Google Content Network University - March 2010

Tandem Interactive was invited to Google's Content Network University in their NY offices. At first I thought I knew everything there was to know about the content network and did not really need to be there. But then I figured it was worth my and Chris's time to head up there for the day to see what Google was teaching about.

I do not know anywhere near what I thought I knew about the content network. Google did a really nice job with the training. There was time spent on targeting clients, new functionality, display ads, placement targeting, search retargeting, video, Youtube advertising and more!

There were some of my key take-aways:

• On average, Adwords advertisers get 20% of their conversions from the Content Network
• Display advertising online is on the verge of a revolution
• Content can equate to Brand Lift
• Ad Planner has been expanded to research the Adsense Network and the Doubleclick Network (http://www.google.com/adplanner)
• Check out what Google thinks you like: http://www.google.com/ads/preferences
• "Point in Time Products" typically do not perform well in content
• Opt out of Mobile targeting if your site does not look well on mobile devices
• Use the "Google Wonderwheel" for Keyword Themes
• Split Text vs. Display Ads in content targeting
• Use ALL Display Ad sizes
• Video can create a marketplace
• Amazing Youtube / Video Ad targeting tool http://www.google.com/videotargeting
• Let Auto Optimization do the work for you with Conversion Optimizer
• Search Retargeting (Search Remarketing) is the NEXT BIG THING!

How Do You Combine SEO and Easter / Passover?

David Berkowitz of 360i has the answer... The Ten Plagues of Social Media. I was a little grossed out as I started reading the article, but then I realized it was genious! Very impressive creative writing there David.

SEO Wins and SEO Sins

I was interviewed about SEO by Search Engine Journal. They asked me about common SEO mistakes and other Search Marketing topics. Check out Joe Laratro's Interview.

University of San Francisco's Advanced Web Analytics Course

A video of me (Joe Laratro) discussing the University of San Francisco's new Advanced Web Analytics Certificate Program

Local Businesses are not using Social Media

The social media conundrum is an interesting one. Should you do it? How much resources should you allocate to it? Does it pay off?
Mediapost put out this article today: Small Business not into social media for leads

In my opinion Social Media Marketing (SMM) is more for branding and reputation management that direct lead generation. That being said, I have seen very creative ways for Social Media to promote leads / sales.

Look up the Blendtec. Checkout what they did on a shoestring budget to create a Youtube Sensation.

On Facebook, I follow a former SEO workshop attendee who designs jewelry. She posts her new designs for all her followers to see (and buy!).

Social media really cannot be ignored because it covers so many sites! Yelp is a form of Social media, and you better believe people use it to research your company.

Why You Should Not Hire a Cold Calling SEO Company

This is a great article on why not to hire a cold calling SEO company.

I would go a step further and not even take their call. Nothing is more annoying that when one of my clients calls me after being ear banged by a moron about how bad their site is. Then I have to explain why cloaking or link farms will get them banned in Google. Even worse is when someone sells hard that they have backend access to "Inktomi" to change the rank of the site. Seriously? Inktomi has been gone for years!

Work with someone you trust and build a relationship with for SEO services. And make sure you keep ongoing communication happening to ensure the long term success of the relationship.

A Blog A Day - Yahoo Shutters XML Feed

I am going to try to write a Blog a day. I keep reading about Twitter killing blogging. Twitter is awesome, but Blogging still had its place so here we go.

Yahoo announced they are shuttering the Search Submit and Search Submit Pro programs by the end of the year (2009). It is the end of an era in SEO. I grew up on Inktomi trusted feed and value of the XML feeds. For those of you who were not familiar with the program, it was a direct feed of a Web site to the backend of a Search Engine. It was treated as "trusted" content and could be manipulated for search rankings. It was a great achievement in the SEO world. Early spiders sometimes had difficulty crawling sites. This feed resolved that issue.

In the end, the Yahoo spider was certainly good enough of a crawler to make the Search Submit program obsolete. They did not stop it, because it was a money maker. Now that we know the end of life date it does present a few interesting points:
1. Google was right, we don't need "trusted spam"
2. SEO companies that depended on this need to find a new sales pitch and source of revenue
3. Looks like the press releases were correct and Yahoo really is going to can Inktomi search technology for Bing
4. Looks like the timeline of the Yahoo / Bing integration may be sooner that we were first told (Summer of 2010)