If you are interested in knowing more about the test you can find a detail explanation about it at Google’s Conversion University. The best way to prepare for the test is to apply and experiment with some of its advanced features after going thru all of the lessons. I particularly found very interesting the E-commerce Tracking, Advanced Segmentation and the Regex Lessons. If you have used extensively other Web Analytics Software such as Webtrends or Urchin you will have no problems and difficulties completing the test. You have about an hour and a half to answer all 70 questions you can pause the test whenever you want but you will have to finish it within 120 hours.

After completing successfully the test you will receive a certificate of achievement in .PDF, Google also maintains a publicly searchable database of people who have passed the Google Analytics test and obtained the certificate. This means that starting from today I can be be search for and contacted through Google’s database!

I have used mobile tags for a few marketing projects and used both the QRCode and Datamatrix code tags to link to some of my online content via mobile. If you haven’t heard about Mobile barcodes or tags here’s a very nice summary that might help. I’ve been following the development of these technologies through the years, this is why I was very curious about Microsoft’s mobile Tagging format and began to fool around with its beta version to try to find out if they had any advantages over the competition.

To start, I was very impressed by their administration platform which helps you order and manage all of the tags you create, you can even divide them by categories and makes them very easy to manage and edit.

It was very easy to create my very own Microsoft High Capacity Color Barcode (HCCB) within minutes I managed to have the tag up and running. Here’s how my HCCB Barcode looks like:

If you scan it with your mobile camara, it will redirect to my website although you will need to download this Microsoft scanning software into your mobile.

The “Custom HCCB Barcode Option” lets you add your logo to the barcode’s background. As I am marketing guy, I found this option to be very useful, although this feature is also available by other mobile tagging solutions like Beetaggs or Trillcode. The advantage of adding images to your barcodes or tags is that it might suggest and increase the intent of user to scan your barcode and access additional information online.

Adding your Brand or Logo to tags becomes a very powerful marketing tool, especially if you are commercializing products and want a bit more interaction with your website’s content. Catchy graphics in your barcodes and might encourage your potential customers to visit and investigate your products with their mobile and increase their purchasing intent on the spot. Check out my custom made tag like above it will redirect to my website if you scan it with your mobile, you need to download this Microsoft scanning software into your mobile:

Compared to other scanning software the app performs solidly and feels very robust even if your mobile photos shift a little or the photo is not focused, another nice advantage over the competition.

But for me, the most important feature of Microsoft’s Tags is its analytics features which help us create various reports to analyze the performance of categories and tags. With the help of these reports, we can track the progress of your categories and tags within a specified time span. We can even find out the localities where our tags and categories are receiving more scans. This will definitely help us marketers manage more efficiently our campaigns and promotions.

So what are the disadvantages, well the biggest one unfortunately is like most of other Microsoft products they have chosen the proprietary route, this gives other mobile tag solution providers with more open platforms to have an advantage. There is high number of companies, as mentioned before, who have been on the mobile tagging market for many years, who are looking for innovative ways to add value to their services like for example Semacode who are now integrating their mobile tags with social media networks, they currently only have Facebook integration but they will be adding support for other social networks soon.

In short, if you are already using Windows Mobile applications this tagging format will fit like a glove with some applications and it is highly recommended for other users who want to track the performance of their tags, its report capabilities are ideal for campaign performance evaluation and other marketing purposes, thumbs up Microsoft!

They also have a Performance Tab to keep track of the products you’ve submitted, with key metrics such as clicks and impressions. Here’s a pic of the interface:

You can also connect your Google Base items to your Adwords campaigns and the Google Base Store which enables eBay, Yahoo!, and osCommerce store owners to connect their store information to Google Base.

Google Base is only available for the American, Canadian and UK markets but hopefully it will be available in many other markets soon. Additional information about Google Base.

In the Anglo community these problems seem to be a bit more difficult to come cross, given that much more information is out there. For that reason below I have gathered some really nice articles regarding “Canonicalization”, the “Canonical Tag” issues and “other Canonical conflicts”.

What is “Canonicalization”?
Jane and Robot
Bruce Clay
Sugar Rae

What is the “Canonical Tag”?
Seo Gadget
Search Engine Land

Other issues regarding the use of the “Canonical Tag”
Google Webmaster
Matt Cutts
Helen Moverland

Hope these links can help you clear your doubts regarding the use of canonical tags and canonicalization. I’ll be adding more, if I stumble into more.

I was playing around a bit with them before going to sleep, I really liked the Wonder Wheel wheel feature which lets you visualize related search phrases through wheel like graphs bringing more interactivity to the SERP’s.

I also found very useful the additional Forums and Reviews features great for Reputation Monitoring and for additional information if you are doing some research, the time line option can also be helpful for searching relevant information if dates are of your priority.

Google also pointed out that they will be using “Rich Snippets”, if you are not familiar with the concept, I found a great post regarding this, with all you need to know about Google’s Semantic Web (Thanks for sharing this CJ).

Ohh, I forgot to mention that all of these new features are not yet available in Spanish speaking countries or in German, although I hope to see them soon out there. You can also find some more detailed information about the new features here.

The first screening was by Andrew with a bizarre mixture of acting, strange dialogue and weird 70’s images. He looked like a mad man playing around with projectors, screens, dialogue and the audience. It was undoubtably a very unique performance!

Bruce McClure gave us a stunning performance with a troop of modified 16mm projectors blasting B & W loops that creating abstract forms that slowly transformed into a circle with a 3D effect created by overlapping projections. The music was superb, brutal sounds and loud white noises that made my right ear numb. Well, after all Bruce used to play chess with John Cage, he must have picked something back then.

Next came Paul Sharits with “Shutter Interface”, a piece created by using two projectors that blended together twittering frames that seemed to dance into a perfect palette of colours. Together with the chaotic beeps and sounds it took me through a hypnotic visual journey of memories and ideas.

The festival was organized by Arika known for their experimental music, film and art events and festivals they are based in Scotland. Hope to see more of their great events and festivals in the near future!

Last week I had the pleasure to join the SMX event in London. Both days were filled with great content and tips, but the best part about it was Networking, I’ve got to meet so many fascinating and engaging people!

During the week I’ve managed to gather a list of resources and summaries made by them for you to enjoy. I will be posting my notes in Spanish later during the week.

 

By Matt

• SMX London 2008: 25 Killer Tips

By Wiep

• Blow Your Mind Link Building Techniques

By Rob

• SMX London Day One Recap

By Ciaran

• SMX London 2008: Very Brief Recap

By Andrew

• SMX London: European Search Marketing Challenges
• SMX London: Search 3.0: Video Search & Blended Results
• SMX London: Search 3.0: Local Search & Blended Results

By Richard

• SMX London 2008 - Day 1 “High Fives”
• SEO for Web 2.0 session - SMX London Day 2 recap

By Henry

• SMX London 2008

By Ophir

• SMX London 2008 - Day One
• SMX London 2008 - Day Two

By Tom C

• SMX London 2008 Recap

By Randfish (He was not at the Event but Jane was)

• How to Find the Spam You’re Linking To

By Hans-Peter

• SMX International SEO
• SMX - SEO for Web 2.0 Sites

 

Please let me know if you want me to add yours, or if I’ve missed any other interesting post. Thanks to Imran for some of his research. Check out some photos of the event here.

This year the Ad:tech was all about saving money on your online campaigns. The sales pitch: “It’s all about surviving the credit crunch”. Given that in the UK Online Ad spend remains on a rise and companies are still spending more money in online advertising, the place was packed with PPC Campaign Management Software solutions and other related products.

What really impressed me was the fresh new look of Microsoft advertising. Good to see they are finally investing on their marketing products. I really think they do have some great products out there but they just don’t know how add value to them.

Google University was back with their usual programs - Google Analytics and Website Optimiser, Google Basics and Google Master Class which remain largely unchanged, from previous sessions. The usual account managers were around to help us out with any questions regarding our accounts.

In short, the exhibition was quite good much better that what expected considering the rough times the marketing industry currently faces. You can see some photos of the event here.

It was great to join the conversation with Makoto Shinkai “The New Miyazaki”, at the British Film Institute. Some of his early work was displayed during the interview, most of it created with his laptop…

He talked about his struggles trying to become an manga animator while working in Falcom. He also mentioned the great influence of “Castles in the Sky” and the importance it had on his career. The interview ended with a brief explanation of his latest work “5 Centimetres per Second” which consists of thre three short films titled “Oukashou”, “Cosmonaut”, and “5 Centimeters per Second”. A love story told in three different perspectives concerning the adversities of time, people and space.