Behavioral targeting is relatively new but catching on fast!

I found this artical online and though it would be helpfull to new marketers.
Bobby Crutchfield
http://www.cru-ven.com/

Ad Targeting

Search marketing, by its very nature, is a targeting medium. Users are self-directed in conducting queries that follow their interests, be it informational, educational, entertaining or commercial. This data is all recorded and can be tracked.

Most marketers are familiar with contextual targeting; it has been used in offline and online advertising for a long time. You read a magazine article about home gardening and the ads on the page might be for Miracle Grow or Roundup. The same principle is applied to the web.

Behavioral targeting is relatively new but catching on fast. The Internet, with its ability to record behavior, is largely responsible for the increase in behavioral targeting. Marketers like targeted ads because they reach specific consumers, eliminating waste and increasing advertising efficiency.

Within online advertising, there is certainly no better example of efficient targeting than search, which can drive relevant messages welcomed by consumers. Search marketing is effective because it is actually a form self-targeting.

As marketing dollars shift from traditional media to online media, today’s marketers are embracing search strategies such as SEO (search engine optimization) and PPC (pay-per-click advertising), as well as contextual, demographic and behavioral targeting.

Behavioral Targeting Research

Behavioral targeting is attractive to advertisers because it delivers ads to consumers based on their past search behavior. Since user behavior reveals their interests, prospects are highly motivated and likely to convert.

A recent survey by MarketingSherpa reports that 22 percent of marketers plan to increase behavioral targeting budgets significantly this year. Thirty-six percent of respondents said they got "great results" with behavioral targeting, compared to 52 percent who claimed "great results" for paid search. IMedia Connection found that 83 percent of marketers were "satisfied" with behavioral targeting and 7.3 percent indicated they were "very satisfied."

Forrester Research queried marketers interested in using behavioral targeting and found that 52 percent already use it, 17 percent are testing and 31 percent plan to test later this year. The study identified the top three benefits of behavioral targeting as:

1. More click-throughs (35%)
2. More conversions (26%)
3. Improved ROI (21%)

Based on the above research, behavioral targeting gets a thumbs-up from marketers.

However, there can be drawbacks. By its very nature, behavioral targeting has the effect of reducing reach. It may be effective to target ads to a motivated audience, but a lot of potential prospects do not demonstrate an interest through past behavior. Some folks never learn about new products unless they are advertised. So advertisers could be missing a lot of sales opportunities.

Targeted Ads Gain Respect

Industry research shows that marketers are spending a good portion of their marketing budgets on targeted ads. The majority of marketers spend over 15 percent of their marketing budgets on targeted ads. Twenty-two percent spend over 45 percent of their ad budget on behavioral targeting.

One of the reasons that advertisers are moving toward targeted advertising is the degree of audience fragmentation. With targeting, they can reach a large number of people within a common target group. Audience fragmentation is driving the development of geographic, demographic, contextual and behavioral targeting in search.

Behavioral Targeting With Search

Search profiling allows marketers to target search users with delayed ads after the initial search. For instance, a user might be gathering information on plasma TVs. Current technology allows marketers to serve users ads based on these searches a few days after the initial query. This allows advertisers to reach consumers in the final stages of the buying cycle.

You can also target users with paid search ads on landing pages after they leave a search site. Many of these sites sell ads at low CPMs. Post-search ads can benefit users by presenting them with relevant ads while maintaining their privacy (ads are cookie based and personal information is not collected). Advertisers can create more opportunities to reach customers beyond search real estate and at subsequent stages of the buying cycle. Microsoft adCenter lets you adjust bids by demographics, geographics and day of week or time of day (dayparting). Microsoft’s targeting and audience intelligence data comes from registered users voluntarily providing information upon registration for Microsoft products and services, as well as Microsoft Passport registrants and third-party data from Experian.

Google provides regional and local targeting with AdWords, as well as Ad Scheduling (dayparting). The ad scheduling option allows you to control the days and/or the time of day your ads are displayed. You can improve ROI on some campaigns by running ads only when it makes good business sense. For instance, it can be advantageous for local businesses to run ads only during business hours, or for a retail site to increase exposure during the holiday season.

Yahoo provides ad category targeting on Yahoo Publisher Network and is expected to add targeting capabilities to Yahoo Search Marketing (formerly Overture) with its Panama upgrade by the end of the year.

Market Size

Online ad targeting becomes more popular as mass-marketing techniques lose clout due to audience fragmentation. Emarketer estimates U.S. advertisers will spend $1.2 billion on behavioral targeting this year, up 30 percent from 2005. This growth rate exceeds the total online advertising growth rate for this year (24.7%). The report also predicts behavioral targeting revenue will double to $2.1 billion by 2008.

Search engine marketing is one of its fastest growing segments of Internet advertising, representing 41 percent of total online ad revenues and continuing to rise. Online ad revenues totaled $12.5 billion in 2005 (U.S.), an increase of 30 percent over 2004.

Consumer Resistance to Behavioral Targeting

The industry would like to believe behavioral targeting is good for everyone: the advertiser gets more efficient targeting, the publisher sells more inventory, and the consumer is exposed to relevant messages based on his or her interests.

However, consumers and advocate groups have been vocal about the lack of disclosure and loss of privacy. H.R. 2929 (the "SPY ACT") passed the House of Representatives last year but so far has not cleared the Senate. This Bill requires web publishers to give consumers prominent notice about the information collected (who will collect it and how it will be used) prior to collecting any cookie information. Consumers would have to be given the opportunity to opt out, not in a privacy policy on another page, but clearly and conspicuously on the page viewed before gathering cookie information about consumer activity. All advertisements would have to be labeled.

Research has shown that consumers want more disclosure but would be willing to give up some privacy if provided adequate value in return.

The Task Ahead

Technology gives advertisers new opportunities to reach consumers more efficiently. To realize the promise of behavioral marketing, the online ad industry must build trust among consumers who increasingly demand more disclosure about what is being tracked on their computers and why. This is doable since behavioral marketing does not require the use of any personally identifiable information.

However, the risks that concern consumers, such as identify theft and misuse of personal information, must be disassociated from behavioral marketing through PR efforts. Lastly, if marketers adopt the principles of providing more transparency and giving consumers adequate value for using their data, they can advance the cause for behavioral marketing.

Discuss this article in the Small Business Ideas forum.



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About The Author:

Bruce Clay is president of Bruce Clay, Inc. Since 1996, www.bruceclay.com has been one of the foremost search engine optimization Web destinations. Services include: tool subscriptions, training classes, site assessments, consulting services, and full-service projects. Areas covered are SEO, PPC, Analytics, e-mail, ad programs, and consulting.

Bobby Crutchfield
http://www.cru-ven.com/

Swinging its Doors to Success…Wide Open

Entrepreneurs of the 21st century are finding better solutions
to help them be ‘on’ their business and not ‘in’ their
business. It was only a few short years ago that many
entrepreneurs spent the majority of their working days making
random cold calls and follow up calls to prospects and
customers. This can be quite time consuming especially if you
have a healthy customer base.

The online automated marketing system makes it possible for
internet marketers to market their businesses without feeling
like a telemarketer.

The online automated marketing system helps to boost sales
which mean it helps boost revenue. In addition to boosting
sales and revenue, it helps internet marketers to gain new
loyal customers and find new distribution channels.

So, if an internet marketer doesn’t have time to build a
business and constantly advertise and promote their own
business, the automated internet marketing system will do the
majority of the work for them. Best of all, a person doesn’t
have to have a degree from a prestigious University or have
high prospecting skills to take advantage of the automated
internet marketing system.

One of the benefits of this system is that you do not always
have to be around 24/7 to cater to your customers needs. When a
business owner is not available, autoresponders or voice mail
systems will answer your customers’ questions for you and they
are programmed to even help make a sale.

With the PAS internet marketers no longer have to be concerned
about networking with strangers about their products and
services. This automated marketing system will advertise your
business in a multi-marketing portal. What many people find
interesting about his business solution is that it has a high
Alexa's ranking.

Remember, just because this new found business solution is
sweeping the internet marketing world by storm doesn’t mean
that internet marketers no longer have to focus on customer
satisfaction. A business should respond in lightning speeds to
all inquiries. It’s imperative to be straight forwarding with
your answers and let your customer know that you understand
their needs. Automated internet marketing systems continue to
climb towards success.

So, internet marketers can put away their marketing campaign
cold calling scripts, they can set aside the idea of investing
in very expensive advertisements such as highway billboards and
full-page add space in exclusive magazines. Internet marketers
can now save more time and money.


About The Author: Rui Mart, is a online marketeer since 2002.
Full details can be found on
http://www.theautomated-marketing-system.com/

Online Marketing: A Path Of Most Persistence

“Wisdom is knowing what path to take next. Integrity is taking
it.” - Robyn Elpruhzlein

The field of online marketing is a diamond with many facets –
the trick is finding the right sparkle on a well-traveled path.


Marketing your website

An important tool is Search Engine Optimization. This is
typically done through a targeted use of keywords or phrases
that visitors may likely use when conducting an online search.
By going directly to the source (in this case Google) we can
learn a few things about how websites are ranked.

1) A web crawler (Googlebot) indexes the pages of your website
for ranking purposes.

2) An index is created for each page that allows the search to
be performed more quickly.

3) A rank is determined for your website based on pertinent
keywords or phrases.

4) A rank for your website is further enhanced by the number of
links from other web sources to your web page – the more
reputable the linking sources the greater weight in site
ranking.

5) The use of a specific keyword or phrase will also increase
your ranking if those exact words are typed in the search
window.

6) It may not seem fair, but a site with a greater overall
reputation or that has been in existence for an extended period
of time is typically given more weight in the ranking process
than a newer site.

7) Once Google completes their scoring process for each page,
based on keywords or phrases, the rankings are adjusted on
their search engine.

What have we learned?

• The primary lesson for online marketing is that optimizing
your website is a long term objective.

• Keywords and phrases play an important role in site ranking.

• Encouraging other sites to link to yours is a positive way to
increase your search rank.

By understanding the method one of the more famous search
engines use to rank sites you can learn to patiently work to
establish your websites as reputable and fully optimized.

Never allow your site content to remain static. Continually
work at adding reputable and solid content that will be
advantageous to your visitors and ultimately to your site
ranking.

Avoid overstuffing articles with keywords or phrases in an
attempt to gain a higher ranking. Google indicates they
ultimately penalize these sites when such ‘spamming’ techniques
are discovered. Some site owners have even added invisible
keywords to their site to increase their rankings. This path
may work in the short term, but damages your ranking and does a
real number on your perceived integrity.


About The Author: Scott Lindsay is a web developer and
entrepreneur. He is the founder of http://HighPowerSites.com
and many other web projects. Get your own website online in
just 5 minutes at http://www.HighPowerSites.com

Bobby Crutchfield Have a Great Day

The Single Most Powerful Internet Marketing Technique

The Single Most Powerful Internet Marketing Technique
Copyright 2006 Michael Littles

There are many ways to market your online business and it
can be very difficult weeding through what does and does
not work. Internet marketers spend much time setting-up
websites, finding good affiliate programs, and hunting for
ways to promote their online business. No matter how
impressive a website or how awesome an affiliate program
is, there is one thing that needs to be done correctly if
you are ever going to be successful online. You must hit
your target market.

The single most important factor to the internet marketer
is how does he/her get the word out to interested people in
the quickest and most efficient way possible? Contrary to
popular belief, more traffic to your website does not mean
more sales for you. It is not a numbers game like so many
people think. What every internet marketer needs is a
steady, constant flow of targeted traffic to their website.
If you are trying to sell wigs do you think you would have
a better chance targeting bald people or people with full
heads of hair? The answer is easy. It is the same concept
for the internet marketer. We want to target fellow
internet marketers, MLM distributors, and people that are
already involved in affiliate programs.

Fortunately, there is a very simple, powerful marketing
technique that you can use to reach your target market. By
utilizing the power of solo ad advertising to targeted
ezines which contain similar content of what you have to
offer, you will hit your target market and start seeing
online results. You do not need to be an expert to be able
to use this marketing method, but rather you just have to
follow a few simple steps.

First, make sure you subscribe to the ezine that you want
to advertise to and look over its content to see if it is
helpful and informative and also check to see if the ezine
is oversaturated with advertisements. If it is then you
want to stay away from it.

Second, write a short powerful ad to get people to go to
your website and/or subscribe to your newsletter. Do this
by concentrating on your ads headline. You have to grab the
readers’ attention. Try to be as specific as possible to
the needs of your potential customers.

Last is to use a solo ad. Solo ads are sent exclusively to
all of the readers in a particular ezine and do not compete
with any other ads. This creates a much better response
rate since your offer is the only one being seen by the
reader. They are a bit more expensive then classified ads
but well worth it in the long run.

Simply put, solo ad ezine advertising works. As an internet
marketer if you are not using this method of marketing to
promote your online business you are missing out on many
potential sales. It is the single, quickest and most
effective way to build your business on the internet today.
If you wish to propel your online business to the next
level, I highly recommend doing it with solo ad ezine
advertising.


About the Author:

Mike Littles is a home business entrepreneur who actively
participates in network marketing and uses a systematic
approach to create downline success. Find out more about
his current program at:
http://adtrack.trafficwave.net/t.pl/17044/91617

Bobby Crutchfield's Marketing Ideas
http://cruven.payitforward4profits.com/

Ford Laying Off 1000s What Company Do You Trust

Many companies are not very secure anymore. How long can you afford to wait before you realize your tactics just are not working. How much are you spending on every new promotion that says, we can make you wealthy. Just to find out that you made these guys some money out of your pocket. I am building a strong Online Business and I teach my Team to do exactly what I do. No hype I tell my Team the truth there is no magic button like Staples has. But I do have a success Guide and I promise if you follow exactly what it says you to can build over time (6 months to a year) a large Business. The best part this success Guide is free just
Register Here
Bobby Crutchfield
Prestige Cosmetics

Online Marketing Tips

Learn from other successful people study what they do. Successful people always posture themselves in what they say and do. One way they do this is to offer friendship first then the sale later. You know yourself that everyone is trying to get you to join there program. Notice what lead sales people do, they don't pounce on you to join there program. They know this technique doesn't work, think about it would you prefer to buy from a stranger or a friend. My friends have gotten me to invest way more time and money than strangers ever have. Maybe there is another lesson here, chose your friends wisely. Also know what you are talking about, whatever company you are in, if you are not using the product, IT SHOWS. Why would anyone buy a product that you don’t believe in enough to use yourself?
Now that we have gotten some of the basics out of the way we can do some marketing. E-zines is a great place to promote here is a good place to start: http://www.ezines-r-us.com/ Oh and I make nothing from this site, I have used them with fair results When using E-Zines remember to target your ads. If you are not sure who your target audience is ask your upline for advice and even help writing ads.
Google AdWords https://adwords.google.com/select/Login many successful Marketers use AdWords to promote their site. This is a pay Per Click service you can start for around $10 to set up your campaign. There are many sites and books on Google AdWords so do some studying first. This can be very cost effective advertising. I would suggest that you set your daily spending rate low ($1-$2 per day) until you learn more of how AdWords works. After a week or so and reading all you can about AdWords you will catch on.
Your own web site would be very beneficial you can create your own capture page or just forward it to you Affiliate signup page this separates you form the crowd of other Marketers in your company all advertising the same link with just a different username like this http://www.freedom.ws/cruven Oh this is a great place to get a web site and a business all in one. And yes this is one of my promotions but I generally don’t use this link. Here is one of the sites that I use for search engines http://www.cru-ven.com/ search engines have begun to dislike affiliate links.
Links to other related sites find sites that offer similar products or programs to yours. And try to establish links with them many will trade links with you and many have their site setup to except links because the more lins you have the more attention you get from search engines.
Blogs: creating blogs is free here is one http://www.blogger.com/create-blog.g place you can start. Name your blog something that will cath the attention f your target audience like Bobby’s Network Marketing Ideas. it should be related to your product or program. Then add content several times a week, articles relate to your blog tiltle. If your not a writer don’t worry there are lots of places to get prewritten ones you must leave the authors links this fine remember the more links on your site/blog the more search engine recognition. Now that you have content on your blog you must ping it http://pingomatic.com/ is a ping site also only ping once each time you put new content on your blog. Pinging to often without new content and the search engines will start to ignore you.
This should give you a good start with online marketing have a great day and never give up success will come. Bobby Crutchfield

Free Advertizing For you Site

Free advertising? How many ways can you get free web site advertising? No one knows for sure. Nowadays, getting something for free is too much to ask for. When it comes to advertising, this is not the case. There are still many ways web site owners can use to obtain that free advertising they wanted. Below are some exceptional ways in obtaining free advertising to get you started.
1. Online classified advertisements. Search "free advertising" or "free ads" and you will find there are many places that you can advertise for free. Place a few ads, then check your reports to see if they are bringing in traffic. Start regularly using the ones that deliver.
2. Link exchanges. Link exchanges with other web sites help you get free traffic in two ways: traffic directly from the other site, and traffic from the search engines.
The link helps your ranking with them. Find sites that have a theme similar or related to yours, and send out nice e-mails suggesting an exchange.
3. Post in discussion forums. This can be a great source of traffic for some sites. You just talk about things of interest to you and get free advertising to your web site.Put your website's URL in your signature. You will be surprised at how many visitors you attract by this method. The good thing is that they already "know" you from your posts so you can consider them to be "targeted" visitors. If you link to subscription pages for newsletters or e-courses you offer, you will also get repeat visits from the traffic. Do not spam or you will be kicked out but true participation makes a relevant link okay in many forums.
4. Your Newsletter or Ezine. You should have your own opt-in list and be in communication with your subscribers on a regular basis. Some webmasters send out a full e-mail newsletter, with the contents in the newsletter. Others just send a notification that the newsletter is available to read online.
5. Submit to directories. First do a search for niche directories for the topic of your website. Many general directories also accept submissions for free. The value of directories is not direct traffic, however. But the real value is in the links, which help your ranking and advertising with the search engines.
6. Write and submit testimonials. Sometimes it really is better to give than receive. Internet marketers are always on the lookout for testimonials. It lends them credibility. The next time you use a product or service that you genuinely like, send the supplier a testimonial. Include a link to your website. If they use your testimonial, they will almost certainly include the link. This way, your customers can verify that you are a real person. Depending on the product and the type of website that you have, you could even host a review on your site. You would be highly likely to get a link using this method. Only endorse products that you are genuinely happy with. Remember, your name will be associated with it, so make sure it is a good one.
7. Submit articles. This is one of the best ways to generate free web site traffic. An article is valuable because of the "resource box," or "about the author box" at the bottom, where there is always a link. If the article leaves you intrigued and wanting more, you might click through. This is a great way to generate free advertising. The visitors that you get in this manner have already read your work and know about your site. So they are highly targeted. All you have to do is submit articles on your chosen topic to one or more of the free article banks available and content hungry webmasters will use your work on their sites and in their newsletters. It is amazing how quickly these can be distributed around the Internet.
These are just some of the steps to get free advertising in order to get more traffic to your sire. Some of the steps are easy while some are not. It may take time to implement them but it is well worth investing a little time and effort.
find lots of articles here
http://www.articleson.com/
view my site here
http://cru-ven.com/