Tech Omelet

@michaelrlitt

Found this fantastic image, courtesy of onlineschools.org and thought it was worth a share.

It's weakness? Flash. Flash sucks. Netbooks, those machine designed to explore the web-on-the-go, suck because flash exists. For some reason, Intel puts these run-of-the mill Atom processors in these things. Their power-requirements are pretty much equivalent to the 1.3GHz CULV (Consumer Ultra Low Voltage) Core 2 Duo processors we're seeing in CULV laptops, but the Core 2 Duos absolutely PANTS the Atom!

Flash is a fantastic tool for developing content - it ruins the web-experience. I don't think I was the only one disappointed with GPU enabled flash 10.1. Does flash still have a chance? 

One thing for certain, Intel is making a splash with it's new 32nm CULV processor designs. Maybe I'm due for an upgrade sooner then I thought - maybe adobe will get's it's junk in gear and build a competitive and satisfying platform. It's interesting how monopoly's fall so hard so fast due to lack of innovation.

-Mike

Under the wings of an aspiring startup and managing a blog with sustained Ad-sense revenue, I feel I'm at a point where I can seriously comment on the value of a both ad-platforms.

A Google Ad-words account is essentially the bread-and-butter of any fledgling service-based company's success. Initializing a good campaign and learning from your mistakes are essential to boosting your page-rank and meaningful ad-conversions. The Page-Rank algorithm (Google's method of ranking your page in search results) is highly secretive, one can only make reasonable conjecture's as to how it works.

Gone are the days of keyword tracking (thanks to keyword spammers). Now we're looking at an algorithm based off of quantity of back-links, back-link rank, site-maps AND keyword matching. It makes me wonder - is there an allocation for ad-words spending? Think about it - spending money on an ad-words campaign is going to help you achieve both impressions and clicks that are registered in google's servers. This would undoubtedly boost your page-rank.

Does this mean that an ad-words initiative is integral to a startup's success? I hope not.

I have a few problems with ad-words. Like the original query-indexes, all ad results are based on keyword and key-phrase matching. What if I want to target a specific demographic (age-group, professional in a certain field/job-type, etc.)? Moreover, what if my content is catered specifically to a demographic that is technologically proficient and uses firefox and/or chrome? These individuals are more likely to have ad-block enabled and if not, even less likely to click a "stupid Google ad".

That's where facebook ad's come in. Not only are they cheaper, they allow me to connect with specific demographics based on their account information. Now we're talking.

Unfortunately, these facebook ads are not related to search, therefore I require both an ad-words and facebook ad campaign to make sure I'm targeting both search content and demographic relationships.

Now rewind a few months back to Google Buzz. The advent of Buzz made me update and refine my Google profile and it got me thinking... Google now has some of my personal information (age, interests, jobs, etc.). Does this mean that Google ads will soon be "interest and demographic targeted" to users logged into their Google accounts while searching? 

It only makes sense. I'm sure Google is already identifying my search habits and building it's own profile of who I am - why not help it? After all, I am paying their bills.

boom.

Marketing professionals encounter the daily challenge of reaching their customer base in a way that drives those customers to purchase the latest and greatest product.  Since the need for such a profession was established, the realm of available mediums has been constantly evolving; leading to tough decisions on how to effectively spend advertising dollars.  In today’s connected world, the internet has become a major medium for delivering promotional content.  To most internet marketers, click-through rate is king; but how do these professionals ensure those clicks lead to revenue dollars?

When a potential customer lands on your product’s site they are often bombarded with a variety of consumer education media, in an attempt to inform potential customers about the product.  This media may include colorful images, persuasive text-based testimonials or even better, an attractive video.  With the delivery of broadband internet to the majority of consumer’s homes, preferences have quickly shifted to richer content.  As a result, the growth in the online video advertising medium has been staggering; in fact, a New York Times study showed that “Video is now the fastest-growing segment of the internet advertising market. Digital video amounted to $477 million in revenue in the first half of 2009, up 38 percent from the same time period in 2008".  While it seems clear that online video advertising has taken a significant role in today’s marketer’s portfolio, the delivery of content in this medium is strictly split between two distinct classifications.

The creation of consumer education media begins with selecting the major goal of the video; two schools of thought exist on this selection.  Promotional content focuses on showcasing a product to the consumer, and is characterized by a call to action at the conclusion of the video.  These hard-sell videos typically highlight the key features of the product, and are usually restricted to a maximum of 2 minutes in length.

In contrast with promotional content; educational demonstrations provide the user with a soft-sell walkthrough of the product, allowing them to experience the product in action before they make the purchase decision.  Educational demonstrations often serve a dual-purpose, as they are typically a new customer’s first reference if they have difficulty using a product, saving a company costly tech-support calls.

The combination of these two classes of consumer education media provide potential customers with a meaningful introduction to the product’s functionality and the associated benefits.  While the growth of the online video market has been established, marketers must also realize that the access to this type of content is growing in parallel.  Improving data-rates on smartphones, along with new content delivery systems like the Apple iPad allow marketers to reach even the most mobile consumer.  The advancing level of consumer connectivity has led eMarketer to name video ads as the main channel for advertisers seeking to increase their online spending for the next 5 years.

The merit of consumer education media as a whole has been thoroughly presented; however, marketers are constantly faced with the challenge of quantifying the success of such a campaign.  Canadian Business Online recently discussed measurement of the marketing effectiveness of a classical advertising campaigns; highlighting the importance of ensuring an acceptable return on your marketing investment.  The next step in the evolution of online consumer education media must be the measurement of campaign success or failure; allowing marketers to tweak their use of this emerging medium.  

Apple this, Google that. The two behemoths seem to be in a continuous fight over technology and data. Jobs says nay to Google as the iPhone's default QI (that's right, query index - that's some serious pre-Y2K throw-back buzz wordage). Google integrates multi-touch into their android platform.