Travel search site Farecast was rumored to be a takeover target recently and the CEO has confirmed that the site has indeed been acquired by Microsoft. TechCrunch, citing John Cook at the Seattle PI, says the deal was worth something in the $100-$115 million range.
Travel search site Farecast was rumored to be a takeover target recently and the CEO has confirmed that the site has indeed been acquired by Microsoft. TechCrunch, citing John Cook at the Seattle PI, says the deal was worth something in the $100-$115 million range.
Here is a recap of what happened in the search forums today, through the eyes of the Search Engine Roundtable and other search forums on the web.
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Below is what happened in search today, as reported on
Search Engine Land and from other
places across the web.
From Search Engine Land:
Search News From Around The Web:
Applications & Portal Features
Business Issues
Local, Maps & Mobile
Link Building
Microhoo
Paid Search & Contextual
, AdWords API BlogSearching
SEO & SEM
Social Media
Video, Music & Image Search
Web Analytics
Other Items
Recent Hot Items From Sphinn, Our Social News Sharing Site:
by Mack Collier
The sidebars of your blog are a great chance for you to not only give
readers information they need, but to also shine the spotlight on
them! In Part Four of my ‘What Makes a Great Company Blog’ series,
I’ll look at how superior blogs utilize their sidebars to attract and
grow their audience.
There are three main areas you should concentrate on when crafting your sidebars:
1 - Your contact information and bio
2 - Feed subscription options
3 - Putting the focus on your readers and other bloggers
First, your contact information is a must. I must know who you are and how to contact you. You can even get creative and put this information in the header, check out the header for the
Corner Violin Shop’s blog:
You should also have a picture up of every writer the blog has, as well as either their bio, or a link to their bio. This makes it much easier for us to trust and be comfortable with the writer, if we can see what they look like. Wal-Mart (of all companies) does a great job of this at their Checkout blog.
You also want to make sure you have the standards such as categories, archives, and a search button. But also make sure that you have plenty of options available for letting your readers subscribe to your blog’s feed. Also, where you place the subscriber buttons can affect your subscriber totals. If the buttons are placed at the top of your blog’s sidebar, you’ll likely get more new subscribers than if it’s placed at the bottom.
Also make a point to focus on your readers. You can do this in several different ways on your sidebar, perhaps the easiest is to create a blogroll. Sure you can add your company’s site to the blogroll, but also highlight the blogs of your readers, as you begin to notice readers commenting, see if they have a blog, and if so, add it to your blogroll! Also, if you discover that certain blogs are popular with your readers, consider adding them as well.
Another way to put the focus on your readers is to add a section highlighting the most recent comments left on your blog. This is a great way to not only put the focus on your readers, but to also encourage them to comment more often, so they will show up on your sidebar!
As with the other elements of your blog, view your sidebars as a way to provide information that your readers are looking for, but also as a way to put attention on them. Consider it a way of saying ‘thank you’ to your faithful readers by shining the spotlight on them!
Tomorrow I’ll conclude the ‘What Makes a Great Company Blog’ series by looking at some of the best company blogs!
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Google has done it again, they announced impressive earnings, beating forecasts and showing a 30% increase in profit from the previous first-quarter results.
Google’s reported revenues of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 and a net income of $1.31 billion. Previous quarter revenues was $4.83 billion in Q4 and $3.66 billion in Q1 2007. Previous quarter income was 1.21 billion in Q4 2007. Google’s shares are currently up over 12% in after market conditions, now at $506.87.
Google has done it again, they announced impressive earnings, beating forecasts and showing a 30% increase in profit from the previous first-quarter results.
Google’s reported revenues of $5.19 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2008 and a net income of $1.31 billion. Previous quarter revenues was $4.83 billion in Q4 and $3.66 billion in Q1 2007. Previous quarter income was 1.21 billion in Q4 2007. Google’s shares are currently up over 12% in after market conditions, now at $506.87.
Earlier we reported
about the new Microsoft Live Search News
being launched. An official blog post is coming, but until then, here are more details about the
service and how it works.
One of the first jobs I have to do as a consultant going into an SEO engagement is to debunk the myth that SEO is “free”. SEO has never been, nor will it ever be, free traffic. It takes work, and that comes at a cost. You need to hire staff or allocate internal resources to manage your SEO efforts. You need to enlist an SEO firm or consultant to help identify the opportunities and prioritize them, navigate the minefields, and up-skill your internal team. You need to outfit your in-house team with on the tools of the trade (SEOMoz Pro, Internet Marketing Ninjas, etc.), send them to the conferences (all the SMX conferences, of course!), provide them with training intensives (e.g. SEOClass, SEOTraining), and various other professional development and networking opportunities.
One of my favorite plug-ins is the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar. Don’t be fooled by the name. While it’s specifically designed for Web developers, the toolbar has many options and features that are also useful to search marketers, usability consultants, and SEO analysts.
The toolbar has far too many features to describe in a single article, but here are a few highlights. Use them to quickly help clients see design options and/or problems with their sites and demonstrate a solution without actually changing the site’s code or layout.
One of my favorite plug-ins is the Firefox Web Developer Toolbar. Don’t be fooled by the name. While it’s specifically designed for Web developers, the toolbar has many options and features that are also useful to search marketers, usability consultants, and SEO analysts.
The toolbar has far too many features to describe in a single article, but here are a few highlights. Use them to quickly help clients see design options and/or problems with their sites and demonstrate a solution without actually changing the site’s code or layout.
Video Search engine Blinkx has announced five ad deals in recent weeks, along with other new initiatives. Blinkx reminds me of the old New Riders of The Purple Sage song, âKeep on Keepinâ onâ. Despite mounting competition from both bigger rivals like Yahoo, Google and AOL and new start-ups, Blinkx just âkeeps keepinâ onâ.
Video Search engine Blinkx has announced five ad deals in recent weeks, along with other new initiatives. Blinkx reminds me of the old New Riders of The Purple Sage song, âKeep on Keepinâ onâ. Despite mounting competition from both bigger rivals like Yahoo, Google and AOL and new start-ups, Blinkx just âkeeps keepinâ onâ.
Late last week Microsoft Live Maps introduced “ClearFlow,” based on four years of work and data collection. ClearFlow is intended to provide traffic predictions and better secondary routing. Now, as reported in Google Operating System, Google Maps has introduced its own version of traffic predictions, based on historical traffic information.
Late last week Microsoft Live Maps introduced “ClearFlow,” based on four years of work and data collection. ClearFlow is intended to provide traffic predictions and better secondary routing. Now, as reported in Google Operating System, Google Maps has introduced its own version of traffic predictions, based on historical traffic information.
There are two new interviews available, one from Google’s VP of search quality, Udi Manber and one from Googler, Matt Cutts.
Popular Mechanics interviewed Udi Manber and posted the interview transcript online. Matt Cutts did an audio/podcast interview with Duct Tape Marketing. Here is a summary of my notes from each interview:
A provocative headline and somewhat less provocative article in Popular Mechanics argues that social networking will kill search “