A few months back I wrote about Lively, Google's attempt to dive into the virtual world space. Apparently that dive was more like a belly flop as they have already decided to pulled the plug on the site after only a couple of months. From my brief experience with the app, it's probably a smart move by GOOG.

Right place, right time.  A moment none of us will soon forget.

I got an interesting email from Dell today. The subject line read, "Is it something we said?" which of course, caught my attention (score one for Dell - engaging subject line). So obviously, I open the message and come to find out that Dell has been noticing my recent trend of hitting the delete key on their messages before opening them (score another for Dell - mining customer email trends). The message then contained a two-question survey about what I would like to see from them in their emails, as well as when I may be in the market to purchase a Dell product. (Note: I hate when companies ask that question, but realize why they do it. Still hate it.)  So I took a few seconds, filled out the survey, and essentially told Dell, "Hey, we're still pals...just been a little busy lately." It was the least I could do, considering they noticed me ignoring them and extended the olive branch. That's probably why I'll end up buying another Dell when the time comes.

This past week, YouTube rolled out a sponsored video service for advertisers in their continued effort to develop monetization strategies for the video giant.  It only makes sense, I suppose, that Google is seeking to create some revenue from the site since purchasing it for $1.65 billion two years ago.  The sponsored videos work in a similar fashion to Google AdWords, with advertisers bidding on terms and YouTube serving up the advertiser's video content based upon the on-site searches.  Given the newness of the medium there aren't a lot of examples on the site yet, but I can see where this could be of value to certain "visually stimulating" verticals (auto, entertainment, for example).

Search Engine Watch wrote a piece recently about sticking with an SEO strategy when the market tanks.  Sometimes, a few simple and inexpensive optimization strategies can provide a tasty return - which is especially important in an economic period where marketing budgets are being cut faster than Vikings quarterbacks.

It's been a little while since I last checked the W3School's browser stats, but what I saw today was quite eye-opening.  Apparently, IE and Firefox are now running neck and neck, with Firefox gaining 8% in the last year.  Here are the October '08 stats...

....compared to October '07

Expect to see that 3% Chrome number keep growing as well. 

Q: In search marketing, what is a keyword effectiveness index (KEI) score?
A: The KEI compares the number of times a keyword has appeared in search with the number of competing web pages to pinpoint exactly which keywords are ideal for an SEO campaign.  Said another way, high KEI scores represent low-hanging fruit from an SEO perspective.

Q: Does Click Rain use KEI scores?
A: Why, yes....yes we do. They've proven to be a good tool in identifying areas of opportunity in search.

Q: One final question. You are electric?
A: Yes, I guess I am.

Below is an interesting quote from a recent article on Profy regarding the presidential candidates site layout effectiveness:

Don't underestimate interface design and the impact it can have on user engagement. If the McCain camp had only put the same emphasis on online contributions as they did on video views....

The Argus Leader, Sioux Falls leading (and only) daily newspaper, recently started using Twitter to micro-blog local high school football games. Going a step further, they even have a web interface that aggregates their tweets from various games across the region.  While many organizations struggle to figure out how to best utilize social media tools to further their business objectives, the Argus is proving that they want to be early adopters by using Twitter in an innovative and effective way.  Kudos.