Is Google in Trouble with the DoubleClick Deal?

Last week, it was reported the EU launched an in-depth probe into Google's $3.1 billion acquisition of DoubleClick because of competition concerns. Now, the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee wrote a letter to the FTC urging a thorough review to ensure competition in the online ad industry. Does this mean the Google-DoubleClick deal is in jeopardy?

Google expressed dismay over the EU review because it will take 4 months, giving Yahoo! and Microsoft a head start in the online advertising race for dominance with their own similar deals already approved. Yahoo! and Microsoft contend Google's acquisition of DoubleClick is anti-competitive and can also endanger consumer privacy. Privacy watchdog groups have been vocal in opposing the acquisition over consumer privacy as well.

Google Manager of Global Communications and Public Affairs Adam Kovacevich insists Google has already worked with the FTC to address the issue of competition on the web and notes that although privacy is not a factor in the review, Google is committed to protecting users and has taken a number of steps to ensure consumer privacy.

Source: CNNMoney.com

Source: Kate Kay - ClickZ

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

10:22 AM 0 comments

Quick email marketing tips

Give your email marketing campaign a jump start with these these quick and easy email marketing tips.

Posted by Lindsay Sullivan

11:47 AM 0 comments

U.S. Online Advertising Revenues Continue to Rise

In its October 2007 U.S. Advertising Spending report, eMarketer predicts online advertising will more than double as a percentage of total media by 2010 as advertisers increasingly rely on web media. While the total advertising spend in 2007 is expected to increase by a mere 2.1 percent, Internet advertising is slated to increase by 26.7 percent, according to the report.

U.S. marketers will spend over $21 billion on Internet advertising this year, and this amount will double by 2011 to $42 million.

The report predicts paid search will continue to account for approximately 40 percent of the Internet ad spend through 2011, while banner ads account for about 20 percent and classifieds, about 17 percent.

The eMarketer data uses a 2006 baseline, which shows online advertising accounted for 6 percent of total media spend in the U.S. It then predicts online advertising will grow to 7.4 percent in 2007 and ultimately reach 13.3 percent of total media in 2011.

Source: eMarketer

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

3:03 PM 0 comments

Google Goes Mobile With Software Deck

Ending all the speculation that's been going on for weeks, Google announced today it is developing a free cell phone software package. However, it won't be available until the second half of next year when mobile phones will begin to be equipped with Google's Android software deck.

This move will enable Google to sell more ads and services to users on mobile devices, which outnumber PCs and are touted as the future of online marketing.

Google won't be manufacturing the phones or branding them with the big G. Instead, it will work with four cellphone manufacturers who have agreed to house Google's software on their handsets (Motorola, Samsung, HTC and LG Electronics). However, consumers will have to buy a new phone to get the Google software deck because it wasn't designed for existing handsets.

The software is called Android, the name of the software company acquired by Google in 2005. Google's software will be free and could undercut rivals who charge handset makers for operating system software. This will be a significant threat to other mobile operating systems and will likely make smartphones considerably less expensive since manufacturers won't have to pay for software.

Google's software will be an open code source project available to developers to encourage creation of new apps and other software improvements. Thirty-four companies will join the Open Handset Alliance to develop applications on the Android platform, including some handset makers, mobile operators and chipmakers.

Source: News.com

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

3:41 PM 0 comments

Google Stats and Infrastructure, PageRank Update

Google now has 30 data centers, over 460,000 servers and charges you nothing to view its 20 billion pages indexed. It charges advertisers up to $150.00 'per click' to help pay for its $2 billion annual operational costs.

Google is also very fast; not just fast with search results...here's a quote from Stephen Arnold, who for the last four years has been tracking and monitoring Google's technical innovations and monitoring the enterprise search technology of more than 50 companies competing in this market sector.

"To the outside observer, Google seems to be a company able to innovate in hours or days. When the rumor of eBay’s acquisition of StumbleUpon.com surfaced, Google had its own version called Recommendations deployed and publicly available within four hours. In the world of online innovation, Google is not just fast, Google is operating with an efficiency that is not often encountered in any business. For a company of its size, Google remains remarkably nimble and surprising. Google can deliver a great many products and services from its malleable framework. Telecommunications, motion pictures and entertainment, financial services, and publishing are just a few of traditional market sectors that Google can enter and disrupt without too many technical gyrations. Most of these market sectors are blissfully ignorant of Google’s capabilities."

The methods and practices for planning, managing, anticipating and conducting a business online are changing quickly and Google, whether you like them or not, is re-calculating and designing much of the new foundation on which many businesses will grow on for many years to come.

In regards to preparing your Web site for these changes; you may have read recently that Google's PageRank in the browser toolbar has changed and in most cases it has dropped PR values for many prominent Web sites. Our sources and investigation lead us to believe there are more PR changes on the way and it is time to prepare rather than react several months from now. We believe these changes are not only related to Google fighting spammers however also tied to Universal Search which incorporates video, news, images and other data beyond text.

We encourage those of you reading this post to call for further strategic search engine marketing and optimization information; as a knowledge-transfer business partner we welcome your call.

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

11:00 AM 0 comments

Google and MySpace hook-up

As Google and MySpace join hands, don't swap your LinkedIn for Facebook.

"The OpenSocial effort is designed to allow third-party developers to create one set of programs that work across many of the Web’s most popular social networks, including LinkedIn, Friendster, Hi5, Bebo, and now MySpace."

Source: NYTimes

The agreement includes business software makers Salesforce.com and Oracle, allowing third-party programmers to write applications that can be accessed by their customers. OpenSocial begins one week after Google lost to Microsoft in a bid to invest in Facebook. And it arrives before the Facebook’s introduction of an advertising platform (next week).

Source: NYT

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

6:36 AM 0 comments