mortiz081

(cross-posted on the Google Commerce Blog ) People love saving money. According to eMarketer , almost 88.2 million people--or half of all U.S. adults who use the Internet--redeemed an online coupon in 2011, and this number should increase to 96.8 million by 2013. So it’s no wonder why so many companies, big and small, are using discounts, in the form of daily deals, to drive increases in sales. In November 2011 Google Offers partnered with REI , the nationally loved outdoor retailer, to run REI’s first-ever daily deal and Google’s first-ever national offer: $15 for $25 worth of outdoor gear from REI. Co-branded landing page used with marketing campaign to increase awareness of the offer “REI was looking for ways to learn how we can use daily deals to drive the business during a non-promotional period, both within our stores and online, and a partnership with Google was a great fit,” said Teresa Harting, REI’s Marketing Manager. “We wanted to partner with a company that understood our ...

(cross-posted on the Google Commerce Blog ) SXSW Interactive 2012 starts tomorrow and we’re excited to be a part of this year’s festivities in Austin! As we announced last week , we’re transforming Rainey St. into the “Google Village” on March 10-11. Only a few steps away from the Austin Convention Center, the “Google Village” will consist of four houses packed full of demos and fun, drinks and music. The Commerce team will be at the Google Village too, and here’s what we got going on: Google Offers Google Offers will be set up throughout Google Village and our goal is to connect you to our product by allowing you to experience great Austin businesses that we’ve partnered with to run Google Offers. Your journey begins at the Maps House, where you can pick up a Google Offers passport. This passport gets you access to all the Google Offers carts outside every house in the village: Developer House: Get a taste of local favorite Frank’s unique artisan hot dogs Discovery House: Play our...

(cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog ) At Google, one of our goals is to help make the web work for your business. Today we’re introducing the Learn with Google webinar program that does just that, by sharing best practices and tips across a variety of products, including search ads, mobile ads, display ads, YouTube and Google Analytics. We’re kicking off the program with eight live webinars in March: March 13 at 10am PDT: 5 Tips to Start Marketing your Business with Video March 14 at 10am PDT: Introduction to the Google Display Network March 15 at 10am PDT: GoMo: Mobilize your Site and Maximize your Advertising March 20 at 10am PDT: Understanding Mobile Ads Across Marketing Objectives March 21 at 10am PDT: Reaching Your Goals with Google Analytics March 22 at 10am PDT: GoMo for Publishers March 27 at 10am PDT: Manage Large AdWords Campaigns with Less Effort March 28 at 10am PDT: 3 Tips to Get More out of your Video Advertising Campaigns Check out our new webinar page to register...

(cross-posted on the Google Mobile Ads Blog ) Retailers are largely focused on how consumers are shopping across channels and devices. We know consumers love their mobile and tablet devices, but we are just beginning to develop a strong understanding of how they engage with these devices as they make their purchase decisions. To gain greater insight into this key behavior, we partnered with Ipsos during the 2011 holiday shopping season to study online shoppers. We uncovered a number of interesting consumer behaviors across desktop computers, smartphones and tablets. The powerful data we uncovered can drive best practices for advertisers at every holiday and year round. The first key mobile insight every advertiser should know is that consumers use their smartphones at many different points in their purchase path. 41% of those who used their mobile phones to help with shopping said they made a purchase directly on their smartphone. 46% said they researched an item on their smartphone th...

(cross-posted on the Google Mobile Ads Blog ) To ensure that we deliver the most effective mobile ads marketplace to our customers we are changing the AdMob auction for all cost-per-click (CPC) ads. Effective February 15, 2012, AdMob will move to an AdWords-style auction, where the winning price is determined by the quality of the ad and the other bids on that impression; the price we charge will never exceed the advertiser’s bid. In addition, we’re removing minimum bids and targeting fees to allow AdMob CPC advertisers to compete for inventory under the natural forces of supply and demand. Advertisers will benefit from more efficient pricing and could receive cheaper clicks depending on the inventory on which they bid. High quality ads will be rewarded with an improved chance at winning the auction. This change will occur for all CPC auctions globally on Feb 15th. There are no changes to non-CPC campaigns at this time. Advertisers should monitor their bids to see the effect on their ...

( Cross-posted on the Lat Long Blog and the Small Business Blog .) When we initially announced the Business Photos pilot program , we wanted to give business owners an easy way to get customers in the door online using interactive, high-quality, 360-degree images of places on Google Maps and on Google Search results. With thousands of businesses under our belt — from  salons  to gift shops  — we’ve been hearing the same question again and again from both business owners and photographers alike: How can I participate? Well, with the overwhelming success of the first pilot, we’ve decided to unveil a complementary initiative that will help us reach more interested business owners, more quickly: Trusted Photographers. View Larger Map Click and drag to view the inside of Spice Market , New York City. It’s simple. Visit our new website and search for a Google Trusted Photographer in your area. Either email or call a photographer in your area to schedule a time and agree on a ...

(cross-posted on the Inside AdWords Blog )  More and more people are falling in love with Valentine’s Day. According to a recent survey by ORC International, Valentine’s Day is now the number two gift giving holiday, right behind Christmas, with 88% of Americans saying they plan on giving a present to their loved ones. This should be great news for businesses, but marketers still have trouble making a love connection with consumers based on charts that look more like dated EKG readings than real-time insights into the heart of the consumer. Since getting the affections of one person is hard enough, below are some timely insights from Google’s “database of intentions” to keep you ahead of the game as you create your Valentine’s Day campaigns. Search is where the heart is Already we’re seeing Google searches related to Valentine’s Day increase 35% compared to last year. Not only are more people searching, they’re searching earlier - last year people began looking for Valentine’s Day...