Eric Friedman – Marketing.fm

Google Webhosting?

Yes its true, as of 12/07/06 Google is moving into the hosting business for new adwords clients with the Starter Edition package of AdWords now providing users with the option to create and design their own landing page.

Google details:
“A hosted business page is an informational webpage that new advertisers can create when they sign up for AdWords Starter Edition. You can use a hosted business page to tell people more about your business when they click on your ad.”

What does this mean for advertisers?

If you have a business that is looking to drive traffic to your pre-existing website than this feature is not for you. If you are a small business that does not yet have a web presence and is looking to get online and get customers, this provides one viable option. I am not sure what kind of business would spend the money on search marketing without setting up their own site but perhaps there is demand for this service. The interesting aspect will be if Google can later convert these newcomers to customers for hosting and not just advertising.

Some insight and questions from the details:

“Hosted business pages are now available for new US advertisers using AdWords Starter Edition.”
Can current customers expect to see the same features available? (technically they already have a domain setup – but it would be nice to test out this feature)

“It’s important to note that a hosted business page is not a full-featured website with its own domain name, but rather a single landing page for your AdWords ads.” and “Keep in mind that hosted business pages are accessible only through links on AdWords ads.”
How can you only view these sites by clicking on an ad? It seems silly to not allow customers to send around the actual URL of their landing page for other options.

Could this be pointing towards a small business push for Google to provide larger hosting and ecommerce solutions to this segment of customers?

Below is a screenshot of the original Google blog post:

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