Top 10 Ways to NOT Think Like a Bank

To be a better bank, don't think like a banker.

If you want to  ...  no, since you NEED to sell more products, look to the business sector that sells the best ... RETAIL!

What does your favorite retailer do that makes you want to spend so much money?

1. They go to great pains to know you through loyalty programs 
2. They train their sales staff to ask questions before they recommend product
3. They make it easy to buy in the store and on-line
4. Specialty shops become your advisor and product expert
5. They package products in "bundles" that make intuitive sense to you (think Value-Meal)
6. They create advertising with a clear call to action that evokes some emotion
7. They sell the relationship ... not the product
8. They empower their employees to think like entrepreneurs
9. They focus on how the product will make your life better ... not the product features
10. The BRAND is priority #1

For more discussion on bringing retail strategies to the financial world, please register for our free Brown Bag Lunch being held on Friday, May 15 at 1:00 PM EST by clicking here.

Take care,

Eric

Improvements to Google Ad Planner data

Do you use Google Ad Planner to find websites for your display ad campaigns? If so, you'll be glad to know we launched the Google Ad Planner Publisher Center, a new feature that improves the quality and accuracy of the site data you see in Google Ad Planner.

The Publisher Center enables publishers to contribute directly to the site data provided in Google Ad Planner. Website owners can specify their site descriptions, content categories, supported ad formats and sizes, and share their Google Analytics traffic data in Google Ad Planner. With shared Google Analytics data, we can supplement our traffic estimates with actual, site-measured data from the publishers themselves. In turn, you'll have access to more robust and accurate information in Google Ad Planner to make better-informed decisions about which sites to include in your media plans.

Here's an example of a site profile you will see when the site owner updates information through the Publisher Center:

(Click the image for a full-size version)

We hope you'll take advantage of this improved Google Ad Planner data for your media planning activities. To get started, please visit www.google.com/adplanner.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Surface your Google Analytics data in Google Ad Planner

We know that web publishers can get frustrated when public estimates of their traffic don't match what they're seeing in their web analytics accounts. Publishers with ad revenue at stake need to present the best possible data to advertisers, but they couldn't do much about it... until now.

Today, we are announcing an integration with Google Ad Planner Publisher Center that allows you to opt in some of your Google Analytics data into Google Ad Planner so that you can replace traffic estimates with directly measured Google Analytics data. Of course, this feature is strictly optional and provides the most value to publishers who have ads on their site. A lot of publishers have requested this feature and we hope that those of you who do enable the feature will enjoy seeing data that matches what you see in Google Analytics.

To see how your site is currently displayed in Google Ad Planner, visit the Google Ad Planner Publisher Center and search for your site. If you want to get started managing your site profile in Google Ad Planner and opt in your Google Analytics traffic metrics, first enable the "Share my Google Analytics data with Google products only" from within your Google Analytics data sharing settings page. Then, go to your Google Ad Planner account, sign in, and select the Google Analytics metrics you'd like to share publicly. Once you do, your Google Analytics traffic metrics will replace Google Ad Planner's estimates of your traffic, and potential advertisers can see the important metrics that you are seeing.*

For more information about the Google Ad Planner Publisher Center, visit the Ad Planner Help Center, or watch our video below:

*Please note that publishers who decide to share their Analytics data for the first time may have to wait up to 48 hours to see the traffic data in their Ad Planner account.

Posted by Wayne Lin, Google Ad Planner Team

Back to Basics: An easy way to spot quality traffic

Your site may be getting a lot of traffic from referring sites, but which websites refer visitors that actually convert to a goal? There’s a basic report that can show you where your quality traffic is coming from: the Traffic Sources report.

To spot which website links are referring visitors that convert to your goals, follow these steps:

1. On the main ‘View Reports’ screen, choose Traffic Sources in the lefthand navigation.

2. In the same area you'll now see a list of subset of reports. Click on 'Referring Sites.'

3. Now you'll see a report of all the top sites that refer traffic to you ("referral" = the user clicked a link on the sourcesite). Click on the Goal Conversion tab.

4. Now you'll see the top 10 referral domains. In the bottom gray section, choose a larger number for 'show rows' in order to see them all.

5. You'll get a breakdown of goal conversion percentages for every referral. Right above the data table, you'll see a score card listing your site average's data so that you can compare it to the information coming from specific sources.

Of course, for this report to actually show goal conversion data, you’ll need to have created goals for your website. You can either read a quick how-to from our Help Center, watch a video, or view a GA IQ learning module on it.

If you run an ecommerce site and would like some more information on identifying valuable referrers, you may want to check out this post written by one of our Authorized Consultants.

Posted by Christina Park, Google Analytics Team

Ignoring Fear

I was at the IBA MEGA conference this past week....saw Erik Wahl present again. His message and performance is excellent and always on the mark.

One captivating point, especially in the current times. The concept of FEAR. Erik shared a definition of FEAR....it goes:

• F false
  
• E evidence
• A appearing
• R real

There is a tremendous amount of fear in the market place today...some founded in fact and most built from media hype. The solution?

Communication.

You need to over-communicate, if there is actually such a practice. Communicate to your customers, your best customers, your staff, your shareholders, your market....everyone!

Not the "we are safe and stable" message, but a tangible message that is actionable. I heard a radio spot for a bank in Michigan and it was the president speaking and sharing very tangible ideas on how their bank was strong (facts) and ended the spot with his direct dial phone number. That creates tangible comfort!

Remove the fear, communicate, communicate, communicate!

Cheers!

Bruce

Follow-up on the Content Network performance trends white paper

Last week, we released a study on performance trends on Google's Content Network. The study compared the cost per acquisition (CPA) on Google's Content and Search Networks and found that, for the median advertiser, the average CPAs were about the same on both channels. Since the release of the white paper, we've received some questions from our advertisers about why CPAs were similar and what actions you should take based on the findings in the white paper. We are addressing these questions in this post, and to better reflect the insights from the detailed analysis, we've made some clarifications to the executive summary and concluding paragraph of the white paper.

As the white paper indicates, the primary reason for similar cost-per-acquisition on the content and search networks is a result of our smart pricing system. Smart pricing is a feature that automatically reduces the price advertisers pay for clicks if our data shows that a click from a Content Network page is less likely to result in a conversion. This means that if our smart pricing system predicts a particular Content Network page is likely to have a low conversion rate, we will automatically reduce the price advertisers pay for that click. As the white paper indicates, the conversion rate on the Content Network sample was 27.9% lower than on the Search Network but this was offset by the fact that CPCs on content are 28.4% lower than search.

In terms of what actions you should take based on the findings in the white paper, we recommend you:

• Consider complementing your search campaigns with campaigns on the Content Network, if you haven't done so already. Remember that success on the Content Network starts with good campaign structure, so please refer to our optimization tips when setting up your campaigns.
• Use the new tools we offer for content optimization such as the Conversion Optimizer, Placement Performance Reports, and the Site and Category Exclusion tool. They can help you further tailor your Content Network performance to meet your advertising goals.

Of course, it's important to recognize that performance can vary from advertiser to advertiser, both in terms of CPA as well as conversion volume.

The report describes the experiences of those advertisers who adopted tools such as the Conversion Optimizer and Placement Performance Reports and continued to use them. We think that the evidence is strong that these tools have been useful to these advertisers.

We believe that search is still the most effective advertising medium for providing a strong base of conversions. At the same time, the Content Network can be a cost-effective way to gain additional conversions beyond those you get via search.

Posted by Emel Mutlu, Inside AdWords crew

Nine New Google Analytics API Client Libraries To Get You Started

Its been a week since we launched the Google Analytics Data Export API and we're already seeing Google Analytics being used in exciting new ways. For example, Michael L. of the New York Public Library is visualizing search data as tag clouds, and Patrick C. is using the Google Analytics API in conjunction with technical software to generate plots of online buzz and graphs of site traffic flows.

Sometimes it's easier getting started using the tools you're most familiar with. While we initially released Java and JavaScript client libraries, a number of talented 3rd party developers have created 9 new Google Analytics Export API client libraries in PHP, .NET, Python and Ruby. All of these libraries have been released as opensource and are supported by the developers themselves. We're very excited to see developers building on top of our API and giving back to the community.

In addition to these libraries, we've added new JavaScript interactive samples to play with the API in real time. These fully interactive examples allow you to see how the API gets data, visualize the data returned, review the code and even edit the functionality directly in the browser (You need a Google Analytics account to make this work).

If you haven't done so already already, come share your new apps, tutorials, and best practices in the Google Analytics API discussion group.

We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics API Team