United States Presidents are some of the most amazing men (and someday women!) in history. Reading their personal letters helps give insight into their minds. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, Mental Floss's list is a must-see. Here's one example, a letter by a 10-year-old JFK A Plea for a raiseBy Jack Kennedy Dedicated to myMr. J. P. Kennedy Chapter I My recent allowance is 40¢. This I used for areoplanes and other playthings of childhood but now I am a scout and I put away my childish things. Before I would spend 20¢ of my ¢.40 allowance and in five minutes I would have…
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10 amazing presidential letters
Holy Kaw!22 Feb 2012 | 11:33 pm -
The 2 User Metrics That Matter for SEO
SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog22 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amPosted by Dr. Pete In the wake of Google’s Panda updates, there’s been a lot of fear regarding user metrics and how they impact SEO. Many people are afraid that “bad” signals in analytics data, especially high bounce rates and low time-on-site, could potentially harm their rankings. I don’t think Google is tapping into analytics data directly (I’ll defend that later), and I don’t think they have to. There are two user metrics that both Google and Bing have direct access to: (1) SERP CTR, and (2) “Dwell time”, and I think those two… -
2012: The year that online retail reaches adulthood
Posts about Search Marketing - Organic/Natural (SEO) from the Econsultancy blog16 Feb 2012 | 3:38 amOnline retail will be 18 this year, so what has the industry achieved during its childhood years? This is my school leaver's report for the industry as it moves into adulthood.It's the beginning of a new year (at least it was when I sat down to write this piece), and each year I look back at what I have achieved so far in my life. I haven't ticked many of the 100 Things to Do Before You Die off this year: I haven't climbed Everest, visited either of the Poles (or Poland) and I've never been an outlaw in Peru. I did make it to the Rugby World Cup though, so it hasn't been a bad year. As I was… -
Twitter Tries to Hook Local SMBs on Self-Serve Advertising
Search Engine Watch22 Feb 2012 | 10:00 pmTwitter and American Express have announced a partnership that will see the companies offer $100 of complimentary Twitter advertising to the first 10,000 SMBs that sign up. Participants will gain access to Twitter's self-service advertising system. -
Meet the TED2012 Fellows – download our guide
TED Blog21 Feb 2012 | 8:50 amMeet the phenomenal new TED2012 Fellows in our just-released downloadable guide. Inside you’ll find photos and profiles of all 65 Fellows onsite: the class of TED2012 as well as all three classes of Senior Fellows. Dive in to explore their lives, work and ideas — and prepare to lose your socks! Download the TED2012 Fellows guide >>
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Holy Kaw!
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10 amazing presidential letters
22 Feb 2012 | 11:33 pmUnited States Presidents are some of the most amazing men (and someday women!) in history. Reading their personal letters helps give insight into their minds. Sometimes funny, sometimes poignant, Mental Floss's list is a must-see. Here's one example, a letter by a 10-year-old JFK A Plea for a raiseBy Jack Kennedy Dedicated to myMr. J. P. Kennedy Chapter I My recent allowance is 40¢. This I used for areoplanes and other playthings of childhood but now I am a scout and I put away my childish things. Before I would spend 20¢ of my ¢.40 allowance and in five minutes I would have… -
Phrases that signal BS or authenticity
22 Feb 2012 | 11:24 pmCEOs who are perceived as inauthentic are also seen as bad, incapable leaders, according to Marketing Profs. So how can you avoid inauthenticity? Watch out for five key phrases. Here are two phrases often perceived as inauthentic: "This deal is a win-win." Bloggers commented that few business deals, if any, are really a win-win—particularly in the current economic climate. "Thinking/working/planning outside the box." That phrase is viewed as classic corporate-speak, according to the interviewed bloggers. Full story at Marketing Profs. Top careers news. Photo credit: Fotolia Permalink |… -
Nifty social media ideas to learn from [video]
22 Feb 2012 | 11:21 pmSome social media campaigns are so nifty that there's plenty to glean from them. Open Forum offers a few examples, such as: GranataPet's Foursquare-Enabled Billboard Pet food brand GranataPet earned worldwide attention last year for its billboard in Agenta, Germany. This wasn't just any billboard, though. It was rigged so that if a consumer checked in on Foursquare, the billboard would dispense some of the company's dog food. Someone from Granata's ad agency filmed the billboard in action, and the video now has more than 50,000 views on YouTube (in various iterations). What you can learn from… -
How to increase your business with LinkedIn
22 Feb 2012 | 11:16 pmMost think that LinkedIn is soley useful for individuals. However, there's also a place for businesses on the professional networking site. Smart Brief article offers a few suggestions for optimizing your business's LinkedIn. For example: Use LinkedIn’s tools to their full advantage Write a snappy headline and use the 120 available characters to describe what you do in an attention-grabbing way, Ruff says. Also, be sure to use all 2,000 characters allotted in the summary space under your bio. Compose an elevator pitch that tells prospects who you are and how you can help them. Then end… -
11 early indications that your startup may be in trouble
22 Feb 2012 | 11:02 pmIf your startup has to go the way of the dinosaurs, wouldn't you want to know as soon as possible? Startup Smart gives eleven early warning signs that your startup might be failing. Here are two examples: Increases in fixed costs without an increase in revenues Fixed costs have a direct impact on your profitability. If you increase your fixed costs these need to be linked to revenue and profit expectations. You also need sufficient capital or funding to cover these costs if increases are needed to facilitate growth. Funding your business with debt rather than equity finance If your business…
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SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog
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The 2 User Metrics That Matter for SEO
22 Feb 2012 | 11:35 amPosted by Dr. Pete In the wake of Google’s Panda updates, there’s been a lot of fear regarding user metrics and how they impact SEO. Many people are afraid that “bad” signals in analytics data, especially high bounce rates and low time-on-site, could potentially harm their rankings. I don’t think Google is tapping into analytics data directly (I’ll defend that later), and I don’t think they have to. There are two user metrics that both Google and Bing have direct access to: (1) SERP CTR, and (2) “Dwell time”, and I think those two… -
Meet Mozzers at #SMX West 2012
22 Feb 2012 | 4:23 amPosted by jennita Conferences are always a great way to get out and meet the SEOmoz community. Luckily we have SMX West coming up next week and quite a few Mozzers will be attending, speaking, live blogging and tweeting. We want to get a chance to meet as many of you as possible so I forced everyone to decide on a schedule so you’ll know where to find us! Before I get into talking about where we’ll be, it’s probably best to first introduce the Mozzers so you know who to look for. Keri Morgret - @KeriMorgret You all learned a bit about Keri a few weeks ago when we spilled the… -
Buying Links is Shallow, Short-Term Thinking. Buying Blogs? Now that's a Strategy.
21 Feb 2012 | 2:48 pmPosted by randfish I've been running an experiment with some dark-hatted links for several months, consistently hoping Google will catch them and remove their value. So far... Nothing. Well, except top 3 rankings for all the anchor text pointed at those pages. Google's webspam team has all the incentive, brainpower and money in the world, yet their bets seem to be centered firmly on Google+ and the social graph eventually subsuming the "natural" results with those biased to what our friends and connections share/+1. Fine. I get it. Link buying isn't going away,… -
The New SEO Process (Quit Being Kanye)
20 Feb 2012 | 12:46 pmPosted by iPullRank The responsibilities of SEO practitioners have changed to include far more of the digital ecosystem, yet for so many, much of the SEO process remains the same. Currently there are several segments of SEO strategy seen as optional that are actually absolutely imperative to the success of an SEO campaign, as well as to the synergy of other initiatives within the marketing mix. In other words, SEO must adopt and adapt in order to be taken seriously and command the type of influence required to drive change. As it stands, SEO looks to disrupt the symphony (or cacophony) that… -
Lessons Learned by an Over-Optimizer
20 Feb 2012 | 2:27 amPosted by shirtsthatgoThis post was originally in YouMoz, and was promoted to the main blog because it provides great value and interest to our community. The author's views are entirely his or her own and may not reflect the views of SEOmoz, Inc. I own and run ShirtsThatGo, which is a small ecommerce site running on the Volusion platform. I started the company about three years ago and have been learning everything myself. I have taken a particular interest in the marketing piece, especially search engine optimization. I have made all the usual mistakes and I am sure I have many more lessons…
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Posts about Search Marketing - Organic/Natural (SEO) from the Econsultancy blog
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2012: The year that online retail reaches adulthood
16 Feb 2012 | 3:38 amOnline retail will be 18 this year, so what has the industry achieved during its childhood years? This is my school leaver's report for the industry as it moves into adulthood.It's the beginning of a new year (at least it was when I sat down to write this piece), and each year I look back at what I have achieved so far in my life. I haven't ticked many of the 100 Things to Do Before You Die off this year: I haven't climbed Everest, visited either of the Poles (or Poland) and I've never been an outlaw in Peru. I did make it to the Rugby World Cup though, so it hasn't been a bad year. As I was… -
Using mobile marketing to reach a global audience
16 Feb 2012 | 1:21 amAround 87% of the world's population now has a mobile phone, with China and India leading growth. Mobile marketing is one of the easiest ways to tap into growing, emerging markets and reach a much larger audience. However, global companies have been slow to catch on to this trend.The number of internet users around the world is growing fast. And more and more of them are connecting on the move. 2012 is predicted to be the year that smartphone sales overtake PC sales. Around 87% of the world’s population already has a mobile phone, while 3G networks now cover 45% of the globe. And… -
Digital talent: the innovative & integrated marketing brain
15 Feb 2012 | 4:27 amSometimes it’s easy to forget that we only use between 10 and 20% of our brains and, with hot debate surrounding the convergence of so many digital channels and disciplines, it’s important to make sure we know how best to use it. While some integrated marketers simply get on with it, others argue and engage in constant conflict. What channel to use, which is the best, where does this channel fit, how do we structure and adapt to change?I viewed a fantastic infographic last week from Marketo on Right Brain Vs Left Brain Marketers. It talked about the personality traits associated… -
Why Wikipedia is top on Google: the SEO truth no-one wants to hear
14 Feb 2012 | 2:53 amThere was an interesting study published this week which looked at 1,000 search terms in Google and measured the rankings for Wikipedia.org, which posed the question does Google give too much prominence to Wikipedia? As a quick recap, Wikipedia ranked for a huge 99% of the terms (as selected with a random noun generator). While many people may consider this an unfair bias from Google towards Wikipedia, I'm not so sure...There's no denying that 99% is an extremely high volume of keywords to be ranking for and this is a very interesting study to highlight Wikipedia's dominance. … -
How to identify and fix Google Panda in 2012
10 Feb 2012 | 1:38 amGoogle’s Panda update was a direct attack on bad content, which comes in many different flavours, including duplicate, weak, thin and template. Panda acts like a domain wide penalty, so your whole site is affected and your good pages are dragged down by your bad pages. This is a guide on how to find and fix Google's Panda algorithm update, based on our Panda fighting experience at SEOgadget in 2011.Panda basics Panda is about dealing with bad content, not bad links. Bad content comes in different flavours: duplicate, weak, thin and template Panda acts like a domain wide penalty:…
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Search Engine Watch
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Twitter Tries to Hook Local SMBs on Self-Serve Advertising
22 Feb 2012 | 10:00 pmTwitter and American Express have announced a partnership that will see the companies offer $100 of complimentary Twitter advertising to the first 10,000 SMBs that sign up. Participants will gain access to Twitter's self-service advertising system. -
BloomReach Marketing Platform Aims to Expose Your Best Content in Organic Search & Social
22 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmCloud marketing platform BloomReach has launched with a suite of three intelligent discovery tools for businesses. BloomReach accomplishes some pretty incredible things for web businesses in need of a holistic, well-rounded marketing approach. -
SES London 2012 – Day 2 Coverage #SESLondon
22 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pmDay 2 of SES London 2012 has come to a close. The day, much like Day 1, was packed full of great tips and strategies on SEO tools and metrics, PPC architecture, and more. Here's a roundup of today's live blogging and coverage of SES London 2012. -
Google’s Patent Battle With Microsoft & Apple Escalates
22 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmMicrosoft has filed a formal complaint against Motorola with the European Commission over what it sees as a clear abuse of its industry standard patents, with Google's tacit backing. This follows a similar filing by Apple demanding EC intervention. -
Track & Segment Your Way to More Accurate Bounce Rates
22 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amIn analytics, there are two truths about bounce rates: if you aren’t tagging your downloads or on-page events correctly, you could be missing out on the full picture; and segmentation is everything – it helps you discern "good" from "bad" metrics.
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TED Blog
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Meet the TED2012 Fellows – download our guide
21 Feb 2012 | 8:50 amMeet the phenomenal new TED2012 Fellows in our just-released downloadable guide. Inside you’ll find photos and profiles of all 65 Fellows onsite: the class of TED2012 as well as all three classes of Senior Fellows. Dive in to explore their lives, work and ideas — and prepare to lose your socks! Download the TED2012 Fellows guide >> -
Join a TEDActive Project!
20 Feb 2012 | 3:09 pmWelcome to the TEDActive 2012 Projects! Whether or not you’re attending TEDActive in Palm Springs next week, you’re invited to join a few brainstorms and get ideas flowing around six big topics. Jump into the online discussions, find other amazing people and spark collaborative conversation on Facebook. There are six projects listed below. Read the questions that drive each one, and join up with the TEDActive Project groups that intrigue you most. The Projects harness the huge energy and optimism of our community to dream up answers to big questions. Our diversity of cultures,… -
What’s it like to dance onstage at TED? Galen Hooks from The LXD
18 Feb 2012 | 9:52 amMoveTVnetwork asked dancer and choreographer Galen Hooks, shown above in rehearsal with The LXD, about her favorite performing moment. In this wonderful 4-minute interview, she talks about what it was like to dance onstage at TED2010 — and to receive the longest standing ovation in TED history: Watch the full video of The LXD at TED2010 >> Photo: James Duncan Davidson / TED. See more photos of The LXD at TED >> -
The humanity that draws us together: Anthony Shadid at TEDxOKC
18 Feb 2012 | 7:51 amReporter Anthony Shadid died this week in Syria, in the midst of a distinguished career as a reporter in the Middle East, based in Beirut and Baghdad. In April 2011, he was a surprise speaker at TEDxOKC, in his hometown of Oklahoma City — where he shared his hopes for a reimagined Middle East. Read notes from this talk on Heather Braun’s blog >> -
Peek-a-boo!: Fellows Friday with Aparna Rao
17 Feb 2012 | 7:59 amPart of Bangalore-based art duo Pors & Rao, Aparna Rao (watch her TED Talk) embeds high-tech and humor in interactive, sculptural artworks that awaken us to our own subtle behavioral patterns and emotional responses. What’s your vision and motivation for making this art? I think it’s more a compulsion than a vision. It all started with The Uncle Phone. If you’ve seen my TED Talk, you’ll know it’s the very long phone I made for my uncle, who used to sometimes insist that I assist him in making a phone call by dialing the number for him. In the Indian context, it’s a…
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Google Webmaster Central Blog
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Using schema.org markup for videos
21 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmWebmaster level: All Videos are one of the most common types of results on Google and we want to make sure that your videos get indexed. Today, we're also launching video support for schema.org. Schema.org is a joint effort between Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and Yandex and is now the recommended way to describe videos on the web. The markup is very simple and can be easily added to most websites. Adding schema.org video markup is just like adding any other schema.org data. Simply define an itemscope, an itemtype=”http://schema.org/VideoObject”, and make sure to set the name, description,… -
Preparing your site for a traffic spike
9 Feb 2012 | 6:30 amWebmaster level: Intermediate It’s a moment any site owner both looks forward to, and dreads: a huge surge in traffic to your site (yay!) can often cause your site to crash (boo!). Maybe you’ll create a piece of viral content, or get Slashdotted, or maybe Larry Page will get a tattoo and your site on tech tattoos will be suddenly in vogue. Many people go online immediately after a noteworthy event—a political debate, the death of a celebrity, or a natural disaster—to get news and information about that event. This can cause a rapid increase in traffic to websites that provide relevant… -
More Options for Google+ Badges
26 Jan 2012 | 1:53 pmWebmaster Level: All Update on February 2, 2012: The new Google+ badge is now out of preview and available to all users on all sites. When we launched Google+ pages in November, we also released Google+ badges to promote your Google+ presence right on your site. Starting today in developer preview (and soon available to all your users), we're adding more options for integrating the Google+ badge into your website. You can configure a badge with a width that fits your site design and choose a version that works better on darker sites. You'll also see that Google+ badges now include the unified… -
What’s new with Sitemaps
26 Jan 2012 | 12:18 pmWebmaster level: AllSitemaps are a way to tell Google about pages on your site. Webmaster Tools’ Sitemaps feature gives you feedback on your submitted Sitemaps, such as how many Sitemap URLs have been indexed, or whether your Sitemaps have any errors. Recently, we’ve added even more information! Let’s check it out:The Sitemaps page displays details based on content-type. Now statistics from Web, Videos, Images and News are featured prominently. This lets you see how many items of each type were submitted (if any), and for some content types, we also show how many items have been… -
Update to Top Search Queries data
25 Jan 2012 | 2:00 pmWebmaster level: All Starting today, we’re updating our Top Search Queries feature to make it better match expectations about search engine rankings. Previously we reported the average position of all URLs from your site for a given query. As of today, we’ll instead average only the top position that a URL from your site appeared in. An example Let’s say Nick searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 3, 6, and 12. Jane also searched for [bacon] and URLs from your site appeared in positions 5 and 9. Previously, we would have averaged all these positions together…
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Inside AdWords
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Taking Automated Rules to the next level: Now in My Client Center
22 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmWe’ve added My Client Center support, so you can now run Automated Rules across multiple client accounts, to help you manage many accounts more quickly, easily and efficiently. To get started, simply click the “Automate” drop-down menu on the Performance or Budget tab: This AdWords Help Center article walks you through how to set up Automated Rules in My Client Center. As you may notice, the steps are mostly the same as for individual accounts, except that we’ve added sections for account and currency selection: As always, remember to click the Preview results button to verify that… -
Presenting the brand new AdWords Community
22 Feb 2012 | 10:40 amFor the past three years the AdWords Help Forum has been a place where advertisers from all walks of life could come together and exchange ideas, advice and stories with other AdWords advertisers. It's really awe-inspiring to see people helping people and it's all thanks to your support and enthusiasm. Over the years we've been collecting your comments about the Help Forum and decided it was time for a change. We strive to make our users happy with the best possible products we can provide, from our advertising products, to our search products, to our social products. That's why we're excited… -
New Google research: Reaching your audience effectively with YouTube TrueView Ads
16 Feb 2012 | 1:40 pmWith many Americans spending as much time online as watching TV, media-savvy advertisers are turning to creative new formats to attract attention and customers. We recently surveyed more than 1,600 Americans aged 18-45 and got some interesting insights into TrueView Video Ads, the family of YouTube ad formats that give viewers choice and control over which advertisers' messages they want to see and when.Some of the best findings from our study include:8 of 10 viewers preferred TrueView to standard in-stream ads9 of 10 viewers thought TrueView created a better viewing environment8 of 10… -
Introducing Enhanced Ad Sitelinks
14 Feb 2012 | 11:30 amWe've talked before about how useful ad sitelinks can be. They give users more options, and deliver advertisers more clicks. On average, the clickthrough rate is 30% higher for ads with sitelinks than those without. And we've continued experimenting with new ways to make sitelinks even better. Today, we're taking the covers off one of our strongest performing experiments. It works by incorporating text from ads in your account that are related to your sitelinks. The easiest way to understand things is with an example: Say you've created sitelinks for your pizza restaurant campaign, and your… -
AdWords campaign management – Even better when you share
9 Feb 2012 | 12:00 pmLast January, we introduced a new way to manage changes across multiple campaigns with lists, starting with negative keyword lists. These lists give advertisers the ability to create and manage groups of negative keywords in your account and to associate them with multiple campaigns. We’re now pleased to announce two new developments to our lists feature which will sit in a new place in the AdWords left navigation panel called the “Shared library.” #1. Placement exclusion lists Exclusion lists, which are similar to negative keyword lists, allow you to create lists of placements to…
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Web Analytics Demystified
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Welcome Demystifier Brian Hawkins!
1 Feb 2012 | 12:36 amAdam, John, and I are incredibly excited to announce that industry veteran Brian Hawkins is joining Web Analytics Demystified to help us expand our offerings around testing, optimization, and personalization of all forms of digital communication. Brian is the most widely recognized expert in the field when it comes to Enterprise-class optimization and personalization technology, integration, and strategy. He comes to us from Offermatica by way of Omniture and Adobe, and we are delighted to build on our support for Adobe’s solutions, adding Brian’s expertise on Test&Target to… -
Announcing the Analysis Exchange Scholarship
24 Jan 2012 | 12:28 amContinuing our long-standing efforts to support the broader digital measurement, analysis, and optimization community around the globe, I am incredibly happy to announce the creation of the Analysis Exchange Scholarship Fund. You can read the press release and learn more about the effort at the Analysis Exchange web site, but in an nutshell thanks to the generosity of ObservePoint and IQ Workforce we are now able to financially support Analysis Exchange member’s in their efforts to expand their web analytics horizons. What’s more, as soon as Jim Sterne heard about our efforts, he… -
Big News from Web Analytics Wednesday!
17 Jan 2012 | 10:57 amJust a quick note of thanks to OpinionLab, ObservePoint, and Splunk who have joined I.Q. Workforce as official sponsors of our global Web Analytics Wednesday series for 2012. Thanks to these very generous organizations, my partners and I are going to be able to continue to help Web Analytics Wednesday evolve and continue to be the gathering point for digital measurement practitioners and analysts around the globe. What these added sponsors mean to all of you is bigger budgets for Web Analytics Wednesday which we hope will lead to bigger and better gatherings. Whereas we typically limited… -
My New Year’s Resolutions, Demystified
9 Jan 2012 | 2:22 pmHappy New Year everyone! I hope you had a relaxing and joyous Holiday season and are as excited as I am about what the coming year has in store. While I’m not much for making predictions I am a big fan of making resolutions, both personal and professional. Here are five high-level resolutions that Adam, John, and I have made for 2012: We resolve to continue to provide great value to our clients. A consulting business like ours is only as good as the value we provide on an ongoing basis. To that end, all of us are committed to working closely with all of our clients to ensure we deliver… -
The Evolution of Web Analytics Wednesday
10 Dec 2011 | 11:47 pmI’ve been thinking a lot about some of the community events that my partners and I have had the opportunity to create over the years lately. While a lot of the focus recently has been on ACCELERATE — the web analytics industry’s first free conference series — our efforts more will turn back to Analysis Exchange and Web Analytics Wednesday as we roll into 2012. I wanted to discuss the latter event. Since co-founding the event with June Dershewitz in 2005, Web Analytics Wednesday has impacted web analytics practitioners, consultants, and vendors around the globe. Since…
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Google Analytics Blog
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Selling More Shoes with Multi-Channel Funnels
15 Feb 2012 | 8:00 amShoes of Prey, an online retailer that sells custom-made shoes globally, have made significant improvements in their online conversion rates thanks to insights gleaned from their Multi-Channel Funnels reports. Through taking action based on these insights they were able to increase their conversion rate by 40%, increase same-day purchases by 20%, and better understand how to manage their social media strategy. Head on to the APAC Conversion Room blog to learn how Shoes of Prey achieved these results and more. Part 1: Thanks to the Top Conversions Paths report, Shoes of Prey were able to… -
PUMA Kicks Up Order Rate 7% with Insights from Google Analytics and Viget
14 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmGoogle Analytics has a network of Certified Partners around the globe who provide valuable technical and analytical services, but I often get asked about the impact of their work. To that end, we help our partners publish case studies to showcase their best projects, and we’re featuring these studies in a series of posts in the coming months. PUMA is a highly recognizable and well-respected sport/lifestyle company. They have a global audience and a world-class website, but still they strive to beat their own records. They know the best athletes use data and strict regimens to improve their… -
Customize your standard reports
9 Feb 2012 | 4:19 pmDesigning a good custom report can be challenging, and sometimes all you really want is a slightly different version of a standard report. Using the new "Customize" feature in Google Analytics allows you to tweak our definitions of Standard Reports into your own Custom Reports. So, what's new?There is a new button in the action bar on all tabular standard reports in Analytics, labeled "Customize". Where to find the "Customize" option on standard reports Clicking this button loads the custom report builder. From there, you are just clicks away from your own custom report. An example of a… -
Google Analytics has learned 9 new languages
8 Feb 2012 | 11:42 amRecently we introduced thenew and improved Google Analytics, so that you can quickly find even more powerful and useful data to improve your internet marketing efforts. Now, we are proud to say Google Analytics is available in 9 new languages. This makes Google Analytics quite a Polyglot, and it is in total availablein 40 languages now. Newly introduced languages are: - Arabic - Croatian - Hebrew - Hindi - Latvian - Romanian - Serbian - Slovenian - Ukrainian To change the language of an Analytics account to any of these new languages, you have to activate the new interface, if you haven’t… -
PBS saves time with automated reports
26 Jan 2012 | 10:01 amFor most companies using Google Analytics, reporting on website traffic and performance for a few web properties is a straightforward task. However, if your company manages hundreds of web properties, delivering useful and timely reports can become a significant challenge. For many, the only apparent solution is to manually export analytics data for each web property, then combine and compare that data to answer relevant business questions. It’s a slow and costly process and you spend most of your time creating reports instead of carrying out meaningful analysis. The Public Broadcasting…
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WAA Blog
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Presidents Message: Advance Your Analytics Career in 2012
31 Jan 2012 | 7:00 amThirty percent of people that make New Year’s Resolutions break them within a month. So if you’re smoking a cigarette, eating a Twinkie, or charging those Prada shoes to a maxed out credit card while reading this newsletter, rest assured... -
A New Years Message from the WAA Chair of the Board: A 2012 Web Analytics Pledge
4 Jan 2012 | 7:00 amAs the New Year begins, I pledge to better myself by helping others more. As the old year fades into the past, I pledge to help grow the industry by being more inclusive and broadening my reach. As the daylight... -
Presidents Message: Occupy Analytics!
29 Nov 2011 | 12:24 pmThis November, I was in Philadelphia for the Annual Retreat of the WAA Board and the Philadelphia Symposium. Early one evening I went for a jog through the city. It was one of those perfect East Coast autumn evenings; cool... -
Presidents Message: Networking at the Symposiums
27 Oct 2011 | 7:00 amA few weeks ago I had the opportunity to witness first-hand one of the things that I love most about WAA. I originally joined WAA for a few reasons: to meet other analysts, to gain knowledge about the analytics discipline,... -
Career Development for Digital Analysts: Resources Available
19 Oct 2011 | 10:59 amAre you a new analyst looking for a way into the digital analytics industry? An analyst looking for advice on how to grow in your role or be promoted? Looking for a new opportunity? For the past year, the WAA...
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HubSpot's Inbound Internet Marketing Blog
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Why Every Business Blog Needs Evergreen Content
22 Feb 2012 | 1:30 pmWhen it comes to the different types of content you can publish on a business blog, there is a world of possibilities. But among all those variations of blog content is a very important one that often gets overlooked. That, my friend, is evergreen content, and every blog could use some. In this article, we'll dive into what evergreen content is (and isn't), why it's so important to the success of a blog, and how you can effectively leverage it for your business. What Is Evergreen Blog Content? Just like the name indicates, evergreen blog content stays useful season to season, year to year… -
The Pros and Cons of Form-Free Content (And Which to Choose)
22 Feb 2012 | 9:30 amThere's one thing that absolutely all excellent inbound marketers have in common. Can you guess what it is? It's that they are all remarkable content creators. That means they create and publish high quality content -- webinars, ebooks, blog posts, case studies, etc. -- and they do it on a consistent basis. But where some inbound marketers start to diverge is in their decision to deploy that content behind a form, or keep it form-free for all the world to see with no exchange of information. There are pros and cons to each method, and inbound marketers are still discussing which method is… -
How to Use Internal Linking to Improve Your Website's SEO
22 Feb 2012 | 6:00 amGreat content and attracting inbound links are major elements of your SEO strategy. If you’ve created an exciting blog post or ebook, you’ll naturally want to work on making sure that you are driving as much traffic to it as possible. Part of that strategy should always include internal linking, and understanding how the other pages of your website can contribute value toward your new page. If you are working on any important campaign, it’s absolutely critical to figure out which of your already great, high-authority pages should be linking to your new page, or what ongoing… -
How to Use Content to Drive Referrals and Upsell Customers
21 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmMarketers are often hyper-focused on lead generation. And rightfully so -- it's our responsibility to make sure the business has a pipeline fat with juicy, qualified leads. But when Marketing leaves upselling and driving referrals to Sales and Account Management, as it so often does, it eliminates the possibility of using the inbound content it's constantly creating to drive more revenue from its existing customer base. Your customers are an untapped vein of new revenue. Consider these tactics to help you leverage your already cranking inbound marketing efforts to drive referrals and sell… -
How to Master Pinterest for B2B Marketing
21 Feb 2012 | 9:30 amLet's face it. Pinterest is a slam dunk for companies who sell jewelry, fabrics, bags, and other cool "visual" items -- but it's pretty tricky for B2B. However, with the rapid growth of the Pinterest user base, many companies are seeing that referral traffic from Pinterest is lapping the traffic they're generating from Google+ and YouTube. It may be time for B2B to step into the game, take advantage of Pinterest's popularity, and use it as a new traffic and lead generator. But how can you come up with a Pinterest strategy that fits B2B? Let's take a look ... Identify Your Most Visual Content…
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Mashable!
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10 Free Android Apps You’ll Use Every Day
22 Feb 2012 | 8:56 pm1. Alarm Clock Plus You can start every morning with this alarm clock app. If waking up is tough for you, this app lets you set several alarms, each with its own ring tone. Are you the type that sub-consciously turns your alarm off in your sleep? There's a math feature that makes you solve a simple equation to dismiss it. This way, you know when it's really time to get out of bed. For $.99 more, you can also get the app with no ads.Click here to view this gallery.From the moment you wake up in the morning to the second you close your eyes at night, your smartphone is probably the first and… -
Marketers: What Mobile Users Will and Won’t Put Up With [INFOGRAPHIC]
22 Feb 2012 | 8:29 pmYoung people between the ages of 18 and 24 are even more connected to their mobile devices than you might think. Nine in 10 young adults spend between one and five hours on their mobile devices daily. Nearly one in 10, meanwhile, are on their gadgets between five and ten hours each day. Just under a third would actually like for brands to send them promotions via smarthphone and tablet, but more than half say that it’s “extremely important” to be able to opt out of such come-ons. This is all according to a study by mobile interaction and payment agency mBlox, which… -
Adele Is First To Go Double Platinum on iTunes
22 Feb 2012 | 8:05 pmLike many artists before her, global pop star Adele experienced a post-Grammys album sales boost, selling 730,000 copies of 21 in the past week. Unlike every other artist in history, however, Adele is the first person to sell 2 million copies of one album on iTunes in the U.S. The album, which has been out stateside since Feb. 22 of last year, reached double platinum status on the heels of Adele’s Grammy appearance: She won six awards and performed for the first time since being sidelined by vocal cord hemorrhaging and subsequent microsurgery. SEE ALSO: Adele Finds Her Voice on Twitter… -
Use Online RSVP Tool to Help Your Party Make A Splash
22 Feb 2012 | 7:35 pmThe Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here. Name: Splash Quick Pitch: Splash offers a simple way for event planners to manage and share events with guests. Genius Idea: Splash users can track RSVPs and post event photos on a customizable event website. Planning the perfect event can be a lot of pressure — ordering the food, booking the talent, picking the decorations and, of course, how to get the guest to the party. Ben Hindman,… -
Samsung Totally Copies Us With Galaxy Note ‘Street Challenge’ [VIDEO]
22 Feb 2012 | 7:07 pmThe Samsung Galaxy Note, a so-called “superphone” that has a massive 5-inch screen, gives quite a first impression. Not only is it huge, but it sports an accessory that has waned in popularity over the last few years: a stylus. Those odd physical qualities are why we took it out to the streets to see what real people thought when they were suddenly confronted with the gargantuan, pen-toting Galaxy Note (you can see our video below). It seems Samsung’s people thought the idea was good enough to do themselves, and they created a “street challenge” for the Galaxy…
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MarketingVox News & Trends
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Closing Bell: Google pay-TV pilot | Mobile privacy | Apple sandboxing delay
22 Feb 2012 | 1:58 pmSigns of What's to Come: Google to launch pilot pay-TV program in Kansas City. 7 potential problems with Google's glasses. Privacy: Tech firms agree to privacy protections for mobile apps. Mobile Computing: Apple's latest sandboxing deadline delay signals moving goalpost for devs. Productivity: Google Docs for Android gets real-time collaboration.<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/marketingvox/rss/~4/QxE2oFcgxs0" height="1" width="1"/> -
Bing Debuts Linked Pages
22 Feb 2012 | 11:06 amSocial and search have taken another step toward each other: Bing is rolling out a new feature for users called Linked Pages. Calling it a way to let users have more control in how they show up on Bing, Linked Pages lets the user link websites related to him or her in search results. "Now your friends [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/marketingvox/rss/~4/Q2tdMXGg20E" height="1" width="1"/> -
Mobile Ad Pricing, Creatives Entering Period of Flux
22 Feb 2012 | 10:27 amMobile ad pricing is likely entering a state of flux. The more immediate reason is the probable entrance of Facebook in this space. There are longer-term trends impacting pricing as well, including new thinking about mobile’s role in the online ad budget and the evolution of this space towards better creative. AdMob's Move Perhaps the most visible [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/marketingvox/rss/~4/nLhLthTeJZo" height="1" width="1"/> -
Another fMC Prediction: Facebook Will Introduce New Premium Ads
22 Feb 2012 | 10:22 amFacebook plans to upgrade its premium ads on February 29, according to leaked reports obtained by GigaOm. The new format will be unveiled at the company's first marketing conference, fMC, scheduled for that date. What the New Ads Will Look Like The documents show that the new premium ads should deliver a 40% increase in engagement, [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/marketingvox/rss/~4/y7K5r2bIkIM" height="1" width="1"/> -
Email Marketing for the Playbook
22 Feb 2012 | 7:00 amResearch In Motion has released a new operating system for its tablet device, Playbook. Chief among the changes is the support for productivity apps—namely email, calendering and contacts. The question is, though, should email marketers spend the additional effort to optimize for this device? Previously, Playbook users had to synch with their BlackBerry handhelds to read [...]<img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/marketingvox/rss/~4/pZ4oNydrWMM" height="1" width="1"/>
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TechCrunch
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Tencent CTO: Facebook Took a Page From Our Biz Model
22 Feb 2012 | 11:32 pmEditor’s note: Guest author Gang Lu is the editor of TechNode, a bilingual blog based in China. As Facebook’s imminent IPO became the talk of Silicon Valley and Wall Street, you might have read from the social networking site’s SEC S-1 filing that it pulled in more than $1 billion in profit on revenue of $3.71 billion last year. What Facebook’s prospectus will not tell you, is that the social giant has taken a page from Tencent’s business model, at least according to the Chinese Internet giant’s CTO. Xiong Minghua, Tencent’s CTO, said in a speech at the ChinaBang Awards… -
Cloud Security: DataLocker Lets You Encrypt Your Sensitive Dropbox Files For Free
22 Feb 2012 | 9:55 pmWe’re all becoming increasingly reliant on consumer cloud services, as cloud storage providers like Dropbox make it easy to share and store files, folders, images, sync between platforms, and more. They make our lives easier, but because they store an enormous amount of potentially sensitive data, there are some inherent risks. While Dropbox is for personal use, it and services like it are increasingly being used by businesses — another example of the ongoing consumerization of enterprise and IT. It’s also true that most people want their data in their cloud service to be… -
Report: Video Accounts For Half Of All Mobile Traffic; Android Biggest For Mobile Ads
22 Feb 2012 | 9:22 pmMobile video now accounts for half of all mobile traffic; and on some networks, that number is as high as 69 percent — a testament to the rise of smartphones and tablets as the mobile devices of choice for consumers, and their growing interest in using these devices to do a lot more than just make phone calls. The data, from quarterly report on mobile data usage out today from mobile analytics firm Bytemobile, also found that Android is generating more mobile ad volume than iOS devices, and that Google now accounted for 75 percent of ad-generated data across all platforms. Bytemobile… -
Clothes Horse Wants To Solve The Biggest Problem With Online Shopping: Finding Clothes That Fit
22 Feb 2012 | 8:58 pmClothes Horse, a fashion technology company based out of New York, is publicly launching its platform today in an attempt to address one of the biggest challenges facing online shoppers: buying clothes that fit. Through the use of a customizable widget that merchants add to their own websites, Clothes Horse can determine within just 30 seconds how the retailers’ items will fit any customer. The goal is not only to decrease shopping cart abandonment, but also the rate of returns due to ill-fitting clothes. The problem with shopping for clothes online is that customers have gotten… -
The Winners Of This Year’s $100,000 TechFellow Awards Are…
22 Feb 2012 | 8:33 pmTonight, Silicon Valley’s heroes gave competition a rest and joined together at the third annual TechFellow Awards to celebrate the spirit of innovation. An all-star committee of industry moguls carefully considered your nominations of visionaries in the fields of engineering, product design and marketing, general management, and disruptive innovation. They chose 5 leaders per category and awarded them each a $100,000 grant to invest in a startup of their choice. Supported by Founders Fund, TechCrunch, and New Enterprise Associates (NEA), the awards ceremony was hosted by Jim…
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ReadWriteWeb
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Daily Wrap: RIM Playbook Disappoints and more
22 Feb 2012 | 6:06 pmDavid Strom says the RIM Playbook isn't ready for primetime. This and more in today's Daily Wrap. Sometimes it's difficult to catch everything that hits tech media in a day, so we wrap up some of the most talked about stories. We give you a daily recap of what you missed in the ReadWriteWeb Community, including a link to some of the most popular discussions in our offsite communities on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google+ as well. Sponsor -
Flickr Can't Go Back To What It Once Was
22 Feb 2012 | 3:30 pmFlickr will launch a major makeover in its quest to return to its once young and sexy past, according to reports from BetaBeat. The new Flickr homepage will look more like the slick, image-only homepages of online visual pinboard Pinterest and photo-sharing app Pixable. There will be little white space on the homepage. In the new version, photos will appear four times their current size. They will lie on the page, scattered about like puzzle pieces slipped together without overlap. Flickr is repositioning itself to look more like an app, which is right in line with Yahoo's "mobile first"… -
Open Knowledge Releases Open Data Handbook 1.0
22 Feb 2012 | 3:01 pmThe Open Knowledge Foundation (OKF) announced the 1.0 release of the Open Data Handbook today. The 1.0 release is the culmination of a project that started in October 2010 at a book sprint in Berlin as the Open Data Manual. The Open Data Handbook provides the introduction to what open data is, why organizations (particularly government) would be interested in providing open data, and how to go about it. Sponsor Open data proponents will find the Open Data Handbook pretty basic stuff, but it's an excellent resource to pass on to others. It's also the starting point for a lot more work. -
Xerox Goes Up Against RIM in 'BYOD' Mobile Device Management
22 Feb 2012 | 2:30 pmThe firm that entered our lives as "The Document Company" must reinvent itself again if it is to thrive in a world where paper is used less and less as the agent of transferring information. Taking a cue yesterday from Research In Motion, which last November set up a safety net for itself as a mobile document management (MDM) company, Xerox is now headed the same direction. Now, the former "Document Company" has announced it's setting itself up as a managed service provider for SMBs and enterprises to provision secure mobile devices, effectively reselling an MDM platform from Boxtone. If you… -
MasterCard Mobile Money Partnership Program Aims to Bring Mobile Payments Everywhere
22 Feb 2012 | 2:00 pmFor all of the talk about the mobile payments revolution, most of the world still deals in cash. About 85% of world retail transactions are still done with paper currency, while payment processors are smacking their lips at the prospect of increasing their share. The problem with digital payments in emerging markets is most people do not have proper bank accounts. However, they are likely to have mobile phones. So today, MasterCard announced a partnership initiative to turn those phones into payment processors. Walk into a store anywhere in the world and use your phone to make a purchase. The…
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Social Media Examiner
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10 Ways to Deal With Upset Customers Using Social Media
22 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amHow are you responding to upset customers?No matter what you sell or what industry you’re in, you’re going to experience negative word of mouth.You know, those customers who are expressing their complaints on social media.It just happens.Things break, problems come up and employees have bad days. But it’s how you handle it that separates you from everyone else.Remember: Negative word of mouth is an opportunity.A great response strategy can convert angry and upset customers into loyal, raving fans. The rule of thumb is that while unhappy customers talk to 5 people, formerly… -
6 Google+ Tips for Businesses
21 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amHas your business set up a Google+ page?Google+ is growing at an impressive rate. In less than one year, Google has reached over 90 million registered users—far exceeding expected growth rates.According to CNN’s Mark Millan, it took Facebook about four years to grow to that many users. It took Twitter almost five years to grow to the same size.There’s No Leap of Faith With Google+You already know Google is important to your business. Just check your analytics. Which search engine are people using to find your website? Google. And if you’re using YouTube effectively,… -
13 Tools to Simplify Your Social Media Marketing
20 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amAre you looking for tools to simplify your social media activities?Many businesses feel overwhelmed when implementing their social media marketing.Sometimes the solution is to focus on the right social media tools for your business.We asked social media experts for their most valuable tool for small businesses using social media. Here are 13 tools to help you execute your social media strategy effectively.#1: CrowdboosterAmy Porterfield @amyporterfieldCrowdbooster is my tool of choice to manage social media activities on Facebook and Twitter.This tool does many things to help me save time… -
Twitter Ads for Small Businesses: This Week in Social Media
18 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amWelcome to our weekly edition of what’s hot in social media news. To help you stay up-to-date with social media, here are some of the news items that caught our attention.What’s New This Week?Twitter Ads for Small Businesses: Twitter ads used to only be for the exclusive large advertisers, but not for much longer. Twitter has “partnered with American Express to make it easy for small business owners to advertise on Twitter. American Express Cardmembers and merchants based in the U.S. will be invited to try this new advertising solution before anyone else, and American… -
How Social Media Has Changed Customer Service
17 Feb 2012 | 5:00 amIn this video I interview Peter Shankman, founder of Help a Reporter Out (HARO), vice-president of Vocus and author of Customer Service: New Rules for a Social Media World.Peter shares the story of HARO and how customer service has evolved and gives insights into the best practices on how to engage with your customers on social media.You’ll learn what you need to know to create a strong customer-service culture on social media.Be sure to check out the takeaways below after you watch the video.www.youtube.com/watch?v=gURNjxjBGEkHere are some of the things you’ll learn in this…
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MediaPost | Online Media Daily
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DAA To Require Members To Honor Do-Not-Track Headers
22 Feb 2012 | 9:02 pmThe ad industry's self-regulatory group Digital Advertising Alliance now supports the idea that consumers should be able to opt out of all online behavioral advertising through a browser-based do-not-track header, the group's lawyer, Stuart Ingis, said on Wednesday. -
Watchdogs Ask FCC To Scuttle Verizon's Spectrum Deal
22 Feb 2012 | 2:29 pmVerizon's planned alliance with three cable companies will undermine competition and harm consumers, advocacy groups argue in petitions filed with the Federal Communications Commission. -
Online Cos. Host Digital Content NewFronts
22 Feb 2012 | 2:23 pmCome April, several online advertising heavyweights are planning to host several upfront events, or what they’re calling Digital Content NewFronts. AOL, Digitas, Google/YouTube, Hulu, Microsoft Advertising and Yahoo are all participating, with a combined mission of shaping a new and practical marketplace for connecting digital content with brand marketers and their media and marketing agencies. The Interactive Advertising Bureau will also actively participate with DCNF, hosting collateral events and forums at the IAB Ad Lab from April 19-May 2. During the same period, each founding… -
Yahoo Rallies For Better Search Metrics
22 Feb 2012 | 1:00 pmTraditional metrics to measure searches don't work well with tools like Google Instant and Yahoo Search Direct, or with emerging technologies like voice and gesture. Until now, the industry has relied on data firms like comScore, but Shashi Seth, senior vice president of search products at Yahoo, believes the problem represents deeper issues and the responsibility should be with execs at the largest engines. -
Forecast: Google Display Ad Revs To Beat Facebook
22 Feb 2012 | 11:02 amIn 2013, eMarketer anticipates that Google's U.S. display revenues will grow 45.3% to $3.68 billion, while Facebook's will grow 27.6% to $3.29 billion. eMarketer principal analyst David Hallerman attributes Google's astonishing success to a thriving mobile display business, YouTube's expanding role as a venue for premium display inventory, and strong growth from the company's DoubleClick ad network.
