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Posts Tagged ‘Google’

Here is the story behind one of the most remarkable Internet successes of our time. Based on scrupulous research and extraordinary access to Google, the book takes you inside the creation and growth of a company whose name is a favorite brand and a standard verb recognized around the world. Its stock is worth more than General Motors’ and Ford’s combined, its staff eats for free in a dining room that used to be run by the Grateful Dead’s former chef, and its employees traverse the firm’s colorful Silicon Valley campus on scooters and inline skates.

The Google Story is the definitive account of the populist media company powered by the world’s most advanced technology that in a few short years has revolutionized access to information about everything for everybody everywhere.

In 1998, Moscow-born Sergey Brin and Midwest-born Larry Page dropped out of graduate school at Stanford University to, in their own words, “change the world” through a search engine that would organize every bit of information on the Web for free.

While the company has done exactly that in more than one hundred languages, Google’s quest continues as it seeks to add millions of library books, television broadcasts, and more to its searchable database.

Readers will learn about the amazing business acumen and computer wizardry that started the company on its astonishing course; the secret network of computers delivering lightning-fast search results; the unorthodox approach that has enabled it to challenge Microsoft’s dominance and shake up Wall Street. Even as it rides high, Google wrestles with difficult choices that will enable it to continue expanding while sustaining the guiding vision of its founders’ mantra: DO NO EVIL.more info

Remember that google-woos-brits-with-bike-based-street-view-project-19519″>Google Street View bike that was unveiled in May for use to map footpaths in Britain? Turns out, Google has a number of them, and they’re also operating in Japan, Italy and the US. In fact, imagery from them from three spots in California has recently gone online and more will be coming in the next few months.

Google tells me in the US, these areas have gotten Street View photography via bike power:

• Santa Monica Pier
• 3rd Street Promenade
• Monterey Bay Coastal Bike Path

Expect to see some universities added to the list, as well as amusement parks. Places working with Google to do bike-based mapping include:

• University Of Pennsylvania (see AP story for more)
• Penn State
• University Of San Diego
• Legoland California

Legoland! How about Disneyland? Well, Disneyland Paris went live about a week ago, but that was done with a car. If a bike is being brought into any of the other Disney parks, Google’s not saying.

Expect to see the images from other places appear in the next few months, Google says.

Postscript: In related news, apparently two people were arrested on mugging charges in the Netherlands after a crime was caught on a Street View camera.

If you want to test mobile advertising, but do not want to pay for the development for a full mobile site until you are certain you wish to utilize mobile advertising, there is a very easy way to create a test site using WordPress.

 WordPress is an easy-to-install blogging platform. However, you do not have to use it as a blog. You can install the CMS and create a couple landing pages to test out for your mobile ads instead of starting a full blog. In addition, WordPress supports many plug-ins. One of these plug-ins makes WordPress mobile compatible. Therefore all you need to do to test out mobile advertising is:

• Install WordPress
• Install the mobile compatible plug-in
• Write a few pages for mobile users
• Send traffic to those pages via AdWords

Here is a full instruction guide to creating WordPress mobile pages.

Previewing mobile search results & websites

Google has a mobile preview tool that will let you view mobile results from within your desktop browser. Navigate to the Read the rest of this entry »

The Importance of Rankings

In simple terms, the reason you should monitor your rankings is because every tiny increase in rankings that you receive gives you a substantial increase in traffic.

These are the top 10 results inside Google, and the percentage of times that they get clicked.

What Do You Notice About The Clicks?