(Some of) The Biggest Viral Ads Of 2013

Now that we’re well into the first quarter of 2014, we can look back on the previous year and take stock of some of the best brand videos 2013 had to offer.  We laughed, we cried, we marveled at the lengths to which some brands were willing to go. These viral ads illustrate what it means to create quality content. Not just good commercials, but view-worthy content.

These viral ads are listed in descending order based on YouTube views. Some are older than others and that could skew the viewing data just a bit, but it’s a straightforward way of listing them. Some of these ads also ran as television commercials, while others were generated for online audiences only. But no matter where they originated, they gained a lot of traction on YouTube.

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SEO Red Flags: 8 Questions To Ask A Prospective SEO Company

It can be difficult for the average website owner to know what to look for in an SEO company. And unfortunately, there are thousands of companies online willing to take your money without providing you any real SEO benefit whatsoever. And in many cases, these companies can end up getting your site banned from search engines. So how do you know what to ask prospective companies before you sign a contract?

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Mobile Content Marketing: How To Connect With Users On the Go

According to the New York Times, cell phone data usage doubled in 2013. And for the first time in history, sales of smartphones outpaced the sale of feature phones.  But mobile is more than just smartphones. 2013 also saw a decrease in laptop sales with an exponential increase in tablet sales.  It is expected that by 2016, 80% of the US population will own a smartphone and 50% will own a tablet. The mobile web is growing like a wildfire, and online marketers must be prepared to face 2014 with a mobile content marketing strategy.

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Guest Blogging Declared Dead: Answers To Your Most Pressing Questions

Matt Cutts has done it again. On January 20, he once again sent the SEO community into a tailspin with a simple blog post.  It was titled, “The Decay and Fall of Guest Blogging for SEO.” In the post, he declared guest blogging for SEO and link building purposes dead.

He wrote, “So stick a fork in it: guest blogging is done; it’s just gotten too spammy. In general I wouldn’t recommend accepting a guest blog post unless you are willing to vouch for someone personally or know them well. Likewise, I wouldn’t recommend relying on guest posting, guest blogging sites, or guest blogging SEO as a linkbuilding strategy.”

Cue the ensuing panic.

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Does Bing Matter For SEO?

According to Comscore’s calculations, Bing received 18.1% of all searches in the United States for the month of November. Google still rules the roost, owning 66% of all searches.  To put this into context, 18.1 billion explicit core searches were conducted in November, with Google ranking first with 12.1 billion. Bing ranked second with 3.3 billion searches, followed by Yahoo with 2 billion, Ask Network with 464 million and AOL, Inc. with 253 million. So with an 8.8 billion search difference between Google and Bing, the question remains: Does Bing matter for SEO?

The answer? Sort of.

While Bing’s numbers don’t seem impressive all by themselves, it’s important to note that the total number of searches occurring on Bing has doubled since 2009.

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Net Neutrality Overturned: How Will Online Video Be Affected?

In case you missed the panic and predictions of death and destruction – there was a landmark net neutrality decision handed down on January 14. The US Court of Appeals in Washington, DC, sided with Verizon over the Federal Communications Commission when it comes to net neutrality. The court said that the FCC overstepped when it barred broadband Internet providers from slowing or blocking select web traffic.

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The Foundations of SEO Success for 2014

2013 Could be called The Year of A Thousand Google Changes. Ok, maybe not a thousand, but there were quite a few changes last year. Penguin saw another major update. Google encrypted organic keyword referral data. Hummingbird brought us semantic search.  And Google Authorship was reduced. The constant state of flux kept marketers on their toes, tweaking and adjusting their approach to building and maintaining websites that will meet Google’s elusive criteria for a “quality” website. SEO success used to be fairly easy, and within the grasp of anyone with a vague understanding of the internet. But 2013 changed all that.

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Buying YouTube Views: Think Twice Before Making A Purchase

In our last post, we looked at YouTube bots, but now it’s time to delve a little deeper into the practice of buying YouTube likes. Since the dawn of social media, businesses have been able to buy likes, fans, and followers. YouTube is no different. Just Google “buy YouTube views” and see how many results kick back.  There are hundreds, if not thousands of services out there that will generate views and subscribers for a fee. And while this is a guaranteed way to improve your vanity metrics, is buying YouTube views really worth the money and the risk to your account?

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Happy New Year: Online Video Predictions For 2014

2013 could be considered the year that video finally became a must-have item in a standard marketing playbook. And with the rise in mobile device usage, strategic video marketing will become even more critical in the years to come. So as 2014 looms just ahead, let’s take a moment to look into the future and make some online video predictions for 2014.

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