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Microsoft has struck a deal with Sun Microsystems to have the MSN toolbar downloaded with Java Runtime Environment (JRE). The agreement will give Internet Explorer users in the United States the option of downloading the toolbar when they download JRE. The toolbar offers access to Live Search features, the MSN network, Windows Live Hotmail and Windows Live Messenger.

“This agreement with Sun Microsystems is another important milestone in our strategy to secure broad-scale distribution for our search offering, enabling millions more people to experience the benefits of Live Search,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president of the Online Audience Business at Microsoft. “With the vast array of Java software-based Web applications that are downloaded every month, this deal will expose Live Search to millions more Internet users and drive increased volume for our search advertisers.”

Earlier this year, Microsoft reached a deal with HP to have the toolbar shipped on 2009 PCs.

Related Reading:
Live Search to Be Integrated with Blackberry Browser and Maps
Live Search and Windows Live Toolbar Now Offer Translation

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LinkedIn has launched a new survey feature that will enable its members to conduct market research. LinkedIn is an online social network built around business and careers and has 30 million members.

“LinkedIn overcomes quality and authenticity issues that other sample providers face,” said Dan Shapero, Director of Business Services, LinkedIn. “Because of the public and self-policing nature of LinkedIn, members provide deep and accurate profile information and they update that information constantly.”

LinkedIn also announced that it raised $22.7 million from Goldman Sachs, The McGraw-Hill Companies, SAP Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.

“We secured this investment with innovators in enterprise software, investment banking and business information who see the potential to create value and transform industries through the LinkedIn platform,” said LinkedIn CEO, Dan Nye. “These leading companies understand that LinkedIn is building a network with broad and enduring value.”

Related Reading:
LinkedIn Launches Targeted Advertising Network
Yahoo Sets Yelp, LinkedIn, and Yahoo Local SearchMonkey Apps to ‘Default On’

Two health sites have merged in what many are saying will be a challenge to health search giant WebMD. The Revolution Health Network and Waterfront Media are joining forces to dominate the health space. Waterfront Media runs the Everyday Health Network.

AOL co-founder Steve Case, now CEO of Revolution Health said, “When we entered the health care market we knew one of the areas we wanted to focus on was using the Internet to empower consumers and give them more choice, control and convenience. The merger of Waterfront Media and Revolution Health Network builds on each company’s complementary strengths to create a new industry powerhouse — thus enabling us to accelerate our efforts to reach the largest, most engaged audience and help people stay healthy, manage chronic disease and deal with serious illness.”

What do you think about the merger? Can they take on WebMD? Give your predictions in the comments.

Related Reading:
Searching for Healthcare: How Online Communities are Changing the Face of Medicine
Microsoft Secures Search Ad Partnership with Rodale’s Health Sites
WebMD CEO Fights Off Google Health Virus with SEO

h/t Reuters

The New York Times has a great article about using the internet for information on medical conditions, including how search is involved in the process. As you know, results can change just by adding a keyword to the phrase you’re already searching for.

Search for a condition and add the word community, for example, and you suddenly have access to patients dealing with the same issues, according to Susannah Fox of the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

I can personally attest to the power of the internet, especially the ability to communicate and share experiences with other patients. When I was diagnosed with Thyroid Cancer in 2003, the internet became the authority on my care. Because the cancer affects so few people, doctors with little experience in seeing patients with thyroid cancer can be misinformed on how to treat it.

Thankfully, I found an online community that helped me through every step of the process. I was able to find doctors that knew thyroid cancer and could adequately treat me. My experience greatly improved as the result of “meeting” other patients. (I did, also, eventually meet several in person as well.)

As much as social networking can sometimes get a bad rap for being an untamed jungle of wild party pictures and obscene comments, we can’t forget the power of online communities and their role in so many important aspects of daily life. From jobs to cancer treatment, social networking is impacting lives. And that’s something to feel good about - and get involved in.

Is your company there yet? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Related Reading:
Microsoft Secures Search Ad Partnership with Rodale’s Health Sites
Yahoo Says Searchers are Better Patients
Net Attracts Health-Seeking Surfers
Majority of Online Health-Related Queries Start on Search Engines

Online video search engine blinkx has sent a letter to digital advertising company MIVA, seeking to acquire it for $1.20 per share. Yesterday’s closing price for MIVA stock, which trades on the NASDAQ, was $0.78.

MIVA has certainly had its share of trouble of recent years. The company has gone through reorganizations and a management shakeup in the hopes of stabilizing the business, which includes a pay-per-click offering.

Here’s the full text of the letter for your consumption.

August 8, 2008

MIVA, Inc.
5220 Summerlin Commons Boulevard
Suite 500
Fort Myers, FL 33907
Attention: Peter Corrao, CEO
Larry Weber, Chairman
Members of the Board of Directors

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,
Re: blinkx and MIVA Combination

I am writing on behalf of the board of directors of blinkx Plc to make a proposal for the business combination of blinkx and MIVA. Under our proposal, blinkx would acquire all of the outstanding shares of MIVA common stock for $1.20 in cash per share. Our proposal is not subject to any financing condition. The transaction would be funded from existing cash resources of the two companies.

Proposal. Our proposal represents a 54.0% premium above the closing price of MIVA common stock of $0.78 on August 7, 2008, and a 36% premium over the average closing price for the one month prior to August 7, 2008.

By whatever financial measure one might use, we believe this proposal represents a compelling value realization opportunity for your shareholders and the quickest and most secure way to see such value, particularly given the several challenges MIVA faces in the near term, including: risk and cost associated with the new technology platform, a deteriorating cash position, continued deterioration of the Media EU business and continued decline in revenue and profitability.

We believe that MIVA’s shareholders would not be well-served by any delay in negotiating or completing the merger process, and that time and/or another round of restructuring plans will not significantly increase MIVA’s valuation.

Background. Having worked together for a number of years you will be aware that blinkx is the world’s largest and most advanced video search engine. Founded in 2004 by Suranga Chandratillake, the company completed a successful IPO on the London Stock Exchange (AIM) in May 2007 and currently has a market capitalization of approximately $160 million, with headquarters in San Francisco, CA and the UK. With an index of over 26 million hours of searchable video and more than 350 media partnerships, including national broadcasters, commercial media giants, and private video libraries, blinkx has cemented its position as the premier destination for online TV. blinkx pioneered video search on the Internet, enhanced by $150 million in R&D over 12 years, and is now protected by 111 patents.

Rationale. blinkx believes that a combination of the two companies would be mutually beneficial to both companies’ shareholders, employees, and customers. blinkx and MIVA have complementary businesses that could benefit greatly from blinkx’s technology and MIVA’s distribution network.

blinkx has worked with MIVA as a customer and partner for a number of years and has a great deal of respect for MIVA’s success in building a global keyword advertising network and growing the MIVA Direct consumer offering. We believe, however, that with the Internet’s continued progression towards rich media and newer forms of advertising, more advanced technology will play a fundamental role in achieving success.

blinkx already has in place a proven and growing video-driven revenue engine, and enjoys an unrivalled technology portfolio which is applicable across many aspects of the online market. A combination of the two companies - fusing MIVA’s advertising network with blinkx’s ability to leverage its technology portfolio into the online market - presents an exciting and compelling opportunity.

Specifically, blinkx’s advanced and scalable matching technology will enable immediate platform improvements for MIVA. As a result large portions of relevant search traffic from MIVA’s search ad network will be monetizeable at higher rates through blinkx’s technology. Furthermore blinkx’s technology holds the potential to build on MIVA’s existing toolbar network, adding the latest functionality and an entirely new revenue stream. Finally, MIVA’s consumer sites and portals, that already attract large audiences, will immediately benefit from blinkx’s advanced video technology and AdHoc advertising platform.

Process and Employees. We would value the opportunity to further discuss with you how to optimize the integration of our respective businesses to create a leading global technology company. We believe that the management and employees of MIVA are critical to realizing a successful transition and foresee an important and central role for MIVA employees in the combined company.

Any acquisition of MIVA would be subject to the opportunity to conduct a limited confirmatory due diligence investigation, the negotiation of a definitive merger agreement containing customary terms and conditions, including customary conditions to closing; no material adverse change to MIVA’s business; appropriate shareholder approvals; and any regulatory requirements. Given our participation in the industry and MIVA’s public status, we envisage an efficient due diligence process appropriate to a public company. We are prepared to deliver a draft merger agreement to you and begin discussions immediately.

Due to the importance of these discussions and the value represented by our proposal, we expect the MIVA Board to engage in a full review of our proposal and discussion of its contents with MIVA’s shareholders. We are prepared to meet at a time and location of your convenience to complete due diligence and commence definite agreement negotiations.

We believe this proposal represents a unique opportunity for MIVA’s shareholders to realize value, and the combined company will be well positioned for future growth. We hope that you and your Board share our enthusiasm, and we look forward to a prompt and favourable reply.

Yours sincerely,

Suranga Chandratillake

CEO and Founder

This may be the most important blog post you will ever read.

UPDATE: One of the hottest Google Hot Trends today is “missing money” so we thought it would be a good time to revisit our post on unclaimed money. The keywords searched include missing money .com, you might be rich, missing money.com, and missingmoney.com

You need to try out the most valuable vertical search engine ever created. It’s Free Money with a Free Search.

Search for the cash and property you’re owed right now. You owe it to yourself. This isn’t just a free offer. It’s not the IRS 2007 File Free program.

It’s the law.

We’re talking about cash you’ve earned. Forgotten cash. No, not Johnny Cash.

Cash money.

Free cash is better than free chat, free movies, free hugs, free books, free iTunes, free agents, free ringtones, free screensavers, free downloads, duty-free shops, free video games, free TV, gluten-free, free software and even free search engine optimization.

Well, maybe not better than free search engine optimization.

But it’s way better than totally awesome killer freebies.

What’s more - the money’s already yours. You don’t have to enter a lottery, win a game show, or wait for Oprah to give it away.

Here’s how to find money that’s owed to you: missing money AKA “unclaimed funds.”

Click here: MissingMoney.com

Enter your Name and Zip Code in the secure database.

MissingMoney.com is a search engine for state unclaimed property records - not real estate, but real property. The states must keep your money and return lost funds. It’s the law.

The Top 10 most common types of unclaimed property:

1. Bank accounts
2. Stocks, mutual funds, bonds, and dividends
3. Uncashed checks and wages
4. Insurance policies
5. Utility deposits
6. Safe deposit box contents
7. Escrow accounts
8. Trust funds
9. Certificates of deposit (CDs)

Unclaimed property does not include real estate property.

You may not find as much cash as you receive in the upcoming $600 tax rebate checks to be sent out as part of the U.S. economic jumpstart package. But then, you won’t have to thank the lame duck President.

You can just thank us and the search engine: www.missingmoney.com.

Once you’ve identified the location of your money, you can contact the appropriate state government unclaimed property office directly to recover it.

Keep on rockin’ in the free world!

After the jump: All the states that participate - and the next two that will.

Click to read the rest of this post…

Over at Yahoo’s Search Marketing blog, Marketing Communications Manager Roger Park is offering up tips on converting your search ads. He breaks down a bunch of best practices principles to three main steps: Optimize, Navigate and Track.

Optimize

Optimizing your landing pages is crucial to a profitable search marketing campaign. Park advises:

• Have a “deep link” to a product on your site
• Offer several contact methods
• Online shopping carts should be secure and easily visible
• Remove broken links
• Have good server availability

Navigate

Park encourages site owners and developers to put themselves in the shoes of their web site visitors. I personally have found that many of my clients have a difficult time being able to do this. They’re just too close to their business. So, it was nice that Park also served up some tangible tips:

• Create an obvious pathway to the product that the visitor searched for
• Don’t have too many layers between the landing page and the end goal - no more than 2 clicks
• If the end goal is sale, move non-commercial content below the fold

Track

Successful marketing campaigns are built on solid data. Consistently evaluate your data and tweak your paid search campaigns accordingly. Yahoo’s conversion-only analytics tool can help you do that. The tool can help you analyze keywords, tweak landing pages, and improve under-performing ads.

What do you think of Park’s advice? Anything else you would add to the mix? Share your ideas in the comments!

In the wake of a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on online advertising and privacy, Mintel has released survey data revealing Americans are more concerned than they were 5 years ago about online security.

• 65% are more concerned than they were 5 years ago
• 28% are significantly more concerned than they were five years ago

But the actual risk is declining. The number of American identity thefts declined 12% from 2003 to 2006 (10.1 million to 8.9 million), according to US Justice Department data. Of the 8.9 million cases in 2006, only 8.3% of them were related to online activity, such as computer viruses, hackers or phishing. Mintel reports that less than 1% of emails they tracked were phishing scams.

“The actual risk of having your identity stolen online is not as high as many people think,” states Menke. “Financial services companies are trying to reassure consumers of this fact, but our research suggests their marketing messages aren’t sticking. Companies need to find innovative new ways to convince Americans that their identities are secure online and when using email.”

Financial service companies already have a solid base to work from to achieve that goal. 71% of American adults report managing at least one financial services account online. The average American manages 3 financial services via email and the web.

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