Dave Winslow

Here’s Google’s offer: sign up for a seminar at least seven days early, and you’ll get a $50 AdWords advertising credit.  One catch is that the credit expires after 30 days, and another is that the sessions cost $249 per day, but at least the offer’s there.

The placement of the seminars seems like a sort of second nod to users.  Previous sessions were held in Denver, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Raleigh, and Dallas, so Google’s reaching out to some people who might have felt ignored.  And on the Inside AdWords blog, Vivian Leung offers, "[O]f course, if you’d like to be informed when AdWords and Analytics Seminars become available in your area, simply fill out this form."

The new series of seminars is scheduled to start May 12th in Orlando (guess you can forget about the $50 there) and run through June 25th.  The group of leaders from the first time around – Justin Cutroni, Anastasia Holdren, Michael Harrison, Shawn Purtell, and Timothy Seward – will be speaking again.

 Anastasia Holdren
 Seminar Leader

Admittedly, Denver, the San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Raleigh, and Dallas aren’t perfectly spaced throughout the continental U.S., and inhabitants of our two freak states are plumb out of luck.  But a lot of people who want attend should be able to lop a few miles off their trips, and that’s a start.

As an added bonus, "Vivian" writes on the Inside AdWords Blog, "Sign up 7 days before the seminar date and we’ll even throw in a $50 AdWords advertising credit."  This won’t cover the cost of the $249 seminars, yet again, attendees should be happy to take what they can get.

The one-day sessions are scheduled to start on March 10th and extend through April 28th.  Leaders will include Anastasia Holdren, Michael Harrison, Shawn Purtell, and Timothy Seward.  And finally, Vivian concludes, "[I]f you’d like to be informed when AdWords and Analytics Seminars become available in your area, simply fill out this form."

Google does appear willing to expand the program over time.

• Published the event on the Web Marketing Seminars page on my Web site. This is a no-brainer and the first, essential step.
• Added the event information (including a link to the online registration) on Facebook, both on my page and as part of the Portland, ME network so that other local people could find it.
• Sent out an email alert to the people who have signed up for my Web Marketing Alerts email newsletter. (You can sign up for this when you sign up for flyte log, our free, monthly email newsletter.)
• Added it as an event on MaineToday.com, the online presence for the Blethen newspapers.
• Added it as a class through Craig’s list.
• Added it at MaineBiz’s event calendar.
• Submitted to Maine Public Broadcasting Network’s event calendar.
• Posted it to my Internet Marketing 101 blog at MaineToday.com (at least twice.)
• Posted it to my flyte blog: web marketing for small business blog (again, at least twice.)
• Posted to Eventful.com, which sends to several other sites including Podbot, Google Calendar, del.icio.us/events, Ping-o-Matic, Technorati, and Upcoming. Several of these sites extend that reach even further through their own network. (Found through Joan Stewart, the Publicity Hound, through Denise Wakeman tip.
• I also learned about EventCrazy.com that way.

I also plan on submitting this event to the print versions of MaineBiz and the Portland Press Herald.

Will I do this for every event? Probably not, but I will try and track which channel is bringing me attendees, by asking everyone at the event.

Your Turn: What tools do you use to promote your events in this 2.0 world? Leave your suggestions in the comments section below.

Comments

“Among these is an upcoming, free, one-hour webinar that will cover:

• Consumer search and shopping trends during the holiday season
• Online vs. offline purchasing behaviors
• Daily and weekly trends in search volume
• How the combination of search and display ads affects consumer engagement and spend
• Search advertising best practices for the holiday season

This webinar will be presented twice:

• Tuesday, October 30 at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Time
• Wednesday, October 31 at 11:00 a.m. Pacific Time"

To register for either webinar, please visit Yahoo! Seminars and follow the instructions.

Comments

Tag:

Two key features of Premier Apps immediately stood out most analysts when Google released the initial feature list:

Cost – Google is charging $50 per user each year for its Premier Apps service, an aspect of the service that gives the company significant leverage against Microsoft Office, which carries a higher price tag.

Support

• Most respondents (78 percent for U.S. and U.K.) believe that the public relations department should handle fallout from bad news breaking in the blogosphere
• However, over 80 percent (U.S.: 87 percent, U.K.: 82 percent) of respondents confess they or their clients don’t have an official blogging policy in place
• Half of the respondents (49 percent) are not monitoring blogs and online conversations
• 63 percent have not adapted their communications strategy to include proactive outreach to blogs, message boards, and other forms of digital and social media

Hmm, so let’s get this straight – they don’t know what’s going on in the blogosphere, there’s no policy in place to deal with blogs and they haven’t adapted their corporate communication strategy to include any online elements. PR is not trained in blog or social media relations, but if there is a problem PR must deal with it.

No wonder PR professionals are flocking to online PR and Web 2.0 workshops and SEO-PR training seminars. Their butts are on the line here.

Listen to the podcast for the full analysis of the survey results. Be patient – it takes a while to load. But it’s worth waiting for.

Comments

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Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit | Furl

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Sally is the author of Website Content Strategy blog: Information about the shifts in media consumption and the use of
technology in marketing and PR so business can stay in touch with
their rapidly moving audiences.

The Peppercom and Bulldog Reporter Business Blogging Survey conducted on 1,200 marketing industry executives from the United States and United Kingdom, revealed some startling disconnects in corporate communication policy on both sides of the pond…

• Most respondents (78 percent for U.S. and U.K.) believe that the public relations department should handle fallout from bad news breaking in the blogosphere
• However, over 80 percent (U.S.: 87 percent, U.K.: 82 percent) of respondents confess they or their clients don’t have an official blogging policy in place
• Half of the respondents (49 percent) are not monitoring blogs and online conversations
• 63 percent have not adapted their communications strategy to include proactive outreach to blogs, message boards, and other forms of digital and social media

Hmm, so let’s get this straight – they don’t know what’s going on in the blogosphere, there’s no policy in place to deal with blogs and they haven’t adapted their corporate communication strategy to include any online elements. PR is not trained in blog or social media relations, but if there is a problem PR must deal with it.

No wonder PR professionals are flocking to online PR and Web 2.0 workshops and SEO-PR training seminars. Their butts are on the line here.

Listen to the podcast for the full analysis of the survey results. Be patient – it takes a while to load. But it’s worth waiting for.

Comments

Tag:

Add to Del.icio.us | Digg | Yahoo! My Web | Furl

Bookmark WebProNews:

Sally is the author of Website Content Strategy blog: Information about the shifts in media consumption and the use of
technology in marketing and PR so business can stay in touch with
their rapidly moving audiences.

The jaded observer might be deluded into believing Google gets so much attention, it could not possibly need to go out and promote itself, and certainly not in an offline manner. That is what Google plans to do with the AdWords Seminars, coming soon to four more cities: Chicago, New York City, Miami, and Boston (sessions in Los Angeles and San Mateo were held in late September.)

Vivian at the Inside AdWords blog wrote about the program in a recent post:

Two people have been conducting the seminars on Google’s behalf. Brad Geddes is probably best known for his work moderating at Webmaster World, while Anastasia Holdren serves as vice president for information technology company Sitening in Nashville.

Google also dangled a $50 AdWords credit to people who sign up 14 days in advance for a seminar. That credit must be used within 14 days of attending the seminar, so even though Google said the seminars are not sales pitches, that small window of eligibility does provide a little nudge toward signing up for AdWords.

We see them as something much more important, as it pertains to local search. The local online advertising market in total could hit $7.7 billion in 2007, according to Borrell Associates, and search marketing will be a significant contributor to that figure.

Google has competition for the paid search side of local advertising. Microsoft and its AdCenter plan to push hard for local clients, the idea being to build up that client base with a high volume of smaller budget-wielding businesses.

Yahoo’s forthcoming search advertising upgrade, Project Panama, has been touted as one that will improve its paid search ad display relevance for advertisers. Ask.com launched an update to its Sponsored Listings service, which debuted in 2005.

Plenty of other Internet players want to cut into the search advertising pie. Since Google dominates such a big piece of it, gains others can make could have an impact. A little knowledge, or in this case education, could go a long way for Google, and it is surprising to see the AdWords Seminars debut on such a small scale.

—

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

In the class (note: the same topic will be presented on Monday and Tuesday) John will get down to the nitty-gritty of common web analytics myths, pinpointing best practices as well as traps to avoid. The class is appropriate for web analytics newbies as well as veterans. Clicktracks promises that attendees will come away with a new perspective on how to interpret web analytics data and make sound online marketing decisions. Register for the class at http://www.clicktracks.com/seminars/

For more information:http://www.clicktracks.com/news.php?id=92

I like what ClickTracks is doing with it’s free Classes, it gives a chance for Site Owners and marketers to experience the ClickTracks experience with no obligation. It also helps current ClickTracks users by pinpointing “nuggets” of useful information.

Bookmark WebProNews:

Manoj has been working in the search engine marketing industry since 2002. He started out as a software developer but now provides in-depth web site analysis using web analytics.

http://www.enquiro.com

Manoj is also the author of Web Analytics World. Web Analytics is an essential component in developing a successful
online campaign. Help convert visitors into customers by understanding
them.

According to Barclays research almost 40 per cent of people come up with ideas to start your own business, with holidays or major life events tending to spur people on.

However a whopping 73 per cent of people never turn their ideas into a business venture mainly due to lack of confidence plus the fear of losing the security of a regular income. In order to nurture the UK’s budding entrepreneurs, Barclays has joined forces with the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies to offer a programme of 500 brand new seminars across the UK. The ‘Let’s Talk Business Ideas’ and ‘Let’s Talk Starting in Business’ seminars are available free of charge.

John Davis, marketing director for local business at Barclays, comments: “What we may be seeing is a real cultural shift in the UK with more people looking for control over their own destiny and working their socks off for themselves rather than someone else, as opposed to striving for power and money by moving up the corporate ladder. It’s important that the UK’s future entrepreneurs have access to the right level of advice at the right time. Establishing a solid grounding is crucial to ensure their venture goes on to be successful.”

Other highlights from the research:

- More than a quarter of budding entrepreneurs frequently think up ideas for a good business with 24 per cent being spurred on by a life event such as illness or children and 21 per cent when on holiday.

- More than a third of them (37 per cent) stated they were fed up with working for the benefit of other people and 31 per cent wanted more control over the hours they work; 17 per cent wanted to escape the ‘rat race’ or downshift. A small percentage (3 per cent) stated they wanted to be famous.

- Lack of confidence (44 per cent) and worrying about finances (44 per cent) are the main reasons stopping people.

- The prime age for starting a business is between 35-44 which may indicate that experienced workers are increasingly choosing to abandon the rat race and commuting in favour of being their own boss.

The seminars run by experienced trainers will be packed full of useful hints and tips. ‘Let’s Talk Ideas’ a half day event, will look at how viable the idea is, what are the potential problems, potential rewards and then how to make it happen. Whereas the ‘Let’s Talk Starting in Business’ a full day event is for people who are about to set up and will be packed with information on how to write a good business plan, sourcing finance, managing cash flow, legal requirements, taxation and VAT and marketing.

The seminar is run in conjunction with the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies and in partnership with, the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants. People can find out more by visiting Barclays Small Business Banking or by contacting their local enterprise agency.

For further information:
Emma Austin, 0207 116 6145
Barclays Public Relations
0207 116 6145 / emma.austin@barclays.com

Michael is a keen writer, and internet marketer living in Scotland: Contact details: E-mail: samqam@googlemail.com Phone: 0131 561 2251 Michael’s Website: Taxi Belfast