2012年2月8日 星期三

Click-to-call is key to Google's mobile ad dominance

How Google ads reinvented the sales call

Mobile is the hottest thing in advertising. Turns out, getting people to make a phone call can be very lucrative.

By Sierra Jiminez, contributor
click_to_callFORTUNE — Companies diving into mobile advertising have found success getting consumers to do something unusual with their smartphones: make calls.
It's no surprise that the mobile space has become one of the hottest areas in advertising. According to research firm Nielsen, smartphone ownership in the U.S. has more than doubled in the past two years, climbing to 44% of mobile users in 2011. Sophisticated handsets have created a surge in data consumption as well. According to Google (GOOG), 69% of American smartphone users access the Internet every day. Data usage in the U.S. was up 89% in 2011. By the end of 2012, U.S. mobile ad spending is expected to reach $2.61 billion -- up from $1.45 billion in 2011 -- according to digital marketing firm eMarketer.
That growth has created a heated race. Google leads thanks to its powerful search franchise and its Android devices. The company beat out Apple in a deal to acquire AdMob in 2010 for $750 million. That same year, Apple (AAPL) launched its iAd network, which allows advertisers to place rich media ads that include video and animations in iOS apps. While the mobile advertising business has had muted results so far, the company recently hired former Adobe (ADBE) executive Todd Teresi in an effort to revamp it. Even Facebook is looking to get a piece of the pie. The popular social network recently hinted to moving into the mobile ad space in the IPO it filed last week.
So it may seem odd that what has taken centerstage for early mobile marketers is not a new breed of flashy advertisement but something rather more analog, making calls. Google is dominant in mobile advertising. Last year, the Internet search leader occupied more than half of U.S. mobile ad revenues, accounting for some 95% of the mobile search ad market and 25% of the mobile display market last year. In 2010, the company enabled ads that could be tapped to make a call, speed dial in disguise. Now, Google ads generate more than 10 million calls a month.
Naturally, the approach has proved popular with firms that have long relied on call centers to generate new business. Take Esurance, the San Francisco-based auto insurance firm that provides services online. The company says that click-to-call ads have improved the efficacy of its marketing campaign some 25%. While it won't release specifics, it says calls coming from such ads were more likely to result in sales than typical phone inquiries. "So many people want their final transactions to be over the phone," says Esurance Director of Online Marketing Tolithia Kornweibel.
1-800-Flowers (FLWS) is another example. The company says it's customers were two or three times more likely to click to make a phone call from a handset than to click on anadvertisement on a desktop computer. Cable provider Comcast (CMCSK) has found the same to be true. Since starting to use mobile ads in June last year, the company says it has seen a surge in mobile sales, with 270% greater click-through rates on mobile than desktop devices. Mobile advertising now drives more than 10% of the company's online sales, up from virtually nothing last year. "Sometimes customers can do all the research, but they'll still have questions they want to talk to someone about," says Joshua Palau, vice president of digital sales and marketing at Comcast cable, another company.
The hitch? Figuring out how to track the impact mobile advertising has on consumers. Currently, there's no way for advertisers to track if a customer starts their purchasing experience on one device and moves to a different platform to finish. For example, a Comcast customer could research the deals the company has to offer through the company's mobile site or online but, ultimately, end up walking into one of its satellite stores to complete the purchase. Google says it is working to fix that. "Your mobile phone is really becoming a tool to navigate you through the physical world," says Jason Spero, head of global sales and marketing at Google. "Right now, we're not doing a great job of tracking digital in the physical world, but we're very close."
Source: http://tech.fortune.cnn.com/2012/02/07/how-google-ads-reinvented-the-sales-call/
Source: http://www.plus1booster.com/blog/click-to-call-is-key-to-googles-mobile-ad-dominance

2012年2月4日 星期六

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2012年2月1日 星期三

Google: New privacy rule hasn't changed advertising

Google Defends New Privacy Policy by AMIR EFRATI

Changes that Google Inc. made to its privacy policy last week bring it more in line with rivals Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Inc. and Apple Inc., the company said Tuesday in response to questions from members of Congress.

The Internet search giant, which has expanded into social networking, mobile-device software and other services that collect voluminous data about people's online behavior, faced questions last week after updating its policies on how it treats the data it collects about hundreds of millions of people world-wide.

Google said the changes could improve people's experience using some of its services. But the company has also indicated to outsiders that the changes may help boost its online-advertising business, which generated nearly $40 billion in revenue last year.

Google said that it isn't collecting new kinds of information about people and that the policy essentially consolidates dozens of policies that were already in effect for individual Google services. But it added that if users are signed into their Google accounts, data about their Web-search history and the videos they watched on YouTube may now be used in combination with other services.

Google said that if a user is "signed in and searching Google for cooking recipes, our current privacy policies wouldn't let us recommend cooking videos when she visits YouTube based on her searches—even though she was signed into the same Google account when using both Google search and YouTube."

The company said such changes "benefit our signed-in users by making things easier and letting them find useful information more quickly."

The new policy, which will take effect March 1, also allows Google to show better-targeted online ads to people because it can take into account the videos they watched or their previous searches. In its response to Congress, Google said it could "now be possible under the updated policy, for example, to use a signed-in YouTube user's viewing history to show better search results in Google search or to use signed-in search history to show more relevant ads across Google."

Google's sales representatives have already notified advertising agencies about the new potential ad-targeting capabilities, people familiar with the matter said.

"We don't have any new advertising capabilities to announce at this time," a Google spokesman said in a statement. "Any new products we do launch would provide users with transparency and control over the ads they see."

The privacy-policy changes allow Google to combine data about specific users' activities across more Google services when they are logged into accounts with the company. But people don't need to "log in" to a Google account—which is often associated with their name—when accessing such services, Web search or YouTube. People can also create Google accounts that aren't associated with their real names or open more than one account to use different Google services, making themselves more anonymous, the company said.

The privacy-policy changes won't affect the company's use of information about people's location, a spokesman said. Google collects location information mainly from phones powered by Google's popular Android software and from some Wi-Fi-connected PCs in which Google's Chrome browser or search "toolbar" is installed.

Many Android phones regularly gather information about Wi-Fi networks in their vicinity and send the information to Google, but Google says it "anonymizes" and aggregates the information so that it isn't tied to specific phones or people. The company says it doesn't keep a record of where a phone has been or collect information about text messages or phone calls.

When people use Google apps such as Latitude, which requires information about a person's location, the company has long had the ability—under its current privacy policy--to keep data about that person's location and potentially use it in conjunction with other Google services or to serve more relevant advertisements to the person.

Source: www.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204740904577195083676240406.html?mod=dist_smartbrief
Source: www.plus1booster.com

Google plans country-specific censorship for Blogs

Google Will Start Country-specific Censorshop for Blogs

Google figured out Twitter‘s trick for avoiding universally censoring content weeks ago, but it managed to go unnoticed — for a while.
That is, until TechDows wrote about Blogger‘s plan for country-specific URLs Tuesday.
At some point “over the coming weeks,” Google’s Blogger will begin redirecting users to country-specific domain names — think Google.fr in France rather than Google.com — to avoid universally removing content that would not be tolerated in specific jurisdictions.
A Blogger support post, “Why does my blog redirect to a country-specific URL?,” last updated Jan. 9, explains that Google is using the method to limit the impact of censored content.
Readers will be redirected to sites with their own country’s domain name when they try to visit blogs recognized as foreign, as determined by their IP addresses.
“Over the coming weeks you might notice that the URL of a blog you’re reading has been redirected to a country-code top level domain, or “ccTLD.” For example, if you’re in Australia and viewing [blogname].blogspot.com, you might be redirected [blogname].blogspot.com.au. A ccTLD, when it appears, corresponds with the country of the reader’s current location.”

SEE ALSO: Relax: Twitter’s New Censorship Policy Is Actually Good for Activists

If you would like to see a non-affected page, you can direct to google.com/ncr (NCR stands for “no country redirect”), which places a short term cookie that temporarily prevents geographical redirection.
Google says migrating users to local domains will help promote the freedom of expression while allowing the flexibility to abide by local law.
Do you think censoring content by specific countries is a good move for freedom of expression? Let us know what you think of Google and Twitter’s moves.

 

2012年1月27日 星期五

Teenagers are now welcome on Google+


Google+ Social Site Opened Up to Teens, With New Protections
By Brian Womack
(Updates with Google Earth in fifth paragraph.)

Jan. 26 (Bloomberg) -- Google Inc. opened its social- networking site to anyone 13 or older and added features to protect teenagers’ safety, helping the company compete with Facebook Inc., which has similar age requirements.

The Google+ service, until now limited to users 18 and up, will be available to all teenagers, except those in Spain, South Korea and Netherlands, where the age requirements are higher, the company said. New safety enhancements, meanwhile, will help control who can contact teens online and put restrictions on group video chats.

“With Google+, we want to help teens build meaningful connections online,” Bradley Horowitz, a vice president in charge of the service, said today on his Google+ page. “We also want to provide features that foster safety alongside self- expression.”

Google+, unveiled last June, is the company’s latest effort to push back against Facebook, the largest social-networking service in the world. Google’s service has more than 90 million users, up from more than 40 million in October, Chief Executive Officer Larry Page said earlier this month. Facebook has more than 800 million.

The company also announced that Google+ will be integrated into Google Earth as part of an upgrade to the service. That means users can more easily share maps such as maps of mountains or oceans, with friends.

Google shares were little changed today, closing at $568.10. The Mountain View, California-based company climbed 8.7 percent in value last year.

--Editors: Nick Turner, Tom Giles
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian Womack in San Francisco at bwomack1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tom Giles at tgiles5@bloomberg.net

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-01-27/google-social-site-opened-up-to-teens-with-new-protections.html
Source: www.plus1booster.com

2012年1月26日 星期四

Google performance drives mobile estimate to $2.6 billion

Google's "exceptional" mobile advertising and new data has prompted eMarketer to revise its 2012 estimate for mobile advertising spending upward, from $1.8 billion to $2.61 billion. Google has already come to dominate the field, capturing 51.7% of mobile revenue, far ahead of Apple's 6.3% share. The competition is tighter in the area of mobile display, with Google at 24.8%, Apple at 18% and Millennial Media at 17.7%. PaidContent.org (1/25)

Source: http://paidcontent.org/article/419-2012-mobile-ad-spend-revised-up-to-2.6-billion-google-fueling-the-machi/

2012年1月25日 星期三

Google+ allows nicknames for some users

In a Switch, Google Plus Now Allows Pseudonyms
Should people be allowed to use pseudonyms online?
It is a topic of much debate, with Facebook, Twitter and Google Plus each giving different answers. On Monday, Google will change the policy on its social network to permit nicknames and pseudonyms.
But not any pseudonym will pass muster. Google will allow nicknames, maiden names and pseudonyms if the person can prove to Google that he or she is known by that name elsewhere, in published material or on other social networks.
“We want to build a product that is for humanity at large, and we recognize people have many notions around identity and ways to represent themselves,” said Bradley Horowitz, a vice president of product who works on Google Plus. “We want to be as inclusive as possible while still ensuring the integrity of the system and the community.”
Google employees will manually review some name changes, asking for documentation like a driver’s license, a link to a blog or social network where the person has a large following or published material under the new name.
“If they’re good actors in another place on the Internet, like a blog, they can take the reputation or credit they’ve earned over there and cash it in on Google Plus,” Mr. Horowitz said. “It’s a judgment call.”
“To be clear, this does not solve every case in the world,” he added, and said that this would be the first step of many to make Google Plus more accessible to people who do not want to use their real names.
The debate over pseudonyms is about privacy, freedom of expression and business. Fake names might be necessary to protect victims of abuse or political dissidents, but the more companies know about who you really are, the better they can pitch advertisers and partner Web sites.
Facebook requires that people use their real names and is trying to use that to become a digital passport for the Web. On Twitter, on the other hand, people can mostly use any name they choose.
Google’s role as an online identity service, Mr. Horowitz said, is “to allow people to express themselves and have a coherent, useful experience on the Internet, to give users choice and control.”
Google faced an outcry when it introduced Google Plus without the option of pseudonyms and shut down some users’ accounts, though it insists that it always planned to allow them.
First it had to work out some kinks, Mr. Horowitz said. It needed to learn how users behave on the site so it could monitor spam and inappropriate comments, which are likely to be more common with fake names. It also wanted to have measures in place to deal with pseudonymous users in the case of a government subpoena, for instance.
Christine Chen, a Google spokeswoman, said that if subpoenaed, Google asks for the narrowest request possible. That way, it can avoid turning over a pseudonymous user’s real identity, which it might have if the person has also signed up with a credit card to Google Wallet or sent a driver’s license to Google Plus, for example. Google said it would destroy all the documentation that users submitted.
A tiny percentage of Google Plus users who try to use fake names, have very unusual names or enter a business’s name instead of a person’s have been unable to create a profile. Business owners can now create corporate pages, and as of Monday, people using other names can enter them by editing their profile under the “About” section of the site.
Source: The New York Times (tiered subscription model)/Bits blog
Source: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/23/in-a-switch-google-plus-now-allows-pseudonyms/
Source: http://www.plus1booster.com

2012年1月20日 星期五

Google Zeitgeist 2011 rankings

According to the annual Convention, Google released the 2011 global top search keyword ranking Google Zeitgeist. 2011, the world’s fastest-rising search queries in the teenage singer Rebecca Black first, Google Plus, iPad2 and iPhone5 test. “Fastest rising” queries refer to 2011 the most searched, based on their popularity increase compared with the 2010 rankings. In turn, “down the fastest” queries are those that is very popular in 2010, 2011 and not too hot, the query.
In the video on the Web site with a singing of the Friday sitting of 13 year old girl Rebecca Black stability “of the world’s fastest-rising search keyword ranking” the first, Google’s social network “Google+” table of the secondary. And the year of 2011 is Apple, in the top ten in the rankings, there are three things related to Apple. Apple founder Steve Jobs ranked 9th, iPad2 and iPhone5 listed also.
In the search rankings in mainland China, fastest rising search keyword is Japan earthquakes, nude wedding age, discounts, and so on, and people search in the list, film and television actress Yang Mi more than Steve jobs, living in the top.

This year’s top ten popular search keywords include:
1.Rebecca Black: in YouTube with a singing of the Friday red only 13 years old, Luo Li
2.Google Plus: Google social network
3.Ryan Dunn: is famous for starred in reality TV, due to car accident died
4.Casey Anthony: mother accused of killing 2 year old daughter, murder at the final level is liable to not set up
5.Battlefield 3:EA first-person shooter game
6.iPhone 5: the legend of Apple in new phone
7.Adele: name of the publication of the 21 albums off bombing marked 22 years of young female singers
8. the Tokyo electric power: tsunamis and earthquakes led to release of nuclear power plant company
9.Steve Jobs: death of Apple co-founder and CEO
10.iPad2: the second generation iPad tablet computer

The following is a partial ranking list. All rankings please click here.
Global parts
World’s fastest-rising
1. Rebecca Black
2. Google Plus
3. Ryan Dunn
4. Casey Anthony
5. Battlefield 3
6. Iphone 5
7. Adele
8. the Tokyo electric power
9. Steve Jobs
10. Ipad 2

World’s fastest drop
1. Myspace
2. Hi5
3. Mebo
4. Nasza Klasa
5. Netlog
6. Baidu
7. Wer Kennt Wen
8. Meinvz
9. Hotmail Correo
10. Delta Airlines

World’s fastest-rising consumer electronic products
1. Amazon Kindle Fire
2. Iphone 4s
3. Sidekick 4g
4. Hp Touchpad
5. Spb Shell 3d
6. Ipad 2
7. Htc Sensation
8. Samsung Nexus Prime
9. Sony Ngp
10. Ipad 3

Google map of the world’s fastest-rising search terms
1. Utm
2. Siegessule Berlin
3. Dpt Conforama
4. Wells Fargo
5. Friseur
6. Elementary Schools
7. Campgrounds
8. Shopping Centre
9. Starbucks
10. Lake

World’s fastest-rising figure
1. Rebecca Black
2. Ryan Dunn
3. Pippa Middleton
4. Casey Anthony
5. Adele
6. Steve Jobs
7. Amy Winehouse
8. Osama Bin Laden
9. Charlie Sheen
10. Kate Middleton

Google News of the world’s fastest-rising search terms
1. Fukushima
2. Iphone 4s
3. Melania Rea
4. Salvatore Parolisi
5. Lamberto Sposini
6. Battlefield 3
7. Dsk
8. Iphone 5
9. Gaddafi
10. Libya

China area
In the search rankings in mainland China, fastest rising search keyword is Japan earthquakes, nude wedding age, discounts, and so on, and people search in the list, film and television actress Yang Mi more than Steve jobs, living in the top. China rarely compiled this year’s content, only two post, it seems Google China does not attach too much importance to.
China’s fastest-rising search terms
1. Japan earthquake
2. the raw age of marriage
3. discount
4. Libya
5. Kung Fu Panda
6. Ipad 2
7. Android
8. transformers
9. QQ 2011
10. the letter

China’s fastest-rising figure
1. Yang Mi
2. Steve jobs
3. Guo Mei
4. the Col
5. Yao Chen
6. Cecilia Cheung
7. the Xin
8. Chen cursor
9. Zhao benshan
10. Jay

Google Zeitgeist is developing a network Google query parser. Million Google query for statistics on it every day, collecting keywords that people are most concerned about, and actually listed.
Source: grass-roots network (www.20ju.com)-the Internet sector of reader’s Digest
Source: http://www.seonaut.org
Source: www.plus1booster.com

2012年1月19日 星期四

Google Zeitgeist 2011 年度排行 (Chinese Version)

按照年度慣例,Google發佈了2011年度全球熱門搜索關鍵字排行榜Google Zeitgeist。2011年度,全球上升最快搜索關鍵字中,少女歌手rebecca black位居首位,Google Plus、iPad2和iPhone5均上榜。“上升最快”的查詢指的是2011年最熱門的搜索,根據它們與2010年相比的熱門程度提升度進行排名。反 過來,“下降最快”的查詢是指那些在2010年非常熱門,但在2011年不太熱門的查詢。
在視頻網站上以一首《星期五》唱紅的13歲女 孩麗蓓嘉•布萊克穩坐“全球上升最快的搜索關鍵字排行榜”首位,穀歌的社交網路“Google+”居次席。而2011年可謂蘋果之年,在該排行榜的前十位 中,有三樣與蘋果公司有關。蘋果公司創始人約伯斯排第9位,iPad2和iPhone5也榜上有名。
在中國大陸的搜索排行榜中,上升最快的搜索關鍵字是日本地震、裸婚時代、折扣等,而人物搜索榜單中,影視演員楊冪超過了約伯斯,居於榜首。

今年的十大熱門搜索關鍵字包括:
1.Rebecca Black:在YouTube以一首《Friday》唱紅的年僅13歲的蘿莉
2.Google Plus:Google 的社交網路
3.Ryan Dunn:以出演真人電視而出名,由於車禍而喪生
4.Casey Anthony:被控殺害2歲女兒的母親,最終一級謀殺罪名被判不成立
5.Battlefield 3:EA第一人稱射擊遊戲
6.iPhone 5:傳說中的Apple新手機
7.Adele:發佈名為《21》的專輯而一炮打紅的22歲年輕女歌手
8.東京 電力:海嘯和地震導致核洩漏的核電站所屬公司
9.Steve Jobs:逝世的Apple聯合創始人兼CEO
10.iPad2:第二代iPad平板電腦

以下是部分排行榜清單。全部排行請點這裏。
全球部分
全球 上升最快
1. Rebecca Black
2. Google Plus
3. Ryan Dunn
4. Casey Anthony
5. Battlefield 3
6. Iphone 5
7. Adele
8. 東京 電力
9. Steve Jobs
10. Ipad 2

全球 下降最快
1. Myspace
2. Hi5
3. Mebo
4. Nasza Klasa
5. Netlog
6. Baidu
7. Wer Kennt Wen
8. Meinvz
9. Hotmail Correo
10. Delta Airlines

全球 上升最快的消費性電子產品
1. Amazon Kindle Fire
2. Iphone 4s
3. Sidekick 4g
4. Hp Touchpad
5. Spb Shell 3d
6. Ipad 2
7. Htc Sensation
8. Samsung Nexus Prime
9. Sony Ngp
10. Ipad 3

全球 上升最快的 Google 地圖搜索詞
1. Utm
2. Siegessule Berlin
3. Dpt Conforama
4. Wells Fargo
5. Friseur
6. Elementary Schools
7. Campgrounds
8. Shopping Centre
9. Starbucks
10. Lake

全球 上升最快的人物
1. Rebecca Black
2. Ryan Dunn
3. Pippa Middleton
4. Casey Anthony
5. Adele
6. Steve Jobs
7. Amy Winehouse
8. Osama Bin Laden
9. Charlie Sheen
10. Kate Middleton

全球 上升最快的 Google 新聞搜索詞
1. Fukushima
2. Iphone 4s
3. Melania Rea
4. Salvatore Parolisi
5. Lamberto Sposini
6. Battlefield 3
7. Dsk
8. Iphone 5
9. Gaddafi
10. Libya

中國地區
在中國大陸的搜索排行榜中,上升最快的搜索關鍵字是日本地震、裸婚時代、折扣等,而人物搜索榜單中,影視演員楊冪超過了約伯斯,居於榜首。中國今年的榜單內容很少,只有兩張榜單,看來Google對中國不太重視了。
中國 上升最快的搜索詞
1. 日本地震
2. 裸婚時代
3. 折扣
4. 利比亞
5. 功夫熊貓
6. Ipad2
7. 安卓
8. 變形金剛
9. Qq2011
10. 微信

中國 上升最快的人物
1. 楊冪
2. 約伯斯
3. 郭美美
4. 卡紮菲
5. 姚晨
6. 張柏芝
7. 藥家鑫
8. 陳游標
9. 趙本山
10. 周傑倫

Google Zeitgeist是Google開發的一款網路查詢分析程式。它對每天上百萬次的Google查詢進行統計,收集人們最關心的關鍵字,並列舉出來。
來源:草根網 (www.20ju.com) – 互聯網界的讀者文摘
來源:seonaut.org
來源:www.plus1booster.com

2012年1月7日 星期六

展笑臉

展笑臉, 如送暖,
寒流送暖不耍斷。
扮鬼臉, 笑容甜,
輕鬆暢聚樂團圓。
處世不易莫心亂,
甜美笑容易週旋。
by Sandy Pang