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Read the news and it quickly becomes obvious how complex this world is. So, it’s no wonder that what’s popular in social media and electronics is simple.

MySpace (IMHO) was easier than Friendster. But Facebook took the best of both and now reigns.

LinkedIn makes it easy to network professionally, and YouTube makes it easy to be entertained - and quickly.

Twitter makes a bunch of things easy - from breaking news to gathering feedback about a product you’re considering.

In electronics, the Flip Video has revolutionized camcorders (I am a proud owner of one myself). And now, smaller, more affordable laptops are all the rage. Plus, Apple threw its iPod on a mobile phone, inserted the internet and simplified mobile communications.

So why are these services and gadgets so popular but companies like Microsoft are watching their market share slowly fade?

Dan Kimerling at TechCrunch thinks its all about motivation. Microsoft is motivated by features, while Facebook, et al, are motivated by the user experience.

He has a point. Microsoft considers Google a major rival, and Google is almost always talking about the user experience.

Steve Ballmer might want to take a cue, because he talks an awful lot about catching Google via advertising. And while advertising revenues are most certainly a key to Microsoft’s long term success, it will only prove profitable if the customer is happy.

Google should also watch out to avoid the pitfalls that plagued Microsoft. But a Google failure would not automatically equal Microsoft success. It would only leave the door open for a Facebook-esque startup to come along and steal the show.

Earlier this week, I listed the “Top 10 Videos on YouTube from SES San Jose 2008.” Well, the WebProNews Video Blog has some top-rated videos from last month’s SES conference that you won’t find on YouTube – at least not yet.

Here are three of them:

SES: The Power of Thumbnails and Images

According to Rebecca Lieb of the ClickZ Network, recent surveys show that video has a greater chance of being clicked if it has a thumbnail or image. These results are evident in the popularity of universal search. Rebecca advises marketers to take these statistics seriously and recommends posting related videos with each new video just as I suggested in my interview with WebProNews, which appears below.

Website Optimizer Activates Pruning, Modifies Reports, and More

As you can tell by the title, Google’s Website Optimizer department has been busy. Tom Leung gives WebProNews the scoop on all their new features. First, through experiment pruning, users can disable any page that’s not doing as well as was hoped for. They’ve also enhanced their reports with a new color coded system, made it easier to validate tags on pages, and submitted several new demonstration videos to YouTube.

SES: Improving Conversion Rates

Landing pages can make or break a site, and no one wants that second situation to occur. In this interview with Mike McDonald, Frans Keylard, the director of optimization at Widemile, shares some tips that should help improve conversion rates.

There are a lot more interviews on the WebProNews Video Blog from SES San Jose 2008. That includes the five below with members of the Search Engine Watch staff.

SES San Jose: Kevin Ryan

WebProNews spoke with Kevin Ryan, the VP and Global Content Director of Search Engine Strategies and Search Engine Watch, at SES San Jose 2008!

SES: Focus On Call To Action

After going to all the trouble of getting users to your site, you don’t want your landing page to turn them away. According to Tim Ash, a Search Engine Watch Expert Columnist, clutter is the most common problem with landing pages. Tim explains how you have to give users breathing space so they can focus on their main purpose for coming to the site.

SES: The Blessing and Curse of Conversions

Did you ever think of conversions as a blessing and a curse? As Sage Lewis, another Search Engine Watch Expert Columnist, tells WebProNews, everything is trackable online. In most cases, this is a blessing. But for those marketing efforts which do not convert, it can be a curse.

SES: Being Careful With Blogs

Blogs are powerful communication tools, and companies should embrace them. Yet there are things to watch out for, and Search Engine Watch Guest Blogger Amanda Watlington explores some potential pitfalls in this interview with Mike McDonald.

SES: Get on Top of Video Distribution

After listening to a spirited musical intro from a certain Search Engine Watch Blog Correspondent, WebProNews got me to tell my secret to video distribution. I explain how video optimization on your own website was enough in years past, but now in order to succeed you must distribute your optimized videos to sites like YouTube, Yahoo Video, and more.

Okay, taunting Buckeyes from The Ohio State University by having a Wolverine sing the University of Michigan fight song may seem like an odd way to open an interview, but it was payback for the interview below that I conducted earlier this year.

Mike McDonald of WebProNews, Web Video Guru, at SES NY 2008

Mike McDonald talks about the humble beginnings of e-business internet video channel WebProNews and some of its funnier moments of adolescence, like forgetting to hit record. Stay tuned ’til the end to see and hear the University of Kentucky Wildcats cheer!

Get it? Got it? Good.

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Microsoft recently published research on a new algorithm it calls BrowseRank, which is based on user behavior instead of linking patterns. Microsoft thinks this could be the answer to increased relevance in search results. But is it? In today’s SEM Crossfire column, “Look Out PageRank, There’s a New Algorithm in Town,” Frank Watson and Kevin Newcomb share their thoughts on BrowseRank’s potential, and potential pitfalls.

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Think you know the right way to set up a new PPC campaign? In today’s search advertising column, “Creating PPC Campaigns: the ‘Live or Die’ Settings ,” David Szetela shows you how to pay close attention to the details many advertisers miss, which can position you for success and help you avoid common pitfalls.

» Full story

Jipingmi.com, a real estate search engine in China, officially launched an English version of the site yesterday. English.Jipingmi.com collects real estate property listings from a variety of English property listing sources and organizes the results into a single search platform.

The sophistication of the search engine falls somewhere between Craigslist and Craigslist, with a 2-D Google Maps thrown in. Tremendous opportunity remains in the Chinese real estate market online.

Since the launch of Jipingmi.com (Mandarin for “How many square meters?” or “A few square meters”) in late 2007, Jipingmi.com has become the stripped-down Zillow or Trulia of the Chinese real estate search engine market. Jipingmi.com now hopes to open the platform to international users.

Jipingmi Co-founder and VP Strategic Development, Alex Farfurnik said English.Jipingmi.com will organize the foreign real estate market in China:

“There are over 6 million foreigners living in China, and the number is constantly growing. All these people need housing solutions and often turn to the internet to look for related information. The number of websites that provide real estate listings is increasing rapidly as well. There are more and more Chinese and foreign companies aiming to target foreign clients.

“Currently the foreign real estate market in China is very fragmented and there is a growing need to organize this market. Altogether, this makes it a perfect time for Jipingmi to come in and assist the market by using its superior technology and industry knowledge to help and connect all sides: home seekers, foreign targeted companies and English websites in China.” Mr. Farfurnik said.

Jipingmi Co-founder and Co-CEO, Guy Sivan said English Jipingmi.com is designed specially to suit the unique needs of the foreign real estate market in China.

“The English version of Jipingmi.com was designed with the target market in mind. Understanding that the local knowledge of many foreigners is limited, English.jipingmi.com provides several creative features to assist home seekers including map-based navigation and housing complex information for housing complexes that are most relevant to foreigners. The Interface of English.Jipingmi.com was completely redesigned and looks entirely different from the Chinese website in order to answer the unique needs of the foreigners In China.” Mr. Sivan said.

English.Jipingmi.com is plans to provide special features for the Beijing 2008 Olympics, such as short-term rentals. An estimated 500,000 foreigners will stay in Beijing during the Olympics.

Cambridge, Massachussets-based JumpTap has announced the expansion of their European mobile search and advertising network. The company is adding offices in Madrid, Spain and Stockholm, Sweden as part of the expansion. JumpTap pointed to recent projections from eMarketer, which see European spending tripling over the next three years, as part of the reason for the expansion.

“We are experiencing stellar renewal rates from our advertisers in Europe which is attributed to highly successful campaign results,” commented Dan Olschwang, president and CEO of JumpTap. “We have established our superior leadership working with the mobile advertising medium across global markets, and our clients are gaining a competitive advantage derived from our expertise and lessons learned.”

Related Reading:
8 Spending on Mobile Search Ads to Reach $2bn by 2013
Social Networking on Mobile Phones is Hot in the UK
Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing

Juniper Research has released data about search ad spending in the mobile market. Here’s what you need to know.

• 2008 mobile search adspend will reach $445 million, which is 34% of total mobile adspend.
• Mobile search revenues (including data charges) will reach $4.8bn by 2013.
• Both mobile search adspend and total mobile adspend will be highest in the Far East/China region, followed by Western Europe and North America.

According to Juniper Research’s Principal Analyst, Dr Windsor Holden, “While mobile advertising was historically dominated by campaigns conducted almost exclusively via SMS, the mass adoption of 2.5G and 3G handsets — combined with the development of applications enabling targeted, instant measurement and frequency capping — mean that we now have a situation where consumers can receive personalised advertising across a variety of rich media delivery channels.”

What do you think of this data? Are you exploring the mobile search ad space? Leave a comment!

Related Reading:
Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing
One in Five Users Gives Mobile Search and Audio Ads Thumbs Up

As with any emerging marketing medium, advertisers should try to learn from some of the key lessons of those who were willing to blaze the online trail before us, in hopes of not making the same mistakes. In today’s Vertical Search column, “Avoid the Pitfalls of Mobile Marketing,” local search expert Gregg Stewart shows how the advertising potential of mobile now resembles that of the early days of the Internet, in both variety of search options available and the fragmented nature of the keyword search volume.