Google’s New Marketing Innovations Lab

Check out the Googleplex’s Innovations in Web Marketing

Google announced today a new “lab” site where you can find all the beta products they’re testing relating to Web marketing.  Google has done this for its other lines of business (apps, YouTube, etc.), but this is the first time they’ve aggregated all their marketing product innovations in a single location.

It’s definitely worth checking out.  Here’s a sampling of what Google’s got brewing in its Web marketing lab:

Product Listing Ads (Search Advertising / PPC)

Product Listing Ads are search ads that include richer product information – including product image, price, and merchant name – without requiring additional keywords or ad text.

Above-the-Fold Advertising (Content Network)

A statistically driven solution determines whether impressions on the Google Content Network will show ads completely on-screen when a user’s browser window loads.  By excluding the “below the fold”…

Web Marketing Holiday Prep, Part 2

Spruce-up Your Virtual Storefront for the Holiday Season

Rather than spend money in these tough times, consumers are saving it (savings accounts are the new black). Instead of resigning yourself to a red holiday season (in the bottom line sense of the word), now is the time to gear up and make the most of the holiday season.

And you can – with a few well-thought out strategies that I outline in this, Part II of Web Marketing Holiday prep. (If you missed Part I, wherein I talk about aligning online and offline strategies, you can find it here.)  This week: getting your online house in order!

First: Ensure your site is extra secure for online transactions.

I visited the website of a financial institution recently and was appalled to note that the little “lock” icon was missing from…

Web Marketing Holiday Prep, Part 1

Integrating Online and Offline Marketing Tactics

I know, I know: every day it seems you hear news about the dismal sales climate in the US. And it’s true: consumers are sitting on their wallets.

However, with a little strategic planning and creative thinking, you can help ensure that you finish the year with a bang. In this three-part series about prepping for the coming holidays, we’ll cover how you can drive traffic to your site and increase conversions.

And the first step is ensuring your holiday campaign components work – not just in driving traffic but actually work together without glitches and snafus.

Case in point: A few weeks ago I visited Williams-Sonoma at my local mall. While ringing up my purchases, the sales clerk informed me of cooking classes the store was holding – and gave me a flyer…

New eBook on Link Economy Debuts

Comprehensive Strategies for Growth

All of us here at Yield Software have worked hard to provide useful, easy-to-understand information on the full range of Web marketing possibilities on this blog, through our tweets on Twitter and the like. And, based on feedback, it seems the many small and growing businesses we serve (and tons more we don’t) really appreciate the information.

Which is why we were inspired to pull together our first eBook, “The Link Economy and Why It Matters to Small and Growing Businesses,” a limited-edition print run of which will be distributed from our booth at the annual Search Engine Strategies (SES) 2009 Conference & Expo August 11 and 12, 2009 at the San Jose Convention Center.

Addressing the concerns of business leaders who have limited or no experience with Web marketing, our new eBook provides an…

Why the Cost-per-Click Metric Can Be the Wrong Metric to Measure

…and an Argument for Measuring CPA

My co-worker, Jenae, recently sent me this email:

“I can’t tell you how many calls I have with folks who are hung up on cost per click (CPC). It’s the main metric they focus on when they start to dig into their campaigns and what they think they want to use Yield Software to optimize. It takes me a couple of discussions and lots of detailed examples to help them understand that while CPC is a tempting metric, having a low CPC doesn’t necessarily translate into a successful campaign — especially if you want conversions or are more ROI-driven.”

Search engine marketing comprises a number of tactics – online and offline – including pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, organic search, branding, and the various methods used to funnel traffic to your Website landing pages.

Too…