June 7th, 2007

Goodbye Digital Markets, Hello InsiderChatter.com

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 4:00 am

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags: Blogging, Donna Bogatin

What does a passionate blogger do once she reaches the 1500 post milestone? Create her own blog, of course! I am happy to announce that as of today, I am taking the solo blogging plunge. My new blogging home is at http://blog.insiderchatter.com

ZDNet editor in chief Dan Farber marked my one year Digital Markets anniversary last month by noting I have “covered the waterfront on emerging trends and the people at the heart of the business Internet,” and I will continue doing so at my new blogging home: My very own InsiderChatter.com

I thank all my loyal Digital Markets readers and invite you to read me going forward at InsiderChatter.com

May 15th, 2007

YouTube to video artists: Wolf in sheep's clothing?

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 7:57 am

Categories: Advertising, Amateur Content, Culture, Google, Uncategorized, Video, YouTube

Tags: YouTube Inc., Video, Donna Bogatin

Is all good in King Chad’s YouTube Kingdom now that he agreed to share the video wealth, in his own small, very selective way?

NO, both newly ordained video elite and newly dissed “non-populars,” are lamenting a YouTube calculated business move that moves YouTube away from its original community spirit.

The chosen video few are wondering if they are selling themselves short to YouTube parent Google while the masses of plain old YouTubers are crying foul and pleaing for equal treatment.

Is feel good YouTube on its way to becoming a big, bad wolf in sheep’s clothing? 

How YouTube lost its video soul, big time I analyzed upon the proclamation earlier this month that YouTube ”Elevates  Most Popular Users to Partners.” I also underscored Google’s YouTube divides community: Advertising rules, not users.

YouTubers concurr. Legions of YouTube users have not only been “venting” their frustration over the new YouTube tiered community, but decrying how YouTube has, in fact, lost its soul, big time.

Just yesterday Methadone4Life wrote:

The funny thing is that most of the people you selected to be partners are the most subscribed on Youtube. However,you need to ask yourself: How did most of them get to that level? Was it just that their vids were so much better than everyone elses that they just got hundreds of thousands of views? Or did they manipulate a system that is easy to manipulate and used to be much easier? Refresher programs,multiple accounts,groups of friends who spam each others videos..are just a few of the ways that many of the “most subscribed” people got their views and subscribers.

I personally do not care about having loads of subscribers,but many great videos are never given the same chance. Once a person gets to the top of the most viewed,it seems that every video is featured or put on a sign-up page or some other form of publicity. Why do that for people who are already “e-famous”? Why not give some people who have great videos but havent been featured or given free publicity a chance?

Also,why does YouTube avoid featuring people who may have a controversial outlook on things? Why does YouTube avoid featuring people who are anti-war? 70 percent of Americans and 94 percent of the entire world is against this war,yet we see no anti-war videos featured?

I love YouTube and it has provided me with many hours of enjoyment and lots of new friends. I just wish that it was a little more fair to those of us who dont have 47 thousand subscribers. Isnt that the people who need some publicity??

AussiePoliticsReport:

Will there ever be a time where everyone shares in the billions of dollars you are making from our videos?

worldpeace

It’s all or nothing. You can’t extend the opportunity to share in the ad-revenue to some and withhold it from others. That’s just not fair.

YouTube revenue sharing stars themelves are also questionning the fairness, or not, of the new YouTube scheme.

Christine Gambito (HappySlip), as cited by Business Week; “For YouTube’s top video creators, being compensated for the Web traffic and ad impressions they generate isn’t all it’s cracked up to be”:

Like a growing number of online video creators before her, Gambito is coming to terms with the mixed blessing of compensation for online content. Video-sharing sites are a valuable asset, but the slice of the ad revenue they dole out to successful producers isn’t how you really want to cash in on the Web. In fact, for the truly successful content creators, such sites threaten to steal audience from what really pays the bills: building your own site.

You can’t sell your DVD on YouTube, says Gambito.

IS THE YOUTUBE COMMUNITY SPLINTERING? IS PARENT GOOGLE A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING?

ALSO: Google at Risk: YouTube class action lawsuit changes DMCA copyright game

February 18th, 2007

Will Google Apps for Enterprise be on target?

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 7:17 pm

Categories: Enterprise, Google, Google Software Applications, Microsoft, Uncategorized

Tags:

In “Will Google launch Apps for Enterprise soon?” earlier this month, I underscored how Google is stepping up its case for Google Apps, Google Apps for Enterprise, that is:

“Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager, Google Enterprise, addressed the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council last week, warning of an IT 'crisis' that risks stifling business innovation and offering Google Apps for Enterprise as a solution.”

I have been dissecting and analyzing Google’s ultimate goal of taking Microsoft head on via a Web based “Google Office” since the day Google launched its Google Apps last August  (see “Google to Microsoft: Wolf in sheep’s clothing?”).

I spent several hours at the NYC Googleplex last November and heard the Google enterprise troops gearing up for battle against the Microsoft “hierarchy,” as I report and analyze in “Google battles Microsoft”:

Google CEO Eric Schmidt is determined to make the Google application cloud “something you'd use everyday in everyday life,” instead of Microsoft Office.

Google is readying its Enterprise, or “premium,” version of Google Apps for Your Domain for a 2007 Q1 rollout and is pitching its “massively scalable, cheap infrastructure” to thousands of executives around the world from corporate, government and not-for-profit organizations.

Will Google achieve its targeted launch of Google Apps for Enterprise by March 31, 2007? Will Google Apps for Enterprise integrate Google Docs & Spreadsheets?

Google recently announced “Docs & Spreadsheets integrates with Gmail”:

Gmail has launched a one-click import feature: Whenever those of you who use Gmail receive a spreadsheet or a document in an email, you will see a new link next to the "Download" link that says "Open as a Google document." Click on that and the attachment will automatically be imported into Docs & Spreadsheets and added to your personal document list where you can make changes, invite collaborators and search for it later.

Google unleashed Gmail to the non-exclusive world on Valentines Day and it is a fundamental component of Google Apps.

I pointed out last week in “Google’s Silence” that despite Google’s touted strategy of a “blizzard” of new product launches, it has not announced any major initiatives in 2007.

Not only has Google failed to dazzle in 2007 to date, it never met its promised 2006 Q4 official launch of a “beta” product for its touted first ever foray into offline advertising: Google Audio Ads for radio (see “Google Radio NOT a category killer”).

Will Google Apps for Enterprise meet the same fate as Google Audio Ads, or will Google deliver on its enterprise promise?

STAY TUNED TO THIS DIGITAL MARKETS BLOG!

Is Google Headed for a Fall?
READ THE GREAT GOOGLE DEBATE in FAST COMPANY MAGAZINE:
Donna Bogatin vs. Danny Sullivan!

February 16th, 2007

iPod meets Campaign 2008: Chris Dodd podcasting 'User Generated Politics'

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 5:29 am

Categories: Government, Hillary Clinton, Local, Marketing, Political Campaign, Politics, President Clinton, Presidential Race, Uncategorized, User Generated Politics

Tags:

Edition Number 17 in this Digital Markets Blog special presidential campaign 2008 series on what I am calling “User Generated Politics.” 

Chris Dodd may be under the presidential campaign radar, but he is ON prospective voters’ playlists!

iPod meets "User Generated Politics"!

“Get to know the senator” his campaign Website invites, via “DODD POD”!

Dodd Pod

I love to use my iPod to listen to music, books on tape, and podcasts. As a Senator, I travel a fair amount and my family, friends, and staff came up with the idea of creating a "song or message of the day" for my iPod.

Now I'm asking you to be part of the fun and the conversation. I hope you'll take a moment to suggest a song, a podcast, or submit your own testimonial.

To spur “User Generated Politics” audio testimonials for "Chris Dodd for President", Dodd offers a handy online turnkey make your own submission for Dodd Pod.

People talking to people. That’s how we’re going to change the debate and earn our party’s nomination next year.

People also listening to people, on their iPods, "User Generated Politics" style!

STAY TUNED TO THIS DIGITAL MARKETS BLOG FOR CONTINUING COVERAGE OF WHAT I AM CALLING “USER GENERATED POLITICS” 2008

More in this Digital Markets Special Series:
YouTube: Must see TV? ‘User Generated Politics’ presidential campaign 2008 and
Is Obama’s social network anti-social? and
Hillary Clinton trumps Barack Obama, on eBay!
Got $2500? Mingle with Obama, plus Spielberg, Katzenberg and Geffen
Yahoo: 36,147 people tell Hillary Clinton what to do
Joe Biden has 226 MySpace friends: Can he connect? and
Hillary TV: Will ‘User Generated Politics’ get Clinton to the White House? 

February 15th, 2007

Gmail for the masses

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 5:43 pm

Categories: Google, Google Software Applications, Marketing, Self-Promotion, Uncategorized

Tags:

Google has wasted no time in bringing its beloved Gmail to "the world's" emailers.

As I discussed yesterday in "Google’s Silence," Google has proclaimed Gmail is no longer "by invitation only."

Google is quick to the draw in leveraging the premier Web real estate: Google.com homepage.

Google touts: "Free email with 2.8GB storage and less spam. Try Gmail today."

February 15th, 2007

Scoring Google on quality: C

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 4:33 am

Categories: Advertising, Business Models, Click Fraud, Google, Google Software Applications, Internet Data, Marketing, Media, Metrics, ROI, Search, Self-Promotion, Uncategorized

Tags:

 UPDATE: Under the guise of "transparency," the AdWords Blog puts forth a page of "Quality Score updates," making Google search advertising an even more costly Pandora's (black) box. Google itself unwittingly reveals the true objective of its AdWords "quality" initiative: "Quality Score, which sets minimum bids for your keywords." Moreover, businesses must still prove to Google's profit satisfaction that propsective ads are "eligible" for display.

DECEMBER 26, 2006: In “The Google riddle: ‘organized’, ‘useful’ but impossible to comprehend” I dissect Google’s cheery “Welcome to AdWords” marketing speak, challenging Google’s assertions that “AdWords puts you in complete control of your spending.”

Google search advertising is a costly Pandora’s box that continuously increases in complexity, opaqueness and Google centricity.

Google has an uncanny ability to envelope the vast sea of rules, regulations and restrictions it imposes on its advertisers within a touted mantra that “relevant advertising can be as useful as search results” for users.

Just as Google’s core corporate mission statement—organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful—is presented as user-centric while neglecting to include the Google-centric core for profit ad serving corporate mission, Google’s AdWords pronouncements put forth “worthy” user-focused objectives that belie Google’s self-interested financial motivations:

Google's maximization group works with advertisers to improve clickthrough rates over the life of a campaign, because high clickthrough rates are an indication that ads are relevant to a user's interests.

AND high clickthrough rates benefit Google’s bottom-line.

The modus operandi supporting the Google AdWords money making machine is a phenomenon, or “inedit,” in French: Unheard of!

Traditionally, and still, in many lucrative advertising venues, advertisers are courted and catered to. In the Google 50%+ search market share world, however, it is the advertising vehicle, not the advertising client, that must be catered to.

While all media platforms exercise editorial controls over advertising placements within their advertising vehicles, Google has unilaterally turned the tables to its unique advantage. The Google medium not only dictates its advertising pricing scheme and the content of ads it accepts to place, it amazingly wields significant influence on the content of its clients’ proprietary Websites as well.

Google grades advertisers’ attempts to buy Google AdWords with a Google “Quality Score.” If a prospective AdWords ad does not make the Google grade, Google will disallow the purchase.

Google, non-conclusively, on its “Quality Score”:

Currently, the formula is best represented as: Quality Score = (keyword's CTR, ad text relevance, keyword relevance, landing page relevance)*

*Where the interactions between the Quality Score variables change as we continue to refine how to measure and define quality in AdWords.

A keyword's Quality Score directly affects your keyword's status and your related ad's pricing and position on a given page.

It seems counterintuitive for an advertising medium to integrate a robust advertising rejection platform into its business model, but Google proudly underscores it “has chosen to ignore conventional wisdom in designing its business.”

Although Google says its mission is to organize all the world’s information and make it universally accessible, Google will not make a prospective advertiser’s information accessible to the world unless the AdWords ad will provide Google with its desired profit margin:

Keyword State - Inactive for Search: A keyword marked inactive for search doesn't have a high enough Quality Score and maximum cost-per-click (CPC) to trigger ads on Google or the search network. This means your keyword's maximum CPC doesn't meet the minimum bid required to trigger ads. Inactive keywords aren't performing well.

For all of Google’s talk of “quality,” the Google bottom line is that higher cost-per-click bids win the privilege of buying ads from Google.

ALSO: Google’s Silence

January 29th, 2007

Google Local at Google.com

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 10:43 pm

Categories: Advertising, Business Models, Google, Local, Marketing, Search, Search Advertising, Uncategorized, Yellow Pages

Tags:

Google is keen on the $31 billion local advertising opportunity, as I discuss in ““Google: $31 billion local winner?” 

Most Google searches for local businesses are initiated at the general search box at Google.com, despite Google’s best efforts to drive users to start their local searches at Google Maps. To capitalize more on local searches performed at Google.com, Google is now inserting more of the Google Maps local search experience directly in Google.com SERPS.

In response to a general search query such as Atlanta restaurant, Google returns a mini Google Map with three Atlanta restaurants flagged. Adjacent to the map are restaurant guidebook style listings for the three restaurants including telephone numbers, addresses, direct Website links, links to reviews…

The “normal” Google organic search results appear after the enhanced local listings. 

Google says:

Many people come to Google.com to navigate the web, but are you aware that you can use it to navigate the real world as well? Over the past few months, we've been hard at work making it easier to find and compare local businesses and services right from the standard web results page.

What Google doesn’t say, however, is how it determines which three local businesses to feature as listings A, B and C or number one, two and three results in the enhanced local search SERPs. 

General Google SERP positions one to three have been considered the most valuable. They will now be trumped by the enhanced local listings which precede them in local searches, effectively representing positions four, five and six in such SERPs.

Not only do the new local listings come before the standard PageRank algorithm derived results, they are more prominent and may be perceived by searchers as Google recommendations for the local businesses. Top placement combined with enhanced presentation means the new local listings slots will be highly prized by local businesses. 

Google is putting itself in competition with key local AdWords accounts: Citysearch, AOL, Zagat…The new enhanced local listings appear below and next to Google “Sponsored Links” for local listings directories.

Will the enhanced local listings become a new Local AdWords product? 

Google was “hard at work” to develop the new local listings format within Google.com. It will undoubtedly be hard at work going forward to develop new ways to monetize its prime, lucrative Google Local real estate at Google.com.

December 10th, 2006

Digital Markets: The future!

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 6:48 am

Categories: Blogs, Brands, Business Models, Culture, Google, Uncategorized

Tags:

Digital Markets are the future: Technology’s future and my blog’s future!

“Where Technology Means Business” is ZDNet’s tag line and it also encapsulates the perspective I have been putting forth at my ZDNet Digital Micro-Markets Blog since last Spring.

Seven months and 750 stories later, I will now be writing under a “Digital Markets” banner, rather than the Digital Micro-Markets banner.

Why? David Grober, ZDNet Senior Editor, eloquently introduced my blog last May under the headline “Local Markets of One”:

You are a market of one. We all are.

Donna Bogatin, in her new ZDNet blog, explores how the increasingly consumer involved, on-demand digital world promises to transform virtually every market. Donna has been advising companies on Web-based business development for nearly a decade. She writes:

“As mobility and personalization become the norm, consumers will become local markets of one and companies will use technology and telecommunications to create and deliver product to potentially billions of individual, digital micro-markets, on demand.”

Still very true, but the stakes have risen, along with Google’s market cap!

So, in conjunction with ZDNet’s new look, we are rebranding my blog to say simply, but powerfully, “Digital Markets,” reflecting the ever increasing mainstream role digitization is playing not only in technology, but in business, worldwide!

My blog URL has NOT changed, however; You can still read me at http://blogs.zdnet.com/micro-markets

THANK YOU!

November 12th, 2006

Holiday Shopping: Where will you be?

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 4:28 am

Categories: Business Models, Culture, Local, Marketing, Uncategorized, ecommerce

Tags:

Where will you be doing your holiday shopping this year? Online or at the mall?

Yes, the malls are cranking up the holiday music and snowflakes are starting to fall at online storefronts. The most important time for the U.S. retail economy is upon us: Year end shopping for holiday gifts!

Where will you be buying your holiday gifts: online or offline?

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October 31st, 2006

Yahoo vs. Google: You decide!

Posted by Donna Bogatin @ 7:00 am

Categories: Uncategorized

Tags:

Holidays are not complete without the cheery, or in this Halloween case, scary, theme logo designs put forth at the Google and Yahoo homepages.

Arch rivals Google and Yahoo are facing off again in the battle of celebratory holiday logos on this Halloween day!

Below are the competing entrants. Which Halloween logo design best celebrates Halloween? You decide! Take the poll, and make your voice heard!

Yahoo's Halloween celebration or Google's Halloween celebration? Vote for your favorite!

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