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Archive for February, 2012
Feb. 29th 2012
When it comes to building traffic to your website the best approach can be described as “all hands on deck.” In other words, you have to use a variety of Internet marketing strategies. Although working with an Internet marketing company and using their tools is important, there are also steps you can take to organically move your site up in search engine rankings. Blogging is one of them.
Although it seems as though the media talks nonstop about blogging, many ecommerce sites are slow to embrace blogging as a means to increase traffic. However, writing regular blog entries and including an RSS feed so that readers can subscribe to your blog can help increase traffic to your site, increase the number of one-way backlinks, and thus improve your search engine rankings.
The phrase, “content is king,” is often bandied about when it comes to site content, but it’s also true when it comes to blog entries. Write interesting – and sometimes provocative – blog entries, and you’ll pique the interest of your readers.
Using a blogroll, or a list of blogs that you like or that you think would be useful to your readers, is also a way to gain traction. You can also write a favorable blog entry about a tangentially related blog, and then drop that blogger a note letting him or her know that you like their work. You can even offer to be a guest blogger for their blog and cross-promote your site.
In Web 2.0, blogs are the currency of the land. Let your blog help build your website traffic – write on!
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Feb. 29th 2012
It’s clear that Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang are defending themselves on multiple fronts – and now that Carl Icahn has Microsoft on his side, their battle just got tougher.
Yahoo! recently filed its stockholder presentation for its August 1 shareholder meeting. In a statement, the Internet giant said:
Yahoo! Inc., a leading global Internet Company, today filed a stockholder presentation providing support for its belief that its current Board of Directors remains the best and most qualified group to maximize value for Yahoo! stockholders and that the slate proposed by Carl Icahn is not the right answer for the Company.
In addition to asking stockholders to support its Board of Director nominees at Yahoo!’s upcoming annual meeting of stockholders on August 1, 2008, the presentation:
– provides details of the Board’s process and decisions with regard to Microsoft, including the Board’s efforts to determine Microsoft’s interest in and commitment to an acquisition of the entire Company;
– provides an analysis of Microsoft’s search-only “hybrid” proposal;
– amplifies on the expected benefits of the Company’s recently signed commercial agreement with Google;
– highlights the Company’s recent progress in executing its key strategies;
– describes the extensive and relevant experience of Yahoo!’s existing independent Board and management team;
– observes that Mr. Icahn’s ill-defined agenda is premised on a sale to Microsoft despite Microsoft’s lack of interest in a full acquisition; and
– notes that his attacks on Yahoo! and its current Board are based on misrepresentations.
Jerry Yang, Yahoo!’s chief executive officer, said, “Despite all the challenges we’ve been through, including Microsoft’s unsolicited proposal and now a proxy contest by Carl Icahn, Yahoo! remains a unique value proposition. Our ubiquitous brand name, top-ranked online properties and deep talent pool have enabled us to continue to drive our ‘starting points’ and ‘must buy’ strategies. The combination of our leading positions in search and display together with the benefits expected from our recently-signed agreement with Google make us exceptionally well-positioned to capitalize on the convergence of search and display.”
The big players in Internet marketing are standing watch.
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Feb. 28th 2012
Microsoft once again sent ripples through the tech world – and stock market – with a statement indicating that they would re-enter negotiations with Yahoo! if a new board is installed after Yahoo’s August shareholder meeting. Microsoft’s statement said:
In the past week we have had the opportunity to discuss with Carl Icahn the prospects for a possible agreement between Microsoft and Yahoo!.
Despite working since January 31 of this year, as well as in the early part of last year, we have never been able to reach an agreement in a timely way on acceptable terms with the current management and Board of Directors at Yahoo!. We have concluded that we cannot reach an agreement with them. We confirm, however, that after the shareholder election Microsoft would be interested in discussing with a new board a major transaction with Yahoo!, such as either a transaction to purchase the “Search” function with large financial guarantees or, in the alternative, purchasing the whole company.
As Mr. Icahn notes in his statement today, it would be premature to discuss at this time important details such as the price or other terms of a possible transaction. We respect the right of Yahoo!’s shareholders to determine the destiny of their company, and we do not intend to engage in ongoing commentary on these issues in advance of Yahoo!’s shareholder meeting.
As we explained on June 12 when Yahoo! announced an agreement with Google, we believe that our proposed search acquisition and partnership would have delivered superior value to Yahoo!’s shareholders and the marketplace as a whole. We have not changed our position, even as we continue to move forward with our own online search and advertising offerings. We therefore welcome interest by Mr. Icahn in pursuing this and other discussions.
While of course there can be no assurance of a future transaction, we will be prepared to enter into discussions immediately after Yahoo!’s shareholder meeting if a new board is elected.
So much for Jerry Yang’s bait and switch in the deal with Google. Those interested in search and Internet marketing are staying tuned!
Feb. 28th 2012
Here is once again another option to decide on. Do you host on your own? Or with somebody else? You could be thinking, “I want to host my blog myself, that way I feel like I have more control over what I can do.” This is a very common way to feel about your blog. Or you could be thinking, “I’m satisfied enough with having less things to worry about.”
Take a look at some Pros and Cons to help you decide about ‘Self-Hosting.”
Pros to Self-Hosting
· You have more options and flexibility. You are able to tweak the blog to your liking.
· Your URL is your address for your blog. Rather than having go to wherever your blog is hosted to read it, it can be read right from your site.
· The ability to make your blog look professional. Blogs that are hosted on sites of their own tend to look a lot better than those hosted on free sites.
· More space for your blog. Free blog sites usually place a restriction on how much space you can have for things like photos and music. By hosting your own blog, you are able to use as much space as you need.
Cons to Self-Hosting
· There are sometimes problems with setting up blog software to run on your site and server. If you aren’t experienced when it comes to working with mySQL, the process will be hard.
· Updates aren’t as easy to post.
· You have to manually set up programs to monetize your blog.
However, if you are good with HTML/Javascript, this shouldnÂ’t be too hard.
· You have to pay for your own hosting and domain
As you can see, there are pros and cons to both. Which one should you choose? Well, it depends on who you are and what you intend to use your blog for. If you intend to use it for business, then a self-hosted blog is the best idea. If itÂ’s a personal blog, then a free hosted blog will probably be just fine for you.
Closely examine all of the pros and cons mentioned above.
If your wondering about ‘Remote Blog Hosting,’ (thats where somebody else takes care of your blog stuff) theres a great posting about that subject here.
That way, youÂ’ll be able to make the best informed decision for You!
Feb. 27th 2012
Writing a great press release is a good start, but unless you get your press release into the right hands, it will never see the light of day. That’s why press release distribution is key.
Web-based press release distribution services have a wide reach, but little depth. It’s analogous to scattering seeds across the soil and hoping one will take root. Highly target press release distribution has a narrower reach, but puts your release in the hands of the journalists most likely to take your story and run with it. Instead of scattering seeds, you’re taking care to plant each and every one, increasing the likelihood that many will sprout and grow.
It’s best to select a distribution company that has an up-to-date database of hundreds of thousands of media contacts, and that will target and personalize your press release for maximum effectiveness. For example, if you’re promoting your new line of office furniture, it doesn’t do any good to send your press release to sports reporters or those covering automobile trends. A good distribution company will target those reporters who cover business, office furnishings, and so forth, and deliver your release directly to their current email address. This way, your release gets to the proper person every time. Plus, the journalist doesn’t have to go hunting through releases generated by an online newswire to find one that fits his or her beat. The easier you make the journalist’s job, the more likely you’ll get coverage.
A sound media strategy is more common sense than rocket science. When you meet the needs of journalists while promoting your company, products, and services, you have a winning combination.
Feb. 27th 2012
Rumor has it that, after it’s run at Yahoo!, Microsoft isn’t walking softly into the night. Instead, they may be circling the wagons and trying from another angle. Forbes (www.forbes.com) reports that the software giant may be enlisting buddies like MySpace and AOL to make another run at Yahoo! Not a bad idea, since the price of the Internet marketing and search company’s stock has dipped $9 a share since Microsoft ended its bid.
On another note, the Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft’s Internet Explorer still has 73% of the browser market, but that Firefox is making inroads, capturing slightly over 19% of the market and setting a Guinness World Record for “most software downloads in a day” – a little over 8 million – for Firefox 3. It seems that Firefox, along with Safari, Opera, and Netscape, are making incremental gains each month.
Feb. 26th 2012
Once you’ve selected a newsworthy topic for your press release, it’s time to start writing. Keep in mind that press releases are read by writers and editors, so it should go without saying that your press release must be well written. If you’re not a writer, don’t be shy about contracting with a writer or a marketing services company to write your release for you.
Press releases are written according to a formula. The placement of various elements depends on the distribution outlet (which we’ll discuss tomorrow), but the key elements are:
Contact information – The name, phone number, and email address of the person who will be handling media inquiries.
Headline – A clear and catchy headline that conveys the essence of the release topic.
Place and dateline – The city, state, and date where the release originated.
First paragraph – The Who, What, When, Where, and Why of the release.
One way to think of a press release is as a pyramid, with the most important information at the top, and the supporting information below. Theoretically, a press release should be able to be reprinted as is, with the length cut to fit the space available without sacrificing important information. In practice, of course, that rarely happens, but it’s a good strategy to keep in mind while writing.
A press release often includes quotes from someone in the company, but these quotes are almost always manufactured. Essentially, you write the quote as you’d like it to appear, and then get the approval of the person to whom you’re attributing the quote.
As was the case when you decided upon the topic of your press release, write the release from the perspective of the audience of your recipient. What information would they like to know? What will be helpful to them? Avoid both stating the obvious and being too abstract. A good balance will ensure that your release is both interesting and informative.
Feb. 26th 2012
According to a blog post by Microsoft Senior Vice President Satya Nadella, the company is buying Powerset, a company that focuses on search and natural language. Sources say that the behemoth paid over $100 million for Powerset and that its technology will be used to shore up the accuracy of Microsoft’s Live Search.
According to Nadella’s post:
We know today that roughly a third of searches don’t get answered on the first search and first click. Usually searchers find the information they want eventually, but that often requires multiple searches or clicks on multiple search results. Two specific problems are the most common reasons for this:
Differences in phrasing or context between a user’s search and the way the same information is expressed on webpages. Search engines don’t understand today that “shrub” and “tree” are similar concepts. We don’t understand that “cancer” sometimes refers to a disease and sometimes refers to a horoscope and when a query or a webpage refers to which.
Lack of clarity in the descriptions for each webpage in the search results. Sometimes a result looks relevant from its short description on the results page but turns out to be not so relevant when you visit the actual page. As a result, searchers frequently click results and then rapidly click back when they realize they aren’t what they’re looking for.
These problems exist because search engines today primarily match words in a search to words on a webpage. We can solve these problems by working to understand the intent behind each search and the concepts and meaning embedded in a webpage. Doing so, we can innovate in the quality of the search results, in the flexibility with which searchers can phrase their queries, and in the search user experience. We will use knowledge extracted from webpages to improve the result descriptions and provide new tools to help customers search better.
In the meantime, it appears that Microsoft still hasn’t taken its eyes off of Yahoo! Internet marketers are waiting to see how it all plays out.
Feb. 25th 2012
Yesterday we discussed the importance of selecting a press release topic that will pique the interest of the media. That’s just one part of the equation. An element often overlooked by companies seeking media coverage is the press kit.
Essentially, a press kit makes journalists’ jobs easier. Their time is at a premium, so you’ll be more likely to receive media coverage if you can give them background information that will help them in their reporting and writing.
A press kit can contain a variety of materials. What you include in yours largely depends on your industry and the kind of coverage you’re hoping to garner. For example, a press kit might include:
- Your most recent press releases
- Clippings of other favorable media coverage
- A backgrounder or FAQ that explains the basics of your industry and why it’s relevant
- Historical information about your company or industry
- Short biographies of the company principals
- High resolution, professional photos that can be reproduced
- Suggestions for interesting story angles that haven’t been covered in the media
If you provide journalists with this kind of information, they can save valuable research time. You should have your press kit online, and offer it in a downloadable format. You may prefer that the public not have access to your press kit; if so, you can password protect that area of your site.
The bottom line? Don’t make journalists work too hard. Your press release might be wonderful and compelling, but if you give them the background information they need, you’ll be several steps ahead in the media game.
Check back tomorrow for tips on writing an effective press release.
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Feb. 25th 2012
While Yahoo! is squabbling, the search and Internet marketing juggernaut that is Google continues to add valuable members to its corporate team. Patrick Pichette, who was President of Operations at Bell Canada, will join Google on August 1, and will assume the title of CFO on August 12. He will also hold the title of Senior Vice President.
“Patrick brings the expertise and track record of a successful CFO, along with the hands-on business experience of a seasoned operations executive,” said Eric Schmidt, Google Chairman and CEO. “This strong combination of skills and experience will be an important addition to Google’s executive management team and will support our ongoing efforts to increase value for our users, advertisers and partners.” Schmidt added, “On behalf of all my colleagues at Google, we welcome Patrick and, once again, thank George Reyes for all that he’s done for Google.”
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