E-dreamz Company Blog

As an internet marketer I start my day by cranking up Chrome and checking out what’s new on the Google home page. This morning I was greeted by a Google Doodle that reminded me who’s the Alpha & Omega of web search.

It’s easy to lose sight of Google’s accomplishments when the media jumps at every opportunity to make the search giant look bad. A quick look (and click) on today’s Doodle and you’ll be reminded that they are top dog.

Today’s Doodle celebrates Martha Graham’s 117^th birthday. It is a fantastic animation that is interesting, striking and begs to be clicked; I’m thankful for the latter since I had no idea who Martha Graham was. Google’s lovely little doodle directed me to a search engine results page (SERP) filled with links to authoritative organizations oozing with information on Martha Graham, the mother of modern dance.

Today’s doodle, and accompanying search results, not only taught me about the life of an amazing woman but also reminded me that the number one source for information online is undoubtedly Google.

Google took another step towards enhancing their AdWords user interface with their new Keyword Diagnosis tool. This is a great little tool that quickly scans through all of your keywords in an account, campaign, or ad group. The tool, which is found on any keyword level page in AdWords under the "more actions" tab, checks all the selected keywords to see if they are properly displaying your ads.

If your keyword is not displaying properly the Keyword Diagnosis tool will tell you why, (unless you are like me and it says “reason: other.” I like this tool because there are lots of filtering options and you can geo target your test. It is also nice to have Google consider its advertisers for once!

I know, I know short post. But it's Friday afternoon, time to start winning the weekend!

Thanks to Brent at SEW for his post, "Google AdWords: Ad Preview Marries Ad Diagnostics" that brough this new tool to my attention.

Super Bowl XLV weekend is finally upon us. This Sunday, millions of Americans will gather with friends and family to watch the Packers take on the Steelers for the 45^th presentation of the Super Bowl. By this time, most of the venues have been set, the food has been purchased and the beer has been put on ice; all most fans have to do now is show up and watch.

While the majority of us are finishing our Super Bowl preparations and getting ready to enjoy the game; social media marketers are gearing up for the culmination of some very cool and creative social media campaigns. Super Bowl XLV has been particularly “social” this year; here are some of my favorite advertising campaigns that incorporate social media with the super bowl.

Twerrible Towel (Twerrible Towel) – Not only is this really cool, but it is one of the more creative uses of social media I have seen. Twerribletowel.com features a live feed of a motorized hand spinning a Steelers terrible towel. What’s cool about this? The motor turning the towel is powered by tweets! Every time someone tweets #steelernation the towel makes one full rotation. At the time of writing this blog post the towel was on its 20,688^th turn! 

Mercedes Benz (Tweet Race) – Mercedes Benz is going to make the most of their first ever Super Bowl T.V. commercial by promoting their ground breaking “tweet race” social media campaign. The tweet race is the first ever auto race fueled by social media interaction. 

Last Wednesday, four teams of two took off from the four corners of America in an all out race to the Super Bowl. Their progress will depend on the amount of tweets and likes they receive from Twitter and Facebook. The first team to reach Arlington for the Super Bowl will win a set of brand new C-Class Coupes.

Competition isn’t limited to the drivers only though; the most active social media users of the winning team will be entered to win a V.I.P trip to the PGA Championship, the US Open or Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. 

NFL & Visa Super Bowl XLV Conversation (NFL Conversation)– The NFL teamed up with Visa to develop a real-time, interactive, web site that tracks all social conversations related to Super Bowl XLV. At this specialized site you can; view trending topics, read what the players are saying, and even see which states are home to the most active Twitter users. I’ll give you a hint; its Pittsburgh and Wisconsin.

My favorite part of the site is the Steelers vs. Packers real-time battle. This pits the #steelers against the #packers in a head to head battle of Twitter mentions on the virtual grid iron. At the time of writing the packers were winning 57% to 43%. 

Leave comments with social media campaigns you like and remember to join the conversation this Sunday!

During these tough economic times, local business owners are always looking for ways to do business faster, easier, and most importantly cheaper. While researching Facebook ads for a client I stumbled across a tip that extends far beyond Facebook advertising.

The biggest benefit of Facebook advertising is the ability to very specifically target who sees your advertisements. As you enter the targeting parameters for your ad, Facebook automatically reports how many people your ad will potentially reach. From a small business perspective, this is a quick, easy and free way to get basic demographic research!

Say I own a bakery in Arlington, VA and I want to expand my product base to include wedding cakes. Before I pay for the supplies, equipment and staff, I want to know what kind of potential market I have. So, I log on to my companies’ Facebook page, click “promote with an ad” and scroll down to the targeting section.

I enter the parameters I feel qualified customers will possess in boom, Facebook gives me this;

Right away I know how many people are in my area that fall into very specific categories of what I consider a qualified lead. I can use this information to start baking and selling wedding cakes, open a new location specifically designed for wedding cakes, or use the info to create my wedding cake advertising budget. This is a great little feature that every small business owner should check out; it only takes a few seconds to get some great data!

By the end of the day every Google user will see a light purple background behind the paid search results instead of the previous light yellow. The first purple backgrounds became visible to a select group back in May. It took a few months but today marks the end of light yellow and the beginning of light purple for all paid search results for the foreseeable future.

Why the sudden change after three successful years of yellow? Google’s official response is that light purple was chosen purely for aesthetics to update the look and feel of their current search results page. Google is known to be private at best so the color rumor mill has been working overtime since the Monday statement.

Eight years ago the first AdWords advertisements appeared with a light green background. Green seemed an obvious choice considering it is most associated with money. Green has also been proven to improve reading ability and is the color of nature, tranquility and health. The Google brand and lifestyle has always been that of social responsibility, employee wellness and moderation, so green seemed to be a perfect fit.

Five years later the paid search background changed to a light yellow. Yellow seemed to be based on economics for Google’s highest revenue generating product. Yellow is the most visible color in our spectrum and widely used by advertisers and sign makers to grab the attention of passing drivers and potential customers.

By the end of the day the third sponsored search color change will have been fully implemented. Like the first two colors; purple has economic implications as it represents wealth, power and royalty. Seems like a good strategy, get searches in the mindset of wealth and status while they browse ads targeted at returning an investment. Unlike the previous colors, purple has deeper meanings than greenbacks or canaries.

Purple is the primary color of the NBA Champion team, the LA Lakers. Google might not be as nerdy as we thought, using their search results to represent their native California team. They might be avid literature fans referencing the classic novel, The Color Purple, by Alice Walker.

Politically, a completely bi-partisan state is called a Purple State, equal combinations of Red (Republican) and Blue (Democrat) create the perfectly bi-partisan purple. Is Google expressing their frustrations of a split bi-partisan government? Or are they saying political cooperation is the answer to our countries’ issues.

Another theory is that absolutely no thought goes into color choice at all and they are just cycling their logo colors of blue, red, yellow and green. The only thing we know for certain is that the color choice is here to stay. So, regardless of deeper implications we better get used to the change since that is what we’ll see in search results for the next few years.