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4 years - nothing much has changed in SEM space
2008-03-21 00:30:00
I visited the SES Show after about 4 years, yesterday - in NYC. I was excited to be attending SES because this was the first show we attended after founding NetElixir - SES, San Jose 2004.So much has changed in the search world. The power equation has changed considerably between Google and others. Disappointingly, not much has changed on the SEM space. The usual suspects, iCrossing, iProspect, Did-It, Efficient Frontier, were all there. There were new agencies and SEM tools. All agencies started their pitch by stating that their proprietary technology was awesome because... Back in 2004, they started the same way... Its disappointing. But seriously, SEM companies are struggling to establish a differentiator. Everyone does the same stuff - only the presentation is different. So, is there no differentiator in SEM space? Yet, advertisers are stressed - they complain about their agency or their SEM technology.  They would do so only when there is a need gap. What is the nee...
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2nd Annual PPC Stress Study Results
2007-10-31 23:05:00
We released the 2nd Annual PPC Stress survey results today. We had 140 retailers participate in this year's survey. They ranged from giant e-tailers like WalMart to one person shops. Despite all concerns about rising click costs and click fraud, e-tailers are investing more and more on paid search advertising. Also, the sophistication level keeps increasing. We believe that use of long tail keywords is one "probable indicator" of level of sophistication (attempts to monetize the long tail). I am amazed - still - at the number of people a firm dedicates to its PPC campaigns and the time spent in management. Understandably more people are willing to outsource. Number of specialized agencies are still very few. PPC Management still is done by boutique firms who offer other services as well. My forecast remains optimistic - I don't see any signs of a PPC slowdown till 2011/2012. You can read the press release here : http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?id= 1005557 You...
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LXR Solo Launch at Shop.org Annual Summit in Manadalay Bay, Las Vegas
2007-09-18 01:23:00
The day has finally arrived when LXR Solo would be unveiled to the world of e-tailers. Understandably its a very important moment for all of us at NetElixir. We have spent the past 2 years building the technology - testing the algorithms - simplifying the UI and building a tool that is relevant and useful to online retailers. There is an interesting history behind this tool. Let me share that with you. Circa 2004 - I tested the 3 most popular PPC tools in the market - GoToast (became Atlas One Point subsequently), Bid Rank and Search Ignite (end of 2004). There was a clear emphasis on "bid management". The bid rules were complex - even for someone like me who had a decent amount of hands on experience in the space. Also, after having struggled as a marketer to run an optimal PPC campaign I knew that bid management was a small part of the entire PPC management process.I wanted to develop a PPC tool that had three key strengths -  SIMPLE TO USE, POWERFUL PERFORMANCE...
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Google Adwords Overwhelms me!
2007-06-25 01:06:00
A small business owner (small~ less than 20 people, less than $30 mill annual revenue)in 2004 could run an adwords campaign by himself and make a decent bit of profit. Now - that is IMPOSSIBLE. We bagged an important online retail account last week. The client is one of the largest online jewelry stores in US. I asked their CEO why he considered outsourcing PPC advertising management (given the fact that the campaign was being managed in-house for the past 4 years and PPC remains the most important customer acquisition channel for the company). He put it in simple words - " Google adwords overwhelms us". I could not agree more. Google has been introducing changes in adwords at a rapid pace (rapid is probably an understatement, here). And, a lot of this has been prompted by Google's drive for "dis-intermediation". Google wanted to give all the tools a marketer might need to manage his campaigns in-house. But, they overlooked the fact that all these tools actu...
More About: Google Adwords , Adwords

Bracing Up for a profitable holiday season
2007-06-22 01:43:00
My friend and e-tail expert, Lauren Freedman wrote a nice article today for Practical eCommerce - Marketers should be preparing for the holidays now, http://www.practicalecommerce.com/article s/507/Merchants-Should-Be-Preparing-For-T he-Holiday s-Now/ As is the case with any article she writes the article is extremely practical and drives the point home - 2007 holiday season would be the biggest ever and a prudent marketer needs to start thinking about it right away to gain maximum mileage. After having managed more than 50 e-tailer SEM accounts and having interacted extensively with merchants of all size, I have been able to distill some "to do's" for an e-tailer.The points are self explanatory and might seem almost obvious. Nevertheless, merchants tend to ignore these repeatedly. 1. Begin with a "measurable business goal" 2. Break it down to sub-objectives - "be very clear about what you want to achieve" 3. Write down a plan for achieving these obj...
More About: Season , Seas , Profitable

Wall Street Journal and misleading Google advertising
2007-06-10 17:26:00
I did a search for "wall street journal" on Google to land here - Wall Street Journal www.wallstreetjournal.com      Wall Street Journal Free Delivery & 8 Weeks FreeI clicked on the link to land here -https://www.wallstreetjournal.com/Grypho n/jsp/retentionController.jsp?page=11223& amp;S=63JSBK&psid=searchI filled in the registration information and clicked submit, and hey.. what do i get -the offer is no longer valid!!!This is atrocious. The landing page should have been different (and accurate), or I should at least have been informed of this before I added my credit card information.This is what happens when companies run PPC campaigns with the help of agencies that "do not care" or are "simply negligent".Whatever, it is - this experience was a big "dissonance creator" for a WSJ fan like me.Marketing on the web is NOT EASY. There are multiple touch points that you as a marketer need to have control on. Just consid...
More About: Advertising

Internet Retailer Show 2007
2007-06-09 04:22:00
Just got back after a super Intern et Retailer show in San Jose. Quick observations -1. Steve Rogers - the organizer - is undoubtedly the best I have seen - ever smiling, courteous, affable, super organizer. He has got the attendee list to over 3000, which is extremely creditable2. Online Retail is booming - this show was an eye-opener in every way - huge crowd - interesting sessions - average participant knowledge level higher than most other shows3. There was not much new that any exhibiting vendor had to offer - that is disappointing - I guess, companies are moving towards "efficiency boosts" in their solutions rather than selling creative stuff - clear sign of an evolving industry4. Retailers of all size need help on PPC management - our theme "NetElixir eliminates PPC stress" resonated with the attendees - as a result we got unprecedented number of e-tailers to visit our booth5. Google dictates "everything" in the internet space6. MSN would never EV...
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ACCM Boston and the Plight of Marketers
2007-05-30 06:56:00
I attended the ACCM Show at Boston last week. We had a booth there. It was a well organized show that attracted (my estimate) around 3000-4000 attendees. My "post-show thoughts"- 1. I bet 90% of marketers are just too overwhelmed or too confused by the number of options that are available today to promote their business 2. Our booth was in the Analytics Pavilion of the Exhibition area. The area drew a fair amount of traffic. I could literally sense an added degree of urgency in the marketers towards web advertising. An attendee who had attended all previous versions mentioned that she could "literally sense" a shift towards the web from the more traditional channels 3. (Pardon my arrogance but..) There was nothing really new and novel - however there were companies that had a more efficient approach to solving a pertinent customer problem. This is something to be expected as the industry evolves. We are entering a phase (or I would say - have entered) where ...
More About: Mark , Marketers , Marketer

SES, Munich - March 2007
2007-05-30 06:39:00
This post comes exactly two months after SES, Munich 07 - where I had my first real taste of the SEM business in Germany.My comments -1. Given the penetration levels of the internet, I had expected greater sophistication from the SEM Agencies. I would estimate that the agencies are still - on an average - a year to a year and half behind US2. Some very unique mathematical work is in progress in some top universities on multi-lingual search especially on areas like personalization, behavioral targeting, etc3. I was a speaker in a panel of international experts that discussed the future of search. We juggled around mostly standard topics like potential Google beaters, usability, mobile search, etc. I added an outside US and UK dimension to the discussion. Indeed, search would have arrived when there is a certain degree of searching homogeneity and usage across the globe. Thankfully, the time lag between the most advanced internet nation (Korea? USA? Japan?) and the others is not too l...
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Click Fraud Hype or cheap publicity
2007-02-02 20:24:00
I have written on this topic earlier. Its appalling to see companies hype up click fraud issues. Click Forensics recently reported that 14.2% of clicks were fraudulent in Q4,2006. This is a ridiculously high number. And honestly, its impossible to come up with any number based on limited data set and limited knowledge. As expected Google refuted their claims.http://www.marketingvox.com/archiv es/2007/02/02/google-click-fraud-study-in accurate/ I am firmly of the opinion that click fraud threat is being hyped up at times for petty/selfish gains. Click Fraud exists - there is no question about that - however the percentage incidence is much lower than 14%. Today Marketing Sherpa came up with an interesting study - Online marketers rated the tactics used by them in 2006 as best and worst. The "expected" best tactic - paid search advertising. (an overwhelming 49% of the respondents rated paid search as the best online marketing tactic used). Long live paid search.. down with ...
More About: Publicity , City , Hype

Is it going to be Good Bye Bid Management
2007-01-31 19:31:00
Since we started operating 3 years back we have been harping how "in-appropriate" it is to call PPC campaign management - "bid management". Bidding was and unfortunately still is considered by  many as the key  PPC campaign success determinant.  This was primarily because of the way all PPC engines with the exception of Google Adwords worked. You could see what your competitors were bidding for a keyword and change your bids accordingly. This resulted in atrocious activities like bid war (defies economic logic from the view point of both search engines as well as advertisers). Tools like GoToast were built on "defensive bases" to maximize returns in volatile bidding scenarios. Till 2004 (that's when Adwords beat Overture) PPC management was equivalent to bid management. Thankfully, much sanity has been established - first with Google adwords and now with Yahoo!SM following the way "away from bid management".  Things that ...
More About: Management , Good , Mana , Manage , Going

Featured in Internet Retailer
2006-10-27 03:18:00
NetElixir received some press coverage today - http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews .asp?id=20323 Our PPC management solution works particularly well for online retail sector where "sales" can be measured. Based on a combination of multiple algorithms and human specialization, we are able to drive "seemingly unbeatable" results for our clients - consistently. - Udayan Bose
More About: Internet , Featured , Intern , Tail , Feat

Google arrives in AA
2006-09-18 17:30:00
NetElixir welcomes Googl e in Ann Arbor - http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/articl e?AID=/20060918/BUSINESS05/609180343/1002 /BUSINESS - Udayan Bose
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The most efficient way of managing a PPC Campaign
2006-09-04 15:30:00
We have had some elaborate and passionate discussions on merits of selling our integrated PPC management platform to advertisers and agencies as a stand-alone system. The platform is a user friendly app from where an advertiser can set up, monitor, manage and optimize her PPC campaigns for multiple accounts (and in some time) multiple search engines. It simplifies the entire process of PPC advertising management substantially.. My main contention "against" selling it as a stand alone software has been - "Optimal PPC management is a clever combination of pure manual work (30%) plus solid technology (70%)". While technology takes care of areas like - speed of operation, scalability, bidding, keyword optimization, reports, specialized manual work is essential requirement for creative development, landing page creation and testing, performance analysis and extrapolation. Without the 30% - there is absolutely NO WAY that a PPC campaign can be optimized. PERIOD. The...
More About: Campaign , Campa , Camp , Most , Aging

Importance of Personalization
2006-06-09 18:42:00
Got back from Internet Retailer Conference & Expo 2006, yesterday. It was a super successful event for NetElixir. We had put over 700 person hours preparing for the event and it paid off - "big time". NetElixir team had worked round-the-clock for the last one month to pull out audit reports for the current Google and Yahoo! campaigns for over 200 search advertisers. About 70 advertisers collected their "free audit copies" from our Booth and were delighted that someone had taken time to audit "their" campaigns.It was personalization at  its best. The best part was, about 90% of the keywords considered for the audits was found to be "extremely relevant" by the advertisers. We had a unique booth theme too - "We were the Pirates ready to take the search advertising world by storm". (The Pirate Girl and the 10" Tall Pirate were huge hits). NetElixir's PPC Campaign Management solution was clearly a notch above that offered...
More About: Person , Persona , Sona , Import

Internet Retailer Conference
2006-06-04 06:49:00
The excitement is palpable. NetElixir has a booth at Intern et Retailer Conference & Expo - 5th-7th June 06. We hope to use this opportunity to mark our presence as a serious player in search arena. We have spent approximately 700 person-hours on the Conference perapartions. 23 team members were involved. Our proprietary technology platform was used to good effect. We would be handing out something (I am not supposed to reveal "what", now) to 200 online retailers - that's very relevant and "hopefully" something very useful for them. The total operation took about 18 days. I have mentioned in one of my earlier posts for this Blog, how I am in awe by the "lack of adequate transparency and information flow" between clients and agencies in the search space. Search advertising is still a "black box" for many(actually, most).We hope to be able to "cast more light" on how paid search advertising works ... should work. - Udayan Bose
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The Most Expensive Adwords Keywords
2006-05-16 21:38:00
Legal and Financial sectors dominate. Lasik Surgery was a surprise. http://www.cwire.org/highest-paying-searc h-terms/ We have had some interesting experience managing a mortgage account. It's been tough getting to the optimal listing position primarily because the CPC's required were phenomenally high. To compound the problem, there was the occasional incidence of click fraud - possibly by competitors (in this industry, just 10 extra clicks can blow $200!+). Also, to break the stranglehold of the top advertisers like Lending Tree was a challenge. It was almost as if they had booked one of the top 3 positions on Google for certain keywords. Since, Google Adwords does not disclose the CPC, its difficult to find out "what's the story behind the adwords panel" (diplomatically, camouflaged as Quality Score). - Udayan Bose
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From cattle exchange to internet age
2006-05-10 08:13:00
An outstanding report on the work being done to move the traditional ad industry forward: http://360techblog.com/2006/05/09/google- and-ebay-in-ad-industry-shoot-out/ An example how internet would act as a "disruptive technology" yet again. The only formula for success in the new world order is going to be collaboration + specialization + technology + SPEED(purposefully, in CAPS). - Udayan Bose
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The Importance of Being Specialists
2006-05-09 21:02:00
iProspect released a Study today that states that most search marketers perform an average of 5 more job functions in addition to their core function http://searchenginewatch.com/searchday/ar ticle.php/3604566 This is a possible indicator of the maturity of this industry. As search advertising continues on its explosive growth path, it is imperative that specialists appear. The volume of information and knowledge to be gathered and utilized is emormous even in a niche function like paid search. NetElixir is arguably world's first PPC Search Advertising Special ist. We never did anything else except PPC - no web design - no SEO - no market research. Bein g a specialist is not easy. It needs discipline. We have had to turn down innumerable SEO projects that have come our way. They could have been easy cash generators for us...but we refrained - we did not want to dilute our motto - "Making Search Work" - making PPC advertising a predictable and profitable operations for m...
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