A VERY COOL TOOL
Normally we don't give away trade secrets, but here goes:
LabourStart is using Google's Ad Words Select as a means of promoting both our page in support of the Hershey strikers and in support of the strike itself. And it's working very nicely, thank you.
Want to see this in action? Go to Google (http://www.google.com ) and search for "Hershey". You'll see our "sponsored link" appear in the upper right corner of the results page -- right next to the official link to the Hershey Foods corporate website!
And not only on the Google website. According to a Google press release from last week, "Google has partnered with America Online to provide AdWords ads in the sponsored links sections of AOL (including AOL.com), effective immediately. Ads will also be shown on AOL's CompuServe and Netscape sites in the near future."
Our ad -- which tells anyone looking at the page that Hershey workers are on strike -- has been seen by 16,852 people in the last few days. The cost to us has been -- you won't believe this -- $6.85. That's right -- for less than $7.00, we've been able to embarrass the Hershey management and show support for the strikers, and drive traffic to our own special website in support of their struggle, which is located here: http://www.labourstart.org/hershey/
We're telling you this not because Google is paying us anything (we wish they were!) but because more unions should do this.
For example, why aren't the Teamsters using this in support of the strike at Overnite? Sure, if you scroll down the results on Google, you'll eventually find the website they set up (http://www.teamster.org/overnite/index.asp ).
But their "sponsored link" could appear at the very top of the page, right next to the official corporate site, for pennies a day.
Full details about the program are here: https://adwords.google.com/select/main