Internet Marketing Toronto - Ignite!

MSN Live Search Updated!

Microsoft has finally updated MSN Live Search. They had planned to announce the updates at the Searchification event, but Akram Hussein, program manager for Windows Live Platform accidentaly released the news early.

Some of the new features include:

• Product searches will include product details as well as product reviews from around the web in the search results.
• A celebrity search page that ranks the current popularity of any given celebrity – their “celebrity xRank.”
• Video previews operated by mouse-over in the search results.
• Relevance, relevance, relevance. We’ve quadrupled the size of our index, which means we can return the right results for your searches. Improvements like enhanced ranking algorithms, auto-spell correction and better stop word handling help us return the best results.
• Speed. Pages load much faster than before.
• Streamlined look and feel. We focused on the end-to-end experience from the homepage throughout the site. For example, search results are now easier to read thanks to work on typography, contrast, colors and spacing.
• More high-interest content. You asked us for more in Entertainment, Shopping, Health, Local and Video search and we’re happy to deliver it.

Once again, we’re feeling good about Microsoft these days because it feels like they are really trying to get back in the game with “actions” not just words! This has been a week of Microsoft news including the launch of Halo 3 which has seen tremendous sales. But I’m getting a little off topic here.

These latest changes should prove to make MSN Live Search even better than it was. The more Microsoft innovates the more attention people pay to it. Now all they have to do is come up with a better name. Saying “Just MSN Live Search It” does not work so well as “Just Google It”.

More Microsoft posts from this week:

• Microsoft Rolls Out New Live Search
• What’s Missing from the New Microsoft Live Search?
• Live Search Overhauled And Over-hyped?
• Live Search More Relevant Than Google? No.
• Live Search Livens Up Search!
• Microsoftie Spills Live Search Beans
• New Live Search Features Rolling Out

Yahoo! Makes Some Updates To The Index

Yahoo! has rolled out some changes to their index with fresh web data and updates to their crawling, indexing and ranking algorithms over the last few days.

The updates should be completed soon and may result in some changes in rankings for clients as the updates settle in. If you see a drop in Yahoo! rankings we suggest that you not panic and actually wait. Once the changes settle in rankings are usually restored to previous positions.

For the full posting, see the Yahoo! Search Blog.

Nielsen Search Share Ratings… what do your stats say?

Nielson released their NetRatings report for August 2007 with no big suprises. The top search providers were ranked by total searches in the following manner.

- Google: 4,199,495 searches, 53.6% market share

- Yahoo!: 1,561,903 searches, 19.9% market share

- MSN/Live: 1,011,393 searches, 12.9% market share

I decided to dig a little deeper into the stats and metrics of our own clients to see how the market share compares to the traffic source data we collect. Why? Simply because my hunch is that Google brings in more traffic than 53% and I agree with Rand at SEOMoz.org that Google’s market share is probably closer to 70%.

So… here were my findings:

I took a snap shot of 10 clients, all running Google Analytics. I tried to use a variety of business’ representing various industry types and business sizes (mostly small to medium size). I also tried to use a mix of service based industries and product based industries. Lastly, given that Nielsen was reporting statistics for August, I used the same date range.

Google: 85.20

Yahoo: 7.23

MSN/Live: 5.76

According to our clients stats, Google’s market share is higher that Nielsen’s 53% and higher than my estimated 70%… Now, I know this isn’t statistically relevant but it does make for an interesting blog post.

I would like to hear your thoughts on this, does your site or clients sites show the same statistics?

I Love John C. Dvorak

This may be a little off topic, but I just had to write about it. I’m a voracious consumer of podcasts. In fact, my MP3 player is solely dedicated to podcasts, not music. One of my favorite podcasts is TWIT - This Week In Tech with Leo Lapporte. I love this show. However, from time to time Leo gets stuck on a particular topic for too long and just when I think to myself “get on with the show”, in comes John in his “cranky” voice to get everyone back on topic.

The latest episode of TWIT is no exception - towards the end of the show after about five minutes of audible book discussions John chimes in right when I needed him (almost as though he knew what I was thinking) with “ahhh, if we want to get back to the news…?“. (click the link to hear him!)

Thanks John, for keeping the show moving along!!

6 Proverbs To Guide Your Internet Marketing

I decided to take a moment and share with you 6 Proverbs which guide my online conduct - especially when doing internet marketing activities. Some of you may find these to be obvious, and that’s OK. For the rest of you, I hope you find them helpful.

First off, here is a definition of a Proverb:

Now that we’re all on the same page with respect to what a Proverb is, here is our list. We encourage your feedback, so please comment. If you have Proverbs you’d like to share please do so. Perhaps we’ll spin this into a longer article at some time.

1. Lazy hands make a man poor,
   but diligent hands bring wealth
   
   Application: Internet Marketing requires a lot of activity. You need to build an actual presence for yourself online but writing great information on your blog or site, sharing it with others and taking the time out to read other peoples information, comment on it, and share it online. This means you have to get out there right now and make it happen. If you start now, and there is no better time that now, you’ll quickly see the fruits of your labour!For example, whenever I write something on our blog that I believe is going to be of true value to someone, I take the time to Stumble it and I see the results on our site in terms of traffic from StumbleUpon. I take this one step further and Stumble other peoples content when I think it’s of value to others - and I hope that they get the Stumble traffic they deserve.
2. The memory of the righteous will be a blessing,
   but the name of the wicked will rot.
   
   Application: If you practice #1 above you’ll develop a long lasting reputation online. Remember, people naturally want to associate with “good people” and as a result their more likely to reference you before the “jerk” they ran across the day before. Go out of your way to help others with their internet marketing and you’ll be amazed at what happens to your internet marketing efforts as a result.
3. The man of integrity walks securely,
   but he who takes crooked paths will be found out.
   
   Application: Internet Marketing is hard. We all know that. The fact of the matter is that it requires honest hard work if you want it done properly in a way that will last beyond algo changes and new fads. Don’t be tempted by less than honorable “get links quick” schemes when they come along. Instead knuckle down and keep working hard at building quality relationships and the links will follow as a result.If you do succumb to less than honorable marketing tactics you will eventually be found out - and the results could be disasterous for you, your clients and your employees in the long run.
4. A man who lacks judgment derides his neighbor,
   but a man of understanding holds his tongue.
   
   Application: Recently I came across a few blogging flame wars which were entertaining to read but in the end did not leave me convinced that I should somehow do business with these people. In fact, they tarnished my opinion of both parties.Sometimes we feel slighted and as a result we want to “clear the air” about a situation. Fortunately I believe that most people are pretty smart and can see the truth when it’s right in front of them. So, once you’ve had your “rebuttal” leave it at that. Don’t be tempted to respond, respond, respond.
5. The desire of the righteous ends only in good,
   but the hope of the wicked only in wrath.
   
   Application: When you’re intentions are true and honest people know it, and they will want to do business with you, whether it’s link building, writing content, sending leads, etc.However, if you just want something for your own personal gain, in the end people will sense that in you and you won’t be doing business with them.
6. He who seeks good finds goodwill,
   but evil comes to him who searches for it.
   
   Application: Circling back to point #3 internet marketing is hard and we can easily be tempted by the easy way out. One thing I know for certain is that good people attract othe good people. If you’re actively looking for quick and easy methods for internet marketing you’ll find yourself associating and partnering with other like minded individuals. Instead of building a network of honest people you’ll be building a network of people who have their own interests at heart and will likely try and take advantage of you and your clients in the long run!’

I hope you find this list helpful and that it improves your internet marketing efforts. There are man more Proverbs out there so if you think you have a good one please share with us by posting it in a comment!

Halo 3 Launches Tomorrow - The Power of Internet Marketing Revealed

There is no question any more that Internet Marketing is by far the most cost effective marketing medium available today. The ROI is far better than traditional mediums of Newspaper, magazines, radio, television, bilboards etc.

Let’s consider Halo 3. It launches tomorrow and I was wondering just how much online presence it’s generated for itself. A quick back link check shows 24, 253 links to the entire site - not bad.

There are roughly 6000 postings on Digg, 185,500 blog posts in Bloglines and 473 postings on GameSpy.

That’s quite a lot of buzz online which you can just imagine is translating into quite a lot of traffic to the Halo 3 website. Obviously Halo 3 has had a lot of aide from previous versions so people are already familiar with the series and were eagerly anticipating the release of the new version which has contributed to this online presence. However, it is a powerful example of how successful online marketing can be.

So how do you harness this for your business? It starts with having something interesting to talk about. That means you have to make news. Do something that is newsworthy, and then take the time to write about it on your website, blog and issue a press release. Before you do this - announce it to bloggers and websites online which have an interest in your industry - they will appreciate knowing about it first. Then start participating in forums and blogs as people begin discussing it. If it makes sense you can even promote it through sites like LinkedIn.

Now is the time to take advantage of the power of Internet Marketing today - start now by thinking of ways you can make “news” in your industry.

Squidoo Gets Into People Search With Squidwho!

Recently Seth Godin founder of Squidoo and several well respected books has launched a new People Search site called Squidwho. We’re not sure when it launched but it’s out there now. If you’re interested in people search we recommend you have a good look at it.

Features include the ability to write a short biography, list Amazon products (if applicable), videos from YouTube, photos from Flickr shots, and content from RSS feeds.

In a growing vertical market diversity of offerings is important, and this site joins the ranks of Spock and WikiYou. Only time will tell which site(s) will come out as the leaders. For the time being we recommend you participate in them all.

10 People Search Sites Worth Participating In

People search and socializing is quickly growing in popularity. I’m sure you’ve all heard of MySpace, and Facebook but there are many more out there that you may not be aware of. Participating in some of these sites can boost your online presence and connect you with friends, family, and people you never new were out there such as potential business partners and customers.

Here is our run down of our favorite people search related sites in no particular order:

1. Facebook
2. MySpace
3. Squidwho
4. LinkedIn
5. Jigsaw
6. Wink
7. Spock
8. PeekYou
9. WikiYou
10. WhoWhere - Lycos

We think you should consider trying some, if not all of these sites out. We’re confident that once you start participating you’ll discover a whole new world of information and make connections with many people which will enrich your life and boost your business.

Google Launches AdSense For Mobile Sites

Google has officially launched their AdSense program for mobile sites. Now AdWords advertisers have the option of targetting these mobile sites and tapping into the growing number of mobile users on the internet today.

For more on the announcement, view the Google Press Release.

Popurls: A Preconfigured Feed Reader

PopURLs.com is an interesting site which aggregates the feeds from the most popular sites online today and places them all one single easy to read page. If you don’t have the time to setup your own feed reader with all of these URL’s take PopURL’s out for a test drive.

I had a quick look at it and it’s very nice offering features to rearrange the layout of the page and color schemes among other options.

The only downside is that you can’t add your own feeds - but then, that’s what a feed reader is for afterall.

So - if you simply want to get an update on what’s happening online without any setup hassles have a look at popurls.com.