SES Local Notes & Local Advertising Tip

No, I didn't attend SES Local in Denver, but my friend Mike Belasco did, and he's posted a nice summary and notes on his blog - see Mike The Internet Guy for the scoop.

Speaking of local advertising, one of my students (we'll call him "Jim" because that's his name) has been doing pretty well by using Google Adwords with local targeting, using the contextual advertising network (aka Adsense). He's been signing up students for his martial arts studio, with ads that appear to local residents when they visit major martial-arts related web sites.

This type of campaign is easy to set up, the costs are controllable, and it has the potential to generate a lot of brand awareness, even among those who don't actually click on the ads. If you look at contextual advertising on a CPM basis, it's incredibly cheap in most markets.

Anyway, enough ranting, enough raving... and a word to those trying to reach me lately - keep trying, but be patient. I am supposed to be resting my back, and sometimes the medication gives me no other choice.