You’ve probably heard that Wikipedia are planning to introduce a new editing process, to reduce the visibility and impact of vandalism. Wikipedia represents both the best and worst of online behaviour, with over three million articles in English, contributed by more than 10 million users. But there have been abuses of the open system over the years, and Wikipedia’s new … Read More
AdWords ads have moved!
The more observant or caffeinated of you will have already noticed that the ads displayed alongside Google’s search results have moved closer to their natural counterparts. On a lower resolution system you might not have noticed, but whereas the ads used to be on the far right side of my 1680 x 1050 screen, they are now nestled quite cosily … Read More
Greed, haste and desire kill sales
In an age when people’s private information has become a commodity, some companies have decided that it’s reasonable to force their customers to share their data. I recently called a support phone number for a well known supplier of network hardware. To open a ticket, they needed to know the name and model of the product, where and when I … Read More
What do you mean you haven’t heard of Baidu?
From Wikipedia: “Baidu is the leading Chinese search engine for websites, audio files, and images. Baidu offers 57 search and community services including an online collaboratively-built encyclopedia (Baidu Baike), and a searchable keyword-based discussion forum. In October 2008, Baidu ranked 9th overall in Alexa’s internet rankings. In December 2007 Baidu became the first Chinese company to be included in the … Read More
The internet has exploded!
Yesterday morning I returned from the Software Industry Conference in Boston. My three bags made it back, but a significant amount of my brain has yet to catch up with me. So my apologies if this post sounds as though it’s been written by someone else. During the conference I delivered four presentations, one of which (an A – Z … Read More
Loyalty is easily destroyed when the product is free
I’ve been a long-time user of the Cligs URL shortening service, and have recommended them to countless colleagues and friends. Yet they’ve recently been experiencing technical issues that have forced me to jump ship to one of their competition. There are two main issues, both of which remain unresolved. 1: Their shortened URLs don’t always work. This is a problem … Read More
Websites reviewed – interesting data and opinions!
Yesterday’s Website Critique Webinar was a great success, and as well as looking at six different websites in detail, we also asked attendees a series of questions in the form of live polls, with some interesting results. We’re just collating the data now, so watch this space. As the webinar was limited to only one hour, some attendees emailed me … Read More
Think small, stay small
Our company provides a range of marketing services, and each week we typically send out around 4-5 price quotations. We also turn away around 9-10 requests, when we feel that our services are not appropriate. Most of the companies that we turn away understand what we’re saying, and appreciate our not taking their money under what would amount to false … Read More
2009 – the year of the eBook?
Marketing Pilgrim believe that this is the year for eReaders to make the transition from early adopter’s toys to widespread acceptance: “We’ve covered the Kindle here a couple times, but I’m willing to bet most of you don’t have one. Sometimes we like to think that means that eReaders and eBooks are nonstarters. But according to new research from Forrester, … Read More
U.S. Online Ad Revenue Now Shrinking
From the Silicon Alley Insider: “For the first time since the dot-com bust, the U.S. online ad market is shrinking, including search. That’s a stunning drop in growth from a year ago, when the market was still growing more than 20%.” As a person who spends a large amount of time handling Google AdWords accounts, this reinforces what I already … Read More
