I don't know if you're aware of this, but I get special perks for working for SEOmoz. For example, I get to park my sweet '91 Passat station wagon in one of the building's parking spaces while the rest of my coworkers have to park in the lot across the street. Also, I flash the company card at lunch when it's time to pay for that hefty $45 tab. Yeah, it's pretty sweet to get special treatment for being a mozzer, and lately Google has caught onto this for it, too, has given me the hook up.
Recently I've been meaning to study up and become a
Certified Adwords Professional. I logged in to receive more details:
When I logged in, I received this message:
That's right. And I didn't have to study or nothin'.
(FYI, this post is facetiously written and the above screenshot was an error on Google's part. I contacted Google about it and yes, I have to take the test to be certified like everyone else.)
SEOmoz perk:
I use being a SEOmoz member as a pick-up line.
It hasn't worked yet, but I am practicing different versions of it, there are alot of variables involved with pick-up lines.
I assume you're doing some sort of A/B testing, and tracking conversion rates?
Exactly Lorisa, and I just can't tell you how much Google's new "pick-up line optimser" has made my life easier.
I think I saw your ad the other day:
Sexiest Man in SEO
Taught Rand Fishkin all
he knows. Free trial!
www.feedthebot.com/lovin
you know.. you really ought to put something at www.feedthebot.com/lovin. I went there hoping to find something clever and witty.. I was dissapointed
I gotta check that out because a girl never knows when she'll have to trade in her old model for a new one...
*winks*
Not that I would - I love my old model and it has all the sexy extras ;)
...it hasn't worked yet.
@ Pat - Have you tried telling them your last name is Fishkin and your brother runs the place? I think you could pull it off. ;)
Note: edited for idiocy and spelling.
Hmm, interesting. Any chance we can get seomoz.org email addresses too? Seems to be working like a VIP pass in the digital world :)
You might want to log back in and make sure there isn't a Golden Ticket in there, too...
I received my AdWords Cert about 18 months ago and, being the critic that I am, I emailed Google about 10 emails regarding flaws in their videos versus text (one said one thing, one said another). Luckily I was sending the emails to a human (not an adwords-feedback, type of email address) and they said they would correct them.
The training is painfully long though (and I went through EVERY module). It took about 60 hours I think to complete it (I did the videos and the reading). In the end, was it worth it? Well, potential employers like it (but mainly those that don't know much about SEO/SEM in general). I did get one small consulting gig based off the fact I had the certification (told them to either hire me or go through the training modules to learn it all themselves, and underscore learning it themselves would be better).
I had high ambition of going through the Yahoo! Ambassador program shortly after the Google AdWords cert but . . . argh, I was already fried from Google AdWords. I paid my $50 to Yahoo! though so I guess I should get with it again. Besides, I have more free time now. ;-)
Brent D. Payne
I have had potential clients ask for Google certification and would consider taking the course, just for that reason. I only consult on organic search, but clients are not necessarily as aware of the difference as we might like.
More free time does not sound like such a good thing?
Awwww... but you'll always be special in our hearts!
You guys keep me busy! I am still reading "Web Analytics - an hour a day" cause it was discussed here a few weeks back and now this...I'll have to look into it. I'll be all smart when I grow up! ;-)
Rebecca: Time to work on that company car... Really Rand, she'll look great in that convertible. She might even let you put a SEOmoz bumpersticker on it.. if its not too big.
dude! that's a sweet ride! Can you get a few pics of your station wagon up here?
Ugh, no. It's one ugly piece.
Hehe... I wanted to sign up for the exam today as well, but got the same message. Hope they fix it soon...
That training, is well, more than a mouthful to say the least. I've been through it all, but the most frustrating process for me is creating the MCC account and linking client accounts ...create an account for this, account for that, "you can't log on with that account", etc.
I wish there was a preferred agency setup method. Google makes it so complicated with all their seperate login screens, accounts and such. It just seems very disjointed to me.
I wish it would follow the below method:
Main Agency MCC Account ([email protected])
Client AdWord Account ([email protected])
Client Analytic Account ([email protected])
Oh, and it would be nice for the MCC Account admin to have full privilages for all clients. Instead you must log out of MCC and log onto the client account for detailed management.
Google just doesn't seem to have streamlined this idea of managing multiple accounts ...unless it's me that's out of whack, which is highly likely.
Any suggestions?
Dayum! You already were a Google Advertising Pro?!
..but Rebecca, why did you have to emailing google about it, instead you should have demanded your badge! :)
Sounds cool Rebecca. Good luck on the test. I wonder if Rand knows your popping $45 lunches on the company cc...$45! for one person? Where are you eating? :-) ;-)
Haha, I knew someone would joke about the lunch cost. I eat with about 5-6 coworkers, you know!
Considering how much I like food I figured it should be me. :-D I was going to say that you still look very fit for someone that had a $45 lunch tab. but now you've gone and ruined it with reality.. :-( For Shame..
Good luck on becoming a GAP Rebecca.
The test isn't that hard, if you really study the learning center questions. But some hands on experience is also important if you want to breeze past some of the questions.
One thing I hateabout that system is, once you become a GAP and you work at SEO company 1, your name is always linked to that company. So if you move to SEO company 2, you'll have to take the test again. Really stupid and money grabbing technique, that Google should revise urgentely.
Reminds me i need to take that test myself soon...
Well I overheard a conversation at my place of work that you can actually outsource the exam to other people, but hold the qualification in the agency's name! Legitimately!
Harry
I have to doubt that would be legit. Kind of like buying links... if you don't get caught, no problem. But if Google were to catch you I'm sure they'd come up with some kind of fantastic penatly for Adwords cheating. Like banning your dog from the park or pouring sugar in your gas tank, or...?
Yep, anyone can take the exam for anyone. If they have your login and password, anyone can take it for you. One person could certify an entire company if they wanted which is why some people don't look at this certification with great enthusiasm.
You can also 'Google' the questions in the exam and you can usually find the answers online very quickly since all of the answers are in the Adwords learning center which is of course in the Google index. Of course if you did this for every question, you wouldn't finish in the alotted time, but you can sure do a lot of them this way and still finish in time.
Looks nice, But I dont have worked with AdWords ever.. And now this.. Is here an nice article about AdWords?
Thanks in future :)
Eyüp
I have the "You are already a Google Advertising Professional" error too! And no, I haven't ever taken the GAP exam.
I fairly certain it's because our company (or MCC account) has been designated as a 'Qualified Google Advertising Company'
Being as I've been studying for that exam for a couple of weeks and am only on section 3a-2 (of 47 or something), I was about to be really upset :)
@ Dr. Pete - I gave up a while back on the certification. I haven't had any clients ask me for it yet :) Who knows, this being the year of subscriptions and all (for me), I may revive the idea. Or (I just had a thought), maybe I can get my wife certified; she's good at taking tests, and she is on staff. I really need to get her doing more SEM stuff. :)
Best of luck with yours.
The major barrier seems to be having the client accounts to pass their dollar limit, and I've got that, so I figured why not. Is the test pretty hairy, though?
Whether or not the effort will pay off is an entirely different matter, of course. So, far the training is more about policies than anything else.
I didn't get that far. I think I spent some time going the policy pages that you are referring to. Overall, I don't think it would be that hard, but I didn't want to throw my money away either. I do recall some practice tests (at the end of each training module?), but it's been a while so I could be wrong.
I been on other side of the table where our consultant went over the budget 2-3 months in a row (of course, we had to get rid of him).
However, how do you handle cases when you go over the monthly budget?
Let me know
it's not that hairy at all. i've barely used adwords and i passed. i have used it though, just not a lot. luckily we now have someone to handle all our ppc accounts. i'm not really good with numbers.
anyway...i studied but not a lot. f you have experience managing campaigns and just take the quizzes in the learning center then go back and study the sections you didn't pass you should be fine.
Mine shows up like that too - I've not taken the test either.
I always fail "tests" no matter what form they taken.
I printed my screenshot just to make me look cool to clients :)
I believe this is only if you have a MCC with adWords.
David