eMarketer.com - Viral...and Stealthy

The buzzword of the last few years, "viral," defined as specific deliverables...

This survey looks like people answering a question with, "look we have 'viral tactics' in our media plan, we have a 'tell-a-friend' button."

Glad to see it is being validated as mainstream, though.

Posted by Reid

11:53 AM 0 comments

Follow-Up on Accessibility

This is a follow-up to last week's post on the lawsuit filed against Target by the ADA.

Over the weekend, I was watching TV and noticed that at the end of an Overstock.com commercial an "accessibility" icon floated across the screen. This is the first time I've seen a top-line ecommerce Web site promote accessibility. I was wondering if this was done to comply with legal requirements, or if this is a strategy to increase market share - communicating to people with disabilities that Overstock's Web site is user friendly for them.

Posted by Charles

9:22 AM 0 comments

RSS Feeds get more fun

Large sites like Target, Expedia and Zales are using RSS feds in creative ways that are more targeted to individual user's tastes.

Posted by Ingrid Alongi

8:25 PM 0 comments

SAN FRANCISCO--- New Survey Reveals Online Transaction Issues Have Negative Effect on Customers and Businesses

This is a data-rich press release about the importance of crafting an optimal Web experience to retain customers.

Posted by Reid

9:15 AM 1 comments

Paid Search Has Only Slight Edge in Conversion Rates Over Organic Search, According to New WebSideStory Study

WebSideStory, Inc., a leading provider of digital marketing and analytics solutions, today announced the results of a new study that shows paid search has only a slight 9 percent edge in conversion rates over organic search. In a study of leading business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce sites during the first eight months of this year, paid search -- keywords bought on a pay-per-click basis at search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN -- had a median order conversion rate of 3.40 percent at business-to-consumer e-commerce sites using the company's award-winning HBX Analytics technology. This compared to a conversion rate of 3.13 percent for organic search results, defined as non-paid or natural search engine listings, during the same January-to-August timeframe, according to the WebSideStory Index, a compilation of e-commerce, site search and global Internet user trends. The study analyzed more than 57 million search engine visits. Order conversions occurred during the same session.

Posted by Reid

9:14 AM 0 comments

Levi's Tries Clickable Web Video Ads

A pull-quote from the article regarding Levi's dedication to Web advertising:

Varni said the campaign is part of Levi's increased attention to the
online channel. By next year, she expects the company's Web marketing spending
will double, driven in part by Levi's opening its first online store last
year.

"We are shifting [ad spending] from TV and print to things like online
engagement marketing, like events," she said.

Posted by Reid

9:38 AM 0 comments

EmailFilm Technologies, Inc. has just announced the launch of its new technology that converts standard video and film media to HTML-compatible video. This patent-pending technology represents a quantum leap in visual performance for the email-marketing industry while also creating a new email-marketing category - email-marketing Videos.

Press Release about HTML compatible video.

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

10:45 AM 0 comments

Isn't it ironic...

Don't you find it a little ironic that Talbot's, a brand commonly linked with an older female demographic, is experimenting with the Web, typically associated as a young persons' medium, on a more "cutting edge" with a site like www.talbotsclassic.com compared to brands like Forever21, Charlotte Russe and the Wet Seal? I put the words cutting edge in quotes, because I find it a more relative term in this case.

Visit the www.Forever21.com site and you find a very basic shopping site reminiscent of a Yahoo! store severely lacking inventory in their men's section (which, to be fair, I didn't realize they even had men's selections). And Charlotte Russe, which is not available at charlotterusse.com, but at www.charlotte-russe.com, while cool as an all-flash site, lacking e-commerce capabilities. The Wet Seal is basically nothing different than Forever21 with a site that appears to be more out of obligation.

I am inspired to see a brand like Talbots doing some interesting things online and hope to see some of the kids in this space catch up...

Here is an interesting way to track this category; I'll be interested to see if Talbots sees any surge in the next few months:
http://www.google.com/trends?q=charlotte+russe%2C+talbots%2C+wet+seal%2C+forever21&ctab=0&geo=US&date=2006

Posted by Reid

9:01 AM 0 comments

Judge: ADA lawsuit against Target can proceed

Just as excitement for web standards and accessibility seemed to have waned, a big new lawsuit could change everything. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out for Target.

Posted by Charles

2:03 PM 0 comments

Using Email & PPC together

What's funny about this article is it makes you go "Duh, why aren't we doing this?! It's so easy and it's as simple as adding a email opt in to our PPC landing pages. Read on and let's start thinking about what client would want to incorporate this into thier PPC campaign so we can test the effectiveness.

Posted by Megan Riley

8:56 AM 0 comments

Google Gets Nearly 60% of U.S. Searches in August

Hitwise just released its August figures for the four most popular search engines in the U.S. during the month of August. Google’s share of search volume was 59.8%. Yahoo received 22.8%, MSN came out with 12% and Ask with 3.3%.

More info

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

12:46 PM 0 comments

Google AdWords Coming to Mobile Phones

Google announced it will be testing pay-per-click and pay-per-call text ads on mobile phones in the US, UK and Japan. The ads will display in Google search results for mobile phones and will consist of two lines of text with 12 to 18 characters per line.

You can buy these ads through Google AdWords. All you need is a mobile Web site for PPC ads and/or a toll-free telephone number for the pay-per-call ads.

Cell phones are used daily by tens of millions but have yet to develop as an advertising medium. That is about to change as mobile search enables mobile marketing, especially with Google in the game.

Research firm Shosteck Group predicts mobile marketing, which currently generates $1 billion in annual ad spending, will generate close to $10 billion per year by 2010. Mobile marketing is a promising ad platform for marketers, and as usual, search is the enabler.

Mobile Marketing with Google AdWords

Posted by Paul J. Bruemmer

9:03 AM 0 comments

Tabbed Browsing

I don't know about you guys but tabbed browsing has changed my life. Well not really but it has made my web browsing even more enjoyable. Tabbed browsing is becoming common in the daily use of the internet and we are starting to see a change in browser behavior because of it. This article focuses on the issues that can arise in web analytics when attempting to track the behavior of someone using tabs.
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3623280

Posted by TCarrillo

9:44 AM 0 comments