As I recommend in my book, I regularly check my web server's referral logs to see who's visiting MakeEasyMoneyWithGoogle.com. It's a great way to find other sites linking to mine, including blog entries of course. Anyhow, imagine my surprise in finding this entry in yesterday's logs:
gweb.corp.google.com/adwords-ext/html/policy/resources/Google_Trademark/Escalated_Domains.htm
Oh-oh, it looks like MakeEasyMoneyWithGoogle.com is on Google's list of “escalated domains”, probably because the domain includes the word “Google” in it. Google is protective of its trademarks. I wasn't able to place any AdWords ads that directly referred to my book's title (Make Easy Money with Google) or to the companion website because of those policies. I'm expecting the Google hit squad to knock on my back door at anytime now:
Knock, knock.
Me: “Yes?”
Large guy of Italian descent: “Youse Eric Gooriay?”
Me: “It's actually pronounced jeeg-air. It's French.”
Guy: “Yeah, whatever. The only French things I like are fries. Look, my bosses have sent me out to let you know they're not happy with ya.”
Me: “They didn't like the book?”
Guy: “It's the way the book uses their name. It's a sacred name, ya know, and you can't just use it like you've done.”
Me: “Actually, I didn't choose the name, the book publisher did. My working title was very lame.”
Guy: “Doesn't matter. I mean, we'll go speak to them, too, I'm sure. But youse got the G word in your domain name, too.”
Me: “Well, sure. The book's called Make Easy Money with Google, so naturally the domain is MakeEasyMoneyWithGoogle.com.”
Guy: “Look, I can't tell you what's natural and what's not these days, but I will tell you this: the Two Big Guys ain't too happy about this. We just might have to break some legs, you know what I mean?”
Me: “That would be good publicity for the book, actually. So it wouldn't be that bad in the long run. But don't you have better things to do? Like track down click fraudsters who give you a bad rap?”
Guy: “I'm not here to bust any legs yet, just to give ya a warning. We'll be in touch later, I can guarantee it.”
Stay tuned for more!