Parting is Such Sweet Sorrow, for Yahoo

CNNMoney.com has just reported that Google, faced with antitrust regulators and legal obstacles, has backed out of their proposed search advertising deal with Yahoo.

Deal

The deal between Google and Yahoo would have allowed Google to expand their paid search marketing presence through ads placed on Yahoo search pages. In turn, Yahoo would have gained an estimated $800 million in annual revenue, which is substantially higher than the $47.5 billion offer from search advertising competitor Microsoft. Now, Yahoo will need to find an alternate means of recouping losses that have left its market price at half its previous value and of raising revenue that will improve its floundering status among search advertisers.

If the deal were to have gone through, Google and Yahoo would have controlled over 80% of search advertising in the U.S.–which is precisely the reason why consumers, competitors and the government expressed concerns about price-fixing the paid search market and a possible monopoly arising over e-commerce.

No Deal

Some have speculated that Yahoo will be forced to renew talks with Microsoft and to consider selling shares at a much lower asking price than was offered the first time around. CNNMoney also reports that “Yahoo has been discussing a possible acquisition with AOL’s corporate parent, Time Warner Inc.”

Walking away from the table has left Google no better or worse than before. The search giant had everything to gain and nothing to lose from the partnership. As Google forges ahead to “drive down the road of innovation” (as stated by Google’s chief legal officer David Drummond), Yahoo is left reeling at another lost opportunity.

Microsoft, on the other hand (or other scale, in the balance of power, if you will) had been concentrating on driving a wedge between its other two competitors by actively and vocally opposing the partnership. Many expect Microsoft to come back to the table to negotiate with Yahoo soon enough.

While Google has walked away relatively unscathed, some critics argue that damage has been done to brand reputation, nonetheless.

Google’s attempt at paid search advertising domination is “damaging its brand,” says Jeff Chester, executive director of the Center for Digital Democracy. “The perception of Google has changed.”

But has it? As Google has grown larger, expanded its online presence and pioneered the way into new revenue-rich territories, the move to partner/control/attain Yahoo was almost expected, unsurprising. And there is another way to look at the loss, one which is framed in such a way that Google ultimately comes out a victor, undeterred in its efforts at expansion.

Sorry, Yahoo. It’s rather difficult to drive down the road of innovation when Google controls all the traffic lights.

To learn more about advertising online and the benefits of email marketing, please visit Email-Marketing-Options.com.

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC

ChooseWhat.com

Adsense for online games

Google is finally venturing into the uncharted territory that they’ve been itching to probe for quite sometime now—online gaming. The company has just introduced its new network, AdSense for Games, which will insert intermittent advertisements into online (primarily Flash-based) games. In much the same vein as online video advertisements, the ads will run before, during or after the game is played and cannot be skipped. The game ads are part of an attempt by Google to push into new and different ad markets, a move that was prefigured in February 2007 when Google purchased Adscape, a portal for game advertising, for $23 million.

Google is actually late to the game here (pun intended). Their bid for Adscape came on the heels of Microsoft’s 2006 purchase of in-game ad leader Massive. Riding shotgun in the bandwagon, Yahoo has recently scooped up competing game ad networks NeoEdge and Double Fusion. Apparently, Google has tapped out all of the other ad markets so that they’re now beginning to care about the millions of 18-35 year old nerds who have long been ditching television in favor of more interactive forms of amusement.

From what I’ve read on forums and postings so far, Google’s attempt to shank captive gamers with 15 to 30-second ads isn’t sitting well with its target audience. Cries of “Nooooo, I was just about to level up!” are bound to be heard from computer desks around the world, as a between-level ad promoting weight loss drug Hoodia beckons flabby cave-dwelling gamers to get fit and trim without leaving the comfort of their cushy office chairs and oily keyboards. You can almost envision South Park’s Cartman screeching “What the h—l!” as an ad chastising his double-chinned physique interrupts his mesmerizing 2-D video game. Murmurs of revolt are stirring among hackers everywhere. Ad blocker? I smell a challenge.

I love playing video games as much as the average person does, which is to say that I love playing games that are easily accessible and which don’t require me to waste even more of my time trying to learn how to play them or waiting for them to load. It’s a consumer mentality that Nintendo has exploited with the Wii and that has lead people to believe that hardcore gamers and consumers in general aren’t going to like the idea of Adsense for Games. But I’m optimistic. Electronic Arts, for one, has already begun incorporating product placement ads into the highly successful Sims game, which is noticeable but not too intrusive. I base this entirely on the fact that I continue to play The Sims with anticipation of the latest accoutrements, strategically placed or otherwise. But The Sims is obviously a perfect format for product placement. It’d be a little weird if your Level 8 Gnome Hunter were showering with Axe shave gel.

Or maybe what the nerds say is true. In the world of online gaming, anything is possible.

To learn more about online advertising and email marketing, please visit Email-Marketing-Options.com.

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC

ChooseWhat.com

Zilker Ventures is One Year Old!

Zilker Ventures, the parent web publisher behind brain child ChooseWhat.com, celebrated its first birthday this past Friday, October 3, 2008. In celebration of the fact that Zilker Ventures is now old enough to nibble and swallow solid foods, the office received an assorted box of Austin, Texas’s favorite delivered cookies from Tiff’s Treats.

We weren’t sure if Zilker Ventures was entirely ready for solid foods, especially after a mid-week scare that involved much beloved office manager April Coburn having choked a little bit on an unusually dense piece of pita bread and having had to be saved via Heimlich Maneuver from Zilker Ventures CEO Gaines Kilpatrick.

By Friday, however, April was happily munching on a chocolate chip cookie, as were the rest of the Zilker Ventures team. The carousing continued with Zilker Ventures watching the ingenious video from “misheardlyricsguy” who has splendidly synched the lyrics of Pearl Jam’s classic song “Yellow Ledbetter” with hilarious images of Bill Clinton and Mr. Potato head, among others. Check it out.

“Yellow Ledbetter”

It wouldn’t have been much of a fiesta without some TexMex food from Matt’s El Rancho, another Austin standard, which fully satiated the hungry mouths of all the ZV babies, more eager than ever to get the word out about fax services, email marketing, tax software reviews and hosted pbx.

“I can’t believe that we’ve been around for one year and are still going strong,” said ZV staff member Koby Wong, his eyes shining with childlike glee.

In an apropos manner, the birthday celebrations gave everyone a chance to marvel about Zilker Ventures and ChooseWhat.com. And perhaps more importantly, it has given everyone a renewed sense of pride in the service that the company provides to small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to optimize their online efforts.

One year ago, co-founders Leo Welder and Gaines Kilpatrick started a website for online fax reviews, simply prompted by their own frustrations experienced in researching internet fax services and choosing the wrong one. That website has since grown into the nationally successful review website FaxCompare.com, which boasts over 10,000 monthly visitors. The success of the website has allowed the company to branch out into other entrepreneurial web resources for businesses, which can be found on ChooseWhat.com and which are still expanding.

What’s going on with Zilker Ventures this week?

“Not much,” says Gaines Kilpatrick, “just living the dream.”

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC

FaxCompare.com
PBXCompare.com
Email-Marketing-Options.com
Tax-Compare.com

Opting-in to Online Tracking

Three leading ISPs, AT&T, Time Warner Cable and Verizon have announced that they will institute a policy of permission-based web tracking, following Google’s push for more transparency on the Web. The announcement had been prompted by various consumer groups’ questioning of “deep packet inspection” of Web traffic and statistics. Soon people will be prompted to opt-in to provide ISPs with access to data about their web behaviors and surfing patterns for the purpose of delivering more tailored, targeted ads.

I, for one, do not see the problem of letting ISPs track my web patterns in order to create more effective web ads. In fact, I’ll pretty much do anything to not have to watch an ironically headache-inducing 15 second spot for Excedrin play 15 times as I’m watching an episode of Heroes online. The ad is too short for me to get up out of my swivel chair and break free from the chains, and so I’m forced to watch it as I lament lugubriously that watching a show online is actually becoming lamer than watching it on the antiquated T.V.

Speaking of headache-inducing, I feel as if the new opt-in policy is just going to tick off people in much the same way that Excedrin spot does. It will simply be another obstacle standing between you and the web info you’re trying to access.

So really, opting-in isn’t a great stride as far as giving consumers what they want. People really only care when they feel constrained, which is why the ability to opt-out is much more important. So the answer is simple, right? Give them the ability to opt-out. What do the experts have to say?

“Opt-out mechanisms for online advertising are often buried in fine print, difficult to understand, hard to execute, and technically inadequate,” the Center for Democracy and Technology said.

Well, that explains why legislation on this subject is still being discussed in a House subcommittee, as is virtually everything these days.

Perhaps for some piece of mind, we can all opt to accept the government’s deep probing into our web neuroses for the sake of the House and Senate dealing with the current economic meltdown.

Contact:

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
(512) 448-9031

Email-Marketing-Options.com
HonestHostingOnline.com

Viral Hype and Hyper-Viral

OK, so are you as sick as I am of the way the media has appended the term “viral” to almost every journalistic item online? I’ve been browsing Google News, and I’m hard-pressed to find a news item without that word.

Here are some of the really lame (and also kind of hilarious) ways that journalists have used the term “viral” to appeal to online readers recently:

1. To describe Sarah Palin’s online buzz

Sarah Palin is viral success

Quip: What’s the difference between George Bush and a virus? One successfully invades a benign host.

1. To describe Disney’s new time share marketing strategy

Disney goes viral with marketing for new time share

Quip: Hey, kids, Disney’s going viral! Mickey Mouse is going to have the most viscous phlegm of all the characters in the Magic Kingdom! Who’s the genius that decided “Disney” and “viral” should be put into the same sentence?

1. As an adjective to describe fans

Fans Go Viral Over Fox’s ‘Fringe’

Quip: I haven’t shuddered at an article title in a long time. Maybe even never. What a scary, creepy and dumb way to use the v-word. Next on When Animals Attack—Fans go viral! Even creepier: The article contains the phrase “Once fans get bitten by the viral marketing bug…” I’d rather not get bitten by anything, thanks. I’d rather play Resident Evil 4 than read this article.

1. With the prefix hyper

‘Numa Numa’ kid and Rihanna and T.I.’s hyper-viral new song

Quip: What the heck is “hyper-viral”? Can someone define that for me? Because it just sounds like a bunch of hype. Oh, incidentally, the kid who dances to ‘Numa Numa’ on YouTube is the real viral sensation. Rihanna and T.I. sampled the song for their MTV VMA performance. The only thing lamer than the term “hyper-viral”? The MTV VMAs.

1. As the property of a band whose lead singer knocked up Ashlee Simpson

Copeland Hijack Fall Out Boy’s Viral Marketing

Quip: I’ve got news for you, writer. It isn’t just Fall Out Boy’s Viral Marketing. It belongs to everybody. And how can one “hijack” a social phenomenon? I can imagine outraged fangirls crying, “Damn you, Copeland, for copying—nay, hijacking—what’s rightfully Fall Out Boy’s!” Oh, Pete Wentz! He’s so dreamy…

That’s all for now. I’ll be sure to keep you posted on the latest gems out
there in the world of news and reporting.

While you’re out there on the web researching viral marketing, check out a more legit way to advertise online: email marketing. Visit Email-Marketing-Options.com for more info.

Until then, viral readers, go forth and multiply like the viral bottom-feeders that you are. Peace, love, and viral happiness to you all.

Why Negative Ads are Gaining Popularity in Commercial Advertising

Though the McCain camp has been slammed in the press for his latest political campaign ad, in which Barack Obama is compared to Britney Spears and Paris Hilton, pundits argue that the ad—and negative advertising in general—actually works.

Negative advertising, in fact, has long been a component of major political campaign advertising but remains generally frowned-upon in commercial advertising. In the article “Going Negative in Political Advertising” John Quelch explains:

“As the market leader, Coke would never give the underdog Pepsi the benefit of a mention in its ads. For its part, Pepsi would worry that negative ads against Coke would say more to consumers about the character of Pepsi than Coke. And when Pepsi did famously “challenge” Coke 20 years ago, it was with blindfolded consumers choosing between two unlabeled samples, as close as you could get to a scientific test.”

Pundits have argued, much like Quelch has, that negative advertising has always worked better in the political realm than in the commercial one, which is probably true. But how are we to explain the success of Apple’s ad campaigns for Mac computers? More a critique against Microsoft than a promotion of the Apple brand, the ads have prompted many young 20-somethings, with whom I’ve spoken, say in more or less words, “I think those ads are pretty funny. I don’t own a Mac, but I kind of want to

The reason may lie in the fact that young people are now inundated with a variety of television and Internet shows which synthesize information, such as The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and The Soup, YouTube spoofs and the vast majority of VH1 programs, all of which create an environment of mocking and satire that appeals to young people and to which they find themselves accustomed.

For instance, YouTube has made it possible for commercial audiences to not only view humorous ads, but also to participate in the creation of such ads as well. The impact of the YouTube phenomenon was felt in 2006, after a contest for a new GM ad on the television show The Apprentice spawned a host of mock ads attacking GM, created by internet users.

It is within this cultural milieu of self-derision that the viewers of advertisements receive the Apple ads, which ridicule the competition with a knowing smile and nonchalance in which the audience takes part. The new face of negative advertising is an in-joke, rather than a call to step outside and duke it out. Quite literally, it is the face of Justin Long, a wiry, geeky master of humor, who would rather outsmart than outperform.

Acceptable or not, the Mac ad campaign has had a sizeable impact on Microsoft who aims to retaliate with their own ad campaign in the near future.

Says a friend of mine, “I can’t wait to see the Microsoft ads. They’d better be funny. Bring it on!”

Will Microsoft rise to the youthful occasion? That remains to be seen. But if Paris Hilton can take on John McCain with a campaign ad of her own (released shortly after she learned of the McCain ad featuring her image), then I’m sure Microsoft can handle Apple.

For additional information regarding online advertising or email marketing, visit http://www.email-marketing-options.com.

Contact:

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
401 Congress Ave. Suite 1540
Austin, TX 78701 P: (512) 448-9031
F: (512)722-7721

Online Advertising Growth Levels Reach Zenith

Internet advertising has yet to be majorly utilized by the big advertising corporations, but current evidence suggests that they may be making the move online very soon.

(Austin, Texas) July 7, 2008 – Zenith Optimedia, a leading global media service agency, has predicted a growth of 26.7% for global Internet advertising. The growth of the Internet ad market detailed in the June report is on the verge of breaking the 10% share barrier in 2008, a year early

The report also states that “Western advertisers are shifting even more of their budgets online, where the returns on their investment are obvious, and easy to quantify and fine tune.”

Yet, in the face of this growth is the article “Advertisers slow to embrace online spending” by the Washington Post’s Peter Whoriskey, who describes “the grim economic reality,” that “[t]he biggest U.S. advertisers, which have long supported television, radio and print, have not fully embraced the Web.” Whoriskey lists underwhelming figures. Advertising giant Proctor and Gamble, for example, spent less than 2% of its ad budget on the online advertising in 2007, according to a recent ranking by Advertising Age.

The dearth of large corporations on Advertising Age’s ranking of top online spenders prompts questions about the effectiveness of Internet advertising and has left some wondering whether the medium is reliable.

The answer may perhaps lie in email marketing, which attracts some of the largest brand names around. Just ask iContact, a leading email marketing company, who boasts clients such as market leaders AT&T, Vonage, Symantec, International Paper, ReMax, Centex Homes and Viacom, as well as a host of small business owners.

Perhaps the draw of email marketing is the fact that, like traditional methods of print advertising, it most often employs the techniques that are familiar to advertisers. Like a magazine or newspaper ad, an email ad can only appeal to the viewer who opts-in in the first place; i.e. a person must buy a magazine or newspaper before he or she can view the ads. A person must subscribe to the sender’s messages (often by using interest-specific check boxes like “Travel,” “Shopping,” “Restaurants” or “Sports”) for the ad to be effective; hence, targeted or demographic-specific email ads were created.

Demographic-specific online ads, as well as demographically targeted email lists, are only one part of the solution to the obstacle that has apparently scared away large advertisers in the past. These tools may be the answer to Whoriskey’s statement that “Penry Price, Google’s vice president of North American advertising sales, noted that although it is relatively easy to do demographic targeting in other media, it is more difficult to get precise information about online audiences for a given Web site.”

Advertisers who have used email marketing software, which can accurately track returns on investment (ROI), target specific demographics and optimize online ad space, or any other Internet advertising medium, may have little faith in the criticisms of Price and other large advertising corporations. The successes of these early online advertisers might have provided reason for Zenith Optimedia to conclude in their June report that “Internet ads are cheap, easy to target and customise for particular audiences.”

As newer online tools emerge in support of more effective advertisers online, big advertisers may soon catch on to the growing trend.

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For additional information regarding online advertising, visit Email-Marketing-Options.com.

Zilker Ventures, LLC is a web publisher that consolidates information and reviews various business and financial products.

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Contact:

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
(512) 448-9031

to Stop Email Marketing From Becoming a Four-Letter Word

In light of the recent indictment by a federal grand jury of notorious “Spam King” Alan Ralsky, email marketers must make more effort to send legitimate email.

Austin, Texas (PRWEB) May 25, 2008 –
Once upon a time, Spam was recognized as a debatably inoffensive Hormel pork product—until a Monty Python sketch heaped on it connotations of unwarranted repetitiveness. The unwarranted repetitiveness of the word “Spam” in this sketch resembled that of unsolicited bulk email. And so, the term Email (or Internet) spam was born.

The Monty Python sketch is purely comedic in purpose, yet it also serves to remind us of the ways that Internet spam, or simply “spam”, differs from the term “email marketing.”

Today, spammers have merged with an underworld realm populated by pornographers and drug lords (60-70% of spam is pornography and illegal prescription drug offers). Theirs is a world of global crime rings on off-shore servers, of spam gangs and illicit Internet transactions.

Essentially, spam is associated with repeatedly violating consumer trust through non consensual, mass mailings—to most, an underhanded and despicable way of doing business and a loathsome little word.

According to The Spamhaus Project, “[a] message is Spam only if it is both Unsolicited and Bulk. Unsolicited means that the Recipient has not granted verifiable permission for the message to be sent. Bulk means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having substantively identical content.”

Email marketing, however, has now become spam’s antithesis rather than its creator. Many of the leading email marketing software providers employ consumer security methods such as opt-in (sign-up) forms, double opt-in (usually in the form of a verification email), and clearly marked Subscribe and Unsubscribe links (either in the email or on the site itself).

But even with these essential email marketing solutions in place,, messages sent with email marketing software to can still garner spam complaints, and marketers with the most benign intentions could wind up on spammer blacklists—or worse, slapped with a million dollar lawsuit.

This scenario most likely happens more than people think. And more small business owners need to be made aware of their responsibility to guard against spam threats.

In addition to choosing a reputable service provider , email marketers should practice the following:

1. Do not assume that your email marketing software provider will take care of spam for you
2. Make sure that your provider is CAN-SPAM compliant.
3. Ensure that the provider will immediately terminate spamming domains, even if they aren’t yours. Your site could get shut down if someone on your server is spamming.
4. Make sure there are multiple means to opt in.
5. Know that you are still responsible for spam when changing servers/service providers. Your site can only be terminated by the registrar/where the domain was registered.
6. Do not purchase mailing lists. Some email marketing companies , such as Constant Contact andiContact will terminate your service if you do this.
7. Help educate people on the differences/what they can do

Like the Vikings in the Monty Python sketch, brainless bots repeatedly spam. Like the waitress who suggests Lobster Thermidor a Crevette, spammers can disguise the illicit material (the spam) behind an innocuous subject line.

The best action email marketers can take to protect their email efforts against spam threats is to strive to humanize the Net. Personalize messages and show creativity. And after all, use humor to appeal to clients . Remember, bots can’t laugh.

For additional information regarding online email marketing services, visit www.email-marketing-options.com.

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Zilker Ventures, LLC is a web publisher that consolidates information and reviews various business and financial products.

Contact:

Jennifer Silva
Zilker Ventures, LLC
pr@zilkerventures.com
(512) 448-9031

Lessons from Email Marketing: How Email Could Work to Get Campaigners Elected

Facing criticism, Presidential campaigners practice better email marketing strategies, but their emails are still not what everyone wants to read.

– Just another email to skip over. That’s what comes to mind for many when emails from Presidential hopefuls fill their inboxes. And as the latest emails will likely not be read, they can’t be doing any good for democracy.

While their recent actions have succeeded in improving the effectiveness of the sign-up system and email diction, campaigners have not fully addressed the motivational factor that is essential in effectively optimizing email marketing software – a difficulty easily overcome by applying techniques from the business community when constructing emails.

What is the bottom line? Obama and Hillary’s most recent campaigns are ambiguous about this issue. The latest email campaign from Bill Clinton offers subject line: “Not big on quitting.” No subject is apparent in the line. Who is not big on quitting? Hillary? Bill? The email team? The supporters? Next, take the latest message from the Obama team: “What’s next.” Again there is no subject, nor is there an action in this line. Open the email and find the first calls to action; “contribute by our midnight Monday deadline” and “check out these resources” by Bill Clinton and Obama, respectively.

Compare Obama’s and Clinton’s email practices to those of a well-known fashion retailer. Subject lines like “Tee Time: Buy 2 Save 20%” and “All The Dresses You Need For Spring” noticeably state the benefit of opening and viewing the email before email users have read any content. The first line employs two strategic verbs, “buy” and “save,” while the second line directly addresses the reader.

A simple rewrite of the subject lines with a seller-buyer framework could yield: “Deadline Ahead: Don’t Quit, Act Now” and “Everything You Should Know about Obama.” These subject lines create a sense of importance and shift the locus of power from the sender to the recipients of the messages.

Still beating around the bush in their subject lines, Hillary’s camp has made significant changes in the body of their emails. In an effort to create easy-to-read, visually stimulating content, they utilize bold font every few lines to underscore main ideas in the paragraphs. They also showcase a bold-colored countdown clock with a yellow “Contribute Now” button link. Similarly, Obama’s email highlights information by categorizing it under 3 headings (The Basics, Organizing, and Fundraising).

Lamentably, emails from both camps lack images. Obama and Hillary rarely offer photos in their emails, and McCain includes just a few small photos in his email banner. In contrast, retailers, internet providers and pizza joints alike have been utilizing large picture links to attract consumers. Presidential have yet to catch on.

Democratic nominees realize that they need to modify their marketing strategy, however, and have begun using email marketing software to offer campaign contributors sweepstakes prizes, such as a private meeting with Obama or Clinton. Unfortunately, these offers can be difficult to locate. For example, Obama sent an email with the subject “Deadline,” but the email included a drawing to win a dinner with Barack Obama himself, which was listed towards the bottom of the email.

Obama’s use of contribution incentives in his email marketing campaigns could explain why his email campaign ranks third on Email Data Source’s 2008 Email Brand Equity Ranking while McCain, who does not use similar tactics, is not among the top 5 of that list. Other factors may include the perceived lack of imperativeness in the emails or the news-like wording in McCain’s subject lines.

Four years ago, Presidential candidates undoubtedly trailed far behind emailers in the business, technology and entertainment industries. This year, the Presidential hopefuls got with the program; they just weren’t entirely sure how to use it.

For more information about email marketing software or for a sample copy of this article, contact Jen Udan or visit www.email-marketing-options.com.
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About Zilker Ventures:

Zilker Ventures is a web publisher specializing in reviewing and consolidating information about business to business and financial products.

Jen Udan
Zilker Ventures, LLC
(512) 448-9031
pr@zilkerventures.com
www.zilkerventures.com