by
Comment(s)

29 of Fortune 100 Have Negative Google Results

posted on March 29, 2007

I thought we’d find some gems by keeping an eye on the blogs of our readers, and 97th Floor proves us right.

They reviewed Google search results for the companies that make up the Fortune 100 list and found that 29 of them have search listings that could hurt their brand.

While it’s not a shock to see Walmart, Exxon Mobile and Dell on the list, others are surprising, such as:

5.) State Farm Insurance – Two Sites one is “Consumer Affairs” has consumer complaints about the company. The other is “Law Cornell .edu” it is information about a major Law Suit.

19.) Duke Energy – One site “Duke Energy Employee Advocate” which is very negative about how the employees are lied to and treated poorly.

by
Comment(s)

Welcome New Advertiser – ROI Revolution

posted on March 29, 2007

Thanks to our many loyal readers, we’ve been able to secure another greater sponsor – ROI Revolution.

One of the few Google Analytics authorized consultants in the country, ROI Revolution provides quality training and support for those looking to get the most out of their web site stats.

Their 7 Day Mini Course provides 7 articles delivered by email to help those just starting out in Google Analytics, while their webinar “The Secret To Turning Google Analytics Into Pure Profit” is completely FREE!

I’ve personally used ROI Revolution’s Google Analytics training for agency staff and am a big fan of their services and blog.

We hope you’ll give them serious consideration for any web analytics help you may need.

by
Comment(s)

UK Internet Ad Spending Passes Newspapers

posted on March 29, 2007

While the average spent on online advertising in the U.S. hovers around 5% of total ad budgets, the U.K. is blazing a trail with 11.4%.

Online advertising grew by more than 41% in 2006, overtaking national newspaper ads (10.7% share) and about half the amount spent on TV ads (which actually dropped 4.7%).

It’s good news for online marketers…

“The internet is a hugely popular mass medium now, and advertisers are continuing to switch more of their budgets online to build their brands and interact with their customers,” said IAB chief executive Guy Phillipson.

Why the rapid growth?

“With consumers now enjoying even faster broadband and installing wireless routers in their homes, the growth of online advertising in the UK is set to continue unabated,” he added.

by
Comment(s)

Are Blogs the Only Way to Discover News?

posted on March 29, 2007

Over at SEOcritique.com Tom Schmitz asked a few search marketers to reveal some the alternative ways they discover news and tips.

Asking bloggers to share their tips, is a great way to put together a post that will attract others, and Tom does well to get feedback from Danny Sullivan, Rand Fishkin, Neil Patel, Todd Malicoat, Barry Schwartz and myself.

Here’s a couple that I shared…

  • I monitor the job classifieds sites to understand who’s hiring. This often gives good clues about new products or services and works well with large companies such as Google.
  • I also track a lot of industry keywords in different search engines. For example, if Technorati finds a new blog post that matches the phrase “search engine”, I’ll know about it.

by
Comment(s)

A Gaggle of Google News

posted on March 29, 2007

In case you can’t get enough Google news, here are few more news items for your consideration.

by
Comment(s)

Why Google’s Brand is Hurting their Offline Expansion Plans

posted on March 29, 2007

When most people think of the Google brand, they get a warm fuzzy feeling. Indeed, Google is one of the top influential brands in the world, but not everyone feels butterflies in their tummy, when they think of Google.

In fact, when it comes to offline advertising channels, Google is finding that it’s brand is more of a hindrance, than help, when it comes to negotiating deals with radio, TV and newspaper markets. As the NYT highlights, many traditional ad channels are very cautious, if not fearful, that Google will enter their space and devalue the existing offering.

Many in the radio industry are determined to keep Google at arm’s length, suspicious that its technology-based approach will turn their business into a commodity and take away the relationships with advertisers that stations have spent years building.

by
Comment(s)

Microsoft’s Live Search Shutsdown Advanced Search Queries

posted on March 29, 2007

A lot of search marketers recently noticed that the “link:” command isn’t working at Microsoft’s Windows Live search. Well, it’s not a glitch, but a deliberate shutdown by MSFT…

We have been seeing broad use of these features by legitimate users but unfortunately also what appears to be mass automated usage for data mining. So for now, we have made the tough call to block all queries with these operators.

Huh? Knock, knock. Anyone home? That “data mining” is likely a whole bunch of search marketers – you know, the ones that help clients to get better rankings in the search engines? The same ones that are all gaga over Google and only just starting to consider whether they should care about traffic from your search engine. You might want to follow Google and Yahoo’s lead and actually provide us MORE data not less.