Strategy

Click Through Ratio, and How It Can Be Improved

Posted January 16, 2010 - 1:42pm by elias

Most online advertisers have to deal with improving their CTRs, and likewise, publishers have the challenge of improving the CTRs of the advertising that they sell. The way it is calculated is simply dividing the number of clicks a campaign (or an ad) has generated over the total number of times the ads were served (impressions).

The Marketer vs. The Technician

Posted December 9, 2009 - 2:27pm by elias

An interesting thing I read recently mentioned that Google transformed advertising into a software program. Well, they are not the only ones. Many other companies have transformed many other crafts and professions into software programs.
That is what appears to the superficial observer. People, who have learned how to use a specific software start thinking that (or forget) they are (should be) marketers.
Real people, selling real things, to other real people, who are responding to messages meant to convince someone to do something.

AdWords Workshop - Social Media Forum

Posted December 2, 2009 - 2:10pm by elias

I shared this presentation during the last Social Media Forum in Abu Dhabi, and it was great interacting with AdWords users at different levels of expertise in CPC and online marketing in general.

My main frustration is with AdWords technicians who view it as a software that they just "use", instead of dealing with it as one of the tools available to them as online marketers.

Hence, the structure of the presentation is on how to best use AdWords for effective marketing, and didn't give much focus on the details of setting up accounts, campaigns, etc.

Focus on the Results Only... If You Want to Fail

Posted August 11, 2008 - 2:24pm by elias

So you want to loose some weight? The best thing to do, is to look at yourself in the mirror ten times a day. Every morning check out the latest developments on the sides of your belly, your thighs, and anywhere else that loves to accumulate fat. These are the visual results of yesterday's activities. You should also keep checking your weight three times a day, and make sure you are familiar with the results as much as possible. To be more in touch with results, please check all the clothes that you have and make sure you know which ones still fit and which don’t fit anymore.

Managing the Attention Brand / Business

Posted August 10, 2008 - 3:32pm by elias

If you are working in the business of generating attention, time, and hopefully viral effects for your content, please try not to fall in the trap I’ve fell in several times.
The typical process is coming up with a list of things that can be done, and then going on to generate a huge list of ideas that seem really cool and popular, and “would really be great”. The next step would be to religiously follow these steps as if they are steps that get you closer and closer to the greatness you are aspiring to.

Think Linear, Act Non-Linear (You Have no Choice)

Posted July 20, 2008 - 4:13pm by elias

There has been a lot of talk about the non-linearity of the world, and change. Quantum mechanics teaches us that change happens in bounces and stages, instead of increments. Chris Anderson talks about the non-linear long tail, and how disproportionate the different pieces are in terms of their share of the "pie".

The Good Customer, and the Not-So-Good One

Posted April 30, 2008 - 11:32am by elias

How do I classify my customers / clients? An interesting question that always arises in discussions of segmenting our client base. Whether it is types of customers, or good and bad ones, there is always a problem of drawing that "fine line". We usually know that we have clients who pay more than others, and we know that we should therefore treat them differently, but "how do we draw the line?" could become a tricky question. I prefer getting the answer from the clients collectively.

How a Bit More Content Means Much More Website Traffic

Posted October 30, 2007 - 11:55pm by elias

Let's explore whether or not we can get more website traffic by adding more content to our website. I'll try to make it scientific and later we will tackle the issue from a human perspective.

Create in your imagination a world with the following characteristics:

  • The internet has only two sites: 123marketing.com and ABCmarketing.com.
  • Pages indexed on search engines are two hundred pages, split in half between these two sites.
  • Each page talks about on of the only two topics; marketing or advertising.

Website Navigation: You Lead the Way

Posted September 1, 2007 - 1:02pm by elias

Imagine you have a sports club, and from experience, you know that people come to do mainly two things; either to play, or to watch sports.
So you make it a policy that every visitor be greeted on the door, before entering the club, and they should be asked the golden question, "Would you like to PLAY or to WATCH sports today?"

Family Business Conference

Posted June 17, 2007 - 9:52am by elias

 While learning a new language (Turkish), and deeply getting involved in understanding the whole culture, I had some great realizations.