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IS279 Iteration 3 Individual Contribution

Below are the links to my three landing pages:

1. Global Warming
2. Geothermal Energy
3. Wind Energy

These were developed to improve conversions in traffic generated by our ads for Powershift09, an environmental advocacy group. Powershift’s site is mostly focused on sharing articles about the group’s current activities and providing ways for people to join their cause and contact their legislators. Conversions include signing-up for their email lists and summits as well as contacting lawmakers by phone, letter or email.

We found that most searches were primarily interested in finding hard facts on alternative energies and global warming. So, we focused our ads to draw these people in and created landing pages that 1) met their need for information 2) inspired them to be proactive and 3) provided easy options to take action (i.e. our conversion goals).

Both Global Warming and Wind are in the same format, with the Geothermal page arranged slightly differently. I believe all three pages exemplify the three characteristics stated above and will lead to greater conversions because the pages…

• fit on one screen, allowing the visitor to see all the content without scrolling
• utilize whitespace, preventing the page from feeling cluttered or unapproachable
• provide the visitor with the facts he/she expects from clicking the ads we designed
• present a call to action for the visitor ("Do You Care?" and "Act" sections)
• break down information into easy-to-read blocks
• are all certified valid XHTML Strict and CSS

Because the pages are formatted in a way that is easy for visitors to digest and take action through, I believe they will follow through to the main page and complete the conversion.

+ Gordon

The genius brothers behind Google Wave

I found this article to be highly motivational. The brother that were behind the huge success Google Maps. Are also behind Google Wave. Google Wave i hoped to be the next big communication device. And essentially the hope is to eliminate Email as we know it. Google wave expands the horizons. IN this article you can read about the personal information about the Rasmussen brother.

Speed Tracer

Google has developed a new program called speed tracer. Its a program that allows people to see where they sluggishness of their web browser is coming from. This will be a useful tool in the future for anyone that has questions about their web browser. Yet another useful tool brought to us by Google. You can read more about it here on Google very on blog hosted by Blogspot.

Summing It Up

IS 379 is nearing a close, which also means so is my adventure with the EMU Google courses.  I feel very lucky to be apart of a one-of-a-kind curriculum which gave such great real world experience.

These two courses helped me not only develop new skills such as web design, but also brought out creativity in making Adwords Ad's and content on my pages.

I learned that Google is great for Adwords customers if they can develop their site around the ad's.  CNBC showed me that many people share their deepest secrets with the search box and are usually right to the point. 

If your selling something, the landing page can be more powerful than a brick and mortar store.  Take where I work (ACO Hardware).  A customer comes into the store most likely looking for something specific but has distractions to reach the exact location of the product.  The customer looks up and sees aisle signs for Paint, Housewares, Tools, Automotive, Hardware and much more.  In some cases the customer will get distracted and will look in housewares and forget about their original intention.  

So where am I going with this?

In Adwords we're able to read the searchers mind via the keywords they type into that search box (say it's Benjamin Moore Paint).  We then build an Ad tailoring to Benjamin Moore Paint and the customer clicks and is directed to our landing page. 

This class showed that we primed the visitor to do something.  In this case the visitor is in the market for Ben Moore and that is what we need to offer.  The landing page then should tailor to Benjamin Moore paint with pictures and a button saying "Find the nearest Ben Moore ACO Location".  There should not be excessive navigation or anything to distract the customer from zoning in on his/her goal.

Remember the brick and mortar customer?  They may go into the store knowing what they want, but they might not admit it to the associates like they could to the search box. The customer will be distracted by all the aisles of Tools, Hardware, etc... just like they could on your page with sidebar navigation, spilling them out of the funnel.

The web allows users to find exactly what they're looking for. This semester, all of us showed we could give it to them better than what was in place.

Thank you Bud, for all the lessons you've taught us for the past two semesters. I think I've grasped a concept.

-Cam

Google and Climate change

Google is has been facilitating talks between the common man and the world leaders who have congregated at Copenhagen for the Climate change talks. One could post one's opinion and questions on you tube and they would broadcast the video on the CUBE and on youtube's channel COP 15.

This is a novel way to empower the common man and help him raise his voice in the upper echelon. We should make sure that talks just do not end in fancy fine dining. We should raise our voice at the right time. "Going green" has become a big word in vogue. Everyone wants to go green to raise ones credibility. But, are people actually implementing it? Will Big and wealthy nations go green at the cost of the underdeveloped ones? There are so many questions to be answered.

Individual Contribution for Iteration 3

I added some future recommendations to the slides of Iteration 3. From the discussion in our previous class I was of the opinion that CAHS should tweak their ads itself because the ads do not say anything about coming to the CAHS instead they emphasize more on the online photo gallery. They can use their photo calendar for 2010 as a powerful medium to attract people to their sites. They should find their niche customers and appeal accordingly.

Although our mates did follow Web Design For ROI and Dont make me think and our individual analysis to help more traffic inflow into the get directions link, their efforts did not bear quantum leaps in visits. It is commendable that they increased the traffic to the directions link. The fault lies in the ads as well. Chris in the class suggested ads like "Come Pick me up". There should be such ads suggesting driving down to the shelter and not just "Browse our cute Photographs"

CSS and Landing Page Consistent with Website

It seems a bit of irony that we pursue CSS for landing pages, but we did not pick up on the idea of consistency between our landing pages and the NPO websites.  If there is a hokey-looking connection, a search might be totally abandoned. Our conversion rates might not change much, but the NPO should experience legitimate gains from a conversion that decides to stay with their website.  

Chardonnay

Chardonnay can be a keyword, but it is not very specific.  Yellow Tail or Kendall Jackson or Lindeman's, any of which could be added to Chardonnay, would make it become more specific.  Would it be enough to reach page one with no scrolling?  It is hard to say, as there are a lot of chardonnay mentions on the web.  So far, landing pages with the specific keyword contained in the HTML title found in the body have produced a lot of "page ones."

Multiple Audiences, Multiple Agendas

This is along the same line of thinking as the last post, Fork in the Road.  Except, after thinking about the earlier presentations in class, it is probably more appropriate to describe some AdWords campaigns as serving multiple audiences.  This will demand some separate efforts, because the goals will not likely be the same.  And, it is the goals that determine the approach.  

Search "A" is for bananas, and search "B" is for paper clips. There is no way that the two terms are related.  There must be a different and separate handling of each search with each having its own landing page.  Search "A" is targeting monkeys.  Search "B" is targeting office managers.  In this particular case, different audiences require separate campaigns or AdGroups.

Mac Chrome

Google Chrome is now available for downloads on Mac Os. Chrome is now considered to be better than FireFox and other leading web browsers. Despite this a few sites still do not fully support surfing on their site with Chrome. The Abc News website is one of those sites, a little messages comes up whenever I get on using Chrome saying the following: 

You are currently using a browser we do not officially support. To maximize your viewing experience, we recommend upgrading. Please visit our upgrade page.

With Chrome now available on Mac, the release of the Google Chrome Netbook OS that uses the browser to control the computer and provide faster booting time and Google OS Mobile, its apparent that Google is becoming the main player in the tech world.  Like I always end my Google posts, what will Google do next. Google and Mac