Category: Display
-
Mashing Up the Value of Ads & Content
What if online ads were so useful and informative that people actually came to content sites to see the ads as much as they did to see the content? Far fetched? Maybe not so far or fetched. We know that ads are a big draw for consumers around events like the Super Bowl and the…
-
Can Advertising Survive the Web?
Reckoning A decade ago it was real easy for media companies, agencies and advertisers to simply transferred their revenue models online and “adify” the web with banners. Now comes word that the businesses that make their money from display ads are facing hard times. The fault of the economy? Nah, display ads do not work…
-
WidgetWebExpo Presentation on Ad Applications
Speaking at WidgetWebExpo yesterday on advertising applications reminded me of a talk I did three years ago at ad:tech on landing page optimization and multivariate testing. There were a handful of people in the room that day in 2005 and even though I had a case study it was mostly evangelizing to a curious few.…
-
Using APIs to Mashup Ads & Landing Pages
After a decade optimizing landing page after landing page and tons of websites there are two things that I can always count on to improve conversion rates. One is giving users more control to refine their intent in contextually relevant ways. The other is bringing the products or services closer to users in their experience.…
-
Intelligent Web: Where Search & Display Advertising Meet
This past Tuesday at SMX Advanced in Seattle, I presented my ideas and work relating to how the Intelligent Web will fundamentally change and realize the promise of digital marketing. In this post I expand the points and provide my presentation. Since the inception of online display advertising it has been mismatched with the web.…
-
How Semantic & Intelligent Web are Changing Advertising
Alex Iskold at ReadWriteWeb has a post on Semantic Search: “The Myth and Reality” that for the first time made me able to clearly express the benefits of semantic search succinctly. My comment on his post: The value in semantic search is simply about creating ontologies that allow for results refinement that can deliver a…
-
Macy’s Magical Online Disappearing Act
In today’s Wall Street Journal Macy’s CMO and Chairman of the Online Division Peter Sachse talks about Search Marketing. It’s rare to hear a CMO of a major retailer discuss search marketing so it was with great interest that I read his comments. WSJ: How do you measure the effectiveness of search marketing? Mr. Sachse:…
-
Expert Guide to Multivariate Testing Success
I’ve been doing MVT for three years across landing pages and websites with over 40 clients like Citibank, Disney, Esurance, H&R Block, Inuit, Microsoft and T-Mobile. As the Founder & former Chief Strategy Officer of OTTO Digital, the services division of the market-leading MVT tool, Offermatica (now Omniture Test&Target) I’ve authored many case studies on…
-
RAMP Digital’s First Steps
The first two months of RAMP have been glorious insanity. Besides continued success with Landing Page Optimization and testing I’m focused on a few core digital marketing areas where RAMP will change the world and define next-gen digital agency services. Most of these changes and leadership will revolve around optimized marketing solutions RAMP is creating…
-
On-Site Targeting: Crawl, Walk, Run Strategy
This is the presentation I gave at the Web Analytics Wednesday last month in Cambridge, MA. I had a great time there and was lucky enough to be in Boston again so I could catch this month’s WAW held at Monster.com. There are some pretty cool things happening in Boston around analytics. One company to…
-
Multivariate Element Test Variations
Part 4 of my MVT testing series follows up element selection with element variation. Element variation is the most creative aspect to MVT. It requires a mix of marketing acumen, an understanding of creative and some jigsaw puzzle skills. Marketing: The marketing aspect to element variation presents itself in the themes that you create to…
-
MVT Element Selection – Strategy & Tactics
In part 2 of this series we discussed the first part of multivariate test design — determining your test array — how many elements and how many variations of each you you should test. In parts 3 & 4 we will cover the rest of MVT test design, element selection and element variation. Successful testing…
-
5 Ways to Optimize Google Search Result Video Ads
Video ads are now part of search. Most advertisers will be throwing up made for TV commercials and fail to understand or take advantage of this new medium. That will be their loss. Google’s video ads present a huge opportunity for those that take the time to create compelling video specifically for the SERP (Search…
-
Multivariate Testing – Test Design
Part 2: Choosing a MVT Test Array Also see Part 1: Introduction to Factorial Designs The results of your tests are often pre-determined by your test designs. Good designs will provide measurable increases in performance and learning about what tested elements are most important in driving that lift. Good test designs will also provide learning…
Optimize & Prophesize 