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So, I was at jvAlert last weekend, as you know, and Simon Leung was telling us how Google prefers short copy and that they see long copy as spam. Hmm… That’s total crap. Not that Simon is telling us fairy tales, but that Google AdWords wants advertisers but they aren’t supposed to sell things? What?

Well…

I proved that what Simon said was right.

I started an AdWords campaign on Friday for a social marketing product, right? All of the keywords I used were rated “Great,” and I just knew it wouldn’t last. They probably do that for all new keywords, until human eyes evaluate your campaign.

But, here’s the thing: This particular campaign was based on a long copy sales letter, which I had doubts about, but thought I’d try it anyway because creating landing pages for each ad group (though Simon says you need to create them for each keyword… argh) is a bit of a logistical issue (won’t go into that, but it’s not a simple upload to a hosting account for various reasons) and we just wanted to get something up there.

Sure enough, Saturday morning when I buzzed in to check the campaigns, every keyword was turned off and Google wanted $10 a click!

Well… Hmm… Proof.

I didn’t really need that proof, but there it is. I mean, $10 for words that should cost about 33 cents? Argh. What better way for Google to say they hate you?

I created those new landing pages today, issues or no issues, and our tech department is working on getting them up. I’ll let you know what happens when they hit and I can alter the campaign. This is totally interesting to me.

I can be such a geek.

I want to go even further and create pages for each keyword to see how well that works for at least one ad group. If it works, guess what Pat will be doing all week? And into infinity?

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OK… You guys happy now? I changed my theme.

I kind of like this new one, and don’t plan any changes for a least oh… the next quarter at least. Let me know what you think… Especially those of you who were hating the last one. You’re my review crew!

So, got home today from jvAlert, and I have to tell you that the last day was totally rockin’.

I was there for Simon Leung. Whoa. The guy knows the backroads of Google because he used to work for them. There are things he can’t tell you because he signed a non-disclosure agreement, but what he can tell you and told us was invaluable.

Believe this…

Simon says (no pun intended) that you should have a different landing page optimized for EACH keyword that you have in AdWords. Whoa. He even said it’s a lot more work, but that’s Google. He gave us about 12 strategies about what Google wants to see. Since I run the AdWords campaigns for Overcome Everything, it was a pretty cool perspective. I think I’m going to study Simon quite a bit more.

“Million Dollar Mike” Morgan was up next, and I just think the world of him. He’s been great to me in the past and I can’t wait until the call on the 19th. He gave some pretty awesome copywriting pointers and made everyone smile. Mike just rocks, and I finally got to meet him in person. kewl

I got a lot more than just information at jvAlert, folks, with the most valuable being a whole new bunch of friends.

The first day, I made a friend from Slovakia named Lucia, who is just starting out. (You’ll be hearing from her; I have no doubt. ) Lots of newcomers like Kevin Puls, Bonnie Cramner, and Steve Leadbetter. Lots of people coming on in some pretty interesting niches. Keep a lookout.

And totally lookout for Carrie Wilkerson. She’s a hoot! And a very smart business lady, who walks around without her shoes on. She runs… what else? TheBarefootExecutive.com I really enjoyed spending just the little time with her that I could.

And there were my old friends, Brian Edmondson, who introduced me to Jason James and other friends of his; Cyndi Parker of TrafficMOM.com and Birgit Ratz Cheung and her husband Eugene. All tops. Oh, and how could I forget, my old friend Charles Burleigh? I’m was so glad to see him out and about, meeting folks and having fun. Of course, Mike Paetzold was there, ribbing me about my old theme (Happy now, Mike?) and Steve Roye, who never fails to make me laugh harder than I should. Har. And Ross Goldberg and Eric Stafford were there, too.

I also made new friends Willie Crawford, who I was fortunate enough to sit beside at dinner the other night; Alan Bechtold, Laurie Steffen and Jeff Wark, and even met Bob the Teacher.

But the coolest thing was when someone came up to me and told me that they were on my list and asked what I was working on. I totally enjoyed meeting Bonnie and having a long chat with her.

And another long chat with Deremiah, a truly incredible man. In an world with an overwhelimgly high percentage of “me firsters,” this guy is “you first.” He never fails to ask what he can do for you, and that’s pretty cool. He’s gaining lots of respect by this attitude in the IM world, and there’s no doubt in my mind that he WILL go far. And sing? The man sings better than Stevie Wonder. We got to hear a really great Deremiah version of Happy Birthday at dinner on Saturday. Nice.

Ken McArthur is wonderful, of course, and everyone loves him. What’s not to love?

But the whole weekend, the question I kept hearing was, “What’s with Tellman’s hair?” LOL I told him we love him both ways–with or without.

So, that’s about it. jvAlert totally rocks the block, I’m telling you.

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So, today’s the last day of this awesome conference and I’m totally looking forward to it. First up is Simon Leung, who’s really brilliant. Think we’ll learn something? Hmm… No doubt.

And then, one of the nicest people online and off, Mike Morgan. I finally get to meet him, which was totally cool. I’m so looking forward to the call we’re doing together on June 19 at 8 p.m. EDT. You won’t want to miss that one. He has something very special for my listeners. If you haven’t yet signed up for the teleseminar calls, you can get in under the wire for this one at Blogging4Boomers.com

Anyway, it’s always hard to stop being in conference mode, and get back to the real world, but hey…

I’m looking forward to that, too.

That’s how it is when you love what you do, eh?

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