RT @jeffweiner: One of best articles on Yahoo’s strategy I’ve read in a long time

RT @jeffweiner: One of best articles on Yahoo’s strategy I’ve read in a long time via @nichcarlson http://bit.ly/KgxiUI

via Twitter / hblodget: RT @jeffweiner: One of bes.

I read that and clicked on the article– it turned out to be the biggest let down.  It basically buckets things into three phases– short, medium, and long term.

Strategy really only applies to the long term because in the short/medium terms, it’s really about righting the ship, cleaning things up, and gathering ammunition.

“Re-engage users” is not a strategy.  The answer to that will be the strategy.  At some point, Yahoo also needs to address its monetization strategy and there’s no mention of that anywhere.

Source: Facebook Is ‘Basically Throwing In The Towel’ On Its Most Expensive Ads – Business Insider

So, being forced to put the underperforming premium ads into self-serve instead of direct sales their price will be determined by bidding, no sales effort will be involved. No way they get the CPMs they were getting before and better sellout isn’t going to make up the difference. It’s basically throwing in the towel on those premium units, let’s hope the new one (and any future ones) do better!!

via Source: Facebook Is ‘Basically Throwing In The Towel’ On Its Most Expensive Ads – Business Insider.

Mobile cannibalization is a good problem to have

Below is a snippet from Mark Cuban on Facebook. It’s a big ass problem, but it’s a good problem because it means you’re still relevant in the upcoming generation.  The issue is that nobody has really figured out how to monetize mobile at the same rate or higher than desktop.  If you’re not struggling with this problem, then there is something wrong.

 Mobile is going to crush Facebook…

However the same is absolutely true for every ad driven internet site. They face limitations in what they can offer on mobile vs what they can offer through a PC brower. Look at the Google search results on mobile. No where near the number of results. Thats fewer click and CPM opportunities and ZERO display ad opportunities. Of course Google has Android, but that still isn’t generating much , if any revenue for them and it isnt currently designed to.

via The Facebook IPO Was A Killer, But Not For The Reasons You Think – Business Insider.

Contrary to Mark using them as an example, Google search may be having some success with this and there could be a few others, but not many.

A good summary on Google’s latest update: Penguin

SEO and the Flight To Quality | RKG Blog.

The Panda update puts a premium on original, high-quality content and clean, canonical sites. Duplicate content can be a bigger problem now than it was before the update hit. The rule of the day post-Panda is a ‘less is more’ strategy and a focus on user engagement. Now Penguin puts a premium on natural links and anchor text. In early 2011 we preached that SEOs should quit obsessing on anchor text. For those who followed my advice back then, congratulations. You’re well positioned to take marketshare from those who may have taken shortcuts in the meantime.

Bing Gordon: World of Warcraft has 0% churn from levels 35-40 (when you get a mount)

Bing Gordon: World of Warcraft has 0% churn from levels 35-40 (when you get a mount)

via Twitter / @ericries: Bing Gordon: World of Warc ….

GiltGroupe Founding CEO, “We send out over 3,000 versions of our emails..”

Alexis Maybank, @GiltGroupe Founding CEO, at #TCDisrupt: “We send out over 3,000 versions of our emails..”

via Twitter / @TechCrunch: Alexis Maybank, @GiltGroup ….

Most native format ads will eventually fail

I never disagree with anything Peter Horan says.  Bottom line is that you really have to be a platform to be able to sustain native format ads.  Maybe that’s a good way to define whether something is a platform or not.

Peter Horan, a longtime digital media exec, is hardly the world’s biggest banner ad booster but feels many of these native-format efforts will fail. They’ll fail, he said, for the simple fact that agencies and advertisers don’t want (and can’t afford) the extra work. Custom means costs that are paid by the buyer. Agencies are barely profitable today. They want to push much of online ad buying through automated exchanges. These kinds of formats gum up the process. Most platforms aren’t large enough to get away with forcing their way.

“Google can do it, Facebook can do it,” Horan said. “[But] for Tumblr to have its own units is kinda crazy. It will get some dollars, but the P&Gs and the Fords and won’t mess around creating custom units just for them.”

via Can Online Advertising Really Go Beyond the Banner? | Digiday.

Amazon Pitching Kindle Fire Welcome-Screen Ads for $600K | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

Amazon Pitching Kindle Fire Welcome-Screen Ads for $600K | Gadget Lab | Wired.com.

Evidence of using ad support to subsidize the cost of these tablets for users.

EBay, Wal-Mart search for revved-up search engines | Reuters

Bizarro headline of the day:

EBay Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc are developing new Web search engines to better compete against Amazon.com Inc in the fast-growing e-commerce market.

via EBay, Wal-Mart search for revved-up search engines | Reuters.

In an article about search engine competition, there’s no mention of Google until the very end, no mention of Yahoo, and one mention of Microsoft.

Unloading Read It Later Links

On Google’s Success in Making Search Ads COGS, Not Expense (via Dave Morgan)

SkipIt Lets Web Video Watchers Skip Ad for 10 Cents – Peter Kafka – Media – AllThingsD.

Google Research: Buying Paid Search Makes Sense Even If You’re #1 In Organic Search

Forecast: 25 Percent Of Paid-Search Clicks Will Come From Mobile By December.

Stats: Mobile Click-Through Rates High, Mobile Conversion Rates Low