Week in Review

Paid Search Dominated by Google, Making a Comeback

Google and Bing increased their shares of paid search spending in the first quarter, according to Efficient Frontier. Yahoo!, meanwhile, shed 4.0 percentage points from the previous quarter, though it remains second behind Google. The same trends were observed for click share. On the whole, paid search spend increased 11.10 percent in the first quarter, up from a decline of 1.81 percent in the same quarter last year. (ClickZ, TechCrunch)

4 E-Mail Dares

Here are four double-dog dares for your e-mail campaigns, which were recorded two years ago. Even if you don’t accept them, they’re worth thinking about. While some are a bit outdated now, these challenges might do you some serious good. (MediaPost)

Twitter Ads: Viable?

Among the many posts about Twitter’s new advertising model, here’s one that compares it against a set of elements of success, and another that looks into the question of whether or not real-time search ads can be as successful as Google’s AdWords. (Traffick, VentureBeat)

Measuring Creatives

Measuring time spent, consumer interaction rates, share events, fans and leads generated are a few ways that you can monitor how effective and impactful “brand” creatives are. (MediaPost)

Philly.com’s Revenue Model: Betting

In a bold step toward further monetization, Philly.com, run by The Philadelphia Inquirer and Daily News, is now allowing users to take part in sports betting. It’s legal because fantasy sports take skill, according to FanDuel.com, which is Philly.com’s partner in this venture. This appears to be a desperation move for the parent company of the site, which filed for bankruptcy more than a year ago. (paidContent.org)

Bit.ly is Huge, Even Outside of Twitter

While bit.ly might be best known for its link-shortening help for Twitter users, more than half of the 3.4 billion clicks on its links in March came from outside of the microblogging site. The service is set to unveil some new features, including automatic shortening and a search functionality that will index the pages underneath the shortened links. (TechCrunch)

What Kind of E-Mail Marketer Are You?

The goal is to get everyone from being a “willing newbie” to a “buoyant advocate.” (ClickZ)

Google Goes British, Buys Plink

Google acquired U.K.-based Plink on Monday. The company earned Google’s attention with its Android app, which identifies any piece of artwork that is photographed and uploaded by users. This move is seen mostly as a “developer hire” for Google Gogglas. (paidContent.org)

Android: The Key to Unlocked Phone Contracts in 2010?

Could Android spark a landslide of unlocked phone contracts this year? The second half of 2010 could be huge for Google’s mobile darling, as its current lull is just the calm before the storm, according to this writer and editor. (VentureBeat)

E-Mail Marketing is Like a Baby

No, not because it cries (or does it?), but more because of the three reasons highlighted in this piece. The bottom line is that recognition and trust are crucial. (MediaPost)

25 Game-Changing Startups

There are 23 startups already selected to pitch to a live audience at The Next Web Conference, and two more will be chosen by the audience. Among these intriguing startups are Inbox2, Distimo, 22tracks and SubMate. (TechCrunch)

Symbian Users Have Highest Click-Through Rates

Symbian OS and feature phone users are the most likely to click on mobile ads, according to Smaato, while Android and BlackBerry users are not. (ReadWriteWeb)

Changing Passwords is Dumb

If you hate those annoying demands to change your password every few weeks, along with all those detailed requirements, you’re not alone – and you’re probably on to something. According to a study by a researcher at Microsoft, “instructions intended to spare us from costly computer attacks often exact a much steeper price in the form of user effort and time expended.” (Boston.com)

Search Market Saturated?

The U.S. search market’s monthly growth numbers have dropped off significantly from just a year ago, according to comScore. In March, search volume grew 7.6 percent, compared with 33.1 percent in March 2009. Bing remains the fastest-growing search engine. (TechCrunch)

iAd: Good for Google?

While Apple will get a head start with its iAd platform, Google and its still-pending acquisition of AdMob might benefit from sitting back and observing how Apple succeeds and stumbles with its mobile ad product. (WebProNews)

FTC’s New Look Attracts Online Marketing Complaints

In addition to Google’s acquisition of AdMob, the FTC has another big topic of discussion on its hands: the targeting practices of online advertisers. This complaint was filed as the FTC welcomes two new commissioners. (AdAge)

iPad Users: Early Adopters or Just Vain Consumers?

Are users of the iPad early adopters who will attract others to follow their lead, or are they just consumers who worry about what they think others think of them? The topic is an interesting one but at the end of the day, regardless of how vain they are, “we should thank them for being our guinea pigs, and enthusiastic ones at that.” (NYTimes.com)

5 Dimensions of Successful Landing Page Elements

Relevance, quality, location, proximity and prominence are the five dimensions you should use to evaluate if 10 landing page elements are working well to convert your visitors. Of course, testing should always be in the cards as well. (ClickZ)

Google Using Speed in Search Rankings

Google announced on Friday that site speed will now be a new signal in its search ranking algorithms. Don’t panic, says Matt Cutts. He reminds everyone that, as Google notes, this will only affect fewer than 1 percent of search queries, and speeding up your site is a great thing to do regardless. (Google Webmaster Central Blog, Matt Cutts)

Apple Challenges Google with iAd

As part of their iPhone OS 4.0 event, Steve Jobs unveiled iAd, Apple’s mobile advertising platform. The ads will be embedded into applications, play more nicely with users and have revenues that will be split 60/40 with developers, to name a few of iAd’s features. There are loads of questions about the offering and it’ll be interesting to see how Google responds. (ClickZ, Business Insider, CNET, NYTimes.com)

Social Networks See Decline in Click Fraud

While worldwide click fraud rose to 29.2 percent in the first quarter of 2010, social networks have seen click fraud involving their ads decline to 11.5 percent. The U.S. saw an attempted click fraud rate of 35.0 percent, behind only Vietnam and Australia. (WebProNews, MediaPost)

Hurdles for iPads in Colleges

While the idea of utilizing an iPad in lieu of a netbook, notebook computer or even textbooks is very appealing and seemingly ideal, there are a handful of issues that may prevent the device’s adoption by college students in the near future. (ReadWriteWeb)

Google and Nintendo Make a Video Game

This dynamic duo has managed to create a search engine game for the Wii. While it’ll only be released in Japan, where weird is the norm, it does seem to open the door to at least considering new ways of getting human feedback for search engine results, among other things. (PCWorld)

B2B and B2C Marketers: Shared Lessons

B2B and B2C marketers aren’t all that different. A new survey finds that leveraging new channels and increases in upselling and cross-selling are two things both realms have in common. Differences (and opportunities to learn from each other) stem from different goals. (MediaPost)

Top Internet Retailers Could do Better in SEO

The top 500 Internet retailers are only a step ahead of the Fortune 500 when it comes to SEO. Both groups see their long-tail keyword scores drop considerably as the number of words in phrases increase. However, the top Internet retailers do have considerably better search visibility than the Fortune 500 companies. (MediaPost)

Zynga: Worth $5 Billion?

A research firm estimates that the Facebook app maker would be worth $5 billion if it went public. There are some tenuous assumptions here, of course, and this has the uneasy echo of a bubble, but the company’s achievements are impressive. (VentureBeat)

Holistic PPC

Collaboration between search and conversion experts, prioritizing conversion and illuminating landing pages when reporting search metrics are some of the ways to develop a holistic approach to search marketing. After all, “the click is really just the first part of search marketing.” (Search Engine Journal)

What Kinds of Comments Would Your E-Mails Receive?

For blogs, comments are gold, but what if e-mails had comment fields too? This is more an exercise in imagination and perspective than anything but it might spark some helpful thinking. (MediaPost)

Online Ad Spend Reaches Record

In the fourth quarter, online ad spending in the U.S. reached $6.3 billion, a record. It reflected a 2.6 percent increase from the same period last year but a 14 percent boost from the previous quarter. Search revenues accounted for 47 percent of the total, while digital video continued its quick climb, growing 39 percent in 2009. (paidContent.org)

SEO for Big Sites

Here are the key issues faced when tackling SEO efforts for big sites and how to best address them. Start with your business goals, list your issues, then decide on the correct tactics to employ. (ClickZ)

Foursquare Cracks Down on the Lies

Foursquare will punish players who lie about where they are, which makes them a bit more like Gowalla and Loopt. (VentureBeat)