Google pulls the trigger, gets into lead gen

… and services. Comparison Ads' first market: mortgages. For select searches, Google is now … that invites users to compare mortgage rates offered by competing providers. … http://www.google.com/comparisonads/mortgages. The comparison service allows users …

What if Google gets into the lead gen business?

… highly-competitive markets, such as those for mortgages, the amounts advertisers are willing to pay … pay for each click in markets like mortgage lending are nothing to sneeze at, … before they push back. In the mortgage space, many of Google's advertisers are …

Gaining equity in your site through improved user experience

… either paying rent or the interest only part of his mortgage, whereas a good set of usability improvements that increases conversions … more akin to paying off the capital portion of the mortgage, gaining equity. To him it was significantly important that the …

Your credit score isn't high enough to see this ad

… Korsunsky of Google says that "Google's Content Network can reach 70% of credit card applicants with a high FICO score, 87% of mortgage applicants with a high FICO score, and 90% of the people who visit small business sites who have a high FICO score". …

Pay vs. exposure: is it a valid trade-off?

… of knowing that your work is being seen by millions doesn't mean much when you are trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage or feed your family. A company that strives to 'do no evil' should know that. What do you think: is exposure acceptable …

Behavioural targeting for websites explained

… campaign for example , 'Eurodutch bank low rate mortgage at 2.8%', is likely to be … engine, through a term like 'Eurodutch mortgages'. A user following the search results would … to show content on the new mortgage, effectively acting as a microsite,  and …

Drama 2.0's predictions for 2009

… they've raised far too much money. They've been able to do that thanks to the same capital glut that fueled the subprime mortgage mess that kicked off (but by no means was the sole cause of) the global financial crisis. While there's no question that top …

Second Life faces real estate crunch of its own

… and United Kingdom are struggling to pay their first life mortgages, fee increases are only likely to exacerbate Linden Lab's … easily) do you think they’d default on their virtual mortgages?" The comments received on the Second Blog seem to indicate …

Site review: Fish4.co.uk redesign

… on other sites. Also, much of this content seemed aimed at sending users to third party sites like Moneysupermarket.com for mortgage quotes etc.   The site is certainly an improvement on the previous version, but a few more tweaks here and there, and …

Brands need a ‘search relations’ strategy in times of trouble

… , for instance, Bradford and Bingley has rarely been out of the news as speculation reached fever pitch that the UK mortgage lender would become the next Northern Rock. During this period of intensive media and market interest, the volume of searches …

UK search market to rise 24% in 2008

… trends. Some agencies have reported a fall in search volumes for sectors badly affected by the credit crunch, such as the mortgage market. The volume of clicks and conversion has also dropped in other areas. However, there is an upside, as concern …

Wall Street to Sand Hill Road: we won't be fooled again

… Street sought to increase the size of the market for mortgage-backed securities by encouraging lending practices and creating mortgage products that generated more mortgages than a sane market truly supported, Sand Hill Road has …

Q&A: GE Money’s John Wyllie on Web Analytics

… comes to you searching for a credit card, you make sure that page shows a credit card, not a mortgage. Very simple stuff  - but stuff that is often very effective. ----------------------------------- Are you looking at widgets at all, and how …

Northern Rock: 10 things it can do better online

… . To view any information on loans, accounts or mortgages, visitors to the site must register first. … in case you were wondering). Drop the annoying mortgage application pop-ups Brace yourself, for this …

Five areas where opportunity lies in 2008

… though one might expect both to be impacted equally. There's already some speculation that the downfall of battered mortgage lender Countrywide, which has been one of the largest individual advertisers on the internet, could impact Microsoft, Yahoo …