Skooiz Blog - Skooiz Interactive Agency

Why Brands Buy Google Ads

2010-09-10T16:52:00.002-04:00

Ad Age has obtained an internal Google document that highlights some of the biggest AdWords buyers for the month of June 2010, offering insight into how big brands are using Google and how much they are spending.

According to the documents, the biggest buyers of AdWords in June included AT&T Mobility, Amazon, eBay and BP. Although most of those companies are frequent big Google (Google) spenders, BP was a newcomer to the list, spending $3.59 million on search ads in the wake of the gulf oil spill (compared to just $57,000 in the two months prior).

Top Spenders

The top spender in June, AT&T Mobility, spent $8.08 million on search ads to coincide with the release of the iPhone 4. According to Ad Age, AT&T’s the third-largest U.S. advertiser overall, so its Google spending is not a big surprise.

Other companies that made up the top 10 include:

* Apollo Group – You know them as The University of Phoenix and they spent $6.67 million in June 2010
* Expedia – $5.95 million
* Amazon – $5.85 million
* eBay – $4.25 million
* Hotels.com – $3.30 million
* JC Penney – $2.46 million — we’ll admit, this one surprises us
* Living Social – $2.29 million
* ADT Security – $2.19 million

The data shows us that for big brands, a heavy investment in Google is usually tied to revenue that comes directly from search traffic (as in the case of Amazon, eBay, Expedia, Hotels.com) or in instances where companies are trying to build awareness (AT&T) or weather a PR crisis (BP).

It’s also interesting to note some of the brands that aren’t on the list. The documents obtained by Ad Age indicate that companies like GM, Disney and BMW spent less than $500,000 on Google ads in June. Even Apple spent just less than $1 million on Google ads, despite its high-profile launch of the iPhone 4.

However, we also think it is possible that some big brands are spending money on search, but not directly with Google. For instance, although Ad Age cites Walt Disney as one of the companies that spent less than $500,000 on Google ads in June, the movie studio released Toy Story 3 that month, a film supported by a massive ad campaign. The film has gone on to gross more than $1 billion worldwide, making it one of the most successful animated films of all-time. It seems odd that Disney would spend only $500,000 on search terms for its big summer release.

What seems more likely, however, is that Disney purchased advertising through companies like Fandango or MovieTickets.com and those companies have their own arrangements with Google. In other words, when it comes to evaluating search spending, don’t count out the potential middle men.

This also makes sense when taking a big-picture approach to Google’s own revenue. The top 10 brands only accounted for 5% of U.S. revenues for the month.

Google is a big target for advertisers because of its strength in search and because of its ubiquity across devices. We do wonder if ad buys will shift to other outlets, like say, Facebook (Facebook), as users spend more and more time on those networks.

Source: http://mashable.com/2010/09/06/brand-spending-google/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Mashable+%28Mashable%29&utm_content=Twitter

Survey Finds 15% of Consumers Now Use Mobile Devices to Purchase

2010-09-02T11:38:00.002-04:00

A recent study sponsored by Sterling Commerce and Demandware found that consumers are increasingly turning to mobile devices to serve their in-store shopping experience, but are concerned about security and ease-of-use.

The independent survey of 3,600 U.S. consumers reveals that 15% of consumers have used their mobile devices to make purchases. While nearly all (96.2%) of consumers surveyed own a mobile phone, just under half owned a smart phone, which are designed to deliver a more optimal shopping experience.

The study revealed interesting trends surrounding how consumers are looking to their mobile device to support their in-store shopping experience. For example:

- More than 60% believe that being able to use their mobile phone while shopping to verify product availability at a particular store location is important to very important.

- Nearly a quarter of shoppers use their phone while in a store to competitively price shop an item.

- Approximately 20% of consumers currently use their phones to create shopping lists or baskets, and slightly more than that number would be interested in a mobile app to help with shopping list or basket management for their favorite retailers.

- Two thirds are interested in the possibility of using their mobile phone to scan and purchase items, thus enabling them to bypass checkout lines.

- A quarter of shoppers believe that receiving specials/promotions (such as coupons) would be an important use for their mobile phone when shopping, although they were less enthusiastic about receiving advertising via their phones.

"Mobility is more than a channel, and as consumers begin to use mobile devices in all aspects of their shopping process, cross-channel will be essential for retailers to succeed," said Jim Bengier, global retail industry executive for Sterling Commerce. "Today's consumers are transforming the shopping experience with their mobile phones, and retailers who have not broken down their siloed channels will not be able to keep up."

"While the increasing consumer adoption rate of mobile devices has long been recognized by retailers, these survey findings suggest that offering mobile access to the brand is no longer just a 'nice to have'; it has become a necessity," said Jamus Driscoll, vice president of marketing at Demandware. "The mandate for retailers is not only to create a mobile channel to give consumers more options, but also to find innovative ways to leverage mobile to influence consumer shopping and purchase behavior across all sales channels."

Other findings of the survey continued to highlight consumers' concerns around security and ease-of-use with mobile devices. Respondents cited the following concerns:

- Internet non-connectivity (40%),

- Difficulty with the small screen size (34%) and therefore difficulty in visualizing the products (31%),

- Security issues (28%),

- Slow interaction with the retailer website (22%), and

- Difficulties in entering information due to a small keypad (21%).

Although security issues were mentioned as a concern by only 28% of respondents, the top solutions that would encourage more mobile phone purchases all deal with security.

- Nearly half of consumers would like the option of using PayPal.

- Nearly 40% would feel secure knowing that the mobile phone app would not store their credit card number.

- A quarter of consumers would prefer that the mobile phone would only show a truncated credit card number (last 4 digits), and

- About 20% would like to be prompted to enter their 3-digit credit card security number.

Apple Introduces A Social Network: Ping

2010-09-02T11:32:00.001-04:00

Apple just unveiled a social network based on music, built right into iTunes called Ping.

Steve Jobs says "It's for social music discovery. You can follow people and be followed on Ping."

He compared it to Facebook and Twitter. You can see what your friends are listening to. You can also follow artists and pick up on what's new from the artists.

This is really bad news for MySpace, which is trying to rebuild itself around music.
Ping looks pretty neat. Will Apple's crack at social will go better than Google's?

Our initial feeling is skepticism. Do you want another social network your life? Let us know.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/apple-introduces-a-social-network-ping-2010-9

Facebook Takes on Foursquare

2010-08-31T17:08:00.001-04:00

Social media giant's entry into location-based services could help the market go mainstream -- and give small businesses a better way to target advertising.

Facebook launched its answer to location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla on Wednesday -- a feature that automatically shares information on where users are with their online friends.

The hotly anticipated feature – which uses the GPS on smartphones – allows users to "check in" at locations which will then be shared with their friends and Facebook network. Users also will be able to browse shops, clubs and nearby venues to see which friends are in the neighborhood.

Places, as the features is called, is expected to help Facebook pull in local and small-business advertising, though the company said it had no immediate plans to pursue that revenue.

"Starting today, you can immediately tell people about that favorite spot with Facebook Places," Michael Eyal Sharon, Places product manager, said in a blog post."You can share where you are and the friends you're with in real time from your mobile device."

For early adopters of social media, Places is nothing new, though with Facebook's involvement there's a good chance that location-based social networking finally will go mainstream. The fledgling location-based sector is expected to become a billion dollar market, targeting advertising or promotions at people based on proximity. (Starbucks, for example, used a Foursquare promotion to attract a million customers to its stores in a day.) Media research firm Borrell Associates has estimated that such services could generate as much as $4.1 billion in annual ad sales by 2015.

"Location gives marketers a great way to target customers," Debra Williamson, an analyst with eMarketer, told the New York Times. "The whole idea is to reach people at the point of decision before they have to clip a coupon or perform a search."

Places is available first as an update to Facebook's app for the Apple iPhone, while other smartphone users can log onto touch.facebook.com. Updated apps for Blackberry, Android and other handsets are expected in the next few months. Nearly one third of Facebook's 500 million users access the site by mobile, the company says.

Other location-based services say they see Facebook's entry in the field as validation of what they're doing -- more as opportunity than competition. Foursquare, Gowalla, Booyah and Loopt all are building on top of the Facebook platform, as is online review site Yelp, which promised that a Places application for iPhones and Android-based smartphones will be out Thursday.

Places is likely to spark fresh concerns about privacy. After a string of controversies about the site's safety, Facebook simplified its privacy settings in May.

Critics will note that the primary location setting is switched on by default, which means any "places" tags will automatically be shared with immediate friends.

Ahead of the Places launch, Foursquare announced new privacy settings, which make it easier for users to hide their e-mail address and phone numbers, to opt out of automatic check-in at certain venues, and to choose which lists they appear on. It allows them to control whether or not they publish their Foursquare activity to Facebook and Twitter, and decide whether they want companies and businesses to know if they're a regular.

Source: http://www.inc.com/news/articles/2010/08/facebook-launches-location-based-service.html

Google pushes further into social networking, buys SocialDeck

2010-08-31T14:45:00.001-04:00

In its effort to challenge Facebook, Google has become a social butterfly. The latest proof of that is Google’s acquisition today of SocialDeck, a maker of social games for mobile phones.

SocialDeck has made games such as Shake & Spell, Color Connect, and Pet Hero. Its games were downloaded about a million times in 2009. The company is based in Waterloo, Ontario. The purchase price wasn’t disclosed.

SocialDeck also makes a cross-platform tool for integrating social content across the BlackBerry, iPhone and Facebook platforms. Shake & Spell, notably, works on all of those platforms.

Google has been acquiring a variety of companies, such as Slide and Jambool, to compete with Facebook in social networking. It has also made a $150 million investment in social game leader Zynga. But SocialDeck’s products seem to line up best with Google’s interests in expanding the Android mobile operating system. Google has appointed Slide founder Max Levchin as its head of social networking.

Source: http://games.venturebeat.com/2010/08/30/social-butterfly-google-buys-mobile-game-developer-socialdeck/

Email marketing on a budget

2010-08-23T14:01:00.002-04:00

Email marketing is constantly evolving, which means the best practices you take for granted today could easily change tomorrow. Plus, email remains a relatively small piece of the overall marketing pie, meaning that email marketers are often doing their job on a limited budget. These two facts are the main reasons that email marketing firm Cypra Media, based in Montreal, this past Tuesday staged a webinar: “The 10 Secrets of Professional Email Marketing on a DIY Budget.”

While the webinar is targeted at a variety of marketers, including those who are just getting started with email, there was plenty for more seasoned marketers as well. Mark Berger, the company's director of marketing, provided these three take-aways specifically for the more educated—and experienced—marketer.

1. Think about pre-headers. Pre-headers are the short text messages that appear above graphics or body copy. Typical pre-header content includes, “Click here to add us to your address book” and “Click here to view this email in your browser.” But email marketers don't have to keep their pre-headers in the plain vanilla category, Berger said: “You should use the space in a creative way. This is a great place to tell people why they might want to open your email.” You can include your call to action, such as “Download our latest white paper” or “Click for our latest offer,” he said. “You can use the space to create a quick, 50-character message to increase your open and click-through rate,” Berger said.

2. Massage the text-only version. It's a given that all emails should go out with a text-only option because, according to the Direct Marketing Association (DMA), about 20% of all recipients view their email on smartphones or other handheld devices. Yet many marketers don't even bother to look at their text-only email to make sure it is formatted properly. The bottom line: It's not enough to simply clean up the HTML and dump your copy into text-only format, Berger said. “You have to massage the text so you can call out subjects and heads and links,” he said, “and you need to organize the chunks so it's easier for someone to read in a mobile device.”

3. Don't just hand off your coding. Placing code—either links or formatted content—into an email is typically left to a technical person, Berger said. “Marketers don't want to worry about it or think about it, instead concentrating only on the subject line and offer,” he said. “Before you just hand over your code, consider this: While Web browsers might be tolerant of mistakes, email servers and clients are not.” The biggest problem, he said, is that poorly coded email is usually flagged as spam, which means it never gets into the inbox. Yes, it's OK to hand off the technical details of your email campaign, but make sure you're outsourcing to or hiring someone who has significant email experience.

Source: Karen J. Bannan on www.btobonline.com

Worldwide Advertising On Social Networks

2010-08-23T13:41:00.004-04:00

Social networks worldwide are estimated to bring in $3.3 billion in advertising dollars this year, according to updated estimates by eMarketer. That number represents a 31 percent increase from 2009′s $2.5 billion. A full 39 percent of that amount, or $1.3 billion, will go to Facebook.

In the U.S., social ad spending is estimated to rise 20 percent to $1.7 billion. Facebook is gobbling up even more market share in the U.S. It is expected to make up 50 percent of that amount ($835 million), compared to a 36 percent share last year (when it’s U.S. advertising revenues were estimated to be $500 million out of a total of $1.4 billion).

The big market share loser in social ads this year is MySpace, whose share is estimated to drop from 32 percent in 2009 ($445 million) to 19 percent in 2010 ($323 million). Social games and apps, interestingly, are also expected to pretty much stay flat in terms of ad revenues, with $142 million of the total this year. The social game segmentation really doesn’t make sense to me. It kind of makes me wonder whether the folks at eMarketer have ever heard of Zynga.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2010/08/16/advertising-social-networks-3-3-billion/

Outlook gets Facebook integration

2010-07-13T13:31:00.003-04:00

Microsoft has integrated Facebook into its Outlook e-mail system in its latest move towards the social web. So now, users of Outlook will be able to see the Facebook profile photos of their e-mail contacts, plus their news feeds, status updates, pictures uploads and wall posts.

Chris Adams, Microsoft's Office 2010 product manager said: "The Outlook Social Connector and providers from partners such as Facebook makes it easy and convenient for busy people to stay in touch with the people they care about."

Microsoft has long seen pulling the social web into its suite of products as a key part of its strategy. Last year it launched Outlook Social Connector as part of its new Office 2010 software which went on sale in June.

For Microsoft though it is an acknowledgement that the social web is here to stay, thinks Mr Elliott.
"Microsoft has always maintained that it has its own social network in Windows Messeger so it is pretty notable that it is reaching beyond its own products," he said.

And for Facebook, the more integration it gets in other key software products the more likely it is to maintain its dominance of the social web.
To avoid the privacy issue that blew up when Google integrated its social network Buzz into GMail, Microsoft has made sure that only Outlook e-mail addresses linked to Facebook accounts will be drawn into the system.

Gartner predicts that by 2014 social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for communication for 20% of business users.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk

The Future is Bright for Online Socialization

2010-07-08T14:20:00.002-04:00

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has released its report on Internet-based socialization. The conclusions in The Future of Online Socialization segment of the survey are positive.

The online world, according to most of the Internet specialists surveyed, is going to add to the texture and mood of social interactions, not detract from them.

Of the nearly 900 "technology stakeholders and critics" who responded to the opt-in survey 85% believe the effects of the online world will remain positive for the next decade.

"The social benefits of Internet use will far outweigh the negatives over the next decade, according to experts. They say this is because email, social networks, and other online tools offer 'low friction' opportunities to create, enhance, and rediscover social ties that make a difference in people's lives. The internet lowers traditional communications constraints of cost, geography, and time; and it supports the type of open information sharing that brings people together."

You have to wonder if this rosy assessment of the online world would hold if it were 900 people outside of tech who were surveyed.

Source: www.readwriteweb.com

Are Young Women Addicted to Facebook?

2010-07-07T14:09:00.004-04:00

A study released by Oxygen Media and Lightspeed Research discovered that more than half of young women (57%) in the 18-34 range are focused on their Facebook accounts.

A full 39% of them proclaim themselves Facebook addicts, while 34% of young women make Facebook the first thing they do when they wake up, even before brushing their teeth or going to the bathroom.

Here are some other interesting stats regarding young women and Facebook:

* 21% of women age 18-34 check Facebook in the middle of the night
* 63% use Facebook as a networking tool
* 42% think it’s okay to post photos of themselves intoxicated
* 79% are fine with kissing in photos
* 58% use Facebook to keep tabs on “frenemies”
* 50% are fine with being Facebook friends with complete strangers

What conclusions can we draw from this data? It’s not just that young women are using Facebook religiously: it’s that they’re very open with what they post and who they accept as friends. Combined, it can lead to a privacy mess.

Social Media’s Role in Dating

We already knew that Facebook has radically changed dating, and Oxygen Media’s stats only back up that assertion. 50% of women believe that it’s just fine to date people they’ve met on Facebook, compared to 65% of men. 6% of women use it to “hook up” (20% of men do the same).

It gets murkier for relationships. 49% of women believe it’s fine to keep tabs on a boyfriend by having access to his accounts (42% of men think the same way). 9% of women have broken up their relationships via Facebook, as compared to a full 24% of men.

Luckily, most women don’t believe that breaking up via Facebook is okay: 91% to be exact. I don’t want to meet the 9% who think it’s just fine.

Women and Privacy

54% of 18-24 year old women do not trust Facebook with their private information, and 89% agree that “you should never put anything on Facebook that you don’t want your parents to see.” That seems contradictory to the 42% that think it’s fine to post pictures of themselves drunk.

Our habits are changing due to social media technology, particularly Facebook. It’s not just a connection tool for many women, but a research tool, a dating network, and a way to keep tabs on both boyfriends and enemies.

Source: mashable.com

Fight click fraud on Pay-Per-Click ads

2010-07-07T10:34:00.003-04:00

Click fraud is particularly a concern for small businesses with limited adverstising budgets. It remains a persistent, troubling presence in online advertising, despite the continued evolution of detection technology.

This article helps you to get some informations about the common click fraud techniques and the different vigilant ways to protecting your pay-per-click budget.

Online Merchants Love Facebook’s ‘Like’

2010-07-06T15:19:00.003-04:00

How many will bring the full ecommerce experience to the social site?

Facebook’s “like” plug-in caught the attention of online retailers, starting with Levi’s, which implemented the buttons across its online store in time for the social network’s rollout of the new tool. With about 55% of multichannel retailers planning to add more social features in 2010, according to Multichannel Merchant, usage of such tools is set to rise.

According to a June 2010 survey on the use of Facebook for social commerce by website conversion company SeeWhy, 35% of online marketers responsible for social marketing or ecommerce have already implemented Facebook’s “like” plug-in, and another third plan to do so. The social network’s “login with faces” plug-in is also gathering steam.

While the “like” button allows online shoppers to share outside content they are interested in with their friends on the social network, using Facebook’s login brings connectivity in the other direction: The ecommerce experience happens on the merchant’s site, with Facebook facilitating an easy login that skips the need for registration, which can be a barrier to conversion.

Most respondents to SeeWhy’s survey planned to leverage social shopping by using Facebook to drive traffic back to their own site rather than building ecommerce applications on the social network itself, as Best Buy has done.

A fifth of US online buyers told the e-tailing group and PowerReviews in March 2010 that sharing tools were an important capability of retail sites, suggesting customers are also on board with tools such as the “like” plug-in.

Source: www.emarketer.com

HMV opens doors to digital store

2010-07-06T11:06:00.003-04:00

After months of testing, HMV launched its online digital music site Monday to better compete online with iTunes for Canadians' digital dollars.

HMV, one of Canada's last remaining music chains, began beta testing of HmvDigital.ca last November, surveying visitors and reviewing feedback to iron out any bugs.

The new site contains a "My Downloads" section that centrally stores purchased music within the site.

The site is available in English and French and HMV says the tracks are compatible with all digital music players, and free of DRM (digital rights management) software which prevents owners from copying or freely using a digital file across multiple devices.

A majority (98%) of consumers surveyed during the trial period responded that the MP3 DRM-free format is a "strongly appreciated special feature to the site."

HmvDigital.ca already offers five million tracks for download and expects to reach six million before long. On average, a single track costs around 99 cents though popular recent releases cost $1.29, and consumers can make their purchases using credit cards or debit, which is a particularly important feature for the retailer's youth market.

HMV also recently launched a new customer rewards program that enables members to collect and redeem points earned on purchases made in-store or at HmvDigital.ca.
The program was launched in the United Kingdom in May 2009, and reached over 1.1 million members in its first year. Kadaner said HMV Canada had similar membership targets for its program, but will soon readjust its goals thanks to strong early response so far.

Junk E-mail Gets A Second Life

2010-06-30T11:36:00.002-04:00

The restaurant chain Chipotle has launched a new campaign designed to turn your junk e-mail into healthier school lunches for kids.

The program, called “No Junk” encourages people to forward their spam to nojunk@chipotlejunk.com.

For every 100,000 messages received at that address, Chipotle plans to donate $10,000 to The Lunch Box, a non-profit organization that provides resources to schools to help them make their food programs healthier.

The 12 Most Common Direct Mail Mistakes...

2010-06-29T14:11:00.004-04:00

...And How to Avoid Them!

In order to make a direct mail campaign work, it’s important to avoid common pitfalls. Mistakes can be in your copy, your list, and even on what you put on your envelope.

Here are twelve common mistakes people make.

Source: marketingtoday.com

New Chart: The Efficiency of SEO Objectives by Primary Market

2010-06-29T12:12:00.005-04:00

SEO has proven to be an effective tool in achieving a number of important marketing objectives, making it a universally-beneficial marketing tactic for a wide variety of organizations, regardless of their objectives.

Click here to see a larger, printable version of this chart

As you can see, increased website traffic is rated as the most effective objective for SEO and increased brand or product awareness is also rated extremely well. However, increased website traffic and awareness are soft metrics that lead to an improvement in bottom-line metrics such as increased online and offline sales revenue.

We feel the effectiveness of SEO in these bottom-line metrics is undervalued because of difficulties in achieving closed-loop tracking from website traffic source to online or offline sales revenue, or low efficiencies of conversion optimization of websites.

B2C organizations are the most likely to perceive SEO as an effective tactic in achieving an increase in lead generation and online sales revenue. This is an indication that these types of organizations are more efficient in closed-loop tracking from website visitor source to leads and online sales revenue generated.

Source: www.marketingsherpa.com Jun 29, 2010

Microsoft tests mobile ad product!

2010-06-23T10:43:00.003-04:00

Microsoft Mobile Advertising has started piloting a new local ad product for mobile, conducting by Geodelic, a third party publisher of a location-based discovery app.

Two advertisers participating in the pilot are Hyatt and Quiznos. Microsoft says pilot participants belong to local categories such as restaurants, services, travel, and shopping. It will launch in Los Angeles, Dallas/Ft. Worth, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle at first. It is served through Microsoft's adCenter platform.

Raj Kapoor on the Microsoft Advertising Blog says: "We are conducting this pilot to gain insights into end user behavior and engagement with local mobile ad products".

For more information, see the Microsoft Advertising site.

Internet Is Set to Overtake Newspapers in Ad Revenue

2010-06-18T11:19:00.002-04:00

The Internet is poised to overtake newspapers as the second-largest U.S. advertising medium by revenue behind television, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Global Entertainment and Media Outlook for 2010 to 2014.

The online ad business, excluding mobile ads, is set to expand to $34.4 billion in 2014 from $24.2 billion in 2009, according to the report, which PwC plans to release Tuesday.

Newspapers, meanwhile, continue to suffer from a decline in advertising revenue. According to numbers released by the Newspaper Association of America earlier this year, print advertising revenue dropped 28.6% in 2009 to $24.82 billion. The PwC report estimates that print advertising in newspapers will hit $22.3 billion by 2014.

“Although the Internet did not fully escape the impact of the recession, its decline in the United States was much less severe than that of other advertising media” the PwC report notes.

Shifts in consumer behavior, potential for inventory on the Internet, and increased broadband penetration in the U.S. are key factors in PwC’s projections, according to David Silverman, a partner at PwC.

In 2005, the broadband penetration in U.S. households was at 34%. An estimated 64% of households now have a broadband connection. The study notes that the federal government’s allocation of $7.2 billion of the stimulus plan for the expansion of broadband services, as well as the increasing availability of triple-play packages, which bundle Internet service with television and telephone service, are catalysts for growth in U.S. broadband access.

The report is particularly bullish on the growth of advertising across interactive media, video and email — predicting that this segment of the market will reach $6.6 billion in 2014 from $4.7 billion in 2009. Online TV is expected to propel this segment because it has limited ad inventory within a program, allowing online TV providers to charge premium rates.

The mobile advertising market also is poised for growth as wireless networks are upgraded and more Internet-enabled smart phones hit the market. Mobile advertising in North America is predicted to quadruple from $414 million in 2009 to $1.6 billion in 2014, according to the report.

PricewaterhouseCoopers releases its Global Entertainment and Media Outlook yearly. Actual growth in 2009 was slightly higher than projected in last year’s outlook, a spokesman for the company said.

Source: The wall street journal - Digital Network

Flickr makes it easy to share photos on Facebook

2010-06-11T10:12:00.003-04:00

You want to publish your photos on Facebook?

Flickr has enabled a new way to share your photos with your friends on Facebook: you can now connect your Flickr and Facebook accounts, and every time you upload a public photo or video, your Facebook account will be automatically updated as well and will be visible on your social network page.

To enable this feature, go to www.flickr.com/account?tab=extend and click “Connect”.

In case you’re worried about privacy, have in mind that only photos that have been uploaded as public (or later set as public) will be shared on Facebook. If you already use the Flickr (Flickr) app on Facebook for sharing photos between these two services, you might want to turn it off and use this new feature instead, otherwise all your photos will be shared on Facebook twice.

A good example of cooperation, not technically complicated to implement and which provides a real benefit to users.

Source : Mashable (10 juin 2010)

Mobile market up !

2010-06-09T11:08:00.004-04:00

The mobile phone market is up big for the first quarter of 2010 after sales declines during 2009. Smartphones are also growing faster each quarter as they continue to replace feature phones for many users.

No surprise that the mobile advertising is becoming one of the most exciting new frontiers in interactive advertising around the world. As the Internet is reinvented on mobile devices—smaller, more personal and personalized, ubiquitously accessible—established forms of interactive advertising will also evolve as they migrate from PCs to mobile devices.

Everybody Wants a Piece of the Mobile Advertising Market

Mobile coupons are effective for mobile commerce

2010-06-09T10:32:00.003-04:00

The future of the coupons is filled with fast paced and for some learning how it all works is fascinating. For others, the only information they want is what button they need to push. Either way, advertising companies are betting on the future of cell phones and Web sites to put coupons into consumer's hands.

Mobile devices are quickly growing in popularity as a way to distribute coupons since they are in nearly everyone's hands, especially while out shopping or traveling. There are several ways to deliver coupons to a consumer's mobile device including utilizing short message services (SMS), wireless application protocol (WAP) sites and dynamic downloadable applications.

Here's a study about how Mobile coupons are effective for mobile commerce

16M Canadians on Facebook

2010-06-07T11:06:00.002-04:00

Canada passed the 16 million users mark in May, according to research firm Inside Network.

More than 912,000 Canadians signed up for the site last month, a six per cent increase in membership, an estimated 47.9 per cent of Canadians are on Facebook, making Canada one of the most plugged-in countries in the world!

Overall, Canada is the fourth largest market on Facebook, on a per capita basis, behind Iceland, Norway and Hong Kong. About 59.6 per cent of Iceland’s population has a Facebook profile.

But among larger countries with at least 10 million citizens, Canada is No. 1.

Inside Network says Facebook now has about 465 million users in total and may be weeks away from hitting the half-billion mark.

Connected 24/24

2010-06-04T13:00:00.004-04:00

One in three employees in the United States feel the need to stay connected with his work 24/24. Whether it's during their breaks, their weekends or even on vacation, Americans using the Internet as part of their jobs are on alert. For two American, the real challenge would be to cut their links with his work ...

The big advantage of the Internet is to be able to work from anywhere and anytime. But this can quickly turn into a disadvantage, 24/24 connected with their employers, employees are more and more stressed. The economic crisis and the race to reduce costs do not help the situation. Almost 40% of Americans say they do the work of two people.

Working from the Internet outside these hours is not always willingly, indeed 25% of employees think their managers expect them to be online to work and that their job depends on it.

Even finding the level of business calls received during free time.

72% of respondents say that technology helps them do a better job and 81% of them think that it helps them to be more productive.

Internet kills phone book delivery in Montreal

2010-06-04T12:22:00.002-04:00

Montrealers who still look up phone numbers the old-fashioned way, by letting their fingers do the walking through the White Pages, will now have to order the book.

The Yellow Pages Group has ended automatic delivery of the residential phone directory in seven major cities.

"An increasing number of Canadians, particularly in urban areas, use our online and mobile resources YellowPages.ca and Canada411.ca to find residential phone numbers," Marc Tellier, president and CEO of YPG, said in a statement.

"Our priority with the residential directory is to make listings available to all users in the format of their choice," he added.

Five years ago, YPG implemented a 24-month distribution cycle of the residential directory in select Canadian cities, with residents having to request a directory during non-distribution years.

The resulting demand for the residential directory averaged below one percent while searches for personal phone numbers on YPG online properties have almost doubled since the program's inception.

"The results of our 24-month initiative clearly indicate that large urban centres are ready for a residential directory by request only program," Tellier noted.

The distribution by request is expected to result in a reduction of more than five million copies a year across Canada.
The affected cities also inclue Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, the Ottawa-Gatineau area and Quebec City.

Source: Montrealgazette.com

Disney Puts Tickets on a Facebook Site

2010-06-02T09:27:00.002-04:00

Disney has created a new Facebook app that will let users buy tickets to see Toy Story 3 right on the site, while also inviting their friends along.

The application is called Disney Tickets Together and is a brilliant example of social media synergy.

This is the type of campaign that is a perfect fit for social media. Not only does the ability to buy tickets without leaving Facebook make impulse ticket buys more likely, but the social aspect makes group planning that much easier.

Did Amazon Miss The Boat On Social Commerce?

2010-06-01T10:39:00.004-04:00

What a fascinating question raised by this week's TechCrunch Disrupt conference:

Did Amazon miss the Boat on Social Commerce?

Amazon is still the king of e-commerce and his strategy of e-shopping provides consumers services at the top, with convenience and reliability.

But what about its future?

Mobile datas 2010

2010-05-27T14:21:00.002-04:00

17% of respondents use their mobile phone to purchase applications, ringtones and other content. - Mobile Marketing Association "May 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing" (2010)

56% of mobile content purchases were made through a carrier, and 43% used a bank or credit card account for payment. - Mobile Marketing Association "May 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing" (2010)

Across all categories of transaction types, most respondents considered m-commerce to be "secure and trustworthy." - Mobile Marketing Association "May 2010 U.S. Mobile Consumer Briefing" (2010)

Most users of public Wi-Fi services have downloaded at least 10 smartphone apps, and about two-thirds spend more than 30 minutes a day using the applications. - JiWire "Mobile Audience Insights Report Q1 2010" (2010)

38% of respondents said they are more likely to click on a mobile ad that is tailored to their specific location, while 46% said it does not make a difference. - JiWire "Mobile Audience Insights Report Q1 2010" (2010)

7% of consumers currently use their mobile phones while in the store to perform the following food-shopping activities:

* 53% compare prices
* 44% get/redeem coupons/discounts
* 28% get nutritional information
* 22% read product reviews
* 22% visit the food company's website for information

-Deloitte "2010 Consumer Food Safety Survey" (2010)

13.4% of mobile subscribers use the Web via a mobile device at least monthly. - eMarketer (2010)

More than 1 billion consumers will be accessing email on their mobile phones by the year 2013. This is compared to fewer than 200 million in 2009. -The Radicati Group (2010)

Email usage - 2009 to 2010

2010-05-27T14:17:00.001-04:00

13.4% of mobile subscribers, use the Web via a mobile device at least monthly in 2010. - eMarketer (2010)

75% of daily social media users said email is the best way for companies to communicate with them, compared to 65% of all email users. - MarketingSherpa (2010)

49% of Twitter users said they made an online purchase because of an email, compared to 33% of all email users. - MarketingSherpa (2010)

If email was a country, its 1.4 billion users would make it the largest in the world. Bigger than China, bigger than the populations of the USA and European Union combined. - Email Marketing Reports (2009)

181: the number of marketing emails it would take to produce enough revenue to buy one share in Microsoft. - Email Marketing Reports (2009)

59% of email users spend more than 20 minutes a week with permission email and 27% spend an hour or more weekly. - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)

Permission-based email accounts for 26% of time spent with email. - Merkle Interactive Services (2009)

74% of Internet users age 64 and older send and receive email, making it the most popular online activity for this age group. - Pew Internet and American Life Project (Feb 2009)

More than 90% of Internet users between 18 and 72 said they send and receive email, making it the top online activity just ahead of search engines, according to the non-profit research group. - Pew Internet and American Life Project (Feb 2009)

How Mercedes uses online research communities to build advocacy

2010-05-27T09:52:00.003-04:00

Mercedes Benz marketing strategy in the United States was once centered on the safety, luxury, and precision engineering of its cars, but due to increase competition in the luxury car industry and changing consumer attitudes about the Mercedes Benz brand that strategy has changed.

Now their marketing strategy is more life style oriented and is focused more on presenting the more fun loving, approachable, and energetic side of Mercedes Benz.
They are also leveraging two online communities: Generation Benz, launched in 2008 and comprised of Gen Y consumers; and Mercedes Benz Advisors, a community of 1,795 baby boomers. Both community platforms were built by Passenger.

Read this very interesting article

The Tragic Cost of Google Pac-Man – 4.82 million hours!!!

2010-05-25T12:12:00.003-04:00

Google’s Pac Man logo just ruined millions of dollars in productivity !!!

Here following...

Click Fraud Rises in Q1 2010

2010-05-25T12:06:00.002-04:00

Online advertising through pay per click services such as Google's AdWords offers businesses the ability to reach a more targeted audience than traditional marketing methods allow. However, as online marketing evolved, so did the methods fraudsters use to manipulate advertising systems in their favor.

Click fraud is a growing problem for online advertisers, who pay a fee each time a viewer clicks an ad to visit their site.

Click Forensics Inc. released the results of their Q1 2010 Click Fraud Report

How Segmenting by Best Customers Raised Revenue 300%

2010-05-25T11:44:00.003-04:00

Read this classic Sherpa case study to see how one team boosted email-generated revenue 322% by targeting recent big spenders in their database. They created a new segment based on purchases, developed a preferred-customer program, and created post-purchase offers to generate additional conversions.

Tactic #1. Segment best customers
Tactic #2. Incentivize best customers
Tactic #3. Target the big spenders
Tactic #4. Pre-event messaging
Tactic #5. Viral + reviews - post-event follow-up

They are getting customers to become more and more engaged all of the time. It proves that more [targeted] email can only help keep people engaged and keep them more active as repeat customers.

Foursquare Lands HUGE New Partnership With Starbucks

2010-05-21T11:25:00.004-04:00

Foursquare recently surpassed the 600,000 "check-ins" per day, its use is spreading increasingly to the United States.

Not surprised that the brands are interested by this new service: NBC, Pepsi and History Channel have already tried it. Now it's time for Starbucks to venture into the Foursquare marketing ...

Source: Business insider

Foursquare is a location-based social networking website, software for mobile devices, and also a game. Users "check-in" at venues using text messaging or a device specific application.[1] They are then awarded points and sometimes "badges." The service was created by Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai; Crowley had previously founded the similar project Dodgeball, which Google bought in 2005 and shut down in 2009. As it closes in on 1 million users in April 2010, Foursquare is being pursued by Internet giant Yahoo Inc., which has offered as much as $125 million for Foursquare.

Western Europe Dominates E-Commerce

2010-05-20T14:48:00.004-04:00

France and Germany ahead of Italy and Spain

Western Europe leads the world in retail e-commerce sales. The UK is the most mature market, but other countries increasingly contribute to the region’s online buying clout. Europe’s dominance will continue through 2012, according to Collins Stewart, when online retail sales will cross the $200 billion threshold.

“The population of online shoppers and buyers in the region is rising steadily,” said Karin von Abrams, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report “Retail E-Commerce in Western Europe.” “But there are key differences in these markets.”

This is chiefly the result of long-standing differences between Northern and Southern infrastructures and buying habits. France and Germany have shown much higher online sales and greater e-commerce activity among Web users than Italy and Spain, where the Internet still represents a fraction of total retail volume. In Germany, for example, Internet purchases accounted for 6.9% of retail sales in 2009, according to Kelkoo, while in Italy the Web claimed just 0.8% of the total.

“The recent economic downturn has compounded national differences,” said Ms. von Abrams. “In France and Germany, as in the UK, e-commerce was well established before the recession hit. Budget-conscious shoppers turned to the Internet in ever-larger numbers to compare products and prices and pick up deals.”

Online retailers may gain incremental revenue by appealing to buyers in the smaller European markets. One big opportunity lies in Spain, where the total number of online buyers is still relatively low. But roughly two-thirds of Internet users did buy something on the Web between July 2008 and July 2009, according to InSites Consulting.

Stepping Up to ROI Measurement

2010-05-20T14:42:00.006-04:00

Marketers around the world agree that it is important to get the full picture when evaluating online marketing success, but research from Chief Marketer, Collective and Datran Media indicates that marketers still consider the click-through their main form of measurement&mash;despite its flaws.

A 2010 survey from Web analytics service Omniture similarly showed that marketers were unable to measure marketing effectiveness across the purchase funnel.

Asked which analytics would give them the most actionable insights, marketers said the importance of marketing cost, orders, average order size and conversion rate. But they had the greatest ability to measure visits, page views, page views per visit and click-throughs.

The same measurement problems existed in mobile, social and video channels: Only 30% could measure mobile app or post-video conversions, and 41% could measure social marketing conversion. Overall, 80% said it was important to measure ROI from online activities, but just 31% could effectively do so.

The biggest challenge was talent. Marketers indicated they did not have staff with the expertise necessary to get the most out of the data available, and budget was the top reason they lacked the talent they needed.

Article from www.emarketer.com

Discover the best time to send Email: 4 test ideas

2010-05-18T09:53:00.003-04:00

One of the most common questions marketers ask us is, “When is the best time to send email?” The hard truth: It depends.

The optimal send time depends on a lot of factors, such as the industry, segmentation, subscribers’ preferences, and the nature of the message. Testing is a must, so here are four test ideas that have helped other marketers find better send times based on a variety of factors.

Written by Sean Donahue, Marketingsherpa.com

Global Smartphone Shipments Jump 50 Percent to 54 Million in Q1 2010

2010-05-17T15:52:00.004-04:00

In the first quarter of this year, smartphones shipments grew 50 percents and it's not less than 54 million devices that are sold.

This represents 18 percents of all the mobile phones types. The record is held by Nokia, which shipped 21.5 million units.

Other figures are provided by the latest research from Strategy Analytics.

Why marketing strategy should measure more than clicks

2010-05-17T15:34:00.003-04:00

"Today 99.92% of online ads don't get clicked" said Joe Apprendi, Collective CEO.

"The industry has long known that simply seeing an ad delivers branding dividends."

So, since ads aren't being clicked as often as in the past, marketers need to consider other ways of measure campaign influence.

Read this article written by Kristina Knight

Who isn't online? Statscan reports 80% of Canadians surf

2010-05-13T10:02:00.004-04:00

Canadians use the Internet intensively!

According to a new Statistics Canada study, 80 per cent of them online.

Calgary and Saskatoon were the most online-savvy cities, with web-usage rates at 89% apiece.

75% said they were online every day, up from 68% in 2007.

And 55% said they used the Internet for five hours or more in a typical week, compared with 49% in 2007.

I let you see the statistics of this study...

The Infinite Dial 2010: Use of Social Media Explodes

2010-05-04T15:43:00.005-04:00

The latest study by Arbitron and Edison Research shows that the % of Americans over 12 who have a profile on social network has doubled in just 2 years (from 24% in 2008 to 48% in 2010 ).

It also showed that the social networking is not just for young people:

- 78% of teenagers between 12 and 17 years

- 77% of persons aged 18-24 years

- 65% of persons aged 25-34 years

- 51% of persons aged 35-44 years

The 30% of Americans who own a profile on a social network, use to connect to it more than once per day, against 18% in 2009.

The Americans are saying the Internet is essential to their daily lives (42%), versus watching TV (37%), listening to radio (14%) or read a newspaper (5%).

62% of households have Internet access via Wi-Fi at home, which allows more convenient use of digital media in any room.

Social Media Aids Customer Acquisition

2010-05-04T14:06:00.003-04:00

The social media era is the new way for compagnies to communicate with their customers. That's why more and more of them are using the facebook or twitter influence to acquire new customers and fortunately they are succeeding.

Read this online article published on April 30, 2010 on Retailerdaily.com

Spam, Spam Bots, and Double Opt-in E-mail Lists

2010-04-29T16:09:00.003-04:00

There are two definitions of "Spam" in this article written by the Dr. Ralph F. Wilson.

Canadian consumers lose their confidence in April

2010-04-28T13:44:00.002-04:00

Canadian consumer confidence took a dive in April, according to the latest monthly report by a prominent economic forecaster.

The Conference Board of Canada says its index of consumer confidence dropped to 84.8 in April. That wiped out a gain recorded in March and continued a pattern of volatile swings that the Ottawa-based group has noted since the beginning of the year.

Quebec and the four western provinces showed a negative trend in the April survey, while Ontario and the Atlantic provinces were more positive.

The Conference Board says the survey found that nearly one-quarter of respondents felt they were worse off financially than six months earlier.

In contrast, only 15.6 per cent felt their financial situation had improved over the past six months.

Second Cup hires Zig

2010-04-28T13:36:00.003-04:00

Second Cup's new ingredient includes Marketing Strategy

The Importance of Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing for B2B Marketers

2010-04-23T13:38:00.001-04:00

Is Search Engine Marketing cost effective enough to increase profits for B2B marketers? You bet, and here’s why. It’s always been conventional wisdom that the fastest and most efficient way to research products and pricing is on the Web. Now Enquiro has documented survey research on the role of search engines in B2B transactions.

B2B and B2C E-Mail Tactics

2010-04-14T14:11:00.001-04:00

Business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C) e-mail marketers have different targets, but the goals they share mean they agree on the effectiveness of several tactics.

Article - APRIL 14, 2010

Social Not a Threat to E-Mail

2010-04-14T13:35:00.001-04:00

Here is an interesting article about the competition between Social Medias and E-mail usage.

APRIL 12, 2010

Text messaging may pose greater challenge

The new Wannawin.ca has arrived

2009-03-12T13:16:00.005-04:00

After several months of programming, and reflection, it is finally there! Open the curtains and please welcome the last version of the first independent contests site in Quebec: wannawin.ca

Directed by Wannawin development team, led by Francis Desjardins, the new version of Toutacoup is on-line since the beginning of March.

At first glance, it is obvious that a complete revision of the previous version has been made. The new version is distinguished by its sleek and minimalist design. In two or three clicks you can easily enter the contests in place.

More than the new design, many features are offered to members of Wannawin : Update their profile, type of promotions they wish to receive, mini-games (including a slot machine where you can win tokens to increase your chances of winning in the contests of your choice).

Note that a version of the website for cell phone, widgets, and SMS entries will be added in the coming weeks.

Another big innovation is the video present on the website. “This format is now proposed to our advertisers for their emailing campaigns.” Said Laurent Lucas, President of Wannawin. We strongly believe in this new distribution channel that has already demonstrated higher returns than the traditional html email. Wannawin organizes logistics for video: Selecting actors, filming, sets, micro site or template and access to campaign results.

Last, Wannawin offers to websites publishers the opportunity to use its contests module (white label). It allows them to manage their contests and collect email addresses for future emailing campaign.

Wannawin, wish is a subsidiary of Skooiz.com, has more than 400.000 opt-in emails in Quebec. Wannawin also has 220.000 unique visitors and 15 million page views per month.

Google : Do as I say not as I do?

2009-02-09T17:02:00.004-05:00

Rules of Google are very clear in terms of online gambling:

"Do not do advertising for online gambling or related sites where your ads are targeted to countries other than Great Britain, Italy, France or Spain. "

Indeed, when I type the request "casino" in the search engine, no commercial link is proposed. So far so good, Google is respectful of its rules.

Being a bit playful, things become complicated. In terms of pay per click, we know how the typo on the keyboard has its importance and therefore a cost. Let's have fun with the request "caisno". Incredible! On its own ground, Google does not respect its own rule. Several commercial links for online casinos appear.

The second surprise for the misspelled word, comes from the fact that Google offers 162 000 000 results (only 2 million less than the correct spelling). We can easily infer that the site developers of online games take into account the misspelled request in the site content. Either Google is not aware of such practices, or it does not bother too much. It lets you make your own opinion ...

In brief, at Google we make rules which we do not respect..?

Is your SEM agency in Web marketing or Google stock trading?

2007-09-25T11:48:00.001-04:00

I believe there are two types of agencies right now. Search engine and search engine marketing agencies. Is your agency only proud to understand the Google financial logic behind the bidding system?

I believe if you spend most of your budget on offline media and online banners, your search engine campaign must align with them and not be treated in silo. Do you listen to radio? If you do, you will ear more and more advertisers spelling there website address. Have a little fun and try to find on search engines about there promotion, often you only find the general link to there homepage if you remember the spelling…

Search engine marketing is still new for many experienced marketers but working with marketing specialist having the same language is always a blessing! Integration of all media for branding, client acquisition, promotion or simply informing is THE real challenge. Be tougher with SEM agencies; ask them to align your campaign with your current paper, radio and TV ads. It should be easy for them! Remember in search engines you have no pictures (for now!), no colour and limited to about 100 characters. It is fast to launch a concept linked to a new promotion or brand.

Let’s go quickly over this overwhelming concept of stock traders in search engines. More it goes, more the click true rate is gaining in importance. Meaning, the more your ad is relevant, punchy and makes a good link between the searched keywords and your product or services the less you need expensive bids. There is now needs for marketing skills.

Many tools are now available online to help the process of large ad creation and bidding management. The new reflex for SME and large corporations after a few months with an SEM agency is to bring in house the management of these tools. Why not? You save some money and Google makes it easy for me, no? There are few good reasons to stay with your agency:

1- Difficulty to manage the maintenance and keeping yourself on top of all new engines functionalities.

2- Having one resource (Rarely a team) that will be comfortable with bidding systems AND marketing stills.

3- A team VS an individual. A team adapts more easily to major campaign fluctuations.

4- Limiting you to Google only. They have the biggest volume but the higher prices too!

A little comment on this last point, I see most small budget campaigns in SEM going Google only. Heads up, sure you will not have problems spending your budget because they have the highest volume but prices too! I suggest in this situation to consider one of the second best players, lower volume and cheaper cost per click, perfect for small budgets!

Finally, I believe you can be harder on your SEM agency to make sure they fit in the marketing-mix. You don’t care in having the lowest CPC (cost per click); you care about your brand, your clients and making profit. Everybody must talk the same language.

Martin Goupil

Skooiz.com announces acquisition of Mastodonte Communication

2007-08-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

Skooiz is pleased to announce it has acquired Mastondonte Communication, emailing marketing provider and owner of Toutacoup.ca, Canada’s largest French opt-in list, and Wannawin.ca. Altogether these two leading contest sites draw more than 180.000 unique visitors and 9 millions page views per month.

For the last 5 years, Mastodonte has been relentlessly providing quality services among the industry and expanding its leading email list which now has more than 1 million members and counting. Mastodonte’s list, which includes mostly French Canadian contacts, also allows advertisers to reach audiences outside North-America in France and Belgium. Mastodonte’s clients include several ad agencies and big brand advertisers such as Metro, Hydro Québec, Visa Desjardins, AOL, ING Direct and L’Oréal Paris.

"This acquisition represents both a unique opportunity and a great synergy for all of our clients. Since I first started collaborating with Mastodonte Communications, 3 years from now, I’ve realized that most clients where constantly looking for effective and complementary ways to leverage their paid search programs declares Laurent Lucas, Skooiz.com president."

Skooiz.com will continue to collaborate with Francois Lane, founder and former Mastodonte’s president, via its new company Thecodekitchen.com and its team for operating Mastodonte mailings.

Contact Info:
Skooiz.com / Toutacoup.ca / Wannawin.ca
1-877-787-1769
Laurent Lucas

Comparison: Results pages reading on Google.com vs baidu.com

2007-07-13T09:28:00.000-04:00

We talk a lot about China and the great potential which it offers, particularly for publicity on the Web and the search engines. It is for that reason that Skooiz.com has lately put on line the Chinese version of its website and currently negotiates partnerships to establish business connections with Chinese agencies.

Everyone knows that the Chinese professional and cultural behaviour is very different from that of the Americans or Europeans. No one will be surprised to note that it’s the same in the search engine results pages reading.

Below, an eyetracking analysis conducted with Chinese participants by Enquiro comparing the way search results are read on Google.cn and Baidu, first Chinese search engine, indicates clear differences among Chinese and Western search behaviors.

Eyetracking analysis on Google and Baidu

Source: Enquiro Search Solutions

The Chinese, obviously, read and click on the top 3 results in priority, but, contrary to the American or European Net surfers, they also read and click on the entirety of the links of a page.

Some think that the lack and/or the control of information make the Chinese avid of knowledge and information. Why not? That proves that the China market has its specificities and that it’s better to know them.

Laurent Lucas
Skooiz.com President

Keywords combinaisons ?

2007-07-12T12:12:00.000-04:00

As noted in our study, Quebecers very often use two or three words to make their research. To have discussed it lately with European colleagues, it is the same in the industrialized countries.

However, with the analysis of the volume of postings carried out on Google, the statistics are not as clear.

Let’s take the example of the insurance, over a given period. Let see what the results give.

Keywords	Impressions
Assurance auto	86234
Assurance	42354
Assurance automobile	77863
Assurence	7266
Assurance auto québec	72
Soumission assurance automobile	59

It is clear that a big proportion of the Net surfers use indeed a 2 words expression, but only one word is still largely used. Three words and more, statistics speak for themselves.

An interesting fact, the term “assurence” generates a considerable number of requests. The advantage of positioning your site on very targeted requests is often the guarantee of a good CTR and a weak CPC thus of a better ROI. Still your ROI should be calculated.

If the Net surfer’s education regarding research seems to be good, it is not yet the case for all. As for the orthography, it’s another story.

Laurent Lucas
Président Skooiz.com

Skooiz.com looks towards China

2007-07-06T15:52:00.000-04:00

Montreal, July 2007 - SEO/SEM agency specialized in search engine marketing Skooiz.com releases Chinese version of its web site this week. «We had contacted potential partners in Shanghai to establish a base of development for Skooiz marketing solutions in China. The translation of our website was the first step towards the success of our strategy. We are conscious that reaching this goal will take time, but this huge market is still virgin and full of promising opportunities. Our main goal is to help Chinese companies to get notice on search engines outside China. » declares Laurent Lucas, president founder of interactive marketing agency Skooiz.com

About Skooiz.com
Skooiz.com is an interactive adverstising agency specialized in high-volume sponsored links campaign management, search engine optimization and consulting. Working with exclusive bid management tools linked to search engines API to leverage client acquisition and online sales via ROI driven paid search programs. Skooiz is already present in Montreal, New York and Paris. In fall 2007, an office will open in Toronto. Montreal agency branch now counts eleven collaborators specialized in SEM and SEO.

Information
Laurent Lucas
Skooiz.com
1-877-787-1769
info@skooiz.com

Skooiz unveils study on behaviour and attitude of French Canadians when searching on the web

2007-06-21T15:31:00.000-04:00

Skooiz.com unveils exclusive study on behaviour and attitude of French Canadians when searching on the web. Skooiz conducted this online survey in collaboration with its partner Mastodonte Communication, an email marketing agency owner of the largest French-speaking bulk email opt-in list in Canada and popular contest site Wannawin.ca. 1272 members from Mastodonte’s email marketing list were surveyed on 17 questions about their web search behaviours and attitudes.

Results
Results show that French Canadians have reached a certain maturity level in using internet, primarily in terms of search habits.

Key Findings

French Canadians are very active web searchers. Close to 65% use search engines from 2 to 10 times a day.
A wide majority of respondents (85%) feel satisfied with the primary results from search requests. Only 1,6% were unsatisfied, while 8,8% were very unsatisfied from the results.
More than 48,9%, use 2 keywords when searching and close to 31% use 3 keywords. Only 9,5% use one specific keyword and close to 11% type in 4 keywords.
More than 40% sometimes use advanced search functions and 9% very often.
40,2% of French Canadian search users were neutral about the relevance of sponsored links. Only, 17,4% find them relevant or very relevant. 32,3% of surveyed searchers find sponsored links irrelevant.

For more information on our findings download the complete study on behaviour and attitude of French Canadians when searching on the web here

You found these results relevant and representative ? Tell us what you think.

If you are interested in getting expert search engine marketing services for your website or e-store simply drop me an email andres@skooiz.com or call at 514.787.1769

News Coverage

Andres Restrepo
Skooiz Team

Click Fraud: Adwords strikes back

2007-03-14T14:25:00.000-04:00

To face criticism in regards of fraudulent clicks, Google is on the verge of launching a specific system that would allow advertisers to specify IP addresses from PCs that would not be able to view their sponsored links.

This feature will prevent ppc competitors to simulate clicks without the intention of buying or fraudulent clicks. By March, Google will provide advertisers with information regarding stat monitoring of click filters. A standardized platform will also be accessible to Google Adwords members.

Although, this upgrade will improve the current situation, no toolset will ever compare in terms of performance to entrusting the management of your ppc campaigns to a trustworthy, experienced sponsored link provider mastering the best click fraud detection tools on the market.

Pay per click makes the frontpage during Quebec’s 2007 electoral campaign

2007-03-06T08:28:00.000-05:00

Pay per click search engine marketing (SEM) made quite a remarkable first impression on the Quebec political scene last week. This whole story even made La Presse's front page saturday March 3rd.

All this mediatic commotion originated from the claim that the The Liberal Party of Quebec made an unethical move by buying the names of their rival candidates from the PQ, ADQ, Green Party and Québec Solidaire and redirecting generated ppc traffic to their own website.

Although many commentators share their views on whether this marketing approach was ethical or not, the real question remain unanswered: was the PLQ ppc campaign in compliance with Adwords content policy ?

Judge for yourself:
https://adwords.google.com/select/contentpolicy.html

Skooiz.com is now a Google Qualified Company

2007-02-27T11:29:00.000-05:00

MONTREAL — Feb. 27th, 2007 — Interactive advertising agency Skooiz.com specialized in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM) is very happy to announce it is now officially a Google Certified Company.

The company now belongs to the very small circle of Canadian advertising agencies accredited Google Certified Company.

Skooiz.com is particularly proud to receive this honourable recognition: « Google Certified Company accreditation will reinforce Skooiz strong position as a sponsor links campaign management specialist and reinstate our ongoing commitment to the development of online advertising», declares Laurent Lucas president and founder of Skooiz.com.

About Skooiz.com
Skooiz.com is an interactive advertising agency specialized in managing high-volume sponsored links campaigns, organic search optimization missions and counselling. Skooiz.com has develop an exclusive toolset of campaign management and assessment tools, working directly with today’s major search engines APIs, which allows to maximize ROI results for pay-per-click advertisers.

The agency is based in Montreal, Paris and plans to open a new office in Toronto May 2007.

Skooiz Montreal presently employs 9 collaborators specialized in SEO and SEM.

Google Adwords Qualified Advertising Companies In Canada

Contact
Laurent Lucas
Skooiz.com
1-877-787-1769
info@skooiz.com

SEMPO Survey of SEM Industry: first North-American results

2007-02-21T08:37:00.000-05:00

Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (Sempo) recently published the first Canadian and American results of their international survey of international search engine marketing industry. Here are the most significant results obtained:

The Search Engine Marketing market (natural referencing and sponsored links) experience a 62% increase; going from $5,74 billion in 2005 to $9,4 billion in 2006 in the United States alone, widely surpassing previous projections of a $ 7 billion volume growth.

75% of respondents stated that they prefer natural /organic referencing

71% of respondent declare exploiting pay per click campaigns on search engines

86 % of web marketing budgets go to trusted feed market activities (paid inclusion) and sponsored links which represent together $8 billion. The organic referencing market represents a 12% budget share with a $1,1 billion market value.

Paid listing (moteurs et annuaires) continue to decline in popularity with less than a 1% market share of web marketing budgets in 2006.

The Search engine market benefits from the transfer of budgets traditionally allocated to print magazine adds (20%), direct marketing (16%) and web development (15%).

For sponsored links campaigns, the most used platforms are Google Adwords (96%), Yahoo! Search Marketing (86%) and MSN Adcenter, which showed the highest popularity increase going from a 29% usage rate among respondents in 2005 to 68% in 2006.

The main reasons to invest in search marketing are to increase online sales (58%), brand positioning and notoriety (57%) and other motivations sucha as increase of qualified traffic and valorisation of online advertising space.

The American Search engine market is projected to reach $18,6 billion in 2011.

Source: Sempo.org

Who is Skooiz ?

2007-02-10T11:05:00.000-05:00

Skooiz.com is an Interactive Advertising Agency specialized in high-volume sponsored links campaign management & optimisation, organic search optimization and e-commerce counselling. Skooiz.com has develop an exclusive toolset of campaign management and assessment tools, working directly with today’s major search engines APIs, which allows competitive advertisers to maximize ROI results of their web marketing strategies.

The agency is based in Montreal, Paris and plans to open a new office in Toronto May 2007.

Skooiz Montreal presently employs 9 collaborators specialized in SEO, SEM and E-Commerce.