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I was reviewing print yellow pages book usage statistics this week, in preparation for the SMX Local & Mobile conference, and I was struck once again by the large numbers that the Yellow Pages Association (YPA) touts in their press releases and research papers. I’ve had some individuals at conferences dismiss the idea that print usage could be dropping much, based on these YPA’s figures, and it’s made me wonder if there could be some degree of error involved in the data sampling methods used by the research companies behind the reports. With very little checking, I found my suspicion has basis: some of the widely-cited yellow pages industry research is missing critical information, according to the data collection methods published. Print usage remains stable?For instance, the YPA’s spring announcement of last year’s yellow pages usage figures state that “…print usage remained stable with 13.4 billion print Yellow Pages references, … [Read more...] about Yellow Pages Usage Stats Are Likely Wrong

The big news on the pay-per-click front this week was the introduction of demographic targeting for Google AdWords advertisers. Actually dubbed "demographic site selection" by Google, because the feature is limited to the content syndication network, the program offers many of the same demographic categories that MSN's adCenter does, but serves up the offerings in a completely different way. AdWords' demographic option is designed to let advertisers select specific sites to advertise on based on the demographics of that site. Advertisers will be able to specify a preference in up to three categories. Google will then examine it's database of content partners and will return a list of sites that it feels are most likely to deliver the types of visitors that the advertiser is looking for. This option is only available when users that geo-target their campaigns to the United States and that set up a new "site targeted campaign" or while managing an existing site targeted campaign. It's … [Read more...] about AdWords Offers Demographic Selections

Yesterday, the Judiciary Committee of the German Bundestag — Germany’s national parliament — held an expert hearing on a proposed “Leistungsschutzrecht” law for news publishers. The law, known as “ancillary copyright” in English, would require search engines and others — perhaps even Facebook, Twitter and individual bloggers — to pay news publishers if they link to or even briefly summarize news content. The hearing didn’t result in a vote. It was the next step in a process that may lead to Leistungsschutzrecht becoming law or not. Below, some background on what happened at the hearing, along with some analysis from my perspective about the law. Before I go further, an important note. I am not a lawyer. English is not my native tongue, and I am not a trained journalist. Please do not expect legal expertise, journalistic style or proper English. I do not speak on behalf of anyone else. This is my personal opinion. But I have … [Read more...] about German Parliament Hears Experts On Proposed Law To Limit Search Engines From Using News Content

Almost anyone that has been around the web for awhile has heard of About.com and Wikipedia. One relies on hired experts to generate content about a variety of topics while the other one relies on volunteers to do the same. Online marketing guru Seth Godin announced plans for a new site dubbed Squidoo at Web 2.0 last week. The idea is generating a lot of buzz in the blog world, with most of them touting it as a good and necessary idea. Basically, anyone that wants to can set up a "lens" which is a portal page on a specific topic that leads to all the best pages about that topic. Writers are motivated by revenue share and their passion for the topic. "We're beginning to see the backlash of one-size-fits-all search," Godin told ClickZ News. "There's a real desire to deliver something like what we're doing. Lenses as an idea will survive, whatever happens to Squidoo. This idea of boiling it down and giving people not everything, but just what they need, has a rightful place at the … [Read more...] about Godin Announces Squidoo