aimClear® Search Marketing Blog

Overseeing local and mobile search marketing efforts can be daunting. Numerous providers offer ever-increasing abilities to target eyeballs by demographic criteria. How much should be budgeted to the greatest benefit?

What should we do first? Who are the players? This session explored the “tactical demands of running a successful local/mobile search marketing campaign.”

Chris Sherman, Executive Editor, Search Engine Land , moderated and led off the discussion. Chris gave us the good news first, that “local and mobile campaigns have a lot in common with traditional search marketing. However, local mobile is much more fragmented with dozens or hundreds of factors to keep track of.” Read the rest of this entry »

Michael Jones, Chief Technologist for Google Earth, Google Maps and Google Local Search is no stranger to mapping technology. Previously he was CTO at Keyhole, the company which developed the technology behind Google Earth and was acquired by Google. (Google Press Center: Press Release). He was also director of advanced graphics at SGI.

Michael discussed “The Future of Local Search, Google’s Strategic Vision”, which is all about the “broad for context” and the “minute for relevance”. He shared incredible Google-mapped big-screen examples including statistics and stories from the Darfur genocide (literally house to house and village to village). Other animated screen shots included regional, subway information, election results, restaurants, flood damage, and many other applications where geo-perspective provides context for information. Read the rest of this entry »

Good morning from Denver Colorado here at the inaugural SMX Search Marketing Expo Local & Mobile edition. The sun has not yet risen, but promise and excitement resonate in the Hyatt Tech Center halls. For those of you who love Sphinn, Danny Sullivan and Chris Sherman invented it, along with SES (Search Engine Strategies, from which they have now moved on).

Local & Mobile are Huge.
Local and Mobile search encompass an immense search marketing frontier. Pundits forecast that ad-spends will skyrocket to $8 billion by 2010. Home on the range, it’s still the Wild West with platforms springing up practically every week. Leading edge technologies are evolving at scorching speeds, and it’s vital not to be buried in the ongoing avalanche of advancements.

Read the rest of this entry »

Local and Mobile search comprise a massive search marketing frontier. Most marketplace pundits predict that ad-spends will rise to $8 billion by the year 2010. It’s still the Wild West, home on the range, with numerous platforms springing up every month. Frontline technologies are maturing at blazing speeds and it’s critical not to be left eating dust.

Shootout At the O.K. Corral
The major search engines and online directories all have guns drawn are they’re taking aim at heaps of glittering gold. Other niche-contenders are circling the wagons. They too are bent on staking out product and service segments. Factor in the ambitions of mobile carriers and you’ve got the makings of an epic hoedown. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t get me wrong. I’m excited about the iPhone and we believe that mobile devices empowered with more serious (and simple) operating systems will further propel the the mobile revolution which is already well underway.

I’m certain our company will own future iPhone models and frankly I can’t wait. The iPhone raises the bar in a way that will fuel competition between convergence device manufacturers to the benefit of search and civilization. For now Apple has seen fit not to offer the iPhone in our home-market (like may others) which is a double edged sword discussed later in this post.

Still, Many are Waiting.
Most of our friends and associates are waiting for version 2.0. Their hesitation is born out as prescient in early reviews. The New York Times reports that “much of the hype and some of the criticisms are justified. The iPhone is revolutionary; it’s flawed. It’s substance; it’s style. It does things no phone has ever done before; it lacks features found even on the most basic phones. ”

PC Magazine writes “It’s the best portable media player ever. It’s possibly the most fun we’ve ever had with a handheld device. It browses the Web like a champ. Yet as a voice phone and a messaging device, it’s a loser. The iPhone is full of contradictions.”

AT&T is a Consensus Low Band Wireless Provider.
Why on earth did Apple pick AT&T? In survey after survey, AT&T/Cingular ranks at or near the bottom of the barrel for mobile service. New York Times writer David Pogue wrote “If Verizon’s slogan is, ‘Can you hear me now?’ AT&T’s should be, ‘I’m losing you.’” Early indications bear AT&T’s reputation out as true including nightmarish anecdotes about long activation times.

The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple first negotiated with Verizon to offer the iPhone exclusively but Verizon refused to cede Apple complete control. Apple then cut a deal with AT&T, a company which so desperately needs to bolster it’s flagging market share that they were amenable to giving Apple CEO Steve Jobs whatever control he wanted. At least from our perspective AT&T’s slow network makes the iPhone impracticable even in it’s revolutionary beauty.

Slow Data and Insecure Connections
Apple tooled this build of the iPhone to only function with AT&T/Cingular’s turtle-speed EDGE data network. It’s only slightly faster than your old 56K modem. Considering that smartphone Internet on Verizon and Sprint’s “fast” EVDO networks is still relatively slow and unreliable, AT&T’s network is downright untenable. It seems kind of ironic that the first mobile device truly savvy to multi-media accesses such a slow mobile network. Read the rest of this entry »