Two-thirds of retailers fail to measure PPC returns

by ClickThrough 18 Dec 2008

Most of the retailers in the UK utilising pay per click services do not measure the return on investment (ROI) from these activities, according to a new study.Two-thirds of those polled said they did not track the ROI for paid search, while 80 per cent admitted to not doing so for search optimisation activities.Three-quarters of retailers marketing over multiple channels also said they did not measure the effectiveness of these campaigns.Richard Sheppard of Coremetrics said it was important that businesses took steps to measure their marketing ROI as the economic downturn continues.He stated: "Buying behaviour has drastically altered due to the recession, so now more than ever it's crucial for retailers to understand their online visitors to help them maintain a competitive edge."Research firm eMarketer has previously asserted that online advertising will continue to see growth through the downturn as it is highly measurable and accountable.News brought to you by ClickThrough - experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.

Behind the scenes of Google

Tech talk with Devaka
Google as we all know is one of several search engines that are available on the Internet. Over the years it has become so popular that the word "search engine" has now become synonymous with "Google". Having started off as a research project back in 1996 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University, Google has now become a billion-dollar company with over 20,000 employees.
Why Google?
What attracts Internet users to Google? There are several reasons. Firstly, Google has a very simple, easy to use search engine. In less than two seconds you get the web page which has a very clean design with the search box and some variable options. That's it! Secondly, the accuracy and speeds at which results are returned from search queries is incredibly fast. The software behind the search technology includes the patented PageRankTM algorithm and Hypertext-Matching Analysis, which when combined gives the search engine the power to do a series of simultaneous calculations that only takes a fraction of a second.
How does Google make money?
Google lets you search for any kind of information on the Internet, for free. So how do they make money? The answer is an incredibly simple model which has brought in over 99% of their total revenue. The model is based on pay-per-click advertisement or PPC. Let's think of an example, to better understand it. Imagine the user is searching for "Sri Lankan Tea". It could be that he is searching for an online shop to purchase Sri Lankan Tea or perhaps looking for tea estates in Sri Lanka. Google will go and find the most relevant web pages on this topic.

Now imagine you own a tea shop. If somebody told you that they would let you show your advertisement to this specific user exactly when he's expressed interest in Sri Lankan tea (meaning a user who has entered the keywords Sri Lanka and/or Tea), would you be interested? Sure you would! This is what Google do: not only do they find the relevant web pages; they also find the most relevant ads and show them in the form of sponsored links. Each time a user clicks on your ad, in effect Google has sent you a lead – someone who is likely to buy something from your shop.
This lead is obviously valuable to you and you're willing to pay for it. Question is, how much? It turns out that there is another person who has a tea shop and is your direct competitor. He too is willing to pay to get that lead. So who gets the lead and gets to show their ad to this user? It comes down to a bidding of the price. Whoever is willing to pay more to get the lead will get their ads shown more frequently.
Note that you are paying "per-click" and not for showing the ad. So it's a really good deal – where you only have to pay when a user is interested enough to click on the ad and come to your site. The rates at which leads are paid for are in the range of dollar cents. So essentially it's not a lot of money for a tea shop owner.
But think of Google with this model in play. Lots of advertisers bidding on millions of keywords and hundreds of million users doing billions of searches at a tiny charge per click on an ad, and you get a pile load of cash!
Google offers this service through the Google AdWords program. This provides all the instructions for web advertisers to display advertisements in Google search results based on the PPC scheme. Google Adsense allows website owners to display ads on their own site and earn some portion of money every time ads are clicked.
Google products
Most people know Google only as a search engine. But in fact, they have several desktop applications and enterprise products. Here are a few:
Google Desktop: A desktop search software that allows searching of user emails and other files in your computer and finds, and launches applications with shortcut keystrokes. (I use this!)
Picasa: A software application for organising and editing digital photos.
Google Chrome: An open-source web browser
Google Apps Premier Edition: A service that caters to small businesses offering web applications with similar functionality to traditional office applications including : Gmail, Google calendar, IM and Google Docs (web based word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations applications).
Did you know?
The name "Google" was actually an accident. When Larry and Sergey first started the company they named it "Googol" which is the mathematical term for a "1 followed by 100 zeros". It got changed when their first customer wrote a cheque mistakenly addressing it to "Google".

WebmasterRadio.FM Presents, The ABCSearch Town Hall Meeting December 1st.

WebmasterRadio.FM presents a Town Hall Meeting featuring ABCSearch.com on Monday, December 1 at 5 p.m. Eastern Time.

Fort Lauderdale, FL (PRWEB) December 1, 2008 -- WebmasterRadio.FM, the premier free, 24/7 Internet business radio network focused on the B2B marketplace announces the live broadcast of The ABCSearch.com Town Hall Meeting, on Monday, December 1 at 5 p.m. Eastern. Daron Babin and Jim Hedger host this Town Hall Meeting and are joined by Danny Yomotobian, President and Founder of ABCSearch, along with Director of Marketing Simon Chernin plus the President of Brick Marketing, Nick Stamoulis. ABCSearch, is the largest privately held pay-per-click (PPC) search engine and a world leader in online cost-per-click (CPC) advertising. This radio program discusses the Top 10 Things to look for in a New or Current PPC Provider, plus we learn about an extensive case study on ABCSearch conducted with Brick Marketing. The ABCSearch Town Hall Meeting will be available for podcast, mobilecast and archived format at http://www.webmasterradio.fm/ following the broadcast. About WebmasterRadio.FM:WebmasterRadio.FM lifts the "veiled curtain" of the Internet, bringing the business community together through an interactive radio network. Its listeners are a global group, comprised of everyone from corporate executives and decision makers to small and mid-sized businesses and individual entrepreneurs. WebmasterRadio.FM's stellar line-up of radio programming includes "CoverStory" with Jiyan Wei of PRWeb, WebmasterRadio.FM's official newswire; "The Hook with Katie Kempner" with Katie Kempner, vice president of Crispin Porter + Bogusky; "The Daily SearchCast" featuring search authority Danny Sullivan of SearchEngineLand.com; and more. To tune into WebmasterRadio.FM's live content or check out the show lineup, please visit http://www.webmasterradio.fm/. About ABCSearch:ABCSearch, a subsidiary of Internext Media Corp. is a world leader in online cost-per-click (CPC) advertising. With now over 5 billion searches a month through its network of targeted search engines and niche-specific directories, the company provides its advertisers with lower costs, improved results, quality traffic, and total control of targeted advertising. ABCSearch was recently certified by ClickDefense.com. To learn more about ABCSearch and its targeting capabilities, please visit http://www.abcsearch.com/. Media Contact:Brandy Shapiro-Babin954-309-5578

Baidu vows overhaul after search scandal

Reuters

Published: Friday, November 28, 2008

BEIJING - China's Internet search leader Baidu said on Friday it will overhaul operations after state media said it allowed unlicensed medical services to buy high search rankings to win more customers.
Nasdaq-listed Baidu was accused on a state television show this month of letting the unlicensed services pay for prominent positions on its pay-for-performance (P4P) search platform, netting them more "clicks" for expensive but useless treatments. The claims sparked widespread public criticism of the Chinese search giant and dragged down Baidu's stock. And now Baidu's chief executive officer, Robin Li, has promised action.
"We have removed the key words of all four clients mentioned in the report and have begun to double-check the licenses of all other hospitals and pharmacies on our client list," Li told the official Xinhua news agency.

He said the company had sacked staff over the scandal and more may follow.
"Baidu employees who are found to have been involved in the scandal will be penalized...We have already fired people who helped fabricate documents for unlicensed suppliers," he said.
The television report described several ill people who used Baidu to search for treatments and were steered to unlicensed and expensive hospitals or medicines that failed to cure them.
One patient told the television program that he spent over 10,000 yuan (907 pounds) at one Baidu-boosted clinic listed to treat abdominal pain, but the treatment was ineffective, Xinhua said. He said he was later cured at a public hospital for 100 yuan.
The unlicensed clinic paid Baidu 16.56 yuan per click to get a prominent ranking, the program said.
Baidu dominates the Chinese Web search and advertising market, with an estimated two-thirds of the audience in the world's most populous market.
Google Inc, the global market leader in Web searches, is a distant second in China.
(Reporting by Chris Buckley; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Google Trends & Insights for Keyword and Website Research - AdWords Management

There is definitely no shortage of cool tools designed to make Internet Marketing easier, and our friends at Google AdWords certainly have their own fair share of these tools available for your use. Two of these tools that I find myself using more and more are Google Trends and Google Insights for Search.
Google Trends has the ability to show you historical search data for keywords, as well as the popularity for these terms across geographic regions, cities, and languages. It’s quick, it’s easy, and it provides a nice way to see seasonality and other trending factors for your search terms.
Google Trends for Websites, announced last week, not only provides traffic data for popular websites, it also compares and ranks site visitation across different regions, and related websites and searches. I have found this tool useful for evaluating potential websites for placement targeting, as well as finding other optional websites and search terms related to the websites users. Unfortunately, less popular websites with low traffic volume and those that have chosen to not be indexed by Google through the use of the robots.txt exclusion file, simply do not provide enough data to make this tool very useful and will result in the message: “Your websites - do not have data to display”.
Google Insights for Search provides a little more flexibility and functionality than Trends, along with some interesting additional features. For example, Google Insights for Search not only provides volume patterns over time, it also provides top related and rising searches. You can compare this data by different locations, time ranges, and search terms. You can even see a map of your selected regions with hot spots showing search activity in those areas. I prefer to use this tool over Google Trends for search, since it provides much more detailed information.
For example, I have a client who does “basement waterproofing.” By doing a quick search in trends, I was able to see that historically during the 4th quarter search volume for this phrase drops dramatically. Since I can see the trend going back as far as 4 years, it is safe to say that he will experience the same drop in traffic during this time period.
On the same note, I was able to determine that this particular search phrase generates a substantial increase in search volume during the 2nd quarter of each year. With this in mind, we can anticipate this spike in traffic and consider its effect when developing pay-per-click (PPC) advertising strategies.
Since my client’s Google AdWords campaign is regionally targeted, I used Google Insights to compared the trending on “basement Waterproofing” in his location to the rest of the United States. Also, by selecting his region in the drop down, I was then able to see hot spots indicating higher search volumes on the local map.
Google Trends and Google Insights for Search are just two of the many tools that JumpFly PPC Account Managers use to help optimize ROI. A well thought out keyword strategy is just one of the many skills a qualified PPC account manager brings to the table. Contact a professional PPC Management Company today about how these tools can be used to benefit your next campaign.Relevant Tags:Choosing Keywords, Google AdWords, Google Insights, Google Tools, Google Trends, keyword research
Posted on Thursday, November 13th, 2008 at 12:52 pm In PPC Advertising

CNI College Partners with WebMetro to Deploy New Website and Conversion-Driven Video Content

San Dimas, CA (PRWEB) November 4, 2008 -- In an effort to support and educate the potential students who flock to CNI's website on a daily basis, CNI has redeployed their main website. With extensive use of video, an updated website design and new content, the new site is designed to help prospective students consider their options and learn more about the programs CNI offers.

CNI has long tapped the power of the Internet to market their school and it is the primary way new students initially discover their programs. Jim Buffington, President of CNI College had this to say, "The young folks who come to our school are hungry for better opportunities and an education that will provide them a path to a new career and a new life. Of course, they're all online, so the move to the Internet was an easy decision to make many years ago. This newest version of the site, with video content shot at our campuses, of actual students in our classrooms and labs, provides a window into the quality of education and the opportunity CNI provides."
CNI partnered with WebMetro, a leading Internet marketing company based in San Dimas, CA. WebMetro has been CNI's online marketing partner for over 8 years, helping them establish their rankings in the search engines and market themselves online. WebMetro's interactive marketing team is a new addition to WebMetro's service offerings helping clients conceive, design and produce compelling video and interactive content to leverage online. "Our goal is to produce the assets that our clients need to convert visitors, gain exposure, increase awareness and build their brand. CNI's new video content will help them convey their message through dynamic rather than flat media - and that difference can be extremely powerful!", stated Marc J. Wymar, WebMetro's Director of Interactive Media.
CNI has other plans in the works to use video to help them speak directly to their potential students. One such program in development now is a series of videos targeted to veterans returning home from serving their country. According to Jim Buffington, "There are fantastic new government programs in place to help vets learn a trade and gain quality employment. We have many such vets currently enrolled in our programs and we want to share their story and let others know that we are here to help them take advantage of these programs and gain the empowerment they need and deserve!"
About CNICNI, based in Orange County with campuses in Costa Mesa and Orange, is a leading provider of career education. CNI is accredited by the Accrediting Bureau of Health Education Schools (ABHES) and approved by the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA), the American Massage Therapy Association (AMTA), and the Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP). CNI offers 6 distinct career programs; Vocational Nursing, Surgical Technology, Pharmacy Technician, Massage Therapy, Personal Fitness and Medical Billing and Coding. Each of these programs is designed to equip students with the knowledge and training necessary to achieve their desired certificate or license and become gainfully employed in their chosen field. CNI provides resources like skills coaching, mentoring, and career counseling to help students fulfill their dreams. To find out more about CNI's vocational programs, contact CNI's Costa Mesa campus at (714) 437-9697, (800) 455-4700, or http://www.cnicollege.edu/.
About WebMetroWebMetro delivers high-performance Internet marketing services using a multi-disciplinary approach to achieve maximum results. Since 1995, WebMetro has helped online marketers continually maximize ROI and profitably gain market share using integrated Internet marketing strategies. Clients range from aggressive entrepreneurs to Fortune 50 companies. Internet marketing services include pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, Internet consulting, shopping portal marketing, eCommerce development, affiliate marketing, website design and development, online video marketing, web analytics, and content management. WebMetro also publishes a blog titled Digital Marketing Factor at www.webmetro.com/Blog/ with Internet marketing insight, advice, and musings. For more information on how WebMetro helps online advertisers Unleash the Power of Digital Marketing, call (866) 922-4632 or visit http://www.webmetro.com/.
Contact:Lydia Chen Shah909.599.8885
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Right place and people "crucial" for ads

Knowing that adverts are being seen by the correct people at the appropriate time is "crucial", it has been asserted.A post by Kastle Waserman, communications manager at Yahoo! on the company's search marketing blog states this is especially the case if a business only caters to a specific region or area.He makes his comments as Yahoo! announces the addition of local geo-tagging to pay-per-click ads.With regard to implementing geo-tagging as part of a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, Mr Waserman states the more targeted ads are, the fewer users they may reach."Generally, you're trading relevancy for volume, narrowing your target to a specific audience rather than every potential eyeball in the overall market," he explains, recommending marketers choose a minimum of ten zip codes to broaden scope. Concluding, he states the system is deigned to help marketers "hit the bullseye" with ads.Reports state Yahoo! and Google recently extended the deadline for antitrust regulators to issue a decision regarding the two companies' search advertising deal.

http://www.brafton.com/industry-news/right-place-and-people-crucial-for-ads-$1245847.htm

Google Integrating AdSense into Games

By Eric Blair

In case the web, television and all the other media where Google has inserted its advertising system weren’t enough, Google has on Wednesday launched a technology, called AdSense for Games, which will introduce targeted advertisements into online games as well.
The software, which is as of now in a closed beta test, is designed to include ads within online games either at the start or end of levels, or during level change. There are also some plans for custom product integrations, although Google doesn’t have much experience in this field.
The software only works with flash, website based online games and requires that the publisher install a software development kit (SDK) with their games and specify what ad unit to run, and where in the game to place it.
Some of the first publishers to try out the new program are Konami, Playfish, Zynga, Demand Media, and games network Mochi Media. Other publishers interested in joining the beta must meet certain criteria:
"At this time, eligible publishers must have a minimum of 500,000 game plays and have 80 percent of their traffic from the U.S. or the U.K.," Ryan Hayward of Google’s Ads Product Marketing wrote in a company blog. As the system matures, less successful game publishers may be allowed to join.
The revenue from the ads will be pay-per-impression or pay-per click and will be divided equally between Google and the game’s producer. Three marketers have so far signed up to advertise through AdSense for Games. They are Sprint, Sony Pictures and Esurance.

Tourism site 'examining' pay per click keywords

by ClickThrough

VisitBritain is embarking on plans to analyse its pay per click (PPC) keywords in order to provide content in line with what its visitors are interested in, it has emerged.According to E-consultancy, the site's analytics manager, Harry Speller, asserted that it is looking into which keywords are most effective in an effort to potentially reduce costs and target its resources more effectively.He said: "We use thousands of keywords for different destinations and different types of holidays, so we want to see what works best and develop content that's better matched to the keywords our visitors are using."In addition, he added that the keyword analysis scheme could help the site identify which VisitBritain partner sites are most effective and could lead to improved affiliate programmes.People from countries such as Canada can use the VisitBritain site to plan their journeys before they arrive in the UK. The site's store also enables travellers to reserve train tickets and book theatre passes before they arrive.News brought to you by ClickThrough - a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies

Facebook Political Ads Test Limits

By EMILY STEELSeptember 15, 2008; Page B5
Political parties and interest groups have long cherry-picked news stories that promote their agenda to feature in campaign ads. But some new ads popping up on Facebook take that tactic to a new level.
"AP Says: Palin Lied," reads one ad, accompanied by an unflattering photo of the vice presidential candidate. Another ad -- accompanied by the same photo -- reads, "Washington Post breaks ANOTHER Palin scandal. Charging tax payers for her sleeping at home." Another with a picture of John McCain grimacing reads, "Time's Joe Klein has had enough of McCain's dishonorable campaign lies. A must read."

Clicking on the ads takes visitors straight to a story on the Web sites of those publications. People who click on the ad that reads "WSJ Says: Palin Lied," for instance, are directed to a story on The Wall Street Journal Web site about the contradictions in Gov. Palin's record regarding the "Bridge to Nowhere."
But none of the publications cited in the ads bought them -- or even was aware of them. The buyer -- though never identified anywhere on the ads or on the pages that you land on after clicking on them -- is the liberal group MoveOn.org. It's the latest example of fuzziness about who's behind what when it comes to political ads online.
"We thought we'd seen the full gamut of creative ways people have found for calling attention to online content they want others to see," said Dave Tomlin, associate general counsel for the AP. "Buying an ad with a provocative teaser line and a link to an AP story is a new one."
The news organizations expressed concern that readers might think they are behind the ads and that they are favoring one candidate over another in their news coverage. "We are concerned about any ad that could appear as though it was sponsored by our company when it was not," Goli Sheikholeslami, general manager of the washingtonpost.com, said.
The Wall Street Journal confirmed it didn't buy the ads but declined to comment further.
Facebook says the ads comply with its policies. "Facebook allows advertising that advocates both for and against candidates and follows standard industry practices for acceptable content," Facebook spokesman Matt Hicks said.

With Facebook's self-service advertising system, anybody can log on to the site and create an ad. The site allows advertisers to select the text for the ad as well as a picture and the Web site to point consumers to. Most ads are bought through a cost-per-click model, so advertisers only pay if a person clicks on the ad.
Advertisers can pick specific groups of people who will see their ad, and they bid a certain amount to have their ads shown to target groups. The minimum daily budget is $5. The Federal Election Commission usually requires marketers in political ads to identify themselves somewhere on the ad, but it makes a number of exemptions, including situations where the identifier cannot be conveniently printed. That usually applies to items like pens, pins and bumper stickers but also has included text messages, which are limited to using 160 characters.
MoveOn says it doesn't need to identify itself on the ads because the space is too small -- Facebook limits ads to 25 characters for the title and 135 for the body -- and the destination page is the news article itself.
MoveOn started buying the ads Sept. 5 and has thus far purchased at least a dozen different variations. It isn't buying similar ads elsewhere on the Web. MoveOn says the ads have gotten a good response, with a number of people clicking on them.
MoveOn says it has the right to link to the stories in its ads because, it says, they are in the public domain, and the news outlets haven't contacted it about removing the ads.

Mashable’s Guide to Upcoming Conferences and Events

Here’s Mashable’s latest round-up of upcoming Web 2.0 events, parties, and conferences. Not on this list? Contact us and let’s establish a media partnership.
September 6-7, 2008: SearchCamp is designed to be an affordable and fun way for small businesses and marketers to learn about how to market their businesses online. Topics range from Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEOSearch engine optimization Basics) to Public Relations & the Internet and Web 2.0 Technologies. Speakers are from the local Philadelphia area as well as New York City and Washington D.C. including well known blogging authors Geoff Livingston, Debbie Weil and search experts like Mike Grehan and Kevin Ryan. The event will coincide with PodCamp Philly. Read more about SearchCamp Philly.

Hotel Revenue Management in a Stagnant Economy

In a stagnant economy, using the principles of revenue management can help hoteliers to maintain and build average rate and occupancy. Even in tough times, every hotel experiences periods of higher demand. Recognizing those periods, in advance, can give you the ability to drive rates when you can and still retain the ability to modify rates during lower demand periods. Being diligent can produce big-time rewards. Hoteliers who do not practice revenue management have a tendency to make decisions in a bubble and undervalue their rates. When times are tough, they have the misconception that lower rates will generate new demand. This is a myth that has never been true. For those disbelievers, you might want to check the Cornell University web site; they have conducted several good studies proving that reducing rates is always a bad idea. The basic tenet of hotel revenue management is the collection and analysis of competition and market data to uncover rate and occupancy opportunities. Collecting data is not a guessing game. How much do you really know about your competition and what’s happening in your market? What do you know about the competition, beyond bricks and mortar; their management style, amenities, sales prowess, strength of their online marketing, location strengths and weaknesses? Re-evaluate Your CompetitionIn a tough economy your list of competitors could be longer than it is during boom times. Off-season or lower demand periods create a more competitive environment. In a tough economy, other hotels may need to steal your business in order to survive. Upscale hotels, which ignored your hotel during good times, may need to target your business now; be prepared.In a stagnant economy, it is absolutely necessary to know your competitors’ rates and what else they are offering. If a competitor is offering higher rates for specific dates, it could be a tip-off that they have booked a group for that period or see something happening in the market. That’s an opportunity to boost your rates to capture their displaced and/or overflow rooms. Are there any city-wide conventions or trade shows coming in during your off-season periods that could generate overflow or displace rack business?Knowledge about the area and the competition translates to possible opportunities for your hotel. The easiest and surest form of research is to monitor your competition online. Remember, your online competition is different from your offline comp set.Strengthen Your Internet PresenceYour Internet sales effort could make a critical difference during tough times. We know that at least 70% of travelers search for hotels on the Internet to make reservations. Can they find your hotel’s site? Does your site perform well in generic search? And, if visitors do find your site, does your site promote your location and room generators?Be aware also that, in a stagnant economy, your normal demand generators are suffering too; you may need to find new demand generators in a tough economy. Remember that your hotel is not a room generator on its own; people need a “reason” to visit your area. Now may be the time to get closer to all your room generators; partnerships can be very rewarding.The Internet may be the big difference between this and the last stagnant economy in the early 90’s. The Internet has come a long way since those early days. No longer do we need weeks, or months, to plan and implement a sales strategy to win in this economy. Incorporating revenue management into your online sales effort can reap huge rewards quickly.In Tough Times, Embrace Third-Party SitesAnyone who follows my articles understands that I am a strong proponent for full utilization of third-party online sales. I get frustrated when I hear hoteliers repeatedly complain about paying a commission for the business they get from GDS agencies and/or third-party travel aggregators. This kind of short-term thinking is still too prevalent among hoteliers.In most cases, reservations generated through third-parties are incremental rooms which the hotel would not have received in any other way. It is very clear to me that these complainers do not understand the basic principles of revenue management. If you are using revenue management, business from third-parties can be used to provide a base of business so you can boost the rates for your remaining rooms to achieve even higher average rates and occupancy. During tough times, rooms generated from Expedia, Travelocity, and Orbitz are generally incremental without any rate or room displacement. In general, online third-party aggregators are providing international exposure for your hotel, which you cannot achieve on your own. They are spending millions of dollars on pay-per-click alone. Stop looking at third-parties as your competition; you are not in the same league. It’s a matter of the numbers they can generate.People Need a Reason to Travel to Your AreaI’ve said it a hundred times, so pardon me if I say it again; “people travel to an area for a reason, they, then, select a hotel in which to stay in that area”. With few exceptions, hotels are not destinations. Re-evaluate your web site; is it all about your hotel? Do you have nothing more than an online hotel brochure? Your site should highlight the demand generators in your area. This not only helps with generic search but, it also gives visitors additional reasons to travel to your area. If you haven’t already done so, evaluate the demand generators in your area. What specials are they promoting? If you are fortunate enough to be near a popular attraction, see if you can develop a partnership to get you through tough times. Don’t operate in a bubble; you need to know everything that is happening in your area and what others are doing to promote travel.Tough times often force companies to actually meet more often to develop their own strategies to overcome problems with the economy. Provide solutions to assist corporate travelers. Corporate and group business also gives people a reason for traveling. To tap into more business opportunities, list every reason for people to visit your area and then develop tactics to getting the message of your hotel to them. Smart hoteliers are now developing packages which include area room generators. The principles of revenue management could carry you through the current stagnant economy. Don’t give in to the desperation of dropping your rates and crossing your fingers; generating business is hard work. As the old saying goes, “you have to kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince”.Contact:Neil Salerno, CHME, CHAHotel Marketing CoachEmail: NeilS@hotelmarketingcoach.com

Social Networking for Business Uncovered

A social network can be defined as any type of community for people with shared interests and activities, who are interested in exploring these interests and activities with others. With the advent of the Internet, social networking sites have allowed individuals and businesses from around the world to connect for this endeavour.
This is obviously the appeal of the Internet to many, as it is in a sense one large group network where people engage in activities of interest which connect them to others and to the products and services they purchase. Social networking sites appeal to consumers of all age-groups and social strata, from the more generalised, generic demographics to ones catering to specific niche interests. Apart from the communities these social networking sites provide, blogs, video and photo sharing are also great ways for individuals to share information.
From a business perspective, it is important to have a presence where your prospective customers are. In 2007, nearly 15 million households in Britain (roughly 61%) had Internet access, an increase of over a million households since 2006 and nearly 4 million since 2002. Additionally, 84% of those with access to the Internet had a broadband connection, up from 69% in 2006. It is therefore imperative that businesses - from small businesses to blue-chip corporations - create an online presence to raise their profile, and marketing via social networks is a powerful supplement to a company website and email.
Marketing to consumers online is different from traditional advertising in that it is targeting active, rather than passive consumers. For example, PPC (Pay-Per-Click) adverts only appear next to organic search results after a consumer has entered a search string into a search engine. This is different to broadcast mediums such as television adverts, which are seen by individuals who are really just looking to watch television programming.
Using social networks to reach consumers is done most effectively by presenting solutions to issues and questions, rather than the solicitation of traditional advertising, as consumers using social networks are usually seeking solutions to things happening in their lives and not looking for a hard sell. Thus, social network marketing should be thought of less as a campaign and more as a long-term investment in your brand.
Some social networks allow companies to join for free, while others charge, and some will also allow you to advertise onsite as well. In all cases, you will do best by taking an active part in a business community which closely matches your own industry and begin offering relevant and useful information and solutions. Long-term, social network participation will improve your online presence, increase revenues and branding opportunities, lead to greater consumer interaction and, if done effectively, will be a cost-effective addition to a successful online marketing strategy.
Bian Salins is the Managing Editor of BT Tradespace - an online community where businesses can advertise and sell products & services and everyone has the opportunity to shop, chat and share their opinion.

J&L Interactive Acquires PaidInclusionExpert.com

NEW YORK - (Business Wire) J&L Interactive, the leading provider of Yahoo Paid Inclusion services, is pleased to announce it has agreed to acquire the paid inclusion firm and managed services clients of Boston based PaidInclusionExpert.com.
Founded in 2007, PaidInclusionExpert.com assists clients in the approval and submission to the Yahoo Paid Inclusion or Yahoo Search Submit Pro programs. These programs are designed to insert websites into the page 1 organic listings that are relevant to the search terms but may have had difficulty getting listed due to site design issues such as flash or new sites with a short history and limited inbound links. The success of a paid inclusion or trusted feed program depends largely on the representational database built for yahoo by the Paid Inclusion Expert. PaidInclusionExpert.com prides itself on getting page 1 Yahoo listings for clients who have not been successful in the past with other programs.
“This is an exciting step for J&L Interactive,” said John Vachna, J&L Interactive Chief Media Strategist. “Adding PaidInclusionExpert.com to our program will further strengthen our position as an industry leader. This acquisition enables us to meet the growing demands of our SEO clientele looking to jump start with page 1 Yahoo listings in 48 hours.”
About J&L Interactive:
J and L is a customer acquisition, branding and promotions company located in Florida and New York that specializes in finding customers where they live, work and play through sponsorship, promotion and paid media. The company provides Yahoo Paid Inclusion, Strategic Planning, Direct Response Online Advertising, Customer Acquisition and Retention, Account Management Campaign Optimization, Data Collection, Analysis and Utilization, Co-Registration, Creative Design, SEO (search engine optimization), and PPC (pay per click). J&L has provided over 100 companies with its services including Fortune 500 customers.

Learn SEO and PPC at SearchCamp Philly!

Philadelphia might not be the first place people look to for an online marketing conference, but a group of marketers from the Internet Marketers of the Delaware Valley (IM-DV) think it’s time to make a change. The IM-DV group looked to fellow online media enthusiasts, PodCamp Philly, for help, and now two events will be held together at Temple University on September 6 & 7, 2008 and is only $21.
SearchCamp is designed to be an affordable and fun way for small businesses and marketers to learn about how to market their businesses online. Topics range from Pay Per Click Advertising (PPC), Search Engine Optimization (SEOSearch engine optimization Basics) to Public Relations & the Internet and Web 2.0 Technologies. Speakers are from the local Philadelphia area as well as New York City and Washington D.C. including well known blogging authors Geoff Livingston, Debbie Weil and search experts like Mike Grehan and Kevin Ryan. The event will coincide with PodCamp Philly.

Online marketers 'should not just rely on clicks'

Internet marketers should not depend solely on clicks to tell them how successful their ad campaigns are, according to one expert.Speaking to the Canadian Press, Andrew Lipsman of research company comScore said that marketing professionals should instead consider how an online brand can impact on offline consumer behaviour.He noted that more than 1,760 online ads are viewed by each web user in the US every month, with Yahoo!, AOL and MSN and MySpace leading the way when it comes to display ads.However, Google is the market leader when it comes pay-per-click ads, Mr Lipsman said."People are beginning to understand how these online ad exposures do have a brand-building impact," he explained."And as they begin to see the value in that and get out of the mindset it's all about direct response and purchasing something online right now, more dollars will begin to shift online."Experts at the recent ad:tech conference in Chicago claimed that better online marketing metrics are vital to ensuring the growth of the online ad sector, MediaDailyNews reports.News brought to you by ClickThrough - experts in SEO, PPC Management Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.

Website operators ‘stretching the truth’ over page hits

Melbourne, July 24 : An expert from the Internet Advertising Bureau has warned that website operators are using tricks to boost traffic numbers in the eyes of advertisers.
Patty Keegan says that one such trick to boost click counts is stretching news stories across multiple pages.
"There are things like news sites that rotate new ads in as news is updated," The Australian quoted her as saying.
"Perhaps the most nefarious thing I saw was in another country where two newspapers were competing evenly for the same market. Overnight one of the newspapers suddenly doubled its page impressions, and it turned out they had split their national news page into two pages," she added.
She even said that the IAB was undertaking a concerted review with the aim of developing a new, more accurate audience measurement system.
Meanwhile, several key buyers of online advertising have admitted that they do not believe the numbers most of the websites claim.
"They are just not believable. I have spoken to a number of media buyers out there and they say the same thing," one online ad agency founder said.
Pop-up advertising, which helped increase impression numbers, is another element many websites are countering to offer best practice to advertisers.
"The first trend we''re seeing is an increasing use of pay-per-click search marketing by publishers to drive website traffic on news items," says Sandra Hanchard, an analyst with online monitoring company Hitwise.
"This is important because search engines account for more than one in five visits to news and media print websites," Hanchard adds.
She says that news publishers have even started to utilise social networking sites to boost traffic.
"News and media print websites are receiving more traffic from Web 2.0 properties," she says.
"Social networking websites increased their referrals to news and media print websites by 148.6 per cent, comparing May 2007 to May 2008," she adds.
Simon Van Wyck, founder of web advertising company Hothouse, says that many web publishers and portals count visitors to allied sites, but do not necessarily have the right to claim such traffic — like Ninemsn, which claims Hotmail and Yahoo.
"I think you can look at other things, such as claiming traffic that is not theirs," Van Wyck says.
Keegan points out that most of the times the problem occurs when advertisements are refreshed along with the stories, creating the impression of more traffic. (ANI)

Blue Moon Works, Inc. Selected as one of "The Ten Most Dependable™" Search Engine Marketing Firms in the United States

Denver, CO (PRWEB) July 22, 2008 -- Blue Moon Works, Inc., a new media marketing agency based in Denver, has been selected by Goldline Research as one of "The Ten Most Dependable" Search Engine Marketing Firms in the United States. The list will be published in the August 1st issue of Inc. Magazine.

By utilizing best practices and pioneering new solutions in search engine optimization, pay-per-click campaign management, email marketing, social media, mobile and international website strategies, Blue Moon Works is an agency that constantly integrates the latest strategies to ensure clients’ success.
"Being recognized as one of the most dependable SEM companies is a significant to us. We pride ourselves in helping our clients find their sweet spot of maximum revenue from the search engines while achieving or beating their ROI goals," said Cindy Brown, President and CEO of Blue Moon Works. "The world of search engine marketing continues to change at a very fast pace and we are passionate about helping our clients optimize these channels."
The selection process conducted by Goldline Research included individual company interviews with different SEM agencies, quantitative analysis of key company data, as well as customer interviews to confirm high levels of customer service.
"Blue Moon Works truly distinguished itself during our evaluation of the industry," said Allen Scott, Research Director, Goldline Research. "The firm met or exceeded every expectation we have for holistic, client-centric firms."
About Blue Moon Works, Inc.Blue Moon Works, Inc. is a new media marketing agency dedicated to helping clients optimize their website and new media channels to generate more leads, more sales, and more profit while improving services. By utilizing best practices and pioneering new solutions in SEO, PPC, email marketing, social media, mobile and international website strategies, Blue Moon Works enables clients to realize the potential of their online channel. To learn more about Blue Moon Works, Inc. visit: http://www.bluemoonworks.com/.
About Goldline ResearchGoldline Research is a third-party, independent research firm specializing in evaluating professional services firms. Goldline Research undertakes an extensive, in-depth research process to review all qualified companies in a respective area. Its proprietary research process includes individual company interviews and quantitative analysis of key company data, as well as customer reference checks to confirm high levels of customer service. Those companies that ultimately earn Goldline Research’s Most Dependable™ designation demonstrate a commitment to service unparalleled in their industry.

Bad Clicks: Attorney Sues Google For Fraud

A Boston attorney who purchased search ads through Google has sued the company for fraud, alleging that some of his ads were displayed on sites that yielded clicks, but no clients.
In the lawsuit, quietly filed last Friday in federal court in San Jose, Calif., lawyer Hal Levitte complains that his pay-per-click search ads ended up on "parked domains," or sites that only contained ads, and "error" sites, or pages shown to Web users who had typed invalid URLs into their browsers.
Levitte asserts that he enrolled in Google's content network and search network without realizing his ads would be shown on the "low-quality" parked domain and error sites. He alleges that Google said its search network included AOL, Ask.com, Shopping.com and other sites, and that its content network included The New York Times, InfoSpace, foodnetwork.com and others.
"Including parked domains and error pages within the search and content networks is the opposite of what AdWords advertisers like plaintiffs expected," the lawsuit alleges. "Google's practice of including parked domain and error pages within the search network is misleading, since no actual searches are performed on these pages. Likewise, Google's practice of including parked domains and error pages within the content network is also misleading, since most of these sites include little or no content."
Google did not respond to a request for comment.
Levitte alleges that between June and August of last year, 202,528 of his ads were displayed through Google's "parked domain" program. Those ads drew 668 clicks, but did not result in any conversions. In that same time frame, his ads were displayed 1,009 times through Google's "AdSense for errors" program. Those garnered 25 clicks, and no conversions.
In all, he says he spent $136, or 15% of his total campaign budget, on the parked domain and AdSense for errors ads.
He complained to Google and asked for a refund, but the search company allegedly refused. "In an email from AdWords support to plaintiff, Google wrote: 'My team verified that the clicks you have been charged for appear to fit a pattern of normal activity,'" the lawsuit states.
Levitte's complaint includes allegations that Google's actions were unfair, fraudulent and resulted in an unjust enrichment, and is seeking class-action status. Among other requests, he is asking for a refund and an injunction ordering Google to make it easier for marketers to opt out of the parked domains and error programs. "We feel that the disclosures remain inadequate," said one of his lawyers, San Francisco-based Kimberly Kralowec.
Google also faces an unrelated trademark infringement lawsuit stemming from its parked domains program. In that case, golf club manufacturer Vulcan Golf argues that Google violates the Vulcan Golf trademark by serving of ads on sites with URLs that appear similar, such as vulcanogolf.com.

WebMetro to Present SEO Workshop at Art Institute of California

Leading interactive agency WebMetro will teach a workshop on one of the most talked about business growth initiatives, search engine optimization.
(live-PR.com) - WebMetro’s Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Director John McCarthy will teach a workshop on how to optimize a website for top rankings, at the Art Institute of California’s Invasion of Creativity on July 10, 2008. The workshop is open to the public and will be held in San Bernardino, CA.

“WebMetro is delighted to help educational efforts for professionals looking to strengthen and grow their business through Internet marketing. Search engine optimization is a powerful Internet marketing tool for gaining new customer acquisition and increasing visibility,” said McCarthy.WebMetro implements SEO as a critical part of an integrated Internet marketing strategy rather than a standalone tactic. With a solid track record of helping clients obtain top search engine rankings, WebMetro has extensive Internet marketing and search engine optimization experience.During the two-hour session, McCarthy will show attendees how to develop a search engine optimization action plan, how to perform keyword research, assess competitors, evaluate website architecture and many other critical components for a successful SEO campaign. For more information on the SEO workshop and other WebMetro events, go to www.webmetro.com/Events.asp. About WebMetroSince 1995, WebMetro has delivered powerful Internet marketing services to help online advertisers maximize ROI and profitably gain market share. Headquartered in Los Angeles, WebMetro is one of only four agencies in the Southern California area named a Top Interactive Agency by BtoB magazine, a premiere marketing authority. WebMetro holds a strong reputation for superior results. Clients range from aggressive entrepreneurs to Fortune 50 companies. Internet marketing services include pay per click advertising, search engine optimization, Internet consulting, e-Commerce development, website design and development, online video marketing, and web analytics. WebMetro publishes a blog titled Digital Marketing Factor at www.webmetro.com/Blog/ with Internet marketing insight, advice, and musings. For more information on how WebMetro helps online advertisers Unleash the Power of Digital Marketing, call (866) 922-4632 or visit http://www.webmetro.com/.Contact:Lydia Chen Shah909.599.8885info@webmetro.com

Mauro Ranallo and "Big" John McCarthy to broadcast "Affliction: Banned"

by MMAjunkie.com Staff on Jun 25, 2008 at 3:00 pm ET

Longtime MMA broadcaster Mauro Ranallo and retired veteran MMA referee "Big" John McCarthy have been tapped as broadcasters for Affliction's debut event.

The July 19 event, "Affliction: Banned," takes place at the Honda Center in Anaheim, Calif. Part of the preliminary card airs live on FSN before the main card kicks off on pay per view.Ranallo and McCarthy will call one of the year's deepest cards, which includes a main event of former PRIDE holder Fedor Emelianenko vs. former UFC champion Tim Sylvia.Ranallo, best known for his days broadcasting PRIDE Fighting Championships, currently hosts Fight Network Radio, which is part of Hardcore Sports Radio on Sirius. He also broadcasts EliteXC (and ShoXC) events on Showtime. Additionally, on May 31 he called "EliteXC: PRIMETIME" on CBS, the first-ever live MMA event to air on major U.S. network television.McCarthy, best known as a UFC referee, officiated 535 fights during his 14 years in the cage. The Los Angeles police officer and Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt operates his own MMA school in Valencia, Calif. He currently broadcasts during The Fight Network's coverage of UFC events and makes frequent media appearances. For the latest on "Affliction: Banned," check out the MMA Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).(Touch of gloves: MMARated.com)

iTunes: Five billion songs now been downloaded

Apple today announced that music fans have purchased and downloaded over five billion songs from the iTunes Store.
iTunes is the number one music retailer in the US and features the largest music catalog with over eight million songs. Also, iTunes customers are now renting and purchasing over 50,000 movies every day, making iTunes the world’s most popular online movie store.

iTunes features movies from all of the major movie studios including 20th Century Fox, The Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros., Paramount, Universal Studios Home Entertainment, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), Lionsgate and New Line Cinema.
Users can rent movies and watch them on their Macs or PCs, all current generation iPods**, iPhone(TM) and on a widescreen TV with Apple TV. iTunes Store customers can also purchase new movie releases from major film studios and premier independent studios on the same day as their DVD release.
The iTunes Store is the world’s most popular online music, TV and movie store with a catalog of over eight million songs, over 20,000 TV episodes and over 2,000 films including over 350 in stunning high definition video.
With Apple’s legendary ease of use, pioneering features such as iTunes Movie Rentals, integrated podcasting support, iMix playlist sharing, theability to turn previously purchased tracks into complete albums at a reduced price, and seamless integration with iPod and iPhone, the iTunes Store is the best way for Mac and PC users to legally discover, purchase and download music and video online.
*Based on data from market research firm the NPD Group’s MusicWatch survey that captures consumer reported past week unit purchases and counts one CD representing 12 tracks, excluding wireless transactions. The iTunes Store became the largest music retailer in the US based on the amount of music sold during January and February 2008.

Vibrant Media Honors Ask, Microsoft, New Line and Unilever at First Annual Awards Competition for Contextual Advertising

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Vibrant Media, the world leading video and contextual advertising network, presented the Vibrant Awards for creative and strategic use of in-text and contextual video advertising tonight in Manhattan. Ask.com took the Gold for its skillful use of contextual advertising incorporating a dynamic API feed. New Line Cinema won the Silver for its cleverly enigmatic video campaign promoting the film "23". Microsoft won the User Engagement Award for the effectiveness of its LiveSearch campaign and Unilever won the Judges Choice Award for its dueling "blonde vs. brunette" campaign to promote Sunsilk's Color Boost. The European Vibrant Awards were held last week in London where Yahoo!, Fiat and Chrysler won the night.
According to Doug Stevenson, Co-founder and CEO of Vibrant Media, "In the eight years since Vibrant was founded, in-text advertising has come of age, and Vibrant has grown exponentially to meet the demand with offices in eight cities in the U.S. and Europe, an audience of 120 million uniques, and a network of over 3,500 publishers. The Vibrant Awards are intended to recognize the growing influence of in-text advertising in the online advertising landscape."
A distinguished panel of industry judges evaluated the nominated campaigns for creativity, word selection and effectiveness in communicating the brand message and meeting campaign objectives. The judges were:
· David Cohen, EVP, US Director of Digital Communications, Universal McCann Interactive
· Sarah Fay, CEO, Aegis, North America
· Mike Hurt, Director of Ad Planning, Microsoft & Co-Chair, IAB Digital Video Committee
· Steve Katelman, Director Strategic Partnerships, OMG
· Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor, Adweek
· Jack Myers, President, Myers Publishing, LLC
Thirty-five other campaigns were evaluated by the judges including Ford Sync, Theraflu, Kraft Oreo and Yellowpages.com.
After reviewing the nominations, UMI's David Cohen noted, "There were some very clever uses of the medium…I was impressed by the quality of the submissions." Sarah Fay, CEO of Aegis North America, commented that the entries highlighted the use of search as a way to customize a video and serve up a message that's specific to the environment.
According to Sean Finnegan, Vibrant's CMO, "Contextual advertising offers the best of all worlds – user control, relevancy, branding, video, and pricing accountability. The campaigns honored tonight reflect some of the smartest, most impactful and creative executions we've seen, and it is our hope that the Vibrant Awards here and in the UK will continue to inspire excellence in years to come."
The recipients of the 2008 Vibrant Awards follow:
Gold Award
The campaign that won the Gold by epitomizing the skillful use of in-text, fully leveraging the format strategically and creatively to engage the consumer and deliver results, is Ask.com. By tapping consumers' insatiable interest in celebrity, Ask.com intercepted users by highlighting celebrity-related words -- like Angelina Jolie, Indiana Jones, NFL, Jay Z, Jennifer Aniston, Mandy Moore, and more – within related content, and provided a dynamic API feed with additional search information. This campaign, which was a unanimous hit among the judges, captured outstanding click through rates across the board.
Silver Award
The campaign that took full advantage of the in-text medium by combining the compelling use of words and video to win the 2008 Silver Vibrant Award was New Line Cinema for the film "23." Using words such as 'DNA' and 'Titanic' to provoke interest in the film, New Line Cinema developed a custom unit that teased viewers with a series of enigmas related to the number 23.
User Engagement Award
Finally, Vibrant's first User Engagement Award was presented to the campaign that was most effective according to Vibrant's own measurement tools. Microsoft wanted to gain market share and establish Live.com as the premier online search engine. Through a custom in-text unit, Microsoft was able to bring Live.com search results into the content and engage users by offering relevant, real time information related to the highlighted word. The Live.com initiative achieved exceptional click-through and user interaction rates. The campaign offered Vibrant's user base a powerful resource, placing convenient search functionality within articles.
Judges Choice Award
This award recognizes a campaign that the judges felt deserved special recognition for its clever approach. The winner of the 2008 Vibrant Judges' Choice Award is Unilever for Sunsilk's Color Boost. Using words and phrases including "confident women," "color boost," "healthy shine," "shampoo," and "hair color," Unilever aimed to increase awareness of Sunsilk's Color Boost. By highlighting the words "blondes" and "brunettes," and creating a virtual duel between them, Unilever delivered sassy video creative that perfectly illustrated the notorious battle between blondes and brunettes.
About Vibrant Media
Headquartered in New York, Vibrant Media is a world leading video and contextual advertising network, giving marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted, user-initiated advertisements within the text of premium Web content. The company works closely with advertisers, agencies and Web publishers to plan, buy, deliver and optimize Vibrant In-Text Advertising campaigns across thousands of websites. Vibrant Video provides measurable brand engagement through the largest pay per click video advertising network. Reaching more than 120 million unique users per month, Vibrant Media manages more than five billion words per month for top advertisers such as Sony, Intel, New Line Cinema, Microsoft and Toyota. The company was founded in 2000 and has offices in New York, Chicago, Detroit, San Francisco, London, Paris and Hamburg, with more than 200 employees. The Company's rapid growth has been recognized by both the Inc. 500 and Deloitte Fast 50 list for two consecutive years. For more information, visit http://www.vibrantmedia.com/.

Possibility of legal bid against Google policy

A number of organisations are reportedly discussing making a legal challenge to Google's pay-per-click policy change.The portal recently made it possible for firms to place paid adverts on the results pages of searches for their competitors' trademarks.Organisations must now bid against each other if more than one firm intends to advertise itself alongside such results.However, Marketing Week reports that a "heavyweight consortium" of firms are now planning to make a legal challenge to the policy.The Association of British Travel Agents told the news source that it had taken part in a meeting to discuss the possibility of a legal confrontation.Furthermore, the publication believes Saga and Lastminute.com attended the discussion.When the policy changes came into play, Tesco called upon its competitors to join it in refusing to bid on others' trademarks, noting that if the sector stood firm then the cost of such advertising would not rise.However, the Birmingham Post recently suggested that while this may work among large businesses, it is likely to be "dog eat dog" among small and medium-sized enterprises.

Other stories we liked

Are you suffering from arthritis? How about arthritus? Arthuritis?
When Arthritis Care, a charity, piloted an online fundraising campaign it wanted to register for pay-per-click advertising, Professional Fundraising (May) reports. Unable to afford to sponsor the 200 different types of arthritis, it decided to hedge its bets on a hunch that most people wouldn't be able to spell the name of the condition properly. The gamble paid off - the misspelling “arthritus” was registered at a cheaper rate and attracted more clicks than rheumatoid or osteoarthritis.
Charities are usually justified in penny-pinching, but medical students are feeling so poor that they have taken to sleeping in tents, says Student BMA News (May). Oh put down the violins - they're simply protesting at the fact that accommodation for junior doctors is no longer free. Hospitals are due to start charging doctors for rooms from August. Matthew Forbes, a final year-student at Sheffield, branded the news that he would have to pay £600 a month to live on site “disgraceful”.
Living under canvas isn't the most luxurious, but spare a thought for children at a PFI school in Exeter plagued by over-heating problems. Devon County Council and its private partner Carillion have tried to cool down the classrooms - without success, Public Private Finance (May) reports. A study looking into the problem has been commissioned and school governors are waiting for a further consultation with the local council. Meanwhile, is it really too much for students to hope that their classrooms will be cool come winter?
Hot or not, it might be in students' interests to put up with classroom conditions - if they want to understand football, that is. Getting to grips with the rules of the beautiful game requires graduate-level skills, while cricket requires “a mere GCSE”, Times Higher Education (May 15) reports. David Beckham, not just a pretty face? Public Agenda remains unconvinced.
It doesn't take an academic degree to work out the meaning of “zero”. Except, perhaps, in the case of zero-carbon homes, where zero may not mean zero after all, Regeneration & Renewal (May 16) reports. Developers say that a new, more “flexible” definition is required if the Government is to meet its ambitious house building target for all new homes to be zero-carbon by 2016, a report from the UK Green Building Council says. “This is not about dumbing down or abandoning the concept of zero carbon,” says Paul King, chief executive, of the UK Green Building Council.
Transport tales of the week
Being stuck in a car for hours may be part of the job for many police officers. But they should beware of alleviating boredom by taking their hands off the wheel - or putting their fingers up their noses. Particularly, it might be improper to release the steering wheel to make a thumbs-up gesture to a speed camera while on an emergency call. Sadly this information didn't reach David Mayes, an officer in South Yorkshire. He's been given an undisclosed fine for the offence, reports The Times (May 16).
And nose-picking is strictly off limits for the Civil Nuclear Constabulary, reports Police Review (May 16). “If you're sitting in a car with your finger up your nose, staring off into the distance with your mind in neutral, you are going to miss something and you are not going to be prepared,” says Richard Thompson, the force's chief.
But perhaps long hours in traffic are increasingly likely, given the drubbing that congestion charging took in recent elections. Local Transport Today (May 16) says that a proposed scheme in Manchester hangs in the balance after an anti-congestion charge party unseated its key champion. London's new Mayor, Boris Johnson, also vowed to scrap plans for emissions-based charging.
Foreign Ways
Schoolchildren in Sydney have been threatened with a “yellow card”, meaning a week's suspension, if they don't stop petitioning to get their favourite teacher back, The Daily Telegraph (May 17) in Australia reports. The pint-sized activists at Narraweena Primary School joined their parents to protest for the reinstatement of a popular teacher, Lynne Tziolas, who was suspended by the NSW Department of Education after nude photos of her and husband were published in a magazine section under the title: “Buck naked couples talk about their sex lives.”
Hero ...
When you think of a born leader, does it conjure up images of a tall, handsome and charismatic figure? Well, think again. When it comes to leadership, height isn't everything. Take Napoleon Bonaparte: many historians recount that the great military leader stood just 5ft 2in. And the reality, according to Stephen Taylor, chief executive of the Leadership Centre for Local Government, is that “good leaders are often short, fat people with zero charisma and perhaps even a hygiene problem”, Local Government Chronicle (May 15) reports. We wonder whether the so-called short man syndrome is just a tall story.
... and Villain
James Bond films may not appear to have much impact on everyday life at town halls, but councils are struggling to come to terms with parkour, the free-running craze popularised by Casino Royale. Children & Young People Now (May 14) reports that local authorities want to set up parkour sessions, but youth workers lack qualifications and guidance on leaping over walls or railings. They are also concerned about insurance and that not every street-smart kid wants councils involved. “The whole point is that parkour is slightly anarchic,” says Harry Fowler, joint acting head of youth service at Birmingham City Council.
Other views
“We have now in England an enormous, oppressive and contradictory edifice for school accountability which stifles initiative and creativity in schools.” Christine Blower, acting general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, gives her views on national testing, in Public Finance (May 16)
“We have got more people counting than we have got doing.” The police service is wasting money on bureaucracy and target culture, says Jan Berry, retiring chairman of the Police Federation, in Police Review (May 16)
“If I were a policewoman or a nurse I wouldn't be expected to put up with this treatment.” Teachers draw the short straw when it comes to bullying from service users, says Jennifer Drew, a humanities teacher, in TES Magazine (May 16)
“There is no option of a quick fix.” Alan Johnson MP, the Health Secretary, admits a £6 billion “black hole” in funding for adult social care, reports Community Care (May 15)
“It is clear [that] the Government has bowed to political pressure and chosen a criminal justice rather than a health-focused path.” The reclassification of cannabis will not stop people from taking it, argues Paul Corry, director of public affairs at the mental health charity Rethink, in Community Care (May 15)
“Only fools predict events with certainty.” Barry Quirk, chief executive of the London Borough of Lewisham, says foresight is a science, in The MJ (May 15)

Is this a sustainable model?

After hearing about services like MyScreen and Sugar Mama, I wondered how this model was sustainable. After all, you don’t see many outlets where end users get paid to view advertisements. As with anything this new, I tended to view it through a lens of skepticism. But then I came up with an analogy.
Think about Google’s AdSense program. If you publish on the Internet, you can sign up through them and have them serve ads to your site. When visitors to your site click on those ads, you get paid. Google does the legwork in signing up advertisers and ensuring that their ads are served appropriately.
In the incentive-based model, it seems that the end user replaces the publisher. Instead of serving an ad to a website and paying based on the number of clicks, ads are served right to the mobile user, who are paid just for viewing. MyScreen and Sugar Mama, then act as middlemen, like Google.
Of course, the sting here is that advertisers gain more from the pay per click model. They pay for only people who click the ads, but their message is shown to everyone who visits that publication. So their reach extends further than their payout. Whereas when ads are being served to a mobile user, it is them, and only them, who see the ads.
So I’m still skeptical as to its sustainability, but not as much as I was initially. Really, I’m far more concerned about the privacy issues than the lifespan of the business model.
It sounds good, but beware
It’s easy to get roped into a deal that seems too good to be true. Yes, being paid to view advertising sounds like a great deal, but when it’s at the cost of having your information sold to other advertisers, well, it doesn’t sound so sweet. Now does it?
Still, incentive-based advertising is a young model, and could prove viable as advertisers and network operators search for the best way to deliver advertising over mobile phones. Our cell phones are personal, and we simply won’t tolerate the kind of advertising we see in print and broadcast media.
But if mobile advertising is going to hit us either way, we might as well get something from it. Right?
Posted By : Joe

Google Looks to Conquer Mobile Phone Ad Market

Google, a champion of internet advertising, seeks to test its hand at cell phone adsWith more and more cell phones supporting capable browsers, a logical area of expansions is the advertising market for cell phone browsers. Most ads have trouble with cell phone browsers resolutions and are not conducive for the environment. This is troublesome as the cell phone internet industry today is what the internet of yesterday was -- financially unfueled.
In the early days of the internet in the 1990s, large companies sprang up promoting websites which reached massive values by only providing amorphous content and limited services. These sites made billionaires of people like Mark Cuban, but inevitably the bubble burst and the market fell apart.Today much of the modern internet is driven heavily by advertising, similar to the offline news industry. If the internet is a vehicle, advertising is the fuel that drives much of it. And these days, cell phone internet connections provide little "fuel" to the internet. Google seeks to change that.Google on Wednesday announced that it will be deploying small brand-image advertisements, which it is custom making. When the site detects a cell-phone browser, it will switch to displaying these ads. This, Google hopes, will help it conquer the vast new emerging market.Google feels that its fate is inextricably tied to cell phones and other mobile devices as the industry continues to shift toward mobile sales and development. The company has heavily invested in developing an OS named Android, which it hopes will help standardize the mobile phone industry. And like most Google products, the OS will likely find a way to tie in ads for revenue.The new system Google will be rolling out for mobile browser advertising will display images similar to those seen on PC browsers. The images will be scaled optimally to look appropriate on the small screen. Advertisers will pay on a per click basis, and are only allowed to link to pages optimized for mobile phones.One key difference between Google ads on the cell phone and its PC cousin is that the cell phone variety will only display one ad per page. Google understands that on a small display, clutter becomes an increasing issue, so it hopes that this policy will make the system friendlier and interfere with host pages less.Alexandra Kenin, a product marketing manager, for Google Mobile Ads stated in a Google blog post that, "For advertisers, mobile image ads serve as a branding tool and have shown to have good click-through rates."Google announced that the following countries will be receiving the special current ads, at the time of roll out: Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Russia, Spain, the UK, and the United States.