“A bunch of random facts about internet marketing, all of which are worth knowing, regardless of their randomness:

1. Internet marketing is hard. Really hard. It’s not something that easily succumbs to a ‘miracle system’. Guys like Shoemoney have it right – they have systems, but they don’t say it’s easy.

2. Internet marketing can’t be done by a computer.

3. You’re still marketing to human beings. That’s why #2 is true. As long as we’re selling to humans, we’re going to need humans to handle the marketing.

4. ‘Internet’ marketing is more of a medium than a method. Marketing is a method/technique. Internet where we now do it. Yes, the techniques have changed a little, but not as much as you might think.

5. It’s measurable. While you can’t automate internet marketing, you can measure it. If you aren’t measuring each click, sale, interaction and citation for you and your business, you’re losing a lot of data.”

To read the rest of the internet marketing facts from Ian Lurie at Conversation Marketing click here.

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!?!

It’s easy to look back into 2009 and do a list or a review of the year’s biggest story, so I thought I would challenge myself and see if I could look into my “Google Crystal Ball” and share 9 predictions of what I see in store for 2010…Here Goes.

1) A new buzz word will replace “Web 2.0″ and will be used repeatedly by marketing people who really didn’t know what “Web 2.0″ was in the first place.

2) Google will develop a new product that will rock the world (of geeks) and change the way search is handled…but the masses won’t care.

3) Apple will release an update to the iphone which will make it the most polished interface on any phone on the planet….crap, that one already happened.

4) The stock market will go up, then down and possibly, back up again for a short period of time that will begin after it goes down for a period of time. Please feel free to use this prediction to help you time the markets in 2010.

5) Twitter will continue to grow, Myspace will continue to die and Facebook will thrive the most.

6) Tiger Woods will play golf again AND win a major in 2010. I mean really, what else does he have to do now that everyone knows he is a philanderer.

7) Hulu will surpass a major network television in viewers…..and no one will know it.

8 ) Another large, Indianapolis based company will attempt to perform a Social Media Marketing campaign on their own and in this attempt, will alienate their fans/followers because of a failed tactic, scheme or gimmick.

9) Fat Atom will move their offices to downtown Carmel say, 12 West Main Street and have a great open house in the Spring.

I am stunned at what I read; 250K for an iphone application? I should be stunned at the rest of the article which compares the rush to create iphone applications, with their “small user base”, to the flash intro craze of the 90′s. But I am not, I cannot get over the two hundred and fifty thousand dollar reference to the cost of iphone application development.

For an Agency, or anyone for that matter, to charge this much is insane, just crazy insane. At Fat Atom, we are creating an iphone application right now (check back at www.fatatom.com for our launch party information).  We project a ROI of 5:1, the development costs, including idea, architecture, creative and programming/testing is WAY WAY under 250K.

So all you large companies with FAT marketing budgets using those expensive Agenices to make shiny objects, please listen up…..You better shop around, you might be surprised at what you find.

It is a good article with some nice points on how we should use the file log to see what the failed searches for the day were and correct them immediately if possible. Then I got thinking, there are lots of things people should do on their website using technology and tracking tools (free tools like Google Analytics for example). An real life example goes something like this: A prospective client tells me the other day they are very happy with the amount of web traffic they are getting to their site (3000 unique visitors a day!). I said great, what is your site bounce rate? He says, what’s that? I said the rate that people hit your home page and do nothing but leave. He didn’t know.

Why is that important? If you think your getting 3000 visitors a day to your site and your home page (or entry page) bounce rate is 85%, then only 450 people are really interacting on your site. If this sounds like your site, maybe a home page/entry page redesign is in order or a “funnel” evaluation.

Now go look at your analytics and stop guessing!