A reader asks:  Is it worth learning Google API or does the editor and online tools cover all the things you need?

My answer: It depends what you need. Unless you’re a software developer, you don’t really need the API. The Google desktop editor does most things you’d want, and you have the report center for the rest.

The API - which is the technical term for "a wormhole in time and space that allows cybergeniuses unfathomable access to the bowels of a big database" - can help programmers create custom interfaces that allow the data to become more useful, intuitive, and shareable.

A couple of years ago, I - and by this I mean "people other than me with whom I collaborate who can actually write software" - wrote a piece of software that used the AdWords API to automate split testing of ads. It was a fantastic idea. In those days, API access was free and extensive.

Shortly after we released the software, to much fanfare of our own making, Google started charging for API access. We calculated that our $20/month program would cost the average use $10k/month in Google API charges. Clearly not worth it.

Shortly after we did that math, Google did us a favor by crippling API access to most of the data we needed. So it was back to the drawing board for another year.

The happy ending: we’ve (again, I mean "they’ve") re-introduced the split testing tool in another format - as an automated reader of the free report you can create in the Reports section. So now WinnerAlert.com actually works (and works very well, our customers tell us).* But not via the AdWords API.

So there’s a long answer to a short question. That’s what happens when you hit a nerve. I’m better now. Really. (Sniff.)

*Try it free for 14 days at www.WinnerAlert.com.

Google announced last week that it’s phasing out two very useful AdWords tools: the Copy or Move Keywords and Ad Text tool and the Advanced Search and Editing tool.

But fear not: these same features will now be available with the downloadable, desktop AdWords Editor.

Why is Google doing this? My guess is to put a stranglehold on the Google interface, cutting out 3rd party software tools that could use the AdWords API (basically, a back door data stream) to give customers more control over their accounts.

The AdWords Editor is the only software application that gets to use the API for free. So if this trend continues, more and more campaign management features will be grafted onto the Editor, rather than the main web interface. My advice: download the Editor now and get used to it:

http://www.google.com/adwordseditor

Luckily, the Editor is a pretty sweet tool. Perhaps the nicest feature is that you can work on your AdWords account(s) offline, and can play with creating ad groups and moving keywords before you actually upload the changes to your account.

No longer is it necessary to mouse over the Conv. %  numbers to find out how many conversions for a campaign. Now you can see the number of conversions in its own column, way over on the right. Strangely, the new feature doesn’t show up where it really matters: for specific ads, keywords, or web pages on the content network. Hopefully Google will remedy this straightaway.

This eliminates the annoying artifact of declmal conversions ("You’ve made 17.9 sales this week!) while providing even more in-your-face feedback about how you’re doing.

Remember: if you’re tracking multiple conversions, you must run Conversion Reports to separate out the different conversions. Otherwise, you’re comparing apples to hex nuts.

Google has just unveiled their newest beta, a foray into the world of "old media" - newspaper print ads. Now you can create and run ads in hundreds of papers across the US, including big city papers like the Philadelphia Enquirer, smaller regional papers like the Raleigh-Durham News & Observer, and local papers like the Marion, IL Daily Republican (daily subscription 3500).

Here’s a list of participating newspapers, as of 23 July 2007.

You can search newspapers by region, size, section (entertainment, science, etc.), as well as their Direct Marketing Association (DMA) ranking. You can choose daily or Sunday editions.

The Google method of buying print ad space has two advantages over the current system:

1. Google is a one-stop shop for media purchases in many different papers all across the country
2. Advertisers can negotiate with publishers simply by placing bids, rather than the current way of waiting until the publisher is desperate to fill the remaining blank space and then lying about the great deal you were offered by their competitor (yuck!)

Google is doing here what it has already done to internet advertising - rationalizing a marketplace by equalizing access to information. As anyone who’ve ever tried to purchase a used car from someone other than Aunt Betsy already knows, unequal access to imformation makes for very inefficient transactions. Now that advertisers are free to bid whatever they choose in whichever paper they want, and publishers are free to accept the highest bids, the print ad marketplace can rationalize very quickly. If…

Make your print ads trackable

When you advertise online with AdWords, Google automatically tracks your lead or sale back to the very ad and keyword or web page that generated it (if, of course, you follow the advice in Chapter 14 of AdWords For Dummies, that is).

You must create print ads that have trackable links in them as well. Different calls to action, different "code words" to receive a special offer, different extension numbers, different names of operators standing by, etc. Then you can determine ROI for each media purchase, and bring your AdWords-level accountability for spending to print media as well. (For strategies for creating print ads, check out my home-study course for small business direct marketing, Leads into Gold).

Google is offering a $1000 credit for print ads, including $500 in advertising and $500 in ad creation services. This offer expires end of August, 2007. You can log into your AdWords account to find out more about print ads and to claim your $1000 credit.

See you on the funny pages!