Throwing out a short post in between other action items, but I am watching the Tiger Woods press conference. I have been following this story since it’s unfolding only because I am a golfer (7 handicap last summer… very proud of that). Anyways, I searched “Tiger Woods” during the press conference and was interested to see a Google trends graph on the bottom of the SERP (search engine result page).

Here is a screenshot taken from the bottom of the SERP during Tiger’s press conference:

Working at Backcountry.com the last two years  as a comparison shopping manager, I’ve taken a liking to some of the comparison shopping engine models. I’ve seen good ones, I’ve seen really bad ones, but most of them are very transactional. About 95% of the shopping engines you’ll see fulfill demand. A lot of them have very robust search engine marketing campaigns, as well as a strong SEO presence. Just because a shopping engine brings in a lot of money to retail sites like Backcountry.com doesn’t mean they’re great… some of the biggest revenue-producing shopping engines are still grouped as “really bad ones” in my eyes.

If a user goes to Google and searches for “north face jacket”, you’re going to see paid placements for a lot of retailers (including Backcountry.com, of course). However, you’ll also see some comparison shopping sites bidding on these retail keywords. In this particular search, I’ve scanned over the first two pages and have found two shopping search engines. One being Nextag.com (a major shopping engine), and the other being Netshoppers.com (a site powered by Pricegrabber.com… more on them later).

The problem that I see in most of the comparison shopping sites is that they are in it for the money; they are more interested in earnings than providing their users with a great experience. And to make more money, most of the time these sites will put up a lot of ads… ads that are meant to trick you into clicking on them (click-arbitrage) . In fact, all the product listings are essentially ads. Every time you click on a product that you find with the best price or from a store you recognize, the site that you click through to is paying that shopping engine. When you go to Nextag, or Shopping.com, or Shopzilla, a lot of the products that you see listed on top after you do a search are up there not because they are the most relevant product to your search, but because those advertisers are willing to pay the shopping engine more per click than the people below them. Hence, more money for the shopping engine.

Score: Shopping Engine, 1 – Consumer, 0

This is where ThisNext.com enters the room. From their website:

Founded in 2006 by a team of seasoned internet entrepreneurs, ThisNext changed the way people discover and shop for products online. Today, Santa Monica-based ThisNext serves millions on consumers every month as the Web’s best place to discover the brands, products, trends and people that shape the future of what’s next.

ThisNext is taking a different approach to shopping search. They are helping users discover unique products in specific verticals thanks to other passionate users on the site.  ThisNext, unlike most other shopping search engines, uses web-based crowdsourcing, meaning they rely on their site’s users to provide content. Right on their homepage, the company states that ThisNext is where you “explore great product recommendations, get personalized shopping suggestions, and rave about products you like”. In comparison, Nextag’s mission is to “compare prices before you buy”. Can you see the difference in value between the two?

Simply put, ThisNext revolves around the shopper. The shopper who actively uses ThisNext vs. someone who stumbles upon your typical CSE may be more of a browser than a person ready to convert. However, despite the current state of the economy, the community based around ThisNext is very passionate around specific verticals of products listed on ThisNext, and seems to be very loyal. It’s a different approach to the shopping search game, and with the internet becoming more social, it will be fun to watch ThisNext expand in the next few years. They are already on the move, acquiring a company called Stylehive, a company similar in nature that concentrates their presence around fashion, beauty, and style. ThisNext also reported a Series C round of $1.2 million. Good for them!

After listening to CEO Scott Morrow discuss ThisNext on This Week In Startups, I’ve taken away that ThisNext makes 66% of their revenue through the leads that the generate through advertisers listing their products, and then the other 33% through advertising. If there is one thing I don’t like about ThisNext, it’s their Google Adsense listings all over the page. Hopefully these ads will vanish with time, but I guess as a start up content site, you gotta do what you gotta do.

In comparison to the other CSEs out there, I dig what ThisNext is doing. It gives more power to the people, and while it’s still small, hopefully ThisNext is the new wave of shopping search engines.

Follow CEO Scott Morrow on Twitter here.

The Olympics have been on television now for three days and have been the hot topic of blogs, tweets, and searches across the internet. To say the least, it’s been fun following the winter Olympics this year. The internet has made this Winter Olympics probably one of the most interactive Olympics yet.  During the Olympics in 2006, Twitter was just an idea; now you can follow the Olympics in real time. At the games in Torino, internet television wasn’t openly accepted and Hulu hadn’t been created yet. Now, NBC is frantically trying to stop internet users from finding live video and illicit video clips, essentially playing a game of digital whack-a-mole (serves them right… this time delay is no good!)

Missed the opening ceremony? Not a problem! It’s a new age to say the least.

All of this aside, I had the television on in the background earlier, where the medal ceremony for the men’s mogul freestyle skiing event was taking place. Then I heard about the silver medalist, Dale Begg-Smith, who was a skier who had helped fund his training through his internet marketing company, which essentially made him a millionaire.

I looked into it and found some articles about his business. It seems that he started several companies with his brother when he was a teenager years ago that was based around pop-up and pop-under internet advertising. While no one likes pop-up ads, we’re talking about the internet just after the dot-com bust. The internet in 2001. I can’t believe how much has changed since then.

Regardless, it seems that Dale Begg-Smith’s company was controversial – not because of pop-up ads (as annoying as they are), but because of the adware and spyware associated with it. I am not going to pick a side, but considering he was able to scheme this while training to become an Olympian (he won gold in 2006), and become a millionaire all while he was a teenager, that’s just beyond me. As a wide-eyed teenager sitting in front of my computer in 1999 picturing all the opportunities the internet could provide me, whose to say I wouldn’t have done the same thing. I mean come on, my group of friends had our own money-making schemes (think AllAdvantage.com… man, that’s old school).

It was funny finding out about all of this. I never thought I would be reading about a gold medalist who was into this kind of form of internet advertising. My opinion: Dale Begg-Smith is a smart guy. The internet back in 2000 was like a free-for-all in some respects. Of course, I don’t condone adware and spyware. I think it would be cool to sit down with Dale and talk internet advertising over lunch.

Looks like Google Buzz is going to be included in Google real-time search results the same way Twitter has been since Q4 of 2009.

Google released real-time search around December 7th. When I say ‘Google real-time search’, I am talking about up to the minute search results… that means that anything from Twitter updates, to blogs, to up-to-date news articles will be able to appear in the organic search locations on a search engine result page. If people are googling information about a recent event, it makes sense to show the most real-time articles and publications, doesn’t it?

With the “snowpocalypse” ripping through the east coast, I decided to Google “snow”. Because this is a hot trending word right now as more of the powder dumps all over the east, there was bound to be some Google real-time results. I was surprised to find a good amount of live results coming from Google Buzz (click the picture for a better view):

Of course Google Buzz is only one day old (yes, it was born yesterday), but showing Google Buzz results in their real-time search shows me that they’re pretty serious about this tool. I’ve heard various reactions from the community, some people hate it, and other folks think it has de-valued Facebook by 50%. I’ve tried it, I like it, but I’ll hold my opinion for a while.

Not quite sure what Google Buzz is? Have you seen the Google Buzz logo in your g-mail account, but still not sure what it does? I am still wrapping my head around it myself, so I would recommend you checking out their landing page at http://www.google.com/buzz, or watch the video:

I realize I have been posting a lot about Google, but hey… Google is so hot right now.

• study abroad paris france
• cafes near the louvre
• translate tu es tres très mignon
• impress a french girl
• chocoloate shops paris france
• what are truffles
• who is truffaut
• jobs in paris
• AA 120
• churches in paris
• how to assemble a crib

These were the search queries used in the Google Superbowl Ad last night during the 2nd half of the game. Maybe I am a search nerd, but this was probably my favorite commercial of the night; very tasteful, told a good story, showed how Google is used, but at the same time was very emotional. To me, Google comes off as a “warm fuzzy” every time I watch the ad.

Besides, what on earth is “search overload” anyways?

This particular “parisian love” video has actually been around since November 2009, but it was a day before the game when I learned that this ad was going to be on TV (thanks @johnbattelle). For those wondering why this is such a big deal to me, it’s because Google is known for not advertising… ever. From Google CEO Eric Schmidt:

We didn’t set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search. Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact. But we liked this video so much, and it’s had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience.

The ad got a lot of talk around the office. OK – probably not fair that I am waist deep in search engine marketing at Backcountry.com. But hey, I think it was a tasteful and effective ad.

P.S. If you ‘google’ the the search queries from the video, you’ll find six ads linking to their ‘Search On’ Youtube channel page… smart move!

In searching through my Google Analytics account for where traffic to my blog is coming from, I stumbled upon a referring site where I interviewed with the folks at Bizrate to kick off their blog back in July 2009. I forgot that this discussion was going to be published on their blog, but I figure I’d link back to their site to return the favor. Our discussion was based around how Bizrate ratings not only give customers a chance to voice their opinions about your store, but how the ratings can affect your Google Product Search rankings.

I remember when we talked to the folks at Bizrate about this, we were in the middle of a Google Product Search algorithm crisis, where GPS overhauled how retailer’s products were listed on GPS literally overnight (they also changed the position of the onebox on the search engine results page… that meant for bad times for retailers who relied too much on Google Product Search). Most of what we discussed still applied today. You can check out the short and sweet interview post here:

http://www.bizrateinsights.com/2009/07/24/ratings-they-boost-your-search-engine-listings-too/

Now go watch the super bowl!

Several weeks ago, I heard about a site called Trada.com. Simply put, Trada connects PPC experts looking to earn an extra buck to companies that are looking for assistance with their SEM campaigns. From Trada.com:

“Trada is revolutionizing the way Agencies, Advertisers and PPC Experts build and manage PPC marketing campaigns. We’ve developed the first PPC marketplace that allows agencies and in-house advertisers to leverage the skills of hundreds of the best PPC experts in the world, who in turn earn money risk free by generating low cost clicks and conversions for advertisers.”

I have several clients that I work with over at SawtoothMedia, primarily with SEM, SEO, and CSE campaigns, but I thought I’d give this a try. I wanted to see that this company was all about – earn an extra buck, gain a little more experience, etc.

From their “How It Works” page:

1. Advertisers create a new Paid Search campaign in Trada

Advertisers create a new campaign with some basic information about the company and the product/service that is being sold, and establish the parameters for the campaign like daily budget, maximum cost per click, the ad networks to advertise on, target cost per conversion, etc.

2. PPC Experts in the Trada Marketplace join the campaign

PPC Experts are alerted to the new campaign and decide if they’d like to work on it. If they join the campaign, they begin generating ad groups, keywords and ads.

3. Ad begin running on the Google, Yahoo and Bing ad networks

Trada gathers the ad groups, keywords and ads created by PPC Experts for the campaign and sends them to the Google/Yahoo/Bing accounts we’ve created for the campaign, where it begins running. After the campaign launches the Advertiser has the ability to review all of these keywords and ads to make sure they accurately represent the business and objectives.

4. Clicks and conversions are generated; PPC Experts earn money

If PPC Experts generate clicks or conversions for less than the stated click or conversion price, they keep the difference between what the Advertiser was willing to pay for the click/conversion and what it actually cost to generate it.

It’s that simple!

After checking it out over the last 24 hours, I realized it isn’t that simple.

Pros:

Signing up for the service as a ‘PPC Expert’ was pretty easy. It consisted of getting in touch with the folks at Trada (I think it’s a three person company? Maybe five?) and showing them that you have an SEM background. I mailed them my LinkedIn profile and was invited to take a 15 question quiz (way too easy in my opinion). Once that was done, I had to sign and fax a “rules of Trada” document to them along with a W9. It was received and accepted pretty quick.

Trada runs a forum (on Ning… bleh) where you can connect with other ‘PPC Experts’, discuss campaign strategies, submit bugs and feature requests which are answered by a person over at Trada, and network with other search engine marketers. In total, there are about 210 marketers on the forum. It’s not a bad place to chat… most folks seem friendly and willing to give a hand.

Finally, there are about 40 companies signed up with Trada who are looking for your hands-on help with their Google and Yahoo PPC campaigns. You have the option to join any of the companies on Trada’s platform, and begin building out a campaign immediately.

Cons:

Where do I begin? I guess I’ll start by saying it’s not very obvious how someone like me makes money. This is how I think it works: Company X has a conversion event, whether it be selling an item, or creating a lead. Company X has a goal for the conversion event stated on their campaign page; for this example’s sake, let’s say it’s a $50 CPA. As an advertiser, you have to create a campaign for Company X and if you create 10 leads at a $25CPA, you’ll receive the cost difference between Company X’s goal, so in this case, you’d make $25 x 10 leads, so $250. I think this is how it works, but I’ve yet to see where on Trada’s site this is specifically explained. An example like this would be useful. I guess the good part about this is that if you create no leads and spend $200, you aren’t charged. There is no risk (except your poor performance may get you suspended from the account).

Next, a good number of the companies looking for SEM help have poorly built sites. There is no way you can build a campaign for these sites without quality score suffering. When I manage some of the clients that I have partnered with, I’ll discuss with them strategies around making a website more SEO friendly. That line is cut off with Trada, and you’re at the mercy of their site’s quality.

A handful of the companies that do work with Trada have very small advertising budgets. Of the 40 companies listed with Trada, 23 of them have an advertising budget of $50/day or less. Maybe I am an SEM snob as I have worked with clients with either unlimited budgets or budgets way higher than $50/day, but it’s a waiting game with a small SEM budget. Because you split the budget with 10-15 other ‘PPC experts’, it’s difficult to get statistically significant data to work off of.

A lot of the advertisers have CPC and average position goals; I don’t agree with this. If you’re selling insurance, you’re going to have a high CPC in the $3 – $10 range. If you’re selling clothing and apparel, your CPC is going to be lower. CPCs will be as high as an advertiser can keep driving traffic efficiently. Like CPCs, I keep an eye on the average position of my ads that I run with my other clients, but I use it just as a bench mark. I’d never recommend using average position as a goal.

Here is my biggest nag with Trada: the way you optimize these accounts. Two things stand out:

1) it’s time consuming to update an account - The interface Trada expects you to use to add and edit ad groups, ads, keywords, and bids is very poor. It’s frustrating using this tool. It’s like a tool you’d expect to see from 2006. There is no way an advertiser will get a well optimized campaign with this interface.

2) as a PPC expert, you aren’t given access to all SEM optimization tools – I am talking about big ticket items that all search engine marketers use. I am talking about the ability to upload negative keywords, the ability to download search query reports, the ability to geo-target, the ability to create campaigns. The only way to build a campaign in Trada is with ad groups, ads, keywords, and bids. As a marketer, this is equivalent to building an SEM campaign with both hands tied behind my back, hanging from a tree upside down.

Not to take a cheap shot, but in reading through some of their help and getting started PDFs, there was a good amount of spelling mistakes. In taking the entry quiz, it was a bad sign that the quiz was as easy as it was. In fact, some of the questions they asked didn’t even have the right answers. Also, their site has been down quite a bit over the last few days… a big turnoff.

Conclusion

Unfortunately, there seem to be too many flaws in this program from an search engine marketer’s perspective. The cons far outweigh the pros. I love seeing new ventures in the SEM space and I hope Trada finds a way to be successful, but they’ve got a long way to go. The SEM landscape changes so fast, and I don’t see them keeping up unless they get more man-power to build a better interface to battle some of the cons that I listed.

I’ll be keeping my eye on this site for improvements, but as a highly skilled marketer, my time is better spent elsewhere.