fidzu : Search Engines

Here is a short but very well-done video on how much Google knows about us, possibly implying that Google owns their users. Clearly, this topic is not new, but the video was really well done. The video is from the show "Hungry Beast" that airs in Australia on the ABC, 9PM Wednesdays. For more information [...]

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10 Mar 2010 2:33pm GMT

When it comes to developing an effective PPC strategy, it is important to include branded terms. However, many marketers are opposed to doing so. This is a mistake. Let's take a look at why. Understanding the value In this economy where marketers need to do more with less, it is easy to understand why they might balk [...]

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10 Mar 2010 12:00pm GMT

Taking a page from Salesforce.com, last night Google formally launched the anticipated Google Apps Marketplace at its "Campfire One" developer event. In short it allows companies and developers to gain access and sell into Google's "2 million businesses and 25 million Google Apps users." The marketplace launches with 50 partners including Intuit and competitor Zoho. Google [...]

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10 Mar 2010 10:29am GMT

Last night Google announced the inclusion of bike directions to car, public transit and walking directions options on Google Maps. According to Google Maps' Shannon Guymon this was one of the most requested missing features on Google Maps. The new bike directions also provide a new view on maps (see below), one that is more "bike [...]

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10 Mar 2010 9:50am GMT

The financial analysts were busy yesterday pushing out the comScore search market share data for February, which officially comes out later today. What the data show is: Google regaining some share "lost" in January and continued gains by Bing, albeit at a somewhat slowing pace. Yahoo lost some share again and so did Ask, while AOL [...]

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10 Mar 2010 9:18am GMT

A top mobile service harnesses its strengths to compete in the mobile ad space.

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10 Mar 2010 7:24am GMT

Twitter has just announced that to protect people from scams, links in direct messages and sent via email will be shortened using its own URL shortener. It's a welcome move. Still, I was curious about any impacts this might have for good marketers who are not trying to scam people. Good news, on [...]

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10 Mar 2010 1:21am GMT

Welcome to part 2 of our 3-part group interview series on backlink profile analysis. Part 1 covered backlink analysis for link building campaign design. Part 2 covers the more technical aspects of analysis, and what elements that link building experts look at to gauge the overall strength of a backlink profile. 14 URL factors in backlink [...]

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09 Mar 2010 11:39pm GMT

Choosing a content management system which helps you make progress internationally - rather than blocking every move - is a good plank to have in your strategy. Even if you're not planning that international expansion just yet. Reason? Retro-fitting a new content management system to an existing project can bring a heap of extra pressure - just when you need it to be helping!

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09 Mar 2010 8:49pm GMT

Last year, I wrote an article, Using Infographics in Social Media to Promote Content and Visualize Data; it discussed taking data and visualizing it in an aesthetic manner to attract more votes, bookmarks, and links from the social media sphere. This year, I want to discuss taking it a step further. "Engagement objects", as defined by Bruce [...]

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09 Mar 2010 7:37pm GMT

According to Outsell, spending on online advertising and marketing will overtake print in 2010 for the first time. The research and advisory firm's annual forecast predicts companies will spend $119.6 billion on online and digital strategies, from search engine keywords to webinars, while committing $111.5 billion to print media such as newspaper and magazine ads this year.

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09 Mar 2010 6:31pm GMT

Catching up on a week of new stuff from the GOOG.

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09 Mar 2010 6:24pm GMT

Previously the executive director of the Oracle Applications Users Group (OAUG), Mike Levin has been tapped in the same role - but this time at the Web Analytics Association (WAA).

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09 Mar 2010 6:17pm GMT

Ah, math. It's why I became an English major. But now math is spinning back around and haunting me in the form of my fifth grader. Last night, I found myself dealing with how to multiply fractions as part of helping with his homework assignment. Um, yeah, I think I remember how. But to be [...]

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09 Mar 2010 6:04pm GMT

Prepare to be green with envy.

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09 Mar 2010 5:55pm GMT

It will take a few weeks.

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09 Mar 2010 5:37pm GMT

According to comScore Video Metrix, nearly 173 million U.S. Internet users watched 32.4 billion videos in January 2010. Do the math and you'll discover that viewers watched an average of 187 videos per viewer during the month.

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08 Mar 2010 9:39pm GMT

Saving time on bidding and reporting reaps big rewards for the digital agency and software provider.

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08 Mar 2010 6:13pm GMT

Local advertising meets search engine optimization with new tool for marketers.

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08 Mar 2010 5:43pm GMT

One of our own makes the cut.

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08 Mar 2010 5:29pm GMT

Over the past three weeks, I've been to SES London 2010, OMS 2010 in San Diego, and SMX West 2010 in Santa Clara. As The Grateful Dead would say, "What a long strange trip it's been."

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06 Mar 2010 2:45pm GMT

Handwrite your way to faster search.

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05 Mar 2010 7:46pm GMT

New tool allows you to manage multiple search marketing campaigns offline.

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05 Mar 2010 5:42pm GMT

A couple of new updates from the Internet's most popular video sharing site.

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05 Mar 2010 6:50am GMT

The Online Marketing Summit 2010 was held in San Diego February 22nd - 25th. OMS 2010 was held at the Paradise Point Resort & Spa, right on the Mission Bay shoreline. The weather during the event was typical February weather with temperatures in the low 70's upper 60's. While the locals know this is a bit cold, most people I spoke with that had to fly in from anywhere else were very happy to be out of the snow. It did rain during the event but it was only a brief drizzle during the evenings. Timing couldn't have been better as there were substantial storms before and after the event.

The first day of OMS 2010 consisted of training and certification workshops. Not only did these classes bring attendees that only had brief knowledge of social media or online marketing, they also enabled those with exposure to the industry get more in-depth training before the conference sessions started. These classes also earned students credits towards certification with the Online Marketing Institute.

Each of the three days of conferences was packed with useful sessions and panels ranging from fundamentals and best practices to case studies, some sessions even included leadership panels that focused on audience questions. As a regular industry conference attendee I really enjoy the sessions where the panel focuses on what the crowd asks. The sessions always seem far more involved and I'm usually able to pick up more useful information in these sessions then ones that use recycles presentations. Speaking of recycled presentations, I was presently surprised at the amount of new presentations I saw at OMS 2010. While there were a few that seemed very familiar, there were not nearly as many as I usually find at the larger shows. The social media coverage on these two days was so informative and thorough that, after the end of day 2, many conference goers that I spoke with said they were "social media'd out", but seeing how day 3 primarily focused on search, it was the perfect amount of coverage.

I'm not usually a fan of keynote speeches and days 1 and 2 and 2 and 3 keynotes respectively. I kind of cringed when I saw so many keynotes on the schedule, but the timing and manner they were presented and the information and content given in the presentations worked, without going into details, there was a very good amount of useful tips for those that listened carefully.

Day 3 of OMS 2010 was the Search Engine Strategies Forum. This was the day that got very in-depth in search marketing. This was the day that offered a great opportunity to learn from and interact with many of the leading search marketing leaders. The fundamentals track was set up to build a solid foundation for those looking to get their companies a solid understanding of where to start. The beyond fundamentals involved comparing paid and organic search, analytics for search, landing page design, as well as YouTube and online video optimization.

As a summary, the conference was very informative and the 3 day format with worked very well. The training and certification courses the first day helped a lot as well, as I found less beginner or intro level questions in each of the sessions then I normally hear. As a regular conference attendee for nearly the past 10 years, I'm used to going to conference mainly for the networking and information you get after the sessions are over. It was very refreshing to leave a 3 day conference with 4 pages of notes and ideas as opposed to the 2 pages I usually get. I will definitely be looking forward to the next OMS and recommend you do the same.

04 Mar 2010 11:33pm GMT