Chief Marketer Staff, Author at Chief Marketer

Visualize, then Optimize

Search engine optimization (SEO) can be a contradictory combination of science and intuition. On the one hand, as often practiced by professionals, it assesses the relevance of a Web page to a keyword in terms of measurable, concrete factors such as keyword density and backlink counts. On the other hand, the values assigned to those factors (What keyword density is required? How many backlinks?) can be loose. Often, they’re derived from an optimizer’s general past experience with other keywords on other search engines. In other words, those hard-and-fast rules turn out often to be indefinite rules of thumb instead.

Agencies

Auto Dealers Use Direct Mail as Movie Tie-In Driver

More than 6,000 auto dealers are expected to participate in a joint promotion with the upcoming Disney-Pixar film “Cars.” Under the terms of the campaign, participating dealers send out direct mail letters offering two free tickets to “Cars” to vehicle prospects who visit showrooms. The letters are customized with the dealer’s name and address on them.

AOL to Close Call Center, Lay Off 1,300: Reports

Internet service provider AOL is closing a call center in Jacksonville, FL and trimming staff at four other locations, according to news reports.

Agencies

Live from the ACCM Show: Learning from Circulation History

If you don’t understand your past, you won’t be aware of your future. That was the underlying theme of yesterday’s session on circulation planning and analysis, part of the Circulation Intensive here at the Annual Conference for Catalog & Multichannel Merchants (ACCM).

Email

Live from the ACCM Show: E-mail Critiques–Function Before Form

The E-mail Marketing Creative Critique session at the Annual Conference for Catalog & Multichannel Merchants (ACCM) started with an innocent question from Deirdre Cook, vice president of creative services at New York-based e-mail communications solutions provider Epsilon Interactive:

Agencies

Live from the ACCM Show: Power Forum Panelists Predict “Extreme” Marketing

What does the future hold for you? Get ready for extreme marketing, according to the participants in yesterday

Agencies

ValueClick Has Strong First Quarter, Raises Guidance

Online marketing firm ValueClick generated $117.3 million in revenue, more than double the $51.4 million it reported in first-quarter 2005. The company’s net income rose from $8.7 million to $9.8 million during the same period. The quarter ended March 31.