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Google CEO says he is not planning to delay the search advertising deal with Yahoo Inc any longer. (more…)

In June of this year Google and Yahoo brokered a deal in which Google would provide a portion of the advertising on Yahoo for a slice of the revenue. (more…)

A huge number of companies rely on Google’s AdWords system to deliver visitors to their sites, with many hours invested in setting up, developing and refining their Campaigns. However Google is planning the release of a  new judging system in the next few days that could have a major impact for current AdWords users.

The main change that the company announced on Monday is how AdWords calculates Quality Scores, this is used to determine the order of each ad for the the Keyword/Phrase entered. The update it is that this will now be calculated in real-time as a Google user performs a search, this happens along side the current practice of analysing click-through rates. In addition Google have said that it will be analysing landing page quality less frequently than previously.

Other changes are that Google is halting its practice of “inactive for search’ for keywords that it deems would yield little (if any) impressions.  Google said that all keywords will now be available on Google and although those keywords will probably still yield less than ideal results, they may add some impressions for those sites using them.

Finally, and probably most importantly, Google announced it will replace “minimum bid” prices with “first page bid estimates,” which will probably see rates go up. I real term this means on those keywords that have few advertisers bidding for placement, the new bid estimate should be close to the old minimum bid. But for those companies that want first-page placement on keywords that are more popular among advertisers, the cost could be “significantly higher.”

Google didn’t give any word on exactly when the new system will be rolled out, but it should happen over the next few days.

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If you run Online Marketing campaigns such as PPC, SEO, Affiliate or Email, landing pages are critical to their success. It is equally important to spend as much time developing your Landing Pages as it is developing the campaigns themselves.

Why put all that time, effort & money into sending traffic to your website if you aren’t making sure the page your visitor hits is optimised and shows them exactly what they are looking for!

As eBusiness consultants , we have seen what works and what doesn’t.

Here are our Top 5 Tips for creating successful landing pages that will ensure your Online Marketing gets you the best ROI.

1. Keep It Simple.

Todays on-line marketplace is fast paced and visitor attention spans are at their lowest. Visitors will spend very little time searching a page to see if you have what they are looking for. Your Landing Pages need to be very focused and simple.

Round Up

* Use short paragraphs
* Bullet points
* Use value propositions

2. Obvious Navigation

When a visitor has arrived at your Landing Page, they will probably have been directed from one of your PPC, SEO, Affiliates or Emails campaigns. It is essential they know where they are and how to navigate out.
Write at the top of the landing page exactly where they’ve landed so the visitor knows they are in the right place.

3. Don’t Over Complicate the Page

You don’t need to try to wow your visitors with lots of flashy videos or Flash animation. This will frustrate your visitors because all they want is the key information they were searching for, not how clever your web team are!

Again, keep it simple!

4. Spread your Calls to Action

Different visitors behave differently; some act quickly, meaning you want your call to action at the top of the page, whilst others want to take everything in and will scroll down the whole page and then take action. Therefore your main calls to action must have links at the top, bottom and in between. Make it easy for visitors to take action whenever they’re ready.

5. Try It, Measure It, Change It

Your Landing Page will not be perfect 1st time round. Ensure you have tracking installed like Google Analytics (free) and use additional tools like Google Web Optimiser (free). Track what your visitors do when they get on your site, where they click, when they exit, and which calls to action are the most effective.

Based on this information, make changes to your Landing Page to reduce exits, dead links, and improve click through and conversions rates.

Overview

You will never know exactly what is going to work best with regards to Internet marketing and specifically landing pages; trends are always changing. Your visitors are always different and their level of sophistication is growing rapidly. The technology is changing quickly and how we use online and landing pages is a work in progress.

One major trend is that offers to visitors are becoming more and more specific because the more specific the offer, the higher the conversions rate and the more qualified the lead.

It is better to have more specifically targeted landing pages ,than fewer general landing pages. So put the time into being specific and getting high quality leads rather than being lazy with your marketing chasing loads of low quality leads!