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Archive for the ‘Internet News’ Category
Cats vs. Bears vs. Sharks vs. Darth Vader – The 2011 Video Link Bait Smackdown
Ryan Farrell | January 23rd, 2012
2011 may forever go down in history as one the best years ever for online “best of” lists… there were a lot. However, amidst the kerfuffle of “best of’s 2011″ banter that pervaded the online space this season, there was a particularly insightful piece run by Adweek about the top 10 commercials of 2011. Aside from essentially being an aggregated list of the top viewed YouTube videos of the past year, the Adweek post gave a pretty comprehensive rundown on the best of the best in anthropomorphic viral phenomenons of 2011. From bear skin rug French directors (RSCG), to cats with thumbs forming street gangs (W+K), to sharks with a taste for “peanut butter Snickers” flavored humans (BBDO), the best of advertising in 2011 was dominated by animals with human like characteristics… and a diminutive Darth Vader (Deutsch L.A.). And, of course, being a link builder, I could not help but first wonder: “How many drugs are the dudes at BBDO on?”. But then I wondered, “hmm… which (if any) of these respected advertising behemoths is screwed together tightly enough to actually maximize such a ridiculous amount of user engagement into bonafide links?” First up to the competitive analysis gallows is Cravendale and their excellent “what if cats grew thumbs video” (Wieden Kennedy London). Aside from the fact that W+K may have done the impossible and made a cat video worth watching, the capable crew did the smart thing and embedded the video into a landing page on the Cravendale site, Continue reading…
How To Increase Your Clickthrough Rate (CTR) For PPC
Kristy Hessman | January 19th, 2012
It’s a brand new year and if one of your New Year’s resolutions is to whip your online advertising presence into buns of steel-like shape, you’ve come to the right place. Wpromote will be here all year long dishing out valuable, free tips of the trade to help you get your online marketing strategy ripped. 2012 is already ticking by, so let’s get started. In this article, we’ll talk about different ways to improve your PPC Clickthrough Rate (CTR). CTR refers to the number of people who click on your ad out of the overall number of people who view your ad (CTR = Clicks/Impressions x 100). This rate gives advertisers an idea of the effectiveness of a particular ad. So, What is a Good CTR Score? What is considered a “good” CTR will vary widely across industries, keywords and campaigns. This question does not have a simple nor exact number. We’ve seen CTR’s range from below 1% up to 30% and higher. Rather than fixating on finding this “good” CTR score, it is more important to find out what CTR you need in order to have a profitable campaign. If you determine the ROI you can earn from each click, then you can work backwards to find what CTR’s you will need in order to achieve profitability. What Affects Your CTR? Before getting to the tips, let’s talk about some of the factors that affect CTR. There are several factors that can contribute to your CTR; things like how Continue reading…
Best Blackout Sites For SOPA Strike
Marcy Zuendel | January 18th, 2012
A day without Wikipedia??? How will I ever fact check that my homemade recipe for moonshine is accurate, I’m trying to run a speakeasy here for goodness sake! Yes, today is finally the day you’ll actually have a reason to dust off those Encyclopedia Britannicas folks. If you are still in the dark about the blackout protest that is going on today, I will simply refer you to the SOPA Strike page. For the rest of you that are well aware of the censorship strike, Wikipedia is just one of 100’s of protesting SOPA and PIPA Internet censorship bills by blacking out their websites for the day. Instead of getting into all the nitty gritty details of the politics behind the SOPA and PIPA bills, which will be going before congress on the 24th, we thought it would be fun to show you a few of our favorite sites of blackout Wednesday supporters. Wikipedia Not only is it blackout Wednesday, today has also become a “snow day” for college students as they won’t be writing any research papers without their trusty online resource Wikipedia. Wikipedia site’s simply shows the clean phrase “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge” which exemplifies precisely what could take place with Internet censorship bills in place. Google A simple, yet bold censorship statement can be found on Google today. Google has also made it simple for blackout day supporters to sign a petition against the SOPA and PIPA bills, and share this information with friends Continue reading…
Hang Out With David Beckham On Google+
Aimee | January 17th, 2012
You think you can cross a ball and bend it like Beckham? You may get a chance to tell him! All you need is a Google+ account! In an effort to increase awareness of the new social site, Google+ announced some exciting news for all you die hard Galaxy fans (and those of you who just enjoy a little eye candy). International superstar David Beckham is taking a day off from the soccer field to hold an exclusive Google interview, which will be streaming live on YouTube this Thursday, January 19 at 9am PST. Fans who have a question for the soccer player/model can now post it on his Google+ profile and include the hashtag #googlebeckham. And if that wasn’t enough, you can also “hang out” with him on his Google+ profile at 10:30am PST. What questions would you ask him? If we had a chance to interview David Beckham, here are a few questions we’d ask him: – How would one bend it like Beckham? – Do you say “football” or “soccer” in America? – What’s your favorite Spice Girls song? – Where’s your favorite English pub in LA? – Would you ever consider coaching a professional team? To find out more about the interview and hangout, watch the video below: Be sure to check out Wpromote’s Google+ profile and add us to your circle! Save this Post!
Google For iPad Gets A Facelift In Time For The holidays
Michael Block | November 22nd, 2011
Google isn’t the best search engine in the world by accident. There are a number of reasons that Google left other engines like AltaVista, MetaCrawler, Lycos, AskJeeves and Yahoo in the dust and why Bing still struggles to make inroads on Google’s market share. Chief among these reasons is Google’s commitment to research and development, innovation and user experience. Google constantly experiments with elements of the search engine results pages, makes adjustments to improve its algorithm and adds features (e.g. Google Instant Search) that users didn’t even realize they wanted. As a result, users know they can trust Google to deliver the best experience in search because there’s never been a reason to look elsewhere. Well, nothing has changed! If you own a smartphone, you are likely aware that Googling something on your mobile device has a similar but optimized feel compared to Googling something on your desktop. There are ads cluttering up the side, the links are big enough to easily be able to select them with your thumb and phone numbers are more commonly displayed and automatically enable click-to-call. These small changes keep users happy and keep manufacturers of web operating systems choosing Google as the default search engine. Up until recently, the Google experience on tablets has been very similar to the experience on desktops. Of course, even though the activity on tablets more closely resembles activity on desktops than does the activity of smartphones, the experiences are distinct. Therefore, it should be no surprise to anyone Continue reading…
Alternatives To Yahoo! Site Explorer
Jamie Lane | November 21st, 2011
On Friday November 18, 2011 Yahoo posted the following, brief statement: “With the completion of algorithmic transition to Bing, Yahoo! Search has merged Site Explorer into Bing Webmaster Tools. Webmasters should now be using the Bing Webmaster Tools to ensure that their websites continue to get high quality organic search traffic from Bing and Yahoo!. Site Explorer services will not be available from November 21, 2011.” We knew this day would come, in July Yahoo! officially announced that they expected this transition to happen later in the year, we simply did not know the exact date. Even before that we knew that having two platforms feeding data for a single source of organic rankings was not efficient. It took months to make the switch because they had not transitioned to the Microsoft search platform in many areas of the world. They wanted to be sure that it was a smooth transition on one date, worldwide. Many SEO evangelists and webmasters are sad to see this tool go as they actively use the competitive link data provided by Yahoo Site Explorer. Bing Webmaster Tools simply does not provide the same insight and therefore many are turning to SEOmoz, Majestic SEO, Open Site Explorer, and free web-based tools such as our own SEOAudit Tool, in an attempt to gather the same insights. For most, Bing Webmaster Tools platform will be sufficient and users will no longer have to submit their sitemaps and updates to both locations. Do you have thoughts or suggestions Continue reading…
Tags: Bing Webmaster Tools, open site explorer, SEOAudit Tool, seomoz, yahoo! Site Explorer
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