My Life After Pandora

I don't know about you, but my latest obsession has been Pandora.  And I don't mean internet radio in general, I specifically mean Pandora.  I'm completely fascinated by the entire thing.  I feel like MY Pandora actually knows me.  The entire Music Gnome Project is just awesome to me.  It's just amazing how they can take something totally artistic and creative, break it down to its basic mathematical and technological elements, and magically (or scientifically) relate music in a way that allows a music consumer like me to have endless entertainment with little to no effort.  

I remember the days of real Radio, mixed tapes (yes, cassettes), and listening booths in music stores.  You had to work to discover new music, or have friends in the know.  Now, there's no work involved.  I consume music like I consume water.  I enjoy it, I need it, but I don't remember every bottle.  Since I no longer have to work for my music, I don't pay attention to all the details like I used to.  Before, new music meant time and money.  Now, it's just something that happens in the background of my life.  Am I less involved with my music because I'm older and have a real job, or am I less involved because Pandora makes it too easy now?

What Does the Future Hold? - Search Marketing

In search marketing, we always wonder how our industry will evolve in the future.  The idea of search going away is inconceivable to us today, but will it always be?  I was reading this article in the NY Times this morning, and it was all about automated computer systems, and voice recognition and artificial intelligence.  Maybe this is how search will evolve.  People will simply be able to have a conversation with their computers to find what they're looking for, and browsing will become obsolete.  The article talks about the Siri technology (which Apple purchased in April), and how you can easily find and book a restaurant reservation simply by saying you're looking for something romantic at 8 within walking distance. 

Now, imagine what the hotel industry could do with this.  Being able to plan an entire vacation simply by having a conversation with a computer, stating that you want to go someplace tropical in June for 5 nights that's quiet, has golf for your husband, activities for the kids, and a swim up pool bar that serves frozen margaritas with umbrellas in them for you, and a budget of about $3,000.  The computer may speak back to you and ask if the kids need their own room, or if you all want to share a suite.  Or it might talk to you about language preferences.  All of it being more of a conversation than typing in keywords or marking radio buttons with your preferences. 

Now imagine if everything you ever needed to search for was that easy?  How would that change our industry?  How would advertising come into play when the world turns to computer avatars and voice recognition technologies?

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/science/25voice.html

Getting Your Priorities Straight

Is it more important to be true to your inner geek, or spend wisely?  With all the buzz going around about the new iPhone rumored to release this summer, I find myself in a dilemma.  I've been good with buying a new cell phone every 2 years.  This method has worked for me in the sense that it both fulfilled my geeky needs, but also didn't kill my bank account.  There was only 1 year that I broke my pattern, and that was when the first iPhone came out.  I had just bought the Nokia Communicator 3 months prior to the iPhone announcement.  At first I avoided hearing anything about the iPhone, but as soon as I saw a demo online, I was done.  Something like that, I had to be an early adopter.  It's just in my blood. 

So now, with all that the 4th generation iPhone is rumored to be, I find myself stuck.  I bought the iPhone 3Gs last summer, and now a new phone could be coming out a year earlier than I wanted it to.  I won't be eligible for any subsidized discounts like I was for the 3Gs, so I might have to drop $500+ to get the new phone.  I guess we'll see this summer.

Update on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 4:05PM by Desirea

I know, it's been forever and a day since I posted, but I've been super busy.  As a follow-up to this, you will be happy to know (or maybe you won't - who really cares anyway?) that I managed to hold out and not buy the iPhone 4.  I'm definitely buying the iPhone 5 this summer though.  And I'll probably stick with AT&T even though the network is crap, and rarely works in the city.  I've resorted to turning 3G off during the day just so I have a functioning phone.  

Avoiding The Buzz

So I've been avoiding my blog the last couple weeks.  Partly because I've been super busy secretly getting a new job, and planning my exit strategy to get out of the Northeast.  Since everything is publicly in the works now, I can write again.  I did say partly though.  My other reason for avoiding my blog is because all I can think about when it comes to geeking out is how pointless I think the iPad is.  So many people are in love with it, and I just feel like I'll go on a complete rant about how useless it is.  The only legitimate purpose I can see for it is as a really cool replacement for the Kindle.  Outside of that, it won't be replacing any of my netbooks anytime soon.  That's right, I have netbooks.

I've met a lot of new people in the last couple weeks, and many have told me "I bet you're on the waiting list for the iPad".  At first I thought this was funny because my geek flag flies high even if I just met you, but then it makes me wonder why people can't tell I'm a PC.  Is it because I'm obsessed with my iPhone and refuse to even look at the NexusOne or any of the Droid phones?  I have an odd sense of loyalty to the iPhone because it truly was a mind blowing technology for me 3 years ago, and I feel like it's not done impressing me yet.  I just can't wait to get rid of AT&T.  The final stage of happiness with the iPhone will be when I can use it with Verizon.  I hear it's coming soon :-).

Update on Wednesday, April 6, 2011 at 4:08PM by Desirea

Ok, follow-up to this posting is LONG overdue, but I feel that I should share.  While I avoided the buzz of the iPad for a very long time, I did breakdown and buy one in June, 2010.  Does this make me a hypocrite?  No, because I ended up with the one caveat that I mentioned in my original article - there is no real purpose for the iPad unless you have a long commute or something like that.  Well my friends, I have an absurd commute - 75 mins, of which 60 minutes of it is all train.  When I first started commuting, I was doing all kinds of things on my iPad, but now I pretty much do nothing but read books with the kindle app, and occasionally respond to work emails.  If there was an AdWords Editor App for the iPad, I would probably do more work from the train, but I'm enjoying my leisure reading these days.  I've read more in the last 7 months than I have my entire life, excluding what I was forced to read for college.  I was a social sciences major - lots of reading in college.  Anyway, I think I'm on book 17 since June.  My average before used to be about 1 book a year :-).

SEM Geek Out - Trada

Ok, so I'm totally geeking out over this new site Trada.  It's just such a great idea, and so simple.  There are probably thousands of search marketers out there wishing they would have thought of this.  Here's how it works according to their site:

Advertisers create a new Paid Search campaign in Trada

Advertisers create a new campaign with some basic information about the company and the product/service that is being sold, and establish the parameters for the campaign like daily budget, maximum cost per click, the ad networks to advertise on, target cost per conversion, etc.

PPC Experts in the Trada Marketplace join the campaign

PPC Experts are alerted to the new campaign and decide if they’d like to work on it. If they join the campaign, they begin generating ad groups, keywords and ads.

Ads begin running on the Google, Yahoo and Bing ad networks

Trada gathers the ad groups, keywords and ads created by PPC Experts for the campaign and sends them to the Google/Yahoo/Bing accounts we’ve created for the campaign, where it begins running. After the campaign launches the Advertiser has the ability to review all of these keywords and ads to make sure they accurately represent the business and objectives.

Clicks and conversions are generated; PPC Experts earn money

If PPC Experts generate clicks or conversions for less than the stated click or conversion price, they keep the difference between what the Advertiser was willing to pay for the click/conversion and what it actually cost to generate it.

According to the article on Mashable, Trada has been privately running in beta since January 2009.  Needless to say, I've signed up as a PPC Expert.  Sign-up process is easy so far - provide your info and Linkedin URL, then take a short search quiz.  They evaluate the application and then let you know in a few days if you're in.  The best part about this is there's no commitment.  You can pick and choose if you want to work on the campaign.  As an advanced SEM - this is what I've been waiting for.  It's not even about earning some extra cash for me.  It's about being able to work on random unique opportunities that you might not get in your current position.  This is the perfect way for an SEM to stay well rounded.  I really hope this takes off - it's an awesome idea, but will only be as good as the marketplace.  Adoption is key for this one.