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…I’m going to do it all again next week!

Quite a few of us Microsoftees will be speaking at Search Marketing Expo – Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman’s inaugural London conference under the SMX brand.

The conference, taking place on 15th & 16th November at The Hilton Metropole in London, is aimed at:

 – Advertising Budget Holders
 – In-house search marketers
 – Brand managers
 – Paid search advertising planners and buyers
 – Organic search optimization specialists
 – Web technology experts

We’ll be covering a number of sessions on:

What’s new with search advertising? – Me

Creating search ads that convert – Colm Bracken – Lead Search Media Analyst

Search ad testing & tactics – Max Whiteford – Editorial Policy Analyst

Dealing with the penalty box – Nathan Buggia – Product Manager Live Search

If you’re thinking of coming Register Here using the promotional code SPSMX07 to get 10% off the entry fee!

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gYEf8XZKlUU]

The Guardian reports this morning that MySpace have been developing an AdSense type of advertising offering called Hypertargeting and trialling it with 50 advertisers, some of whom have seen 300% rise in response rates for some campaigns.

Travis Katz – MySpace’s international MD says:

“For advertisers, it’s [delivering on] the promise that internet advertising has always been, and users, who have been involved in the testing, like targeted advertising better than generic ads. They don’t like untargeted ads because they feel more intrusive, whereas if ads are relevant and of interest to them they enjoy them.”

The issue of privacy comes up again here because the system is contextual and uses profile data in order to target the ads.

But as I wrote last week I’m not sure users mind so much if the ads they receive are relevant and there’s something in it for them.

Nice to see a publisher ploughing in dough and trying to come up with a system themselves. They’re talking about advertisers being able to drill down into over 100 different segments.

Another player is always good for the planning schedule, but there’s always a tiny danger when someone tries to go it alone, remember BidSmart?

Not sure BTLS had 110m users worldwide though 🙂

I’ve just nearly vommed into my curry watching their new vid for Children In Need on BBC1.

Come on Beeb!

Is it really appropriate to have five 50 fifty-year-old, talentless oafettes, writhing around in various states of undress, and miming ever so badly, representing your magnificent efforts for a kids charity?

Methinks not! – Wonder how long before it’s up on YouTube?

Personally I think this version’s much better – Who is she?

I am sitting at Arlanda Airport, Stockholm. It’s very quiet, I’ve just eaten smoked reindeer and the bar is closed….

The last 48 hours that was SMX Stockholm has gone in a flash of furious learning, rabid talking and the much needed drink or three.

My session on what’s new with the search engines went off without a hitch. A 9am slot is actually pretty nice as everyone’s keen, attentive and of course, awake! It also meant I had the next couple of days to relax and listen to all the goings on which was nice for a change.

Singling out the Universal Search session, Andy Atikins-Kruger and Dixon Jones both spelled out the advantages and disadvantages of a shift by Google and others to a more blended set of search results, including not just regular links but also pictures and video.

Adam Lasnik, who I’d never met until last night, then gave us the inside scoop into why Google went down this route.

Adam, who is a lovely bloke, obviously very clever, and an engaging, extremely polite speaker, said that as Google want to organise the worlds information, the natural course of action would be to try and include all forms of media in whatever format.

It’s just taken so long to come up with the 1-stop-shop because they had to figure out ways to scale it.

The mantra seemed to be – Keep it fast, keep it simple and keep it relevant – which is kinda what you’d expect?

He hinted that partnerships were in the offing too, so not just GoogleBot sniffing around for content, but going deals with third parties.

Keen to put agencies who specialise in search engine optimization mind’s at ease, he encouragingly said “it’s still about the web, keep the usual strategies, create quality content in other forms and expect similar SEO guidelines to apply.”

So how has it been received by users? Well according to Adam users are finding what they need a lot more quickly, resulting in them doing more searches for other stuff, and far fewer users clicking on the second page of results. 

I asked him if it had had an effect on the paid ads (AdWords) but he said he didn’t know because he’s not on the advertiser side of Google, but judging by the recent revenue figures and the share price crashing through the $700 barrier, it can’t have had that much of an adverse effect!!

Other than the usual suspects that attended as speakers, there was a new kid on the block (the speaking one anyway) – Joost De Valk – a Dutch 25 year old SEO consultant and web developer, who impressed me with his knowledge and, more importantly, his delivery of it.

One to watch….

I was in the US last week on holiday in Cape Cod (stay in Chatham – it’s gorgeous!) and while watching the plethora of ads on TV for all the medicines Americans seem to think they need, I had a thought…

They should all tell the TV companies which allergies, conditions, diseases and idiosyncrasies they have in order to filter out ads for medicines they shouldn’t be seen dead taking.

The final few seconds of the ads drive me mad! –“If you have angina, tuberculosis, warts (of any kind), breathing difficulties, issues with tissues, a walking stick, a wheel chair or a stair lift, this medicine may not be appropriate for you”.

The extra airtime must cost these companies millions, so why not give them an opportunity to target the ads to viewers who might not blow up if they take them. This is all part of the wider story with digital advertising regarding publishers needing to help advertisers to target ads better, and users wanting to personalise their ad-viewing experience to make it more relevant.

I hate soccer with a passion and I loathe tapioca and carrots – I never want to see another ad for any of them – so where can I go to stop getting bombarded by ads to do with stuff I’m not interested in?

If the ad doesn’t get served to me, the advertiser’s ROI goes up, no? Digital will address this…….one day…..

Like the new Dyson ad? – Instead of banging on about how great the suction is, or how much dog hair it can deal with, it draws attention to how much factory testing goes into producing the things. 

Perhaps to justify the price…..?

I followed the link online because I thought they were joking but apparently not!!!!!

And they’re tracking clicks through from the microsite to their store which thousands wouldn’t think to do…

I’m doing a marketing course at Cranfield School of Management to add some more feathers to my boa, and so that I can understand what on earth my more formally trained colleagues at Microsoft are talking about in planning sessions.

My co-students include a Ukrainian herbicide and plant growth regulator expert, a Ghanaian real estate marketer, a Canadian oil guy and an Irish Intel research promoter.

I must say, as much as I love our industry, it’s very refreshing to spend a week with people from outside the digital bubble, and know they’re faced with the same ups, downs and opportunities that we all have to endure everyday!