Healthy Blog Reviews

While you may be aware of WPP in general it may be worth a look to see just how big this media conglomerate is. Last week the company stated that digital will account for 2/3 of its business over the next three to four years. Considering they did about $13 billion in revenue in 2009 this is no small statement. Those of us on the Internet marketing side of the fence tend to see this kind of announcement and scoff by saying “No kidding! You finally figured it out, huh?” which can be fun for a moment of over time starts to sound childish. The world has moved at breakneck speed to the digital side of the ledger and in the process is undoing how media has been bought and sold for the past 60 years or so. Nothing that big and entrenched changes overnight. In the paidContent section of The Guardian is some more data to wrap your head around: New media sales accounted for 27 percent of the advertising and marketing group’s revenues, or $3.6 billion. This is already a big step: to compare, one competitor, Havas, last month said that digital accounts for 16 percent of its revenues to account for one-fifth of its revenues by the end of 2010. WPP appears to be pegging its own digital revenue share to stats that are coming out on how much time people are spending online. Sir Martin Sorrell pointed out that recent figures show that this too is currently hovering around the 27-28 percent mark. Mark Read, director of strategy and CEO of WPP Digital, touted the company’s specialist digital expertise in the earnings call: “We have to have digital in all our businesses.” The company is continuing to integrate technology platforms into the business, and industry partnerships with companies like Google (NSDQ: GOOG), Yahoo (NSDQ: YHOO), Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT), Facebook, MySpace (NYSE: NWS) and Omniture (NSDQ: OMTR), now owned by Adobe. A curious omission (probably more of an oversight) is no mention of Twitter but hey they are still trying to figure out this digital thing, right? I suspect that WPP being this aggressive in their statement is sending a message to their competition that they are going to be a leader in this area. Of course, this has not come easy thus far Digital is a blessing and a curse, says Read: “Technology is shaping our industry…however this is confusing for our clients and extremely complicated to manage.” OK, as any good agency guy is going to do he is going to push the “confusion” to his clients. It may be more confusing to clients as to why it has taken WPP this long to figure all this out. Read set up a nice “out” as well by saying this is extremely complicated to manage. Isn’t that why you are hired as an agency for these things? Oh well, like I said earlier, this is a process. Well, if you want to learn more keep your eyes open for WPP’s “Digital Day” on April 23 where they will share more information on their digital strategy. Sounds more a class trip so maybe they’ll supply a box lunch too!

Tags: advertising, Business, clients, competition, digital, goog, industry, martin-sorrell, media, Microsoft, msft, nws, Yahoo, yhoo
Posted March 8, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

I think that based on the legal angle of much of the news around Google lately, we could see a service called Google Legal. I have no idea what that might look like but since the Internet behemoth spends so much time in court battles they should be able to find a way to monetize that right? They make money on everything else they do so why not? The latest case was brought against Google by Daniel Jurin. MediaPost gives some of the details Jurin, who sells StyroTrim building material, brought suit last year for trademark infringement, false advertising, interference with contractual relations, and other counts. The allegations all stemmed from Google’s AdWords program, which allows trademarked terms to trigger pay-per-click ads. If you want to get a lesson in whether this kind of thing is a good idea to do, take into consideration these two results from the case. Jurin has to pay $6,000 for Google’s legal fees and most of the case was dismissed. Not exactly a winner other than getting some press that won’t likely help his business any. In a ruling issued this week, U.S. District Court Judge Morrison England in the eastern district of California dismissed a host of Jurin’s claims, including allegations that Google confused consumers about who produced StyroTrim by returning links to a variety of companies in response to a search on the term. “Even if one accepts as true the allegation that a ‘Sponsored link’ might confuse a consumer, it is hardly likely that with several different sponsored links appearing on a page that a consumer might believe each one is the true ‘producer’ or ‘origin’ of the Styrotrim product,” he wrote. What is probably the most interesting outcome of this whole thing is the assertion by the court that essentially says that Google sells ad space and not keywords. If you are Google that’s a nice thing to hear a court say because it could potentially take away a lot of the responsibility that many place on Google to police trademarks and more. As of now, the trademark infringement piece of the suit has not been dismissed but it is believed that the likelihood of anything coming of it is slim. So Google continues to fight the AdWords fight in court and why wouldn’t they? It accounts for the overwhelming majority of the company’s revenues so it is worth fighting for. Of course their legal woes aren’t even close to being over. Google is currently facing 10 trademark infringement cases stemming from AdWords. No court has yet definitively ruled on whether using a brand name to trigger a search ads infringes trademark. The one case to go to trial, a lawsuit by insurance company Geico against Google, resulted in a victory for Google in 2004. In that case, a judge in Alexandria, Va. ruled that Geico had not proven that consumers were confused when they typed “Geico” into a search box and were served with ads for other insurance companies. There will always be legal battles for Google and any other successful company to fight especially in this day and age where unscrupulous folks look at the legal system as the the lottery system. As long as the impression is that Google is playing on the right side of the law in most instances then this whole process can just be chalked up to the cost of doing business. Hey, it is America after all. Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Tags: America, Business, case, legal, responsibility, Search, styrotrim, trademark
Posted March 5, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Coming up with a good idea and a good product is only the beginning of having a successful online business. Not only do you have to come up with something that your target audience is likely to need and purchase, you also have to come up with a way to make sure they see it [...]

Tags: advertising, banner advertisements, Business, Don, email marketing, internet advertising, Internet Marketing, target audience, targeted web traffic, tiny website, Web Linking, Web Marketing, website, Website Advertising, website directory submission
Posted February 26, 2010 by BlogPostman under Website Advertising

AOL has gotten some heat about their plan to overrun the Internet and in effect, the search engines, with waves of content . Many people are not keen on this plan hatched by Tim Armstrong and company to generate content at break neck speed. While it may not be popular that’s not going to stop it from happening. Now, AOL has another content that is getting a “no comment” from AOL officially but is being reported by The Business Insider as part of the plan to bring the troubled Internet company up from the ashes. Interestingly it is going to be centered on AOL’s Patch service that Armstrong had a vested interest in at one point. Hmmmm. According to an internal communication with employees, AOL (AOL) plans to expand Patch, its network of local news blogs, from 30 sites to “hundreds,” by the end of 2010. The goal: “To be leaders in one of the most promising ‘white spaces’ on the Internet.” In the same communication, AOL said it wants to be “the global and local leader in sourcing, creating, producing and delivering high quality content.” Are you ready for AOL to be your hyperlocal reporter / blogger? It will be interesting to see how they intend to pull this off since it will take actual people in the markets to source and generate this content in order for it to be relevant. What is your take on AOL’s push to become the global and local leader in content?

Tags: aol, armstrong, Business, from-the-ashes, global, hyperlocal, internet, markets, running, Search, your-hyperlocal
Posted February 19, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

So, you’ve been in business for a few months now, and you’ve seen your customer base grow from just a few friends and family members to enough local action to keep you busy on a daily basis. You’re probably thinking that you’re doing alright without any web marketing campaigns, but that’s where you’re wrong.

Too many [...]

Tags: brick and mortar, Business, email marketing, internet advertising, Internet Marketing, marketing, mortar businesses, relevant search results, targeted web traffic, web, Web Linking, Web Marketing, Website Advertising, website directory submission
Posted February 19, 2010 by BlogPostman under Web Marketing