tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-80088952766050843032008-07-07T00:42:14.408-07:00My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-39682340146670284392008-07-07T00:40:00.000-07:002008-07-07T00:42:14.424-07:00<p> Yahoo! spent the July 4 bank holiday weekend in discussions with its lead adviser, Goldman Sachs, and potential bid partners including Time Warner to defend itself from a break-up by Microsoft. </p><p> The online search engine is seeking to re-heat talks with the cable company about a possible merger with AOL, its internet arm, in a deal that could be worth as much as $10 billion (£5 billion). </p><p> Yahoo! is trying to secure some kind of deal before its shareholders meet to vote on whether to re-elect their board on August 1. </p><p> The company has sought to re-open talks after it emerged last week that Microsoft is also in talks with companies such as Time Warner to try to launch a break up bid of Yahoo!.<br /></p><p> The software giant wants to control Yahoo!'s internet search engine so that it can compete more aggressively with Google and seize a bigger slice of the online advertising market estimated to be worth about $40 billion and set to double by 2010. </p><p> Insiders at Yahoo! insist that an offer which sought to break up the company would not work because of the difficulty in valuing its non-search business. </p><p> Jerry Yang, co-founder and chief executive of Yahoo! is threatened on two fronts in the short term.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/technology/article4281977.ece">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-23301512026814519422008-07-03T02:20:00.000-07:002008-07-03T02:22:05.046-07:00<p> Ten years ago this September, two Stanford University doctoral students launched a business that would revolutionize how millions of people use the Internet. </p> <p> Yes, Google is getting older, at least in tech years. </p> <p> But don’t expect the world’s dominant search engine company to remain content with the enormous success it has achieved so far. </p> <p>Google is rolling out innovative features that will allow users to search the Web more efficiently. It is also looking to expand its advertising reach, focusing on the folks who do their queries via mobile phones and car-based systems. Google has been increasing its spending on research and development, which totaled $2.1 billion last year alone. </p> <p>The company has come a long way since Sergey Brin and Larry Page started Google in a garage in Menlo Park, Calif. One of the most feared and respected technology giants in the world, Google earned $4.2 billion in profits last year and employs nearly 17,000 workers. </p> <p>With more than half of its user traffic coming from outside the United States, Google has evolved into a global company. It operates 60 offices in 20 countries. </p> <p>It’s no surprise that the company is extremely secretive about its product plans. To get some hints about what may be in store for users of Google’s search engine and its AdWords advertising program, the Detroit Free Press recently talked to two top Google executives. </p> <p>“We’re constantly looking at the user experience - what they want, what they need,” said Marissa Mayer, Google’s vice president of search products and user experience. </p> <p>Google regularly makes improvements to its search engine, which now contains billions of Web pages compared with only 30 million in 1998. </p> <p>However, it took a major leap last year by introducing what it calls “universal search.” This is a more comprehensive search engine that includes video, images, maps, news and other data. Previously, you had to visit several Google search products to get different types of information.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.popmatters.com/pm/article/60462/google-tries-its-hand-in-traditional-ads/">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-71561216675108044002008-07-02T03:10:00.000-07:002008-07-02T03:15:49.556-07:00Bill Gates Isn't The Only One Whose Old Messages Have Proved Perilous<br /><br /><p>THIS ANTITRUST THING,'' <a title="Microsoft Corporation" href="http://www.newsweek.com/related.aspx?subject=Microsoft+Corporation" class="related">Microsoft</a> chairman <a title="Bill Gates" href="http://www.newsweek.com/related.aspx?subject=Bill+Gates" class="related">Bill Gates</a> allegedly told executives from <a title="Intel Corporation" href="http://www.newsweek.com/related.aspx?subject=Intel+Corporation" class="related">Intel</a> at a meeting in 1995, ""will blow over.'' Microsoft wasn't changing its business practices at all as a result of the government investigation, Gates continued, according to handwritten notes by an Intel executive--except that it might revise its policy on keeping records of corporate e-mail. That may have been meant as a joke. As of last week the company has never had an e-mail policy, according to a Microsoft spokesman. Thus in its protracted investigation the government was able to get its hands on an estimated 3.3 million Microsoft documents, including mega-bytes of e-mail messages dating from the early 1990s--and is now using them to contradict Gates's own videotaped testimony in the most significant antitrust case of the decade.</p> <p>From the glass towers of midtown Manhattan to the glass shoe boxes of Silicon Valley rose a muffled murmur of clicks last week, the sound of cubicle dwellers hitting DELETE as they scrolled through years of accumulated electronic correspondence, in search of business plans that smacked of brilliance, as well as illegality; projections of how much the company could save by laying off everyone over 55; dirty jokes; mash notes, and comments about the CEO's bald spot. Those who didn't think of this on their own were encouraged to do so by cybersavvy employers, like Amazon.com, the online book merchant, which this fall instructed workers that all nonessential documents ""should be destroyed when they are no longer current or useful,'' according to a company spokesman. Until now, says Los Angeles attorney Michael Overly, an expert on electronic communications, only around a third of all businesses have had formal policies on the content, handling and archiving of e-mail, and only about a third of those have been actively enforced. But he predicts these numbers will climb sharply, propelled not just by the Microsoft trial but also by Chevron's $2.2 million settlement in 1995 with a group of female employees who took offense at e-mail postings such as the one headed ""25 reasons why beer is better than women.'' For many companies, he says, ""the honeymoon with e-mail is coming to an end.''</p> <p>Surprisingly, indiscreet e-mail can be even more dangerous than written records and memos. An unfiled note gets deleted in the next day's trash, but in a typical office network almost all e-mail is recorded on the system server (graphic). Messages sent years ago may live on in taped storage, far beyond the reach of a delete key, although not of a subpoena. Lack of space is rarely a problem; Randy Kolb, information services director for the city of Eugene, Ore., estimates that one employee has 180 megabytes of e-mail stored up, equivalent to roughly 180,000 typed sheets of paper. But it would be the work of minutes for a computer to sort it all for lawyers in search of a single incriminating phrase.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.newsweek.com/id/93925">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-78953164635609767422008-06-30T19:59:00.000-07:002008-06-30T20:01:01.111-07:00<span class="article_page"><p>If your Web strategy focuses on driving traffic, you end up with anonymous clicks and page after page of site traffic reports with limited value.<br /> <br />Rather than driving traffic, focus on getting motivated prospects and valuable customers to visit your sites and convert them into qualified sales leads. By re-framing your objectives, you may end up reallocating some of your online marketing investments. </p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>Take keyword ads on general search engines. While these are important parts of an online marketing strategy, your ads may not be reaching the audience you are interested in targeting. You can end up paying for a glut of unqualified traffic — even if you have the right keywords. </p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>Business-to-business advertisers can avoid attracting unqualified traffic from the vast ocean of consumers visiting mass market search engines. One way is being more focused with your keywords. Instead of using "pumps," consider using "turbine pumps," a keyword geared toward a specific audience. Using long tail SEO keyword practices will attract people with the same specific and targeted interests.</p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>Another strategy delivering motivated prospects – not just clicks – is displaying ads only to targeted audiences. You can't always do this on general search engines. But you can with some B-to-B oriented destination sites – vertical search engines – where your filtered, targeted audiences are aggregated for you. </p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>Other strategies helping drive qualified prospects and not just traffic to your site include having a presence in relevant online directories, advertising in appropriate e-newsletters and showcasing your capabilities with banner ads on targeted sites. </p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>A robust, visible presence — not just a link to your Web site — in online directories provides branding and messaging capabilities to motivate qualified prospects to visit you. Look for directories that are geared exclusively toward your B-to-B audience. They offer multiple options for showcasing your company and products. </p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>Purchasing ads in e-newsletters can also change the focus from traffic to qualified leads. When determining an e-newsletter ad strategy, consider both the size of the audience and the mix of readers. Ask the publisher for both the number of subscribers and a subscriber profile, preferably by industry and job function. Review the subscriber profile and you'll know if you're targeting the right audience.</p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>Finally, don't forget online banner ads that appear on targeted Web sites. Seek out a partner that offers a banner ad network allowing you to reach targeted audiences across multiple sites with a single buy, helping to save media research, program management and tracking time. </p><!--end paragraph--> <!--startclickprintexclude--><!--endclickprintexclude--><!--begin paragraph--><p>These strategies drive prospects to your site, usually to a specific landing page deep within your site containing relevant content. Now the other half of the equation comes into play: You need to convert these visitors into qualified leads.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://multichannelmerchant.com/crosschannel/lists/website_leads_0630/">Read Full Article</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p></span>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-32621831437255219002008-06-29T23:05:00.000-07:002008-06-29T23:12:20.623-07:00<p>City-based digital marketing consultancy, Fireloop Creative has help to launch a new website for the 24th Birmingham International Jazz Festival.</p> <p>The ten-day event - which features world jazz artists from the US, Spain, France, Hungary, Australia, Sweden and Holland – wanted to use its site to engage with new audiences with the use of online social networking and by encouraging community participation.</p> <p>It is the second year that Fireloop has worked on the festival’s marketing.</p> <p>Festival director Jim Simpson said: “Fireloop’s combination of considered branding and online technology has helped rejuvenate the festival and ensure its longevity. </p> <p>“The Internet has changed the music industry and we need to embrace the technologies of tomorrow to encourage more visitors to events like the Birmingham Jazz Festival.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.birminghampost.net/birmingham-business/birmingham-business-news/media-marketing-news/2008/06/30/how-internet-marketing-helps-promote-city-s-music-65233-21170439/">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-22703845109252221782008-06-26T02:21:00.000-07:002008-06-26T02:27:21.525-07:00Ten years ago this coming September, two Stanford University doctoral students -- one of them a Michigan native -- launched a business that would revolutionize how millions of people use the Internet.<br /><br />Yes, Google is getting older, at least in tech years.<p>But don't expect the world's dominant search engine company to remain content with the enormous success it has achieved so far.</p><p>Google is rolling out innovative features that will allow users to search the Web more efficiently. It is also looking to expand its advertising reach, focusing on the folks who do their queries via mobile phones and car-based systems. Google has been increasing its spending on research and development, which totaled $2.1 billion last year alone.</p><p>The company has come a long way since Sergey Brin and Michigan native Larry Page started Google in a garage in Menlo Park, Calif. One of the most feared and respected technology giants in the world, Google earned $4.2 billion in profits last year and employs nearly 17,000 workers, including more than 262 at ad sales and support offices in Ann Arbor and Birmingham.</p><p>With more than half of its user traffic coming from outside the United States, Google has evolved into a global company. It operates 60 offices in 20 countries.</p><p>It's no surprise that the company is extremely secretive about its product plans. To get some hints about what may be in store for users of Google's search engine and its AdWords advertising program, the Free Press recently talked to two top Google executives.</p><h3>Google search engine</h3> <p>"We're constantly looking at the user experience -- what they want, what they need," said Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search products and user experience.</p><p>Google regularly makes improvements to its search engine, which now contains billions of Web pages compared with only 30 million in 1998.</p><p>However, it took a major leap last year by introducing what it calls "universal search." This is a more comprehensive search engine that includes video, images, maps, news and other data. Previously, you had to visit several Google search products to get different types of information.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080626/NEWS09/806260355">Read Full Article</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-64933370124770284682008-06-25T02:19:00.000-07:002008-06-25T02:20:14.462-07:00<p class="times">As soon as Tuesday, <a class="times rolloverQuote" href="http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&amp;symbol=goog" onmouseover="" onmouseout="">Google</a> plans to unveil a new service that measures Internet use, according to advertising executives who have been briefed on it. The tool is intended to help advertisers identify the best places to buy online ads by telling them which Web sites their target audiences visit.</p> <p class="times">Google s approach, aimed at bolstering its ad-sales business, could pose a major threat to the Web measurement services that are available now, ad executives say. The two main players in the business <a class="times rolloverQuote" href="http://online.wsj.com/quotes/main.html?type=djn&amp;symbol=SCOR" onmouseover="" onmouseout="">comScore</a> and Nielsen Online -- gather data on Internet use largely by tracking what panels of people do online or by conducting surveys, and their results can be inconsistent and incomplete. Google's new offering will be based mostly on data from Web servers, allowing for a deeper and broader view of Internet use. And unlike the services from comScore and Nielsen, Google's will be offered to marketers free, according to ad executives.</p><p class="times">But with Google already controlling a growing swath of advertising real estate both online and off, some ad executives are leery about placing even more power in the company's hands. "For an advertiser, the last thing you want to do is to have your adviser be the same person you are spending your money with," says Sarah Fay, chief executive of Aegis North America, the media-buying giant owned by Aegis Group of the U.K.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;" class="times"><a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121425232721997689.html?mod=wsjcrmain">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;" class="times">Resources for</p><p class="times"><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-30638469870408821602008-06-22T23:58:00.000-07:002008-06-23T00:02:06.371-07:00<p>KickApps is an 80-person social-networking startup with its head office in a loftlike space just off Fifth Avenue in New York. In less than two years it has created the underlying structure for more than 20,000 social-networking sites--"mini-Facebooks" with an aggregate of 300 million page views per month. You've probably never heard of it.</p> <p>KickApps gets a fraction of the press coverage of a giant like Facebook, but its growth has been sufficiently impressive that venture firms like Spark Capital and Prism VentureWorks have backed it with $18 million in startup financing, hoping for the payoff of a monster IPO. Its software allows companies to quickly roll out social networks with many of the features of Facebook or MySpace. Its clients--which include local radio stations and newspapers, national networks like NPR and ABC, and brands like AutoByTel, Harley-Davidson, and Kraft--want to offer fans a place to gather and share their love of a team, a product, or anything else. </p> <p>KickApps' CEO is Alex Blum, formerly of JumpTV, an online television service specializing in sports. "We have 35 programmers working in this office," says Blum, leading a reporter through a sea of desks and flat-screen monitors, "and we only have two marketing people. We don't really have to sell our product." </p> <p>Like most of the social-networking sites enjoying huge growth, KickApps is giving its product away, expecting that the communities built around it will generate ad revenues. It's a model that stirs memories of the first Internet bubble: build the user base and hope the money comes--from an IPO, a buyout, or ads. At this point, KickApps does not reveal revenue figures, or even what kind of a cut it is taking from the ads. That, too, brings back memories: staying mum about revenue was always a sign that there wasn't much to talk about. </p> <p><strong>Many Users, Few Dollars</strong><br />Social networking is the fastest-growing activity on Web 2.0--the shorthand term for the new user-centered Internet, where everyone publicly modifies everyone else's work, whether it's an encyclopedia entry or a photo album. The growth of social networking is astonishing, and it has spread to sites of all sizes, which are increasingly intertwined as platforms open <em>(see "<a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20920/" target="_blank">Who Owns Your Friends?</a>")</em>. Even small players are soaring. </p> <p>Ning, for example, is similar to KickApps but caters to individuals. Founded in 2004 by Netscape's Marc Andreessen and former Goldman Sachs analyst Gina Bianchini, it has been backed with $104 million in venture capital by a variety of firms, including Legg Mason. "We've got 267,787 sites," boasted Bianchini in May. "And we're adding 1,500 to 2,000 a day." ComScore, a firm that measures Internet usage, reports that the Ning domain, on which all the sites reside, sees three million unique visitors a month.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/20978/">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-90198300696763873602008-06-19T07:35:00.000-07:002008-06-19T07:40:55.753-07:00<b>Internal linking is an important and often overlooked element of SEO and, unlike external links, the site owner has complete control over this, so it's crucial to make the most of it.<br /><br /></b><p> <b>Link within your content</b> </p><p>Scott advises webmasters to go through their site's content and work out where it would make sense to link to other pages which you want to rank better. </p><p>Make sure that the anchor text matches the keywords and phrases that you want the pages to rank well for. Scott also advises that these target keywords should appear on the destination page, as this will make the linking more effective. </p><p> <b>Link from stronger pages</b> </p><p>Some webpages may be more popular in the search rankings and receive more links than the rest of your website. You can strengthen these weaker pages by including some contextual links to them from the stronger pages.<br /></p><p>Some additional tips from E-consultancy's SEO Guide...</p><p> <b>Links from footers</b> </p><p>This approach can also help with usability, as it is effectively a mini site map on every page. It also allows you to include some lengthy to be included. </p><p>For example, E-consultancy ranks well in Google for keyphrases such as <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&amp;hl=en-GB&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;rlz=1T4GGIH_en-GBGB277GB277&amp;q=Web+Project+Management+" target="_self">'web project management'</a> and <a href="http://www.google.co.uk/search?sourceid=navclient&amp;hl=en-GB&amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;rlz=1T4GGIH_en-GBGB277GB277&amp;q=Online+Surveys+%26+Research" target="_self">'online surveys &amp; research'</a>, both of which are included in the footer.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.e-consultancy.com/news-blog/365806/tips-on-internal-linking-strategy.html">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-14293289636791250502008-06-16T19:39:00.000-07:002008-06-16T20:34:08.259-07:00Additions to the Developer Central Portal include advice on responding to requests for proposals, marketing tips, redesigned APIs, and online payment training materials.<br /><br /><span id="articleBody"> PayPal on Monday introduced a redesign of its <a href="http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=portal&amp;x=&amp;y=">portal</a> for helping developers integrate the company's online payment services into Web sites. <p> PayPal, owned by auction site eBay, unveiled the latest version of the Developer Central Portal at the eBay Developers Conference in Chicago. The redesigned site, scheduled to launch in July, will offer business and technical kits to help developers market their services, identify customer leads, and complete integration projects faster. In addition, the portal will include forums for developers to share knowledge.<br /></p><p><span id="articleBody"> New additions to the site include a marketing library with prepackaged sales presentations and case studies to help developers sell PayPal integration projects. In addition, there's best-practice advice on responding to requests for proposals and tips on marketing. On the technical side, there's a new <a href="http://www.techweb.com/encyclopedia/defineterm.jhtml?term=library&amp;x=&amp;y=">library</a> with sample code and training and education materials about online payments. <p> The portal offers 25 application programming interfaces that enable online retailers to send and receive money online, refund transactions, manage subscriptions, and check transaction histories. New APIs in the redesigned portal offer more options for subscription billing and for conducting transactions with repeat customers. In addition, the site offers a directory of PayPal-certified developers.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/news/internet/ebusiness/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=208404319">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p></span></p></span>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-64341373890426672422008-06-16T03:56:00.000-07:002008-06-16T04:00:13.703-07:00<span id="main1"> Close encounters with one of the world's deadliest predators led to a drastic career change for David Edwards. <br /><br />A trip to South Africa to work with fearsome great white sharks inspired the Cheddleton-based web designer to set up his own company.<br /><br />The 23-year-old, pictured, formed Creative Resolve after working for a firm specialising in cage diving expeditions for intrepid tourists.<br /><br /> </span> <!-- DIV added for task NFT00001396 --> <a name="continueNews" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); text-decoration: none;"> <span id="main2"> When he returned from his trip last year, Mr Edwards decided to strike out on his own after leaving online fancy dress retailer Sureshots.<br /><br />Now he is preparing to return to South Africa to build a website for an organisation dedicated to the conservation of the great white.<br /><br />And Mr Edwards's experiences mean Creative Resolve will be targeting small businesses and not-for profit organisations, such as wildlife preservation charities and schools rather than the more lucrative corporate sector.<br /><br />Mr Edwards said: "My job last year was to be on the boat and help the guests out. I absolutely loved it and that was what inspired me to set up my own business.<br /><br />"I've approached a lot of small companies, particularly start-ups, because I feel they need the service the most.<br /><br />"But what I want to focus on long-term is education establishments and non-profit organisations, particularly those involved in wildlife preservation.<br /><br />"When you go on websites for big companies like Virgin, for example, they've got fantastic-looking sites, but the guys doing more morally profound work don't have the same amount of money to spend, so their websites don't necessarily get the time and attention they deserve.<br /><br />"They've got some really important information but the problem is getting it across to people and making it accessible.<br /><br />"I don't like it when you go on a website and it's got this amazing corporate design, but it's very clinical and sterile. I'm interested in doing things with more character and personality."<br /><br /></span></a><a href="http://www.thisisthesentinel.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=158315&amp;command=displayContent&amp;sourceNode=192156&amp;contentPK=20874695&amp;folderPk=87655&amp;pNodeId=192189"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Read Full News</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">My Web Design Source</span></a>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-69261260522055534292008-06-12T21:50:00.000-07:002008-06-12T21:58:06.769-07:00Email is a "highly effective, targeted marketing channel" for small and medium enterprises, according to an online marketing agency.<br /><br />Tink Taylor, business development director at dotMailer, and member of the Internet Advertising Bureau's e-communications council, said that email is a key component of an integrated marketing strategy.<br /><br />He continued: "To make the most of this highly effective, targeted marketing channel, brands need to get to grips with the basics."<br /><br />"Getting a specialist who understands how to properly code an email that renders correctly in every client is vital."<br /><br /><a href="http://www.ihotdesk.com/article/18636751/%60Email%20effective%20marketing%20tool%60"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Read Full News</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</span><br /><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-47118338031992329852008-06-11T20:45:00.001-07:002008-06-11T20:53:12.883-07:00Today at the New York Mobile Marketing Forum, JumpTap - the leading mobile search and advertising solutions provider - announced results from a new study commissioned from Research and Analysis of Media (RAM), on the effectiveness of mobile advertising. <p> The research conclusively revealed the increased effectiveness of mobile advertising with regards to brand recognition, recall and purchase rates. The findings are especially valuable to advertisers looking for confirmation that mobile devices are becoming the dominant marketer-consumer touch point. JumpTap is offering new customers this unique service for ongoing brand research insight when they sign up for mobile advertising campaigns. </p> <p> RAM conducted its research with a sample group of 300 Swedish Telia SurfPort users to measure advertiser recall, purchase intent and ad quality on mobile. Respondents were shown ads from EMI, Eurobate, Plutolife (Mobilove) and Discovery Channel Sweden. Although approximately one third of respondents had no familiarity with the advertisers beforehand, the campaigns yielded compelling results: </p> <ul><li class="bwlistitemmarginbottom"> JumpTap ads had on average a <b>20%</b> greater recall rate than other compared ads </li><li class="bwlistitemmarginbottom"> Users are much <b>more</b> <b>likely</b> to seek further information after seeing a JumpTap advertisement, with between <b>10%</b> of 16-24 year-olds and <b>28%</b> of 45-79 year-olds stating they would seek out information. This compared to 0% of the 16-24 age group and only 13% of the 45-79 age group who would look for more information after seeing other advertisements. </li><li class="bwlistitemmarginbottom"> Users are more likely to purchase from JumpTap ads than from others<span id="bwanpa2">—</span>especially women, who were <b>twice as likely</b> (at 15%) to make a purchase. Again, the impact on the 16-24 age groups was significant with 9% responding that they would likely make a purchase versus 0% others. </li></ul> <p> <span id="bwanpa3">“</span>RAM<span id="bwanpa4">’</span>s research supports the effect mobile ads can have on consumers due to the personal and interactive relationship they have with their mobile devices,<span id="bwanpa5">”</span> said Paran Johar, CMO of JumpTap. <span id="bwanpa6">“</span>With mobile advertising slated to reach $2.7B in 2008<sup id="bwanpa13">1</sup> and $19B by 2012<sup id="bwanpa14">2</sup>, now is the opportune time for advertisers to integrate mobile in their media buying mix.<span id="bwanpa7">”</span></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/?ndmViewId=news_view&amp;newsId=20080611005411&amp;newsLang=en"><span id="bwanpa7">Read Full News</span></a></p><p style="font-style: italic;"><span id="bwanpa7">Resources for</span></p><p><span id="bwanpa7"><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></span> </p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-59419989415914050522008-06-10T19:04:00.000-07:002008-06-10T19:07:06.150-07:00<div><b>Search giant markets map product using the one medium it has never sold</b><br /><span style="line-height: 8px;"><br /></span></div> <div style="line-height: 8px;"><br /></div> <span class="bb_byline">By <a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/personalia?ID=&amp;category=contact">Abbey Klaassen</a><br /><br /></span>Google has built the most powerful brand in the world with nary a bit of brand advertising. But as ads for Google Maps crop up on buses in San Francisco and trains in Chicago, it's clear the company is willing to shell out ad dollars to grow a product that's key to both local and mobile search.<br /><br />The branding push promotes the service's transit features and comes at a time when Google is courting brand advertisers to buy online display ads, TV and radio. Incidentally, its own campaign focuses on the one medium Google hasn't dabbled in selling: outdoor.<br /><br />A quick search on Flickr (sorry, Google Image Search) reveals about a half dozen Google ads uncovered around the country in the past six months, including bus ads and train wraps in the Bay Area, a wrapped El train in the Windy City and street teams in both cities that demonstrate the product for passersby. There was also an ad in San Francisco's AT&amp;T Park.<br /><br />Federated Media's John Battelle spotted that last one and posted it to his blog. “You might call it a non-[cost-per-click] banner display ad in the middle of the Web site that is AT&amp;T Park,” he said, noting that only a year ago, Google VP-Marketing David Lawee told <i>BusinessWeek</i> that Google does a lot of direct marketing but “not brand marketing.”<br /><br />But Battelle said brand marketing is inevitable for Google (even if you have the best product in the world, you have to tell people about it), and he's not alone in that line of thinking.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080609/FREE/704228260/1109/FREE"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Read Full News</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-2170290861106656972008-06-10T01:43:00.000-07:002008-06-10T01:45:53.969-07:00Webmasters should not underestimate the power of search engine optimisation (SEO) to make the public aware of their sites.<br /><br />This is according to the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2008/jun/09/searchengines.internet" target="_blank">Guardian</a>, which states that as most consumers make use of search engines and are likely to only look at the first results page every time they perform a query, publishers should ensure they know how to keep their site near the top by incorporating SEO into their <a href="http://www.bluhalo.com/what_we_do/digital_business_planning" target="_self">online strategy</a>.<br /><br />One key way in which website owners can improve SEO is through producing content that contains important keywords and ensuring that the website gets indexed by the major search engines, the newspaper states.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.bluhalo.com/news/view/434/seo-importance-cannot-be-overestimated"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Read Full News</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</span><br /><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><br /><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-10000719417816914372008-06-04T22:56:00.000-07:002008-06-04T22:58:21.080-07:00<p><em>Do you use Google Analytics?</em> Well, <a id="r05l" title="a recent study shows" href="http://www.centernetworks.com/my-life-without-google" target="_blank">a recent study shows</a> that you’re not alone, roughly one third of the Alexa top 500 websites traffic wise use it. That surprised me a little. Anyways, I use <strong>Google Analytics</strong> myself and noticed before that some <strong>numbers are inaccurate or downright wrong</strong>. In May I discovered <em>how wrong</em>, completely wrong.</p> <p><img src="http://www.seoptimise.com/images/google-analytics-bug.gif" alt="Google Analytics Bug" /></p> <p>The numbers of search engine referers, more specifically, are wrong. I’ve noticed that before but wasn’t panicking as no statistic tool is perfectly accurate, you always should use at least 2 of them and compare the numbers. Now this time I checked my stats over at <a href="http://seo2.0.onreact.com/" target="_blank">SEO 2.0</a> I was unable to ignore it anymore.</p> <p>SEO 2.0 is mostly about social media and blogging SEO and it relies on traffic from other sources than Google. I only get insignificant numbers of visitors from Google on my blog, mostly due to very specific “long tail” queries. The only really important <span class="misspell">keyphrase</span> is “SEO 2.0″ itself. Now looking at my May stats I was very surprised that one of better performing keywords was “<a id="uzbn" title="site seo vs blog seo" href="http://www.google.com/search?q=site+seo+vs+blog+seo" target="_blank">site <span class="misspell">seo</span> vs blog <span class="misspell">seo</span></a>” without quotes.</p> <blockquote><p>I looked deeper into that just to discover that all 60 visitors looking for this keyword is one person from Bucharest, Romania. Google Analytics counted her or him several times a day for more than 2 weeks.</p></blockquote> <p>Now I sometimes create returning visits just by launching my FireFox with my saved tabs but how can a person search for the same query every day several times and then click the search result each time? This one riddles me. I’ve seen that kind of behaviour with Google Analytics in the past but always thought it was due to myself or several developers from my client working on the same site.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://blog.seoptimise.com/2008/06/is-google-analytics-cheating-you-use-alternatives.html">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-15650952503871073642008-06-04T01:16:00.000-07:002008-06-04T01:31:18.626-07:00<p>Firms that fail to separate text within images could be missing out on some "extremely useful" <a href="http://www.businessfeet.com/search-engine-optimisation.html" target="_self">search engine optimisation</a> (<a href="http://www.businessfeet.com/search-engine-optimisation.html" target="_self">SEO</a>) material, one expert has claimed.</p><p>According to Loren Baker, editor of the Search Engine Journal, text hidden within images is likely to be missed by the search engines and will therefore not be as beneficial to <a href="http://www.businessfeet.com/search-engine-optimisation.html" target="_self">SEO</a> as it could.</p><p>He also suggested that it was important to ensure keywords are targeted in the web design of the homepage as much as in the other content pages to maximise <a href="http://www.businessfeet.com/search-engine-optimisation.html" target="_self">SEO</a>.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.businessfeet.com/seo-news/items/web-designers-urged-to-separate-seo-content-from-images-12124933.html">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-30202093934256707802008-06-01T22:03:00.000-07:002008-06-01T22:08:07.241-07:00<p>When people realized the potential of email marketing, they thought that this is the future of internet marketing. Then came in Search Engine Marketing (SEM) with more liberal approach. As the social media evolved with Web 2.0, we are steadily seeing the shift of visitors from popular internet services like search engines and free email services to the newborn Online Social Media. We are seeing that the present of Internet Marketing is changing rapidly. So, why not the future?</p> <p>The changes in the internet marketing will evolve around the technology. And marketers have to go where all the people are heading. To give a bit of hint, I’ve compiled some of my prophecies that are based on future of internet marketing.</p> <p><strong>Prophecy #1: Onsite Search Engine Optimization (SEO) will be History</strong></p> <p>Sorry for starting it this way. As an internet marketer, I am happy to promote the keyword Search Engine Optimization (SEO), as most of the people somehow got used to this term. But it’s a wrong word anyway. We the marketers don’t optimize search engines. Rather engineers in Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft does the exact thing.</p> <p>As the search engines acquire more revenue, their pool of professionals is also drained with best brains. And it will just take some time to identify ways to evaluate each site irrespective of web development language used. But, they will eventually get rid of the need to optimize your site for the Search Engines.</p> <p>Search Engines might also go for Visual Algorithm Update that will use snapshot image of the page to manipulate information like visible text, animation, and visible keyword density. With artificial intelligence using OCR technology to extract the texts, can eliminate a lot of tasks that are currently done for optimizing a site for search engines.</p> <p><strong>Prophecy #2: Searching will become more User-friendly</strong></p> <p>As the speed of internet rises, search engines will show more visible results. I would be happy to see Mouseover Zoom-up search results, for quick peek of the site I wish to open. It’s much like the Snapshot pop-in that Wordpress is using. That will make people go beyond the first Search Engine Result Page (SERP).</p> <p>Moreover, the Search-As-You-Type will also be introduced with search suggestions. The search suggestion will also affect multilingual users, as they will be suggested English keywords for the same multilingual phrase. Well, that might be good for businesses for English speaking countries.</p> <p>It may happen that searching will not be required at all in case of purchase. You just provide the query to Google, Yahoo, Live or any Search Engines; have a cup of coffee and you’ll have custom reports with prices on products you are seeking with background research highlighting positive and negative comments about the product.</p> <p><strong>Prophecy #3: More Personalized &amp; Localized Results will Influence SEM</strong></p> <p>We are already experiencing localized search. However, the personal search has not yet been that very personal. Personalized search will provide more reputation for websites which can influence search engine performance based on more quality visits with low bounce rate. Websites will figure out new offline ways to create more personal affiliation with the site to influence personalized search.</p> <p>Localized search will provide marketers with the ability to influence people on the move to purchase. That way, the localized search may also change if a consumer changes location.</p> <p><strong>Prophecy #4: Natural Language Reputation Algorithm will be a Great Factor</strong></p> <p>Misspelled keyword marketing has already started to vanish. Moreover, to fight duplicate content, spammers will use twisted garbage texts of the same content that have no meaning but with correct spelling. Search Engines will embed several artificial intelligence to identify natural language.</p> <p>Sites with less grammatical errors and misspellings will get more Natural Language Reputation Rank. This in turn can add as another task for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).</p> <p><strong>Prophecy #5: Copying Themes will be punished by Near Duplicate Content Filter</strong></p> <p>Google has recently updated Duplicate Content Filter that punishes the use of duplicate contents in the internet. But, Search Engines will try it’s best to struggle with the remedies taken by webmasters or web marketers through their Near Duplicate Content Filter.</p> <p>Varied contents with same theme will also be identified and punished by hidden results which you can see only by clicking “See more pages like this” beside the original theme. The explanation from search engine is, if two pages are saying the same thing, then why keep them all over the SERPs.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/05/13-prophecies-of-internet-marketing.html">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-55727017590486767952008-05-29T18:01:00.000-07:002008-05-29T18:05:18.826-07:00<p>The QUESTION:</p> <p>For the duration of 5 year web marketing career I have been asked the same question. How do I get my website ranked higher? How do I get more traffic? Or sometimes, almost incredulously, how do you get websites ranked higher? In the modern day of ultra-sophisticated borderline artificially intelligent search engine algorithms (formulas Google and the other the other search engines use to rank websites) this question could be considered along the lines of “what is the meaning of life”….anybody who understands search engine holistically knows there is no one right answer for marketing a website.</p> <p>So maybe you belong to the growing market of web marketing newbies and rather not spend hours learning and researching search marketing. When starting out, how can you determine the best plan of action is for marketing a website? Well barring all extraneous circumstances or outliers the answer simply lies in fundamental economics (and you thought you were \done with high school/college economics…..)</p> <p>The ANSWER in ONE SENTENCE.</p> <p>Lets clean up the chalkboards and mute out the noise. Here is a simple formula you can apply to web marketing visibility.</p> <p>Demand (Money + Time) = On line Visibility</p> <p>Yes thats right. This simple algebraic equation is a baseline approach you must consider when promoting a website. Let me explain the variables to this formula.<br />MONEY</p> <p>Welcome to the NOW generation. Most businesses are impatient and will quickly turn to only paid advertising for quick traffic and sales. This includes spending on paid advertising, paid linking, press releases, anything that costs money to get visibility on line. It could take months to rank for “New Balance running shoes” where it takes only 15 minutes to setup a Google Adwords campaign and start getting traffic immediately. However you must be willing to pay anywhere from $0.01 to over $50 a click for this traffic. Once your out of money, tough luck.</p> <p>There is nothing wrong with spending money on paid advertising as long as your business is producing a positive ROI. Also considering this primary way search engine generate revenue (in fact Google makes 99% of its revenue through ad words) it’s unlikely the paid advertising will ever go obsolete. Our suggestion is to make sure you are carefully managing your paid accounts…or find a professional to manage them for you. Many people are clueless when it comes to setting up and managing ppc campaigns. Similar to hiring an accountant to save money on taxes, hire a legitimate search engine marketing professional to save money on pay per click and/or other forms of on line advertising</p> <p>TIME:</p> <p>It’s possible to generate on line visibility without spending a dime on paid advertising. This is usually accomplished through search engine optimization, blogging, social networking, etc. This is often more common with hobbyists/part timers who are under less pressure to generate on line revenue. The problem it may take several months to learn how to naturally promote a website and much longer to actually apply these tactics. Worse yet beginners may succumb to taking bad advice and end up wasting time and effort on learning search engine optimization. Plus it isn’t just about SEO anymore, there are new marketing options such as blogging, video promotion and social marketing.</p> <p>Spending you own time promoting a website/blog can be very rewarding if you are diligent in your work. However remember the old cliché “time is money”. Do you really have extra time to devote to your project? If “yes” great, if no find someone to do it for you (unless you want to become a SEO professional).</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2008/05/the-online-visiblity-forumula-the-one-sentence-answer-to-the-meaning-of-life-at-least-for-online-marketers.html">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-54544661642623480322008-05-28T22:42:00.000-07:002008-05-28T22:47:30.832-07:00<p><br /></p><p>You should consider many factors when getting involved in Social Media Marketing, such as the <a href="http://www.brentcsutoras.com/2008/03/02/quality-social-content-link-building/"> quality of your content</a>, <a href="http://searchengineland.com/080219-130735.php">your domain name</a>, and who is submitting your content. But there is almost always one thing I find myself looking at before any of the above conversations even begin: <b>the design</b>.</p> <p>You need to make sure your site is designed and performs in a way that is suitable for social media.</p> <p>Most social communities are not filled with web novices or beginners. They are filled with internet savvy individuals, who know what a site should look like, and more importantly, which sites are legit and which sites are just spammers trying to look legit. </p> <p>Below are some tips and suggestions that you can apply to your site, to make it social media friendly.</p><ol><li><strong>Be Modern.</strong> It has never been easier to upgrade your site with a modern design. Web design templates are for sale everywhere, sites like <a href="http://99designs.com/">99designs.com</a> offer contests to get designs, and there are a ton of templates and designs that you can use for free.<br /><br />Your website is your store or place of business online. Just like in the real world, no one wants to step into a messy, old, dirty, and broken down office when considering whether to do business with you and your company. </li><li><strong>Be Hospitable. </strong>Make it easy for people to see your content and read it without interruption.<br /><br />Don’t force people to view more than one page in order to finish your article and avoid any sort of pop-ups or distractions.</li><li><strong>Downplay ads. </strong>There is a time and a place for having advertisements on a web page and that time is almost never during a social media campaign.<br /><br /><br /> A social media campaign normally lasts up to 24 hours. During that time, you are likely to see around 100 to 300 unique visits to your site. Doesn’t seem like much compared to the 10,000 to 100,000 thousand you will get once your campaign is successful, does it? So why potentially risk having someone associate your site as spam, resulting in them casting a negative vote on your submission?<br /><br />Leave ads off your site until your social media campaign has succeeded or failed. This way you take no risk at someone associating your site or content with a marketing ploy to make money.<br /><br />If you must leave ads on your site, limit them or position them in a way that does not interfere with the content and annoy a potential voter.</li><li><strong>Give Visitors a Button to Push.</strong> It is important to include social media buttons so that your visitors are able to help vote for your content. Social Media is about getting votes so make sure your regular readers have an opportunity to vote on your content. </li><li><strong>Serve Visitors Quickly. </strong>Always make sure your page loads the content as quickly as possible. Try coding your site in a way that loads any components that could potentially delay the content from being rendered. You can use CSS or other popular coding options to accomplish this.<br /><br />Social media users have hundreds of sites and articles they want to read each day. They don’t have the time and won’t sit around long waiting for your content to load. They might even get frustrated enough to vote negatively on your submission, so make sure your content loads quickly.</li></ol><a href="http://searchengineland.com/080528-183909.php"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Read Full News</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /><ol><br /></ol>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-85482938406654664952008-05-27T23:57:00.000-07:002008-05-28T00:24:29.099-07:00by: Ann Smarty<br /><br /><p>I for one do backlink research almost daily. Why is that so essential in SEO to know how to properly analyze backlinks?</p> <ul><li><strong>It educates. </strong>The established sites in your niche set an example to follow and give you an idea of how link building is done.</li><li><strong>It inspires.</strong> The more you know about pages linking to your <a href="http://www.searchenginejournal.com/make-the-most-of-seo-competitive-research-evaluating-the-competiton/6386/" target="_blank">competitor</a>, the more ideas you get for link building for your own website. That shouldn’t be <em>copying</em> the competitor’s strategies - but this analysis gives you an idea in which direction to move forward.</li><li><strong>It keeps you up-to-date</strong>. Who’s my friend? (Learn who your partners are and do them a favor in return.) Where am I discussed? (Reputation management: participate in threads discussing you site.) And plenty of more important questions the analysis will be able to answer.</li></ul><a href="http://www.searchenginejournal.com/advanced-link-operator-to-explore-your-competitors-backlinks/6966/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">Read Full News</span></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</span><br /><br /><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-42619094752697529432008-05-26T20:44:00.000-07:002008-05-26T21:03:41.483-07:00It used to be that all you had to do to get noticed and drive potential clients to your door was to advertise in the local newspaper, community magazine or on a city billboard. Year after year, you would place what was often a costly print ad, and then wait for new clients to call or come knocking on your door - assuming, of course, the ad was actually viewed or found by potential clients in the first place. <p>Today, the Internet has changed everything.</p> <p>That’s because today the Internet is the medium of choice for consumers seeking out products and services they can buy in their local, geographic region. And let’s face it, as a local real estate professional, you service certain areas and neighborhoods and want to attract most of your new clients from that region. One of the best ways to do this is through “local search,” which allows you to target potential clients in a desired area or region.</p> <p>For clients searching online for a real estate professional who is an expert in a particular area, they get highly relevant search results - specific to their search inquiry - and not a lot of irrelevant listings from outside that area. According to global Internet information provider, comScore, Inc., 47 percent of local searchers contacted or visited a local merchant as a result of their online search.</p> <p><strong>Connecting with Potential Clients</strong></p> <p>Although real estate is among the top 5 topics consumers search for on the Internet every single day, the trick to connecting with these potential clients involves a successful online marketing strategy that helps improve your chances of being found online. Using local search, you can target your message using the right keywords and search phrases to pull potential clients to your website. With local search, it’s also about relevancy - that is - delivering highly relevant search results to the client. In other words, local search can deliver consumers who are looking right now to purchase or rent in a particular area directly to your website.</p><p>For the Local Search provider, facilitating local search involves providing efficient search algorithms and solid local web indexing technologies that can help “connect” the searching customer to the right company that can meet that customer’s needs. <strong>Here’s how it all breaks down:</strong></p> <p><strong>1) </strong>Determine who your target client is and what type of property they are looking for.</p> <p><strong>2)</strong> Determine the key words these potential clients use when trying to find a real estate professional in their area. Add these keywords to your website and make them part of your core marketing blueprint.</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://rismedia.com/wp/2008-05-26/driving-new-clients-to-your-door-using-local-search-marketing/">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-53147418194280083852008-05-23T00:24:00.000-07:002008-05-23T00:26:37.284-07:00Buzz Technologies, Inc. (<exchange name="PINKSHEETS">PINKSHEETS</exchange>: <a href="http://www.marketwire.com/mw/stock.jsp?Ticker=BZTG">BZTG</a>) (<a href="http://www.12buzz.com/">www.12buzz.com</a>) is pleased to announce that the company has successfully launched Web, News and Video search linked to Buzz Marketing ad network in China and Thailand. <p> Web Site Traffic Rankings from Alexa have gone from 90,000 to now 7,700 (<a href="http://www.alexa.com/">www.alexa.com</a>), making Buzz one of the world's most popular web sites only 1 month after the official launch. Traffic has increased most dramatically in Thailand and China; in Thailand, Buzz is now one of the top 500 web sites, and in China, it has rocketed from 200,000 to 15,000 in a few weeks. </p><p> Traffic is coming most noticeably to Search and Buzz Marketing; Buzz has their sights firmly set on becoming Thailand's number 1 online ad supplier this year. Google predicted Thailand would see an explosion of spending on online and search-related advertising that would be worth an estimated $250 million (7.88 billion baht), according to Google's regional managing director for Australia, NZ, Korea and Southeast Asia, Richard Kimber. </p><p> Buzz also expects to be in the top 3 across Asia within the next 3 months competing directly with Yahoo, Google, MSN and Baidu. Buzz has seen a rapid uptake and use of the English Beta of the Buzz Search Engine. The Search Engine offers Keyword enabled 120 x 60 banner ads as well as relevant Text ads in the search results. </p><p> Online Ads and Search ads are available for Buzz Advertisers on the Bangkok Post (<a href="http://www.bangkokpost.com/">www.bangkokpost.com</a>) and many Thai sites, as well as being on 1000s of PCs in internet cafes in Thailand and over 20,000 in China and growing daily.<br /></p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.marketwire.com/mw/release.do?id=860127">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-48688085931264834472008-05-22T00:52:00.001-07:002008-05-22T00:56:31.436-07:00<h1 style="background: rgb(255, 255, 255) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial; letter-spacing: 0pt; line-height: 24px; text-transform: none; padding-left: 0pt;"><span style="font-size:100%;">Microsoft Spends To Undermine Google's Pay-Per-Click Gold Mine</span></h1><span id="articleBody"><p>Google executives reportedly met in the U.K. this week to discuss how to respond if Microsoft decided to revive its bid for Yahoo. Had they known that Microsoft on Wednesday would start offering <span id="articleBody"> cash rebates to searchers</span> who buy products found using Microsoft's Live Search, they'd have been able to discuss a more pressing threat than the possible purchase of Yahoo.<br /></p> <p>Last year, Microsoft bough Jellyfish.com, a company that made its name by sharing the wealth of Internet advertising. Jellyfish.com was able to offer those using its e-commerce search engine very competitive prices because it gave half of the ad dollars paid by its e-commerce partners back to online customers. </p> <p>This is a form of cost-per-action advertising -- the advertiser pays for a specific action, such as a sale, rather than for a click. Cost-per-action ads are generally less profitable that cost-per-click ads for search engines like Google and for publishing partners.</p> <p>One reason is that not all advertisers want to buy cost-per-action ads. Another reason is that cost-per-action ads don't pay when an online shopper is just looking, which happens quite a bit.</p> <p>In the model Microsoft has just rolled out, the cashback rebate, set by the merchant, goes directly to the consumer.</p> <p>The fact that Google hasn't said much about its cost-per-action beta test since June 2007 suggests that the testing isn't going all that well. "[Cost-per-action advertising] does not appear to have been eagerly embraced by publishers, in part because the process is cumbersome and not automated as with AdSense," said Internet marketing consultant Mark J. Welch in the Google Groups AdWords Help Forum last November.</p> <p>If cost-per-action ads did generate more revenue that cost-per-click ads, you can be sure Google would have rolled them out years ago.</p> <p>Regardless, now is the time for Google to redouble its effort to make pay-per-action ads work and to come up with incentives to match those offered by Microsoft. If Microsoft's Live Search cashback scheme goes unchallenged, Google risks losing a lot of e-commerce business. After all, as a company selling goods online, why would one pay for clicks, which may or may not lead to a sale, when one could buy guaranteed sales?</p><p style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;"><a href="http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2008/05/microsoft_spend.html">Read Full News</a></p><p style="font-style: italic;">Resources for</p><p><a href="http://www.mywebdesignsource.com/"><span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">My Web Design Source</span></a><br /></p></span>My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8008895276605084303.post-76857110874794733932008-05-22T00:52:00.000-07:002008-05-22T00:53:07.876-07:00My Web Design Sourcehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01836686852016892151noreply@blogger.com