I like many other webmasters regularly check logs and statistics of my websites to see what type of traffic I am receiving, and where it is coming from.  It is a necessary part of search engine optimization and interactive marketing.  I personally use awstats (an open source project) for this task as it analyzes the key areas of my logs that I am interested in and outputs it in a very easy to read and use HTML layout.  However, awstats while very useful, doesn’t by itself allow you to deeply analyze the logs and see exactly who is visiting you which in turn determines to some extent whether your marketing campaigns have been successful.

Enter GeoLite City by Maxmind.  Another open source project (with licensed paid versions as well) that is easily added to awstats as a plugin.  GeoLite City is a database of ip address ranges showing the location they are registered to.  This allows awstats to check this database against every ip address that visits you, and prints this information into your awstat logs (screenshot)!   Pretty cool huh!  This information is extremely useful to determine how successful your marketing initiatives have been.

As an example, say you post an ad for investment properties in various local Dallas, Houston and Austin Texas newspapers.  In this ad you included your web site information.  With this plug-in you will be able to analyze exactly how effective your ads are pulling.  Not seeing the results you want and the hits from Houston?  Maybe pulling the ad, modifying it or changing the placement will yield better results and a positive return on your investment!  That is just a small example of you can utilize this software and the GeoIP database to your advantage.  The possibilities are endless!

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According to this NY Times article Presidential candidate Barack Obama is in fact campaigning on the Xbox 360 in the game Burnout Paradise.

The senator’s campaign committee confirmed the advertisements.

“I can confirm that the Obama campaign has paid for in-game advertising in Burnout,” Holly Rockwood, director of corporate communications at Electronic Arts, the game’s publisher, told me via email, noting that EA regularly allows ad placements in their online games. “Like most television, radio and print outlets, we accept advertising from credible political candidates,” she continued. “Like political spots on the television networks, these ads do not reflect the political policies of EA or the opinions of its development teams.”

The constant online atmosphere of Xbox live and the Xbox 360 allows for in game live dynamic marketing opportunities for many companies and individuals.

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So I recently had a client request to pay me with Google checkout instead of Paypal.  I said ok and signed up for a Google checkout sellers account.  Seems like a standard procedure ala Paypal.  They do the bank deposit verification, add credit/debit card, ssn/ein etc very much like paypal.  This took 3 business days to complete.  Of which, 99% of that time encompassed waiting for the verification deposits to arrive in my account so I could be authenticated and ACTUALLY receive payments.  This finally happened and I thought I was ready to collect my payment until I learned they go slightly further than PayPal and also physically mailed me a document with a verification code to enter online.  On Google’s site it said this would take approximately 5 business days *sigh*.  Ok, looks like I wasn’t going to receive my money this week.  So I wait, and wait, and wait, finally after 9 business days my verification code arrives.  I quickly enter it online and it authenticates me!  Woohoo!  Money in the bank… or so I thought.

Five more business days go by and no deposit into my account.  Finally, today, I receive the following from Google via email:

———————
Google Checkout was unable to verify the account information you provided during the sign-up process. Although you may still accept and charge new orders at this time, you are required to complete the form below to receive any future payouts.

Note: The account verification process is not related to the bank verification you completed during sign up.

1. Collect all of the following documents, and write your Google Checkout Merchant ID number at the top   of each document:
* The front of the credit/debit card you used to sign up. Conceal the first 12 digits, leaving only the last 4  visible. For American Express cards, you’re also required to conceal the 4-digit Card Verification Code on the card’s front.
* The front of your driver’s license.
* Proof of address for each address entered in your Google Checkout merchant account. Acceptable forms include:
o Driver’s license with matching address
o Bank statement
o Credit card bill (please black out the first 12 digits of your card number)
o Water, phone or other utility bill
o Business license
* The original supplier invoices/receipts for your previous order(s). Invoices must contain order details and your supplier’s phone number.
* To help us better understand your business, information on the services or items you’re providing, the nature of your business, and how you acquire your customers.
2. Scan or copy each document, making sure the copies are clear and legible.
3. Submit the documents to Google within five business days using the form below. Alternatively, you may fax the information to 650 887 1640, Attn: ‘Google Account Verification’.

We’ll contact you by email once we’ve received and verified your information.
———————

Are you kidding me????  Am I applying for a business loan or a Google checkout account?  I don’t even think lenders ask for this much information!  Talk about an intrusion into my life and spending habits.  I am beginning to wonder about Google’s “do no evil” slogan/policy.  The amount of data and information that this company is amassing is astonishing and also somewhat scary.  With vast amounts of information, comes power and money.

…and as Stan Lee taught us very well, “with great power, comes great responsibility.”

It just depends what Google plans on doing with this great power…  I guess time will tell.

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It was announced yesterday by MarketWatch that “the approval ratings for President George W. Bush have hit a new low, as only 25% of Americans like the way the nation’s 43rd chief executive has performed, according to the most recent survey from Gallup Poll.”

As readers of this site know, we often like to explore current SEO tactics as they apply to current events and after reading this article I was curious.  I decided to check out the President’s web site and noticed that its Google PageRank also dropped from a 10/10 to a 9/10.  It appears Google has also lost hope for the current administration as well!

What can be made of this new evaluation by the Google gods bots?  Has Google moved over to support the Dem’s and condemn the GOP?  Unlikely, as Barack Obama and John McCain both now support a PageRank of 8/10 (an increase from 7/10 last reporting period) so no favortism appears present there.  Perhaps it is much like the general sentiment of the American public…  that we would just like a change or shift in power to a new leader with a different set of policies.  A set of policies that can hopefully propel us out of this cesspool that the Bush administration drowned us in the past 8 years.