Archive for the ‘Search Marketing Agency’ Category

Google Adwords Certification Program Learning Center Upgraded

May 11, 2010

With the launch of their new Certification Program, Google has also improved their Adwords Certification Program Learning Center.

There are now four exams offered within the Adwords Certification program instead of one.

The new Google Adwords exams are:

To become Individually Qualified in Google Adwords, exam takers must pass both the Advertising Fundamentals exam and one advanced-level exam.

There are fifteen sections of Adwords curriculum within the Adwords Certification Program Learning Center.

However, not all sections or lessons within the new AdWords Certification Program curriculum are featured on every exam. Several of the topics will appear on multiple exams, with basic questions appearing on the Fundamentals exam and more challenging questions appearing on the three Advanced Exams.

The following are the fifteen lesson sections:

1. Introduction to Google AdWords

2. AdWords Account and Campaign Basics

3. AdWords Ad Formats

4. AdWords Targeting and Placements

5. AdWords Bidding and Budgeting

6. Policies and Ad Policy Topics

7. AdWords Billing and Payments

8. Display Advertising on the Google Content Network

9. Display Advertising on YouTube

10. AdWords Tools

11. Performance Monitoring and Conversion Tracking

12. Google Analytics

13. Optimizing Performance

14. Managing Multiple Accounts

15. Selling and Representing AdWords

I am reviewing these materials now to prepare to take the Google Advertising Fundamentals exam and one of their advanced level exams to renew my Individually Qualified Adwords Professional status for the third time.

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Google E-Commerce YouTube Channel

May 10, 2010

Google has launched its E-Commerce YouTube Channel an interactive source for demo, feature launch and instructional videos for Google Checkout and Product Search.

This video shows how to setup Shipping in Google Checkout.

An aside – Google’s choice of the Shopping Cart for its Google Checkout logo has some coincidental and personal significance for me.

Google Checkout | Shopping Cart

Google Checkout | Shopping Cart

The shopping cart was invented and patented by Oklahoman Sylvan Goldman.

I once lived in Mr. Goldman’s house @ 6900 Grand Blvd.  in Nichols Hills, OK.

An Overview Of Google’s Search Appliance

May 9, 2010

The Google Search Appliance (GSA) brings fast, relevant search to the business website or intranet, whether they index thousands, millions, or even billions of documents.

With increased administrative customization options and the ability to scale across all of the content searched, the GSA is Google’s most powerful search solution.

The Google Search Appliance comes in two simple models the  GB – 7007 for businesses needing to search between 500,000 and 10,000,000 documents and the GB  – 9009 for businesses wanting to search between 10,000,001 up to billions of documents.

Advertising Is All About Selling

May 8, 2010

The following quote about advertising is from David Ogilvy:

Advertising Is All About Selling

Advertising Is All About Selling

I couldn’t agree more with Mr. Ogilvy.

Unfortunately for Ogilvy’s beloved profession, the vast majority of people involved in the production of advertising haven’t ever had to first prove they could make sales to begin with.

Imagine such a requirement for everyone involved in the production advertising: close sales before you produce advertising.

Tchaikovsky Google Doodle Half Baked?

May 7, 2010

Google features a doodle today of Russian composer Tchaikovsky.

Google Doodle Tchaikovsky

Google Doodle Tchaikovsky

Clicking the image takes users who are signed into their Google account to a play list of Tchaikovsky songs.

Tchaikovsky Song List

Tchaikovsky Song List

Clicking the radio button lets searchers launch and listen to a specific Tchaikovsky song.

Tchaikovsky

Tchaikovsky

However, clicking on the Buy MP3 button then takes searchers to a Lala.com page to buy the selected song.

Lala Service Shut Down

Lala Service Shut Down

The whole process doesn’t appear well thought out in that Google would feature a song then have it linked to a service that is  widely known to be closing on May 31.

While the image Google feature of Tchaikovsky is beautiful the process of trying to acquire a song from Google isn’t yet quite so.

Total Minutes Spent On Social Networks

May 6, 2010

From the Nielsen Company:

Facebook and Twitter have post large year over year gains in unique users.

Compared to user activity on social networking sites last year, Facebook and Twitter posted gains of 69% and 45% respectively in the U.S.

Top Social Network Sites

Top Social Network Sites

Globally, the total minutes spent on social networks monthly saw a more than 100% gain over the same time last year, driving the average time per person spent on social networks to over six hours per month.

Total Time Spent On Social Networks

Total Time Spent On Social Networks

I think it would be interesting to see a distribution graph illustrating the difference between how much time the top users of social networks spend each month compared to those who use spend the least amount of time.

Infographic: The Modern News Consumer

May 5, 2010

The following infographic of the modern media consumer is from Flowtown.

The infographic’s data was derived from The State of the News Media 2010: An Annual Report On American Journalism by the Pew Project For Excellence in Journalism.

The News Consumer

Infographic: The Modern News Consumer

The entire report can be found @ StateOfTheMedia.org/2010.

I think the more appropriate title for the graphic would be “The Modern News Consumer” not the “Modern Media Consumer” because “media” can be consumed without news i.,e, iTunes.

Google Analytics Reports: Adwords Post Click Traffic Metrics

May 4, 2010

Learn more about Google AdWords traffic by seeing the actual search query, match type, distribution network, along with many other AdWords attributes.

This video provides a 3-minute tutorial on how to use the day parts, placements, and other AdWords reports in Google Analytics.

March 2010 Online Video Usage

May 3, 2010

From the Nielsen Company:

The number of unique viewers of online video increased 1.3% year-over-year, from 130.1 million unique viewers in March 2009 to 131.7 million in March 2010, according to VideoCensus data.

March 2010 Online Video Usage

March 2010 Online Video Usage

Among the top Web brands ranked by unique viewers in January, Google was the fastest growing month-over-month, increasing 122.9%. Disney Online and Yahoo! were the second and third fastest growing, increasing 40.3% and 19.4% month-over-month, respectively.

Top Online Video Brands 2010

Without 1.3% year over year unique visitor growth, the category as a whole contracted.

While online video usage surely hasn’t peaked, it appears individual users appetites for online video consumption have shrunk.