This week I attended a small networking event that included a talk about how important a good CRM system can be to your business. This got me thinking about the fact that as search marketers we never really get involved with the back end of the conversion process. We’re the glory boys in some respects – get people to the website and encourage action but if processes aren’t in place to do something with these leads then you’ve just wasted a heap of cash!

So today I encourage everyone to take a look at not only integrating their media mix but also their back end systems. Get web leads to parse straight into your CRM tool, have live stock numbers listed on your e-commerce site, allow customers to view previous purchases! Full integration – that’s my new mantra! If you’re still unsure about this and you are an SME in need of understanding more about CRM integration then do please check out this innovative kiwi company: http://www.i-track.net/ which I think is my first plug!

Anyway on to today’s exciting news about search engines, web news and the like!

First is a gadget. Hot on the tail of the iPhone and the G-phone comes the equally ridiculously named BlackBerry Storm. Touch screen and full web browsers seem to be the future of mobile. More reason to ensure that your website is mobile compliant and look at i-mproving your mobile search if you think people might need your products or services on the move!

Bit of a techie article but a really important part of SEO. This article explains the problem of canonicalization. Please have a quick read, ensure you don’t have any canonicalization issues and then forget about it! URL Canonicalization: The Missing Manual

Last week I wrote about Firefox’s plans to integrate location software into their browser. Well the beta version was released today. Feel free to download it but if your machine dies – not my fault! New Firefox beta even faster than FF3

One thing within AdWords that has really caught our attention is the new feature that allows you to build your own image ad in a matter of minutes. No more long lead time for a banner for that tactical campaign. Build your own display ads in minutes. If you’re willing to give this a go let me know!

This article is a bit of a Google sales tool but there are some interesting take-outs from this posting. Worth a read if you have a quiet minute. Giving Your Competitors the Advantage? Website Optimization in Tough Times

Well, once again have a great weekend and until next time I’ll leave you with my website of the week. Everyone’s heard of flickr but my tip for this week is you ever need a great image or photo for a presentation try flickr. There are literally thousands upon thousands of copyright free images on the site that you can download and use! Great for those last minute rushes!

Well, doesn’t time fly? Another Friday, another quick tour around the world of search engines and internet news!

Firstly, technology news. Firefox yesterday announced that its latest release will include what they are calling “location-aware technology“. For a taste of what this will be able to do you can download the loki add-on right now! YouTube has reacted to last month’s launch of MySpace Music with the ability to buy tracks from iTunes and Amazon.com without leaving YouTube. This means you can watch a video, then download the track, without leaving YouTube.

Anyone ever sent a drunken email, then somewhat regretted it in the morning? Well our friends at Gmail have come up with an ingenious solution: Mail Goggles. Between the hours of 10pm and 4am if you try and send an email you will need to answer three mathematical questions before the mail gets sent! Ingenious…

So on to the good stuff…

Many of our clients spend months developing a new website and then use Google Analytics to analyse the behavior of visitors on their new website. Sometimes this just isn’t enough. Sometimes you need to ask your visitors straight. Did you like my website?, and did you find what you were looking for? If this sounds like you then you might want to check out this article about developing online surveys then try one out for real at http://4q.iperceptions.com/.

Whenever we discuss SEO with potential clients or indeed with paid search clients contemplating optimising their website we always ask why?, and what do you want to get out of it? It is always beneficial for us to understand the objectives of an SEO project, and then a strategy is then defined from there. If you haven’t yet committed to SEO but thinking about it then please read this article which explains the importance of having clear objectives and a defined strategy even before you talk to people like us! What You Need to Know Before Committing to SEO

The fundamentals of SEO as you have I’m sure you have heard me say before is code, content and trust. Trust boils down to links. Lots of relevant and authoritative links. Sounds easy but in reality link building is often a often a slow and laborious process. To get a bit more understanding about the importance of link building please read this quick article: SEO Link Building Fundamentals

Quick one on social media. If your current task list includes building a social media strategy for your organization (or yourself), then read this article that walks you through thinking about the branding created by the profiles you create. Branding Strategies for Your Social Media Profiles on the Web

This excellent article from Search Engine Land looks at tools currently available to monitor what your competition is doing on the video sharing sites. Not for everyone but useful nonetheless. Video Search Hacks For Checking Competitors

Thought that each week I would share one or more of my favorite websites or tools that are either fun or just a little brilliant.

This week I would like to introduce you to an invaluable tool called Crazy Egg. This tool supplements your web analytics and allows you to get much more information about how people use, engage and interact with your website. Much more accurate overlays, a really neat heat map and loads of other features. If you want more information on getting this working on your website just give me a shout!

Cheers and have a great weekend – hope the sunshine sticks around!

This week I’m excited to start our news round up with some news from right here in New Zealand. Google announced yesterday the ONE News YouTube Election Debate between Helen Clark and John Key, a history-making initiative with New Zealand’s public broadcaster, TVNZ. This marks the first time the head of a national government and a challenger will face YouTube video questions in an official live TV debate. The debate will be broadcast live on TV ONE on October 14. For your question to be included in the broadcast check out the NZ You Tube Blog.

I’ve been asked a number of times over the last couple of weeks my take on the Yahoo / Google Advertising Agreement. I’m afraid like most people I was a little confused about the whole arrangement so if like me, you are at all interested check out this site for a better answer than I can ever provide! http://www.google.com/yahoogooglefacts/.

We are at any one time running a multitude of pay per click campaigns for different markets, countries, industries and we are always amazed at the huge difference in CPC charges from as little as $0.05 to as much as $35. This has got a lot to do with the industry and the market but also a great deal to do with what Google calls “Quality Score”. In the same way that Google scores a website for organic search the same is true for paid search. By ensuring that your quality score (which includes factors such as: landing page relevancy, historical click through rate, page load time) you can start to see a major decrease in your CPC and thus an increase in your ROI. More on this here: Google Quality Score Explained

I guess it would be difficult not to mention the economic downturn and the effect it may, or may not have on digital marketing. I’ve been reading lots of contradictory information from people trying to speculate on what will happen to the advertising industry globally in the coming months. I like the article below as it uses what we as marketers understand best: trends. This article looks at what we should expect based on the outcomes of previous downturns… Economic Depression 2.0

One of the truly amazing things in my opinion is the way Google takes conformity and throws it on its head. A shining example of this is Google’s vision for our wireless future. “Earlier this week, the search giant filed a patent application with the U.S. Patent Office describing its vision of an open wireless network where smartphones aren’t tied to any single cell phone network. In Google’s open wireless world, phones and other wireless devices would search for the strongest, fastest connection at the most competitive price. Essentially, wireless operators’ networks would be reduced to “dumb pipes”. Google reveals wireless hopes in a patent

So, you’ve decided to start a new business, or you want to extend the business you have. One of the first things you’ll need is a domain name. As we know Google tends to give weight to keywords in the domain name. This increases the importance of selecting a good name. This article gives you a step by step guide to choosing an SEO optimised domain name: How To Choose Domain Names For SEO

Finally a couple of fun little posts: It was bound to happen but the headline from this BBC article made me chuckle: Google ‘Goliath’ Microsoft says. And, to celebrate its 10^th birthday Google is giving us the chance to step aboard a Time Machine: Search like its 2001.

Have a great weekend and ’till next week!

Well, Friday again, and another exciting week in the world of web and search marketing! It would be difficult not to start with the launch of the “Google phone” although from all accounts, it’s a case of “nice try, but better luck next time!”.

For me however the best Google fact of the week is this startling piece of information: “13 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute”

This is from an in-depth article on how Google sees the future of online video… For those without a calculator this means that each week 131,040 hours of video content is added to YouTube. Hope Google has some pretty large server capacity!

Everybody who receives this email probably uses one or more social network, be it Facebook, LinkedIn or maybe even MySpace, but this article gives a really great overview about who around the globe uses social networks and how the users interact with advertising. You might not be thinking about social networks as an important marketing tool at the moment but don’t be afraid to get involved! Social Networking – A Global Perspective

This article is incredibly valid for a NZ audience. One of the biggest challenges we face is tracking “click to bricks” traffic. I.e. a browser who researches online who then buys offline. This article gives a number of tips that to measure offline impact (conversions) from your online channel: Tracking Offline Conversions: Hope, Seven Best Practices, Bonus Tips

One of the things that you may or may not know is that for some time now Google has been customizing your search results based upon your preferences, search history, geographical location, previous query, etc. etc. This is unimportant for most but Google now will tell you if the result you have has been customized so you have an option to revert to a normal result. Google Now Notifies Of “Search Customization” & Gives Searchers Control

Interested in knowing what the next big music battle is going to be. Well the first salvo has been shot from MySpace with their launch this week of MySpace Music. Fundamentally, Add tracks to your profile, public, and private playlists and play them as many times as you want for free. Going to be interesting to see how Apple reacts…

As you may already have deduced, I’m quite keen on the whole idea of cloud computing. The idea of having all my digital information, (including music, video, data as well as the usual suspects of documents and email) available from anywhere I am, using any number of devices is incredibly attractive. One company in the USA has really taken this whole cloud computing very seriously by moving their whole IT function online by:

• Hosting email and shared calendars on Google Apps
• Using Google Docs for their wiki and for shared word processing and spreadsheets
• Hosting website and blog at TypePad
• Sending outbound email through DNSExit
• Host DNS with DynDNS
• Sends out customer surveys with SurveyMonkey
• Test software on many different platforms using CrossBrowserTesting.com

Read more about their experiences click here… Keep your head in the clouds

Finally this week if you are interested in winning $10,000,000 then look at Project 10 to 100. Google is looking for ways to change the world… If you have an idea that you think could change the world, get your entry in quick!