Quality Score. Everybody knows it’s an important part of paid search programs run through Google AdWords and the content network. But how does Google calculate these scores, and why are they so important to our pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns?

According to Google, “A Quality Score is calculated every time your keyword matches a search query - that is, every time your keyword has the potential to trigger an ad.” It’s important because it influences your keywords’ actual cost-per-clicks, determines if your keyword is a potential result for a user’s search query and even affects how high your ad ranks.

What’s the best way to improve your quality scores? Optimize your account! As Google recommends, your ad groups should have descriptive ad text relevant to each keyword in the group.

Visit Google’s AdWords Help section for more information about quality score and tips for optimizing your paid search programs.

“Optimization” has many meanings in today’s marketing world. What might come to mind first is search engine optimization — or improving your rankings in search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. And while that should be an important part of your overall marketing plan, optimization has a place in many other tactics you use to build brand awareness, attract your audience, and of course, create conversions.

To read the full article and learn more about measurable optimization tactics subscribe to 90news and view the February 2010 issue in the archives.

90octane built a custom lead generation microsite to showcase the rigs, which typically carry six-figure price tags, and crafted an associated paid search marketing campaign to drive visitors to the site.

Joanna Canton, Atlas Copco marketing communications director, is pleased with the hundreds of highly qualified leads generated. For the paid search program, “The average cost-per-lead is $28, compared with hundreds of dollars apiece for leads from trade shows and print ads,” she noted.

Because the program has resulted in high-dollar sales, Atlas Copco CMT USA already has plans to expand it.

Read the full Atlas Copco paid search story from a February issue of BtoB Magazine.

Social media marketing will be an important player in many companies’ business strategies this year. The key is determining the most efficient and cost-effective way to implement social media tactics into your business plan. Sponsored tweets are quickly becoming one effective way for organizations to use Twitter for their business needs.

Ad.ly and Sponsored Tweets are just a couple of the companies that have created a platform for businesses to connect with Twitter users. These services pay people to tweet about specific products and services. Depending on their influence within Twitter, Twitter users tweeting for sponsors can get paid anywhere from 50 cents to $10,000 per tweet. Power tweeters like socialite Kim Kardashian fall into the higher end of that range. Tweeters are required to disclose that they are endorsing a product/service through symbols like #ad, (ad), etc.

Although it seems like this might be an expensive way to create content on Twitter, it has its benefits. Sponsored tweets develop variation in messaging by allowing other users to promote your brand through their point of view. You can also get a message out quickly; by getting just one famous person to tweet about your company, you can essentially reach thousands. If that route is too expensive, you can get more targeted by selecting lower profile tweeters that are more connected with their followers and have a stronger sphere of influence. Smaller without large marketing budgets have found that sponsored tweets are very cost-effective.

The only drawback to utilizing sponsored tweets is the risk of coming across fake and losing your following. It is best to start off your Twitter campaign through organic word-of-mouth and then slowly move into using sponsored tweets.

As long as they are approached with caution, sponsored tweets could provide the right angle for distinguishing your company profile on Twitter.

Google has recently launched a new feature for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising that inserts customized site links beneath the ads. At this time, this feature is readily available to PPC advertisers with high quality scores. Google allows advertisers to enter up to 10 sitelinks, and all sitelinks can point to different pages within the site. The higher the quality of the PPC ad, the more site links will be displayed. Below is an example of these sitelinks (highlighted in green) in action:

Sitelinks take up valuable real estate in the Google search results allowing advertisers to “own” the space which will likely lead to an increased click-through rate (CTR). As these links can be modified any time, it is a good idea to keep seasonality and new promotions in mind when planning them out.

From February 23-24, 90octane Account Manager Kelly Hall heads to OMS San Diego. OMS brings together hundreds of marketers for educational sessions on search marketing, social media, email, demand generation, analytics and more. No exhibit booths. No sales pitches. Just the opportunity to glean information that applies directly to today’s conversion-driven marketing programs.

What’s better? You don’t need to register. Kelly is going for you! Kelly will bring the knowledge she gains back to 90octane, and in turn, we’ll share our learnings with you. We’ll also think about what smart marketing trends and up-to-the-minute innovations could affect your programs.

So, you’re “invited.” To clarify, you’re invited to help us steer our OMS program selections. What are the marketing trends you want to learn more about? Where do you think your company’s marketing programs have the opportunity to grow?

Take a look at the detailed programming schedules for each day of OMS (linked below), and let us know what you’re interested in learning about. Leave a comment at the bottom of this post with your thoughts. (And feel free to post your name as ‘Anonymous.’)

Day 1
Day 2

We’ll follow up with you after the event. Also, be sure to follow Kelly on Twitter as she sets her OMS schedule, attends the sessions and reports back with gained wisdom.

In a recent article for ClickZ, Harry Gold explored interactive television as a developing technology. As marketers, we are interested in the changing dynamic of the interactive space and always looking out for the latest innovations. It appears that cable and satellite companies are gearing up to make television more interactive using Web-based technologies. The interesting part about marketing interactively on television is the immediate access to your audience while they are engaged.

Much of the technology already exists to make the smooth transition into television and Web integration. The remote in many ways acts as a mouse, with much of the same functionality to boot. Many cable companies actually populate their guides through the Internet to provide users with up-to-date programming information. You may notice that with your cable provider you are able to access Twitter, Facebook, the weather or games. These widgets are connected to the Internet and are available now.

In recent campaigns advertisers are using interactive television to attract customers to make purchase decisions as they view commercials. Gold mentioned a promotion that TiVo did with Dominos back in 2008 where you could order and access the Dominos menu through your television. More recently companies like Charmin and Budweiser have utilized interactive television for games and coupon distribution.

At 90octane, we are interested to see how the medium evolves and how it relates to driving conversions. The technology seems ideal to target consumers both through content and demographic information. You are also reaching out to the people in real-time and able to answer to their needs immediately. The cable companies have tons of user information (address, phone number, credit card information) that could be distributed to advertisers once a consumer expresses interest. We will be on the look-out in 2010 to see how interactive television evolves and watching as it is introduced to mainstream cable.

In 2010, social media marketing will push to the forefront of many organizations’ marketing efforts, and it will be important to make ongoing improvements as the landscape changes and becomes more competitive.

Here are some tips to consider when making adjustments to your social media marketing strategy:

• Go where the conversation is happening. You may already have a Facebook page, Twitter account, YouTube channel and more, but it is never too late to cut bait. If your prospects aren’t interested in or accessible within a certain platform, there is no reason to spend time posting content and managing it just for the sake of saying your company “is on Twitter.” It is best to focus your effort on the places where you know you can reach your audience and ultimately generate conversions.
• Track everything. It is great that social media marketing in a sense is “free,” but that is no excuse not to track everything including conversions. In the end, this will contribute to a lower cost per conversion for all of your conversion-driven marketing efforts and result in a greater ROI.
• Plan to integrate and promote. You can’t just “build it and they will come.” Make sure to include your social efforts in your current online and offline marketing tactics. This can include adding your Facebook logo to your website, internal emails, direct mailers, etc. Also, using paid tactics that you already have as part of your marketing plans, such as third-party emails, pay-per-click (PPC) advertising and display advertising, is a great way to drive prospects to your social platforms.
• Keep it fresh and relevant. Once your customers find you in the social space, it is important to make sure you are giving them a reason to stay and keep coming back. Most people use social platforms to communicate with their peers, but they also want to feel special. Sending current information about your company and new offers to them because they are “linked” or your “fan” will help build relationships.

To keep tabs on one of 90octane’s own social marketing channels, visit http://twitter.com/90octane.

As a fundamental building block to a search engine optimization (or SEO) program, it is important to build strong, qualified incoming links to your website. Here are a few ways to build these links and optimize visibility:

• Submit Press Releases: Submit keyword-rich press releases through newswires and online PR sites, such as PR Newswire and PR Leap, to gain increased online visibility.
• Submit to Directories: Directories, such as DMOZ, are a great way to submit links to your website building quality incoming traffic.
• Evaluate Quality of Incoming Links: Take a look at the sites linking to your website and determine if they are contextually relevant. Request that your link(s) be removed from any that are not.
• Create a Blog: Blog about your company or industry with links back to your website. It is important to blog frequently to keep the content fresh, and therefore search engine friendly.

Starting with a few of these tactics is a good way to begin building a strong linking strategy. Most importantly, remember that first and foremost, it’s about quality, not quantity.

2009 brought a lot of changes and innovations in the wide world of the Web and its search engines. We witnessed the explosion of Twitter and Facebook and the introduction and advancement of Bing and smartphones. These innovations are forcing search engines to alter what is included in their search results, as well as how these results are displayed. The greatest changes to search that will alter search engine marketing (SEM) programs in 2010 include a new emphasis on personalized search, the inclusion of real-time results, and new methods of local and mobile advertising.

Personalized Search: Google’s personalized search is actually not a new development, but the changes to it at the end of 2009 are. Google uses personalized search to present different search results to users based on their search history and demographics. This alteration of search results used to only occur when users were signed into their Google accounts, but now it has been introduced to signed-out users worldwide. The reason this is important to take into account when optimizing is that your company’s listing may be a first page listing for one user while not even rank for another.

Real-Time Search Results: Searchers’ need for instant gratification will not be ignored in 2010. Search engines are introducing real-time search which draws in to-the-minute Twitter and news updates. What does this mean for results? It is no longer enough to focus on optimizing your site for listings; companies also have to be actively participating in these other sources of news to get prime search placement. Posting on Twitter, writing blogs and issuing online press releases using main company and industry key terms will be imperative to keep visibility this year.

Local: As with personalized search, search engines are further trying to customize results through the use of local results.  The top half of many search pages will now be local listings in your area. PPC ads will also have more geographic focus. With this, it is important to make sure your company is listed in all search local listings as well as the most common local directories.

Mobile Advertising: The last big change to search is the use of smartphone technology. Search traffic from smartphones is increasing greatly every day and so are your options for how to display your message to these searchers. It is now possible to create paid search campaigns focused to just mobile searches, tailoring the message to people on the go. One new paid search advancement is the option of click-to-call pricing. Every time a searcher clicks the phone number listed in your ad to call your business you are charged, similar to how cost-per-click currently charges. Making finalizing purchases and contacting your business as streamlined as possible will help increase sales from mobile searches.

Overall, marketers are seeing a shift from the top priority being search engine visibility and optimization for an organization’s main website, to leveraging new and ever-multiplying channels for online visibility.