Comments on: Ten Dirty Secrets of Paid-Search, Part 1 http://esacompany.com/catalyst/2009/12/ten-dirty-secrets-of-paid-search-part-1/ Your best read for local broadcast television and internet sales, retail intelligence, and media insight Fri, 30 Apr 2010 14:03:42 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Dave Eckstein http://esacompany.com/catalyst/2009/12/ten-dirty-secrets-of-paid-search-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-1974 Dave Eckstein Sat, 09 Jan 2010 05:35:55 +0000 http://esacompany.com/catalyst/?p=427#comment-1974 Great post Robert, thank you. Actually, this is going to sound funny, but we love paid search. I'm actually a fan of much of what Google does. I recommend Google products and services to my clients. Paid search underwrites the organic search that has enabled a new lead generation source for many companies. That alone makes me applaud the effort, not to mention all the other stuff. Paid search has a place in the mix for certain types of businesses, and has proved successful in those cases. But the local advertiser needs to take a close look at the math before diving in, just like they should with any decision (FYI, many do not). Comparing apples-to-apples is difficult here, but at the end of the day, if I can connect with more new customers using something other than paid search, I should do that "something else." Many of the companies we work with would be making a mistake using paid search, simply because their "ad cost per new customer" would go up! For example -- and there are many, so I'll just pick one -- if I am a lawyer in Seattle, I would pay an arm-and-a-leg for leads through paid search ... yet so many do. Still, there are many businesses that can and do use it; some quite well. I'm guessing you know there is a tidal wave of money bleeding out of dying media like yellow pages, direct mail, newspaper, etc. A nice portion of that money is funneling into things like paid search and behavioral targeting; but in some cases, the new digs aren't any better than the old when you look at the math. Fortunes will be made, but many more mistakes will be made along the way. As for shorting GOOG ... Hmmmm, I probably don't have the proper clearance to give out financial advise! I will proudly say I did own the stock for a while there, and it treated me well. Great business, one that continues to enter new markets to diversify risk, but still remains dominant in search. Good for them! But I will add this. I personally would not base investment decisions upon any assumption that all media buys are based upon solid logic. I mean, the last time I checked, our Yellow Pages was still as big as ever (and still sitting in the bottom of our shoe bin). There are thousands of bad media decisions in that shoe bin alone! Wall Street and Main Street are and always will be two different animals. My guess is paid search will continue to rake in more money. More importantly, that's also the educated view of many people who follow Google much more closely than I ever will. Google is a great company and I hope I didn't confuse with the slant of this post. Thanks Robert, for taking the time to share your well-worded thoughts. Great post Robert, thank you. Actually, this is going to sound funny, but we love paid search. I’m actually a fan of much of what Google does. I recommend Google products and services to my clients. Paid search underwrites the organic search that has enabled a new lead generation source for many companies. That alone makes me applaud the effort, not to mention all the other stuff. Paid search has a place in the mix for certain types of businesses, and has proved successful in those cases. But the local advertiser needs to take a close look at the math before diving in, just like they should with any decision (FYI, many do not). Comparing apples-to-apples is difficult here, but at the end of the day, if I can connect with more new customers using something other than paid search, I should do that “something else.” Many of the companies we work with would be making a mistake using paid search, simply because their “ad cost per new customer” would go up! For example — and there are many, so I’ll just pick one — if I am a lawyer in Seattle, I would pay an arm-and-a-leg for leads through paid search … yet so many do. Still, there are many businesses that can and do use it; some quite well.

I’m guessing you know there is a tidal wave of money bleeding out of dying media like yellow pages, direct mail, newspaper, etc. A nice portion of that money is funneling into things like paid search and behavioral targeting; but in some cases, the new digs aren’t any better than the old when you look at the math. Fortunes will be made, but many more mistakes will be made along the way.

As for shorting GOOG … Hmmmm, I probably don’t have the proper clearance to give out financial advise! I will proudly say I did own the stock for a while there, and it treated me well. Great business, one that continues to enter new markets to diversify risk, but still remains dominant in search. Good for them! But I will add this. I personally would not base investment decisions upon any assumption that all media buys are based upon solid logic. I mean, the last time I checked, our Yellow Pages was still as big as ever (and still sitting in the bottom of our shoe bin). There are thousands of bad media decisions in that shoe bin alone! Wall Street and Main Street are and always will be two different animals.

My guess is paid search will continue to rake in more money. More importantly, that’s also the educated view of many people who follow Google much more closely than I ever will. Google is a great company and I hope I didn’t confuse with the slant of this post. Thanks Robert, for taking the time to share your well-worded thoughts.

]]> By: Robert Ross http://esacompany.com/catalyst/2009/12/ten-dirty-secrets-of-paid-search-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-1973 Robert Ross Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:11:38 +0000 http://esacompany.com/catalyst/?p=427#comment-1973 Uhhmmm, clearly you don't like Paid Search. So my question is this, how come every high paid analyst in every major stock market on earth who covers Google stock and no doubt who are also party to the research you quote, are not shorting it into oblivion? If it is performing so poorly, which you no doubt have studied yourself with exhaustive research, why does Wall Street have such a love affair with such a blatantly loosing proposition? I mean, Google makes ZERO dollars from Organic SEO, and Paid Search is their meat and potatoes, so then what gives? Should I short Google stock? Just wondering... Uhhmmm, clearly you don’t like Paid Search. So my question is this, how come every high paid analyst in every major stock market on earth who covers Google stock and no doubt who are also party to the research you quote, are not shorting it into oblivion? If it is performing so poorly, which you no doubt have studied yourself with exhaustive research, why does Wall Street have such a love affair with such a blatantly loosing proposition? I mean, Google makes ZERO dollars from Organic SEO, and Paid Search is their meat and potatoes, so then what gives? Should I short Google stock? Just wondering…

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