ONLINE MARKETING FIRM PRIME VISIBILITY MOVES FAR UP INC. MAGAZINES’S 2008 LIST OF 5,000 FASTEST-GROWING PRIVATE COMPANIES

Jumps 358 Spots from Last Year to Rank 794^th on Prestigious List, while Placing No. 66 in the Top-100 Advertising and Marketing Companies Category

(Melville, N.Y., Aug. 22, 2008) – For the second consecutive year, Prime Visibility, a leading search engine marketing firm specializing in search engine optimization (SEO), and pay-per-click (PPC) management, has joined the elite ranks of high-powered, fastest-growing private companies in America with its selection to the prestigious INC. Magazine 5,000 List for 2008. Prime Visibility Founder-CEO Andrew Hazen made the announcement today.

In its benchmark of the most innovative, dynamic and successful companies in the nation, INC. has ranked Prime Visibility No. 794 overall, up 358 spots from last year, and 66^th on the Top-100 Advertising & Marketing Companies category.    

“We are extremely honored to be a part of this select group for the second straight year,” says Andrew Hazen, founder-CEO of Prime Visibility. “Our improved standing on the INC. list serves as recognition for all the hard work that everyone here has put into growing this company.”  

The INC. list singles out companies that have posted dramatic growth despite a sluggish economy. It cites Prime Visibility’s appearance on an A&E special about Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brine with turning the company into a leading player in the SEO and online marketing space.

The magazine’s 2008 list measures revenue growth from 2004-07 for 5,000 privately held U.S.-based companies with at least $200,000 in revenue in 2004 and a minimum of $2 million in 2007. Many of today’s most profitable public businesses were on the list before going public.

Prime Visibility LLC (primevisibility.com), founded in 1998, is a leading, full-service Search Engine Marketing (SEM) firm committed to increasing traffic, sales and ROI for its clients. A division of PV Media Group, Prime Visibility provides integrated online marketing plans and individually tailored services, including Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Pay-Per-Click (PPC), email marketing, conversion tracking solutions and other SEM services. Based in Long Island, N.Y., Prime Visibility has developed outstanding revenue growth and is on the 2007 and 2008 INC. lists of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Melville, NY (MediaPost Publications)-

The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) announced June 26 that it had given preliminary approval to a recommendation to introduce a whole range of new Internet domain names, which would pave the way for a seismic increase in online real estate. Talk about the Internet being like the Wild, Wild West. Along with the extraordinary expansion of domain name choices and opportunities would come HUGE potential for search engine marketing.

Currently, there is a limited range of 21 top-level domains (TLDs) from which to choose, such as .com, .org, .info and .uk. According to ICANN, this decision will allow applicants for new names to select the most marketable domains, making them perfect for attracting their target customers.

So businesses will now be able to apply for generic strings like .brandname or .yournamehere. ICANN even reports that there are already interested consortiums wanting to establish city-based TLDs like .nyc, .berlin and .paris.

At first glance, this seems to make perfect sense. But my hope is that it doesn’t spiral out of control, becoming a field day for cybersquatters that register, traffic in or use domain names in bad faith, intending to profit from the goodwill of someone else’s trademark.

That would create a huge nightmare for established brands like Amazon.com, which would need to procure a laundry list of domains — everything from books.amazon and music.amazon to amazon.books and amazon.music — to prevent cybersquatters from wrongfully registering and profiting from its name.

It should be noted, however, that ICANN will not be selling the new TLDs for some time. The recommendation must first receive final approval early next year, followed by a limited period in which any established entity can submit an application for evaluation.

Search Engines and the Domainrush If and when it does happen, look for an immediate impact on search engine marketing. Search engines love keyword-enriched domain names, since finding exact keywords in domains proves to be an extremely strong indicator of a Web site’s relevance to a search query.

By combining a newly acquired generic domain name with a very good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy, a small company could find itself ranking among extremely competitive search terms and among Fortune 1000 companies. Of course, Web sites need quality inbound links to rank high on Google, but a great domain name can go a long way.

Keyword-enriched domain names and URL paths (there is a difference) are usually what it takes to achieve a top-10 organic ranking. Take, for example, AllFreshSeafood.com (ranking No. 4 on Google for “fresh seafood”); BreakingNews.com (No. 6 on Yahoo for latest breaking news”) and BagelBoss.com (No. 4 on Google for “bagels”). I’m sure you get the point.

Still, non-keyword-enriched domain names can be optimized by adding keyword-enriched page names. For example, StorageDeluxe.com sits atop Google for “Brooklyn storage” and the URL path is www.storagedeluxe.com/locations_brooklyn.asp; a Google search for “used Acura parts” returns www.uneedapart.com/used-acura-parts.php as No. 1; and a search on Yahoo for “cardio exercises” yields www.lucilleroberts.com/cardio-exercies on the first page of the search results.

Now that we’ve established that a keyword-enriched domain name can be extraordinarily valuable, just think about owing a domain like .insurance — you could have auto.insurance, life.insurance, health.insurance, business.insurance, etc. Beyond the obvious and tremendous SEO benefit, imagine what this will do to build brands.

I am curious to see if those who register new generic TLDs will use them to dominate their niche or resell domains. Only time will tell.

ICANN reports that there will be a six-figure charge for registering these new domains. That is chump change for major domains — and even those that want to be.

by Andrew Hazen, Thursday, Aug 14, 2008 4:15 PM ET

 Andrew Hazen is founder and CEO of the search engine optimization firm PRIME Visibility, a rapidly growing SEO, Web 2.0 and social media marketing company.

Original Media Post Article: Media Post - Andrew Hazen