August 2006 - Posts
Google recently launched Checkout, their answer to PayPal. But early indications are not good for Google. The research division of Piper Jaffray & Co. surveyed 40 large online stores and found that 81% of them would not use Checkout. Many smaller retailers are echoing that sentiment. Problems range from very long processing delays to a general lack of trust.
Some orders can take several weeks to process - not good when customers expect instant gratification onlline. Compare that with PayPal, which can process transactions in minutes. The delays are largely blamed on Google's inability - or paranoia - to properly manage suspicious orders and fraud.
Checkout also captures email addresses and shopping preferences. Some retailers are concerned that their customers will later be targeted by Google. Part of the reasoning for this is that Google requires a user to got through Checkout to change an order, not the original merchant.
Other problems include technical hiccups and that Checkout does not have phone-based customer support. Customer relations are handled by email, which can take a day or more to get back to the user.
According to MarketWatch, Scott Devitt, an analyst with Stifel, Nicolaus & Co. wrote, "This service may not be the PayPal killer many imagined."
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What is one of the most serious issues when it comes to optimizing your website
for the search engines? Duplicate content. On the minds of all SEO's, duplicate
content can wreak havoc on your listings, sending you to the supplimentary
results in Google and causing an equal amount of grief on other search engines.
Since no one wants to see their article or content poached,
WebmasterLabor.com
has a great tool to help check your website text for duplicates already existing
on the Internet. It's a great way to avoid getting penalized and should be in
the toolset of every SEO.
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Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl | This morning Amazon announced to its associates that aStore, whichs allows website owners to build a dedicated shopping portal for their site, has officially been released in Beta. The aStore building process is very simple (slow, but simple) and consists of choosing featured products, selecting category pages, the overall design, sidebar widget and location and then finally getting the link. One aspect I did not really care too much for was the 128 character limit on book descriptions. On the heels of Omakase links, Amazon looks to be making every effort to continue its dominance in the affiliate marketplace.
Website Services Magazine will be releasing a new and improved Reccommended Book Section built with aStore in the coming days.
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Marketers and domain owners across the Web are none too pleased over word that
ICANN is potentially planning for variable pricing on domain name renewals. Under the proposed plan, registrars would charge a different price for each domain, based on its current market value. ICANN could essentially charge whatever the market will bear for a particular domain. Little factual information was provided but it is speculated thatin some instances thousands of dollars could be charged for domains that previously cost only $8-10. This situation will be watched closely as most Web business endeavors could not sustain in an environment where renewing a domain name could cost thousands. Public comments on these new rules for domain name registrars closed yesterday.
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Qliner screenshots is an easy way to take full screen, pixel precise screenshots and resize them before saving without having to use external tools. The product streamlines the way you capture what you see on the screen and lets you redirect the output to your preferred image editor. Screenshots of elements can be easily taken and could certainly increase your productivity. such as help files, web logs, software review or documentation. qliner screenshots is a free and open source software.
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Local search provider TrueLocal is launching their Canadian site today,
truelocal.ca. With a database of well over one million Canadian brick and mortar businesses, our Canadian readers would be well advised to consider learning more about their offerings. TrueLocal uses its patent-pending "ground to web search technology" so only physical businesses are listed - which is a nice respite from the online spam that so often can plague and devalue local search and portal offerings.
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Google will begin selling ads for eBay outside the United States in a move that's "all about speed" according to Google CEO Eric Schmidt.
Google will become the exclusive provider of text advertising on eBay outside the US and will utilize click-to-call, where a user can click on an ad and be connected by telephone through their computer or handheld device immediately. "We have a chance to create a whole new way for buyers and sellers to connect online and to create what we hope will be a significant revenue stream for both eBay and Google," eBay Inc. Chief Executive Meg Whitman said. Click-to-call also brings a significant increase in what search engines can charge - anywhere from $2 to more than $10 per call, compared with less than $1 for most pay-per-click ads.
It seems that eBay is hedging their bets, after agreeing to a deal with Yahoo for domestic advertising in May. The terms of the Google deal were not disclosed.
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Earthlink added an anonymous email service available to Earthlink members on Tuesday. The ProtectionPack gives users five anonymous email addresses that are linked to the user's main account. This way, users can sign up at various websites using these anonymous email accounts while their identities are protected.
For users, it's a good way to cut down on spam and clogged inboxes. For email marketers, it could result in fewer messages being read or delivered and wasted efforts. Marketers are in a constant battle to get their messages delivered and not be treated as spammers and this could provide yet another roadblock.
For some useful tips on email deliverability read this article, published in Website Services Magazine's August issue.
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An informal survey of Google advertisers by MarketWatch revealed that most companies look at click fraud as a cost of doing business. Furthermore, most feel that PPC campaigns still pay off and have no plans to cease or dimish their PPC efforts.
With Google admitting that upwards of 20% of clicks are fraudulent (at least the ones they caught) and varying and disputed statistics flying around over click fraud, we'd be interested to know what our readers are experiencing. So, please post a comment to this post and let us know your experiences with click fraud, the impact on your business and if your PPC plans have changed. Depending on the comments received and what kind of discussion starts, our next issue of Website Services Magazine may include your comments.
A new Census Bureau survey details some language differences in the U.S. Hispanic market. Further analysis by Ad Age reveals:
- 76% of Hispanics ages 5-17 speak Spanish, vs. 89% of Hispanics 18-64 and 94% of those over 65.
- 72% of Hispanics ages 5-17 speak English "very well" and 18% speak English "well"
- 47% of Hispanics ages 18-64 speak English "very well" with 19% "well."
- 2% of Hispanics ages 5-17 do not speak English, compared to 13% of ages 18-64 and 22% ages 65 and older.
These are significant numbers when considering marketing to the U.S. Hispanic population. It is important to remember the age range that you are marketing towards and what kind of language is being used in these campaigns. It is also important when considering alternate or bi-lingual pages for your website.
Website Services Magazine's August issue takes an in-depth look at marketing to Hispanics, in a report from SES Latino conference in Miami and can be read here.
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The latest B-to-B marketing study from MarketingSherpa finds that 80% of businesses that have tested co-registration as a way to generate new leads report having success with the strategy. Adding to that, 32% of marketers that gather new email addresses from co-registration say that those lists work just as well as in-house mailing lists.
So what is co-registration? Simply put, it's the process of gathering email addresses by placing an opt-in box on another site's registration page or order form. The other site then sends you all of the addresses of those who checked your opt-in box. Compensation for these lists usually involve a barter system or a pay-per-name basis.
For a much more in-depth analysis of co-registration and tips, read Website Services Magazine's newly published article on this unique marketing tactic.
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The last time I wanted to buy a book from my home computer, I didn't search "books" - I entered "Amazon.com" on my browser. And then I bought a book. My tactic is supported by WebSideStory, reporting that direct navigation had a 4.23% conversion-to-sale rate, compared with 2.3% for search engine clicks.
While we may not be as fortunate to have such a directly recognizable domain name, there are options. Besides an aggressive campaign to put your domain name at top-of-mind with consumers, purchasing a keyword domain name could be the solution. It may be much more expensive at the outset but, over time, you could end up saving loads of money by not having to resort to PPC ads and search engine optimization spending. You could simply redirect traffic from a newly purchased and generic domain name, or completely re-brand your business around the domain name.
Depending on your business, buying a direct navigation domain name could hold be the ticket to saving money and generating higher sales. Consider spending thousands of dollars every month on PPC, versus spending $200,000 once on an instantly recognizable and generic domain name - the long term savings could be astronomical. This strategy is even more prudent considering that applicable domain names continue to disappear over time.
A good place to start is by looking at the correlation between search query volume for the keyword that you are considering as a domain name. You can do that here.
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Federal Trade Commission Chariman Deborah Platt Majoras isn't waiting around like the rest of us for news on 'Net neutrality. In a speech at the Progress & Freedom Foundation's conference in Aspen, Colorado she said, "Let me make clear that if broadband providers engage in anticompetitive conduct, we will not hesitate to act using our existing authority."
This aggressive stance by the FTC could make all of this debate over neutrality one big waste of time. Of course, there will be more to come.
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Dogpile, a meta search engine, boasts that it can search 50 percent more of the Web than any single search engine and return better results. Upon entering a search term, Dogpile will comb the likes of MSN, Yahoo, Google, Ask and others and then display results. You can also filter results by clicking on a tab after your search, to display only Google results, Yahoo results, etc. It's a good way to cut down on overall search time.
Included in Dogpile are image searches, audio, video, news and yellow and white pages. I found the image search particularly useful. Not only are images displayed, but suggested searches are also listed, along with recent searches. For example, I searched 'bald eagles.' Suggested searches included 'bald eagle habitat,' 'bald eagle drawings,' 'bald eagle nest,' and 'golden eagles,' among others.
But, in the end, the real value lies in the return of maximum results from various sources. If you do check out Dogpile, please leave a comment and let us know what you think.
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So-called rich media, such as podcasts, and Web videos are being adopted by marketers at a breakneck pace. Marketers have caught on and realized the power of this media, spreading marketing messages much faster and more effectively than traditional advertising.
"You can create a better relationship online, more immersive," said Dave Friedman, president of the central region for Avenue A/Razorfish, based in Chicago. Also, analytics provides greater demographic information, such as how long someone watched a video, what region they clicked from and where they surfed after viewing.
JupiterResearch reports that video and rich media is expected to reach $1.8 billion this year, about equal to text advertising. It's expected that by 2011, rich media ads are expected to reach $4.9 billion, far ahead of text advertising, predicted to reach $2.9 billion.
The beauty of this new advertising environment is the potential for even the smallest companies to capitalize. Short video ads are easy to produce and cost effective. It's a great way for smaller companies to compete with the giants that have, in the past, been able to simply out-spend the little guys.
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Adweek recently reported some statistics taken from the Yankelovich Monitor Multicultural Marketing Study - finding that African American and Hispanic consumers display a high rate of brand loyalty. Hispanics responded with 58 percent saying "It is risky to buy a brand you are not familiar with," with 55 percent of African Americans responding the same way.
In a statement, Sonya Suarez-Hammond, director of multicultural marketing insights for Yankelovich said, "The ability to reach African Americans and Hispanic consumers in a way that truly strikes a chord and connects with their deep-seated cultural values and beliefs is critical. Brands must show that they understand the ethnic consumer by crafting culturally appropriate and targeted messaging that speaks directly to them." The study supports Suarez-Hammond's statement. Both groups are reconnecting to their ethnic roots, with 67 percent of African Americans and 71 percent of Hispanics responding, "My roots and heritage are more important to me today than they were just five years ago."
These groups have big buying power. See Website Services Magazine's August issue, which features Judy Colbert's report from SES Latino - a very informative conference focused on marketing to the vast Hispanic population.
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Wireless giants Verizon and Sprint are set to relase advertising on user's cell phones in a move that has been a long time coming. Getting over their fears of alienating cell phone customers, the stage is set for an onslaught of mobile advertising. As voice revenues continue to decline for the major carriers, cell phone advertising is seen as the best way to offset their losses. Sponsored search listings and banner ads will likely be the two largest advertising styles used for the small screen.
Perhaps the greatest advantage for mobile advertisers is the ability to precisely target users. The phone companies have plenty of personal information about their users, including billing information and the ability to locate users in real-time. This provides a great advantage over online advertising, as a consumer can be targeted according to what they are currently searching and where they are.
Advertising prices are moving forward too. The price for a four- to eight-week banner ad campaign on a content provider's wireless website can top $150,000 - up from the $25,000 to $50,000 range a year ago.
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A ComScore Media Metrix report indicates that teen email usage dropped eight percent last year. Why the drop off? It's all about instant messaging and text messaging. It's a faster method of communication and the teen demographic has wholly adopted the technology. Last year, mobile operators generated $70 billion in text-messaging revenues. In the first quarter of 2006, Verizon Wireless customers sent and received about two text messages per day - nearly 10 billion text messages over three months. An analysis firm, Radicati Group expects instant messaging (IM) use to reach 46.5 billion messages per day worldwide by 2009.
While this is great news for mobile operators, it's troublesome for others. Email is a big driver of traffic to sites such as Yahoo, MSN and Google. And, today's teen market (especially in the US) has big buying power. The onus is on marketers to adapt to the new technology and develop ways to reach the teen population through their mobile phones and portable computers.
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Amazon is in full beta with its contextual publisher program, dubbed Omakase Links.
Amazon Associates can automatically display products and content that visitors to the page are most likely to buy or which other visitors have bought in the past from the same associate.
From the site, "
Because Omakase Links optimize on more than just the page itself, Associates may see a range of different products in their links but they will also see that the links learn what their visitors want. In fact, because Omakase Links aim to show the right product to the right person, each person visiting their site may see different products."
The compensation plan for the Omakase Links is the same as the existing compensation plan for associates.
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There's a new and interesting tool out there. ClickMuse has launched AdWords Optimizer, aimed at improving your Google Adwords campaigns. The idea is that ClickMuse will monitor your AdWords ads and alert you when one ad begins outperforming another.
By signing up for an AdWords Optimizer account, a daily report will be sent, detailing the performance of your ads. When one of your ads is deemed in need of optimization, a link to another report will be sent for your review. ClickMuse claims to be able to cut your AdWords maintenance time by 60 percent, so it's probably worth checking out.
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I've recently been through the proverbial ringer thanks to an unscheduled server move for some of my personal websites (yes, even the staff of Website Services magazine have websites - you didn't think we were just taking shots in the dark here did you?. Traceroute, ping and DNS tools of all flavors have been on the top of my mind the past few days and I think I've finally got everything in place - said with fingers crossed. As such, I though it might be good to share a few of the tools the experts use to identify problems and get your hosting account back on track if the need ever arises.
DNSstuff.com and
DNSreport.com both provide helpful tools for testing domain names, IPs and hostnames. Certainly worth a look, definitely worth a bookmark. If you know of any others, please let us know and comment below.
You've heard all the kudos lavished on Google Analytics and now you can try it out without having to wait for an invitation. That's right - now anyone with a website can instantly create a Google analytics account. Simply visit
google.com/analytics or if you are an Adwords user just click the "Analytics" button within your account.
While some involved with analytics, tracking and online measurement question the
reliability of Google Analytics, it's a pretty powerful tool considering the price - which is now obviously free. The main concern of those using the measurement software is that it may underreport traffic. My personal opionion is that the software is refined enough to filter out misleading information such as search engine robots/spider visits which often inflate the quantity of traffic perceived by many webmasters in their raw server logs. Maybe it's time to provide a guide to understanding server logs?
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Clickdensity records the position
of every click on a page, building up a virtual heat map of visitor activity and
providing user behaviour analysis, segmentation and tracking. Together with a
host of other functionality, the services provides valuable insights into
website usability and information architecture. Clickdensity offers a free trial
of the service which stores information on five thousand clicks on one page of
one site.
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There is actually no new "blogger" at Google - that's sort of a misleading title, but the behemoth new media network that is Google will be releasing an enhanced version of its popular
Blogger.com blog publishing tool with interesting new features such as the addition of categorization functionality, access control for public and private blogs, dynamic interfaces with drag and drop functionality to speed design and development and support for the RSS 2.0 and Atom 1.0 standards. Google is currently limiting the quantity of members that it's inviting to the beta version of the new service but those that are interested can sign up at
beta.blogger.com.
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On average, email open and click-through rates were highest on Saturdays in the
second quarter, according to a new report from
eROI. Q2 of 2006 yielded open and click rates similar to that of Q1. Of
note this quarter, Saturday and Sunday had the highest open rates, while
Thursday and Saturday lead the way in click rates. Monday had the highest
week-day open rate with 35.7%. Open and click rates were more this quarter than
in previous ones, with open rates between 32.7% and 38.3% and with click rates
between 4.4% and 5.4%.
Subscribe to Website Services Magazine: Print & Digital
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