Michael Roebuck's Blog

YouTube has certainly been in the news regularly lately. I've been reading some posts about the speculation of how much money YouTube will make with the new ad structure (Estimates range from Billions to Millions.) And these articles are usually followed by some sort of Lawsuit. For example, A billion in ad revenues won't mean much if it goes out the door to settle the Viacom lawsuit.

Further reading shows German Jews are contemplating a lawsuit because YouTube shows neo-Nazi videos. I don't think Google will do much about that if Yahoo! didn't do much about the arrest and imprisonment of a few pro-democracy Chinese. Note, "German" Jews. They aren't American and we have the Freedom of Speech rule over here. I'm sure some American Jews will join the suit, but we still have that Freedom of Speech thing. Sorry.

I'm not Jewish and don't mean to be disrespectful, but don't worry Jews, I'm sure you are not alone in your quest for morality right or wrong. I was watching a TV show last night called I-Caught. A show where they show various YouTube videos and such of what's hot or not. Last night I learned that YouTube shows videos of how to make a bomb, flame throwers made from childrens' toys and how to pick locks (Although they did feel obligated not to show which childrens' toy was used in the flame thrower.) They also told me that the Internet has web sites I can go to and see the identities of undercover police. Hmmm. That is certainly newsworthy!

All I need to do now is watch the 6 o'clock news and they will have some expert who will tell me that if I were to make one of those bombs and place it at some very easy to access precise location, something really really bad will happen.

YouTube obviously touches and affects everyone whether you have a computer or not. Maybe in a few years YouTube will be like Gun Control. Here are a few bumper stickers we will be seeing:

Before going into how Google is going to monetize YouTube, this article was originally titled, "To Buy or Not to Buy Links" as it started out as a recap of the Search Engine Strategies conference session regarding buying paid links and whether they are bad or not.

For the first time since it's inception, I did not attend the Search Engine Strategies Conference in California. I thought I'd miss this show this year and catch up at the Chicago SES instead. In reading several blog posts and articles about the show, the session on buying links caught my attention. However, since I wasn't there, I didn't really think I should comment in detail. However, I will state a few paragraphs:

Search Engine Strategies had a session on Paid Links and Dave from rentvine.com made a video about the session. Apparently Google is still saying that buying links is bad. I can understand Google's point of view, but I can also see the flip side. An example is the rebuttal regarding commercial web sites. Most people don't link to commercial web sites and therefore they need to buy links. Fully understandable! But back to this video....

I received word on this video and when I first saw it, it was uploaded to YouTube 22 hours previously, has 852 views and was already awarded with a most linked award with 112 links. Today, about 15 hours later, it shows 1624 views with 423 links. A 90% increase.

Watch the video and you'll see that while the video is completely relevant for search engine topics, it has absolutely nothing to do with home rentals. What does Google say about this? Apparently creating a video such as the one below is creative and allowable. Even though the video has nothing to do with the company itself.

According to Matt Cutts from Google; If I understand correctly, his first sentence goes something like, Are paid links evil? He says that this is the wrong question. But the right question is - Do paid links that pass PR violate search engine quality guidelines? The answer is yes.

If buying paid links pollute the web, what does this video do? buying a link creates trash yet the video was created specifically for what? The web site rents homes? You think maybe link love? Apparently paid links create trash and clutter the Internet whereas non-related video's don't?

I guess we'll just have to wait and see. Or adopt one person's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy!

Ok, now about Google's monetization of YouTube. I've read several articles on Google's $1.65 Billion purchase of YouTube and how are they going to make money on the deal. Similar to eBay buying Skype, some people didn't see the connection.

Today I read a few articles on how Google is adding semi-transparent ads that appear as strips across the bottom of videos. The ads will show for 10 seconds and the watcher can either click on the ad to watch it or ignore it altogether. Watching the commercial will pause the video while the commercial is played. Interesting!

I guess these commercials work as Google is claiming as many as 5-10 times more people click on the video ads as click on regular display ads or other web site ads.

Great YouTube video showing how the ads look from Shawn Collins:

Great article by Elise Ackerman - San Jose Mercury News:
Now playing on YouTube: in-video ads

What do you think? Are the ads going to a positive side to YouTube or a negative?

Labels: links, youtube

This post has been edited on Monday, September 24, 2007 because of the comments received. I'm not afraid of writing a controversial post, but while the post was about usability in relation to a gas station after a recent visit, I think I may of inadvertently attacked a single person. It certainly generated a response from a Shell Corporate Office and I understand the owner of the gas station circulated the post to all employees.

In retrospect, I probably should not have listed the location of the Shell gas station I visited. Granted, I was really ticked about the response I received from the employee and might write the same thing if happened again, but I'm really not out to get anyone in trouble. I'll agree that I might have been quick to chastise an individual and there are always two sides to every story. We'll assume that I was the 10th person to complain about the printer that day and the employee was just fed up.

Anyway, thanks to Anonymous for there comments and letting me know what was going on. Below is the edited post:

I got gas at a Shell Station one day. I travel frequently and it was a store I have visited several times in the past. Several times though, the receipt printer wasn't working on the pump and I had to go inside for my receipt. I find that irritating because if you offer me an option to pay at the pump, make sure it works. I complained several times and usually get the same excuse about the service guy coming and have a nice day.

The other day was different. I got my gas and the receipt printer wasn't working again. I swore a little bit and went inside. I told the gal behind the counter I wasn't ever buying gas here again assuming she'd apologize and tell me to have a nice day. Something to calm me down again and make me leave a happy customer. Was I wrong! In fact, I was speechless. After complaining to her, she looked me square in the eyes and stated firmly; "Doesn't bother me. They've been by here...." and she kept rattling off something but all I could think about was, "Doesn't bother me" and the manner in which she so boldly and matter-of-factly told me.

I left the building flabbergasted at her uncaring response. I wanted to fire her on the spot for her attitude and talking to a customer that way. Needless to say, there is another gas station across the street and several more off the next exit. I will not be a Shell customer again. In fact, I probably won't be a Shell customer anywhere again either.

After running this scenario in my head several times, and because I believe if I owned the Shell Station I would have prevented this scenario from happening. I thought how could something this trivial have caused Shell to loose a customer? I drive a truck and get gas about every 2 weeks. Assuming this was my regular gas station where an average fill costs me about $40.00. 52 weeks year, every other week is 26 times $40 for an annual customer value of $1040. Throw in drinks and gum and you've probably got another $100. For sake of argument, say I was worth $1000.00 year to that Shell Station. Usability wise, what could have saved Shell from loosing $1000.00?

Easy, A sign on the pump reading, "Printer Broken. Sorry." Could a little post it note be worth $1000? Sure! Why? Because I would have been informed up front that the printer was broken. Sure, I may have laughed a bit and thought, "Broken Again??" But I would still have gotten my gas and probably still be a Shell gas customer today. Even if I really wanted a receipt at the pump and left, I would have been back the next day or two weeks later to try again. I might have even moved over to a different pump. Virtually any way you look at it, I would still be a Shell customer today.

What is the moral of the story? Listen to your customers. If I complained several times, how many other people feel the same way but might not have complained? Did Shell really only loose my $1000 or do you think other customers were treated the same as I was? Run your web site like you would run a brick and mortar business and listen to feedback and react. It's just as easy to go to another web site as it is to go to another gas station. I spend my money where it's appreciated.

You are aware Yahoo has the feedback rating system right? Do you use it? I receive the feedback rating comments sent in for several of my clients. Every comment gets sent to the store as well as me and any comments relating to the web site get analyzed. If it's negative, they get a personal response from me either asking for more detail or what we can do to fix it.

As my Dad always told me, "If someone is willing to give you there hard earned money, thank them very much!" It's hard enough trying to make money without bad customer service and usability roadblocks working against you.

Labels: customer, gas, service, shell, station, usability