Maybe Google should follow its own advice…..

Online Marketers Read This: Search Nursery Rhymes

This is my favorite thing in my inbox at the moment.

*Excerpts from MediaPost Publications’s Search insider, July 23 by Aaron Goldman

I’m Snoozing, I’m Snoring

In the style of It’s Raining, It’s Pouring

I’m snoozing, I’m snoring,

Your search results are boring.

Your market share

is barely there.

Will Cashback get you roaring?

Bostock and Yang Went to Great Pains

In the style of Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill

Bostock and Yang

Went to great pains

To avoid an outright acquisition.

They played tough,

$44 billion wasn’t enough.

Then they retreated their position.

Yankee Google

In the style of Yankee Doodle

Yankee Google took over the town,

It’s PR spin smooth as a zamboni.

Stuck creative in its cap,

Scaring Mad Ave cronies.

Yankee Google keep it up,

Automating media, that’s dandy.

And now finally some transparency,

Now this is really handy.

San Diego’s own, Veoh, brings behavioral targeting to online videos

Veoh is known for breaking new ground in the online space, but their new advertising program could revolutionize the way advertisers purchase advertisements online and how consumers are exposed to them.  The program (being release out of beta today) will group viewers into buckets based upon their past searching, tagging, commenting, and viewing activities.

One could ask if a user watches videos online that fit into their true interests or if they primarily watch pieces that are considered viral (have you seen the water skiing chipmunk?!)?  For YouTube this may be true, but Veoh offers the largest library of online TV resulting in more interest based viewership.  Veoh is even claiming that during beta the program’s ads preformed twice as well as the non-targeted versions.

It will be very interesting to see how this technology develops and what it does to Veoh’s position in the industry.

You know blogging has made it when….

…..people are staring to officially retire from it.  Public retirement announcements are usually focused on athletes, musicians, CEOs, and actors.  These announcements are also generally followed up by the “coming out of retirement” press conference (see: Brett Favre….TWICE).  The “coming out of retirement” press conference basically chalks up the intent to retire as being nothing but a marketing ploy.

Well today the blogger probably best known for marketing ploys, Jason Calacanis, officially retired from blogging.  He claims that it “came with a heavy heart” and “he will not return to blogging” and “he will replace it with a more intimate email list.”  Wow, maybe he called Brett before he made this announcement.

So do we think that this is a genuine retirement or is this simply a blogger getting in on the marketing power of retirement?  I am writing about it.  It is already working.  Any thoughts?

Note:  No Cheeseheads were harmed in the writing of this blog.

Google can now read Flash files. Sort of.

On Monday, Google announced that Googlebot can better index Flash files. But don’t go too crazy – Googlebot still has significant limitations when crawling Flash files. For example, if your website loads a Flash movie using JavaScript, you’re out of luck because, in the words of Google programmers, “Googlebot does not execute some types of JavaScript.”

Photographers, architects, and designers are particularly fond of all-Flash sites – and are often dismayed when SEO folks caution that the content of all-Flash sites is invisible to search engines. At Geary, we often recommend that clients build an HTML mirror of all content contained in the Flash – both for search engine spiders and for Web users who are blind or don’t have Flash enabled in their browsers.

However, this innovation – despite its significant limitations – could diminish the importance of building an HTML version of Flash sites or using other coding tricks to make Flash files readable to search engine spiders. It’s good news for those who love the slick, cinematic quality of Flash.

Google and Yahoo set to make a BIG announcement at 1:30 PST

A joint press conference is set between the top two search firms and speculation about the announcement is abuzz around the net. An insider at one of the companies is saying that they will be announcing an official search partnership and the departure of a top Yahoo! executive. The partnership will have Yahoo! outsourcing possible all of its search marketing (and maybe search) to Google.

What does this mean for the internet as we know it? Does Google really need control?

Any thoughts?

UPDATE: 3:26  Yahoo!  announces a non-exclusive online advertising agreement with Google

Are you Promoting or Diluting your Company Brand and Culture in the online space?

Do you have a Facebook profile? A MySpace page? A Twitter Account? A blog? A YouTube Channel? A personal Wiki?  Chances are that almost every person can answer yes to at least one of, if not all, of the previous questions.

The internet has become a haven for personal publishing and information sharing.  People freely offer opinions, ideas, photos, videos, likes, dislikes, and everything in-between.  However, how cautious are people about the lasting effect their information may have on the company they work for?

This question is something I ponder and am reminded of daily with the things I find online.  Using Twitter as an example, I follow roughly 125 people that are affiliated with SEO or Social Media Marketing.  Numerous people use this site to push out content they have written or are reading that help to show them as industry thought leaders.  When these type of people are free with their company affiliation this can positively effect how the industry views the person and their company.  Yet, some people are not as strategic with the information they share.  When people that associate themselves with their company tweet information about “giving the finger to a client” or “our blog is run by suits” or “my boss doesn’t know bleep” I have to question if these people really care about the work they are doing, who they are doing it for, or what external people think of them?  My opinion has been changed about numerous companies this way, be it fair or not.

To some extent, freedom of speech has to be protected and people should be able to post whatever type of content they please.  Yet, at some point common sense should kick in and say maybe I shouldn’t tell the world that “i hate ABC co-worker” in an open forum setting.

Does it seem fair to judge a company based upon the actions of the people who work there?  Can this really be patrolled?  Should it be?  What are your thoughts?

Microsoft, Google, Abundance, Scarcity.

Of course, there’s been a lot of discussion of Microsoft’s ‘cash rebate’ plan for search ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24760487/) over here at GearyI. A few comments in Kim’s innovation session down here in San Diego today made me ponder it’s wider implications. We were briefly discussing marketing cultures of scarcity vs. abundance. (i.e., the scarcity model says “there are (x) many customers, and we MUST COMPLETE LIKE CRAZY for them.” Abundance model says “customers come to great ideas – and the entire customer pie grows beyond expectation when we create a good ecosystem to attract them. We do not focus as much on competition as we do on creating great ideas that attract customers.”)

Now if that doesn’t sound like Microsoft and Google going at it, I’m not sure what does.

One interesting post in the blogsphere commenting on all this: machinist blog on salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/tech/machinist/blog/2008/05/23/microsoft_books_search/index.html

It’s an excellent example of the scarcity model (Microsoft) vs the abundance model (Google) at work. As Farhad points out – some monetary effects are less obvious than others. To paraphrase: “If you were a programmer, do you want to work for the visionary company . . . or the one who’s stated focus is their revenue goals?”

If markets are ecosystems, so are companies. And having goals that keep employees inspired – and attract ones with inspiration – is a competitive advantage. Believing that advantage translates to revenue? Well, that’s the whole abundance model, isn’t it? It goes a little outside the spreadsheet.

Sarah

Microhoo? How about Facesoft? Or Microhoobook?

The dealings of the Microsoft attempt(s) to purchase Yahoo! are considered old news.  Yahoo! wanted more money, Microsoft said no, and Microsoft eventually pulled its offer (much to the dismay of Yahoo! shareholders everywhere).  Seemed like a sailed ship……apparently not.

Microsoft and Yahoo! are now again in purchase discussions, but this time Microsoft is looking to just purchase Yahoo!’s Search business.  These new dealings are creating a great deal of speculation that Microsoft will purchase Yahoo! Search and then….buy Facebook!

O’ what a twisted WEB they weave.  What would these acquisitions mean for the web world?  Would this actually give Google something to worry about? I would love to hear some thoughts (and some clever new merger names).

Do you need search marketing in a recession?

Bankrate is a great illustration of the good that can come of maintaining budgets for organic and paid search marketing — even in a recession.

As the subprime crisis hit in the third quarter of 2007, Bankrate’s advertisers faced hard times.

Even during that difficult quarter, organic traffic accounted for 75% of Bankrate’s traffic. Meanwhile, paid search brought in 14% of traffic, and partner traffic brought in the remaining 11%.

In the face of the recession, Tom Evans, Bankrate’s CEO, didn’t just maintain his company’s search engine budget — he increased it. And he’s laughing all the way to the bank.

“We believe that organic traffic is less susceptible to competitive market dynamics, and is reflected in driving higher margins to our bottom line,” Evans explained. “Organic traffic continues to grow at double digits …[unique visits] for every single month this year have been higher than the same month last year.”

Furthermore, Evans remarked, “I think the reason we do so well in SEO is we have an enormous amount of content. We have an enormous amount of tools and calculators, and I think we have done a good job from SEO with, we have got literally millions of links into the site and out of the site, and I think that it really helps.”

In other words, rather than gaming the system, Evans recognizes the value of giving searchers — and search engines — lots of great content that naturally attracts incoming links. With its wealth of interactive content, Bankrate is in a great position to continue capturing a superior share of search traffic and qualified leads.

Even in a recession, sites like Bankrate can capture search engine marketing leads at a relatively low cost per acquisition. Realizing this fact is helping Bankrate survive and even thrive during the subprime crisis.

For more about Tom Evans’ take on the value of search engine marketing, visit SearchEngineWatch.