October
26, 2005
In This Issue:
1. Google Base
2. In the News - AdWords keyword tool, YSM opens
up, Google flight tool
3. More News Headlines
4. This Week's Q&A - Domain registrars?
5. Wrapping It Up
_________________
Google Base
The buzz this week is all about Google Base. Say
what? Someone discovered <http://base.google.com/>,
which -- judging from screenshots a few hawkeyes
have posted -- appears to be Google's attempt
at creating a Big Database of Everything. Some
people have said it's Google's version of classified
ads, but that's selling it short if you ask me.
It's classifieds, yes -- advertise your car for
sale, your house for sale, etc. It competes with
newspapers. It competes with eBay. It competes
with Craigslist. But it's also a content generator
-- Google is allowing users to create web content,
perhaps not unlike the Geocities web site creation
service that Yahoo offers. Google is allowing
people to build their own databases and data sets
-- it appears that anything you can classify,
you can create and post to Google Base.
And, of course, all of this will be in a format
and structure that Google can very easily crawl
-- and the screenshots even show a message saying
that the content you create "may be included
in the main Google search index" along with
other properties like Froogle and Google Local.
Will there be a cost to use Google Base? Google
hasn't charged a dime for things like Gmail or
its Blogger service, but there are reports that
Google Base will be tied with their rumored payment
system. So you may have to pay to let Google host
your content. After getting what must've been
a thousand inquiries, Google finally replied yesterday
to say it's "an early-stage test of a product
that enables content owners to easily send their
content to Google."
So what stands out for me is this, with the caveat
that it's so early that anything can happen as
the thing develops: Google isn't content with
sending crawlers out to find and crawl web content.
They want the content to come to them, to be hosted
on their platform. If that's what it turns out
to be, it raises some interesting questions for
online businesses, like, Do you want to pay to
let Google host some of your content? How does
it impact your existing web site? Your rankings
and traffic? If nothing else, it should be fun
to watch. Seems it always is with Google.
Some links for more information (which include
links to the screenshots):
Search Engine Watch blog: Google
Base
Threadwatch: base.google.com
_________________
In The News
New AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool
If you're an AdWords advertiser, this should make
you happy: Google has released a new keyword suggestion
tool which replaces the old "keyword sandbox."
It's only available after you've logged in to
your AdWords account.
AdWords
Keyword Tool
Yahoo Search Marketing opens up to
small advertisers
YSM, formerly Overture, has dropped its $20 minimum
monthly spend for advertising on its search properties.
This opens up YSM to smaller "mom and pop"
advertisers as well as advertisers that want to
do brief, quick-hit campaigns.
Yahoo
Search Marketing
Google Flights
Another neat addition (or maybe more clutter,
depending on your viewpoint) to Google's interface.
If you type in the name of two cities into their
search box, the SERP will present you with a quick
way to search flights between the two cities on
Expedia, Hotwire, or Orbitz. Here's an example,
using a search for [pasco seattle]:
http://www.google.com/search?q=pasco%20seattle
_________________
More News Headlines
Here are a few news headlines worth your time
to read. These are just some of the headlines
we've posted to OWTweb.com in recent days.
Saw
it online, paid for it off
October 21, 2005 - InternetNews.com
Study says the Web's ability to influence offline
sales is growing.
Search
goes behavioral
October 19, 2005 - ClickZ.com
Google filed for a behavioral targeting patent.
That's worth your attention.
More headlines: http://www.owtweb.com/news/
_________________
This Week's Q&A
Matt,
I just read the newsletter and you had some suggestions
for where to find stock photos, which I liked.
But I'm wondering what you would recommend for
domains. Do you have a suggestion for where to
go to register a domain? There are so many choices.
Ken
Hi Ken,
There are a lot of choices for registering a domain,
and if you shop around you'll find a pretty wide
price range, too. Some registrars charge as little
as $8-$9 per year, and others charge $35 or more
per year. At OWT, we use a Seattle-based company
called eNom.com. They're not the cheapest, but
they do offer good customer service, which we
sometimes need since we have a lot of domains
registered for our clients.
GoDaddy.com is one of the least expensive registrars,
and I actually have some of my personal domains
registered there. Haven't had any trouble myself,
but others have. You can't beat the price, but
you "pay" for it by having to suffer
through way too many ads and upsell pages.
The registrars we avoid at all costs are Network
Solutions and Register.com -- we've had way too
many problems with them in past years, either
with our own domains or with our clients' domains.
(Have a question? Email questions@owtweb.com)
_________________
Wrapping it Up
This is interesting to look at:
The
100 oldest .com domains
Thanks for reading,
Matt McGee
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