Gasta Marketing:Social Networks

Facebook and Twitter can be powerful tools, but neither has as much juice as your website. Find out how to make your No. 1 digital asset the centerpiece of your social media strategy.

Marketers have spent the last year or so carefully teetering on whether or not to wholeheartedly embrace a social media strategy. On one hand, the allure of crafting a "CEO Blog" brings with it an interesting set of challenges, and on the other hand, maintaining a MySpace page may seem like a fruitless drain on resources. Getting started doesn't have to be an either/or scenario. Instead, there's an easier, more controlled first step: Start with your own site.

When developing a social media strategy, many companies look to external tools like Twitter, Facebook and YouTube to increase opportunities for engagement by developing a brand presence across various channels. However, in the pursuit of maximizing visibility, companies often approach their efforts much like archers shooting at targets -- a course of action as antiquated as the sport itself (no offense to any archers out there).

By forgetting to cross-promote social media activities, especially on a company website, companies miss out on the true potential of an integrated social media strategy.

For maximum impact, social media optimization (SMO) should include publicizing efforts across additional online and offline promotional programs, from the most complex (a Second Life presence) to the simple (the CEO of Zappos promotes his Twitter account on his business card).

Find us online
The easiest way to encourage visitors to check out your social media profiles is to include all the appropriate links on your "Contact" page. If you have a blog, make sure to promote your media presence (Flickr, LinkedIn, MyBlogLog) through your sidebar.

Social media hub
For companies who are thoroughly engaged in an aggressive content strategy, take your cue from the Social Media Newsroom template, provided by SHIFT Communications, and create a Social Media Hub, organizing your social media content into clearly marked areas.

If you are heavy into video, consider a multimedia gallery with all your videos available to embed and share. In addition, make a higher-quality version available for download. Include a link to your YouTube or Vimeo channel as well.

Find your social media tone
Social media efforts have weight and longevity when they provide content that is, to use social shopping site ThisNext's product review rating criteria, "smart, useful or funny." The social media community feeds off irreverence in tone and a modern approach to design. On each page, consider if the user incorporates elements of the smart, the useful and the funny.

You may want to develop specific landing pages optimized in both content and design specifically for visitors who arrive at your site from your social media channels. And please, respect your visitors' quest for content; dial back the sales speak, the banner ads and used car pitches. Visitors will see through your approach and likely rake you over the social media coals as a result.

Everyone loves to share
Copying and pasting a link in an email is so 2007. These days, visitors want to be able to share content instantly. Make all your content, podcasts, videos and articles easy to share across social voting sites and blog platforms, in as close to a one-click-shot as you possibly can. A CAPTCHA code or registration might be useful for you, but that extra step will deter some users from engaging or sharing content from your site.

Make it quick to read
In the world of internet ADD, website copy should be easy to skim and read. Call-outs, bullet points and impactful use of color all allow the eye to glean information and deduce quickly if it is worth bookmarking, sharing or giving the old Ctrl+W.

Conclusion
Companies who focus exclusively on the external uses of SMO not only deplete what time marketers may have available, but also miss important opportunities to leverage such efforts across additional channels. In particular, making a company website social media friendly should be a key component of any strategic SMO plan to help reduce the time spent on keeping so many social media balls in the air and provide an easier --although still not easy -- first step into the all-important web of influence.

Reid Carr is president, Red Door Interactive.

Gasta News: Digital landgrab as Google BPF ends

Search and media agencies are on alert as the end of Google's Best Practice Funding (BPF) programme creates a potential landgrab for major search accounts.

They have been spurred by the imminent end of Google's agency commission scheme, which rewards agencies for buying Google ads.

The ending of the scheme from next year means agencies that had previously used BPF to attract businesses by passing their commission on to clients will now have to renegotiate the terms of their client deals.

Search specialists have revealed to NMA that they're on alert as key brands within specific verticals put their accounts out to tender.

Paul Mead, MD of VCCP Search, confirmed talks were beginning to take place within the sector. "Best Practice Funding is the key factor. Anyone that's a significant spender in travel, finance and retail will be thinking about this," he said.

Gavin Ailes, deputy MD of The Search Works, said, "There will be a larger number of pitches; it's only natural in the circumstances."

The landgrab comes as search specialists grow concerned over speculation that Google will use the money saved from agency commission to incentivise brands to bypass agencies and work with it directly.

The concerns have spread widely within the sector and were put to the search giant's UK directors Matt Brittin and Mark Howe at a recent meeting with the IPA Search Group, which was attended by represen_tatives from search specialists including iCrossing, Golley Slater Digital and Isobar.

Mark Howe, Google UK country sales director, denied the rumour. "Google sees agencies as our partners. We have no desire to distort our search auction model by offering any kind of discounts to any kind of partner," he said.

Scott Gallacher, Sky's online and partner marketing director, said Best Practice Funding shouldn't be a major concern for either brands or advertisers if they have their houses in order.

"If people are worried about Google blindsiding them, there's almost certainly a problem either with that relationship or between agency and client," he said.

Google's tiered Best Practice Funding scheme was introduced in 2005 to drive growth and innovation within the search space.

Initial incentives included a 'kick-back' paid to the top 10% of qua_lifying agencies whose relative quarterly growth rate topped 5%.

VFI Overseas Property Tunisia

As you are aware VFI Overseas Property has now launched Tunisia, an exciting new emerging market to rival the likes of Dubai and other investment driven overseas markets

VFI Overseas Property has spent the last number of months identifying new markets for existing and future client base. We have identified Tunisia for a number of reasons.

· Unrivalled Capital growth

· Cosmopolitan society – French, English, Russian, Italians, Spanish

· Low entry level for investors

· Properties from as little as €24,999

· Frontline Beach Developments

· Low price per sq meter

· High Rental Yields

· Many golf courses – 18 hole/35 hole

· Outstanding quality of build

· International Cuisine

· 2/3 hrs flight time from Europe & Russia

· Building Bonds in place

· Tourism increased by 45% in 2006

· 6 international airports and more being built

· Billons of euro being invested by government and private institutions.

· Demographic society

· Mediterranean climate

· At present demand is out stripping supply in the property market.

In Tunisia people are still waking up to warm, sunny mornings. The lifestyle is calm, peaceful and most importantly, affordable! The cost of living is low. Utility bills are low. The prices of food and petrol are low. All this means "more of your money" and "more for your money!" More money to spend on the pleasurable things in life, such as eating out under the starry skies or sipping a mint tea at a pavement cafe and watching the world go by.

Some typical examples of the price of food in Tunisia could include a cup of tea or coffee at a cafe ranging from 20p to 50p, a kilogram of tomatoes 30p, a kilogram of pears 50p, a French Stick 10p, a liter of milk 25p or a kilogram of beef or lamb £3-£4. Supermarkets are stocked with every day needs, but the local market is the place to be to pick up items of amazing value.

Living in Tunisia, will bring you that healthy lifestyle. Fresh, fruit and vegetables in abundance and fish straight from the sea and onto your plate in minutes! There are also more than enough hot, sunny days to fit in all of the outdoor sporting activities that you can muster! As with most Mediterranean countries, the crime rate is low. You can enjoy your evenings out, bringing along the children as they are always welcome, without any rowdy behavior to spoil your fun. Old fashioned values still reign supreme and parents, teachers and the elderly are treated with the utmost respect. You will rarely find language difficulties. The main spoken languages are Tunisian Arabic and French, but since English was introduced to the National Curriculum for all school children aged 10 and upwards, it is fast gaining importance amongst the Tunisian nation.

Development – Le Voilier Resort

Le Voilier Resort is a modern beach front/marina style development with a mixture of 1 bed 1 bath, 2bed 2 bath, & 3 bed 3 baths apartments all built to a superior specification.

Designed by one of the most important and cutting edge architectural firms in this area VFI OVERSEAS PROPERTY is happy to be able to offer not only a fantastic investment but an investment which you will be able to enjoy for many years to come.

Apartments from as little as €24,999

VFI Overseas Property Info

REGGIO CALABRIA AIRPORT

‘The airport of the straits’, as it is known because of the fabulous view across the strait to Sicily, has recently undergone a major renovation and expansion, and handles most domestic flights, offering services to: Rome, Milan, Venice, Bari, Bologna, Turin, Verona and Milan, as well as an international service to Malta.

FERRIES

Sicily is just seven miles away from Reggio di Calabria across the Straits of Messina and there are a large number of hydrofoil-type fast ferries, and more traditional boats providing very regular services in both directions. From Sicily it also very straight forward to sail across to Tunisia, or you can stay closer to home and visit a number of the delightful Aeolian islands such as Lipari, Salina and Vulcana, all of which are on ferry routes out of Reggio.

RAIL

Reggio di Calabria is the most southerly part of mainland Italy to have a train link, and there are daily services from the lovely 1930’s station northwards to Naples and Rome. A very relaxing way to see the countryside.

Gasta Faster than 85% of Other Websites

Gasta Speed and Accuracy continues to reach Global audience.

• Gasta.com has a traffic rank of: 86,86858 (7793,845)
• Speed: Very Fast (85% of are slower), Time: 1.5econds
• Other sites that link to this site: 18190
• Online Since: 29-Jul-1998

Gasta ® Trademark process completes

Gasta ® international trademark application complete. Murgatroyd and Partners international Law Firm has completed the successful application of the word ‘Gasta’

As the world trademark of Applied Multimedia Innovations. Gasta ® will now be appearing as the legal protection of all Gasta owned domains and websites.

Francis Higgins CEO of AMI says “that he is delighted that this long process is now complete and that Gasta ® is now protected from cyber squatters and trade infringements” AMI has a number of proposals for Gasta music and licensing rights for the new trademark including a fashion label and branding company.

Gasta Property Domains: Gasta now reaching 450 Property sites

	propertiesbelfast.com	propertybarnsley.com
propertybelgrade.com	propertybelgravia.com	propertybirmingham.com
propertyblackburn.com	propertyblackpool.com	propertybolton.com
propertybradford.com	propertybrighton.com	propertybristol.com
propertybrittany.com	propertyburnley.com	propertybury.com
propertycambridge.com	propertychelmsford.com	propertychelsea.com
propertycheltenham.com	propertycheshire.com	propertychester.com
propertycityoflondon.com	propertycolchester.com	propertycotswolds.com
propertycrewe.com	propertydarlington.com	propertyderry.com
propertydocklands.com	propertydoncaster.com	propertydonegal.com
propertydublin.com	propertyedinburgh.com	propertyengland.com
propertygibraltar.net	propertygloucester.com	propertyguernsey.com
propertyhalifax.com	propertyhampstead.com	propertyhereford.com
propertyipswich.com	propertyisleofman.com	propertyjersey.com
propertykensington.com	propertykent.com	propertyknightsbridge.com
propertylakedistrict.com	propertyleeds.com	propertyleicester.com
propertylincoln.com	propertyliverpool.com	propertylondon.net
propertyluton.com	propertymanchester.com	propertymansfield.com
propertymayfair.com	propertymiddlesbrough.com	propertynewcastle.net
propertynireland.com	propertynormandy.com	propertynorthampton.com
propertynorwich.com	propertyoldham.com	propertyontv.com
propertyoxford.net	propertypeterborough.com	propertyreading.com
propertyrotherham.com	propertysalisbury.com	propertysheffield.com
propertysoutheast.com	propertysouthwest.com	propertysquaremile.com
propertystockport.com	propertysunderland.com	propertysurrey.com
propertysussex.com	propertytorquay.com	propertywatford.com
propertywestend.com	propertywexford.com	propertywigan.com
propertywindsor.com	propertywirral.com	propertywrexham.com
propertyyork.net	queensisland.com	raheny.net
randalstown.net	ranelagh.net	rathcoole.com

Gasta Branding: Organic Search listings

Purchasing your keywords in InstantAds or SearchMatch on the Gasta and Europasearch network will significantly increase you web presence for the minimum price.

Google has unveiled its first major piece of research to prove search can have a big impact on a company brand . The move could help to drive significantly more brand budget online. The findings, from a pan-European research project commissioned by the search giant, showed coming top of organic listings raised purchase consideration of a brand 4%. It also found exposure to a listing in the top paid position, with no organic listing on the page, increased purchase consideration 20%. The new and (to the tech savvy generation) most important factor in branding your company is to get into search listings and Gasta.com is a really simple and inexpensive way of doing that.

Gasta Domains: www.londondocklands.com

Gasta has over 450 Domain names for sale including

www.londonsdockland.com

Domain Advertising Agency Offers £1.5M LondonDocklands.com For Sale!

London, May 19, 2008 - Today Domain Advertising Agency(DAA) announces it will broker the potential sale of one the most lucrative Geo Domain Names in the UK and Europe “LondonDocklands.com”. The London Docklands is a vast geographical area and one of the most historical destinations in the city of London. The area of London Docklands also represents many billions in financial trading terms through the most powerful global investment banks such as Morgan Stanley, with thousands of employees, residential and commercial real estate such as Canary Wharf with the tallest skyscrapers in Britain.

Prospective buyers are invited to submit offers by visiting the following url:

http://sales.domainadvertisingagency.com/domains/954/londondocklands.com

Domain Advertising Agency will post the wining bid on the front page of its website http://www.domainadvertisingagency.com when the domain is sold. The price tag of £1.5M is a cinch, considering the average 1 bed apartment price of £500,000 and the average commercial premises runs into several millions of pounds on average. The 2012 London Olympics is also right on the doorstep of London Docklands, and is also likely to drive up real estate prices in the area going forward.

Only two weeks ago, another geo domain name, “Bellvue.com” a vibrant suburb in Seattle, Washington sold for $150,000. Likewise, several geo domain names have sold over the last 18 months such as Branson.com for $1.5M, Buckhead.com an Atlanta suburb for $250,000 and Surrey.com a greater London suburb for $200,000 and WallStreet.com sold for over a million dollars in 1999.

London Docklands which stretches from the historic docks of Wapping , through the massive Canary Wharf financial centre, the Royal Docks and all the way through sought after Greenwich comprises some of the most historic buildings in the United Kingdom, juxtaposed with impressive modern architecture and thousands of impressive contemporary residential apartments for 21st century living. Other major attractions are the Millennium Dome, huge venues such as the Excel conference centre hosting mavericks such as Anthony Robbins, the gleaming Jubilee line tube extension and the busy London City airport, connecting business and leisure flights directly with Europe.

We hope to attract interested buyers such as London City Traders looking for a new venture investment, city property developers, online media consortiums and particularly foreign investors across Europe, Asia the Middle East and North America, looking for a niche opportunity to leverage their presence and investment in London. We certainly notice the significant number of Russian Oligarchs all over London, they are very welcome to submit offers too!

The domain owner, a born and bred Londoner and founder of Domain Advertising Agency.com, as a humble gesture of giving back to the community, will pledge ten percent of the net resulting sale to a charitable organization catering for the welfare of homeless citizens living in London Docklands.

Submitted by: Robert Haastrup-Timmi Find out more.

Gasta Search Branding and Direct Response

Gasta Search Branding and Direct Response,

We love it when a plan comes together1 The Gasta.com strategy of aquiring and hosting new domains to launch the gasta white label search is gathering momentum as more Brands recognise that Search is the key branding tool of the future web.

http://www.nmapodcast.com/podcast/

In this week's NMA Podcast, Microsoft's senior vice president of strategic partnerships, Yusuf Medhi, talks about the software giant's acquisition plans following the failure of its bid to buy Yahoo!. Plus Winston Binch of US hot-shop Crispon Porter + Bogusky explains how digital agencies are moving up the pecking order, and the NMA team discuss the role of search in brand-building.

Gasta News: Spam, Spam and More Spam!

Spam experiment overloads inboxes

Surfing the web unprotected will leave the average web user with 70 spam messages each day, according to an experiment by security firm McAfee.

It invited 50 people from around the world, including five from the UK, to surf without spam filters.

The experiment revealed that UK residents are most likely to be targeted by the infamous Nigerian e-mails and "adult" spam.

One UK participant received 5,414 spam e-mails during the month-long trial.

But the US still tops the global spam league.

Participants in the US received a total of 23,233 spam e-mails during the course of the experiment compared to 15,856 for the second most spammed country - Brazil.

In the UK, the five participants racked up 11,965 spam messages during the course of the experiment. Germany attracted the least spam, with just 2,331 junk messages.

Real threat

The results show that spam is showing no signs of slowing down, although the opposite can be said of those receiving messages.

"Many of our participants noticed that their computers were slowing down. This means that while they were surfing, unbeknownst to them, websites were installing malware," said Guy Roberts, director of McAfee's labs in Europe.

Some 8% of the total spam received during the experiment was classified as phishing e-mails - messages that pose as a trustworthy source as a way of getting sensitive information such as usernames, passwords and bank account details.

"Spam is most definitely much more than a nuisance; it's a very real and fast-growing threat," said Mr Roberts.

The firm also noticed a shift away from mass spam to more targeted campaigns.

The most popular subject of spam remains financial - pre-approved loans or credit cards

The UK is the most likely country to be targeted by Nigerian spam e-mails, where someone supposedly from Nigeria contacts their target to inform that they are the beneficiary of a will in a bid to extract money from them.

The variety and amount of spam on offer surprised participants according to Dave De Walt, chief executive of McAfee.

"Our participants came from all walks of life, from all over the world and, given their interest to take part in the experiment, they were well aware of the problem. Despite this, they were all shocked by the sheer amount of spam they attracted," he said.

Dealing with it is going to be tricky though, he admitted.

"We can see from the experiment that spam is undeniably linked to cybercrime.

"However, it is such an immense problem and it's never going to go away. It's no longer a question of solving it but one of managing it," said Mr De Walt.

TOP TEN MOST POPULAR SPAM CATEGORIES
Advertisements,Financial,Health and medicine,Adult services,Free stuff,Education,IT related,Money making,Credit cards,Watch adverts,
GLOBAL SPAM LEAGUE
US - 23,233,Brazil - 15,856,Italy - 15,610,Mexico - 12,229,UK - 11,965,Australia - 9,214The Netherlands - 6,378,Spain - 5,419,France - 2,597,Germany - 2,331
Data supplied by McAfee

Gasta News: Brand Piggybacking

It's time to stop complaining about people piggy-backing on your search terms. Use it as an opportunity to hit back, be smarter, more nimble and win, just like Gasta.

Why the hell is someone able to advertise on Google using my brand name? Don't I own my brand name, and my product names? The simple answer is no, you don't, especially when it comes to using them in search. For the delusional lawyers that think they do, can I please laugh at you? It's gone. Shattered. You can have your brand terms copyrighted, trademarked and employ a whole team of leaders for their defense, but owning? That control state exists only in lawyers' minds. Yes, you may OWN them, but the reality is you just can't sue everybody, not anymore. Like copyrighted material that makes it onto video sites, it's a losing battle.

So, what you really need to do is look at this as an opportunity, not an obstacle.

The way that Google works, and I'm sure as hell going to get flack if I get this wrong, is that if the name is in the competitive set and it is relevant to the purchase, category, product or topic, you can buy it.

Now, what you cannot do, or are not supposed to do as a competitor to the brand, is use that brand name in the copy of that ad. You can use it in the title due to dynamic replacement, but you are not supposed to -- or it is greatly frowned upon if you do -- use it in the copy of the ad. But the reality? Eh, a lot more murky. There are just way too many advertisers buying terms, and it's that democratization that is fueling a lot of the growth.

Look, if a company is buying your product name, or your brand name, then you are doing something right. Are they riding the coattails of your brand equity? You bet your lazy corporate lemming butt they are. And they will ride it and ride it until you wise-up on how to defend it.

There are a number of companies that insist on not buying their brand names with the belief that "I am already ranked at the top of the organic results, so I don't need to." And that is true for many clients. But not buying your brand name in addition is ludicrous.

Here are three main reasons why you want to do this:

1. Combination punching
Enough research out there has shown us that the combination of having an organic link and a paid listing increases response by somewhere around 25 percent. Now, you could argue that the organic link is free and that paying for an additional 25 percent is not worth it. Wrong! Your competitors are unlikely to be over in the section of organic listings. They are hitting you in the ad space. Occupy that space so they don't own you. 2. The message
It's the one real way that you can exert control -- your message. The copy that is picked up thorough organic listings is much less easily controlled. It is the crawlers that determine it, and your homepage has to be specifically designed for that purpose to make it better. It is also relatively static and does not change over time. That would require new copy on the homepage, new tweaking and a whole new crawl by Google. When will that happen? Who knows. But you can control exactly what copy appears in a paid listing and about your brand. Adapt that copy to what is going on in your company right now. What is relevant today? Do you want everyone to end up on the one page that gets the highest organic listings? Are you sure? Have you just been hit with some bad PR? Thwart it right there and then lead the user directly to your response. Have: "Rumors untrue, company not being acquired" in the search copy.

There are a hell of a lot more people who search on terms than click on ads. Just because they didn't click doesn't mean you can't seed that meme. Press releases are a thing of the past -- a top-down linear cascade that no longer has relevance to today's consumer. Your brand names are your first line of defense in the PR war, so use them wisely.

3. Navigation
Search is not as much about searching and finding anymore as it is about navigation. People use search engines as "navigation engines" to get to where they are going. You look at the most popular queries in search engines -- the real top searches, not the ones that are edited. They are littered with URLs and brand names. It has just become easier to use search engines to type in URLs and company names than worry you'll end up at some domain park by typing one wrong letter. Spellcheck means you'll almost always get to where you want in the next click.

One of my most amusing ad buys at Ask.com was buying the word Yahoo for purchase on Google that led to Ask.com -- a wonderful triad. When running marketing at Ask, we had some significant challenges. It was never about beating Google. We were Google's largest distributor of ad listings in the world. It was a very symbiotic relationship. Frienemies, if you will. It was about getting people to think of us when they think of "search." Just by being there, we spur top-of-mind awareness for our brand. We were just not in people's consideration set. Look, the reason why Google seems lax is because competition in our business moves our whole industry forward, not just those companies that have been sitting on their brand equity like luddites. It was easy in offline -- just throw a bunch of lawyers at them. But online doesn't just mean those companies in your immediate competitive set, it means thousands of smaller shops that can now afford to advertise.

It's time you stopped complaining about people piggy-backing on your terms and started to look at it as an opportunity to hit back. "But they're driving up my costs for those words, and it's unfair!" Since when is life or business fair? Like sucker fish on sharks, start to look at that relationship as symbiotic. Use them and what they say to your advantage. Stop sticking your heads in the sand, get out there, think of how you can leverage and thwart those efforts -- and attack. Be smarter, more nimble.... and win. Or you can just throw lawyers at the problem, stick your head in the sand and watch them rip business away from you.

By Sean Cummings (nod to Imedia)

Gasta News: Brand turf war

Paid Search:Low intensity warfare on Google plains

Agencies aren't practicing what they preach when it comes to using paid search to market their brands, according to Adweek, and while these agencies are sleeping, some of their smaller competitors are using paid search to their advantage.

Buying your brand name would seem logical, but of the 56 agencies assessed by Adweek, only five had sponsored links tied to their names on Google. The others did not have paid search links, but their web pages generally appeared near the top of the search results.

"It's very difficult to recommend certain things to your clients if you're not in the game yourself," said Craig Conrad or Interpublic Group's Campbell-Ewald. "So often we're focused on our client business [that] sometimes it's easy to forget about our own brand."

While brand advertisers are up in arms over Google's lack of enforcement when it comes to piggybacking, it seems that some smaller agencies are actually using the practice themselves. A search for OgilvyInteractive yields a sponsored link for Stein Rogan + Partners, a small New York agency.

"Why not put ourselves out there as a viable alternative?" said Tom Stein, Stein Rogan's CEO. "It's a little bit of counter-marketing."

Gasta News: Orange Makeover

Orange will kick off a £30m makeover this week?

The operator has worked with creative agency Fallon to produce a global integrated campaign which it said is its biggest yet.

The campaign involves advertising around its new "I am..." positioning, along with changes to 120 consumer touch points including its call centres and stores.

The Orange portal will be updated to reflect the changes with more inclusion of user-generated

Gasta News:UK Government Open data

The UK government has launched a competition to find innovative ways of using the masses of data it collects.

It is hoping to find new uses for public information in the areas of criminal justice, health and education.

The Power of Information Taskforce - headed by cabinet office minister Tom Watson - is offering a £20,000 prize fund for the best ideas.

To help with the task, the government is opening up gigabytes of information from a variety of sources.

This includes mapping information from the Ordnance Survey, medical information from the NHS, neighbourhood statistics from the Office for National Statistics and a carbon calculator from the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

None of the data will be personal information, the government is keen to stress.

Mr Watson is hoping to attract a wide range of people from "the technology community we already work with, to hard-core coders to adolescents in their bedroom".

He admits that throwing open public data could be a risk but he believes that it will yield results.

"If someone comes up with a great idea we will make a prototype and then hopefully a fully-fledged piece of technology that will make peoples' lives better," he said.

"I strongly believe in co-design and in the digital age it makes sense to work with citizens to make public service better," he added.

To help inspire ideas the team behind the idea has put dozens of examples of innovative ways of reusing public information on its Taskforce wiki.

These include a website which maps crimes around the UK, the FixMyStreet website, which allows users to alert others to litter, vandalism and graffiti in their local environment, and the prototype RateMyPrison, which invites those who visit friends and families in jail to comment on the experience.

Technology commentator Bill Thompson was one of the first to see the Show Us a Better Way website, which details the competition.

"It's great to see a government department with enough sense to realise that it doesn't have all the good ideas," he said.

"There are terabytes of expensively accumulated information sitting in databases, but it goes unused and unexploited because of restrictive licenses and lack of awareness," he added.

The government will evaluate the ideas over the course of the summer.

Gasta News:Brand Identity

Tough economic times call for small businesses to get creative. Here is why you should consider implementing a multi-domain strategy for your business.

COST. A memorable, highly targeted and keyword-rich domain name, garners free organic search engine traffic. By acquiring a domain name from the secondary domain market, you are spending less money in traffic than by engaging in often costly keyword search buys or print advertising.

BRANDING. Acquiring domains related to your products and or services sends a strong and consistent message to your customers and builds brand equity while avoiding customer confusion and lost traffic. For example, a photographer's website would benefit from camera, weddings and portrait themed domains.

GLOBAL REACH. Although the "dot com" is the most common extension, you should cast your net wider by getting as many extensions possible, including country code specific extensions. Act locally, think globally!

CAPITAL INVESTMENT. Like fine wines, domain names appreciate in value as they get older, thanks to the navigation traffic they acquire from prominent search engine positioning. By acquiring multiple premium domain names you are building a valuable portfolio of assets.

Are you ready plan a multiple domain strategy for your business? BuyDomains has the largest inventory of premium domain names — let us help you find one that matches your business needs. Contact domains@buydomains.com.

Gasta News:Search Strategy is Critical

When the going gets tough, the tough get searching.
As the shadow of a recession looms large, the knock-on effect has seen ad budgets if not slashed then certainly tightened.
This week's NMA highlighted concerns raised by key figures within the online industry that brands are rethinking their online ad strategies in light of the current economic misery.
However, one area that looks like it will benefit is search - an accountable, proven marketing channel that shows no sign of slowing down.

Almost everyone from the numerous agencies NMA spoke to for this week's front-page story said that search, and indeed affiliate, will see more money pumped in to it as brands look to areas they can pretty much guarantee will work.
But as brands demand results, does that mean that creativity is sucked out of search?
We've seen plenty of moves this year that have given search specialists the chance to show how creative they can be with campaigns.
Reaction to Google's trademarking decision is probably the most high-profile example, with agencies saying that launching brand protection campaigns was now almost as high on the agenda as brand building and acquisition campaigns for some clients.
But will creativity now be put on hold in favour of results? Will clients solely demand ROI, rather than creative thinking?
Similarly, if search becomes the commodity that it's threatening to be and so simply Just Another Media Buy, will that take the excitement out of it?
I doubt it, but I'm sure that there'll be plenty of meetings between marketing directors and search agencies in months to come where the question of creativity versus results will be top of the agenda.

Gasta Seo: Reputation Management

If your website or products suffer from bad reviews or negative feedback, Sometimes disguised as “constructive criticism” do not sit and hope that it will go away; this is a set of circumstances that you can and must change and influence. Everyone would much rather receive a pat on the back, but how do you stop this negativity from getting in the way of your clients? It’s called reputation management, sometimes clients marketing can conflict with the reputation of an area or a ‘ghettoisation’ as happened with West Belfast during the prolonged troubles, However when local communities started to respond to this negative portrayal in a positive way by starting community festivals instead of traditional ‘bonfires’ and demonstrating and discussing all the positive aspects of the West Belfast community such as low crime, lively social networks, strong community support groups, and neighbourliness. What happened was a complete turnaround of the perception of West Belfast as a ‘ghetto’ into one of a vibrant community that has become a Mecca for conflict resolution.
Gasta SEO Services explains that reputation management and SEO go hand-in-hand because it’s all about getting the positive results above the negative ones. They also suggest participating in and leveraging social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc. and building up the positive picture of your website to downgrade and diminish the negative comments and to help gain positive momentum.

Gasta News:Internet feels the bite of Crunch!

Mixed News as internet feels the bite of Crunch!

A straw poll of media agencies from the NMA Top 100 Interactive Agencies 2007 guide found budgets are under pressure as marketers alter their media plans ahead of the potential economic downturn. The findings are in conflict with market predictions. A report by analyst firm Enders Analysis this week said UK online ad spends was set to grow...
Meanwhile automotive brands plan to stop using dedicated campaign sites as budgets tighten and consumer’s tire of fragmented content. Car brands including Mercedes and Land Rover plan to pull back from campaign sites for car launches, switching to a central online hub. Mercedes has launched a global online hub, built by Digital Annexe that will house all its brand activity. It has been built to incorporate video streaming, an easily updateable back-end system and increased promotional space....


Online Video's Short Shelf Life

On average, video viewer ship peaks early in a video's life-cycle.
Thursday 19th of June 2008 12:00:00 AM
We set out with a simple question: throughout the life of a video, do most views occur in the first few days and weeks or are they distributed randomly over time? Since Tube Mogul tracks millions of videos, we turned to the data and were surprised to find such a robust trend: viewer ship peaks early.
Methodology
Our sample includes data for views by day for 10,916 videos over a 90 day time period. In order to exclude casual creators of online video (i.e. "Mickey’s Birthday"), each video in the sample achieved a minimum of 1,000 cumulative views over the 90 day time period.
On average, videos are time-sensitive. Trends pointed out elsewhere, such as "evergreen" (non-time sensitive) content always fetching views or videos randomly "going viral," seem more of a rarity than an underlying trend in the data.