Articles by Elizabeth Marsten
Elizabeth Marsten // 6 May, 2010
22 Free Keyword Tools for PPC and SEO
It happens to the best of us, one day you’re plugging along and you realize, you need to expand your keyword list, you need more niches, you need to spend more or you need to make more. So what do you do? Try any one of these free keyword tools or create your own methods… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 25 Mar, 2010
Google AdWords ReMarketing – Everything You Need to Know
It’s so new that there was bubble wrap on the account when I unwrapped the new “Audiences” tab. If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s the newest toy being made available in AdWords- Remarketing on the Content Network. Remarketing is not a new concept, the idea of basically, trying again with a potential customer… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 24 Mar, 2010
MSN AdCenter Match Types Can Determine Your Ad Position
Recently I was able to ask some more specific “PPC nerd” questions of an AdCenter rep and got to really drill down into match types, the way the keywords are “locked” together, ad position and how it’s been changed since Bing came online. For those that don’t know, AdCenter keywords are unique for match types… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 19 Mar, 2010
Why Paid Search Rocks and Email Lists Do Not
Once in awhile someone throws down the gauntlet and you just have to accept. In this case, a former Portentite went on to MarketFish, an email marketing list company in Seattle, claiming that in comparison, paid search is a lesser beast. While I would never throw away a marketing opportunity (we are a full service… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 4 Mar, 2010
Internet Marketing Jokes
It was only a matter of time before I broke down and degenerated into making awful puns, dirty jokes and drawing conclusions where none should be drawn. Without further adieu, I bring to you….very bad internet marketing jokes. Internet Marketing Relationships We just weren't the same match type. She had too many negative keywords. His… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 21 Dec, 2009
How to: Set up and Track Product Extension Ads in Google AdWords
Product Extension Ads isn’t the newest tool on the block from Google AdWords, but it most certainly is pretty cool. Especially if you have a Google Base Merchant Center account with product feed. The Help Center stuff at Google is a wall of explanatory text, but I still found myself emailing the reps asking for… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 12 Nov, 2009
Evan Fishkin’s PubCon 2009 Head Shaving by Matt Cutts
Check out Portent Interactive’s own Evan Fishkin at PubCon 2009 in Las Vegas, NV. Evan’s head was shaved by Google’s Matt Cutts due to a lost bet. Evan bet Matt that no one would submit a spam site to Google’s interactive site review. Clearly, someone did. And no, the bet had nothing to do with… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 12 Nov, 2009
Don’t Market to Me like I’m a Prostitute
While this is a true story, it took me awhile to stop being creeped out and make the connection to how this could apply to internet marketing. Once while home was a mere four blocks from a friend’s house (granted I crossed a major avenue in which prostitution is a known issue, but 35 blocks… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 30 Oct, 2009
Dear Yahoo, Please Stop Showing My Ads for EVERYthing
Dear Yahoo, While I admit that I was pretty annoyed with the Google session based keyword searches, I have to say that Yahoo has them beat. Ever since they advanced “advanced” matching that’s been taking over in PPC accounts, keywords that used to see 3,000 impressions in a month are now seeing 3,000 within a… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 23 Sep, 2009
Dear Google, Please Give Me Back My Money
Dear Google, I was going through my search query reports the other day and noticed that more and more I am seeing these broad match (session based) results. Interesting. I know that there is no opt out button for this and like my fellow SEMs am in a bit of an annoyed snit, but since… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 2 Sep, 2009
Did Google Earn the Fail Badge or did the Advertiser?
Periodically you’ll see a post where someone has collected “epic fail” (and not just on the Fail Blog) screenshots of ads gone wrong. The serious plane crash news article next to the banner ad for discount tickets on the same airline that crashed. The diet pill flash banner across a forum for recovering anorexics. A… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 27 Jul, 2009
Simplify PPC Reports
After attending a Stratigent workshop with Jennifer Vessenmeyer called “Pimp your Reports” it got me thinking about PPC reporting and how I could be “pimping” my own reports. I don’t mean throwing so much data together that no one will ever read it like a house bill nor exporting something out of AdWords and handing… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 18 Jun, 2009
AdWords Bid Simulator Update
As we all already know Google AdWords has beta testing the AdWords Bid Simulator feature since late May/early June. So what’s new since then? I’ll show you: Previous screenshots of the new feature have not included this Cost versus Clicks graph, which gives you a nice visual on how your estimated stats will look like… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 5 Jun, 2009
Writing Killer Ad Copy…and not getting arrested
As promised, my presentation from the SMX Advanced session Writing Killer Ad Copy. You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. And you’ll completely re-think how you write ads. Keep in mind that this presentation was created for advanced paid search specialists. The purpose of the session was to get people thinking “outside the box.” My job was to… Read More
Elizabeth Marsten // 28 May, 2009
Writing Killer Ad Copy: SMX Advanced Seattle Speaker
That’s right, yours truly is on one of many SMX Advanced panels this June 2 and 3rd in Seattle, dedicated to organic, paid search and internet marketing tactics. In particular my panel is on the paid search track for “Writing Killer Ad Copy- The Interactive Edition.” After the conference, I’ll post my presentation here (or… Read More