Status of the SEM Industry

September 4, 1998 – Things Changed. Google was launched. On that fateful day new careers were born while others would soon find out that they would need to forever change the way they do business or perish. Since that day in the late 90’s we have come a long way in the world of Search Engine Marketing. Gone are the days where we would buy links or change a few keywords and rankings would double. Those days were simpler, easier times. Welcome to the dawn of the new era of SEM – where content rules. Continue reading “Status of the SEM Industry”

Instagram's Answer to Snapchat, Bolt, Is Here — But There's a Catch

blot instagram

It’s official, Instagram’s SnapChat rival Bolt is launching in New Zealand, Singapore and South Africa. But don’t worry, Instagram plans on rolling it out to other countries soon.blot instagram
What is bolt?
Bolt is a new messaging app that allows users to send short-lived photo and video messages from mobile devices.
Isn’t Instagram owned by Facebook, and didn’t Facebook launch SnapChat-like app Slingshot recently?slingshot by facebook
Yes, you are correct. Last month Facebook launched Slingshot, an app similar to SnapChat except that you can’t view an incoming “shot” until you send a shot back to the sender. Check out the Slingshot app here.
Learn more about the launch of Bolt on Mashable: Instagram’s Answer to Snapchat, Bolt, Is Here — But There’s a Catch.

Inside AdWords: Introducing Dynamic Sitelinks

Last week, AdWords introduced dynamic site links and announced that they would be rolling out globally. On their blog they define dynamic site links as:

Automatically generated sitelinks that appear below your ad text, connecting potential customers to relevant pages on your website more easily.

So what does this mean for you?
Well the good news is that dynamic sitelinks are free to use (for now)! But, you will still be charged for clicks on the headline of your ad or on any other ad extensions.
Should I continue to optimize sitelinks like normal?
Yes keep adding and optimizing sitelinks like normal. In the blog Google AdWords states the following:

It’s important to continue adding and optimizing sitelinks because impression share for dynamic sitelinks will be low. In fact, the sitelinks you set up will always show, except for the few instances when the dynamic sitelink might perform better. 

But I like my AdWords ads the way they are!
No need to fret, advertisers have the option to this disable this feature if they would like to. However, Google predicts that these links are likely to boost the performance of an ad.
If you would like to disable dynamic sitelinks just click here to fill out a request form.
Check out the official blog post from Google AdWords to learn more: Inside AdWords: Introducing Dynamic Sitelinks.

How to Use Social Listening to Drive Pull Marketing

Drive Social Media St. Louis

The nature of advertising is changing, just think about your online experience and how companies interact with you. In the 90’s companies set up websites and hoped for traffic. Later, they started to use email marketing. Next came the ever-so-popular pop-up ad, and now companies are able to purchase ad space on websites and social media. Using data from the user’s browsing habits, companies are able to target who they think will be interested in their product, thereby maximizing the effect of their advertising budget. Continue reading “How to Use Social Listening to Drive Pull Marketing”