Facebook is, in many ways, the quintessential social network.  After all, when a major motion picture about your company is titled “The Social Network,” you know you’re pretty much synonymous with the whole concept. Facebook, however, wasn’t the first social network and they’re not even close to being the last one.  Others have come and gone, but Facebook continues to dominate the space by evolving with new trends and technology, while others stand idly by and get left behind. (more…)

I don’t have to tell you how computers have changed our world (when was the last time you actually wrote something more than an address or a shopping list – if even that?).  Nor are the effects of the internet on our lives any big mystery.

However, as I mentioned in my previous blog, “When Search Met Social”, social media has changed the world yet again. While social has caused big changes in search marketing and marketing in general, it has had a much larger impact in world events and life as we know it over the past year. (more…)

On August 31^st, the Justice Department blocked the move by AT&T and T-Mobile to merge into one large conglomerate. Though there are many T-Mobile users who are happy about not being forced into a partnership with AT&T’s services, this is an important step for the government. Already this year, we have seen several significant mergers that have been approved by federal ruling organizations, which could have significant impact on American consumers. (more…)

One thing in particular that is still somewhat of an enigma in the world of SEO is the QR code. QR codes have “high-speed decoding” capabilities and are one of the many things in our everyday life that are overlooked and undervalued.  The bits of information that QR codes contain can range from a page URL to persuasive text: (more…)

As the digital landscape continues to evolve and new trends, technologies and platforms come in and out of vogue, it is important to remember your core focus should be on your established business objectives.

As a marketing leader you are tasked with driving more qualified leads into the funnel, increasing revenue while decreasing ad spend or increasing brand visibility. While the market you play in helps define which objectives rise to the top for you, at the end of the day you need optimal performance. While there are many channels for you, especially in the interactive space, you need to make sure you have a firm grasp of the entire portfolio of options and which ones will provide you with the greatest return. (more…)

Did US online advertisers just have the best three months in history? Judging by the change of expectations—to the tune of $22.2 billion in spending—what else could we really conclude? (more…)

For many SEO-ers, video and dynamic content has always been a pain in the neck. Many sites contain videos, Flash, and JavaSCript content that is virtually unreadable by the search engines. For the most part, improving this content for search consists of transcribing the videos and replacing the Flash with other content, both timely and not optimal solutions. This, however, will soon be changing for the better. (more…)

This week, there has been much discussion about the possible impact and success of the newly released Google Chromebook. Some think that it will fail completely because it’s not much better than a netbook and is in the same price range. Some believe it’s a great product and will take off. In any case, if we make the assumption that the Chromebook becomes commonplace in homes around the world, the way the internet and interactive marketing are approached will change vastly. (more…)

For those of you that might not be aware, Blekko is a search engine that launched in July 2010, with the goal of providing a unique method for clearing through the clutter of search engine result pages to find the information you need – slashtags.  This syntax allows users to filter as part of their initial query.  For example; per the Blekko site demo video a search for “global warming” will return results about global warming in general ranked by relevance (ostensibly in the same manner Google or Bing would return results), whereas a search for “global warming /conservative” will only yield results from sites with a conservative point of view.

In addition to providing a new method for search, Blekko also introduced some SEO tools that were well received by the Internet marketing industry.  Today, we’ll focus on using two of these tools to provide actionable insight for your program.  Specifically, we’ll discuss how to use this information to develop a plan for surpassing unusually “sticky” listings above your own. (more…)

For some time, brick and mortar stores have complained about the fact that they have to pay sales tax while online retailers are released from this requirement, placing the burden on the purchaser to disclose their online purchase and pay the relevant sales tax, which many (if not most) purchasers don’t bother doing.  Bottom line – the cost for products from online-only (or out-of-state) retailers is less than brick and mortar stores.  Considering this advantage, many offline retailers are lobbying to change the current tax system. (more…)