Author: Nancy McCord

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The New Digg – The New Place To Be

I am watching the evolution of social bookmarking move from a link tool to a full fledged social platform. Digg is leading the charge with integration of new sharing and interaction features. You can check out my own Digg page and profile by visiting http://www.Digg.com/mccordweb.

I really like Digg’s new interface. I was able to update my profile and find new interesting articles to read and people to follow in a snap. Additionally I can see what is happening in my industry  in an overview from strong Digg placement rapidly. You can even tie in your blog, feed, Facebook and Twitter accounts to maximize interaction and exposure.

I use many tools to stay on top of what is happening in my industry – RSS feed subscription, forum reviews, Twitter Lists, and now Digg. I have to say I think Digg may end up being my most valuable tool from my early use of the application. Why? because it aggregates top new stories in my industries not just information from people who I have chosen to follow.

There is some terrific industry related content out there, but sometimes the hardest thing is to find out who to follow and to “dig” to uncover them. The new Digg makes it easy to see what is trending, I think, in an easier way than even Twitter hash tags.

Check out the new Digg for yourself and make sure to follow me at mccordweb and I will follow you if you leave your Digg profile name in my comments below.

See you on the new Digg! P.S. I am not being paid for this review, just think the new Digg is a totally cool new application to use.

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My Business Doesn’t Need to Have a Facebook Fan Page, Does It?

Oh, how wrong can you be. I talked recently to a marketing executive of a national firm and when the topic of Facebook Fan pages came up, his response was “only my wife uses Facebook my business doesn’t need one.”

Just this past week many news resources and even PC World Magazine reported that a users time on Facebook eclipsed the time spent on Google for the first time ever. Read the full article online. That makes Facebook simply too hard to ignore even if you personally think otherwise. The article states that a user spent 9.6% of their Web time on Google and 9.9% on Facebook in the month of August 2010. Additionally this is nearly double the amount of time spent on Facebook in August 2009. Facebook activity is a phenomena that cannot be ignored!

It is important to meet and greet customers and prospects where they are active., and they are active on Facebook and looking to connect there. For a business to not have a Facebook Fan Page, especially for nationally positioned and national selling firms, it is in my humble opinion a mistake. In many cases it is very important to be an early embracer of a new trend or technology to establish yourself as a market leader and innovator but at this juncture, Facebook is no longer new. Not getting in the game now may really come back to bite you as a missed selling opportunity.

As more people flock to Facebook I expect the numbers to continue to increase. Facebook would have to do something really terrible to stop the trend, and I really don’t expect that to happen do you?

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Yahoo is Going Away – Well at Least the PPC Part

This past weekend I sadly removed all information about Yahoo Search Marketing from my website. I have been a Yahoo Search Marketing Ambassador for years and have offered Yahoo PPC set up and management services. MSN adCenter however is taking over the Yahoo PPC control panel and is already serving Bing ads and Bing search results on Yahoo.

A sad goodbye to Yahoo Search Marketing. I’ve seen plenty of changes over the years and have always felt that Yahoo PPC was a good product and in many cases had strong conversions for businesses who advertised there. But, I am looking forward to the changes that are ahead as Yahoo and Bing merge.

One thing that I have found as the transition from Yahoo to Bing continues this month is that the automated import from Yahoo to adCenter can be problematic for accounts that do not have a good account structure and which have not readied their ads. In one case that I just recently saw for a very large program, the keywords all came over but nearly none of the ad text imported.

Before you click to import your account to adCenter, make sure to review your Yahoo ad titles you must be at 25 characters including spaces to have your ads import. If you are at 40 which is what Yahoo had allowed, your ad text will most likely not import into adCenter.

So goodbye Yahoo we’ll miss you, but be savvy and prepare your Yahoo account before you migrate to adCenter. By the way, Bing says that most accounts will be fully migrated by the end of October or so. Bing and Yahoo want to have completed the change before holiday promoting and shopping for year end take place. – a smart move!

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McCord Web Services Becomes a Google AdWords Certified Partner

McCord Web Services is a Google AdWords Certified Partner
McCord Web Services is a Google AdWords Certified Partner

Just this last week I finished taking the last of two Google AdWords certification tests. This is my fourth test since I became a Google AdWords Qualified Professional. This time however passing the test allowed me to certify my business as a Google AdWords Certified Partner. That’s big news!

Not only am I a Google AdWords Certified Individual, but now my company has met the criteria of management of ad spend to qualify as well. A Google AdWords Certification is hard. I know, I have studied countless hours in addition to my regular work load. Over the years I have seen the tests become easier and then harder.

The very first Google AdWords certification test was killer, the second one two years later was totally watered down to allow more managers to be part of the AdWords program, the third exam two years later was tougher, and this last two part exam in the new AdWords Certification program was really tough.

What this means is that fewer people will pass to become certified and so the title Google AdWords Certified Individual or Google AdWords Certified Partner now actually means something – that your account manager is proficient not only in Google jargon and what Google thinks is important about AdWords, but effective in real account management scenarios in case study type questions that are like real world account issues.

If you are looking for a Google AdWords Certified consultant or account manager, I invite you to visit our website to learn more about our Google AdWords account management programs.