Amazon Switches from Google to A9

Amazon now using Google A9

Amazon has switched it's search from Google to A9. Not really sure if that will make much difference to you or me, but if you like the color brown it is surely a good thing.

The Register also noted that sometimes Amazon's related products may not be related to what you are searching for.

Mac Google Toolbar w PageRank

Finally!!!

For those of you with a Mac who are angry at the PageRank gods for not giving you PageRank in your Googlebar there is now a free toolbar PageRank hack created by Nick Stallman.

I am a Windows fool so I have not tried it out. I think my next computer might be a Mac though...

(found on SearchGuild blog)

Google AdWords Guidelines

Some Automated Bots are off the mark. When I linked into my page about Traffic Power & Cold Call SEO Google decided to reject the ad because I did not state my affiliate status? Clearly this was the action of an automated bot or a person who did not look at the page...I know that sometimes they do review pages because one time on my other site they sent me an email about a page for speaking of the AdSense ads which "were off to the side." Clearly though this is not an affiliate ad...

Campaign: 'Campaign #16,' Ad Group: 'Traffic Power'
----------------------------------------------

AD TEXT:

Cold Call SEO is Bad
Were you recently cold called by
someone selling SEO services?
SEObook.com/cold-call-seo-facts

Action taken: Suspended - Pending Revision
Issue(s): Identify Affiliate Status

Free A/B Split Test Tool

Some of the best tools are both simple and free. We recently released a free A/B split testing calculator.

This tool gives you the mathematical probablility to determine whether or not you have collected enough data to be sure the data is conclusive as to which of two ads is better.

Link Appeal Tool

The Link Appeal Tool has link appeal since I am linking to it. I think I used the word link to much...anyway here is the link.

This is another one of Will's cool free tools over at Webmaster Toolkit. It looks at the PageRank of a page as well as the number of outgoing links on that page to give you a guestimate of how much value that link would have to help you decide whether or not it is worth going after.

Text Link Advertising on Blog Websites

I have noticed that there is some really really cheap traffic and link popularity to be purchased on blog websites.

Some sites get tons of pageviews, and some have tons of link popularity. Some blogs have both and prices that do not cost the farm.

If you look through an article about the most famous blogs in the world you can see just how cheap this ad space is selling.

The first blog is a lawyer blog and the second site listed is the New York Times, but if you scroll past them you can see some pretty cheap ads.

Gawker is one of the most famous blogs on the web (and it costs $400 / month or $150 / week). I am probably not going to be advertising on the Gawker website today, but currently someone is with a Texas Holdem website.

I am sure that link is probably cheap for someone in the gaming industry. Those affiliate checks online casinos send you can get fat. I had one page from when I first started learning about the web that got me a few grand without me actively promoting it...

If you used the right political message or were marketing an amazing idea the cheap entry price of advertising on Gawker could easily pay for itself tenfold.

Once you look at some of the slightly less popular blogs the price drops sharply. Advertising on one of the top NanoBot site is $60 / month.

Some second and third tier blogs are priced dirt cheap. I think the two biggest players in the blog ad arena are:
http://www.marketbanker.com/mb/
http://www.blogads.com/
There are also some smaller players too, such as
http://www.textads.biz/

I may soon promote a stupid idea I just came up with :) More on that later...I thinking...

Google AdWords Lauches Keyword Based Banner Ads

Google launches keyword based contextual based banner advertising.

Effect on Other Companies:

  • If Google can get many of their AdSense publishers to sign up for this then they will have access to one of the largest, most targeted contextual based banner programs on the web.

  • Interactive media agencies and webmasters may be able to do nearly all of their advertising at Google. Exceptions:
    • Overture still will be used by many due to it's large distribution network.

    • Link buyers will obviously not be able to buy links through Google...
  • Google can no longer in any way shape or form claim to be "just a technology company." This move cements their position as a large media company.
  • DoubleClick's stock is down 1% on the day (last I checked...this move by Google has to make their CEO cringe!).

Google AdWords Images:
Google Images AdWords FAQ's Here.
Google AdSense: What's New

Google AdWords Sizes: You may choose from four standard ad sizes: Banner (468 x 60), Leaderboard (728 x 90), Inline Rectangle (300 x 250), and Skyscraper (120 x 600). Sizes may be adjusted slightly to display the "Ads by Google" tagline.

Example Google Ads

Placing Image Ads on Google:
"At this time, we won't show image ads on Google. The initial launch of image ads is focused on sites already showing graphical ads. Because Google image ads are targeted specifically to a page's content, advertisers showing ads on these sites would realize the greatest benefit. (Please note that a content site publisher must opt in to the image ads program before your image ads may appear on his or her site.)"

How Does Google Know When to Display Image Ads?
If your image ad is more relevant, it will appear. If not, your text ad may appear in its place. This targeting model ensures you're reaching your prospects with the most effective ads.

Will Google Put Image Ads on My Site?
Google AdSense publishers can chose to opt in to graphic ads. Graphic ads will not automatically appear on AdSense publishers websites. You can choose to run image ads by simply selecting the image ads checkbox from the Ad Preference page of your AdSense account. Or, set your preference at a page level by selecting the type of ads you'd like to show when generating your ad code.

SEO Tip: Submitting Press Releases to Help Search Engine Optimization

With the growing commercial nature of the web it is becoming harder to get quality one way inbound links without spending a fortune. By submitting free or cheap press releases you can build link equity without spending a ton of money.

Many people do recommend donating to PR Web to help your PR get quicker handling and a better rotation.

"For $80 your release is also included in the Yahoo! FeatureExpress program where the full release is published under the Yahoo.com domain.

For B2B client releases that are keyword optimized, you can expect 20,000 - 60,000 page views in the first two weeks. For B2C clients it's higher, as much as 190,000." - from Lee Odden of TopRank Online Marketing

There are also a bunch of smaller press release sites on the web. Please submit any press release sites you find useful to this posting by clicking on the your evil Happy Thoughts Link.

Don't worry, be happy! (cartoon is worth playing at least twice) A few smaller press release sites that were listed are:

Cheap Google PageRank Software

Update: Backlink Analyzer is free link analysis software which has probably the best feature set of any of the link analysis software products on the market.

The Original Link Analysis Software
When OptiLink ($224) came out a few years ago it was a software product like no others. A few weeks ago the second version of PageRank Prowler ($97) was released. PageRank Prowler is a product similar to OptiLink (which only lacks the link text features).

Dirt Cheap PageRank Software
Now I haven't tried the full version of it yet, but recently software by the name of PageRank Digger that only costs $39.99 via PayPal was released. I guess it's claim to fame is speed. "You will be able to scan over 2000 domain names per minute." It is not just scanning links and getting PageRank that matters though. Being able quickly evaluate and rearrange the raw data is what makes it really useful. I think this tool is targeted more toward the expired domain community vice the seo community.

Branding & Creating Better Products
It is amazing to see how quickly advanced link tools (or any technology) can become commodities. I wonder when someone will be smart enough to market a link product which is BETTER vice cheaper. I can think of a few upgrades that would make the best link software way better and am surprised that nobody has marketed them yet. I wish I had more time to learn programming... :)

Example Link Analysis Software Upgrade
I am surprised there is no specific parameter link analysis software on the market. Software which scans Yahoo! or Google for .edu links which link to your competitors. That is just one example of a useful modification I don't think has been marketed yet. I got a couple other ideas too...email me if you are a programmer who wants to make really cool link analysis software.

Do you know of any link software which better than OptiLink? What on your site makes it better, vice cheaper? The competitive nature of the web will eat up most people who use cheap as a sales angle. Branding is where it's at.

PR Prowler (PageRank Prowler) Review

Update: Backlink Analyzer is free link analysis software which has probably the best feature set of any of the link analysis software products on the market.

Recently Shawn Pringle launched PR and link analysis software by the name of PR Prowler. The first edition was a bit bulky and slow, but recently he launched PR Prowler V2.0 which has many needed upgrades.

PR Prowler operates in its own browser window similar to OptiLink. OptiLink still has a few more features (such as showing link text), but PR Prowler allows you to search for backlinks and keywords as well.

When you use PR Prowler with the Google link:www.evilcompetitor.com function it will return their backlinks and allow you to manipulate them in multiple ways. PR Prowler allows you to organize the links by site or PageRank or by how much the link should boost your PageRank (estimated). The best part about PR Prowler is that it primarily operates in the background so that you can do other business while it is collecting data.

Any software which runs in the background, checks backlings to the full Google database search depth (1,000), and will sort the results by PageRank is easily worth well over $100 to most webmasters, but PR Prowler only costs $97. View the official PR Prowler website.

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