You can create and design a great website, but if no one can find it then it doesn’t have much value.  At Losasso we try to impart the importance of SEO to our clients.  We are not in the camp of “all traffic is good traffic” but rather we believe that driving qualified traffic to our client’s sites through solid search engine optimization is what is important.

There are some fairly simple steps you can follow to make sure your website is optimized and easy to find.  In an interview with USA Today, Google’s Matt Cutts imparts some of his SEO wisdom to the masses.  From making sure you are properly utilizing you “tags” to creating a blog, take a look at this article to read all the simple steps Cutts suggests in order to get your site in good SEO standing.

Apple recently introduced iAd, a software system that puts ads into the applications available at the App Store. Over the years Apple has gained the reputation that its products are pricey, but they are also innovative, cutting edge, and just plain cool – and usually worth the extra money. Will iAd prove the same? No definitive word on that yet, but one thing is clear, the price tag is certainly keeping with the Apple tradition. With ad space reportedly at a whopping $1 million and even more to get in at the launch, an Apple spokeswoman said the company will sell and serve the ads, while app developers will receive 60 percent of the revenue and Apple gets the other 40 percent. Currently, similar mobile deals are costing marketers between $100,000 and $200,000. Essentially, Apple is charging $10 per-thousand impressions (CPM), as well as an additional $2 every time a user clicks through the ad (CPC) – most mobile ad systems generally charge for one or the other, but Apple has taken it to a whole new level by charging for both.

Furthermore, even though companies are paying big bucks for the space, they will be forced to hand over creative control to Apple (at least for the time-being). According to the Wall Street Journal, “The ads will go through an approval process, and Apple will build the ads itself during the first couple of months to make sure they work well and attain a certain aesthetic and functionality. Eventually, Apple plans to create a developer kit so that agencies will be able to design and create the ads themselves.”

While it is understandable that Apple wants to make sure everything is perfect, not everyone is totally comfortable with the arrangement, “…as a creative director, I don’t feel completely comfortable letting Apple do the creative,” says Lars Bastholm, chief digital creative officer at WPP’s Ogilvy. Aside from questions about the cost and creative control of iAd, marketers are excited about the new outlet. Advertisers will be able to reach a very large audience (According to Apple, it has sold 85 million iPhones and iPod Touches so far and says consumers spend approximately 30 minutes using applications per day) and will be able to target users based on things like download preferences and general location.

IAd is expected to launch on the iPhone and iPod Touch in June and on the iPad later in the year.

Ok, so maybe not the world, but Facebook is taking steps to gain a larger presence on the web.  Facebook announced multiple new initiatives Wednesday at the F8 conference all aimed at one goal: to expand Facebook’s already massive reach even further across the web.

One of the biggest initiatives is to take the “Like” button, which Facebook users are already familiar with, to outside websites.  Facebook has entered into deals with third-party websites (Yelp, Pandora, and Microsoft Docs are the first three to get a test run) that allow the sites to connect users with Facebook even when they aren’t on the Facebook page.  This will let users “Like” a site and share that with their friends even if they aren’t physically on Facebook’s website.  According to their blog Facebook says they are taking these steps to help create a more personalized and user-centered web experience.  Yelp, for example, can be personalized for new users if they have a Facebook account.  Yelp users will be able to see what businesses friends have liked and a feed of their friend’s activities on Yelp (adding pictures, writing reviews, and liking businesses).

Facebook’s co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg notes, “The web is at a really important turning point right now.  We’re building toward a web where the default is social. Every application and product will be redesigned from the ground up to use a person’s real identity and friends.”

Although it is a concern for many, Facebook says these changes won’t affect user’s privacy.   Zuckerberg points out that these new features will show no new information to anyone than was previously visible online.  Only your friends will be able to see what you like, unless of course you have your profile set as public – in which case, it’s all fair game.

So what does all this really mean?  Zuckerberg sums it all up in a blog post by saying, “Today…we are making it so all websites can work together to build a more comprehensive map of connections and create better, more social experiences for everyone.”

Well, when you put it like that, it doesn’t sound so bad…

Twitter made the long-awaited announcement Tuesday that the company will finally be getting into the money-making business.  Twitter launched an advertising campaign that will put contextually relevant “promoted tweets” [read: paid] at the top of its search results pages.  Twitter says these tweets are a lot like a regular tweet and users are able to interact with them in the same ways: replying to them, favoring them, or retweeting them.

So what’s the big difference between promoted tweets and regular tweets?  According to Twitter’s blog, promoted tweets “must resonate with users.”  Unlike normal tweets, users must interact with the promoted tweets in order for them to stick around on the site.

So is Twitter selling out?  No, just trying to make a living.  Twitter points out that all of the promoted tweets are already an organic part of Twitter before becoming a paid advertisement, meaning that the ads start off as normal tweets in the company’s Twitter stream before users ever see them as a promoted tweet at the top of their search results page.

“The idea behind promoted tweets is that we want to enhance the communications that companies are already having with customers on Twitter,” said Dick Costolo, Twitter’s chief operating officer.

Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America are some of the first companies to get on the promoted tweeting action.

Google adds another signal to their search rankings algorithms:  site speed. What does that mean for you?   Possibly, not much.   Google has already implemented the change, so if your site rankings haven’t varied much recently chances are your site may not be affected.  In fact, according to Google, “Currently, fewer than 1% of search queries are affected by the site speed signal.”

While site speed may not hold too much bearing on Google’s search ratings as of now, some of the other benefits of having a quick site may have you kicking your site speed into high gear.  Results from Google’s internal studies reveal what anyone who has ever used the Internet already knows, faster sites make for happier users.   But what they also show is that the speed at which a site loads plays an important role in how much time a user will spend there.

Another advantage of faster sites is reduced operating costs.  O’Reilly’s blog, Radar, sums up some of the presentations from Velocity 2009 Web Performance and Operations Conference including a presentation by Bing’s Eric Schurman and Google Search’s Jake Brutlag detailing the findings of  their independently conducted latency experiments.  Bing found that just a 2 second slowdown lowered requests per user by almost 2% and revenue per user by nearly 4.5%.  Google search discovered that delay of only 400 milliseconds caused a drop in number of searches per user by close to 0.6% and that even after fixing the delay searches per user were still down but just over 0.2%.  This shows that a slow site can negatively affect users behavior even after the problem is corrected.  Check out the whole post here.

The bottom line?  Making your site as speedy as possible has more benefits than just upping your Google search ranking – it also helps ensure your users have a pleasant experience when visiting your site and keeps them coming back for more.

Google has compiled a list of tips and tools to help you make your site run faster.  Check them out here.

First Twitter asked: “What are you doing?” Then they asked: “What’s happening?”  Now the question of the moment seems to be “Where are you?”  Twitter, however, was not the first to ask this question, and they are not the only ones wanting to know our whereabouts. Even though they recently added location tags to tweets, there are many other location-based applications that beat Twitter to the punch.  The recent surge of location-based social networks and applications may prove to be the next big thing in the world of social media.  Location-based services were in the spotlight this week at South by Southwest and the buzz they gained will most likely boost their popularity over the next few months.

For anyone unfamiliar with location-based services, they allow users to announce their location through their phone or online.  Once a user “checks-in” to a location, they can interact with others in the area, read reviews about attractions in the near vicinity, or take advantage of promotions and incentive programs.  These applications are also beneficial for business owners since they can increase store traffic, promote a sale and reward loyal customers.  Location based services allow businesses to create a local connection with customers and engage with them in an entirely new way.

This week at SXSW, attendees were able to navigate the festival with help of various location-based services.  Although Loopt was the first company to launch this type of platform, many companies have since joined the trend.  Foursquare and Gowalla seem to be front runners, however, MyTown has been rapidly gaining new users. Yelp, Where.com and Whrrl3 are also on the scene, and Facebook recently announced it will add the feature in April.

Location-based services gained tremendous exposure at SXSW and they do not seem to be going away anytime soon. As awareness for location-based services continues to steadily increase, we are likely to see a few companies fade away while a couple strong front runners emerge.  The current buzz around these applications due to SXSW may be just the boost needed for these apps to become mainstream.

Although social media has no physical boundaries, online behavior changes from country to country.  In the past few months, a number of studies have been conducted that take a look at the difference in social media usage around the globe.

A recent study by Unica put a stoplight on the difference in North American vs. European social media usage. They discovered that Europeans are not transitioning into the social media realm as quickly as North Americans.  Although 58% of North American marketers are involved in social media marketing, only 34% of European marketers are engaged.  In December, The Nielsen Company chose to look at online habits when compared across individual countries.  While Australia leads in average time spent per person on social media sites, the US and Japan lead in the number of unique visitors.

In the next few years, many factors may cause these findings to change. As internet access becomes increasingly more available, the worldwide internet population will increase, more content will be accessible, and more conversations will be conducted. Advancements in the mobile market allow marketers to engage users without even turning on a computer. Countries that focus on taking advantage of the growth in this market will most likely see an increase in social media participation. On the other hand, factors such as language barriers and censorship may hinder the growth of social media in certain countries.  If China, for example, continues to censor internet content, this will negatively influence their online usage.

A few years ago, when you had a negative experience with a brand, you would share your story with a few friends or family members. In this new era of social media, however, you tweet about it, update your Facebook status, or voice frustration through a negative review on Yelp. With this new way of sharing our experiences, brands are required to become more transparent than ever before.

Instead of fearing review sites or negative discussions on Twitter and Facebook, brands should embrace this new form of dialogue. It not only offers insight on what customers are thinking, but it also provides the opportunity to immediately address negative situations.  Just look at what unfolded this week between actor/director Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines.  Although the story originated on Twitter, it was rapidly picked up by every major media outlet. After Smith tweeted about being kicked off a flight, Southwest immediately took to their Twitter page to address the situation and apologize for how the staff treated him.

When an event such as this takes place, it is in any brands’ best interest to leverage social media networks to quickly respond to customer feedback. Although it is unrealistic and unnecessary for a brand to address every single complaint, customer reviews can be very influential. Most of the time, customers just want to know that their voice is being heard. Brands that embrace this new open forum will be able to engage with customers and strengthen relationships. Deciding when and how to respond to criticism is an important element of an effective social media strategy.

While 106.5 million viewers tuned in to the New Orleans Saints Super Bowl XLIV victory, a great majority also anticipated the creative commercial debuts. This year, many companies topped the list: Snickers featured a football-playing Betty White, Denny’s urged Chickens to lay low, Budweiser created a house completely made of Bud Light cans, and a life-long friendship between a Clydesdale and bull.

But it was Google’s low-production, highly emotive “Parisian Love” that made the biggest impact in the online viewing aftermath. As of February 11, the commercial gained over 3.4 million views on YouTube; the next in line with 1.7 million YouTube views is Doritos “House Rules.”

This year’s Super Bowl boasts viewer numbers so high, it ended the 27-year reign of the M*A*S*H series finale as the most-watched U.S. television broadcast ever. (There were 70 million fewer Americans back in 1983, making Sunday’s Super Bowl technically lag behind the M*A*S*H finale in share numbers.) Still, it’s an impressive feat: as record-breaking numbers of viewers tuned in Sunday, and word spread online, Google’s Parisian Love spot received the most hits.

It’s no surprise that the Google name is so highly recognizable it trumped brand giants like Doritos, Budweiser, Coca-Cola, Volkswagen, Dodge, and Dr. Pepper. As our society forges on with the online revolution, it seems only fitting that Google, the brand that just happens to be a powerful search engine, was viewed more than any others on the Super Bowl 44’s YouTube channel.

15 students from Luther College made a trip on January 18^th to visit LoSasso Advertising in Chicago. As part of a “Marketing to Generation Y” course, the group, led by Business Professor Don Jones, had the opportunity to learn from industry experts and expand their education outside of the classroom.  The course has a strong emphasis on social media and selected LoSasso as their agency of choice because of our expertise in interactive marketing and leadership in the social media arena.

The group spent two action packed days at our agency, gaining valuable insight on the many facets of interactive marketing. On day one, the LoSasso team led the discussion with an overview of the industry along with the history of our agency and transition into the interactive marketing realm.  The day also included a crash course in search engine optimization (SEO) and pay per click advertising (PPC).  Students learned first hand how to build a web presence, launch a targeted social media campaign, and evaluate its success. On day two, students heard from other industry experts.  John Viola, Director of Sponsorships for the Chicago Bulls, talked to the group about the importance of engaging consumers through promotions that encourage connections with a brand. Bill Lemming, VP of Subscriber Mail, taught the students about the e-mail marketing service provider and discussed how to develop and deliver successful email marketing campaigns.

The visit to LoSasso gave students the chance to get a glimpse of the inner workings of a successful agency. Since many of the students will be entering the workforce in the next year, they will soon be able to apply this knowledge outside of the classroom.  The workshop was a great opportunity for them to hear different perspectives and ask questions to industry experts.