New Features / Updates from Google

Integrated Branding Case Study- OfficeMax Schooled

» Last summer, OfficeMax tapped into Google to reach teens during their key back-to-school time period. Together, OfficeMax and Google created a holistic approach to their branding campaign by integrating OfficeMax's assets with Google ad products. The campaign was a huge success on all accounts - learn more about this branding approach through the OfficeMax "Schooled" case study attached. And please be sure to contact your Google team for tips on how to present this case study to your clients.

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Website Optimizer Available to All

» Website Optimizer is a free multivariate testing application built into AdWords that helps online marketers increase visitor conversion rates and overall visitor satisfaction by enabling them to continually test different combinations of site content. Why guess what site content you think will work best, when Website Optimizer can save you time by telling you what worked best based on visitor data collected from experiments on your site?

Since October, we've worked closely with our beta testers to improve the application and today, we're happy to offer the latest version to everyone who signs up through the Website Optimizer homepage. If you're not quite ready to sign up right away, don't worry -- Website Optimizer will be available in all AdWords accounts within the next few weeks.

** Please note that Website Optimizer is not yet compatible with the DART Search API

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My Maps – An Easy Way to Create Google Map Mash-Ups

» My Maps is a new feature of Google Maps that enables users to quickly and easily create custom maps for personal use or sharing through search. With this release, creating maps mashups is now as simple as pointing and clicking.

With My Maps users can:

* Mark locations on a map from a library of icons
* Draw lines and shapes to highlight paths and areas
* Add text, photos, or YouTube/Google Videos to a map
* Add HTML for further personalization
* View their maps in Google Earth

We expect that public maps created by our users will further enrich the Google Maps and Earth search experience by providing additional rich, local, and visual information about the world from our best source - our users.

For more information, please check out: http://maps.google.com/help/maps/userguide/index.html

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Promoted Ads Color and Clickability Changes

» Over the past few years, the sponsored links above the search results have been displayed in a box with a blue background that a user can click on in order to reach an advertiser's landing page. We've now made two changes to the way that we display these ads to improve the experience of our users and advertisers.

1) The background color has changed from blue to yellow

2) Users will need to click the link in the top line of the ad in order to go to the advertiser's website.

Together, these changes help decrease the likelihood that a user will unintentionally click on an ad, while making our highest quality ads more visible.

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Google Voice Local Search (GOOG 411)

» As part of our ongoing effort to make the world's information universally accessible, we're testing a free service called Google Voice Local Search. Using this service, you get fast access to the same local information you'd find on Google Maps. But you don't need a computer, you don't need an Internet connection, and you don't even need to use your cell-phone keypad. It's voice-activated, and you can access it from any phone (mobile or landline), in any location, at any time.

Here are a few of the features:

* You can find a business listing by category. Just say "pizza," for example.
* You can send the listing details to your mobile phone via SMS.
* The service is fully automated, so it doesn't rely on human operators.
* It connects you directly to the business, free of charge. However, your telephone company may apply regular charges for making a phone call or receiving an SMS.

Google Voice Local Search is still in its experimental stage. It may not be available at all times and may not work for all users. We're fine-tuning the service to get better at recognizing our user's requests and at finding the businesses they are looking for. It's currently only available in English, in the US, for US business listings.

To try this service, just dial 1-800-GOOG-411 (1-800-466-4411) from any phone.

Death Threats being sent to Bloggers

Nothing is sacred anymore and now even the blogosphere has lost its innocence. Conversations about this are running amock on Technorati right now.

Blogger Kathy Sierra has been receiving death threats via comments on her blog as well as on other popular/prominent weblogs. Yes, death threats. Can you believe this?

For those of you who have not heard of her before, Kathy regularly writes on a blog called Creating Passionate Users. The blog can be best summed up by saying it focusses on "how the brain works and how to exploit it for better memory and cognition" (that's taken from the "about" section of the site).

What's the cause of this derision towards her? Kathy waxes on these topics regularly and writes openly, rarely holding back on her opinions and passions (as she should do). This is precisely why she has been recveiving death threats over the past few weeks. An excerpt from this post on her blogs describes the crux of what's going on:

"For the last four weeks, I've been getting death threat comments on this blog. But that's not what pushed me over the edge. What finally did it was some disturbing threats of violence and sex posted on two other blogs... blogs authored and/or owned by a group that includes prominent bloggers. People you've probably heard of. People like respected Cluetrain Manifesto co-author Chris Locke (aka Rageboy)."

The culmination of these threats and disturbing Photoshopped images of her have resulted in Kathy's paralysis: she has cancelled upcoming travel and speaking engagements and at the time of her post was terrified to leave her house.

Right about now you're probably thinking the same thing I am: WTF!?

Chris Locke has responded to her post on his blog. He vehemently denies having any part in the threats, although he and one of the death threat commentors share a penchant for using the word "slut" as a generalized insult (whether he is culpable or not, where there's smoke there's usually a fire).

Kathy has thrown a huge stone at the IT industry, accusing it of being a boy's club rife with men who are sexists and perhaps even mysogynists.

I doubt Kathy will read my little blog post here, but I certainly sympathize with her and what's she's been going through over the past few weeks. The folks that have posted these threats and images of her are definitely sexist and mysogynists. Oh yeah, and they are completely despicable human beings. Whoever wrote these things about her and posted these images should be ashamed of themselves.

But that doesn't mean that the whole IT industry is like this. My guess is that there is a high concentration of men who fit this profile that work in the IT industry simply because of the correlation between intellect and social skills. You have to be generally intelligent to code. Simply put, my experience has shown that the two are generally inversely related. The smarter someone is, the less socialized they may be. Yes, this is a gross generalization, but you know exactly what I mean.

My hope is that the folks who did this get their a##es nailed to the wall for making these threats to Kathy, as well as to any other bloggers like Mike Arrington, Scoble, et al. I'm sorry to see some bloggers taking time off from posting. The threatened folks should keep blogging and ANYONE involved in this bullsh#t of threatening bloggers, male or female, should be exposed and alltogether forever ostracized from this virtual community.

I don't want to read posts from anyone who creates shite like this (warning: this image, which Kathy herself posted on her blog, is quite disturbing).

Here are a few threads where there are ongoing conversations about this:
Scobleizer
Andy Beard

Blog Karma

Rohit over at Influential Interactive Marketing recently posted on improving the karma of your blog. The full post is here, but I've listed the top 10 as follows:

1. Be real.
2. Respond to emails.
3. Offer exclusives.
4. Make connections.
5. Join networks.
6. Avoid snark.
7. Forgive mistakes.
8. Post to contact.
9. Comment and participate.
10. Show gratitude.

Rohit, I've added a few as well that may not be karmatic, but may assist in improving blog karma:

11. Don't simply regurgitate the day's news. People want hear your voice; your opinions. Adding more insight and value and less cheeky sayings and smiley faces goes a long way with readers.
12. Don't sensationalize as a means for linkbaiting. A post should be created for the merits of the topic, the relevancy, and your true opinion; not because you're trying to get more traffic. This is no different than SEO spam techniques. Both are cheap and dilutive to the overall relevancy of the conversation. A blog is interesting due to the niche it covers AND the voice of the blogger. It is not interesting just because of the controvery surrounding a single post.

Feel free to add your thoughts. :)

A Reason to Blog

I've been working way too hard lately and just haven't had the time to blog. Yep, lame. I know. My blog has lost its voice and its way. Apologies to all of the ones and twos of readers out there.

I was watching Letterman tonight and learned (one week later...what rock have I been under?) that one of TV's finest, Calvert Deforest aka Larry Bud Melman has gone onto the great majority. :(

Right about now you're asking yoursef "what does this have to do with blogging"? Well, seeing just a 30 second spot of some of finest moments like covering the 94 Olympics and hawking toast on a stick had me in stitches. Seriously lmao. Larry Bud was heralded/derided as the human punch line and he enjoyed every last minute of it. And although he's gone, his legacy of nebbish, gnomish tom foolery lives on.

I'm will not ever possess the hilarity of a Calvert Deforest. But seeing this spot tonight underscored a bigger theme for me: every single one of us has something interesting/funny/poignant to say. And blogging, all of its democratization and web 2.0 talk notwithstanding, is a powerful platform for communication, collaboration, and commentary. And their are a multitude of conversations about whatever...raging on blogs right now.

So I'm making a promise to myself to jump back into the fray in my attempt to provoke thoughts and hopefully good conversations about my daily life.

Hats off to Larry Bud and all others who do/did more than just show up.

Tips from Yahoo on Improving Quality Score

Got the email below in my inbox today from Yahoo. Ad Quality Score for Panama will go into effect Monday, February 5, 2007.

Below are some handy tips to improve your qaulity score.

Tips to Prepare for the New Ranking Model (New Sponsored Search)

On February 5, 2007, we will be launching a new ranking model in the U.S. that will determine an ad's rank in search results based on bid amount and ad quality. To help you take advantage of our new ranking model, we've highlighted the key changes and then provide you with important steps.

Following are the key changes:

* An ad's rank will be determined by both bid amount and ad quality.
* Ads with higher quality can deliver a lower cost per click and/or may receive better placement on the results page relative to lower quality ads.
* Standard match type ads will no longer receive priority placement over Advanced match type ads.

To take advantage of the new ranking model, you should:

* Include keywords in your ad (use our Insert Keyword feature).

Research indicates that the perceived quality is higher in ads where the keyword is included within the title and description.

You can use the insert keyword feature to dynamically insert the keyword into your title and/or description
* Choose keywords for each ad group carefully.

Grouping keywords into relevant ad groups makes it easier to:
o Craft ads that are more specific and relevant to your keywords.
o Test different landing pages-and potentially increase conversion rates.

For example, if you were selling electronic products, you would want to place keywords related to "camera", "video games" and "DVD players" into separate ad groups.

In addition, advertisers may consider grouping individual or smaller groups of similar keywords to get a better read on their quality index. Remember, your quality index score is based on combinations of your ads and all your keywords with the ad group.

Learn more about the new account structure.
* Use ad testing.

Ad testing enables you to rotate different ads to learn which one attracts the most customers to your site. You can determine which message, offer or incentive is most effective and relevant - then you can potentially improve your rank in search results by displaying that ad.

Ad optimization is automatically set "ON" within your account so that better performing ads (based on click-through rate) are served more frequently. You can also choose to turn it "OFF" within your ad group settings.
* Use our Excluded Keyword feature to help optimize your Advanced match type ads.

If you use the Advanced match type distribution tactic, and to help maximize the relevancy of your listings to search users, make sure you take advantage of Excluded Keywords, which are words or phrases that prevent an ad from matching a search query.
* Review your current bids and set a campaign budget to meet your business goals.

PRNewswire & Technorati: Sharing the Love

A first was announced today that further underscors the importance of blogs in the ongoing conversation known as the web.

Readers of PR Newswire's press releases can now track reactions from bloggers directly from announcements via press releases via Technorait.

Press releases distributed through PR Newswire will now include a Technorati button linking readers to a search result page hosted by Technorati that will display a list of blogs discussing and linking to the news release, as well as relevant excerpts from those blogs.

Light Posting Today

Thanks to Yahoo for one week's worth of a head's up for the Panama upgrade!

Because of this, there will be LIGHT posting for the first of the week.

Google/CBS Radio Deal

According to Paid Content, Google's foray into radio advertising is likely to bigger.

Reif Cohen of Paid Content says the deal is hinged on control of ad sales and the size of a revenue guarantee Google would pay to CBS.

“We would expect a deal to include low quality Radio inventory for use with Google’s dMarc service, but do not believe a deal for CBS’s TV network or TV station advertising time is likely,” Reif Cohen wrote. “Assuming that an agreement included 10% of CBS Radio’s advertising time, this portion of a deal could involve approximately $200mn in revenue.”

A Search Engine for Search Engine Marketers

Lee Oden recently released a list of Search blogs (fyi: he plans to update every Friday).

The article has received well-deserved accolades for its nearly exhaustive collection of links related to search marketing.

The list and its OPML file has led to the creation by Alister Cameron of a Google Custom Search Engine to search specifically within the listed blogs.

Nice

"These go to Eleven"

In a tribute to original mockumentarian Christopher Guest, Agency Brown of Canada has created a Spinal Tap inspired ad to market their agency.

Nigel Tufnel would be proud. ;)