As part of the change at Yahoo, they announced today that roughly 2,000 people with be terminated or phased out from their daily activities. The intention is to focus their efforts on maintaining true to their core competencies of growth and profitability. The heaviest losses will come from Yahoo’s product division – the division run by Blake Irving the overseer of consumer and advertising products. The cut is projected to save from upwards of $375 million a year, which half of this will be seen in this second-quarters financial result. Yahoo currently employs over 14,000 people and thousands of outside contractors. This big move is part of a transition brought upon by new CEO’s Scott Thompson plan to bring “real change” to the company

Yet, Yahoo still has a solid foundation with thousands of internet marketing companies and millions of users. With the new corporate restructuring, Yahoo says that they will, “grow by responding more quickly to customer needs and competing more effectively in areas where it can win”. This likely means no more jumping into projects because everyone else is, instead as Yahoo states, they will focus on their “identified key parts” that stick more closely to their core – where ROI for marketing companies is plentiful and users feel a personalized touch.

On the other side, Google and Facebook hired more engineers and sales representative to their product development and sales team. Last year Google added 8,000 employees, and Facebook moved their HQ to Menlo Park, Calif. for the highly anticipated tripling of their current workforce of about 3,200 people within the next few years.

While the firings took place, Yahoo has also begun battling Facebook after filing 10 patent violations against Facebook. In return, Facebook has accused Yahoo of violating their technology patents as well.

Did you use Twitter on your phone this morning and notice anything different? A tweet from Twitter’s advertising blog made an announcement that they have begun testing Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts across all Android and iOS mobile social media devices. Word of the “internet marketing on the go” announcement came earlier last month and actually started today. Twitter is allowing brands to pass social media marketing to mobile users through the use of similar interests within their existing followers.

Twitter users are informed that as they scroll through their Twitter timelines, Promoted Tweets will flow in sporadically as you slide down through the feed. Facebook has also taken a similar route and started integrating ads & banners into the mobile Facebook app. However both Twitter & Facebook have taken a backseat to Google’s Android market where as much as $4 billion in mobile advertising revenue is expected to be generated.

Another aspect being implemented is new targeting options that allow advertisers to subject their campaigns to specifically focus on mobile or desktop/laptop computers. The benefit of this new mobile device targeting allows brands to cross platforms and advertise their message to a specific type of mobile user. An example of this comes in the form of apps & mobile games. Internet Marketing Companies can now tailor their ads to consumers with certain app uses and games played.

As 2012 marks the first year in history that marketers will spend more in online advertising than print, web marketing strategies are more important than ever. Through various SEM services, like search engine optimization of keywords and content, your website can keep up with the future of advertising.

The first hurdle is creating content that is credible, relevant, and successful. A recent survey showed that 3 out of 4 professionals stated that generating original content, as well as having the time to do so, is one of their biggest challenges. Some internet marketing companies rely on the Google Keyword Tool to hand them a list of the latest internet buzzwords, but targeting only popular keywords can overlook more modest words with less competition. There’s risk ranking across the board in optimizing content, and it’s often that the most popular keywords aren’t able to bring in the best return on investment.

The second challenge is making your content seen. If a tree falls in a forest…well, you know the rest. Once you’re on the right path with smart content and the right keywords, it’s time to reach your target audience. Current social media followers or blog readers aren’t the limit, the objective is to reach as many internet users as possible.

While there are countless methods of online advertising available, by linking up with top internet marketing companies, your site has the potential to reach a global platform. A company experienced in creating content in multiple formats has the highest benefit, maximizing the avenues in reaching your target audience.

While all individual users of Facebook are being coerced into the switch to Timeline for their personal profiles, sources say it is only a matter of time before brand pages too make the transition. Some say February 29^th is the expected date that Timeline will be released to Facebook Brand Pages. In the likelihood of this event we want to prepare you and your marketing company in finding the best way to gain brand awareness through the social media platform.

5 Changes To Take Advantage Of:

1. Telling A Story: Just like we are now telling our own life story (when we moved, started college, had a baby, etc.) brands will be able to tell their story in a larger sense. From an internet marketing business perspective, it would be wise to share events such as a significant promotion within your company, a new service introduction, or a big move to a larger office.
2. Eye-Catching Cover Photo:  This will be the first, and largest, image your fans will see. It appears like a banner at the top of your page (at 840 x 310 pixels). Now this is your chance at free advertising space, so use it wisely. Whether you’re promoting an upcoming event, sales, or importing an image from your business’ website; be sure the image is eye-catching with a personal twist.
3. More Than Just “Like”:  The “like” button on Facebook has proven to be a great hit over the past year so of course they [Facebook] are pushing out yet another advancement, this time – more action buttons. Fans will now be able to interact more with your brand and “love”, “want”, or “own” a product, along with a selection of other verbs.  Get ready to be blown up with notifications over this new feature but also anxious to see who your true die-hard fans are.
4. A World of Apps: Facebook’s Apps feature has already been implemented for brand pages and will appear at the top of a fans timeline upon downloading (along with any of their interactions of the app).  Web marketing companies should think of creating an app for their SEM services, for example. This will help integrate your brand into your fans timeline, thus creating more visibility.
5. Photos More Important: If you have already checked out a Facebook Timeline profile, then you should have noticed the larger emphasis on a user’s pictures. Timeline is now set up to have your posted photos stand out more, which attracts a lot more attention.  So when you’re posting a status update, consider posting a photo with it in order to grab the fans attention quickly and efficiently.

So when the time comes for brand pages to make the switch to Facebook Timeline what are other ways your company will be taking advantage of the new layout?

In a report released by Citi analyst, Mark Mahaney, Google is found to be the leading source of traffic for 23 of the top 30 websites. This report examines visits to the top five websites in specified niches such as Media, Retail, Travel, Auto, Finance and Health. From January 2010 to January 2012 Media decreased from 25% to 22%, Retail decreased from 16% to 15%, Travel increased from 12% to 14%, Autos increased form 12% to 14%, Finances increased from 10% to 13%, and Health surprisingly decreased from 24% to 15%. Because Google’s tools and features are greatly used by Internet marketing companies it is important to know they remain as the top source for traffic. With the exception of Health, all sectors either decreased by almost an insignificant amount or increased within their sector leading Google to remain a top traffic source.

Google’s Competitors

Also important for an online marketing company is to be aware of Yahoo because it  resulted to be the #2 traffic source  and

accounted for 11% of traffic to the top 30 websites. Microsoft as the #3 traffic source accounted for 6% to the top 30 websites. While Google delivers 16 % of all the traffic to the top 30 websites, it has very gradually decreased as it delivered a 17 % of all traffic to the top 30 websites in 2010 and 2011. Another surprising fact is that Yahoo’s and Bing’s traffic is perfectly consistent. The report says that the share that Yahoo and Bing hold has endured flat from 2010 to 2012. Because Yahoo has been given the image of a “deteriorating asset” flat traffic is actually positive for Yahoo. For Bing though, this report of flat traffic is a negative thing because of reports that stated Bing has gained market share. This report ultimately states what all Internet users would guess; that Google is the number one traffic source for top websites. At the same time it also states that Yahoo and Bing still have a significant market share and are relevant in Internet marketing. What does your web analytics show?  It would be worthwhile to see what percentage of traffic your site got in 2011 from Yahoo and Bing.

Many people took time out of their day yesterday to take action against the passing of two proposed bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property  Act (PIPA). An astounding 4.5 million people signed Google’s Anti-SOPA petition, according to the LA Times. Eighteen senators pulled back their position on PIPA, including Senator Marco Rubio (co-sponsor from Florida), and SOPA co-sponsor Arizona rep. Ben Quayle also changed his stance to opposing the bill on Tuesday.

The goal of these bills is to censor your web browsing which would also potentially impose damaging effects on American business and even our very own Internet Marketing Inc. All of you last minute paper writing college students must be in for a tough week because Wikipedia is officially blacked out in an attempt to dislodge the bills from being accepted. Wikipedia is allowing you to raise awareness by putting up a fancy box that allows you to input your zip code and let your voice be heard. After submitting your zip code, information of your district officials allows you to contact them. Feel free to drop them a line, express your concern and give them your opinion on censoring your rights.

Now there is always two sides to the story. Google understands that combatting piracy is vital, but, “the most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.” Also joining in is Mozilla as they changed their default home page from a blank white background to black.

What are your feelings as to how citizens have reacted to this attempt at censoring your web searches?

Simply deleting extra data fields on your website can potentially save you millions, as shown in the article “Expedia on How One Extra Data Field Can Cost $12 M“. Expedia utilizes SAS® predictive analytics, which helps them understand their customer base statistically, based on web traffic and user behavior. They realized from studying this data, they they needed to eliminate ambiguous data on their online form  that was misguiding their customers away from their product.

Expedia realized customers were inputting their bank name in the optional ‘Company’ field and proceeded to enter their bank address instead of their home address in the subsequent field. This was preventing the credit card verification process and consequently driving customers away. By simply removing one misguiding data field, an immediate improvement was noticed resulting in a $12 million profit per year.

We can all learn from this example.  It is essential that the direction on your website is efficient for the average online user. Remember that people do not want to spend extraneous time on a website if they don’t need to.   The information you provide on online forms  must be straightforward and free of misunderstandings. Analytics can only obtain so much information about online users. One way to completely understand your website users’ behavior  is to  physically observe them navigating the website and note their confusions.

According to SAS analytics (http://www.sas.com/success/expedia.html), Expedia applies their resources in three ways: inventory selection optimization, website design and fraud reduction. Each facet of SAS analytics observes data in order to learn and optimize on previous customer behavior. These data collections ultimately prevent issues like credit card fraud and help interpret data that will be useful to a specific customer.

Although the primary purpose of using analytics is not eliminating problems such as these, it has proven to be useful in removing glitches to optimize a website’s performance. Analytics only provides statistical information which is why it is crucial to understand your customer in order to make your website as efficient as possible. Who knows, maybe removing a couple of optional fields on your website’s  online form could result in similar benefits.

When writing content on the web, a good rule of thumb is to use the inverted pyramid technique, also known as Bottom Line Up Front.  This entails putting your most important point as the title and first paragraph of text in your article, and the supporting details towards the end.  Be sure to capture the attention of your users’ right at the beginning of your page, so that way they don’t need to scroll down to get the main points of your article. On the web, people tend to jump from page to page on websites, so you want to catch their attention right away.

Benefits for Readers

If a user likes what they see in your article from the beginning, they are more likely to bookmark it and read the rest of the article later. Or, if they are using a mobile phone, they can see the main point of the article and email it to themselves to read later on. (more…)

Information Architecture Optimization involves the global navigation of your website. It will be helpful for users and search engines. Basically, it is a way to get the keywords you want to rank high for within the link text. The users experience should always come first before the search engines – so, you don’t want to cram a bunch of keywords on the buttons at the top of your website, because it might confuse users, it may not fit within the space you have, and could disrupt the look and feel of your website.

For example, most people have very general terms like “about us”  “contact us” and “customer support” as their navigation pages. With information architecture, you would make these more specific and keyword focused, so if we were to implement in our about us page, we could say:

“About Us – We are an internet marketing firm in San Diego”

The ways around actually displaying all of those words on the page, but still having them there, is by using one of four different strategies listed below:

Code Order

Within the code of the website, you can rearrange the order so that the first thing listed is the content of the page, then the side bar navigation, and then the header information.  This way, your website will be more optimized so that the links with the keywords are prioritized.

CSS Status Tip

The CSS Status tip is what appears in the bottom left hand corner of your screen. If you use this technique, your keyword rich sentence will show up at the bottom of the page when someone hovers over one of the buttons in the navigation.

CSS Tool Tip

This strategy is most commonly used and would display the longer keyword phrase right at the same place you are scrolling over. So, it will appear as a text balloon right next to the link.

Image Based Navigation

This way you would use images as the actual buttons and add alternative or ALT text to these images as the keyword phrase you want to use.

All in all, information architecture optimization is a more advanced technique, but if you are willing to put the effort into it, it will make a big difference. Have any questions? Let us know!

You need to be selective when choosing inbound links to your website.  Just having random websites link to you is not enough these days. You need to take a close look at them and understand that there are some important SEO factors and criteria to consider first. Read on to learn how to  improve your link building strategy overall.

Visit the link – how does it look?

First, visit the actual website. Does it look like a natural website that web visitors will enjoy reading? Does it provide good information or are you bombarded with spam-like images and banners when you visit it? If it looks like the website only exists to spam users or solely to provide a back link for many websites, reconsider using it.

Is the content relevant?

Now, if the link passes that test, the next thing to look at is if it is relevant to your website. Is the topic of that website related to your website?  Does it mention the targeted keyword terms that you want to rank high for in search engines? For example, if your business is a Casino, you want to partner with websites about the gaming industry and casinos, not football. Try to get inbound links from websites that are within your industry or field of expertise.

You don’t want a site that is overly saturated with keywords either, as this will make it difficult for users to read, and may lead to having a keyword density number that is high.  Search engines look upon this negatively.

What is the Page Rank of the URL?

Take a look at the Page Rank of the website. If the site is not related specifically to your website topic, but has a Google Page Rank of 5 or higher it may still be good to include it. For example, a local news station that has a link to your website is very helpful. Not only will a lot of people see this, but it will show search engines that you are connected to a high quality website.

Additionally, a website that has a link to your website on it and the domain ends in .edu, .org, or .gov is beneficial, because these websites are seen as authoritative and generally have higher Google Page Ranks.  Keep in mind just because the website extension ends in .edu or .gov does not mean necessarily it has a high Page Rank. A good rule of thumb is the closer your website link is to the home page of that .edu or .gov site is the better. If it’s hidden within a blog or forum, it won’t help as much.

Is the link set as a No Follow?

The link will not help your search engine rankings if the URL is set to “No Follow” and its page rank will not carry over to your website. “No Follow” discredits the link for search engine robots. A website may use the “no follow” attribute value if it is a blog or forum and gets a lot of spam.

How many outbound links does the website have? (more…)