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++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Microsoftís Office Live has nothing to do with Microsoft Office but everything to do with helping small businesses set-up and host an e-commerce site for free. When it comes to promoting that Website, Office Live will do something revolutionary. It will bring search marketing to the masses. Starting November 15th, a new, free service called AdManager will let Office Live site owners specify a budget, say $100 a month, and walkthrough the process of deciding which search terms will bring up their ads. It's that easy. For the time being, those ads will appear only on Microsoftís own search sites, MSN Search and Live.com. Microsoft says that it is in negotiation with Google, Yahoo and other search sites, which it will add to the options soon after the introduction. After launching the campaign, AdManagerís analysis tools will report how many clicks each of the keywords attracted and from which search sites, so Search advertisers can decide which are the most effective. <http://officelive.microsoft.com/>
Turn.com, a well-backed search service run by the former CEO of Alta Vista, has launched this week at the Web 2 summit conference touting a whole new approach to search advertising. Turn relies on a cost-per-action scheme. It charges advertisers only if users take desired actions, such as filling out registration forms or closing on sales. (For example, a marketer could bid $20 for each hotel night booked, $3 for every e-mail sign-up and 75 cents for each site visit.) The company currently has about 1,000 advertisers in its system, which displays ads on approximately 30 sites. The result: Turn finds the optimal placement for your ads based on the actions you'd like to achieve. But we don't stop there. We use continuous learning to refine the process and improve performance over time as more impressions, clicks and actions are observed.
Search company Riya has launched a visual search engine named Like.com, based on appearance in addition to text. The Like engine is particularly apt at finding consumer products that provide "visual similarity shopping." Riya found product hunting was a more popular application of their technology among users than facial recognition search, which they tested on MySpace. One demonstration illustrates the ease of finding a similar watch to Ms. Paris Hilton simply by searching with a cropped image of her watch. The 'first real visual search engine' has arrived.
Speaking of online merchandise promotions, in conjunction with the upcoming release of ìCasino Royale,î the 21st official James Bond film, SonyStyle is offering Bond fans and gadget-lovers an exclusive Bond Collection of electronics. The collection features limited-edition 007 models of VAIO TX and UX series ultra-portable PCs, Cyber-shot digital cameras, and Micro-Vault media storage devices. All of these products feature the 007 logo; the VAIO PCs come pre-loaded with exclusive ìCasino Royaleî content, including wallpapers and screensavers. Each limited production 007 model is numbered and comes with a certificate of authenticity. To promote the collection, Sony is offering consumers a chance to win prizes by trying their hand at one of four casino games at Sony.com/CasinoRoyale. Players can choose from BRAVIA Blackjack, VAIO/Intel poker, Cyber-shot T-50 slots or Blu-ray Disc roulette. Now through Nov. 17, participants with a winning hand receive a printable game chip, redeemable at participating retailers, for a chance to win prizes, including a $50,000 Sony merchandise prize package, a $5,000 shopping spree and a weekend getaway for two.
Google has made Checkout free until the end of the year. According to the Google Checkout siteÖ * From November 8 through December 31, 2006, weíll process all of your Checkout transactions for free, even if you arenít an AdWords advertiser. If youíre already an AdWords advertiser, weíll process your Checkout transactions for free regardless of what you spend on AdWords.*
The Marchex Network has debuted, an advertising network featuring Marchexís more than 200,000 owned and operated Web sites which attract reported numbers of tens of millions of unique users per month. Advertisers can directly bid for placement on a Cost-Per-Click basis across Marchexís network of Web sites, based on designated keywords and categories. ìAdvertisers continue to seek out premium traffic and targeted search inventory beyond the incumbent top online search engines,î said John Keister, Marchex President and COO. ìDirect navigation traffic is recognized to be among the highest converting online traffic sources available, and as we continue to build out the content on our Web sites, the Marchex Network will be an even greater source of qualified traffic for advertisers.î According to a 2006 WebSideStory study, direct navigation traffic (when users type a domain or keyword directly into their browser bar or use a bookmark) converts at 4.23% on average, a higher rate than other sources, including search engines at 2.3%. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ A lawsuit filed against Target is expected to establish an important ruling concerning the level of access Web site operators are required to provide to users with disabilities. Specifically, the suit alleges that Target's Web site failed to make its site accessible to screen readers, which help visually impaired users read and navigate online. The Americans with Disabilities Act, which was enacted in 1990, sufficiently predates the Web that it provides little guidance on what access retailers are required to offer online. Jane Jarrow, president of Disability Access Information and Support, said that the online education sector is at particularly high risk for discovering that it has unmet legal obligations for users with disabilities. Many online programs rely heavily on chat rooms, a technology that does not A recently changed federal regulation allows online programs to qualify for federal financial aid, but institutions that seek to take advantage of this program must meet the terms of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which stipulates that Web sites must be accessible to all users to qualify for federal aid.
Yahoo!'s Tim Converse has an excellent tongue-in-cheek post that outlines the threat-level "color code" of SEO. In between White Hat and Black Hat search marketers, there are many shades of Gray. Charcoal: The SEO tries to trick the engine into showing the user something totally unrelated to the query, and possibly offensive, but doesn't actually commit any illegal or fraudulent acts within five seconds of the first user click. Dark gray: The SEO collects (aka steals) random text from other sites, and uses it to create thousands (or millions) of pages targeting particular queries. The pages have nothing original of value, but do have ads. Slate gray: The SEO creates thousands (or millions of pages), all of which point (by linkage, or framing, or redirection) to the same content, which might actually be interesting to the searcher. Gray: The SEO reads the guidelines of search engines, and tries to juice up their sites just enough to fly under the radar on all dimensions - artificial linkfarms that remain small, automatic content duplication that is arguably not too abusive, etc. The goal is to get enough referral traffic as possible, without too much reference to whether it is interested traffic. Light gray: The SEO creates "original" content in bulk the old-fashioned way, thinking first of all of search engine rules, secondly of duplicate detection algorithms, and lastly of whether the text makes sense to human beings and is something anyone would ever want to read. Then the SEO experiments with all the parameters (keyword density, internal linkage) trying to move up for the queries of interest. Off-white: The SEO ensures crawlability of the site, restructures it if necessary for size of pages and internal linkage, and then injects terms to specifically target the important keywords and queries. He doesn't create linkfarms, but friends and allies are importuned to link with specific text and phrases. White: The SEO starts (if lucky) with a site full of content you can't find anywhere else, and that answers a need that searchers actually have. Then the SEO makes sure the site is crawlable, and that titles and internal links make sense and are descriptive. Then the SEO thinks hard about the queries that really should pull up this content, and tries to discover if the right terms are present. Then (the hard, artful part), he or she rewrites content with a dual consciousness of the infovorous human reader and the termnivorous spider, making sure that the most important terms and phrases for the spider are present (in all their forms) and forefronted for the spider, without degrading the quality for the reader. Luminescent pearly white: This would be a case where the SEO designs a site to show up for relevant queries and not to show up for irrelevant queries. ********************** |
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