The Week in Review

McAf.ee

No, that isn’t a egregious typo – it’s McAfee’s new URL shortener. There’s already an abundance of these, of course, but the company is presenting itself as the safe alternative. (TechCrunch)

‘Twilight,’ Eminem and Lady Gaga See Good Week on Facebook

“The Twilight Saga,” Eminem and Lady Gaga all saw big gains on their Facebook pages this past week, according to Inside Facebook. Facebook, YouTube, Levi’s, “The Simpsons,” “South Park,” Linkin Park and Justin Bieber also saw strong gains. (Inside Facebook)

Promoted Tweets Will be Targeted Based on Who You Follow

At Ad:tech London, Twitter announced its plans to enable advertisers to buy keywords and select tweets that will show up on top of Twitter search results. Promoted tweets can now be served based on the people and brands you follow. This should be well received by advertisers. (TechCrunch)

1.4 Million AT&T Users Will Jump Ship for Verizon iPhone

A report from Credit Suisse shows that about 1.4 million AT&T subscribers would hop over to Verizon if the carrier gets the iPhone in early 2011. Only 3 percent of respondents said they would break their current contract in order to do so, however. (VentureBeat)

10 Simple SEO Mistakes

If you’re not seeing the results you expected from your SEO campaigns, it could be due to one of these 10 common mistakes. Among them are not using analytics to see what converts, not optimizing for local search, not using anchor text for internal links and using poorly written content. (KISSmetrics)

Images Are King on Facebook

According to Vitrue, a social media management firm, across all niches, images/photos outperformed video and text on Facebook by 22 percent and 54 percent, respectively, when it comes to engagement with brands. Quick-serve restaurants have 62 percent higher engagement (likes, comments, shares) per post than other brand sectors, while consumer packaged goods saw 41 percent higher engagement. Also, Vitrue found that posts made before noon get 65 percent more engagement than ones put up in the afternoon. (ClickZ)

Facebook Denies Phone Rumors

Facebook responded to the rumors that it is preparing to build its own phone, though it did confirm that it is working on “a deep integration.” The company indicates that it is interested in integrating its social features into the existing mobile experience. (paidContent.org)

4 Keyword Research Mistakes

Keyword research is simple enough, but here are four big mistakes to avoid: 1) not doing keyword research, 2) using the “broad” match exclusively, 3) ignoring the competition factor, and 4) targeting unprofitable keywords. (Search Engine Journal)

Solve Media Solves Banner Blindness

Solve Media got a lot of press yesterday, thanks to its proposed solution to banner blindness. It combines a Captcha screen with an ad. The key is that the words you enter aren’t some kind of gibberish – they’re part of the ad campaign. Solve Media claims that this “type-in” format significantly boosts brand and message recall. (Both Sides of the Table)

Tablets Rundown

The iPad was just the beginning. With big companies like Samsung and HP jumping into the pool, the tablets arena is heating up, big time. The iPad is unlikely to achieve the kind of dominance the iPod managed, according to this writer. Instead, the tablet universe will resemble the smart phone market, with a dash of the PC market. The crucial battlefield will be apps. (NYTimes.com)

AdSense is Customized

Google is building on its plug-n-play themes in the Custom Search Element by displaying ads that have a look and feel that matches the theme. (Inside AdSense Blog)

Yahoo Mail Looks New, but Where’s the Vision?

The new Yahoo Mail Beta will be unveiled in the next few weeks, armed with a sleeker interface and tweaked core features to make downloading and e-mailing faster. It looks similar to Gmail, but also incorporates Facebook and Twitter. While this is neat and all, some are wondering, “Where’s the vision?” But maybe Yahoo doesn’t need a big-picture vision; maybe all it needs to do is continue to improve its many products, albeit a bit quicker. (Mashable, Search Engine Land)

Bing Maps Has Public-Transit Directions

Microsoft’s Bing is getting all up in the face of Google. Its Bing Maps service is now equipped with public-transit directions in 11 metropolitan areas in North America, including Boston, Chicago, New Jersey, New York and Vancouver. (CNET)

The Dark Side of Groupon

Groupon has had some glowing press lately, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a dark side to the popular group-coupon site. Some small businesses are underestimating the “loss leader” aspect of the campaigns they deploy on the site, which is leading to painful financial consequences. Also, Groupon customers aren’t always the type to be interested in becoming a loyal patron of the business. Many times, they’re only interested in the quick-hit discount. Local businesses should learn a few lessons here, foremost of which is that due diligence is a necessity. Groupon, as many businesses are, is looking out for themselves first, and your business second, and that could be a harmful long-term strategy. (Econsultancy)

6 Tips for Coherent Site Navigation

The navigation aspect of any website is vital. Six tips for building a site with coherent navigation are: 1) use color coding, 2) group related links together, 3) use icons to aid navigation, 4) handle hierarchy consistently, 5) separate non-navigational elements, and 6) make it flexible. (ReadWriteWeb)

What Advertisers Think of iAd

Apple’s iAd mobile advertising platform was well received back in April, but now that the dust has settled, what do advertisers think about it? For starters, iAd has brought attention to the mobile advertising space as a whole, which has benefited its competitors. (eMarkter)

Why Wired UK’s Editor is Not on Facebook

David Rowan, editor of Wired UK, offers six reasons why he’s not on Facebook. Among them are the notion that private companies aren’t motivated by your best interests, the information you provide for one purpose will always be used for another and the question of why we should be letting businesses privatize our social discourse. (Wired.com)

Facebook Phone

According to “a source who has knowledge of the project,” Facebook is building a mobile phone (i.e., building the software for the phone and working with a third party that will build the hardware, which is what Apple and Google do). This objective appears to be based on Facebook’s desire to integrate itself into the contacts list of your mobile phone, which would require that it controls the OS. (TechCrunch)

Vanilla Call-to-Action Ads Fail

A study from Dynamic Logic shows that not any old call-to-action ads will boost brand performance. While brands looking for one type of action from consumers may benefit from call-to-action elements, others will have to focus on ad quality. Offers that are time-based work because they create a sense of urgency, while ads that encourage viewers to “create their own” or “send something” also work well. (Econsultancy)

Does Content Affect Open Rates?

After receiving a discouraging comment from a reader, this writer ponders whether or not e-mail marketers really think the subject line is the only thing that drives the open. “Please tell me the answer is no.” While compelling subject lines get much of the credit for the opening of an e-mail, it’s not the only factor. Some influential causes have nothing to do with the e-mail at all – for instance, does the recipient have time to read it? Have they recently had a good or bad experience with the brand? Has the content the brand has sent in the past been valuable? (MediaPost)

Online Travel Spending Rebounds

According to comScore, retail e-commerce shouldn’t blind everyone to online travel, another important sector of e-commerce. Online travel accounts for 40 percent of total e-commerce, or about $80 billion annually. The good news is that online travel spending in the U.S. in July was $8.2 billion, the second highest month on record. It also marked the fifth straight month of online travel spending in excess of $7 billion. Online advertising for online travel has also been picking up quickly, with Southwest Airlines taking the biggest display ad share of voice in the second quarter. (comScore)

Twitter Followers vs. Facebook Fans

Before you start marketing to consumers via Facebook and Twitter, make sure you understand each audience’s uniqueness. For instance, 37 percent of Twitter followers said they’d likely purchase from a brand after becoming a follower, compared to 27 percent of e-mail subscribers and 17 percent of Facebook fans who said the same. The order was the same in response to users being likely to recommend a brand after following/subscribing/fanning. (eMarketer)

Diaspora Shows off (Just a Bit)

Diaspora, the much-heralded Facebook alternative, released some code to its developers on Thursday. The project also unveiled a look at the actual version of the site, which is quite clean and minimal. (TechCrunch, NYTimes.com)

6 Steps to Boost Your Quality Score

The consistency of your account’s ad groups, the ad performance history on the current site (and similar ones) the ad is displaying on, and quality and consistency are the three factors Google takes into account when determining your quality score. There are six steps you can take to improve your quality score. Among them are putting keywords in your ad copy, putting keywords on landing pages and paying attention to all match types. (PPC Hero)

IE9 is Ready

Microsoft has finally unveiled Internet Explorer 9, and has made it available for download. The early reactions are mostly positive, though it still lags behind its competitors in some ways. Features include new warnings about malicious downloads, the ability for users to pin sites to the Windows 7 taskbar and a minimalized look. (WebProNews)

BlackBerry is More Prized than iPhone

According to Protect Your Bubble, an insurance company, iPods and BlackBerrys are more prized than iPhones and laptops. The top 10 most prized possessions (in order) are: iPod, BlackBerry, iPhone, laptop, dog, games console, Macbook, iPad, cat and camera. (WebProNews)

E-mail Marketing: Fast Facts

Among the fast facts about e-mail marketing here are: 1) U.S. Internet users engaged with an average of 11.8 brands via e-mail, 9.4 via Facebook and 7.9 via Twitter; 2) e-mail marketing generated an ROI of $43.62 for every dollar spent in 2009; and 3) 81 percent of marketers say that social sharing extends the reach of e-mail content to new markets. (MailerMailer)

The New Twitter

Here’s an overview of the good (more multimedia, intuition), the bad (less simple, more spam) and the ugly (Twitter is still Twitter) of the new Twitter.com. (Econsultancy)

Google Me Not Really a Product?

Google Me might not be as much of a product as a placeholder for a broader social strategy, according to reports. CEO Eric Schmidt reportedly said Google will work in layers of social networking to its sites, rather than introduce a showy product. (Search Engine Land)

Small Changes for Improved Conversions

Conversion optimization projects should be about what you can fix, rather than what you should fix. Start by looking at button styles, call-to-action styles, headline styles, form styles and the removal of distracting items. Some examples of simple ways to start include bigger, clearer buttons; clearer content hierarchy and grouping; and adding motivating promotions. (Search Engine Land)