Search and social media marketing spend remains strong – new report
Digital marketing budgets in search engine and social media marketing are continuing to rise despite challenging economic conditions, according to research released today.
The UK Search Engine Benchmark Report, published in association with NetBooster, has for the past five years shown that companies have continuously invested in the opportunities present in SEO, paid search and social media marketing.
Turn your digital technology provider from supplier to partner
As the online industry has grown, so have the number of moving parts we have to consider.
As the cogs in the machine continue to multiply, everyone has had to acquire cross functional skills to manage the different channels that come under the remit of the online marketer.
Whether it be PPC, SEO, re-targeting, social, mobile, or local; the one entity in this eco-system that should have a working knowledge of all of these areas is your technology provider.
Breaking down the Adwords match type changes
About a month ago, Adwords announced to us that it was changing the behaviour of exact and phrase match to match close variants, including misspellings, singular/plural forms, stemmings, accents and abbreviations.
The changes, due sometime in mid-May, have been sold as a positive change for users, creating a behaviour similar to that already employed for organic search. Google hopes advertisers too will like the changes, as it will help them avoid missing out on relevant traffic.
The reaction amongst advertisers has been mixed however, with some suggesting that the changes serve only to increase revenue by reducing advertiser control.
Google has offered an opt out in the interface for advertisers who don't wish to take advantage of the changes.
Our own analysis indicates that this may not have yet taken place (search query reports are usually a couple of days behind), meaning that if you haven't considered the impact of these changes yet, it could be your last chance.
Google launches enhanced listings for brands
With the release of Google+ in September 2011, businesses have been looking to see how the platform can assist in their digital marketing efforts.
In particular, companies have been keen to see how Google+ can impact on search engine marketing.
Facebook's real ad problem: addressable market size
Facebook's Friday IPO may have been cause for celebration on the company's Menlo Park campus, but it was hardly the coming out party major players on Wall Street had hoped it would be.
Beset by technical glitches at the NASDAQ and perhaps more skepticism from the market than anticipated, Facebook's shares failed to 'pop' as many expected.
The company's underwriters were forced to step in to keep Facebook's shares from falling below the $38 offering price.
How healthy is your PPC account?
Whether you’ve been managing your PPC account for a while, just taken over a new account or even want to audit how your PPC agency is doing, it can be overwhelming to work out how well an account is performing.
Here at Confused.com we manage several different PPC accounts, and have compiled a list of reports you could run every month (just using AdWords) to check how ‘healthy’ your accounts are.
(I must thank 2 agencies we work with: NetBooster and Essence Digital for inspiring some of these for us!).
Yahoo's ten biggest mistakes
The resignation/termination of now-formerly new Yahoo CEO Scott Thompson amid a resume scandal was an embarrassing moment for the once-great internet giant.
For most companies, such a collosal blunder would represent a faux pas of the highest order, but that's not the case for Yahoo, it's just one more in a long line of mistakes.
Here are the ten biggest mistakes the company has made...
Is Google selling leads in the UK?
Every so often a simple Google search reveals a hint at a new Google initiative.
In recent months we've seen various different types of ad extension formats and it seems that selling leads rather than clicks could be the next big push in Google's continuing search for revenue streams away from the simple click.
Peter Bell from Fuse Lead Marketing (@fuselead) recently alerted me to an interesting discovery which seems to have appeared over the last few weeks in the UK.
If you are signed into one of Google’s services (LeadPoint uses Google for email) you might stumble across a new type of ad extension in the top ranked ads – namely a way for the advertiser to capture your contact information and permission to contact you without clicking through.
Demand for digital marketing freelancers soars: trends
Hiring online freelancers for marketing roles and projects is a trend that has experienced significant growth over the last year.
We’ve seen a 106% increase in digital marketing jobs posted on Elance for the 12 months leading up to March 2012. And, the increase from UK businesses was even greater (124%).
There has also been a 215% increase in marketing jobs completed and a 188% increase in client spend.
In the first of a series of monthly posts, I'll look at more trends in digital marketing jobs...
Monday morning panic stations? 18 checks to make when your sales are down
So sales are down, the MD / CEO wants to know why web sales are down and you have an hour to prepare for the trading call or meeting.
We have all been in the position where we have sprung into the office on a Monday morning full of the joys of spring, compared like for like trading and found sales are down.
If this happens, you need some answers or at least to be armed with some basic information so you can identify where sales could have been lost.
Listed below are some 18 things that are always good to check on a Monday morning, or indeed any day when sales aren't as expected....
