November 2007 - Posts
According to
comScore figures, U.S. viewers watched a whopping 9.2 billion videos in September - 28 percent of which came from Google properties (387 million), and Yahoo in a very close second place (381 million).
Three in four U.S. Internet users watched a video in September, setting the unique views near 136 million. Even more amazing, during the month of September nearly 70 million viewers watched video on YouTube - the average viewer watched 68 videos, more than two per day.
This is a not-so-subtle reminder that every Web business should consider video as some part of their online plan. The video subject matter is only limited by ones imagination. And whether you think your businesses is suited for video or not, there is surely some aspect of your enterprise appropriate to video production - whether a how-to, interviews with industry experts or even a humorous clip with your logo involved, there are obvious benefits of being a part of 9.2 billion views each month.
Just a few links I came across today during my daily Web stumbles that may be
of interest to Web designers and developers.
Adsense publishers should note that as of December 10th, 2007, Google will be
removing top query data that is older than one year. Google is recommending that
publishers save their reports prior to this date.
How to obtain top queries data from advanced reports:
If you do not already have custom reports created, select "Advanced Reports"
under the "Reports" tab. Then, choose the "Adsense For Search" listing from the
dropdown menu and select a date range. Select the "Top queries data" report to
show and click "Diaplay Report". The system will then return the results (top
queries, number of queries and percentage of total queries) which users can
download as a CSV file.
Learn more about creating
custom reports for Google Adsense.
Blogger in Draft, the testing
platform of the free weblog platform, now lets its users enabled
OpenID-based commenting under the comment tab
of their blog settings.
This means that users of OpenID-enabled services such as
WordPress or
LiveJournals can comment on your blog
using their accounts, instead of forcing users to sign in with a Blogger/Google
account.
What else can you do with OpenID?
Check out this list of sites that
are OpenID enabled.
Facebook's latest advertising system raised many eyebrows and concerns when it was announced several weeks ago. Previoiusly, Facebook was seen as a haven for safe, fairly private social networking and preferred by many to the non-secure and spam-filled MySpace network. That changed when Facebook's advertising program, Beacon, began sharing what many considered private information in order to make some bucks on advertising. This mostly concerned the way that many websites tracked a Facebook users' shopping or website visitation habits and then alerted their friends where they had been and what they had bought. A petition circulated Facebook to make some changes - some 50,000 users signed it (in just 9 days) and now the social networking juggernaut is responding to user fears. This is mostly taking shape in the form of explicit opt-in procedures that users must complete in order for their information to be passed along, rather than the opt-out procedure that existed before. This will no doubt dampen the enthusiasm of advertisers and Facebook executives, as opt-in programs traditionally see significantly less particapation. It's a pretty big stumble for Facebook - the company is probably feeling significant pressure to make good on value projections of $15 billion based on Microsoft's 1.6 percent stake which they purchased for a cool $240 million not long ago.
In the wake of the uprising at Facebook and the revelation that information passed along spoiled some users' gifting plans, Paul Janzer released this statement, "We're sorry if we spoiled some of your holiday gift-giving plans. We are really trying to provide you with new meaningful ways, like Beacon, to
help you connect and share information with your friends." It's unclear if Janzen is now referring to advertisers as "friends."
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The following are press releases that
caught our attention today, November 30th, 2007. If you have a news
announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine
community, please
contact Website Magazine editors now. |
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ZapThink Offers First-in-Market Architectural Validation, Verification, and
Mentorship Services for Emerging SOA Efforts
advisory firm and recognized authority and master of Service-Oriented
Architecture (SOA) today announces the industry's first EA validation,
verification, and mentorship services offering, providing a comprehensive,
customer-tested methodology and defined deliverables to assess, validate,
and verify existing EA and SOA initiatives.
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Flexibility in Software Assures Success and Secures Partnerships -- SaaS.com
Secures Partnership with Mosaic Employer Solutions
WebApps, Inc. a.k.a. SaaS.com, a leading provider of Software as a Service (SaaS)
with a major push in Time & Labor Management, announces the signing of
strategic partnership with Mosaic Employer Solutions, an outsourcing firm
specializing in Payroll, Human Resources, and Benefits solutions. Based out
of Colorado, Mosaic services small and medium sized businesses.
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Exalead Named as Finalist in 2007 Red Herring 100 Global Awards
Exalead today announced that it has been selected by Red Herring Magazine as
a finalist for the first annual Red Herring 100 Global 2007 Awards
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Supanet in Conjunction with Pulse Web Hosting Offering a Free e-Commerce
Website to All Customers
The independent ISP via its newest partner, Pulse Web Hosting, is providing
a free e-commerce website to everyone who signs up for selected hosting
packages.
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WebmasterRadio.FM Gears Up for Next Week's SES Chicago with Pre-Show
Coverage
Tune into WebmasterRadio.FM's exclusive coverage of the Search Engine
Strategies Chicago conference. The pre-show broadcast highlights Search
Engine Marketing leaders who will be speaking on panels at the conference.
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Online Shopping Cart Company Follows Payment Application Best Practices
AspDotNetStorefront, a major provider of asp.net shopping cart software,
announced recently that they are already compliant with Visa's new Payment
Application Best Practice (PABP) guidelines.
Yahoo and Adobe have partnered to offer dynamic, online ads in PDF documents, currently in beta testing. The new ads will be a step beyond static ads that currently are embedded in PDF files. Using Yahoo's network, publishers will be able to submit their PDF files to Yahoo, who will then display contextually relevant ads next to the content and send the file back to the publisher. When a user opens a PDF online, the ads will appear and be clickable, leading the user to the advertiser's website. If the user is offline or prints the PDF, the ads will be stripped. Given the widespread popularity of PDFs with publishers for their clean and attractive looks, along with the massive popularity of the files among users, this could be a big step for Yahoo to gain some ground on Google. Currently there was no word on whether the program will include other ad providers outside of Yahoo. Advertisers will clearly benefit from the exposure of a previously untapped dynamic ad market, while users will undoubtedly start to enjoy the benefits of previously paid content that will now be free because of the ad revenue.
There are some options for advertisers to control the ads being displayed - a major consideration as publishers open up premium content and relenquish some control of their brand to advertisers - publishers can block ads from up to 200 URLs.
The ads will begin as text-only pay-per-click ads but there are plans to include graphical and rich media ad formats in the future. To learn more and be considered for inclusion in the program, publishers can
sign up here.
Remarkably similar to
Yahoo! Answers, Amazon has launched
Askville.com. At first look, there is almost no difference between the new service and the popular, established Yahoo! Answers. Users ask questions, get responses and can respond to questions themselves. User profiles can be established, with the ability to add friends and send private messages.
At the very least, Askville (like Answers) can be a good way to gain some exposure, make some connections and add some pages to the SERPs for your website.
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The following are press releases that
caught our attention today, November 27th, 2007. If you have a news
announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine
community, please
contact Website Magazine editors now. |
New Blog Research Shows Widespread Impact of Chinese
Product Recalls : Umbria's social media
analysis reveals an overall market skepticism that could affect U.S. and
foreign-made packaged goods.
Hostway Announces the New and Improved “Local Business
Profile” in Time for the Holiday Season : New
features and improved usability makes it easier than ever for SMB
customers to manage and make changes to their Local Business Profiles.
CRE Loaded™ Now Offers PayPal Express Checkout
: Chain Reaction Ecommerce, makers of the popular ecommerce shopping
cart application CRE Loaded announces the integration of PayPal Express
Checkout into all of their web store applications.
Shopit Partners With Netvibes to Add Free Commerce and
Shopping to Custom Home Pages : Shopit.com,
the fastest growing free commerce network on the web, has partnered with
Netvibes, the pioneer of the personalized home page. Netvibes and Shopit
are working together to create commerce enabling tools and a shopping
module for users. The Shopit widget on Netvibes allows users to sell,
trade and auction items, shop for products and manage store activity for
user accounts.
TubeMogul Adds Veoh to Distribution Network
: Internet TV site now a distribution option in TubeMogul service that
lets creators upload videos once and have them automatically deployed to
multiple top video sharing sites.
WAND Taxonomy to Power UniversalBusinessListing.Org Local
Search Classification : taxonomy Adds KeyWord
Selector Tool To Help Businesses Be Classified and Found.
There's an ongoing debate in the affiliate and search marketing industries about whether merchants should allow their affiliates to run search marketing (advertising - usually CPC) campaigns. There are as many upsides as downsides - it's not an easy decision to make for merchants.
VistaPrint today announced that they will be allowing their affiliates to promote the very popular VistaPrint Free Business Cards campaign. They have obviously put a lot of thought into this and it shows with the guidelines they have set forth. While not the first to allow affiliates to promote through SEM, they are certainly a very notable enterprise that is doing so and will most likely motivate others to follow suit. Here are a few of the guidelines and restrictions set forth by VistaPrint:
- Several keyword restrictions are in place, including those dealing
directly with the VistaPrint brand and products.
- Affiliate are not allowed to use the VistaPrint.com in the display URL.
- Affiliates must not use the trademarked terms VistaPrint or
VistaPrint.com is search copy.
- Affiliates are not allowed to send traffic directly to VistaPrint
- Affiliates must not knowingly out-position managed VistaPrint ads
I came across a post at Search Engine Weblog of a list of
11 free press release distribution sites. These sort of lists are great and
they usually spark some other idea in my head. WM has discussed the value of
press release for general media exposure and long term search engine penetration
for link building time and time again, but with the rise of "no-follow" tags,
you must be selective about where you spend your time submitting your press
releases. None of those sites listed at the aforementioned blog, utilize
no-follow - so that's good for your link building efforts.
Free-Press-Release.com,
PRLeap.com,
Prurgent.com,
PrLog.com, pressreleaseforum.com,
SanePR.com,
PRFree.com, TheOpenPress.com,
AddPR.com
Here are a few posts and articles from the Website Magazine archive on
using press releases online:
You may take pride in how white your SEO hat is, but it does not change the
fact that the hats of your competition may be increasingly grey, if not
completely black at this point. The fact that links (more specifically the
number and quality of links) matter online forces many in competitive industries
to do whatever it takes to acquire back links to their online properties - you
may be doing the same.
Increasingly, many web professional responsible for building inbound links find
that other Web pro's simply don't want to exchange links (or use three-way link
schemes) for whatever reason - fear of linking to "bad neighborhoods," fear of
"devaluing PageRank outflow", etc. This fear is causing a virtual linking
paralysis for many and is leading some of the more creative SEO's to turn to
finding properties that accept generic site submissions just to generate a few
back links. While it should come as no surprise that some inbound links are
better than others - many (myself included) believe it's by all accounts a
numbers game. So how do you build inbound links (back links) quickly and cost
effectively (no paid links) that will benefit your website and its rankings?
Be Smarter Than The Machine!
Since many free directories are free software scripts they usually have (or
leave) the same footprint. That means that you (the individual or group looking
to boost your link counts) can find them if you know where to look. You are
probably familiar with footprints without even knowing it. A footprint for our
purposes here means the boilerplate text usually found at the bottom of the
page. For example, very often you can see a phrase such as "Powered By: XYZ". If
you can find these directories, you can successfully submit your site to them.
But how do you find them?
You may first want to look at SourceForge.net
or HotScripts.com to get started. I entered
the term "directory" into the search boxes of both and found over 1100 listings
of free directory software at SourceForge and some 500 listings at Hotscripts.
What you'll need to do is research those with the most activity, find that
"powered by" footprint, and conduct a query at popular search engines for those
phrase. The whole process of identifying ten or twenty open directory scripts
and finding sites which are powered by them should not take you more than an
hour. Submitting your site will take a majority of your time.
Some ways to optimize this practice include:
- Set up a separate email address to handle the inevitable SPAM that comes
along with submitting
- Vary the links that you submit to these directories (don't use the same
URL each time or the same title/description)
- Keep track of new links by using Google Webmaster Central or Yahoo! Site
Explorer
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The following are press releases that
caught our attention today, November 27th, 2007. If you have a news
announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine
community, please
contact Website Magazine editors now. |
ipoque
Internet Study 2007: P2P File Sharing Still Dominates the Worldwide Internet
: ipoque's Internet Study 2007 provides amazing data about P2P, VoIP, Skype,
file hosters like RapidShare and streaming services like YouTube. With
comprehensive statistics about user behavior, it provides a unique overview of
the Internet's current state. Three petabytes of anonymous data representing
over one million users in Australia, Eastern Europe, Germany, the Middle East
and Southern Europe have been analyzed.
groupSPARK First to Market with Next Generation Private Label Hosted Microsoft
Dynamics CRM : Reseller partners to take advantage of an additional SaaS
offering and generate increased revenue.
CDGcommerce Announces Free MerchantPortal™ Tool : Merchants now have access
to statistics and detailed information not available with other merchant
providers.
DiscountASP.NET Launches ASP.NET 3.5 Hosting : DiscountASP.NET, an ASP.NET
hosting leader, announces the introduction of .NET Framework 3.5 in their .NET
hosting production web server environment.
AdQuick 2.0
Released -- AdBrite Clone PHP Script Updated : AdQuick 2.0 has been
released. The Number 1 AdBrite Clone PHP Script. New look and new features
galore.
REVShare
Raises the Bar with New Network Website : Marcel de Neve, Creative Director,
launches new look and feel for REVShare with its new corporate and network
websites.
The Nasdaq announced today that it has launched a separate index to track the
performance of companies offering Internet-related services including internet
access providers, internet search engines, web hosting, website design, and
internet retail commerce.
From the
Nasdaq release:
The NASDAQ Internet Index is comprised of securities of companies that are at
the forefront of internet technology. They are leading innovators in providing
faster internet access, creating more intuitive e-commerce experiences, and
developing the second generation Web.
"
The NASDAQ Internet Index contains some of the most exciting internet
companies traded on NASDAQ and other U.S. exchanges," said NASDAQ Senior
Vice President Steven Bloom. "
Given the strength of NASDAQ's brand
association with innovation and its market share of internet company listings,
it is logical for NASDAQ to extend investment opportunities through a new
benchmark for this dynamic, evolving sector."
According to a WebCollage survey, shoppers are more likely to linger and make purchases at retail websites that offer complete and compelling product
information. Survey respondents also noted that determining the compatibility of
a product they are researching with devices they already own, and determining
what accessories come with a product is useful.
"Customers want to know things like how a product works, its complete set of
features and accessories and whether the product is compatible with products
they already own," said Jed Alpert, Vice President of Marketing for WebCollage.
"That's why manufacturers need to focus on providing their retail channel
partners with complete product information, first and foremost."
WebCollage's 2007 Survey of Online Consumer Product Research Habits also
revealed that having "poor online content" does force shoppers elsewhere:
- 37% of shoppers said they would visit a competitor's retail website to
find the information they needed
- 55% said they would go to a manufacturer's website to find their
information
dotMobi will release 100 names of interest to leisure and sports brands around
the world that are looking to snap up some mobile Web real estate starting
tomorrow (11-28-07). The auction, which closes on December 5, will be hosted by
Sedo.com.
This auction will feature an impressive suite of sports and leisure domains, including clubs.mobi,
games.mobi, soccer.mobi, and sports.mobi, florists.mobi, photos.mobi, movies.mobi, and videos.mobi.
Several
beverage-related premium names will also be auctioned, including beer.mobi,
tequila.mobi, vodka.mobi and wine.mobi. This is the third auction of premium names by dotMobi.
There is apparently a high
demand for the type of mobile-ready content delivered by .mobi domain names,
with the first two dotMobi auctions generating in more than $1.6 million.
Sedo owned GreatDomains will also be
running a premium auction event in their series of live auctions. The auction will begin at 2:00 EST featuring some
awesome domains, such as recording.com, coed.com, websites.com, hangover.com,
asia.net and other one-word premium domains.
Digital marketing provider DoubleClick
(soon to be GoogleClick?) announced the availability of the DART for
Publishers (DFP) Dashboard. The solution aims to help advertising operations
professionals save time by offering some very intuitive and flexible Web 2.0
tools to monitor campaign performance and troubleshoot delivery issues.
Information will be presented in widgets which can be configured by dashboard
users to show the information most relevant to their role. Current widgets
include Ad Delivery, Troubleshooting Tools, Deep Links and more. There is also
an RSS-based messaging platform for keeping customers in the loop about ad
serving news, events and system alerts.
“We invested in the DFP Dashboard to create a flexible new platform that
provides our clients with enhanced visibility designed to improve their ad
operations efficiency and responsiveness,” said Jonathan Bellack, vice president
Publisher Core Products for DoubleClick. “This new interface represents our
ongoing commitment to leverage the latest in Web technology to help our
customers meet the rapidly changing demands of the digital advertising
business.”
Website Magazine has had an exception week! Not only have we brought on board several thousand new subscribers but managed to add over twenty B2B business to the
Website Magazine Who's Who Directory. If you provide services to other website owners and operators, submit your company now for a free listing!
The following are just a few of the great companies WM is now featuring within the directory:
Pixel Effects - Website design, search marketing
Eloqua
-
Demand generation and marketing automation softwareMarcel
Media -
Strategic interactive advisory firm
SilverTech,
Inc. -
Interactive agency
Data-Scribe
- Website services, technical writing and training, databases
Time
Zone Multimedia -
Full service multimedia
production company
NBS
Worldwide -
Full service interactive marketing
Seventh
Sense Designs - Web design and online marketing
Webistix,
Inc. -
Managed services provider
Digital
Capital Group - Luxury real estate Web developers
Xantrion
-
Computer network support
Brightpoint
North America - Wireless logistics and distribution
Data-Basics
- Software provider; workflow, dispatch
FCMIndustries,
LLC. -
Web design, software, SEO, eCommerce,
consulting
MAG
Studios Pvt Ltd. - Custom software development
WebDesign
Farm -
Web and graphic design services
I've been subscribed to Allen Gardyne's
Associate Programs Newsletter for
about as long as I can remember. It's a great resource for those in in the
process of generating website revenue from affiliate programs and exposes many
(myself included) to new market offerings. Today's newsletter was no different.
Many affiliates (super-affiliates too) utilize
ClickBank - a true success story in the arena
of affiliate marketing. ClickBank fell out of favor with many affiliates (as did
straight CPA affiliate programs) several years back due to the rise of
contextual advertising solutions for Web publishers (e.g. Adsense). It looks
like they may take another hit with a new affiliate network and marketplace
called Click2Sell.
While there are only a few products listed at the moment (and mainly in the
Internet Marketing field) it could be a viable opportunity for vendors with a
deep and robust amount of features including tracking, no set-up fees, and the
ability to sell digital and physical products (and membership sites with
recurring billing).
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The following are press releases that
caught our attention today, November 27th, 2007. If you have a news
announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine
community, please
contact Website Magazine editors now. |
Online shoppers spent $272 million on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day, with another $531 million spent on "Black Friday," November 23 according to comScore figures. Thursday's spending marks a 29 percent increase over last year, with Friday seeing a 22 percent rise. Comparison shopping sites are seeing good surges as well, with PriceGrabber getting a 47 percent increase in referrals from last year and Shopping.com referring 61 percent more traffic from last year.
Top selling items were video games with an increase of 134 percent, while the Zune music player and GPS devices are also selling strong.
These early numbers are a strong indicator as to what online retailers can expect from "Cyber Monday," one of the biggest online shopping days of the year. comScore expects sales to reach $700 million Monday, with some estimates reaching $30 billion for the year.
There are two major industry tradeshows coming up in early December.
Pubcon (Las Vegas) and
Search Engine
Strategies (Chicago) both promise to provide Web business professionals
loads of valuable information they can use to achieve success online.
Pubcon is one of the most popular
industry tradeshows for serious Web professionals. A six-track educational
conference (with exposition hall), PubCon covers many topics important to Web
success including search, Web 2.0, 'Net marketing, SEO/SEM, affiliates,
domainers, video, multimedia and general "webmastery". Keynotes for the Las
Vegas Pubcon include Craig Newmark of Craigslist, Richard Rosenblatt of Demand
Media and Matt Cutts of Google.
Search
Engine Strategies is a mainstay of Internet industry tradeshows and one that
the Website Magazine team looks forward to each time it comes around. Directly
from the official site - "Four and a half days of search, all search and
nothing but search. SES is the biggest and oldest conference in this space.
Seasoned search maven or hopeful newbie, you'll find speakers who share
expertise, new research, horizon's edge views and knuckles-in-the code tactics."
Does it get any better than that? Keynotes are Don Schulz and Seth Godin.
One more thing! I will be speaking tomorrow at the
CM Pros Fall 20067 Summit in Boston.
The event explores Web content management technologies and their impact on the
way Web professionals work. My presentation, "Social
Media Optimization; Digg, Del.icio.us and Beyond" will benefit those with an
interest in SMO and intrigue (or at least entertain) those with more experience.
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The following are press releases that
caught our attention today, November 25th, 2007. If you have a news
announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine
community, please
contact Website Magazine editors now. |
EntreWiki
Launched - a new Web 2.0 Directory of Business Ideas and Opportunities
:
Zedomax Network, a Web 2.0 Company based out of San Francisco, has just launched
a new website for Entrepreneurs called EntreWiki.com. The EntreWiki is a new Web
2.0 Directory of Business Ideas where entrepreneurs and companies can advertise
their businesses such as a franchise, business plan, start-up business, or any
business that can help someone to start a new business.
Website Owners
Can Get Free Quality Computing and Business Illustrations : Computing and IT
related stock illustrations catalogue offers free images for placement on
websites in exchange with a simple backlink.
3FN Marketing is
to Increase Affiliates Revenue Providing New Modernized Set of Webmaster Tools
: 3FN Marketing, advertising company powered by 3FN Marketing Bidding run by
well-known hosting brand, 3FN.NET, announces a releases of the new modernized
set of profitable affiliate features providing publishers with beneficial
toolkit including seo and analytics tools along with 24/7 online support and
consultancy services.
Going Global,
Staying Local : Globalization is a word that is on everyone's lips these
days, from politicians to businessmen. After all, this is the force responsible
for unprecedented prosperity and growing economic integration at the global
level. Nicholas Goh, Managing Director of Verztec Consulting Pte Ltd, a leading
provider of Translation and Localization services, provides a tip sheet on how
businesses can achieve increased streams of revenue by going global and at the
same time, maintaining deep roots locally.
WM will be giving away another brand new 4GB iPhone!If you currently receive Website magazine (in print or digital), simply log in and update your existing subscription information. Completing these few questions helps Website Magazine make sure we're sending each issue to the right address and lets us know more about our readers preferences.
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With Black Friday right around the corner, and online holiday shopping expected to break more records, there are two elements every website and/or landing page should not only include, but display prominently.
They are a privacy policy and return policy. Both should be displayed on your home page and throughout the checkout process. While privacy and return policies can be lengthy, you need to have a brief description of each, along with a link to the entire policy that opens a new window, so the consumer never leaves your checkout page. This year, consumers will have more choices online than ever. The more confident and secure you can make them feel, the better chances of a profitable holiday season.
Mozilla has announced the release of a new beta version of Firefox (3.0), the
ninth major development release of the popular Web browser. Mozilla is
recommending that only developers and testers download the release. Testers can
download Firefox 3 Beta 1 builds for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux in over 20
different languages. New features include:
- Improved security features such as a malware protection, stricter SSL
error pages, and anti-virus integration in the download manager.
- Improved ease of use with password management, add-on management,
resumable downloading, full page zoom and better integration with Windows
Vista and Mac OS X
- Richer personalization through one-click bookmarking, smart search
bookmark folders and a whole lot more.
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The following are press releases that
caught our attention today, November 21th, 2007. If you have a news
announcement you would like to share with the Website Magazine
community, please
contact Website Magazine editors now. |
Circuit
City Lets Online Shoppers Get Social This Holiday Season with Technology from
Pluck : Just in time for one of the busiest shopping weekends of the
year, Pluck™ Corporation today announced that Circuit City Stores, Inc. is using
technology from Pluck to power its new CityCenter Community, a bustling
social-shopping destination on CircuitCity.com
Saletastic.com Launches AJAX Coupon Widget : Using the latest AJAX and Web
2.0 technologies, the AJAX Coupon Widget delivers an integrated Cross Browser
Rich Client Interface for internet shoppers.
thinkingVOICE
Launches Advanced Click to Call Service for Affiliate and Performance Networks
: thinkingVOICE announces CallBeacon(TM), enabling advertisers to embed call
tracking at their website which is connected to their existing advertising
initiatives. Now marketers may determine ROI more clearly and compensate
partners which may be driving leads by phone. CallBeacon(TM) is an enhanced
version of click to call that may be embedded and branded flexibly at
advertisers websites.
New Service
Offers an Easy to Use SMS Customer Contact Form - Now Free To Sign Up :
TextCall is a Free to sign up text message website contact solution integrated
in to a website contact form developed by Jason Pender of DirectAZ LLC.
Customers can send their contact request to a cell phone, or text themselves any
relevant information from a website.
Search Engine
Optimization Course at New York University (NYU SCPS) : Learn Search Engine
Optimization (SEO) and Search Engine Marketing (SEM/PPC) students will improve
personal or company web sites in hands-on sessions. Join these active training
labs to learn the best tools to do current search marketing techniques.
9 out of 10 Sage
Resellers Believe Communications via SMS Text Message is a Must : Mobile
communication is quickly becoming the efficient way to manage relationships with
customers. According to the Mobile Data Association 1billion text messages are
sent a week! The text messaging experts at Dynmark are committed to developing
software that allows organizations to maximize the potential of text messaging
for CRM and internal communications. They showcased their new e-txt plug-in for
Sage CRM at the Sage Visions 07 show in November and in a survey 91% of Sage
resellers felt that text messaging would lead to improved communications.
A few days ago I was watching television and saw a commercial
about the One Laptop Per Child Program. It got me thinking that there were
several things I was thankful for in my personal life and how important
it is to give back at every opportunity that presents itself - especially those
with a technology focus. Now is that time to be thankful.
There are seven days left to to participate in the
One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)
program. The mission is to empower the children of developing countries to
learn by providing one connected laptop to every school-age child. Between
November 12 and November 26, OLPC is offering a Give One Get One program in the
United States and Canada. During this time, you can donate the revolutionary XO
laptop to a child in a developing nation, and also receive one for the child in
your life in recognition of your contribution.
Learn more about the One
Laptop Per Child program now. I just made a donation and I encourage all
Website Magazine readers to do
the same!
The big news in the telecom and advertising industries yesterday was AT&T's
acquisition of Ingenio.
Website Magazine has discussed the concept of pay-per-call before (here,
here and
here) but let's start with an explanation. With Pay-Per-Call, advertisers
receive phone calls from prospects and are charged for each call they receive.
Advocates of the concept argue that while similar to pay-per-click advertising
in that you bid an amount to receive a phone call from interested parties, there
is less opportunity for click-fraud. Pay-per-call solutions are ideal for local
advertisers who require telephone prospects as opposed to Web visitors alone. In
my honest opinion, pay-per-call never really took off as it was expected to
because of higher bid prices than local advertisers could afford (and of course
issues with sales prospecting), but with support from AT&T and their
connections in and support of the IYP (Internet Yellow Pages) landscape, things
may turn around.
While Ingenio has done an exceptional job of building partnerships with
several notable ad platforms (Miva) and Yellow
Pages sites (SuperPages), there are some
alternatives you should be aware of. While the following solutions may not offer
the whole package as compared to Ingenio, here's the short list of those that
have caught my attention:
VoiceStar :
ZiffLeads :
FlyingSpider :
Thinking Voice :
eStara :
Call Source
BuySafe and Vizu announced the results of a survey on consumer online
shopping behavior for the 2007 winter holiday season and the results are
positive, revealing several key insights into consumer behavior. Over 30% of
U.S. shoppers plan to do more shopping online this season compared to last year
and compared to their normal retail patterns.
The survey reveals that 35% of shoppers are more likely to shop online this
holiday season compared to their normal retail patterns and 33% plan to do more
online shopping this year than last year. Shoppers place more importance on
merchant performance than other factors like selection of merchandise and ease
of transaction, with 48% citing merchant performance as the most important
factor to them, followed by 38% citing price, 9% citing amount of selection, and
6% citing ease of transaction. The survey also indicates that a full 50% of
online shoppers have encountered a serious problem when making a purchase, for
example never receiving merchandise or receiving the wrong item.
“This survey confirms that merchant trust continues to be the leading
factor in a shopper’s decision about which merchants to buy from, particularly
when multiple sites sell the same product at the same price,” said buySAFE
CEO, Jeff Grass. “Shoppers want to be confident that they will receive what
they pay for, and that it will arrive in good condition in the time frame they
expect. We’ve found that this is true year round, but it’s perceived to be even
more important by consumers during the holiday shopping season. The results
confirm that consumers will buy more items, more often, when they feel
comfortable and confident in the shopping experience.”
Other interesting findings from the holiday shopping survey include:
- 73% or respondents said they would spend more online this holiday season
because of lower shipping costs.
- 46% of respondents said they’d rather shop online this holiday season
than face the hassle of malls or pay the high cost of gas.
- 34% said procrastination (e.g., buying items at the last minute) is the
reason they plan to shop OFF-line this holiday season.
The following are press releases that caught our attention today, November
20th, 2007. If you have a news announcement you would like to share with the
Website Magazine community, please
contact Website Magazine
editors now.
REmapper™
Delivers Dynamic Maps Block Level Forecasts for Real Estate Professionals :
Interactive Web site takes the guesswork out of buying and relocating with
unique dynamic class-based gradient color heat maps.
WordPress Bloggers Go Social with KickApps
: Shared Authentication Plugin Enables Seamless Experience for Members of
WordPress Blogs
Bots Crash
Personal Servers? : New network site launched by BogDock, LLC creates potential search engine
index war. The new site, CustomShowroom.com, is a home decor site and
experienced a server issue at the same time Google and Yahoo tried to index the
site.
Major
Enhancements to eTouch SamePage Enterprise Wiki Make it Easier to Transform an
Old Wiki into a SamePage Wiki
: New 3.4 version of the world's easiest-to-use enterprise Wiki adds new
import/export tool, math editor, new UI, international language support and
more.
PROMT
Partners with Avanquest to Publish @promt Automated Translation Software in
France and Spain : PROMT, a leading provider of automated translation software, today announces
a partnership agreement with global software publisher Avanquest to market @promt
automated translation software through retail stores, in online and in B2B
channels including large scale enterprise deals in France and Spain.
BitNami.org
Packages Open Source Web Applications for Easy Installation and Configuration
: BitNami makes it easier than ever to discover, install and configure Open
Source applications.
Jitterbit
Announces New Additions to Open Source Integration Solution
: New Features added with input from Enterprise Customers & Open Source
Community
Starting Tuesday, U.S. consumer will be able to use their PayPal accounts to purchase items online from websites that do not accept PayPal payments. The new system, PayPal Secure Card, issues a one-time MasterCard number to use for the transaction. The user clicks a downloaded button on their browser to generate the number and complete the transaction.
"From a merchant's perspective this looks like any other MasterCard
transaction," said Chris George, director of financial products for PayPal. "And
it's just another PayPal purchase to the customer."
Stored PayPal information makes the transaction faster and easier by
automatically filling in the details needed to make the transaction. PayPal sees this as a way to decrease phishing by reducing the need for consumers to continually enter personal and financial information on websites they may not be familiar with. PayPal saw a 34 percent increase in overall transaction volume over the third quarter of 2007 - good for $12.22 billion.
AOL announced the availability of a new interactive video advertising solution
dubbed ticker ads that serve as an alternative to pre-roll ads. The solution was
developed in conjunction with PointRoll.
AOL's video ticker ad are graphic banner ads that integrate within a
streaming video without obstructing the video viewing experience.
From the
release: "When clicked on by a consumer, the ticker expands to launch a
video ad, or an interactive Flash ad, within the video player window. These ads
will run across the AOL Network of premium video content within the newest
version of the AOL Video media player platform.
“
Online video consumption is a fast growing consumer behavior and our
new video ticker ads give advertisers a new and creative opportunity to reach
consumers through this burgeoning medium,” said Curt Viebranz, President of
Platform-A. “
With these ads, advertisers can target users who are consuming
video with a clickable video or an interactive Flash ad, creating a deeper,
longer brand dialogue that isn’t passive.”
AOL also announced a newly revamped media player platform which features
sharing and social features (email, bookmarking, related videos), multiple
monetization options (300x250 interstitials, the video ticker ads and synched
text ads) and a new user interface and development framework.
Are
The Days of Duplicate Content Numbered with Newly Released Software?
Duplicate content issues and related search engine ranking problems create
daily headaches for thousands of webmasters. Canadian software author, Dewald
Pretorius, today released two software products that can solve duplicate content
issues on WordPress blogs and PHP websites.
Web
Meeting Software Vendors Face Stiff Challenge, but Customers Get More Options
ShowMyPC, a maker of web meeting and screen sharing software has
released a new addition to its suite of free desktop sharing software services.
It's called 'application sharing' and 'file transfer' and is currently available
only from some leading vendors like webex; but for a steep price. This is
excellent news for small businesses, students, graphics designers, sales and
marketing, road warriors and remote support companies who need the service but
don't want to pay the steep price. The service is based on open softwares like
vnc and openssh.
Spiralgroup
Monitors Social Media with Radian6 Solution
Spiralgroup will use the Radian6 solution in conjunction with two
major client launches - uncovering the influencers in specific topical areas
that would be difficult to research using more conventional means.
Free
Video Conferencing in the Comfort of Your Own Website
Free video conferencing service Palbee.com announced its plan to
release its Mashup API for web developers in early December. The API enables
users to embed customized PalBee video conferencing windows in external web
sites. For more information visit Palbee.com.
Network
Solutions® Releases White Paper Detailing Pros and Cons of Pay Per Click
Advertising and Search Engine Optimization
Network Solutions releases white paper, "PPC vs. SEO - Friends or
Foes?" explaining the benefits of utilizing both PPC and SEO services to drive
Web site traffic.
Google recently launched Google Checkout for Non-Profits which makes it easy
for online donations to be made (sweeter yet is that Google is offering free
donation processing until 2009 and pay not monthly, setup or gateway fees).
Google will now begin displaying the Google Checkout badge on the AdWords ads of
non-profits, which will help connect donors with the organizations they want to
support and enable those non-profits to collect online credit card donations
using checkout. .
From the
Google Checkout Blog: We're adding the Checkout badge to non-profits'
AdWords ads to help connect donors and non-profits more easily, and ultimately
make donating to them as fast, simple, and secure as possible.
