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Google-Yahoo Deal Under The Justice Department’s Lens

July 3, 2008 – 11:01 am

The U.S. Department of Justice has opened a formal investigation into the online advertising deal between Google and Yahoo, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

Information provided by anonymous sources say that the Justice Department’s antitrust investegation will be seeking documentation from both Google and Yahoo as well as other large internet and media companies.

Under the deal announced by Google and Yahoo last month, Yahoo has the option to display Google ads adjacent on Yahoo Search results pages and on the pages of its publishing partners in the United States and Canada. The two companies also committed to make their instant messaging networks interoperable.

The Google-Yahoo deal is nonexclusive, meaning that Yahoo is free to enter into similar deals with Microsoft or other companies.

The two have delayed the deal 3 months to allow the antirust review to take place and ensure the deal is acceptable.

Read news story.

Greg | Google, Yahoo! | Comments (0)

Yahoo and Microsoft Chatting With News Corp., Time Warner

July 3, 2008 – 10:57 am

After the failed take over of Yahoo and the withdraw of Microsofts offer, Yahoo shares have fallen and Microsoft remains on the hunt.

Yahoo is looking for ways to bring their stock value back up to the levels it enjoyed up until the break-off of talks with Microsoft, and Microsoft still needs to grow its arsenal to compete with industry giant Google.

Apparently, both are courting News Corp. and Time Warner, though nothing resembling official talks or a deal have come to fruition.

The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Yahoo’s talks with Time Warner have regained some traction. And according to a Reuters report , Yahoo and Time Warner have been chatting for months about a potential deal involving Time Warner’s AOL and Yahoo.

We’ll have to see if anything happens in the near future.

Read news story.

Greg | Google, Yahoo! | Comments (0)

Real Estate Marketing: Sign Up For The Goodies

July 2, 2008 – 3:38 pm

Capturing leads on your Real Estate website is the main reason it exists. You want to generate interest and collect information about those people interested so you can continue targeted marketing towards them, hopefully leading to a successful sale.

Getting people to cough up just their email address, let alone phone numbers or names, is not easy. People tend to be very guarded and paranoid online, and for good reason.

To get them to give us their information, then, we need to offer them something in return. Otherwise, why would they bother taking the time to fill out that form and give away their previous data?

Remember those video walk-throughs we talked about last week? And the articles you partnered up with an expert to write?

Well, why not put them behind a door that’s free to open?

By placing this “premier” style content that users have a real desire to access behind a simple form requesting an email address, as well as a promise not to share that information, you’ll have a good strategy for motivating folks to shell out their info.

If you want to still make the content available, how about just directing them to that sign up page, but giving them an option to continue on to the data rather than sign up?

Most likely people will still submit their info, as you’ve got them interested in something unique and useful that you’ve created.

Greg | Real Estate Marketing | Comments (0)

PPC Tips: It’s All About Copy

July 2, 2008 – 3:30 pm

Web promotion and optimization always ends up relying on content. A good design and accessibility are important, too, but in the end, its the website copy that makes or breaks the deal.

With your Pay-Per-Click ads its no different.

So what do we do with those precious few characters we’re allowed to put into our advertisements? To start, don’t try to do everything.

We’ve already discussed how being broad and unfocused is bad. If you haven’t read that short post yet, take a look now.

So now that we know to focus here are some tips that might help you boost your click thru rates. Try playing around with these and watching their performance. Once you see the right combination for you particular site and content, go with it, but never stop testing and toying.

  • Action Words: Put words in that suggest action. Examples of these action words would be: BUY, GET, TRY, USE, etc.
  • Prices: The ‘$’ catches the eye, especially when visitors are searching to buy or research products. By putting your price right into the ad, you can grab their attention and have a better chance of getting that click.
  • Specific Item Copy: Try putting your best (or worse) selling items right into the ad copy. Instead of advertising “Brand X Shampoos & Conditioners”, try variations of “Brand X Volumizing Shampoo” and the like.
Greg | PPC Campaigns | Comments (0)

Dental eMarketing: Capture Leads

July 1, 2008 – 11:40 am

For many practices, their website becomes their sole source of leads and new business. That’s because it is inherently perfect for such a job, if you know how to use it.

To have a website that you can rely on for new leads and business inquiries, your site needs to:

  • Be more than a brochure — A static website goes nowhere.
  • Be professional, not flashy.
  • Contain optimized content, which is added to regularly.
  • Tell visitors what to do next.

Let’s assume you’ve read other posts on SEO and Keywords and did a great job on that side of things. You’ve even got a good library of content up that you keep adding to once a week. Great.

Now how to do something with that traffic?

You might feel comfortable with and take for granted how easy your website is to navigate, but many people simply don’t understand the web, forms, newsletters, blogs — its all nonsense.

These people need to be clearly shown where to go for what, how to do it, and when to do it.

Want them to sign up for a newsletter or send a note so you can call them back in person to speak with them?

Show them the form. Tell them what it is and what it does. Tell them to fill certain parts out and to press ‘here’ when finished. After they submit, explain to them again what they’ve done.

Always keep in mind that you visitors will span across the board from web gurus to clueless haphazard browsers and make a plan that works for both.

Greg | Dental and Medical Marketing | Comments (0)

Google Tips: Keyword Density

July 1, 2008 – 11:17 am

Google’s bots and algorithm look at the keyword density in your copy differently than other search engines. Yahoo, for example, likes a very dense copy, where as Google is a bit leary of finding a keyword too often.

In general, 3-5 times is enough to mention your keyword(s) in the copy of a given page of content (500-100 words). Make sure the placement is smart, in a strong context near second-tier keywords and the like, that it is at least once in the title of the page as well as in the heading h1 tags.

Once you start to repeat the keyword more than 2-4%, Google smells spam. It will distance itself from your site and lower the ranking, simply because it has suspicions that your content is spammy, overtly targeting the keywords rather than being a natural rich source of content related to the keywords.

Well, Google is right on the money of course (at least as far as trying to target the keywords).

Just remember to take it easy and focus more on the value of the content to the reader than the richness of keyword placement. 3-5 times, and your fine.

Greg | Google | Comments (0)

Attorney Marketing Tips: Keep it Simple

June 30, 2008 – 3:35 pm

With all the power that modern flash bang that web designers have in their stock, it might be tempting to load your Law Firm’s website with flashy graphics, applications, and gizmos.

Please don’t.

Your law firm is not a video arcade nor is it a multimedia gaming center. It is a business, and the website is there to extend and grow your brand and message.

When contracting a web designer, make sure you’re on the same page. If they are pushing you to use cool Adobe Flash features or Java applets, tell them thanks, but no thanks. You need a clean, simple design that will let your law firm’s message and copy shine through and be easily digested.

The structure and flow of your web pages within the site should be logical and easy to understand. Clients don’t want to hunt for links, they want to be presented to them. Make sure your site is doing so.

Always remember: it’s the content that counts, and keeping the ‘Wow!’ factor of your website to a minimum will ensure your visitors can quickly find what they need and take the next step and get in touch.

Greg | Legal Marketing | Comments (0)

SEO Tips: Don’t Toss Out Old Content

June 30, 2008 – 3:10 pm

If you’re thinking of getting rid of old content or changing the URL of that content, think again.

The older content on your site will naturally rank higher than newer content that is equally optimized and well written.

Consider making sure links to newer content are prominent on these older pages, but do not toss them out all together. These tried and true oldies get much respect from search engines, especially if you site remains active on a regular basis with new content.

So keep the old, and keep adding the new.

Greg | SEO | Comments (0)

Medical Practice Marketing: Articles for Traffic

June 27, 2008 – 2:44 pm

Content is at the root of SEO success and driving your traffic. The easiest way to build content is by writing short articles that are focused, specific, and useful for your target audience.

For marketing your medical practice online, consider what information your regional clients are looking for — tips for staying healthy in the flu season? Best practices for keeping the home germ free? Foods that should be in their diet?

Whatever it is, think of some simple tips to give out and write a short article about them, publish it on your website and have it listed in online article directories like www.ezinearticles.com.

This gives the search engines something to look at and consider when ranking websites in search results, and also serves to improve your image as an authority and trusted resource.

Greg | Dental and Medical Marketing | Comments (0)

eMarketing for Lawyers: Link Building Strategy

June 27, 2008 – 1:55 pm

Google and other search engines are constantly updating their search algorithms — the complicated series of criteria on which a site is evaluated and placed in a search results listing.

Links have always been important, but in the past you could get away with a high volume of links from anywhere and succeed — now Google looks at who is linking to you, and whether you got that link as a compliment to your content or because you paid for it.

Paying for links, of course, is a big no, no. You might benefit in the short run, but in the end paid links are going to hurt you more than they help.

So where do we build are links?

The best way is to start contacting highly relevant sites having to do with your practice, your region, etc — the more relevant the better. It is the relevancy that is most important, 3 links from big, important websites will do more for you than 3,000 from random, unpopular websites.

You should have already added lots of valuable content at this point, so the sites you’re contacting should be more than willing to put a link to you for their visitors benefits.

A short email, a note in a comment on their blog, is all it takes. Just be polite, and be prepared to return the favor. In return, you’re PageRank will see a big jump and in turn, your traffic.

Greg | Legal Marketing | Comments (0)