BlogSmall business, Marketing, Promotion and Web Design

Last week I was running a test campaign for one of my clients and a full week after I wrapped it up a notice from Google came in stating that some of my ads are out of trademark compliance. The site in question is http://www.americatoystore.com/, the owner is a registered affiliate of McFarlane Toys and Neca (which gives him rights to promote their merchandise using whatever he can find on their web sites). The words in question were NFL and NHL.

Next thing - I open the browser, search for “NHL action figures” or “NFL action figures” and the paid ads are full of “sacred” terms. So my question is - if myself and my client get slap on the wrist and others don’t this means Google’s adherence to its own guidelines and policies is very spotty. I realize that big guys’ money are better then mine, but why don’t Google come out straight about that?

Posted the question on their forums, but I don’t hold my breath.

Popularity: 1%

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Did we just descended to 1997 just because of credit crisis? Just now I saw a Netzero commercial, featuring CEO Mark Goldston, promoting dial-up connection. Yep, you read this right - a Netzero (definitely a name from 90s) is promoting a dial-up, claiming “it takes you to the same Internet as broadband”, just does it cheaper. Now, I don’t know about the average Joe’s needs on the internet (maybe all he does is checks his e-mail using that good old Lynx browser.

But if he’s anything close to average Joe I know he checks his e-mail using webmail interface which is pretty heavy load on my scale - wheather you’re using Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail or your provider’s web mail interface. Then he checks the weather. Just as an example - the weather.com’s total weight is over 100KB.  Then maybe he reads some news (NYTimes.com - 322KB, CNN.com - 663KB). Now the scary part starts - his girlfriend, or wife, or daughter wants to do some shopping online. Zappos.com is 106KB, Macy’s is 335KB and SaksFifthAvenue (in case they’ve got money to spend) is 236KB. And don’t even think of watching any video - YouTube or Hulu.

So, maybe someone out there knows what’s Netzero counts on. From my point of view - this is just a bad waste of good money. Might have donated to charity, that ought to work out better.

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As pretty much any other blogger, at the end of the year (or before another one starts) - here’s the recap of what happened during a year.

January - 66 posts written (I think this is the most posts I have ever written in a month). Most prominent are Small Business Survival (crisis is still here, might still be worth reading), Home Surveillance System (part 1, part 2), the whole series on blog editors (now a little outdated though) and Hacking WordPress theme (with all the updates). There were a lot of other interesting posts as well, but these are the essense.

February - 19 posts written. Among interesting - Samsung BlackJack, January Search Trends (this is when I actually started following them), Gadgets As Conversational Pieces, Live Tech Support services review (part 1, part 2, part 3 and part 4), the Late Night Post About Clients (the web site that had never took off as of now) and two on browser wars. Now, with introduction of Google’s Chrome it would be interesting to return to this in the next year.

March - 5 posts (boy, I really was slacking off). Conference Center Wireless Trickery (still valid for some places) and two articles on Administering Web Store Databases. With the infusion of cloud-based services this might become obsolete faster then I thought. On the other hand, since we have these huge “clouds”, but unreliable and slow broadband, it might be more useful then clouds.

April - 4 posts (slacking continues). Generally Speaking With A Client is the only worthy read.

May - 5 posts (the only defence I have is that these are large posts). Sexy Girls and Hot Cars, Retire Your iPod, and Land Line Is Doomed are there for your enjoyment.

June - 2 posts (it was hot out there!). Cheap Hardware? That’s Expensive is a good read in times of cutting costs on everything.

July - 3 posts (I don’t like to write in Summer). A post on Starbucks Experience and contemplation on new domain zones are worth it.

August - 8 posts (see, it’s getting better!). Job Offer Spam, one more Small Business Don’ts, a post on social media influence on read-world politics and how modern politics trying to influence the social media by targeted trolling and infuses of false and misleading information and a post on Blackberry vs. iPhone.

September - 12 posts (oh, the improvement!). FiOS vs. Cable, customer service at Staples, Small Business Will Step Up… Later and a rant on oncoming netbook revolution.

October - 6 posts (the weather was too nice outside!). How to fix our economy (part 1 and part 2) - too late for that, I guess, but the idea is still good and valid, and one more advice for businesses how to benefit from crisis.

November - 3 posts (I have a good excuse - I was getting married). Post Halloween Web Trends is a good read for retailers who somehow depend on that holiday.

December - 9 posts (including this one). Las Vegas Learning, review of Cheap Web Conferencing service, our generation’s choosing of Internet over sex (I still don’t believe it though), Buying Domains On A Smartphone (trust me, this issue will go on forever) and AT&T’s squeezing money out of Pandora listeners who don’t happen to be iPhone owners are good reads before the year’s out.

All in all it was a good year, given the crisis and all. I definitely see the room for improvement - both for my company, my life and this blog.

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