We are providing visibility on Internet and covering online Advertising & Marketing and internet marketing news on Web.
Translate
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Using Wikipedia To Reveal Web Traffic Data
Before investing time and effort in search rankings, and even before setting client expectations, it makes sense to gather whatever intelligence you can about the keywords you'd like to rank for. SEOs and webmasters have few reliable sources of information about the relationship between rankings and traffic. But Wikipedia's traffic stats can help, offering some surprisingly detailed data.
From Internet Marketing
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Google Launches New Conference: Google "Insertion Order" for Developers [SearchEngineWatch]
Google launched a new branded product today: the Google I/O Web Forward developer conference, a two-day, event for developers to share knowledge about Google's developer products in specific and Web application development in general. For marketers, I/O means insertion order; for developers, input/output.
I/O (input/output) means communication between an information processing system (i.e. computer), and the world – possibly a human, or more likely in Google's scenario: an information processing system (computer).
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Monday, March 10, 2008
How Do They Track You? Let Us Count the Ways - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog
On the Internet, companies are typically ranked by how many different people visit their sites in a given month. And when Microsoft announced its $41 billion bid for Yahoo, comScore and Nielsen Online promptly put out estimates counting how many people would be in the merged company’s total audience.
But audience size is not everything in the online world. Advertisers increasingly want media companies to find their most likely customers and show their ads only to those people, rather than to the site’s entire audience.
From Internet Marketing
Sunday, March 09, 2008
AdWords For TV Details Impressive | WebProNews
Screenshots have surfaced detailing Google's AdWords for TV tests, which appear to be near completion after a year of trials. Next stop: the UK.
From Internet Marketing
Saturday, March 08, 2008
Concerns Linger over Google-DoubleClick
EU regulators appear likely to approve Google's takeover unconditionally, but digital privacy advocates remain firmly opposed.
A €2 billion takeover by US-based search engine giant Google, of online advertising firm Double Click, is likely to be approved unconditionally by European antitrust regulators, according to three people close to the case.
Normally in such cases, the European Commission sends the given firms a list of formal objections with at least eight weeks' notice before a deadline in order to give the companies enough time to respond.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Friday, March 07, 2008
This update now brings Google Calendar to a new level where user adoption will increase because it now can coordinate with Outlook; the most popular email client in use today. Here is Google's complete tutorial for setting up Google Calendar Sync.
There are Other Options Available
Google Calendar Sync for Outlook rounds out a fair list of apps that allow synchronization with Google Calendar between Outlook, Mozilla Thunderbird, and even Blackberry's.
For Mozilla Thunderbird
• Provider Add-on is a plug-in for Thunderbird that enables synchronization. Here is a great instructional on how to use it to sync the two systems.
Other Related Thunderbird Apps
• BirdieSync is a commercial application that reportedly does a great job of syncing Google Calendar with Pocket Outlook so that you can then have (by extension) your Google Calendar on your smart phone.
• FinchSync does the same thing as BirdieSync except it is free but that reportedly comes with less user-friendliness and reliability.
Synchronize Between Google Calendar and Your Windows Mobile PDA/Smartphone
It is still in beta but GMobileSync offers the ability to synchronize directly between Google Calendar and your portable if it is running Windows Mobile 5.0.
Google Tests More TV Ads With AdWords Integration
Google Integrates TV Ads Into Adwords Platform by Pinny Cohen shows screen captures of AdWords reports with TV ad integration. Pinny said that Google sent out more invitations for AdWords advertisers to test out TV ads within the Google AdWords system.
From Online Annonsering
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Online Video Advertising + Search Engines = Opportunity For Small Businesses
Much is being written and said these days about the rising future of online video advertising. Recent articles like one in the NY Times reporting Google’s move to test video ads in search results pages shows that the once abstract promise of online video advertising is now upon us.
From Internet Marketing
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Internet Advertising and Marketing Articles
Do you have a small online business? Are you thinking about starting this type of business? If you have answered yes to either of these questions then read on to discover how to effectively market your products or services online. Currently, online advertising for small internet businesses is the most popular trend entrepreneurs are using to garner more customers and produce more sales.
From Online Annonsering
The Beginning of the End? Or the End of the Beginning? - Search Engine Watch
The data doesn't lie; unless you torture it and force a false confession. The latest barrage of "be afraid" and "see I told you" press surrounding Google and its less than satisfactory CTRs had me (like many in the search business) staring sideways at the data – and more importantly the conclusions drawn.
How could people be clicking less? Was the entire Internet ad business coming to a screeching halt? Shortly after the news began breaking in major media, I began discussions with folks at comScore (since they released the data) while running down possible scenarios and thinking about the errors in judgment made by major media.
In the end, searches are still up; search revenues are still strong; and the sky isn't falling. The real story here is not the data itself; how it was interpreted; or the conclusions that were missed. It's certainly not about search ad revenue as an economic indicator, though the false economic barometer does catapult us into the real issue at hand.
From Online Annonsering
Yahoo Desperately Seeking Suitor: Time Warner [SearchEngineWatch]
Yahooo's desperately seeking a suitor. With a Microsoft proxy battle expected soon, Time Warner's emerging as a white knight for the Sunnyvale search engine. Or as a delaying tactic to put off the Yahoo annual shareholder meeting.
Talks between Yahoo and the AOL unit of Time Warner have escalated. Finding an alternative to Microsoft's unwelcome bid remains Yahoo's focus, according to reports this morning in The Wall St. Journal (subscription) and The New York Times.
From Internet Marketing
Monday, March 03, 2008
Will Ask Switch To Google And Lay Off A 100
Rumors are rife that Ask could be considering handing over its search operations to Google and consequently downsizing it's engineering team, reports Silicon Alley Insider. Ask might be thinking about abandoning or selling its Teoma search engine in favor of Google, There is indeed a big shakeup coming.
From Online Annonsering and Internet Marketing
Umbrella News - -
With only a few clicks, just about anyone will be able to quickly set up and update a Web site featuring wide an array of material, including pictures, calendars and video from Google Inc.'s YouTube subsidiary, said Dave Girouard, general manager of the division overseeing the new application.
Google acquired many of the Web-site tools when it bought a Silicon Valley startup, JotSpot, last year.
The tools are the latest addition to a bundle of applications that Google offers to consumers and businesses as alternatives to similar products sold by Microsoft Corp., one of Google's fiercest rivals.
Google's latest service represents a challenge to Microsoft's SharePoint, which charges licensing fees. Google is unveiling its alternative just a few days before Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft hosts a SharePoint conference in Seattle.
While Microsoft's programs typically are installed on individual computers, Google keeps its application on its own machines so users can access them from anywhere with an Internet connection.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Bigger! Better! Richer! The golden age of advertising - Media, News - Independent.co.uk
The admen (and most of them were men) of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties created some of the most unforgettable images of modern times. Peter York celebrates the Golden Age of advertising.
Advertising was like that strap line The Rolling Stones' manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, used on their album covers, "The dividing line between art and commerce". But the real stuff, so insiders believed, still came from America. The country had invented TV-led consumerism – and particularly teenage-ism – and British mass-culture looked archaic and black and white by comparison until the 1980s.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Friday, February 29, 2008
Are You An Agency SEM Pro? Take SEMPO's Salary Survey
SEMPO is undertaking a salary survey of agency search engine marketing professionals, similar to its in-house SEM salary survey that we reported on in January. If you're an agency SEM pro, SEMPO would like to hear from you, whether you're a SEMPO member or not. To qualify for the survey, you must......
From Internet Marketing
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
From SEO to Social Media: Content is Still King
There was a time in social media, just as in search engine optimization (SEO), when everything was only about getting to the front page. Little attention was paid to what happened after you got there and for a while it seemed as if you could do it in your sleep. Over the last year social media has evolved and become a more common form of online marketing and link building.
With that evolution, it has become more difficult to push your content to the front page of top social communities, and the different communities’ algorithms have taken into account the various tricks and methods previously used. Marketers are also taking more time to evaluate and determine the value of success in social media.
Whether you are looking for increased RSS subscriptions, more page views and traffic, or inbound links, it is time to start looking at a real strategy for success with social media marketing.
From Online Annonsering
Online advertising to be new front in Google/Microsoft battle | The Industry Standard
Microsoft will make its bid for online advertising dominance with Engagement Mapping, a new ad measurement system which will be available in testing mode in March.
The software giant says it’s created a new way to determine the success of online ads. Engagement Mapping will look at all ways the was users are exposed to and interact with ads before making a purchase, rather than just the last site or search result they visited. The measurement system will take into account “the impact that recency, frequency, size and ad format (such as rich media and video) have on a consumers’ path to action,” the company says, but it isn’t offering any more details.
From Internet Marketing
Monday, February 25, 2008
Online advertising to be new front in Google/Microsoft battle | The Industry Standard
Microsoft will make its bid for online advertising dominance with Engagement Mapping, a new ad measurement system which will be available in testing mode in March.
The software giant says it’s created a new way to determine the success of online ads. Engagement Mapping will look at all ways the was users are exposed to and interact with ads before making a purchase, rather than just the last site or search result they visited. The measurement system will take into account “the impact that recency, frequency, size and ad format (such as rich media and video) have on a consumers’ path to action,” the company says, but it isn’t offering any more details.
From Internet Advertising and Online Annonsering
Friday, February 22, 2008
Google's Microsoft Yahoo Internet Doomsday Scenario: Google's Brin [SearchEngineWatch]
Yesterday Google co-founder Sergey Brin described the Internet doomsday scenario if Microsoft wins its Yahoo takeover bid. How does Google love thee, Microsoft? Let me count the ways:
Internet innovation? At risk.
Antitrust laws? Violated.
Internet users? Harmed.
From Internet Marketing
Is The Time Ripe For Search Marketing Standards?
Over the past ten to twelve years, various SEM practitioners have brought up the need for industry standards. I started asking the question in 1998, and others have brought it up since, but the industry seems to have a laissez faire attitude.
Albeit, we've seen some standardization steps taken by the search engines themselves. Google, Yahoo!, and Microsoft got together on the Sitemaps protocol, and Google, Ask.com, and Microsoft are now anonymizing log file data. Subsequently, Google called for international privacy standards. The November 2007 FTC public forum on behavioral advertising also focused on privacy concerns. These are all steps toward industry standardization with regard to consumer privacy, an issue search engines must address to maintain public trust. But search engines are not as motivated to establish standards for search engine marketing tactics.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Thursday, February 21, 2008
Google to sell display ads in Web videos | Technology | Internet | Reuters
Google Inc. plans to start selling ads to appear in Web videos after it agreed a partnership with YuMe, an online video advertising network.
YuMe, a Redwood City, California-based start-up, said on Thursday, it will serve InVideo overlay adverts as part of Google's AdSense for video beta advertising program.
Google has traditionally used AdSense for text-only advertising but said the video program extends its offer to targeted, contextually-relevant video graphical ads and text overlays.
Google has been working on ways of developing advertising revenue for online video since it bought YouTube, the video-sharing site, in November 2006.
As Internet access speeds become faster around the world more television and Hollywood-produced video content is moving to the Web on sites like Hulu.com, owned by News Corp and NBC Universal, and Fancast.com, owned by Comcast Corp.
From Internet Marketing
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
SEOmoz | How to Track the Evolution of Search Engine Algorithms & Why It's Important to Do So
Drive More Organic Traffic by Understanding Search Engine Algorithms
The Seattle-based blog SEOmoz, Rand Fishkin asks "What is an Algorithm? How does it apply to the Search Results at Google, Yahoo! & MSN/Live?" The post, How to Track the Evolution of Search Engine Algorithms & Why It's Important to Do So, amounts to a free clinic regarding the "whys" and "hows" for professionals seeking to garner more organic search traffic.
"The vast majority of search marketers operating in the organic space at least lay claim to "following the latest algorithms" at the search engines, and in 90% of the client pitches I've ever heard (or made, for that matter), the subject comes up at least once. However, I think this is still a topic about which there's not a lot of true understanding and for those new to the field, it's probably the most daunting aspect of the work. So, to help ease some pain, I figured I'd address many of the most common questions about keeping up with the search engines' ever-changing mathematical formulas that rank search results."
Rand Fishkin
The article gets to the algorithmic red meat: inherent trust in link metrics, domain trust over the importance of individual pages, temporal analysis of link growth, sandboxing of new websites, fixing blog comment spam, and Google's recent crackdown on reciprocal tactics.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Yahoo Block Google From Delicious Bookmarks
During the weekend, Yahoo!'s social bookmarking property del.icio.us seems to have prevented robots of other search engines including Google from spidering the website or fishing out fresh web pages, bookmarks and websites, observes Collin. It was clear that it was not a simple robots.txt exclusion, rather it was a 404 response that was being shown based on who the requesting User-Agent was.
From Internet Marketing
Web Advertising and Behavioral Targeting: Service Providers Strike Back
Web Advertising and Behavioral Targeting: Service Providers Strike Back: "In the quest for behavioral targeting, companies who control ad networks have been working as hard as possible to allow advertisers to reach Web surfers based on their online behavior and not just what page they happen to be on.
The company best positioned to take advantage of behavioral targeting without a doubt was once-mighty Yahoo!. The wealth of services the company offers is surely staggering; the company can ascertain what stocks you are considering, what content is in your e-mails, what sports teams you track, and much more."
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Monday, February 18, 2008
Virtual Blight & The Ten Commandments For Online Marketers
Among the most powerful trends of the last three years has been the emergence of community-social-media-social-networking sites with large user bases and incredible traffic. The traffic enjoyed by these successful virtual communities creates financial incentives for bad actors who want to hijack traffic for their own purposes. The open participation inherent in user generated content provides numerous opportunities for the parasitic marketer.
Exploits can take the form of spam posts, sock puppetry, trust fraud and scams that use social engineering to take advantage of the good faith users. The exploit may also be by way of paid advertising that promote illicit or illegal activities (porn, pills, casinos, and payday lenders) or ads that insert malware on users' computers. These anti-social and sometimes criminal activities are generally carried out despite the wishes of the site owners and community residents.
In the physical world, spam, scams and unsavory promotions have parallels: billboards, liquor stores and payday lenders on every street, and prostitutes and hustlers on every corner. These are the telltale signs of urban blight in a community and left unchecked lead to abandoned and neglected property and a spiral of decay. Urban blight creates flight; anyone who can afford to leaves.
From Internet Marketing
Sunday, February 17, 2008
The price is free, but no offline availability
The free suite of online applications from Google offers an alternative to the Microsoft universe and its Office productivity suite.
Adding some computers to the small business workplace entails making them useful for employees, while keeping the time to get people up to speed on them to a minimum. Google Apps may be helpful here.
In one swoop, a small business can add email, voice/text chat, word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and a calendar to the enterprise. All for free, with support options and extra tools available for an annual per-user rate.
As long as the Internet connection stays up, Google Apps fulfills its role for computer users. What Google has not done is make an offline version of the service that would suit the roles of mobile workers like salespeople.
Help for that should be coming soon. "It's something we're actively working on solving," Google's Matt Glotzbach said in USA Today.
The short learning curve for Google Apps should please its adopters. For those looking for a richer feature set in a free set of productivity applications, small business people can choose traditional offline suites like OpenOffice or the relaunched Lotus Symphony for document needs.
From Internet Marketing
Small Business Administration has developed a new search engine for small business owners.
Users can search for information from state and local government Web sites, as well as federal Web sites, from a single search box. If a business owner types in a specific location, such as the name of a city and state the results returned will be for that geographic location. The new service improves general search services by providing results specific to doing business in a particular area.
"These new search offerings make it easier for businesses to learn about doing business in specific localities," said Nancy Sternberg, program manager of the Business Gateway Initiative.
"Try it yourself: Go to www.business.gov and find the box in the upper right that says 'Try Our New Search Engine' and click 'Read More About Search.' On the next page, type in 'business license,' type the name of your city, and see the results," said Sternberg.
Doing a brief test the search engine returned solid results. It will save time for small business owners while providing useful information.
From Internet marketing
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Newest Newspaper Ad Network Attempt Raises Same Old Questions - ClickZ
The newspaper industry is starting to look like the boy who cried "network." In the latest addition to a string of ad network related reports over the past couple years, Gannett Co., Hearst Corporation, Tribune Company, and The New York Times Company have launched a network dubbed quadrantOne. The goal, as it always has been, is to grab more national ad dollars from large brands.
In light of ongoing print revenue losses and previous stalled or failed attempts to create a network encompassing most local newspaper sites, quadrantOne Interim CEO Dana Hayes stressed the new entity's "well-funded startup" status, and hinted at more non-owner partners to come.
From Internet Marketing
Friday, February 15, 2008
Google To Test Video Ads With Search Results -- Google -- InformationWeek
Starting next week, advertisers will be given the option of running video links under the traditional text advertising that runs alongside search results. The new links would be a box with a plus sign next to the words "watch video." When the box is clicked, a window would drop down with the video playing inside.
A Google spokesman said the new offering is a test and would only be used with a "small percentage" of searches. "The vast majority of users probably won't see this," he said.
From Online Annonsering
Internet Marketing
AdWords – Conversion Optimizer
Google announced an expansion of the Conversion Optimizer bid management feature. The Conversion Optimizer is a new feature that allows advertisers to meet their ROI objectives by automatically managing their cost-per-click (CPC) bids according to a maximum cost-per-acquisition (CPA) goal. The AdWords system makes adjustments with the aim of keeping the cost of each conversion below the specified maximum CPA bid, showing ads when conversions are most likely to occur. Advertisers can save time while achieving more conversions and a lower CPA.
"The Conversion Optimizer is a great new bidding option for Steve Madden, as it's both time and cost-efficient in helping us manage our online advertising budget to meet specific ROI goals," said Frank Siano, internet marketing manager at Steve Madden. "Now that our bids are adjusted automatically, advertising with AdWords is even simpler than before. And because our ads only appear when they're likely to convert into sales, we've seen very high results, such as increasing our daily conversions by 60 percent."
Advertisers whose campaigns have enabled AdWords Conversion Tracking and accrued at least 200 conversions in the past 30 days will be eligible to use the Conversion Optimizer. The Conversion Optimizer is ideal for advertisers and agencies who want to manage their advertising costs around clear, defined conversion goals.
By using this free feature, advertisers gain more precision and greater control over their advertising budgets. It allows them to simultaneously increase ROI, receive more conversions and save time by automating the bidding process. Ads using the Conversion Optimizer participate in the standard ad auction and are able to show on both Google’s search and content networks.
To learn more about the Conversion Optimizer, which is now available to qualified advertisers worldwide, visit.
Thursday, February 14, 2008
AdWords + Video: Video Ads Come To Google Search Results
We've been expecting them -- now they've arrived, video ads on Google. Google Tests Video Ads on Search Results Pages from the New York Times has confirmation from Google that they are out there, though I haven't seen anyone reporting them live and in the wild yet.
Google has always had a love-hate relationship with advertising. Its power and wealth come from the $16 billion a year of advertising that it sells. Yet on its most important pages, the results from its Web search engine, it has limited ads to nothing more garish than a dozen words of text.
That is about to change. On Thursday, Google started testing video ads on some pages of search results. And it is developing ad formats with images, interactive maps and other more elaborate features.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Hitwise Intelligence - Robin Goad - UK: What happens if your site gets 'blacklisted' by Google?
What happens if your site gets 'blacklisted' by Google? from Hitwise illustrates how dramatic a Google penalty can be to a company's success.
Hitwise collected search data and upstream traffic for searches for 'car insurance.' The search term saw a 31% increase in share of searches by the week ending 29th December. Around January 26th, GoCompare dropped to page seven from the number one results. Hitwise captured the traffic loss for the site. The number one position, at that time, was "capturing 17.49% of the all search traffic from the term." GoCompare saw a 87% decrease in traffic for that search term due to the Google penalty.
From Online Annonsering
Having earlier told Microsoft no, now Yahoo has explained to its shareholders why it declined to be purchased. The full letter can be found here. Below, some highlights.
• Yahoo's board is "continuously evaluating all of Yahoo!'s strategic options"
• Yahoo is has a "unique combination of strengths," including a strong brand, many popular online services, a leader in display advertising, a leader in search advertising, mobile and online video.
• Yahoo plans to grow key properties by 15 percent per year, over the next several years.
• Yahoo is working to make itself a "must buy" for advertisers.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Monday, February 11, 2008
Not So Crazy: Yahoo May Partner With AOL To Escape Microsoft
Wondering what's next after the news that Yahoo apparently plans to reject Microsoft's takeover offer? The Times Of London reports Yahoo will restart merger talks with AOL. Below, more about the news along with some back history on AOL in search and why a Yahoo-AOL partnership might indeed be a compelling way to convince Yahoo shareholders to resist Microsoft.
From Internet Marketing
Saturday, February 09, 2008
WSJ: Yahoo Plans To Reject Microsoft's Offer
The Wall Street Journal is reporting today that Yahoo plans to reject Microsoft's offer as insufficient:
Yahoo's board determined that the $31 per share offer "massively undervalues" Yahoo, the person said. It also doesn't account for the risks Yahoo would be taking by entering into an agreement that might be overturned by regulators. The board plans to send a letter to Microsoft on Monday, spelling out its position.
From Internet Marketing CMS
Friday, February 08, 2008
Microhoo At One Week 1: Decision Nears? Yahoo Brand To Survive?
Has it only been a week since Microsoft thought it was a nice day for a Yahoo wedding? Indeed, so. And what's happened since? Rumors that Yahoo is nearing a decision, while Microsoft's Steve Ballmer seems to want to encourage his potential new employees that a Yahoo brand will survive. Let's do the news.
From Our CMS System
Thursday, February 07, 2008
Daily blogging 'best for SEO'
While blogging can be a useful way of adding to a website's search engine optimisation (SEO), it is vital the diary is regularly updated, an expert has explained.
An SEO programmer with optimisation company Just Search has highlighted the importance of adding regular new content, ideally around one post a day.
From Internet Marketing
Tuesday, February 05, 2008
A Bad Month For SEO's Reputation
We seem to be going through another wave "SEOs are scumbags" incidents, and I find myself with little energy to push back against them with yet another defense of the industry. It's not that SEO doesn't deserve better treatment. It's just that I feel anything I could say, I've said before -- as have others as well. But below, a round-up of some of the latest developments, including a podcast defense of SEO that I did after Jeremy "Shoemoney" Schoemaker gave SEO some slams.
On January 7, Tech 'Solutions' Your Small Biz Can't Use from Gene Marks in BusinessWeek is what I'd say was the start of the current round. Marks wrote:
Search Engine Optimization
You mean for $5,000 I can get my company's name on the very top of Google's search results? Where do I sign? Many business owners have been fooled by the allure of search engine optimization [SEO] -- and I'm one of them. I forked over a bunch of dough to a firm in California that promised to get my company's name on "all the major search engines" when someone was looking for products that we sell. How did they plan to do this? I'm still not really sure, but it had something to do with spiders, black hats, and link farms. That should've been enough of a hint that witchcraft was involved. After a brief flirtation with page 47 of MSN's search results, I gave up. SEO probably does the job for companies with oodles of money, but not for the typical small business.
From Free SEO Tools
Microsoft Corp. today unveiled a series of next-generation digital advertising technologies at its fourth annual Demo Fest, an event that showcases some of the leading-edge technologies in development by Microsoft adCenter Labs
The following seven demos were shown at today's event:
Air Wave. This technology creates a "fourth screen" experience beyond
the TV, PC and mobile phone to enable advertisers to engage consumers
outside of the home in public places such as an airport or a shopping
mall.
Contextual Ads for Video. Through speech recognition, this technology
enables ads to be dynamically served based on the content discussed in
the video.
Intelligent Bug Ads. This technology balances the interests of
advertisers and the target audience by locating nonintrusive frames in
a video in which to place ads.
Visual Product Browsing. This tool uses computer vision algorithms to
browse and categorize images as a human might, without the need for
manual data tagging.
Content Analysis Engine. This technology uses advanced algorithms to
automatically extract and categorize information from search queries
and Web page contents to better understand user intent and minimize
search engine marketing complexity.
Content Detection in Sub-documents. This technology identifies
sensitive or unsuitable content such as pornography, weapons or
negative sentiments that advertisers would not likely want to be
associated with, and automatically blocks contextual ads related to
that content.
Ad Research Dashboard. The dashboard builds on the success of the
Keyword Services Platform (KSP) introduced at Demo Fest last year.
From Internet Marketing and online Annonsering
Search Illustrated: Building A Company With Social Media
So much discussion in the SEO community today centers around social media because of its potential to drive traffic, increase awareness, and build links. The challenge of this new medium, though, is to marry social media tactics with real business goals.
From Make a RSS feed
Monday, February 04, 2008
Yahoo may consider Google alliance, source says
Yahoo management is considering revisiting talks it held with Google several months ago on an alliance as an alternative to Microsoft's bid, that source said. At $31 a share, Yahoo believes the bid undervalues the company, two sources said.
A second source close to Yahoo said it had received a procession of preliminary contacts by media, technology, telephone and financial companies. But the source said they were unaware whether any alternative bid was in the offing.
In a memo to Yahoo employees on Friday, which was obtained by Reuters on Sunday, Yahoo leaders wrote: "We want to emphasize that absolutely no decisions have been made -- and, despite what some people have tried to suggest, there's certainly no integration process underway."
From Internet Advertising and Marketing Articles
Sunday, February 03, 2008
Official Google Blog: Yahoo! and the future of the Internet
Google blasted the Microsoft bid for Yahoo on the official Google Blog this afternoon. SVP Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, characterized Microsoft's proposed acquisition as a "hostile bid" that threatened the underlying principles of the Internet: "openness and innovation."
Google then went nuclear, dropping the "A-bomb" -- invoking anti-trust concerns and citing as evidence Microsoft's "unfair practices" and "legacy of serious legal and regulatorty offenses" in the Netscape browser wars.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Microsoft plus Yahoo! Strategic Assets in Email
So much of the chatter around Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Yahoo! revolves around competition with Google in the online advertising market. While that is a huge market, one that Google now dominates, and one that Microsoft has a jones for, that's a very narrow way to view the combination. And for Microsoft, it could be a fatal mistake to take the battle to Google on its own ground. That's the very mistake that companies like Netscape made in competing with Microsoft.
Remember that the key advantage in Web 2.0 applications comes from data assets built via network effects (and then ultimately, the ability to monetize those data assets). Thinking that way changes the calculus of this deal. Where is the high ground for Microsoft plus Yahoo!? I don't think it's in the combined advertising heft, despite the fact that advertising is currently the bulk of the monetization value
From Internet Marketing
AdSense Earnings Down? | WebProNews
A small poll at Search Engine Roundtable (43 participants as of this writing) shows just over half reporting a decrease in AdSense earnings, the other half reporting that things are on the level or increasing.
It's hard to say that's a representative sample with just 40 respondents, but it does match a bit with the reports at Webmaster World: some are losing, some aren't.
Many plausible explanations have been proffered without any real, thorough site examinations, as no URLs have been given by those complaining. The center of conversation though, has been around Google's "smart pricing," and whether that is the cause of lower returns on ad clicks.
-------------------------------------------
Anyone who claims to have his/her Adsense increase in the last 90 days either 1. isn't paying attention, 2. is deliberately misleading others or 3. just opened his account and started with zero.
Sad truth is that, on or about November 15th of 2007, practically all publishers saw a large drop when Google made it so that the only clickable part of the Adsense banner is either the hyperlinked title or the URL itself. Prior to that, the entire banner was a big juicy hot spot. For practically all publishers, that alone caused a huge income droppage. Big G called it a safety measure to prevent accidental clicks. Ok, whatever. Go argue with that.
Next came this smart pricing concept on or about the same time. Clicks that previously brought in significantly more now pay only $0.05-$0.10 -- if you are lucky. Sure some categories still pay a little more, but practically all took a beating.
Take a moment and think about this from Google's point of view, though. With the previously higher payouts, they got publishers to use their product in droves, they established themselves as the de facto place for companies to allocate advertising dollars, and they kicked the corporate tushies of MSN and Yahoo. Great strategy.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Saturday, February 02, 2008
reportonbusiness.com: Microsoft, Yahoo would create advertising titan
If the blockbuster takeover of Yahoo Inc. by Microsoft Corp. is allowed to proceed, the combined company could rival Google Inc. for clout in the advertising world.
Though Google holds the undisputed crown in terms of online advertising, Yahoo and Microsoft would together form the biggest challenge to its dominance over Internet ad dollars since the industry began to explode over the past decade.
While Google focuses on connecting marketers with audiences through its online search terms, Yahoo and Microsoft's MSN portal represent mass audiences.
Like Google, people make the sites a default Internet address on millions of computers around the world.
From Online Annonsering
Microsoft clearly smelt blood in the water in the Yahoo! deal with the recent poor earnings, the lagging stock price, and the announcement that it was laying off employees added up to an all out attack.
Everyone on the sideline seems to be very excited about possible Yahoo and Microsoft merger, but I’m not so sure it’s going to turn out pretty. Microsoft has a history of making acquisitions, and few comes to mind of anywhere close to a success. The recent exception being Bungie, and only because Microsoft left them alone.
But what does it mean, how can this work?
Take a look and see for yourself
From Internet marketing
Friday, February 01, 2008
Microsoft Makes $45 Billion Bid To Buy Yahoo
Posting fast -- news just in that Microsoft is to bid $31 per share to Yahoo's board of directors to purchase the company. Release below. I'll update this post with analysis in a bit, and we'll have a separate post linked from this when the conference call starts.
From Internet Marketing
Google Revenues Up 51 Percent, Social Networking Monetization "Disappointing"
Google posted Q4, 2007 revenues that represented 51 percent growth vs. 2006. Quarterly revenues were $4.83 billion, compared with $3.21 billion a year ago. However, earnings and revenue per share fell short of analyst consensus estimates. The headline that everyone is repeating is that social network monetization is not performing as well as hoped by Google (interpreted chiefly as MySpace traffic).
From Online Annonsering
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Report: Click Fraud Up 15% In 2007
Click Forensics, the company that maintains the Click Fraud Index, a network that monitors and reports on data gathered from more than 4,000 online advertisers and their agencies, has released its most recent quarterly report on click fraud.
The company found that the overall industry average click fraud rate rose to 16.6 percent for Q4 2007. That’s up from the 14.2 percent click fraud rate for the same quarter in 2006, and 16.2 percent for Q3 2007.
From Online annonsering and Internet Marketing
Google News Blog: We want to hear from you!
Google News Creates Feature Request Form
Lots and lots of people use Google News. Yet extremely few use one of its major features, the expert comments section. Now, perhaps as a way of ensuring that the next news-related update is better received, Google is asking for users' suggestions.
Like the recently launched Suggest a feature for Google Checkout, the Suggest a feature for Google News form isn't blank - a list of ideas from which users can choose is provided. There's also an "I have another idea" space, if you feel like thinking a bit outside the box.
From Internet Marketing
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Google Universal Search: 2008 Edition
Google launched Universal Search six month's ago, and its method of blending results from its own various topically-focused or "vertical" search engines. Since that time, the system has evolved. In particular, Google Universal Search now fills more than just 10 spots on the page, while shopping and blog search results are among new resources being included. Below, a look at these and related changes.
The Big Picture: Comparative Ranking & Blending
With Universal Search, Google promised that two major things would happen:
* Comparative Ranking
* Blending
Before Universal Search, Google gave a list of 10 web search results -- the best 10 selected by measuring those pages against all the web pages in the Google index of billions. Separately, Google decided if other information should be added to the search results page using different mechanisms.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Google Experimenting New Search Views
Google started promoting their Experimental Search product more actively last week. This week, theyre making the formal announcement of new views in Experimental Search"with a familiar-sounding rationale. Now, Experimental Search isnt new news"and neither is a search interface thats not just a list of 10 blue links.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Ad nauseam - Jan. 28, 2008
It wasn't long ago that it dawned on media experts that information technology - and in particular the Internet - would profoundly transform the business of advertising. Here was a new medium that could not only tell you when someone was looking at your ad but also indicate what that someone was interested in. How could old media's gray columns of classifieds compete with that?
Now it's dawning on me that advertising is in turn profoundly transforming IT. Google was the first company to really cash in on so-called targeted advertising. And thanks to Google's breathtaking revenue growth and market valuation, the rest of the IT industry - especially the venture capital machinery that creates new companies in Silicon Valley - now sees advertising as the key to "monetizing" IT innovations.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
SEOmoz | Choosing the Right CMS Platform for Your Website (from an SEO perspective)
I'm starting a new site and have no idea what I should do for software. Do I need to use a content management system, and if so, how do I make sure it's SEO-friendly?
The Answer: It depends...
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Sunday, January 27, 2008
Google to kill Domain Tasting
confidential informant says Google will stop monetizing all domains if they are less then five days old. This potential new policy change by Google could stop all Domain Tasting in its tracks. The Add Grace Period (AGP) is a time period when registrars can delete a domain at no cost, but in this time frame a registrant could register millions of these temporary domains and place Google Adsense for Domains on them. The result is the ability to produce millions of temporary websites that literally generate millions of dollars in income per week for Google. It was disclosed in court that one partner that Google had was generating as much as $3 million dollars a month from the practice and that was after Google’s revenue share. Oversee.net and other companies have been using this practice for years and it will have a direct impact on them. The gravy train of free money might be coming to a halt very fast. This policy change at Google should be announced to the channel partners soon and it will have a huge echoing impact on the Industry.
From Internet Marketing and Online annonsering
Saturday, January 26, 2008
When is Usability More Important than SEO?
Stoney DeGeyter has written over at Search Engine Guide that not every client needs SEO. Sometimes the usability needs to be tackled first. Using an analogy, he explains that your website is like a restaurant. If the restaurant isn't accessible, people might not hang around. He drives the point home with:
By fixing usability issues you can sell more while without having to spend a lot of money always trying to bring in a lot of new traffic. A little goes a long way. Once you are able to increase your conversion rates, every dollar you spend on marketing and SEO will be more effective and have a much bigger impact on your profit margins.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Taking The Fear Factor Out Of Paid Search For Small Businesses
Many SMBs with limited budgets run paid campaigns with great success. Small campaigns with a few long-tail, niche keywords may bring all the traffic you want. There is no rule that says you have to have a large campaign and whopping budget for PPC to work for you. The engines will encourage you to spend more, but the ultimate decision about the right amount of traffic and the extent of your budget lies with you.
From Internet Marketing PPC
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
SEOmoz | Advice for Startup CEOs
Particularly in the world of web startups, an all-consuming need to have information has been a boon. It means that I'm not only ahead of the curve in seeing trends or being able to blog about what's coming, but also that I've helped to make SEOmoz a source for those seeking to learn more. It's also a positive for when the press comes calling and needs a comment on the latest algorithm change or vertical search inclusion at Google.
From Online Annonsering
Monday, January 21, 2008
Official Google Mobile Blog: Videos and Pictures from the Google Mobile Team at Macworld
Pitting Apple against Blackberry, AT&T will offer a corporate plan for iPhone users, Engadget reported today.
The iPhone Google AT&T alliance made news at MacWorld with the launch of new Google apps and features for the iPhone.
From Internet Marketing
Welcome To The Local Search Jungle
Welcome to the jungle. As the first column from the Yellow Pages Association and the local search Guide, it is very exciting to join the Locals Only forum with some of the most notable local search contributors in the industry. Representing more than 150 Yellow Pages publishers, we are looking forward to sharing the internet Yellow Pages perspective—from research to challenges—on the jungle we all know as local search.
From Our CMS system
Sunday, January 20, 2008
SEO Newsletter - FEATURE: 2008: The Year in Preview
We all see it coming, and it will seriously impact consumers and businesses, thus slowing the spend on broad online marketing activities. This upcoming recession will be the biggest news of 2008 and will encourage serious growth in the number of online consumers in the coming year. Companies that can get online early and support international audiences will have an advantage, especially those that have developed SEO to displace PPC expenditures. Comparative price shopping and saving time and gas will be the rule and not the exception.
From Our CMS System
Saturday, January 19, 2008
Online Ads Hit $50 Billion By 2011; Local Reaches $9B By 2012; Pre-Roll, Embeds Gain In '08 - Forbes.com
Internet Marketing and CMS
Friday, January 18, 2008
Advertising: Now a Conversation
None of this is to say that traditional one-way advertising—say, the kind you find on TV or in print publications and even banner ads on a Web page—can't play an important role in communicating with customers. At its best, the mission of the marketer is the creation of meaning. Taking a common product and imbuing it with the aspiration of adventure, achievement, or beauty was one of the amazing feats of the 20th century.
From Content Managemet
Thursday, January 17, 2008
Searchable Social Media and Adding to the Global Conversation [SearchEngineWatch]
From Internet Marketing
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Google Directory Update Showing "Real" PR Scores?
From Internet Marketing
Sunday, January 13, 2008
Google Hacking Not Fun For You | WebProNews
"You want Google to index your site and make you visible and searchable," said Pingdom, an uptime monitoring firm. "Google can also index more sensitive information that was never meant to be public, and can therefore be a useful tool for hackers if they want to probe your site for vulnerabilities."
Online crimes mirror offline crimes, in that criminals look for the easiest way into a place. We've heard most burglaries happen where the criminals come in the front door.
Leaving username/password files, even if they are encrypted, available for public search isn't much better than putting a key under the doormat and hoping for the best. People who do this, in the view of the Google Hacking Database, are "googledorks, inept or foolish people as revealed by Google."
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Thursday, January 10, 2008
TV Is Dead, Long Live Distributed Video
From Website Optimization
Wednesday, January 09, 2008
What's the truth behind green marketing?
The New York Times has this report today, noting that consumers are bombarded with green-sounding offers at every turn, from Volkswagen, Bank of America, Dell, Continental Airlines and others. Even events like the Super Bowl and Academy Awards have claimed carbon neutrality.
From Internet Marketing
Tuesday, January 08, 2008
Microsoft Offers $1.2 Billion For Norwegian Search Company [SearchEngineWatch]
They may not have Google's market share but Microsoft does not seem to be stopping its acquisition of more properties in the search space, having offered $1.2 billion for Norwegian company, Fast Search and Transfer, according to the New York Times.
The Olso-based company "is a specialist in search technology used inside companies and government agencies to cull for information in documents, databases and software applications. Its software helps teams of workers quickly search the corporate storehouse of information for answers about procurement, marketing, manufacturing and product design," the NYTimes.com reported.
From Online Annonsering and Internet Marketing
Monday, January 07, 2008
Search Wikia: Not Even A Remote Threat To Google
For now, though, Search Wikia is essentially useless as a search engine. What makes it interesting are some of the ideas and approaches that the service is exploring. I'll not bother bashing the search results that even Search Wikia itself admits are poor. Instead, I'll take a look at some of the problems and issues with the current state of web search today that Search Wikia is attempting to address.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
What Does 2008 Have In Store For Local?
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Googler's Bet Goobles On Predictive Markets During Their Free Lunch
From Website Optimization and Søkemotor Optimalisering
Web Worker Daily » Archive So Much To Read So Little Time «
In a syndication world we are often overwhelmed with information. It is incredible that information once far away has been brought near, but we need to find some order for the chaos. There are a few ways that I’ve learned to manage my reading material to be digested in an organized manner.
From Internet Marketing
Sunday, January 06, 2008
Enterprise RSS: Open Social Developers Journal - Show Me the Money
So how does anyone make money in the OpenSocial world? We’ll be chatting more about the business perspective for this in an upcoming webinar, but let’s just focus on the developer’s side for a moment here. Advertisements stand out as the clearest path to dollars in most scenarios. What does it take to include advertisements in an OpenSocial Gadget?
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Whatever is in store for us in the year ahead, RSS as an infrastructure technology is achieving critical mass. In the blogosphere we take for granted the omnipresence of RSS but the vast majority of the market is still untapped and ripe for disruption.
From RSS How To
Saturday, January 05, 2008
PC World - The 25 Most Innovative Products of the Year
Make no mistake, the Web is taking over. Applications are moving to browsers en masse, and technology to take Web apps offline promises to smooth the road ahead. And let's not forget breakthrough devices advancing the Web-anywhere world.
From Internet Marketing
Friday, January 04, 2008
Googlebot In Aisle Three: How Google Plans to Index the World?
New Search Engine Trends, Old SEO Troubles in 2007 - Search Engine Watch
From Website Optimization and Søkemotor Optimalisering
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
The companies have married Samsung’s LCD digital signage display technology with Reactrix’ immersive interactive technology to create an entirely new form of advertising that compels consumers to engage in an unforgettable “hands-on” experience. The technology will engage consumers, technology buffs and advertisers alike, allowing them to literally immerse themselves in an ad. Reactrix’ strategic alliance with Samsung further strengthens its brand-to-consumer offerings and solidifies its position as the leading innovator in interactive, digital out-of-home advertising.
As traditional forms of advertising become more fragmented and less effective at maintaining the attention of consumers, Reactrix’ new-age interactive signage technology provides a compelling way for leading brands to enhance their global images. Unlike competitive offerings, the Reactrix and Samsung solution, available exclusively on Samsung’s large-format-display 570DX products, features configurable levels of interactivity that are heightened as a consumer moves closer to the display.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Google The Stealth Social Network?
Google's plan to socialize its various applications continues. Google Operating System has spotted code in Gmail that may lead to a Facebook-style news feed of status updates from your Gmail contacts. More about this and Google's continued 'stealth social network' moves below.
Back in September, Google launched a friends update feature on Orkut. Activity Streams & Other Social Nuggets From Leaked Google Video covers this plus how Google is working to create "activity streams" for all of its products, as a way to make them more social and akin to Facebook.
From Internet Marketing and Online Annonsering
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Google in search to sell its advertising to newspapers - Times Online
AFTER colonising cyberspace, Google is going into the newspaper business. The search engine giant is in talks with several newspaper publishers to sell space in their pages to its online clients.
This expansion will worry bosses of rival media companies, including ITV chairman Michael Grade, who has already called for greater regulation on the fast-growing Google.
Google Print Ads is an extension of Google AdWords, the auction system that lets companies bid for a slot that appears alongside specific online word searches.
Instead of an auction, advertisers pick a newspaper online through Google and enter a bid for available advertising space on a given page and day.
From Free SEO Tools
Friday, December 28, 2007
Comparing Search Popularity Ratings Services: June To Nov. 2007
Search Engine Land have now compiled the latest search popularity stats from Nielsen, comScore, Hitwise and Compete. That means it's time to put them all together, to see what a 'panel' of ratings services agree on -- and don't agree on -- in terms of search engine popularity.
From Website Optimization
Nielsen Online: Nov. 2007 Search Search Sees Google On Top
It's search popularity stats time, now that the figures are in from all the major ratings services. I'm starting off with those from Nielsen Online, the former Nielsen NetRatings. For November 2007, they show the usual picture -- Google leading the pack, followed by Yahoo and Microsoft.
You'll find the press release here (PDF format), showing the top ten most popular services. Here are the top five:
- Google: 57.7%
- Yahoo: 17.9%
- Microsoft: 12.0%
- AOL: 4.5%
- Ask: 2.7%
Thursday, December 27, 2007
2007: The Year in RSS - ReadWriteWeb
This past year was a big one for RSS. RSS, or Really Simple Syndication, was the backbone of all early developments in the new era of the internet. It made blogs readable, podcasts subscribable, wikis trackable and search persistent. While explicit, knowing adoption of RSS is often said to be dismal ('it's too complicated, it's just more info overload' etc.) - I think we may be underestimating the extent of adoption
From RSS How To
By Odd J. Vik
Why Blog? Better Listings On Google
• Blogs are updated frequently and visited often by Search Engines
• Blogs gain PageRank quickly
• Blogs easily acquire an abundance of inbound links
• Blogs are content-rich and topic-focused
• Blogs can attract an intensely loyal readership
• Blogs Establish Credibility and Trust
Running an online business on the cold, anonymous and impersonal internet is a real challenge to the entrepreneur. How can you persuade your website visitors to take out their credit cards and buy from you? How do you gain their trust and build credibility in their eyes? The answer is Blogs.
When you blog, you allow visitors, prospects, and customers who read your blog a chance to know you, to interact with you. It’s a chance for you to build a relationship, and to establish credibility and trust with your visitors, subscribers and potential customers. As we’ve mentioned before in our articles – the most important asset in your business is Credibility and Trust!
What makes blogs different from other websites?
There are a few important ways that blogs differ from traditional web pages. First, blogs are designed to be frequently and easily updated. Creating a new blog post usually involves nothing more than entering some text into a form and clicking Submit. No HTML or programming skills are required.
This is great from a search engine point of view because search engines love frequently updated pages. If a search engine finds that your page is being updated every day, it’ll return to re-index your page every day to ensure that it always has the most recent copy of your site.
What’s a
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Year in review: Apple and Google, telecom's new stars | CNET News.com
It was Apple and Google--not the traditional phone companies AT&T and Verizon Communications--that took center stage in the telephony market in 2007.
In January, Apple announced the iPhone and named AT&T its exclusive carrier in the U.S. For almost six months, anticipation and hype surrounding the iPhone grew into a frenzy until the June 30 launch.
With an innovative touch screen that allows people to shrink and magnify Web pages with the pinch of their fingers, the iPhone has set the bar for future mobile devices in terms of usability, functionality, and design.
From Internet Marketing
Monday, December 24, 2007
Design News - Microsoft & Viacom Announce Long-Term Digital Content & Advertising Partnership - TAXI Design Network
Viacom Inc. and Microsoft Corp. announced a broad-based, strategic alliance under which major divisions of both companies will collaborate on advertising, content distribution, event promotions and games over the next several years.
The comprehensive agreement spans across the two companies and includes a number of significant components.
From Interent Marketing
Create Content To #drawthecrowds
Create content to #drawthecrowds Content need to be relevant. If you’re looking to (#drawthecrowd) to your site this year, you ...
-
Google AdSense to Be Migrated into Google Analytics A rumor circulating that Google Analytics will soon be adding Google AdSense data to the...
-
Google’s Begun Growing Very Fast - Profy.Com Russian contextual ad network Begun, purchased by Google from Rambler Media, saw a quick uptick...
-
Create content to #drawthecrowds Content need to be relevant. If you’re looking to (#drawthecrowd) to your site this year, you ...