Facebook Redesigns Site, Shifts Ad Placements - ClickZ

Link: Facebook Redesigns Site, Shifts Ad Placements - ClickZ.

Facebook this week began rolling out a long-anticipated redesign that aims to rein in application clutter and streamline the site's appearance. With those changes come some shifts in advertising strategy.

The primary differences will be where the ads are placed and how they are grouped. "The new placements give advertisers new options and a meaningful space for ads, while being useful and unobtrusive," the company said in a release.

Our September Hotel Cast 2.0 is up!

We're a little early this time around...great Social Media content....all good stuff

Listen to Podcast Lodging Interactive's HotelCats 2.0

SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » Flash is Still Too Flashy for Competitive SEO

Link: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » Flash is Still Too Flashy for Competitive SEO.

June 30th 2008 was a day that Flash developers had been waiting for a long time; Google and Adobe had finally announced that Flash .swf files could be crawled by Google! In fact, the extensive news release from the Adobe Developer Center also stated that Yahoo would be incorporating similar technology in short order. When I read this news and the consequential articles from the web marketing community it became very clear that this update was a great step but far from the fix that some Flash developers are likely to pitch to their clients. As a result, I wanted to add my voice to the buzz on this topic and share with you my thoughts on how to optimize a site using Flash while considering the current updates.

New Tool From Facebook Extends Its Web Presence - NYTimes.com

Link: New Tool From Facebook Extends Its Web Presence - NYTimes.com.

SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook, the rapidly growing social network, unveiled some new features on Wednesday as it works to broaden its reach online and to recalibrate its sometimes contentious relationship with the thousands of developers writing programs for the service.

NYTimes.com and LinkedIn Pair for Targeted Ads and Content - ClickZ

A new deal in which LinkedIn users reading some sections of NYTimes.com will see news items related to their profiles, will enable the newspaper to target LinkedIn members with ads according to their professional information.

Link: NYTimes.com and LinkedIn Pair for Targeted Ads and Content - ClickZ.

The View From Google Knol - Analytics - InformationWeek

Google (NSDQ: GOOG)’s answer to the Wikipedia encyclopedia, Google Knol (short for Knowledge), launched earlier this week to some fanfare, at least from cash-strapped authors and other subject-matter experts.

Link: The View From Google Knol - Analytics - InformationWeek.

How to Use Local Events to Drive Qualified Traffic to your Hotel Website

As a hotel, one of the most difficult aspects of marketing is finding your target audience. A hotel can satisfy the needs of many different demographics, and simply marketing to the general public is not as effective as marketing to specific groups of people. Your chances of success increase dramatically if your marketing is specific to a certain group or groups of people. This means that your marketing, and specifically your hotel’s website, needs to be as focused as possible to deliver the most potential guests to contact your hotel.

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SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » Optimizing YouTube

Link: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources » Blog Archive » Optimizing YouTube.

social networkingWhy is making videos an effective way to market your business and/or product? With hundreds of videos being uploaded to YouTube daily, it’s not surprising that thousands of videos are also being viewed daily. Many viewers watch YouTube as their main source of information, news and entertainment.

Google Watch - Google M&A - Google Buys Omnisio to Boost YouTube Ad Sales

Have you ever grabbed a YouTube clip and wanted to tweak it for your Web site or blog?

Google said on its YouTube blog today that it has acquired Omnisio, a startup that lets users customize clips of YouTube videos with tags and comments.

Link: Google Watch - Google M&A - Google Buys Omnisio to Boost YouTube Ad Sales.

How to Connect 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.

Link: How to Connect with Your Guests Through Social Media.