Florida’s Think Partnership becoming Kowabunga!

CLEARWATER, FL-- Think Partnership Inc. (AMEX:THK), which sells interactive performance-based advertising networks and technology platforms, intends to seek shareholder approval to change the company’s name to Kowabunga!. The company will commence doing business as Kowabunga! effective today (Feb. 14) Kowabunga! became a popular word in the 1960s surfer culture to describe the exhilaration of riding a big ocean wave. It was already the name of the company’s leading affiliate marketing brand. “We have chosen the name Kowabunga! as our overall company name to emphasize the excitement of our brand value,” said Scott P. Mitchell, president and CEO of the new Kowabunga!.” Kowabunga! provides a comprehensive and integrated set of scalable marketing solutions for both advertisers and publishers. Its solutions increase customer retention and revenues through a diverse set of related marketing channels, including affiliate marketing, click-fraud-protected pay-per-click advertising, lead generation, interactive direct marketing, integrated offline advertising, campaign management, public relations, and branding.

www.clickconsult.co.uk Become One of the First MSN Adcenter adExcellence Members

Cheshire, United Kingdom, January 29, 2008 --(PR.com)-- Leading Internet Marketing Company http://www.clickconsult.co.uk/ have become one of the first pioneers of the new Adcenter adExcellence Programme, with agencies being selected by invitation to take the test, Click Consult was excited to be part of this process, in their opinion the more agencies that can demonstrate that they have the skills required in terms of accreditations the better, similar to the Adwords Professional programme MSN are aiming to ensure that agencies using the platform when using PPC Marketing have the experience and skills in house to ensure maximum performance and skill when managing a campaign on behalf of the client. To Pass the test, the candidates had to achieve a pass rate of more than 80% based on questions set around the Adcenter platform.Managing Director Matt Bullas Commented: This accreditation is just another reason why companies should be using http://www.clickconsult.co.uk/ for there online marketing services. They are finding the much larger agencies who are just focused on growth can find it hard to keep the service and results aspect maintained due to higher staff turnover levels and the costs required to switch the lights on. At Click Consult their growth has been based on building long term client relationships and providing a complete online marketing package whilst retaining and putting focus on their own people. Credit has to be paid to their Paid Search Team for this achievement who are always striving to be part of and lead in industry standards.Established in 2003 www.clickconsult.co.uk is one of the leading UK specialists in online Marketing, with services that focus on Pay Per Click Marketing, SEO (Search Engine Optimisation); see their dedicated site http://www.seoconsult.co.uk/, Email Marketing, Affiliate Marketing & Shopping Feeds. They are positioned in the market place to provide a full online service. With more than 25 Staff of which many are Adwords Professionals their in house expertise is industry leading.

Mobile Phones: A Pocketful of Marketing

There are 3.2 billion cellular connections worldwide, and with the iPhone's launch last year, the concept of browsing the Web from a mobile phone has gone mainstream. Marketers are abuzz about the trend. Consider this: Mobile phone carriers are sitting atop a trove of data--not just your name, address, and, of course, phone number but also credit card information, who your friends are, and where you're located at this very moment. Even with privacy regulations, more of this information will become available to marketers as phones are used more like little PCs, creating opportunities for highly targeted ads and other marketing breakthroughs. Imagine a retailer texting customers with a discount offer whenever they are within a few blocks of a particular store. The mind reels!
How exactly do I advertise on a mobile phone?
The most common type of mobile ad is a display banner served on a Web page called up on a cell phone's screen. When you go to The New York Times' website from your phone, for example, you will see ads like the one for AT&T (NYSE:T) shown here. The ads are created for the site's mobile format and may not be the same as the ads you would see if you were browsing the site on a PC. Ads are priced on a Cost Per Mille, or CPM, basis--the price you pay for the ad to be seen 1,000 times.
To get a sense of what your website looks like on a cell phone, go to Skweezer.net. JetBlue has used the free messaging tool Twitter to provide fare updates to customers.
How do I buy mobile ads?
Most advertisers work with mobile-ad networks, which bring together advertisers and websites that are frequently viewed by phone. Some of the larger players, which are owned by the likes of Nokia, AOL, and Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO), will act as full-service marketing shops. They handle the entire process, including technology, the creative content of mobile ads, and the ads' placement.
What do mobile ads cost?
Because the industry is so young, rates range widely. Third Screen Media and AdMob, the two main mobile-ad networks, charge CPMs of $15 to $25 for banner ads. "The market is trying to find its price points," says Mike Baker, head of Nokia Ad Business, which charges CPMs as high as $75.
What about text messaging?
One option is to buy or rent a short code, a five- or six-digit phone number from which you can send and receive text messages. One common way to use a short code is to publish it on a billboard or in a print ad ("Text 51234 for more information") that encourages customers to enter a contest or participate in a poll.
What does a short code cost?
Cellit Mobile Marketing, in Chicago, and Movo, in Florida, sell short codes for $500 to $1,000 per month, plus a one-time setup fee of a few thousand dollars and a charge of 4 cents to 7 cents for each text message. You can also rent a code for as little as $225 per month. Keep in mind that technological standards vary. Nearly every phone on the market is equipped to send and receive texts, but some systems won't let you embed complex graphics or photographs.
How do I go after my best customers on a mobile phone?
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is expanding into the mobile world, allowing companies to buy contextual ads--ads related to content, like those Google ads you know and love--on the mobile Web. This is being hyped as the next big thing. AdMob claims click-through rates on this type of ad of up to 3 percent, which is quite high. The company doesn't charge by CPM for contextual ads; instead, it charges a cost-per-click fee of 25 cents to 30 cents. Marketers are also experimenting with targeted click-to-call ads on mobile phones.

Paid Search Advertising Drives Microsoft Bid for Yahoo

More "relevant" search results and social media innovations won't solve the problem of Google's dominance in paid search advertising. Microsoft-Yahoo still need to beat Google brand equity and searcher loyalty. Search is a habit. For some, search is an online addiction.
Switching costs may be low --and search engine alternatives are "one click away" - but Microhoo will still need to win over the Google ravers and junkies.
When Microsoft or another suitor finally buys Yahoo , no one need feign surprise. The Redmond giant finally went public with a formal buyout offer because the Yahoo board (sans Semel) won't fight back. The last bid was rumored to be $50 billion. Today's offer comes in at $44.6 billion because Yahoo stock price dropped below $20 per share.
Look for other bidders to force Microsoft to pay a higher premium. While display advertising is a key driver for creating two super-portals on one efficient ad serving and ad management platform, Microsoft-Yahoo would never win government approval unless Google had achieved what some call near-monopoly leadership in paid search.
Yahoo Panama -- Yahoo's paid search auction algorithm and search ad platform would move to Redmond even if the Yahoo engineers remain in Silicon Valley. MSN adCenter is innovative, but Yahoo Panama improved topline revenue -- although not as much as Wall St. and Jerry Yang would have liked.
Some reports had attributed Microsoft's urgency to close a Yahoo deal to Google's successful bid for DoubleClick. Formal negotiations between the two companies are clearly driven by Google's dominance of paid search and share of searches. Today's conference call confirmed that Google's dominance in paid search advertising -- pegged at 75 percent of worldwide paid search share by Kevin Johnson,
The revenue engine that drives search engines is auctioned paid search (PPC) advertising. As Pay-Per-Click advertising has evolved, traditional banner ad networks suffer from consumer banner blindness. That's led to the rise of behavioral targeting, or more accurately, "search re-targeting" -- another key driver of today's deal.
Neither Yahoo Search Marketing nor MSN adCenter has made significant inroads in creating a search management or web analytics platform to rival those of Google. Microsoft's acquisition of DrivePM, for example, through the Aquantive acquisition was immaterial to MSN search and online advertising revenues.
Microsoft and Yahoo have held informal talks for years -- with neither company making inroads against Google. As recently as May, Yahoo has turned down an unconfirmed offer worth $50 billion to Yahoo shareholders. On the call, Steve Ballmer said the companies have been in talks for $18 months, and confirmed that Jerry Yang had nixed his initial offer, citing timing as the reason.
Given Yahoo's share price, it's unlikely Yahoo shareholders will give Yahoo execs more time to turn around the company's fortunes. Terry Semel's resignation from the Yahoo board last night removes the last vestiges of his controversial reign as Yahoo's chief.
So the pundits and reporters who attribute Microsoft's bid to ego -- "stung" by the success of Google's DoubleClick bid -- don't understand the fundamentals of paid search. Steve Ballmer does -- and he knows he can't beat Google without adding Yahoo's critical mass. It's not about winning or losing a bid for a rival's ad serving platform.

VerticalResponse Wins 2008 SmallBusinessComputing.com Excellence in Technology Award for Online Marketing

SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- VerticalResponse, a leading provider of self-service email marketing and direct mail solutions for small businesses, today announces the win of the 2008 SmallBusinessComputing.com Excellence in Technology Awards in the Online Marketing category. SmallBusinessComputing.com is a leading online information resource designed to provide technology solutions for small businesses. Nominees were announced on SmallBusinessComputing.com in November 2007 and winners, determined by reader votes, were announced on January 22, 2008.
"At VerticalResponse, we strive to meet the marketing needs of our customers. We are particularly pleased that this award is voted on by the small businesses we developed our product for seven years ago, and continue to listen to as they help us develop new features and services," says Janine Popick, CEO of VerticalResponse. "This award demonstrates that VerticalResponse is more than email, but an effectual marketing solution for small business."
The online marketing category included pay-per-click campaigns, surveys, social commerce initiatives and email marketing. VerticalResponse, with its comprehensive product, services and educational resources, won their category by a landslide.
"This year, VerticalResponse takes home the gold. The majority of its customers are small e-tailers and they seem to be happy," according to SmallBusinessComputing.com. "VerticalResponse won by a large margin with more than 66 percent of the vote."
In the past year, VerticalResponse has integrated new features such as Google Analytics, and a powerful List Segmentation tool, all while maintaining the same affordable pay-as-you-go pricing model -- ideal for small business. Last year's winner, Google AdWords, placed second this year, with close to 30 percent of the vote.
About VerticalResponse
VerticalResponse, Inc. (http://www.verticalresponse.com/) is a leading provider of self-service email marketing and direct mail services empowering small businesses to create, manage and analyze their own direct marketing campaigns. VerticalResponse's flagship product, which allows customers to deliver sophisticated yet easily deployed email campaigns, is the most intuitive and affordable Web-based direct marketing solution available. VerticalResponse is headquartered in San Francisco, California. For additional information, please visit http://www.verticalresponse.com/.
About SmallBusinessComputing.com
SmallBusinessComputing.com (http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/) is a daily information resource designed specifically for Internet and IT professionals dedicated to providing technology solutions for small business owners. The site features a product testing and review section, a buyer's guide, business tools, daily news for e-marketers and Webmasters, and a free e-mail newsletter. SmallBusinessComputing.com can be found on internet.com's Small Business Channel.