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Bing Visitors More Likely to Leave Your Site

September 13, 2009 by at 7:41 pm Leave a Comment

Ad Click Through Rate is 55% Greater on Bing than Google

Are Bing users more likely to buy or leave your site?  It all depends on how you want to look at the numbers.bing-search-click-rate The Chitika research has uncovered that if visitors organically found your website via Bing rather than Google, they are more that 50% more likely to click a paid ad within your site.  Additionally, Yahoo users are more than 20% more likely to click on paid ad than Google.

Law of Large Numbers for Google?

ctr-data-for-chitka-reportTechCrunch explains this result as “the law of large numbers”.  Huh?  Never heard of this Law before but they seem to conclude that being the #1 search engine is why your ads would have a lower CTR % if they organically came from Google.  They theorize if Bing had the same volume as Google, they’d have a much lower CTR. TechCrunch is missing the whole point of the study.  And, their article title is completely wrong! There are two ways to interpret what the Bing 1.50% CTR is telling us:
  1. Bing users find on page advertisements more appealing than Google users; or
  2. Google is serving better results organically thereby lower the CTR because the on-page content is more relevant
Remember, when a visitor clicks on an Ad appearing your site, they are saying “I’m done, let’s see what this site has for me.”  Now, if that’s your conversion goal for that page then you have to love the Bing visitor. Of course, most of us are trying to convert the visitor to buy/sign-up/etc. something else on our site besides the advertisement. Is it fair to conclude then Bing isn’t serving up as relevant pages as Google?  Perhaps.  Bing is still in the infancy stage and it’ll need more time before you can draw more firm conclusions. If I were Bing I’d want that CTR to come down below Google’s CTR and spin it on TV as “Users find Bing SERPs to be more relevant and less likely to leave than Google.” That would be a very powerful statement for SEOs and business owners alike.
Filed Under: SEM, SEO Tagged: bing, ctr, google, yahoo

Facebook Emulates Twitter with @Tagging Feature

September 10, 2009 by at 9:00 pm Leave a Comment

Should Twitter Be Worried About Facebook’s New Feature?

facebook-logo-smOne of the most popular Twitter features, the @Mention, is about to be released on Facebook.  The new feature called tagging, will allow you to tag friends in your Facebook status and post updates.  @Mentions are heavily used within the Twitter world and Facebook has decided it now wants to capture some of that mojo. Prior to this update, people would normally tag friends within uploaded pictures or notes.  Now, with this release you’ll be able to mention them when writing updates or wall posts.
Tagging Your Friends in Facebook

Tagging Your Friends in Facebook

To tag someone in a post or update you simply will type the “@” symbol and then start typing the person’s name.  An AJAX reference box will appear allowing you to filter-as-you-type.  Once you’ve submitted your post or update, the @friend will get a notification they’ve been tagged. Facebook also mentioned it will roll this capability into applications in a future update. I would imagine Twitter can feel a slight chill in the air.

twitter-logo-smHow will this impact Twitter?

I believe this will slow down Twitter’s growth a bit but not too much.  Facebook will definitely get some Twitter-like benefits from this including:
  • More Conversational Interactions: To really get into Twitter you need to follow the @replies and watch the entire thread.  For those who  do, it can be quite engaging and interactive.  Previously in Facebook if someone mentioned you in a wall post or status update you would never know unless you happen to see that post or update (or you are subscribing to that friend’s updates).  With @tagging now you’ll immediately know and begin a conversational thread…expect Facebook usage to go up even more once people get the hang of it.
  • Update Twitter from Facebook: Many Twitter users have their tweets update their Facebook status but now you’ll be able to do the reverse.  One of the major objections I hear from Facebook users who are not on Twitter is that it seems redundant…and it is, somewhat.  With Twitter you usually do not control who follows you (there’s a setting for to control this) so there’s no filter.  With this update, I can reply on friend’s walls and statuses and send out a public Twitter update at the same time.  This is definitely something Twitter cannot do.
  • Increase Facebook App Development: Facebook has over 250 million users compared to Twitter’s 10 million.  This new feature will impact usability and further magnify people’s Crackbook addition that already exists.  I’m quite positive there are many savvy developer’s out there now brainstorming on how to leverage this…let the fun begin.
I still think Twitter is still better for the general public masses, especially from a business standpoint.  Facebook is great because it’s a closed system and I know I can control who sees what I want them to see.  But now there will be some blending of the two and I believe this is just the beginning of Facebook trying to capture Twitter’s core base. Yes, they should be worried…
Filed Under: SEM, Social Media Tagged: facebook, twitter

An Advertisement You Cannot Ignore

September 4, 2009 by at 11:10 pm Leave a Comment

A Marketing Dream: Advertisement Captchas

Everyone has come across the Captcha when signing up for a website.  They are designed to block automated programs from signing up for services and spamming users. 
MySpace Captcha

MySpace Captcha

It’s based on a theory that, if answered correctly, the respondent must be a real human being. CAPTCHA actually is a acronym for Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computer and Humans Apart.  Used during a verification process, you must stop what you are doing, decipher the code and enter what you see into a box.  It requires your direct and undivided attention.

Microsoft Files CAPTCHA Patent

If you’re a search engine marketer or in advertising, this is the concentration level you want for your ads. Now, Microsoft has submitted a patent to turn the CAPTCHA event into an advertising bonanza.
Proposed New CAPTCHA Method from Microsoft

Proposed New CAPTCHA Method from Microsoft

Instead of the standard CAPTCHA screen you would an advertisement.  To pass the human test, you would be required to answer a question about the ad.  In this example, you would need to recite “XBOX 360″.  Talk about getting your message across!  As an advertiser you could ensure that not only your ad gets noticed but force the prospect to recant the exact message you are trying to convey. How much do you think you could sell your CAPTCHA spots for?  To guarantee they see and type your key phrase from the ad.  I would imagine every web site would implement a CAPTCHA process overnight.  Branding is about repetition and as a Orange County SEM, we would definitely employ this technique to help build our customer’s branding footprint.
Filed Under: SEM, Small Business, Technology Tools Tagged: advertisement, captcha, microsoft, SEM