IKANO Acquires Assets of Washington-Based Internet Service Provider AmerionWritten by Debra Labelle
Salt Lake City (March 23, 2005) - IKANO Communications, world’s largest provider of private-label Internet services, has acquired subscriber base and certain related assets of Amerion, a Pasco, Washington-based Internet company providing dial-up, DSL, wireless, fiber and dedicated Internet to customers located primarily in western United States (http://www.amerion.com). “This acquisition will give subscribers a number of Internet service enhancements at no additional cost,” said Henry Smith, president and CEO of IKANO Communications. “Our business model and goal is not only to keep local ISPs in operation, but to strengthen them and allow them to flourish within local or regional market in which they operate. We will keep Amerion name and build on strength of Amerion brand.” As a result of this agreement, subscribers will have available to them a sizable array of features and services that were not previously offered. Subscribers will have access to nationwide IKANO network featuring over 3,400 unique dial-up locations (20,000+ local access numbers) throughout U.S. and Canada. In addition, Amerion subscribers will be able to purchase PowerDSL, a new competitively priced nationwide DSL service with all extras. Subscribers will also have option to add more e-mail accounts than they could before transaction with more storage space per account. In addition, each account will include 100 MB of personal web space and access to PageProducer Web page creation tool, two features that were not previously offered.
| | When You Buy Google Adwords, Make Sure You Know What You’re Buying.Written by Neil Street
Many businesses, both large and small, use Google Adwords to advertise on internet. Google Adwords started as small, boxed ads that appeared to right of regular search results when you searched on Google. It may surprise some advertisers to know that their ads can now also appear on web pages across internet. Many advertisers may assume that their ads will only be shown when someone searches on keywords for which advertiser has bid. Such an assumption is understandable. The first sentence on Google Advertising Programs information page says: “Reach people when they are actively looking for information about your products and services online, and send targeted visitors directly to what you are offering.” In information section specifically for advertisers on that same page, nothing is said about their ads showing elsewhere. But they can. And unless an advertiser knows exactly how to prevent it, they will.The ads can also show up on websites which will never be identified to advertiser, through Google’s contextual advertising program. (Also known as Google’s “content network,” and known to website owners who carry ads as Adsense program.) In contextual advertising model, there is no user searching for products or services. The ads are shown on web pages where content is judged (by computer) to be compatible with intent of a given advertisement. (Hence “contextual.”). The ad appears before a web surfer, like a magazine ad to a magazine reader. A reader of web page may or may not click on ad, at which point advertiser is charged for click. The problem is, when an advertiser sets up an Adwords campaign, this contextual advertising program is not presented as an “opt-in” program. It is actually an “opt-out” program, but “opt-out” function is not shown during set-up. Many advertisers may set up a campaign and turn it on, without ever being aware that their ad may mostly be shown on websites unconnected with Google, with a portion of their click fees going to website owner, rather than being shown only as a result of a pure “Google” search by a potential customer. Only if advertiser knows about this, and knows enought to go back and edit campaign settings after ad campaign has started, can advertiser “opt-out” of content network. Does this matter to an advertiser? The answer is yes. As Google notes on its information page, a pay-per-click advertising model allows advertiser to “reach people when they are actively looking for information about your products and services.” That makes sense. A potential customer who is actively searching for something by using keywords, and who sees an ad that is based on those keywords, is a good prospect from advertiser’s point of view. By contrast, a web surfer who happens to see an ad on a page, much like seeing it in a magazine, may click on it out of curiosity, or from a vague sense of interest. To me, as an advertiser, with cost of every click being crucial to my business, I want first type of user, but I do not want second. But if an advertiser does not know how to opt-out of Google’s content network, they are going to get second type as well as first, and pay for it.
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