Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Sunday, January 29, 2006
Eye-tracking search engines
Search Engine Marketing: Top Five Eye-Tracking Laboratory Test Results
Search's Golden Triangle
Posted by Kelly Abbott
9:29 AM
3 comments 
Does Your Web Site Stink?
Been thinking a lot about "Scent Trails" these days. With Paul joining us this month, we're starting to see more of the advantages to natural/organic search in the everyday management of one's Internet presence. What makes SEO vital to just about any company's presence can be summed up with stink. If one's site stinks, that's a good thing. Why? Because people who use search engines to find what they need are hunting. That is, they are on the trail of something they want and use their search senses to identify what trails to follow. The best search engines return results that help users identify their desired targets quickly and accurately.
Wired wrote about it first back in 2001. For what we do though, start with this article on scent trails and then follow up with this one. Combined, these two articles show how to measure the particular odiferousness of a particular site's uniquely pungent stench.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
9:24 AM
0 comments
Data Visualization
I like it when ideas can be expressed in pictures. Charts and graphs, colors and lines, hustle and flow. Why use words when visuals will do. Design offers so much to the world, it's a pity there aren't more literate "writers" in the world of data visualization. Besides Edward Tufte who else is there? Karl Hartig, a graphic artist for the Wall Street Journal. The ideas being expressed are largely economic and political: Where energy comes from and where it goes; What we think of our presidents; When Intel chips map their MIPS. It makes sense for newspapers and the online media to invest more into the trending of data and finding more expressive ways of imparting thier knowledge on us. Words can only do so much.
For example, look how words are coupled with color and space here to illustrate the popularity of current and past headlines. While this is not a Hartig or a Tufte chart, the Google News Map is one of my favorite living graphics to date.
As readers today, we're ready to read more in the form of gaphics.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
8:40 AM
1 comments
Friday, January 27, 2006
Adotas: Google Tests Two New AdWords Features
Looking forward to trying these out.
Posted by Reid
9:35 AM
1 comments
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Towards a two-tier internet
As a follow-up to yesterday's post, The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet, this BBC article from a a month ago gives a few more real-world examples of the phenomenon. They call it the "two-tiered" Internet. Though they don't cite this example, China's 'Internet' is the largest Two-Tiered Internet around, which Google helped reveal in their recent successful launch of their censored services recently there. If you're on the Internet in China, you're surfing a preferential network where the ISP (i.e. China's Communication Bureau) decides what content is more valuable to you than you do.
What should we expect from a two-tiered Internet? It would make an oligarchy of an otherwise democratic space. In other words, think about how "free" you are to choose your cable provider and how that has resulted in "benefits" to the average cable consumer. Now think about how cool it would be if you could choose from up to three, ten or one-hundred different cable providers. Do you think you'd be paying less and getting more?
Though the telcos will claim the issue is about cost, it's not. Now, here's the rub. Does SBC care who I call? No. Then why should they care whose packets I'm sending and receiving? They don't. They're threatened by Google Talk and Skype. They're threatened by Google Video and iTunes. And they'd like the legal right to make your experience of thier competitors work toward their competitive advantage. In the steel business, they ask for tariffs aimed at other nations. In the ISP business the tariff would be intra patria.
Let's hope our lawmakers see it that way too. Otherwise, it might be time to start thinking about how free we are to choose candidates other than our current parties' representatives.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
8:22 PM
0 comments
Search Stats
Follow-up to last week post on Friday 01-20-06: According to JupiterResearch, 87 percent of commercial clicks on the major search engines take place on the natural (or "organic") results.
An added note on Search from comScore: Overall, U.S. residents conducted 5.15 billion searches in November. Google's search sites processed 2.05 billion of those searches, or 39.8%, followed by Yahoo sites with 1.52 billion, or 29.5%. Source: http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=694
Since 1996 search marketers have been building a foundation; now we can build on this foundation with analytics, time tested methodologies and cool tools. It's all merging in Q1 2006!
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
12:46 PM
1 comments
Tuesday, January 24, 2006
The Coming Tug of War Over the Internet
This article resonates well with the blogosphere. It has all the trappings. First, it's about the Internet. Second, it's got a zeitgeisty flavor to it what with the undertones of scandalous lobbying. Third, the article has embedded in it a technorati blogosphere index. And the blogosphere is nothing if not self-referential. One could easily understand how "The Coming Tug of War over the Internet" could be nothing but post-modern, but the Washington Post is so Art Deco. Why not? Let's mash it all up.
Art theory aside, this is actually a very important issue. And I feel the need to join the debate here. The Internet infrastructure is a public work. It was founded on public dollars and the technologies it utilizes are still by-and-large academic in origin. Which is to say, the Internet would be nowhere without the public institutions that bore it. Yes, there is more at stake here. You can ask yourself the important questions. Like, What's best for the consumer? Is legislation really the answer? Isn't a preferential network actually more expensive to maintain?
Take a moment to ready the article and judge for yourself. Thanks to the Washington Post and Technorati, we know what the blogosphere has to say about this issue. Too bad we don't have a similar gauge on our law-makers.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
9:33 PM
0 comments
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Charlie Rose - Economist Milton Friedman. - Google Video
Just an example here of Google's new Video site video.google.com. You can buy episodes of some TV shows to see online.
This is a link to a preview of the interview of Milton Freidman, nobel laureate in Economics, and somewhat controversial economist, being interviewed by Charlie Rose. I don't know if this is a complete archive of Charlie Rose episodes, but it sure is big.
Google has more current TV shows to view too, making it a good competitor to the Apple/ABC partnership. If you're a CSI fan - go to google. If you're into Lost, like the whole tech team at Red Door, then you're best served on iTunes.
That said, I'm really excited byt the prospect of converging traditional broadcast content with low-cost digitial delivery. What's next? Watch Yahoo for similar moves soon as they expand their partnership with TiVo and thus TiVo's partnership with Netflix.
Now the big three networks are no longer ABC, NBC and CBS, but the partnerships those networks are forming with the growing online networks.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
6:07 PM
0 comments
Google Acquires dMarc
Thus takeing steps to integrate offline (radio) with online advertising (AdWords).
Posted by Kelly Abbott
5:52 PM
0 comments
Friday, January 20, 2006
Sponsored Vs.Organic Click-Throughs
I recently heard from a reliable source: "for each sponsored click-through (PPC); there are four (4) organic click-throughs." This would suggest 80% of search engine traffic is a result of the search engines' natural (organic) listings. Also, in a recent study, "organic click's converted 4.2% compared to 3.6% for paid click's." Study said, "a conversion can be any defined, measurable action you want visitors to take."
On Jan 19, 2006 Webmasterworld.com’s Google AdWords Forum; contributor "sore66" posted: “WSJ article, an ‘analyst’ said Google's average click price is 50 cents a click.”
I like math and love SEO so I worked-up a “what-if scenario” using the above facts and figures:
For every $10,000 spent on PPC (720 conversions); there are 3,360 organic conversions available. In this scenario, organic click-throughs represent a potential for increasing a sites conversion 467% above paid advertising.
With such higher increases available for creating new business, one would think organic search to be more popular than paid search but it's actually the opposite. In 2005 organic represented only 12% of Paid Search spending. The reason cited in one study was that marketers "don't understand SEO, overall complexity."
For this reason, I've drafted "2006 Search Engine Marketing Opportunities," a White Paper that details our SEO methodologies. SEO is now easy to understand, although complex, it is no longer a mystery. Write to me at pbruemmer @ reddoor.biz if you are interested in receiving a copy.
Have a great weekend!
Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer
10:42 AM
0 comments
Thursday, January 19, 2006
First impressions count for web
"Internet users make up their minds about the quality of a website in the blink of an eye, a study shows."
Posted by Charles
10:42 AM
0 comments
Big Pharma Seeks Closer Consumer Ties Online
"With more consumers using the Net to get health information, and the drug industry rethinking its marketing strategies, Web agencies are betting the pharmaceutical industry will pour larger amounts of money into digital initiatives."
Posted by Charles
10:36 AM
0 comments
Wednesday, January 18, 2006
Salesforce.com Takes Aim at Java, .Net with AppExchange
While my own personal experiences with Salesforce.com employees leave much to be desired, the Salesforce.com spiel just keeps getting better. I have a favorite restaurant locally, where the food is outstanding. They make a blueberry roast leg of lamb that I cannot seem to last two months without savoring. And so I will, against my better judgment, tolerate terrible service for those delectable nibbles. Much like salesforce.com which as a technology is a pleasure to work with. The service, though, leaves a lot to be desired. When you have the best product combined with a sales culture, what else could one expect?
Posted by Kelly Abbott
8:40 PM
0 comments
AJAX Is No Overnight Success
And it's not every technology writer who quotes Sophocles.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
8:31 PM
0 comments
Tuesday, January 17, 2006
The Power Behind Google
An interesting geek's-eye-view of the wizardry behind the Google curtain. One of the more poignant comments here is that google is in the habit of major re-writes of its core search functionality on a near-annual rate and expect that re-writes will take place as often well into the future. Which is to say, google pays a lot of attention to making their product better continually, even especially if it means putting their noses to the proverbial grindstone to accomplish it. As a software developer it's laudable to finish your master work only to say "now I know how I can do it better next time." To have a business which thrives on fulfilling that notion and have it not be antithetical to the profit-motive tugs at least these heartstrings.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
8:01 PM
0 comments
Yahoo!'s latest.
It seems that the Yahoo! acquisition strategy is not based on design and usability but on community-buliding. WebJay is proof of that. I have trouble seeing how this site could work without Yahoo! bringing in the possiblity of a media partnerships and content. Which makes me wonder why they didn't just roll their own WebJay, pun intended.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
7:46 PM
0 comments
Google Corporate Information: Our Philosophy
Candor in googlese. These ten guiding principles are fantastic. Simple truths are, as Jay-Z would say, so necessary.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
7:35 PM
0 comments
Last.fm - The Social Music Revolution
"You say you wanna revolution . . ."
Don't let Last.fm's little red hooks fool you. This isn't exactly a revolution in music delivery, but a dern stoking of the "fire around we tell our stories." Music was meant to be shared. So it's only fitting that last.fm lets you tap into the power of sharing your taste in music, if not the music itself.
Right now I'm listening to the number one artist chart of the week: Radiohead. Based on my hankering for Radiohead last.fm guesses (rather accurately) that I'll like a Live Peel Session of Belle and Sebastian as well as a the Velvet Underground. True. I do. So who's the DJ? Me. Me with the help of last.fm that is.
Posted by Kelly Abbott
7:33 PM
0 comments
