Last week, Amit Singhal explained that Google's search results are manually edited on an infrequent basis.  Today, the Google Fellow explored some of the technological achievements that allow for manual interventions to remain so rare.

Some of the features don't extend much beyond spell-checking suggestions.  These, frankly, fail to impress.  Other things - like recognizing that "soccer" means different things in different countries, or that "dr" can be a person's title or part of a street's name - are only a small step up.

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Recently, Microsoft Live Search announced it was acquiring natural search engine Powerset. How the acquisition will effect both companies is yet to be seen but the implications are bright for both companies.

In a complaint filed last week with the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission, Internet giant Google alleged Bell Canada is violating Canadian law by slowing Internet traffic. Google is requesting the CRTC take action against Bell.

Google, the biggest search engine on the Internet, says Bell and other Internet service providers want to be Internet gatekeepers, deciding which Web sites go faster or slower and which won't load up at all, taking the freedom of choice from millions of users and putting control into the hands of the corporate bosses.

For example, search engine company X could pay Internet service provider Y to guarantee its search engine opens faster than Google does on your computer. That would pretty much spell the end for Google, or any website that was outbid.

"Bell claims its throttling of peer-to-peer applications is a reasonable form of network management. Google respectfully disagrees. Network management does not include Canadian carriers' blocking or degrading lawful applications that consumers wish to use," a portion of Google's 15-page statement reads.

Other industry associations have made similar complaints. The CRTC is investigating the throttling and said it will release a report in September.

Bell first started slowing the speeds of its Sympatico Internet subscribers in November and did the same to its wholesale customers in March.

"The Internet is simply too important to allow them to act as such a gatekeeper," Google said.

But gatekeepers are what the service providers want to be, says the website www.savetheinternet.com. And if they get their way, people from all walks of life will be affected — everyone from small business owners who will be left in the slow lane with inferior Internet service, to kids downloading music for their iPods forced to pay top dollar for songs, to innovators with the next big idea who will be pushed out of the marketplace by big corporations that pay Internet providers for the top spots on the Web.

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Google has become just another fat, happy, and even arrogant company.

Google went from startup to behemoth in record time. But there are increasing signs that Google has become just another fat, happy, and even arrogant company, no longer the lean, industry-changing giant of the past. And that spells good news for Microsoft.

There are numerous signs that Google has lost its mojo. Let's start with the way it treats its employees. Google has prided itself on the many perks it offers those who work for it. The pact has always been clear: Google will treat you like a king, if you in turn work long, hard hours. That free food, after all, is fuel for those willing to work harder and longer hours.

An eye-opening article in the New York Times, though, shows those days are gone. In it, Joe Nocera details how Google has decided to nearly double the cost of day care for its employees, who have complained bitterly about the change.

The story reveals a surprisingly high level of arrogance. It claims the following happened at a company meeting:

In June, the Google co-founder Sergey Brin said he had no sympathy for the parents, and that he was tired of "Googlers" who felt entitled to perks like "bottled water and M&Ms."

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Google is rolling out two new offerings that let advertisers more precisely target people who will likely be receptive to their products.

The new products will replace Google's AdWords pay-per-action beta, a program that will be phased out by the end of August as the company integrates technology from DoubleClick, the advertising and Web publishing network it acquired in April 2007 for US$3.1 billion.

One product is the Conversion Optimizer, a tool designed to manage how much an advertiser will pay for a "conversion," the goal the advertiser wants to achieve from a consumer, such as signing up for a newsletter or buying a product.

Web ads have traditionally been sold on the basis of impressions (the number of times an ad is displayed) or clicks (the number of times a viewer clicks on it) but conversions typically represent more value for an advertiser than impressions or clicks.

Advertisers naturally also want to pay the least amount possible for an ad. The Conversion Optimizer is an automated bidding tool which looks at three factors when deciding how much to bid for a particular ad on a publisher's Web site: a person's search query, the location of the user and how successful the particular Web site is at achieving conversions.

The tool then predicts the chances of success of an ad placed on that Web site, and the tool can then lower or increase the bid accordingly. Previously, the advertiser had to manually bid on the ad space, which potentially made ads more expensive to buy.

Advertisers can limit the maximum amount they will pay for an ad in the Conversion Optimizer, which then analyzes which are the best buys for the budget, wrote Trevor Claiborne of Google on one of the company's blogs.

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Advertising success lies in understanding the relationship between media channels and how the advertising engages consumers or prospects. Somewhere in your media ad serving, Google reports, Web site-tracking tools and customer transactional databases you have all the data points you need. But how do you unlock the knowledge in this data? The answer: find the right marketing campaign dashboarding and analytics partner.

Dashboards have recently seen an increased resurgence in the market, especially from a corporate marketers and agencies perspective. As advertising strategies span multiple channels and tactics, there is an abundance of data driving the need to integrate and visualize quickly and efficiently.

Selecting, implementing and managing a marketing dashboard partner for tracking, reporting and then analyzing all these data points can seem a daunting task for even the most experienced advertisers and marketers. However, when done well it can make all the difference to get the most out of your marketing dollars. If you plan on embarking on a vendor search, here are 10 tips to keep in mind when choosing your dashboarding partner:

1. Determine your dashboarding, reporting, & analytics needs

Dashboarding providers range from free services provided by publishers to enterprise solutions with five-figure monthly fees. A robust free service which provides decent functionality and detailed reporting is Google Analytics. There are numerous online communities of Google Analytics users that help one another set up and troubleshoot tracking codes. What is presumably the biggest advantage of Google Analytics compared to other free services is its seamless integration with Google AdWords. However, users need to remember that like many free Web services, it is subject to spotty reliability, delays in reporting, lower numbers reported compared to other site measurement tools due to its tracking methodology, and as reported in the online communities, losses of historical data. Even with these drawbacks, Google Analytics remains a popular and widely used digital media and Web analytics tool for small to medium size marketers and ad agencies. When the need arises for a more accountable, reliable and customizable enterprise solution, if you can handle the monetary and learning curve expense, there are a number of available options providing substantially more control over the presentation of your data and depth and breadth of tracking. The analytics marketplace is in a frenzied race to provide turn-key interfaces and solutions for corporate marketers of all sizes and functionalities.

2. Internal end-user business intelligence requirements 

As you select a dashboarding partner, it’s important to consider what type of business intelligence features are going to be needed by your team before making your selection. One step in the vendor selection process is defining–as a team–what types of reports, graphs, and analysis your business users will need to make them successful. You will also need to consider the number of users that will be accessing the dashboarding system, their skill sets, and their specific technological needs. For instance, will analysts on your team be able to use the dashboard to slice and dice the data in ways that make sense to them.

3. External end-user business intelligence requirements

In addition to considering your internal team, it’s important to consider the needs of your external agencies and partners. Be sure to gain your agencies and partners feedback in terms of their reporting needs. This will help the vendor scope the best solution for you and help you to understand the vendors ability to provide dashboards and insights across your organization and partners as well.

4. Security

As you invest time and energy into your selection process you can easily weed out many potential partners if they don’t meet your security requirements. This is a good point to lead with. Be sure to ask the vendor to provide detailed information related to the products security, password protection, audit trail, and quality assurance processes. Find out where the data physically resides and if there are redundancy systems in place if their system is breached or parts of it fail.

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Many companies could be missing out on sales by not maximising their websites or online marketing campaigns, worrying new findings have shown.

The survey, commissioned by Crafted Media, reveals that 88.8% of those surveyed believe online marketing to be either very or quite important, with 75.6% rating non online advertising as important.

Despite this, almost two thirds (60%) of companies said they spend less than 25% of their overall marketing budget on online marketing techniques.

The survey also shows that whilst 83% of people think their website is an effective marketing tool, less than two thirds (60%) monitor traffic to their website and under half (39.5%) optimise their websites using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) techniques.

Only 9% said they implement Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising campaigns, with almost a third (32.8%) admitting they do neither – meaning they could be missing out on website sales and/or enquiry opportunities.

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If you're going to Google yourself, you first should make sure no one is watching.

It can be embarrassing if you're caught running your own name through Google's search engines. Others might think it egotistical that you keep track of how often you're mentioned out there on the Greater Internet. What if the searches don't turn up much? Worse yet, what if there are more mentions of people with the same name as you?

Such searches can feel like a measure of popularity, similar to the number of times you were pictured in your high school yearbook. A low number of search "hits" might make you feel unpopular and unloved. You might be tempted to put your name on more Web sites to get your numbers up, sort of like the graffiti "artists" who proclaim their existence on public buildings and railroad cars. That's just sad.

I confess that I Google myself regularly. I have solid, business-related reasons for doing so. I'm searching for reviews of my books and I'm checking on Web sites where my column turns up. I've got a blog (which sounds like a medical condition), and I'm frequently named on other authors' blogs. Every mention might result in more book sales, so I've got to keep track. Or so I tell myself.

The truth, I fear, is closer to the yearbook analogy. I'm the nerdy kids who's flipping through pages, hoping to see himself in the Chess Club photo or in the background of crowd shots.

When I search for "Steve Brewer" on Google, it turns up more than 28,000 "hits." It's a more common name than I ever would've thought.

Facebook has 93 Steve Brewers, none of whom are me. I don't have an entry on Facebook because I haven't taken time to figure out how to get one, and I'd clearly get lost in the shuffle anyway.

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'How-to' computer sites offer guidance on knitting, blackjack, kissing

There may be problems, but many companies see their future on the web, says Alex Turner

AN INCREASING number of online businesses are suffering from high-profile difficulties. This month has already brought problems for Sainsbury’s and Cotton Traders.

Sainsbury’s lost up to £1m a day last week as data capture issues forced the supermarket group to take its online store offline, while clothes retailer Cotton Traders admitted to a significant security breach in January.

However, many businesses are boosted by their online sales, with some notable successes away from the high street.

Birkenhead-based Park Group has offered a Christmas savings scheme for 40 years, mostly using agents to rely on traditional social networks of family, friends and colleagues to grow its business.

But recently it has enthusiastically embraced opportunities online. Customers and agents can now place orders and manage their accounts online, which improves customer service and reduces costs.

Park chairman Peter Johnson said: “We have made substantial progress in web-enabling our business and this has been a key area of focus in both the Christmas savings market and corporate voucher sales.

“This year, 90% of enquiries were received via the web with 29% of all orders being placed via this route.

“This, along with the successful introduction of new e-mail and telecommunications technology last year, has helped to reduce operational costs and provide our agents with a more flexible way of trading with us.

“The popularity of the web among our target audiences is encouraging and is not only changing the way in which we operate, but also opening new markets.”

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• Start off on the right foot: Even though we’ve moved beyond a purely ‘information’ age on the web, it is still essential to ensure that customers can find all the relevant, accurate information on your outlets and services on your website. Ensure you’ve kept your descriptions concise, marketable and search engine friendly. Also avoid going the ‘Flash-only’ route or building too many microsites and websites for individual outlets unless absolutely necessary – it’s usually better to have one site with different sections to promote all the information and special offers you need, so you can promote that one website URL to guests for easy top-of-mind recall (and on outlet collateral pieces plus all offline advertising).
• Reach the right people at the right time and in the right manner: Customer Relationship Management for overnight guests has evolved considerably, thanks to advances in Property Management Systems and sophisticated tools now employed by hotel properties and chains. Unfortunately CRM for most F&B outlets, Spas and Recreation is still restricted to manual contact collection, Excel spreadsheets and spamming clients when promotions arise. A good CRM strategy is half the job, and then consistently applying it to ensure you’re reaching the right audience for the right promotions while respecting privacy is the other. Professional database management and a legal, tech-sound email contact strategy is a good place to start. Packaging hotel rooms with meals and ancillary services is also a wonderful way to upsell and offer exclusive value-additions for online bookers.

Starting an online business is a very large undertaking. The key to making it work for you is getting your name out there and educating your target audience about your product or service. Hundreds of new businesses are popping up every day on the Internet. Your goal is to get yours noticed above everyone else's. So, how do you do that?

Article marketing offers many advantages for the online business owner. Some of these include:

* The ability to attract search engines and increase your site's marketability. Search engines determine the value of your site by the number of useful links pointing to it. This is how your site climbs positions in the search engine rankings.

* Promotion through article directories dramatically increases traffic to your website. Your articles are used by other websites, printed in e-zines and featured in newsletters.

* A free method of reaching thousands of buyers interested in the type of product or service you are offering. Once you promote your marketing article on the relevant directories, you are finished with that part of your marketing. The traffic developed through the article directories will continue to grow and you won't have to do anything else with that article.

* The ability to get many links posted on other sites. Every time a link to your marketing article is posted on another site, you gain the opportunity to reach all of that site's visitors as prospective customers.

Promote and publish informational articles about your product or service and gain the trust of potential buyers. Through article marketing you have the ability to become an authority on your topic of interest.

How it Works

Online article marketing provides directory publishers with free content. It also provides web-based businesses with free advertising. Promotional articles are written to target certain niche markets. They are then distributed to directories that focus on those markets. This provides business owners with a ready-made audience that already has an interest in the topic.

Gardening is often used as a way of embracing a simpler life away from the chaos of the modern world, but that doesn’t mean it’s behind the times. More garden retailers are using technology to build communities and open new channels of communication with customers. From advice forums to blogs and podcasts, gardening is reaching out to a switched-on digital demographic.

Bricks and clicks is the buzz term in retail at the moment. Last week, market analyst Verdict published a report showing that online retail was defying the downturn with a growth rate 10 times higher than the retail market as a whole. Physical locations, Verdict was keen to highlight, are far from dead, but to thrive and take advantage of the £14.7 billion online retail market, it recommends that retailers complement store sales with an online offering. And in a climate of declining consumer confidence, online retail outlets, like their physical counterparts, are looking to ensure loyalty by offering punters a shopping experience.

Listen and learn

Horticultural marketing consultant Doug Stewart says online retail needs to offer more than products. He says: "If you don’t listen, you don’t sell anything; that’s one of the rules of marketing. Can you listen on your website? It’s about more than just building a website, it’s about building an online community."

Great garden retailing has long been about listening and sharing expertise. That isn’t lost online. The recently launched web-based store Gardencentre.co.uk has managed to retain this element of customer service without working face-to-face with customers. Its Ask the Expert page allows customers to do just that and get detailed garden advice, even uploading pictures of their plants to harness an expert eye. Wyevale’s Potting Shed gives customers the opportunity to share ideas with one another and converse with the experts through an online forum.

Facing the future

One store that has started to harness this sense of community is Sandyhill Garden Centre, which is based in Hull. Its planteria manager Phil Readymartcher set up a group on social networking site Facebook three months ago, enabling him to keep members updated with news and products from the garden centre. He also set up a 10 per cent Facebook group members’ discount as an incentive to build the store’s number of Facebook friends and captivate a new, younger generation of customers. It’s still early days Readymartcher says, but with no in-store promotion the group already has 116 members.

Readymatcher says: "It’s something different. We were trying to get young people to get interested in gardening. Many people in the group are in their 20s, but there are a few older people. We didn’t used to get a lot of young people in the garden centre, but since we started stocking more products aimed at those people, such as jewellery, clothes and a farm shop, there has been more to interest them."

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A website called IdeasForTheKids.co.uk recently came third in the BT Excellence Online Awards in the "Best Kids Website" category; not bad for an SME based in Coventry. Since they are a B2B Centre member and client we were very pleased to hear of this success but the scale of the achievement only really comes into focus when you consider that first and second places went to the BBC CBeebies and Disney websites respectively.

So how can you play David to your sector's Goliaths? How about a combination of nifty business and marketing thinking and making use of some key eMarketing techniques – just like some of the B2B Centre's heroic clients.

How do you compete?
When B2B Centre consultants start working with clients to help them improve their websites or online businesses our initial questions aren't "What web tools are you using?" or "What platform is the site hosted on?"

We concentrate on the business questions first. How exactly do you make money? Tell us about the different sorts of visitors to your site. What's different about your product? Why do customers buy from you?

The reason we do this is to find out exactly how our clients are going up against their competition so that we can advise them on how best to utilise the eMarketing tools and practices available. Being able to answer these kinds of questions is vital if you want to establish a wining position or maybe even change the way you work now in order to find a better offer.

Let's look at just a couple of basic ways of standing up against larger opponents:

• Dare to be different
  You could do something new or different: perhaps IdeasForTheKids.co.uk might come under that category.
  
  If you have an entirely new product or service then you can exploit gaps in the market. ABC Desks, for instance, designs and produces specialised computer desks for use in the education market and is launching a range specifically for handicapped users for which there is little or no competition. Innovation like this doesn't even have to be in the actual product or service either. Improved packaging, using a new way of getting to customers like Lee Blake at 50Fifty Clothing who has an active MySpace account, or adding video clips of your products like Gillian Wesley does for her bridal corsets are examples of being different.
• Sharp focus
  Or you could just be very focused about the type of customers you deal with or the products and services that you offer. Adaptawear specialises in easy to put on clothing for the disabled (in fact it could go under the innovation heading too). The company's focus on one market means that it can demonstrate its passion, knowledge and expertise very easily. SMP Plastics is (as the name suggests) product focused and does loads of things with plastics. They could undoubtedly work with other materials but by only working in plastic they make it easier for themselves to target specific customers and for customers to see them as experts.

Big company blues
So how do you use your winning qualities to compete against companies with more money, more people, more outlets etc?

Well first maybe it is worth reflecting that more can be less. The very fact that they are bigger does give your competitors several disadvantages.

• Bigger companies may well be slow to respond to new customer requirements or market conditions. Inserts Direct recognised that small electrical components companies couldn't get threaded inserts quickly enough or in low volumes easily from the big suppliers. Inserts Direct has established an eCommerce site to exploit this gap and majors on its ability to supply small quantities from stock using overnight delivery if needs be.
  
  What chinks are there in the armour of the big players in your industry?
• Bigger companies are notoriously impersonal. SMEs can often compete simply because they put a face to a name. Michelle Higgs provides copy writing services in competition with PR and marketing agencies around the Midlands. She wins out when people want to know exactly who they are going to deal with and what knowledge and expertise that person has. The fact that Michelle has also written a number of social history books just adds to her credibility.
  
  Consider making a virtue of your own experience and expertise and that of your team. The saying "people buy from people" is frequently true.
• And finally large companies are simply not local. Why is that important? Well the major search engines found that more than 70% of searches were for local resources (Neilsen research). A lot of people want to deal with local businesses: it can be cheaper, they are usually more convenient to deal with and it helps the local economy.

We all know the difference between advertising and PR. Advertising is when you tell people how good you are and PR is about getting someone else to do it.

PR works best if you get someone trusted to do the praising - like a journalist for instance!

Consumers know adverts are designed to sell something and editorial comment has no such agenda, and that is why PR is ultimately more powerful than advertising. Advertising you pay for, PR you pray for, as the saying goes.

Online, we have the same choice. We can pay to have a link at the top of Google or try and get one there by merit. But which links do consumers trust most?

Of course there are a lot of people who don’t know the difference!

Google gives them a little clue by giving the top three links a yellow stained background if they are being ‘sponsored’. But many users will just click on the top link whatever the background colour.

In the UK, 80 per cent of us prefer to click on the free ‘organic’ listing, highlighting our mistrust of advertising.

 In the US however, the sponsored links attract the most traffic, suggesting they are not quite a cynical as us Brits.

Like PR, good natural search results are take time to achieve and often require the hiring of a Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) expert, leading philosophers to argue that there is no such thing as a free link.

But certainly in the UK, being at the top of the ‘free’ listings is best place to be. With paid search (PPC), which is out-and-out advertising, brands have more control of their destiny.

They can specify the message, the position and time it is viewed, and even the geographical location of its viewers.

But its big advantage is that it can generate results fast.

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