Your site advertising is a wonder to behold and you re attracting plenty of traffic. Strangely though you don t seem to be getting any more conversions than you did before your campaign. What s the problem Sad to say your problems could be deeper than marketing. Keep reading for some tips on where to look….
Source: www.seochat.com
Facebook Traffic Up 50% Over Last Year; myYearbook on the Rise
Facebook’s market share is up 50% year-over-year, according to data released by Hitwise. myYearbook.com saw a 256% growth, propelling it into the third spot for most visited social network sites in the United States in August 2008. Still, they only had 1.65% of the total share.
MySpace lost market share, 10% to be exact. But it still holds the number one spot at 67.54% of the market.
Here are the charts:
Related Reading:
5 Million Users Hate the New Facebook? No Problem
Less is More: What Social Media and Electronics Can Teach the Establishment
Social Media is Key Component of Back-to-School Marketing Supply List
Facebook and Hi5 Lead Global Growth Among Social Networks
Source: feeds.feedburner.com
Google Launches Facts Site About Yahoo Search Ad Partnership
In Google’s quest to make sure its search advertising deal with Yahoo goes through, it has added yet another defense to its arsenal: a new facts site. If it sounds political, that’s because it is. The Department of Justice opened an official investigation into the deal months ago. It turns out that when the largest search engine teams up with the second largest search engine to combine advertising, it raises antitrust issues!
On the homepage, Google doesn’t waste any time getting to the three major talking points it touts in support of the deal:
- This is a non-exclusive deal that will strengthen Yahoo!.
- Ad prices will continue to be set by competitive auction.
- The deal is win-win for consumers, advertisers and publishers: more and better ads.
On the right hand side is a link to an in-the-tank New York Times article that drinks extremely potent Kool-aid by practically copying and pasting a previous Google blog post supporting the deal.
Underneath that are quotes from rather large advertisers who also support the deal.
But those who have the most to lose from the deal are small businesses and web entrepreneurs who, rightly or wrongly, have built their success on Google. They fear a sharp increase in prices once the deal goes through.
Google assures that hardly anything will change, save for Adsense ads showing up on Yahoo. They also point to their relationship with Ask.com as proof that the marketplace will remain competitive.
But Ask, despite its slight growth, is not Yahoo. And when it comes to politicking, people have been burned far too often by broken promises. Plus, websites have also been burned by changing algorithms and vague policies.
Right now, in the midst of a significant economic prices, people are looking for stability. And they’re not finding it in huge companies with enormous, quick growth. The housing market is certainly different from the search market, but with sensitive emotions running high, Google just seems insensitive right now, another characteristic of companies “too big to fail.”
I don’t know what they hope is the outcome of this site. Do they hope for a groundswell of support and grassroots letter writing campaigns on their behalf? I just don’t see that happening.
Google needs to continue its lobbying and legal advocacy with the Department of Justice. But unless Google wants to suddenly become more transparent on their algorithms and site penalties, then they should just leave the little guy alone in this effort.
Source: feeds.feedburner.com
Just in time planning for SES Chicago 2008
If you are like me, then you are a master of just-in-time planning. While Search Engine Strategies Chicago 2008 won t be held until December 8-12, if you register by tomorrow Friday, Sept. 26 you can take advantage of the recession special and save up to $600.
So, if you were already planning to attend, register now and save some dough. If you haven t made up your mind yet, look over the conference agenda below pronto.
SES Chicago is the only major search engine marketing conference and expo in the Midwest. And, with more than 70 conference sessions, strategic development workshops, keynote presentations, Orion panels, and training workshops, I ll bet you find plenty of content that was designed for you whether this is your first SES conference ever or the fifth one that you re going to attend this year.
This is especially true if you are involved in retail marketing. There is a Retailer Track on Tuesday, Dec. 9, and a Vertical & Retail Track on Wednesday, Dec. 10.
I ve been optimizing SES schedules for clients and Search Engine Watch readers for years. And there are plenty of sessions at SES Chicago 2008 that everyone should attend, including:
On Monday, Dec. 8, attend the Conference Welcome/Orientation and Opening Keynote from 9:00 to 10:15 a.m. and the Orion Panel: CEO vs. SEO from 1:45 to 2:45 p.m.;
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend the Morning Keynote Presentation from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. and the Orion Panel: Why Does Search Get all the Credit? from 1:00 to 2:00 p.m.; and
On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend the Morning Keynote from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m.
But, there are four to five concurrent tracks over the four-day conference and there are three concurrent training workshops on Friday. So, attendees of SES Chicago 2008 will need to make some choices about what to attend.
For first-time Search Engine Strategies attendees, here are the conference sessions and training workshops that I d recommend:
On Monday, Dec. 8, attend Search Industry Update from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Measuring Success in a 2.0 World from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., and Search and Packaged Goods from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and Landing Page Testing & Tuning 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend Introduction to Search Engine Marketing from 10:30 to 11:45am, and SEO Tools from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend Search Advertising 101 from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., Getting Vertical Search Right from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., Blogging for Business from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and In House: Lessons Learned & Victories Won from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.
On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively With Your IT Department to Get Stuff Done from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the Ad Copy Continuity Clinic from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and the Site Clinic from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the Search Engine Optimization Workshop from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the Optimizing for Universal Search workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
For veteran attendees responsible for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, here are the SES conference sessions and training workshops that I d recommend:
On Monday, Dec. 8, attend Search Industry Update from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Measuring Success in a 2.0 World from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Is There Life Beyond Google? from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and Landing Page Testing & Tuning 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend Advanced Keyword Research from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and Managing Automated PPC Bid Management from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend Advanced B2B from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., Search Advertising Tools from 12:45 a.m. to 2:00 p.m., Ads in a Quality Score World from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and Advanced Paid Search Techniques from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m.
On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend the Contextual Ads & Ad Sense Clinic from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., the Ad Copy Continuity Clinic from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and Brand & Reputation Management from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the Search & Analytics Workshop: Using Analytics to Increase Search Effectiveness from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the Advanced AdWords workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
For veteran attendees responsible for search engine optimization (SEO), here are the SES conference sessions and training workshops that I d recommend:
On Monday, Dec. 8, attend Universal & Blended Search from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m., Measuring Success in a 2.0 World from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m., Igniting Viral Campaigns from 3:00 to 4:00 p.m., and Semantic Search: How Will it Change Our Lives? from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
On Tuesday, Dec. 9, attend Usability & SEO: Two Wins for the Price of One from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., and Advanced Link Building from 4:15 to 5:30 p.m.
On Wednesday, Dec. 10, attend SEO Through Blogs & Feeds from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m., Video Search Engine Optimization from 12:45 to 2:00 p.m., SEO Friendly Flash from 2:15 to 3:30 p.m., and The Next Wave for Online Video from 4:00 to 5:15 p.m.
On Thursday, Dec. 11, attend How to Speak Geek: Working Collaboratively with Your IT Department to Get Stuff Done from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m., Affiliate 2.0: New Distribution Value Using Search & More from 10:15 to 11:15 a.m., and Black Hat, White Hat & the Best Kept Secrets to Search from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
On Friday, Dec. 12, consider attending the Link Building Tactics, Tools & Techniques workshop from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m., and the Viral Marketing & Link Baiting workshop from 1:00 to 5:00 p.m.
Of course, veteran SES conference attendees already know how to navigate the conference agenda. They may want to check out the Issues Track on Tuesday, the Social Media Track on Wednesday, and the Local Track on Thursday. The point I m making is there are plenty of conference sessions, strategic development workshops, keynote presentations, Orion panels, and training workshops to help them take their skills to the next level.
You ll also see a couple of sessions reserved for late-breaking topic. Every year that I ve been attending Search Engine Strategies which goes back to the spring of 2002 there have been unexpected developments in the search industry. So, use the optimized schedule above to get the folks in finance to approve your plans to attend. But, even I expect to be calling audibles when I get to SES Chicago 2008.
Source: feeds.feedburner.com
