Search Engine Marketing Blog

The development team here at Digital Surgeons is always on the look out for the real break through technologies in web development–the ones that put our clients way out in front of the competition and give them the tools to compete for the long run in today’s online market place.

Papervision 3d animation for Macromedia Flash is a versatile new coding library and ActionScript 3 plug-in that allows user interactive effects like never before. Our Flash developers dove right in when this technology came available and are constantly uncovering new and exciting ways to make Papervision 3D come to life. Flash 3d website elements, online product showcases, and interactive banner ads that seize the attention of the audience, are all the reality with Papervision 3D animation. Check out the professional fashion photography gallery created for our customer at www.MMaler.com. While there, click on the ‘Sphere view’ in the bottom right corner for another amazing aspect of flash 3d technology.

Magento Commerce development is another ground breaking software the Digital Surgeons team is making its own. Magento is an open source php ecommerce platform that is so, so much more than just another shopping cart. Magento is growing in popularity and respect in leaps and bounds and is poised to leave other open source ecommerce carts far behind. Magento offers unprecedented control over store functions and marketing options for the shop keeper. Professional support is available on multiple levels from the Magento Commerce creators, Magento development partners, and a thriving Forum community, something unheard of in previous open source platforms.

We will create a custom ecommerce website integrating Magento software and perfectly tailored to your target consumer audience. We’ve got the tools and the talent to bring your Magento ecommerce platform to full potential.

Give Digital Surgeons a call at (203) 672-6201 or fill out our website contact form for Magento Ecommerce solutions,3D Flash development with Papervision 3D, and a host of web design and internet marketing solutions to fit your unique goals.

A very special new online destination for fine children’s clothing and gifts has just been launched at www.Chickiddie.com. ChicKiddie specializes in unique designer clothing and gifts for children from newborn to six years old, as well as special things for the Moms who love them. A specialty of the ChicKiddie house is their line of personalized children’s clothing and gift items. The store has a great selection of monogrammed baby blankets, baby girl dresses, and toddler rompers.

Chickiddie partnered with Digital Surgeons to create a fresh, bright, and engaging site that would appeal to those looking for fine designer children’s clothing and unique gift items for newborns through preschool age. This Ecommerce website is built from the ground up with the customer in mind, with smooth navigation and a well organized layout that makes it a breeze to find every kind of clothing and gift item. The check out process is streamlined for a perfect shopping experience every time.

The new Chickiddie.com ecommerce website design allows for ease of update by the client, with a convenient administration panel that allows the owner to add, change, and delete items, pricing, and descriptions efficiently. A custom website blog is included with this site, along with the ability for the client to customize for sales items, gift wrapping, special offers, and more.
The team at Digital Surgeons wishes Chickiddie the very best of success for their new online venture!

To find out what a custom ecommerce or promotional website solution can do for your business, give the Digital Surgeons a call at (203) 675-6201 or contact us via our convenient website contact form. We look forward to working with you towards unparalleled success!

Last Wednesday the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce hosted their new online marketing partner, Digital Surgeons, for a well-received Website Analysis Workshop. Chamber members met with David Salinas, CEO, and Peter Sena II, CTO for a casual, intimate clinic with their websites as patients for examination by the Surgeons.

Local New Haven area businesses received honest and practical insights about their website design , their current potential for driving business, and real-world marketing solutions for getting the most of this online marketing vehicle. Feedback from workshop participants was great and the lay-back atmosphere encouraged good discussions and insightful questions for Pete and Dave.

Every online business has different needs and goals. Certain situations require a strictly promotional site while others a full Ecommerce website solution. Digital Surgeons creates custom search engine optimization and marketing plans for each client venture, using combinations of various techniques designed to target the company’s ideal customer. Other services include social network marketing, online press releases, and media buying plans.

The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce has recently partnered with Digital Surgeons for their search engine optimization and marketing campaign. The Surgeons are already hard at work on bringing the Chamber message and services to a broader audience.

To find out how Digital Surgeons can help your business thrive on the internet, call David Salinas at (203) 672-6201 x103 or use the convenient website contact form.

This is a great idea that’s time has come. One ID that can be used everywhere online. Our lives just got a little easier…

OpenID is a free and very easy way to use a single universal identity for access across the internet. The foundation was started in January 2007 by JanRain Incorporated, and in the last year and a half nearly 10,000 websites have signed on to accept this ‘Universal Remote’ of online access. Over 160 million OpenIDs are now in existence and this number is growing at an exponential rate as word continues to spread.

Under the leadership of Executive Director Bill Washburn, the project has evolved into an unqualified success. OpenID supports the open source method of web development and steps have been taken by the founders to ensure the process remains absolutely free. According to Brad Fitzpatrick (the father of OpenID):

“Nobody should own this. Nobody’s planning on making any money from this. The goal is to release every part of this under the most liberal licenses possible, so there’s no money or licensing or registering required to play. It benefits the community as a whole if something like this exists, and we’re all a part of the community.”

Several well-known providers are now offering this universal identity to their members and users are encouraged to sign on with the provider they trust the most. AOL, Vox, Verisign, Technorati, Flickr, Wordpress, and Yahoo are just a few names on the provider list. Members of these and other provider networks already have an OpenID ready and waiting. Details can be found on their site at OpenID.net.

OpenID.net includes a lively website Blog and great supportive information for both business people and techies. Open source code is available free for web developers to incorporate OpenID into websites. Being able to offer OpenID to users can become a powerful draw and enhance the services list for web development agencies, SEO vendors, technical firms, and social networking sites.

OpenID should cut down on time, tracking, and costs for companies. The new system also eliminates filling out tedious sign-up forms because all necessary info will be on file with the provider.

For all kinds of current information about the world of the internet, custom search engine optimization and marketing plans, and professional website development to fit all situations, give the Digital Surgeons a call at (203) 672-6201 or contact us via our quick and easy website form. We look forward to working with you towards unparalleled success!

With such a vast and growing percentage of consumers doing their shopping on the internet, maintaining a topnotch online image has become an absolute business essential. Company executives have long known the importance of proactive image enhancement, and now must turn their attention to how they are perceived on the internet. Several buzz monitoring tools, good and bad, are available for gathering company information on the web, but knowing how to interpret this data, as well as how and when to act on it requires professional experience.

The Digital Surgeons team has answered this need with its newly enhanced internet reputation management strategies. With the best tools and talent available in the industry, the Surgeons operate highly effective counterattacks for neutralizing bad publicity, as well as creating proactive reputation promotion to keep your business one step ahead of the game.

Even the most upright and ethical enterprises sometimes experience negative press and even downright slanderous comments. Unscrupulous competitors can present themselves as unhappy customers in an attempt to damage your reputation. Disgruntled employees post nasty comments on Blogs and new items can be slanted to fit individual agendas. Is any of this sounding familiar? Solid reputation management services should be ongoing, always monitoring for ‘red flag’ scenarios.

Digital Surgeons reputation management experts continually monitor the web for company mentions and news, and when negative items are identified, they thoroughly research the extent of the threat and what it could mean for your business.

In consultation with the client, a decision is made as to the priority of the negative press and if action needed. Then Digital Surgeons creates a plan that incorporates several strategies such as Blogging, internet press releases, targeted SEO, and other tactics that work together to both negate any bad online commentary and promote a more positive and accurate reflection of what your company is all about.

For more information about these services, check out our new Reputation Management section on the site. To get a reputation monitoring and management plan working for your company, give us a call at (203) 672-6201 or fill out our convenient contact form. One of our PR professionals will be in touch promptly.

The Digital Surgeons Flash development team has just launched the captivating www.MMaler.com, an interactive fashion photographer’s gallery built with the latest
ActionScript 3 technology.

Our client Michael Maler, a fashion industry photographer with clients the likes of Pepsi International and Wilhemina Models NYC, came to us looking for a website solution that would set his portfolio well above and apart from the competition. The interactive team, led by our own Aaron Sherrill, responded vigorously with this 100% Flash website that showcases Mike’s work in a remarkably innovative and engaging manner.

Using new strategies made possible now with the ActionScript 3 version, this website incorporates added dimensions of depth, 3D imagery, and movement previously unheard of. Mike’s Flash interactive gallery menu is designed as a swirling three-dimensional globe pattern of fashion images for the visitor to choose from. The user is then presented with full-screen brilliant photos with clarity and vibrant color that beautifully presents Mike Maler’s talent and style.

Digital Surgeons works right on the cutting edge of Flash interactive media and we have the finest tools and talent in the web development industry, easily rivaling New York City marketing firms. In fact, we have just opened our own new Manhattan marketing office to better serve our metro clients.

Our Flash media portfolio displays many examples of our team’s interactive capabilities. We develop a wide range of applications including Flash banner ads and headers, interactive product demos, and total Flash ActionScript 3 websites. To learn more about what Flash ActionScript 3 can do for your online business, give Digital Surgeons a call at (203) 672-6201 or fill out or easy website contact form. We look forward to presenting a solution that will knock your socks off!

The
Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce
Solo-Preneur Council
Focused on the needs of Sole Proprietors, Partners and Solo Practitioners Presents:

How Social Networking Can Work for You
Savvy Tips for Using Facebook and Linked-In

Program Overview:
How Social Networking Can Work for You.

When you think about the internet today, one of the hottest tools creating buzz is social networking. Everyone is talking about it. But is anyone building business with it? And how do you make it work for your company?

Learn basic nuts and bolts and a few simple steps you can take to leverage this exciting new phenomenon. Don’t get overwhelmed by new technology - make it work hard for you!

Presented Monday, May 19th, from 8:00 - 9:30 am at The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce 900 Chapel St. 10th Fl. NH

for a copy of the powerpoint: How Social Networking can work for you: Using Facebook and Linked In for business exposure click here

Digital Surgeons Launches Umlaut Design (www.umlautdesign.com) for New Haven, Connecticut Designer Heather George.
Heather functioned as the Creative Director on this project and we helped shape her creative ideas and unique layout into a complete animated Flash Website.

The State of New York’s new tax law requires that all online retailers “doing business in New York” register with the state to collect sales taxes by June 1, 2008. Those who do not register, will face audits for quarters previous to the deadline. Internet superstar Amazon is suing the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance (DTF)over this new tax law.

More than one Supreme Court ruling has declared that an out-of-state retailer is not required to collect sales tax from customers unless they have a physical presence, defined as employees or property, within the state. The internet retailer declared suit because “Amazon has no physical presence in New York” and has no employees or physical property residing in the state and therefore the law is unconstitutional.

Advertiser or Employee?

New York State is attempting to get around the Supreme Court precedent by saying that the Amazon Associates Program, an affiliate program, makes Amazon liable to collect taxes for New York website affiliates. An affiliate is a website that runs an advertisement that links to the sponsoring company and receives a fee when a visitor “clicks thru” and purchases from the sponsoring company. Somehow New York State has equated Affiliate advertising with the word “employee” and this seems to be quite a stretch of interpretation.

Most all of the states have been brainstorming for years on ways to generate revenue from internet enterprises and New York is just the first one to actually act upon it. If this law is upheld, we can expect all the other states to jump on the bandwagon.

Is this enforcable?

A recent discussion of this law suit on Webpronews received a great detail of responses and many insightful comments and questions came to light. One recurring theme was the seemingly daunting task of enforcing the law. How does the New York DTF expect to administer this new tax law? How will they ferret out the numerous small and large businesses that have affiliates residing in New York? None of this has been addressed by the state so far and it seems that the time and money needed to make sure the tax collection takes place could far outweigh the revenue benefit.

This raises a question for me that I did not see mentioned out their on the Blogs…if this is going to be so hard to administer, and with the affiliate-employee connection so seemingly flimsy, are they just trying to scare businesses into registering with the audit threat to get a good chunk of cash before the Courts squash the tax law?

It’s going to be hard for the New York DTF to get the courts to see affiliates as some kind of quasi-employee. Affiliate marketing is really advertising and if this law is upheld it could create a slippery slope situation for much broader taxation of internet businesses.

Goodbye New York Affiliates?

It’s possible that New York could shoot themselves in the foot by discouraging businesses from using affiliates in New York State. Imagine Amazon changing its affiliate information to read:

“We are always looking for quality affiliate partners to promote our products, unless you’re from New York.”

With a recession happening, charging $100 or $108 for an item in a competitive industry can make or break the sale. Sorry, no New York Affiliates Allowed!

For Digital Surgeons, this should be an interesting case to follow as it will impact how we conduct internet marketing strategies for our clients in the future. The online universe of ecommerce and promotion are constantly changing and, as always, we are on the look out for new ideas and creative ways to adapt to unfolding situations. For more of the latest information on the world of search engine marketing and ecommerce development, give us a call at (203) 672-6201 or explore our site at www.DigitalSurgeons.com.

I just finished reading an article on DMnews.com announcing Google’s first quarter 2008 earnings and, once more, am incredulous over the growth this search engine monster continues to sustain. Google is the internet trend setter, the creator of webmaster standards, and the major search engine of choice for close to 60% of all online searches. They must be doing something right.

So all those website businesses out there that still think marketing for Google is just not important, or that investing in expert SEO to curry Google’s favor is just not worth the cost—take a good hard look at that “60% of all searches” figure, ask around to see how people shop for just about everything these days, and then check out these first quarter earnings for more evidence that Google is just not going away anytime soon!

Google’s First Quarter 2008 Earnings

On April 17th Google announced $5.19 billion in earnings for the first quarter of 2008. This translates to a 42% increase over the first quarter of 2007. That’s about $2.5 billion more than the same time last year and a 7% increase over last quarter. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google, stated “We are obviously pleased with another strong quarter.” This small town Branford girl considers this the understatement of the year. Wow.

According to Schmidt, paid search revenues were far more lucrative than most third party sources predicted. Google’s total paid clicks rose 20% over first quarter 2007 figures and 4% over the previous quarter. Revenues through Google’s ad networks, mainly Adsense, saw a substantial 25% increase over first quarter 2007 earnings. Google-owned website revenue (the biggest money maker) increased a whopping 49% over the same timeframe last year. International revenues also saw a big climb with a 48% increase compared with the first quarter of 2007.

Employment went from 16,805 up to 19,156 just this quarter, with half of new employees coming from the recent purchase of Double Click. Google has announced they are selling the Double Click Performics group and that more staffing cuts are expected in this area. The company also just announced a new partnership between Google and Salesforce.com, a provider of on-demand CRM services, for Google to provide Salesforce for its Google Apps offerings.

Can You Afford to Ignore Google Anymore?

Every business operating on the internet needs to formulate a strategy for increasing their visibility in Google. With more and more consumers doing a substantial amount of their shopping and product research on this industry-dominating search engine, companies that want to beat out their competition, or at least get a good piece of the market share, cannot afford to ignore the reality of the times.

Yes, pay per click advertising with Google Adwords is a good starting place, but only 2-4% of all online searchers ever click on the paid ads. The vast majority, over 85% gravitate ONLY to the natural search engine listings on the left of the page. The only way to get to that coveted top 5 or 10 spot in the rankings for your most important search terms is with an ongoing plan of custom tailored search engine optimization and some time.

Find a reputable online marketing agency with experience, testimonials, web marketing case studies, and a commitment to the success of your business, and get to work making your website thrive in Google. It’s not always easy, it takes real work and real talent, but your hard-earned business is worth it.

To learn more about custom SEO and marketing that results in real online success, give Digital Surgeons a call at (203) 672-6201 or fill out our simple website contact form. We look forward to learning about your business.

*We all can’t be Google, but every business can achieve continuing growth and prosperity with the right partner working for them.*