27 Oct 2006
Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) is rolling out significant updates across the board this week. The lastest update is to its popular Google Alertsservice. Now, Google has added blogs to its Alerts notifications. This is following the announcement of placing blog search results in Google News. Why is this significant? In our experience talking with organizations about online reputation management, they often respond saying they monitor online conversations using Google Alerts. The previous version of Google Alerts failed in capturing the online conversation due to the lack of blog tracking. Now when anyone signs up for Google Alerts they will have the option of tracking blogs in addition to Google News, groups and the web. Even better, the default is set to the Comprehensive Alert to track all, giving communications professionals the ability to track a deeper thread in the online conversation. My issue with Google Alerts is that its still an email-based deliver system….
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23 Oct 2006
Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) recent move to add links to Google Blog Search on the front page of Google News and placing a Search Blogs link at the bottom of each news results page raises the importance of adding a Syndicating Press Room to your web site. Almost a month ago we posted "Syndicating Press Room – The 9th Free Thing Every Site Should Do" in response to Seth Godin's post about 8 things every site should do. It continues to be our strong belief that if you are responsible for visibility, public relations or expert positioning one of the first items that should be addressed is getting your press room syndicating RSS feeds for the masses. The residual benefits are tremendous and the impact can be immediate. Others in the conversation: Steve Rubel Marshall Kirkpatick
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19 Oct 2006
Google just announced yesterday it will be releasing yet another free service, Website Optimizer. Straight from the Google Analytics Blog: "Website Optimizer is a free tool that helps AdWords advertisers test different landing pages and determine which one drives the most conversions. A true multivariate testing tool, Website Optimizer allows you to test variations of headlines, promotional copy, and images. The tool allows you to update your site with the winning test combination and continue to experiment." I recently posted on the importance of split testing landing pages and after initial review, Website Optimizer looks like a great tool to facilitate the testing process. It goes beyond the elementary A/B split testing and offers multivariate testing. Multivariate testing allows you to test different ideas for images, headlines and sales copy on different landing pages at the same time, delivering insight into which combination of elements work best to increase conversion and ROI. Here…
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16 Oct 2006
Want to increase conversion rates? Split testing is an essential step in improving the effectiveness of online marketing efforts and converting more visitors into customers. Classic A/B split testing has been a staple for direct marketers, however it is surprising how few online businesses take advantage of this technique, especially since the cost of split testing online is minimal compared to the cost of printing and mailing. The number of things that you can test online are almost limitless; copy, graphics, colors, placement of forms etc…. Below are 3 general ways that you can use split testing to monitor your online marketing efforts and increase conversions. AdWords Ad Text – It is essential to split test your Google AdWords ad text. Just make sure you only have two ads running per ad group, accumulate clicks (over 30 per/ad), determine the winner, delete the loser and create a new ad to…
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