Category: News & Trends

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AdWords Ups the Ante

Google announced on the AdWords blog that they would be rolling out a number of changes and they are all happening this week.

First we saw on Monday the line next to the keyword that says something like you will need to pay $16 a click to be on the first page of results. It is interesting that some of the keywords that this phrase had been placed next to already showed an average placement of 1 to 3.

Next we saw on a number of account Tuesday and Wednesday a significant drop in ad position causing us to increase the CPC across the board and by keyword depending on the situation.

I have not yet seen a significant rise or drop in impressions yet in accounts. Some accounts I have started to notice that there is more activity on more keywords, but not across the board on all accounts.

Clearly Google is working to tweak AdWords.  To find out exactly what AdWords has announced, please visit this post on the AdWords blog.

In a nutshell here is what the changes are about:

  • Quality Score is now more accurate — because it is calculated at the time of each search query
  • Keywords are no longer marked ‘inactive for search‘ — all keywords are active because they are evaluated for every relevant query
  • ‘First page bid estimates’ replace ‘minimum bids’ in your account — providing a more actionable and useful metric to advertisers

    • Remember when Google recommends a budget or a cost per click this is called add-on selling. It does not mean that you need to act on the advice!

    Clearly from what we are seeing across many sectors there is an upwards price adjustment happening, but will this impact an account with more impressions and a lower CTR. It is all too new to know exactly, but one thing for sure is that CPC is moving up and strongly on some accounts.

     

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    Your Subs Should Always Be First

    Take care of them and they will take care of you… that’s how it goes in the subcontracting world. If you subcontract out work to independent contractors make sure to treat them the way you want to be treated by your clients.

    One of the biggest gripes that subcontractors have is not being paid on time. So if you hire subs yourself make sure to pay them on time. Once you create a corral of dependable sub contractors you can focus on growing your business. In fact using sub contractors can dramatically grow your business while keeping your costs low and leveraging your profit. But if you don’t keep your sub contractors happy and have a revolving door of staff, you can eat up any profits with retraining and having to follow behind unqualified helpers.

    The key is to find excellent contractors, train them, and keep them. The longer a contractor stays with you, the more valuable they can become to your business. I’ve found these tips to keep subcontractors happy.

    1. Pay on time.
    2. Value their efforts.
    3. Give feedback and provide training.
    4. Be generous with your time on questions.
    5. Make sure you are paying a fair rate based on experience and effort.

    If you’re a sub contractor, what do you hate most. Here’s my short list.

    1. Not being paid on time
    2. No feedback given on my efforts
    3. No training provided.
    4. Ideas and suggestions for improvement in services never enacted.
    5. No contact with the decision makers in the main office on policy that impact my work.
    6. Not being paid a fair rate based on experience.

    If you have others leave them in the comments below I welcome you input.

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    This is a Test of Posting To My Blog Using Blog Desk

    This post is being done on my desktop using the application called Blog Desk. I am testing to see if I can post to multiple blogs with one click on my desktop location without having to log into my blog server.

    Let you know later how it goes and if the software is worth using.

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    Google Chrome – No IE Smasher

    Well I downloaded Google Chrome on Tuesday and have taken it for a run. Yawn, it is just another browser you’ll download and then discard. I personally found it highly unexciting and too simple in design. Simple can be good, but Google Chrome is not even classic in design.

    The one thing that I did like was the ability to drag a URL directly from the address bar into a bar spot for a super easy bookmark. However, I found the inability to nail down the bookmarks to a side bar location like I do with IE 7 annoying to say the least.

    Will Google Chrome be more than a novelty? Probably not. Of course there are some people who like anything new and will try it and swear by it, but I am still sticking with IE 7. I like the polish and finesse of IE 7.

    You might be thinking, she doesn’t like it because it’s new. No, I am not adverse to change, but I have to tell you for as much time as I am online, I need a workhorse browser, one that makes things easy for me. I want bookmarks and favorites where I want them, I want a slim control profile, I want secure browsing sure, but I want one that is easy to use too.