Category Archives: Online Advertising

AOL Might Be Looking To Sell ICQ

AOL continues to travel into the brave new world that it is venturing into as the lines have been cut that once attached it to TimeWarner. Of course, there will be a lot of scrutiny which often leads to criticisms but that’s just part of doing business. Another part of doing business as a solo act is to make sure that you lean more toward ‘lean and mean’ which may mean trying to shed some business units that are not going to be helping AOL address its core competencies (which is another matter seeking clarity so feel free to chime in if you are from AOL). TechCrunch is reporting that ICQ, which was purchased by AOL back in the Roaring 90’s (I am not even sure that term makes any sense but I am sticking with it) is getting attention from Google and DST (Digital Sky Technologies) whose biggest splash in ’09 was giving more money to Facebook . ICQ, which AOL acquired in 1998 for $400 million, has 33 million worldwide monthly users, according to Comscore. But 8.3 million of those are in Russia, where it hold the no. 1 spot for instant messaging. That explains DST’s interest. It also explains some of Google’s interest as they struggle to get a proper foothold in that market. We concentrate heavily on the Internet marketing world for the English speaking world but the growth for companies like Google etc are in the large international audiences. Consider that Google has introduced 38 new search products over the last 70 days and language translation is heavily featured. Of course there would be significant interest in acquiring a ‘ready made’ audience in Russia. Is DST thinking the same way for Facebook? Why not, especially when the rumored price for ICQ and its users was somewhere north of $250 million but not likely anywhere near its price of 11 years ago. It could be a true bargain. . As with many business activities timing is an important part of the measure of success or failure. Since AOL is in a position to move ICQ and please its shareholders the timing may be right for a little showdown at the Siberian Corral between DST and Google. Interesting: yes or nyet? Comments Continue reading

Posted in Business, Internet Marketing, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged aol, Business, core competencies, facebook, icq, instant message, internet, roaring, russia, solo act, techcrunch | Leave a comment

Google Pushes Chrome With Newspaper Ads

Google is a master of online advertising, and in recent days, has more than ever been vilified as an enemy of the newspaper industry. Continue reading

Posted in Business, Online Advertising, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged Business, chrome, google-chrome, hatching-travel, interesting, mac beta, million-copies, nbsp, new browser, newspaper, Online Advertising, playlists, real world, related articles, wraparound cover | Leave a comment

MSN Teams With NBC And Hearst On Local Video

MSN Local Edition has struck content deals with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television. Microsoft says the partnerships with NBC Local Media and Hearst Television will give MSN around 3,000 news video clips a week across 36 local media markets. The new video content will be available in January 2010. Microsoft sees a big opportunity with local and video. Local online advertising is projected to grow to $10 billion by 2013. The company also notes that 62 percent of online adults have watched a video online and 35 percent have viewed a televsion show or movie online. NBC Local Media will provide video clips from their "Locals Only" websites in Los Angeles, San Francisco/Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Philadelphia, Chicago, New York, Washington, DC, Connecticut, and Miami. Hearst Television will offer local video clips in Albuquerque, Baltimore, Boston, Continue reading

Posted in Business, Online Advertising, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged hearst, local news, local-edition, nbc television, Online Advertising, plattsburgh ny, television, west palm beach | Leave a comment

Yahoo and Microsoft Finalize Deal

Update: Continue reading

Posted in Business, Legal, Online Advertising, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged agreement, boomtown, finalize, license agreement, microsoft, october 27, rsquo, sales, swisher, week | Leave a comment

The Lowdown on Web Directory Submissions

Online marketing experts recommend effective Web directory submissions as a vital part of boosting a website’s position in search engine results pages. Having a higher rank on the results list can significantly increase visitor traffic to your site. No wonder … Continue reading

Posted in Web Directory Submissions | Tagged High Quality Directories, Manual Submission, Permanent Links, Search Engine Friendly, Search Engine Optimization, Web Directories, Web Directory Submissions, Web Directory Submit | Leave a comment

Is Retargeting the Most Under-Utilized Marketing Strategy?

Advertise.com and the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) have shared some interesting findings from a survey about online ad technology. The two organizations found that there is a lot of untapped opportunity for retargeting in online advertising. Retargeting is basically when you market your product from a different angle or to a different market altogether. There's a good explanation of it at answers.com: Marketing efforts to spur demand for a product that is experiencing declining demand by marketing it as though it were a new product. Almost half (46.3%) of respondents said that remarketing (also known as retargeting) is the online marketing technology they feel is most under-utilized. Other technologies respondents feel are under utilized include: - Geo-targeting – 18.3% - Traffic source optimization – 15.9% - Keyword targeting – 13.4% - Other – 3.7% - Category targeting – 2.4% 69.5% said they have never utilized display remarketing in their online advertising. Only 30.5% said that they had or do. Out of the ones that have, most (53.1%) said that display remarketing made their advertising more impactful. "As online advertising continues to grow, newer technologies are recognized and evaluated against the more traditional approaches," said Daniel Yomtobian, founder and CEO of Advertise.com. "We're interested in taking a closer look at why Remarketing is underutilized. We know that retargeting can boost ad response up to 400 percent so it’s definitely something online advertisers need to stay informed about and use more strategically." "As the industry matures, SEMPO recognizes that new technologies and tactics, such as retargeting, will become increasingly important to the search marketer," said SEMPO President Sara Holoubek. "We look forward to a fruitful industry discussion on how search and Remarketing can best be married for maximum ROI." 81.7% of participants said they implement local search advertising campaigns and that the following forms of online advertising provide the best ROI: - Search – 70.7% - Cost-per-action (CPA) – 14.6% - Email – 6.1% - Social – 3.7% - Other – 2.4% 52.4% utilize CPA to drive sales leads, 13.4% use it to drive traffic, 6.1% use it to drive brand awareness, and 26.8% do not utilize CPA at all. (1.2% said "other"). Related Articles: > Continue reading

Posted in Business, Email Marketing, Online Advertising, Pay-Per-Click | Tagged amp, heineken-study, online, Online Advertising, search, search engine marketing, sempo, technologies | Leave a comment

How Web Linking Works to Boost Your Site’s Performance

Web linking is one of those online marketing strategies that are often placed by startup Internet businesses on the backburner. Many entrepreneurs think that website linking is not as effective as search engine optimization or directory submission among other techniques. … Continue reading

Posted in Web Linking | Tagged One-Way Links, Relevant Links, Search Engine Rankings, Site Links, Targeted Keyword, Targeted Website Traffic, Text Links, web linking | Leave a comment