CEO Keywordspy | Internet Marketer
Internet Marketing
Google snags Microsoft Kinect Developer
Jan 19th
Last year, Google invested in Zynga and Ngmoco, acquired Slide and Jambool, and unveiled games intended for the Chrome Web Store in rapid succession. Now, the search giant may be ready to take another game-related step, as its hired Kinect developer Johnny Chung Lee to join a special projects group.
Additional details are scarce. Indeed, with respect to his new position, Lee only wrote on his blog, “I have left Microsoft to join a special projects team at Google.” Then Lee’s “About Me” section indicates his new official title is “Rapid Evaluator.”
We take that to mean he’ll be in a position to approve or veto lots of different ideas or products.
Here’s a bit more info regarding Lee’s previous achievements and goals, anyway. He wrote, “In 2008, I graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction. My research interests are in exploring novel interface technology that can influence the lives of many people.”
Also, if you run a Google search on Lee’s full name, some interesting stuff involving Wii hacks comes up.
It should be interesting to see what happens next. Although Google hasn’t accomplished much in terms of gaming, Lee may be able to help the company make some significant strides.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
The Ecosystems Will Determine the Gadgets We Buy
Jan 18th
In 2001 Apple launched what would be one of the most iconic products of the 21st century’s first decade. The iPod changed music and consumer electronics – but it also led to one of the most counterintuitive marketing strategies of the modern age as well. As the iPod grew in popularity, Apple began to sell $1000 computers as accessories for a $200 gadget. The ecosystem of the iTunes store and the ability to manage your music easily and seamlessly with your iPod started a revolution that led millions to consider getting a Mac as their primary home computer. By locking customers into their ecosystem – Apple grew using a basic strategy of cross-selling to get customers to buy multiple devices and making sure that they all worked easily together.
Aside from a few minor examples like synched remote controls between televisions and DVD players or shared external memory card platforms, the rest of the consumer electronics industry was very slow to realize the value of this strategy. As a result – buying gadgets became a very individualized experience. It simply didn’t matter that much whether you stuck with one brand for all your gadgets or not. If there was one theme to emerge clearly from CES this year, it is that those days are over.
Nearly every manufacturer of large scale consumer products is investing in the value of selling an ecosystem instead of a single product. LG, Sony and SHARP all have launched their own App stores for mobile devices and smart connected televisions as well. The early leader, Sony’s Qriocity, features a large content archive and integrates both music and video together. LG’s smart home appliances can be accessed through multiple other devices.
Samsung’s latest wirelessly enabled digital camera, called the Samsung SH100 can also be synchronized with the Samsung Galaxy Smartphone and then operated remotely by the phone as a remote control. The vision for more and more of these products is to make them work together at the touch of a button and finally demonstrate a real value for consumers to motivate them to choose to stay with a single brand for multiple purchases.
This is the locked in world we are headed for – where brand name will do more than just reinforce consumer confidence in the product. The brand will be the ecosystem that consumers buy into, just as they have for years with Apple. Most likely it will work for consumer electronics, and we are already seeing other industry segments start to follow. Financial services organizations want to lock you into banking, credit cards and mortgages. GE wants your home lighting and security to work with your home appliances.
In this new future, the brand you choose will determine the products you consider buying. The barrier to switch will be the inconvenience of having a device that no longer fits the ecosystem of your life.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
The SEO Industry Is Changing
Jan 17th
As SEO industry has come in just a short time years ago on-site optimization would allow your website to be visible almost immediately and now some industries truly have to spend a great deal of time and energy to become visible in their search categories but don’t let that scare you. Over time what will happen is that all the bad apples will get weeded out of the system and the businesses and website looking to do it right will be left behind.
If you are not happy with your search engine optimization or marketing let’s take a look as to why things are happening?
Technology Changing
The search engines are changing and so are their algorithms keeping the SEO industry on their toes at all times. What might have worked last year might not work next year. The technology of what we do is rapidly evolving to the point where many business owners are simply having a hard time just keeping up with everything. You have to roll with the punches of the industry otherwise you will be left behind. Education is key to what we do.
More Distraction
There are continuously more and more websites, web pages, content and social platforms creating more and more distractions online in the search results causing more clutter to cloud a website visitor’s vision. Some people are under the impression that they need to put out more in order to stay competitive and that thought process is what is bogging down our online space.
Buying Behaviors
Plain and simple people are changing also. The way people shop around and make purchases have evolved into something much different than it was 3 years ago. People and business mindsets are in a cost cutting mode and have been for a while so it is not entirely your lack of visibility in the search space that might be causing problems for you.
You have to be able to change with our industry otherwise you are going to have a hard time keeping up with all the advancements. Don’t get left behind and start educating yourself on everything that is occurring in our search marketing industry.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
Rumor Points more Problems for Google-ITA Deal
Jan 14th
Don’t call your stockbroker or even place an informal bet just yet. The latest info on the proposed Google-Fairsearch deal represents a rumor twice over. Still, a report’s indicated that the Department of Justice might decide to step in and stop the acquisition.
Sara Forden and Jeff Bliss wrote this afternoon, “The U.S. Justice Department is preparing for a possible antitrust lawsuit to stop Google Inc.’s $700 million acquisition of ITA Software Inc., according to people familiar with the situation.”
Then the pair continued, “Department officials haven’t made a final decision about whether to sue to block the purchase by Google, owner of the world’s most popular search engine, said the people . . .”
So, according to individuals who may be several layers removed from the proceedings, the DOJ could interfere with Google’s acquisition. Google’s lawyers probably aren’t packing their suitcases in response.
GoogleStill, Bloomberg’s a reputable news source, and this report is at least cause for concern among Google’s supporters. Taken together with all the opposition that’s surfaced and the fact the DOJ decided to look into the deal in the first place, it increases the odds of a major problem occurring.
As always, we’ll be sure to report any significant updates.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
UK SEO Market Grew By 16 Percent Last Year
Jan 13th
The term “austerity” was almost omnipresent in British culture last year, with budget cutbacks being discussed on a regular basis by just about everyone. Only it seems the search industry came out more than okay, as a new report from Econsultancy indicates the UK marketplace for SEO came to be worth roughly $680 million.
Indeed, Econsultancy’s 2011 SEO Agencies Buyer’s Guide in part stated, “Econsultancy estimates that the UK marketplace for SEO was worth 376m [$587 million] in 2009 and that it grew by 16% during 2010 to a value of 436m [$680 million].”
That’d represent an impressive increase almost any year, well ahead of the rate of inflation. That it occurred during the middle of an international recession is all the more significant for the SEO industry.
As for where things might head in 2011, it’s hard to imagine a decrease in spending will occur as the economy recovers. Jake Hird, Senior Research Analyst at Econsultancy, observed in a statement, “[T]he SEO market continues to flourish, as it is a proven and highly effective method of delivering return on investment by successfully driving traffic and increasing sales.”
And with regards to how the standard SEO process might change, Econsultancy created the chart below to act as a guide of sorts.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
Ad Swapping: An Effective and Easy Way to Generate Traffic and Boost Link Popularity
Jan 13th
As taxes are the lifeblood of a nation, traffic is the lifeblood of any online business. Every business in the online industry needs traffic as this keeps their business competitive and profitable, thus it is a must for online marketers to make sure that they get lots of traffic. Some marketers spend thousands of dollars to pay for a particular ad, while small time business prefers to get traffic for free. In this article, let me introduce to you a simple yet effective way of generating traffic to your site – Ad Swapping or Ad Swaps – and the good news is – it’s absolutely free.
What is Ad Swapping?
Ad swap or advertisement swap is an internal agreement with other websites to exchange ads in each other’s sites. This is basically done to gain website exposure and lead traffic to one’s website with the help of the partner’s site and vice versa. The main goal of ad swapping is to expand your market by getting the necessary exposure in other sites and blogs for free. The link value that you are getting is irrelevant as you are not after the improvement of your search engine rank. Though this will in some way help in improving your search engine rank, the effect is on the number of visitors that are being led to your site. In other words, this is a way of getting quality traffic for free without any help from search engines.
Types of Ads
The types of ad you can set up for an ad swap includes banners, RSS feed ads, text links, and email newsletter opt-in forms.
The success of ad swaps can be gauged with tracking links and analytics. That way both parties can measure the amount of traffic they are receiving.
In a nutshell, the number of visitors that the campaign leads to your website is the yardstick of its success.
Things to Consider for a Successful Ad Swap
1. At least two websites with steady flow of traffic – It doesn’t matter if its 200 or 1,000 hits per day as long as the site has regular visitors, then it is fine. To be fair it is best if the websites in which ad swapping will be done has a very similar, if not equal, number of visitors per day.
2. Ad Location – Make sure that the ads are located in readily visible area. It helps a lot if the ads swapped maintain equivalent formats, which means that swapped ads should be placed in an area where both of the sites will be getting the same number of visitors.
3. Common Business Niche – The advantage of being in the same niche is that the visitors of both websites have an established interest in the nature of the content being viewed. Ad swapping will give better result when ads are placed in a site or page that is relevant to your blog or website.
4. Avoid Conflict in Content – This is corollary to item 3. It only makes sense to avoid engaging in ad swapping with a website that contradicts your brand or service. This will only lead to customer confusion which would not benefit you in any way.
5. Maximize Swapping Opportunities – Since ad space is a limited resource, you have to make sure that you carefully select your swap partners. Getting the right website to swap ads with will provide you with maximum exposure. So, how are you going to do this? How can you make sure that the ads you’re swapping with are the correct ones? Simple – use a keyword research tool that will not only show you ads belonging to the same niche, but will also give you a peak on those that are targeting the same or similar keywords. KeywordSpy can do all of this as it will not only give you the information above, but will also help you determine which among the ads using your keywords are generating traffic and income. KeywordSpy will give you all the information that you need and all you have to do is to analyze them and then swap ads accordingly.
Ad swapping is a cost-effective means of increasing internet traffic. However, establishing sustainable and productive partnerships take a long time. Communication is the key to ensure that your prospects understand the benefit of undertaking an ad swapping campaign with you. As with any other business, maintaining your integrity will get you a long way.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
Equal Number Android Tablet, iPad Shipments Forecast Late For 2011
Jan 12th
Android phones got off to a late start compared to the iPhone, but now, most research firms agree Android phones are winning in terms of sales. And Android tablets might soon pull off a similar coup, as the experts at BMO Capital Markets have predicted shipments of Android tablets and iPhones will draw even in the second half of this year.
Elizabeth Woyke reported, “During BMO’s Jan. 10 conference call, analyst Keith Bachman, who covers enterprise hardware and imaging, said, ‘The number of players participating in Android tablets will replicate the success Google has had on phones.’ He predicts that Android tablets will ‘reach unit parity’ with Apple’s iPad by late 2011.”
Woyke also wrote, “BMO expects at least 25 to 30 tablets from nearly 20 manufacturers by mid-year, citing Asus, Coby, Fujitsu, HP, HTC, Lenovo, Motorola, MSI, Toshiba, ViewSonic and Vizio, among others.”
Google AndroidThat’s great news for Google. Even if this prediction isn’t spot-on, it shows that onlookers have lots of confidence in Android, even extending to versions of the OS that haven’t been released yet (Honeycomb, Ice Cream).
Also, in the tradition of self-fulfilling prophecies, if a hardware maker or two on BMO’s list doesn’t yet have a relationship with Google, they might open the lines of communication in an effort not to get left behind.
On a potentially related note, Google’s stock is up 0.49 percent so far today, ahead of both the Dow (up 0.48 percent) and Nasdaq (up 0.43 percent).
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
Everybody Gets the New Facebook Profile
Jan 11th
Facebook announced today that it is now rolling out the new profile design to all users. The design debuted last month, when CEO Mark Zuckerberg appeared in an interview for 60 Minutes on CBS, and the company made the option available for users to switch.
To be perfectly honest, having switched my own profile back then, I kind of forgot they didn’t roll this out on a wide scale until now. I’m guessing I’m not alone, because according to Facebook, hundreds of millions of others had already made the switch as well.
To recap, the new profile includes the following features (as described by Facebook):
- A quick summary of who you are (like where you live, work and grew up), right at the top of your profile
- A row of recently tagged photos so friends can see what you’ve been up to lately
- Room to highlight meaningful friendships (like teammates, co-workers or roommates)
- More of your favorite activities and interests
- The ability to tag your friends in important life experiences
One of the biggest complaints about the new profile is the prominence of photos that you don’t actually have control over. For example, my brother can tag me in a less than flattering photo of myself, and that might be the first image people see when they visit my profile (apart from my profile picture itself). To be fair, you do have some control over this. You can remove pictures from this section if they appear, but then your friends (or siblings) can call you out on it.
All in all, the new profile isn’t bad, but I find a couple other features Facebook has recently released to far less fanfare a bit more interesting. For example, the whole facial recognition thing and new news feed options.
What do you think of the new profile design?
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
Tasks That Should Be On Your Local Search Shortlist
Jan 10th
Recently, I have been talking about local Internet marketing and the rapid developments in the area. Well, as we start 2011, there is a strange sound in the local Internet marketing space—silence. There is a temporary lull in the frantic pace of change and innovation in the Google local search results.
Whether you are a large retail chain or the Mom and Pop shop on Main Street, local is the new black and the rapid pace of innovation in local search can be too much for even industry pros to stay on top of. What is happening at the start of the new year, however, is actually great for the SMB crowd and the Internet marketing industry as well.
It has actually been quiet. There hasn’t been a major change or something that makes everyone run around doing the “search marketing sky is falling” dance in this first week of the year. So what does one do with a rare moment of relative silence in this space?
Get caught up with all the recent events by updating your local presence. Here are the tasks that should be on your short list for local search as we start 2011:
Verify your Google Place Page. Just verifying your Google Place Page doesn’t necessarily help with ranking, but it is an important step to utilizing other services that Google is offering. A business can also directly answer reviews about their business that were done in Google Maps if they have verified their page. That alone is worth the effort.
Take control of your online data. Most businesses are not aware of just how many places on the Internet have their business data like name, address, business classification and more.
Perform basic search optimization for your Web site. Fresh content, specific keyword focus, unique title tags with keywords and using H1 tags with keywords. These are the absolute basics and can do wonders on the local level.
Consider Google Tags. Tags are a new way to make your Place Page listing pop. Run promotions and get attention for just $25 a month.
Start following local Internet marketing blogs. Follow the Google LatLong blog and Google Mobile blog. Follow Mike Blumenthal’s blog about Google Maps. Stay on top of things.
This short list can be put into action pretty quickly. My suggestion is that you do it ASAP because before you know it there will be something that changes or is added to the equation. If you don’t take the time now you could fall further behind.
It’s time. It’s 2011. Local Internet marketing truly matters. Make sure your business benefits. If you don’t, your competition will gladly take the business you leave for them.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
Skype Buys Qik-A Mobile Video Company
Jan 7th
Skype announced today that it has entered an agreement to acquire Qik. The price has yet to be announced, but rumor has it that it’s about $100 million.
What Qik does is let people capture video instantly from their phones. It’s already available on over 200 different phones running Android, iOS, Symbian, BlackBerry OS, and Windows Mobile. On many of them, Qik comes preloaded.
“Qik complements a lot of what we’ve been doing in terms of video, realtime services, by allowing you to capture these moments,” said Skype CEO Tony Bates. “Qik’s engineering talent and product suite really complements what we’ve been doing here at Skype. We think there’s tremendous synergies between the teams both in terms of engineering excellence, but also in terms of great cultural fit.”
“Skype and Qik share a common purpose of enriching communications with video, and the acquisition of Qik will help to accelerate our leadership in video by adding recording, sharing and storing capabilities to our product portfolio,” Bates said. “Through this acquisition, we’ll also be able to take advantage of the engineering expertise that is behind Qik’s Smart Streaming technology, which optimizes video transmission over wireless networks.”
Qik’s userbase jumped from 600,000 to 5 million users just last year, according to Mashable. The company has 60 employees.
Peter Zmijewski who is called as Innovator, investor, internet marketing guru and entrepreneur. Peter Zmijewski is also the founder and CEO at KeywordSpy. Don’t go away and stay with us.
