In my previous post, I have written about the structures in Google AdWords. After knowing the structures, we start off with the basics of AdWords advertising - search campaigns.

When is search advertising relevant?

• water leak repair
• clogged drain
• pipe leak repair
• plumber services near me

•  clogged drain
• That’s the broad match format. No modifiers, no extra punctuations, just the word itself. Any search terms with words just remotely similar to ‘clogged’ or ‘drain’ will trigger an ad from the ad group. As an example, perhaps the search term ‘stuck water drain’, ‘draining hook’, ‘clogging solution’, ‘clogdrain’ or ‘clogging drains

•  +clogged +drain
• The broad modifier allows for the ads to show up when the words are synonyms with each word. As an example, ‘jammed sewer’ or ‘clogging drains’, ‘drain clogged’ can still trigger the ad, but not ‘draining hook’.

• “clogged drain"
•  The phrase match modifier only triggers the ad when it’s in this phrasal order & the word’s close variants. I can find this ad if I search ‘clog drain’ or ‘how to clear a clogging drain’, but not ‘drain is clogging’ or ‘drain clogged'.

• [clogged drain]
• The exact match follows exactly what the keyword says and the phrase’s close variants. While ads may show for ‘clogged drain’ or ‘clog drain’, the search terms ‘deep clogged drain’ or ‘clogged drain service’ won’t trigger my ads.

There's a certain level of hype on this whole keyword research & cost per click thing, especially if you're working in a company with strong intents on advertising for their business online.

Podcasts are still a relatively new thing to me. Back when I was still doing my Final Year Project (FYP) in university when my mind gets to be idle and I just kind of pilot mode through my tasks - 100% muscle memory-based work, I'd listen to 'Welcome To Nightvale' through Spotify. The story's weird and you have no idea what's going on and it's just so odd but somehow I couldn't stop listening to it.

At some point I did though.

I wanted some other sort of podcasts, something that in a way makes more sense. Stories, perhaps. Nothing comedic, I wouldn't want to laugh out loud while I was working at the office. What kind of stories?

One thought led to another and soon I found myself on Google searching for 'Podcasts to listen to at work'. I narrowed down a few podcasts I think I might like and eventually settled down on 'Modern Love'.

I've been listening to that one at work since then. I tried listening to several others - Love Life With Matthew Hussey and Savage Lovecast being two of them, but somehow I always find myself back at Modern Love.

This podcast basically is a weekly series of reader-submitted stories on love, however you might interpret it. Joy, reunion, the post-breakup and post-divorce love, love from an open adoption; you name it, they have it.

I suppose one huge thing that I like about this podcast is how clear the audio is. I find myself losing interest in podcasts easily when audio from phone calls or those static-ish voices come up. Modern Love, however, records their reading of every story clearly, articulately, and most of all, with the emotions and tones that should be in the story just intact.

The stories always have different tones. It's afterall, contributed by different writers and each stories are unique. You can just start any episodes you want and not feel as if you've forgotten something from a previous episode. That's a good plus point, is it not?

There's always different people reading the stories too. Actors, writers, sometimes the authors themselves. After each story ends, they would feature a short interview with the original writers of the story to get an update on how their lives have been within the 1 or 2 years after the original writing date.

Some stories are just plain heartbreaking and most of the time when I listen to the stories, it makes me want to just go home to my person and hug him and let him know that I cherish him. In a way, not only did this podcast act as entertainment while I'm at work, it also... I don't know how to put it. Perhaps make me more compassionate at least for a while after listening to the stories? Afterall, I'm sure most of you can relate with how some stories just resonate with us and stay with us for a long time after we finished reading them.

Eitherway, that's definitely a good podcast that I'd recommend. They're available on Spotify here and perhaps if you have your own story to contribute, you can do that too! The details can be found here.

Meanwhile, if you guys have your own podcasts that you like to listen to at work, do let me know! I would certainly like to try listening to some new podcasts :)

Have a good day and ciaos!