Inside AdSense: Introducing video units

Inside AdSense: Introducing video units

I just created my first video Adsense unit and put it on my directory at BeeZaagar.com. I'm pretty excited about this new offering, because it seems I will be able to add topical video content to my sites. But right now there are a few problems:

1) The smallest format is about 400 pixels wide and high. On Bee Zaagar I changed the layout of the site so I could put the video on the top of the page. I didn't want to push it to the bottom and the template would make it difficult to easily add it in the middle somewhere. Since 400 wide is about 50% of the page, I added the largest Adsense block on the right, and then moved some of the parts of the page above that. I like the way it looks for now, but it does hide the directory listings and you have to scroll down to see them.

What I HOPE they provide is some smaller formats that can expand, like a 768 leaderboard that can drop down and open up to play videos, or small ad-sized units that will either expand or open a window for the player.

2) While I was able to enter in some keywords for the site, like "bees", and there are a number of videos on that topic, it seems like the actual amount of video content is limited right now. The ads that are showing are targeted, but the videos are stupid. If I get kids they may not mind...

Local.com Charges $749 a year for "Local Verified" Listings

Local.com Charges $749 a year for "Local Verified" Listings

I finally got around to submitting a listing at Local.com last month. I didn't think much about it until I got an email today offering me a great deal on their "Local Verified" program. They say the "'Local Verified' program will promote your business in Hennepin (pop 1,116,200.) County at the top of the 'natural search'."

I consider this unethical.

There is a faint indication that they listings are paid, but as an Internet consultant I missed it at first, so I'm sure that most users will as well.

I don't know. Maybe I want to not like them because of their excessive $749 a year fee and their slick sales pitch that says how great a deal and how effective it is, without any FACTS to back it up? Small business owners are going to shell out this money and may or may not see much of a return.

To me, the greed is shocking. They must already be making really good money from all the paid listings, yet they also feel they have to charge a lot of money for their "verified" "organic" listings as well. I would not mind so much since they can charge whatever they want, but I found the user experience poor to annoying.

Heck, I'm looking at the page now, and the top one third of the screen is white space. Then below that all I see are paid ads, and not even the verified listings they are offering. Of course they have no incentive to put the flat rate ads on top, so the PPC listings are first. When I scroll down, here is what I see and the order what I see them:

-The white space (I checked in Firefox and IE and it's there in both browsers... why? To bury unpaid listings?)

-The Local.com logo and search box

-3 "SPONSOR LINKS with blue background - PPC ads

-A row of 3 "Featured Sponsors" - PPC ads

Then we get to the real search results, right? Wrong!!!

-Another "SPONSOR LINKS" that has box around it and is labeled, but very faintly. - PPC ads

-"Local Verified" listings which are just more sponsor advertising listings where they make sure of something. Perhaps "payment verified"? These stand out with Orange listing titles and have phone, address, and description. Very nice. - Flat rate ads

-Then I see 3 more "SPONSOR LINKS" that has box around it and is labeled, but very faintly. - PPC ads

And now I see the "organic" listings, and I am 50% of the way through the entire page. These listings also have phone, address. and description.

I also had a number of problems with the search function. I was searching for "seo" and at some point the system modified my search to be "se" which started giving me all kinds of crap results. True it did this because it could not find any listings for "seo" but did for "se", but then it went ahead and started using that without my confirmation that it was what I wanted.

Another problem that I have with these "Verified Payment" listings is that they allow you to expand out of you "local" area (city or zip code) to cover the entire county. Nice huh? Yeah, for the advertiser, but for the user, well here's an example:

I did a search for "internet" in zip code 55438 with a one-mile radius looking for my company. The "Verified" listing that came up was located in Ostego, MN in zip code 55301. Unlike the organic listings, there is no milage listed to this company, and I don't even know where that city is. Ok, from their site I can see they are in  Albertville. But they ain't what I would call "local"!!!

Expensive and not very user or business friendly, from my perspective. Note to Local.com: If I am going to pay you $750 per year for listings, I don't need them confused with organic listings, but I do need them to be on TOP of the paid search results listings.

But with partnerships with Yahoo and Google, they are moving a lot of traffic back and forth and all are making a lot of money I'm sure. They just won't be making much from me, since I won't advertise there and I won't use the site and click on any ads.

(hris