Google Adsense: why should you consider it?

August 26, 2010 Leave a comment

Google Inc.

If I ask people to “just name a brand”, then I often get the answer “Google”. Yes, Google is a powerful brand these days. Nevertheless, people often know nothing more about Google then it being a search engine. Of course, Google is much more than a search engine. Just think about the apps “Google Earth”, “Google Maps”, “Google Video” “Google Docs”, “Google Calendar” and last but not least “Gmail”.

It’s clear that Google isn’t just a search engine. But how do they generate revenue then? Google introduced an innovative business model – AdWords – and the pay-per-click (SEA) concept. The new business model proved to work because today AdWords is still the main source of revenues of Google Inc.

Google and its highly targeted advertising options

The powerful element in the Google business model is the fact that advertisers are ensured their ad appears only when people are interested. A search engine ad only appears for relevant keywords (in the case of the pay-per-click model). People only enter keywords when they are explicitly interested in a subject. An Adsense ad only appears in between relevant content. This means the ad is advertising the same good or service as the page it is on. Bottom line: advertising via a Google platform is cost-effective since it only reaches people who are interested. Compared to “mass advertising media” such as television, this way is much more effective.

Example: Google Adsense on this blog

Have a look at the below screenshot of this website. It’s an Adsense ad that was placed next to an article on “brand management”. For a company specializing in brand management, appearing next to an article like that is very useful since the reader of the article is already interested in the advertiser’s core business.

Google Adsense for "brandtrust" on this blog

Google Adsense for "brandtrust" on this blog

Benefits Google Adsense

  • The most robust targeting of any ad network

    • AdSense’s innovative targeting options allow advertisers to more precisely reach their desired audiences on a third-party website — resulting in more revenue for the third-party website owner as well as more sales for the advertiser.

  • Contextual targeting

    • AdSense ads are related to the content of the webpage. This is an advantage: your ad pops up there were it doesn’t interrupt. It fits in between the content on the website.

  • Placement targeting

    • An advertiser can target a site based on demographics, vertical, geographic location, or URL.

  • Interest–based advertising

    • An advertiser can show ads based on users’ interests and previous interactions with that advertiser.

  • New Media?

    • AdSense isn’t just for websites. Earn extra revenue by displaying ads on your:

  • Site search results
  • Mobile webpages
  • Feeds
  • Parked domains
  • Mobile applications
  • Videos
  • Online game

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    Filed under Business, Marketing, Media, Software & Technology Tagged with , , ,

    The power of Twitter for websites: own test results.

    June 15, 2010 Leave a comment

    Tweeting the day away via your smart phone?

    If you’re a Twitter user, you know what it’s all about. For those who don’t: twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to send out messages (limited to 140 characters) to the entire world.

    Twitter - search for information

    Twitter - search for information

    Twitter for business purposes?

    If you’re in business you might think of adding a “Twitter account” to your marcomm mix. After all, it might drive traffic to your website. Once you have those “Twitter-people” on your website, you can start to convince them. But not everything will turn into sales…

    What else might happen?

    • A “tweet-reader” ends up on your webpage and decides to tweet about your webpage…your webpage has been broadcasted to people you never reached in the first place…
    • A tweeter retweets your statement and as a result your phrase is shared with people that didn’t initially follow you.
    • A tweeter might list you within a specific theme
    • A tweeter is by definition rather unpredictable, so almost everything might happen
    • …

    My test results: this blog, the Bizz2Sozz twitter account

    Based on the date of my first post, I started this blog at the end of February. While setting-up the blog, it came to me that to spread the ideas on this blog, another channel should come into play – as I can’t solely rely on my bloggin’ skills (if I have them, for you to decide). For this reason, I turned to Twitter.com and set-up an account.

    Every time I posted a story on my blog, I tried to give it publicity by tweeting my views over the twitter platform. (I have to be honest: I forgot it a couple of times and backed this up by tweeting all articles at once. I know, not the perfect strategy). The workflow is rather easy: I write a blogpost, after which I summarize what’s in the article and add a link to the article (all in a 140 character phrase!).

    Result today: a nice woman from Italy re-tweeted one of my stories, started to follow me and added me to a themed list. What will this bring along? New followers? We truly hope so, since the Italian woman is already followed by over 1 000 people, my article is now within the reach of more people than the 20 daily visitors on this blog and my 5 twitter-followers. If I have a closer look at this blog web stats … I can already see that the re-tweeted article is currently my “most read article”…

    A re-tweet in Italy: no more words, just an image

    Twitter, micro-blogging, sharing

    Twitter, micro-blogging, sharing

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    Filed under Business, Economy, Marketing, Media, Society, Software & Technology Tagged with , , ,

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