“Where did you hear about us?” It’s a common question for businesses to ask consumers (and a good one to be asking), but the one-word response you get from a consumer at the end of a transaction might not give you the full picture. Sure, maybe it was as simple as a friend recommending a […]
You’ve designed a beautiful landing page. You’ve tweaked and tested its responsiveness. You’ve spent hours on keyword research, arriving at what you believe to be a winning blend of high-traffic short-tail and conversion-friendly long-tail. In short, you’re ready for an influx of traffic… or are you? Without effective landing page copy, you risk squandering the […]
Last Tuesday (April 22, 2014), Google’s #StepInsideAdWords was introduced to a modest live crowd and sweeping array of anxious Hang-Out participants, all eager to learn the next big thing. What we got was somewhat of a surprise, in a good way. Jerry Dischler, VP of Product Management for Adwords, took the stage to showcase the following: Innovative […]
It’s not news that the technology evolution has shifted the way consumers and retailers communicate. While the purchase decision pyramid remains relevant, today’s consumers’ digital hyper-connectedness is increasing the transparency of the process. As a result, we as marketers, developers, content curators and business leaders need to up our game. The art of persuasion is […]
The biggest gap in digital planning happens early in strategy development. With marketing and brand managers racing to integrate” must have” digital into their marketing plans many aren’t taking the time to identify how they’ll accurately measure outcomes. The old adage of 80% of winning is simply showing up rings true but, it’s the remaining […]
Search quality has undoubtedly been Google’s watchword over the past 18 months, as unprecedentedly prickly algorithm updates have sent shock-waves through the Search Engine Optimisation community. As search marketers have squawked and scrambled to adjust, Google has firmly stood by its message of making the experience better for the user. Set against this backdrop, the […]
Recently, directory publisher AT&T reached a deal to sell a majority stake of their Yellow Pages division to Cerberus Capital Management, a deal that values the business at about $1.42 billion in equity. They are one of many directory publishers who have had to re-organise their businesses in recent years. For decades, directory publishers have […]
Measuring the return on investment (ROI) of social media advertising activities has always presented an issue for marketers. How do you prove to your client or company that all those hours spent chatting online with fans and followers will lead to money back in their pocket? That’s what the new features in Google Analytics are […]
Matt Cutts, Google’s sheriff of all things Search Engine Optimisation, caused quite a stir among search folks when he let slip at SXSW that Google is essentially rolling out an official algorithm update that will penalise sites that engage too vigorously in search engine optimisation. To paraphrase, Cutts said that, as part of Google’s ongoing effort to […]
I distinctly remember reading Nicholas Carr’s cover story in The Atlantic a few years ago that asked the question, “Is Google Making us Stupid?“. At the time, I was pretty dismissive of Carr’s hypothesis that the way we process the scads of information available to us in the digital age is actually changing the way our […]