Back in April 2018, Google launched it’s first Arabic digital skills program, ‘Maharat min Google’. The free program helps Arabic speakers develop practical digital skills through an online learning platform and in-person training.
Maharat min Google in Lebanon
I was happy to deliver Google’s first in-person digital skills training in Lebanon. The training was hosted by Mercy Corps in Achrafieh last month with around 15 selected attendees. A 4-hour intensive training featured practical case studies, and interactive quizzes. The training covered 4 major topics such as growing a business on social media and digital jobs.
Who can access this program?
The program is open to any Arabic speaking individual for FREE. “Maharat min Google” aims to help youth including students and job seekers. The program also focuses on female participation as well. Google hopes to help users advance their careers in the digital industry or grow their businesses.
What will you learn?
Through the online learning platform users can access 26 core topics in digital marketing. Numerous topics included such as eCommerce, SEO, social media, SEM, & Email marketing-to name just a few. After the completion of the entire course, you will receive a certificate from Google similar to the below. 
What you’ll love?
The topics are short, practical and interactive – and of course in ARABIC!
Each video is just few minutes long with different formats. You can also read the transcripts below each video, check your progress and enroll in various topics. You will also solve case studies of local businesses like a florist shop, bakery and barber. What you will absolutely love is the interactivity of quizzes!
The easy-to-use platform is also a feature-rich platform. Certainly, after working for 3 years on online courses and online learning platforms, this is definitely an amazing achievement combining both specs.
Why should you take this course?
It is true that skills gap is a universal problem. But I’ve spoken earlier about the digital skills gap in Lebanon. Likewise, this is also the case in many other Arab countries due to the lack of quality content around digital topics in Arabic. Maharat min Google aims to change this challenge for Arabic-speaking users! Fresh graduates will be equipped with the needed digital skills in today’s workforce. Business owners as well even those in rural areas will benefit from this content.
After 2020, 90% of the jobs will require digital skills!
You can access the online courses anytime anywhere on g.co/Maharat. Future in-person training in Lebanon will be announced soon.
The TechWadi Roadshow Powered by Google for Entrepreneurs came to Beirut, Lebanon for the first time on October 24 -25, 2015.
TechWadi RoadShow was developed in partnership with Google for Entrepreneurs (GFE) a division of Google designed to support entrepreneurial ecosystems as an opportunity to expand outreach to the MENA region.
The “TechWadi Roadshow” consisted of two day-long educational workshops led by TechWadi and powered by Google for Entrepreneurs that brought experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and stakeholders straight from Silicon Valley to mentor local startups in Beirut.
The mentors included seasoned professionals from companies like Google, Yahoo, Facebook, as well as founders of various Silicon Valley startups. The event took place in UK Lebanon TechHub, the local host and partner who worked with additional ecosystem partners to accommodate as many entrepreneurs as possible.
The event kicked off with Daniel Navarro, Marketing Manager at Google for Entrepreneurs (GFE) & Christina Ashtary, Program Manager at TechWadi, who welcomed the attendees and introduced TechWadi Organization and it’s dedication to building bridges between Silicon Valley and the MENA region in partnership with GFE.
The event consisted of multiple sessions that provided engaging presentations discussing entrepreneurship, market development phases, startups and investments in the MENA region allowing attendees to learn from established experts including Sherif Badawi, a serial entrepreneur and technology executive, who currently serves as a partner to VCs and startups at Google, Ramy Adeeb, Founder & CEO, Snip.it (Acquired by Yahoo!), Walid Hanna, Managing director at MEVP and many more.
Day 2 was exclusively limited to a selected group of partners startups and entrepreneurs and focused on tailored mentorship meetings and design thinking workshops.
Attendees shared their excitement during the event by live-tweeting speaker quotes and photos of the event on social media using the following hashtag: #SV2MENA.
For those who missed the event, you can find slide decks of mentor presentations here. You can also apply for the 2016 TechWadi Sprint Acceleration Program or the TechWadi Mentorship.
Google launched Upgraded URLs in AdWords offering marketers and advertisers multiple benefits to edit and track the links in ads that show up on Google search results. If you don’t use tracking, there’s no difference between final URL and destination URL.
The Upgraded URLs means less time will be spent on adjusting URL tracking. In “Destination URLs” which consists of the landing page URL, that people are redirected to once they click on an ad, and the tracking section representing the tracking service. If you need to edit the tracking parameters, the ad URL will change and will be sent back to the editorial review thus will stop running during this review and all data related to the old URL will be lost.
Now in the Upgraded URL, the “Final URL” separates the Destination URL to two parts; Landing page section and Tracking Section. So if you want to update the tracking information at any level; account or campaign or ad group, your ad stats will not be affected.
The Final URL is the web address of the landing page and can include redirects but it will need to match the domain of your display URL.
Tracking Template Parameters and Custome Parameters
Under the advanced “URL Options” You can find the tracking template and the custome parameter fields.
The Tracking template includes the tracking information that will help AdWords understand how to assemble the URLs, in which you can set multiple ValueTrack parameters such as {lpurl}. Managing the URL tracking information can be done on verious levels and a shared tracking template can be used. For example, using a certain tracking template at the account level will apply across all of the URLs within that account.
Custom parameters helps you customize the information you are monitoring in addition to specifying certain values that will be inserted into URLs once an ad click is triggered. For example, to insert “12345” when a specific ad is clicked, a custom parameter is set, {_mycreative} only for this ad. Write: “mycreative” in the custom parameter field to insert 12345 whenever that ad is clicked
The URL upgrade also includes a location-tracking parameter such that advertisers can set up custome parameters to measure ad clicks based on location.
All recorded details about the ad perfomance can be reviewed in Google Analytics or any third-party analytics software. This information will help advertisers track exact information about each click on AdWords ads and will be able to understand where most traffic is coming from and which ads or keywords get the most clicks.
Destination URL is retiring and later this year, the “final URL” will become the only landing page option.
Today, Google announced the new AdWords feature. Now Advertisers can track “Website Call Conversions” or Clicks that lead to calls. Previously Google wasn’t able to track people who click on Google Ads and skim through pages then later on calls the company which is a lead derived initially from an Ad.
The new feature introduced today brings conversion tracking to a whole new level. “Website Call Conversions” will provide advertisers the ability to find out exact details like never before. When a clients click on the number or even if they call directly from their phones, advertisers will be able to associate the call conversion and the conversion value to the keyword and the ad that prompted the client. This is done through a code snippet that dynamically inserts a Google forwarding number on the advertisers website which measures the calls when a user clicks on an Ad. So companies and sales representatives will no longer have to check how their clients got their business number. Note that the new feature is only available in countries where Google forwarding numbers are available.
This move helps Google provide advertisers the power to measure the real effect of their Ads especially with the rapid increase in the Mobile Ad Market. Companies are already reporting the effectiveness of the new feature such as People’s Trust Insurance and 1000Bulbs.com. The new feature details was posted by AdWords product manager Anurag Agrawal.
If you’re looking for a quick solution to show up on Google, lets spare “SEO strategy” for later, It doesn’t take an expert to create Google ads, its all about the few tips and tricks you learn with years of experience. First, before even starting the campaign you should know there are ALWAYS AdWords coupons to save some money. Add your email here and there you go, 75$ free from Google! Get a coupon: http://www.google.com/ads/adwords-coupon.html
Second, KEYWORDS. Your the business owner so your the best in choosing the perfect keywords people will search for. For example, if your advertising for a SPA, write down the list of services you offer, titles first then under each title write down keywords related to it. Next, Add interactive words people would search, such as adding “Treatment” after “Facial Massage”. There are plenty of tools you can use to get ideas such as Keyword Planner by Google, https://adwords.google.com/KeywordPlanner. Now you got the keywords ready, a typical beginner mistake is using BROAD match, NEVER, unless you want to spend you budget in no time and get zero results. [Exact] match and “Phrase” match are the ideal method for actual results.
Third, What should you write in your ad? Text ads, in headlines ALWAYS write: {keyword:….headline……….} that’s a tip few advertisers use but its actually really effective. This method will help any keyword searched for to pop up in the headline which actually increase CTR (click through rate). By the way, if you’re using this method make sure to capitalize your keywords. Now for the content of your ad using Google Preview is the best tool for guaranteed results. https://adwords.google.com/d/AdPreview. This tool shows regular Google search results page with in any country. Type the keyword chosen in New York and in London (Location) check the top ads ranking 1 and use them in your ads, no need to be creative or an advertising specialist. Don’t forget, Capitalize the first letter of each word in the ad content!
Fourth, Display and destination URL, Display ad is what people will actually see, so make sure to write something relevant to your ad. usually when advertising your expecting an action from people so you can generally use: …../Contact-Us/ or …./Book-Now/, add your destination URL and your almost ready. Your destination URL should be a LANDING PAGE and not your website. You have seconds to get a lead from the ads. Add a contact form that is visible and a Call to action with few lines summarizing your services and that’s it! Add extension links for your ads, such as the phone number, places and site links which will help the ad rank first.
YOU ARE READY TO GO!
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