Graham Charlton

Hidden charges and poor usability deter online shoppers

Nearly half of online shoppers would abandon their shopping trolley if confronted by 'hidden' charges during the checkout process, according to a survey from Webcredible.

Webcredible polled visitors to its website in September, October and November, asking them what would make them abandon an order when shopping online.

by Graham Charlton 17 January 2007 11:54am 0 comments

SEO World Championship starts today

The first annual SEO World Championship starts today, sponsored and arranged by Eastpoint Media, a Swedish SEO company.

As well as providing some useful publicity for Eastpoint Media, the contest aims to highlight the advantages of SEO.

by Graham Charlton 15 January 2007 13:42pm 0 comments

Bebo hires Google MD to expand international business

Social network site Bebo has announced the appointment of Joanna Shields, former Managing Director of Strategic Partnerships for Google EMEA to grow its international business.

At Google, Joanna Shields managed the company’s syndication network in Europe, working on partnerships with media and telecoms companies. She was behind Google’s broadband partnership with BSkyB back in December.

by Graham Charlton 15 January 2007 12:27pm 1 comment

UK newspapers compete to buy Google search terms

UK newspapers are becoming increasingly aggressive in their Google strategies, with more and more buying search terms to direct readers looking for news stories to their websites.

Back in October, we covered an article by Heather Hopkins at Hitwise UK, which looked into The Sun’s search marketing strategy. The article showed how the tabloid was pursuing a more aggressive paid search strategy, with some success.

by Graham Charlton 15 January 2007 11:11am 0 comments

Google Finance to offer free real time stock quotes?

With a new proposal from the New York Stock Exchange to allow the use of real-time share prices, Google Finance and other sites may soon be able to give users free access to such data.

Google has been working with the Securities and Trade Commission (SEC) the New York Stock Exchange and NetCoalition to reach an agreement which will allow Google Finance to display real time market data free of charge.

by Graham Charlton 15 January 2007 13:33pm 3 comments

Beckham's US move sparks domain name frenzy

With the recent news that David Beckham is to head to the footballing backwater that is the US Major Soccer League, opportunists have been snapping up domain names related to the news.

According to domain name management firm NetNames, cyber-squatters started buying up every conceivable combination of the words 'Beckham' and 'Galaxy' as soon as the news broke. Within an hour, most variations were registered.

by Graham Charlton 12 January 2007 18:25pm 0 comments

Online fraud and spam levels fall

Despite an increase in online shopping over the Christmas period, levels of online credit card fraud actually fell, according to anti-fraud organisation Early Warning.

Early Warning MD Andrew Goodwill puts the drop in fraud down to increased awareness by online retailers of the risk of card fraud, and the measures they have taken to combat fraud.

by Graham Charlton 15 January 2007 13:37pm 0 comments

AOL to use Napster for music subscription service

AOL has announced that Napster will become the exclusive subscription provider for AOL Music, replacing AOL Music Now, which has about 350,000 paying subscribers.

Existing AOL Music Now customers will have their accounts, including music libraries and playlists, migrated over to Napster unless they choose to opt out.

by Graham Charlton 12 January 2007 13:42pm 0 comments

Tips on optimising your blog for SEO and readers

Jennifer Slegg at Search Engine Land has some useful tips on optimising your blog, for the benefit of both your readers and the search engines.

Jennifer presents some tips for increasing your visibility on search engines, others, including tips on fonts and descriptive titles, to make your blog more accessible and easy to read.

Here is a small selection of tips:

by Graham Charlton 12 January 2007 12:53pm 2 comments

High street retailers make gains online

High street retailers that have developed a strong online presence received a major payback this Christmas, according to traffic figures from Hitwise.

The measurement group's Heather Hopkins has published a review of her pre-Christmas online retail predictions, including some useful information on traffic to UK retail sites over the festive period.

by Graham Charlton 12 January 2007 08:43am 1 comment