Ashley Friedlein

I started out working in digital TV and multimedia production. I then worked at the Financial Times on arguably the first commercial application of Video on Demand (1996) before getting involved with FT.com as a Producer / Project Manager.

In 1997 I moved to digital communications agency Wheel as the third person in the then 'internet team'. I went through the dotcom boom, seeing Wheel grow from 30 people to 450 in just 3 years, and was involved in launching sites for M&S, Abbey National, IPC Magazines, Autoglass, Channel 5, AMP etc.

Following the dotcom crash (which saw Wheel shrink back to a more modest 90 or so staff) I left and spent a very pleasant sabbatical year writing my second book in the South of France. I then returned to the UK and from June 2002 I have been running Econsultancy full time.

Google Checkout – a paid search optimisation tactic?

Have you seen the new Google Checkout icons which are displayed with paid search ads where the merchant is using Google Checkout? The evidence we’ve heard so far is that those icons lead to a higher click through rate.

What will that do for your paid search rankings?

by Ashley Friedlein 25 May 2007 14:18pm 4 comments

Multivariate Testing and A/B Split Testing - who provides it?

We're seeing growing interest from site owners in doing A/B split testing and multivariate / multivariable testing - for landing pages, for product pages, for buying processes, for e-mails and so on.

But who are the service providers out there specialising in offering such solutions?

by Ashley Friedlein 15 May 2007 18:20pm 25 comments

“Traditional” Ad Networks vs. the Digital Agencies – the big debate

For years now the debate has rumbled on – should brands be choosing the ‘traditional’ ad networks to handle all their media planning and buying, with digital integrated in that, or do they need to go the digital specialists for their digital needs?

Again the debate has raged in the trade press recently. What are my thoughts…?

by Ashley Friedlein 02 May 2007 10:53am 1 comment

Brands attempting “User Generated Content” – the good, the bad, and the ugly

With the rise of “Web 2.0” and “UGC” (User Generated Content) many brands are attempting to harness the power of UGC. But how well are they doing it? Which ones are getting right and which embarrassingly wrong?

Here are a few of my own thoughts on the winners and losers, but do suggest your own…

by Ashley Friedlein 30 January 2007 15:21pm 3 comments

Blog and User Generated Content monitoring services

With the rise of user-generated content ('UGC') and blogging, there is a growing need to be able to monitor, engage with, and respond to what is being said about you, your brand, product or service online.

But what tools, products or services are out there to help you track, analyse and report on all this activity?

by Ashley Friedlein 30 January 2007 10:24am 8 comments

Why PR is so powerful for online marketing...

For a long time we at E-consultancy have been banging the drum of how powerful 'traditional' PR and Online PR are as forms of online marketing. Particularly in terms of driving search activity and natural search rankings.

So I was interested to read which terms were the most searched for on Google in 2006...

by Ashley Friedlein 16 January 2007 18:56pm 0 comments

Kicking your Google addiction – how NOT to rely on Google paid search marketing

At a recent conference of big retailers in the US, Google paid search marketing was described as ‘crack cocaine’. Highly addictive, but dangerous and destructive in the long term, and something you should wean yourself off.

So what about the UK? Are site owners also wanting to kick their Google habit? And if so, how can they?

by Ashley Friedlein 29 November 2006 21:36pm 4 comments

Being on BBC's Watchdog - how much traffic does prime time TV drive to your site?

Yesterday evening I appeared on BBC's prime time TV show Watchdog to talk about an eBay story. During the show they displayed our site's URL on screen.

So I was intrigued to see this morning how much traffic that might have created to our site...

by Ashley Friedlein 08 November 2006 09:52am 8 comments

The Search Debate: media agencies vs. search specialists?

A recent New Media Age cover story titled “Search agencies feel the heat as media agencies muscle in”, which outlines recent big account wins by media agencies (like Carat Digital, Diffiniti etc.) at the expense of specialist search agencies, has excited much debate.

So which is right? Why would you go with a media agency, or a search specialist? Is paid search just a media buy, or something more?

by Ashley Friedlein 31 October 2006 11:01am 2 comments