Digital Marketing Blog

Yahoo! revenue increases but profit falls

Yahoo! posted its second quarter financial results yesterday, reporting a decline in income from display advertising and lowering its guidance for the rest of the year.

The firm's profits dropped by 11% to $161m (£80.5m) in the three months, but revenues rose by 11% to $1.24bn (£605m).

by Graham Charlton 18 July 2007 12:35pm 0 comments

Whole Foods chief apologises over forum postings

Whole Foods Market boss John Mackey has apologised for the renegade online PR campaign he conducted to boost his company’s image on financial messageboards.

In a statement, Mackey asked for shareholders’ forgiveness over his anonymous postings, which were uncovered last week and are now being investigated by the US Securities and Exchange Commission:

by Richard Maven 18 July 2007 09:49am 2 comments

Facebook closes gap on MySpace

More people searched for Facebook in the UK last week than for MySpace; more evidence that the social network is rapidly closing the gap on its rival, according to stats from Hitwise.

Though MySpace still has a 41% larger share of UK visits than Facebook, the search stats point to the growing popularity of Mark Zuckerberg's site.

by Graham Charlton 18 July 2007 08:43am 0 comments

Cashback shopping scheme claims increased uptake

Cashback shopping website GreasyPalm says it has delivered £5m in cash rebates for its users since it launched in 2003.

Users of GreasyPalm earn cash rewards on the purchases they make through the scheme's 850 participating retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and Lloyds TSB.

by Graham Charlton 18 July 2007 08:31am 0 comments

Auctioning4u to close its drop shops

Auctioning4u, the eBay service provider, has decided on a change of strategy and will be closing its existing eBay drop shops to concentrate on home collection.

Auctioning4u came to the decision after consulting its customers, finding that they preferred the convenience of having their items collected, rather than having to go to a drop shop.

by Graham Charlton 17 July 2007 15:09pm 0 comments

Google to provide search for small businesses

Google is to make its custom search engine available for small businesses without ads.

The tool, which allows webmasters to limit queries to a certain set of documents, on one or more websites, will cost between $100 and $500 a year, depending on the size of the business.

by Graham Charlton 17 July 2007 14:08pm 0 comments

Net radio stations win slight reprieve

Internet radio stations seem to have won a stay of execution at the eleventh hour in their battle over royalty fees.

The US Copyright Royalty Board (CRB) had decided to increase rates for all web broadcasters in a move that threatened many smaller companies, especially as the charges were backdated.

by Graham Charlton 17 July 2007 12:59pm 0 comments

Interview: Wunderloop UK’s Turlough Martin

Next month, Wunderloop is set to launch an online exchange for behavioural targeting-based advertising in several European countries, including the UK.

Backed by big name investors including Niklas Zennström, Klaus Hommels and Howard Hartenbaum, and in beta since March, the exchange aims to provide brands with more information on web users’ interests and improve the effectiveness and relevance of digital ads. Sounds good to us.

We spoke to the firm's Turlough Martin about some of the bluster surrounding behavioural targeting, what the exchange can offer to advertisers and publishers, and how it is preparing to extend its technology onto new platforms like IPTV.

by Richard Maven 17 July 2007 12:57pm 0 comments

Google cuts cookie expiration period

Google has had a re-think of its cookie policy amid concerns over the amount of information it holds on internet surfers.

In a blog post, the online ad giant said its cookies would soon be set to expire after two years, rather than in 2038 – its current time limit.

by Richard Maven 17 July 2007 12:55pm 0 comments

Indeed launches job search engine in UK

Indeed has launched the UK version of its job search engine today, aiming to deliver more comprehensive results for job seekers by aggregating job listings from a wide range of sites.