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Tool time Lastly, augment all of that good data with professional keyword research tools. Microsoft offers a tool called adCenter Excel Add-in Keyword Research Tool for versions 2003 and 2007. (Note: You'll need to set up an adCenter account before you can use the tool. Luckily, unlike most other online ad vendors, adCenter offers customer support over the phone with a real person - at no cost to you! - to help you get your account set up and running.) Both Google and Yahoo! offer their own keyword research tools. In addition, there are many third-party keyword research tools available, some for free, others for a fee. The adCenter Excel Add-in Keyword Research Tool can do the following: * Scan your current website and extract the keywords that offer the highest confidence levels based on their current usage * Suggest new keywords based on user behavior or your existing keyword list * Provide: o Research data on top performing keywords o Performance data on the keywords you specify o Information on keyword usage based on geographic and demographic data Note that the keyword tool is primarily designed to help users figure out which keywords to use with their Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising campaigns. However, the tool's output is also extremely relevant to developing or revising a keyword list for your website as part of an SEO update. We'll talk about the process of creating a PPC campaign in later posts. To use the tool, I recommend adding your keywords (one word per line) to an empty Excel spreadsheet, listing them in column A. Select the words for which you want to see adCenter's confidence level rating, click the Ad Intelligence tab, and then click the lower half of the Keyword Suggestion button on the toolbar, using both the Contained and Similarity tasks. You'll get a list of additional suggested keywords and phrases that correspond to each of the keywords you selected. Use the ones that are relevant

Took me awhile to get a sense of exactly what they do - but I think the core of it is that they have packages depending on what industry you are in, and based on that put you into a network of relevant sites. These sites all run banner advertisements for a cost per number of impressions. It's basically like IYP advertising. We should definitely explore adding this as a service. Service would include gathering network of applicable sites, creating ads, and reporting on monthly stats. More active management, like ad copy testing, could be included.

Google de-emphasizing "ads by google" tag, this making display ads look more like normal part of the site

Google is starting to roll this out - automatic CPC ads based on Merchant Account feed. Seems like only a matter of time until youll have to pay to get any exposure in this medium, as more and more advertisers pay for ads and push non-paid further down.

Google has unleashed a new feature in AdWords and is making it available to all U.S. advertisers. The feature is called Product Extensions and it uses information from an advertiser's account in Google Merchant Center. Product extensions allow images to be shown with your ad. The ads include a plusbox, which expands the ad. Advertisers will not be charged when a user simply clicks the plusbox - only when a user actually clicks through to the site.

"Over time, as advertisers have gotten more advanced with their shopping campaign structures and Google has gotten better at matching products to relevant queries, a more frequent issue we see is that the query is relevant to several products in a feed, but the ad serving system doesn't pick the best one to show in the ad."

"a dangerous myth running around the entrepreneurial, small business, and marketing worlds perpetuating the idea that you can take a small/new brand and profitably, reliably acquire customers through either content+SEO or ads alone. Don't get me wrong: it's not impossible. "

"The real power of SEMrush is its long tail keyword suggestions. SEMrush empowers my research process to identify profitable keyword phrases throughout the buyer funnel."

adCenter is starting a pilot program to test image ads for their Content Network, including MSN sites. Image ads can be purchased on a CPC or CPM model.

Very good guide on constructing winning Facebook ads.

Does ad position effect conversion rates?

Ad Exchange has opened up to Google content network - creating even more reach. The overall quality of the newly opened sites should be pretty high quality. Definitely makes content network even more enticing - also more room to lose alot of money if not properly managed.

Questioning the Future of Search By Mike Grehan, ClickZ, Jan 26, 2009 Related Reading New Signals to Search Engines Ajax and Search Engines SuperPages.com Combines Local Search with Social Networking Search Engines Are Allowed to Reject Ads Suggested Searches search engines - social networking - reject ads - static link Subscribe to newsletters Subscribe to RSS feeds Post a comment (0 posted) Last week I presented a Webinar based on the "thought paper" I wrote called, "New Signals To Search Engines." As it was a long read at 23 pages, I highlighted the more salient points, but mainly wanted to try and answer the hundreds of questions I received following its publication. The top question was about social media. It seems that many companies already have barriers to entry. Amy Labroo, associate director of online media at Advantage Business Media, asked specifically about any backlash due to unmonitored content in the social media space. I've come across this situation quite a lot recently. Many companies worry about negative commentary and therefore don't accept comments on their blogs or social network sites. In fact, many haven't started a blog or a dialogue space at a social networking site. This is simply hiding from your audience. If people have negative commentary about you and they can't make it known at your Web site or blog, they'll make it known somewhere else. I advocate putting yourself out there and listening to your audience. Marketing has changed from a broadcast-my-corporate-message medium to a listening medium. The voice of the customer is very, very loud online. And those companies that still believe they own their brand and the message may well be in for a bit of shock as brands are hijacked by customers. Let your customers have their say. Keyword-driven marketing is all about understanding the language of the customer and creating marketing messages in that language. From time to time, I meet with creative agencies and almost always end u

Google acquiring Teracent, which will be integrated in Adwords and helps automatically optimize display ads.