First, I’d like to thank the CAPPS (California Association of Private Postsecondary Schools) team for allowing me to speak at thier annual conference.  We have done a number of tests in the edu veritcal and find a lot of areas of opportunities.  This vertical is highly competitive and the big players have a lot of advantages - we believe by working with us, you can level the playing field.  I have been asked for my presentation by a number of folks, so I have uploaded it here.  Thanks,

 Andrew

Google Quality Score and Minimum CPC

Both Google & Microsoft reported their earnings today. Both search engine companies missed analyst’s estimates bringing up more question about how much the slowing economy is weighing on the search engine market.

Google fell $49.70 (-9.3%) to $473.74 as of 9:35PM PST. Microsoft slid $2.14 (-7.8%) to $25.37.

The missed targets brings up the concern that searchers are spending less online and the effect of the economy on the technology industry as a whole. Google reported a slowdown in the growth of consumers clicking on their online ads. Eric Schmidt said that Google faces “a more challenging economic environment” for the first time in a while. Though some technology companies, most notably Intel Corp, was able to beat estimates, the entire technology sector was brought down by the slow reported earnings.

Google also reported a higher than expected increase in research as their spend rose 65 percent which cut into their profits. Administrative expenses also rose 49 percent partly due to their fight against Viacom Inc.

LeadQual as a whole is starting feel the impact of the economy as many clients are curbing their spend or targeting higher ROI at the expense of volume. As LeadQual’s clients range across numerous industries, we see that some sectors such as real estate are hit the hardest while others like B2B continue to remain more steady. Though marketing dollars are being cut, many companies do end up allocating a larger percentage of their budget to SEM because it’s a medium that is fully trackable and easy to measure.

Paul Lee
Director of Online Marketing
LeadQual - Search Engine Marketing

Did you know the Google Mini Fridge can be plugged into your car lighter? Did you know the Google Mini Fridge can be set on Cold or Hot? Did yo know the Cold & Hot switches are switched backwards? For those who have been using Google Adwords extensively for their businesses may know about a little swag called the “Google Mini Fridge”. Most small business users are often surprised when this gift appears at their door but for those who have been advertising on Google for years know, this is the swag you wanted. Why? The fridge itself is nothing spectacular but it’s almost a trophy item. It’s a badge that says, you’ve spent a lot of money on Google. Hopefully this translate to having a lot of experience rather than having wasted tons of money. Regardless LeadQual is a proud owner of a mini-fridge. See it below!

What does that mean for LeadQual? It means we have tons of experience…In all seriousness, since several of us have done PPC and SEM for many years we’ve come across many fridges in our time.

So how does one receive such a novelty item?
You have to hit particular milestones. Whether that be a million clicks, 3 million clicks, 1 million leads, it is certainly all over the place depending on who you ask but what is certain is that you have to hit the million mark to be considered. The three figures I noted above were real click and lead milestones I’ve heard that warranted a Google Mini Fridge. It seems to be its really up to the Google reps.There are some interesting things people are doing with the fridge. Some are posting it on Ebay. Others are using it to create back links for their blogs by running contests that requires the entrants to link to their blog. Others like us are just using it as a beauty piece occasionally used to hold cold drinks for the office.

Paul Lee
Sr. Manager of Web Marketing
LeadQual - Search Engine Marketing

My last blog discussed why a Yahoo/MSN merger would be bad for our clients.  Well, the glass just became less full.  The proposed partnership with Google poses even greater problems for our clients.  Here is what is happening:  Yahoo will reserve the right to display a Google bidder on their search engine at their sole discretion.  So, if you search Chicago Real Estate on Yahoo, the ads served may be from someone who bid on Google.  Whom will Yahoo serve?  Well, obviously the advertiser who pays the most.  Since Google has deeper penetration, more competition and higher prices (see my last blog), then you guessed it, the price per click will go up, for the same traffic.  Yuck!  So, LeadQual has to manage Yahoo’s back-end, Google’s back-end and MSN’s back-end.  But, Yahoo can display whoever pays the most, even if they bid on Google’s engine.  But because it is at Yahoo’s discretion, it’s not like you can rely on your ads being displayed on Yahoo unless you bid on Yahoo.  Remember, the bid price on Google has to be high enough to cover the revenue share Google is going to take, so if you bid the same on Google as Yahoo, your Yahoo bid should trump.

So, where is the silver lining?  I quite honestly don’t see one.  My only hope is that the regulators recognize that this is a clear use of monopolistic pricing power.

Andrew Coleman

Co-Founder – LeadQual.com