If Facebook has anything to show us, the answer to the question above is yes. As SEOs, we’ve seen our fair share of sites that suck come to Bruce Clay, Inc. for help. One thing I’ve noticed that always surprises me is that it can sometimes be hard to predict future success when there’s so much evidence to the contrary.

CC BY 2.0

The Globe and Mail has synthesized the issue of Facebook’s success-to-suckage ratio about as well as anyone. The latest news coming out of the social behemoth is that it’s reached 500 million users, putting its population on par with the third-largest nation in the world. It was a conveniently cheery outlook for Facebook considering current concerns regarding privacy and spam and fading consumer satisfaction.

(My favorite line: “[I]t’s hard to be unreservedly supportive of something so huge, so tentacled, so hungry for data, kind of like a blue Kraken owned by a pimply billionaire“. What a fun way to look at inevitable destruction!)

Even in the midst of unbridled growth, Facebook’s getting failing grades in Keeping Users Happy 101. (A tangential aside: 5 videos you should never post on YouTube is full of further examples that traffic, page views and popularity do not equal “good for the brand.” Important lessons learned at the expense of others. Sorry, dude. Sure 700k people have viewed your video. Too bad they’d never do business with you.)

As Facebook demonstrates, it’s certainly possible to rake in the bucks while alienating users and stirring up movements to boycott your service. But there’s got to be a less irksome way to steer your business toward success. At Bruce Clay, Inc. we’re all about helping businesses not suck. (Noble, right? You can thank us later. )

It turns out that people will put up with a wholotta nonsense if a service does even just a couple things right.

Be Useful

The Globe and Mail says Facebook’s satisfaction ratings are in line with airline and cable companies — two industries where it can be hard to pay a compliment other than we’d be bored and close to home without them. There just aren’t many alternatives because they fill a need few others can. Facebook is popular because it’s useful. It lets people connect, contact and share with friends and family online. Funny enough, it’s also useful because it’s popular; there’s no other social network where you can reach out to as many people in one place.

Come Original (or Early to the Party)

You don’t have to be the first out the gate if you have a unique offering. Facebook probably got a boost in the social space because it didn’t have to introduce the concept of a social network to the world, it just had to do it in a way that stood out from the other guys. In the case of Facebook, the closed network, granular privacy settings and clean interface sanitized and packaged social networking for the masses. While these distinctions seem to get lost in the shuffle today, once critical mass was achieved, Facebook was free to the change the rules as they pleased.

Keep Iterating

I suspect that Facebook often gets a pass from users for bad behavior because there’s an unspoken understanding. Today’s most innovative tech companies are constantly testing and tweaking their services. They’re looking for ways to enhance offerings, simplify design, answer emerging needs and avoid stagnation. They’re paying attention to the changing ways their users interact with the service (mobile devices), integrating trends (location-based services), and adding technologies (search and social plugins). If you’re up front about upcoming instabilities or tests, users are slower to anger if they expect their routine or features to be different.

Sure, your site might not yet have reached the ideal status you have in mind. If there are still areas you see for improvement, good! That means you haven’t given up on growth. Bruce Clay, Inc. is always available to help lessen the suck-quotient of a site. But no matter who you are, remember that usefulness, originality and progress can cover many flaws.

Is It Possible to be Successful and Suck? (And Tips to Avoid the Latter) was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services and SEO tools provider.

Crisis communications has evolved with the invention of social media, how (and how quickly) companies must respond in the event of a crisis is complex and swift. With real-time updates becoming part of the norm in the SERPs, a company in crisis should always be part of the current conversation.

Staring at the fish tank at my chiropractor’s office this week, I realized that BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill and the resulting sour of public opinion is an opportunity to look at social media and crisis communication.

But before we jump into the heavy conversation, here’s a little bit of comedy to loosen you up (this whole oil spill thing gets me pretty wound up, too):

And now for the topic at hand: Is BP doing as good of a job as it could with crisis communications, and is it using all the most important mediums wisely?

It may have taken a little while for BP to get its social media strategy up and running, but the company has actually done a pretty good job of identifying the avenues needed to reach people. Let’s run down the social media and online communications checklist for BP:

• Create a section of the corporate site dedicated to the event and how BP is managing it. (Check)
• Establish bloggers on the forefront to report on how the spill is affecting the area. (Check)
• Dedicate the Facebook account to keep the public updated daily on efforts and allow people to weigh in. (Check)
• Repurpose its Twitter account to include all the important contact information, daily tweets on progress and to answer questions. (Check)
• Create a channel on YouTube to share critical videos on all the areas of life that have been affected by the spill and how BP is managing it. (Check)
• Utilize Flickr to showcase images of what’s happening in the Gulf of Mexico. (Check)
• Run a depressing live stream of millions of gallons of oil spewing into the ocean 24 hours a day. (Check)

When it comes down to it, looks like BP is pretty plugged in with the tools it chose and how it’s maximizing the value of them. BP seems to be doing a decent job of transparency by allowing the public to see and weigh in on the disaster first hand, via BP. Let’s take a closer look at how the company is using social media avenues to communicate in times of crisis.

Twitter

Before the disaster at Deepwater Horizon, BP America’s Twitter page had few tweets monthly, but nothing to write home about. And even though the explosion occurred on April 20, BP didn’t give its first tweet on the disaster until April 27, simply saying:

No doubt the company was assessing the severity of the situation and what its communication strategy was going to be before it said anything. But was it too late in the game? Seven days can be like seven years in crisis time – especially if the company was waiting for the public reaction first before responding. [At the very least, they seem to finally be making headway with their actual Twitter account versus the satirical and more popular @BPGlobalPR. —Virginia]

Since its first tweet on the oil spill, BP has used Twitter on a daily basis to send updates on what it’s doing in the Gulf and sometimes even answering questions from its followers. BP listed all the important contact information on its Twitter page for various response-team departments as well as its other online sites so people can stay connected in several ways. All in all, looks like they’re doing a pretty good job with Twitter.

Facebook

BP America on Facebook followed similar suit to Twitter. Prior to the explosion, its Facebook page had few updates – maybe once every month or so. BP’s first communication was on May 2, just a few days after the initial tweet.

Since then, BP has posted updates on its Facebook page nearly every day – even on weekends and holidays. Every day, BP reports how much oil has been recovered in one day and then the grand total over time. The company also set up contact, news and notes tabs on its page, where fans can comment (and it includes the good, the bad and the ugly – sans censorship). Seems like BP is trying to being transparent by stepping aside to let the public vent.

It even looks as though it has more than 30,000 people who “like” BP’s page on Facebook. Judging by the comments on the company’s profile though, this might be a perfect example where the “like” feature on Facebook gets a little vague.

YouTube and Flickr

BP’s YouTube channel is extremely thorough. It has videos categorized by the latest response, beaches and cleanup, claims and economy, health and safety, restoration of the environment and wildlife. It even feature’s actor Kevin Costner’s amazing oil-spill invention in action. Yes, Kevin Costner is a genius and inventor. And he has the money to prove it.

BP says it created the YouTube channel to “engage the public in an informative conversation and dialogue about our efforts associated with the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.”

And boy, is there discussion. I’ve seen several responses by BP on peoples’ comments, saying, “We understand that people are angry; however, we ask that your comments follow our commenting policy, which is listed in full in our Latest News section on the BP YouTube Channel page. We ask that conversations on this page be constructive, respectful, and contain language that is appropriate for all groups and ages. Thank you.”

Also looks like there’s some outcry about the removal of comments by BP on the channel. What do you think, should BP be able to moderate comments on its own turf? (P.S., Tony Hayward: spray tan much?)

At BP America’s photostream on Flickr, the company has images nicely organized by topics such as community outreach, wildlife (I give them props for showing a couple really sad images, although I’ve seen worse from other sources), cleanup and more (I have to say though that the “claims” section isn’t very riveting … I guess they just wanted to document something was being done there).

Paid Search

I just did a few quick searches on “oil spill”, “oil explosion” and “gulf oil” to see how BP was stacking up with its paid search efforts. Two of the three search terms put the company’s site front and center on the sponsored links results above the organic listings. Second in the running was an environmental group, with other similar organizations occupying the side-bar sponsored links area.

Image Beyond the Web

What happens when online, broadcasting and the real world collide in not so nice ways?
With BP doing social media by the book, you think they’d come out smelling like roses. But what about when you have to trust the company message to an executive that maybe isn’t as strategic as his PR team? Just one tiny slip up can erase a world of effort in the public’s mind.

Maybe it’s just a language barrier (“small people” might be perfectly acceptable vernacular in the executive’s homeland of Sweden when referring to “the others”), but I can just see the communications team back at headquarters cringing when they saw this. Hey, that’s the human aspect of crisis communications and it’s not always as methodical as its online counterpart.

Crisis communications spans channels – online, print, television, the real world – so who (and what) delivers the message, how it’s delivered, and how the company and its representatives present themselves in person is extremely important in situations like these.

And we must remember that different audiences are reached through each channel. So someone receiving all the news from traditional media sources may have an entirely different perspective on the situation than someone following BP on Twitter or someone working or living in the Gulf. A company has much more control over the message via its online efforts.

So, if you’ve damaged your brand through broadcasting, can you redeem yourself online? And if you’ve damaged your reputation in the real world, does your online or broadcast presence even matter?

Less Talky, More Pluggy

Crisis communications isn’t just about talking. It’s about communicating plans of action. And from the looks of it, seems like there’s a lot of action happening on the forefront by BP. But the biggest thing on peoples’ minds is, Why haven’t they been able to do more? It’s so bad right now and unfortunately, it’s still so far from over.

Strictly speaking, with regards to how BP has used the Internet for crisis communication, I think it’s doing well. And even though the company is criticized for not being 100 percent transparent, you have to realize that there’s a level of control that highlights the positive and downplays the negative in any communications/PR campaign.

A company of that size is bound to hit some snags along the way with consistency in communication, but one thing is for certain: this disaster can teach us all a thing or two when it comes to preparing for a self-inflicted crisis, how to manage the varying communication mediums and using social media to its fullest to keep the public engaged.

BP, Crisis Communications and Social Media was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services and SEO tools provider.

Moderator: Matt Van Wagner, President, Find Me Faster

Speakers:

Meagan Rochelle, Search Solutions Specialist, Microsoft
Nicholas Ward, Product Manager, Range Online Media

How many people are using Bing Cashback, Matt asks? About a quarter of the audience raises their hand. The rest are interested to find out how it might work for them. Matt is excited for Bing Cashback. The program gets to the heart of Bing’s problem. Bing is a good decision-making search engine, and the program gets people to at least try another engine. Empowered shoppers and advertisers are showing that Cashback is a great opportunity.

At yesterday’s keynote by Steve Ballmer, he said that he thinks Microsoft will continue to invest in the Bing Cashback program. So what’s the general feeling about it?

Analysis of Bing-related tweets shows about 40 percent positive and 60 percent negative.

In Bing forums, the comments are almost all neutral. Typically, the authors were playing it safe with their comments and are actually ambivalent. Though, these forum members are there because they believe their feedback will be taken by Microsoft. As far as Bing reps, a little more than half the sentiment is positive and the rest is negative. The reps are positive in their communications but they’re uncertain about the still-new product.

Meagan is now on the podium. She’s on the Cashback team. She’s going to talk high-level about why Microsoft is investing in shopping and Cashback. She’ll also go into detail about how this audience can use Cashback.

When Bing launched they wanted to focus on four core verticals, with one being shopping. They’ve tried to provide tools and resources to help shoppers find and purchase a product they want.

State of the Retail Economy

Consumers ranked what they use to help them shop:

1. Search Engines
2. Coupon Sites
3. Comparison Sites
4. Auctions
5. Classifieds

Shoppers employ numerous online resources. Retail e-mails and coupon sites are widely used by online shoppers. Social media, consumer reviews, blogs and discussion boards resonate with shoppers. Shoppers are doing a lot of research to get the best deal.

Bing Shopping Experience

The shopping vertical is meant to be research heavy and offers education around Cashback. When a product search is performed, they’ve laid it out to help refine search, given the option to look only at Cashback products, or browse related categories. On an individual product page there are reviews, price comparisons and details on the product.

Two Cashback Models

Bing Cashback Search:

• Advertisers participate in paid search ads (CPC) through adCenter
• Customers perform a product search on Bing, click the ad and are brought to the advertiser’s site

Bing Cashback Shopping:

• Advertisers participate in a comparison shopping (CPA)
• Customers search for a product in shopping Vertical Search and select to go to the advertiser’s site

The rest of the presentation will focus on the latter.

From the consumer side, the flow is cashback.com > compare prices > advertiser site

Search

• Search for specific items
• Browse featured products and stores

Compare

• Highest ranked seller has the lowest total price

Buy

• Wait 60 days
• Receive money

From the advertiser side, the opportunities include:

1. Cashback Search and search ads
2. Cashback shopping CPA data feed
3. Shopping CPC data feed

Cashback Momentum

• Over 44 million offers in the product catalog
• Over 1200 active merchants
• Over $100 million of earned rewards

Seasonal promotional offers are another opportunity for participating merchants. They’re really working to market the program to the consumer. Bing Cashback users are heavy shoppers. Cashback users and Bing shopping users are heavy shoppers, averaging more shopping visits per month than a typical shopper.

Bing leads in driving conversions across categories

Bing users are equally or more likely to convert than other searchers

Bing users are significantly more likely to make an apparel, electronic and home décor purchase compared to Google and Yahoo users.

The higher the rebate offered, the higher the average order size.

Best Practices for Cashback Optimizations

• Use highest Rebate percentage your margin will allow for competitive net price to consumer
• Review the performance of your offers periodically and remove from your feed offers that do not perform up to your expectations
• Utilize information about Bing Cashback in your offline promotions
• Capitalize on Bing Cashback marketing promotions.

Getting Started

• Benefits of Cashback shopping CPA data feed
• Only pay for actual sales
• Shares back 100 percent of the advertising spend with the consumer
• Zero click fraud concerns
• No complicated web analytics necessary
• Sell all of your products at the ROI you set in the merchant center

Implementation

• Set up merchant account/billing
• Implement order tracking via pixel/batch
• Upload product catalog (datafeed)
• Allocate resources for ongoing program management

Nicholas is up next to talk about Cashback from the advertiser’s side. Cashack traffic grew almost 500 percent YoY for his clients. It’s great because it’s a flat CPA and they know what to expect. Cashback has been a success for his early adopting clients.

• Stable traffic with consistent growth
• Predictable return
• The ability to scale Cashback percent

The two entry barriers:

Barrier 1: Is Cashback right for our brand?

• Many brands are already here
• Better integration = higher importance
• Program differences drive flexibility

If you move forward, plan to:

• Answer your users
• Monitor religiously, especially social
• Invest in proper integration
• Regularly audit results

Barrier 2: The documentation is a little (too) complicated

• 35: the number of pages of the implementation doc
• 5: the number of pages it should be
• 2: out of 5, the average difficulty of implementation

Bring In The Bling Via Bing Cashback was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO tools provider.

I’m a day late in climbing out from under the ever-piling heap called my feed reader — but hey, if Punxsutawney Phil can claw his way to the surface today, I can too. Here’s the search news from over the weekend through today, with a special focus on local and mobile news.

Local Events Added to Bing Maps

The Local Events application in Bing now features event listings. From Bing Maps, go to the Map Apps (if you don’t already have Silverlight installed you’ll be prompted to download it) and select Local Events. From there the local events will populate on the map as well as the navigation pane to the left. From here you can sort events by date and category. [Unless it breaks your browser altogether, like it did for me. --Susan] Currently, the calendar and event site Zvents is feeding the event listings to Bing, and more listing partners may be in store for the future.

“Enchanced Listings” Ads Now in Google Local Results

Google Maps is also boasting a new feature called Enhanced Listings. The feature allows local businesses to add rich media to their listings for a $25 per month fee. The categories for enhancement include photos, videos, coupons, menus and more. Users will see a yellow indicator next to the businesses map listing, which they can select to expand and view. Businesses can apply for and control this feature through Google’s Local Business Center.

Mozilla Firefox Browser Goes Mobile

The Firefox browser is now mobile ready, complete with many features power users have come to rely on. Known for its expansive library of add-ons, Firefox Mobile is now the first and only mobile browser to support add-ons. Other features include Weave Sync, which allows for saved history, bookmarks, tabs and passwords for seamless computing between desktop and mobile devices. And the Awesome Bar lets users search for favorites and previously visited pages. Currently it’s only available for the Nokia N900, but here’s hoping it rolls out to other devices soon.

Illegal Tree Cutters Caught Red Handed by Google Street View Camera

In a neighborhood in Vancouver, Canada, one crime raises questions over Google Street View’s violation of personal privacy. A resident applied for two permits required to cut trees of a certain size, and ended up cutting down 23 instead. The act was caught by a Google Street View automobile, and now prosecutors are deciding if and how the images can be used as evidence. Does the fact that the individual was committing a crime excuse the invasive way the evidence was gathered? Privacy advocates have long been wary of Google’s Street View photography, and I have to wonder if this case highlights the fine line between information gathering and privacy violation.

That’s it for your weekend in local search. As always, stay tuned throughout the week for more news and analysis. Until then, stay local!

SEO Weekend Update: Local, Mobile and Maps was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

Oh happy, glorious, liberating Friday. We’re so glad you’ve come back! What’s in store for the recap today? Truth be told, I don’t even know. We must read on to find out!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/yourdon/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

The biggest, brightest full moon of the year happens tonight. Tonight’s full moon also happens to be the first of the year, an event known as the wolf moon. If you’ve got clear skies, celebrate by snatching your three wolf moon shirt from the closet and check out this celestial beauty.

Before voting closes tonight, take a minute to vote for your favorite finalists of the SEMMY Awards. The SEMMYS honors the best Internet marketing blog posts of the year as chosen by the community. Congrats to all the finalists on this distinction! If you’re not really one to pick favorites, you’ll still enjoy the SEMMYS for pulling together and categorizing a ton of incredible posts from the last year.

Inc., publishers of the annual Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies in the U.S., is predicting the best performing and worst performing industries for the decade ahead. Several tech industries, including search engines and VoIP providers, made the top of the list, while many manufacturing industries were found in the bottom.

Survey results are in! What did the participants of a poll say about the role of blogging in overall marketing goals? Check out TopRank Blog’s analysis of the report. What? You don’t want me to spoil the ending, do you?

Now I never thought I’d say this, but there is such a thing as too much bacon. For instance, here we see bacon to the crazy degree:

[10:26:15 AM] BCI-Susan Esparza: http://www.geekologie.com/2010/01/i_must_live_there_bacony_foods.php
[10:26:20 AM] BCI-Susan Esparza: Creepy

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dongkwan/ CC BY 2.0

This one’s probably had marketers scratching their heads ever since those counterintuitive commercials started rolling out. The pizza chain Domino’s is in the middle of an image re-vamp campaign where they admit to passing off cardboard for pizza all these years. Risky move, but could it work? Domino’s CMO shares his insight into the campaign in a revealing interview. Smart move or suicide — what do you think? [My roommate is unhappy. She actually liked the old recipe. …she's very odd. --Susan]

Next week in Spokane, Washington, the first Local University event will be held. The half-day workshop will teach area businesses about locally focused Internet marketing. I didn’t hear about this event in time to include it in our SEO Newsletter’s Shindigs this month, so spread the word to your friends in Washington state!

Pope Benedict XVI has been involved in social media in the five years since he became pope and he’s now encouraging priests to blog, be active on Facebook, and publish YouTube videos. The pope understands marketing and is, like, hip. Color me impressed.

Social-media-interested Businesses, individuals and priests will all appreciate these tips for how to write better tweets and how to better engage Facebook fan page fans. Don’t forget to check your Facebook privacy settings while you’re at it!

Google Earth was updated with a GeoEye layer that provides high-resolution satellite images.

[1:55:17 PM] BCI-Paula Allen: Google set up a GeoEye Featured Imagery layer in Google Earth for satellite photos http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2010/01/25/google-adds-geoeye-layer-to-earth-zoo-to-maps
[1:56:30 PM] BCI-Paula Allen: Internal images, too (my nightmare scenario is coming closer!) On a somewhat related note, Google is also now mapping interiors of places. Before you get too worked up, don’t worry, they’re not coming into your house), but they do have imagery up from within the San Diego Zoo
[1:57:14 PM] BCI-Paula Allen: I want to trademark a new term: “Google potato”

Brilliant idea! Both clever and original! Unlike China’s newest search engine, Goojje. Google’s sister? More like Google’s identity stealing clone.

Apple finally announced its touchscreen tablet, the iPad, this week. I wrote about the Apple hype machine yesterday, and by now you’ve probably read all there is to know about the device. But I can’t in good conscience write an end-of-week recap without mentioning the iPad, so here:

[1:52:45 PM] BCI-Virginia Nussey: http://www.buzzfeed.com/dinoi/a-comparative-chart-between-two-tablets-dj0
[1:52:54 PM] BCI-Virginia Nussey: how do you multi task with a stone?
[1:53:01 PM] BCI-Virginia Nussey: you can bash people in the head with it?
[1:53:05 PM] BCI-Virginia Nussey: you can do that with the ipad too!

Other acceptable answers the writers discussed: lap warmer, lap desk and something you can simultaneously read and write on. Who says the iPad can’t multi task? [It can be a paperweight too. Which is probably the best use for it. --Susan]

Things I learned from Boing Boing this week:

• Who says New Yorkers are cold and isolated? They’ll willingly carry a stranger on their back!
• I’ve never felt sympathy for a robot before… Keep your spirits high, little Spirit!
• You know those gorgeous, iridescent blue butterflies? Turns out they’re quite the deceivers.
• Forget jet-setting in a giant suite. I’d much rather get a ticket in cuddle class!
• The world’s largest island on a lake, on an island, on a lake, on an island…

Friday Recap: Wolf Moon Edition was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

Interested in learning white hat SEO from the industry’s best?

Learn SEO the right way at Bruce Clay, Inc.’s SEO training course. Since 2004 we have trained more than 1,000 people in the most current SEO best practices and search engine guidelines.

SEOToolSet® Training is presented by search industry leader Bruce Clay, Inc., the premier SEO training provider for Internet marketing conferences Search Engine Strategies and Search Marketing Expo.

Along with the one-on-one expert training, attendees walk away with their own free copy of Search Engine Optimization All-in-One for Dummies and a one-year subscription to the SEOToolSet suite of diagnostic tools.

The next SEOToolSet Training course will be held February 15-19 in Simi Valley, CA, with both the standard course and advanced certification course being offered.

As Bruce says, everyday is a new day in the SEO industry. Don’t get left behind. Register for SEOToolSet Training today.

Learn SEO from the Expert was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

Are you up on all of the SEO changes of the last year? It’s a new year and the SEO industry isn’t one to stand still.

Move ahead of the competition with knowledge of powerful new SEO tactics, and steer clear of penalties by avoiding tactics that violate the search engines’ ever-changing guidelines.

At SEOToolSet® Training, Bruce Clay shares the search engines’ latest guidelines and recommendations as well as findings from Bruce Clay, Inc.’s continuous testing and analysis of new search engine features and ranking factors.

The next SEOToolSet Training course takes place February 15-19 in Simi Valley, CA. Both the standard course and advanced certification course are being offered.

Register for SEOToolSet Training today and be confident of your SEO strategy in the year to come.

Refresh Your SEO Knowledge for the New Year was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

It’s been a really newsy sort of month. In fact, on tomorrow’s SEM Synergy, our weekly radio show/podcast on WebmasterRadio.fm, Bruce delves into the news with his analysis of how recent world and technology developments will affect the Internet marketing industry.

CC BY 2.0

Plus guest Bryan Eisenberg, accomplished Internet marketer and author of bestselling books Waiting for Your Cat to Bark and Always Be Testing, comes on the show to talk about the trends he sees for SEO in 2010 — but it isn’t Wednesday yet, and this isn’t SEM Synergy Extras, so tune back in tomorrow for a good time with Bryan and the BCI crew!

In the meantime I’m going to stick to the news vein with a round-up of news stories and developments with special pertinence to search marketers.

Holiday Season Boosts Click Fraud

WebProNews reported today that the click fraud rate spiked in the fourth quarter. Among the findings in the report by traffic quality solutions provider Anchor Intelligence:

• The click fraud rate hit a high of 25.5 percent in the fourth quarter, up from 18.6 percent in Q3.
• Anchor Intelligence attributes the spike to cybercriminals trying to take advantage of the traditionally high volume of ad spend during the holiday season.
• Anchor Intelligence expects the click fraud rate to increase over the next as a result of the increasing adoption of social networks.

Google’s Battle Against China’s Government Continues

In a recent development regarding Google’s protests against the Chinese government, the company has indefinitely postponed the launch of Google mobile handsets in China. Last week Google went public with an announcement that their relationship with the Chinese government had strained following a cyber attack on the Internet services company which resulted in the theft of Google’s intellectual property. Google said that the company would no longer censor its search results to comply with censorship laws in the country.

In an opinion published by the Chicago Tribune, Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Clarence Page put the unfolding events into scary perspective:

“That may be the real story behind Google’s pushback against the Chinese government. It follows a series of aggressive moves by China’s government that espionage and foreign policy experts say could be the opening rounds in an escalating 21st century cyber war.”

According to Almost Half of Google News Readers, a Headline is Enough

In its third annual News Users’ report, research and analytics firm Outsell says that 44 percent of visitors to Google News, a news aggregator, scan headlines without clicking through to the original news source. It’s a frightening statistic for online publishers struggling to make money in the era of free content. Other challenging realities for the news and publishing industry:

• An overwhelming 90 percent of news readers say they won’t pay for a print news subscription in order to receive online access.
• According to 75 percent of respondents, if their newspapers required a paid subscription they’d look elsewhere.
• When looking for current events, 57 percent of news users turn to digital sources, up 24 percent from a few years ago.

Bruce Clay, Inc. Welcomes a Beautiful SEO Baby to the World

If you hadn’t heard yet, Susan’s just become an auntie! Yesterday at 7:47 a.m. PST, Bruce Clay, Inc.’s vice president of operations Robert Esparza and his wife Jacqie introduced 7 lb., 14 oz. Izabelle Yvonne to an ecstatic group of family and friends. Mom, dad and baby are all happy and healthy! Congrats to the Esparzas!

SEO News: Quick Hits for Internet Marketers was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

2010 has just burst onto the scene like a squishy new baby —full of love and excitement and endless possibility, and at the same time terrifying, screaming for your attention and about to consume your life. In order to prepare that bouncing newborn for the rest of her life and to set a foundation for a positive and construction relationship in the future, there are things you can do today to get ready for challenges to come. [In related news, my niece is due in 10 days! --Susan]

http://www.flickr.com/photos/billtex48/ / CC BY-ND 2.0

Likewise, there are steps we can take to set ourselves up for SEO accomplishments in the new year, sharpen our skill sets, and fine-tune our strategies. I don’t know about you, but the New Year always infuses me with a renewed sense of urgency, of determination, and of a desire to reach the peak of my potential.

Ushering in a new year means reevaluating priorities, refocusing strategy and rejuvenating the internal drive that will propel me for the next 365 days. And with this rediscovered power follows the responsibility to take on the challenge and mentally prepare for the upcoming obstacles standing in the way of my success.

In the SEO industry, everyone is looking for a way to get ahead of the game, which makes your ability to do so that much more critical to staying competitive. Luckily, there are some incredible opportunities coming up that offer just the knowledge and understanding needed at this milestone.

This month Bruce Clay, Inc. kicks off the new year with the Standard SEO training course being presented January 11-13 and the Advanced course being offered January 14 and 15.

The start of a new year is a fitting time to attend an SEO training course as we transfer our renewed energy to improving our craft and setting a strong foundation. But if that’s not enough, here are five reasons to start 2010 with SEOToolSet Training.

5. Get a knowledge refresh on SEO best practices

If last year you were head-down in a complex SEO project, it’s possible that techniques and strategies not used in that campaign have collected some rust. Plus it never hurts to take a refresher course when in an industry as fast moving and sensitive as search engine optimization.

4. Get updates on the changes in the search industry

Likewise, busy SEOs oftentimes don’t have the option of staying up-to-date on all the shifts and shake-ups on the search and Internet landscapes. SEOToolSet Training is continuously updated to reflect changing search engine guidelines, recommendations from search engine reps, and the findings of ongoing tests and SEO intelligence.

3. Get your questions answered from a leading SEO expert

Bruce Clay is one of the world’s foremost experts in search engine optimization, and spending face-to-face time with Bruce provides a valuable opportunity to pick his brain during Q&A time. Bruce opens the floor to any question, including ingredients in the secret sauce of Bruce’s time-proven white hat methodology.

2. Be recognized as an expert with SEOToolSet certification

SEO is finally being recognized by the mainstream business community as a requirement of business in the world today. SEOToolSet Certification is generally recognized among industry insiders and those in the know as a sign of an SEO’s high standards for ethics, expertise and abilities. When speaking with a potential employer or client, point to SEOToolSet Certification as proof of your knowledge and skills in SEO.

1. Receive a free, year-long subscription to Bruce Clay’s SEO tools

The SEOToolSet is a fully integrated, fully supported, high performance suite of search engine optimization tools. By attending SEOToolSet Training, receive a year subscription to the SEOToolSet, including a variety of ranking monitors, the Check Server Tool and the Competitive Link Analysis tool, among others.

So what are you waiting for? Register for SEOToolSet Training in January and prepare yourself for a rocking new year of SEO.

Upcoming SEOToolSet Training dates:

• Standard and Advanced SEOToolSet Training in Simi Valley, CA, happening Jan. 11-15.
• Standard and Advanced SEOToolSet Training in Simi Valley, CA, happening Feb. 15-19.
• Standard and Advanced SEOToolSet Training in Simi Valley, CA, happening Mar. 15-19.
• Standard and Advanced SEOToolSet Training in Sydney, Australia, happening Mar. 10-12.
• Standard and Advanced SEOToolSet Training in Long Island, NY, happening May 3-5.

One-day conference concurrent SEO training dates:

• Online Marketing Summit in San Diego, CA, happening Feb. 22-26, with Bruce Clay’s SEO training on Feb. 26. Use the discount code BRUCE30 to receive 30 percent off the cost of registration.
• SMX West in Santa Clara, CA, happening Mar. 2-5, with Bruce Clay’s SEO training on Mar. 5. Use the discount code smx10bruceclay for 10 percent off the cost of registration.
• SES New York in New York City, NY, happening Mar. 22-26, with Bruce Clay’s SEO training on Mar. 5. Use the discount code 20BRU for 20 percent off the cost of registration.

5 Reasons to Launch 2010 with SEO Training was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.

Continuing our tradition, the third annual Best of Search Conferences 2009 is upon us. Over the last year there were five search engine marketing conferences that Bruce Clay, Inc. covered live on the blog, including SMX West, SES New York, SES San Jose, SMX East and SES Chicago. In the Best of Search Conferences 2009, you’ll find the most popular liveblog coverage from those five shows, as well as some other special posts and features.

Search marketer Marty Weintraub, founder and president of aimClear, guest posted on the blog, sharing his takeaways from PubCon Las Vegas 2009. You’ll also find BCI’s director of Eastern region operations, Christopher Hart, sum up his presentation from IM Spring Break. Plus, you can close out each day of the Best of Search Con by kicking back with a podcast of live broadcasts from search conferences this year. Here’s the agenda of what will be presented during this year’s Best of Search Conferences, coming to the blog all this week. Enjoy! And happy holidays!

Best of Search Conferences 2009: The Agenda was originally published on BruceClay.com, an SEO services company.