Well, I can say I’ve run across this almost every week for the past 2 year!

This really drives me nuts because you don’t know a) why the ad was declined  b) let alone how to fix it so that it will be approved. Google just won’t tell you.

They don’t seem to care about their customers and would rather leave you fending for yourself to figure what to do.

Bottom line is I’ve grown very tired of Google throwing road blocks in my way with things like quality score and landing pages and not telling me what I have to do to please them.

So last month I decided (coaxed by Frank and Trey’s “Screw Google” report)  to move over to Yahoo and start doing more of my advertising there.

With that said- I had a fantastic experience with Yahoo Search Marketing today!

First though let me set the stage. Earlier this week I had setup a few ppc campaigns for a customer only to have them declined. I thought, “Oh great – not again! What could I have done to cause the ads to be declined?”

Something was different this time though. You see Yahoo SM has a phone # (866-924-6676) that you can call and guess what- you can talk with a real human being!

I actually talked to someone and found out exactly what had caused the ads to be declined. On top of that the guy who was helping me actually fixed my problem, explaining every step along the way as I was on the phone with him.

Not only did he explain to me exactly what was wrong with the first ad, he wrote another ad for me to compliment the first one I had submitted.

How cool is that!

I’m sure glad I decided to come back to Yahoo SM. I had become  so fixated on Google that I lost site of other marketing venues. With the recent Yahoo/Bing merger I really don’t lose much (might even gain) because the two of them together equals Google.

Thanks Frank and Trey! I needed the swift kick in the butt.

Screw Google!

Huge thanks to Rorke at Yahoo search marketing for all the help. You rock dude!

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Yahoo Search Marketing Leads the Way in Customer Service

The people I asked are novice marketeers that have some experience with Internet marketing but are by no means pros. What I found out is I’m not doing that good of a job explaining things so I thought I’d back up a little and start at the beginning and explain what search engine marketing is.

What is Search Marketing?

Search Marketing, also known as Search Engine Marketing (SEM), is part of a businesses online marketing efforts to increase the number of visitors to a website and then turning those visitors into buying customers (known as conversion).

Three Methods used in Search Marketing

There are three methods used in SEM. Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Paid Listing (pay-per-click or paid inclusion) and Web Analytics.

The first part, commonly referred to as SEO,  is the process of getting organic search engine rankings. Or a more simplified explanation; the natural position of a website in the search engines for certain keywords that people are searching for.

The second part, Paid Listing/pay-per-click, is paying a search engine for the inclusion of your website into their index or as a sponsored listing (PPC) in advertising.

For many new website owners paid listing and pay-per-click may seem like the fastest methods to attracting more visitors but this method can end up costing a lot of money and may end up breaking the bank before your reach the desired goal – buying customers.
 
For this reason many website owners, including me, choose the SEO method. If done properly this can result in what is called organic (free) rankings . Although search engine optimization is more time consuming the results of your efforts are much better and a heck of a lot cheaper.

The third and probably the most important part of SEM is what is referred to as Web Analytics. This is about gathering, analyzing and using information about your visitors, their details, their behavior on your website, the ways they found you, the efficiency of referrers and your advertising, conversion rates and together with all this data you will have a much better understanding of your visitors habits and what it takes to get them to buy.

So, what you should understand about the goals of Search Engine Marketing is a) to improve your web visibility and get as much traffic (visitors) as you can b) improve traffic quality by getting high rankings for keywords that bring in converting (buying) visitors and c) track and learn your visitors habits in order that you can learn more about what a they are lookiong for and how they find it.

I hope this clears up any confusion that I may have caused by starting in the middle instead of at the beginning.

Post from: Denver SEO - Local Search Expert

Search Engine Marketing Explained