Elliance has posted another helpful ‘Search Illustrated’ graphic at Search Engine Land. We know that search engines can read PDF’s, but what can we do to better optimize these pages so they will show up in search results? Simply put, creating a keyword-rich filename and coupling it with targeted Meta data will not guarantee your charge to the first page of search results, but it’s a start.
I’ve just come off the road from numerous meetings with national and regional advertisers. One common area of interest among advertisers seems to be: how to best communicate to the online audience.
Should a company focus on building their messaging around their brand image, or on driving direct response via their Web site and online media? At the risk of annoying my SEO department, who are happy to pack a keyword into every section of a Web site (no doubt necessary), the answer is both. Branding and direct response messaging can co-exist online, as both are vitally important to short- and long-term sales creation.
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The local search marketplace continues to grow rapidly. Local is growing at a faster percentage rate than general search. Additionally, changes in search patterns show that consumers are becoming better and smarter searchers, moving from simple one- and two-keyword searches to more specific four- and five-keyword searches.
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Mobile marketing today is at a similar point in its evolution as online advertising was at in the ’90s. While the promise of Web-based marketing was large in 1996, adoption was slow until Internet access became readily accessible and affordable. Remember the days of pay-per-minute plans for Internet access? I still have a few $400 ISP bills I’d like to forget.
Thanks to developments such as the iPhone — combined with better mobile content and services — mobile search seemed to take some major strides during the second half of 2007. The advertising potential now resembles that of the early days of the Internet in both variety of search options available and the fragmented nature of the keyword search volume. Consumers are searching for a wide range of topics and products via their mobile devices, and they’re willing to accept advertising in exchange for content and services.
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In the past, we’ve written about speculation of a recession and how the current state of the economy will affect online marketing. Luckily for us, MarketingSherpa came out with a report, titled, “Marketing During a Downturn” that sheds light onto how marketers are feeling the effects of the economy and what they are doing about it. Because online marketing was barely around during the last recession, there is little research detailing the affects on the industry. This study provides some good insight on what is happening now in many companies’ marketing departments and what they plan to do in the forthcoming months. (more…)
I read with interest the Wall Street Journal’s article this week, “More Gloom in Newspaper Ad Sales” – in the online edition, of course. Online media and Internet-based search continue to grow at the expense of their offline counterparts, newspapers and magazines. (more…)
In previous blogs (A Brighter Look at an Impending Recession), I’ve written about the recession and it’s affects on not only the US economy but also on online marketing. Well, what once was an “impending” recession is now in high gear, making things even stickier for advertisers, marketers, and businesses alike. So I thought I’d touch base on what the latest word on the street (street, as in, online marketing sources) was. An article by Kevin Lee from ClickZ discusses some basic, yet crucial, ways that online marketing may be affected by the recession: (more…)