Hello again and hope you find today’s web news and articles of interest!

In a week that has been dominated by the collapse in the world’s financial markets thought I would start with looking at the future rather than the past with this fantastic look at what the future has in store for computing; The intelligent cloud

Firstly a mixed week for Google; In the same week that You Tube have banned videos that use guns, Google has decided to allow adverts on abortion following a legal challenge from a Christian pressure group! But the upcoming ad-sharing deal between Yahoo and Google is being watched by European regulators. It’s worth keeping abreast of these events as it will no doubt have ripple effects for the NZ market, especially for those of you who regularly advertise overseas. EU scrutinises Yahoo-Google deal

We often ask clients what their campaign KPI is, or indeed their most important success metric. If you’ve been asked that question and were unsure of the answer then check out this interesting article that will help you decide if you should be targeting conversion, share, traffic or something entirely different: Eight Rules for Choosing Web Analytics Key Performance Indicators

I’m often asked if social media such as facebook, twitter, blogs, RSS and the like really has any place in selling product or indeed helping drive traffic to a website. My answer is always yes, but only with a lot of work and only if you have a specific objective (see above!). This article takes the angle of how social media can help your PR projects… How Social Media Can Help Your PR Efforts

Here in New Zealand we are way behind the major markets of the USA and the UK in terms of online media spend, especially in term of growth in online video advertising. So it is interesting to see that it looks like in the US the market is already reaching saturation point!! Online Video Advertising to Peak in 2012

I like this one: One question which almost everyone asks themselves at some point:Can Google Be Trusted?

Here at SureFire because we spend all day thinking about search engines (and most of us are still sane I promise!) but we are often forget that many people out there don’t really know the first thing about search engine optimisation. Well, if anyone in your company is still confused about this whole SEO thing then send this article top them: The 3 Cornerstones of SEO

And finally a couple of Google tools that you may find useful. Firstly, Google Insight for Search is a very useful tool that allows you to research and compare search patterns for specific search phrases over different locations and time frames. And secondly, Google Trends which can give you a really quick insight into search trends and also into volumes of visitors to websites. Great for comparing your website to your competitors!

Have a great weekend and ’till next time!

Big announcement from Google this week in the name of its new browser Chrome, which by all account already has over 2% of the browser market and it’s still in beta! If you’ve not tried it then do download and check it out – it is light, fast and has some really nice features. Apparently next on Google’s list is complete domination: http://googleworlddomination.com/

Apple on the other hand had a lackluster conference this week, just announcing some new iPod nanos and iTunes 8 which I do recommend you check out, if not just for the Genius application that lets users automatically create playlists from songs in their music library with just one click.

An article here that may be a lifeline for the humble banner. A US company has developed a way to allow banners to become transactional. Check out the story here: Allowing Web Users to Transact Through Ads

However much I try to explain the benefits of Search marketing to increase brand awareness most marketers don’t agree so great to see this experiment from Google validates my thoughts: Click or No Click, Google Says Paid Search Pays

Google is ten years old this month so check out this article which outlines some of what Google expects to see in the next few years – the focus being on cloud computing! Spin around Google’s decade.

Also, when asked this is the answer to the question of what Google imagines the perfect search engine to be: Your best friend with instant access to all the world’s facts and a photographic memory of everything you’ve seen and know. That search engine could tailor answers to you based on your preferences, your existing knowledge and the best available information; it could ask for clarification and present the answers in whatever setting or media worked best. That ideal search engine could have easily and elegantly quenched my withdrawal and fueled my addiction on Saturday. I’m very proud that Google in its first 10 years has changed expectations around information and how quickly and easily it should be able to be retrieved. But I’m even more excited about what Google search can achieve in the future.

Here at SureFire Towers we often wax lyrical about the importance of at integrated online strategy. Well for all you B2B Marketers out there here’s an article that explains the issue and solution rather well! A Call to BtoB Marketers – Integrate Search Now!

Wondering how politician’s use the online space to promote themselves, then check out this article that talks about the budgets Obama had been spending online: Google Grabs Most of Obama’s $5 Million in Online Ad Spending. Like it or not like us even the next leader of the Free world can’t help spending most of his budget with Google!

Ever wondered how many people actually watch You Tube and why it might be a good idea to get to grips with this online video malarkey – well check this out: YouTube Dominates July 2008 Online Video Rankings with 5 Billion Views

Finally, if anyone like me seems to lose that important email at just the wrong time check out this handy application for outlook. Makes email life a dream! http://www.xobni.com/

Well, it sure is better than our old site, but yes, it’s not quite perfect. And, in fact what site is ever perfect at launch. We work with clients both big and small during their web development process; with designers such as Simon at FrontEnd Design who designed this site, and developers such as Gen-I, TouchPoint and countless others, but the fact remains the same that it is not until after the site goes live that the real work starts. It is at this point when the real usability studies come into play, bringing the theory of conversion optimisation into reality and it is not until the site is live that you find out whether or not anyone actually can find, let alone reads your blog! You also truly find out why you invested money in SEO experts and Analytics experts.

Never has a the phrase “the proof is in the pudding” been more relevant than when it comes to seeing if all the hard work you and your developers have put into a website until the day you go live. And that is why it is imperative to ensure that you constantly optimise and tweak your website – never rest on your laurels!! Check your analytics programmes, look at the keywords that is driving traffic to your website (and more importantly optimise for the ones that aren’t), and keep in contact with your designers and developers. Ask them to undertake periodic reviews of your site, ensure that the design flows and the code is pure. That way, you know your site stays fresh and engaging.

So, firstly a big thanks once again to the team at FrontEnd Design for the fantastic design, Brave New World for the branding, Ryan at TouchPoint for the programming and lastly WordPress for the quite sensational CMS!

We will be optimising and improving this site over the next few weeks, as well as working our SEO skills on all areas of the site, to ensure we get back up the rankings at the top! See you there!!