Sorry for the lack of posts recently, but I’ve been super busy working on StomperNet and getting ready for my China Field Trip. In fact, I’m posting this from China right now!

So, it was announced this week that Google has anew service out called “Custom Search Engine” where they allow you to customize their search results by narrowing the topic, and even which sites can be searched. You can customize the look of the search engine to look like your own website too. Best of all, you can use your own AdSense account to get paid off the ads that are displayed.

Here’s a quote from Shashi Seth and R.V. Guha, Google Co-op team:
“As you might imagine, it’s a simple and straightforward product to use and understand. In a matter of minutes you can create a search engine that reflects your knowledge and interests; looks and feels like your own; and, if you choose, you can make money from the traffic you receive through Google’s AdSense program. You can even invite your friends and trusted community members to add to and help build your search engine.”

I find this a pretty exciting development, as it’s going to empower high-content websites a way to employ the most popular search engine in the world to index their site for their users, AND give those sites an additional revenue stream.

I checked out a couple of the featured sites like RealClimate.org (a resource for scientific articles on climate change) and Macworld (reviews and stuff for Macintosh products). They’re really great implementations, and they really add a lot of value to the sites themselves.

Here’s Google’s announcement on their blog:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2006/10/eureka-your-own-search-engine-has.html

Here’s the page where you can create your own Custom Search Engine:
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/

Here’s the list of featured examples where you can see how some folks are already using the service:
http://www.google.com/coop/cse/examples/

Now this is interesting. The SEO Firm Marketing Pilgrim recently launched a contest to give away a search engine marketing scholarship prize worth more than $5,000.

Here’s what the prize package includes:

• Full conference pass to the Search Engine Strategies conference held in Chicago this December. (courtesy of Incisive Media)
• A 2-day pass to an upcoming SEO Workshop with the choice of “Beginner” or “Advanced” training levels. (courtesy of Search Engine Workshops)
• A one-year subscription to KeywordDiscovery.com keyword research tool. (courtesy Trellian)
• A copy of Aaron Wall’s “SEO Book” (courtesy SEOBook.com)
• A copy of “Search Engine Optimization: An Hour a Day” by authors Jennifer Grappone and Gradiva Couzin. (courtesy YourSEOPlan.com)
• One-on-one consulting and training with search engine marketing consultant Andy Beal. (courtesy Marketing Pilgrim)
• More prizes to be announced.

If you’re looking to start a career in search engine marketing or improve your existing skills further, this might be something you’re interested in. Basically all you need to do is to write an article about SEO and submit it. Each Monday in October (starting the 9th) they’ll post qualifying entries and let their readership vote on a finalist for that week.

Of the 4 weekly finalists, a final winner will be chosen by a panel of judges comprised of several industry leaders including:

• Rand Fishkin – SEOMoz.org
• Jennifer Grappone & Gradiva Couzin – YourSEOPlan.com
• Mike Grehan – Search-Engine-Book.co.uk
• Kim Krause Berg – UsabilityEffect.com
• Lee Odden – TopRankBlog.com
• Robin Nobles – SearchEngineWorkshops.com
• Barry Schwartz – RustyBrick.com
• Aaron Wall – SEOBook.com
• David Warmuz – Trellian.com

What a great idea from Marketing Pilgrim. They’ll get a ton of independent content submitted to their site, and probably get a lot of great ideas. It’s also a killer opportunity for a hopeful SEM student who wants to step into the big time. If any of you guys are going to take a crack at entering, best of luck!

Here are a couple of articles about the contest:
http://www.internetfinancialnews.com/financialblogtalk/news/ifn-6-20061002NewSearchEngineMarketingScholarship.html

http://blog.clickz.com/061002-115528.html

Here’s the full contest page from Marketing Pilgrim:
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/search-engine-marketing-scholarship.htm

One of my employees sent me a link this week that I thought was hilarious.

http://www.origamiboulder.com

This guy makes and sells “origami boulders”. It’s really just a crumpled up piece of paper, but he charges $10 for one. For $15 he’ll write a haiku on the sheet of paper before he crumples it. For $29 you get a nice bamboo display stand included.

Is it a successful business? I don’t know, but it’s a brilliant product.

It reminds me of the Pet Rock craze. It’s really IS possible to take something really mundane like a rock or a wadded up piece of paper and through the magic of marketing and copywriting, create a legitimate, valuable, sellable product. I personally wouldn’t sell useless stuff to people, but it’s an interesting sociological experiment if nothing else.

Like I always say…God bless the internet!!