Europe May Be The Next Big Search Contender...

Now well all know that Europe is already online, and that there are search engines already in place over there. But what you might not know is that the French president Jacques Chirac has pledged to aid in the construction of a European Internet search engine.

Chirac wants to compete directly with the likes of Google and Yahoo! (two of the largest search engine and multimedia firms in the world). He plans to give loans to one company in particular to insure that Europe is not left in the dust when it comes to the internet and the search engine wars.

The name for this project is "Project Quaero" meaning "to seek". It will be interesting to see what comes of this. Will Google and Yahoo! be pushed to the side in Europe, or will Chirac find himself wondering what he did wrong? We will get more details in the coming weeks and months, and will be sure to update you with whatever we hear/read.

Hurricane Katrina Shows The Power Of The Web

As quickly as Katrina ripped apart New Orleans and a large portion of the Southeast, the internet was a buzz with information. From live pictures to blog posts and chat room discussions, the news was all over the place.

10 years ago, it would have been unthinkable to look to the web for the latest news about any event, let alone a hurricane. But today, the most up to date information is coming from the internet and not just from official news stations.

Not only can you get the latest news about the damage and destruction caused by the storm but you can also make donations at various websites. Although we are in no place to make recommendations as to what site is reputable and which isn't, the red cross is probably your best bet if unsure.

The internet has also proven to save some businesses in the process. There are news papers from New Orleans that are running online only versions of their paper until they can recover from the damage caused by the storm.

It's amazing what can happen in the matter of a day.

Apple Goes Mobile...

There are rumors that Apple is planning to unveil a new iPod cell phone next week. This device would incorporate the ever popular iPod with the, can't leave home without it, cell phone. The phone probably will not look like the iPod, but will however have the iTunes software installed and be able to play your favorite songs while waiting for your friends to call.

Motorola and Cingular Wireless have partnered with Apple in this venture although as of now they won't talk to anyone about it, and won't confirm or deny the rumors. I guess we'll have to wait and see what comes next week (September 7th).

Virus writers found..

It's good to hear that something is being done about the non-stop bombarding of viruses and spam on the internet. Sometimes it seems like these problems are just overlooked, but then there comes a story about 2 guys getting caught for creating these annoying programs.

On Friday August 26th the FBI nabbed two men who were responsible for the release of the Zotob virus that infected some major businesses in the US and around the world. The virus was also responsible for penetrating some local and national law enforcement agencies.

Although it's only two out of hundreds of spammers, at least it's something and will stop at least some viruses that would have been created from happening.

Microsoft Sneaks In an Update...

Microsoft flew under the radar the other day when all anyone could talk about was Google's new Google Talk. Microsoft released MSN Messenger 7.5, which oddly enough for an update only supports Windows XP users.

Microsoft is also trying to get on the voice with messenger service by allowing users to record a short snippet of sound and send it to a buddy. Of course with all the new spam and worm attacks, security was a major feature that was upgraded in this version.

A representative at Microsoft was quoted as saying "At MSN, we have been focused on building MSN Messenger and other communication services for 10 years and continue to invest and innovate,". So maybe this is just one of many updates to come.

Win a Car From Yahoo!

In a pitch to try and make their local search more credible, Yahoo! has started a new campaign that enters participants into a drawing to win a new car, a trip, and other prizes if they review a local establishment. The "Best of Yahoo!" sweepstakes, as it's called, is set on the hopes that people will give valuable information about local places, therefore building the database and credibility of Yahoo!'s local search.

There are over 50 categories for which a person can submit a review. A few of the categories include the best value hotel, best outdoor seating, best family vacation, best "wired hotel", and best cheap eats. When a visitor gets to bestof.yahoo.com they can either vote for an existing place or add a new suggestion.

It definitely seems like a very good way to get credible information from people about the places they have seen and been. Not only does it help the average visitor, but it gives Yahoo! an easy way to build their database in a relatively short period of time.

Google offers an instant messenger...

It was announced late yesterday that Google developed and released an instant messenger named Google Talk. The messenger is free, after a quick signup and agreement to the terms of service you are on your way to chatting with the world. Well that is of course, the Google world at least!

This is what Google has to say about getting started with Google Talk...

Google Talk is a simple and free way to talk with and send instant messages to your friends. Like Gmail, Google Talk uses Google's innovative technologies to help people communicate more effectively and efficiently. Think of it as Google's approach to communications. Read more...

As of now Google says that they will not be posting ads on the IM service, nor will they be logging any chats that happen through their software. We will see what happens in the long run, since this is still the beta version.

We've Updated Our Website...

In an effort to make our website more user friendly we've made some much needed updates. We are not stopping here though. We believe that a good website should adapt over time and the information provided should be kept up to date. So here's a quick overview of the latest updates to the site...

Vision Home Page

It all starts at the Vision Marketing home page. New content buckets and renamed links make it easier to see exactly what you are looking for. We have done away with some of the graphics to give the home page a cleaner, slimmed down look.

Search Engine Optimization

Just like the SEO industry we have modified our search engine optimization area to fit the times. In this area you will find a new glossary of SEO terms which allows our clients to understand some of the language we use on a day to day basis. We then took our SEO FAQ page and spread it out so it is easier to read through and find what you are looking for.

The Vision Blog

And as mentioned in a previous post, we have added this blog to the site. It's now even easier to get to with a link on the side bar navigation of the home page. This is the spot where we will keep you up to date on Vision happenings as well as industry news and/or events.


We hope you enjoy the revisions to the site and welcome any comments and/or suggestions at info@vision-marketing.com

Ebay has some competition...

Alibaba, China's rapidly growing e-commerce website, has been given a major boost by Yahoo!. Yahoo decided to buy into the company, giving them 40% control. With China's increase in the number of internet users not showing any signs of slowing down, this could be a major play for Yahoo!.

Ebay was already having some problems in China with Alibaba, and now that Yahoo! has pumped some life into the company, Ebay could be in for a long hard road overseas.

This will definitely be a site and company to keep an eye on. They don't seem to be going away anytime soon, and could be a household name in a couple years.

To read more about this click here

Peer-2-Peer Biking?

This may seem a little off base with out technology theme, but an interesting idea and something that shows, thinking outside of the box can really go a long way.

There was an article written on Wired.com by Daithí Ó hAnluain that spoke about a new trend in France for commuters. Instead of sitting in traffic and filling your car everyday, putting yourself and your bank account to the test, they have decided to setup a rent-a-bike network. There are about 150 bike stations across Lyon France all setup to allow anyone with a credit card to swipe and bike. The article reports that the first half hour is free which for most people going to work gives them more then enough time to get there without paying anything at all. It costs a total of $1.20 (1 euro) an hour to rent. Compare that with the ever rising cost of gas and who wouldn't sacrifice the luxuries of a car for a free ride?

Imagine this system setup in New York. With gas at or above $2.50 a gallon, taking a bike for free or for $1.20 an hour would probably be something to look forward to. Not having to sit in traffic every morning and to be able to drop the bike off and not have to worry about where you left it or if there will be a parking spot.

There are endless possibilities when we forget about what everyone else is doing and look at a situation from a different perspective.

Google offers more stocks...

Google plans to sell over 14 million shares of class A stock. No one is 100% sure of exactly what they plan to do with the income generated from this sale. Google themselves stated in their SEC filing, “we may use proceeds of this offering for acquisitions of complementary businesses, technologies or other assets.” This leaves room for a lot of speculation as to what businesses they plan to pursue and what technologies they have up their sleeves.

Google recently has seen a lot of competition from Yahoo! and MSN search. Just last week Yahoo! announced that they now have “20 billion indexed web pages and web files in its search engine”, which almost doubles Google’s last count of just around 11 billion. This would leave some to speculate that perhaps Google is planning to use some of those proceeds from the stock sale to do whatever is needed to increase their index.

As always, we will keep an eye on Google to see what they are up to.

Time to Update...

Steadily increasing the content and number of pages on your website will help drive traffic to your site. How? Search engines love sites that are updated frequently, that they can go back to and re-index on a regular basis. The more frequently your site and/or pages are crawled by the search engines the better chance your listings will have of rising to the top. Contact a Vision Marketing SEO specialist today to find out what we can do to help you out with this.

We're Blogging...

Vision Marketing is now part of the ever expanding blogging community. We intend to post information regarding our company updates as well as news from the marketing and advertising industry. Check back often to see what we are up to.