Tag Archives: Google

Online Video

Hey, Idiot. Missing “View Through” Data on Your Online PR? Don’t Even Read This.

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  • 5 extra points to Tealium for remembering I downloaded a white paper, and shooting me a follow-up video (using campaign management tool). Just checked the “earls” and it’s Concentric). Hidden codes in URLs can be so informative.
  • Negative 7 points for making the videos so damned boring… like a a cross between a dull conference presentation and a phone call using Powerpoint.
  • Plus 3 points for actually using video to sell its product. I would never have looked at this closely without this video demo.
  • Plus 8 points for teaching me that there’s a way to capture “view through” data.
  • You’re not keeping track of the score, are you? This is like “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” Points mean nothing.

Oh sorry. You didn’t know the phrase “view though” data? That’s because I’m exactly one hour ahead of you on learning about social media, and I’ll be two hours ahead if I wake up at 5 again tomorrow.

Until now, I was under the naive belief (much like your stupid self) that Webtrends or Google Analytics (or whatever tool your tools use) could not see “upstream” past the referring site. But this horribly boring video claims Tealium (which integrates with the web hosting software) can help a brand track “conversions” or web visits based not just on a direct URL… but based on whether a visitor had been to one or more other sites or unique URL (like a video) that you track.

Wait- you fell asleep on me, didn’t you. Let me put it another way… Nike.com might know you saw that YouTube viral video promoting Nike 2 days before you visited its website… even if the video HAD no URL to click, or if you went clubbing in the interim, or whether you tried to cover your tracks by visiting Nike via a search engine. Now the video gets credit for behavior that isn’t immediate or direct (which is typically 2 percent or less). In the example, 70% of the people who saw the “viral video” were not captured by direct URL visits… but if we know the video to correlate against, we can track percentage of viewers that saw that video… according to the browser’s history that we presumably peeked at, like a young boy sneaking a peek under a skirt. Not that I ever did that.

Tealium boasts that it can provide insights based on “historical browsing behavior,” so that empty-headed dope in PR can actually prove to the brand team that the stupid social-media and video-marketing campaign drove measurable action… even if it’s not immediate and direct.

Okay- are you awake now? That’s some serious shit.  I don’t know about this company, whether Webtrends and Google Anaytics are cooking up their own version of this, or whether they’ll snatch these guys up. And I don’t know how I feel about my website knowing my browser history… it’s creepier than cookies and “recontact” banners that follow you around like that awkward guy at work. You know? The guy you try to shake by going to the bathroom whenever he descends upon your desk with his bad breath.

I lost you again? Okay- you’re searching itchy nuts on WebMD and Yahoo start pimping “yeast infection” banner ads? Oh you thought that was coincidence? You MUST work in public relations. If I blow in your ear, I’ll bet this is the sound I hear. I used to make that sound with my boss whenever PR people were done talking. You had to be there.

This model — Tealium aside — is really good for the accountability of online-video and social media. We know that to judge a viral campaign on the immediate impact on web visits is like expecting the phone to ring off the hook because you placed one ad in the newspaper… there’s this thing called frequency that kinda works, dumb ass.

With someone’s “historical browsing behavior” we can presumably look at our leads by source, and see what correlated with longer time on site, and actual purchase.

You’re not excited by any of this are you? Damnit. What was I writing again? I’m so tired. Did I tell you I got up at 5?

Online Video

Free Survey Tool Courtesy of Google Documents (how to use it)

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I must have missed this memo, but Google Documents provides a free and easy-to-use survey tool. Here’s a video that explains it, and a crappy how-to video (see link) to help you set one up. However it’s pretty intuitive.

Remember the days you’d need to pay for one on SurveyMonkey or SurveyGizmo? Now simple ones are free.

I feel like a frog in slowly-boiling water. My dependency on Google is growing by the day.

Funny thing (not ha, ha funny)… I saw a survey invitation on YouTube, and was surprised (when I’d completed it) when I saw a “create your own survey” teaser (unfortunately, it thought I was a Google employee, and wouldn’t let me login via my Gmail). For a moment, I thought I was getting a sneak-peak at a new tool via Google documents, but it’s been out for a while.

Figured if I missed it, I can’t be alone.

Online Video

Buy YouTube Merchandise at Google Store

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Thanks to TechCrunch for the update that the Google store now has YouTube merchandise. Come and get ’em. T-shirts and more. Now what YouTube should do is allow people to apply their YouTube Partner income credit toward this stuff.

T-shirts, jackets, bibs, water bottles, and even hats (for you people trying to hide receding hairlines).

YouTube STore

Online Video

The Google Money Tree

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My sister is doing a story on the Google Money Tree, and I thought I’d write about it — if for no other reason — to scoop her and her “big media.”

I hadn’t heard of it before, so I googled it. Seems it’s a scam that locks you into a regular fee, and cost you to cancel. In fact the FTC tracked it down (see official site). The scammers claimed they were with Google, and had a way to make $100,000 in a year. Of course they didn’t tell you you’d be charged $72.21 a month.

Since the Google Money Tree’s website is surely gone (or at least not spidered by Google), here’s all you need to know: The FTC charge.

google-money-tree

You know, instead of trying to get rich from a Google Money Tree scam, I suggest just making a donation to me. You’re guaranteed to receive no service or product in return, but also be free from any scams, additional upsells, or life-time membership dues. Plus if you go for the most-popular “Gold” level plan ($20) you’re likely to receive good luck within 2-3 days.


Nalts Donation



Online Video

Google and YouTube Accounts Linked (and hacks)

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Recently, YouTube requires having a Google account to register. That means you need a unique e-mail address for each YouTube account, and provides some unexpected benefits and problems.
I’ve often advised people to establish separate YouTube accounts under different e-mails, since if one account gets “suspended” or “deleted” than other accounts with the same e-mail are also usually effected.

Now that’s mandatory. It’s nice to have one sign-on/login for Google (which I use as my primary e-mail, reader and increasingly for creating documents) and YouTube. I login to Google, and I’m automatically logged into YouTube. However this becomes a problem when you want to create a new account or login to different accounts.
For instance, I’m posting vlogs on UncleNalts. If I logoff YouTube as Nalts, then go back as UncleNalts, my Gmail session expires. Imagine how much of a hassle this is if you’re moderating comments on various network accounts (for a Next New Networks, Revision3, or ForYourImagination).

Here are a few work-arounds:

  • If your gmail freezes (logged off) when you switched between YouTube accounts, don’t fear. Just open a new tab, log back into Google. Then go back to the gmail and it should send fine.
  • It makes sense to have two different browsers for each accounts if you toggle back and forth frequently. It’s confusing, but it saves a lot of trouble. In the past week, I’ve accidentally taken my gmail offline by going back and forth between various YouTube accounts.
  • If you want multiple YouTube accounts and are out of e-mail addresses, simply link them to various free e-mail accounts (Yahoo, AOL, whatever). Or if you have your own hosting account, create e-mails for each (username@domain.com), and you’ll have gmail/YouTube accounts that match and an e-mail name that matches both. Through Bluehost, I can create dozens of NAME@willvideoforfood, naltsconsulting, kevinnalts, etc. Of course I’ll never remember to check them, or have the foggiest idea what password I’ve used.
Online Video

Rickrolling Controversy: Did Google Exploit Song Writer?

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On a slow news day, one might find some interest in the fact that the author of “Never Gonna Give You Up” feels exploited by YouTube. Seems Pete Waterman earned just $16 from YouTube, despite more than 154 million views of the song.

Pete Waterman vs. Big Joe Smith
Pete Waterman vs. Big Joe Smith

In this corner, we have Waterman…

There was I sitting at Christmas thinking, ‘I must have made a few bob this year with the old Rickrolling‘,” he said.”I rang my publisher and they said ‘You’ll be all right’, until I saw the royalty statement. £11.Panorama did a documentary on the exploitation of foreign workers in Dubai,” he said. “I feel like one of those workers, because I earned less for a year’s work off Google or YouTube than they did off the Bahrain government.”

In the next corner, we have Big Joe Smith, who helped popularize the Rick Astley song and the celebrated practice of “Rick Rolling.” Smith, who was the 27th hire at YouTube and acted as community liaison, told Katie’s Opinion’s Craig Sumsky:

Well actually, the most memorable of all would really have to be the RickRoll on April 1, 2008.  I was behind that whole thing (laughing really hard).  We set it so no matter what video you clicked on the YouTube home page it took you to the YouTube RickRoll channel. In one day I RickRolled seven million people in nineteen countries… who else can say they did that?  We even cleared it with Rick Astley’s people. Good times man, that was alot of fun.  Check out the RickRoll channel on YouTube, www.youtube.com/user/YTRickRollsYou


Gentleman, let the debates begin. Should Waterman have his just desserts? Or is he being a baby because he didn’t make money when his song (as song by Rick Astley) became an international joke?

  • On one hand, an artists deserves his royalties.
  • On the other, I’m not sure anyone made much money on these views (which were largely not monetized with ads).

Need we remind you that all shots must be below the belt?

Online Video

YouTube Partners Get Rich Despite YouTube’s Reported Loss

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Josh Chomik, a 16-year-old high school junior from NJ, told the NJ The Star Ledger that he’s making $1,000 per month from his videos as  YouTube Partner with alias “Thecomputernerd01.” As I’ve reported a number of times, Michael Buckley, who hosts a celebrity gossip show on YouTube, quit his day job last year because his six-figure income was better than his day job as an administrative assistant.

Meanwhile, Credit Suisse speculates that YouTube will lose more than $460 million this year. Analyst Spencer Wang (let’s go easy on the name jokes) estimates partners make 0.4 cents, a number I’ve found to be wildly over stated.

I can’t validate this, but reported estimates of YouTube partner earnings range from $800 to $2,000 per million views. And nobody can tell you for sure, because it depends on where the videos are seen, how to ad inventory is sold, whether the ads are “pay per view” or “pay per click” and other factors.

But Wang attributes the real bleed from the horrific cost of streaming YouTube consumer-generated videos. While Partner content is profitable, the majority of video streaming is offset with paltry revenue from ads that fetch pennies per thousand views.

As a YouTube Partner, I have mixed feelings about this dilemma. I am confident that Google will determine a way to profit from its majority share in online-video viewing. But I feel like a shop owner in a mall that’s unprofitable.

  • Will the mall close? Probably not.
  • Will YouTube find a way to revitalize the mall by inviting major retailers (professional content)? Probably so. And just like a mall retailer needs foot traffic, I need both “views” and ads surrounding my videos… or I’ll be a corporate dude until I retire at age 90.
  • But what will that mean to my little “Nalts” show? Will my shop be pushed to lower level, far from the foot traffic of the food court and major entry ways? Or will the pie grow so dramatically that I will continue to profit even with a smaller sliver?

As SNL alumnus Chris Rock says, “They’ve got the white mall, and the mall white people used to go to.” You know, I’m not sure that quote carried my analogy forward, but it’s funny anyway.

I am terrified of reporting my own income because I’m contractually forbidden (and I find it almost as obnoxious as my son Charlie flaunting to his siblings the 52 dollars he’s made for staring in my upcoming Oreo videos).

But I will tell you this…. Last month, thanks to an unusually popular Superbowl video (nearly four million views), I totalled about 7 million views. That gave my family our biggest Google check to date — still not enough to quit my job as a marketing director with four kids and frightening debt. But it was, after taxes, bigger than the 2008 annual bonus from my day job. Don’t get jealous, though, because our bonuses were weak this year and last month was not typical of my regular income (and remember I spend several hours a day slaving to create and promote my videos).

One thing’s for sure, though. If marketers and agencies fulfill the eMarketer projection on growth, it’s going to be a good year for YouTube, Partners, and those of us who want to enjoy free content even if it’s ad supported. Here’s the quote to which I refer:

Video ad spending this year, according to eMarketer, will run counter to overall economic developments, rising by 45% to reach $850 million

Online Video

Watch for Techno April Fool’s Jokes

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A few of last year’s techno April Fool’s Jokes courtesy of NetWorkWorld…

  • ThinkGeek.com tempted users with such new products as the ZapCam, a combo video camera and tazer so the user could shock someone and film it at the same time. Also included was software for uploading the video directly to the Internet. The product list also included a USB pregnancy test and a new Wii game involving urination.
  • Google last year unveiled Virgle, in conjunction with the Virgin Group to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. “Earth has issues, and it’s time humanity got started on a Plan B,” Google said on its Web page.
  • YouTube Rick Rolled its homepage last year
  • Twitter faithful got an early April Fool’s jolt last year when a story about charging for tiered service went viral.  

What’s in store for today? Someone fool me. Nobody seemed to get my early April Fool’s joke last night, so I yanked the post.

book, Online Video

New Sitemaps: Can Google Crawl the Video on Your Site?

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An important note from Google about how to ensure your videos are easy for Google to find…

Video Sitemaps: Make your videos discoverable
[Original Post by Amit Paunikar, Product Manager]

Indexing video content presents some unique challenges, and if you have videos on your site, you’re probably wondering how to make sure your videos are discoverable through Google. We want video publishers to know that we’ve made it easier to submit your videos to Google. First, we’ve simplified the submission process for sharing your Sitemaps with Google. Second, we also extended our Video Sitemaps support to include Media RSS feeds. You do not have to specify the Sitemap file type—we’ll determine the type of data you’re submitting automatically.

The more information you make available, the easier it is for us to crawl your videos. Here are a few simple things you can include in your Sitemaps to make your videos easier to find:
1) Landing page URL: This is the page where the video is hosted. It’s better to have a unique landing page for each video on your site.
2) Video thumbnail URL: Thumbnails provide a strong visual cue to the user. Your video thumbnail should be representative of a snapshot from the video, and should not be misleading in any way.
3) Title & Description: If these are accurate and descriptive, they not only help Google understand your video, but also help users choose the best video search result. Providing information about category, keyword tags and duration is always helpful.
Whether or not you have Video Sitemaps or MRSS feeds, of course, it’s important that you make sure that Google can crawl and index your video sites correctly. Make sure you understand how Google crawls, indexes and serves the web. Review the Webmaster Guidelines that will help Google find, index and rank your site. We’ve also updated the Google Video Help Center to include more information for video publishers. While there’s no guarantee that our spiders will find a particular site, following these guidelines should increase the chances of finding videos from your site in the search results.