Thanks to your feedback, we are happy to introduce the latest feature of our billing system – the ‘Retry card’ button. Once you've resolved a decline issue with the credit card you're using for your AdWords account, this convenient button allows you to retry charging your existing primary or backup credit card without having to re-enter your credit card information.
If your credit card has been declined but is ready to be retried, just go to the Billing Preferences page of your 'My Account' tab and click 'Retry card' to get your ads back up and running in one easy step.
Remember, your feedback is invaluable so please keep the great ideas flowing!
Wednesday, May 31, 2006
Payments information may be delayed
This month we experienced a posting delay that might keep some payment information from appearing in your account immediately. While all payments have been sent out as usual, the 'Payment...' line might take some extra time to show up on the Payment History page of your account under the My Account tab.
Additionally, if you recently signed up to receive payments by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), or added a new bank account for EFT deposits, it may take a few extra days after you've received your test deposit before you can verify your bank account.
We expect to have the issue resolved by the end of this week. Thank you for your patience and, again, don't worry--AdSense payments went out as usual!
Additionally, if you recently signed up to receive payments by Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT), or added a new bank account for EFT deposits, it may take a few extra days after you've received your test deposit before you can verify your bank account.
We expect to have the issue resolved by the end of this week. Thank you for your patience and, again, don't worry--AdSense payments went out as usual!
Introducing the AdSense API beta
If you're a web developer or host, now you can generate more revenue and improve your service with the new AdSense API. The AdSense API is a free beta service that allows you to integrate AdSense into your website offerings.
What can I do with the AdSense API?
Using the AdSense API, you can enable users to perform a variety of AdSense functions without leaving your website, including the following:
- Create an AdSense account
- Manage an AdSense account
- Create and modify AdSense for content ad units and link units, AdSense for search boxes, and Referrals
- View detailed reports to monitor performance and earnings
How does the AdSense API benefit your site and users?
By making it easy for publishers to sign up for AdSense and generate revenue, the API offers another compelling reason for publishers to choose your service over a competitor's--and remain loyal to you. The AdSense API is great for publishers who don't want the hassle of setting up their own accounts or dealing with cutting and pasting HTML snippets.
How does this generate revenue for you?
Approved AdSense API developers will receive a share of the revenue earned by the publishers you've signed up. In addition to the revenue share, you'll also receive $100 each time a new publisher you've signed up earns $100 in less than 180 days. This means that developers who currently charge for services can now use the AdSense API to offset some of the costs of your services--maybe even making it possible to offer your services free of charge.
Additionally, as the developer, you can optimize your ad's placement, color, and format to increase your users' earnings--and your users don't have to do any additional work to display optimized ads.
Interested?
We've started taking applications from people whose sites receive a minimum of 100,000 daily page views. To be eligible, your site must register users who then maintain their web content through your site. The types of sites we're looking for include web hosts, blog hosts, Wiki hosts, forum hosts, and web publishers.
Visit the AdSense API web site for more information. To see if you qualify for our beta, submit an application today.
What can I do with the AdSense API?
Using the AdSense API, you can enable users to perform a variety of AdSense functions without leaving your website, including the following:
- Create an AdSense account
- Manage an AdSense account
- Create and modify AdSense for content ad units and link units, AdSense for search boxes, and Referrals
- View detailed reports to monitor performance and earnings
How does the AdSense API benefit your site and users?
By making it easy for publishers to sign up for AdSense and generate revenue, the API offers another compelling reason for publishers to choose your service over a competitor's--and remain loyal to you. The AdSense API is great for publishers who don't want the hassle of setting up their own accounts or dealing with cutting and pasting HTML snippets.
How does this generate revenue for you?
Approved AdSense API developers will receive a share of the revenue earned by the publishers you've signed up. In addition to the revenue share, you'll also receive $100 each time a new publisher you've signed up earns $100 in less than 180 days. This means that developers who currently charge for services can now use the AdSense API to offset some of the costs of your services--maybe even making it possible to offer your services free of charge.
Additionally, as the developer, you can optimize your ad's placement, color, and format to increase your users' earnings--and your users don't have to do any additional work to display optimized ads.
Interested?
We've started taking applications from people whose sites receive a minimum of 100,000 daily page views. To be eligible, your site must register users who then maintain their web content through your site. The types of sites we're looking for include web hosts, blog hosts, Wiki hosts, forum hosts, and web publishers.
Visit the AdSense API web site for more information. To see if you qualify for our beta, submit an application today.
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
ETHICS: A GLOBAL STUDY 2005
Did you know that the number 1 factor most likely to cause people to compromise ethical standards is, "pressure to meet unrealistic business objectives/deadlines." The second answer was, "a desire to further one's career" and in at number three, "desire to protect one's livlihood."
This information comes from a global study I helped research and write for the American Management Association. If you would like the free download of the study in pdf, let me know! . . . hopefully I haven't broken any of the rules by offering this?
This information comes from a global study I helped research and write for the American Management Association. If you would like the free download of the study in pdf, let me know! . . . hopefully I haven't broken any of the rules by offering this?
Bringing people together one appliance at a time
We recognize the need to leverage the vertical and technical expertise of 3rd parties in extending the reach of search deeper into corporate networks. As a result the Google Enterprise Professional partner program has grown tremendously since its inception. Its a no brainer for the partner as they get to market and sell value added services and solutions they've integrated with the Google Search Appliance. And Google gets to provide its users with great search access to a broader set of enterprise information. Win-win.
Less brouhaha, however, is made of a more subtle phenomena that we're starting to notice. For our partners, adding the power of a Google Search Appliance to a solution or product can provide fast and relevant search, but it can also uncover new challenges and customer requirements as the scope of their customer relationship expands. This can lead to new opportunities where the partner can certainly choose to increase their footprint. In many cases, however, this results in our partners talking to each other and we're seeing them leverage each other's services and form complementary relationships where they can go in together and provide a more complete interdependent solution for their collective customers. There's the portal solution provider who seeks help from a security services firm to deal with new access control requirements on previously unsearchable restricted document stores. And the professional services firm who, while deploying a custom user interface for a search appliance, joins forces with a software vendor who's created an appliance connector for the customer's legacy system. There's the systems integrator who cooperates with the business intelligence vendor to help their customer realize the benefits of a single interface for information access and decision making.
In many cases the Google Search Appliance provides the interface that brings together disparate systems and business applications that would never have otherwise worked together. Now we're bringing together partner solution providers, application vendors, and integrators who would never have otherwise worked together. We're happy to make the world a more cooperative place, and its a nice side effect that this teamwork ultimately results in an improved user experience.
Less brouhaha, however, is made of a more subtle phenomena that we're starting to notice. For our partners, adding the power of a Google Search Appliance to a solution or product can provide fast and relevant search, but it can also uncover new challenges and customer requirements as the scope of their customer relationship expands. This can lead to new opportunities where the partner can certainly choose to increase their footprint. In many cases, however, this results in our partners talking to each other and we're seeing them leverage each other's services and form complementary relationships where they can go in together and provide a more complete interdependent solution for their collective customers. There's the portal solution provider who seeks help from a security services firm to deal with new access control requirements on previously unsearchable restricted document stores. And the professional services firm who, while deploying a custom user interface for a search appliance, joins forces with a software vendor who's created an appliance connector for the customer's legacy system. There's the systems integrator who cooperates with the business intelligence vendor to help their customer realize the benefits of a single interface for information access and decision making.
In many cases the Google Search Appliance provides the interface that brings together disparate systems and business applications that would never have otherwise worked together. Now we're bringing together partner solution providers, application vendors, and integrators who would never have otherwise worked together. We're happy to make the world a more cooperative place, and its a nice side effect that this teamwork ultimately results in an improved user experience.
Programming and Blasphemy
My colleague Bruce Tate gained fame by writing books that chronicled widely known problems with the early Java frameworks for writing web applications. In his books "Bitter Java" and "Bitter EJB" he eloquently exposed Java's dirty laundry: The way that most of us were taught to use Java often resulted in bloated and fragile applications.
The overwhelming response to Bruce's books was: "Hurray!" Finally we had more than our own opinions as defense against mandates from Engineering Managers to adhere to the "Official" Java guidelines... We could point to Bruce's books as proof that we weren't the only programmers who found fault with the "standards"... and we could use Bruce's later book "Better, Faster, Lighter Java" as a guide towards more sanity in our designs.
In many ways, Bruce was a Prophet for the Java community... or maybe a Saint. Certainly he was an Evangelist for those of us who wanted more lightweight solutions. Bruce had "seen the light" and he wasn't afraid to spread the message.
I think the use of religious terminology is appropriate; Programmers tend to feel very strongly about their tools and languages to the point of an almost religious devotion. It's hard to explain why someone would become so attached to a tool, but I've experienced it myself.
So Bruce was a Prophet/Saint/Evangelist for the Java community, but he was never a Martyr... Bruce's message was welcomed, not shunned, and there were never any serious attacks on his credibility or motives.
All that changed with the publication of Bruce's book "Beyond Java"... In this book Bruce expounds the Sacrilegious belief that the Java language itself may not be the best language for programmers to adopt.
"Heresy!" cried the Righteous Priests of Javadom... Bruce had crossed the line from constructive critic to Blasphemer.
The end result is that Bruce has severed his long blogging connection with the Java.Net community, and he's moved his blog to his own site: Paddle Like Hell.
In the world of RSS feeds there is no real harm done when someone moves their blog from one site to another. I can still keep tabs on what Bruce it up to...
But on a deeper level this bugs me. Programming languages and frameworks are not Holy. Programmers are not Priests. It is a very good thing that we care so deeply about our craft... but Bruce's tale seems more like bickering over the architecture of a Chapel rather than arguing about the nature of God.
I'm probably just over-reacting... I am tired of religious zealots in the "real world" who murder people for wearing tennis shorts. News like this sickens me, and maybe that's increasing my own intolerance for those who are intolerant...
We need to have people who question the norm... or we won't make improvements, but destructive criticism has to be countered forcefully. Beats me what the answer is; for programming or for religions.
The overwhelming response to Bruce's books was: "Hurray!" Finally we had more than our own opinions as defense against mandates from Engineering Managers to adhere to the "Official" Java guidelines... We could point to Bruce's books as proof that we weren't the only programmers who found fault with the "standards"... and we could use Bruce's later book "Better, Faster, Lighter Java" as a guide towards more sanity in our designs.
In many ways, Bruce was a Prophet for the Java community... or maybe a Saint. Certainly he was an Evangelist for those of us who wanted more lightweight solutions. Bruce had "seen the light" and he wasn't afraid to spread the message.
I think the use of religious terminology is appropriate; Programmers tend to feel very strongly about their tools and languages to the point of an almost religious devotion. It's hard to explain why someone would become so attached to a tool, but I've experienced it myself.
So Bruce was a Prophet/Saint/Evangelist for the Java community, but he was never a Martyr... Bruce's message was welcomed, not shunned, and there were never any serious attacks on his credibility or motives.
All that changed with the publication of Bruce's book "Beyond Java"... In this book Bruce expounds the Sacrilegious belief that the Java language itself may not be the best language for programmers to adopt.
"Heresy!" cried the Righteous Priests of Javadom... Bruce had crossed the line from constructive critic to Blasphemer.
The end result is that Bruce has severed his long blogging connection with the Java.Net community, and he's moved his blog to his own site: Paddle Like Hell.
In the world of RSS feeds there is no real harm done when someone moves their blog from one site to another. I can still keep tabs on what Bruce it up to...
But on a deeper level this bugs me. Programming languages and frameworks are not Holy. Programmers are not Priests. It is a very good thing that we care so deeply about our craft... but Bruce's tale seems more like bickering over the architecture of a Chapel rather than arguing about the nature of God.
I'm probably just over-reacting... I am tired of religious zealots in the "real world" who murder people for wearing tennis shorts. News like this sickens me, and maybe that's increasing my own intolerance for those who are intolerant...
We need to have people who question the norm... or we won't make improvements, but destructive criticism has to be countered forcefully. Beats me what the answer is; for programming or for religions.
Friday, May 26, 2006
Video ads: Your questions answered
A couple of days ago, we launched click-to-play video ads. We thought we'd follow up with answers to some of your top questions:
Will video ads slow down my site? Do I have to pay for bandwidth?
Google will host the video, and it is user-initiated, so it will not slow down your site and you will not have to pay for the bandwidth. No data will be transferred until the user presses "Play."
Are video ads intrusive to my users?
Not at all. If a video ad appears on your site, it will always show up as a static image until a user clicks on the "Play" button. In other words, nothing plays automatically, and everything is user-initiated. Additionally, the video-ad UI allows users to control sound.
How will I be paid for video ads?
Video ads can be either site targeted or contextually targeted. Publishers will be paid for site-targeted video ads on a CPM basis. For contextually targeted video ads, publishers will be paid for clicks to the advertiser's landing page. Clicks are generated either by clicking on the display URL at the bottom of the ad, or by clicking on the video itself during play.
Will I earn more from video ads?
We can't guarantee the earnings potential of video ads (or any ad served through AdSense, for that matter). However, video, text, and image ads compete for placement on your site in the same ad auction. AdSense automatically shows the ads with the highest Ad Rank for each ad unit at that moment. For a video ad to display, its eCPM has to be greater than the projected eCPM of any combination of CPC ads competing to display in the same ad unit at that time.
Will the video ad be targeted to the content of my site?
If the video ads are contextually targeted to your site, then yes. Video
ads may also be site targeted, which means advertisers specifically select to show their video ads on your site because they feel the ad's message is highly relevant for your site's audience.
What is the duration of each video ad?
While the length may vary, video ads can be up to two minutes long.
Can I watch the videos appearing on my own site?
Yes, you can watch the videos appearing on your site by clicking on the "Play" button--this will not affect your reports. However, please do not click on the advertiser's URL, or on the ad itself, which will also bring you to the advertiser's site. Clicking on the ad or URL could generate invalid clicks on your account and inflate advertiser costs.
Do I get to preview video ads before they're displayed on my site to make sure there isn't any inappropriate content?
All video ads are screened against the Video Editorial Guidelines set by AdWords, so like all Google ads displayed through AdSense for content, they are family safe.
What do I need to do to get video ads on my pages?
Opt into image ads, within any of the following ad formats:
- 336 x 280 (Large rectangle)
- 300 x 250 (Medium rectangle)
- 250 x 250 (Square)
This sounds great! How can I get advertisers to site-target me so I can show video ads to my users?
Make sure to read this advice from Bismarck Lepe of the Google AdWords team. Also, the Help Center is a great resource for any further questions you might have.
Will video ads slow down my site? Do I have to pay for bandwidth?
Google will host the video, and it is user-initiated, so it will not slow down your site and you will not have to pay for the bandwidth. No data will be transferred until the user presses "Play."
Are video ads intrusive to my users?
Not at all. If a video ad appears on your site, it will always show up as a static image until a user clicks on the "Play" button. In other words, nothing plays automatically, and everything is user-initiated. Additionally, the video-ad UI allows users to control sound.
How will I be paid for video ads?
Video ads can be either site targeted or contextually targeted. Publishers will be paid for site-targeted video ads on a CPM basis. For contextually targeted video ads, publishers will be paid for clicks to the advertiser's landing page. Clicks are generated either by clicking on the display URL at the bottom of the ad, or by clicking on the video itself during play.
Will I earn more from video ads?
We can't guarantee the earnings potential of video ads (or any ad served through AdSense, for that matter). However, video, text, and image ads compete for placement on your site in the same ad auction. AdSense automatically shows the ads with the highest Ad Rank for each ad unit at that moment. For a video ad to display, its eCPM has to be greater than the projected eCPM of any combination of CPC ads competing to display in the same ad unit at that time.
Will the video ad be targeted to the content of my site?
If the video ads are contextually targeted to your site, then yes. Video
ads may also be site targeted, which means advertisers specifically select to show their video ads on your site because they feel the ad's message is highly relevant for your site's audience.
What is the duration of each video ad?
While the length may vary, video ads can be up to two minutes long.
Can I watch the videos appearing on my own site?
Yes, you can watch the videos appearing on your site by clicking on the "Play" button--this will not affect your reports. However, please do not click on the advertiser's URL, or on the ad itself, which will also bring you to the advertiser's site. Clicking on the ad or URL could generate invalid clicks on your account and inflate advertiser costs.
Do I get to preview video ads before they're displayed on my site to make sure there isn't any inappropriate content?
All video ads are screened against the Video Editorial Guidelines set by AdWords, so like all Google ads displayed through AdSense for content, they are family safe.
What do I need to do to get video ads on my pages?
Opt into image ads, within any of the following ad formats:
- 336 x 280 (Large rectangle)
- 300 x 250 (Medium rectangle)
- 250 x 250 (Square)
This sounds great! How can I get advertisers to site-target me so I can show video ads to my users?
Make sure to read this advice from Bismarck Lepe of the Google AdWords team. Also, the Help Center is a great resource for any further questions you might have.
Thursday, May 25, 2006
Mini brings home a report card
It's always gratifying to see your efforts rewarded. This review of the Google Mini by Small Business Computing brings back some memories of when we designed the product.
When we built the new Mini, we wanted to make sure we were creating a product which fit the needs of small and medium businesses. In fact, to validate that we were satisfying these businesses, we hit the road to test it out. We would literally throw a Mini in my trunk, drive to a local business, and watch them set it up. We really tried to optimize the out-of-box experience to not only make it easy to set up but also make customers excited to use it. As we did these studies, we'd smile with delight when they understood the UI, and, sometimes, we'd cringe when they ran into a roadblock. We'd then come back to the office and design ways to alleviate the roadblocks.
By the time we released the product, we thought that we had a winner - easy to use and meeting the business needs of companies. But, it was nice to see Small Business Computing validate this with their recent review of the new Mini. We're glad to see this, but we're not done. Today, it's back to the office to make the Mini even better.
When we built the new Mini, we wanted to make sure we were creating a product which fit the needs of small and medium businesses. In fact, to validate that we were satisfying these businesses, we hit the road to test it out. We would literally throw a Mini in my trunk, drive to a local business, and watch them set it up. We really tried to optimize the out-of-box experience to not only make it easy to set up but also make customers excited to use it. As we did these studies, we'd smile with delight when they understood the UI, and, sometimes, we'd cringe when they ran into a roadblock. We'd then come back to the office and design ways to alleviate the roadblocks.
By the time we released the product, we thought that we had a winner - easy to use and meeting the business needs of companies. But, it was nice to see Small Business Computing validate this with their recent review of the new Mini. We're glad to see this, but we're not done. Today, it's back to the office to make the Mini even better.
A Learning Center for everyone
You may have heard us reference something called the AdWords Learning Center in our past posts, especially in the AdWords 101 series. Today, we wanted to spend a moment explaining what the Learning Center is, and how advertisers can benefit from using it.
The AdWords Learning Center was created to help educate advertisers and client managers on how to use AdWords. Unlike the AdWords Help Center, which addresses your frequently asked questions and presents information in a Q&A format, the Learning Center covers every topic and aspect of AdWords in a tutorial format, filled with lessons and even quizzes to test your AdWords knowledge. The Learning Center is useful for advertisers who may be new to AdWords and want to learn about the program in a comprehensive and systematic way, or for more experienced advertisers who may want to refresh or dive deeper into a particular topic. The Learning Center can also help those in the Google Advertising Professionals Program prepare and study for the qualification exam.
In the English version of the Learning Center, you'll find both multimedia and text-only lessons. (Hint: the text-only version makes it easy for you to print the lessons for reference if you find some of them particularly useful.) You can choose to go through the Learning Center in order by topic (it starts with "AdWords Basics" and "Setting Up an Account"), or jump around the various sections and lessons. In addition to English, you’ll now find the Learning Center in 11 other languages including our two latest additions, Chinese and Korean.
The AdWords Learning Center is a great place to learn how to use AdWords, or to boost your existing knowledge on specific topics. Check it out at http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/.
The AdWords Learning Center was created to help educate advertisers and client managers on how to use AdWords. Unlike the AdWords Help Center, which addresses your frequently asked questions and presents information in a Q&A format, the Learning Center covers every topic and aspect of AdWords in a tutorial format, filled with lessons and even quizzes to test your AdWords knowledge. The Learning Center is useful for advertisers who may be new to AdWords and want to learn about the program in a comprehensive and systematic way, or for more experienced advertisers who may want to refresh or dive deeper into a particular topic. The Learning Center can also help those in the Google Advertising Professionals Program prepare and study for the qualification exam.
In the English version of the Learning Center, you'll find both multimedia and text-only lessons. (Hint: the text-only version makes it easy for you to print the lessons for reference if you find some of them particularly useful.) You can choose to go through the Learning Center in order by topic (it starts with "AdWords Basics" and "Setting Up an Account"), or jump around the various sections and lessons. In addition to English, you’ll now find the Learning Center in 11 other languages including our two latest additions, Chinese and Korean.
The AdWords Learning Center is a great place to learn how to use AdWords, or to boost your existing knowledge on specific topics. Check it out at http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/.
Redesigned AdWords referral buttons now available internationally
We've extended our new AdWords referral button designs internationally. The new designs offer several colors and options to choose from, along with a more web-friendly GIF image.
To start displaying the new AdWords referral button of your choice, select Referrals on the AdSense Setup tab of your account and follow the guided referrals wizard.
To start displaying the new AdWords referral button of your choice, select Referrals on the AdSense Setup tab of your account and follow the guided referrals wizard.
Please plan ahead...
This just in, straight from our tech team:
On Saturday, May 27th, the AdWords system will be unavailable from approximately 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. PDT due to system maintenance. While you won't be able to log into your accounts during this downtime, your campaigns will continue to run as usual. We apologize for any inconvenience.
Objects are Nouns... Services are Verbs... SOA hinges on designing the right Verbs
I still find postings that express confusion about the relationship between object-oriented architectures and service-oriented architectures... so I would again like to offer my own $0.02 worth of insight...
That's it. That's all there is to it.
An Object is primarily a Thing that is manipulated (and is generally stateful), a Service is primarily an Action that is performed (and is generally stateless).
In an object-oriented architecture, the software components are primarily organized as entities (things) that are to be manipulated. These entities generally have relationships to other entities, and that leads to the emphasis on design artifacts such as UML class diagrams.
In a service-oriented architecture, the software components are primarily organized as tasks (actions) that are to be performed. These tasks are generally designed to function as steps in more complex processes, and that leads to the emphasis on design artifacts such as BPMN diagrams.
Businesses use software to automate business processes. Business processes do involve Nouns (Objects), but they are generally more concerned with Verbs (Services).
Let me explain: Most businesses process forms of one sort or another. In general, manipulation of the form (an object) is not the primary concern of the business; the primary concern of the business is to perform a set of tasks (services) based on the contents of the form.
If the software components are packaged as distinct services, the mapping between the business requirement to "process the form" and the software implementation of the process is relatively straight forward. This clean mapping between requirements and implementation results in solutions that can better respond to changing requirements over time (Trust me, all business requirements change over time).
Sun's Tim Bray has recently expressed his opinion that the term "SOA" is meaningless, and that he prefers the term "Web-style". With respect to Tim, I disagree with his opinion.
I do not agree with Tim that "Web-style" is a better term than "SOA".
I agree with Tim that the term SOA has:"become damaged, weakened by over hype, over use, over promise (and) under deliver", but unlike Tim, I think that I can "explain what the difference is between SOA and Web services". Web services are a protocol specific form of service. To implement an SOA you must eventually pick a protocol, but it needed be a Web oriented protocol.
Tim asks for "an explanation that's meaningful in terms a programmer can understand, so a programmer can go and build one of these things". Perhaps it is my own arrogance or naivete, but I think my explanation is a darn good start.
In my experiences with many developers, I have found that explaining how to design and build SOA solutions is not any more difficult or "verbose" than it was to explain how to design and build Object-Oriented solutions. I confess that I do resort to "paragraphs and paragraphs (of) prose", but everyone who knows me understands that I always resort to paragraphs and paragraphs of prose ;-)
But if Tim is right, and the term SOA has become a dead alabatross, then I'd like to offer an alternative to "Web-style": How about Process Oriented Architecture? Kind of has a nice ring to it; Don't you think?
Regardless of the acronym or term that we use to describe it, the point remains the same: If your primary task is to automate a business process, then you should package (most of) your software components as verbs... er, I mean services.
(cross-posted at my java.net blog)
Objects are Nouns; Services are Verbs
That's it. That's all there is to it.
An Object is primarily a Thing that is manipulated (and is generally stateful), a Service is primarily an Action that is performed (and is generally stateless).
In an object-oriented architecture, the software components are primarily organized as entities (things) that are to be manipulated. These entities generally have relationships to other entities, and that leads to the emphasis on design artifacts such as UML class diagrams.
In a service-oriented architecture, the software components are primarily organized as tasks (actions) that are to be performed. These tasks are generally designed to function as steps in more complex processes, and that leads to the emphasis on design artifacts such as BPMN diagrams.
Businesses use software to automate business processes. Business processes do involve Nouns (Objects), but they are generally more concerned with Verbs (Services).
Let me explain: Most businesses process forms of one sort or another. In general, manipulation of the form (an object) is not the primary concern of the business; the primary concern of the business is to perform a set of tasks (services) based on the contents of the form.
If the software components are packaged as distinct services, the mapping between the business requirement to "process the form" and the software implementation of the process is relatively straight forward. This clean mapping between requirements and implementation results in solutions that can better respond to changing requirements over time (Trust me, all business requirements change over time).
Sun's Tim Bray has recently expressed his opinion that the term "SOA" is meaningless, and that he prefers the term "Web-style". With respect to Tim, I disagree with his opinion.
I do not agree with Tim that "Web-style" is a better term than "SOA".
I agree with Tim that the term SOA has:"become damaged, weakened by over hype, over use, over promise (and) under deliver", but unlike Tim, I think that I can "explain what the difference is between SOA and Web services". Web services are a protocol specific form of service. To implement an SOA you must eventually pick a protocol, but it needed be a Web oriented protocol.
Tim asks for "an explanation that's meaningful in terms a programmer can understand, so a programmer can go and build one of these things". Perhaps it is my own arrogance or naivete, but I think my explanation is a darn good start.
In my experiences with many developers, I have found that explaining how to design and build SOA solutions is not any more difficult or "verbose" than it was to explain how to design and build Object-Oriented solutions. I confess that I do resort to "paragraphs and paragraphs (of) prose", but everyone who knows me understands that I always resort to paragraphs and paragraphs of prose ;-)
But if Tim is right, and the term SOA has become a dead alabatross, then I'd like to offer an alternative to "Web-style": How about Process Oriented Architecture? Kind of has a nice ring to it; Don't you think?
Regardless of the acronym or term that we use to describe it, the point remains the same: If your primary task is to automate a business process, then you should package (most of) your software components as verbs... er, I mean services.
(cross-posted at my java.net blog)
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
Indexing Documentum
A single search box for all your enterprise content? That goal moved a major step closer for Documentum users last week, when Sword, one of our key partners in Europe, announced a connector between the Google Search Appliance and Documentum. With just an in-house Google Search Appliance and Sword's new connector, enterprise information seekers can now securely search for information in their Documentum system along with the rest of their enterprise information. Pretty cool stuff.
Sword, a global solutions provider and one of our earliest enterprise partners in Europe, is an expert on both Documentum and the Google Search Appliance. For details on their connector, check out http://www.sword-group.com.
Sword, a global solutions provider and one of our earliest enterprise partners in Europe, is an expert on both Documentum and the Google Search Appliance. For details on their connector, check out http://www.sword-group.com.
Import Export Business News
The prudent owner of an import export business should always be looking for new buyers of their products. Keep reading to learn how your import export business can be part of a program that buys up to $50 billion a year worldwide.
Every day in some far-off corner of the globe affected by disaster or conflict, international aid agencies provide distribution of supplies including medicines, shelter and food. Owners of an import export business are probably very familiar with these efforts through the images broadcast around the world.
Less known, however, to most import export business owners is the fact that international trade businesses provide a large portion of this market for $50 billion dollars worth of goods.
If you are an import export business owner who would like to learn more about these programs and how your international business might be a supplier of this market, read more about it here:
New Market For Import Export Business Owners
Every day in some far-off corner of the globe affected by disaster or conflict, international aid agencies provide distribution of supplies including medicines, shelter and food. Owners of an import export business are probably very familiar with these efforts through the images broadcast around the world.
Less known, however, to most import export business owners is the fact that international trade businesses provide a large portion of this market for $50 billion dollars worth of goods.
If you are an import export business owner who would like to learn more about these programs and how your international business might be a supplier of this market, read more about it here:
New Market For Import Export Business Owners
Tuesday, May 23, 2006
Introducing video ads
Introducing the newest member of the AdSense ad family--click-to-play video ads. Video ads will compete in the same auction as text and image ads for placement on your site, and as we've mentioned before, increased competition in the ad auction means increased revenue potential for you. Video ads open your site up to a whole new type of advertising that is engaging and highly relevant for your users.
We know you're curious as to what these new video ads look like, so here's a sneak preview:
There are no guarantees that click-to-play video ads will appear on your site; however, to increase the chances make sure to:
1) Opt into image ads.
2) Use one of the three ad formats that support video ads: 300x250 Medium Rectangle, 336x280 Large Rectangle, or 250x250 Square.
Also, keep in mind that there are a few things advertisers look for when targeting their ads to specific sites.
Got questions about video ads? We've got answers--check out the Help Center for more information.
We know you're curious as to what these new video ads look like, so here's a sneak preview:
There are no guarantees that click-to-play video ads will appear on your site; however, to increase the chances make sure to:
1) Opt into image ads.
2) Use one of the three ad formats that support video ads: 300x250 Medium Rectangle, 336x280 Large Rectangle, or 250x250 Square.
Also, keep in mind that there are a few things advertisers look for when targeting their ads to specific sites.
Got questions about video ads? We've got answers--check out the Help Center for more information.
Monday, May 22, 2006
Click-to-play video ads for AdWords
We're very excited to announce the release of click-to-play video ads on the content network. Here's Bismarck, from the Video Ads team, with the details on this new feature:
We hope you'll keep your eyes out for this new feature and let us know what you think.
In the coming days, we will be adding click-to-play video ads to the line-up of text, Flash and image ad formats currently supported by the Google content network. At launch, video ads will be available to AdWords advertisers in the US, Canada and Japan - but we plan to roll them out to other regions shortly.
Now, let's talk about the details.
First, as with all AdWords ad formats, video ads will compete for placement on sites in the Google content network with other text, Flash and image ads -- and, as with our other image ad placements, you can choose to bid on a CPC or CPM basis.
Second, these ads will be supported by both site- and keyword-targeted campaigns. You can choose to serve your video ad on a specific site or on pages in our content network that relate to your product or service. As always, you have the ability to geo-target your video ads internationally, nationally, or locally.
Finally, unlike some intrusive advertising, users will have complete control. When a page loads, only a static image will be visible; the video will not start playing until the user initiates it. He or she will be able to advance the video, pause it, adjust the volume or click through to the advertiser's site, as you can see in the example below:
But, you may say, video is only for big branding oriented advertisers. We beg to differ. This feature makes video ads much more accessible to all advertisers. Now, an owner of a small bed & breakfast in Lake Tahoe can put a video tour of his beautiful chalet right next to an article that talks about skiing the epic slopes of Squaw Valley.
We hope you'll keep your eyes out for this new feature and let us know what you think.
Sunday, May 21, 2006
Lane's Gifts v. Google settlement
As you may have heard, Google has reached a settlement of a lawsuit regarding click fraud. Here's Nicole Wong, Associate General Counsel, to discuss the latest developments:
Now that the preliminary settlement has been approved by the Court, all members of the class are being notified about the settlement. On May 19 and 20, 2006 (PST), a settlement administration firm sent an email notification (from clicksettlement@xmr3.com and with the subject 'Important Legal Notice Regarding Your Google AdWords Account') to all advertisers who purchased online advertising from Google between January 1, 2002 and the present.
I recommend that you carefully review the information in the email and visit the site provided by the administration firm: www.clicksettlement.com. On the site, you will find links to the official settlement notice and settlement FAQs, both of which are in .PDF format. To view these documents, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader.
As we have said in the past, we work hard to manage the issue of invalid clicks, and continue to be very effective in detecting and filtering them in order to deliver outstanding ROI to our advertisers. The vast majority of invalid clicks are detected and filtered out before they reach our advertisers' bills; if advertisers detect additional invalid clicks, our click quality team investigates and provides refunds as appropriate. You can read more information about invalid clicks and how we manage them here and in the AdWords Help Center here."
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Import Export Small Business Resources
Here is a great import export business resource that is set up for use by USA small businesses, however, it contains valuable resources that are available and useful to import export business people anywhere in the world:
Small Business Resources
Small Business Resources
Increase Your Export Sales with Help from the U.S. Government
Protect against nonpayment for your exports. Enter a new foreign market that is seeking your export products. Increase your export sales in an existing one. Provide your buyer/importer with financing. Improve your cash flow.
As an exporter in the know, you can do it, and Ex-Im Bank's trade specialists can assist as the official export credit agency of the United States.
Learn about international trade finance and reducing your international business risks to expand your global sales with confidence and compete in the challenging global marketplace.
The Ex-Im Bank's support covers the credit and country risks the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept. They can also level the playing field with your foreign competitors who are supported by their respective governments.
Here is your opportunity to meet and network with Ex-Im Bank staff, international lenders, brokers, and other exporters.
Click here for more details of what you will hear from Ex-Im Bank's trade specialists and from other government agency representatives.
We look forward to seeing you at this seminar. If you are unable to attend this session, please visit their complete list of export finance seminars.
For more details, contact:
Augustine A. Grace
Seminar Manager
Export-Import Bank of the United States
E-mail: gus.grace@exim.gov
WHEN - Monday, July 10, 2006 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Eastern Time Zone
WHERE - Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
811 Vermont Ave., Room 1143
Washington, DC 20571
FEE Registration
Cost (includes training materials & breakfast) $499.00
Small Business $99.00
As an exporter in the know, you can do it, and Ex-Im Bank's trade specialists can assist as the official export credit agency of the United States.
Learn about international trade finance and reducing your international business risks to expand your global sales with confidence and compete in the challenging global marketplace.
The Ex-Im Bank's support covers the credit and country risks the private sector is unable or unwilling to accept. They can also level the playing field with your foreign competitors who are supported by their respective governments.
Here is your opportunity to meet and network with Ex-Im Bank staff, international lenders, brokers, and other exporters.
Click here for more details of what you will hear from Ex-Im Bank's trade specialists and from other government agency representatives.
We look forward to seeing you at this seminar. If you are unable to attend this session, please visit their complete list of export finance seminars.
For more details, contact:
Augustine A. Grace
Seminar Manager
Export-Import Bank of the United States
E-mail: gus.grace@exim.gov
WHEN - Monday, July 10, 2006 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Tuesday, July 11, 2006 8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
Eastern Time Zone
WHERE - Export-Import Bank of the U.S.
811 Vermont Ave., Room 1143
Washington, DC 20571
FEE Registration
Cost (includes training materials & breakfast) $499.00
Small Business $99.00
Friday, May 19, 2006
Display vs. Destination URLs
When creating a new ad, be sure to make an informed decision about your Display and Destination URLs. Contrary to popular belief, the two do not need to be identical.
To begin, let’s clarify the difference between the two. The Display URL is the URL that appears below your ad text when your ad is shown. The Display URL should be no longer than 35 characters and is often the same URL as your site’s homepage (e.g. www.Example.com). I like to think of Display URLs as the online answer to the brick and mortar company name sign that hangs outside your actual location.
The Destination URL, on the other hand, is the specific location within your site where you’d like to take a user that has clicked on your ad. The Destination URL does not have to match the Display URL, but should be in the same domain (e.g. www.example.com/shoes). If a Display URL is equivalent to the company name sign, the Destination URL is the particular location within your store (e.g. the shoe section) that you want your users to visit.
Though your ad’s Display and Destination URL can be the same, why not take users to the precise location within your site where the service or product you’re advertising is located? Using the most relevant Destination URL for your ad is a best practice that will help reduce the number of steps it takes for a user to purchase, download, view, or sign-up for your product or service.
Lastly, as you decide upon the URLs for your new or edited ad, keep the Links section of the AdWords Editorial Guidelines in mind to ensure that your Display and Destination URLs get the thumbs up from our Editorial team.
Thursday, May 18, 2006
Announcing more referrals options for international publishers
Last month, we announced the launch of text links for referrals for US English only. We're now pleased to let you know that text-link referrals for AdWords, AdSense, Picasa, and Firefox are now available for all AdSense languages.
We've also extended the referrals feature to four new languages: Czech, Croatian, Slovak, and traditional Chinese. Referrals for both AdSense and AdWords are available for these new languages. You'll earn $100 when the publisher you refer to AdSense earns his or her first $100, and $20 once an advertiser you've referred spends at least $100 with AdWords.
To display a referral button on your site, simply choose Referrals from the AdSense Setup page of your account, then select the product you'd like to refer users to on your pages. For more information on how much you'll earn from referrals, you may wish to visit the AdSense Help Center.
We've also extended the referrals feature to four new languages: Czech, Croatian, Slovak, and traditional Chinese. Referrals for both AdSense and AdWords are available for these new languages. You'll earn $100 when the publisher you refer to AdSense earns his or her first $100, and $20 once an advertiser you've referred spends at least $100 with AdWords.
To display a referral button on your site, simply choose Referrals from the AdSense Setup page of your account, then select the product you'd like to refer users to on your pages. For more information on how much you'll earn from referrals, you may wish to visit the AdSense Help Center.
Automotive Washing Detailing Tips
Automotive Washing Detailing Tips
Here are three tips to keep in mind when Washing and Detailing your car:
1. Always rinse off the car before applying any product to make sure all surface dirt is removed.
2. Only put the protective and care products on when your vehicle is cool and in the shade.
3. Use terry cloth towels or microfiber towels to prevent scratches or swirl marks.
Regards,
Michael Kralj
Learn about Buying a Car in Ontario or Doing Car Body Work.
Here are three tips to keep in mind when Washing and Detailing your car:
1. Always rinse off the car before applying any product to make sure all surface dirt is removed.
2. Only put the protective and care products on when your vehicle is cool and in the shade.
3. Use terry cloth towels or microfiber towels to prevent scratches or swirl marks.
Regards,
Michael Kralj
Learn about Buying a Car in Ontario or Doing Car Body Work.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
EFT now available in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, and Poland
As promised, we've introduced EFT in several new countries. Publishers located in New Zealand, Australia, Norway, and Poland can now have AdSense payments sent directly to their bank accounts while avoiding postal delays and check processing fees. If you need assistance signing up for EFT in one of these countries, please visit our Help Center.
Cleansing our palettes
When choosing colors for your Google ads, you might notice that the list of predesigned palettes just got a lot shorter. We recently decreased the number of predesigned palettes we offer to just six; three palettes have been renamed (Seaside, Shadow, and Blue Mix) and three more are brand new (Open Air, Graphite, and Ink).
We made this change to streamline the choices, getting rid of a number of palettes that don't typically perform well while also encouraging you to create your own custom palettes that fit better with the unique look and feel of your site (blended ads, anyone?).
No need to worry if you've used one of our older palettes in the past--it will still show up as an option in your account, but will simply have been moved to the Custom Palettes section of the color palette dropdown.
We made this change to streamline the choices, getting rid of a number of palettes that don't typically perform well while also encouraging you to create your own custom palettes that fit better with the unique look and feel of your site (blended ads, anyone?).
No need to worry if you've used one of our older palettes in the past--it will still show up as an option in your account, but will simply have been moved to the Custom Palettes section of the color palette dropdown.
"Search to Start." At AIIM
Today's AIIM Expo begins with Dave Girouard telling attendees that search is no longer the last place people go to find information inside a company. More often, it is the first place they start.
Dave's keynote on "Search to Start. Not to Find" demonstrates how consumer expectation now drives innovation in IT, and discusses ways companies can embrace this change for better information access.
The keynote is one of many events putting Google search front and center at the AIIM Expo -- described as the world's largest and most important annual event for the enterprise content and information management industry.
Innovation should never be at the expense of user simplicity. And we thank all our partners for embracing and promoting that idea, and helping to make enterprise search better for all business. We look forward to seeing all the cool, and innovative things that the partner and developer community can do with search in the enterprise.
Dave's keynote on "Search to Start. Not to Find" demonstrates how consumer expectation now drives innovation in IT, and discusses ways companies can embrace this change for better information access.
The keynote is one of many events putting Google search front and center at the AIIM Expo -- described as the world's largest and most important annual event for the enterprise content and information management industry.
- In the last seven months, Google Enterprise has added 75 partners to the Google Enterprise Professional program.
- In the Google Partner Pavilion, a number of Google Enterprise Professional Program partners will demonstrate how they are extending Google search technology deeper into enterprise applications.
- A series of partner announcements illustrate new functional for enterprise search inside of business. These include:
Innovation should never be at the expense of user simplicity. And we thank all our partners for embracing and promoting that idea, and helping to make enterprise search better for all business. We look forward to seeing all the cool, and innovative things that the partner and developer community can do with search in the enterprise.
Tuesday, May 16, 2006
Inside AdWords celebrates our first year
A year ago today, our desire to provide you with more information on new features, spotlights on existing products, and tips to improve your AdWords performance became a reality - the Inside AdWords blog launched. Now, after numerous feature releases, a slew of gems o' the week, and a full year under our belts, we'd like to take a moment to look back at our favorite contributions from each Inside AdWords blogger:
- Andrew taught us that spiky sea creatures don't have a lot in common with our new analytics product - now known as Google Analytics.
- Arielle caught up with one of our longtime advertisers, Ray, to hear how he grew his business using AdWords.
- Blake provided countless insights on the AdWords system - clarifying such things as why we don't allow pop-ups, how the minimum bid applies to queries with no ads, and how to ensure that your ads don't get disapproved.
- Jon returned to the blog team to provide an overview of Google Video and let you know how it can benefit you.
- Judy, a new member to our team, reminded us that we shouldn't forget Mom, nor forget to set up seasonal campaigns to capture holiday traffic.
- Sarah shamelessly promoted her favorite NFL team, while also reminding you that offline and online media can work effectively together.
- Vivian became the voice of the new advertiser, enlightening our newbies on the ins and outs of the AdWords system with AdWords 101.
Now more publishers can use Sitemaps
What keywords are people using to find your site in the Google search index? Is your robots.txt file blocking search engines from crawling your site? Whatever questions you have about your site's visibility, Google Sitemaps provides you with information that can help--and Sitemaps recently launched several new features you should know about:
New verification method
In the past, you needed access to your site's root directory to verify site ownership and create a Sitemap. This meant you couldn't create Sitemaps for many hosted sites, including Blogger.com sites like Inside AdSense. However, now more publishers can use Sitemaps. Sitemaps has launched a feature that allows publishers to use meta tags to verify site ownership. For example, if your site is hosted on Blogger.com, all you have to do is add a unique meta tag to your site's header to verify your Sitemaps account.
Re-inclusion request form
If your site violated Google's quality guidelines and was subsequently penalized--i.e., dropped from the Google search index--now you can submit a re-inclusion request using your Sitemaps account. Simply sign in, click the link, and fill out the form. This form is also available from the Summary page for sites that show violations.
For information about these and other newly launched Sitemaps features, visit the Inside Google Sitemaps blog.
New verification method
In the past, you needed access to your site's root directory to verify site ownership and create a Sitemap. This meant you couldn't create Sitemaps for many hosted sites, including Blogger.com sites like Inside AdSense. However, now more publishers can use Sitemaps. Sitemaps has launched a feature that allows publishers to use meta tags to verify site ownership. For example, if your site is hosted on Blogger.com, all you have to do is add a unique meta tag to your site's header to verify your Sitemaps account.
Re-inclusion request form
If your site violated Google's quality guidelines and was subsequently penalized--i.e., dropped from the Google search index--now you can submit a re-inclusion request using your Sitemaps account. Simply sign in, click the link, and fill out the form. This form is also available from the Summary page for sites that show violations.
For information about these and other newly launched Sitemaps features, visit the Inside Google Sitemaps blog.
Monday, May 15, 2006
Import Export Business Fraud & Scams Continued
In a previous post, I provided FBI Fraud information along
with some personal experience comments about fraud and how
to prevent yourself from being a victim.
I know that many people believe you will never fall
victim of fraud, but you need to understand one thing, many
people from all walks of life have fallen victim and your
level of education or supposed status in life will not
protect you. If anything, these things make you an even
greater target for the fraudsters.
As a great example of how someone, very highly educated (a
Dentist) can fall victim to fraud, we published an article
from a old friend of mine from Singapore who happens to
publishes an International newsletter. The article is titled
"THE ESCROW SCAM" and it is still published here:
THE ESCROW SCAM
Do yourself a BIG favor after you are finished with this
post, go read "THE ESCROW SCAM" and see for yourself how
even the most highly educated can fall victim to fraud.
Getting back to my personal experience. I am well aware of
fraud because in addition to the over $100,000 in fraudulent
orders our import export business has experienced in the last
5 years, our one business account has also been hit two
times in just two years.
IMPORTANT POINT TO UNDERSTAND: If you have
electronic banking that allows direct deposit into your account for
wire transfers, pay checks, etc., in authorizing direct electronic
deposit YOU HAVE ALSO AUTHORIZED 'DIRECT ELECTRONIC
WITHDRAWAL'.
I learned this lesson about 12 years ago when the company my
wife worked for decided to use direct deposit as their sole
method of paying their employees.
When I saw the next statement from the bank (we did not have
Internet banking in those ancient days) I saw that her
employer had deposited the amount of her check 3 times. All
was well with that, but they subsequently withdrew the same
amount '3' times, then ultimately deposited the right amount
one more time.
When I contacted the bank about why the company was allowed
to take money "out" of the account, they stated that when you
authorize a company or someone to deposit funds, you are also
authorizing them to withdrawal funds?
OK! This was something new that very few people knew about
then or know about today and which can be very important to
you in the Import Export Business (or any business).
Why?
If you have a business account, which you should have if you
are in the import export business, you will most likely be
faced with requests to wire transfer payments to you from
time to time.
The potential payer of the bank wire transfer will need your
bank's ABA/Swift number along with your account number in
order to send you the money.
Now if you provide this information to a prospect in good
faith that they are going to send you funds to purchase goods
from you and this is the only business account you have, you
are exposing all of those funds to potential loss.
In the first bank account fraud incident two years ago,
there was approximately $350 in the account we maintained for
bank wire transfers. There was $325 from a transfer
that had just been received and $25 from the balance we
maintained in that account.
A scamster who had requested our bank account info under the
pretense of purchasing a trade directory hit our account with
four $500 electronic withdrawals for a total of $2,000.00.
The electronic banking system, as it is, transferred those
four $500 amounts from our account even though there was
only approximately $350 in the account.
The bank then proceeded to charge us 4 separate insufficient
funds charges and if insult did not add to the injury, they
also charged us 4 transfer fees all of which amounted to
about $240.00.
Because we monitor our account on a daily basis we caught the
fraud as soon as it showed up (which is still the day after
it occurs), we notified the bank who froze the account and
we immediately filed the paperwork to have the bank
investigate the fraudulent withdrawals.
The bank employees informed me that this happens to them
several times a day and were very helpful in returning our
funds and removing the charges. Had we not caught this as
quickly as we did, the story may have been different.
The wasted time factor still comes into play here though.
The account had to be closed and this caused a great deal
of unnecessary time and effort on the bank and on us.
Shortly after this incident, the Maryland state banking
commissioner was interviewed by a Baltimore TV station about
this very thing happening on an ever increasing basis.
The commissioner was asked about this type of fraud. He
reluctantly admitted that there was little anyone could do
to prevent these unauthorized withdrawals because once you
authorize automatic electronic deposits, you are also
authorizing electronic withdrawals.
The second incident occurred just a few weeks ago during the
last week of April 2006.
Another scamster, who corresponded with me for nearly almost
two weeks "by email" regarding the purchase of a trade
directory wanted to pay via a bank wire transfer. I found
this quite suspicious from the start since the address they
were giving was from here in the USA.
As the correspondence continued more information led me to
believe this was a legitimate request (but I was still a bit
suspicious) so I provided our wire transfer account
information but began checking the account several times a
day rather than once a day.
In the pro forma information I provided this scamster, I
advised him that we maintain a balance of less than $25.00
in this account for security reasons and to prevent
unauthorized withdrawals. This was in the hope that $25.00
would not be worth their time and effort.
I did not hear from him again until I saw the pending
withdrawal from our account about two weeks later for $24.75.
Can you believe it - $24.75?
I immediately notified the bank but it was a Friday evening
so nothing could be done to prevent it. However, there was a
web site listed in the pending withdrawal information. I
looked it up and found that it was an online financial
transaction firm for porno web sites.
Apparently this guy figured, hey $25 is enough to pay for his
entertainment for whatever amount of time it would buy him.
It did not buy him much time though because the online
financial firm had a phone number, I called and told them what
happened and that the transfer from my account was
fraudulent. They immediately shut down his account and set up
a return of our funds.
Good news, the funds have been returned, but this incident
has again caused us and the bank much time and effort and
has cost me even more wasted time.
Why? To prevent any further unauthorized withdrawals, I had
to place a permanent freeze on the account for electronic
withdrawals.
I can still use this account to receive my bank wire transfers
but I can no longer use my Internet access to transfer that
money to another business account which is what we normally do
to prevent the funds in the transfer account from being exposed
to this type of fraudulent activity.
Now, I must physically, visit the bank, produce my driver's
license and ask them to move the funds out of the wire transfer
account into our other business account.
Fraud costs everyone involved time and money. In this
incident I hope it also caused the fraudster the loss of his
anticipated entertainment.
OK, some points to help keep you from being defrauded in your
import export business or any business:
1. Set up a separate account just for wire transfers - most
banks have low balance, no fee, no interest checking. Set
one of these accounts up just for your wire transfers.
2. Keep a balance of $25-$35 in this account or just enough
to pay the fees for an incoming wire transfer.
3. Get Internet banking so you can monitor for receipt of
the transfers - as soon as you see the funds are available,
transfer them to your main business account.
This does not prevent a fraudster from doing as they did
with us and hitting the account with Multiple withdrawals
but it gives the bank more incentive to help you resolve
the situation if it is 'their' money they give out rather
than yours.
4. Make sure you require 'complete' information from the
would be customer - do not give out your bank information
to just anyone who asks for it.
Again, this is not 100% fraud proof as I had this latest
fraudster fill out our Pro Forma request form before I
provided him with our information, however, by asking for
all of their contact details like we do on our pro forma
request form, it makes most fraudsters crawl back under
the rock from where they came.
5. Be very careful (sorry if I offend anyone here but it
needs to be said) of anyone who uses a free email account
like yahoo, hotmail, gmail or a host of others that are
out there.
You can find out if it is a free email provider by taking
their email address and typing in the domain.com, .net,
.org, .us, etc. into your browser window to see if it is
a freebie account.
Again, there is no guarantee that a real web site that
shows up today will be around a month or a year from now.
There are services that allow you to have a one page
web site with full email privileges for under $20.00 a
year.
As President Reagan used to say, "trust but verify", but
when it comes to import export business transactions or
other business transactions involving bank wire transfers,
I say "verify, verify, and verify some more".
As time goes on and I can recall some of the many
fraudulent incidents that I have heard about in this
business, I will provide them in this blog. So be sure
to come back and visit with us often and subscribe to
our Global B2B updates so you will receive notice of when
these updates are published.
Until next time, I wish you the best.
Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
Import Export Business Help Center
with some personal experience comments about fraud and how
to prevent yourself from being a victim.
I know that many people believe you will never fall
victim of fraud, but you need to understand one thing, many
people from all walks of life have fallen victim and your
level of education or supposed status in life will not
protect you. If anything, these things make you an even
greater target for the fraudsters.
As a great example of how someone, very highly educated (a
Dentist) can fall victim to fraud, we published an article
from a old friend of mine from Singapore who happens to
publishes an International newsletter. The article is titled
"THE ESCROW SCAM" and it is still published here:
THE ESCROW SCAM
Do yourself a BIG favor after you are finished with this
post, go read "THE ESCROW SCAM" and see for yourself how
even the most highly educated can fall victim to fraud.
Getting back to my personal experience. I am well aware of
fraud because in addition to the over $100,000 in fraudulent
orders our import export business has experienced in the last
5 years, our one business account has also been hit two
times in just two years.
IMPORTANT POINT TO UNDERSTAND: If you have
electronic banking that allows direct deposit into your account for
wire transfers, pay checks, etc., in authorizing direct electronic
deposit YOU HAVE ALSO AUTHORIZED 'DIRECT ELECTRONIC
WITHDRAWAL'.
I learned this lesson about 12 years ago when the company my
wife worked for decided to use direct deposit as their sole
method of paying their employees.
When I saw the next statement from the bank (we did not have
Internet banking in those ancient days) I saw that her
employer had deposited the amount of her check 3 times. All
was well with that, but they subsequently withdrew the same
amount '3' times, then ultimately deposited the right amount
one more time.
When I contacted the bank about why the company was allowed
to take money "out" of the account, they stated that when you
authorize a company or someone to deposit funds, you are also
authorizing them to withdrawal funds?
OK! This was something new that very few people knew about
then or know about today and which can be very important to
you in the Import Export Business (or any business).
Why?
If you have a business account, which you should have if you
are in the import export business, you will most likely be
faced with requests to wire transfer payments to you from
time to time.
The potential payer of the bank wire transfer will need your
bank's ABA/Swift number along with your account number in
order to send you the money.
Now if you provide this information to a prospect in good
faith that they are going to send you funds to purchase goods
from you and this is the only business account you have, you
are exposing all of those funds to potential loss.
In the first bank account fraud incident two years ago,
there was approximately $350 in the account we maintained for
bank wire transfers. There was $325 from a transfer
that had just been received and $25 from the balance we
maintained in that account.
A scamster who had requested our bank account info under the
pretense of purchasing a trade directory hit our account with
four $500 electronic withdrawals for a total of $2,000.00.
The electronic banking system, as it is, transferred those
four $500 amounts from our account even though there was
only approximately $350 in the account.
The bank then proceeded to charge us 4 separate insufficient
funds charges and if insult did not add to the injury, they
also charged us 4 transfer fees all of which amounted to
about $240.00.
Because we monitor our account on a daily basis we caught the
fraud as soon as it showed up (which is still the day after
it occurs), we notified the bank who froze the account and
we immediately filed the paperwork to have the bank
investigate the fraudulent withdrawals.
The bank employees informed me that this happens to them
several times a day and were very helpful in returning our
funds and removing the charges. Had we not caught this as
quickly as we did, the story may have been different.
The wasted time factor still comes into play here though.
The account had to be closed and this caused a great deal
of unnecessary time and effort on the bank and on us.
Shortly after this incident, the Maryland state banking
commissioner was interviewed by a Baltimore TV station about
this very thing happening on an ever increasing basis.
The commissioner was asked about this type of fraud. He
reluctantly admitted that there was little anyone could do
to prevent these unauthorized withdrawals because once you
authorize automatic electronic deposits, you are also
authorizing electronic withdrawals.
The second incident occurred just a few weeks ago during the
last week of April 2006.
Another scamster, who corresponded with me for nearly almost
two weeks "by email" regarding the purchase of a trade
directory wanted to pay via a bank wire transfer. I found
this quite suspicious from the start since the address they
were giving was from here in the USA.
As the correspondence continued more information led me to
believe this was a legitimate request (but I was still a bit
suspicious) so I provided our wire transfer account
information but began checking the account several times a
day rather than once a day.
In the pro forma information I provided this scamster, I
advised him that we maintain a balance of less than $25.00
in this account for security reasons and to prevent
unauthorized withdrawals. This was in the hope that $25.00
would not be worth their time and effort.
I did not hear from him again until I saw the pending
withdrawal from our account about two weeks later for $24.75.
Can you believe it - $24.75?
I immediately notified the bank but it was a Friday evening
so nothing could be done to prevent it. However, there was a
web site listed in the pending withdrawal information. I
looked it up and found that it was an online financial
transaction firm for porno web sites.
Apparently this guy figured, hey $25 is enough to pay for his
entertainment for whatever amount of time it would buy him.
It did not buy him much time though because the online
financial firm had a phone number, I called and told them what
happened and that the transfer from my account was
fraudulent. They immediately shut down his account and set up
a return of our funds.
Good news, the funds have been returned, but this incident
has again caused us and the bank much time and effort and
has cost me even more wasted time.
Why? To prevent any further unauthorized withdrawals, I had
to place a permanent freeze on the account for electronic
withdrawals.
I can still use this account to receive my bank wire transfers
but I can no longer use my Internet access to transfer that
money to another business account which is what we normally do
to prevent the funds in the transfer account from being exposed
to this type of fraudulent activity.
Now, I must physically, visit the bank, produce my driver's
license and ask them to move the funds out of the wire transfer
account into our other business account.
Fraud costs everyone involved time and money. In this
incident I hope it also caused the fraudster the loss of his
anticipated entertainment.
OK, some points to help keep you from being defrauded in your
import export business or any business:
1. Set up a separate account just for wire transfers - most
banks have low balance, no fee, no interest checking. Set
one of these accounts up just for your wire transfers.
2. Keep a balance of $25-$35 in this account or just enough
to pay the fees for an incoming wire transfer.
3. Get Internet banking so you can monitor for receipt of
the transfers - as soon as you see the funds are available,
transfer them to your main business account.
This does not prevent a fraudster from doing as they did
with us and hitting the account with Multiple withdrawals
but it gives the bank more incentive to help you resolve
the situation if it is 'their' money they give out rather
than yours.
4. Make sure you require 'complete' information from the
would be customer - do not give out your bank information
to just anyone who asks for it.
Again, this is not 100% fraud proof as I had this latest
fraudster fill out our Pro Forma request form before I
provided him with our information, however, by asking for
all of their contact details like we do on our pro forma
request form, it makes most fraudsters crawl back under
the rock from where they came.
5. Be very careful (sorry if I offend anyone here but it
needs to be said) of anyone who uses a free email account
like yahoo, hotmail, gmail or a host of others that are
out there.
You can find out if it is a free email provider by taking
their email address and typing in the domain.com, .net,
.org, .us, etc. into your browser window to see if it is
a freebie account.
Again, there is no guarantee that a real web site that
shows up today will be around a month or a year from now.
There are services that allow you to have a one page
web site with full email privileges for under $20.00 a
year.
As President Reagan used to say, "trust but verify", but
when it comes to import export business transactions or
other business transactions involving bank wire transfers,
I say "verify, verify, and verify some more".
As time goes on and I can recall some of the many
fraudulent incidents that I have heard about in this
business, I will provide them in this blog. So be sure
to come back and visit with us often and subscribe to
our Global B2B updates so you will receive notice of when
these updates are published.
Until next time, I wish you the best.
Ron Coble
Coble International Marketing Services
Import Export Business Help Center
Five thousand and still growing...
Back in September of 2005, we posted about an emerging resource that we thought our readers would find valuable: a user-to-user support forum on Google groups, called AdWords Help. This online community was designed to be a place to which advertisers could go, 24/7, to search or browse for answers, ask questions and share their knowledge about AdWords with others. At the time of the post, the forum had just reached 125 members and was showing real promise as a useful source of information for AdWords advertisers.
Evidently, a lot of you had your eye on the blog.
A few months later, in November, we noted that the group's membership had quadrupled since our previous post. Then, in January of this year, we were pleased to announce that the group had once again quadrupled in size -- having grown to 2100 members.
Today, we're quite excited to report another milestone: AdWords Help has now grown to more than 5000 members. (Yes, membership has merely doubled this time -- but 5000 does seems like a nice round number.)
That's a lot of folks helping each other, making the group a great source of information and insight. If you're not a member yet, we hope you'll explore the possibility.
Evidently, a lot of you had your eye on the blog.
A few months later, in November, we noted that the group's membership had quadrupled since our previous post. Then, in January of this year, we were pleased to announce that the group had once again quadrupled in size -- having grown to 2100 members.
Today, we're quite excited to report another milestone: AdWords Help has now grown to more than 5000 members. (Yes, membership has merely doubled this time -- but 5000 does seems like a nice round number.)
That's a lot of folks helping each other, making the group a great source of information and insight. If you're not a member yet, we hope you'll explore the possibility.
The Myth of Tuning
Most enterprise search vendors admit that their algorithms provide generally poor results. To compensate, they ask customers to "tune" the search algorithms to meet their specific needs. Sounds good so far, right? In reality, this customer-implemented "tuning" in the context of enterprise search involves significant manual work to create the relevancy algorithm. Common methods employed are boosting metadata terms during indexing, boosting specific documents via scripts or formulas, and boosting specific term weightings at query time. These and other approaches require a significant amount of manual programming work on behalf of the customer, are often based on trial and error approaches, and are just hard to maintain. After all, do you want to run your business or get your Ph.D. in search?
The biggest problem with this "tuning" approach is the complexity of administering the code and scripts. Search administrators, representing the needs of thousands of users in their organization, must manually assign weights or boosts to specific metadata, documents, or query terms. These assignments are made through complex configuration scripts and algorithms that must be coded into the engine. Anytime a value is modified, the engine must be restarted, and sometimes the content re-indexed. Therefore, tuning search is a bit like the Butterfly Effect. In the classic example, mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz asks: If a butterfly beats its wings in Brazil, will it set off a tornado in Texas?
Well, tuning search in the enterprise can likewise set off a tornado of search results chaos! Using these technologies, the act of "tuning" is actually more comparable to building your own search algorithm. We at Google, on the other hand, recognize that search is a complex science with hundreds of factors that must be taken into account. The Google Search Appliance leverages the work of thousands of engineers to get the correct answer, right out of the box, with no "tuning" required. The system also adapts to the needs of your enterprise, taking into account corpus specific factors and learning how users query, when they misspell words, and how often content is changing.
So we recommend you focus your efforts on more business-style tuning, including creating intuitive user interfaces, uploading your companies unique acronyms and vocabulary as synonyms and suggested queries, and promoting key results using KeyMatch. The Google Search Appliance will take care of the rest, providing fast, secure, and accurate access to information throughout your enterprise.
The biggest problem with this "tuning" approach is the complexity of administering the code and scripts. Search administrators, representing the needs of thousands of users in their organization, must manually assign weights or boosts to specific metadata, documents, or query terms. These assignments are made through complex configuration scripts and algorithms that must be coded into the engine. Anytime a value is modified, the engine must be restarted, and sometimes the content re-indexed. Therefore, tuning search is a bit like the Butterfly Effect. In the classic example, mathematician and meteorologist Edward Lorenz asks: If a butterfly beats its wings in Brazil, will it set off a tornado in Texas?
Well, tuning search in the enterprise can likewise set off a tornado of search results chaos! Using these technologies, the act of "tuning" is actually more comparable to building your own search algorithm. We at Google, on the other hand, recognize that search is a complex science with hundreds of factors that must be taken into account. The Google Search Appliance leverages the work of thousands of engineers to get the correct answer, right out of the box, with no "tuning" required. The system also adapts to the needs of your enterprise, taking into account corpus specific factors and learning how users query, when they misspell words, and how often content is changing.
So we recommend you focus your efforts on more business-style tuning, including creating intuitive user interfaces, uploading your companies unique acronyms and vocabulary as synonyms and suggested queries, and promoting key results using KeyMatch. The Google Search Appliance will take care of the rest, providing fast, secure, and accurate access to information throughout your enterprise.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
International Trade Center Newsletters
International Trade Center Newsletters: New and Improved - Inside stories, training resources and the background to some hands-on international trade
projects are all available here:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/983/
projects are all available here:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/983/
Friday, May 12, 2006
Maintenance on Saturday, May 13, at 10:00am PDT
We'll be performing routine AdSense maintenance on Saturday, May 13, at 10:00am PDT. During this time, you may not be able to access your account. However, your Google ads will continue to display, and stats and earnings will continue to accrue in your account.
As always, thanks for your patience!
As always, thanks for your patience!
Spring cleaning for your AdWords account
Now that the flowers are blooming and allergies are raging, it's time to think about spring cleaning. No, we're not talking about organizing your CD collection or removing those pesky dust bunnies from under your bed - we're talking about cleaning up your AdWords account. Here are two quick tips to help your account get off to a fresh start this spring:
- Organize your ads: Take a few minutes to look over all of your ads in each of your Ad Groups. Are there any ads that don't relate to the main theme of the keywords in an Ad Group? For example, let's say that you have an Ad Group with keywords that are all related to flowers. When reviewing your ads in this Ad Group, you notice that you have one ad about flowers and another one about gardening tools. Since your keywords aren't related to gardening tools, you should move this ad text to the appropriate Ad Group. You can save yourself time by using our Copy/Move Keywords and Ad Text Tool. Or, if you don't have an existing Ad Group that's related to gardening tools, you can create a new Ad Group filled with gardening tool keywords.
- Label your Ad Groups: Now that you've organized your Ad Groups, you want to make sure that they're clearly labeled. After all, 'Flowers' and 'Gardening Tools' are much better names for Ad Groups than 'Ad Group #1' and 'Ad Group #2'. You can do this by checking the box next to the Ad Group that you'd like to edit, and then clicking on the 'Rename' button.
Rock on with Dan Marcus, AdSense payment specialist
What do you do when you're not working?
Not working? I'm not sure I understand the question... Just kidding--I don't work that much. I'm usually playing guitar with my rock band, the Swamees, or my heavy-metal side project, the Gibbous Moon. (I've been assured that shamelessly self-promoting my band website is okay, though I guess I could be more discrete and rely strictly on the power of suggestion.)
When I'm not rocking out, I like riding my motorcycle, chillin' with the homies, and BBQ'ing. Oh yeah, and camping is just about the greatest thing ever--especially if it involves BBQs, guitars, and motorcycles.
When is EFT going to become available for more countries?
We recently launched EFT in a number of countries and are working to expand even further in 2006. We're also exploring alternatives for locations where EFT isn't a viable option.
One common misconception is that EFT simply involves linking our bank account to yours. Unfortunately, it's not quite that easy. To provide EFT, we not only have to gain access to closed or heavily regulated bank networks, but we must also comply with local tax and commerce regulations. As a result, linking our bank account to yours is not as straightforward as it seems.
What are your top tips for publishers?
1. Sign up for EFT if it's available in your country. EFT can help non-US publishers avoid paying bank fees, and it's more reliable than snail mail.
2. Make updates to your account information by the 15th day of the month. We start processing payments around the 15th, and changes to your address, hold status, or form of payment made after that date won't take effect until the following month.
3. Reduce banking fees by placing a self-hold on your account. If you're outside the US and receive USD checks, you can let your earnings accrue and then receive larger checks less frequently.
4. Make sure your mailing address is correct. PINs and checks will not arrive if your address is wrong.
5. Don't wait for help. Find answers without emailing us by checking out our Payments Guide, video demo, and AdSense Help Group.
6. Patience is a virtue. PINs and checks are sent by snail mail, which can be unpredictable in some countries. While they can get lost and damaged in transit, more often the mail is just slow.
Remember, once we've stopped a check the process can't be reversed. I can't tell you how many times a publisher requests a reissue and then receives the original check the next day. If your check is reissued, you won't receive your earnings for an additional month--so it's in your best interests to be patient!
What are your favorite websites?
Wow, this is probably the toughest question. Here are five of my favorites:
realultimatepower.net – This site simply rules.
alienlovespredator.com – Pure genius.
craigslist.org – I compulsively search for stuff to buy, sell, and trade--especially guitar equipment, concert tickets, and motorcycle parts.
Pandora.com – Discover all the bands you never knew you liked.
GasBuddy.com – Increasing in importance on a daily basis.
International Trade Forum Online
International Trade Center's Trade Forum Online - Your Feedback, Our Views
Last year, intracen.org reoriented both their online and print versions of their Trade Forum magazine to reflect a more targeted focus for the advocacy of international trade. Check out the complete details at:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/984/
Last year, intracen.org reoriented both their online and print versions of their Trade Forum magazine to reflect a more targeted focus for the advocacy of international trade. Check out the complete details at:
http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/984/
AdWords 101: What's in my account? (Part 3 of 3)
In the last two AdWords 101 posts, we covered the Campaign Management, Reports and Analytics tabs. Today, we’ll discuss the last tab: My Account. Under the My Account tab, you can check your bill, and manage your billing and other account preferences.
When you first click on the My Account tab, you will be taken to the Billing Summary page. This page shows you your latest billing information, and even allows you to download this information as a .csv file. This download feature may be useful for those who want to track their AdWords expenses in a different software program; you’ll find this link in the upper left corner above the main billing table. Or if you prefer, a handy printing function allows you to print out invoices and receipts for your account. You can also choose to view your monthly billing activity over different time ranges by using the date dropdown menus on the upper right corner of this page.
The next page available in the My Account tab is the Billing Preferences page (you can get here by clicking the links located under the main tab in the green bar). This page allows you to view and edit your payment info. For example, if you would like to use a different credit card, you can click on the Edit link on this page to update your credit card information.
The Access page gives you the option of inviting other people to access your account using distinct logins. For example, if both you and your co-worker jointly manage the same AdWords account for your company, you can invite her to create her own login email and password to access the account so that you do not have to share your login and passwords.
The last page in the My Account tab is Account Preferences. On this page, you can:
- Manage your login information: do you need to change your password?
- Edit language and email options: in what language would you like to view your nterface? Are you opted into receiving newsletters or special offers?
- Tell us more about your business type
- Change your client manager account access and tracking preferences: do you have a client manager who accesses your account? Would you like to set up auto-linking in your URLs to facilitate your Analytics tracking?
Homework: Learn more about what’s available in the My Account tab by reviewing the My Account tab lesson in the AdWords Learning Center.
That sums up the four tabs found in your account. Be sure to spend time perusing each one so that you can make the most out of all the account and campaign management features available to you within AdWords.
Wednesday, May 10, 2006
SALES: How to Make Money In The Wireless Industry Without Selling Cellulars or anything like it...
By Luis Galarza
Do you think you can make money selling digital content through cellular phones. Well I think you can because with a growing base of 50 million self-registered members in 180+ countries, SMS or Text Messages subscribers are already buying digital content throuhg their cell phones, from ring tones, screansavers, backgrounds, mobile television, MP3's, ebooks, and others, it's making these an open business opportunity for Online entrepreneurs and marketers.
I decide to give you a hand and provide you with the main source that you can use to start selling your digital content to millions of cell phone users, the company is call SMS.ac (www.sms.ac/ ).
SMS.ac is the world's largest mobile community and marketplace. Through its relationships with hundreds of mobile carriers, SMS.ac is the only company in existence that can today monetize 1.5 billion of the existing 2 billion mobile phones worldwide.
If you are an application developer, or if you have content that you want distributed around the world, take the “SMS.ac 24-Hour Challenge!” SMS.ac can Mobilize, Globalize and Monetize your content -- in less than a day!
Think about it: Your content accessible on mobile phones and through the Web… distributed globally… with people paying for it, right from their phones. How much money can YOU make?...
For more information about these sleeping giant business opportunity, just visit: http://www.sms.ac/24hour
Sincerely,
Luis Galarza
About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Marketing and Telecommunication Consultant & CEO of Cogni360 and Associates (http://www.cogni360.com/ ). Also, he teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online without a their own website, or product. For more information about his Free Affiliate Marketing training service go to: http://www.AffiliateCashSecretsClub.com/
Who's The Coolest Guy On The Planet?
.
Do you think you can make money selling digital content through cellular phones. Well I think you can because with a growing base of 50 million self-registered members in 180+ countries, SMS or Text Messages subscribers are already buying digital content throuhg their cell phones, from ring tones, screansavers, backgrounds, mobile television, MP3's, ebooks, and others, it's making these an open business opportunity for Online entrepreneurs and marketers.
I decide to give you a hand and provide you with the main source that you can use to start selling your digital content to millions of cell phone users, the company is call SMS.ac (www.sms.ac/ ).
SMS.ac is the world's largest mobile community and marketplace. Through its relationships with hundreds of mobile carriers, SMS.ac is the only company in existence that can today monetize 1.5 billion of the existing 2 billion mobile phones worldwide.
If you are an application developer, or if you have content that you want distributed around the world, take the “SMS.ac 24-Hour Challenge!” SMS.ac can Mobilize, Globalize and Monetize your content -- in less than a day!
Think about it: Your content accessible on mobile phones and through the Web… distributed globally… with people paying for it, right from their phones. How much money can YOU make?...
For more information about these sleeping giant business opportunity, just visit: http://www.sms.ac/24hour
Sincerely,
Luis Galarza
About Author: Luis Galarza is a respectable Marketing and Telecommunication Consultant & CEO of Cogni360 and Associates (http://www.cogni360.com/ ). Also, he teach 100's of entrepreneurs how to make money online without a their own website, or product. For more information about his Free Affiliate Marketing training service go to: http://www.AffiliateCashSecretsClub.com/
Who's The Coolest Guy On The Planet?
.
Standalone traffic estimator
Here's another quick and helpful tip from Ann-Lee of the account management team:
Now you can get traffic and cost estimates on search queries without logging into your account. Keep in mind that the estimates this standalone tool provides won't take your individual settings and history into account, while accessing the tool from within an Ad Group of your account will. Learn more or check it out directly! (Note: for easy access in the future, you may want to bookmark that page once you're there.)
User-centric, Enterprise secure
Today, Google released Google Desktop 4, the next generation desktop search and information application for users. Building on a great thing, Google Desktop 4 added Google Gadgets - visually slick mini-applications that run on your desktop or in your sidebar for delivering specific topical information. We applaud our friends on the desktop team who continue to bring rapid innovation to the user experience in both the consumer and enterprise world.
But, along with the sizzle comes some of the more mundane features that you can't look at or touch (or move around your desktop), but are key to providing the highest quality, most secure information solution in the enterprise. With version 4 of Google Desktop, we have simplified and enhanced the security capabilities to help ensure that no information leaves your enterprise network. When Google Desktop introduced the Search Across Computers feature, there was concern about unintentional transmission of corporate information outside the corporate network. And although we offer group policy settings to fully disable the Search Across Computers feature for both enterprise and consumer versions of the product, we heard feedback from some business customers that they wanted an easier way.
Therefore, we're pleased to announce the Search Across Computer network disable feature. This allows network administrators to block a particular URL, at the network level, that will disable Search Across Computers entirely.
Our goal is to provide a great user experience while maintaining corporate security and conforming to your policies. So give the new Google Desktop 4 a spin, and thanks for all the great feedback.
But, along with the sizzle comes some of the more mundane features that you can't look at or touch (or move around your desktop), but are key to providing the highest quality, most secure information solution in the enterprise. With version 4 of Google Desktop, we have simplified and enhanced the security capabilities to help ensure that no information leaves your enterprise network. When Google Desktop introduced the Search Across Computers feature, there was concern about unintentional transmission of corporate information outside the corporate network. And although we offer group policy settings to fully disable the Search Across Computers feature for both enterprise and consumer versions of the product, we heard feedback from some business customers that they wanted an easier way.
Therefore, we're pleased to announce the Search Across Computer network disable feature. This allows network administrators to block a particular URL, at the network level, that will disable Search Across Computers entirely.
Our goal is to provide a great user experience while maintaining corporate security and conforming to your policies. So give the new Google Desktop 4 a spin, and thanks for all the great feedback.
Get site-targeted with quality, placement and size
As someone on the inside track for site targeting, the AdSense team asked me to share a word with you regarding what advertisers are most keen on when selecting sites for their site-targeted campaigns.
For advertisers -- and especially traditional brand marketers -- the name of the game is brand engagement and association. When purchasing ad space, advertisers focus on three elements of a website: quality of content, physical placement of the ad unit, and ad unit size.
1. Quality - Let's face it, advertisers are all about attracting user interest. When selecting places to advertise online, they look for sites that incorporate high quality and unique content in combination with good navigation, layout and features. It goes to reason that if users like the site, then advertising on these sites will build positive brand association or "positive brand karma".
2. Placement - In site targeting, "above the fold" ad placements are important to advertisers because they're paying for these ads on a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis. Eye-tracking analysis has shown that users are more likely to engage with ad placements that appear in the upper left-hand corner of a page.
It's important to advertisers that when a page loads, people see and interact with the ad. The greater the level of user engagement, the higher advertisers are willing to bid to display on a site.
Opting into both text and image ads also helps, because it gives advertisers more options for what types of ads they can display on your site.
3. Size - In advertising, size does matter; bigger ads are more likely to be seen. The AdSense program offers many ad formats for you to use on your site. Among them, the 336 x 280 Large Rectangle, 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle, and 250 x 250 Square are the larger ad units and consequently, the ones advertisers most value. Average CPMs for these sizes are usually 300% higher than a typical 468 x 60 Banner ad.
Of course, incorporating these elements doesn't guarantee that your site will be site-targeted, but it can certainly increase the chances by making it more advertiser-friendly.
For advertisers -- and especially traditional brand marketers -- the name of the game is brand engagement and association. When purchasing ad space, advertisers focus on three elements of a website: quality of content, physical placement of the ad unit, and ad unit size.
1. Quality - Let's face it, advertisers are all about attracting user interest. When selecting places to advertise online, they look for sites that incorporate high quality and unique content in combination with good navigation, layout and features. It goes to reason that if users like the site, then advertising on these sites will build positive brand association or "positive brand karma".
2. Placement - In site targeting, "above the fold" ad placements are important to advertisers because they're paying for these ads on a cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM) basis. Eye-tracking analysis has shown that users are more likely to engage with ad placements that appear in the upper left-hand corner of a page.
It's important to advertisers that when a page loads, people see and interact with the ad. The greater the level of user engagement, the higher advertisers are willing to bid to display on a site.
Opting into both text and image ads also helps, because it gives advertisers more options for what types of ads they can display on your site.
3. Size - In advertising, size does matter; bigger ads are more likely to be seen. The AdSense program offers many ad formats for you to use on your site. Among them, the 336 x 280 Large Rectangle, 300 x 250 Medium Rectangle, and 250 x 250 Square are the larger ad units and consequently, the ones advertisers most value. Average CPMs for these sizes are usually 300% higher than a typical 468 x 60 Banner ad.
Of course, incorporating these elements doesn't guarantee that your site will be site-targeted, but it can certainly increase the chances by making it more advertiser-friendly.
Monday, May 8, 2006
CIO Insight Talks Enterprise Search With Google
The Executive Editor of CIO Insight Dan Briody recently interviewed Dave Girouard, VP & GM of Google Enterprise, about what Google is doing to improve search inside of business, what CIOs are asking for, and what's next. Read the full transcript of the discussion at CIO Insight.
Unobtrusive ads can boost revenue
Sharon Maguire expected that matching her Google ads to her site, dogbreedinfo.com, would give it a cleaner look and feel that her visitors would appreciate. What she didn't expect was the large revenue increase spurred by her changes -- AdSense revenue nearly doubled, to $650 per day.
When generating her ad code, Maguire chose a white background and white borders to blend her ads more effectively into her site's overall color scheme. "Originally I'd chosen the standard 'Mother Earth' palette with the thin outline of a border," Maguire said. "I was happy with performance, but could see the revenue potential of the ad units. I discovered by simply removing the border around the ad units the AdSense revenue doubled."
Before:
After:
Many publishers have found that visitors are more likely to see and click on Google ads when the ads themselves blend cleanly into a site. At the same time, the "Ads by Goooooogle" tagline clearly distinguishes the Google ads from the site content, so users aren't confused.
You can create a custom color palette to help combat "ad blindness" and increase your site's revenue potential. If you've already seen similar successes, please share your story with us.
When generating her ad code, Maguire chose a white background and white borders to blend her ads more effectively into her site's overall color scheme. "Originally I'd chosen the standard 'Mother Earth' palette with the thin outline of a border," Maguire said. "I was happy with performance, but could see the revenue potential of the ad units. I discovered by simply removing the border around the ad units the AdSense revenue doubled."
Before:
After:
Many publishers have found that visitors are more likely to see and click on Google ads when the ads themselves blend cleanly into a site. At the same time, the "Ads by Goooooogle" tagline clearly distinguishes the Google ads from the site content, so users aren't confused.
You can create a custom color palette to help combat "ad blindness" and increase your site's revenue potential. If you've already seen similar successes, please share your story with us.
Sunday, May 7, 2006
Car Interior Detailing Products
Car Interior Detailing Products:
Windows
- Glass Cleaner
- Interior Anti-Fog Protectant
Dashboard
- Swifter Dust Cleaner
- Vinyl Protectant
Interior Plastics
- Plastic Cleaner
- Hard Plastic Polish
Leather
- Leather Cleaner
- Leather Conditioner
Carpets
- Odor Eliminator
- Stain Remover
- Carpet Cleaner
Regards,
Michael Kralj
You might also be interested to learn about Sump Pumps or Bidets.
Windows
- Glass Cleaner
- Interior Anti-Fog Protectant
Dashboard
- Swifter Dust Cleaner
- Vinyl Protectant
Interior Plastics
- Plastic Cleaner
- Hard Plastic Polish
Leather
- Leather Cleaner
- Leather Conditioner
Carpets
- Odor Eliminator
- Stain Remover
- Carpet Cleaner
Regards,
Michael Kralj
You might also be interested to learn about Sump Pumps or Bidets.
Friday, May 5, 2006
‘Dear Inside AdWords…’ – referrals, local business ads, and finding a Professional
It’s been a while since we’ve answered some of your questions, so today, we’re happy to share a few more of our readers’ emails.
Dear Anne: Good news! We introduced AdWords referrals in the US a few of weeks ago. You can find out more about the program in our past post, or at the AdSense Help Center.
Dear TMP: Once you’re in the Ad Group that you want to edit, you can create a local business ad by clicking the Create Local Business Ad link. Follow the instructions until you get to screen shown below, where you will be given the option to upload a graphic to your ad. (I’ve outlined it in red in the example below for your reference.) Note: the dimensions of the image must be no larger than 125 X 125 pixels, and 20K or under in file size. More guidelines for the images in local business ads can be found here. You can also read more about local business ads in one of our prior posts.
Dear Marianne: The easiest way to locate Google Advertising Professionals in your area would be to search for them on Google Maps. Simply go to Google Maps, and type in “google advertising professionals” (we recommend using the the plural form, with quotes around the entire search term) and your city or zip code, and press the Search button. You should then be given a list of local business listings of Google Advertising Professionals in your area. When interviewing service providers, be sure to ask them if they have Qualified Individuals in their firm, or if the company itself has attained Qualified Company status. You can also read more about the Google Advertising Professionals program in our blog post on this subject.
That’s all for this edition. We love getting your questions, so be sure to send them our way. You never know—yours may be answered here next time!
When will AdWords referrals be available in the US? – Anne R.
Dear Anne: Good news! We introduced AdWords referrals in the US a few of weeks ago. You can find out more about the program in our past post, or at the AdSense Help Center.
How do we add an image to a local business ad? – TMP
Dear TMP: Once you’re in the Ad Group that you want to edit, you can create a local business ad by clicking the Create Local Business Ad link. Follow the instructions until you get to screen shown below, where you will be given the option to upload a graphic to your ad. (I’ve outlined it in red in the example below for your reference.) Note: the dimensions of the image must be no larger than 125 X 125 pixels, and 20K or under in file size. More guidelines for the images in local business ads can be found here. You can also read more about local business ads in one of our prior posts.
How do I find Google Advertising Professionals in my area that I can interview to purchase services from them? – Marianne E.
Dear Marianne: The easiest way to locate Google Advertising Professionals in your area would be to search for them on Google Maps. Simply go to Google Maps, and type in “google advertising professionals” (we recommend using the the plural form, with quotes around the entire search term) and your city or zip code, and press the Search button. You should then be given a list of local business listings of Google Advertising Professionals in your area. When interviewing service providers, be sure to ask them if they have Qualified Individuals in their firm, or if the company itself has attained Qualified Company status. You can also read more about the Google Advertising Professionals program in our blog post on this subject.
That’s all for this edition. We love getting your questions, so be sure to send them our way. You never know—yours may be answered here next time!
John Gage's Ad-Hoc Keynote - WCIT2006
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R. Texas) was not able to make it to Austin's WCIT2006 for her Friday Keynote Address (due to a late Senate vote), so John Gage (Chief Researcher and Vice President of the Science Office for Sun Microsystems) pitched in with a delightful Ad-Hoc presentation.
John had spoken at earlier sessions, and given that he has a lot to say he took full advantage of the opportunity to engage a larger audience (the hall was packed in anticipation of a speech by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell)... John easily filled his alloted time, and had to be gently ushered away from the microphone by WCIT2006 CEO Glyn Meek.
John took us on a journey to many of the countries represented at the convention by enlisting Google Earth. As he flew between continents, he pointed out and zoomed in on the homes of fellow presenters and on the future site of 2008's WCIT in Kuala Lampur... and then he demonstrated how the tool could be used to visualize important data... for example the locations of reported Avian Flu incidents.
If Avian Flu spreads as many fear, the first signs are going to be from the undeveloped nations, from the mostly remote rural areas where people live in closer proximity to animals... For our own sakes we need to build out the world's networking infrastructure - starting with the poorest countries first - to insure that we know what is going on in those locales... We need to hear the news of disease outbreaks as soon as possible to prevent the feared pandemic (a compelling argument).
John went on to demonstrate another wonderful tool from www.gapminder.org that can be used to visualize Human Development Trends from around the world over the last four decades. Words Cannot Begin To Describe This Tool --- VISIT THE SITE AND SPEND A FEW HOURS EXPLORING ON YOUR OWN!
Pardon the dramatic all caps of the previous sentence... but you really ought to check this tool out... By graphing Child Survival Rates and GDP per capita income for regions (and individual countries), you can visualize dramatic trends that have taken place over the last several years. You can see countries that were once poor with high child mortality rates blossom in both wealth and health... and you can also see countries where wealth has increased, but health has not.
John makes a compelling point that tools like this can be used to strip away deciet and expose the truth... it is painfully clear which countries have successful health/wealth policies, and which do not. Knowledge (not raw information) is power, and gapminder's tools help transform raw information into knowledge that people and governments can use to the benefit of all...
John's passion for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) as a tool for a better world is contagious, and nobody seemed to mind that he over-ran his allotted time slot... We all wish he could have spoken longer, and with respect to Senator Hutchinson... I was kind of glad that she missed her plane.
Thanks John... You've helped rekindle hope that ICT really can make a difference.
(cross-posted at my java.net blog)
John had spoken at earlier sessions, and given that he has a lot to say he took full advantage of the opportunity to engage a larger audience (the hall was packed in anticipation of a speech by former US Secretary of State Colin Powell)... John easily filled his alloted time, and had to be gently ushered away from the microphone by WCIT2006 CEO Glyn Meek.
John took us on a journey to many of the countries represented at the convention by enlisting Google Earth. As he flew between continents, he pointed out and zoomed in on the homes of fellow presenters and on the future site of 2008's WCIT in Kuala Lampur... and then he demonstrated how the tool could be used to visualize important data... for example the locations of reported Avian Flu incidents.
If Avian Flu spreads as many fear, the first signs are going to be from the undeveloped nations, from the mostly remote rural areas where people live in closer proximity to animals... For our own sakes we need to build out the world's networking infrastructure - starting with the poorest countries first - to insure that we know what is going on in those locales... We need to hear the news of disease outbreaks as soon as possible to prevent the feared pandemic (a compelling argument).
John went on to demonstrate another wonderful tool from www.gapminder.org that can be used to visualize Human Development Trends from around the world over the last four decades. Words Cannot Begin To Describe This Tool --- VISIT THE SITE AND SPEND A FEW HOURS EXPLORING ON YOUR OWN!
Pardon the dramatic all caps of the previous sentence... but you really ought to check this tool out... By graphing Child Survival Rates and GDP per capita income for regions (and individual countries), you can visualize dramatic trends that have taken place over the last several years. You can see countries that were once poor with high child mortality rates blossom in both wealth and health... and you can also see countries where wealth has increased, but health has not.
John makes a compelling point that tools like this can be used to strip away deciet and expose the truth... it is painfully clear which countries have successful health/wealth policies, and which do not. Knowledge (not raw information) is power, and gapminder's tools help transform raw information into knowledge that people and governments can use to the benefit of all...
John's passion for ICT (Information and Communication Technology) as a tool for a better world is contagious, and nobody seemed to mind that he over-ran his allotted time slot... We all wish he could have spoken longer, and with respect to Senator Hutchinson... I was kind of glad that she missed her plane.
Thanks John... You've helped rekindle hope that ICT really can make a difference.
(cross-posted at my java.net blog)
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