The Web Authority

I haven’t seen this in any of the professionals forums or even on the MSN adCenter blog, but I was looking at a potential client’s account for management services and his account is on MSN adCenter Beta. Interesting! Of note was the fact that MSN adCenter is moving to a control panel much like Yahoo’s.

Of particular interest to me was the fact that in adCenter Beta, MSN has dropped “Orders”. Now there are only campaigns, ad groups, and ad text just like the Google AdWords model. The interface was much more user friendly and is clearly a new change for MSN which is struggling to resolve some of the “issues” that professionals find with their current pay per click advertising interface.

I am looking forward myself to migrating to this new fresher and hopefully bug-free interface for Microsoft adCenter.

We are all seeing Web 2.0 on the Web and in forums, but what exactly is that and what does it mean. Web 2.0 is just another name for an interactive website. One that is not static in nature, but rather interacts with the user.

But now we see the emergence of “Web 2.0”, a fairly new term that describes an innovative type of website that is built on the participation of its users. Blogs, wikis Podcasts and social networks all fall under the Web 2.0 umbrella.

Huh? Web 2.0 means introducing Buzz Clouds, interactive blogs — wikis, podcasts, RSS news feeds, user participation on your site. Allowing your users to search your site, add content and comments, and in general interact with the information that you have. That is the jist of Web 2.0.

Don’t get tied up on the details, just know that users want more ability to interact. Websites are transitioning from a one way directional interchange of data, you to the user, to a more multi-directional exchange, you to the user, user to you, user to user. A great example is a blog. Comments are left on a post you or another reader can comment and a real exchange happens. Well a small microcosm really. Web 2.0 is on a much broader scale, but a blog, video, news feeds, are all a start to help you transition to this new direction and something fairly easy to implement now.

Want to see the new face of Google Search for 2007. Click our post title to view our February newsletter to get a sneak peak of the new search interface that Google is testing under the name of SearchMash. It will open your eyes to new possibilities.

Google is making a big push to include local business at the top of specific geographical search queries. In fact you can read the full thread from the Google Search blog if you would like. The bottom line is that you can pick up free placement and additional search traffic by making sure that where your business is located, you have set up a free Google Maps listings.

Here’s how you do it.

1. https://www.google.com/local/add/login Visit this link to set up a Google Maps account. This will allow you to add your business, add address information, hours and payment types. You will be allowed to link to your website.
2. Verify your address. Google will do this by snail mail. To verify that you have a business in the location that you state. No way to cheat on this one.
3. When you get the postcard to verify your address you will receive a PIN. Go back to the Google Local/Maps interface and enter your PIN.
4. In the next update your local listing information will be included. Sometimes as long as four weeks to update the Maps index.
5. Make sure to tie your new listing to your Google AdWords account. Get additional free exposure and excellent CTR rates by setting up a Google AdWords local text ad once you have your local listing verified on Google. You simply pay for clicks and this is a great extension for your AdWords program.

Why not take advantage of the opportunity to appear at the top of all organic listings by having a Google Maps free listing in place?