The Growth of Online Marketing - Good or Bad?

Written by Pablo Palatnik on June 20, 2008

The IAB has announced what I think is very good news for us online marketers…or maybe bad news? Online ad spend has reached $5.8 billion in the first quater of 2008, which is an 18.2% from last year and said to be the second highest quater recorded after the previous quater.

Sure, as the digital age grows and the internet becomes the substitue in marketing for companies rather than television, newspapers, magazines, and radio, it will become more and more competitive. As an online marketer who works on my own projects and managing certain clients, as much as the saying that competition is good goes, it probably is better when there isn’t so much of it.

Ask people advertisers who compete in Google for debt consolidation or life insurance if competition is “good”. What is a good sign is the increasing understanding of small to medium size business owners of the importance and power of online marketing and the impact it can have on your business. A good PPC campaign or good SEO results can take your business to the next level. Its 2008 and we now live in a globalized world where a product consumers are looking for are just a click away. Are you in the mix?

Make Your Business Green, Market Your Business Green

Written by Pablo Palatnik on May 14, 2008

You may not think much of it as a business stand point, but you should. Going green is becoming important to many people, as it could even make or break their decision to buy from you. As “Going Green” is becoming an important trend to many. If your business is “green”, they may just buy from you because of it compared to your competition.

Ever since Al Gore’s movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”, the awareness to save and preserve our planet has been a very important issue that has caught the attention of the world, young to old. As many can make many efforts to make some changes in your home and personal lives, many are taking these same practices to their business. If you have, you should show it, capitalize on it. It matters.

Here are some tips to green your business I’ve got from different sources:

- Cut Water Waste (leaking faucets, etc.)
- Use Better Paper, and Less of It
- Turn off lights and unplug electronics
- Buy less toxic cleaners
- Set computers to sleep and hibernate when inactive, and lose the screen savers.
- Stock bathrooms with postconsumer recycled tissue products.
- Reduce commutes
- Open the windows or doors
- Replace high-energy-use light bulbs, fixtures, and equipment.

You can do a lot more by getting creative and find ways to minimize electricity and use environment-friendly products.

As you try to be or you are a green company, make sure you let your consumers know. You can state anywhere on your website that you are a green company or get certified as a green company by getting a seal on your website. One company that does this is the Green Business Alliance.

You can also check out GreenBiz.com for more info on going green and green business practices.

Traffic Shraffic

Written by Pablo Palatnik on March 5, 2008

…AND IM BACK IN THE GAME! Anyway, haven’t blogged in a while and it’s mostly cause I’ve been so busy that I couldn’t really get around to blogging the length of post I’d like but what the hell, short post are just as good, right?

So…TRAFFIC. Everyone talks about traffic and how important traffic is to the success of a campaign. No traffic…no sales/leads. Agreed. Here is the deal, if you’re not delivering targeted traffic to your site or offer; it’s just as good as nothing. Sure, any traffic is great but if you’re spending money for that traffic, you damn better be sure that traffic will convert for you.

There are several ways of attracting traffic of course but let’s focus on paid search, which is what most of us, at least reading this blog probably do. You want qualified traffic correct? Here is the thing, you don’t necessarily have to have targeted keywords…you need targeted ads!

Using keyword insertion as the title of your ad can kill you with crap traffic if using it without caution, so make sure your ads are very targeted and detailed to what it is you are offering.