Steve Baldwin

Articles by Steve All articles by Steve

• Search Engines As Entertainment Hubs?  in Performance Marketing Insider on 07/12/2010
  

  Bing recently added selectively curated content geared toward the entertainment sector, and while it might seem retro for a search engine to elevate human-selected content above its almighty algorithm, the new features are intended to position Bing as the preferred search engine for pop culture mavens.

• Warning: Maddening Complexity Ahead! in Performance Marketing Insider on 05/17/2010
  

  Once upon a time, search meant learning more about the world by typing a keyword into a search box and being presented with an authoritative SERP. Search advertising meant running an ad based on the keyword a user typed. While search has been changing at a slow creep for a few years now, the change agents have accelerated their impact on the landscape in the past 18 months, which is going to make search marketing that much harder. Let's look at some of these changes, and what they mean for paid search marketers.

• Google As 'Good Guy' in Performance Marketing Insider on 04/19/2010
  

  Those of us who've been in the interactive biz for a while have grown accustomed to all the grumbling about Google. But to those Google detractors who've been loudly cheering from the sidelines whenever Google launches a product that fails (and it's done so many times) or lumbers into the crosshairs of government regulators, all I can say is "be careful what you wish for." Case in point: Apple, whose new OS-embedded ad platform was just announced last week. I'm not bashing Apple's products here or claiming Steve Jobs isn't a Super Genius, but I don't know of another technology company more fanatically devoted to controlling what its users and partners do than Apple.

• Five Search Lessons From Show Business in Performance Marketing Insider on 03/22/2010
  

  For the past few months I've been working after hours in a Beatles tribute band called The Meetles that plays three nights a week in the New York City subway system. Although my primary role in the band is singing and playing rhythm guitar, I also pitch in with online marketing chores, because I'm the only band member with SEM chops. Along the way, I've learned that search marketing and playing in a subway band have a lot in common. How so, you ask? Here are a few thoughts on the show business/SEM parallels -- you might find them helpful in tapping your own inner marketing rock star.

• Google's Italian Legal Woes: Good For YouTube? in Performance Marketing Insider on 02/26/2010
  

  Whatever the result of the legal proceedings against four Google employees in Italy, the trial will be a watershed moment for video search. For all the legal discussion, this is ultimately a search problem -- specifically, a problem for video search.

• Six Unfortunate Landing Page Errors (And How to Prevent Them) in Performance Marketing Insider on 01/25/2010
  

  Directing searchers who click on paid search listings to custom landing pages is among the oldest and most established tactics in paid search marketing. And yet it's clear that too many marketers (and/or their agencies) continue to fail to get this basic task right.

• For 2010, Expect Display Ads On The Google Homepage  in Performance Marketing Insider on 12/29/2009
  

  A quick scan through the archives of the Google Event Logos -- those cute sketches that have appeared on the Google homepage over the years -- shows two interesting trends. First, the Logos (aka Doodles) are far more high-quality than they have been in the past. Second -- and I think far more significantly -- there were far more brands incorporated into the logos in 2009 than ever before. I don't think that's a coincidence. I think that Google is preparing us for display ads on the Google homepage -- perhaps as early as 2010.

• Creating Video For Search Engines in Performance Marketing Insider on 11/29/2009
  

  My job has lately had me producing a lot of video content for the Web, and I suppose my timing couldn't be better. Google just decided to roll out auto-captioning, which will vastly improve the accessibility of video files to search engines. And while Web videos are hardly a novelty, they're starting to influence conversations more and more. Here, then, are a few observations about what (and what not) to do when producing video for the Web.

• Don't Fall Into The ROI Trap in Performance Marketing Insider on 11/02/2009
  

  Nobody's arguing that SEM (both in its paid and organic subspecialties) can deliver ROI. But viewing ROI as a primary and exclusive goal for your organization's search campaigns is dangerously myopic. Here's why.

• The Google / Content Industry Wedding Dance in Performance Marketing Insider on 10/12/2009
  

  If you want to know where the relationship between Google and the content industry is headed, you might start thinking about a wedding: specifically, the wedding of Jill Peterson and Kevin Heinz. That couple's wedding march video, better known as the JK Wedding Entrance Dance, has currently gained close to 27 million YouTube views. It provides a great story of Google's role in taming online piracy, and it offers some wonderful insights into why Google and the content companies -- from Hollywood to book publishers to news agencies -- may finally learn to get along.

Comments by Steve All comments by Steve

• British Airways Could Give Passengers A 'Digital Pill' by Chuck Martin (Connected Thinking on 11/30/2016)
  

  This pill could also help the railroads. NY's subway system is subject to repeated to delays caused by "sick passengers." Such a pill could determine whether such a passenger was truly sick, or merely annoyed/anxious etc., in which case the stop signal could be over-ridden, thus increasing system-wide passenger flow.

• Study Finds Third Of Native Ads Fail To Comply, Perform Better Than Fed Guidelines by Joe Mandese (MediaDailyNews on 08/29/2016)
  

  I find it amazing that this article has been up for more than 24 hours without gaining a single comment. Where is the outrage? What does this extraordinary silence indicate? Assent? Mute incomprehension? Acceptance that certain defeat is ahead for the entire multi-billion dollar "influence" business? 

• Newspapers Still Tops For Local News by Erik Sass (The Daily Blog on 08/30/2016)
  

  You might want to change the headline to read "Newspaper Sites Tops for Local News." Otherwise it may appear to those seeing this article in email readers (such as myself) that newspapers themselves -- not their cyberspace equivalents -- are still "tops for local news," which is clearly not the case based on the facts cited in this article. Just a suggestion...

• Has TV Killed The Movies? by Gary Holmes (MediaDailyNews on 08/29/2016)
  

  I haven't seen a movie in a real movie theatre in 4 years. Prices on Fandango are $22.99 for a single seat, projection systems in my neighborhood theatres (Brooklyn) are pathetic, and the bed bug situation is frankly out of control in NYC. I do miss the movies, but not enough to risk spending the rest of the year decontaminating all my personal possessions.

• Marketers: Social Budgets Triple Since '09, Fall Well Short Of Original Projection by Joe Mandese (Social Media & Marketing Daily on 08/23/2016)
  

  There's no question that "shiny object syndrome" and the Reflexive Imitation Response can drive irrational herd behavior among wild populations of marketers. 

• Time Inc.'s In-House Content Studio Has Real-Time Data Advantage by Tobi Elkin (Native Insider on 08/17/2016)
  

  Time is a pioneer in what is today called "native content." Back in 1995, when I was at Time Inc. New Media, we were making a pretty penny from what were then called "custom publishing" web supplements. I wish them well in this endeavor.

• UK Newspapers Plan Ad Alliance To Take On Google, Facebook by Erik Sass (The Daily Blog on 08/10/2016)
  

  The New Century Network is BAAACK (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Century_Network) if you've somehow forgotten about this noble, albiet doomed attempt by newspapers to tame the Web back in the wild and wacky 1990s...)

• Online Trust Alliance Finds Majority Of Native Ads Lack Transparency by Tobi Elkin (Native Insider on 08/03/2016)
  

  I don't think the results of this study will be any surprise to anyone who surfs major news sites. Disclosure of native ads is often very difficult to discern -- almost as if it were intentionally kept as indiscernible as possible to achieve some unstated objective. This study referenced above should serve as a wake-up call to the industry and also a warning: unless it gets its house in order, the FTC will -- sooner or later -- take action. Few in the industry seek this outcome but it's inevitable unless meaningful steps are taken in the near future. 

• Advertising Isn't Creepy -- But You Might Be by Cory Treffiletti (Online Spin on 08/03/2016)
  

  The word "creepy" has usually been associated with aggressive retargeting. There's an "aha" moment that pops into a person's mind when he/she puts the pieces together. "OK - now I know why this ad is following me -- it remembers the fact that I shopped for shoes last week." And then there's a secondary moment: "I wonder what else they're tracking?" And then a third moment: "Who are they anyway?" Knowing what we know about identity theft, hacking, stalking, and survelliance, it's no big surpirse that people are put into a defensive mode -- and begin to think of taking evasive, self-protective action. If this means reaching for an ad blocker -- or an even more powerful tool -- it's a decision easily rationalized, and, I'd argue, a decision that is warranted given adtech's ineffective campaign to get people comfortable with being subjected to continuing (albiet "benign") survelliance. 

• Survey Finds 90% Of People Skip Pre-Roll Video Ads by Tobi Elkin (Real-Time Daily on 06/08/2016)
  

  "Skip this ad" has been the most popular CTA on the web for many, many years.

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