Vertical “Clusters” Key to LookSmart Turnaround
By Brian Quinton
DirectMag.com

Dave's Comments: LookSmart has been off my SEM "radar" for YEARS. Now it seems they're actually doing some interesting "search engineering", according to this article on DirectMag.com. Well worth the read.

"LookSmart, the online media content and technology company that has been struggling for a place at the search table since losing its search contract with MSN in 2003, has launched 161 new vertical “channels” in 13 categories such as health, home, automotive, food, cities, sports and travel.

The new verticals join 20 sites already in place in the money and education categories, launched last The company’s hope is that advertisers will find the highly targeted sites a good place to place ads aimed at readers who are more qualified than those at general search portals.

Dave Hills, LookSmart CEO, compared the state of search today with the television industry before the rise of cable TV. “You’ve got a vibrant distribution system, you’ve got a lot of advertiser demand, and consumers continue to show their prowess at being able to manage many different media choices,” he said. LookSmart decided that consumers would use—and advertisers would value—a set of sites that crawled and aggregated the topical content on their interests more quickly than a broad search of Google, Yahoo! or MSN."

Read the entire article at:
Vertical “Clusters” Key to LookSmart Turnaround

Technorati Tags: Business, Internet, Marketing

Commission Junction Hires Web Detectives
By Brian Livingston
Datamation/Earthweb

Dave's Comments: If you're involved with Affiliate Marketing, whether via Commission Junction or another company, this is a very intereting article to read. Learn about "cookie stuffing", "forced clicks", and "security exploits", and how using these techniques can steal an Affiliate Marketer's dollars. - Web Marketing Blog

"The large e-commerce affiliate network known as Commission Junction (CJ) is gearing up a campaign that uses automated searches of the Web to catch dishonest participants.

The network has contracted with Cyveillance, a firm that monitors the online use of trademarked terms, to "spider" the Internet seeking affiliates that generate commissions without legitimately earning them."

Read the entire article by clicking on this link:

Commission Junction Hires Web Detectives

Technorati Tags: Business, Internet, Marketing

'Splogs' Roil Web, and Some Blame Google

By DAVID KESMODEL
THE WALL STREET JOURNAL ONLINE
October 19, 2005; Page B1

Dave's Comments: Guess I haven't been at blogging long enough. Just saw this article about "splogging" in the Wall Street Journal (free section) and thought I'd share it with other blogging "newbies" like me. - Web Marketing Blog

"Spam, long the scourge of email users, rapidly has become the bane of bloggers too.

Spammers have created millions of Web logs to promote everything from gambling Web sites to pornography. The spam blogs -- known as "splogs" -- often contain gibberish, and are full of links to other Web sites spammers are trying to promote. Because search engines like those of Google Inc., Microsoft Corp. and Yahoo Inc. base their rankings of Web sites, in part, on how many other Web sites link to them, the splogs can help artificially inflate a site's popularity. Some of the phony blogs also carry advertisements, which generate a few cents for the splog's owner each time they are clicked on."

Read the rest of this article by clicking on this link:
'Splogs' Roil Web, and Some Blame Google

Technorati Tags: Business, Internet, Marketing

"Winning Results with Google AdWords"
New book by Andrew Goodman

Book Review:
"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Google AdWords"
By Chris Sherman
Associate Editor
SearchEngineWatch

Dave's Comments: This is the next book I order! How about you? - Web Marketing Blog

"Andrew Goodman is one of the foremost authorities on search advertising in the world, and his new book is a killer guide to succeeding with Google's sponsored links.

Google is famous for touting the simplicity of its AdWords program. "All that's needed is five minutes and a credit card," Google claims on its corporate information web page. And while it's certainly true that you can establish an AdWords account in five minutes, and possibly get your first ad up and running within an hour or so, whether it's actually effective and leads to a successful outcome is another matter altogether.

Google, of course, benefits regardless of whether your sponsored links are effective—at least until you run out of money or your ineffective ads are disabled. That's not to say Google doesn't want your ads to be successful—the company also provides a lot of information and tools to help you create effective search advertising campaigns. But the reality is that mastering the AdWords system takes a certain degree of effort and commitment, and is really something of a science and art combined.

Andrew Goodman's "Winning Results with Google AdWords" is an outstanding guide to the company's advertising program. The book distills Andrew's years of experience helping clients create and manage successful search advertising campaigns into a 352 page handbook that you'll refer to often."

Click on this link to read the complete review by Chris:
"Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Google AdWords"

Buy the book on Amazon by clicking on this link:
"Winning Results with Google AdWords"

Technorati Tags: Business, Internet, Marketing