Marketing Today: A World Made Global by the Internet

IM - Strategic Internet Marketing™

In my last several blogs I’ve mentioned “differential advantage” in comparison to several marketing strategies. The first was Google’s differential advantage over it’s competitors, placing Google as the number one name is Search Engines. Not everyone uses Google; however, just about everone knows who Google is, therefore also giving them superior name recognition.

The second, in my last blog, I briefly touched on was the Yellow Pages differential advantage. They dominated their marketing arena for over a century. At the end of my blog I asked the question: “What do you do with your Yellow Page Book?”

Today I want to dig a little deeper in this thing called “differential advantage” and how the Yellow Pages have lost their edge.

Differential Advantage:
in simple terms is putting your customer first in all aspects of your business. And, looking at your product or services through the eyes of your customer.

When Nokia had gained a huge market place advantage over its competitors by creating a better phone at an affordable price for the masses, they were listening to what their customers wanted. And then, they added better services plans, wider calling areas, free in-bound calls. They saw and understood the needs of their customers. However, they lost much of their momentum when they didn’t listen to their customers changing needs.

A new wave of cell phone users was entering the market, younger, stylish, aggressive, on-the movers who wanted their phones not only to be funtional but to represent the kinds of lifestyles they were living. It was Sony who picked up the reigns first and realized that cell phones are basically cell phones - what sets them apart is YOU! So you should have a phone that represents your lifestyle as much as being functional. When Nokia tried to continue their marketing efforts on the functionality of the phone and add functional features they found that they lost their edge: funcionality vs. stylish. Sony outpaced everyone with their sleek, stylish, colorful and changeable - adapting to your lifestyle phones. Nokia finally caught on but they lost a large part of their market share and had to play catch-up.

How does this compare to the Yellow Pages?

The speed with which people took to the new technological wonder call the Internet and the WWW was nothing short of phenominal. The telephone didn’t grow as fast. I remember one of my favorite quotes said: “Why on earth would we need something like a telephone? That’s why we have all these message boys. — (Reaction to Bell’s new invention 1884)”. Especially if you were the owner of the largest message boy service in a city - would you want to promote or believe in something like a telephone? I mean really! Sending voice messages over thin air and being able to receive them through a tiny thin wire? Come on!

It took less than 10 years for the same number of people to get on the Internet as it took over 60 years for the same number of people to have a television in ones house and over 80 years for the same number of people to have a telephone. Who would of thought of such growth? Certainly not “The Yellow Pages”. They did not jump on the band wagon right away leading the advance into the technological future. Instead, they fought to keep the “message boys” or should I say - their way of marketing - known as traditional marketing. They liked things the way they were and hoped that people would remain loyal because they had been around so long.

They forgot one very important thing: Your current customers don’t have to do business with you anymore!

The Yellow Pages stopped listening to their customers and their customers needs. They tried to hold on to their way of doing business and missed the rapidly changing marketing tool called the Internet. How could they compete? Whti the cost of advertising in the Yellow Pages such that it is, you could build a complete web site for less money, get more pages, include more information, add content rich text and vibrant colors and change information on the fly offering new specials almost instantaneously to current and new customers. Not only that, you could analyse specific marketing dynamics and direct your web site and advertising directly to people who are currently looking for your product instead of hoping to reach someone who might (in the future) need your product. Target Marketing!

With the Internet came the availability to target your market and to even know how many times a day some one searches for your specific product or service. This is a huge advantage over just about any other marketing plan previously available. By the time they decided to capture some of that advertising marketing (it is my belief) they had lost their edge. People realized that there was somewhere else to go and the Yellow Pages - even the new internet site of Super Yellow Pages was outdated, out moded and inefficient. There were other sources - and far superior ones.

Unlike Nokia, the Yellow Pages acted too late and lost any advantage they may have had. What will become of them in the future is anyones guess but it is my hope that they will stop putting  paper books at my door and deliver a compendium of their entire listing on DVD (if they have to) at the very least — make it searchable and easy to navigate and I might take a look at it. But for me? even that is probably too late. Since I can find whatever I want on the Internet much faster and the information is far more complete - who needs the Yellow Pages anymore?

Author: CidaGM

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With the Age of the Internet - Has the Yellow Pages Outlived It’s Usefullness?

Remember when good marketing meant to have an ad in the Yellow Pages? What a great concept. Putting all the business listings in one place and delivered to every resident of a city. They had an edge over their competition. They were on the top of their came. Back then they created a “differential advantage” over their competitors because they were able to get in front of more people who needed that service. Can you imagine getting your business name to every resident of your city. And if your ad was appealing enough - people would call.

How long ago was back then? Well!, in a brief synopsis about the “History of the Yellow Pages” - Mary Bellis in About.com writes:

The very first time the term yellow pages was used was in 1883.

The very first time the term yellow pages was used was in 1883. A printer working on a regular telephone directory ran out of white paper and used yellow paper instead.

In 1886, Reuben H. Donnelly produced the first Yellow Pages directory featuring business names and phone numbers, categorized by the types of products and services provided.

In 1909, St. Louis produced the first Yellow Pages directory with coupons.

The businesses of coarse paid indirectly for the distribution while their customers benefitted.

What was their advantage to overpriced ads and little actual content? They were in every house. They saw the growing needs of the consumer wanting to feel in touch with the growing businesses around them. They were looking at their product through the eyes of the customer. And so, like the customers who wanted to know - their business clients wanted to be known. Things haven’t changed much in a hundred years.

They were able to secure a differential advantage over their advertising competitors by getting into every home. Other magazines that specialized in information had to sell subscriptions to get into the home. They focused on a more select group of people but they were not in every home.

What happened to the “Yellow Pages” concept of marketing? They stopped focusing on the customers needs and seemed to focus on the business who advertised with them. And then (I personally believe) the progression continued to spiral downward until the bottom line of keeping their way of business the main focus. It was no longer the customer with a need to have (at that time) instant access to the businesses in their community, nore was it the business trying to get his brand known; it was about survival - plain and simple. Keeping a way of doing your business alive because it worked in the past - and that is how we always do it and how everyone thinks it should be done.

How did this progression of thought come to me? Well, I was doing some business with a company here in Las Vegas and I had to go to their office. They have a nice office in a business complex (with limited parking - only drawback). Anyway, from where I parked to walk to their door I had to walk past an entryway and the business mailbox center where I saw about twenty, Las Vegas “Yellow Page” books stacked on top of each other in the foyer. Now I know that they have been there for almost two weeks because I have had my copy delivered that long ago. Obviously these businesses are not in such a rush to get their new yellow page listings. Me? I put mine in a corner of the book shelf and it collects dust. I know other people who use it to prop up their computers to keep them off the floor and reduce static. I am sure there are many other uses for yellow page books that I have left unexplored.

In the meantime ponder this question: “What do you do with your yellow pages book?” Leave your comments, I would love to hear from you.

In my next blog I will go into how the “Yellow Pages” form of advertising was lost to the Internet.

Now, some people only use it as a doorstop or to set their computer on to get it off the floor. I personally haven’t used one in years.

What do you use your Yellow Page Book for?

Author: CidaGM

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Google’s Differential Advantage vs Microsoft’s Monopoly

I was laking with my wife last night after the kids were in bed, the final quiet moment of the evening; and I was sharing about a business model that I had read about. The conversation turned to the latest news between Google and Microsoft and the bid on Yahoo. Not much to report that hasn’t already been said. When my wife said something to the effect about Google having the monopoly on the search engines.

Something in what she said and the way she said it triggered a response that made me want to disagree with her. I guess because my Wife and I are usually very careful about the words we use - something she said didn’t ring true and I had to think for a minute to determine why. Then I realized - it was the word “monopoly”. It is the same word that I have been reading people throw around on the internet with reckless abandon when they really have no clue as to what they are talking about. It is the kind of word that lots of bloggers have been using about Google ever since the news story broke about Microsoft trying to make a hostile bid for Yahoo.

“I hate Google because they have the monopoly anyway”, “it serves Google right - they need some competition, they already have the monopoly”, etc…

So many writers speaking out of ignorance rather than challenging the discussion with facts and understanding, or in the least - something useful to say. And all the Google haters were not speaking from having first-hand-knowledge, or from some well grounded fact - they just didn’t like Google because it was (to them) getting too big or making too much money - jealousy reasons, envy perhaps but certainly not knowledge.

My Wife doesn’t hate Google - it is our favorite search engine. However in my line of work I spend a fair amount of time using quite a few of the search engines so we have (what I feel to be), a well rounded experience dealing with the search engine companies and their many offers, advantages and disadvantages. I told my Wife that Google doesn’t have a monolopy on the Internet - they have a “differential advantage” yes, but not a monolopy. A monopoly is what Microsoft would tried to do if they had bought Yahoo.

Let me break it down this way - defined by Webster Dictionary

monopoly

Main Entry: mo.nop.o.ly
Function: noun
Definition: 1: exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2: exclusive possession or control
3: a commodity controlled by one party
4: one that has a monopoly

To monopolize something means to try to control it and not have or allow any fair competition. Like what Microsoft trys to do with its OS and Browser. They haven’t succeeded but that doesn’t keep them from trying. Other very successful monopolies that come to my mind are the electric company here in southern Nevada - and I am sure they are the same where you live. And how about that gas company. These are working monopolies. I mean really, even if I wanted to I wouldn’t be able to get electricity from any place else - there is no one else. No competition because they shut out the competition a long time ago.

I explained to my Wife that Microsoft, with it’s proven track record of creating browsers that are resource intensive, and don’t conform to the programming standards, trying to force people to use it when you buy their OS, etc, etc, etc.. were trying to monopolize the way people use their computers and how they search the Internet. It was one of the main reason they didn’t want to open up their source code for inspection and possibly - creative and stable solutions to all the bugs they have.

Whereas, Google has what I believe is “differential advantage” over it’s competitors. They are open about what they are doing. They strive to keep the Internet an open and free resource and tool for people. What they have done in ten years is create a better product by differentiating between what people want and need and gave it to the majority. It didn’t hurt that the product actually worked better. I mean really - if FORD made cars they way Microsoft builds operating systems - we’d all go back to riding horses.

Differential Advantage is when you look at your business through your customers eyes, as a customer, and with the usefulness to a customer. Differential Advantage is what gave Google the edge and they work hard to stay where they are. Google doesn’t have over 80% of all search activity on the Internet. And even if they did - and I still had other options - it wouldn’t make it a monopoly. Only if they started to force me to use their service exclusively and then charge for that service, kind-of-like insurance companies.

I think one of the best descriptions of differential advantage is simply: “keeping your face to the customer and your back to the business.” Quote from The Marketing Mavens by Noel Capon - a highly recommended read on great marketing strategists and how they look at business from a customers viewpoint.

You can dominate a market without monopolizing it just by creating greater value for your customers and clients.

Special Footnote: We love to hear comments from you and if you have questions we will respond back. Please keep comments relative to the blog.

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The sun has yet to rise into the clear sky over Las Vegas. Often I like to sit in the early morning, watching the sun rise while I sit and write. It is not an opportunity that I get often enough - quiet - but when I do, I certainly enjoy it.

Today I was thinking about why I care about what so many web sites look like, and how responsive they are in the face of a new global market. I feel like far too many people are either being deceived (whether intentional or not remains to be seen), or just being ripped off. I’m not sure which is worse. There are “leeches” in our society today - and unfortunately, even in our industry - who feed on the ignorant and exploit them for their own personal gain - never thinking about the longer ramifications.

I know that the small to medium sized business owners don’t have millions of dollars to spare when it comes to building a business. Sometimes they don’t even have thousands of dollars to spare. And it infuriates me to see business men and women getting inferior products for something they have spent their hard-earned money trying to create to help grow their businesses.

A web design company that doesn’t create a web site with all the proper, optimization components to begin with - what crime is he committing? Fraud? Theft? Sabotage of your business?

I’m talking about “Web Designer”, “Web Developers”, “SEO specialists”, and beginning phase “Internet Marketers” in reference to the early stages of web development through the first, initial completion phase. When “web designers” all across the globe charge money for a project and give back an unfinished product that actually hinders a customers business, what services has he done? Or what crime has he committed? Fraud? Theft? Sabotage?

What about the companies that charge you for a web site design and then want to charge you extra for SEO (search engine optimization) and again extra for internet marketing because they didn’t design the web site correctly to begin with?

Yes, it is true that there are many aspects that come after initial design when it comes to marketing and optimization. There must always be continual modifications and upgrades in order to stay on top of your field and in front of your customers. The Internet has changed the way people look and things and the way they look for things. People have also changed and are changing in their needs so marketing campaigns need to change with them in order to stay relevant and appealing to their customers. You need to capture and then recapture their attention as you grow with the times. However, it is not those modifying changes that I am talking about. It is the initial concept to creation that is not getting done and businesses are at a lose because of it.

I have always said that creating a web site does not begin with the first line of code and internet marketing does not begin after the web site is created. Creation of a web site begins in the conceptual phases and internet marketing must be integrated into the discussion at that early phase. It must all flow together from the start otherwise your business is wasting time and money.

I guess what upsets me the most is when I see a web site created by a “web site designer” that doesn’t even have a “Title”. And then when I look at the page source there is not description or keywords attached to the web site. This is NOT part of the search engine optimization phase that takes place after your web site is up - it MUST be done right in the beginning. My Grandfather use to tell me: “Son, if you don’t have time to do it right the first time - when are you going to find time to do it again?”

Programming a “title” into your web site should never be an “added feature” it must be part of the main feature. It is paramount to the success of your business!

The title must flow into the description and keywords, which need to flow into the header tags and your content which specifically target your audience and even possibly your location. This must be “standard operational procedures” for all web developers from the beginning - not an additional expense after the shell of your web site is up. And I really mean “shell” because without this basic flow of programming that is all you have - a shell of a web site good for nothing but collecting dust on the Internet. Programming a “title” into your web site should never be an “added feature” it must be part of the main feature. It is paramount to the success of your business.

Next; in today’s market, your web designer must be including an XML site map, an RSS Feed and and HTML site map. Two for search engines and one for human consumption. These are three files that should never be left out of a web designers development for you as a business owner. They should be SOP - and if they are not you are getting less than bargained for.

I would like to see business owners hold their web developers to a higher level of standard than just creating a bunch of shells on the internet that don’t help you in any way. Continual internet marketing is one thing but initial design should be held to a higher standard.

Finally - how do you make sure that you are getting what you need from your web designer:

• Be prepared with the right questions before you hire a web site designer
• Be specific about what you want and what they are creating for you
• Help prepare your content text with specific markets in mind
• Follow-up by checking the source code and make sure the most rudimentary programming is completed - this should all be part of the basic design price - not an added cost.
• Don’t be afraid to ask questions during the production phase - I find that the most difficult web site to develop is the one where the owner (or project coordinator) doesn’t take enough time to make sure the designer has the content, descriptions of products and services, etc…
• And make sure the web site is not finished until the basic design requirements are met.

Work with your web site developer - and they will work with you. They will understand your needs and better be able to implement them. Remember, it is still your business - and the future of your business that is at stake.

I hope that this blog will help you to ask more questions - look a little deeper - and expect a little more from your basic web site development. The market is changing! Yesterday’s web sites will not reach today’s marketplace. Don’t let your web designer use last years techniques to define next years marketplace.

If you have questions or comments about this blog - feel free to post them here. I will respond to ever comment - as long as it is relative to the content of the blog. Also, if you have experienced a bad web design experience - share it with other so that more people can learn and hopefully together we can hold the future of web design to a higher level of excellence!

Author: CidaGM

A Web Designers Perspective

In the beginning there was Aliweb (1993), WebCrawler, JumpStation, Infoseek, & Lycos. Followed by the popular AltaVista in 1995 (whatever happened to AltaVista?), and Excite. Several more were founded that are still around today and then came Google (1998). It is hard to believe that Google is only ten years old. In infant at best - but what a precocious child!

The art of search engine optimization is a valuable asset to every company that wants to be noticed on the Internet. And although it is only one part of the broader spectrum - internet marketing - it is essential for your growth as a business doing business online.

As an internet marketing anaylist, I spend a lot of time looking at web sites, marketing and ROI(return on investments) in order to assist people wanting to make the most out of their advertising and marketing strategies - especially in the online industry. Since the internet is still fairly young, I believe that we have yet to scratch the surface of it’s potential. And with it constantly changing, we must be more diligent than ever in keeping up with those changes.

In the beginning, early web site designers didn’t care so much about meta-tags and keywords. People didn’t realize the importance they would play in the larger scheme of things. It didn’t take long to figure; once search engines started playing a major roll in how searchers found other web sites, products and services; that keywords and certain meta-tags started playing a dominate roll in the development side of things.

Back then there were three types of people:

1. Those who learned it early and kept the information for themselves, giving them key positions on the Internet.
2. Those who learned it and didn’t understand it. Using over-zealous search engine techniques to get noticed (currently known today as search engine spamming).
3. Those who didn’t know or didn’t care!

Yesterday, I was reminded once again that many people who didn’t know enough about designing their web sites or search engine techniques are still floating around the Internet - clueless to it’s potential.

I stumbled upon two differently styled web sites. The first was a five page web site with your basic information - home page, about us, two pages of products, and a contact page. Unfortunately this person paid a web designer to create a web site for them because they had a separate “created by: such-an-such web company” listed at the bottom . Not to reflect badly on the customer, but the web designer who charged this customer for a web site did not deliver a finished product, leaving the customer lost in the archeological dustbin of the Internet. The customer was severely disserviced!

The “home page” was homely at best. Obviously it was designed several years ago because the technique used was embedded tables for layout - and poorly done if I might ad. It looked very amaeturish. Do you know how people say: “My friend designs web sites”; or “my neighbor’s son started doing web sites”? That is what this looked like. Not a good look for a business professional trying to make money through the Internet. The “Title” <title></title> - simply read: “main page”. I did a Google search of “main page” and got back a result of 327,000,000; and I still have no idea what product I am looking for. There was also no description or keywords to help identify the product or service to the general search engine response fields or to be searched. And finally, the content really had no relevant text within the first 200 words that told me what I was suppose to be looking at. Each of the consecutive pages were similar with no descriptors, irrelevant text and titles that read: “products”, “contact us”, and “about us”. Not a good combination to make me want to buy your product or service.

If I couldn’t figure out what the descriptors were trying to tell me and your context did nothing to make me desirous to find out more and stay on your page - neither will your potential customers.

The second web site was an all Flash web site. Not that I am against a little flash, but it is still utterly useless for marketing and getting noticed by search engines on the Internet. All the information from text to graphics were embedded in the Flash. There was nothing for a search engine to sink it’s teeth into. Nothing to spider. On top of that, the “title” - again - read “mainframe”. If I were searching for “mainframe” computer or computer parts I might be able to stumble across this web site. However, the product was “Photography” - completely unrelated; therefore, irrelevant. And so, from a marketing stand point this web site had completely missed it’s target market. Since their were no other descriptors in the HTML - how is anyone ever going to find your product or service based on web design like that? And once again, the web designer did this business a great disservice by given them an unfinished product that is no better than an oversized business card. The only way anyone will ever see you is if you send them to your web site.

Just starting an online business is not going to ensure you business. And if the time and money you spent to get online isn’t applied correctly, you may be doing more to hinder your business than growing your business.

It is our goal at CIDA Enterprises, Inc. to help people make the right choices when it comes to the company you chose for your Internet Marketing Services and Web Site Design Services. By taking a look at the individual elements that put together the bigger picture beforehand, you will not miss the forest through the trees. Plan, be prepared, ask questions and be informed are the best ways to make sure that all the elements come together - and with that - you will be well on your way to getting in front of your customers and on the fastrak to profits for your business.

Author: CidaGM

The Real David takes on the Microsoft Goliath

“In an unprecedented response to MSN’s hostile take over bid las Friday, Yahoo rallies – along with key investors to counter MSN with of bid of it’s own. An unexpected bid to take-over MSN.”

Wouldn’t it be great if Yahoo were able to do just that? Before I go on, let me make it perfectly clear that the above headline is fictitious. A product of my own hopes. With that said – lets ponder the idea for moment.

Everywhere I read about the hostile bid by Microsoft to take over Yahoo the same responses come up “What does Google think?”, “how will this effect Google?”, “Will MSN finally be able to compete with Google?” In an article written on Feb. 4th, by Larry Magid a reporter for CBSNews.com “Would a Takeover of Yahoo Matter? - Will Microsoft’s Bid to Compete Agianst Google Man More Innovation? - he writes: “Perhaps a Microsoft-Yahoo merger would help level the playing field by offering a formidable opponent to Google?”

Think about it for a moment. I remember when MSN was practically the only search engine available. If memory serves me correctly – they once held 97% of the search engine traffic. Back when the only option was Windows 95 and the only browser was the early Internet Explorer; which of course was preprogrammed (as Microsoft always does) to load MSN Search whenever you opened up a browser. This was before there was much competition, before people realized they could have a choice and before people were “Internet Savvy”. They didn’t know how to change the default page. Remember those days?

So what happened to those glory days when Microsoft and MSN were king-of-the-hill? They created buggy products, usurped controls that were unnecessary and began clogging up your systems. I have to say – just like when Microsoft came out with their new operating system and the new IE7 that they did not give us a better product. Isn’t that why they are losing so much more market share to Apple? They lost the market share all on their own. IE7 was supposed to be the answer to all the problems of IE6 (Internet Explorer – version 6), but all it did (and for this I must thank Microsoft) was increase my business revenues. Why? Because my clients would call me for help when their computers were running slow and sluggish – and all I would ask them was: “Did you just upgrade to IE7?” - 98% of the time the answer was YES. I would go over, uninstall IE7 and reinstall an older version of IE6 (somewhat more stable) and that would usually fix the problem. Then I would install a free version of Firefox for them and they have been happy ever since.

With these kinds of market loses – what does anyone think they are going to do with Yahoo? They will probably loose that market share to Ask.com and then try to buy there way out of that hole – leaving all of us with a lesser Internet.

But what would happen if Yahoo bought MSN in a hostile take-over? What if instead of MSN and Microsoft behind the reigns Yahoo controlled the reigns and Microsoft became part of Yahoo? Now that is a possibility that could grow and increase – creating better products, a better internet and possible challenge Google in the mix. I think that Yahoo has been a formidable challenge while MSN has been a dying product struggling from extinction. Yahoo could turn around the falty programming in IE – they could give a better search experience and as the article quoted above hints at - would we get any new or better innovations. If Yahoo buys MSN – Yes! If Microsoft buys Yahoo – No!

In last weeks response by Google on their official blog entitled: “Yahoo! And the future of the Internet” - David Drummond writes:

“The openness of the Internet is what made Google — and Yahoo! — possible. A good idea that users find useful spreads quickly. Businesses can be created around the idea. Users benefit from constant innovation. It’s what makes the Internet such an exciting place.”

He is hailing Yahoo – and in my opinion in favor of a free Yahoo. I think Google would not have any trouble what-so-ever if Yahoo took over MSN – however, it is MSN taking over Yahoo that is the trouble for people who have migrated over to Yahoo because they didn’t like Microsoft in the first place and because they want a better product.

So what is the answer? Nobody can really say. It is all speculation at this point. I think the only way for Yahoo to stay free and be able to compete on the Internet is that everyone who can – go out and buy Yahoo stock. Rally together and buy 10, 20, 50, hundreds of shares of stock in Yahoo. This will drive up their stock price – give Yahoo the money they need so that they won’t feel like they have to sell and have the money to generate the new technological innovation and make-over that it may need to stay in the game. In the meantime – hopefully, so many share of stock will be bought that MSN won’t have a reasonable amount of money to even buy Yahoo and they will have to pull out of their offer and sink into oblivion – making room for real services, innovations and services that will benefit people.

Hang in there Yahoo – you can stand alone without MSN. Don’t let a few dollars now destroy what you have worked so hard to build in the hands of a company that has proven they can not handle their current market share.

Mathew Zupan – business owner and supporter of a free, and independent Internet.

It has been about ten days since I last blogged about Google and getting googled. It had been my hope in the last blog to help people who are unfamiliar with certain terminology to begin understanding internet phrases and start thinking about search engine optimization with a follow-up, over the next several blogs to share some techniques that I have found useful to optimize your web site for better search engine ranking and hopefully – better response to your web pages.

However, since my last blog some very interesting developments have taken place in the search engine industry. MSN – Microsoft, has made a hostile bit to take over Yahoo.com The third ranked search engine wanting to take over number two. How can this be?

Well, if you’re like most people (and I hope you are not) you are probably thinking “who cares?”

Everyone who uses the Internet should care and not only care – voice an opinion.

This morning I was reading Google’s blog and I thought it was put rather succinctly:

“Could the acquisition of Yahoo! allow Microsoft — despite its legacy of serious legal and regulatory offenses — to extend unfair practices from browsers and operating systems to the Internet?” - David Drummond, Senior Vice President, Corporate Development and Chief Legal Officer wrote in the official response by Google posted on 2/03/08 – entitled: Yahoo! And the future of the Internet.

My personal paraphrase is more like this: that everything Microsoft has touched has turned into a power-hungry grab for control.

I read in a blog last night, someone commented about Google having the lion’s share of people using their search engine vs. the other competitive search engines; (I even wrote about their market share in my last blog); the blogger simply stated “big Google is watching you”. If you think Google is acting like “Big Brother” then wait to see what happens if Yahoo.com is taken over by Microsoft. Miscrosoft has a track record for trying to control everything it touches from the trying to force you to use their browser, controls on their operating system, to how you search for information. Then, they charge you exorbitant fees for everything they create and expecting you to smile when they give you a new product with ten’s of thousands of bugs in it that they know of upon release.

No, I don’t think Google is acting like “Big Brother” monitoring all information. They have a track record just the opposite. They’ve stood tooth and nail against the government on issues of free information – protecting privacy – and open source. Google has spent more money supporting Open Source technology than any company I know. I personally believe that is one of the biggest reasons so many people migrated over to Google in the first place. They want to share the information available on the Internet and make it available to everyone – freely.

On the other side: Duncan Riley writes a quick blog in TechCrunch -

“To be fair there may be some legitimate competition concerns with the deal, but Google pointing them out will only serve to remind people (and more importantly Governmental Regulatory Authorities) that it doesn’t matter how much bigger and stronger a combined Microsoft/ Yahoo is, Google is still the 1000 pound internet Gorilla in the room.”

I have to ask myself: Why Duncan, don’t you like Google? Because they are successful. Because they have achieved what you have not? Because they are so popular? What is your animosity for a company that is successful other than the fact that they are successful? That question we may never know.

Then again, on the other hand, I want to take my hat off to MSN and Microsoft and thank them for all they have done. If it wasn’t for their underhanded, power-hungry control tactics that they have exercised over years and their megalomaniac control – we would not have such great growing competition and excellence in open-source software.

Take their resource intensive hog – Internet Explorer (which they tried to force everyone to use) – thanks to IE (all versions) we now have a better alternative – Firefox browser. A more reliable, more secure, more stable browser – easy and user friendly. And has great extensibility features that I can install if I want – but am not required to use it. In fact it has become so popular that Microsoft, trying to gain back some of the market that it had lost tried (but failed) to fashion some of the new features in IE7 to mimic those in Firefox – like tabs, and social bookmarking, and live bookmarking of RSS feeds. IE7 still doesn’t compare. In a three month period of time 24 million people downloaded Firefox. That’s a lot of lost market share for Microsoft. You mean that while I’m scanning web pages with Firefox browser they don’t have to be scanning be back? What a concept!

In another Open-Source hit to Microsoft, OpenOffice.org has been making leaps and bounds in the world of word document, spreadsheet and other personal database, calculations, design programs. It is extensible, powerful, just as capable as Microsoft Office and it is FREE. How can this be? The greatest programming minds in the world come together under one common goal – to make a better product and make it more accessible than what is currently out there. I have been using Open Office since 2003 when I finally had enough of Microsoft Office and it’s horrific price gouging. Yes, the cost of creating new technologies costs money – but it doesn’t cost that much – especially when I can get a product equally as good for less and I personally think of better quality.

Google had it right to publicly point out the recurring domineering trait of Microsoft. In an article written in the New York Times, entitled: Google Works to Torpedo Microsoft Bid for Yahoo; the writers Andrew Ross Sorkin and Miguel Helft wrote that: “Privately, Google went much further. Its chief executive, Eric E. Schmidt, placed a call to Yahoo’s chief, Jerry Yang, offering the company’s help in fending off Microsoft…”

Google’s concerns were confirmed by Stephen D. Houck, a lawyer representing the states involved in the antitrust consent decree against Microsoft, which runs through 2009 was quoted as saying: “The potential concern would be that Microsoft,. If it acquires Yahoo, could do on the Internet what it did in the personal computer world – make technical standards more Microsoft-centric and steer consumers to its products.”

This is an issue that I feel must be looked at very closely. It is about Internet freedoms and usability. It is about protecting Yahoo and the people who moved over to Yahoo to get away from the behemoth of control – Microsoft. Maybe it is time for Microsoft to learn its lessons. Because of its continuously, overwhelming control tactics it has lost almost all market share in this area – take a hint – give it up. Don’t destroy a good search engine just because you don’t want to lay down and die like a good old dog.

It is my hope that Yahoo remains an independent search engine provider. Yahoo still has a place – Microsoft does not.

Link Popularity is one of those terms you read a lot about. Let me say right away that I believe in good link popularity if it meets at least two of my main criteria:

1. Our businesses compliment each other in similar and helpful fields.
2. The do not compete with my business.

There are other things that I look at as well, but suffice it to say those are the two main things I look at first. If you can’t pass that test – you will never make the rest.

Now back to today’s topic of link popularity.

Because I am in the web industry and our company offers internet marketing services as well as search engine optimization, I get a lot of unwanted emails from people who have scanned my site for email information in order to market their business that I didn’t ask for. That is just part of doing business. I am sure you have seen these kind of emails and like most people you file them in your spam folder. And in an off moment you might even wonder how they got your mail in the first place. Stay tuned because that is the topic of my next blog.

Yesterday I received several emails from companies offering to build my popularity in Google, Yahoo, MSN and the like by utilizing their link popularity efforts. Many of these people have generic web sites just slammed with link – irrelevant links that in the long run can hurt your standings. Some of them may even have poor ranking themselves and they want exchange links on their site to boast their own ranking.

For instance: let’s say you have a web site with a PR of 5 and you link to a generic web site with a PR of 1. Your ranking will help boost their site to a PR 2 or 3, however it is possible that because their site is not really “relevant” to yours, it may bring your popularity down to a PR4. Take it one step further, what if Google believes you are just farming out links of no “relevance” (that is the keyword) they may decrease your web ranking even further or at the worst extreme “black list” you.

So when looking for good sites to exchange links with or even allow to link to you make sure they are relevant to the scope of your business.

That is one of the key components of “relevancy search engines”. What is related to your field? What is similar and complimentary to your business.

A shoe company doesn’t need to link with a cake designer or they don’t need to link to you . It does nothing for your business. Now if a “custom cake company” is doing marketing with your company and they like the work you are doing they may want to put a special link on their site – more like a “complimentary” doing business with “or” strategic partnership with your marketing company. In that case it is “relevant”.

I remember when “Purchase Pro”; a B-to-B company in Las Vegas was offering free three page websites for new clients when they signed up for their B-to-B interface they put a small graphic and text on the bottom of each web site which read - “ Powered by Purchase Pro”. They had over 60 of these three page web site which gave them 1800 links back to their main business which was connecting businesses with other businesses in a specialized field. Were the “links” relative? Back then it didn’t matter if the links were relative. It was all about volume and not quality. Now, it is about the “quality” of your links that is more important. I know another site that only has a few links back to them and they have a PR of 3. And then I have worked with another web site that currently, only has a PR 2; however, they are number one in all of their search phrases in all major search engines.

Do they have hundreds of links pointing to them? No! As a matter of fact they only have three. Which is another reason you must choose your links carefully.

So the next time you get one of those pesty emails by some company that is trying to link farm you – beware – there are some fields you don’t want to be planted in.

If this email has given you any incite into links, link popularity and the relevance of links, please respond with a few comments and/or bookmark us. I would love to hear from you – especially if you have had a bad experience with one of those link farms that are so dangerous to good businesses making uninformed mistakes.

Until next time I just want to leave you with this little quote I found:

“Going to work for a large company is like getting on a train - Are you going sixty miles an hour or is the train going sixty miles an hour and you’re just sitting still? - Jean Paul Getty”

CIDA Enterprises definitions:

Google: The number 1, ranked search engine in the world. It is a trademark – a business name.

google: with a small “g” is a phenomenally large number. It is a unit of measurement like a “billion” only I don’t have enough space in my blog to write it.

The Google – Is a term George W. Bush used in referencing Google the business and the act of googling because he does not know enough about the Internet to call Google by its correct name.

getting googled: it is what happens when Google’s search spiders search your web site and index your web pages.

googling – or to google: the act of googling – is what you do every time you use Google search engine to look up something on the Internet.

In like terms if you happen to be one of the 21% of the people who use Yahoo.com search engines, I guess you would be “yahooling” - not to be confused with jodeling. But I have never heard the expression “to be Yahooed” or when talking to someone asking them what they are doing and the person reply’s “I’m just sitting here yahooling”.

Most people don’t yahoo or “are yahooling” – they Google and are googling. As a matter of fact: 65% of all searches on the Internet are performed on Google’s search engines according to a recent study dated Jan. 8th, 2008:

CIO.com writes:

“In the consumer search market, the Internet company’s dominance could not be more pronounced. Recent numbers by Hitwise, a research firm that measures search engine audiences, showed that Google continues its chokehold on the consumer search market, accounting for 65 percent of all searches in the United States last month. The nearest rival, Yahoo, trailed Google with 21 percent, followed by MSN.com (7 percent) and Ask.com (4 percent). “

What does all of this mean to you? It’s very simple! As I often say: “if your not SEEN on the Internet you might as well not BE on the Internet”. And quite frankly, Google is still the place to make an appearance whether you like it or not.

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Recently I was doing business with a company that sells advertising space to its clients base. They put up a nice banner ad and link to the clients website to give them greater exposure to their ultimate customer base. What I discovered made me wonder at how some of these clients do business.

Some of them had such URL addresses as: http://www.yahoo.com/(geocities)/(myname)/mygoodsSold)/.

The first thought that crosses my mind is: “How do you put all that on a business card?”

My second thought is: “Why are you advertising Yahoo (or any other company) rather than your own?

And my final thought is: “Don’t you have $12.00 per year in your business budget to register your own domain name?

Now I am fully aware; as most people are; that the natural progression of registering a domain name usually precedes building a web site of your own. But that is a topic for later.

Professional people want to do business with people who look professional. Now all you have to do is follow-up your new look with action and you are in business.

Right now lets stick to the concept of registering a domain name.

Domain names are a dime a dozen. And so what if someone has already registered the perfect name that you have always wanted like “Saks.com”. Just because your name happens to be Josephine Saks (not related) and you sell personally designed cloths doesn’t mean you can’t look professional with a properly chosen name.

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