Healthy Blog Reviews

Holy smack in the face Batman! Yahoo Japan just signed a 2-year deal with Google! Yes, with Google! Not, Bing! Before the word “mutiny” jumps to your prefrontal cortex–your “mind” for the rest of us–you need to know this: Yahoo holds only a 35% stake in Yahoo Japan, so the search engine couldn’t put its foot down and insist that Bing be the search engine of choice. Still, what an embarrassment! I mean, Yahoo Japan basically just told the world that its US sibling has made a terrible mistake and it’s not prepared to make the same one! Of course, Yahoo is having none of that, releasing its own statement on the deal: Yahoo! Japan announced that it has chosen to implement Google as its backend algorithmic search engine and paid search infrastructure. Yahoo! Japan made this decision as an independent and separate publicly traded company, in which Yahoo! holds a 35% equity interest. We amended our agreement with Yahoo! Japan as a result of this decision, and we do not anticipate that this amendment will have a material financial impact on our revenues. We will provide support, as required by our agreement, for the search experience Yahoo! Japan has chosen for its business, and we will continue to partner closely with Yahoo! Japan in other areas including mail, messenger, mobile, our content properties and more. This decision by Yahoo! Japan does not impact the global rollout and implementation of the Yahoo! search alliance with Microsoft, except in the Japanese market. We remain confident in our transition plans for the search alliance, are driving innovation in the user experience around search on the Yahoo! network, and continue to be committed to our alliance with Microsoft. So, what can stop this black-eye for Yahoo and Bing? Well, Japan’s regulators just might hold that key. Apparently, Google’s 53% market share in Japan and Yahoo’s 38% share will create one heck of a monopoly. So, maybe Yahoo Japan will have to partner with Bing by default. Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com – Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

Tags: amendment, black, decision, Japan, japanese, publicly-traded, Search, told-the-world, transition, user
Posted July 27, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Yahoo has emailed advertisers to let them know that they should expect a full transition to Bing’s search results as early as August… …or maybe 2011. That’s a heck of a window! I mean, August is just around the corner and the busy holiday season is starts in just a few months. Either you’re ready to make the transition or you are not. Why have marketers go through the process of prepping for the transition, if you’re not entirely sure if it will happen now, or after the holidays? Still, the fact that Yahoo is emailing advertisers AND warning them to prepare not just for a switch in paid search results but organic too, suggests that the switch will take place in August/September. Yahoo suggests marketers follow these steps if they wish to be prepared for the eventual switch-over: Compare your organic search rankings on Yahoo! Search and Bing for the keywords that drive your business, to help determine any potential impact to your traffic and sales Decide if you’d like to modify your paid search campaigns to compensate for any changes in organic referrals that you anticipate Review the Bing webmaster tools and optimize your website for the Bing crawler, as Bing results will be displayed for approximately 30%* of overall search query market share after this change Oh, and Yahoo is testing some Bing results in July. Yes, this month! Have you spotted Bing in your Yahoo results yet? (email link via SER )

Tags: Bing, Business, full-transition, help-determine, holidays, organic, overall-search, review-the-bing, Search, search rankings, search-results, traffic, transition, Yahoo
Posted July 16, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

It seems live forever ago that Yahoo and Bing finally got it together and announced that Bing would power Yahoo’s search results. Well, it appears that “B-day” is fast approaching. According to a joint presentation, Yahoo has already started testing Bing’s search algorithm and the switch over will take place as early as August: Anyone seeing Bing’s results on Yahoo pages? ( hat-tip )

Tags: forever-ago, results-on-yahoo, Search, search algorithm, seems-live, started-testing, switch, transition, will-take, Yahoo
Posted June 17, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

There is a plague within the Internet marketing industry. This plague has existed since the inception of marketing online, and will probably continue to exist as long as there is money to be made on the Internet. It’s likely that if you have done anything online you have seen it in action. What plague am I talking about? I’m talking about the plague of the amateur. What’s that? You’ve never of the plague of amateur? Well let me explain. Some call it spam. Some call it black hat. Some even call it crap hat. Whatever, you want to call it’s all the same. And, I’m tired of it. It seems like every day I open my e-mail and find a new advertisement in my inbox for Viagra or imitation designer watches. Everyday I get irrelevant link request. And everyday I see social media sites saturated with low quality content. Most folks that are annoyed by these types of amateur tactics, call them annoying and irrelevant. Which is the case for me as well. However, my frustration stems more from examples of spotty marketing tactics then the content itself. For once I’d like to see an Internet marketer use sophisticated dialogue and a well thought out strategy to market Viagra online. I wouldn’t purchase any of it, but at least it be refreshing to see someone competent pushing popper pills. The definition of an amateur is one who doesn’t get paid. Which is exactly fitting for most of the markers that engaging in spam like tactics. In short spam doesn’t work. So why are there so many amateur marketers out there? I think one reason is because of the prevailing myth that making money on the Internet is easy. Because of this, many people begin a career in Internet marketing with no experience or education. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not talking about formal education. Even I didn’t study marketing in college. Like other half-way successful Internet marketers I spent years trying different things and studying what works before I started making money. This is the type of education that the vast majority of amateur marketers on the Internet ignore. How to go from amateur to professional and start making money. Study successful marketers. The Internet marketing industry is full of successful entrepreneurs and marketing professionals that are more than willing to act as a mentor and provide free information on their blogs and websites. These individuals can be a vital source of valuable information to anyone starting out in marketing. It’s important to not only study the strategies they use but also their style and choice a dialogue. Tactics like blogging and social media are important but without understanding the proper method of communication all can be lost. Learn how to write. In almost every aspect of marketing the ability to write successfully can create a truly competitive edge. Becoming a better writer means that you are sharpening communication skills. Understanding how to communicate is at the core of marketing–both online and off. Even if you are just writing code, understanding how to write clear and concise statements will drastically help you communicate with clients and customers on a daily basis. Join the community. Being part of a community can help the amateur understand all of the various methods and strategies available. One can join the community by participating in different online forums and discussion groups. But the best way to make a real connection with members of your community is to meet them in person at industry conferences and trade shows. Being a part of a community can help the amateur find value in doing good solid work by witnessing firsthand others that have found success. So now its time to take a hard look at what your efforts entail and ask yourself, am I an amateur? If so, don’t worry there’s still hope for you on the web. Just remember that if you want to stay in this business of making money online, it isn’t going to be easy and you are going to have to hustle. But I am confident that if you work hard and follow the advice above you will make the transition from amateur to professional in no time!

Tags: advice, Business, frustration, internet, Internet Marketing, plague, Social Media, transition
Posted June 12, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media