Jim Boykin of We Build Pages, has a new link bait competition, which I am pathetic enough to enter in. Actually it is the first time I’ve seen someone give away prizes in exchange for a link. It’s really not a bad idea, and it’s something I can see Coca Cola or Nike doing down the track with MySpace users or the NBSNS (Next-Big-Social-Networking-Site).

So, I believe all I have to do is put a link here… http://www.jimboykin.com/jim-boykin-720/ and we’re done.

Sorry Jim, my blog’s only been alive for a couple of weeks and I still haven’t linked it from my website yet…so PR a big fat zero at the moment…

I was just reading over at MarketingVOX how the FTC have banned an SEO firm for life. The company, Netvertise, have been banned from promoting or selling franchises or any other business activity. Apparently they’ve been selling their services by making false claims.

So, I went to visit www.mbnetvertise.com/english.htm. Mmm…yes, I see how they were fooling their customers with stunning design, valid code, massive killer portfolio, compelling content – shall I go on? Really, people actually paid $160,000 for these people to make websites for them? You’re ‘aving a laugh…

The latest Nielsen//NetRatings have come out regarding market share for search engines for April. No surprises with Google still leading the pack.

Google has gained 1.5% since March, with Yahoo gaining 0.1%. MSN has lost 2.7% and are at their lowest market share this year.

My registrar has just lowered the price of .com.au’s so we’ve passed the savings on making us the cheapest .com.au.

I’ve done my research and googled “cheap Australian domain names” and we’re the cheapest by $1.99, coming in at $36 for two years.

If anyone can find cheaper Australian domain names let me know. I might just consider a price drop…

Well, I have to say. Well done Microsoft. I can’t honestly remember the last time I said that.

With their new adCenter comes this super new tool for estimating traffic from keywords, by trend, gender and age. As a former marketeer this gets me really excited. I know they are still pathetically general, but for a quick spy it’s excellent.

Unfortunately it will be using American data so not an accurate reflection of the Australian industry, but it is only a guide.

http://adlab.msn.com/ForecastV2/KeywordTrendsWeb.aspx

Also, all of my searches seem to spike in March/April, especially true for people searching for the meaning of life below.