Marketing Pilgrim Published: “Google Helps GoDaddy Website Customers Do Custom Search” plus 3 more

Google Helps GoDaddy Website Customers Do Custom Search
If Groupon Can Get $950 Million Being Irreverent, Maybe You Can Too!
Google Goggles Upgrade Now Recognizes Print Ads
UK Watchdog Sinks its Teeth into Celebrity Twitter Endorsements

Google Helps GoDaddy Website Customers Do Custom Search

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 04:35 AM PST

While everyone is busy doing the big investments and high dollar courtship only Silicon Valley can do, Google is doing something under the radar that could seriously extend their reach.

It is hard to fathom but statistics still show that somewhere between 40-50% of businesses still don't have a website. I would laugh at that idea if I didn't have a friend whose family business is about as old as me (even in dog years it's a big number, trust me) and their site just came online in 2010. It's been hard enough getting smaller businesses to play online but what will it be like for those who haven't even entered the fray at this late date?

Well, GoDaddy has made a run at these people by helping get a cheap web presence up and they are doing quite well at it. Now, Google has joined in helping GoDaddy give the tiniest of the SMB market players a chance at having some functionality on these smaller sites through offering Google custom search. The Google blog states

Go Daddy, the world’s largest domain name registrar and top web hosting provider, has made it easy for website owners to integrate Google Custom Search into their websites through its WebSite Tonight product.

WebSite Tonight is a do-it-yourself service that lets users create, design, update and publish websites without requiring any knowledge of HTML. The product offers 1,500+ design templates and enables you to very easily add widgets to your web pages. WebSite Tonight was named for its ease of use—you can create a website as quickly as one night.

Now, you have the option to add high-quality search across your website using Google Custom Search, simply by dragging and dropping a search box widget into your template. You can select from a set of predefined search themes, so the search results can be in harmony with the website’s design.

This is likely to be a strong source of information for Google moving forward as these smaller sites can then learn about other Google products like Boost, Tags, Places etc. What better time to get these late, late adopters than when they are just getting online and starting a journey that has left many SMB's dazed and confused (cue Led Zep).

So while the hunt for the mythical SMB Internet monster continues Google is looking to get into the heads and wallets of the little guys at the earliest point possible. In this case, it makes a lot of sense since these businesses that are getting into the game now will be looking for someone to guide them through the Internet maze.

It looks like Google wants to be the SMB Tour Guide to Internet Marketing from the get go which could build confidence and trust in a group that has yet to see just how much money they can spend in the online space.

Any thoughts?

If Groupon Can Get $950 Million Being Irreverent, Maybe You Can Too!

Posted: 11 Jan 2011 03:45 AM PST

It's official. Groupon has finalized a financing round that totaled $950 million and includes VC luminaries like Kleiner Perkins, Andreessen Horowitz and more.

Obviously, it's great news for the Groupon team and especially for those looking to cash out at this point as was noted in a post here late last month.

What struck me as hysterical though is some peculiar wording in the press release on Groupon's site. We live in an age of self-promotion for sure but I was hoping that nearly a billion dollars of investment would hinge on more than this. The following line is from the actual press release from Groupon (hat tip to TechCrunch). Maybe the releases title "Groupon Raises, Like, A Billion Dollars" should've been a hint

In the last year, Groupon has been called "the fastest growing company ever" by Forbes Magazine and "America's best website" by one of Groupon's television commercials.

I guess, hope and pray they were trying to be cute rather than just looking like the morons that they do by putting that in the release. It's akin a big bailout bank saying "We are taking the bailout money because we think it's funny so many people want to pay our executives just because we have said we could use some cash for bonuses. Tee hee hee!" OK, so that's a stretch but you get the point.

Look, I know it's cool to be irreverent but there is a fine line that can easily be crossed and I suspect that this type of comedy is where Groupon could stub its toe eventually. They already appear to feel as if they are bulletproof on their idea that is being copied by myriad other sites who don't exact a pound of flesh for their service.

Well, here is a list of VC from the release as well that will certainly exact their pound of flesh and more in fine vulture capital fashion.

The financing consists of several venture capital firms and late-stage investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, Battery Ventures, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Mail.ru Group, Maverick Capital, Silver Lake, and Technology Crossover Ventures. Allen & Company LLC acted as financial advisor. Previous funding rounds were led by New Enterprise Associates, Accel Partners, and Mail.ru Group (formerly DST.)

Is this kind of 'attitude' an indication of the new Internet bubble that some are talking of? Has it gotten to the point where so much money is flying around in deals that the investors are giving money to anyone? Sure Groupon is big but with that kind of money comes responsibility and with the two farms of Groupon research being so far apart (Groupon's claims of how happy their customers are vs the claims of those who would never engage in the model again) is the legend of Groupon separating from the reality of Groupon?

Well, people who have a ton more money and are supposedly well versed in these matters are betting large sums of cash on Groupon. My question to you is, do you see it being a worthwhile use of money? Will Groupon continue to rise or will it hit the wall? If it does 'Friendster out' there will be a lot of unhappy investors and more than a few smiles from the folks at the Googleplex.

Your thoughts?

Google Goggles Upgrade Now Recognizes Print Ads

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 05:19 PM PST

Google Goggles is a smartphone app that allows you to use an offline photo to search for items online. Point your phone at the Empire State Building and zoom, your phone delivers a list of websites with everything you ever wanted to know about the landmark. Take a photo of a brand logo and you’ll be wisked to the company’s website.

Nifty, huh? But it gets better. Now you can take photo of an ad in any major newspaper or magazine and Google will return search results for the product being advertised. Picture it. So there you are in the doctor’s office, flipping through People magazine and you see an ad for the latest Glee CD. Snap a picture, follow the links and thirty seconds later you’re listening to peppy cover of Toxic on your iPhone. Talk about impulse buying.

And don’t worry if that magazine is out of date. Goggles can handle any major US mag dating back to August 2010.

The question now is, will it be your company that shows up at the top of the Google Goggles search when I scan in a photo of the latest Dolce & Gabana ad or will it be your competitor? Sounds like this new app is going to make Google search rank even more important than ever before.

If you have an Android phone, Google Goggles has upgraded the bar code scanner so it’s faster. When you hover over a barcode you’ll automatically be taken to the search results without even pushing a single button.

Finally, under the heading of “showing off,” comes one more feature from Google Goggles, the ability to solve any Sudoku puzzle simply by taking a picture of it with your phone. Now, I don’t Sodoku, but isn’t solving the puzzle yourself the whole point of the game?

Have you tried Google Goggles? And if so, what do you think about the accuracy of the returned search results?

UK Watchdog Sinks its Teeth into Celebrity Twitter Endorsements

Posted: 10 Jan 2011 12:38 PM PST

Get ready for some shocking news. Celebrities are hawking products for money and some of them are not providing full disclosures as required by the FTC. That means when Snoop Dogg gave a shoutout to the Sienna Minivan, it wasn’t because he liked the car, it’s because he got paid to do it!

I’ve rocked your world, I know. Take a minute. I understand. I’m sure at least half of you went out and bought that car because Snoop Dogg said it was cool and now you’re feeling scammed.

Fear not, the OFT is on your side, if you live in the UK, that is. The Office of Fair Trading is a UK consumer protection agency and they’re taking this celebrity endorsement issue seriously. An article in this weekend’s The Guardian, says that the OFT has already filed suit against a PR company that sells promotional blog posts and celeb Twitterers may be next.

Here in the US, the FTC requires the word “ad” or “spon” at the end of a Tweet to show that it’s been bought and paid for. The UK doesn’t have any such requirement so it doesn’t seem like the OFT has much of legal leg to stand on.

I understand the government’s interest in protecting the public, but isn’t this really a case where the public can protect themselves? For example, check out the Tweet on this post. It’s from Elizabeth Hurley who is a spokesmodel for Estee Lauder. Even if you didn’t know that, would you actually believe that she crafted that Tweet simply for the love of the product? Even without “ad” at the end, it reads like a piece of ad copy.

Here in Hollywood, stars are routinely given expensive shoes, jewelry and clothing with the hope that they’ll wear the items in front of the paparazzi. If Beyonce walks the red carpet wearing $600 Stuart Weitzman boots she got for free, how is that any different than a Tweet saying how fab the boots are?

I can see it now, stars walking the line with a sign that says “ad” on their backs.

The bottom line is this, with all of the scammers and thieves out there on the internet, do we really need the government to protect us from celebrities who Tweet for cash? I say no.

What do you think?