Blinkers are used by horse riders to prevent their animals from being distracted by what may be happening behind and to the side of them. If you’re racing a horse, it can be a very good idea, as you want them to focus solely on getting to the end of the race, as quickly as possible. In business, there are … Read More
New AdWords conversion metrics – Conversions (many-per-click)
If you are using AdWords conversion tracking on your website, you might not have been aware that only one conversion will be counted for a particular visitor. For example, if you have the same conversion tracking code set up on each of your software downloads, you will only see one conversion for a particular visitor, even though they may have … Read More
New AdWords Ads Increasingly Getting Stuck in the ‘Under Review’ Black Hole
I’ve recently noticed a frustrating AdWords trend. It seems like every new ad I create takes longer and longer to actually begin running. Depending on the client, and which AdWords GUI format they’re using, the new ads assume the label of ‘under review’ or ‘Active’, but in either case the ads exist in a state of limbo, unable to accrue … Read More
Twitter demographics; most users aged 45 – 54?
comScore recently released a fascinating analysis of Twitter’s users; some of the figures were impressive but not surprising, while others were completely unexpected. It comes as no surprise that Twitter’s growth figures are incredible, with more than 10 million visitors to Twitter in February this year – a 700% increase when compared to February 2008. Yet as large as the … Read More
How long will they remember you? Assumptions and the 3:35 vs 10:45 rule.
Get ready for a large number of assumptions. Let’s assume that someone out there is in need of what you sell, and that they go to Google (where else?) to see what solutions are available. Whether it’s one of your AdWords ads or one of Google’s regular listings, let’s assume that they see your website first, and click on the … Read More
Google bashers of the world unite!
Have you ever noticed how many people aspire for greatness while hating those who achieve it? Many small business owners dream of their companies one day being large enterprises, but it seems that there are limits, even for our dreams. Small and medium are good, large is questionable, and very large is a definite no-no. The same rule applies to … Read More
Piracy = theft
The latest chapter in the online piracy debate begins in Sweden, where new anti-piracy legislation resulted in the country’s internet traffic falling by 33%. Sweden’s government statistics agency estimate that 8% of the entire country use peer-to-peer sharing, and it’s safe to assume that 100% of them are doing so with illegal content. That’s an incredible figure – almost one … Read More
Google Ventures want your ideas!
Despite the fact that most of the world is in recession, there are still plenty of businesses out there making good money. Some are treading water, managing to maintain their existing sales levels. Some are doing very well, and despite the downturn are significantly improving on last year’s sales. And a small number are positively thriving. Not surprisingly (Proof: 50% … Read More
Testimonials that work, fail and burn
I’m a great believer in testimonials, which is why we have them plastered all over our website. Testimonials should be an extremely effective tool, as they allow you to effectively add other voices to your argument. We’ve all seen those infomercials where the person selling the products gushes praise and hype about his product, and then invariably introduces a ‘neutral’ … Read More
AdWords Alert – Parked domains and search campaigns
Being the AdWords guru that you are, you already know why you’re not supposed to mix search and content campaigns when it comes to AdWords. Well you might be surprised to find that your search only campaign’s ads are being displayed on Parked Domains even though you have disabled the content network. Have a look and see. Within your AdWords … Read More
