Yahoo Releases "Year in Review" Lists

The end of the year is almost here, and with it, so are the looks back at everything important that transpired in 2010.  Yahoo's more than done its part, too, as the company released well over a dozen lists covering popular searches in different categories. Out of respect for your time, we'll stick to the basics here - the official "Top Searches on Yahoo in 2010."  But know that lots of other stuff, from the top ten "Survivor Stories" to "Inspiring Acts," is available on a Year in Review site Yahoo put together.  Plus there's a second, UK-specific version of the site. As for those top searches, it turns out that more Yahoo users searched for information about the BP oil spill than anything else in 2010.  Then the second-most researched topic was the World Cup. A few celebrities - Miley Cyrus, Kim Kardashian, and Lady Gaga - got third, fourth, and fifth places.  Next, the iPhone came in sixth, and Megan Fox got seventh. Finally, rounding out the top ten were Justin Bieber, American Idol, and Britney Spears. A senior editor and Web trend analyst of Yahoo explained "In 2010 consumers watched the BP disaster unfold like a slow-motion horror film and discovered a love for the 'other' football.  There was no stopping the meteoric rise of artists like Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber.  And a favored Disney star, Miley Cyrus, made the up-and-down transition to adulthood, while Britney Spears seemed to get her life back on track and dropped on the Top 10 list again this year." Peter Zmijewski who is called as a internet marketing guru is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com http://amplify.com/u/h4ly

China ready to Prosecute Google over Maps

Seven months from now, another confrontation between Google and the Chinese government may well occur.  The government's indicated that it intends to take legal action against Google if the company doesn't seek and obtain official approval of its mapping program. China issues mapping licenses in order to ensure that all maps match the government's own view of its territory.   That way, citizens aren't encouraged to think that disputed regions might belong to other countries or be independent.  Also, military facilities can better be kept out of public view. Google hasn't even applied for a mapping license, though, Michael Kan learned from the Chinese government. So Kan was able to report, "China will investigate and prosecute Google next July if the search engine company does not acquire the necessary state license to operate its Google Maps service in the country, according to the government." That could become a major problem for Google, since being unable to provide such a basic service would probably affect its share of the search market. Meanwhile, Kan wrote, "Domestic search engine Baidu, which holds a 73 percent market share, has already received approval for a mapping license.  Microsoft's joint venture in China is in the process of applying, the bureau said." Peter Zmijewski who is called as a internet marketing guru is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com http://amplify.com/u/gsnn

UK Internet Marketing Services grows at 10% year

The digital economy in the UK will continue to grow at a rate of ten per cent a year until 2015, according to Google. UTalk Marketing reports the company's agency leader told its Digital Brand Strategy Summit the sector would contribute 13 per cent of the country's gross domestic product within five years and be worth an estimated £228 billion. He added that small businesses were driving the growth and those that employ online marketing services are increasing their business at four to eight times the rate of their non-web enabled competitors, as well as being responsible for twice the amount of exports. When measured by the amount spent per capita, he pointed out the UK is "the number one country for e-commerce", noting that this was "a fantastic statistic". The mobile commerce industry was also growing "at a pace and on a scale unprecedented in human history". Peter Zmijewski who is called as a internet marketing guru is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com http://amplify.com/u/gjbj

FAMOUS QUOTES FROM ONLINE MARKETING HEROES

Quotations are excerpts by famous individuals who have made an impact on the lives of other people. A quotation is usually used if you want to get your point across an audience. It can summarize an entire presentation. Most speakers would even use quotes from famous people to make their speech memorable. But why do we really love reading or using quotes? It is because quotes serve as inspirations and they provide motivation. Oftentimes, quotes convey life or circumstances in a nutshell. Quotes affect our standpoint in life. The memorable sayings made by someone will be carried on for generations to bring knowledge and insight.  Most people do not even have an idea who the original speakers of this wisdom were, but their sayings are what will keep them fathomless and constant. In the world of internet marketing, quotations made by successful marketers can be used not only as an inspiration but it would also help us analyze their drive into becoming the successful persons they are today. You can find below a diverse selection of famous quotes from online marketing heroes and I’m hoping that with them you will find true inspiration to be successful in online marketing. 1. “I was just pursuing what I enjoyed doing. I mean, I was pursuing my passion.” - Pierre Omidyar, eBay 2. “You can chase whatever keywords and phrases you like, but at the end of the day it’s all about those conversions.” - Matt Webb, SEO Honolulu 3.  “If we wanted to sell ad banners, we could call DoubleClick and be profitable today ... But we can be more successful in the long run if we grow our user base…” - Sergey Brin, Google 4.  “My rule of thumb is build a site for a user not a spider.” - Dave Naylor, DavidNaylor.co.uk (DaveN) 5. “It's fine to celebrate success but it is more important to heed the lessons of failure.” - Bill Gates, Microsoft 6. “Over the past six years I've had many difficulties. But I never lost my passion.” - Robin Li, Baidu 7.  “People used to think that the web was somehow different from offline, that anyone could just slap up a web page and get results overnight. There might have been a few that got lucky somehow, but it's not like that. You have to build a real business online, and then it's hard work, it's making something good. It's like any business; you can't just open up a store somewhere and expect to get business. It's all marketing, and it's really come full circle now, with people trying to understand that you have to market your web site online and offline and any way that you can.” - Jill Whalen, High Rankings 8. “SEO isn’t an entitlement program. It’s an ongoing investment that must be resourced properly. It’s not a one-hit, one-phrase paradigm. It’s not built on quick wins for trophy phrases. There are hard costs and soft costs associated with building a successful SEO strategy that deserve proper budget allocations.” - P.J. Fusco, The ClickZ Network 9.   “We're just going to concentrate on what we've always done, which is to create the best possible online directory, adding content and other features along the way when it makes sense.” -Jerry Yang, Yahoo! Inc. 10. “In the absence of communication among your customers, advertising rules.” - Don Peppers, Peppers & Rogers Group and 1to1 Media 11. “When I started eBay, it was a hobby, an experiment to see if people could use the Internet to be empowered through access to an efficient market. I actually wasn't thinking about it in terms of a social impact. It was really about helping people connect around a sphere of interest so they could do business.” - Pierre Omidyar, eBay 12. “Success from a business standpoint or marketing standpoint with social networks is centered around people being transparent and honest, and in putting information out there that gives an indication of what they're really like." - Lee Odden, TopRank Online Marketing 13. “Search is about figuring out what people are looking for when they enter keywords into their favorite search engine. Social media is what people are actually saying to each other; they’re telling us what they’re looking for. We, as marketers, should be able to fit it all together pretty nicely.” - Norm Elrod 14.  “If content is king, then conversion is queen.” - John Munsell, Bizzuka Peter Zmijewski who is called as a internet marketing guru is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com http://amplify.com/u/fwxr

Instead Of Ads Google Promotions for Webmaster Tools

Google wants everyone to add tagging to their web pages as I was doing some research on the SEW forums and I saw a promotion where normally there would be a sponsored listing - sorry where an Ad would be now. So I did some more tests and apparently if you do a site: search you will see the ads. Clever really as it asks if you are site owner and is pushing tool set that would do pretty much what I was looking at. Wonder how many people decide to add Webmaster Tools after seeing this? http://amplify.com/u/ftuu

Acquisition Rumors Link Google and Groupon

Daily deals site Groupon might soon become the property of another company whose name starts with "G" and contains a couple "o"s, according to a new report. Kara Swisher reported earlier this morning, According to multiple sources close to the situation, Google is in discussions with local deals powerhouse Groupon about buying it. Sources said the price being considered is certainly no discount and well above the $2 billion to $3 billion that Yahoo offered Groupon in acquisition talks that took place earlier this year. The idea of an increased bid seems reasonable, since the Yahoo discussions didn't work out.  Also, Google had $33.4 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities just sitting around as of September 30th, so the company can afford to pay a little more. Saving money has become a popular activity, and Groupon is among the top players in the field.  Its ties to Facebook and Twitter, along with its mobile presence, then add additional value. There is one major issue in a possible Google purchase of Groupon because more regulatory scrutiny by the federal government over its power online. http://amplify.com/u/fpm0

Google Chrome Tops in New List of Vulnerable Applications

Today Chrome makes the number one spot on a list titled "Top Vulnerable Applications - 2010". Bit9, which created the list, did so by pulling statistics from U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology's official vulnerability database.  Chrome came in first by a significant margin, with 76 reported vulnerabilities to second-place Safari's 60 problems. Firefox had 51 vulnerabilities and Internet Explorer had 32 But Chrome is by far the youngest piece of software on the list and since Google is actively bribing people to seek out vulnerabilities. Maybe Google will do better the next time Bit9 releases its "Top Vulnerable Applications" list. http://amplify.com/u/fhrv

Social media and research

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Today’s research delicacy is about the integration of social media and e-mail. Its a match that is made in heaven from a theoretical standpoint for sure. In practice, these things tend to be a little more like real life means great intentions but messier than any of us would like. Now days we get more information about how this marriage is something that is being done with great success. We get the data from; it’s a company that does e-mail marketing management for businesses and organizations. If we have learned one thing over the past several years the research as PR movement is alive and well. Too bad that doesn’t always mean that the data isn’t influenced. The main question which comes in my mind is: If you used social media with e-mail marketing to get better results this last year, how much better were your results?

Research is a good thing. It needs to be done but the simple matter is that it needs to be performed by an unsponsored third party for it to truly have some value. As soon as I see that a piece of research comes from a company that stands to benefit from a positive result I turn into the high cynic and I suggest you do the same.

Peter Zmijewski who is called as a internet marketing guru is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com http://amplify.com/u/fbmq

Custom Blog Redesign in 5 Easy Steps

Today I share the five key factors I believe you should consider before hiring a blog designer. Thinking about these five factors in advance will help you make the most of your experience. 1. What are your goals for the project? This sounds like an obvious question, but being able to communicate clearly your reasons for wanting a blog design will be extremely helpful for your designer, and will contribute to a more successful project. I recommend having one or two main goals or objectives. Then, if necessary, create a subset of several more. I want my blog to look better,” or “I want my blog to be more visible.” Neither of these goals are specific enough to help us create a great blog design, so it’s my job to ask more specific questions at that point. 2. Which sites do you like? What do you like about them? Having a list of sites and blogs that you like and can reference is a huge help to your designer. This doesn’t mean that you have to have examples of sites that you want to copy, or sites that you like everything about—actually, the contrary is true. The best thing to do is gather sites that you like specific elements of. For example, you could really like the header of one site, the color scheme of another site, and the footer of yet another site. 3. What’s your budget? Have a budget in mind for your project—this may determine who you hire. There are many possibilities for designing a blog interface, and a wide range of pricing options. 4. What’s your timeline? The timeline for the creation of a custom blog design comes down the schedule of the person or company doing the creative work. Designers usually have lead times of at least a couple weeks for starting new projects. 5. Which sites has the designer created that you like? There is no doubt that you have selected several possible designers for your project, and that you have selected them at least in part because of their past work. It’s important that you can identify which sites they have done that you like, and what you like about them, for referencing purposes when you are speaking with the designer. Conclusion: Whichever route you choose to go through agency, freelancer, 99designs.com just remember that the more thought and work you put into the project before approaching designers, the more successful your project is going to be. Getting a custom blog designed can be a headache or a great experience, but fortunately you can do a lot to influence which way the project goes. Peter Zmijewski who is called as a internet marketing guru is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy.com . You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.com http://amplify.com/u/f9dg

Internet Marketing Secrets

Companies pay a fortune for secret Internet Marketing techniques used by professionals in the industry

Search engine optimization is a complex field but is essential for anyone who depends on web presence to convert sales. This post attempts to bring business owners up to date on basics of search engine optimization. Some companies offer many secrets of search engine optimization against much of the "common sense" within the optimization business, but feels that teaching potential clients the basics of SEO will actually attract new customers in the long run. One should know that web optimization is vastly misunderstood by persons whom are not in the industry. We can see evidence of this in poorly optimized sites, or sites with no optimization whatsoever. We feel that the more people know about the basics of search engine optimization, the more they will understand how important it really is. http://amplify.com/u/f2qv

How PPC Will Later Translate To SEO

PPC is an effective way to get leeway for the launch of a web business. For a startup strategy, it clearly has the edge over SEO, as evidenced by these facts:

* PPC traffic has the ability to convert at 2.03%, as opposed to natural traffic, which converts at 1.26%
* PPC visitors have been recognized to spend about 10% more money on sites than natural visitors.
* PPC visitors remained on sites 29% longer than those who came to the site organically.

However, as it can be costly in the long run, one must consider implementing more SEO strategies later on to offset such costs. In this article we discuss the factors that can drive the transition from the position-establishing and trailblazing concept of website PPC to more inexpensive but trickier website SEO.

--- Not All Keywords You Use Will Be Worth It ---
Keyword tools are very useful when trying to identify terms that will make a website stand out. You will, at first, incorporate the keywords shown by these tools. However, you have to realize that you face stiff competition, if you try to bid for certain terms immediately and without planning.

Identifying PPC metrics for keywords will go hand in hand with your corresponding SEO campaign. There will come a point wherein you will curb spending for PPC and focus instead on organic metrics to get your site noticed. In that case, you would select the high converting keywords on PPC and include them in the organic content of the website so that the website will have more clicks without you having to spend for them this time around.

--- Long Tail Keywords ---
In a way, the idea of long tail keywords has something common with the abovementioned element. Initially and ideally, you will start with a PPC keyword campaign employing the broad match type. But further on, as you research the search engines, you will see that your campaign will be ranking for certain long tail keywords. You must then take these keywords in account for your strategy, in order to have other options for SEO exposure.

For example, you entered a broad match campaign in Adwords for “cheap cycle parts”. After a month, you then either or Google, or lookup your domain on a keyword tool, and notice that your ads are getting high traffic for “cheap polaris atv parts”. This could only mean that this keyword phrase is getting search traffic to your site. Therefore, you could use it to organically optimize your site through strategic inclusion in the site’s content.

In other words, after undertaking broad match PPC strategy, you are able to narrow down the long tail searches you can possibly use for your campaign, by showing you the long-tail keywords that have converted for your advertising campaign.

--- Meta Descriptions ---
If done creatively, meta descriptions will not only place your website high in the rankings of search engines, but it will also get your website a high clickthrough rate no matter your position. While the first result will usually grab the most attention, the corresponding results can be viewed too if they have a description that can grab the attention of the searching party.

Indeed, running and testing your PPC campaign will eventually help you find out the ad-keyword combinations that are driving traffic to your site. And identifying them will make you later incorporate them in the meta description for your page, to be able to help it be located in the search engines while lowering your overall spending for PPC.

--- SEO by Quality Score ---
With PPC you also later get to know the quality score for keywords that you use. Quality Score would be the metric linking a website to the relevancy of the keywords and ads used for it, and its clickthrough rate (CTR), or the clicks a site gets per impression of its ad. This metric, while subjective, can still give you a healthy opinion on what keywords are relevant to you site; and with this idea, you can target the people who you want your site marketed to.

In the end, a successfully converted campaign from mostly-paid to eventually-free will pay off when the transitional factors are attended to. It’s a concept steeped in logic, really; but many aspirants tend to overlook it and end up putting out more or less effort in doing their campaigns. So make sure you know your campaign inside out and pay special attention to the factors that you think can be less paid-for in the course of your marketing/optimization quest.

Peter Zmijewski is the founder and CEO of KeywordSpy. You can find more information about him at PeterZmijewski.