My name is Dave Collins and I’m a data addict. Actually screw that. I’m proud of it. My name is Dave Collins and I love data. As a company, we measure everything we do. I believe that data is worth more than personal interaction and intuition. I even have an application on my iPhone to track how well I sleep at night. … Read More
Exploit AdWords to the full
I’m running an Action Class for AppSumo today: Let Dave show you how to get the most value out of Google AdWords! Google Adwords is a great tool for reaching the world with your product or service. Yet unlike most power tools, it comes with no safety instructions, which can cause you to waste a sizeable portion of your budget … Read More
FT vs. Apple. All hail a free market economy.
The Financial Times have withdrawn their app from the Apple Store in response to Apple’s greed with revenue and customer data. Apple not only demand a 30% cut of revenues, but also retain full ownership of the customer data. Apple’s terms may well be acceptable to companies with a relatively unknown name, but the FT’s move may signify the start of … Read More
What makes a website attractive?
We already know what makes a person attractive: symmetry and (apparently) a resemblance to our parents. The latter is disturbing beyond words. But what makes a website attractive? Probably not symmetry, and certainly nothing to do with our parents. Colour? Use of space? Eye-catching graphics? Clarity? A picture of a grinning model wearing a headset? Probably a combination of most … Read More
Google: AdWords and organic results are merging (ish)
Google have always maintained a strict separation between their paid ads and organic listings, yet I believe that this has now changed. At least in terms of strategy.
Google take misleading to a whole new level
Most businesses choose to take advantage of the persuasive powers of numbers at some point, but a recent post on Google’s Inside AdWords left me less than impressed: “Advertisers often wonder whether search ads cannibalize their organic traffic. If search ads were paused, would clicks on organic results increase and make up for the loss in paid traffic? Google statisticians … Read More
You might want to check your conversion data…
As you read this, your AdWords stats from last week or the week before may have changed since you last looked at them. No, this isn’t some form of AdWords trickery. It has to do with a little known fact that recorded conversions are applied to the date of the ad click, and not the date of the conversion. So if you … Read More
Can you use Google Ads without Analytics?
I used to be strongly opposed to using Google Analytics and Google Ads together, but I used to be skinny and muscular too. Things change. My single issue with using Analytics was that it wasn’t as free as it appeared. You paid for the use of Google’s software by supplying them with your data. If you’re aware of this, and … Read More
Google +1: why you need to care
Google +1 (not to be confused with Google +) is simply a means of people endorsing a web page, and signifies a refocus for Google, where they acknowledge the importance of the user: the start of social SEO.
Using the right tone is paramount, innit?
When I give instructions to the person who cleans our house, I sound quite different from when I’m talking to a potential client. Aside from not grovelling as much, I use different language and a different tone. Most people speak differently depending on the context of who they’re talking to. In fact I recently noticed that when I pay our … Read More
