Archive for the ‘News’ Category
Everything’s Rosie for e-channel search this Valentine’s Day
Search marketing executive Silvi Tiivas recieved a lovely gift box containing 2 dozen red roses. The roses came from Silvi’s client 1300 flowers.
1300 flowers are a national florist for whom e-channel, Silvi, have been managing PPC campaigns for with great success.
The flowers were to thank Silvi for her excellent PPC strategy recommendations and implementation for the lead up to and including Valentines Day.
Swine Flue impact on Search
Lesson’s from SARS show that Swine Flu needs to be watched carefully by businesses. Reduced international air travel should result in advertisers rethinking marketing and advertising strategies. In Australia tourism operators will focus more on intrastate & interstate sales as consumers rethink overseas travel arrangements. Also history shows that after events like this the market rebounds so a long term view is best.
We will all deal with this latest outbreak and if contained its impact will be short term, but there is and will be impact. For travel, tourism and hospitality businesses in particular, realigning advertising strategies early can soften the commercial impact of such event. Stopping a PPC campaign is not the answer, rethinking your advertising strategy will serve you better and retain market share as many businesses make poor decision during times of uncertain events. Those businesses that put a strategic marketing response in place and continue advertising will rebound faster when it ends. Continuing you PPC campaign will be your best value advertising option. Your brand will remain strong in the market place which will allow you to gain market share against competitors that get it wrong.
My advise is learn the lesson from SARS, be aware, research before reacting and if your business is being affected adjust your advertising strategies and KPI’s. Search agencies that have experienced events like SARS will be better able to recommend PPC options to suit your particular circumstances.
Why I’d rather pay for news than some devious premium text message I didn’t ask for
Google and other companies that aggregate content without paying a fee have been likened to “parasites… in the intestines of the internet” by Wall Street Journal editor Robert Thomson. Talking of parasites, I recently got a phone bill for $50 of ‘premium messages’ that I tracked back to a quiz I answered on Facebook. So I have paid $5 a throw for some total crap I didn’t want. These two might appear unconnected, but I want to draw attention to the irony that we consumers are willing to pay millions and millions of dollars for mobile texts while refusing to pay a few cents for professionally produced online news.
It has always struck me as unfair that media companies pay their journalists to produce content while the aggregators simply swipe it, stick a few ads round it, and reap the rewards. Journalism at its best exposes injustice and produces in depth analysis, but think about the cost, say, of sending journalists into Afghanistan or Timor. Finely crafted writing doesn’t come cheap. But is anyone out there willing to pay for it?
I agree with Google CEO Eric Schmidt that newspapers need to innovate more to turn their news-making machines into profit centres. He suggests mobile as one path, and I’m guessing that means on-phone subscriptions for web-based content. If the price was right and I had the right device (which I don’t because I’m still paying for my last phone, and my kids’ phones), and it was easy to view on the screen, yes, I probably would pay to consume high-quality news on my mobile.
But I don’t want to pay through the nose for spurious, uninvited text messages….. I’d much rather pay News Ltd for some decent reporting than some smutty text-messaging company who hijacked my details through some fineprint on Facebook….
Trial by social media: Hanson et al
In response to the call last month by Victorian police to stop internet blogging about the alleged Victorian bushfire arsonist:
When the alleged Victorian bushfire arsonist was outed with his photograph published on Facebook and numerous blog posts, did the social network and possibly the self-publishers breach a court order that prevents media discussing the case? Should social networks be subject to the same conditions as other media publishers and broadcasters?
By revealing the accused’s identity, the Facebook posts could jeopardise his right to a fair hearing. The reason the law binds traditional media is that prejudice could result in a guilty man walking free, or an innocent being found guilty.
Some social network operators claim speaking freely is the right of their members and equate it to catching up with a mate in the street. The reality is that social networks are as public as your local newspaper.
Take another recent high-profile case: when purported pictures of Pauline Hanson turned out to be fakes, people asked, ‘have the media gone too far?’ This highlighted two issues:
1. The individual’s moral right to privacy: were these tacky 30-year-old images in the public interest?
2. What are Pauline’s legal rights? If the pictures were published on a social network, what would be her legal rights then?
These two cases open us all to the possibility of being victimised for a crime we did not commit, or being subjected to embarrassment or harassment if inaccurate or sensitive information is published, either online or offline. Proving false accusers are wrong in court is costly and, sadly, even if you win, mud sticks.
Without regulation, social networks can become a great playground for bullies - and they already are to a degree. Just ask Jodie Melbourne of CQR Consulting, a white hat hacker who is crusading against cyber-bullying.
Even if you lead a pristine existence, would you want your entire private live opened up for all to see, from birth to grave, whether by writing, image, video or sound, without your permission? The whole issue of privacy, online and offline, reminds me of the Ben Elton book Blind Faith, which paints an ugly picture of a world where it’s illegal NOT to expose every moment of your life publicly.
Whereas smaller social forums have tended to be self-policed by their members, the mega-networks have much bigger challenges. I believe that if they can’t control malicious or illicit content, they will eventually implode. There will be more and more cases of inaccurate opinions and indiscreet pictures taken in private circumstances — leading to legal challenges and a mass turnoff by people who want to keep their private lives private. The Twitter network has some precedents - there already are laws governing harassment by text message.
The “Wild West” feel of social networks is exhilarating; suddenly we don’t need to rely on third party media channeling our opinions. But both advocates and owners of social networks who feel they have a right to freedom of speech at any cost are heading down a slippery slope.
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Free Search Engine Marketing Training Video
When a Search Agency shares it’s IP and methodologies it demonstrates a number of great corporate qualities - Transparency, leadership, confidence and a team setting the standards and agenda in search. Great to see the latest initiative by e-Channel Search in launching the first in a series of Search Engine Marketing Training Videos. Thought I’d share the news… see link below to press release. This initiative highlighted to me that there are many interesting & informative videos on search, particularly on YouTube. This one from e-Channel is different concentrating on how to design great creatives, giving it a point of difference. The fact that it is a proven method in an agency environment and assists with the very difficult task of designing a large number of ads (with less brain strain) for clients is fantastic!
http://www.e-channel.com.au/press-releases/ Check out the actual training video here: http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=i9rKwFA9sqE
Online Ads Stay Strong
B&T Magazine (21/11/08) has reported that Online Advertising has grown to a record high in the last quarter and the Interactive Advertising Bureau Australia (IAB) anticipates a 20% year-on-year growth with online.
So with millions of advertising dollars being spent in this area, what better place to find shopping, book travel, get a loan, source info or anything else! It’s an online world and it’s all at your fingertips!
e-Channel shares it SEM secrets with industry participants
Sydney’s Darling Harbour Chinese Gardens were the tranquil setting that greeted guests attending e-Channel seminar to industry search VIP’s Wednesday 12 November. What a great setting for a function, a few people who have lived in Sydney all their lives commented they had never been to the CBD gardens and were blown away. Massive gold fish, lizards sunning themselves & waterfalls greeted participants.
Guest speaker Caroline Rowe a Senior Lecturer for University of South Australia and Direct Marketing expert with 20 Years advertising and consulting experience gave away some of the secrets used by e-channel staff to build great SEM campaigns and Ads. The seminar lasted an hour and finished with an actual group Ad design session applying some of the newly learnt skills.
e-Channel spent 2 years constructing its search training methodology, called the 7 Elements of Search. The methodology is now a 65 page training manual that it now shares with its key clients.
Fairfax Digital Signs Up For Next Generation of SEM Software from e-Channel
e-Channel, a premium Australian search engine marketing (SEM) company has today announced an agreement with Fairfax Digital to supply its DynamicCreative™ software to manage search engine marketing campaigns across the publishers classified’s websites - Domain, Drive and MyCareer.
The contract follows an extensive trial of the software which saw the publisher’s cost-per-click ratio reduced by 30 per cent in the first 12 months.
DynamicCreative, a search engine marketing platform created by e-Channel, has been designed specifically to meet the criteria established by search engines such as Google and Yahoo! that favours the relevance of ad content above the advertising cost values.
According to Frank Grasso, CEO and founder of e-Channel, while bid management software is still widely used in the market, there have been moves by the dominant search engines to ensure more relevant search results to improve the experience of web users. This has redefined the requirements for successful Search Engine Marketing (SEM).
”Bid management software is quickly becoming old technology that manages the cost per click of a campaign. The reality is that Google does not reward how much an advertiser is willing to pay - they reward relevance. e-Channel’s DynamicCreative software is the first SEM software to market that can assist companies to reach their online audiences in keeping with these requirements.“
As a result of using the DynamicCreative platform, Fairfax Digital has been able to create roughly 300,000 highly customised unique ads and expand their campaign from 20,000 key words to approximately one million keywords.
”Our search engine marketing is now far more effective as a result of significantly expanding our reach. We have crafted highly targeted ads that have resulted in a reduction of our cost per click and cost per acquisition.“ Said Graham Perry, Managing Director - Classifieds for Fairfax Digital.
Version 2 of DynamicCreative launched in early June of 2008 and offers large organisations the ability to efficiently manage their SEM campaigns.
”DynamicCreative is now even more robust and is ideal for clients who have comprehensive or complex websites. Traditionally large, dynamic campaigns have been cumbersome and time consuming to administer and this software automates that process and ensures that they are managed efficiently,“ said Grasso.
The software also includes advanced reporting capabilities to ensure that clients have visibility over all aspects of their campaigns and can regularly update and adjust them to ensure that they are reaping maximum value.
e-Channel has experienced significant growth since its inception in 1999 and has doubled revenues over the last nine months . The agency, currently handling over $15 million in advertising across Google and Yahoo, has grown its sales team by 100 per cent in the same period.
”Our reputation for providing highly effective search engine marketing campaigns and unique software to maximise results for our clients is well known. We have a quality offering, and our expansion reflects this acknowledgment from the market,“ said Grasso.
E-Channel appoints key tourism leader
E-channel one of Australia’s leading search engine marketing agencies has appointed Grant Goodall, a former leading figure in tourism, as its new General Manager.
Grant will bring over 20 years experience in a diverse range of executive management and marketing positions to e-channel and will assist with the company’s growth expectations.
CEO and founder of e-channel Frank Grasso said ‘Grant as a previous Executive Director of the Western Australian Tourism Commission, CEO of Tourism Council Australia (SA), CEO of Travelmarvel and NZTP Travel, General Manager of Hertz Campervans Aust/NZ has recognised credentials in the national and international tourism sector. One of our fastest growing market segments is from tourism businesses, so Grant’s knowledge will be crucial to further growth.’
Mr Grasso said, ‘this is a key senior appointment for our expanding business as the up-take of Dynamic Creative™ our search engine marketing platform, applicable to any business with a website, goes from strength to strength.’
Grant business diversity and depth is further demonstrated with his racing connections as current Chairman of Harness Racing SA.
General Manager Grant Goodall said, ‘he was delighted to be joining such a dynamic company, with exciting growth prospects in Australia and globally.
The e-channel services and product are in my opinion exceptionally unique and world class. The difference we can make to the bottom-line of any business with a website is astonishing, anyone not using our type of product in the marketing and promotion of their business is limiting their businesses profitability and potential!’
e-channel tags ex-Yahoo exec as chairman
Innovator e-channel online has recruited veteran online media strategist Philip Alexander as chairman in a move that opens doors among major publishers for its search engine advertising system.
Mr. Alexander, a former regional corporate development director for Yahoo! in South Asia, intends to play a hands-on role with e-channel by identifying business opportunities within Australian enterprises and using his extensive network to expand the company, both locally and in international markets.
With search engine advertising the fastest growing sector of Australia’s $1 billion online advertising market, e-channel’s Dynamic Creative software boosts productivity for online advertisers by as much as 500 per cent by automating the repetitive, exhaustive and labour-intensive process of creating online search ads.
Dynamic Creative enables large, database-rich websites to automate keyword list creation and optimise the performance of ad campaigns. The software interrogates large content databases to create accurate keywords which are published as compelling content-rich ads in search engines such as Google.
Mr. Alexander, a former chairman, and current director, of the Internet Industry Association in Australia, recently invested in e-channel online alongside Playford Capital and a group of other investors.
Mr. Alexander said he was attracted because “e-channel has the management team, the strategy and the product, in Dynamic Creative, to improve online search advertising results for clients in Australia and internationally”.
“There is a rapid and major transition of advertising and marketing dollars from traditional media to targeted results in online search. This is changing the way advertisers and consumers interact.
“The Dynamic Creative software developed by Frank Grasso and his team is already making a revolutionary impact on a large number of advertisers and publishers in Australia. The product can deliver immediate benefits to organisations that run travel, classifieds, auction and retail websites.”
Mr. Alexander is CEO of online media strategy consultancy OrderPoint Australia. Previous roles include Yahoo!, President and CEO of iBEAM Broadcasting Asia in Hong Kong and founding managing director of Chello Broadband Australia & New Zealand. He also held senior roles with major media company VNU in Asia and Europe.
e-channel online has recruited another experienced director in Doug Adamson, an Investment Manager for Playford Capital. Mr. Adamson is an experienced entrepreneur who has built media and technology businesses in Australia, and Europe. He is also an active angel investor.
Mr. Adamson said a board gave a fast-growing company access to experience and expertise. “It’s critical for a founder or CEO to have access to senior people who have done it before,” he said.
e-channel online CEO Frank Grasso said the board put together by Playford Capital was as important as the money it had invested. “The board contains senior people with extensive industry and business experience who will accelerate the growth of e-channel,” he said.
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About the Authors
The world does not need another search engine marketing blog to tell us when Matt Cutts has a haircut or to regurgitate news that has just been posted on searchengineland.com. We will attempt to provide genuine commentary and opinion on how we see search today and where it is going in the future. I am the CEO of e-channel and my team and I will cover SEO and paid search and try to explore the marketing aspects of search rather than the technical. Please post your comments freely.
Frank Grasso, CEO