"Add to Google"

Google recently released its own "Add to Google" icon for users to post on their own pages. People who click on the button is able to choose to add the site into their Personalized Google Homepage or Google Reader.

To add the icon in your site, please click HERE.

A typical icon→

Official Google Reader Blog || Link to original page.

ScreenShot of Google "Click-to-Call"

Yardley.ca || Link to original page.

Froogle Local Shopping

Google's Froogle shopping search engine added a new feature to let people find products and services for sale in bricks-and-mortar stores near locations they designate.

For example, if you wanted to find all the stores selling cameras near Newport Beach, California, a search for cameras newport beach or cameras 92663 brings back matching results, both in a list and plotted on a map. You can also search just for cameras, then enter a ZIP code, city or state into a second search box that will appear.

How is this different from just doing a search on Google Local? Well, you can compare. Here's cameras 92663 on Google Local. You'll see that camera stores are listed in Google Local, while Froogle lists individual cameras for sale in various locations.

Another example is a search for ipod video 92663. In that case, Froogle shows you that several CompUSA stores have it in stock. A quick drive, and it would be in your hands if you needed it fast. In contrast, the same search on Google Local does poorly, bringing back two Apple Stores that probably have the item in stock but mostly a lot of places that won't, such as The Friends Of The Newport Beach Library.

Google's Shopping Service to List User's Local Stores from the New York Times and Google unveils tool to map shopping trips from the Associated Press say the data comes from a third-party inventory database that Google won't name. Google has long accepted feeds from merchants and others for Froogle, so it's likely making use of multiple sources to compile the data. Both stories cover that Google hopes the new Google Base service will also help add this type of data into Froogle in the future.

Comparison Engines notes that the feature CNET already offers a Local Stores search as part of its CNET Shopper service. Sadly, a search for ipod video 92663 brought up no matches, nor did I have much luck coming up with any product that would show me a Local Stores tab in addition to the Online Stores tab as you see in this example.

Postscript from Gary: Two other online shopping databases also allow you to search by location/Zip Code. First, Cairo.com, the shopping search engine allows the user to enter a location/Zip and a product type of category and find where products are available locally. For example, this search for Cameras 20901 found a number of hits for stores near my home (you can narrow by a radius). The results appear to come from primarily large retailers (Target, Rite Aid, Circuit City, etc.). One-click provides a map and directions to the store. Another useful feature from Cairo is their "Sales Alert" feature that will notify you by email if/when the price of a specific product is reduced. Cairo also offers a "price match tracker" to learn if another store is selling the item for a lower price. Btw, the Cairo datatbase is also completely browsable.

Second, ShopLocal.com offers much the same with mostly items from prirmarily large national stores but I also spotted a few regional and local merchants. ShopLocal also provides price alerts and does offer some online shopping options. For example, you can quickly determine the online price versus going to the store and purchase price.

Postscript 2 From Gary: It's also worth noting that Amazon.com offers an option to order selected books online and then and then pick the book up at a nearby brick and mortar bookstore. For example, a search for John's "The Search" illustrates this option.

The same is true for electronics. For example, I can order this Apple 30GB Color iPod from Circuit City online and then go pick it up today at a nearby Circuit City location.

ClickZ || Link to original page

Click-to-Call

Google is testing a click-to-call service that lets users speak over the phone to an advertiser found on the search engine's results page.

Advertisers participating in the program have a phone icon next to their text advertising, according to a frequently asked questions posting on Google.

Clicking on the icon displays a field to enter a phone number that can be sent to Google, which will call the number provided and connect the person to the advertiser. The calls are free to consumers.

The telephone numbers are not shared with advertisers or anyone else, and are kept on Google servers for no longer than four months after the last time a person uses the service, the company said. Numbers are deleted permanently after that time.

The advertiser's number, however, will appear on a person's caller ID when Google makes the connection, giving the consumer the option of saving the merchant's phone number.

Google did not say whether a third party was involved in making the call.

"Google is always considering new ways to provide value to its advertisers and we frequently run tests of potential new features and products," the company said in a statement confirming the test.

"We are currently conducting a limited test of a pay-per-call model, but we don't have any additional information to share at this time."

Click-to-call features are particularly helpful to advertisers who provide services, such as financial institutions or law firms, experts say.

Google is not the first to offer such a service, which is available on rivals Yahoo and America Online. The latter provides the service through partner Ingenio.

Online marketplace EBay is expected to eventually make a click-to-call service available through its recent acquisition of Internet telephony company Skype Technologies SA.

TechWeb 08:26 p.m. || Link to the original page

Google Space

Google is now testing some real world services as they have just launched an Internet cafe-style computing booth in London’s Heathrow Airport. They call this test project Google Space and it would be entertaining the waiting passengers at the airport with their latest pilot projects and other internet related services.

This temporary setup contains ten Samsung laptops in the public lounge of Terminal One at London’s main airport. It would be handled by two Google employees from 0700 to 1900 every day for the duration of the trial. The trial would continue till December 19. The search engine company would be bringing in employs from their worldwide centers to handle the center.

Google has admitted that in addition to helping the customers by providing information and access to internet, they would also be using Google Space to test their new services and products. Lorraine Twohill, Google’s European director of marketing said in a statement: “Google Space will help people make wasted time more useful. And for Google, Space is a live lab where people can test our most-up-to-date products, and give us their feedback.”

The company plans to expand this test project to other similar locations if their experiment at the Heathrow Airport is successful.

TechWhack 12:08 am || Link to the original page.

Let's Begin with Google Analytics

Google Analytics shows you how people found your site, how they explored it, and how you can enhance the visitor experience. Improve your website return on investment, increase conversions, and make more money on the web.

With over 80 reports, your free Google Analytics account will track visitors through your site, and will keep track of the performance of your marketing campaigns - whether they're AdWords campaigns, email campaigns, or any other advertising program. With this information, you'll know which keywords are really working, which ad text is the most effective, and where your visitors are dropping off during the conversion process. Don't be fooled by the fact that this functionality is available to you for free - Google Analytics is a full-featured, powerful analytics package.

AdWords advertisers can find all of these benefits from within their AdWords account - Google Analytics has been fully integrated with AdWords. All of your reports and settings are available from the Analytics tab.

To get started with Google Analytics, simply visit www.google.com/analytics or click the Analytics tab in your AdWords account. You'll be guided through a simple sign-up process, that will require the addition of a code snippet. Once that's done, you'll start gathering data immediately, on track for improved ROI!

Bad News about Google Analytics:
We received an email for Google Analytics Team saying:

Hello Google Analytics User,

This is a quick update to address some issues you may be seeing
in your Google Analytics account and what we're doing to respond.

First, due to extremely high demand, we've temporarily limited
the number of new signups as we increase capacity. This allows
us to focus on our primary objective--to provide a great user
experience for our existing users.

Next, here is current information on the most common questions
we're receiving:

1. The 'Check Status' button is being reworked to check for
properly installed tracking code. This should be fixed by the
end of November.

2. The '+Add Profile' link has been temporarily removed until
we increase capacity. We'll alert all current users when the
feature is restored.

3. While we increase capacity, you may see longer than normal
delays in data showing up in your reports. All data continues
to be collected and no data has been lost.

For additional help with your Google Analytics account, we
encourage you to browse or search our online Help Center at
http://www.google.com/support/analytics?hl=en.

Thanks for your patience as we improve Google Analytics and add
resources to ensure a high-quality service.

Sincerely,

The Google Analytics Team

Well ... Hope they are going to fix it soon. One more thing, Google Analytics is NOT accepting new accounts at the moment so please go to the signup page and be listed.