Google Content Network Ads Pay Off for Murad (Case Study)

Read this post at MarketingInProgress.com (Brett’s new blog).

Get the full details of the Murad case study of the Google Content Network at MarketingInProgress.com, the best marketing blog for entrepreneurs.

Often the red-headed stepchild of pay-per-click advertising, AdWord placement in Google’s content network is often frowned upon and shied away from. Not so for skincare distributor Murad. This article from Internet Retailer details how Murad was able to increase sales by 15% via ads on Google’s content network.

The campaign’s success had lead Murad to restructure its approach to paid search, according to Katherine LaFranchise, senior director of online marketing for Murad. “”We used to think that content advertising was only useful for increasing search conversions, but we found you can achieve direct return on investment from content campaigns,” she says.

It’s interesting that only one site from the network is mentioned as being the prime generator of traffic.

What’s the smallest niche you can think of for your company? What website(s) do those people visit? Is there any way you can get involved?

Google News Not So Newsworthy?

I just googled ‘news,’ expecting Google News to be the first link on the page. It wasn’t. CNN.com takes the cake.

What does that tell ya about Google? Mixed reaction?

Web Views and Traffic Mean Nothing

Just because something is easy to measure doesn’t make it the most important thing to measure.

Both Ron and Fleet Street PR have interesting rants on the overreaction to views of viral video campaigns, questioning if the views really mean that much. And if they don’t, what does?

Here’s my take: Views mean something only in that they are a prerequisite to what you’re really wanting. That might seem like an overly simple statement, but it’s true. It’s a step in the right direction, but in and of itself, views and traffic mean nothing.

Exposure can only expose. It’s what’s revealed thereafter that prompts a response.

The thing to measure is what people do with that view. Do they click for more info? Do they make a purchase? Do they email it on to friends? Do they post it on a blog? Do the people they share it with seem like likely candidates to purchase? Do they leave a comment proclaiming how much they disliked it? Do they watch the whole video, or do they close it down 7 seconds into it?
All of that is a lot harder and more tedious to track than views. That’s probably why it doesn’t happen much. But it’s not impossible. Drill down into your analytics and see what you can figure out.

More importantly, figure out what really determines success to begin with. Popularity meant something in high school; it means a lot less in business. What’s going to actually make a difference for your business? Referrals? Purchases? Comments? Then measure that. Too often, those involved don’t remember what it is that matters; they just start making a big deal out of what is happening (like high traffic) and start talking up its importance. Bad move.

Quality will always outperform quantity. Always. Which means you’ve got a lot more to measure than traffic. Start asking if it’s the right traffic. Then ask if you’re getting the right reactions. And when you’re not, do something about it other than just getting more traffic.

A New Website is No Field of Dreams

Shoeless Joe Jackson and Terrance Mann might’ve known a thing or two about getting people to a new ballpark in the middle of an Iowa cornfield. But they don’t know jack about driving traffic to a new or redesigned website. If you build it, they still probably won’t come. So what do you do?

Here are some great resources from around the web on how to get your new site off the ground fast.

1. Promoting Your New (or Redesigned) Website: These are some pretty good grassroots ideas on getting the word out. Most of these are something anyone can do in a relatively short amount of time.
2. Promoting Your Website (Headscape): I found this interesting just in the fact that the writer suggests using some more traditional ways of communicating to get the word out.
3. How to Launch Your Website to Internet Stardom: Just some quick ideas on link building and link exchange. Nothing new, but definitely worth a reminder.
4. Don’t Launch That New Website Yet: If you’re launching a new design on the same domain, be sure you read through this article first. There’s a lot you’ve invested in that old design that can help you get a leg up with the new design, so leverage it.
5. How to Launch a New Website and Quickly Attract Traffic: Here’s a simple list of tactics to get traffic flowing quick: press releases, blogs, articles, directories and pay-per-click.
6. Free SEO Tools: Here’s a link to some useful Search Engine Optimization Tools.

Got any other ideas on launching a site?

Weekend Reading, Dec. 7 – 9

Good reading from a good weekend:

1. Take Home Bag vs. Fake Home Bag: Ed puts things in perspective a bit about taking work home. Why are you doing it? How often do you really do it? Do you really have to do it?
2. SES Session: Landing Page Optimization: Search Engine Marketing is fascinating to me. Part of it has to do with how constructing a strong landing page dedicated to a key benefit of your product and/or a key search term provides a microcosm of how all marketing should be. This post explains it better than I can – just apply it to all your tactics.
3. Taking the Shine Off Viral: Raw Stylus comments on a recent post by TechCrunch on the “dirty” work behind a successful viral marketing campaign. I’m torn between the two stances. On the one hand, something does feel a little bit shady about the way the writer describes the steps in making a video take off. On the other hand, it seems like just a little push to get the ball rolling.
4. All the Things, Part 5: I stumbled upon this new blog that I think I’ll check out for just a while. I like this only because I had a similar revelation about the 4 things that seem to be present to some extent when life is happy. That’s what Matthew has done here. Ironically, my four areas were writing, teaching, music and leadership.
5. Monday NFL Thoughts: a nice collection of opinions from a fairly interesting weekend in the NFL.

Weekend Reading, Nov. 9-11

1. The Internal Blog: I’ve thought about doing this a few times. Not for anyone else to see, so much, but for my own sake. How many ideas do you have that get lost, either from your memory or in the midst of having to do everything else?
2. FreeRice.com: Improve your vocabulary, and feed the hungry at the same time. I scored a vocab score of 30 in about 5 minutes, and generated about 240 grains of rice. Thanks, again, to Seth.
3. Pay-Per-Click Basics: Here’s a quick and informative read on using optimizing your PPC campaigns. It’s a series of 3 posts, so start with this link and then continue on.
4. The 7 Bad Email Habits that Make People Want to Kill You: Hands down the best advice I’ve ever read on avoiding the pitfalls of email communication.
5. NBC Gets Green: Here’s someone who expressed what the rest of us were thinking.
6. Tom Brokaw and the Generations: Nice commentary by Ron on Tom Brokaw’s comparison of ’68 to today’s generation. My comments are on the post.
7. PR is useless: Good post, even though I’m in the middle of finding someone to help me with PR at work.
8. Steven Colbert Video: A good bit of humor from South Carolina’s, and maybe the country’s, new favorite son.