As Podcast Ad Biz Sees Static, One Firm Shifts Focus

When it comes to placing ads in video and audio podcasts, how dynamic does the serving need to be? And do marketers care about the exact number of impressions they bought, or is "number of downloads" an adequate metric? A recent move by podcast ad management firm Podbridge suggests the answers to those questions may be "not very" and "downloads will do."

Through a new partnership with Limelight Networks and an ad distribution relationship with MSNBC, Podbridge has reduced its dependence on a dynamic ad insertion and measurement method it pioneered. In doing so, the company may be signaling a belief that marketers don't require the ad management standards from downloadable media that they do from other interactive channels.

Podbridge distinguished itself early on in the area of ad management for downloadable media by going beyond measuring only the download rate for podcasts. It also offered, via a plug-in, knowledge of exactly which podcasts and ads had been heard and which had languished in a user's iTunes library. Perhaps most importantly, Podbridge also supported dynamic insertion, so if someone hits play on a podcast three weeks or three months after downloading it, the ads remain current.

Now, Podbridge is partnering with Limelight to access its content delivery infrastructure and serve online ad campaigns without requiring a server-side installation from publishers or a client-side one from end users. For publishers who choose to go this route, the Podbridge plug-in will not be used, with the result that ads will be neither measurable by impression nor served on the fly.

"Advertisers are willing to pay just for downloads," said Podbridge CEO Murgesh Navar. "For certain types of content, measurement of downloads equals measurement of views."

For instance, when a consumer doesn't watch a podcast they've subscribed to, iTunes eventually stops downloading new episodes. "Downloads becomes a close proxy to views," Navar said. "We do not need the ability to change the advertisement because the content expires as well."

Additionally, he noted it may be superfluous to offer dynamic ad insertion for news programming such as that offered by MSNBC, since "there's hardly any chance someone's going to watch it three months or six months from now." MSNBC offers video and audio downloads of shows like "NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams," "Meet the Press," and "Countdown with Keith Olbermann."

Indeed, NPR and other current events driven podcasters have had success selling sponsorships and ads based on download metrics and hard-coded corporate underwriting announcements.

Podbridge still plans to offer publishers and advertisers a sample-based measurement of actual ad views by tracking subscribers who have already installed its plug-in. It will also continue to provide its plug-in and server-side solution for publishers that want it.

"Podcasting started out being a long-tail behavior," said Navar. "What you're beginning to see here is that this medium is now being embraced by brand name publishers. It's something marketers are extremely comfortable with."

MSNBC will sell its own ads for insertion using Podbridge's system. Podbridge also offers a podcast ad network with partners such as BBC and Clear Channel radio.

Video Game Sector Boosts Online Ad Spending

Mention video games in a conversation about interactive marketing, and in-game advertising immediately comes to mind. Yet video game publishers are online advertisers in their own right. And while interactive ad spending from this sector was for several years less than what one might have expected from an industry focused on the young and hyper-digitized, its investment in online ads has increased of late.

"Our budget's growth year-on-year has been in the double digits," said Ubisoft Senior Manager of Digital Marketing Paul Caparotta. "Our spends are rivaling print, we're seeing tremendous growth."

Spending on display advertising for Ubisoft increased from $1.6 million in 2004 to $2.6 million in 2005 and $3.2 million last year, according to data from TNS Media Intelligence. In the same time, the publisher's TV buy dwindled from $16.1 million in 2004 to $13.8 million in 2006. Ubisoft did not release figures on actual spending.

The budget shift has been echoed by other publishers. Electronic Arts' online display ad spend topped $5 million last year, according to TNS. TNS tracked video game publisher Capcom's online spend for 2006 at nearly half a million dollars, up from $388,000 in 2004. The TNS data do not include rich media, video or other non-display formats.

"It is a huge priority for EA, and has been a growing priority over the last five years," said Carolyn Feinstein, VP of consumer marketing at Electronic Arts. "We spend close to 20 percent of our media online."

Rich media and video units are common online media placements for many publishers, but building a brand identity often includes microsites, viral marketing, search, and the creation of entire communities. Budget allotments to fuel these campaigns for many companies have come directly from other media.

Each campaign is dynamic, and game publishers see themselves as progressive when it comes to execution. "One of the things I think is great about video game marketing and video gamers in general [is they're] open to ground-breaking media applications," said Ubisoft's Caparotta.

Gaming industry Web sites often serve as the foundation of video game industry ad campaigns, though certain game releases are aimed at a broader audience and include media buys on non-gamer sites.

"It's a balance," said Caparotta. "With the next generation of hardware… we are finding more video games are becoming pervasive, usage is growing, and mainstream sites are becoming more of a target for us."

Microsites are often a focal point of these campaigns, as was the case with a promotion for EA'sMadden Franchise last year. "Advertising took you to that site, and it was a place you wanted to go back to every day. We try to employ that tactic a fair amount," said Feinstein.

Community also plays a key role. Capcom launched a CAPCOMunity channel in the past year to provide a pipeline of early and exclusive information to its fanbase. Visitors get exclusive peeks at new titles and can read blogs authored by Capcom staff. "A lot of our activities are now linking back to CAPCOMunity," said Jack Symon, director of brand marketing at Capcom.

Capcom built its community in addition to individual Web sites for each brand, which the company calls brand worlds. These follow an entire franchise, including various games, licensed goods such as action figures, and TV and movie titles associated with each game series.

For the release of "Rayman: Raving Rabbids," Ubisoft created a hub on MySpace where it put up videos of the game's characters, and accepted user generated content. Work on the campaign was done by AKQA, and Ubisoft said it "fulfilled all the ROI benchmarks we established," Caparotta said.

Online advertising provides a deeper level of communication not easily achieved on other channels. "We use online advertising to tell a high-impact message," said Feinstein. "The online space keeps directing them to deeper and deeper interaction."

Is There a Market for Dynamic Ad Placements in Downloadable Media?

ClickZ published a story today on a move by Podbridge, a podcast ad management and ad network firm, to expand its offerings beyond a dynamic ad insertion and measurement method it pioneered for downloadable media. By allowing hard-coded ad placements and the measurement of mere downloads (as opposed to actual ad views), the firm seemed to suggest there's a stronger market -- or at least an unignorable one -- for static ad placements versus dynamic ones.

After the article ran, Podbridge CEO Murgesh Navar reached out to me to affirm his belief in the ongoing potential for dynamic ad swapping in downloadable media. Here's what he wrote:

Now that the monetization of the medium is being proven by the front running news/info content it is time for the evergreen content to come into podcasting. But evergreen content has the requirement to swap ads "after" download. The requirement here is "dynamic at play" and measurement of play. Our iTunes plug-in solution addresses this as a complement to our [Limelight Networks] integrated ad serving.

Mobile Advertisers Embrace the iPhone

Are declarations about the iPhone changing mobile an overstatement? Perhaps. But Omar Hamoui, CEO and founder of mobile ad network AdMob, said the iPhone is definitely opening some exciting doors.

"What's important for mobile advertising is, obviously, to have the eyeballs or user base to consume the advertising," said Hamoui. "The original assumption behind the iPhone was you can browse the entire Web on your iPhone. What a logical person would think, therefore, was that the iPhone was going to have the same advertising you see on the Web. So why would a company design special ads for the iPhone? There is no need."

But Hamoui, whose company just released a special ad unit designed for the iPhone, said the assumption was wrong.

Just because iPhones have browsers capable of rendering the "real" Internet and not just WAP sites doesn't mean there's no need for ad units specially designed for iPhones. "We run a mobile ad network," he said. "We started to see a significant amount of iPhone traffic on those formatted-for-mobile sites," said Hamoui. "On top of that, we started to see a whole bunch of applications for iPhone, Web apps, being created."

He noted Facebook and Netvibes just announced iPhone-enhanced interfaces.

Additionally, companies began asking AdMob about creating ads specially-designed to take advantage of iPhone's unique features. "There are a whole host of consumer sites coming out with iPhone- friendly spaces, plus we were getting requests to our sales force asking, 'How can we engage with iPhone users?'"

Apple's new gadget isn't cheap, so companies can safely assume iPhone owners have money and are willing to spend it. That makes them a demographic worth targeting. "We saw supply from publishers and demand from advertisers," noted Hamoui.

AdMob's new iPhone ad unit allows interactivity that can't be created on other mobile devices. "It's a much more interesting and enriched type of mobile advertising than we could do before," said Hamoui. "Because the iPhone has Javascript, the iPhone ad units are capable of doing sophisticated stuff."

For example, AdMob's new iPhone ad unit for Starbucks includes a Starbucks ad that, when clicked, slides down allowing the user to enter a Zip Code. Doing that opens the iPhone's Google Maps application which directs the owner to the nearest Starbucks.

The key to making iPhone-enhanced mobile ads is to allow them to leverage the Safari browser's functionality without using too much bandwidth, said Hamoui. The AT&T EDGE network being used by iPhones isn't the fastest. "What we're really doing is basically taking advantage of a full-featured browser and just making the interface iPhone-sized, making it lightweight," he said.

Clearly, AdMob is not alone in hopping on the iPhone bandwagon.

Ingenio, which operates a pay-per-call ad network, recently released an application for the iPhone called TouchCall. Company CMO Marc Barach said TouchCall simplifies phone number searching for iPhone owners. "Simply tap on a button that says 'florist' and connect to a florist in a given market," he said, noting the searches are also monetized by Ingenio audio ads.

Then there's HarperCollins, which just announced it is making digital book content available for the iPhone platform in a program called Browse Inside. The company said it will initially offer iPhone-enhanced samples -- the first 10 pages of chapters one and two -- from 14 new books. The books can be purchased or pre-ordered right from the iPhone.

"The Browse Inside feature for the iPhone is part of the ongoing effort to advance technology, and allows mobile consumers to tap into the power and convenience of online book discovery," said HarperCollins in a statement. "We are excited to be a part of it."

Double Fusion Adds Web Properties to In-Game Network

Video game-centric search engine Wazap enlisted Double Fusion to sell and place advertising on the U.S. version of the site. Inventory on Wazap allows Double Fusion to extend advertiser reach through integrated packages, the companies said.

"Our focus is on delivering the largest gaming audience possible to advertisers, and allowing advertisers to have multiple touch points to gamers, including in-game, around-game, and select Web opportunities," Double Fusion President and CEO Jonathan Epstein told ClickZ News.

Double Fusion's sales force may leverage Wazap to offer sweepstakes and promotions that don't necessarily work well in-game. "A number of our advertisers say they love in-game, but want to collect names," said Epstein. "By providing a platform such as Wazap, we can provide deeper programs, sell better ad buys."

Similar to other in-game ad networks, Double Fusion typically sells to consumer brands, an advertiser group Wazap is eager to court. "Double Fusion has the best footprint for talking to consumer product companies who want to reach gamers directly, not just in the game," said Thom Kozik, president of Wazap U.S. Kozik said Wazap provides a venue for richer interaction not possible for ads running in games.

In-game advertising placement is Double Fusion's focus, though it handles Web-based advertising for a handful of sites, including in-game and Web ads for ijji.com's "Rounders Poker." Advertisers get one unified report. In addition to custom deals like promotions and sweepstakes, ad units include standard IAB formats such as leaderboards and skyscraper units, as well as rich media plcaements. Larger ad opportunities are possible.

"We are looking for opportunities to do roadblocks, where we can do sponsorships of sections or genres on the site for a particular advertiser," said Kozik.

Wazap, a vertical search engine for video gamers, launched in Japan and Germany in 2003 and in the U.S. earlier this year. Double Fusion has an existing international presence, and eventually could expand its representation of Wazap to include its international sites

Microsoft Driving Game Promotes Live Search Maps Service

When you're driving down the Strip in Las Vegas and you get crunched between a Mad Momma in her green station wagon and a Golden Oldie who laments he "doesn't have any insurance," then adds "there's nothing like the feel of some new support socks and the open road," don't worry. It's all part of Microsoft's latest effort to introduce users to its Live Search Maps Web site.

Microsoft, with its agency EVB, has created Live Derby 2007 as a "Pac-Man" style game where players can drive their car along city streets and pick up points while avoiding other drivers like Mad Momma, Golden Oldie and others. What makes the game different from other maze style games is that the mazes use actual Microsoft Live Search Maps of San Francisco, New York, Seattle, Las Vegas and London, complete with satellite imagery. The "power-boost" locations players can drive through to charge up their cars are actual locations in those cities, and players can click on those destinations to access the real listings using the Live Search Maps interface.

"You have these maps and it's only so exciting, but you add an element of a chase or a maze to it makes it more interesting," said Nick Mitrousis, an associate technical director for EVB who worked on the game. "You're playing with real world data. The links are right out to Live Search."

Microsoft has often sought to get its brand name noticed through more traditional banner and text ads; the company decided to create a game using Live Search Maps to reach out to users in a new way.

"We actually didn't want consumers to think about it as just another marketing initiative being pushed at them, we wanted to give them a great game experience and share it among their community," said Kevin Hagwell, senior product manager for Live Search Maps for Microsoft. "We wanted to show the real information because that's the value of the product."

The challenge of getting people interested in mapping technology led digital agency EVB to consider how to "integrate all the features of the maps but do it in a way that is really fun," said Daniel Stein, CEO of EVB. "It's easy to do advertising that talks about the features of a program like Live Maps, but the truth is with a virtual product like that you really need to show it and draw people in to involve them."

Microsoft Seals aQuantive Deal, Creates New Ad Solutions Group

Microsoft has completed its acquisition of aQuantive and created a new Advertiser and Publisher Solutions group to focus on its ad platforms and the advertiser and publisher community.

The new division will have responsibility for nearly all of Microsoft's ad platforms and services, including Atlas, DRIVEpm, MSNDR, Microsoft AdCenter and aQuantive's agency arm, Avenue A / Razorfish. The new group will also have control of an Emerging Media Group which includes in-game advertising firmMassive and mobile ad firm ScreenTonic.

The APS group will be run by Brian McAndrews, CEO of aQuantive, who will report directly to Kevin Johnson, president of Microsoft’s Platforms & Services Division (PSD). Also reporting to Johnson is Steve Berkowitz from the Online Services Group, which includes the MSN.com portal, Windows Live services and Live Search, and Satya Nadella from the Search & Advertising Platform Group.

AQuantive co-founder Mike Galgon has been named chief advertising strategist and will report to McAndrews. As part of the Emerging Media Group, the Massive and ScreenTonic divisions will report to Cory Van Arsdale, who in turn will report to Karl Siebrecht, president of Atlas.

Additionally, MSN stalwart Yusuf Mehdi has been named to the newly formed post of senior vice president, Strategic Partnerships in the Platforms & Services Division.

The company also stated that following the completion of its acquisition of AdECN, CEO Bill Urschel and his staff will report to Alex Gounares, corporate vice president, adCenter and Commerce, under Satya Nadella’s Search & Advertising Platform group.

Both aQuantive's and AdECN's employees are expected to maintain their current offices in Seattle and Santa Barbara respectively.

One holdout in the consolidation of advertiser-facing services and technologies in the APS group is Microsoft's Digital Advertising Solutions sales force, which will continue to report to Berkowitz in the Online Services Group.

JCPenney Goes Back-To-School with Reality Webisodes

As the school year approaches, one of the oldest and most iconic department store brands is reaching out to kids in a new way; it's creating its own online teen reality show.

JCPenney is working with creative agency Saatchi and Saatchi New York to create "Flipped," a reality show hosted on the department store's Web site at www.jcp.com/mixitup. The premise of the show is to follow several teen cliques at a New Jersey high school and watch as students spend time with groups other than their own. Hosted by clothing designers Chip and Pepper Foster, "Flipped" is intended to introduce the idea of mixing up different styles of clothing available from JCPenney.

"That was the idea in creating the series…why don't you mix things up and try something different?" said Matthew Atkatz, interactive creative director for Saatchi and Saatchi New York. "We know that kids are incredibly savvy and sophisticated about marketing messages today, so we were looking to reach to them in a more authentic voice. We also really wanted to communicate in the medium that kids spend the most time, which is the Internet, so melding reality TV and the Web was natural for us."

"Traditional media is still a huge component of our campaign" said Kate Parkhouse, a JCPenney spokesperson. "We're going to have our print and television ads, but every year we look at the landscape and see [what] are the more innovative ways to reach kids."

To promote the site itself, JCPenney is running television commercials, print ads and in-store promotions. It's also running movie trailers combined with a mobile advertising component, and online advertising at sites including Yahoo Music, Seventeen and Cosmogirl.

"Flipped" has an eight episode run, with each episode released weekly, so the site has "a lot of repeat viewers," she said, which brings a "stickiness to the sitelet."

In addition to the Webisodes, the min-site also includes fashion tips, contests, the campaign's TV spots, profiles of the show's participants and an online store.

"Today the younger consumer is more engaged in the digital format. And it allows them to be engaged with the JCPenney brand as a whole. It's more than shopping; it's getting to know the brand though the sitelet," said Parkhouse.

Heavy.com Joins Publisher Network Ranks

Joining the ranks of media companies forming their own ad networks, New York-based Heavy.com is starting one for video content. Like those others, Heavy hopes to monetize traffic to sites outside its own, and compete with ubiquitous ads served through the Google AdSense network.

The new Husky Network, launched in public beta, will allow publishers and bloggers to make money off their videos by having them supported with national brand advertisements similar to the clickable ads that surround the clips shown at Heavy.com.

Heavy refers to the CPM-based ad unit as the "Video Skin;" videos play in the center of the screen while wrapped in a stationary, billboard-type ad or sequence of ads. New Line Cinema is the first advertiser to sign up with the network, rolling out ad campaigns for the new films "Mr. Woodcock" and "Shoot 'Em Up."

"We've taken the video skin unit and said, `Now we can put it on video players anywhere,'" said Simon Assaad, co-founder and co-CEO of Heavy. "The publishers can make money out of our video skin unit as well." The ad format works with any video player, including YouTube, Revver, Google and others. Advertisers will have access to "specific psychographics" and vertical networks that include music, gossip-entertainment and action sports.

Assaad said Newgrounds.com is one Web site that is taking part in the beta testing of the new network. "We are talking to about 30 other publishers who we expect to sign up and announce over the coming weeks," he added. Heavy will take a 50 percent cut of the ad revenue, according to Assad, who expects the ads to be priced at CPMs of around $10 to $15.

Heavy is aimed primarily at 18- to 34-year old men. Advertisers on its broadband network include Coors, Nissan, Panasonic, Diesel, Axe, Sony and Nike. While the site is popular with its main demographic, Assaad acknowledged there are many other Web sites frequented by young men. "Not all guys are going to spend all their time with Heavy.com," he said. "Some of their time is spent elsewhere." Heavy hopes to earn revenue even when its loyal visitors wander off to other online locales and view videos supported with ads served by the Husky Network.

In creating the network, Heavy is joining other Web companies that recently launched ad networks, including Glam Media, Washington Post.com, NBC Universal-owned iVillage and, just last week, MSNBC.com, through a relationship with Pulse 360. In announcing its new "Publisher's Vertical Network," MSNBC said it aimed to give small sites an option other than ad networks like Google AdSense.

Assaad said there is a big demand for ways to monetize Web content, including video. "What is happening is there's been this explosion of publishers and video makers on the Web with the easy availability of cheap and easy-to-use technology to build sites and make videos," said Assaad. While these publishers can easily set up sites and post videos, they lack the ability to sell ads, he said. "I am selling really premium advertising across a network of smaller sites that just don't have the infrastructure to sell their own advertising," said Assaad.

He said the key to the network's success will be its ability to aggregate. For example, Assaad said a small, independent Web site that publishes action sports videos might be able to attract up to 400,000 unique users monthly, not enough to justify an in-house sales team. "But there are a lot of advertisers who want to be around action sports," he said. "So maybe we have a million people a month that go to our action sports channels on Heavy. But if we can gain another two or three million by aggregating [with sites outside of Heavy], that would make it one-stop shopping."

Unknown Modavox Targets AOL's Tacoda to Cash in on Patent

Tacoda's pending acquisition by AOL may have been a catalyst for a new patent infringement suit filed against the behavioral targeting firm. Modavox, an online broadcasting media production firm-turned-software provider, has over the past few months sought to identify patent infringement suit targets, of which Tacoda appears to be the first.

Modavox Thursday announced it had filed a suit against Tacoda in US District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming the behavioral targeting firm has violated its patent on a

"Method and System for Adding Function to a Web Page." The so-called business method patent covers a technology that serves up customized multimedia content and advertising to Web users. Modavox, a public company, was granted the patent in 2003 under its former name, SurfNet Media Group; the patent application was filed in 1999.

"We really were focused on Tacoda a long time ago when they came out with their whole business model," said Modavox CTO and Chief Product Officer Nathaniel Bradley. "Tacoda is one of many potential infringers out there," he added, noting Tacoda competitors such as Revenue Science, AlmondNet and others are also possible lawsuit targets. "It's impossible for us to sue everybody," he said.

Tacoda is reviewing the Modavox complaint, according to Tacoda CEO Curt Viebranz, who said the company does not comment on active litigation.

In May, Modavox hired intellectual property law firm Fox Rothschild, LLP to represent the company in patent enforcement efforts. The tech outfit commissioned the person behind the patent in question, Andrew Burgess, to study potential infringement suit targets in March. Modavox aims to "create revenue around licensing," said Bradley.

Bradley said he believes Tacoda considered Modavox's technology when developing its own behavioral targeting system. "We have a hard time believing…we weren’t part of their due diligence, their thought process, along the way," he said.

Though Bradley stressed Tacoda has been "on our radar" from the "outset," he admitted AOL's recent agreement to purchase Tacoda got the lawsuit ball rolling faster. "With that filing we felt a sense of urgency," he said. AOL agreed to buy Tacoda last month for $275 million to bolster the behavioral targeting capabilities of its Advertising.com ad network and on its own properties. Tacoda launched in 2001 and refers to its technology as patent-pending.

"Industry consolidation gives patent owners larger and deeper pockets to sue…even though financially stronger defendants also increase the odds of better-funded litigation defenses," said marketing tech law pundit Eric Goldman, Assistant Professor at Santa Clara University School of Law.

Last year Modavox was pondering the viability of a patent infringement revenue model, according to a November 2006 SEC filing stating, "We have recently been approached by a third party to discuss whether it is feasible to pursue suspected infringement of our Modavox Central patent. We currently do not know whether infringement has occurred or the conditions, if any, under which we might pursue this suspected infringement."

It appears as though Modavox has been interested in boosting its interactive software industry presence over the past year or so. The company, which opened a new Interactive Media Division facility in Las Vegas in March, purchased Kino Interactive early last year, adding to its rich media delivery capabilities. v"We're a bit of an unknown," Bradley said, adding, "We haven't spent any money on PR or marketing."

The company provides audio and video content and ad delivery services to Gannett's AZCentral.com and Detroit Free Press, among other sites. Coincidentally, Tacoda enabled behavioral ad targeting for Gannett's USAToday site until discontinuing its publisher-side targeting service.

Since the US Patent and Trademark Office began awarding business method patents to the likes of Amazon.com, eBay and Priceline.com, such patent filings have been increasingly subject to controversy. The patents are used for technologies for things like data processing, and even education and training. In 1999, Amazon was awarded a patent for its "1-Click" online transaction system, and soon thereafter it sued Barnesandnoble.com for infringing on the patented system.

Local search site Local.com was awarded a patent last month covering a method for voice and mobile directory assistance. The company said it will look into charging competitors with patent licensing fees.

Expect more efforts to enforce patents, said Goldman. Noting a general increase in patent litigation, he told ClickZ News, "I would anticipate more patent enforcement even without industry consolidation."

Share of Voice in Search

Advertisers familiar with offline advertising metrics will now find a recognizable metric available in their Google AdWords interface: a share of voice (SOV) proxy called impression share (IS).

According to Google, SOV is "a relative portion of inventory available to a single advertiser within a defined market sector over a specified time period." The search giant defines "inventory" as the impression inventory available against your campaign based on your keyword and campaign settings. In addition to IS, Google has also released two related metrics: Lost IS (Rank) and Lost IS (Budget).

You won't find the new metrics in AdWords' campaign management section at either the ad-group or campaign level, but under the Reporting tab. To see IS data:

1. Select a "Campaign Performance" report.

2. Within the "Advanced Settings" area, select "Add or Remove Columns."

3. Select "Impression Share (IS)," "Lost IS (Rank)," or "Lost IS (Budget)."

SOV's History

SOV has long been used in offline advertising. It was typically calculated as a percentage reflecting your total ad spend against your competitors' total ad spend. A more accurate measure of SOV in offline advertising would be to base the share calculation on the share of ad impressions against the target audience. Alas, this number was far more difficult to calculate, so percentage of total spending within your competitive set became the standard.

No one in the mainstream agency world ever had a satisfactory answer as to why one wouldn't adjust for efficiency. After all, if you were twice as efficient in buying media, your true SOV would be twice that of your competitive set when calculated using media spending. This is an important point to remember when using IS and the other new metrics provided by Google.

Using Google's New Metrics

In Google's case, the IS and lost IS metrics are useful in ways similar to the offline SOV. However, there are limitations in how you might use this data, not the least of which is the dramatic difference in the value of PPC (define) ad impressions within a SERP (define) based on position.

Common sense, CTR (define) data, and the eye-tracking study we did with Enquiro a couple years back all prove top center positions are far more likely to be noticed by searchers, making this impression dramatically more valuable. This goes back to that question to my supervisors years ago: why don't we adjust for efficiency in SOV?

Yet the data can be very useful in identifying poor campaign settings that may be causing low-value impressions while missing more valuable impressions (and clicks). If you have plenty of budget to spare, don't really care about efficiency, and have a high IS, congratulations. You're in the minority. Most advertisers are stretching their limited budgets as far as possible.

If your impression share is low, consider weeding out less valuable or (even better) less relevant impressions from your campaign. These search impressions could be tuned out by dayparting, ad scheduling (days of the week), geotargeting, adjusting match types, or keyword tuning. By eliminating impressions from the bottom (based on click profitability or relevance), you raise your IS without actually spending any more.

A side benefit may be impressions lost due to a low AdRank (based on Quality Score times bid) improve due to enhanced relevance. Google specifically identifies which impressions were lost due to low rank and which were lost due to campaign budget caps. If the lost impressions were due to a poor AdRank, raising the bid would help, but it's always cheaper to look for Quality Score improvements. Of course, you must take into account the value of the time spent tuning the campaign for improved Quality Score, but the benefits of an improved Quality Score are cumulative for as long as any campaign is active. This can be quite significant on high-volume campaigns.

More data is always better, so long as the data are actionable. When looking at Google's new SOV metrics, start on the most material sections of your campaign first and experiment with tuning there, where it matters most. The ad groups in your campaign's tail may be less significant in the overall picture and can probably wait. Those tail ad groups may also be less competitive, meaning your SOV is already higher.

My team and I have been using and will continue to use SOV and share of clicks data we have in a proprietary system that uses both client and comScore data. It's nice to see the engines are finding ways to make this data available as well.

Google vs. Microsoft: Beyond PPC

Today, we'll look at the broader interactive marketing ecosystem, the competition between Google and Microsoft, and how this competition may affect the future of targeted PPC (define) (and CPM (define) or CPA (define)) advertising. Someday soon, the SERP (define) will be the smallest part of your digitally targeted media buy. That's why the broader battle between Microsoft and Google matters.

Microsoft still leads in productivity software for consumers and information workers, as well as in desktop operating systems. Recently, there's been lots of buzz in the press about Google and its foray into Google Apps, which provides free Web-based apps (they eventually may be ad supported) that compete with the Microsoft Office suite.

While Google's applications are usable, they won't be a significant threat to Microsoft unless Google also starts delivering the functionality in downloadable client-side software, due to the limitations of SAAS (define).

However, Google could decide to emulate the alternative desktop office suite providers, such as Corel, with its Office Suite, or private-label a free version of the open-source OpenOffice. Then it would indeed be going head-to-head with Microsoft's software-plus-services strategy, which envisions a world of software where you can be equally productive running applications and accessing data on desktop software or via Web services and the "cloud" (meaning the Internet).

The software-plus-services program is application and file interoperability and a set of applications that are agnostic as to whether you're working on your desktop or via a Web browser. The name, though, is an unfortunate selection because many sophisticated techies don't assume it describes Web services but professional services. This holds true even within the Microsoft partner community, which I had a chance to interact with at a recent Microsoft Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC). Even some Microsoft employees don't seem to know what the Web services are and are therefore confused as well.

To minimize this confusion, Microsoft should consider coining -- and therefore owning -- a completely new phrase for applications delivered seamlessly, locally, and across networks while being device-agnostic (i.e., working seamlessly with PC, mobile, game console, and set-top box platforms). Trademark and rights issues aside (money solves these), I suggest the following terms (listed in order of personal preference) to communicate Microsoft's flexible vision of the future, along with their current trademark/domain owners:

* Anyware (owned by Secuware in Madrid)

* Flexware (unused domain; the company may be dead)

* Flexiware (owned by a domain speculator)

Microsoft won't likely choose a clearer descriptor to illustrate this evolution in software to a multidevice, multilocation paradigm but will instead spend billions in media to educate the masses and its partners about software plus services.

I found WPC to be quite instructive. It reminded me that while I might be considered geeky in the media world, there's a whole other world of technologists that keep the computers humming, the software stable, and the data flowing behind the scenes in every kind of business you can imagine. Those Microsoft partners help determine what business data is available within their client organizations and how it's stored.

My key takeaway from the conference was there's a massive shift in the way consumers interact with software, content, entertainment, and information, as well as how they communicate with each other. In this new ecosystem, data are the key that enables marketers to target consumers as they use their many devices. With data comes complexity, and success in the marketing arena will be earned by those who best manage complexity and are able to focus on proper execution over the next several years.

Thomas Edison once said, "Vision without execution is hallucination." Microsoft COO Kevin Turner modified this slightly: "Strategy without execution is hallucination" (and not for the first time). This reminder of what might seem obvious is very relevant to search engine marketers, as well as to the portals. There are lots of great ideas, tactics, and strategies out there, but prioritizing the ones that make a difference then executing them is critical for success.

SEM Immaturity Threatens Industry Future

The search marketing industry is immature. I'm not just referring to the fact that nearly all the companies engaging in search marketing are less than 10 years old. The industry is also immature in the way "partnerships" are created and maintained.

Successful brands and successful marketers, be they manufacturers, retailers or catalog merchants, nearly always manage offline marketing by establishing long-term partnerships with their agencies, suppliers, and even media providers. These relationships don't always work out, of course, but there generally exists a mature understanding that in order for the company to thrive and grow, an investment in success requires both sides of the relationship to work hard to achieve agreed-upon goals and objectives, many of which will not be easy to deliver. Some initiatives take time to bear fruit; others rely on aggregation of experiential data, as well as learning by both organizations.

My hope is as search engine spending becomes more material and as senior management begins to fully understand the true value of attracting search visitors to their sites, an increased level of maturity will manifest itself on both the agency and marketer side of the equation. Unfortunately, strong relationships between SEMs and clients currently seem to be the exception, not the rule. Both marketers and agencies seem to display an alarming degree of immaturity in regard to what it takes to forge a successful partnership.

This malaise can be partially explained by the fact most PPC search spending continues to be managed in-house without the benefit of any kind of partnership at all, according to surveys conducted by both SEMPO and Marketing Sherpa. Of the 3,000 marketers served in Marketing Sherpa's PPC Survey (a larger sample than the SEMPO survey), "73 percent say they're using in-house staff for PPC paid search." The SEMPO study (conducted by Radar Research) broke results down by company size, using number of employees as the gauge. Sixty-three percent of companies with fewer than 500 employees manage paid placement search in-house; for companies with over 500 employees, this number drops to 39 percent.

There's hope in that there's a 24 percent difference in the in-house/agency ratio between small and large advertisers. It may be larger, more mature companies have developed a firmer understanding of what their competencies are, and can therefore better determine the correct share of search tasks that should be outsourced. But the story doesn't end there. While senior management may correctly understand the missed opportunities typically associated with in-house management of a non-core function, those at lower levels of the organization tasked with managing external relationships report they'd prefer to bring SEM (and SEO) in-house. This dichotomy in outlook between strategic thinkers and tactical implementers may explain why there's a high level of SEM provider churn, even among larger advertisers.

The SEMPO survey went on to delve into satisfaction with paid placement SEM services and found "just one-third of respondents said they were happy ("moderately" or "very") with their SEM agencies for paid placement campaigns. More than a quarter of respondents are unhappy ("moderately" or "very") Two out of five advertisers report "mixed results" when asked for their satisfaction level."

Why are so many advertisers unhappy? One could be tempted to blame SEM agencies for providing poor service. Perhaps these agencies are indeed providing service levels insufficient to help their clients compete in an increasingly-competitive marketplace. One cause of this may be that SEM agencies face the same labor shortage issues that plague the marketers attempting to staff qualified in-house search teams. The result is that many agencies simply cannot deliver the level of service required to hold onto an account.

But SEM agencies don't bear all the blame. Like serial daters or serial divorcees, marketers who report being disappointed after trying numerous SEM agencies must own up to their own mistakes, which include:

1. Poor Agency Choice Marketers rarely have a mature decision process capable of truly evaluating SEM agencies based on the underlying business needs of the organization.
2. Unreasonable Expectations Paid placement search is complex, and also hinged to the competitive set and how rational or aggressive the competitors are in the auction marketplace. Battles waged in this environment are both offensive and defensive. "Standing still" may require considerable effort and expertise to defend against competitors seeking to capture market share, ROI, profit, or other success metrics. Unless marketers approach this environment with a thorough understanding of its peculiar features, the result will be disappointment and SEM agency churn.
3. Unwillingness to Pay an Equitable Price Success in paid placement search may take more work that a standard discounted fee structure will support. Sure, marketers naturally seek to keep these fees low, and many agencies go out of their way to secure new businesses by meeting such demands. But low fee structures may preclude the partnership from evolving because they prevent the SEM agency from supporting the strategic needs of the client.
4. "Dating Mentality" and a Short-Term Horizon Depending on the state of an existing campaign, it may take time to lay the foundation of change to extract maximum value from it. Doing this requires a longer-term horizon than many in the industry currently use when evaluating campaign performance. In addition, changing SEMs or moving SEM responsibilities from in-house to an outsourced basis is a process that must be carefully managed.
5. Unwillingness to Communicate The time for marketers and agencies to communicate is when things aren't going well. When marketers give their agencies "the silent treatment" while waiting out the terms of their contracts, valuable opportunities are lost on both sides of the equation.

I hope and expect that as the SEM industry matures, agencies and advertisers will take a deep breath and approach their relationships as partnerships. It may take some healing time to bring this situation about. Many marketers I speak with tell me they consider themselves "burned" by their prior SEM agencies. Relationships between marketers and agencies are like personal relationships: bad experiences and bad memories can poison them and limit one's chances of finding a successful new relationship. But with maturity, one can see good relationships can provide fulfillment, adding up to a sum greater than the constituent parts.

It's taken decades for this level of maturity to evolve in other industries, and paid placement is only now finishing its first 10 years. Much healthier, more productive relationships lie ahead.

Obsessed With the Competition

If you're like most marketers, you obsess about what your competitors do. The emergence of PPC (define) search, where position directly affects traffic volume and the popularity of position checking in SEO (define) have only strengthened the focus on competitive metrics and benchmarks. More established third-party data sources, such as comScore (which recently went public), Hitwise (recently purchased by Experian for $240 million), and Nielsen, are joined by relative newcomers Compete and Quantcast, as well as specialists such as AdGooroo. All these businesses exist to quench marketers' thirst for competitive data.

Averages and relative data can be helpful, but they often get in the way of the strategic decision-making process marketers must engage in to win in ultra-competitive markets. I often get e-mail from readers and others in the industry that requests benchmark data, such as average CPC (define), average conversion rate, and average ROI (define). This obsession with the competition has both healthy and unhealthy effects on marketers and their campaigns' focus.

The important thing for marketers to focus on is opportunity. Some competitive data may help determine the potential opportunity for efficiency or growth, but beating your own baseline numbers is a requirement to transform a campaign into a profit-driving machine.

Some of the greatest success stories in auction-based online marketing are driven by a balanced approach of watching and learning from the competition while focusing on continuous improvements in value identification and extraction from the media opportunities that exist in the PPC and media exchange markets.

Landing Page and Average Consumer Myths

When you test landing pages, the objective is to improve marketing metrics over the current baseline. Important metrics typically include conversion rate, order size, order profitability, lead quality, and predicted customer profit (lifetime value). Landing page tests are often highly fruitful because they allow you to move the needle on one or more key performance indicators. Yet many landing page tests fail to achieve dramatic improvements.

Solving for the best average landing page by lumping all visitors into the same category results in a user experience that's OK for the average consumer. But there's no average consumer! Each consumer is somewhat different from the average and responds to different messaging, has different price sensitivities, and is in a different stage of the buying cycle. A personalized approach will result in better overall campaign and landing page efficiencies than an attempt to solve for the average consumer.

There are many ways to look at an inbound clickstream and hypothesize whether a segmentation experiment might yield a positive result. Keywords are the segmentation mode we think of first. Chances are that's how your campaign is organized, perhaps based on branded keywords, product keywords, and research keywords. But keywords are just the beginning.

Geography is a great way to segment consumers. For multichannel retailers, consumers' geographic segments may be driven by the concentration of stores within a specific geography. Perhaps those close to a store convert by shopping offline and want to check stock in a store, while those who aren't near a store shop purely online.

In offline marketing, one of commonest ways of segmenting consumers is based on the time of day. Dayparting in search isn't necessarily just about buying the higher-value clicks; it could just as easily be about understanding which consumers visit your site at different times and how the user experience may need to be adjusted to reflect the different consumer preferences, needs, and desires.

At conferences and in discussions with prospective clients, I rarely hear about landing-page testing. I recall only once or twice that a marketer has included any kind of visitor segmentation in the testing model. Everyone uses averages, but when you manage a campaign exclusively based on averages, you doom the campaign to mediocrity (average performance).

The same holds true for your obsession with competitors' CPC prices and conversion rates. Just as you control your conversion rate by being more or less focused on high-converting segments, your competition can adjust its level of aggressiveness when buying early- or late-stage clicks. A better strategy is to use your own campaign as the benchmark: a baseline that you strive to beat.

Put another way, you'll outrun the competition better if you stop looking behind you.

Which Test First?

Increasing numbers of experienced search marketers are realizing that paid placement search is far from a set-it-and-forget-it channel. The competitive search landscape shifts constantly, searchers change habits, and the search engines' bidding structures, algorithms, and interfaces evolve. To stay on top of the landscape and ahead of the competition and to continually improve ROI (define), a campaign must change as well. You must know which changes to make and what you have to test.

Regardless of whether you manage your own campaigns or have your agency manage campaigns for you, there are always tests you should be running. But since all tests involve the time and costs of planning, executing, and analysis and the to-do list of possible campaign changes, enhancements, and tests is always long, it's an ongoing challenge to decide which campaign features to test first.

Where do you begin?

Start testing the campaign segments that can make a significant difference in profitability. Whatever part of your campaign will make you the most money is the element you should test first.

With that, I'll go through the cost-benefit analysis of different types of testing. I'll start with the engine-side experiments -- experiments that deal with your keywords and how your ads appear in the engines. Then I'll move into experiments that touch on the site itself. Finally, I'll look at testing out new search technologies.

Engine Side Experiments

Keyword expansion. The most commonly recommended engine-side experiment is keyword expansion. Yes, keyword expansion is an experiment. Some keywords will work well, others will fail.

Before you revisit keyword expansion, think about whether you've already hit the point of diminishing marginal returns. At some point, the additional work to generate keywords further down the long tail, and tuning the creative for those new keywords (assuming you aren't using dynamic keyword insertion), isn't worth the costs of the labor and testing involved.

Meanwhile, broad and phrase match (or in Yahoo, Advanced Match) are designed to capture tail keywords you haven't explicitly included. Some engines are better than others in the way their systems implement broad matching, but at a certain point, ads and campaigns are sufficiently relevant for the searcher that keyword experimentation isn't the best use of your time.

Creative testing on power keywords. All engines now reward a high predicted CTR (define). If the engines think your ad will be well clicked, they'll let it appear at a higher position, without a higher bid cost.

That's why power keywords, the keywords with high click-through volumes and rates, are more valuable than ever. Effective creative on a power keyword makes that keyword work even harder, both at bringing more visitors to your site and at getting the better predicted CTR you need. This is why testing creative on power keywords -- an often-overlooked test -- can yield dramatic results.

Start creative testing on ad groups that contain power keywords, because this allows you to capture material gains (assuming the experiments are successful). Then, work your way down your keywords based on total inventory (popularity of the term), keeping in mind your typical conversion rates.

For example, if two keywords are equally popular and one already has a higher conversion rate, test new creative on the highly converting keyword first. Any gains are multiplied by the high conversion rate. That multiplier is almost like compound interest.

Campaign reorganization. Campaign reorganization is another often-overlooked test. It may be as simple as moving keywords out of ad groups that contain too many unrelated words. It could also be something quite complicated, like an entire restructuring of an existing campaign based on data collected about conversion rates or click quality.

Restructuring power keywords is, of course, more likely to achieve a greater positive outcome than restructuring your tail keywords.

Site-Side Experiments

Landing page testing. Landing page testing and tuning is the most popular site-side testing, and with good reason: a poor landing page experience can cause the site visitor to use the dreaded "Back" button.

When a paid-search visitors hit the "Back" button (which happens a lot), you've just paid for visitors who got nothing out of their visit -- and who didn't convert through your site. What's more, they may have clicked the "Back" button because you gave a poor branding experience, which is never something you want. To ensure landing pages are effective, you've got to test them.

The rules for prioritizing landing page testing are the same as for keywords. Start testing on the campaign segments that can make a material difference in profitability, then work your way to the tail.

Offer testing. Offer testing is an offshoot of landing page testing that relates specifically to the offers you provide on the landing page. In some cases, offer testing needs to be done in conjunction with creative testing, because searchers expect to see offers that are relevant to the ad they clicked on.

Technology Enhancements

Every month there are seemingly more technology enhancements you can bolt onto a site or use to handle clicks. Based on tests from my internal teams, some of the latest enhancements show significant promise.

However, use the same top-down rule when evaluating any add-on technology. Ask yourself, will that technology have a material impact on the campaign?

Remember, review your campaign with a top-down perspective, and prioritize experiments based on their likely impact on the campaign.

A final point: In cases where you're working with an agency, many of these tests require coordinating the agency and in-house teams. Make sure everyone brings unique expertise and knowledge to the testing process for the best results.

Presidential Primary Underdogs Send E-mail, Too

The best-known presidential candidates -- Hillary Clinton, Rudy Giuliani, Barack Obama and John McCain among them -- get most of the attention. But the fact is those who haven't made it to the top of the polls, as well as the popular yet unofficial candidates, are still campaigning. And, of course, they're sending out e-mail to supporters and campaign watchers.

With help from e-mail tracking firm Email Data Source, ClickZ News took a look at some of the Republican and Democratic primary candidate underdogs and the e-mails they've sent since the beginning of the primary campaign cycle this spring. Themes common with the more popular campaigns were evident among the lesser-knowns. They, too, had links to donate, featured or linked to video of recent appearances or events, and petitioned supporters to get their friends involved with their campaigns.

One interesting thing to note: Campaigns for Republican candidates or would-be right-leaning candidates sent out far fewer messages than their Democratic counterparts. For instance, former Tennessee Senator Fred Thompson and Texas Congressman Ron Paul's campaigns sent just two e-mails this year, while ex-U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich put out six e-mails to registrants of his Newt.org site. Neither Thompson nor Gingrich have declared themselves officially as primary candidates; however, much speculation abounds about each, particularly Thompson, a star of NBC's "Law & Order."

The underdog Dems on the other hand have been prolific in the e-mail arena. Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd sent 19 messages since April, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson's campaign distributed 22 e-mails in that time, and Delaware Senator Joe Biden's campaign sent 32 e-mails to campaign observers since May of this year.

Each campaign, like the more prominent candidate efforts, had its own individual approach. Some jammed e-mails with a variety of issue-based ideas and commentary, and others took a more bare bones tack. Perhaps the two polar opposites in the style category were Congressman Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich, both fringe Republicans. Paul's spare messages mimicked press releases; they were nearly all text, and stuck mainly with messages of momentum building. Gingrich's, on the other hand, featured lots of images, and read like dense diatribes on multiple political issues while keeping with the overriding theme of government bureaucracy.

Thompson, yet to officially throw his hat in the ring, wrote of testing the campaign waters. The would-be candidate kept with his typical casual approach, even making mention of baseball and football. Senator Dodd promoted the Democratic CNN/YouTube debate and his participation in the annual liberal blogger grassroots YearlyKos convention. Governor Richardson stuck to issues like troop redeployment in Iraq and global warming. Meanwhile, though issues were a regular focus for Senator Biden, the most recent messages from the perennial Sunday morning political talk show guest featured media alerts touting upcoming TV appearances.

Fashion Industry Gets a Whiff of Web 2.0 Marketing

The apparel industry has long been a holdout to online advertising as other categories commit ever more dollars to the medium. Now that may be about to change, as several agencies and digital properties have begun courting fashion marketers with digital ad offerings.

A new division of Ketchum, a unit of Omnicom Group, is ramping up a service called Fashion Interactive 2.0. The new initiative will deploy brand evangelism, social networking, word-of-mouth, blogging, podcasts, and mobile communications to reach consumers, and -- the company promises -- deliver measured ROI to marketers. Other current efforts by "paper doll" avatar site Stardoll and, yes, a Second Life agency, aim to snare the attention of fashion brands.

Jeff Danzer, VP and group manager at Ketchum, explained that Fashion Interactive 2.0 will focus on "how to keep a brand fresh in the eyes of consumers, going out where they live and where they play." Without sharing many details, he said the agency's formula includes outreach to brand evangelists, content creators and consumers who frequent social shopping sites like This Next and Kaboodle, which was just acquired by Hearst. The agency is currently in talks with apparel companies, but has not identified any clients yet.

Ketchum is better known for its PR work on behalf of a roster of tech clients than it is for building programs around clothing brands. Fashion Interactive 2.0 practice head Danzer's professional background includes the development of the brand and marketing strategy behind the men's underwear brand 2(x)ist, and the designof iBoxer, a line of men's underwear with a pocket for an iPod. When those projects earned him the nickname "underwear guru," Danzer sought to apply his expertise more broadly to the apparel category, and to interactive campaign development.

Though it's early, that may prove a wise choice. Earlier this week the founder and CEO of Kaboodle, Manish Chandra, told ClickZ News that the fashion category is now the growth leader on e-commerce and comparison shopping sites.

Virtual communities in particular appear ripe for fashion marketing. Clothing manufacturers like American Apparel have created storefronts in Second Life, and H&M is providing its clothing collections to EA's "The Sims 2" though the expansion pack "The Sims 2 H&M Fashion Stuff."

And this week, Stardoll, a virtual community for teen and tween girls, opened StarPlaza, an interactive galleria where girls can spend "Stardollars" to outfit their avatars, called MeDolls, with real-world fashion brands. Stardoll already has celebrity boutiques with promotional merchandise from Hilary Duff, Avril Lavigne, and Swedish pop singer Darin.

Additionally, Second Life-centric marketing firm Dynamedia is seeking brands to help develop what he calls VirtuReal, a shopping mall in Second Life where Founder and President Antonio Collier says visitors will be able to shop for real-world products.

Questions for Ari Paparo, VP of DoubleClick Rich Media

DoubleClick's rich media and video unit has morphed considerably in the half-decade it's taken for rich media to reach its current adolescence. Its Motif self-serve rich media platform, launched four years ago, initially struggled in a market full of demand for customization and services -- a demand that only increased with the adoption of video advertising. To rectify the shortcoming, the company purchased Klipmart in the U.S. and Tangozebra in the U.K., both of which offered consulting and production services along with their packaged video and rich media ad products.

According to Ari Paparo, VP of DoubleClick Rich Media, the acquisitions brought the firm "a services DNA we may have lacked before."

Paparo leads the charge on all of DoubleClick's rich media, video and mobile initiatives. On the cusp (in theory, anyway) of DoubleClick's acquisition by Google, ClickZ caught up with him this week to discuss the direction of DoubleClick's video efforts, the trend toward large-scale ad production, and the firm's nascent mobile ad management product.

Q. How many video ads does DoubleClick serve in a month?

A. We don't give out volume figures generally. The only source that is consistent is Nielsen, and we don't agree with their reporting. According to all the figures, as far as we can tell, we're the second largest rich media vendor. We claim we do the most video on the Internet. Our primary competitor [PointRoll] claims otherwise.

Q. What's the split of your revenue from ad serving versus consulting and production services?

A. The offering we give to the market is almost always combined. There isn't really a big market for pure technology services. Almost every client wants us to be involved at some level in a consultative fashion.

In addition, post-campaign we get very involved in analyzing the result and recapping what worked and what didn't. It's a very high services model, and it has to be because these are the most expensive ads on the Internet.

Q. Assembling and targeting many versions of an ad on the fly has become something of a theme this year, with the launch of Yahoo's SmartAds product, Digitas restructuring to facilitate offshore digital ad production, and Spot Runner and Visible World offering similar capabilities for TV. Can the principle be applied to online video and rich media ads? How much of this are you doing today?

A. We've participated in a large number of campaigns that have some element of dynamic visuals. We have a partnership with ShopLocal in Chicago. They have a database of local offers. We jointly developed a product for them called SmartMedia to have similar ads that dynamically [serve product offers based on] zip codes according to what's available locally.

Some of our clients on the publisher side who have more context about where the ads are showing are also doing something similar to the Yahoo announcement. We definitely see this as a trend. It's particularly interesting in certain verticals, such as automotive and telecom. We're also working on it with movie showtimes.

Ultimately I don't know if the model is going to be more of a Digitas model, with mass customization, or if it will be data driven.

Q. What else are you incubating now?

A. We're looking at a lot of areas. We're seeing more clients interested in widget advertising. Q. Really? Is there a place for DoubleClick in the widget world?

A. Is there a widget world, or is it just an advertising world? We have a joke that one day we're going to hire a VP of widget technology. It'd be a short-lived career.

Q. In seriousness though.

A. The operational aspects of rich media leave lots of room for improvement. Lastly, we're doing some interesting things with data. Rich media has the capability to offer some interesting metrics. As of yet that data hasn't been used to tell an interesting story. [For instance], you know what percentage of clicks results in a conversion, but to what extent does an interaction or expansion result in a conversion?

Q. I know DoubleClick doesn't comment on the pending acquisition by Google as a matter of policy, but I wonder if you could speculate a little bit on the potential role a video ad division could hypothetically play within a large search-centric organization with an enormous contextual ad network.

A. No comment.

Q. What DoubleClick's doing with mobile ad management?

A. We haven't officially launched our product. We're in beta with an ad serving product for mobile devices.

Q. Is it a publisher-facing or advertiser-facing product?

A. With all these emerging markets, we always start with the publisher side, and then we look to create an advertiser product based on that experience.

Q. So DoubleClick has no interest in mobile media sales?

A. Doubleclick's general position is that it's a technology vendor. We enable people to sell direct. In any channel there are networks. Generally what happens is those media companies, as the volume increases, they want to take the sales direct. That's where we play a role.

The Marketing of Mobile Content

Mobile phones have a whole life beyond voice. Consumers are after content to personalize their phones, and entertain them when they have a moment to spare. Demand for premium mobile content including ringtones, wallpapers, music, games, graphics, video, and adult content is expected to reach $20 billion in 2007, and surpass $44 billion in 2011, according to a recent report by research firm iSuppli.

Making all that content discoverable via powerful search and ad products is starting to become a big business, and an area of fierce competition.

While pure play companies like JumpTap and Medio have long offered search platforms both on and off the carrier decks, Web search companies are now eyeing the space. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Google is working with mobile content firms to build and index its mobile content search platform. Google declined to comment on the launch, but ClickZ spoke with several mobile marketers and content sellers -- some close to the project, some not -- about what the new search product will look like, how the marketers of mobile content will likely be able to leverage it, and how the business of marketing mobile content is evolving in general.

At a very macro level, some wireless marketing executives feel a content search play from Google would draw more advertisers to mobile and bolster mobile Web use in general, which until recently has seen only incremental adoption.

"Search is a no-brainer for mobile content companies," said Enpocket CEO Michael Baker. "Google's entering the market is good, both in terms of validating the category and also attracting new advertisers to the medium. What Google will do is bring more reach, bring the Google audience who wasn't using the search bar on AT&T or Verizon. It's good for the market and its incremental unique reach."

Others say not so fast, since Google's going up against competitors who have years experience making such content discoverable and established relationships with mobile operators. "Google is playing catch-up, which is something they aren't used to," Mark Donovan, VP of products and senior analyst at M:Metrics told ClickZ.

Companies like Motricity, a mobile content management company, have worked with Google for as long as 18 months to index and test the new search product. "They are going to be indexing all the mobile content sites," said Motricity CTO and GM Jud Bowman. He added Google is "creating a much more integrated approach; it will work from the PC or the Google browser on the phone."

Google would likely not take a cut of sales based on organic search results. Rather, Bowman expects the integration and behavior of a mobile content search from Google to take a form similar to that of Froogle, which became Google Product Search.

"At least out of the gate, we're going to use our existing payment methods," said Bowman. Motricity connects to carrier's billing systems to charge customers. That means carriers will still get a cut of all revenues generated – even perhaps those sourced with Google. Content purchased through any advertising, however, could still use a different payment method.

Improving the mobile search experience would help solve one of the biggest problems for content owners, as well as any WAP site publisher: driving traffic to the site. But there are other ways of achieving the same goal, including by advertising in other channels. "We are seeing a proliferation of mobile calls-to-action on non-mobile advertisements," said M;Metrics' Donovan. "Everybody's familiar with the dial-this-number to vote for 'American Idol,' but we're seeing some part of those formats in other brands and products."

Companies like "MTV and BET leverage their strength," to market their mobile content across channels, according to Bowman. "Millions of people are watching TV every day. When you watch a music video on MTV, and other channels, they have a pop-up screen to text in to get the ringtone."

Delta Faucet Directs E-Mail Flow

Getting close to the customer is most marketers' goal.

But for many business-to-business (B2B) marketers, there's often a go-between involved: a distributor, reseller, or advisor who has the closer relationship with the client. This can create an e-marketing challenge since the e-mail's sender line is so important to getting e-mail open.

Should the e-mail come from the larger company with a well-recognized global brand or the intermediary who's actually in touch with the client?

Delta Faucet solved this conundrum by creating what e-mail marketing manager, Kim Biggerstaff, calls "on your behalf" e-mail.

Delta doesn't have a direct sales force. Instead, it has a group of sales managers who work with independent sales agencies who act as manufacturer's reps. These sales agents call on wholesale plumbers, builders, architects, designers, and other wholesalers in their geographic region.

Since the sales agent actually call on clients, Biggerstaff decided the e-mail messages should be sent by them, not Delta.

To preserve the Delta branding and ensure the messages are on strategy, Biggerstaff creates the e-mail messages herself with the help of her agency, Ohio-based Hanson Inc. and her e-mail service provider, ExactTarget.

She works on creating a "really beautiful e-mail that is very much on brand, on strategy" and locks in all the main components, except for an area of personalization for the sales agent. Here's a typical "on your behalf" e-mail.

The sales agencies choose the e-mail messages they want to send out, import their own list of contacts from their local market, then add a custom paragraph or signature. The e-mail messages are sent out under their own names, such as marketing@salesagency.com. The product branding is accomplished in the subject line.

Any responses go directly back to the sales agency itself for follow up. However, Biggerstaff is able to track open and click-through rates, which are both above industry averages, and beyond the results Delta usually achieves. The open rates are one and a half times the industry average, and the CTRs (define) are three times the industry average.

To find out whether the e-mail messages generated revenue, Biggerstaff had to rely on anecdotal feedback from the sales agencies, which was more difficult to pin down.

But the feedback she did receive suggests a very successful campaign. One sales agency reported an e-mail opened the door to a new client and generated a six-figure sale. Two other sales agencies wrote orders from new clients who had never bought Delta products before. In addition, Biggerstaff received many calls from sales agencies that told her they loved the e-mail campaign.

The "on your behalf" e-mail messages were originally sent as a test and proved beyond a doubt to Biggerstaff that her hunch was correct. Customers would rather hear from a sales agent they know on a local level rather than a global manufacturer.

In essence, the message seems to be: "Think globally, sell locally."

Compare and Contrast: SEM and SEO

Marketers and the media prefer simplicity. Search engine marketing (SEM) is not, of course, simple. If SEM and SEO (define) were simple, traditional marketing agencies could slot SEM into media plans with little thought or effort. SEO consulting wouldn't differ from site design.

Yet SEO and SEM have spawned a multimillion dollar industry, even a trade organization, SEMPO. In their quest to simplify SEM, many members of the media and company executives prefer to look at its challenges as a single problem. In fact, a host of variables influence an SEM campaign's success or failure.

One simplification marketers, the press, analysts, and even some agencies succumb to in an attempt is to drop organic SEO and pay-per-click (PPC) SEM into the same bucket. So let me clarify.

Poor SEO is primarily a problem of several digital hurdles that inadvertently block search engine spiders from doing their job. Spiders are on a mission to:

* Find quality content.

* Identify that content and separate it from extraneous information.

* Grade the content for clarity.

* Extract the essence of a site's content on a page-by-page basis.

* Grade the content for source reputation.

* Understand the content's context in respect to the Internet as a whole (assign communities or explore relationships between content and sites).

* Catalog the content's URL.

* Keep the content cache fresh.

Generally, 90 percent of SEO relates to removing obstacles to the search engines finding and understanding the content's essence. Having an under-optimized Web site is like having a broken window; it can be fixed in a reasonable and finite length of time.

Realistically, if content isn't relevant you can't achieve long-term visibility in organic SERPs (define). Sure, black-hat SEO techniques may work for a while. But, a search engine's mission is to deliver the most relevant results to searchers. You need a plan to remove all obstacles to an engine finding and grading content while understanding its essence.

Once a site is search engine friendly, 90 percent of the site-side SEO work is done. True reputation management, online PR, and content freshness based on seasonal search behavior, as well as trend adjustments, are ongoing processes that will enhance a search engine friendly site.

Paid SEM: High Maintenance

Paid SEM is very high maintenance, not a set-it-and-forget-it business. Skill sets required for planning and executing paid search campaign management are different from those required for SEO, particularly early-stage SEO, where problem areas are identified and roadblocks to search engine friendliness removed. The technology needed to maintain excellence in paid search are also very different from those required in organic SEO.

Commonalities

What, then, are the commonalities between managing and optimizing for both organic and PPC search? They're primarily linguistic, analytic, and behavioral in nature. They include understanding:

* Keyword research and cross-utilization of keyword data for SEM and ongoing SEO

* Buying-cycle factors and how they relate to keywords and sites

* Visitor behavior within sites for organic and paid traffic, particularly conversion behavior

* Seasonal keyword search factors

* Linguistic analysis of query strings

* Conversion factor analysis

The above relate to improved user experience through understanding visitor needs as expressed by search queries.

Paid search's true differentiator is requiring a combination of immediate and reactive action. Immediate action is often based on data that are available for analysis on a real-time basis, such as bidding activity. With our industry's evolution beyond pure search, the number of variables under a marketer's control is growing. These include landing pages, creative presentation and offers, and additional factors that are different for every business, depending on what specifically drives optimal user experience.

Over the next year, I predict continued competition within paid placement search will result in a whole new generation of strategies and tactics. They'll take best practices in paid search further away from organic search.

Organic search is simultaneously centered around both the spider and the visitor, with a preference given to the spider (a non-search-friendly site means no visitors). Paid search is all about maximizing efficiency by applying direct marketing principles. Each variable is considered and tested.

What are the chances the same page built for Google, Yahoo, and MSN spiders is the absolute best page for a paid-search landing page? Pretty slim. Spiders and humans have different needs, wants, and desires. Likely areas of divergence include copy length, format, flow, and tone; navigational diversity and priority; and graphic richness.

Organic and PPC search teams will undoubtedly work together. In smaller companies, they'll be the same person, in the same way marketing directors in smaller companies handle PR, marketing, advertising, and promotion. In larger companies, where both types of search are mission-critical, specialized professionals will be hired, as either an outside agency or in-house staff.

Jupiter Research (a Jupitermedia Corp. division) data seem to validate part of the trend toward outsourcing mission-critical paid search. ClickZ News reported on the recent Search Engine Marketing Agency Constellation report. Analyst Nate Elliot confirms this trend toward professional agencies managing larger spends: "Agencies account for 51 percent of the total spending on paid search -- a significant increase over the past 18 months."

Will the same agencies that manage PPC budgets also assist in organic SEO efforts, or will the specialties diverge due to SEO's front-heavy workload requirements? Time will tell.

More Information on Google Maps for Local Business Listings

I just updated my Google Maps information and if small businesses are not using this free service (especially in situations where local/regional relevance matters), than they are missing out on a great opportunity. I wrote a post documenting the general process for business owners to submit information to Google Maps before, so I’m writing this post as a logical extension, highlighting the process of updating business information.

Updating Your Google Maps Submission
For whatever reason, Google has decided that my business name is “untitled“, which probably is an issue when it pertains to click-thru rates and the overall brand awareness of my company. Since I changed my mailing address the other day as well, it made sense to go into my account and make some edits.

When the user logs into their Google Maps account, they need to click the link (at the lower left-hand side) which states “Add or Edit your business - Learn More” (see screenshot below). I personally found that to be a poor user experience, but that is probably because they figure the majority of Google Maps users will use the service for other reasons. There are a couple of key features that I briefly want to list, which add further value to the business listings service:
It’s possible to bulk upload business listings, which can be especially valuable for businesses with multiple locations or storefronts.
Google also provides high level impression data, showcasing how many impressions your business listing had in the last 30 days.

Screenshot of Google Maps login screen


I needed to edit my business mailing information, so I proceeded to edit my listing. Google offers two options for verifying your changes: a standard postcard mailing or a quick phone call. I chose the phone verification and here is a quick synopsis of the ease of use with the system.

Phone Verification
The user states whether they want to be called now or 5 minutes from now (I chose “Now”)
Be wary that Now really means NOW and that means that you have to have immediate access to the business listings number that have for your company information. If the phone connected to that number is not immediately available, I recommend “waiting 5 minutes”.
The web page displays a verification code, which is needed for submission via an automated system (that is calling).
Once the verification code is entered, the web page refreshes and confirms your submission. Google states that there is a 4 week delay in business listings updates, but the business listing information indicates that the submission is “awaiting updates”.

The entire process of updating information took less than 5 minutes of time and the phone verification was instantaneous (like I said above, there is approximately a four week waiting process for approvals. I highly recommend that small businesses (especially those that are closely correlated to regional/local search habits) spend the time to get their business listed with Google Maps, it’s a free service that is easy to use and takes little time away from everyday business operations (and it’s free, in case you missed that).

Google’s Matt Cutts Talks About Web Address Management

Stephan Spencer reveals some key insights from Matt Cutts’ presentation at WordCamp 2007 last week in San Francisco on the CNET News Blog. One of the major points is that Google will begin to recognize underscores as word separators, which had not always been the case. That means that the usage of the term “search_engine_optimization” in a web address historically would not have been read by Google as “search engine optimization” (it would have been read as “searchengineoptimization”). Traditionally, incorporating hyphens in keyword specific terms is the SEO best practice for creating keyword sensitive web addresses. That being said, it’s unclear if Google is actually incorporating this functionality now, or in the near future, so I would still recommend using hyphens in the short term (if you are currently implementing keyword specific web addresses).

Web Address Management
A couple weeks ago I wrote a post on best practices for search engine friendly websites, which included web address management. Echoing some of my thoughts related to SEO best practices for web addresses, Stephan (and Matt Cutts) also reveals:
Query strings can be read by Google, but Matt cautions against more than 2 or 3 parameters.
The number of slashes in a web address are not an issue with Google, but it may be an issue with Yahoo and MSN.
File extensions are not an issue with search engine crawling and indexing.

My recommendation with all of these things is to invest the time in making your site as accessible as possible for search engines to crawl and index your content. That means that if you are currently using dynamic URL’s or excessive folder directories, invest the time to fix these issues as soon as possible. The goal here is to get search engines like Google to understand and index your material as fast as possible, with as few kinks and potential roadblocks as possible.

Getting It Straight From the Horse’s Mouth
If you are attending conferences or seminars with actual members of Google (or Yahoo, MSN or anyone with documented expertise for that matter), it’s incredibly valuable to receive confirmation of these types of issues straight from the source. I recently was having dinner with a few colleagues and we were discussing a Google presentation we attended and this key point really hit home with me that night. As search engine marketers, we often learn and educate ourselves about ranking and search engine related factors through reading, testing and experimenting (not on client’s sites of course) and our conclusions often get drawn from the results, building on the years of experience and knowledge overall. Getting confirmation from the people behind the scenes (or for that matter, trusted people with more experience than you or I) is incredibly valuable as an ongoing best practice for quality search engine optimization and search engine marketing.

A Quick Notification to Readers of Cape Cod SEO

I just wanted to write to let readers know that my goal for regular postings on Cape Cod SEO will be weekly at best for (more than likely) the duration of the year. It’s not that I do not have ideas for posts but several other obligations have arisen that need attending to.
I’m actively writing and managing the KoMarketing Associates Search Marketing Blog, which I recommend checking out and providing feedback, thoughts and comments - I’d love to hear what you think. The blog focuses on SEO, PPC and online marketing, with at least two or three of us contributing on a regular basis.
The current client workload has been hectic and (fortunately) it should remain as such, but that by itself would not really prevent me from writing regularly.
A couple personal web development projects have arisen, which are a priority for a decent amount of free time. However, a lot of the learning and development going into these projects are certain to lead to quality content for this blog in the near future.
Finally, a new house and a baby daughter on the way towards the end of this year seem to take up some time as well. Living at 100mph is the only way to live

Two Points of Reference Related to Search Engine Marketing

Search Engine Glossaries

Search Engine Land recently published a quick post highlighting SEO and SEM Related Glossaries for marketers, website owners and anyone else interested in the world of search engines and search engine marketing.

-A Complete Glossary of Essential SEO Jargon, SEOmoz
-Search Engine Marketing Glossary of Terms, SEMPO
-SEO Glossary, WebmasterBrain
-SEO Terms Glossary - SEO Acronyms - SEO Abbreviations, SEO Consultants
-The Search Engine Marketing Glossary, SEO Book
-Search Glossary, Search Industry News (Seth is only 4 letters in as of the writing of this post, but he’ll get there soon - and he’s building a pretty nice reference list here)

Top 25 SEO Related Blogs
In addition, Daily Blog Tips recently published an article highlighting the Top 25 SEO Related Blogs in the industry, based on the following factors: Google PageRank, Alexa Rank, Bloglines Subscribers and Technorati Authority. Not an exact science but I think it would be hard to argue against any of the ones on the list. Here are the top 5:

1.Search Engine Land
2.SEOBook
3.SEOmoz
4.Matt Cutts’ Blog
5.Search Engine Watch

I don’t usually like to simply re-hash existing content, but there’s just really nothing more to say and I feel that both sources of information are valuable. I would recommend bookmarking at least a couple of the links, at least for a point of reference in the future.

5 SEO-Related Blogs & Resources To Read and Why I Would Recommend Them

I had the opportunity to stop into the monthly meeting for the Cambridge SEO Meetup Group the other night and had an excellent time talking to other search engine marketing professionals, small business owners and folks generally interested in how SEO can become a component of their online marketing strategy. Among the questions and discussions brought up was the question on “what websites do you go to obtain search engine related information and resources?“. We ran out of time last night to really open that question up for discussion, so I thought I would provide my answer through this post.

For people interested in search engine optimization, or working with SEO in their everyday online endeavors, there are 5 SEO-related blogs that I consider “Must Reads” on a regular basis (at least weekly check-ins). The reason I chose these blogs was because of the depth of information that they provide and the influence they have in relation to other blogs and resources in the industry. In addition, Lee Odden’s Big List of Search Marketing Blogs lists nearly 400 search engine related blogs out there that discuss search engine optimization, marketing, technology and other Internet related topics. That is more information than most people would ever need, let alone on a weekly basis (which is one of the requirements for being listed), but aside from the 5 below, that is another excellent option for finding SEO related resources.

Search Engine Land
http://searchengineland.com/
Why I Read and Recommend It:
Danny Sullivan is one of the leaders in the search engine marketing industry and Search Engine Land provides some of the most up to date coverage on events, news and information related to the space. Not only are people like Barry Schwartz, Bill Slawski and Jennifer Slegg regular writers (Barry Schwartz is the News Editor) but the site also features regular contributions from some of the most respected and successful SEO/SEM individuals out there, sharing their own personal knowledge of what is happening in the industry

What Else To Consider:
On any given day there could be 5 to 10 to more articles written, which can be cumbersome to keep up with in a regular RSS feed subscription. At the least, I recommend subscribing to the SearchCap posts, which summarize the daily post information as well as point to articles and information of note on other blogs and websites.

Aside from the main articles and posts section, there are different “Lands” of information, which provide readers specific resources for search engines, topical discussions and business-specific situations. There are also a ton of tutorials, articles and resources available for review in each section. Finally, Search Engine Land recently released Sphinn, which is an social community designed to showcase and discuss interesting and potentially valuable content found from around the web, related to all things search. This is a nice way to find out what people in the industry like and find of interest as well.

SEOmoz.org
http://www.seomoz.org/
Why I Read and Recommend It:
The key difference I find between SEOmoz and Search Engine Land - as a source for daily information - is that SEOmoz addresses more specific questions that people working in search marketing deal with, whereas Search Engine Land brings you industry news and overarching recommendations (although there are a ton of specific resources available in Search Engine Land in each “Land” section). The team at SEOmoz consistently find a way to identify an issue in search, provide a recommendation and then provide clear detail as it pertains to solving or addressing the issue. The fact that they can do this, with such effectiveness, on a regular basis is what makes this a regular read for me.

What Else To Consider:
Since I’ve been a reader of SEOmoz (which seems like since nearly the inception), they have launched two features that can add significant value, particularly to people new in the industry: A Premium Content Section and YOUmoz. The premium content section offers users access to potentially valuable SEO tools unavailable to non-paying subscribers, as well as 3 eBooks (two more in the works) and exclusive access to ask questions to members of the SEOmoz team*.

YOUmoz offers registered users (registration is free) the ability to write their own articles and blog posts, which (if approved) are published on the YOUmoz blog. In addition, the most popular posts can be often make their way onto the SEOmoz home page. Having your writing published is a nice way to connect with the growing subscriber base found in the SEOmoz community.

(*imo, that would seem like something they would end/limit at some point if their premium subscriber base significantly increased, so if you’re on the fence in regards to purchasing a premium membership, now may be the best time to do it).

Matt Cutts’ Blog
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/
Why I Read and Recommend It:
Aside from the fact that Matt Cutts seems like a generally nice person he’s also the Head of Google’s Webspam Team and therefore gets to deal with those entities looking to impact Google search rankings using “not-so-nice” tactics related to SEO (not that that would ever happen). In addition to providing insight on what technical (and non-technical) issues the webspam team confronts on a regular basis, Matt Cutts has historically been a spokesperson relaying the “how” and “why” Google does this or that with their search algorithm.

What To Consider:
I don’t tend to read as much of Matt Cutts’ blog as I used to, as there seems to be much more material outside of the subject of Google Technology, but failing to check in on a regular basis would be neglecting my responsibility as an effective SEO consultant. That being said, in addition to insight into Google’s search technology - and how they deal with spam, “black hat SEO” and other issues with search - readers can get a glimpse of what’s going on at Google in terms of company culture and information on upcoming releases and beta projects at Google.

The Google Webmaster Central Blog
http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/
Why I Read and Recommend It:
There are two reasons I read and recommend Google Webmaster Central:

The Google Webmaster Central Blog is utilized to announce new features, functionality and information related to Google search technology.
Google search represents over 50% of the search engine industry.

Until one or both of those two factors change for the worse, there is very little reason why you would not want to keep track of what is being said and written over there.
What To Consider:
As with any of the blogs I read regularly, it’s important to consider how something being said may or may not impact your own search engine optimization strategy and (perhaps more importantly) what the motivation is for someone to say it in the first place.

TechCrunch
http://www.techcrunch.com/
Why I Read and Recommend It:
Obviously TechCrunch is not an SEO Blog or SEO Resource, but it is a tremendously valuable source of information on what is “new” in the world of Internet technology - specifically: “Web 2.0″ technology. If SEO is really a popularity contest, understanding what is new and important in web technology has to be a critical part of the strategic process, because these are the tools and resources that factor into the growth and development of your website, either outside of the confines of your web pages (social communities, networks, link opportunities) or as a component of your website offerings (functionality like video and website interactivity).

What To Consider:
As with Search Engine Land, the occasional reader can simply get overwhelmed with the amount of new information and content that can pile up in an RSS reader if neglected for a week and unlike Search Engine Land, there is really no way to segment out information that will be delivered (there are no recap posts or posts by categories to organize or highlight). As a result, it’s important to assess how valuable each piece of information is to you and your business, as not all of them will be - at least that is what I would imagine. Fortunately, the site does have a company/product index, which can be helpful if you are looking back in the TechCrunch archives for specific information.

Final Thoughts and Considerations
As I stated above, the main reasons I chose the blogs above was in relation to the depth of information that they provide and the influence they have in relation to other blogs and resources in the industry. Search Engine Land and SEOmoz clearly are related to the SEO/SEM Industry and The Google Webmaster Central Blog and Matt Cutts’ Blog are specific to Google. While TechCrunch is not directly related to SEO, it is related to innovation online, which is a key ingredient to any online business’s success over the long run.

There are well over 100 “other” SEO-related blogs I currently subscribe to, many of those I read regularly and would consider “better” than these 5 above, but that is because of my own personal preferences in writing style, subject matter and relationship. The Cape Cod SEO “Blogs I Read” highlight some of them, and you can also view my Bloglines and del.icio.us accounts to see other blogs and websites I have found of interest. That being said, for webmasters and site owners that want to get a good look at the industry overall, still have access to detailed and well written information, but really cannot invest the time and energy to sift through a diverse range of information, writing styles, points of view and/or complexity, these 5 resources are at the top of my list.