Chicago Sun Times files for Chapter 11

The company that owns the Chicago Sun-Times and 58 other newspapers and online sites said Tuesday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

At least 120 newspapers in the United States have shut down since January 2008, according to Paper Cuts, a Web site tracking the newspaper industry. More than 21,000 jobs at 67 newspapers have vaporized in that time, according to the site.

Newspapers have struggled to meet challenges posed by changing reader habits, a shifting advertising market, an anemic economy, and the newspaper industry’s own early strategic errors.

Where oh where will we advertise?

I've said it before and I'll say it again, rethink where your ad dollars are going.

RETHINK EVERYTHING Read more!

Used Car Pictures

I cannot begin to tell you how important it is to have good QUALITY pictures of your used inventory on your website.

They say 75 percent of used car online shoppers base their dealer selection based on photos of the actual car. Go figure.

To put it into perspective, think of it this was - let's say you are on match.com. Chances are you are going to skip right over the people with no picture. Right?

Why would this be any different?

There's no such thing as too many pictures. So take em and add em...

And make sure they are of good quality. Build value...

RETHINK EVERYTHING

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Official Google Blog: Two new improvements to Google results pages

Official Google Blog: Two new improvements to Google results pages

The longer "snippets" is important. It is quite possible to have FEWER results above the fold now. This puts your organic placement in a more important light. With less real estate, it is even more important to have your SEO operating effectively so you, at the very minimium, come in above the fold.

Its now more important than ever to be ranked #1 in organic placement. Read more!

Social Networking Analogy

Just stumbled on this article via Twitter.
Good read.

Let me know your thoughts.

http://www.scottmonty.com/2009/03/social-network-shorthand.html

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Yet ANOTHER newspaper says goodbye

You have to read this CNN article. Another one bites the dust..

LINK

RETHINK EVERYTHING Read more!

Auto OEM Web Traffic UP in Short Month

Monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the top online properties for February 2009 based on data from the comScore Media Metrix service. February represented a softer month for total Web activity due to having fewer days, with only a handful of site categories achieving gains versus January. Among the gaining categories were Flowers/Gifts/Greetings and E-cards, which benefited from Valentine’s Day, and travel and tax preparation sites, which also saw seasonal increases.

Of note - even with the shorter month Automotive OEM web traffic increase 2% in February from January

Click Read More for the data.
comScore Top 10 Gaining Site Categories* by Percentage Change in Unique Visitors (U.S.)

February 2009 vs. January 2009

Total U.S. - Home, Work and University Locations

Source: comScore Media Metrix




Total Unique Visitors (000)

Jan-09
Feb-09
% Change

Total Internet : Total Audience
191,863
192,187
0

Business/Finances - Taxes
24,703
30,088
22

Retail - Flowers/Gifts/Greetings
30,860
35,602
15

Services - e-cards
20,338
21,318
5

Real Estate
40,982
42,410
3

Retail - Computer Software
37,545
38,797
3

Auto - Manufacturer
19,938
20,274
2

Travel - Online Travel Agents
38,973
39,540
1

Travel - Information
40,753
41,119
1

Travel - Hotels/Resorts
29,976
30,094
0

Community - Gay/Lesbian
3,246
3,258
0 Read more!

ResponseLogix 2

I've had a few calls about ResponseLogix and their service. I spoke briefly about them in a prevoius post here.

Any of you using their service? I'd like to talk to you about them.

ROI
Service
Issues

Give me a shout. Email, phone, facebook, twitter...

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NY Region Toyota SEO Workshop

Would you guys be interested in an SEO workshop?

More indepth talk about why its important and how you can benefit from it (while making it work for you)...

Any and all SEO topics. Traditional. Video. Etc

How to be where consumers are when they are shopping...

I need to know. Comment here.

Also, I am thinking of starting an internet20group here in the region...

Who wants in??

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No Really. Its OK

Just a short note to let you know its ok for you to use some of the postings here in your own alternative marketing campaigns. Really. Its OK

For example, send an email blast about Toyota being in the Top 50 companies for Diversity. Or refer to the post about the Seattle newspaper going all digital on your dealership blog. You have a dealership blog right??

If not build one. Integrate it with your site.

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Mobile News Access

comScore, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world,
today reported that the number of people using their mobile device to
access news and information on the Internet more than doubled from January
2008 to January 2009. Among the audience of 63.2 million people who
accessed news and information on their mobile devices in January 2009, 22.4
million (35 percent) did so daily; more than double the size of the
audience last year.

The press release below is also available at:
http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2752<http://eml.mailingsvcs.com/trk/r.emt?h=www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2752&t=D/hAGg&e=Jqi45D8hmw8>

Read more!

Official Google Blog: Stop bouncing: tips for website success

Official Google Blog: Stop bouncing: tips for website success

Really good info on Bounce Rate from Google. This should help the dealers on the eCertification Program (Fusion website) better understand Bounce Rate.

Please understand, if your site is indexed correctly and pulls relevant pages for searches, bounces are a good thing as the viewer "searched, clicked, got their info from you, and clicked out"... Read more!

Secret Sauce Part 5 - Thumbnails .20T

The last component of our secret formula, and often the most overlooked, is the thumbnail. A thumbnail is the single image that represents your video. This is the image that someone will see before they decide whether or not to watch the video.

If your thumbnail is bad it often doesn't matter if you got all of the other components of the formula right.

So what makes a good thumbnail?

Typically thumbnails that are relevant and match the video title, description and tags are all you need. Beyond this, try to select the image that best captures the essence of your video. Unfortunately, each of the video-sharing sites has a different methodology for determining which frame will comprise the thumbnail.

At one point, for example, YouTube used the frame that is in the very center of your video as the thumbnail, then they used 1:20 into the video, and now you have a choice of three frames. Other sites give you more options. It will pay off to invest the time to understand how the thumbnail is determined for every site where you deploy your video.

Thanks to TubeMogul for the content! Read more!

The 10 Most Endangered Newspapers in America

Time.com has an article listing the above mentioned topic.

Another reason to rethink your media mix.

Heres the link.

Comments?

published via iPhone Read more!

Video - Im not making this stuff up people

A few posts ago I wrote about how popular video is becoming on the web and its importance to search as well as how it directly relates to your stores online presence.

It was December data of 9 BILLION videos watched on YouTube in the US alone and how Google considers video as relevant as text in SEO. Well comScore has just published their January data. OMG! From 9 BILLION videos watched in December 2008 to 14.8 BILLION - in just the US.

Just one more reason why YOU need to seriously consider VSEO.

Click the link to read it. Americans’ Time Spent Viewing Jumps 15 Percent versus Previous Month



RESTON, VA, March 4, 2009 – comScore (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital world, today released January 2009 data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that U.S. Internet users viewed 14.8 billion online videos during the month, representing an increase of 4 percent versus December 2008.YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for 91 percent of the incremental gain in the number of videos viewed versus December, as it surpassed 100 million viewers for the first time.



Google Sites Adds to Lead in Video Market Share

In January, Google Sites once again ranked as the top U.S. video property with 6.4 billion videos viewed (43 percent online video market share), with YouTube.com accounting for more than99 percent of all videos viewed at the property. Fox Interactive Media ranked second with 552 million videos (3.7 percent), followed by Yahoo! Sites with 374 million (2.5 percent) and Viacom Digital with 288 million (1.9 percent). Megavideo climbed 15 percent (103 million videos) in January to capture a spot in the top ten for the first time.



Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Videos Viewed

January 2009

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Video Metrix

Property
Videos

(000)
Share (%) of

Videos

Total Internet
14,831,607
100.0

Google Sites
6,367,638
42.9

Fox Interactive Media
551,991
3.7

Yahoo! Sites
374,161
2.5

Viacom Digital
287,615
1.9

Microsoft Sites
267,475
1.8

HULU.COM
250,473
1.7

Turner Network
195,983
1.3

AOL LLC
184,808
1.2

Disney Online
141,452
1.0

MEGAVIDEO.COM
102,857
0.7


*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.



Google Sites Surpasses 100 Million Viewers in January

More than 147 million U.S. Internet users watched an average of 101 videos per viewer in January. Google Sites grew to 102 million online video viewers during the month, or more than two out of every three Internet users who watched video. Fox Interactiveranked second with 62.1 million viewers, followed by Yahoo! Sites (41.9 million) and Microsoft Sites (30.0 million).



Top U.S. Online Video Properties* by Unique Viewers

January 2009

Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations

Source: comScore Video Metrix

Property
Unique Viewers (000)
Average Videos per Viewer

Total Internet
147,322
100.7

Google Sites
101,870
62.5

Fox Interactive Media
62,109
8.9

Yahoo! Sites
41,859
8.9

Microsoft Sites
30,042
8.9

AOL LLC
27,198
6.8

HULU.COM
24,448
10.2

CBS Corporation
24,215
4.2

Viacom Digital
24,126
11.9

Turner Network
22,979
8.5

Disney Online
13,435
10.5


*Rankings based on video content sites; excludes video server networks. Online video includes both streaming and progressive download video.



Other notable findings from January 2009 include:

76.8 percent of the total U.S. Internet audience viewed online video.
The average online video viewer watched 356 minutes of video (approximately 6 hours), up 15 percent versus December.
100.9 million viewers watched 6.3 billion videos on YouTube.com (62.6 videos per viewer).
54.1 million viewers watched 473 million videos on MySpace.com (8.7 videos per viewer).
The duration of the average online video was 3.5 minutes, up from 3.2 minutes per video in December.
The duration of the average online video viewed at Megavideo was 24.9 minutes, higher than any other video property in the top ten.
And here is the rest of it. Read more!

Secret Sauce Part 4 - Promotion .15p

Videos that have relevant and rich tags and descriptions will be found and will be forwarded. But there is nothing wrong with supercharging this process, and this is where promotion comes into play. This is especially important as many video sites employ a "bubble up" methodology that promotes videos and content creators that receive the most views, subscribers, comments, ratings and forwards. Thus, then "bubble up" to the top of video sites and become even more popular. So in the video world, popularity begets more popularity.

Building a community is the single best method for promoting a video. This isn’t an overnight process, but can be done by using the infrastructure of the various video-sharing and social networking sites. This means subscribing to people’s videos and leaving creative comments so that people click on your profile. Also, it’s important (and fun) to befriend people and invite them to subscribe to your video channels. You can also join and be a meaningful contributor to various newsgroups and chat rooms. If you can pull off these things, you’ve just created your own set of groupies that will watch your content just because of the relationship, and this applies to both companies and individuals. Yet another way to build community is to write an interesting blog and create a following, as well as responding to the blog posts of others. Also, you’ll be surprised how open bloggers and category experts will be to plug your video in exchange for a "sneak peak" or an interview.

Also consider submitting your videos to other "Web 2.0" websites that employ voting systems to promote content. Some of the most popular sites are Digg, Reddit, Del.icio.us and StumbleUpon. As your video or article gains more votes, the video will attract even more attention and may even end up in a featured or "top 10" type category which can generate hundreds of thousands of views in a day.
Read more!