March, 2014 | Google Data

Archive for March, 2014

20(14) Publisher Stories: Italy with a Japanese twist makes the perfect match for Amo Italia

March 3rd, 2014 | by John A.Smith | published in Google Adsense

As part of our ‘20(14) publisher stories’ blog series, every Monday we’ll introduce you to a publisher and share their success story. We’re half-way through the series but still have lots more stories to come from South Africa to Italy to Brazil — stay tuned! Read on to meet this week’s featured publisher, and feel free to share your own success story with us.

Tsuyoshi Doh founded Amo Italia in 2004 after moving to Italy and discovering his passion for the country. The site, which is one of the largest online travel guides for Italy in Japan, offers its users a wealth of information on tourist attractions, local restaurants and things to do across the country.

Not long after he created the site, Tsuyoshi began using AdSense initially just as a way for him to make sure he’d keep adding new content. However, as more users visited his site, he was pleased to see his AdSense revenue increase to the point that it was funding his travel all over Italy to compile new articles and travel information for visitors to his site.

Today, AdSense is a dependable source of income for Tsuyoshi and a key part of the success of Amo Italia. In addition to providing revenue to fund further research trips, AdSense ads have themselves become useful sources of information for visitors to the site. As Tsuyoshi says, “AdSense can offer relevant ads for my website such as hotels, tours and flights and I’m happy that the ads can provide additional

information for visitors.”

Throughout it all, Tsuyoshi has always made sure he keeps a firm focus on providing great content for visitors to Amo Italia. His advice to those thinking about launching a new site – “create a site that’s really enjoyable and has plenty of useful content”.

Read the full story.

Posted by Natsuko Takagawa – Inside AdSense Team

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Celebrating our growing partner community at our second annual Global Partner Summit

March 3rd, 2014 | by Jane Smith | published in Google Enterprise

Posted by Prajesh Parekh, Google Apps Partner Marketing

Editor’s note: This week we’re featuring news, stories and updates about our vibrant partner community as we host more than 700 partners for our second annual Global Partner Summit. Keep an eye on this blog and our Google+ page and visit our program site for more information on the Google Apps Reseller program.

Millions of businesses around the world—from scrappy startups to large enterprises—rely on Google’s solutions for work. And many of them are supported by a community of partners, including more than 10,000 Google Apps Resellers globally, who help businesses set up and get more out of the Apps productivity suite.

We’ve seen our partner program grow up quite a bit since it was launched in 2009. But it’s not just growing in size — our community has gotten increasingly diverse, with IT providers from a variety of backgrounds and specialties joining us in the last few years. New partners include well-established companies, like CDW and SHI, who have provided IT solutions to customers since before tools like Hangouts or Drive ever existed. Wix and Weebly, two of the most popular website builders for businesses, also recently integrated with Google Apps after seeing the benefits it provided their own customers. These partners, like UK-based Grove Group, are driven to give their clients IT solutions that drive a better way of working.

This week, we’re hosting our second annual Global Partner Summit in San Francisco to celebrate the contributions of partners across Google Apps, Enterprise Search, Chrome, Cloud Platform and Maps for Business. The three-day summit brings together more than 700 partners to collaborate on business plans, share best practices, and engage with product experts. At the end of the week, we hope our partners will leave energized with fresh ideas for how to better help their customers.

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Program Spotlight: Computer Science Summer Institute and Generation Google Scholarship for rising university freshmen

March 3rd, 2014 | by Sarah H | published in Google Student Blog

Our application deadline for Google’s Computer Science Summer Institute (CSSI) and the Generation Google Scholarship has been extended to March 17, 2014. Read more below about CSSI and apply today.

You may have heard of both our CSSI and Generation Google Scholarship programs in our Program Spotlight in January. We’re back with two former program participants from summer 2013 to provide an insider’s perspective on the real CSSI experience.

Jordan Vega – University of Redlands, CA
Alexandra Miller-Browne – Boston University, MA

What prompted you to apply to CSSI?
Alexandra: I applied to CSSI because it was an awesome opportunity to be exposed to programming and web development. It was also a great chance to meet and collaborate with other people interested in computer science.

How do you feel about your own abilities in computer science now compared to before you started the program?
Jordan: Now that I have finished CSSI, I feel like my logical thinking as improved dramatically. Not only can I think of ways to solve a problem the “Java way”, but I also have the tools to solve it the “Python way.” I now look at websites, applications, and software and think about how I would go about doing the same thing or what they could have done differently knowing what tools developers have.

What are you most proud of accomplishing during CSSI?
Alexandra: I am most proud of my final group project because I started the program with not much computer science or coding background and my group was able to make a functional web application in few days. I am also proud of the fact that I was able to make lifelong friends during the three weeks I was in the program.

Jordan: I am most proud of the little applications I wrote using the motion detector/gyroscope. It was a challenge, but I liked how it involved graphics, trigonometry, algebra, physics, HTML, CSS, and Javascript. I really liked seeing subjects taught at school being used in the real world.

Aside from just technical skills, what is something important you have gained from the program?
Jordan: I have really learned how to work and live with a diverse group of students. Before CSSI, I was really the only minority in all the advanced classes. But at CSSI I was exposed to people from different backgrounds and what I have learned in the three weeks of living and working with them, will be a great experience to have now that I am heading into college and adulthood.

How do you plan to apply what you’ve learned at CSSI in your freshman year?
Jordan: Everything I have learned in CSSI from group work to App Engine, I plan on using in college. Learning at a fast pace in CSSI will be beneficial my freshmen year. Furthermore, knowing when to ask questions and making connections with your instructors is what CSSI taught me, and I plan on using that my freshmen year.

Alexandra: I will apply for a job at the IT Center at my university, increase my course work to include Java programming and Python and also participate in hackathons.

What advice would you like to share with students who are considering CSSI?
Jordan: CSSI not only exposes you to CS, but also to people from all over the place. Knowing how to work with different people, and learn at a fast pace is a great skill to have going into college and CS.

If you’re ready to experience CSSI for yourself, apply today! Applications are open for rising university freshmen who will be attending universities in the US & Canada. The deadline has been extended until March 17, 2014. Students selected for the Generation Google Scholarship are required to attend one of our three CSSI sessions this summer.

Posted by Sarah Henderson, Student Development Team

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Build your expertise. Get Studio Certified.

March 3rd, 2014 | by Becky C. | published in Google DoubleClick

As an industry, we know that getting in front of the right user is just half the story. A campaign’s creative is a critical component that can make or break campaign success. And as the people who design and develop that creative message, creative agencies need to be experts at their craft, with a deep understanding of the tools of their trade and the ability to promote that expertise across the complicated ecosystem of players that compose the advertising landscape.

Here at DoubleClick, we recognize this need and have spent the past year and a half developing a robust training and certification program for our creative agency partners. By becoming a DoubleClick Studio and QA Certified Partner — a “Jedi” so to speak — you put yourself in the driver’s seat to build creative faster, with fewer issues, and ship it on your own timeline.

Our DoubleClick Studio Training and Certification program enables you to:

Work more efficiently by taking control of your turnaround times
Build your expertise in the Studio product and keep your skills fresh
Promote your expertise as a Certified Partner to prove you’re the best for the job

Over a thousand people in the creative industry have already become Certified Partners, representing individuals and agencies across the globe, and every day we’re adding more. Here are five of them to tell you a bit about their experience:

Beyond the core Studio and QA certifications, you can hone your skills further and demonstrate your “specialist” abilities with additional badges, including Dynamic, Masthead, and VPAID badges. These advanced certifications can help you create innovative, out-of-the-box approaches to digital creative that can set you apart from the crowd.

Ready to get started?
Visit the Studio Certification page. You can take all of our exams through this portal. Each exam takes ~1-2 hours to complete and has accompanying training materials to help you if you get stuck.

Still unsure?
Every day for the month of March, we’ll provide tips, fun facts and case studies about DoubleClick Studio and the Studio Certification program. Check back here each day for a new, unlocked Tip of the Day. Today’s tip features Tom Miller, Founder and Owner of Creative Ocean, sharing his experience with Studio Certification.

Posted by Becky Chappell, Product Marketing, DoubleClick

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Holiday results: VivaKi Search Hub increases conversions by 360 percent and decreases costs by 27 percent with real-time bid optimization

March 3rd, 2014 | by Kim | published in Google DoubleClick

During the 2013 holidays, we shared some tips and tricks on how to adjust your bid strategies to take advantage of seasonal opportunities. Today, we wanted to take a look back and highlight one of our holiday success stories with the DoubleClick Search Performance Bidding Suite for real-time bid optimization. The following story comes from the VivaKi Search Hub — VivaKi’s marketing support service that uses a deep knowledge of DoubleClick Search to drive results for their advertisers’ search programs.

One of the VivaKi Search Hub’s advertisers, a large retail brand, looked to the team to overhaul their current strategies for maximizing results over the 2013 Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days. To prepare for this peak time, the team turned to the DoubleClick Search Performance Bidding Suite to automate bids based on real-time conversion data, and respond immediately to market changes.

Timothy Lackhouse, Team Lead for Bid Strategy at the VivaKi Search Hub, was in charge of managing the advertiser’s bid strategies. “The bid strategies in DoubleClick Search are incredibly clear to set up and modify,” said Lackhouse. “With near real-time and granular reporting, we don’t need to spend countless hours or days waiting for the data. We’re able to get a deep level of insight into our performance right away — assessing what’s working, what’s not, and making tweaks as necessary.”

Within days of launching the new bid strategies, the positive results were irrefutable. During Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the VivaKi Search Hub was able to increase its advertiser’s conversions by 360 percent while lowering CPO by 27 percent — all while saving 90 minutes a day.

To get the full scoop on the VivaKi Search Hub’s success with the Performance Bidding Suite, read the full customer story here. Stay tuned to the DoubleClick Search blog and Google+ page for even more customer success stories.

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