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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I just posted the Search Marketing Fact Pack from Advertising Age and eMarketer here. The PDF is chock full of stats, facts, insights, tips and lists. It also includes lots of ads from search engine marketers to pay for the publication. I highly recommend saving it as a resource for pitches and insights.

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I sat through the first MSN AdCenter Roadshow of the year yesterday in Seattle and was “re-introduced” to the MSN AdCenter AdLabs and I think it is the future of Keyword research for both SEO and Paid Search. AdCenter takes the thinking about what keywords mean and puts real thought behind who is typing them in and why they are typing them in. There are still major shortcomings with the system due to a lack of data (it uses just MSN data), quite a few of the tools don’t have a refined level of words and there is some obvious reports missing in terms of competitiveness, but there is a lot of good thinking and potential here.

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Just checked out the new, expanded, free tool from Wordtracker for keyword research. Looks like it replicates the functionality of the Overture Tool (which is a good thing!) but seems more reliable as the Overture Keyword Tool has been as flaky as a box of dried potatos for the last year. Here is the URL http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/ or click here to give it a go.