In the hoopla over Google’s purchase of DoubleClick many people didn’t take notice of another company purchased in the sale, Performics
What is the big deal? At first glance Performics simply appears to be the performance-based marketing division of DoubleClick. However after digging a little deeper you also realize that they offer Search Engine Optimization services to their clients.
That’s right - Google now owns one of the largest Search Engine Optimization firms. To me this is a conflict of interest. Only Google knows how its algorithm works, will this knowledge be used to give clients of Performics an unfair advantage over other SEO providers?
A vibrant industry has blossomed in the SEO services sector, from small mom and pop shops to larger full featured agencies. Could the be another area Google is interested in dominating. Clearly with the purchase of Perfomics they are moving in that direction.
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Google recently posted on their AdWords blog the introduction about a new bidding system based on what you “prefer” to pay. In other words instead of setting a maximum price per bid you are allowed to enter a “preferred” price and Google will attempt to set your average bid a that price point.
From their blog:
“Today, we are introducing a new bidding option called preferred cost bidding — a feature designed to help you save time while achieving your advertising cost goals more consistently. Instead of setting a maximum cost-per-click (CPC) or cost-per-impression (CPM) bid, you can set a preferred CPC or CPM bid that represents the average price you want to pay.”
Read more Below:
Inside AdWords: Introducing preferred cost bidding
Preferred Cost Bidding Help Center
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After many years of the familiar and ubiquitous “Ads By Gooooogle” Google has finally updated the look of their AdSense advertisements.
They have removed the default border and included an “ads by Google” graphic. While the ability to remove borders and modify AdSense design was always possible via their interface, the ability to modify the “ads by Google” component was never an option.
I think the jury is out on the effectiveness of these ads for both publishers and advertisers, however it is refreshing to see Google experimenting with new designs. Now if only they would let the publishers modify the font treatments we would really be getting somewhere!
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Blaming abuse of the system by data miners MSN announced on March 28th that they will no longer allow the following queries in their search engine - link:, linkdomain: and inurl:
From their blog:
“We are doing our best to get this back online as soon as possible in a manner that allows folks that use this functionality for real queries. We have a few good ideas up our sleeve on how to enable this, but want to make sure we are making the right changes that will give you the functionality you want and all of our customers the experience they deserve.”
You can read more as well as the comments from webmaster who are obviously upset on their blog below.
http://blogs.msdn.com/livesearch/archive/2007/03/28/we-are-flattered-but.aspx
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A recent study by JupiterResearch has revealed that 25% of US internet users visit social networking sites regularly. This is a whopping 41 million people and potential customers you may be missing if you approach marketing by the traditional search engine placements only.
Its vital in this day and age to expand the reach of your brand to these networks. There are a couple of very important reasons to “go social” with your marketing efforts.
1. It’s free. Almost all of the major social networks such as MySpace are free for people and companies alike to set up a profile and engage with others on the network.
2. It’s simple. These services all use a simply WSIWYG editors to enter your information, customize your page and communicate with others. If you find that you cant figure it out simply ask the teenager in your family to help out. Odds are they are already proficient.
3. It opens up new communication opportunities. Feedback and comments from your customers are vital to stay relevant to them and identify their needs and interests. Your social network presence easily facilitates this communication with your potential and current customers.
So while you plan your internet marketing approach keep those 41 million users in mind and devise a strategy to include social networking.
Below are a few of the social networks which you can utilize as a marketing platform.
MySpace
Hi5
Friendster
Facebook
Bebo
Multiply
LinkedIn
spaces.live.com
Happy Networking!
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Every summer many online marketers find traffic to their properties decrease over the summer. It’s clear why, people are out doors more and less glued to their computers. While this isn’t a hard and fast rule of thumb as many summer related sites see an increase (travel, bbq, lawn and garden care, etc). However, many general interest sites do feel an impact to their bottom line.
What can a webmaster do? Well if you are in the affiliate space try to ensure that you have a comfortable mix of affilitates that cover all the seasons. For example have a skiing affiliate for the winter offset with gardening affiliate for the summer. Its not unlike balancing your stock portfolio, you want a comfortable mix of programs that keep you diversified through out the year.
Of couse you can also do what I try to do - spend more time away from the computer yourself. Get out doors, enjoy the weather and know that the fall crunch is right around the corner.
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It appears that Google is in talks with Double Click to purchase the privately held company. With only Microsoft still in discussions of a purchase rumoured to be $2 billion dollars it seems Google has more spare cash on hand to make this a reality.
Full article here:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070402/media_nm/doubleclick_google_dc
It appears the early rumors were true.
Today Friday the 13th 2007 - 11 days after we first reported the rumors, it has indeed been confirmed that DoubleClick was sold to Google for 3.1 billion dollars in cash.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130722-c,industrynews/article.html
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