I love when companies like Constant Contact and Mail Chimp come out with these charts and stats…it is a great tool for business owners to use as a comparison. That said, you can always do better, but you have to have a plan, test and measuring it each step of the way….so, how do your email efforts fare?
Email Marketing Benchmarks

I was talking to a prospective client the other day and he questioned why Fat Atom wasn’t coming up on Google for what he thought was popular SEO (Search Engine Optimization) phrases that he thought we should be coming up for. After all, weren’t we trying to sell him SEO?

Well, no. What we were trying to sell him was a SEF (Search Engine Friendly) website with some other Internet Marketing strategies. Secondly, who was he to tell me what terms I should be coming up for? And finally, I really didn’t want to get into the finer points of SEO with him and how his computer works with Google servers across the country to deliver results….I mean really, he was already sold on the fact that another  “SEO company” he had days before us was better, I really didn’t want to waste me time.  You see, they promised him #1 search ranking in 2 months or less…to me and all my “real” industry friends/competitors, that means “RUN AWAY”, to the unsuspecting business owner, it’s like popping a pill to make you thin…fast and easy. Unfortunately, as the saying goes, there is a sucker born every minute…and I couldn’t help this one.

Next post: How is Fat Atom Internet Marketing #3 for the search “Internet Marketing” on Google? Notice the 143 Million pages of indexed info on Google – what an SEO job we are doing!?!

Twitter, as you know it, will die(ish)

Ok, I don’t think Twitter is going away in one year, but I do think it will drastically change. Twitter has a couple major problems, none of which are a secret. First off, Twitter has to start making money. This is complicated by Twitter’s very open and accessible API which has spawned a plethora of third-party apps. All of these would have to be reigned in to make sure whatever Twitter does isn’t circumvented.

The other problem is SPAM SPAM SPAM! While I have no hard evidence for this, I think most people have realized the vast population of their “followers” are robots, or people simply acting like robots (I call ‘em “Twitter zombies”). Twitter is so easy to exploit using keywords and automated systems like TweetSpinner… not that we know anything about that (*cough* Todd *cough*). I would personally guess at least 60% of Twitter traffic being spam, and since we have all noticed how much Twitter is overloaded, that means Twitter’s infrastructure is having to support all that spam along with legitimate services.

I also think that Facebook is a much better service than Twitter for actually being used by real people. Being able to have “mini-conversations” with your status updates is great, and really adds to the experience. Responding with @you tweets just don’t cut it. All-in-all, I think Twitter has already hit the ceiling and has some drastic work to do to maintain it’s momentum.

Google Wave will be the Twitter of 2010… when Twitter was in 2008.

Google Wave is an awesome product idea, but maybe too awesome. I see Google Wave as Facebook for productivity. When used correctly, Google Wave will drastically increase workplace productivity and communication. The problem is that the idea is a leading idea, or in other words, it is an idea that fills a need for people they don’t know they have… yet.

Google Wave has a bumpy ride ahead of people “not getting it”. But just like Twitter, lead early adopters will slowly lead the way for everyone else to catch on. Email has had a great ride, but we really need something better for digital communication. Google Wave represents the next generation of messaging and communicating.

Cha-Cha, as you know it, will die… again

I wish I blogged about this a year ago, because I told people a year ago that Cha-Cha’s business model wouldn’t work, and some proof to show off would be nice. So take it or leave it, this year I am writing it down! Cha-Cha seems to have already realized their “human search” isn’t going to be profitable, and has now moved onto to other ideas like selling texting coupon services.

While never seeming to run out of investor money, Cha-Cha is still plodding along. However, I have two main reasons for thinking Cha-Cha just isn’t going to make it. Reason One: No one is trying to buy them. Seriously, anything good in Web 2.0 gets bought or at least courted by someone. Reason Two: I think text messaging is going to die too. With more and more people buying smart phones, it’s just a matter of time till people use email, chat programs like AIM and Google Talk, and Facebook over text messaging. Seriously, who wants to pay for text messaging when none of the other services add to your already high monthly cell phone internet service?

Smart-phones and Computer Will Merge… and I Don’t Mean Netbooks

Personal computers are already starting to die out. Almost no one buys desktops anymore, if consumers can’t afford laptops, they buy netbooks or really cheap laptops. While professionals and serious computer gamers need power, most consumers just want email, Internet, spreadsheet, and word processing. Now that smart-phones can do all that, or are close to doing all that, the only thing missing is size.

While all the computing power we need fits in our pockets (that’s what SHE said), the best smart-phone keypad still doesn’t compete with a full-sized keyboard, mouse, and screen. It’s just a matter of time till someone figures this out and makes a smart phone that docks with a full-sized keyboard, mouse, and monitor when at home or the office as easily as a car pulls into a garage (that’s what… nevermind).

Seriously, I can’t believe no one has invented this (for the masses, all those expensive geek-only products don’t count). Sony, Apple, Dell, Nokia, or some ingenious startup is going to make this happen. In 2009 the casual consumer was converted to smart phones, it’s just the logical next step.

Genuine SEO professionals, (such as myself *cough*), have been trying to tell people [read: clients] that Google does not pay attention to keyword meta tags.  And now that Google has finally put an end to this argument once and for all, hopefully we can all move on…. Or can we?  Even though Google does not use Meta-Tags, there are still some very good reasons to use them (“But you just said…!?!?”).

The Hard Truth:

A meta-tag is a behind-the-scenes description of a website or its content.
Google’s blog article on meta-tags can be read here: http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html

Putting meta keywords in the header of your webpages does NOT help you on Google… at all… period… end of story. HOWEVER, many of the other search engines (as small as they may be) DO still use meta-tag keywords..  So while Google is the big goal for us SEO guys, putting meta-tag keywords on your pages takes little effort and does help with the other 10% of search traffic out there.

Meta-Tags Are Still Worth Implementing

Despite this news here are several big reasons why meta-tags are still worth implementing:

• Google still uses (mostly) the “description” meta-tag when showing information about your site to prospective visitors.  This means you have a level of control over the first-impression your site makes in search results.
• Even though using keyword meta-tags may only help with non-Google search traffic, it is still good practice for keeping your content focused around a limited and targeted few ideal keywords.  Forcing your web-masters to put meta-tag keywords on your pages will help your team keep those keywords in front of their minds as they work on your content.
• Meta-tag keywords are used for handicap reading tools, categorizing features of web catalogs and directories will reference them, and other unknown “Web 2.0″ apps are still probably using keywords to guide themselves through your site.

So while Google’s “Holy Grail” search ranking algorithm remains a mystery, at least this mystery is solved.  And if another SEO “expert” talks about how important your meta-tag keywords are… you know to show him the door.

MySpace has been struggling against the ever growing popularity of Facebook, but I believe the real “last nail in the coffin” is coming from Twitter. MySpace used to pummel my inbox with “friends” I have never met, but apparently found me irresistibly sexually attractive. I was beginning to think I had lost that cyber-sex appeal as my MySpace spam trickled to a stop. Lo and behold, my inbox has once again began filling with pleas from girls who desperately wanted to meet me. This time it wasn’t from MySpace… it was from Twitter. It was at this point I realized, MySpace is dead.

Yes, like rats leaving a sinking ship, all the cyber-sex prostitutes, multi-level marketing scammers, male enhancement salesmen, and all other species of spammers are bailing out of their MySpace strategies and have moved on to Twitter. I don’t know what kind of official projection statistics have been done regarding the amount of spam and the growing success of a social media website have been done, but its solid enough evidence for me.

My own MySpace page friends list has dwindled to almost nothing as even my real friends are focusing on Facebook. I hardly ever visit it, and sorry Tom, but your just not worth it. (I never liked you anyway). While I am sure MySpace’s remaining loyal followers, independent punk rock groups and pedophiles, will keep it trudging along for a couple years, it seems clear to me it’s days are numbered.

While I am sure many will disagree with my incredibly scientific analysis, MySpace needs to think of something Facebook and Twitter haven’t thought of yet to attract users back. In the meantime, I will be sticking with Facebook and Twitter where I find real people actively participating and random anonymous women still think I am “hot and sexy”.

Everyone knows about Google organic search and Google Pay Per Click advertising, but how many business owners or as you will see job searchers, have thought about using Facebook to advertise.

Highly targeted ads are great because they are??? Yes, highly targeted. Why market to the masses and hope you get some of your demographics when you can target them exclusively? The biggest answer we hear to that question at Fat Atom is, “we don’t know how”.

Take the example of Doug Winfield, who is trying to get a job at Shift Communications. He used Facebook to target the employees of Shift; in laymen terms, when those people who had in their Facebook where they worked and that equalled Shift, his ad showed up, talk about getting someones attention.

If you need help trying to figure out the best way to market your business in this new crazy web world, drop us a comment and let’s talk….after all, that is still free.

I always preach to our clients that search engines want to show the best websites, and the only way to fool them into thinking yours is best…. is to actually be the best.  The Wall Street Journal just released a report on how search engines are racing to crawl Twitter and other social media in real-time.

This means that having current and up-to-date information on your site is more and more becoming a necessity. And don’t think spamming or “generating” your content through some service is going to allow you to fake it. Businesses seriously thinking about having a large web presence are going to have to give serious consideration to hiring a part or full-time web content specialist.

Read the article below:
Internet Giants Look For Edge In Real-Time Search