Well, let’s just face facts and admit that the “silly season” is now upon us. Retailers have always been getting ready for Christmas earlier and earlier but this study in the UK reckons that online shopping will hit its peak at 1pm on December the 8^th!! That and on average in the UK each person will spend $NZ550 online. How’s that for a prediction! Festive e-shoppers ‘strike early’

A couple of interesting morsels from YouTube: YouTube might be one of the world’s most popular websites in the world but Google is still trying to work out how to make any money from it without alienating the users (a la Facebook). The first release is that you will soon be able to watch full length movies and TV shows from MGM for free on YouTube. Great news but watch just a couple of movies here in NZ you are up to your monthly broadband limit! Full-length MGM films on YouTube

The other release today about YouTube is very important as YouTube will be allowing sponsored videos to be shown in search results (very much like AdWords). At the moment this is available for US audiences but I’ll keep you all posted on this as this has such huge potential if done properly! Promote your video with YouTube Sponsored Videos

“Traffic is not an asset, Traffic is a cost!” Think about this statement for a second and then read the article below. Web traffic as this article states only becomes an asset when it translates into something else. When it becomes a bookmark, a sign-up, a link, or helps establish a genuine relationship. Social media traffic compared to search traffic can be very fleeting and not at all loyal. Is Social Media Marketing A Waste Of Time

Another quick “anti” social media article, this time looking at what factors influence purchase online. This study argues that because blogs “create a conversation” they can quickly become more of a trusted resource than social media sites that normally just contain short reviews and ratings. Blogs Influence Purchases More Than Social Sites

A couple of fun little stories to wrap up today:

Sometime you have to wonder if all those people at Google simply have too much time on their hands: Google Earth revives ancient Rome

Another new little add-on for Gmail that is really neat…. Talk face-to-face right from within Gmail

Website of the week this week is a tool that I use often when looking to see how search is being used both here in NZ and further afield. Search is a reflection of consumer behaviour and it is very useful to study trends before starting planning a search campaign. As a great example just type in “james bond” into the search terms bar and see the result! Insights for Search

Well it’s going to be difficult to talk about anything this week without mentioning the sensational win that the Democrats had over the Republicans. I wanted to see if I could find something out there could put a “web” spin on this historic occasion, and you’ll be pleased to know that I’ve not failed you! This interesting article from the UK explains the extraordinary ways that Obama used the internet to campaign his way to the White House. How the internet helped propel Barack Obama to the White House

I always try and put the best article of the week near the top and this week I’ve a great little tool for you to check out. This tool quickly shows you what it means to your bottom line if you optimise your website either to increase traffic or conversion. Seriously, plug in your site stats from Google Analytics to work out how much you can spend on optimising your website and what your ROI will be. Website ROI Calculator

Fear. It’s everywhere: fear of terrorism, ecological meltdown, superbugs, financial disaster and the current fear of choice: identity theft. If anyone knows anyone who has had had their identity stolen please let me know! As you may tell I’m a little cynical about this but Google is the current target of these fear-mongers! I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether you should be scared of them or not.

Whilst I’m still on Google: Google news of the week…

Google has decided to abandon its advertising partnership with Yahoo to avoid having a “protracted legal battle” with regulators. This is actually quite frustrating as for some demographic groups Yahoo outperforms Google in terms of conversions through paid search, but the process of actually putting ads on Yahoo Search is really quite tedious (involving faxes, P.O.s and lots of waiting). The hope was that agencies like us could place ads on Yahoo using the Google interface which is much more user friendly, but alas not… Google abandons deal with Yahoo

The other important Google news of the week is their victory in the US courts to open up the “White Spaces” spectrum. Sounds dull, is important! In very simple language what Google and their partners want to achieve is to send high speed and very cheap broadband Wi-Fi through unused TV white noise. The result being that anyone with a TV would be able to receive cheap fast broadband! A vote for broadband in the “white spaces”

As reported last week Google Analytics has released some new features that have made it even more powerful than previously. One of my favourite bloggers, Avinash Kaushik has just written this very in-depth article on what these features mean, and what they can do so if you are a regular user of Google Analytics I’d check out this posting: Google Analytics Releases Advanced Segmentation: Now Be A Ninja!

This time last year when I spoke to clients about online reputation management I was more often than not greeted with a blank look. Now, we are often being requested to analyse client’s online reputation and I think this is going to be an incredibly fast growing part of what we do. Why online reputation management? Well as the article below states, “Search engines are fantastic for finding things. They’re also a significant contributor to influence online. Blogs, forums, social networks and media sharing sites all offer venues for customers to express their opinions about brands – good and bad.” Just do a search in Google NZ for “ribena” and you’ll see that the 3^rd listing talks about “…misleading customers”. Not something you really want people to read about your company. Read more about how you can influence your brand’s reputation online: Managing Online Reputation with SEO, Social Media & PR

So there we go; your weekly slice of technology and internet news. If anyone has any suggestions on topics they would like to see here please email and I’ll see what I can do. We’re also planning on doing some high-level training sessions for clients next year on analytics, conversion optimisation and the like so if you have any suggestions for these do also let me know!

Finally website of the week comes from over the ditch but is a world class example of Web 2.0. www.rememberthemilk.com: probably the best task management software available. Give it a go – you won’t regret it! Also interesting as they have managed to integrate their technology with just about every other web technology out there! True integration…

This week I’m going to get straight into things. Not because I’ve nothing to say (the reverse in fact) but there’s so much good stuff this week my views will have to wait till next time!

One of my big issues with Google is the fact that it makes its products, such as AdWords appear to be so simple a four year old could work, when the reality is that they are incredibly complex. Well, whilst I concede that it is hardly rocket science there are myriad different factors to take into account when building or running an AdWords account. One of the key ones is “quality score” which I have touched on before but think it is worth looking at again as Google have released an article which explains the basics of paid search. So please have a read of the article below as it will give those of you out there who aren’t completely au fait with AdWords to a handle on the basics… Quality scores and ad auctions

Clutter is a massive issue on the internet. And it is at its worst in the social media space. Social media sites require massive buy in (mostly in time) and unless your friends also use the particular site then your interest will invariably wane quite quickly! I’ve always felt that the “killer app” will be finding a way to connect all these social media sites and to integrate new ideas into a Central hub, for lack of a better phrase. Google around a month ago launched “Google Friend Connect” which is still in beta and not much seems to be happening. However Facebook this week released the launch date for “Facebook Connect” which is a product that ties a user’s Facebook account to other sites on the Internet. Watch this space as I have a feeling that this will be the app that will reignite people’s interest in Facebook! Checking In On Facebook Connect

Talking about social media this article is definitely worth a read as it explains that social media can be used as a direct sales tool but only if used correctly! B2B Marketers Struggle With Social Media

Sorry to all of you that have no interest in social media as this week seems be turning into a social media newsletter but backing up my argument of the current web2.0 Holy Grail of inter-site integration is news that Google has teamed up with OpenID. For those of you unfamiliar with OpenID, it is the idea that Internet users should be able to use a single username/password combination to login at any site, all via an open source protocol. Microsoft joined OpenID last week and now Google has joined the party. OpenID is far from perfect but again keep your eye on this as I think with the support of both Windows and Google it may start to make more sense! Google Now Supporting OpenID

I often find it difficult to explain the importance of having a digital “strategy”. Search in particular is often marginalized in media plans which for some businesses makes sense, but if your business relies on web sales or web based leads then your search needs a strategy. And that means balancing paid search with organic optimization. Please, please read the article linked below but if you don’t have time then just take this thought away with you:

“Paid and organic search listings work synergistically, providing entry points to your site and showing the user that you’re serious about search. They must be balanced carefully, however. Buy sponsored listings on keywords that may be difficult to obtain (or maintain) organic rankings for, and ease up on search terms for which your organic presence is firmly rooted. This will help you make the most efficient use of your marketing dollars.”

Couldn’t have put it better myself! The Organic and Paid Balancing Act

Finally for those of you like me were completely underwhelmed by Windows Vista take a sneak peek at Windows 7. Come on Microsoft!!! MS offers peek through Windows 7

And for my website of the week I’m going to recommend you check out last.fm. If like me you get a little bored of your music collection you can simply type in your favourite artist into the box in the middle of the page and in an instant the site develops a playlist based on that artist. Brilliant, and free!

I’ve spent much of the week working on an interesting pitch and I started to think that when writing a proposal or indeed developing a PowerPoint presentation for a pitch it is so important to know who your audience is. What type of person are they. What’s their background, what motivates them, how tech savvy are they? In the world of web 2.0 all these questions can be answered very quickly using a mixture or tools like Google, People Finder and also social media sites such as LinkedIn.

I’m not advocating stalking, but using publically available information it is often quite easy to build up a profile about a potential customer, or indeed your competition. This can help in numerous ways and quite simply give you somewhat of a competitive advantage. But conversely, it is also really important that you ensure that the information that people can find about you online is for lack of a better word: favourable! Check your profile on LinkedIn, search for yourself on Google just to see what type of picture someone could build about you online! If you’re not happy with it, then do something about it!

So, what’s been happening of note out there on the web? Well the big “techie” news of the week is the new functionality Google has added to Google Analytics. For a list of all the changes take a look at the article linked below but in a nutshell Google has added some very powerful filters allowing you to segment your traffic, the ability to create custom reports, and much more. All these features are being slowly rolled out so I’ll let you know if any of them are really worth looking at! More Enterprise-Class Features Added To Google Analytics

If you need any more proof that search is the advertising medium of choice for the recession then the fact that Google’s profits recently saw a rise of 26% should start to convince you. According to the BBC, Google earned US$1.35bn in the third quarter of 2008, easily beating analysts’ expectations. Google shrugs off slowing economy

For all you marketers who like me where schooled in the four Ps or marketing: Product, Price, Place and Promotion this article will be of real interest. This article argues that the four Ps of inbound marketing are now: Personas, Participation, Publishing and PageRank. Are the Four Ps of Marketing Dead?

Here at SureFire we of course think that the secret to a successful web business is a winning search strategy, an engaging website and an optimsed conversion funnel. Well, yes it is, but let’s face it, if your idea is no good then it doesn’t matter how many people find your website no one will come back. And that’s why a web business is no different to the latest bar to open in Ponsonby. If no one talks about it or recommends it to their friends then it will close soon after the doors have opened. This idea is also backed up by a new study by Rubicon Consulting that states that word of mouth and online reviews are the most influential factors in consumer purchasing decisions. Word of Mouth, Online Reviews Most Influential in Purchase Decisions

Well, that’s pretty much it for today though just wanted to mention my “site of the week”, and this week it’s not a website at all but a browser. Firefox. If you don’t have Firefox installed on your computer then do yourself a favour and check it out. It’s not hugely different to IE in look or feel but the real killer app within Firefox is the little add-ons you can add to your browser. Have a look at the list in the article below but I recommend you check out StumbleUpon for a really cool new way to surf the web and Foxmarks which is awesome if like me you have a computer at work and at home as it syncs your bookmarks between the two! 15 Must-Have Firefox Add-Ons