Vulcan Golf now wishes to add a RICO 18 U.S.C. §1962(a) charge.

“The plaintiffs now seek to file a second amended
complaint repleading certain of their previously dismissed claims and adding a RICO count under 18 U.S.C. § 1962(a).”

I believe Google using its power and organization to engage in illegal activity. The illegality trademark infringement, profiting by trading on trademarks owned by other via typosquatting, and of course the organization is the Google the registrars and the Domain holders. But my reading of RICO tells me that there must be a vilolent act to qualify under RICO. Can anybody help clarify that?

Google Adwords has added the load times of the destination url to the quality score. What this means? I think there may be a rash of servers being upgraded, conversion of dynamic pages to flat html and a lot of attention to graphic load times, sequence, preloads etc.

Google’s metric does take into account the general region that the site is located in and compares it to the average of the site load time in that area. This will help to even out the difference caused by connectivity.

Load time to be incorporated in Quality Score

As we strive to continually improve the user experience, we’ll be adding a new element to Quality Score: landing page load time. Waiting a while for a page to load isn’t a positive experience and can hurt your conversion rate if users decide to abandon your site. To learn more about this change and where you’ll be able to see your load time evaluations, see our Inside AdWords blog post.

Social Media Marketing, the new media Web 2.0.

Social Media Marketing has been coming on strong for some time now. This is a wonderful new area of the web. The struggle I have seen with many people is understanding its business impact. As marketers it is difficult to get your head around such a viral arena. On one hand SMM brings reach because it is so prolific. The number of pages and profiles coming online make the early days of the internet pale.

Reach Dilution

My first question is how to leverage this reach for marketers when on first glance it appears to expand the reach opportunities in advertising and at the same time dilute the effectiveness of advertising. On the other the target of SMM advertising, the relevance of the audience goes up exponentially.

Demographic Targeting

I like this revolution of adverting to the original onset of Search Marketing. At first it was an educational sale and a tough one at that. The impressions of Search Engine advertising are so small compared to the cost per thousand, CPM, model it is staggering. At the same time the value delivered by SEM and the return on investment make it one of the best media buys in the industry. This is because the SEM audience is predisposed to your product or offering by nature of the search terms entered into a search engine. SEM is no longer tenuous media, in fact it has joined the ranks of mainstream and any serious marketing is obligated to this space.

The Me Too! Effect

Will SMM make the same transition? The jury is still out on that one. The flood of rapid entrants into this media makes it appear so. These entrants may have learned that SEM is now mainstream and many marketers have missed the boat because of a wait and see position. So now these same marketers are flooding into the space espousing it’s virtues.

No Silver Bullet

The truth lies somewhere in between for SMM however. It is time consuming and and arduous endeavor. But if done correctly it can rival the best that Madison Avenue has to offer in results.

Stay tuned for SMM tips and how to make your SMM program a success.

What is Internet Marketing?

Internet marketing, IM, is any activity to market or proment a service product or even a message. IM can be made up of various different subsegments.

Search Engine Optimization, SEO. Enabling a web site to properly indexed by search engines.

Search Engine Marketing, SEM, also known as Paid Search, Pay Per Click.

Web PR - Blog writing, posting, press releases.

These are all campaings. Most people understand SEO as a task, skill or project. It really is a campaing that needs it’s on budget goals, planning and proper execution.

NetSearch Direct, based in Richmond Virginia provide all of these services.

Scrubbing leads generated from lead generation campaigns has always been a challenge. What is a good lead? Most campaigns generate a high percentage of bogus leads: John Doe at 123@nowhere.com. NetSearch Direct has addressed this issue for many clients by providing lead generation metrics that really work. Tracking phone leads is one way that works. Phone calls from prospects are proven to be one of the best sources available. Quantifying these leads by defining the length of call NetSearch Direct can deliver leads filtering the wheat from the chaff.

Adotas article, Lemon Law For Leads , chides the industry for not defining leads. We are proud to be int he forefront of this issue providing client solution where the industry on a whole cannot.

Lemon Law For Leads?
Opinions: Anyone who participates in online lead generation is left with one of two conclusions at the end of a campaign: there are either a disproportionate number of John Smiths at […] More…

Here at NetSearch Direct we have been working with local search for years. Just recently, JupiterResearch has come out with reports stating that local search advertising has become the leader in online marketing. Since we started with local search we have seen a large shift in advertising budgets, from traditional media to online media promotion. We have particularly seen this shift in budgets throughout our Internet marketing.

Our tools and resources are constantly advancing and giving us control over the market. Many of these benefits have been available to larger corporations for several years now. These same tools are now available to the small business owner, giving them much more effective use of their advertising dollar.

“According to the US Online Local Advertising Forecast, 2007—2012, released by JupiterResearch, local advertising will increase by 13% from 2007 to 2012.” In the recent article, Local Takes The Lead, Research Says, posted on Adotas.com, the huge impact that local search is going to have on online advertising, in the next few years, is highlighted. “The biggest impact is anticipated to be made by local display and search advertising with compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) of 18% and 16% respectively, during the next five years.”

To learn more about Internet marketing, please visit NetSearchDirect.com.

For more insight into the considerable expansion of local search read the complete article Local Takes The Lead, Research Says.

By Sarah Novotny, Sr. Editor
Adotas.com
Wednesday, January 30^th, 2008

Waaaay back in 2003, Fredrick Marckini wrote about how companies were overlooking the “big numbers” of visitors brought to sites by natural (organic) search engine marketing campaigns.  In the bada-bing-for-the-buck thinking, most of the attention is on pay-per-click campaigns.  In his article, Marckini provided some very big numbers — 2,734,632 and 9,478,416 and 20 million — the numbers of visits to selected sites through natural search.  Why bring this up today?  Because a lot of firms are still missing the big picture: a really successful marketing campaign must include both paid and natural search engine marketing. 

Pay-per-click marketing gets all the limelight because it’s predictable - it’s cause and effect - with costs known up front.  Natural search is anything but predictable and the cost can only be calculated after the campaign — and some benefits come long after the end of the campaign.  Oh yeah, and natural search requires changes to the deep underbelly of the web site — a scary proposition for someone who has just spent tons on a newly-designed web site.

Here are the salient points Marckini made in 2003 about why a company needs both natural and paid search for the best ROI — these points still hold true:

Marketers must target the behavior of the search not just the clicks.  The search query is the most powerful customer indicator of how people are finding your site.

A limited monthly budget may cause your site to disappear for part of every month; a limited daily budget may cause your site to disappear for parts of every day.  A natural search campaign ensures your listing is available 24/7 - appearing high in natural search results means your site is in front of the searchers.

Your PPC results are based on the amount you — and your competitors — pay for selected keywords.  Natural search results are based on a wide range of keywords that cost you nothing as they are used day after day, week after week, month after month . . .  

So, as Marckini indicates, both natural and paid must have equal voice in your Internet marketing.  The task is to find the balance for your industry, your products, your business model.  So if you haven’t visited your natural search campaign lately, dust it off and get it working for you.

Internet Retailer is conducting a survey to find out what Internet companies are doing to gear up for the holidays and when they start doing it. As they put it:

Here’s your chance to see how your online holidays sales and preparations compare to the rest of the e-retailing industry.

This month’s survey addresses key holiday merchandising, marketing and technology issues and trends, with an eye toward measuring how successful retailers are in attracting holiday traffic and converting visitors to buyers.

The results of the survey will be published in the November 2 (2006) Internet Retailer NewsLink and the November issue of Internet Retailer.

For information about subscribing to Internet Retailer to participate in the survey and get the results, follow this link — http://www.internetretailer.com/IR/USA/