Increased conversion by paying the least possible price for each conversion is every Google AdWords user’s dream, however most advertisers struggle with poor conversion rates and high ad campaign costs. There is some good news though; Google wants to help you out.

Google has launched a new AdWords feature; the Conversion Optimizer (a keyword management and analytics tool) that focuses on the relevancy and Quality Score of an ad campaign to help advertisers optimize their cost-per-conversion vs. volume of conversion exchange.

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Google is at war… with New York based local advertising firm, Yext.

Yext specializes in pay-per-call advertising for New York based businesses and have launched a tag feature that will mimic Google Tags.

Tags are small colored graphic advertisements that stand out in web directories and search result pages and are widely used by businesses to mark their presence over the internet. Tags can be attached with extra information, including advertisements or mobile coupons.

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If you have ever driven during rush hour in the Philadelphia area, you might have noticed a rather curious billboard. This billboard is in attention-avoiding black with no images or color. Instead in a slightly weird font is the URL to a single website: I Hate Steven Singer dot com. While driving by the billboard, you may also hear the same Mr. Singer on the radio - talking about the many reasons to hate him. Getting home, and logging onto the Internet, if you happen to visit the website you would find what may be the most irreverent jewelry store homepage ever created. On the right hand side is the simple question “Is she pushing for the ring?” Underneath, Steven Singer offer his “guide to buying you some more time.”

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Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think that online marketing is a gamble, but it is a form of calculated risk. Unlike typical wagers, you have the ability to adjust how much you are placing on a particular tactic, there are more than two teams, what one channel does impacts another and there is much more than just a win or loss outcome.

But if you are placing all of your marketing budget or efforts on only one channel, you might be missing the big payout: conversions and brand awareness. Why? Because so many digital marketing efforts are not measured against their actual value.

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This relates to the post that I did over at Marketing Pilgrim the other day when I registered my disgust for advertisers and web sites who throw huge ads in between me and the content I want to see on their site. You can read about just how much I love intrusive advertising here so I’ll move on.

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With more and more big brands competing for top Google exposure, it makes you wonder just how much they spend on their search engine advertising campaigns…

AdAge recently obtained an internal Google document which highlights some of the biggest AdWords spenders for the month of June 2010.

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I conducted an ad hoc and wholly unscientific poll among a handful of my friends the other day about the possibility of advertising coming to books. It produced some strong (and predictable) negative reactions.

Hell freezing, dead bodies and metaphors about fat and slim peppered the comments I received. A minority felt ambivalent about the idea and said it was inevitable.

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Google have launched a new tool that aims to help advertisers test and precisely measure the impact of changes to their AdWords campaign.

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As someone who works full time at the agency founded by David Ogilvy, there are plenty of reminders of his wisdom on the walls. Even online, at least once a day I see a tweet come through with someone quoting one of his famous sayings. So I don’t disagree with him lightly, but he did have one quote about dishonesty in advertising that I wish were true - but isn’t:

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Google recently updated its AdWords program to allow advertisers to analyse their competitors a little more closely.

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