GlobalClosers (GC) Insider

Search Engine Strategies San Jose ‘08

GlobalClosers (GC) Insider — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 05:47:20 +0000

Analytics & MultiVariable Testing

People are extremely goal driven, they have questions in their mind when visiting a website (”Pay Per,” 2008). Yet, 67% of customers leave a site because there wasn’t enough information for the product or service that they were originally searching (”Pay Per,” 2008). The bounce rates are viewable (”What’s new,” 2008) and understood by using Google Analytics, which allows you to see missed opportunities. You can then add more content or pages based on the keywords that people are searching (”Pay Per,” 2008) to draw more traffic and to help customers answer their questions. We can set measurable goals in Google Analytics to strive for better page views or any other variable (”What’s new,” 2008). In addition, you can use Google Website Optimizer to conduct a multivariable a/b testing combination where you measure your original page content against some variable that has been changed to determine its optimization effect (”Pay Per,” 2008). For example, you can place credible icons and company affiliations in prominent locations of your website (”Landing Page,” 2008).

Landing Page Testing & Tuning. (Aug, 2008). Proceedings of SES San Jose ’08. New York, NY: Incisive Media

Pay Per Conversation. (Aug, 2008). Proceedings of SES San Jose ’08. New York, NY: Incisive Media

What’s new with Google Analytics and Website Optimizer? (Aug, 2008). Proceedings of SES San Jose ’08. New York, NY: Incisive Media

Google Dance

I was there and it was a lot of fun. There was tons of people bus loaded to the Google Headquarters. Attendees were given Google Dance t-shirts and candy. There was a lot to do like play volleyball, eat, try karaoke, socialize or dance. They had at least four open bars serving beer and wine. There was a virtual gaming station. Google also had a smoothie bar, which served yummy fruit drinks! They had an open outside dance floor. I had a great time and enjoyed meeting attendees.

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I Am Wanted By 8 Recruiters

GlobalClosers (GC) Insider — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:23:07 +0000

I am a business owner first but within the online marketing space it seems that the supply for web marketing talent is quite limited. I have been approached by eight (8) total recruiters within a 6 month span: three (3) from the San Francisco Bay area, two (2) from the Los Angeles area and three (3) within Santa Barbara County. I have had three (3) corporate recruiters at public companies seek my interest including: ValueClick, QAD and Veeco. I do feel like a pioneer as it has taken corporations so many years to finally establish a position within SEO and SEM. These companies are creating Web Marketing Specialist jobs and Search Engine Optimization Specialist positions. Many of these recruiters are still learning. They do not know what the job really entails. They seek my advice. I hear them jot down notes on their computer. I think these recruiters are not specialized within the online marketing space but are generalists, which is somewhat unfortunate for the company that they represent. The reason is that a generalist of a recruiter will not know what really works within online marketing and thus not truly recruit or hire the right person but merely recruit or hire based on personality likes, it is all subjective. For this reason, I am continuing to build one customer at a time until there is a recruiter who knows what to look for and does not seek free advice. Or, I may build my own boutique recruiting practice and specialize within this demanding space.

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Online Holiday Sales Up Roughly 20% to $29 Billion

GlobalClosers (GC) Insider — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:25:15 +0000

Holiday Online Sales Grew 22.4% Overall and up to 40%

According to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse:

“eCommerce was the strongest category, easily outperforming all other categories covered by the SpendingPulse report. This channel had a very strong start to the season, posting growth in the 30% range on Black Friday. On Monday, November 26, online sales grew at 40%. December 4 was the first of a series of record breaking days, followed by December 11, 12 and 13, the latter posting the biggest single daily volume. The season finished showing an overall year over year growth rate of 22.4%.”

Overall Holiday Season Retail Grows 3.6%, MasterCard SpendingPulse Finds

This is great news that online sales was the best performing category out of sectors, such as: apparel, electronics and luxury in-store retail sales. Overall, 22.4% is a very good growth rate compared to the previous holiday season and with more than one record breaking day, it is a good indicator that more people are flocking online for better discounts and ease of shopping.

Green Monday Leads Holiday Season Sales with $881 Million

According to comScore, last minute shoppers seeking Christmas deals by December 21st helped sales move up 25%. Online retailers offered delivery before Christmas if orders were placed by December 22nd and “in-store pickup” if orders were placed before Christmas Eve. Green Monday (December 10th) had the highest spending day throughout the holiday season with “$881 million in sales.”

Flurry of Online Spending by Procrastinators and Deal-Seekers Leads to Strong Final Week of Pre-Christmas Shopping, With Sales Up 25 Percent Versus Year Ago

It is good to notice which days of the holiday season have a greater spark in order to attract the right audience at the right time with the right message.

Holiday Sales Rise to $29 Billion

According to comScore, the holiday season in the months during November to December produced roughly $28 billion in online sales or 19% from the previous year. Online consumers really enjoy the after Christmas sales and promotions as online sales doubled from the previous year to $545 million. Online retail sales for the year ends up roughly around 20% from the previous year at more than $120 billion USD.

Online Holiday Spending Through December 27 Nears $28 Billion, Up 19 Percent Versus Year Ago

The day after Christmas is another good day to promote online sales. However, online sales throughout the year may be an excellent means to hit your audience at the right time with online marketing since online sales continues to rise year by year.

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Happy New Year, Bloggers!

GlobalClosers (GC) Insider — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 12:17:08 +0000

Happy New Year! It’s 2008.

Happy New Year to everyone! I hope this year truly is the best year for you or at least better than last year. I have some big goals this year and one of them is keeping you informed with the online marketing industry.

WordPress vs Blogger

I decided to start 2008 by upgrading the GlobalClosers (GC) Insider newsletter to an online blog format using WordPress. I came across some interesting articles that compared WordPress to Blogger :

Top Bloggers

In 2007, we noticed blogs becoming more influential journalistic vehicles. CNN reviews and reads blog posts on-air in regards to the latest political happenings, which can spot trends in real-time. BusinessWeek covered bloggers who make $5,000 to over $200,000 per month :

FeedBurner & Google Webmaster Tools

I love Google and intend to use their FeedBurner service, which will enhance delivery of my writings. I learned about FeedBurner within Google Webmaster Tools. I still intend to market the GlobalClosers (GC) Insider via email, so if you are interested in signing up to that option you can visit our homepage to opt-in. In addition, you may subscribe to this blog via RSS to your feed reader :

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