Archive for January, 2011

Can I Get Zip Code 20 Mile Radius Bulk Upload Targeting In Google Adwords?

January 21, 2011

Huh, can I?

Not presently.

Instead, I have to hand code in the Zip Codes I want to target one at a time because the Adwords bulk upload feature automagically converts a Zip Code list into the nearest city’s coordinates.

Bulk Upload 20 Miles Radius In Google AdWords

Bulk Upload 20 Miles Radius In Google AdWords

While on the surface this may appear helpful even intuitive, its not.

If I wanted to target the respective cities, I would enter their specific names not interior Zip Codes!

To this day, I still don’t understand why Google Adwords doesn’t provide pre-loaded Google Maps based Zip Code targeting.

Its not like the smart folks at Google couldn’t figure out how to integrate Zip Code targeting into Google Adwords.

AdWords Zip Code Targeting

AdWords Zip Code Targeting

Word Cloud Data Visualization Tool

January 20, 2011

Its been a while since I last generated a word cloud for my site using Wordle.net.

Below is how this site’s word cloud looks today.

SearchMarketingCommunications.com Word Cloud

SearchMarketingCommunications.com Word Cloud

Word cloud tools like Wordle are an excellent way to visualize otherwise large amounts of data.

In what other ways could word cloud tools be used to summarize large amounts of data?

Where Are Facebook’s Advertisers’ Yachts?

January 19, 2011

Where are Facebook’s Advertisers’ Yachts?

Facebook's Advertisers Yachts

Facebook's Advertisers Yachts

No – the above isn’t a picture of one of Facebook’s advertiser’s yachts.

In fact, I am highly certain there are no such examples.

Alternative Methods For Verifying Google Places Bulk Upload Requests

January 18, 2011

If you are a third party agent attempting to verify a Google Places bulk upload request you may find your initial request rejected.

Google Places Bulk Upload Verification Part II

Google Places Bulk Upload Verification Part II

If so, Google Places offers two alternative methods for submitting and verifying a bulk upload request.

The two methods are:

1. Create a new Google Places account using an email address from your company’s website domain. For example, if we created an account for Google, we’d use an @google.com email address as the account’s email address. From there, upload the data file and request verification again using this new account. These requests will be resolved quickly.

2. Respond to this email and carbon copy (CC) a person who has an email address with a business domain. So again, if we were uploading listings for Google, we’d CC someone with an @google.com email address. Then, this person should reply all and give written permission for Google to verify the account. The response can be as simple as “Please verify the listings in the Google Places account, exampleplacesaccount@gmail.com.” We’d like to emphasize that, while we’ll accept this form of verification, using generic email addresses isn’t recommended, and we recommend the usage of a corporate domain email for account management.

While Google’s need for an email from an account holder’s corporate domain address to verify a Google Places bulk upload request sounds logical, it doesn’t take into consideration the fact that this particular request came from the corporate Google account of the company associated with their Google AdWords, Google Analytics and Google Webmaster Tools accounts!

Additionally, the corporate contact name and phone number was listed on the original upload request.

No matter…

Here is the conclusion of their email response:

Once you’ve done this, we’ll process your request and follow up with a confirmation email. If you don’t follow either of the two actions above, we’ll assume you aren’t authorized to upload the listings and won’t verify the account.

Thanks for your understanding.

Regards,
The Google Team

Based on this email, it appears to me Google assumes that any bulk Places upload request that comes from any email address  other than that of the corporate domain – even an otherwise authenticated Gmail account – is illegitimate.

Google Places: Question Of The Day

January 17, 2011

This question is for all of you smart local online marketers out there:

Why is the Google Places local online advertising product Google Tags priced at a $25.00 flat monthly fee?

Google Tags $25 A Month Flat Fee

Google Tags $25 A Month Flat Fee

Decisive Moments

January 16, 2011

Decisive Moments is apparently the new marketing slogan for Microsoft’s Bing search engine.

While I have seen “Decisive Moments” used in several Bing television commercials, I wasn’t able to locate the new slogan on Bing’s website.

Decisive Moments

Decisive Moments

Google My Client Center Tool Rules Of Use Update

January 15, 2011

Today I found the following message in my Google AdWords My Client Center account.

Google My Client Center Tool Rules of Use

Google My Client Center Tool Rules of Use

This is the first time I can recall seeing a MCC Rules of Use reminder in My Client Center.

I also believe this is an updated notice which now specifically addresses dispute resolution location  issues.

You must read, agree with and accept all of the below (the “Rules“) before you may use the Google My Client Center Tool.  “You” means the party listed on the account you are currently logged into and you represent you have the authority to agree to these Rules for that party.  By clicking “I accept” below, you accept and acknowledge the following:

AdWords Program Use
Your use of advertising, account management and other features offered in connection with the My Client Center (the “AdWords program“) on behalf of a specific advertiser whose account(s) is linked to your My Client Center is governed by the separate Google Advertising Program Terms that the advertiser enters into with Google from time to time (the “Terms and Conditions“) and you agree to be bound by those Terms and Conditions.  You acknowledge that the Terms and Conditions include, among other terms, provisions covering venue and governing law.  If any of your advertisers’ Terms and Conditions conflict on venue or governing law, you agree to be bound by California law and Santa Clara County, California venue for all Terms and Conditions.

 

Publishers Publishing RSS Feeds, eNewsletters, Obituaries!

January 14, 2011

My subscription to the local newspaper ended over a year ago, but I continue to receive emails as if I were still an active subscriber.

After I discontinued my subscription, I wanted to see if there was any noticeable difference between being an active or ex-subscriber or not.

Not as far as I can tell.

The same holds true for the magazine subscriptions I have since let lapse as well.

How so?

All publishers can’t help but publish and with a few financial publisher exceptions, all publishers publish some version of their content on the web for all to see or grab via RSS for free.

After I ended my local paper subscription, I would occasionally visit their web site to catch up with the local daily news.

I then began comparing what news I could get free online to what I could get offline in their $.75  version at the newsstand.

It soon became apparent to me the only difference between the online and offline versions of the same piece of content was how much time and money it took for me to consume it.

The problem for newspaper publishers is that it takes me considerably less time and no money to consume their product online while the opposite is true for the offline version of their product – the newspaper.

I continue to visit the paper’s website when I choose at no cost, while I now seemingly receive more frequent emails notifying me of additional opportunities to get more of their news more conveniently at no further cost to me through their new eNewsletters.

Today’s free content… uhm eNewsletter example?

Emailed Obituaries!

eNewsletters

eNewsletters

Yeah!

Where again do I sign up to receive daily emails chock full of people who have recently departed this earthly plain?

Google Earth Engine

January 13, 2011

From Google:

Google Earth Engine is an online environment monitoring platform that makes available to the entire world a dynamic digital model of our planet that is updated daily. It was launched at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Cancun, Mexico, on December 2, 2010. In this video you can see what happened at the event.

Similar To Lists On Twitter

January 12, 2011

How does Twitter calculate its “Similar to” lists?

I have no idea how they arrived at the list of who I am “similar to”.

Similar To @TimCohn

Similar To @TimCohn

Apparently Twitter thinks I am similar to the people listed above.