SEM Rock Stars
by Brian @ PPC Hero
 In this case, I'm not referring to traditional manufacturers and distributors that contract an agency to sell their goods and services through search. Instead, I'm referring to online companies that possess the knowledge, ability and experience to maintain their own search campaigns and have done so successfully in the past, but are considering outsourcing search efforts to cut costs.
I tend to lean toward keeping search efforts in-house, but there are many valid reasons to consider outsourcing search. Among those reasons are the costs and time of training, the increasingly specialized skills necessary for paid search and the possibility that an outside party can more objectively evaluate and optimize for products he or she has no emotional attachment to.
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by Alex Cohen @ ClickEquations
Pundits are already calling 2009 "The Great Recession". Search marketing has been more recession resistant than other industries, but advertising overall has taken a hit.
It's no surprise, then, that when you look back at the year in significant Google AdWords changes one thing comes through loud and clear: Google is wringing every penny out of SERPs at the expense of organic search.
Advertising on the Google is becoming more competitive and more complex. The timeline below shows the key changes made to Google's AdWords program in 2009.
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by Laura Callow @ SEM Insight
I recently stepped back into the fray that is in-house PPC management, and I'm loving it!
There is more freedom (and lack of cost) associated with effective in-house management, but it always surprises me as to how this type of move is met by the engine reps and other folks still using agencies.
In-house you're after the lowest possible CPA, and the best possible ROAS. You're also looking at overall profit for the business - but that can't be done on a short term basis in a big brand, so I'll stick with ROAS for now. (CPA is slightly different and affected by more than one variable or campaign depending on your analytics.)
My budget was cut dramatically in my first month of in-house for external reasons I won't go into. And yet we managed to optimize until we dropped, and we maintained expectations on year to index levels for conversions, sales and unit volumes while falling drastically short of expected traffic levels. Makes you think, no?
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IQ Workforce Blog
by Corry Prohens
 In this posting, Corry Prohens, President of IQ Workforce, talks about one of their newest clients, a fast-growing online gaming company based in Dublin, Ireland.
IQ Workforce has been retained by the client for seven searches including positions in web analytics, paid search, SEO analysis and marketing modeling.
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The Latest Survey Results
Our latest survey concerns the recent news of Adobe's acquisition of Omniture. We wanted to get an idea of what the Web Analytics community thought about the acquisition. Here are the results so far:
Almost everyone was surprised by the acquisition. Only 1% kind of saw it coming and no one totally called it.
43% believe there will be no NEAR TERM (6-12 MONTH) impact on the pace and type of Omniture's product development.
35% believe there will be a positive LONGER-TERM (12-36 MONTH) impact on the quality of customer service and professional services.
45% said impact on Omniture's competitors (Webtrends, Coremetrics, Unica…) will be positive.
52% believe this a good thing for the Web Analytics community as a whole.
To participate in our latest survey - please visit https://app.icontact.com/icp/sub/survey/start?sid=3456&cid=127264. To see all our survey results - please visit our industry survey archives.
Recent Industry Buzz
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - 01/19/10) - Developers, marketers, interactive agencies and IT professionals cite Search and Web analytics as key applications of an overall Web Content Management System (CMS) strategy, a recent survey conducted by Sitecore , has revealed. In the survey of more than 100 decision makers, Sitecore found the number of organizations implementing Web analytics rose ...
DETROIT -- Today, Gomez, the Web performance division of Compuware Corporation , announced a Webinar for e-commerce and marketing professionals that details the impact of Web performance on revenue, brand and customer satisfaction, featuring Web performance expert and author, Sean Power.
Econsultancy just released its annual Web Analytics Buyers Guide , and in conjunction with its Online Measurement and Strategy Report forms an in-depth analysis of the marketplace over here in the UK. On the whole it makes for very interesting (and heart-warming) reading.
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