Research performed by Samuel Ieong, Nina Mishra, Eldar Sadikov, and Li Zhang of Microsoft and Stanford University provides an interesting fact for how human behaviors affect the choice of search results when it comes to domain names.

Is there really Domain Bias in Web Search?

This paper uncovers a new phenomenon in web search that we call domain bias — a user’s propensity to believe that a page is more relevant just because it comes from a particular domain. We provide evidence of the existence of domain bias in click activity as well as in human judgments via a comprehensive collection of experiments. We begin by studying the difference between domains that a search engine surfaces and that users click. Surprisingly, we find that despite changes in the overall distribution of surfaced domains, there has not been a comparable shift in the distribution of clicked domains. Users seem to have learned the landscape of the internet and their click behavior has thus become more predictable over time. Next, we run a blind domain test, akin to a Pepsi/Coke taste test, to determine whether domains can shift a user’s opinion of which page is more relevant. We find that domains can actually flip a user’s preference about 25% of the time. Finally, we demonstrate the existence of systematic domain preferences, even after factoring out confounding issues such as position bias and relevance, two factors that have been used extensively in past work to explain user behavior. The existence of domain bias has numerous consequences including, for example, the importance of discounting click activity from reputable domains.

 Domain Bias

• 44% of direct mail is never opened. That’s a waste of time, postage and paper.
• 86% of people skip through television commercials.
• 84% of 25 to 34 year olds have clicked out of a website because of an “irrelevant or intrusive ad.”
• The cost per lead in outbound marketing is more than for inbound marketing.

Inbound marketing focuses on earning, not buying, a person’s attention, which is done through social media and engaging content, such as blogs, podcasts and white papers. This content is interesting, informative and adds value, creating a positive connection in the eyes of the consumer, thus making him more likely to engage your brand and buy the product. So it costs less and has better a ROI.

This infographic from an infographic design agency,Voltier Digital highlights the differences between the two kinds of marketing

A sitemap is more than just a list of links on your website that makeup the “site” , it’s an easy way for the search engines to get a taste of what your site is about.

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First, Create your Sitemap

If you need help creating your initial sitemap, there’s a lot of free sitemap generators out there to get you started with your initial XML sitemap.  After you create your sitemap, save it to your website.  Keep in mind, you’ll want to keep your sitemap updated as often as you make changes to your website, then ping the search engines to tell them to look for the update.

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Tell the Search Engines When you Update your Sitemap

If your website, blog or content management system doesn’t already “ping” the search engines and update your sitemap automatically with your new updates and content, we offer this as a free service to our clients. We generate your website’s sitemap from the outside using our own website ‘crawler’ just like the search engines.  We then save this in an open format where the search engines can interpret and process it. We then tell the search engines with a simple ping, that they should take a look at your sitemap and note any changes.

Keep in mind, like everything else you can do all this yourself but we’ve perfected it and it’s just a basic part of our service.   If you want to do this yourself, the search engines have a special URL for you to go to.

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How to Ping Google

Google is definitely the dominant search engine, and you will want to tell the “big G” when you make any updates or changes to your website.  Google also has a sitemap tool in their Google Webmaster tools area.  If you haven’t already created your Google Webmaster account, you should.  There’s a lot of valuable data out there and you can track when they crawl your site and how many of your links are in their index..

The ping url is:

http://www.google.com/webmasters/sitemaps/ping?sitemap=http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

You should receive a message stating that your sitemap has been successfully added to their list of sitemaps to crawl.

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How to Ping Bing / MSN

http://www.bing.com/webmaster/ping.aspx?siteMap=http://www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

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How to Ping Ask

http://submissions.ask.com/ping?sitemap=http%3A//www.yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

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Where’s Yahoo!?  Well, as of March 2011, they shutdown this service because they’re integrating with Bing, so use the Bing link.

Notes:  ? – may or may not perform this function.  /  No – probably do not have ability.  + Local phone numbers are available in the metros of Kansas City, Oklahoma City, Las Vegas, New York, Atlanta & Los Angeles.  Please contact us if you have a region you would like covered.

The fact of the matter is, Converg Media offers businesses the best search engine visibility services available.  We adapt to change easily and when new media methods are exposed (such as social media) we engage our clients and consult with them to determine what options are best for their situation.

Now it looks as if Internet advertising is set to take over take print advertising in the United States. According to a survey by research firm Outsell Inc. of more than 1,000 US advertisers, companies plan to spend nearly $120 billion on online and digital strategies, from search engine keywords to seminars on the web, while they plan to spend about $112 billion on print strategies such as newspaper and magazine ads. (http://www.outsellinc.com/press/press_releases/ad_study_2010)

“Advertisers are directing dollars toward the channels which generate the most qualified leads and most effective branding. As they emerge from the recession, they need more accountability, and they’re spreading their spending over a widening set of options,” said Chuck Richard, Vice President and Lead Analyst, Outsell.

If the forecast holds true, the U.S. will follow the UK, which became the first major economy where advertisers spent more on Internet advertising than on TV advertising, with a record £1.75bn online spent in the first six months of 2009, according to guardian.co.uk.

The .com world may only be 25, but as the shift in advertising dollars shows that it is growing up fast.

By utilizing our own back-end content delivery network (CDN), Converg is able to easily distribute and offer value-added services of local content to these properties in the form of:

• Local Movie Listings
• Local News
• Local Calendar of Events
• Hotel and Travel information
• Local Weather
• Advertising Engine
• Local Business Directory Services

Each property that we manage has unique differences and offers different challenges.  Our automation and SEO services easily improve local search placement for specific categories and ultimate added value to the customer.

Some properties under our management and / or development include:

KCMetro.com – A Kansas City Metro portal for the greater Kansas City area.  We offer the management of all the advertising services, news content aggregation, movie listings and directory content management.

OKC.com – As “the” Oklahoma City Community portal, we provide the backend Advertising management engine, local aggregated news content, local movie listings, directory content management and other value added services specific to Oklahoma City.

BattleCreek.com – A work in progress, we will offer similar services above but have some additional exciting changes.

Cumberland.com – A similar work in progress, this property will flow with local geo information regarding Cumberland.

LasVegas.NV.com – Local to Nevada, our services will concentrate on the challenges of providing related content and local information for both tourists and hometown Las Vegas visitors.  This also includes all the major cities of Nevada such as Carson City, Reno and Henderson.

The study says the biggest winners among interactive platforms will be social media and mobile marketing platforms. Over the next five years, social media is expected to enjoy a 34% annual growth rate (compounded annual basis) with mobile marketing increasing by 27% a year. That means social media would explode from $716 million in 2009 to $3.11 billion by 2014.  Mobile marketing would zoom from $319 million this year to $1.27 billion by 2014.

Online Display Advertising is Outpacing Traditional Media

Online display advertising is expected to go from $7.83 billion this year to $16.9 billion in 2014 – a 17% annual growth rate.  Today’s 800-pound gorilla, search marketing, is expected to grow more slowly, but still a very

healthy 15% annually, which would take it from this year’s $15.39 billion to $31.59 billion five years from now. Email marketing is projected to go from $1.25 billion to $2.08 billion – an 11% annual rate of growth.

Budget Readjustments for Traditional Media

To show just how bad things are going for the traditional media platforms, a corollary report from Forrester says budgets for old standbys like television, print, radio and magazines, along with staff and training expenses and branding/advertising expenditures have been slashed by two-thirds from last year’s levels. When it comes to media and advertising, the Internet is obviously where you want to be.

See also:

More Advertisers Turning To Internet

The majority (92%) of advertisers are using Internet advertising in their media campaigns followed by print advertising at 88 percent, according to a new LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll.

At the same time, less than half are using radio advertising (46%), television advertising (46%) and mobile advertising (39%). The Harris Poll found there is a regional difference as advertisers in the South are more likely to use radio advertising (57%) and television advertising (56%) while those in the West are least likely to use both (39% each).

Among those advertisers who are using each of these types of media, there is a difference in the level of usage since last year. Three-quarters of those who use Internet advertising (74%) say they are incorporating it more often while 69 percent of those who use mobile advertising are using it more often compared to a year ago. Unsurprisingly, the largest drop is with print advertising as half (49%) of those who use it are using it less often compared to a year ago while 41 percent are using it the same amount.

Of those who use Internet advertising just 14 percent say they use it in a standalone campaign, while 54 percent say the use it in an integrated campaign with other media and 33 percent use Internet advertising in both types of campaigns equally.

Four out of five advertisers who use Internet advertising use it as a branding device (79%) and two- thirds use it to drive information gathering for an offline transaction (65%). Slightly less than three in five advertisers (58%) use Internet advertising to drive online transactions while 57 percent say the use it to promote community around their brand.

Internet users find many aspects of online advertising very annoying. The majority (80%) say they find ads that expand on the page and cover the content very frustrating while 79 percent say ads where they can’t find the close or skip button are very frustrating.

Three-quarters of consumers (76%) find Internet ads that automatically pop up very frustrating while two-thirds (66%) say ads that open if they are “moused over” are very frustrating. Three in five consumers find both animated ads that automatically start playing and ads that play music and/or have loud soundtracks to be very frustrating (60% for both).

“Although the trend among advertisers is clearly towards the Internet, advertisers have to walk a fine line,” the study concludes.

At least three in five consumers are very frustrated with six of the main Internet advertising characteristics, and there is the potential to see a backlash forming. To be successful, those that advertise on the Internet will need to come up with more engaging ways to connect with consumers.  This is where Converg Media comes in, we bring the convergance of different media type into your advertising campaigns.

See also:

The Doom of Traditional Media  
Inbound Marketing vs. Outbound Marketing

Make money with Converg Media’s SEO Experts…

Converg Media can help make you money. We produce SEO results that businesses love. Every client we help positions our customers for profit! If you buy SEO services from us, it will improve your bottom line.

We have another way to increase your profits:

Producing higher search engine placement for you isn’t the only way we can help you prosper. We have an unbeatable reseller opportunity. If you would like to offer unparalleled SEO services to your customers, it’s time to join forces with us.

This is how it works…

You sell our SEO services to your contacts and customers. You can do it in your own name, without even mentioning the Converg Media SEO team at all! Meanwhile, we will be in the background, producing SEO results that will keep your clients happy and your pockets full.

Just contact us and let us know how much work you expect to generate, and we will quote you, the reseller, the best possible discounted rate for SEO Services.

You quote your own price to your customers, and keep the difference as pure profit. Your customer never deals with us and never knows what you are paying. They pay you and credit you with the fantastic SEO Services they receive.

We can provide online support whenever necessary; our resellers handle localized support needs. You can go one step deeper and secure your own resellers, too!

This is why it works…

Our rates are spectacular. One of the reasons we are willing to offer such great rates is because we can deal in volume. We give fantastic rates to our resellers, who can then sell SEO services at a healthy profit. All you need is a good front-end; we handle everything else.

Our SEO reseller deal is even more attractive when you consider the massive demand for this service. Online business continues to explode, and every new start up has one thing in common — the need for Search Engine Optimization. The online economy generates thousands of new potential customers every single day!

This is who can make it work…A reseller opportunity in the SEO field is a potential winner for just about anyone. All you need to do is recruit the business and take the payment. We take care of the rest. It’s a perfect chance to sell something everyone wants without having to invest a great deal of time or energy in the process!

Are you looking for a part-time way to generate additional income? A SEO reseller relationship with Converg Media’s SEO Team is a perfect solution for anyone.

Are you already in the SEM/SEO business? Advertising agencies and graphic designers can use our reseller plan to handle customer needs with a profitable margin when they otherwise might have to turn down jobs due to time constraints or infrastructural expenses. We can handle overflow work or serve as a productive yet inexpensive part of your SEO team!

Do you work with other web businesses? If you are a designer, programmer, hardware seller, content producer, internet marketer or have any other links to the online business world, our SEO reseller plan is perfect for you. You can put a wonderful opportunity in front of your customers and clients. They receive a great attention and give the credit to you, while you turn a nice profit in the process. And it’s all nearly effortless!

Our current resellers are having a great deal of success selling our premium SEO services. You can be a successful SEO merchant almost overnight by teaming up with the Converg Media SEO Team. Contact Us and join in the profits.

Hard to believe?   This is the magic of article marketing, one of the last remaining effective marketing methods that is absolutely free and Converg Media takes that manual overhead off your plate!

Once we submit your article to our hand selected list of article directories, these articles will be used by numerous webmasters in their own sites.   Not only will this build your reputation as an authority in your field, but it will also provide you with free incoming links whenever your articles are used, considerably improving the Search Engine positioning for your site.

Identifying good article directories and submitting to as many of them as possible is the key to wide popularity and subsequent success — and this evidently is not an easy task!

We will manually submit your article to multiple article directories.

Sounds incredible?   Here is what we will do for you…

• 100% manual submission – High acceptance rate
• Submission to selected SEO friendly, high page rank directories
• Separate unique author accounts for your submissions
• Screen shot proof of each submission

What we DO NOT use:

• Automated submission tools
• Multiple submission spamming
• Banned directories

We will submit your articles manually to each of the article directories from unique author accounts customized according to your specifications. As proof of submission, we will send you a report containing screen shots of each submission showing the respective article directory submission form with the contents of your article to be submitted.

We offer a unique opportunity for your company and website to become highly relevant.

In regards to the latest Google Panda update(s), it only helps our clients because it eliminates all the search engine spam out there.  Google makes about 500+ updates to it’s algorithmic logic  every year.  The only companies that need to be concerned with those changes are the companies that are doing things to “game” the search engines.  Those changes do tell us what’s important to Google and other search engines .  It forces companies to understand the latest trends and what they can do to participate (example: instant messaging via twitter updates, etc.).