A question that is commonly put forward by pay-per-click customers is; ‘How much do I need to pay to appear in the first position on Google?’

While it is true that the bid put forward on any keyword must remain competitive in order to appear within the top positions, this factor alone does not determine your ads’ overall position for any given search query. In an attempt to provide users with the most relevant ads for their search queries, Google has in place a system whereby ads and keywords are assigned a value based on their performance and other relevance factors (Quality Score). The higher your Quality Score, the lower the price you’ll pay per click. Those ads, with both a high quality score and a competitive cost per click bid, will be more likely appear in the top positions for search queries relevant to their topic.

This results in ads that are highly relevant to searches performed by users and creates a more level ‘playing field’ for advertisers. Those ads displaying in the top positions for your desired keywords, may not necessarily be paying the highest CPC bid. For this reason, simply upping the CPC bid will not guarantee your ad a top position in the Google search results.

If you are new to Google Ad Words or are not aware of the factors influencing the way in which Google assigns your Quality Score, it may be advisable to seek the help of an online marketing agency to assist you in the setting up and running of your online campaigns. These agencies have the knowledge to ensure that your campaigns produce the best possible return of investment for your available budget. Most online marketing agencies are also able to offer additional services involved in Search Engine Marketing such as Search Engine Optimization to increase your website’s natural ranking and viral marketing options.

With online marketing currently the cheapest form of advertising available, reaching your ideal target market through online campaigns makes even more sense than ever!

Tammy Bradford

OPA launched the Bookmarks awards last year, which credits creativity in the digital space.

We’re amped about this & are gunning for a prize this year!  We believe the date is 12 November 2009…

Sean Riley

SynthaSite has rebranded itself to Yola.  I was lucky enough to attend their celebration at FTV in Cape Town earlier this week.

Yola offers a free web design service – register & build it yourself with their web interface.  It’s fabulous & it works.  For businesses wanting to save costs or just control the design of their website themselves, Yola is the best option out there.

Sean Riley

Stephen Newton has been appointed as Google’s new Country Manager.

I know we’re all thinking ‘damn, this can only be better than last time’… but the sad truth is that the former Country Manager didn’t act alone or without the knowledge & consent from Google HQ.

Many agencies suffered from the unscrupulous business practices of Mr. Newton’s predecessor, but Google SA cannot (and will not) say ’sorry, we screwed up – we should never have gone after customers behind our agencies backs’.  The truth is they’re not sorry, they’ll do it all again, only this time they’ll do it more wisely & try not to get caught!

Sean Riley

Digital advertising, particularly Pay Per Click, has grown almost unchecked in the past 2 years.  Offering advertisers an effective pricing model that allows them to only pay when users express interest in their advertisements (through a click), PPC advertising is cost effective and more importantly, allows advertisers with all sizes of budgets to buy the exposure they desire.

However, as digital advertising matures, we are beginning to see some gaps that need addressing.

Some areas that could be improved on:

1. Full transparency in the bidding process

Sometimes you need to experiment with bids in order to achieve the exposure you want.  This can be delayed, as you bid, wait for ads to be delivered, determine position of your ads, and then adjust accordingly.  I see a more to a stock market type environment happening, with transparent bids & offers to place bids by advertisers being fully transparent in a trading -type model.  Publishers should have the ability to set their minimum desired PPC for an ad.

2. Ability to secure inventory with a bid in advance

Advertisers need to be able to plan a campaign and know that it will be delivered.  How about locking ad delivery to bids in advance, giving advertisers peace of mind that their bids will be delivered?

3. Profile targeting

Most PPC campaigns run on a keyword targeting basis.  How about letting advertisers bid on profiles?  e.g.: males in an LSM of 7-10 in South Africa is just as effective targeting.

Sean Riley

Entelligence has concluded the sale of its remaining 15% stake in MyGate Communications (Pty) Ltd.  MyGate is a credit card processing gateway that has fast become one of the leading choices for websites requiring real-time payment facilities.

MyGate originally purchased 85% of Entelligence’s credit card processing technology, EntelliPay, in 2007, and quickly took the business to new heights.  We’re happy to see something we were part of creating grow with such success.

Sean Riley

Ad Dynamo, the contextual advertising platform, has now successfully concluded a deal with MXit, South Africa’s largest mobile social network.  Advertisers can now place & manage their advertisements on MXit directly through Ad Dynamo, along with all their other digital marketing campaigns.

About MXit

instant messenger | social network

MXit is a next generation Mobile Instant Messaging and Social Networking application, with close on 13 Million users – currently predominantly in South Africa, MXit offers advertisers the opportunity to grow their own branded community on MXit as well as access to a connected youth market.  MXit is expanding rapidly in other markets as well, including Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico, and Thailand.

Reach millions of mobile users

About Ad Dynamo

Ad Dynamo allows advertisers to place contextual image or text advertisements online instantly.  Using the well known principles of bidding on keywords for each click, Ad Dynamo is a highly cost effective platform through which businesses can drive traffic to their websites instantly. 

Sean Riley

We’ve fielded a lot of questions about our pending Competition Tribunal case against Google. Here’s the quick update.

Despite the recent news that Mr. Masie has resigned as country manager of Google South Africa, we are continuing our case against Google.  Clearly, although Stafford Masie was particularly brazen in threatening Entelligence in writing, he did not act without the consent or knowledge of Google international.  Before we originally filed a complaint with the Competition Commission, I flew to Dublin in an effort to resolve matters, made numerous phone calls & sent many emails to Google Ireland asking them to intervene in what we believe is a pretty obvious bullying attempt (“hand over Yellow Pages or we will switch off your AdWords acounts.  Any attempt to create credit card linked accounts to service Yellow Pages will be prevented…”).  Despite our many attempts at getting Google to backoff, they did not – so we went public & filed with the Competition Commission.

We are now setting dates for the Competition Tribunal hearing.  In the meantime, we will publish our evidence & Google’s evidence here within the next few days.

On a different note, it will be with great interest that we observe Google dancing the jig around SARS after Mr. Masie’s recent acknowledgement in Noseweek that Google does not charge VAT in South Africa (despite the fact that they now even have a server farm & Direct Sales Office here)…

Sean Riley

Absolutely love this!

 
The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Sean Riley