Facebook adds https Secure Connection
It was always coming. It was just a matter of time. Facebook today have announced that they are adding the ability to access the site via a secure connection https. Today is it launched in the US with a global roll out soon. This is the latest in a number of actions taken by Facebook to reassure users of the security and privacy.
Many of you probably don’t know what https means but I can guarantee you if you bought anything online, you have some across it. HTTPS combines http and SSL security protocols that encrypt your information and protect it from hackers. This is obviously important with any online purchases including your credit or debit cards.You will see it in the URL at the top of your web browser. Normally it would say http (hypertext transfer protocol). It is also highlighted in green.
The main problem this solves is using Facebook over a public wifi. Up until now. other people on the public wifi could access your Facebook information and use it against you. This feature can be found under your account settings page. Recent Firefox addons such as Firesheep allowed access to much of your personal information when using a shared wifi.
Some sections of Facebook are exempt from the service such as some third party apps. It will also probably slow down your navigation throughout the site. This is obviously much more of an issue for those operating still on dial up modems. But an improvement is always appreciated, especially in a week I got a call from the credit card company asking if I had spent €400 on online poker.
Top 10 Expert Blogging Tips
Blogging is becoming an essential tool to get your brand out there. A brand can be a business, a group or even a single person. A blog is a great platform for people to display their passions, interests and talents. Writing good content is a great way to get noticed. I have myself been contacted by a company i have commented on. It is not bad to be in disagreement with a campaign or project by a third party as long as it is backed up with facts and accurate insights. So here are my Top 10 blogging tips:
1: Write in the Now
There is no point writing about something that people have no interest in like the Y2K bug. Nobody is looking for that information so try and make your posts current and something people will have interest in reading.
2: Well written content
If you have found a topic that is interesting, don’t blow it by talking crap. Don’t rush into writing, plan and research what you will write. People will bounce pretty quickly from a poorly written article with bad spelling.
3:Be patient
Don’t assume your well written current post will start gaining traffic after 5 min, sometimes it does for example when I wrote a post about the Hunky Dory Rugby Ad. It rocketed. Other posts take time. My post on Google TV Ireland is more of a slow burner but continues to gain readers.
4:Images
Images and also Alt Texts are important to include when possible in posts. They not only make your post easier on the eye, they also can be a good way of driving traffic if the images become ranked in Google images.
5:Use your social media contact web
Twitter for example is a good way of announcing a new post. The key is a catchy tag line that you use. It has to get people attention and stand out. I have circa 170 followers so instantly you are reaching them. If they retweet and then their followers retweet (if the post is that good), your reach becomes huge. Certain ping outlets can also work like pingout but I am not sure the traffic quality is great.
6:Have a theme
I think all bloggers should have a theme to their blog whether it be travel, marketing, cars etc. This will help you increase your return readers. It also increases the chances a visitor will read more than one article as they are of a similar theme.
7:Use Keywords
This is more of an SEO consideration but also very import for all bloggers to know of. For example this post is about blogging for bloggers. I use the term blog and variants of the word on purpose. The keyword density in a post should increase the chances of it ranking higher for that term. If I write a blog post about airplanes and never mention airplane once in the post the chances are Google when scanning the post will not realise what the post is about which is disastrous.
8:Links
Including links to external sources gives integrity to your posts and shouldn’t be excluded. If further information about your post can be found elsewhere, then post a link to it. Links are also a good way of bringing the user around your blog or site. If you can get each visitor to read two or even three posts you are doing a great job.
9: Track Visitors
This can be done via the plug ins suggested by wordpress or through a Google Analytics account. I am sure Blogger have something as well to track post views, referring sites etc.
10: Guest Posts
Try and get your friends and family to write guest posts for your blog. It is a great source of fresh content. They may be writing about something huge that you aren’t familiar with or just don’t like.
Putting it all together is tough but lets see how many I have included in this post.
√1: Write in the Now – Blogging have never been bigger, anyone can easily set up their own blog for free and you can be sure there is a good blog covering every subject.
√2: Well written content – That is for other people to decide
√3:Be patient – I am always patient with posts as I am a quite experienced blogger at this point.
√4:Images - I have included a blogging image to go with my post about blogging tips.
√5:Use your social media contact web – if you follow me on www.twitter/will_egan you will see I tweeted this post after publishing it.
√6:Have a theme – As you will see through all my posts, the theme of my blog is marketing and almost all posts will fall into that category.
√7:Use Keywords – You will find words like blog, bloggers, blogging littered throughout this post to ensure Google knows what my post is about and places it in the right place.
√8:Links – I have included links to some of my other posts to encourage people to traverse my blog.
√9: Track Visitors – I track visitors daily through wordpress and also analytics. It is important to know if a post has become so big it needs a follow up post.
10: Guest Posts – This is a post I wrote and so cannot be a guest post.
2010 Highlights, Tragedies and Interesting Occurances Review by Google
2010 saw many problems with global financial meltdown to natural disasters the like of which we have never seen. The internet allows the ability to recap on the biggest moments of 2010 like never before. And who else but Google to create a video of the biggest moments of 2010.
If there is something missing please leave a comment. I like that the only Irish reference was Graeme McDowell and not our shoddy financial or political establishments. Enjoy the movie and lets try and stay positive for 2011!
Google Places Becomes Vital to Search Engine Optimization
There has been a slow subtle integration of Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPS) and the Google’s Places product. There are a number of different variants currently in operation and we can only speculate Google are testing a number of formats. These new SERPS are viewable when you include a place in the search term or in other words perform a localized search.
Types of integration
This will have a major effect on SEO and webmasters all over the work. Hours and hours of work goes into SEO and building links etc and all of this potentially is worthless if localization becomes paramount in location based search queries. For those out there who do not have a Google Places Account or do not know what Google Places is then please open a new window and set it up immediately. A good intro to Google places is here. Claim you business listing and then come back here. Until Google uniforms how it integrates Places into SERPS, no complete guide will be available. But the minimum you should do is be prepared. Set up and fill in your local business listing.
Business listings on Google Maps are just another avenue that people can find your business and businesses are listed in the same way as SERPS Google shows the most relevant results in descending order. So you could be number 1 on traditional SERP pages and 20 on Google Maps. Time will now have to be split between traditional SEO and Google Places. The areas you can optimize your business listing are:
- Business Name
- Business Address
- Category
- Photos
- Video
- Additional Info
- Reviews
Reviews would appeal to be vital in this new system. Google are always aiming to return relevant and accurate search results and reviews would give your location credibility and trustworthiness that Google like. Review can come from 3rd party websites but also a recent change has seen users able to add reviews directly in Google Maps. Every location can easily complete business name, address, category etc. Reviews are a distinguishing factor in the business listings.
The integration of Google places sees a substantial shift in the way Google displays SERPS. I would imagine it is an intentional move to try an add an additional revenue stream for Google. Google’s only income come from Adwords. Recently they purchased AdMob to add to their mobile advertising portfolio. Google Maps receives massive amounts of traffic and would prove very lucrative for Google.
Google Professional Individual Certification for Adwords, Analytics…..
This week I completed both the Fundamentals exam and the Advanced Display exam to become individually Google Certified. Basically its an exam to take to earn an accreditation from Google to say you are Adwords capable. Is it worth the $150 bucks ( it took me 2 goes for the fundamentals exam)? I would say it was still worth it. Internet advertising is still on the up and its best to try and stay ahead of the pack when it comes to the field.
To become Google Certified, one must pass first the Fundamentals exam which is multiple choice. Sounds easy right? Well not really, It is 120 multiple choice questions in 120 minutes with the pass rate set at 85%. Many of the questions have multiple possible answers with one being just more right than the others. So my first piece of advice would be to mark any question you are in anyway unsure of. Once you mark a question you can continue on and review it at the end. The first time I took the exam I didn’t review anything, possible over confident and I failed! The second time I would estimate I reviewed around 15 to 20 questions.
After completing the Fundamentals exams, one must pass one of 3 advanced exams (Advanced Search, Advanced Display or Reporting&Analysis). I chose to do the Advanced Display but plan on going back and passing the other two exams in due time. The advanced exam have a much smaller scope for studying but it is important to try and remember what you learnt in Fundamentals as this is also covered. This exam was again 120 minutes with 110 multiple choice questions to undertake. I chose the Advanced Display module as it was the area I felt weakest on and so of greatest benefit to me.
Other tips I would give are to study the learning center material. I even printed it off and studied it the old fashioned way with my highlighter. If nothing else an accreditation from Google looks good on a CV. I would recommend taking the exams to anyone working in adwords. The individual certification requires no minimum spend on your part so it is open to anyone with an interest in Adwords and Analytics. I learnt a lot of new information that I am sure I will apply to my Adwords campaigns.
If you have any questions about the exams please feel free to leave a comment and a contactable email and I would be happy to answer as best possible.
Product Placement in Movies
There has always been product placement in movies going all the way back to cigarettes in the old westerns right up to the modern day films like Sex and the City 2. It has been great for two types of branding:
- Product Launch
- Product Consolidation
Some of our biggest film memories feature you guessed it product placement.
- RayBans in Men in Black/most Tom Cruise movies before Top Gun
- DeLorean Car in Back to the Future
- White Castle Burgers in Harold and Kumar
- reese pieces in E.T.
My interest in the subject sprung from something I read stating Macs featured in 1986 movies Short Circuit as well as Star Trek IV. Macs have consistently featured in movies since from Seed of Chucky to Men in Black to Dodgeball! Apple’s troubles through the nineties and the fact that apple survived was always accredited to the dedicated followership of Mac users. All I am saying is that their presence in a series of hit movies must have helped!
Why does it work?
Simply because people associate the brand with the actor and movie in question. For example take a the new movie Social Network. Mark Zuckerberg’s character uses a Sony Vaio laptop. A guy who became a billionaire by 25 uses Sony………therefore Sony Vaio must be great computers! A stretch for the more intelligent minded but the light is burning brightly for the masses.
I believe that product placement isn’t a bad thing, I just hope it never gets in the way of a good movie. One final mention to Wayne’s World and their parody on product placement in the middle of their movie. look it up!
New Turkish Airlines Manchester United Rooney Advert
Turkish Airlines has a brand new ad ready to go featuring the entire Manchester Utd first team squad. An ad featuring the Manchester United being the biggest football brand in the world could only possibly be bettered by a guest cameo by David Beckham. The ad features stars Scholes, Evra, van Der Sar, Da Silva twins, O’Shea, Anderson and the now infamous Wayne Rooney.
The question is does the ad still have any marketing value given the face Rooney has made his intentions clear to leave Old Trafford. Many United fans’s blood will now boil when they see images of Rooney. Could it be detrimental to the Turkish Airlines brand to air the ad. It might be best if they edit Rooney out but then the ad would have no ending leaving viewers confused.
On the other hand would releasing the ad drive media attention due to its now controversial star? Also would Manchester United allow the ad to run given the news Rooney is no longer happy in Manchester.
This ad although I can image incredibly expensive to make, will be consigned to email forwards and Youtube. Shame really as its quite a good ad.
Bing Search and Facebook
It was recently announced that Bing will integrate its search engine with Facebook. In a nutshell this means that upon searching on Bing, you will see friends likes and other parts of their Facebook profile linked to your search query.
So for example if I search for my local pub The Ceders, the search engine results pages might list the pub and mention that 4 of my Facebook friends like this venue. This video will explain more:
Facebook is the biggest social media site in the world with over 500 million dedicated users so integrating with this colossal with no doubt increase Bing’s market share. Microsoft were one of the first investors in Facebook and are also current shareholders so their collaboration isn’t a massive surprise but will no doubt have Google execs worried. The system is still in beta but you can get a feel for it by searching for Bing social.
Google Ireland Street View
1/10/10 is the date Google rolled out street view in Ireland. Months of planning and research has gone into this Google product. Enabling users to view quality street views of Ireland anywhere in the world. having used it myself and viewed my home in Westmeath, I can see how much work has gone into this extension of google maps.
It hasn’t taken long for funny stories regarding the photography of Ireland’s street view. Apparently google have images of someone trying to break into the photography van. The Irish Times has an image of two guys mooning the camera as it went by. I would have thought that google would have tested the pictures before releasing street view ireland so I can assume that they weren’t the only only doing something to get noticed.
This for google is just a further way to increase ad sales. Sponsored links appear on all street view pages. These are tied into their adwords tool. But I am not complaining, I really like street view. It will be a really handy tool to help people find your place or office. There are bound to be more images out there that will amuse, disgust and entertain so my advice is just to explore. And try not to do it at work 
Google Product Extensions goes live in the UK
Today, Google announced that they were rolling out product extensions to the UK market. Hopefully Ireland won’t be too far behind! This exciting addition will complement a 1st -3rd placed adwords cpc ad spot in the same way google places can be integrated into your cpc ads.
If that is too much to get your head around let me break it down.
1: Where will I see this new feature?
Product Extensions will appear on SERP’s (Search Engine Results Pages).
Users will be able to click on the ‘+’ icon to view a number of a company’s products. Implementation of this should lead to a increase in CTR. On my campaigns, I have integrated the google places extension which allows users to see where my location is. Where this has been implemented, there has been a distinct CTR increase.
2: How do you integrate Product Extensions
You need to set yourself up on Google Merchant Center. This is where you will load all your products (images, details etc). From there you connect the merchant center to your adwords account.
3: Log into your adwords account and you should be able to incorporate product extensions. Product extensions will more than likely only appear if you are listed in the top three positions of a SERP. So increased budgets may be required. But this feature should increase CTR which will lift your quality score and then you should be able to decrease your bids after a period.
This is potentially a very powerful tool. Early adopters will see the most benefit certainly but I believe there will be a long term value to the extra work required. Being able to display your products will obviously give you an advantage over your competitors. A SERP is always competitive so any stand out feature will give you and edge and should lead to increased clicks.
It may attract users who have never heard of your company but like something you sell. The opportunities are pretty endless.
Influential Celebrities on Twitter
In light of John Mayer’s decision to close his twitter account, I thought I would write a bit about the subject of influential twitterers (if that is even a word). For those who may not know, John Mayer, the often annoying ex of Jen Aniston has made the decision to shut down his twitter account. He had approx. 3.7million followers which is something every major brand would die for! To put in in perspective, John Mayer could tweet to every man, woman and child in Ireland! But dis anyone actually care what he wrote?
Dan Zarrella, Social Media Specialist has put together a list of influential twitterers based on CTR (click-through rate). It is an interesting but obviously not totally accurate state of play. CTR is the number of clicks divided by followers. He has recorded the following
So it seems the Kardashians are very influential on twitter. What does this mean in marketing terms? It means if I have a product I want to launch, I should go to them because they get a response from their followers. Its no good if you have 3.7m followers if they don’t care what you are saying. Stephen Fry interestingly comes in at number 2. Mr Fry is well known for knowing everything about everything so when he posts a link, it can be assumed to be worth a click.
Applying this to your own brand, look at twitter followers like you do link building. Its better to have 10 really good links or in this case twitter followers than 100 crap links or 100 token followers. So when you are looking at your competitors hundreds of followers, don’t distress, you may have a bigger influence than them.
What is a Marketing affiliate and what will Superquinn get for it?
Yesterday I read that Superquinn had signed up to Tradedoubler’s affiliate marketing scheme hoping to driving online sales. It is not the most innovative tactic. Many large organizations do it. It just means there will appear a lot more online.
For those who may not know how a marketing affiliate system works here you go: Tradedoubler and Superquinn will agree a cost per lead/sign up/sale or something similar that is tangible quantifiable. A visitor to the web site is not a good example. Lets say for this example that the unit is a sale over €15. So Superquinn may pay tradedoubler €10 for this sale. Its basically free money for Superquinn I hear you say but its not as straight forward as that. Now Tradedoubler now have to go out and try and make that sale for under €10 to make a margin/profit. Tradedoubler have a large number of publishers (people who run a site/s) who run tradedoubler affiliate advertising. In return they get a small income which is less that the €10 that they agreed to pay for it. maybe a diagram will explain better.
So Superquinn get a €15 sale and pay €10 for it.
Tradedoubler ger a €10 payment and pay an amount for it.
Hope this is all clear now. So is the fact that Superquinn have done this really newsworthy? probably not but hey its a slow week. I have to state that this is a basic view of how affiliate marketing works, there are a few more aspects that complicate things more but I would be here all day. If you do have any further questions please leave a comment and i will try my best to answer. All figures used are made up, I have no idea of the costs or Tradedoubler or indeed the spends of Superquinn. Its just an example folks.
Call of Duty Black Ops
The latest call of Duty Black ops game is due to be released this November in time for the Christmas rush. Known new features are at a minimum. A post I cam across on Twitter led me to this video: Call of Duty Black Ops preview.
The game is sure to be a hit, absolutely guaranteed! It will be played by 16-25 year old males predominantly for hours on end. I am not here to discuss how great the game is, no point, but this is a marketing blog so I put on my marketing hat. 16-25 year old male audience would be considered cash rich or at least they would have been a couple of years ago. How can you take advantage of the game to push your brand or product.
I am talking about essentially billboard ads in games. It is being done, mainly online games which allows advertisers to buy an ad impression similar to how one would do in normal display advertising. In a static game sold separately it is not so simple. To retain control of the advertising the user would have to be gaming online. This is becoming less of an issue as the online multi player part of Call of Duty (and similar games) become more dominant over the single player story option. So once a user is online you can control (in theory) how many times an ad is shown in the game and hence you have your market.
The question is, is it feasible. Computer games take years and millions to develop. Adding in an advertising element will not sit well with the gamers designing the game, lets be honest. But there is a market possibility in the idea.
- Sponsored online battles.
- Free giveaways to top players.
- Product placement
- Billboard advertising
The possibility to make money is there, it just won’t initially be liked and there in lies the problem. Were Call of Duty to implement these ideas they would be slated. But sooner or later someone will so why not be first?
Google to Simultaneous Multiple Account Access
Google have announced the news that they will soon be introducing the ability to access multiple google accounts at the same time. Any IT professional working with multiple brands takes a sigh of relief.
The issue currently is that every adwords account requires a google account. Google has tried many ways to negate this problem with the introduction of the Managed Client Centre for Adwords. The problem remains though as many people like to access their personal google email in work and hence cannot be logged into to any other product with a different account at the time.
One way to get around this is using difefrent browsers. That is what i currently do. Chrome for work Google, Firefox for personal Google. But the problem gets worse when you consider Google places. Work Google can only have one google account so for brand b I need another browser and so on and so forth.
Well done google, another appreciated upgrade.
What is Marketing??
A lot of people ask me what I do. I always find it a tough question to answer. The general answer is online marketing but that covers so much. What constitutes marketing? I work on search engine marking (SEM), meaning I try to improve my site’s search engine optimization (SEO). I also work on designing the site to look a certain way. I want it to be appealing and easy to navigate for my customers. I would say that is also marketing.
I am happy saying that all of this coupled with pay per click (PPC) and display advertising is online marketing. I have an Msc in Marketing so it makes sense for me to do so. My question is how many other people without knowing it are marketers. This is especially true in the online world where a company’s website is the biggest marketing tool they possess. Someone said to me once:
“If you had a shop, you would board up the front window or keep it very messy. Your front window is one of the first interactions between customer and seller. In the same way, an easy to use, clean and appropriate website is essential for running an online business.”
A friend of mine Ross Mulcahy is a web developer and runs his own development shop. He and I studied Information and Communication in Trinity, a computer networking course. After that I studied Marketing and he completed his masters in Multimedia Systems. But both of us are marketers even though he may not like to called it. He build’s your shop’s front window. He is the primarily contact for all your customers so it is important he understands what your customers require and respect and market your site to them.
I have always found marketing to be a very wishy-washy term. It can be used to explain a variety of projects without really meaning anything. To me everything is marketing, its not just getting someone on your site and selling to them. Customers are demanding after care help, interesting social media campaigns and friendly interactions. The guy or girl answering customer questions emailed to you is just as important as any advert you have online. The way the internet is evolving bad news travels ten times as fast and more importantly as far, as good news.
Google Introduces Caffeine to Web Indexing
Google have announced they are innoventing (A word I just innovented) a new web-indexing model which will revolutionize how Google works. The idea is that Google will provide 50% fresher results for web searches than the previous indexing model. What does that mean to the lay person?
caffeine_Google_williamegan.ie
To break it down one looks at how Google previously indexed web pages and documents. There were several hierarchical layers and to refresh a layer, you had to analyze the entire web. This was massively time consuming as you can imagine. Each layer refreshed every couple of weeks or so. The new caffeine system works faster by breaking the job into smaller portions and running it on a continuous basis.
(Interestingly, it is a similar approach as they used when first designing Google. years ago the search engine was housed on one massive terminal. It was Google that realised that by by splitting the work over several terminals, they could increase the speed of search considerably. )
The details of the new changes are complex for non-
tech people but just in case you wanted to know – from Google’s blog:
every second Caffeine processes hundreds of thousands of pages in parallel. If this were a pile of paper it would grow three miles taller every second. Caffeine takes up nearly 100 million gigabytes of storage in one database and adds new information at a rate of hundreds of thousands of gigabytes per day. You would need 625,000 of the largest iPods to store that much information; if these were stacked end-to-end they would go for more than 40 miles.
Caffeine has been built with the future in mind using theory designed in the past. It is difficult for a searcher to see how caffeine improves Google search but believe me it does. It allows them a platform to build future projects upon. It is a great lesson for anyone to learn. First Build, then solidify improve, then expand! Otherwise your house will fall down live the proverbial deck of cards.
3-D Pub Advertising for the World Cup
Sony and Fifa joined forces to show 25 World Cup 2010 games in 3-D. It will be the first time the World Cup has been shown in 3-D and shows the future not only of television shows but also television advertising.
“This propels the football fan into a whole new viewing dimension and marks the dawning of a new era in the broadcasting of sport,” said FIFA Secretary General Jérôme Valcke. “We are proud that the FIFA World Cup can serve as a platform for advancing technology and the viewing experience, and are truly fortunate to have Sony as a partner in this endeavour.”
Ad agency Anomaly will run a Europe wide campaign starting June 11th featuring Brazilian Kaka. The 3-D televisions themselves won’t go on sale til June 12th. It is hoped this will cause a surge of interest in the technology.
But what does this mean for advertisers? Developing a 3-D solely for 3-D movies would have been very costly for and return they could have expected. But if 3-D Tv takes off (and there is no better platform that the soccer world cup) it could be added to the marketing mix sooner rather than later. With the introduction of 3-D television, advertisers now can interact with consumers in a way they never could before. TV has always been an impactful medium with the combination of audio and visual, but adding a 3-D element brings it to a new level.
For advertisers looking to make a big splash and been seen to be very forward thinking, a 3-D advert could be the perfect fit. It may take up to a year for enough people to have 3-D tv’s to make the production viable but I can see it forming a major piece of the advertsing pie in years to come.
Google Acquires Admob (Mobile Advertising Platform)
Its official! Admob has officially become part of the Google jigsaw. It will I assume not be integrated into the Adwords platform so advertisers will be able to make specialized mobile ads as they do Google search ads. Admob has been bought for a whopping $750m.
Admob is an advertising platform that runs in iphone, Android and webOS applications. If you own a iphone you have almost definitely seen them but may not have noticed. They were definitely ahead of the curve and had established themselves as a major player in the business. Google doesn’t buy what it can easily replicate for free. Admob has served approx 7 million banner ads to date which is quite a chunk considering mobile applications is still a technology in its infancy.
The news was announced on May 27th via Google Official Blog.
“We’ll now begin the process of bringing our products and teams together in the best way, and building new products and features together. We’re working to make this integration happen as fast and as seamlessly as possible”
So exciting times ahead….or not if you are working for one of Google’s competitors. It will be interesting to monitor Google’s activities over the next year. This week also saw the announcement of Google TV. Also they have been busy buying up an array of VoIP businesses so who knows what they will produce.
It is clear though Google’s grip on how we live our lives is growing. I am not entirely sure if it a good or bad thing. There is no doubt platforms such as Analytics and Adwords are awesome for advertisers and online developers. At the same time my pessimistic side means I am wary of some sort of Skynet coup d’etat!
Google Pac Man Game
On the 21st of May, Google ran a version of the famous Pac-Man game on its homepage to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the original launch of the game in Japan.
It has turned out to be so popular that google has given it a permanent home at google/pacman. According to stats released for that one day, 5 million hours of work was lost. That is a pretty amazing figure but I have to say I have been messing with it since I found it.
If I am honest if I didn’t know it was playable already I probably wouldn’t have guessed. Google regularly mess around with their title font so I might have just looked passed it.The insert coin button is a nice touch. Very retro! It replaces the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button which I don’t think I have ever used. I would love that job of figuring out cool new ways to present the Google on the search page.
One final stat going back to the 5m hours lost that day. If the average person is paid €15 per hour, that equates to €75 million euro in wages wasted by Google!
Google TV Ireland
Last week saw the announcement of Google TV, the latest in roll out of Google’s plan to rule pretty much everything. It will allow users to essentially search as they do on google.ie to find what they want to watch.
A simple example is – you are at home and want to watch the Simpsons. Google Tv is already set up and you simply access the search bar and type in Simpsons. Some results could be:
- Simpson movie I bought on Itunes
- Episode of Simpsons running on Sky 1
- Youtube clips featuring Simpsons
- The episode i sky+’d last week etc
It combines all of these into one search result and you would choose the option you want. Seems simple enough. I am sure it will be on every 15 year old Christmas list to organize their porn collection.
It searches multiple sources to return relevant results in the same way as the internet search tool works. It is in theory a perfect system. But how will it treat episodes people (not me) download illegally. Will it recognize them? Worse, will it report me to the Gardai? The questions continue. What if there are videos on your hard drive that you may not want the world knowing about. A secret love of Greys Anatomy for example….
There will be a cost to run Google Tv. For everyone not ready to go out and buy a new Tv with integrated Google TV pre-installed, a set top box will have to be purchased. Personally I already have my NTL box, Wii, Xbox and surround Sound system. I don’t know if I have room. On top of that I don’t think I really have a need currently. It is another one of those ‘Its cool but do I need it’ conversations.
A video by google explaining how it works is available here,Google TV and more details can be found on google.ie/tv.
Integrating Google Places into Adwords
It was pointed out to me recently that I was missing a trick with my Google Ads. Google Places has I think been running a while but its recent integration into the Adwords platform was new to me. Basically I was missing out on a free way of making my ad stand out over our competitors that had nothing to do with quality score.
Now compare that with the Thrifty ad below. Even from my poor screenshots, the ad when fully expanded dominates the top results. As well as the standard adtext, there is also a map of where Thrifty are and also an address and phone number.
Really simple to implement. At campaign level, go to settings and you can sync your Google places account*. Once your places account is synced, proceed to ad level and edit adtext. Choose the most relevant location for the ad – so for example thrifty may advertise for Dublin Airport and so one would link the Dublin airport address to that ad and similarly for Cork, Shannon etc. Also you will want to put a range for which people will see this option. The default is 40km. If you have one location, there is no harm setting it to the maximum.
*Google Places is a business listing tool provided by Google. Users can add their business to the directory at no charge.
Tv Ad on Channel 4 to Offer Abortion Advice
Monday 24th May 2010 at 10.10pm is sure to be a controversial time for Channel 4. They are due to air the first ad that features abortion advice under the tagline “Are you late?”.
Even for the UK who advertising is less stringent than ours here, especially when you take the recent Hunky Dory campaign as an example. Areas such as abortion advice had been sidetracked until now although the Advertising Standards Authority have stated that their is nothing to prevent ‘non-commercial providers of sexual health advice’.
Marie Stopes International offers advice to women and men about subjects such as contraception, abortion and sterilization. Not exactly the ad you would be expecting while watching the Inbetweeners or whatever Channel 4 have planned for that night.
My big question is……..would this ad be approved in Ireland. The answer is a pretty obvious no. In a land where models can be rugby players, I have a better chance of being made President.
Personally I don’t think I want to see ads on abortion while watching TV, I don’t see the relevance of it. lets face it, there are lots of people in Ireland who may be considering abortion but I assume they would obtain the information themselves. I can’t forsee any girl/woman watching tv, seeing the ad and having that eureka moment…’I need an abortion’.
Horses for courses and all that, I just think it will cause a massive amount of fuss for little return.
Google's Official SEO Guide
Google have released a beginners guide to SEO with Google. It was originally designed as an internal document for the Google teams but has now been released for the benefit of webmasters. It won’t guarantee you top ranking position but is a good guide of how one could try.
It is perfect for beginners! It starts at the very beginning, organic vs PPC. The most important starting point in any SEO project is title tag and proper use of meta data. When I was designing my first site, I was aware of SEO but didn’t really know how the plug got into the socket. I didn’t know how to design with SEO in mind. This guide must be read by anyone about to design their own site and isn’t a seasoned designer.
The document itself goes into detail on making your site easier to navigate, creating better anchor text, use of the header tags right down to the nitty gritty of robot.txt. Everything is covered in it. This is by far the most complete guide I have found out there to date. I would suggest this to even seasoned designers, it is that good.
—Click on the link below to view the complete document.—
Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.pdf – Click Here!
Google’s Official SEO Guide
Google have released a beginners guide to SEO with Google. It was originally designed as an internal document for the Google teams but has now been released for the benefit of webmasters. It won’t guarantee you top ranking position but is a good guide of how one could try.
It is perfect for beginners! It starts at the very beginning, organic vs PPC. The most important starting point in any SEO project is title tag and proper use of meta data. When I was designing my first site, I was aware of SEO but didn’t really know how the plug got into the socket. I didn’t know how to design with SEO in mind. This guide must be read by anyone about to design their own site and isn’t a seasoned designer.
The document itself goes into detail on making your site easier to navigate, creating better anchor text, use of the header tags right down to the nitty gritty of robot.txt. Everything is covered in it. This is by far the most complete guide I have found out there to date. I would suggest this to even seasoned designers, it is that good.
—Click on the link below to view the complete document.—
Google Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide.pdf – Click Here!
Hunky Dory Sexy Model Ad Banned
The ads for those who don’t know was for crisp maker Hunky Dory and feature two women’s rugby teams in provocative positions and similarly provocative tag lines. The models featured wore scantily clad uniforms.
The ASAI or Advertising Standards Authority of Ireland has asked Hunky Dory to withdraw and remove all of the rugby ads they have running featuring the sexily clad models [Link]. This comes as a result of the public outcry mainly from feminist and religious groups.
Its a sad day for Ireland and a slow news day when this is what people take their time to give out about. Bankers, politicians, developers can wait as these people making crisps are really stepping over the line. I say grow up to these people. How bad is it really? Has it been done before…..yes! Will it be done again yes! Has it changed anything….no!
If as many people cared about the direction the company has been going over the past couple of years as much as they do about a crisp ad, we might be in better position economically. Why not protest about drug dealers? Why not march on the Dail to remonstrate to Leinster house about real problems instead of these childish issues.
The ads feature models in very little clothes……shock horror! Are people really offended by attractive women. Vanity Fair features footballers Cristiano Ronaldo and Didier Drogba in their underwear. These non models play football and so have no need to be featured as such. Am I offended, do I think its sexist……I say again, grow up.
Sad day for Ireland, sad day for crisps……I was never staring at her crisps.
Jedward in New Abrakebabra TV Advert
The new Jedward ad will soon hit TV screens. The boys from Lucan have joined forces with everyone’s favourite late night haunt, Abrakebabra!
The ad viewable here shows the boys about to tuck into a tasty meal which unrecognizable flat hair. The boys are mainly known for having ridiculously spikey hair that seems to allow their brain cells to float out of their head but that’s an argument for another day.
Suddenly after one bit of tasty abrakebabra food the famous spikey hair returns and the boys display their usual antics of stupid over the top hand shakes and facial expressions! Also features are two love interests for the boys with similarly spikey hair which looks somehow more ridiculous than the boys themselves.
Possibly its a bit late for Abrakebabra to be jumping on the Jedward bandwagon, they have seemed to have been slowly disappearing from our minds. But in Louie Walsh they have a real king of spin and this could see them return to the forefront. At least until they appear on the same stage as Westlife. Interesting to see if they survive that?
I say good luck to the odd couple, nice to see them actually making the most of what talent they have.
Digital Marketing Institute Adwords Course Day 1
I am going back to school…….well a two day course really but always good to have a break from the office. Trying to beef up my Adwords knowledge by attending the Google Adwords 101 and 201 course from the Digital Marketing Institute.
Day 1: Not too much of an early morning so thats a plus. Lovely setting in the Radisson Blu. Looking forward to learning loads. Signs are all good so far. Just had a conversation on the validity of Facebook’s PPC model. Location maps?……..there is a lot to learn about adwords!
I could spend hours in the Google keyword tool. If there was one piece of advice I would give anyone on adwords it would be plan ahead, think long term, spend time structuring everything. It will be worth it in the long term.
Dynamic keywords are new to me. Must be careful how you use it though. Also the revamped google keyword tool is very handy. Will definitely be using that a lot going forward. Roll on Day 2
Hunky Dory Sexy Rugby Ad
It reminds me of something you would see on tv show Ad Men….’Sex sells, as they light another cigarette in the boardroom’. Not much has changed really, anyone who has read a Metro Herald would recognize the same bunch of girls advertising something new each day.
Hunky Dory’s latest campaign featuring attractive female models playing rugby without a lot of clothes. Its not porn but it is controversial. It seems everyone is unhappy about it accept Hunky Dory themselves. I can only assume its sold lots of crisps.
The usual band of feminists and religious groups – Demeaning to Women etc. The IRFU are also outraged as the ads state ‘Proud supporters of Irish Rugby’. Hint of truth in that they sponsor Navan RFC but probably misleading as stated in the ad.
Personally I don’t see anything wrong with it. If you put an actual women’s rugby team in the ad there probably wouldn’t be any complaints. A big burly female hooker (rugby position) wouldn’t sell many crisps. Is it even breaking a taboo? I could give you a list of products that have used scantily clad girls to sell products. Have you read the Metro Herald. The National Lottery use girls in bikinis to advertise the jackpot…..this, a charity foundation, government supported business!
If you are going to ban it, ban it all! Ban the diet coke ad where office girls drool over a builder/maintenance guide. It can’t be one rule for some! I thought we had developed tougher skins than to be offended at hot girls playing rugby.
Also check out – Ireland Bans Hunky Dory Rugby Ads
The End of Floppy Disks
I am not for the first time taking a slight tangent from marketing blogging to bring to you the news that the last floppy disk manufacturer will cease production in March next year.
The elder generation which apparently I am now joining will no doubt remember using 3.5″ floppy disks for office docs, projects etc on a day to day basis. Before CD drives ever existed and really before the internet really got going, floppy disks were the most secure way of transferring documents from one place to another.
Anyone who has depended on floppy disks though will know that the level of security was minuscule. They were about as dependable as Liverpool to win the league – would be working fine but then for no reason simply implode due to a lack of quality!
Sony broke the news this week that they would stop production of the floppy disk in 2011. It seems up til now, India and Japan still had a use for this ‘beta max’ storage device. Sony reports selling 12m in 2009 alone. This means they probably sold 3m and they 9m replacements!
Anyway R.I.P. floppy disk, I won’t really miss you but appreciate your effort!
Dublin Entrepreneur Show
Visiting the Entrpreneur show in Dublin last weekend I am not quite sure what I was expecting. When you here Google are a title sponsor you expect fireworks! Sadly it didn’t really happen.
I was amazed at the range of people here. All age groups are accounted for in this multicultural setting.
Really I only came for my google 75 euro voucher but apparently they are sent out in the post. Have to say the google stand is impressive an the lady I spoke to was very friendly and helpful. Being an digital marketer you have no choice but to work with google.
The talks were interesting but not ground breaking. Its always interesting to know what successful people have to say and get their input into the current economic situation.
All in all, entertaining afternoon if only for the Breffmeister speach about well….I am not sure……but his point was…..in there somewhere!
Driving Traffic Promoting Your Blog
I thought I would blog about this subject as I have been trying to do the same myself and thought I would pass on what i have discovered. I didn’t want to spend any money promoting my blog but was willing to be flexible in what I would do. I think my blog is a good way of getting users onto the commercial side of my site. Its the easiest way I can think to create new content which also is great for my seo.
First off there are a few ping sites that will send your blog post all over the place. Examples are pingoat and ping-o-matic and they possible work, I didn’t notice any difference.
Depending on what you are writing about friends and family may drive traffic. As my blog centers around marketing, this wasn’t really a goer for me. Twitter on the other hand has shown to drive a small amount of traffic. I would put this down to the more techy audience that use twitter might find more value in it.
There are a number of sites that you can submit your blog too. Digg and Stumble Upon are good examples of these. you submit your blog or post. People who like your post will ‘digg’ it. If you make your post useful, informative or even funny this can be a good way of generating traffic. DO NOT TRY AND ARTIFICIALLY PROMOTE A STORY ON DIGG. What i mean is don’t set up multiple accounts to try and raise the popularity of your post. Digg will know and you will be banned…..forever!
There are lots of blog directories you can submit too. Some ask you to add a button ad on your site as a mutual appreciation but I am happy to do it if its worth it.
Anyway, hope this helps.
Adwords Tips for Beginners
This is a very short guide for anyone wanting to get to the top of Google but doesn’t quite know how. It can be a tricky process and you could spend hours going in depth into the subject.
Money (as in your bid price) is only one side of it. There are a few more factors affecting how you rank in Google.
1:Start by setting everything up correctly. It seems obvious but if not done properly you will probably end up having to start again.
2:So you have your Campaign -> Adgroups -> Keywords. The best tip is to always include keywords from your adgroup in the actual adtext you write.
3: Put yourself in your potential customer’s shoes when writing adtext, what would appeal to them. Encourage them to click….what can you offer?
4: Good landing pages. Don’t just push everyone to the homepage. If your adtext is concerning a section of your site, push traffic directly. The user finds it more helpful and Google rates the quality of the landing page which is probably more important.
5: Make full use of each character. They are lots of studies out there that say using caps for every word (Title and Description) improves CTR. I also read that ending your description with three dots increases intrigue in what is on offer after one clicks through…
Hopefully this is of use to all you budding Adwords users out there. Especially to any going to the Entrepreneur show this weekend with Google big Adwords giveaway!
Improving Your SEO
I thought I would write a short post on the subject of SEO and in particular the most basic tips I can think of to improve your site’s Search Engine Optimization.
1: Simple….good quality content. It seems obvious but the amount of websites than rehash wither stuff they have seen somewhere else is huge. If you are writing a book you want people to read, you would try to make it longer than 3 pages right. Same principle, give users good quality information and try and make it as unique as you can.
2: Links. Both internal and external links help boost your SEO. But everyone should be using internal links so I won’t speak on that. You should aim to get credible external links ( links on other sites to yours). Google and other search engines are getting quite adept at rooting out non-credible links. A credible incoming link is one from a site in good standing related to your site in some way. For example a link from a hotel to a taxi service is useful as the hotel’s guests may find having access to a taxi company a useful resource. The easiest way test this is put yourself in the shoes of a visitor to your site. Would you find benefit in the link you are proposing?
3:Title Tag. Again really simple. You should use keywords in your site title.
4:Meta-tags. Make them relevant and not too long and these have a positive effect on your SEO.
5:Create a blog. Its free and easy. Especially good if you are struggling for content ideas. Try an post every couple of days. Its a great way to attract people to your site and at the same time build links by commentating on other blogs etc.
The last thing I will say is even if you think you have your SEO done, don’t. Its an ongoing process that never stops. You can always improve and at the very least maintain your position.
Bebo to close, but is it a surprise?
News broke recently that AOL are looking to offload Bebo or potentially shut it down. They are pointing to their lack of success in the States as a main factor in its decision. Only 2 years ago, Bebo was bought for $850m. i can only speculate but i would imagine it is now costing AOL money to run. There is no other reason to consider shutting it down. And to write-off 850m, it must be costing them a lot to run.
Social media has become a real buzz word for advertisers and marketers over the past couple of years. Its the only way to access the younger generation apparently? Brands want a presence there but rarely get their social media offering right. To do it right, and I think not many have, you need to think if your brand will fit into the social media framework. For example, when was the last time you became a friend of some brand or product on facebook? Now think have you ever visited their page of bought their product. has becoming a fan actually improved your view of the brand. Probably not, this is a good example of a marketer doing a half-assed job and assuming their boss will love that they are doing social media.
Only a few have got it right, very few actually. Great social media campaigns reach out to you and grab your attention. They are sometimes completely distinct from the brand itself. They often if not always have a viral element. The key to social marketing campaigns is that brands should not have to advertise them. The concept should be good enough that consumers spread the word for them.
Before I really go on a rant, I will summarize my point: A ‘Become a Fan page’ type social media campaign is about as effective as knocking down a wall with your breadth. Its a lazy option. Social Media needs in depth thought and a great idea which is difficult but then again probably the reason why few get it right.
The end of Press Media as we know it!
Without mentioning any particular figures, Press media spend up to the end of last year was a major part of any brand’s media mix. Newspapers were well aware of this and charge a high cost for the privilege.
The downturn affected how newspapers did business. Bread and butter income from Recruitment and Property development are simply not there anymore. newspapers are having to adapt to retain the same share of reduced media budgets.
The introduction of online versions of the Irish Times, independent etc over the past few years was expected to herald the beginning of the end for print media. This didn’t really occur. A possible reason for this was that the people making the decisions on media spends were traditionalist marketers and big believers in the Print Tv Radio Axis.
But now in this climate, online is becoming a much more favourable option. Everyone has heard a thousand times about measurability of online Vs traditional media. Assuming you have a media mix containing online and radio which is still very cost effective, you may only be able to choose press or tv. Both are very expensive but tv offers an advertising experience through moving picture and sound. On top of that remember a press ad has many similarities to a banner display ad which you can also run exclusively on the online press versions if required. The traditional press spend can soon become obsolete.
That is why I feel press advertising is on a slippery slope that will be hard to recover from. The combination of reduced budgets and a cheaper online alternative ready to go which covers the same content may condemn them to the dustbin for good.
GoCar Ireland Expansion in Cork
GoCar recently launched its latest GoBase in the grounds of Cork Institute of Technology. Following on from their latest Dublin GoBase in Dublin City University it shows the focus GoCar are operating with regard to their target market.
Students or GoStudents are GoCar describes them are perfect for this service as few will own or will be looking to own their own car with the cost of maintenance and fuel constantly rising. The flexibility and convenience of GoCar will appeal to them and be better for their pockets!
For anyone interested in signing up for GoCar or learning more about their latest GoBase in CIT they can visit gocar.ie or use their handy GoBase map.
The Top Brands' Advertising Budgets
Designed by Marketing Degree, for information on the research, click here for full report.
How Corporations Get Out of Paying Taxes
Ever wondered why Google and other American companies set up in Ireland. I will give you a hint, its not because of our workforce. There are more than enough capable people in the US to do the same job! Enjoy.
Via: OnlineMBA.com
The Evolution Of The App
Mobile Apps have exploded with the plethora or smart phones now available. With this being said, I found this infograph and thought you mind find it both useful and interesting as I did.
Via: Online MBA
Dublin Pub Guide
Usually I try and keep to marketing related topics but I am launching a new site and wanted to share it with you. It is called the Dublin Pub Guide and it does what is says on the tin. Its a guide for both tourists and locals alike and will soon be the number 1 place for nightlife info in Dublin. It is my first full web design and I wanted to keep it clean, simple and easy to use. There are a lot of other sites offering Dublin nightlife information but i have found them really hard to navigate and find what I want.
www.dublinpub.ie was born out of two areas. The lack of a simple easy to use Dublin Pub Map and also the aim to provide information for visitors looking for the best places to go. There are so many pub, clubs and late bars in Dublin that this is a huge task but hopefully with a little user help and interest it will grow into the place for Dublin nightlife.
The Dublin Pub Guide will allow users to add venues they like and review and rate. The rating of pubs, bars and clubs are important in finding the best place for you and your friends to go. There is also an administration function allowing pub, club and late bar official administers to really beef up their venue with pictures, bio, special offers and promotions. Administers can simply apply to claim their location similar to Google Places and once confirmation is made, they have sole access to their profile enabling them to update daily if they want.
The key to my site that makes it the best Dublin Pub Guide is my integration with Google maps allowing you to first plan where in Dublin you want to go out and then giving you the information about the pub, club or late bar you are interested in.
Mobile App Production
Mobile Apps are really at a crossroads in their production. They benefit from better handsets but are the same time could be eliminated by the new smartphones available.
What I mean by this is that mobile app possibilities have never been at their highest. Newer, smarter phones enable them to do things they never could in the past with location and social integrations. Apps can be relatively simple. Ross Mulcahy recently released a number of Android apps simply playing the favourite songs of your favourite team. A really simple idea, easy to design and cheap to buy. 30 cent I think. Mobile Apps can also be very complicated and more expensive like some of the photography apps available.
But mobile apps are under attack from 2, very different areas:
1:The Money Men – Mobile apps are a unique build, an iphone app and an Android app are built using two different programming languages. Mobile Apps are usually campaign specific meaning a new app needs to be built for each. This drives the cost up. Cost, due to the worldwide recession is now the pivotal where 5 years ago, it was less important.
2:Smart Phones – I know what you are saying, I stated smart phones were positive for mobile apps. However this is a double edged sword as better quality smart phones also means that the browsers they carry also become more usable and flexible. Why build 2 mobile apps when you can just change your own website which is already bought.
So do mobile apps have a future? Its hard to say. For simple targeted niche campaigns, its still the best available. But who knows about the future……