There are, of course, a few minor differences. The images appear bigger in the Google results and the pictures don’t have borders like they do in Bing, for example. But the similarity between the two is obvious.

This marks the third time in recent months that Google has overtly changed their site to resemble the new guys a bit more. The new sidebar controls released in the May user interface update were obviously inspired by Bing. And the option to add a background image to the search home page was another not-so subtle move. You can see the similarities for the image search results below.

Of course, there are plenty who see this as a sign of weakness from Google. Even more have complaints about the way images are displayed in a light box over the original site, instead of just taking you to the original site. Incidentally, this marks the one billionth re-design in internet history that has elicited over-reactionary cries of panic and doom.

As members of the SEO community, we should be able to recognize the fact that around 60-80% of our traffic comes from Google for many sites. Many of those users have probably never used Bing. Many of those have probably never even heard of Bing. To them, if they ever run across Bing Image Search, they might even view the copycat situation in reverse. The average user simply doesn’t have the same level of opinion on Google or Bing that someone in the SEO field does.

So what does it all mean to a marketer? Well, if you want your company to survive and thrive online, you need a company that can move with the changes and find ways to adapt when these type of re-designs and tweaks occur. Perhaps a company with a relentless drive to maximize every digital marketing opportunity for your business. Just sayin’.

The “Search Alliance” brings together Yahoo! and Microsoft technologies for search results as well as paid search platforms. According to the Search Alliance site, Microsoft will manage the technology platforms for both.

For paid search, each company will retain customer service to different advertisers based on their size. Microsoft will handle the self-serve smaller advertisers, while Yahoo! will support high volume advertisers, SEO and search marketing agencies.

Yesterday, testing began for the delivery of organic and paid search results from Microsoft systems. According to Microsoft, “You may see some increases and regular fluctuations in traffic for your search ads.” Their suggestion during this testing is to “Follow our tips to help you manage your budgets.” This typically means there will be additional cost involved, so make sure you keep a closer eye on your PPC campaigns during this transition period.

The timing of platform integration is set for 2010, however, it is likely not to happen until sometime in 2011 according to a recent Search Alliance update sent from Microsoft:

“Our aim is a high quality transition of advertisers and partners in at least the US prior to the 2010 holiday season. However, we may wait until 2011 if we determine this will be more effective.”

There could be significant changes as a result of this unification of two major search platforms. What are your thoughts? Will this be good for consumers? How about advertisers, how will this affect them? Let us know your thoughts.

According to Scott Bedbury, former CMO of Nike and Starbucks, “Half of the things we as marketers should do for a brand are not predictably quantifiable.” That’s a bold statement in today’s metric driven environment.

The truth is that marketers have become so obsessed and pressured by ROI—it’s the sole determinant on whether or not to move forward with a new idea or marketing initiative. Moreover, we get so focused on optimization until we have things where we want them, and then we focus on simply maintaining them. Over time, this strategy leads to mediocrity in that every new tactic will face the same ROI scrutiny.

So how did ROI take over?

A big reason is the ascent of digital marketing and analytics. We can reach a massive, yet targeted audience and we can measure the return of nearly every penny we spend to reach that audience. The problem is that not every tactic or brand interaction will return an immediate profit, if any.

The fundamentals of marketing have not changed. It’s still about understanding how an audience interacts and then producing innovative strategies and communications to resonate with that audience. While the tools have changed, it’s not the tools themselves that deliver effective marketing; it’s a marketing team not afraid to make a mistake. Marketers can learn from mistakes, and not learning in today’s rapidly changing world is unaffordable.

Your new mission is to find a team that’s not afraid to learn and will not settle for mediocrity. Well, we’re right here.

These extremely powerful planes were practicing for a show in front of thousands of spectators, which I’m grateful for. I appreciate the fact that they were practicing instead of just saying, “Hey guys, let’s just wing it this time.”

No thanks. Please go practice.

Just to see the moves behind the commotion, my family and I went to see the Blue Angels air show this past weekend. While we were most impressed with the maneuvers, we weren’t impressed with the organization of the event. The show was scheduled to start at 1pm, but the Blue Angels didn’t start their portion until after 2pm. There were other planes showing off their skills before the Blue Angels, but the overall sense in our end of the lawn was that the show felt unbalanced. After moments of brilliance, there were long moments of absolutely nothing.

Even in vacation destinations like Traverse City, the pace is fast. We expect instant gratification, booms and aahs at regular intervals. If we expect this at a two hour free event, then what happens when additional costs are incurred?

Groundbreaking News

You aren’t going to feel the ground move or see a whirring of planes when I say that practice makes you better and results are gratifying.  At Oneupweb, we build brands that help organizations reach new levels.  When you work with the team at Oneupweb you’ll meet a group of people who not only love what they do, but are relentless. Whether it is learning about a new algorithm update or finessing a conversion path on a client’s site, we are driven to make impressive results.

What are your thoughts when it comes to learning new tricks and showing them off?

As a nine year industry veteran, I was not overly surprised to hear any of these three conclusions. Online marketing continues to impress as it is the most trackable form of marketing available. At Oneupweb, we consistently hear from clients and prospects that their ratio of online marketing spend is growing year over year. This has been the case even when overall marketing dollars have been cut in these new economic times.

Search is still the king. While organic search optimization and paid search marketing continue to bring nuances in complexity and integration, the two channels continue to deliver value for marketers. Let’s face it, people still use search to discover more about everything in life. Even if purchasing takes place offline, in most cases search preceded the sale.

Social media is being leveraged by more marketers and the trend will continue. Savvy marketers will take advantage of social media’s more organic format of engaging an audience with the hopes that brand advocates will become a new sales force. Social media sites like Facebook are creating real opportunities to leverage paid advertising in areas like display advertising. Social media has the same one-two punch that search has offered for about a decade now.

The big question marketers face is, “How do you put together the right mix of online marketing and advertising?” There are many factors to be weighed in that decision making process. The realities of your marketing budget, your market share position, internal human bandwidth and appetite for risk/testing all come into play as you plan your approach. Some companies may crack the nut internally and others will seek outside council and partnerships. If you fall in the latter camp, we would love to give you a hand. Be sure to give us a holler.

So, Google Tags give you the opportunity to make your site stand out from your competitors. They also allow you to promote a marketing message that could help increase your click-through rate. This all gives you the opportunity to give customers a value add that could result in more business being generated through the online channel.

On the surface, Google Tags sound like a pretty great opportunity for a business to increase its online presence. And for any business that is currently running online campaigns, it also sounds pretty expensive.

However, the cost for this enhanced listing is only $25 a month. No CPC or CPM, just a flat rate of $25. Now, that probably peaked your interest. For only $25 you can differentiate your site from your competitors. That sounds great. Unfortunately, your competitors are thinking the exact same thing. So, when Google rolls out Tags to your area, don’t expect to be the only business that takes advantage of this opportunity.

What do you think of Google Tags? Are you currently using this feature? Are you planning on using it when it becomes available in your area?

5 SEO Tactics That Make You Look Like a Douche

You have to admit it’s pretty brilliant—I mean, who wouldn’t click on a blog post title like that, especially if you’re in the industry?

Composing a killer, yet useful, blog post title is important for many reasons—but, in my opinion, there are three that stand out in rank of importance:

1. It needs to quickly summarize the blog post topic, and this is related as much to SEO as it is for the convenience of the potential reader in deciding whether or not your post topic is of interest to them.
2. It needs to grab enough of the readers’ attention to prompt them to at least scan the first few lines of your post before deciding to read the full content or click away.
3. It needs to convey that the topic is relatable to the reader. In other words, how can the content in this post benefit them, teach them something new, or help them in some way—either personally or professionally?

In Chris’ blog post title, he clearly nails all three:

1. The post topic is clearly stated in the first three words—the reader knows immediately that this is a post about SEO tactics.
2. Just the use of the word “Douche” in a blog post title was enough to capture my attention.
3. The relatability factor in this post title is somewhat of a creative scare tactic. I mean, who wouldn’t want to avoid “looking like a douche”?

Recently Google rolled out some changes to their algorithm and user interface and results started changing quicker than Lady Gaga’s wardrobe (topical!). Maybe I’m just not set in my ways enough yet, but this doesn’t seem like something to panic over. After all, to me part of the attraction of SEO is the constantly evolving nature of search and the web. There’s no lack of challenge in this business, that’s for sure.

With algorithm changes and increasing personalization, it’s been hard to accurately rank positions. I see lots of forum talk and blog posts claiming that Google must be “broken” because a site which was once ranked quite high on the SERPs isn’t in those top results anymore (which causes confusion). Is your site dropping a sign that Google is “broken”, or a sign that you have work to do?

Before coming to Oneupweb, I worked at a company that did a lot of business with the automotive industry. And over the past few years this industry has been hurting. Looking around at my past company and others in the field, there were two attitudes—people that spent their time complaining about the situation, and people who tried to figure out how to win in the new environment. Which ones do you think survived, and even thrived?

As search engines make it harder to report on universal positions, SERPs expand to include more and more information. This causes change in the way people interact with their search, which creates change for the SEO industry. You can fret that Google is “broken”, because it isn’t working the way you expected, or you can learn the new rules.

Fortunately, I’m working with a team that’s committed to success. Sure, it can be tough to keep pace with a landscape that’s always in flux, but we seek challenges and that’s why companies work with us. It’s our job to stay current and we have a strong relentless approach. It’s just like my personal hero Rocky Balboa once mumbled, “It’s not about how hard you get hit—it’s how hard you get hit and keep moving forward.”

Need help with SEO? Be sure to let us know!

As one who works closely with individuals who work hard and care deeply for their families, it causes me to pause and reflect on the word prevention. Last week, our company spent some time focusing on wellness and the importance of preventative care. And we heard that if we really want to enjoy a long-term, quality-of-life journey here on this planet, we have to work at it. We cannot exist in a world where we are exposed to more toxins than we were ten years ago, and not make every attempt to live a lifestyle that defines quality of life.

As we listened to these words (and yes, they did ring true for most of us), I couldn’t help but think about how this same rule applies to companies who don’t pay attention to their own healthy existence online. Often times, they simply just exist and don’t bother to find out about what “supplements” could be added to their site, allowing them a healthier existence! Websites, too, need “preventative” care, and one cannot rely solely on keywords within their content as the only preventative measure in increasing traffic to their site.

A few of the “vitamins” that extend the limbs of your site and allow you to “pump a little iron” consist of social media, mobile marketing and SEO/PPC campaigns. If you don’t have the time to look up and down the aisle for just the right potion to cure your ailing website, check out our new services magazine. We offer an easy, at-at-glance cure for any website pain you may be experiencing. And like any good massage, we can help you release those toxic embedded codes that are simply existing and taking up air space. We like to call it our Vitamin O (I’m sure you can guess why). We guarantee it will boost your immune system, allowing you to weather any forecasting storm. And the recommended daily allowance is tracked by us 24-7. We know our stuff.

Everyone knows that a virus is not restricted to humans; an online virus can impact those sites that don’t take preventative measures. It’s like any bad cold—if not treated properly, your days in bed recovering are just what your competition needs.

Did I hear you ask me for some Vitamin O? It’s just what the doctor ordered.

Often, homeowners pick their own battles with these lofty goals and organize them into some kind of achievable timeline that parallels their finances. However, untimely battles pick the homeowner, and they find themselves in an emergency situation where they either need to become a quick expert on the problem and fix it themselves, or admit that they’re in over their heads and bring in a true specialist with the necessary tools.

In the process of the “Do It Yourself” method, often special tools are required to complete the task at hand. I have considered myself a practicing handyman since an early age, and still have remnants of my first grown-up toolbox that I received when I was ten. As I moved onto tinkering in construction and auto mechanics—and busting open my knuckles when working with these cheap tools—I realized that sometimes the investment in the “right tool for the right job” is worth every penny. Quality tools will go the distance and prove their worth in the long run.

When I’m not busy being a home improvement DIY-er, my Monday through Friday job at Oneupweb grants me access to the most powerful toolbox and contents I have ever encountered…ROI trax®.

ROI trax® is Oneupweb’s proprietary analytics tool that provides a clear, customizable view of your campaigns and 24/7 reports of just how much Return you are getting On your online Investment when you team up with Oneupweb. I rely on it every day when researching prospective clients’ websites and how they appear through the search engines’ eyes. By setting up and running Search Engine Position Reports based on a selected list of targeted keywords that define the particular products or services your business has to offer, I can also get a clear view of how your competitors are stacking up against your business in the online world.

Other ROI trax® features include:

• Track natural and paid search marketing campaigns separately—but with the results delivered to the same, easy to use reporting interface
• Create and track newsletter, email, public relations and banner ad campaigns
• Monitor website positioning on search engine results pages—beyond Google
• Identify the most effective keywords for SEO and PPC campaigns
• Guard against click fraud within the PPC marketplace
• Monitor competitors’ use of your trademark in paid search ads
• On demand reporting tells you which traffic sources are delivering the highest return—in real time

The “Do It Yourself” way of doing things in your own home is one thing, but when the future of your business depends on the quality of your work, the investment in a specialist with the right tool set is the best way to go for success in the long term. When you hire Oneupweb, we send in our digital contractors to assess the situation, fix any damages and make the necessary enhancements so that your business stands strong for the long term. We can help your business look the nicest on the block—standing out in a digital neighborhood.

We originally built ROI trax® for ourselves, and rely on it as the truest form of analytics that we can find to gather the real-time data for the campaigns we manage and the clients we serve. Come see what it can do for you and your business at the demo below.

Contact Oneupweb today to find out more.