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Fallout from a milestone decision at the FTC fizzled fears in the online community today, in a hearing that addressed the benefits and consequences of enacting a “do not track” option in web browsers.  Amongst some of the benefits: the ability to access certain free sites and the ability to enable some pretty cool technology.  But what did the decision really boil down to?  It really means the FTC thought enforcing a “do not track” amendment through the development of plugins was essentially “too hard“.  Excuse me?

Let’s ponder on this… Read more…

WordStream releases new functions and tools every so often that enable marketers to expand and refine keywords in paid search and SEO campaigns, but today they announced something entirely different.  Wordstream now offers a Free Keyword Tool widget generator for those of us that may want to enhance our own websites, educate and inform through blogs, etc. Read more…

I don’t blame webmasters, marketers or even the casual blogger for having such a hard time grasping the one true testament of SEO, if that really even exists, because things change on a daily, or even hourly basis.  Plus, you have so-called experts touting tall tales of black-hat SEO, and how “in my day I could stuff keywords until the cows came home to rank 1st overall in Google”.  The basics are relatively straightforward, and fundamentally unchanged over the past few years; it’s the tactics that have changed.  So here is a run through of all the latest resources I could find to dispel the myths and set the records straight. Read more…

In the best of scenarios, collectively, the IT department within an organization is an extremely busy place, with the hustle and bustle of scoping, engineering, implementing, and testing every phase of an online web property. Priorities on projects originating from product development, marketing, sales, and support have to be weighed accordingly.  However, with the ever-changing world of online marketing, companies have to be increasingly more agile, and aware of changes across the enterprise. Read more…

Feeling fresh, alert and green coming off of EST and attending my first SES conference, I was met with a sluggish start to SES. This means low energy attendees, no freebies as was advertised from previous years’ attendees and worse of all, no brekkie! Even the coffee was weak. Those who needed more of a jolt had to make a trek to the Starbucks in the hotel next door or feed themselves with the $10 dollar fruit plate from the adjacent hotel. Read more…

Given the recent economic downturn and attendance numbers in a downward spiral over the past year or so, turnout for SES San Jose, the granddaddy of all online marketing shows, was surprisingly optimistic.  Not only are all major search engines, agencies, and tool providers on hand for the festivities, experts from all walks of marketing disciplines are presenting on their specialties.  It’s the perfect storm, in the perfect weather, at the perfect time for optimizing online marketing. Read more…

With all the talk lately about new and emerging technologies, social spheres, and potential easy wins in online marketing, it’s hard to decipher the signal from the noise.  A shaky economy doesn’t help matters, because many companies are moving to either increase short-term gains or foster long-term strategy and right the boat.  Fragmented advice is easy to come by, so I present to you one cohesive strategy of online marketing with a few tactical real-world examples of how you might implement change. Read more…

In marketing, vendor and partner transparency is king; more transparency equals better client relations.  In the online marketing world, there’s the tendency for vendor relations to languish or stagnate by maintaining the status quo. After watching Google as an advertising vendor for many years, they simply aren’t that kind of company.  With the web being what it is today, clients and agencies that use Google Adwords are very vocal about improvements they’d like to see made, including the improvement of transparency.  Google’s new Search Based Keyword Tool is one such improvement: more better. Read more…

Picking a winner can be hard.

No doubt, an internet marketer’s toughest job is finding the right mix of advertising cost, overall brand value for ad placements, and conveying value proposition to drive conversion.  We can collect all kinds of valuable information through web analytics including visitor pathways, conversion funnels, top content driving revenue, and even cool stuff like demographics and socio-economic indicators.  But finding sites that can supply us with our most valuable prospects can be tough.  Enter Behavioral Targeting from Google Adwords. Read more…

Are you a business owner, or indirectly responsible for your online advertising conversion funnel?  Have you ever wondered why your business might be getting decent traffic through online channels and programs such as Google Adwords and Yahoo Search Marketing, but it doesn’t make an impact on your bottom line?  Position might be great, clicks coming through steadily each week and month, success events are pouring in but revenues are stagnant.  You might be turning your online ads into Amish Furniture… no finish! Read more…