Why Brick And Mortar Websites Aren't Doing The Job
Story from BizReport

In a recent study from Internet Engine, researchers found that ecommerce-only sites, such as Amazon.com, were out-performing brick-and-mortar store websites by a 3 to 1 margin. The study found that even manufacturers were better utilizing search marketing than retailers. Why? A big part of the problem is the message of brick-and-mortar websites.

According to the most recent internet marketing studies, online shopping hubs appeared in about 30% of keyword search queries.

Selling on the Internet is different than selling in-store," said the owner of Internet Engine. "If you look at the large brick-and-mortar websites, their brand is at the forefront of their online presence. But, they aren't putting the product brands at the forefront."

Brick-Mortar-Stores

To better engage consumers, many consultants suggest putting key product brands at the center of any online campaign. Offering in-store pickup is another way for brick-and-mortar stores to pick up some of the online shopping slack. The best way to garner consumers' attention, though, is through content.

First, the content has to be product centered. Give consumers - and search engines - the information needed to return the right search query results. Second, make the site easy to read for consumers and for search engines and finally, include the right links. Being part of the right online community is a huge step for retailers trying to reach a specific community - online moms, gamers, fishing dads, etc. Branding is important online and offline, but the content has to stand up to the pressure of search engine algorithms.

"We've found that brick-and-mortar stores can do well with paid listings. They know how to advertise or sponsor a keyword, they struggle with SEO copywriting and optimizing content for top organic keyword positions."

Tips For Choosing a Video Platform
Story from Streaming Media

Let’s assume that you’re a small to mid-size non-media company seeking to use video to acquire or retain customers, train your employees, and, perhaps, communicate with investors, and you’re considering inexpensive alternatives for distributing the video. You have three basic approaches.

First, you can encode the video files yourself, create the necessary player and all the links, and upload the files to your own website, similarly to the medical videos posted by Video MD. As long as viewing numbers stay fairly modest, this approach should work from a technology standpoint, though it may not be the optimal approach for accomplishing the goals that you have for your videos.

The second alternative is to host your videos on a free, user-generated content (UGC) website such as Vimeo or YouTube or even on a social networking site such as Facebook. These UGC sites relieve you of the encoding and player-creation chores and assume the task of hosting and distributing the video for you. You can still embed the video on your own website, but by offering your video on a UGC site, you also expand the number of potential viewers, which can help from a marketing perspective. However, there are some negatives to consider, as well as some benefits that are only possible via the third alternative.

That alternative is to use a fee-based service to host and distribute your videos for you. Multiple software-as-a-service (SaaS) online video platform vendors offer hosting, encoding, customizable players, and detailed statistics to help you maximize the effectiveness of your video. They help distribute your video to other sites to acquire more viewers and provide interactivity that lets viewers click the video to advance to the next step in the sales cycle, as well as other features. Even a few short months ago, these types of features would have cost hundreds of dollars per month. Today, however, depending upon the amount of video you distribute, you can sign on for less than $20 a month, with one service offering unlimited video views for less than $50 a month.

This article will review the costs and the benefits of all three alternatives. While there is no one-size-fits-all solution, any business seeking to truly leverage the value of its video should at least be familiar with the benefits of the second and third alternatives. Many businesses will find that an amalgam of these two is the best option of all.

We've also created a list of the nearly 50 UGC and SaaS online video platforms on the market today. Click here to download the Online Video Platforms PDF. (If you are an online video platform that wishes to be included on this list, please contact Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen.)

Hosting Your Own
Let’s start with hosting your own distribution site. Here, the primary benefits are cost and control. You control the quality of the videos and who sees them. And since you’re posting the videos to your own website, adding more videos won’t cost you a thing. Or will it?

Let’s examine that “free” concept. Most small companies don’t have video production capabilities in-house, but if you’re using a third-party videographer, it’s relatively simple to encode your video into a streaming format—just another export option from the software video editor. However, you probably don’t have the expertise to choose a codec (H.264, VP6, or VC-1), select a player (Flash, QuickTime, Windows Media, or Silverlight), or specify general encoding parameters such as resolution, data rate, or frame rate, not to mention advanced parameters such as variable bitrate encoding, B-frame interface, and CABAC versus CAVLC.

Depending upon your choice of technologies, you may have to create a player (Flash or Silverlight), which will likely require programming resources, and you’ll have to create the HTML links to embed the video into your webpage. None of this stuff is rocket science, but it will either take time, money, or both to acquire this knowledge and expertise. And all of these tasks will be fully assumed by any of the companies available in the second and third categories. So unless you’re a streaming guru or you play one on TV, hosting your own videos isn’t free.

In addition, consider what you’re giving up by hosting your own videos. At a very high level, UGC sites deliver two benefits: content delivery and community. UGC sites are in charge of making sure that your video gets delivered to your target viewers at sufficient bitrates that ensure high-quality viewing, and they are almost certainly better equipped to handle that than your web-hosting provider or your own self-hosted site. Beyond that, UGC sites, if chosen correctly, can deliver community or, if you prefer, viewers, which is critical if your videos are designed to market your products and services.

The Advantages of UGC Sites
UGC sites deliver additional viewers in several ways. First, sites such as YouTube have morphed into ad hoc Yellow Pages for viewers searching for any number of things. If you’re unconvinced, I have an excellent example. If you had a potential medical malpractice claim in New York, where would you go to find a lawyer? A phone book? The bar association? That’s where I would look. But if you search for “medical malpractice New York” on YouTube, you’ll find a video from an attorney that was uploaded in July 2008. The video had been viewed 61,693 times when I wrote this article—obviously, it will have been viewed many more times by the time you read this (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. Think that YouTube is a waste of time? With 61,693 views in a matter of 7 months, attorney Robert Sullivan might disagree.

Read Entire Article at Streaming Media

Spending on Internet Advertising Turns Cold
Story from the Wall Street Journal

The bright spot in the slumping advertising industry is dimming, as a report on Monday showed that U.S. online-ad spending grew 10.6% in 2008, its slowest rate since 2002.

The data suggest the recession is having a significant impact on one of the few drivers of robust growth in media and advertising.

The 2008 figure, $23.4 billion, compares with $21.2 billion in 2007, when online-ad revenue surged 26% from the year before. In the fourth quarter of 2008, growth from a year earlier slowed to a relative trickle, 2.6%, to $6.1 billion. In the same period in 2007, online-ad revenue had jumped 24%.

Pay-per-click rates are rising with no protection against click fraud, and Google Ad-Words advertisers are growing wary.

The report was conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers on behalf of the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group of media and technology companies.

The slowdown has sobering implications for the future. Research firm eMarketer halved its 2009 growth forecast based on the new data, estimating that online-ad spending will grow 4.5%, to $24.5 billion, compared with a previous prediction of 8.9%.

Nielsen Co. recently reported total U.S. ad spending in 2008 decreased 2.6%, to $136.8 billion. Still, industry executives had been hoping the digital sector would escape the recession more or less intact.

Some online-ad formats are faring better than others. Search advertising is holding up relatively well, at $10.5 billion for 2008, up 20%. Display ads, the second-largest category, are suffering slower growth -- up 8% to $7.6 billion in 2008 -- as marketers scale back branding dollars.

More Web Ads Improve Their Aim
As Originally Posted in The Wall Street Journal

As marketers scale back their ad budgets, some new technologies that make it easier for marketers to track the impact of their online advertising are gaining ground.

Products based on these technologies -- such as customized ads that show different products to different users, Web ads hidden inside links in text, and online coupons -- are part of what is called "performance-driven advertising." That's because the products aim to improve and more precisely measure how a particular ad performs.

While no one format is likely to emerge as a silver bullet for marketers seeking to use their ad dollars more efficiently, the advertising industry is betting on these technologies to increase online advertising spending. Altogether, the U.S. online-ad market is expected to increase 9% to $25.7 billion in 2009, slowing from its year-earlier growth rate of 11%, according to estimates from research firm eMarketer.

Internet retailer Overstock.com is becoming a big user of performance-driven ad products. The Salt Lake City company is planning to spend about $15 million, or 20% of its overall marketing budget for this year, on personalized ads from Choicestream, which makes product-recommendation software, says Overstock Chief Executive Patrick Byrne.

To devise the personalized ads, which Overstock started testing a few months ago, Choicestream relies on data the retailer provides about what customers browse and purchase on its site. Choicestream uses the data to select what personalized products and offers to insert into Overstock ads as they appear to potential customers browsing the Web.

Mr. Byrne says that while Overstock hasn't had much luck with online display advertising in the past, the new, personalized ads drove a sevenfold increase in clicks on the ads and a threefold increase in sales relative to other display ads. "We are ramping it up as quickly as we can," he says.

Internet giants Yahoo and Teracent, which develops online display-ad technology for clients like Hewlitt Packard, offer customized ad products similar to Choicestream's. Yahoo's version, called Smart Ads, debuted in 2007. Michael Walrath, a senior vice president at Yahoo, says demand for Smart Ads has grown during the economic downturn, even though fourth-quarter revenue was relatively flat from the previous year. A new Yahoo service that allows advertisers to target their display ads to users who have searched for particular terms has also gotten a good reception, he says.

Advertisers' "budgets may be reduced, but the expectations of driving business aren't being reduced," adds Mr. Walrath.

Companies like Choicestream, Yahoo and Teracent hope to steal some thunder from search advertising, which remains one of the biggest and fastest-growing ad formats. Since search ads are related to what a person is searching for on the Web, consumers often find them more relevant than other ads, and advertisers typically find them more cost effective.

But as budgets tighten, other formats that can prove they are worth their price are gaining momentum too. Coupons Inc., which makes software to help companies create and distribute online coupons, is among the companies that are benefiting. It has seen a recent surge in interest from advertisers looking for more cost-effective online marketing options, says CEO Steven Boal. Mr. Boal says the company expects to issue $1 billion in coupons this year, up from $300 million last year, and is drawing new customers who appreciate that they pay for the service only when a consumer prints out a coupon.

Committed revenue for the year at Vibrant, which creates in-text ads, has doubled from a year ago, says the company's CEO and co-founder Doug Stevenson. In-text ads appear when a computer user hover a mouse over links that appear in the text on a Web page. Vibrant charges advertisers only when someone clicks on their ads.

The new ad formats are winning over some big marketers. Over the past year, auto maker Chrysler, whose brands include Dodge and Jeep, has shifted its online-ad spending away from lifestyle sites to sites, such as Edmunds.com, that are geared toward consumers who are in the market for a car, as well as toward performance-driven products like Vibrant's in-text ads. Chrysler is also continuing to spend on search ads, says Chuck Sullivan, director of interactive at Chrysler.

"The good news about the performance-based media is that it's very easy to track, and we are able to see what works and what doesn't work," Mr. Sullivan says.

Chrysler says the shift has paid off: The percentage of total retail sales attributed to online leads rose two percentage points in 2008 from the prior year.

Microsoft to Buy Yahoo

Microsoft and Yahoo Talk Merger.
Many recent talks have taken place between Microsoft and Yahoo on joining forces to better compete in the future versus Google. Microsoft is becoming frustrated with wall street's perception of MSN's lackluster performance in the booming online advertising market.

Microsoft and Yahoo discussed a possible merger that would pair their respective strengths and allow both companies to instantly promote a 30% stake of the online ad market. Many sources report the merger talks have ended, yet key insiders report that both companies are desperately trying to work together to change market perceptions.

Whatever the outcome, Microsoft's online division could be heading for a huge shake-up. Microsoft is frustrated by their lackluster results in the fight against Google in Internet search, the hottest advertising marketplace. Microsoft is firing top executives and pressuring staffers to work harder and faster in a rush to catch up to Google. Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer are frustrated that Microsoft lost out to Google earlier this year in the purchase of online-advertising specialist DoubleClick. The DoubleClick defeat has Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer considering new direction in keyword search. Ballmer called the MSN search division's performance "palpable". Mr. Ballmer is weighing many options including bringing in new management to the MSN online advertising group.

Microsoft is torn between shuffling their management deck from within or moving outside to form a partnership with Yahoo. The two companies have worked together before; Yahoo previously provided Microsoft with search technology and advertising. Microsoft broke off that relationship last year, as it phased in its own online-ad system within the MSN Live.com search project, which has yet to attract a critical mass of advertisers. The two companies also explored the idea of combining to form a greater competitor to Google a year ago, though those talks led nowhere.

For now, Yahoo does not seem interested in a major deal with Microsoft, say people familiar with the situation. The Sunnyvale, Calif., Internet company's course may largely depend on a new advertising-system upgrade, called "Project Panama," whose delay last year prompted criticisms from investors and others that were directed toward the company's management. Panama is now running, and Yahoo said recently that it expects the system to contribute to its revenue, starting this quarter. Also the Yahoo management team knows that if Microsoft takes over their days are numbered.

The merger could be a winner for both Microsoft and Yahoo. Microsoft has technical expertise that might benefit Yahoo, especially considering all of the defections from key Inktomi engineers. Under one possible scenario, Microsoft could manage the technical platform and infrastructure of the companies' combined Internet activities, while Yahoo's current staff could oversee the consumer parts of the businesses, such as Yahoo News, Finance and email. Yahoo is one of the world's most popular Web sites, attracting millions of consumers a day to services, which in turn attract advertisers. However Yahoo gave away their search leadership torch to Google in 2002.

While Yahoo is facing increased competition to sell advertisers the graphical-display ads, such as banners, that have been its bread and butter, the company recently has shown signs of momentum. Yahoo has signed partner sites to carry ads that it brokers, including 12 newspaper-publishing companies representing more than 264 newspapers, and the Web portal of Comcast Corp. Yahoo recently reported a $680 million deal to buy the 80% of online-ad exchange operator Right Media Inc. that it didn't already own.

If merger talks are revived, whether Microsoft and Yahoo could reach an agreement remains as much of a question as it did a year ago, when similar talks ended inconclusively. Microsoft has always steered clear of large acquisitions. Microsoft's market value is $42 billion.

Short of a wholesale merger, Microsoft could spin its online group into a separately run Yahoo in return for a Yahoo stake. Yet top Yahoo executives appear to be a big obstacle to any deal. Yahoo management feels they have found the right strategy and are wary of any combination with Microsoft, for whom Internet activities remain only a small part of its business, says one person familiar with the matter. Top Yahoo staffers could run for the hills if Microsoft acquires the company.

Any integration of the two companies' operations would also be a daunting prospect. Yahoo has in recent years faced criticism, including from within, that it has been slow and hasn't held executives responsible for poor performance. It revamped its corporate structure and shuffled executives in an apparent response and the Panama Project has been lackluster in performance to date.

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What a Microsoft-Yahoo Merger Means for Google.
If Microsoft and Yahoo merge Google may have to worry about its hold on the consumer search and online advertising markets. The potential Microsoft / Yahoo merger probably doesn't have rivals at Google shaking in their Gucci boots just yet, but if a merger comes to fruition Google may have to worry about its hold on the consumer search and online advertising markets.

Microsoft has started a new round of talks with Yahoo, though in the past Yahoo has consistently turned down any merger offers from Microsoft. The companies appear to be in new "early-stage discussions" over a merger or deal that would help both companies better compete for a larger share of the keyword search marketplace.

Microsoft officials are feeling somewhat threatened and frustrated by their lack of power and leverage in their battle with Google for dominance of the keyword searech medium. Microsoft is not the type of company that makes acquisitions right and left, and buying Yahoo would ease some of the pain of failing to take over DoubleClick and also give Microsoft 30% of the keyword search pie versus their current take of only 9%. Size in the advertising world does matter, though, and the combination of Microsoft Live Search and Yahoo! would encroach on Google territory in the search market. Will keyword searchers move over from Google to a new MSN/Yahoo joint search engine? Not unless and until Yahoo and MSN both make changes that:

1) Improve Search Quality.
2) Increase Results Page Delivery Speed.
3) Dramatically Improve Content Relevancy.
4) Expand The Size of the Databases.

Can a Microsoft-Yahoo joint venture truly compete against the precision, speed, accuracy and scale of the Google keyword search system?

No, not without a changing of the guard or a flex of the vista muscles in desktop search. To date Microsoft has not made up for arriving way too late to the search party and Yahoo got drunk early and handed the keys to the keyword search castle to the sober, focused, and most serious Google guys.

Yet even considering all of these search realities, both Microsoft and Yahoo still look much more prepared to truly compete together than all alone.

Google to introduce a New Personal Computer?

Google Could Launch Version 1 of The New G-Browser and a new line of low price Google desktop computers in exclusive deal with Wal Mart.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Google is in whispered negotiations with Wal-Mart to sell a new, low-price Google PC.

According to the Times, the Internet-connected device would run an OS created by Google (Meet the New Google G-Browser), not Microsoft's Windows, and would be priced as low as $200. The new Google Operating System is most likely a Google-flavored version of Linux mixed with love from Mozilla.

Industry sources are theorizing that Google Co-Founder and President of Products Larry Page will use his Consumer Electrnoics Show keynote address in Las Vegas in of 2006 to launch the new Google Computer and launch the G-Browser.

Google could use their new low-ball personal computer to prep services including their Sun Microsystems StarOffice productivity suite (SUNW looks like a buy).

Peak Positions SEO a Traverse City, Michigan firm would like to gently remind everyone of the Michigan connection between Google, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft and the driving forces of technology. As the war for technology leadership has its deepest roots in the state of Michigan.

Google co-founder Larry Page was born and raised in Ann Arbor and his father, still a University of Michigan professor in Ann Arbor, has known Scott McNeeley CEO of Sun Microsystems a Birmingham, Michigan native and his long competitve battle with Steve Ballmer, President and CEO of Microsoft also a Birmingham Michigan native since childhood.

It all started at a high school debate over the future of technology in Brimingham Michigan at Detroit Country Day School. Scott McNeeley, Steve Ballmer, and Mark Woodward President and CEO of Serena Software, all walking the halls with Mork & Mindy (comedians Robin Williams and Pam Dawber) at Birmingham Detroit County Day High School in the mid 70's, and all debating on conflicting views of the technological evolution that began with early research on packet switching and the ARPANET (and related BBS (Bulletin Board System) communication technologies that has since evolved into today's internet. Read more on the history of the internet here...

Birmingham Detroit Country Day High School is the college prep rival of Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett School of which Peak Positions VP Jack Roberts is a graduate. As organic search engine optimization, spiders, and algorithms all have deep roots here in the state of Michigan.

If a Google branded personal computer does surface at Wal Mart, either the Google/Sun StarOffice or the open-source OpenOffice suite will launch with it.

Wal-Mart a most interesting choice of open source partners indeed!!!

Google the undisputed kings of New Media and the "open environment" who sometimes slammed Micorsoft and much of the corporate world for the last 7 years over user control issues, later turns to Wal Mart for their first dekstop distribution partnership?

Hello G-Browser ... how will Microsoft react?

This makes the recently rumored Microsoft and Yahoo partnership/merger even more intriguing.

Stay Tuned...let us reach some Google contacts and see if a link can be provided to Larry's keynote speech in Las Vegas this Friday.