Asian & Chinese PPC & SEM - Netconcepts Marketer Allen Qu to Speak at SMX China @ Timev
Many of you know that Netconcepts not only operates out of Madison, Wisconsin, but we also have offices in New Zealand, and we do quite a bit of internet marketing and website design work in the still-nascent Asian and Oceanic markets.
For those interested in our work in SEO & SEM in Asia, one of Netconcepts’ marketers, Allen Qu, will be speaking at the upcoming SMX China @ Timev conference in Xiamen, China during April 18 & 19.
I had a chance to visit with Allen back in February, and I can tell you he is extremely savvy in managing our client’s PPC campaigns that are running in Chinese search engines such as Baidu and Google China. Allen will be speaking at SMX China on a panel focussed on PPC ad management, although he is also expert in natural search marketing as well.
Chinese and Asian search markets are considered to be the new frontier in terms of areas for greatest potential future revenue and search audience growth.
If you’re interested in contacting our New Zealand office from the US, their morning office hours overlap US afternoon hours on Mondays through Thursdays. Our NZ office can be phoned at: +64 9 476-4601
Popularity: 9% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 04/02/2008 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Conferences, Marketing, Monetization of SearchAsia SEM, Asian SEM, China SEM, Chinese SEM, SMX China
Do CueCats Have 9 Lives?!? Google Resurrects a Bad Idea
For those of us who’ve been around the internet biz for a while, there’s often a feeling of deja vu or “been there, done that!” Thus we have that sensation today when we see this article from Silicon Alley Insider which seems to gush just a bit in its praise of these cute, “new” barcodes that Google is resurrecting in some print ads that can be scanned camera phones so people can easily connect up instantaneously to associated websites.
The article fails to mention the last time this sad concept was foisted on the world. Remember the company, Digital Convergence, with their various “CueCat” devices that allowed people to do this exact same thing?
Popularity: 39% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 01/29/2008 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Google, technologyCueCat, Digital Convergence, Google, Google Adwords
The Ultimate Online Ad: Own The Google Logo
Google today changed their logo to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Lego brick:
I think this may be the first time that they’ve used the logo to honor another company or product. This must be the very pinnacle of both product placement and internet advertising, combined! Millions of people go to the Google homepage every day, so this gives Lego company a nice piece of exposure.
What would you need do if you’d like to get that sort of advertisement or endorsement? (more…)
Popularity: 45% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 01/28/2008 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Google, Monetization of SearchAdvertising, Google, Lego, LEGOs, Logos
More on ISPs & Behavioral Ad Targeting
ClickZ has another good article on ISPs and Behavioral Ad Targeting today. Not only do they mention NebuAd which I wrote about in December, but they also list a few other companies that use similar NOC hardware for the same sorts of behavioral targeting, including: Phorm, FrontPorch, and Project Rialto.
My private individual half doesn’t like this sort of targeting. I pay for internet access, and I don’t particularly want people using my data to pigeon-hole me into a demographic for specific types of ads — and I’m mistrustful of how private/secure/anonymous these companies will keep my individual usage data.
My more public, professional half has to readily admit that for advertisers, behavioural targeting may be very advantageous in terms of communicating to a desired audience of buyers, and could also be very cost-effective in reducing wasteful ad impressions. I suspect that behavioral ad targeting may convert at a higher rate than other media if executed in a sophisticated manner. The only downside is that it likely also restricts the size of the audience share available to be exposed to the ads.
Popularity: 10% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 01/03/2008 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Marketing, Newsbehavioral targeting, internet ads, internet advertising, Nebu Ad, NebuAd, online ads, online-advertising
NebuAd - New Twist on Behavioral Targeting for Online Ads
News stories this week highlighted Silicon Valley startup NebuAd, which recently unveiled their behavioral targeting network at ad:tech.
Behavioral ad targeting is nothing new on the internet, and I easily recall it being offered in one form or another as far back as about 1999. In fact, 24/7 Real Media currently offers behavioral targeting through their ad network as just one case in point. So what’s new with this incarnation is the way in which NebuAd collects data to base the targeting upon. NebuAd’s innovative twist on behavior targeting is based upon monitoring individuals’ internet browsing habits through their ISP, essentially seeing all the sites and pages that a user visits. (more…)
Popularity: 11% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 12/11/2007 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Paid Search, Research and Development, Security, technologybehavioral targeting, internet ads, internet advertising, Nebu Ad, NebuAd, online ads, online-advertising
Barack Obama Ad on LinkedIn
I saw this clever ad for Barack Obama running in the right sidebar of my LinkedIn profile page today:

I think it’s an ad, because the clickthrough link is tracked through DoubleClick. When you click on that ad, though, it pops you over to LinkedIn’s Question & Answers section… (more…)
Popularity: 7% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 09/13/2007 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Marketing, Social Media OptimizationBarack-Obama, linkedin, Political-Advertising, SMO, Social Media Optimization
Examples of Roof Ads
I thought it might be interesting to do a survey of roof ads from around the country, so here are a number of examples that can be found in online mapping systems such as Google Maps.

Roof Ad in New York City
If you recall, over a year ago I wrote a tongue-in-cheek post about how to optimize rooftop ads for best exposure in online maps, although some of the tips could actually be taken seriously if one did wish to market through advertising in this manner.

Roof Ads near Miami Airport (click to enlarge)
Now, most of the “roofvertisements” I could find were likely done with the intention of targeting promotional messages to airplane passengers, since most of the examples I can find are from buildings located near major airports. In happy serendipity for these companies, these ads are now also visible through the satellite images and aerial photos that have become table stakes for map search interfaces, so they’re getting dual use for them along with extra ad impressions. It’s pretty surprising to me that more companies haven’t painted promotional copy on their roofs, though, since I see tons of expansive, white roof “canvas” that would be ideal for this located near airports.

The Salvation Army in Seattle - (click to enlarge)
Click through for even more samples.
Popularity: 16% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 08/30/2007 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, MapsAdvertisements, Advertising, Google-Maps, Guerilla-Advertising, Rooftop-Ads, Roofvertising, Satellite-Images
Should you buy search ads for your brand keywords?
I confess, as a search engine optimizer, I used to think that buying ads for one’s own brand name was a complete waste of money. After all, all companies should rank in top slots for their own brand name(s), if they’re doing their SEO right, and if you’re ranking tops then people will be able to find you if they’re looking for you. As such, I thought that buying ads for your own name was just paying for clicks that should rightly come to you anyway.
But over time, I’ve heard other experts stating that their research shows that having ad presence for brands along with natural search ranking appears to enhance overall click through rates in a synergistic manner. And, with greater experience, I’ve seen a number of cases when companies really should be buying their own brand name keywords for ads!
I see that George Michie over at the Rimm-Kaufman Group criticized a recent Microsoft study claiming that some advertisers are wasting money by buying their own brands in paid search ads — and I think George was right to criticize this. Read on and I’ll elaborate…
Popularity: 13% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 08/24/2007 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Monetization of Search, Paid Search, brand namesAtlas-Study, brand names, brand-ppc, brand-search, Microsoft-Ads, Paid Search, paid-vs-natural, Pay-Per-Click, ppc
Pay-Per-Action Ads may open up Google to being a victim of fraud
I was just reading Barry Schwartz’s report that Google is opting-in some AdSense publishers into Pay Per Action (CPA) ads. He poses the question of why would Google push these ads on the publishers who haven’t asked for it? The immediate answer I come up with is that this could actually be a test to try to detect fraud, since CPA is thought to be less prone to exploit. After all, the publisher would only get paid for these ads if someone buys - not just clicks on the ads on their sites. Perhaps the publishers that are getting opted-in are ones for which Google has had some question about the quality of click-through in their regular PPC ads.

I’ve been thinking that an unpublished problem with Google’s pay-per-action product is that Google itself is likely to become more a victim of fraud with these types of ads. Read on and I’ll describe…
Popularity: 7% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 07/26/2007 | Permalink |
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Filed under: Advertising, Google, Paid Search, Tricks, Worst Practicesclick-fraud, Cost-Per-Action, CPA, Google-AdSense, Pay-Per-Action
Search Marketing Basics Tip: Include a URL on Your Products
This may seem like a no-brainer because, well, it is — but if you manufacture and sell products you should think of ways to include your contact information on those items so that people could find out where to get them - particularly you should include a URL. The typical person encounters and uses hundreds of objects every day, so leaving your company info off of your products can represent a lot of missed opportunities. Read on for details…
Popularity: 11% [?]
Posted by Chris Silver Smith of Netconcepts on 06/22/2007 | Permalink |
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