Search Engine Optimization 2008

It is December of 2007 now and the 2008 fiscal year is around the corner. The biggest question is, are you ready to capitalize on Online Marketing this year?

Every year you hesitate to begin your online marketing campaign the opportunity window begins to close. SEO is a competition based marketing environment where age and establishment are definitely looked upon by the search engines. As we continue to develop the search engines and their results be sure to reach top placement with the right Online Marketing program for your business.

The two key established components to an Online Marketing campaign are Sponsored Search Marketing and Natural Listing Optimization (Organic-SEO). Please contact us at 866-999-4SEO(4736) to find our more about Online Marketing today.

Google Analytics Blog: Site Search Now Available

Google Site Search looks like a great system to increase usability of an existing website and also increase your Online Conversions. Read the article below to see how Google Search will help increase your visitor retention and user appreciation for your website:

Google Analytics Blog: Site Search Now Available

Quantify the Demographic of Website Users

When seeking out content network website to advertise on through the major search engines it is complex to find the appropriate websites that suit your demographics. Well we found one really awesome site we would recommend to quantify the type of web visitors arriving at a site http://www.quantcast.com/, great site to check out and make into a full time tool for analyzing content network advertising sites.

3 Keys to an Effective Local Business Website

3 Keys to an Effective Local Business Website

1. Prominently display your phone number on all pages.
2. Display a picture of your location and staff.
3. Directions to your location with an opt-in form to submit information to you.

We wish you the best on your website adventures, and be sure to develop your website as a continuous dynamic project. Your domain name is your raw real estate and your website is your building.

With that in mind if you would like to have our team evaluate your website, feel free to reply with your domain name (web address).

http://www.seo.cc/ - Online Marketing Agency
http://www.dentistrywebsites.com/ - Custom Website Development

In the spirit of the Acesthetics Dental Seminar on Occlussion within 60 days, we should reflect on the great dental online marketing information we learned at the Online Marketing conference put on by Acesthetics in Austin, TX this past year.

The dental industry has been an early adapter of Online Marketing strategies. This has allowed many dental practices to leap ahead of their local competition using a marketing medium with exponential ROI capabilities.

Many Online Marketing Strategies We Have Seen Adopted from the Online Marketing ACErs meeting in Austin, TX included:

1) Buying a Domain Name that was relevant to your marketplace (for example: www.DallasDentistry.com , www.CincinnatiCosmetic.com)
2) Having a website developed by a custom dental web development firm (ex: www.DentistryWebsites.com)
3) Listing back-links to your website from a dental web directory (ex: www.ACDA.com)
4) Creating video installation on your websites (ex: www.SmileStylers.com)
5) Hiring a dental SEO firm to handle your dental Online Marketing (ex: search Google: keyword Dentistry Websites )
Dental Online Marketing Should Include: Sponsored Search Listings and Natural Listing Optimization (SEO)
There are many strategies to implement when building a strong dental Online Marketing Presence. To learn more about dental Online Marketing join us again this coming year at the ACEsthetics Dental Online Marketing seminar , or even sooner at the www.SEO.cc booth at the Acesthetics seminar on Occlusion at the end of Q1 '08, a great retreat for yourself and dental staff at the Hyatt Lost Pines:

March 28-29, 2008 ACEsthetics 2008 Conference on Dental Marketing & Web Optimization Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa ~ Austin, Texas

Free Offer from SEO.cc & DentistryWebsites.com.....in advance of the Acesthetics seminar on Occlusion if you would like a free dental website design and keyword ranking analysis, contact us through www.DentistryWebsites.com or www.SEO.cc or call this week
1-866-999-4SEO.

See you all this coming November 7, 2007 - November 10, 2007 at the Acesthetics seminar on Occlusion .

-- Zach HoffmanBooth @ the ACEsthetics Conference in Scottsdale, AZwww.ACDA.com - Dental Directory www.SEO.cc - Online Marketing Agency www.DentistryWebsites.com - Bringing Your Practice Onlinewww.DentistSeminars.com - Dental Online Marketing Seminars Zach@SEO.ccDial Up: 954-763-1130

SEO.cc - ACESthetics Dental Seminar on Occlusion

In the spirit of the Acesthetics Dental Seminar on Occlussion within 60 days, we should reflect on the great dental online marketing information we learned at the Online Marketing conference put on by Acesthetics in Austin, TX this past year.

The dental industry has been an early adapter of Online Marketing strategies. This has allowed many dental practices to leap ahead of their local competition using a marketing medium with exponential ROI capabilities.

Many Online Marketing Strategies We Have Seen Adopted from the Online Marketing ACErs meeting in Austin, TX included:

1) Buying a Domain Name that was relevant to your marketplace (for example: www.DallasDentistry.com , www.CincinnatiCosmetic.com)
2) Having a website developed by a custom dental web development firm (ex: www.DentistryWebsites.com)
3) Listing back-links to your website from a dental web directory (ex: www.ACDA.com)
4) Creating video installation on your websites (ex: www.SmileStylers.com)
5) Hiring a dental SEO firm to handle your dental Online Marketing (ex: search Google: keyword Dentistry Websites )
Dental Online Marketing Should Include: Sponsored Search Listings and Natural Listing Optimization (SEO)
There are many strategies to implement when building a strong dental Online Marketing Presence. To learn more about dental Online Marketing join us again this coming year at the ACEsthetics Dental Online Marketing seminar , or even sooner at the www.SEO.cc booth at the Acesthetics seminar on Occlusion at the end of Q1 '08, a great retreat for yourself and dental staff at the Hyatt Lost Pines:

March 28-29, 2008 ACEsthetics 2008 Conference on Dental Marketing & Web Optimization Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort & Spa ~ Austin, Texas

Free Offer from SEO.cc & DentistryWebsites.com.....in advance of the Acesthetics seminar on Occlusion if you would like a free dental website design and keyword ranking analysis, contact us through www.DentistryWebsites.com or www.SEO.cc or call this week
1-866-999-4SEO.

See you all this coming November 7, 2007 - November 10, 2007 at the Acesthetics seminar on Occlusion .

-- Zach HoffmanBooth @ the ACEsthetics Conference in Scottsdale, AZwww.ACDA.com - Dental Directory www.SEO.cc - Online Marketing Agency www.DentistryWebsites.com - Bringing Your Practice Onlinewww.DentistSeminars.com - Dental Online Marketing Seminars Zach@SEO.ccDial Up: 954-763-1130

SEO.cc - Great New Tool from Google - Google Trends

Great new tool from Google for online search data:

www.google.com/trends

Check this site out to learn data on the latest trends in search when it comes to a keyword and a location the word is being searched from.
Please contact us if you have any questions about how to use this cool new tool.

Question: Will you get more hits to your web site if you have more text for Search Engine Optimization?

Question: Will you get more hits to your web site if you have more text for Search Engine Optimization?

Answer: Text heavy websites do not rank any different than websites with concise content. SEO has more to do with the content linking to relevant information then having extensive content. For example on your index page, if we have the content "Dallas Cosmetic Dentist" and link it to information regarding "cosmetic dentistry" the search engine will connect the two sets of content and mark your website as relevant to the keyword "Dallas Cosmetic Dentist."

It also helps to have links to your website for the keywords you want to rank for from pages with high PRs (Page Ranks – Google Tool Gauging Relevancy of a Website).

Hope this information helps. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or for a free website ranking analysis.

SEO Question: Will you get more hits to your web site if you have more text for Search Engine Optimization?

Question: Will you get more hits to your web site if you have more text for Search Engine Optimization?
Answer: Text heavy websites do not rank any different than websites with concise content. SEO has more to do with the content linking to relevant information then having extensive content. For example on your index page, if we have the content "Dallas Cosmetic Dentist" and link it to information regarding "cosmetic dentistry" the search engine will connect the two sets of content and mark your website as relevant to the keyword "Dallas Cosmetic Dentist."

It also helps to have links to your website for the keywords you want to rank for from pages with high PRs (Page Ranks – Google Tool Gauging Relevancy of a Website).

Hope this information helps. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or for a free website ranking analysis.

Question: Will you get more hits to your web site if you have more text for Search Engine Optimization?

Question: Will you get more hits to your web site if you have more text for Search Engine Optimization?
Answer: Text heavy websites do not rank any different than websites with concise content. SEO has more to do with the content linking to relevant information then having extensive content. For example on your index page, if we have the content "Dallas Cosmetic Dentist" and link it to information regarding "cosmetic dentistry" the search engine will connect the two sets of content and mark your website as relevant to the keyword "Dallas Cosmetic Dentist."

It also helps to have links to your website for the keywords you want to rank for from pages with high PRs (Page Ranks – Google Tool Gauging Relevancy of a Website).

Hope this information helps. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, or for a free website ranking analysis.

NYTimes.com - Online Sellers Discover the Power of Video Clips

Online Sellers Discover the Power of Video Clips
By BOB TEDESCHI
IT was just a matter of time. Online retailers have begun capitalizing on the YouTube craze, offering a video platform for product demonstrations, rants and raves, sentimental messages and just plain bizarre behavior.
At this point there is little question that the videos, on sites like 1-800-Flowers.com, Buy.com, Blendtec.com and many others soon to come, have novelty value. Whether they will help build customer traffic and sales over the long term, though, remains an open question.
“The scary thing is that we don’t know the financial implications of this,” said Jim McCann, the chief executive of 1-800-Flowers, which recently began two initiatives to post user-generated videos on the site. “Does it have any benefit for sales? I can’t answer that. We’re just going on a leap here.”
Mr. McCann said the company would announce today its “Video Valentine” service (at 1-800-Flowers.com/videovalentine), where users go to the site and upload photos, write messages and choose musical themes and graphics. The site then meshes the various elements into a 60-second clip that, while not strictly video, includes enough motion and sound to approximate the experience.
The site allows users to send the valentines for free, and, after employees review them for inappropriate content, they may post the valentines on the site for others to view and rate.
Users will be able to integrate full video files in the coming months, said Mr. McCann, who caught the video bug after a conversation last year with Chad Hurley, one of YouTube’s founders. In the meantime, the site is relying on YouTube to broadcast other video clips from customers, through its Reconnections initiative.
With that, 1-800-Flowers asks users to film testimonials about instances when a gift from the site has caused or highlighted a reunion in the customer’s life. One video the site is considering posting in the future features a man who had lost touch with his high school sweetheart after the Korean War. Through the Web site, the man sent the woman a replica of the prom corsage he gave her 50 years before. The happy ending: 1-800-Flowers supplied the bouquets for their wedding. The Reconnections clips, which carry the company’s logo and links, are carried on YouTube, but links to the videos will also appear on the 1-800-Flowers site. Mr. McCann said he would feature the most popular videos in television ads, and has begun training employees in video production techniques to help customers refine some of the more promising testimonials.
The effort, he said, falls in line with the company’s increased focus on soliciting customer involvement on the site — whether through suggested gift card phrases, or less formal interactions with customer service representatives, where the site’s employees solicit feedback from consumers on product variations they might like to see.
“The irony is that we’re using technology to be much more personal with our customers, and recreate the relationship I had 30 years ago, where I knew all the customers that came into my shop on First Avenue,” Mr. McCann said.
The business itself is on the upswing. Late last month 1-800-Flowers announced record revenues of $330 million for the most recent quarter, an increase of nearly 19 percent from the same period in 2005. The company’s stock jumped by more than 10 percent last month to top $7, after dropping below $4.50 in August.
For at least one company, user-generated videos have led to a measurable boom in business. Blendtec, a manufacturer and seller of blenders based in Orem, Utah, started late last year posting videos of the company’s chief executive, Tom Dixon, blending random objects, including wood, marbles and Mr. Dixon’s iPod.
The company posted the videos on its own site, WillItBlend.com, as well as on YouTube, and promoted them on various message boards and blogs. The marble video, which can be seen at youtube.com/watch?v=3OmpnfL5PCw quickly rose to prominence on YouTube’s entertainment section, and since then, according to Blendtec’s marketing director, George Wright, the company’s 30 videos have been viewed more than 11 million times.
“We’ve seen wonderful improvements in sales,” Mr. Wright said. “Online, we’ve absolutely eclipsed our records, and it just continues to grow and grow.”
Still, the runaway success of the program has included some potentially troubling side effects. Users have taken to posting their own “extreme blending” videos, with about 600 such clips last week featured on YouTube.
Other sites, like the golf and tennis retailer Golfsmith.com, are employing user videos for reviews. According to Matthew Corey, the company’s vice president of marketing, Golfsmith.com will soon allow users to post clips talking about products for sale on the site.
Mr. Corey said this year’s new golf clubs include even bigger drivers than before, some with square heads. “It’s going to take people some time to understand the features of these,” he said. “What better way to do that than with videos?”
•
Sites may need to offer incentives to entice users to post videos, according to some executives, because users are less willing to do the extra work to post videos than photos or text reviews. Mr. Corey said Golfsmith is considering rewarding users who create popular videos.
Videos also help increase Internet traffic. The more Golfsmith offers videos and reviews of its products, Mr. Corey said, the better the chances Google and other search engines will point users to Golfsmith when they type a product name into a search box.
Mr. Corey will still have to brace himself for the possibility of users posting mock video reviews on YouTube showing, say, the destructive capabilities of a club. But on Golfsmith.com, all reviews will be screened by BazaarVoice, an Austin-based technology vendor that helps Web sites post user reviews and screen them for offensive or inappropriate content.
Brett Hurt, the chief executive of BazaarVoice, said his company would start helping three of its 60 clients solicit, review and post video reviews.
“I’d expect a majority of our customers to adopt this,” Mr. Hurt said. “It’s just a matter of time before it becomes the norm online.”
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SEO.cc - Find Out How Many People Are Searching Your Keywords On The Major Search Engines

Hey,

If you want to get an estimate as to how many people are searching your keywords on the search engines, here is how you do it:

1. Visit: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/

2. Look up your keywords.

3. Multiply search query result by a 2.99 multiple.

If you have any questions feel free to ask us.
We are a full-service online marketing agency, looking to service your online presence. If you are looking for results contact us.

Thanks,-- Zach Hoffmanwww.ACDA.com - Dental Directorywww.SEO.cc - Online Marketing Agencywww.DentistryWebsites.com - Bringing Your Practice Onlinewww.DentistSeminars.com - Dental Online Marketing Seminars Zach@SEO.ccDial Up: 954-763-1130AACD.com Conference Booth # 133

Google Under SEO World Fire

So everytime Google takes steps to enhance and filter there search results it seems the SEO world places them under fire. Google's most recent move to start a system where SEO professionals could tell on other sites buying links sparked heavy resentment from professional SEO communities. We are following Google's latest filtering techniques at SEO.cc very carefully to insure there changes will not affect our SEO clients. We actually do not use the process of buying links to enhance website rankings so we do not have much to worry about here at SEO.cc.

Great Domain Name Tool

Hi,

A great Domain Name generation site I would recommend is Nameboy.com. This website will allow you to type in a primary and secondary keywords and generate domain names relevant to the words you have vhoosen to search for. Check out this Domain Name Generation tool, you won't regret it.

Zach Hoffman
SEO.cc - CEO

Google and DoubleClick

What a move...Google looks to acquire DoubleClick and puts Online Media larger players into a frenzy. Large companies are afraid as Google is making moves to control over 80% of the Online Marketing market. WOW, watch out as Google has big plans, and traditional media continues to lag behind. The only real move mass media has made to slow Google down is Fox's acquisition of MySpace. Google remains to be the big player on the Internet, and continues to step into traditional media controls. Just the other day I saw bus ads by Google, the other day it was bid on radio ads, what's next?

If you need assistance bidding on Google advertising we can help your organization gain search engine presence on the major search engines.

Check out an article on Google's bid for Doubleclick.

SEO.cc - Free Keyword Analysis & Upcoming Online Seminar for Dentists

Hi,

For a limited time we are now offering a Free Keyword Analysis of Your Website Rankings, please reply to this e-mail or call us at 954-763-1130 to receive yours today. Don't get caught ranking behind your competition!
Also, be on the look out as we have a new Online Seminar we will be broadcasting LIVE at DentistSeminars.com, it is going to cover Case Presentation Materials & Local Online Marketing. This will be a great seminar and you may want your practice coordinators/case presenters to sit in. Seating is limited!

Thanks,

Zach Hoffman
Online Marketing Agency - Get Listed Today
Dental Websites - Bringing Your Practice Online
Dental Directory - America's Online Dental Directory

Keyword Analysis

SEO an Intangible Asset???? Building VALUE

SEO services allow your company the ability to sustain positioning on the Search Engines when it comes to searching words relevant to your business activities. We continue to build value for clients looking to optimize for their local markets.

The value in local market SEO work is priceless when it comes to captalizing on all forms of your marketing investments. We help you create an opt in consumer who is looking for your type of services in an immediate area to your business. If you are marketing in any other advertising media including: radio, television, print (magazine, newspaper), direct mail, and if you have a website it is neccessary in today's economy to capitalize on local listings on your search engine. We achieve this for client's on both Sponsored Search (pay per click) Management and Natural listing (free relevancy based area) services.

SEO.cc - Capitalizing On Your Multimedia Assets

SEO.cc – Capitalizing On Your Multimedia Assets

In today’s media distribution environment barriers to entry are extremely low. To become an Internet media star all you need is a keyboard and/or digital camera. Just 10 years ago it was never this simple to make yourself into the star. The cost of production on a film used to be very expensive and the distribution of your media required an even more substantial investment. Well bring the walls down they said…and they brought us the Internet. Bringing the walls of multimedia down was not the cry of large corporations, but the call of the people!!

Between the Search Engines, MySpace, and YouTube, and other venues, you could make yourself into a niche market star, and be found. For every 100 people out there, there is bound to be 1 into what you are publishing about. Well 1 is such a lonely number, right? Not anymore, when you exponentially calculate the return of 1 of the 100,000,000 (one-hundred-million) Internet users out there talking about you. You can take .01% of this 100,000,000 number and we are still looking at 10,000 people you could impact TODAY…so ask yourself, have I impacted anybody lately?

Learn more as to how you can create multimedia impact today, join us in Austin March 23-24, 2007 to learn more about this event check out Acesthetics.com for our conference details on Online Marketing…you won’t regret attending! If you haven’t been marketing this decade Online, what are you waiting for? Your Yellow Pages salesman…LOL

Topic for Austin:

Major Marketing Paradigm Shift of Our Time: Internet Marketing

The Internet has become today’s mass form of communication. By definition every major shift in marketing has occurred by changing the way we communicate. Modern day communications and marketing began with delivered mail, followed by the radio, which progressed into television, and has evolved into the medium that marries all media: The Internet. There has never been a more rapidly adaptable form of communication.

We will discuss different avenues to grow and expand your marketing reach by leveraging the power of the Internet. An Internet presence goes beyond your website, and lives on by your use of it as a channel to communicate with your target audience. Your potential reach into the Internet economy is extremely expansive. Through our course you will learn how to capitalize on your traditional forms of media and turn them into an interactive manipulating force on the Internet.



Zach Hoffman - Bio

Zach Hoffman has lived in the dental industry for 20+ years (through the experiences of his father Dr. Howard J. Hoffman, DDS). He has seen the industry transition from a practice focused on insurance based patients to a practice focused on sedation and boutique style cosmetic treatment. Zach contemplates becoming his father’s dental apprentice by keeping a keen eye on the dental industry, but has chosen to pursue marketing at this time. His background in Economics and Finance, from the University of Central Florida, gives Zach a broad range of knowledge varying from demographics research to identifying business opportunities. With this skill set he has helped his clients maximize their returns on marketing investment dollars.

Dissecting the Way You Search

FYI: So the year of the Golden Pig has just started in China, making this the luckiest year in 60 years to have a baby for the Chinese. What does this have to do with us? Well…it adds a whole lot more Chinese babies to the coming search boom. So while are sample set is small we would like to know a little bit about how you search =)

This week’s topic takes us to explore the way you search.

Dissecting the Way You Search

Have you ever asked yourself the following questions?
What search engine do you use? Why?
Who are you (demographic wise)?
What were you looking for?
Do you use more then one search engine?

What search engine do you use?Why?Google: Well because when I am looking for academic information or published papers Google seems to pull me the most relevant results
Yahoo: Well when I am looking for local information I tend to use Yahoo because it points me to local topic destinations like Citysearch and Yellow Pages and other relevant information. They also have a map with providers in each location.
MSN: Don’t use it.

Who are you (demographic wise)?The above search result inquiries come from a Male, early 30s, Marketing Professional.
What were you looking for?

Information relevant to what I wanted to know at the time.

Do you use more then one search engine?
It depends what I am looking for, I don’t always search the same destination.


ASK YOURSELF THESE QUESTIONS, we are anticipating your replies:

What search engine do you use?
Who are you (demographic wise)?
What were you looking for?
Do you use more then one search engine?

Thank You,Zach Hoffman
www.SEO.cc – Online Marketing Agency
www.DentistryWebsites.com – Bringing Your Practice Online
www.DentistSeminars.com – Dental Online Marketing Seminars
Zach@SEO.cc
Dial Up: 954-763-1130

Topic for ACEsthetics Group Meeting in March

Major Marketing Paradigm Shift of Our Time: Internet Marketing

The Internet has become today’s mass form of communication. By definition every major shift in marketing has occurred by changing the way we communicate. Modern day communications and marketing began with delivered mail, followed by the radio, which progressed into television, and has evolved into the medium that marries all media: The Internet. There has never been a more rapidly adaptable form of communication.

We will discuss different avenues to grow and expand your marketing reach by leveraging the power of the Internet. An Internet presence goes beyond your website, and lives on by your use of it as a channel to communicate with your target audience. Your potential reach into the Internet economy is extremely expansive. Through our course you will learn how to capitalize on your traditional forms of media and turn them into an interactive manipulating force on the Internet.

WSJ.com - The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries

Commentary:
Since starting Search Engine Operator, Inc (www.SEO.cc), September of 2005, we have stressed to our clients to use the keyword research we supply them to understand their clients better. The WSJ (Wall Street Journal) published an article (below) on February 6, 2007 titled “The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries.” Corporate America is using the keyword data to understand what their potential consumer is looking for and then selling to them in their language. In the dental world this could be as simple as stressing “cosmetic dentistry” vs. “sedation dentistry.” Check it out and feel free to ask questions.

Article:

February 6, 2007


The New Benefits of Web-Search Queries
Companies Use ResearchTo Develop Products,Trail Consumer Interests
By KEVIN J. DELANEYFebruary 6, 2007; Page B3

Some businesses are discovering that Web search isn't just for marketing their offerings -- but also for deciding what to sell in the first place.
National Instruments Corp., an Austin, Texas, maker of software and hardware for engineers and scientists, had for years sold products that required buyers to install circuit boards in their desktop computers. Then research revealed that engineers, when searching the Web for such products, were increasingly attaching the letters "USB" -- the initials of Universal Serial Bus, a type of interface commonly found on computers -- to their queries. That observation reinforced National Instruments' decision to sell new versions of its products with USB interfaces and helped it pick which products to start with.
SEARCHING FOR ANSWERS

• What's New: Companies are using data about what consumers are searching for on the Web to help with product research and decision-making. • The Background: Search ads have been used in marketing for years; now some firms say search data can give broader insights for running their businesses. • Step to Consider: Numerous Web sites provide free data on what Internet search terms consumers are using.
The result was "one of the fastest-growing and most-successful product launches from a volume and revenue perspective, ever" for the company, says Christer Ljungdahl, National Instruments' director of Web and direct marketing.
People conduct hundreds of millions of search queries daily, many looking for goods or services to buy. Businesses in the U.S. this year will spend an estimated $8.3 billion to have their ads displayed alongside the results offered up by search engines, according to eMarketer Inc. Now, some companies such as National Instruments are figuring that what users type into search boxes offers insight into what people are actually interested in buying.
Businesses are learning to use Web-based services from Internet companies Yahoo Inc. and Google Inc. and other independent tools to evaluate the volumes of searches conducted on any given keyword. While few businesses say search data are their only source for product research or decision-making, some say it plays a useful role.
Companies that buy search-related advertising through Google and Yahoo can access the online keyword tools, which enable them to enter specific terms and see estimates of consumer search queries or clicks on related search ads for a given time period. Yahoo has a free online tool accessible to anyone as well at inventory.overture.com/d /searchinventory/suggestion/1.
Typing "widget" into that service, for example, indicates that consumers conducted 17,564 searches containing the word through Yahoo in December, while they searched for "gadget" 58,979 times. Yahoo says it plans to release an upgraded version this year. Microsoft Corp. has a free prototype service that offers historical monthly search volumes and forecasts for a few months, as well as an age and gender breakdown of those searching (adlab.microsoft.com/ForecastV2/KeywordTrendsWeb.aspx2).
Other so-called keyword-research services include Wordtracker from Rivergold Associates Ltd., which has a free version of its service that estimates daily query volume for terms and related keywords (freekeywords.wordtracker.com3). Some other Web sites (www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion4 and tools.seobook.com/general/keyword5) let users research keywords, drawing from the Yahoo and Wordtracker data.
In addition, Trellian offers a free version of its service called KeywordDiscovery (www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html6). Other software that companies commonly use to monitor traffic on their Web sites can provide some data on what words consumers are searching for, since it often tracks what search query led them to the site in the first place.
Google offers a free service called Trends (trends.google.com7) that lets users see graphs of relative query volumes over time for any given keywords, and even compare relative query volumes for several keyword phrases. The data on Trends are delayed by one month in some cases, and Google doesn't provide numerical values for the volumes, instead just graphing them in relative terms.
Companies use such keyword tools to help tweak the marketing of their products. Some try to buy advertising linked to the most popular keywords entered by users in searches related to the companies' businesses. Others look for the words consumers most often use in relation to their offerings and create marketing content that could be picked up by search engines. Businesses also often use software to analyze users' activities on their own Web sites to help decide what to sell and how to more effectively present it.
Siemens Medical Solutions is going a step further in selecting a name for a new personal health-card product based largely on search-related data gleaned from Yahoo and Google tools. The product name hasn't been finalized, but "the search volume research is driving the decision," says Inga Broerman, senior manager of interactive marketing at the unit of Germany's Siemens AG.
There is evidence that data about consumer searches could prove valuable to businesses in other ways. As part of an experiment, Google analyzed search-query volumes related to movies released in 2005 and compared them with opening weekend box-office revenue for each movie. The company found that it could predict with 82% or higher accuracy based on consumer search activity as early as six weeks before the opening whether a film would top $25 million in receipts its first weekend.
While Hollywood studios already have other ways, such as consumer surveys, for helping predict blockbusters, the Google experiment shows how an automated approach could be brought to the issue. The Internet company believes there are potential applications of similar analyses in other industries, such as using search-query activity to anticipate consumer demand in order to staff call centers appropriately.
Then there is the matter of product research. Thomas McDermott, owner of 4 Aces Golf in Gettysburg, Pa., is using query-volume data to help decide which brands of golf clubs to carry in the online golf store he plans to open by this summer. A former Google sales executive, Mr. McDermott says initially he can only carry a handful of brands of clubs and that he is looking to find the brands with the strongest consumer-search interest to help his business quickly get off the ground.
At National Instruments, the company recently released products used by automotive engineers to test the quality of cars. Partly based on its search research, National Instruments decided to release an additional version of the product compatible with a specific automotive data protocol. "Search helped us validate that this was a big enough market space," Mr. Ljungdahl says.
Brett Crosby, a Google senior manager for its Analytics service, which helps companies track user activity on their sites and the success of their online ads, applauds that approach. "If people aren't listening to the way customers are voting through search for what they want on their Web site and the products they want them to build, they're not listening to their customers," he says.
Write to Kevin J. Delaney at kevin.delaney@wsj.com8

URL for this article:http://online.wsj.com/article/SB117072306604598983.html

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WSJ.com - MySpace Moves to Give Parents More Information

January 17, 2007

QUESTION OF THE DAY


1
Vote: Who is more responsible for the safety of minors on sites like MySpace?2

MySpace Moves to Give
Parents More Information
Web Site Popular With Kids
Offers to Monitor Names, Ages;
Will It Repel Biggest Users?
By JULIA ANGWIN
January 17, 2007; Page B1

In a bid to appease government critics, News Corp.'s popular Web site MySpace.com is planning to offer free parental notification software -- a move that risks alienating its young users.

Parents who install the monitoring software on their home computers would be able to find out what name, age and location their children are using to represent themselves on MySpace. The software doesn't enable parents to read their child's e-mail or see the child's profile page and children would be alerted that their information was being shared. The program would continue to send updates about changes in the child's name, age and location, even when the child logs on from other computers.

WHO'S WATCHING?


• The News: MySpace is developing parental notification software that would show parents how their child is representing him or herself on the site.

• The Background: Following dozens of reports of teens being molested by people they met through MySpace, a coalition of attorney generals from 33 states are pressuring MySpace to make its site safer for teens.

• What's at Stake: MySpace is the most popular social networking Web site in the world, but its ability to attract advertisers has been hampered by concerns about safety.

The software, code-named "Zephyr," represents MySpace's latest attempt to pacify critics who claim that the site is unsafe for teens. Dozens of teens have been molested and some even murdered by people who first contacted them through MySpace, according to law-enforcement officials.

The stakes are high for News Corp., which bought MySpace in 2005 for $650 million, back when it had 17 million monthly unique visitors and very little revenue. Since then MySpace has rocketed to 60 million monthly users in the U.S., surpassed Yahoo as the No. 1 U.S. Web site in terms of page views, and is expected to generate nearly $500 million in revenues this year.

But a group of 33 state attorneys general led by Connecticut's Richard Blumenthal are investigating taking legal action against MySpace if it doesn't raise the age limit to join the site to 16 (from 14 currently) and begin verifying MySpace members' ages against public databases.

A lawsuit by the attorneys general could cost MySpace tens of millions of dollars in fees and generate reams of negative publicity, at a time when major advertisers are just overcoming their concerns about the site.

So far, MySpace has refused to take either of the steps demanded by the attorneys general. It defends its age limit of 14, arguing that it is better for high-schoolers to join with the special privacy controls designed for 14- and 15-year-old members than to lie about their age to join. "If you're 14 you'll try to get on our site anyway because your friends are going to be on it," says Hemanshu Nigam, chief security officer for Fox Interactive Media, the unit that oversees MySpace.

(MySpace users who list their ages as 14 and 15 are automatically given a private profile that can't be browsed by members who list their age as over 18. Users over 18 can't add 14 and 15 year olds as friends unless they know the teenagers' first and last name or e-mail address. MySpace members under 18 can't access "mature" groups and can block contact from adults they don't already know.)

MySpace says it hasn't yet found a solution for the attorney generals' request for age verification. "We've spoken to a number of companies and we have not yet found a firm or technology that can reliably verify the age of our members under 18," Mr. Nigam says.

Privately, News Corp. officials and others in the industry say that age verification is difficult to implement for kids under the age of 18, because they often lack a driver's license or other government-issued identification. It can be done with parental permission slips -- but it's not always easy to verify the relationship between a parent and a child, and MySpace could be legally liable for mistakes.


Zephyr would put the burden on parents to monitor whether their children are lying about their ages (a favorite gambit of some kids who like to assume other identities on social-networking sites.) Parents are also often concerned that children will provide too much real information that could make them easy prey for kidnappers or molesters. The idea is to "give parents a tool to force a discussion with their kid." Mr. Nigam says.

MySpace has to tread a delicate line to keep the spirit of its Web site intact, while continuing to add safety features. The company says it is confident that the software won't alienate teen users because it isn't reporting on the teens activities, only about the features that any MySpace user could see on a teens' MySpace profile. Mr. Nigam adds that many teens also have said they want greater protection on the site. "Our teens have told us that being safe on our site doesn't mean they are no longer cool," adds Mr. Nigam.

In the meantime, MySpace officials have been discussing Zephyr with others in the Internet industry, and facing much skepticism.

In December, MySpace demonstrated the program to the leading Internet companies, including Google Inc., Yahoo Inc., Microsoft Inc. and Time Warner Inc.'s AOL, at a meeting at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children in Washington D.C.

The meeting was filled with tough questions, says Ernie Allen, president and chief executive of the center, who worries that parents won't use the software since only 50 percent of parents currently use Internet blocking or monitoring software.

MySpace demonstrated a system that works as follows. A parent can download the free software onto his or her home computers. The software will identify any user who logs onto MySpace from those computers and collect his or her user name, age, and hometown. That information will be stored on the hard drive and parents (actually, whoever has the administrative privileges on that computer) can access it using a password. That information is also publicly available to anyone who visits MySpace's Web site, but many parents have trouble locating their kids' profile pages because kids often don't use their real names.

The software will not monitor the MySpace user's movements or email, but it will "tag" the profile and report back to the parent if the user name, age or hometown have been changed. The software will collect this information about anyone who logs onto MySpace from the home computer, so it could collect information about a child's friends as well as the child.

One big issue at the meeting was whether MySpace's software would violate the privacy of users. Other social-networking sites have more restrictive privacy rules than MySpace -- not allowing anyone to see a user's age or location, for example.

Another concern was that the software could be used by people other than parents to monitor the MySpace usage on their computers.

Still another issue is whether it will be easy to opt out. MySpace says that people who log onto MySpace from a computer that has the software installed will be notified. But MySpace says it still hasn't been decided whether users will have a chance to quit MySpace before their profile is 'tagged' by the software.

Such concerns have led some companies to decline to join MySpace's efforts, including college-oriented social networking Web site Facebook, which had 19.1 million unique visitors in December, and the blogging site Xanga, which had 4.6 million unique visitors in December, according to comScore Media Metrix.

"Based on what we've been told, Xanga cannot participate because doing so would require Xanga to share private consumer data with any third party who downloaded the software in violation of our privacy policy," says Stephen Kline, chief safety officer of Xanga.

Facebook's Chief Privacy Officer Chris Kelly says that MySpace's approach is "inconsistent with our privacy architecture." Unlike MySpace profiles which can be viewed by anybody on the Web, Facebook only allows its profiles to be viewed by people the member has specified as friends, colleagues or schoolmates or associates through another network.

Google, Yahoo, Microsoft and AOL haven't yet said whether they will sign onto the MySpace initiative, but people close to those companies caution that each has their own safety and security initiatives that are higher priority. Yahoo, for instance, provides parental controls for millions of subscribers to Internet services that use Yahoo's technology. "Giving parents the ability to block access to content is much more important than just reporting that their children have been seeing content," says Yahoo spokesman Jim Cullinan. "

So far, it looks unlikely that the new software will appease the attorneys general. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, who co-chairs the group with Mr. Blumenthal, says MySpace's software "notifies the parent too late. At best it's after the child has offered his age. At worst, it's when he's already left to meet a child predator."

Larry Magid, author of MySpace Unraveled and a Web site BlogSafety.com, says MySpace's software seems like an important step. But, he cautions "there is no tool that will solve the problem of parents not taking an interest in what their kids are doing on the Internet."

Write to Julia Angwin at julia.angwin@wsj.com3

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Trends for Online Marketing in '07

The amount of video content will increase astronomically.
Online Marketing will continue to grow as a neccessary budget line item in american businesses.
Blogs will continue to grow as a great way for people to communicate thoughts.
MySpace will continue to grow as a networking community for the world.

Just some thoughts for now, will be sure to add additional soon.

Zach