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	<title>Ask Kalena &#187; smx</title>
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	<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com</link>
	<description>Your Daily Search Engine Advice Column</description>
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		<title>Is Social Media bringing back our sense of community?</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/social-media/is-social-media-bringing-back-our-sense-of-community/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/social-media/is-social-media-bringing-back-our-sense-of-community/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:01:10 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[srch eng bootcamp]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2960</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[I&#8217;m writing this post from an aeroplane, winging my way home from Sydney after a speaking gig and general geek catchup at Online Marketer Bootcamp today. I&#8217;m a regular speaker at these Bootcamps and SMX shows across Australia and New Zealand, but despite being a 10 year conference veteran, I always learn something new. (By [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 10px;" title="Winner of Search Engine College training courses" src="http://www.searchenginecollege.com/sec_images/sscourse-winner-aug11.JPG" alt="voucher presented to winner of SEC training courses" width="450" height="369" />I&#8217;m writing this post from an aeroplane, winging my way home from Sydney after a speaking gig and general geek catchup at <a target="_blank" title="Online Marketer Conferences" href="http://www.onlinemarketer.net.au/">Online Marketer Bootcamp</a> today.</p>
<p>I&#8217;m a regular speaker at these Bootcamps and SMX shows across Australia and New Zealand, but despite being a 10 year conference veteran, I always learn something new. (By the way, the photo is me handing over a voucher for Search Engine College training to the value of $1,495 to a lucky Bootcamp attendee).</p>
<p>Today&#8217;s event was fairly small compared to the larger SMX-branded events, but I actually found the smaller crowd both switched-on and highly engaging. I&#8217;m not sure if it was because many of them were small to medium businesses rather than staff of large ad agencies or marketing departments, but these guys were truly interested in what we had to say and how they could use the information immediately.</p>
<p>Many audience members made the effort to track me down during the breaks or after the show to ask questions or simply let me know how much they took away from my session.  Quite a few of the attendees run their own companies and (like me) are responsible for all marketing, advertising and management aspects of their business. They desperately needed SEO, PPC and Social Media explained to them in 30 minutes grabs, minus the industry jargon and in real actionable terms that they could implement NOW. As impossible as that sounds, I think we actually delivered that today.</p>
<p>I spoke about one of my favorite subjects, <em>How to use Twitter for Business</em> (watch this space for a summary) and it was rewarding to see a few light bulbs go off in the crowd as they worked out how they could apply some of the case studies I presented to their own businesses, whether they were a one person company or part of a multi-national corporation.</p>
<p>But what really struck me about today was that the attendees were really keen to share what they knew about the subject matter (whether learned today or in the past) with other attendees. There was genuine excitement in the break out sessions where people were just completely open and honest about their own experiences in the marketing space, the successess and failures, and a willingness to share and learn that I haven&#8217;t witnessed at a conference for a couple of years.</p>
<p>At larger shows I&#8217;ve been to in the past, attendees tend to be quite secretive about what they do, who they work for, what agencies they use and what methodologies they employ. Not today. Today was all about connecting, engaging and sharing as much as possible. I&#8217;m convinced this is a by-product of our increasing involvement with social media. I sense that sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on are encouraging us to talk to each other again.</p>
<p>I overheard lots of conversations that began with <em>&#8220;I follow you on Twitter&#8221;</em> or <em>&#8220;I saw your Facebook post the other day&#8221;</em> or <em>&#8220;I heard you ask for information about X &#8211; here&#8217;s a link that might help&#8221;</em>. Despite the generational hype that we have lost our ability to communicate without a modem, I actually think our sense of community is returning.</p>
<p>Bring it on I say.</p>
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		<title>SMX Melbourne : Google Places &#8211; Not Your Father&#8217;s SERPs</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/google/smx-melbourne-google-places-not-your-fathers-serps/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/google/smx-melbourne-google-places-not-your-fathers-serps/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 07 Dec 2010 23:32:38 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google local]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google maps]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google places]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[local search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2588</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a summary of the presentation given by Monte Huebsch, CEO of Aussieweb at SMX Melbourne last month, about the way Google Places and local search are changing Google search results. Monte starts by saying that 96 percent of Google revenue is AdWords and AdSense, while the other 4 percent is stuff they do [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-8912" style="margin: 10px;" src="http://www.sitepronews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/monte-h-crop.jpg" alt="monte-h-crop" width="194" height="262" />This is a summary of the presentation given by Monte Huebsch, CEO of <a target="_blank" title="McAnerin International" href="http://www.aussieweb.com.au/" target="_blank">Aussieweb</a> at <a target="_blank" title="Search Marketing Expo Melbourne" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au" target="_blank">SMX Melbourne</a> last month, about the way Google Places and local search are changing Google search results.</p>
<p>Monte starts by saying that 96 percent of Google revenue is AdWords and AdSense, while the other 4 percent is stuff they do to piss off Microsoft. This gets a big laugh from the audience.</p>
<p>The Google Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) of today, Monte says, are almost unrecognizable from the Google SERPs of 10 years ago. The majority of search results are now dominated by local matches,  social search and/or universal search. So SEO just won&#8217;t cut it anymore.  You absolutely need to be in <a target="_blank" title="Google Places" href="http://www.google.com/places" target="_blank">Google Places</a> and social search.</p>
<p>He mentions <a target="_blank" title="Google Page Preview" href="http://searchengineland.com/google-adds-page-preview-to-search-options-29039" target="_blank">Page Preview</a> &#8211; which is a new search feature launched this month, where Google adds  thumbnails of a page, directly into the search results. These previews  are accessible via the search navigation menu on the left of the SERPs,  under the heading Page Previews.</p>
<p>Monte moves on to talk about the impact Local Search is currently having. Monte showed an example of a SERP for &#8220;florist Brisbane&#8221; and how it has changed in the past two weeks due to the introduction of <a target="_blank" title="Google Place Search" href="http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2010/10/place-search-faster-easier-way-to-find.html" target="_blank">Place Search</a>. The traditional &#8220;7 pack&#8221; of Google Maps search results is gone and in it&#8217;s place is a kind of universal local search, with images, videos and map pins all pulled from Google Places listings. Results are algorithmic and predictive, based on the search terms used. You can even drill down to isolate only Google Places results for your search terms. This provides a significant opportunity to businesses targeting local searchers via their Google Places listings.</p>
<p><a target="_blank" title="Google Boost" href="http://google-latlong.blogspot.com/2010/10/advertise-your-local-business-with.html" target="_blank">Google Boost</a> is a brand new beta service offered to to select Google Places users in  San Francisco, Houston and Chicago, allowing them to pay a monthly fee  to Google for AdWords ad creation. Boost enables business owners to  create search ads from within their Google Places account, without the  need for an AdWords account. Monte suggests that this is the way local  search is headed &#8211; with localized ads right there in your maps.</p>
<p>Links on the SERPs now often lead to a Google Places page rather than web site, says Monte. If you claim your spot in Google Places, you&#8217;ll get into Universal Search, Google Maps, Google Earth and mobile search, whereas if you don&#8217;t, you won&#8217;t!</p>
<p>Something to be aware of when you claim your Google Places listing, says Monte, is that you CANT change the email address associated with your listing. Monte suggests creating a new Gmail account JUST for your Places account so you have more control over it and future flexibility. Monte suggests looking at <a target="_blank" title="DavidMihm.com" href="http://www.davidmihm.com" target="_blank">Davidmihm.com</a> as a great resource for Google Places info.</p>
<p>If you have a mobile business, you can mask your physical address in Google Places. So for example, if you have a mobile pet grooming service, where a physical address is not relevant &#8211; you can still use Google Places to your advantage.</p>
<p>Also, try to get reviews on Google Places and add YouTube videos and photos about your business as these are all included in your data allowance and you should be making the most of them.</p>
<p>Google Places is another platform for your business! Make the best use of it you possibly can.</p>
]]></content:encoded>
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		<title>SMX Melbourne : How to Make Conversion Optimization Work for Your Business</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/events/smx-melbourne-how-to-make-conversion-optimization-work-for-your-business/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/events/smx-melbourne-how-to-make-conversion-optimization-work-for-your-business/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 05 Dec 2010 22:31:50 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[conversions]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[usability]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[web design]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2563</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a summary of the presentation given by Alan Long, from Experian Hitwise at SMX Melbourne last month, about how to make conversion optimization work for your business. Survey of Australian Marketers Conversion optimization is basically like product placement in a store, says Alan. In retail stores, you switch your products around, change signage [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-8600" style="margin: 5px;" src="http://www.sitepronews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/webtraffic1.jpg" alt="webtraffic" width="216" height="150" />This is a summary of the presentation given by Alan Long, from <a target="_blank" title="McAnerin International" href="http://www.hitwise.com/" target="_blank">Experian Hitwise</a> at <a target="_blank" title="Search Marketing Expo Melbourne" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au" target="_blank">SMX Melbourne</a> last month, about how to make conversion optimization work for your business.</p>
<p><strong><br />
Survey of Australian Marketers</strong></p>
<p>Conversion optimization is basically like product placement in a store, says Alan. In retail stores, you switch your products around, change signage etc. to see where/how they are best placed to produce the most sales. This is what Conversion Optimization is all about, but using your web site content.</p>
<p>Experian researched 300 Australian marketing professionals from multiple industries about conversion optimization via an independently commissioned study. The idea was to explore how Australian organizations are using online marketing channels and assess their understanding of conversion optimization.</p>
<p>The study showed that 2.043 billion was spent in Australia on online marketing to the end of June 2010. That&#8217;s a 13 percent increase over last year. Aussie marketers are pumping more budget into online marketing to drive higher volumes of traffic.</p>
<p>Are marketers missing a trick when it comes to boosting web ROI? Yes, Alan says. Lots of money being spent, but very little of that is put into converting visitors into customers or measuring success.</p>
<p>At the moment, site visitors are the main measure of web site success for many marketers. However, conversion is a more a valid measure of success, with conversion rates typically running at 1-5 percent. The trend in Australia is towards boosting traffic rather than reviewing site performance to drive conversion.</p>
<p>But, Alan says, why attract large volumes of traffic to your website if no-one is buying or doing what you wanted them to? This failure likely stems from a lack of awareness around conversion optimization and how to measure success.</p>
<p><strong><br />
Six Signs Your Business Should be Doing Conversion Optimization:</strong></p>
<p>1) You have a high spend on attraction activities or advertising that drives consumers to your website.<br />
2) You have a high spend on website content look and feel.<br />
3) You have a large amount of online traffic.<br />
4) There is pressure to increase profitability but you&#8217;re unsure how to measure it.<br />
5) You&#8217;re frequently making website changes based on guesswork.<br />
6) You&#8217;re operating in a highly competitive industry.</p>
<p><strong><br />
Warning, Scary Statistics Ahead!</strong></p>
<p>Almost half of Australian online marketers surveyed spend over 40 percent of budget driving traffic to their sites. Their biggest increase in spend will be on website updates (55 percent).</p>
<p>Of annual budgets allocated to online marketing:</p>
<ul>
<li>17% = creative and design</li>
<li>13.5% = content development and updates</li>
<li>13.2% = hosting, software and licenses</li>
<li>11.3% = usability</li>
<li>10.4% = programming and development</li>
<li>8.2% = SEO</li>
<li>7.1% = analysis and measurement</li>
<li>7.1% = conversion optimization</li>
</ul>
<p>Despite ongoing investment in web site design and traffic generation, 90% of marketers surveyed spent less than 10 percent of their budget on persuading existing visitors to take action! (conversion optimization). You need to compliment traffic generation with a website that provides the right experience, leading visitors to the desired action, says Alan, otherwise your web site is as effective as a billboard in the desert.</p>
<p><strong><br />
Big Brands Make the Same Mistakes</strong></p>
<p>It wasn&#8217;t just the small companies making the mistakes either. The study showed that large brands throw big bucks at getting traffic with conversion rates of less than 5 percent. They have large volumes of traffic, however, they continue to compete for more online traffic by investing in expensive advertising and marketing, despite low conversion rates of sales or customers – many less than 5 per cent.</p>
<p>By focusing on attracting more customers to your website you are competing against your peers who often use similar tactics (e.g. display, pay-per click and search engine optimization). Instead of competing with others for traffic and squandering the traffic you get, you should be competing against yourself by optimizing your site for more conversions. This is a competition you&#8217;re guaranteed to win. How much better could you be doing? Why does one change work but another doesn&#8217;t? How much impact could it have on traffic and conversions if you tweak your landing pages or checkout process?</p>
<p><strong><br />
Lack of Understanding About Conversion Optimization</strong></p>
<p>There is a significant lack of understanding of conversion optimization in Australia &#8211; 89 percent do not do ANY. Most of these companies don&#8217;t have the tools or knowledge to accurately measure it, let alone act on it. Meanwhile, 62 percent of those surveyed have never even heard of conversion optimization or don&#8217;t understand what it is.</p>
<p>Research found that 30 percent of Australian marketers either do not evaluate the success of their website or only evaluate it on an annual basis, while 26 percent don&#8217;t know what factor/s contribute most to the success of their websites. Almost 45 percent of marketers surveyed that DO evaluate the success of their websites believe total visits/unique visitors or page views per visit are the key indicators of success. Wow.</p>
<p>Of those marketers that know about and conduct conversion optimization, over half have a website conversion rate of over 11 percent &#8211; double the figure claimed by respondents who have never heard of it. Marketers who are using conversion optimization are gaining competitive advantage by maximizing the engagement and sales opportunities of their sites. They understand what impacts the performance of their web site and what needs to change in order to increase sales and/or participation.</p>
<p><strong><br />
Getting started with Conversion Optimization</strong></p>
<p>Conversion optimization doesn’t require significant budget or a fresh online marketing strategy to be effective. The critical factors are using web expertise to research and identify what online clients want and taking the necessary steps to build engagement, says Alan. Here are 8 ways to get started:</p>
<p>1. Know what your customers want.<br />
2. Present an appropriate call to action.<br />
3. Design your layouts &amp; forms with users in mind.<br />
4. Test your processes.<br />
5. Use reviews, ratings and endorsements.<br />
6. Use promotions and find synergies.<br />
7. Improve navigation search and filtering functionality.<br />
8. Increase credibility.</p>
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		<title>SMX Melbourne : Designing a Bullet Proof Link Building Campaign</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/link-building/smx-melbourne-designing-a-bullet-proof-link-building-campaign/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/link-building/smx-melbourne-designing-a-bullet-proof-link-building-campaign/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 02 Dec 2010 00:38:04 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[link building]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2554</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is a summary of the presentation given by Ian McAnerin, CEO of McAnerin International Inc. at SMX Melbourne last month, about how to design a bullet proof link building campaign. Link History Twelve years ago, pre-Gooogle, search engines just analyzed content in order to rank sites, says Ian. Linking wasn&#8217;t part of the ranking [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><a target="_blank" rel="attachment wp-att-2555" href="http://www.ask-kalena.com/link-building/smx-melbourne-designing-a-bullet-proof-link-building-campaign/attachment/ian-mcanerin/"><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" title="ian-mcanerin" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/ian-mcanerin-300x300.jpg" alt="" width="150" height="150" /></a>This is a summary of the presentation given by Ian McAnerin, CEO of <a title="McAnerin International" href="http://www.mcanerin.com/" target="_blank">McAnerin International Inc</a>. at <a target="_blank" title="Search Marketing Expo Melbourne" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au" target="_blank">SMX Melbourne</a> last month, about how to design a bullet proof link building campaign.</p>
<p><strong>Link History</strong></p>
<p>Twelve years ago, pre-Gooogle, search engines just analyzed content in order to rank sites, says Ian. Linking wasn&#8217;t part of the ranking algorithm. Google put paid to that by making links part of the equation. Suddenly, SEO became a lot more difficult.</p>
<p>Ian explained Term Vector Analysis (TVA)  and Citation Analysis and how they influenced the concept of links. TVA is how keywords appear on a page (relevance). Citation Analysis is the influence of keywords on a page (authority). Google was built by students who were using citation analysis on a daily basis.  Keyword density isn&#8217;t used by search engines. However, it is kinda similar to term vector analysis, which IS used by search engines.</p>
<p>Every web page stored in Google has a term profile containing number of times a keyword is used, density, proximity, position etc. Google then looks for clusters of terms that appear in proximity to the search phrase and finds the Representative Average to display in the SERPs. The process of TVA is excellent at figuring out informational pages such as Wikipedia pages.</p>
<p>The problem is that TVA can&#8217;t give search engines the entire picture &#8211; it&#8217;s difficult for them to tell the difference between spam and awesomeness.  This is how search engines worked up until Google. Then Google came along and threw links into the equation. The more links you had to the page, the higher rank you would have in the SERPs.</p>
<p>Typically, the better writing, the worse the SEO, because good writers use flowery, descriptive language.</p>
<p><strong>Types of Links</strong></p>
<p>Now, to rank, you need three kinds of links:</p>
<p>1) Authority (aged)</p>
<p>2) Relevance (current)</p>
<p>3) Buzz (social)</p>
<p>So you need a combination of old and new links. Therefore you need to be constantly building links!</p>
<p><a target="_blank" title="Mike Grehan on link building" href="http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/1710168/stinking-linking-vs-creative-thinking" target="_blank">Stinking Linking</a> &#8211; reference to articles by Mike Grehan about the prob with aged domains and links.</p>
<p><strong>Link Quality</strong></p>
<p>Link page quality is measured by:</p>
<ul>
<li>PageRank of the page</li>
<li>cached</li>
<li>nofollow</li>
<li>number of other links on page</li>
<li>topic</li>
</ul>
<p>Remember that it&#8217;s the PR of the PAGE that&#8217;s important, not the PR of the domain or main site. So if someone is offering you a link and bragging about having a PR4 on their home page, but your link is going to go on a inner page that has PR0, there&#8217;s no value there.</p>
<p>Page sculpting is not as influential now. No point no-following all your links on a page as they all leak PR anyway.</p>
<p><strong>Sources of Links:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Seeds &#8211; Yahoo, DMOZ</li>
<li>Directories and connections</li>
<li>competitors (meet then beat)</li>
<li>articles and blog posts</li>
<li>widgets</li>
<li>reviews</li>
<li>case studies</li>
<li>contests and publicity</li>
<li>profiles</li>
<li>social media</li>
<li>internal linking campaign</li>
<li>link reclamation</li>
<li>pick up the phone!</li>
</ul>
<p>Ian suggests starting any link campaign with your own site. Make sure you are cross linking internal pages. Then go and do link reclamation &#8211; check your 404s in Webmaster Tools to see if anyone is linking in to pages that no longer exist and ask them to update.</p>
<p>As an idea to attract links, Ian suggests holding a contest e.g. school laptop giveaway &#8211; put the rules of the contest on your web site and then the school / parents etc link to your web page for the rules.</p>
<p>Anchor text is virtual content. Rule of thumb is, if you wouldn&#8217;t spam your web site with the same keyword phrase, don&#8217;t do the same with your link building. Mix and match the anchor text linking to your pages and ask people linking to you to do the same.</p>
<p>Deep links are the best links. Don&#8217;t ask everyone to link to your home page! You&#8217;ll get better crawls and better rankings and your audience gets a higher quality experience if you inner pages are well-linked. Plus the crawler starts at inner pages that it might have missed before.</p>
<p><strong>Tools for Link Building:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li><a target="_blank" title="Open Site Explorer" href="http://www.opensiteexplorer.org/" target="_blank">Opensiteesxplorer.com</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" title="SEO Browser" href="http://www.seo-browser.com/" target="_blank">Seo-browser.com</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" title="Google Toolbar" href="http://www.google.com/toolbar/" target="_blank">Google Toolbar</a></li>
<li><a target="_blank" title="SEO Quake browser plugin" href="http://www.seoquake.com/" target="_blank">SEO Quake</a></li>
</ul>
<p><strong>Link Don&#8217;ts:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Use Free For All (FFA) links</li>
<li>Off topic links</li>
<li>Non-editorial</li>
<li>Obviously purchased links</li>
</ul>
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		<title>SMX Melbourne 2010 : All About Mobile Search</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/education/smx-melbourne-all-about-mobile-search/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/education/smx-melbourne-all-about-mobile-search/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 20 Nov 2010 11:03:12 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education/training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[mobile search]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2530</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[This is an excerpt from my live blogging of a SMX Melbourne presentation by Gillian Muessig, President of SEOmoz. Mobile is here to stay. If you haven&#8217;t already investigated how to use mobile marketing, you are already way behind. Why do you want a community platform? Social commerce is a subset of electronic commerce. Gillian [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-8474" src="http://www.sitepronews.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/mobileapps21-150x150.jpg" alt="mobileapps2" width="150" height="150" />This is an excerpt from my live blogging of a <a target="_blank" title="SMX Australia" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au" target="_self">SMX Melbourne</a> presentation by Gillian Muessig, President of SEOmoz.</p>
<p>Mobile is here to stay. If you haven&#8217;t already investigated how to use mobile marketing, you are already way behind.</p>
<p>Why do you want a community platform? Social commerce is a subset of electronic commerce. Gillian mentioned <a target="_blank" title="Living Social" href="http://www.livingsocial.com">LivingSocial.com</a> &#8211; already in Sydney, very big in the US. It&#8217;s a way to get deals / coupons for things in your community. Also <a target="_blank" title="Groupon" href="http://www.groupon.com">Groupon.com</a> is a similar thing. These ideas are similar to @square, which is a way to pay for things using your cell phone, popular in the US and hopefully coming to Australia and New Zealand soon.</p>
<p>You can make your own QR code at www.qrcode.kaywa.com &#8211; download the QR code to your mobile for coupon / discount / offer / invitations / news. Mobile coupons are about levels of offers therefore all about social status.</p>
<p>You can also play games with QR codes. Send hints / clues / instructions etc. Data has come full circle and now gone offline. You can get your codes offline now, from billboards, physical stores etc.</p>
<p>Should you or shouldn&#8217;t you jump on the .mobi bandwagon? Gillian says no. It was always a stop gap measure. But DO create mobile-friendly pages. Search engines will use transcoding to auto show your page on mobile devices. Make sure your pages provide value and are designed for mobile and put them in folders on your site.</p>
<p>Cindy Krum is a mobile marketing evangelist and the world&#8217;s foremost authority on the subject. Gillian suggests looking at Cindy&#8217;s <a target="_blank" title="Rank Mobile" href="http://www.rank-mobile.com/">mobile directory list</a>.</p>
<p>If you can blog, you can build an app. You don&#8217;t need a huge audience, you can make a mobile app just for your biz or your few customers.</p>
<p>For application building, try <a target="_blank" title="App Breeder" href="http://appbreeder.com/">AppBreeder</a>. Also, <a target="_blank" title="Hunch dot com" href="http://www.hunch.com">Hunch.com</a> launches tonight &#8211; it&#8217;s a mobile community builder that allows you to build your own mobile local app on the fly. It&#8217;s a brand new service that Gillian thinks will take off after launch.</p>
<p>Mobile is easy, it&#8217;s out there and now is your chance to grab the opportunities in mobile marketing before your competitors do.</p>
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		<title>Join me for SMX Melbourne</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/events/join-me-for-smx-melbourne/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/events/join-me-for-smx-melbourne/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 26 Oct 2010 11:01:51 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2461</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[The Search Marketing Expo (SMX) Sydney has been growing steadily for three years now and so popular has it become, that the show has expanded to Melbourne this year for the very first time. The inaugural SMX Melbourne Conference will be held at Hilton on the Park, Melbourne on November 16th and 17th so mark [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2463" title="smx-melb" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/smx-melb.png" alt="smx-melb" width="221" height="85" />The <a target="_blank" title="SMX Australia" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au/" target="_blank">Search Marketing Expo</a> (SMX) Sydney has been growing steadily for three years now and so popular has it become, that the show has expanded to Melbourne this year for the very first time.</p>
<p>The inaugural SMX Melbourne Conference will be held at Hilton on the Park, Melbourne on November 16th and 17th so mark your calendars!</p>
<p>After this year&#8217;s successful combination in Sydney, the Expo will again consist of three main events:</p>
<p>- <a target="_blank" title="eMetrics Melbourne agenda" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au/agenda/day-one-emetrics-agenda/" target="_blank">eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit</a> (Day 1)</p>
<p>- <a target="_blank" title="Search Marketing Expo agenda Melbourne" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au/agenda/day-two-smx-melbourne-agenda/" target="_blank">Search Marketing Expo</a> (Day 2)</p>
<p>- <a target="_blank" title="Search Engine Bootcamp Melbourne agenda" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au/agenda/melbourne-day-one-online-marketer-boot-camp-seo-ppc/" target="_blank">Search Engine Bootcamp</a> (Both days)</p>
<p>The first day will consist of eMetrics sessions, with topics such as conversion optimization, ROI and how to understand your web site metrics. Day two will dive into more technical content such as SEO, Google rankings and duplicate content issues.</p>
<p>Running concurrently with these sessions on both days will be the Bootcamp presentations, which are less technical and designed for attendees who are just starting to dip their toes into the murky waters of online marketing and social media. Bootcamp topics include link building, content creation, keyword research, usability, analytics, plus how to use Facebook and Twitter for business.</p>
<p>I&#8217;ve been invited to present the Twitter session, so if you missed catching me speak about Twitter in Sydney in April, come and see me in Melbourne! I&#8217;ve also been invited to be the official conference blogger, so you&#8217;ll probably see me tapping away at my laptop or tweeting throughout.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re a regular reader of my blog, you&#8217;ll know <a target="_blank" title="Blog posts about SMX" href="http://www.ask-kalena.com/category/smx/" target="_blank">how highly I rate SMX</a> and how much fun the Conference can be. Why not <a title="SMX Melbourne tickets" href="https://www.etouches.com/smxmelb2010" target="_blank">grab your ticket to SMX Melbourne</a> and I&#8217;ll catch you at the networking drinks.</p>
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		<title>Where the Bloody Hell Are Ya, Google Checkout?</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/google/where-the-bloody-hell-are-ya-google-checkout/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/google/where-the-bloody-hell-are-ya-google-checkout/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 03 Jun 2010 08:20:14 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[google]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[google checkout]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rants]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2173</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[So I have been waiting for Google Checkout to become available to merchants Down Under for a long time now. Every time I spot a Google representative at a Search Conference in Australia or New Zealand, I take the opportunity to ask them publicly &#8220;Where the bloody hell is my Google Checkout merchant account?&#8221; So [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright" style="margin: 5px;" title="broken google" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/images/Google-mug-broken.jpg" alt="" width="250" height="200" />So I have been waiting for <a target="_blank" title="Google Checkout" href="http://checkout.google.com/" target="_blank">Google Checkout</a> to become available to merchants Down Under <a target="_blank" title="Google checkout" href="http://www.searchenginecollege.com/sec_labels/google%20checkout.html" target="_blank">for a long time</a> now.</p>
<p>Every time I spot a Google representative at a Search Conference in Australia or New Zealand, I take the opportunity to ask them publicly <em>&#8220;Where the bloody hell is my Google Checkout merchant account?&#8221;</em> So far, the answer has ALWAYS been the same: <em>&#8220;We can&#8217;t give you any information about that&#8221;. </em></p>
<p>This year&#8217;s SMX Sydney conference was no different. Frederick Vallaeys, Product Evangelist for Google Adwords came to Australia to hold a <a title="New Google AdWords ad formats" href="http://www.ask-kalena.com/education/smx-not-your-fathers-adwords-the-new-google-ad-formats/" target="_blank">session about the new Google AdWords ad formats</a>. After listening patiently to Frederick, I raised my hand to ask a question and was handed the mic.</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;When are you going to make Google Checkout available to merchants in Australia and New Zealand?&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p>An expectant hush came over the room. Frederick thought carefully for a moment and then said <em>&#8220;I&#8217;ll have to get back to you on that. Please come and see me at the end of the session&#8221;.</em></p>
<p>Finally! I thought. Somebody who can give me a straight answer or put me in touch with someone who can give me a straight answer.</p>
<p>After the session, I packed up my laptop and headed up to the table of speakers. And&#8230;. Frederick was gone. Thankfully, Greg Grothaus from Google’s web spam team was still there and somewhat reluctantly took my card to give to Frederick. On the back I wrote my burning question. Again.</p>
<p>So fast forward two weeks after the conference. I received an email from Frederick with the subject line: <em>Google Checkout in Australia</em>. &#8220;Promising!&#8221; I told myself. But alas, his email read:</p>
<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;Greg passed on your card to me. I believe you asked about Google Checkout coming to Australia?</em></p>
<p><em>Consumers in Australia can already use Checkout to pay for things. As for allowing Australian merchants to accept payments by Checkout, <strong>we don&#8217;t have any timelines we can share about that</strong>.</em></p>
<p><em>Sorry I can&#8217;t provide you with a more specific answer&#8230;</em></p>
<p><em>Frederick&#8221;</em></p></blockquote>
<p><em><strong>We don&#8217;t have any timelines we can share about that</strong>. </em>WTF does that mean? Does that mean you DON&#8217;T know? Does it mean you DO know but aren&#8217;t willing to tell me? Does it mean an announcement is imminent? Does it mean you don&#8217;t really give a toss about Australia and New Zealand as they aren&#8217;t big enough markets to justify merchant accounts?</p>
<p>Look, I don&#8217;t complain about Google very often. Marvellous company. Brilliant people. Handy little search tool. I&#8217;m delighted that Frederick took the time to answer me personally. BUT, surely somebody, somewhere in the Googleplex can give me and other AU/NZ merchants in waiting a straight answer about this matter? It&#8217;s been 3 years since I began asking.</p>
<p>Where the bloody hell are ya, Google Checkout?</p>
<p><em>[Editor Update 1 : If you're an Aussie or Kiwi merchant and would like to know where the bloody hell YOUR  Google Checkout account is, please comment on this post, or better still, make your feelings known to <a target="_blank" title="google down under" href="http://www.twitter.com/googledownunder" target="_blank">Google Down Under</a> on Twitter and copy me in via <a target="_blank" title="kalena on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/kalena" target="_blank">@kalena</a>]</em></p>
<p><em>[Editor Update 2 : Thanks to those of you who contacted <a target="_blank" title="google down under" href="http://www.twitter.com/googledownunder" target="_blank">Google Down Under</a> to ask about Google Checkout for merchants Down Under. I've had a response from them: </em>"...we want paid apps for devs too but it takes a while to roll this out, we don't have a timeline for this yet<em>". Aaaaarrrggghhh! ]</em></p>
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		<title>SMX Sydney 2010 in Pics</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/social-media/smx-sydney-2010-in-pics/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/social-media/smx-sydney-2010-in-pics/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 02 May 2010 02:37:37 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education/training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[just for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[social media]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2132</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Sorry for the blog silence lately, but I&#8217;m still recovering from the  SMX Sydney Conference last week and also spent the better part of a week in Melbourne having some down time. The conference had a completely different feel this year. With registrations topping 1,000 for Day 1, a new venue in the Sydney Hilton [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2134" style="margin: 5px;" title="invisible-friends-sml" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/invisible-friends-sml.jpg" alt="invisible-friends-sml" width="345" height="224" />Sorry for the blog silence lately, but I&#8217;m still recovering from the  <a target="_blank" title="SMX Sydney" href="http://www.searchmarketingexpo.com.au/" target="_blank">SMX Sydney</a> Conference last week and also spent the better part of a week in Melbourne having some down time.</p>
<p><span><span><span>The conference had a completely different feel this year. With registrations topping 1,000 for Day 1, a new venue in the Sydney Hilton and some seriously impressive speakers, </span></span></span><span><span><span>it was almost as if the industry had grown up.</span></span></span><span><span><span> </span></span></span></p>
<p><span><span><span>When I had a client ask me a few days later what my biggest take away from the Cofnerence was, I was surprised to find myself answering <em>&#8220;Facebook is the most powerful business tool on the web&#8221;</em>. What? A social media epiphany at a search conference? I guess that means that social media is no longer a value-add, but a key component of any search marketing campaign. The number of sessions dedicated to social media this year underscored this.<br />
</span></span></span></p>
<p>I&#8217;ll write a longer post about the Conference soon, but if you don&#8217;t mind poor grammar and typos, you can view my <a title="live blog posts from SMX Sydney" href="http://www.ask-kalena.com/category/smx/" target="_blank">live blog posts of some of the main SMX sessions</a>.</p>
<p>If you&#8217;re more interested in a visual snapshot of the conference, check out:</p>
<ul>
<li> my <a target="_blank" title="SMX Sydney 2010 photos" href="http://bit.ly/9gjp3g" target="_blank">public SMX 2010 Facebook album</a></li>
<li>the brilliant <a target="_blank" title="Andrew Ballard official SMX Sydney 2010 photography" href="http://bit.ly/9YNYL5" target="_blank">photo coverage by Andrew Ballard</a>, (<a target="_blank" title="Andrew on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/allroundniceguy" target="_blank">@allroundniceguy</a>)</li>
<li><a target="_blank" title="SMX Sydney photos by Marty" href="http://www.aimclearblog.com/2010/04/21/shining-harbor-jewels-postcard-from-smx-sydney/" target="_blank">photos by Marty Weintraub</a> (<a target="_blank" title="Marty on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/aimclear" target="_blank">@aimclear</a>)</li>
<li><a target="_blank" title="Lisa Davis SMX photos 2010" href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=227482&amp;id=527876631" target="_blank">photos by Lisa Davis</a> (<a target="_blank" title="Lisa on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/seonounou" target="_blank">@seonounou</a>)</li>
</ul>
<p>If you can&#8217;t be bothered waiting for my conference recap, Matt Burgess (<a target="_blank" title="Matt on Twitter" href="http://www.twitter.com/therealburgo" target="_blank">@therealburgo</a>) has <a target="_blank" title="Matt Burgess on SMX Sydney 2010" href="http://conversationmedia.com.au/smx-sydney-2010/smx-sydney-2010-recap" target="_blank">done a fine job with his</a> already.</p>
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		<title>SMX Sydney 2010: Site Clinic</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/seo/smx-site-clinic/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/seo/smx-site-clinic/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Apr 2010 06:15:43 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education/training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[just for fun]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[seo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2077</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[And now for the most enjoyable session of SMX, at least to date. The legend-ary Site Clinic. Team Motherwell is up first, consisting of @motherwell and @lucasng who are reviewing http://www.goodness.com.au Issues found: - graphical text &#8211; all keywords embedded in image - no H1 tags - links lead to another site entirely - there&#8217;s [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>And now for the most enjoyable session of SMX, at least to date. The legend-ary Site Clinic.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2093" style="margin: 5px;" title="Site Clinic team in their lab coats" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/siteclinic1.jpg" alt="siteclinic1" width="300" height="250" /></p>
<p>Team Motherwell is up first, consisting of @motherwell and @lucasng who are reviewing http://www.goodness.com.au</p>
<p>Issues found:</p>
<p>- graphical text &#8211; all keywords embedded in image</p>
<p>- no H1 tags</p>
<p>- links lead to another site entirely</p>
<p>- there&#8217;s no custom 404 error page</p>
<p>- canonicalization issue &#8211; need to fix in GG Webmaster Tools. This will consolidate your links.</p>
<p>- need more links &#8211; try getting links from Aussie directories</p>
<p>- the online store needs some work done &#8211; price should be next to the image of the product. No call to action.</p>
<p>- use breadcrumb navigation to help searchers find the categories / pages they are actually looking for. Also helps people to know where they are in your site.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2094" style="margin: 5px;" title="Captain Motherwell and Lucas Ng" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/siteclinic2.jpg" alt="siteclinic2" width="250" height="300" /></p>
<p>- weird title tags that need tidying up</p>
<p>Next up is Team Google with @gregable and Jim Sterne. They&#8217;ll be reviewing Britax.com.au</p>
<p>- I want to buy a stroller, but can&#8217;t find them. Bye!</p>
<p>- On the product detail page, no price and no obvious way to purchase</p>
<p>- Maybe &#8220;Where to Buy&#8221; link will help. Ah&#8230;. no. HELP! (Jim hands over to @gregable)</p>
<p>- Greg will be viewing the site as googlebot.</p>
<p>- Greg is trying to find a specific type of child car seat but can&#8217;t.</p>
<p>- Very little information about the product. Really wants a detail page, not lots of the same data on similar pages.</p>
<p>- Home link is on the right hand side of the navigation. Why?</p>
<p>- Uses a grey-on-grey link nav at the bottom of the page which isn&#8217;t helping.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2095" title="Jim Sterne and Greg Grothaus" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/siteclinic3.jpg" alt="siteclinic3" width="300" height="250" /></p>
<p>- Some non sequitir link titles e.g. *4 Reasons*</p>
<p>- Greg says the site has some nice GG friendly URLs</p>
<p>Team Boser is next, featuring @gregboser and @oilman. They&#8217;ll be reviewing http://www.donedirtcheapdvd.com.au.</p>
<p>- Sell box sets of DVDs and similar products</p>
<p>- Todd and Greg spend some time trying to get the display right and during the tense silence, the site owner takes the opportunity to promote his DVD box sets &#8220;Avatar, available now for $44.95&#8243;. Gets a big laugh from the audience.</p>
<p>- There are too many links on many of the pages.</p>
<p>- There&#8217;s no need to keyword stuff every single internal link on your site. Google already knows you sell DVDs, you don&#8217;t need to hit them over the head with it, says @gregboser</p>
<p>- Trim down your categories and stop loading up your footer with irrelevant links about DVDs, especially in nearly black font on black background, says @oilman.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2096" style="margin: 5px;" title="Todd Frierson and Greg Boser" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/siteclinic4.jpg" alt="siteclinic4" width="250" height="300" /></p>
<p>- Use your movie reviews for content. If you have to, produce clever mashups of pages that are algorithmically unique, but still made up of content elsewhere on your site, says @gregboser.</p>
<p>- Rotate through your content and create mashups that will give you better links in Google.</p>
<p>Next up is Team SEOmoz with @seomom and @dannydover to review www.appliancesonline.com.au</p>
<p>- Gillian starts by asking who in the room are SEOmoz PRO members and proceeds to give some of us a beer! Cute.</p>
<p>- Danny says the site looks good &#8211; clean and sharp.  Nice to see categories and images on the home page. Also the brands are front and center on the HP.</p>
<p>- The text nav at the bottom is a bit dodgy, but the payment options/logos at bottom are fantastic.</p>
<p>- No custom 404 error page &#8211; Why not? Boring. Gillian says she wants to see some options and some fun on the custom 404 page.</p>
<p>- Enormous home page &#8211; 1.6MB in size but should be 150-200 kb. A faster loading site is a better performing site in both engines and sales. Flash file is the major problem.</p>
<p>- Looking at the page as googlebot shows LOTS of links, but no text content. Give people who don&#8217;t have Flash an option, preferably text.</p>
<p>- Used OpenSiteExplorer.com to look at the site (SEOmoz plug)</p>
<p>- 301 issues galore due to switching domains.</p>
<p>- ridiculous number of links from small number of domains = BIG spam signal to Google. Clean it up says @seomom</p>
<p>- keyword analysis shows very good keyword density, esp long tail.</p>
<p>- Danny points out that if you do a search in MS.com and you can&#8217;t find any results, the 404 page will eventually redirect to a search in Bing for same query.</p>
<p>- Gillian points out that the Call to Action buttons are too passive. Use &#8220;Email Me If&#8230;&#8221; option with drop downs like &#8220;if my product is in stock&#8221;, &#8220;if refrigerators go on sale&#8221; etc.</p>
<p>- Use Buy Now rather than Add to Cart</p>
<p>- Use A/B Split testing to confirm findings.</p>
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		<title>SMX Sydney 2010: Not Your Father&#8217;s AdWords &#8211; The New Google Ad Formats</title>
		<link>http://www.ask-kalena.com/education/smx-not-your-fathers-adwords-the-new-google-ad-formats/</link>
		<comments>http://www.ask-kalena.com/education/smx-not-your-fathers-adwords-the-new-google-ad-formats/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 23 Apr 2010 05:32:45 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>Kalena Jordan</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[education/training]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[events]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[news]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[pay per click]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[smx]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.ask-kalena.com/?p=2070</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[At the podium now is Frederick Valleay, AdWords evangelist at Google, to talk about the new and exciting Google ad formats. Frederick explained the background of the new ad formats. They put together the AdWords New Ad Formats initiative &#8211; a project to include richer types of information within AdWords ads. It has two themes: [...]]]></description>
			<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>At the podium now is Frederick Valleay, AdWords evangelist at Google, to talk about the new and exciting Google ad formats.<img class="alignright size-full wp-image-2099" style="margin: 5px;" title="Frederick Valleay of Google" src="http://www.ask-kalena.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/frederick-podium.jpg" alt="frederick-podium" width="250" height="300" /></p>
<p>Frederick explained the background of the new ad formats. They put together the AdWords New Ad Formats initiative &#8211; a project to include richer types of information within AdWords ads. It has two themes:</p>
<p>1) Ad Extensions</p>
<p>- Help users find information they want by enhancing standard text ads with additional relevant information</p>
<p>2) New Ad Models</p>
<p>Help users find answers to problems by enhancing with rich media.</p>
<p>Now doing movie ads &#8211; started only a few days ago and only available to a few advertisers.</p>
<p>Some new ad models include real time data e.g. mortgage rates are updated right there within the ads, if relevant. Another model works on a Cost Per Acquisition model where the advertiser only pays when a conversion occurs. Ad sitelinks is a recent model proving very successful.</p>
<p>&#8220;Ad sitelinks is the single most effective change we&#8217;ve made to our account&#8221; says Dell</p>
<p>What can be done with Ad Sitelinks?</p>
<p>- you have several links in your text ad instead of just one</p>
<p>- increase your click through rate</p>
<p>- pushes your competitors down the page</p>
<p>- more links = more potential for clicks</p>
<p>- also more relevant because it gives users 5 options to go to on your site &#8211; meaning they find what they&#8217;re looking for faster</p>
<p>- with ad sitelinks, leverage the value of branded queries to direct users to multiple high value pages.</p>
<p>Showed example of Saks Fifth Ave who uses sitelink ads to promote short term sales. Timely offers work great with sitelink ads.</p>
<p>User segmentation</p>
<p>- ad sitelinks can help you segment your users before they reach your site. e.g. Dell uses this to segment business vs home users.</p>
<p>Brand segmentation</p>
<p>- your core brand may have several sub brands. You can highlight those sements and leverage your core brand to promote sub brands e.g. The Gap promotes their other brands like Old Navy.</p>
<p>Most Valuable Pages</p>
<p>QVC does this very well. Uses sitelink ads to direct people straight to their highest value categories like fashion, jewelry, etc.</p>
<p>Product Lines</p>
<p>Ad sitelinks can help you direct users to tailored landing pages based on the product category they are most interested in.</p>
<p>Make Links Unique</p>
<p>Redundant links in your ad narrow the appeal and can have a negative impact on your CTR. Make a clear distinction between your product channels using several different links.</p>
<p>Writing Link Text</p>
<p>Clear calls to action &#8211; use the link text to make it obvious what you want them to do.</p>
<p>Use landing page language &#8211; carry the scent &#8211; prominently display the language from your link on the associated landing page so users are more likely to stay on the page and explore their options.</p>
<p>Tracking and Measurement</p>
<p>With a few additional steps you can track and measure what works best. Tag your links &#8211; tagging links lets you view the unique query and link that prompted the visit. Use analytics to analyze and report on results.</p>
<p>Location Extensions<br />
Why use Location Extensions?</p>
<p>- Make all your ads location aware<br />
- display your local footprint<br />
- deliver effective local ads at scale<br />
- benefit from rich ad formats (shop locator, click to call ads etc.</p>
<p>Transform your text ads into location ads. Ads show up with your location underneath. They also show up on Google maps via sponsored links. They see street view, photographs, logo, street directions etc.</p>
<p>Location Extensions are now on mobile.</p>
<p>If you  are the biz owner for the locations you want to advertise on, go to Google Places (prev google biz center). You can verify your biz via phone or postcard.</p>
<p>If you are not the biz owner of the locations, you should enter your addresses directly into AdWords. Can&#8217;t be done via Google Places.</p>
<p>Use location extensions if:</p>
<p>- you want yto use same ad text for all biz locations</p>
<p>- you want to direct all ads to same landing page</p>
<p>- you want to create a lot of ads quickly</p>
<p>Interaction Reporting</p>
<p>-interaction reporting is available for your ads whether you set up extensions for your campaigns or your ads</p>
<p>- see how users interact with each link in your ads when they appear on Google maps</p>
<p>- gain insights about your ads ROI and ability to capture user interest</p>
<p>- Click Through to your website will be listed as usual in your Adwords account</p>
<p>http://google.com.au/ads/innovations &#8211; a place to learn what&#8217;s new, what&#8217;s coming soon in the ad space</p>
<p>Frederick@google.com</p>
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