Category: Search Marketing
The Google Voice: Free Speech in Search
Posted by amy on April 24, 2008 at 11:59 AM
"There is no human involvement or manipulation of results, which is why users have come to trust Google as a source of objective information untainted by paid placement." (1) This is what Google's Technology Overview page used to say. Now, this phrase is noticeably missing. (2) Human involvement or not, Google's search results have been recognized as having what seems like a very human right - freedom of speech. From the beginning, Google founders recognized that their search engine was a business and not merely a resource. Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin wrote a paper about the creation...
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Google Stockholders: Selling Class A Shares, Class B Rights
Posted by amy on April 23, 2008 at 01:52 PM
A Monthlong Magnification of Google: the Company, the Technologies, and the Extracurricular Activities We've been talking about Google, their business, their practices and products, and their future, but what we haven't talked about is who is making the big decisions. Google is a multi-billion dollar corporation with thousands of employees, executives, directors and corporate officers - this can't be a three man show. As a publicly traded company, stockholders would expect to have some influence in major business decisions. Taking a look at Google's stock structure and considering all of the questions that our Google series has raised, it seems...
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Google Goes To Washington: Lobbying From A Parking Lot?
Posted by amy on April 22, 2008 at 03:47 PM
A Monthlong Magnification of Google: the Company, the Technologies, and the Extracurricular Activities Well, the Google satellite photo from Google Maps has certainly painted an interesting picture of the Google lobbying efforts. Google, who spent nearly $1.4 million dollars on their lobbying efforts during the second half of 2007 (1), appears to be operating from a white utility van in a Washington, D.C. parking lot - though the picture is a bit hazy. But don't let Google Maps fool you. Google's Washington, D.C. office is the home base for a sophisticated political machine. With a slight adjustment to the coordinates,...
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The Politics of Google, Yahoo and Microsoft: Searching for a Winner in the 2008 Presidential Election
Posted by amy on April 21, 2008 at 02:10 PM
A Monthlong Magnification of Google: the Company, the Technologies, and the Extracurricular Activities With the highly anticipated Pennsylvania primaries taking place tomorrow, it seemed like an appropriate time to take a look at Google's position in the political contest, and how their biggest competitor's compare. Are the faces behind the Google, Yahoo and Microsoft corporations in agreement over who should be the next President of the United States? Which candidate are they supporting? We looked at individual Presidential campaign contributions from 2007 (1) to see how the top three in search were allocating their support for the top three in...
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Examining Google's Plans for Your Medical Records
Posted by amy on April 18, 2008 at 11:08 AM
Google looks to be preparing to patent a system for scanning medical records to serve relevant ads to doctors while they are accessing the patient's medical records.
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Google Still Wins in FCC 700-megahertz Auction: They've Got Your Numbers Now
Posted by amy on April 16, 2008 at 09:15 AM
Our Monthlong Magnification of Google continues with an examination of Google's participation in the FCC Auction of 700-megahertz radio frequencies, and how it relates to a patent the search engine company filed in March of 2006.
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Google Hairspray is Patently Puzzling
Posted by maureen on April 14, 2008 at 03:12 PM
We're continuing our Monthlong Magnification of Google with a look at Google's patents, patent applications, and patent transfers - even the ones that seem a bit absurd.
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Yahoo Tests Google Search Ads: A Search Rivalry
Posted by amy on April 11, 2008 at 03:52 PM
In what has been discussed as an attempt to push Microsoft to raise its bid to purchase Yahoo, Yahoo has agreed to a two-week test of Google's search ads.
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Mapping Google's Stake in 23andMe
Posted by keirsun on April 10, 2008 at 02:44 PM
We continue our Monthlong Magnification of Google with a closer look at Google's investment in 23andMe, a personal DNA mapping service.
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Google's Users are the Real Commodities - Pt. 3
Posted by keirsun on April 07, 2008 at 01:37 PM
If you've been following along, then you already know what user information Google collects with its name-brand services, in addition to the kind of user information collected by Google via services such as YouTube, Picasa, Blogger and Orkut. Today, in Part 3 of our mini-series, we want to throw out the question: What does this mean for the future of Google?
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Google's Users are the Real Commodities - Pt. 2
Posted by amy on April 04, 2008 at 03:17 PM
Information about you and your life is recorded when you choose to use Google-owned sites such as Blogger, Orkut, Picasa and YouTube. Our Monthlong Magnification of Google continues with a look at what information Google collects about you on these popular social media and social networking sites.
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Google Announces Performics Sale
Posted by keirsun on April 03, 2008 at 08:54 AM
Google has announced plans to put Performics up for sale. When the Performics purchase was announced, many online marketers pointed out the obvious conflict of interest in a search engine running its own search engine marketing company.
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Google's Users are the Real Commodities - Pt. 1
Posted by amy on April 02, 2008 at 03:13 PM
Our Monthlong Magnification of Google continues with a rundown of the personal information collected by specific Google products and services.
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Google Knows More about You than Your Spouse Does
Posted by maureen on April 01, 2008 at 10:46 AM
Our Monthlong Magnification of Google begins with a look at what Google may know about you after only 30 minutes on your laptop.
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1 Followed by 100 Zeros
A Monthlong Magnification of Google
Posted by keirsun on April 01, 2008 at 10:16 AM
You use 'Google' as a verb, you're more than familiar with YouTube and, on more than one occasion, Google Maps have been your compass. You know all about Google, right? Well, Google is really much more than search and social—and it's the 'more' part that is the interesting and revealing part about Google.
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A Monthlong Magnification of Google" »
Transparency Takes Center Stage in SEM
Posted by luke on March 28, 2008 at 09:22 AM
Nowadays, advertisers and online marketers have the ability to draw deeper conclusions and make well-informed decisions based on an array of campaign metrics. 'How am I doing?' is no longer a simple one word answer.
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Google To Prohibit Bidding On Competitor Names?
Posted by vern on March 25, 2008 at 11:41 AM
You may have noticed a recent addition to the organic search results in Google when searching on a brand name or brand URL. A search for www.bestbuy.com serves as a great example. See the search box in the organic listing labeled Best Buy? The button next to the search box invites me to "Search bestbuy.com". The addition of this search box has created quite a stir in the eCommerce community. Working through a likely search scenario demonstrates the cause for concern. Say I'm in the market for a battery for my HP laptop. I shop Best Buy often and I...
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Google's Demographic Bidding - New Features from the Advertising Giant
Posted by mike k on March 24, 2008 at 10:27 AM
Two short months after announcing the demographic bidding beta, Google has announced that the feature is now ready for prime time and open to the public at large. Here is how Google explains the new feature: What is demographic bidding? It's a feature that helps you target your ads to users of a particular age group (such as ages 18-24), by gender, or to combinations of those groups. You can use demographic bidding whether you are using contextual or placement targeting and with both CPC and CPM bidding. You can refine your reach based on users' gender and age on...
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The Tortoise Didn't Win the AdWords Quality Score Race
Posted by rod on March 21, 2008 at 08:12 AM
As we set sail into the future of PPC marketing, there is a new determinate of AdWords quality score seen on the horizon. Google has confirmed that a landing page's load time will aid in determining a quality score.
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Google Japan Uses Tabs, Plays Catch-Up to Yahoo! Japan
Posted by drew on March 20, 2008 at 08:06 AM
A new Google Japan homepage was released yesterday with tabs to popular Google features, such as Image Search, YouTube, Picasa, Blogger, and more. This seems to be a step in a different direction from Universal Search by dividing the content before the user even searches.
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Sports Illustrated's Vault Rekindles Ghosts of March Madness' Past
Posted by andrew on March 19, 2008 at 08:13 AM
On Thursday, Sports Illustrated launches The Vault, a new section of SI.com that will contain a full archive of every article the magazine has ever published, in a fully-searchable database. Mining the archives is a great way for any publication that existed in the pre-Internet era to increase content, relevance and, therefore, search traffic.
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Power to the Plural?
Posted by nick on March 14, 2008 at 08:22 AM
When it comes time to choose which keywords you wish to target for your latest search engine optimization project, you may want to stop and consider how the use of plural verses singular terms will impact search traffic.
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Google Snags SEO Services & SEMPO Seat in DoubleClick Deal
Posted by keirsun on March 12, 2008 at 11:28 AM
It's official. Google has acquired DoubleClick, a digital marketing company, for $3.1 billion. In the process of this acquisition, Google has also become the proud owner of its very own SEO/SEM company: DoubleClick Performics.
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Paid Search: Follow The Money - Oneupweb's Newest White Paper
Posted by adam on March 10, 2008 at 07:58 AM
Oneupweb's new white paper details the growth of Paid Search Marketing and its impact on marketing budgets, compares the major PPC outlets, examines why Paid Search should be a part of an integrated marketing plan, and much more.
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Memo to Hillary and Barack: YouTube Is a Two-Headed Beast
Posted by bill on March 07, 2008 at 08:47 AM
The true winner in the political online media wars are the social networking communities. The official Barack Obama website includes links to 16 different networks, Hillary Clinton lists six and John McCain has none, unless you count his own McCainSpace community of supporters.
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Search Marketing Standard - Welcomed Paper in a Paperless World
Posted by duncan on March 06, 2008 at 08:30 AM
Today I would like to do a quick review of the print, yes print, magazine called Search Marketing Standard. I recently received the Spring 2008 edition in my snail mailbox.
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The Natural Balance of Things
Posted by geoff on March 03, 2008 at 11:03 AM
If you find yourself in a predicament with your PPC campaign where you are limited by either cost, conversion rates, or traffic, it's probably time to find balance, the Natural way.
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Google's Automatic Matching - Money Grab or Useful PPC Tool?
Posted by mike k on February 29, 2008 at 08:05 AM
Earlier this week Google sent out notice to a select group of AdWords advertisers that they had been selected to participate in an upcoming beta for a feature called Automatic Matching. We'll explore the specifics.
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The Google-ization of Yahoo! Continues
Posted by vern on February 28, 2008 at 07:54 AM
Yahoo! announces a change in its minimum bid policy for sponsored search keywords. We look at the pros and cons of the new policy.
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Microsoft Announces Engagement Mapping
Posted by erin a on February 26, 2008 at 08:03 AM
Watch out Sergey and Larry, Microsoft has a few more tricks up its sleeve. Microsoft plans to roll out the Beta version of Engagement Mapping on March 1st.
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SEO Haiku
Posted by samantha on February 25, 2008 at 09:33 AM
In the world of SEO, whether you're a Natural SEO Project Manager, a Paid Project Manager, or a Software Developer, creativity is a vital element. Today we present you with something a little creative and different: SEO Haiku.
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The Complete SEO Package
Posted by steve on February 21, 2008 at 12:09 PM
Are you currently running a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) campaign for your website? If so, whether that campaign is run in-house or by an external vendor, you are likely familiar with some of the aspects that are a part of optimizing your site for the search engines. What you may not be familiar with, however, are all of the aspects necessary to achieve optimal search engine rankings. And there are a lot of them. Google's algorithm uses hundreds of different signals to determine the relevancy of your site pages. Some of the factors that determine page relevancy are certainly more...
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Oneupweb Launches new Paid Search Survival Guide
Posted by alex on February 21, 2008 at 08:51 AM
The new Oneupweb Paid Search Survival Guide helps online marketers become more familiar with the language and the real "need to know" information before starting a PPC campaign.
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Dear Jerry Yang...
Posted by josh on February 20, 2008 at 09:00 AM
On a daily basis we're inundated with predictions, theories and hypotheses as to the fate of Yahoo!. Everyone has a right to their opinion they're happy to weigh in with slightly less certainty than we'd expect from a Magic Eight Ball. The only common theme among these forecasts seems to be that the acquisition by Microsoft is a forgone conclusion.
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CALL 1-800-GOOOGLE TODAY!!!!!!!
Posted by andrew on February 19, 2008 at 09:10 AM
Google has rolled out, on a limited basis, video ads within AdWords search results. As always happens when a new feature is rolled out, there has been backlash. It is easy to get upset or frustrated or annoyed, but, really, let's take the measured approach.
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We say Tomayto, You Say Tomahto: When Keywords Don't Mesh with Client Messaging
Posted by sarah on February 18, 2008 at 09:14 AM
One of the first obstacles SEOs can run into is when keywords don't mesh with client messaging. We look at what happens when you can't use the descriptive words on your website that searchers use.
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Who Won/Sang/Wore What? Grammy Fashion, Winners & Other Questions Answered Online
Posted by teal on February 11, 2008 at 01:58 PM
To test post-award-show coverage of Grammy performances, winners, fashion and more, I tested a few keywords in Google, relating to some of the most important aspects of the Grammys.
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Google: Vote No on Political Attack Ads!
Posted by leah on February 08, 2008 at 11:16 AM
Being free from the He Said, She Said of political advertising is a breath of fresh air, but at what cost? Should Google Adwords set such restrictions when it can ultimately lead to serious gray areas?
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Why I Shouldn't Write about Microsoft's Attempted Takeover of Yahoo!
Posted by Christopher on February 07, 2008 at 11:37 AM
Everyone is talking about Microsoft's attempted takeover of Yahoo! This move, says Google, threatens the innovation that's made Yahoo! such a great competitor. What!?!?! In search?
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Running Successful PPC Campaigns: Attracting The Right Click
Posted by ellen on February 05, 2008 at 08:16 AM
Creating and refining successful PPC campaigns requires the ability to think and act like the average web surfer. It requires taking time to understand your ideal customer as well as the wrong visitor. It's worth the effort to figure out how to attract the former and dissuade the latter.
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"It's All Relevant" - Revisited
Posted by vern on February 04, 2008 at 09:41 AM
The old saying that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link certainly applies to paid search initiatives. We examine a few examples of irrelevant PPC ads to help identify how to maximize relevancy along the paid search chain.
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The Inevitable Alliance: Microsoft & Yahoo!
Posted by drew on February 01, 2008 at 09:26 AM
Most of us knew this day would come. And today Microsoft made an offer to buy Yahoo! for $44.6 billion.
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Life After Google
Posted by josh on January 31, 2008 at 12:34 PM
Lately there's been a rash of Hollywood movies, television specials and documentaries concerning the fate of the human race. We speculate on the demise of the most powerful business entity the world has ever known: Google.
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Super Bowl - Bust Or Buzz?
Posted by anne on January 30, 2008 at 10:32 AM
Are Super Bowl XLI advertisers getting the biggest bang for their buzz? We preview a couple of the upcoming commercials, examine the difficulty of getting millions of viewers to remember a brand, and compare Super Bowl advertising to other, less expensive marketing initiatives.
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ROI: Not Just Data on a Spreadsheet
Posted by luke on January 28, 2008 at 09:03 AM
Many marketers still find difficulty in measuring the actual impact their online marketing initiatives have on overall sales. We have a few tips for using ROI data to identify opportunity, move forward and continue to grow.
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Taking TV Advertising Online - The Super Bowl Challenge
Posted by chip on January 25, 2008 at 09:00 AM
More companies are doing a better job of tying offline campaigns into a variety of different online efforts. But will advertisers participating in the largest television advertising event of the year have their Super Bowl ads supported online?
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Democratic Debate - Capitalizing on Heated Exchanges
Posted by steve on January 22, 2008 at 01:07 PM
This is the third installment of our ongoing series about the evolving 2008 Presidential Campaign and how it's being waged online. This time we'll be talking about capitalizing on news events, such as the presidential debates.
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The Reports of Google's Death Are Greatly Exaggerated
Posted by andrew on January 21, 2008 at 11:30 AM
Bad news from The Googleplex this weekend. Search share is down. Down. Not down by a lot. But down.
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Google's Quality Score Failures
Posted by adam on January 16, 2008 at 08:54 AM
How much has the introduction of landing page quality score improved the user experience of Google's paid search network? We explore a couple sites that don't appear to be making the grade.
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Lessons from National Geographic - Make Your Website a Resource
Posted by geoff on January 11, 2008 at 01:02 PM
This weekend The National Geographic Society will celebrate its 120th anniversary. We'll examine the many elements that have led to its longevity and how they can be translated to making a website a valuable resource as well.
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Improving Internal Link Structure on E-Commerce Sites
Posted by teal on January 10, 2008 at 04:49 PM
Ever since I entered the SEO industry, it has become increasingly impossible for me to look at a website without analyzing - even on a top level - its optimization and structure.
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Paid Search Marketing Price Fixing
Posted by dave on January 09, 2008 at 02:09 PM
Can search marketers keep the big 3 search engines from raising pay-per-click prices? Today we explore the notion of paid search marketing price fixing.
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Wikia Search - The Next "Google Killer"?
Posted by sarah on January 07, 2008 at 12:58 PM
Wikia Search has just released the alpha version of its open source search engine. Learn how you can affect its search results.
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Winning the Social Media Super Bowl: A Showdown of Colts, Cowboys, Packers & Patriots
Posted by amy on January 03, 2008 at 02:30 PM
The countdown to Super Bowl XLII has begun. So, which Super Bowl contender is offering fans the most online? We find out in our Social Media Super Bowl.
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Kick-Start the New Year with Site Usability Testing
Posted by tim on January 02, 2008 at 11:05 AM
As the calendar flips to 2008, here in the U.S. we're seeing the end to the holiday season. That means we are back to full speed ahead on all of our plans for the New Year as everyone gets back to the office, recharged and renewed after another festive time. The first part of the New Year though is also a time to look back on the holiday season online, especially for e-retailers. Given all the estimates and reports, 2007 was a huge season for retailers online. With the flurry of orders and all the holiday chaos settling down though,...
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Coasting Into January
Posted by matt on December 28, 2007 at 02:46 PM
Ah, the week between Christmas and New Years - most of us have started (or already have been) coasting into January. It's that magical week of the year when it's okay that productivity grinds to a halt while we all gather at home (ours or relatives') to bake cookies, watch football and practice Guitar Hero 3. Well, amid all of this "coasting" comScore released their November U.S. Search Engine Rankings. Riveting, isn't it? On the surface, no. Total searches declined from October by about five percent; Google's share of searches increased by two tenths of a percent while Yahoo lost...
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Corporate Christmas Eve
Posted by on December 21, 2007 at 08:04 AM
Today is Corporate Christmas Eve. A day to wrap up a week of zoning out because our extended family is en route; a day to remove the soggy lunches from the break room refrigerators that were ignored due to the week-long potluck; a day to reflect upon the good times you would have had with your holiday bonus check had you not purchased a boat in June. It is important that while we are rushing about, in-and-out of stores and websites, that we take time to acknowledge the blessings that have been placed upon us. The fact that you are...
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Capitalizing on Local Directories
Posted by steve on December 20, 2007 at 11:31 AM
As an important and increasingly popular source of business information, local online directories provide businesses with an opportunity to further expand their presence, message and offerings throughout the Web. To help ensure you are capitalizing on another avenue of potential revenue generation, here are a few questions that you should be asking yourself: Is your business currently listed in local directories? Although you may not have submitted your business to directories such as Google Local, Yahoo Local, Live Maps or Ask City (as well as others), that doesn't mean that it's not listed. These directories pull information from a variety...
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Google's Knol - Attack of a Clone
Posted by mike k on December 18, 2007 at 02:58 PM
This past week Google announced its Project Knol. We take a closer look at Knol, which appears to be another clone of Wikipedia's user-generated knowledge database.
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The Beginning of the End
Posted by vern on December 17, 2007 at 04:26 PM
The end of the online holiday shopping season is coming. Learn how two paid search marketing factors can impact the end of the online Christmas season.
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Google's Online Marketing Challenge
Posted by andrew on December 14, 2007 at 11:53 AM
Previously here, we've criticized the lack of education related to Search Engine Marketing. There are myriad reasons that this is the case, of course, including the relative newness (still) of the industry, its constantly-evolving strategies, and the unending stream of new technology. This doesn't translate well to the world of 80-dollar textbooks. So Google has done what Google does - they've taken this matter into their own ever-expanding hands. Announced yesterday, the Google Online Marketing Challenge will have the dual effect of introducing students to paid search marketing and, down the line, adding a thin layer to Google's already well-lined...
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PPC Automation: Robots vs Humans
Posted by drew on December 12, 2007 at 02:21 PM
There is buzz in the PPC industry that automation is more effective than having an individual manage your paid search campaigns. But automations can lead to one very big downside: lack of personalized management.
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McCain Buys Hillary. Mitt Buys A Bunch. Others By Stand.
Posted by bill on December 11, 2007 at 12:45 PM
The is the second in our ongoing series about the evolving 2008 Presidential Campaign as it's being waged online. This time we'll be talking about paid search.
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AskEraser Wipes the Search Slate Clean
Posted by keirsun on December 11, 2007 at 09:41 AM
As of this morning, Ask.com is making it amazingly simple for its users to search anonymously. The new feature is called AskEraser.
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Google, Subdomains & Subdirectories, Oh My!
Posted by teal on December 10, 2007 at 10:54 AM
In the past week or so, there has been significant chatter online about Google's stance on subdomains. Learn how Google is changing how it handles subdomains for some search queries.
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John Lennon, Dimebag Darrell, and SEO
Posted by geoff on December 07, 2007 at 08:35 AM
In addition to being an SEO, I am also a musician. Because of this, December 8th carries a great deal of significance to me: it was the date that two of my biggest influences were slain. Both John Lennon and Dimebag Darrell Abbot (Pantera, Damageplan) not only created timeless music that helped define rock and roll, pushing it into uncharted territory, they did it with different, yet admirable approaches that I try to bring to SEO every day. John Lennon's Vision "The thing the sixties did was to show us the possibilities and the responsibility that we all had. It...
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Down With Homepage Impostors!
Posted by sarah on December 05, 2007 at 11:33 AM
The homepage is the most important page on your website. This is true for both search engines as well as users. So have you checked your site lately to make sure that all of your links home are really pointing to your homepage?
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PageRank - Getting to the Heart of the Matter
Posted by Christopher on December 04, 2007 at 01:15 PM
Google's PageRank, like Alexa, has long been a questionable indicator of a site's actual "rank." Supposedly based on both the number and quality of incoming links, plus some secret sauce that's never been completely demystified (go figure), the accuracy of PageRank* is called into question by anomalies/"rule breakers" and updates that are sporadic at best. I defy anyone to go into any SEO forum and find a thread discussing PageRank in which all the participants agree. That said, there was still a collective "what the hell?!?!?!" and "uh-oh!!!!" when Google rolled out its latest PageRank update and people, especially those...
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Online Shopping | Baby It's Cold Outside!
Posted by ellen on December 03, 2007 at 05:13 PM
Online shopping has gotten a lot of buzz lately so I decided it would be fun to see how the average 45-year-old Joe would handle an online shopping assignment. So, I gave my husband, Rick, a project: Find something that will enable my 80-year-old mom to enjoy email To make it a little more interesting, I also gave him three rules: No branded terms Must use Google Must choose from PPC ads And so it commenced: I once heard of a machine that enabled non-computer users to enjoy email. Finding something like this was Rick's assignment: "I'm going to BestBuy,"...
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Saving The World At Google?
Posted by vern on November 30, 2007 at 01:27 PM
Recently it seems that Google is operating under a new mandate. Time was that "Do No Evil" was the corporate mantra, guiding their every move. Two highly publicized initiatives take this philosophy a step further. The Google phone promises to reduce competition and deliver a better cell phone experience. The Google energy project hopes to make electric power generation cheaper than coal, benefiting all of mankind; not just those with cell phones. What's behind this new "Go Forth And Do Good", save the planet attitude in Mountain View? Are these initiatives really altruistic in nature? Or designed to expand the...
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Our Ad-Supported World
Posted by matt on November 29, 2007 at 11:38 AM
In the race to hold on to market share, Yahoo continues to expand its ad network holdings. Today ClickZ reported that a deal has been struck between Adobe and Yahoo which will allow publishers the ability to monetize their PDF content with contextually relevant advertising. A goal of the beta program is to better quantify the scale of the marketplace. A handful of prominent publishers have already signed on, agreeing to serve Yahoo content network ads in their PDF-based content. All of this begs a couple of questions, though. First, is there a limit to ad supported media and/or software?...
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Marketing Consistency Across the Board
Posted by luke on November 28, 2007 at 03:12 PM
It's more than apparent how easily a lack of communication can hurt campaign performance. More often than not, this lack of communication points back toward setting initial campaign goals throughout all marketing channels.
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How Not to Track Holiday Shoppers
Posted by steve on November 27, 2007 at 12:23 PM
This holiday season, make sure you're tracking your site visitors in a search engine friendly manner. Learn why using URL tracking parameters can bring about detrimental duplicate content issues.
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Cyber Monday: Is Your Online Store Ready?
Posted by teal on November 26, 2007 at 11:50 AM
In November 2005, Shop.org coined the phrase Cyber Monday to help create buzz around the sales increases online retailers were experiencing the Monday after Thanksgiving. Is your website ready for this year's holiday rush?
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Black Friday, Cyber Monday & The Holiday Retail Sales Forecast:
Posted by chip on November 23, 2007 at 01:18 PM
Well Black Friday is upon us again, and retailers everywhere are pulling out all the stops in order to ensure a successful holiday shopping season. Whether you prefer to chase the black Friday door buster deals, braving the crazed masses that are bold enough to sacrifice a good night's sleep to fight the crowds for the deal of the year, or you prefer to do your shopping online in the comforts of your home - one thing you can count on is that your buying behavior is being watched with great anticipation. In an attempt to predict the holiday shopping...
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Microsoft's New Search Marketing Plan: 10, 20, 30, 40, fantasy?
Posted by mike k on November 21, 2007 at 02:04 PM
Microsoft's new search marketing plan: 10, 20, 30, 40, fantasy? Microsoft’s plans to be 'one of the top two' in web advertising within the next 3-5 years.
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3 Reasons to Love Email Marketing
Posted by carly on November 19, 2007 at 09:40 AM
There are two sides of the fence when it comes to email marketing. In the next six paragraphs I will give a few simple tips that will convert you into an email marketing super-fan.
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Content is King
Posted by alex on November 15, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Being a writer, I was absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to work for Oneupweb and break into an up and coming industry while still getting to do one thing that I am passionate about: writing. However, my writing skills have been put to the test. Don't get me wrong I am always up for a challenge, and I knew that developing solid copy was part of the job description. I just didn’t know how important it actually was. I have learned that if you don’t have content on your site that displays relevancy, usability, and also targets the audience...
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Is Google Really Evil? A Second Opinion
Posted by on November 14, 2007 at 02:20 PM
Why is Google so unstoppable, you Ask? Because internet users said, "Mahalo" to user-centric services, leaving the other Yahoos staring out their Windows in contemplation. Everyone in our industry has an opinion about Google, but the unavoidable truth is that everything Google touches skyrockets in value because they pass the value on to us in the form of ad-supported, web-based programs. Companies under Google’s steamroller are either wising up to the paradigm shift or finding flexibility hard on the bottom line. Either way, they all wish they would have thought of it first. Before you mistake this for a Google...
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No, SEO is Not Evil
Posted by andrew on November 13, 2007 at 04:28 PM
It was a sunny late-fall Sunday, and it was off for dim sum with a friend of mine and his good friend. Shortly before our arrival, we got the call letting us know that two extras would be coming along. "Oh, man," my friend, who had met the additions previously, said. "These people... when you see them, you just know they’re boring." As a scruffy-bearded, hooded-sweatshirt wearing slacker, I’m in no position to judge anyone. But we arrived, and it was apparent - immediately - just how right my friend was. Right before my eyes, two scruffy-bearded, hooded-sweatshirt wearing slackers,...
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E-Commerce PPC Campaign Metrics
Posted by adam on November 12, 2007 at 02:37 PM
The cornerstone of every highly successful e-commerce PPC campaign is maintaining synchronization between the PPC campaign components. See a real-world example of how mistakes can affect your PPC performance.
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The 2008 Presidential Race Online & Personal
Posted by bill on November 08, 2007 at 01:22 PM
Change of plans. In my last blog post I said Oneupweb will soon release, via our website, our new study about the 2008 Presidential race and how it's being fought online. Instead, I'll be introducing it in updated installments in my regular blog posts.
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Search Engine Marketer - 2007 Holiday Party Novelty
Posted by ellen on November 05, 2007 at 01:05 PM
The search engine marketer has quickly become a novelty at holiday parties. Here's how one online marketer responds to those inevitable questions, pre-holiday party season.
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Does Your Website Deserve to Succeed?
Posted by sarah on November 01, 2007 at 12:42 PM
Recently, I was asked to name the top three online marketing trends that marketers may want to start testing in the first quarter of 2008. As I sat down and started to ponder possible answers, I realized that there was a much more pressing issue at hand, namely that most marketers don't do nearly enough testing of anything at all in the first place. This is unacceptable. Here we are with all of these analytics tools, and instead, I see so many websites that keep slugging along with the same terrible conversion paths, the same unusable shopping carts, the same...
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AOL - Time Warner’s Do-Not-Track List Project
Posted by adam on October 31, 2007 at 03:51 PM
Do-not-track lists don't prevent advertising networks from serving advertising to you while you surf the internet like do-not-call lists do for your phone line. Instead, opting out will ensure advertising will not be served based on the tracking of a surfer’s web behavior.
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Grinch Lives In Shopping Comparison Engines
Posted by vern on October 30, 2007 at 03:25 PM
Three shopping engines notified us that they are raising their rates by up to 25% for the holiday shopping season. This practice discriminates against smaller advertisers who have limited marketing budgets.
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Support Indie Search, While You Still Can
Posted by chip on October 26, 2007 at 02:58 PM
One of my all time favorite search engines, WiseNut, has closed up shop - and it went with what I would consider to be less than a whimper.
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Suffering from Search Fatigue?
Posted by Christopher on October 24, 2007 at 04:06 PM
Danny Sullivan's Search Engine Land recently highlighted a recent report issued by Autobytel that measured 1,001 U.S. adults and their interactions with search engines when searching for, specifically, automobiles. I'll spare you the details (but do read the article and report), but the results show that "72.3 percent of Americans" experience "search engine fatigue" when researching online, and more than three quarters of those folks "always, usually, or sometimes" get up and leave without ever finding the object of their search. While that's a somewhat alarming statistic, the more shocking discovery was that a significant group of these people expressed...
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Maintaining Your Current CMS & Search Engine Presence
Posted by steve on October 23, 2007 at 12:13 PM
Is your site currently utilizing a Content Management System? If so, please continue reading - maintaining your current search engine presence may depend on it.
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It's Almost Winter: Time to Search for a Shrink
Posted by on October 22, 2007 at 03:11 PM
Psychiatrists in Northern Michigan need a friendlier web presence; if you're a psychiatrist, you might think about relocating to Traverse City.
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But Where are the People, Man?
Posted by tim on October 19, 2007 at 01:08 PM
I recently returned from this year's New Media Expo in Southern California. Well, it feels like recently, but I guess the show wrapped almost a month ago now. It's fitting though, because that kind of pace seems to just about fit perfectly with the world of new media that we're seeing right now. Meeting with people at the show and just hearing about some of the ideas floating around, it's obvious that as the barriers to access keep getting lower and lower for people to live life in a mixed media world, the potential for excellent, creative content is basically...
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You Know Where You Can Stick Your Keywords?
Posted by alex on October 18, 2007 at 04:00 PM
Right out of college I took a job at a newspaper. I signed on with full anticipation of using my English writing degree and fine tuned writing skills to move to the editorial department. Instead, I moved into advertising. I immediately enjoyed creating ads for local businesses, and figuring out which section of the paper that specific company would fit into best. I worked at the paper a little over a year, but decided it was time to move on. I was hired at Oneupweb in September, the opportunity to write and learn gleaming in my near future. Needless to...
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The 2008 Presidential Race Online & Personal - A Preface
Posted by bill on October 17, 2007 at 08:58 AM
Oneupweb will soon put out the first installment of what will be an in-depth, ongoing look at the 2008 Presidential race and how it's being fought online.
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Putting Mahalo to the Test
Posted by andrew on October 16, 2007 at 01:48 PM
With four months under its belt, we decide to put Mahalo, the human-guided search engine, to the test.
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comScore Reports 61 Billion Searches in August
Posted by duncan on October 11, 2007 at 09:42 AM
Today I want to thank comScore (via CNNMoney.com) for posting some incredible looking numbers regarding search activities on the Internet. I invite you to take a moment to head over to the article I read for more insight into comScore's methodology: 61 Billion Searches Conducted Worldwide in August. You just have to be impressed by some of these numbers. I mean wow. There were at least 61,000,000,000 searches in one month! That's a lot of zeros. Clearly people are relying more and more on the Internet to help guide them to everything from health information, to finding new friends, to...
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Warning! Paid Links Sold Here
Posted by teal on October 10, 2007 at 02:52 PM
Months of debate have preceded (and surely will follow) the recent article by Danny Sullivan, "Official: Selling Paid Links Can Hurt Your PageRank Or Rankings On Google" at Search Engine Land. Since April, conversations of whether selling paid links will get your site penalized in Google have been brewing. Well, according to Danny's article, selling links can cause your site to drop in Page Rank or in Google's search results. From his article, Danny states, [In the past,] if spotted, in most cases all Google would do is prevent links from a site or pages in a site from passing...
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Don't Click Here - The Ultimate Anchor Text Link
Posted by sarah on October 08, 2007 at 12:47 PM
Marketing Sherpa just came out with an interesting report which found that a simple word change in a hyperlink can raise conversions by 8.53%. Of the three scenarios presented, "Click to Continue" resulted in the highest increase in conversions (over "Continue to Article" or "Read More"). This article piqued my interest for a number of reasons, the first of which is that while it centers on the intricacies of anchor text from a conversion standpoint, it fails to take into account certain SEO components. As an SEO professional, I cringe when I see any of the above instances, used in...
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Online Marketing Success: Accelerate Your Online Marketing Flywheel
Posted by ellen on October 03, 2007 at 02:25 PM
In a recent blog post, Rand from SEOMoz did a company evaluation through the lens of the book "Good to Great". Let's use this same technique to examine the acceleration of an online marketing flywheel. Through the lens of "egoless clarity," review the 6 components below: 1. Does The Project Have Level 5 Leadership? Level 5 Leadership is largely defined by 2 primary characteristics: Personal Humility: Realistic about knowledge gaps, understands he/she must sometimes rely on others to successfully execute SEO recommendations. Professional Will: Has determined that a successful online marketing campaign is important (if not urgent) for the organization;...
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Three Reasons Why Wikipedia Matters to SEO
Posted by geoff on October 02, 2007 at 07:45 AM
Wikipedia. It's that elephant in the living room. Actually, it's more like that elephant perched at the top of the SERPs for just about any topic under the sun. The bane of existence for many an SEO, Wikipedia doesn't just take the number one spot, it digs a moat around that spot, too. And it's not likely to change soon. So what are you going to do about it? The way I see it, you have two choices: sit and grump about it, or join them. Here, then, are three ways to use Wikipedia to help you or your clients...
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Why Oh Why Aren't We Positioning???
Posted by sarah on October 01, 2007 at 02:51 PM
I know how you feel. There's this one keyword that no matter what you do, you can't seem to position on it. Or even worse- perhaps there's an entire niche or subject that try as hard as you can, your site is just nowhere to be found. Why? You're working hard. Your site deserves a chance. It has relevant content (or so you think). So what are you doing wrong? Well, here are five big things you might want to take a look at: 1. Title Tags Are you making full use of title tags on your site? Titles should...
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Halo 3, Facebook & Live Search – Is Microsoft Winning the PR Battle Against Google?
Posted by vern on September 27, 2007 at 04:54 PM
Is it just me or does it seem that business and tech news has been "all Microsoft, all the time" lately. The release of Halo 3 created a firestorm of press coverage. It’s being hailed as the biggest entertainment release in history, besting the debut of Spiderman 3. Add to that the stir created by the expected investment in Facebook and the just announced TV networking device for Windows Media Center. Sure, the GM strike, especially here in Michigan, grabbed a few headlines. But, labor negotiations can’t compete with the juicy tech buzz that Microsoft has created. I almost feel...
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Searching for Positions: The Fall TV Season is Here
Posted by samantha on September 26, 2007 at 04:52 PM
It's that time of year again – the fall TV season, which brings with it the return of our favorite TV shows, along with the appearance of some new ones. Actors, writers, producers and networks are all hoping that their shows will achieve success. I don't know about you, but I can certainly see some parallels with the fall TV season and the world of search. Let's embark on a journey to a parallel universe, where the fall TV lineup and search engine marketing share many similarities... The Importance of Positions & Ratings In the world of search and the...
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Subscription-Based Web Content - A Dying Practice
Posted by steve on September 25, 2007 at 11:15 AM
Last week, The New York Times announced that it will no longer be charging visitors to access parts of its media site, NYTimes.com. This previously-blocked content, published specifically for TimesSelect subscribers, is now open to all readers. This announcement comes exactly two years after the decision was made to create the TimesSelect program and make portions of the site's content subscription-based only. Why the change? After all, the goals of TimesSelect were met. The program drew 227,000 subscribers and generated $10 million in revenue a year over the past two years. The problem, though, is that these goals were low...
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Powerset - A Worthy Adversary for Google?
Posted by luke on September 24, 2007 at 12:23 PM
Backed by an impressive roster of investors and a licensing relationship with Palo Alto Research Center, Powerset has ambitions to change the way we search online. How exactly do the people behind Powerset plan to do this you ask? It’s simple; by building a natural language search engine with the ability to read and understand every sentence on the web. The truth is this will not be simple at all. Beyond the initial challenge of indexing the entire web, the Powerset search engine will require users to shift their search behavior away from the two to three keyword queries to...
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Notre Dame, Michigan State and Universal Search
Posted by maureen on September 21, 2007 at 11:27 AM
Hello. My name is Maureen and I married a Michigan State fan. I'm not quite sure how it happened. My family brought me up the way any good, Irish Catholic family living near South Bend, Indiana would - with bedtime stories of Knute Rockne, the Gipper and the four horsemen. Saturdays in the fall were reserved for family time, which was carried out in front of our television crying or cheering on Rocket Ismail, the Bettis and those lucky enough to be coached by the great Lou Holtz. Notre Dame was in our blood and, win or lose, we always...
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Fantasy Football Injury Reports from Google
Posted by duncan on September 19, 2007 at 09:16 AM
The fantasy football season is here. Did you know you can use some of Google's advanced search tools to quickly dig out injury reports?
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Compassion For The Knowledge Gapped: A Call To Action
Posted by ellen on September 14, 2007 at 01:29 PM
I am knowledge-gapped. I was telling my son, Cam about the recent news that MySpace was allowing profiles to be delivered in search results. His mock look of interest and "Hmm...Wow...Really?...No!" as he "participated" in the conversation made me finally blurt out: "Hey! I think I know a thing or two about the internet! I work for a search engine marketing firm, after all!" "Well," he calmly countered, "maybe it's the way you constantly mix up 'MySpace' with 'Facebook' that bugs me." He then launched into a perfect parody of me, trying to "casually mention" the recent Facebook change. He...
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CSE Optimization: 5 Steps for Success with Comparison Shoppers
Posted by adam on September 13, 2007 at 02:11 PM
Tips on how to attain success on the major Comparison Shopping Engines.
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The Content Network: A Poor Man's Portal to Social Networks
Posted by on September 11, 2007 at 01:39 PM
My mother always told me, "When I was your age, we didn't have 100 channels on our television or Super Nintendos to play Tecmo Bowl all night instead of doing your homework. Stop playing Marble Madness on the Tandy 1000 and let's watch In Living Color." Where have the good ol' days gone, you ask? We have consumed them. We indulge ourselves in the newest music, movies, websites and technologies at a dizzying rate and then discard all of it for what is even newer; the newest of these crazes being social networks. Every day, there are new articles depicting...
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Coming Full Circle
Posted by denise on September 10, 2007 at 01:53 PM
I worked 25 years as an Assembly Production Supervisor and thought I would retire doing so. Then one day, out of the blue, we were told the company was closing its doors. 500 people were to find jobs. What a shock to all to have our lives turned upside down, and have no say, no discussion. It was a done deal. I wasn't sure what I was going to do. All I knew was I wanted to work in a safe place with real people that wouldn't just up and leave. Well I feel like I fell into a pot...
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Money, Money, Money - Controversy over Paid Links
Posted by sarah on September 07, 2007 at 11:26 AM
Unless you've been hiding under a rock these past few months, anyone who keeps up in the world of SEO will know that there is a huge debate going on about paid links. What is Google's Threat? Buying links in order to improve a site's ranking is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results. Google's threat is that unless Webmasters take steps to properly identify their paid links, their site could be penalized. Let me get this straight: the quote above seems to insinuate that it is the link SELLER, not...
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I Paid My Money and Now I Is A Certified Professional
Posted by bill on September 05, 2007 at 02:02 PM
What has my head spinning are the oversold SEO and SEM certification programs now being offered by various groups, gurus, training sites and trade organizations. For little more than $100 you can be certified as an SEO/SEM professional.
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The News is Google News
Posted by tim on September 04, 2007 at 01:08 PM
In what has to be considered almost a master stroke of timing, Google, on Friday, announced an almost seismic shift in the way it will deal in news content. Moving forward, Google will now directly host content from four major news sources: the Press Association of Britain, Canadian Press, the Associated Press, and Agence France-Presse. The AP is probably the biggest of these, but I find the Agence France-Presse the most interesting. In the not so very distant past, this very news organization brought suit against Google for using its content and pictures without permission. I suppose it's a convenient...
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Customer Service Lessons from Microsoft
Posted by jak on August 31, 2007 at 12:02 PM
As a system administrator, I am not in the middle of SEO/SEM land for the most part, but I have come up with a blog topic that does relate to all of us: Customer Service. I have been working in the computer industry for about 10 years now, and the one thing that seems pretty consistent is the fact that customer service has pretty much gone out the window. My latest experience is with Microsoft. We recently implemented software from Microsoft that should have made it much easier to manage our customer contact information. For this purpose we moved from...
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Pontiac G6 Image Search - A Search Engine Challenge
Posted by duncan on August 30, 2007 at 08:53 AM
I set out last night to put the image search functions of Yahoo, Google, MSN's Live Search, and Ask to a challenge. Which engine would give me the best experience? This is a blog entry on purely subjective like or dislike. Part of my goal was to pay attention to my immediate reactions once each search engine returned its image search results. All I needed was a keyword phrase to type in to start my challenge. As a normal evening goes at my house, it wasn't long before something came up that needed to be searched. The search topic revealed...
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Google Campaign Optimizer No Substitute for Experience
Posted by matt on August 29, 2007 at 09:59 AM
Google rolls out its Campaign Optimizer tool to help fine-tune AdWords campaigns. But is this PPC management tool helping or hindering?
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Google Webmaster Tools Supports non-English Domain Names
Posted by steve on August 28, 2007 at 01:22 PM
Google announces that Webmaster Tools is now allowing for the submission of non-English domains.
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Optimize for Google Universal - Images
Posted by geoff on August 27, 2007 at 08:23 AM
In the final blog post in our series of optimizing for Google Universal Search, we talk about image optimization.
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Ask.com Should Buy Microsoft
Posted by vern on August 24, 2007 at 04:35 PM
I’m sure you’ve seen the recent TV spots for Ask.com. The latest round of ads certainly has my colleagues and I scratching our heads. Just what are they trying to accomplish? Sure any publicity is good publicity, but racing barstools? C’mon. Shift gears to Microsoft (sorry, no pun intended) and the increased focus on their search offering. I’ve seen TV, print and online banner ads - tastefully done, not terrifically compelling, but clever enough. Enough of the B2C marketing these two companies are doing to generate public traffic on their search engines. Let’s talk about customer service and follow through...
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Paid Search: Class of '87
Posted by on August 23, 2007 at 04:07 PM
I recently happened upon a blog from an SEM peer who attended his 20-year high school reunion. As he described his occupation to his former classmates, none of them understood the intricacies of search marketing, nor could they really grasp its overall significance. A few classmates even accused him of spamming them. I just think he’s really old. Normally, after reading a post like this, I would have spent the day making smart-aleck references to events in 1987, like how I was eight years old back then and how he probably strutted around in ripped jeans, meticulously tight-rolled and severely...
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Bad SEM/PPC Advice: Keyword Insertion Creates High Quality Ads
Posted by adam on August 22, 2007 at 04:38 PM
Thinking that keywords are the only piece of PPC strategy that qualifies your audience is a thought every SEM professional should forget. Discover the downfalls of dynamic keyword insertion.
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Branded Keywords are SEM-sational!
Posted by andrew on August 21, 2007 at 10:56 AM
Search engine marketers should never underestimate the value of a well-written PPC ad and the way that paid and organic listings work together.
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Optimize for Google Universal - Video Results
Posted by samantha on August 20, 2007 at 12:00 PM
Welcome to the third installment of our 4-part series on optimizing for Google Universal Search. What's this week's focus? Video.
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Now Hiring Awesome People!
Posted by anne on August 17, 2007 at 04:21 PM
After two years of working with a leading online marketing company, my hiring tactics have changed dramatically. Prior to working with Oneupweb, my career had primarily been in the insurance industry. It was my naïve belief that recruiting insurance professionals would easily be transferred to hiring SEO professionals. I was so wrong. Very early, I learned that SEO folks prefer a slanted and off-beat sense of humor. We don’t really care about dress codes or give much credence to a rigid business hierarchy or fancy titles. Happy employees create better output, which tends to bring more success for everybody involved....
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Broken Links - What's the Big Deal?
Posted by teal on August 16, 2007 at 04:41 PM
Broken links on a website are an indication that a site is not properly maintained and could be telling the engines, "we don't care about the user experience." Broken links can also jeopardize the important internal link popularity. Instead of demonstrating that this destination page is a great resource for insert important keyword here, you are instead sending users and crawlers to a page that no longer exists, exists on someone's desktop, or never did exist. So why are broken links more than just broken links? To help explain how broken links are harmful and why this is a fix...
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The Cash on the Table is Yours – Pick It Up
Posted by carly on August 15, 2007 at 01:16 PM
Certainly not a phrase you’d hear in college. Probably not a phrase you’ll hear ever. Why? Because if you walk by the table, and there’s money on it – you pick it up. You see a dollar on the sidewalk – you pick it up. Andrew Jackson stares longingly at you from the inside of the dryer – you pick him up, fold him up, and put him in your pocket. Finder’s keepers. Right? So what exactly am I talking about? Why am I writing about finding money? Because there are many out there who don’t even realize that the...
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Optimize for Google Universal - Local Results
Posted by sarah on August 13, 2007 at 09:24 AM
In the second part of our 4-part series on how to optimize your site for Google Universal, today we are going to focus on Google Maps and local results. What is Google Maps? Available at maps.google.com, Google Maps allows users to search for local business listings, get driving directions, and more. It's convenient because you can enter in a search term such as "traverse city restaurant", and not only will Google Maps bring up a list of restaurants complete with phone numbers and addresses, but it also maps out their exact locations, like this: Click Image to Enlarge How is...
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Cats, Big Dogs & PPC Management
Posted by Christopher on August 10, 2007 at 03:56 PM
I've worked with a number of clients who have approached us, dejected, with the feeling there's not a level playing field online, especially when it comes to paid search marketing. Let's say you own and operate a fairly large, but regionial, personal electronics chain. Three or four stores. You're facing a ton of competition from big boxes, so you want to expand to sell your products on a national level, to free yourself from the constraints of geography. The way to make this happen is via online marketing. But, dang, there's a whole lot of competition online too. Look at...
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Google Spies Like Us
Posted by chip on August 08, 2007 at 08:57 AM
This week Google announced its Business Referral Program, which pays people for referring businesses to Google's local directory. Now I'll let you explore the details of this program for yourself, but the overall concept involves paying local reps, or Google spies, $10 for every business they successfully refer to Google Local. Now at face value, I can see Google's interest in building up its local directory in order to offer users the most complete local results possible no matter the location. After all, hasn't Google always been about offering users the most complete and relevant search results possible. Why would...
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SEM - A Very Different Elephant
Posted by josh on August 07, 2007 at 04:10 PM
I am a relative newcomer to the world of Search Engine Marketing. Terms like PPC, CTR, CPC and the like were recently nothing more than random letters thrust together for no apparent purpose other than to promote confusion. I thought I knew everything I needed to know about CPA until I found out, in the SEM world, it has nothing to do with accountants. As I began my life as an online marketer I was reminded of a fable I once heard years ago: While traveling through Africa as a young man Jim encountered a lone elephant in the vast...
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Optimize for Google Universal - News Results
Posted by keirsun on August 06, 2007 at 04:21 PM
In an effort to liven up the dog days of summer, we're setting aside the remaining Mondays in August to talk about how to optimize your website for Google Universal. If you are unfamiliar with Google Universal, here's Google's very own explanation: With universal search, we've begun blending results from more than just the web in order to provide the most relevant and useful results possible. In addition to web pages, for instance, the search results may include video, news, images, maps, and books. Today's focus will be optimizing for News. Here's an example of Google News results appearing in...
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New AdWords Reporting – Crucial Keyword Tool
Posted by ellen on August 02, 2007 at 12:12 PM
Google announced this week it has a new reporting tool in the AdWords toolbox. The new AdWords Search Query Performance report displays search queries typed into Google and the ads that were presented for each query. From this, an AdWords marketer can find out all sorts of good info like impressions, clicks, and CTR. Google touts its new tool as valuable because it will help give “insight into how users find and react to your ads” and will help in the following four areas: Select the correct match type Add new keywords Identify and delete existing keywords See how effectively...
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Branding and SEO
Posted by geoff on August 01, 2007 at 09:37 AM
Recently, my lovely and talented coworker, Teal, did a post on SEO and Site Redesign. It offered plenty of useful pointers related to a major identity change that companies commonly go through, and ways to maintain maximum visibility during the makeover. A site redesign, however, is not the only major identity change that companies go through. A company re-branding campaign has the ability to not only change the face of a company online, but in every place where a company interacts with customers. Re-branding can involve new graphic standards, design cues, copy tone, and language usage. It’s that last one...
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PPC Marketers vs. the Death of Creativity
Posted by vern on July 31, 2007 at 12:32 PM
The AMC network has a new show, Mad Men, that showcases life in the Madison Avenue ad agencies of the late 50's and early 60's. This was the center of the universe for marketing innovation and advertising creativity. I was able to catch the first episode of Mad Men and was instantly taken back to the days of chain smoking in the office and the three martini lunch. (How anyone could be productive in that environment after 1pm is beyond me.) What really struck a chord was how Creativity, the light bulb over your head idea-making, determined success or failure....
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SEO Limits - Avoid Washing the Boss's Car
Posted by amy on July 30, 2007 at 11:15 AM
I am lucky enough to be starting my second week working at the one job everyone has applied for in their lives. The one you find and immediately start planning your life around and talking about it like you were already hired because that is the only end you want to imagine. Well, that job is my job now and here I am immersed in a sea of information relating to all things marketing. Now I face the eternal struggle for balance that every new person in the office faces in the first months and weeks of a new job;...
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Bulk up Your Robot: Sitemap Autodiscovery Supported by Major Engines
Posted by teal on July 27, 2007 at 04:10 PM
It's been a long time coming, and while to Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com, Sitemaps Autodiscovery is old news, to MSN it's brand new. About three months after the formation of Sitemaps.org, and three months after Google, Yahoo, and Ask.com began supporting Sitemaps Autodiscovery, MSN's Live Search has finally caught up. According to this short, yet clear Search Engine Roundtable post, some are a bit frustrated at how long we've waited for this. But don't hold your breath; according to this WebmasterWorld thread, it could still be a couple of months before the service is widespread. Interestingly, "msndude" who participated in...
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A Mobile Retail Revolution
Posted by on July 26, 2007 at 02:13 PM
Why spend your time navigating through a crowded mall while searching for your next purchase? Turn to your home computer or mobile phone to search your local shopping mall. Local shopping has gotten easier through an innovative new way to merge the gap between online and in-store shopping. NearbyNow Inc. combines local search with mobile technology to make "shopping centers searchable on the Internet and mobile phones." NearbyNow users are able to search an entire mall’s inventory from the convenience of their living room. Mall rats can even use SMS queries from their mobile devices to find products or sales...
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Search Data Anonymity - Can AskEraser Affect Search Engine Usage?
Posted by steve on July 24, 2007 at 01:30 PM
Yahoo has recently announced that it will join Google, Ask and Microsoft in making search data "anonymous" after a set period of time. Yahoo stated that after 13 months, search data would become anonymous by deleting all cookie ID and IP address information which could be used to link specific searches to users of their engine. The pressure on these major companies to not only make search data anonymous, but to also be more open regarding the types of information attained from users, has been more greatly applied since the "accidental" release of user search data from AOL a year...
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