A while back I went over the basics of search advertising, or pay-per-click. These are still the best place to start, and can be broken down into four areas:

• Keywords: do keyword research, and use keyword groups to segment your audiences. Also use different match types to make sure you’re targeting the right users at the right times in their buying cycle, but not overpaying for lower-performance phrases.
• Ad copy: Use keywords in your ad copy, and prioritize the relevance of what you’re advertising (in relation to the search terms) over branding or your company name.
• Landing page: Make sure your landing page is relevant to your keywords, and ads.
• Performance Tracking: Know what metrics are important to your business; monitor and improve your campaigns over time through controlled testing.

But what if you’re already doing all that? Here are the next 7 steps:
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In 2010, Facebook will develop new tools to measure the ROI of marketing and advertising on their platform.

During the first day of Social Media Week 2010, Fabio Freyre (Facebook’s VP of Advertising), hinted that Facebook is currently in advanced stages of “developing additional tools and analytics” to measure online and offline engagement within their own platform. These tools will be stronger and more robust than the tools Facebook has previously made available, which merely poll users about brands.

One of the biggest questions regarding social media and engagement is, “how do we measure this stuff?” There are professional agencies that are dedicated to measuring social awareness, buzz, engagement, and ultimately return on investment (ROI).

Specifically with Facebook, how does one know how much value to place on a “fan” (a person who has attached themselves to the Facebook page of a company, brand, or organization) of a particular brand? How much is that fan worth? What is the scale of engagement that fan has with his “community”?
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In an email to Google Apps administrators, Google announced that they will begin phasing out support for the old, outdated Internet Explorer 6

On March 1, 2010 they will drop support for IE 6 in Google Docs. Later in the year, gMail and gCal will also drop support for the outdated browser. Web developers will surely celebrate today as the day the internet was saved from the evils of IE 6. The email is reproduced below:

Dear Google Apps admin,​

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting next week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

It seems like everyone is talking about “real time” these days. But how is that affecting search? Our friends over at SEMPO New York seek to explore the answer to that question at an event they’re hosting as part of Social Media Week NY 2010.

Sounds like a great event and we look forward to attending.

From the event’s MeetUp page:

Please join us as we kick of 2010 in conjunction with Social Media Week.

This month we are joined by Trendrr, StockTwits, Sawhorse Media and Invoke Media/Hootsuite to address the concept of “real time,” from real time publishing, to real time analytics to real time decision-making. And of course, we will discuss the role search plays in the real time world we now live in.

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In the land of web design, we spend a lot of time trying to make websites reflect the aesthetics and attitude of our clients. We wondered how unified a message some of the big retailers here in New York had between their websites and storefronts, so we sent an eagle-eyed intern out to investigate.

We captured the soul of 53 brick and mortar storefronts as a basis for our comparison. Then we took screenshots each of those companies’ website homepages. Finally, we placed them side-by-side in this virtual coliseum to find out which companies make their stores work hand-in-hand with their websites, and which companies have apparently never seen a modem before.

1. Adidas

Adidas storefront

Adidas.com (USA)

On the storefront side, “gray” or “drab” comes to mind, but we’ll go with “muted.” It’s not Adidas’ fault, however, that gray is “in,” this winter. The lone bright and happy spot is the signage behind the ubiquitous SALE bait. It seems to suggest that Adidas is a candy store where the candy has been replaced by shoes.

On the other hand, we have the website, which is pretty much the exact opposite of the storefront. Its cheerful shotgunning of Skittles-hued apparel and athletic people is visually exciting, if confusing and labyrinthine. Again, we have the candy store feeling, but rather than selling shoes, the website’s hawking the Adidas brand.

2. Tommy Hilfiger

Tommy Hilfiger Storfront

tommyhilfiger.com

Tommy’s hoping that “less is more” in this storefront. We’ve got our requisite gray with a couple of nice fashion ideas to whet your shopping hunger.

Web-side, Tommy’s hoping “even less” is “lots.” Here’s your sale, here’s where you buy. Interesting that the majority of the websites use loads of color, while most storefronts are decidedly gray. Thinking caps… on!

3. lululemon

Lululemon

Lululemon.com

And now lululemon sinks my entire color hypothesis with a beautiful, bright, cheerful storefront swimming in fun shades that beg to take you by the hand and pull you into spring with fashionable athletic gear to get you in shape for summer. It’s an eye-catching display.

The website’s utilitarian layout and style seems less about selling the clothes than selling you on seeing yourself wearing those clothes. I don’t see myself practicing yoga on ice, however.

4. Victoria’s Secret

Victoria's Secret

VictoriasSecret.com

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There’s been a lot of speculation about Google Caffeine. When will it launch? What will change? What will happen to my results?

The speculation needs to stop. Caffeine is almost certainly live right now—the next query you type into Google will probably reflect Caffeine’s changes.
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Your logo is your company’s first impression, so make it a good one.

All well-designed logos share these common elements:

• Memorable—they have recall value
• Striking—they grab your attention
• Captivating—they hold your attention
• Educational—you can learn about the company just from seeing the logo
• Simple—it captures the essence of the company’s brand

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Broadway Nails

http://www.BroadwayNails.com

Happy New Year to all our clients and staff!

This New Year’s Eve, our staff came in to a nice view of a quiet, snow-covered Union Square. Check it out…

As the Founder of Blue Fountain Media, I want to wish our clients, our staff and our good friends a very Happy New Year.

2009 was a watershed year for Blue Fountain Media.  This past year saw us double in size, expand offices twice, and bring in many new areas of expertise.

The year saw us work with a wonderful group of clients- both old and new- on a variety of interesting and challenging projects.

Some of the highlights of 2009 include:

• Blue Fountain Media was awarded  a 5-Star Dun and Bradstreet Rating
• We won awards for design, marketing and e-commerce
• We earned recognition by the Web 2.0 Expo as the embodiment of “The Power of Less”
• We were singled out by About.com’s Google expert for our SEO expertise
• We successfully delivered sophisticated projects for clients like the NFL, OppenheimerFunds, Granite Transformations and the United Nations.

We are looking forward to ever greater success in 2010.

Again, wishing you all a very happy and healthy new year!!

Gabriel Shaoolian
Creative Director