Mother's Day Image
Two galaxies collide - and hundreds of billions of stars burn a heart-shaped tribute in the heavens.
To mothers everywhere:
Happy Mother's Day.
May 09, 2010
May 07, 2010
Google on the Move
Google on Wednesday rolled out their new interface. The left column options they have been testing for the last year are now a permanent fixture. They've rolled them all out, but what they serve up in the results page depends on the search and Google's judgment of what you are looking for. But you can rapidly modify it to suit.
By mid-day yesterday we were seeing the new interface in all searches.
At the same time without announcing it they no longer are offering full access to their keywords suggestions tool unless you access it through an AdWords (click ads) account.
These are dramatic changes when viewed from the perspective of the Internet Marketing community. They are probably a lot less dramatic, more incremental to the typical searcher - which is off course what Google is going for. They don't want to startle people. They want to continue to improve their search experience. And they are doing exactly that.
You are seeing one of the major effects of "Caffeine" (their new software). One of the reasons for doing a complete redesign of their programming was to make it easier and faster to make, test, and roll out changes.
Continuing to better the search experience is one result. Tomorrow, I'm going to explain the two other major consequences. And they are major - industry shaking.
April 30, 2010
Flash and the Mobile Web
This information has been moved to http://www.fastf.com/knowledge/flash-mobile-web.htm
March 23, 2010
Google Leaves China
It's official. Google is shutting down Google.cn.
That URL is now being redirected to Google's uncensored Hong Kong site.
'On January 12, we announced on this blog that Google and more than twenty other U.S. companies had been the victims of a sophisticated cyber attack originating from China, and that during our investigation into these attacks we had uncovered evidence to suggest that the Gmail accounts of dozens of human rights activists connected with China were being routinely accessed by third parties, most likely via phishing scams or malware placed on their computers. We also made clear that these attacks and the surveillance they uncovered?€”combined with attempts over the last year to further limit free speech on the web in China including the persistent blocking of websites such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google Docs and Blogger?€”had led us to conclude that we could no longer continue censoring our results on Google.cn."
High marks to Google for this action which will undoubtedly cost them billions in profit from business in China.
Over the centuries, many private companies have influenced the course of a nation, as often negatively as positively. China has been the adverse effect of such in the past - for example the British East India Company's opium trade, leading to the Opium Wars whereby China's sovereignty was severely compromised.
Now perhaps we'll see - over time - a very positive influence on China from this courageous action.
January 01, 2010
Happy New Year
A Very Happy, Best New Year's Ever to You and Yours (click image for bigger pic).
December 27, 2009
What Will 2010 Bring? Part I
First of several posts wherein I look in my crystal ball and tell you what to expect in the coming year.
First of all, economics.
There are two possibilities as to the recession. The first, and likeliest, is that we are now into what is called an "L" shaped recovery. That means things are going to continue to improve, but slowly. It'll be a few years before the economy gets back to where it was before the recession started. Unemployment will rise somewhat higher before it starts to come down. No catastrophe, but no great boom either.
I have many reasons for believing this is what is going to happen. Under this scenario, there are many opportunities for prosperity, doing pretty much the kinds of things that have worked for years. However, it is going to be more work. Not the least because of increased taxes and government regulation, a less optimistic outlook on the part of the population, and a continuing tight credit scene that will undoubtedly be accompanied by higher inflation than we've seen in a while.
The other possibility, which I consider less likely but can't rule out, is what is called a "W" - meaning the improving scene we are currently experiencing is temporary and we are going in the next few months to fall off an economic cliff. I don't expect it, but if it is coming, we should have a month or two warning. If it does occur, it will mean we really are in the worst economy since the Great Depression. If it happens, it will mean radical adjustments for many businesses and businessmen. If and when I see that coming I'll talk about what it means for marketing.
In the meantime, given the way it looks to me, let me talk in Part 2 about Marketing in 2010.
December 25, 2009
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to You and Yours.
(The Milky Way. Mount Lassen on the left, Mount Shasta on the right. Click on image to see full size picture.)
December 18, 2009
We're Back
If you've been wondering what happened to some recent posts and why there have been no posts in the last few days:
We moved our website to another server. There were quite a few changes that had to be made in order for the blog to work.
Anyway, we're back!
June 13, 2009
Economic Scene - Click Ads Trends
Needless to say, we monitor closely how the economy is affecting our clients' marketing, so we can make necessary adjustments.
The latest trend, over the last couple of weeks: cost per click is decreasing and average position is improving, without any other change (such as maximum bid amount).
This is operating broadly across many industries.
Our analysis is that the economy is now affecting enough businesses so there is less competition - at least in this particular marketing arena. The same is probably true in other marketing channels, but I don't have any statistical data to back it up - though there is LOTS in the advertising industry trade publications about how TV networks, magazines, newspapers, etc. are having a harder time filling their ad space and in maintaining their rates.
Every economic downturn has its opportunities.
May 23, 2009
Sometimes You Just Need A Break
| Here's wishing everyone a pleasant Memorial Day weekend. |
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May 15, 2009
Googe AdWords Policy on Trademarks
Google has announced a change in their policy on use of trademarks in Click Ads. It's a liberalization in that there will be more situations where you CAN use someone else's trademark. But there are serious limitations:
Those that won't be able to use brand names include sites that sell counterfeit goods, retailers that primarily sell a competitor's products, advertisers that criticize the trademarked brand and those that do not refer to a landing page with a purchase option.
Nevertheless, there are situations where this will be very useful, as to promote a tradmarked brand that you are selling online.
The change goes into effect June 15th.
April 27, 2009
Pray for the Economy
| Some people are praying for the economy to improve. Just a reminder: God helps those who help themselves. |
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March 01, 2009
Fast Forward Wins Award!
| The Addy's are the American Advertising Federation's Oscars. They are awarded at local, regional and national levels in various categories. |  |
Last night at the "Addy Bowl" at Raymond James Stadium, Fast Forward won a Tampa Bay Addy for our website, www.BeverageDeveloper.com.
Submissions were judged by a team of four nationally prominent Advertising Industry professionals.
Our website was the highest rated in the "HTML Business to Business website" category.
Now we go to the regional competition. Wish us luck!
January 31, 2009
Comments Open
As an experiment, I've opened up this blog to comments. All comments will be moderated (I'll have to approve them before they appear).
January 25, 2009
Inflation
Anyone in business needs to have at least an ear to the ground on the economic scene - not just what it is now but expectations for the future. That requires some basic economic literacy.
Inflation is the result of more money chasing too few goods and services. Recently, the productivity of the US economy has been pretty flat. So any increase in money supply is going to result in an increase in prices.
Here's a chart of the increase in the US money supply over the last few years (Courtesy of ShadowStats.com):
The recent huge spike in the gray line shows the Federal Reserve pumping cash into the economy. The soaring M3 from 2006 until early last year shows the craze in credit being extended on poor-bet loans. The crash in M3 since shows the "credit crunch". M2 is the net result and the best indicator of future inflation. You can see it soaring through 10% now.
Plan accordingly.
January 18, 2009
Savvy About the Economy
Here's a very good article about the economy.
January 16, 2009
Art Lives in Tampa Bay
The ADDY awards are given to outstanding work in the advertising / marketing industry. Awards are given locally and nationally in a number of categories. There are professional and student competitions.
We submitted for an award this year for our Crystal Lake Beverage website. We're crossing our fingers on that.
A sampling of submissions was on display last night at the R.K. Bailey Art Studios at the University of Tampa.
I was VERY impressed by the quality of the student work. Lots of just outstanding work.
Art does live in Tampa Bay.
January 02, 2009
New Year's Resolution
Welcome to 2009!
And a Happy New Year to you.
Despite the doom and gloom we are being pummeled with daily by newspapers, TV, magazines, radio, there is no reason why 2009 shouldn't be a great year for you.
Chances are good marketing is what will make the difference.
Here at Fast Forward we practice what we preach. We did very well in the last months of the year. How? When we saw the economy start to slide, we greatly increased our own marketing efforts. As a result, we had more leads in each of October, November and December than we did in any of the previous three months.
If you're making New Year's resolutions, how about this one:
IN 2009 I AM MARKETING MY WAY INTO MY BEST YEAR EVER.
October 29, 2008
Marketing Ideas Happen
Great new marketing ideas still happen, especially online.
Amazon has a website www.windowshop.com. Its a sort of virtual bookstore shop window. But with the capabilities of the web utilized to the max.
If you zoom in on an album cover, you hear an excerpt. If you zoom in on a book cover, you see and hear an excerpt from the text.
Like a shop window, they change it once a week. And of course, you can just click and add it to your Amazon shopping cart.
Brilliant!
June 29, 2008
Google Indexes Flash
It's been a piece of gospel for a long time that Flash and Google don't mix.
That's why we don't build websites all in Flash. They are never going to do well in the search engines.
While that is still generally true, it is not quite as true as it used to be. Google can and will now index some of the text in Flash movies/ slide shows, depending on how it is embedded in the file.
April 30, 2008
More New Business
We just surpassed our total of new clients for all of last year!
Kudos to the staff for their assistance but I did want to point out how we accomplished this.
MARKETING SKILL
Ten months ago we developed a marketing strategy for us. We isolated what services we wanted to concentrate on, and how to use the Internet as the primary means of marketing to increase our own Business Development activity.
Well, I guess we really do know how to market, because it sure has worked in spades.
There are some larger lessons here which many businesses could apply:
Don't try to be all things to all men.Decide where your strengths are.
Develop a method of reaching out to potential customers which you can afford to execute in the volume it takes, that you feel has a realistic chance of success.
Give it your best shot, but be prepared to make adjustments or even abandon it if it isn't working.
That's a pretty general formula for success in Business Development. It does require some patience. If you have to succeed big RIGHT NOW - you have a problem.
January 15, 2008
New "Improved" Definition of Marketing
It just warms my heart when I find someone that doesn't mince words. And except for his comment about surveys I agree with Dave on this one.
January 14, 2008
Yellow Pages Continue to Crash and Burn
For a few years now, with the growth of the Internet, Yellow Pages and newspaper advertising (especially classifieds) have been in a decline.
Continue reading "Yellow Pages Continue to Crash and Burn" »
January 11, 2008
New website look
We launched a new look for our website this last week.
If you've seen the previous look, you'll notice it is MUCH higher impact visually.
Actually, we were kind of bored with the old look, but there are a few important points to make:
December 01, 2006
Christmas Sales Get Off To An Excellent Start
The biggest gain so far in the Christmas season sales is the extremely strong on-line sales performance. According to an articl ein today's St Pete Times:
Continue reading "Christmas Sales Get Off To An Excellent Start" »
March 29, 2006
Google experimenting with map ads
From CNET News: Greg Sterling, managing editor at The Kelsey Group, said Google representatives told him several weeks ago that the company plans to let businesses add advertisements and logos to the mapping balloons that appear on Google Local.
"It's a harbinger of more things on maps," such as video, embedded chat and pay-per-call or click-to-call, he told CNET News.com at Kelsey's Drilling Down on Local conference here Monday. "Putting technology in the balloons can enable all kinds of interesting exchanges with merchants."
Yahoo co-founder defends Yahoo's cooperation with Chinese censorship
Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang defended the Internet search engine's cooperation with Chinese censorship of the Web, saying it was necessary to reach out to new users.
US lawmakers have accused tech giants Yahoo, Google and Microsoft of helping sustain the so-called Great Firewall of China, which blocks searches of terms considered to be sensitive, such as "free speech" and "human rights."
But Yang said it was better to be in China than out.
"We have to think of a way in which the Internet phenomenon can continue to grow and reach more users and at the same time comply with local laws.
"In places like China and other places that have different political regimes I think you'll see them trying to react and potentially regulate these kinds of activities.
"But our observation is that it is inevitable that things will become more open and free flowing," Yang told reporters here ahead of the 10th anniversary of the search engine's Japanese site on April 1.
Yahoo came under fire last year for supplying information to the Chinese government which led to the arrest of Chinese journalist Shi Tao.
Shi was sentenced to 10 years in prison for passing on a government censorship order through his Yahoo e-mail account.
Study says 51% of Internet users make purchases from opt-in e-mails
As reported at InternetRetailer.com: 51% of Internet users in the U.S. make purchases from opt-in e-mails and 44% make regular purchases from online ads, according to a recent report from Lyris Technologies.
39% of users said they make purchases from opt-in e-mails a few times a year. 10% said they make purchases a few times a month and 2%, a few times a day.
Of those making purchases from online ads, 37% make purchases a few times a year, 6% a few times a month, and 1% a few times a day, Lyris said.
“These poll results underscore the growing importance of the Internet as a sales channel,” says Dave Dabbah, director of sales and marketing. “For most companies, the best Internet marketing strategy employs a well-balanced mix of targeted e-mail campaigns and targeted on-line ads. Both vehicles are proving to be highly effective at converting readers into buyers.”
The poll also showed that users who make purchases from opt-in commercial e-mails are also likely to make purchases from online ads, and vice versa.
Lyris’ poll results were based on 126 responses from a nationally representative sample based on age, gender and income.
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