Search Engine Marketing Mid-Year Check-in by Laurie Sullivan

Small-and-medium size businesses rely more on search engine marketing these days, despite complaints by some advertisers that keyword prices for pay-per-click (PPC) advertising continue to rise. Without formally surveying companies we can identify an increase by tracking the number of office and job openings throughout the world by companies like WebVisible and 360i. And while the news of these events provide empirical data, findings in recent studies from BIA/Kelsey and LookSmart provide insight into how much growth is occurring. ...Read the whole story

50% Off Top-20 List About Groupon and Search by Aaron Goldman

In my ongoing campaign to bring sexy back to search, I thought I'd take one of the hottest companies on the interweb and relate it to search marketing. Groupon is everywhere. From your inbox to the "Today Show," you can't escape the appeal of collective buying power. Here are 50% of the top 20 ways search marketing is sexy like Groupon. Note: if 100 people give this column a thumbs-up, I'll share the other 50% in my next column. ...More

  • Using Video As A Market Research Lure by Steve Smith

    As streaming video became ubiquitous online and emerged on mobile, the format almost became an end it self rather than a medium. I am always a bit surprised when a clip is offered to consumers as a special treat. "Click here and get a free video" some messages will say. This is especially true on mobile now. Marketers will prompt users to opt into an SMS exchange to "get a video link." Really? In an age where buildings literally come alive with live TV feeds and HD screen are at check-out counters, video in and of itself is a value- ...More

  • Google Needs A Location-Based Play by Kaila Colbin

    One thing that never fails to amaze me about the human race is how predictably we lie to ourselves. I recently attended a talk by Peter de Jager, a change management guy, in which he pointed out that any argument against the uptake of a new technology that involves its size or price is useless. "Nobody will ever use a computer at home because they are way too big and expensive," etc. We laugh about those statements now, and yet we continue to say similar things about newer technologies. I like the way Peter thinks, and I'm going to apply ...More