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Google Tries Milking Mobile YouTube for Ad Money

by on Aug 19, 2008 (0) Comments


Search engine giant Google has begun testing video ads on its mobile version of YouTube in the U.S. and Japan. The move is an attempt by the Mountain View, Calif.-based search engine to monetize YouTube’s video ad potential. Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion in October 2006. The move is typical for Google, reflecting its penchant for experimentation, said Laura Martin, an analyst with Soleil Media Metrics. “They’re being aggressive because they’re looking for the killer app for video ads. They’re just trying a lot of different things.”

A YouTube Experiment

The announcement came from Christine Tsai, a YouTube product marketing manager, via an official blog, one of the many ways Google releases company news to the public.

“You may have noticed that we started running a test of display ads on select pages of the YouTube mobile site in the U.S. and Japan,” Tsai wrote. “This is our first step in testing mobile advertising for YouTube — it will give you a new way to interact with content on the go, while allowing us to learn how video viewers engage with mobile advertising. Our test advertisers will also have an additional branding tool at their disposal and the opportunity to reach the millions of people who visit YouTube every day on their phones.”

Remembering Your Reader in Web Design

by on Aug 19, 2008 (0) Comments

Technology advancements have allowed for many improvements and enhancements in web design. Drastic changes have been made concerning programming, development, and available features. From flash animations, to blog pages, forums, and live chat, website designers have a multitude of design elements that can be added to their websites. Multimedia products such as audio, video, and podcasts are some of the other advancements in web design. One thing that has not changed, however, is the website readers. Successful website developers know and understand this concept, and apply it to every website that they design.

Usability
Web developers can often get so caught up in have a cutting edge, up to the minute design, that they forget about the visitors to the website. Without return visitors, and increased traffic to your website, your product or services won’t sell and your information will not be heard. This is where usability comes in. Usability basically means that your website readers are able to navigate easily through your website to find the item, service or article that they have been looking for. If the pages on your website are not clearly outlined, visitors will often become frustrated, leave your website and search for another website that fits their needs. This is why popular websites generally have an easy to read menu bar at the top or side of the web page, and navigation buttons throughout the graphical columns on the front page.

Fast Downloads
It doesn’t matter how amazing the graphics on your website look if they take too long to download. In this fast paced, microwave society, high-speed downloads are essential for a well designed website. If a video on your website takes so long to download that it bogs up the visitor’s computer, they are unlikely to return to your website, or to refer your website to others. If, on the other hand, the website has excellent graphics, videos, and flash that are quick to load and presented in an effective manner, your visitor retention rate will increase dramatically. Try out Yslow to help your site in this area.

Effective Content
Another important ingredient of a website is the actual wording, known as content, on the web pages. On the front page of your website, the content should be clear, concise and to the point. Visitors should be able to understand the basics of your website by briefly viewing this content. The content should be short stories or paragraphs which lead your visitors to the other pages within your website. Once the visitor has chosen another page on your website to view, this is your opportunity to expand on your information, offer your products or services, or inform your visitors of your contact information. Each page should have content that is limited to the overall theme of the web page, perhaps adding additional links to your other web pages, or related websites. Readers appreciate websites that have contact information, prices, and product or service descriptions clearly outlined. After all, that is why the visitor chose to come to your website in the first place!

Barack Obama wins Web 2.0 race

by on Aug 19, 2008 (0) Comments

Barack Obama has won! Barack Obama has won! That’s right, in a nearly uncontested race for digital superiority, the upstart Democratic presidential nominee has obliterated John McCain at the digital polls, trouncing his opponent with an Internet onslaught that is almost embarrassing for the Republican nominee.

Here’s some interesting tidbits from the race:

1. On FaceBook, Obama is so far ahead that the race is over. He has over 1.3M friends compared to a paltry 200K for McCain. All things being equal, the McCain FaceBook site looks like it was designed by an eighth grade civics class and Obama’s looks remarkably clean and professional.

2. MySpace, which seems a little more focused on media distribution than anything else these days, also reveals an obvious winner. Obama’s site is more personal with blog entries and lots of doodads: posters, buttons, videos. McCain’s site looks almost comatose with few updates and a cluttered, hurried design. Obama has almost 500K friends on MySapce and McCain only has about 63K.

NewsCred Goes Public With Credibility-Based News Source

by on Aug 19, 2008 (0) Comments

NewsCred, the news aggregator that ranks stories by the credibility of their source, has launched to the public. Instead of relying on popularity as many social news sites do, NewsCred instead allows users to rate each story, author, and publication’s credibility, which is then plugged into an algorithm to determine the site’s prominent headlines.

Technorati Profile

We originally introduced the site last May when it launched in private alpha. Since then, NewsCred has implemented a number of new features, including a more thorough search, topic-specific pages, and a section for breaking news.

My biggest criticism when I first reviewed the site was the apparently weak implementation of the credibility algorithm, or even the viability of creating one in the first place. Credibility is very difficult to measure, and can often be misleading. News organizations that break news may be less accurate, as tips aren’t always reliable. But is a news source that simply rehashes established information really a better alternative? The site has responded to these issues, among others, by implementing its breaking news section and tweaking its algorithm, but it is still a work in progress.

Because the site has remained private until now, the credibility scores at launch aren’t particularly meaningful, which makes it hard to judge how effective the system will be. But even if the credibility rankings turn out to be ineffective, NewsCred could still be a success. The site offers a clean and intuitive news aggregator that will appeal to users who may not be fond of traditional RSS readers. Similar offerings (that rely on different recommendation systems) include Regator and Socialmedian.

Are Personalized Results The Future of Search and Social Media?

by on Aug 18, 2008 (0) Comments

It is no secret that nearly 70% of all estimated searches are conducted using Google, but what happens when everything changes and new systems are introduced that impact and alter the way we search?

With changes to organic search engine algorithms being rolled-out in record numbers, the way we surf and browse the web being influenced by universal search, or social media like features in Google reader, to state that refinement and quality have reached a new pinnacle for search relevance and how acquired information is utilized “to produce the most relevant results for users”, is only scratching the surface.

What does this mean for SEO and the typical online experience as we know it? That now, more than ever, combined with the massive opt-in presence that Google has amassed, quality and user engagement are the underlying metrics used to dissect and track user behavior and make real time-adjustments to each individual based on personal preference.

This also means that the advent of alternative types of media are making their way to the fore-front of search. Things like video and video optimization ranks alongside grandfathered results, pod-casts, news feeds and RSS syndication are just one click away, as well as traditional site to site link surfing based on hub sites are all fusing into a seamless online model.

To some, this may raise a flag and seem a bit too surreal that a network of data centers with an artificial intelligence like persona has the capacity to store preferences and change the flavor of search results to suit your needs. To others, this is opportunity for new and exciting industries to emerge (just as SEO made its debut not long ago).

As new and improved metrics are integrated under this premise, the way things were are slowly receding into a memory amidst the new dawn of a new era in search interaction. With change, one thing is certain, the gestation period for adaptation.

Yahoo Buzz Opens Doors To Everyone

by on Aug 18, 2008 (0) Comments

Buzz, Yahoo’s Digg-like effort to leverage reader gestures and third party content in determining the most popular news, removes it’s barriers to entry tonight.

Until now only a hundred or so invited publishers could post news to Buzz. This was a big plug – Yahoo pushes a few Yahoo Buzz stories to their home page every day, resulting in huge, server-melting traffic surges to the lucky third party sites. Starting tonight, the invitation requirement is gone, and anyone can submit their stories to Buzz.

It’s hard to compare Buzz to Digg. Like AOL’s Propeller, they chose to add editorial discretion in determining headlines to reduce gaming. That also seems to make users less interested in participating, though. In Yahoo’s case the fact that they promote headline stories on the home page of Yahoo gives them a huge traffic boost, which skews results.

Search Engine Optimization Concepts

by on Aug 18, 2008 (0) Comments

Sometimes another form of language and imagery is required in order to communicate vast ideas for common consumption. This is one of such instances where an array of algorithmic functions will be given a conceptual vehicle to map their role in the creation of a top 10 ranking.

Since the concept of the universe is a great model, we will borrow concepts originating from planetary forces ranging to universal phenomenon like gravity, orbit, the concept of the internet being a giant nebula of computers sharing virtual space and employ data retrieval, etc. Bear in mind, this is only an interpretation.

If you can visualize your website as a dot and each keyword as its own orbiting sphere of influence, you have to create a series of eventful transactions (like creating content over time, building links, having a supportive format for internal linking) that classify and elevate your website as a candidate for relevance within the center of the sphere of influence for that keyword.

By viewing each keyword as a cumulative objective, like peeling away the layers of an onion, once you reach the center, your site radiates a beacon in all directions whenever a broad match or more general search is conducted with those keywords as search queries.