July 2006
Top 100 brands
Written by Neil Patel on July 31, 2006 |
BusinessWeek recently published an article on "The Worlds Best Brands". They made a profile of the top 100 global brands and included some brief information on each brand as well as their value.
Catchup - 7/28/2006
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 28, 2006 |
Google Maps has rolled out a new mobile version offering real-time traffic information in 30 US cities. The service also offers directions designed for those who are walking, in addition to driving.
Chrysler makes their cars memorable
Written by Neil Patel on July 28, 2006 | 1 comment
Most car commercials talk about the new and exciting features that the car has. They usually end up being dull and boring which is why we usually have a hard time remembering them. Every once in a while you will see a unique car commercial that is funny and memorable.
Marketing the dull
Written by Neil Patel on July 28, 2006 |
A lot of companies sell dull products such as furniture, carpet and alarm systems. If you have ever watched a commercial on any of these products, the chances are that they were boring and had no humor to them.
Google ads hit the airways
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 27, 2006 | 1 comment
We've known that Google was getting ready to put ads on the radio for awhile now, ever since the $102 million purchase of dMarc Broadcasting, an automated radio advertising company. Today Google actually began playing ads on a radio station in Detroit.
David Sifry's tips for increasing blog traffic
Written by Neil Patel on July 27, 2006 | 2 comments
More and more people are trying to increase the popularity of their blog. There are multiple reasons on why you might want to make your blog popular, but the question is how you can.
Viral marketing creates some buzz
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 26, 2006 | 2 comments
Buzz marketing has been creating a little bit of buzz of its own lately. It seems like every time I refresh my feed reader there's a new article about buzz marketing from a major publishing company.
A breakdown of Google's ranking factors
Written by Neil Patel on July 26, 2006 | 6 comments
Have you ever wondered why some sites are ranked so high on Google and why other sites are no where to be found? Over the last 5 or 6 years Google has been tweaking their algorithm to analyze on page (code) and off page (links) factors which affect how websites rank on their popular search engine.
Technorati's new design
Written by Neil Patel on July 25, 2006 | 2 comments
Yesterday Technorati launched its' new personalized homepage. With the pressure from the competition (Sphere, IceRocket, Google Blog Search), and another round of funding, it makes sense why Technorati redesigned their homepage...
Movie marketing 101
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 25, 2006 |
Pick up the phone and spend a half-hour with a leading industry blogger. That's what Universal did and they're making waves because of it. This week one of their employees took a half-hour out of their day to call Chris Thilk, owner of Movie Marketing Madness blog, to talk about Miami Vice. This was one simple gesture that's going a long way.
Google AdSense in desktop software
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 24, 2006 | 4 comments
A new software company, Spiceworks, is aiming to bring Google Adsense ads to your desktop. The startup is launching free software that will monitor the networks of small to medium sized businesses; they plan to make revenue from displaying Google ads on your desktop.
A collection of strange links on Google.com
Written by Neil Patel on July 24, 2006 | 32 comments
Although Google is a search engine, they are also a website. They, themselves, have millions of pages indexed, some are to services they provide and others are to random things on Google.
Memorable advertising
Written by Neil Patel on July 21, 2006 | 3 comments
Showing how a product can be used is very important in advertising. You can have a great ad, but if people do not understand how they can use the product then your campaign will fail.
Catchup - 7/21/06
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 21, 2006 |
Part of the launch of the new Yahoo homepage, Yahoo has added some features to Yahoo Finance. Those features include new tools to manage charts, an improved "investors chat room" and financial video news.
Honda, advertising with personality
Written by Neil Patel on July 21, 2006 |
There are many different personality types out there, some of them we hate and others we love. When you are selling a product or service, personality is important because if they like you they are more likely to buy your product or service.
Discover more with YouTube's new feature
Written by Neil Patel on July 20, 2006 | 3 comments
Because of YouTube's popularity more and more companies are starting to use it as a marketing medium. And with the daily video submissions growing, it is getting harder to promote your video and get it popular.
Google, helping you download movies
Written by Neil Patel on July 20, 2006 | 4 comments
Have you ever seen or heard people talking about downloading movies off the Internet? It may seem like a complicated thing to do, but because Google has millions of pages in their index it is now easy to find and download movies.
Dell, riding the blogosphere roller coaster
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 19, 2006 | 7 comments
Dell's new blog, one2one, has been on quite a roller coaster ride since its initial launch a couple weeks ago. They were slammed to begin with, mainly because the blog started out as an advertising tool instead of a place for Dell to communicate with (not at) customers.
How do you HP?
Written by Neil Patel on July 19, 2006 |
Celebrities have a huge psychological effect on people which is why they can affect decisions. For this reason companies have been using celebrities in their commercials for years.
HomeDepot.com to offer ad space
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 18, 2006 | 2 comments
Honestly, I'm not quite sure what to make of the news that Homedepot.com is going to offer ad space on their website. I can't figure out if this is a smart move or completely lame. On one hand it seems just flat out ridiculous to drive traffic away from a retail site. On the other hand I can see this as a benefit for Home Depot's customers.
Catfight: SEOs vs. Ad Agencies
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 17, 2006 | 3 comments
It's no secret that SEOs dislike traditional ad agencies and vice versa. The two have been fighting like a couple of school girls for years now about who's best to handle online marketing campaigns. Being an SEO, I'm guilty of taking a few cheap shots here and there myself.
Google's growing list of domains
Written by Neil Patel on July 17, 2006 | 168 comments
Have you ever wondered how many domain names Google owns? Currently Google owns 520 domain names. Their domain collection has been growing over the last couple years because of all of the companies they started and have bought.
FeedBurner and blogbeat, making my wishes come true
Written by Neil Patel on July 17, 2006 |
Have you ever used FeedBurner and wondered where your subscribers come from or how many of them are repeat subscribers? Back in April I wrote a blog entry about my FeedBurner wish list hoping that FeedBurner would provide more analytical data related to RSS feeds.
Dr. Google
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 15, 2006 | 1 comment
Did any of you read the open letter to Google where Andy Beal complained that AdWords was giving him a headache? Well Google responded by sending Andy a package with a letter and a small bottle of pain relief. What a brilliant PR move by Google!
Banned Soesman commercial
Written by Neil Patel on July 14, 2006 |
Some of the most entertaining commercials have catchy songs. Pepsi has a commercial with Jimmy Fallon and Parker Posey dancing to an upbeat song while drinking a bottle of Pepsi.
Catchup - 7/14/06
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 14, 2006 |
Google is working on a health portal named the Google Health Scrapbook. From what I understand there will be a "directory" for patients, doctors, vendors and pharmaceutical each. Google "users will be able to log in with their own account information and do things such as add a new medical provider, check their medical records or pay their bills."
Dave Chappelle's Apple ad
Written by Neil Patel on July 14, 2006 | 2 comments
Lately Apple has been promoting their "switch to a MAC" commercials on TV and the Internet. If you have ever seen one, you may have noticed that they have a strong message, but in a funny fashion.
Do as I do, not as I say
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 14, 2006 | 2 comments
Sometimes it takes a beating to learn a lesson. Dell took a brutal beating earlier this week when they launched their new blog, one2one, and it looks like they had some sense knocked into them.
Rocky 6 trailer, it's all viral
Written by Neil Patel on July 13, 2006 | 4 comments
Sylvester Stallone is well known for his role in Rocky and all of the sequels that followed it. A couple years ago, they decided to make another sequel to the franchise, which will total up to six Rocky movies.
Ethics of SEO
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 12, 2006 |
There's no denying the fact that search engine optimization has an 'iffy' reputation at best, and that's being generous. Many people think SEO is worse than the plague itself. I've actually heard someone say word for word that they're "allergic to SEO."
Making Fridays Fun
Written by Neil Patel on July 12, 2006 |
You may have noticed that every Friday, Cameron and I post about humor and news. Cameron usually writes a catchup with all the hottest Internet marketing news of the week and I write a couple of marketing related humor posts.
ClickTale, letting us watch our visitors
Written by Neil Patel on July 11, 2006 |
Have you ever wondered how people interact with your website? ClickTale is currently a web application in private beta that allows you to do this. You can see how people move their mouse across your website and what they click on.
Dell gets the cold shoulder
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 11, 2006 | 5 comments
Dell has launched a new corporate blog, one2one, but rather than the traditional warm welcome most major corporate blogs receive Dell's has received nothing but a fierce kick-in-the-ass. Surely by now you've seen or read about the whole fiasco.
The Apple of my eye
Written by Neil Patel on July 10, 2006 |
In the last couple of years Apple computers have taken their TV commercials to the next level. They have used silhouettes and upbeat music to make people pumped about the iPod.
Politics 2.0
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 10, 2006 |
Is it any surprise that politicians are embracing web 2.0 for their political campaigns? It was only a matter of time before they came around and I suspect it's only going to get worse, or better, depending on how you look at it.
Confusing bloggers, Technorati style
Written by Neil Patel on July 9, 2006 | 2 comments
Technorati is a popular blog search engine with a large user base that loves them. They have a lot of neat features and capabilities such as custom profiles, watch lists, a blog finder and even an API.
Cell phones can get you in trouble
Written by Neil Patel on July 7, 2006 |
Cell phone companies are known for having amusing commercials. I am sure everyone has seen the Verizon guy that walks around the world and says "Can you hear me now".
Fake MasterCard commercials
Written by Neil Patel on July 7, 2006 | 2 comments
Most things in this world can be bought with money, but there are those specific things or moments in life that cannot be bought. MasterCard has been doing a great job representing this with their "Priceless" commercials.
Catchup - 7/7/06
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 7, 2006 |
Internet advertisers paid $800 million for bogus clicks on their marketing messages last year, shaking confidence in the industry and prompting many to reduce spending with Google, Yahoo and other Web sites. Advertisers say that 14.6 percent of all clicks are bogus.
Be different
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 6, 2006 |
Ideas are a dime a dozen. Lets face it, no matter how great and innovative you think your idea is there are lots of other people thinking about and probably working on the same thing. Guy Kawasaki has a great rule of thumb for this...
Wufoo: Analytics for online forms
Written by Neil Patel on July 6, 2006 | 4 comments
Now-a-days it is common for websites to have submission forms, contact forms and many other types of forms that involve visitors entering information and submitting it.
Customers have a louder voice
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 5, 2006 | 1 comment
There's a big shift taking place in the customer service industry, we - the consumers - are taking back control. Recently there's been a couple of videos released that show just how painful the customer service experience really is. This isn't anything new, we've all experienced it firsthand for ourselves, but now with the power of viral marketing (good or bad) these companies are exposed in a whole new light, and it's sending a very powerful message .
Blogs need SEO too
Written by Neil Patel on July 5, 2006 | 5 comments
Paul Stamatiou recently posted on search engine optimization 101. He talks about some basic search engine optimization (SEO) techniques and how he used them on his blog to improve his traffic.
Looking forward to the Little Man
Written by Neil Patel on July 5, 2006 | 2 comments
Lately I have been seeing a lot of TV commercials for the movie Little Man. The movie is coming out on July 14th and they already have done some creative marketing to get the prelaunch buzz going.
BMW goes viral
Written by Neil Patel on July 4, 2006 | 5 comments
Every year car manufacturers release their new models for the upcoming year. They use many different forms of advertising to notify the public of these upcoming models.
The forgotten search
Written by Neil Patel on July 3, 2006 |
With the number of websites on the web growing each day, internal search is becoming more and more popular. Ecommerce sites all the way up to blogs now have an internal search feature where anyone can search for content, products, and services within that website.
TechCrunch: Now with more sponsors
Written by Neil Patel on July 2, 2006 |
In the last few days Michael Arrington has added 2 new sponsors to TechCrunch to make up a total of 6 sponsored ads at the top right. The advertising rate has also been increased from $7,500 to $10,000 for these sponsored ads.
Catchup - 7/02/06
Written by Cameron Olthuis on July 2, 2006 |
Google's long awaited payment service has finally launched. Google Checkout is a new system that allows merchants to process credit-card payments. Merchants that use Google Checkout will have a little icon displayed in their Google ads.
Marketing 2.0: Gathering a crowd
Written by Neil Patel on July 1, 2006 | 4 comments
Crowdstorm is a yet to be released new social shopping website that allows you to research products, read other people's opinions on products and see what's hot. A unique thing about Crowdstorm is the way they have been marketing their company.
