The new Wannawin.ca has arrived

After several months of programming, and reflection, it is finally there! Open the curtains and please welcome the last version of the first independent contests site in Quebec: wannawin.ca


Directed by Wannawin development team, led by Francis Desjardins, the new version of Toutacoup is on-line since the beginning of March.

At first glance, it is obvious that a complete revision of the previous version has been made. The new version is distinguished by its sleek and minimalist design. In two or three clicks you can easily enter the contests in place.

More than the new design, many features are offered to members of Wannawin : Update their profile, type of promotions they wish to receive, mini-games (including a slot machine where you can win tokens to increase your chances of winning in the contests of your choice).

Note that a version of the website for cell phone, widgets, and SMS entries will be added in the coming weeks.

Another big innovation is the video present on the website. “This format is now proposed to our advertisers for their emailing campaigns.” Said Laurent Lucas, President of Wannawin. We strongly believe in this new distribution channel that has already demonstrated higher returns than the traditional html email. Wannawin organizes logistics for video: Selecting actors, filming, sets, micro site or template and access to campaign results.

Last, Wannawin offers to websites publishers the opportunity to use its contests module (white label). It allows them to manage their contests and collect email addresses for future emailing campaign.

Wannawin, wish is a subsidiary of Skooiz.com, has more than 400.000 opt-in emails in Quebec. Wannawin also has 220.000 unique visitors and 15 million page views per month.

Google : Do as I say not as I do?

Rules of Google are very clear in terms of online gambling:

"Do not do advertising for online gambling or related sites where your ads are targeted to countries other than Great Britain, Italy, France or Spain. "

Indeed, when I type the request "casino" in the search engine, no commercial link is proposed. So far so good, Google is respectful of its rules.

Being a bit playful, things become complicated. In terms of pay per click, we know how the typo on the keyboard has its importance and therefore a cost. Let's have fun with the request "caisno". Incredible! On its own ground, Google does not respect its own rule. Several commercial links for online casinos appear.

The second surprise for the misspelled word, comes from the fact that Google offers 162 000 000 results (only 2 million less than the correct spelling). We can easily infer that the site developers of online games take into account the misspelled request in the site content. Either Google is not aware of such practices, or it does not bother too much. It lets you make your own opinion ...

In brief, at Google we make rules which we do not respect..?

Is your SEM agency in Web marketing or Google stock trading?

I believe there are two types of agencies right now. Search engine and search engine marketing agencies. Is your agency only proud to understand the Google financial logic behind the bidding system?

I believe if you spend most of your budget on offline media and online banners, your search engine campaign must align with them and not be treated in silo. Do you listen to radio? If you do, you will ear more and more advertisers spelling there website address. Have a little fun and try to find on search engines about there promotion, often you only find the general link to there homepage if you remember the spelling…

Search engine marketing is still new for many experienced marketers but working with marketing specialist having the same language is always a blessing! Integration of all media for branding, client acquisition, promotion or simply informing is THE real challenge. Be tougher with SEM agencies; ask them to align your campaign with your current paper, radio and TV ads. It should be easy for them! Remember in search engines you have no pictures (for now!), no colour and limited to about 100 characters. It is fast to launch a concept linked to a new promotion or brand.

Let’s go quickly over this overwhelming concept of stock traders in search engines. More it goes, more the click true rate is gaining in importance. Meaning, the more your ad is relevant, punchy and makes a good link between the searched keywords and your product or services the less you need expensive bids. There is now needs for marketing skills.

Many tools are now available online to help the process of large ad creation and bidding management. The new reflex for SME and large corporations after a few months with an SEM agency is to bring in house the management of these tools. Why not? You save some money and Google makes it easy for me, no? There are few good reasons to stay with your agency:

1- Difficulty to manage the maintenance and keeping yourself on top of all new engines functionalities.

2- Having one resource (Rarely a team) that will be comfortable with bidding systems AND marketing stills.

3- A team VS an individual. A team adapts more easily to major campaign fluctuations.

4- Limiting you to Google only. They have the biggest volume but the higher prices too!

A little comment on this last point, I see most small budget campaigns in SEM going Google only. Heads up, sure you will not have problems spending your budget because they have the highest volume but prices too! I suggest in this situation to consider one of the second best players, lower volume and cheaper cost per click, perfect for small budgets!

Finally, I believe you can be harder on your SEM agency to make sure they fit in the marketing-mix. You don’t care in having the lowest CPC (cost per click); you care about your brand, your clients and making profit. Everybody must talk the same language.

Martin Goupil

Skooiz.com announces acquisition of Mastodonte Communication

Skooiz is pleased to announce it has acquired Mastondonte Communication, emailing marketing provider and owner of Toutacoup.ca, Canada’s largest French opt-in list, and Wannawin.ca. Altogether these two leading contest sites draw more than 180.000 unique visitors and 9 millions page views per month.

For the last 5 years, Mastodonte has been relentlessly providing quality services among the industry and expanding its leading email list which now has more than 1 million members and counting. Mastodonte’s list, which includes mostly French Canadian contacts, also allows advertisers to reach audiences outside North-America in France and Belgium. Mastodonte’s clients include several ad agencies and big brand advertisers such as Metro, Hydro Québec, Visa Desjardins, AOL, ING Direct and L’Oréal Paris.

"This acquisition represents both a unique opportunity and a great synergy for all of our clients. Since I first started collaborating with Mastodonte Communications, 3 years from now, I’ve realized that most clients where constantly looking for effective and complementary ways to leverage their paid search programs declares Laurent Lucas, Skooiz.com president."

Skooiz.com will continue to collaborate with Francois Lane, founder and former Mastodonte’s president, via its new company Thecodekitchen.com and its team for operating Mastodonte mailings.

Contact Info:
Skooiz.com / Toutacoup.ca / Wannawin.ca
1-877-787-1769
Laurent Lucas

Comparison: Results pages reading on Google.com vs baidu.com

We talk a lot about China and the great potential which it offers, particularly for publicity on the Web and the search engines. It is for that reason that Skooiz.com has lately put on line the Chinese version of its website and currently negotiates partnerships to establish business connections with Chinese agencies.

Everyone knows that the Chinese professional and cultural behaviour is very different from that of the Americans or Europeans. No one will be surprised to note that it’s the same in the search engine results pages reading.

Below, an eyetracking analysis conducted with Chinese participants by Enquiro comparing the way search results are read on Google.cn and Baidu, first Chinese search engine, indicates clear differences among Chinese and Western search behaviors.

Eyetracking analysis on Google and Baidu

Source: Enquiro Search Solutions

The Chinese, obviously, read and click on the top 3 results in priority, but, contrary to the American or European Net surfers, they also read and click on the entirety of the links of a page.

Some think that the lack and/or the control of information make the Chinese avid of knowledge and information. Why not? That proves that the China market has its specificities and that it’s better to know them.

Laurent Lucas
Skooiz.com President

Keywords combinaisons ?

As noted in our study, Quebecers very often use two or three words to make their research. To have discussed it lately with European colleagues, it is the same in the industrialized countries.

However, with the analysis of the volume of postings carried out on Google, the statistics are not as clear.

Let’s take the example of the insurance, over a given period. Let see what the results give.

Keywords	Impressions
Assurance auto	86234
Assurance	42354
Assurance automobile	77863
Assurence	7266
Assurance auto québec	72
Soumission assurance automobile	59

It is clear that a big proportion of the Net surfers use indeed a 2 words expression, but only one word is still largely used. Three words and more, statistics speak for themselves.

An interesting fact, the term “assurence” generates a considerable number of requests. The advantage of positioning your site on very targeted requests is often the guarantee of a good CTR and a weak CPC thus of a better ROI. Still your ROI should be calculated.

If the Net surfer’s education regarding research seems to be good, it is not yet the case for all. As for the orthography, it’s another story.

Laurent Lucas
Président Skooiz.com

Skooiz.com looks towards China

Montreal, July 2007 - SEO/SEM agency specialized in search engine marketing Skooiz.com releases Chinese version of its web site this week. «We had contacted potential partners in Shanghai to establish a base of development for Skooiz marketing solutions in China. The translation of our website was the first step towards the success of our strategy. We are conscious that reaching this goal will take time, but this huge market is still virgin and full of promising opportunities. Our main goal is to help Chinese companies to get notice on search engines outside China. » declares Laurent Lucas, president founder of interactive marketing agency Skooiz.com

About Skooiz.com
Skooiz.com is an interactive adverstising agency specialized in high-volume sponsored links campaign management, search engine optimization and consulting. Working with exclusive bid management tools linked to search engines API to leverage client acquisition and online sales via ROI driven paid search programs. Skooiz is already present in Montreal, New York and Paris. In fall 2007, an office will open in Toronto. Montreal agency branch now counts eleven collaborators specialized in SEM and SEO.

Information
Laurent Lucas
Skooiz.com
1-877-787-1769
info@skooiz.com