Facebook’s new timeline layout changes the ad space as follows:

Old Facebook Profile Ads

Old Facebook Profile Layout

New Slimmer Facebook Profile Ads

New Timeline Layout

 Compare the Same Facebook Ad Side by Side

239 x 117

128 x 168

Differences in Facebook Ads

While the ad sizes are not exact, the widths are fairly accurate. The new ad is slimmer, at about 128 pixels. The image sizes remain the same at 110 x 80 pixels. The background color has changed from white to the light blue. The number of ads on a traditional page range from 1 to 6. The number of ads on the new facebook timeline layout is 2 or 3 depending on your screen size. Yes, the ads display in conjunction with your screen size, pretty high tech programing there. One of the biggest differences between the two sets is that the new layout keeps the ads on page as you scroll down the page. The old set up will actually scroll the ads off the screen. Very subtle differences, but I am sure someone somewhere at Facebook is monitoring revenues based on the layouts. Curious internet marketers would like to know what that difference is. Facebook marketers want to know how this could effect their ads.

General Facebook, facebook ads, facebook advertising, new on facebook, pest control guy, Social Media

Well there have been a bunch of busy bees in the Google local search hive. Local has been under the knife a few times. From reset data, to cool visual effects. These are today’s changes in Google’s local blended results.

The New Gray Google Map Marker

Less intrusive, less eye catching, more interactive.

Rolling over the this gray marker will change it blue for pay per click (PPC)  ads on the right, or red for organic listings on the left. Scrolling over markers in the google map section highlights the respective listing markers in the PPC and organic section. You will also get a nice snippet for the local organic listings. No snippets for PPC. It’s also interesting to note that the listings have moved the once red-pins-now-gray-pin to the right of the blended results. Google also removed the triangle pointer they once displayed for the top listing.

Google, Local Marketing Google, Google Maps, Houston, Houston Pest Control, Local search (Internet), Pay per click, pest control, pest control guy, Phoenix Pest Control, Search engine optimization

TDL .XXX was announced earlier this year and is now in full swing. Here is the Pre-Registration Schedule

• Sunrise: Available September 7 — October 28, 2011
  • Registration Requires Trademarked Name.
• Sunrise AD: Available September 7 — October 28, 2011
  • Registration Requires registered like domain name.
• Sunrise B: Available September 7 — October 28, 2011
  • Blocking registration requires Trademarked Name.
• Landrush: Available November 8 — November 25, 2011
  • Pre-Registration only requires membership to Sponsored Community. Add ~$100 to registration.
• General Availability: December 6, 2011
  • Still requires membership but available now for all.

Reputation Management Extortion?

The new TLD raises a lot of concerns for individuals especially when it comes to reputation management. For businesses that want to protect their brand and trademark it’s easy enough to purchase a Sunrise Block, which means you are not registering the name blocking it for a price. Feels a bit like brand reputation extortion. As stated in PCWORLD, most registrations are not even in the adult industry, but are purely doing it for trademark protection. The Free Speech coalition reports that those in the industry are saying they don’t want the .XXX TLD.

General .xxx, Brand, Cool Whip, Domain name, Egg Beaters, Jessica Simpson, pest control guy, Top-level domain, Trademark

Introducing the new Google Adwords button.

How will Google Adwords +1 Button change Internet Marketing? Does it affect PPC? Will it help or hurt CRO? Can it really increase CTR? What’s the Math?

In a recent email from Google Adwords was the following notification:

In the coming weeks, your search results and ads on Google will include a +1 button, which users can click to recommend your ads. You don’t need to make any changes to your account in order to take advantage of them. The final landing page URL of your ads can also appear on the Google profile of any user who +1’s your ad.

That time has arrived.

Google, Industry News, PPC +1, AdWords, Clickthrough rate, Google, Google +1, Google Plus 1, NoIndex, Organic search, Pay per click, pest control guy, Quality Score

Google Offers Quick Facts:

How is it Promoted?

• Email to Subscribers
• Google shopper app.
• Google network

Businesses can Limit the offer:

• Limit how many offers sold
• Limit Redeemable by date
• Limit on Areas Serviced*
• Limit Uses Per Customer

*important for pest control guys

Offer runs for a 24 hour window.

http://google.com/offers

The primary way they will promote the offer is via emails to subscribers. Email, according to social media studies, is still the most used social media vehicle. (*CMB Consumer Pulse 2010 ) If the local business makes the offer juicy enough then the business can anticipate that coupon lovers will forward the deal out to their friends and family. This method is ideal for local businesses as the consumers are spreading it by digital word of mouth and are pre-qualifying the target audience for the local business.

Google, Industry News 360 images, Google Offers, local advertising, Local Businesses, pest control guy, places page

YouTube Video Preview in Google Search

Google update: Youtube gets video previews in Google’s Universal Search.

Google recently added the website previews. Now Google is adding video previews. Not all video results are getting this preview. Those that do get previews include Youtube videos, 5min.com and Discovery videos. But sites like MetaCafe.com, videojug.com, and break.com, while still being found in the video section, are not getting the 4 framed previews.

Video Previews and Click Through Rates

The four framed previews actually show 5 second clips of the video. For the Superbowl commercial of the StarWars kid you can get a quick jest of the short commercial. But for the short 30 second video of Rene Higuita and the Scorpion kick (AWESOME VIDEO) you might get most of the clip, but sports move so fast that you may want to click through and see the whole thing. Ultimately the video preview might be enough to satisfy or enough of a taste to leave you wanting more. And careful, these videos do have sound enabled. Sound could be bad, as it is often a discouragement on websites. You can turn it off by clicking on the speaker, which I did as to not annoy my office.

Google, Industry News Google Updates, pest control guy, Video Optimization, Youtube

Announcement:

Retiring the position preference setting

In early May, we’ll be removing the option to set position preferences. Learn more about what this means for your campaigns.

Google, Industry News, PPC, Sales and Marketing Google, pest control guy, PPC

Google Boost is now Adwords Express

Local search marketing may be in it’s infancy for Google, but this baby is booming. In two short years they have grown through a 10-pack, to a 7-pack, to a mixed local and organic result. They have further added a revenue stream with Google Sponsored tags (Yellow tags) and most recently they added Google Boost. Google boost has been active for about 6 months now, so time for a review of the latest GEO/Local adverting package from Google. To Boost but not to boast.

What is Google Boost?

Google boost is a new pay per click (PPC) advertising push from Google that is being promoted through Google Places. This ad is unique in it’s style from other PPC ads because it features a blue pin drop and is only offered to local businesses that have a local physical office.

Google, Industry News, Local Marketing Geo Marketing, Google Boost Review, google local, Local Marketing, pest control guy, What is Google Boost

Social Media Score… What does it meeaaan?

Disclaimer: This image is a fake. Not to be taken seriously.

Social Media meets SEM

Internet Marketers are competitive by nature. Clearly if you are wanting to rank 1st on the search engine you have to compete.  SEO’s wish to rule the Social Media world as well. Why? Traffic equals money. Going viral can mean a lot of traffic and a lot of money.  To those that want to profit from the online world they must find ways to slice and dice data to see what activities carry a monetary value. So what do these SEO minded people do? They create measurement and scoring to see how well they do in the Social Media arena. Attach a game to it, make it fun, and gamble a bit.

General Klout, pest control guy, Social Media, social media score, social media tools, Twitter

Facebook recently announced it’s facial recognition software and so shouts of “Privacy Issues” are screaming across the blogosphere. But how much of a privacy issue is it?  The statement used by Facebook, “We’ve automatically grouped similar pictures”. Background, lighting, and other elements of the image can be used to group similar pictures.  In fact, Techcrunch reported that “Google researchers published a paper describing progress they are making in teaching computers how to identify famous landmarks” in a post dated June 22, 2009. Granted this isn’t facial recognition software they are developing, but the momentous task of identifying faces is equivalent if not greater than identifying landmarks.

Facebook Facebook, new on facebook, news, pest control guy, Social Media