Huffington Post published an article from the Wall Street Journal listing the top 50 most common passwords people use. Get a little creative with your passwords and protect your email accounts, banking, and other important logins.
On Sunday, hackers exposed usernames and passwords stored in the Gawker Media user database.
The Wall Street Journal analyzed the leaked data and produced a list of the top 50 commonly used Gawker passwords. Believe it or not, the list is rife with security no-nos, such as ascending numbers and easy-to-guess words.
The following are the top 13 most popular passwords, according to WSJ's examination of the 188,279 passwords that were leaked:
1. 123456
2. password
3. 12345678
4. lifehack
5. qwerty
6. abc123
7. 111111
8. monkey
9. consumer
10. 12345
11. 0
12. letmein
13. trustno1
It is startling to note that over 3,000 users chose "123456" as their login password, according to the Journal. Almost as jarring: Nearly 2,000 people went with "password," and more than 1,000 users decided that "12345678" was a secure choice. The list also includes "gizmodo" (#19), "starwars" (#23), "f---you" (#31), "gawker" (#40) and "internet" (#50).
The hack has been affecting other websites: Twitter was hit by a spam attack that is believed to be linked to the Gawker hack. According to All Things D, "LinkedIn has temporarily disabled the accounts of any users whose email addresses turned up in the public database of hacked accounts. It's asking those users to reset their passwords." Given the simplicity of some of the most popular passwords, let's hope that nobody recycled these passwords for email or online bank accounts.
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
New Beach Volleyball Tour - The National Volleyball League
With the bankruptcy and selling of the AVP assets, it will be interesting to see who steps up to promote and manage Beach Volleyball Leagues around the US. USA Volleyball has stated they plan to run 4-6 events in 2011 (mainly on the West Coast) and The National Volleyball League (launched by Albert Hanneman, 18-year AVP Alumni) will launch in 2011 and run 3 events with expansion into 2012.
Press Release from The National Volleyball League
The NVL is proud to announce plans to produce three tournaments in 2011. They will include Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas!
We are in deep discussions with USAV and IMG to work directly with Beach Championship Series to enhance the number of quality events so that players can have a larger series of legitimate events to play in. USAV and IMG stepped up first and announced their 5 events. It is a great opportunity for the National Volleyball League to partner with the only known series for 2011 and work with IMG who is regarded as the best event company in the world. Our events will follow the BCS operational expertise and quality of execution to ensure that each tournament will be of the highest quality for players, fans, and our sponsors.
USAV will sanction National Volleyball League events as we have strategically picked our events in locations that are geographically complimentary to the BCS schedule allowing more of the country to experience pro beach volleyball. We are planning to host events in Miami, Atlanta, and Las Vegas in 2011 and at least double that number of events in 2012.
Having USAV's sanction and IMG's proven track record alongside valuable sponsors
immediately provides the National Volleyball League credibility in the fragile market
place left behind by the AVP. The fact is that volleyball is still very popular and
companies and cities are thrilled to have a fresh start and be involved with pro beach
volleyball. We will offer $150,000 prize money and set the same standards for player
services and concerns with identical referees and medical services so there is uniformity
across the board.
There are many more details about the National Volleyball League that we will announce shortly. Stay tuned!
Press Release from The National Volleyball League
The NVL is proud to announce plans to produce three tournaments in 2011. They will include Miami, Atlanta and Las Vegas!
We are in deep discussions with USAV and IMG to work directly with Beach Championship Series to enhance the number of quality events so that players can have a larger series of legitimate events to play in. USAV and IMG stepped up first and announced their 5 events. It is a great opportunity for the National Volleyball League to partner with the only known series for 2011 and work with IMG who is regarded as the best event company in the world. Our events will follow the BCS operational expertise and quality of execution to ensure that each tournament will be of the highest quality for players, fans, and our sponsors.
USAV will sanction National Volleyball League events as we have strategically picked our events in locations that are geographically complimentary to the BCS schedule allowing more of the country to experience pro beach volleyball. We are planning to host events in Miami, Atlanta, and Las Vegas in 2011 and at least double that number of events in 2012.
Having USAV's sanction and IMG's proven track record alongside valuable sponsors
immediately provides the National Volleyball League credibility in the fragile market
place left behind by the AVP. The fact is that volleyball is still very popular and
companies and cities are thrilled to have a fresh start and be involved with pro beach
volleyball. We will offer $150,000 prize money and set the same standards for player
services and concerns with identical referees and medical services so there is uniformity
across the board.
There are many more details about the National Volleyball League that we will announce shortly. Stay tuned!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Wikileaks forced to change domain and hosting
Since the site Wikileaks published over 250k US and International documents about the war in Afgasnistan and Iraq, Amazon.com (their hosting company) and their DNS provider have cancelled their contracts, forcing them to look for international hosting and DNS providers.
BBC
Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has been forced to change its web address after the company providing its domain name cut off service.
EveryDNS.net said it had terminated services because Wikileaks.org had come under massive cyber attacks.
But Wikileaks has already reappeared using a Swiss web address.
Wikileaks has also used the micro-blogging site Twitter to urge its fans to redistribute its "raw" net address so it can be viewed at any time.
This numerical internet protocol (IP) address remains live and accessible even when web domains - the normal "www" addresses used to access most sites - are unavailable.
More on BBC
BBC
Whistle-blowing website Wikileaks has been forced to change its web address after the company providing its domain name cut off service.
EveryDNS.net said it had terminated services because Wikileaks.org had come under massive cyber attacks.
But Wikileaks has already reappeared using a Swiss web address.
Wikileaks has also used the micro-blogging site Twitter to urge its fans to redistribute its "raw" net address so it can be viewed at any time.
This numerical internet protocol (IP) address remains live and accessible even when web domains - the normal "www" addresses used to access most sites - are unavailable.
More on BBC
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Google to Buy Groupon for $6 Billion
The Wall Street Journal published an article about Google in discussions with Groupon to purchase them for $6 Billion with a buy out of $700 million. That's 2x the $3 Billion valuation given to Groupon earlier this year.
From WSJ.com
Google Inc. has been in talks to buy Groupon Inc., a fast-growing website offering daily deals at businesses in the U.S. and abroad, according to a person familiar with the matter.
No deal is imminent between Google and Groupon, said people familiar with the matter. One of these people said that other parties recently offered to finance Groupon at a valuation of more than $3 billion.
Spokespeople for Google and Groupon declined to comment. The website All Things D earlier reported that Google has offered $5.3 billion for Groupon, with a $700 million earnout. News Corp. owns All Things D and The Wall Street Journal.
A deal to buy Groupon would boost Google's position in the race to win local business-ad dollars online, an area coveted by other large Web companies including Facebook Inc.
A deal between Google and Groupon likely would also eclipse Google's $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick in 2007—its largest to date—which has since helped the Internet search giant in its push in the market for online graphical ads, among other things.
From WSJ.com
Google Inc. has been in talks to buy Groupon Inc., a fast-growing website offering daily deals at businesses in the U.S. and abroad, according to a person familiar with the matter.
No deal is imminent between Google and Groupon, said people familiar with the matter. One of these people said that other parties recently offered to finance Groupon at a valuation of more than $3 billion.
Spokespeople for Google and Groupon declined to comment. The website All Things D earlier reported that Google has offered $5.3 billion for Groupon, with a $700 million earnout. News Corp. owns All Things D and The Wall Street Journal.
A deal to buy Groupon would boost Google's position in the race to win local business-ad dollars online, an area coveted by other large Web companies including Facebook Inc.
A deal between Google and Groupon likely would also eclipse Google's $3.1 billion purchase of DoubleClick in 2007—its largest to date—which has since helped the Internet search giant in its push in the market for online graphical ads, among other things.
Monday, October 18, 2010
What Companies Own the Smaller Well Known Brands
Yahoo and TheStreet.com published an article today listing various niche (mom and pop)brands that are now owned by major corporations. Here is a quick list of the brands and their parent companies.
Seattle's Best Coffee owned by Starbucks (Purchased 2003)
Boddington's owned by Bud maker Anheuser-Busch Inbev
Tom's of Maine owned by Colgate-Palmolive
Kashi owned by Kellogg
Nantucket Nectars owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group
Stonyfield Farm owned by Groupe Danone (2001)
Schwinn (Bicycles) owned by Dorel Industries (2001/2002)
Ben & Jerry's owned by Unilever
Stowe Mountain Resort owned by AIG (Yes, the same AIG that was bailed out with US tax dollars of $47.5 billion!)
Full Article
Seattle's Best Coffee owned by Starbucks (Purchased 2003)
Boddington's owned by Bud maker Anheuser-Busch Inbev
Tom's of Maine owned by Colgate-Palmolive
Kashi owned by Kellogg
Nantucket Nectars owned by Dr. Pepper Snapple Group
Stonyfield Farm owned by Groupe Danone (2001)
Schwinn (Bicycles) owned by Dorel Industries (2001/2002)
Ben & Jerry's owned by Unilever
Stowe Mountain Resort owned by AIG (Yes, the same AIG that was bailed out with US tax dollars of $47.5 billion!)
Full Article
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Top 30 SEO Tips for Website Optimization
Socialh.com has come up with a quick list of the top 30 things to consider for SEO website optimization. The list is basic but extensive for either a website or blog owner.
SEO Tips for Web Designing is a list of items for every web designers to check while designing their websites to keep the web pages optimized for search engines and achieve high ranking in major search engines.
Domain Name
Your domain name should be brandable (example: Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, etc.), easy to say, and even easier to remember. Don't worry too much about stuffing keywords into your domain name. Keywords in domain names no longer have the punch they used to.
www or not www
The choice is yours, http://www.yoursite.com/ or http://yoursite.com/, pick one and stick with it. I recommend using the www because the basic Joe Schmoe Web server tends to type in www, anyway.
Simple Design
Don't reinvent the wheel. If your design is complex, chances are it will hinder your visitors' ability to navigate and view the site plus it will slow down development. The simpler the better.
Don't create directories further than three levels down from the root directory
The closer pages are to the home page in the directory structure the better. Keep things organized but don't overorganize. If you have one file or sub-directory in a directory there should be a VERY valid reason.
File/Directory Names Using Keywords
Your filenames and directory names should contain keywords. If your page is about Design Tips then the filename should be design-tips.
Static URLs
Static URLs are URLs that are not dynamically generated. A static URL looks like You can make dynamic URLs spiderable by search engines but it's a lot easier to get things indexed with static URLs.
Think Small
The smaller your Web pages are, the faster they load. A single page should be less than 15K (unless absolutely necessary) and the entire page including graphics should be less than 50K (unless absolutely necessary). Remember, not everyone is on a high-speed Internet connection; there are still people without a 56K modem.
Hyphens
Use hyphens ( - ) and not underscores ( _ ) to separate words in directory and file names. Most search engines parse a hyphen like a reader would parse a space. Using underscores makes what_would_you_do look like whatwouldyoudo to most search engines. You should definitely separate words in your URLs.
Navigation on Every Page
You should place consistent navigation on every page of your Web site. Your navigation should link to the major sections of your Web site. It would also make sense for every page on your Web site to link back to the home page.
Site Map
You should create a site map that links to the major sections and sub-sections of your Web site. The site map should be linked to from your Web site's home page at the very least. Preferably the site map should be linked to from every page. Recommend file names for your site map are "sitemap.html" or "site-map.html."
Title
The title of the page should be used in the TITLE tag and at the top of every page. The title should be keyword rich (containing a max of 7 to 10 words) and descriptive.
Description META Tag
Some people say META tags are dead but some search engines will actually use them underneath a pages title on search engine result pages (SERPs). Use no more than 150 characters including spaces and punctuation. Your description should be a keyword rich, complete sentence.
Keyword META Tag
A listing of keywords that appear in the page. Use a space to separate keywords (not a comma). Arrange keywords how they would be searched for or as close to a complete sentence as possible. This tag is basically dead but by creating it when you create the page it allows you to come back eons later and realize what keywords you were specifically targetting. If the keyword doesn't appear at least twice in the page then it shouldn't go in the Keyword META Tag. Also, try to limit the number of total keywords to under twenty.
Robots META Tag
Some search engine crawlers abide by the Robots META Tag. This gives you some control over what appears in a search engine and what doesn't. This isn't an essential aspect of search engine optimization but it doesn't hurt to add it in.
Heading Tags
Heading tags should be used wherever possible and should be structured appropriately (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6). You shouldn't start a page with an H2 tag. If H1 by default is too big then use CSS to style it effectively. Remember that most search engines like to see a heading tag then text or graphics; not H1 followed immediately by H2.
TITLE Attribute
Use the A HREF TITLE attribute (example: ). The TITLE attribute improves usability/accessibility. Be sure to include keywords as you see fit but remember it should tell your visitors where they will go when they click the link.
ALT Tags
Every image should have an ALT tag. Use a keyword rich description of what the image is. If the image contains text use the text in the image. This is also a usability/accessibility tool.
More text than HTML
A page should have more text content than markup language.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text used to link to a page. Using keywords in anchor text is a very good idea and will improve a page's performance in SERPs.
Use Text Links, Not Images
If you're going to link to something use text. Text in images can't be read by search engines. The only time this rule doesn't apply is when you're linking to something with a well known logo. Even then it's still better to use a text link. If you must use an image as a link then make sure you give it a good ALT tag.
Gobs of Content
The more content, the better. Having pages upon pages of original, relevant content is the best form of search engine optimization.
Add New Content Often
If you can add a new page of content every day then your site will stay fresh and give search engine crawlers a reason to keep coming back day in and day out.
Keyword Density
This is a touchy topic among Web developers and search engine optimizers. Some say 5% is more than enough. Chris Short says your main keywords shouldn't have a density of more than 30% and should be higher than the densities of other phrases and words.
Build It, Put It Online
Your site should be built and in "update mode" once it's uploaded to your Web server. Don't add a page at a time to your Web server when you're first building your Web site. Build your Web site first then upload it. Add new content as needed.
Use a robots.txt File
Every good crawler looks for a robots.txt file in your root directory. I would highly recommend creating a valid robots.txt just to appease these search engines and at the very least eliminate 404 errors from building up in your log files.
Validation
Every page on your Web site should adhere to W3C standards as closely as possible. Some say page validation can help your ranking in SERPs (the jury is still out on that one). But, standards compliant Web pages do help with cross browser compatibility.
Link Popularity
Once your Web site has been well established, it's time to build up your link popularity. The more relevant inbound links a Web site has, the better its rankings will be.
Analyze Traffic
Read your log files often. Make sure you're not getting traffic you don't want and getting traffic you do want. Keeping a pulse on your traffic allows you to better optimize your pages.
NO TRICKS
If it doesn't seem ethical, then it isn't a good idea. If it doesn't help your visitors, then don't do it.
NO FRAMES
Don't use frames, ever.
NO BROKEN LINKS
Linking to pages that don't exist is a very bad thing. Search engines and people alike hate that.
SEO Tips for Web Designing is a list of items for every web designers to check while designing their websites to keep the web pages optimized for search engines and achieve high ranking in major search engines.
Domain Name
Your domain name should be brandable (example: Google, Amazon, Yahoo!, etc.), easy to say, and even easier to remember. Don't worry too much about stuffing keywords into your domain name. Keywords in domain names no longer have the punch they used to.
www or not www
The choice is yours, http://www.yoursite.com/ or http://yoursite.com/, pick one and stick with it. I recommend using the www because the basic Joe Schmoe Web server tends to type in www, anyway.
Simple Design
Don't reinvent the wheel. If your design is complex, chances are it will hinder your visitors' ability to navigate and view the site plus it will slow down development. The simpler the better.
Don't create directories further than three levels down from the root directory
The closer pages are to the home page in the directory structure the better. Keep things organized but don't overorganize. If you have one file or sub-directory in a directory there should be a VERY valid reason.
File/Directory Names Using Keywords
Your filenames and directory names should contain keywords. If your page is about Design Tips then the filename should be design-tips.
Static URLs
Static URLs are URLs that are not dynamically generated. A static URL looks like You can make dynamic URLs spiderable by search engines but it's a lot easier to get things indexed with static URLs.
Think Small
The smaller your Web pages are, the faster they load. A single page should be less than 15K (unless absolutely necessary) and the entire page including graphics should be less than 50K (unless absolutely necessary). Remember, not everyone is on a high-speed Internet connection; there are still people without a 56K modem.
Hyphens
Use hyphens ( - ) and not underscores ( _ ) to separate words in directory and file names. Most search engines parse a hyphen like a reader would parse a space. Using underscores makes what_would_you_do look like whatwouldyoudo to most search engines. You should definitely separate words in your URLs.
Navigation on Every Page
You should place consistent navigation on every page of your Web site. Your navigation should link to the major sections of your Web site. It would also make sense for every page on your Web site to link back to the home page.
Site Map
You should create a site map that links to the major sections and sub-sections of your Web site. The site map should be linked to from your Web site's home page at the very least. Preferably the site map should be linked to from every page. Recommend file names for your site map are "sitemap.html" or "site-map.html."
Title
The title of the page should be used in the TITLE tag and at the top of every page. The title should be keyword rich (containing a max of 7 to 10 words) and descriptive.
Description META Tag
Some people say META tags are dead but some search engines will actually use them underneath a pages title on search engine result pages (SERPs). Use no more than 150 characters including spaces and punctuation. Your description should be a keyword rich, complete sentence.
Keyword META Tag
A listing of keywords that appear in the page. Use a space to separate keywords (not a comma). Arrange keywords how they would be searched for or as close to a complete sentence as possible. This tag is basically dead but by creating it when you create the page it allows you to come back eons later and realize what keywords you were specifically targetting. If the keyword doesn't appear at least twice in the page then it shouldn't go in the Keyword META Tag. Also, try to limit the number of total keywords to under twenty.
Robots META Tag
Some search engine crawlers abide by the Robots META Tag. This gives you some control over what appears in a search engine and what doesn't. This isn't an essential aspect of search engine optimization but it doesn't hurt to add it in.
Heading Tags
Heading tags should be used wherever possible and should be structured appropriately (H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H6). You shouldn't start a page with an H2 tag. If H1 by default is too big then use CSS to style it effectively. Remember that most search engines like to see a heading tag then text or graphics; not H1 followed immediately by H2.
TITLE Attribute
Use the A HREF TITLE attribute (example: ). The TITLE attribute improves usability/accessibility. Be sure to include keywords as you see fit but remember it should tell your visitors where they will go when they click the link.
ALT Tags
Every image should have an ALT tag. Use a keyword rich description of what the image is. If the image contains text use the text in the image. This is also a usability/accessibility tool.
More text than HTML
A page should have more text content than markup language.
Anchor Text
Anchor text is the text used to link to a page. Using keywords in anchor text is a very good idea and will improve a page's performance in SERPs.
Use Text Links, Not Images
If you're going to link to something use text. Text in images can't be read by search engines. The only time this rule doesn't apply is when you're linking to something with a well known logo. Even then it's still better to use a text link. If you must use an image as a link then make sure you give it a good ALT tag.
Gobs of Content
The more content, the better. Having pages upon pages of original, relevant content is the best form of search engine optimization.
Add New Content Often
If you can add a new page of content every day then your site will stay fresh and give search engine crawlers a reason to keep coming back day in and day out.
Keyword Density
This is a touchy topic among Web developers and search engine optimizers. Some say 5% is more than enough. Chris Short says your main keywords shouldn't have a density of more than 30% and should be higher than the densities of other phrases and words.
Build It, Put It Online
Your site should be built and in "update mode" once it's uploaded to your Web server. Don't add a page at a time to your Web server when you're first building your Web site. Build your Web site first then upload it. Add new content as needed.
Use a robots.txt File
Every good crawler looks for a robots.txt file in your root directory. I would highly recommend creating a valid robots.txt just to appease these search engines and at the very least eliminate 404 errors from building up in your log files.
Validation
Every page on your Web site should adhere to W3C standards as closely as possible. Some say page validation can help your ranking in SERPs (the jury is still out on that one). But, standards compliant Web pages do help with cross browser compatibility.
Link Popularity
Once your Web site has been well established, it's time to build up your link popularity. The more relevant inbound links a Web site has, the better its rankings will be.
Analyze Traffic
Read your log files often. Make sure you're not getting traffic you don't want and getting traffic you do want. Keeping a pulse on your traffic allows you to better optimize your pages.
NO TRICKS
If it doesn't seem ethical, then it isn't a good idea. If it doesn't help your visitors, then don't do it.
NO FRAMES
Don't use frames, ever.
NO BROKEN LINKS
Linking to pages that don't exist is a very bad thing. Search engines and people alike hate that.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
Boston JOB OPENING - Online Marketing AD Traffic Position - JR Role
A local recruiter contacted me about an online marketing ad trafficker position in Boston and please contact me if you are interested in the position and I can connect you to the appropriate person.
Online Marketing AD Traffic Position
We are looking for a motivated, organized and energetic Ad Trafficker to join our growing team of online ad traffickers in our office. This position will report directly to the Director of Advertising Operations. The successful candidate must be a smart, energetic, organized ad operations professional. S/he must possess excellent problem solving skills, be detail oriented and have the ability to multitask in a fast paced and challenging work environment. S/he must have a working knowledge of both ad serving back-end and front-end systems, be a team player and have a positive attitude and upbeat spirit
The Ad Trafficker is responsible for the delivery of the following critical tasks.
. The trafficking and monitoring of online advertising campaigns across the company network, including creative upload, creative testing and troubleshooting, parameter set up, optimization and any applicable edits.
. Extracting delivery reports from the third party application to ensure proper tracking and on delivery
. Insuring all campaign goals are met including start and end dates, impressions delivery, and any associated actions.
. Working with advertisers and sales staff to insure timely delivery of all creative materials and their compliance with site ad guidelines and specs. Assist staff directly by helping to resolve technical problems and answer questions on creative materials.
. Performing QA on complex flash, rich media and video creative and associated code.
Contact Information: Jonah at Q4marketing.com
Online Marketing AD Traffic Position
We are looking for a motivated, organized and energetic Ad Trafficker to join our growing team of online ad traffickers in our office. This position will report directly to the Director of Advertising Operations. The successful candidate must be a smart, energetic, organized ad operations professional. S/he must possess excellent problem solving skills, be detail oriented and have the ability to multitask in a fast paced and challenging work environment. S/he must have a working knowledge of both ad serving back-end and front-end systems, be a team player and have a positive attitude and upbeat spirit
The Ad Trafficker is responsible for the delivery of the following critical tasks.
. The trafficking and monitoring of online advertising campaigns across the company network, including creative upload, creative testing and troubleshooting, parameter set up, optimization and any applicable edits.
. Extracting delivery reports from the third party application to ensure proper tracking and on delivery
. Insuring all campaign goals are met including start and end dates, impressions delivery, and any associated actions.
. Working with advertisers and sales staff to insure timely delivery of all creative materials and their compliance with site ad guidelines and specs. Assist staff directly by helping to resolve technical problems and answer questions on creative materials.
. Performing QA on complex flash, rich media and video creative and associated code.
Contact Information: Jonah at Q4marketing.com
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
YAHOO and BING Partnership - 100% Organic Live
Search senior vice president Shashi Seth announced last week that a key milestone in the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance has been achieved: Bing now powers 100 percent of Yahoo's organic (or natural) search results. Apparently this is the case now for both the desktop product and mobile.
"Yahoo! Web, Image, and Video search experiences on both desktop and mobile devices are now powered by the Microsoft platform in the US and Canada (English), with more markets to come," said Seth. "The speed in which this was completed is a testament to the great work and partnership between a number of Yahoo! and Microsoft employees, the ranks of which are numerous."
Earlier this month, Yahoo! and Microsoft representatives reported that the transition was underway and that just about 25 percent of Yahoo's natural search results and about three percent of paid search results were, at that point, powered by Bing. They had set as early October the complete transition for both aspects of search, so completing the organic piece of the integration just a few weeks later is testament to the speed with which the joint team is executing.
There has been significant concern among search marketing professionals that the integration of the two platforms might not be completed in time for the all-important holiday season, so achievement of this first milestone will come as some relief to all concerned.
"We continue to work hard on the migration to adCenter, and are optimistic about completing this phase later this fall," said Satya Nadella, senior vice president, online services division at Microsof. "As we have said all along, our primary goal is to provide advertisers with a quality transition experience in 2010, while being mindful of the holiday season."
"Yahoo! Web, Image, and Video search experiences on both desktop and mobile devices are now powered by the Microsoft platform in the US and Canada (English), with more markets to come," said Seth. "The speed in which this was completed is a testament to the great work and partnership between a number of Yahoo! and Microsoft employees, the ranks of which are numerous."
Earlier this month, Yahoo! and Microsoft representatives reported that the transition was underway and that just about 25 percent of Yahoo's natural search results and about three percent of paid search results were, at that point, powered by Bing. They had set as early October the complete transition for both aspects of search, so completing the organic piece of the integration just a few weeks later is testament to the speed with which the joint team is executing.
There has been significant concern among search marketing professionals that the integration of the two platforms might not be completed in time for the all-important holiday season, so achievement of this first milestone will come as some relief to all concerned.
"We continue to work hard on the migration to adCenter, and are optimistic about completing this phase later this fall," said Satya Nadella, senior vice president, online services division at Microsof. "As we have said all along, our primary goal is to provide advertisers with a quality transition experience in 2010, while being mindful of the holiday season."
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Facebook buys a $10 million search company
Facebook has acquired online search company Chai Labs for $10 million, in one of the social networking site's more confusing buyout deals to date.
Chai Labs is a relatively new start-up that specializes in a technology
it calls "Semantic Search," which "uses proprietary crawling, artificial intelligence and data mining technologies to analyze and extract insights from millions of real-time data points across the web," according to the company's website.
Unlike when it has snatched up online sharing sites or Web-based image-hosting companies, Facebook's purchase of Chai Labs does not have an immediately apparent value to users. While Facebook
does have a built-in search engine that lets users search the entire Internet (which is basically just an embedded Bing engine), the number of people who actually use Facebook as their online search engine is probably staggeringly low.
Although, we do have to admit that even searching within Facebook is a big annoying at times. When I try to search for a friend of mine and it brings up a completely unrelated "fan page," I can't help but feel a bit peeved.
Still, buying a sophisticated Web search firm for $10 million means Facebook obviously has something up its sleeve beyond just improving internal site searching. It gives credence to the notion that perhaps Facebook wants to become your predominant search engine, meaning you won't even have to step out of your social networking climate to go buy that book you've been meaning to get. That's of course just speculation at this point.
And given that Chai Labs was founded in part by a former Google executive, you know that Google is going to be discussing this acquisition, which is one of Facebook's biggest to date
TGDAILY.com
Chai Labs is a relatively new start-up that specializes in a technology
it calls "Semantic Search," which "uses proprietary crawling, artificial intelligence and data mining technologies to analyze and extract insights from millions of real-time data points across the web," according to the company's website.
Unlike when it has snatched up online sharing sites or Web-based image-hosting companies, Facebook's purchase of Chai Labs does not have an immediately apparent value to users. While Facebook
does have a built-in search engine that lets users search the entire Internet (which is basically just an embedded Bing engine), the number of people who actually use Facebook as their online search engine is probably staggeringly low.
Although, we do have to admit that even searching within Facebook is a big annoying at times. When I try to search for a friend of mine and it brings up a completely unrelated "fan page," I can't help but feel a bit peeved.
Still, buying a sophisticated Web search firm for $10 million means Facebook obviously has something up its sleeve beyond just improving internal site searching. It gives credence to the notion that perhaps Facebook wants to become your predominant search engine, meaning you won't even have to step out of your social networking climate to go buy that book you've been meaning to get. That's of course just speculation at this point.
And given that Chai Labs was founded in part by a former Google executive, you know that Google is going to be discussing this acquisition, which is one of Facebook's biggest to date
TGDAILY.com
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Blogging Top 7 To-Do List
Copyblogger.com wrote a good online marketing article about how to engage users and build a "kick @ss" blog. Blogs are about engaging a user and the content and remember that you can blog about anything you want but make sure the information is relavant, informaitonal, and make it fun.
Copyblogger Blog Top 7 To-Do's
1. Have a conversation- People don’t like to be lectured or talked down to. They just like to talk.
2. Lighten up- You don’t have to tell jokes, but it’s smart to keep things light-hearted.back.3. Be yourself- After all, people are not coming to your blog just to acquire knowledge. They’re dropping by to visit you.
4. Be nice- Don’t be a diva. Answer your emails. Respond to comments.5. Get over yourself- When you think about it, blogs are really kind of egotistical.
6. Help people- Isn’t this the whole point of a blog, especially one that’s wildly popular?7. Stop trying so hard
Complete Article at Copyblogger.com
Copyblogger Blog Top 7 To-Do's
1. Have a conversation- People don’t like to be lectured or talked down to. They just like to talk.
2. Lighten up- You don’t have to tell jokes, but it’s smart to keep things light-hearted.back.3. Be yourself- After all, people are not coming to your blog just to acquire knowledge. They’re dropping by to visit you.
4. Be nice- Don’t be a diva. Answer your emails. Respond to comments.5. Get over yourself- When you think about it, blogs are really kind of egotistical.
6. Help people- Isn’t this the whole point of a blog, especially one that’s wildly popular?7. Stop trying so hard
Complete Article at Copyblogger.com
Monday, July 19, 2010
Boston Beach Volleyball Championships
The Boston Beach Volleyball championships will be held at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday on a private beach behind the M Street entrance to the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston.
Two months of action has resulted in four men’s teams and six women’s teams preparing to do battle for a chance to win $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago and try to earn a spot in a qualifying tournament for the AVP Beach Volleyball Tour Chicago Championship.
The men’s draw features three teams at the top that tied with 17 wins apiece, led by the experienced duo of Chad Jones and Robert Brennan, who go by the name of Chad & Booh. Jonah Mytro and Craig Martin went 2-1 during the league’s final regular-season games Wednesday to jump up from fourth place. Phil St. Pierre and David Bergman (Popeye & Badger) also held firm.
Squarely on the bubble, the local tandem of Matt Luksa and Rob Kane (Big Man & Big Rob) made the biggest move, winning all three games Wednesday to slide into the last spot.
“Any of the four can do it if they get hot,” Luksa said. “Seedings are important but anyone can win it. We’d love to be the ones to go.”
On the women’s side, the defending champions from last year’s Newport, R.I. event - Kimberly Hyde and Nicole Brehaut (Kim & Nik) - went 19-5 to claim the top seed. Right behind them are WHO DAT!?!, composed of Jessica Bensley and Jamee Stimson. Both teams earned byes for the first round.
In the quarterfinals, third-seeded Marriah Vengroff-Butts and Robin Young take on Karen Simpson and Nicole Salisbury (Shank You) while fourth-seeded Lindsay Marshall and Danielle Rogers face Nic & Heather - Nicolle Becker and Heather Larson - in the other matchup.
“Nik and Kim are a really strong team with a lot of experience,” Young said. “They definitely have a target on them. But the competition here is a high enough level that, across the board, anyone could beat you on a given day so you always have to bring your A game.”
Two months of action has resulted in four men’s teams and six women’s teams preparing to do battle for a chance to win $1,000 and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago and try to earn a spot in a qualifying tournament for the AVP Beach Volleyball Tour Chicago Championship.
The men’s draw features three teams at the top that tied with 17 wins apiece, led by the experienced duo of Chad Jones and Robert Brennan, who go by the name of Chad & Booh. Jonah Mytro and Craig Martin went 2-1 during the league’s final regular-season games Wednesday to jump up from fourth place. Phil St. Pierre and David Bergman (Popeye & Badger) also held firm.
Squarely on the bubble, the local tandem of Matt Luksa and Rob Kane (Big Man & Big Rob) made the biggest move, winning all three games Wednesday to slide into the last spot.
“Any of the four can do it if they get hot,” Luksa said. “Seedings are important but anyone can win it. We’d love to be the ones to go.”
On the women’s side, the defending champions from last year’s Newport, R.I. event - Kimberly Hyde and Nicole Brehaut (Kim & Nik) - went 19-5 to claim the top seed. Right behind them are WHO DAT!?!, composed of Jessica Bensley and Jamee Stimson. Both teams earned byes for the first round.
In the quarterfinals, third-seeded Marriah Vengroff-Butts and Robin Young take on Karen Simpson and Nicole Salisbury (Shank You) while fourth-seeded Lindsay Marshall and Danielle Rogers face Nic & Heather - Nicolle Becker and Heather Larson - in the other matchup.
“Nik and Kim are a really strong team with a lot of experience,” Young said. “They definitely have a target on them. But the competition here is a high enough level that, across the board, anyone could beat you on a given day so you always have to bring your A game.”
Boston Beach Volleyball Featured in BostonHerald.com
The sport of beach volleyball in Boston is on the verge of getting a level of national exposure previously reserved in New England for Newport, R.I.
Each Wednesday night since May, eight teams of men and 12 teams of women have been battling it out in the sand on a private beach behind the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston for more than just bragging rights.
The regular season now is complete, and Wednesday night (5:30 p.m. at the M Street entrance to the building), those tandems fortunate enough to have made the playoffs will be competing for a $1,000 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago for a chance to qualify for the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) nationally televised Chicago Tour Championship on Aug. 29.
“This is the first time anything like this has been run in Boston for beach volleyball,” said Jonah Mytro, who is part of one of the teams competing for the prize.
Michelle DiChiara, who lives in Southie, is the founder of Boston Beach Volleyball and has been striving both as a player and coach to help grow the sport locally for the better part of the last 10 years. She was contacted by the AVP in January about getting the league to join with 13 others from around the country to hold qualifiers for the Chicago tournament as part of the AVP Next series.
Along with the AVP came a sponsor in the form of Barefoot Wine, but the tie-in made it difficult for DiChiara to secure a place to play. State law prohibits any league associated with an alcohol company from playing in a public place. However, the city of Boston has no such restrictions, so it was simply a matter of finding a private beach on which to play.
Complicating matters even further, DiChiara’s father, James, died in March. Sick of wading through red tape while also grieving, she was ready to throw in the towel. Then, as though her father somehow pulled strings from above, DiChiara found her angel in former NHL player Fred Ahern, who runs the Curley Recreation Center. Ahern helped her secure the necessary permits and gave the league a place to play at L Street Beach.
“A week after the funeral, Fred called and told me we had the permit and a place to play,” DiChiara said. “It was such a relief.”
DiChiara coordinates the women’s league and also runs the Boston Beach Volleyball website. Mytro serves as the men’s coordinator and worked to promote the league and get teams to sign up. Their hard work has not gone unnoticed by the players.
“Its nice to have the organization behind it,” said Matt Luksa, who played club volleyball at Northeastern. “To have people that put their own free time on the line to organize this, work with the AVP, work with getting everything set up for us, keeping tabs on who is playing who, the scores, and answering everyone’s needs has been amazing.”
It did not take long for local players, tired of having to trek to Newport and other faraway destinations for competitive beach volleyball, to sign up. The league drew enough interest that numerous teams were wait-listed for both leagues. The ability to play close to home was as big an attraction as the chance to qualify for the AVP event.
“This is the first time something like this has come to Boston, so it was exciting to have it where we live,” said Jessica Bensley of Somerville. “It’s the only place in New England that they have this particular league and it’s exciting that you have a chance to go to Chicago and actually get a chance to play on the AVP Tour.”
Added Newton’s Marriah Vengroff-Butts, “It’s been really fun to play at a high level and take the T to get here. We know almost everyone here so it’s like a friendly competition and it’s really convenient.”
Complete Article
Each Wednesday night since May, eight teams of men and 12 teams of women have been battling it out in the sand on a private beach behind the L Street Bathhouse in South Boston for more than just bragging rights.
The regular season now is complete, and Wednesday night (5:30 p.m. at the M Street entrance to the building), those tandems fortunate enough to have made the playoffs will be competing for a $1,000 cash prize and an all-expenses-paid trip to Chicago for a chance to qualify for the Association of Volleyball Professionals (AVP) nationally televised Chicago Tour Championship on Aug. 29.
“This is the first time anything like this has been run in Boston for beach volleyball,” said Jonah Mytro, who is part of one of the teams competing for the prize.
Michelle DiChiara, who lives in Southie, is the founder of Boston Beach Volleyball and has been striving both as a player and coach to help grow the sport locally for the better part of the last 10 years. She was contacted by the AVP in January about getting the league to join with 13 others from around the country to hold qualifiers for the Chicago tournament as part of the AVP Next series.
Along with the AVP came a sponsor in the form of Barefoot Wine, but the tie-in made it difficult for DiChiara to secure a place to play. State law prohibits any league associated with an alcohol company from playing in a public place. However, the city of Boston has no such restrictions, so it was simply a matter of finding a private beach on which to play.
Complicating matters even further, DiChiara’s father, James, died in March. Sick of wading through red tape while also grieving, she was ready to throw in the towel. Then, as though her father somehow pulled strings from above, DiChiara found her angel in former NHL player Fred Ahern, who runs the Curley Recreation Center. Ahern helped her secure the necessary permits and gave the league a place to play at L Street Beach.
“A week after the funeral, Fred called and told me we had the permit and a place to play,” DiChiara said. “It was such a relief.”
DiChiara coordinates the women’s league and also runs the Boston Beach Volleyball website. Mytro serves as the men’s coordinator and worked to promote the league and get teams to sign up. Their hard work has not gone unnoticed by the players.
“Its nice to have the organization behind it,” said Matt Luksa, who played club volleyball at Northeastern. “To have people that put their own free time on the line to organize this, work with the AVP, work with getting everything set up for us, keeping tabs on who is playing who, the scores, and answering everyone’s needs has been amazing.”
It did not take long for local players, tired of having to trek to Newport and other faraway destinations for competitive beach volleyball, to sign up. The league drew enough interest that numerous teams were wait-listed for both leagues. The ability to play close to home was as big an attraction as the chance to qualify for the AVP event.
“This is the first time something like this has come to Boston, so it was exciting to have it where we live,” said Jessica Bensley of Somerville. “It’s the only place in New England that they have this particular league and it’s exciting that you have a chance to go to Chicago and actually get a chance to play on the AVP Tour.”
Added Newton’s Marriah Vengroff-Butts, “It’s been really fun to play at a high level and take the T to get here. We know almost everyone here so it’s like a friendly competition and it’s really convenient.”
Complete Article
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Search Marketers Top 5
There’s a reason why search advertising revenues in 2009 ($10.7 billion) accounted for almost half of total interactive advertising spend, according to the IAB’s most recent Internet Advertising Report. It can be a wildly successful medium – we’ve all seen ample evidence of that. It can also be time consuming, frustrating and downright confusing. This can make search marketers hesitant about expanding their efforts beyond the big search engines to include campaigns on Tier 2 search networks.
While these concerns are not unfounded, dismissing the value of the Tier 2 players can be a costly mistake – there’s a wealth of diverse traffic sources beyond what the major engines provide, and savvy advertisers understand that capitalizing on that additional traffic can take their search marketing efforts to the next level. With that being said, advertisers need to know what to look for and what questions to ask when vetting new Tier 2 search advertising partners. Here’s a helpful list of things for search marketers to be aware of when evaluating which providers might be a good fit.
1. Experience: New ad networks are popping up all of the time – some of them are reputable and trustworthy, while others are known for making unsubstantiated claims about traffic quality and ROI. Make sure the network you are considering has proven successful for other advertisers before you consider starting an account.
ASK:
* How long have you been in business?
* Do you have any case studies/testimonials/customer references you can share?
2. Volume: Most search marketers have limited time on their hands. Managing campaigns on the large engines takes time, and in order to justify starting a relationship with an additional vendor, advertisers need to make sure it’s going to be worth their while. Syndicated Tier 2 networks can aggregate thousands of incremental traffic sources together, making the move into the network realm more efficient.
ASK:
* How many queries do you process per day?
* Can you provide me with a traffic estimate for my keywords to help determine the kind of volume I might receive?
3. Platform Capabilities: It’s crucial that the networks you choose to work with have the targeting and tracking capabilities to meet your campaign goals.
ASK:
* Do you offer the following?
o Conversion Tracking: What kind of conversion tracking do you offer? What kind of visibility will I have into the traffic sources that are converting for me? How will the optimization process work?
o Geo-targeting: Will I be able to target my ads by location? How specific can I get with my geo-targeting (country, state, city, zip)?
o Day Parting: Can I schedule my ads to appear only during certain times of day (e.g. during my business hours)?
4. Safeguards for Network Quality: Click validity is an issue for the search advertising industry at large, and networks are certainly not exempt from that. Advertisers need to make sure search providers have processes, tools and partnerships in place to help ensure click quality and protect against invalid traffic.
ASK:
* Do you filter invalid traffic? If so, how?
* What kind of screening takes place before you add a new distribution partner to your network?
* Do you work with any 3rd parties, such as Anchor Intelligence and Click Forensics, to help ensure traffic quality?
5. Service: Lastly, advertisers need to make sure the search provider they are evaluating has the customer support to help them reach their campaign goals.
ASK:
* Do you offer account management services?
* Do you have a customer support line? Does a real person field those calls to answer questions and offer guidance?
Search networks can be a profitable avenue through which advertisers and search marketers can expand their PPC campaigns and drive results. It is imperative, however, that advertisers be cognizant of the above issues when choosing new partners. Asking questions ahead of time and testing new providers before moving full steam ahead are important keys to success.
Provided by Search Marketing Standard
While these concerns are not unfounded, dismissing the value of the Tier 2 players can be a costly mistake – there’s a wealth of diverse traffic sources beyond what the major engines provide, and savvy advertisers understand that capitalizing on that additional traffic can take their search marketing efforts to the next level. With that being said, advertisers need to know what to look for and what questions to ask when vetting new Tier 2 search advertising partners. Here’s a helpful list of things for search marketers to be aware of when evaluating which providers might be a good fit.
1. Experience: New ad networks are popping up all of the time – some of them are reputable and trustworthy, while others are known for making unsubstantiated claims about traffic quality and ROI. Make sure the network you are considering has proven successful for other advertisers before you consider starting an account.
ASK:
* How long have you been in business?
* Do you have any case studies/testimonials/customer references you can share?
2. Volume: Most search marketers have limited time on their hands. Managing campaigns on the large engines takes time, and in order to justify starting a relationship with an additional vendor, advertisers need to make sure it’s going to be worth their while. Syndicated Tier 2 networks can aggregate thousands of incremental traffic sources together, making the move into the network realm more efficient.
ASK:
* How many queries do you process per day?
* Can you provide me with a traffic estimate for my keywords to help determine the kind of volume I might receive?
3. Platform Capabilities: It’s crucial that the networks you choose to work with have the targeting and tracking capabilities to meet your campaign goals.
ASK:
* Do you offer the following?
o Conversion Tracking: What kind of conversion tracking do you offer? What kind of visibility will I have into the traffic sources that are converting for me? How will the optimization process work?
o Geo-targeting: Will I be able to target my ads by location? How specific can I get with my geo-targeting (country, state, city, zip)?
o Day Parting: Can I schedule my ads to appear only during certain times of day (e.g. during my business hours)?
4. Safeguards for Network Quality: Click validity is an issue for the search advertising industry at large, and networks are certainly not exempt from that. Advertisers need to make sure search providers have processes, tools and partnerships in place to help ensure click quality and protect against invalid traffic.
ASK:
* Do you filter invalid traffic? If so, how?
* What kind of screening takes place before you add a new distribution partner to your network?
* Do you work with any 3rd parties, such as Anchor Intelligence and Click Forensics, to help ensure traffic quality?
5. Service: Lastly, advertisers need to make sure the search provider they are evaluating has the customer support to help them reach their campaign goals.
ASK:
* Do you offer account management services?
* Do you have a customer support line? Does a real person field those calls to answer questions and offer guidance?
Search networks can be a profitable avenue through which advertisers and search marketers can expand their PPC campaigns and drive results. It is imperative, however, that advertisers be cognizant of the above issues when choosing new partners. Asking questions ahead of time and testing new providers before moving full steam ahead are important keys to success.
Provided by Search Marketing Standard
Advertising Spending Will Grow, Report Says, But Not Until 2011
This article was published by Price Waterhouse Cooper regarding the advertising industry and spending over the next 4 years.
Advertising spending in the United States will not begin to grow again until next year, according to an annual forecast from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The 11th annual entertainment and media outlook report, to be released on Tuesday morning, predicts that ad spending will fall 0.5 percent this year compared with last year.
That is a marked improvement from 2009, when ad spending fell 15.2 percent from 2008, according to the report, but the trend would still going in the wrong direction from the perspective of Madison Avenue.
Although ad spending will increase in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, the report forecasts, the total in 2014 will still be 9 percent less than it was in 2007.
By 2014, ad spending in categories like Internet Marketing, television and radio is expected to exceed the spending levels of 2009, according to the report, while ad spending in categories like consumer magazines, trade magazines, newspapers and directories is projected to be lower than it was in 2009.
Newspaper ad spending is under pressure to the point, the report says, that the total amount of ad spending online will surpass the amount spent in newspapers this year.
The tough economy took its toll on entertainment and media in this country, according to the report, as total spending on them fell last year by 7.1 percent from 2008. There should be growth this year, the report predicts, albeit a tiny 1.1 percent; there will be larger gains, in mid-single-digit percentages, from 2012 to 2014.
Here are some other highlights from the report:
* By the end of next year, there will be more multi-function, converged devices, fueling additional growth in spending on mobile Internet access subscriptions.
* North America will remain the biggest market for television advertising, helped by mobile TV, online streaming sites, high-definition TV and other new technologies.
* Marketers will be increasingly attracted to video games as an ad medium.
* Box office results for movies will benefit from additional releases in 3-D because of higher ticket prices they can command.
* Magazines will gain subscription revenue from editions distributed to e-readers but circulation revenue will still decline.
* By 2014, newspaper ad revenue will total $31.9 billion compared with $36.7 billion in 2009. By comparison, the figure for the peak year, 2005, was about $60 billion.
* Satellite radio advertising will grow as satellite radio recovers from the recent declines in car sales.
* Digital billboards will help revenue gains for out-of-home advertising.
By STUART ELLIOTT - New York Times
Advertising spending in the United States will not begin to grow again until next year, according to an annual forecast from PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The 11th annual entertainment and media outlook report, to be released on Tuesday morning, predicts that ad spending will fall 0.5 percent this year compared with last year.
That is a marked improvement from 2009, when ad spending fell 15.2 percent from 2008, according to the report, but the trend would still going in the wrong direction from the perspective of Madison Avenue.
Although ad spending will increase in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014, the report forecasts, the total in 2014 will still be 9 percent less than it was in 2007.
By 2014, ad spending in categories like Internet Marketing, television and radio is expected to exceed the spending levels of 2009, according to the report, while ad spending in categories like consumer magazines, trade magazines, newspapers and directories is projected to be lower than it was in 2009.
Newspaper ad spending is under pressure to the point, the report says, that the total amount of ad spending online will surpass the amount spent in newspapers this year.
The tough economy took its toll on entertainment and media in this country, according to the report, as total spending on them fell last year by 7.1 percent from 2008. There should be growth this year, the report predicts, albeit a tiny 1.1 percent; there will be larger gains, in mid-single-digit percentages, from 2012 to 2014.
Here are some other highlights from the report:
* By the end of next year, there will be more multi-function, converged devices, fueling additional growth in spending on mobile Internet access subscriptions.
* North America will remain the biggest market for television advertising, helped by mobile TV, online streaming sites, high-definition TV and other new technologies.
* Marketers will be increasingly attracted to video games as an ad medium.
* Box office results for movies will benefit from additional releases in 3-D because of higher ticket prices they can command.
* Magazines will gain subscription revenue from editions distributed to e-readers but circulation revenue will still decline.
* By 2014, newspaper ad revenue will total $31.9 billion compared with $36.7 billion in 2009. By comparison, the figure for the peak year, 2005, was about $60 billion.
* Satellite radio advertising will grow as satellite radio recovers from the recent declines in car sales.
* Digital billboards will help revenue gains for out-of-home advertising.
By STUART ELLIOTT - New York Times
Monday, May 24, 2010
Facebook Privacy Issues
Facebook launches an all-out PR battle to save face regarding the privacy battle it started in the last 6 months
From YAHOO NEWS
Buffeted by privacy snafus and the lingering fallout from a damning, years-old instant messaging thread, Facebook chief exec Mark Zuckerberg switched into full-on damage control Monday, confessing that the sprawling social network had "missed the mark" when it comes to its complex privacy controls — and pledging to do better.
In an open letter published Monday in the Washington Post (whose chairman, Donald E. Graham, just so happens to sit on Facebook's board of directors), Zuckerberg wrote that Facebook has been "growing quickly" and admitted that "sometimes we move too fast."
"Many of you thought our controls were too complex," Zuckerberg's letter reads. "Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls" — uh, you can say that again — "but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark."
Read Entire Article
From YAHOO NEWS
Buffeted by privacy snafus and the lingering fallout from a damning, years-old instant messaging thread, Facebook chief exec Mark Zuckerberg switched into full-on damage control Monday, confessing that the sprawling social network had "missed the mark" when it comes to its complex privacy controls — and pledging to do better.
In an open letter published Monday in the Washington Post (whose chairman, Donald E. Graham, just so happens to sit on Facebook's board of directors), Zuckerberg wrote that Facebook has been "growing quickly" and admitted that "sometimes we move too fast."
"Many of you thought our controls were too complex," Zuckerberg's letter reads. "Our intention was to give you lots of granular controls" — uh, you can say that again — "but that may not have been what many of you wanted. We just missed the mark."
Read Entire Article
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
4 Keys to Search Engine Marketing
When building a search marketing campaign, there are dozens of things to consider but only four true factors you need to focus on to create a successful search program to drive sales or leads for your business.
Prime Keywords:
Prime keywords or short tail get great volume and make a competitive stand, but yet specific enough to get you real results. These higher priced, more competitive keywords often come with a steeper price tag, but frequently contribute far superior rewards.
Prime keyword: Cosmetic Surgery = 90,000 monthly searches = $3.50 cost per click
Long Tail keyword: Cosmetic Surgery Procedures 9,000 monthly searches = $1.75 cost per click
SEO book offers a keyword research tool for free to use to identify prime vs long tail keywords.
Paid Search Ad Copy:
These are the snippets (between 90-145 characters) in your ad differentiates you from your competitors. You'll need a couple of different ones so you aren't always showing the same line to searchers as they head down the search path. Google and Yahoo allow up to 5 sets of ad copy and will rotate each one equally and optimize to the best performing based on click rate and landing page relevancy.
Ad Copy Calls to Action:
What is left out in a lot of ad copy is the CTA or Call to Action. Experienced search marketers will always include a CTA to drive clicks and create a sense of urgency to the users. CTA's such as "Free Info", "Click Here", "Free Trial", "Limited Offer" are all good to include in your ad copy.
Ad copy with CTA:
Bike Shop
Expert Bike Store in Your Vicinity.
Locate a REI Store & Visit Us Now!
www.REI.com/BikeYourDrive
Without CTA:
Bikes
Find Bikes Online.
See This Week's Featured Products
www.Target.com
Keyword Insertion:
Utilizing keyword insertion can increase the performance of your ad by 30-80% compared to not including it in your ad copy. Keyword insertion allows the keyword that a user is searching for to pop-out in your ad copy (bolded as well) and draw a users attention to your ad. Try adding add copy with and without keyword insertion and you will see differences in performance.
With Keyword Insertion (keyword: Bikes)
Trek Bikes - New England
A Top 100 Retailer Offering A Full
Line Of Trek Bikes. Visit Us Today!
www.Wheelworks.comMassachusetts
Without Keyword Insertion:
Pedal Power Fitness
Stay In Shape this Winter. Come See
Our Selection of Top Brand Machines
www.pedpow.com
To learn more about search marketing and management services from Q4 Marketing and Media Group, please contact us at 617.329.1821.
Prime Keywords:
Prime keywords or short tail get great volume and make a competitive stand, but yet specific enough to get you real results. These higher priced, more competitive keywords often come with a steeper price tag, but frequently contribute far superior rewards.
Prime keyword: Cosmetic Surgery = 90,000 monthly searches = $3.50 cost per click
Long Tail keyword: Cosmetic Surgery Procedures 9,000 monthly searches = $1.75 cost per click
SEO book offers a keyword research tool for free to use to identify prime vs long tail keywords.
Paid Search Ad Copy:
These are the snippets (between 90-145 characters) in your ad differentiates you from your competitors. You'll need a couple of different ones so you aren't always showing the same line to searchers as they head down the search path. Google and Yahoo allow up to 5 sets of ad copy and will rotate each one equally and optimize to the best performing based on click rate and landing page relevancy.
Ad Copy Calls to Action:
What is left out in a lot of ad copy is the CTA or Call to Action. Experienced search marketers will always include a CTA to drive clicks and create a sense of urgency to the users. CTA's such as "Free Info", "Click Here", "Free Trial", "Limited Offer" are all good to include in your ad copy.
Ad copy with CTA:
Bike Shop
Expert Bike Store in Your Vicinity.
Locate a REI Store & Visit Us Now!
www.REI.com/BikeYourDrive
Without CTA:
Bikes
Find Bikes Online.
See This Week's Featured Products
www.Target.com
Keyword Insertion:
Utilizing keyword insertion can increase the performance of your ad by 30-80% compared to not including it in your ad copy. Keyword insertion allows the keyword that a user is searching for to pop-out in your ad copy (bolded as well) and draw a users attention to your ad. Try adding add copy with and without keyword insertion and you will see differences in performance.
With Keyword Insertion (keyword: Bikes)
Trek Bikes - New England
A Top 100 Retailer Offering A Full
Line Of Trek Bikes. Visit Us Today!
www.Wheelworks.comMassachusetts
Without Keyword Insertion:
Pedal Power Fitness
Stay In Shape this Winter. Come See
Our Selection of Top Brand Machines
www.pedpow.com
To learn more about search marketing and management services from Q4 Marketing and Media Group, please contact us at 617.329.1821.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Managing Marketing and PR for Barefoot Wine Beach Volleyball in Boston
Q4 Marketing has been chosen to handling marketing and public relations for the Boston Beach Volleyball summer league, sponsored by the AVP and Barefoot Wine.
Boston Beach Volleyball is proud to team up with the Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Series for this unique opportunity. The area's best men's and women's 2's players compete for a total of $2000 in prize money and a paid trip to Chicago for a chance to compete against the AVP pros.
The Barefoot Wine league will commence at L Street Beach starting May 12th 2010 for 11 weeks with playoffs on July 21st with 12 womens teams and 8 mens teams vieing for a $2000 in cash and prizes and a trip to Chicago.
Barefoot Wine, an E & J Gallo winery, and the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour are kicking off the second season of the Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup with 24 leagues around the country. The Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup is a grassroots series that takes place at local beach volleyball leagues nationwide and gives amateur beach volleyball players an opportunity to earn the right to go up against the AVP’s top professional teams and win cash prizes.
13 leagues will return from last year’s 16-league competition. In addition, new 2010 leagues have been added in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; Point Pleasant, N.J.; San Diego; and Tampa Bay, Fla.
Each city’s winners will receive a trip to the AVP’s Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup in Chicago Aug. 27, 2010. Winners will play against each other for a chance to advance to the AVP’s main draw! In addition, Barefoot will award winners with $10,000 in cash prizes ($5,000 per gender).
Website:
Boston Beach Volleyball
AVP Barefoot Wine League
Contact:
Jonah Mytro
Q4 Marketing
Jonah at Q4marketing.com
617.821.4013
Boston Beach Volleyball is proud to team up with the Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Series for this unique opportunity. The area's best men's and women's 2's players compete for a total of $2000 in prize money and a paid trip to Chicago for a chance to compete against the AVP pros.
The Barefoot Wine league will commence at L Street Beach starting May 12th 2010 for 11 weeks with playoffs on July 21st with 12 womens teams and 8 mens teams vieing for a $2000 in cash and prizes and a trip to Chicago.
Barefoot Wine, an E & J Gallo winery, and the AVP Pro Beach Volleyball Tour are kicking off the second season of the Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup with 24 leagues around the country. The Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup is a grassroots series that takes place at local beach volleyball leagues nationwide and gives amateur beach volleyball players an opportunity to earn the right to go up against the AVP’s top professional teams and win cash prizes.
13 leagues will return from last year’s 16-league competition. In addition, new 2010 leagues have been added in Atlanta; Austin, Texas; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Manhattan Beach, Calif.; Nashville, Tenn.; Point Pleasant, N.J.; San Diego; and Tampa Bay, Fla.
Each city’s winners will receive a trip to the AVP’s Barefoot Wine AVPNext Championship Cup in Chicago Aug. 27, 2010. Winners will play against each other for a chance to advance to the AVP’s main draw! In addition, Barefoot will award winners with $10,000 in cash prizes ($5,000 per gender).
Website:
Boston Beach Volleyball
AVP Barefoot Wine League
Contact:
Jonah Mytro
Q4 Marketing
Jonah at Q4marketing.com
617.821.4013
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Changes in the Affiliate Marketing Industry
From Pace Lattin:
I had quite a bit of mails regarding my last article and the changes the industry is going through. Many people were interested in knowing exactly what was going on in the industry, especially which companies are probably going to go out of business and which companies are having problems. I’m not going to play the name game, but needless to say there is a reason right now for the enormous changes that are happening in the industry. Companies are announcing mergers, putting themselves on the block to be sold, and many are in the final stages of shutting their doors. There is a little dirty secret that is only being talked about behind closed doors in the industry and more a lot people need to pay attention.
Last year, several major and no-so-major affiliate networks grew in leaps and bounds from nowhere. Many of these companies were making millions of dollars off of continuity programs, often with backend “flogs” and other questionable methods of promoting their programs. 2009 was a very, very good year for them, and some of them were reporting upwards of $20-30 million extra for the last quarter of 2009 in revenue from those programs lone. They went out bought other companies left and right for ridiculous amounts of money and invested in having dozens of high paid executives.
Read Entire Article
I had quite a bit of mails regarding my last article and the changes the industry is going through. Many people were interested in knowing exactly what was going on in the industry, especially which companies are probably going to go out of business and which companies are having problems. I’m not going to play the name game, but needless to say there is a reason right now for the enormous changes that are happening in the industry. Companies are announcing mergers, putting themselves on the block to be sold, and many are in the final stages of shutting their doors. There is a little dirty secret that is only being talked about behind closed doors in the industry and more a lot people need to pay attention.
Last year, several major and no-so-major affiliate networks grew in leaps and bounds from nowhere. Many of these companies were making millions of dollars off of continuity programs, often with backend “flogs” and other questionable methods of promoting their programs. 2009 was a very, very good year for them, and some of them were reporting upwards of $20-30 million extra for the last quarter of 2009 in revenue from those programs lone. They went out bought other companies left and right for ridiculous amounts of money and invested in having dozens of high paid executives.
Read Entire Article
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Trapping Your Visitors - Dont Do It If:
From Yield Software:
Many landing page best practices dictate that you trap your visitors inside your landing page and not allow navigation to other pages within your website. The logic here is that you are after a conversion, so keep the visitor focused on converting rather than letting them wander around and forget to provide you with their info before they leave your site.
While the trapping technique can be quite effective for some advertisers, we've seen it result in complete failure for others. How to know what to do? Here are some simple criteria you can use to determine whether or not trapping your visitor will bring you the highest conversion results.
When trapping is not likely to work:
Your product offering or market space is not well-known. Do you have a new type of product or service that you are trying to sell? In this case visitors need to learn more about your offering before they will be ready to fork over their contact details or make a purchase. Your website should serve as an educational vehicle to help them understand what you do and how it will help them. Guide them through this educational process through your site with a strong emphasis on conversion along the way.
Your brand is not a known. Are you the new kid on the block? Are you the smaller, local guy trying to compete with bigger well-known national brands? In this case your website needs to be a credibility building vehicle. People are not likely to give you any information until they know they can trust you. Help them get to know you and why you are reputable throughout your website pages. Comparisons, testimonials, awards, as seen ins can all be helpful here.
Multiple offerings or conversions are available. Sometimes it's good for you to have your visitors wander around. The more they wander, the more they are likely to buy or the more conversion opportunities that exist. Also, if you have multiple offerings for them to sign up for it that are all standard, it's good to let them gather this information and choose the package that's right for them. So use your website as an upselling vehicle and let them wander and spend.
Your website facilitates the full conversion process. If you have an ecommerce site, or your website is built to facilitate the purchase of what you are offering, let the user wander around to gather all the information they need, select what they would like and complete their transaction. Some examples here include ecommerce sites and hotels.
When trapping is effective:
You have a commonly known product. If people know what they want and are familiar with your product or service, they are likely just looking for the best provider for them. In this case they don't need to comb through your website to figure out what you have to offer. It's more important to focus on the conversion when they first land.
Many landing page best practices dictate that you trap your visitors inside your landing page and not allow navigation to other pages within your website. The logic here is that you are after a conversion, so keep the visitor focused on converting rather than letting them wander around and forget to provide you with their info before they leave your site.
While the trapping technique can be quite effective for some advertisers, we've seen it result in complete failure for others. How to know what to do? Here are some simple criteria you can use to determine whether or not trapping your visitor will bring you the highest conversion results.
When trapping is not likely to work:
Your product offering or market space is not well-known. Do you have a new type of product or service that you are trying to sell? In this case visitors need to learn more about your offering before they will be ready to fork over their contact details or make a purchase. Your website should serve as an educational vehicle to help them understand what you do and how it will help them. Guide them through this educational process through your site with a strong emphasis on conversion along the way.
Your brand is not a known. Are you the new kid on the block? Are you the smaller, local guy trying to compete with bigger well-known national brands? In this case your website needs to be a credibility building vehicle. People are not likely to give you any information until they know they can trust you. Help them get to know you and why you are reputable throughout your website pages. Comparisons, testimonials, awards, as seen ins can all be helpful here.
Multiple offerings or conversions are available. Sometimes it's good for you to have your visitors wander around. The more they wander, the more they are likely to buy or the more conversion opportunities that exist. Also, if you have multiple offerings for them to sign up for it that are all standard, it's good to let them gather this information and choose the package that's right for them. So use your website as an upselling vehicle and let them wander and spend.
Your website facilitates the full conversion process. If you have an ecommerce site, or your website is built to facilitate the purchase of what you are offering, let the user wander around to gather all the information they need, select what they would like and complete their transaction. Some examples here include ecommerce sites and hotels.
When trapping is effective:
You have a commonly known product. If people know what they want and are familiar with your product or service, they are likely just looking for the best provider for them. In this case they don't need to comb through your website to figure out what you have to offer. It's more important to focus on the conversion when they first land.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Monetize and Leverage Facebook - 5 steps
Many small business owners are already on Facebook but are either still not sure that it is a good use of their time, or they see its potential but are just confused about how exactly it can work for them. Starting a Fan Page for your business may be your answer. But how can you use a Fan Page to achieve fantastic results?
1) The first way to leverage Fan Pages is to set up your Page for success.
One of the first things you need to do when you set up a new Page is to give it a title. A tip with this is to think about using keywords related to your business that you would like to be found for.
You also want to choose a good, clear photo for your Page. Another thing to note is to make sure you have filled out the Info tab on your Page thoroughly with all the relevant information about your business.
2) The second way to leverage Fan Pages is to build your Fan base.
You have to be a little proactive about getting Fans, especially when your Page is new. An easy way to invite people is to use the "Suggest to Friends" link underneath the picture on your Fan Page. Facebook will then pull up a list of your Facebook friends and you would just click on the ones you want to send invitations to.
You'll want to consider people like former and current clients, people you've partnered with in your business, vendors you work with, people who you know have purchased from you before, etc.
3) The third way to leverage Fan Pages is to interact and engage with your Fans.
Once you have some supporters of your Page, you want to encourage more dialogue and interaction between yourself and them and even among each other. The biggest impact comes from simply having conversations with people.
One thing that I do on my Page is to just ask open-ended questions. Asking people to share experiences is another great way to get a dialogue going.
4) The fourth way to leverage Fan Pages is to provide good content.
Offering regular content will naturally encourage interaction because you are giving people something to respond to. You don't need to come up with all the content yourself, either. You might just link to an interesting article or blog post you have found on the web related to your business or industry.
What content like this does is attract comments from your Fans, which is activity that in turn goes out into the News Feed. The more activity on your Page then, the more attention to your Page you have a chance of attracting.
5) The 5th way to leverage Fan Pages is to use them to drive traffic to and from your blog or website.
To do this, you definitely want to list your website in the Info section, and you also want to share links in your updates to your own site.
You can also use an application like Notes to enter your blog feed so that it pulls your posts into your Page. You also want to add your URL to your email signature, and use the free badges and widgets Facebook provides that you can add to your website.
You can check out http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets for those. Once you have something like this on your site, visitors can just click on it and they will land on your Page where they can become a fan.
So, if you don't have a Page yet, head over to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php and start one now. If you do have one set up, use these tips to help make your Page stand out, get noticed, and become a helpful destination for all of your raving Fans.
Source: Christine Gallagher, founder of CommunicateValue.com,
1) The first way to leverage Fan Pages is to set up your Page for success.
One of the first things you need to do when you set up a new Page is to give it a title. A tip with this is to think about using keywords related to your business that you would like to be found for.
You also want to choose a good, clear photo for your Page. Another thing to note is to make sure you have filled out the Info tab on your Page thoroughly with all the relevant information about your business.
2) The second way to leverage Fan Pages is to build your Fan base.
You have to be a little proactive about getting Fans, especially when your Page is new. An easy way to invite people is to use the "Suggest to Friends" link underneath the picture on your Fan Page. Facebook will then pull up a list of your Facebook friends and you would just click on the ones you want to send invitations to.
You'll want to consider people like former and current clients, people you've partnered with in your business, vendors you work with, people who you know have purchased from you before, etc.
3) The third way to leverage Fan Pages is to interact and engage with your Fans.
Once you have some supporters of your Page, you want to encourage more dialogue and interaction between yourself and them and even among each other. The biggest impact comes from simply having conversations with people.
One thing that I do on my Page is to just ask open-ended questions. Asking people to share experiences is another great way to get a dialogue going.
4) The fourth way to leverage Fan Pages is to provide good content.
Offering regular content will naturally encourage interaction because you are giving people something to respond to. You don't need to come up with all the content yourself, either. You might just link to an interesting article or blog post you have found on the web related to your business or industry.
What content like this does is attract comments from your Fans, which is activity that in turn goes out into the News Feed. The more activity on your Page then, the more attention to your Page you have a chance of attracting.
5) The 5th way to leverage Fan Pages is to use them to drive traffic to and from your blog or website.
To do this, you definitely want to list your website in the Info section, and you also want to share links in your updates to your own site.
You can also use an application like Notes to enter your blog feed so that it pulls your posts into your Page. You also want to add your URL to your email signature, and use the free badges and widgets Facebook provides that you can add to your website.
You can check out http://www.facebook.com/facebook-widgets for those. Once you have something like this on your site, visitors can just click on it and they will land on your Page where they can become a fan.
So, if you don't have a Page yet, head over to http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php and start one now. If you do have one set up, use these tips to help make your Page stand out, get noticed, and become a helpful destination for all of your raving Fans.
Source: Christine Gallagher, founder of CommunicateValue.com,
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Ten Ways to Win the “Speed Dating” Test
Finding a mate can be a laborious process when you think about how many single people exist. So speed dating was developed to eliminate some of the time out of this process.
If you think about it, every time you search for something you go through a sort of speed dating process. You know what you want, but then millions of potential matches appear. So, you speed date the landing pages on the first one-to-two pages of the search results to see if you can quickly find a website you’re are willing to give your personal information to in hopes that there might be a future there that satisfies your needs.
We’ve compiled ten tips to make sure your landing page can pass the speed dating test and get you those digits:
1) Be Hotter Than Everyone Else.
Before you have a searcher visit your site, survey the room and check out your speed dating competition. Take snapshots of all the competitive landing pages on the first page of the search results for your top keywords. View these snapshots in a line along with yours. If you wouldn’t pick your landing page as the hotty in the group, redesign your page elements until it becomes the clear winner.
2) Be Visually Engaging.
Searching is even more shallow than dating because we don’t feel bad about not giving a website the time of day if it doesn’t look perfect. If you want the searcher to even bother reading your spiel you had better look your absolute best. Use engaging colors, rather than being drab. Use images and video to immediately visually engage the searcher. But don’t go overboard here. If you have too much eye candy on a single page, you’ll just appear like the used car salesman with one too many gold chains.
3) Be Trendy.
If your dress is out of date you are not desirable. If you haven’t updated your website style in the last two years or are using design techniques that were popular years ago it’s time for a redesign. Just do a search for “great websites” and there are plenty examples of very cool sites to re-use concepts from. If you don’t have time to get with the times, hire a personal shopper – aka, a web designer. The money you spend will be well worth it to boost your image. With a trendy site, you may even find yourself getting phone numbers when you aren’t even trying.
4) Speak Clearly & Memorably.
Once you are the hottest website in the room, you’ll get a chance to explain who you are and why you are awesome. Clearly articulate what it is you do and why you are the best in large font using plain simple words. Don’t use words that you would use to think about what your business does, but rather words your searcher would use to describe you. With speed dating, no one has room to absorb fluff like “long walks on the beach” – so review your page and remove all of your fluff terms such as innovate, synergy, unique, focused on, leverage, leading provider, cost effective, next generation, etc. Stating who you are in plain terms allows a searcher to “get you” right away and will also give the searcher a much better chance of remembering who you are at the end of their speed dating session.
5) Exude Confidence.
Insecurity leads to loneliness. Show the searcher your confidence in what you have to offer. Do you offer a guarantee? Do you have testimonials? Don’t use unsure words such as “could be considered”, “on average”, or “for some.” Write with strength and confidence that you are simply the best and you stand behind it.
Complete Article at Yield Software
If you think about it, every time you search for something you go through a sort of speed dating process. You know what you want, but then millions of potential matches appear. So, you speed date the landing pages on the first one-to-two pages of the search results to see if you can quickly find a website you’re are willing to give your personal information to in hopes that there might be a future there that satisfies your needs.
We’ve compiled ten tips to make sure your landing page can pass the speed dating test and get you those digits:
1) Be Hotter Than Everyone Else.
Before you have a searcher visit your site, survey the room and check out your speed dating competition. Take snapshots of all the competitive landing pages on the first page of the search results for your top keywords. View these snapshots in a line along with yours. If you wouldn’t pick your landing page as the hotty in the group, redesign your page elements until it becomes the clear winner.
2) Be Visually Engaging.
Searching is even more shallow than dating because we don’t feel bad about not giving a website the time of day if it doesn’t look perfect. If you want the searcher to even bother reading your spiel you had better look your absolute best. Use engaging colors, rather than being drab. Use images and video to immediately visually engage the searcher. But don’t go overboard here. If you have too much eye candy on a single page, you’ll just appear like the used car salesman with one too many gold chains.
3) Be Trendy.
If your dress is out of date you are not desirable. If you haven’t updated your website style in the last two years or are using design techniques that were popular years ago it’s time for a redesign. Just do a search for “great websites” and there are plenty examples of very cool sites to re-use concepts from. If you don’t have time to get with the times, hire a personal shopper – aka, a web designer. The money you spend will be well worth it to boost your image. With a trendy site, you may even find yourself getting phone numbers when you aren’t even trying.
4) Speak Clearly & Memorably.
Once you are the hottest website in the room, you’ll get a chance to explain who you are and why you are awesome. Clearly articulate what it is you do and why you are the best in large font using plain simple words. Don’t use words that you would use to think about what your business does, but rather words your searcher would use to describe you. With speed dating, no one has room to absorb fluff like “long walks on the beach” – so review your page and remove all of your fluff terms such as innovate, synergy, unique, focused on, leverage, leading provider, cost effective, next generation, etc. Stating who you are in plain terms allows a searcher to “get you” right away and will also give the searcher a much better chance of remembering who you are at the end of their speed dating session.
5) Exude Confidence.
Insecurity leads to loneliness. Show the searcher your confidence in what you have to offer. Do you offer a guarantee? Do you have testimonials? Don’t use unsure words such as “could be considered”, “on average”, or “for some.” Write with strength and confidence that you are simply the best and you stand behind it.
Complete Article at Yield Software
Google Testing TV
Google Inc. is testing a new television-programming search service with Dish Network Corp., according to people familiar with the matter, the latest development in a fast-moving race to combine Internet content with conventional TV.
The service, which runs on TV set-top boxes containing Google software, allows users to find shows on the satellite-TV service as well as video from Web sites like Google's YouTube, according to these people. It also lets users to personalize a lineup of shows, these people said.
Full Article
The service, which runs on TV set-top boxes containing Google software, allows users to find shows on the satellite-TV service as well as video from Web sites like Google's YouTube, according to these people. It also lets users to personalize a lineup of shows, these people said.
Full Article
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Yahoo and MSN SEM Partnership - Approval?
Yahoo and MSN have received approval from the Justice Department to move forward with their advertising partnership (finalized last Summer '09) and it will be interesting to see how the partnership will improve Yahoo's Search Marketing platform and results.
FROM YAHOO INC
Yahoo! and Microsoft have now received regulatory clearance to form a search alliance. This is a significant milestone and an exciting first step in our combined effort to help you reach even more customers with greater ease and efficiency.
What's Ahead
There will be no immediate changes to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account. Both companies are committed to making this transition as seamless and beneficial to you as possible. Our aim is a high quality transition of advertisers and partners in at least the U.S. prior to the 2010 holiday season. However, we may wait until 2011 if we determine this will be more effective. Approximately three months in advance, we'll begin providing you with detailed information about what to expect and how we will assist you.
How the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance Will Benefit You
Once implemented, the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance will enable you to:
Reach more customers.
• Reach up to 150 million searchers1 and get approximately 62% more search volume2 than on Yahoo! alone through a new, unified search marketplace combining the Yahoo! and Microsoft networks.
• To help drive future growth in search volume, Yahoo! will continue to significantly enhance the search experience on our leading web properties.
Save valuable time and effort.
• You'll log into one place–Microsoft's adCenter–to manage campaigns, for greater efficiency and a better ROI.
• With just one buy, you'll reach users on Yahoo! and Microsoft sites, as well as other premium partner sites.
Benefit from rapid innovation.
• Yahoo! will deliver new features and innovations to the world's favorite online destinations, content, and web products used by hundreds of millions of consumers to connect to the people and things that matter to them most.
• Microsoft will innovate the underlying technologies that drive high quality algorithmic and paid search results.
FROM YAHOO INC
Yahoo! and Microsoft have now received regulatory clearance to form a search alliance. This is a significant milestone and an exciting first step in our combined effort to help you reach even more customers with greater ease and efficiency.
What's Ahead
There will be no immediate changes to your Yahoo! Search Marketing account. Both companies are committed to making this transition as seamless and beneficial to you as possible. Our aim is a high quality transition of advertisers and partners in at least the U.S. prior to the 2010 holiday season. However, we may wait until 2011 if we determine this will be more effective. Approximately three months in advance, we'll begin providing you with detailed information about what to expect and how we will assist you.
How the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance Will Benefit You
Once implemented, the Yahoo! and Microsoft Search Alliance will enable you to:
Reach more customers.
• Reach up to 150 million searchers1 and get approximately 62% more search volume2 than on Yahoo! alone through a new, unified search marketplace combining the Yahoo! and Microsoft networks.
• To help drive future growth in search volume, Yahoo! will continue to significantly enhance the search experience on our leading web properties.
Save valuable time and effort.
• You'll log into one place–Microsoft's adCenter–to manage campaigns, for greater efficiency and a better ROI.
• With just one buy, you'll reach users on Yahoo! and Microsoft sites, as well as other premium partner sites.
Benefit from rapid innovation.
• Yahoo! will deliver new features and innovations to the world's favorite online destinations, content, and web products used by hundreds of millions of consumers to connect to the people and things that matter to them most.
• Microsoft will innovate the underlying technologies that drive high quality algorithmic and paid search results.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
BostonBloggery.com features OneDaySave.com
There's been quite a bit of activity over the least year or so with the group deal websites. You know, the sites like Groupon and BuyWithMe and what not - one of my friends is addicted to those sites. I was just reading last week about how one of them secured some VC funding which leads me to believe that these sites (as a concept) have been doing decently well. They're all in the business of saving us money, which is awesome, pretty much a win-win situation for us as the consumer. The latest site to join the mix for those of us in the Boston area is OneDaySave.com
OneDaySave.com is a new consumer oriented website being launched by Q4 Marketing and Media Group to help savvy shoppers get great deals from the best restaurants, retail stores, entertainment, and even Online. Everyday you will find a new and exciting offer from a local advertiser in your area.
I checked it out and today's deal is a one hour massage at Gregory Beale Massage for $45. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. The one and only time that I've gotten a massage in Boston was at the Sports Club LA a few years back after a really stressful week of work. I think it cost me upwards of ~$100. So $45 sounds like a bargain to me.
From Bostonbloggery.com
OneDaySave.com is a new consumer oriented website being launched by Q4 Marketing and Media Group to help savvy shoppers get great deals from the best restaurants, retail stores, entertainment, and even Online. Everyday you will find a new and exciting offer from a local advertiser in your area.
I checked it out and today's deal is a one hour massage at Gregory Beale Massage for $45. Sounds like a pretty good deal to me. The one and only time that I've gotten a massage in Boston was at the Sports Club LA a few years back after a really stressful week of work. I think it cost me upwards of ~$100. So $45 sounds like a bargain to me.
From Bostonbloggery.com
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