Graham Charlton

Graham Charlton is Editor of the Econsultancy blog, covering e-commerce, SEO, and more. He also contributes to our Best Practice Guides and other reports. You can contact him at graham.charlton@econsultancy.com.

Emap buys mobile UGC firm Yospace for £8.7m

Emap's consumer media department has acquired YoSpace, a technology firm which specialises in user-generated content.

The deal is worth £8.7m, with a further £5.7m payable based on performance targets. YoSpace's clients include O2, Vodafone, Orange and 3.

by Graham Charlton 02 February 2007 13:29pm 0 comments

AKQA sells majority stake to private equity firm

Congratulations to digital marketing agency AKQA, which has sold a majority stake to US private equity firm General Atlantic for an estimated $250 million.

AKQA, which has clients including Nike, Microsoft and Coca-Cola, had hired Morgan Stanley last year to advise on a possible sale. Other interested parties reportedly included the WPP Group.

by Graham Charlton 02 February 2007 13:32pm 0 comments

'Silver surfers' prefer internet to DIY and gardening

A survey carried out by AXA has found that retired people are browsing the internet rather then the traditional pastimes of gardening and DIY.

The AXA report, which looked at the online habits of retired people in 11 countries, calls these internet users 'silver surfers'. In the US, Canada, Australia and the UK, silver surfers are using the internet more than six hours a week.

by Graham Charlton 02 February 2007 12:14pm 3 comments

BBC on demand service gets the go ahead

The BBC is set to move into the web TV market, after the BBC Trust gave its backing to the corporation’s on demand plans, despite opposition from Ofcom.

Viewers will be able to watch programmes online or download them to a home computer up to a week after they are broadcast, through the BBC’s iPlayer application.

by Graham Charlton 02 February 2007 17:10pm 0 comments

WTF is this new Technorati feature?

Normally an acronym for something else entirely, WTF ('Where's the Fire' in this case) is a new social media feature which has been added to Technorati.

Where's the Fire? borrows a little from Digg, (it's a Digg clone, according to Steve Rubel) and allows users to write an explanation of why a particular search topic or subject is important. Other users can then vote that explanation up or down.

by Graham Charlton 01 February 2007 17:15pm 0 comments

Click fraud up in Q4 - ClickForensics

According to figures from US-based firm ClickForensics, click fraud is continuing to rise, reaching 14.2% in the last quarter of 2006, the highest level all year.

Q4 numbers from the Click Fraud Index suggest that the overall industry average click fraud rate was 14.2%, compared with 13.8% for the third quarter, 14.1% for the second and 13.7% for the first.

by Graham Charlton 01 February 2007 13:16pm 0 comments

Making use of overlooked pages

Glossaries, FAQs, and ‘about us’ and ‘contact us’ pages are often overlooked when it comes to SEO visibility and conversion.

So Matt McGee at Search Engine Guide has compiled some tips about how best to realise the revenue-generating potential of these pages.

by Graham Charlton 01 February 2007 11:37am 0 comments

Online clothing sales break £1bn barrier

Internet clothing sales reached £1.2bn in 2006 and have increased by 461% over the last five years, according to figures from market research company Mintel.

Despite the obvious drawback of not being able to try before you buy, sales passed the £1bn barrier for the first time. Mintel is labelling it a 'defining year' for online fashion, as retailers invested heavily online.

by Graham Charlton 31 January 2007 12:13pm 0 comments

The pros and cons of gift vouchers and wishlists

A study by Jakob Nielsen has shown that many etailers are failing to realise the potential of wishlists and gift vouchers.

The report, called E-commerce User Experience: Wishlists, Gift Certificates, and Gift Giving in E-Commerce, found that, despite highlighting usability issues, certificates and wishlists are excellent ways to attract visitors to a site.

by Graham Charlton 30 January 2007 11:30am 2 comments

'Google bombs' defused by algorithm change

Google has made some alterations to its algorithm in order to reduce the effect of 'Google bombing'. This means that a search for 'miserable failure' will no longer lead to President Bush's homepage at The White House.

However, the change has not dealt with all these Google bombs. For instance, a search for 'French military victories' on Google will still return spoof pages for the first three results.

by Graham Charlton 29 January 2007 18:36pm 0 comments