20. June 2008 by Damian Petrini.

Here is a truly amazing video that reveals the transformation of the internet with Web 2.0 and how it impacts all of us online and society as a whole.

Web 2.0 - The Machine is Using Us!

I first saw this video at Early-to-Rise’s 2007 Infomarketing Bootcamp conference during a presentation by Rich Schefren as he touched on the subject of Web 2.0.

This video really resonated with me and I feel that it may resonate quite well with you as well, especially as you venture into the world of Web 2.0 and the rapid changes that continue to occur everyday on the internet.

What are you thoughts on Web 2.0?

– Damian

Posted in Web 2.0, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Technology, Online Marketing, Search Engine Opitmization, SEM, Infomation Marketing | No Comments »

1. May 2007 by Damian Petrini.

This is quite a shocking article about how the legal system could really throw a wrench into the whole concept of a free-marketplace on the internet.

According to the article in InternetRetailer.com’s May 1, 2007, IRNewsLink e-newsletter, the State of Utah has just passed a law that could limit the practice of a company from being able to have one of it’s ads show up on a search engine page when a user searches for a competing company.

The article gave a great example of how bookseller Borders could turn around and sue both Google, and Barnes & Noble, if a paid Barnes & Noble ad appeared in response to a search for Borders, as long as the search originated from Utah.

Read the full article at: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=22229

What is most disturbing about this law passing is that it could end up being a starting point that leads to the opening of Pandora’s Box, creating a flood of lawyers, governmental agencies, and other legal entities all over the country to follow suit and try to stick their governing fingers into the free world of the internet.

If this were to build momentum, it could really change the current dynamics of search engine marketing, and make things more difficult for online marketers.

However, don’t freak out!!!…the online world is NOT coming to an end!

Most likely, the law will be challenged in court and possibly be thrown out by federal courts because the state would be interfering with interstate commerce.

Also, don’t forget that the big boys like Google, which looks to take most of the more than $8 billion dollars that is estimated to be spent this year on U.S. search engine marketing, won’t just sit quietly on the sidelines.

It should be very interesting to see how things progress in the ever-changing world of online marketing!

–Damian

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Damian Petrini
Marketing Potential, LLC
http://www.marketingpotential.com

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27. October 2006 by Damian Petrini.

According to a recent article on InternetRetailer.com, a study by Piper Jaffray & Co. showed that search engines are still the most efficient method by far at acquiring new clients.

The study revealed that at an average acquisition cost of $8.50 per client, Internet search was shown to be more than twice as efficient as the next-best marketing channel in a study of five channels.

The five marketing channels covered in the study compared the customer acquisition costs of online search, yellow page ads, online display ads, e-mail and direct mail.

Here is a breakdown comparison of the average acquisition costs per client:

Online Search - $8.50 per client acquisition
Yellow Page Ads - $20 per client acquisition
Online Display Ads - $50 per client acquisition
E-Mail Marketing - $60 per client acquisition
Direct Mail - $70 per client acquisition

Yellow Pages came in as the second-most efficient at $20 per customer acquisition, followed by online display ads, $50; e-mail, $60; and direct mail, $70.

Also concluded in the study was that consumers are becoming more likely to use Internet search to research and find products and services, rather than going to online marketplaces. And with the growth of local search, the current number of 700,000 online advertisers could reach 2-4 million over the next five years.

This study demonstrates the importance of developing a successful and strategic search engine optimization and search engine marketing plan for your business, as well as for each of your products and services.

Posted in e-Commerce, Direct Response Marketing, Email Marketing, Business, Online Marketing, SEM, Advertising, Search Engine Opitmization, SEO, Marketing | No Comments »

16. August 2006 by Damian Petrini.

Below is Google’s answer to the question everybody on the internet is asking, “How can I improve my site’s ranking?”

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“Sites’ positions in our search results are determined automatically based on a number of factors, which are explained in more detail at http://www.google.com/technology/index.html. We don’t manually assign keywords to sites, nor do we manipulate the ranking of any site in our search results.

In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages. For more information about improving your site’s visibility in the Google search results, we recommend reviewing our webmaster guidelines. They outline core concepts for maintaining a Google-friendly website.”

Source: Google.com
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=34432&hl=en

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At first glance you will feel somewhat cheated by the answer, perhaps because you were looking for the holy grail of answers to the question that everyone claims to know the answer to, but fewer actually achieve it.

The biggest take away lesson you should learn from Google’s definition can be found in the first sentence of the second paragraph.

“In general, webmasters can improve the rank of their sites by increasing the number of high-quality sites that link to their pages.”

One of the most powerful strategies to improving your website rankings is to get as many other higher ranking websites to link to yours. The higher the ranking of the other websites linking to yours, the better.

1. Buy or Rent Links – Find high quality, high ranking websites, and pay them to link to your website.
2. Reciprocal Links – Identify the most relevant websites to your product, service, or industry and contact the webmaster of those sites to arrange a link exchange between both sites.
3. Read “10 Easy Ways to Increase Links to Your Website” for more ideas on how to get more links pointed to your website.

Learn more about how to get greater leverage out of your online marketing activities or how to put together and implement powerful marketing strategies.

Posted in e-Commerce, Direct Response Marketing, Email Marketing, Online Marketing, SEM, Sales, Search Engine Opitmization, SEO, Marketing | No Comments »