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- Making Sense of Trademarks in AdWords
- That First Impression: Title Considerations
- Viral Marketing Buzz: How to Capture Your Market Online
- How to Create Bolder, Jazzier, More Intriguing B-to-B Email Subject Lines
- Nine Steps to Social Networking Success
| Making Sense of Trademarks in AdWords Posted: 05 Oct 2011 12:00 PM PDT 
“I talked to my Google AdWords rep recently and he said that using company names in an ad violates Google's terms. Also, in some of your blog posts, you seem to suggest bidding on common brand names is also a violation. But I was under the assumption that this was common practice. Is it not? I’m sure our competitors are doing that and I’m wondering if I could report that to Google?” It did seem like a confusing issue, so I decided to research it a little more. Putting your own company name or trademark in your ad is certainly not a violation, it's encouraged, particularly if yours is a well known brand/name. In the section of AdWords Help called Use of Trademarks in AdWords, there is an authorization form you can submit to be able to use your brand / trademark throughout your account. Use of Your Company Name or Trademark by Competitors The use of your trademark by competitors is where things get complicated. It differs between region and differs again between ad text versus keyword bids. Google actually opened up trademark keyword bidding two years ago, however AdWord's trademark policy is now dependent on the region your trademark is registered in and the region/s your billing account is located in. This is a crucial change and one that has likely gone unnoticed by many advertisers. So here are the main regional trademark policies: AdWords Regional Trademark Policies 1. In certain regions, Google allow some ads to show with a trademark in ad text if the ad is from a reseller or from an informational site. There is covered by a separate trademark policy for resellers and informational sites. 2. For regions that are NOT included in Google's trademark policy for resellers and informational sites, if their investigation finds that the advertiser is using the trademark in ad text, Google will require the advertiser to remove the trademark and prevent them from using it in ad text in the future. 3. In most regions covered by the Trademark policy (250+ countries including UK, USA and Canada), Google will investigate ad text only. They will not disable keywords in response to a trademark complaint in these regions. Furthermore, their investigation will only affect ads served on or by Google rather than those served on partner sites. 4. In EU and EFTA regions, Google does not prevent the selection of trademarks as keywords. However, in response to a complaint, they will do a limited investigation as to whether a keyword (in combination with particular ad text) is confusing as to the origin of the advertised goods and services. 5. In some limited regions, Google may investigate the use of trademarks in ad text, in keywords, or in both ad text and keywords. These regions include: • Australia Because Australia and New Zealand are included in the above list (and these are the countries in which I operate), I have witnessed a few keyword trademark infringements and represented some clients who lodged complaints procedures based on this policy. I have also been following closely a landmark case playing out in Australia about this very issue: Landmark Test Case In 2005, Australian telecommunications company Telstra found themselves in legal hot water when an online publication owned by one of their subsidiaries purchased Google AdWords blatantly using the names of competitors in their ads. As a result, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) launched legal proceedings against the Trading Post Australia and Google Inc. in 2007. In their Federal Court case hearing earlier this month, the ACCC challenged the use by Trading Post of the keyword phrase “Kloster Ford”, which was the name of a car dealership in Newcastle, as misleading conduct in breach of the then Trade Practices Act. When “Kloster Ford” was searched for using the Google search engine, this advertisement appeared: Kloster Ford The ACCC argued that Trading Post’s use of “Kloster Ford” in its sponsored link was misleading and deceptive as it represented that there was an association or affiliation between Trading Post and Kloster Ford and the ad suggested that information regarding Kloster Ford or Kloster Ford car sales could be found on the Trading Post website, when it could not. The ACCC also alleged that, by publishing the results pages with these AdWords, Google had itself engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct. In response, Google raised a defense that it was engaged in the business of advertising and did not know that AdWords purchased by Trading Post amounted to an infringement of consumer legislation. On 22 September 2011, the Australian Federal Court held that the Trading Post had engaged in misleading and deceptive conduct under the Trade Practices Act 1974. However, they dismissed the claim against Google, stating that while Google provided the technical facilities that permitted the relevant advertisement to be seen, it did not follow that they had endorsed the information conveyed. Consumers would understand that the message being conveyed to them was an advertisement from the advertiser, they stated, rather than the publisher. A settlement between ACCC and Trading Post has since followed. This case is significant for all Australian businesses that place advertisements through Google AdWords and other pay per click models, because it means that use of competitor trademarks, business names, brand names and URLs could potentially breach Australian consumer protection laws. Navigate With Care So the upshot of all this is that unless they have your explicit permission, your competitors generally aren't allowed to use your brand/name in their own ads, but if you're located in the US or other areas outside the limited regions mentioned above, they ARE allowed to bid on your brand/name as a keyword. But it's not all bad news – it means that you are allowed to bid on their brand/name as well. However, as with any legal issue, tread carefully when using trademarks in your ads. Accidental or not, a violation of AdWords policy can result in the closure of your account by Google and possibly even land you with a lawsuit. Article by Kalena Jordan, one of the first search engine optimization experts in Australia, who is well known and respected in the industry, particularly in the U.S. As well as running a daily Search Engine Advice Column, Kalena manages Search Engine College – an online training institution offering instructor-led short courses and downloadable self-study courses in Search Engine Optimization and other Search Engine Marketing subjects. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| That First Impression: Title Considerations Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:43 AM PDT 
Making Wordplay Work The necessity of a good title is rather self evident if one plays a small game. Borrowed from Christopher Hitchens’ autobiography, Hitch 22, the game basically goes like this: Pick a popular movie title and change it just slightly to get a “title that didn’t quite make it” — Quiet of the Lambs, American Pastry, Mister Zhivago, the American Samurai and such all demonstrate the importance of getting things just right. A small change can eliminate the value of good wordplay or an entertaining twist of phrase in favor of something more bland and pointless. To that end, try to put some thought into the title. Reference popular works — for example, a comparison piece doesn’t go wrong by referring to “A Tale of Two…” Alternatively, the title could reference a key quotation or phrase within the body of the text itself. Don’t ignore something that seems to work, but double check creative title ideas against someone else’s opinion, just to be sure. Words are Key The title is a crucial part of the Search Engine Optimization process. Keyword spiders and algorithms often look at the first words in an article, and the title is no exception. Having the core keyword worked into the title will consistently help return better results within Internet searches. However, this comes with particular caveats: Some keywords, particularly keyword phrases, are long and clunky and can interfere with the aesthetics of a title. If the keyword phrase in question is “how to brew your own beer,” that’s one thing. A clever preface can be put before it, with how to brew your own beer as a subtitle or addendum to the main line. On the other hand, the keywords might be “Legal Advice Auto Accident,” which is more difficult to work into a clever title. Experiment with a few approaches, and consider putting only a few of the keywords into the title or breaking them up into a fresh sentence. Another trick concerns where to put the title. In many blog posts the title will have its own section. However, also consider putting the title and its keywords into the body of the paragraph itself. Some search engines ignore separate title fields and focus on the content of the article itself, so this can help keep a writer from robbing themselves of good keyword return. Brevity, Please Particularly in the academic world, titles of articles and papers tend to be long and quite dense. “An Analysis of the Savior Archetype in Modern English Literature” certainly tells us what the paper is about, but could also easily be summed up as “The Savior in Modern Literature” and loses nothing of its statement of intent. Further, keyword optimization becomes less effective the further into a document one gets, and this includes the size of the title. Proper keyword effect selects for shorter, more efficient use of titles, so avoid the temptation to put the whole topic into the title line. Go for simpler, brief word choices that allow expression of the important information without going on and on. Hyphenated titles are very popular for this reason. A single word can capture the intent of the message, such as “Betrayed,” and then be followed with keywords. To take an example from the news, perhaps the keywords are “WikiLeaks” and “PayPal.” The title could then be “Betrayed — WikiLeaks Banned from PayPal.” To Joke or Not to Joke Not every lighthearted article responds well to a joking title. People are oddly finicky and picky about when they’ll accept humor, and the use of puns in a title is a risky gamble. Yet it undoubtedly works — consider the example of the Focker movie trilogy starring Ben Stiller. Obviously if the article is a serious piece, a pun should be avoided unless it’s executed in the vein of dark humor. Serious work demands a serious title. However, an important rule of thumb is to be very cautious about industries or groups in jokes. Consider for whom the article is intended. If it is aimed at a wider public audience, such as a newsletter or advertisement intended to bring people into a site for discussion or purchases, then an excellent inside joke would be misplaced. Not everyone understands the jargon, so it should be limited. On the other hand, a specialty letter crafted specifically for professionals of the plumbing craft could easily get away with jokes about piping and other internally-recognized puns. As with any online venture, the goal is clearly to keep the audience first and foremost in mind when selecting a title, rather than simply hoping they’ll “get” it. Enzo F. Cesario is an online branding specialist and co-founder of Brandsplat, a digital content agency. Brandsplat creates blogs, articles, videos and social media in the “voice” of our client’s brand. It makes sites more findable and brands more recognizable. For the free Brandcasting Report go to http://www.BrandSplat.com/ or visit our blog at http://www.iBrandCasting.com/ Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Viral Marketing Buzz: How to Capture Your Market Online Posted: 05 Oct 2011 11:30 AM PDT 
Viral means that it is something that gets passed from person to person and that spreads very quickly, much like a cold virus. Instead of making everyone sick though, you get your product or service spreading out everywhere instead. One perfect example of this concept is YouTube. How many times have you shared a funny video with someone? Videos can become extremely viral very quickly, but other Here are a few different viral marketing tools I have used to grow my business: * Viral Video and Audio * Viral eBooks * Viral Workshops, seminars or online courses * Viral Reports In fact, you can make just about anything viral in nature, as long as the tools you create are made to accomplish a few things. Since viral means passed from person to person, you need to think about the reasons why people share information with their friends and colleagues. Think about why you shared a video or an article with someone recently. It was likely that the information you chose had one or all of the characteristics below: It Was Valuable… Even though people have the whole world at their fingertips these days with the Internet, they still look for and hold on to valuable content and well written pieces of information. If information is informative and is created with the end user in mind it will get passed around due to it’s high value. It Was Entertaining… We all know laughter is the best medicine. If you can make people laugh they will want others to laugh and feel good too. Humor is an excellent way to capture a market. Think of all the commercials you have seen that have made you laugh. Don’t you remember the funny ones? I have seen commercials on television that I later went on YouTube to find so I could watch them again, and then I shared the It Was Controversial… Shocking or thought-provoking material gets people talking. You have to be careful with this method though, as it is very powerful. Controversial subjects will always draw a lot of attention, but it brings both good and bad attention at the same time. This method can easily backfire on you too, and there are ample examples of companies having controversial ad campaigns backfiring on them. You Those are just 3 examples of the kind of content that you want to produce so that people will be more apt to share it with others. Still, this is only the first stage of a viral marketing buzz campaign. How do you use this viral product to promote your business? Every ad medium is different, but the end result you are looking for is the same. For instance, with audio or video you will be able to market your product or service directly in your content. This can be your website, your company name or your logo. With print media it is the same story. With an ebook or report you will want to include a link to your website, and some information about you or your company. You could also include a separate or full page ad for a product or service in your content, as well as a resources page. The possibilities are endless and it is really up to you how you wish to promote yourself or your company. Just make sure you make it very clear where people can go to get more information should they wish too. Capturing your markets attention via viral marketing buzz can be a very powerful method of building your business and brand. If you can get your viral information into the hands of your target market, amazing things can happen. Just make sure that your content is placed where your target market hangs out! With the social networking revolution going on you should have no trouble getting your viral content into the correct hands, and having it spread far and wide across the Internet. As long as your content is valuable and entertaining (with maybe a little controversy thrown in) and engages your readers, your content will work hard for you. Article by Adam Bauthues. And now I would like to invite you to receive Free Instant Access to my viral marketing and niche marketing and advertising blog, The Project Marketer. It is your complete resource for absolute victory in marketing and advertising online: http://www.ProjectMarketer.com Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| How to Create Bolder, Jazzier, More Intriguing B-to-B Email Subject Lines Posted: 05 Oct 2011 08:15 AM PDT 
If this describes you, try these bolder approaches that arouse curiosity, freshen up your emails and improve both open rates and response – without getting downright silly or harming your business image. Along with each idea, I've provided an example illustrating how you might put it to work. 1. Ask a surprising or provocative question. 2. Highlight an emotion. 3. Refer to current events. 4. Issue a challenge. 5. Use a line of dialogue. 6. Provide a specific number (or two). 7. Confess something. 8. Present a quiz. 10. Quote a client. 11. Say what the reader is probably thinking. 12. Guarantee something. 13. Relate to social trends. 14. Promise to alleviate a hassle. 15. Compare before to after. 16. Name the exact type of person you’re targeting. 17. Create suspense. 18. Evoke imagination. 20. Make a vivid comparison. 21. Tell a story. Want to turn the hunt for livelier subject lines into group fun? Order lunch for everyone in the conference room, divide into teams and see which bunch can create the largest number of subject lines using the list above. Offer a prize for the most ridiculous and the most promising ideas. Then collect all the suggestions and separate them into usable and not usable. Have another lunch meeting to turn the seemingly unpromising ideas into better, more appropriate ideas. Sometimes that prize-winner of a ridiculous idea ends up triggering a brilliant marketing campaign! Remember, the goal is to surprise and interest the customer who is wearily going through their in-box. What you’ll probably find is that your effort to excite that email recipient ends up re-energizing you about the delights of what you sell. Veteran copywriter and marketing consultant Marcia Yudkin is the author of Persuading on Paper, Meatier Marketing Copy and 13 other books. Besides mentoring marketing departments in copywriting skills, she runs a one-on-one mentoring program that trains copywriters and marketing consultants in 10 weeks. Participants learn no-hype marketing writing skills and business savvy. For more information, go to http://www.yudkin.com/become.htm Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
| Nine Steps to Social Networking Success Posted: 04 Oct 2011 10:00 PM PDT 
In our seminars, we are asked how to get started using it. While that is a simple question, it requires detailed understanding of the company, knowledge of business goals, and much more information as well. So, to provide people with meaningful assistance we developed these steps. Be advised that they do not provide answers, but lead you to asking the right questions. Why? Pertinent questions that apply to your business and situation only are invaluable. And those questions, my friend, are far more valuable to you than their answers. There are people, books, consultants, aplenty to give you answers, but if you don’t answer the right questions, where are you? By developing the high quality questions that apply to your business, you will create a social networking campaign that is customized to your specific needs. To be successful, that is essential because your customers, their needs, your employees, your very business is unique. This is not a one-size-fits-all endeavor. So, treat these steps as guidelines. Reorder them, combine them, delete any that you care to, but please read them all. Number nine you will find particularly interesting as it combines the online world and the offline world. Social networking has been around for hundreds of years. Don’t think that it only takes place from your keyboard. Nothing could be further from the truth. 1. Goals are not Wants and Wishes. List the goals of your social networking campaign and verify that they are achievable. As one goal approaches completion have the next goal ready to implement. 2. Who Will Conduct Your Social Networking Campaign? Creating your own content takes time. If you hire someone to create your content, provide information on your company and approve the material before it’s published. If you give the job to an employee, provide the time and resources necessary to carry out the work. 3. How will you motivate your audience to tell you what they want in your social networking campaign? Ask, and offer a premium. For example, a free report, a discount coupon, entrance in a contest, a gift, or something else of unquestioned value for the time they spend responding to your query. 4. Determine what social media sites are best for your needs. Look for ways to distribute your social networking campaign into every niche. Visit the major social networking sites and determine which are best for your needs. A blog requires writing, a micro-blog requires you to write tight headlines, video requires you to make, edit, and upload them. Choose the site(s) that fit your needs and create your accounts. 5. Your Web Site is the Crown Jewel of Your Social Media Campaign. Bring your Web site up-to-date and be sure that it supports your social networking campaign by providing the pertinent information your audience is looking for. Integrate your site into your social networking campaign. Give your Web site our 30-second test here. 6. Create Your Content, Place it Online, and Implement Your Ongoing Content Creation Plan. Only create content of unquestioned value that your audience wants. There is no point spending time and dollars to create material that no one will view. Remember, you are selling your social networking campaign for something more valuable than money, someone’s time. 7. Go Live and Tell the World. E-mail your audience to notify them that your social media campaign is online. If you have an over-the-counter business, place signs in the store, include an insert in bags, put your online information on all company paperwork including business cards, invoices, and billing statements. 8. Determining the Effectiveness of Your Social Networking Campaign. Look for increased activity on your Web site. Have your Web master provide you data on where your visitors are coming from. Look for traffic from your social networking sites. 9. Offline activities to assist making your social networking campaign successful. * Attend conferences in your field and those related to your target audience. * Become an acknowledged expert in your field by publishing in Twitter and on a blog. Publish articles in industry magazines, newsletters, and blogs. * Collaborate with cause marketing. The old saying, “Two heads are better than one,” is true. * E-mail marketing, use it as a marketing tool and to keep-in-touch. * Engage your employees in your social networking campaign. Publish a social networking policy that tells them what they can do, not what they can’t do. * Give a free seminar at your place of business. Promote it online and with a press release. * Host free seminars at your place of business. * Join Chambers of Commerce, networking, and business groups. * Paper magazines. Don’t throw them away, cut them up and send pertinent articles to your clients. Find the article(s) online and use e-mail to send a link your clients. * LinkedIn is perfect for your needs. Use it. * Market to those who can refer business to you, and to those who do business with you. * Publish a Newsletter. Include trivia, winter driving tips, a crossword puzzle, Windows and Mac tips, new products with links to independent reviews, gift ideas, etceteras. Do not use your newsletter for selling. Do keep it informative, timely, and fun. * Send hand written Christmas cards, and thank you notes to your clients. Begin writing them in October, if that’s what it takes. * Quality content provides unquestioned value. Customers want answers. Provide them. * Speak at conferences and industry events. * Subscribe to industry magazines, blogs, and newsletters that your customers read. * Take every opportunity to get together with customers, and potential customers. * Throw a party. * Use both sides of any handout. The space you waste could be marketing for you. * Video. Create your YouTube channel and place your videos there. * Your Web site is the crown jewel of your social networking campaign. See that its design supports your business needs. These steps are also available at: Web Content Rx Wayne English is a Web content and social networking expert. Web Content Rx, A Quick and Handy Guide for Writers, Webmasters, eBayers, and Business People is a Top 5 Business Title in Leadership Books at The Washington Post. Wayne teaches social networking, is published in newspapers, magazines, and newsletters. Follow him and WebContentRx on YouTube, Twitter, and read his blog at: http://webcontentrx.typepad.com/webcontentrx/. Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources |
I was talking to a small business owner the other day, who was complaining to me about how difficult it is to run Pay Per Click ad campaigns on Google when you are faced with conflicting information all the time. I asked him to elaborate and he said: 
While it certainly isn’t as much work as crafting the body of a superior article, selecting a title for a piece is definitely an important element of the entire process of content creation. The title of an article is a multifunction web tool, providing opportunities for engagement with the reader and search engine in equal measure. Putting some thought into the title and how best to leverage its effects will help title choices provide a solid return on investment instead of burdening an otherwise good project needlessly.
Viral marketing is still one of the most prolific marketing tools you can use to grow your business. If you employ it in the correct manner, it has the power to take you from obscurity to the “talk of the town” in a matter of days. If you are not sure what viral marketing means, it is a real simple concept.
Many of my b-to-b clients feel stuck in the mud when it comes to gaining the attention of their email subscribers. They use the same very limited number of techniques, strategies and angles time and time again. They realize recipients on their lists probably feel uninterested in hearing from them, which is but one step short of losing them when they unsubscribe.
Social Networking has taken the world of business by storm. Properly used, it can establish you as an expert in your field, keep you in-touch with customers, sell your products, and market your business or organization. It is an around-the-clock marketing machine that never sleeps.| You are subscribed to email updates from SiteProNews Recent Articles To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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