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TopRank Online Marketing and the Direct Marketing Association have just announced a partnership to develop and deliver a series of educational workshops on social media marketing entitled, “Social Media Smarts: Introduction to the Social Web, Tools and Tactics.”

With marketers facing tighter budgets in the coming months, social media marketing offers new opportunities for companies to engage customers, improve brand awareness and increase sales with budgets that are more recession friendly than many traditional marketing efforts.

Leading the workshop will be Lee Odden, CEO of TopRank Marketing, who will introduce participants to the marketing opportunities with social media through best and worst practices examples. As you can see from the photo in this post, I’m much taller than Lee.

But, according to George Markham Director, Education Services at Direct Marketing Association, “Lee is a well rounded digital marketer uniquely qualified with over ten years experience as an internet marketing consultant and a background in corporate training.” Markham adds, “As a consultant working on the front lines of social media marketing for companies large and small, Lee brings first-hand knowledge and real-world examples to teach attendees how to develop a successful social media strategy.”

But I’m still taller.

The Social Media Smarts workshop will provide attendees with insight into blogging and blog marketing, social networks, microblogging, social news and bookmarking, video sharing, image and audio sharing, wikis and social media analytics.

Rounding out the workshop is a social media strategy exercise that will empower attendees to create their own social media strategy and develop a framework for building a business case within their organizations.

Lee is quoted in a press release as saying, “As a high demand digital marketing and PR agency, we’re seeing tremendous benefits from educating in-house marketing staff on the finer points of social media marketing.” He adds, “Offering both good and bad social media marketing examples along with strategy, tools, tactics and analytics can really empower companies to succeed.”

Now, I’ve served on panels with Lee. I know Lee. And that’s exactly the way Lee talks.

The first of the Social Media Smarts workshop series will be conducted in New York, December 4th and 5th, at the Microtek training facility in lower Manhattan. If you are in the nieghborhood, drop by and heckle Lee.

And remember: I’m taller. Actually, I was standing on my toes for this photo. Lee’s actually pretty tall, too.

Real estate search site Trulia has partnered with Placecast for audience targeting and dynamic messaging. The goal is to improve the relevancy of the ads appearing on their site.

Placecast will use its proprietary targeting algorithms to generate ads based on the real estate locations in which a user expresses interest. The ads will also take into account demographic and psychographic data points.

“Turning locations into audiences is one of the biggest challenges facing advertisers today,” said Sean Black, Vice President of Sales at Trulia. “Trulia presents advertisers with multiple opportunities to serve very targeted ads based on location and consumers search behavior. Placecast is a cutting edge media company and we are excited to be working with them and their clients to build and deliver successful campaigns.”

Related Reading:
Trulia Rolls Out Three New Interactive Features
Real Estate Search Engine Trulia Adds New Depth, Features
Trulia Distributing Its Maps To Local Realtors

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So far, the majority of marketing budgets are not facing changes or cuts due to the economy, according to survey results released by eMetrics.

60% of respondents said their marketing budgets haven’t changed.

After that, the news gets a little discouraging.

27.6% said their budgets are being affected negatively, while 6.9% answered very negatively.

Only 3.4% said their budgets were being affected positively and a miniscule 1.7% answered very positively.

Don’t stay bummed for too long. The economy seems to finally getting senior management on board with those ever important analytics.

80.4% of marketers say interest in web analytics from senior management in the past 6 months has increased. On that note, it might be a good time to start pitching landing page testing as well.

So what advertising campaigns are specifically being affected? Check out this chart:

Some of the channels are being outsourced:

You can view the full report here (pdf).

What are your thoughts on the economy and marketing budgets? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

The G1, a new mobile device from HTC available and featuring Google’s brand spankin’ new mobile platform Android, is now officially available at T-mobile.

But should you ditch your Blackberry, Palm, iPhone, etc to get one?

The G1 has a touch screen, similar to the iPhone, but it doesn’t have multitouch. It has a mobile application version of the Amazon mp3 store, which I love and use all the time for DRM-free music.

Unfortunately, you’ll need an adapter for that headphone jack to listen to all that music. Plus, you’ll have to purchase a memory card to store your music, and you can only do so up to 8GB.

The G1 does have a slider keypad, which I would love. I’ve had my iPhone for months, but typing on it is still a pain. Prior to that, I had the Samsung Glyde for a couple of weeks and loved the slider keypad. (It was just everything else that was a pain.)

So, should you or shouldn’t you? Here’s what the reviewers who have are saying:

Gizmodo

The G1 phone and the Android operating system are not finished products. There are only three working Google Apps here—Gmail, Maps and Calendar—while Google Docs, Google News, Google Reader, Google Shopping, Google Images, Google Video, Blogger and Picasa are nowhere to be found. What’s the deal?

We have high hopes for third-party coders to fill in gaps Google intentionally or unintentionally left in this OS. There’s already a video player, and we’re sure VLC will try and port some kind of version over. But your question is not whether the phone will be great down the line, it’s whether or not it’s good enough for you to buy it now.

The answer depends most on who you are. Despite all the UI quirks and bad design decisions, it’s still better than other smartphone OSes out there. It’s not perfect, but for people who like tinkering, its cons are outweighed by its pros such as Gmail and the Marketplace. Hopefully Android updates and more ports of Google apps will augment not just future phones but this one too. This isn’t something you’re going to give your mom for Christmas, but if you’re an adventuresome gadget guy with some money to spend ($179) on a totally new, pretty exciting venture, then why not?

CrunchGear

If you’ve been waiting for Android then I suggest you keep waiting. The overall OS seems to be held together by duct tape and needs a lot of work. Apple focuses on the minute details to enrich the overall experience for iPhone users and Android could learn a lesson or ten from it. The hardware design is dated and while the touch-screen and keyboard are great you can’t just forget about the wretched battery life, horrible GPS and the overall ergonomics of it. I wish the G1 were better in every respect because I don’t think the iPhone is that great, but I find myself wishing it were more like it. It’s the best alternative to the iPhone, but it’s just not there yet.

CNET

While we’re not in love with the design and would have liked some additional features, the real beauty of the T-Mobile G1 is the Google Android platform, as it has the potential to make smartphones more personal and powerful. That said, it’s not quite there yet, so for now, the G1 is best suited for early adopters and gadget hounds, rather than consumers and business users.

Engadget

When you put the G1 up against, say, a Sidekick LX, it seems like a no-brainer for T-Mobile customers looking for a powerful QWERTY device — especially at $20 less. You don’t need to be a cutting-edge mobile geek or a pundit to do that math. When facing off with platforms like the iPhone and Windows Mobile devices, it holds its own, but has a lot of ground to cover before it’s really making the competition sweat. Still, if you’re just excited to be a part of a platform that’s likely going to be around for a very, very long time, the G1’s a totally reasonable day-to-day device to make it happen, and we expect some pretty great things from this corner of the market down the road.

Walt Mossberg at All Things Digital

Overall, the G1 is a very good first effort, and a godsend for people who prefer physical keyboards or T-Mobile but want to be part of the new world of powerful pocket computers.

Geography Coursework is one of the toughest parts of your educational passage, if you are studying geography, naturally. A number of students practice reasonable nervousness when facing the need to wr…
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A California federal court judge, Judge Howard Lloyd, has thrown out a copyright infringement suit against online video site Veoh. The suit was brought by adult entertainment company IO Group.

The judge’s reasoning was that Veoh is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act’s (DMCA) safe harbor provisions. Since Veoh takes quick action in light of copyright issues, they are not acting illegally.

“Veoh has a strong DMCA policy, takes active steps to limit incidents of infringement on its website and works diligently to keep unauthorized works off its site,” wrote Judge Lloyd.

Guess who loves this ruling? Google. It’s currently facing its own copyright infrigement suit brought against YouTube by Viacom. Because the Veoh case was heard in California, it doesn’t set precedent for the YouTube case in New York. But Google hopes the Veoh ruling is still influential.

via NYT

In the wake of Carl Icahn’s declaration that Microsoft would buy a Yahoo run be a different board (and Microsoft’s affirmation of the claim), Google CEO Eric Schmidt hasn’t changed his position on what should happen with Yahoo. Speaking to reporters in Idaho yesterday, he reiterated that he believes an Independent Yahoo is best for the industry.

Schmidt called Microsoft’s bid for Yahoo “anti-competitive,” something Google has been saying from the beginning. He also said that the Redmond-based software giant has a history of being anti-competitive, and that’s evidence enough of their intentions with acquiring Yahoo.

Of course, Google is facing its own anti-competitive issues with its recently announced search advertising deal with Yahoo. Despite the partnership being non-exclusive, the Justice Department formally opened their antitrust investigation into the matter earlier this month.

Still, it’s no doubt that the search ad deal fuels Schmidt’s desire for Yahoo to remain independent. That and a Microhoo would mean a stronger second place competitor in the search ad marketplace. Though, most would agree that second place is definitely first loser in a Google-dominated search industry.

Greg Jarboe: Search Engine Strategies (SES) is asking us to teach a full-day SEO training class about “Optimizing for Universal Search” on Thursday, July 17, 2008, at the Renaissance Seattle Hotel, 515 Madison Street, Seattle, WA 98104?

Amanda Watlington: I don’t believe you.

Greg: Would you believe SES is sending us to teach a Google universal search engine optimization training workshop in Microsoft’s backyard?

Amanda: No.

Greg: How about going to Seattle to get a proper cup of coffee?

Amanda: I demand the Cone of Silence!

Greg: Okay, if you insist. I’ll download the Cone of Silence blog widget. So, now that our conversation is enshrouded in a transparent sound-proof shield, what’s the problem?

Amanda: Who in Seattle wants to learn search engine optimization strategies from a couple of SEO experts from Boston?

Greg: Well, our “Optimizing for Universal Search” workshops at SES London and SES New York were well attended. And if British Red Coats and New York Yankees didn’t mind that their SEO classes were taught by a couple of search engine optimization experts from Boston, why should Seattle companies?

Amanda: True, we haven’t dumped their tea in our harbor or faced them in the ALCS. But, give me a couple of specific examples of companies in Seattle that would benefit from sending their search engine optimization specialists, public relations professionals, and corporate video producers to a full-day SEO workshop on universal search taught by a couple of SEO experts from out of town.

Greg: Good idea Amanda – although a comprehensive list would include every member of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. But, conduct a web search using Google for the term, Steve Ballmer, and you’ll see an example of a company in Redmond, Washington, that needs help optimizing for universal search.

Amanda: I see YouTube videos and websites integrated into a single set of results. So, who is responsible for managing this special blend?

Greg: No one is which means anyone could be. I’d hate to be on the receiving end at Waggener Edstrom when one of their largest PR clients calls to ask, “What do you know about blended search?” But, they are not alone. Google the term, Seattle Mariners, and you’ll see that there are a lot of media companies in the Seattle area that have dropped the ball, too.

Amanda: I see news results blended in with the web listings above the fold. But the news sources displayed in the universal search results are from The Associated Press, SportingNews.com, and The Canadian Press, not the Seattle Times, Seattle Post Intelligencer, KING5.com, KOMO, or KIROtv.com.

Greg: Right, and according to Steve Lohr of The New York Times, search engines are “delivering 30 percent or more of the traffic on some newspaper, magazine or television news Web sites. And traffic means readers and advertisers, at a time when the mainstream media is desperately trying to make a living on the Web.”

Amanda: So, we’ve seen YouTube videos and news results blended into universal search results. What about images?

Greg: Ah, the old leading question trick. That’s the second time I’ve fallen for that this week. Well, Google the term, Starbucks logo.

Amanda: I see three images at the top of the search engine results page. Don’t tell me that clicking on any one of the Starbucks logos doesn’t take you to a page in the Starbucks Coffee Company press room.

Greg: Clicking on any one of the Starbucks logos doesn’t take you to a page in the Starbucks Coffee Company press room

Amanda: I asked you not to tell me that. You realize you’ll be facing every kind of danger imaginable if you show this example to Starbucks coffee drinkers?

Greg: And loving it! But wait! There’s more! Use Google to search for the term, Seattle hotels downtown.

Amanda: I see two pushpins on Google Maps. Hold on, the Renaissance Seattle Hotel is missing! Greg, the location of our SEO training class about “Optimizing for Universal Search” isn’t on the map!

Greg: It’s a shame that they didn’t use local SEO instead of web SEO.

Amanda: Okay, you can invert the Cone of Silence. I’m ready to use it as a loudspeaker.

Greg: This is the Search Engine Watch Blog. We don’t “loudspeaker” here.

Amanda: Never mind. I’ll use YouTube. Their slogan is “Broadcast Yourself.” So, where’s the video interview that we conducted about our upcoming SEO training class?

Greg: Missed it by that much!

Amanda: Then, how are we supposed to provide more information about our universal search engine optimization training workshop? Oh, this is utter KAOS!

Greg: Sorry about that Chief! We could try image optimization.

Amanda: That just might work. I hope I wasn’t out of line with that crack about utter KAOS.

Greg: I don’t mind, 99. Let’s just hope that business professionals in Seattle “get smart” and attend our universal search SEO training class.

Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR and Amanda Watlington of Searching
for Profit will teach “Optimizing for Universal Search” in
Seattle on July 17, 2008.

Confirming recent rumors of another coming reorganization, Yahoo today announced its plans to centralize many of its product and engineering teams into one regional group in the U.S., rather than maintaining separate divisions for each set of products.

Yahoo is creating three new teams that will report to President Sue Decker:

1. An Audience Products Division will assume responsibility for companywide product strategy and product management. It will be led by Ash Patel who previously managed the company’s Platforms & Infrastructure group.
2. A U.S. region with accountability for all go-to-market activity in the U.S. will be led by Hilary Schneider, who previously headed the company’s Global Partner Solutions group.
3. An Insights Strategy team will assume responsibility for centralizing and executing a common strategy for the use of data and analysis across Yahoo. The company plans to name this group’s leader within the next few weeks.

According to Decker, these moves have been in the works for several months, and complement last year’s changes to centralize more of Yahoo’s business.

“The changes we’re making today will help deliver superior global products for users and enable faster and better decision-making,” Decker said in a statement. “This is a logical next step in light of our success last year in moving to a more centralized approach to developing world-class marketing products. We have planned these changes deliberately over the past several months to clarify responsibilities and to capitalize on the scale advantages while allowing for fine tuning to meet local market needs.”

Yahoo has restructured its search group, which recently lost SVP and General Manager of Search Vishal Makhijani to Russian search engine Yandex. Prabhakar Raghavan has been tapped to direct search strategy, and Tuoc Luong is the interim leader of the search product team. Both Prabhakar and Tuoc will also continue in their roles as the leaders of Yahoo! Research and Search Engineering respectively. In addition, David Ku will lead the Advertising Technology Group within Search.

Yahoo is also making changes to its technology organization, devoting resources to developing a cloud computing and storage infrastructure; moving more of Yahoo onto common platforms; and creating a stronger partnership between product and engineering teams.

The new Cloud Computing & Data Infrastructure Group will be charged with developing a computing infrastructure that balances scalability with cost effectiveness. It will also move all consumer-facing platform teams to the Audience Technology Group, led by Venkat Panchapakesan.