Istanbul Turkey, Here We Come!

January 21st, 2010

 SMETurkey Several months ago I was asked to participate in an exciting event debuting in Istanbul, Turkey called “Social Media Business Forum.” This is the first of it’s kind in this country, and plans are to expand this series all over key cities in Europe. The purpose is to give attention to an aspect of marketing that businesses even in Europe should utilize, that being social media marketing, and strategies.

Now granted, Europe has many initiatives already in social media, and the internet, in fact I just came back months ago from speaking at “Social Media World Forum” in Santa Clara, Cal, a show put on by SixDegrees based in the UK, but this event is targeting specific points about social media, and action items businesses in Turkey can immediately utilize. With a super star cast of social media thought leaders in the United States, this event put on by Jade Y. Gunver, CEO of The Promin Group, should be a blast!

 

 JadeYesimElif Dagdeviren This event is also made possible by one of Turkey’s most famous movie stars, Elif Dagdeviren, founder (I think) of Hermes Film studio in Istanbul.

Here is the line-up of speakers in Istanbul:

Lots of culture in Turkey, take a look at this video:

 

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Google Set To Launch “Click-to-Call in Ads on Mobile Devices with Google AdWords”

January 4th, 2010

I have received a couple of emails from Google today regarding the launching of the long awaited “Click-to-Call” feature we have been anticipating. At this time, this feature only works with Google Adwords, so just make sure you have turned this option on in your Adwords Campaign Settings. I will show you a screenshot here below, but feel free to read the entire excerpt from Google…welcome to 2010 people, the year of Mobile advertising wars.

 

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“Dear AdWords Advertiser,

We’re pleased to announce that beginning in January, your location-specific business phone number will display alongside your destination url in ads that appear on high-end mobile devices. Users will be able to click-to-call your business just as easily as they click to visit your website. You’ll be charged for clicks to call, same as you are for clicks to visit your website.

How will phone numbers appear in my ads?

Based on the customer’s geographic location, the phone number and closest business address will appear as a fifth line of ad text when the ad appears on mobile devices with full HTML browsers (e.g. iPhone, Android, Palm WebOS).

Where will I be able to see the results?

At launch, you’ll be able to view calls from your ads on your Campaign Summary page within AdWords from the “click type” segment option under the “Filter and Views” drop down.

How will I be charged for phone calls I get from my ad?

The cost of a click to call your business will be the same as the cost of a click to visit your website.

What actions should I take?

If you’d like your ads to show location-specific phone numbers when displayed on mobile devices, make sure that your campaign is targeting iPhones and other mobile devices with full HTML browsers, and that you have included phone numbers with your business addresses in the locations under your Campaign settings.

If you would prefer your ads not show phone numbers, simply remove the phone number from the business listings included in your campaigns targeting mobile devices.

We hope this new feature enables you to connect more easily with your potential customers. If you have any questions or feedback, please email us at ctc-feedback@google.com.

Sincerely,

The Google AdWords Team”

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December 19th, 2009

My Wife Knows Me :) Thanks Babe!

Clever idea for stupid husbands!

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Google Reportedly To Buy Yelp…Gulp!

December 19th, 2009

This weekend I have been hearing rumblings that Google is poised to buy Yelp for $500 million, a social network of sorts based on reviews of local business establishments. Let me make a prediction, 2010 will be the year of “local Search” and local UGC (User Generated Reviews)

What does this mean for Google? They can strong arm the local search market by acquiring Yelp, and snag an additional 25 million monthly unique visitors! Now this will add to Google’s recent aggressive push towards their own Business Local product, and “Favorite Places on Google” which will allow businesses (Who are verified) to place Google’s branded sticker on their store-front window. Take a look at this below:

Getting back to Yelp, do you see how huge this could be? The “local Search” wars are ramping up, thus why I am actually teaching a class on local search next month to show businesses how critical it will be to know how to get listed in these products and services for local business. Let us not forget the mobile search applications too such as Foursqaure, Gowalla and UrbanSpoon. Take a look at the comparison of these mobile and local search behemoths….2010 should be fun! What do you think? Please leave your comments below if you agree or disagree with my predictions…
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Will 2010 Be a Turn Around Year?

December 19th, 2009

Yes.
This could by far be my shortest post ever….

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Google Caffeine Now Live On A Data Center, Any Changes?

December 1st, 2009

google_caffeine Like coffee? I do, several cups a day because I love the taste and smell of coffee, but also caffeine. Lets not talk about coffee though, but Google’s “sandbox” new and improved search engine, dubbed “Caffeine. It was announced recently on Matt Cutts blog that we can expect “caffeine” after the holidays, but I am not sure how they define “holidays” because yesterday they went live with one data center for testing 209.85.225.103, at least for 50% of the users hitting that data center.

I must be on the other end of the 50%, because in my preliminary testing it’s about the same.  Have any of you had any changes?  Google changing and adopting new algorithmic rules is nothing new, however this could be significant…stay tuned!  For the original announcement regarding Caffeine, read it here.

Again, I would love to hear your feedback on your test’s!

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Garmin Using Google Maps & Local

December 1st, 2009

Man, Google is taking control of GPS dashboard units too…

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Mobile Movie Apps, More Than Just Movies…

November 25th, 2009

This morning Mashable posted an article about a new Google search feature for mobile devices. Just fire up your iPhone, Droid or WebOS phone, go to Google and search for “movies”, and click on the “More movies” link. Take a look at the video below.

As much as I like Google, there are far more powerful “apps” that give you more than movie information, take for example “Flixster” app.  It geo-targets your location and provides places nearby to eat at after the movie (Pics below), upcoming movies, dvd sales and much more. Fandango app is also a movie app.  Overall, I love what Google is doing, and the video below is pretty cool, but apps turn user experience into just that, “an experience.”

What are your thoughts? Do you use any mobile apps for movies? Which ones do you like, dislike?

 

Screenshots of the Flixster app.

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Google Advertising “Chrome” On Home Page Of CNN?

November 15th, 2009

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I just happened to notice this on CNN’s home page today, an ad by Google? If you are aware, Google hardly ever spends on advertsing, at least not as much as Yahoo! & Bing? It’s just interesting to me that we are seeing a little more aggressiveness on Google’s part to dominate.  What do you think?

By the way, if you click the ad Google has on CNN, it takes you to the video below. I also added some additional goodies from Apture.

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Take a look at Googles gift to San Jose Airport

November 15th, 2009


Just gotta love Google!

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