Coalface SEM

So, what is Javascript?

2008-12-13T10:27:00.004Z

Virtually every personal computer in the world has at least one JavaScript interpreter installed on it and in active use. JavaScript's popularity is due entirely to its role as the scripting language of all Browsers. JavaScript is a general purpose programming language that was introduced as the page scripting language for Netscape Navigator.

JavaScript is still widely believed to be a subset of Java, but it is not. The Java- prefix suggests that JavaScript is somehow related to Java, that it is a subset or less capable version of Java. JavaScript is not interpreted Java. Java is interpreted Java. JavaScript is a different language. Java was introduced by Apple into their Browsers early on, but it was too complex and it failed, often, and so Apple fell into step and delivered JavaScript as their de facto Browser language too.

JavaScript has a syntactic similarity to Java, much as Java has to C. But it is no more a subset of Java than Java is a subset of C. It is better than Java in the applications that Java was originally intended for.

JavaScript was not developed at Sun Microsystems, the home of Java. JavaScript was developed at Netscape. It was originally called LiveScript.

The -Script suffix suggests that it is not a real programming language, that a scripting language is less than a programming language. But it is really a matter of specialization. Compared to C, JavaScript trades performance for expressive power and dynamism.

As mentioned earlier the books available for Javascript are just poor, the main one we would recommend is JavaScript: The Definitive Guide

How can Javascript deliver the goods for SEO

2008-12-12T12:43:00.013Z

I seem to have stimulated a good amount of interest amongst our tech team following on from my post on JavaScript. To be clear there are two good reasons to keep an eye on JavaScript development - Search engine optimisation and Social Media.

In SEO the key is all about separation - let not the JavaScript get near your content. In Social Media, the more you use it the better your site - a real dichotomy. There are two ways to employ JavaScript on a site and they are very similar to the way you deal with CSS:

Use external files to hold the code

Progressive Enhancement

The first item is self explanatory, the second is a classic technique that we use in SEO where we want a specific action to occur. The action would depend on whether JavaScript was turned on or turned off. If JavaScript was turned on then the JavaScript actions would occur, if JavaScript was turned off, then the user would simply see a standard hyperlink for example.

In Search engine optimisation terms; whether JavaScript is on or off, a search engine robot would simply see a link. In English terms; we build a page with solid code and build enhancements on top. If the enhancements fail, the page will not show an ugly error, simply a less good way of getting to the results we had intended.

Just in case you are thinking 'what possible use would that be to me?'. Well one instance could be that if you wanted to show your expert list of closely related sites that are stored in your Delicious account you could use Progressive Enhancement techniques on your web page.

As you would rather keep your list in Delicious, where you can add to it or modify it easily - rather than copy the list, you could place it on your web page with some clever JavaScript and keep it up to date through Delicious.

Your web page would use some JavaScript, (it would need to use JSON - activated through JavaScript because JavaScript works on calls to your own server and no elses) and if it all worked it would show the list you were hoping for. If it failed it would simply show a link to your Delicious account and your users would have to click off your page to go see the list - a lot less desirable - but at least it would not show an error. In the main of course it would work and when it did you would be certain that the list shown was the most up to date list and this would save you the trouble of maintaining the list.

In both cases I would be passing a link to my Delicious account and allowing my web page readers to get the information that I wanted to give them and if Javascript, JSON or Delicious failed, no one would know and my page would be unruffled.

As you can see Progressive Enhancement is a technique that is employed for usability as well as for SEO. Progressive Enhancement protects the integrity of your page and gives benefits to user. This is a real win win concept, that requires an understanding of JavaScript, and is a core component of Web 2.0 sites. So we need to keep an eye on JavaScript for the future.

It is only recently that JavaScript has returned to being considered again as a genuinely useful piece of code. As in the early days JAVA kept on failing and different browsers then had different flavours of JavaScript - as a result, lots of sites failed and helped to make the web the nightmare that it was back then...

Nowadays JavaScript has settled down and really is at the heart of Web 2.0. As Web developers, SEO specialists and consumers, we need to be aware of the benefits that JavaScript delivers to help make the web a more optimistic place.

CSS gets better with IE8 around the corner

2008-12-11T10:42:00.006Z

CSS has gone through a major upgrade and IE8 is likely to be released soon. This will make sites look better and easier to manage. With CSS3 already implemented on Firefox and Safari, we can start developing and testing now.

CSS - cascading style sheets - is an essential tool in search engine optimisation - as it separates the design of a site from its content and helps sites download faster.

IE8 is the next version of Internet Explorer - the most popular browser in the world. We saw relatively smooth transitions from IE6 to IE7 over the last few years and now we can see that IE8 is clearly on the horizon. IE8 was first mentioned on the IEBlog in Dec 2007, the first beta version was subsequently available in March 2008. It is likely we will be seeing IE8 soon.

The great news is that CSS3 is being designed as a modular system. So rather than waiting for ages for a big change, changes are occurring one by one. This new methodology is fantastic news for standards obsessed web developers - as each section is finished and tested it can be released and so progress will be made faster and probably lead to further developments too.

This should encourage browsers to adopt the same upgrade path - automatically. Lets face it Microsoft already auto updates its commercial software, as does Apple. With luck Microsoft will be able to update Internet Explorer in the same way. We live in hope.

So what does this mean - better looking sites, sites that are more standards compliant, sites that are faster to load. In just a few years we will see CSS for sites that have less hacks and greater browser support for CSS.

Currently Firefox and Safari both support key features of CSS3 - using vendor identifiers -moz for Mozilla Firefox and -webkit for Safari. Both Firefox and Safari are regularly updated automatically nowadays - so it makes sense that we could expect IE8 to do the same. We live in hope that all our CSS troubles will be sorted soon.

With Firefox and Safari both supporting the key features of CSS3 we can see the new features of CSS3 working. CSS based tables address a big issue that has been missing from CSS to date. CSS3 will also enable text to flow over columns. But the key benefit remains greater ease of development and cross Browser standards that just must happen...

We already have experience of how to deal with user browser migration, so we can expect the upgrade to be implemented seamlessly. As we saw IE6 dwindle we can expect to see IE7 to follow suit to be replaced by IE8...

The King is dead - long live the King!

Why Javascript ?

2008-12-10T10:54:00.003Z

Ok since writing the last post a couple of people have said why are you talking about JavaScript? I apologise dear readers for not explaining earlier...

Working in search engine marketing and social media, a lot of the focus is of course on site or blog optimisation. All sites - including blogs need to be interpreted - by a browser. The browser itself has functionality that is often used, especially in Web 2.0 applications and that functionality is very often JavaScript driven. By and large we all have it and it is turned on.

So my review was really intended as an update on what was out there for my own personal reasons. I did find some interesting things, although I am still appalled as to the amount of poor documentation that exists for Javascript, which is a real shame.

JavaScript, does have some effect on search engine marketing - mainly you want to separate it from the code as JavaScript is still SEO unfriendly. Although it does help a lot with accessibility and usability and also with pay per click campaigns...

JavaScript is the common driver behind many Web 2.0 elements of site functionality. JavaScript can help deliver the correct style sheet to different media readers as well as help with multivariate testing. JavaScript largely gets in the way of SEO and helps sites to fail accessibility sites.

We have just learned that JavaScript is built into Adobe PDF files - we new we were on to something - indeed it would seem that JavaScript may well be going through a renaissance period - although we can't imagine it is going to go through a metamorphosis - more that it is gaining in currency and as with PDF files, we are going to find that it is used more and more... We will see!

Javascript woes

2008-12-08T13:23:00.003Z

Javascript is used for a range of things, but mainly to help your browser do good things - load the correct video player, get the latest version of Flash, or most commonly to check that forms are correctly filled in. So, most of us have used Javascript at one time or another. Its most recent application area is in Web2.0 stuff - Ajax applications are applications that work without the user being required to hit a button - so this can provide live stock price updates, or product 'in-stock' values on e-commerce sites or let you know when your friends are online when you are in Facebook or Myspace etc. So yes, probably we have all benefited from Javascript.

So, what is Javascript? Javascript is the key language that exists in web browsers and is a bit difficult to write for because it is a) not always on and b) seems to be different for each browser... Having said that the main browser in use is Internet Explorer for the PC and Javascript is generally turned on. Javascript is a short version of Java, which is what they were aiming at initially and the reason they added the 'script' to the language is because they loaded the browser with so much code that all you need to do as a programmer is to script (tell the software what to do). Whilst the original Java was just too much to cope with and basically failed to work...

So, being an uber techy I decided to review what is hapening in the world of Javascript and anyway it meant could refresh my Amazon dependency that means I have to buy some books, any books, just books, books that I can read on the train, on a plane or up a crane.

This time I focussed on Javacript and basically having driven through six of the best I have to conclude that two were ok, none are essentially and the rest were just, frankly poor - nice ideas, but poor...

So on with the reviews - the worst of all has to be Head First Javascript. Honestly! 618 pages of fluff, you could probably condense the whole thing down to five pages and be done with. The style of writing is interesting, it looks like it would appeal to a five year old and from that perspective is probably a great place to start 'We think your time is too valuable to spend struggling with new concepts. Using the latest research in cognitive theory to craft multi sensory learning experience...' but knowing what I know, I find it difficult to find much that you could really do with it - great examples of what you could do, but not enough practical code that would stand modifying to suit your own needs. I cannot see how you can make anything with this book, although it does cover the principals - 20%

The second worst - to me anyway - was Javascript: The Good Parts, the premise of this is a good idea, that is why I bought it - it defines the parts of Javascript that are generally reliable and those that are not. It has lots of diagrams and could be useful to the extremely focussed Javascript programmer - virtually no workable code, and lots of theory, for me this was lacking in substance. Although this was the shortest of all the books - being 153 pages long, it is to me just half of a book. There is some code herein, right at the back without any work through, so it left me cold I am afraid.

Javascript the definitive guide - by David Flanagan, 5th Edition, Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc. Cover is White with Turquoise Animal on the front is a Javan Rhinoceros 994 pages. This tells a lot about Javascript - it is like a dictionary of terms. Dry as a bone, would take a month to read. This is reference piece really, something where you might be looking for something and discover something else, all very interesting, ideal website material! This should be a searchable database not a book. A tome where ownership could make you feel rather sage. I will learn from this, it will be helpful, it is essential, it may help you design an application, but that would be like walking through treacle.

Javascript & DHTML Cookbook, - by Danny Goodman, 1st Edition, Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc. Cover is White with a Turquoise Howler Monkey on the front, 520 pages. This is the nuts, hence the monkey I suppose. It has almost everything... starting with the usual stuff on DOM, strings, Numbers and Dates, but quickly moving on to the more interesting Browser feature detection, managing windows, frames and onto forms. From there it covers page navigation, style sheets, visual effects, HTML positioning, dynamic content and a final chapter on Dynamic Content Applications. Great stuff worth buying excellent reference material for anyone serious about Javascript web development.

Javascript Application Cookbook - by Jerry Bradenhaugh, 1st Edition, Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc. Cover is White with a Turquoise Hippopotamus on the front - you dont see one of those every day, 464 pages. Lots of depth in just a few application areas really, quite good in its depth, limited in its scope. A client side search engine, an interactive slide show - nice but not essential... Cookie based user preferences, a overly complex but lightweight shopping basket system, Ciphers, drag and drop email and context sensitive help... I am sure I will find a use for some of it somewhere - not immediately exciting, applications are a bit old, dry and past it really, although, essential elements of a web 2.0 website... perhaps.

Simply Javascript from Sitepoint - all sitepoint books have a good feeling about them, I have read on duffer, but most are pretty cool. By Kevin Yank and Cameron Adams, 405 beautiful pages, 1st Edition. First 4 chapters on essential knowledge necessary to understand the way that Javascript works. Then we romp into Animation and Form enhancements, this is the stuff, followed by Errors and debugging they guess right that by now not everything will work - so this is just perfect timing for those who are working through and bang we are into AJAX, now this is the nuts too! The book puts AJAX into Action, then an expert chapter looking forward into the possibilities with a nice rounding off with 30 pages dedicated to the core Java library, just when your appetite is whetted... Buy it!

In summary I think I need to know a lot more about Javascript. I had bought the books as I thought they would help me learn a lot more. One did... I think now I will turn to the internet and see what I can find on webmonkey.com which I suspect is what I should have done in the first place. This could very well be a case where new media outshines. Although I do now have an exhaustive library on the subject and perhaps in time, they will become more relevant to me. I will report back with my findings...

Joomla for SEO and business

2008-12-06T22:15:00.006Z

Joomla has indeed got better although perhaps not as friendly as Drupal it was also disappointingly a lot less safe. My experience so far is not good, but a good six months have passed since I last spent time on developing a Joomla site, so things may be better now.

Having developed only about 11 sites in Joomla I cannot claim to be a prolific Joomla developer, but I can claim to have some experience and my experience aint all roses it has to be said. Out of 11 sites I have found that about five have not developed too much.

I had hoped to create safe, UGC, SEO friendly sites. I have discovered 4 of those less interesting sites were hacked and blinded with a coy message from the hacker, basically saying hacker woz here - thanks guys, thanks a bunch really helpful, I am sure it was worth your while ruining my surprise.

Strangely the sites I cared about were not hacked - maybe they had more up to date versions of Joomla installed. It is certainly the case that Joomla being open source is quick to have its holes plugged quickly. It seems that there have been a few surprises for the developers, so I am reckoning latest versions will be safer. Note to self: go round and update the version of Joomla installed across all the live sites and revisit the older ones.

I have been disappointed with their so called SEO friendliness too - especially with the sites that are alive and kicking - basically if the content is not linked from the front page, it has not been indexed - again I am hoping this has improved in the latest downloads, although I have found a post that may have the information I need Top 10 Joomla! SEO Tips and Tricks.

I will report back my views and discoveries on the sites - the two sites I am focussing on especially are our Advanced Search Engine Marketing site and our Search top tips site.

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment about Joomla SEO! I will be back soon.

Search Engine Marketing Credit Crunch?

2008-12-06T09:43:00.005Z

It has been quite a while since my last post, I can quite believe it. We have been so busy these last six months with more and more business being won and existing clients wanting us to do more and of course lots of learning too.

One of the wonderful things at Weboptimiser, being involved in the search engine marketing industry is that the market and hence our services are always changing, always developing. Even more interesting for us - and our clients - we often work out what is going to happen in advance, because - well, we are in it to win it! We stay alert, we see the technology, new vendors approach us, we buy the technology and we create and deploy resulting techniques.

Of course, one of the big things - content is still King - just gets better. The search providers continue to increase their capability, acquire new partners, new services, absorb more technologies, index more, get better at search - but essentially it is all around the same thing - indexing content. - so the key is to identify your lexicon for information production, by creating your very own taxonomy, and focussing on that - you will create more and more content - nowadays, you can deploy against a wider range of media. I have been doing a lot of that recently - amazing amounts. So from a client perspective, there are more ways to differentiate, increase market share, from a vendors perspective (that's us!) - more ways to grow the business, cement relationships and deliver the goods.

Talking about search providers increasing the capability, I am interested to see how Google now incorporates Multi Variant Testing into their systems - this would upset a few technology vendors I can think of - but it is great news for clients - who ultimately will spend less to achieve more - and great for visitors - who will click less to get to what they want.

The economy is up! A big thank you to the Gaurdian for featuring my comments.

Video video video

2008-07-16T13:10:00.005+01:00

We have done some great videos recently, for crisis and their crisis london run.

The federation of small business and their Open for business campaign for London Mayoral Elections

Now we are producing videos everyday, including a daily newscast, we will see how that develops. But so far we have got over all the technical difficulties and the only problems seems to be in managing all the different formats and uploading to the right place with the right text - as now we are really in production, the problems are becoming clearer, now something that we refer to already as a back log and in a few days I hope to disappear and to be solved for ever...

Having a great time

2008-06-11T21:52:00.002+01:00

Absolutely, Hungary was a great experience, seems like the distant past now, but there was a certain crispness that I enjoyed, Czech republic was all about sitting around campfires and guitar playing, very relaxed, fabulous country side, great atmosphere and then onto Berlin, already a week ago and tomorrow I film London the great city Crisis run for the homeless, so I hope to catch a few friendly faces on that little jog.

And of course, video video video. I have completely outgrown my systems, I cannot believe that I have over three terabytes of videos and have a personal collection of five european city backdrops London, London, London, Brussells and last week Berlin.

That is not to forget the fun I had speaking at the Fresh Business Thinking event soemwhere in the middle, still have more events to look forward too to. Tomorrows event promises to introduce me personally to Ken Livingstone, although not everyones favourite, nevertheless a character and I will get to witness a few personally held views in the process - its always great to proven right and even better to be proven wrong when the outcome does not matter...

So it looks like we are set to expand even more our video, seo and ppc business at last, ahving just taken on a new office and employed our first person for some time with an explicit European directive who lives on the turf. I see more video, ppc and seo.

We are also enoying number one positions for search engine marketing and pay per click at the moment too, so it is all working out rather well... Probably not for long, but I keep seeing familiar faces and that is the best thing!

Hungary gets optimisation

2008-04-28T20:37:00.003+01:00

A big thanks to the Webma team in Hungary for inviting me to speak at their event promoting the benefits of search marketing in Hungary. It was especially difficult to speak in small soundbites to allow time for the translation of each part sentance.

Tomorrow the (Internet) World.

Next week - the Czech Republic.

ethical optimisation wins through

2008-04-15T11:18:00.005+01:00

This year promises to be quite a year from all I hear from the legal beagles, in the UK, European Parliament and from the US.

The first wave is about to start at last, and this should shut a few big mouths that have been promoting splog like tactics for some time. At last this starts to level the playing field once again as the The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations act 2008 starts to kick in from the 28th May 2008.

A section of the act states that “falsely representing oneself as a consumer” will be illegal. There have been some high profile exposés of companies blogging using false personas as unmasking has caused backlash from consumers as Sony and Wal-Mart have both found out in the States.

This is a shame of course, because where self policed, privately enforced ethics are not good enough, the law has to step in and the law has a habit of increasing or creating extra beuracracy and often making silly mistakes that can prove uncomfortably expensive for the industry.

To my personal knowledge, Weboptimiser has never indulged in this activity, although I have seen arguments on other search engine marketing companies blogs about splogging (spam blogging) which refers to the act of falsely representing oneself as a consumer in order to make comments, but also to gain link equity.

So, SEM companies that engage in this had better stop sharpish, as in just a few days, you could find yourselves breaking the law.

Federation of small business is quite big

2008-03-26T09:37:00.003Z

It was a great pleasure and rather handy to discover that the AGM of the FSB was to be held in Hammersmith - a short walk from where I live - over the bridge in Barnes. It was made more delicious when it was just a few days after we had become members - so in many ways it was a real rush, as no sooner had we joined, there was an AGM, it was on my doorstep and then to sweeten things further the FSB leadership invited us to make a short video for them and so we did - and now it is number one on Youtube. Fabulous. Watch our first 'political' video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNVAn1yUI3o

I actually took the footage the day before - budget day - I was spotted by Helicopter and the policeman that stopped and searched me explained that I needed permission from black rod - so I explained I still had one more shot to take and his comment was "go on then son". So this video has extra poignancy as one of the key issues that affect small business is the way that the law operates to protect us.

I found another great video over at http://www.londoncitizens.org.uk/ - it looks like they had a little more time and employed the services of a freelance musician to produce an original score.

I also had the pleasure of recording a video with a couple of celebrities as well and you can see my David Bellamy interview on our London Mayoral Election page.

Enjoy.

Happy New Year

2008-01-04T17:52:00.000Z

Like most I did very little work over the Christmas period and like most other years I did have a quick squint at our traffic and found a lot of inappropriate clicks for Santa Claus. We have some news that we posted back in 2004 all about a new Santa Claus site... So, naturally I thought, lets put Adsense on the news section of our site and make some cash. Happy new year!

IAB / DMA SEARCH MARKETING CHARTER

2007-10-01T15:50:00.000+01:00

It has been a great pleasure to work with the IAB and DMA teams and the Search Engine Marketing Council to create the SEARCH MARKETING CHARTER. You can read more about it here: http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/searchmarketingcharter.html

Why has the search marketing charter been created?

The search marketing industry has been growing exponentially over the last few years to become the largest medium for advertising spend online and a platform in its own right – but this doesn’t compensate for the fact it is still a very new medium. Advertisers new to search marketing have often expressed to members of the Search Council that they are overwhelmed by the choice of search engine marketing companies available and unsure of the quality of their services. Beginning with this launch phase, the charter will build criteria of best practice to promote SEMCo’s adhering to industry established guidelines and to help build advertiser and agency confidence in the medium.

Why now?

As trade body, the IAB became aware at the end of last year that a lot of companies were entering the search marketing field, and others were asking how to choose a supplier from them. IAB asked its members if they wanted the existing Search Council to set guidelines and standards for search marketing companies and they agreed. It’s taken six months to develop the charter with the key trade bodies and other stakeholders.

They are my answers and you cna find more here:
http://www.iabuk.net/en/1/searchmarketingcharterfaq.html

Action packed IAB search task force meeting

2007-07-18T12:51:00.000+01:00

We nearly had people standing at the back of the room at yesterdays IAB Search Taskforce meeting.

We kicked off with a good presentation from Google who introduced their mobile marketing plans and successes, very interesting and insightful, it turns out that Googles center for excellence for Mobile is London. Thanks guys.

Then we went over the final draft of the Search Marketing Charter, pleased to get that one out and with the support and help of the DMA and SEMPO.

We were also able to agree the first version of part two, a guide, as part of the Search Marketing Charter for affiliate marketing in search, real progress was made here and it was fun as always to hear the views of the Affiliate side of search.

Finally we were able to address the issues in advanced search marketing that I originally defined within Third generation search engine marketing(3GSEM.com) which is based on the firm belief and certain knowledge that in the early days of search we as an industry wanted to explain that search was simple to understand. I am not sure how successful we were in that mission, but certainly search is a mainstream activity nowadays, and this proves that search as a function is simple to use by the worlds populous. So now I think it is important that we identify the complexities that lie beneath in order to be able to explain that we can manage search as marketing tool and use it in a targeted fashion and xtreme marketing - the kind that pulls results - requires close co-ordination to real world scenarios and this is where geographic, behavioural, multivariate testing and the other activities that I have identified kick in.

It was great to see the take up on this subject by the other search marketing companies at the table enthusiastically opted in to supply content on each of the subjects, nothing new was added, so I guess 3GSEM nailed it straight off.

It must be said that the most memorable part of the meeting were the insights into mobile that Google provided - and hopefully you will see a VIP briefing on that very soon.

video with humour examples...

2007-07-02T13:57:00.000+01:00

Following on the from the last post I was reminded again about video with humour, that no doubt underpins the success of youtube and a good number of brands that use humorous commercials...
Tony bows out and earlier on this station...
Great video from Microsoft

Social Media Optimisation

2007-07-02T13:11:00.000+01:00

As always it seems a new development in Internet marketing gets a bad rap! It is not just a negative attitude of the british either - it is across the world. It seems that a storm has grown over the term social media optimisation... MyBlogLog Brands All Social Media Optimizers As Schmoes.

I have two opinions on this, a) it is a bit late in coming and had been much discussed within hallowed halls for many years and b) what is all the fuss about, as it is inevitable that people do things in new areas - as true pioneers, incorrectly... it is a classic!

The fuss is basically about people who post comments, or who use robots to post comments on other peoples blogs with links back to thier sites in them. If it is valid and reasonable then fine, if not and you want a link from a given site, then sponsor the site, show your support, demonstrate that it is worth having and acknowledge that you will derive value from it and pay for it. It is not that difficult to create content on your site that is genuinely worth while linking to... it just takes some thought.

Although as Jaap Favier of Forrester Research said just a few days ago (see the link?) contact is king, not content - and he is right. We still need to learn to engage and the passive watching of a video does not do that. As a result of what Jaap said to me, and to you if you watch his video, you will be seeing a site design change over at Weboptimiser soon. But no need to throw video out with the wash water...

There is more to this debate than meets the eye and well done for bringing it up again, it is something we should consider, as the whole concept of social media optimisation needs consideration, it needs to be worked out, it needs to be understood and nurtured. If it should be employed commercially, it should be used honestly and ethically.

The EPIC that was Interact 2007 is over...

2007-07-01T23:37:00.000+01:00

At last I have finished the last in the series of 4 videos that recorded the IAB Interact in Brussels this month, and made a showcase of my newly found video skills. As a result I am not alone in our video making and have been lucky enough to have created a small team of enthusiasts who are busy making even more videos as we sleep...

To see the all the IAB Interact in Brussels videos, visit our Interact IAB Europe page and after watching the first video, watch the next one. Less than half an hour of video took more than 180 hours to make. 60 in the filming and double that in the making and interestingly 20Gb of hard disk space, geeky, but it is nice to know when you have more planned - got to make sure we have what we need when we need it you know.

One of the things that was interesting was that I was able to put together a story, a beginning, middle and an end, and I did so simply by explaining to every person what I was looking for. Only when I downloaded the video was I able to work out how to make it work, it is safe to say that it fell together on editing... There were hours of video that we simply did not use and from each person, apart from the keynotes, Danny and Alain, we only used a few seconds of what was said in perhaps 5 minutes. It was an interesting discovery. Of course the end result is still not perfect, but it does capture some of the enthusiasm, the purpose, content and key messages that the industry wants to be heard and now is enshrined forever into these videos.

Perhaps I should have strived to craft each element in a similar way, for there to be some programatical or visual consistency. But I think that short vignettes each crafted in a different way, reflects the different interview scenarios and makes the point of each stand out.

My primary hope is that viewers find them interesting, informative and viewable. It will be interesting to see if they stand the test of time, and indeed later to compare how often this type of video is viewed and again later reviewed. Naturally we shall optimise each and shortly the videos will be posted around the World and through our analytics we shall know more about the traffic that we receive in the future weeks, months and years.

Thanks especially to all those who gave their time and expressed their views and helped make each of the videos come alive with the joy, prospects and excitement of the industry. I look forward to doing it all again at the next leadership council and at the next interact.

New videos on the site - that makes 100

2007-06-20T21:26:00.000+01:00

Loads of new content for the site... search engine marketing firm Weboptimiser

3 more VIP Interviews, a new line up on the front page and I have expanded the IAB sections so that we now have a placeholder for further info on IAB UK and IAB Europe.

The front page retains the Virgin video - I have replaced the middle one from Guy Phillipson announcing the Advertising Revenue Report to the first of three videos (although I have only produced two of them so far) from Interact at Brussels.

The end one is Penny Power of Ecademy - thanks Penny. If you click through to the VIP section
I have just added a great interview of Glen Drury of Yahoo! where he talks about social networking and I have added another video of Darran Snatchfold - making four! Yes I know that is a lot, but this one is kind of a summary of the other three - so watch this one to save you from sticking pins in your eyes on the first three - that is our editing - not his presentation!

Penny, Glen and the new Darran have all been done with the help of Sinem who has cut them down and made them more interesting to watch with cutaways etc. Thanks Sinem - credit where dredit is due and all that.

There are more to come on the VIP front, I have Graeme Foux in the can ready to go of woyano.com, I interviewed both Robert Stevens of Bunnyfoot and Val-Pierre Genton of Bright talk today - The 'B's have it. So more to come.

I have changed the IAB UK page. You can access the IAB Engage for Retail video.
You will now find the IAB Advertising Revenue Report delivered by Guy Phillipson.

I know you will be excited to know that I have changed the IAB Europe page too: Now you can access the IAB leadership council interviews and the latest Interact event held in Brussels, I have the third video to add soon...

Search standards at the IAB

2007-06-19T18:12:00.000+01:00

At last my first standard has been ratified and approved by everyone at IAB UK, SEMPO and DMA - it has taken six month to agree three crucial points hoorah! OK, so now we are going to work out a joint press release and release the details of it in the first or second week of July. In the meantime we (hopefully) going to design a logo and a set of words aimed at search engine marketing companies, explaining how they can promote their compliance to the guidelines.

Great video from Microsoft

2007-06-17T16:25:00.001+01:00

I have just finished the marathon video edit that is IAB Interact that I shot in Brussels. Well, I still have the sound to do, but I have assembled the bits and ordered into three parts... Whilst there are many interesting comments - and believe me, I have edited those right down, most are real gems. I am very pleased and it will be out any day now.

Marc Bresseel Regional Sales Director, Microsoft Digital Advertising Solutions, refers to the latest video campaign developed by Microsoft and it is great:

It very validly states the problem, although not the solution. I dont really see anyone talking to Microsoft about this, I think it describes the overal realisation that companies must have in order to engage commercially with the web, it does not really promote Microsoft as the solution provider.

So, great job in highlighting the issue, it even links to a blog, although the blog itself seem to be more intent on the promotion rather than solving the problem raised. So at the moment, it appears that Microsoft are missing a trick. However, not sure that I know how to resolve the problem either, so I am in the same boat here...

Ok here goes... How about a call to out all those who abuse or ignore or do not employ best practice marketing? That would be controversial and that could help raise the awareness. Or, more positively, how about making case studies of Nike, Lego etc, those who have embraced these new technologies into something evangelical? I will try...

video editor vacancy

2007-06-07T12:14:00.000+01:00

I now have over 100 videos published since march this year, although I took my first video in January and I have about 40 videos not yet processed, I have never the less produced and published 100 videos. So that is 25 videos per month, or one for about every working day. It is a lot of video!

I have learnt a lot too. My first videos are not so good, then I started hiring equipment, then I bought some equipment, low cost, portable lighting and later invested in a semi pro camera, whilst gradully changing the angle of the camera, understanding more and more about lighting, making mistakes about sound and most recently understanding, or at least acknowledging(!) the need for cut aways and background footage.

So I enjoy and find useful interviewing people for video recording and I find publishing, embedding, sharing the end result, easy and fun to do. I can also quickly rough edit, so I am in a position where I can hand over slightly cooked video. I now need someone to stitch it together as I just do not have the time - can anyone tell me where to go? Are you a video editor, based in London, who has experience on Mac and wants to work with Final Cut Studio 2 - motion, color, soundtrack Pro, DVD studio?

All ideas welcome - I am spending so much time on this project now. I can see that Video is going to become a permanent part of the Weboptimiser expanding business. Video for Weboptimiser and its interviewees is starting to gain traction as a result of the prolific amount of interviews that I have achieved. People are being recognised through their interviews - so, TV meets the Web at last.

Are you a video editor? Would you like to access a small video recording studio in the heart of London? Are you able to access my server over broadband, download and process on a project by project basis - let me know.

Eurostar baggage limits

2007-06-07T10:13:00.001+01:00

There are none! On looking at their site, they are 'photographer' friendly - I think that marketing identified a niche - photographers - the inference being from a photographers perspective that you could take what you wanted on Eurostar.

Indeed, on checking in, and loading onto the train, staff even joked about the amount of kit I was taking - albeit between two of us, we had 6 bags going and 8 coming back. Coming back I did not have the energy to squeeze the extra light box into one of the big bags and took it separately - partly to see if Eurostar would figure I was over the limit. Although I also managed to pack three extra shiping bags full of chocolate... The office needs me!

This was not the case when I rang customer services. I rang because I suspected the bag limit and being told that we need to be there half an hour early I did not want to be held up and overcharged for too much baggage. I was told I could deliver extra baggage to the terminal 24 hours earlier and it would be available to me within 24 hours of my arrival. I wanted to start filming right away and I did not want to leave fragile, expensive, essential equipment with burly luggage handlers. The telephone support would not commit, I could turn up 24 hours later or I could take a risk and he would provide no guarantees as to what they would say at the terminal.

No wonder Eurostar have had difficulty in making money, they do not seem to be sure about what they are carrying. The staff are perhaps too timid to question luggage limits or too timid to shout about the amount you could take... Does anyone have any Eurostar nightmares? I read on the train that they are dumping Waterloo and will be rerouting trains to St Pancreas with faster travel across the UK - Yipee!

The Video Problem...

2007-06-05T14:12:00.000+01:00

I have a conundrum... As well as typing on a french keyboard... Here at IAB Europe, at Interact in Brussels I have have had the pleasure of taking a further 30 video interviews. The problem is that there a number of publishers who want to place them on their sites exclusively. So this is very complimentary, but how do I please all the people all the time - so I am hoping that someone reading this might help. I have one idea, auction them... So I allot each publisher 10 points... I provide access to eqch of the videos via a private site. They vote using their points, the highest bid wins and uses their points, those who are unsuccessful get their points back. I have five publishers, I produce 30 videos... Publishers want exclusivity for a period of one week. How many points... Is this the right method... Any better ideas...

Engage for Retail, IAB Leadership Council and more VIPs!

2007-05-26T21:17:00.001+01:00

My feet are not touching the ground at the moment, barely have time to process the videos I am taking... Somehow I have just squeezed out another 15, hah, no problem! So, well on track for 200 for the year now.

Thanks to everyone at IAB UK for setting it up and of course to all those lovely people who spoke, as usual nice to see familiar faces - including a good number who have never been on video before - well done! Great commentary too.

The IAB Leadership Council - what can I say, just more of the above plus, some really inciteful stuff and of course a big thank you to Alain who took the time to explain his plans for IAB Europe more of that on our search engine marketing site.

Then VIPs, are the VIPs, again these are a combination of clients, nice people and industry stars - the quality of content is getting better and better and our content wings are seriously spreading - it is such an exciting project, you will see more as it expands now, but I think we are getting close to the tipping point we are looking for...

So if you would like to appear on one of VIP briefings, let me know, it is just about to go big and your profile will very definately be raised... type in Roy Patel into Google... (Hi Roy! - you know already...).

Toasting laptops, podcasts and er.. video again.

2007-05-06T00:48:00.000+01:00

I have turned my laptop to toast again - no it is not burnt out, just burning hot. I am simultaneously processing videos and producing dvds, the firewire port is truly ablaze, with equipment daisy chained out I need two four way adapters to keep the whole thing going!

Not only did I take four videos at the Internet World show, I also had another IAB Europe Leadership council event to attend, where I am meeting increasingly familiar and friendly faces. I managed a further 6 videos there and this time one from the President himself, Alain. So you will see it at a sited near me, soon!

So on catching up on my emails - here I am at gone 12 Satarday night, Sunday morning now and I have recieved an email from Andy White - no relation! I met Andy at the Corporate Podcasting event where after a brief conversation within the venue he was keen to interview me, he did so over lunch in the restaurant and you can hear it all here: http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk/blog/#post-73 the interestings things to me were a) I did well, although that could have been his fine editing skills - but I dont think so, there are a couple of things I repeat, although I realised how easy that is to do from my own experience and 2) how clear the recording is. I remember he pointed a strange looking hand sized recorder at me with a soft grey fuzzy short lead microphone on top and that was it. I have since checked the equipment out and I am surprised to find that this kit is veyr expensive which it has to be said really put me off. It put me off because given the choice of spending that kind of money I would prefer to go down the video route. But, and this is a big but, the sound and the production quality of Andys podcast - even though he has mixed me with a competitor (and that is a good thing) is brilliant. So a big thanks to you, for showing me the way and sharing that experience with me and putting out on your site: http://www.summitsolutions.co.uk/blog/#post-73

And Now, Ladies and gentlemen, back to Internet World... Ah yes, before we get back there - today I did something which I am sure is totally illegal - I superimposed a mates head onto a clip of Casino Royal - the sea scene where he spots the lady on horseback from the sea.

And Now, Ladies and gentlemen, back to Internet World... Aha it was great to be congratulated by some of our competitors for having such a strong presence there - it was nice to see people that we know and love of old and it is always funny to see people (competitors) we know ignore us - one day they too will join a trade body and start to put more in, share information realise that there is more to what we do than money and competition! I often wonder if these people understand what open licencing means and if they have considered the alternative business models and how we can really use these new technologies for themselves - I am musing on how long it will be before it becomes apparent that they are following another trend and not creating one of their own.

As ever and in this vein, I had another interesting yet obvious conversation - to me this is the epitomy of a brilliant idea - the obvious nature, its simplicity and its ease to understand - and perhaps even - to implement as well. Well, we may not be as close as I would like to ease of implementation apart from the old - nothing that £50k would not fix for you! But here it is: multi variant testing the new buzz phrase from the world of web analytics... So, there are hundreds or even thousands of types of people, but, imagine that there are only two - the logical and the emotional. The logical are those that need data to prove that a supposition is right, the emotional - they need to see and be certain that loads of others have done the thing. Each type needs data, each type would follow a different route according to thier needs before getting to the close. Fixing this route, through multivariate testing is a very strong opportunity put in these terms and definately qualifies under one of my concepts - that of third generation search engine marketing - advanced search engine marketing. Of course my example is limited to just two strands of people - the logical and the emotional, multi-variate testing platforms should be able to create unique paths that are suitable to a wider variety of people - please, dear God, may they be implement in a search engine friendly way!

Quick update, at a recent IAB meeting on the subject of advanced search engine marketing, it was concluded that we would refer to multivariate testing as good old fashioned dynamic pages, Hoorah for simplicity!

Day 1 at Internet World 2007

2007-05-01T21:13:00.000+01:00

Again! Another Video - front page of Internetworld.co.uk manner from heaven - thank you Lord - two video coups - one day!

's funny! Both videos were filmed, uploaded, converted and then edited within the VIP lounge, all with my very own hands - so fast I forgot to add colour correction to the first - its the real thing folks - met Mr Coca Cola shortly afterwards too. Really! Head of, Danny set it up - thanks man.

I told you about my presentation... I did not cover it in the video, because although I billed it as the end of the day I filmed it before my presentation as I realised I did not want to have a video up there saying that I had a presentation at three - that was only day one, not two or three. So I had no choice I had to make another video. Even more ad hoc than the first one - the only people around then were staff - now we were live- truly live - clients and visitors...

Can't wait to see how the presentation worked out...

Day 1 at Internet World 2007

2007-05-01T21:02:00.000+01:00

Whew - what a busy day - taxis delivering children, a mad rush with all sorts of equipment and bags to the event - you can imagine - first to arrive - waited, waited, waited... for the organisers for their video interview - they were overwhelmed - the biggest IW show in years, so I had to step in and do the interview myself, I figured I was doing a backup - turned out to be the show - here it is:

So at 11am there it was, online on the front page of Internetworld.co.uk a true video coup!

As explained, my presentation was at three - it started with a few seated residents - par for the course! Where is everyone - within minutes the seats filled and colleagues could not find a space - ensuring that there would be a number of people rubber necking - whats going on! Sound worked, presentation played, mac connected like a dream - for this presentation I even prepared video - sound from machine did not work - no worries I spoke over the soundtrack (that was not playing) and filled in the gaps - by the time I got to my third video - expecting total disaster and seeing in the gleeful eyes of the audience that they could not wait for another failure technical had stepped in and connected me up - hoorah! (was that guy smokin somthin?). The funniest thing was spotting Davina Lines in the audience just at the moment her audio was not working- I offered her the mike - she could at least lip sink - she would remember what she said - wouldnt she?

You can see it all later - I recorded the whole lot -failure and success to camera - downloading now - so in a few hours guess what I will be able to show you all - I have not seen it myself yet - so maybe not... Laters!

Busy Bee at the IAB

2007-04-26T21:02:00.000+01:00

It was a great honour and pleasure to be asked by Val-Pierre Genton to speak at his B2B event at the IAB UK today - and to speak to and hear from an audience of agency folk. The other speakers were really interesting too, Sarah from Trade Doubler, Ed from Concep Global, Graeme from Nexus Group and of course Val-Pierre himself hosting the event in fine style - although I had expected Champagne Val-Pierre, seem to remember that was why I came to the first meeting...

I had to cover 10 years worth of experience in search in ten minutes, and then so did Ed on Email marketing. Loads of fun... Whilst Sarah admitted that there was a lot of life in the consumer model with many obvious B2B opportunities yet to be found and created.

Afterwards I found myself alone in the basement, dialling into the IAB Europe search taskforce call, speaking to another set of and making new friends in Holland - hello Paul!

Then afterwards, I called up Val-Pierre and Graeme - you will see them on the VIP video soon...

Handiscoping the Pope

2007-04-13T23:09:00.000+01:00

Yeah I went to Rome last week, this Easter and I saw the Pope. There I was checking out St Peters, and who should pop in, the Pope! So, your eminence, what are your feelings about the current trends in SEM? What was that, you think Handiscoping is a bit of a worry. Could not agree with you more...

Then, err, Rome in a flash... Very nice city, lovely people.

I went to Rome and I met the Pope... And...

2007-04-10T21:08:00.000+01:00

... I saw something I had seen before - people holding their cameras in the air, zooming in, adjusting the viewing angle and using their Camera like a periscope.. But is it a Periscope I would like to call it a handiscope or perhaps to term the verb: handiscope - to use your video camera to view over things. Whilst in Rome I saw people using to view over fences and many things, I even found myself doing it - to handiscope? And so I made my first wikipedia entry... Periscope~ handiscope ~ anyone...

2007-04-03T18:44:00.000+01:00

I was reminded last week of 3GSEM, just when you think the latest thing has already moved on, I received a solid jolt that confirmed 'we were right!' to focus on 3GSEM. When I said that 3GSEM stood for third generation search engine marketing I was thinking about the sophistication that is now involved in the process of delivering search engine marketing services. That is easy to say, but what does it mean? This question is made harder when so much technology needs to be protected and revealed only to clients who have signed NDAs and you are sure are not likely to take what we have developed...

So, Web Analystics, of course is an indication of third generation of search engine marketing. I met John Marshall at the third Emetrics Summit in London, where you will see what a nice man he is. Indeed he was a delight and much sought after at the event, I was delighted of course to 'capture' him on video. In all I was able to take about 14 videos, including one of Mike Grehan - watch this space. I hope to put the entire collection online soon, but first here's Johnny:

For Jim Sternes video, visit the Web Analytics section on the Weboptimiser web site.

Fixing things with cut and paste alone.

2007-03-22T19:12:00.000Z

OK we are not perfect. Today I was mostly fixing something that had not gone wrong... Indeed I ended the day at the clients site showing them how to use our content management system (CMS) - and discovered its imperfections - I think the client was pleased that I had taken the time although a bit bemused that it 'did not work' and there were a few problems - not all ours! but at the heart of it the cms had not integrated well with the sites cascading stle sheets (CSS).

On the surface the CMS was completely failing in its objectives, we established that the javascript was not operating well within IE. This is a technical issue beyond us and the client - fixed by installing firefox hoorah! Ruined by the fact that Firefox would not accept a paste from Word - although Firefox did explain what needed to be done I am not a PC king and I definately was not going to resolve that over the phone. After a while of struggling to explain key concepts I suggested I pop by. I am glad I did as I discovered a new way of cutting and pasting (I said key concepts!) that proved to be a way around the problems presented by Firefox (isnt Firefox supposed to be the best?) I used the nifty trick of right clicking and selecting paste - it really was that simple to overcome - (all on a PC - and I dont use PCs) - quite pleased with myself here.

Then when we had mastered cutting and pasting, although the content looked perfect when pasted from word to our 'what you see is what you get' (wysiwyg) CMS interface it just did not show properly on site - a sneaky peak at the site code revealed outrageously bloated code... Back to the CMS - if found an html code button '<>', pressing revealed the bloat - quick work around - cut and correction to

and that was that. Simple really.

but hey computers are confusing and some of the basic things can prove to be a nightmare - even today. Not sure what the lesson here is, apart from dont sell a wysiwig CMS to anyone that is based beyond atube stop! Next week I will be fixing the wysiwyg and the CSS and maybe it all work properly as expected...

I am truly sorry. Will try harder next time, please believe me. You do remember the days of wysiwyg, don't you, or am I just showing my age again...

First the Skis

2007-03-20T21:24:00.000Z

So here it is the big action - shame we did not video my first fall - that was very eventful - all you could see was my legs waggling from a head first dive into the snow off the side of the kids slope!

I did manage the big one - the first time I suffered some serious stalling - it took me an hour, the second, I stalled, but for just 10 minutes. Absolutely loved the speed at the end - on the flat! It was a perfect time to leave and come home, exhilerating as it was...

skiing - for real!

2007-03-20T21:13:00.000Z

Yup, it really is me on my first 'complete and unassisted' ski run! Thanks for the emails kind people, I know you were more amazed that I was away from computers for more than 6 days than anything else- a major achievement for me, probably the only time in the last 25 years! - So this is what I do with my non PC time - OK, I did cross country too, I walked across a frozen lake, cut a hole through 40cm of ice with a chain saw, spent a lot of time in a Sauna and got smashed with the inlaws... Is all good!

new sites, results and skis to chew on

2007-03-19T23:22:00.000Z

HI there coalface blog readers. I have at last finished or at least finished the start of a few more web sites, semcasestudy.com and sembestpractice.com and started to update 3GSEM - 4GSEM anybody? I already own it, so no problem. Also I am in the middle of updating sembenchmark.com although I am tempted to donate that to IAB Europe.

Last weekend, I visited Jyvaskyla via Tampera Finland, flying Ryanair for less than a pound each way. Thank you Michael. I learned to Ski, not bad at 44! it was crazy, I completely stalled on my first downhill and did a little better on my last shot, but I could weave and I can Ski - well, I felt in control as the air whizzed by. I completed my cross country and classically, whilst saying hello and waving on my return to everyone, pleased and amazed that I had succeeded, I fell and bent my stick! Ho hum, the break was good - no computer for 6 days and my entire body ached!

Today I am at the Corporate Podcasting summit and am now using digg on the Weboptimiser site. I am pleased also that we are already achieving number 1,2,4,8 and 9 against the term search engine optimisation on google video. Web 2.0 - social search - anyone - hey we are not just talking about it - we are doing it - who knew!

David White CEO of Weboptimiser Group Ltd

2007-02-18T22:12:00.000Z


Here I am! I have taken all the bee swollowing moments out already! David White is CEO of Weboptimiser Group Ltd. David talks about his expectations and highpoints of the IAB Europe Leadership Council held at the Over Seas League, London, January 26th 2007.

Roy Patel UK MD of Metrixlab

2007-02-17T08:48:00.000Z


Roy Patel of Metrixlab provides his feelings about the IAB in Europe today and explains some of his companies findings and forecasts for the future of the online industry across Europe. Recorded at the IAB Europe Laadership Council held at the Over Seas League, London, January 26th 2007.

The Videos are out!

2007-02-13T22:34:00.000Z

At last - 17 interviews later, lots of struggling with machines that did not used to have enough memory or processing power and a great discovery to find that nowadays, at last, we do have machines that are both affordable and can do the job! I did have to rent the lights, but apart from that the whole thing was quite a low budget affair. It goes to prove, to me at least, no doubt all you people realised already - that you can make business quality videos using a handicam and google video. I tried YouTube first and as you will see, they do not synchronise the sound at all well.

If you fancy some channel hoping, I can prove it to you! Hopping mad more like... Danny does a fantastic job, but sadly YouTube lets him down. Whilst over on Google Danny does a fantastic job and now you can hear him fantastic stuff - keep it going. Danny is such a pro he did the intro without prompt or discussion, just straight in for the take. Excellent. On re-reading this I ought to add that every take he did was a one off - we are just acting out this life, I saw it with my own eyes and heard it with my own ears, and with the lucky advent of online video, you can too.

OK, we are nearly there, I am waiting feedback from a couple so right now there are a few blanks, but all the videos are coming together and are soon to be accessible directly from within the IAB Europe website itself. For an immediate peek of whats coming, check it out. - My privilege - two nice links direct to the Weboptimiser website - and I got to have 17 conversations in one afternoon - more than if I had been a delegate, although of course I was one of those too. I just happened to bring along the camera, some lights, a special microphone, a laptop that we used to autocue the questions... it all came together very nicely. Thanks to every one, it was fun.

It was a genuine pleasure to meet so many people in such a short period, it was a great fun, full marathon - well 17 video interviews in something like four hours - I was knackered! It was great to meet people I had met before and even better to be giving them the opportunity to present themselves on camera I made some new friends too, girls and boys from the states, Spain, France, Belgium, Romania, Switzerland, Woking, London... and I got to have some close ups with 'the competition' too. Nice to meet you and I look forward to doing it all over again in Belgium in the summer.

IAB Leadership council

2007-01-27T13:03:00.000Z

The IAB Europe credentials were established yet again. It was a great pleasure to meet up with familiar faces and to meet and greet some new ones. I was glad to extend a warm welcome and a big hello to Stan Faryna and Ana-Maria Ilie who run the newly formed IAB Romania - thanks for dinner that was great fun - Stan, Ana and Julia. They are now one of several fledgling IABs who have the benefits of all the other IABs to support them. Indeed IAB Europe now has over 20 countries within its reach.

It was also great to meet Erica from IAB US and Erin who works for IAB EU in Brussels two legal beagles. Erica is Senior Manager of Industry Initiatives and Legal Affairs - her main responsibility is the management of standards, legal affairs and has been responsible for implementing a number of legal changes across Europe. She kindly agreed to be our first video interviewee and I had great fun talking to her in a fireside chat at the Over Seas League in Piccadilly. Erin was able to discuss her role - also on video - and the benefits that IAB members receive - I was fascinated by what she had to say - and some will be shown online soon - see below. The surprising thing to me was that although I have been working with the IAB for the best part of 10 years - much of what she was said was news to me - I had heard rumours of legal services that we were all benefitting from but it was not until meeting Erin in person and discussing these issues further with Erica that it all made sense.

Erin and Erica were really interesting to talk to, they had different perspectives one working in Europe, the other in the States, bu they share common goals and it is physical events like these that really make the difference in terms of expanding awareness and to communicating the possibilities. It is always great to meet interesting people - and that, for me is the main purpose of these events. I think I, like many others, certainly Stan Faryno of IAB Romania left the event with renewed enthusiasm and excitement for our great industry.

I undertook 17 interviews in all, wrote them all to video and when I got home - I discover that those 17 people have given me 8.7 Giga Bytes of footage for me now to edit. I expect to be out from my bunker in about a month - we hope to publish all the videos online at the IAB Europe web site.

It was a great day and the list of people I videod included Erica and Erin Lynch of Europe Analytica, based in Brussels, Belgium, Anthony House of Google, Stephanie Carr of SearchWorks, John Myers of Search Latitude, Antonio Traugott Hernandez, Director General of IAB Spain, based in Madrid and Barcelona, Patrick IAB Belgium, Roy Patel, MD of MetrixLab, Caroline Vogt of Microsoft, Marc Hemple, co CEO of Interactive Communication Group, Switzerland, Nate Elliot from Jupiter Research, Amy and Stan from IAB Romania, Jo from Conde Nast, Peter Mason - Advanced International Media and of course the relentless Danny Meadows Klue. They were all great - it was my pleasure, time well spent, thanks very much to you all. having just seen the rushes we are looking good to go!

So as ever, my message to all non IAB members is join - the internet trade is at its beginning, today we can still change the world - participate - or miss out. For all those IAB members that could not attend - we missed you - but don't worry - key information will probably be published on the IAB Europe web site
.

See you all soon. David

It is a happy new year

2007-01-07T20:16:00.000Z

The first week back had its ups and downs and there were a number of good things happened for the business. Most importantly I was reminded of how good people are and indeed the benefits of membership of the IAB.

Through the IAB I was asked to chair a seminar in May to talk about my favourite subject - search engine marketing! Our clients had some good things to say about our 24 by 7 pay per click service and how pleased they are to have sold more over Christmas since we have been employed on their account. Right up to Christmas we were recieving excellent references and feedback from our SEO clients so it was gratifying to receive more testimonials from the PPC side - they all add to our testimonials folder.

Danny Meadows-Klue gave me an excellent book - Wisdom of the Crowds. Guy Phillipson agreed to appear in one of our future marketing events. Our sales team completed a project that I really did not expect them to. Our production team came up with some great ideas and want to take them forward - so I can't wait for 2007 to unfold!

I would urge everybody within the internet marketing industry, search or otherwise to participate and work more closely with the IAB. My experiences in 2003, 2004, 2005 and now 2006 was excellent and our prospects for 2007 are better then ever before - roll on 2007.

Big mouth and €60m

2006-12-02T12:23:00.000Z

It bolds well for the industry that a marketeer such as bigmouthmedia can get a deal of this magnitude.

I have to say that we at Weboptimiser Media Ltd have been offered a number of deals in the past few years, all of which have come to nothing. Nothing that is other than I have learnt a lot about the business and the type of deals that are possible. I could say that we walked away, we could say that the terms were not up to scratch. In the end, it seemed that the numbers offered just did not make sense, so I hope it works out for Steve and his team.

There have been several 'high profile' industry deals over the years that I can think of, Webgravity reportedly for £1m a few years back, a ppc company for £1m, Iprospect in the US for a tidy sum to a UK firm and so on, these deals are not new. Webgravity has been trying to find its way ever since, the PPC company was a client based turnover deal and I understand that there were some tremours there. I have not heard much about Iprospect since they did their deal and I cannot predict which way bigmouth will go, other than the word which is just one letter away - ego.

So good luck to Steve and his team. Like us they have had their troubles over the years and it is good to see that good outcomes are possible. There is a distinct trend of mergers and acquisitions within this industry and the future looks exciting for those that can get traction in the market. My opinion is that traction in the market is difficult to achieve. Not least of which is because Google and Yahoo have done such a fine job in convincing, allowing, co-ordinating... clients to go direct, through the cloning and suggestion of optimisation techniques.

Ultimately cloning or adopting or creating new optimisation techniques is better for the client and that is the best possible outcome for the industry in the long run. There will always be some clients who will require the services of thrid parties and the best third parties are those that focus on the creation of genuine added value - and this as well as brains takes cash and client momentum. I am certain that this is something that Weboptimiser Media Ltd has, and I can definately see it in one or two of our competitors too, but not in any of the companies that have completed deals recently. That may be their secret. Lets see.

They are of course all welcome to join the IAB UK or Europe and join us on any of the Search Task Force calls.

I am appointed chair of IAB UK Search Task Force

2006-12-02T12:20:00.000Z

Wow. I am very pleased that I was confirmed Chair of the IAB UK Search Task Force.

I hope to carry on promoting the efficacy of search and it is interesting to look at search from yet another perspective, that of the UK and in some ways the challenge is to communicate with the big TV spenders that online is the way to go. This should be a relatively straightforward task and we have already narrowed it down to just three, maybe four initiatives.

So, thanksfor all those that voted and elected me as Chair and I hope that I can make a difference to the future of the UKs search industry.

The IABEurope search task force continues to grow

2006-12-02T10:05:00.000Z

I am pleased to discover that I have increased membership substantially, there are nearly three times the number of members to the IABEurope search task force now, I am very pleased. More importantly the membership is starting to reflect the industry and has given me te opportunity to have a dialogue with some of my competitors which otherwise I probably never would have.

So in a sense and perhaps for my own selfish reasons the IAB is proving to be a great place for me and truly allowing the 'trade' to talk. It is a revelation to me that the channel exists. It provides a level playing field where you know that everyone else is capable of presenting an opinion and making sense of what is being said. In this way I feel that genuine progress is possible for the industry - as some would say it is all part of growing up.

However, the industry is still a child. The child is about 10 years old, and that is about how long I have been working in it. Our child has grown rapidly and in some ways recklessly. It is young and it has a lot of money to spend. It is interesting to think back on all the products, strategies and business models that have come about, I cannot profess to know them all, but I have seen many. What is more interesting is how the 'panacea' products never have been, how the 'too good to believe' services have withered and died and how, even as early as 5 the industry was talking about ethical optimisation. Although that was always a stance of my company, Weboptimiser Media Ltd.

Nowadays we are busier than ever, we have a few more things in play, about 8 projects in mobile, a range of coded seo services that range from content management systems to network management, very fast microsite creation and competitive analysis services, we work in email, display, affiliate marketing... all of which add up to a broad range of clients and a broad range of services.

The IAB Europe search task force is about to deliver on its first remit item with its first set of case studies and I am pleased to see that I am not the only provider of those as I have seen a further 8 case studies come through from Latitude. It is possible if every member country of IAB Europe posted just two case studies, then we could get the dizzy heights of 54 case studies. That would be far out. Just think what would happen if all the search marketing companies around the world pooled their case studies how big the repository would be and how convincing to people that the industry is genuine and accessible.

Chair of Search Task Force

2006-10-06T10:13:00.000+01:00

“Unlocking the power of search can transform your customer acquisition strategy”, David White, newly appointed joint leader of the IAB Europe Search Marketing Taskforce.

Welcome to the European Search Marketing Taskforce

Welcome to the new taskforce leader
The IAB Search Marketing Taskforce will now be led by David White, CEO of Weboptimiser Media Ltd (UK). An expert in the search industry with staff collectively able to draw on hundreds of man years of experience in search. David takes over from IAB Chief Executive Danny Meadows-Klue and builds on the projects developed earlier in the year.

What’s on the agenda?
The key objectives of the IAB Europe Search Marketing Taskforce are to:
• Communicate the effectiveness of Search engine marketing
• Coordinate European feedback and views into the global ‘measuring the click’ guidelines the IAB is developing
• Creating a website to champion the best in search engine advertising
• Work on new techniques to quantify the market including improving the industry’s knowledge on search spend in each country

How does the taskforce work?
The group meets monthly by conference call and more regularly by email. Individual members can champion their own projects and collectively the taskforce leaders focus the group’s activity around key issues. As well as Google, Miva and Yahoo, national search engines take part and search marketing stakeholders from all sides of the industry are welcome to join.

What’s in it for Weboptimiser clients?
Weboptimiser leads the initiative to ensure our voice and regular communication with the major search engines on all issues concerning search. Through me you have the opportunity to pose specific questions to the task force. You can actively participate in growing the industry by joining the IAB and the Search Task Force or simply supply case studies.

The voyage

2006-05-26T22:41:00.000+01:00

I have been quiet on the blog front for quite a while. I have been very busy. Business has exploded, growth is a strong upward curve and we are moving to more central, larger offices to facilitate further expansion.

I am taking a quick break in Miami and am glad to get away. I find that I have my thinking head on - when it should be my drinking head! I definately will be by the pool taking it easy in the sun shortly. It is the Memorial Weekend for US verterans and there is a hip hop festival with 350,000 people right outside the front door of my hotel! Help I am stuck. I have been warned to stay away from the hookers - they don't want my money, they make more by stealing my identity nowadays...

Just before Christmas 2005. I started a process of examinging what we do at Weboptimiser, with a mission to automate and systemise, so that we can outsource, increase volume and ensure stable quality.

For some this means that we rely less on our engineers and are considering the unholy automation of SEO. I think that this is an inevitable process of life. I.e. when we do something good, we want to do it better. We eventually get the time to analyse what we do and like Henry Ford, break things down into 'manufactoring' chunks. Some of what an SEO and PPC does are easily systematised.

I have discovered several things.
It was the right thing to do.
It has improved quality.
It now means we can do more
It has overal benefits to everyone - staff, sales and clients

We are building in extra intelligence into the process, in order to differentiate what we do and to make our work better and more meaningful. Our engineers are spending more time doing more interesting work, the more repetitive but essential stuff is now done for them, so I think that their overal lives are better, as well as the client output.

I have shared data files of our discoveries with the team, so they can see that we really do have the ability that I talk about. So if they need to discuss in a client situation they know what is possible and they have a very real idea about what we can do for sure. Again this should make thier lives more comfortable and help us set expectation levels accordingly.

It is not until you travel down a road that you can see the choices ahead. In other words, I am doing what I am doing for my own reasons, rightly or wrongly, others may look at it and realise from the information that I share that they could do something else (an epiphany!) to benefit the client - seo and ppc.

I am not for one moment pretending that I am the only one doing this. My message is join in, we are still at the beginning of a digital world that still needs to be explored. And so we are exploring and plan to continue, some of our exploration will lead to dead ends, others to rich new seams. I do so because we have found out so much already -as outlined in our white papers and case studies.

We have found out how users behave online, we have seen how certain trades behave online - we have identified the pain of being online too. We continue to discover. By forcing the march of discovery we continue to pioneer. We know what puts people to the top of search and conversely what ruins thier chances.

Although the road I am taking is clear to me. 3G SEM or sem taking into account competitive analysis - is something we have regularly undertaken, but not necessarily systematically and not necessarily knowingly or automatically. By making competitive analysis systematical and automatic, then our advice to clients becomes consistenly better - ensuring ongoing satisfaction and helping our recommendations to be more forcibly enforced - or undertaken by clients, strengthened by uniform competitive information.

There is a lot of validation out there to support competitive analysis, another realisation that I have had. I.e. Certain sites are more influential than others. For instance I cannot only get a PR for a site, I can also get an Alexa ranking and whilst these are not gospel as they are proprietory to Amazon and Google, they do form the basis of some quality measurement. We can see how many pages and backlinks are listed in Google, Yahoo, MSN and many other search engines these all provide numerical, statistical information that is there to see, for free.

Like SEO we have on site and off site factors - and this makes for a lot of data. So I conclude that competitive interpretation is going to be a factor of statistical analysis - a computation. In fact as I have discovered, a series of computations involving thousands of variables as complex as any algorythm and indeed an algorythm in itself.

Fortunately my real world sales and marketing knowledge coupled with my real world knowledge of search and web sites puts me in an excellent position to be make sense of it all - and only time will tell, although in my own humble opinion, I think I have done reasonably well to date.

The journey is there to be travelled. I am a traveller and lookign forward to the next set of choices, the next junction at the end of this particular road.

Watch this space as I plan to announce a deliverable that everyone can have shortly, for free.

Back to the blog...

2005-10-10T15:13:00.000+01:00

I have been soo busy recently, I got out of doing the blog thing. I saw the blog as a potential mouth piece and also I enjoyed the book by Biz Stone of Google for writing and publishing "Who let the blogs out", as stated in my debut blog.

For my part I have been doing a lot with the business, changing things, refocussing that kind of thing and also, mainly streamlining and preparing the way forward. I have had some personal changes too and all these things have conspired to take me away from the blog.

In my opinion, sad though it is perhaps, and nothing to do with search, the best thing that has happened in the last few months is the IPOD Nano. I have of course met some very interesting people and done a few things myself and for the company, but I cannot talk about them.

Back to the blog, I am about to re-establish the Weboptimiser newsfeed and soon I will be commenting on the stories again. Thanks for those that have responded and I apologise to those readers that find spam appearing on my blog. I have done my best to take them out...

2005-04-02T12:35:00.000+01:00

New NetTracker Lite unveiled

Sane Solutions, developers of the NetTracker range of web analytics software, has announced the launch of NetTracker Lite.Jim Rose is a clever guy, builds up his user base, gives a way a free version, and when people realise the benefits of tracking as they surely will, he has already set up an upgrade path, giving value to his clients and his company.

New Indeed.com jobs search site launched

Indeed has announced the launch of Indeed.com, a new search engine for jobs.Good use of keywords in that press announcement! Should do well.

WebTrends acquired by managers and Francisco Partners.

Private equity funds provider Francisco Partners and members of the management team have entered into an agreement to acquire the WebTrends business unit of NetIQ.I thought this was going to be picked up by iProspect, what with all the cross promotion going on. NetIQ had been touting this around for a while, users are concerned about who is going to support the product going forward, hence why 'members of the management team' are included in the announcement - long term internet brand, should do well if managed correctly

Google snaps up Urchin

Search engine Google has announced that it has purchased web analytics system developer Urchin Software.
Cool product, urchin has some advanced features, we reckon that Google is going to give it away, which will dent the analytics market, but be very good for hard pressed internet marketeers. I just hope the users take a free product seriously enough, it was already one of the lowest cost. Yet at a cost to Google of $30m that makes it an expensive giveaway, if that is what happens. Respect in any case, cool product, munches through huge log files with ease.

Support for Jamie Oliver and his Feed Me Better campaign

2005-03-20T09:51:00.000Z

Sign up now and register a vote for the Feed Me Better campaign, click here to vote

Jamie's School Dinners is all about making radical change to the school meals system and challenging the junk food culture. Showing how schools can serve fresh nutritious meals that kids enjoy eating will make the difference. It is already too far gone that the only strategy left is to name and shame.

What we eat affects everything. Mood, behaviour, health, growth, even our ability to concentrate. A lunchtime school meal should provide a growing child with one third of their daily nutritional intake. But the processed junk foods served in most school dining halls these days don't. Read about the problem and act.

They say that "you are what you eat". Well, Feed Me Better applies to animals too. Check out this cool animation that explores the perils of factory farming. Take it a step further and learn more about the terror of factory farming at the www.themeatrix.com

Finally if you have something to say and you are not sure how to say it, go to the top and email the PM.

2005-03-03T18:12:00.000Z

Yahoo! launches technology network

Yahoo! has launched a network that gives developers access to the company's technology.
Great news for everyone, open source is to be applauded by everyone.

Ask Jeeves provides search technology to Lycos

Ask Jeeves and Lycos have announced that Lycos has selected Ask Jeeves' algorithmic search technology to power search on Lycos.com.
Teoma does it again! I have met Paul Gardi, Mr Teoma... As Senior Vice President of Strategy & Growth Initiatives, Paul Gardi is responsible for leading the development, communication, implementation and measurement of Ask Jeeves’ strategic business plan for the United States and internationally. He is also responsible for Ask Jeeves external communications regarding search technology. Prior to this new position, Gardi was senior vice president of search and general manager of Teoma. He was responsible for guiding Ask Jeeves’ search technology as well as the development, growth and integration of Teoma Technologies into Ask Jeeves, Inc. Gardi served as president of Teoma Technologies prior to Ask Jeeves’ acquisition of the company.

New .eu domain poised for launch

A new .eu domain name is expected to start a bidding war across Europe.
The rules of registration should be comprehensive and up to date, there have been several new extensions launched, some have worked out well. Should be nothing to worry about, if you want to protect your company name, just buy the url. Looking forward to see how this pans out.

New Clicklab technology combats click fraud

Clicklab has announced that it is making its advanced pay-per-click (PPC) click fraud detection technology generally available.
Interesting, protection from click fraud is definitely needed, even if you look at pay per click from a cost per acquisition basis, click fraud erodes margins and ultimately is set to upset Googles market, even Google CFO George Reyes recently told CNN: "I think something has to be done about (click fraud) really, really quickly, because I think, potentially, it threatens our business model."

2005-02-28T19:34:00.000Z

"Digital divide" narrows worldwide

The "digital divide" between rich and poor nations is narrowing fast, new research claims.
Excellent news... The UN hopes that widening access to technology such as mobile phones and the net will help eradicate poverty

Net users concerns damage commerce potential

Phishing scams and stories about ID theft are damaging the potential of using the net for online commerce, a new report claims.
This is nothing new, buyer beware is the caveat applied to everything you shop, whereever you shop. There are scam artists in all industries and mediums not just online, in the real world and in nature too.

New 3D search engine from Inozon

A beta search engine from online services developer and provider Inozon aims to provide users with a new way to search the internet for products and information.
Yeah right! I get it, download a plug in to succeed. Won't happen. They'll have 10 users in weeks, good luck to 'em. Now if they harnessed the Macromedia plug in - idea waiting to be knicked!

Government unveils computer security alerts service

The UK now has a new rapid alerting service for home computer users and small businesses.
OK, watching brief on this one. We'll see if they manage to scare the market or sort it out. I reckon this will just feed the market place with worries, yet it needs to be done, there should be a way for people to find out. Virus's do damage business and it does cost money to fix. Or upgrade to an Apple computer!

2005-02-25T19:34:00.000Z

Paid search interest drops

Shares in internet search engine companies have started to drop over the last week, adding fuel to claims that there may be a price bubble in the market.
Classically punters are trying to call the market, this is great news. It demonstrates that there is a market if the market is perceived to be controlled by investors, when we take a taxi and hear the driver is investing - as last time, that will be the peak of the bubble!

Cyber attacks hit Japan

The Japanese government has been hit by a series of unique cyber attacks, targeting the computer systems of high-profile ministerial offices.
This is all over the world, not just Japan. This has got to be something that someone could find a commercial solution for, afterall, fear sells, what is taking the time on this?

Top UK search engines revealed

Neilsen//Netratings has announced the country's top 20 search engines of 2004
In my view there are just not enough, we need more channels, more routes to market, not less, competition rules!

Councils urged to blog

Local councils are being told to get online and keep internet journals, or blogs, to bring local people together.
Too right, it is a great medium for communication, provided that the writers are not too uptight. Buy who let the blogs out and read all about it...

2005-02-19T10:32:00.000Z

News companies turn to RSS

RSS is transforming the way people receive news online, according to a number of media reports.
What happened to RSS? has it really taken off? It seems it is a technology too far, a technology that on the surface looks great, but in fact just does not motivate people to use it. A classic non sexy technology... Maybe the reasons are similar to those that are behind the delay of News companies introducing RSS readers. Hey maybe it is just about to take off, maybe this is what RSS is waiting for, lets wait and see... Thoughts?

Web giants bid for About.com

Five internet firms, including Google, Yahoo, The New York Times Company, AOL and Ask Jeeves, are believed to have submitted final bids.
As I have said before there is a shortage of online channels and that is why there is a lot of interest in this - one of the last bastions, perhaps. But a sealed bid process is that really the way forward? I think that reflects on the management of the business and demonstrates that they do not care, they do not plan to run it, they are just looking for money, which is OK for the management, but what about the staff and then, as a result, the product itself. Will this signal a huge purchase followed by a huge disaster. What a caring world we live in.

Movie industry launches fresh peer-to-peer attack

The film industry has filed its second lawsuit in the United States against file-sharing networks.
Truly, madly, MAD!! Hey I know, lets stop the free marketing...

Nokodo offers domain name searches

Nokodo offers keyword searching against the most recently deleted domain names.
We live in an online world where all the great names are gone and mostly unused, I for one welcome the availability of a tool that lets us know where we can pcik up great domains...

2005-02-17T21:24:00.000Z

Macrovision tackles DVD piracy

Copy protection firm Macrovision has launched a new technology that will make DVDs harder to copy

Britons frustrated with ISPs

Many Britons are unhappy with their internet service.
I can vouch for that. BT openworld is one of the worse sites in the world. They offer a Mac service, then their engineers do not have any knowledge of what a Mac is!

Gates announces plans for IE7

Microsoft chairman and chief software architect Bill Gates has announced that a new version of the company Internet Explorer browser is under development.
Maybe they may rethink their compatibility with the Mac and start making some friends.

Tours.com launches speciality search service

Internet travel search engine Tours.com has announced the launch of its newest search category: worldwide travel agent search by speciality.
Or if you call trailfinders, they will do it for you...

2005-02-05T13:00:00.000Z

Yahoo! Blogs beta for Japan

Yahoo! Japan has launched a beta test version of Yahoo! Japan Blogs

Aussie search engine surges in popularity

New Australian search engine Ansearch is reportedly proving popular with web users

Firefox 1.1 launch delayed

The release of the new Firefox 1.1 has been delayed

Women and elderly secure PCs

Older people and women are increasingly protecting their PCs from malicious internet attacks

2005-02-03T22:47:00.000Z

Weboptimiser wins award

Weboptimiser has been voted 14th fastest growing media company in the UK.
That is top in our field and I got to have lunch with Chris Ingram founder of CIA and Genesis. Great speech, nice bloke.

Women and elderly secure PCs

Older people and women are increasingly protecting their PCs from malicious internet attacks.
From the email I get, it is positively obscene. Wham, bam, no thank you spam.

Linux founder launches attack on software patents

Linux founder Linus Torvalds has attacked software patents.
THE CATHEDRAL AND THE BAZAAR

ID theft scams on the rise

Identity theft fraud is on the increase in the United States.
Whereami?

Chinese search engine considers IPO

Top Chinese Internet search engine Baidu.com is reportedly planning to raise around $200 million (£106 million) in a US stock flotation this year.

spam, spam, spam...

2005-02-02T14:54:00.000Z

Spam traffic soars by 40 per cent

Spam traffic is up by 40 per cent.
- More pills and sex than mortgages at the moment - apparently to reflect the lack of interest in financial services. However, now is the beginning of financial fever, this is the first of two quarters where finance goes bolistic! Beware financial spam is acoming.

Google becomes domains registrar

Search giant Google has become an ICANN-accredited registrar of domain names.
I thought they were already a top level DNS server... Certainly yahoo seems to get a lot of business through offering low cost hosting services and I believe that yahoo has been hiding this. Or at least this could be what Google thinks. In any case, I cannot see hwo they can lose? Worst case scenario, they are covering off another base in the look like Yahoo scenario - who still has a bigger business than Google.

CipherTrust rolls out security upgrade

Email security firm CipherTrust has launched an upgrade to its email reputation filter.
I always wonder if the whole spam thing was brought on us by email protection systems... Apparently this type of company employ former spammers. So it would seem that there is a career path for them, based on the argument that they need to employ people in the know. I saw that on the telly a while back, so it must be true.

2005-02-01T20:34:00.000Z

Business.com adds People Search to search capabilities

Business.com has announced the addition of People Search to its business search capabilities.
In my view this could be the beginning of something big. That is if they can see the value of setting up online communities. Hey guys at Business.com - give me a shout if you'd have me run that for you.

Bankrate renews content agreement with Yahoo!

Bankrate, the web based banking marketplace, has announced that it has renewed its operating agreement with Yahoo! Finance.
There goes another deal I would love to have, this is big bucks, man.

Microsoft officially enters search market

Microsoft has debuted the finished version of its own-brand search engine.
Should be an awkward experience.

InternetTrails launches new WiderSearch.com metasearch site

Virginia-based InternetTrails has unveiled a new metasearch site.
Yeah - another! No, seriously, more search engines allow us to look in new ways. New views provide new opportunities.

2005-01-28T17:26:00.000Z

Ofcom examines possibility of internet regulation

Content on TV and the internet is set to move closer as the quality of video streaming technology improves
- should be fun to see how this pans out, every attempt to regulate has had difficulties so far, although when perpetrators are caught, there seems to be just a few offenders...

New Opera browser includes voice features

The latest version of the Opera internet browser.
OK so they can tick the box with another feature, but as it only works in certain situations, in a certain manner with a certain operating system - why bother - this is just a feature exercise for cheap PR

Ask Jeeves plans wireless search service

Ask Jeeves has revealed that it is currently developing a wireless search service for mobile phones.
Now this should be good, although I have read that the kids are using less mobile technology nowadays, but very obvious opportunity to get a fee per click and this can be shared with the operator, so this is a win / win. We'll see how this works, we might actually have an internet enabled feature that does something!

Amazon adds photographs to local search

Online retail giant Amazon.com has launched a new local business directory that supplements address and phone number listings with a photographic tour covering 10 major US cities, including Dallas New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Boston.
- Now this is big news, really big news, this adds something different to search where search is literally mapping the real world. Wow things are starting to happen.

2005-01-27T19:23:00.000Z

Microsoft tackles Windows piracy

Software giant Microsoft has announced that it is taking action against people running pirated versions of its Windows operating system.
Here we go again, haven't they got enough money?

Google browser rumours resurface

Google has hired a lead engineer from Mozilla's Firefox browser department - denies rumours about producing their own browser
- haw haw haw

Kanoodle appoints new CEO

Here is what he said: "I'm thrilled to be able to lead Kanoodle as we redefine the sponsored links industry and set the standard for product innovation, program execution and advertiser satisfaction." I hope it is comes true Mr Podell - we need you to succeed.

iTunes sales booming

Software company Apple Computers has announced that it has sold more than 250 million songs via its popular iTunes music service.
Go Apple - I have met Steve Jobs!

Yahoo & Google video it whilst toolbar boosts traffic

2005-01-25T22:10:00.000Z

Yahoo! announces video search tab

Yahoo! has announced on its blog that the company is integrating video search into tabs on the Yahoo! front page.
Visit Yahoo! now and you can try it out for yourself. I typed my name into it and found a lot of David videos which surprised me.

Google planning changes to AdWords

Google is rumoured to be about to announce changes to its AdWords pay-per-click search business.
Elsewhere there is talk of Google launching Video services, sames like a familiar me too, but knowing Google, they will make a good go of it.

Blog Search Engine boosts traffic

The Blog Search Engine, one of the premier search engines for blog entry results, has recently announced that it has increased blog searches by over 10 per cent.
This reads more like an expose of how to promote toolbars, 700 downloads is an enviable feat, but still not so many as I would want to talk about.

IE losing ground to Firefox

An increasing number of web users are turning to alternative web browsers as a result of safety concerns over security flaws in Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
Go Firefox! I know the guy who designed your logo.

MSN Dumps Yahoo, Google changes and Advertising

2005-01-24T15:52:00.000Z

MSN dumps Yahoo! In favour of search beta

Microsoft's search results are now being provided by MSN Search (beta) rather than Yahoo!
After AOL moves away from Google to Fast (Yahoo!) now MSN moves from Yahoo to itself. We will be looking closely to see if Inktomi or Overture results (both Yahoo!) are contained with in the results.

Google raises search word limit

Google has reportedly increased the maximum number of terms allowed in a search query to 32
- and that can't be a bad thing.

French court rules against Google in keyword case

A French court has ruled that Google must stop using the trademarks of Le Meridian Hotels and Resorts to trigger keyword ads.
This is a good thing.

Search users confused by paid listings

One in six internet search engines users are still unable to tell the difference between unbiased search results and paid advertisements.
Doh!

Latest search engine marketing news

Internet marketing news

2005-01-21T22:27:00.000Z

AOL launches new search engine
Great news for professional seo firms! It will be interesting to see how Google looks after changes under foot. How much past the tipping point are we?

Friendster signs ad deal with DoubleClick
DoubleClick's DART for Publishers solution is regarded as the most robust and scalable. Friendster currently has around 13 million registered users.

China to overtake US for net use
Hey guys we are in China, lets hook up.

Warning issued over wi-fi 'evil twins'
Wifi is where its at, freedom to roam appeals to the most basic instincts.

Internet marketing news commentary

2005-01-20T23:15:00.000Z

Boom for legal music downloads sector

The market for legal music downloads has taken off
With Apple selling 4.5 million iPods in the last quarter, this is hardly a surprise - but where are Sony on this, the creators of Walkman culture... It never ceases to amaze me that Sony and all of their R & D building the very best Walkman allowed Apple to walk in and just start selling iPods from under their noses. We know now of course that Steve Jobs - yep - I have met him - had all the contacts via pixar/disney, but hey didn't Sony. Sony - there is still time! Bring it on

blinkx unveils TV search engine

Search company blinkx has launched the first search engine that enables personal computer users to search TV across news.
This is an interesting one, I love their smart folders, not that this is a particularly new idea, but it is great to see intelligent agents at work within software, as part of the overall package and the package itself leaving it up to us to work out just what it is that you do with it, like so many other software - I'll come back with an example on this when I next stumble across - limited intelligence. By the way, I hope I can't find an example and that will be a sign that we have moved on. I guess I can always produce a retro intelligent agent....

Search firms team up to tackle blog spam

Search giants Yahoo!, Google and MSN have joined forces in order to fight weblog comment spam.
I know I am criticising my own news here, but heck you don't think I write the news do you? Anyone, does anyone know what this story is about...

Advertising boom boosts Yahoo! profits

Internet firm Yahoo! has announced that its fourth-quarter profits more than doubled at the end of last year.
When I have looked really closely at Yahoo profits in the past I have found that their profits are boosted by what appears to be sales of banner ads... this er, press release says that too. Conventional wisdom my side of the pond tends to suggest that banner ads don't work. Sales houses have shrunk, double click has well, clicked and when I look through the site I don't see many banner ads - is it my IP address, am I blind or has my BS detector come on, and there is something else I should be looking at... Where are they getting that kind of revenue from really? I would understand more and find it a lot more palatable if they said that it was following the acquisition of Overture and all that pay per click revenue was pulling in the dollars, that would be great for them to say that. Is that the case and they are shying away? go figure.

Blog Debut

2005-01-15T18:38:00.000Z

As a coalface online marketeer, I've been blogging for years. I just didn't know it. By posting on tech forums such as Webmaster World where I am known as perlcoder and Search engine watch where I try to hide my true identity by calling myself davidatweboptimiser and my entries at Ecademy and Ryze where I am known as me, I have done all the things that blogging is. But this is more direct, so maybe there is a difference and now I enter the world of real bloggers!

If you knew me at any of these places, you would have done very well, as I have not posted often. My wife describes me as a workaholic and I am a fully fledged techy, man manager and business owner. I am time poor. Visit my search engine marketing site. So why now? I reckon it is now that I feel I have put so much into the Internet and know so much about the way it works that I should develop a voice that goes beyond just coding and business, some way of talking outside, in a way that should not affect my relationships with the bank, investors, customers, competitors, colleagues, former employees, bosses, sons, former and current spouse. (Note: when my wife read this, she started referring to me as her first husband... oops!) If any of you read this, hello and if I put my foot in it, call me first and I'll edit it out! To an extent you could say that this has been the big limitation behind not going public with my thoughts and feelings in the past!

So now I can talk out loud the first thing I would like to do is congratulate Biz Stone of Google for writing and publishing "Who let the blogs out ". I thought Biz was a woman, but my wife merely pointed to the undoubtedly masculine photo on the back of the book and raised her eyebrows.... Anyway, it brought me right up to date with all the core sites out there and inspired me to set up this blog - his objective, I think, and that is why I am here working on my Apple laptop in the living room wearing my Google T shirt, while listening to my Google radio, and illuminating the whole, happy scene with a Google light. (Later, I'll go out in my Google scarf, but that's enough of that!)- I only have two types of T shirt and they say either Apple or Google. I have met Steve Jobs. (Wife: 'you said what?)

So my blog, what is it about? I often read the news on my search engine optimization site ( I know shameless keyword laden plug - but that is what bogs are about - hyperlinks to stuff). Often I read it for the first time like you would on the site - I don't write it. I find it really interesting. We have some really good coverage going on there and have done for years, we lost the first few archives (doh) and so here we are building it up again and already we have 1000's of pages in Google, so it's doing its stuff and it's all real, genuine and original apart from the things we make up which mainly occur on April 1st. Anyway, the point is that my blog is about that news. I have other news sites too, try this one: UK sport news, but I am not really a sports fanatic, but I have loads of things I am always bursting to say about my industry - internet marketing. So now, like it or not, here I go. I plan to write about what I think needs to be said.

Naturally I hope you enjoy my blog. Thanks for reading, I look forward to seeing you again, soon.