Internet Marketing Blog

Yahoo and Microsoft Deal For Some Of The Search Marbles

August 31, 2010 – 3:42 pm

Yahoo!, after a period of management disarray, is settling into a full search partnership with Microsoft.  A couple days back, the technology firm aligned their services with Microsoft’s Bing to help leverage market share against Google in the search advertising industry.  The technology giants agreed to a ten-year contract with the goal to be a serious contender.  Yahoo was motivated to enter this direction to reduce expenses incurred from years of fiscal mismanagement leading to a reduced stock price quote.  Microsoft wanted to test new search algorithms and expand their product strategies with Bing, which is also aligned with Facebook’s wealth of personal profile data.  Bing needs to recoup startup expenses incurred and this is a start on that path.

Neither company is capable of catching Google alone, but as mentioned, offer unique abilities that can complement one another.  First off, companies are looking to use Bing as a search index and have an ability to negotiate pay-per-click rates more palatable with their budgets.  Bing needs to gain credibility with local and national businesses, and will not cut off their nose to spite their face.  Facebook’s new geolocation application, Places, can drive up search indexes even more as users entrust the privacy settings installed online.  Yahoo wants to gain credibility as a content provider, and possesses loyal visitors who use the website for assorted page applications such as Finance, News, and Sports.  They can now focus on delivering that content with more quality.

In a perfect world, the companies will save resources, while creating a vacuum for research and development that offers a premium price point for online advertisers.  Innovative technologies will present themselves and shift seamlessly between platforms. Here are some thoughts from advertisers at the San Francisco SES Conference on the impact.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Bing, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, Chris Walbert, ppc, ppc advertising, seo media agency, yahoo microsoft deal

Weekly Blueliner Newsminer

August 30, 2010 – 1:39 pm

Good afternoon, everyone.  We are back with the Weekly Blueliner Newsminer, a Monday edition.

1.  Paul Allen Sues Apple, Google, over patents

This story broke on Friday afternoon.  It’s not unlike the suit by Larry Ellison of Oracle over Java Technology, but equally as laughable.  According to the piece, Allen had been sitting on these patents for years and just now realized that they have value.  It’s like the alphabet inventors suing the estate of James Joyce because they are still making revenue from the sales of Ulysses.  I’ve documented on the space about the mobile technology being in a virtual shootout for control.  This is just another gun firing the pistol.

2.  HP and Dell square off for 3Par

HP and Dell continue to reach outside of their traditional customer PC markets by bidding for the data management firm.  The latest word is that 3Par executives consider HP to have a superior presentation and plan to nullify the agreement with Dell.  Both corporations are looking to gain control in the race for cloud computing.  Cloud computing is an emerging industry with remote data centers offsite.  Firms now are expanding their reach into the market with CRM solutions that can be an asset for small businesses.   These days, tech firms are looking to exhaust their piles of cash on the balance sheet.  Whether their decisions benefit shareholders will be seen later on.

3.  Yahoo and Microsoft team up to counter Google

After two years of rebuffing the pursuit, Yahoo and Google team up to gain market share in search advertising.  Bing, Microsoft’s emerging search index, has made moves with an alliance with Facebook, who presents a wealth of personal data for marketers seeking to leverage revenue from social media.    Small businesses will have a wider array of pay per click rates to choose from that fits their respective budgets.  Yahoo receives a strong chunk of the revenue gained from search on their site, while Microsoft provides the algorithms. Both companies can also start experimenting with product innovation, giving hope to restoring Yahoo’s former glory as a search leader.

4.  Intel makes a second deal in two weeks; this time for Infineon

Intel continues to expand into wireless technology buy purchasing Infineon.  Infineon specializes in electronics for automobiles along with producing chips for security cards.  Intel’s track record of expansion has been relatively weak of late, and it is unclear when the investment will return dividends since mobile technology has negligible security issues at this time.  This should be nice for Infineon, as they can focus on product innovation, which has been their weakness.

5.  Google to Acquire Angstro

Google acquired this start-up to build their portfolio and challenge the social media industry, where Facebook clearly is the titan. Angstro has developed applications that mine personal data to deliver search results on a person’s professional network. Angstro also creates social networks and caller IDs for sites like LinkedIn.  Google is clearly worried about Facebook as an emerging search presence and after the disaster of Buzz, looks to pull a rabbit out of their hat. It could be too little, too late.

That’s the Blue news for now. See you next week.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Applications, Mobile Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, internet marketing agency ny, new york interactive media agency, weekly blueliner newsminer

For Google, Yelp Will Not

August 26, 2010 – 5:32 pm

The launch of Facebook Places last week is rustling more than privacy settings.  Their rivals are now sparring against one another. In a current report, Yelp has struck a deal with Google to remove their content from Google Places, since the pay-per-click credit would fall to advertisers on Google Places and not Yelp, despite their influential business review to extract a consumer purchasing decision.  Yelp had a syndicated relationship that ended in 2006, but their reviews content appeared after the partnership’s termination.  After a meeting between both site executives, Google promised to remove the content.  Yelp still wants to surface in Google’s search index results, especially with Caffeine as an additive, pun intended.  

Those unsure of the distinction between the two can follow this distinction.  Google Places is seeking to overtake Yelp, Facebook, Craigslist, and other classified search hubs through acquiring third party publisher sites.  Third party publisher sites are created for advertisers to provide server space, campaign delivery, and reporting facilities needed to show content at an optimal cost.  Yelp clearly doesn’t have the financial resources of Google, so third party publishing is a fiber of their cyberspace identity with cookies being the sweet tooth. Cookies are placed on viewed websites to eliminate repeat pop-ups per page open, establish an advertising sequence, and monitor web traffic for analytical reports.  It gives them the platform for their unique customer reviewers to post routinely, creating a bucolic online community.  I think this will be a permanent discontinuation since the e-classified market needs to distinguish itself.

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Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Pay Per Click (PPC), blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Affiliate Marketing, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, facebook places, google places, internet marketing agency ny, new york mobile marketing agency, yelp

Facebook – Facebook Optimization – New SEO

July 30, 2010 – 11:30 am

Facebook changed the way people use the internet to post and share information. Today one in every 14 people on Earth use the social networking website. Today, there are 12 million users in India, 6 million users in Brazil and these numbers are going to grow much faster in the near future. Facebook gained about 100 million new users since February of this year and now made half a billion users collectively.

Facts about Facebook:

1. 50% of active users log on to Facebook in any given day
2. Facebook has about 100 billion hits a day
3. 50 billion photos on Facebook and more than 3 billion photos uploaded each month
4. More than 3 million active pages on Facebook
5. More than 70 translations options available on the site
6. 1.5 million Local businesses have active pages on Facebook
7. Every month, more than 70% of Facebook users engage with Platform applications
8. 100 million active users are accessing Facebook through their mobile phones

So how do companies successfully use Facebook to market its products or services to large group of users? Facebook Optimization is the answer. Here are some key points that need to be followed on a Facebook Marketing Campaign includes: developing specific messages to target audience, paying appropriate attention to what is being discussed, and engaging in a good conversation. There are special tools that are specifically made for Facebook portal that help small businesses engage more and more deeply with the consumers and prospects. Facebook open graph tool help optimize your Facebook pages and with this tool, Facebook Optimization is now increasingly becoming the new SEO.

Posted by Mohamed Mohideen
Posted in 7 Pillars of Internet Marketing, Blog Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Interactive PR, Marketing Agencies, Mobile Marketing, Search Engine Optimization, Small Business, Social Media Marketing, blog, online advertising | 1 Comment »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing, Interactive Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Mohamed Mohideen, online advertising, Search Engine Optimization, Social Media Marketing

Pay Per Call Advertising from Skype

July 29, 2010 – 3:14 pm

Skype users are able to call, send text messages, or video chat with other Skype users for free.  They are charged with a small rate if a user makes a call to land lines or mobile phone numbers from their computers.  Skype is growing every day and has over half a billion registered users.  Now, Skype introduces a new technique to add revenue with the new pay per call ad unit.  This new type of advertising will turn phone numbers into small advertisements to about 560 million users of Skype service.

Click and call advertising service of Skype allows the users to make free calls to participating businesses found on any web page. This allows the advertisers to get easy access to the consumers or prospects.  Consumers can also call businesses free of cost using Skype. The advertisements will appear in blue, saying “Free call,” in addition to Skype numbers that appear in gray color. Skype offers this service in association with Marchex, which provides analytics for the services. Advertisers can plan a monthly budget based on the number of calls they would like to pay or they can pay based on the number of calls they receive via Skype.

A phone call is a much more valuable lead than a click on a hyperlink and can result in actual sales since the conversion rate is higher on a call. Users can see the free call button or the advertisements only if the Skype browser plug-in installed. This type of advertising is good for local businesses that don’t sell their products or services via online shopping but can generate good leads.

Donal Albert, General Manager of Skype Americas said, “It is an opportunity to tap into a large community of consumers that are initiating calls from their computers.”  Skype generated $550 million revenue in 2008, and its parent company eBay projects $1 billion in revenue by 2011. Skype estimates it currently accounts for 12% of all international call minutes. To find more information on Click & Call Advertising, check out the Skype website by clicking the logo.

Posted by Mohamed Mohideen
Posted in 7 Pillars of Internet Marketing, Content Marketing, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Marketing Agencies, Pay Per Click (PPC), Small Business, blog, online advertising, web 2.0 | No Comments »
Tags: Blueliner Marketing, digital marketing, Interactive Marketing, Internet Marketing, Mobile Marketing, Mohamed Mohideen, online advertising, pay per click advertising

Need Online Security? Call DoubleVerify

July 28, 2010 – 4:43 pm

Online advertising can bring out the best of creativity or the worst of security, known as click fraud.  Facebook is going through this with their privacy issues that surfaced in the spring.  Nobody has really stepped up, but DoubleVerify intends to make an effort.

DoubleVerify assist with online merchants, advertisers, publishers, and the like to ensure online accountability.  They are looking to build an advertising base so that they can establish credibility within the community. The next step would help ensure that advertising campaigns are being run in good faith and transparent with digital consumers.  Digital marketers are still struggling with privacy issues and security breaches online in terms of soliciting relevant data from consumer bases to tailor their campaigns.  With new users logging into social media networks daily, click fraud measures can no longer be taken lightly.

One of the biggest issues in click fraud security has been the stealing of ad tags, which allow those said ads to run illegally on malicious websites.  Many private entities and China do their diligence to expose spyware on the web, but the fight will be long. For those interested, double your verification here.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Click Fraud, blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner Marketing, doubleverify, new york click fraud agency, online advertising agency, web advertising ny

Cyberhealth Search, M.D.

July 22, 2010 – 5:11 pm

Once upon a time, not too long ago, we visited the doctor to keep us from eternal woe. Your doctor could have been John or Jack Doe, for all we cared. In the new millennium, things are a little different. We have a national health care plan, although the possibilities of redemption will be told on a future date.  Healthcare consumers are going online to access information and services.  Insurers such as Aetna and Oxford have comprehensive statistics and resources for patients.  Couriers and freelancers have a long-running joke that WebMD takes their temperature.

These elements have forced consumers to become more empowered with personal health care.  Pharmaceuticals have acted accordingly, securing record profits with aggressive online campaigns and sharp website design with comprehensive facts.  According to a 2009 study by Harris Interactive, 78% of US Internet users searched online for health information.  Social media definitely integrates the personal health experience into a far more communicative, enlightened venture than its clandestine past.

It begs to ponder the value of search in our medical experiences.  We can access information from endless sources, but it’s difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff without a specialist.  In turn, the specialist loses value if he or she is inaccessible to citizens who need their routine services.  Specialists also lose value with informed patients, and must be willing to engage in critical discussions to ensure a healthy relationship.  The medical field, unlike others, has been slow to embrace mobile technology in supporting operations.  You may love the WebMD Sports Injury Reports on Fox, but if you’re covered, go see the doctor.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Flash, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Website Design, blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, aetna insurance, Blueliner Marketing, harris interactive market research, healthcare, internet marketing nyc, new york social media agency, online advertising, oxford health care, pharmaceutical websites, web md

Minor Leagues Create A Digital Platform for Ad Buyers

July 20, 2010 – 3:29 pm

The summertime is perfect to hit the old ballparks. A beer and hot dog represents the national pastime and The Great American Experience for a reason.  As many live on a tighter budget, minor league affiliates are becoming an attractive option.  Youngsters also have an easier time to get acquainted with players. MiLB is a formidable organization with a loyal fan base ripe for marketing strategy.  They took a huge step forward by using a new digital-buying platform that centralizes the advertising menu for sponsorship. Major League Baseball Advanced Media is a principal in the partnership, and their.  I spoke a little ago about web advertising in need of a menu purchasing scale with traditional buyers, and this could be a nice benchmark.  Teams have great flexibility with their individual websites.  This new platform gives them the ability to control individual content and advertising space coupled with placing national advertisers on the parent site of MiLB.com.  This labyrinthe, unified approach allows them to reach overlooked markets in the less populated regions such as the Appalachians.  Here’s a list of some major advertisers that have joined on since the platform’s inception:  Lance Snacks, Carvel Ice Cream, PepsiCo, and Thomas The Tank Engine (children’s story).  Swing, ad buyers!

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, Blueliner, Blueliner Marketing, milb.com, minor league baseball, mlb advanced media, new york interactive marketing agency, online advertising agency, web marketing agency

Women Dig The Plug-In

July 17, 2010 – 10:57 am

In a world where everyone is always online through social media, e-mail, and smartphones, some run for the lakes and oceans to escape.  Others simply pick up a good novel and read on the sofa.  Despite their best intentions, some are too obsessively attached to get away from the grind of constant interaction, especially if your office demands the pace.  It’s too facile to call it an addiction, but women, according to a recent study, are not letting go easily.  

The Oxygen Media Insights Group conducted a study showing that young women between the ages of 18 and 34 stay close to their family and friends around the clock.  A June survey from Burst Media showed that women between the ages of 35 and 54 feel disconnected when they are not online.

Women tend to use their mobile phones as a centerpiece of their family’s livelihood. Calendar applications help the suburbanite keep track of their son’s basketball practices and daughter’s softball tournaments.  They also keep them alert about monthly teacher conferences.  We could carry on with the access to weather reports and traffic updates.

Marketers have a golden opportunity to target this demographic with quality advertising that proves beneficial on several ends.  If women don’t feel that a product or service will benefit their family on a holistic level, then it will prove a lost cause.  Grocers, discount retailers, and oil companies are just a few industries who should listen to women. They will learn a thing or three.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, Content Marketing, Marketing, Mobile Marketing, blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, burst media, marilyn monroe on phone, mobile marketing agency, online advertising, smartphone studies, web marketing agency, women's internet research

China Wants Personal Browsers

July 14, 2010 – 5:10 pm

With the Google standoff drawing to a halt for now, the Beijing regulators turn towards a different, but possibly more divergent task.  According to a newswire from the Associated Press, China now seeks to reduce anonymity in their cyberspace domain.  One of the steps is to require citizens to give their real name when buying mobile technology or entering a browser.

Clearly, this will affect the celestial exchange of information that Google envisions to procreate between academic professionals and students discussing their scholastic journals combined with the expanding portfolio of media services.  Much of the publicity generated from this standoff can only serve to bring a stronger spotlight to security breaches.  Our federal government has taken steps to provide stronger protocols in the name of ecommerce transactions, but has largely laid off regulating public forums.  The roots of this different viewpoint of cyberspace regulation lie in geographical and cultural differences that have been probed with more depth on other information sources.

I will say that despite China’s antipathy towards viral expression, conversations are still being shared about censorship and geopolitics.  They can’t stop the legion of offshore development that transcends national boundaries, real or imagined.  As a growing economic power, China will be depended on as a conduit of digital development due to the growing educated populance.  Many engineers and software developers need to access information anonymously in order to conduct sensitive research.  They will be better off if they accept this position of responsibility rather than pretend that the secret society is still in play online.  Chairman Mao is not walking through the door.

Posted by Abdul Fattah Ismail
Posted in Business News, Click Fraud, Interactive Marketing, Marketing, World, blog, online advertising | No Comments »
Tags: abdul fattah ismail, associated press china, Blueliner Marketing, click fraud security, google china controversy, internet privacy, new york click fraud agency