Internet Marketing Course BLOG

by Dave Ingalls
B2B Internet Marketing Consultant
June 10, 2010

UPDATE: Google relented after about 4-5 hours on June 10th, went back to the simple white background Home Page that I (and obviously many others) love, and made using a photo background image on this page completely optional. That action by Google made the major point of this blog post moot, but it did not eliminate the very good idea of using the Google/Firefox Search Home page as your de facto Google Search start page to help fund FireFox’s browser development – that’s why this post is still worth reading.

Hate the “new, improved” Google Home page with “world class photographer” images and no way to change back to the classic, simple Google Home page?  Me too!!

Remember the “Good Old Days” (yesterday!) when the Google Home Page looked like this:

Even though it’s only supposed to last 24 hours, it’s driving me nuts!!  I hate it!!

Here’s a quick fix –

If you’re like me, you use the Google Home page as the default home page in your browser (Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, etc.).  All you need to do is change that default Home page to the Google search page that Google set up for Firefox – here’s the page address: http://www.google.com/firefox

This Google/Firefox search page is not as clean as the original Google search home page, but it’s close!  Most importantly, as of this blog post (approx. 8 a.m. US East Coast time) it has not been “improved” by the geniuses at Google!

What’s Firefox?  Most of you probably know that’s it’s an alternative browser to the Internet Explorer browser.  What you might not know is that it’s produced by the Mozilla Foundation, that this foundation is a non-profit organization and that Google helps to fund Mozilla by setting up this special Google search page.  Every time a Google search is started from the Google/Firefox search page, Google donates a small amount of money to the Mozilla Foundation.

So not only can you get an almost Google-like plain vanilla search start page, every time you perform a search from that page you are helping support the main competitor to Microsoft’s Internet Explorer!  That’s a pretty good one-two punch!

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“Inbound Marketing – Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs”

By Dave Ingalls
B2B Internet Marketing Consultant
April 21, 2010

“Inbound Marketing – Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs”, by HubSpot founders Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah is THE seminal book on how to use the new concept of “inbound marketing” instead of the classic outbound or “interruption” marketing model to succeed in your online marketing efforts.

In fact, as far as I can tell, Halligan and Shah basically invented the term “Inbound Marketing” when they opened the doors at HubSpot, a marketing software company that helps businesses “get found”, and have now formalized the concept with the release of this book.

Even though the book is a quick read (a little over 200 pages), you’ll find yourself re-reading and “dog-earing” many of the pages!  It’s stuffed with incredible insights and useful tips on how to put those insights to work in your online marketing program today.

I won’t bore you with a section-by-section review of this very useful book. I’ll just leave you with this thought: the next time you buy something, anything really, think about the trusted sources you used to help you make that buying decision, and where YOU found those trusted sources. I’ll bet most if not all of those sources had some online aspect to them, and here’s the KEY point, I’ll bet YOU found them and not the other way around.

My advice – Buy this book Now! Here’s a link to the book on Amazon:

Inbound Marketing – Get Found Using Google, Social Media and Blogs

Technorati Tags:Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing

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B2B Online
May 15, 2009

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): Paul Gillin, in this video clip that is less than 2 minutes long, gives B2B Internet Marketers GREAT advice for marketing in today’s evolving “Inbound Marketing” online world. Make the commitment to providing the best, most informative and timely content for your area of expertise and you can become the New York Times of that niche. (You can learn more about Paul on his Web site Gillin.com.)

“At BtoB’s Boston NetMarketing Breakfast on May 14, B2B caught up with Paul Gillin, author of “The New Influencers” and “Secrets of Social Media Marketing”.”

Click on the link below to see where Paul thinks B2B Online Marketing is headed and why the collapse of traditional print publishing is making it possible.

Read the entire article online by clicking on the following link:

Paul Gillin, author and consultant on new media technologies

Technorati Tags:Business, Internet Marketing, Marketing, Search Engine Marketing, Web Marketing

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Search dominated by paid placement, more SEO to come.
eMarketer
March 30, 2009

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): The beat goes on! Nice to look at any spending projection chart these days (see full article on eMarketer) and see the numbers going UP! This article also does a nice job making the case for why SEO will continue to grow at a rate faster than paid search engine advertising.

“New data provided by the Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO), based on research conducted by Radar Research, sheds light on how search marketing dollars are being spent.

In 2008, $13.5 billion was spent on search marketing. The space was mostly made up of paid placement and search engine optimization (SEO), with a sliver going to technology providers whose software assisted in the execution of search campaigns. Paid search ads saw 88% of the total pie, SEO only 11%.

The ratio of paid placement to SEO will change in the future.

“Internet users prefer organic listings to paid search. They generally find them more relevant—or simply more acceptable—than advertising,” said eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman. “Therefore, they tend to click on organic results more often than on paid search ads.”

SEO is also cost-effective and works across all search engines. In addition, an optimized site doesn’t drop off the first results page even when a marketer’s spending slows or stops, as paid search does.”

Read the entire article online by clicking on the following link:

Search Marketing Spending and Trends

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8-Word Search Queries Up 34,000% in Last 5 Years!
by Andy Beal
Marketing Pilgrim
February 28, 2009

Dave’s Comments (Internet Marketing Course Blog): A great article by Andy Beal. He combines stats on percent of search engine searches containing 1, 2, 3… up to 8 key words from 2004 with same data from Hitwise, but 5 years later! The trend info is very good news for small business Web sites providing niche products, services and/or serving specific geographical locations. More and more searchers are using more and more words in their search phrases (“long-tail” searches) to pinpoint the exact product/service they’re looking for. And this trend is good news for those sites trying to be found by those specific Customers! The Internet Marketing lesson for small businesses – don’t worry about being found for 1 and 2 word search phrases – instead work 3, 4, 5-plus keyword phrases into your Web site content to help potential Customers find you. It’s easier, more natural, and it works!

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, we might want to start scanning-in images of what we’re trying to find on the search engines. As new data from Hitwise suggests, we’re gradually starting to use more & more keywords when conducting our search engine queries.

Hitwise compared January 2009’s data with last year’s, but I want to take you back farther in time–5 years in fact! Not that my memory goes back that far, but I did remember covering this data for my old blog: Search Engine Lowdown.

Here are the numbers from this year, with Feb 2004’s numbers in parentheses:”

Read the entire article online by clicking on the following link:

8-Word Search Queries Up 34,000% in Last 5 Years!

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