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American Idol Judges Heat Up Google & Twitter | ymarketing.com

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Will Ellen or Simon Emerge as the Leader in Web Searches & Tweets

• Simon Cowell - Will he leave after this season? What about that contract?
• Ellen DeGeneres - Will she bring value to the viewers and How much will her Twitter Army affect this year's outcome?
• Paula Abdul - Will America miss her? Did she get a raw deal?
• Randy Jackson and Kara Dioguardi - How much attention can they attract amongst these dynamic personalities?

American Idol Trend & Research Methodology

Readers that followed this ymarketing Predicting Idol Winners blog series last year are familiar with our approach; we use online research tools that measure the impact and scale of searches, comments and buzz around an individual (or a brand) and assess their relative popularity online. While some of our much larger competitors used only search engine data to compile their predictions last season - and got it all WRONG, picking Adam Lambert as the winner - we focused instead on a much broader picture of online interest, factoring in data from Digg, Facebook, Twitter, iTunes, blogs and other social media.... and arrived at the documented CORRECT prediction that Kris Allen would win Idol.

Who's the Judge On Fire?

As USA Today's recent article and Idol Chatter Blog noted, the buzz this season is "all about the judges as Ellen arrives" and "Simon Cowell's exit." You might think that Simon Cowell would lead all judges in terms of popularity and buzz - especially with all the contract talk of late - but by Google and Twitter standards it's all Ellen. Worldwide interest in Ellen appears to have its epicenter in Canada, followed by the US, Singapore, Australia and South Africa.

The Most Tweets?

Ellen DeGeneres is by far and away the leader on Twitter as well. Hmmm, with three Twitter accounts of her own including @TheEllenShow (4 million followers), @Ellen_DeGeneres (85K) and this fan site @EllenFans (34K), I guess this Twitter thing actually works, huh? Simon, in contrast, appears to have just 21K followers @Scowell1 and four tweets to his name (lame, come on Simon!).

Twitter volume with the first names of the judges

Twitter volume with the full names of the judges

Digg

Digg - with a large following of over 40MM unique visitors - is another quality measure of online popularity. And the Idol Heatmap for Digg clearly shows Simon out front, followed by Ellen and Paula, with Randy and Kara bringing up the rear. 

Paula Interest Still High

Paula Abdul pulls in the 3rd place rank overall in interest in search and social media with relatively strong showings in both Twitter and Digg, while Randy and Kara are nearly non-existent.

Idol Interest

So what do you think? Will Simon and Ellen continue to dominate headlines throughout the year or will the contestant chatter takeover in coming weeks? Did anyone emerge in the debut show you think can draw significant interest?

If you are keeping score at home, for now it's:

• Simon Cowell - Digg #1
• Ellen DeGeneres - Google #1, Twitter #1
• Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson & Kara Dioguardi - So far in a clear trailing position
  

Lead Capture for just the Cost of a Click: Google Adwords Contact Form Extension

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The ymarketing Paid Search Team recently read an update to the beta for Google Lead Generation Forms in paid search ads at SEOroundtable.com. Have you ever wished you could easily increase leads for just the cost of a click? Google is testing it out with Google AdWords Contact Form Extensions to normal AdWords ads. The current leads are phone number based with three custom fields. Delivery of these ads is via email as a moment and clients are committed to contact the lead within 24 hours.

We have noticed the Mortgage and Entertainment Industries testing In the new Contact Form Extension. We have also seen other bloggers and paid search companies mention these ad format updates such as this blog post from DailyRadar.com

Things to know about the AdWords Contact Form

• It will only associate with ads in the #1 position.
• The Leads will be priced with the Max CPC Bid during beta test.
• About the form: Requires Phone Number Collection, up to three custom questions, questions shown will be determined by Google quality algorithm.

Get whitelisted into the Program through your AdWords Account Manager at Google and start getting your phone leads from Google AdWords!

Here are some sites that like the new Google Contact Form Adwords Feature: searchengineland.com, insideaffiliates.com, seroundtable.com

Here's a site that dislikes the new Google Contact Form AdWords Feature: blog.hubspot.com

SEO specialist ymarketing thinks:
This is worth testing. We want to see the results of the beta ASAP!
Do you have "real experience or results to share about your experience with this beta?"

What do you think?
Contact Us or Leave a Comment!

Make Google.com Your Lead Generation Page

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AdWords Contact Form Extension: Apply by Contacting Google AdWords Account Managers

ymarketing recently found news of a new AdWords Lead Form at SEOroundtable.com. If you have a Google AdWords Account Manager you can apply today to be whitelisted into the new AdWords Contact Form Extension beta.

What is the goal of this AdWords Beta?
1. Increase ROI from your Paid Search Ads on Google.
2. Pay for Leads. During the beta your price per lead will be priced at your regular CPC Bid.
3. Integrates into your current ads " Ad enhancement".

Paid Search Managers everywhere are seeking for all three of these things. We were definitely interested in news about the Contact Form Extension.

Here's what the ymarketing paid search team has to say:
"Google is definitely shortening the click-2-lead behavior funnel by offering to use the search engine ad as a call to action."

We will be watching to see:
• How much will CTR improve in various industries?
• What will be the cost of leads after the beta?
• During the test the leads are limited to phone leads, will Google provide integration into CRM applications at some point?

Connect With Us:
As new paid ad betas and extensions are released we hope to hear from those who try these new ad formats to see the results. Please feel free to post your results in the comment section of this blog.