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2.0 out of 5 stars
A Promising Book that Disappoints, June 14, 2010
This review is from: Using Google AdWords and AdSense (Paperback)
AdWords (Google's paid advertising program) and AdSense (Google's program for publishers) do go together, but are seldom discussed in the same book. That's why I eagerly awaited my UPS driver to get me this new book on the two. Moroever, this is a QUE book, which promised to have video tutorials, audiosidebars and web.
As someone who teaches SEO and AdWords online, I really was hoping for a truly interactive book. Not just an e-book... but something more. Unfortunately, after registering my copy on Quebooks, all I can find is the same content, just now in digitial format. Where are the tutorials? I can't find them. Alas. I go to safaribooksonline and I am just solicited to sign up, even though the Que book indicates that are free. I do sign up, but still can't find the videos. The book indicates that they are on Safari, but after registering I am totally baffled as to how to find them. So as far as I can see this is just a book, nothing more.
Hopefully the author and Que marketing staff will read this review, and fix this! It's a huge disappointment that they are bafflingly impossible to find on the safari website. Frown, frown, frown... Unhappy camper!
Where the book excels is in AdSense. If you are running a blog or website, and hope to make money from serving Google ads, this book has a nice overview to the in's and out's of AdSense. I, personally, have never seen big money in AdSense, not at least since about 2005. But if you can create a hiqh quality, high traffic site and you want someone to lead you through AdSense, this is a good book for you.
The book also discusses AdWords, but doesn't make the most basic recommendations such as splitting your campaigns into a Google campaign and a Google Content Network campaign. This is surprising because you would expect a book like this to really excel at explaining Google's content network, which is what AdSense ultimately is. Content network is what it is called for advertisers; AdSense is what it is called for publishers. In my own online classes on AdWords, I constantly emphasize to businesspeople and marketers that you must split the two - it can save you a lot of money and headaches!
Miller also discusses SEO. In that section, he mentions Meta Tags, and implies that the Meta Keyword tag is paid attention to by Google. That makes me worry... As Google has clearly indicated it ignores the Meta Keyword tag, paying attention only to the Title and Meta Description in that term. Why this worries me is that this is a very basic point about SEO, and if Miller doesn't know that, then the rest of his advice is suspect.
As an online instructor in SEO, AdWords, and PPC, I am always on the look out for good books for my students. I teach a monthly free webinar (check my profile for information about me and my classes), and refer many students to resources all over the web. Books still have a place, and I wish I could recommend thiat book. I was so hopeful! But, all in all, this is a very disappointing book. It promises to much and delivers to little. Sigh.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Source About An Excellent Advertising System, May 1, 2011
This review is from: Using Google AdWords and AdSense (Paperback)
Advertising now drives much of the Internet. Google's advertising system is both incredibly well thought out and well operationalized. AdWords generates ads in response to user Google searches, while AdSense places ads on one's web pages, website, blog, etc. that allow even small individuals/enterprises to be profitable. Miller's book is intended for all levels of users, and is augmented by web-based video tutorials and audio hints.
Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising is Google's forte, and consists of small text ads. It contrasts with traditional cost-per-thousand impression (CPM) advertising. Google (and others) typically rotate ads from multiple advertisers on their search results because the number of suitable pages for a given keyword is limited, while advertisers are typically unlimited. Advertisers that bid higher usually (assuming relevant content - determined by Google's 'crawler') get higher (more attention-getting) placement. Pick keywords that nobody is interested in and your ad won't appear. Bidders are not necessarily charged their full bid - the #1 bidder is only charged one cent more than the #2 bidder.
AdSense places PPC ads on web pages, mobile phone web pages, blogs, YouTube videos (owned by Google), etc. AdSense also allows adding Google search to one's website. AdSense contains filters to block ads from competitors or other specified sites/inappropriate content (eg. porno). If appropriate ads are lacking, the web site owner (etc.) could instead place its own ads, public-service ads, or nothing in the space.
Google also provides bid simulator and traffic estimator tools. Keyword research is obtainable from a number of paid sites, as well as Google (free). Keyword research requires the user to select a word or phrase that describes their site offering, and then returns words/phrases in descending order of search popularity. One can also select words to try and sidestep significant competitors. Negative keywords are used to filter out bad prospects - eg. those just looking for a bargain.
"Using Google AdWords and AdSense" is an excellent reference and learning tool. However, given the richness of Google's offerings, it should not be one's only source. Example - it did not refer to how one can rotate ads and keywords to evaluate effectiveness on an ongoing basis.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Using Google Adwords and Adsense Review, December 18, 2010
This review is from: Using Google AdWords and AdSense (Paperback)
Using google adwords and adsense is a pretty helpful collection of media. As it says on the cover, it's `more than just a book'. The physical book is helpful enough in and of itself, but the value of what you're paying for really comes through once you register it online. Then you get a digital print version of the book with imbedded videos showing how to actually execute commands and navigate the Adsense and Adwords menus.
The quality of the physical book is pretty good. It's what I've come to expect from any kind of help manual, but the digital user interface is something that really impressed me. As a rule, I've never been into web-only versions of books and I'd much rather have something physical. I figured the website would be more of a companion to the book but it ended up being the other way around. I found it a lot easier to read chapters on the web and just watch the videos as they come instead of reading, pausing, and manually finding the videos.
It gives pretty detailed descriptions of how both programs work. So detailed in fact, there's a lot stuff they covered that won't ever really apply to the kind of stuff I do, but they set the content up nicely for skipping around.
If I have a criticism it's that I would've liked a set of hard figures or real numbers to set realistic expectations for what kind of money is collected by Adsense users and dished out by Adwords users, defined by what kind of traffic some respective sites are working with. But I feel, due to the ambiguous nature of how Google dictates what gets paid in and out, those numbers could be hard to find.
Overall the book and it's accompanying media is great and I would absolutely use it as an educational or training tool for other applications.
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