Recent Direct Marketing News

Happy July 4th everyone! I wanted to share with you some of the logos from across the industry and let everyone know that we won't be posting much here today. So see you all Monday and enjoy the day!

Google's finally added a privacy link to its home page, explaining in 613 words why the company apparently can't have more than 28 words on its home page. So important is this number that adding the privacy link was an issue that had to go up two Google's cofounders. Please. On the same day that the privacy of Google's YouTube users was seriously threatened, what Google needed more were 613 words from one or both of the founders saying the company would take every step to protect its users. But on that subject, nada.

There was a new service launched at the beginning of the month that follows all uses of your brand, domain, special keywords and more - Search Monitor. And before you jump at me for the plug I am not associated with it at all.

Since writing my WTF! US Court Declares You Have No Privacy On YouTube article, more information has come out suggesting that Google will be able to turnover information to Viacom about what's watched on YouTube without having to say who exactly who was watching it. Nor, does it seem, that Viacom itself wants that level of detail. So perhaps a bullet will be dodged on the privacy front. More below, including some direct answer from Google.

If you're a Blackberry Pearl user in the US, then you have a new way to conduct searches on Google Mobile Maps: voice search. The feature has been made available for models 8110, 8120, and 8130. The Google Mobile Team says the feature is experimental and should improve better over time as more and more people use it.

In a way it should come as no surprise that most of Yahoo's own properties get more traffic from Google than from Yahoo Search, according to Hitwise. I would guess that's also true for Microsoft (though I'll wait for the blog post to confirm that).

Remember when Google and Viacom were friends? Ah, those were the days. But not anymore. Over a year ago, Viacom filed suit against Google for the copyright infringment found on YouTube videos. In the latest plot point in the ongoing saga, U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton has ruled that Google can keep its source code secret, but must hand over user logs for the popular video sharing site.

Despite a search advertising deal with Google, Yahoo shares are down and rumors are on again about Microsoft buying just the search chunk of Yahoo. But just how big is that chunk? Would it destroy Yahoo as a whole if sold separately? Not necessarily, according to Hitwise Vice President of Research, Heather Hopkins.

The Official Google Webmaster Central blog has posted steps on how to get reincluded in the search results should you find yourself in the unfortunate circumstance of being exempted. Mariya Moeva, of the Search Quality Team, hosts an entertaining how-to vid explaining the steps you should take when your site is Google-less. For those who can't or don't want to view the video, look below for the steps in text.

Greg Jarboe: Search Engine Strategies (SES) is asking us to teach a full-day SEO training class about “Optimizing for Universal Search” on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, 515 Madison Street, Seattle, WA 98104?

MerchantCircle, a network of local business owners, has announced a new partnership with Yahoo. As a newly minted Yahoo! Local Ambassador, MerchantCircle members will have exclusive access to Yahoo Local online marketing services. MerchantCircle has seen dramatic growth since December 2007, when it began a new push for its online advertising products. The network has now surpassed 500,000 members.

(1) Login to Webmaster Tools and check for any crawl errors, such as "URL unreachable" or "URLs restricted by robots.txt" errors. If you find those errors, dig deeper and see if you can open up those access errors. If those are not your issues, proceed to step two.

A baker, a guitar teacher, a florist, and a real estate agent: Those are the four small business owners I've profiled in this space recently. Before I continue with more online marketing success stories, this seems like a smart time to step back and see what we've learned to date. Listening to the experiences of others can be a great learning tool, especially when those small business owners have gone down paths you've been hesitant to try, or maybe didn't even know existed.

The four small business owners you've read about have very different stories and backgrounds, but as the interviews revealed, those stories provide some common advice for any small business trying to succeed online.

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You have no privacy on YouTube. So effectively declared a US judge yesterday. And now somebody in the US government better stop grandstanding about search and privacy protection and actually get some laws enacted now. Yesterday's move might be the ultimate incentive, as US politicians realize that what they watched on YouTube may now be open season.

Many newcomers are looking for some kind of accredited SEM course. But for a university to offer such course, it must be created in theory, pass through boards and deans, and be completely vetted. That can take anywhere from two to five years. In today's SEM.EDU column, "SEM Going Legit – Literally EDU," Ron Jones outlines some of the existing college-level courses for SEM training.

Instead of focusing on where to find links, SEOs and site owners should think about setting up a site so people will want to link to it. In today's Link Building column, "Three Tips for Creating a Successful Blog," Sage Lewis notes that people usually put the cart (the links), before the horse (the content). But the horse is what drives the cart.