I personally find Google Trends, in particular the Hot Trends, fascinating. It’s a real insight into what really interests the US at any given time. And a quick check this morning shows the top five listings dominated by the American “sportsman” LeGarrette Blount violently losing his temper. Whatever’s left of LeGarrette Blount’s career and credibility will be forever tainted by … Read More
Barclays Bank’s 25 year process for driving away customers
To the best of my knowledge, I’ve been a customer of Barclays Bank for more than 25 years. And when I moved our company back to the UK, I set-up our business bank account with them. We have many years of history, and for a long time the adage of ‘better the devil you know’ has kept me with them. … Read More
Explain Twitter and win a $250 Amazon gift voucher
According to the Silicon Alley Insider, kids used to hate Twitter, but don’t anymore. Actually, Kids Don’t Hate Twitter Anymore! “While Twitter’s user base historically favored older users, people between ages 12-24 have been Twitter’s fastest growing age group of late. And now that age group is actually disproportionately visiting Twitter, according to comScore.” It might just be that it’s … Read More
Are you creating the right content network campaign?
If you are running an AdWords account you most likely have come across a section within the campaign settings called “Networks and devices”. Within that section you are able to select where you want your ads to be displayed. If you are looking to setup a campaign which targets the content network, you have two available options: “Relevant pages across … Read More
Wikipedia, ignorance and missing the point
You’ve probably heard that Wikipedia are planning to introduce a new editing process, to reduce the visibility and impact of vandalism. Wikipedia represents both the best and worst of online behaviour, with over three million articles in English, contributed by more than 10 million users. But there have been abuses of the open system over the years, and Wikipedia’s new … Read More
My thoughts on broad match keywords
I have always known the risks involved with using broad match terms in Google AdWords. Before there were search query reports, I would use the raw log files to see what people were actually searching for, and was often shocked at what I would find. An example of this outrageous irrelevance would be if I were to have bid on … Read More
Selling in an age of uncertainty
We live in an age of instant access to an endless amount of information. The internet means that we can find anything we want in the blink of an eye. But finding the truth is as hard as it’s ever been. Most of us at some point have gone looking for medical information online. It’s not a good idea. Those … Read More
Google don’t get everything right – screwing it up in style
What ever happened to Google Knol? Actually there’s a reasonable chance that you don’t even know what Google Knol is, and just by clicking the link won’t tell you much either. And clicking on the help link will take you to a page that uses a video to explain what a knol is. Nice irony. If you take a step … Read More
AdWords ads have moved!
The more observant or caffeinated of you will have already noticed that the ads displayed alongside Google’s search results have moved closer to their natural counterparts. On a lower resolution system you might not have noticed, but whereas the ads used to be on the far right side of my 1680 x 1050 screen, they are now nestled quite cosily … Read More
The Value of Post Purchase Follow-Up
My wife and I purchased a new car in December of last year. Prior to our purchase, we did a lot of research into what car would best fit our needs and provide us the most value. Once we decided on a specific make & model, we then began visiting different car dealers in order to find the best price … Read More
