Recently by Elizabeth Marsten
As I get deeper and deeper into the roles of director and get more involved with the personnel decisions and training, it occurs to me how very little people actually utilize the resources available to them when scoping out a company like Portent. And how those little things are actually applicable to any job or internship, not just Portent or the industry. So for those of you looking to “break into the biz” or curious on what we look for, I’ll lay it right out for you and challenge you to make my job hard. Not in the way where
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Continue reading Applying to Portent
In AdWords the ability to utilize the product ads option of linking a client’s Google Merchant (otherwise known as Base) account to their AdWords is a oft-used and loved feature by Portent. Google Merchant Center is free and of course, anything you can do in AdWords to stand out on a SERP is a plus- but in order for a site to appear in the Shopping feed, the URL must be verified through Google Webmaster Tools. Which means that things can get complicated. Especially if something or someone needs to be transferred. So here’s the skinny: a Google Merchant Account
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Continue reading Transferring Google Base and Google Webmaster Tools
Before the merge happens completely, it occurred to me that I should be sharing the tips and tricks that I had in my SMX Advanced presentation in June of this year. So you can either check out the full presentation for Test that Ad! below or just keep on reading for some great tidbits of things you can get away with in MSN AdCenter! Use all CAPS in the headline. While you can’t make the entire headline in capital letters- whole words most certainly can be. Check out the screenshot: Use FREE FREE FREE in ad copy. Seriously, you can.
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Continue reading MSN AdCenter Secrets- While They Last!
We all know what a negative keyword list is- the qualifiers around your keywords that you don’t want associated with your business or ads. Words like free, cheap, download and wholesale are quite popular and there are some great lists out there in the hundreds of common keywords you should be adding. But- when is the last time you really thought about it? Thought about it in weird or almost disturbed or morbid way? You should....here’s some fun stories why: Client A: Account is inherited from back when keyword research in Google allowed you to run a keyword search for
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Continue reading PPC Negative Keyword Tales
Well, here we were waiting all winter long for the Green River to crest its’ banks, meet the black wall of sandbags that block the trail from nothing but people (since water goes around things afterall) and our patience was finally rewarded. OK, it’s not THAT bad, but it is rather inconvenient as we are now all banished to working from home (normally that would be great) for the next few days. Of course this is the week that it’s summer in Seattle (we only get one per year) with highs predicted around 90F. Yes, I realize you East Coasters
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Continue reading Portent Floods Finally...From the Inside
Look out it’s coming, the rhymes with “bustercluck” search alliance known as Microhoo. Or as they like to call it “the creation of the unified marketplace.” As we paid search marketers are all aware, October is the intended date in which the Yahoo paid search interface will cease to exist and everything will be managed within the MSN adCenter interface. Information is slow, but forthcoming and it would appear in most cases, the Yahoo reps don’t have that many more details than the paid search community does yet. But, I was able to glean some tidbits and round up
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Continue reading Fun Facts & Tips About AdCenter and Yahoo Paid Search Alliance
Wappow Search and Social Workshops are holding great beginner, intermediate and advanced courses this month! I know they’re great because both Ian and myself will be leading sessions! (Hey, you’ve got to brag modestly somewhere, right?) Learn how to build your business and manage your brand online. 1 day of intense learning from search engine optimization (SEO), paid search marketing (PPC or SEM), and social media marketing (SMM) from some of the most respected professionals in the industry. So if you’re looking for an introduction, building on your skills and networking with others in an audience driven style of presentation,
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Continue reading Huzzah! Workshop Series in Seattle
ABC News posted a story over the weekend about one of BP’s latest efforts to control the complete and total beating that their reputation has taken and that is: buying PPC ads on keywords like “oil spill” “oil spill clean up” and “oil disaster gulf of mexico” at a rate predicted around $10,000 per day. A little light research shows an avg CPC around $1.22, which isn’t bad at all, but this is the ad they’re running: Here’s the keyword they’re not buying but should be (if you’re going to spend $10k anyway): So why bring this up? Nevermind the
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Continue reading BP's Buying the Oil Spill
If you’re one of the lucky few going to this sold out conference, be sure to come by and check out the paid search track session- Test that Ad! on Tuesday at 3:30pm. I’ll be speaking on some themes to test, tricks to test and things to try! Paid Search Track Test That Ad! - Let’s face it. The creative, when it comes to paid search ad copy, doesn’t give you a lot of room to be creative. You’ve got so little space, so little time your ad will be viewed, that it’s essential that every word counts. You’re testing
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Continue reading Speaking at SMX Advanced 2010
Dear Google, It’s time. You’ve given us the ability to segment out search from search partner traffic and yes, we see it now- search partners aren’t so great. We’d like control now so we can make it great. Don’t get me wrong, I love a lot of the new features- the extensions tab, product extensions, ad sitelinks and so on. But I won’t be distracted! I am very well aware that parked domains are in included in the “search partner” network and that I am unable to exclude specific sites, nor see which search partners are doing what. I’d like
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Continue reading Google AdWords Search Partner Network
