Archive for July, 2010
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
There’s a new economy growing as we speak.
No, not Farmville. This is bigger than that. And yes I know that’s a big claim.
But, the same virtual currency behind Farmville has taken another leap forward today. RockYou, the developer behind such online apps as “SuperWall” and “Pieces of Flair”, has signed a five year contract to only accept Facebook credits. In exchange, like any Facebook credits partner, RockYou will receive 70 percent of the revenue they receive from Facebook Credits.
Virtual goods and virtual currency has grown leaps and bounds since Second Life’s mainstream introduction a few years back. And honestly, in terms of product partnership possibilities, new advertising, ease of use and user demand for virtual goods, we could be on the precipice of finding a stronger currency than the U.S. dollar.
Tags: facebook-credits, farmville, internet-marketing-company, rockyou, social-media-marketing
Posted in facebook, Social Media | Comments Off
Friday, July 23rd, 2010
John Curran, President and CEO of the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) announced today that the Internet will run out of addresses in approximately one year’s time.
How is this possible you might say? Because of exponential growth in user-generated Web content along with an explosion of sensor data, smart grids, RFID and more.
Oh, you meant how is there a limit on the limitless Internet? Well, currently, the Web largely uses Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4). Each IPv4 address is limited to a 32-bit number, which means that there is a total maximum of just over 4 billion unique addresses out there. And we’re down to our last 6% of them.
Introducing IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol, which uses a 128-bit address. This protocol offers enough addresses to give every person on the planet more than 4 billion of their own.
So, why the Y2K comparison? Because we need large-scale companies to ensure this transition takes place without turning the lights out on the Internet. But the good news is that Google, Facebook and other big companies have already started making the switch. So before we start running out to the store and buying backup servers and bottled water, let’s give human ingenuity some credit this time around.
Tags: American-Registry-for-Internet-Numbers, ARIN, facebook, Google, internet-consulting, IPv4, IPv6, John-Curran, website-promotion-services, Y2K, Y2K-Part-2
Posted in facebook, Google | Comments Off
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is up in arms about privacy concerns regarding Google’s Street View software. If you’re familiar with how Google creates their 360-degree street views of certain popular metropolitan areas, they simply drive high-tech cars down those roads taking an inordinate amount of photos they then use to piece together a Google Street View.
The problem is, this Street View technology also happened to have code that was collecting nearby private data transmitted over WiFi networks.
Google has apologized for the mistake and claims that nothing was done with the taken information. But, I don’t really understand how this could be an accident. That seems like extraordinarily spy-specific code. Blumenthal said that that 38 states along with the District of Columbia have joined the multistate investigation.
Tags: connecticut-attorney-general, google-adwords-management, google-marketing, google-street-view, Richard-Blumenthal
Posted in Google, Google AdWords | Comments Off
Thursday, July 22nd, 2010
Just two days after Ben & Jerry gave up their e-mail marketing for Twitter, a new report from Econsultancy suggests that e-mail still beats social networks in terms of e-commerce success.
Now it is important to keep in mind that this report is based on a survey of 1,400 customers. Not actual monetary results. While a variety of media are fighting for consumer attention, these customers surveyed claim that e-mail is still their desired channel to receive ads for sales and specials. And over 1/3 of those surveyed still do not have any sort of social media profile.
This may serve as a little bit of a wake up call for those of immersed in Internet Marketing. As much as we’re ready to put the nails in the coffin of traditional marketing, not everyone is evolving at the same speed.
Tags: ben-and-jerry's, e-commerce, e-mail, econsultancy, internet-marketing-consulting, social-media-marketing, Twitter
Posted in Email, facebook, Social Media, Twitter | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
The real secret behind effective customer conversion is making it as easy as humanly possible for customers to take that next step.
And Skype may have just unlocked a major door with its Click & Call ads, supported by Marchex. Now, advertisers across the Web can have their phone numbers highlighted with a blue “Free Call” button anywhere their number is displayed online. A user can simply click to launch Skype and instantly call the business at no cost.
Now, I wish this went one step further. I wish that Skype would create a self-contained application that allowed anyone to use this service without downloading Skype software first. Because once they figure that out, Skype will become the universal communication tool online. Until then though, this is a great leap in the right direction for improved customer experiences.
Tags: adwords-management, click-&-call-ads, customer-conversion, internet-marketing-company, skype
Posted in Google AdWords, Pay Per Click Management | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 21st, 2010
Now, over a quarter-million miles of roads in major North American cities have MapQuest live traffic coverage. All in order to provide users with even better information to make better route decisions.
This recent update includes new “key” arterials and city streets and incorporates new factors. Stoplights. Stop signs.Traffic flows. All taken into consideration by partner INRIX’s SpeedWaves technology. All to provide more realistic time estimates of secondary road traffic. Whereas many MapQuest competitors simply interpret vehicle stops for lights as traffic jams instead of normal flow.
Users will be able to view live traffic on MapQuest simply by clicking “live traffic” on the top of any map where it’s available. And by zooming in, you can see the newly expanded coverage.
Traffic reports are updated every 5 minutes. If only this would magically update the directions I printed out from MapQuest to get my destination, too.
Tags: best-ppc-management, INRIX, internet-consulting, mapquest, Speedwaves-Technology
Posted in Pay Per Click Management | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
Ben & Jerry’s have sent out their last mass e-mail. This past week, the famous ice cream company announced they were forgoing e-mail marketing to focus on social media efforts with their 1.3 million Facebook and Twitter fans.
This is one of the first major brands to abandon e-mail altogether in favor of social media. And time will tell whether or not they’re pioneers in this or simply lost out on a great brand builder. But industry analysts claim that this move made sense for a few reasons, including:
- B & J Loyalists had indicated that the e-mail content was annoying
- This e-mail abandonment will save money on infrastructure and internal resources
- This minimizes digital fragmentation and simplifies communication
- Younger generations in particular are losing interest in e-mail altogether
- B & J is finding great success with Facebook and Twitter
- Social Media will allow fans to tell the story, rather than simply be listeners
It will be fascinating to see if any other market players follow their lead. And yes, I’m hungry now, too.
Tags: ben-and-jerry's, e-mail-marketing, internet-marketing-company, social-media-marketing
Posted in Email, facebook, Social Media, Twitter | Comments Off
Tuesday, July 20th, 2010
The magazine WIRED sold more issues of its first digital edition earlier this year than print copies – all without cannibalizing their newsstand version. And now Adobe is trying to take credit for it. Why? Because this digital publication was created with Adobe’s InDesign CS5 along with other tools, which Adobe plans to release to the public later this summer through their Adobe Labs.
The idea is that publishers will now be able to make a seamless and simple move to the digital world without having to hire additional developers or wholly retrain their staff. Content publishers think the iPad and other tablet devices may be the very things necessary to bring mainstream publishing to the digital world and help make up for some of their recent print losses. And Adobe’s looking to make it as easy as possible for publishers to make the leap.
Tags: Adobe, adobe-indesign-cs5, adobe-labs, internet-consulting, mobile-marketing, wired
Posted in Adobe, mobile-marketing | Comments Off
Monday, July 19th, 2010
Last year, Google announced they were going to require everyone signing up for a YouTube username to have a Google account that username would link to. Now, they are going to start requiring users who signed up prior to that date to connect their accounts to Google accounts as well.
This has led some to wonder if those with Google accounts are automatically going to become members of Google’s still unannounced attempt at a social network, Google Me. Similar to Google Buzz, which automatically grandfathered in anyone with a Gmail or Blogger account, this could be a sneaky way to auto-draft subjects into the social network.
Now, Google has given legitimate “security” reasons for the YouTube user name decision. The simplification of a single account system. Reducing spam across the site. But let’s say Google decides to launch Google Me tomorrow. Without your opt-in, someone may be able to search for you, find your Gmail address, read your blog, view your uploaded YouTube videos and more. This could either create a huge privacy backlash, or help usher in immediate commercial buy-in of the masses. Only time will tell.
Tags: blogger, gmail, Google, google-adwords-marketing, google-buzz, google-me, social-media-marketing, YouTube
Posted in Google, Google AdWords, Social Media, YouTube | Comments Off
Monday, July 19th, 2010
We’re getting used to Google acquiring new companies. But this latest acquisition of Metaweb will actually help Google get better at what Google does best, organizing information based on user search.
Perhaps you’ve experienced a taste of this lately when you’ve typed in a simple math problem into Google. Now the equation result comes back at you just above the search results.
Or during the World Cup, when you typed in “World Cup Scores”, Google wouldn’t make you search through page results looking for sites that offered this information. They pulled the scores up for you. It’s this sort of smart assumption that Google wants to make more widespread.
And Metaweb’s “Freebase”, wich contains over 12 million listings, including movies, TV shows, books, celebrity information, companies and more is the perfect start to delivering on that promise.
Tags: freebase, Google, google-adwords-consultant, metaweb, search-engine-marketing-agency
Posted in Google, Google AdWords, Search-Engine-Optimization | Comments Off
