The AdCenter plug in for Excel is now available in beta form on the AdCenter blog. I've not had much time to play with it yet and it is VERY US-Centric but from first impressions it looks amazing.

Setup is really simple, just download it and run the setup file. When you next run Excel you'll see a new tab for "Ad intelligence". click that tab and there's a whole bunch of tools for keyword research, performance data, demographic data, click cost and position estimates etc.


Some of the more funkier stuff includes...
"Keyword extraction" where you can enter some site urls in excel and the plug in will tell you the keywords used by that site.

"Search Buzz" shows you the top "spikey" keywords. Now if you've no idea what a spikey keyword is... where've ya bin? A spikey keyword is one where there is some external factor that causes a spike in traffic during a given period. Take "Travel Agents" as an example and the plug in will tell you that "Thomas Cook" has a Spikey index of 5378 and the spike occurs between the 6th and 7th of January (ok so maybe a little more work needs to be done on it but it's till just a beta).


The monthly traffic volumes option is great. Highlight a keyword and the plug in will give you traffic data for each month (past and future).


A lot of this stuff you can get already at adcenter labs but it's great to have it locally in Excel.

Mel Carson posted some research details on the adcenter blog a while back about the perception UK small Business had of PPC advertising.

Apparently...
"The research which questioned 400 UK SMBs, reveals 44% of SMBs not doing search marketing think it is too time consuming; 56% think it is too expensive; and 33% too complicated. However, 76% of SMBs promoting their website on search engines see an immediate increase in sales."

Mel then goes on to "expose" the myths

Myth 1: Over a third (34%) of respondents think it would take a day or more to set up a campaign. In reality, the time taken from opening an account to it going live can take as little as 15 minutes.

Fact 1 : Ok so technically you can get an ad up and running in 15 minutes but let's be realistic. To create campaigns of any real value takes time, knowledge and patience.

Myth 2: Some 56% cite cost as a top reason why SMBs will not invest, with a quarter of all SMBs thinking the best keywords are already taken. Actually, SMBs can invest as little as 10-20 pence per click or a monthly budget of around £5.

Yup, cant argue with that one!

Myth 3: Many are put off by the idea that it sounds too complicated – with the overwhelming majority (89%) thinking it was more difficult than online banking. However, SMBs can easily manage accounts from their desk and are likely to see immediate results from just a few simple keywords.

Fact 3: Mmmmm not sure about that one Mel! Don't know who you bank with but as much as I love adCenter it's not the easiest interface in the world.

What's perhaps more interesting in the report are the stats for those SME's who tried to set their own accounts up but gave up! 33% of those thought it was too complicated. 44% thought it was too time consuming and over half thought it was too expensive.

Of course, I am biased but like any sophisticated system, the better your knowledge the more you're likely to get out of it. We see lots of accounts that have initially been setup by managers and business people with better things to do with their time.

Any agency worth their salt will reward their clients with better quality traffic and at a lower cost which should more than cover any fees they charge.

PPC engines have a vested interest in persuading clients that creating and running PPC campaigns is a walk in the park. The reality is somewhat different. It'd be nice to see AdCenter, Google and Yahoo actively promoting the use of agencies and in the long term it'd pay off for them too. The better a campaign is run, the more likely a client is to continue invest in marketing spend which is of course good news for the engines.

Qualifications such as AdWords Professional and AdExcellence help to promote agencies but we could do with these being more actively promoted.

You can view the research here

Although adExcellence (AdCenter's version of the AdWords Professional programme) is not yet available outside the US, the adExcellence Classroom is of course online.


There was talk about the programme being available in the UK before the end of the year (2007) but I guess this isn't going to happen

Received this notice from the adCenter team this morning...

Upgrade highlights
Instant editorial feedback on your ads and keywords during the creation process so your ads will go live faster.

More intuitive reporting allowing you to easily analyse and optimise your reports with interactive filtering, sorting, and graphs.

Flexible budgeting for your campaigns. Now you can set a daily budget target with a maximum spend per month.

Substitute default dynamic text to be used if your inserted keyword or placeholders cause the ad to exceed the maximum character limit.

New Ad Submission Process
Just a quick update on the latest AdCenter interface stuff. The really good news is that you no longer have to submit each ad one by one to change the status from Draft to Active.

1. On the Select a campaign page, open the appropriate campaign.
2. On the Select an ad group page, select the check boxes of the Draft ad groups you want to submit, and click Actions.
3. In the Actions drop-down list, select Submit ad group.
4. On the Windows Internet Explorer dialog box, click OK to submit.
-- The status of the ad groups will change to Active, and your ads will be live, if your ad groups did not require an editorial review.

I'm going cold turkey

I've been a Google search type of chap throughout my online life. For as long as I can remember, when I want to find something I "Google" it. What's a competitor up to? Google It!When was the last time Wales one anything at Rugby? Google it! Have any of my pathetic attempts at SEO bore fruit? Google it!

As of tonight, I'm going cold turkey and switching my allegiance to Live Search. I know, but i can handle it. Sure I search a lot but I can control it. Yes I know, when I type my own name into Google I get loads of Ego links that make me feel slightly less insignficant than I really am. But tonight, for 7 days straight I'm using Live Search instead!!!

Wish me luck!

PS

Darn! Just realised I wrote this in Google docs and published it to my Blog which is on Blogger.com AND I'm wearing my Google underpants as I type this... DOH!

AdCenter have announced some changes to the quality score system. If I'm reading it correctly the changes mainly affect the ads that appear in the top slots above the standard search results.

According to the AdCenter Blog...
"As part of the Live Search 2.0 launch, we have made changes to the adCenter quality-based ranking system – the formula that we use to calculate which ads appear in the mainline"

"This change represents a win-win for advertisers and searchers; in addition to giving you more control over placement, searchers are getting better quality ads in the mainline."

In simple terms there would appear to be a minimum quality threshold that an ad must surpass if it's to appear in the top slot (sorry.... "Mainline").

The Blog Post then goes on to say...

"You could see your ads move in or out of the mainline depending on your CTR and set Max Bid. You may need to bid more to maintain mainline positions. You may see ads move up into the mainline without bidding more. For ads remaining in the mainline. Your actual CPC may increase"
Bold bits are my emphasis

Mmmm not totally a "win win" situation then ;)

Ok so yesterdays post was all about the funky new video thumbnails on Live Search. Having raved about how cool they were, someones gone and removed the video link. When I mentioned in the office today that all the video thumbails started "talking to me and moving around" my loyal colleagues suggested it was time I took a holiday or at least have a lie down.

THEY WERE THERE, I PROMISE!

Just becuase they strip away the link doesnt mean you still cant get to them :)

Try this link to Harry Potter!

Microsoft are really pulling the stops out the improve LiveSearch. Google has such a grip on consumer searching that it's hard to see how live can possibly catch up. Then again... check out the Video tab on www.live.com. Search for something obvious like "Harry Potter" or "Pulp Fiction" and hover your mouse over any of the thumbnails. Cool or what?