Google Analytics is now open to all according to the Google Analytics Blog.
The main Google blog announced that they will be offering free WiFi in Mountain View, CA where Google has its HQ.
And lastly, Google is now offering coupons in a partnership with ValPak to attract more local search activity.
I was looking for something else on Technorati and noticed a post on SEOMoz ranking 50 blogs in the search space. This was a personal opinion ranking and not something methodical or based on specific criteria. I agree with the blogs listed, just not the order many of them are listed. And that’s fine because Rand and I are different people and have different opinions.
It’s a clever post though, listing popular blogs like that. How many of those bloggers are going to link back to Rand’s post? Most of them I bet. Just like I did above. Rand has his link building through content tactics “down pat”.
Blogger is one Google application that is way behind the times and yesterday they announced that they are finally starting to catch up. However, I think it could be a little to late.
So what’s new? Finally Blogger is starting to support categories, I mean labels. Taking a tip from Gmail, Blogger is using labels as it’s organization system. I think this is good for Gmail users to understand how to organize information, but non Gmail users may find it extremely confusing. Why don’t they just call it categories?
Another great improvement is instant publishing. No more publishing icon that never stops. This is one big reason I left Blogger. Publishing sucked as it never seemed to complete half the time.
If you’ve been in the Internet marketing biz for a while, you’ll recognize the name Larry Chase and his Web Digest for Marketers. I’ve been a subscriber for a very long time and always salivated at being one of the companies/websites profiled in his highly subscribed to email newsletter.
Well guess what? Today Online Marketing Blog was listed in Larry’s “Top 12 Sites for Marketing to Marketers”. Here’s the what he said:
PRWeb is best known for being in the news distribution business. With the acquisition by public relations software firm Vocus last week, PRWeb has bumped up it’s own presence in the news. During the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose last week, I had the opportunity to talk to PRWeb CEO, David McInnis about the Vocus acquisition and what lies ahead for PRWeb.
What prompted the acquisition?
Lee, I will probably blog about this more in depth this week on the PRWeb blog. We have been talking with Vocus for well over a year now. The timing was not right until recently for a few reasons. First, I felt that I had a lot left to accomplish (read try) with PRWeb before I handed the reigns over to someone else. I wanted to do these things on my own to see if I could execute a few new enhancements on my own dime and vision. In the last year alone we have really changed the practice of PR.
When creating a new blog, one of the questions that comes up a lot is, how often should I post? Where there is no definite answer, once a day or every other day is good, but exceptions always apply.
Some blogs I read post every day. The posts are usually shorter and quick to read. They give just enough information to keep me interested without giving so much information that I need to take 10 minutes out of my day to read the post. This is a great way for a beginner to start off. Creating shorter, simpler posts are much easier than working out a long, in-depth post.
Fortune Magazine posted an interview with Yahoo CEO, Terry Semel today with questions about Yahoo’s mater plan, and Yahoo vs Google: “…just being really good at one thing may not be enough.”
It’s tempting for mainstream media to compare Yahoo and Google but I don’t think most people do. At least not head to head. When I want to search, I do think of Google first. But when I want to use maps, or web based email, or instant messaging I use Yahoo. I also use Flickr a lot, but I don’t necessarily associate it with the Yahoo brand. Yahoo is getting some traction with Answers, but it’s delay with Panama isn’t doing the stock any favors.
Full article.
There’s a new keyword tool called AOL Keyword Analyzer that has been posted based on the full dataset of the recently leaked AOL search data. The tool claims:
You can view the most popular sites and also the most popular phrases. The most popular sites can also be segmented by top level domain such as .org, .edu, .gov (think link research) as well as .com, .net and coutry specific domains.
Phillip Lessen at Google Blogscoped has a guest post by Tony Ruscoe explaining how to find new Google services, considerations for documenting the services you’ve found and what to do once you’ve found a new Google service. (or new service from any engine for that matter).
What a challenge this must be for Google PR. One the one hand, you want to keep things from prying eyes until they are ready to be announced. And on the other hand, there’s such an enthusiastic audience, you barely have to lift a finger to get coverage.
Here’s a link to the full article.
Here are a few more videos from Search Engine Strategies San Jose. Matt Bailey – SiteLogic, Andy Beal – Marketing Pilgrim and a short clip from Danny Sullivan’s talk with Google CEO Eric Schmidt. You can listen to the full discussion over at WebmasterRadio.FM.
Matt Bailey in between sessions talks about wookiepedia. I had no idea Matt was a Star Wars fan. 🙂
Andy Beal before the Ask.com blogger dinner talks about the “lunatic fringe” of search marketing.
And here’s a short clip of Danny Sullivan and Google CEO Eric Schmidt answering a question from the audience about whether Google will start allowing users to monetize the use of their own clickstream data.
This is actually the first session that I covered at the San Jose Search Engine Strategies conference, but I did not get a chance to clean up my notes and post until now. It was a good session about a topic that is very close to the consulting practice of our PR and marketing agency.
Part of the ClickZ track, this session was moderated by Rebecca Lieb and included Gary Stein of Ammo Marketing, Scott Meyer of About.com, Hans Peter Brondmo of Plum, a new social networking service and Brian Monahan from IPG.
First up is Gary Stein who introduces the notion of “clique-through”, which means to use social media to spread your message deep but not wide. The “clique-through” approach is to get specific segments to adopt a particular message. It offers more long term value than the “lightning in a bottle” associated with buzz marketing.
