Comscore Releases Video Study - Watch it Here...

Comscore released a July 2007 study involving video usage on the web. Google video sites came in at number one, while YouTube hosted 37% of Internet users. WebProNews took this information to the streets to find out what drives people to watch videos. For the results of the study and more details of the story, keep watching WebProNews.

Resource: http://videos.webpronews.com

Webcast of Internet Terms On Demand

Watch Erin Jansen, author of "NetLingo The Internet Dictionary" and founder of NetLingo.com, as she explains Internet terms and brings online jargon to life:

Resource: http://www.netlingo.com/video.cfm

How to Create a Higher Page Ranking - Watch The Video from WebProNews...

How to Create a Higher Page Ranking… Watch the Video...

WebProNews talked with Eric Dytzel from NoviceSEO.com about a blog posting called “How I Went from 600 to 14 on Google in 100 Days.” He discusses the tips he found while researching SEO. We also talked with Aaron Wall from SEOBook.com and John Chow from JohnChow.com about tips to try when looking to gain page rankings. For more details, keep watching WebProNews.

5 Must Have Online Resources for Web Marketers...

Here Are Five More Great Must Have Online Resources, Don't Forget to Bookmark Them You Will Be Glad You Did...

1.) All-in-One List of Search Engines Pandia Powersearch is our all-in-one list of search engines and directories. Search the Web using the search form above, or select one of the categories below to find the best Internet search tools. http://www.pandia.com/powersearch/index.html

2.) Word of Mouth Marketing Association - WOMMA - News & Blogs Overview. Word of Mouth Marketing Association is the official organization for the viral, blog, buzz, evangelism, influential, consumer-generated-media and word of mouth marketing industry. Events, newsletters, blogs and knowledge about word of mouth and word-of-mouth marketing. http://www.womma.org/news-blogs/

3.) NetLingo The Internet Dictionary: Online Dictionary of Internet Terms, Acronyms, Text Messaging - NetLingo is a Google Top 1000 Website http://www.netlingo.com/

4.) Search Engine Land: 100% Organic Archives - 100% Organic covers SEO and issues related to being listed in the free, natural or "organic" listings in search engines. Columnists write about optimization techniques, duplicate content and potential spam issues, how to submit to search engines and more. http://searchengineland.com/lands/100-organic.php

5.) EMarketing Talk Show Free Internet Marketing Podcasts Covering SEO, PPC and Other Search Marketing Topics! Free Internet Marketing Podcasts and Training Covering SEO, PPC and Other Search Marketing Topics with interviews from Internet marketing experts on how to position your website in the search engines and marketing it online. http://www.emarketingtalkshow.com

Happy Marketing!

Facebook Open To The World - Watch The Video!

Check Out This Video About Facebook's New Open Search... Very Interesting!

Highly Recommended Keyword Research Tools...

Here are Some Excellent Keyword Research Tools I Highly Recommend for ALL Marketers...

Overture Keyword Selector Tool:
http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
This is a good first step to generate a basic keyword list of phrases containing the actual term you entered. Yahoo! has indicated that the search numbers are old and inaccurate so don’t count on exact numbers. However, it’s a useful tool to determine if a keyword is being searched for at all.

Good Keywords: (Free Download)
http://www.goodkeywords.com/
This free download for Windows users is similar to the Overture Keyword Selector Tool. It also has a feature that identifies common misspellings of words.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool:
https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
Enter a search term or terms into the ‘Keyword Variations’ section, and you'll be shown other keywords that contain that term or are related to that term (synonyms). You can then sort keywords in terms of search volume popularity on Google. Google does not provide actual number of searches.

You can also use the ‘Site-Related Keywords’ section of the tool to identify the keywords of an existing web page by entering the page URL.

Wordtracker Free Keyword Suggestion Tool:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
Wordtracker has a robust fee-based keyword tool that’s popular among the SEO crowd. In addition, this free tool is useful for building a list of synonyms. Enter a search term and you'll be shown 100 potential keywords related to (and including it), ranked by daily popularity. You can also sign up for the free trial of the paid version (recommended) to dig deeper into related keyword terms. This is a great way to identify secondary keyword phrases.

Microsoft AdCenter Labs Keyword Group Detection Tool:
http://adlab.msn.com/contextSim/Default.aspx
This tool will also build a list of synonyms.

Trellian Free Search Term Suggestion Tool:
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
This tool provides synonyms as well and is very similar to Wordtracker’s tool above except that it ranks the keywords by annual searches as opposed to daily searches.

Bruce Clay’s SEO Tool Set Traffic Check:
http://www.seotoolset.com/cgi-bin/checktraffic.cgi
Use this tool to produce an estimate of daily search activity for a specific keyword phrase across the major search engines broken down by Google, Yahoo and MSN. This one will provide actual numbers (but they are still estimates).

SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool:
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
Provides aggregated data from the free Overture, Google and Wordtracker tools listed above.

What is Social Media Marketing?

I Get This Question Everyday: What is Social Media Marketing?

Social Media Marketing (SMM) combines the goals of internet marketing with social media sites such as Digg, Flickr, MySpace, YouTube, Facebook and many others. The SMM goals will be different for every business or organization, however most will involve some form of viral marketing to build idea or brand awareness, increase visibility, and possibly sell a product or service.

Most online communities don’t welcome traditional direct or hard sell techniques so an effective SMM campaign will require more finesse to execute properly. SMM campaigns must be targeted to the community you want to reach with a message that appeals to them. Some common ways of achieving this are with authoritative information, entertainment, humor or controversy.

SMM is related to other online marketing such as Search Engine Optimization, Search Engine Marketing, Viral Marketing, Word of Mouth Marketing, and Social Media Optimization. Many believe Social Media Optimization (SMO) takes a passive role in establishing the framework for different social sites to connect themselves. Others feel SMO is taking the principles of SEO and applying them to social websites. SMM takes a more active planned role directing, influencing or suggesting community members create and connect the content.

Resource: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_media_marketing

Online Marketers Celebrate Labor Day Weekend in Your City...

Labor Day Weekend Planners For Your City on Citysearch... As Seen On: PRLog.org

Attention: Web Designers, Online Marketers, Photographers, Programers, Writers all you Creative People, Take a Break and Celebrate Labor Day in Your City. Find local events, activities and the best outdoor restaurants and bars...

Dallas Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026562.html

Boston Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026560.html

Houston Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026559.html

Atlanta Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026558.html

San Diego Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026555.html

Seattle Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026554.html

Chicago Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026553.html

San Francisco Labor Day Weekend Planner http://www.prlog.org/10026552.html

New York City Labor Day Weekend Planner http://www.prlog.org/10026551.html

Los Angeles Labor Day Weekend Planner
http://www.prlog.org/10026597.html

Get more information at:
http://national.citysearch.com/site_guide/

WEBCAST: Landing Page Optimization: Crank Up Your Search Results - September 6th, 2007

Search Marketing Now webcasts combine the most authoritative and actionable education about search engine marketing issues with the convenience of attending online. Register Today for one of our FREE webcasts covering topics about search engine optimization, paid search advertising and search marketing in general. Continue your professional development without leaving the office!

Webcast: Landing Page Optimization: Crank Up Your Search Results!

Sponsored by: Widemile.com
Date: Thursday, September 6, 2007 1:00 PM EDT (10:00 AM PDT)
Speakers: Sapna Satagopan, Associate Analyst, Jupiter Research Gregg Makuch, VP Marketing, Widemile

Learn More at: http://searchmarketingnow.com/

As more and more companies increase spending on search engine marketing, gains in ROI are harder to come by. That's why it's important to track and analyze every aspect of your marketing campaign - especially your site's landing pages.

Savvy marketers know that an effective landing page can be the key to the success of a marketing campaign - and the key to an effective landing page lies in constant testing, targeting, and testing some more.

Customers make up their minds in just seconds when they come to you landing page. How can you capture their attention and convert them to buyers? How can you measure which aspect of the landing page was responsible for the conversion?

In this webcast, you'll learn:

• The basics of multivariate testing
• The latest trends in landing page optimization
• What companies are doing to boost their ROI

...and you'll hear case study about how one company improved its conversion rates through landing page optimization.

Check out this educational Webcast - 1:00 PM EDT, 10:00 AM PST Thursday, September 6, 2007 at: http://searchmarketingnow.com/

B2B and B2C Marketers Can Learn From Each Other

Resource: by Brian Wool, The ClickZ Network

Anyone who's worked in marketing for a week knows there's a difference between the strategies and tactics for business-to-consumer (B2C) and those for business-to-business (B2B) online advertising. Yet in some ways, they're more alike than they are different.

From a 30,000-foot view, the objectives are identical: drive sales. Once you cut below the clouds, of course, the means to drive sales can be very different, primarily because the audiences are so different.

Look at the recent $345 million acquisition of Business.com by R.H. Donnelley. For over 100 years, R.H. Donnelley has been a formidable channel for the B2C marketing channel in both on-and offline markets. Why, then, the big investment in B2B?

It was noted Business.com had a well-oiled performance-based marketing network that the mainstay will be able to leverage quickly. But that's not the big picture.

Read the Full Article at: http://www.clickz.com/3626744

Citysearch Unveils Its 2007 'Best of Citysearch' Restaurant Winners...

Citysearch Users and Editors Select their Favorite Locations in Top 20 Markets...





As Seen On: PRNewswire.com and http://money.cnn.com

Citysearch, a leading online local guide and an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), today announced its 2007 "Best of Citysearch" Restaurant winners. The complete list of cities with "Best of Citysearch" Restaurant winners can be found at: http://national.citysearch.com/allcities.

The most popular campaign, "Best of Citysearch" restaurants brings in millions of user votes nationwide. Users select their favorite restaurants in popular categories from the best Italian food to hamburgers around town. This year's campaign also introduced a new Best Organic Restaurant poll, along with other newcomers, such as Best Taco Shop. In addition to users selecting their favorites, Citysearch editors also chime in with their top picks in America's top cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and beyond.

For more information on "Best of Citysearch", please visit:
http://www.citysearch.com/bestof/about

TMZ.Com Launches New Celeb Site...

TMZ.com has launched StarVsStar.com, a celebrity-oriented take on fantasy sports team websites. Players join teams, assemble a roster of celebs and face off against other teams, with points given weekly based on celebrity coverage in the media (including TMZ). The site also offers star game cards, message boards and a weekly video webcast.

The term "fantasy sport" has always been a bit of a misnomer. It's never been about pretending to be a football or baseball general manager; the closer parallel is gambling. By choosing an athlete for your team, you're hoping — betting — that he will perform well.

For a celebrity, though, performing "well" is a different ballgame.

On Wednesday, TMZ.com expanded beyond its now ubiquitous entertainment and celebrity reporting and into the fantasy fray with the newly unveiled Web site http://www.StarVsStar.com.

Get the Full Story at Yahoo News:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070808/ap_en_ot/on_the_net

5 Helpful Online Resources Everyone Should Know About...

Here are Five (5) of the Coolest and Most Helpful Online Resources, these are My Favorites...

1.) Ask.com

Innovative search technologies deliver fast and relevant information for millions of people. Ask.com ExpertRank algorithm provides relevant search results by identifying the most authoritative sites on the Web. With Ask search technology, it's not just about who's biggest it's about who's best.

Ask's ExpertRank algorithm goes beyond mere link popularity (which ranks pages based on the sheer volume of links pointing to a particular page) to determine popularity among pages considered to be experts on the topic of your search. This is known as subject-specific popularity. Identifying topics (also known as "clusters"), the experts on those topics, and the popularity of millions of pages amongst those experts -- at the exact moment your search query is conducted -- requires many additional calculations that other search engines do not perform. The result is world-class relevance that often offers a unique editorial flavor compared to other search engines. every day. Visit: www.ask.com
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2.) AskForKids.com

Ask for Kids Great News Resources for Kids (formerly known as Ask Jeeves for Kids) is a fast, easy and kid-friendly way for kids to search online. Designed to be a fun destination site focused on learning and "edu-tainment," Ask for Kids uses natural-language technology that allows kids to ask questions and perform web searches. Visit: www.askforkids.com
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3.) Citysearch.com

A leading online lifestyle guide with the most up-to-date information on businesses, from restaurants and spas, to hotels and retail. Citysearch helps people make informed decisions about where to spend their time and money by delivering trusted content, local expertise, and useful tools -- including 14.5 million business listings, over 600,000 user reviews, and ratings on over 2 million business locations nationwide. Visit: www.citysearch.com
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4.) InsiderPages.com

Find businesses, share your opinions and ask questions in your local community. Insider Pages was created to help people find the best local businesses through recommendations from their friends and neighbors. At InsiderPages.com, people share reviews of local businesses and find great services they can trust. Our site now has over 600,000 customer reviews from members across the U.S. and over two and half million people visit our site each month to get the Insider scoop on local businesses. Visit: www.insiderpages.com/
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5.) Evite.com

With more than 15 million registered users, Evite.com is the top online destination for invitations. A free service, Evite.com estimates it saves party planners millions of dollars in paper invitations and postage each month. With party-planning tools and content, the site helps hosts be more successful while saving even more money and time.

Like Having Your Own Personal Party Planner - Evite.com works like a personal party planner, without the cost. Evite guides party hosts through every step of the event planning process – from deciding on the party specifica and inviting guests to preparing the party to finalizing the menu and sending eCard thank-you notes after the event. Visit: www.evite.com

I suggest you bookmark these 5 Websites you will be glad you did.

Enjoy and share with your friends!

Underscores are now word separators, proclaims Google - From Stephan Spencer

Here is some new information from Stephan Spencer who is the founder and president of Netconcepts, a Web agency specializing in e-commerce optimized for search engines. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network.

Stephan writes about underscores verses dashes when it comes to search engine optimization and creating clean URL's that are search friendly! Spephan got to enjoy Matt Cutts live and in person on Saturday speaking to bloggers and fans at WordCamp 2007.

Read his article...

"Underscores are now word separators, proclaims Google"
You can check out this article at: http://news.com.com

Thanks Stephan for the Information!

Ask.com to Give People Unmatched Privacy Control

OAKLAND, Calif., July 19 -- Ask.com(R), a leading search engine and wholly-owned business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), today announced it will soon be implementing a new product called AskEraser that will offer its searchers unmatched control over their privacy when searching for information on the Web.

With AskEraser, people can ensure that their search history will not be retained by Ask.com. Searchers will have easy access to AskEraser and can change their privacy preference at any time. Once selected, searchers' privacy settings will be clearly indicated on search results pages so they always know the privacy status of their searches.

"AskEraser is a great solution for those looking for an additional level of privacy when they search online," said Jim Lanzone, CEO of Ask.com. "Anonymous user data can be very useful to enhance search products for all users, and we're committed to being open and transparent about how such information is used. But we also understand that there are some who are interested in new tools that will help protect their privacy further, and we will give them that control on Ask.com."

Read the full press release at:
http://www.irconnect.com/askj/pages/news_releases.html?d=123324

3 Web Tips for Business Success...

Business Owners, Here Are 3 Very Helpful Web Success Tips...

I Highly Recommend YOU Take a LOOK and make sure you bookmark them for future needs:

15 Sites for Promoting Your Local Business
entrepreneur.com - Want to get your name out to locals and visitors alike? Take advantage of these online marketing sites and watch your business grow.
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Royalty Free Stock Photos for Web Design
smallbusinessbrief.com - Many of the free websites contain collaborative works from multiple photographers and artists. While the websites attempt to monitor the images in their collections in violation of copyright laws, there are no guarantees. If you opt to use photographs or images from a free portal, it is important to keep this in mind. The following are a large number of reputable stock photo websites available.
..............................................
Weblogs, Podcasting And RSS Newsfeeds In The Marketing Mix
workz.com - Podcasting has become a hot issue fast and RSS Newsfeeds have matured to become a service for personalized news at major portals. Both now are an issue in Online Communications and the Marketing Mix for small and big Online Players.

I personally find All of the above resources to be VERY Helpful!
MarciDesign :)

Kudos to Citysearch.com - 25 Sites We Can't Live Without by Time Magazine.

Kudos to my favorite Website: Citysearch.com for being rated 3rd on the "25 Sites We Cant Live Without" article posted in http://www.time.com.

Citysearch helps steer you to the right restaurants, bars, nightclubs, hotels and spas in dozens of cities, with editors' picks and user reviews, and a Yellow Pages directory that includes shops and other services. A mobile version lets you access listing info from your cell phone.

Citysearch is a Awesome Website for finding good resources!
Read more...

Search Engines and Directories...

Search Engines and Directories – What is the difference?

A search engine is a system that enables users to search and retrieve information from the web. Usually, search engines use a software program, generally referred to as crawlers, to index web pages. Various search engines use complex algorithms to index and categorize the web pages.

Web directories contain a collection of web pages organized into categories and sub-categories. The main difference between directories and search engine is that search engines use software to automatically index the web pages; whereas in a directory, web sites are organized into categories by people.

Why should you submit in directories?

Directories can broadly be classified into "Free Directories" and "Paid Directories". There are many free directories available on the web, such as DMOZ, Yahoo!, World Wide Index, AbiLogic, Gimpsy, JoeAnt, etc. Usually the free directories take a long time to list a submitted web site. So be patient and constantly check these directories for your site. The paid directories list a submitted site usually within a day! If you go for the paid option, you should consider the following directories: Arielis, BOTW, BlueFind, Microsoft bCentral, and GoGuides.

Resource: http://www.rankquest.com

Recommending The eMarketing Talk Show - Experts in the Field of Internet Marketing...

I highly recommend this really good online resource for Marketers: The eMarketing Talk Show, Free Podcasts, Tips & Resources from Experts in the Field of Internet Marketing...

The eMarketing Talk Show is an Internet Talk Show on Internet marketing topics. It offers audio files with interviewing experts on the various topics related to Internet marketing. A few thousand people listen to it each month.

The eMarketing Talk Show is broadcast live from World Talk Radio studios every Friday at 4pm PST. Past shows are archived and accessible 24/7 from the website. First launched in March 2005, the show has been met with overwhelming success and plans to continue the weekly podcasts indefinitely.

The show covers topics as varied as keywords, copywriting, website architecture, and blogs. From the very basics of building a search engine-friendly site to the finest details on how far you can go without getting banned from the search engines, the eMarketing Talk Show covers all the nuances of the Internet marketing world in weekly installments.

You can learn more at:
http://www.emarketingtalkshow.com/about.asp

4th of July Fun in Your City - The Nation's 5 Top Fireworks Displays...

Attention: Happy 4th of July to ALL my Blog Readers...

Looking for the best way to celebrate Independence Day?

Fireworks, festivals, baseball and more: Make plans for Independence Day and the long weekend. Citysearch helps you find the best local fireworks displays, festive Fourth of July events and the top outdoor restaurants and bars your city has to offer.

Check out the Nation's 5 Top Fireworks Displays for July 4^th...

1. Taste of Chicago
- Chicago, Ill.

2. Macy's Fourth of July Fireworks
- New York, N.Y.

3. Disneyland Fourth of July Celebration
- Anaheim, Calif.

4. Boston Pops Concert and Fireworks Display
- Boston, Mass.

5. Sunoco Sweet Sounds of Liberty Concert & Fireworks
- Philadelphia, Pa.

Get all the details for these National 4th of July Events at:
http://lasvegas.citysearch.com/feature/40948