Monday, March 10, 2008

Google Index of Gasta Search Network By popularity

Google index of gasta search network shows how effectively Gasta has maximised its global reach. Surprisingly on Google rankings Gasta Ireland lags behind some of the newer domains, while Gasta China, and Gasta India outperform even the UK Engine.


Google Index of Gasta Search Network By popularity

14,300 Gasta China

4,590 Gasta International

2,990 Gasta Japan

1,330 Gasta Europe

1,420 Gotagshare

1,420 Gotagspot

1,220 Gasta India

736 Gasta UK

397 Europasearch

395 Gasta Austria

363 Gasta TV

275 Gasta France

272 Baroneracing

263 Surfni

241 Gasta Germany

171 Gasta USA

232 Gasta Money

156 Gasta Spain

112 Gasta Ireland

101 Gasta Travel

19 Gasta South Africa


Yahoo Index of Gasta Search Network By popularity

(4,330) | Inlinks (426) Gasta International

1,764) | Inlinks (258) Gasta UK

1,458) | Inlinks (116) Gasta Ireland

(868) | Inlinks (51) Gasta USA

(806) | Inlinks Baroneracing

(530) | Inlinks (55) Gasta Europe

(410) | Inlinks (51) Gasta Austria

(359) | Inlinks (50) Gasta India

(312) | Inlinks (51) Gasta China

(261) | Inlinks (49) Gasta France

(247) | Inlinks (51) Europasearch

(243) | Inlinks (52) Surfni

(240) | Inlinks (51) Gasta Japan

(225) | Inlinks (49) Gasta Spain

(208) | Inlinks (49) Gasta Travel

(207) | Inlinks (51) Gasta TV

(110) | Inlinks (48) Gasta Germany

(101) | Inlinks (49) Gasta Money

(5) | Inlinks (45) Gasta South Africa

3) | Inlinks (41) Gotagshare

(5) | Inlinks (45) Gotagspot

(2) | Inlinks (9) Gasta Italy


Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Gasta SEM Basics

Some consider SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) synonymous, interchangeable terms. This is not the case. In fact, SEO is a subset of SEM. Although most SEM's perform traditional SEO services (organic site optimization), SEM is generally part of a broader gamut of internet marketing.

The marketing side of SEM involves advertising and target marketing in order to draw traffic to websites. This includes, but does not only pertain to:

Pay-for-inclusion - the SEM firm manually submits your site to applicable search engines and directories. Submission fees are required for submissions to search engines and directories. Many SEM companies guarantee your site will be indexed by the search engines within a short period of time.

Trusted Feeds - when there is no page to crawl, or a site is working off of dynamic pages drawn from a database, they are impossible for spiders to see and index. Trusted feeds send out this dynamic content via XML format so that it can be indexed by the search engines.

ROI tracking - the SEM firm tracks statistics gathered from marketing channels to show ROI trends.

Email Marketing - the SEM company sends out email adverts typically targeting customers related to the SEM's client.

Traditional Ads - Ads are displayed on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Ads are based on keywords entered in the search and fees are triggered by impressions (you pay for the ad even if it's not clicked through).

PPC- generally these are text based ads, where the copy is written by the advertiser. The advertiser places a bid amount, choosing the fee they are willing to pay when the ad is clicked through.Typically, the higher the bid, the better ranked the ad will be in the SERP.

SEM has its advantages in that your site can obtain instant traffic increases if the campaign strategy is successful. But relying solely on the marketing side SEM has its disadvantages. It can be expensive as costs will accumulate from ads and PPC. Furthermore, these marketing tactics do not necessarily guarantee stickiness of your site. Search engine marketing may drive initial traffic to your web pages, but this traffic increase will be short term if your pages are poorly laid out and contain weak or irrelevant content. Websites need to be well written, from both a programming and aesthetic perspective.

The intricacies of search engine marketing combined with search engine optimization can also be an overwhelming task for any firm. While a large SEM company may be able to handle the workload of both the marketing and SEO side of the business, specialization will most likely provide better results.

SEO is a more technical process than SEM and involves a deeper understanding of search engine algorithms. An SEO firm also sets out to optimize your site for peak performance organically, so that it is seen and listed in the search engines on an ongoing basis. The organic search engine optimization process of SEO is one of the main factors that separates SEO from SEM. Organic search engine optimization provides free search engine positioning, instead of pay for results.

An SEO company tends to have more understanding of website design, programming, and how search engines work. SEO company staff is typically made up of programmers and website designers.

If you were to separate the marketing side of SEM from SEO and compare the two, SEO maintains a better overall ROI than SEM. Sixty percent of top search engine listings are devoted to organic listings. In most cases, a good SEO service is all your site needs to drive traffic to it.

Search Engine Optimization is by no means a simple practice. It is made up of a number of complicated in-depth processes and requires an ample amount of time to comprehend its core facets. Moreover, because SEO is an ever changing industry, keeping up with the latest SEO trends can be difficult. For these reasons we have compiled a list of some of the most important SEO practices to be aware of. This is by no means complete, but should serve as a general guideline.

Change is necessary
One of the misconceptions about SEO is that it will automatically improve a site's ranking within the search engines without necessitating changes to that site. Unfortunately this is not the case. An SEO firm that claims it can mysteriously make a site perform better in the search engines without modifications is not practicing ethical standards.

In order to index websites, search engines send out spiders, or bots, to visit a site's pages. The spider learns what the site is about by 'reading' the site's content, so it can place the site into the appropriate context. Spiders analyze the main body content, as well as content located within the Meta tags. One of the perks to this process is that the more relevant the site's content, the better the rating it receives. Therefore, sites laden with pertinent, text rich content are favored above sites that do not incorporate such strategies.

At the basic level, a true SEO service needs to analyze then apply changes to a site's content, optimizing Meta data and the main body with relevant keywords and phrases popular within that site's vertical. For this reason, site's built predominantly with Flash are simply not as effective in the search engines, because the spiders have nothing to read. If you have a Flash entry page, make sure there is an HTML version available as well.

Contact your SEO service before you update
It's very important to communicate with your SEO service before implementing changes to your website, unless you are 100 percent certain you know what you're doing. Even the slightest alterations can affect your site's rankings in the search engines; when spiders revisit your web property and discover things have changed, it can be for the better or for the worse.

There are numerous instances where clients accidentally overwrite previously optimized work without realizing it. This is a simple mistake, but it can be a costly one. For instance, you may accidentally replace optimized elements in the Meta tags or body content by using older or newer templates that are not optimized properly.

Site redesign is an even more crucial matter. Redesigning your website can be a scary undertaking since it will no doubt affect your site's position within the search engines. Even if you're comfortable making small changes to your website, contact with your SEO practitioner before you implement the new site is imperative because you are typically overhauling the whole thing. Your SEO will be able to offer vital information and the technical assistance required to make this complex process a success.

Monday, March 03, 2008

Gasta.TV up for aquisition?

Gasta.TV up for aquisition? You might think so after reading this from Greg Sandoval


The plight of the music industry has played out like a 1970s disaster film, the kind where the principal characters declare that nothing on earth could threaten their state-of-the-art luxury liner or superstructure.

Crash! Cut to people gasping for air or scrambling for a seat on the lifeboat. That's where the record labels are now; scrounging for technologies and business models that can keep them afloat.

To their credit, the four largest music labels have experimented with a range of ideas. They have finally opened up to the idea of selling MP3s--compressed audio files of songs that can be downloaded from an online source and then stored and played back on a digital music player. They also are dabbling in ad-supported music and have talked about launching a jointly owned subscription service.

Meanwhile, piracy continues to flourish. CD sales continue to tumble. Some top artists, including Radiohead and Nine Inch Nails, began distributing their own music last year, Paul McCartney quit EMI, and Madonna jumped to a concert promotion firm, Live Nation, and an alternative business model.

Half of all music sold in the U.S. is expected to be digital in 2011 and sales of downloaded music will surpass CD sales in 2012, according to a recent Forrester Research report titled "The End of the Music Industry as We Know It." Digital music sales will grow at a compound annual growth rate of 23 percent over the next five years, reaching $4.8 billion in revenue by 2012, Forrester says. However, digital music sales will fail to make up for an ongoing decline in CD sales, which, by 2012, will be reduced to $3.8 billion, according to the report.

So the music industry has its work cut out for it. This is how we see the next year shaping up in the digital music scene.

Gasta News: EU to make net safer for Children

The European Commission is spending 55m euros (£42m) on making the net a safer place for children.

The money will be spent over four years on educational efforts and ways to protect children from inappropriate content and cyber bullying.

It will also research the ways that children use the net on computers and other devices such as mobile phones.

The broad-based project will build on the Safer Internet Programme the EU began in 2000.

Action plan

"As more and more European children and adolescents use online technologies at home or at school, they, their parents and their teachers need to be informed about the opportunities and risks they face," said Jose Barroso, EC president in a statement.

Gasta SearchMatch hits the Spot for SBO's

Gasta Views: SearchMatch hits the Spot for SBO's

Enabling small business owners to launch campaigns on large publishers' sites could be the next million dollar idea.

From automotive and restaurants to carpet cleaning and hotels, a large percentage of us are involved in a business where the local owner/operator is vital to our success. But stepping out from the argument of corporate-knows-all vs. all-business-is-done-locally for a moment, we can all agree that there would be a tremendous benefit to getting these local operators online in a local, customizable fashion that drives real ROI. Sadly, the largest and most advanced portals and networks have neglected this market -- and millions of dollars have been lost as a result.

Currently as small business owners (SBOs) get out their wallets and try to "finally launch an ad campaign online," they find that getting someone to take their money can actually be a challenge. For an SBO who turns to a major portal with his entire quarter's ad budget, $5,000, the money is turned away because of minimums. The result is no different when soliciting the help of most major ad networks. My goodness! We have someone here willing to spend $5,000 and no one will take it. Are times that good?

Microsoft buying Yahoo shows that times aren't that great for everyone. It could be said, "Jay, it takes us the same amount of effort to write an order for $2,500 as it does $25,000, and we just can't be profitable running hundreds of small campaigns." But think about it: Google has built its business on $2,500 campaigns, and they're eating competitors' lunches so badly that Yahoo has to be bought to compete, and you "can't afford" to take that business? Large publishers need to look now for profitable ways to take SBO campaigns. Here are a few steps that could push large publishers in the right direction.

Partner with a flash ad generator
Search any form of "flash ad creation" and you'll find dozens of folks who have created software that takes flash templates and allows laymen to instantly create customized variations. Some portals already offer this, but they should leave pride and effort-spent-to-date behind if better solutions exist. Most SBOs are used to stepping out of their comfort zone and doing things themselves. Building an ad from a template builder will be easy for them, and can be done in a controlled environment for you.

Open up your API, or build one
Buying, placing and loading campaigns can all be automated, and this is the key to profitability on the publisher end. Sure there will need to be some manual oversight for delivery purposes, but one person should easily be able to handle hundreds of campaigns. From there, educate the SBO on campaign optimization and put it on them; but, provide an 800 number in large print at all times. This is one mistake Google has made, and I believe it is a key source of the frustration users feel toward the company.

Be fully transparent with targeting and placement disclosure
The No. 1 targeting desire for most SBOs is geographic; usually involving one or multiple specific ZIP codes. Anyone who has done the research knows this is simply not possible by IP and must be done with registration data or user input. SBOs are surprisingly understanding when it comes to limitations like these -- if those limitations are clearly explained to them up front. It's when expectations aren't properly set to begin with that frustrations brew and animosity sets in.

Because the user would be responsible for placement and creative optimization, an aggregate data library of best practices for vertical and placement would go a long way toward ensuring repeat business by giving SBOs useful data and information to improve their own results.

Work with resellers
The eBay model works. Embrace those that will be power users and help them make you more money. We work with dozens of companies in multiple verticals whose franchisees are 100 percent ready to make the leap into online as long as someone is able to liaison between them and the publisher. In fact, we could have easily brought over 1,000 campaigns of between $2,500 and $5,000 to a publisher by now -- and that is just our company! When $2,500 turns into $2,500,000, might publishers think and act differently?

The reality is there are hundreds of agencies, consultants, and leading speakers who are well-known and trusted within their verticals. Providing a higher, private level of support to these influencers and connectors creates value at the reseller level, minimizes time spent re-explaining the same thing to 100 different SBOs and motivates everyone in the same direction. Of course, accepting SBO credit cards for campaign pre-payment and paying the resellers immediately would seal the deal toward partnership and profitability.

Let this be an open call to agencies and corporate marketers with a horse in the local retail race. This is an initiative you can't afford to ignore. The first major portal or ad network to create a cleanly-branded content solution with the acceptance of third-party ad serving from its resellers will have trouble finding bags big enough to cart away the money. Our network of franchisees and dealers in multiple verticals alone would make this effort worthwhile, and I would imagine there are another 50-100 companies just like us. At a time when two goliaths are having to join forces to stay competitive, is there anyone who can afford to ignore one thousand payments of $2,500?

Jay Friedman president of Goodway 2.0

Friday, February 29, 2008

Gasta News, Adconion Media group receives investment of $80m

Gasta News Venture Capital: Good News for European Online Ad advertsiser Adconion


Adconion obtains record venture round in Europe

26 February 2008: Adconion Media Group, Munich, one of the world’sgrowing online advertising networks, has announced a £40.9 million (US$80 million) Series C round of venture funding. The financing is the largest online media venture investment in European history.

The investment was led by Index Ventures, who were joined by existing investor Wellington Partners, and represents the first investment made from Index’s recently announced growth fund. The capital will be used to continue expansion into Europe, US and Asia, strengthening the company’s position as an independent player. In addition, capital will be invested in Adconion’s behavioral targeting technology and also to fund selected acquisitions. Index partners’ Dominique Vidal, former CEO of Yahoo! Europe, and Giuseppe Zocco, the firm’s co-founder, will join Adconion’s board of directors.

“Adconion has the relationships, the expertise and the best in class technology becoming of a future market-leader in technology’s hottest growth sector,” says Dom Vidal of Index Ventures. “Our experience as investors in the advertising space enables us to support Adconion in continuing its rapid expansion throughout Europe and North America and to further build its global presence. As online media becomes more fragmented and as agencies look for more independent partners for solutions, we believe ad networks like Adconion are perfectly positioned to capture more advertising spend.”

“At the risk of sounding clichéd, the modern business landscape is irrefutably global in scale and that is due primarily to the opportunities created by the Internet,” says Adconion founder and CEO Tyler Moebius. “Agencies choose to partner with Adconion because their clients are likely in a position where doing business internationally is either ‘business as usual’ or a strategic opportunity for growth. This substantial investment from Index and Wellington will position Adconion alongside the portals on marketer’s short-lists for global distribution partners.”

“Tyler and his team have done an outstanding job building a truly global online advertising network,” says Frank Boehnke of Wellington Partners. 'We are very excited to continue to work with Tyler and Adconion on one of the most exciting growth stories in the global marketplace.”

Gasta News On Venture Funds Europe

Gasta News On Venture Funds Europe

http://www.tornado-insider.com

Similar to previous years, European venture capital activity has started off with a bang this year. Already over 170 technology investments have been recorded, raising approximately €920 million. And there is more to come, judging by a series of successful fundraisings by Europe’s investors. This past week alone, 4 successful closings of new funds were announced.

German early-stage venture capitalist Target Partners announced the first closing of its new fund, Target Partners Fund II, at €61.5 million. The firm received commitments from private individuals, family offices and institutional investors, including Morgan Stanley, LGT Capital Partners, Bayerische Beamten Lebensversicherung, RWB RenditeWertBeteiligungen and CS Strategic Partners. The new fund has a target size of €120 million. It will mainly invest in start-up and early-stage companies from the German speaking countries, with sectors including IT, communications, Internet, media and clean-tech.

UK venture capital firm TLcom Capital also held a first closing of its second fund, TLcom II. Funding commitments were in excess of €50 million. The target size of the fund is €150 million. The new fund will focus primarily on revenue-stage technology companies across Europe. Returning investors, European Investment Fund and Access Capital Partners, have been joined by Italy-based Finlombarda Gestioni SGR - the investment arm of the development agency of Lombardy - and a group of limited partners associated with IDeA Alternative Investments. IDeA AI is an investment initiative recently launched by private equity group Investitori Associati, Wise and DeAgostini. TLcom II expects to invest in 12 to 15 companies over the next few years. A second closing is planned later in the year as the fund is now also talking to other institutional investors.

Meanwhile, Finnish venture capitalist Inventure completed the first closing of Inventure Fund Ky. The fund focuses on early-stage high-tech investments in the Nordic countries, primarily Finland. Investors investing in Inventure are European Investment Fund and Finnish Industry Investment, in addition to several undisclosed institutions and private investors. The current closing is completed at €35 million and has a final target of €50 million. Inventure aims to invest in 15 high-growth companies with significant value creation and return potential. The firm targets innovation clusters such as software, electronics, semiconductors as well as industrial production and material technologies.

Concluding, 360° Capital Partners announced its final closing with more than €100 million under management. The European Investment Fund, AGF of Allianz Group, Banca Sella Group and Natixis are the main new investors in the venture capital fund. It will invest in European companies, mainly in France and Italy. The new shareholders are joining CDC Enterprises, Credit Suisse – Alpha Associates, Partners Group, Gruppo Banca Intesa San Paolo, Wilshire Associates, Paul Capital and Coller Capital, who had already committed in the first closing which took place last year. 360° Capital Partners invests between €2 and €5 million in first or second rounds of financing of high-growth innovative companies operating in segments including ICT, Web 2.0, diagnostics/medical devices, and clean tech. 5% of the fund is dedicated to seed-stage companies.


Google Automatic Matching no Match For Gasta SearchMatch

Google Automatic Matching no Match For Gasta SearchMatch,

Gasta SearchMatch is offering real value to advertisers in this poor economic climate.

Michael Estrin of Imedia Connection writes:



On the heels of reports that Google has seen a drop in its paid click business, news has broken that the search giant has quietly unveiled a new program designed to use up unspent search marketing dollars.

According to a New York Post story, Google is testing a new feature called Automatic Matching.

News of the test program first broke on SEO Fast Start when the blog posted an email from Google to one of its AdWords customers.

"Automatic Matching automatically extends your campaign's reach by using surplus budget to serve your ads on relevant search queries that are not already triggered by your keyword lists," the email read. "By analyzing the structure and content of your website and AdWords campaigns, we deliver more impressions and clicks while maintaining your current CTRs and CPCs."

While Silicon Valley Insider points out that some SEO experts like SEO Fast Start are being overly harsh with respect to Google's test program, the timing of the news appears to be the big problem, with some marketers accusing the search giant of grasping for every last cent of their ad budgets at a time when overall business may be slumping.

"Whether Google's intention is to expand the advertisers' untapped opportunities or not, timing is everything and at this time on the surface it appears that Google's only motive is to monetize additional clicks," said Mark Simon, VP of industry relations for Didit, a search-marketing firm. "My suggestion to Google is to communicate the expanded opportunities to search advertisers and let them decide whether they are willing to invest in them at the risk of potentially reducing their ROI metric."

According to Chris Winfield, president of search marketing firm 10e20, ROI, not total budget, is the only real issue.

"I would have no problems spending more money if I'm getting more return on my investment," Winfield told the New York Post. "If I'm just spending more money and it's not high-quality traffic, then that's a problem."

In its email to AdWords customers, Google cited an example for the search term "adidas." According to Google, the new program would match customers with keywords on its traditional list, which includes terms like "shoes" and "athletic," but it also would match with terms like "slippers."

Whether searches for "slippers" will mean anything to those marketing adidas remains to be seen.

A quick Google search for "slippers" yielded no natural results for adidas on the first page. However, the search did return one ad for adidas sandals on sale at Shoes.com.

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Gasta Big Snap Campaign News

Microsoft will launch a six-figure competition-based marketing campaign for Live Search next week as it attempts to boost the search engine’s user numbers.

The ‘Big Snap’ campaign is a partnership with Virgin that offers prizes including Virgin Atlantic flights whenever people use Live Search.

Based on the card game Snap, search results will also display cards that, when turned over and matched with another, win a prize.

The campaign’s digital agency, Thin Martian, has also developed bigsnapsearch.com to support the promotion.

Paul Davies, MSN and Windows Live marketing director, said, “Searching is the second-most popular online activity after email and this campaign is designed to enliven people’s everyday search experiences. We wanted to create a compelling mechanic that would motivate and excite users while driving traffic and increasing query volume on Live Search.”

Live Search has 3.5% of the global search share, according to COM Score, behind Yahoo! (13.1%) and Google (66%).

Gasta Blended Search

COOPER on Search New Media NMA Daily Alert 21/02/2008 05:05

... The prevailing wisdom is that brands should produce multimedia content in order to provide compelling user experiences online. But will it soon be the case that they have to do so to remain visible in search results?

Engines, as with Google’s Universal Search and Ask’s 3D, are increasingly displaying multimedia results in their natural listings. Is this putting more pressure on brands to develop extra content like blogs and videos?

This was one of the subjects brought up regularly during conversations at Search Engine Strategies (SES) London this week - what pressures are being put on advertisers and SEO specialists to make sure they remain above the fold?

I’ve always liked the concept of blended search, as its being increasingly termed, but the conversation has moved from understanding what it is to how to make the most out of every bit of content - video, audio, images - a brand has.

There’s now a feeling that blended search is posing tough questions for some brands, a point raised in today’s NMA Podcast.

If you’re promoting a Hollywood blockbuster, naturally you’ll have videos, images and great online content, with a budget the size of a mountain. But is it the same for, say, B&Q?

Is this creating a division between those advertisers that have the resources and those that don’t? Does every advertiser need to have a blog, a video, multiple images, in order to remain visible?

I think once Universal Search results become more common, a lot of brands will suddenly realise SEO just got that little bit harder.

Thursday, February 21, 2008

Gasta to Attend Scottish Technology Showcase 08.

Don't miss this chance to do business with some of Scotland's leading technology companies at the Scottish Technology Showcase 08.

Being held on 27 February at the SECC in Glasgow, the 2008 showcase will comprise of 3 distinct zones:

  • Technology Zone - 72 innovative technology organisations will demonstrate their products and services to representatives from a range of industry sectors, all looking to do business.
  • Opportunity Zone - Hear 5-minute presentations from exhibitors outlining a specific business need with the objective of identifying individuals/organisations that can help meet this requirement. If you think you can help meet a need then follow up with exhibitors at their stand.
  • Meeting Zone - pre-book a number of 20-minute meeting slots with exhibitors ahead of the Showcase, encouraging interaction on the day. The online meeting request system, powered by Kanyo, is now available, enabling exhibitors and delegates to arrange meetings.

All aspects of the Scottish Technology Showcase 08 have been designed to make it easier for both exhibitors and delegates to make new contacts and do business. In addition to the 3 Zones will be the popular Marketplace cafe, providing further networking opportunities.

Attendance is free but registration in advance is required.

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Gasta Launches:Gaelic and multi-language Search

Gasta is proud to add a new multi-language implementation across it network. The new platform has extended multi-language support for a vast number of languages.
Currently we will provide Gaelic, French, Spanish, German, Japanese and Simplified Chinese support. Other languages deployments take less than one hour to incorporate and we will roll out new language support as our partners demand.

Gasta launches new search platform

Gasta launches new search platform

Gasta has rolled it’s new search platform. Stuart Manning said “We are redefining how users search on the internet by breaking the traditional paged based search mould. Instead we are providing a new rich interactive application approach, allowing the user to search unlimited web, video, images and news on one page. Added to the search are bookmarking and history tools to help make those searches easier to find again.”

We have enriched the user experience with social bookmarking, recent search history and all-in-one page search. We believe that more and more search engines will follow this route and users understand the new language of web 2.0 and break away from traditional paper-based hyperlinking and move to application based search.

Our new engine also provides potential search partners like ASK or Google better information as to the nature of our site and already we are seeing increased page indexing for each site using our test site www.mysearchmachine.com.

Gasta Platform is now a rich web application that utilises the best of the web 2.0 technologies. We have rebuilt Gasta from the ground up to be an extensible white label product that can be quickly deployed over our partner network.

Thursday, February 07, 2008

Gasta Tech News: Mobile TV

Mobile TV is not that far away, Gasta.com has been looking at the leading companies that are ready to offer the middlepath software to enable mobile devices to become Mini television recievers.

Mobile TV services are based on two different technologies: the incumbent 3G-based services and the now emerging DVB-H-based services. Axel Technologies' solutions enable mobile TV services based on both technologies. The company's flagship product, Salmonstream Mobile, enables the implementation of full digital mobile TV service based on DVB-H. In addition to comprehensive middleware products, the company develops user interface software that supports several digital television standards.


Gasta Tech News: Mobile Email for the Masses

Mobile Email for the Masses

Until recently, mobile email use has been limited to business users who can afford to buy an expensive smartphone and are willing to accept a costly data plan. But there have been strong signs over the course of 2007 that the age of mobile email for the masses is upon us. The combination of the adoption of industry standards enabling push email on mass market feature phones and affordable service plans is set to make mobile email for the mass market a reality. Evidence of this shift is seen in particular in emerging markets, where fixed-line infrastructure is limited and PC penetration is low, whilst mobile phone penetration is soaring.

The mobile operators in emerging markets now have the opportunity to make the mobile phone the primary method of accessing the internet, with mobile email probably being the most popular application for both business users and consumers. As a result, I can see mobile email consumption in the emerging markets of Asia, the Indian subcontinent, the Middle East, Africa, and Eastern Europe leapfrogging the 'developed world' in Western Europe and the U.S., which will mostly remain limited to high-end business user email.

However, to make this happen, it is important to use middleware that can support the majority of the mobile phones that are already out there in those markets. Communication only works if it can be sent and received; so, by using standards such as IMAP (LEMONADE), SyncML, and email-to-SMS conversion, we will see email and synchronization services extended to every single mobile phone on the planet.

While we are all drawn to sexy new devices such as the Apple iPhone, the fact is that smartphones represent only a tiny portion of the addressable market. The vast majority of phones in use today (and in the foreseeable future) are mass market feature phones. Therefore, it is essential for service providers to offer push email and synchronization solutions that work well on the phones that are already in users' hands today. In 2008, the time is right for mobile data pricing plans to fall and, as customer numbers increase, we will start to see mobile email becoming the next generation SMS.

*Source: Visiongain Mobile Email Market Report

Monday, February 04, 2008

Gasta News: Google to Aquire AOL?

Imedia has a story about a rumour, Gasta News picked up this rumour before but the latest development by yahoo/microsoft makes it even more interesting now.

News of Microsoft's unsolicited bid to buy Yahoo may have far-reaching implications for the mergers and acquisitions frenzy that has come to dominate interactive industry headlines. According to a report in The New York Times, a redrawing of the industry landscape could put AOL in play.

While rumors have long circulated about AOL's parent Time Warner looking to spin-off the internet giant, a united Yahoo and Microsoft -- still a big if -- could prompt Google to reconsider its position with respect to AOL.

Google, which handles search for AOL, already owns a 5 percent stake in the company.

Gasta Advertising: CPA model

Gasta CPA Model is proving more and more popular.


Mason Wiley: Writing on Imedia Connection

Advertising on social networks can be very expensive -- with little payoff. Here's an easy solution to this cost problem.

Social networks are commanding attention -- for good reason. Millions and millions of people visit them daily (and to many an employer's chagrin, hourly). Given the sheer number of users and their length of stay, the big social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook and others should be an advertiser's paradise. But they're not -- yet.

Ironically, the huge number of impressions generated by social networks poses challenges for advertisers. For example, buying all those eyeballs on a cost-per-thousand (CPM) ad model can be prohibitively expensive for many. And unlike sites centered around a specific interest, social networks attract so many different types of people that targeting is difficult. Behavioral targeting offers promise, but hasn't yet evolved to the point at which it can guarantee a positive ROI.

A new ad model has emerged that can. The cost-per-acquisition model (CPA) provides advertisers with a guaranteed way to ensure ad efficiency, while also opening the door for social networks to monetize more of their traffic.

The benefit of CPA for advertisers
The CPA model is ideal for social networking sites because it eliminates virtually all the risk for advertisers of buying on a CPM basis. As a performance-based model, advertisers pay a fee only for the results their CPA campaign generates. That result can be any transaction specified by the advertiser. For example, an advertiser places a CPA campaign on ESPN.com. Rather than paying for all the people who see that ad, the advertiser only pays the publisher for each user that not only clicks on the ad but also follows through and completes the desired action as defined by the advertiser -- anything from an email submit or qualified lead to a sale or paid membership.

Through its 1:1 ratio of pay-per-action, CPA changes the rules for advertisers. The need for narrow targeting to eliminate ad waste becomes irrelevant since there is no waste. Similarly, there's almost no possibility for click fraud since advertisers only pay for results. And unlike CPM, the results of a CPA campaign are directly verifiable through tracking technology, which enables advertisers to determine which ads convert and which do not. For example, an A/B test of landing pages can be measured against the actions completed via any number of creatives or landing pages as well as the conversion processes. The path to purchase is easily tracked back to the source, including the placement of the original creative.

But the single greatest appeal of CPA for advertisers is that it is performance-based. With advertising costs directly tied to results, it provides them a way to advertise with full accountability and control. Advertisers simply establish the actions -- signups, sales, leads, etc. -- they want to reward, and establish how much they're willing to pay. If online publishers think the campaign will generate sufficient response with their audience base to meet revenue goals, they can choose to run the campaign.

Certainly, by running campaigns based on the promise of a potential future reward, publishers are taking a risk. But given that CPA campaigns are more aggressively focused on generating response than the many revenue-sharing campaigns available, it's a gamble that has been paying off for them. Now, social network publishers are finding that CPA can pay off for them, too.

The benefit for social networks
Like any publisher site, social networks want to maximize advertising revenue. Cost-per-thousand is the most prevalent model they use to do it, and it seems to make sense because CPM focuses on the number of impressions generated -- and these sites generate a lot of them. The problem is that these impressions come from an incredibly broad cross-section of the population, many of which can be irrelevant to a given advertiser. As mentioned above, although these sites generate billions of impressions, targeting the right ones is challenging. While targeting users based on where they have clicked (behavioral targeting) can help improve the odds, it is by no means an exact science or a guarantee that a sufficient number of users will perform the desired action.

These inherent challenges under the CPM model have limited the appeal of social networks for advertisers. The result has been a tremendous surplus of excess inventory that despite all best efforts just can't be sold. And a lot of those billions of impressions have gone un-monetized. But now that's changing thanks to CPA.

With CPM, the advertiser assumes the risk by paying the publisher for uncertain potential results. In CPA the publisher assumes the risk by running ads for uncertain potential payments. But when its remnant inventory at issue, the publisher runs no risk; it is inventory that would otherwise go unsold. So it only stands to reason that a social networking site will make more money running CPA ads on remnant inventory than it can just selling space based on CPM alone.

Conclusion
The CPA model is not new, but it has evolved to be a highly cost effective way for advertisers to use social network sites, and an effective way for social networks to generate increased revenue. And new widgets and applications are emerging for social networks that can make CPA even more powerful in the future.

Gasta Keywords: most popular sales

Tip: Gasta Keyword Sales such as loans, mortgage,credit cards, holidays, cheap flights, hotels, used cars,are often found with the prefix 'online' more companies are using the tagline gasta keyword=
in their advertising literature and paper adverts. This is good news as gasta gets ready to launch the new web.20 version of the site with enhanced advertising features and more opportunities for campiagns. check the new interface below on http://www.mysearchmachine.com
TOP Keywords
UK engine only.
Commercial Mortgages, Computer Accessories, Computer Training, Corporate Events, Corporate Training, Credit Transfer, Data Recovery, Discount hotels ,Gold card, Home Finance, Investment Advice, Loan Specialists, Marketing, MasterCard, Mobile Games, Mortgage Deals,Mortgage Finders, Online Betting, Online Bingo ,Online Bookmakers, online Dating,

Friday, February 01, 2008

Gasta News: Microsoft to buy Yahoo for $44.6bn (£22.4bn)

Microsoft has offered to buy the search engine company Yahoo for $44.6bn (£22.4bn) in cash and shares.

The offer, contained in a letter to Yahoo's board, is 62% above Yahoo's closing share price on Thursday.

Yahoo cut its revenue forecasts earlier this week and said it would have to spend an additional $300m this year trying to revive the company.

It has been struggling in recent years to compete with Google, which has also been a competitor to Microsoft.

"We have great respect for Yahoo, and together we can offer an increasingly exciting set of solutions for consumers, publishers and advertisers while becoming better positioned to compete in the online services market," Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer said.

Chairman quit

There has not yet been any comment from Yahoo.

Its chief executive, Jerry Yang, announced on Tuesday that he intended to lay off 1,000 staff as part of a restructuring plan.

Terry Semel, who stepped down as chief executive last June, also quit as non-executive chairman on Thursday.

Microsoft said that Yahoo shareholders could choose to receive either cash or shares.

Yahoo shares have fallen 46% since reaching a year-high of $34.08 in October. They rose 54% in pre-market trading.

"Ultimately this corporate marriage was forced by the rise of Google, which has grown into a serious competitor for both Microsoft as a software company and Yahoo as an internet portal," said Tim Weber, business editor of the BBC News website.

"It is a shotgun marriage, but the person holding the shotgun is Google."

'Exorbitant premium'

According to its letter to Yahoo, Microsoft attempted to enter talks about a deal a year ago, but was rebuffed because Yahoo was confident about the "potential upside" presented by the reorganisation and operational activities that were being put in place at the time.

"A year has gone by, and the competitive situation has not improved," Microsoft's letter said.

But there has been some concern about the price that Microsoft is offering.

"To me, the premium seems exorbitant, for what is a dwindling business," said Tim Smalls from the brokerage firm Execution LLC.

"I personally don't see how the synergies of Microsoft-Yahoo is going to take on Google."

Other analysts were more enthusiastic about the offer.

"It is a fantastic offer. It is game on," said Colin Gillis from Canaccord Adams.

"This consolidates the marketplace down to Google versus Microsoft. These two companies will be going head to head."

Gasta search convergence

The Register reports that Microsoft is to acquire Norwegian business search engine company Fast Search and Transfer for 6.6bn kroner ($1.23bn)

The software giant said it would pay 19 Norwegian kroner a share for the Oslo-based firm, which represents a 42 per cent premium to the closing share price on 4 January, the day before Microsoft stepped in with its bid.

Fast's board of directors and nearly half of its shareholders have already voted in favour of the buy-out and urged its remaining shareholders to accept Redmond's hefty offer.

In recent months Microsoft has beefed up its Web 2.0 intentions by investing in a number of data centres inside and outside the US as it clambers for a larger chunk of the search engine pie.

The Fast deal, which should be completed in the second quarter of 2008 subject to the usual regulatory approvals, will give the firm tailored internet search functions for corporate customers that include the likes of United Parcel Services and Deutsche Telekom AG.

Publicly-listed Fast said it welcomed the arrival of the Bill Gates jamboree, perhaps unsurprising given that in its last set of results the firm reported a third-quarter loss of $100m.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Gasta Video:Prepare for Web 3.0

This is a facinating article by Phil Cooper about the advance of video and (UGC) user generated content on the Internet

Gasta.com has just launched its own unique video services great for 'mash up' mixs and 'speeding through' every body wants the 15 minutes of fame.

Prepare for Web 3.0


Phil Cooper, CEO, Utarget Networks

Video continues to expand rapidly online. This new market has been driven by users, both consuming and generating video. Professional digital producers, big and small, are now responding to this user demand by delivering their content online. Short form video is proliferating on the open internet and this may well extend to long form video content. Advertising is becoming the main revenue model to propel this market. Walled garden services may well become submerged under an open internet video tsunami.

Doubters should look at the US market to see the large amount of video now online. But advertising on US TV is holding up compared to the UK. Online spend over there remains proportionally only half that of the UK. So we’re behind the US in putting video online (by about 18 months) but, it would seem, ahead in the web encroaching on TV. It seems UK users are moving from TV to online particularly quickly. ITV and other commercial channels are finally responding to the threat as convergence looms ever larger.

Utarget is proud to have launched the UK’s first online video advertising net work in June 2006 and to have since led the growth of the UK video ad market. YouTube has demonstrated the huge user interest in video but has equally high lighted the problems in monetizing uncontrolled and variable content. In contrast, we represent video ad inventory across top tier websites offering quality content. As of this month, we’re pleased to include the leading online video pioneer, Blinkx, within our network.

Other networks and major sites now offer targeted streamed placements for video advertisers around well produced short and long form content. In addition, there are video players supplied with rich syndicated content, such as Roo Media and Brightcove (as well as our own ad supported player). Through such players we have sites where video is the hero. These aren’t traditional text based sites but broadband TV channels. Most are ad funded but some are brand sponsored. They’re the future of online and show the video market growing and maturing.

Video ads will become the key format for brand advertisers online. They’re increasingly attracted to video ads as the online format that uniquely offers the impact and reach of TV. Our experience is that online usage is evolving from lean forward to more laid back due to the browsing of online video. It will never be couch potato but new media specialists will increasingly have to compete against big agency TV departments as the two media converge.

From our market position, Utarget is now seeing a sharp upturn in overall video spend in the UK. Test budgets are rising to £20,000 and more clients are willing to invest by equipping their agencies with creative of appropriate length for online. Expect this to rapidly accelerate. We predict that a large part of TV will be distributed online by 2010.

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Gasta Advertising

GASTA WEB 2.0

We will soon be launching our next generation web.20 multimedia search, this version is almost complete and has simple push button administration areas that control search feeds, adverts, links, and keywords, all linked by our InstantLinks, InstantAds, and SearchMatch products. Gasta disseminates information and like an electronic amoeba spreads the information across networks, when a search is made on Gasta the search keyword is collected and collated for popularity, the most popular keywords are then added to the list of Gasta directories; this is all carried out in quantum nanoseconds (on the fly). Web marketers and SME’s then have the opportunity to create an IntantLink ™ to that directory. Users can also bookmark videos, images, webpage’s, and view their search history.

This is a new innovation in web directories and dynamic linking, and part of the new exciting Gasta interface. Gasta’s new interface is designed to give the maximum use of directories but at the same time make easier to use the search tool. Having morphed from an old school directory like Yahoo, Gasta has now harnessed the minimalist elements of Google and tied these to the directory listing by popular keywords. This is very new and very creative design for the launch of Gasta web2.0 with the additional tools of predictive search assists, playlists, and transparent search history we give the user more power to search faster, and more precisely.

Please feel free to have a look around http://www.mysearchmachine.com

And let us know what you think, we would like the opportunity to discuss future strategies partners and individuals.

Gasta & Baidu.com Inc

This is the latest search engine reach report from Gasta news, Baidu the robot that crawls gasta in eastern europe for results is growing at a phenomenal rate, as is the China net market.


SHANGHAI (Reuters) - Baidu.com Inc led China's search engine market in last year's fourth quarter with a 60.1 percent share, research firm Analysys International said on Friday.

Google Inc came second with a 25.9 percent share, followed by Yahoo China with 9.6 percent, it said in a statement.

Baidu's fourth-quarter market share was roughly unchanged from the previous quarter. Google Inc, meanwhile, gained 2.2 percent in the fourth quarter from the third, and has launched a mobile short message search service.

China's search engine market reached 946.6 million yuan ($131.3 million) in the fourth quarter -- almost double from a year earlier -- and was dominated by Baidu, Google and Yahoo China with a combined share of nearly 96 percent.

China had 210 million Internet users at the end of 2007, second only to the United States, and the population would become the world's largest at the beginning of this year, Xinhua news agency said this month.

Monday, January 28, 2008

Gasta , Fidel Castro "Globalisation:the new atomic bomb"

In an interview with The New Yorker magazine in 1999 Fidel Castro said that "Globalisation was the new atomic bomb" we here at Gasta HQ had a debate at the time about what that he could mean, we thought it might be a statement about the enviroment or an isolationist nightmare, but what is now apparent is that Fidel Castro was talking about the big bang of communication. Information is now spread so fast across the globe that a blip on the economic markets in Asia/Europe or one of the other 'emerging markets', can cause a nerve jangling pulse in the market worldwide, everybody is watching everything! We in Belfast are famous for our corner boy politics, now we have our corner boy economists and doomsayers! The recent credit cruch is a typical example of the 'rush to fear'; financial journalists and the media as a whole have been quick to deny any cause and effect of their reports, but every force has an opposite and althought the media may not have meant to start a run on the Northern Rock, they did! Is this the new atomic bomb that Castro predicated? Can modern communication cause widespread panic and fear at such a fast pace that the shockwave hits us all at once?

Gasta the amoebic replicant

Gasta the amoebic replicant

Growing faster and replicating itself across the universe how big can Gasta get?

Gasta disseminates information and like an electronic amoeba spreads the information across networks, when a search is made on Gasta the search keyword is collected and collated for popularity, the most popular keywords are then added to the list of Gasta directories; this is all carried out in quantum nanoseconds (on the fly). Web marketers and SME’s then have the opportunity to create an IntantLink ™ to that directory. This is a new innovation in web directories and dynamic linking, and part of the new exciting gasta interface. When designing a new interface a range of disciplines must be used to create the best experience for the interface user, Gasta.com's new interface is designed to give the maximum use of directories but at the same time make easier to use the search tool. Having morphed from an old school directory like Yahoo, Gasta has now harnessed the minimalist elements of Google and tied these to the directory listing by popular keywords. This is very new and very creative design for the launch of Gasta web2.0 with the additional tools of predictive search assists, playlists, and transparent search history we give the user more power to search faster, and more precisely.

Gasta mobile world congress, Barcelona 2008

Gasta to attend mobile world congress in Barcelona on 11-14 Febuary 2008, InestNi have kindly invited gasta to attend the mobile world congress in Barcelona. The event is aimed at the wireless telecommunications sector but is also relevant for ICT/Digital Media/Web Development, and mobile marketing companies that supply services and technologies to the sector. This is a great idea by InvestNI as outlined in the recent strategy document converging technologies and industry collaborations are the way forward.

Belfastmediagroup:strategic alliance with gasta.com

Belfastmediagroup announces new online strategy with gasta.com, heres how the announcement was made on the new Belfastmediagroup websites front pages.


"Equally exciting is the move towards digital 'citizen' hubs across the city as we roll out our newly-acquired sites including, southbelfast.com and belfasteast.com. These hubs are being developed under our new strategic alliance with gasta.com, the successful search engine company based in Belfast which enjoys marketing deals with yahoo, askjeeves and google. These sites will carry the news and advertisements from the Belfast Media Group newspapers while tailoring their offering to the younger reader with 'what's on' lists of local pubs and restaurants, cinema listings and photo-ordering facilities."

Friday, January 18, 2008

Gasta online sales 50% rise

Gasta online sales of advertising rose in the last quarter despite the doom and gloom initiated by the credit crunch, according to the BBC overall online sales rose by 50% . This is good news for the technology sector and the online advertising community, Gasta will continue to offer the most cost effective internet campiagns to SME's.

UK online sales rose by more than 50% in the three months to Christmas, according to an industry survey.

Internet sales between 1 October and 31 December hit £15.2bn, up from £9.61bn a year earlier, with electronics and clothing doing well, Capgemini said.

Firms with both a High Street and online presence, such as John Lewis, did best, the survey said.

For every pound spent on goods in 2007, 15 pence was spent online, pushing annual electronic sales to £30.2bn.

In 2006, for every pound spent on retail goods, the internet spend had been 10 pence.

Discounting

"There can be no doubt [that] online is growing its share at the expense of bricks and mortar retailers and we believe this trend will continue," said Anthoula Madden, vice president at Capgemini's consumer products and retail division.

Online shopping peaked during the first week in December, with sales rising 9% year-on-year.

However, in previous years the busiest period had been earlier, signalling that consumers were delaying spending, to take advantage of discounting before Christmas.

Retailers have painted a mixed picture of results covering the crucial Christmas period, but several firms have highlighted the strength of their online sales.

In its latest trading update, music shop HMV said its bookstore chain Waterstones saw internet sales double in the five weeks to 5 January.

Argos, which is owned by Home Retail Group, said internet orders increased by a third in the 18 weeks to 5 January, representing nearly a quarter of all sales at its Argos stores.

The firm said its online reservation system for collection in store proved particularly popular.

Tesco said its online businesses had a "very successful" Christmas, in the six weeks to 5 January, with strong demand for MP3 players, digital cameras and laptops sending total sales 24% higher.

Even Marks & Spencer, though seeing its worst Christmas sales for more than two years, saw internet sales surge 78% in the last three months of 2007, year-on-year.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

Gasta & Mobile web support tools.

If you have seen our previous posts about the potential of a Gasta Phone then read on and see its not so pie in the sky!

Gasta& Mobile web support tools.

Yahoo chief Jerry Yang has revealed the firms future ambitions for an open and mobile web.

Central to the company's aims is allowing third party software developers to create small applications which can run in Yahoo portals.

The first Yahoo platform to allow these widgets, as they are known, will be Go 3.0, developed for mobile phones.

The search firm showed off applications that allow people to check MySpace, eBay and MTV on the go.

"Bringing a rich web experience to mobile devices is not an easy task," said Mr Yang.

"There are literally billions of mobile users, thousands of different devices and hundreds of different carriers.

"The challenge is to create a simple starting point for all of them."

Mobile browser

Yahoo Go is a suite of downloadable tools that allow people to carry out every day internet tasks on a mobile phone.

Software allows people to search the net, send emails, upload photos, download maps and receive news updates.


In previous versions, users have been limited to browsing and using Yahoo content.

The latest edition will do away with that and allow third party developers to create widgets that will suck content from other areas of the net.

"We're opening up all of Yahoo Go to the world, meaning every publisher and developer small or large will be able to develop mobile," said Marco Boerries of the firm.

"Consumers will be able to find those, discover those and subscribe to those very easily."

The model is very similar to that used by other sites such as Facebook which also allows software developers to create widgets for the social networking site.

Go 3.0 will initially be available to download on to 30 devices, although it can be run on other phones through a mobile browser.

The firm said it was working with mobile phone manufacturers such as Motorola and LG to preload the suite of tools.

Smart search

Mr Yang also showed off a prototype smart inbox for Yahoo mail.


Yahoo mail is a web based email and messaging program that has more than 250 million users worldwide.

"This is not a launch - it is more of a concept demonstration," he said.

The prototype allowed users to import contacts from social networking sites such as MySpace.

The inbox would automatically prioritise messages from people that the inbox owner regularly communicated with across all of the networks.

Other tools allowed a user to drag a message on to a map tool to see quickly the location of places linked in the body of the message.

Mr Yang showed off an example of a message that contained a link to a restaurant.

Dragging the message on to the map brought up its location, reviews, photographs and also whether the restaurant was compatible with a person's stored dietary preferences.

Coming soon

Other tools imported labels, known as tags, from the popular photo-sharing site Flickr and displayed them on a map.

The size of the font indicated the number of times a particular landmark had been photographed and tagged, and therefore its popularity.

Other tools would cross reference a person's preferences with the food on offer at the restaurant and if not compatible would suggest other eateries in the area.

"It's taking advantage of the social networks, it's taking advantage of connections, it's taking advantage of large blocks of structured data, it's taking advantage of a lot of tags that have been submitted by our users to offer a fairly seamless experience," said Mr Yang.

"These are the things I think we can be doing more of."

Yahoo co-founder David Filo added: "The good news is that we're not that far away from market. In the coming months you'll be hearing a lot more about Yahoo open platforms."

The technologies were showed off at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas.

Gasta what is Digg?



The new Gasta web.20 services are designed to compliment services like Digg to enable users to share content and recommend 'stuff' to each other, the only diference between gasta's new services and Digg is that Gasta offers everything on the one page right before your eyes.


This is what Digg is all about.

Digg is a place for people to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. From the biggest online destinations to the most obscure blog, Digg surfaces the best stuff as voted on by our users. You won’t find editors at Digg — we’re here to provide a place where people can collectively determine the value of content and we’re changing the way people consume information online.

How do we do this? Everything on Digg — from news to videos to images to Podcasts — is submitted by our community (that would be you). Once something is submitted, other people see it and Digg what they like best. If your submission rocks and receives enough Diggs, it is promoted to the front page for the millions of our visitors to see.

And it doesn’t stop there. Because Digg is all about sharing and discovery, there’s a conversation that happens around the content. We’re here to promote that conversation and provide tools for our community to discuss the topics that they’re passionate about. By looking at information through the lens of the collective community on Digg, you’ll always find something interesting and unique. We’re committed to giving every piece of content on the web an equal shot at being the next big thing.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Gasta Wins Belfast Top 50 Business Awards

Gasta and E4's big brother


This time big brother is disappointing, many gasta users and blogers have voiced concerns about the lack of humour and the silly celebrities who guest on the show as big brother stand-ins.

However, as recently quoted in New Media Alert, E4 is positioning itself as a multi-platform channel with the unveiling of new mobile and internet sites. It also plans to be the first of 4Radio's crop of digital radio stations. The digital platforms have been in development for nine months and launched to coincide with the new series of Skins and Big Brother Celebrity Hijack. The sites have been positioned to tie in closely with social networks as E4 aims to capture its target audience of under-35-year-olds.

Gasta wows Derry City

Gasta.com has requested beta testers on its new mutimedia search network to iron out any gliches before the official launch in Febuary 2008, the feedback from Magee University and private users has been a massive endorsement of the new service, Comments have ranged from "This is how to show videos" and " This thing is Opium for video lovers". Gasta.com commercial director Francis Higgins says he is "over the moon" at the response, "we have had a good response on a beta pre launch before but nothing like this". It seems gasta is on to another winning service.

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Gasta :Belfast based search network

Gasta Search Network is taking Belfast by storm, In Belfast city with five university campus,
gasta.com and the gasta video network is proving very popular with students and pupils all over Northern Ireland and beyond. Gasta video and bookmarking systems are simple and fun to use, you can store your videos, images, and news items with the simple click of a mouse. check out the development on http://www.mysearchmachine.com/
and let us know what you think!

Gasta what is InstantAds™?

InstantAds™ allow you to create an ad campaign that appears in our side panel across all the Gasta Domains. Your adverts have no limit to the number of impressions during your campaign.
Create your advert, add your keywords, and publish. Gasta InstantAds™ is based on the age old adage of K.I.S.S

Gasta News : VideoEgg

VideoEgg, the video advertising network, today announced a further three media partnerships.

The deals include music social network Imeem, video sharing site Metacafe and entertainment site Buzznet, which will now be added to VideoEgg's network of over 200 sites, which includes Bebo and Hi5.

VideoEgg is capable of running Flash video ads in any online environment.

"These sites are the new MTVs," said CEO Matt Sanchez. "Brands need to find innovative ways

.... to get video in front of young consumers who aren't sitting in front of the TV.

Monday, January 14, 2008

Gasta continues to see growth and convergence in the search and search marketing sectors

This is a really interesting Snippet from the NMA Daily Alert

Credit Article :Comment - Cooper on search

Gasta continues to see growth and convergence in the search and search marketing sectors as the article below concludes.

The fight to be the number one UK search specialist is frantic, with all players - not just Latitude and The Search Works - claiming top spot. Meaning making the headlines is increasingly important.

Over the Christmas period the sector was left thinking about Latitude's ambiguous deal - one that is as similarly blurry as the BigMouthMedia/Global Media deal a year before - but the start of the year saw TradeDoubler's announcement once again make IMW front of mind.

So, the frantic race continues, and it won't stop with Latitude and IMW. A year of consolidation in 2007 saw deals involving companies such as Spannerworks, Green Cathedral and 24/7 Real Media, all of which now have extra cash to fuel their race.

Interestingly, that only leaves a handful of search-specific agencies still playing the courting game - or not, as they insist.

Of those, arguably Greenlight is the most high-profile. Despite the fact that CEO Warren Cowan is adamant the agency's not for sale, key wins and good work for clients including HMV, Handbag and Monarch Airlines as well as expanding UK and US offices surely makes them an attractive prospect.

And why shouldn't they sell/merge/whatever? Search is still the fastest growing digital sector, with the trade press very much obsessed with Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft - yes, IMW, at £56m, went for less than anticipated - but there are still plenty of investors out there with very deep pockets.

What is the Gasta SEM Zone

This zone is dedicated to bringing all our marketing tools under one roof. From here you can add InstantAds, SearchMatch, SearchMatch+ and Banner Campaigns.

What is better you can edit you ad during its life cycle. At no extra cost. Once you advert is approved the first time you then take control and can modify your ad when you like.

We want you to feel in control of your ad campaigns.