Surprise Oscar Winner: jcpenney's #YoursTruly Real-Time Marketing Campaign

During this evening’s 85th Academy Awards, jcpenney used real-time marketing to capitalize on our here and now, instant gratification tendencies by launching a strong activation through social media. The goal of the Oscars campaign was to grab new viewers and continue to update their more-than-outdated, less-than-classy image.

To begin, their Twitter page, much like many Oscar attendees, put its best face forward with a glitzy makeover:

Before this evening it’s very likely that you, your wife, girlfriend, or 20 something daughter certainly didn’t think of jcpenney as fresh, on trend, glitzy, luxurious, or modern. Some of you may not have even thought it was still a surviving entity.

The Power of Website Content: How to Improve Your Rankings

Today I’m here to tell you a little story about the power of website content. My cardinal rule is “If you want to rank for it, you better say so on your website!” The first step to improving your rankings for a given keyword is ensuring that your website provides valuable information on that topic.

Once you add that helpful information or “content” on that topic, laced subtly with keywords that people may search when looking for the product or service, you have a much higher chance of being found!

Apple Maps + Local Search Kicks Google Maps to the Curb in iOS 6

Along with 200+ other new features on the new iOS6, the long awaited improvement to driving directions on your iPhone and iPad is here. No, it’s not a new and improved Google Maps app, but a homebrewed maps solution by Apple, including a local search database. As if I didn’t love Apple enough already, they’ve come up with something that can trump even Google Maps.

Apple’s press release today states “Local search includes information for over 100 million businesses with info cards that offer Yelp ratings, reviews, available deals and photos.”

Mobile Site SEO: Pier 1 vs. Crate and Barrel

Google FTC Investigation: The Inevitable has Become Reality

Google announces official FTC Investigation

New Google Local Changes Everything

Google is rolling out a nationwide update that drastically changes the way prospective customers see you and your competitors through what Google calls “Place Search.”

The new integrated results combine your organic and local rankings in a new Google algorithm intended to make finding businesses easier.

Old results:

New results:

A site which ranks well organically (below the map) has always had a better chance of ranking on the map. Those who weren’t strong organically could sneak on the map provided a low level of competition.

Recent IAB Study Proves Advantages of Online Marketing

The Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has released the results for their 2010 Half- Year study on Internet Advertising Revenue.

Not surprising to many is that Internet Marketing Revenues for the 1^st half of 2010 alone totaled $12.13 billion dollars – an 11.3% increase over the same period in 2009.  If that number is surprising, it’s likely you haven’t yet had your eyes opened to the wonder that is Internet Marketing.

Obviously I’d be a champion for all businesses to hop on the online marketing train, but my beliefs are founded in the great results I’ve seen in my time working within the field, as well as the benefits that online marketing offers, particularly compared to traditional forms of advertising.

Old Google Keyword Tool Gone - Oh My!

New Google Keyword Tool vs. the Old Google Keyword Tool – that is the question, or at least it was before the legacy tool, that I kept bookmarked ever since Google started encouraging SEOs to use the “new” tool, suddenly disappeared this past Friday.  We knew the day would come. We knew we wouldn’t like it, but now we’re forced to use it.

The Many Faces of Google Maps

Google Maps… the Local Business Center… Google Places… so many faces, so many problems. While it brings me great happiness once an issue is resolved, when trying to work them out, it seems like it’s never going to end. In the past, I’ve used a puzzle as an analogy for local search. I never really did like puzzles, and if Google Maps was a puzzle it would be a 2,000 piece box full of 1 inch pieces, 50 of which have been eaten by your kitten and thrown about the house by your children.

Looks like Google CAN admit they are wrong!

So today while working with a particularly problematic listing within a particularly jacked up (for lack of a better word) market and cluster of listings, I noticed a new option Google is showing in the “Report a Problem” section.

We worked for months to straighten out a client’s listing and were finally feeling a bit of relief when everything seemed to be working… the address was showing up correctly, as was the URL, pictures, and details. Thank goodness, we thought!