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May 21st, 2009
Display That Performs Like SearchYahoo! expands Smart Ads program with new partnerships What if you had a display ad that could be customized for a target audience with a variety of images, colors or messages? What if that ad could evolve as Yahoo! discovers more about the users looking at it? And what if that ad helped your display campaign perform more like your search campaigns? That’s what an ad can do when it’s part of our Smart Ads program, which we’re expanding this week. Smart Ads takes different elements of ads and combines them in more ways than you can probably imagine to give customized messages to prospective clients. The program now helps deliver Smart Ads at greater scale by combining Yahoo!’s reach and user knowledge with innovative ad-serving technology from third-party providers. Smart Ads is an open platform, but Yahoo! is initially working with two partners, Teracent and Tumri, to make Smart Ads available to PC and mobile advertisers. “Other publishers will offer so-called smart ad campaigns, but if it’s not running on the Yahoo! Network, it’s not as smart as it could be,” says David Zinman, vice-president and general manager of display advertising at Yahoo!. “We’re giving marketers the opportunity to reach consumers with customized ads on the PC and mobile Internet, and given the high performance of these campaigns in initial testing, it’s as if we’ve put performance marketing on steroids.” Get specific For example, you could set up a telecommunications ad campaign targeting 18-to-45-year-old cell phone users in Los Angeles. That demographic could contain everyone from a 28-year-old female hipster to a 43-year-old blue-collar male. And they would all see the same ad, which might look something like this:
Yahoo! has 150 million users who spent 43 billion minutes on our site last month—which means we have a lot of data that we can use to break those groups into much smaller behavioral segments. The woman might visit Yahoo! Music to check out The Decemberists, while the man might visit Yahoo! Finance. So we can start figuring out what kinds of messages they might be interested in. (Keeping in mind our privacy policies, of course.) That’s where Smart Ads’ machine-learning technology comes in. You could prepare a few taglines, offers, images, logos and colors, and Smart Ads technology combines them to create thousands of ads that can be displayed to your potential customers. Our mobile Smart Ads can even take into account things like the local weather. As people like our hipster and our blue-collar guy click on ads, our systems learn what combinations people like them want to see. Is the hipster more interested in convenience and multimedia? Is the blue-collar guy more interested in cost? In not too long, the 43-year-old man might see more ads like this:
Meanwhile, the 32-year-old female might see an ad like this:
Display that performs like search For example, after executing several Smart Ad campaigns with Yahoo! and its partners, Hewlett-Packard saw a return on ad spend that was more than 20 times higher than their traditional display campaigns, and on par with their search marketing campaigns. “The ability to run a display advertising campaign that can match the ROI of my search marketing spend is a potentially game-changing proposition,” says Catherine Paschkewitz, director of demand generation with HP Direct. “The Smart Ad solution has enabled us to increase our ROI by reaching the right set of users with the right message.” Plus, after you’ve run a Smart Ad campaign, we can give you reporting data all the way down to the conversion that tells you which groups responded to which messages. That can help you even when you’re setting up traditional offline campaigns, and make all of your advertising that much smarter. —Jeff Sweat, Blog Editor May 18th, 2009
The Grown-Up GamerYour video game ads should include the middle-aged folks still blasting away
Those days are over, according to The Nielson Company’s recent report, “The State of the Video Gamer.” The report says that the average age of video game players has been steadily increasing, and that higher-end gaming consoles like the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 attract more engaged gamers (i.e., adults), drawing them away from other distractions such as television. As game consoles have evolved into multimedia hubs, the average age of the user of the game console has steadily increased. According to Neilson, the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3, higher-end systems that tend to attract older folks, have the highest “active user percent measure,” so they see the most use among gamers. The two products also have the highest average usage days and daily number of sessions. That means a lot of adults are gaming on a regular basis. PC games are also feeling the love from adults. According to Neilson’s December 2008 data, the single largest group of personal computer video game players is females age 25 to 54. That number accounts for approximately 29% of total PC game players. Males age 25 to 54 account for the next largest block, roughly 20% of all PC game players. So what does all this mean? Whereas things like deals and low price points may not matter as much to the under-18 set, for adult gamers those things can make a huge difference. Call out the things that may appeal to adults about gaming, such as price, variety, versatility, etc. Consider creating unique campaigns for special occasions such as Father’s Day, so that you can run distinct “dad” ads that may appeal to Father’s Day shoppers. Simply put, your audience is bigger than you thought—so you want to make sure that your message reaches all of them. As gaming continues to evolve, it’s less of a fringe area just for kids, and more of a total family entertainment source, right up there with the TV and the DVD player. Really, who knows how wide the gaming the audience will grow, or who the next group of gamers may be: Grandparents? Babies? The family dog? Whoever picks up the controller next, one thing’s for sure: Advertisers should be ready to market to those people. Because like most good video games, when it comes to game sales, there’s always another level. — Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst Photo courtesy of Flickr user gwire. May 15th, 2009
Understanding Targeting5 common questions about our new targeting features If you’re like some of our advertisers, you have questions about how to use our new targeting features. Fortunately for you, some of your questions have already been asked and answered at our webinars. Below are five of the most frequently asked questions about targeting. I manage a Web site for teens. Do you allow for targeting of underage users? Can I block an age group—such as users over 65— as you do for 17 or less? By the way, if you so chose, you can simply block less desirable traffic in geographic and ad scheduling targeting. How do you determine the age or gender of a user? Do I need to turn on the reporting for geo-targeting, ad scheduling and demographic targeting? Can the bid adjustment lower the bid, as well as raise it? —The Team May 11th, 2009
Primping for Prom (and Graduation)5 tips to help get your ads in the spotlight for spring events
Though prom and graduation are important to the under-25 set, they’re equally important to any advertiser that sells items for which prom-goers and graduation gift-givers may be looking. According to a 2008 survey conducted by BIGresearch on behalf of the National Retail Foundation, 32.4% of respondents planned to purchase at least one graduation gift last year, with a total projected spend of $4.4 billion. Individually, the average consumer buying graduation gifts in 2008 planned to give gifts to two graduates, and expected to spend an average of $52.12 on each present. While we’re still in an economic slump, the fact remains that graduates still need gifts and prom-goers still need supplies. Buyers may be a tad more conservative this year, but they’re still out there looking to spend. Which means that if you’re an advertiser who may appeal to graduation gift-hunters or prom-shoppers, it’s time to put on your dancing shoes and get your prom and grad listings ready for a night on the town. Here are five things to consider: 1. Users searching on keywords like “graduation cards” are generally looking for greeting cards, rather than formal graduation announcements. So if you happen to sell both, consider putting the emphasis on actual cards in ads for card keywords. 2. Card sites that offer customizable card options should be sure to stress those options in their ad copy. Users seem to like the personal touch, so if you offer the chance to add photos, logos or anything else your customers can customize, shout it out. 3. Floral sites should consider putting the emphasis on non-floral items (gift baskets, candy, etc.) in their ads for male keywords such as “graduation gift for boy.” We hate to gender stereotype, but typically guys would rather have a big ol’ basket of candy than a lovely bouquet of flowers, so if you have options that go beyond floral, now’s the time to call them out. 4. Dress sites that sell maternity as well as prom dresses (and we’re declining to speculate on that connection) should put the focus on their prom offerings in their ads for prom keywords. This can be done by front-loading “prom” info in the title or description, or creating a specific ad group just for prom keywords. This will serve up a prom-specific ads to people searching on those terms. 5. Advertisers that sell designer prom dresses may want to avoid ad copy that only specifies one particular designer. While this is great for users who know exactly what they’re looking for it, it may deter users who are new to the world of prom dresses. Offering a wide variety of choices could make “prom dress” appealing to both types of users. As always, the usual rules of thumb apply: Be sure to use keyword insertion to ensure that the ad copy contains the keyword, as well as alt text, to make sure that keywords appear as desired. Call out any competitive advantages you may offer, such as free shipping, special sales or coupon codes. If you’re an advertiser that only serves one specific location, consider creating a geo-targeted campaign, which will display your ads specifically to users in your area, bringing you much more targeted traffic. — Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst Photo courtesy of Flickr user Andrew Kitzmiller. May 7th, 2009
The Favicon Marks Your SpotYahoo! tests favicons with popular search ad results It’s good for everybody when a user searching for your website can quickly identify that your ad belongs to you. That’s why we’re rolling out a new icon that helps searchers spot your site at a glance. We’re testing a program that uses favicons, the little icons that show up on your browser next to the address window when you’re on a page—say, on Expedia.com. These favicons are already widely in use on the Web. Now, when a user searches for “Expedia,” or another search that matches your domain name, that same favicon will show up next to the URL in your ad. It’ll look something like this:
What good does that do anyone? Well, it’s just one more way for users to know they’re really looking at your site, which will improve the search experience. And if they know you’re really what they searched for, they may click on you more frequently, helping your click-through rate and improving your quality score. Keep in mind that this is a test, and we’re only trying it out on select advertisers. As such, you can’t sign up for it just yet if you’re not one of the early advertisers who are piloting the project. However, if you’re bidding on your own domain name and you have a favicon.ico file on your site, you may be eligible to participate. Not interested in participating? Just contact us to let us know that you’d like out. (Or, for that matter, if you’d like in when it opens up further.) We’ll be sure to keep you posted as the program evolves. —Jeff Sweat, Blog Editor May 5th, 2009
Advertising to Dads and GradsYahoo! experts give you Father’s Day, graduation advice in our webinar Mother’s Day is almost here, which in the marketing world means that you should stop thinking about Mom and start thinking about Dad. If you don’t have your campaigns ready for Father’s Day and graduation season, you should attend our free Dads and Grads Webinar tomorrow to help make the most of this heavy shopping season. During the webinar, Yahoo! experts will provide you with valuable Father’s Day and graduation-related information that can help you prepare and improve your holiday campaigns. The one-hour webinar will cover the following:
Date/Time Space is limited, so please register for the webinar today. If you want to know about our other webinars, check out our webinar archive. —The Team April 30th, 2009
Serious AnalyticsYahoo! Web Analytics now available for search and display advertisers If you’re an advertiser in need of some serious analytics, you’ve probably been watching for our Yahoo! Web Analytics enterprise tool—and you’ll be glad to know that it’s now available for free to search and display advertisers supported by a Yahoo! account team. If you haven’t been watching for it, you may wonder why you should care. “Yahoo!’s emerging Web Analytics service surpasses Google in several key categories relevant to enterprises,” says a recent report from independent analyst firm CMS Watch. Search advertisers can use Yahoo! Web Analytics to track performance of their campaigns—not just Yahoo! Search Marketing, but campaigns on other search engines, display campaigns, even email campaigns—from click to conversion. Yahoo! Web Analytics offers user insight that you’re not likely to find in other free analytics tools, including demographic and behavioral insight on your website visitors, near-real-time reporting, and visibility into as many as 50 different types of actions that take place on your site.
Here are some of the questions that Yahoo! Web Analytics can help advertisers and agencies answer: How am I performing? Who are my audiences? How can I improve engagement and conversions? The new version is available for any of our advertisers who work with an account manager, but it’s most suited for large advertisers with complex analytical needs and the resources to set up and manage analytics. If you think it is the right tool for you, contact your account manager to get started. Visit our website for more information. If you’re not quite ready or aren’t eligible for Yahoo! Web Analytics, look into our Full Analytics or Conversion Only Analytics in our Sponsored Search user interface. —Jeff Sweat, Blog Editor April 28th, 2009
Scoping Out Your KeywordsYour keyword list should range from general to specific
Mom’s list may have confused you if she wasn’t specific enough about what she wrote down. Simply writing “tea” was fine, if the store sold only one kind of tea. On the other hand, if they offered caffeinated, decaffeinated, green and a hundred different flavored teas, that would leave a young errand runner mighty confused. How “scope” applies to search advertising Skip the narrow keywords, and you risk turning off users who already know what they need. Leave out the broad keywords, and you’ll lose the shoppers who haven’t quite decided what they want just yet. The solution? Have a healthy number of both broad and narrow keywords in your account, to make your ads appeal to whichever kind of consumer happens to be searching for them. Finding the perfect mix Narrow keywords get a little more specific. They don’t describe what, so much as which, meaning which types of things you sell. That same Toyota dealer’s narrow keywords might be things like “toyota camry,” “toyota prius,” “toyota corolla,” etc. These are the keywords used by people who already know what they’re looking for—so use them to make sure they’ll find you. On the whole, you’re probably going to use a lot more narrow keywords than broad keywords, because there are just so many more possibilities for narrow keywords. From specific brand names and model numbers to slang or industry terms used to refer to your products, the list of potential narrow keywords is usually long and plentiful. By including as many as you feel are viable, you’re increasing your chances of attracting users who are searching on those keywords. At the same time your broad keywords will display your ads to those who are still at the start of their buying journey, and with a little luck, that journey will end at your site. So when you’re selecting your keywords, be sure to keep scope in mind. A good mixture of broad and narrow helps you cast the widest possible net, to appeal to biggest possible audience. And even if all they have is a list from mom, if you’ve mastered scope—you’ll be more than ready. — Colin Kingston, Listing Editor Photo courtesy of Flickr user Jungle Jim’s International Markets April 24th, 2009
You’re Doing it Wrong5 common mistakes that can hurt your ads’ performance No one likes to be told they’re doing something wrong. And most of the time we try to focus this blog on the positive changes you can enact to help your account run better. But our Advertiser Solutions team sees advertisers make the same mistakes over and over when they set up their accounts, and so in this post we’d like to review the top five—just to make sure you’re not making them, too. 1. Using geo-modified keywords in geo-targeted campaigns 2. Duplicating keywords across ad groups or campaigns For example, if you want to test Advanced and Standard match types by running both concurrently in identical ad groups, your keywords will compete against each other and drive up your cost-per-click. We’ve also seen advertisers duplicate keywords with multiple landing pages. The duplicated keywords can result in a lower quality index score and a higher cost-per-click. 3. Jumping the gun 4. Putting your phone number in your ad 5. Bidding on competitor’s keywords So, do any of these mistakes seem familiar? Fortunately, they’re not too tough to fix. If you run into trouble, just contact us—the Advertiser Solutions team is here to help you with your questions, troubleshooting, and optimizing your account. — Kastle Waserman, Communications Manager, Advertiser Solutions April 21st, 2009
Mom’s the WordClean your room, eat your peas and make sure your ads are ready for Mother’s Day
To catch the eye of Mother’s Day shoppers, make sure your ads are “clean behind the ears” before we get too close to May 10. To that end, the tips below can serve as your virtual washcloth:
By putting these ideas into action, you’ll have a better chance of hooking consumers who want to cater to their mater this May. Happy Mother’s Day (in advance) to all the moms who read the YSM blog! — Noah Belson, Content Quality Analyst |
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