Alan Rimm-Kaufman is guest-lecturing at UVA’s Darden Graduate School of Business on the topic, “Strategic Web Marketing”, for Prof. Phil Pfiefer’s 2nd year MBA course, Interactive Marketing.

George speaks with Sharper Image on how to do an audit of your paid search program.

From the Talk: Larry Becker’s Slides on Choosing a Site Search Vendor

On today’s retail web sites, the site search function serves two purposes. One is to help customers find what they’re looking for. The other is to serve as a navigation device that encourages shoppers to explore the site and find what they might not have known they were looking for. Both require a web site that is well organized with product data that is clear and rational. This session will examine what it takes to create a successful site search function with particular emphasis on how site search can be a substitute for navigation.

Larry Becker has analyzed site search technologies and will tell attendees what to look for when choosing a site search vendor. Glenn Edelman, Senior Director of Online Marketing & Merchandising at the Wine Enthusiast, will discuss how his site deployed site search technology than enhanced it with additional content to make site search not only more relevant to shoppers but also better able to meet the company’s merchandising goals.

Links

• Internet Retailer Web Design ‘08 Conference
• Followup notes from session
• Slides From the Presentation

The following spreadsheet provides basic statistical significance calculations for direct marketers

PAY-PER-CLICK SEARCH SEVERELY UNDERUTILIZED BY PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS

With the 2008 presidential election just 12 months away, the Rimm-Kaufman Group today released initial results from Search and Politics ’08. This study, part of an ongoing series on paid search advertising in the U.S. electoral process, is available online at rkg-search-and-politics-2008.pdf

The Rimm-Kaufman Group analyzed paid search ads placed by presidential campaigns on over 25,000 Google and 25,000 Yahoo searches since February, 2007. Pay-per-click was predicted to play a significant role in presidential advertising for the first time in ‘08. Despite widespread use of search by voters researching candidates, campaigns have yet to respond.

Highlights of the 33 page report include:

• Less than half of 2008 presidential contenders are using paid search advertising. While businesses have discovered the effectiveness of paid search, many U.S. presidential campaigns have not. Less than half (44%) of the major presidential campaigns ran search advertising on their candidate’s names on Google and Yahoo in October. Even fewer are advertising searches related to key campaign issues.
• More Republicans are using paid search advertising than Democrats. 5 of the 8 major Republican candidates are running ads, versus 2 of the 8 major Democratic candidates. Republican candidates have run more than 3 times as many ads as Democrats.
• Google (YouTube) is a major advertiser on political queries. YouTube, Google’s video sharing site, is the most prevalent advertiser in the study, occurring on 11.5% of political queries over the period.
• The mud-slinging has not yet begun. To date, negative advertising is virtually non-existent, with only 0.11% of the searches (27 out of 25,610) in the study returning negative messages.
• Political campaigns lack sophistication as paid search advertisers. Presidential campaigns do not appear to be using best practices for search advertising, techniques widely adopted by online retailers. These techniques include tracking conversions and cost, optimizing bids, and testing copy and landing pages.

About The Rimm-Kaufman Group: The Rimm-Kaufman Group LLC is a online marketing agency based in Charlottesville, Virginia. We help major online retailers run large-scale pay-per-click search marketing campaigns effectively. We provide web effectiveness consulting to help clients better convert their website traffic. Reach us online at www.rimmkaufman.com, or call us at 434.970.1010.

• PDF: rkg-search-and-politics-2008.pdf
• Earlier study: Google AdWords Paid Search Advertising In Close 2006 US Senate Races: Allen, Brown, Burns, Casey, Chafee, Corker, Dewine, Ford, Kyl, Pederson, Santorum, Talent, Tester, and Webb

CyberMonday, the Monday after Thanksgiving, is a high-profile event for online retail. Excellent promotion by Shop.org has raised awareness of online shopping right at this critical time of the year. Like Black Friday (the day after Thanksgiving) for bricks and mortar retailers, CyberMonday is now seen as the bellwether day for online shopping.

All the hype creates the impression that CyberMonday is actually the year’s highest volume online shopping day. While this may be true for a few online businesses, data from 100+ retailers shows that the majority of businesses see their top sales days a couple of weeks after CyberMonday.

What will be the busiest online shopping day for your site? The answer depends on product category and business model:

Even if Cyber Monday isn’t your site’s busiest day, don’t miss the opportunity to leverage increased attention from shoppers and the press. Here are some ideas:

• Put together a CyberMonday promotional campaign highlighting your strongest offers
• Participate in the Cybermonday.com promotion site
• Provide a press release with your company’s season-opening promotions and Holiday plans
• Talk to local news outlets to stir up buzz about your company.

So how big will your biggest day be? Rolling into the season, our October data comparing 2006 and 2007 paid search and web sales data is very positive across most sectors. On the positive side, we forecast strong growth in impressions, clicks, and conversions, leading to strong Holiday sales. On the negative side, we also forecast increasing CPCs, making strong bid management even more critical.

This session will provide a detailed look into online search for the B-B community. The panel will discuss what makes B2B search/online advertising unique and provide information on the best ways to reach B-B customers through search. It will provide you with actionable information to drive your search marketing and answers to the following questions:

• What is the B2B community looking for online?
• What makes search/online advertising to the B2B community unique?
• How do I measure search campaign success? Clicks? Leads?
• What are the best practices for acquiring B-B customers through traditional paid search marketing on Google, Yahoo, and MSN?
• How can leverage vertical/specialized search opportunities to reach B-B customers?
• What are the 3 mistakes a B-B search marketer should never make?

DMA B to B Marketing Conference