What I learned from Google's Spring Training

Google spring training

Google Spring Training

Paul, Larby, and I attended a spring training session for large advertisers at Google yesterday. Besides the free Google goodies, we learned some interesting facts and ways to grow our campaigns:

• 54% of all content revenue on the web comes from just 4 sites: MySpace, Yahoo, AOL, and YouTube. But these sites comprise only 22% of all page views. Niche site traffic is not only cheaper but far more engaging to users and more likely to convert.
• 15 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. In fact, based on searches, YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the US.  Have you tried sponsored videos and overlays on YouTube?  You can’t buy it via AdWords and there are unique ways to target.  For example, you could potentially target an artist’s video and show a ringtone ad for their name in an overlay.  YouTube Insights will even tell you how engaged visitors are at each point within your video.
• 36% of searchers who see a display ad then did a search online.  In other words, if you are building a brand, using display and search in combination will lift sales.  Further, using paid search to augment organic brand traffic on average drives 23% more visitors than using organic alone.  Thus, there is measurable value to brand
  bidding.  Google’s Display Ad Builder will help you create static and flash ads in minutes– easy and powerful if you don’t have the money to hire professional designers to make ads in multiple formats.  Try it!
• 30% of people who are watching TV are also online at the same time.  Use what’s popular on TV to gauge what may be popular online, too– you can ride that wave to your advantage.
• 193 million folks in the US are online.  (Makes you wonder who is NOT).  Of these, 64% have broadband. The average American now spends 16 hours online per week.
• Though the overall economy is hit like never before, 25% of companies say they are increasing their spending online, while only 13% say they will spend less online now.
• The unspoken statistic–how much did Google spend on this training event?  They had free booze, food, shirts, and books– plus had on hand product managers from Google Local, YouTube Insights, Google Analytics, Google Classifieds, Search Insights, and other groups.

If you’re an affiliate, you’ll want to grow your knowledge beyond Affiliate Summit and Ad-Tech– come to events such as these, plus meetup202.  Build your relationships with folks at the search engines, too– as they can help you improve your campaign performance.  I met other advertisers there who market health supplements, insurance, and online dating.  What are you missing out by not being there?

Dennis Yu

Dennis Yu is co-author of the #1 best selling book on Amazon in social media, The Definitive Guide to TikTok Ads. He has spent a billion dollars on Facebook ads across his agencies and agencies he advises. Mr. Yu is the "million jobs" guy-- on a mission to create one million jobs via hands-on social media training, partnering with universities and professional organizations. You can find him quoted in major publications and on television such as CNN, the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, NPR, and LA Times. Clients have included Nike, Red Bull, the Golden State Warriors, Ashley Furniture, Quiznos-- down to local service businesses like real estate agents and dentists. He's spoken at over 750 conferences in 20 countries, having flown over 6 million miles in the last 30 years to train up young adults and business owners. He speaks for free as long as the organization believes in the job-creation mission and covers business class travel. You can find him hiking tall mountains, eating chicken wings, and taking Kaqun oxygen baths-- likely in a city near you.

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