The Internet Advertising Market on June 2008

comScore Media Metrix has released its monthly analysis of U.S. consumer activity at top online properties for June 2008.

The following are the Top 50 Sources for Marketing and Advertising your business online according to comScore Media Metrix:

1. Platform-A**
2. Yahoo! Network**
3. Google Ad Network**
4. Specific Media**
5. ValueClick Networks**
6. Yahoo!
7. Tribal Fusion**
8. Google
9. Casale Media Network**
10. adconion media group**
11. DRIVEpm**
12. interCLICK**
13. Traffic Marketplace**
14. AOL Media Network
15. 24/7 Real Media**
16. MSN-Windows Live
17. Tremor Media - Media Partners
18. ADSDAQ by ContextWeb**
19. CPX Interactive**
20. Turn, Inc**
21. Burst Media**
22. AdBrite**
23. Centro
24. MYSPACE.COM*
25. Collective Media**
26. Vibrant Media**
27. Ybrant - Oridian - ADdynamix Network**
28. NNN Total Newspapers: U.S.
29. Gorilla Nation Media
30. Undertone Networks**
31. YOUTUBE.COM
32. Yume Video Network – Media Partners
33. MSN.COM Home Page
34. EBAY.COM
35. TattoMedia**
36. IAC Ad Solutions – Media Partners
37. Ask Network
38. Kontera**
39. MapQuest
40. PrecisionClick**
41. AMAZON.COM
42. NNN Top 25
43. Business.com Network
44. Real Cities Network
45. IB Local Network
46. FACEBOOK.COM
47. Quadrant One
48. EBAY.COM Home Page
49. The Nabbr Network - Exclusive Media Partners
50. Clearspring Widget Promotion Channel - Media Partners

source: Comscore Press Release

10 Rules for Driving Traffic Using Forums

1. Build Your Profile
When you register for a forum, you should fill in as much information as possible. Most forums have a page for your user details. People visit this page when they want to know more about you or send you a private message. Describe what you do and what your web site is about.

Avatars are an important part of your profile. Because of the volume of text on a forum page, avatars are the way people identify the poster. Make sure your avatar is unique and recognizable at a glance—you want to make sure people associate you with your ideas. And if you use an avatar on multiple forums and social networks, use the same one.

Most importantly, write a strong signature. This is the text that will appear at the bottom of every post you write, so put some thought into it. Like the signature of an email, your forum signature says who you are. Use your signature to link to your website.

2. Follow the Rules
Read the rules of the forum carefully, and follow them. Take the time to read through the discussions to get an idea of how people converse. There are implicit social norms that you must be mindful of.
If you follow my ten rules, you probably won’t violate any forum rules, but don’t take any chances.

3. Start by Responding
Forums are about conversations and communities. One person starts a thread, either with a question or a comment, then others respond, either with answers or their own comments.

People give advice free of charge in forums, but at the cost of their time and energy. They rightfully expect that the favor will be returned, so they shun people who take without anything to give.

It may not be your intention to be a leach on the community, but participants are wary of newcomers automatically. Take the time to respond to others before asking anything yourself. Post in other user’s threads before you start your own.

Most forums show the number of posts of the author next to every comment. Make 50 posts before you start your own thread. You might have an important question for the community, but it’s best to establish some social capital first. Otherwise, your question may be ignored.

4. Contribute Your Expertise
Don’t hold back. If you have an expert opinion, demonstrate it. Don’t give a half-baked response telling the member they can learn more if they follow the link to your page. Contribute highly relevant information immediately and in abundance. You don’t have to qualify your expertise unless it’s asked for. That’s what your profile is for.

5. Don’t Be a “Me Too” Poster
If someone has already said it, don’t bother repeating it. All you’re doing is wasting your energy and other people’s time. That’s not to say you shouldn’t state your agreement with someone else, but make sure you provide additional support to their argument.

In the event another poster disagrees with a thread you support, use the opportunity to contribute a new angle to the argument, using your own expertise.

6. Don’t Self-promote
Even if it’s allowed within the rules of the forum, don’t post about your own web site and products, unless it’s in direct response to a request for information. If you want to promote yourself, your signature is the place to do it.

On the flip side, tell people about great products you aren’t affiliated with. Sharing information is why forums exist.

7. Explain Yourself, but Be Brief
Don’t assume people have the same level of knowledge on a subject as you, but don’t imagine that they have the time or inclination to be either. Make your point straight away, then back it up with support. People who are interested in your initial thought will read more; those who aren’t will skip your comment and move on to the next thread.

Make sure you’re writing for the Web. Keep sentences and paragraphs short, with plenty of white space. Less is more.

8. If You’re Wrong, Say So
Forum discussions often hinge upon opinion, so nothing is more attention-grabbing than a poster on an internet forum admitting that they were wrong!

If you’re in the heat of a discussion, and someone persuades you to change your mind, say so. It’s a pretty big deal, and furthermore, you should thank that person.

Remember that forums aren’t soapboxes— they’re platforms for conversations and an opportunity to network.

9. Write Intelligently and Correctly
You don’t have to carefully revise and sculpt every forum post, but you should proof everything once. Consider using the spell-check if you’re not an impeccable speller.

Although most forums don’t set specific rules on grammar and punctuation, you should give thought to this: everything you say, every single post, every nugget of wisdom, is a representation of your personal brand. Writing like an intelligent adult is the equivalent of maintaining proper hygiene and a presentable appearance in the workplace; if you don’t pay any attention to it, it can undermine everything else you do.

However, be aware that the Internet is a global phenomenon, and some of the people you interact with will be non-native English speakers. You don’t need to point out any mistakes your fellow posters make.

10. Negativity is a No-no
It goes without saying, just because you have a degree of anonymity, communicating from the safety of your work desk, doesn’t mean you can harass other posters. This is especially the case when you’re trying to build an online reputation and attract users to your site. Forums posts may fall off the main page, but they never go away.

If someone disagrees with you, respond with a thoughtful rebuttal, or thank them for their opinion—for example, “It’s always interesting to hear a different take.” If someone attacks you, either thank them as if they’d simply disagreed, or ignore them entirely.

All forums have trolls—people who aggressively harass you just for their own entertainment. The worst thing you can do is engage with them.

SEO addon for Firefox / Mozilla

SearchStatus is a toolbar extension for Firefox and Mozilla that allows you to see how any and every website in the world is performing.


For every site you visit using, SearchStatus lets you view its Google Pagerank, Google Category, Alexa popularity ranking, Compete.com ranking, Alexa incoming links, Alexa related links and backward links from Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

You can also click on Highlight Nofollow Links - to identify what links on websites you look at are using NOFOLLOW.

What is Nofollow?
NOFOLLOW was intended to be an anti-spam tool for webmasters as the major search engines do not follow links with NOFOLLOW but to date it’s been largely ineffective at combating spam.

Download SearchStatus v1.27 addon:

SEO mistakes you need to avoid

* No robots.txt file – The robots file tells the search engine spiders where to go and not to go. By not having this file your entire site may not be fully indexed in the search engines. You can view a site robots file by entering www.site-name.com/robots.txt here is what our robots.txt file looks like.
* Bad Title tag – We see a lot of site just using their company name, or the same title for every page. It is ok to use the company name but we recommend using it after your keyword phrase, for example {Keyword Phrase – Company Name} or look at our homepage title tag
* Not utilizing meta data – While meta data may not be weighed as heavily as in the past it still help to determine a web pages relevance. Make sure you use Title, Description, and Keywords Meta tags . Think of your Meta data as your 1st chance for your web site to make a good impression.
* Flash – We really like flash and think it can be a very useful presentation tool; most web sites do not properly deploy it into their web pages. The search engines unfortunately are not able to index content or navigation that is embedded in a flash file.
* Directory listing - Dmoz or the open directory project is a volunteer group of editors. Google's directory is based on dmoz and is a very important incoming link. After you submit to dmoz be prepared to wait a while. Although it does cost $299 we recommend a directory listing in Yahoo. This is a trusted human edited link source plus Yahoo is the #2 search engine and the #1 web site overall for web traffic.
* No use of keyword or keyword phrase – We often get questions wondering why a page does not rank for certain phrases. For a search engine to rank your page for your targeted keyword, you need to use phrase a certain number of times and position that keyword properly in the body text.
* Targeting wrong keywords or not enough – Knowing what your customers are looking for is most important. This is why we recommend using paid inclusion like Google Ad-words and Overture. They bring traffic plus they are a great research tool to find your most effective keyword phrases.
* Bad site navigation – if your site visitors can not find your good content they will leave quickly. Use a site map and make it easy for users to find what they are looking for.
* No backlinks – Search engines use the sites that link to your site as a vote of importance and relevancy. You should attempt to get good relevant links for other important web sites. The best way to get good natural incoming links is to have good content. Try to offer useful information and services, give other site owners a reason to links to you.
* Bad anchor text (the text that is your underlined link) – Now it is good to use your company name for your link anchor text, but you also want to vary it and use your keyword phrases.
* Use of paid links - We learned our lesson the hard way. Here is a blog post by Google engineer Matts Cutts on the subject of paid text links .
* Do not be a dead end - Have links to other useful relevant web sites.
* Do not link to bad neighbors - Be careful who you link to. Make sure you link to qulity relevant sites, use common sence when linking to other web sites.
* Not staying within guidelines - Search engines have guidelines that need to be followed. Just reviewing them can help you avoid making a costly mistake. Here is the Google guildelines for webmaster, and this is the Google guidelines for SEO . Here is the Yahoo content qulity guidelines and advise to improve Yahoo rankings. Indexing and content guidelines for MSN search.