Eureka! Google optimises its PPC Adwords quality algorithm
Will Google’s decision to introduce an algorithmic element into its Adwords ‘Quality Score’ spell the end for sponsored keyword arbitrage and add further pressure to affiliates to clean-up their act?
10 reasons why I’ll swap my iPod for a Zune
I was given an iPod as a birthday gift a couple of years ago. Immediately, I fell in love with it, and it revolutionised my listening habits. It looks good, it is easy to use, and my particular model stored 5,000 songs, about half of my CD-based music collection.
But my love affair quickly turned sour. Over time, I have experienced various problems with the iPod and iTunes, some of which are listed after the jump.
Search marketers in Travel and Auto need to look at bigger picture
The results of two pieces of research based on comScore data show how important it is for marketers to build their knowledge of the role played by online research - and Search - in the buying process.
Craig's digital video roundup
Here's LOVEFiLM's Craig Sullivan's weekly digest of the key news affecting the digital media sector.
Betonsports CEO fired after arrest
Web bookmaker Betonsports has sacked its chief executive David Carruthers following his high-profile arrest in Dallas last week.
The company, which faces racketeering and fraud charges in the US as part of a crackdown on web gaming firms, said it had ended Carruthers' contract and removed him as a director.
Display ads lift Search conversion rates, says research
Research by the Atlas Institute shows that the conversion rate from Search advertising is 22% better when used in conjunction with Display advertising.
The study demonstrates that there is a quantifiable "synergy" between these two channels and will hopefully encourage advertisers to take a more integrated approach to their online marketing.
The research is welcome because there are still companies out there who are shifting their budgets from display advertising into Search without a full understanding of how this might affect their conversion success or long term prospects.
More money for Jobster
There’s an interesting post on TechCrunch on Jobster and the amount of investment it’s recently received ($18 million if you’re wondering, with a total of almost $50 million), which raises some really interesting questions about Web 2.0, Bubble 2.0, the UK and whether bootstrapping really is the way to go.
Why are you using Web 2.0 technologies?
I've been working on a project lately where there are elements of Web 2.0 (specifically Ajax stuff) that keep being raised, almost without thought for form or function.
The end result is that I've forced the client in question to seriously consider why they want to do something, and what the benefit to the end user is. Of course, this adds caution to future thinking!
Surge in blog statistics as medium goes exponential
The progression of blogging past the tipping point and into the mainstream was described recently in a post by Gareth Knight.
The omnipresence of blogs is further evident from figures recently released by comScore, and reported by eMarketer, which say that US blog traffic has grown by 56% over the past year to 58.7 million visitors.
The 12 fundamentals of e-commerce
We are often asked about the fundamentals of e-commerce: how do you build an online retail store, what do customers need to see, what does Google look for, how can you increase conversion rates?
I have compiled a list of the 12 fundamentals that you can put in place to enhance an existing online store or plan a new one...
Social media: the best and worst of 2009
Email marketing: six steps to improving customer engagement in 2010
Web 2.0
Graham Charlton
Strategy & Planning
