This is really cool. Maybe obvious, but really cool. The following snippet is from an article in Business 2.0 addressing ROI in search engine, keyword advertising (PPC). The point of it all is this; conversion rates skyrocket for keyword searches that are composed of a "string" of defining keywords as opposed to a one or two-keyword search. I know, obvious right?

Well apparently not to everyone. The lion share of keyword advertising is based on the purchase of one or two keywords or key phrases.

A shopper searching for "powertools" and clicking through to Home Depot's site, is not very likely to produce a sale. However, a searcher using "beltsander, Sacramento, Black & Decker" is likely to be an actual buyer, with conversion rates of up to 38%!

Hmmmm, pay less, get more? Can this be true? Welcome to NEW media folks.

From the story...

The Long and Short of Marketing

"...A typical single-word query would lead to a conversion rate of 6.3 percent. (In other words, only six out of 100 single-word searches result in good news for Business 2.0's parent company.) But that rate jumps to 15.3 percent for a two-word search. It shoots to 33.1 percent for three words and peaks at 38.2 percent for four. "If someone is performing a search with two, three, or four words, they're past the research phase and are looking to buy," Wehr explains. "Those are the people you want on your site." (Story)

Attention: Sacramento Area Small/Med. Business Owners:

Prior to joining Travidia as VP Online Retail Sales, I'd spent the past 5+ years as The Sacramento Bee's Online Business Development Manager. (Sacbee.com, Sacramento.com, SacTicket.com. Resume and qualifications HERE.)

I am interested in having conversations with select local business owners in order to beta-test newly developed LOCAL, online-marketing programs that I believe hold great promise. I have much data and very recent research that I am willing to share in exchange for industry specific conversation on local, Sacramento-area advertising strategies.

Some industries of interest include:

• Real Estate
• Auto Sales
• Ecommerce enabled local retailers
• All local service industries (legal, plumbers, house cleaning, contractors, etc.)

If you own a consumer-based, retail or services business in or near the greater Sacramento area, have an interest in local Internet advertising, and would be willing to take a short meeting with me, email me now. Although I am only looking to work with a very few, all applicants will receive a personal reply.

People, this is so the "right" thing to do for traditional media. Unlike so many of the entrenched players who spend their time thinking of ways to put the genie back in the bottle, Infinity Broadcasting is using user generated content to supplement the tired model of DJ play. Hats off to Infinity Radio! I hope we see this in their Sacramento markets as well.

Podcasting Killed the Radio Star By Xeni Jardin Wired.com
02:00 AM Apr. 27, 2005 PT

Podcasting will soon break out of the "pod" and onto the public airwaves.
The world's first all-podcast radio station will be launched on May 16 by Infinity Broadcasting, the radio division of Viacom.

Infinity plans to convert San Francisco's 1550 KYCY, an AM station, to listener-submitted content. The station, previously devoted to a talk-radio format, will be renamed KYOURadio.
Infinity, one of the country's largest radio operators with more than 183 stations around the country, will invite do-it-yourselfers to upload digital audio files for broadcast consideration by way of the KYOURadio.com website.

"I'm excited," said Infinity Broadcasting CEO Joel Hollander. "We're creating a new way to let a lot of people participate personally in radio -- sharing their feelings on music, news, politics, whatever matters to them. (Story)

More Ad Trouble At The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal

Both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are having a rough go with traditional ad space revenues. Both companies blame less tech and financial ad spending. There is truth in this assertion. But the problem is deeper. The Internet is grabbing more and more ad dollars.

Paid Search is draining significant ad dollars from print. Also more and more people are getting their news and information online. This means that erstwhile ad dollars are moving not only to paid search, but also to traditional banner advertising on a variety of Web sites.

Do not be surprised if these venerable newspaper brands start to make certain economies in production to save money and help their respective bottom lines. I have pointed out how The Times of London recently changed to a tabloid format. I am sure this was a painful decision for News Corporation, but most likely Rupert Murdoch saw the reality of a losing battle and moved to cut costs. Thus my guess is that we are only a few years away from both The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal making the same decision as The Times in England.

Newspapers will always be with us, but as more and more people use the Internet, newspapers are going to become smaller and smaller and will have to rely on Web traffic to work in tandem with the print editions in order to be economically viable. story

Attention: Sacramento Area Small/Med. Business Owners:
Prior to joining Travidia as VP - Online Retail Sales, I'd spent the past 5+ years as The Sacramento Bee's Online Business Development Manager. (Sacbee.com, Sacramento.com, SacTicket.com. Resume and qualifications HERE.)I am interested in having conversations with select local business owners in order to beta-test newly developed LOCAL, online-marketing programs that I believe hold great promise. I have much data and very recent research that I am willing to share in exchange for industry specific conversation on local, Sacramento-area advertising strategies. Some industries of interest include:

Real Estate
Auto Sales
Ecommerce enabled local retailers
All local service industries (legal, plumbers, house cleaning, contractors, etc.)

If you own a consumer-based, retail or services business in or near the greater Sacramento area, have an interest in local Internet advertising, and would be willing to take a short meeting with me, email me now.Although I am only looking to work with a very few, all applicants will receive a personal reply.

Search for Web info a gold mine

Mon Apr 18, 2005 10:30 AM BST

By Lisa Baertlein

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - People searching for information on the Internet are driving some of the fastest-growing profits on the Web, whetting advertisers' appetites by signaling what they want.

By typing in search terms, users are also sending advertisers a clear message about merchandise they might be interested in buying, and search providers like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN are cashing in.

For instance, entering "laptop computer" will bring up ads for products from computer makers Dell and Hewlett-Packard, retailer Best Buy, online auctioneer eBay and price comparison site BizRate.com.

Research shows global Web search advertising revenue, which is big business for the two Internet giants, will be almost $8 billion in 2005 -- more than 20 times what it was four years ago.

"It's a marketer's dream tool because we can monitor it in so many different ways and watch the effectiveness of it," said Jeff Saville, a consumer direct marketing manager at Deckers Outdoor.

Deckers, which sells Teva sandals and Ugg sheepskin boots, among other products, jumped into Web search advertising as the 2005 holiday season ramped up, diverting money from its Web banner ad budget.

Web search ads, also referred to as paid search, are triggered when Internet users look for information. Advertisers buy key words that would be used to find their product and pay each time a consumer clicks on their ads -- which are links to their Web pages -- and Google and Yahoo reap the revenue.

The market is growing fast, primarily because the ads are trackable and target people who are already interested. The medium is also inexpensive compared with television, radio, direct mail and Web banner ads.

For Saville and others, paid-search advertising has become a do-or-die proposition.

Jeffrey Herzog, chairman and chief executive of iCrossing, a search engine marketing company that helps people create and manage Web search campaigns, agreed.

"When someone conducts a search, only two things can happen. They'll either find your business or a competitor's business. Game over," Herzog said. Full story: HERE