The Inside AdWords blog details an update to Google’s US ad text trademark policy: “Imagine opening your Sunday paper and seeing ads from a large supermarket chain that didn’t list actual products for sale; instead, they simply listed the categories of products available – offers like “Buy discount cola” and “Snacks on sale.” The ads wouldn’t be useful since you … Read More
New AdWords interface – bad news for most advertisers
Google are renowned for their incredibly long BETA testing cycles, but it appears that the new Google AdWords interface is now more or less live. I have to admit to being surprised by this, as our own experiences have uncovered many issues with the new system, often resulting in the interface “crashing”, kicking us out of the client’s account and … Read More
Ask not what Google can do for you, but what you can do for Google
Software developers, product designers and manufactures can learn a lot from Google. They churn out new features at an incredible rate. Their new ideas are (mostly) useful. They don’t wait too long before releasing their offerings to the world (Gmail is still in beta). And they don’t dilute a great product with superfluous features. Their latest most visible development has … Read More
Life insurance that promises life after death: Is the AdWords content network Google’s ultimate safety net?
Here’s the beauty of AdWords in four lines: Most AdWords account holders don’t know what the content network is, or even that they’re using it for their ads. Most AdWords account holders using the content network are paying far too much for their ads. Many AdWords account holders think the content network is a waste of time and turn it … Read More
AdWords Placement Performance Report Tip
The Placement Performance report provides data detailing ad performance on specific domains and URLs in Google’s Content Network. Similar to what a Search Query report does with keywords, the Placement Performance report allows advertisers to weed-out poorly performing sites, so that ads will only appear on the best performing domains and URLs. This is accomplished by adding those poorly performing … Read More
McDonald’s advertising – inspired!
I thankfully don’t even remember the last time I ate a McDonalds meal, but a quick look at their advertising slogans makes for interesting reading. I personally suspect there’s more nutrition in our household waste than a McDonalds meal, but have to admit that when it comes to advertising, McDonalds truly know what they’re doing. I recently went shopping in … Read More
Yesterday’s website critique webinar
Yesterday’s webinar worked really well, and judging by the volume of email that we’ve already received, attendees found it to be both useful and entertaining. We aim to please. We’re hoping to post a video of the critique, and will announce it here once it’s online. Thank-you to everyone who attended, and a special thanks to my co-host, Sharon Housley … Read More
Microsoft testing a Twitter-like app?
Microsoft have just begun beta-testing what amounts to a localised version of Twitter, yet for now, they appear to be focused on users staying informed about what’s happening with the places and people you care about. “Send and receive alerts with Microsoft Vine. Organize people into groups so it’s easy to send information to them all at once — the … Read More
Free website review webinar – less than 31 hours to go!
Fact 1: Small changes to your website can have a major impact on your downloads and sales. Fact 2: You are effectively blind to the strengths and weaknesses of your own site. Dave Collins and Sharon Housley’s Website Critique Webinar is taking place in less than 31 hours! Subjects to be covered include the initial impression created by a website, … Read More
The dangers of working in the dark
We just finished redesigning our SoftwarePromotions website. It was a complete redesign, and involved a massive investment in time, cash and stress. But I think it paid off. We began our redesign process by first of all identifying what we felt were the most important pages on our website. The pages that we considered vital to our business. The next … Read More
