Show enhanced ads with Google Friend Connect

Today, we're excited to announce a set of new features in Google Friend Connect that let website owners get to know their users, encourage users to get to know each other and personalize their site content, including Google ads. We've just integrated AdSense with Google Friend Connect, giving publishers the option to show ads that match visitors' interests.

When you log in to your Google Friend Connect account, you'll notice a new "Interests" section where you can create a list of questions for users to answer, either as part of your website's registration process or via a poll gadget on the site itself. For instance, if you have a website for guitar enthusiasts, you might ask users to share their preferred brand of guitar, the last concert they attended, their favorite guitar artist, and so on. The details users share are added to their Friend Connect profiles and made publicly available, enabling users to learn more about each other.

These details also allow you to display more relevant ads that match the interests users share. From the "AdSense" section of your Friend Connect account, you can either create new ad units that take users' interests into account or choose to enhance existing ad units on your website.

Please keep in mind that this new integration of AdSense and Friend Connect is separate from interest-based advertising -- the ads in Friend Connect will be matched to your content and the information users have chosen to share publicly with each other.

You can learn more about all the new features on our announcement on the Google Social Web Blog.

Google Friend Connect

The Difference Between Advertising and Marketing

Word of mouth marketing is a billion dollar industry. It’s also the fastest growing factor in both advertising and marketing.

Many business owners do not know the difference between advertising and marketing often mixing up and confusing the two. Advertising and marketing are individually very important and very different.

If you want your business to have any chance of succeeding it is imperative you thoroughly understand and know how to distinguish them.

The dictionary terms for advertising and marketing will not be described. Even looking up the technical definitions may still leave you confused. Advertising and marketing will be described according to your business and product or service you provide.

Advertising is the means of publicizing yourself through different media. The main purpose of advertising is for branding - namely product or name recognition. There is little psychology or concept behind it.


The demand for Advertising is high and so too is the price. We are now bombarded with so much of it we basically ignore it. Because of its high exposure level, advertising is becoming increasing inefficient.

Once upon a time you could build a business on advertising alone. Today this is virtually impossible. Most small businesses do not have the big money needed to advertise long enough to start getting results.

Marketing on the other hand goes much deeper. It’s the psychology of the entire sales process. Advertising is simply one of the steps or stages in the marketing process.

Marketing is the concept and strategy behind creating your campaign. It involves how you position your business to encourage your consumers to come to you – without having to “sell” to them.

One of the most effective ways to do this is through education. I advise you to use your marketing materials to provide them lots of content to educate your consumers about your service and what it can do to improve their life.

Nobody wants to be sold. Yet people are happy to buy if you give them a list of reasons why. Let your consumers come to their own conclusions instead of commanding or bullying them into coming to you.

Education is a powerful driver in ensuring clients come to you and letting others know about you too. Education is an important factor in word of mouth marketing. And it takes little effort on your part if you take the time to put some thought into your marketing campaign.