When Microsoft recently released Internet Explorer 8, most user reviews were positive, highlighting the Smart Address Bar, the Find On Page, and the New Tab Page. They’re also touting IE 8’s ability to reopen a user’s last browsing session if it was accidentally closed.

But the change that’s of most concern to Internet marketers and advertisers is a feature that’s been christened with an inappropriate name, but is officially called InPrivate Browsing. When users surf the Net using this mode, their tracks can’t be seen.

The question that comes most frequently to mind is whether Microsoft is attempting to undermine Google’s ability to deliver targeted ads to users. Could be. But the larger issue that impacts online advertising is that the inability to follow users’ footsteps could theoretically push Internet advertising back a decade, to the days of banner ads and other splash advertising. Today, the emphasis is on highly targeted ads to niche audiences - something that makes a tremendous amount of sense. With the performance-based ad model reigning supreme, those numbers could take a nosedive if users go into stealth mode and advertisers can’t find them.

Chances are that this single move won’t render the existing online advertising model obsolete, but it may be a bellwether of things to come.

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Increasing, business owners are eager to get the word out about their products or services through issuing press releases. If media relations are part of your marketing plan - and it should be - here are some things you should know about press release services.

1. What is a press release service?

A press release service is a company that can craft and/or distribute news about your company, product, or service. Typically, they have access to experienced writers and/or a huge database of media contacts in newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and online media.

2. What are the advantages of using a press release service?

There are several advantages in using a press release service. First, their professional writers can pinpoint a timely topic (called a “news hook”) and use it to promote your company. This will attract more attention from the media. Second, their writers understand the formulaic nature of press release writing, and can conform your information to the required format.

Third, press release services have access to the distribution channel you need in order to get the word out - that valuable list of media contacts. That resource is invaluable to you in your efforts to promote your business.

3. Why do the costs vary so widely?

Some press release services only write press release; some only distribute press releases; and some do both. The price you pay largely depends upon the services they provide, as well as how extensive a reach you want your press release to have. For example, regional distribution of a press release that you provide will probably cost around $200. If you want the service to write your press release, it may cost you another $200. If you want national or international distribution, or want the company to fax your release to the newswires, radio stations, or television stations, it will most likely be an additional charge. For an audio press release that will appeal to the radio industry, there will probably be an additional fee.

A good press release can give you a significant edge over your competition, so it’s well worth investing in a solid press release writing and distribution service.

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Myths always lead us down the wrong path. But, when the myths are in reference to business marketing, they can cost us a tremendous amount of money. This is especially true when it comes to search engine marketing. Here, then are the myths and the facts.

1. Software can be used to optimize a website.

If wishing made it so. The truth is that you need to do the work - or hire someone to do it for you - so that your site can climb in the search engine rankings and drive traffic to your site.

2. If you pay someone enough, you can get into the top three in a matter of weeks.

A good search engine optimization specialist knows that true SEO is an organic process that happens over time. A few months isn’t unreasonable, but a few weeks is pie-in-the-sky.

3. You have to submit to thousands of search engines to reap success.

We’ve all received them - those emails that say that they can submit your website to a whole bunch of search engines. The truth is that experts know that the key is manually and professionally linking to the primary databases of all of the major search engines and directories. If you get into the right ones, you’ll gain exposure in the thousands of search engines that use the big guys’ data feeds.

4. The more links, the better.

Although reciprocating links is a good idea, spamming links isn’t. When you submit your link to sites that are simply spam or that have a lot of websites, chances are good that your site may be blacklisted and never seen again in search engine results.

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In previous blog posts, we’ve discussed the challenges in finding information online, particularly when you’re not sure exactly what you’re looking for. This is particularly relevant to those who engage in Internet marketing and advertising, since the right keywords and keyword phrases can generate loads of traffic to a website.

Jennifer Liu, Product Manager at Google, recently blogged that Google Suggest will soon be available by default on the Google home page (it’s been available in the Firefox search box and a few other places for awhile now. Basically, Google Suggest makes suggestions of popular queries as you type, helping you formulate queries, lessen spelling errors, and saving keystrokes. Way cool!

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When you begin search engine marketing, a number of questions will probably arise. Here are answers to the four most common questions.

1. What is a quality score?

A quality score is something that Google uses to determine the end rank of the AdWords campaign. Even though the company doesn’t share everything that contributes to the quality score of an advertiser, they have said that the amount of the bid, the relevance of the advertisement, the landing page, the click through rate, and the historical performance of the site are factored into the algorithm.

2. What’s the difference between broad and exact matches?

With a broad match, the text advertisements are going to be assigned to the relevant search queries, no matter what the order of the keywords. With exact matches, the text advertisement will match the paid keyword exactly. For example, advertisements for “gold jewelry” in broad match would apply to things such as “emerald gold jewelry,” “sapphire gold jewelry,” and so forth. When it comes to exact match, however, the paid keyword is only going to appear when the phrase “gold jewelry” is entered. Even though broad match terms bring in more traffic, exact match terms are more targeted.

3. Do I need to hire someone for search engine marketing?

Even though hiring someone to help with your search engine marketing isn’t required, it’s often a good idea - at least initially. A pay-per-click expert can quickly and effectively research keywords, set up test campaigns, make adjustments to your keywords and ad copy, and deliver results. You may pay for the expert’s services, but you’ll save money in your AdWords budget.

4. Why is search engine marketing important?

Search engine marketing is important because people go on search engines every day, and they give equal weight to organic results and paid advertising results. It can be a cost-effective way for customer acquisition, particularly if you’re trying to reach a very narrow demographic.

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When it comes to successful marketing, one medium stands out from the rest - email. Email marketing has been around for a long time and continues to help businesses of all sizes reach their desired audiences. However, for email marketing and advertising to work, it’s important to understand the three forms of email marketing.

1. Opt-Ins - An opt-in is a person who has filled out a form or sent a request for information. This means if a prospective customer were interested in the type of service and/or product that you sell, and you were to send that person email marketing in response, you would be doing that person a favor and without the email being deemed spam.

2. Ezines - The great thing about ezines is that they work. In this case, people would subscribe to an online magazine called an ezine. From there, these individuals would be open to receiving information from you. This means the potential customer is not only being informed via the information within the ezine, but also provided with specific product/service information that would come to them via your email marketing.

3. Bulk Email - The advantage of using bulk email is that you get the chance to send out your message to virtually everyone. The disadvantage is that your emails could very easily reach people who do not want to receive them, which means that you sent spam. If you choose to use this as your mode of email marketing, it is critical that the message is powerful and focused. You need something that is going to get the recipient’s attention so they will be interested to click through to your website to see the products and/or services you offer.

As you can see, if you want an email marketing campaign that is going to work, one that will capture the reader’s attention and increase the likelihood of making more sales, your two best avenues are opt-ins and ezines.

To make your email marketing campaign successful, consider the following:

* Headline - Make sure the headline associated with your email is going to grab the reader’s attention. The goal in choosing a headline is to tease the reader, making him or her curious enough to open the email.

* Focus - Promote the services and/or products that offer the greatest benefit to the reader. If you have a full line of offerings, focus on just a few that would interest the broadest audience.

* Benefits - It is critical that your email marketing message provide the reader with multiple benefits. This way, the potential customer can see why the service or product you sell will help them.

When you target the right potential customers, have a strong message, and consistently send out email marketing messages, your success is assured.

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cnet News (news.cnet.com) recently reported that, after jumping ship from Yahoo!, Elizabeth Blair and Andy Atherton have secured $10 million in venture capital for their company, Brand.net. Internet marketing and advertising veterans, Blair is the former Senior Vice President of Business Operations for Yahoo!, while Atherton is the former Vice President of Global Pricing & Yield Management. Their management team is rounded out with Ryan Christensen and Madhu Vudali, both former Yahoo Senior Directors of Pricing & Yield Management, and Melissa Goidel, VP of National Sales for Time, Inc.

According to their website, “Existing ad networks are built to support Direct Response advertising - optimizing campaigns to generate ‘bottom of the funnel’ clicks and conversions. However, the objectives and controls other ad networks use to optimize a ‘just DR’ campaign don’t meet the more complex requirements of Brand and multi-objective campaigns.” Brand.net’s stated niche is to exclusively serve the brand advertising market.

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Forums, also commonly referred to as message boards, discussion groups, bulletin boards, or discussion boards, are a way for website visitors to communicate with one another. Due to the high volume of online traffic, forums can be an excellent tool in Web marketing, as long as the strategy is implemented effectively.

Step 1: Search for Forums
Start your forum search by looking for the available forums that exist for your business niche. Use a search engine to locate “(your type of business) forums.” Chances are, there will be a large selection from which you can choose. Review each site and choose two to three forums that are relevant to your business and that generate a high level of daily traffic. There is little harm in joining multiple sites, so start with several and then reduce the quantity as you gain some results.

Step 2: Join Forums and Read the FAQ Section

Most forums will require you to join them before you are allowed to post content or comments. Be sure to read the forum FAQ so that you are familiar with the posting rules. While forums are a great way to market your business, a “soft sell” approach is appropriate. Therefore, forums should not be used as a direct sales method, but rather as a way to gain credibility with potential customers through relationship building.

Step 3: Build and Personalize your Profile

As you join each site, build and personalize your forum profile. Since your objective is to generate leads, consider using a professional photograph or your company logo in your profile. Include personal information, professional information and as many details as possible since interested readers will often click and read the profile of a post that they enjoy.

Step 4: Establish your Resource Box

If it is within the rules of the forum site, establish a signature or resource box, since this is an effective way to link off the forum to your site. Your signature file should include one line about yourself, a URL link, and something compelling to make the reader click on the embedded link. You could offer an affiliate link (and earn extra money at the same time) or a FREE offer such as a report, Ezine or e-book. Once the reader arrives at your home page, he or she will have the opportunity to opt-in for the free item, giving you the opportunity to collect his or her information for future Web marketing efforts. To use this method effectively, the landing page should have a highly visible opt-in area to gain the reader’s attention.

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Internet advertising is a smart bet for small businesses - and one that can save you money. Many Internet advertising vehicles are far less expensive than traditional advertising methods, such as print advertising.

Here are five ways to make Internet advertising work for your small business:

* Whenever possible, place your ads on relevant sites. This means that you should buy ad space on websites that offer items that complement your products and services.

* If you have a small budget or are just starting out, exchange links with complementary sites. Some larger companies may not be willing to trade links with a smaller company because the traffic to your site is low, but most companies like a little free advertising and trading links never really hurts anyone.

* Consider advertising in some online newsletters, especially those that target your industry. Make sure to read a few sample newsletters before placing your ad to ensure that the content is professional and meets your needs.

* Consider online advertising venues where you can limit the amount you spend so you don’t go overboard. A good example is Google AdWords. In this Internet advertising set up, you can buy keywords and then decide how much you want to spend each day on Internet advertising. You can also track how well your online advertising campaign is doing. Many small businesses are doing well with Internet advertising campaigns like this.

* Article marketing is another great tool that business owners use to advertise their services. Submitting articles to content hubs allows you to get links back to your site without having to pay a fee.

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Microsoft recently announced a new technology that allows people to share immersive experiences by synthesizing many photos and placing the viewer in the mix.

According to Microsoft’s press release:

Synths constitute an entirely new visual medium. Photosynth analyzes each photo for similarities to the others, and uses that data to estimate where a photo was taken. It then re-creates the environment and uses that as a canvas on which to display the photos. The potential uses of Photosynth can range from sharing experiences to storytelling and documentation:

* Share experiences. Think about the times you have been in the midst of a beautiful location or having a once-in-a-lifetime experience and wished you could share it with more immediacy and sense of place than still photos or video can capture. Photosynth puts viewers in the center of the moment and in control of how they experience it.

* Tell a story. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then a synth composed of 20 or 50 photos makes visual storytelling as rich and compelling as a short story. Synths capture the totality of important moments in time, such as the anticipation and joy of an entire wedding party and guests at the moment vows are exchanged, or the elation of a child scoring a winning soccer goal as the fans cheer.

* Form a community. Synths can bring the best of your digital photos together with the best of everybody else’s. Imagine if you took a trip to Rome with your friends and each of you took photos of the Trevi Fountain. Later, you can tag and upload all of the photos from each person’s camera to create a synth of it. In addition, you can share that experience and your favorite places with others by embedding the synth in your profile on a social networking site.

* Educate or archive. If you want to re-create how you decorated your home for the holidays or how you planted your garden last season, the ability of Photosynth to provide intricate detail allows documentation impossible to achieve with conventional photos.

Using Photosynth begins with taking between 20 to 300 digital photos, and then downloading an application from photosynth.com. From the Web, you select the photos you want to use and the application creates a synth. After you’re done, the synth can be accessed by any Windows XP or Vista computer with broadband, and can be embedded in websites, blogs, and social networking sites.

For businesses and those interested in Internet marketing, Photosynth could provide customers with a new level of immediacy and a new way to showcase your products.

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