Camelbak! That’s the correct answer. Well, it’s the brand I was seeking, and at first I didn’t know the proper name. I knew there was a “camel” in it, so I tried “camel pack.” Here’s what came back:

This was a first search, and you can guess a user may then recognize “Camelbak” as a brand based on these results. But where is Camelbak.com?! If they’re not on page one, the user has already been educated and they have the opportunity to click any of these paid links to purchase.

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Internet retailer recently profiled an amazing tool built by Home Depot to help even the most novice outdoor chef pick the right grill. While I hate the web 2.0 label, this tool is what the web should be about in web 1.0, 2.0, or 3.0…the development of tools that helps to make information retrieval easier. Take a look below…looks easy enough right?

It is helpful (which is somehow web 2.0 now) in assisting people in narrowing down or honing in on the right grill for their needs. It uses a very nice interface to make the process smooth and easy! It combines product information, videos, and more in a very digestible and tastefully done way. See our thoughts on the Nike golf ball selector, who has a similar tool, that at the time was tough to find. Looks like it was a success, not to mention Home Depot has some serious numbers to show the REAL value of this tool. In the article it states:

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Google’s phased launch of their Placement Platform may have all of us in the PPC world reevaluating our current stance on using Google’s content network. Personally, it’s always been something I’ve shied away from. I’ve heard and witnessed the PPC horror stories where an advertiser opts into the content network looking for some extra traffic, and wakes up with thousands of extra clicks, not to mention a spend that has flown through the roof (of course in some instances, this can be blamed on poor campaign management and all the blame cannot be placed on Adwords).

The content network allows sites to show ads on other sites that are not owned by Google, but using the Google platform. For instance Marthastewart.com, NewYorkTimes.com, CBSsportsline.com, etc. allow you to advertise on their sites to their audience by setting up ads in Google’s Content Network. The content network reaches users that by only advertising on the Google search network, you may otherwise not reach. Until now, advertisers were not able to obtain site specific data, including conversion information, leaving advertisers in the dark as to which sites are performing for them, and therefore being completely unable to make appropriate decisions to increase the ROI on the content network. Advertisers never could truly pinpoint what was or was not working for them; it was more or less a take all or leave all approach.

Why is this change important and a huge benefit for Adwords advertisers? Now, as Adwords rolls out the new Placement Platform, advertisers will be able to identify exactly which sites are under performing and exclude their ads from running on those sites, as well as be able to determine which sites are driving conversions for them, and allocate more money to those specific sites only. This will allow advertisers to have control of their ROI results on the content network. That is not to say that the Placement Platform has alleviated the hard work behind running a successful Adwords campaign. Similar to Google’s process of determining the minimum bid on the search network, taking into consideration keywords, landing pages, etc., the content network also evaluates the relevancy between your ad groups and the sites you are targeting to determine the minimum bids. And of course, without a tightly structured campaign, your CTR and conversions will ultimately suffer. Aaron at SEO book offers some great ideas on how to use Google’s Content network beyond just the traditional sense of simply driving traffic to your site. He suggests a few ways to maximize your profits and to use the content network and newly developed placement platform reports for competitive intelligence.

I don’t know an advertiser out there who isn’t willing to dump more money into campaigns that are driving sales. The new changes on gathering data from ads running on the content network may entice advertisers who generally avoid running their ads on the content network, for reason of fear due to lack of data, to give it another try. The platform is yet to be unveiled to its full extent, however once it is available to advertisers and the proof in the data starts to show, I will be more than willing to reevaluate using the content network across all campaigns. The new changes may make it worthwhile to give it another go, if it could increase my ROI, why not?

Any thoughts on this?

While researching some technical information online last night that ultimately resided in a text book, I discovered a pleasant surprise when visiting the book’s homepage. A good portion of the book’s critical information was available directly on the site.

After leaving the site –having learned what I needed– I contemplated the business implications of taking portions or all of a resource and making it available freely on the web.

Old thinking:
Giving away critical information for free will make customers less likely to purchase. Freely available information creates less demand for information that otherwise must be purchased.

1980’s - The home stereo double cassette deck will destroy the music industry!
1990’s – The CD burner and peer to peer programs will destroy the music and film industries!

New thinking:
People expect a certain amount of resources to be free in our age. Forget right and wrong when it comes to piracy and millions of internet users for a moment; it is time to trust that the market will balance itself.

Did double cassette decks slow music sales considerably? If sales were not affected negatively they were unchanged or even increased. Previewing is a great way to entice interest. Many people still wanted original quality cassette tapes rather than a dubbed copy. Yesterday people still wanted to own an official DVD (which includes a non-violated FBI warning.) Today I believe the same is true for books and printed materials – there is a considerable body of consumers that still want to hold the product.

Think about your business model and if sharing information is an applicable idea. Let down your guard and look at your own usage experience when you exercise demand for information.

Truthfully, I do still plan on purchasing the book that the author gracefully let me preview.