Is the MIT $100 Laptop GooglePod?
Friday, November 18, 2005
Well, I think the biggest news of the past couple of days has been the $100 laptop from MIT. Sure, it's not a reality today, but 2006/2007 is not a long way off. The price of a Windows license is almost as much as the entire hardware, so of course this thing will be Linux-based. They even passed over Mac OS for it. Such a laptop used in developing nations will result in entire generations of computer-literate low-cost members of the global workforce, which will result in more contributors to open source projects, and so on. Add the rumored solar-powered/wind-powered Internet nodes that could provide virtually free WiFi for these virtually free laptops, and you start to get the picture. And if you look close at the funders of the MIT $100 PC project, you will see none other than... Google! Could this be the ubiquitous GooglePod next generation Yellow Pages? Just crank it up. There's not a lot of room for premium OS pricing. And this announcement just happened to coincide with Microsoft rumors of a completely ad-based free version of Windows. Times, they are a'changin. And that's music to the ears of this old Amiga fan. Labels: Apple, Google, Microsoft
posted by Connors Communications
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Advertising Credibility
How many Google AdWords do you need? What ad placement can get you the most results? Or should you scrap your advertising efforts entirely?
Advertising is continually growing, especially in the online space. And for good reason. Advertising can be very effective when done well. And in advertising, you get the exact amount of exposure that you pay for and you know where and when it will run. But this is not the only approach and, in fact, may not be the most credible source for consumers.
Ads can say whatever you want them to. But the audience isn't necessarily going to believe it. Consumers have become very skeptical of advertising and while it can be very effective, it can also have more than a few pitfalls. PR, on the other hand, creates messages that come from an outside source. It is considerably less promotional and the results are always a bit uncertain, precisely because of this. However, articles are trusted more and they cost a whole lot less for the same exposure. This is also true for SEO, where the top 10 search results are so vital and the paid keywords so often passed over.
This isn't to condemn advertising. However, I contend that the best and most complete marketing campaign takes the limits of advertising credibility into consideration and augments these ads with solid PR and SEO efforts that can add validity to the messaging. Your campaign will be the better for it.Labels: Adwords, Google, pr, seo
posted by Jessica Ek
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Strange Searches and their Amusing Results
Friday, November 11, 2005
Todd Barrish is part of the team here at Connors and is the "largest todd in the world," according to a recent MSN search. He's not that big, really. I'm fairly certain that the person who came to the Connors website during this search did not find what he/she was looking for. However, this begs the question, what the heck were they looking for, anyway?
Hello world! I'm Jessica Ek and part of my job here at Connors is to monitor what keywords are generating traffic. I look at trends in searching and what phrases are important to bring qualified traffic into clients' sites as well as our own. While looking at the results and sorting the wheat from the chaff, I find great entertainment in some of the phrases that people are putting into the search engines.
As a colleague of mine once said, "Search engines don't speak English." While they search words in English, they don't understand what those words mean individually or in context. Google can't read your mind and you can't ask it a question. You can only provide search parameters and it will supply you with the results of this query. And once in a while, this clash between the human search request and the search engine program leads to strange websites.
Search engines are defining how we look for things and what we find. Here are some stranger phrases that have brought searchers to our website:
Zombie background (this was right before Halloween)
Fallout boy
Tiger population
Connors footwear
Drawings of Gwen Stefani
European casual clothes
What do they all have in common? They led to the website of a mid-sized public relations firm in New York City. Sometimes I just shake my head and laugh. It's always interesting to see what people will be looking for next.Labels: Connors Communications, Google, MSN, search
posted by Jessica Ek
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Quality Online Writing?
I just want to point out that the Internet seems to have contributed to a noticeable decline in grammar. Posts are real time and speed is valued more than accuracy. Grammatical errors are easily overlooked and almost expected in the copy that finds its way onto webpages each day. While I regret this decline, I readily admit that my own blog is sometimes prone to such oversights. In my defense, I do try my best to minimize these errors instead of adding to the slide.
Recently, an AP article came out with a misspelling in the title. The Edmund Fitzgerald was "rememvered." That doesn't even require proofreading. Just turn on spell check. The AP covers many stories and covers them quickly in an effort to get the news out first. I understand that errors will be made. But this is just careless. If a news organization such as the Associated Press is slipping, where is online writing quality headed?
Have Internet writing standards sunk too low?Labels: blog
posted by Jessica Ek
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