I have made the switch from Google to Yahoo! as my default search engine. You may notice I have changed the site search function on this blog over as well.

While I think Google offers great products their ethics are wanting and I just don’t want to support them any more than I have to. There’s a good list of Google alternatives at Gevil.org if you are interested in reducing your reliance on Google.

You will notice that I have left Google Adsense up. While I take issue with some of Google’s policies I am still a businessman first. Until I find a service that comes close to pulling the same revenue I get with Adsense I won’t change that over. There’s a difference between making a protest and being stupid. Unfortunately YPN does not stack up in this arena.

However, I am happy to report that Yahoo! Search is proving to be much more reliable than Google’s. I’ve been hearing reports that Yahoo! has a higher satisfaction rate and can now see why - it just works!

While this was a personal choice for me I’d like to encourage you to try some other search engines as well. Here’s the big ones to look at:

• Yahoo!
• Live (Formerly MSN)
• Ask

There are some smaller and niche search engines you may want to try out as well:

• Clusty
• Icerocket
• Technorati
• Bloglines

The real issue at heart here for me is building the free internet I want instead of capitulating to the demands of a monopolistic empire. With more than 50% of the market share for search alone, Google is using its size to bully websites into falling in line with ‘policy’ - no matter how hypocritical the new policies are when stacked against Google’s mission statement, webmaster guidelines and public image.

My protest is a small one. I’m hopeful that this message will reach you and inspire you to try something different. If Google’s market share gets affected they will have to address their policies. I’m hopeful Google will go back to being a great service provider and their attempt to architect, engineer or police what the masses want online will stop.

Thank you for your support!

Update: Thanks to this great post by Ben, I have checked out a couple Adsense alternatives and settled on BidVertiser for now. That makes this site one big step closer to being Google-free!

Posted in Website Designers, SEOs, Business Owners, Reviews, Industry News, SEO

No Comments »

After testing YPN for the last two months it looks pretty conclusive: YPN has a long way to go to catch up to Adsense. In all fairness I believe YPN is still in beta, still there are some things they need to work on. My not-too-scientific approach was to use a site that was already pulling a small but steady amount of traffic and Adsense clicks and then swap the Adsense for YPN.

Problem #1 - YPN doesn’t offer link ads. On advice from Mystery Mentor, my plan was to use the ads he recommended for Adsense including the text link ads across the footer. YPN offers the standard text ads but not link ads. And because you can’t use Adsense and YPN ads on the same page because of the TOS I had to choose to either keep earning the money I was getting or continue the experiment. I opted to continue forward.

Problem #2 - YPN’s relevancy falls short. The ads that appear for Adsense sometimes make me scratch my head but the YPN ads were almost always off-base. I figured that it might take time for them to align to the content but after two weeks I had 0 clicks and was considering swapping back. I found a setting in the control panel that let’s you tighten the focus of the ads. I made the appropriate change and saw a very minor improvement.

Problem #3 - Low CTR. The ads were still targeted too broadly and the CTR didn’t improve.

Problem #4 - Limited pool of advertisers to pull from. I don’t have proof but I suspect the industry this site covered just didn’t have a very broad advertising base. I saw a lot of ads for “mortgage” which probably pay well but I’ll never know because my viewers aren’t interested in that and didn’t click the ads.

Problem #5 - Low gain for clicks. I thought that maybe the problem of fewer clicks would be compensated for by high payouts for the few clicks I did get. No such luck.

YPN has a solid platform and implementing ads is just as easy as Adsense. I beleive that as they progress and recruit more advertisers the relevancy will improve. And I did only test one site. Other sites or industries may have better luck. But for now the steady money is in Adsense, at least for me.

Posted in Business Owners, PPC, Reviews, Industry News

4 Comments »

After several conversations where people asked if I had a facebook account and I was forced to admit “no, I don’t” I have finally given into to the peer pressure and joined the facebook cult.

Check out my profile, befriend me or drop me some tips to make my facebook experience as cool as I’ve heard!

So far the signup process was very easy. But the search process is a bit cumbersome. It seems facebook really wants you to plug in your email manager and I’m not comfortable with that. Searching for individuals doesn’t seem possible as they want you to look for groups but the groups don’t include “industry” just company, education or location. Kinda short-sided IMO.

I’m still in the dark as far as the facebook culture goes but I hope to learn fast - especially if you help… maybe drop some tips in the comments bellow…

Posted in Sales and Marketing, SEOs, Website Designers, Business Owners, Reviews

3 Comments »

Smart website owners understand their website is a “work in progress” and never truly complete. The ideal website is updated regularly, if not constantly. But scope creep and other problems may cause the website to become unwieldy and appear disorganized to the average visitor. At some point the decision for a redesign is made.

When I offer a professional website review I ask the following questions:

Does this page or feature help the brand or hurt it? How?

Brand management can be tough. Just by asking this question fluff gets cut and important content gets pushed forward. This also reduces scope creep.

Is this page for: Vendors, Internal Employees, Potential Customers, Existing Customers, Search Engines, Other?

If I can’t tell who the page is for it needs to be reworked or cut. Every page should be clear in its intention and deliberate in presentation.

Can anything be cut? Should anything be added?

Content should be specific and comprehensive, not filler.

Sometimes pages are added to websites because competitors have similar pages. These pages tend to be short. While server resources are nearly infinite for an average site viewer patience is not. Get rid of these pages.

How is the site structure? How will the search engines view it?

The most important pages should be listed in places of prominence (above the fold and/or at the top of the navigation). This is a usability issue but also clues you in to how the search engines will crawl the site and how the PR/linkjuice will flow. The most important pages should be one click away at all times. Important pages include anything in the sales cycle like “products” and “contact”.

There are some links you want to down-play or deemphasize like “about” or “management team” type pages. While these feed the ego and should be included people will look for them if they are interested. These pages distract from the sales cycle and sometimes turn viewers off - if your profile is listed above the products it is clear where your priorities are. Links to legal pages like “privacy” don’t need to be in the header at all - these should be tucked away in the footer if they are really needed.

All links should be HTML, not hidden in JavaScript.

You may consider adding “nofollows” to pages that are essential but don’t help your search engine efforts like legal disclaimers.

Is anything broken?

Mainly this is links, especially navigation. Old sites may have dead links pointing out. This also applies to broken scripts and script errors appearing on pages.

I consider inconsistent design and navigation “broken”. It confuses the viewer and sometimes hurts the brand.

Should any pages be merged or moved?

Some websites offer more than one contact page - a general one and one for sales, support or press. If someone does a search for [contact yourcompanyname] which page should appear in the results? Other times a page will be included under the wrong subheading. Navigation should be intuitive. Large sites should include a search feature to help.

The main consideration for website redesigns should be enforcing the sales cycle, making presentation clear and including everything necessary without anything extra that distracts. If you do this a lot of the problems will clear themselves up and even your SEO efforts will be improved.

Posted in Website Designers, SEOs, Business Owners, Reviews, SEO, Web Design

No Comments »

What you call love was invented by guys like me… to sell nylons

If you want a surreal education on what advertising is really about and what works you should be watching AMC’s drama Mad Men.

Mad Men is about the Sterling Cooper Advertising Agency of the 1960’s Madison Avenue set. These are the people that made smoking and alcohol consumption a cultural phenomenon. Ego and the art of the sale are what are important - surface over substance. These are the trend makers. The captains of their craft.

Ethics don’t count. Sexual harassment is the norm… everywhere. So is racism. Pregnant women smoke 2 packs a day and drinking large amounts of alcohol.

And that is just the backdrop.

There are personal issues and story-lines. Intrigue. An all-star cast. And even though the pacing is a bit slow Mad Men is being hailed by critics as “the best new television drama”. But who cares about all that when you can learn about advertising the way it was when it worked?

The insight into the industry is amazing. Advertising is about making people feel that they are ok. You are ok to smoke Lucky Strikes because “they’re toasted”.

The culture of 1960 is shocking to my modern sensibilities. This show is in-your-face with how the ad world worked at it’s peak and its influence over the rest of the US. It’s dark and driven and seemingly accurate from what I’ve read.

The show is good. The education is unbeatable. And you can learn more about it at the official Mad Men website.

Posted in Sales and Marketing, Reviews, Promotion, Marketing

No Comments »