Tag Archives: Internet Marketing

Google has unveiled a new interactive ad format, Gadget Ads.

Gadget ads – non-traditional ad units with interactive, rich media capabilities – not only enable advertisers to target audiences in a flexible and timely manner via regular updates within the ad unit, but also allow users to engage with ad content in a way static ads haven’t facilitated in the past.

These ads claim are meant to transcend rich media, and Google calls them “websites within websites”, and these will be used in the traditional method of advertising on AdSense publishers. Also, the “gadgets” will be available in the iGoogle gadgets directory. These will incorporate “data feeds, maps, images, audio, video, Flash, HTML or JavaScript in a single creative”.

I am surprised it took this long for Google to introduce a rich media ad format alternative, but I am sure that this new alternative will attract a lot (and bigger) business for Google AdWords. Aimed at larger corporations and no doubt at shorter term campaigns, in beta testing the results are apparently very positive.

For more information about Google Gadget Ads, here is the new home of Gadget Ads

In related news: Google has also introduced Google mobile ads. Pssht.

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I recently wrote about my friend’s quest to get an Oink invitation. Well, her search got her an invite, and she managed to get one for me as well. Once I joined, I was surprised at the VERY strict rules and to be honest, I was nervous to do anything for about 4 weeks.

It’s crazy how many people want an invite to Oink… some people wait for years on waiting lists and apparently people pay for Oink invites (which is not allowed). With the number of great torrent sharing sites, why does everyone want an Oink invite? I was reminded of Seth Godin‘s Unleashing the Ideavirus:

Several years ago, a hot chef in Chicago decided to go out on his own and open his first restaurant. Realizing how competitive the market was, he did a neat thing. He never opened it to the public. He refused to accept reservations from strangers.

If you wanted to get into Les Nomades, you had to be a member. And how did you do that? Well, the first 500 people were given memberships because the chef knew them as regular customers at his old job, and he personally invited them. Then he told each member that they were welcome to sponsor other members. All they had to do was vouch for someone and he’d make them a member too.

So, what’s in it for the member to nominate someone else? Simple. They scored points with their friends as powerful sneezers because they could “get you in” to the hottest restaurant in town.

Of course, this wouldn’t have worked if the restaurant hadn’t been spectacular. But it was. And it was exclusive. But by allowing his members to do his marketing for him, by giving them an altruistic tool that increased their power as professional sneezers, the chef was able to get out of the way and let his customers sell for him.

And Oink and Demonoid, and other “coveted” torrent sharing site, require an invitation from a member. I like Oink for the obvious reasons (the colour scheme). Both, however, are very fast, but do require you to maintain a sharing ratio. So now, with my membership there, I am to sell my friends on these sites… and invite them to join? ;)

It really is a great idea though, making your site exclusive to ensure that your site will be absolutely popular. There are about 180,000 members on Oink, and generally half of them log in daily. This would not work with every type of website of course. Any site, however, where the market is already flooded, could make it very exclusive and require invitation only.

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First of all, it is important that this be done with the understanding that Yahoo! Answers is not a place for spamming, and this technique should not be used to help increase your backlink count, though it will of course. However, that being said, Yahoo! Answers is a great place for people wishing to promote their personal and business websites. By using the unique answers that only you possess as an expert, you can market your site to people who are specifically in need of the information on your site or in need of the services you provide.

Yahoo! Answers is a forum where people can ask, or answer, questions relating to various topics and these are all well organized and easy to browse through. By creating a user account with Yahoo! you can speak with people from around the world on topics that you yourself know best. For example, perhaps you are a real estate agent looking to grow your business by creating a website to show your contact information and listings. Why not answer questions relating to purchasing or selling a home? Make you answers thoughtful and concise, and be sure to include your “signature” at the bottom of the page with a link to your site. Now it is very important that you use moderation when answering questions. Do not answer any question that comes your way; be sure to respond to those who would specifically benefit from your particular expertise. This way, you build a good reputation for providing solid answers, as opposed to a reputation as a Yahoo! Answers spammer. Also, you want to select questions that are directly related to the content of your site, as then each person who reads that post will be a potential end user or customer.

It is important to always remember when trying to increase your exposure online: No matter what you do, there will be another company out there doing the same thing with greater resources. Yahoo! Answers is a place that larger corporations do not frequent which allows you to set yourself apart by showing a passion for your field and the subject matter of your website. Should your answers be well received, you will soon start seeing these question and answer posts in the search engine ranks.

N.B. This is not to be used to build links or help your search engine optimization. The links in Yahoo! Answers are all nofollow and they won’t help you in the Google SERPs. The pages will appear, however, in the Google search engine and will rank well for a short period of time. In addition, I have experienced several of my answers being adopted on other sites for inclusion for content, and these give me links.

I originally wrote this on April 9, 2007.

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