Google Could Be Losing Billions On It?s Addiction To Relevance!

Google Could Be Losing Billions On It?s Addiction To Relevance!
What I'm about to say may surprise you. If you're an old
advertising / marketing guy or gal, you'll get my drift
immediately. Somehow with all the might that Google has, it
just might in fact be a little too tightly focused.
Logically I totally get their view on keeping it all
relevant and targeted. But you know what, I'm human and so
are you and holy cow, we're not built that way. I like
being a little untargeted, non relevant at times, and when
the good Lord is willing, maybe even spontaneous!

Okay, so here's where I'm going with all this. The internet
& Google, more to the point, has truly become the fourth
media, after newspaper, radio and television. No question
there at all. While I totally appreciate Google's attempt
to keep everything focused and relevant on the search
engine side, I actually do miss the distractions on the ad
side. You know, a billboard that catches your attention and
suggests where you might eat lunch. The check out at
Wal-Mart or any variety store, with their plethora of
useless things to buy on impulse. And yes, we buy billions
and billions of dollars worth of things on impulse every
single day.

Granted I may still buy the targeted items I see advertised
through AdWords on Google, but they have clearly taken all
the spontaneous spirit out of my shopping experience.
Something the human condition has craved for so very long.
God forbid grocery stores were able to completely target
you like that. It might work, and I'm sure it would
actually. Just dropped in to buy some dog food and as I
near the check out, the only things there are Dog Treats,
Dog Leashes, Dog Shampoo .. you get my drift. When am I
gonna snag that chocolate bar I don't need, but will truly
enjoy.

I spent 30 years in media, in radio advertising to be more
specific. And I can honestly tell you, that if we priced
the sponsorship of the Weather Forecast at $150.00 for 30
seconds of air time, advertisers were lined up to buy it.
We did not restrict them by their actual product. It was
first come, first served. So the Weather was often brought
to you by McDonald's, nothing relevant to the weather at
all, they just bought that spot because it had the most
listeners in the hour. Seems smart and targeted to a degree.

We have gone from eating at home, to dining in a
restaurant, to eating in a fast food establishment, to
today, and the drive thru or skid mark lunch as I call it.
What's next, the food patch, and I'll never have to stop in
at all! Clearly, it's getting a bit too tight don't ya
think?!

I really do think that if McDonald's or Wal-Mart or you and
I want to advertise anywhere on Google there should be no
restriction. The price of the ad's location will determine
who ultimately goes where. But let me decide, if I want to
be relevant or not!

Yahoo was the giant for many years, got fat I guess and
Google just swept in and did so in a big way. In my
opinion, there is room here to move this giant called
Google, and I think another giant like Yahoo could just be
the one to do it. Focus and target and relevant .. sure,
let's do all that .. but let's also have some fun too! The
Google system itself is a fantastic assortment of
algorithms far to complicated to properly understand but
then so are we the people. A highly complex assortment of
personalities, with needs and wants. A very daunting task
to effectively marry the two.

I must admit that I'm even bothering to mention all this
because of my long career in the advertising game, and also
because of my actual day to day use of the Google Search
Engine and also the Google Adwords Program. This much I
know from experience, you will lose a great deal of money
using Adwords, unless you have done your homework, or at
the very least, done some serious reading and use the
proper software to assist you. Google doesn't make it easy
to advertise there but there are ways to make things work.

You may love and hate Google for a great many reasons, but
to be successful with Adwords, Keyword Elite is a great
place to start. Oh sure, it may sound like some kind of
shameless advertising plug, but it will certainly save you
countless hours on the research side, and it will open new
doors, as it actually suggests other powerful keywords to
consider, that you would not have thought of. And you know
what, if you really work at it, you might even get your ad
to show up on a completely irrelevant page, bringing me
right back to my original story of allowing me to do some
impulse buying. If leveraging your time is important to
you, I would highly suggest the software route I mentioned.

So maybe the next time I'm on Google searching for my
favorite holiday destination, I'll run into your ad selling
widgets. It won't be relevant or even targeted, but it'll
sure put a huge smile on my face when I see that ad so
totally out of place. Long live impulse buying and my right
to choose what's relevant or not.

----------------------------------------------------
Mike Perras is a former broadcaster, freelance journalist
and college teacher. He lectures, consults and mentors
privately. Mike can be reached at mikeperras@hotmail.com
Keyword Elite referenced at
http://www.extremelistening.com/keyword_elite.htm