Since I only had ten minutes I was forced to really ask myself what separates successful PPC marketers and really successful PPC marketers. I came up with three things — The ability to distribute your time effectively, embracing risk in your testing and management, and the last one which is connecting your paid efforts to inbound marketing. The second two will have to be covered in another post, today I really want to talk about that first piece — the ability to distribute your time effectively.

Why that one? Because its freaking hard. Like really hard. Like “whoa I need a glass of wine every night” hard.

Over the years I’ve really tried to focus on how I can be my  most effective at paid search management (returning the highest margins) and my most efficient (staying sane, sleeping, not snapping at family and friends). This can be a challenge because paid search marketing is a data game. Data piles up and it can drive you mad if you let it. So how do you get the control back? I think the key is to rethink how you are dividing up your time.

Originally I was trying to isolate out a plan for paid search marketing management. I came up with this:

What I didn’t expect is how finding something like this to guide me would motivate me to re-evaluate my overall time distribution. After all…why would I want to be my most effective and efficient at just PPC? There is so much more on my plate. How can I best manage those projects and the time I put into them?

I started asking myself – how do I prioritize what gets my time?  I freaked out when I realized that my approach to project management had become insanely reactive. As things pop up I handle them. Eeeek. Bad bad bad. I could probably write a whole post as to why things have become this way, but ultimately I think as marketers take on more and embrace the holistic landscape this issue will become increasingly more of a challenge facing all of us.

I came across this amazing video and it was like a really beautiful bitch slap right when I needed it. In Bing Gordon’s keynote address he talks about how the time we spend on things in our life should be both (a) prioritized by importance and then (b) given time relationally as they compare to each other. EUREKA!

For example if you have three things that matter to you but the first thing is twice as important as number two or three, then you would spend 50% of your time on item #1, and 25% on each of the other two items. Make sense?

I think we all have grasped the importance of knocking out our to-do list by order of importance, but this idea of weighting our priorities by how they compare is an interesting one for me. Below you can see the rough guideline I use for my own day…

I have five main goals at SEOmoz:

1. Grow the SEOmoz Customer Base
2. Grow the Retention Program
3. Be an Indispensable Employee
4. Continue to Learn from the Industry & Grow in It
5. Be a Great Colleague & Help Others Reach Their Goals

I mean there are always other goals that come up, and projects that don’t fit into one of these, but for the most part everything I do during my hours each day at Moz fit into one of these five. With that said there is a clear hierarchy among these. I was hired for #1, and my position has expanded to include #2. Then #3, #4, and #5 are things I’ve chosen to add to the list for my personal and professional growth. So #1 is twice as important as the rest, and #2 is more important than #3, #4, and #5, but those last three all need sufficient time comparatively. So the challenge is for me to break up my available hours according to this distribution.

I’m only about a month deep on it at this point but it really does help. If I find myself freaking out in the afternoon because I am not sure which project to start next I just revisit my list and see which of these I haven’t touched. Have I put too much time into one of them when it should have spent on another based on my distribution hierarchy? Each week I make sure that I have given all five of these the time they deserve.

I might have lost you a bit on those last few paragraphs but I think the point I am stressing is – when was the last time you revisited your approach to time distribution? Have you fallen into a groove that doesn’t actually match up to your professional and personal goals? Have you adopted a model that was there before you were? I anticipate I will have to revisit my current model a hundred times or so but I think that is exactly how it should be.

As months roll by my hopes for my job and my career do too…this should be reflected in your day-to-day activities. No more “where did 2011 go?” I’m over the “time passing blackout” that happens to super busy Type As (aka all of us). Instead I am embracing a more conscious approach to time management and time distribution. Won’t you join me? Trust me, things are way simpler over here. I even get to sleep once and a while…crazy I know.

- D.H. Lawrence (I checked and apparently he was some sort of famous novelist, so he has to be smart and stuff…plus he has a beard, which is cool).

Passion. This word really pisses me off sometimes. People abuse it. They use it as an excuse for stupidity. They make up stories of false passion when they should be using the word greedy. People get competitive about passion…which is fucking hilarious given the fact that passion is an internal thing. Yours is yours. Mine is mine. Yes the overlaps happen in life, but the passion itself starts inside of you. That is where it grows or {sadly} fades.

I want more of this in my life.

I can be aggressive sometimes. Or at least that’s what I’ve been told…in meetings, in relationships, in reviews, etc. The other day a colleague told me “he has never met a woman like me in business.” I wanted to take it as a compliment but I don’t think he meant it that way, or maybe he kind of did. I tried to explain I’m just passionate about all this. I want to give opinions when I think they need to be given. I want to tear down other opinions if I think they will hurt us. I’m passionate about going fast, and hard, and succeeding.

Then I realized…was my passion becoming an excuse? Was it becoming a competition between me and the other team members? I’m not so sure. Given the fact I’ve lived my life (like many of my start-up friends…likely you…whoever is reading this) telling myself that “passion” is what I need above else. I’ve been told by mentors and industry leaders that “passion” is what separates those that succeed and those that fail.

That one word is so big. So over the years I’ve worked on it. How can I give more? How can I try harder? How can I be more for this team? It’s the fuel. The hustle. The Eye of the Tiger playing in your head late night, after late night, after late night, after…

I came across this quote today. “Be still when you have nothing to say; when genuine passion moves you, say what you’ve got to say, and say it hot.”

I fell in love. That’s what I’ve been trying to say but never said it very well. I think it’s what I try to do, but maybe not very well. For me passion is something that moves you. And for the love of god when you are moved you are hot, and feisty, and aggressive, and real, and honest. Passion is not supposed to be whispered or second guessed.

I made a goal for the second half of 2011 that I would try to be less loud and more quiet. The only problem with that is…it’s not very me. Then all of a sudden blog posts like this jump out of you. Things get all sorts of crazy when you try to be less passionate for the sake of others. I do think there are better ways than others to be passionate. I think you can be passionate as a listener, as a team player, as a sounding board.

My goal for 2012 is to continue figuring out how to be my most passionate self…only for the right reasons. It’s an easy thing to let run away with you. When you love a company or an idea…it owns you. The tricky part is finding the balance in it all. Be quiet when you have nothing to say and be hot when you are passionate about something. I plan to reconsider how I’m handling it all because there are only two things that freak me out {like scare the bejesus out of me}…

1. I end up where I want to go but don’t recognize myself.
2. That I keep myself but end up some place I never intended to go.

I know resolutions rub some people the wrong way, but in this crazy tech world we all love, I think knowing what passion means to you and letting it lead you…is something worth resolving to do. And that’s exactly what I plan to work on this year.

You know what I realized? People are doing some pretty epic things out there. I was reminded of my recent trip to Barcelona where when looking at Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia I couldn’t help but ask — where had all the crazy fucking big thinkers gone? Gaudi knew the conventions, he knew the accepted shapes of what a church should look like and instead he built this…

Now that I can appreciate. While wandering today I saw so many amazing sites that just reminded me how fun it can all be. I was truly inspired. I then started mocking up pictures to show my teammates, and although I haven’t shown them any yet, I know its likely these won’t be the final versions. That’s not how it works. Hybrids and collaborative efforts make more sense for pages that must reach the masses. I do think though that just the process of making yourself be open to inspiration was far more important than the pages I created after.

From there I was sharing some links with a friend who works for a start-up back on the East Coast, and she was inspired. From there she passed one on to her boss, who wrote back and said perhaps they too should revisit some of their pages. All of this from one or two sites that were nothing more than beautiful, fun, different…inspiring. Sites like these:

Logartis

DillyDeliTulsa

EmpireVintage

I mean these were just a few that had me opening new windows, wandering through “About Us” tabs, and so on and so forth. I don’t spend enough time wandering the web. I wonder what Tolkien would have said about our time spent on the web? Are all who wander the web lost? Are we losing hours that should be spent more effectively? After all this medium never did stress the importance of organically consuming its fruits. Instead we aggressively bounce back and forth and around, hoping to see as much as we can, and be the first. Novelty is everything these days.

Just thought it was worth reflecting on an afternoon spent on seeking inspiration on the Web. I’m realizing these days it comes in all sorts of pixels.

Pick Your Pixel...Get Inspired

I should kick it off by saying this past PubCon Las Vegas was my 7^th PubCon. Between Vegas, Austin, Dallas, and soon to be Hawaii I have literally wandered the U.S. to make sure I didn’t miss this show. I’ve spoken over ten times on topics like PPC, landing pages, retargeting, the state of our industries job landscape, PR and social media marketing. Not to mention I’ve been lucky enough to moderate panels around analytics, affiliate marketing, SEO, and more.

Like many of you I paid for my first PubCon out of pocket. I still remember tweeting out “should I go to PubCon if my company won’t pay?” and @Sugarrae responded with something along the lines of a “hell yes” and carried on to tell me that this is THE show that is worth attending.

Jesus was she right.

There is something inexplicably special about this show. It likely has something to do with the amazing people behind it, the story of how it came about, the way its grown, and the people that attend it every year. Then there is the hugs, and the sincere “how are you doing friend?” and of course the drinks, and the gambling, and the laughing. Wow has there been some really spectacular laughing.

Because of PubCon we have had secret jokes shared between thousands of friends, a face-to-face with Matt Cutts every year of our careers, we have had something to call “ours” and something to compare every other show to.

Some of us have gotten jobs, some of us have fallen in love, some of us have gotten raises, or started companies…all from a PubCon. We have left PubCon both proud of what we have learned over the past year and humbled by how much left there is to learn.

The crazy reality of all this is that all I’ve listed above isn’t even the half of it. I’ve heard stories of late night brainstorms that led to agency collaborations, new tools, revolutionary ideas and philosophical shifts in how we approach the industry we have all jumped into whole-heartedly.

At PubCons I have seen assholes apologize for being assholes, and quiet wallflowers take a stand (usually over a few cocktails funded by {fill in awesome company here}. This conference gives us a place to rethink things, to validate our gut feelings, and to catch glimpses of what is to come.

Dare I say that PubCon has always been my favorite show over the years? Closely followed by SearchFest up in Portland, and our own MozCon. What can I say? I’m a sucker for shows that truly are just a gathering of friends at some random place usually surrounded by bars. The bigger shows out there have their place and I would never take away what shows like SMX, SES, Dreamforce, etc. have done for me, but something about PubCon keeps it on a very special pedestal for me.

I thought it would be worth writing up a few things I took away from this particular PubCon (since I always say I am going to do it and never do)…

• I need to get over my issues with it and participate more on Google + … FINE! Geeeshhh.
• I need to start saying thank you more to the people in this industry who have supported me for years. Thank you so very much– Marty, Topher, Brad, David, Brett, Steve, and Steve and so many others.
• I must stop making jokes about not being able to see over the podium when I talk, no one has ever really laughed
• I took away I should push myself to do better things with Facebook advertising for SEOmoz, I’m slacking there – ask Brian Carter and Kate Buck Jr. about what they are doing.
• I realized I’m really happy with my job and finally at the place we all hope to get to – a place where I can hear about a new opportunity but not want to explore it
• I’ve realized I will forever be thankful to the veterans of this industry that continue to push out epic ideas that get me thinking– Loren, Streko, Tim, Greg, Chris, Lisa, Rhea, Andy, Tony and so many more.
• I learned that duplicate content issues really piss people off, I’m going to suggest to our bloggers list that we should write more on this
• I took away a whole lot of great information around social and its convergence with our current digital strategies – ask Joe Hall about the data battle out there, it will tell you a lot about where we are going.
• I realized there is not so much a revolving door in this industry (like many other industries) but instead a constantly open one and I am excited to see where all the newcomers will take us in the future, cuz they are freaking smart yo.
• I’m reminded again and again that the amazing women I know in this industry have become true friends and I am a better person for it – Kate, Ruth, Kristy, Monica, Dana, Pam, Carolyn, Shannon, Vanessa, Janet, Lauren, Melanie, Merry, Michelle and so many more.

Okay that’s enough rambling for me, but I will say one last thing that any future PubCon-er should know – this all started from a group of people that literally built this industry on questions and through connecting in forums…where we all tried to help each other move an industry forward.

Sometimes I think we have forgotten that. I only hope that as Brett and his team continue to put together these shows every year we somehow find our way back there – to a point of conversation, and questions, and curiosity…and collaboration.

That’s where I want to be. Sitting around a table with you crazy freaking braniacs, trying to share what little experience I have, and absorb all of yours. Thanks again to the brilliant team behind PubCon… once again you’ve managed to remind us how amazing, ambitious, and special this industry really is.

See you in Hawaii!

Life has been a little crazy lately, not that I have to tell you that. I remember a few years ago thinking that if I could just get X taken care of, and get Y underway, then life would slow down. Wow, that was stupid. I’ve realized this year in particular, that this is just the speed I live life at…that we all do. This year I did all sorts of crazy things, but so did you, and I am betting that YOU managed to get a post up in the past four months. #mefail

I could go on and on with all the things that have kept me busy  but I am thinking you probably don’t care. They say the first post after a long break is the hardest, and wow are “they” right. I have been thinking for weeks “I should blog about that” and then talk myself out of it because it’s not a good enough topic to break such a long streak of bloggers block with. I’ve watched hundreds of great personal posts wander through the stream, and I keep thinking — “just get on there and write something you fool!”  And here I am, writing fluffery just to write.

So back to the craziness…how are you all doing out there? Are you all freaking out like me these days? Wake up, coffee, work, meeting, conference, launch, cancer, meeting, work, new responsibilities, homesick, coffee, new startup idea, ugh, work, geesh really, site down, wanderlust strikes, competitor launch, big meeting, funding, no funding, coffee, marathon, new role, new side gig, another new side gig, omg insomnia, conference, work, childish drama, coffee, panic, wine, sleep. That bring’s us to October. What the hell happened to this year?

Anyway, there is still two and a half months to this year and I am hoping to salvage it a bit on the blogging front. I head to London this weekend for SearchLove, Distilled’s London conference. I’ll be speaking on Social Media and Competitive Analysis — a topic that has been front of mine lately as we dance into some new territories around the office. A few days after that I speak in Barcelona, Spain at MozCation (sidenote: I don’t speak Spanish…like at all, geeezzz). I’ll be speaking on Retargeting and how SEO’s can leverage it to uncover hidden opportunities. Somewhere in those ten days of travel I’ll be writing up and practicing my two PubCon Vegas presentations – one on Landing Page Optimization and one on Retargeting – A New Kind of Display Advertising.

I’ve got PowerPoint on my mind. I don’t know how my boss – Rand Fishkin does this all year. Just thinking about all those titles, subtitles, and images makes me tired. Wine anyone?

Okay so this is now officially a ramble, but sometimes you need to have a public ramble to remind you that all of this isn’t THAT big of a deal. Not every word has to be the word. You know? Kind of makes you wonder how much of this craziness is self-inflicted?

With that said…damn life has been crazy lately. Hope you are all hanging on tight these days. I am hoping to get up some search marketing related posts soon enough. With the organic search query debacle of yesterday, and the new Google Analytics features coming our way, I am feeling a search marketing revival brewing in my fingertips…

In the meantime…keep on, keeping on fellow crazy friends. #love

There is always room for improvement

I truly believe there is always a few things you could do to your top landing page right now that would get you more signups, better engagement, or higher quality scores. The hard part is knowing which one is going to work for you.

The process usually looks a little like this;

Step 1: You see your competitor roll something out and you think, “hmmm would that work for us?”

Step 2: You tell yourself you are going to test, like a good marketer should! You create 3 to 4 tests in your head, spec’ing them out in mockups, and put together the prettiest little testing plan you’ve ever seen.

Step 3: Realize your design team is too busy.

Step 4: Realize your development team is too busy.

Step 5: Freak out that you aren’t making any moves, and roll out the exact change your competitor made to their site.

Step 6: Continue to panic since you know this is bad practice.

Oy. It’s true right? I know I am personally responsible for this way too often. The sad reality (we all know way too well) is that we don’t always have the resources available to get up solid tests. So what can you do to your top landing pages immediately, without feeling a huge panic? The usual suspects are things like best practices for landing pages. This includes things like;

• More white space/clear out clutter

• Above the fold call to action

• Larger call to action, surrounded by more white space

• A trustworthy looking layout/make sure your site looks trustworthy

And so on, and so forth.

Okay that’s all great, but what about the not so obvious improvements out there? That’s what I’d like to tackle today. I’m lucky enough to say I’ve been screwing up landing pages for close to 7 years now. It’s true. I’ve tested all sorts of things on all sorts of sites in all sorts of industries, and whether the usual experts want to admit it or not, there are things beyond best practices that can increase conversions almost universally.

*Note the “almost” okay? So don’t go bitching in the comments when you tested and concluded something different

All right, now that disclaimers are out of the way, let’s talk about 5 other ways to improve your top lander right now.

Other Idea #1: Social signals galore
We all know that adding social buttons to your site increases engagement, but did you also know that it often increases conversions? Just knowing they can reach you through a variety of social channels triggers an added trust response when a visitor is trying to choose between buying and leaving. So if you are social (which for those of you who aren’t by now…you are just being foolish) make sure to add those social buttons front and center.

Other idea #2: Numbers make people smile
Okay maybe not smile, but they are more likely to convert! It’s true! I’m not just saying this because I love calculators. If you can add numbers to your landers, often your conversions will increase. This covers things like, adding your member count, adding the total number of community members, or adding how many people are online now, etc. Remember those ghetto visitor tickers from back in the day? Yeah, don’t use those. Instead show off how much money your software tracks, or how many shoes your site sold. Show off your awesomeness in real, tangible numbers. It works, I swear.

Other Idea #3: Quotes, quotes, and funny quotes?
While we all know a testimonial helps conversions, did you know that it’s almost impossible to have TOO many testimonials on your lander? It’s true. Get them up there! Rotate through a dozen, or link to a full page of them. Also (and this surprised me!) don’t weed out informal or funny quotes. People like to see the candid nature of a true reaction to a product or service. If someone said “You da bomb!,” you go ahead, bold it, and get it up there. Word.

Other Idea #4: Logos are pretty, but faces are prettier
So you know that best practice about getting up a logo for each person that reviews you? Yeah you can kind of ignore that…as long as you get up their face instead. I’ve tested this a bunch and almost always, the face of a testimonial giver out performed the logo of their company. It seems obvious; yet way too many sites are rocking a testimonial, with a name (in text) and the logo of the company next to it. So say cheese, and get those pictures up!

Other idea #5: You want the money? Give out your number!
Whoa that sounds weird, but alas its true. In a world that is increasingly moving to the cloud, more and more sites are dropping the physical address and phone number for more scalable solutions to customer service. #hugefail The truth is you need to have a number they can call, you need an email front and center, and if you have a physical address…throw it in their face! The placement I’ve tested that wins the most is still (believe it or not) top, right corner, usually followed by a site search box. I guess not all throwbacks are lost in the hustle. So grab your digits and get them up there.

So there you have it. Hopefully some of them surprised you, or at the very least reminded you that you should always be tweaking those top landers. I’ve always believed that every page on our site can be a lander, but that us marketers need to know the big winners as they win. These are the pages you constantly tweak.

Once you nail the best practices, you owe it to your inner CRO self, to really push the envelope on what you know. And just remember…if you find yourself simply copying your competitor’s landing page changes, you should probably smack yourself. No really, that is not doing your beautiful pages justice.

So best of luck on the optimizing front friends! I’d love to hear what sort of tests you have run, and the surprising results they delivered!

Lately I’ve realized I’m a lot quieter than I used to be. I know some of you are thinking—”but you never shut up!” Okay well maybe just my office mates are thinking that, but I don’t mean that I say less; I mean that I’m quieter. Sure I tweet, I blog, I email, I update, I give interviews, presentations, feedback. I do all of this communication, but I don’t hear as much of me in it anymore.

I’m not sure what it is really. I’ve spent the last two weeks or so freaking out about it. I’ve been having one of those annoying late-twenties dialogues with myself where I ask myself things like,

“Am I doing what I should be doing?”
“Am I spending my time on the right things?”
“Am I being true to myself and the dreams I once dreamt?”

Yeah, yeah I know. It all seems like silly huge stuff you could easily get lost in. But it’s been rough. All of this existential stuff can really wear you out to be honest. Over the past couple weeks I’ve started running more just to be away from the computer at night, just to revisit something that I consider to be a great escape from it all. And during the many miles of rainy Seattle weather I have ran, I had a few different thoughts as to, “Why do I seem quieter? Why do I seem less me than before?”

Some of the answers:
(1) leaving my entrepreneurial life behind (not constantly defining yourself by one project, that I owned and lived for, can be quite a growth experience, especially after having let it define you for two years)
(2) changing my physical location (as most of you know I’ve had a hard time leaving LA for Seattle, even though Seattle is amazing, part of me does seem a bit lost up here)
(3) moving in-house for such a well known brand (I think coming in to something that is so well-defined can sometimes make it easy to lose yourself in)
(4) this industry is expanding in every possible direction, all at the same time (I find myself constantly communicating, but not necessarily any of my original thoughts)

I honestly think this last one is the one that resonates. I actually think our industry specifically exudes this nature of consumption. If you aren’t careful, it can easily consume you– your time, your thoughts, your voice. Don’t go getting all defensive friends, I don’t mean the people, and I don’t mean the projects, or the evolution of it, or the amazing energy that surrounds it. I mean the fact that this industry truly is so large, and continually growing.

This industry we all love so much is a never-ending opportunity. Daily I read your tweets. We are all getting offered jobs, getting told about new gadgets, repeatedly reminded we are in the middle of a revolution, and we are told time and time again–the sky is the limit.  I find this to be the strangest paradox of all. Our industry is founded on passionate workaholics, and we have now built something that demands the utmost passion, and let’s be honest– no one lazy makes it. Thankfully, in my opinion. We are reading stories that remind us anyone who works hard can accomplish anything. I love this. I love that that in our industry if you are willing to give it everything you have, the dream will return the favor.

On the flip side– uhm whoa. Seriously. Read it again: Anyone who works hard enough can accomplish anything. That’s a consuming reality.

That wasn’t always the case (as my dad likes to remind me), we are in a new era of unlimited opportunity, and the excitement, and the options, and the resources, and the advice, and the tools are all dancing around us—begging to be utilized for our own benefit—whatever benefit means to you.

I think this is a huge reason I’ve become somewhat muted, and frankly it kind of pisses me off. This is not some post where I am going to swear off Twitter or the web, but I did feel propelled tonight to bring up this idea of saturation.  I find myself so excited about everything that everyone is saying that I can’t stay focused, and I constantly feel inadequate. It’s a new age of exhausting potential—something we have all dreamt of and helped build. Now that it’s here, I find myself a bit scared and too blinded by it all to really enjoy it sometimes.

So what now? Well I’m not so sure this post was started with a real conclusion in mind.  However, I did have a discussion tonight with a close friend that reminded me how important it is to let things go. Normally I only use that phrase when I talk to girlfriends about their horrible ex-boyfriends, ha. But I’m beginning to see another use of it… I need to learn to let things go. This isn’t because they were bad, or malicious, but simply because there is so much more staring at me, and those things are better worth my time.

Call it growing pains but I’ve never been that good at letting go. I’ve always been proudly defined as someone who never lets go, who always works that much harder at making it work, who is willing to go the extra 100 miles, screw one mile. Instead, I think it’s time to rethink that. Learning to rethink the way you’ve always approached work and life is certainly going to be a challenge.

I’m kind of up for it though. If it means at the end of this, I will rediscover the me that loved to give opinions, and felt comfortable in where they originated, I think I’d do pretty much anything to get back there.

Anyway, my breakdown for the year is all yours to contemplate. I wonder if we will see more and more of this as the plugged-in culture grows? I wonder if more and more of them will find it challenging to make any noise when surrounded by so much of it?

I suspect this will be the case. My advice, and my personal goal? To stop allowing so much noise to surround me. I’ll be letting some of it go in an attempt to distinguish my own voice in it all. This should be interesting, wish me luck…

Last night I was doing one my late night runs through the city (which come to find out is actually a pretty safe & normal activity here in Seattle) and I was like… “I’ll write a post about how I am going to commit to getting more posts up,” thinking that would be an easy foot in the door.

Then I thought, Jesus that’s lame. No one wants to be the “I am going to…” promiser, and never deliver. So instead of writing a post about my hopes for this blog renewal, I figure I might as well jump right in.

{jump}

You all see what went down today in the PPC world today? Those longer titles (that every single one of us knew was coming) finally got released today. Got to love Google and their not-so-sly way of testing things. I can name at least three Twitpics of people capturing this over the past few months.

So longer titles…let’s talk about it. What does it mean for us PPC-ers and our clients/companies?  Well more characters to start. I know all of us just took a deep breath while we had flashbacks to 26-character freakouts…eeek! Google will now be showing the first description line of our ads as the title for select ad placements (basically top position snaggers).

Why is Google doing this? Their words “we’ve seen higher click through rates.” Uhmmm, yeah duh. As we can all see these listings now look a bit more organic…pretty convenient huh? I guess all that colored background testing was getting a bit boring.

Few things to think about… (one) Google is only do this for some advertisers — at least for now, and (two) they said we can all increase our chances of being selected if our two description lines have proper punctuation and appear to be completely separate thoughts/lines. I kind of like this passive aggressive way of Google reminding us to adhere to the guidelines and provide a legit search experience.

I also enjoy the fact that those advertisers doing bulk ad uploads which result in awkwardly worded ads might actually be hurt a bit by this. Well maybe not since we know this will eventually roll out across all advertisers, but a girl can dream.

Anyway, my thoughts? I’m stoked. Simple titles like {site – Official Site} can now have a bit more pizazz and work for those longer brand names. Also, I can start playing with brand bylines as titles. Not to mention, this is a simple reminder that our “restrictions” are only restrictions as long as Google wants them to be. I like to see these changes rolled out.

At the very least it reminds me we still have people at Google testing out layouts that might actually help us brand effectively, and not just help them fool searchers into clicking (and subsequently blowing through my budgets).

Okay so those are my thoughts on today’s news. What you all thinking? Anyone against this? You guys over it, since we broke the story two weeks go? Or should we all go back to bitching about the lowercase display URL issue? Because, that one still ticks me off.

A few months ago Google launched the thumbnail image along side text ads above Google Images, and that was fine…only problem was there were two ads per query, and the spacing/format was a bit awkward if you asked me. I think invasive would be a good word for it. You can see what I mean here, from me searching “blue jeans” :

Yeah it’s better than nothing, but I, personally, haven’t seen huge CTRs from these placements. I think it was due to a combination of factors, but ultimately those ads just aren’t compelling. The good news is I think the Google Gods were listening in on all of our complaining and decided to make this sexy new placement as an option:

Dead sexy right? I’m not sure if you are all seeing what I am seeing…but it has something to do with %100 share of voice…or what I am calling “The Promise Land of PPC.”

So what are the details? Well they just launched this. I did a bunch of searches and haven’t seen too many showing up, so either people haven’t opted in yet, or they are rolling it slowly. Also this is all beta (like everything in the Google world) so they might introduce another ad up there in the same format soon enough.

So get on it. This is a great example of someone doing something all sorts of right. Let’s say I wanted a fancy pair of red heels for the holiday season and I did a search for “red high heels,” clicking through to Google images (Disclaimer: this may or may not be a real story…I heart shoes.) Anyway, look at Anne Klein. Holy smokes, now THERE is some coverage.

Even more interesting is taking a look at the Google results on the web results. Look who ISN’T anywhere on the first page (organic or paid)…

Yeah. Look at all of that competition they would have to compete with on the search network. Nutzzz.  Need another example, check this out. I was doing a search for “las vegas flights,” which from my experience working for TripAdvisor I can tell you is a pricey freaking word. Anyway, check out the competition on the first page of the web results:

Now, let’s just say I clicked through on the image searches (which I realize would be a bit unusual) but look what I got:

Well done AlaskaAirlines.  They are getting serious brand equity with that buy. #whoa #thatPPCstrategistdeservesaraise.

So what makes this new ad type blog worthy? It’s an ad buy that a lot of very rich advertisers don’t know about. I suggest you get in there, and take advantage of this ASAP. Get creative with those display ads too… without any other ad there, the contextual experience is yours to control.

Whew…this just gets me all sorts of excited. Who is freaking out? Yeah me too.

{Enter BlueGlassLA.}

This past week I have been in Los Angeles (huge thank you to Rand—my boss for allowing me to work from coffee shops and enjoy the Southern California sunshine), for the first ever BlueGlassLA conference. For those of you (clearly living under a rock) and not sure what BlueGlass is, you can read all about the merger here, and quickly understand why I was excited for this one.

After tweeting out I was attending a few weeks back I got a DM from someone—who I will not publically embarrass at this time—and it said, “seriously what could possibly be special about this one, it will be the same old stuff.” My reply was, “just you watch, this one will be special.”

{Pats self on back for being right}.

BlueGlassLA didn’t just attract a top-notch speaker lineup, but it filled the room with people that are making waves in our industry. I was literally shocked to see all of those faces in one room, and even more shocked to see them all meeting each other, hitting it off, trading biz cards, clinking glasses. I mean wow…just…wow.

Okay this post isn’t meant to make you feel bad about missing BlueGlassLA (although it may not have been your best decision ever) instead I wanted to highlight something original that BlueGlassLA reminded me of…

The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.

What the hell am I talking about? BlueGlassLA set out to change up the conference agenda. You can tell by scoping out the schedule they wanted to capture the full cycle of Internet marketing, from the very beginning (seeking out investment) to the middle chaos (trying to build a community and harness attention) to the end challenges (increasing traffic, making money, optimizing the pieces).

While I have always been aware that you needed each piece to perform for success, I think somewhere along the way I forgot that it’s not about having each piece do well, it’s about having them intersect and do AMAZINGLY well.

The BlueGlassLA speakers each spoke to their successes, their failures, and everything in between but perhaps even more importantly, in my opinion, is that they all alluded to this idea of reaching out to your network for help in the areas you don’t know. In doing this, you are able to make sure that no piece is overlooked, or half-assed.

Even the moderators and BlueGlass employees themselves touched on this as they complimented each other (in typical sarcastic, smart-ass ways) on how well they each know their piece of the Internet marketing pie. By surrounding yourself with people that are the best at what they do, you start to see a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts.

I felt like this whole damn conference exuded this tenet, and I was privileged to sit in the audience. I think in many ways the conference audience became an extension of the knowledge on stage…again demonstrating the power of smart people eager to learn more.

Too often at conferences there are “tracks” of topics, and I go about my paid search, SEO, and social panels. While I get to see friends, and hear about a new site or tool to check out, I rarely walk away thinking “Jesus that just blew my mind.”

By tearing down the walls between the different parts of Internet marketing and filling in some, too often overlooked, holes, I think this conference reminded me just how little I know. For those of you who know me well, you know that I value few things more than “knowledge” and “exposure to new ideas.” They keep us humble, and stretching, and motivated.

While I could have written about my experience at BlueGlassLA in a few different ways, I felt the need to really reiterate—what I believe—to be BlueGlassLA’s biggest achievement—the way in which they took a bunch of really smart Internet marketers and reminded us just how much more we have to learn.

For that I think the audience walked away from the conference a little more excited to “get after it,” and that is freaking priceless.

Did you mess up by not attending? Yeah. You. Did.

Luckily for you, and for me, it looks like they are going to be putting on another one later this year in New York. See you there? I’ll be up front eating my piece of humble pie.