Great reading for emarketers

Google Adwords tutorials:

http://www.google.com/adwords/learningcenter/index.html

Other good reading:

http://adwords.blogspot.com
http://www.ysmblog.com

And take a look at:

http://www.gordonchoi.com/

Don’t say you didn’t know.

Yahoo Boss Quits

Yahoo Chairperson Terry Semel has quit, ending his increasingly ineffectual pursuit of online search leader Google  - so reports http://www.news24.co.za

“Mountain View-based Google now makes more money in a single quarter than Yahoo does in an entire year. The contrast represents a harsh comedown for Yahoo, which was the larger of the two companies when Google went public in August 2004.

Since then, Google has steadily expanded upon the internet’s largest advertising network to create nearly $140bn in shareholder wealth as its stock price increased by more than sixfold. Yahoo’s stock, meanwhile, is worth a little bit less than when Google went public.

Google’s meteoric rise is an especially hard pill for Semel to swallow because he once flirted with the idea of buying Google. In mid-2002, Semel reportedly terminated negotiations when Google set its sales price at $5bn.

Google’s success since then has decimated the employee morale at Yahoo, leading to a recent wave of executive departures that raised concerns about whether the company would be able to retain the talent it needs to regain its stride.

Just last week, Semel assured shareholders attending Yahoo’s annual meeting that he had the fortitude to lead a comeback. He has been counting on recent improvements to Yahoo’s online advertising system and a series of key partnerships to boost profits after the company suffered an 11% drop in its first-quarter earnings.”

Meet the AppleGoogs and the NokYahoos

And so the pairing has begun, with Apple and Google firmly tying the knot with the charismatic unveiling of the delectable iPhone by The Reverend Steve Jobs. The reception was fantastic (brought to you by Cingular) and the highlight was finding a Starbucks via Google Maps and giving them a call during the ceremony itself. Ah young love! These occasions always make me so teary-eyed…

And then, after a debauched weekend of sin in Vegas, Nokia and Yahoo take a drive through the drive-through Viva Las Vegas wedding chapel where, through the power vested in Elvis by the N95, they say their solemn vows. The entire affair was captured for posterity and aired as a TV ad on Heroes on SABC 3 on Wednesday night. Oh…I give them a couple of months, she’s SUCH a slag.

Watch this space for more co-branded matrimony - just keep your divorce lawyers on danger money, baby.

Tony Lopes is a freelance writer living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Visit his site at www.hotcopy.co.za.

Google runs my life. And the problem is what exactly?

Google.

It’s starting to change my life. It’s my new vocabulary. 1984’s New Speak and Doublethink. War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength, Microsoft is shaking in their pretty yellow galoshes.

I use Gmail. I get tons of storage space and 20 meg attachments. I chat to people around the world.

I use Google Maps and don’t get lost. I use it as a pedometer to calculate the calories burnt when I go walking.

My brother lives in New Zealand. I live in South Africa. I see his house from the comfort of my office via Google Earth. I see the Moon on Google Moon and zoom in to see yellow cheese.

I use Google Calendar to plan my work and social life. I get reminders sent to me for free via SMS and email. I share this calendar with my wife so we can both plan what we’re doing on the weekend.

I blog. I upload websites. I analyze traffic on both, for free, thanks to Google Analytics. I make a peanut here or there off Ad Sense.

I plan marketing campaigns using Google Trends to understand the national psyche of Uzbhekistan.

Using Google Documents I forego having to spend thousands on Microsoft Office.

Oh, and I use Google search engine to find out about life, the universe, everything.

Yes, I’m starting to get a little Google obsessed, but I don’t care. If it works, why knock it? And Big Brother? In the words of 1984’s Winston: “I Love Big Brother”.

Take that, Thought Police!

(Oh, and Apple are pretty cool to, thanks Steve.)

Yahoo: Right back at you, Google

In an unsurprising countermove to Google’s recent acquisition of DoubleClick for $3,1 billion, Yahoo announced today that it was acquiring the remaining 80% share of RightMedia (the advertising network that it already owns 20% of) for $68 million.

Yahoo hopes to leverage RightMedia’s arch-product, RMX Direct, to attract publishers with more streamlined and efficient advertising pricing than its rivals. The acquisition will see increased liquidity in the existing Exchange marketplace, hopefully growing opportunities for advertisers, publishers and other industry role players. RMX Direct also features the MediaGuard system that prevents ad malware from infecting member computers and installing popups, spyware and unwanted ActiveX installs, based on predefined filtering criteria.

The RMX Direct product was officially launched as a beta product in September 2006. It replaced the previous clunkier version that had been running since April 2005.

Like the assertions made by DoubleClick after the Google acquisition, RightMedia states emphatically in its blog that “the acquisition will in no way afford Yahoo! any unfair advantage in the Exchange.”

Read more at the RightMedia blog.

Tony Lopes is a freelance writer living in Johannesburg, South Africa. Visit his site at www.hotcopy.co.za.