Yesterday at the Marketingfacts boat trip a SEO expert asked me how he could reach me. I didn’t have any business cards with me so I replied:
Just do a google search for ‘Boris‘.
I’m result number 6…
Then Arjen suggested that it might be possible to tweak all our websites with extra links to all our names so that if you would google for Patrick, Arjen or Boris you would always find us at the number one result. We all agreed that being the number one result for your name would be pretty cool but we also came to the conclusion that trying to game the system would not be the way to do it.
So then Patrick suggested we just buy Google Adwords for our names. That sounded like a great idea and we agreed to test it. So today I started an AdWord campaign so that a simple add will show up when you search for “Boris” at Google. That way, next time I meet someone who wants to contact me I can simply say:
Just do a google search for ‘Boris‘.
My contact details are right there on the first page.
This is what it will look like:
Right now it seems to be targeted at the US only and I haven’t found out how to make it available everywhere. I’ll look into it on monday.
UPDATE: it now works for several European countries and the US.
UPDATE 2: Please Digg.
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25 Responses to “Google Ad with my Contact Information”
sounds like a cool idea on its own.
No results for ‘Boris’ here in Sweden btw. And I would waste time explaining to you how Google adwords allows narroration up to the region you live in. A request of specifying the advert next to the Google results the Netherlands, or only the north of holland wouldn’t be a problem in this way.
If you or others reading this post don’t mind using a third party for their google results, try http://www.naymz.com that offers free Google ads for ego/dominant-Googlers! I stumbled upon it, but decided not to use it. I simply don’t need it.
Mind that this service connects your name to their website, and people might have an attempt to click away.
The rigor SEO wannabees could also consider a real life name change to something more 2.0… like ‘brzvvz’ or something ;)
No results for ‘Boris’ here in Sweden btw. And I expect that you know how Google adwords allows narroration up to the region you live in. A request of specifying the advert next to the Google results the Netherlands, or only the north of holland wouldn’t be a problem in this way. (I love playing around with Adwords)
If you or others reading this post don’t mind using a third party for their google results, try http://www.naymz.com that offers free Google ads for ego/dominant-Googlers! I stumbled upon it, but decided not to use it. I simply don’t need it.
Mind that this service connects your name to their website, and people might have an attempt to click away.
The rigor SEO wannabees could also consider a real life name change to something more 2.0… like ‘brzvvz’ or something ;)
Good action, It has been my goal to be findable on Sjors too, thus far i’m second, it seems google is forcing me to buy a domain with Sjors in it, to win the game..
http://www.google.com/search?q=sjors
Make sure you’re advertising with an exact match because you don’t want your ad to show up when somebody is looking for Boris Jeltsin or Boris Becker :-) Pm me your Adwords client-id and I’ll change these settings for you!
Use https://adwords.google.nl/select/AdTargetingPreviewTool to preview your ad in different countries
How much do you spend a week/month for showing that ad?
Maybe it would be better to do some SEO on your site.
However when I do a search for Boris Veldhuijzen van Zanten, your site comes up second, after Meganova. So I don’t think the ads are really necessary, besides the coolness factor then.
Since this is an experiment I started with a maximum of $30 a month.
Hey, great idea ! I see that I’m number 2 on Google.nl
Hi Boris,
You may want to check out Ziki’s offering: they’ve been sponsoring my name on Google for months already. Maybe the offer’s still on. See the screenshot I just made here: http://screencast.com/t/C68vimMvb0
Having an unusual name (finally) has it’s advantages. I’m no.1 in the US :-)
http://www.google.com/search?q=krijn
Saves me 30 bucks. I have to climb one step to become Holland’s no 1 though, so I’ll keep an eye on your approach;-)
@marjolijn: I’m on Ziki and naymz and they do advertise my name. But only when you search for my full front and last name. What I want is for people to just search for ‘Boris’ and still find me…
Duh. Bangs head against wall.
At least I can spell your captcha without typos.
I’ll keep tracking the conversation.
Oh oh… then I have to shut down my google-ad blocker… But I do like the idea anyway. I might even go do it ;-)
Naymz (www.naymz.com) actually offers a similar service… for free! Google “hugo louter” and see the result.
Hi Hugo, as explained in another comment Naymz (an Ziki) only advertise your full name. If you search for my full name I’m the number one result. What I want is to be the number one result for ‘Boris’ and to show my contact details and personal blog. That only works with Adwords…
Yesterday I received quite a few clicks which will make this idea expensive. Yesterday cost me $3…
Is that your actual phone number up there? Any crank calls yet?
@freek
Actual phone number: yes
Crank calls: no
:-)
Ever took the effort to check how much http://www.boris.com would cost?
Maybe it’s my preferences or something but you’re number 8 on page 3 when i google “boris”, did that just happen over the last week? Did you try something Google don’t like?
I’m running the same test on my name now to see how many people will search for it!
@ Maarten, You have to look in google.com, not .nl!
@Maarten: yeah I’m not doing to well locally. More famous internationally…
;-)
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