Pencil Dude's Notebook

What are some examples of good powerlines and what makes an effective marketing tagline?

Podcast host and PROFIT editor Ian Portsmouth speaks with Steve Cone author of “POWERLINES: Words That Sell Brands, Grip Fans, And Sometimes Change History”: Podcast: Powerlines

Boston, MA (PRWEB) — Search engine marketing firm iProspect has published the iProspect Blended Search Results Study. Sponsored by iProspect and conducted by JupiterResearch, the study reveals that in the case of news, image, and video results, search engine users click specialized content within general search results more than they do within vertical search results.

Within the last year Google, Yahoo!, and MSN have all begun returning “blended” results for some percentage of the searches that users conduct, where a combination of one or more specialized search result types, such as news, images, and videos, appear along with traditional Web pages on the search results page. Prior to Google’s launch of what it initially called “Universal Search” in May of 2007, such specialized content was only returned as a result of a specifically targeted “vertical” search.

Amongst its key findings, the study shows:

• 36% of search engines user click “news” results within blended search results, while only 17% click a “news” result after conducting a news-specific search.

• 31% of search engine users click “image” results within blended search results, while 26% click an “image” result after conducting an image-specific search.

• 17% of search engine users click “video” results within blended search results, while only 10% click a “video” result after conducting a video-specific search.

• While images are the most clicked type of result after a vertical-specific search, news items are the most clicked type of result within blended search results.

Aversion to vertical search is nothing new as search engine users have shunned its functionality for years. So much so that the verticals’ hidden-in-plain-site status earned them the moniker of “invisible tabs” by search marketers, and relegated their content to anything but a valuable digital asset. But the development of blended search has changed all that, and this newly published study quantifies the dramatic difference in users’ propensity to click specialized results within blended search results compared to that in the vertical search results.

“Since users have historically ignored the vertical offerings of the major search engines, a marketer might conclude that users aren’t interested in that type of content, and as a result, not invest in producing or optimizing digital assets,” said Robert Murray, President, iProspect. “But that would be a mistake — the findings of this study make that quite clear. Marketers have a great opportunity to claim more search shelf space by optimizing their news, image, and video assets.”

And industry observers agree. “Last year was revolutionary in how blended search suddenly became the norm,” said Danny Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the highly-regarded industry web site SearchEngineLand.com. “But despite the change, some marketers are still ignoring vertical search. That’s a mistake, as these vertical areas provide entirely new and valuable ways to jump into the main search results. And as the study shows, you not only get into the main results but you stand out there, more.”

The study also revealed some trends in users’ behavior derived from earlier iProspect studies in 2004 (Strategem Research), and 2002 (Vote.com) in regard to the first page of search results:

• 68% of search engine users typically click results on the first page of search results, compared to 62% in 2006, and 60% in 2004,

• Only 8% of search engine users review more than the first three pages prior to clicking on a result

• 49% of search engine users who continue their search when not finding what they are looking for change and/or re-launch their search after reviewing just the first page of search results, up from 40% in 2006, and 42% in 2004

• 37% of online users associate appearance at the top of search results with a company’s leadership within its industry or category, up slightly from 35% in 2006 and 33% in 2002.

Overall, the findings of the study have clear implications for marketers. Specifically, that appearance on the first page of search results continues to gain importance, both from a traffic-generating perspective as well as a branding perspective. In addition, those organizations with a diverse portfolio of digital assets are best positioned to capitalize on the benefits provided by blended search. Those who have not invested in developing and optimizing such assets should make it a priority to do so.

“Blended search allows marketers to capitalize on their digital assets without the need to affect a change in user behavior,” said Murray. “It essentially brings a variety of content types to users - where they are most comfortable and open to receiving it - and allows them to choose between the various result types. On top of that, it increases a marketers’ available inventory and their chances of being found amongst the clutter.”

Murray summarized, “The bottom line is that companies that have optimized a variety of digital assets will have a distinct advantage. Those who lack such assets will essentially forfeit page real estate to their competitors.”

MySpace is a great place for networking, getting new ideas and traffic. However, if you attempt to rely on using their blog as your primary blog then you can easily find yourself frustrated in your efforts and goals.

Recently, MySpace in an effort to combat spam and phishers added a ‘jump screen’ to any links going off of MySpace. This ‘jump screen’ essentially tells the person who’s clicked the link that they’re leaving MySpace. It also contains language that is a little alarmist; especially if the person clicking the link isn’t web savvy.

Even more recent, (or maybe it was at the same time but I hadn’t noticed it) they have also started outright blocking some links. These links are for links that MySpace has determined to be Spam or a Phishing link.

I hadn’t run across that until I made a post the other day that ended up with the links being blocked.

Now, I’m hardly a spammer and I’m certainly not a ‘phisher’, so it was naturally annoying to have that happen to me. Kinda makes one look bad. Granted, the links went to posts that were a bit edgy but I’ve never had complaints about that before.

Thankfuly, that myspace blog is not my primary blog; in fact I wouldn’t even consider it a secondary blog. Its just something that I occassionally update when I have something extra special that I want my MySpace friends to know about.

For others at MySpace though, that blog is it. That’s how they communicate with their friends, fans and people they’re networking with.

If that’s what you’re attempting to do, I would strongly recommend using a different blogging system, where you’re not restricted in the content that you talk about or link to. Of course, the system that gives you the greatest amount of freedom is one that you host yourself on your own server, coupled with a robust blogging program — WordPress comes easily to mind.

Something that boggles my mind every now and then is how some companies who are striving to be innovative and produce viral media, somehow still manage to get it wrong and shoot themselves in the foot…

Case in point is a big studio who shall remain nameless (they aren’t the only ones though) who came up with a brilliant idea recently to showcase short comedy video series and posted them to YouTube.

The great thing about YouTube type videos is that one can link to them or even embed them at your own site or blog. Unfortunately, when I went to check out these new, awesome videos I got a message saying that the video wasn’t available in my country.

Kind of defeats the purpose of posting the videos to YouTube in my opinion…

I checked again today, after ranting about it at one of my other blogs and it would appear that now some of the videos are available in my country. Still, some of them aren’t. Ah well — a missed opportunity.

Seattle, WA (PRWEB) — WhitePages.com, a leading Web site for finding contact information, today announced that it is making its data available for free in a beta Web services API. To kick off development, the company is sponsoring a contest awarding either a 50″ HD Plasma TV or a 15″ MacBook® Pro computer for the best iPhone™ application and the best social networking application.

WhitePages.com provides free access to contact information for millions of people. In 2007 the company more than doubled the size of its database to nearly 180 million people which equals 80 percent of the U.S. adult population. Included in the company’s database are 25 million at work listings which give consumers the flexibility to connect with others during the workday and offers an alternative to calling a home number when it is not convenient.

“WhitePages.com has always been focused on helping you find contact information for the people you care about,” said Scott Ruthfield, vice president of engineering and technology at WhitePages.com. “The API enables people-centered developers to integrate the high quality data we provide into their own user experiences. Providing contact information in the context of other applications helps make the Internet a more connected place.”

WhitePages.com is making available virtually all of the same data available on the Web site for free to developers as part of the beta Web services API. Included are the company’s core search types including people search, reverse phone and reverse address. Developers can use the API to create consumer applications, Web sites, and mashups, including integrating into existing applications or combining with other Web service APIs.

More information on the API can be found on the WhitePages.com Developer Blog, and contest details and API documentation can be found at the WhitePages.com Developer Portal. Contest entries must be received no later than May 15, 2008. Winners will be notified on or around May 31, 2008.

To deliver the API to developers, WhitePages.com partnered with Mashery to provide core API management features including credential management, throttling, and metrics. Mashery is the leading provider of Web services and API management solutions, enabling companies to accelerate their web distribution channel.