads for 2010. Google has seen a 400% increase in the number of searches on mobile devices within the past year, according to Dennis Woodside, president of mobile in the Americas at Google. Twenty percent of search volume related to telecommunications comes from mobile devices.”
Read More

Optimizing the Conversion Rate Optimization Process - ClickZ
“Confused about conversion optimization? You should be with all the experts sharing their opinions. After all, everyone is entitled to their own spin on the measure, test, analyze, and repeat optimization cycle. With all the noise, the signal is hard to detect; oversimplification and overcomplication are leaving businesses confused about how to take optimization past the first few tests. The conversion optimization process is simple but not easy; the devil is in the details. The details involve a continuous improvement process that takes into account the realities of your organization and those of the real-time marketplace.”
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Marketers use social media for Valentine promotions – USATODAY.com
“It wasn’t that long ago that couples ached to get physical on Valentine’s Day. These days, many would rather get virtual.Some of the biggest brands are turning to social media for Valentine’s Day. Major marketers from Mattel (MAT) to Victoria’s Secret (LTD) to CBS (CBS) are pushing holiday hype on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The driver: to get Valentine’s Day exposure. The average person will spend $116 for Valentine’s merchandise, up 12.8% from 2010. Valentine’s Day is all about being social,” says digital consultant Rebecca Lieb. “Facebook and Twitter let a virtual Valentine’s Day gift be known throughout one’s entire network – so there’s a great deal of brand.”"
Read More

Ford Making Mobile Marketing The Cornerstone of its 2011 Vehicle Advertising – Mobile Marketing Watch 
“On the eve of the 2011 Chicago Auto Show at the Windy City’s legendary McCormick Place, Ford Motor Co. announced that social media and other “new advertising strategies” will be employed to market all of the car-maker’s 2011 vehicles. Jim Farley, chief marketing executive at Ford, told those gathered at the Auto Show pre-opening revue that the only media that grew in 2009 and 2010 was online and mobile. As a result, Ford will change how it reaches both current and prospective Ford customers.”
Read More

Real-Time Bidding Ad Platforms Gaining Ground - MediaPost
“While advertisers spent $353 million through real-time bidding platforms in the United States during 2010, estimates suggest that number will reach $823 million in 2011, per a new study. The study highlights the change in media buys, and that in 2010 “RTB became real.” For years, publishers had to rely on many ad networks — sometimes more than 30 — to fill remnant inventory spots. But with all the advancements made in 2010, significant challenges remain.”
Read More

A comprehensive list of noteworthy news can be found at http://delicous.com/RedDoorInteractive. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter if you’d like up to the minute updates on our latest posts http://twitter.com/reddoor.

Trung Ngo
Online Acquisition Coordinator

Google has been busy in 2010 and it shows with several significant changes in user interface and search functionalities happening in just the last few months. As Google continues to evolve, it is important to adapt and understand how it affects your business. Among the most important changes is the addition of the left-hand navigation menu, the rollout of Google Caffeine, and of course the recent release of Google Instant. 

Improved Left-Hand Navigation

The new left-hand panel provides the most relevant search tools, allowing users to refine their queries to find exactly what they are searching for. Within the left-panel are three sections: content types, search tools, and something different.  Each section is discussed below. The top section of the new left-hand panel allows users to refine searches by content type. By default, Google will display results for “Everything”, using their Universal Search system. However, if the user is looking for a specific type of content, such as an image, they can filter results by images. The content types displayed in the left-hand panel will vary based on the relevance perceived by Google. If the content type you are searching for is not displayed you can simply click “more” to drop down and see the full list of content types.

The middle portion of the left-hand panel is the search tools section that allows you to further narrow your results within content types. This section provides tools for filtering search results by time, location, and other relevant search preferences. In addition, there are options as to how you can display your results. Display options include related searches, wonder wheel, and timeline.

Example: Related Searches

Example:  Wonder Wheel

Example:  Timeline

At the bottom of the left-hand panel is the “Something Different” section which suggests related queries, so you can easily explore other topics that may be relevant to your search. For example, if a user searches for “iPhone”, Google might suggest “Blackberry” or “Android” in the something different section.

Google had a makeover. So what, right? Here are a few things to think about.

The new Google user interface increases the visibility for Universal Search results, making it even more important to optimize for local listings, news, and other relevant content. The user’s ability to segment search results provides a new opportunity to increase traffic to your Web site. Your company can benefit by outranking competitors in search result genres in which you have a specific competency. For example, while you may not outrank competitors in general search results, you’re able to consistently outrank competitors for News results because your company excels at providing relevant, up-to-date news content to users. 

In addition, the new Google user interface highlights and privileges new content. Users are able to refine searches based on time, therefore increasing the value for timely content.

For a more comprehensive description and analysis of the new Google search tools, refer to Danny Sullivan’s Search Engine Land article.

Google Caffeine

After a lengthy testing process Google finally announced their complete transition to Caffeine, the new web indexing system, on June 8^th, 2010. The new system indexes Web content at a much faster rate than before, allowing users to find published content sooner. According to Google, Caffeine provides 50% fresher results than the previous index and offers the largest collection of data to date.

To the end user, it may seem that nothing has changed. But taking a look behind the scenes, you see that Google has built a scalable solution to the exponential growth of content provided on the Web. To briefly explain, Google’s previous index consisted of several layers, each refreshing at a different rate. The main layer would be updated every few weeks, therefore creating a delay between the time that Google found the page and when it was made available to the public. In comparison, Caffeine is able to simultaneously process hundreds of thousands of pages each second. As a result, Google is able to provide fresh content at a faster rate. Here’s how Google illustrates the difference between the old index and Caffeine:

Source: Googleblog.blogspot.com

Why the change? The simple answer is that the Internet and user expectations have evolved, becoming significantly more complex. Users expect to find the most up-to-date, and relevant content faster. To ensure that Google would continually be able to meet this demand, a faster indexing system was needed. 

Google Instant

In an ongoing effort to increase search efficiency and improve usability, Google has revolutionized the search interface again with the recent release of Google Instant.

What is Google Instant? Google Instant is an evolution of the Google Suggest feature, providing not only suggested queries instantly but also real time search results as you type in the search box. As you begin to type, both the predicted query and search results change.

According to Google, there are three significant benefits to Google Instant (read the full Google post here):

1. Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search.
2. Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need.
3. Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.

All of these benefits are consistent with Google’s goal of creating a better experience for users, but what do these changes mean for you? Is Google Instant the death of SEO? In short: no.

While Google Instant is sure to change the search landscape, it by no means removes the need for keyword optimization. As usual, a significant change to Google’s UI presents an opportunity for creative search marketers to capitalize as the competition is scrambling in panic and confusion. Search marketers that strive to understand the implications of these changes will adapt, measure, and optimize their strategy to ensure search engine success. So what are some good things to know about Google Instant to win organic search traffic? Here’s a quick list:

• Predicted queries are localized. In other words, Google takes into account your location when providing predicted queries and search results. For example, when I type “restaurant” into the search box, the second predicted query is “restaurants in san diego” because Google recognizes that I am located in San Diego.

• Google uses your personalized search history data to make better predictions. For example, if you frequent a particular SEO blog, it is likely that Google will take this into account and display that blog in search results when you type “SEO blog” or related key terms into the search box.
• Offensive or lewd queries are not included in Google Instant.
• Google Instant does not change the way results are ranked or how relevancy is determined.
• The predicted search phrase will be counted as the keyword referral when the user clicks on a search result, even if the user has only partially completed the phrase.

Google also provided some clarification as to how impressions are measured with Google Instant (read full post here):

• Your site is displayed in search results as a response to a user’s completed query (e.g. by pressing “enter” or selecting a term from autocomplete). This is the traditional model. 
• The user begins to type a term on Google and clicks on a link on the page, such as a search result, ad, or a related search.
• The user stops typing, and the results are displayed for a minimum of 3 seconds.

The effect of Google Instant on search traffic will likely vary from site-to-site and is still highly speculative. For now, it is most important to understand how Google Instant works and to start monitoring closely to see how your industry and business is affected.

Wrap-up

Yes, Google has changed drastically. However, the basic concepts remain the same. Provide great content, provide it often, promote it across multiple channels, and let Google know that you’re important for targeted key phrases. Google’s goal in the past, present, and foreseeable future is to provide the most relevant content to users, as efficiently as possible. Changes to algorithms, user interface, and search functionalities are made with this in mind.  For search marketers, the key is to understand the major implications of these changes and to leverage that knowledge to increase organic traffic. How can you benefit from the new Google?

MarketingSherpa has issued its annual “Marketing Wisdom for 2009 – Marketers & Agencies Share Real-Life Stories & Lessons Learned” showcase. Get your copy now:
http://www.marketingsherpa.com/Wisdom2009.pdf

Topics covered this year include email, search, mobile, optimization, testing, lead gen, direct mail, analytics, advertising, PR and video.

Plus three trends surfaced:
1. EMAIL IS NOT DEAD – Personalization and optimization are key
2. BUILD SOCIAL NETWORKS – There is value in building one-to-one relationships
3. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION – Natural search produces significant ROI

Thanks to MarketingSherpa and Red Door Interactive partner, Omniture, for putting out this valuable information!

It’s the 4th Quarter and you need a big win.  As the holidays approach and marketing budgets increase, now is a crucial time to diversify and integrate your approach to online marketing.  In order to do this properly, you have to leverage several marketing channels and use consistent messaging/promotional offers across all of them. 

These channels include:

·         display ads

·         online PR

·         contextual ads

·         paid search ads

·         organic search listings

·         email/CRM

·         landing page optimization

Consequently, successful online branding and traffic acquisition requires a coordinated effort among several departments.  In many companies, the departments involved (SEO, PPC, Email, Tech, Creative) operate primarily in silos that don’t communicate well.  This is where management needs to make planning and collaboration a company priority.  Need a case study to convince management that a broad and integrated online strategy will provide results? Below, you’ll find links to five of them.

Combination of display, contextual, and paid search provides 21% lift in purchase intent

Paid search with specialized landing page creates 136% conversion lift

Email sets viral campaigns up for success (pdf)

Paid search combined with SEO leads to increased purchase intent and brand recall

Deep-linked email landing pages lead to 69% increase in CTR

“Google… advertising?” That’s exactly the thought that ran through my head when I saw a series of mobile banner ads running on CNN.com Mobile. I have to admit, I can’t recall Google ever advertising (although I’m sure it is entirely possible that they have in the past). In any event, I found it astounding!

I sat on this discovery for a few days. I didn’t know what to make of it. I was just too foreign to me. But after a few days I started my quest to answer the question that had been plaguing me… “Why is Google advertising mobile search?”

The answer may not be as obvious as you’d suspect.

I did a little digging around and found some interesting information to support the theory that Google is losing the battle on Mobile search. Yes, I said it, “Google is losing the battle on Mobile Search.” [NOTE: If I go missing tomorrow please search for me at the GooglePlex – where I’ll likely be held in detention with all those other people who have said that Google isn’t number 1 at everything on the Web.]

“Where did he come up with such an audacious suggestion?” you may ask. Well, I found an interesting statistic to back my hypothesis up. Both Verizon and T-Mobile offer a mobile search portal to their users (84 million users in total). If just 10% of those users used search on their carriers portal, there’d be 8.41 million users – twice as many users than Google Mobile.

But it doesn’t end there. Encyclopedia Britannica has also entered the fray with their mobile search, as has Alltel wireless with their own Mobile search solution. And yet, there’s more. Some search providers are already rolling out speech enabled mobile search – thus breaking down the barriers of mainstream usability – namely data plan costs, network speeds and hardware issues. So, while everyone may not have a device that displays search results well, they certainly have the ability to speak there query into the device. It is a phone after all.

I could continue but I believe you get the point.

So, what does Google’s campaign really mean? Their campaign is a proactive attempt to get us (i.e. – Mobile web users) to put them top-of-mind when we go to do our mobile searches. It means that they understand the challenges they face in getting users to adopt their version of Mobile search. It means they’ve got some catching up to do.

Let’s chat about one of my favorite user experience concepts: Good user experience is good customer service. Does your site treat customers like you’d want your employees to treat customers, with competence, and a helpful attitude? Here’s an example:

The other day I dreamed up a simple backyard project I wanted to do. I went to the Web site of a popular national home/garden supply store (you know who) to get the answer to a seemingly simple question: “How much do 8” x 8” x 16” concrete blocks cost?”

I happen to know this company sells concrete blocks, because I see them in warehouses when I visit the stores, but “Do you sell them?” might be a question some site visitors would have, too.

So I entered “concrete block” in the search field, and clicked the button. This is the online equivalent of walking right up to the Customer Service desk at the front, and asking, essentially “do you sell concrete blocks, and how much do they cost?” But the search results, amazingly, included no concrete blocks of any size or shape. Not pavers, or caps, no full-size or half-size blocks, adobe-look, dry stack… nope. Just glass blocks. 3 pages of glass blocks. 31 products related to glass blocks, a masonry saw blade, and some kind of resin-based paver tile.

Here’s how I see this kind of gross incompetence from a Web site’s search feature: I just walked up to the customer service desk at a big construction supply business, asked about concrete blocks, and got a blank stare and a bunch of irrelevant suggestions (“How about these lovely glass blocks?”).

If you run a business, would you put up with staff who treated customers that way? Of course not. If your front-line customer service people can’t provide basic answers to simple, common, easily-foreseeable questions, like “How much are concrete blocks,” you obviously either hired the wrong people, or you need to train them.

If your site’s search feature can’t provide reasonable results to simple queries, maybe it’s not the right search technology, or maybe you haven’t “trained” it right. Be sure your search feature can handle misspelled product names, for instance, and that it “knows” drywall and sheetrock are the same thing. This requires some customizing and configuring. But just like training new employees so they can represent your company well, it’s a wise investment, and well worth your time.

If you want to have some fun, try searching for “bricks” at the same site. One of the results is a LaCie “Brick” Desktop Hard Drive, but no actual red, clay, building-material bricks.