Volvo's "The Hunt"

I am always impressed when I see the integration of TV and Web. In this case, Volvo is driving traffic that is tied to the Pirates of the Caribbean - At Worlds End to a Web site that about finding a buried treasure and a key to a new Volvo. Sometimes this type of marketing is just for buzz or branding, but this implementation has some very specific conversion goals. First the site would like you to stop by a Volvo dealer and pick up a treasure map. Seems like an awfully good start. Since you are at the dealership, why not look around?

Then you have to register on the Web site to find clues about "The Hunt". Ultimately someone will when a key to a new Volvo XC90 and $50,000 in Gold. Seems catchy enough. In the process they will amass a huge contact list for further marketing. Since this in Volvo, the list will probably be kept to themselves. If it was a less reputable company, the opportunities to monetize that list could be endless!

Now is the time for Realtors to embrace Online Marketing

Tandem Interactive has just released a short article on the Real Estate Market and Search Engine Marketing. This is an excerpt:

"The current shift in the market back towards the buyers has reignited the need for savvy real estate marketing. Buyers are doing much more research and are more hesitant when investing in a property. Most real estate agents are familiar with the classic offline media channels for marketing, but a new breed are turning to the Web and embracing many of the channels of Online Marketing. Search Engine Marketing is a very powerful tool for real estate marketing."

Introducing ExpoCal - The Online Collection of Internet Marketing Events

Ever wish you could find an online calendar that listed all of the Search Engine Marketing and Online Marketing events? Well now you can! The guys from Webmasterworld have put together http://www.expocal.com/. The site is very simple and still in beta, but it can be extremely useful for planning your conference attendance throughout 2007.

Google Checkout is Still Free!

http://checkout.google.com/ is still free! That means that small, medium, and large businesses can take advantage of using then as a merchant account through the end of 2007 with no fees. In other words if you receive an invoice from Tandem Interactive and want to pay by credit card, I will send you a Google Invoice. If that invoice is for $1000.00, Tandem receives the full $1000.00 in the bank. No fees, no transaction fees, it is awesome. I've personally dealt with setting up merchant accounts, and Google Checkout makes the process painless.

Recently, SFIMA saved over $1500.00 in fees by using Google Checkout to process the attendees for the SoFIE Awards. We used the regular check out buttons, but Google Checkout can also send email invoices.

If you have not already tried it, it is certainly worth using for the remainder of the year. Much like their Free Analytics product (Google Analytics), they should wipe out the competition by providing a superior product to the public for no cost.

Pirates of the Carribean 3 - New forms of Rich Media

I was just on MSN and decided to read an article about Rosie O'Donnell leaving the View. Honestly, I've never even seen the show, but I am well aware of the controversy that has surrounded her. So I was interested in reading a non-seo article... It happens. By doing so, I came across an amazing piece of rich media! At the top of the page was a banner for Pirates of the Caribbean - AT THE WORLDS END. The banner said "The End Begins Today". OK that is not very impressive, but then I noticed a scrolling bar that appeared to be part of the banner. It was listing screenings in my area. I was not logged onto MSN, so this was done through IP targeting.



Looking through this page's HTML code, MSN referred to this banner as a SuperBanner. I would have to agree. The banner is actually a Flash Presentation. I was quite impressed with this implementation of Rich Media. The local flare really made it stand out to me and certainly facilitated my venture off to the Movies!

Welcome to Tandem Interactive's Blog

This Blog will chronicle developments in Search Engine Marketing. My main target areas will be: Local Search, PPC, Advanced Content Development, Pay-Per-Call, Analytics, Blogs, Podcasts, Video Optimization, Corporate Myspace and other Web 2.0 Accounts, Search Engine Marketing Training, and Web Press Release Optimization. One of the goals of Tandem is to stay on top of the latest techniques for online marketing. Therefore any new trendy tactic will also be examined for utilization by the trend makers and early adopters.