Posted in
Main on May 23rd, 2008 by Pingdom
Text ads can be smart, funny, and sometimes unintentionally hilarious when they show up in the wrong context.
David, our web designer and marketing maestro here at Pingdom was surfing the web last night and put together a list of really funny and original text ads from Google Adwords. We liked them so much that we made this blog entry for your perusal. Let yourself be inspired, or if you’re not into search engine marketing, at least amused.
Not quite as intended
Contextual text ads showing up in the wrong context can be highly amusing. Travel plans to Hell, anyone?

More examples over at ROI Revolution.
Clashing interests
This one started as a joke but got the attention of Apple’s lawyers. They are very protective of their brand and forced the person behind it to remove this.

ASCII art
Great idea, and very suitable for a digital design agency. (It would have looked better in a mono-space font, though.)

And here is an example of completely changing a rental car company’s approach to text ads. The pay-off? A 47% increase in click-through.

The potentially bad part about using ASCII art in your text ads is that Google seems to be actively filtering and removing ads with ASCII art.
Extremely well targeted
When Google shares plummeted early in 2006, the following, very well-targeted ad showed up. Talk about grabbing an opportunity.

Trading words
When Jeff Gerstmann was fired from his job as editorial director at GameSpot, the event got a lot of media attention. PC Gamer capitalized on this, and gaming blog GameBump retaliated. Via Adwords.

We’re sure there are plenty of other excellent examples of text ads out there. If you have links to good ones, please do share them in comments.
Want to test your site every minute?
Posted in
Main on November 10th, 2009 by Anthony Celeste
Most of us already know that Photoshop is the “industry standard” graphic design program. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s always the best option, and it certainly doesn’t mean that it’s the best value for money.
At its retail price of 699 USD / 470 EUR, Photoshop isn’t exactly cheap. And let’s face it, not everyone needs the all of Photoshop’s high-end features. For example, Photoshop has the ability to edit images in CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) mode, a feature mainly needed by print designers. If you work exclusively with web design, you may not want to pay extra for this feature.
Fortunately, there are more affordable (and sometimes even free) alternatives to Photoshop, and I’ll take a look at some very competent ones in this article.
Read more
Posted in
Main on November 9th, 2009 by Devindra Hardawar
With the release of the Motorola Droid, it’s becoming clear that 2010 is going to be a very exciting year for Google Android. The operating system is now two years old, and Android 2.0 has begun shipping with new phones.
Gone are the growing pains of introducing a new mobile platform in an iPhone-dominated marketplace and dealing with shoddy first-generation hardware. Now Google, along with the other members of the Open Handset Alliance, can focus on spreading the word of Android with better phones, better software, and an increased presence in the public consciousness.
Here are ten predictions for what will happen with Google Android in 2010.
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Posted in
Main on November 6th, 2009 by Pingdom
Perl has been around since 1987 and became an early darling of web developers. These days, however, you don’t hear much about Perl. Everyone seems to be talking about trendier languages like PHP, Python and Ruby, with Perl left in the back as a neglected, not-so-hip cousin.
That might lead you to think that Perl is dying, but as it turns out, it’s still used by plenty of websites out there, including some pretty big hitters.
Here are some of the more popular sites that use Perl extensively today.
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Posted in
Main on November 5th, 2009 by Garin Kilpatrick
In this post Twitter enthusiast Garin Kilpatrick shares his tips on effective ways to get more followers.
It is hard to put a price on a Twitter follower but the host of The Price is Right, Drew Carey, is offering to donate $1 to cancer research for every new follower he receives this year. The following eight tips will enable you to make the most out of your tweets and help you connect with as many followers as possible.
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Posted in
Main on November 4th, 2009 by Anthony Celeste
Web design carries with it certain challenges that don’t exist in print design. Perhaps the most obvious is that in print design, whether you print your own work or have it printed by a professional, you know what your work is going to look like before your customer sees it.
Web designers don’t have this luxury. There’s always the chance that something, or maybe many things, won’t look or behave the same from browser to browser and from operating system to operating system. It’s easy to make mistakes that can make your website appear strange or annoying to a lot of website visitors.
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ralphg
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:36 am
“Hell” is also German for “light,” and I think in some Scandanavian countries, as well. There is at least one town named “Hell” in Scandanavia.
Jeff McCord
May 23rd, 2008 at 9:50 am
I’m glad to know I’m not the only one who has had a few questionable adsense ads on the blogsite!
Whew! Great post!
Jeff McCord
http://www.jeffmccord.org
Matt
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:07 pm
There is a town called Hell in Michigan, as well.
Ara
May 23rd, 2008 at 12:15 pm
I know for sure there is a Hell, Michigan, which (I might add) gets plenty cold every winter.
yoda47
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:50 pm
My favorite is the Google adds for Spam recipes that I get when I check my gmail spam folder.
rakudave
May 23rd, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Hell exists indeed, in Norway: 63°26′40.26°N 10°54′14.87°O
Kashif
May 23rd, 2008 at 2:13 pm
Well, that clears where the Hell is ..
Matt
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Great find; very funny! Ebay always has the worst Google ads. They’ll buy anything…
Keep up the good work,
-Matt
Tender-Thoughts.com
Ryan Paul
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:40 pm
For a long time, searching for “linux” on Google would display adwords ads for Solaris and Microsoft’s Get the Facts campaign. I still have a screenshot of that.
e.e.
May 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm
I’ve seen some amusing AdSenses, too bad I didn’t think to record them, I am glad someone did
I love the recipes for spam, I wonder if Spam counted on such great advertising.
Also, I looked up Hell on Google maps, it does indeed exist. Now I want to go and get a bumper sticker.
Rita
May 24th, 2008 at 10:24 am
These are great. I’m going to change my adwords ad because only one person has clicked on the ad in three days. Something’s obviously wrong with mine.
Aaron Schurg
May 26th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
Hell is in Michigan, very close to Climax.
Mohavewolfpup
May 26th, 2008 at 2:51 pm
here’s one I found while searching for golden retriever information one day…
http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/2262/wtfid5.jpg
W. Buckley
May 26th, 2008 at 3:56 pm
It wasn’t Google AdWords, but somewhere on my other computer I have a screenshot of a Juniper Networks ad over information related to Cisco Systems equipment. Juniper is a primary competitor of Cisco…
Thanks for the laughs!
Fishbowler
May 27th, 2008 at 4:16 am
Cash for questions, anyone?
http://img213.imageshack.us/my.php?image=libdemadvert2wc2.jpg
Nikhil Kardale
May 27th, 2008 at 7:14 am
Great post! Amusing.. well some are absolutely hilarious!
Elizabeth
May 27th, 2008 at 11:11 am
I love dynamic insertion sometimes. If you want more PPC laughs, check out http://www.ppcvillain.com
It’s a spoof site dedicated entirely to making fun of PPC.
Jeremy Nicoll
May 27th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
That’s awesome.
R. Campbell
May 27th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
While looking on imdb.com at the trailer for a documentary called “F*ck” (ok, the “*” is from me – you know what the title really was) about the origin and use of the word, I saw next to it an add for “Doogie Howser MD – Season 1″ . . . polar opposites, perhaps?!
moglor
May 28th, 2008 at 9:41 am
I rode my bike to hell once. There wasn’t much to do there, so I bought an ice cream and left.
IhateDesign
May 28th, 2008 at 9:43 am
amazing content, and article cheers!!!
Dick
May 28th, 2008 at 10:05 am
In defense of my home state, Michigan has both Hell and Paradise. Appropriately, Hell is in lower Michigan and Paradise is in upper Michigan.
scott
May 29th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Don’t forget about I-75 exit 69 – Big Beaver
MJC
June 1st, 2008 at 8:21 am
last year i tired one without words at all. It got banned by Google as a volition:
http://greyisgood.eu/text/adwords/
cooper
July 5th, 2008 at 4:15 am
that’s a pretty funny one. the hillary clinton ad doesn’t really fit…
Google Shadow
February 7th, 2009 at 2:38 pm
I love the ASCII art, definitely increasing the CTR, it’s a pitty that Google is filtering them out
Acai
March 26th, 2009 at 1:55 pm
i just wondering what could be the conversion of these ads.