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Friday, July 29, 2005

The Butler Enters the PPC Battle

The Internet's favorite butler, Ask Jeeves, reported this past week that they have plans to soon market their own Pay Per Click advertising platform in what I'm guessing is a way to break away from paid-placement partner Google Adwords.

The competitive sponsored search market remains dominated by Google and search giant Yahoo!, but that does'nt seem to be stopping anyone from attempting to "dip into their Kool-Aid". In March, MSN, which receives sponsored search listings from Yahoo!, also announced that it would be creating its own paid search platform, AdCenter. View my MSN Unleashes its One, Two Punch! post for more information on MSN's AdCenter.

Jeeves' new platform will be primarily based on keyword bidding, but other "measure of relevance" parameters may indeed be factored into the advertiser's ultimate cost. I'm guessing that their looking at using a system similar to that of Adwords where elements like click-through rate will also affect the cost per click and the average positioning of an ad.

Also, it was announced that Jeeves' paid search listings are expected to look similar to that of Google's system and will co-exist right along Google ads, at least for remainder of their contract which doesn't expire until 2007.

It's no secret that Jeeves has what it takes to go toe-to-toe with the likes of top contenders Yahoo!, Google, and MSN, which in my opinion is the best that search has to offer. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the year of the Butler, and by the end of it, Ask Jeeves was in a position to take away more of the popularity from the top dogs.

 posted by Karl Ribas
Friday, July 29, 2005
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Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Yahoo! Acquires Konfabulator

This past week search king Yahoo! announced that it has acquired software widget-engine Konfabulator in a move to spur third-party developers to devise new applications for the Internet giant's services. For those of you unfamiliar with Konfabulator and the neat desktop applications that can be found on their website, it is a JavaScript runtime engine that lets people run very small applications, or widgets, on either Windows or Macintosh systems.

So what does Yahoo! have planned for their new purchase? Well Yahoo! plans to run the widgets via XML feeds. These applications can perform any of a range of functions, from informing people of their Wi-Fi signal strength to dishing up the local weather to providing a battery monitor. There are literally hundreds of widgets available.

Konfabulator is one of many key pieces for accessing Internet content and now with Yahoo! in the picture, together they will be making these resources available to everyone in a format that's useable outside the traditional browser, as XML feeds.

Yahoo!'s acquisition comes as it is looking for ways to get outside developers more involved with writing applications for its content and putting greater pressure on its archrivals Google and MSN. This was indeed an interesting move on Yahoo!'s part and I can clearly see what they're trying to do as well as where they're trying to go with this acquisition. I have no doubts that this will be another success venture for Yahoo!. What the hell, there is really no reason to think otherwise… slap a Yahoo! logo on it and it turns to gold.

 posted by Karl Ribas
Tuesday, July 26, 2005
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Monday, July 18, 2005

Ad Tech Live From Chi-Town

This past week, I joined 2,500 other marketers, publishers, and agencies as I attended the Ad Tech conference in Chicago. For those of you unfamiliar with Ad Tech, it's a 2-day marketing conference and expo that captures the insights, tools and techniques that today's business and marketing leaders need. In addition to that... it's just really nice excuse to get away from the office for a few days and interact with other marketers, and that's something I enjoy doing very much.

Ad Tech is by no means a search engine marketing show, like the Search Engine Strategies conference I normally attend. It did, although, offer a few SEM related sessions, but nothing really too advance. It seemed as though they did just enough to inform attendees of the many possibilities that search can have on a website, and left it at that. Nobody really touched on advanced strategies or had updated suggestions to offer.

The exhibit hall was exactly how I had imagined it to be... very busy, loud, and most of all exciting. Vendors included Yahoo!, Miva (formerly FindWhat), Kanoodle, ClickTracks, and many other Internet companies. I even walked away with one of those talking Did-it frogs courtesy of the guys at the Did-it booth. I first saw these frogs at the SES show back in December and since then I've really wanted one. When you press on it, it says "Did-it, Did-it" instead of "rib-it, rib-it." A truly classic piece of crap, but one that will no doubt occupy my desk or a long time.

The hotel bars, hallways and lobby were full of people making deals, swapping contact info and planning their next product or campaign launch. I especially enjoyed a keynote session with Guy Kawasaki, Managing Director of Garage Technology Ventures, who shared his ideas and comments on innovation and how industries, such as ours, will continue to evolve and prosper.

Overall, the conference was a big hit with me and it seemed to be that way with many others as well. I left Chicago with a mountain of ideas that I now look forward to testing in the upcoming weeks, most of which have to do with self-branding and internal marketing efforts.

If you ever get an opportunity to experience Ad Tech, or even the SES conference, I would truly recommend doing so. Sure you can get much of the same information sitting at your desk and reading the many blogs, forums, newsletters, or RSS feeds that inevitably take over you inbox, but nowhere will you be able to network with other marketers and visit Internet venders, such as Google and Yahoo!, like you can at these shows. For some of us, this is as good as it gets!

 posted by Karl Ribas
Monday, July 18, 2005
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Sunday, July 10, 2005

Google's "Professional" Program

As I am sure that everyone is well aware of, a few months ago Google developed an Adwords training program that if completed would grant you the title of "Adwords Qualified Professional"... a title that could be used to promote yourself in your business' marketing efforts.

For those of you unfamiliar with the program, Google basically threw together a list of credentials that an ideal "professional" would need to have in order to be first considered. Then, if you happen to be one that meets all requirements, you need to pass a timed, multiple-choice type test with about 100 or so questions.

This past week I finally had the opportunity to prepare (yes study and thankfully so because it was a bit tough) and take the test. You're all thinking "I spend hours on end each day managing Google Adwords accounts, how hard can it be?" Well... that's exactly what I thought, but was soon set straight.

Google requires that you score a 75% or higher and I barely made the cut with a score of 80%. This test was created around questions that I either found to be tricky or just plan non-relevant, which leads me to wonder what Google had hope accomplish with this program.

Personally I see no benefits from being an Adwords Qualified Professional and do not recommend that others join the program. In the end, All Web paid $50 so that I could take a one an a half hour test to reap no proven benefits? I didn't earn anything from this program, I still manage accounts with the same techniques and strategies, and I really don't foresee potential clients throwing us their business just because we now have Google's approval. All in all... in my opinion, Google's "Qualified Professional" program is a true waste of time!

 posted by Karl Ribas
Sunday, July 10, 2005
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Friday, July 01, 2005

Karl Ribas - M.I.A.

Well hello again. It's been a while since my last post (about a month) and I apologize for failing to bring you, my faithful readers, the latest and greatest of search happenings. I have found myself extremely busy these past few weeks, and even though I'm sure it was really hard to survive without my exclusive commentary, you all managed to do so. So where have I been?

What have I been doing? Well, I'll tell you. The week following my June 3rd entry I was preoccupied with some much needed website updates and development changes. I have been putting them off for so long (something I encourage you not to do) that I finally felt that it was time to deal with them.

Immediately following, the next week I was assisting in the training of 2 new All Web employees. Michael Roebuck, general manager of All Web Promotion, has a great skill for finding and hiring talent. He should... he hired me.

Week 3 I found myself vacationing off of the warm and bright coast of the Virgin Islands. Well... not really. I was on vacation though. My girlfriend Jackie and I took some down time in Minneapolis/ St. Paul, Minnesota area. I know, I know... what in the world is in Minnesota? Well, you'd be surprised. Since then I have been trying like hell to catch up and for the most part I have.

So now I am back and come bearing gifts... well actually for the most part they are just some more of Karl's classic commentary regarding 2 recent updates from search engines Google and Yahoo!. Enjoy!

Google's in the "Directors" Chair - "Lights... camera... action" seems to be the general theme these days for Internet search engines as just this past week Google launched its newest search feature, a premiere web-based video search service. Read more...

Yahoo! Tests Personalized Search - Internet giant Yahoo! is testing a new service that extends its search functionality, as part of an effort to provide its users with new, quality searching solutions and to narrow the gap with rival Google. Read more...

 posted by Karl Ribas
Friday, July 01, 2005
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Google's in the "Directors" Chair

"Lights... camera... action" seems to be the general theme these days for Internet search engines as just this past week Google launched its newest search feature, a premiere web-based video search service.

Following the steps of its arch nemesis, Yahoo!, Google has given its users the option of searching video content directly from the company's indexed video database and while using the same keywords used for other types of search. This new search function will complement Google's existing beta version, which currently people search, but not yet play back, the closed-caption text of television shows from PBS, CNN and others that Google has hosted.

Google Video is currently only available in English (IE ver. 5 and higher and Firefox) and will require that users download the "Google Video Viewer," a tool needed in order to watch an entire video piece or a section of a movie relating to their search keywords.

Obvious this is another step in the search giant's expansion into more comprehensive media services. As it stands now, Google is the only search provider that has all the pieces to bring movies on demand via Internet to the masses. Bet your bottom dollar that some time real soon Google will discover a system where they will be able to charge per-view or subscription fees, as well as insert ads into the video stream... I am!

 posted by Karl Ribas
Friday, July 01, 2005
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Yahoo! Tests Personalized Search

Internet giant Yahoo! is testing a new service that extends its search functionality, as part of an effort to provide its users with new, quality searching solutions and to narrow the gap with rival Google.

Dubbed "My Web 2.0," the service builds on personalized search features introduced this past April. Those features allowed Yahoo! users to archive their search results and share them with other people using the service, but the next iteration will go a bit further.

Internet searchers with a Yahoo! login will be able to bookmark and cache copies of their favorite websites, label them in certain categories and attach comments in a structured way. Users will then be able to search among their contacts' knowledge base with what Yahoo! is calling its "MyRank" search technology.

In many ways, the service bears a resemblance to the recently popular Delicious Web bookmarks manager. Like Delicious, Yahoo! has opened user's My Web application, allowing extensions to its service to be easily created. I predict that overtime we may see Yahoo! integrate personalization technology across other applications and services, proving a whole new level of user experience.

 posted by Karl Ribas
Friday, July 01, 2005
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