Patricio Robles

Sequoia Capital takes simplicity too far with its new website

As far as VCs go, Sequoia Capital is a legendary firm. The startups it has funded include Apple, EA, Yahoo, YouTube and a little company called Google.

That last company seems to be the inspiration for Sequoia's newly-redesigned website, which now sports little more than a search box on its homepage.

by Patricio Robles 20 August 2009 10:01am 14 comments

Should SEOs be paid for performance?

Mark Jackson at Search Engine Watch published a post yesterday about an interesting concept: performance-based compensation for SEO.

In it, Jackson describes a panel discussion at the Search Engine Strategies conference that took place in Silicon Valley last week. The panel, "Performance Pricing Models: What Every CMO Must Know", broached the subject of performance-based pay for SEOs.

by Patricio Robles 19 August 2009 16:03pm 2 comments

Creating demand versus time-shifting demand

I have two really bad habits: an interest in global politics and economics. Given the global economic downturn, there's been plenty to read about in both areas.

Recently, I've found an interesting subject in the debate over the 'Cash for Clunkers' program in the United States that has encouraged consumers to trade in their gas guzzling automobiles for more fuel efficient ones. Depending on who you listen to, 'Cash for Clunkers' is an example of Keynesian economics working wonders or it's a wasteful, inefficient government program whose true benefits are overestimated.

by Patricio Robles 20 August 2009 10:35am 3 comments

AmEx gets social for the US Open

That many brands are cutting back on print advertising is no secret. And it's no secret that more and more of them are focusing their efforts on digitally-oriented campaigns.

In many cases, such campaigns make a lot of sense. While print can still be a valuable medium in a marketer's toolbox, it's often expensive and depending on a campaign's needs, diverting cash and resources to the internet may provide more bang for the buck.

by Patricio Robles 19 August 2009 13:16pm 1 comment

One social network turns a profit by...charging users

Consumers don't like paying for anything online. This is especially true when it comes to younger consumers. Common knowledge, right?

Wrong. Just ask myYearbook, a second-tier social network that caters primarily to teens. It has managed to do something many other social networks haven't: turn a profit. And it's done it by charging its supposedly frugal Gen Y users.

by Patricio Robles 18 August 2009 10:44am 2 comments

New recipe for success: less intelligence and optimism, more grit and pessimism?

When you visualize the quintessential startup, you probably see intelligent and optimistic people working together to solve big challenges. After all, a group of individuals usually has to be somewhat smart to get a new business off the ground and the group probably has to be relatively optimistic to find the motivation to face big challenges and succeed.

But forget what you think you know about the characteristics it takes to succeed. They just might not be accurate.

by Patricio Robles 19 August 2009 11:07am 6 comments

Does paid search deliver more conversions than organic search?

According to a study conducted by search marketing firm Engine Ready, visitors coming to an online retailer's website from a paid search ad are 50% more likely to make a purchase than visitors coming from an organic search result.

The study, which tracked 20.8 million visits to 26 online retail sites over a 12 month period, found that the overall conversion rate from paid search was 2.03% compared to 1.26% from organic search. The study also found that paid search visitors purchased, on average, more than their organic counterparts.

by Patricio Robles 17 August 2009 16:18pm 8 comments

Is Twitter turning into an 'evil' corporation?

Dean Collins sells a desktop software application called My Twitter Butler. By all appearances, it's pretty spammy. It enables Twitter users to auto-follow other users based on keywords they use and permits the mass-sending of DMs to followers.

Twitter doesn't like My Twitter Butler and Twitter's high-powered Silicon Valley law firm, Fenwick & West, sent Collins a letter demanding that he "deactivate" his website, transfer the MyTwitterButler.com domain name to Twitter, stop using the My Twitter Butler name and begin complying with Twitter's Terms of Service. Or else.

by Patricio Robles 14 August 2009 09:34am 3 comments

Will open standards win out in the e-book wars?

Proprietary formats and lock-in. When it comes to discussions of digital content, these are terms you really can't escape.

A lot of that has to do with the evolution of digital content, which arguably hasn't gone much smoother than human evolution. On one side, we've seen many content owners fight the 'digitization' of their content, contributing to rampant piracy and consumer dissatisfaction. On one side, we've seen hardware and software vendors take advantage of the chaos to push proprietary formats that lock consumers into their hardware and software offerings.

by Patricio Robles 14 August 2009 09:11am 2 comments

Five easy ways to make your business website more social

Social media is an increasingly important part of the internet. But many businesses are still trying to decipher what it's really all about and how it can relate to their bottom lines. Naturally, not everyone is jumping on the bandwagon and throwing all their resources at Twitter, Facebook, et. al.

The truth is that for many businesses social media makes sense -- in moderate doses. If you're a small business owner, chances are you don't need to hire a full-time social media manager and the only thing social you're likely to get from social media experts is a lot of smooth-talk.

by Patricio Robles 17 August 2009 11:58am 5 comments