Tomorrow marks one month since the debut of Google's Penguin, and everyone is still trying to make sense of the update. While a couple websites have come into existence as a response to Google's most recent revisions to its algorithm, little has been made in the way of progress when it comes to actually puzzling out how Penguin works. Although it is highly unlikely that the company will ever reveal the mechanisms behind the update, the SEO community has at least come up with a few useful tips for creating content that Google's search engine wants.

Branding is sometimes hard to separate from advertising and marketing. Although it is all under the same umbrella of external communications, some differentiation can and should be made between them so you can strategically put them to work for your business. Branding deals most closely with the image of a company and how it is being portrayed to the audience and various publics the company has. There are three simple facets to branding that a company wants to make sure they concentrate on in all their messaging for branding goals: (a) name/who they are, (b) what they do/product category, (c) core message (tag line/motto) what separates them from the competition. These are elements that surely are integrated into other forms of communication that the company engages in, however, together they are the essentials in this process.

Let's face it – many of us have become dependent on cell phones. They not only offer us the extended travel ability that a cordless home phone doesn't, but they also offer us many added features and benefits, many of which we never thought possible. Who knew one day we'd be talking to our cell phones, commanding them to play a song for us?

The backing out with no indication of GM coming back isn't going to leave FB a shattered entity.  The $10 million in GM dollars is a minor portion of Facebook's $3.7 billion.  But as New York Times reporters mentioned, the dispute could get the 'neighborhood' talking, especially considering FB is about to go more public than previously expected (sharing 18% of company rather than 14%).

A few days ago, Google unveiled its newest search feature, Knowledge Graph, to network users. For those readers who are unfamiliar with the announced program, Knowledge Graph is being launched as a sidebar addition to the company's search engine results. While the company's SERPs will stay the way they've always been, the new feature will serve up interesting facts, details and relevant information for popular keywords entered in queries. Google has stated that it has plans to bring the function to mobile platforms in the future as well.

Those, native to Philadelphia, are no strangers to professional sports teams.  Philly's got a couple of great ones, the Flyers among them.  In attempts to exorcise their playoff opponent, the 'Flyguys' were eliminated this year.  True fans are disappointed but hardly turned off of the team, the brand, the Flyers.

We share on this blog, in many ways, but especially among those generating content here, offering each other thoughts and connecting our posts to one another. If you've read Anthony's work, you know he's a fervid reader of all things, but especially the NY Times, and he uncovered this interesting look at internet prices in various countries which started the wheels turning for me on the subject. Gracias Anthony and let's dive in.

"A witty saying proves nothing."  Perhaps some of us would not entirely agree with Voltaire's offered enlightenment.  In the very least, the notion of such gives me something to discuss in my post.

Kenneth Wisnefski visits with Mark Crumpton of The Bottom Line to discuss the Facebook IPO on the eve of the offering.  Watch more

Social media has tremendous potential to brands, we know this. But gaining increased exposure for a brand through purposeful engagement with their audience is a skill requiring a number of elements, among them a viable strategy, and is worth a closer look through the actions of a large social player, the NBA. The league has a powerful social media presence as it is with 260 million Facebook likes and Twitter followers spread around all the player, team, and league accounts - and they have significantly ramped it up for this year's playoffs and their efforts provide a great global example.

Keyword research is a valuable step in the SEO process in which webmasters dedicate extensive time in order to select the best keywords for a campaign. Searching for the best keywords involves finding words that are relevant, words that web audiences are searching for, and words with competition.

Just days before Facebook’s highly-anticipated initial public offering, some investors continue to fear an exodus of Facebook’s biggest advertisers if Mark Zuckerberg fails to tighten his focus on ad sales.  The concern follows a report on Tuesday that General Motors (GM) will stop buying ads on Facebook, as it sees them as ineffective.  Read more

In yesterday's post, I looked at emerging markets which I have discussed before, but with inspiration from a piece by Christian Arno (Search Engine Watch) this time I addressed them in terms of particular groupings of countries that are expected to experience exceptional growth in the near future. The BRIC countries have been the champions of this realm for some time, but now it is the CIVETS countries (Colombia, Indonesia, Vietnam, Egypt, Turkey, and South Africa) that are being recognized for their potential as being the next wave of emerging economies. Especially intriguing for those in the tech and internet industries is the fact that much of the opportunity that will become apparent in these countries will exist for these industries as characteristics such as the age of the population will greatly influence how the increases in money will be spent and the behaviors that will be engaged in.  Let's dive in deeper.

Technology and the internet have driven wide growth and innovation around the world, but this has been most widely felt in developed countries where more people have been able to take advantage of these innovations and the opportunities they create. Now, looking ahead, many economists and business analysts are looking to emerging markets as the scenes of extraordinary growth in the next 10-20 years. As such, the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, and China) have shown the greatest immediate promise for emerging markets as they are the next to essentially come-of-age economically and have seen great deals of attention and investment as a result.

Although social media users swap countless IMs and posts across PCs and laptops every month, most people fail to realize the amount of direct messaging that takes place between mobile device owners through those same social networks. According to a blog published just a few days ago on the New York Times website, a number of recent studies all point to the conclusion that social media apps are quickly replacing standard phone SMS as a primary form of mobile communication. One particular report states that the amount of text messages relayed by cellphone owners in the Phillipines on a monthly basis has decreased by more than a third from 2010 to 2011 (down to 400 texts from around 660).

The push is coming, or has it already begun? The push from Microsoft and Yahoo (but considering Yahoo's recent issues, let's concentrate on Microsoft and it's Bing search engine) to stand up to Google and offer formidable competition has been in the works for some time. Now, Microsoft is not backing from the challenge, instead fully pressing on continuing to invest in their online services division, that which guides its search platform Bing, and trying to differentiate themselves from other search engines, namely Google.

"The Penguin update targets all the practices that search engine optimizers (SEO) have been doing for the past 10 years, such as getting paid links or spinning content articles and distributing them just to improve their ranking," Todd Bailey, search engine expert and vice president of marketing at WebiMax.  Read more

Warning: the following post contains sarcasm and irony.  Please proceed in the appropriate fashion... Yesterday was Mother's Day.  Most of us did as expected:  we bought flowers, called people, and spent time in places we may not have ideally wanted to be. I understand.  You did as expected.  Where's the creativity in that!  Oh, where's the irony?

Among all the various search engines for which SEOs develop, it's Google that time and time again gets the most attention from online marketing firms. Between continual updates to its search algorithm and ongoing releases for new user apps, the world's biggest search engine company has truly become a force to be reckoned with. While competitors may try to get the edge on the company, Google's current market share puts it well ahead of the pack.

Pick a concern, any concern.  That’s what some Yahoo internal minds could be thinking about the brand’s present state of affairs.  Where could the trail of anxiety begin?  Read more

Pinterest is quickly becoming more popular than Facebook for merchants says social media expert Ken Wisnefski.  Watch more

Being at the top of a Google search results page is a highly sought piece of real estate for many businesses. After all, being listed near the top of the results page on Google can be the difference between gaining new customers and losing them to another company.  Read more

Borrowing a business idea or model, tweaking it, and applying it to a different context is a well-practiced strategy and one that has new life now in the age of tech companies and internet businesses. Sound business models are certainly not the only element that is needed for success in business, but it is indeed essential and usually one of the first things that need to be in place. They are frameworks that translate the idea for product or service creation into a feasible, revenue-generating enterprise.

any of us in the internet advertising industry have been praising up and down the supposedly limitless potential of Pinterest for months now. As an up-and-coming social network with millions of followers on Facebook alone, the social media site has come up in many discussions since it went into its beta phase. Yet, while it has quickly become a popular talking point for social marketing conjecture, Pinterest is still a relatively unknown website for many business owners.

As we all know by now, social media empowers us all to become reporters of our own.  Oftentimes we discuss the news and major announcements and even stimulate buzz for a particular product and brand.  President Barack Obama has grabbed the media’s attention after officially announcing his support for same-sex marriage on ABC’s Good Morning America.

I wrote a piece a couple days ago urging business owners to stop reading about online marketing, suggesting a call to elucidate a more personalized understanding.  I was happy to see it get a little attention from business owners and industry members.