Citysearch Has New Way for Local Businesses to Advertise

Citysearch recently announced a set of APIs to make all of Citysearch’s local listings content and advertising available to other Websites and mobile apps. It's called CityGrid. Today, the company announced an online advertising solution called CityGrid Complete, as an extension of that.

CityGrid Complete was built around an investment from Citysearch in OrangeSoda. CitySearch tells WebProNews that with the investment, they will offer local advertisers:

- Access to a pay-for-performance advertising platform and campaign management tools

- Scalable search engine optimization solution on the Web, including targeted keyword optimization, and reporting (ranking, conversation tracking and trending)

- Local listings optimization, including business profile optimization and phone call tracking and reporting

- Wider distribution across CityGrid

"Whether it's driving new customers to our advertisers from major search sites or mobile applications, CityGrid Complete is about delivering local businesses the highest quality leads for the best value," said Citysearch CEO Jay Herratti. "By combining the distribution power of CityGrid with OrangeSoda's platform, every small business in America now has access to a one-stop local advertising solution with SEO strategies and tactics that historically required a large dedicated team of experts."

"Every search engine has introduced local directory listings prominently in their organic search results and this has given small businesses another way to get featured in the search engine results real estate," said Jay Bean, CEO of OrangeSoda. "For over 15 years, Citysearch has helped small businesses gain exposure on other websites, and now they want to help small businesses gain better exposure through organic search results. By bundling our expertise and tool set with CityGrid, we are offering small businesses a revolutionary local online advertising package that no other company offers."

OraneSoda has provided SEO services to brands like International Truck, Remax, and Jiffy Lube.

Facebook Reportedly Readying New Ads Manager

Facebook will reportedly begin testing a new Ads Manager soon, as well as a new bulk uploading tool for advertisers. The company told Inside Facebook that these would be rolling out to a few advertisers soon.

"Unlike today’s Ads Manager, the new version will include in-line editing and search, which should make campaign management much more efficient for those managing many Facebook Ads," says Inside Facebook's Justin Smith.

The new ad manager will apparently make ad creative easier to create and edit.

The bulk upload tool will obviously allow for a number of ads to be uploaded at the same time. This would be a convenient tool as opposed to the process available now, of creating the ad in the campaign manager.

"Agencies, app developers, and direct response advertisers who often want to target and test hundreds or thousands of specific creatives will now be able to do so much more easily," says Smith.

Facebook recently made some changes to its design, some of which pertained to Facebook ads. The changes were seemingly made to create a more consistent feel between the ads and the rest of Facebook. The thumbs up and thumbs down functions were removed and changes to a "like" feature, much like that of status updates, and just an X to close the ad out in place of the thumbs down.

The X is a bit subtler than the thumbs down, which could have been a consideration, since less people are likely to click the X than the thumbs down, which would likely be more appealing to advertisers. A thumbs down is just asking to be clicked. An "X" is more likely to go ignored, considering the ads aren't intrusive in the sense that they don't take over the user's screen or anything.

Latest Google AdWords API Available to All

This week Google released the latest version of the AdWords API (v2009) to all advertisers after releasing it to a limited group back in June. The new version offers users some new features, and Google says it comes with greater speed at a lower cost.

"Because it offers nearly all of the campaign management functionality you're used to from the AdWords API, along with a new rate sheet representing lower costs, now is a great time to start developing for v2009," says John Fitzpatrick of Google's AdWords API Team.

Documentation for the new version of the API can be found here. There is also a sandbox available where developers can experiment and test. The sandbox does not charge for API units. Users just need access to a Google Account username and password. Best practices for the sandbox can be found here.

Google has extended the length of time that they'll support both this version and the previous version, v13. The company has done so because the changes between the two versions are so significant. Google intends to retire v13 early next year, but will announce exact dates in the coming months.

"In anticipation of retiring v13, we strongly encourage you to begin development for v2009 as soon as possible," Fitzpatrick tells developers. "We're still working on making v2009 better, so this is also a great opportunity to provide us your early feedback."

Over the next several months, Google will be releasing more functionality for v2009, such as asynchronous calls, partial failure acceptance, keyword optimization tools, and reporting.

Why Just The Right PPC Campaign Management Brings in Lots and Lots of Cash

So you spent all your time and energy building the perfect website. Now you want to share the fruits of your labor, and maybe even make some money on the side through your online ads.

Maybe you have an online business that markets a hot product that you are selling on your website; but you find that you are having trouble bringing customers into your site. So instead of gaining money, you are actually losing money because of the monthly rent that you’re paying to have your website hosted in cyberspace.

The best solution to this problem is to advertise. Let people know that you are here and ready to do business. One of the quickest and most effective ways to advertise your website on the net is to come up with a great PPC campaign management plan. PPC is an abbreviation for Pay Per Click.

Certain keywords or phrases that people type into a search engine lead to hundreds and hundreds of search results that pertain to that specific keyword. Businesses that want to advertise on the net using a PPC campaign have to come up with a plethora of keywords that is associated to the business that they are running; so when potential customers type in these keywords, it will lead them to their business site.

This is pretty much the whole concept that operates behind PPC. This is how a PPC campaign brings in traffic to your site, with the selection of the right keywords that people can search through the net.

Some keywords tend to be more expensive than others, especially popular ones. It is vital to select the right keywords, in order to get your money’s worth. This is why it is important to manage you PPC campaign wisely. Sometimes you are better off opting for the less popular keywords that are not so expensive, especially if you have a limited budget. Some businesses even hire the help of a consultant to manage their PPC campaigns.

There are a lot of experts that specialize in PPC campaign management. They come with strategic plans, and assess the need of their clients. They then come up with a PPC campaign that caters to their client’s specification.

This is why big online businesses seek the expertise of a professional to run their PPC ad campaign, because the right set of plans, can potentially bring in a large amount of profits. The more keywords you have, the more you increase the chances of customers clicking these keywords that would lead them to your website. There are also some software you can purchase, such as GoToast, or Bid Rank. These software track down your keywords listing.

If you are running a business online, and are planning to run a PPC campaign, it is advisable to purchase keywords that are extremely related to the theme of your business. This way, people know what they are getting, and don’t get confused about the content of your website. The secret is to use keywords or phrases that are searched frequently, but cost very little.

The chances are, the longer people stay in your site, the likelihood of these potential customers making a transaction. But first thing is first. You must lure them into your turf.

This is why a lot of entrepreneurs spend a large amount of their budget on advertising, because they know that the right advertising campaign can start the ball rolling.

Also, you should do some research before you start your PPC campaign. There are a lot of PPC search engines to chose from. Those who are less renowned charge less for the same keywords that you’d find in the bigger PPC search engines.

The great thing about PPC campaigns is that you can reach a worldwide audience. Advertising online means global marketing.

Most PPC search engines require a monthly payment in exchange for their services. But if you fail to make payments, they will automatically take your listings out of their search engines. So make sure that you pay your monthly bills, so all the efforts that you put into your PPC campaign don’t go to waste.

The potential earnings that can be generated by starting a pay per click campaign is significant. That’s why a lot of online businesses now are trying to get in on the act. Now, with the right set of keywords, and a smart PPC campaign management plan, more than ever, online businesses are bringing in the big bucks.