It is possible to use Outlook as a CRM tool, but most companies choose an application like Salesforce or Siebel. It's possible to use PowerPoint to do graphics, but most companies choose Photoshop for their graphics needs.

As the world of online marketing has grown, so have the number of companies that develop advertising analytics technologies to meet the needs of online marketers.

Remember when you used to navigate to a Web site by typing the URL into the address bar? You'd start by typing http. Then, you evolved and skipped using the http and just entered www. Now, you simply go to the search engine of your choice and type the company name you are looking for.

The Google Conversion Optimizer has been generating a considerable amount of buzz amongst AdWords advertisers. Google continues to lead the other search engines by providing their customers with tools designed to improve the performance of PPC campaigns. This new tool from Google is another step in the right direction; however, it is not for everybody.

'Click Fraud' occurs in all forms of media. That may sound like an odd statement, but it is true if you accept this definition of click fraud: Click Fraud n 1. Paying a rate for media that's based on an invalid metric.

Tips on achieving a better rate of clicks in online advertising.

Let's assume you're a search marketing ace at a mortgage company and you're running a PPC campaign for three keywords on Google. Your boss, we'll call him Bruce (but his real name is Eduardo), is trying to figure out whether he can justify his enormous monthly Adwords budget. So he asks you a seemingly simple question: "Which keyword is performing the best in the campaign?"

You recently passed the Google test, and you're eager to show off your new SEM expertise to a civilian.

The following is a summary of some of the more frequently used decision methods and an explanation of why they are flawed:

1. Follow the clicks: This is the most elementary of all decision methods. Under this method advertisers equate clicks with success. If a keyword is generating a lot of clicks then that ad must be working.

Advertisers who use this methodology will eliminate ads with little click activity and will spend more on keywords that generate the most clicks.

Click Path Analysis shows the chain of clicks a customer makes to find your Web site before they make a purchase. For example, a customer may click on your Google PPC ad and then a couple days later click on a link to your product in Nextag before purchasing from your Web site.

For sites using 3 or more sources, click path analysis reveals a somewhat complex picture: 8% of searchers who find sites with paid search click on more than one paid ad.

We get asked, "Is my conversion rate what it's supposed to be?" on a pretty regular basis. It's always tough give an exact answer for specific circumstances because actual conversion rates depend on many variables, including seasonality, web site response time, ad quality, etc. It takes a disciplined approach to hone in on the factors that influence the conversion rate for each customer.