Fox News Chicago had a very interesting special report about a local doctor who sued patients over comments made on Yelp and City Search reviews. As I am not a lawyer, all though I like to play one in my own mind, it is not for me to debate what constitutes for libel and slanderous commentary. However, I believe it is important to stress the new state [emerging state] of our online world.

What you post online in FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, review websites, or your blog can land you in a world of trouble. It is unfortunate that we cannot share our thoughts regarding our weekend without the sneaking suspicion that a future employer may find the information and reject you for a job. It could be worse, you could write a truthful comment about...

There has been so much news in happening on the search engine landscape it's hard to keep up. Search firms, internet marketing professionals, and those in the search engine optimization disciplines are ready for a breather. The really big news falls between the recent announcement of Google and Verizion's [GoogleVerizon ] take on net neutrality and the recent launch of Google Instant. 

The recent proposal has some okay ideas and some ideas that were epic failures. Personally, I don't believe the proposal will go anywhere as it outlines a) the requirement for the FCC to authority and oversight of broadband access services b) paid placement could dominate the Internet c) what is considered "lawful" content can be very subjective d) other noted exceptions that could completely kill freedom of the Internet.

Sure this is pretty troubling...until Google unleashed "...

When you hire on a searchologist or Internet marketing firm to work on your pay per click campaign...you may never know the true importance of your input. Professional search engine marketers [searchologists] bring their knowledge of how to set up, run, create and track pay per click efforts. The knowledge you bring to the table is just as important to the success of the paid search marketing as the information and knowhow professionals offer.

As a professional in your particular market or industry, you will have more insight into what you are looking for and who you are trying to reach out to with pay per click advertising. You will have great insight regarding keywords, demographics, consumer profiles, and prospect profiles. This information you already have about these variables and more will impact the outcome of all paid search marketing.  

Be sure to share as much as you can about who you are targeting, what the profile of a "typical" audien...

Google has announced the Google personalized search experience. If any of you are keeping tabs out there...universal search, personal search, social search, real time search...this is why search engine optimization can be very difficult. Imagine trying to keep up with Google. I'm still not 100% sold on Google's "do no evil" message.

I've been working on a client project recently and I've notices some VERY lame attempts by Google to lure away searching individuals with rather unsavory methods. The same methods that Google frowns on when advertising under competitive brand terms in Ad Words [to a very liberal extent]. Take a test drive for yourself. Type in "circle" for giggles. Take a look at the paid search results on the left side. Do you or do you not see a sponsored ad by Google asking if you are having trouble understanding the word 'circle'.

So, what does this ...

I a fantastic post by Rebecca Lieb, "Here Come The Social Media Carpetbaggers" from Clicks, she discusses the hoard of social media experts who have come streaming out of the wood work with proposals in had and "expert banners" waving. I've said for some time now that social media should be taken in stride and should not be used to generate sales of any type. Sure, if sales "accedently" or unintentionally arise from social media marketing...that is a wonderful thing. If your objective is to accomplish this task it is going to end up a major epic fail.

I find it as amazing as Rebecca does, how everyone and their distant uncle can now execute, build, track, and offer bright shiney success stories about how well they have done for their clients with social media. Much like Rebecca's comments, I firmly believe that if you are going to pursue social media you should do it in house. The cost in human hours to build out socia...

Many business owners I have spoken to have had great expectations about search engine optimization, pay per click, and social media. With this in mind...I wanted to address the reality of what search can do for your business and how you should REALLY prepare. Here is a quick list of Top Ten Search Engine Marketing Expectations Busted by Searchology 101.

1. No one can get you to the top of Google for your top keywords overnight. Search engine optimization takes time...and it can take months to gain higher raking on important keywords.

2. Search engine optimization professionals don't know the "Google Code" to get you to the top of the Google search results. The Google algorithms are a mystery to all but Google. Most SEO professionals know a great deal to get you better natural search results but can't promise top listings for high search terms.

3. The social media craze is not the new search. Yes, social media is very cool and it makes it very easy to stay in touc...

I've been asked many times over the years..."So, how can I go after my competition? Can I use their name(s) in my ads? Can I go after their keywords?" These are vary tough questions to answer and very easy questions to ask. To give you the very simple answer. No, do not go after your online competitors online by using or marketing under their own company or brand names. My reason, do you like it when they do the same to you?

I have had a few lawyers in my day contact my peers to have them cease all online marketing under competitive brand terms. I've personally witnessed red faced lawyers screaming through the phone swearing a holy judgment and legal action to the end of days because of using branded terms and company names to display ads and market online.

To most individuals that are online marketers or searchologists...I say don't do it. Your competitors will figure it our sooner or later and return the favor and you are not going to like it one bit.  To my clien...

An article recently released on Informationweek.com, Google plans to tackle the social search. Soon Google Labs will allow Google account holders to open new accounts and allow their social information to become integrated into Google search results. My first knee-jerk reaction is; oh, boy, here we go...social media is going way beyond the boundaries of providing information up to the second...that is...information ON YOU.

My second reaction [the other knee], was...I'm going to be the first to sign up for this one. Who knows how much will be served and indexed? Will I [we] be able to choose which social channels are posted? Or will it be all for one and one for all?

Once my initial 'shock' was over...this is not a surprising move. The search is all about search results based on keywords, lightning fast and accurate. Why not include A...

There is so much talk, blogs and articles flying around about social media optimization and social media. According to some of my sources, social media optimizaiton has been around for about two years or so. I first read about social media optimization from Rohit Bhargava's blog on the subject of SMO. The online marketing industry moves so fast it can become a full time job just to keep up with it all. Social media added a whole new dynamic to an already complicated and challenging online environment.

I believe that social media is way overblown and too much is being made out of a small splash in the marketing ocean. Let me be clear; there are huge benefits to using social media channels in the right way. If your business model requires new leads on a weekly, daily or monthly basis...don't waste your time, money and energy diving into the social media clown car. Social media shoul...

I've read many articles about how to pick a good search marketing agency or when to dump your search marketing agency...but I have not read much of anything about a client's responsibilities as they pertain to internet marketing. Sure, there are clients who 'know enough to be dangerous' and can sabatoge [unintentionally] online strategies and online marketing efforts. I've personally heard of clients getting dumped because of various reasons but mostly it was due to lack of payments or "knowing better" than the online marketing person or firm.

As this is not a perfect world these things will happen. Conflicts may arise and personalities may clash a bit here and there. For the most part, if both sides of the bench agree on goals, key preformance indicators, expectations, budgets, etc., everything should turn out for the best. It is possible for all parties to come out on the other side with warm fuzzy feelings and sign up for another contract term.

While the above descrip...