Next week we are heading out for Bangkok and Thailand. We will not be back in Norway until late July.

Given that this stay is meant to be a holiday, our readers cannot expert the same search engine industry coverage as normal.

However, thanks to the wonders of modern technology it is possible to publish Pandia from any place that has an Internet connection, so we will keep an eye on the search engine scene for you!

Do not expect the same number of posts and newsletters, though!

Per and Susanne
Pandia editors

Search engines in Thailand

The European Commission in cooperation with YouTube has launched EUTube, a video portal showcasting the works of the European Union. The EC hopes to disseminate the activities of the Commission through videos and at the same encourage its citizens to comment on the video clips being uploaded in the EUTube channel. The EUTube channel would contain video news releases by and about the European Commission. Through these videos, the EC hopes that its citizen would be enticed to view other videos in the channel making them more and more aware of what the EC is doing.

Mikolaj Dowgielewicz, spokesman for the E.U. commissioner for institutional relations and communications strategy said that EU turned to YouTube so that:

“When a user watches clips on the channel, he or she is prompted to view other clips from the same source,”

Already there are varied reactions on the EC’s strategy of using a web 2.0 video uploading site such as YouTube. But the EC believes that this a way of reaching out to its people who uses YouTube. But then again, one can help but wonder why such a big international organization would utilize such highly commercialized web service instead of coming up with its own technology.

Let’s just hope that we won’t see an EUspace in the near future.

In the meantime, why don’t you check out EUTube and enjoy watching how everyone can save the planet through an animated cartoon video.

There’s an old golden rule in terms of choosing a career or venture which still applies today, even to blogging; love your work. Being passionate about our jobs, entrepreneurial endeavours, or daily routine can make the difference between success or failure.

From a personal standpoint, I’m passionate about growing this blog and covering the search engine world, but honestly, after 4 years of doing so, spending a sunny Friday afternoon onside to write about tweaks to an algorthim can be challenging.

Then, I talk to someone like Ken Savage, and I feel the invigoration of taking my first blogging breath all over again.

Ken’s Blog Story

A few years ago, Ken was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes, and in an effort to learn more information about the disease, and share that information with others, Ken launched the BattleDiabetes.com blog.

A search engine marketer for Kronos.com, during the night & weekends, Ken blogs about happenings in the diabetes research world and the importance of the prevention of Type 2 diabetes via diet & exercise. His wife does a lot of the research during the week, in what Ken says is a motivational tool to keep him on track.

Making Blog Money : AdSense & AuctionAds

What started as an educational project is now bringing in supplemental income, almost $40,000 a year - thanks to Google AdSense, AuctionAds and Text Link Ads.

The revenue generated from BattleDiabetes.com is split as follows :

• Google AdSense : 40%
• AuctionAds : 40%
• Text Link Ads : 20%

Ken says that his revenue really improved once installing the AuctionAds advertising spots on BattleDiabetes. Best of all, the eBay product auction generated ads do not interfere with Google AdSense, so both formats can be run on the site at one time, and by smoothly integrating the ads into the site, the click thru rate is higher.

Building Traffic to the Blog

BattleDiabetes.com attracts 7,000 to 9,000 pageviews on a given day and Ken says that the majority of traffic comes from search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Ask.com.

Wordpress is used to power the blog and after some basic Wordpress SEO Plugin installs the backbone can be made very search engine friendly. Ken also practices strategic linkbuilding, with sites like TheDiabetesBlog.com linking back to his blog.

But Ken says that one of the most recent jumps in search driven traffic came after he listed BattleDiabetes.com in major web directories such as Best of the Web, DMOZ, Aviva Directory and Business.com.

Ken also takes full advantage of the social media outlets like StumbleUpon, Netscape and Digg to build some of his traffic. Almost all articles are submitted to StumbleUpon, which can drive major traffic if its users give the article a ‘Thumbs Up.’

StumbleUpon actually requests that webmasters submit their own content for the SU community to vote upon, and this is paying off well for Ken, as Buzz.StumbleUpon.com/Health is one of his biggest referrers.

Submitting articles to Digg & Netscape is done on a more conservative note, as only the most informative and interesting pieces are submitted to each.

To wrap things up, using a balance of passion, education, sharing, basic SEO, link building and contextual advertising; Mr. Savage has taken the diagnosis of a major and life threatening disease and turned it around into a commercial opportunity; while at the same time combatting his own disease and helping to prevent others from developing full blown Type 2 diabetes.

The YSMBlog announced yesterday the addition of a few new tools in order to effectively help advertisers build out campaigns. While these changes seem to be small ones, nevertheless, anything helps new advertisers and for someone running multiple campaigns, tools to make that make creating a campaign more efficient are always welcome.

The first change is a move and copy feature which allows you to move keywords from one ad group to another.

The second change is what they call “keyword selection streamlined”. They go on to describe this change by stating, “In the early days of internal combustion, auto manufacturers quickly figured out that cars performed better when they were pointier at the front and tapered at the rear, helping them slip through the air more efficiently, like a fish. While we haven’t exactly done the same thing with our new keyword selector tool—there’s no tapering involved—we have made selecting keywords an easier process.

The new keyword selector tool is accessible to new advertisers in the online sign-up process, and to existing advertisers creating a new campaign or using the “+Add Keywords” button on the Ad Group page.”

The third change is a new ad copy tool to effectively create ads while comparing yours to other advertisers using the same keywords and what ad copy they have.

Pablo Palatnik is Managing Partner of eTrend Media Group, which specializes in Pay-Per-Click Management & Lead Generation.