Google Maps - Undiscovered Features
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Catching up on my Feeds led to me to this very cool / informative video on the Official Google Blog.
Pretty cool eh? This is something that is becoming clearer to me all the time - I use only 10-20% of the features of the Google Apps and software which is available on the web. So much more to explore!
Google Streetview Car!
Google Streetview is an amazing use of technology, and it seems that even West Hull is going to appear!
Kudos to Mr Cleary for capturing this snap - I can imagine it was a dash for his camera, followed by a “huh?” from his Mrs 
Goole - rebranded
Goole - rebranded, originally uploaded by JonnyMoss.
It needs it. Thanks to Mr Cleary for this - top work sir!
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The 2008 UK Superbrands
As always, it is interesting to see what people in the know feel are the UK’s top brands, and the latest results have just been announced. The BBC cover it here and the official Superbrands website can be found here.
The results
Ok, Google have put in an impressive performance here, moving up two places from the 2007 poll. What is unsurprising is that the supermarkets, Tesco, Sainsburys, Asda and Morrisons, have all plummeted, probably due to the fact that food is more and more expensive, and that people are wising up to the fact that these corporate behemoths rip off their suppliers and make way too much profit. Asda dropped 253 places - Tesco 230 - Sainsburys 194. That is a serious fall from grace.
So how is this thing judged?
This to me is always essential to know, and this year, the Superbrands council state that:
” A Superbrand is one that offers customers significant emotional and tangible advantages over other brands”
As well as being judged on 3 other factors:
” Quality, Reliability and Distinction”
A nationally represented group as well as the Superbrands council do the voting and come out with the top 500.
Do I agree with the top 10?
8 out of ten I do. However, I’m not sure Microsoft can be called reliable with the Vistaster or offer emotional advantages! As to Royal Doulton, I really don’t give a giraffe’s breakfast whether I eat off a paper plate or fine china as long as the food is good!
Of course, the big brand missing for me, is my beloved Apple, and that folks is at number 11.
Google is the only web-based brand in the top 50 - Yahoo! coming in at 75 and Amazon UK coming at 285. it is interesting to compare the UK list to a global brand list based on value for 2008:
So, only the big G and Microsoft appear in both top ten. One of the big factors for me at least, is not how well known a brand is but how it behaves, looks and “feels”. A small brand can get a huge following by being, well, small. The unknown, the sort of secret factor of these smaller brands can be a very powerful way of attracting people. Combine that with the power of the web, where the word of mouth marketing can spread virally, the community which can be created, and the two way communication that should be encouraged, and you get a brand which will always be successful, not because of being big and all-powerful, but for being small, and well, cool.
A couple of brands that I feel fall in this category are teapigs tea, Howies clothes, Able and Cole food and IC Berlin specs. These are the brands that impress me, although I am a BIG fan of Google too.
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Top, top email tip
SEO Moz has a great blog about all things SEO (which you can find here and is well worth a subscribe). I’ve just been catching up on a few of their posts and this one in particular made very good reading.
If you have a business where you are sending out confirmation emails to customers, or in fact, any sort of email really, there is something easy you can do.
Ask those people to link to you. Ask them to blog about you.
It’s simple really. If someone already knows you, likes you and trusts you enough to buy from you or sign up for a newsletter from you, you already have a good connection with them. Therefore they are likely to be positive towards you and postive towards a link request. And we all know who likes links don’t we?!
So, the moral of this is, do not be shy, ask your customers to talk about / link to you. Referral and word of mouth are the best forms of marketing you can do.
A good summary of the Yahoo! and Google Deal
For those of you who may not be 100% clear of what the recent Google and Yahoo! tie up means, Techcrunch’s Micheal Arrington is being interviewed on US TV on this clip below, and sums it up nicely.
If you work for a company who does anything on the online search space, your marketing / online people need to understand what this means going forwards.
New York Times kicks Jerry in the you know whats
Techcrunch’s Michael Arrington has just blogged about the NYT writing a scathing condemnation of Jerry Yang’s last few weeks and decisions at Yahoo! He also looks at possible successors.
photo credit: Silvio Tanaka
The NYT article makes eye-watering reading, the author is pulling no punches whatsoever and if this is not the final call for Yang to go, I don’t know what is. A HUGE learning point for all of us is…. don’t let business get personal. It’s just business.
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Google and Yahoo! Search Agreement
For any of you who have been living in a hut in the depths of Mongolia for the last week, you may have mised the big news that Google and Yahoo! came to an agreement a few days ago:
Today, we announced a non-exclusive advertising agreement that will provide Yahoo! with access to our AdSense for search and AdSense for content advertising programs on their U.S. and Canadian web properties.
The above statement comes from a blog post posted by Omid Kordestani, Google’s
- This is not a merger. Rather, we are merely providing access to our advertising technology to Yahoo! through our AdSense program.
- This does not remove a competitor from the playing field. Yahoo! will remain in the business of search and content advertising, which gives the company a continued incentive to keep improving and innovating. Even during this agreement, Yahoo! can use our technology as much or as little as it chooses.
- This does not prevent Yahoo! from making similar arrangements with others. This arrangement is not exclusive, meaning that Yahoo! could enter into similar arrangements with other companies.
- This does not increase Google’s share of search traffic. Yahoo! will continue to run its own search engine and advertising programs, and the agreement will not increase Google’s share of search traffic.
- This does not let Google raise prices for advertisers. Google does not set the prices manually for ads; rather, advertisers themselves determine prices through an ongoing competitive auction. We have found over years of research that an auction is by far the most efficient way to price search advertising and have no intention of changing that.
Regardless of what Google are officially saying, it is obvious that the Microsoft deal, was something that Yahoo! just didn’t want to pursue, even if it could have been better for them. Also, Google are trying to get across that this won’t strengthen their search share… Say what?! Of course it does. It can’t get much better in the UK, but remember this deal applies for the US and Canada.
So, marketeers in the UK, what should you do now? I wouldn’t do anything at this point. You need to be aware that this has happened and track the success of it. It will be interesting to see if the balance of power swings even more in the mighty G’s favour. If your business is in the US, I see a big question raising it’s head…
“why do I need to even consider Yahoo! ?”
That is not a good question for the Yahoo! board to hear.
Google in the UK - feel the power
The Guardian Tech Blog has a frankly startling post about the share Google has in the UK search field.
You are reading that right. 87% share. That is an incredible statistic and show just how important it is to engage Google when you are looking to be found on the internet.
If you are small to medium sized business owner and you are not thinking specifically about your marketing strategy in relation to search, you should be. There are a number of things you can start doing:
- Review your web-presence: do you just have a website or some other web property?
- Is your website search-optimised?
- Are you embracing social media?
- Are you making sure people can talk about you online? Give them mulitple channels for them to reach you
- Do you have online advertising?
- Are you helping Google to find you?
If 87% of people are using that simple page www.google.com or www.google.co.uk so much, you must be easily found, not forgetting that people can find positive things and also negative ones.
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BBC News- You may like to read this...
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