Mad 4 Blog

It was a day like any other. I woke up, got ready for work, checked the ‘vitals’ on my iPhone; BBC News, Hotmail, Facebook. And there it was, staring right back at me in (appropriately) black and blue; ‘You have a friend request from Caroline F.’

This was no longer a day like any other. It felt like my entire existence had changed forever. My mother had gone and joined Facebook.

OK, so maybe I’m overreacting. After all, some of my colleagues, ex bosses, clients and even old school teachers are friends of mine on Facebook, so I’d learned the multi-generational/colleague/client Facebook etiquette a while back. But my own mother? So many thoughts ran through my mind. What will she think of my statuses? What will I think of her statuses? Will she disown me for parading photographs of her to hundreds of strangers? Will she tag me in embarrassing baby pictures? Will she even know how to tag?

When four Harvard students launched the site in their dorm rooms five years ago, little did they know they had started something so big. Now, with 200 million users and growing at an exponential rate, Facebook is a sign of the times, a global platform for all walks of life, which apparently now includes my mother.

There are now 50 languages by which to navigate the site, including Welsh (my own Facebook language of choice). And speaking of languages that make you sound like you’re choking on a hard candy, Facebook very recently launched a version in Swahili.

Just as the site’s users grow in demographic, so does its advertising, the advertisers behind it and the way in which they advertise. Like other social websites of today, Facebook provides a platform for highly-targeted advertising, giving excellent value for money to small businesses who need more ‘bang for their buck’.

Now, companies in Tanzania have an opportunity to reach their Swahili-speaking demographic in a very targeted manner without spending money and time in research and development trying to figure out exactly which geographic locations they frequent, or which newspapers they read.

With more than 4 billion minutes worldwide being spent on Facebook each day, advertisers are of course thrilled that social networking plays such a huge role on the global stage, and Facebook doesn’t have a monopoly, either.

With no national press coverage in the highly censored country of Iran, Twitter has lately been one of the only mediums for political comment on the local election since a country-wide crackdown on journalism. This cyber activism against the ‘big brother’ government means that Iranian members are also growing in their thousands, adding to the worldwide increase in social networking and a worldwide increase in online advertising.

So, after a week of getting used to it, I have learned to live with my mother being a member of Facebook. She’s now quite happily commenting away on people’s pages and photos, searching for long lost friends and expanding her own social network, one click at a time.

But I can’t help but think, who next? Will this social media fascination soon extend to my eighty-five year old grandmother wanting to look up the American soldiers she shared a beer with in World War II? Quite possibly.

Some Facts on Facebook
* More than 200 million active users
* More than 100 million users log on to Facebook at least once each day
* More than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college
* The fastest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older

Google has taken a long, hard look at its rising competition (and at the long distance it has to fall from its top-ranking slot as a search-engine-cum-online-empire) and decided to add a new line of features to its search tool arsenal. Mad 4 Marketing considers the upcoming add-ons and how they can help you better use Google as your go-to Internet resource:

1. Rich Snippets – These summaries will provide further information about any given search result, reducing the amount of wasted clicks per search, and helping browsers more efficiently identify which result is right for them.

2. Google Squared – This option creates not only a list of links, but a table which sorts and compares provided information. Google account holders will be able to edit and save this information for later reference.

3. Advanced Search Options – A panel to the side of your search results will open and allow searchers to narrow their results by specific query data such as date and genre. Multiple viewing options will also be available, such as a “wonder wheel” option that allows users to view search results in a circle, rather than a list.

All in all, online advertising experts seem to agree that it’s beneficial to us (the end user) when search engine technology developers are challenged to provide newer, faster and better options. Competition in the marketplace will undoubtedly provide web browsers with an enhanced search experience, more accurate results and more choices overall. Google’s newest search engine features should all be available by the end of summer.

Search engine optimization is not a science; it is more of an art. While rigid mathematic equations and research methods are used to derive the formulas that rank web pages, the best path to getting your website ranked amongst the top few is still very subjective and controversial.

One ongoing debate considers how selective a page should be when you’re trying to stuff it with key words. Some SEO analysts believe that one page can be so tightly written that several key words can be incorporated–meaning that the page will come up first in organic listings for each key word. Others seem to think that having several key phrases will detract from the article, because the focus isn’t as exact.

For example, search engine optimization specialist Mike Moran recently stated that a page trying to promote more than one key word at a time will not only be less effective—it might actually confuse the search engine, and lead to lower ranking. For example, if we wanted to write this article about Mad 4 Marketing and M4M, then that would be okay because they’re essentially the same word and wouldn’t detract from each other. The same thing goes if we want readers to locate this page to learn about search engine optimization, but also used SEO. However, if we wanted this page to be optimized for Mad 4 Marketing and search engine optimization, therefore stuffing the text equally with both of these phrases, Moran believes that our primary message would be unclear, and this would make our page weak. In other words, having more than one key word would be like wearing a bright blouse with a colorful purse and a pair of patterned pumps: it’s just too much, and the objective eye (the search engine) doesn’t know where to look.

Moran’s argument makes sense; there’s no denying that a highly targeted one-key-word web page won’t do well. However, when you consolidate space and use several related key words throughout the same page, you’re also reducing the size of your website and the amount of work that goes into it (aka, saving time and money). Scripting a new page for each potential target key word is indeed a lot of work—but the real question is, will it pay off?

Some say it’s too hard to build a massive site with a page per key word. Others say it’s nearly impossible to get the rankings you want otherwise. Mad 4 Marketing would love to hear what you think is the best way to optimize your website. Are you all about single key words, or are you getting results with multiple-lead pages?

For years, many debates have surfaced about IE 6 and its inability to support web 2.0 technologies. These arguments have turned toward reality as we are seeing more and more agencies turn away from developing sites for IE 6. The reason for this change has come at a time where web browsing is at its all-time high.

So why is IE 6 bad for web browsing?

Since its release eight years ago, web technology has dramatically changed. Websites are now designed for a certain web standard, which involves more JavaScript, flash and action script that IE 6 cannot support. Google, Yahoo and other large interactive companies have stopped supporting it, because it causes 20% more time and work to develop and does not support some much-loved features (such as tab browsing). In addition, the CSS support is problematic, and the JavaScript support is proprietary nonsense. These issues result in broken sites and a bad experience for the user.

Why do people still use IE 6 for browsing?

Research shows that people who still use Internet Explorer 6 are content with it, because it was pre-installed when the computer was purchase. Or, they don’t feel like seeking out upgraded or new browsers. These types of inconsistencies with users have caused headaches for web developers and interactive agencies for years. What adds fuel to the fire for web developers is that Microsoft has released two new versions both capable of running any website, not to mention other browsers like Firefox or Safari.

At Mad 4 Marketing, we support a better user experience while browsing the web. If you or someone you know is using an older browser, point them in the right direction. The latest Internet browsers are free to download, and they offer an extensive amount of plug-ins and add-ons to better enhance your Internet browsing experience.

On June 15th, 2009, Google AdWords is finally lifting its ban on brand-name search phrases and allowing customers to make bids on heretofore exempt labels (under limited terms and conditions, of course). This means that it’s time to re-evaluate your pay-per-click (PPC) keyword database to see how the addition of brand names can bring additional traffic to your Google listing. For example, if you’re in the business of selling motor vehicles, you might be able to spruce up your tagline with invocations of Volkswagen or Mercedes-Benz instead of just, well, “cars.”

Clearly, the advantages of these new conditions are incontrovertible. Resellers are suddenly able to compete on a heightened scale by more explicitly stating what they’re selling, while increasing competition with brand owners. Why did Google suddenly decide to make the change? According to AdAge.com, the company decided that allowing brand name bids would improve the overall quality of ads and allow them to be more highly targeted. Google also claims that competitiveness will offer consumers “more choice.” And it aligns the search engine empire’s policies with the more lenient restrictions already evinced on Yahoo and Microsoft. Of course, it must be acknowledged that Google expects to see significant profit from this decision—even if they aren’t blatantly advertising the fact as motive.

Security screening on keyword bidding is expected to be the tightest it’s ever been, with restrictions falling primarily on links that don’t land on a direct purchase page for the product and those that advertise competitors’ products or counterfeits. The brand name search bids are limited to the United States, as they may infringe about the trademark legal restrictions of countries overseas.

As the mid-summer deadline approaches, web marketing strategists are surely spinning their wheels, eager to reassess their current PPC structure and refinance their overall online advertising directive. If you own a Google PPC account, be sure that your online advertising agents are prepared to keep your business on the periphery by updating your keyword listings and bids to reflect these new changes. That way, you too can start benefitting from the imminent new branding guidelines for Google AdWords.