Busy, busy, busy

Well, this has been a hectic few weeks...hence, no new posts. I am about to start a new job and I just returned from a visit to the folks before that begins. The world continues to turn, of course, and the world of online marketing gets increasingly complex. Stay tuned!

Cool Little Things

Namely...a gadget that is destined to revolutionize the way we compute:

Bluetooth Laser Virtual Keyboard

and technology that can begin to really get into the mind of the customer (remarkable, but spooky!)

Eye Tracking

As for the former, one can just picture the future: a telephone that projects a virtual keyboard in one direction and a projection screen in the other. And it looks as though it won't be too long in coming!

As for the latter...if it is effective, it could be incredibly useful. At the same time, I played the demonstration video and I have to say that I had a difficult time believing that the user's eyes did not focus on the large red banner ad in the middle of the screen. Really, they didn't? And if not, I'd like to know *why* not?

Google on SEO

If you haven't spent time poking through Google's "Webmaster Info" pages then now's the time! It goes without saying that effective SEO requires a thorough understanding of what's going on "under the hood" of Google. These pages are a good place to start!

SEO Tip #2: Publish or Perish

This adage from the world of academia is also true in the world of SEO - without fresh content traffic drops and when traffic drops Page Rank drops. Pretty simple really. In addition to adding content on the site itself another good practice is to publish articles as often as possible in as many locales online as possible, with links back to your website. There are so many positive aspects to this that a small tome could be written on it. Suffice to say, as regards SEO, that it will provide plenty of traffic and repeat visitors.

Sober-minded advice for newbies

Donna's post regarding the need for a realistic approach to ecommerce (and in this particular instance, revenue from AdSense) is worth a read. The following quote, in particular, bears frequent repeating:

“Produce well-written, interesting and helpful content which real human beings need or want and the traffic and income should follow.”

There are too many ways to make a living, and life is too short to spend one's time producing products (websites, information, etc., etc.) that are ugly, cheap, and useless.

SEO Tip #1: Don't bury text in images

It's always useful to keep an eye on Matt Cutt's blog. His simple but much-overlooked tip could make or break some sites if the designer has not done his/her homework on basic SEO practice.

Marketing the Beatles

Seth Godin's post on the marketing of the Beatles is worth a read, I think. In an age where speed is one of the great virtues and patience is something we occasionally have to put up with, it's always good to remember that meaningful marketing and branding usually take time...and ingenuity...and tenacity...and vision...

Google vs. Ebay?

In the ever-morphing world of online commerce a Google vs. Ebay match-up should not come as a surprise. To my mind, however, this seems to be more of a new front in the ongoing war between Google and Yahoo!. If anyone is going to suffer from Google Base, it's going to be Yahoo! Stores. Of more interest to the online marketing world, however, are the new advertising tools that Google is working on for Google Base.