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March 07, 2003
In the past few months, I've been
reworking a lot of my SEM business approach. One of
the issues I wanted to address was that it's often difficult
to convince clients (particularly those who live in
the direct marketing world) of the validity of SEO.
Some SEOs approach the business this
way:
SEO: "I can get you top ten in
the search engines!"
Client: "So what?"
SEO: "It will boost your traffic!"
Client: "So what?"
SEO: "I'll get my coat...."
To me, attaining top ten positions
was meaningless unless a solid business case could be
made about how those positions translate to the bottom
line. After all, a top ten position that boosts traffic
without converting to sales merely increases costs (bandwidth),
not revenue.
So, for some time now I've been concentrating
on tracking and statistics. If you can demonstrate how
top search positions translate into conversions, then
you have a compelling sales pitch.
Over the next few weeks I'll be talking
to some people who I came across in my research. People
who are experts at PPC. Tools vendors who provide the
type of tools necessary for high end SEM services.
So today, well start will a tools
vendor: ClickTracks.
I can't recall where I stumbled across
ClickTracks, but I'm certainly glad I did. I've looked
at just about every tracking tool available and found
that very few of them actually provided a detailed picture
of user interaction. Most tracking tools are all lists
and meaningless graphs.
Clicktracks is different in that you
can tell at a glance what visitors are actually doing
when they visit your site. ClickTracks is also tailored
to SEMs with it's excellent user tagging features.
Anyway, enough chatter. Today's
interview is with John Marshall, CEO of ClickTracks.
In this interview, John tells you exactly how you can
use this tool in order to provide a more professional
service to your clients.
Finally, for those in need of a fire
when surrounded by ice, how
to make fire from ice. Don't say I never look after
you :)
March 06, 2003
According to this,
there will be a Google index update within the next
48 hours. Make that the next 24 hours.
Finally, just
wanna fly.
March 05, 2003
AllTheWeb gets all
dressed up. Nice look. Reminds me of something....
Graphical search Kartoo
updates their interface too.
That man Sullivan examines
Googles context advertising offering but hasn't
updated his interface :)
Google: Net
Hacker Tool du Jour
And finally, retro-cool-cell-phone-hack.
March 03, 2003
The Google Ad network, whereby Google
distributes ads to content sites, attracts divided
opinion, with GoogleGuy urging people to give it
some time before passing judgment. GoogleGuy also hints
at the inevitable progression of SEO from a largely
technical endeavor to a more holistic marketing based
service.
Obviously, Google has a lot to benefit
from saying this. But they're right.
Google
is not a search company, at least according to Jason
Kottke. "(Google's) biggest asset is: a highly
annotated map of the web".
Stupidity
can be cured, using DNA manipulation. In an unrelated
note, the White House summons all leading DNA scientists
to report immediately for a "top level project".
We may have made that up.
Finally, 20
questions with your computer.
February 28, 2003
Google extend their AdWords program
to content providers. Like blogs. Discussion here.
And here.
FAQ here
. Business week also took
notice. The blog world, strangely, appears to be
quiet on the issue. Now there's a first.
Word Spy looks at erm...verbs
related to the Google (TM) Search Engine
Google's recently awarded patent,
entitled "Ranking
search results by reranking the results based on local
inter-connectivity".
Finally, "there has never been
a war between two countries that harbored McDonald¹s
franchises" LOL - this
posting makes some damn funny observations.
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