AU Interactive Blog

Our Recent Google Adwords Quality Score Slap

2009-07-28T17:20:50Z

Last week we got hit by the Google slap on one of our Adwords campaigns that we’ve been running for a long time. Overnight, traffic went to zero – the domain was nuked – even the content ads stopped running.

The irony is that we had just shored up the site to be better quality for both SEO and PPC. I know Google has been waging war on affiliates for a while now – so we thought we’d create better quality content and really make the site into a great resource with the end user in mind. We surveyed our users, answered their most common questions on the page, added useful outbound links to non-affiliate pages, and worked hard to make the site into something useful.

Then BAM – we got hit. I’m not sure whether it was a manual review or an algorithmic adjustment that caused our domain to tank from a 7/10 landing page quality score to 1/10 with the dreaded “below first page bid” penalty.

Our competitors in paid search have very crude and basic affiliate pages that add little value to the buying process, but they’re still running, just under different domains. I guess the name of the game is – create crap landing pages, move domains, get slapped, move again – rinse and repeat.

Our lesson has been – why spend time creating good quality content when doing so still gets us penalized? It’s sort of the opposite effect of what Google engineers intended. Instead of creating quality resources, we’re now more likely to just throw crap up and move domains every time we get slapped when it comes to our PPC efforts. As a matter of fact, we threw together a lower quality domain and quality score on the new pages is back to 7/10, even though the content is nowhere near the same quality. *sigh*

Anyone else have similar experiences?

Dropbox vs SugarSync: Online File Syncing and Backup

2009-07-27T16:41:19Z

This is a guest post by Nick Reese. Nick is a fellow internet marketer and blogger. Follow Nick on Twitter.

Following Markus’ post on Top 5 Online Data Backup Services, he asked me to do a review of both SugarSync and Dropbox knowing that I have used both for over 9 months now.

Markus’ request couldn’t have come at a better time. Just a few weeks ago, my hard crashed wiping out all my entire desktop. Fortunately, I had installed both SugarSync and Dropbox so retrieving most of my data wasn’t an issue, I can’t imagine if I hadn’t.

Being Proactive to Protect your Files:

Lets remember during this review, data backup and multiple computer syncing is the goal. Both products work well, however they differ in their features and thus their uses. Both products allow the consumer to use a passive backup approach, as compared to manually backing up files on a external hard drive.

Passive Data Backup and Syncing:

Passive Data Backup is not something that should be overlooked, when you buy an external hard drive it is all to easy to say “I’ll remember to back things up.” Lets face it, its too easy to forget. By having software that uploads your files in the background you can go about your daily business worry free.

Comparison:

Free One Month Trial
30GB for $4.99/mo
60GB for $9.99/mo
100GB for $14.99/mo
250GB for $24.99/mo

2GB Free
50 GB for $9.99/mo
100 GB for 19.99/mo

Operating Systems:

PC
Mac (Beta)
iPhone
BlackBerry – Top 20 Most Downloaded Apps
Windows Mobile (Beta)
(access via m.sugarsync.com is also available)

Opperating Systems:

PC
Mac
Lunix

Resources:

~90k of RAM*.

Resources:

~60k of RAM*

Pros:

Online Photo Gallery
Stream MP3s Online
Folder Controls
Mobile Phone Access
Sync Any Folder on your computer
Easy Folder Management Across Computers
Send any file via email quickly
Upload Photos Directly to Facebook
File Versioning
Magic Briefcase

Pros:

Great for sharing 1 folder with 1 other individual. Rinse and Repeat.
Smart Uploader
Online Photo Gallery
Send any file via download link quickly.
Clean Interace
File Versioning

Cons:

Locks files during uploading, causing permission errors.
Sometimes the upload task can hog bandwidth

Cons:

All files must be in the same “Dropbox” folder.
Anyone who has access to a folder can edit it

Areas for improvement:

Gallery Feature Sometimes Grabs Photos for unrelated stuff. Say web icons.
Large file uploads take substantially longer than expected. (FTP is a lot faster)

Areas for improvement:

Large file uploads are super slow. However they are slightly quicker than SugarSyncs
Mobile Interface

*Both applications where run a Quad Core desktop with 6GB of RAM running Windows XP 64bit. The memory useage may differ from computer to computer.

Dropbox – Bottom Line:

Dropbox is best used as a digital flash drive that can be accessed from anywhere. Try Dropbox

SugarSync – Bottom Line:

SugarSync is more of a comprehensive backup and syncing solution (and a flash drive if you want to). Try SugarSync

Closing:

Over the 9 months I have used both products, SugarSync’s ability to backup any folder has been a real game changer. This feature allows you to backup and sync some very important things such as application data, which will allow your configurations of specific programs to carry over from one computer to another.

Furthermore SugarSync’s mobile support is another major plus. The ability to access your files on your phone is really useful for users who live a very mobile lifestyle.

Give SugarSync or Dropbox a try today! Whichever product you decided fits your needs best try the free trial, you will be glad you decided to start backing up your files.

Top 5 Online Data Backup Services

2009-06-15T22:15:58Z

Checkout the follow up post, comparing Dropbox vs SugarSync.

Millions of people lose personal and sensitive data every year due to hardware failure, viruses, and simple negligence. The easiest way to protect your data is to develop a backup system.

Backing up your own data can prove to be complicated for novice and experienced computer users alike. Even if you implement a backup service, you’re still at risk if your backup and source are in the same physical location. The easiest way to make a secure backup of your data is to use an online backup service. Your data will be encrypted and uploaded to a server that is maintained by professionals, and you will be able to restore your data to your computer at any time.

When you choose an online backup service, there is a lot to consider. The average computer user may not have an enormous amount of data, so the basic free offering from any backup service may be enough. Some users may need vast amounts of storage to backup their multimedia files and applications, which will result in enormous backups that could cost a lot. Not every backup service offers software for multiple operating systems. Some backup services can also backup items from other web services you use including Facebook and Google Docs. Before you start shopping for a backup service, make a list of your requirements, so that you don’t choose a service that is insufficient. It would also be advantageous to try out the free offerings before making a financial commitment to any particular service.

There are dozens of online backup services around, but a few of them have risen to the top for various reasons including ease of use, software quality, cost, and storage. Here is a list of a few of the online backup providers that are recognized for providing quality services.

Mozy

Mozy has been around for a few years, and it is one of the more well-known online backup services. When you sign up for Mozy Home, you will automatically receive 2GB of free backup space. The software, which is available for Windows and OS X, is extremely easy to configure with the wizard, and you can start backing up your files immediately. If you have a lot of large files, it doesn’t cost much for additional space. For $4.95/mo you can get unlimited backup storage, and it is even cheaper if you pay annually or biannually. Mozy is a good solution for anyone who wants a simple backup system.

If you require additional functionality, you might want to check out the Mozy Pro accounts. The pricing is still relatively cheap at $3.50 + $0.50/GB per month, but you get all of the features of Mozy Home along with incremental backups, additional operating system support (Windows and Mac Server OSs). You also get the ability to backup files from mounted drives and network storage.

iDrive

iDrive is another popular online backup solution that has a relatively large user base. Like Mozy, iDrive offers a basic account with 2GB of space for free. iDrive offers a much more advanced list of features to their basic users on Windows or OS X. The backups/synchronizations are incremental and done over time. iDrive also keeps up to 30 versions of a file which allows you to restore a previous version if necessary, but they only charge you to store the current version of the file, while the previous versions are stored for free. The iDrive Explorer allows you to browse through files and folders individually, to either download them or to drag and drop additional files to the folders, which will be synchronized to your computer(s) automatically. iDrive also allows you to backup files from mounted and network drives without upgrading to the a Pro account.

The Pro account pricing is very reasonable. For $4.95/mo or $49.50/yr you can get up to 150GB of storage for personal use. The pricing tiers for business customers are higher, but still very reasonable. If you don’t have more than 150GB of information to backup, iDrive is a very solid solution, and provides more than enough features to accommodate even the pickiest of users. This service is definitely worth checking out if you need granular control over your backups.

Syncplicity

Syncplicity offers a very unique backup service for Windows and OS X. In addition to the normal types of backup functionality, Syncplicity allows you to back up files and data from Facebook, Google Docs, Zoho, Picnik, and Scribd. Once you allow Syncplicity to access each of these services, it will backup your photos, documents, and various other files. If you upload a lot of photos to Facebook, this is an excellent way to archive them automatically. Syncplicity also allows you to view all of your files online, so you can access them anywhere, and share them with friends, family, or coworkers. Like many of the other services, a basic account comes with 2GB of storage, but you can upgrade to 50GB for $9.99/mo or 100GB for $99/year (limited time offer). This is a very good service to run (for free) in addition to a more traditional backup service, because it will save you the time and trouble of backing up files other online services.

Carbonite

Carbonite has received quite a bit of media buzz lately. Their business strategy is very simple. They offer unlimited backup storage for $54.95 a year, and the pricing is slightly lower when you purchase multiple years of service. Unfortunately, you are only allowed a 15 day free trial. Carbonite may be the most unobtrusive to your normal working patterns. Once you install the Carbonite software, which is available for both Windows and OS X, and configure it to back up your files, it will backup your files in the background while your computer is idle. This is great for people who have a difficult time remembering to manually perform backups, and it takes advantage of the time when you are not actively working on your computer. If you want a simple solution that doesn’t get in the way, Carbonite is the way to go. If you need additional control of your backups, or if you need to backup files on network shares or mounted drives, this is not the solution for you.

iBackup

iBackup is a backup service that seems to cater to slightly more advanced users. It lacks the simplicity of Carbonite and Mozy, but includes an advanced list of features for people who need more control. It bears more than a passing resemblance to iDrive, but the web site is less user friendly, and the pricing is significantly higher. iBackup gives you a 15 day trial with 5GB of storage, but limits your ability to share, your bandwidth usage, and your number of logins per day. The pricing is not as attractive as some of the previously discussed services, but they allow you to create sub-accounts, while other services do not. The lowest pricing tier is $9.99/mo for 10GB of storage, but this includes backing up Exchange Servers and MySQL servers as well as providing services to Linux users in addition to Windows and OS X users.

On a personal note, I’ve only used Mozy and have had a mixed experience. For more, check out my mozy review and a follow up here.

My $500 Domain Buying Mistake, and How You can Avoid It

2008-09-13T18:02:44Z

I’m a very casual domainer and have been buying some domains here and there over the last few years. One of the biggest mistakes I see new domainers make is buying domains with trademarked terms in them. I monitor NameJet for certain terms that drop, and have seen lots of obvious examples of trademark-ridden domains that have gone into auction at ridiculous prices. Do NOT be one of these people.

There’s obvious trademarks, but I fell into the not-so-obvious territory just a few months ago. This territory is real estate. I ended up picking up realtorsarasota.com for just under $500 in a NameJet auction for a friend of mine who is an actual Sarasota Realtor. Soon after I got cease and desist letter from the National Association of Realtors telling me to stop using the domain.

Since I had no legal ground to stand on, I had to redirect it to realtor.com until the domain name expires. A quick $500 down the drain. Similarly I have a friend in the industry who may end up losing his domain with the term “MLS” in it. That too is a trademark of the NAR.

When it comes to real estate domains, do not go after anything with “MLS” or “Realtor.” (Real estate, agent, homes, etc. are fair game since they’re generic terms.) About a year ago I saw therealtor.com dropping from SnapNames and the auction was already over $1000 – makes me feel sorry for whoever won that domain.

This lesson applies to most domain purchases. Before you spend a lot of money on a domain (through a drop, private purchase, or new registration), be sure that it does not include a trademarked term. This is a lesson that diggdotus learned the hard way – Digg’s legal team forced them to change the domain because it included Digg’s trademark.

Some companies don’t go after domains that contain their trademarked term (like Google or Flickr), BUT they have every legal right to and might change their mind down the line. It’s best to avoid that situation all together.

The lesson here: check copyright.gov before you spend big money on a new domain.

If you want to learn more about copyright and trademark issues, check out Sarah Bird’s posts on Seomoz, here’s a good one to start with about Zappos.com.

Google Suggest Launching – What this Means to You

2008-08-28T15:23:39Z

Google Suggest is getting ready to be integrated into the main Google search over the next week or so. It’s been tested in Google Labs over the last few years and will finally make it’s debut on the main stage (Google’s home page). This will put it in front of millions of new users and will have an impact in the way traffic is shaped across the web. But how?

We will most likely see both 1-2 keyword (super short tail) queries and 4-8 keyword (long tail) queries get pushed into 2-4 keyword queries (middle tail). On one hand this is good. Instead of ambiguous queries like “cheap” more people will be directed to more specific queries like “cheap flights” or “cheap laptops” (assuming 1 of the 10 is what they wanted in the first place.) Then there’s the other side of the coin.

It’s no secret Google has been trying to chop off the long tail for some time (so they can serve ads against the shorter tail) – this will certainly help them in that respect. If you were going to search “cheap laptops best prices and reviews” and after having typed “cheap lap…” you see “see “cheap laptops for sale” you might be inclined to just click that result, since it was close to what you were looking for anyway and it saves you extra typing.

One aspect of Google suggest that’s not being discussed much is the number of search results that shows next to a query. Most people probably don’t understand this number, but will have a general assumption that higher number = better. So when choosing between 2 similar items, they might choose the one with a higher number. Not sure whether this is necessarily bad – just not ideal and possibly misleading.

Plenty of others have been discussing this issue and adding a lot of interesting insight into this. You may want to check out these posts:

At this point, it’s all conjecture. We will have to wait and see how this affects the landscape once this shakes out.

Cutting through the Cuil Search Engine Hype: Bigger & Slower Isn't Better

2008-07-28T16:45:24Z

This morning the Cuil Search Engine launched to LOTS of buzz. Two of my non-search friends emailed me about it this morning, which sounds like hype is spreading far and wide – and even outside the normal tech-related circles. Google trends even has “cuil stock” at #16 for hot searches – people are super excited.

Even Michael Arrington was excited enough to classify Cuil’s downtime this morning as “a rite of passage” rather than “unacceptable failure” for a company with $33M in funding.

As much as I want someone to challenge Google, I have little faith Cuil is anything more than a blip on the radar. And here’s why.

It’s Not About Size

For real and credible perspective you might want to read Search Engine Land’s take on Cuil. To me SEL always has the most sober perspective on anything search-related. Most media (like the New York Times) tend to regurgitate companies’ PR and focus on irrelevant angles (in this case the size of Cuil’s index).

Cuil can index 10 times as many scrapers or duplicate content pages as Google, but that doesn’t matter. Relevancy does. It’s as useless a metric as website hits – and just as outdated. But this won’t stop people from parroting that PR line.

The real impressive angle of Cuil is its policy on privacy:

We believe that analyzing the Web rather than our users is a more useful approach, so we don’t collect data about you and your habits, lest we are tempted to peek. With Cuil, your search history is always private.

This is one important area where Cuil has Google beat, but this doesn’t sound as interesting as “121 billion pages” in newspaper blurbs and will not get as much attention as it should.

Speed Kills

Downtime, poor navigational search, irrelevance – those are all issues that people have covered. One thing I haven’t seen discussed is page loading time. Google is super obsessed about speed, and for good reason – if you run a hundred searches a day, speed becomes an issue. Let’s just run a quick comparison, using firebug to monitor load time:

Search for “hard drives”:

Google: 0.584 seconds
Cuil: 3.49 seconds

Search for “grand central nyc”:

Google: 0.474 seconds
Cuil: 2.77 seconds

It seems like a small difference, but there’s a reason Google is so obsessed about loading time – over time, people notice and it DOES matter.

Cuil is Cool, but that’s about it

I do want someone to challenge Google, but I’ve seen so many “Google killers” come along in the last few years that I’ve become very skeptical.

Does anyone remember Cha cha, Powerset, Hakia, or Mahalo – at least beyond the first few hype filled days that followed their launches? Cuil has seemingly different buzz – “the pedigree of founders (former Googlers),” etc. – but I highly doubt it will made a dent in the Google’s growing search market share, much like nothing else has in the past few years.

The blogosphere will be abuzz about this for a few days, but focus will soon shift to something else – as it always does. (I’d hold off on that “cuil stock” if I was you).

What are .me Domain Names Actually Worth?

2008-07-23T23:31:27Z

My last post talked about Godaddy and it’s recent .me registration fiasco. Now let’s take a closer look at the question on many people’s minds: what will .me domains be worth in the future?

I think .me domains are highly speculative.

.me is no .com

There’s little question about the value of generic domain names, but .com’s rule that field – by a very wide margin. The .com tld has been branded in most people’s minds as THE default website extension. .net’s and .org’s have historically fetched a small fraction of what the .com is worth.

Lots of other tld’s have popped up over the years, including .info, .ws, .name, .mobi, etc. but none of them have gained much traction. The last well-hyped extension I remember was .mobi – a lot was spent to hype it up and lots of registrars made good money selling them to speculators. Fast forward almost 2 years and the jury is still out on whether or not .mobi will be a winner or a loser when the dust settles.

Even people like Rick Schwartz, who invested the heaviest in .mobi are not entirely sure of their future value.

The more time I spend in the domain speculation world, the more I tend to agree with Andrew that non-.com’s don’t have that much value outside of 2-3 letter and 1-2 high-value keyword domains.

ICANN recently made it easier to create new extensions, but sites such as “microsoft.me” and “microsoft.microsoft” will probably just confuse most consumers. A good percentage will go to microsoftme.com and microsoft.com instead.

I will venture to say that most people buying up .me domain names right now are probably speculators. I doubt that most .me domain name buyers have plans to build out these sites. I am careful of any market where prices are determined by speculation rather than development (real estate bubble of 2005 anyone?)

what about .me?

If you can lock up eat.me or aweso.me or anything that’s a short logical 1-word domain, go for it, but know that’s it’s still a gamble. Possibly a few high-value keywords will be worth something (but not a whole lot, if you ask me).

I like .me better than most other extensions because of the personal nature of “me”, but I don’t buy most of the hype that surrounds this landrush. I think registrars will be the only ones who really profit from .me.

If you disagree, I’d love to hear some arguments about why you think .me’s will appreciate any more than your average non-.com in the comments.

The Godaddy .me Domain Registration Fiasco

2008-07-18T19:31:20Z

Yesterday was a day of broken dreams for a lot of people thanks to Godaddy and the .me domain name landrush fiasco.

Yesterday Godaddy opened up registration for .me domain names, which led to a virtual stampede for the most sought after domains (hug.me, resu.me, add.me, f*ck.me, etc.)

The twittersphere was abuzz with “I just registered 10 awesome domains” as everyone placed their orders. Almost everyone was sorely disappointed, however, when they started receiving “failed to register” emails from GoDaddy. Essentially Godaddy took a lot of people’s money but failed to register most domains.

I think there’s a good possibility Godaddy will get slapped with a lawsuit since most people were probably not made aware of how this “actually” works. Domain Name wire answers some questions about how this .me registration really works (be sure to check out the comments).

Essentially, the registry reserves the most valuable and obvious domains for themselves, then let others fight it out for the rest of anything that’s worth registering – via auction to be held later this month – but this information is not presented up front. Perhaps someone like Sarah Bird can chime in whether this would be grounds for a fraud suit against Godaddy.

I went through a similar experience mysself about a month ago after I saw that .me domain name registrations were available for pre-order (via stuntdubl’s tweet). They were $100 ($50/yr. min of 2 years) to register, so I ordered 3 of them, not knowing that if anyone else registered them, we’d have to go into auction for ownership later.

It willbe interesting to see how this all shakes out: Will Godaddy automatically refund everyone’s money? How high will the auctions go? Will there be any foul play or insider bidding? Will Godaddy get slapped with a class action suit?

In my next post we’lll step back for a second to get some perspective on “what are these .me domains actually worth?” stay tuned…

P.S. The only domain name I know was succesfully registered (ironically) is sodomize.me :)

Want the Ultimate Headline Copywriting Cheet Sheet? Last Days to Get it

2008-07-03T14:17:47Z

One of my favorite copywriters (besides Brian Clark) is Paul Robb. I’ve had the pleasure to work with him over the past few months and he’s a copywriting genius.

He decided to retire his old copy blog last month, but as his last post he’s made an offer you shouldn’t pass up: if you follow him on Twitter and direct message him, he’s send you his personal PDF cheat sheet of some of the best headlines ever written for magazines like Cosmo, Maxim, etc. This is thousands of clippings that he’s saved over the years as templates for writing killer headlines.

But Hurry, there’s only a day or two left before he pulls this offer for good – and this pdf will never be available again.

I’ve been seeing a lot of Copyblogger headlines reused in social media recently. While they are effective, I think other marketer can often see right through them and are less likely to vote for them. If you want some fresh material to emulate, check out the details on Robb’s last post (and hurry).

AirDig Ultimate Airfare Search Tool: Get Your Beta Invite

Yay! I'm Finally Getting Verizon FiOS to My House

2008-06-04T00:17:24Z

A few months ago I saw a bunch of Verizon trucks and human sized gophers digging up grass in my neighborhood, which meant only one thing – I would soon be able to get FiOS!

Fast forward to today and I’m finally able to order Verizon FiOS to my house (which I did this morning).

I signed up for both FiOS TV and Internet. The HDTV picture is supposed to be awesome which is something I actually care about ever since I got my Samsung 42″. The Internet is 10Mbps down, 2 Mbps – and that’s just on their basic plan. I might up it to 20/20 Mbps symmetrical later just for bragging rights.

I’ve been with Comcast for the last 2 years and have been itching at the chance to drop them like a bad habit.

In my old house I had to have a cable run into my house under the door since Comcast technicians never came out to the house to fix my cat5 issues, no matter how often I called them. I had to get Comcast Cable again in my current house since it was the fastest option available and I got the discount for bundling it with TV.

Coincidentally last night and this morning my Comcast internet connection has been going in and out (maybe it knows what’s up).

I don’t know how Comcast hopes to compete with all the horrible press they’ve gotten recently (that throttling mess, impending overage fees, hacking, etc.), not to mention that their coax technology won’t be able to handle anything near what Verizon’s fiber optics will be able to in the coming years.

I’ll try to do a more-in depth post once I get FiOS actually installed and have a chance to test it out, so check back in a few weeks. Pssst, subscribe to my RSS feed if you haven’t already.

Has anyone else upgraded to FiOS recently? Have any input on Verizon vs. Comcast? Leave a comment below.

Update: Here’s a good page on all the current and up to date FiOS deals.

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