AdWords system maintenance on January 9th

On Saturday, January 9th, 2010 the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10AM to 2PM PST, for maintenance. While you won't be able to sign in to your accounts during this time, your campaigns will continue to run as usual.

AdWords system maintenance typically occurs on the second Saturday of each month from 10AM to 2PM.

We'll continue to update you via the blog as we always have, but please make note of the January 9th date and of our scheduled maintenance further down the road.

Posted by Emily Williams, Inside AdWords crew

Web Analytics TV with Avinash and Nick

This is the fourth video in our recent Rapid Fire series which we are now calling Web Analytics TV. In this series you share your most burning questions via the Google Analytics Google Moderator site and we answer them.

Here's the list of last week's questions. We enjoy hearing from you, so please keep the questions coming. Like the hosts Click and Clack from a long-standing radio show called CarTalk, who will answer any car question that exists, we'd love to do the same for web analytics. Call us Data and Point? Hm. Click and Clack is catchier. If you can think of a name let us know. But please, ask any question related to web analytics. Tools. HiPPO's. Reporting tips. Challenges. All are fair game, so ask away.

In this episode we discuss:

• Tracking social media referrals in Google Analytics
• Why do I see clicks with 0 visits in Google Analytics keyword reports
• Does sharing data with Google Analytics have an impact on Organic Search rankings?
• How to track Google custom site search engines in Google Analytics
• In keyword reports how to change '+' characters into whitespaces
  
• How advanced profile filters work
• Best practices for reporting user "engagement"
• What insights can you gain from the content drilldown report
• How can one change the cookie duration of visits
• How does one become excellent at web analytics
  

Here are links to resources we discussed in the video:

• Tracking Custom Search Engine with Google Analytics help center article
  
• An article discussing tracking custom search engine by Robbin Steif
  
• Custom Advanced Filters explained by Robbin Steif
  
• How regular expressions work in Google Analytics by Robin Steif
  
• Why engagement is an "excuse" by Avinash Kaushik
  
• Example Engagement API report using the Google Analytics API (check out the Solving Business Problems section)
  
• Tracking methods to change the duration of the visitor, session and campaign cookies in ga.js
  

We'd love to hear your comments or questions in the comments section below, and let us know if you find this helpful.

Also, 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. Thanks!

Posted by Nick Mihailovski, Google Analytics Team

New ways to optimize Content Network campaigns

We're often asked, "How can I maximize the ROI from Content Network campaigns?"

As part of our new Optimization University initiative, we've developed a Getting Started Guide and a series of 6 videos to help answer this question for you. The guide and videos provide a conceptual walk-through and demo of the major steps involved in executing a Content Network campaign. These include:

• Campaign setup best practices
• Creating appropriate ad groups
• Selecting effective keywords
• Developing high impact ad creative
• Bidding strategies
• Conversion tracking and tweaking for ROI

Along with simple tips and tricks to improve ROI, we also go over several tools, such as the Wonder Wheel, the Keyword Tool and Conversion Tracking, that can help you be more efficient. These recommendations are based on our analysis of thousands of campaigns to understand what works and what doesn't. We hope you can start applying them to your campaigns today.

If you're starting a new Content Network campaign, watch the first video below; you may find it to be particularly valuable.

(click here to view video)

You can also always bookmark the playlist or find all the latest videos on our YouTube channel.

[Note: this post is reprinted from the Google Agency Ad Solutions Blog.]

Posted by Miles Johnson, Inside AdWords crew

"5 Ways to Stick to Your Goals"

I hate being cliche. Please don't lose respect for me ... I really didn't want to blog about New Year's resolutions - but here goes ...

I'm sitting here staring at my 2010 Runner's World Calendar and saw a "5 Ways to Stick to Your Goals" call out. I thought it was appropriate for banking.

1. Be Specific

Runner's World says that "run faster" or "lose weight" is too vague. So is "increase loans" or "grow market share." Set measurable targets like "increase loans by 10%" or "reduce attrition by 3%."

2. ... But Realistic

Overzealous goals can bite you in the ... well, the results could be bad. And "sandbagging" goals won't add value to your efforts. Consider past performance, market conditions and your overall institutional business needs.

3. Give Yourself a Deadline

If you're running you can select a few races throughout the year. For business, don't wait until December 31 to claim the thrill of victory or agony of defeat. Set monthly, quarterly - or at least 6 month goals. This will keep you motivated and allow you to change tactics, if necessary, to be successful.

4. Keep Track

Runners use training logs - we have super-fun reports! With or without an MCIF, you can track your progress on a regular basis. If the Marketing Department is going to be seen as a profit-generator, then "ROI" are your favorite 3 letters for 2010.

5. Make it Public

If you tell your peeps that you're going to complete your first marathon this year, you might think twice before sleeping in and skipping a run. If you share your goals with senior management and the Board, you'll spend less time on Facebook and more time reading these wonderful Marketing Blogs for ideas on how to grow your business. Better yet, you'll call MarketMatch (866-501-2233) to help you achieve the goals you promised!!!!! (Cheap plug - sorry)

Have a wonderful 2010.

Take care,

Eric

Zions Bank Continues to Improve Onboarding Process by Expanding Channels and Touches

Instead of simply sending a single letter to new account openers to thank them for their business, Zions Bank has expanded their onboarding program to include a 30 day 'engagement' mailing and a 60 day 'cross-sell' mailing. In addition, they utilize their centralized call center for follow-up and reach all new customers with email to reinforce the written communication. This integrated focus towards new customer communication has resulted in a significant reduction in new customer attrition and enhanced cross-sales of services.

2010....it's here! Ready to Rock??

OK....the thinking, planning, rescheduling, organizing, etc....all comes to a head today!  2010 is officially here for the business world...

Ready to rock?

We are!!!

Here's to a GREAT coming year, complete with success (both expected and the best kind...unexpected!)

Cheers!

Bruce Clapp

The New Year Brings New Excitement for Bank Marketing

As we turn the calendar on a new year, our industry seems to be both well placed and at the same time under threat from both internal and external forces. How we respond as individuals, organizations and as an industry may well determine our growth opportunities for years to come. After a year of budget and human resource cuts, bad economic news, retrenchment and lack of true focus, we must relearn how to be nimble, innovative and most importantly focused in the face of drastic change from non-banks, direct offerings, and everyone with a PC, an internet connection or a mobile phone.

My goal for this brand new endeavor into the world of blogging is to try to keep abreast of as many changes and new ideas in our industry as possible and provide a perspective around the opportunities and challenges from a person who has been in the bank marketing industry for over 30 years. Let me know when you or your bank have seen or done something innovative and I can share it on this blog.

As we enter a new decade, I see an exciting time ahead for those organizations who have the following attributes:

• A focus on the customer experience: A bank I work with used to paraphrase the focus on the customer as, 'know me, look out for me and reward me'. At a time when trust in banks is at one of the lowest points in history, this attention to the customer will be required.
• Leadership support for innovation: As opposed to simply looking for different flavors of vanilla, innovation that produces new ways of creating revenue, customer relationships and cost reduction will separate the winners from the losers.
• A movement from product focus to channel focus: It will be more important than ever to focus on integrated and seamless outcomes across all channels. With product commodization still the norm from the customer's perspective, more and more will decide where to bank by the way the service is delivered.
• Genuine messages and brand articulation: While it will be imperative to focus on the individual customer, your brand, advertising and all communication have still need meaning from the customer's perspective, with an emphasis on financial literacy.

The question is whether you and your bank be a hunter, and aggressively embrace this new way of communicating and doing business, or will it be hunted, and sit back waiting to be consumed?
 
I am definitely looking forward to this new communication opportunity and welcome any thoughts, insights and suggestions as to how to make this forum more valuable for you.