New & Noteworthy in Internet Marketing

Some comment-worthy stuff in the inbox & reader this morning:

• Cuil is the new Google challenger: the original search engine commentator, Danny Sullivan assesses the strength of the challenge in detail. Lots of buzz about this but no time to assess it today. The three column approach to displaying results is interesting, as is the use of images in results. Three column shoulds should help sites and searchers with more chance to win clicks. I’ll revisit this when the buzz dies down.
• Sound advice on writing with keywords from Karon Thackston of Marketing Words Copywriting Blog. Describing what you are not is a particularly good technique to remember — although I’ve often found people object to even the smell use of the word “cheap” adds to their copy. For me, the best guide is whether your copy sounds clunky as you read it aloud. If it does, you are overdoing the keyword repetition.
• I challenge you to read, social media expert, Chris Brogran’s 50 Steps to Establishing a Consistent Social Media Practice without being better informed about social media considerations. For me, the first one is always who is going to do the socialising and how much time do they have. No point even starting if you can’t sustain a target momentum*.

I kinda like Cuil’s three column results page but many are saying the results that fill the columns don’t match hyped relevance levels.
* Hmmm… not sure I am sustaining my target momentum with this blog. Very much a case of “do as I say not as I do.”