Google and UI

Well I am finally on the new blogger (because I was forced into it by Google).
Anyway it just reinforces the fact that google puts a lot of though into UI's. I mean changing the look for my blog is like childs play. And I am not comparing this 'click here click there' to 'learn html / css' (or whatever the code is in), but rather how simple it is for me to figure out where I am suppose to be clicking and what that clicking will result in.
The same thing is the case with Adwords. Now while I will admit that I haven't worked a lot on either MSN or Yahoo (forget too many of the others), it doesn't take a genius to figure that Google has got it bang on when it comes to making the user interface simple, self-explanatory, easy to navigate, etc. The first time I sat on Yahoo SEM, it took me hours just to figure out how to create groups, add words etc. It's not very different today either.
So Kanoodle is very simple also but if I have to compare the features provide by Google to those of Kanoodle, the ratio would be 20:1 (I didn't count but it seems like that).
They keep it SIMPLE.
And I guess that's the secret to their success too. I mean look at how simple it is to search on google. Of course their results are in a lot of cases better than what other engines provide but I believe how you present things is also important and that's why google will have an edge over it's competitors for a while...

Bookmarking Optimization

Yes even I have a 'digg' button now. Not because I think people will digg articles on this blog but just so that I can be part of the internet 'buzz marketing'.
Digg, del.icio.us, furl, reddit are all the 'in thing' if you are creating popular content I guess. Lot of bloggers have these bookmarking buttons on their blogs. Does it help? Well I am assuming it does and that's why people bother. I know at least 2 people who regularly go to at least digg and del.icio.us to get 'top stories'.
I think you really need to have some very good content if you want to be 'top ranking' on these websites. But it's not too difficult to put the buttons up, so I figure everyone should.

Good ads

Now I don't know if this is right, and if it then whether it applies to all advertisements or just PPC ads, but I believe the way to write good ads is to understand -
1) The need of the T.A. (the searcher in PPC)
2) The USP of your offering

Now I know this sounds very basic and lame but I don't see this getting implemented most of the time.

Of course in PPC, the kind of ads that go up, depend largely on the kind of conversion you are expecting.

Error in display of stats

A week or two ago I realized this error in the Adwords interface. The 'total' column in the 'keyword' tab at the ad group level, was showing conversion rates for content instead of the search conversion rates.



While the problem got fixed soon enough, what is surprising is how lightly advertisers take such error.
Made me wonder if it was because a huge bunch of advertisers on Google (or Search Engines in general) were actually people who didn't advertise on Google as their main job. If I were manufacturing widgets, my main problems would be widget manufacturing and not that some columns were displayed wrongly.
But if I were totally responsible for delivering performance on my advertising spend, I might be a little more agitated about something like this because I might make a wrong decision (seeing wrong data) which might cost me dearly.

Anyway I do believe that we will be seeing more 'bugs' in the future. Let hope the advertising community is active enough to bring to notice these errors to Google in a quick and efficient manner.

My question is

Why advertise like this -

When you can advertise like this -

And what about click fraud

Jeffrey K. Rohrs has written 'An Open Letter to Paid Search Networks on Behalf of PPC Advertisers' which ask hard but important questions to the likes of Google, Yahoo, MSN and others in the Paid Search Network.
I mean who really knows
What is the true size of the click fraud problem?
Why is the burden on advertisers to prove clicks are invalid rather than you, as the advertising network, to prove that they are valid?
When you discover a new fraud technique, do you retroactively review your billing records and refund for all clicks generated by that technique?

To read more, visit the Sausage Manifesto.
If you are wondering why the strange name - he gets the idea from a quote -
People who enjoy eating sausage and obeying the law shouldn’t watch either being made.

Similarly,
Advertisers who enjoy leads from pay-per-click ads shouldn’t ask how the clicks are made.

Updating copyright information

Good tip from the Sherpa Blog - update your Copyright information (year changed to 2007) on your website and your Email Newsletters.

Wrong reporting

Sorry I can't put up screen-shots on this blog but you have to believe me when I say this because I didn't only see this, I saw it again and again because I couldn't believe it.

The 'Keywords' tab is showing content network conversion data.

Google is showing incorrect data in the 'Keyword' tab in an Ad group. It is my understanding that 'total' would be the total of the stats for the keywords. In other words the total for the search network. When I compare this total with the 'Summary' tab of the ad group, I see the conversion data (Conversion Rate and Cost per Conversion) not matching the stats I get in the 'Keywords' tab. All the other stats from Clicks to Avg. Position are matching but not the Conv. Rate and the Cost/Conv.

Not Rocket Science

I have always stated that what I do isn't rocket science but also wondered at the same time why some people really 'got it' and others lagged behind. I mean it's easy to understand and execute a PPC campaign and all the tools and resources are our there for every individual to make use of, and still there are those who mess up PPC campaigns and those who make the impossible seem easy. Sure to some extent there is 'luck' and there are circumstances like an easier target geo or better product etc. But yesterday I believe I have found a line that makes this disparity amongst PPC managers understandable.

PPC advertising isn't rocket science but it requires common sense.