Author Archive: Andy Komack

For those of you interested in calculating Pay Per Click (PPC) projections, I have created a basic PPC calculator that is available for download (click on the “PPC Calculator” link to download the Excel file).

There are two worksheets in the file - one for B2B Lead Generation and one for E-Commerce.

Each calculator requires a series of inputs from you in order to calculate the primary metric - Target Cost Per Acquisition (in each case, B2B & B2C).

You can use the calculators to focus on an entire program, a specific campaign, a specific ad group, or specific keyword.

Last night I played in a charity poker tournament sponsored by PR Newswire and organized by PRSA Boston.

The event was fun and I met lots of great PR folks in the Boston area.  Last year’s event helped raise enough money to allow PRSA Boston to raise its scholarship grant from $1,000 to $2,000.

It was also fun to watch the side action based on a friendly rivalry between Schwartz Communications and Racepoint Group (both PR firms located in Waltham, MA).

This past week our agency representatives at Google AdWords sent out their weekly update and highlighted a tool that I am very excited about.  (This is not completley new, the Google AdWords blog made mention of this on March 6, 2008 & David Szetela wrote a nice piece on this as well in a March 17th article on SearchEngineWatch.com). 

Advertisers can now exclude parked domains and exclude error page ads from the Content Network.

What does this mean?

Yesterday I was interviewed for a podcast by Ken Rayment from Better Process Podcast.  The title of the Podcast is Industry Report Andy Komack Komarketing Associates (has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?).  The “industry” referenced here is small and medium-sized manufacturing companies in the U.S.

Ken, a manufacturing engineer with a Six Sigma Black Belt, asked to interview me after reading the How Strong is Your Brand Online? article in IndustryWeek.com.

The Podcast focuses on how manufacturing companies can leverage online marketing techniques to remain competitive (both in the U.S. and abroad).

We covered themes such as:

We have been running a Google AdWords campaign for some time promoting KoMarketing Associates’ focus on B2B SEO.

I thought it would be interesting to share a small portion of the data we have collected.

The table below highlights search impressions for some of the keywords we have been advertising (but not all of course!).  The data was gathered from May 2007 through February 2008.  The data set is by no means complete. 

I am looking forward to participating on the panel next Thursday, March 13th, for Social Media Club Boston’s event titled “The Search for Results: Social Media and Search Marketing.”

Networking starts at 6pm and the panel kicks off at 6:30pm at 800 West Cummings Park in Woburn (MA).  Directions and registration are online at http://socialmediaclub.pbwiki.com/BostonMarch2008. 
 

The following is an excerpt from the announcement of the event:

This event will explore the following:

• Why SEO is an important component of a social media marketing strategy

• What are SEOs doing with social media on behalf of their clients

Earlier this month I wrote a blog post titled “Why You Should Cut Back Search Marketing In a Recession“.

The title of the post was purposely provocative. 

I actually spent much of the article laying out reasons why other marketing/advertising methods are either more vulnerable to spending cutbacks, or are how search marketing can strengthen campaigns in other media.

I was happy to see that in a recent article on BtoBOnline that many of my assertions about spending decisions for B2B companies are being validated by B2B marketers themselves.

Brad Kenney, from IndustryWeek, just published an article today titled How Strong is Your Brand Online?

Brad interviewed me for the article and he generously provided readers with some of my thoughts on how manufacturers can benefit from search marketing (both SEO and PPC).

The three main sections of the article are:

• Use SEO (or Lose SEO)
• Content is King
• Pay-Per-Click Pays Off
   

The premise of the article is that “manufacturing companies have a growing opportunity to leverage their Web sites to generate more business, build customer loyalty, create brand awareness and gather market intelligence.”
 

I recently commented on an article written in Media Post’s Search Insider blog titled “What Does A Recession Mean For Your Search Program?”

My commentary took the perspective that search marketing is somewhat recession-proof (obviously I have a vested interest in this).  My plan was to write a blog post adding to that perspective. 

But, as I sat here thinking about what to write, I posed the question to myself - What are some factors that would PREVENT a company from using search marketing (as a tool) in a recession?

4 Reasons To Cut Back Your Search Marketing Budget