• by Aaron Goldman , Op-Ed Contributor, December 7, 2008

Gracias to Geri Guillermo for leading this roundtable and sharing her notes: Topic discussed: Ad-Supported Media practices for portals Many were unaware of this type of solution. Publishers in attendance gave examples of portals buying keywords on other engines - ie, MSN Music buying keywords on Yahoo Search to drive traffic to downloads or artists content. Best practices - (with MSN Music as advertiser) Diversify your keywords and segment into brand terms, generic terms, artist name, song titles, etc. Concentrate on the tail to drive efficiency and anchoring cost for high volume, high PPC terms. Include portal in title to drive credibility. If possible, use a feed solution to streamline high volume. Targeting Strategies Behavioral - Which portal does it best, how do you buy behavioral? Most portals provide audience segment options based on comScore metrics. Platform-A offers Lead-back, Search-back as targeting options. Contextual - definitely seen as a compliment but harder to convert. Topic discussed: What's Working in the PPC World? The brand advertisers asked the publishers and SEM's what works best and what doesn't in the PPC world. Solutions discussed were 1) paid search, 2) content targeting, 3) paid inclusion and 4) SEO Best practices First and foremost, paid search. Develop a keyword list that best aligns with your content using a diverse set of brand terms, generic terms and tail terms. Content Targeting can work, although not same user intent. This could serve as a challenge b/c the CPA will be higher, but still qualified. Paid Inclusion - Not as popular but still a valid solution. Is it worthwhile if your site is not structured well? SEO - SEO is a must. It will balance your paid search and increase your presence on the page. Critical to keep updating pages and enhancing content to maintain your site getting crawled. SEM's provide SEO management and optimization tactics (iCrossing). Targeteting Strategies Contextual/Content Targeting should be part of the mix. Discussed difference in portal offerings (keyword mapping vs. site targeting). Google/Yahoo/MSN = keyword mapping, Platform-A/Quigo Sponsored Links = site targeting across AOL O&O as well as 3rd party publisher network. Topic discussed: PPC Budgets in 2009 Many were curious about the other marketers' 09 PPC budgets. Majority reported that PPC budgets are staying flat or increasing, especially in the tough economy. PPC enables marketers to efficiently spend budgets and driving accountability.