Business Marketing Online (BMON): Google AdWords Management » Search Engine Land

Do your products have to be so dull?

Chris Rand — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 17:00:40 +0000

I enjoyed reading The Art Of Seductive Landing Pages on Search Engine Land, not least because it's one of those articles which instantly puts a "yeah, but…" train of thought into your head, and then promptly deals with your concerns. The article suggests that your landing pages need to seduce the visitor, and certainly the example it gives, with a classically sexy page design, does just that. To which you might say – as I did – "yes, but that's easy if you're selling fashion, but a bit harder if you're selling process valves". However, it then goes on to point out how this might be adapted for business-to-business use. Looking at the page it uses to demonstrate the point (from Dell, below), you have to admit, there's nothing stopping you from being as creative, however unglamorous your products might be. The designers who produced your rather uninspiring website? You might be surprised what they can do, given the opportunity.

Do your products have to be so dull?

And who's going to be your +1?

Chris Rand — Mon, 02 May 2011 17:00:16 +0000

If you ever tire of reading about Google-related stuff, don't worry, I'm always concerned that I write too much about it. However, someone recently described the current state of B2B marketing like this: in the past, between you and your customers was a wall with a series of doors, marked "exhibitions", "magazines", "direct mail" and the like. Now there's a huge gateway in front of you marked "Google", and a bunch of mouseholes either side marked "everything else". So even small developments in the size of that gateway are important, and there seem to be new ones almost every week.

Which brings me on to "+1".

This is another experiment from Google which we all need to know about. It might not change the marketing world (a number of previous Google experiments have quietly shrivelled up and died) …but it could be important.

"+1" is a way for people to tell Google about pages they like. There have already been some excellent discussions such as this one on Search Engine Land which will give you a coffee-break's worth of study, so head over there for the full background. My own take is that there are several aspects which may affect all of us, in particular the fact that many Google search users are, in future, going to be presented with results which have a list of friends and colleagues who "recommend" that site. If that's not an incentive to click on it, what is?

And who's going to be your +1?

Google: still quite important then

Chris Rand — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 18:00:02 +0000

Google has dominated business to business search for several years now. It has the highest market share globally, but an even higher one still in Europe, and higher than elsewhere in the business sector. Put those together, and it's not surprising if your own website analytics reports show it provides you with more than 90% of the visitors from search engines. However, there's plenty of chatter about the amalgamated opposition (Yahoo! and Microsoft's Bing) putting up increasing resistance. My own view is that this may be the case in the United States, from where most web-related chatter comes, but we're not seeing it in Europe. Of course, internet history has shown that where the US goes, everyone else follows, so keep an eye on what's happening. If you're doing pay-per-click advertising with Google AdWords, and are interested in the US market, it might be worth taking a look at Microsoft's AdCenter alternative.

Meanwhile, Google has just become the number one search engine in the Czech Republic. Why is that interesting? Because apparently that leaves only five countries on earth where it’s not the most popular site for searching the web. The last five are all quite important (Russia, Japan, China, Taiwan and South Korea), but that's still quite some achievement.

Google: still quite important then

Keep reading the copywriting tips until they sink in

Chris Rand — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 17:00:17 +0000

There are many good sources of advice on writing for the web, but when you're knocking out copy for your site, it's not practical to keep referring to checklists. You need the right way of doing things to be second nature. Sadly, the only way this is going to happen will be if you regularly read articles on online copywriting, so I shall regularly point out good ones here, in the hope that you'll have time to read them and the suggestions will begin to sink in. Ten Copywriting Tips for B2B SEO on Search Engine Land is a great example, well worth a read. You'll notice that a natural knowledge of the primary search terms for your site is a prerequisite for web copywriting, which is why we spend much of the very first month of the Insider Programme covering the topic, despite it not being a glamorous one.

Keep reading the copywriting tips until they sink in

Can you recommend a company to do our AdWords?

Chris Rand — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:00:24 +0000

Following on from my discussion about Google AdWords advertising, the inevitable follow up from one or two readers was "Can you recommend a company which can do our AdWords advertising then?"

The answer is (in the UK at least), no. If you'd like a recommendation for a search engine optimisation consultancy, or someone to write online content, I know some great people. I know a great web design company. But someone to manage AdWords (sometimes known as Search Engine Marketing agencies)? I work on recommendations, and nobody's ever told me they're using such an agency in the UK and would recommend them. Which is odd. However, if you are a client and you would like to say a good word about an agency you're using, please let me know. Don't get in touch if you are an agency, please, because I don't have the spare cash to try you out.

Let's suppose you can track down some decent-sounding people though. What do you ask them in their pitch? Well, the good news is that someone's already done the job – and how. In The SEM RFP: Questions You Must Ask on Search Engine Land, there's a list which would put off all but the most determined suitor for your business. I suggest you pick out the most appealing questions, but it's certainly a great resource. And I'd love to know how you get on.

Can you recommend a company to do our AdWords?