The big news, is that Microsoft is looking to purchase Yahoo for $44.6 billion. While there is often a focus on MSN’s Live.com lagging in the search space, and desperately needing Yahoo’s ad inventory to come even remotely close to Google’s search share, there is one thing that is almost always missed in the analysis [...]

On my personal blog, I received an email through a contact form, which until recently, had a “captcha” image that I could never read. Now that this security feature has been removed, I received a contact message from someone looking to buy a text link advertisement on my site. Seeing as I do not have [...]

In June, I warned an industry colleague not to purchase a compact digital camera at a deep discount because of the reviews and reputation of the online store he was considering. I found the reviews from ripoffreport.com, which is one of the largest “consumer advocate” sites on the Internet. The issues of bait and switch [...]

Last night, I watched Grey’s Anatomy. As Dr. Bailey’s son was brought in to the emergency room with major internal injuries, one of the themes was about mistakes. Who had left the baby play pen gate open or unlocked? Was it Dr. Bailey or her husband?
People make mistakes. Computers appear to make mistakes too. And [...]

Determining the number of times to email out your newsletters or donation appeals in a quarter, a month, or maybe even in a week is part of testing your list and understanding what information they respond to. Some companies and non-profits will quite literally send email 4 times a week. Some of the internet marketing [...]

Take the title with a grain of salt! Search marketing should never focus entirely on one search engine. Yet, I do have Google on the mind this week.
Keeping up with the ever-changing field of search marketing is not for the faint of heart. Those of us who manage to fit at least some feed reading [...]

Imagine your beautifully designed email, which has carefully crafted copy to drive maximum donations this holiday season appearing as a mess of HTML code in a block of text in one person’s email client.
Imagine that same email appearing without any images to spruce up the holiday element of the greeting.
Imagine that same email again appearing [...]

Back in June, I stated in a post about defining mutually agreeable language, “It’s important for an agency and a client to understand each other’s language when discussing search engine optimization efforts.”
Though we all make slips in language, generally speaking, is there really such a thing as “naturally search engine friendly?”
A site with poor copy [...]

Generally, an organization should engage its constituents where they hang out online, especially because potential donors should be hanging right in the same places.
If you don’t already have donor profiles, which demographically explain who gives the most money, who gives money most frequently, and who donates only once, start gathering this information! This data will [...]

Social media is more than just social news sites and social bookmarking, it’s audio, video, and it’s conversation, creation, and co-creation - “mash-ups.” Video should fit into your marketing efforts. Video isn’t just for television commercials or infomercials anymore.
With nearly half of all Americans online with a high-speed internet connection, and 72% of all online [...]