Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) adds Vayu Media as a sponsor to support Georgia's Technology Community.

Atlanta, GA - June 28, 2010 -

The Technology Association of Georgia supports its members by generating opportunities for personal, professional and business growth. By forging these strategic alliances, TAG acts as a primary catalyst to foster a rich growth environment for technology development in Georgia.  As a result, TAG's loyal and growing membership is better prepared to meet future challenges as Georgia's technology community becomes a world-class benchmark.  To support this mission TAG relies on sponsorships from the Georgia business community. Vayu Media is one of the Atlanta based companies that has recently joined TAG as a Gold Sponsor.

Vayu Media is an Atlanta SEO Company with the expertise to deliver comprehensive SEO services. The company offers search engine optimization services that help businesses with a limited or an extensive marketing budget to squeeze out the highest possible return on investment.  Their teams develop the right approach based on their client's budget constraints to maximize their client's return on investment. "We're excited to increase our support of the Georgia business community.  TAG is a fantastic organization and a perfect fit for our internet marketing company.  TAG is generating business growth for Georgia companies as does Vayu Media through our internet marketing solutions" explained Jennifer Dunphy Vayu Media's VP of Sales & Marketing .

In addition to the sponsorship Vayu Media will be supporting TAG's communication department.  The company will support TAG in getting the message out to the Georgia technology community regarding events, initiative programs and networking opportunities.

About TAG

Technology Association of Georgia is dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology industry and provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital, education and giving. TAG also brings the technology community together through events, initiative programs and networking opportunities.

TAG was launched in January, 1999 with the merger of three of the state's largest technology organizations: the Southeastern Software Association, the Business and Technology Alliance and Women in Technology. At its launch, TAG became one of the largest technology organizations in the country.

Our Societies, or special interest groups, encompass a large variety of  disciplines, from conducting business internationally to raising capital, from outsourcing to project management, technology in entertainment to International Business solutions.

Atlanta, GA - June 21, 2010 - More Georgia's students need to be introduced to relevant application based programs in science and math to encourage them to pursue advanced degrees in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines and ultimately strengthen Georgia's future technology workforce; and funds raised from THE TOUR Championship's Kroger TICKETS Fore CHARITY™ program will help the TAG Education Collaborative reach that goal.  THE TOUR Championship, the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedEx Cup, is giving Greater Atlanta charities the opportunity to participate in Kroger TICKETS Fore CHARITY - a unique fundraising initiative designed to improve the quality of life in the communities where PGA TOUR tournaments are held.  THE TOUR Championship will feature the top 30 players on the PGA TOUR, September 22-26^th at East Lake Golf Club.

Through Kroger TICKETS Fore CHARITY, the TAG Education Collaborative and other participating local charities will promote the sale of tournament tickets to benefit their organizations.  Best of all, 100 percent of the net proceeds from the tickets TAG Education Collaborative sells goes to charity: 50 percent to the TAG Education Collaborative and 50 percent to the East Lake Foundation, one of THE TOUR Championship's primary charities.

"The TAG Education Collaborative appreciates the opportunity to participate in TICKETS Fore CHARITY, said Dan McDade, Board Chair, TAG Education Collaborative. It's now up to us to rally our supporters and generate the dollars that will help make a difference in STEM education in Georgia".

 "This is an incredible opportunity to raise unlimited funds for the participating charity and there are absolutely no costs to the organization," said THE TOUR Championship's Executive Director Todd Rhinehart. "Fans will get to witness the very best the PGA TOUR has to offer and generate revenue for charities throughout greater Atlanta in a time when charities need help more than ever. We'd like to invite the community to join us in enhancing and enriching lives by participating in Kroger TICKETS Fore CHARITY."

Daily tickets available through TFC cost $50 until Labor Day, when tickets will go up to $60. Both of these prices are a discount from the gate price of $70. For those corporations interested in a creative and efficient way to acknowledge their best customers, TICKETS Fore CHARITY also offers a MasterCard Championship Club 10 weekly ticket book package for $2,200. This ticket package allows access to two hospitality venues on holes 6 and 15 Wednesday to Sunday of tournament week.

To purchase tickets, individuals will need to go to http://www.AtlantaTFC.com and select TAG Education Collaborative from the list of participating organizations.  Be sure to enter charity code TCTBQT in the TICKETS Fore CHARITY box. From that point on, any purchases made will directly benefit the TAG Education Collaborative.  A confirmation email, with an e-ticket attached, will be sent to conclude the process.  For any questions or to purchase MasterCard Championship Club Ticket Books please contact Chelsea Stewart at 404.378.8687 or at ChelseaStewart@pgatourhq.com.

In addition to the new Kroger TICKETS Fore CHARITY program, proceeds from THE TOUR Championship benefit numerous local charities as well as the East Lake Foundation, (www.eastlakefoundation.com) - a non-profit organization founded in 1995 on the belief that everyone deserves a chance to succeed, the East Lake Foundation strives to build a better future through education for children and adults, affordable housing, job readiness and connections with the broader community. In 2008, THE TOUR Championship donated $1.4 million to local charities, bringing the total amount raised since 1998 to more than $9 million.

About TAG Education Collaborative

The TAG Education Collaborative is dedicated to strengthening Georgia's future workforce by uniting Technology Association of Georgia (TAG) resources with leading education initiatives while emphasizing science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). The TAG Education Collaborative provides middle school and high school programs designed to provide these students with hands on activities that enable them to gain an appreciation for the opportunities available in STEM careers.

About THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola

The top-30 players in FedExCup points after the BMW Championship qualify for THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, the finale of the PGA TOUR Playoffs for the FedExCup.  FedExCup points are reset prior to THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola, ensuring a real shootout as all 30 players in the field will have a mathematical chance of winning the FedExCup with a victory at the event.  THE TOUR Championship is annually contested at Atlanta's renowned East Lake Golf Club, the formative home of the legendary Bobby Jones.  In 2009, THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola made contributions totaling more than $1 million to charities, which primarily benefit the East Lake Foundation and The First Tee.  Since 1998, THE TOUR Championship presented by Coca-Cola has donated more than $10 million to charity, both locally and nationwide.

About the PGA TOUR

The PGA TOUR is a tax-exempt membership organization of professional golfers. Its primary purpose is to expand the PGA TOUR domestically and internationally so as to substantially increase player financial benefits while maintaining our commitment to growth in charity and integrity to the game. In 2010, the three Tours compete in 102 events for more than $350 million in prize money. Tournaments will be held in 10 countries outside the U.S. and in 35 states.

In addition to providing competitive opportunities for its membership, TOUR events also generate significant funds for local charities.  In fact, the three Tours have surpassed the $1.5 billion mark in overall charitable contributions.  The PGA TOUR's web site address is http://www.PGATOUR.COM and the company is headquartered in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL.

CONTACTS:         John Hurlbut, john (at) tagonline (dot) org, 404-920-2038

Press Release Distribution Services by Atlanta SEO Company Vayu Media.

Legal confusion on internet privacy

Sharply differing attitudes towards privacy in Europe and America are a headache for the world's internet giants

Jun 17th 2010 | SAN FRANCISCO

WATCHDOGS are growling at the web giants, and sometimes biting them. In May European data-protection agencies wrote to Google, Microsoft and Yahoo! demanding independent proof that they were making promised changes to protect the privacy of users' search history. They also urged Google to store sensitive search data for only six months instead of nine.

In April ten privacy and data-protection commissioners from countries including Canada, Germany and Britain wrote a public letter to Eric Schmidt, Google's boss, demanding changes in Google Buzz, the firm's social-networking service, which had been criticised for dipping into users' Gmail accounts to find "followers" for them without clearly explaining what it was doing. Google promptly complied.

Such run-ins with regulators are likely to multiply--and limit the freedom of global internet firms. It is not just that online privacy has become a controversial issue. More importantly, privacy rules are national, but data flows lightly and instantly across borders, often thanks to companies like Google and Facebook, which manage vast databases.

A recent scandal dubbed "Wi-Figate" exemplifies the problem. Google (accidentally, it insists) gathered data from unsecured Wi-Fi networks in people's homes as part of a project to capture images of streets around the world. A number of regulators launched investigations. Yet their reaction varied widely, even within the European Union, where member states have supposedly aligned their stance on online privacy. Some European watchdogs ordered Google to preserve the data it had collected in their bailiwicks; others demanded that information related to their countries be destroyed (see table).

Despite such differences within Europe, the gap is much greater between Europe and America, home to many of the world's largest online social networks and search engines. European regulations are inspired by the conviction that data privacy is a fundamental human right and that individuals should be in control of how their data are used. America, on the other hand, takes a more relaxed view, allowing people to use a patchwork-quilt of consumer-protection laws to seek redress if they feel their privacy has been violated. Companies that handle users' data are largely expected to police themselves.

Some experts say this dichotomy explains why Silicon Valley firms that strike out abroad have sometimes been the targets of European Union data watchdogs. Jules Polonetsky of the Future of Privacy Forum, a think tank, says that many American firms have yet to learn that showing up in Europe and extolling the virtues of self-regulation is likely to be as ineffective as rightwing politicians denouncing anti-discrimination laws back home.

Guarding the guardians

Transatlantic friction between companies and regulators has grown as Europe's data guardians have become more assertive. Francesca Bignami, a professor at George Washington University's law school, says that the explosion of digital technologies has made it impossible for watchdogs to keep a close eye on every web company operating in their backyard. So instead they are relying more on scapegoating prominent wrongdoers in the hope that this will deter others.

But regulators such as Peter Schaar, who heads Germany's federal data-protection agency, say the gulf is exaggerated. Some European countries, he points out, now have rules that make companies who suffer big losses of customer data to report these to the authorities. The inspiration for these measures comes from America.

Yet even Mr Schaar admits that the internet's global scale means that there will need to be changes on both sides of the Atlantic. He hints that Europe might adopt a more flexible regulatory stance if America were to create what amounts to an independent data-protection body along European lines. In Europe, where the flagship Data Protection Directive came into effect in 1995, before firms such as Google and Facebook were even founded, the European Commission is conducting a review of its privacy policies. In America Congress has begun debating a new privacy bill and the Federal Trade Commission is considering an overhaul of its rules. David Vladeck, the head of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection, has acknowledged that "existing privacy frameworks have limitations".

Even if America and Europe do narrow their differences, internet firms will still have to grapple with other data watchdogs. In Asia countries that belong to APEC are trying to develop a set of regional guidelines for privacy rules under an initiative known as the Data Privacy Pathfinder. Some countries such as Australia and New Zealand have longstanding privacy laws, but many emerging nations have yet to roll out fully fledged versions of their own. Mr Polonetsky sees Asia as "a new privacy battleground", with America and Europe both keen to tempt countries towards their own regulatory model.

Privacy laws are somewhat more common in Latin America, where countries such as Argentina and Chile boast relatively strict European-style regimes. Mexico, which last year made data privacy a constitutional right, is also pushing through a new federal data-privacy law. The likely outcome is a mix of European and American privacy frameworks, predicts Katitza Rodriguez of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a privacy group.

Canada already has something of a hybrid privacy regime, which may explain why its data-protection commissioner, Jennifer Stoddart, has been so influential on the international stage. She marshalled the signatories of the Google Buzz letter and took Facebook to task last year for breaching Canada's data privacy laws, which led the company to change its policies.

Ms Stoddart argues that American companies often trip up on data-privacy issues because of "their brimming optimism that the whole world wants what they have rolled out in America." Yet the same optimism has helped to create global companies that have brought huge benefits to consumers, while also presenting privacy regulators with tough choices. Shoehorning such firms into antiquated privacy frameworks will not benefit either them or their users.

Well it's official, after months of speculation in the SEO and Internet Marketing world Google Caffeine is now finally here. Unlike the May Day algorithm change Caffeine represents more of a technical indexing adjustment to improve the speed and efficiency with which pages are indexed and served. It a system change at the Google end of the search relationship largely in respect of how data is collected, not what data is collected. As Vanessa Fox at Search Engine Land say: "Caffeine itself is not a ranking algorithm change. It's an indexing infrastructure change." She does concede however that: "That doesn't mean that it won't impact rankings."

Perhaps the two main questions raised through the introduction of Caffeine are:

a. What exactly is Caffeine?

b. How can you use the Caffeine update to your advantage?

What is Caffeine?

The internet is far bigger than anyone, even Google, could have predicted. The sheer volume of information and the rate at which new information is now added online is deafening. With the rapid addition of video, images, news, blogs and other forms of quick-fire content the internet is quickly becoming a vast repository of data. All data that needs to be indexed.

In the early days Google would update its index approximately every 4 months. From 2000 this reduced to a 1 month re-indexing.

In 2003 Google switched to an incremental indexing system crawling approximately 10% of the web nightly, indexing it and then and pushing that segment live. Caffeine is the first major change to Google's indexing since then.

Caffeine now analyses small portions of the web on a continuous basis sending it live as soon as it is indexed rather than in batches. A rolling, real-time indexing serving fresh, timely search returns. Matt Cutts draws an analogy where he describes the pre-Caffeine system as the bus that collects you at the airport. The new Caffeine update represents a shiny new limo ready and waiting to which you away to fresh search results. Nice.

According to Google Caffeine provides 50 percent fresher results for web searches than their previous index, so whether it's a news story, a blog or a forum post, you can now link to fresh, relevant content much quicker than has ever been possible.

Caffeine also massively increases Google's ability to scale up the size of its index. as well as adding more information parameters such as anchor text, meta data, keywords, regional, link information or other signals to help define a page's relevance.

How can you use Caffeine to your advantage?

Google is in a hurry and Caffeine is all about speed. The internet is growing exponentially and to cut through the noise you need to move quickly. Align your offering with Google's ambitions and you will benefit.

Don't waste Google's time with duplicate content. Make it easy by offering your unique content and URLS on a plate through HTML site maps, XML site maps, RSS feeds, Google product feeds. Note the increasing importance of video in modern SEO. Feed the Cafferine index a Video Sitemap with information about your video content. Be sure to flag up video content on your site Google might not otherwise discover. The same applies to Apps. Caffeine makes them visible. A mobile Google Apps search on an Android or iPhone and will quickly and easily return Apps.

The frequency of updating new content is also important. Use social media to keep your content fresh and your site in Google's eye-line. Do yourself a favour too and ensure that your content is original, considered and adds value to the user experience.

Site and hosting speed will also start to factor more as Google looks to scythe through the internet to quickly reach relevant search returns. If you aren't delivering well engineered sites using robust, speedy architecture then expect to lag behind the competition.

Contact Your Atlanta, Georgia SEO Company Vayu Media to develop a strategy taking advantage of these indexing updates.

Atlanta, GA - June 14, 2010 - The 2010 Georgia legislative session proved to be one for the history books. The General Assembly typically convenes the second full week of January for a term of 40 legislative days, adjourning Sine Die between mid-March and early-April. Though, this year the General Assembly stretched its work to the tail end of April, making this year's session the longest in history. Lawmakers were hard at work battling budget woes and trying to find solutions to fill the state's significant deficit. The task was certainly daunting; however, tough decisions had to be made to move the state forward for the upcoming fiscal year.

The budget was not the only item legislators wrestled with this year. General Assembly members also reviewed important policies - including legislation affecting transportation, education and healthcare. In addition, lawmakers had the foresight to pass noteworthy pieces of legislation that positively impact the Georgia technology community as well. TAG actively worked with state elected officials for the creation of legislation that will surely help our technology industry to continue to thrive here in Georgia. We are pleased to report all three initiatives passed both chambers and were signed into law by the Governor. This is a great win for our community at-large and we look forward to the road ahead. Here are a few highlights of each bill:

 -    Angel Investor Tax Credit:  22 other states currently have the capacity to provide an income tax credit for angel (or private) investors who invest in a qualified business venture. Programs vary from state to state; however, the underlying theme is the same - states view this program as a means to boost their overall statewide economy by incentivizing angels to infuse capital in early-stage companies (namely high-tech, bio, etc) who typically cannot get bank loans, even in a good economy. Angel investing is necessary for the high-tech community, as it is an important part of the financing stage of all our companies. Without the capital provided by angel investors, many companies will not be eligible for venture capital funding, and consequently, will not be able to grow to yield the positive economic development measures (e.g. jobs, IP, etc) that benefit the state. TAG helped to promote HB 1069 which provides an income tax credit to a qualified investor who invests in a qualified business, as defined in the bill. The income tax credit is 35% of the investment, at an individual cap of $50,000 per year. The aggregate cap per year for the program is $10 million.

   -  Alternative Investment for Georgia's Public Firefighter Pension Fund:  Georgia is the last state in the nation that does not authorize our public pension funds the option to invest in the broader alternative asset class, which includes venture capital. As a direct result, Georgian companies in search of venture capital often struggle to receive the next stage of financing necessary to continue business growth/development. Investing in alternative assets would be a great help to our public pensions as it would allow for diversification which would lower the overall risk of the portfolio and open the door for a greater return on investments made. To address this issue, TAG promoted HB 249 which authorizes the Georgia Firefighter Pension Fund to invest in the alternative asset class, including venture capital up to 5% of the fund. The bill does not mandate investments, rather just provides for another tool in the tool box. GPFPF would be required to provide annual reports to both Senate and House Retirement committees for review. This bill does NOT apply to the Employee Retirement System or the Teachers Retirement System.

-     Broadening the Definition of a Textbook:  TAG also promoted SB 319, which authorizes the Georgia Board of Education to broaden the definition of a textbook to include the hardware and technical equipment necessary to support digital content in direct classroom instruction. The legislation received broad support from both the technology and education community.

A special thanks to members of our community who reached out to their elected officials and the Governor's office to voice their support for the above legislative initiatives. Your voice was certainly heard!

About TAG

Technology Association of Georgia is dedicated to the promotion and economic advancement of the state's technology industry and provides leadership in driving initiatives in the areas of policy, capital, education and giving. TAG also brings the technology community together through events, initiative programs and networking opportunities.

TAG was launched in January, 1999 with the merger of three of the state's largest technology organizations: the Southeastern Software Association, the Business and Technology Alliance and Women in Technology. At its launch, TAG became one of the largest technology organizations in the country.

Our Societies, or special interest groups, encompass a large variety of  disciplines, from conducting business internationally to raising capital, from outsourcing to project management, technology in entertainment to International Business solutions.

Media Contact

Melanie Brandt

Email: Melanie (at) tagonline (dot) org

Phone: 404-920-2037

75 Fifth Street, NW; Suite 625, Atlanta, GA 30308

http://www.tagonline.org

Apps and downs

On their own, mobile applications may not become big moneyspinners

Jun 17th 2010

Lake Mary, Fla. (June 15, 2010) - Axium Healthcare Pharmacy, one of the nation's largest independent specialty pharmacy providers, announced today that its subsidiary, Axium Healthcare Puerto Rico, has selected Borschow Hospital & Medical Supplies, Inc. as the primary wholesale distributor in Puerto Rico.  

"This strategic business relationship with Borschow strengthens our specialty biotech purchase platform for growth in Puerto Rico," stated Milton Latoni, General Manager of Axium Healthcare Puerto Rico. "Borschow's full range of services allows us to shorten our delivery lead-time thus enhancing our high-touch service model on the island."

"We are pleased that Axium Healthcare Puerto Rico has selected Borschow as its primary wholesaler for this Market. We look forward to strengthening this commercial relationship with Axium Puerto Rico to continue providing excellent service for patients in the Island and support the growth of the Specialty Pharmacy Business in Puerto Rico" stated Hari Sabnani, Vice President of Borschow Hospital and Medical Supplies in Puerto Rico.

About Axium Healthcare Pharmacy:

Axium Healthcare Pharmacy, Inc. is one of the nation's largest independent specialty pharmacy providers licensed and permitted to operate in all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Axium focuses on therapy management programs for patients with serious and chronic conditions. Therapy management programs include: Hepatitis C, Oncology, Multiple Sclerosis, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Hemophilia, Growth Hormone Deficiency plus others. Through Axium's therapy management program, Axium is able to deliver high-quality, patient-focused care and personalized superior service combined with dedicated clinical expertise which further brings a new level of care for the patients.

Axium's clinical team provides comprehensive compliance support, patient education and other clinical interventions and communication with the patient/physician to coordinate the treatment plan. In addition, Axium offers 24-hour Pharmacist/Nurse support, prior authorization assistance, refill management calls, and ongoing delivery coordination. For more information, contact Axium Healthcare Pharmacy at 888.315.3395; by email info@axiumhealthcare.com and website http://www.axiumhealthcare.com/

About Borschow Hospital & Medical Supplies, Inc.:

Borschow Hospital & Medical Supplies, Inc. is the largest and most technologically-advanced distributor of pharmaceutical products and medical supplies in Puerto Rico, with annual sales in excess of $950 million. Borschow consistently serves over 1,500 clients in Puerto Rico and USVI, including hospitals, pharmacies, physicians, and other healthcare providers with over 20,000 products using over 300 supply sources.

Last month, a new report was released that outlined the main 2010 trends in online marketing. According to the report, the world of online marketing is set to face what they call "unprecedented change" in light of the volatility in the economy and the emergence of new channels, plus financial accountability. The report surveyed 155 marketers about their online marketing plans and what technologies they'll be using and here are the 10 key trends that the agency discovered:

MARKETING BUDGETS AND FOCUS CONTINUE TO SWING ONLINE.

The first question that was asked of marketers was about how important was it for their organizations to shift their marketing focus to be more online. A stunning 84% of respondents said that it was either somewhat important or very important. This is definitely a sign of how people are seeing the power of the Internet and how it can be used to reach a great many more customers in one single medium, but still have multiple touch points within - in moving your marketing online, you're opening your organization to a whole new world that is more cost-effective and has a wide range of arsenals at your disposal, from a website to a banner to email marketing to even social media. Plus, the study concludes, that the web is better at being measured than probably other mediums.

MARKETERS WORK HARD TO KEEP EMAIL RELEVANT.

Did you know that 92% of marketers are using or planning on using email marketing this year? This statistic fits what was heard from Blue Sky Factory and Constant Contact who said that email marketing is growing and not being replaced by social media. In fact, this fact goes to prove that email marketing is becoming the most widely adopted marketing tactic. The trend for 2010 is that with email marketing, senders will become wiser and won't resort to the "spray and pray" tactic to get their message across. Rather, they'll focus on being more targeted and find ways to make sure that they find ways to stay relevant. How? The study believes that marketers will need to create what they call "compelling campaigns" and have a strong understanding of analysis and management of the following: inbox placement, content rendering and reputation management around their digital communications.

SEARCH CONTINUES AS AN ONLINE MARKETING MAINSTAY, BUT COMPLEXITY GROWS.

Things will continue to be found through search. The traditional forms of online marketing will not be going away, but they are changing. The study shows that search will still be the primary way for people to find products and information online. But Google is starting to lose its grip as the de facto place to search. According to the study, Microsoft's Bing search engine has promising growth in the United States, but internationally, people are also paying attention to other sites like China's Baidu and Russia's Yandex. And as you can see with the recent changes with search engines, more innovative services are coming where you can access your search via mobile, find results dealing with geolocation, collaboration, and improved usability.

MARKETERS EXPAND TARGETING AND PERSONALIZATION ON THEIR WEBSITES.

Customers are no long anonymous. It's predicted that in 2010, we're going to see more personalization on websites. In fact, 55% of marketer surveyed said that they have already started using more personalization while 21% mentioned that they would be doing this later in the year.

Better targeting tactics should do well as marketers are going to go after those anonymous visitors that they track by referring URLs, search terms, geo-location and other metrics.

PROLIFERATION AND ADOPTION OF OTHER ONLINE CHANNELS PERSIST.

The world online is a vast frontier with enormous potential and opportunities. For marketers, there are multiple things we have at our disposal to reach out to our customers. Whether that's through mobile (messaging, applications, etc.), rich-media (video, podcasting, etc.), social media (microblogging, user-generated content, social networks, etc.) or countless other tools at our disposal, we're able to experiment with each one to see which gets the right impact. And while we're not really sure about the success rate of using any of these tools within the online world, the fact is undeniable: by using these other online channels, marketers are given every opportunity to effectively and efficiently reach out to their customers. More marketers are, in fact, starting to adopt these emerging channels - 84% said they would use them in the next year.

MOBILE CONTINUES ITS MARCH TOWARD GREATER SIGNIFICANCE.

With the introduction, and success, of smartphones like the iPhone and the Android platform, mobile marketing has a much stronger foothold on the industry. Through this increased adoption of technology, mobile marketing will move past messaging and let marketers leverage the mobile email, website and applications. Some marketers have already taken that step and you're starting to see more apps created by brands available on the app store. Over 1/3 of marketers are already doing some form of mobile marketing with an additional 40% saying they'll jump into the game soon.

MARKETERS CONTINUE TO NURTURE SOCIAL MEDIA.

From the beginning, social media was never about the companies. In fact, brands probably paid social media no mind. It was a quiet little community where people could start to talk about what they wanted. Now, through various changes in the social media timeline, services like Facebook and Twitter have skyrocketed up to near prominence. Unica's study states that blogs, product reviews and other social media is mixing up with marketing messages to help shape a customer's perception about a brand. Today, nearly half of all marketers are using social media to promote the brand. Nearly a quarter more will implement some sort of social media strategy. In fact, services like Facebook, Myspace and blogs have become mainstay in the marketing mix, but microblogging platforms like Twitter are becoming increasingly popular and have been established as proven channels.

WEB ANALYTICS UNIFIES ONLINE DATA ACROSS CHANNELS.

Unica believes that in 2010, web analytics will focus on several things: integrating customer data from the web, search, mobile and social measurements. 88% of marketers are already using web analytics and the report concludes that the "penetration and ubiquity" of web analytics makes it an obvious tool to integrate customer profiles into to help paint a better picture of who your audience really is.

IT BOTTLENECKS DRIVE ADOPTION OF ON-DEMAND MARKETING SOLUTIONS.

If there's someone to blame for marketing technology woes, then you might want to look at your IT department. 67% of marketers complained about the lack of support from their IT department. To overcome this, it seems that marketers are turning more towards on-demand services. This type of technology operating as a SaaS (Software as a Service) model will allow marketers to personalize their work and campaigns without having any dependencies that might hinder the productivity and effectiveness of the program.

ONLINE MARKETING SUITES BRIDGE THE GAP BETWEEN ANALYSIS AND ACTION.

Because marketers are diving into the ocean of online marketing, there's going to be a whole lot of things to see and explore. But as a result, there will probably be a whole lot more data to swallow and make heads and tails out of. The study believes that web analytics will be that guiding tool to help marketers measure performance across the various channels - whether it be social media, mobile, email or website. But while you're getting measurements, the study also believes that what's challenging is the ability to convert it into action - 94% of marketers said that this is their problem, highlighting the fact that marketers can execute a program, measure the success, but fail in trying to learn from it to improve.

The study believes that to overcome this obstacle, online marketing suites will emerge to eventually enable marketers to respond quickly to customer needs and interests using the data captured through the web analytics tool.

Jun 1st 2010, 21:57 by T.S. | LONDON

Effective Atlanta Search Engine Optimization Brings Returns on Investments

Atlanta, Georgia - April 19, 2010 - A focus on Google search engine optimization in Atlanta can produce a significant gain in traffic and return on marketing dollars spent, according to local company Vayumedia.com.

Specializing in providing affordable Atlanta-area search engine placement for companies both new to the online market and those looking to generate more traffic, Vayumedia.com knows that "you can't take your eyes off your business to manage online marketing," but that you need online traffic to grow your business.

Vayumedia.com has seen businesses come and go, and knows that simply focusing on keywords will generate a spike in traffic, but not the "conversions to leads and sales that grow your business." They've learned through experience that the best Atlanta search engine optimization derived from a multi-step process, which ensures that a business not only achieves the top ranking in its category, but that visitors to the website are interested in buying products.

The first step in this process is data collection, including a "deep analysis of business needs," which allows the optimization company to set reasonable goals for progress and return.

Next, detailed website analysis must be conducted. Websites with little or no content that generate traffic will not, in turn, generate sales. This analysis helps ensure that a website meets the "quality, technical, design and content guidelines from the major search engines," which is essential if it is going to be highly ranked.

Keyword research is essential, and after the first steps have been completed, can begin in earnest. This is based on the needs of the business, its clients, and its products, to ensure proper placement in search engines to deliver maximum results.

At this point, the creation of "high quality and unique content, including the defined keywords" will occur, as will the submission of the newly-designed website and sitemap to all major search engines.

It is the combination of all of these techniques which enables companies such as Vayumedia.com to give businesses in Atlanta guaranteed search engine placement that will generate not only traffic, but conversions to sales as well.