Catherine "Cat" Seda

Monday, February 26, 2007

Second Edition of Search Engine Advertising

Someone just asked me,

Will you be writing a 2nd edition to your 1st book to include the changes with Yahoo's PPC program?

Yes and yes. A lot of folks have been asking about my second edition of “Search Engine Advertising.” I hope to work on it later this year. Although many PPC tactics in the book are still valid, there have been some significant changes since the book was published in 2004 (like Yahoo!’s new PPC program). And in the second edition, I’ll cover more advanced PPC tactics.

Yahoo!’s new PPC program is mentioned in my new book, too. In “How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders” there’s a chapter on PPC. I cover: local search, pay-per-call, arbitrage and using PPC as a PR tool…topics didn’t cover in my first book. I hope you find these PPC tactics helpful!

Monday, February 19, 2007

How To Win Sales & Influence Spiders RELEASED

I know, I know. I haven't been blogging regularly (tsk tsk). But I have been writing like crazy...for a year on my new book which is finally being released today!

How to Win Sales & Influence Spiders:
Boosting Your Business & Buzz on the Web

In this "non-techie" book, I reveal how to use Internet marketing to attract new clients, and at the same time, get free search engine rankings and free media coverage.

Sound good? Check out the insider tips you'll get...

Once you read it, let me know what you think. Hoping I say something that helps your business in the reason why I write.
:-)

Cat

Monday, February 05, 2007

Yahoo! Ad Ranking Model Change Today

It’s finally here…

Yahoo!’s new ad ranking model (cost-per-click bid + quality score = ad rank) will launch around 3 p.m. PST today.

Can’t wait to see how this impacts advertisers’ spend. If you want to rant or rave about how this change impacts your budget, your comments are welcome!

Personally, I’ll miss the bid-to-position PPC (pay-per-click) model. I often recommended that newbies start with Yahoo! Sponsored Search because the old model was easier for them to understand. However, now that many advertisers start with Google AdWords, adding Yahoo! to their mix is easy.

I can’t help taking a walk down memory lane…

In 1996, I started buying keyword banner ads for clients. Yahoo! was one of my first campaign buys (actually, keyword banners worked really well. It was those dang run-of-site ads that killed the banner’s reputation). In 1999, I tested AltaVista's bid-to-position PPC program. “What a budgeting nightmare!” I thought. But I was soon managing client PPC campaigns on GoTo which became Overture and is now Yahoo! Sponsored Search. PPC’s amazing ROI (return-on-investment) was instantly addicting.

PPC today…

The good—more sophisticated tools. The bad—more sophisticated advertisers. The ugly—a shrinking ROI for some keywords/industries, no matter how much optimization you do.

How did you get your start in PPC? Got a great story to share?