Friday, March 20, 2009
If I Worked for Facebook... I'd Target Outlook
If I worked for Facebook, I would wake up every day saying "How close are we to replacing Outlook as people's communications and contact management center?"
I'd buy Eventbrite, so that event management and registration would be done right inside Facebook.
I'd buy 30 Boxes, so that events and birthdays would go right on a calendar that could compete with Google Calendar. And I'd integrate meeting scheduler capability like Timebridge.
I'd build a better inbox! And maybe let people pick up copies of their POP email from FB.
And I'd figure out a way to let people tag their contacts, color-coding and filtering views - friends & family & business: clients, active prospects, acquaintances, frenemies, etc. And I'd integrate those views or color codes into the calendar and email functions.
And I'd let people build useful applications to help make Facebook be the place that organizes all people's personal and professional contact information. Of course, if my mission in life was to "organize all the world's information", I'd buy Facebook and implement/integrate the above ideas using my existing catalog of applications.
I'd buy Eventbrite, so that event management and registration would be done right inside Facebook.
I'd buy 30 Boxes, so that events and birthdays would go right on a calendar that could compete with Google Calendar. And I'd integrate meeting scheduler capability like Timebridge.
I'd build a better inbox! And maybe let people pick up copies of their POP email from FB.
And I'd figure out a way to let people tag their contacts, color-coding and filtering views - friends & family & business: clients, active prospects, acquaintances, frenemies, etc. And I'd integrate those views or color codes into the calendar and email functions.
And I'd let people build useful applications to help make Facebook be the place that organizes all people's personal and professional contact information. Of course, if my mission in life was to "organize all the world's information", I'd buy Facebook and implement/integrate the above ideas using my existing catalog of applications.
Labels: facebook, Google, innovation
Thursday, October 02, 2008
Where Yahoo predominates in Internet Advertising
One of the services we here at Metrist provide a number of our clients is search advertising management, also known as Search Engine Marketing. Many of those clients come to us assuming Google is the be-all and end-all for Search marketing. Google is, with 70% of search advertising, clearly the dominant player in the Search advertising space.
However, Randall Stross's September 21st "Digital Domain" column in The Sunday New York Times business section, "Why the Google-Yahoo Ad Deal Is Nothing to Fear", reported on a study by SearchIgnite, an Atlanta SEM firm. Stross noted that while Google AdWords generally gets a cost-per-click premium over Yahoo search ads, "Yahoo, on average, collected a 38 percent premium over Google in one niche: the top ad position on a page for keyword searches involving a brand name."
Why would a click on the top Yahoo spot for a brand name command a price premium over Google unless those competing for that spot saw a compelling reason to be there? Clearly, there is a segment of searchers who use Yahoo for brand-name searches, and their clicks convert buyers at a higher rate than their Google counterparts. If you are a consumer-level advertiser and have dismissed Yahoo, there is a reason to test placements there, and probably at MSN as well.
However, Randall Stross's September 21st "Digital Domain" column in The Sunday New York Times business section, "Why the Google-Yahoo Ad Deal Is Nothing to Fear", reported on a study by SearchIgnite, an Atlanta SEM firm. Stross noted that while Google AdWords generally gets a cost-per-click premium over Yahoo search ads, "Yahoo, on average, collected a 38 percent premium over Google in one niche: the top ad position on a page for keyword searches involving a brand name."
Why would a click on the top Yahoo spot for a brand name command a price premium over Google unless those competing for that spot saw a compelling reason to be there? Clearly, there is a segment of searchers who use Yahoo for brand-name searches, and their clicks convert buyers at a higher rate than their Google counterparts. If you are a consumer-level advertiser and have dismissed Yahoo, there is a reason to test placements there, and probably at MSN as well.
Labels: Google, Search advertising, Search Engine Marketing, Yahoo
Monday, January 07, 2008
Google is Up, but Don't Count Yahoo Out
AdAge's Digital editor Abbey Klaassen, dubbed a CES "non-booth-babe" today by Gizmodo (eyes on the technology, guys), noted recently that Google's search share was still increasing at Yahoo, algorithm-touting Ask.com, and others' expense (subscription to AdAge required to see the entire article).
That may be, but here is something I've I noticed for many of my content clients: Yahoo is in many cases the biggest referrer of current content. Many use Google as a spell-checking address box, typing the site name or variant there rather than using their browser's address box, and those "non-search searches" represent a large volume of Google referrals. My takeaway: don't dismiss Yahoo, for as unhip as it seems to be, it is still a strong potential source of referrals.
Is anyone else seeing similar referral patterns?
Labels: Abbey Klaassen, ask.com, Google, Organic search, Yahoo
