Author: J. Warholic

Web 2.0 Advertising Means More Sales for Your Business

J. Warholic

Internet Marketing Services

The Internet is all about interactivity

Interactivity can take many online forms in marketing a business through a website, click through emails, call to action items, enticements, free offers, games, challenges, and other various forms of algorithm learning and software items built into the web site.

Get Found OnlineNow with the new 2.0 Web that is upon us, advertising can have more interactivity built into the ads themselves. Defining Web 2.0 is rather difficult because the Web is in a constant state of change. New technologies and software are continually being developed and deployed throughout the Internet. Software applications such as Google Calendar and the online Writely company (now Google Docs) that came up with a powerful online word processing application that can save documents in Microsoft Word format are starting to change the Internet landscape.

Advertising is also becoming much more interactive especially as online streaming audio and video are becoming more and more popular for both the advertiser and the viewer. Google has recently started experimenting with video advertising through their AdWords campaigns. The advertisers have created the ads in such a way, that the ads do not irritate a person viewing them. Actually to fully view the Ad, a play button is placed at the bottom of the ad itself. By including this type of interactivity built into the advertisement a viewer can make a choice to view it fully or not. Other forms of the interactive advertisements are simply when a button is clicked more information can be displayed.

Now, a further refinement of the selling or buying process can take place with an advertisement that draws the reader/viewer into the next step along the path of completing a sale. Remember, the better you can communicate your message, and understand your target customers’ needs, the more likely you are to fill those needs and complete a sale. With an interactive advertisement, a company can now share more information than would be typically shared with a single static ad. This really makes it a very powerful tool for communicating to prospects.

I suspect as readers and viewers become much more accustomed to these new Web 2.0 Ads they will gravitate toward more interaction with the online ads, and thus the advertiser will have higher, and more qualified click through rates. This will likely be good for both the Internet Surfer as well as the Internet Advertiser. The Surfer will certainly be more trusting of a company if they can find out more information along the pathway from prospect to customer.

Visit Professional Web Services for more Internet marketing, online advertising, and web branding strategies, services, and solutions.

Advertising On The Internet With Style

J. Warholic

New Style of Interactive Online Advertising

Internet Marketing and SEO ServicesIn the advertising world much of a message is lost in the delivery. Other times an advertisement is so unique that it can really give a “that is cool” aspect on the message delivery. This can be a message that will stay in the mind of the viewer for quite a long time. Through the right advertisement message, the brand can stand out no matter what.

Take for example Nike, and their branded message, “Just Do It”. That simple statement is their branded image, that when seen or said, reminds me of Nike.

Internet Marketing Interactivity

Internet marketing is about interactivity. Many times this interactivity is designed to bring a reader to take the next step. For example, when a Web advertisement is created with the intention of taking a person to a landing page with additional information, this is only one step in the conversion process.

PPC Conversion Pathways

The conversion process has many small steps along the pathway to having a interested party become a active prospect, and then into a paying customer. They may need to become better informed prior to ever contacting the company. This could extend out several website visits and/or months of time.

If the subject matter is quite involved, then there might actually be a need to educate the prospects on the various aspects of the business before they are to even consider calling or emailing you. A website can be an excellent way of doing this. But, many times a website is a very static environment. Static in the sense that the information just sits there with little interactivity taking place with the reader. A website needs to have a certain degree of marketing creativity to really spur the conversion process on toward filling the need of the customer, even if the customer does not now understand their need.

I have read some great information on the Internet ever since I had my first Apple Power PC 6100 computer in the mid 90s. Today, there are some excellent stories online, but some are quite static in their nature. The simple hyperlinks are missing. The writer knows all about the subject matter, but assumes the reader does too. The research for the story could have been built right into the writing with simple hyperlinks to other pages with relevant information, in which the reader would be able to find out more about a particular subject.

In the online advertising world, the same static message often applies on the landing page (page transported to when clicked). There is no interactivity built into the web page. The reader is often times left hanging and saying to themselves that was interesting but I did not understand what all the words meant. The advertiser assumed that a reader would automatically know what the details are. This sometimes can be a wrong assumption.

Most advertisements online have been designed with a static delivery system. For example when an advertisement message is shown, by either the words displayed or the graphic image on a website, only one of two courses of action can take place. Either, a reader can move their mouse over the Ad and click, OR not. Up until recently, those were the only two choices.

Different Advertising Strategy

I believe that a new and different type of advertisement strategy could offer much more interactivity then previously thought. Instead of two choices: One to click, Two to not; we could have far more choices in a single Ad through a new type of menu system built right into the ad itself. For example, a single graphic ad could have different areas that are hyperlinks for taking a reader to unique content pages for each specific category.

Let’s say that Best Buy, one of the largest consumer electronics retailers, is running a special on televisions, and at the same time also has sales discounts on a certain line of laptop computers. By building in a menu area on the graphic image, with several different categories the reader could be transported directly to that specific landing page from one single advertisement. This would have the unique benefit of taking out at least one extra step out of the conversion process. Because, when a reader clicks on an ad for a multitude of products, they then have to weed their way through the forest to get to the page they were most interested in, in the first place. Sure, Best Buy could make up lots of different ads for each specific targeted market, but with hundreds or thousands of consumer products why not take them there with a menu system now.

OK, so maybe my strategic advertising and marketing plan is way out there, but just imagine the sales possibilities.

Professional Web Services, Inc., Online Advertising Strategies, Internet Marketing Services, Web Branding Solutions To Provide More Sales For Your Business.

Oh, by-the-way, if you have not gotten the hint to explore the advertisement message in this posting, I suggest you run your mouse over and see and click the International advertising flags interactivity in store…

Internet Marketing and Advertising Matrix | Web 2.0

J. Warholic

Web 2.0 Marketing 2.0 Advertising 2.0?

Getting a handle on these terms is like pulling teeth. Web 2.0 seems to be some futuristic idea which seems to be evolving from the Web 1.0 structure. On the other hand, Web 2.0 seems to be occurring now on the Internet as it now is.

I have been reading for awhile now about this future of the Net. The following is from the Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia.

The term “Web 2.0″ refers to what some people see as a second phase of development of the World Wide Web, including its architecture and its applications. As used by its proponents, the phrase refers to one or more of the following:

  • the transition of websites from isolated information silos to sources of content and functionality, thus becoming a computing platform serving web applications to end users
  • a social phenomenon referring to an approach to creating and distributing Web content itself, characterized by open communication, decentralization of authority, freedom to share and re-use, and “the market as a conversation”
  • a more organized and categorized content, with a far more developed deeplinking web architecture.
  • a shift in economic value of the web, up past a trillion dollars surpassing that of the dot com boom of the late 1990s.

However, a consensus on its exact meaning has not yet been reached.

Many recently developed concepts and technologies are seen as contributing to Web 2.0, including weblogs, linklogs, podcasts, RSS feeds and other forms of many to many publishing; social software, web APIs, web standards, online web services, Ajax, and others.

In fact it seems to be some sort of matrix idea in the minds of the proponents in which the Internet becomes much more interactive in it’s nature than the current online structure.

Others have written complete articles of what they envision Web 2.0 to represent.

What Is Web 2.0
Design Patterns and Business Models for the Next Generation of Software by Tim O’Reilly
09/30/2005

…

The concept of “Web 2.0″ began with a conference brainstorming session between O’Reilly and MediaLive International. Dale Dougherty, web pioneer and O’Reilly VP, noted that far from having “crashed”, the web was more important than ever, with exciting new applications and sites popping up with surprising regularity. What’s more, the companies that had survived the collapse seemed to have some things in common. Could it be that the dot-com collapse marked some kind of turning point for the web, such that a call to action such as “Web 2.0″ might make sense? We agreed that it did, and so the Web 2.0 Conference was born.

…

My gut reaction to all of this is that having a name stamped on a period of time like this will be like trying to place a classification on an entity where someone will ask, was that Web 1.0 or 2.0 architecture? And what about the evolution to the next level that is still to come? Will we have Web 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, etc etc?

Ok, If that is Web 2.0, What is Marketing and Advertising 2.0?

It seems to me that both of these terms reflect the interactivity and feedback mechanisms built into various types of analytics and forms of social networking through email, forums, comments, reviews, subject blogging, webcasts, podcasts, RSS feeds, news reports, affiliate referrals, and the entirety of the Internet as we know it.

See the following posts to have a better understanding of both of these terms.

As the Internet Matrix continues toward the next level we will see business take more notice of what it can do for them. Businesses that have not grasped hold of how a brand can be developed online or how their business brand image can be tarnished through the social networking (marketing and advertising 2.0) by the interactive online world will be shocked. The companies that strive toward excellence in customer service and operate with ethical responsibilities will continue to see gains in their brand acceptance and improve their market reach. In many ways, these companies that grab hold of the New Internet Matrix, will become like fine wines, that get better and better with age.

Professional Web Services provides excellence in Internet marketing services, online advertising strategies, web branding solutions to provide more sales for your business.

Professional Web Services
eBusiness Internet Marketing Services

Email us today for: Professional Web Services’ Internet marketing services and online advertising strategies.

The DMOZ ODP Report

J. Warholic
Strategic Marketing
World Wide Information

Strategic Marketing

An extensive research project on the category of strategic marketing in the ODP, Open Directory Project, also known as DMOZ was just completed.

The results were quite surprising. It was expected to see some of the marketing strategies websites listed in the directory to be outdated, poor selections, or not functioning, but not to the extent discovered.

The Open Directory Project is based on a team of volunteer editors who have been allowed to edit the categories assigned. The privilege of editor allows for the inclusion and exclusion, removal of websites, from the assigned categories. The editor also is responsible for the final description of the company listed. Editors can accept a website into the directory from a free submission, in which anyone can submit their website to the appropriate category, or the editor can do research on their own and add sites when deemed of value for the category.

Analysis Of Strategic Marketing Category

The strategic marketing category is one of the most important categories online. It is quite encompassing, in that it covers a broad range of business issues and strategies. As the Internet continues to expand, there will be a need for better sales, marketing, and advertising outsourcing, out-tasking, and collaborative team efforts from experts in various fields. Many startup companies as well as established ones need to contract with knowledgeable strategic marketing companies that can target certain areas of a business, provide opportunities to develop new markets, and better understand and communicate with their existing customer base, as well as the abilities to react to market changing conditions.

Research Tools Used In Conducting The Marketing Study

The tools used were mainly Google Search, ODP Strategic Marketing Source, Whois Source, and Internet Archives Way Back Machine.

Documenting The Study

In order to document the study, it was important to establish a new directory. The establishment of this new strategic marketing directory (since removed upon completion of the study) was started with the ODP Strategic Marketing list. All 187 descriptions for the entire Top: Business: Marketing and Advertising: Strategic category were removed and started with a fresh page of links only.

Internet Parameters For Determining Eligibility In The New Strategic Marketing Directory

The criteria for directory inclusion included, but not limited to, some of the following criteria:

  • Companies that offered intellectual value based on relevant information available from a website and would be helpful for a B2B or B2C business.
  • Companies that made some sort of online marketing effort themselves to maintain their website up-to-date. While some information is timeless in nature, not updating the site in several years was not a good reflection on the company or the industry in general.
  • Websites needed to be functional with little or no broken links. Ethics was also an important consideration.

Additional subjective parameters were analyzed with the following base parameter; strategically building up a company. Building up a company through communications, growth strategies, performance evaluations, sound marketing and advertising principles, ethics, branding, leadership training, sales processes, national and international market development, Internet marketing, online advertising, and web branding. Additional considerations were made for the international value that a company brings to the table. Relevant links to the company website or published documents were also considerations for inclusion, as well as, what current information was being written or speeches given by the principal business owners and associates.

There was one other very important factor used in the evaluation process; the copyright date. Copyright dates were used as a type of search engine bellwether for me to consider and were not necessarily grounds for exclusion with old copyrights posted on the website; however, the business was researched and reviewed with closer scrutiny in the case of old copyright dates being listed on the website.

Strategic Marketing Study Findings

The ODP had 187 companies listed from a broad spectrum of countries including: United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Germany, France, and others. The companies in the list all had English translations that for the most part were good website translations.

The number of companies that did not make the grade based on Internet parameters for determining eligibility were approximately 47 companies. Many of these 47 companies listed were determined to be simply of no strategic value because they lacked sustenance. Some of the companies were deemed ineligible because the website no longer existed. Other websites were not kept up with current information, copyrights were many years old, and other websites were not providing quality internal links to the company website.

The final results for the percentage of sites that should be removed from the ODP Directory for just this one category are 25%. Additionally while doing the online research there would have been added approximately 10 new website resources at the date of the study.

Interesting Notes

One of the interesting items to take note of is that of the lack of published copyrights in other nations. Typically most of the United States websites had copyright dates posted at the footer of the websites, though some were quite outdated. However, many of the foreign websites, including some sites from the United Kingdom had no copyright dates posted. It was as though UK websites gave very little attention to the copyright details. This made it much more difficult to verify the validity of the information and website. Much more time was required on additional research with these particular companies.

Another finding of significance was that companies that built their websites with an all Flash design were severally limiting their exposure in the search engine results pages. Many of these sites had useful content and would have performed better in the search engine results pages if the website had been developed using best practices website designs. Other sites built on Flash were of little intellectual value and were quite difficult to read because of the limiting of the font size.  In affect, the fonts were way to small to read, because some designer felt that the font text should fit only within a limited constrained space on the web page. There were however some good site designs that included just a Flash header that were well designed, and did not continually get in the way of the main body of content.

In Conclusion

While this was both an objective as well as subjective analysis, if anyone sees a company that has been removed from the new strategic marketing resources list that feels one of the original companies should be placed back on the list feel free to contact us. We will entertain the idea based on any new parameters that are of value for the B2B, B2C, or even the C2C community.

Professional Web Services, Inc.
Internet marketing services, search engine optimization, online advertising strategies, and Web branding solutions to help create more sales for businesses today.

Email us today for B2B B2C sales marketing advertising professional web services, strategies, and solutions for your business. Start growing your business, expand market reach online, improve sales, and improve the bottom-line.

Additional DMoz ODP Analysis

J. Warholic

I thought it might be good to give a update on some Internet marketing research details I have been conducting in the DMoz, ODP, Open Directory Project.

Since getting turned down to be an editor at the DMoz, I decided to analyze a particular marketing category in the ODP. At this time, I don’t want to spoil the fun and let everyone know the category.

Here is an update as to the ODP findings so far.

Starting with the online category in alphabetical order I have found the following:

Made it to the letter “G” so far. Approximately 65 websites.
Would have added five new sites.
Would have removed fourteen websites from the directory.
Most of the sites would have been removed because of little or no content value or the websites have not been promoted at all. Very few if any new links have occurred and the principal people of the companies had not been involved in any substantive way online or in the news. A few of the sites were all Flash. Although that in itself would not be grounds for removal except for the fact that several of these websites were of little online content value.

The Internet Marketing Mugshot Of A Mug Shop

One interesting story is about a marketing site that is a mug shop. I checked out the site from the Way Back Machine and it was only two years old, but was always a mug shop as far as I could tell. How this one got in this particular marketing category of the directory we will never know. The only place on the site with the word marketing was a small label at the bottom of the pages. Maybe this was one of those scraping sites, the kind where someone buys the website in order to try to attain links and Google PageRank value for their site. Or maybe someone was scratching someone else’s Internet marketing back.

Maybe stronger action needs to be taken. Read about a Google employee turning off France for a day. Read in French.

More to come

Internet Marketing Services, Online Advertising Strategies, And Web Branding Solutions To Provide More Sales For Your Business. Email Professional Web Services, Inc. For Services, Strategies, and Solutions.

DMoz ODP Internet Marketing Abuses

J. Warholic

As difficult as it is to get some Internet marketing sites listed Online in the DMoz, ODP, Open Directory Project there are many sites listed in multiple categories. In fact one website has over 230,000 listings.

Internet Marketing Abuses

Here are the top ten websites that are listed in the DMoz.
Internet statistics provided by: www.whois.sc

RankListingsDomain
1230,071CNN.COM
299,322GEOCITIES.COM
334,731TRIPOD.COM
430,133ANGELFIRE.COM
520,117AOL.COM
619,932TOPIX.NET
715,871FREE.FR
815,627YAHOO.COM
913,480NEWADVENT.ORG
109,554IMDB.COM

The list goes on further, with over 9000 websites having at least 20 multiple listings and most having more.

Search Engine Optimization Skew

I wonder, does this creating multiple listings have any affect on the search engine optimization of a particular website? If I had to lay a bet down, I would say it does.

How does this news sit with you? Are you working hard to add original content to your website and then see thousands of listings for the same website in the ODP and your B2B Or B2C eBusiness is still not listed?

I am sure there probably are solid reasons to have all the different listings, with different users having website accounts within a particular domain name, or having unique content related to a certain category. Never-the-less, having multiple listings has an affect on the ranking of certain websites. Maybe it has an across the board affect within the search engine algorithms themselves. Page Rank could very well be skewed by this effect. If we were to add up all the links that point to a site would this affect the outcome of the search results?

Here is an example of a website that ranks number one for Internet marketing on Google Search. In this particular website they have 16 listings in the ODP. Now, to be fair about this analysis, the website has approximately 428,000 pages in the Google Search listings. Given the sheer number of online web pages for content it may very well be reasonable to have more than one listing in the DMoz.

I guess these would be questions for the search engine engineers to answer. Maybe one will see this posting and respond.

If anyone else has any ideas on the subject feel free to post a comment.

James A. Warholic
Professional Web Services

Editor Application ODP – Open Directory Project – DMoz

J. Warholic

Instead of just talking about improving the ODP – Open Directory Project – DMoz I decided to see if I could help out.

Open Directory Project Editor

Applying for an editor position with the ODP is quite a connection process.

It is like giving your resume and doing an interview connection process right online.

They want to know your reasons for becoming an editor of a particular theme category as well as what you can bring to the table, along with your website affiliation history.

One of the areas that took quite a bit of research was coming up with some good quality sites that were not listed in the ODP area to begin with.

ODP Category Theme

Depending on the theme category that you would like to edit, significant time could be involved to do it properly.

For example here is what I wrote to them for the associated websites.

Here is the list of sites that I am associated with and have contributed to.

1. Professional Web Services, Inc. http://pwebs.net
2. Internet Marketing San Ramon CA http://sanramon.pwebs.net
3. The Power Of The Written Word http://blog.pwebs.net/marketing.htm
4. B2B and B2C Newsletters http://newsletters.pwebs.net http://newsletterstories.com
5. Pro Web Blog http://blog.pwebs.net
6. Professional Web Services -? Events http://professionalwebservicesphotos.blogspot.com
7. Above All – Tell It Like It Is, And Do It With Style! http://professionalwebservices.blogspot.com
8. Marketing Strategies For B2B And B2C http://marketingstrategies.backflag.com
9. Web Marketing Difference Between B2B, B2C, And C2C http://b2b.salesandmarketing.ws
10. Unsolicited B2B And B2C Emails http://emails.salesandmarketing.ws
11. Domain Name Registration http://domainnames.pwebs.net
12. Email Talk http://pwebs.net/email
13. What A Techno World http://pwebs.net/technology
14. Earth Moon And Stars http://earthmoonstars.pwebs.net
15. Email Marketing B2B and B2C Hot Topics http://emails.salesandmarketing.ws
16. Creative Marketing http://creative-marketing.pwebs.net
17. Real Estate Homes Technology http://realestatehomes.blogspot.com
18. Wild Wild West http://jimwest.wordpress.com
19. Comments Pwebs http://jimwarholic.com
20. Copyright Professional Web Services, Inc. http://copyrights.pwebs.net

Additionally I am associated with TransformTec, Inc.

Converting Intellectual Property Into Cash http://transformtec.com

You are welcome to read more of my bio from that website

http://transformtec.com/ transformtec_business_technology_leadership.htm

This was just one of the areas that was required for filling out the online application.

I spent approximately four hours gathering the information from the research and then writing the answers to the questions. The questions were all straight forward but I felt that in depth information was required.

At this time I don’t think it is appropriate to tell which open for an editor category I applied for, but if it is not against the policy, I’ll let the world know later.

We’ll see how long it takes to hear back from the ODP.

Later…

From James A. Warholic
Ethical issues for Internet users
Professional Web Services, Inc. Internet marketing services, Online advertising strategies, and Web branding solutions resulting in more sales for your B2B, B2C, or C2C business.

Response From The ODP

Response came quickly although for an open editor section I am somewhat surprised by the response.

Dear James Warholic,

Thank you for your interest in becoming an Open Directory Project editor! Although we would like you to join us as a volunteer editor, you have chosen a category that is already well represented, or is broader than we typically assign to a new editor. We would encourage you to re-apply for a category that has fewer editors or is smaller in scope, in order to increase your chances of being accepted.

Feel free to reapply by submitting an application in another area.

If you wish to re-apply, you must fill out another application.

Please do not reply to this email.

Regards,
The Open Directory Project

Additional reviewer comments:

What Really Is The ODP – Open Directory Project – DMoz

J. Warholic

The Open Directory Project
By: James A. Warholic

The Open Directory Project (ODP), also known as DMoz (for Directory.Mozilla, the domain name of ODP), is a multilingual open content directory of World Wide Web links owned by Time Warner that is constructed and maintained by a community of volunteer editors. www.answers.com/topic/open-directory-project

Has The Dmoz ODP Outlived Its Usefulness?
This is not going to be a very neutral article.

The Open Directory Project sounded like a good idea at the time but as with any project that starts off with good intentions as being a directory built by people for the people has in my estimation become a closed club with built in prejudice against adding new members. Many others on the Internet are improving their websites, are they improving theirs?

I have read many stories about the number of times that new people have submitted their sites to the project with never hearing a word of response back from any editor at the directory project.

I can tell you from personal experience with submission to the project that over the past three years and the many times that I have submitted, never once have I received a reply from an editor or staff member. I have written to various editors and staff members and have not so much as gotten a reply of any type. I had followed all of the rules to a tee; making sure the proper category was selected and the Title and Description was properly written. After not hearing from them after several months I re-submitted and re-submitted again after that with the same blank response. See Important Note Below.

They tell you should only submit one time.

You should submit your site to the single most appropriate category that is directly relevant to your site’s content. Please only submit your site one time. The ODP editors reserve the right to use their editorial discretion to determine which category or categories your site will ultimately be placed.

How to suggest a site to the Open Directory

Well, after a year and not hearing anything back the first time, I figured that was a long enough period of time to hold off before submitting again. How long do you have to wait before hearing a no response the second time?

Depending on the activity level of the editors in your area, it may take up to 2 weeks or more for your site to be reviewed.

2 weeks or more. How much more?

They say not to be upset if your site is not accepted and it is totally up to the discretion of the editors and staff to approve a site.

We don’t accept all sites, so please don’t take it personally should your site not be accepted. Our goal is to make the directory as useful as possible for our users, not to have the directory include all (or even most) of the sites that could possibly be listed or serve as a promotional tool for the entities listed.

Their goal is to make the directory as useful as possible. Come on, how useful is the directory when it has categories that never grow or change or add to the listed sites. Are we to assume that these original sites are the caretakers on the Internet?

A few categories have the Add URL link disabled, and don’t list or accept submissions.

They say adding a site is easy. Right, give me a break. They should say submitting a site is easy but adding a site to our ODP directory is one of the most difficult things on the Internet, especially if you happen to be in a highly competitive Web field such as Internet Marketing and Online Advertising and we choose to exclude you from our directory no matter how much online quality content you have.

The truth is, the ODP has sites that have not changed in substance and design for years. Additionally many of the sites listed in the ODP have not even added any new content to their websites in years. Take a look at the Internet Archive Way Back Machine to view sites when they first went online. Many have not updated their copyright dates and the Google cache results show that they do not even know how to properly set their titles and descriptions in their meta tags.

Look at the Internet Marketing Proof

Internet Marketing: Marketing Services

Let’s look at three case studies listed on the ODP 11/26/05.

Listen, sorry first off to the following business websites that I am going to talk about. But, I am going to tell it like it is and because I know the editors at the ODP could remove these sites after they read this, and I hope that does not occur, but that is why I have included an image of the results on the date stated as a proof of what is going on. If the following sites should also correct the items listed below I will be more than happy to write an article about how a business had improved their website design. Additionally, let me say that no one is perfect in their approach to Internet marketing and online advertising. Everyone has a unique trademark style and I do not really relish the thought of exposing the ODP in this way.

A3 Business Solutions – Case Study #1

The web address url is: a3businesssolutions.com
The following is the screen capture for A3 Business Solutions


First off we can tell from the captured image of the website that the last time the copyright was updated was 2003.

Next let us take a look at all the Google pages for the site.
To perform this test simply type the following in the Google Search bar site:a3businesssolutions.com

Google Search Results


It is simple to see from this illustration that the site has 6 pages displayed of approximately 8 total pages.

One more test to be performed and that will tell us how the pages have changed over the years. To perform this test simply go to the Internet Archive Way Back Machine and type in the website: a3businesssolutions.com To view how the pages have changed very little over the years with very little new content simply click on the various links and the proof is in the pudding.

Case study #1 critique

The category is Internet Marketing. This is not some fly by night category. Any site listed in this category should have everything in place. To have a site like this without proper copyrights, very little content, and to have changed very little over the life of this business is not only a poor reflection of the business but is also a poor reflection over the ODP editors and ODP project in general.

Let’s move on.

Aabstract Communications – Case Study #2

The web address url is: aabstract.com
The following is the screen capture for Aabstract Communications

First off this site is set up as an all Flash site. To see how many pages are listed in Google for this site we can perform the same test using Google Search, site:aabstract.com. According to the search engine results pages there are about 13 pages listed for this company.


We will also take a look at the archives for this website.

Case study #2 critique

From an Internet Marketing standpoint using an all Flash website is not the most practical in terms of getting properly indexed by the search engines. Search engines need to have body text in the pages, not graphic representations of text. Most well respected experts all agree that this type of site design is a detriment to SEO, Search Engine Optimization. From the results listed in the Google Search we can see several pages where the Titles and Descriptions simply do not make any sense. We see a couple of pages with Titles as “Untitled Document” as the actual text of the page in the Google Search results. How much sense does this make from an Online Advertising and Internet Marketing perspective to have this type of title? Don’t forget, this is an Internet marketing, Online advertising, and Web branding company. Is this going to do their customers justice if an all Flash site is designed for their clients?

Aactivate – Case Study #3

The web address url is: aactivate.com
The following is the screen capture for Aactivate

According to their last copyright was 2004 on the home page and 2003 on the contact page and others.

Google Search results for: site:aactivate.com

Google Search Results

According to the Google algorithm, 5 pages were displayed for a total of about 17 pages that are similar. Additionally, take a look at the Internet Archive Way Back Machine results for aactivate.com.

Case study #3 critique

First impressions from a technical nature have to do with the first clue being the copyright date. I could understand if one or two pages of a hundred page website had the wrong copyright dates listed. Even a site that was a couple of months into the new year, but not having proper copyrights that are nearly three years behind is just not paying attention to details. Additionally, this is less than a 20 page website, and it should be a piece of cake to update the pages. Second clue to something that is wrong is the Google Search Engine results showing very little quality content in the displayed results for the company. There is some underlying problem within the pages to produce these types of results. The third clue that something is not quite right has to do with the archive listings, which in fact show very little changes over the past four years.

Internet Marketing ODP Overview

I took the very first three results from the Internet marketing category at the Open Directory Project. I did not pick and chose the sites just so I could say some derogatory comments but I did it with online proof, and simply started at the top and went down the line.

The Open Directory Project has a problem. Why there is a problem could be debated for a long time with many different perspectives. But, just looking at the top three case studies from this one category shows something is not being done properly. The top three sites provide very little in the way of relevant content. How this fits in the overall caring about quality and what the ODP prides itself in is beyond me.

We care a great deal about the quality of the ODP. We aren’t a search engine and pride ourselves on being highly selective.

Well, they certainly are highly selective. Maybe there just is a little too much pride going on here. I am not sure if this can really get cleaned up. I am sure that other parts of the ODP fail in much the same way as the Internet marketing one does.

One thing that the World Wide Web can be sure of is, Professional Web Services, Inc., We Will Tell It Like It Is, And Do It With Style! Internet Marketing Services, Online Advertising Strategies, And Website Branding Solutions Today To Provide More Sales For Your Business Tomorrow. Contact Professional Web Services provider of Services, Strategies, and Solutions.

ODP Note Discovered In Forum:

How long should I wait before I resubmit?
The simple answer is “forever”.

The ODP submission guidelines used to say to do it every month, but this has been rendered unnecessary by changes in how the ODP works. Once a submission has been received, it will never go away. It will sit in that category, awaiting review. Submissions do not expire.

So the preferred method is now to suggest the site to the category and wait at least a month. If, after a month, the site has not appeared, then feel free to submit one more time only. Please note that a new submission to the same category overwrites the previous one. Editors have many ways of sorting the pool of unreviewed sites in a category and one of them is by submission date. If this is the case, then a resubmission will show up further down the list and may end up taking longer to get reviewed.

Internet Search Engine Statistics

J. Warholic

Published Search Engine Use Statistics

From a standpoint of Internet Marketing and Search Engines Use Statistics there are some interesting nuggets of information to be gleaned from a couple of online studies comparing the Top search engines.

Nielsen Net Ratings had a published report released in August 2005.

Nielsen//NetRatings Releases Top 10 Search Engine Share Rankings for July 2005

Table 1: Top 10 Search Engines Ranked by Search Share: June-July 2005

Provider / Vertical June 05 July 05

1. Google Search 47.0% 46.2%
2. Yahoo! Search 22.3% 22.5%
3. MSN Search 12.5% 12.6%
4. AOL Search 5.5% 5.4%
5. My Way Search 1.8% 2.2%
6. Ask Jeeves Search 1.8% 1.6%
7. Netscape Search 0.9% 1.6%
8. Dogpile.com Search 0.8% 0.9%
9. iWon Search 1.0% 0.9%
10. EarthLink Search 0.8% 0.8%

Source: Nielsen//NetRatings MegaView Search, August 2005

comScore Networks also published search engine use statistics in August 2005

Share of Online Search Submissions
Source: comScore qSearch
Total U.S. – July 2005

Property – Share of Search
Google Sites 36.5%
Yahoo! Sites 30.5%
MSN-Microsoft Sites 15.5%
Time Warner Network 9.9%
Ask Jeeves 6.1%
InfoSpace Network 0.9%
All Other 0.6%

Google Search Is The Search Engine Leader

Google Search is either a leader at 46.2% or 36.5%, depending which particular study is the most accurate. However, that does not exactly tell the full story. In the published studies, Time Warner Network which is made up of AOL and Netscape have either a 9.9% SEARCH SHARE stake or the other study has 7.0% combined SEARCH SHARE stake. The significance of this is that Both AOL and Netscape use Google Search for their results.

If you add up these results Google would either be at 46.4% or 53.2% of all the searches done online with the nearest competitor at 22.5% or 30.5%.

The significance of these two studies is very important from an Internet Marketing and Online Advertising perspective.

The eMail Marketing Promotions landscape is littered with INTERNET SEARCH MARKETING promises of being number one with a quick website inclusion into the smaller search engines and other types, of what some refer to as SECOND TIER search engine companies, in which they do not even show up in the study results. It makes very little sense to pay for something that at best is around 0.6% of the total searches conducted online. There is no such thing as a free lunch with promises of high traffic to your site by simply paying for quick inclusion into the search data base.

Free Website Submission

The top three Search companies have free website submit to be included in the crawls from automatic web robots which cruise the Internet and catalog the websites into their database for the natural or organic search results. Websites can even be found by the online search robots even if a website is not submitted. That is because the robots follow links from other websites and are likely to find other sites through this link process.

For help with your B2B, B2C, OR C2C Internet Marketing, SEO, Search Engine Optimization, Online Advertising, Website Branding contact Professional Web Services, Inc.

Analytics And Google Base – Sales & Marketing Home Runs

J. Warholic

Internet Marketing And Online Advertising Just Got Better

Google has just empowered the Mom and Pop Small Businesses to be able to compete with their Big Business Brothers with a back-to-back 2 Home Run Sales And Marketing Impact

First, Google Analytics was released for Free to anyone that would like to be able to track what is going on with their website. This is a Professional high end program originally developed for Enterprise internet sales, marketing, and advertising use. The program is able to provide the advertising tracking feedback mechanism for new Ad conversions and website use tracking.

Google Analytics tells you everything you want to know about how your visitors found you and how they interact with your site. You’ll be able to focus your marketing resources on campaigns and initiatives that deliver ROI, and improve your site to convert more visitors.

Second, Google Base was also released for Free to everyone that would like to market their products or services, OR information on the Internet. Base is an online version of quite a number of different types of concepts from: Classified Ads, Want Ads, Recipe Sharing, Newsletter Listings, Services For Hire, Items For Sale, Cars And Houses For Sale, and even the Ebay concept of allowing companies to upload their database of inventory for sale.

E Business Base Features That Stand Out For Me

  • Complete control of what is displayed
  • Pictures can be uploaded
  • Labels can be applied to the information page for it to show up in various categories of the Google Base Search results
  • Privacy can be maintained through an automatic private type of email process
  • A link to a more information page can be applied
  • Free hosting of information for those without a website

Click on this Internet marketing , advertising, and sales tools example of how the information can be hosted for free. Additionally, it is cool how the pictures will change automatically when the cursor is placed over the small thumbnail versions. There is even a slideshow option. This can be a great way of displaying a product or service to anyone searching online. To see how the results come up when doing a search see: Internet Marketing Services San Ramon Newsletter

Sign up for our free Internet marketing online advertising and web site branding technology newsletter to stay on top of this information today. Get from Google First Base to home plate with an Internet marketing and online advertising plan from Professional Web Services today.