AdWords for mobile is fully available

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to AdWords for mobile, our new mobile interface for Android, iPhone, and Palm Pre devices. Now, when you log into AdWords from one of these devices, you’ll be directed to AdWords for mobile automatically (currently only available for accounts managed in US, UK or Australian English).

AdWords for mobile gives you a quick overview of how your account is performing and allows you to easily make select changes to your keywords and campaigns. You can see AdWords for mobile in action in this short video:

For more details and to send us feedback, check out the AdWords for mobile page on Google Ad Innovations.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew

Online and Social Media Emphasis Grows

As the focus on marketing spend is magnified and marketers are asked to do more with less, marketers are continuing to increase their online and social marketing strategies, according to the CMO Council's 2010 State of Marketing report.

The global affinity network, which surveyed 600 of its members from across the world and representing most industry verticals, found that 46% of its members ranked investing in digital demand generation and online relationship building as a top initiative for 2010. The survey also found that 62% will be crunching customer data to improve segmentation and targeting. Most of the respondents plan on doing much of the heavy lifting internally or by specialized outsourced providers.


The survey also saw a significant uptick around online channel integration and multi-channel offerings that deliver the brand promise consistently across online, mobile, in store, and traditional channels.

The challenge for bankers and non-bankers alike will be to find the skill sets to successfully implement these strategies. With only 6% of those surveyed rating their online marketing performance 'excellent' and the majority trying to grow their capabilities, finding people with a successful track record is difficult.

More relevant traffic estimates now in the updated Keyword Tool

In late September, we launched a beta version of the updated Keyword Tool. This tool is a new, streamlined way for you to identify additional keywords and add them to your account. Previously, we offered two distinct tools to expand your keyword list. The Keyword Tool generated keywords based on the content of the URL, words or phrases you entered into the tool. The Search-based Keyword Tool gave you insight into keywords that you may have been missing out on by identifying actual Google searches that were relevant to your site’s landing pages. Now, with the updated Keyword Tool, you can search by words or phrases, websites, and even categories (where available) to receive the results of both the Keyword Tool and the Search-based Keyword Tool in one central location.

Our beta launch began what will eventually be a permanent transition from the previous Keyword Tool to the updated version. Over the next few months, you'll be able to switch back and forth between the two tools as needed. We'll post again on this blog when the transition period is over. At that point, the updated Keyword Tool will be the only version available in your account.

In the meantime, as you get accustomed to the updated version, we'll continually improve it and add functionality that we hope you'll find useful. Over the next few days, we're adding a new feature to the tool that will help you get more relevant search traffic estimates for your keywords.

To do this, you'll select specific keywords from the list of suggestions and click on the 'Estimate Search Traffic' button.

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From there, you can choose the ad group to which you'd like to add those keywords and see the average estimated CPC, total estimated clicks, and total estimated cost for the keywords you selected on the previous screen.

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This enhancement enables you to see how your keywords might perform in a specific ad group. Keyword traffic estimates in the context of an ad group can look at the interactions between keywords, and can give you a more accurate prediction of performance than you'd see from a full list of keywords.

It's important to note that due to these changes, we're removing some columns that you had previously been able to add to your Keyword Tool results: Estimated Avg. CPC, Estimated CTR, Estimated Ad Position, Estimated Impressions, Estimated Clicks, and Estimated Cost. While you won't be able to access these columns in the updated version, you'll still be able to see much of this information in the context of an ad group. If you're interested in seeing keyword-level search traffic estimates, you can do so through the standalone Traffic Estimator tool, which also has a new, more intuitive interface. To access the Traffic Estimator tool, click on the 'More Tools' link under the 'Tools' section of your Opportunities Tab.

Posted by Katrina Kurnit, Inside AdWords crew

Cardlytics Introduces Bank Statement Innovation

At a time when banks are looking for ways to generate new revenue and increase customer loyalty, Cardlytics has developed a way for banks to leverage transaction data to deliver targeted offers to clients on their online bank statements.

Since the privately held company launched the innovative product last November, more than 100 marketing campaigns have been run, reaching half a million bank customers. According to a recent AdvertisingAge article, the company expects to have 50 to 70 financial institutions on board by the end of the summer, reaching some 10 million customers by the end of the year.

The program uses transaction data such as the date and amount of purchase, location and merchant to develop special offers by the merchant where the transaction occurred or by a competing merchant in the same category. Imagine an offer from a local restaurant appearing on your statement after a recent purchase from the same establishment. Or maybe an offer from a competing eatery.

The activation of the offer is electronic without any special processing by the bank or retail institution. When the offer is activated by clicking the area on the online statement, it is converted the next time the debit or credit card is used at the participating merchant and the purchase is processed by the bank.

The merchant pays for the online ad to Cardlytics, with a pay-for-performance model with the bank getting a piece of the action. Initial response rates for the program, according to Cardlytics has been very favorable, with the only drawback potentially being the lack of demographic data available for targeting.

This type of turn-key rewards program could expand quickly, using the same type of model and insight that is used for Google with their paid advertising. The success, however, will hinge on a combination of the banking industry's ability to embrace a push-based retailing concept and the customer's acceptance of a perceived sharing of data. As with most new online concepts, acceptance will most likely vary by segment.

Next Week: Two Incredible Conferences In One

Hey marketers and data heads: heads up! Next week is a good week to tell your boss you’re taking “enrichment time off.” We totally support using this excuse to take afternoons off and go to baseball games, or using it to let your boss know you won’t be at work on a Friday, when you're actually planning to hit the slopes early for a long ski weekend. “Enrichment time”. But regarding next week, we’re actually talking about legitimate, professional, guilt free, educational enrichment time at two web analytics conferences happening at the same place in San Jose -- next week!

You’ve heard of eMetrics, a premiere event for marketing and website analytics. We’ve launched a bunch of stuff at this conference over the years because the atmosphere fosters innovation. Well attended and sponsored by the Web Analytics Association, it’s also a chance for the web analytics industry to get together and share best practices and help each other.

In conjunction this year, there will be an additional conference in the same space, targeted specifically at conversions, called Conversion Conference. This conference is aimed specifically at helping you make minor or major adjustments to your website or campaigns specifically to increase your online conversions. It will share social events with eMetrics, and registering for both will help you take full advantage of the week. And when you register at the Conversion Conference site you can get a late-bird discount of $250 off. Enter the code CCW646.

Here are some of the must-see sessions:

Monday, May 3:

• 9am - 4:30pm: Google Analytics Workshop, led by Caleb Whitmore from Analytics Pros, a Google Analytics Certified Partner. This promises to be a great training, with hands on examples from one of our most experienced partners. Make sure to register this week.

Tuesday, May 4:

• 11am - 12pm: Introduction to Google Website Optimizer as part of Conversion Conference
• 1:50pm - 2pm: "What’s New with Google Analytics" with our very own Brett Crosby
• 2pm - 3pm: see Brett again at the Conversion Conference in a panel with Eric Peterson called "Web Analytics & Uncovering Problems"
• 3pm - 3:30pm: Book signing and giveaway of a new book on Google Analytics written by Caleb Whitmore, Justin Cutroni and Sebastian Tonkin, who used to work on the Google Analytics team. This will take place in breakout room Cupertino.

Wednesday, May 5:

• 9am: keynote by Avinash Kaushik: "Leveraging Bleeding Edge Analytics Goodies"
• 12:15pm: Brown bag deep dive into what’s new with Google Analytics with product manager Jayanth Mysore

We hope to see you in San Jose next week, data heads, and you will return to work, savvier at all things web analytics, on the cutting edge of online tracking, and linked in with more professionals in your industry. Truly enriched.

Posted by Jeff Gillis, Google Analytics Team

Marketing & Branding

Marketing is an art, a process and a science. It is your left brain ... right brain ... common sense and soul.

I was talking to a colleague yesterday about branding. When a client says that they need "branding," what do they REALLY mean:

• A new name, logo and/or color scheme?
• Branches that are all designed consistently?
• One consistent message that resinates with every communication they send out?
• A well trained team who can provide consistent service from location to location ... from day to day?

The answer is ... YES! It's all of these. Your brand is every interaction - be it face-to-face, brochures, ads, ATMs, facilities, parking lot, online access or word of mouth - that an individual has with you. Ultimately it's the way a customer feels when they walk into your front door ... and more importantly, how they feel when they walk out!

Think about every possible way someone can come in touch with your institution ... try to see it from your customer's point of view. When you look at the sum of the parts, what is your personality? If your bank or CU was a person, what would they be like? Fun? Serious? Sloppy? Are they the life of the party, or do they shy away? Are they introverted or extraverted? Do they try to help? Are they a volunteer in the community?

THAT is your brand.

Take care,

Eric

Wells Fargo Promotes Online Statements

Emphasizing the potential positive impact on the environment and the reduction of risk from mail fraud and identity theft, Wells Fargo just introduced a sweepstakes program for customers who move from paper to online monthly statements.

For every personal or business statement selected to move to a paperless option, the customer will receive a sweepstakes entry with a chance to win $25,000 or one of ten $2,500 prizes.

This newest effort is consistent with what is offered by Wells Fargo Advisors, whereby clients have the opportunity to reduce their annual fees by $30/yrs. by opting for online statements.


As revenue from deposit and loan accounts continue to get squeezed and as the cost of delivering paper statements continues to increase, I expect to see more and more financial institutions incent customers to move to paperless reporting.

On the Clock...

If you are a football fanatic, you were in 7th heaven over the weekend! 

The NFL Draft!

Think about the draft...lots of information and statistics surrounding each player, but truly they are untested against the ranks of other NFL players.  Some highly touted players never reach their potential and yet others, like Jerry Rice, rise to prominence from obscure small schools.

So what is the lesson to be learned?

It's all about heart!

We hear it all the time...we have big competitors that we cannot compete against.  Our markets are too big to be effective.  Our budgets just cannot match our competitors.

To each of these statements, I answer "where there is a will, there is a way!"

• Find the way to be different in your markets...
• Find staff that are hungry to compete and WIN...
• Find customers that want a different experience

They are ALL out there...you just need to find them!

The challenge for this week...you are ON THE CLOCK!

Your time to "draft" new customers, "select" new staff, acquire new "free agent" customer deposits and loans....is now!

Get a plan...get a focus...get momentum...and be on your way to results!

You are now ON THE CLOCK!

Make it a great draft for your team!

Cheers!

Bruce

SIFMA Asset Management Account Roundtable Recap

I would like to thank the people from the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) as well as co-chairs Jennifer Byrd from Morgan Stanley Smith Barney and Steve Newcamp from Federated Investors. As always, the event was well attended and the sharing of ideas and insights from the speakers and participants was great. I would be remiss if I didn't also thank my own company, Harland Clarke for the amazing dinner at the Battery Park Gardens Restaurant where, even with the rain, the view of the Statue of Liberty was super.

Some interesting takeaways from the meeting:

• Lucy Suarez (Fiserv): The impact of mobile can not be overlooked and the demographics of mobile banking users is trending older over time. As referenced in some of my previous blogs, a majority of iPhone owners and a large percentage of smart phone owners use mobile banking monthly. She also referenced that deployment by financial institutions of all sizes is growing rapidly. The future of mobile will definitely go beyond balance inquiries and transfer of funds to include mobile deposits, person-to-person payments and the ability to sign-up for the service without online banking required.
• During the product development breakout session, it became apparent that, while a case can be made for the development of mobile banking applications for the AMA product, virtually none of the firms in attendance even have a mobile banking product in development. This may end up being a competitive disadvantage in the marketplace or a significant advantage for the two firms who have mobile capabilities today.
• One of the major advantages of a robust AMA product also seems to be a hurdle for product development. Highly customized and information laden paper statements seems to limit product innovation in the areas of rewards, household PFM and product integration. To combat this challenge, Wells Fargo Advisors provides an annual rebate of fees if a customer agrees to a more flexible online statementing option.
• Margaret Henry, Ph.D. (Scantron): Margaret discussed the significant differences between a 'satisfied' client and a client that will be loyal and will refer business to a financial institution. She compared different survey techniques and survey results in the marketplace while sharing results from some of Scantron's clients who have experienced improvements in scores as a result of a robust measurement process.

There was a great deal more learned at this program which I have been lucky enough to present at three times over the past five years. What always amazes me is the amount of sharing that is done by this rather tight knit group of organizations that serve the most desirable of clients.

When to Outsource

As I write this blog, I have contractors in my house finishing my basement to make more room for the kids to play (and, hopefully, a place to hide their toys!!!). Over the last week or so, I've been reminded exactly how much work goes into building a simple room: framing, wiring, lights, moving plumbing, drywall, flooring, etc., etc., etc.

Now, I'm a fairly intelligent guy and I have a lot of the tools that these guys are using. I know how to use a tape measure and a saw and I can read Do It Yourself websites. What I'm trying to say is that I might have been able to do this job myself ... BUT...

I simply don't have time. Between the important day-to-day work like mowing the lawn, doing the laundry, house cleaning, basic home maintenance, taking care of two kids and the like, I simply don't have time to do the bigger jobs. Besides:

• It would have taken me ten times longer because I don't have the same skill set as a contractor
• I don't have ALL of the tools that I'd need
• IF I was able to finish the job, the quality wouldn't be nearly as good

Does this sound like your situation at work? Between dealing with changing regulations, squeezing margins and internal management issues, the important day-to-day work can take time from the bigger strategic picture that will drive business and impact the bottom line.

The way I had to find the right contractor, it may help to find a marketing partner that has:

• The experience of creating and implementing strategic plans, building differentiating brands, segmenting and targeting the right customers and training sales staff to deliver on the marketing promise, ...
• The marketing tools that you may not have, be they creative, PR, media, strategic planning, etc., and ...
• A proven track record of quality specific to your industry.

What I've learned this week is that having the right people help you get the job done, makes for a better end product, a more restful nights sleep and more time for me to do what I want to do, like hang out with my kids.

Take care,

Eric

A new approach to how we work with advertising agencies

Cross posted from the Official Google Blog:

As the advertising industry has grown and evolved, so too has our relationship with advertising agencies. These companies, from SEMs to the largest traditional agencies, play a critical role in the continued success of Google, our advertisers and our industry — so we spend a lot of time talking to agencies about how we can make it easier for them to work with us and our advertisers.

We’ve had a lot of great feedback from agencies and today we’re announcing changes designed to offer them better training and more rigorous certification in AdWords proficiency, and to lower costs for those who help advertisers get the most out of AdWords. We’re also making it easier for advertisers to find certified agency partners to work with them on digital advertising. Here’s an overview of what’s changing today.

Raising the bar for Google AdWords Certification

We're retiring our long-standing Google Advertising Professionals (GAP) program and replacing it with a new Google AdWords Certification program for those managing AdWords accounts on behalf of advertisers. The new program provides agencies and their employees with more up-to-date, comprehensive, strategy-focused training and certification on the latest tools and best practices for managing AdWords accounts, including:

• New training materials to help agencies better understand recent changes in search marketing and AdWords functionality, available via webinar series, learning center, or on-site training at Google
• More challenging certification exams to test practical application of knowledge and best practices (rather than simple recall of knowledge)
• Advanced-level exams to highlight competency in search, display, reporting and analysis
• A redesigned Certified Partner badge, which includes a “Click to Verify” element so advertisers can view the partner’s profile page for additional information.

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For more information on the AdWords Certification Program or to create an account, visit the Google Certification program site and help center.

Helping advertisers find Google Certified Partners

Google Certified Partners can opt in to Google Partner Search, an online, searchable directory that helps advertisers identify Certified Partners that meet their criteria. Small and medium-sized advertisers who haven’t previously used an agency have told us that evaluating potential partners can be a daunting task, so we think Google Partner Search will be especially valuable for them.

To show up in advertiser searches through Google Partner Search, agencies must opt in and fill in details about their core attributes and capabilities. Searches can be filtered by location, agency experience within a particular budget range, the types of services provided and the industry verticals an agency serves. Advertisers can then evaluate the list of Certified Partners that meet their criteria and contact the partners who seem best suited to their needs. To learn more about Google Partner Search, visit the Help center.

Introducing preferred AdWords API pricing

The Google AdWords API allows developers to build applications that interact directly with the AdWords platform. Agencies and developers of search engine marketing tools use these applications to manage large AdWords campaigns more efficiently and creatively.

Today, we’re announcing preferred AdWords API pricing. This gives qualified Google AdWords Certified Partners who manage client AdWords accounts free use of the AdWords API based on managed client spend. To apply, agencies must have an active agency profile page and remain compliant with the AdWords API terms and conditions. We’ll evaluate applications for preferred AdWords API pricing based on the criteria listed here.

We hope preferred AdWords API pricing will encourage agencies and developers to experiment with new strategies, expand the functionality of their tools, and build more comprehensive client campaigns without worrying about increased costs. You can learn more about preferred pricing and how to apply at the preferred AdWords API pricing site.

We’re looking forward to receiving feedback on all of these initiatives and to continuing to improve our partnership with agencies.

Posted by Penry Price, Vice President, Global Agency Development

Measure the success of your AdWords campaigns

Over the past few weeks, we've posted 4 videos that suggested small changes you can make to your AdWords account to help you improve your performance. This week, we'll provide you with some guidance for measuring the results of these changes.

With AdWords, you can see how successful your advertising is by monitoring the statistics in your account. Understanding these statistics allows you to assess your results and further tweak your campaigns for even better performance.

Take a look at this video to learn how to track and understand your AdWords results in order to fine tune your advertising.

(click to view video)

Have you have found this series of videos useful for improving your advertising and growing your business? Let us know.

PostPosted by Emily Williams, Inside AdWords crew

Chase Uses Safety Message to Promote Signature Debit

Chase Bank has recently reached out to their converted WAMU customers who are receiving a newly branded debit card asking them to "always select 'credit'" when paying for their debit card transactions, stating that the transaction is actually safer than entering a PIN.

The slightly confusing message has not gone unnoticed by industry experts who have come out on both sides of the argument around safety. According to an article in the April 21 edition of American Banker, consultants from Gartner and Aite believe that the PIN provides an added level of security, and that the Chase message may be driven more by the opportunity to generate the higher interchange income associated with a signature based transaction as opposed to a PIN transaction.


Alternatively, Marite Ferrero, CTO of France's CardSwitch Technology, stated on April 22 that he believes the pen is mightier (and safer) than the PIN since fraudsters who skim a customer's mag stripe can use the captured PIN to perform non-personal transactions at an ATM and online.

Whether the Chase message resonates with customers as much as the significant incentives and rewards offered by Chase and most other large and small banks for signature based transactions remains to be seen. From what I have heard in my travels over the past couple months, however, the Summer and Fall spending seasons will most likely see a significant uptick in mass media and direct marketing promotions to get customers to change their debit card transaction habits. With Reg E expected to negatively impact fee income, almost all institutions will need to find new ways to cover the cost of checking and related services.

5 years ago today: Google acquired Urchin; Urchin became Google Analytics

It's been an amazing journey. Five years ago today, Google acquired Urchin Software Corporation. At the time, we had no idea how popular Google Analytics would become. To a great extent, Google Analytics' popularity is a reflection of the phenomenal accomplishments and hard work of many talented and passionate people here at Google. But mostly it is you, our customers, who have made the product what it is today. You've requested features, provided feedback, and asked tough questions. We're humbled and thankful. And, we're excited for the next 5 years. Congratulations and happy anniversary!

Posted by Brett Crosby and Alden DeSoto, Google Analytics Team

Keep up to date on the AdWords New Ad Formats Initiative

Late last year we introduced you to the AdWords New Ad Formats Initiative. At the time, we explained that new formats would be a major focus for us in 2010 and gave you a sneak peak into the types of new ad formats heading your way.

With the introduction of our new Ad Innovations site, there’s now an easier way to stay up to date with all the latest formats we’re working on. Using Ad Innovations, you can learn about high level themes like ad extensions and new ad models. You can also check out individual pages devoted to each of the new formats we’re working on, including some that aren’t fully released, like Video Extensions and Product Listing Ads.

If you want to learn more about the AdWords New Ad Formats Initiative, try watching our introductory video, and then exploring the Ad Innovations site.



Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

Google Analytics User Conferences go Dutch!

Despite the travel havoc caused by the volcano in Iceland, today we hosted our first Google Analytics User Conference in Europe. Six of our Dutch partners joined forces to deliver an interactive and informative day for hundreds of our Dutch users.

Clancy Childs (Google Analytics EMEA Lead Sales Engineer) discussed business intelligence, traffic improvements, conversion optimization and the Google Analytics API.

Brian Clifton also joined the list of speakers to cover ‘Measuring success in a Web 2.0 world’

We had a further 12 workshop sessions hosted by experts from each of the partners including (to name a few):

• Developing a conversion attribution model using Google Analytics
• Creating targeted dashboards
• Landing Page Optimization
• AdWords Optimization

It was really great to meet some of our enthusiastic Dutch user base and we look forward to rolling out more of these User Conferences across the world. Copenhagen is next on the list! Stay tuned to the blog for more details.

Well done to ClickValue, Traffic Builders, OrangeValley, Traffic4u, Netsociety and Netprofiler for hosting a great day!

Posted by Alan Wrafter, Google Analytics Team

BAI Checking 2.0 Executive Forum Recap

I just finished presenting at the second BAI Checking 2.0 Executive Forum in Chicago where close to 50 financial institutions learned about legislative changes, customer perceptions, new product development and marketing opportunities around the checking account. While only a month has passed since the first Checking 2.0 Executive Forum held in Atlanta, it is obvious that there are a number of changes occurring in the marketplace.

There was consensus among the participants that while consumer trust and confidence in banks has been negatively impacted by the events of the past two years, there may be some uptick in these measures over the next few months if financial results continue to improve and if banks continue to focus on the customer experience.


A significant change from the March event was that virtually all of the participating banks have developed an alternative version of 'Free Checking'. Checking account product innovation has added stipulations to some accounts, benefits for a fee on others and alternative reward structures on other checking programs. In fact, in a quick survey of the participating banks, it did not appear that any of the 'Free Checking' programs were similar.

When discussions moved to how banks are responding to Reg E, there were some organizations that were well on their way towards communicating with their customer base while other banks had not yet begun their information dissemination. Surprisingly, MB Financial out of Chicago shared that they had already achieved close to 85% opt-in from their customer base (and nearly 100% from new customers) by leveraging a combination of postcards, traditional direct mail, phone call follow-up and branch level involvement.

The success of some of the participating banks illustrated the importance of a multi-channel communication process with strong employee involvement and call center follow-up.

Top 10 Management Books

There is an old saying that “management is easy, except for the people.” While that statement may be amusing, it definitely contains an element of truth because there is an art to effective management. But sadly, many individuals don't understand how to be good managers, and more often than not, companies don't spend the time to train people to become good managers.

Just think, how often have you been asked or even spent the time to consider:
• How long have you been the manager of a team or department?
• How would you describe your management style?
• How many employees are you directly responsible for?
• What is most important for you to see in the employees that work for you?
• How do you measure the success of your employees?
• Do you mentor your employees?

A quote from “Becoming a Successful Manager” by Jack H. Grossman says it all, “Now you’ve earned your reward: a staff to manage. [But] from now on, your success no longer depends on just your technical abilities and specialized knowledge. You will only prosper if other people do their jobs well.”

Here are some great management books to assist you as you build your management skills and become an effective and inspiring manager!

First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently
By Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman
c. 1999

Now, Discover Your Strengths
By Marcus Buckingham and Donald O. Clifton
c. 2001

The First-Time Manager
By Loren B. Belker and Gary S. Topchik
c. 2005

What to Do When You Become the Boss: How New Managers Become Successful Managers
By Bob Selden
c. 2007

Becoming a Successful Manager: How to Make a Smooth Transition from Managing Yourself to Managing Others
By Jack H. Grossman and J. Robert Parkinson
c. 2001

The New Manager’s Handbook: 24 Lessons for Mastering Your New Role
By Morey Stettner
c. 2006

101 Biggest Mistakes Managers Make and How to Avoid Them
By Mary Albright and Clay Carr
c. 1997

Managing
By Henry Mintzberg
c. 2009

The No Complaining Rule: Positive Ways to Deal with Negativity at Work
By Jon Gordon
c. 2008

The Disney Way: Harnessing the Management Secrets of Disney in Your Company
By Bill Capodagli and Lynn Jackson
c. 2006

Lastly, if you would like to avoid new manager mistakes, check out this list of the top 10 common mistakes: http://bit.ly/df05Kk.

Discount code available for ad:tech San Francisco

Cross posted from the Google Agency Ad Solutions Blog.

ad:tech San Francisco is this week, from April 19th to April 22nd, and we'll be there. Our product experts will be on hand at the Google booth Tuesday and Wednesday to answer questions and provide updates on AdWords, Analytics, DoubleClick, YouTube, AdSense and the Google Content Network. In addition, we're holding the workshops "Insights Lickety Split in AdWords Search Funnels and Google Analytics" and "Google Ad Innovations @ ad:tech," as well as speaking at the session "Marketing Masters - The Bleeding Edge of Advertising Innovation."

Still not sure whether to head to ad:tech San Francisco? It's not too late to register, and Google is pleased to offer a 20% discount on conference passes with the code GGLESPON.

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew

Banks Introduce New iPhone and iPad Applications

As was predicted late last year at the Mobile Financial Services Congress held in Miami, not a week goes by without another bank introducing a smart phone mobile banking application. And with the introduction of the Apple iPad, many banks have expanded their mobile innovation to include the new device.

For instance, TD Bank has recently introduced TD Mobile Ap for both personal and small business customers covering banking, insurance and wealth management products. In addition to providing a mapping tool for branches, ATMs and TD Waterhouse Investor Centers for both the iPhone and iPad, there are must-have applications for viewing balances and activity, paying bills and transferring funds. TD also provides a way to access TD Waterhouse Investment Reps and TD Insurance Agents and provides a seamless link to their Easyline telephone banking services.


What is interesting is that as more and more banks expand their mobile offerings and are including the iPad as a supported device, I have yet to see any functions customized just for the iPad. Most banks are simply taking what they are developing for the iPhone user and formatting the functions for the new tool. While I suspect specialized applications such as loan forms, new account documents and personal financial management reports will eventually be available for the iPad, more innovation is needed to take mobile banking to the next step. Maybe I will just have to wait for Bank of America to make the first move.

Improve your ads to capture more customers

Potential customers choose your website over your competitors' based solely on what they see in your ads. If your ads don't distinguish your site or really sell your message, then you're probably missing out on valuable sales.

To help you think about your ads from your customer's perspective we've put together a quick video covering some best practices for improving the performance of your AdWords advertising.

Check it out, and then sign into your AdWords account and make sure that your ads are working as hard as possible to win you customers!

(click to view video)

Did you find this video useful as a starting point to optimize your ads? Let us know. If you'd like to find out more about ad text optimization, visit the AdWords Help Center.

Posted by Emily Williams, Inside AdWords crew

Web Analytics TV #8 with Avinash and Nick

This is the 8th edition of Web Analytics TV with Avinash Kaushik and Nick Mihailovski where you ask questions via the Google Analytics Google Moderator site and we answer them.

Here is the list of last week’s questions. In this episode we discuss:

• How to create Advanced Segments for many sites (or other parameters)
• AdSense in $index calculations
• Tracking affiliates in Google Analytics
• Using an Event as a goal like tracking people who watch videos to conversion
• Measuring embedded Flash with Google Analytics
• Should you use two analytics packages like Google Analytics and Urchin?
• Using custom reporting to display landing pages and page titles
• Breaking down paid vs organic search by landing page
• How site overlay currently works and reasons why it could not work
• The difference between unique visitors and absolute unique visitors
• How to get the / and /index.html pages to be the same
• Properly setting up Advanced Segments for time on site

Here are links to resources we discussed in the video:

• Google Analytics Campaign Tracking help center article
• Avinash discussed calculating visitor lifetime value
• Using Advanced Segments in Google Analytics
• Using Advanced Table Filtering Google Analytics in 60 seconds video
• Avinash discusses Daily, Weekly and Monthly unique visitors
• Configuring the server default page in Google Analytics

If you found this post helpful, we'd love to hear your comments below. If you have a question you would like us to answer, please submit a question or vote for your favorite question in our public Google Moderator site. Avinash and I will answer your latest questions in a couple of weeks with yet another entertaining video.

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

Go Mobile! Series: iPad Device Targeting Now Available

As we announced earlier this month, we’ve included the iPad in our list of mobile devices with full internet browsers, making it easy for you to run your campaigns on it.

Now that we’ve finished our rigorous iPad testing, we feel confident adding the iPad to the list of mobile devices that you can target specifically. To do this, simply edit the “Devices” section in your Campaign Settings, and select the iPad under 'Advanced device and carrier options:

(click for full size image)

A few things to keep in mind:

• If your device settings are set for desktop and laptop computers only, your ads won’t show on the iPad.
• If you’re already targeting selected mobile devices (such as iPhone or Android), your ads won’t show on the iPad. Make sure to select the iPad as well if you want to include it in your device-targeted campaign.

Also, remember that you can promote your iPhone/iPad or Android apps directly by linking to the download URL in your ads. This way people can download your app straight from your ads. To make things easier, we’ll handle the device targeting automatically when these ads show on mobile devices.

We’re excited to see the iPad and other innovative devices come to market and will continue to improve AdWords to help you reach and connect with your audience and your customers!

Posted by Dan Friedman, Inside AdWords crew

Great how-to/best practices guides available from Lyris at no cost!

If you haven’t visited www.Lyris.com lately, now is the time! I have found Lyris especially helpful in publishing helpful “how-to” guides that walk you through best-practices from start to finish. Their papers are free after submitting a pretty straightforward request form.

Go to the Email Marketing Resources page to see a full list of great free articles.

Here are a few of my new favs…

Email Design No-No’s Guide for Non-Designers – Ten things Marketers and Designers need to know

Rescuing Problem PPC Campaigns: 7 Metrics You Must Consider – Discover seven key metrics needed to optimize your paid search marketing efforts.

Spring Clean Your Email List: 5 Easy Steps – Practical tips for removing old email addresses and re-engaging inactive email subscribers.

Be sure to scroll down the resources page to the full list of free webinars Lyris also offers!

Can Customers and Prospects Talk to You?

As you can imagine, in my role with MarketMatch, I spend a great deal of time on the telephone talking to (or should I say trying to talk to) banks and credit unions. Often, I have only the main telephone number of the institution and have to depend on the quality of their telephone system to allow me to reach the appropriate person.

I have found the process frustrating at best. Many times I have navigated through the automated options only to have my call dropped just after I select what I think is the final option before I get the individual I am trying to reach. Other times, I have found the only way to talk to a live person is to talk to customer service and then asked to be transferred. Even then, half the time the call get dropped.

When I do encounter a telephone system that is either answered by a "live" person or a system that allows me to key in the last name followed by the first name of the individual, you would be amazed at how the call is answered. More often than not, the individual does not identify themselves or the institution. Even more rare is the greeting "how may I help you."

Don't even get me started on voice mail messages. Voice mail messages are "all over the place" from very rude to very helpful.

How long has it been since anyone at your institution has taken a look at your telephone system?

The cost of telephone systems has dropped dramatically over the last several years. Every institution can afford a quality telephone system.

How long has it been since your institution has discussed telephone etiquette?

Institutions spend a lot of money on branding, web sites, merchandising, etc. but often overlook what is in many cases, the first customer/prospect touch point an individual has with the institution.

Does your institution have a standardized voice mail message?

If not, creating one would probably be a good idea! If you decide to create a standardized voice mail message, refresh it frequently. Remember it is OK to "sell" via the voice mail message!

Bottom Line - Make sure your telephone system represents a "great" customer/prospect touch point because your institutions reputation for quality service is "on the line." No pun intended.

Have a great week!

Mike Witsken

A Lesson From A "Sandwich"

By now, I'm sure you've heard about the abomination from KFC called the Double Down. In case you haven't heard about this beast, it is a bacon and cheese "sandwich" housed between two pieces of fried chicken. It's essentially calories, cholesterol and fat ... it's a heart attack in a sack.

I in no way endorse this product or encourage you to eat it - in fact, I see it as another reason why we have one of the fattest and most unhealthy countries in the world. But, there is one marketing lessons that can come from this product that should have it's own chapter in the Healthcare Bill.

Rethink Your Existing Packaging

Since the aristocracy, we have considered a sandwich as anything that is jammed between two pieces of bread. KFC said, "Why not chicken - it's what we do best?"

Likewise, in banking, our bread-and-butter account has always been checking. Well lets scrap the rules for a second. It's 2010, the prime driver of these accounts is less and less about the check book and more about electronic access, right? Wouldn't our staff be more likely to promote and our customers be more likely to accept key products like e-statements, debit cards, online banking, text alerts and online bill pay if we dropped the "C" word and called these "Access Accounts" instead?

I'm sure we can apply Double Down thinking to many of our traditional products and help "fatten" our products per customer numbers. Have an idea? Share it in the Comments section of this blog.

Take care,

Eric

U.S. Bank Introduces Customizable Small Business Rewards Card

Looking for a way to help small businesses improve their business, U.S. Bank has teamed up with online print and personalization supplier Vistaprint to provide credit cards that can support the brand of the small business while helping the business earn rewards on their purchases.

Once a small business enters the new custom credit card area of Vistaprint, a small business can select from one of hundreds of industry specific template designs already provided or they can design a credit card from scratch. By following easy directions, the small business can expand the impact of their brand every time they make a purchase.


As part of the rewards program, cardholders will earn one point for each dollar of net purchases on the card and they can redeem points for merchandise, gift cards, travel or account statement credit. They also can receive discounts on other Vistaprint products by using their custom credit card.

As banks try to more effectively acquire and serve small business customers, building innovative third party partnerships and private label solutions to help small businesses improve their business will be a way to set a bank apart in the marketplace.

How to Improve Your Facebook Fan Page

Do you have a business and are ready to create a business page (formerly known as a Fan page) on Facebook? The actual creation process only takes a few minutes, but there are a few important things to consider/include on your business page before you begin officially promoting the page (and before you begin inviting your friends and customers to “like” your biz page).

First things first, if you haven’t created a business page on Facebook, follow the steps below…
1. Login to Facebook
2. Paste this link into your browser:http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php
and begin creating your page.

Now that you’ve created your page, there are many things you can do to really set your page apart. Below you’ll find a quick rundown of these tweaks and “things to consider” before applying them to your biz page.

10 Tips on Taking your Facebook Business Page Up a Notch!

1. Name with Care
Remember that the page name you choose for your business can't be changed later, so name with care! If you are running a small business and include your name in the facebook business name (such as "XYZ Company by [your name here]), keep in mind that if your business grows and you add other partners, you can't modify the Facebook business page name later to include their names, or to remove yours.

2. Upload an oversized profile photo
200 pixels X 450 pixels is a great size to start with. Not too big, so you don’t look like you are over-doing things, but nice enough to make a great first impression. Example over on my jewelry page here:www.facebook.com/dreamydesignworksjewelry

3. Create a “Welcome Screen” to display the FIRST time someone visits your page
Great place to offer an incentive and showcase your work – wonderful example here:http://www.facebook.com/MackenzieImageConsulting?ref=ts. Here is a tutorial on how to create a “welcome” screen:http://www.openforum.com/idea-hub/topics/technology/article/how-to-build-a-facebook-landing-page-for-your-business-matt-silverman

4. Create a Company Summary (just below your profile photo)
There is a handy little box just under your business profile photo that will say “write something about [business name] here”. Go ahead and click on this to include a friendly blurb or two about your business.

5. Include your website link in your Company Summary
Include a link to your website in your company summary (see step 4 above). This is prime real estate on your biz page, and a great place to drive folks to visit your storefront/website (thanks, Trevor for this tip!)

6. Don't forget to create a photo album/albums
I think it's important to have created a few albums (or at least one) so first time visitors will have lots of goodies to look at. To do this, while on your biz page, click on the "photos" tab. There you can create a new album and upload photos, etc.

7. Don't Overlook the Info Tab
Fully fill out the “info” tab on your page. This is where you can list company information and link to your website, etc.

8. Invite your Friends to “like” your business on Facebook(formerly known as becoming a fan). While on your fan page, look below your profile photo. You should see "suggest to friends". Click this and highlight the friends who you would like to invite to "like" your biz page.

9. Create a biz page badge to place on your website/blog
This is a great way to drive traffic into your Facebook business page. If you have a blog, it might not be a bad idea to officially announce you’ve created a biz page on fb and invite your readers to “like” you. There is a great page on Facebook with info on how to grab the code for this to place on your blog... www.facebook.com/badges/page.php

10. Monitor your progress using Facebook “insights” tool
Within the first few days, it will be important to learn how access your "insights" for your fan page on facebook. Go to your facebook fan page after you've logged into facebook (when you login, go to "account" on top right and then to your "manage pages" and your biz page). You should see an "insights" area on the left hand side of your biz page (only you can see this). Click on "see all" and then "view old page insights" to get to the good stuff. You can see how your page is growing, and the level of interaction, etc. It will take a few days to get to this data, since it isn't available to first day or so (too new for your page).

And a few more great tips/articles with more FB goodies...

~ How to set up Google Analytics for your Facebook fan page (as I write this, Google Analytics is more robust than the stats you may be able to access within FB):http://www.webdigi.co.uk/blog/2010/google-analytics-for-facebook-fan-pages/

~ Great article on 13 ways to move your Facebook fans into action: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/13-ways-to-move-your-facebook-fans-to-action/

~ eMarketer article on finding consumers on Facebook: http://www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007518

~ Great article on 5 quick ways to improve your Facebook SEO: http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/03/5-quick-ways-to-improve-your-facebook-seo.html

~ Great article from Mashable on 4 easy ways to engage your Facebook fans: http://mashable.com/2010/03/19/facebook-fan-engagement/

~ A list of articles from “Who’s Blogging What” with even more Facebook articles that may interest you: http://www.whosbloggingwhat.com/issues/2010/04132010/useful_facebook

How To Measure The Quality Of An Online Form

Guest post written by the team at Bluerank, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant

Online forms. You enter information into them all the time. You fill them out to make online purchases, sign up for things, sign into things, complete surveys, and more. They're an integral part of the online processes. And like all things, they can break.

Let's talk about them from your point of view, as the manager of a website. If you have one or more on your site, it's important to check how they perform and see whether they are a hampering a conversion process because of low quality. The great news is that you can use Google Analytics to do quality control on your forms. Read on to learn how.

Forms usually consist of a number of fields grouped into several steps. What's more, many of them are subject to validation. The presence of validated fields is a prerequisite for conducting a test of the form. It is advisable to validate the form at the time of sending.

Form Error Rate (FER)
When we want to measure the quality of a landing page, we check the Bounce Rate. However, in the case of measuring the quality of a form, we introduce a new metric called Form Error Rate.

SubmitError: number of unsuccessful attempts to send the form

SubmitAll: number of unsuccessful attempts to send the form + number of successfully submitted forms

Example 1
A visitor was looking to buy an insurance policy online. In order to do that, he had to fill in a form with 25 fields. He got a confirmation that the form was successfully submitted on the 3rd attempt. Here is how to count the Form Error Rate in this case:

SubmitError = 2

SubmitAll = 2+1=3

Example 2
Visitor 1 managed to fill in and submit the form at first attempt, while visitor 2 submitted the form successfully at third attempt. Lastly, visitor 3 tried 3 times, but finally resigned. In this case:

SubmitError = 5

SubmitAll = 5+2=7

Error registration in Google Analytics

To track errors in online forms we can use _trackPageview() function. When the user tries to submit the form, it undergoes validation and the information about incorrectly filled fields is coded.

Example
There is a form with 2 fields.

Fields 1 and 2 get validated. When the user makes an error in a field, it will be coded as "1" and a "0" means that the field was either filled correctly or it was not subject to validation. So "10" means there were two fields, and the first was filled in with an error, and the second was filled in correctly.

(click to enlarge)

If the form is submitted successfully, the code will look like this: "00". In that case, the function that registers information about errors will look as follows:

pageTracker._trackPageview("/onlineform/00");

In order to analyze the data registered in Google Analytics, we should export it to an Excel worksheet. Let’s assume that during some period of time the following data was registered for our 2-field form (which the trackPageview function will populate in the Content report called Top Content):

There were 23 page views of a form. An error occurred 18 times, and 5 submissions were successful.

SubmitError = 18
SubmitAll = 18+5

The higher the Form Error Rate, the worse situation we have with our form. Obviously, an FER of 100% would mean that our form is not working at all. In the example above we have an FER of 78%. This means that our form needs improvement. In general, when the FER is under 20 % it means that our form doesn’t hamper the online sales process.

When analyzing the data, we can find the reason for low form quality. In the example, field 1 was the most problematic what means we should give it some extra attention.

We hope that this method is helpful, and you use it as a model for your forms, or even for other functions or operations you have on your page. Registration of errors enables you to calculate the error rate, identify the areas that are the most difficult for users, and optimize them.

Posted by Tomasz Lewandowski from Bluerank, a Google Analytics Authorized Consultant

It's Here!! Monday!

Greetings and HAPPY MONDAY!

Today is a great day...spring has sprung, the weather has turned and I have actually mowed my grass 2x already!  The best times in grass mowing?  The 1st time of the season...and the last time of the season!  However, each time in between adds to the look of your home and displays your attitude toward your neighbors.

To that end, I share my blog for today...

Action is required by everyone.

Monday's are all about action.  You had the weekend to rest and relax (or have a crazy schedule with baseball, soccer, dinner's cookouts, etc...but still relaxing stuff!) and think about the coming week.  So, today's action has to be to put your thoughts INTO action!

Just like mowing your grass is a reflection on you and your neighborhood, so is your Monday actions! Your actions reflect on your attitude and desire to be successful as well as your attitude toward your co-workers, your company and your customers.

Come out firing away and getting things done...it sets the tone for a GREAT week and let's everyone know that you are ONBOARD with success--- your's and theirs!

So...put your weekend thoughts and considerations on the front burner and get them INTO action.  You will find success comes, the week speeds along, and people gravitate to you.

Afterall, success (like honey) attracts good things!

Have a great MONDAY and even better week...

Cheers!

Bruce

Five Steps to Improved Customer Engagement Through Email

According to Peter McCormick, co-founder of one-to-one communications firm ExactTarget, there are five steps for engaging customers via email.

1. Express Gratitude: According to McCormick, fewer than 50% of marketers send a welcoming email thanking a customer for accepting communication from a brand. This should be the first step after a customer provides their email address. This communication also sets the tone for future dialogue so this is a great time to include a coupon for expansion of the banking relationship and/or a research report or white paper for a B2B client.
2. Take a Genuine Interest: Let the customer tell you about their communication needs and interests to enable more relevant content delivery. A preference center can achieve this where a customer expresses what they want to know going forward.
3. Let Customers Talk and Share: Embed social network icons directly within your email that is sent so your customer can share offers and research with friends. In addition, invite customers to contribute to your bank's blog.
4. Know Your Brand Advocates: Reward those customers that respond to emails, contribute to blogs and share your offers. Expand the loyalty and engagement by inviting those customers who are brand advocates to special events where they can further discuss and share their experiences. Email provides the springboard to a much stronger social media strategy.
5.  Build a VIP Area: Create private subscriber-only access to social networking groups, events, and special resources that address the needs expressed in step 2. This heightened level of engagement not only rewards the customer for their loyalty and engagement, but also provides a source of insight not available through traditional channels.

There is no doubt banks are getting better at leveraging the power of email and social networks. The most progressive organizations are now beginning to differentiate their email communication based on customer engagement and benefiting from improved insight which can assist in future customer service and product development.