Augmented Television Experiences

There is this nagging idea that I have had since I heard about Google TV. For those that do not know, Google TV is a set top box that basically gives you the internet on your TV (along with the ability to further interact with additional content, surf the web and use applications). It sounds really cool, but seems to take away the group/family experience of watching TV. Seems like an awesome idea if there is just one person watching TV.

Now how do you allow a "Google TV" like experience with multiple users viewing a single TV. This is a recent Nielsen study showing how people use tablet and smartphone devices while watching television.


The growing adoption of smartphones and tablets allows most tech savvy individuals to readily consume and interact with additional content without interrupting a group television experience. There just needs to be that connection to additional content and experiences to enhance the overall experience. If there was a way to tether or link your devices to a set-top box or tv, it would allow for these augmented experiences for those that want them and leave the actual television unfettered for group viewing.

This to me seems like a more attractive experience than Google TV. It would not interrupt a group viewing experience, but would allow for enhance interactive experience for those that want it.

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Only You Can Prevent Computer Viruses

*Warning This Post Is In No Way Related To Marketing/Advertising*


Now that we have that out of the way...
Saw an article on CNN labeled PC Viruses Are Mostly Your Fault, Says Microsoft and just had to post it.

While it may sound harsh or like Microsoft is trying to not take responsibility, in most cases people get viruses from doing things they shouldn't be doing (Bad websites, Illegal downloads, etc). 





Key thing to remember: Don't do bad things on your computer or open emails from the dethroned king of Nigeria and your computer should be quite safe.

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Has anyone seen the new ad from Google, highlighting its Google+ product. If not take a look below and let me know your thoughts.



I think they are trying too hard to be clever. Just my opinion.

Thoughts?

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Eye Tracking Study Reinforces Importance of Local Search Optimization

While the results of the study may be a bit biased (study was conducted by SEOMOZ) but it does reinforce the importance of optimizing your company website to show up in Local SERP (search engine results page). 


In most regards you would imagine that the majority of people would spend the most time interacting with the top three results. Surprisingly, most of the actual time spent looking at this page is spent not on the top three results, but at the local SERP results on the page.

Based on the results of the study, The local SERP stands out significantly with the additional map, phone and review information. This alone can easily account for it drawing more attention than standard listings in a SERP page. 

What does this mean? I have been saying it since the existence of my blog, but you need to optimize your websites for local search. Not only does it increase your chances of having enhanced listing for localized results, but it gives more relevant information about your business and optimizes it for mobile search. Making it more likely for someone to find you and enhance their lives with your product or service.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Yahoo's Interesting Tablet Ad Concept

All i can say is wow! From the demo video it looks pretty nifty, but i would love to check it out myself before passing final judgement. Take a look at the demo for yourself!

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Google's Version of Web MD

For all you nerdy webmasters out there, the new Google webmaster tools have a pretty nifty"Site Health" alert that pops up on your welcome dashboard to let you know if something is seriously wrong with your webpage.

My dorkdum has been validated, be jealous.

Best Regards,
The Marketing Ninja

Driving ROI From Social Media

This article from adage has a video that reminds me of a conversation i had with a senior manager last week.

Hope you enjoy it as much as i did.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

The Beginning Of A New YouTube

http://mashable.com/2011/08/13/interactive-marketing-video/

Looks like YouTube is taking another step in the interactive direction. While there has been "choose your own adventure" type experiences (this one being my favorite!)

I can't really call fast forwarding/rewinding and replaying being a uber awesome interactive experience, but it is interactive. Creating an experience much like an interactive game, where you can make "choose your own adventure" like sequences happen without pausing the content being viewed would be the next best thing. Could YouTube technically become a new type of gaming platform? It is already considered a juggernaut in the online entertainment industry for its easy access to free and entertaining content.

Thoughts anyone?

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Peek Into Google Mobile Strategy

googles-us-mobile-head-talks-local-intent-mcommerce-geo-targeting-and-more

In case you have not been keeping abreast of Google's growing mobile ecosystem including Google Wallet and Near Field Communication this is a good short article that goes over whats already available. Would personally like to see wider adoption of NFC and the like technology.

Best Regards,
- The Marketing Ninja

Ladies Not Feeling The QR Code Love?

Based on a report from comscore, it looks like most qr-code-scanners-searchers-are-affluent-18-34-males in the US. This new demographic information might be useful when dictating when and where QR codes are appropriate (video games, sports cars, home improvement).

I find it silly that the writer questions wither or not QR codes will gain full traction in the US. QR codes will never be a serious form of media alone but should always be used to supplement OOH and Print in the most common cases. The ability to instantly traverse individuals from one form of media to another is extremely valuable and should be integrated where it makes sense (To give additional valuable content that you would be unable to experience from the media being traversed). Match this with the ability to track usage with tagging analytics and you have an awesome way to track engagement and other revenue generating activities.

Regardless, QR codes should never be discounted and now that we are starting to get usage demographic information they can be utilized more effectively.  Now if only NFC will gain some traction (hint to smartphone manufacturers!)


Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

ISP's Boldly Siphon Paid Search Advertising Dollars From Bing/Yahoo.

ISPs-Are-Hijacking-Bing-Yahoo-Searches

Bold, Smart, Brash, Call it what you may but Kudo's to these ISP's (Internet Service Providers...like Comcast) for finding a clever way to make money. Until Bing/Yahoo wises up its really their fault for not catching such a blatant and costly exploitation.

I am really interested in how much paid search revenue this is taking away from the affected search engines.

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Interesting Look at Search In South Korea

This is a cool article that goes over the major search engines in South Korea and no...its not Google!

The overall design is more reminicent of a traditional web portal (Think Yahoo and AOL). Fascinating to see what South Koreans determine as useful with regards to search. It seems like they want more quality information about current trends and events than a clean interface. Naver itself has a pretty cool real time updating social network stream, now if only i could read Korean! Just goes to show you that one size certainly does not fit all, especially with regards to International SEO.

Best Regards,
-The Marketing Ninja

Photovine: Weaving A Story In Pictures?

This recent addition from Google is a mobile photo sharing network that allows individuals to snap a picture and create a theme for it. Once this is posted others are able join in and add photos of their own along that same theme, weaving together a story in pictures.

Pretty nifty concept but will it stick? I think its time for me to buy a new phone so i can try out some of these nifty new mobile experiences. My Palm Pre + just isn't kicking it any longer.

Anyways take a look at this video that starts with a heart melting intro. Enjoy!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Yahoo and UM On What Car Buyers Want

http://www.yadvertisingblog.com/blog/2011/07/11/how-online-car-buyers-decide/

Nifty article on what influences car buying decisions in both Digital and Dealer experiences. 

Best Regards,

The Marketing Ninja

Key To Future Of Social Networks Lies In Mobile

Google+1 launched this week, and it seems most people think its sort of cool but just another version of Facebook. I feel that most are missing the "big picture" just by looking at the desktop interface and not all of the features included. Technology introduces the means in which we consume and interact with the world and the people in it. Figuring out "Mobile" is the big thing and Google seems to have seen the light.

Huddle, a feature that is restricted only to Android users (hopefully just for now), allows people to communicate with their circles, setup events, and give updates to those events via mobile group chat in real time. Such a cool feature that at the very least this (ME) individual could use on his Friday/Saturday night adventures.

This ability to take all of those useful functionality of a social network with you, and use them real-time to augment daily experiences is the penultimate "next-big-thing" that is actually already here. Keep in mind that the product is still in "beta", its user-base is slowly but steadily trickling in, and too me the most important feature is limited to Android smart phones only. Still....bravo Google. Something might finally just start to stick :)

Best Regards,
The Marketing Ninja

A New Type of Search Ad, Just Google Doing What They Do Best!

http://searchengineland.com/google-offer-ads-not-google-offers-in-the-wild-81418

Shouldn't doubt Google from making their search ad's more robust. That's like expecting Microsoft to loose its edge in office productivity software.

As you can see it looks like the equivalent of an online coupon with a faux outline to clip out the offer. It does its job in standings out and giving the advertiser more room to add enticing copy. I just wonder how much more it costs to add this feature to a search campaign?

Good job Google! Just when i think i had seen everything search advertising had to offer they keep on giving more. Keep innovating and keep it up!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google Tweaks Show That The Smallest Changes Make a Big Difference

Google announced a slew of updates and enhancements to its Mobile and Desktop search platforms. The things that always surprise me the most are the simplest of changes (such as the Instant Pages feature) . This dandy feature pre-loads the first search results web page, enabling Kazaam like speed.

I am sure that Bing/Yahoo will follow suit as it should be fairly easy to implement and give users a more enjoyable search experience.

So much other stuff to talk about, yet so little time!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Social Media Consultants Reality Check "Facebook Sharing/Likes Does Not Affect Search Rankings!"

Just to serve as a reality check, Google's Matt Cutts reinforced that Facebook activities do not directly positively/negatively affect search engine rankings. Wouldn't it make more sense that high quality content, that would happen to be organically highly ranked, would have a high share/like rate on Facebook because its good content.

Can't forget that age old, high school lesson that just because two things can be correlated, does not mean that they directly cause each other....unless you are making the argument that people like to share useful things online.

http://searchengineland.com/its-not-he-said-she-said-over-google-rankings-facebook-shares-80601?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=feed-main

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Smartphone Users Like to Interact w/ Ads?

Nifty video but i am not completely sold on those stats. Overall message is still pretty cool and easy to understand. Companies need a mobile presence wither it be through mobile websites, local search listing (Google Places and Bing - Which even gives you the option of creating a mobile web page with e-commerce functionality) or applications. Personally i say create content rich sites using html 5 and begone with specific applications for devices. Saves you time and money while having something cross functional for Ipads/Smartphones/Touch enabled PC's/Everything!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Cool look at the near future of TV

http://mashable.com/2011/05/11/future-connected-tv/

Nifty Mashable article on the future of Internet connected tv. I especially like the step that Xbox has taken with its ESPN channel. Allowing users to interact with one another by voting/rooting for one team or the other. I am sure they would allow a text/talk feature if they could only filter out obscenities. Oh the risks of social integration.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Bing Chief Challenges Google "My Search Kung Fu Is Stronger"

 Bing Chief Challenges Google "My Search Kung Fu Is Stronger"

This week Bing has released deep integration with Facebook and its search engine. Now things that your friends like/recommend command a high presence in your search results (i.e. if i am looking for sushi and a bunch of friends recommend one place...then it will show up in my search results showing my friends that like/recommend the location). Personally i think this type of partnership for search is amazing. It reinforces the mantra of helping people enrich their lives through search by tightly integrating social networking features right into search results.  Effectively it leverages existing conversations and forms new ones by doing so.

All in all, the bar has been set. Google is working hard to bring its +1 feature into full swing but i have a feeling that its functionality and use will pale in comparison to the type of tight integration that Bing has with technology people already care about and use. How many people have set-up a Google profile already? Exactly....

This should make it more imperative than ever that companies have cross- functioning pr, social media and search teams to get the most bang for their digital buck. Especially now in some circles that a Facebook like can directly influence an individuals organi-social (yes i just made up that word)search results.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Own Your Online Information:Am I Visible?

I just came across this great site http://www.amivisible.org. What it does is crawls through local listing sites (mlive.com, manta, yahoo etc) to see how "visible" your company is online. I know for a fact that the listing information,keyword information is not entirely accurate as i monitor everything in webmaster tools (uber dork) but it will give an individual a great idea of what type of local listing sites its company should be present on.

As always, keep all of your information consistent, uniform and make sure that it has keyword combinations that will give those search users the most value (i.e. those that want what you have to give). After all, search is about enriching ones life with value (from purchasing items to finding information). Making sure that you can connect with users that will gain the maximum value from what you have to offer is what makes search engine optimization a must for any company (especially service oriented ones).

P.S.: I always stress this to small businesses....Own Your Online Information!


Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

An Image Is Worth a Thousand Clicks

http://searchengineland.com/survey-60-of-consumers-more-likely-to-consider-or-contact-businesses-with-images-in-local-search-results-73092

Interesting article on how businesses that display images in local search results are more likely to be considered as being relevant to a user and be interacted with(60% more likely). It also goes to show and rank local listing sites in order of how many clicks they generate. It is of no surprise that the information presented almost perfectly correlates to the volume of site traffic the website i moderate receives from each source (Google/Google Places being at the top and Bing at the bottom). 


It is interesting to see how many users stated how much they use search engines/local to locate businesses(54% at least every month) and the importance of owning this online information to place additional content like pictures and videos for users to interact with. Google/Bing/Yahoo along with many other sites offer the ability to list your business and add content like this for free. All you need to spend is the time to get it done. Not only will this make the information more accurate but it will make your listing look more relevant and valuable when compared to others.

It's plain and simple, if you are a small business you need to own your online information.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google Is Serious About Social

http://searchengineland.com/report-google-ceo-page-ties-bonuses-to-social-success-reorganizes-google-mgmt-team-72197

When Larry Page said he wanted to have a social layer applied to Google he wasn't kidding. Apparently he didn't like the direction the company was taking. Schmidt started focusing on developing software for enterprises to nip closer to the heels of Microsoft. This has only caused Microsoft to fire back with better more competitively priced alternatives that further entrench it as the exemplar for business software solutions. (sorry for the msft tangent).

This "social layer" is currently taking bits and pieces from current social network stars Facebook and Twitter (as in twitter and facebook have the opportunity to make your page rank higher in search. This is based on a combination of how many friends/followers an individual has and how many people retweet etc etc) but ultimately, Larry still wants Google to have a proprietary social network.

One of Larrys major change to the business regards employee compensation. Google is now basing internal bonuses on how "social" the work of its employees are. An employees bonus could either by 25% more or less depending on the metrics being used to gauge success.

In my previous blog post i go over the new Google +1 feature and how i feel it will ultimately fail as a social networking tool, but succeed because businesses want their online content/advertisements to rank higher by getting people with "Google Profiles" to "+1" their content. http://the-marketing-ninja.blogspot.com/2011/04/google-social-30-like-remixed.html.

Google Profiles allow you to tag your email address to a face. It gives  you the opportunity to say a little bit about you, the work you have done, share pictures from Picasa and a few other limiting features. This oddly seems like how Myspace/Facebook started out? Honestly, do we need another profile page. I know most people who have made one just set it up...then forgot about it. What is the real value in something that you do not use?

I learned from a great professor that people who just say "we will just have to wait and see" will always be left in the dust. I already know that this will fail in a social sense, sure it is cool to get recommendations from my friends that have gmail accounts but that is making a broad assessment from Google. Most other people i know that have gmail accounts are not my friends but classmates i have had to collaborate with or other random people. Most of my friends that i would want to get recommendations from are not on gmail, but are on Facebook. I know that this is a pretty biased perspective but honestly not everyone has a gmail account and not everyone is going to go out, get a gmail account and create a Google profile just for this feature. I think it required too much effort from individuals when they can get a better experience from pre-existing social networks.

Side Note: I do not hate Google in anyway, i just like to give(take) objective constructive criticism. Without the multiple SEO guides, webmaster tools, analytics software, advertising and webmaster blogs that they provide for free i would not have as robust a knowledge of SEO/Search as i do now.

Best Regards,
Antonio Esposito

Google Social 3.0: "Like" Remixed

(apologies outright for any spelling/grammatical errors. Blogger has been giving me issues lately)


Lets take a look at Google's attempts to enter into the US Social Networking industry. Google likes to first attempt and acquire companies in new business areas that it wants to break into. If that fails then they attempt to create a competing product. With regards to US Social Networking, this strategy is a bust.

2003: After the failed takeover bid for one of the original Social Networking companies Friendster, Google sets it eyes to create its own service to compete in the market. Okrut was born, but so far has only performed will in India and Brazil and did not see much success within the US.

2010: Google Buzz was supposed to change the way that people lived and collaborated with each other. The initial announcement of this product made many social networks nervous as it was going to be run out of Gmail accounts and would launch with millions of users worldwide.The beta had some promising features but the overall usability was extremely cumbersome and not intuitive. This is coming from someone who beta tested the product and knew right away that it wasn't going to take off.

One of the main issues with Buzz was that when it was released it was done so to all Gmail account members, without their knowledge and immediately began sharing information. The public outrage at such an outright violation of privacy has put a ten year long SEC privacy audit on Google that could hinder the future performance and creativity of the company.

2011: It is one year later and Google has released individual profile pages for users. Take a look at mine https://profiles.google.com/AEsposito88/about. Could this be the precursor to Googles new, simplified approach at building their own social network?

Googles Facebook Like
Googles +1 and its affect on PPC

This article on the new Google +1 feature almost solidifies my assumption. The +1 feature is going to be the google version of a like/retweet and it will require users to have a Google Profile in order to +1 an advertisement/webpage. Google has stated that the amount of +1 and how many of your Gmail "contacts" that  +1 a Google search result will affect its search ranking.

Do i think this will be successful? Yes and no.

Yes, I strongly believe that it will be successful for Big Brands and SEO companies as they would not only get the most value out of this feature, but they would have a large fan base and/or employees to gain +1's from. Some companies could even make it an initiative that all employees create a profile and +1 the webpage/advertisements. (unless this would be against +1 guidelines) The main advantage of this would hopefully be higher search standings and higher CTR for advertisements.

No, i believe it will fail for the individual user and as a type of social network. I have doubts that  most people will go out of their way to create a Google profile just to +1 an advertisement or webpage. I hate to say this but we will just have to wait and see what happens. You can bet yourself that i will be keeping an eye on the implementation and success/failure of the Google +1.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google's Instant Search is Ancient History

https://searchengineland.com/yahoo-had-instant-search-in-2005-and-dropped-it-50169

The original search giant Yahoo! had already beta tested using instant search capabilities 5 years before Google implemented it in 2010. What happened and what does this mean about search?

Back in the day Yahoo! was not able to bring their live search beta to market because of issues with infrastructure/server capacity to consistently bring up instant results for the previous #1 search engine.

What does this mean for search and Google? It seems that they are running out of ideas for search. There is only so much you can do without having to re-invent the way people look for and use search engine like tools. The idea for Google's Instant Search was already out there years ago, just the capability to implement it was not there. It's my guess that alot of energy is being put into other projects such as mobile search platforms instead of attempting to re-invent the desktop search experience.

In my previous post i showed how Yahoo has taken instant search to the next level with Search Direct. Check it out if you have not already.

http://search.yahoo.com/

They are taking things deeper into the web-browser and focusing on the search box itself. Baidu, the chinese search giant has talked about doing this with their own suite of future operating software and search engine technology. It's an interesting approach that allows for a fresh look at search results and interactivity.

All i can say is i love this industry. Lets keep innovating!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Yahoo Isn't Done Yet!

http://searchengineland.com/yahoo-launches-rich-version-of-instant-search-direct-69636

I like how Yahoo is pushing back with its own unique instant search feature that previews links and the content within them almost instantly. You can bet yourself i am going to be visiting Yahoo a bit more to check this feature out and see how it works. The opportunities to include previews of content/advertising (especially video) shows a unique approach that may be the beginning of the comeback kids fight in search.

Check out the video below! In this case the answers are in the box (search box), not the band (little antitrust quote for those geeky enough to get it)

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Mobile Search + TV .... Anyone Get The Picture?

http://searchengineland.com/highest-use-of-mobile-search-at-home-report-69557

The above article goes over tendencies for people to conduct mobile searches from the comfort of their own home and more increasingly while watching tv.


I would add my .02 两个美分 on the subject but i fear it may compromise a great idea of mine.


Best Regards,


-The Marketing Ninja 

Overview of Mobile from SMXW

http://searchengineland.com/big-mobile-data-dive-from-smx-west-68793

I am finally back from vacation and am now feeling a little bit under the weather...Go-go tea and vitamin c!

Awesome article from searchengineland recapping important case studies and statistics about mobile from this years SMXW. The real jist of it is that mobile isn't  the future, it is the now. More and more people are using mobile search as a means to impulsively acquire information, interact with advertisements, and assist in decision making processes (most importantly the ones that result in a purchase i.e.: location based coupon, local rating site, viewing an ad and extending that experience with a QR code that leads to a mobile optimized site for research and purchase of service/product or anything along those lines).


MOBILE IS HERE!

Now is the time to embrace it! Sure the amount of the gross population that uses smartphones is still smaller than other media (TV,Radio, etc), but these are generally tech savvy individuals that have excess money to spend on goods to enrich their lives (unless you are looking at BB users which can be a mixed bag...lets not get into this right now...it could take awhile). Now is the time to not just create mobile sites for users, but unique applications that cross functionally work with advertisements to increase overall engagement and further leverage the overall value of the brand for those users.

The future is now and it is in mobile. We have the chance to be pioneers in this industry and i hope that most industry professionals are as excited as i am to use this new technology in creative and useful ways.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Who looks at paid search advertisements anyways?

http://searchengineland.com/eye-tracking-study-everybody-looks-at-organic-listings-but-most-ignore-paid-ads-on-right-67698?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+searchengineland+(Search+Engine+Land:+Main+Feed)

New study was released today that answered one of my more long-standing search related questions. "Is it just me, the search marketing enthusiast, that ignores the paid advertisements in search?", apparently not entirely.

The mixed paid advertisements that are normally placed above organic listings (other than when local search results are thrown into the mix) have their top dollar pricing verified. In a SEM sense you want your ads to show up in the top 3, or the chance of someone interacting and being influenced by your ad is greatly diminished. Hopefully this would include a mix of SEO/testing ad copy to increase the Quality Score and attention grabbing text in the paid advertisement.

Important Take Away: Successful  SEO/SEM should work hand in hand with bringing valuable content on the first page of search results. The top 2-3 paid placements and the following content are the most lucrative of spots as they will bring you the largest amount of interaction.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Bill Gates Has Had Cloud In The Back of His Mind For Four Years

http://www.zdnet.com/videos/tech-news/gates-a-server-in-every-home/153479

In this interview with Bill Gates he goes over the basic ideas and roots that have developed cloud computing to achieve his vision of a server and Xbox in every home. He also goes over the root concepts of kinect and the advantages of voice/natural interface system in the home.

It is interesting an unique to see how this vision has taken shape over the last four years from a set-top box server, to the cloud, and to the ever expanding Xbox/windows phone services being offered.

Fascinating to take a look back and see how trends in technology have altered the means of strategy but not the overall end result.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

When statistics don't add up....or paint a scary picture

http://searchengineland.com/google-controls-97-percent-of-mobile-paid-search-report-66876

The statistics in this case are that 98% of mobile paid search expenditures are spent on Google and 2% on Bing/Yahoo.

This statistic is either very wrong or it should serve as a wake up call to Bing/Yahoo search to push more ad sales of mobile placements. The sheer fact that Verizon wireless has an almost exclusive search deal with Bing should give them enough of a case to promote the viability of mobile reach for Bing paid mobile search placements. Honestly it is scary to think that business managers are passing up on trending sectors such as mobile search.

Then again i do not have the whole picture, the statistics could be misleading and there could be other internal issues. Regardless, there should be no reason why Bing/Yahoo cannot leverage their search deal with Verizon and its 94.1 million subscribers (I will estimate 20% of them *generous numbers* have a smartphone) to promote a big slice of the paid mobile search pie. Can't let that five year, 650 million dollar deal go to waste MSFT.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google Not Content With Just Augmenting In-Car Experience

http://searchengineland.com/video-inside-googles-self-driving-cars-66806

Microsoft has for the most part stuck with its software model and it has played out generally well (with consideration to continual profitability/growth into new tech such as motion based and cloud computing). This is especially true with sync/my ford touch, the Microsoft based technologies that have made Ford the defacto leader of in-car tech .

Google on the other hand is not just focusing on in-car tech, but the whole car. Above is a video of a Google self driving car actually driving itself around a track. Multiple vehicles like this have been spotted on the west side of the country undergoing test runs to tweak and perfect the software for this smart car concept.

Google sees the whole car as the best option to pursue in the future. If you are less occupied in a vehicle with the aspect of driving you will have more time to interact with in-car technology, content and more importantly sponsored advertisements. More importantly if Google gets a head start and is successful here do you really think these self driving cars will be equipped with anything other but Google tech?

While i for one don't like the aspect of the driver surfing the web on a car ( driving is one of my favorite past times, a source of relaxation and its just plain fun! ). I would find this useful in rush hour traffic though, as its hell for any car enthusiast/commuter.

Before we can worry about the full integrated interaction of this technology in a car that actual utility has to be perfected. That utility is getting the vehicle to effectively drive itself.

I see things like this and it gets me excited at the current/future capabilities of technology. Imagine all of the marketing and advertising possibilities!

Hope you have enjoyed this post and the above video!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Microsoft Bing Strategy = Partnerships are Key!

http://searchengineland.com/kayak-cto-we-welcome-google-ita-as-travel-search-competitor-66751
http://searchengineland.com/bing-brings-local-deals-to-mobile-pc-66678

Seems that the MSFT+YHOO partnership did not just involve search algorithms but a bit of management technique as well. Where other online giants (facebook/google) are attempting to bring their own services against current incumbents Groupon(daily deals)/Kayak(travel), Bing has seen fit to partner with those companies and integrate them into their value proposition. Offering you the most comprehensive site to find online deals and travel services (Farecast and now Kayak).

Bing of course is doing this to gain more eyeballs to their sites which relate in more street cred and more sales of sponsored advertisements. Google and Facebook are already the reigning champions in their own divisions, so they don't seem to be content with just aggregating/sharing information. They want a slice of that new online daily deal pie. Will they be successful? I see Facebook being a bit more likely than Google at this point in time since Facebook has a nice social ecosystem to work out of.

This will definitely be something i will carefully watch and you can expect blog posts about the performance of  the Facebook and Google Deal features.

(if you have not checked out Bings Farecast it is an absolute must when planning flights! It save me about $150 bucks when planning my flight to chi town. Travel indicator told me that fares were expected to rise and the next day after i bought it shazam! High Prices! I wonder how it works though...magical gnomes? I think so lol)

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Paperback Local SEO Tactic

http://searchengineland.com/a-local-search-marketing-tactic-thats-one-for-the-books-65541

Just the aspect of writing a book for the purpose of SEO seems downright silly but in a world of Google Books its slightly realistic. Using the book as an additional link back to personal, business, location and keywords is possible by search engines crawling the content of the published text.

Just an off the wall unorthodox local SEO tactic i thought i would share!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Again, Why it is important for Social Media/PR/Search to be Cross functional.

http://searchengineland.com/googles-action-against-link-schemes-continues-overstock-com-and-forbes-com-latest-casualities-conductor-exits-business-65926

Google has again clamped down on two more companies (Forbes.com and Overstock) for violating their search engine terms of agreement. Just recently this had happened to JCPenny and i am sure many companies are wondering "Why are these companies being punished and how do i ensure that this will not happen to my company?".

Google makes it fairly clear that any "paid" links that manipulate PageRank (this is the basic algorithm that returns your search query with "meaningful" results) violate their terms of agreement. This payment for links can come for additional discounts or money directly to the party that you are getting that link from. The types of links you will not get punished for are those involved in editorial content.

This of course makes obvious sense from a SEO perspective. If a trusted site, editor, or blogger is referring a site/content that they find valuable, then the page rank for that trusted site, editor, or blogger will be transferred as well. It's all about bringing people the content that most accurately meets their search query and that they will find the most value in.

All of this reinforces proper SEO best practices being reinforced in Social Media/PR (popular keywords, HTML alt attributes, etc) to make sure that your valuable content is ultra-search friendly. Valuable back links can come from respected online circles of influence. It is up to Social Media/PR and search to cross functionally work together to make sure that this is taken advantage of. What good does great content do if no one can find it?

 While this will not immediately affect search standings like a link farm or paid links will, it is the proper way and most cost efficient way to build search standing.  Initiating best practices will double the value of your content and not dilute the value of your site/brand with penalties from search engines by paying for links.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

What is the difference between Organic and Paid Search results?

Whenever i ask most people this question i just get a big "what?". There seems to be a misconceived notion that the top results on Google are the most relevant (In most cases it goes to the person with the best quality score/budget but we are not here to get into PPC optimization). Generally, the top two links presented are actually paid advertisements and not organic search results.

The organic search results are a bit below the "Sponsored Links" (a nice way of saying paid advertising!). 

A short explanation of what Search Engine Optimization is: The art of letting search engines (Like Google/Bing) know that your website exists and that it is relevant for certain keywords (which relate to the content your site provides). This is a very basic explanation by the way.

I promised this post to a friend of mine so i hope it is satisfactory.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Why Social Media+Search needs to be cross-functional

http://searchengineland.com/google-expands-social-circle-in-search-results-including-page-rankings-65202

It looks like Google has taken a step forward to integrate users social circles of influence into their search results. How does this work? Users can specify if they want blogs, twitter, flickr, etc that they follow to be incorporated into search results. This means that a persons center of influence (Blogs they follow, etc.) can also alter search results by bringing up content from that social media based on keywords from a users search query.

How does this affect Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing? It is more important now than ever to have cross-functionality between your PR/Social Media team and Search Marketing. There needs to be transparency in the current optimal/high volume keywords for different types of content and make sure that they are present in social media efforts. Not only will this make it easier for users to find valuable content from the company because they are being linked to high volume relevant keyword groups, but it will also naturally increase search-ability and search standings for this content and the company. This will also increase the importance of social media followers and the distribution of valuable content that people are searching for.

Any company still siloing out these functions are missing out on multifaceted advantages that could easily and cheaply be capitalized on by a cross functioning group following established best practices.

It is things like this that excite and keep me interested in digital marketing.


Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Amazon - The Enviable Tech Giant?

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/21/smallbusiness/amazon_acquisitions/index.htm

Amazon has always been a pioneer in the tech industry with its cloud service offering for business, streaming content distribution and as we all know the default go-to for most online shopping (especially for those with a Prime Membership -LIKE ME!)


This article on CNN really opened my eyes to all of the acquisitions that Amazon has made and how well they are able to integrate other companies into their family. What can easily turn into a waste of money/devastating move for a majority of large companies (Diamler+Chrysler , Danger+Microsoft, Quicken+RockFinancial, etc) Amazon seems to be able to move with ease. (my comparison of Diamler+Chrysler might be a bit unfounded with regards to this but its relating to two companies in the same industry merging as one) This really goes to show you the caliber of company management and culture that is sure the envy of many companies.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Credit or Debit? How about my Cell Phone!

http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13970_7-20032840-78.html

Mobile is the new place to be, wither it is in apps or online commerce. The real questions is, who will get there first? With Mobile Commerce/Payments in mind, the recent successes in the UK  are finally starting to awaken the United States to a new trend in the ways consumers shop.So far US companies have been late in adopting technologies to easily facilitate this but as shown over the holiday season (EBay) people are willing to make/confirm purchases using mobile devices.

While most phone companies are waiting for phone operating systems and hardware (NFC-Near Frequency Chip) to become available, others have taken the initiative. I love how Visa has taken a step forward by introducing an App/SD card that you can manually place in your smartphone to use with card readers. Effectively this turns your phone into a functional credit card.

How safe is this? Visa and other smartphones coming equipped with NFC are reassuring people that it is a safer means of transaction compared to credit cards. It is only a matter of time until someone finds a back door or introduces some sort of trojan. Surely by then developers will make security features a bit more robust to address these threats. I have not heard of how these applications work but it would seem logical for some sort of pin verification as an additional tactile layer of security. Until then if you are going to use any of these applications i would highly recommend locking your phone with a password if you have not already.

The above article goes into more detail, but being a marketing/advertising major i cannot wait for this tech to be widely adopted. The implications of being able to serve interactive content that is actionable by the consumer opens the door on mobile marketing/commerce. Location based NFC "type: technology is where the industry should capitalize on impulse purchases and extending brand interactions to almost any place a smartphone can be used... All as long as it can be kept somewhat secure.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Nokia+MSFT: Brush off the haters....

Not only has Nokia came under fire from tech pundits (they fear that the partnership with Microsoft will put in jeopardy the high standard and uniformity of WP7 devices) but also from Nokia shareholders (selling stock like crazy and even attempting to force a takeover of the company, to just as quickly back down)  and the CTO of Verizon stating that the company doesn't need a Nokia phone using WP7. 

All in the span of three days have we have had a quick uprising from Nokia shareholders and a shrug off from the CTO of Verizon stating they have no need for any Nokia Windows Phones.

This whole scuffle with Nokia shareholders was pretty ridiculous. I don’t know if any of these people have any business acumen (That is only showed by them backing down from their own threats within two days) but how in the world would an internal power struggle help the company stabilize and increase market share within the smart phone industry? If they were actually successful it would further hurt internal morale and set the technological superiority of the company back even further than it already is. 

Thankfully the shareholders have backed off and seem to have buyed into managements overall strategy (and those that have not are selling their stock like crazy). You can’t expect everyone in the company to be happy about Nokias overall partnership with Microsoft. Internally this means that all of those developers for the Nokia mobile platforms are out of a job. 

Sure you can feel bad about them and hate Nokia for making such a decision and putting so many people out of work but technically isn't it partially their fault? If they had done an adequate job and created a competitive product Nokia would be experiencing better growth and would not have made such a partnership with Microsoft. Call me evil but looking at it from a business perspective a fair amount of blame rests with those developers who are now so peeved off they are attempting to get labor unions to grant them severance in excess of 100,000 euro each.

As for Verizon's CTO, i guess it shows you the stance of the company against Windows (the whole Kin debacle). Still must be a bit of bad blood there. 

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Lets talk about mobile shopping.

http://www.yadvertisingblog.com/blog/2011/02/16/mobile-shopping-study

Yahoo advertising is a great resource for staying on top of trends and getting tasty bites of awesome information.

The above link is about mobile shopping behaviors, which seems to be situating itself as the new hot area in advertising.

From the link it looks like mobile is a great way to help people not just find your business, but interact with coupons, product comparisons, and in some cases pay your bills.Its not surprising that some of the most commons things to do are using search functions or downloading items to use directly onto the phone.

You really should take a look, its an interesting read.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Twitter the savior of Live TV?

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/14/technology/twitter_mwc/index.htm

This is actually one slightly outrageous statement made this week among many (Android saving the world and the short lived Nokia shareholders Plan B).

Twitter has came out and stated that they are saving live television. Alright, i will take a bite of this and chew on it for a bit. Lets take the superbowl for example. Never before have i ever experience such a social interaction...away from people. Just by sitting at my computer I was constantly able to talk with my followers and friends about the status of the games, thoughts on advertisements, etc. More importantly it made it fun to watch live tv. The only real way to experience that interaction was by watching live televisions and interacting with people via social media (Twitter, Facebook).

In my case i was sitting at home with the parents, nursing my wisdom teeth. Most people would be at a party or a bar. These people can still interact socially through mobile devices.

Now about saving live tv....yes it does make it more fun, but i know that there are millions of people without a Twitter account. In the short term i don't think it will greatly affect live tv viewership (only if the number of people using Twitter increases exponentially). What it will do, is for those that have embraced technology and social media, it will give a heightened experience that will encourage them to view these programs as they are airing.

Taking this to another level, what if there was a way to tag your social media device (Tablet, Netbook, Phone) to your television and allow you to actively interact socially with other people watching those programs. Now that would make the experience super easy, cool and inviting. (I'm thinking a plus for sports games but we may have to watch out for obscenities and bullying online)

Anyone else have thoughts on if Twitter will be the savior of live tv?

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Want to tow a FedEx Truck? Ford F-250 is apparently the way to go.

Talk about free marketing! Ford just got a nice piece of You Tubeage from Fox news showing a good samaritan with an F-250 helping a downed Fed-Ex semi....Talk about some serious towing power right there.




Enjoy!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

IBM's Watson...Dr.Watson or the future of search?

http://management.fortune.cnn.com/2011/02/15/will-ibm%E2%80%99s-watson-put-your-job-in-jeopardy/

IBM wants to use this technology to assist doctors but i say why not use this as the new future of search? It's a completely organic interaction where you ask a questions and receive a response. There are a fair amount of times where something like this could come in handy. Watch out Google!

Of course this would more than likely be detrimental to the educational edge of ones society. Instead of retaining information from textbooks, lectures, and lessons people become reliant on a computer to answer all of their questions.

Regardless, i still think that Watson could easily unseat contemporary search engines by using an organic conversation as opposed to search terms/entering keywords. (Price comparisons, map functions, etc would still need a highly visual interface of course)




Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

JCPenny gets their SEO hand caught in the Google cookie jar

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html?_r=1&pagewanted=1

JCPenny saw explosive online sales over this holiday season and there might be a pretty good explanation as to why.

The NY Times just released an article showing some suspicious search results where JCPenny was consistently being ranked at the top for general terms like "little black dress" "skinny jeans".

After an investigation using site explorers (Have the ability to track where link-backs come from), NY Times discovered a number of phantom websites about any and all types of products linking back to JCPenny. These fake listings were tricking Google in a Blackhat SEO fashion and having JCPenny show up at the top of search results for very general items "blenders" and brand specific items "Samsung Appliance".

Blackhat SEO tactics such as link building with phantom websites or fake articles violates the terms of agreement with Google (and most search engines). In most cases this will result in decreased search standings when caught or even expulsion from search results until everything gets cleared up.

The fact that this wasnt brought up sooner by JCPennys competitors (Macys, Amazon, OldNavy, etc.) shows an extreme lack of search quality control on a corporate level. Webmasters should be conducting site and search audits once a month to ensure that their search/SEO money is being well spent. JCPennys deceitful online practices (wither this was knowingly done with managements permission or just bad practices from their SEO consultants) have possibly cost these companies millions of dollars in lost online sales and resulted in strict search punishment with regards to JCPenny from Google.

This whole debacle just troubles me in that millions of dollars are spent on search and SEO with what seems to be no proper due diligence or over site of online campaigns.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

No Empty Alt Tag Left Behind

For my first SEO Thursday blog post I will start with a topic that is up to a fair amount of debate. It is the use of Alt tags in SEO.

Now for those of you not fluent in geek let me give you a review of what an alt tag is.

Alt Tag

Back in the day when dial-up connections were super-duper slow a user had to wait a much longer time for websites to load. Alt tags were created as placeholders for images, telling the user what the image should be if it:

1) Didn’t load fast enough.

2) There was an error grabbing the image from the server.

3) If the computer lacked the graphics to view the picture.

4) For some other various reason.

Some web developers can be lazy and just not decide to add in the Alt Tag leaving it empty.

Ex: <img src=”imgname.jpg” w=”600” h=”800” alt””>

Take a look at this and ask yourself what it tells you? Looking at that HTML code can you tell me what the image is? 

Search engines cannot see the actual image either, just the code. Leaving that alt tag empty is a waste of perfectly good SEO space! It should be filled with a short and relevant description of the picture. By no means is this a free pass to fill the alt tag with a bunch of keywords “also known as keyword loading”.

In the case of a fence manufacturing company, you would want the HTML code for an image to look like this.

Ex: <img src=”r-10.jpg” w=”600” h=”800” alt=”aluminum fence around a pool”>

Adding a short, concise description of the picture gives search engines something to read. This can help with indexing of images and search term ranking for a specific page.

Do Not Abuse The Alt Tag

Ex:<img src=”imgname.jpg” w=”600” h=”600” alt=”aluminum fence, aluminum fencing, pool fences, privacy fence, best fence, steel fence, vinyl fence”>

This is an example of what not to do. Things like this are considered keyword loading and it is not taken lightly. It can severely hurt your search ranking and can even get you blacklisted from search results.

Matt Cutts has an old posting about proper use of alt tags for those that do not like to read http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NbuDpB_BTc

Hope you enjoyed and until next Thursday!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

How Will Nokia Weather The Storm?

Any business major should read this memo from the Nokia CEO to its employees. It's a step that not many CEO's are willing to take, admitting that their company is on the wrong path and that drastic change is needed.

Message from Nokia CEO to Employees

It has been rumored for some time that Nokia would join forces with the Windows Phone 7 platform. For those of you who have not kept on top of smartphone standings, Nokia was the previous market leader and is now having its turf threatened by high end (Apple), mid-range (Android) and low-end (Chinese) competitors. Nokia has alot to gain by adopting a competitive and unique phone operating system/ecosystem and Windows Phone 7 needs the huge user base and brand name that Nokia can offer.

Such a partnership would have implications to change the smartphone arena and bring both Nokia and Windows Phone 7 up to snuff with Apple and Android. Only time will tell but for the sake of both companies i hope a merger is in the works. After all the current CEO of Nokia is a former Softie!

Nokia/Windows Phone 7 partnership likely to be announced this Friday!

Best Regards,

-Antonio Esposito

Pepsi Thinks It's Cool To Be Sexist??

http://money.cnn.com/2011/02/08/news/companies/pepsi_skinny_can/index.htm

No offense to Pepsi Co. but wtf are you thinking? This is a quote directly from the article "Diet Pepsi will soon be available in a "taller, sassier new Skinny Can" that the company says is a "celebration of beautiful, confident women."". 


You have got to be kidding me! So what they are trying to say is that only beautiful and confident women look like this?

I find this reasoning just a tid bit sexist. Did they think of how this will fit in a conventional cup holder for a car?

Let me know your thoughts on this "Sassy,Skinny new can".


Best Regards,

-Antonio Esposito

The Possible Future of Search: Yahoo's Web of Objects?

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=144362

I like the direction that Yahoo is taking with regards to the future of search. Focusing on the combination of search algorithms, user intent and content aggregation to create a portal with a "web of objects". Filled with articles, videos and pictures focusing on the intent of a users search instead of just a lists of urls based on a few keywords.

When you look at the current search landscape it is fairly archaic and inefficient. Throw a few words together in the hope that an algorithm can infer intent towards the search results. You are then presented with a list of web pages that in the most general sense has a high reputation and keyword matching for your results.

Kudos to Yahoo for giving us a sneak peak at what it has in store. It also helps in understanding why Yahoo has changed from focusing on search algorithms to content in recent years. With this "web of objects" idea in mind it makes perfect sense for Yahoo to become a content creator and aggregator.

Seems like a theme for fallen web giants (hint hint AOL!).

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Super Cool Touch Mouse!

I really like the multi touch capabilities of the mouse. So cool!

Mans Last Stand to Imported From Detroit

Last Years Superbowl Commercial from Chrysler Group

Imported From Detroit

The past two years i have loved the superbowl ads from the 25% foreign owned Chrysler Group. Instead of buying a bunch of spots put all your eggs in one big memorable basket. I do have to say that most the ad's this year (other than Chevy) were pretty disappointing and that Chrysler clearly stole the show from everyone else.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google Spam Filters and Blekko Banning Content Farms

http://searchengineland.com/blekko-bans-content-farms-from-their-index-63134

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-aol-way

Update: AOL just made a surprise move and acquired the Huffington Post for $315 Million. This is possibly the best thing that could have happened for the sinking web portal company. Now AOL will have exclusive advertising privileges to the millions of visitors to the Huffington post and the editorial smarts of one of the most popular news content providers online.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/07/business/media/07aol.html?_r=1

Google Spam Filters and Blekko Banning Content Farms

There has been an uprising in internet user complaints about too much spam showing up in Google search results. People are receiving junk content that does not have any value to them and they are not happy about it. This past week Google has announced a new spam filter to help bring more relevant results to users. Only time will tell if the new algorithm changes will work or how effective it will be.

Blekko, the SlashTag search engine has gone so far as to completely ban some content farms from its search results. What is a content farm? My definition is: A website that creates a lot of web data for the sole purpose of increased search standings with sacrifice of overall quality of content. Websites such as ehow (A major source of revenue for Demand Media) will no longer show up in Blekko.

Will Google make the same change in fear of people switching over to Blekko.com?

They have publicly stated that they are not going to block “content farms” and that overall results from those sites should remain unaffected. Most users of Google have no idea what Blekko is and a larger proportion have no idea how to use slashtags. As long as Google can correctly address recent issues with bad search results in organic search queries with their most recent change they should see little to no defection of users to Blekko.

Taking an overall look at the industry, what does this say to sites like Demand Media and AOL (The AOL Way). Specifically I will focus on AOL.

They have just initiated a new overarching strategic business model. Focusing on volume of content (5-10 articles produced per day, per employee) and the body of the content being focused on search ability/profitability. What is the problem here? This is exactly the type of content that Google is trying to circumvent and Blekko is starting to block. Content created to make money, not give value to users.

If there is a flood of mediocre content (Demand Media and AOL) that does not give sufficient value to Google search users, more and more people could begin to look at other search engines (Blekko) for certain types of search queries (Obviously this would not help in finding movie times or comparing prices for the cheapest blu ray player).

Update: With respect to the acquisition by AOL, it will be interesting to see how they choose to utilize The Huffington Post, its loyal audience, and the human capital gained. 

Who knows, maybe I will start to post search results of Google and Blekko to compare the quality of content. All that I know for sure is that people want more quality results from their search provider.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Facebook Deals

Official Facebook.com - Deals Page

If you are in the service industry this is almost an obvious must for local social media interaction.

No matter if you are worried about buffering your single bottom line or your triple bottom line, Facebook has a great application for your small business needs.

Deals can range from:

Individual Deals
Group Deals
Loyalty Deals
Charity Deals

Go in and take a look at this powerful social location based tool.

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Did Google Just Get Caught Blatantly Copying Bing Search Results?

Bing search results showing up in Google
My previous blog posting on this situation.

Now it seems that Google is being quite the hypocrite.

Except in this situation there is no use of a dedicated downloadable toolbar to track individual user data for personal optimization (as was the case in the 9% success rate of the Bing Sting operation). These results are coming straight from Google itself and happen 100% of the time. Specifically, Google is tracking pages that Bing has indexed. These pages are not gibberish and they are not made up specifically for a sting operation. These pages are for live and relevant search results.


I wonder how Matt Cutts and Google will respond to these new allegations? My first guess is that they are going to try and ignore it and hope it goes away. I will make sure to keep everyone posted on the situation.

The obvious truth about IAd's!

The obvious truth about IAd's

This AdAge article came as no real surprise to me. It basically goes over how Campbell Soup ad's performed twice as well on the IAd platform as opposed to competing medias.

Of course its going to be more effective. The IAd platform is targeting young affluent techies who love to interact with content on their devices. Is it just as effective as driving these individuals out to buy Campbell Soup soup products? That has yet to be determined.

The estimated $1 million barrier to entry for most big brand names on the IAd eco-system is a tough pill to swallow when budgeting media plans. Sure that can guarantee memorability, interaction and eyeballs on mobile devices, but still that is a decent slice of the budget pie.

Now maybe if we add in coupons that can be used via mobile devices and tracked to purchases....


Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google Admits Defeat To Yahoo In Battle For Real Estate Search Superiority

zillow-and-yahoo-bolster-online-realestate-search
google-will-drop-real-estate-search-listings-from-maps


Google, under the reigns of Larry Page, has cut support for Real Estate Search and Listings from its Maps application. It seemed that very few people used the feature and it could not compete with other advanced options available online.

A few days later, Zillow.com (One of the leading online Real Estate companies that just raised $87 million in funding and got 15.7 million visitors last month) and Yahoo.com finalized a new partnership. Now Zillow can advertise listings/have them appear on Yahoo Real Estate.

It is a shame for Google to step out of this search race for not being able to compete in the industry. Online search is a huge component in the home buying process and it is surprising for a company with such a large brand presence in the search industry (Google) to drop out of the business.

Guess they are reorganizing internal resources to fight other future battles. Maybe they needed the extra people to finish up their much needed response to a failed buyout of Groupon (Google Deals).

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Link Building Tips for Budding SEO's

http://searchengineland.com/a-link-building-blueprint-the-foundation-62784

The above link is a good article on searchengineland.com with some link building tips that are common sense for most search engine optimization pro's. If you don't consider yourself an SEO veteran or are more of a webmaster, then this is def worth a look.

Enjoy!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Hulu Plus adds some more content to justify $7.99 price tag

http://adage.com/mediaworks/article?article_id=148632

What is it that people want? Content! What do we want to pay for it? Nothing!

In 2008 Hulu (A joint venture between NBC, ABC and Fox) was created to attempt and monetize the world of streaming media. These companies were afraid if they didn't capitalize on this market early they would be left in the dust by pirate sites, Netflix instant view, etc.

In the short-term Hulu was able to get ad-revenue from advertisements placed during shows, refined the website and grow the brand name of Hulu.Recently they have launched their Hulu Plus services which request users to pay a fee of $7.99 a month. 

What is the difference between Hulu and Hulu Plus?

Hulu

• Content can only be viewed for a certain amount of time after it is aired
• Normally only have 5 episodes up at a time
• Filled with pesky advertisements (Where they generate ad revenue from)

Hulu Plus ($7.99 a month)

• Libraries full of content (seasons worth of shows)
• No time restrictions
• Multiple applications for use on your Television, Computer, Game Consoles and Mobile Devices.

One of the biggest problems in trying to sell Hulu Plus onto people that use the free Hulu site is that most people either A) Think the shows they have in the Hulu Plus library are lame or B) Already have a Netflix instant view subscription which has many of the same shows (Lost, The Office, Parks and Recreating, Law and Order SVU etc).

At the end of the day it comes to content. If you are going to ask people to ante up, it has to have value to them. It helps to determine what strategic moves to make and what content to bring by segmenting who is in the Hulu market. What kind of content do these individuals value most?

Well Hulu Plus just made their cable-less solution alot juicer by signing a deal with Viacom. You will now start to see content from shows like The Daily Show, Colbert Report, and Tosh.O. This actually might make me pony up some money to cheaply watch these shows legally. Again, valuable content = new customer.

I myself live in Detroit and to get cable here would cost me somewhere around $140.00 a month. Being a broke college student there is no way in heck i am paying that. So i have been living off of normal Hulu and Netflix Instant view, which has left me quite satisfied. The shows i really miss being a college student are The Daily Show, Colbert Report and Tosh.0. Seems like someone is targeting me directly, and i think Hulu Plus may have won me over. 

Being a marketing student, i am glad these companies are segmenting their target market for this service. Young individuals who can not afford the content or are unwilling to pay for it. Giving us a legal, HD quality, reliable, streaming service to view the content we want, when and where we want is a phenomenal idea. 

Giving people like me content that i find value in and am willing to pay for.

What are your thoughts on the direction Hulu is going with Hulu Plus and its additional content aimed at young individuals? Would you be willing to pay for it?

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Impacted teeth begone!

This post was brought to you by the wonderful drug Vicodin! Without which the pain in my teeth would be too severe to use the computer.

Today was the day of my fate full Wisdom Teeth Removalllll! I was supposed to have these bad boys taken out about three years ago but i put that off in lieu of my first internship with Prudential Financial. This is the reason why i will not have an SEO Thursdays posting today. Just to give you a little preview it will be about effectively using the Alt tag (If you have no idea what that is no worries. I will give you a nice web dev overview before diving in)

Back to my teeth!

I kept ignoring it because they never cause any tooth aches. About 6 months ago i noticed my pristine teeth started to look a bit crammed. Fearing the Ron Burgundy smile i made my appointment in a jiffy. Now i have tea bag shoved in my mouth and am feasting on snack packs. The pain is quite severe but i can still get online to work on a few things and blog.

Until another day!

Best Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Dead Space 2, your moms going to hate it!

“Your mom’s going to hate it”! Now what adolescent does not respond positively to this statement?

It’s a nice position that is being used in the latest ad campaign for EA’s Deadspace 2. I give DraftFCB huge kudos for this as I personally love it.

My feelings for this may be biased as I was a huge fan of the first game. Just take a look at the link below and enjoy the videos. They are quite entertaining.

http://yourmomhatesthis.com/

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Facebook Deals Lands In Europe!

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/Facebook_deals_launches_in_Europe.php

This is more of a supercharged prong aimed at Foursquare! Sign into Facebook and register using Facebook Places and shaazzzaaaammmm! Supa Deals!

The deals honestly are pretty legitimate and should be fairly successful. 20% off a Mazda MX5! This could go up against some group deal sites (Groupon watch out!). Looks like the recent Foursquare business promotion revamps were badly needed. Will it be enough to compete against the social media powerhouse Facebook.

I will be keeping my eye on this closely.

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja

Google blames Bing for copying....jibberish?

http://searchengineland.com/google-bing-is-cheating-copying-our-search-results-62914

It seems like there is a pretty big debacle between Google and Bing. Apparently Google noticed that Bing search results were getting better and better. In some cases they were nearly mimicking Google’s search results. Sooo Google decided to leave out a “honeypot”, They took random assemblages of letters (pretty much garble) and assigned websites to them directly. In most cases these random letters came up with no search results or very ineffective results. After two weeks they tested their hypothesis and hazzah! Bing had taken the bait! Bing was now showing the same search results for these weird, non-existant search queries that Google had intentional laid out.

Now people (especially Googlers) are calling Bing a copier and a cheater. Is this foul play? I think not! Imagine yourself as a managing director of Bing. You are the underdog in a competitive search/ad driven marketplace and you have to allocate your resources effectively. Are you going to focus those resources on creating an algorithm set to determine the meaning of unrecognizable assemblages of letters…ooorrr to create an awesomeTravel algorithm , Online Games,  Social, Recipe, Local and increase the usefulness/utility of Visual Search.

In actuality Bing is quite clever in this regard. As a quick competitive fix, just mimic search results that you have no answer for! How did Bing figure out about these search results. Now here is a place of some contention. Bing has a tool bar feature for people to download that actively tracks your search queries and web searches so Bing can bring you more personal and accurate search results. Taking this into consideration the whole concept of the Google “honeypot” is ultimately rigged. Google knew that using this toolbar would have Bing track the users search results and shore up any weaknesses in Bing results for that same user.

Seems like a lame attempt to knock Bing down a peg before its big announcement today. Any sane person would notice that this does not impact the value of using Bing for its more legitimate features. Its video search, Travel, and Map packages are superior in the industry and at the end of the day those advanced features is what will drive people to use Bing over Google.

Bing: Ignore the smoke screen and stay the course. Stick to differentiation and reap the rewards.

Google: You’re the leader so it will be unlikely for Bing to knock you off your throne. Keep innovating your ad, search and mobile platforms (which you have been doing, KUDOS!) and leave the cheap shots for less respectable competitors.

Now, I leave you with a quote from the beloved Steve Jobs about tech companies. “Good artists copy, great artists steal. And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas”. The tech industry is almost akin to a Zoolander esque standoff. The first to market shows its stuff and the competitors copy and elaborate. It’s just the nature of the business.

Regards,

-The Marketing Ninja