The Facebook Virus Spreads: No Social Network is Safe

Written by Sarah Perez

"Koobface" is the name of the Trojan worm that's been making its way through the social networking site Facebook lately, but to the site's users, it's been simply known as "the Facebook virus." That name will soon become a misnomer, though, because the worm is now spreading outside of Facebook's walls to attack other social networks like Bebo, MySpace, Friendster, MyYearbook, and Blackplanet.

About Koobface

Once a computer has become infected with the Kooface worm, it spams the friends belonging to the owner of the computer by leaving comments on their profiles. Those comments appear to come from the infected user, saying things like "Are you sure this is your first acting experience?", "is it u there?", "impressive. i'm sure it's you on this video", "How can anyone get so busted by a spy camera?" and "You're the whole show! i'm admired with you." Save for that last one, whose bad English will likely raise a flag that all is not what it seems, the other comments appeal to people's vanity. They wonder: is that really a video of me? and then click through on the link provided.

The link actually takes them to an off-site page which pretends to offer a video download from "YuoTube," but then stalls saying that you'll need a new version of Adobe's Flash Player installed in order to continue. Of course, if you click the button to proceed with the install, you're infected. Infected users are then directed to even more contaminated web sites when they try to use search engines, which puts them at risk of identity theft, among other things. "Search terms are directed to find-www.net," said McAfee's Craig Schmugar, and that "enables ad hijacking and click fraud."

Social Networks Will Be the New Breeding Ground for Viruses

Koobface may not be the first bit of malware to hit the social networks, but it has become so widespread that it now accounts for one percent of ScanSafe's blocked malware, said ScanSafe senior security researcher Mary Landesman. (Facebook will not disclose how many members are infected.)

What's frightening about the spread of this Trojan is not the worm itself - it's really nothing new in terms of malware - but the way its being spread. Over the years people have learned to be suspicious of unknown links and attachments in their emails, so the virus writers turned to hit us where we're more vulnerable: on our social networks. Here, many people still have a feeling of comfort and security. They don't always have their guard up.

According to Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, "a key factor which helps social-networking spam and malware succeed is that people are more prepared to click on a link or message if they believe it is from someone they know. The average person is used to receiving unsolicited e-mails in their regular inbox, but believe messages have more credence when they arrive via Facebook. The message is clear -- people need to beware."

Cluley also warns that the situation is going to get worse next year. There will be more attacks and they will become more sophisticated. "It will probably take a long time before the general public begins to learn that hackers and scammers are using the system for their own ends."

How To Protect Yourself From Koobface

Besides doing the obvious - running an up-to-date antivirus, security patches, and firewalls - you should be on the look out for the following:

A sample spam message:

The malicious site:

The warning message:

You should also keep an eye on Facebook's security page (http://www.facebook.com/security) which warns of the latest threats.

Image credits: virus, courtesy of akajos; Facebook screenshots, courtesy of McAfee Avert Labs

GMail Adds SMS for Some

by Mark 'Rizzn' Hopkins

Do you have GMail or GChat? Do you have a mobile phone on a major US wireless carrier?

You may be in luck, then. The chat-to-SMS functionality that was rolled out a couple weeks ago, then hastily retracted, has been debuted on GMail and is available to most users.

It’s yet another Labs feature, the experimental feature area of GMail that has been getting regular updates over the last several months. This feature introduces yet another way you can be tethered to those you correspond with electronically.

Quick testing here at Mashable shows that most major carriers are supported, but oddballs like me on regional networks like MetroPCS are not serviced by the new capability, and users who message those on unsupported networks will be greeted with the message indicating as such.

To activate the service, simply scroll down under the Settings >> Labs link until you see "Text Messaging (SMS) in Chat" and select Enable and Save Changes. To actually send a message, when you click on the “search, add or invite” blank in GMail, on the pop-up menu will be an option to “Send SMS.” You’ll be prompted to enter their mobile number, which will then send all chats to their phone.

Other than the minor network incompatibilities, it seems like one of the most convenient ways to annoy the crap out of your friends from Google yet!

Twitter

Tweet Virus

Revealed: A Powerful System That Turns Twitter.com Into Your Own FREE

24 Hour A Day Automated Branding, Traffic and Profit Machine

Dear friend,

Like many folks, maybe even you, I joined the Twitter bandwagon a few months ago after hearing all the buzz about it. I went ahead and made a simple profile and occasionally would make a post - known as a "tweet" about what I was up to during the day.

Up until recently, I only had about 100 "followers" in my network - people who had chosen to see the tweets I posted on their own Twitter pages.

Basically I was just using it to keep tabs on a few interesting people and bounce jokes back and forth with a couple of my friends.

At the time, I didn't see any real "marketing" potential in it.

That's when one of my friends mentioned that Twitter was actually a pretty good source for targeted traffic.

Now, a dozen visitors may not seem like much – but neither does just one hundred followers.

Right then though, I knew if I could quickly scale things up and grow the number of people “following” my Twitter profile - especially if they were targeted followers interested in the same things I was – I would have an excellent place to brand myself, generate targeted traffic, and increase my profits.

There were a few problems though...

• I didn't want to blast my lists and annoy them to “follow me” on Twitter.
• I didn't want to have to manually search for other targeted profiles

• I didn't want to have to spend too much time managing and growing my list of Twitter followers.

• I wanted to find a system that would not be spammy or blackhat in any way.
• Most importantly, my system had to use only FREE resources.

With these points in mind, I started researching successful profiles on Twitter – the ones with at least one thousand followers. Then, I started looking at all the free 3rd-party tools that work with Twitter. My hope was that I could uncover a free system already available that would do what I wanted

– but none was to be found.

So I set out to create my own.

To make a long story short, after much research, testing and tweaking, I came up with a system that combined the power of free 3rd party Twitter tools along with a unique and simple to create one-line "code" based on a social engineering technique I had learned.

I now have over 1200 followers on my profile, and this number is now growing at a steady pace with 5-10 more new targeted followers every day - with no effort on my part.

And these followers are responsive too. In fact, my Twitter profile has been responsible for literally hundreds of extra dollars in new business in just the past week. I now rank it as one of my most valuable assets – right up there with my customer lists.

CLICK HERE

To your success,
Phil

Want A Sticky Site? Forget Content!

By Michel Fortin (c) 2008

An interesting debate is raging among copy writers, web designers and content developers about the differences, if any, between writing copy for the web versus writing content.

According to prolific copywriter Nick Usborne of Excess Voice, a recent survey conducted among the readers of his newsletter of the same name offers some interesting results. They seem to be split almost three ways: one-third consists of copywriters, another content writers and the final third both.

But it's wrong.

This is an important debate, I believe, since all online copy is content but not all content is copy. And that's a real problem.

Most web designers, webmasters and content writers develop text for websites in a way to educate visitors. They also write it with the notion that "content is king," "content increases search engine rankings," "content makes a website sticky" and so on. That's all fine and good.

But I believe content fails when it strives only at informing the reader, and thus lacks important elements that take her "by the hand" and compels her to do something - anything, including the simple act of reading.

In other words, while some websites may compel our attention, others fail to propel our actions, too. And their owners often end up screaming, "Why is my website not producing any sales," "why am I getting a lot of traffic but such a poor response" or "why are people leaving so quickly?" Well, if content is king, copy is the castle.

The Internet is not a traditional medium — at least not in the broadcast sense. It is intimate, dynamic and interactive. People are more involved when reading the content of a website than reading a conventional print publication, watching a show on TV or listening to a program on the radio.

And with the Internet, people have a powerful weapon that they don't have with other types of media, and they usually don't think twice about using it when the need confronts them: their mouse.

So, the idea is this: forget about writing content, at least in the traditional sense. Think copy. Think words and expressions that compel the reader to do something, even if it's just to continue reading.

According to online dictionary Answers.com, "copy" is defined as "the words to be printed or spoken in an advertisement." (And "advertisement" is defined as "a notice or announcement designed to attract public patronage." It's calling for some kind of action. It's selling something, in other words.)



But the word "content," on the other hand, is defined as "the subject matter of a written work, such as a book or magazine." And keep in mind that there's no mention of the Internet, here.

Nevertheless, this is why I submit that, with its multitude of links, scripts and hypertexts, the Internet transforms the passive reader into an active, responsive participant. (Or make that "response-able.") And she must therefore be treated as such - as a participant, not a reader.

Look at it this way: a book is limited by its front and back covers. When the book is done, it's done. The web, however, is not.

If your content does not strive at getting the reader to do something, whether it's to buy, subscribe, join, download, call, email, fíll out a form, clíck or whatever, then you need to seriously rethink your content and the words you use.

Here's my explanation of the difference between content and copy. Content informs. Copy invites. Even if content invites a reader to keep reading, it's still selling an idea. It's still calling for action. And it's still copy.

If your web page is only meant to inform people like some kind of book, then it's content. (And like closing a book once it's read, the only action left is to exit the website or close the browser.) But if it contains links or more content, then it's copy. And you need to write content with that mindset.

Ultimately, incorporate within your content a direct response formula that compels your readers to do something. Don't leave them hanging. Take them by the hand. Integrate a call for some kind of action, in other words. Ask your reader to "buy now," "join today," "get this," "download that, or ...

... Better yet, simply "clíck here."

About The Author
Michel Fortin is a direct response copywriter, marketing strategy consultant, and instrumental in some of the most lucrative online businesses and wildly successful marketing campaigns to ever hit the web. For more articles like this one, please visit his blog at michelfortin.com and subscribe to his RSS feed.

Profitable Opportunities for CPG Marketers

Although search is more “mainstream” than it has ever been, consumer-packaged-goods marketers aren’t fully taking advantage of their excessive opportunities. Clicks used to be about branded search and paid search, but recent ComScore research shows a tremendous growth in organic search thus emphasizing organic as the best strategy for CPG marketers.

As search engines become more sophisticated, so do the searchers. In the above video from SES Chicago, Eli Goodman, Search Evangelist for ComScore, says 73 percent of searchers are now becoming more specific with their search queries and are looking for information and help. Although these observations strengthen a paid strategy, ComScore is seeing a shift in traffic to social media enhancers such as Yahoo! Answers, Google Blogger, and About.com.

To make the search experience more sophisticated for the user, the CPG sites need to cater to those early on in the purchase process instead of only focusing on product details and where to buy. Users want and need the opportunity to ask questions and have those questions answered.

If searchers have a positive user experience, then they will become repeat customers. Another perk with a producing a positive user experience is getting effective word-of-mouth promotion in return.

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Web Traffic

How to Actually Rank For Any Keyword With a Legitimate Search Engine "Loophole"...

Everyone wants to have their site rank well in Google.

And why not? Not only can Google send you a boatload of free traffic - it's also highly targeted, and it's one of the best ways to drive business.

The problem is, that exact same ideal is shared with thousands of your direct competitors. This creates an environment where you'll always be fighting, kicking and scratching to maintain your traffic - along with the ever present fear that your livelihood is only one "algorithm update" away from vanishing.

And that's if you can even get ranked for any decent keyword, to begin with...

In fact, only the largest, most-established authority sites can reliably see consistent traffic from Google. And even then, their rankings fluctuate constantly - several times a day, in some cases.

The fact is - it's getting harder and harder for the "little guy" to get any kind of meaningful web presence on the web these days.

Getting ranked in Google is almost impossible unless you've got a major promotional budget and some time on your hands to "wait" for your domain to become trusted (Google favors older domains). And advertising with pay-per-click ads isn't affordable like it once was.

Search marketing has finally become what everyone feared it would - a game reserved for big business.

But what if there was still a way to legtiimately rank for keywords with tons of traffic?

And what if you could do this without having to spend months and even years building up an authority site to do so?

In fact - what if you could systematically create one-page minisites that could rapidly rank in the top 3 spots (consistently) for basically any keyword you target within a matter of a week or so?

Is this for real?

YES.

But not with Google.

It's happening right now, as we speak, on MSN.com

Now - before you think it - yes, I know, MSN doesn't have nearly the reach that Google does. But, it still does receive millions and millions of search users daily. After all - MSN is the default home-page for anyone who first uses Internet Explorer.

And, to put it in perspective, which would drive more traffic?

Occupying the #1 ranking for your most desirable keyword target on MSN?

Or occupying the #47 spot on page 5 of Google's results?

Sadly, it's actually more effort to make it to the 47th spot in Google than it is to literally dominate in MSN.

How does this work?

Watch this video to find out:

http://searchengineloophole.check-free.info/

Like I said - forget about Google.

Focus on something that you can actually WIN with, and win big!

Testimonials

"#1 Today For the Term..."

"Hey Dave

"Just some feedback you can pass along to the doubters.

"In 3 days one of my money pages is already at #9 on page one for it's search term.on MSN and getting traffic.

"So, your method works...."

------ and a few days later ------

"Dave,

"An update - #1 today for the term.

"Amazing stuff man!"

Ernie J.

"So Much Has Been Explained..."

"Easy to Follow..."

"I have purchased everything going over the last 2 years yet NOTHING has educated me as much as MSN Loophole.

I am finding product and keyword research a breeze - now - and finding domain names are no longer a ' dreaded thing ' for me.

So much has been explained, and in such a way as to be easy to follow, that I know this is going to succeed because I can now see HOW it will!

Thanks Dave. Thanks Chris

Dave H.

Getting Your Viral Campaign Going

Viral campaigns are a current trend that everyone wants to take part in, but launching a campaign is not something that people should take lightly. Not to give off the impression that viral campaigns are difficult, but they do require skillful planning and should not be conducted halfheartedly.

Chris Winfield, the President of 10e20, gives a few recommendations when getting started with a viral campaign:

1. Have clear goals and objectives

2. Promote great content

3. Contribute to the communities

4. Make sites work together

5. Have good hosting

In the above video from SES Chicago, Chris also adds that a viral campaign is not simply about a great idea. It also takes great execution and promotion which can be done through blogs, social media sites, forums and groups.

There is not a specific time table to know if your viral campaign is working, but all experts advise never giving up.

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10 Free and Easy Ways to Improve Your Alexa Ranking

By Darrell Howell (c) 2008

Alexa, which is owned by Amazon.com, gives away a free toolbar that you can download and install in your browser. Alexa is then able to keep track of the sites you visit and compute the traffic ranking of those websites, with a rank of "1" being the assigned to the most visited site.



If you want a more technical definition, Alexa explains it like this:

"The traffic rank is based on three months of aggregated historical traffic data from millions of Alexa Toolbar users and data obtained from other, diverse traffic data sources, and is a combined measure of page views and users (reach). As a first step, Alexa computes the reach and number of page views for all sites on the Web on a daily basis. The main Alexa traffic rank is based on a value derived from these two quantities averaged over time (so that the rank of a site reflects both the number of users who visit that site as well as the number of pages on the site viewed by those users)."

http://www.alexa.com/site/help/traffic_learn_more

In April 2008 Alexa revised its methodology so as to "aggregate data from multiple sources to give you a better indication of website popularity among the entire population of Internet users".

http://awis.blogspot.com/2008_04_01_archive.html

How accurately this method reflects the actual surfing patterns of all Internet users is open to question. However, if you bear in mind that by the end of 2005 the toolbar had been downloaded well over 10 million times you will realize why many people still think that Alexa offers one of the best approximations that we have of website ranking, especially for the top 100,000 or so websites.

That is why Alexa remains an important measure of a website's status and is used as a quick way to assess the popularity of a website by advertisers looking for the maximum exposure for the their money. Websites with a higher Alexa ranking also tend to be trusted more than those with a low ranking, so it is in the interest of website owners to get their sites ranked as highly as possible with Alexa.


Here are some quick and easy tips to help you do that without spending a single dollar!

1. Install the Alexa toolbar and set your website as your homepage.

2. Copy and paste an Alexa rank widget onto your website. You can get the widget code at http://www.alexa.com/site/site_stats/signup. As well as informing your visitors about your Alexa rank, it will also keep Alexa updated about the number of unique visitors surfing your site.

3. Create a customized version of the Alexa tool bar, Then place a link on your site to the download page and invite your visitors to download it. You will also earn Amazon commissions every time a user shops on Amazon via the toolbar link.

4. If you have a Wordpress blog there is a plug-in for Alexa Ranking (wp-Alexa-redirect-0.3plug-in) that you can use. Editor's Note: This plugin may no longer work.

5. Submit your site to web directories. Although a lot of directories charge a registration fee, you can still find many that are willing to líst your site free of charge or in exchange for a reciprocal link. A lot of the webmasters who browse web directories have the Alexa bar installed, so if they clíck your link it will help your Alexa traffic rank.

6. Become an active participant on Internet marketing and SEO forums. Again, a lot of those forum participants are already webmasters and a high percentage will use the Alexa toolbar when they surf. Place a link to your site in your signature and your rank will improve when any of those people clíck through.

7. A lot of Asian and Australian websites feature in the Alexa top 100,000 and you can bet that a lot of website owners will have the Alexa toolbar installed, so it makes sense to join social networking sites that are popular in those regions, such as:

• http://www.orkut.com - Orkut is owned by Google and is the second most visited site in India.

• http://hi5.com - Hi5 has an Alexa ranking of 17 at the time of writing this article.

8. Become an Alexa expert and post articles that discuss Alexa ranking and SEO tips. This will attract people to your site who may be interested in downloading your toolbar, or people who have already done so. Either way, it will be good for your Alexa ranking. You could even build a whole category of articles on your website devoted to this theme.

9. Set up a freebie page on your website and post a líst of useful tools to attract other website owners to your site. Include another link to your Alexa toolbar download page.

10. Get into the habit of using Stumbleupon and other bookmarking sites to spread the word whenever you post a new article on your website or blog. Set up a group of fellow website owners so that you can have run reciprocal stumbling campaigns for better results.

If you apply these ten quick and easy methods you will definitely see an improvement in your Alexa rank and you should also start to attract more traffíc to your site!

About The Author
Darrell Howell is an Internet Marketer and Blogger. Visit his Blog at BlueRidgeMoney .

WebProNews Heads to Chicago for SES!

It’s that time of year again folks and yes, WebProNews is covering the Search Engine Strategies show in Chicago, December 8 - 12. We at least hope to cover the show this year. As of the time of this writing, it is 14 degrees in Chicago and calling for snow showers on Monday, December 8 right at the time of our departing flight.

We are determined to get there though since we have lots of exciting coverage to bring you! This year we’ll have interviews from Kevin Ryan, Bruce Clay, and Eli Goodman of ComScore for just a few name drops. We’re looking forward to following up with Bruce Clay after his powerful announcement that “ranking is dead” in a WPN interview with Mike McDonald and getting his feedback on the huge response it has received.

We’ll have articles over on WPN as well as video reports right here on viral campaigns, semantic search, SEO tools, blogging for business, universal and blended search, and many other topics you might be interested in.

If you are going to the show, please stop the two girls with a big camera to say “Hi!” and give a wave to the camera. If you can’t make the show this year, check out all our coverage right here since we’ll be trying to make you feel like you’re at the show with us.

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The Basic Steps for Drawing Attention to Your Website

The Basic Steps for Drawing Attention to Your Website

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Using Forums to Increase Your Traffic

Using Forums to Increase Your Traffic

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“Blending” Viral Marketing into Your Marketing Strategy

Are you familiar with the ever-popular Will It Blend campaign from Blendtec? If not, you’re depriving yourself from one of the best viral marketing campaigns ever.

George Wright, the Vice President of Marketing and Sales at Blendtec, gave a keynote at PubCon, in which he explained the strategy behind their campaign. In the above WPN video, Barry Schwartz of RustyBrick, Inc. tells how Blendtec had to go out on a limb to get their brand name out there.

Blendtec offers high performance blending and dispensing equipment for restaurants, but also has home editions. George realized their need to raise brand awareness. He knew they had great products, but no one knew about them. The concept was there for the “will it blend” idea, but they didn’t have a big budget to do a commercial.

George took his budget of $50 and bought the domain name willitblend.com, a lab coat, a six-pack of Coke, and supplies to blend. The first experiment included marbles, a rotisserie chicken, a rake, and a McDonald’s value meal. Their small budget only allowed them to use social media outlets, so they launched their campaign over YouTube.

Now, some 70-75 videos later, they’ve made history. Blendtec blends iPhones, iPods, and even rake handles just as George did in his keynote address! The only item that has been too powerful for them to blend is Chuck Norris…

Since their campaign launched, Blendtec’s sales have been up 700 percent. George realized Blendtec’s need to prove that their product was better than the others by actually showing it instead of simply talking about the mechanics. Viral marketing is creating fun content that people want to talk about and putting it into social media sites.

Ironically, Blendtec pitched the Food Network prior to the campaign with no luck, but after the campaign began, the Food Network contacted them.

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What the Heck is Search Engine Optimization? A Beginners Guide

What the Heck is Search Engine Optimization? A Beginners Guide

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Social Media Strategies for Link Building

Eric Enge of Stone Temple Consulting in the above WPN video encourages people to “think big” when using social media to build links. This practice is not only for large companies, but should be applied to small businesses also. Just because you’re small doesn’t mean you can’t accomplish big things.

Your social media strategy should include a specific angle. Have a goal from the beginning and don’t wander from it. If you keep a steady focus, you will be able to build upon it.

In the Real-World Low-Risk, High-Reward Link Building Strategies session at PubCon, Tamar Weinberg recalls Eric saying:

1. Study what has worked before
2. Write a compelling article
3. Write an interesting description
4. Vote for posts in front of you on the upcoming pages
5. Make sure you stand out!

To elaborate on that last point, you want your content to be unique and authoritative. However, it still needs to be relevant. If your content is great but no one associates it with your brand, you probably won’t get a link.

Know in advance to be ready for criticism. Critics will be watching closely and waiting for a mistake. Remember to keep your focus in mind at all times.

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Making Your Social Media Campaign Work

Social media has taken over. Honestly, everyone is using it now and not simply for social reasons. Companies now realize how powerful it is for raising brand awareness and engaging with customers. But a lot of money can be lost if a social media campaign is not efficiently conducted.

When you begin your social media campaign, make sure your viral content is relevant so customers can immediately associate it with your brand. Also, work closely with the search team in order for potential customers to be able to find you in their searches.

Just as Eric Enge emphasized in his WPN interview, have a specific goal for your campaign and stick with it. Understand that you can’t just abandon your campaign if it isn’t working. It will almost definitely need adjusting and you need to be prepared in advance.

Your ultimate goal with these efforts is profitability. If you remain invisible to your customers, you will not bring in revenue. In the above WPN video, Vanessa Fox of Nine By Blue, stresses the importance of having an “obvious” call to action.

Once you’ve positioned yourself, don’t throw your efforts away by hiding your call to action. Make it simple but prominent, so customers can complete their transaction and you can gain your profit.

This is a lot to take in, but don’t get discouraged before you start your social media campaign. Simply research and know your audience and have a solid plan before you launch your

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PubCon: Understanding How the Big Boys Operate

Did you ever wonder how large companies keep up with all the pages on their websites? As he explains in the above video, Bill Hunt of Global Strategies knows all about this since IBM is one of their clients.

First, know whether or not the search engines are indexing all your pages. If they aren’t, then you need to check a few things out. Make sure you have a sitemap that is working correctly, and check your own spider to make sure you’re being seen. Also, look at your combined PPC and organic data to find out what is converting and what is not.

Although having a big site or numerous sites might seem like a pain, there are some perks involved. You can create a set of templates and use them multiple times and optimize them accordingly.

Another hint for managing a large site is to make sure your links are specific. Inbound links that only link to your homepage aren’t really benefiting you. For instance, if someone is using your products or services, have them link to that page instead of the homepage. This method will help both the searcher and the company.

Large sites are a bit overwhelming, but just need to be broken down. Everyone simply needs to work together and focus on the end user’s wants and needs.

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Microsoft's Revenge

Microsoft's Revenge
Henry Blodget | November 15, 2008 9:27 AM

Microsoft has been kicked around the block in the Internet business for going on 15 years. Now it is potentially payback time.

While everyone else hunkers down and fights to survive, Microsoft gets to sit back and decide who to buy. When it decides, it can dig into a $20 billion cash pile that will nearly replenish itself this year with $15 billion of free cash flow. No one else, including Google, will gain this much of a relative advantage from the global economic collapse.

(Google, moreover, is now hamstrung by alert regulators--thanks, in part, to Microsoft's lobbying--and is focused on cutting costs and narrowing its ambitions. These should keep it distracted for the next couple of years.)

Who could Microsoft buy? Some obvious names, and many smaller not-so-obvious ones.

But the first thing Microsoft needs to do if it is to succeed long-term in the Internet business is build a central consumer brand that it can hang everything else off of. (Alternatively, it can focus on the back end, via search and other technologies, but this likely won't be as profitable. The vast majority of Google's immense profit comes from searches on its own site, not third-party sites, and the same will hold true for Microsoft).

The big consumer Internet brands other than Google include:

* Yahoo
* AOL
* Facebook
* MSN, et al (Microsoft needs to consolidate ALL its Internet brands into one. This one's probably the most prominent).

Microsoft could probably buy Yahoo, AOL, and Facebook today for $20 billion of cash. It could then consolidate them under a single brand and build a strong alternative for advertisers vis a vis Google. (Vastly easier said than done, but possible.)

If Microsoft isn't willing to put all its weight behind a single brand, it will probably fail regardless of what it buys. This has been Microsoft's Achilles heel for the past 15 years--an unwillingness to commit to one Internet brand and strategy--and we're not optimistic that it will be able to get out of its own way this time either.

We still think the smart play here would be for Microsoft to spin its Internet operations OUT of Microsoft and INTO Yahoo and then build everything around that brand as a separate public company. We think Steve Ballmer is congenitally predisposed against this approach, however, even though it would likely be a great move for Microsoft shareholders (who would own most of the new Yahoo AND the original Microsoft).

But, in any event, as the Valley goes into the fetal position, Microsoft's relative position is growing stronger. And we imagine this is not lost on the folks in Redmond.

Article Marketing Explained

Article Marketing Explained

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SES New York 2008: Heather Lloyd-Martin

Is content really that important? While most of us know the answer to that question, Heather Lloyd-Martin, the President and CEO of SuccessWorks, reiterates the importance of good content while talking to Mike McDonald at SES New York. Heather explains the business case for SEO content development and why companies need to understand it.

Latest Developments on Net Neutrality

WebProNews Reporter Abby Prince takes a look at the recent developments that have evolved around net neutrality. From the new legislation supporting net neutrality, to the FCC’s investigation of Comcast, to Comcast’s defense of their actions, to the impact this issue has on the U.S. Presidential election…

Google Urchin Examined

The recent release of Google Urchin raises a few questions for Google. WebProNews Reporter Abby Prince compares Google Analytics and Google Urchin. Find out all the details including what one web marketer considers to be some disadvantages to Urchin only on WebProNews. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Title Tag Tips!

This is your WebProNews tip of the day, from our new studio in Lexington, Kentucky. Today, Mike McDonald gives you some tips on WordPress title tags to help as you optimize your blog. A friend of WPN, Stephan Spencer from Netconcepts, lends a hand as well.

Brian Wallace on Social Media

Mike McDonald of WebProNews talked with Brian Wallace of NowSourcing.com at the Social Media Club in Louiville, Kentucky. Wallace explains his business of advising clients on social media strategies. Find out what to do and what not to do, right here on WebProNews. If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Syndicating Your Blog

WebProNews takes a look into how you can make money from blogging. It seems as though, syndication is an easy way to do so. We talked with President of Newstex, Larry Schwartz about benefits and disadvantages, along with other various topics of syndication. Don’t miss out on all of his tips in the video, right here on WebProNews.

SEO Plugins for Firefox

Mike McDonald of WebProNews has a tip for today that explains two plug-ins for Firefox. These plug-ins allow you to have quick and easy access to SEO information about your site, compare your site to other sites, detect where you stand with inbound links, as well as many other helpful factors. The tools are SearchStatus [...]

A Few Comments on Commenting…

For some, blogging is not as easy as it may sound. Whenever you break it down to issues such as how to get readers to your blog, how to get them to comment, and then what to do with the negative comments, it can be quite a challenge. WebProNews Reporter Abby Prince spoke with Leo [...]

Todd Earwood on Social Media Club in Louisville, KY

At the debut meeting, Mike McDonald of WebProNews spoke with Todd Earwood, the Co-Founder of the Social Media Club in Louisville, Kentucky. Earwood discusses the phenomenon of video on the Web including both the good and the bad roles. He produces many how-to and humorous videos on Daily Idea. For more information from Todd Earwood, tune into the video right here on WebProNews.

3 Fast and Simple Ways to Dominate Google Rankings!

By Michael Small (c) 2008


I got into search engine optimization back in 1998. Of course back then SEO was a lot simpler than today. All the tricks like keyword spamming and invisible key phrases worked like a charm. Better still, little tricks like these were acceptable. Not anymore.

In fact, most old-school tricks don't work today and many can get your pages banned. This is great news for you. Over the next few minutes I'll show you how to make Google absolutely LOVE your web pages and help you jump to the top!

This is all you need to know... Search engines today place 90% or more of their ranking priorities on content and links. Keywords are still important, but more so in the text of your pages than in any sort of META tags.

Simple, right? It really is. The first step is to find the best keywords and place them just right in your web page text. Next you need to get great inbound links. And finally, you need to monitor your progress closely (and that of your competition.)

Part 1: How to Find the Best Keywords

Google gets more searches than any other search engine so let's peek into their database. Check out https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal and type in any keyword or phrase you can think of that you believe your target audience is looking for. Not only will it give you tons of data on that and related keywords, it will also provide "Additional Keywords to Consider", which is a section at the bottom of the page.

BIG TIP: Try to use specific keyword phrases whenever possible. Let's say you have a web-page dealing with floral delivery. Instead of just the word "flowers", which has 233,000,000 competing pages on Google, try "send flowers", which has 1/10th the number of competing pages. Better still, think like people speak (I.E./ I'm sending flowers to my mom.) As it turns out, a lot more people are searching for "sending flowers" than are searching "send flowers" and - here's the best part - "sending flowers" has less than 1% of the competing web-pages as the search term we started with, "flowers". Now that's impressive! You have an advantage over about 99.5% of your competitors with just that single tip.

Now take the top three or four keywords (and keyword phrases) and list them in order from best to second best and so on.

Part 2: How to Develop the Best Possible Content

Content is king! If you take nothing else away from this article, make sure you take this. Producing search engine friendly, optimized real-person content is key to your success. Today's search engines can read a page just like a human would. And thanks to natural text algorithms, they can easily tell if you are writing your pages for real people or just trying to get better ranking. With this tip, you can do both!

First, call a good friend and describe exactly what you want to tell your web visitors. Now write it down, word for word, as close as you can remember it. If you can record it, that's even better.

Now go back through your text and fit your top keyword as close to the beginning of the first sentence as possible. Now place your number two keyword someplace else toward the beginning of your first paragraph. If possible, try to get your third keyword into the end of your first paragraph or the beginning of the second paragraph.

Repeat this concept using only one of your keywords for each of the next three paragraphs. Try to make it fit naturally toward the beginning sentence or two of each paragraph.

Now do the reverse for the very last paragraph. Put your least important keyword at the top of the paragraph and end with your most important. This shows consistency.

Finally, try not to repeat any keyword more than three or four times per page. Make it flow naturally.

Part 3: How to Get Great Links and Monitor Your Site

Having quality inbound links can account for more than 75% of your search engine optimization success. Getting these links is the crucial step that will get you over the top. Next you need to monitor your progress and your site's status (how search engines really see it). This will tell you not just where you are - but where you are likely to be. In the old days, we used to do all link work and monitoring by hand - and it took a long time (I averaged about 16 hours per week - per site!) My advice to you is to find a good SEO tool and let it do the work for you. If you get the right product, it's the best money you'll ever spend.

I used WebPosition Pro for a couple years but switched to SEO Elite because it has automated linking, which I find to be the most time-consuming aspect of SEO. Both are excellent products for tracking and reporting however.

Number 1 Pick: SEO Elite
Cost = $167 (lifetime free upgrades and no annual fees)

My Results: 121 top 5 rankings on Google in three weeks - Mostly 1's and 2's.

Top Features: Finds best link partners; Automates link process; Provides great Site Monitoring

Comments: I bought SEO Elite in 2005 and have used every upgrade - never spending another dime. I retired my other three programs after using this for just three months.

Number 2 Pick: WebPosition
Cost = $389 WebPosition Pro or $149 Standard (plus $99 per year subscription fees for either)

My Results: 44 top 5 rankings in Google in eight weeks - Mostly 3's and 4's.

Top Features: Site Monitoring; Great reporting; Site Critic

Comments: I stopped using WebPosition because there were no automated linking capabilities. I did however really like the reporting.

Now you're ready. Good luck!

About The Author
Michael Small is the founder of free SEO (search engine optimization) site SEOpartner.com and author of numerous search engine optimization books and whitepapers including the SEO Notebook.

Jason Falls on Social Media Club in Louisville, KY

Mike McDonald of WebProNews attended the first meeting of the Social Media Club and spoke with Jason Falls about the goals of the club.

Companies Join to Change Future of Web

Wouldn't it be great to be able to transfer your data from your profile on one social network to your profile on another social network? The Data Portability Workgroup is aiming to do that very thing.

How to Publicize Your Blog

WebProNews Reporter Kara Ratliff talked to David Meerman Scott the Author of New Rules of Marketing and PR about how to overcome some of the challenges that come with publicizing your blog.

Broken Links? Here’s a Tip.

Detecting and fixing broken links on your site can be a tedious task, but Mike McDonald of WebProNews has a tip that could make the task a lot easier.

NCAA Live Blogging, No More

In late December of 2007, the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) implemented new rules for live blogging. The rules set a limit on how many posts one person can make during a game, if he/she is a credentialed journalist. WebProNews talked with three bloggers, two of them journalist about the new rules. President and CEO of SportsBlogsNation, Tyler Bleszinski, Writer for Chicago Sports Weekly and Blogger of WearethePostmen.com, Ryan Corazza, and Sports Writer/Columnist and Live Blogger for The Herald Times, Chris Korman give WebProNews Anchor Kara Ratliff their opinions and recommendations on the new set of rules.

Organic SEO and PPC: Still Undecided?

Organic SEO and Pay Per Click is a familiar topic, but why is it that a company chooses one or the other? WebProNews Reporter Abby Prince talked with Matt Bailey and David Szetela about why they only chose to use one method for their companies. David Szetela only uses PPC for his company, Clix Marketing. However, Matt Bailey only does organic SEO with his company, SiteLogic. Also, find out what role social networks are playing in both methods. Check out all that and more, right here on WebProNews.

MSN Talks Webmaster Tools

Product Manager of Live Search Webmaster Tools, Jeremiah Andrick spent the day here at the WebProNews headquarters. Our very own Mike McDonald took him on a wild, Kentucky escapade while picking his brain about Webmaster tools at MSN. Andrick discusses indexing issues, cloaking detection, and goes into detail about why AdSense showed up in their search results. While showing off their athleticism, the two also discuss why transparency is key and why to stay away from paid links. Don’t miss all of this and the inside scoop to both companies’ viral campaign, right here on WebProNews.

How to Create a Podcast

At the beginning of the millennium, Podcasting started to hit the masses. But now it seems almost necessary to have a Podcast for your marketing plan.

UVME International Business

UVME Is now an International Business covering Francais,Espanol,Deutsch,Portugues,Italiano and many more places.

Francais
http://uvme-france.pinurl.com

Espanol
http://uvme-spain.pinurl.com

Deutsch
http://uvme-germany.pinurl.com

Portugues
http://uvme-portugal.pinurl.com

Italiano
http://uvme-italy.pinurl.com

Right now, a revolution is taking place on the Internet. It's making the fortunes of a select few. While you work, they play. While you sleep, they're making money. See why uVme is going to sweep the world ... and this is just the beginning



Mark Davies, Head of Marketing, interviews Tom Brodie, Co-founder of uVme, giving the latest updates on uVme pre-registrants and progress since the pre-launch, including some tips on building your business during this period. Tom also explains the ins and outs of the development of the pioneering web-based IM... unique in its application to this business, and announcing the upcoming desktop version.

Part 1 of 2


Mark Davies, Head of Marketing, continues his interview with Tom Brodie, Co-founder of uVme. They discuss why the IM is such a powerful tool for growing your uVme business, and why it is going to be so simple and fun to use. Plus, see some of the games in action, and hear the latest update on the games' development and testing.

Part 2 of 2

Tech Test: T-Mobile Phones Ride Wireless Router

Where Cellphones Meet Wi-fi

Dual-Mode Phones Straddle Both Sides Of Wireless War

Vandalism and Wikipedia

Wikipedia, one of the largest reference sites is open to the public for editing. But now Virgil Griffith has created a new application for the free site to allow users to see who has edited the page. After last year, reports showed that several big companies tweaked their own pages to only allow good things on the pages…Virgil Griffith created WikiScanner. He directed us to the Maltastar page to view a list of vandalism on Wikipedia. We talked with Convergence and Broadband Blogger from ZDnet, Russell Shaw and communications manager for the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. to get an insight.

SES San Jose: Stuart McKelvey on Consumer Search

Stuart McKelvey, President and CEO of TMP Directional Marketing talks to WebProNews at SES San Jose about a recent study involving consumer local search. Check out the full story as well as continuing coverage of SES San Jose, only on WebProNews.

SES San Jose: Jay Sears of Context Web on Ad Exchanges

Ad exchanges are a hot topic, and here to tell us all about them is Context Web’s Vice-President of Strategic Products and Business Development, Jay Sears. WebProNews caught up with Sears at SES San Jose after his “Ad Exchanges Are Changing Everything” session. Hear all the details, including the latest news with Adsdaq, right here on WebProNews.

SES San Jose: Jay Sears of Context Web on Ad Exchanges

Ad exchanges are a hot topic, and here to tell us all about them is Context Web’s Vice-President of Strategic Products and Business Development, Jay Sears. WebProNews caught up with Sears at SES San Jose after his “Ad Exchanges Are Changing Everything” session. Hear all the details, including the latest news with Adsdaq, right here on WebProNews.

Next Internet Millionaire Airs

A new genre of reality shows has hit the internet. Internet entrepreneur Joel Comm hosts an online show giving 12 contestants the chance to learn about internet marketing while receiving cash and prizes. The 12 week show is only available online and has a few twists and turns throughout the series. The Next Internet Millionaire contestants were chosen from YouTube and flown into Colorado for the competition.

SES San Jose: Traffic Tips

Jon Stewart of Nielsen//NetRaitings talks with WebProNews after his panel at SES San Jose on The Search Landscape. Stewart reminds viewers to remember other ways to bring traffic to their site besides search. For other tips watch the interview on WebProNews.

SES San Jose: All About Domains

WebProNews caught up with Jon Lisbin of Point It at SES San Jose to talk about his Domaining and Address Bar-Driven Traffic session. Lisbin tells of the “dark side” of domains and gives insightful tips for viewers. Check out the full story only on WebProNews.

SES San Jose Welcome

WebProNews is in San Jose, California this week at the Search Engine Strategies conference to bring you exclusive coverage of this event. We’ll give you the latest news as well as advice from the experts. Check out WebProNews for all the details.

The Impact of Social Media on Search Rankings

By Susan Esparza (c) 2007


Over the past few years, the Internet has increasingly become a participatory social network where user-generated content is just as important as traditional advertising messages. This means your articles, blog posts, videos, podcasts, and other comments on the Web are now critical sources of information about your company, your products and services. This phenomenon has given consumers a voice and weakened the power formerly held by advertising media. Social media, therefore, becomes increasingly important to a Web site's success and its visibility in search engines.




Not long ago, search engine optimization focused on fine-tuning your on- and off-page Web site elements in order to achieve better rankings in the search engines. While on-page elements remain the fundamental building blocks of your SEO campaign, it is no longer the entirety of the puzzle. With the rise of social media, it is more important than ever to create and optimize many different types of content in order to dominate the SERPs. The íncrease in user-generated content, and implementation of Google search personalization and universal search, has helped bring this about.

Search Personalization

In personalized search, individual user search results are reordered based on their previous search behavior and other indicators. Pages can move up or down based on the influence of a user's Google home page content, bookmarks, search history, Web history, etc. While Google is the only search engine currently adjusting rankings using personalization factors, Yahoo and Ask have variations on this theme with MyWeb and MyStuff.

Google's reasons for initiating search personalization are that it delivers more relevant results and can reduce sp@m. Others have challenged this rationale, stating that user interests are not static and can vary by season, mood or other factors. It's also difficult to know user intent based on clíck behavior, as sometimes when people clíck on a link they'll immediately realize this wasn't what they wanted and clíck off. Queries can also be hit and miss, landing users on non-relevant sites which would then be used in creating non-relevant future results for that user.

Because of personalized search, optimization techniques will change, requiring more intense multivariate analyses in the competitor landscape since the leading competitors will vary as the SERPs vary. This will affect analyses of competitor on-page and off-page factors, especially keyword analysis. However, all the basic optimization tactics remain important. Content, in particular, must do a better job of telling search engines what the page is about, and this will result in better rankings for those able to do so.




Universal Search

With the advent of universal search by Google and others, search marketers and site owners will soon find it necessary to optimize their Web sites for a broad range of content types. This means creating content in every media and vertical niche applicable to your brand. Compelling, useful and widely propagated content will create more search visibility and Web site success.

Fresh content will bring repeat visitors and íncrease the odds that other users and Web site owners will want to share your content with their visitors, creating more backlinks. For most brands, the benefit of encouraging social networking activities is increased search visibility.

Search engine optimization techniques vary depending on the type of content being optimized. We've written before about optimizing content for Google image search, video search, news, maps and blog search. Two other areas you can optimize content for are podcasts and your Google Base data feeds.

Optimizing Podcasts

To create a podcast, you must record an audio file to be uploaded to the Web. Once uploaded, users will be able to download this rich media file and listen to it via an iPod or some other media player.

Up until recently, multimedia search engines relied on metadata to determine relevancy of rich media files. However, this was insufficient for finding relevant podcasts because the average podcast is 15 to 20 minutes long and has only 25 to 30 words describing it.

Currently, speech recognition technology is used to determine the relevancy of audio files. Speech recognition and extracting podcast content is essential for indexing content and making it findable by users. One way to do this is to play audio snippets to determine the relevancy of the terms within a podcast.



When optimizing your podcast ensure your content is easily found by promoting only one feed. Optimize the audio file, and then optimize a landing page for each episode in addition to your category page. Make your subscription information visible on landing pages. Create valid feeds and validate them with a feed validator tool such as FeedValidator.org or the W3C Feed Validator.

Your podcast should have a unique, keyword-rich Title tag explaining the subject matter. The landing page should contain a link back to your Web site. The publication date is important. This tag specifies the last time the feed was updated. Include image tags if applicable.

Since iTunes does not redistribute, we recommend building a separate feed for iTunes. You can promote with three separate feeds, a media feed, a 2.0 feed and an iTunes feed. Include a transcript or a summary of the podcast on the landing page, depending on the podcast length. If it is brief, only a summary reviewing the main points is necessary.

Optimizing Google Base Data Feeds

Google Base is a database where you can upload all kinds of online and offline content for sale. Your items will include labels and attributes to help describe the content you are uploading, making it searchable for users. Attributes are the words that describe the characteristics of your items. You can enter multiple values separated by commas for any given attribute. Labels are keywords that can be used to classify or describe your item, such as products, services, and even a house for sale.



The items you submit to Google Base will go in the Base directory, and some items, depending on relevance, might also go into the Google SERPs, Froogle or Google Maps. So the quality of your data is important if you want it to be found far and wide.

Use Google Base custom attributes to optimize your feeds. Google Base allows you to specify your own custom attributes, which means you can include additional information about your items. Unlímited custom attributes can be included in your tab-delimited bulk upload file. Detailed descriptions can make your items more relevant, getting them into the Google index and other vertical databases, providing more opportuníty for them to be found.

Since many of those uploading their data feeds to Google Base don't know about the custom attributes feature, you would gain a significant advantage because your feeds will be more successful than those of your competitors.

Another way to gain competitive advantage is to completely automate your Google Base data feeds. By automating your feeds, you ensure that the information uploaded to Google Base is up-to-date and accurate.

Automate your Google Base data feed by connecting it directly with your database with a process that pulls the most recent data once a day, submitting a new bulk upload to Google Base on a regular basis. Outsourcing this task takes about one day's time for setup, and then it becomes automated. One resource for such e-marketing services is Hudson's Horizons.

Though the fundamentals remain the same, search engine optimization is an ever evolving industry, adapting as the search landscape continues to change. It is now important to create and optimize many different types of content to dominate the SERPs. Optimizing your podcasts and Google Base data feeds will go a long way toward expanding search visibility.

About The Author
Susan Esparza is the Senior Editor at Bruce Clay. She joined Bruce Clay in November 2004 and has written extensively for clients and internal publications. She also knows where the knives and forks go in a buffet line. The latter makes her invaluable to the Bruce Clay organization.

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Tech Test: Google Checkout

It's been a year since Google launched Checkout,

Microsoft and Ask.com Join Forces to Protect Consumer Privacy

Microsoft and Ask.com announced their plan to devise a set of privacy principles that will give more protection and power to consumers. The companies are asking the Internet industry to back up their efforts in Web search and online advertising. Microsoft and Ask are proposing that technology leaders, online advertisers, and privacy advocates form a discussion to create the privacy principles. Check out all the details right here on WebProNews.