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May 2008 - Posts

Paid Search, Traffic Syndication and the Big Three

One of the main misconceptions those new to PPC advertising have is that where they place their budget is the source of the traffic. In reality, most paid search solutions utilize some syndication sources to increase the total number of searches available. That's pretty much standard practice in the paid search advertising industry. But how does advertising that is syndicated compare to pure search referrals? Efficient Frontier has released some incredibly interesting insights showing where click referrals are coming from and the ROI for each of the big three networks - Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.

Interesting to Note:
You've probably heard advertisers complain that using the content network at Google results in poor conversions, while utilizing the search network alone yields the best results (especially if you understand match types). This seems to hold true based on the chart above.

Site Of the Day: Addictomatic.com

If you've ever had writers block, then today's Website Magazine website of the day is sure to please. Addictomatic is a service which searches the best live sites on the Web (e.g. Del.icio.us, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Technorati and various other sources.) for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images. It's a powerful tool to keep track of specific topics. After a search is conducted, users can personalize the results dashboard by moving around the source boxes. When you're done, the page can be bookmarked so you always have quick access to your very own personalized results. Addictomatic was founded by Dave Pell, who founded Rollyo.

Freelancers: Time Tracking, Invoice and Expense Solutions

In the fast paced world of the Web, time is the rarest and most valuable commodity. That's why managing your time as a freelancer is so important! Here are a few online time tracking, simple invoicing and expense solutions that you may want to look into to help you get more out of your virtual day as you head down the path towards Web success!

Toggl : The free plan offers time tracking for teams, unlimited projects and team members, unlimited workspaces for users, unlimited tasks for users and a Toggl "desktop." The paid version ($19/month) enables users to brand their workspace, offers reports, features the ability to set hourly rates for projects and includes priority support. Toggl also offers full access to its time tracking functionality through a web service API.

MyHours : The personal plan offered by MyHours is a robust solution to track time by projects and tasks, calculate costs and send report by email. MyHours provides several different tracking options to let you track work in real-time or enter data when it's convenient. There are also some "diverse" reporting features including helpful modules for data analysis. report are print-ready and can be exported to MS Excel or sent by email - there's even access to basic time tracking through mobile devices.

Harvest : Pricing for Harvest is ranges from $12-$90 per month, but what you receive for that investment is a powerful solution to track time, log expenses, invoice clients and keep tracking of account receiveables and revenue. Attractive visual reporting and powerful billing tools are just some of the noteworthy features. Harvest works leading software and services for small business, and the flexibility of the Harvest API allows you to build on top of Harvest for your unique business needs.

On a related note, Cashboard, a hosted web application  for creating estimates, invoices and time tracking has announced some upgrades worthy of note. Improvements have been made to the invoice worksheet to make editing quicker, custom note fields have been introduced as have preferences to mark all new time entries billable or non-billable by default. Pretty sweet!

Friend Connect: Your New Frenemy

Google is launching a data portability feature (courtesy of Open Social) which could help it compete with the likes of Facebook and MySpace, and potentially render smaller, independent white label social networking platforms and services obsolete.

Google's Friend Connect enables website owners to utilize social features on their Web properties and let users share their social graph, just by adding a simple snippet of code to their site. Website owners receive features many sites don't have such as user registration, invitations, members gallery, message posting and reviews as well as third-party applications built by the OpenSocial developer community.
Perhaps the most significant advantage to website owners is that Friend Connect will do the hard work of encouraging visitors to bring in their friends to interact with the site and for many that will go a long way to attracing visitors. The downside of course is that you've got one more Google solution running on your domain and a deeper reliance on a network that is profiting from the actions of your users.

The service is only a preview release right now and is being made available to a limited bumber of site owners as it approaches general avaialablity. To me it looks like a more open, social and glorified version of Yahoo!'s MyBlogLog, but those interested can sign up here.

Event-Based Social Media

Today’s online culture is about participating in conversations and creating communities where people can share ideas. Similarly (and more traditionally), conferences create conversations between people with similar interests and common goals. As marketers, we spend a lot of time attending conferences – it seems logical that we should connect these two like items together. There are many ways to create and leverage event-based social media to generate Web site traffic and brand awareness long after the conference has ended.

Read Media Trust's Creative Director Christopher Smith guide to leveraging Event-Based Social Media to generate Web site traffic and brand awareness.

Mobile Analytics at Bango

If you decide to venture into mobile advertising and marketing you better have a solid analytics solutions in place to help you determine what's working and what's not.
 
 Mobile marketers can now use the Bango tool for Mobile Analytics and its new goal comparison feature to see which mobile ad campaigns and mobile marketing sources deliver the best conversion rates. Bango claims its User ID technology offers a level of precision not found with other mobile analytics products by providing a reliable and persistent identity for every mobile user. It tracks real people as they enter a mobile website from different sources and reach a defined goal – such as click to call, buying content or downloading an application. “It’s not the number of hits on your site that ultimately matters but whether they convert into value for the business,” said Ray Anderson, CEO of Bango. “Being able to measure ROI of your mobile advertising through accurate tracking can make the difference between success and failure.”

SharePoint Driven Web Templates

 Those of you using SharePoint for content management will be able to spruce up the look and functionality of your portals. PixelMill.com, a provider of design solutions for Web site builders and content managers, last week unveiled a series of new content management system Web templates that gives users the ability to quickly edit Web site content areas directly from within ordinary Web browsers.
 
 From the release: "By combining the professional graphic design of pre-designed Web templates with the power of Microsoft's SharePoint-driven content management system (CMS) interface, PixelMill has introduced an unprecedented level of Web design and content management simplicity. With support from Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) experts B4Contact to develop the new Web template products, PixelMill crafted for business professionals a site building and content management solution that enables virtually any staff member with minimal Web experience and training to contribute to and dynamically edit and update a company's Web presence."
 
 "With today's tightening economy and the rapid decentralization of employees and business partners, establishing a Web presence built on a centralized collaborative tool like SharePoint makes good business sense," said PixelMill CEO Jason Reckers. "This new approach removes virtually all obstacles for businesses to quickly create, deliver and manage a world-class Web presence."

Local Internet Marketing Summit from Evision

Evision Worldwide, a Chicago-based search marketing agency,will be offering a series of local Internet Marketing Summits, the first of which will be on May 29,2008 in Jacksonville, Florida.

Two of Evision's founders, Ronnie Soud and Vikram Singh, will lead the first local summit entitled Basic and Advanced Search Marketing Strategies. The seminar is free of charge, and will offer search marketing education and real-world advice to small- and medium-sized business owners.

Check out the events page at Evision for more information.

PRWeb Media Digests Available

PRWeb announced that customers can now distribute their press releases directly to hundreds of regional media outlets and trade publications through its new Targeted Media Digests feature. These "new media digests" will allow customers of the popular press release distribution service to increase their media exposure in local news outlets as well as trade publications. Ahhh.... old meets new - sweet!

"Our aim is to help our customers communicate to as broad an audience as possible," said Bill Wagner, Chief Marketing Officer of Vocus, Inc. "Now we can provide our customers with traditional online visibility benefits, such as search-engine optimization, pick-up on major news sites and RSS and social media distribution, as well as increasing their visibility within their local outlets and industry trade publications."

But will it work? Distributing press releases is only half the media relations battle. Getting picked up is another story entirely. Let's hope that PRWeb has established formal connections with the recipients of these "digests" to ensure that what customers are paying for (exposure) ends up as a genuine mention on the Web and in print.

Customers can choose from four regional digests, North, Midwest, South and East, as well as from four Industry-focused digests, Business, Information Technology, Health Care and Travel & Hospitality. Inclusion in one Targeted Media Digest is complimentary for customers who purchase the social media visibility ($140) package or SEO visibility ($200) package. Customers who purchase the media visibility ($360) package can choose two Targeted Media Digests in which to include their news release. Customers can also purchase inclusion in individual media digests for $50 per digest.

Ad Unit and Rich Media Creative Guidelines

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of some Revised Ad Unit and Rich Media Creative Guidelines, which is expected to eliminate "points of friction" in the online ad buying process. The guidelines cover standard Web applications including e-mail, static and dynamic Web pages and address ad formats such as banners and buttons as well as transitional and various over-the-page units such as floating ads, page take-overs and tear-backs.
 
“Marketers understand that in the new digital ecosystem, the consumer expects an enhanced level of interaction and engagement with both content and advertising,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “By defining certain ad formats and offering creative guidance for execution, we are paving the way for even greater adoption by marketers and ongoing innovation by agencies and publishers—that’s exciting for the industry and consumers.”

Net Squared Donate Now Challenge

Network for Good has partnered with the Case Foundation (aka Steve Case, founder of AOL) on a contest that challenges developers to build mashups that make it easier for nonprofits to raise money online. The two best projects will each receive $10,000 prizes from the Case Foundation.

There are two categories to enter. Developers can either build mashups using Network for Good's donation API (focusing on enhancing the donor experience) or use the same API to improve a nonprofit organization's ability to fundraise. In addition to the 10K prizes, winners are given a one-year license for the Network for Good API to be donated to an organization of their choice. Learn more about the DonateNow Mashup Challenge.

If you're a Web 2.0 enthusiast, strategist, or developer interested in giving back and using the Web to make it happen for social good, this one's for you!

Google Custom Search Gets Deeper, Includes AdSense

Every website needs some sort of search funciton - users expect it. And, of course, Google is there to help you out and make a little money in the process. They have announced that AdSense for Search is now powered by Custom Search. This means that when you have the Google Custom Search function in your own website, AdSense ads will be tailored to the specific content searched on your site.

Also, using sitemaps, Google says they are able to now provide even better results through your Custom Search Engine (CSE.) They will look at what sites and URLs are included in your CSE and use all of that information to provide a better search function for your site visitors. Read more at the official blog, and also check out the video below.

Website Magazine Issue 11 Is Now Available!

Website Magazine is very pleased to announced that our most recent issue is now online, should be arriving in your mailbox soon, and will be available in our popular digital flipbook format early next week. I know I say this every time an issue is completed, but Website Magazine has again assembled an insightful and talented group of contributors who have provided a collection of information for our readers that I am confident will positively impact your Web success!

Take a look at the lineup in the current edition of Website Magazine now and if you like what you read, please share it with your friends, colleagues and throughout the Web on social networks of all kinds.

 If you're not yet a subscriber, please sign up today to start receiving Website Magazine.
130,000 readers in pursuit of Web success can't be wrong!

Website Magazine would also like to bring your attention to some amazing companies and our esteemed advertisers: GoDaddy.com, 1and1, IntaBill, CPX Interactive, Multicast Media, Quova, Voxant, Ezanga, Search Engine Strategies Toronto, First Light Net, DigiPawn, Rick Latona, Widget Web Expo, SMX Advanced, Business In A Box, Ad-tech Chicago, ABCsearch, Web Award 2008, Easy Anti Spam, Panama Staffing, eLocal, Klein Zelman, Associate-O-Matic, GetClicky, Bulldog Copywriting, Who's On, Search Engine Workshops, eLab, SitePal, VersoChat, Engine Ready, Mission Web Marketing, Panopta, BannersOnline.com, High Speed Web, Laredo Group, IfByPhone, InternetSupervision, 7Search, Authenticated Testimonials

Morning Wire : 5-8-08

The following are press releases that caught our attention today, May 7th, 2008. If you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact the Website Magazine editors.
 


ISM Announces Winners of 2008 Top 15 CRM Software Awards for Enterprise and Small & Medium Business Solutions : ISM President Barton Goldenberg Forecasts CRM Trends: Growth in Business Analytical Tools, SaaS Models, Mobile CRM Offerings and Web 2.0 Technologies. Read the Release : Visit ISM : Comment in the forum
 
 Sun Adds Comprehensive Video Capabilities to Ubiquitous Java Platform with On2 Technologies : Consumers are demanding a rich video experience across multiple screens and this deal compliments the Java(TM) platform for RIAs by adding On2 Technologies TrueMotion codecs. Read the release : Visit Sun Microsystems : Comment in the forum
 
 New, Do-It-Yourself Personal BI Tool Makes BI For the Masses a Reality : SiSense has developed Prism, an all inclusive Business Intelligence (BI) software that enables users, novices as well as professionals to build instant visual, actionable and interactive BI applications within minutes and without BI infrastructure and programming knowledge. Read the release : Visit SiSense : Comment in the forum
 
 SplashCast Hits 300 Million Milestone : Sony Music, Converse, and Even Clinton campaigners help make SplashCast one of the fastest growing marketing solutions for reaching social networking site users. Read the release : Visit SplashCast : Comment in the forum
 
 Online Community Unconference is the Cure for a Web 2.0 Hype Hangover : Forum One Networks' annual west coast Online Community Unconference provides a forum for online community and social media practitioners to share, learn and collaborate. Read the release : Visit Forum One Networks : Comment in the forum

Email Marketing: Comcast Feedback Loop

A pretty substantial announcement has been made in the area of email deliverability. Comcast, with support from Return Path, will be launching a complaint feedback loop which forwards mail reported by Comcast users as spam back to the enterprises sending the mail.

Comcast offers the Feedback Loop Service  free of charge to parties sending large amounts of mail to Comcast members. According to the site, "the feedback loop (FBL) will forward any mail reported as spam originating from the associated IP addresses back to the listed email address." Comcast recommends the use of a dedicated e-mail address for this purpose.

A feedback loop is a system used by ISPs (Internet Service Providers) that notifies message senders that one of their subscribers has reported that email as spam (often through the 'report spam' button through a client's email interface). The benefits for senders are that 1) they can identify which customers no longer want to receive email, and 2) become able to diagnose problems originating from their networks, such as virus-infected spam-producing machines. 

It's All about .ME (domains)

Yesterday marked the first day that .Me domain names could be registered (often called a sunrise period). This top-level domain (TLD) carries appeal for many individuals and businesses and may be something to look into for both professional and aspiring domainers, as well as those that manage their brands carefully.

A little history lesson first. Back in 2006, the nation of Montenegro was assigned .Me as the country's official domain name extension. Not to be outdone, Montenegro chose to capitalize on its virtual real estate by removing geographic restrictions on the .Me domain name ownership. This means that anyone, anywhere can register these by all accounts fascinating TLDs.

I'll let your imagination run wild with all the creative .Me possibilities these domain extensions provide - bu think along the lines of "visit.me," "explore.me" and "invest.me".  ".Me elevates the social networking craze to a new level, as .Me offers real personalization of domains. For instance, why not register follow.me for the born leader? Or perhaps, listento.me for the incessant blogger?" says Thomas Barrett, President of EnCirca, a domain name registrar for trademark owners, small businesses and individuals. "EnCirca is excited to be part of this strategic campaign and we applaud Montenegro for making the most of their virtual resources."

Will you be purcahsing a .me domain name?

Log in or register now to post a comment

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domainers .me domain name domains domain name montenegro

Morning Wire : 5-7-08

The following are press releases that caught our attention today, May 7th, 2008. If you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact the Website Magazine editors.
 


Applied Microsystems LTD Leverages the Power of Platform-As-A-Service to Successfully Integrate WebSource CPQ with Salesforce via the AppExchange : WebSource CPQ enables Applied Microsystems LTD to stream-line the quote-to-order process. Read the Release : Visit SalesForce : Comment in the forum
 
 'Green' a Long-Term Branding Strategy for Retailers, Survey Finds : A new survey from RSR Research finds that better performing retailers are retooling their brands now to meet consumers' desires for more green options. Read the release : Visit RSR Research : Comment in the forum
 
 Affiliate Marketing Company Pepperjam Network Releases Advanced Itemized Tracking Solution : Pepperjam Network's advanced itemized tracking solution allows advertisers to easily track and attribute unique payouts for an unlimited number of products or actions. Read the release : Visit PepperJam : Comment in the forum
 
 Right On Interactive, ExactTarget announce partnership : 5Buckets software allows ExactTarget users to segment marketing messages, increase customer interaction. Read the release : Visit Right On Interactive : Comment in the forum
 
 Up to 12% of DSL Broadband Subscribers to Transfer to Fixed WiMAX Connections within 5 years, According to Juniper Research : A new analysis of the global opportunity for WiMAX 802.16e forecasts that up to 12% of the global DSL installed base will be substituted by WiMAX by 2013. The Far East will lead with over one fifth of the 47m subscribers in 2013. Read the release : Visit Juniper Research : Comment in the forum

One If By Phone, Two If By... Website?

Telephone application company Ifbyphone has entered into a strategic partnership with SiteKreator (a 'do-it-yourself' service which lets business design and host websites) which will allow clients to integrate an IfByPhone Smart Click-To-Call account directly into their website.

Site Kreator users signing up for an account will be able to place the code immediately into their websites. The IfByPhone solution combines the best of Web and voice services for the purpose of lead generation, offline conversion of sales and customer service opportunities. Let's translate that a bit - it drives Web browsers into Web buyers

We’re tightly integrating a suite of Ifbyphone services with a suite of Web-design capabilities from SiteKreator in an easy-to-use, all-in-one environment because our two companies share a mission to bring SMBs the kind of sophisticated telephone-application platform tools that were only available until now to enterprise companies,” said Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro.

Previous coverage of SiteKreator:

Get Busy Sharing, Or Get Busy Dyin'

So you've got page after page of amazing products/content, right? You probably also have a few of those widgets to help users share that content with their friends and colleagues, be it through email or across social networks.  It is your responsibility (the Web professionals) to help users share information with others. The benefits are that your message, product, etc. gets additional reach into an audience that by all accounts is qualified as it comes from a trusted counterpart - their friends.

 There are many services which facilitate this sharing - ShareThis being perhaps the most popular currently. Another which is making the rounds of the Web this week is Siphs - a Web-based service which enables its users to share and tag any and all Web pages at your site. It's perfect for template-driven websites such as WordPress but it can work with pretty much anything if you don't mind some tweaking.

Siphs works very well - I've tried a few similar services which always seem to be buggy at best. When a visitor clicks the Siphs "Share" link, they are directed to an intermediary page with different sharing options (email, social networks such as Digg, Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, etc.). For the Feedburner folks in the house, there is also a FeedFlare - you can see it on action on the Website Magazine Feedburner XML page (just look for the 'Email this' link at the end of each post).

So what's all this sharing going to cost you? There is a free version of Siphs (which is what Website Magazine is using) that enables you to do some decent branding and receive some helpful reports. If you want to take it up a notch, the upgraded plans (between $100 and $200) are very reasonable for the functionality you'll get.

Yahoo Launches SearchScan

Yahoo! announced the release of SearchScan late yesterday, a feature which aims to help protect users from viruses, spyware and SPAM. SearchScan uses McAfee's SiteAdvisor technology to indicate to users if risky websites appear in Yahoo! search results. Users in the U.S., Canada, UK, France, Italy, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and Spain will potentially see three types of risks in the Yahoo! Search index:

Browser Exploits: Those which stealthily harm a computer by installing malware. Any sites included in the category (based on McAfee data) will be removed from search results automatically.

Dangerous Downloads: Yahoo! will display warning next to search results for sites that offer potentially dangerous software, such as viruses, spyware or adware.

Unsolicited Email: SearchScan will also alert users to sites which send unsolicited emails or "inappropriately" share email addresses.
 

yahoo yahoo searchscan search scan yahoo mcafee mcafee

IAB In-Stream Ad Format Guidelines

The Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) announced the release of advertising format guidelines for in-stream advertising. The guidelines focus on ad products such as linear video ads, non-linear video ads and companion ads.

The guidelines should act to simplify digital video ad buying across multiple sites through minimum common ad specifications, achieve more efficient operations through a common set of creative submission guidelines and increase consumer understanding of ad interactions and environments.

The interest surrounding digital video is no surprise, said Randall Rothenberg, president and CEO of the IAB. Consumers have been swift to embrace the digital video experience online, and marketers have incorporated it just as rapidly into their advertising plans. With the creation and adoption of these formats and guidelines, we see no end in sight to its potential for growth.

To view the formal guidelines, visit www.iab.net/dv_guidelines

IAB interactive advertising video advertising

Hostopia Gets 14,000 Hosting Accounts

Hostopia.com, Inc. and Tucows Inc. just signed an agreement for Hostopia to purchase certain of Tucows' shared hosting customer assets including approximately 14,000 Domain Direct, NetIdentity and ItsYourDomain.com (IYD) customer accounts. The companies indicated that accounts involved in the transaction will continue to be served under the familiar Domain Direct brand, which will operate as a managed service by Hostopia.

For those that follow these type of things, Hostopia will pay $1.6 million (US) in cash for these assets, with adjustments to be made on closing. This amount is payable 20% on signing of the agreement and 80% upon the closing of the transaction, which is scheduled to occur on May 15, 2008. The companies plan to migrate these accounts to Hostopia's unified web service platform by July 2008.

"We are very pleased to have concluded this transaction. We are already hosting some of the Tucows Retail Service Group's users so the impact on customers should be minimal," said Colin Campbell, CEO, Hostopia. "Our plan is to provide customers with numerous upgrades and additional value-added services to earn their loyalty and continued business. Traditional web hosting is fast evolving to the SaaS (software as a service) model and Hostopia is perfectly positioned to offer these services to these customers."

hostopia tucows hosting web hosting hosting news

Developing a Facebook App? Make It Fun!

If you're thinking about creating a Facebook application to promote your website, you should now that most of the popular ones are geared towards having "fun" reports the Flowing Data blog. Of the 23.160 Facebook applications, the most popular were in the categories of "having fun," "gaming" and "sports". "Dating" and "Chat" are also high on the list. If you are developing applicatins in the utility or music categories (money, classifieds and file sharing consequently were the least popular) for promotion on the social network, understand that what most Facebook users are most interested in is simply having fun.


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Related Posts
: Screenwerk, mathewingram.com/work, O'Reilly Radar, Silicon Alley Insider, TechCrunch, The Globe and Mail, BetaNews, The Chronicle and Mashable

Morning Wire : 5-6-08

The following are press releases that caught our attention today, May 6th, 2008. If you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact the Website Magazine editors.
 


New Blog Design Offerings and Free Blog Templates from Logoworks by HP : HP introduced through its Logoworks by HP unit a set of affordable and versatile blog design offerings and free blog templates to help businesses ride the Web 2.0 wave and start building customer interactivity. Read the release : Visit Logo Works : Comment in the forum

Bizzlr Brings Small Business to 183 Million Users on Social Networks : Revolutionary application enables SMEs to tap into major social networks. Read the release : Visit Bizzlr : Comment in the forum

Twice the Ruby, Twice the Fun: Ruby and Ruby on Rails Bootcamp, July 19-25, 2008 : Big Nerd Ranch announces a new class for those seeking Ruby and Ruby on Rails training - Ruby & Ruby on Rails Bootcamp July 19-25, 2008. Read the release : Visit Big Nerd Ranch : Comment in the forum

PromoteVideo.com Video Network for Promoters, Advertisers and Those Who Want to Be Seen : A social video network with the absolutely unique and innovative concept of video promotion has been released on the Web. Read the release : Visit Promote Video : Comment in the forum

Business Wire Webinar Series Provides How-To Help on Press Releases : SEO Heroes and Those “Lost in MySpace” Get How-To Help From Press Release Experts. Read the release : Visit Business Wire : Comment in the forum

Understanding AdWords Match Types

Gone are the days when you could develop a list of keywords, place a modest bid and receive quality visitors. Now you've got geo-targeting, quality scores and a slew of other considerations to make when in pursuit of maximizing your paid advertising budget. One of the most challenging aspects of paid advertising for new Adwords users are the variety of match types available. Understanding the AdWords match types is crucial to your success, so let's take a look at the available matching options.

Exact Matching: The most targeted advertising option, Exact Match keywords are presented in brackets, e.g. [website magazine]. Advertisers will receive traffic on an exact match keyword when a user searches specifically for that term. Fewer impressions will be received but it is clearly the most targeted ad option at Adwords.

Broad Matching: The default ad option, broad match is for those that want Google to do a little work in their campaign. Using broad matching enables your ad listing to appear when users enter additional search terms. For example, if our keyword was 'website magazine', using broad match, our listing might also appear for 'free website magazine' or 'good website magazine' in addition to plurals such as 'website magazines'. Think of broad matching as a way to easily add keyword variations without investing all the time.

Phrase Matching: More targeted than broad match, by entering your keyword or key phrases in quotation marks, e.g. "website magazine", advertisers have access to users searching for 'website magazine' and also to those searches with terms before or after the phrase, e.g.    Phrase match is more targeted than broad match, but has the flexibility for slight variation that exact match does not.

Negative Keyword Matching: Negative keywords enable advertisers to ensure that they do not, under any circumstances, appear for certain keyword or key phrase combinations. For example, if our broad match keyword 'website magazine' was receiving loads of traffic from the search query 'funny website magazine' we might want to include a negative keyword in our account such as 'website magazine -funny' we will not be paying for that traffic.

It's important to understand that each of the matching options provide a different way for users to interact with search queries. With some types, you will receive many ad impressions and with other you'll get fewer (but often more targeted visitors). By matching your advertising strategy to your ROI goals you should come out a winner.

Xobni Gets Social With Email

It's amazing how much time I spend going through Outlook searching for emails - and it looks like I'm not alone.

By 2009, workers are expected to spend 41% of their time managing email. Receiving thousands of emails each week and organizing them efficiently is a task better suited to a machine than it is a person. With the average human brain capable of maintaining only 150 friendships, and with enterprises expected to spend more than $17 billion on email software in the next four years, that's why I was pleased as could be when I came across Xobni, a very "social" plug-in for Outlook which helps users find email conversations, contacts and attachments in a much more fluid, natural and efficient manner.

Installation of the plug-in was quick (although it did take a while to index all of the email in my Outlook). Xobni's features however (powerful email search, threaded conversations, email analytics, quick attachment discovery and phone number extraction) made me a believer.

Morning Wire : 5-5-08

The following are press releases that caught our attention today, May 5th, 2008. If you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact the Website Magazine editors.
 


In Tough Economy, Large Enterprises Look to Tap Growth Potential in Small & Medium Businesses : Warrillow & Co. Sees Signs of Strong SMB Optimism; Announces American Express, Cisco, Covad, FedEx and Intuit as Finalists for Small Business Marketer of the Year Award. Read the release : Visit Warrilow : Comment in the forum
 
 JumpTap Selected by AlwaysOn as a Northeast 100 Top Private Company Award Winner : JumpTap, the leading mobile search and advertising solutions provider, today announced that it has been chosen by AlwaysOn as one of the Northeast 100 Top Private Companies. Read the release : Visit JumpTap : Comment in the forum
 
 Toll Free Phone Numbers Are Now Available for Small Businesses : Tollfreenumber.org offers small business owners a convenient and affordable way to attract new customers with toll free phone numbers. Read the release : Visit TollFreeNumber.org : Comment in the forum
 
 A Pit Opens for Incautious Online Marketers, Warns XSEO : The news that major corporations are putting search engines such as Google and Yahoo! at the forefront of their marketing strategies could herald huge problems for incautious optimisers, XSEO reveals. Read the release : Visit XSEO : Comment in the forum
 
 Codejock Releases ToolkitPro and SuitePro 2008 Vol. 1 for Visual C++ and ActiveX : Volume 1 is a huge release for Codejock, and the first major release of 2008. This release introduces many new key features and enhancements. Read the release : Visit CodeJock : Comment in the forum
 
 AuthorityDomains.com's Bundled New Social Media Services Offer Unique Marketing Solution : AuthorityDomains.com launches new social media marketing service, helps people build their brand, increase their site's rankings and become authorities in their industry. Read the release : Visit Authority Domains : Comment in the forum
 
 BitNami.org Makes Wordpress, Drupal, and Joomla! Easy to Install on Solaris : BitNami makes installing blogging, content management and other open source software on Solaris a snap. Read the release : Visit BitNami : Comment in the forum
 

Intel Launches Business Exchange

Yesterday Intel launched a service called Business Exchange, aimed at small- and medium-sized businesses. The new service offers a way to find software applications that runs on Intel hardware.

Categories include security, storage, telecommunications and business applications. Along with the software information is user-generated feedback and the ability to request a quote from the vendors. Some of the software includes offerings from Microsoft, Salesforce.com, Symantec and Tripwire and it's all intended to compete with IBM's Global Applications Marketplace.

Add to Mixx!

Time to Start Mixxing

Social news aggregator and Digg competitor Mixx.com has announced the launch of their API, allowing developers to get their hands dirty creating new applications. And that means more attention and more traffic for Mixx and those who leverage the site to their advantage.

The API will allow items to be viewed, submitted and commented on from any other site across the Web. Already, The New York Times and Los Angeles Times includes buttons on stories to submit to Mixx and many other large media sites are beginning to follow suit.

Mixx does not see anywhere near the traffic as Digg, but a look at some data shows they are playing a mean game of catch-up. Compete shows traffic booming - soon after launch, in September 2007 Mixx saw about 30,000 unique visitors, compared to over 180,000 in March 2008. In short, quick innovation, fast uptake and the attention of top developers should be enough to convince anyone to start using Mixx in their marketing plans.

Five PPC Ad Tips to Drive Traffic and Maximize ROI

Localized Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising is another Internet marketing strategy that you can use to get your business noticed online, drive targeted traffic to your site, and increase your brand awareness in your community. If you’ve been looking at the advantages of local PPC or have already been experimenting with different ads, these tips will help to maximize your investment and boost your click-through rates!


Local Pay-Per-Click Advertising Tips:

  • Use keyword research tools – such as WordTracker, Google AdWords, and others and see which industry-specific keywords and phrases are most often used by people looking for things online. This will identify niche opportunities that you can capitalize on. The quality of your keyword research is directly related to how successful your local PPC ad campaign will be!
     
  • Choose multiple keywords – and prepare to be flexible. If your preferred keywords are highly competitive and will cost more, use your research and choose other keywords with multiple variations that will still get results but save money.
     
  • Include the name of your town or area with the keywords – People are getting better at using local terms in their searches so modify your keyword selection by including the name of your town or area. These will probably be less competitive terms which will allow you to get more results with less money!
     
  • Use town or area nicknames with the keywords – This takes the idea presented above and expands it further. Choose keywords which include common nicknames or abbreviations of your city, county, or region.
     
  • Test different ad features – Start slowly and experiment with adding images, animations, different ad copy, etc. and track the results. Look for innovative ways that help your ads stand out!

Be prepared to experiment with the look and composition of your PPC ads to see what works and what doesn’t. If a particular ad is underperforming and not getting results, you’ll have the option of shutting it off and trying a new one in its place. Local PPC advertising is all about the response rate and higher rates means higher sales for your business! These tips will save you money, drive more traffic to your site, and make your phone ring off the hook!

About the author: Nick Stamoulis is the President of Brick Marketing who is Website Magazine's “Local Thursdays” weekly contributor.


 

Morning Wire : 5-1-08

The following are press releases that caught our attention today, May 1st, 2008. If you have a news announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine community, please contact the Website Magazine editors.
 


Press Release Writing Pro Reveals How SEO Press Releases Can Bury Negative, Unflattering Company News on the Internet : SEO press releases can bury unflattering news that perpetuate on blogs, Web sites. Read the release : Visit Press Release Pro : Comment in the Forum

PPC Summit Premier Internet Marketing Workshop Introduces Expert Insider Tips that Increase Sales : Pay Per Click (PPC) Summit, internet marketing workshop announces new search marketing agenda presented by Microsoft and other industry leaders. The new workshop sessions will cover quality scoring systems, PPC campaign management, keyword strategies, landing page best practices and many more SEM hot topics at San Francisco May 19-20. Read the release : Visit PPC Summit : Comment in the forum

Marigold Technologies Announces New Database Subscription Services for Enterprise Customers : Marigold's new Database Subscriptions Division provides enterprise customers with unparalleled access to fresh and accurate data for market analysis, direct marketing, CRM, and business decision-making. Read the release : Visit Marigold Technologies : Comment in the Forum

Web Hosting Community Gets More Social : Introducing the evolution of the Internet's largest, most influential web hosting community. Web Hosting Talk announced the launch of its Enhanced Member Profiles -- adding a new layer of social networking for Web Hosting Talks' community members. Read the release : Visit Web Hosting Talk : Comment in the forum


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