It is the “Quality Score Column,” and it gives you three ratings, “Great,” “OK” and “Poor,”  to help you determine way s of improving your campaign.

 - Great: The keyword is very relevant and may have a high clickthrough rate (CTR), relevant ad text, and a unique, relevant landing page. The minimum cost-per-click (CPC) bid for this keyword may be low. If you'd like to lower your costs further, you can optimize this keyword's Ad Group by using more targeted ad text or improving your landing page content. Otherwise, this keyword is very relevant and effective for your ad campaign

- OK: The keyword may not be as relevant as it could be. It may have a mid-range minimum CPC bid. . While the keyword may not be very costly or extremely general, we still recommend optimization for the Ad Group. Optimization can lower your overall costs, draw more clicks to your ads, and result in a better return on your investment (ROI). To optimize, try using more targeted ad text and keywords or improving your landing page content.

- Poor: The keyword isn't very relevant to users, and as a result may have a very high minimum CPC bid. We recommend that you remove this keyword and replace it with a more specific keyword. If you'd like to keep advertising with this keyword, you can optimize instead. To do this, try lowering the minimum CPC bid, writing a more targeted, relevant ad, or improving your landing page content.

 This is a great tool if you feel like PPC campaign performance can be like a crap shoot. It isn’t, you just need to remember what to focus on. I think this is a great guideline and I’m sure it will only improve over time.

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Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, a department of Beijing Municipal Government, recently agreed that it will acquire Zunch’s search engine optimization (SEO) services to optimize their Chinese and English sites once the sites are available in approximately three months.

In early December 2006, Zunch’s own Terrence Ou was invited to visit the Bureau’s Information Center to discuss the needs of the Bureau and demonstrate the Zunch could provide solutions for the Bureau’s needs.

The Center’s director, Sam Xu, later wrote to Terrence-- “We are very impressed with Zunch’s superior experience in helping many companies promote an online presence. Although we are not a for-profit organization, we also need traffic from our target audience to visit us, especially when it is only 20 months away from the opening of 2008 Beijing Olympics.”

Wow! I totally forgot about the fast approaching 2008 Summer Olympics.

 With the approach of this event, the Chinese government is developing more English-language sites to serve foreign visitors to the country. And that development has created another good opportunity for Zunch to get involved in the rapidly growing country.

Terrance has been a very busy guy, meeting with a number of potential Chinese clients and introducing them to Zunch.

Recently, Terrance sold our SEO services to a data recovery agent in Guangzhou.

Next week, a large Chinese real estate company will be in talks with  Zunch regarding developing their interactive Buy-and-Sell Website.

And a Beijing-based career search engine is also in the middle of reaching an agreement for SEO services.

 Yeah, Terrance has been a very busy guy. And his books not even out yet. Once the book is in circulation, I doubt Terrance will be allowed to sleep for more than 30 minutes a day.

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The Daytona Prototype class vehicle #20, run by Howard Motorsports, was driven by a number of great drivers including NASCAR’s Tony Stewart and the Grand American star Andy Wallace.  The DP suffered some major mechanical problems, causing the car to spend several hours out of the race, but even with that setback the car finished 48th overall and 24th for its class.

The GT class Porsche #14, run by Autometrics, was driven by Wes Allen, Cory Friedman, Mac McGehee, Jim Hamblin and Bransen Patch.  The Autometrics car 14 finished in 34th place overall and 14th for its class, out of field of 70.

“We are excited to get involved in this exciting industry,” said Craig Waugh. “Zunch and Orion look forward to a great season working together and with new teams for the 2007 season and beyond!”

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Curious about what the most popular searches are? Ever wonder what the rest of the world is looking for on the Internet?

Two sites, Yahoo!Buzz and GoogleZeitgeist, can keep you up to date and informed on the latest search trends.

As you'll see, most of the top searches are tied to recent news or events. Anna Nicole Smith seems to be a popular search choice right now.

And I have a confession to make. When she died a few days ago, I actually did go online and search for news of her death,mostly because the local sports talk radio station, the Ticket, mentioned it in their sports ticker, of all places.

They're two very interesting sites to visit. If nothing else, you can keep up with what's hot right now.

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Google is adding maps and word processing services to its Chinese site in its ongoing fight to grab a bigger share of the search engine market in China.

In the last quarter of 2006, Baidu had a 58% share of China's 476 million yuan ($61 million) search market, while Google trailed with a 17% share. Google wants a much bigger share of that fast growing market, but has had difficutly making inroads into the Chinese market.

The new service, known as Google DI Tu, Chinese for 'map," covers 146 cities in China. Google also offers word processing and spreadsheet programs in Chinese, just as they do in the United States, although the specific links apparently aren't yet available in Zunch's corner of the world..

Whether the average Chinese citizen will switch to Google remains to be seen. As evidenced by its marketshare, over half of all Chinese currently prefer Baidu. But don't count Google out.

As the Internet continues to shrink the world (so ot speak), expect the Chinese to become more trusting of Google. Especially if they happen to be a Chinese company wanting to do business with Western nations.

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Google Apps is about to step into waters that Microsoft has long dominated. Although the current move is probably the equivalent of putting your big toe in the water to test it, it's a sign that Google is getting serious about challenging Microsoft's suite of office products.

You can read more about it in this BusinessWeek article. 

As we all know, Google dominates the search engine market, a sore spot with Microsoft. What happens if Google actually mounts a challenge to Microsoft's dominance of the business applications market?

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My friends, both of them, will tell you that I have somewhat odd tastes in books and films. My wife will tell you it's beyond "odd."

On the book side, I'm the only person most people know who collects rare books on copywriting and marketing. I went nuts last year when noted advertising copywriter Bruce Bendinger sent me a copy of the late John Matthews' book, The Copywriter.

Is that a yawn I hear in response to that anecdote?

I can travel down some equally bizarre paths in films.

For instance, a few years ago I heard about a film Richard and Danny Elfman (yes, the same Danny Elfman who now writes movie scores, most notably for Tim Burton) made back in their "Mystic Knights of the Oinga Boinga" days. The Knights, as you should know, were the predessors to the less phonetically challenged "Oinga Boinga."

The film was made in 1980 in black and white, directed by Richard, and featured cardboard cutout backgrounds for sets and Herve Villechaize, of Fantasy Island fame, as the king of a world hidden in another dimension..

What's the title of this momentous film (that you've probably never heard)?

Forbidden Zone.

Not The Forbidden Zone, as it is sometimes incorrectly referred to, just Forbidden Zone.

This is one of those "must be seen to be believed" type films, and not because it features state-of-the-art special effects. Believe me, it doesn't. Back when we were kids, my brothers and I made better sets on our carport when we'd try to build a rocketship to fly to Mars in.

But let me tell you, after you see it, whenever you hear the term "cult film," Forbidden Zone will always come to mind.

Now, for years I waited and watched to see if this film might turn up at a midnight film festival. It didn't. I searched discount bins in second hand stores for a dvd of it. Couldn't find it.

Yeah, I could've ordered it online or from some store, but where's the fun in that?

Finally, it turned up on Showtime. Now I'm not a regular Showtime subscriber, but we moved recently and got one month free with our new cable service. So last month, I was treated to Forbidden Zone, not once, not twice, but five times! and at no cost.

I won't ruin it for you by telling you too much, just let me say-- Where else can you watch Danny Elfman, dressed as the devil, singing a demented version of Minnie the Moocher?

'Nuff said.

Anyway, the guys in the white suits are arrving. My next blog may be coming to you from a padded room.

By the way, I wouldn't watch this with the kiddies. It seems that, among other things, the princess of Forbidden Zone forgot to fully clothe herself prior to filming.

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You've probably seen it on the news, or more likely on the Internet, the story of a promotion for the Cartoon Network's Aqua Teen Hunger Force, that didn't quite go as planned.

Seems someone thought it would be a clever idea to distribute blinking electronic signs with wires protruding from them throughout ten cities, all intended as a promotion for Aqua Teen, a part of the Cartoon Network's Adult Swim lineup.

It doesn't appear to have caused much of a stir in nine of the cities, but in Boston, things went awry. Someone decided it might be part of a terrorist attack and, suddenly, major roadways and subway lines were shut down and Boston went into panic mode.

Two men hired by Turner Broadcasting, owner of Cartoon Network, were arrested and subsequently released.

Luckily, neither of these guys worked for Zunch, although I've got a concern they may have inspired a few Zunchers to come up with their own off-the-wall promos. All I ask of any Zunchers considering such a move is, don't call me for bail money.

The promo, hysteria and subsequent fallout raises a few questions. Did these guys actually do anything wrong? Why did nine other cities apparently have no problem with the promotion? Does the City of Boston not have a sense of humor?

Okay, admittedly, Boston has good reason to be overly concerned about terrorists since flights out of their airport were part of the terrorist attacks of 9/11. Still, once it was determined the devices were harmless, and from what I've read and seen, they really weren't all that sinister looking, why the hysteria?

I'm not real sure where to come down on this one. On the one hand, I have to admire the cleverness of the original campaign, and the fact that with the turn of events in Boston, it's gotten way, way more coverage and publicity than anyone at Turner could have expected (and probably well worth the $2 million that Turner is paying to the City of Boston). 

On the other, I also have to appreciate the concerns of officials in Boston. What if it had turned out to be some kind of terrorist bombing attack? Would we all be laughing at Boston and questioning whether the City has a sense of humor?

Viewing the devices  as part of  a potential terrorist plot is probably giving terrorists credit for being far more clever than they are, after all, terrorists seem to be notoriously lacking in senses of humor. But, who knows? These days, how do you make sure something like this is harmless?

I mean, that carton of fries guy from Aqua Teen looks kind of sinister (although I don't know if he was featured on any of the promotional devices).

But here's an idea-- next time someone cooks up an oddball promotion, let the authorities know ahead of time. That way, when someone who goes to bed before the Adult Swim portion of Cartoon Network airs sees a sinister looking sign and calls the cops, the cops can tell him (or her), lighten up.

Opinions, anyone?

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Ever have trouble remembering the words to songs, or even the song name or artist?

I had that problem recently when bits and pieces of the song "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" by Jet, kept running thorugh my head, and I could not remember the name of the song or artist.

For some reason I was determined to buy it, but couldn't remember the title or who it was by. I fruitlessly walked into a CD store and tried to hum it to them (trust me, you don't want to hear me sing), but the staff just gave me blank states.

Luckily, my early-onset-alzheimer's memory eventually kicked in and I recalled the name of the song.

But for the next time I run into the problem, there's now a Website ready to come to my rescue.

Midomi allows you to find out the name of a song, simply by humming or singing part of the song into your computer. All you need is a microphone, and you'll never be driven nuts by a song fragment running through your head again.

Of course, in my case, this means i need ot run out and buy a microphone. But I'll probably forget to do that before another tune in my head drives me bats.

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It's no big secret that Apple vigorously protects its trade secrets and trademarks (although oddly enough they have no problem trampling all over someone else's trademarks when then want, e.g., the iPhone). But a California court has decided Apple overstepped its bounds when it sued bloggers at www.AppleInsider.com and www.PowerPage.org, over alleged violations of California state trade secret law.

Apple claimed the bloggers had violated the law by disclosing alleged "confidential information" about not-yet-released Apple products.

However, a  Santa Clara County Court felt otherwise and ruled against Apple and in favor of the defendants.  In doing so, the court ordered Apple to pay the legal fees incurred by defendants, including a 2.2 times multiplier of the actual fees, bringing the total to approximately &700,000.

The defendants were represented by attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF).

The ruling is seen by web journalists as a First Amendment rights victory for the online community.

Kasper Jade, publisher of AppleInsider.com, said, "The court's ruling is a victory for journalists of all mediums and a tremendous blow to those firms that believe their stature afford them the right to silence the media. Hopefully, Apple will think twice the next time it considers a campaign to bully the little guy into submission."

Assuming the ruling stands, Apple could appeal, it marks a recognition of the courts that the First Amendment extends to the Internet. It also appears to be a step forward in establishing the legitimacy of journalists/bloggers reporting on the Web, rather than more traditional media.

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