What’s Fresh?

By Andreas Roell 

Are your videos optimized for search engines? Now that search engines crawl for video content, the same rules that apply to optimizing Web site text now apply to video content. Key words, tags, and content are all a part of the equation that search engines will use to rank your video.

The importance of SEO for video can be summed up in one word: revenue. Most online video advertisements don’t generate direct revenue on their own like pay-per-view, pay-to-own, or subscription video services. Their purpose is to be “propagated across as many services and viewers as possible,” and to do that, videos must be search-engine friendly, according to video search engine Blinkx.

Marketers also need to keep close tabs on how and where their videos are posted. When a video is picked up by an aggregator, the file name, descriptions, tags, and titles should be monitored, and possibly changed, to ensure that every site displaying your video content will drive the most traffic and business to your Web site.

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Article published by ClickZ on February 5, 2008

Paramount Pictures is scheduled to release an Indiana Jones widget this week to promote the franchises’ latest installment, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.  According to Reuters, Paramount is counting on the widget to be posted on blogs and social networks to build publicity around their latest movie. 

Paramount already released a widget in February to promote the movie, but this time they are upping the ante and integrating a contest into their widget campaign.  The two fans who distribute the widget with the most people wins a trip to the movie’s world premiere. 

The Reuter’s article points out that Hollywood is all about generating buzz.  Since this is undoubtedly true, we will more than likely see Hollywood continuing to employ emerging Internet trends to promote their movies. 

Andreas Roell was interviewed on FOX 6 News regarding the impact of viral marketing in this year’s presidential race.  Two videos produced by the Black Eye Peas about John McCain and Barack Obama are discussed.  Click here to watch the video.

by Andreas Roell, CEO Geary Interactive

Convergence is the norm

Media convergence is all around us. The internet is available on cellphones, televisions and in cars, which is turning the world into one digital playground. In this dynamic atmosphere, traditional media outlets are continuing to struggle to keep in stride with their interactive counterpoints, and as a result, Americans are seeing reporters posting blogs, streaming radio online, TV programs available for download and digital billboards. Analog media outlets are fighting to stay relevant and timely, which creates opportunities for interactive marketers to increase their reach. The union of all forms of media equates to endless chances to reach consumers at multiple places on several platforms.

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-article published by iMedia Connection on January 30, 2008

 by Andreas Roell, CEO Geary Interactive 

Search engine marketing principles show us that landing page content should be a contextual extension of the ad. The same goes for transitional ads. Otherwise, the ad in between pages will seem overtly abrupt, noticeable, and unwanted. Advertisers could also use this technique to present their message as a sponsorship of sorts. For example, an advertisement could incorporate the headline of upcoming pages, then “proudly present” it to users.

Once users reach their intended page, marketers should display an additional advertisement. This has proven effective for both building brand awareness and driving click-through conversions. The actual transitional video ad should lead into the ad on the linked page. This way, users are more likely to notice the ad on the next page.

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Article published by ClickZ on February 5, 2008

Exciting news this morning. Microsoft bids $45000000000.00 for Yahoo!

…however, the fat lady hasn’t sung yet. People are shorting Yahoo stock thinking they will say no to the unsolicited offer. It will be fun to follow how it pans out. It seems like a very complex deal, with a mix of cash and stock, and it will need to get approved by the FCC and EU.

On the bright side for Google, it may speed up and guarantee the EU’s approval of the DoubleClick Google buyout.

Today, the Federal Trade Commission cleared Google’s proposed merger with digital marketing company DoubleClick.

The commission predicts that the deal will not have any substantial effect on competition in Internet advertising, though many others – most notably Microsoft, who fought the deal – say differently.

Google’s challenge is not over, however. Personal privacy has more legal protections in Europe, and European regulators may not approve the deal.

With the merger approved, the new company will hold an incredible volume of personal information about consumers. It will have an unprecedented ability to track Internet users and target advertising according to their tastes and past purchases. In an era where information is as good as gold, one company with so much user information will be a force to be reckoned with.

Despite the consumer privacy concerns, the deal may shape up to be a boon for advertisers, who are seeking to gain insight into Web users’ behavior and how to tailor advertising to individual users as much as possible.

Because the online advertising industry is still in its infancy, it’s truly impossible to know whether the deal will end up threatening competition or consumer privacy. Only time will tell. Regardless, the deal is likely to dramatically change the online advertising landscape for consumers, advertisers, watchdogs and privacy advocates.

There is a new Mac vs. PC ad that is only being released online. This series of ads have been very entertaining and I would assume have had some very positive results for Mac. This new ad currently resides on the CNET Microsoft Vista page and is extremely targeted, relevant, and entertaining. They talk about all the problems users that have switched to Vista are experiencing, and offer Mac as an alternative to going back to XP. Kudos to the creative team that came up with this placement…we should all strive to create compelling advertising of this caliber!

I consider myself a very educated Internet user in both personal and professional capacities. Working in the online advertising space has probably made me more aware of this issues related to Internet usability, but I am starting to notice things more frequently.

When I visit espn.com or msnbc.com (there are millions of examples) I have been noiticing that the page content is either delayed or halted in its loading process. When this occurs, I look at the left hand corner of my browser and see the message “waiting for ad.doubleclick.net,” or a similar message related to some ad serving company. I am in the industry and obviously have nothing against ad serving, but I don’t believe that it should ever, in any way, interfere with the usability of a website. Five to ten seconds of delay (or more, when a page quits loading) is an eternity for the finicky web user, and will result in lost traffic and business.

If your site is set up in a way that will not load the content until you get a response from the ad server, then I fear you may have set yourself for some loss of audience. The moral of this story is to be aware of this issue and how it affects your site’s usability and to plan accordingly when designing a site. I would also like to challenge the ad serving networks (I fear I could be wasting my keystrokes on this one) to improve their infrastructure to minimize the delay, as the problem looks to be getting worse as more and more advertising dollars move to the online space.

This week, it was reported that MySpace and Facebook, the Internet’s two largest social networking hubs, are stepping up their efforts to turn their popularity into profit.

Facebook announced that it will start letting advertisers interact with its users, even when they aren’t on the Facebook site. The goal is to help advertisers sell services and target their advertising.

Meanwhile, MySpace’s plans center on democratizing advertising, and making ad space available to more people. Their plan is to lower the bar for buying ads and rolling out a self-serve model that allows everyone from bands to politicians to buy advertising on MySpace.

Will this commercialization of social networks spell the end of the social networking craze?

MySpace’s motto, after all, is “a place for friends” — not “a place to buy stuff.”

However, we can’t deny that social networks are the ideal place for advertisers to play. With important consumer data right at their fingertips, advertisers can precisely target their messages on social networks. In addition, consumers have already shown a remarkable affinity for sharing opinions on their social networking pages, including favorite products, movies, and more. Advertisers are merely seeking to capitalize on this trend.

And in an era where consumers look to other consumers – and, ideally, their friends — for reviews and recommendations, social networks are a goldmine.

Of course, it’s also possible that this commercialization could backfire and drive users away from social networks. However, the most lucrative demographic for advertisers — young people - grew up with advertising, and may be able to accept or even embrace it as part and parcel of their social networking experience.