About 20 years ago, an Apple Macintosh landed in my parents' home. Within a year or so, I became my school's Apple evangelist, even teaching the librarian how to use Macwrite to create documents. For the next 10 years, I remained an Apple fan, indulging in the Newton and an early laptop. Then something happened. PC makers innovated around the steep growth in demand and my Mac was both obsolete and ridiculed in the business world. So in 1999, I made the switch to a PC, assuming Apple computers would serve as a niche player for designers and video editors.
GoGoQuick.com, a new search engine that enables people to donate to charity as they search, launched in beta on February 29 with a stated goal of helping the world "one click at a time." For every click on the site's ads, GoGoQuick.com will donate 50% of that revenue to charity, said Darian Gray, owner of Los Angeles-based Quick Digital Global, which developed the search engine.
Yahoo is making a push to turn its fortunes around, following both layoffs at the company and the rejection of Microsoft's widely reported, unsolicited bid. Two major announcements from the company have analysts speculating about a possible revival.
Reportedly set to launch in invite-only limited beta today, Google's new automatic matching AdWords feature has been met with a wary reception from online search marketers. "Google is trying to garner whatever available revenue they can if campaigns have surplus budgets," said Mark Simon, VP of industry relations for Didit.
AzoogleAds, an online performance-based advertising network, said it plans to expand into the European marketplace through a charter agreement with 77Agency, a London-based new media marketing agency.
Microsoft Corporation announced on Monday that it would start measuring the effectiveness of online campaigns in a new way, called engagement mapping. In the past, the last ad a consumer saw online or clicked on got the credit for the sale, lead or traffic.
I'm often asked, "How can I get my pages to rank number one on Google for my keywords?" This is a valid question, but it's a backward way of defining search engine success. Rather than focusing on high rankings, smart marketers should work to drive the most conversions, regardless of the keyword used.
The DMNews Essential Guide to Search Engine Marketing
When it comes to guaranteeing keyword success, bragging rights go to marketers who assess keyword value based on multiple metrics, including visitor volume, revenue, conversion and metric time on site. Let's look at the criteria and limitations of some of the most common metrics.
