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Posts Tagged ‘Internet News’
This Month in Marketing: Google vs. Bing
Kyle Ashby | February 3rd, 2011
It is no shock to hear that Google and Bing are constantly at each others throats. You would think that two giant companies would pretend to be civil about it. But, luckily for our entertainment, they aren’t being civil. Google was fed up with Bing for supposedly stealing their search results. So, they ran a sting operation and claim that they caught Bing. Google then announced catching Bing’s hand in the trillion-dollar cookie jar. Bing of course denies this outright and attempts to fire back about Google’s legal trouble. This has now escalated into a full-fledged war, very available to the public’s eyes via tweets and blogs. Who is right? I have no clue. But I can tell you my first impression: Google is right. I just assume they are. Over the years, Microsoft has not really made themselves synonymous with “trust”. I’m not saying the “Big Brother” Google hasn’t had a few poor judgment calls, but instances like when Bill Gates allegedly stole an operating system idea from Steve Jobs, tend to stand out in my mind. The way I see it, Google is Ryu of Street Fighter and Bing is Ken. Of course sometimes you pick Ken, to change it up. But everyone knows, except for your buddy whose parents don’t let him have video games, that Ryu is the champ of Street Fighter. Look how dignified and confidant he looks, nothing to prove. Ken on the other hand, has a chip on his shoulder so deep that Continue reading…
The Top 5 Scariest Things about the adCenter/Yahoo Search Marketing Merger
Michael Block | August 12th, 2010
Anyone with a pulse and a Yahoo Search Marketing (YSM) or Microsoft adCenter account is aware of the upcoming merger between the two platforms. There is a lot of speculation and conjecture about what will become of online advertising campaigns driven by these channels and information from Yahoo and Microsoft has been unsatisfying at best. One thing is certain, though, the potential for disaster here is real and that’s very, very scary. Yahoo and Microsoft have competed somewhat less than admirably with Google in the battle for online ad supremacy. Many factors have played a role. Google has had a stranglehold on domestic search market share and this has led advertisers to think of AdWords as a means of reaching consumers well before YSM and adCenter. Google has also actively and continually upgraded the AdWords interface and tools. This has led to people with limited marketing or technical knowledge gaining confidence in running their own campaigns. Yahoo and Microsoft, have been much slower in rolling out improvements. Because of this, there is a huge disparity in the usability and functionality of the big three search marketing channels. Google, with its incredibly user-friendly AdWords interface, along with its host of tools (e.g. keyword tool, desktop editor, ad planner) and reporting options has distanced itself as the clear number one; YSM is a distant second. However, what many people who haven’t worked with adCenter with a complicated account don’t know is that adCenter is at least as far behind YSM as YSM Continue reading…
GrowCo & SES NY Recap
Mike Mothner | March 30th, 2010
Greetings! Well, the last two weeks have been a whirlwind of hotel rooms, conference centers and networking events. In the end, however, it was well worth it, as we met a ton of prospective and current clients and partners, gave several amazing talks and spent some great time with the thought leaders of our exciting industry! We kicked things off two weeks ago in Orlando as a sponsor of Inc. Magazine’s GrowCo conference, enjoying it’s second terrific year. Though it was designed as an educational conference for companies more in the bootstrap phase that with the right guidance make it to the flagship Inc 500/5000 conference, we were thrilled by the caliber of companies and people at the conference (not to mention the growing turnout of just under 500). We capped off the conference with a boisterous day at Disneyworld and Epcot center, a destination that sadly eluded me for the first 29 years of my life. However, the Wpromote team present at GrowCo more than made up for this childhood deficiency with a full day of rides, amusement park food and St. Patrick’s day debauchery (which amazingly fell on the same day as our visit). After a screaming-baby-filled flight from Orlando, we happily touched down at JFK and headed into New York City where we were met by the best weather of the year and the kick-off of one of my favorite conferences, Search Engine Strategies NYC. Over the next three days the Wpromote team met with hundreds of Continue reading…
Tues News: 2/2 (Groundhog Day Edition)
Michael Block | February 2nd, 2010
Today is Groundhog Day, which means that the world’s most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, came out of his hole to give us a prediction. Well, it’s bad news, unfortunately, as Phil saw his shadow and doomed us to another six weeks of winter. That’s bad news, however, much like in the movie Groundhog Day, starring the irreproachable Bill Murray, it’s just more of the same. Phil, you see, has seen his shadow in ten out of the last eleven winters! It seems that life is imitating art with this sort of repetition. Well, repetition and “business as usual” seem to be the order of the week in the field of search marketing as well. This time, I’ve brought you three stories of what feel like old stories but are actually hot off the presses in honor of Groundhog Day and the eponymous movie. Let’s get going! Microsoft can’t make money online. No, this story isn’t from when Microsoft created the inferior adCenter after breaking away from Overture. No, this story isn’t about Microsoft failing to purchase Yahoo. This story is about how after the big push for Bing, the gains don’t seem to have outweighed the losses. After spending hundreds of millions of dollars in marketing, Microsoft still lost over $2 billion last year. Hey, Microsoft! Maybe if you made adCenter about half as good as Google AdWords, you wouldn’t be in this mess! But no, don’t listen to me; it’s not like I’ve been saying this forever. I just Continue reading…
Tues News: 1/26 (Funny Edition)
Michael Block | January 26th, 2010
Whenever I talk about my job as a search engine marketeer, I often am met with blank looks. It’s not because I’m a rocket scientist and the language I’m using is too difficult for mere mortals to comprehend. It’s also not because I’m a giant bore (I hope!). My guess is that a lot of people just don’t know very much about SEM and, therefore, find it boring. But it’s not all so banal! Sometimes, marketing, even in the search engines, is hilarious! This week, in the Tues News, I will show you exactly what I mean with three funny links to brighten up your wintry afternoon. Let’s get going! This first link is one of my favorites in quite a while. Danny Sullivan, the Big Cheese at SearchEngineLand, is one of the smartest guys in our industry, especially for SEO. I’ve even written about him before in the Tues News. Anyway, he had some sage SEO advice for Bill Gates this week that I found to be really funny. Bill’s blog isn’t getting any love in Google but, perhaps more embarrassing, it’s getting even less love from Bing, a Microsoft property! It just goes to show you that all the money in the world won’t buy you a blog that search engines care about. [SearchEngineLLand] Who doesn’t love web comics? I know I do! In fact, I read about six ongoing web comics on a daily basis (during my free time, not during work, of course). One of the Continue reading…
Tags: apple, Bing, Google, Internet News, SEO, social marketing, Twitter, Viral Marketing, web comics
Posted in Tues News | 4 Comments
Tues News: 1/12 (A Little Bit Creepy Edition)
Michael Block | January 12th, 2010
The world of search marketing and the Internet in general is a diverse place. There are good guys (kiva.org), bad guys (swoopo.com) and ugly guys (dustindiamond.com). Still, the vast majority of the sites that you deal with fall somewhere in the grey areas**. The most helpful sites, such as Wikipedia, can often lead you astray with bad information. Google is an amazing tool for almost every aspect of your life but you know for a fact that Google probably knows more about you at this point than your Nana. Sure, Ebay no longer has the sketchy stigma it had a decade ago but that doesn’t mean that people have stopped getting ripped off. The Internet may be a wonderful place but, when you really stop to think about it, it can be pretty creepy! This week, in the Tues News, I’ll address three sort of creepy developments in the search engine marketing world that might surprise you. Let’s get going! By now, you know that Google got the cold shoulder from Yelp when it offered half a billion dollars to purchase the restaurant-rating megasite. Well, as the old saying goes: Hell hath no fury like Sergey and Larry scorned. Keep in mind, all you innovators out there, that if Google offers to buy you out, what they are really saying is, “Don’t make us do what you do, only better!” Remember MapQuest? Yeah, neither do I. Google is responding to Yelp’s refusal to be bought by inventing their own Yelp Continue reading…
Tags: facebook, Google, Internet News, online privacy, search marketing, yelp
Posted in Tues News | 6 Comments
