Today is the last day of the year with all odd digits: 11-19 (or 19-11 if you’re so inclined). Thought you’d like to know.

• Facebook has found a way to turn its platform into profits by rolling out a Verified App program—$375 per application application. App application…. Ahem. Per year.
• Now that we’ve got that out of the way, on to the rest of the Googly news. Still looking for its nonsearch monetization sweet spot, Google is adding ads across its web properties including image search and news.
• Tired of the way Gmail looks? Good news: Gmail is getting themes. Soon.
• And in case you were wondering what kind of traffic you get from a PR 10 website (You know—Google’s homepage?), Read Write Web looks at the case of the G1 link. Wonder if Google Chrome’s gotten the same boost now that it’s occupying the coveted spot. . . . But whatever happened to that “magic number” of 28 words on their “pristine homepage”—you know, their reasoning behind not linking to their privacy policy on their homepage?

Pilgrim’s Partners: Is a blogger attacking your company without you knowing? Monitor your online reputation with Andy Beal’s Trackur–try it for free!

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Linky Goodness, November 19

The writing has been on the wall for many weeks, but today, Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang officially announced he will be stepping down from the position he assumed 18 months ago.

The official press release begins…

Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO) today announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a search for a new Chief Executive Officer. Jerry Yang, co-Founder of Yahoo!, has decided to return to his former role as Chief Yahoo! upon the appointment of his successor as CEO, and he will also continue to serve on the Board. Yang, 40, assumed the CEO role at the Board’s request in June 2007, and he has led Yahoo! through a strategic repositioning and transformation of its platform.

As you’d expect, Yahoo tries to put a positive spin on what has become a nightmare situation for the company. What you might find hard to swallow is Yang’s personal email to Yahoo employees. It actually includes the following statement (emphasis added):

…the fact remains that yahoo! is now a significantly different company that is stronger in many ways than it was just 18 months ago…

Anyone–particularly Yahoo shareholders–care to weigh in on that statement?

Andy Beal will host his next Online Reputation Management Workshop in Las Vegas on January 14th, 2009. Register before December 1st and you’ll save $300! Book now, space is limited.

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On this date in history . . . Elizabeth I became the queen of England. 1585, woot!

• Oh, man—last week’s movie deal may be too little, too late for YouTube now that Hulu is supposed to catch YouTube in revenue, though YouTube’s sponsored videos program might turn it around for them. (via)
• As if they already knew the above, AOL gives up on user-uploaded video. (However, the partnership with Hulu looks solid.)
• Unsurprisingly, Privacy groups are targeting Google Flu Trends. I like this from the CNET article: “If you think that knowing that Alaska’s ‘influenza-like illness’ number for the week of November 9 is 2.035 and California’s number is 1.384 is somehow worrisome and can identify you personally, it’s time to break out your tinfoil hat. “
• And just for some Monday laughs, Google is advertising its transit directions on New York transit vehicles, with directions from Grand Central to Madison Square Gardens. Unfortunately, those directions are reported to be wrong. Way to sell yourselves, there. (via)

Pilgrim’s Partners: SponsoredReviews.com - Bloggers earn cash, Advertisers build buzz!

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Linky Goodness, November 17

Ever wondered how your visitors interact with the Flash movie on your website—are they watching it, skipping it, using it at all? Now you can find out: Google Analytics has added Adobe Flash tracking. The program is an open source API.

With the API, Google Analytics will now be able to track various uses of Adobe Flash in a website, including the number of viewers, whether the creative attracts new users and the effectiveness of the flash at getting visitors to take action. The API supports the Flash visual component, Flash AS3 library, Flex MXML component, and Flex AS3 library.

The GA blog includes a video showing page view tracking, event tracking within the Flash content and engagement tracking in action:

Google explains the change in terms simple enough for even me (for someone employed in a computer-related field, I know virtually nothing about programming):

This feature is a translation of the current Google Analytics tracking code into the ActionScript 3 programming language that dramatically simplifies the ability to track Flash, Flex and AS3 content. This new Flash tracking code provides all the rich features of the current JavaScript-based version, including campaign, pageview and event tracking and can be used to track Flash content such as embedded videos, branded microsites and distributed widgets, such as online games.

Google announced their capability to crawl Flash files in June, so this may be a natural extension of that development.

What do you think—will you be using Google Analytics to optimize your Flash files’ performance?

Excerpted from:
Google Analytics Adds Flash Tracking

So what do you think of our new look?

If you’re scratching your head and asking “what new look?” then you either need to clear your browser cache or you’re reading this from your RSS reader.

For those of you reading this on MarketingPilgrim.com, you’re enjoying a new look and layout that I hope will help you get even more value out of the site.

It’s been two years since our last re-design, so it felt like it was time to spruce things up again. As before, I tapped into the awesome talents of James Mathias of OneLotus–who has the uncanny ability to take my poorly crafted Photoshop mock-ups and turn them into a work of art.

Here’s just a few new things you’ll find on the site:

• Better navigation - from the better placement of the search box, to the new category navigation, we’ve tried to put the most important navigation front and center.
• Better focus - you’ll notice that the categories have changed ever so slightly. This change aligns itself with our hope to bring you expanded coverage and analysis of ALL internet marketing news.
• Handy-dandy link box - in the right sidebar, you’ll now see quick links to the freshest posts, the hottest posts, and our personal favorites.
• Comment avatars are back - we’d previously tried two different types of avatars in the comments section. Now that WordPress owns Gravatar, we can finally offer a stable solution. Sign up for a Gravatar and you’ll see your avatar alongside your comments.
• New advertising options - in keeping up with the times, you can now display your ads in 468×60 and 300×250 sizes (as well as the previous ad formats). Contact me for pricing.

Over the coming weeks, you’ll see further announcements–including the addition of some great new contributors.

Let me know what you think of the new design and especially if you find any bugs.

Andy Beal will host his next Online Reputation Management Workshop in Las Vegas on January 14th, 2009. Register before December 1st and you’ll save $300! Book now, space is limited.

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Come & See the New Look for Marketing Pilgrim