Ideas for Business

Some of the big brand names need a serious wake up call. Especially those that are blissfully asleep over the “no-need” to spend on internet marketing for their corporate website.

“No need for that yo, we’re popular offline, we’ll be automatically popular online.”

Unless you are a Google or Microsoft Corporation please do not harbour such thoughts. The perspective is you think you are popular online, please type in your own company name in Google and check where you stand.

Recently released Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Guide puts it very sweetly: It’s not enough to appear on the first page but the target should be right on top. Most searchers seldom scroll down even in Google result page (me: and never move beyond the third result page).

No one would have put it in better words!

The issue here is while most of the big brand names do appear near top rankings for their industry-specific keywords; the fact is most of them are turning a blind eye towards search marketing. And hence not appearing for keywords pertaining to an industry they are dominating offline!

A real life incident happened today: my beloved got an amazing job opportunity with a US based retailer. Desiring to gather more info about the retailer I typed in the NAME of the firm. To my surprise I did not get any such links in the result page. What’s more, I could not find it even on the third page. This is with only the COMPANY NAME as the keyword!!

After all this you’d not want to know the retailer’s recent dreams, no you dont. Ok, here goes: they wish to sell their products on the web. They Wish!

This is not just about NOT getting traffic or not appearing in the search results. This is about the oh-so-very-important trust and credibilty factor in any mode of marketing. I would not want my beloved to work in a company that does not even appear on Google search results for it’s own name!

So you see how important keyword positioning is — not only in terms of increasing traffic but also in terms of collecting trust and credibility. Traffic can just get people into your site. It’s the trust and credibilty of your site (and hence you company) that matters when your visitor decides to turn herself into your customer.

Wake up, Big boys!!

It's funny how a whisper can sometimes push a hurricane; expect one to swirl up by Monday. The rumor, as was whispered into the ear of a DM News reporter, is that Google is about to undergo a major corporate restructuring just as they prepare to release AdSense for Audio.

Giselle Abramovich floated out a rumor post on Tuesday, the steady crescendo of which has expanded to discussion on at least five other well-known blogs.

According to Abramovich, Google "is a bout to set up an IBM-like structure. What this means is that there would be one global account director per account, that pulls in resources to sell as needed - PPC, Print, Radio, Video, Display, etc."

And the blogosphere went flashback-squiggly, hearkening back to Google's acquisitions of dMarc and YouTube. That was a dawning for some, but for the others, it became a cat's-out-of-the bag situation. Abramovich's little leak became a spilling of guts, moving bloggers to tell what they know.

ThoughtShapers.com's Jeff Molander was quick to quote three credible sources as the benefactor of what appear to be planned Google leaks. As David Utter reported, these leaks have been more prevalent in the past week, an apparent new Google strategy to gauge reaction before official release. Molander then expounds on the audio component of Google's master plan.

AdSense for Audio would place contextual ads alongside podcasts, and perhaps other streaming media (like that found on YouTube), all the way…perhaps, perhaps, perhaps…to radio and television. MTV is already on board.

Just to add to the speculation, I'm submitting Google has a killer audio-recognition technology that won't rely on spidered transcripts. Remember the application that can listen to your television and serve up advertising?

Molander uncovers also, the well-turned phrase of the week, courtesy of Revenews's Wayne Porter:


As Google turns you can feel the fabric of the media tear beneath your feet.

eWeek's Steve Bryant says he's been holding out for months, but in light of Molander's post, felt he needed to come clean.


Earlier this year, Google contracted with several podcast engineers to help them develop Google AdSense for Audio. According to one source the product was originally slated for a 3Q release, but apparently it slipped behind a month or so.

There may also be an mp3 player in the works, but that could be the most speculative of all. But Bryant's thoughts that this podcast search and ad technology could be integrated into mobile services, Gmail, Google Talk, and Google Desktop is probably right on the money.

About the Author:
Jason Lee Miller is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

Just what direction web video is going raises a challenging question. While Youtube has been an obvious success for the short video clip format, will there be a sustainable market for longer form web video?

The possibility of web video doing to cable TV, what cable did to network programming is the larger issue. Will people be willing to break from the comfort of their couch to watch longer form web video content instead of tuning into Dancing with the Stars?

In a blog posted by Wendy Davis for blogs.mediapost.com, this question is raised. Kevin Shiveley from TVWorldwide.com commenting on a mediapost blog said, "Internet TV has the potential to do to cable broadcasting what cable did to network TV, which is to expand the range of content (topically) and depth of that content on subjects that could never be feasible on network or cable broadcasting."

The quality of the content in the longer video form becomes another issue. To attract viewers, it would have to be something well written and extremely compelling to generate a large audience along with advertising dollars.

Some in the industry see it another way. In an interview with Justin Kownacki, creator of the web based comedy Something To Be Desired, I asked him his thoughts on longer web video content. Kownacki stated, "I see "longer-format" web video continuing to grow in proportion to both the audience and the market. As the viewers and the web economy adapt to support web video from 10 to 60 minutes in length, the quantity and quality of shows offered will continue to expand" On competing with traditional TV and cable he said, "Competing with cable / traditional TV programming is only a matter of time, not quality."

The technology is currently being developed by several companies to allow users to view web video from the comforts of their own living room. AT&T is one company that has developed Homezone, which uses broadband Internet along with satellite TV through a home networking system. This allows the viewer the ability to watch web video as well as regular TV.

As the technology improves, people will no longer have to sit in front of their monitors to view the latest rage in the web video world. They will have the luxury of watching web video on their flat screens while kicking back on their couch.

The shift to longer format video seems to be promising and will most likely continue to grow to the point it will become "old hat". Maybe in the near future the next innovative programming will not come from the traditional TV, but from the cutting edge of the web video world. Stay tuned.

About the Author:
Michael Sachoff is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.

The Marketing Sherpa Search Marketing Benchmark Guide for 2007 paints a healthy picture for search marketing professionals and agencies.

The Guide points out that in 2006 the percentage of organic search marketing fell by 2% from 2005 from 12% to 10%. However, it is not that organic search spend has been reduced, on the contrary it increased by $0.05 billion.

The cause of this drop after couple of years