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Does your site maintain its usability across many browsers? If not, you could end up leaving money on the table this holiday season. Browsers such as Firefox, Chrome, and Safari (which comes standard on Macs) now make up about 30% of the browser market. Firefox alone enjoys 20% of the overall market share.

Matt Poepsel, vice president of Gomez, Inc., whose services test and monitor the performance of websites says that the increase of non-Internet Explorer browsers could cause some e-tailers grief.

“This year more than ever, websites can look and function differently from one browser to another. Online retailers can no longer assume that all shoppers are using Internet Explorer. They must ensure their sites look good and work well across a wide range of browsers - or risk frustrating customers and losing the sale.”

Microsoft’s adCenter is launching a new offer for Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) members: $1000 in free clicks. Campaigns created through the promotion will be placed on Live Search and the MSN portal. Those who wish to become SEMPO members to take advantage of the offer must join the organization by December 31, 2008.

“SEMPO members, both agency and corporate search marketers, represent some of the most knowledgeable and innovative search marketing leaders in the industry,” said Valerie Bolduc, senior global product marketing manager, Advertiser and Publisher Solutions, Microsoft. “Working with SEMPO provides Microsoft with the opportunity to engage and learn from the search marketing community, which enables us to enhance our products and offerings to better serve our mutual customers.”

SEMPO President Jeffrey Pruitt noted, “SEMPO’s continued growth is tied to the strong support of its sponsors. Microsoft has long been our lead sponsor and advocate on several fronts including the SEMPO Training Institute, as well as for special programs like the adCenter search advertising promotion. Our industry association greatly appreciates Microsoft’s strong commitment and ongoing participation.”

Related Reading:
SEMPO Institute to Develop Career Opportunities for Young Chicagoans
New SEMPO Chairperson Dana Todd Has Big Dreams for Organization
SEMPO Selects Officers for New Board of Directors

There were lowered expectations for the 2008 Holiday shopping season before the bottom dropped out of the economy, but now it’s even worse. But you and your clients still have to make the best of things, so we’re here to help.

Search Engine Watch is offering a one-hour webcast, “How to Survive the Economic Meltdown & Succeed this Holiday Season,” taking place on Wednesday, November 19 at 1 p.m. EDT.

You’ll get some Holiday PPC campaign tips from Keith Hong, senior director of Clickable’s Assist and Customer Experience group (and former head of Ask.com customer management group). He’ll explain what you should already have done to prepare for success, and what you must do throughout the holiday season to adapt to volatile market and demand spikes. He’ll also offer some advice on how to stay calm and ensure success amidst this economic meltdown.

When times are tough, it’s even more important that you spend your marketing dollars efficiently. This SEW Webcast can help you learn how to do that.

Please sign up today.

When the ancient Romans tried to defend themselves from Hannibal’s war elephants, they learned that they needed to throw away their old ideas about war and learn to work together. In today’s SEM agency issues column, “Universal Search: The (War) Elephant in the Room,” William Flaiz compares universal search to the war elephants, and notes that search marketers must realize that focusing all efforts in harmony is the only way to properly address the challenges it presents.

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The number of small businesses using deeply integrated social networking services will double in the next year, according to projections by Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Inc. Currently, there are about 300,000 small businesses engaged in social networking, which is 5% of the total number of small businesses in the U.S. AMI expects that number to reach 600,000 in the next 12 months.

“As social networking evolves, we can see the emergence of targeted offerings for business users,” says Nikki Lamba, New York-based analyst at AMI Partners. “In order to attract a greater share of SBs, social networking services must provide customized services that SBs can leverage in order to realize their business goals.”

Social media might be an increasingly attractive option for small businesses in their advertising and marketing efforts. The current economy has businesses scrambling for affordable marketing methods and social media is a possible option, depending on how its leveraged.

SearchMonkey is a developer’s platform released by Yahoo earlier this year. But in order for searchers to make use of the apps, they must first be approved by Yahoo.

Now Yahoo is letting developers find an early audience by allowing apps to be classified as experimental before they’re approved. Searchers can use the apps like they’re a hotel swimming pool - i.e. at their own risk.

Want to test out some experimental apps? Click ‘Show Experimental Enhancements’ at the bottom of the SearchMonkey Gallery applications directory page.

Changes are coming to the way AdWords calculates its Quality Score and Ad Rank. The changes will be implemented in the coming weeks.

First up, Quality Score will no longer take ad position into account. The idea is that simply dishing out the dough for a higher position has nothing to do with the quality of the ad.

CORRECTION: Here’s what Google really said: “To calculate the most accurate Quality Scores, it’s important that the influence of ad position on CTR be taken into account and removed from the Quality Score.” Bloggers have been pointing out that Google has been doing this. When I get further clarification from Google, I’ll let you know! Stay tuned.

Next, Ad Rank is going to focus on quality for ads that appear on top of the search results. Ads must meet a “quality threshold” in order to appear in that prime real estate. It will be possible for a lower positioned ad to jump above a higher position ad in the sidebar ads to hang out in the box above the organic results if it meets the threshold but the higher positioned ads don’t.

Clearly, Google is making quality a key focus in AdWords. This may be an attempt to improve the program in the midst of a slowdown in growth for paid search. Or it could be an attempt to show that Google is more concerned about quality than price - and therefore advertisers need not be worried about a little thing like a search advertising deal with Yahoo.

What do you think about the focus on quality? Let us know in the comments.

Related Reading:
Google Makes AdWords Site Stats Logo Optional
AdWords Editor Version 6.5 Released
AdWords Conversion Optimizer Releases New Eligibility Requirements
AdWords API Gets an Update and Extra Quota

If you want to learn how to use PR for effective SEO, the free WebmasterRadio webinar today should be a must view. Registration can be done here.

Top Rank CEO Lee Odden and Jay Byrne, President of v-Fluence Interactive Public Relations, will do the presentation that starts at 2 pm EST today. I know I will be listening in, and recommend you join me.

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