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comScore has released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at the most popular online properties for March 2009.


The month saw the obsession with “tweeting” gain momentum as Twitter more than doubled its visitor base, ranking as the top-gaining property for the month.


“Twitter has certainly become an Internet phenomenon over the past few months, but March represented an especially big gain for the site as it added more than 5 million visitors versus the previous month,” commented Jack Flanagan, executive vice president of comScore Media Metrix.


“With numerous celebrities and media personalities - including Oprah - recently jumping on the Twitter bandwagon, the site shows no signs of slowing.”


Google sites continued to be the most popular property in March with more than 151 million visitors, followed by Yahoo sites with 146 million visitors and Microsoft sites with 122.3 million visitors. Facebook moved up one spot in the ranking to #9 this month with 61.2 million visitors.

Often the measure of effective SEO targeting is considered the ranking in the search engine lists or increased traffic; but neither makes your company more money. The measurable intent of a SEO strategy is the conversion rate; only the process of converting visitors to customers returns the investment in SEO. Three strong techniques for a powerful SEO strategy are:


1. Keywords
2. Content
3. Call to Action

Let’s look at these factors and their relevance to attracting converting traffic i.e. sales.


1. Keywords
The importance of understanding your unique benefits, the drivers for your customers and your competition are all important elements of the key word analysis. I recommend you use these powerful tools for keyword choices, user trends, competition analysis and help optimizing your site:


Google Webmaster Tools

SEM Rush
Wordtracker
Web CEO

The use of software or keyword analysis sites like these will show you additional keywords similar to your suggested list. Spend time researching the keywords used by your potential customers to find products like yours in Google and Yahoo searches. Go for the less competitive phrases as you will rank more easily on Google this way. Then optimize for the most competitive phrases later. There is also a strong belief that a word is not enough, but that real power lies in the long word key phrase, as that begins to filter visitors and increases the possibility of conversion.


2. Content is King
Organic SEO and Internet marketing strategies have long seen the power of the use of content to drive visitors to the site, to influence trust and confidence in the company’s knowledge and experience and to increase conversion rates. Keyword rich articles may increase search engine rankings and even increase traffic to the site, but unless the visitor finds depth in the content they will not stay long enough to convert to customers.


It is important to include a wide range of content sources on your site, from easy to skim articles to more complex and detailed articles and eBooks on subject matter that will matter to your customers. This content will encourage repeat visits to the site, build trust and improve conversion rates.


For example, if your site offers information on movies, find niche areas like cult films or Sc-Fi and locate blogs where fans debate these films. Then offer quality content on the subjects to that blog, include your bio, and a link back to your site. Targeting niche areas with the right keywords is more likely to produce converting traffic and visitor retention.


3. Call to Action
The final leg of the 3 prong SEO strategy needs to be a clear, concise call to action. What do you want the visitor to do? Sign up for a newsletter, order a product, take a survey, and complete a registration. The call to action is the message to move to the next step, the first stage of the conversion process. This is the critical move from visitor to customer. Make it a clear message, keep it friendly but make the action precise, and easy to follow. Offer a trial if it’s a product, or if possible - a free version minus all the best selling bits included in the paid full version. Use your creativity here.


Conclusion
An effective SEO strategy builds customers and revenue. Know your key phrases, build rich and relevant content and make the call to action clear and easy to follow.

Microsoft CEO, Steve Ballmer, and Yahoo CEO Carol Bartz were in renewed discussions last week about a potential search advertising partnership.


According to reports the discussions ranged from Microsoft managing Yahoo’s search advertising business to Yahoo running both companies display-advertising business.


This time the negotiations were not about Microsoft making a bid to purchase all of Yahoo as it did last year for $47.5 billion. Those talks broke down and eventually led to Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang stepping down.


Carol Bartz became Yahoo’s new CEO in January and brings a fresh perspective to a possible deal between the two companies.


Ballmer has maintained publicy that he is still open to some kind of partnership with Yahoo.


“Unless I’m fooling myself, over time I would expect there’s a good opportunity for a deal,” Ballmer told a media conference in New York last month.

The Better Business Bureau is advising social network users to read the fine print when responding to ads on Facebook or other social networking sites.


Ads for weight loss products, work-at-home opportunities and offers for “free” computers can cost users more than they bargained for.


According to Nielsen Online, social networking sites were more popular than email in 2008. Facebook’s 108.3 million members spent 20.5 billion minutes on the site last year. Advertisers are going to where the people are and eMarketer estimates that $1.3 billion will be spent on social networking advertising in 2009.


“People need to use extreme caution and read the fine print before handing over their credit card information to an online advertiser. Just because an ad appears on a Web site they trust, it doesn’t mean they can always trust the advertisers,” said Steve Cox, BBB spokesperson.


“One of the big red flags we’re seeing is ads that link to blog platforms designed to look like a personal testimonial from a satisfied customer. In our experience, if an ad takes you to a blog, it’s best to hit the back button immediately.”


Following are just a couple examples of common ads on social networking sites and what the fine print reveals:


The Pitch: Lose 4 Dress Sizes
In January, BBB issued a warning to consumers about online ads and Web sites that use Oprah’s name to sell acai berry supplements as weight-loss miracles. Despite the warning, these ads are still common on Facebook and MySpace and link to fake blogs such as www.jennylosesweight.com that are designed to look like testimonials of women who lost weight on the acai supplements. Recent research by the Center for Science in the Public Interest identified more than 75 different phony blogs that led to Web sites touting acai-berry supplements as a weight loss miracle.


The Fine Print: The phony blogs link to Web sites that offer a free trial of an acai supplement, and while the customer may think they only have to pay shipping, they could get billed as much as $87.13 every month if they don’t cancel before the trial period ends. The fine print also explains that the trial period begins from the moment the customer orders the supplements and not after they receive the shipment.


BBB Warns: Not only do health experts question the legitimacy of the weight loss claims linked to the acai berry, BBB has received thousands of complaints from consumers against such acai supplement companies because many were billed despite never receiving their free trial or were billed every month despite numerous attempts to cancel.


The Pitch: Learn How I Make $67,000 a Year Being a Stay-at-Home Mom!
There are many ads on Facebook that advertise ways to make easy money from home. Similar to the acai berry ads, the ads link to blogs that were supposedly created by people who made money through a work-at-home program. One such blog written by a “Sarah Roberts” claims that she added “$67,000 a year to my family’s income working 10 hours a week (that’s over $128 an hour!)” by creating Web sites that host Google ads. Another, “www.jasongetsrich.com”, is ostensibly written by the newly married Jason who makes “around $5,500 to $7,000 a month from Google.”


The Fine Print: The blogs direct readers to Web sites for programs such as Internet Money Machine and Easy Google Cash where they can sign up for a seven-day trial access to information on how to make money from home. While the free trial supposedly only costs $1.95-$2.95, the individual will be charged $69.90 every month if they don’t cancel seven days from signing up. The fine print also states that the company does not give refunds.


BBB Warns: Use extreme caution when signing up for a work-at-home job or money-making opportunity online. In 2008 alone, BBB received more than 3,500 complaints from people who signed up for offers to learn how to work from home but were ultimately disappointed. Job hunters should also be aware that while some work-at-home opportunities have the word “Google” in their name and use Google’s logo on their Web sites, they are not actually affiliated with Google.


“Of course, not all ads on social networking sites are misleading and misleading ads aren’t confined to Facebook or MySpace. The point though, is that it’s important that people always read the fine print carefully before giving their credit card information online,” added Cox.

Google has launched Google Services for Websites, a new program that allows partners to offer Google services, including Custom Search, Site Search, Webmaster Tools and AdSense to their users.


The Google Custom Search Blog offers more details. “Partners, such as hosting providers and blogging platforms, can integrate these services into their own management consoles, making the services easily accessible to their users.”


“Google Services for Websites allows partners to create Google accounts, submit Sitemaps to Webmaster Tools, configure Custom Search, and provision new AdSense accounts on behalf of customers. Additionally, partners are eligible for referral fees for certain services.”


“Once Google Services for Websites has been integrated into the control panel, users can configure their Google services in minutes. These services can help increase website traffic, provide site search, and monetize website content. In fact, a number of web hosting providers have already integrated these services into their offerings.”


To learn more about Google Services for Websites you can read the program overview here.

An increasing variety of companies are seeing their business models change as communication services, information and entertainment content moves online.


For many telecom service providers and media companies, organizational survival is at stake, according to In-Stat’s new report, “Monetizing the Internet: Using Web 2.0 Business Models.”


Businesses must do more than just adding functions, such as links to social networking sites, Twitter messaging, chat rooms, and user comments/feedback. These function may help marketing and customer retention, they do not represent a Web 2.0 business model.


“Web 2.0 business models encompass an ecosystem of partnerships, designed to leverage both internal and external knowledge and assets,” says Keith Nissen, In-Stat analyst.


“End to end ownership of the entire business model is a dying breed. Telecom operators, media companies and others must modify their business models.”


In-Stat found the following:


78% of heavy Internet users regularly use two or more social networking sites.


Operators have a key opportunity to provide consumers a “Personal Information Center” (PIC) portal. For example, 66.6% of respondents are very or somewhat interested in aggregating access and sharing of personal images through a PIC.


Personalized content delivery and advertising is a key success factor. Currently, two-thirds of users never click on Internet ads.