Monday, July 21, 2008

Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Andy Beal's Marketing Pilgrim

Advertisers Get More Control on Google’s Content Network

Posted: 21 Jul 2008 09:57 AM CDT

Google AdWords advertisers that run content-targeted ads are going to have a easier time managing their campaigns. Until now the content and keyword ads were managed separately. A new feature combines both keyword-targeted ads and placement-targeted ads into one campaign and both will show ads based on keywords.

According to the AdSense blog: “Advertisers can now combine keywords and placements in the same campaign to more precisely target where their ads appear on the Google content network and how much they pay for them. The content network is Google’s advertising distribution channel comprised of hundreds of thousands of high-quality websites, news pages and blogs that partner with Google to display targeted AdWords ads.”

Here’s an example of how the new feature works to fine-tune your campaigns. Let’s say you want to advertise on Marketing Pilgrim - you had little control over when and where your ad showed. Now you could have your ad show up by keyword. So if you are a web site analytics software company, you could have your ad show up on when words like “web site analytics” or “web site tracking” are written about.

Advertisers can also set unique bids for specific sites in the content network - so you can bid on each site individually. You can also write ads specific to the site your advertising on. The sites include social networks, dating sites, and other web sites.

It’s been challenging for most advertisers to make their content advertising profitable. And it’s been a hassle to manage the campaigns in two separate interfaces. Along with more precise placement, the reporting is better too - this should help tremendously.

This feature is optional and only affects the content network. The new feature will be available when a new campaign is created or changes are made to existing ad groups.

On one thread it sounds like it’s being tested by a group of advertisers, however Google says it’s open to all advertisers. The link to the help page on the Google post is broken.

It usually takes time to test out new features, so if you’ve had a chance to experiment, let us know what you’ve learned.

Photos of Partying Defendants Lead to Prison Time; Why Perception is Reputation

Posted: 21 Jul 2008 08:58 AM CDT

Most of the online reputation repair clients I work with are remorseful. At some point in their lives they’ve screwed up and now Google won’t let them, or anyone else for that matter, forget the incident. Despite the isolated incident, and many subsequent years of good behavior, their past reputation slip has left a nasty scar on an otherwise clean history.

Then, there are people like Joshua Lipton.

Lipton was charged with drunken driving after crashing into, and seriously injuring, a woman. It should have been the lowest point in the 20-year-old college junior’s life. He should have withdrawn, sought out psychological help, and convinced the judge–and the world–that this was an isolated incident and totally out of character.

Instead, Lipton did this:

Two weeks after Joshua Lipton was charged…[Lipton] attended a Halloween party dressed as a prisoner. Pictures from the party showed him in a black-and-white striped shirt and an orange jumpsuit labeled “Jail Bird.”

The pictures made it to Facebook, which then made it into the hands of the prosecutor, who used them to convince the judge that Lipton was unrepentant and a habitual drinker. The judge agreed and handed down a two-year prison sentence.

This is not an isolated incident either:

Perlin said he was willing to recommend probation for Lara Buys for a 2006 drunken driving crash that killed her passenger — until he thought to check her MySpace page while preparing for sentencing.

The page featured photos of Buys — taken after the crash but before sentencing — holding a glass of wine as well as joking comments about drinking. Perlin used the photos to argue for a jail sentence instead of probation, and Buys, then 22, got two years in prison.

“Pending sentencing, you should be going to (Alcoholics Anonymous), you should be in therapy, you should be in a program to learn to deal with drinking and driving,” Perlin said. “She was doing nothing other than having a good old time.”

Here’s the moral of the story. The internet does not come with a “click here for explanation” button. What you see, is what you get–especially when it comes to your reputation. The defendants in these two incidents may well have a remorseful character–the photos don’t tell you if each had spent the previous two weeks crying in a darkened room–but they presented a reputation of being out-of-control youths, that would likely become repeat offenders.

In life we say that “perception is reality.” The same is true with the internet, but perhaps can be modified to “perception is reputation.”

(thanks to Andrew Miller, who also spotted this story)

Pilgrim’s Update: Learn online reputation management skills directly from Andy Beal. Attend the Online Reputation Management Workshop and save $400 when you register today!

Carl Icahn to Join Yahoo Board as Part of Newly Announced Settlement

Posted: 21 Jul 2008 08:28 AM CDT

Here’s an interesting twist in the Yahoo/Microsoft/Icahn love triangle–Carl Icahn and Yahoo have just kissed and made-up.

Under a newly announced settlement, Carl Icahn and two of his cohorts will be elected to Yahoo’s board of directors.

Following the 2008 annual meeting, the Yahoo! Board will be expanded to 11 members. Carl Icahn will be appointed to the Board and the remaining two seats will be filled by the Board upon the recommendation of the Board's Nominating and Governance Committee from a list of nine candidates recommended by Mr. Icahn, which includes the eight remaining members of the Icahn slate of nominees and Jonathan Miller, currently a partner in Velocity Interactive Group and former Chairman and CEO of AOL.

OK, so is Icahn still going to press Yahoo for a Microsoft sale? Well, there appears to be some conflicting positions.

Yahoo says (emphasis added)…

"This agreement will not only allow Yahoo! to put the distraction of the proxy contest behind us, it will allow the Company to continue pursuing its strategy of being the starting point for Internet users and a must buy for advertisers," said Yahoo! Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Jerry Yang. "No other company in the Internet space has our unique combination of global brand, talented employees, innovative technologies and exceptional assets, attributes that will help us take advantage of the large and growing opportunity ahead of us. I look forward to working together with our new colleagues on the Board to make that happen."

Everything from Yang screams "we’re not selling, we’re building." Meanwhile Carl Icahn clearly sees things differently…

"I am very pleased that this settlement will allow me to work in partnership with Yahoo!'s Board and management team to help the Company achieve its full potential. While I continue to believe that the sale of the whole Company or the sale of its Search business in the right transaction must be given full consideration, I share the view that Yahoo!'s valuable collection of assets positions it well to continue expanding its online leadership and enhancing returns to stockholders…"

He seems to still be gung-ho for a sale to Microsoft, and when you consider that his statement is included in an official Yahoo press release, it’s clear that Yahoo’s board feels the same way.

So, with the proxy battle behind them, will we finally see a Yahoo/Microsoft merger?

Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!