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One in Three Searchers May Prefer Bing Over Google

Written on June 26, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

A study of twelve people is not statistically relevant, but it does make for interesting headlines!

According to the Catalyst Group, 1 in 3 Google users preferred the search experience of Bing over the search leader. OK, so that was actually 4 of the 12 total people that Catalyst studied in a report obtained by TechCrunch, but hey, Bing will take all the good news it can get, right?

What is amazing is that when the test subjects were asked to rate Bing on specific criteria (visual design, organization of features, filtering options, and relevance of results), Bing handily beat Google in everything but result relevance. Arguably, that is the most important criteria, but most of the study participants thought that both search engines tied on result relevance. So even though Bing ranked better on design, and tied on relevance, that was not enough for most of them to switch.

Here’s a breakdown of the strengths of each search engine:

You can grab the full study here.

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One in Three Searchers May Prefer Bing Over Google

Finally! Developers Can Make Money from Free iPhone Apps

Written on June 24, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

How does an iPhone application developer make money when giving away a free app? Well, before today, they mostly relied on users upgrading to a version of the app with more features–and a price tag. Now they have a new beta program from Google to test.

Google AdSense for Mobile Applications just launched and application developers–for either iPhone or Android–can apply to join. Already onboard are Backgrounds, Sega, Shazam, and Urbanspoon. The latter shares its story on using AdSense in its iPhone app in the video below.

I know more of our readers are going to be on the marketing side of his equation, so what are you thoughts? Are you excited about seeing your ads on popular iPhone apps?

Want more marketing news & views? Follow Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal on Twitter!

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Finally! Developers Can Make Money from Free iPhone Apps

Bing’s Paid Clicks Still Up

Written on June 24, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Bing’s flash in the pan—supposed to burn out a while ago—is extending every day, at least in one important area: paid clicks. So far this month, we’ve seen that

• Bing might be making more per query than Google
• Bing saw an 8% increase in paid clicks and a 20% query volume lift
• Bing is taking a hardline on click fraud
• Bing is increasing its searcher penetration and overall share of SERPs (in the post with the best Bing title ever: Pre Bing Sting With a Post Bing Bang?)

Efficient Frontier is back again this week with more good news: Bing continues to see increases in their paid clicks:

According to our data analysis, Bing expanded its share of paid clicks for the two weeks post launch. Bing’s share of paid clicks is up 13% for the second week post launch as compared to pre-launch. And, it represents an incremental 5% lift over the first week.

So in many respects, Bing is off to a respectable start. But will it last? What do you think?

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Bing’s Paid Clicks Still Up

Ask.com’s Ex-CEO Talks About His Departure & Company’s Chances Against Google

Written on June 23, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

I’m going to say what most people will think when they read the news that former Ask.com CEO Jim Safka is back in the saddle again.

Did he really leave Ask.com for the stated reason that his brother had died?

Don’t get me wrong–losing a family member is crushing–but at the time, I couldn’t help but wonder if Ask.com was covering up Safka’s real reason for leaving.

It turns out that I don’t have to feel too guilty about my theory. In an interview–that appears to focus more on Ask.com than his new company Chegg–Safka reveals that his brother’s death was not indeed the only reason he left the company.

My reasons for wanting to leave were multifold. I always wanted to work for a company that was at an early stage and closer to my home. (Chegg is based in Santa Clara, Calif, and Ask is about 50 miles north, in Oakland.) It was a little earlier than I expected to leave Ask. But this in my mind was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Is it just me, or does that last sentence practically spell out that Safka left Ask.com to take the Chegg job?

When pressed if he left Ask.com because the company was dead in the water, Safka responded in a way that sounds like he signed a non-disparagement agreement on departure:

Absolutely not. We completely overhauled the technology at Ask. In addition to improving the core search results for customers, we reduced the monetization (by running) fewer ads. So it’s a better user experience. That’s a good long-term move for the franchise. A lot of the metrics at Ask are heading in the right direction.

Again, this is all my speculation, but reading between the lines, I suspect Safka left to focus on a company that had a chance of being #1 in its market. That will never happen with Ask.com.

Want more marketing news & views? Follow Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal on Twitter!

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Ask.com’s Ex-CEO Talks About His Departure & Company’s Chances Against Google

Small Business Online Reputation Management Advice

Written on June 22, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

BusinessWeek’s Rachael King specializes in helping small businesses understand technology. Her latest article looks at the online reputation management industry and includes lots of great advice–including some from yours truly.

A number of free tools also can help you scout the Web, social networks, and online forums for mentions of your company, brand, or products (chart). Google Alerts, for instance, will send an e-mail each time your name shows up in Google () searches. “One of the most important steps is to do an audit of what people are saying about your business,” says Andy Beal, a reputation management consultant at Marketing Pilgrim in Raleigh, N.C. He suggests doing a monthly Google search to see what shows up in the top 20 results, which might call up a customer’s comment or review on sites such as Yelp, CitySearch, or TripAdvisor.

You might be dismayed to see unflattering results high in your Google search. “Google is ambivalent to the tone of the results—it doesn’t care if it’s positive or negative, only if it’s relevant,” Beal says. If you do see a negative comment, it’s best to respond as soon as you can, within the first 24-48 hours if possible. Use a nondefensive tone and ask for more information, offer to help resolve the problem, or offer your perspective or an apology if warranted. Then, to push those negative results further down in a search, create some new content.

If, after reading the article, you’re thirsty for more, you can pick up a copy of my book Radically Transparent: Monitoring & Managing Reputations Online.

Want more marketing news & views? Follow Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal on Twitter!

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Small Business Online Reputation Management Advice

Google Books Adds New Features

Written on June 18, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: book, marketing

Although Google Books may still face government scrutiny over its author settlement, the service is forging ahead with new features—lots of new features. (Think they’re gearing up for something?)

Google is still hard at work organizing the world’s information and making it accessible—they’ve improved everything from their in-book search tool to the book overview pages, from table-of-contents navigation to thumbnail page views. And probably biggest of all, they’ve added a new embed feature:

(You know you need more F. Scott in your life.)

To better navigate within these books, Google is offering everything from plain text versions of the text (well, OCRed versions) to thumbnail views of all pages. They’ve also added a pull-down menu with the book’s table of contents for faster navigation. And they’ve made the page-by-page navigation faster and easier to use with page turning buttons and better animation. Finally, they’ve improved their in-book search to show larger context snippets.

Whew! With the eBook/eReader market poised to grow, and with Google already saying that they’re gunning for the eBook market, it seems apparent that this step is headed in that direction.

Google would still have to contend with established eBook retailers like Amazon (selling to the Kindle), and work on compatibility with eInk eBook readers like the Kindle and the Sony Reader. But with this kind of upgrade, they may be ready to take on Amazon in the smartphone (especially iPhone) arena.

What do you think? Does Google Books still have a long way to go before it’s eBook ready? Or should they stop while they’re ahead?

Want more marketing news & views? Follow Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal on Twitter!

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Google Books Adds New Features

SEO for WordPress

Written on June 13, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing, seo

Today, I had the pleasure of speaking at the Wordcamp RDU event–one of many events held around the world for WordPress users.

I gave a presentation outlining my advice for search engine optimization (SEO) for WordPress. I only had about 30 minutes–and had to cater to both newbies and advanced users–so I focused on what I felt were the most important topics.

I’m sharing my SEO for WordPress presentation below, but keep in mind that my presentations are about 30% of what’s on the slides, and 70% of what I convey verbally.

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SEO for WordPress

Areas of Ad Spend Drop 14% in First Quarter

Written on June 11, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: Advertising, book, marketing

As we rapidly approach the end of the second quarter of 2009 there is still news trickling in from what happened in Q1. As suspected, that news is not good. A study by TNS Media Intelligence was reported in today’s WSJ and ad spend for media including TV, print and online display ads fell 14% year to year to $30.8 billion. It is important to note that this number does NOT include online search ads or in store ads.

Based on that what are these numbers telling us? First, they are from the equivalent of a century ago but they are simply validation that things have been bad and all of the complaining may have some merit. In fact, to hear TNS’s senior vice president of research, Jon Swallen, put it “We are now in the record books with the worst quarter in a decade.”

So are we looking at a turnaround anytime soon? Swallen continues

A recovery in the media business may take time. “So far it looks like second-quarter spending is starting pretty much the same way the first quarter ended. There are hopeful signs of general economic indicators bottoming out, but the advertising sector still appears to be lagging behind”.

Had enough doom and gloom for the day. Take heart Internet marketers. TNS , unlike other reports, is saying that online display advertising, which includes banners, was actually UP 8.2%. You can rub your eyes and scream “Typo!” if you want but please don’t shoot the messenger in the comment section. PricewaterhouseCoopers just reported last week a 5.5% drop in online display advertising. So who’s right? Are either right? Shall we just meet close to the middle and call it a draw for online display ads as compared to Q1 for 2008?

As for Q2? Most are saying that it looks like it could be just as bad, if not worse, but there may be sentiment shifting toward some recovery in the second half of the year.

Before we all bemoan the state of the advertising world across the board it is important to take in one last piece of data

TNS said the ad market was hampered by double-digit pullbacks in spending by big industries like autos and financial services.

Ad spending in the automotive category slid 28%, with local car-dealer ad spending taking the biggest hit, falling almost 50%. Spending by financial services companies fell 18%.

Now one wonders what actually happened in other sectors that weren’t in the news for receiving bundles of bailout cash and a lot of negative publicity for their relative incompetence. As with all studies and data it is interesting to track an overall trend but if there is no attention given to the details about specific industries that affect your line of business directly you could be missing the point or, even worse, some opportunity.

Marketing Pilgrim readers work in all areas of business. What are you seeing in your industry? Are you in the doldrums like the auto and finance industries or are you seeing a light at the end of this tunnel (and you are reasonably sure it’s not a train)? Maybe a street level sampling can add something to the big picture. At least you may find out you’re not alone.

Want more marketing news & views? Follow Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal on Twitter!

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Areas of Ad Spend Drop 14% in First Quarter

Schmidt Says Google Looking to Buy Some Little Guys

Written on June 9, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

Google CEO Eric Schmidt told the Fox Business Network that Google is in the market to buy smaller technology players. For most this comes as no surprise. In fact, with all the cash that Google has it may be a surprise that there is not more buzz concerning acquisitions especially considering the favorable valuation environment that exists currently.

Reuters reports that the company has particular targets

Schmidt said, Google plans to focus on the cloud, mobile, and open source distribution of software in the next year.

Schmidt further clarified the philosophy

“We primarily look for technology. It’s a typical build versus buy. How long does it take us to build it with our engineers, versus there are already engineers in this other company that have built this thing.”

This philosophy is taking a page from the Cisco Systems who has been purchasing smaller technology players who have developed a technology that makes sense in the grand scheme for the networking giant. Since its early days Cisco has made over 130 acquisitions. Will Google follow the same line of thinking?

To listen to Schmidt, what they are doing is just business as usual

“We have been (looking to acquire),” Schmidt said. “We have been wandering around looking at all of the different companies. With the big ones we haven’t come across anything we’ve particularly liked. We are definitely talking to a number of smaller companies but we’ve done that routinely.”

So if you are small company with a nifty technology that might be attractive to one of the most influential companies in the world, tighten up your preso and reach out to Mr. Schmidt. Of course, whether you catch him in Mountain View or Washington, DC may depend on where he can best advance the cause of Google the greater good.

Want more marketing news & views? Follow Marketing Pilgrim’s Andy Beal on Twitter!

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Schmidt Says Google Looking to Buy Some Little Guys

Blogs Monger Rumors; All Hail Our Mainstream Media Saviors!

Written on June 8, 2009 by admin

Filed Under: marketing

I know what you’ve been thinking: man, I’m tired of reading unfounded rumors reported as news . Yeah, me too.

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Blogs Monger Rumors; All Hail Our Mainstream Media Saviors!