Recent Articles
Posted on Sep 20, 2011 by Rick to
Web Marketing
Hotel clients often ask us whether we think they should upgrade their TripAdvisor business listing. With a hefty price tag of $5,000 per year, it’s a good question. The answer is simple: maybe. Even though we think that TripAdvisor may be evil, let’s looks at this advertising opportunity a little more closely.
About TripAdvisor business listings
While the $5,000 per year price tag of an upgraded TripAdvisor may seem pretty steep, let’s first look at what you get and how they justify it.
- First, you get a link to your website. This is the real value. At the end of the day, you want to direct prospective guests away from the overly competitive and chaotic TripAdvisor.com website to your website to try to score a direct booking.
- Second, TA let’s you advertise a special offer. This offer displays in on your TripAdvisor listing page and also in a block called Special Offers which appears in the search results on TA. Basically, it means your TA page will get more exposure, especially if you’re sitting pretty as a top-ranked hotel in your neck of the woods.
- Third, you can add other direct contact methods to your listing such as phone number, etc.
- Lastly, your mobile listing is enhanced. This is great, particularly if your website is equipped to easily service mobile users. If not, it can be.
So, are TripAdvisor business listings worth it?
Of course, the answer depends on your business and it’s position and reviews in the TripAdvisor community. To find out without breaking the bank, follow these 2 simple steps. First, shell out $500 to upgrade your listing for one month (you don’t have to commit to a full year). You can do that here: http://www.tripadvisor.com/BusinessListings.Add your website, phone number and a special.
Once your listing has been live for a month, go into your Google Analytics account (if you don’t have one or have no clue how to use it, call 561.832.6262). Then, run a referring website report and switch to the eCommerce tab. Look for the ‘TripAdvisor.com’ line item.The report looks something like this:
If the revenue generated from your listing pays for the listing ($500) plus whatever profit margin you like to see, the ad worked and should consider a longer term investment. If not, don’t continue the ad and get out with minimal loss. While this tracking method isn’t perfect, it’s good enough to make a smart decision in my humble opinion. Arguments can certainly be made to the branding value of doing this but as self-proclaimed responsible marketer, I won’t recommend any media for which i can’t document ROI.
Who does TripAdvisor upgraded listings usually work for?
In general, you’re going to generate the most revenue from direct bookings from TA if your hotel is ranked well in your city. Logic dictates that the more traffic your listing gets, the more traffic your website will and thus, the more bookings. So, if you’re Top 5 in your city, this is definitely worth a try. If not, it still may be worth a try as a good special offer may compensate for your poor ranking within the TA community.
One (probably obvious) afterthought- try this test at a time when your recent TA customer reviews are pretty solid. Bad reviews mean few clicks to your site… Questions? @rickmagoo or comment below.
Posted on Sep 19, 2011 by Taylor to
General,
Technology Trends
“…hundreds and thousands of times, for her I searched in chaos, suddenly, I turned by chance, to where the lights were waning, and there she stood.” This search, depicted in an 800-year-old poem, is successful – and the inspiration for a relatively new China-based search engine, Baidu. “Baidu” means “hundreds of times.” It also means huge success for China in the search industry.
Baidu is trading at absurdly high prices, and Robin Li, CEO and China’s richest man, saw his substantial wealth (estimated at $3.5 billion in 2010) double when Google was forced out of China. His little search engine is doing well, too; first quarter net income rose to $164.6 million – an increase of 123 percent. First quarter revenues grew by over 88 percent to hit $372 million. Google, by comparison, saw first quarter revenues of $8.58 billion, but Baidu is no doubt up and coming.
Which stars aligned to give this search engine such incredible growth? Google is a big piece of the puzzle; after refusing to conform to Chinese governmental search restrictions, Google moved out of China, allowing the burgeoning search industry to bloom for Li’s company. There is virtually no competition.
Li says, “Search just became the most popular application for Chinese internet users, and there is still a lot of growth to expect for many years down the road.”
There are also rumors that Facebook may be moving into China and striking up a partnership with Baidu, although this is still very much in the speculative stage. Banned in China since 2009, Facebook would operate under China’s rules, which would almost certainly clamp down on political and social discussion (and criticism), which is the order of the day in the US and many other countries.
All of this has translated into more revenue, growth, and prestige in the fiercely competitive search industry for Baidu.
Posted on Sep 17, 2011 by Joey to
General,
Technology Trends
From its launch, Blekko has striven to be the outsider, the search engine that could deliver highly accurate, relevant results without the spam. This, of course, is a direct challenge to Google, which, while it is the world’s largest search engine with a 65 percent market share, is known to have a bit of a spam problem. This strategy, and some key news coverage, has worked well for the small startup engine, and they have seen a dramatic rise in visits over the first quarter of 2011.
Blekko rung in the new year with about 500,000 monthly unique visitors, which is not high by Google or Facebook standards, but it is more than respectable. A piece in the New York Times reports that by May, Blekko had increased that figure by another quarter million. Pieces like that published by the NYT help raise Blekko’s profile, as do high test alliances, like the one Blekko has with Facebook. The search engine incorporates Facebook Likes into its results. You can use Facebook Connect to create the slashtag “/likes” and your results will include sites that you and your connections have liked. If, for instance, you are looking for a hotel to book for a trip to New York, you can search the choices made by connections.
Through other initiatives, like the policy of trashing personal information after 48 hours and powering Flipboard RSS feed searchers, Blekko has stealthily moved its way into diverse corners of the search market.
Of course, Blekko’s biggest claim to fame is offering human-curated results, which help eliminate spam. The Spam Clock, for instance, is much like population counters or tickers that allow you to see the national deficit inching up dollar by dollar. It is “designed to give a representation of how quickly the Web is being littered with trash. Honestly, it’s a problem that deserves more attention than it is getting. Soon, surfing the Web will be a worse experience than email. And Spam is quickly becoming responsible for a kind of global sweatshop where people are paid little more than a nickel for creating web pages designed to do nothing but display advertising.”
The engine that “slashes the web” is also hoping to slash into Google’s piece of the market. And if the two should come to be rivals? Blekko CEO Rich Skrenta says, “That’s a problem you want to have.”
Posted on Sep 14, 2011 by Taylor to
General,
Web Development
Despite increased security in versions 3.1.4 and 3.2, there are still risks in running WordPress – as there are to running any CMS, particularly those that are open-source. WordPress recently warned users to watch out for three malicious plug-ins that were available from the WordPress site for more than 24 hours.
WordPress users often depend on plug-ins to extend the functionality of the platform, and, in fact, there are scores of great choices that allow you to do everything from optimize for mobile to analyze search behaviors. It is impossible to harness the potential of WordPress without trying plug-ins, but caution is essential. WordPress recently required all of its users to change their passwords after three popular plug-ins, AddThis, WPtouch, and W3 Total Cache, were discovered to contain “cleverly disguised backdoors.” Hackers could then access accounts, according to WordPress developer Matt Mullenweg.
“We determined the [suspicious] com,mitts were not from the authors, rolled them back, pushed updates to the plug-ins, and shut down access to the plug-in repository while we looked for anything else unsavory,” Mullenweg told users in a blog post. Each of the three affected plug-ins was very popular: AddThis and W3 Total Cache were downloaded about 500,000 times each, and WPtouch, which was free, was downloaded more than 2 million times.
There is no evidence that hackers were able to compromise the WordPress site, but Mullenweg and staff were taking all possible precautions. According to HP DVLabs, 80 percent of all WordPress-related vulnerabilities are due to plug-ins. One of the culprits is weak or reused passwords. Mullenweg says, “make sure to never use the same password for two different services.”
Paul Ducklin, head of technology for Sophos-Asia Pacific, says, “If you’re a WordPress user, you’ll know that the WordPress platform includes a complete and powerful administration interface, password-protected, via a URL such as ‘site.example/wp-admin.’ A WordPress backdoor might offer something with similar functionality, but using a different, unexpected, URL, and using a password known to the hacker, instead of to you.” Use caution and always scrutinize plug-ins for suspicious behavior.
Posted on Sep 13, 2011 by Joey to
Web Development
WordPress recently released version 3.2 of its software; coincidentally the previous version, 3.1m hit the 15 million download mark on the same day WordPress announced the upgrade. 3.2 is poised to achieve similar success; within 24 hours of its release, 333,000 million copies were downloaded. What does WordPress 3.2 have to offer?
In the WordPress News blog announcement for 3.2, Matt Mullenweg writes, “The focus for this release was making WordPress faster and lighter.” Changes include:
• Updated dashboard design. The design and typography is more clean and simple, allowing for an enhanced experience.
• HTML5 Twenty Eleven theme. This replaces the default theme for new blogs. One of the features of the theme is the ability to have rotating header images.
• “Zen mode.” The redesigned post editor allows you to go full screen and write. The idea is for a “distraction-free” writing environment. Most-used shortcuts are available at the top if you scroll your mouse over them, and you will have access to menus, buttons, widgets, and interface elements you need.
• Retiring of PHP4, IE6, and older versions of MySQL to make way for new technologies.
• More shortcuts on the admin bar so you can get to your most-used actions easily.
• Approve and Reply feature to facilitate faster conversation management.
• Enhanced security features. Only versions 3.1.4 and 3.2 are sufficiently patched to close up security risks that were common in other versions.
WordPress 3.2 is available for download via the WordPress.org site. Set-up is easy and fast, particularly if you are upgrading from a previous version.
Posted on Sep 12, 2011 by Taylor to
Social Media
No one is sure yet. Google has asked that businesses hold off on participating in Google+, and in fact, they have actively been shutting down business profiles that were established before this decree. Ford is among the small number of businesses that made the cut and is part of Google’s “experiment” to see if Google+ works for business, and they appealed to the public for input. “We’re experimenting on Google+ and we’ve seen comments, both pro and con about our presence. What would you like to see from us, in order to get the most value from interacting?” It is a question that many businesses would like to know the answer to.
Google+’s open network model holds potential for businesses and marketers; Bryan Eisenberg, managing partner at Eisenberg Holdings, expects that this “project” will marry search and social to provide a more customized experience for users. One way it does this is with partnerships, like that with Bazaarvoice, which integrates customer reviews into search results. Google+ may be able to expand on that ability and build connections that can benefit marketers, and because results come from specific “Circles,” they are likely to carry more weight.
If your business is not one of the lucky few who is participating in testing for Google+, what can you do to prepare for the launch of the business version? Get a personal profile. See how it works, and experiment with it. On a personal level, see how it works with Google’s other tools and how it acts with the Android OS. Look out for changes in Google’s algorithms, which are likely to come about as social media and real-time results play a bigger role in search. Google expects to roll out a business-oriented solution sometime this year, and if you take a few preliminary steps – and see how companies like Ford handle Google+ – you can get a head start on harnessing this new tool. Or seeing if it is worth harnessing at all.
Posted on Sep 11, 2011 by Joey to
Web Design
Web design is a lot like interior design. You have a lot of leeway and options. Your definition of beauty is central, and you should always add elements that reflect your personality and sense of style. But there are also some rules that are definitely not made to be broken. Not crowding a very small room with big, heavy furniture, for instance, is a rule that we should all live by. When it comes to web design, you want your space to be unique, elegant, and you. Like the best homes, it should be aesthetically pleasing and “livable.” Here are some “don’ts” to avoid when designing your website.
Don’t overdesign. This is the virtual equivalent of piling those clunky bureaus, beds, dressers, wardrobes, and tables into an 8×10 room. Adding every new trick for graphics and music, and the like, can crowd a site and overwhelm the viewer. For most businesses, that is not suitable for the intended audience and can get in the way of navigation. Further, if you do not have a separate mobile-ready site, chances are your heavy website won’t load up quickly enough to suit mobile users.
Don’t forget about what your site is supposed to do. This is like forgetting you have children and then getting all-white furniture and carpets. Ezra Silverton, president of 9th Sphere, says, “It doesn’t matter how beautiful yours site is. You’re better off having great navigation and content and poor design than the other way around.” Not that you want poor design, but you – and your audience – certainly don’t want to provide a poor experience in terms of content. “Most companies believe SEO comes after site development, but then you’ll have to go back and make a lot of changes,” says Silverton.
Don’t bury essential information. How many websites have you visited where it is difficult to find contact information? Or About Us content? Visitors get frustrated when they cannot find what they want immediately, whether it is shipping policies or a specific product. Think about what your visitors want and need most, and make that the easiest content to access.
Web design is crucial to business success; balancing appearance and functionality is key. Think about it like your home: how can you create the most comfortable, welcoming, and functional home possible for yourself, your family, and visitors? In this case, visitors are the most important element – cater to them!
Posted on Sep 10, 2011 by Taylor to
Social Media
Barack Obama’s administration is no stranger to social media. Even before elected, Obama was rarely without his trusted Blackberry, and he can claim the distinction of being the first president to use Twitter in office. His personal Twitter profile has over 9 million followers, and he follows over 600,000, which is an equally vital statistic. Obama recently held a “Twitter town meeting” live from the East Room, in which he spent an hour holding a “conversation” with millions of Twitter users. This brings social media into a position of prominence regarding the coverage and facilitation of events that was once entrusted only to traditional news organizations.
White House communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, says, “We’ve entered a different information age, where people get news and information in a different way than they did in the past. If you’re going to communicate with the broad public, it is no longer sufficient to simply do it through traditional mainstream media.”
Increasingly, news consumers are not content to sit and passively accept information filtered through reporters. A forum like Twitter, or Facebook (on which President Obama also held a town meeting-style conversation) may be a better indicator of what people want to know than a traditional press conference. “AskObama” was moderated by 10 Twitter users, chosen by Twitter, to avoid the image that the Obama administration was hand-picking questions or managing the news.
Michael D. Shear writes in the New York Times, “The social media companies are now firmly established as an alternative means of getting a president to respond to the big – or maybe not so big – questions of the day. Rather than being up to a journalist or blogger, the direction of questioning will be largely guided by the broader interests of the Twitter community.”
And the community was all for it: sites from Mashable and MTV to GOP Financial Services had suggestions for questions. But, as CNN points out, is Twitter “really the best way to talk to a President?” TwitSprout estimates that about 40,000 questions were posted by people hoping to get an answer from the President. Of these, 18 were actually asked. Twitter may not have taken over from traditional news organizations in terms of presidential coverage – but it is making waves.
Posted on Sep 9, 2011 by Joey to
General
Search engine poisoning, SEP, is not new – but it is a growing concern for businesses and individual users. Security firm Blue Coat Systems released their 2011 web security report and indicated that SEP is the single biggest online threat. What accounts for the rise in SEP? And how can organizations and individuals protect themselves?
According to Blue Coat, much of the prevalence of SEP is due to patience. Cybercriminals are often very willing to bide their time and build a façade of legitimacy that allows them to operate with virtual impunity. The report mentions “maladvertising” specifically. “Taking time to develop clean reputations within ad networks, and passing multiple sweeps for malware, cybercrime develops valuable and trusted positions within web advertising structures before launching attacks leads to a very successful campaign.” The developers wait for the optimal time to attack and are able to do so quickly and stealthily.
Standard security systems provide little help because they do not rely on real-time data to make decisions as to the legitimacy of particular sites or ads. In fact, the report says, “If your security system has any kind of regular ‘Click here to update definitions file’ requirement, it will likely fail to protect your users.”
Search engines are the most popular mode of delivery for malware attacks; it is no coincidence that search engines were also the most requested or most used online content. How can people protect themselves? You still want to block those traditional “questionable” sites, like those containing pornography, and gaming, warez or pirated content, and watch out for those with file sharing and free videos. Blue Coat adds that searching for images and pirated media puts searchers are particular risk.
A single antivirus program or security firewall isn’t enough to protect your system from malware attacks. Multifaceted real-time protection is a must. A healthy dose of suspicion and common sense goes a long way as well.
Posted on Sep 8, 2011 by Taylor to
Social Media,
Web Marketing
It is no secret that different search engines appeal to different types of users. Blekko appeals to those who want to “slash the web” and get very specific details. Bing users expect rather juried results, while Google tends to be the go-to for the majority of shoppers and information-seekers. New research from Chitka, though, points out another difference: searcher verbosity. Their study looked at how wordy Google, Yahoo, Bing, AOL, and Ask are. The “winner”…Ask.
On average, Ask users had the most verbose searchers, packing about 4.74 words in per query. Now, the most brief users were those of AOL, who typed in 4.17 words per search. While not a huge difference, Chitka did discover something more about those chatty Askers. AOL users typed in queries of 8 words or more only 8.38 percent of the time; Bing, Google, and Yahoo see similar numbers. Ask users, though, are almost twice as likely to use 8 words or more.
How does this affect the average SEO or business? Well, perhaps not greatly! Unless you are optimizing for Ask. Here, users are more likely to type in something like, “What is the purpose of using a fasting glucose test?” This is largely due to the traditional structure of Ask, which began life as AskJeeves. Jeeves wanted us to ask it real questions – hence the hows, whys, and whats. Google, Bing, Yahoo, and AOL users tend to cut the chitchat and enter something like “fasting glucose test” or if they have a few more seconds to kill, “why fasting glucose test.”
Most SEOs and businesses optimize for Google, and here, the take home lesson is to be brief and succinct when targeting keywords. Short phrases of 3 to 5 words will allow for the most effective results. SEOs tend to stay away from long-tail keywords or single-word keywords because it is simply not what their searchers are looking for.
