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July 5, 2009 - July 11, 2009

Google Product Search for Mobile Updated for More Languages and Devices, Adds Google Suggest

When Google Product Search for Mobile was launched, it was only for the iPhone and Android phones. Now, it's available for all internet-enabled devices in the US, UK, Germany and South Korea.

Additionally, Google Suggest, a query suggestion feature, has been added to Product Search for Mobile, but it is limited to iPhone, Android and Palm Pre phones in the U.S.

To use Product Search for Mobile, simply browse to google.com on your mobile phone and conduct a search. Then clcik on "Shopping results" to view products.

You an also access Product Search for mobile directly by browsing to www.google.com/m/products.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 10, 2009, 3:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bing Powers New Quick Add Feature for Hotmail

If you're a Hotmail user, you now have a new feature called Quick Add. The feature allows you to include a variety of goodies to your emails including restaurant reviews, movie times, images, videos, and maps. Quick Add is availalbe to users in Australia, Canada, China, India, US, and the UK.

To use the feature, begin a new email message. Then make a selection from the Quick Add, which you can find on the right pane. Search the Bing search box and then insert your result into the email.

What do you think of Quick Add? Any Hotmail users out there try it out yet? Let us know your experiences in the comments below.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 10, 2009, 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Google Adds Images Next to Maps in Location-Based Universal Search Results

Google has updated the universal search results for location-based queries. Now, next to the map included at the top of the search results are images.

It doesn't work for all location-based searches, however. A search for Kota, India shows image results but they are further down and no map is included.

A search for Nassau, Bahamas returns a map but not images:

It's not a problem with international searches altogether because a search for Brasilia, Brazil returns the new results:

Still, if you're invested in travel or local search, you'll want to spend some time optimizing for image search, since they're now a big part of Google location-based results.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 10, 2009, 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns

One of the session that I plan to attend at SES San Jose is "The ByerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patters" on Wednesday, August 12, 2009, at 4:00 p.m.

The moderator of the session is Gord Hotchkiss, President & CEO, Enquiro. I started speaking on panels with Gord way back at SES New York 2004.

And I can't tell you how many search engine marketers -- including me -- have taken his eye tracking research and presented it to their clients over the years. Although I always give Enquiro credit for the findings, if Gord were getting residuals, he'd be rich.

At SES San Jose 2009, the speakers at Gord's session are:
-- Mark McMaster, Senior Planner of B2B and Technology Markets, Google
-- Ben Hanna, VP Marketing, Business.com
-- Chris Golec, Founder and CEO, Demandbase
-- Jon Miller, VP Marketing, Marketo
-- Dr. Matthias Blume, Chief Analytics Officer, Covario

All of them have just concluded a major B2B research initiative, which was conducted by Enquiro with input from Google, Business.com, Covario, Marketo and DemandBase. The so-called BuyerSphere Project showed that most marketers aren't effectively leveraging online assets to their best potential. Are you shocked, shocked by these findings?

Among other things, the notion of a strictly followed, traditional buying funnel is simply not accurate in many instances, risk dictates buying behavior, search is incredibly important as an integrator across online and offline channels and face-to-face persuasion is still necessary in many high risk, complex purchases. The BuyerSphere Project looks at how online strategies became artificially separated from traditional best practices, how they can be more effectively integrated and the part search plays as a major influencer. That's worth knowing, don't you think?

Now, this panel at SES San Jose will review the research from over 100 face-to-face interviews, hundreds of eye tracking sessions and over 3,000 survey responses in total. The project represents a major step forward in understanding B2B buyer patterns and the part online marketing can play in influencing them.

So, I couldn't wait get a "sneak preview" because, well, I'm a competitive kind of guy. And if Enquiro's research is worth borrowing, I mean, worth understanding, then it's worth finding out about ahead of time.

So, I was delighted when Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Gord Hotchkiss earlier this week and uploaded the video to SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Gord discussed Enquiro's three phase research project that incorporated interviews with more than 100 BtoB buyers before the survey was even put together. The goal was to discover how purchasing decisions get made within a company.

Gord says it was previously thought that BtoB purchasing is based on rational decision making but this is not always the case. He says influences maybe online or offline but they all play a part in determining how purchasing decisions are made.

Gord also discusses the advance of a generational shift in behavior, described as the "digital natives" and the "digital immigrants." Online usage differs between the two segments. Hey, you might as well watch the video interview below to hear for yourself what he has to say.

Gord Hotchkiss, Enquiro, on the BuyerSphere Project in advance of SES San Jose 2009

And if you want even more details, the head over to the Enquiro site and click on New Research on B2B Buying: The BuyerSphere. You will find White Papers, webinars, and other information.

Why am I plugging this now when you could just attend the The BuyerSphere Project: Understanding B2B Buyer Patterns at SES San Jose 2009? Let's just say that I -- like many, many other search engine marketers -- owe Gord big time for all the research we've borrowed from Enquiro to persuade a B2B client to rethink his or her assumptions.

Hey, a plug and a link is the least that I can do to "repay" Gord for his groundbreaking research on B2B buying and B2B marketing. And it's a lot more affordable than paying residuals.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 10, 2009, 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bing's Search Engine Share on the Rise, Has a Long Way to Go

Hitwise has released their search engine share data for the month of June 2009. This is significant because it's the first month that Microsoft's Bing.com has been around. Of course, it essentially took over for Live.com, so there are a few factors to look at.

Now, normally we wouldn't look (or even get) the week-by-week data. But that is quite possibly the most significant for this particular month. As you can see, Bing saw growth every week in the month of June.

But when you average the weeks together, Microsoft search engines still saw a slight loss year-over-year. This contrasts the data from the less authoritative Statcounter, which was released July 1.

Still, it's no doubt who's still sending traffic by way of search referrals: Google.

Perhaps overall search referrals would be higher if only searchers could really find what they're looking for. The keyword length is on the rise, possibly indicating that searchers really have to do a lot of work to find what they're truly searching for.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 9, 2009, 4:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Adds My Location to Desktop Version of Maps

Google Maps for Mobile users have had access to a feature called My Location that does exactly what you would think: marks your current location. Now, the desktop version of Google Maps has access to that feature.

You've got to be using a compatible browser. So, if you haven't upgraded to Firefox 3.5 or Chrome 2.0 (or any browser installed with the current version of Google Gears), then it's time to get your download on.

Then when you load Google Maps, look for a teeny tiny new box between the zoom in/out bar and the compass circle. Click that box and you'll be prompted to give permission to share your location.

My Location seemed to figure out that I was in the greater metropolitan area of Raleigh, NC, but there was no indication via the famous blue circle that the feature had worked to find my general location. It certainly couldn't pinpoint the location of the public library whose Wifi I'm currently schlepping. Google uses nearby Wifi points to determine location, but the LatLong blog did say it may not be able to provide one every time. Though, I'm always flabbergasted when new tech like this doesn't work in such a high-tech area as the Raleigh-Durham area.

Were you able to get a more precise location detection from Google Maps? Do tell in the comments.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 9, 2009, 2:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

StumbleUpon's Su.pr is Now Available to All; Update SU, Twitter and Facebook Simultaneously

Last month, StumbleUpon unveiled Su.pr, a tool that shortens URLs but also enables the submission of links to StumbleUpon while also offering the option to simultaneous update Twitter and Facebook.

Now, Su.pr has been made available to anyone. To access it, you must become a registered user of StumbleUpon. You'll also need to authorize Twitter and Facebook to use the tool, if you plan to use the simultaneous updating. (And seriously, why wouldn't you?)

Like other URL shortening services, you can see how many times the link has been clicked on, which is highly valuable.

Especially useful is the bookmarklet that you can use to make the process of submitting to three different social networks at the same time even easier.

Now, all I need is for someone to make a Su.pr Greasemonkey script for Google Reader so I can reduce the step of clicking the links I want to share to open in a Firefox tab. Who's game?

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 9, 2009, 2:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Social Network Ad Spend to Dip in 2009, Pick Back Up in 2010

eMarketer has released projections showing social network ad spending taking a dip in 2009. They attribute the decline to difficulties over at MySpace, as they try to maintain a presence in a niche being taken over by Facebook and the yet-to-be monetized Twitter.

"The expected rebound in spending will come as more companies focus on creating and implementing an overall social marketing strategy," says Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, Social Network Ad Spending: A Brighter Outlook Next Year. "And it is a clear indication that the experimental phase of social network marketing is finally drawing to an end."

However, the downturn isn't expected to become a trend. Instead, it will be a blip on an otherwise steadily increasing interest in social network advertising. Should Twitter introduce advertising, social network ads will probably take on a life of their own.

"Facebook, once a distant second to MySpace, has outperformed its rival in nearly every measure of usage--and is on track to surpass MySpace in ad spending by 2011," says Ms. Williamson.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 9, 2009, 1:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

SES San Jose Offers Sessions for Veteran Search Engine Marketers

Last week, I said "SES San Jose Offers Conference Sessions for First Time Attendees." This year's Search Engine Strategies conference offers lots of sessions for veteran search engine marketers, too.

SES San Jose 2009 can cover both ends of the spectrum because it has five concurrent tracks. So, whether this will be your first show or the fourth SES event that you've attended in 2009, you'll find tons of new content worth learning.

For example, sessions oriented toward advanced marketers include:
• Search: Where to Next sums up what the future holds for the search industry with a veteran panel of industry insiders.
• The Next Wave for Online Video presents the importance of optimizing for video search and looks into tactics for copywriting, keyword research and more.
• Don't Call it a Comeback: Semantic Technology and Search focuses on the reality of true semantic technology and the recent application of the "Web 3.0" tag.
• Beyond Googling: Where Will Your Customers Be Searching in Five Years? presents a long-view look at weak signals and trends that appear to point in new directions.
• Launching a Global Website presents key issues critical to successfully developing, optimizing, and launching the global websites that meet next generation marketing goals.
• Duplicate Content & Multiple Site Issues explores the potential problems and pitfalls of running mirror sites and offers solutions.
• Landing Page Testing and Tuning discusses how to twist and tweak your landing page to covert site visitors into buyers.
• Real World Multivariate Testing helps attendees understand how landing page optimization, through multivariate testing, can quickly affect the success of any online acquisition campaign, and how simple changes to a landing pages can dramatically increase online sales.
• Ads in a Quality Score World looks at quality factors and studies how to increase the perceived relevancy of your campaigns.
• Follow the Carrot: Cool Mobile Apps examines the effect of mobile applications, their usefulness from a business point of view, and where they may be going in the future.
• Images & Search Engines: Getting the Full Picture explores image searching along with image-links, geo tags and other considerations for capturing targeted traffic.
• Search Becomes the Display OS includes a discussion and case studies focusing on the idea that the only thing that can save display advertising is making it more like search.

Although I should disclose that SES is a client, I'm not the only one who thinks that there is lots of sessions for veteran search engine marketers at SES conferences. For example, Lee Odden, an SES Advisory Board member and CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, says, "Search Engine Strategies in San Jose is the epicenter of what's current and useful in the search marketing industry when it comes to advancing internet marketing knowledge. I've attended SES events for years as a delegate, speaker, moderator, and now as an Advisory Board Member. That continued investment for me and my agency staff has resulted in bottom line growth of our digital marketing consulting business by staying current with search strategies and tactics, attracting new clients and talented staff. We've gained tremendous value from SES San Jose as a source of content for our top rated blog and of course, priceless networking with search engine employees, vendors and other smart internet marketers."

And earlier in the year, Odden did an escalator pitch -- which is like an elevator pitch, only faster -- at SES New York. Check out what he had to say at SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube or by watching the video below.

Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Online Marketing, on the benefits of attending SES New York 2009

Okay, so Odden was talking about SES New York in his escalator pitch, but he could have said the same things about SES San Jose.

For more information about the largest search engine marketing conference and expo on the West Coast, go to the SES San Jose 2009 website. Register through July 24 to save up to $200 with the early bird rate.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 9, 2009, 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Is YouTube's Lack of Profitability a Myth? (And If So, Does Google Perpetuate It?)

The idea that YouTube makes no money for Google is widely held by many. Even yours truly falls for it entirely too often considering I know better.

Last year, at a local interactive meetup, Google employees informed attendees of how advertisers get those specialized YouTube channels. They have to fork over $200,000 in advertising on the Google content network.

Ok, so that doesn't monetize YouTube directly, but Google is likely looking at the big picture of profitability instead of the limited scope of siloed revenues.

Of course, that hasn't stopped Google from traipsing down the yellow brick road of direct monetization. They enjoy contracts with the big music companies and recently launched video ads, which is essentially the Sponsored Links of YouTube.

Over at TechDirt, Michael Masnick is contemplating the idea that Google enjoys the myth that YouTube doesn't make any money. It helps them get bigger contracts and avoid bigger copyright issues (than it already has).

Indeed, with the recent joining of YouTube accounts to Google accounts, it appears that Google doesn't necessarily need YouTube to be a huge cash generator. The integration of Google products across the board is done so slowly, it irritates early adapters, but it quite possibly means a greater number of adapters over time.

All of this is pure speculation for industry observers. Only Google knows. Actually, probably only select Googlers know. But it's fun to speculate.

What are your speculations? Do share in the comments, won't you? (Bats eyes, says "Pretty please."

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 8, 2009, 3:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

North Korea Using Cyberattacks Against US, South Korea

Since last weekend some government websites in the US and South Korea have been cyberattacked, the New York Times reported. While the NYT has not concluded who is responsible beyond they "appear to have been launched by a hostile group or government", "the South Korean news agency Yonhap reported that the spy agency had implicated North Korea or pro-North Korea groups," NYT noted.

"The Treasury Department, Secret Service, Federal Trade Commission and Transportation Department Web sites were all down at varying points over the holiday weekend and into this week, The A.P. reported, citing officials inside and outside the American government. The fact that the government Web sites were still being affected after three days signaled an unusually lengthy and sophisticated attack, the news agency reported, citing anonymous American officials."

Running these attacks during the 4th of July weekend and the Michael Jackson memorial is almost like the Vietnamese Tet offensive - a push during New Year;s celebrations.

The attacks were made through infected computers - seems that malware can really cause problems when aimed at certain targets.

Posted by Frank Watson on July 8, 2009, 2:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Travel Search Sites Offer Competing Deals

There's been a flurry of updates in the travel search world and they all have to do with finding great deals. Whether you're a travel provider, advertiser, or just plain need great airfare tix to SES San Jose in August, here's what you need to know:

Mobissimo has added student and youth travel fares to their site. Students can now compare those special fares to normal fares. Hey, you never know when a low-priced carrier might even beat out a student fare on a "bigger" airline. So, definitely check that out.

DealBase.com is all about hotel deals and now offers a personalized newsletter. Get emails that pertain only to the destinations, hotel star ratings, and price range that you select.

Last but not least, Tripeedo.com is a new site entering the competitive travel search niche. Tripeedo is kind of the Dogpile.com of travel search. It searches the search sites, as well as the individual airline sites, hotel sites, etc. However, most of the search sites already offer price comparisons on competing sites. And most of the time, all of the sites have the same prices. What would have sold me on Tripeedo is if they didn't open the search results in different windows. That's, again, what all of the other sites do, but that just clutters up my browser and desktop.

Having said that, Tripeedo's interface is very nice and makes it one of the easiest travel search sites to use. If they ever get the results to load on one page instead of multiple tabs or windows, they might just become my default travel search engine.

Tripeedo has their work cut out for them. In a normal economy, you would see sites compete in this manner, but there's a certain urgency seen in these updates perhaps related to the current not-so-normal economy. It's not just about beating the competition these days, it's about suriviving.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 8, 2009, 2:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Google Goes After Real Estate, But Has a Long Way to Go

I don't know what's up with Google lately, but there have been a couple of big launches that aren't quite ready for prime time. Google Squared was released, pretty much as an answer to Wolfram Alpha, but it needs a ton of work.

Now, they've launched real estate search in Google Maps, but it's mostly a big dud. Realtor.com, Zillow.com, and Trulia.com are still way better and I absolutely wouldn't recommend ditching them to make Google your primary real estate search.

Of course, we can't discount Google either. They obviously rock the house on so many other products. But I guess because of this I expect a lot more from them.

I entered the search just the way they said you should: "homes for sale in Columbus, OH."

When the results come up, you have to click again to get the real estate search. That should come up right away. Kill the extra click.

Notice that when I refine my search, I see no searches from any of the top 5 real estate sites. According to Hitwise, they are:

2. Realtor.com


3. Zillow


4. Yahoo! Real Estate


5. Zip Realty


6. Trulia

Also, for Google's real estate search, I'd like to see the option of displaying more than 10 results before having to click to the next page of results. I think when it comes to real estate search, possibly more than other searches, users are going to be considering many more options because the investment is so large and the factors to consider in the purchase decision are so many.

But hey, that's just my opinion. Disagree? Think Google real estate search rocks? Leave a comment and tell me how it is.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 8, 2009, 1:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ex-Bebo Chief Kate Burns to Head Up AOL European Sales

Kate Burns has been tapped by AOL to lead its European Sales division. Burns formerly ran social network Bebo, which was acquired by AOL last year. Prior to that Burns spent time at Adlink and Google UK.

"AOL has a solid foundation in Europe, with a strong Web presence in many countries and a leading advertising network, and I'm looking forward to working with my colleagues and with AOL's partners to build on this foundation," said Burns.

Burns will report to AOL Global Advertising and Strategy President Jeff Levick

"Europe is key to realizing our mission of being the largest global platform for online display advertising. Kate is the right person to build our European management sales team and lead this effort," said Levick. "Kate is a well recognized and highly respected leader in Europe who has the talent, energy and determination to scale our European operations and deliver on this strategy."

AOL maintains ad operations in nine European countries including Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 8, 2009, 12:54 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

YouTube Biz Blog Touts Social Media and Video Strategies Forum

How cool is this? On Monday, I posted "Social Media & Video Strategies To Be Held With SES San Jose:. It broke the news that ClickZ, YouTube and Google will be holding an event on August 11, 2009, in conjunction with SES San Jose 2009.

Then on Tuesday, the YouTube Biz Blog posted "Join Us at the SES Social Media & Video Strategies Forum." Kristin Kovner, the Industry Marketing Manager at YouTube, said, "We're excited to be a part of this first-time ever event. SES is one of the best places for businesses to learn about search; now that YouTube has millions of searches each day, it's only fitting that ClickZ and SES are expanding the agenda to include a full day dedicated to video and social media."

Just as importantly, the YouTube Biz Blog embedded the featured video on the SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube. Views of the video, which was uploaded four months ago, shot up immediately. You can see the video for youself below.

Search Engine Strategies Conference & Expo

This illustrates the link between search and social media that I mentioned on Monday and Mike Grehan writes about in his cover story in the latest issue of SES Magazine.

Additional evidence can be found in research conducted by TubeMogul entitled "How do people discover videos online?" Here's the gist of what they found:

-- 45% of all videos are found on a video site, i.e. going to YouTube and doing a search or clicking around featured and related videos.
-- 44% of all videos are found embedded in blogs.
-- 6% of all videos are found with search engines, like Google.
-- 2% of all videos are found in social networks, like Facebook.
-- 2% of all videos found in social bookmarking sites.
-- Less than 1% of all videos are found with video search engines, like Google Video.

So, optimizating the title, description and tags of your YouTube video is half of the success formula. But the other half is engaging what Google calls "the buzzing blogger community."

I mentioned this a year ago at SES San Jose 2008 during a video interview with Liana Evans, who was then with KeyRelevance and is now with Serengeti Communications. Looking at it again a year later, I wouldn't change a word. (And I can't anyway.)

VSEO - Video Search Engine Optimization - with Greg Jarboe at SES San Jose 2008

So, stay tuned. Because this year's events -- as you can see in the SES San Jose 2009 agenda and the Social Media and Video Strategies agenda -- are likely to demonstrate the link between search and social big time.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 8, 2009, 11:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Google Chrome Is Now An Operating System

The Official Google Blog announced the launch of the Chrome Operating System - late night in California - the entry is timestamped 9:30 pm PST - but an hour and a Twitter link ago - I found it. A number they claim - "30 million regular Chrome browser users" - seems high. But who cares Chrome is now an operating system. It will run on the web with interaction through browsers based in most OSs. If they can flip a decent percentage of the browser users, get a good number of laptops and other methods of connecting to the web it could be something Microsoft will notice diving deep into a field they have just begun to test. As Google blogs "Google Chrome OS is a new project, separate from Android. Android was designed from the beginning to work across a variety of devices from phones to set-top boxes to netbooks. Google Chrome OS is being created for people who spend most of their time on the web, and is being designed to power computers ranging from small netbooks to full-size desktop systems. While there are areas where Google Chrome OS and Android overlap, we believe choice will drive innovation for the benefit of everyone, including Google"

Browser Statistics Month by Month

2009	IE7	IE6	IE8	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
June	18.7%	14.9%	7.1%	47.3%	6.0%	3.1%	2.1%
May	21.3%	14.5%	5.2%	47.7%	5.5%	3.0%	2.2%
April	23.2%	15.4%	3.5%	47.1%	4.9%	3.0%	2.2%
March	24.9%	17.0%	1.4%	46.5%	4.2%	3.1%	2.3%
February	25.4%	17.4%	0.8%	46.4%	4.0%	3.0%	2.2%
January	25.7%	18.5%	0.6%	45.5%	3.9%	3.0%	2.3%
2008	IE7	IE6	IE5	Firefox	Chrome	Safari	Opera
December	26.1%	19.6%		44.4%	3.6%	2.7%	2.4%
November	26.6%	20.0%		44.2%	3.1%	2.7%	2.3%
October	26.9%	20.2%		44.0%	3.0%	2.8%	2.2%
September	26.3%	22.3%		42.6%	3.1%	2.7%	2.0%
August	26.0%	24.5%		43.7%		2.6%	2.1%
July	26.4%	25.3%		42.6%		2.5%	1.9%
June	27.0%	26.5%	0.5%	41.0%		2.6%	1.7%
May	26.5%	27.3%	0.7%	39.8%		2.4%	1.5%
April	24.9%	28.9%	1.0%	39.1%		2.2%	1.4%
March	23.3%	29.5%	1.1%	37.0%		2.1%	1.4%
February	22.7%	30.7%	1.3%	36.5%		2.0%	1.4%
January	21.2%	32.0%	1.5%	36.4%		1.9%	1.4%
2007	IE7	IE6	IE5	Firefox	Mozilla	Safari	Opera
November	20.8%	33.6%	1.6%	36.3%	1.2%	1.8%	1.6%
September	20.8%	34.9%	1.5%	35.4%	1.2%	1.6%	1.5%
July	20.1%	36.9%	1.5%	34.5%	1.4%	1.5%	1.9%
May	19.2%	38.1%	1.6%	33.7%	1.3%	1.5%	1.7%
March	18.0%	38.7%	2.0%	31.8%	1.3%	1.6%	1.6%
January	13.3%	42.3%	3.0%	31.0%	1.5%	1.7%	1.5%
2006	IE7	IE6	IE5	Firefox	Mozilla	N7/8	Opera
November	7.1%	49.9%	3.6%	29.9%	2.5%	0.2%	1.5%
September	2.5%	55.6%	4.0%	27.3%	2.3%	0.4%	1.6%
July	1.9%	56.3%	4.2%	25.5%	2.3%	0.4%	1.4%
May	1.1%	57.4%	4.5%	25.7%	2.3%	0.3%	1.5%
March	0.6%	58.8%	5.3%	24.5%	2.4%	0.5%	1.5%
January	0.2%	60.3%	5.5%	25.0%	3.1%	0.5%	1.6%
2005	IE6	IE5	Firefox	Mozilla	N7	O8	O7
November	62.7%	6.2%	23.6%	2.8%	0.4%	1.3%	0.2%
September	69.8%	5.7%	18.0%	2.5%	0.4%	1.0%	0.2%
July	67.9%	5.9%	19.8%	2.6%	0.5%	0.8%	0.4%
May	64.8%	6.8%	21.0%	3.1%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%
March	63.6%	8.9%	18.9%	3.3%	1.0%	0.3%	1.6%
January	64.8%	9.7%	16.6%	3.4%	1.1%		1.9%
2004	IE6	IE5	Mozilla	N3	N7	N4	O7
November	66.0%	10.2%	16.5%	0.2%	1.2%	0.3%	1.6%
September	67.8%	11.2%	13.7%	0.3%	1.4%	0.3%	1.7%
July	67.2%	13.2%	12.6%	0.4%	1.4%	0.4%	1.6%
May	68.1%	13.8%	9.5%	0.6%	1.4%	0.4%	1.6%
March	68.2%	14.6%	7.9%	0.8%	1.4%	0.6%	1.4%
January	68.9%	15.8%	5.5%	0.4%	1.5%	0.5%	1.5%
2003	IE6	IE5	Mozilla	N3	N7	N4	O7
November	71.2%	13.7%	7.2%	0.5%	1.6%	0.5%	1.9%
September	69.7%	16.9%	6.2%	0.6%	1.5%	0.6%	1.8%
July	66.9%	20.3%	5.7%	0.6%	1.5%	0.6%	1.7%
May	65.0%	22.7%	4.6%	1.0%	1.4%	0.9%	1.4%
March	63.4%	24.6%	4.2%	0.9%	1.4%	1.1%	1.2%
January	55.3%	29.3%	4.0%	1.2%	1.1%	1.7%
2002	IE6	IE5	AOL	N3	N5	N4	IE4
November	53.5%	29.9%	5.2%	1.1%	4.9%	2.0%
September	49.1%	34.4%	4.5%	1.3%	4.5%	2.2%
July	44.4%	40.1%	3.5%	1.2%	3.5%	2.6%	0.5%
May	40.7%	46.0%	2.8%	1.2%	2.7%	3.4%	0.7%
March	36.7%	49.4%	3.0%	1.2%	2.4%	4.1%	0.7%
January	30.1%	55.7%	2.8%	1.3%	2.2%	4.4%	1.0%

Thank you w3schools for the stats

Posted by Frank Watson on July 8, 2009, 1:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Over The Mountains And Through The? Google Gadget Gives Directions To Your Business From Your Website

Google Maps Blog announced a new widget - Google Directions Gadget you can put on your site that gives directions to physical directions. Now this is a handy one with options.

With good insight into the user experience the blog notes:

"This simple gadget allows webmasters to add customized Google Maps directions to their business locations. With the directions gadget, you no longer need to type and update multiple sets of text directions. Let's face it: customers are only looking for directions from their specific location."

This one is a very smart play and will be adopted quickly

Posted by Frank Watson on July 7, 2009, 9:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

FeedBurner CEO Leaving Google

Dick Costolo, the cofounder and CEO of FeedBurner, may be adding the day he left Google to his stand up comedy routine soon, as he is supposed to depart the corporation sometime this week.

Costolo who joined Google when they bought his company seems to have timed his exit strategy with the usual 2 year overseeing that goes with such buy outs. Maybe he can join a reality show - Google Helped Make Me A Millionaire But I Want Another Job.

Dick how about doing some stand up at SES San Jose. I know people throwing parties that could be interested. Or maybe just late night at the Marriott bar - you would have an enthusiastic audience.

Posted by Frank Watson on July 7, 2009, 4:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Christian Science Monitor Nominates Twitter For Nobel Peace Prize

Christian Science Monitor opinion columnist Mark Pfeifle gives an interesting pitch for Twitter getting the Nobel Peace Prize for its impact on the Iran Election protests.

I am a big Twitter fan but think the Peace Prize is a bit of a stretch - why not a science based prize when they work out how to seriously compete with Google.

"When traditional journalists were forced to leave the country, Twitter became a window for the world to view hope, heroism, and horror. It became the assignment desk, the reporter, and the producer. And, because of this, Twitter and its creators are worthy of being considered for the Nobel Peace Prize," Pfeifie wrote.

I am writing this just after the Michael Jackson memorial which also has had a large impact over at Twitter. Social media really has jumped into the public psyche. MySpace and Facebook made us aware of them, but it was Twitter that focused its use in ways many others did not.

The piece makes an argument:

"Without Twitter, the world might have known little more than a losing candidate accusing the powers that be of alleged fraud. Without Twitter, the people of Iran would not have felt empowered and confident to stand up for freedom and democracy. They did so because they knew the world was watching. With Twitter, they now shout hope with a passion and dedication that resonates not just with those on their street, but with millions across the globe."

Good article overall, but I doubt the Nobel Prize selection committee are not following the tweets about nominating it. But then again who knows?

Posted by Frank Watson on July 7, 2009, 4:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Ask.com's Restless Pursuit of Search

With all the attention that Google gets for its mammoth search market share, you would think it's impossible for anyone else to survive. But share does not determine profitability and, indeed, 4th place Ask.com is holding steady despite the volatility of external factors.

Despite Google's stronghold, the recent launches of Wolfram Alpha and Bing have exposed what many think are glaring holes in the search experience. But plugging these holes is something Ask.com has been attempting to do for years, with solutions similar to those put forth by Wolfram Alpha and Bing.

For its part, Wolfram Alpha is built on providing data and facts, but Ask.com was already providing those answers in their results. Bing appears revolutionary, unless you searched Ask 3D during its brief run.

They say imitation is flattering, but most searchers don't care whether Bing and Ask.com wore the same dress to the prom. What they want is results.

"We're not going to be satisfied until every user is," insists Ask.com President Scott Garell. It's one of his many iterations of a prevailing mantra: We won't rest.

In fact, Ask.com's consumer-centric strategy runs at full speed. Literally.

This year, Ask.com embarked on a large-scale NASCAR campaign. They're the official search engine for NASCAR, sponsor the #96 car driven by Bobby Labonte, and serve up crawl questions on the bottom of the screen during televised broadcasts of races.

NASCAR fans are one of the most loyal demographics in the United States. 25% of the country self-identifies as being a NASCAR fan and 17 out of the top 20 sporting events for attendance were NASCAR races.

The result of Ask.com's foray into NASCAR has been a positive one. There has been an uptick in searches for NASCAR-related keywords and the searchers are more likely to stick around and use Ask.com again.

It's not the first time Ask.com reached out to a passionate demographic. Previously, they skinned their front page to promote Autism Speaks, a nonprofit advocacy group. The skin is still available for users who wish to keep it permanently on their front page.

In May, they skinned their home page in a barter agreement with the movie Night at the Museum: Battle at the Smithsonian. Ask.com was featured in the movie in exchange for the 2-day flash image appearing on the home page. So far, the movie has made $167,706,959 at the box office.

Garell hinted at forthcoming marketing campaign similar to the NASCAR one, but thus far remains mum on the details.

These campaigns are just the tip of the iceberg for Ask.com. When Garell says he won't rest, he means it. Last year, Ask.com acquired the Dictionary.com sites and recently launched an new advertising campaign with Toyota Prius where they choose keywords for their display ads. Toyota has liked what they've seen so far and has bought more advertising inventory on the site.

Ask.com is also working on their Sponsored Listings. While Google is a partner in that effort, Ask.com decided not to renew their contract with LookSmart. They're working on the next generation of their Sponsored Listings platform, yet one more restless project on the Ask.com to do list.

Of course none of this matters unless searchers find good results. A few weeks ago, Ask.com announced that it's Q&A database had 300 million question and answer pairs. The questions come from answers sites all over the web. Since so many searchers on Ask.com type their query in the form of a question, the Q&A database is an integral part of the Ask.com strategy. Many of the Q&A pairs are also included in the main search results.

With all of these projects going on, it might be easy for the 6th largest network of sites to lose track of the little things. But Garell sees the whole picture, including the fact that it still takes searchers too many queries and too many clicks to find the answer they're looking for. He wants Ask.com's semantic technology to better understand searcher intent so that users find the answer they need the first time every time.

It's a big mission and one that not even larger search companies have been able to solve. Just like a good NASCAR race, you never know when an underdog is going to come along and shake up the leaderboard. And if Scott Garell has anything to say about it, the race ain't over 'til the checkerboard flag waves.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 7, 2009, 1:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Google Finally Rips the Beta Bandaid Off of Apps, Including GMail

You probably don't even notice it anymore. You know, the little Beta tags that Google attaches to its Apps like GMail and Google Talk. But it's been there, faithfully reminding anyone who's really cared that the products weren't technically ready for prime time.

Now, Google has finally come to the place where they feel okay about removing the label. So, beginning today, Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Docs and Google Talk will lose the "Beta" that has been accompanying their logos for years.

How do you feel about the change? Are you going through Beta withdrawal? Let us know by leaving a comment.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 7, 2009, 12:10 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Yahoo! Launches Search Pad, a Personal Research Tool

Yahoo! has launched a new note-taking research tool called Search Pad. The tool is designed to automatically detect research intent among people using Yahoo! search.

Once the intent is detected, searchers are prompted with an invitation to use Search Pad. The tool uses drag and drop but includes the ability to write free form notes as well.

This is a great concept because alternatives require opening separate documents and applications or taking handwritten notes.

The tool is rolling out today to several countries. I personally couldn't get a Search Pad prompt yet today. Could you? Let us know by leaving a comment. Here are the countries Search Pad is rolling out to:

• United States
• Canada
• Australia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• Malaysia
• Philippines
• United Kingdom
• France
• Spain
• Italy
• Germany
• Brazil
• Mexico
• Argentina

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 7, 2009, 11:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

SES Webcast with Charlene Li, Co-Author, Groundswell, Tomorrow

Interested in finding out how to integrate social media into your business strategy? Sign up for the SES Webcast with Charlene Li, the co-author of the best-selling business book "Groundswell" and founder of the Altimeter Group. The Webcast will be held Wednesday, July 8, 2009, at 1:00 PM EDT/10:00 AM PDT.

Li presents a wealth of data accumulated while she was at Forrester Research as well as original research in Groundswell: Winning In A World Transformed By Social Technologies. She explains how to turn this social media threat into a new business opportunity. More importantly, she specifies what companies can do to turn the social media trend into a competitive advantage.

This one-hour webcast will cover breaking social media trends, discuss how to create customers who "evangelize" for your company, and how to establish and support relationships between and among your customers. Li will give Webcast participants opportunities to ask her their most burning social media trend questions!

One other note: Li will give away 10 copies of her latest book to the best questions fielded during the Webcast. So, register for the Charlene Li Webcast today.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 7, 2009, 8:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Twitter Now In Dictionary

The new edition of the Collins Dictionary will include a listing on Twitter, the UK Telegraph reported.

"The entry under noun will read: "a website where people can post short messages about their current activities" and under verb it will read: "to write short messages on the Twitter website," the online newpaper noted.

Hey even Google did not make it into the dictionary that quickly.

Posted by Frank Watson on July 7, 2009, 5:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Finally, Google Suspends Accounts Running Adword Scam Programs

Google has started suspending Adwords accounts selling Adwords get rich scams, the Google Help forum reported. Thanks to Barry Schwartz for pointing it out.

Aaron Wall had called them out on this a few weeks ago. The Google Money scams had been running in Adwords during various searches, baiting people with the ability to make cash arbitraging search and reselling basic information that can be found online for free but does not guarantee any success - well maybe that is not what the ads suggest.

The reply from Google reads:
"It's come to our attention that you have submitted ads that promote Google Money Tree or ads that promote a misrepresented affiliation with Google. Due to multiple complaints from our users and publishers, we've made the decision not to accept these ads.

This is a notification that your account has been suspended due to the submission of these ads and your ads will no longer run on Google. Please note that future accounts you open will also be suspended."

Posted by Frank Watson on July 7, 2009, 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Search Engine Land Disses SEM Bid Management Software

I know the editorial statements of guest contributors are not the opinions of Search Engine Land but someone should have read this one first. Bid management software is a money sink? Come on guys.

Nick Abramovic, the column writer, posts "With these bidding systems being rules-based, they require account managers to make customizations". Of course, and those customizatiions take time and effort, but they save massive amounts of time - just from a report basis to begin with. But they also provide an interface where you can pull information to the keyword level for all engines into the same spread sheet. Something anyone who has done extensive keyword management knows takes hours and pivot tables.

When you have a set price for an item - or at least what you are willing to pay for the conversion you have a maximum you should be spending. Making sure keywords or ads are turned off if they are hitting overspends is a basic. It is like investing without putting in stop orders.

Even at the portfolio level bid management is essential. True, people need eyes on it as well but their views can be more focused if some of the basics are covered. You can then test lowering prices as well, based on new ads and keyword coupling along with landing pages. This can all be done with multivariable testing inside customized bid management.

I agree there is work to be done, but ultimately these tools are an essential growth in proper maintenance.

Condemning software on the basis of users miss using it is really not fair to the programs. Say agencies may be motivated by a percentage of spend and "may" not be on top of conversion costs, but a good agency will have a combined minimum Cost Per Acquisition (CPA) along with spend numbers in their payment structure.

"Even the "advanced" agencies are not very sophisticated - they will use rules-based bidding that works half the time because they still require humans to double-check if they actually care about their client's bottom-line," Abramovic suggests.

His argument against automated bid management supposes the work would be too much - or that the management could be set to high or too low and have a losing impact. True, as he mentions C level people generally are not statisticians - but the people doing the analytics should have some experience in the area and learn from the companies how best to use and implement methods.

Mate, a little too quick to suggest "So whenever you hear a sales pitch from an agency with "proprietary technology" and are ROI-focused do what I do and say "K, thanks, bye!".

I would be asking how good is your training and how many other companies doing large keyword bid management campaigns are using the software. Talk to some of them and see how many people in support they have.

Posted by Frank Watson on July 7, 2009, 4:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (12)

AutoTrader.com Sees Another Record Month While American Cars Top Most-Viewed List

Despite all the problems facing the auto industry in America right now, AutoTrader.com experienced yet another record month of traffic in June 2009, with 16.12 million unique visitors. And those visitors weren't shying away from American brands either.

The top 5 most viewed new cars were manufactured by USA-based motor companies. Chevy Camaro topped the list with Ford, which incidentally has thus far avoided bailout money, snagged the rest of the top 5 spots.

"I get a sense looking at shopping activity on our site, and our record site traffic that consumers are looking for quality, reliability and affordability as they get ready to make their next new or used car purchase," said AutoTrader.com President and CEO Chip Perry. "Given the state of the economy, it's understandable that many consumers are sitting on the fence, researching cars, doing the math and waiting for the right piece of news or the right economic figure to get them off the fence and onto the dealer lot to make a purchase."

Here are the top 10 models in three different search categories: new cars, used cars, and certified pre-owned cars.

New Cars

1. Chevy Camaro


2. Ford F-150


3. Ford Mustang


4. Ford Focus


5. Ford Escape


6. Chevy Silverado 1500


7. Jeep Wrangler


8. Ford Fusion


9. Honda Accord


10. Toyota Camry

Used Cars

1. Ford F-150
2. BMW 3-series
3. Ford Mustang
4. Chevy Silverado 1500
5. Honda Accord
6. Honda Civic
7. Ford F-250
8. Jeep Wrangler
9. Dodge Ram 1500
10. Infiniti G35/G37

Certified Pre-Owned Cars

1. BMW 3-Series
2. Honda Accord
3. Chevy Silverado 1500
4. Chevy Tahoe
5. Audi A4
6. Toyota Tundra
7. Honda Civic
8. Toyota Camry
9. Toyota Tacoma
10. BMW 5-Series

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 6, 2009, 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

High Shipping Costs Top List of Reasons for Shopping Cart Abandonment

PayPal has released new survey data showing why online consumers leave their shopping carts behind. Survey participants were asked to tell which reasons were "very important" in abandoning their purchases.

• High shipping charges: 46%
• Wanted to comparison shop: 37%
• Lack of money: 36 percent
• Wanted to look for a coupon: 27%
• Wanted to shop offline: 26%
• Couldn't find preferred pay option: 24%
• Item was unavailable at checkout: 23%
• Couldn't find customer support: 22%
• Concerned about security of credit card data: 21%

The price tag associated with the average abandoned shopping cart was $109. That's a number merchants should be concerned about.

"Merchants who don't welcome back abandoners with open arms are leaving hundreds of dollars per shopper on the table," added Davis. "Merchants need to remember the items that customers abandon and make it easy for them to buy when they return. Sweetening the deal with free shipping, coupons and special discounts is also a great way to encourage online shoppers to complete their purchases."

I can attest that exorbitant shipping costs. I was recently shopping online for a certain type of single cup coffee packs. While I found a great price, the shipping costs made the total cost higher than purchasing offline.

You have to make shopping online more appealing than offline if you want shoppers to complete the purchase process. Since shopping online requires people to wait for delivery, price is where you must be competitive.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 6, 2009, 4:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

The Mindless PR Tweets of the Twitterati and the Baseless Response by Michael Arrington

The New York Times has a piece about the "new" style public relations in this day and age of blogs, Facebook and Twitter. They follow a publicist Brooke Hammerling as she develops a strategy for new startup Wordnik. An investor wants to avoid tech blogs such as TechCrunch due to his opinion that they are essentially set on auto-critic.

Instead, Hammerling decides to "whisper in the ears" of Silicon Valley elite. She pitches them about the "ongoing project" of Wordnik, which has been chosen to avoid the inevitable monetization questions that come along with new startups. In true robot fashion, her virtual Rolodex began Twittering away about the Wordnik.

Of course, Tech Crunch founder Michael Arrington was not happy to learn that he'd been kept out of the loop on purpose (nevermind his declaration months ago that he would stop honoring embargoes). So, he took to TechCrunch to label Wordnik a failure, but so far it's his argument that is the biggest failure in the matter.

He chose to compare Wordnik to Topsy, which was launched oh-so-exclusively on TechCrunch. The problem? Topsy based on Twitter, an already wildly popular web application. Wordnik is an online dictionary that will appeal primarily to nerdy wordsmiths, copywriters and students. Never has the cliche of comparing apples to oranges been more appropriate.

Arrington boasts that Topsy has had soooooooo much traffic since launch while Wordnik barely has registered on the radar of tracking services like comScore.

Whether Topsy or Wordnik take off or crash land remains to be seen. These things take time and require use by thousands if not millions of users who find value beyond fad generated by A-lister Tweets. But one thing is for certain. If you continue to follow the "big names" in tech, beware of the mindless PR drivel disguised as original opinion.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 6, 2009, 1:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Video about NACA's Save the Dream Tour Wins TELLY Awards

On Friday, I posted a story about the "Search and Community Track at SES San Jose: NACA's Save The Dream Tour." It seems to have connected with readers of the Search Marketing News Blog on Search Engine Watch because there were 75 Tweets about it on Friday and Saturday.

Well, the YouTube video embedded in my blog post just won two TELLY Awards. The documentary video chronicles the background and success of a the Save the Dream events in cities across America, in which homeowners with unaffordable mortgages can renegotiate or restructure their home mortgages and keep their homes. The Save the Dream tour is being organized by a community advocacy and homeownership organization called Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America (NACA).

The video won a Bronze TELLY for Social Issues productions and another Bronze for Charitable/Non-Profit productions. No, I didn't have anything to do with the video's production. It was produced by Mont Fennel and Michael Kolowich of DigiNovations, filmed principally by the video production company's Director of Photography Bill Charette, and edited by Dan Roth and Michael Kolowich.

It features numerous stories of homeowners whose lives were changed by the Save the Dream process. You can watch "Documentary: NACA's "Save the Dream" - Mortgage Restructuring and Renegotiation Rescues Homeowners" on the NACAmedia YouTube channel.

Oh, and if you have friends and neighbors who are struggling to avoid foreclosure, restructure home loans, and reduce mortgage rates, let them know about NACA's Save the Dream events in Cleveland, Ohio, July 17 - 20 at the Wolstein Center; Chicago, Illinois, July 24 - 27 at McCormick Place; and St. Louis, Missouri, July 31 - August 3 at Chaifetz Arena.

If they go to NACA's website for more information or to pre-register for one of the events, tell them to hunt for and click on the Save the Dream Tour bar in the middle of the page. The information and sign up process appears in a pop-up window. Yes, this non-profit, community advocacy and homeownership organization could use some help with usability, design, copy, link development, and other technical issues that prevent their website from receiving high quality search engine traffic and visitor conversions.

I might suggest that they attend Shari Thurow's Express Search Usability Clinic at SES San Jose 2009. Or, I might just donate that advice myself -- because SES San Jose 2009 takes place August 10-14, after the three upcoming Save the Dream events.

Heck, I already seem to be involved in this cause. If there are other search engine marketers who want to get involved, just mention that in your comments below. Maybe this will turn into a search industry effort.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 6, 2009, 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

8 Google Updates: RSS for Blog Search, Increased Upload Size for YouTube and More

Once again, there are so many Google updates that I'm bunching them together in one big post. Here they are:

Google Blog Search now has RSS and Atom feeds that users can use to subscribe to topics or stories.

YouTube has increased the upload size from 1GB to 2GB.

Google Book Search is including tag clouds to help demonstrate what a book is all about. Plus, there are new ways to search within a book.

AdWords is already adjusting the new interface to provide support for Safari 4 and Firefox 3.5, enable faster load times, and reduce horizontal scrolling.

There is also a new version of the AdWords API.

Ad Planner has a new look.

Google Checkout is offering Buy Now buttons for digital products.

Google Earth has released more 3D cities in Europe. The new cities are Warsaw, Prague and Oslo.

Posted by Nathania Johnson on July 6, 2009, 10:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Social Media & Video Strategies To Be Held With SES San Jose

The cover story by Mike Grehan in the latest issue of SES Magazine is entitled, "Is there a link between search & social?" Well, there's a new link -- with the posting of the agenda for ClickZ's Social Media & Video Strategies Forum.

This forum, which is brought to you by ClickZ, YouTube and Google, will explore "the successes and failures companies, celebrities, and politicians have had in the social sphere online and will deliver actionable tactics and strategies so that you can prosper from them." This one-day event at the San Jose Marriott on August 11, 2009, is taking place in conjunction with the Search Engine Strategies San Jose Conference & Expo, which is being held at the McEnery Convention Center August 10-14, 2009.

Being side by side will enable attendees of both events to hear the keynote speech by Clay Shirky, author of Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations.

It also enables attendees of both events to visit the grand opening of the SES San Jose exhibit hall.

Then, attendees of Social Media & Video Strategies can attend sessions on:
-- Marketing in a Social Media World;
-- Going Social: Effective Advertising via Social Networks;
-- In the Now: Conversational & Real Time Marketing;
-- What Works: Online Video Advertising Made Easy With Google & YouTube;
-- What Works: Best Practices / Case Studies for Online Video; and
-- A Social Visit: CMO Fireside Chat.

So, the link between search and social just got stronger.

I've just finished writing a book entitled, "YouTube and Video Marketing: An Hour A Day," which will be published by Wiley in mid-August. No, I didn't know that Social Media & Video Strategies would be held in conjunction with SES San Jose 2009 when I started writing last fall. But I did know that YouTube.com was on its way to being the destination where 107.1 million Americans went to watch 6.8 billion videos each month, according to comScore Video Metrix. I also knew YouTube was on its way to becoming the #2 property where search activity is observed, with 3.2 billion search queries a month in the U.S., behind only Google, with 9.8 billion search queries a month.

So, it appears that I've been fortunate to skate to where the puck's going, to borrow a line from Wayne Gretzky. But, it also appears that I'm not the only one headed in that direction. Obviously, Clay Shirky anticipated this move, too. And so did Mike Grehan, SES Advisory Board Co-Chair & Global KDM Officer of Acronym Media, and Stewart Quealy, the other SES Advisory Board Co-Chair & VP of Content Development for Incisive Media. And so has ClickZ, YouTube and Google.

And I know others who are also looking closely at the link between search and social. For example, Byron Gordon of SEO-PR interviewed Jeff Quipp of Search Engine People at SES Toronto 2009 about social media's impact on search, and more importantly, about social media's ability to create awareness of great content.

Jeff Quipp, SearchEnginePeople, on the past, present and future of SEO

John Mulligan of SEO-PR interviewed Eric Qualman of EF Education at SES New York 2009 about the future of search and social media.

Erik Qualman, EF Education on the future of search and social media at SES New York 2009

Li Evans of Serengeti Communications interviewed me at SES London 2009 about the spike in views that the SESConferenceExpo's Channel on YouTube saw when Matt Cutts of Google embedded my video interview with him on his Gadgets, Google and SEO blog.

Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR discusses YouTube and Video Marketing at SES London 2009

So, now all of us can find the link between search and social in the same place at the same time. Sweet.

Posted by Greg Jarboe on July 6, 2009, 8:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Forget Google Bombing, Twitter Twombing Is In

Seems a new game is being played on the big Twitter board - bombing the hashmarks and grabbing the top of Twitter Trends. Over the weekend a crew of merry pranksters grabbed the top listing for #gorillapenis.

In a power play using social media - the flooding of Twitter was a great example of why what is considered important should not just be determined by anonymous hands up.

Operation Shitter the action was called and came along with a rather graphic graffiti drawing over the Twitter logo.

Not as clever as the Google bomb for GW Bush and miserable failure - this one even had instructions after your accounts were banned. Definitely a throw away effort - but would like to know what their intent was!

Posted by Frank Watson on July 6, 2009, 1:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Joost de Valk Starting Wordpress Podcast on Webmaster Radio

Many online marketers love using Wordpress as their content management software to create well optimized web sites. Many of the invaluable plugins that help people achieve SEO success with Wordpress have been created by Joost de Valk aka Yoast.

Now he is teaming with Webmaster Radio to have an online broadcast of tips, tricks and all things Wordpress, The show will be launched during SES San Jose so should start with a bang.

Posted by Frank Watson on July 5, 2009, 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More States Forcing Amazon Tax Laws Killing Affiliate Marketing?

Online affiliate marketing used to be a lot easier, Google Adwords had their shot - limiting affiliate listings - and now a growing number of states in the US are implementing taxation policies that are driving out many major vendors that use affiliate marketing.

The policy started last year, most notably in New York, and as Kevin Lee points out has implications way beyond just the obvious affiliates.

On Friday, Rhode Island issued notices to over 100 online businesses that they require states sales tax to be collected. Three major businesses - Amazon, Overstock and BlueNile - told their Rhode Island based affiliates that they would no longer be able to promote their products, the Providence Journal reported.

As was announced earlier in the week, Overstock had axed North Carolina, Rhode Island, California and Hawaii affiliates.

The Terminator aka the Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger joined Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle to veto these taxes. One wonders how well online marketers can use the web to get other politicians to change their minds about these taxes.

Clickz reported that some companies are appealing the laws in New York. If they are successful in one maybe they will be willing to go after the others.

Posted by Frank Watson on July 5, 2009, 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

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