adCenter Blog Has Moved To - www.adcentercommunity.com: Travel

Microsoft adCenter Travel Day - London UK

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 07:39:12 GMT

Hi Everyone

If you're based in the UK and either you, or your clients, are advertising through adCenter in the travel sector, we are holding a Digital Day at our offices in Victoria that you might find useful to attend.

We have a range of great speakers from the industry who'll be talking about the power of online advertising, what's new with Live Search, best practices for running pay-per-click campaigns for travel websites, and a little look into the future.

If you're interested in attending please register by clicking on the link below and visiting our advertising site:

http://advertising.microsoft.com/uk/TravelDigitalDay

Hope to see you there!

Thanks

Mel - adCenter Community Team

adCenter travel webcast on demand now available

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:37:55 GMT

Thanks to everyone who attended our Travel Industry webcast, where we shared best practices for running travel industry campaigns with adCenter. A lead media specialist for Microsoft adCenter, Chuck Evans, took us through the research, design, and implementation of a travel industry campaign. He focused on using targeting to reach the ideal audience for travel offerings. We recorded the webcast and now it's available for you to watch on demand.

Here are a couple of helpful tips that came up during the webcast. First, during his part of the presentation, Chuck mentioned the importance of writing impactful ad copy. Here are some strategies for writing effective ad copy including guidelines around ad copy language, campaign structure, and landing pages.

Chuck and Jeanie both mentioned the audience intelligence tools at Microsoft adCenter Labs, including the user intent, query share volume, and keyword forecasting demos that can help you research and choose the best adCenter targeting values for your campaign.

During his presentation, Chuck mentioned a macro he uses to create all possible combinations of two columns of keywords, where column 1 is action / offer words (such as "vacation to") and column 2 is destination terms (such as "Orlando") in order to cover all permutations of keywords for a campaign. You'll find Chuck's macro pasted below this post. To use this, create a new macro in Microsoft Excel, edit it, paste in the text and save. For more help creating and using macros, click the Help (?) button in Excel, and type "Create a Macro" in the Search field.

As Jeanie mentioned near the end of the webcast, if you find you need help uploading your campaigns into adCenter, consider signing up for the adCenter QuickLaunch program. With this program, a dedicated adCenter Media Specialist can help you get your ads live on adCenter—either by importing your existing paid search campaigns, or by helping you get started from scratch if you're new to the game. Your specialist can also help analyze and optimize your campaigns. If you're interested, please fill out the QuickLaunch sign-up form.

If you have any questions, please let us know at the adCenter Forum.

Thanks!
Jen K., adCenter Marketing Manager
Chuck Evans, Lead Media Specialist, North American Ad Services
Jeanie & Carolyn, adCenter Community Team

Chuck's Macro

Sub Macro1()
'
' Macro1 Macro
' Distributed As-Is with No warranty or guarantee
' Use at your own risk
'
    Dim rwCount1 As Integer
    Dim rwCount2 As Integer
    Dim rwCount3 As Integer
    Dim param1 As String
    Dim param2 As String
    Dim isMore1 As Boolean
    Dim isMore2 As Boolean

    rwCount1 = 1
    rwCount2 = 1
    rwCount3 = 1
    isMore1 = True
    isMore2 = True

    Do While (isMore1 = True)
    With Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(rwCount1, 1)
        If .Value > " " Then
            rwCount2 = 1
            param1 = .Value
            Do While (isMore2 = True)
                With Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(rwCount2, 2)
                If .Value > " " Then
                    param2 = .Value
                    With Worksheets("Sheet1").Cells(rwCount3, 3)
                    .Value = param1 + " " + param2
                    rwCount3 = rwCount3 + 1
                    rwCount2 = rwCount2 + 1
                    End With
                Else
                    isMore2 = False
                End If
                End With
            Loop
        rwCount1 = rwCount1 + 1
        isMore2 = True
        Else
            isMore1 = False
        End If
    End With
    Loop
End Sub

Reminder: travel industry webcast today, noon PT

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 15:49:05 GMT

Hi everyone,

Today at noon PT, we'll be sharing travel industry best practices and demonstrate how to apply these best practices with adCenter during our Travel Best Practices Webcast. If you have questions about adCenter and the travel industry that you'd like to see addressed in the Webcast, please submit them to the thread, Calling all travel vertical questions.

Login Details

Requirements for Attending this Event
You must test your computer’s configuration: http://esd.placeware.com/LM2005test to ensure you are running the most current version of Live Meeting.

Note: If you are unable to click this link, you can also cut and paste the link into the address bar of your browser.

When you enter the test event, you will be prompted to install and run the Live Meeting Console software if you have not downloaded it already. If you cancel the software installation, you will be given a link to attend the event using the Web-based Meeting console.
Once entered, you should see a Live Meeting console with revolving slides. If you are able to see all slides your test is successful. However, please follow the steps to ensure you are running the most current version of Live Meeting.
If you are not able to see the slides, please contact Event Support (see the section “Contact Live Meeting Event Support” below).

Login Details for Live Event Session

Day of Event:

Perform the following actions no later than 15 minutes before the event begins.

View the Internet portion of the Event
Click the meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/join?id=msft060707jd&role=attend&pw=ATT0220
or
if you can’t click the above meeting URL, click the following link: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/
When you click on either URL, the Join Meeting page appears. In the following fields, verify or enter this information:

Name: (Enter your first and last name)
Meeting ID: msft060707jd
Meeting Key: ATT0220

If prompted, install and run the Live Meeting software (recommended) or launch the web based console (for Attendees unable to install the software, as well as anyone joining using a Macintosh). It will take a few moments for the Live Meeting console to launch.
Click Join Meeting.
On the next page, please enter your e-mail and company name in their respective fields, if necessary, and click Join Meeting.

Listen to the audio portion of the event
Once you log in to the Live Meeting console, you should hear the event’s streaming audio. If you do not have Windows Media Player 9 or later installed you will be prompted to install it before the audio is available to you. If you have WMP 9 installed but you still do not hear the audio, please confirm that your PC speakers are on and that the volume is turned up. If you continue to experience difficulties, please contact Event Support.

Contact Live Meeting Event Support
For technical assistance, please contact Event Support at:
US/Canada toll free: (1) (800) 893-8779
International: (1) (971) 544-3222

Thanks!
Jen K., adCenter Marketing Manager
Jeanie & Carolyn, adCenter Community Team

AdCenter and the Travel Industry: TripRes.com Case Study

Wed, 06 Jun 2007 18:11:48 GMT

This post is the second in a series about the travel industry and adCenter. This series will end with a live Webcast about best practices for our travel industry customers. To gear up for the Webcast (Thursday, June 7, at noon PT), we wanted to share some travel-related case studies with you. The second case study about the travel industry (read the first case study) shows the results from TripRes.com. TripRes.com offers customized vacation packages to Las Vegas; their adCenter marketing objectives were to drive scale in a competitive market and get a strong return on investment.

Their results? TripRes.com achieved a 450% return on spend by using highly targeted ads to pinpoint their message and having a high average ad position. For more information read the entire case study.

We'll share travel industry best practices and demonstrate how to apply these best practices with adCenter during our Travel Best Practices Webcast on Thursday, June 7, at noon PT. If you have questions about adCenter and the travel industry that you'd like to see addressed in the Webcast, please submit them to the thread, Calling all travel vertical questions.

Here's the login info you'll need on the day of the Webcast.
Click the meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/join?id=msft060707jd&role=attend&pw=ATT0220

Enter this information:
Name: (Enter your first and last name)
Meeting ID: msft060707jd
Meeting Key: ATT0220

Thanks!
Jen K., adCenter Marketing Manager
Jeanie & Carolyn, adCenter Community Team

AdCenter and the travel industry: CruisesOnly case study

Fri, 01 Jun 2007 18:35:55 GMT

This is the first in a series of blog posts about the travel industry and adCenter, which will end with a live Webcast about best practices for our travel industry customers. To gear up for the Webcast (Tuesday, June 7, at noon PT), we wanted to share some travel-related case studies with you. The first case study features CruisesOnly and their agency of record, iProspect. CruisesOnly helps connect customers with their ideal cruise vacation. Their goal with adCenter was to increase their conversions and get a better return on investment. They wanted to have the top position for targeted searches and show their CruisesOnly ads to travel searchers. Their results:

Compared to the average of the other major engines, adCenter delivered:

11% better return on advertising spend (ROAS)
26% higher revenue per click
16% more revenue per conversion

Read the entire case study for more information.

The Travel Best Practices Webcast will occur on Tuesday, June 7, at noon PT. We'll share travel industry best practices and show you how to apply these best practices using adCenter. If you have questions about adCenter and the travel industry that you'd like to see addressed in the Webcast, please submit them to the adCenter forum thread, Calling all travel vertical questions.

Here's the login info you'll need on the day of the Webcast.
Click the meeting URL: https://www.livemeeting.com/cc/lmevents/join?id=msft060707jd&role=attend&pw=ATT0220

Enter this information:
Name: (Enter your first and last name)
Meeting ID: msft060707jd
Meeting Key: ATT0220

We'll have more details for you as we get closer to the Webcast.

Thanks!
Jen K., adCenter Marketing Manager
Jeanie & Carolyn, adCenter Community Team

Caribbean Cricket and Sporting Keyword Selection

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 10:37:45 GMT

I recently returned from St Vincent & The Grenadines, where I spent 10 days watching England prepare for their 2007 Cricket World Cup campaign and play a couple of warm-up matches against Bermuda and Australia.

It’s a truly beautiful part of the world; my mate and I decided to backpack and give something back into the local economy by staying in small hotels and guest houses owned and run by the locals.

The people are some of the friendliest I’ve ever met, and are surprisingly tech-savvy. Most people seemed to have mobile phones; there were quite a few packed Internet cafes dotted around, and all the places we stayed at had some sort of website promoting their accommodation and facilities.

Hurriedly constructed, their websites were not particularly search-engine friendly. They were impossible to find through organic search. So, after a few rum punches (!) I couldn’t resist chatting to the owners about pay-per-click advertising. (I know it’s sad, but I can’t help myself sometimes!)

They were initially reticent about paying for advertising, but I explained that a click for a targeted keyword such as “St Vincent guest house” would cost next to nothing and it would help get them to the top of the search results.

One of the islands we stayed on was Mayreau, where the population is two hundred and fifty four, and there are just two hostelries. “Mayreau hotel” would cost 5p on adCenter to trigger an ad and I should think would get a pretty good return on investment.

I don’t know whether they’ll take it up the idea or not, they seemed interested, but they’ll no doubt have a long hard think and take their time!

Sporting events are a critical time for some online advertisers, especially as we start running into the summer months. There’s always an opportunity to promote direct or aligned products and services, whether you sell tickets, merchandise, or have a B&B near a venue – but always try to think laterally when selecting keywords!

The Cricket World Cup Final is being held in Barbados at the Kensington Oval on April 28th – Hotel owners using pay-per-click to fill rooms should not only bid on obvious keywords such as “Barbados hotel” but also “hotel in Bridgetown” and “hotel near Kensington Oval” – those keywords might not get as many searches as the more generic ones, but there will be less competition and the keywords will almost certainly be more relevant and cheaper!

Do make sure you’re careful to qualify your product in the ad copy and the landing page! There is an “oval cricket ground” in London. So if you bid on “hotel near oval,” include in the ad copy and landing page that it’s the Kensington Oval in Barbados or you risk wasting a click.

For upcoming events, check out sporting calendars such as the BBC Sporting Calendar.

Cheers

Mel

Microsoft adCenter Community Team

PS: Nice one Ireland!