I was surprised to find that scammers are now attempting to break into your Google Adwords account.  Below are the screen shots verifying this:

It seems hard to believe that someone would break into another persons Adwords account.  In today’s sophisticated criminal world it’s a rather ingenious way to steal.  The original account holder gets hurt because it ruins their account and possibly eliminates their chances of using Adwords in the future.  Google gets hurt the most because they face credit card charge backs from the original account holders after the damage is done.

I assume that some malicious affiliates or online marketers are behind some of these account break-ins; possibly and most likely some Russians (as that seems to be the stereotype).  If you don’t have to foot the bill - why not just blow through daily budgets and advertise affiliates offers?  Google can track this however by finding out the affiliate ID’s of these malicious hackers.  Therefore, it is imperative that Google be able to “back-up” the accounts of affected users in order to deter these phishing schemes and protect the Adwords advertising system.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and Rupert Murdoch are losing out on billions. If I were both their personal financial advisor, I would slap their faces and send them an incessant amount of pokes on Facebook, or alerts on MySpace! Online social networks are not as valuable as the market currently values them at. If MySpace has a market cap of say a few billion dollars and facebook as well - it would bode well for both organizations to go public and cash out. I say go public and cash out because there is only one correct way of doing business: and thats to make money. Going public will make both Facebook and MySpace (News Corp) money, its that simple. I can already see what the chart will look like for both of these companies. It will look something like the half of a mountain:

I got the screen shot above from Bank of America’s 1 month stock price on yahoo finance. Banks, lenders, title companies, etc… are all in deep trouble from mortgage fraud and default - hence why BAC (stock ticker) is like that of a half mountain. This is what Facebook and MySpace’s stock chart would look like if they would ever go public. Keep in mind that this would still unlock a massive amount of money for both Facebook and News Corp. Probably much more for Facebook than MySpace, as I believe the market will offer a higher P/E to Facebook because of it’s prospected growth.

Think about it this way, Google is worth about 5 times its IPO market cap - why can’t both MySpace and Facebook benefit from the same tremendous growth as Google? Because Google is the King of traffic and monetizes the ENTIRE internet as opposed to just being a publisher; which MySpace and Facebook are.

Regardless, again I think its important for MySpace and Facebook to go public because they would make a ton of money by ripping off the people that put money into investment firms (Bank of America, JP Morgan, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, etc….) that are stupid enough to buy a percentage of it. The stock market IPO game is one of the biggest shareholder and corporate dilution schemes in existence. Every year, dozens of companies go public and simply cause mom and pops to lose billions through the dilution of pensions, mutual funds, etc…. so schemer CEO’s can sell out their shares either immediately or within a few years.

It goes on quite a bit - and is indeed one of the smartest and biggest types of scams in the USA today. Companies like Google are worth 48 times the amount of money they earn annually. Therefore, CEO’s and founders are able to multiple their wealth into a “perceived” wealth 48 times over - therefore “cashing out” in a massive fleecing operation. The stock market’s participants have believed in this “system” for a very long time.

Let’s begin the revolution.  If your financial advisory firm is interested in learning how Banner Blindness Inc. can help you develop research reports for online websites (Yahoo, Google, MySpace, Etc…) please contact us.  We are certain that we can help your investors make smarter decisions when it comes to purchasing online-based companies in the stock market.

Google and ARM (not sure wtf ARM stands for) will officially be introducing Android later this week in Europe. I’m expecting Google’s stock price to jump back to 550 shortly after the demonstration. Apple should be seriously worried about this software development. Google is basically creating an iPhone for any phone. Additionally, Google is empowering developers, or outsourcing their own R&D, in order to speed development and innovation. This is certainly one of the fastest ways to enhance and launch a product - let other people do it for you. The video above is a little weird, it seems almost like Brin is living in the future and in a space station. Right now Google has two main sources of revenue: Adwords & AdSense. These two powerful advertising and marketing systems combined with a powerful phone will create an entirely new distribution mechanism for the company. Good luck competing with that Microsoft & Yahoo; good luck indeed.

I was amazed at the incredible number of worthless tools to be found at Microsoft’s Ad Center Labs - there wasn’t one useful tool that a PPC marketer could use (please comment if you beg to differ).  Clearly Microsoft doesn’t get search engine marketing; hence the Yahoo purchase.  However, if Yahoo gets gobbled up by Microsoft doesn’t that mean they will be destroying one already deficient product, eating it, and pooping out an even more deformed product.  Sorry for the human digestive analogy; another good analogy I heard on TheStreet.com: “Microsoft buying Yahoo is like taking two people in a race that are weak runners and tying their legs together.  They still aren’t going to beat the third runner, because the third runner is faster and stronger.”  Check out the screen shots below for Microsoft’s Ad Center “labs”.  If you can find anything that is valuable to an online marketer, please let me know.

I find it pathetic that Google is attempting to block the Microsoft Yahoo! deal.  In a short and sweet little blog post, David Drummond (Google SVP and legal council) claims that Microsoft is evil and trying to squash Internet openness and innovation.  Pretty sickening that Google is attempting to stop Microsoft through an anti-trust argument.  This is business - and I don’t think Washington should be involved in this matter or any monopoly related issues for that matter.  Free market and consumer choice will always win out in a free economy such as ours - but this is obviously not a free market economy.  Politics, law, power, and persuasion are influencing this massive tech buy by Microsoft.  Microsoft’s business decision is not EVIL (Don’t Be Evil? - right Google?) it is a business decision that was made to increase shareholder value for Microsoft investors.  This is not a moral or ethical question.  The Microsoft Yahoo! deal will give internet users more options, more technology, and an alternative to Google.  Is choice and freedom so wrong Google?

As predicted here on this blog - Yahoo is getting bought by Microsoft (booyah kasha!) Keep in mind that the man structuring this deal appears in the video above. In interviews I’ve read online with Steve Balmer I think it’s clear he doesn’t understand the online market and how to profit from it. Microsoft’s facebook purchase clearly demonstrates their lack of understanding. Google just announced yesterday that paying for ad inventory on social networks was hurting their bottom line - and users on Facebook are even more fickle about clicking ads than they are on MySpace.The Yahoo acquisition for Microsoft will ensure a solid future for both companies during the next 10 years. The synergies to both companies should certainly help create more shareholder value than if the companies stayed apart, did some type of merger, or commercial venture together. Yahoo is the only remaining competitor to Google and this purchase verifies that. So what can we expect from a MicrosoftYahoo! in the second half of 2008 when the deal closes:

• One of the largest display advertising companies in the world
• Launching of mobile software to compete with Google’s Android
• Microsoft Search (Windows Live or MSN) and Yahoo Search merging.
• Windows Vista updates featuring Yahoo search
• More consolidation in internet video (the next logical step is to compete with YouTube)
• Enhancements for publishers looking to make money from contextual advertising
• Google continues to eat away at MicrosoftYahoo! unless MicrosoftYahoo! begins to reshape iself and act more like Google.

Please leave your comments and let Banner Blindness readers know what you think a MicrosoftYahoo! will bring in the second half of 2008.

I haven’t visited AOL.com in quite sometime (probably since I was 12 years old and using dial up) - so I was rather amazed to see that AOL looks identical to Yahoo:

Pretty pathetic AOL-Time Warner - you rip off the design of Yahoo (isn’t this copyright or Trademark infringement?) Regardless, I briefly looked over the monetization strategies of these home pages, and AOL hands down beats Yahoo. So who is more pathetic, AOL that rips of the design, or Yahoo who doesn’t know how to monetize? For example, under the main 300×250 banner ad on AOL there are “featured offers” and under the strange sized banner ad on Yahoo (isn’t it time to switch this to a standard 300×250 Yahoo?) is an offer to download Yahoo messenger. AOL doesn’t waste this space, but puts their AIM download link in the upper left portion of their page.  Additionally, AOL goes further below the fold and offers more content, but Yahoo has My Yahoo (which is possible the worst RSS reader out there), so once again AOL beats out Yahoo.

Yahoo, don’t worry we won’t pick on you too long - Google’s stock just dropped after announcing disappointing earnings. Oh wait, Google increased revenue 51% and Yahoo managed to decrease revenue by 24%; additionally Yahoo is laying off 1000 employees (while Google is hiring 1000 more) and making 2008 an “investment year”. Yahoo, please contact Banner Blindness if you need help growing a pair of balls so you can make 2008 a year of incredible growth and competitive elimination. Yahoo is clearly not getting it - they did make one positive move today: Terry Semel finally leaves Yahoo (he is proud of his accomplishments - hahaha, you ruined this company you Hollywood moron).

Yahoo reported lower then expected earnings Tuesday evening, and announced a soft 2008, sending the stock down over 10% after-hours. CEO Jerry Yang is upbeat but not till 2009 - how weak is that? I prefer CEO’s that makes bold forward looking statements that might not necessarily be true (at least when I’m the shareholder and looking to unload). At a market cap of around 20 billion dollars, Yahoo is looking very very cheap and should seriously be considered a take over target by numerous corporations and private equity funds. I might consider buying it myself ;)  Online advertising continues to grow 20% a year and Yahoo is strongly positioned to profit from this expanding market place. In 2007 Yahoo acquired numerous display advertising networks in order to compete against Google’s acquisition of Double Click. The remaining display advertising networks left on the block are: 24/7 Real Media, SpecificMedia, ValueClick, and Yahoo. At 20 billion dollars I would even contend that Google should consider making an offer to purchase Yahoo. Purchasing Yahoo would position Google as the undisputed master of the Internet, the only sector Google wouldn’t own is online auctions (eBay) - and who would want to own it, as consumers online are demanding quicker and quicker purchase times (auctions are just too slow and still too risky).

So the real question for stock holders is when Yahoo or another entity will announce that they are in talks to purchase Yahoo. Microsoft’s online marketing unit lost a few hundred million last year, and I don’t see them turning that around anytime soon. Microsoft can continue to make money losing investments in display advertising, but will never stand a chance in paid search. Paid search (and all online advertising for that matter) is a numbers game and MSN just doesn’t get traffic - therefore Microsoft will never make money through it. If Microsoft ever wants to compete with Google they will have to pay to get there (and thats exactly what they are doing). I would contend that the most likely suitor for Yahoo is Microsoft (and Microsoft’s only chance of online survival is to purchase Yahoo), and at these levels Yahoo looks Yummy!