I recently listened a webcast on PPC Rockstars (a webmaster radio program hosted by David Szetela, founder of Clix Marketing) where David was interviewing Brad Geddes, a guru in Post-Click conversion optimization who was talking about the importance of a PPC management. It was really interesting for me because a lot of companies undervalue the professional help of a PPC or SEM professionals. Brad explained on a very simple way, how a PPC campaign can immensely benefit from basic management and good practices.

On the webcast Brad demonstrates how improving the quality score on your keywords, improving conversion rates, profits per sale (through cross sales) and adding negative keywords can increase the profitability of any campaign on more that 50%. The interesting thing about the presentation is that the data presented by Brad is based on reasonable achievable improvements but virtually any good PPC management firm.

In order to simplified the conclusions of this webcast and summarize the 12 slides presented by Brad, I created these spreadsheet based on the same data presented on this example.

Let’s say you run a “non managed” PPC campaign spending $1,000 per day and making $50,700 in profits. If the campaign is properly managed for an online advertising professional you could end it up making $134.672 in profits without increasing your monthly budget.

On this graph I presented 3 different case scenarios:

1. Change: Increasing Quality Score (from 6.5 to 8 ) – Result: Increased of $11,700 in revenues
2. Change: Increasing Conversion Rate (from 2% to 3%) – Result: Increased of $25,350 in revenues
3. Change: Increasing profits per sales (cross selling) (25%) – Result: Increased of $12,675 in revenues
4. Change: Adding Negative Keywords (0.5 improvement in Quality Score and 0.25% improvement in conversions) – Result: Increased of $10,725 in revenues

By applying all these changes you can see how the numbers at the end of the month have also increased, the largest increased though takes place where you increase your conversion rate, even by just 1%; that’s why the landing pages in PPC campaigns are critically important.

The problem today is that a lot of businesses don’t realize these new challenges on PPC management and they never focused on these critical factors; any good PPC management firm will be able to handle all these issues properly, and put your ROI back on track. As Brad has illustrated a good PPC management is always a good investment.

This article has been written by Libardo Lambrano, founder of Syndikomm; an online marketing firm based in New York city and specialized in multicultural markets. Libardo Lambrano, a digital citizen of the world can be reached@llambrano

There has been a lot of polemic around the disapproval from Apple of the Google Voice App for the iPhone, but I have to clarify several things, first at all on an answer from Apple to the FCC on July 31 2009 they clearly said that is not true that the Google Voice App has been disapproved, they said that they continue to study (which is supposedly should be different). But no matter if the application still under review I believe it will never going to make it to the iPhone, the reason is very simple, it will allow you to call for free and it will allow Google to take control of the voicemail among other intrinsic features of the iphone.

As has been said on the media Google Voice will allow you to call for free but it is not because the Google Voice uses the data plan and the call is VoIP, this is absolutely not true, what the application does is that it routes your call through a Google number before dial to your final destination, so you are actually making a call using the minutes in your phone. So the question is…

How can I call for free with the Google Voice on the IPhone?

Here it is how:

1. First at all you need to get your Google voice number from Google on this website www.google.com/voice
2. Once you have your number assigned you can access the Google voice website directly from your phone by pointing to this url in your browser www.m.google.com/voice
3. Once on this page you can login to your Google Voice account and start to dial any number as you would normally do directly with the dial pad on your iphone.
4. After dial any number, Google Voice will connect to a Google Voice number, which is different from the Google Voice number Google originally assigned to you. For instance in my case my Google Voice number is 516-690-68XX but when Google Voice is making an outgoing call from my iPhone connects the call using another number that is 518-314-94XX. In other words the number Google Voice uses for outgoing calls is different to the Google Voice number assigned (for incoming calls only).
5. The number Google Voice uses to make the out-coming call is the important number in this case, because this number is the one that will allow you to call for free; this is how: When Google Voice is connecting you through this number is actually making a real call that will be deducted from the minutes in your plan, to avoid this the only thing you need to do is to add this number to you A-List at AT&T, this is a feature that not too many people is aware of, but it is basically a list of 10 different telephone numbers that you can call for free and don’t count within the minutes on your plan. In other words if you just use Google Voice for your outgoing calls and the Google Voice connection number is on you’re a-List at AT&T all your calls will be free, you will then be able to minimize the minutes on your plan, saving several bucks a month.

The problem I have right now is that I equally love and enjoy Google and Apple products, unfortunately this time I need to side with one of them and it is Google, these are my reasons:

On January 26 Google Voice released the HTML5 version for the iPhone making most of the functionalities originally planed available to the public and under passing the questionable approval process from iPhone. I started to use the application and for its convenience and savings opportunity I just want to use it from now on (instead my AT&T number), the problem is that because of Apple’s rejection one of the most critical features originally planned is not available on Google Voice and is the integration of the application with my contacts list; Any time I want to dial somebody I need to see his/her number somewhere else and then dial it manually, off course this can be solved by exporting the contacts from my iPhone and importing them to Google Voice, the problem is they will never be up to date and there is not possibility of keeping them in sync.

What all this is causing is that for the first time I started to feel some kind of tyranny from Apple which having the ability to make my life much life has insisted in blocking the Google Voice application while approving others with the same or better functionalities such as Line2 the first dual mode cell/VoIP app for the iPhone.

Most of the reasons they expressed to delay the approval of the Google Voice app are actually present on the Line2 app by Toktumi. On response from Apple to the FCC they said that no application routing calls through the AT&T’s 3G network has been approved on the Apple Store; this is not true anymore Line2 actually can place free calls using the 3G data network of AT&T. Why if they approve this application they still denied Google Voice? On the same reply to the FCC Apple said that they have not approved Google Voice because “it appears to alter the iPhone’s distinctive user experience by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls, text messaging and voicemail“; this is exactly what the Line2 app does… so please Apple explain me what is the criteria behind this. I wouldn’t be surprised if Apple buys out Toktumi and its Line2 App and definitely blocks the possibility of Google Voice to be completely integrated with the iPhone.

I would like to see the Google Voice App approved and I know so many people is expecting the same, this double criteria, lack of transparency and confusion is just hurting Apple’s brand and will force so many users to migrate to Nexus one. If the Google Voice App gets approved I would be happy to continue using my iPhone, but blocking the app is just making the iPhone more difficult to use and less convenient. Please Apple don’t make this mistake, I used to love Palm too but where other phones are easier and more convenient to use consumers don’t think twice… please approve the Google Voice once for all, we need it, we want it.

This article has been written by Libardo Lambrano, founder of Syndikomm; an online marketing firm based in New York city and specialized in multicultural markets. Libardo Lambrano, a digital citizen of the world can be reached@llambrano

Bing is definitely committed to increase their market share one way or another, the latest big step is a dedicated line to advertisers (866) 272-9202, that they can use Monday through Saturday from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM Pacific time; to get help on the set up and optimization of their campaigns. Bing is offering free advice on keywords, bidding and even on ad copy. This is a major step for Bing, which doesn’t have the large number of advertisers that Google has and can finance this kind of operation. On the email they are sending out to promote the free service they also include some interesting data:

Since the launch of Bing, searches on Microsoft sites have grown nearly 52%, with 82 million users searching Bing every month.

Microsoft search query share grew to 11.3% in January.

As I said on one of my previous blogs, maybe is s good time to give Bing a second chance.

This article has been written by Libardo Lambrano, founder of Syndikomm; an online marketing firm based in New York city and specialized in multicultural markets. Libardo Lambrano, a digital citizen of the world can be reached@llambrano

It seems that so far Apple has succeed in regulating which applications are available for the iphone/ipad and which not, but some of the polemic decisions they have taken lately plus the tedious process of getting applications approved have forced programmers and developers to take different paths to achieve their goals.

Apple has said that they don’t allow flash to run on iphones mostly because it consumes the battery rapidly and can also encourage hackers to run unwelcome executable code that can interfere with the normal operation of the phone, even though the debate stills on, the truth is that besides battery consumption Apple is not interested at all in loosing control on its Apple Store, by allowing flash to run on the iphone, Apple will automatically allow developers to create their own flash apps and offer them directly to the public, this means that besides shared revenues from any App they will also loose the capacity to review and approve what they consider safe for the device and the public.

Apple enjoys exerting total dominance over its hardware and the software that runs on it, but in this case I’ve seen more and more programmers finding their own way to get there.

The approval problem

As of January 15, 2010, there were at least 133,979 third-party applications, this means that a lot of the applications have already been invented; in some categories even different variations of the same kind of application can be found, all these translate in smaller space and opportunities for new developers, in one hand is taking longer for Apple to approve new Apps due to overwhelming number of requests and in the other hand they are turning down a lot of applications that are similar to the ones already up or just represent some kind of conflict of interest; Apple doesn’t want apps that allow you to call over the web, adult content and weird things like ispoofcard that allows you to call any number but showing different call ID number.

This absolutely understandable control have forced companies to take desperate decisions in order to get their apps approved and if they don’t they are just developing stand alone apps that can run independently from the Apple Store.

For instance Fantasy Interactive, one of the best interactive new media agencies in the world published an open letter to Apple (or specifically to Mr Steve Jobs http://dearstevejobs.com/) in behalf of SVT, the Sweeden’s largest television station in order to get approve their app for their Free TV on demand service. They even send a group of Swedish activists with iphone costumes, banners and flyers to the Cupertino headquarters in California. You can imagine the drama of getting this application approve, but what about all those companies without the pockets of SVT… just prays and patience. (Read Case Study Here)

I don’t disagree with Apple regulations, most of them benefit human principles and social respect, I’m converted Mac user and I love the company and its vision but I firmly believe they will loose this battle of controlling apps developed for the iphone; just recently in January 26 2010 Google launch a voice mobile web app for the iphone that never was approved by Apple. The application allows people to make cheaper long distance calls through Google Voice bypassing the ATT mobile network, beneficial for end user, but not so much for iphone and ATT which will make less money from their clients.

Even though the Google Voice App is probably the most famous one that has bypass the Apple approval process is not the only one, other companies are just creating apps that work with the iphone and not necessarily have to be download from the Apple store. And I have to say they work smoothly and just fine; I believe other developers will very soon take this road.

Google Pressure

The other problem Apple is facing is the enormous pressure from the Nexus One and the Android platform that Google as opposite as Apple has open to developers and doesn’t have any intention to regulate; it is true that the Nexus One doesn’t have the traction yet to became a treat for Apple but with more apps available for Nexus One and more companies carrying the phone the panorama may dramatically change on the coming years. Just few days ago Google opened officially an App Store for Businesses.

I don’t believe Apple will ever open their platform as Google did but I imagine we will start to see a lot of vertical independent directories of “non official iphone apps” that people will start to use just as they use the regular official iphone apps.

This article has been written by Libardo Lambrano, founder of Syndikomm; an online marketing firm based in New York city and specialized in multicultural markets. Libardo Lambrano, a digital citizen of the world can be reached@llambrano