White Paper - How to Connet with your Guests through Social Media

Web 2.0 is no longer considered an “innovation”. It’s a standard. The internet is now a place for sharing and social interaction. The smartest businesses in the world are using this social interaction to their benefit – through blogs, streaming video, and online communities, where people come together to trade links, ideas, and information 24 hours a day. There’s a good chance that your hotel can benefit from marketing through social media. I’m going to walk you through some of the ways you can do so, and increase your profits along the way.

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Google Share of Searches Almost 70 Percent [SearchEngineWatch]

Link: Google Share of Searches Almost 70 Percent [SearchEngineWatch].

Google grabbed 69.17 percent of all U.S. searches for the four weeks ending June 28, 2008, Hitwise announced today. Yahoo! Search, MSN Search and Ask.com each received 19.62, 5.46 and 4.17 percent respectively. The remaining 42 search engines in the Hitwise Search Engine Analysis Tool accounted for 1.70 percent of U.S. searches.

Note: Data is based on four week rolling periods (ending 5/31/ 2007, 4/26/08, 5/26/2007 from the Hitwise sample of 10 million U.S. Internet users. * - includes executed searches on Live.com and MSN Search but does not include searches on Club.Live.com.

Official Google Blog: Technologies behind Google ranking

In my previous post, I introduced the philosophies behind Google ranking. As part of our effort to discuss search quality, I want to tell you more about the technologies behind our ranking. The core technology in our ranking system comes from the academic field of Information Retrieval (IR). The IR community has studied search for almost 50 years. It uses statistical signals of word salience, like word frequency, to rank pages. (See "Modern Information Retrieval: A Brief Overview" for a quick overview of IR technology.) IR gave us a solid foundation, and we have built a tremendous system on top using links, page structure, and many other such innovations.

Link: Official Google Blog: Technologies behind Google ranking.

Under Deal With Google, Ads on Yahoo Could Cost 22 Percent More - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog

It’s not a surprise that search advertisers are wary of Yahoo’s deal to have some of its search ads sold by Google. After all, that extra money that Yahoo is hoping to get from the arrangement is coming from somewhere: the pocketbooks of advertisers.

One measure of what sort of effect this will have was published Tuesday morning by SearchIgnite, a company that sells software companies use to manage their search advertising. Its conclusion is that overall, the cost to advertisers of a click from Yahoo’s site will go up by 22 percent if Google sells the ads.

Link: Under Deal With Google, Ads on Yahoo Could Cost 22 Percent More - Bits - Technology - New York Times Blog.

50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing | chrisbrogan.com

Social media isn’t always the right tool for the job. Not every company needs a blog. YouTube worked for BlendTec, but it might not work for your company. And yet, there’s something to this. Over the last three days, I’ve spoken to four HUGE brands in America that are considering social media for one project or another, and there are many more out there working on how these tools might integrate into their business needs. Here’s a list of 50 ideas (in no particular order) to help move the conversation along. Note: I mix PR and Marketing. They should get back together again.

Link: 50 Ways Marketers Can use Social Media to Improve Their Marketing | chrisbrogan.com.

PlanetEye

PlanetEye launched an innovative online travel planning service today powered by Microsoft Corp.’s technology World Wide Media eXchange (WWMX). The new site provides travelers with the convenience of being able to research, plan and book their next vacation.

PlanetEye licensed intellectual property (IP) from Microsoft and collaborated with the company’s research and development teams, along with Canadian entrepreneurs and two venture capitalists, to bring to market a unique and comprehensive travel-planning service for travelers.

Link: PlanetEye.

Hitwise: US travel website ranks, June 2008

According to Hitwise's latest travel report, 37.21% of all visits to the online 'Travel' industry went to the top 10 websites for the month of June, 2008. 46.43% went to the top 20 websites and 67.84% went to the top 100 websites.

Link: Hitwise: US travel website ranks, June 2008.

Online Business Opportunities and Squidoo Lenses

What the heck are Squidoo lenses and how can you relate them to online business opportunities? Squidoo.com is a web 2.0 website that specializes in hosting personal web pages for anyone who has 10 minutes to build one. They are referred to as “lenses” instead of website because each one focuses on a particular topic or idea.

You can create a lens for whatever reason. Whether you want to share your opinion on a particular online business opportunity or just complain about the electric company, Squidoo gives you a quick and easy venue for getting your message out to the masses. It it so easy anyone can do it.

Link: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » Online Business Opportunities and Squidoo Lenses.

Google unveils a Lively virtual world | Technology | Los Angeles Times

As if Google didn't have a strong enough hold on the planet already, today it's launching its own world -- a virtual world, to be exact. Lively, which Google likes to call a "virtual experience," allows you to create an avatar, decorate your own virtual room, invite friends to your room and do things you've always dreamed of, like blow up oil barrels on a deserted island.

Link: Google unveils a Lively virtual world | Technology | Los Angeles Times.