Finally! Google has added some volume estimates to their keyword research tool (located here). This is a good thing as you can get a better idea for the total volume of terms vs the relative strength of terms you would get through Keyword Discovery and Wordtracker (still important tools to have in you kit).

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I’m sitting in a presentation by Matt Cutts - mostly Q&A - but he showed Searchmash.com which I hadn’t see before. It is owned by Google, but totally separate and is a sandbox. Some of the interesting items are wiki results on the right instead of in the results. Same thing with images, blogs and videos. There is also a flash version.

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One of the principles we base our direct marketing programs on is continuity. This is especially important in the online world where each interaction is a millisecond apart as potential customers click through creative > landing page/site > order process > confirmation email communications. Continuity refers to all elements of the creative through the acquisition and early retention process. For example, through testing we know that the connection between the text in a paid search ad needs to be reflected in the headline in the landing page - this continuity confirms that you are on the correct page to “pay off” the text that you clicked on. It is important to take this message as well as the colors, images, design that you’ve introduced on the landing page and carry through the order process.

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I just posted an article on the ten steps to optimize a paid search landing page. It summarizes approaches to consider when trying to improve conversion rates. It is also the subject of the next Internet Marketing Review newsletter. Click here to read the article on optimizing paid search landing pages.

If you have never used Google Trends (www.google.com/trends) then you are missing out. This handy tools shows you the trend of searches for a single or group of keywords over time. The current version goes back to January 2004 and is now updated daily (used to be monthly and woefully behind in months). So, what is Google Trends good for?:
1. Looking at trends for your most important keywords: brands, specific products, generic works that drive your business, etc. This is a great view on why certain terms might be doing better or worse now than in 2005.
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I had a chance to speak with folks from both Marchex (who runs Enhance) and Yahoo at the SEMX conference here in Seattle on Monday to clarify what was meant by the Enhance press release on Monday. My original thoughts when I first read the release are below - this is a correction post. What is going on is that advertisers can now buy some Yahoo text placements through Enhance. Yahoo has backfilled some places that they can’t or won’t fill with their own text ads, with ads from Enhance. So, what does this mean:
- Depending on your business and keyword sets, you can get into areas of Yahoo that you have been unable to before.
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We use geo-targeting quite a bit on Google with our higher volume campaigns. If you have the volume, tracking and technical ability to manage a highly decentralized campaign, you can achieve better results through discrete geo targeting, improved positioning and lower CPCs (I’ll cover this in-depth in a future Internet Marketing Review Newsletter).

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