First, I would like to state for the record that I am in love with just about anything and everything that Google does. Having said that, I do have a bone to pick with them concerning their content network.

What exactly is the content network? Google’s content network is comprised of hundreds of thousands of sites that allow Google to show targeted AdWords ads on them. This is called “AdSense” from the website publisher’s perspective. Google’s system “contextually” targets these ads by scanning each web page displaying AdSense and then displaying ads relevant to the content present on the page. So, a web page dedicated to golf might show ads relating to golf clubs, balls or vacations.

This allows advertisers to reach potential customers by advertising on websites that they visit on a regular basis, rather than simply advertising in the search results of Google.

Google’s content network is great, and can be a valuable component of a search engine marketing campaign. The problem I have is twofold:

1. The value of clicks from the content network is less than from the search network; a user on a golfing website who clicks your ad for golf clubs is less likely to purchase than a user on Google who searches for “buy golf clubs”
2. Google automatically opts advertisers into the completely “optional” content network, without any explanation of what it is, or a disclaimer about the variance in value per click.

Google’s AdWords support site states that “New keyword-targeted campaigns are automatically opted in to distribution on the Google Network, so if you want your ads to appear on search and content sites and products, then you don’t need to do a thing.”

Herein lies the problem; it is not doing me a favor to opt me automatically into the content network. In fact, there is no way to opt out of the content network while creating the campaign; even if the seemingly “optional” CPC content bid field is left blank, I am still opted in to the content network.

I can see this being a source of confusion for many AdWords users, as leaving an optional field blank typically means you are choosing not to opt in, but that is not how it is interpreted here. In order to turn off the content network, you have to go back into the campaign settings after the campaign is activated and turn it off from there.

I don’t know about you, but I think this is extremely deceptive, especially for a company whose mantra is “do no evil”. I create campaigns like it’s my job (it is!) and even I occasionally forget to go into the campaign settings immediately after to turn it off.

I cannot fathom the amount of inadvertent money spent (much of it wasted) by advertisers who have no idea that their money is being spread across the content network. If I am a new advertiser signing up to “advertise on Google”, it is a fair assumption that on Google is where my ads will appear.

Apparently, I am not alone; a few weeks ago Kabateck Brown Kellner, LLP, filed a lawsuit against Google for this very gripe. The suit was filed on behalf of David Almeida and claims that Google is deceiving AdWords users into spending money on advertising they did not explicitly request; automatically being opted in to the content network when the CPC content bid field is left blank is the basis for the suit. The lawsuit states that, “By redefining the universally understood meaning of an input form left blank, and then intentionally concealing this redefinition, Google has fraudulently taken millions of dollars from Plaintiff and the members of the class.” Kabateck has previously taken part in multi-million dollar click fraud settlements against both Google and Yahoo; maybe this is just who we need to put a stop to these deceptive tactics. In the meantime, keep an eye on those content settings!

Is the process by which United States administrative patent judges are appointed in this country unconstitutional? This is the question a law professor at George Washington University Law School, by the name of John Duffy, sought out to answer, after he stumbled across what appeared to be a flaw in our judicial system that dates back to 2000.

The troublesome thing is that after doing extensive research Professor Duffy found out that he was correct. He discovered a constitutional flaw in the appointment process of the judges who decide cases dealing with patent appeals and disputes, stating that the appointment process is unconstitutional. Since 2000, patent judges have been appointed by a government official who has neither the authority nor the constitutional power to appoint patent judges. The problem Professor Duffy identified at least arguably invalidates every decision the patent court has made since March 2000.

Photo credit Bhtmfan

Are you kidding me? All court cases involving patents in an 8-year span?! These findings could affect thousand of patent decisions affecting billions of dollars. Can you imagine the effect it could potentially have on our country if the Supreme Court decides that these cases should be appealed and retried? Quite honestly I can’t, but it does pose many questions. Who all will this affect? What companies? How many people’s personal lives will be turned upside down? The final ramifications could be astounding.

Cases such as the Translogic case (where $86 million is at stake) are already being taken to the Supreme Court on the basis that “an improperly constituted tribunal should not be deciding the case, so we will have to go back and have the decision made by a properly constituted panel.” Personally I can’t wait to see how this all turns out. As it stands now the justice department is not disputing Duffy’s findings and is already desperately looking for a solution. What solution will they find? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

What are the best strategies a website can use to get new subscribers or email leads? Advertising, creating fascinating new content, blogging…these are a few obvious ways. Yet an alternative recently caught my attention recently.

On April 8^th Forbes posted an article titled “America’s Most Miserable Sports Cities.” I know what you are thinking, “Forbes is writing sports articles?” I guess they justify it by explaining that professional sport teams are really money-making corporations. This is true; however, most of their sport articles have nothing to do with any type of financial aspect. Anyway, that’s another blog for another time.

This article created a list based on authors Tom Van Riper’s and Andrew Farrell’s criteria and opinions. Regardless of the fact that the list is opinion based, it is the worst list ever created. The 10 Commandments led to the rationalization of George W. Bush and, as Rage Against the Machine would put it, “killing in the name of”. Yet, Forbes’ list has managed to outdo the chaos that followed the Commandments. In a nutshell the list has Atlanta at the top and Philadelphia and Cleveland low on the list. Being from Cleveland, I, like many others, take pride in being the most miserable loser in the U.S. Naturally, I wanted to blast back at Forbes and its fools, so I went down to the bottom of the online article and clicked the comment button…

And that’s where they got me!

To be able to post a comment one must provide a valid email address. Steamed and ready to unload a bus of hell bound vocabulary, I signed up and typed something which soon faded into a mass of shadows cast by such an awful article. (To view my comment click here.) The article received many comments from miserable people from miserable towns. All negative.

So is it coincidence that not one person agreed with this article? Maybe. It could be that the one who agrees, may not feel as passionately as the person who feels slighted, ergo, no comment. The more likely scenario is that this article was written to anger people. The article makes people fanatical: they sign up, comment, feel used afterwards, get depressed, get fired from their job, start drinking, get a divorce, lose custody of their children, do some things they aren’t proud of for money (things they only did as experiments in college), eventually get help, start a new life, and then blog about it. More or less.

The whole signing into the website to view the entire article and comment idea is a great way to sucker people into giving an email address. Nothing is for free. We pay to comment. The fee is our email address, which can be turned into a sizable profit if properly solicited.

Thank you for the comment. Enjoy the spam.

photo credit: tracy hunter

With all the hype around Web 2.0 and countless small businesses and start-up web sites popping up daily, it’s common place for businesses to desire the most intricate and sophisticated features built for their web sites. We see it happening everyday, where VC firms are pouring in millions of dollars on funding in hopes that their project will take off and become the next social media hit such as Facebook or Myspace. While the plethora of possibilities and features that these web sites carry is endless, it’s important to remember that not all web sites are created equal, not all web sites are created for the same purpose, and that for some: the simpler they are, the better.

What’s The Goal Of Your Web Site?

A lot of businesses nowadays are forgetting that often times simpler is better. Dumb it down, make it so people have to think less, and it may just be good for sales. At the end of the day, the success of an e-commerce web site (for example: a company that sells chocolate online) comes down to of the total number of visitors who came through the site, how many are converting into customers and how much each conversion is costing them. And because most web users just scan web pages instead of reading them, when presented with a disorganized layout, too many options or no specific call to action, these potential customers often become lost and disinterested.

Minimalistic Design

Minimalistic design can go a long way to better clarify the purpose of a business’ web site. Sometimes it’s just not all about adding new content or features to a web site to increase conversions, but taking away from it. Whether a conversion is measured by a lead, sign-up, or sale, a web site can often stand out from the crowd when it’s just simpler and easier to use.

What are you thoughts?

Prompted by a recent article on Yahoo and the email chain that followed, I have decided to further explore health in the workplace. The Yahoo article described alternatives to diet soda consumption offering fewer calories and no artificial sweeteners. More bluntly, drinks which are better for you.

There are many myths and misconceptions about what is “good” for you. The “8 glasses of water per day” is a perfect example of this. While drinking 8 glasses of water is not bad for you, there is no scientific rational for this exact amount, nor is it clear where this concept even originated.

Soda is an easy target when declaring common food and beverages bad for your health. I think we all realize that soda is probably not the best drink for a healthy lifestyle, but c’mon! It’s so good! Once it hits your lips it’s so good! The main reason those in the know warn against soda consumption is because of its content of high fructose corn syrup. A common sugar substitute, HFCS is found in almost every food product imaginable today. It is an extremely cost effective artificial sweetener, but it is high in calories and provides almost no nutritional value. Soda is also very acidic, which will cause your body to strip calcium from your bones in order to balance out your internal ph levels. We have a lot of soda here at work and if somehow this article persuades you to swear off soda you may say to yourself, “But what about all of the extra soda we have? I don’t want it to go to waste.” Fear not, I say! For all is not lost! According to numerous household cleaning Websites, soda can clean your toilet, eliminate rust from a car bumper and remove grease from clothing. Whew, dodged a bullet there! Sugar definitely gets a bad rap these days, but it’s really what kind of sugar and where it comes from that matters.

An absolutely wonderful alternative to processed foods are all natural delicious treats. Below are a few great natural snacks for work. You may never have heard of these foods before so I will list them with brief health benefits below:

· Apples - Vitamin A and C, Antioxidants

· Grapes - Vitamins A, C and P

· Bananas - Vitamins A, B1, B2, B5 and C, Potassium

· Peaches – Vitamin C

· Strawberries – Extremely rich source of Vitamin C

· Almonds – Folate, Vitamin E and A, Niacin

· Cashews – Vitamin K, Folate

· Peanuts – Niacin, Vitamin E, Folate

· Pistachios – Vitamin A, Folate

· Carrots – Vitamin A, C, B6, and Niacin

You will receive the most health benefits from eating the above mentioned foods raw and by themselves. So even though carrots and ranch are delicious, you will lose much of the benefit with this crazy concoction.

Besides eating and drinking right what else can be done to improve health in the workplace? Exercise of course!

Now, it may not always be practical to do laps around the office, but much can be accomplished at ones desk. It is also important to get up and walk around. In our case, foosball is not merely a way to take a quick break, but actually improves our health! We have to play foosball in order to stay healthy. This is science in action, people. (All mentions of “science in action” do not refer to the actual field of science and should not be interpreted as fact or anything resembling an informed opinion) All of this healthy goodness does not come without a price. A common side effect of intense “foos” action is the development of massive forearm muscles. I have personally noticed disfigured co workers from this devastating consequence of science in action.

But seriously, cubicle exercises are a great way to get your blood flowing and draw intrigue from your fellow workers or disgust if happen to love a solid lunge workout. Feel the Burn! Simple stretches can do wonders for your day. While sitting at your desk, try some shoulder rolls, neck rolls, upper body stretches, wrist stretches, and practice the 20-20-20 rule. To prevent eyestrain, every 20 minutes take your focus away from your computer screen and focus on something 20 feet away for at least 20 seconds.

Tea is better than Coffee. There I said it. I can already hear the sounds of angels dying. Sure coffee tastes good, smells great, and helps you get through the day, but what about life? Tea, no matter the kind, is packed with antioxidants and disease fighting compounds. Tea has been shown to lower heart disease and stroke rates among daily drinkers. It also lowers LDL “Bad” cholesterol, boosts your metabolism, slows the growth of tumors, improves skin, protects against Parkinson’s disease, and even delays the onset of diabetes. It also contains no calories. To be fair, coffee exhibits some of these same qualities, but tea is still better. Science in action!

Exercise and diet have even been shown to lower stress levels, reduce and the risk of sickness, and can lead to increased productivity at work. An apple a day really can keep the boss away! I mean doctor.

So, next time you are reaching for that bag of chips or standing at the vending machine deciding to go with a Diet Coke or Sunkist Orange Soda, totally go Sunkist! Its delicious! I kid. Instead brew yourself a nice cup of green or black tea and have a red delicious. Who knows, it may just save your life. Also, do the stretches at your desk. Lunge Attack!

There are a plethora of mysteries hidden in Google & Yahoo’s search and advertising algorithms. We here in Account Development have long struggled to understand the precise function of the almighty Keyword Insertion (KWI). KWI is a function which allows a user’s precise search query to be inserted into the headline or body of a text ad. Our research has shown that text ads with KWI have higher Click-Through Rates (CTR) and often perform better than ads without KWI. But in our never-ending quest to write the best ads and build the best campaigns possible, we are constantly running into more precise and complex questions about how (and if) this “Keyword Insertion” function really works.

Let’s review the three Keyword Match Types in Google: Broad, Phrase, and Exact. Exact is rather self explanatory: if you have “used car” as an exact match keyword, it will only be triggered by a search query of “used car.” Any additional words or characters in or outside that search will prevent it from bringing up the ad. So a person searching “used black car” or “black used car” will not see the corresponding text ad for the Exact Match keyword “used car.” Phrase Match is slightly more lenient, allowing words to be tacked on either end of the keyword, as long as the precise word order is preserved. “Black used car” will trigger the phrase match for “used car,” but a search of “used black car” will not.

Then there’s Broad Match, or what I like to call “the necessary evil.” Broad Match is the fail-safe in your keyword lists. If you sell all types of used cars, but don’t want to (or forget to) list every make, model, year, or color, Broad Match *should* be your catch-all for any searches that include those variables. Unfortunately, Broad Match is imperfect by nature. For all the variables that it catches, there will be a few you wish it wouldn’t. Plus, on some longer-tailed keywords, it will occasionally drop one or more of the words, catching inaccurate traffic. All these factors become exponentially more complex when Keyword Insertion comes into play.

The double edged sword of Keyword Insertion is that the increased Click-Through Rate does not necessarily translate to a higher conversion rate. If a text ad headline more closely resembles what a user searched, they will often click on that ad. When it turns out you don’t actually sell “used black car seat covers” or whatever, they will not purchase anything from you, and the click was nothing more than wasted budget. When building large keyword lists meant to capture a very broad range of keywords, one must be especially careful with the KWI. Take the following text ad for example:

That’s a screen shot of an active text ad on Google. The headline clearly has nothing to do with the intended message. I really have no idea how something like this could slip by the person who built or manages this account. My only guess is that the account holder ran a large concatenation and this little gem slipped through editing. Unless there was some sort of malfunction between the Broad Match function and KWI function?

This rather extreme example only highlights the need to test your ads and watch them closely for errors. The entrenched opinion that KWI should be used whenever possible is slowly coming into the light of reevaluation. While it may not have the best CTR, a well written static headline will never steer you horribly off course. Always better to be safe than sorry: when in doubt, leave KWI out!

“The term Viral video refers to video clip content which gains widespread popularity through the process of Internet sharing, typically through email or IM messages, blogs and other media sharing websites. Viral videos are often humorous in nature and may range from televised comedy sketches such as Saturday Night Live’s Lazy Sunday to unintentionally released amateur video clips like Star Wars kid, the Numa Numa song, The Dancing Cadet, and The Evolution of Dance.” -Wikipedia

The Viral video is a recent phenom of the ever-evolving “web.” With its fast-growing popularity these videos provide free content to advertising cash cow mega-sites. Websites such as Collegehumor.com, YouTube.com, Flurl.com, Break.com and so many more bring in millions of dollars of revenue from their user submitted content. Because of this, it’s no wonder that companies are looking at Viral Videos in a different light.

As is the nature of viral videos, they spread like a virus. They inundate your inbox, fill up your chat windows, or make a buzz around a coworkers monitor – creating a new avenue of marketing possibilities. With each set of eyes trained on these videos, from all walks of life, companies are now originating their own Viral videos.

Not unlike the homebrew versions, these too appear shaky, out of the ordinary, and unexpected. They come as off-roading stunts with impossible gravity defying tricks, or funny spins on everyday occurrences; the seemingly mundane father and child playing hide and go seek until it is revealed that the child has somehow attached himself to the ceiling. The only difference between these videos and the user submitted versions are marketing, branding, and a sales pitch being attached.

These videos sometimes don’t even state which company they were advertising at the video’s conclusion. As if they got away with some sort of subliminal marketing tactic. With a closer look you realize the off-roading truck is the latest Ford model. The kid on the ceiling ate some new radioactive version of Cheerios before his spiderman-esque like ascent.

Aside from this model of Viral video, you have the internet celebrity - the homebrew, webcam, free content giving uploader who “made it”. These faux celebrities gain fame from creating their own Viral. Tay Zonday would fit into this category with his smash hit “Chocolate Rain” of April 22, 2007. He has garnered 16,620,325 views and more daily since its release. This Viral buzz made it possible for him to be picked up by other websites as well as mainstream media, most notably an appearance as a live musical guest on “Jimmy Kimmel Live”. Even the “Chocolate Rain” star would sell out 7 months later with his collaborative remix with Dr. Pepper, touting their new flavor “Cherry Chocolate” with a professional music video for the song “Cherry Chocolate Rain.” The video was a polished, remixed, overly-produced, rapper-included…advertisement – latching on to Tay’s success as a Viral video star. Before I start to digress I will return to the main focus of this post. Is it appropriate for advertising firms to take advantage of the user-submitted forum for financial gains, and what affects will it produce if this trend continues?To keep it short and sweet I have to say it will ultimately be up to the users. These outlets are for the users, and basically by the users. If they don’t want to see these videos or be tricked into watching an advertisement, it will be up to them to change it. On the other hand, as with Super Bowl commercials, if they entertain the users sufficiently to deflect the bother of watching an ad, then all seems fair. You are paying for the entertainment via a product placement. As with all things American, monetization of new avenues is inevitable. And the inevitable has gained steam.

Members of the Wpromote staff, like myself, that grew up in Los Angeles’ beautiful South Bay area are deeply familiar with its local paper, the Daily Breeze. The Daily Breeze has been keeping residents of the South Bay in touch with local news in one form or another since 1894 and for those that grew up in here, the Daily Breeze has been a staple in our lives.

On March 22nd, the Daily Breeze’s Muhammed El-Hasan sat down to speak with our fearless leader, Wpromote’s President and CEO Michael Mothner. The purpose of the article was to inform residents of the South Bay of the innovations that are available in the field of online advertising as well as better acquaint them with one of the area’s most exciting online businesses.

Here is an excerpt from the article:

Known as search-engine marketing, Wpromote uses its knowledge of how key words typed into online search engines such as Google or Yahoo generate results. Wpromote’s job is to make sure its clients are among the top results.

We at Wpromote wanted to send a “thank you” to our neighbors at the Daily Breeze for taking an interest in our story. Many of us grew up reading local interest stories in the Daily Breeze; it is a special honor to now be a part of one.

My name is Aaron Kronis and I work for Wpromote in the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) division.

I just arrived home to Los Angeles late last night after spending the past three days in Austin, Texas for the SXSW Interactive Media conference.
I was there to film an episode of ‘RockStartup‘ after winning a contest from Shoemoney and Izea.

Everyone was there from all the major (and minor wannabe) companies, where the right application just might take off, if launched properly. I learned about several interesting new companies and met a lot of people from different, well known groups. One of the funnier things I was asked to do (prior to receiving the prize money and hotel key) was to wear a white t-shirt and ask all the bloggers to sign it with their sites and get their business cards after having them do something for the show, like beat box or something similar.

This was where I got a whole bunch of business cards from the folks in the ‘bloghouse’ located in a room accessible only by a secret elevator in the convention center, separated from the other normal elevators. Hey, it’s not every day that someone like Guy Kawasaki pays a woman he knows twenty bucks to find out who I am and write on me!

(photos by Jeremy Schoemaker)

Being involved in the SEO side of things, I’ll discuss some of the things I’ve noticed lately about the ‘movers and shakers’ in the industry. As I meet new people who are in the world of blogging, SEO and blog monetization, it occurred to me to start paying attention to what sites people actually use. Comparing the business cards of the many people I met showed that a lot of the serious folks are all using several things along with different types of cards. I saw a lot of ‘moo cards’ showing up lately (the smaller ones that look like a stick of gum):

1. flickr
2. AIM
3. twitter
4. skype
5. linkedin
6. their own blogs
7. gmail
8. facebook

One of the newer things I found out about at this conference was ‘utterz.com‘ - a service that allows you to blog from your mobile phone by emailing a picture, then making a phone call and leaving a voice message that will end up on your blog in a single post, providing both actions take place within ten minutes of each other.

I also was able to sneak into a session where the artist Moby was discussing his music licensing for film and television. I learned that he is very philanthropic in his ways with a FREE site for film students to use his music called mobygratis.com that doesn’t charge anything for licensing for students, unless the film makes money, in which case the royalties go to the Humane Society. He was an entertaining speaker and seemed like a good person, which can be hard to find in the dying, cutthroat music industry.

All in all, it was very interesting to meet a lot of these blogger types and rock out with them. Along with the Izea film crew for RockStartUp, we even got to attend a Rock Band (the video game) party at club Six.

photo by Leora

I was happy to sing and enjoy the event VIP style, with open bar and lots of music and blogger types in attendance, along with the owner of the Mavericks.

Until next time,

Your friendly neighborhood Rockstar SEO

For the past few years, Facebook has developed and hosted an NCAA Tournament Pool. The competition was very simple, start your own pool or join an existing one, and compare your picks to those of your friends. Winner gets bragging rights.

Last year, Facebook spiced it up a little. With co-sponsor Geico, the competition offered a hefty prize to the winners.
1st place - $25,000
2nd place - $5,000
3rd place - $1,000

How did it end? A tie.

PicksPal has capitalized on this Facebook tradition by developing it’s own NBA Challenge application. While the user count is just shy of 12,000 total users, the potential of this application is tremendous. When a friend in your network adds the application, a notice is displayed in the daily feed (also the first page users see when they login). This along with word of mouth advertising and invitations to “join my pool” are bound to convert more and more users to the app.

Now where does the potential of Facebook apps come in?

Ever since Facebook opened up its platform to developers, numerous companies including iLike, LinkedIn & RockYou! have jumped aboard and created custom applications for users.

While many developers are creating entertaining and useful applications, there is still a void in that there is little reason for users to actively engage with their applications. It seems that an area of this that developers and the companies are forgetting about is that college students, and Facebook users in general, simply love free stuff. By running applications/contests and offering prizes (maybe even daily prizes), the possibilities for widespread brand name exposure to the facebook demographic become endless. Make the prize cash and integrate it into your current website or marketing goals and you’ve just gained a new avenue to acquiring users and possible sales.