MarketingSherpa conducted a roundtable with a group of prominent search marketers, discussing industry trends, common mistakes, pay per call, and, of course, click fraud. One of the most common
mistakes search marketers make is driving consumers to pages that haven't been customized for search, said Crispin Sheridan of SAP Global Direct Marketing. This can be a waste of a lead, he said, as
contextual relevance is crucial to driving conversions. George Carrick of Jingle Networks/FREE411 added that too many marketers lose sight of the fact that ROI is more important than winning top
billing for every search term. Maintaining the ever-expanding keyword list was a top priority for many search marketers in 2005, and Kevin Ryan of Kinetic Results believes that will continue this
year, as marketers need to constantly adjust their keyword lists to market shifts, seasonality, and human search behavior. Greg Sterling of the Kelsey Group added that certain advertisers who buy
keywords pertaining to a broader marketing campaign would be effectively creating new inventory, and would likely have no competition for keywords. Most of the search marketing executives in the
roundtable were lukewarm about the prospects of pay per call in 2006, citing a lack of good quality measurement and the expensiveness of using call-centers. Frederick Marckini of iProspect noted that
if the segment catches fire, demand could quickly outpace supply, forcing prices through the roof. Surprisingly, the search marketers tended to agree that click fraud is over-hyped. While certainly a
legitimate problem for certain advertisers, it won't slow down search engine marketing, said Vincent Granville of Authenticlick.
Read the whole story at MarketingSherpa »