Google has been making so many changes so quickly over the last 5 months that I can hardly keep up! That’s great news because it means new features and reporting in the content network (oops…I mean display network).

I wanted to give you the heads up that on Monday I will be sending out a survey for Content Network Insider so keep an eye out for that email (or get a jump start here) . It will offer you the opportunity for a FREE Content Network Insider trial so that you can keep getting emails like this one that keep you up to speed on what’s going on in the world of contextual advertising along with on demand training calls with me and other experts on topics like Facebook, Video advertising and so much more.

Here’s Google’s Announcement:

http://adwords.blogspot.com/2010/06/introducing-google-display-network.html

Introducing the Google Display Network
Friday, June 18, 2010 | 9:45 AM
Labels: Announcements, Display Ads, Display Network, YouTube

Over the past year, we’ve been focused on investing in display advertising, and we’ve seen great momentum from the increasing number of you running display campaigns with Google. We’ve rolled out new features and targeting options and more precise measurement tools. To provide more places for you to run display ads, we’ve added more publisher sites (through Google AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange) to our ad network of over one million sites. Meanwhile, many of you have continued to run ads on YouTube and our own properties. In an effort to make our display media offerings clearer to advertisers like you and agencies, we’re creating a new umbrella name for all these properties, the Google Display Network.

The Google Display Network will comprise all of the sites (apart from search sites), where you can buy ads through Google, including YouTube, Google properties such as Google Finance, Gmail, Google Maps, Blogger as well as over one million Web, video, gaming, and mobile display partners (our display partners include all of our AdSense and DoubleClick Ad Exchange partner sites that allow text and/or display ads). The Google Display Network offers all ad formats – text, image, rich media, and video ads – enabling you to unleash your creativity and engage potential customers across the Web.

You can run ads on the Google Display Network the same way you always have. Either place bids through AdWords or make reservations on YouTube and Google Finance with the help of a Google account team.

In the upcoming weeks, you’ll see a change in the AdWords interface reflecting this new term, and you’ll see Google Display Network where you might have seen Google Content Network mentioned. We’ve also launched a new website showcasing the sites and benefits available to you on the Google Display Network.

We’re working hard to offer the best display advertising solutions and we look forward to introducing new features on the Google Display Network that help you reach your advertising goals.

What if I could give you a visual map of the Google content network? A beautifully done, visual perspective of how categorization works on the content network. Trust me, you’ve never seen the Google content network like this!

Well…I’m GIVING mindmaps of the Google content network away!

The Advanced Content Network Boot Camp kicks off Wednesday, April 14th at 9AM. As of noon on Friday, there were 18 spots left…there are less than that now. One of the reasons the course is filling up is because we have offered the mindmap as a bonus to anyone who signs up for the Advanced Boot Camp. We’ll close the doors to the live training once those 18 spots are filled.

So hurry…sign up for the Advanced course and lay claim to your Google content network mindmap AND put yourself in the top 1% of all advertisers on Google’s Content Network.

http://www.ContentNetworkBootcamps.com

Looking forward to next week!

Shelley Ellis

One of the most commonly asked questions about optimizing content campaigns is “what is a good click through rate?” The short answer…well…it depends. Your click  through rate is going to vary based on:

• your account structure (keyword themed or placement targeted)
• the types of sites you are targeting (general or targeted, top domain or specific pages)
• the ad formats that you are using (text, image, video, mobile)

You really shouldn’t grade your account, campaign, AdGroup or even your ad copy based on average click through rates. If you run a placement report, you will find that click through rates vary campaign to campaign, AdGroup to AdGroup, placement to placement and ad to ad.

If your CTR isn’t what you expected or would like, dig deeper and analyze the individual sites, the pages your ads are showing on and the ad format and copy. Some general sites are just going to get lower CTR’s by nature and some ads may perform better on some sites but terrible on others.

For higher traffic and general topic sites, try a more generic ad and landing page and a softer call to action (like a free trial or report). As you get more specific with your targeting, use different landing pages and ad copy for the different audiences. Example: if you are targeting CEO’s with placement targeting, the ad copy and landing pages should be different from the placements, landing pages and ads that target merchandise buyers.

To evaluate your click through rate on the content network, use your networks tab to look at the details for your automatic and/or managed placements or better yet, run placement reports so that you are looking at all the variables for each AdGroup and ad.

For more information on Content Network strategies stay tuned to my YouTube channel, blog or you can still sign up for the Content Network Boot Camp.

Only a few seats are still open for the Intermediate Content Network Boot Camp starting January 20th, 2010