The rumor that Google has built the better mousetrap to Facebook’s business pages has been around for some time. Anticipation is like that of rabid fans waiting to see what Lady Gaga will wear at her next appearance. Now we’re finally seeing some results from Google’s long research and development process. But the reviews so far are…mixed.
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Thanks to Google Analytics, everyone from your boss to your dog professes to be an “expert” in search engine optimization these days. But many of these so-called experts are still following old-school strategies that drive traffic to your site at the same speed as dial-up. Web 2.0 demands a new set of strategies for optimizing web traffic.
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We all remember when the Internet ran on Flash. It was exciting, it was interactive, it made us forget that the colors and sounds we were presented with were ultimately the same ones and zeroes of script compilers and logic engines. Flash gave art a seat at the web design table as well as expanding the functions of what a website could do. But it was not without its problems. Running Flash as a browser plugin generally means running a whole program on top of another program, and the CPU usage it requires tends to dwarf that of the browser it's running in. It's also proprietary, and when a rift formed between Apple and Adobe, Flash found itself locked out of iPhones and iPads.  Read more

We are approaching a new age in marketing and sales potential on the Internet. ICANN (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) has voted for any Internet extension in a Web address. Instead of .com, .edu, .org, .biz, etc, one can elect for any gTLD (general Top Level Domain), such as .money, .newyork, .starbucks, .bankofamerica, .food, etc. The possibilities are endless. This does come with some major caveats. You’ll have to apply for your gTLD and the application fee is $185,000, not to mention an additional yearly fee of $25,000. Read more

Now that smartphones, tablets, and other handheld devices have flooded the marketplace, companies expect their websites to be optimized for any and all of the devices that are being used to access the web.  This is sometimes necessary; Google and Bing need their search services accessible on all devices, Netflix needs their entertainment-based service accessible from all devices.  These are web-based enterprises whose function is to serve the online community.

Relationship marketing is a type of customer-centric marketing that emphasizes customer retention and satisfaction, rather than focusing solely on sales transactions. It recognizes the long term value of the customer and strives to broaden communication (beyond advertising alone) to enhance the overall customer 'experience'.

The idea behind target marketing is to increase profits (or traffic to your web site) by first identifying, and then targeting smaller, yet more profitable customer groups within the total market. By allowing businesses to spend fewer resources to attract more profitable customers, target marketing is easier and more cost effective than broader, more traditional marketing methods.

There has been an intense and sometimes vitriolic debate between proponents of Adobe's proprietary Flash platform and supporters of the open HTML 5 draft. At stake, is  who will control the creation of rich media applications and content delivery on the internet.

Madison Avenue has unleashed an onslaught of Augmented Reality products and services, notably Virtual Sean and Virtual Mirror. As with any new technology, it all comes down to execution, and so far almost all of my experiences have felt gimmicky. There are, however, some notable exceptions on which I’m keeping my eye: video gaming and mobile devices.