Online advertisers know how crucial the landing page is in order for a campaign to perform well: the landing page has to catch users attention through strong claims with the help of simple and incisive (clear and not confusing) design. But a good landing page cannot be just good looking: it should have some specific features, especially if you are going to run a campaign on Google AdWords. These features will determine the infamous Quality Score, the AdWords score that, assigned to a specific keyword used for a AdWords campaign, will contribute to set the actual keyword price.

Basically, as explained by Google itself, the Quality Score is influenced by several factors, like keyword’s click-through rate on Google, the relevance of the keyword to its ad group, the landing page quality, account’s historical performance, and other relevant factors. Among these relevant factors, lies Google’s recent feature, landing page load time, intended as the time needed by the landing page to load completely from the moment the ad is clicked on.

The reason behind this decision is driven by the use (often abuse) of redirects or interstitial pages implemented by advertisers: using these methods could be definitely useful for advertisers, but, at the same time, could sort bad effects for Internet surfers: never-ending loading time for landing pages, slow navigation or frustrating awaits in front of a blank screen.

So, starting in June, the landing page loading time will be influencing keywords Quality Score on AdWords. Google hopes that this decision could have concrete benefits for surfer’s online experience and for AdWords campaigns. As usual, Google is already helping advertisers know if its landing page loading time is good or not; this information is available on the keyword analysis page, as suggested by Google itself.

Obviously these are just suggestions: if you do not give a darn about it and you do not want to get rid of your 8 redirects on your AdWords campaign… OK, no problem! Just be ready to pay more for your ads to be displayed.

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I’m not really sure how serious I should take this piece of information, but I think I’ll let you be the judge of it.

I’m also surprised I haven’t heard much fuzz regarding the new venture Google and Virgin have recently plotted ;-). The idea is to colonize Mars and actually reach a population of approx. 100.000 Martian civilians by the year 2108. Wow, impressive.

How are they planning on doing this, you ask? Richard Branson, Virgin’s founder, has already been experimenting a bit with the whole idea of launching suborbital flights into space for everyone, well, everyone with a cool $200.000 to spare on an unforgettable spaceflight, with his Virgin Galactic experience.

However, this time Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Google, teamed up with Branson, for an even more ambitious project. The journey will start off by the scouting of Virgle Pioneers which will be the first explorers to establish themselves in Mars and start a new civilization.

“We feel that ensuring the survival of the human race by helping it colonize a new planet is both a moral good in and of itself and also the most likely method of ensuring the survival of our best – okay, fine, only — base of web search volume and advertising inventory,” Page added. “So, you know, it’s, like, win-win.”

The three venturers would like to create what they refer to as an “open source” human settlement. As they explain in their own words, ‘If the first economic revolution was agricultural, the second industrial and the third digital, the fourth will be Open Source — the birthing of a planetary civilization whose development is driven by the unbound human imagination.’ So knowledge and creativity are the key factors here, and I would also add- guts. Individuals who are interested in becoming a part of this adventure should submit a short video of themselves stating the reasons why they wish to live on Mars their remaining lifetime along with an online questionnaire(link) which, if answered adequately, will lead to a lengthy interview carried out directly by the Virgle Team itself.

Did you ever think Google would be the main contributor for the survival of the human race? Initial investments have been calculated to range between $10-15 billions in the first two decades. However, Virgle is more than convinced the proyect’s longterm earnings will mega surpass this sum since they are talking about a vast portion of land of around 143 million square km which could be perfectly claimed as real estate by the newly settled Martian civilians.

Seems like they’ve got it all under control. I would like to envision this New World, but I’d be more curious to see how the whole search engine industry will blast-off once Virgle City, internet and all devices linked to it are successfully up and running 50-100 years from now.

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Google has been hard at work developing their Google Enterprise business. They have advanced their customizable search hardware and software to make them more affordable for the smaller enterprise and to give users a boost in functionality:

Universal Search

Google released the first version of their Google Search Appliance back in 2002 as an internal search solution for businesses. The plug and play box enables employees to search their intranet for internal company information and helps businesses optimize search on their public sites by hosting their searching capabilities; basically it’s Google in a box. This years Google released their fifth edition of the hardware and software along with a vamped up mini-me version for the smaller firm; the aptly named ‘Google Mini Search Appliance’. Both machines allow businesses to search over 220 different file types in one simple Google style search supposedly increasing employee efficiency by lessening the time searching for items as well as increasing user adoption as there will be less need for training. The most affordable mini me version costs $2,990 and holds up to 300,000 documents. The big one is slightly more expensive starting at a cool $30,000 but does hold up to 30 million documents and can search up to 50,000 documents.

Website Search

The mammoth search engine has also enabled businesses to easily create customizable searches for their own websites where the business defines what pages will be searched and how the search results appear (well, text and background colour for now). The business signs up to the service then selects the site from Google’s index that should be included in the search, customizes the search, imbeds the code and then, hey presto, you have your very own Google search on your website. Of course this is accompanied by a bit of Google branding and Google’s very own ads which magically disappear for the princely sum of $100 a year.

Google Apps

Google has also advanced their Google Apps package for enterprises. The package of customizable applications is based around Google’s very own Gmail. Enterprises can use domain names as their Gmail address, instantly chat with contacts and personalize their home pages. A new and slightly scary addition is an email detection function where Gmail detects when an email is about an event and then suggests adding it to your diary.

by Peter Jackson from 77Academy

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The WordCamp held in Milan this past Saturday was a complete and utter success. People seemed to be very satisfied with the outcome, in addition to the fact that people were accommodated outdoors and it was just a radiant day.

I have been able to scout some interviews, bits & pieces here and there from Matt’s insight as well as the welcoming message on behalf of the WordPress Italy team.

Amongst some of the questions that were directed to Matt, was why the Main Menu had changed. According to Mullenweg, the reason behind it was to allow more room for plug ins. Currently the menu is set up in a way where all the action buttons are on one same spot. Action buttons are those like ‘manage’, ‘write’ etc. So the idea was to break it into menus organized by different action types. On the other hand, the dashboard was moved to the top mainly because it now serves as a tab selector for your different blogs. But basically, before there was barely any room for plug ins, now there’s room for 5 or 6 new plug ins to expand the menu.

Here’s one of the videos from Matt Mullenweg’s journey in Milan.

And this link is the actual recording which took place during the WordCamp in Milan along with Stefano Aglietti, representing WordPress Italy.

Check this out, for some pictures on the event.

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comScore.com has recently released the March 2008 statistics for European search engine market share. Google’s figures are very impressive: according to comScore.com data, nearly 8 out of 10 search queries originate from Google’s web site. Google currently has 79.2% of the search market share in Europe, meaning that we can talk about a unopposed monopoly of the Mountain View-based company.

Surprisingly, as number two in the EU market (not an entirely “official” number two) is eBay, but its not even a downright search engine. However, eBay holds the number two position and its market share is ridiculous compared to Google’s percentage. The auction site is just at 3.1%. But the worst has yet to come, following in number three we have Russian search engine, Yandex, whilst Yahoo! has only 2.0%, followed by Microsoft, at 1.9%.

These statistics are pushing me to two conclusions. Number one, in Europe Google seems really invincible: there is no competition, which leaves Google as the unquestioned leader in online search and it is the main door for European users to get connected to the Internet. The fact that eBay holds the second place, considering it does not qualify as a search engine as does Yahoo! Search and Live Search, it is definitely an aspect that strongly underlines Google’s leverage.

Secondly, the EU search market looks very different from the U.S. market mainly because here in Europe, Google’s competitors are not able to offer a valid alternative to surfers. Personally, I think this is the point: if we compare Yahoo.com’s services with correspondent ones on Yahoo.it, Yahoo.fr and so on, we will find that non-U.S services show several flaws.

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Tomorrow May 10th, 2008, the first European WordCamp ever to be organized will take place in Milan, Italy. This one-of-a-kind initiative will be hosting one of the most important names behind the highly reliable blogging platform existent today, Matt Mullenweg from WordPress.

Tomorrow’s journey will be divided into three stages. First one being an outdoor talk amongst participants, hosts and Matt. Followed by a lobbying session where everyone will be accommodated into seats and tables and finally the formal WordPress video presentation, which I assume will be led by Matt himself.

A group of us at 77 will be assisting such event, we hope to come back to you with pictures and further updates regarding the outcomes of the I WordCamp/European WordCamp 2008.

This event is being hosted by Guglielmo, LinkLift and Internetpinstore.

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Tremor Media, the leading online video advertising network has launched its next generation Video Monetization Platform, Acudeo. Tremor Media has become a handy tool for Web publishers that are ready to grow their business through online video and rich media banner advertising. This updated version has currently incorporated Google’s AdSense for Video into the Acudeo platform.

Acudeo is the practical and innovative alternative to the many complexities involved in the delivery of video ads. It provides a solution that allows publishers to easily incorporate Acudeo’s superior functions to their already existing video applications which help maximize revenue and in turn allows advertisers to create spiced-up, eye catching ads that cut through the clutter, leading to web traffic increase.

Streaming video is finally making a difference in todays online video tendencies. Demands are increasing thanks to the advanced technologies presented by Acudeo which due to its media expertise, soothes the many challenges evident to selling online video advertising.

Acudeo allows publishers and advertisers to develop effective campaigns by displaying an array of options to program execution, tracking, reporting and planning. Furthermore, campaigns can be categorized and specifically oriented through using behavioral targeting, contextual targeting, standard channels, geography, operating system, and even connection speed, all these which guarantee reaching ‘your’ specific audience, thus delivering more accurate results. Visit Acudeo to see examples of in-stream and in-banner videos.

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Nike has aggregated a new member to the family. It has developed a new gadget that traces, records and displays your running experience. The Nike+SportBand wrist device is the new way to get connected with your run and track your progress all at once. Reminds me a little bit of the FiatEco Drive concept. Part of the idea the Nike+SportBand offers is an alternative for those individuals who find the thumping of their footsteps stimulating while running rather than listening to music on an iPod.

The way it works is, there is a sensor chip you throw into your shoe which is highly sensitive to movement, therefore, it is what will read and record every step you take during your entire routine. At the same time, there is a wrist band that comes with it which will registered all the data taken in by the sensor. Hence you’ve got the sender and the receiver. As part of the data collected by the device, it can also translate speed, elapsed time, distance and calories burned.

Basically, you’ve got your own personal trainer on your wrist. Next step after your run would be to detach the Nike+ Link from your wrist band and plug it into a USB on your personal computer. Go into nikeplus.com and upload the information. This will display your entire routine along with a recommended training program as well as the option to set your own goals. At nikeplus.com you may opt in to sharing your records with the whole entire Nike community and challenge fellow runners from all parts of the world.

In addition, when you’re not running, the Nike+SportBand displays the time of day, together with a review of your last run and total mileage for the week.

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Google AdSense is probably one of the most revolutionary products in Big G’s history: together with AdWords, it is without a doubt one of the most important Google tools. While AdWords is the perfect technology for advertisers, AdSense is publisher oriented… and in this case we are talking about EVERY publisher. That’s the power of AdSense: its easily used by everyone.

AdSense was originally developed by Acquires Applied, a Santa Monica based company acquired in 2003 by Google. Soon after, Google rolled out AdSense, thus iniciating a new revolution in contextual advertising.

The mechanism behind AdSense is as simple as it is smart; every webmaster can use an advertising space for displaying Google ads (text ads, banners or video ads). The only requirement is inserting a javascript code into the site, choosing a media format for the ads to be displayed on and that’s it!

The webmaster will be paid for every click on the ads displayed: the publisher earns from clicks while the advertiser has the opportunity to find an appropriate space inside Google AdWords network.This network includes the content targeting network, where ads are automatically and contextually placed, and the placement targeting network, where an advertiser can choose the website where his ads are going to be displayed in.

Google’s Network reaches a vast audience, meaning that every advertiser should think about taking advantage of AdSense using the content network and the placement network offered by AdWords.

As for most of Google’s tools, AdSense’s success is also determined by its concept, since it’s easy to understand and easy to use by everyone: it is not necessary to be a geek. To implement AdSense into a website, a user should just sign up for a Google AdSense account and copy the few code lines provided by Google into the website itself. In few minutes everyone can be a publisher and can start to earn from website traffic.

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