Internet Jargon is fast becoming a new language spoken by many and understood completely by few. New acronyms, words and phrases are being added daily. It’s changing the way we speak and write (Read Article).

It’s so important to keep current and understand what’s being said. Most likely your audience is at different levels of understanding.

I like to include definitions wherever possible in my web writings, memos and blog postings. In order to get our messages across we all have to learn a new language.

Here are some resources that can help:

Glossary of Internet & Web Jargon

Dictionary of Internet Terms

Understanding Computer & Internet Jargon

Internet Acronym Server
As a baby boomer who majored in English, I studied Shakespere and the 18th Century English poets. Today my job in Internet Marketing takes me to the brave new world of Internet speak. Can you imagine Lord Byron with a laptop?

Hardly a week goes by that I don’t hear a new term. Sometimes I laugh right out loud because old words have new meanings. The good thing is that I can remember these terms because I find humor in them.

Here are just a few that make me smile:

Netiquette - I hope you have it!
Chips and Salsa - What time does the game start?
BLOB - Steve McQueen’s first movie or ___.
Gopher - University of Minnesota’s mascot or somebody else?
Click Farmer - I’d like to meet one.
And two old standbys: Cookies and SPAM. - What I’m not having for lunch today unless I’m in my fallout shelter.

If you don’t know the meanings, look them up. And next time you’re writing a blog post or an email, plug in some definitions and help promote better understanding of the Internet’s language.

As anyone working in the SEM field can attest, our industry is one that is held to an unusually high standard of accountability. While other means of traditional advertising and marketing have been considered necessary or automatic for so long that they are rarely evaluated based on the ROI they produce, but simply considered a form of brand awareness or public relations, online activities are often heavily scrutinized. Perhaps it is our own fault for developing so many tracking and analytics programs. After all, online results are only analyzed (sometimes over-analyzed) because they can be.

Because it seems that accountability for SEM activities is not likely to go away any time soon, it’s time to embrace it and view analysis as an opportunity to prove the value of online activities (and ultimately the value of you and your company) to your clients. This can be an overwhelming task considering that many clients have never used an analytics program or even taken the time to fully calculate ROI for various marketing activities. In many ways, it is like being handed a box of thousands of puzzle pieces and told to figure out how they fit together to make one large picture.

Fortunately, Google offers a solution for tracking online activity that is not only comprehensive, it’s free. Anyone who has ever shopped around for analytics programs knows that it is rare to find one that is both comprehensive and inexpensive (It is not uncommon to pay hundreds or thousands of dollars per month for a quality program.). While Google Analytics is by no means perfect and it has frequently been criticized for understating results, I believe it is one of the most under-rated programs out there. Once your account is set up, you are able to track how visitors found a site, how they navigated through it, calculate CPA and ROI, and ultimately determine which marketing campaigns are most effective….and did I mention it’s free?

Setting up your account to track various marketing campaigns is relatively quick and easy, with Google even providing a handy URL Builder tool. After tagging all or your campaigns and setting up goals and funnels, you can begin to answer some of your client’s most fundamental questions: Where is site traffic coming from? Where are visitors abandoning the sales process? How much is the average online sale? Which programs are producing the best ROI?

As we all know, sometimes seeing is believing. Google Analytics allows you to grant account and report access to various users. This allows you to share data with clients as you see fit and give them a visual representation of the status of their campaigns. You can tell them that X% of their conversions came from a specific campaign, but seeing that data neatly organized in easy to read charts and graphs can help drive your point home and prove the value of your efforts.

As always, there are numerous opportunities for customizing your Google Analytics program to account for different variables. However, it has been said that marketing is “half art, half science.” That means that gathering data is only half the battle. While it is a vital part of determining which campaigns are producing the most traffic, conversions, etc., it is up to you to draw conclusions from that data and optimize campaigns accordingly. That is where the greatest opportunity lies to set yourself apart from the competition and prove your value to clients.
[tags] Google Analytics, Web Analytics, SEM Campaigns [/tags]

So you have ad placements in several local media (yellow pages, newspaper (offline & online), weekly circulars, billboards, radio spots, etc.) Do you really know which media is performing best for you? Sure the yellow pages or the local newspaper assure you a certain circulation rate but how do you know which outlet is not only bringing in the most leads but which one is the most cost effective?

There are several phone call tracking solutions on the market today, including; CallSource, Capture the Call, i-Sight and my personal favorite VoiceStar

With a call tracking solution like VoiceStar you no longer have to act on sure gut belief and historical ad buys when making purchase decisions. By simply using unique phone numbers (local or toll-free) in your ads, you can efficiently (in terms of money and time) track where your leads are coming from and where your budget is best spent.

VoiceStar offers a convenient online interface where you can assign unique numbers to all of your media. Each time a phone call comes in, you’ll know which media buy produced the call, what time the call was made, who the caller was as well as the duration of the call. Heck, you can even record the phone calls if you'd like.

With an easy to use graphical online interface you can see, in real-time, which media is producing the calls and how many they are producing. For more efficient ad scheduling and employee management you can determine which time of the day your target market is responding to your ads. And for any of you who might own several stores in your local metro or have offices nationwide, you’ll now know which market/location is responding best.

A database of phone recordings can be very useful to a business. They can be used for future training purposes or even to analyze your company's customer service techniques.

With so much added insight into the dynamics of your advertising buys it won’t be long before you’re on your way to; a more efficient business, delighted clients and most importantly, more sales!

[tags] call tracking, advertising, media buying, media planning [/tags]

If you are a marketer you need all the tools you can get to effectively market your company’s products and services. Video podcasting (Define) is a great way to communicate your company’s messages because it’s easy, affordable and fast - and, oh yes, portable and convenient! As recent as 10 years ago, creating video for business communications was an expensive and lengthy process. With the help of modern technology, businesses today can create affordable, professional video podcasts to visually promote a company’s products and services and provide customers the convenience of portability, so desired in today’s fast-paced world. Quick turn video podcasts are the new norm and you don’t have to give up professional quality. Here are some factors to consider. Find a podcasting service that has experience!

• Ask questions about filming and editing equipment.
• Ask about lighting equipment and techniques

Define your project objectives

• Draft key messages
• Depending on the type of video, for example a product demonstration, consider hiring professional script writer.

If you are filming a speaker consider adding in still images or slides. Consider using existing footage to enhance the story. Many companies have a “vault” of old tapes and beta footage. If it’s still appropriate, dust it off and reuse it. Zooming in on your presenter? You might need make-up - powder for the shine. Once you have your final-approved file, use it to the max. Make sure you track your downloads. You can relax. You’ve just delivered a high quality, professional video that’s easy to access and portable. You’ve clearly explained and demonstrated the cool new features of your latest product. Now imagine. Your customers watch your podcast as they eat lunch, work out at the gym, or wait for their flight in the airport. They love you for making life easier. They call you with complements and sales soar. They even know your dog’s name. You’re on your way to the bank! [tags] podcasting, video podcasting [/tags]

I've posted in the past about PPC bid automation and the need for reporting. However, since Yahoo!'s new panama system, the landscape of bidding has changed significantly. Question: Has the need for your bid automation gone up or down?

For myself, Yahoo! was really the only "beast" of the bunch, since they relied heavily on the straight pay for placement model for so long. Now with the newer Panama update and the closeness to Google, i must say that our overall need for automation has gone significantly down. The need for constantly adjusting bids based solely upon getting good placement is now in the control of the little back box that we all came to love or hate.
Regardless, bid automation companies such as Dynamic software, Bidrank, and Atlas Search continue to boast the benefit of having a computerized software manage your bidding strategies. On the other hand, as bidding moved to an average position and cost mode game, bidding automation has become smarter in the sense that it can manage campaigns/bidding to ROI or CPA (Define) goals. Additionally, Google and Yahoo both now have entered the automation scene with Free tools such as Bid Optimizer and Yahoo!'s Analytics (Formerly search optimizer). As with anything however, i recommend that one should proceed with caution. Without human intervention a computer's perfect scenario could be a marketers worst nightmare.

Consider a couple of examples. Say your client/advertiser is more concerned about brand awareness rather than of the goals of CPA or ROI? Sure a bid automation program could bid "top guns" for you, but is that really worth 5K a month investment in an expensive software program?

Or what about a company that doesn't have a product or service that is strictly an impulse buy? Or even worse, phone calls and related sales outweigh online performance. Where's the software's easy button for that?

All of the above points to just some of the complexities of running paid search advertising regardless of what bid strategy is employed. Sure, you can argue other hidden benefits (which we'll get to in just a second), but when it comes down to it, its really about cost and what you can afford.

All things aside, their is no Grey area solution for those in between. And by that i mean, the benefits that bid automation companies offer…without the need of bid automation. What?!? Say that again?

Allow me to clarify. I'm talking about namely modeling, reporting, and client interaction. In a nutshell, modeling refers to analyzing trends and predicting (with some degree of confidence) where things are headed given past historical data.

Reporting, probably the most overlooked and greatest need, is left in the hands of either your advertising partners platform or a third party analytics program where playing the memory game between the two is crucial…unless your willing to shell out a few bucks. Sorry Google analytics, but thats ok because your free:) Lets face it, reporting is cumbersome without a third part involved due the fact that the major three (Google, Yahoo, and MSN) all have different reporting procedures. Gee, it sure would be nice to have a simplified solution without the need of additional tracking cookies, javascript, pixels, ect. Like we need more of that!
Lastly is customer interaction. If your a SEM/Internet Marketer, your client likely has only two forms of contact with your company. Either with you or what you can give them. Tangibility more or less, is what a client will look for in the long run. Providing great looking reports or a client login center is really the only the tangible items (aside from experienced results) you can give your client besides your word.

If you've shopped th bid automation industry, i think that you'll agree with me that their is no happy middle solution. Its either a one time charge without the bells and whistles or a heft monthly price tag that requires a Multi-million Dollar ad spend budget. So tell it to me frankly, whats in your arsenal for handling this delimma?

[tags] ppc advertising, ppc bid automation, ppc bid management, pay per click [/tags]