Normally the phrase “close, but no cigar” is considered a bad thing.  However, given the recognition that NeboWeb has received lately, we’ve taken to viewing the phrase as a positive indicator of where we’re headed.  Although we didn’t win a Webby (the Oscars of the Internet), we were recognized as an Official Honoree for the REVALESKIN website design in the Pharmaceuticals category of The 12th Annual Webby Awards. 

The Official Honoree distinction is awarded to work that scores in the top 15% of all of the Webby Awards submissions.  With nearly 10,000 entries received from all 50 states and over 60 countries, this is an outstanding accomplishment for NeboWeb.  We are especially proud of our accomplishment considering the fact that many of the winners had much larger budgets and better known brands.  We’re not going to give away project prices, but both the REVALESKIN project and the AMY Awards Finalist American Fiber Systems project were under 100k in total project costs. 

The AMY Awards finalists included American Fiber Systems (NeboWeb), FEMA (JWT/RMG Connect), and Manheim/Cox Enterprises (Bright Impact, Inc.), with FEMA bringing home the AMY award in the Web & Interactive Marketing Generating Awareness / Leads category.  Beyond the top 3, there was stiff competition including those who were submitted, but didn’t become finalists such as Kroger (Avenue A), Renaissance Homes (Olive Studio), Home Depot’s 2007 Kitchens Microsite (Moxie Interactive), and many other great sites with strong, recognizable brands.

We’re excited that NeboWeb is being recognized for quality work, even when compared to clients with much bigger project budgets and better financed brands.  Of course, we don’t believe that we didn’t win because the winning firms simply had larger budgets.  The winning firms and their clients collaborated and produced great work and we applaud their creativity and execution.  We’re simply honored to be recognized for our work given the competitive landscape and the high-quality work being produced. 

Maybe next year we’ll win, but in the meantime we’re enjoying the recognition we’ve received and we’d like to congratulate all of the firms that were recognized or that won a Webby or AMY Award this year.

NeboWeb embraces the future and past of interactive marketing with its planned integration of its proprietary project management tool, TimeTravLR, with Google’s gDay.  In addition to the gDay integration, NeboWeb also plans to integrate TimeTravLR with Google’s Custom Time.

Check out the press release to learn all about it (http://www.neboweb.com/press-room.php?id=104).

Check out the site and video below to see how it works!

Site: http://www.timetravlr.com/
Video: http://www.timetravlr.com/making_of.php.

The TimeTravLR press release is located at http://www.neboweb.com/press-room.php?id=103.

You’ll have to excuse the blatant, self-congratulatory post, but we’re rather pleased with ourselves.  A project we created for American Fiber Systems has been selected as a 2008 AMY Awards Finalist.  That, my friends, is a big deal.

For those of you who may not know, the AMY Awards is the annual awards program presented by the Atlanta chapter of the American Marketing Association, an international organization consisting of 45,000 professional marketers in more than 100 countries.  The Atlanta chapter is the fourth largest with almost 1,000 members who meet regularly for luncheons, mixers, meetings and the annual AMY Awards. 

Now, it may sound cliché, but simply being named a finalist truly is an honor.  There were more than 130 entries submitted by more than 40 marketing and public relations agencies on behalf of 72 organizations.  The finalists were selected by measuring delivery of results, the impact on business objectives and the successful execution of marketing best practices. 

In short, that means we’re doing our job and doing it well.  The nod places us with the best Georgia has to offer the marketing world.  Of course, we’d love to win, but we’re quite proud of our team for consistently creating the kind of work that got us to the finals.  It’s like the Oscars.  We’re donning our black ties, gowns and heading off to the Fabulous Fox Theatre to sit with the best Atlanta has to offer.  With any luck, we’ll be back in a few weeks with even better news!

We find it funny that our particular industry, Search Marketing, is still viewed with a touch of mysticism by some.  It’s not that intriguing, really.  Many of the SEM professionals actually originated in the more traditional roles of marketing and advertising.  Many came from the worlds of graphic design and programming.  In short, SEM is more like an old profession in a new market.

Now, we’re not “old”, but we’re certainly not young.  We may not remember the invention of the TV, but we do remember the embracing of Cable TV.  We remember losing the rabbit ears for a brown box with red numbers.  We also remember many people dismissing Cable as a fad.  Unlike the BetaMax, Cable TV has not only survived, but thrived throughout the years.  Television has gone from 3 channels to 800.  The role of Cable TV has even changed other industries by challenging phone companies on their own turf.  Yes, we have seen change.

We have also seen the Internet change.  We have literally seen the internet crawl to its current state.  Call us speed freaks, but what did we do before broadband?  We’ve also seen companies come and go, live and die on the Internet.  It was only natural that marketing evolve and establish its roots on the Internet.  As more and more people came online to exchange information and ideas, it was only a matter of time before companies began to follow.  And where there are companies, there’s money to be made.  And you’ve got to spend money to make money.  Industries all over the world evolved.

Marketing evolved, too.  Now, SEM is a worldwide practice.  Still, some look at SEM as some kind of black magic.  Some still see a shroud of secrecy wrapped around our industry.  Well, we’re here to tell you there’s no secret.  There are people looking to give you money for whatever it is you have to offer.  Like those before us, we simply help your customers find you. 

It’s a totally different medium, so we employ totally different methods.  That much is obvious.  If the old methods worked, we wouldn’t be here.  The world has been changing for years and it will keep right on changing.  The smart ones, like always, will evolve right along with it.  After all, it’s only change.

Content is king.  Or at least that’s the mantra of many SEM’s.  It’s also accurate.  As such, the power of creating quality copy for your sites is a fairly common topic among SEO/SEM industry bloggers.  It comes up at least once a week in the forums I read and it’s a valid point.  Writing optimized copy is an absolute necessity when it comes to optimizing your site.
 
If you don’t offer your visitors anything worthwhile, why would they return to your site?  The work horse of SEO is your copy, the actual words on the page.  Without quality copy, you might as well stop the rest of your attempts at site optimization.
 
Sure, paid campaigns can get you to the top sponsored spots, but what good is that if you have nothing to back it up?  Not only will you never rank for the organic search terms, but those who do click through won’t stay.  People want to feel like you’re speaking only to them.   They want your site to read like a conversation, because most people actually envision what they’re reading.  They “see” a conversation taking place as they read your copy.  It’s like you’re actually having a discussion.  Of course, in some cases you can have an actual discussion using Social Media Optimization (SMO), but that’s a post for another day.  For now, let’s focus on keeping your readers’ attention by creating informative copy. 

You’ve got to speak to the reader by avoiding terms like “we” when discussing your products or services.  The reader doesn’t want to read about how great you are.  The reader wants to read about how great you are for what they need you to do.  You’ve got to appeal on a personal level.  You make widgets.  Great!  Don’t take an entire page to tell me about how long you’ve been making widgets.  Use that space to tell me how your widgets are going to make my life easier!
If done correctly, your website copy should be optimized for search engines without even trying. 
If you’re honestly giving your visitors informative, compelling copy, you’re giving them what they want, what they’re searching for.  In the end, it’ll be those words that lead the search engines, and your new clients, straight to your front door.

In an attempt to come up with a witty and entertaining post for today, I spent the morning looking for the top search terms for Valentine’s Day.  To my surprise, I found very few services offering this type of information.  There were several sites showing search trends, but only one place really showed the popular terms for any given day.  Yahoo! Buzz offers a variety of information based upon what Yahoo! users are actually searching.  AOL has a similar set up, AOL Hot Searches, but it didn’t seem as organized or nearly as in-depth.  Anyhow, the only real kicker about the Buzz seems to be the delay.

While you can see search popularity for a number of categories, you can’t get the info for 2 days.  What does that mean to you and me?  Well, it means that we won’t have any entertaining Valentine’s Day search results until tomorrow.
 
According to the Yahoo! Buzz FAQ, it takes 24 hours to process the results.  The processing time creates a pause in posting results, so it really takes 2 days to see the info.  Like I said, I’ve been looking for Valentine’s Day results from yesterday’s Hallmark holiday.  That was a Thursday.  The Yahoo! results won’t be posted until tomorrow, a Saturday.

It’s understandable.  That’s a lot of data to crunch and I’m happy they provide a daily breakdown at all.  It seems like everyone else is reporting weekly or monthly trends on particular terms.  That’s fine for something like targeted keyword research, but information that specific doesn’t really do anything to satisfy my little lunchroom poll based on the broad range of possible search terms from Valentine’s Day. 

I guess I’ll just have to wait until tomorrow to see if Cupid was busy searching for the best price on roses for his lady friend or if he was simply sitting in his mother’s basement, searching for various other stuff.

With the recent discussions surrounding the possible purchase, or hostile takeover, of Yahoo! by Microsoft, I’m left with a fairly simple question.  Will it do any good?

It’s no secret that neither Yahoo! nor Microsoft have been able to come close to securing as much of the search market share as Google.  In all honesty, Google has absolutely trounced everyone in the business and has been steadily creeping into other markets to do more of the same, because Google’s products work.  The vast majority of their products do exactly what they say they’re going to do.  Not only that, but Google hasn’t been as openly evil about squashing everyone in their path (a lesson Microsoft never quite figured out).

Google is at the very top of its game and expanding rapidly into every other market including outer space!  Both Yahoo! and Microsoft have been trying for years to take Google down a peg or two with no success and it isn’t for a lack of trying.  The two companies have even been working together in recent years, but they haven’t been able to make a dent in Google’s almost monopolistic rule of search.   So what will they be able to accomplish as a single company that they haven’t been able to accomplish as partners?
 
If anything, a merging of numbers 2 and 3 will require a lengthy blending period, stalling their plans for some time.  By all accounts, a merger would be a long, hard road to travel, because each company has its own set of fiercely loyal employees.  Employees whose loyalty may only be outweighed by their sheer hatred of the other company.  That creates a hostile working environment at best.  There’s even been reference to open internal sabotage if the companies go through with a merger.  However, even if they embraced each other with loving, open arms (doubtful), would they be more likely to unhinge Google operating as a single company?  I doubt it. 

Google has won its large share of the market by consistently delivering quality results.  Their stuff works.  Period.  Google may not have the communal feel of Yahoo! or the . . . stuffy, business-like image of Microsoft (?), but they do have reliable and relevant search results and that’s what we’re talking about.  Still, if there is to be a merger, Yahoo! brings with it a dedicated community and an ever growing set of tools.  Microsoft has gobs and gobs of cash, so they bring the bank to the table.  But, Google has gobs and tools of its own.
 
It’s going to be an uphill battle whether they continue to go it alone or if they eventually join forces.  This is a fight Microsoft should be very familiar, because they’ve been on the Goliath end for decades.  The suits know how hard it is to win a fight this monstrous, because they’ve been squashing the little guys for years.   Having the experience of the opposing side alone should send shivers down their collective spines.

Of course, the old saying is true.  The enemy of my enemy is my friend.  So, Yahoo! and Microsoft have a common interest at stake - survival.  However, I don’t think the common goal of survival by defeating Google is strong enough to abandon the most primal instinct of self preservation.  A partnership built on envy and fueled by mistrust doesn’t stand any better chance than if the two companies continue to attack Google on their own.

We’re just days away from Super Bowl Sunday and we all know what that means . . . a new round of commercials!

The clash of the year’s best teams is obviously the central event, but it’s no exaggeration to say the halftime show and flurry of world premier ads are the reason non-sport types tune in.  Historically, the ads broadcast throughout the Super Bowl have launched hilarious new campaigns for existing products and brought much deserved attention to the relative newcomers in the television advertising game.  I’m talking to you GoDaddy.  As interactive marketing professionals, we all love to see what’s unveiled on Super Bowl Sunday, so you can bet we’ll be watching with the proper assortment of beverages and junk food nearby.
 
The ads during the Super Bowl have become an institution in their own rite.  They’re as much a part of game day as the halftime show, and in most cases much, much better.   History has shown us campaign after campaign of imaginative and attention grabbing spots.  The beer bottle football championship games were a big hit in their day.  In fact, the talking frogs remained a fixture in television advertising well past the following year’s Super Bowl.  Over and over again, the Super Bowl offers some of the best ads of the year.

Most of them tend to lean toward the humorous or outright ridiculous and I wouldn’t have it any other way.  Personally, I prefer the humorous to the controversial, so I’ll suggest the “Terry Tate” ads by Reebok were probably the best ever.  Seriously.  Having an “office linebacker” was a great idea and it made me laugh out loud.  It still does.
 
If memory serves, last year was pretty lackluster in the commercial department, but I will always tune in with renewed enthusiasm.  I can’t wait to see what Sunday brings.  The Internet will be buzzing after each commercial airs.  You can count on that.