Comments on: How BING Can Impact Your Business’ Online Marketing Strategy

By: San Diego Web Designer

San Diego Web Designer — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 15:17:27 +0000

I have found that bing’s algorithm really mirrors googles serps results, which is pretty much duplicitous. Yahoo seems to have gone out on a limb and renders results that are anomalous to G and Bing

By: Merrin Muxlow

Merrin Muxlow — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:53:22 +0000

@Gilberto: I also noticed that Bing’s traffic dipped after the initial rollout- I’m wondering if the other search engines are picking up their game in response (I know Google made several changes in anticipation of Bing’s unveiling) or if word of mouth is spreading about Bing and that’s what is causing the drop in traffic. I agree with Ellisa, still too early to tell…

By: Ellisa Brenneman

Ellisa Brenneman — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 19:45:37 +0000

The Microsoft adCenter interface is much more logical and easier to use then both Yahoo’s and Google’s. We are currently experimenting with our new PPC campaign and SEO strategy with Bing and are anxious to see what the results will be. Hopefully the Google dominated playing field will be leveled a bit and overall marketing costs for my company and my clients’ companies will become lower. Time will tell and I’m rooting for Bing.

Great article. Very helpful.

Thanks,
Ellisa Brenneman
http://www.ethosmentor.com
http://www.ethosadvisor.com

By: Gilberto Galea

Gilberto Galea — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 16:14:37 +0000

One reality in any search schemes marketing sites, with good quality content you’re rewards, not only by traffic. May be you received a lot of traffic by several search engines or PPC, but if you don’t have a good convertion strategy, you fail. About Bing, the impact over the market is to soon to speculate, now if you see the statcounters ( http://gs.statcounter.com/#search_engine-ww-daily-20090529-20090604-bar ), you appreciate that yahoo recover his #2 position in this week. That you wrote, just be alert, and there’re only big true, google still leader of this market. If you try to get more traffic by search engines don’t let out google.

By: Merrin Muxlow

Merrin Muxlow — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:55:58 +0000

Both Matt and Rebekah are right- PPC has to be done right if it’s going to work, and clicks only yield sales if a PPC campaign is well managed. Given Microsoft’s track record, though, it appears that Bing.com has some definite potential (stress, potential) as a PPC platform. This article (http://searchengineland.com/google-yahoo-microsoft-year-to-date-ppc-report-card-11823), though written a few years back, is pretty interesting- it breaks out sales-per-click and advertiser efficiency ratios for a specific sample of companies, and Microsoft does well- really well, in fact.

To use an analogy, Microsoft’s PPC platform is like a great band that can sell out a local club, but doesn’t have the popularity (yet) to sell out a big stadium. With Bing, Microsoft is pulling out all the stops (expensive ad campaign, etc.) to lure the crowds. In my opinion, the success of Bing as a PPC platform really depends on how effective these efforts are at generating much needed traffic.

By: Matt Commins

Matt Commins — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 19:09:21 +0000

I also agree a lot of PPC advertising dollars are spent with both eyes covered. Among the big 3 search engines, MSN produces the lowest amount of traffic which leads to MSN being overlooked by a lot of PPC marketers. That is a big mistake. Quite often MSN can bring more qualified leads at a lower cost than Google and Yahoo.

Many times SEO and PPC are seen as separate entities with individual strategies and goals. However, combing SEO and PPC strategies such as keyword mapping and landing page optimization, can bring the most qualified traffic and the highest return for your business.

Time will tell if Bing can sustain the increased traffic and conversion potential for PPC marketers.

By: Matt Walker

Matt Walker — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 15:15:27 +0000

Rebekah - you make some good points. There is too much money blindly spent on PPC advertising without accounting for conversion. Many people think that they can just throw dollars at a PPC campaign and the sales will come. We all know that this isn’t true. Too many times companies/individuals ignore the on-page factors (structure, calls to action) as a way to stretch their marketing dollar.

PPC costs have skyrocketed over the years and a campaign must be actively managed for conversions in order to show a positive ROI. With that said, I do think that in many cases people can justify spending more on their PPC campaign…especially if it’s working for them. I think that a solid PPC campaign combined w/ proper SEO can be an extremely powerful, and valuable, marketing tool.

Bing.com has yet to demonstrate (to me) that it’s a valuable PPC platform…if it’s anything like MSN/Live was, then it will definitely be valuable to a certain sector of businesses.

By: Rebekah Donaldson

Rebekah Donaldson — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 23:16:48 +0000

Merrin - the stats here are great. And you’re a great writer. Thanks for an interesting piece.
I respectfully disagree that “As Bing becomes more popular, spending more on pay per click services at might be good idea.” Forrester reported earlier this year that more than half of all ad dollars are spent on paid search now… but few campaigns are optimized for conversions and actively managed.

I believe CMOs have lost a lot of sleep over this very point. For quite good reasons, they’re not comfortable insisting to their CEOs that, because more prospects have clicked more of their ads, their advertising is working. CEOs, they know, can’t miss it when advertising really works.

By: Kanny Paul

Kanny Paul — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 13:51:04 +0000

Interesting!

I feel like there is a scarcity of good marketing today. Good marketing means which can convert the leads into sales. The only marketing that has moved me in the last couple of years is Social Media Optimization.