Seeing that Stephen Spielberg’s film Lincoln now has twelve Oscar nominations, it got me thinking about how I would handle such an online hot property if I were to be so lucky as to own one. Indeed what is a hot property and what do you need to do to handle it well and make it super-hot. Continue reading
Some may have noted that one of the SMM blogs, BPWrap, is now at a new location. A more fundamental change is that SMM has also moved its online location. Again a 301 permanent redirect was used so this maintained search engine visibility throughout the switch and ensures continuing high rankings in keyword searches. However the move does illustrate some aspects of choice of company name and associated domain, so we will cover those aspects here.
Our very long-term friends may remember that the predecessor company to SMM was BPW & Associates. You can still see the online traces of BPW & Associates in the WayBackMachine. The web pages there date back to September 1998.
That company name was satisfactory before the Internet but only the 800 Lb. Gorilla companies could rely on being found once Google and the other search engines swung into place. What was then important was to make sure the company would stand out from the crowd while being associated with keywords that described its field of activities.
Thinking along those lines produced the name, Strategic Marketing Montreal, and the associated domain, strategicmarketingmontreal.ca, was acquired in December 2001. The short version, SMM, had some important competition on the Web, but by now SMM ranks quite well in a search for the name. It is only outranked in a search for SMM by three heavyweights:
In 2007 however, another SMM came on to everyone’s lips: that was Social Media Marketing (SMM). Since Social Media Marketing has become an important part of Internet Marketing, it was natural to use the SMM short name for the company and rely on its by-now natural online visibility.
Late in 2007, SMM moved to British Columbia. Since the online presence was unaffected, the old domain continued to be used for a time, given its acquired good standing. However it was only a matter of time before a change had to be made. The name of the company was changed to SMM Internet Marketing Consultants and of the possible domain choices the strongest candidate was smmbc.ca. A search for SMM BC will bring you right there.
If in your blog or your website, you linked to any of the SMM Newsletters or articles, it would be most helpful if you would ensure the correct URL is now showing. Visitors do not get lost in using the old URL but this will help confirm the switch with the search engines. Just replace strategicmarketingmontreal.ca by smmbc.ca. We look forward to many more years of providing insights and revelations on the Internet marketing world from this new home.
Update
A Search Engine Journal article, URL Structure: The Closer to the Root – the Better?, provides a pleasing confirmation of the wisdom of this move. .. and of course the new URL is very easy to type in.
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In the lucrative search market, Google may have the lion’s share but Yahoo and Microsoft, the other major players, are continually seeking ways to undercut that dominance. Now we hear that Microsoft Plans Major Ad Push Around New Search Engine; Is The Name Bing?
AdAge previously reported that Microsoft was planning a major ad campaign to promote a relaunch of Live Search this spring. It now says that Microsoft will spend between $80 and $100 million on advertising, almost double the amount typically spent on the launch of a consumer product. The campaign will span TV, print, and online. It is so large that ad firm JWT is actually hiring while most of its competitors are shedding employees. AdAge says the campaign will “focus on planting the idea that today’s search engines don’t work as well as consumers previously thought by asking them whether search (aka Google) really solves their problems.”
Google would strongly refute that message, perhaps by pointing out that it offers More Search Options.
We have spent a lot of time looking at how we can better understand the wide range of information that’s on the web and quickly connect people to just the nuggets they need at that moment. We want to help our users find more useful information, and do more useful things with it.
We are announcing a new set of features that we call Search Options, which are a collection of tools that let you slice and dice your results and generate different views to find what you need faster and easier. Search Options helps solve a problem that can be vexing: what query should I ask?
That approach may well counter the Microsoft challenge. After all powerful advertising campaigns do not necessarily mean that the new Microsoft Search – Bing, Kuomo or whatever it is called – will be any better than the previous Live Search that has been notoriously erratic.
What Google Search Options may not do is help in the more heated arena where Google battles Facebook.
Google increasingly sees social networks such as Facebook as challengers to its search engine. As people search out advice online for everyday, personal decisions, the standard list of links served up by Google is not seen as intimate or trustworthy. For decisions such as choosing a restaurant or a day care provider, social networking sites or known review sites have an advantage, said Google Group Product Manager Ken Tokusei. Such sites offer information from friends or acquaintances, and users tend to trust that information more.
Google does allow users to add opinions to search results but this approach really has not gained any traction. However I believe the key battle-ground is regular search where Microsoft will pitch its Bing. I believe Google is in a position to adopt an approach that the others will have a very hard time matching. This will be outlined in a follow-up article entitled, Google Can Continue To Dominate Search With A Customer-Centric Strategy.
Please make sure you have subscribed to the RSS News Feed so that you can see the follow-up when it is published.
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Google has worked hard to improve the quality of the AdWords adds that appear on blogs such as this. The AdWords blog frequently has posts on how the quality scores are being improved. In general that means that the banner ad and the ad at the top of the right sidebar should hopefully appeal to visitors to the blog.
It was therefore somewhat surprising to note from traffic data the following block of ads in the right sidebar which one Google searcher would have seen. Can you guess what post that appeared with?
Surprisingly it was a post about a super-premium blended Scotch called Chivas 25 that retails in Canada for $400 dollars a bottle. The AdWords advertisers are clearly targeting high rollers. At least that is clear for all except the second advertiser. No wonder they are looking for worship on a budget if they have such expensive tastes.
Related:
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Check out some of the latest posts on the other SMM blogs.
