Archive for February, 2008
Jotspot is Back As Google Sites
February 29th, 2008 | 
Author: It’s part of Google Apps now….yup, Jotspot is back. If you didn’t know what Jotspot was, it’s similar in nature to SharePoint. It’s collaboration wiki-styled. It’s too new to have many real indepth comments yet, but rest assured that geeks across the globe are signing up for it and reviews will be in shortly.
Tech Beat Jotspot Returns As Google Sites: Wiki-Style Collaboration – BusinessWeek
Google Apps Team Edition
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Opera Selects Google as Default Search Option
Opera’s mobile browser will now sport Google at it’s default search engine. What was Yahoo! thinking to walk away from 1.7 billion page views a month? If you are into mobile traffic, check your Google listings.
Yahoo! Opens Search to 3rd Parties
From the “It’s About Time” Department comes Yahoo!’s integration of data from other sources. The open search platform enables 3rd parties to build and present search results. Now it’s even more important for you to obtain listings on those other databases that you thought nobody used. (Like it wasn’t already important?)
Google’s Automatic Matching – Don’t Do It
Not spending all of your AdWords money for the month. Don’t worry. Google will spend it for you using words you didn’t approve. If you are told you are part of their new beta program, don’t be sucked in. Opt out. Now maybe this could be beneficial for some. You might even discover phrases you should be bidding on that are successful. I just object to the idea of being automatically signed up for an additional cost item that I didn’t approve. Yes, I did agree to a maximum monthly spend but it was also with the knowledge that I wouldn’t always reach my maximum spend.
Online Marketing Challenge Has Good Info
You may not be interested in the competition, but the Google Online Marketing Challenge pages contain some good information on setting up Google AdWords accounts and campaigns. Although geared towards students, the information remains valid for business.
Microsoft AdCenter Still Doesn’t Do Dynamic Keyword Insertion Correctly
MSN has confirmed that the bug is still not fixed despite the instructions being posted on their site on how to use the feature. There are work arounds, but quite honestly it’s best just to not let friends drive dynamic yet. Once it’s fixed and others have tested it for you, be my guest. It’s a wonderful feature that is really missed in MSN.
Google Display URL in AdWords
The URL displayed in your AdWords ads must match the destination URL effective April 1st. Advice we’ve always followed here as it was only a matter of time before it was enforced. If you have any vanity URLs, redirects or other things going on that mess with the final destination of your Google ads, better start changing them while you have time.
Yahoo! to Merge with AOL
It’s just like something from a gossip column. Yahoo! set to merge with AOL? Or at least talk about it. This doesn’t mean much for searchers or search marketers yet as a merger like this would take years, but interesting coffee break conversation none the less.
Yahoo! set to revive merger talks with AOL after rejecting hostile takeover – Times Online
Yahoo! To Reject Microsoft Offer
It should come as no surprise as history repeats itself. Yahoo! will be rejecting Microsoft’s offer to purchase Yahoo!
Smart Ads From Microsoft
If ads were really smart, they’d know I didn’t want to see them. Microsoft has announced a smart ad product that knows when to show ads in a video. For example, your logo would appear when your product name is mentioned. It also is suppose to know the appropriate time to display to avoid interfering with the video. Link to forum discussion below…