Exclusive Concepts Blog » Juicy Links

Juicy Links: February 15 – February 19

admin — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 17:39:51 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

SEO:

Google Gets Into The SEO Consulting Business?

The Twitter community and blogosphere was ablaze with the rumor, or rather misunderstanding, that Google would begin giving SEO advice and certifing marketers for taking SEO clinics.

Bing Indexing New Content & Sites Faster?

A WebmasterWorld thread has some positive news for the Microsoft Bing team! The thread is praising Bing for speeding up their indexing and ranking of new pages, updated content and new web sites.

PPC:

Google Blurs The Line Between Paid & Unpaid Results Again

Google has a new program that allows local businesses to get paid listings that appear within what’s known as the 7-pack of local listings. But do those listings violate the Federal Trade Commission’s guidelines about proper disclosure of paid search ads? Probably not, but they do seem confusing.

Google now targeting ads based on search history

Better contextual matching – As an AdSense partner, you know that Google is continually making improvements to the way we match ads to your content so that users see even more relevant ads, which should help you make more money over time…

Conversion:

Why Free Shipping Works

There has been alot written on Practical eCommerce and elsewhere regarding free shipping and whether or not it makes sense for merchants to offer. Here is one company who shares their experience with it and tells you why it makes sense for them.

Quick Query: PowerReviews CEO on Strategies for Product Reviews

An increasing number of ecommerce merchants are using product reviews. Many of these merchants find the reviews assist consumers in purchasing products that best fit their needs, making for a more satisfying shopping experience. But there are strategies for employing customer reviews, and some merchants are now using them in more innovative ways.

Email:

Google Buzz: Why Gmail Puts It Into The Game

What’s the Buzz? It’s Google’s effort to weld social networking and content sharing onto its Gmail email service. It also poses the latest challenge for marketers to stay relevant and visible in the inbox.

Putting Email Creative To The Test

If you haven’t committed your 2010 email resolutions to paper yet, you might want to think about adding a creative A/B test to the list. Here are four quick tips for successful testing…

Around the Web:

Google’s High Speed Internet Initiative; and the Benefits of Entrepreneurial Thinking

Google announced an experiment: They are building a new broadband network. Their goal is to deliver Internet speeds to users “more than 100 times faster than what most Americans have access to today with 1 gigabit per second, fiber-to-the-home connections” (according to the Google Blog). Their initial experiment will involve 50,000 to 500,000 people. If the experiment works and Google decides to scale this, it could have a major impact on the quality of our lives and on our economy.

Juicy Links: February 1 – February 5

admin — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:35:23 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

SEO:

Link Builders Discuss Backlink Analysis For Campaign Design – Part 1

We asked link building experts 9 questions about backlink analysis… and got 20,000 words of response.

ComScore Releases January Search Numbers (Bing Gains) & Year In Review

Here, with all the usual caveats, are the comScore search numbers for January…

PPC:

Lessons From Google’s Own Paid Search Campaigns: Forget The “Rules”

Various marketers have offered advice on writing “killer” PPC ads. But examining the ads Google runs on competing search engines suggests that a simple list of “tips and tricks” may not be enough.

Google’s AdWords Tool Helps with Both Pay-per-click and SEO

The tool with the numbers that most directly represent search in the big engines is Google’s AdWords Keyword Tool…

Conversion:

The Portal Pattern: Core Conversion Marketing Strategies

Sites built on the portal pattern include news sites, research sites, educational sites, forums and association sites. Most revenue-generating blogs follow the portal pattern. Overall, the primary goals of a portal are to get people to stick around, to view more pages, and to join or subscribe. Here are the conversion strategies that will impact these goals most.

Four Strategies to Improve Shopper Experience

The change to the shopper experience, both in physical stores and online, will be evolutionary in nature as retailers add feature upon feature and integrate rich Internet technologies like HTML 5’s SVG or Canvas APIs, Flash, or Silverlight.

Email:

Three Keys To Creating Actionable Insights

Three numbers: 90; 10; 0. 90 is the percent of total time spent on an email campaign during which email marketers work on getting that campaign out the door. 10 is the percent of time spent in reporting and analysis. And zero is the amount of time most marketers spend figuring out how to optimize a program.

It’s Not Just About the ROI

Something other than ROI is motivating brands to increase social media and email budgets — while cutting budgets for print, radio, and television. So what is? Brand reputation.

Around the Web:

Introducing Google Buzz

Google Buzz is a new way to start conversations about the things you find interesting. It’s built right into Gmail, so you don’t have to peck out an entirely new set of friends from scratch — it just works.

Juicy Links: January 25 – January 29

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:36:24 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

SEO:

Six Odd Tactics For Getting Ads Into Google Maps

As use of Google Maps grows, marketers are increasingly drawn to the promotional potential found there, and some innovative ways of insinuating ads into the interface have evolved. Here’s a breakdown of some of the strangest tactics that have been dreamed-up for getting messages in front of Google Maps users.

It’s a Feeding Frenzy for Keyword-Rich Domains

It’s a well-known fact in the SEO world that Google shows enormous favoritisim in its rankings to domain names that contain one or more of the keywords being searched for. The net result of the world realizing that Google works this way is pretty predictable: mass buying of keyword-rich domains, and trying to turn those into top rankings and monster-sized site traffic.

PPC:

Google Gears Comes To AdWords: Browser Local Storage

The new feature utilizes Google Gears, a browser plugin that allows you to download web-based data to your local hard drive, so you can work offline. The feature is named Browser Local Storage and it basically helps you work faster with your AdWords campaigns.

Using Affiliates To Protect Your Brand With Paid Search

If brand advertising using paid search is hotly competitive for you, use your affiliates to help you win in the market. To determine if this strategy is right for you, evaluate the competitive landscape on your brand terms. A quick test: Do any of these statements apply to you?

Conversion:

Ten Great Ecommerce Ideas for February 2010

Practical eCommerce asks industry insiders each month to share a great, innovative idea that could help an ecommerce company. Here’s what ten of them had to say for the February 2010 installment of “Great Ecommerce Ideas.”

The Discount Effect

Coupons and Discounts can be a great catalyst for getting shoppers to buy from your business. It’s not as simple as just throwing up a coupon, though…

Email:

Six Ways to Maintain Sender Reputation as the Inbox Evolves

Three key trends that will have a profound impact on e-mail and social marketing in 2010 are closely linked…

Your Newest Challenge: Mastering The Small Screen (aka the iPad)

With the unveiling on Jan. 27 of the iPad, Apple introduces yet another game-changing (in my humble opinion) portable device and platform that will both challenge email marketers and make their jobs a little easier as well.

Around the Web:

Google shut out by Facebook’s iron information curtain

Expectations were high for Google’s new Social Search, which lets consumers search the content their friends produce on social media websites. But privacy restrictions at Facebook mean that Google’s tool isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and other social search tools are suffering as well.

Juicy Links: January 18 – January 22

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 17:34:38 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

SEO:

Google re-ranking and personalized search study

Has personalized search really changed the consistency of rankings? It’s an issue that has been spoken about many times in the search world. We set out to see what was up. After two rounds of research we noticed that this was unlikely to be the case.

Google’s Query Deserves Freshness Formula

Learn about how Twitter and press releases can empower your visibility with queries that qualify for Google’s new Query Deserves Freshness (QDF) Formula.

PPC:

Change in Google Adwords Display URL Policy

Last week Google announced a subtle change to their Display URL Policy. They are now requiring any advertising that lands on pages that live on hosted domains (large domains that allow different users to have pages on them) must represent the sub domain in the display URL.

Good Pay Per Click Structure

It’s sometimes taken for granted that when you created your Pay Per Click account, you did everything the right way. But are you really sure about that? In this week’s PPC Tuesday installment, we’ll give you some insight into what we believe may just be the most optimal way to set up your Pay Per Click structure.

CONVERSION:

How Color Impacts Conversions on Your Website

Color – it’s everywhere on the internet. You see it, and think it’s forgettable, but our conversion testing says otherwise. Follow us on a colorful journey to improve the conversion rates of your website in today’s Conversion Wednesday presentation.

Increase Website Conversion With Great Calls To Action

When people visit your site but don’t buy instantly, how do you keep them on your site long enough to understand what they want, and or, secure their permission to continue the dialogue? A good looking site is not enough. Every page should lead people towards a clearly defined ‘Call To Action’.

EMAIL:

Signs Your Email Program Is Behind The Curve

Here are a few signs that despite “good” results, your email program is getting lapped…

What Should the Email Industry Talk About In 2010

Break away from the usual round of predictions and must-do lists, and talk instead about what we need to do in order to help advance the industry in this decade.

AROUND THE WEB:

Confused About Yahoo Shopping And PriceGrabber Deal?

Yahoo recently reported inking a relationship with PriceGrabber, dropping the ability to take direct data feeds from retailers and serving them up on Yahoo Shopping. What does this mean for retailers?

Juicy Links: January 11 – January 15

admin — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 19:59:44 +0000


	THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

E-commerce:

Yahoo! Shopping API Announcement

Yahoo! will no longer provide the Shopping Web Services API, including Shopping Results (the “Yahoo! Shopping Syndication Services”) to you as of March 11, 2010.

The Biggest Mistake In E-Commerce Copy

Yes, content is a useful component of your SEO efforts, but it is so much more than words on a page or keywords stuffed into paragraphs…

Marketing:

The Big List: 2010 Marketing Predictions & Resolutions

SearchEngineLand brings you a comprehensive roundup of the major predictions and resolutions from industry experts.

Search:

Exciting Google AdWords Updates For Early 2010

Google continues to roll out new and exciting extensions to enhance the paid search experience. The two newest Ad Extensions come in the form of Click-to-Call Ads for mobile ads as well as Lead Form Extensions.

How to Optimize Video for Search Engines

If you haven’t already done so, now is a great time to expand your website visibility by optimizing video for YouTube and other video platforms.

Google:

A New Approach to China

In mid-December, Google detected a highly sophisticated and targeted attack on their corporate infrastructure originating from China that resulted in the theft of intellectual property from Google. However, it soon became clear that what at first appeared to be solely a security incident–albeit a significant one–was something quite different…

Social Networking:

Five Innovative Facebook Examples from Ecommerce Merchants

Many online retailers have used the apps and pages available on Facebook for commercial use as an online marketing technique. Here are 5 businesses that have done it successfully.

Around The Web:

Facebook’s “Reply by E-mail” Feature Now Live For Everyone

Facebook has just rolled out the ability for users to reply to comments through e-mail.

Juicy Links: November 30 – December 4

admin — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 23:51:03 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

E-commerce:

Reasons for Abandoned Carts

Shopping cart abandonment is gradually increasing, according to recently conducted research.

Google Analytics Adds Goodies for Data Geeks (and Ecommerce Owners)

Now Google Analytics users can add annotations to dates in order to better document spikes in traffic, use custom variables in advanced segments and view them in custom reports, and even use a super simple analytics tracking code wizard for Ysetting up specialized situations.

Marketing:

Share to Social Buttons Increase Newsletter Interaction

If you haven’t yet added social sharing to your email newsletters, check out this case study from our archives and consider testing the tactic in 2010.

Yahoo Tool Gives Users a Say in What Ads They See

Yahoo has released a beta version of Ad Interest Manager, a dashboard for users to see what personal information about them Yahoo uses to serve up relevant advertisements.

Search:

Personalized Search for Everyone

Previously, Google only offered Personalized Search for signed-in users, and only when they had Web History enabled on their Google Accounts. Google is expanding Personalized Search so that we can provide it to signed-out users as well.

A Linkbuilding Tip for Use at Bing

Linkfromdomain is a search operator that is unique to Bing. It returns the pages that are linked-to from a domain.

Google:

Google Launches Real Time Search

If Google thinks something has some real-time component to it, they will display a link in search results. In particular, if Google sees a spike in information on a certain topic, along with queries on a particular topic, then it assumes there’s a real time situation happening and will serve up relevant recent information.

Google Chrome Extensions Go Live

Google Chrome Extensions beta is open, with more than 300 extensions already available.

Social Networking:

How to Use Social Media to Retain Customers

While new customers are great, returning customers are even better. Social media offers a number of opportunities to turn your new and existing customers into repeat customers and fans.

YouTube Launches Video Targeting

YouTube has just launched a new tool that gives advertisers serious control over where their ads appear — all the way down to selecting individual videos.

Around The Web:

Yahoo! and Microsoft Finalize Search Agreement

Yahoo! Inc. and Microsoft Corporation announced that the companies have finalized and executed the definitive Search and Advertising Services and Sales Agreement and License Agreement in accordance with the letter agreement announced in July.

Last Weeks Top 4 Links:

Free Trial from Exclusive Concepts
Should Your Online Store Use Tabbed Boxes?
Holiday Season: Are You In the Game or on The Bench?
Automatic captions in YouTube

Juicy Links: November 2 – November 6

admin — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:58:31 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

E-commerce:

Conversion: 15 Reasons Why Consumers Will Leave Your eCommerce Site

If you think from customer’s perspective, they really don’t care about complexities in business they are looking for a simple and intuitive shopping experience.

Introducing Google Commerce Search: Finding holiday gifts faster

The holiday season is right around the corner, so online retailers are gearing up for spikes in traffic.

Search:

Real-Time Search Makes Move Into Mobile

OneRiot and search engine Taptu plan to announce Tuesday that people have an option to browse the Web on mobile phones for trending topics and the most relevant results.

Yahoo teams with OneRiot on real-time search

Yahoo Inc (YHOO.O), looking to match rivals in providing up-to-the-minute Internet search results, is running tests with several real-time search partners, sources familiar with the matter said on Tuesday.

Google:

Google Tests Skippable Ads In YouTube Videos

Google will begin testing “skippable” pre-roll ads in videos on YouTube Wednesday that could lead the Mountain View, Calif. search engine toward a new advertising model.

Google’s gift: Free WiFi in 47 airports

Google is planning to foot the bill for WiFi at 47 of the nation’s airports for the rest of the year, beginning Tuesday.

Social Networking:

Why Retweet works the way it does

This week on Twitter, we’re rolling a feature we’ve been working on for a while out to a lot more users.

Tweets Are Coming to LinkedIn

On Tuesday, LinkedIn and Twitter announced a partnership to bring tweets to LinkedIn, the social networking site for professionals.

Around The Web:

Expect Caffeine after the holidays

Back in August we mentioned a developer preview of Caffeine, which is new technology that improves our indexing infrastructure.

Yahoo Launches Mobile Site En Espanol

Yahoo has smartly launched a Spanish Language version of its mobile homepage.

Last Weeks Top 4 Links:

Free Traffic Exists If You Know Where To Look!
Alternatives to Google AdWords — Worth Your Time?
Web Analytics and Segmentation for Better Conversion Optimization
After the Shipping Deadline: Holiday Merchandising Tips

Juicy Links: October 19 – October 23

admin — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 23:53:19 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

E-commerce:

After the Shipping Deadline: Holiday Merchandising Tips

Unless you can afford free overnight shipping to holiday shoppers, you need a plan for merchandising your e-store for that period between the shipping cutoff date and Christmas Day.

Mystery Shop Your Site Before The Holidays

Every year Lauren Freedman and the e-tailing group conduct a Mystery Shopping Study of the top 100 online retailers. The researchers go through the process of selecting one product for ground delivery on each of the 100 sites, contact the merchant via telephone, live chat or email and return the product either in-store or on-site, depending on the options available.

Marketing:

Alternatives to Google AdWords — Worth Your Time?

Small businesses need to weigh cost versus benefit with every decision. That means for dollars and time.

Free Traffic Exists If You Know Where To Look!

Many web site owners spend a lot of time building the next great application, web portal, or informational web site only to discover that creating a great site is only the first step.

Search:

Loyal Visitors but Small Share from Social Sites

According to research by ad network Chitika, social sites Facebook and Digg are more likely to send returning traffic your way than search engines such as Yahoo!, Google and Bing.

Web Analytics and Segmentation for Better Conversion Optimization

SEOmoz was having more and more web analytics/conversion rate related post, so I decided to give it a shot and talk about segmenting your traffic data in order to have a better understanding of your traffic.

Google:

Google Voice with your existing number

Google Voice is all about enabling choice: which phone you pick up your calls on, where to review your voicemail messages, how to send and reply to text messages, etc.

Google’s Social Search for You and Yours

Search is changing very rapidly these days and it looks like we are going to need to buckle up to keep up with the changes and, even more likely, the rumored changes.

Social Networking:

How To Set Your Facebook News Feed And Wall Settings

Facebook released their new homepage design and while it can be beneficial for those just wanting updates from close friends and family, it is not so friendly for those who have a large number of regularly updating friends.

Twitter Finally Removing Deleted Tweets From Search Results

While most users may have not realized it, Twitter has had a rather annoying problem for some time now: If you deleted a tweet, it would still reside in Twitter Search’s index.

Around The Web:

Microsoft Crushes Estimates, Stock Takes Off (MSFT)

Microsoft delivered a solid third quarter. The stock is up 7% in the pre-market.

The Wall Street Journal now for ‘professionals’

“The Wall Street Journal Professional Edition,” it is designed for business readers who want more than what the daily newspaper and website provide on their own.

Last Weeks Top 4 Links:

6 ways to Humanize Your Online Store
Managing your reputation through search results
In the Beginning: 9 Really Old School Ecommerce Designs
“Going Google” with millions of businesses around the world

Juicy Links: October 12 – October 16

admin — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 22:27:48 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

E-commerce:

6 ways to Humanize Your Online Store

Online retail is always searching for ways to close the gap between the offline and the online experience and one way to do that is to put a more human face to your e-store.

PriceGrabber’s Holiday Consumer Spending Forecast: How Full or Empty is Your Glass?

PriceGrabber has released their holiday consumer spending forecast and it’s clear that shoppers are hankering down on the ol’ family budget.

Marketing:

Low CPMs Stall Social Network Ad Spend

Big impressions, not-so-big money

Relevant Marketing with Mobile Alerts

Reaching consumers who are ready to buy

Search:

StumbleUpon Recasts Itself As A Social Search Engine “Between Google And Twitter.”

Ever since StumbleUpon spun itself off from eBay last April, it’s been reinventing itself at a rapid pace.

The Synergy of Search and Social Media

Research has shown that display ad exposure can lift consumer response to paid search.

Google:

“Going Google” with millions of businesses around the world

Each day, thousands of companies choose to “go Google” that is, switch to Google Apps.

Managing your reputation through search results

Tips for “reputation management”: influencing how you’re perceived online, and what information is available relating to you.

Social Networking:

Now Planes are Tweeting, Too

We’ve seen Tweets posted by plants, a space shuttle and even a house, so we shouldn’t be particularly surprised to hear that commercial jets are now Tweeting and posting Facebook messages (sorta).

Social Networking via Mobile Phones has Doubled in Last 6 Months!

Forrester continues to examine the intersection of mobile phones and social networking. One startling or maybe not statistic: 10% of us access social networks from our cell phones, double the number at the beginning of the year!

Around The Web:

The Intelligent Approach To Customer Intelligence

According to Amazon’s former Chief Scientist, individuals will generate more data in 2009 than in the combined history of mankind.

In the Beginning: 9 Really Old School Ecommerce Designs

Thought you’d get a kick out of some of the early versions of the most successful ecommerce sites (circa 1999-2000):

Last Weeks Top 4 Links:

Framework for a Good Product Page
5 Tips for Optimizing Your Meta Descriptions and Page Titles
Google Offers New Keyword Research Tool
Marketing on Facebook Requires a Delicate Balance

Juicy Links: September 21 – September 25

admin — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 22:27:24 +0000

THIS WEEK’S JUICY LINKS…

E-commerce:

Framework for a Good Product Page

A guide for a product page

5 Tips for Optimizing Your Meta Descriptions and Page Titles

With your ad copy on AdWords, you’ve got 95 characters (130 if you count the display URL) to differentiate yourself from the competition, who may well be positioned above you.

Marketing:

5 Incentives You Can Use for Online Marketing

The word ‘incentive’ is defined as a ‘positive motivational influence’. The purpose of this link is to explore the different kinds of user behaviour that can be encouraged with incentives.

Marketing on Facebook Requires a Delicate Balance

Despite growing concerns about online privacy on social networks such as Facebook, marketers at the Social Data Summit in New York on Thursday professed enthusiasm for social media marketing.

Search:

Yahoo Goes Live With New Search Format

Yahoo has now gone live with its new search format. There’s nothing radical or “game changing.” However, there are some nice upgrades and improvements.

Google “Jump To” Links Within Search Snippets

The Google Blog announced two new features within the Google search results. The first are the anchor based links and the second are the snippet based links.

Google:

Google Offers New Keyword Research Tool

Google has a beta version of a new keyword tool available in the AdWords console.

Google CEO sees one small acquisition a month

Google Inc expects to buy one small company a month as it rekindles its acquisition engine and moves beyond the worst phase of the global recession, Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in an interview on Wednesday.

Social Networking:

Studying for a Postgrad Education in Social Media

It’s possible to get a postgrad Education in SEO or associated fields.

What Is Your ‘R’ for ROI in Social Media?

Addressing a burning topic for companies that are looking to venture into social media marketing.

Around The Web:

Google Celebrates Confucius’ Birthday

Google is celebrating Confucius’ birthday with a new logo that has the Chinese philosopher standing in place of the “l” in Google’s regular logo. September 28, 551 BC, is traditionally recognized as Confucius’ birthday.

Design Trends: The Single Purpose Homepage

This post focuses on a design style that’s both retro (it’s been around a long time) and emerging (the popularity feels like it’s on the rise) – the single-purpose homepage.

Last Weeks Top 4 Links:

10 Ways To Promote Your Promotions
Hidden Google Gem: Google Mobile App
Brand Aid Search, Video & Your Brand: Hello YouTube!
Granularity in Landing Page Optimization