A story about a hand cart
Jan 27, 2010 Economics
I’m a daily commuter to Toronto, traveling from the outskirts of the big city to the downtown core each and every day, weather permitting. My routine is usually pretty uninspiring, but every once in a while something catches my eye and truly surprises me. This is a story about a simple wheeled hand cart, and how it changed my outlook on an old-school grocery store’s seemingly unchanging corporate protocol with marketing ingenuity.
Read the rest of this entry »
Financial reporting season stokes the economic fire
Oct 19, 2009 Economics, Finance
That time of year is upon us once again, financial reporting time. With technology giants showing optimistic news recently, and industry heavyweights due to weigh in soon, we’re hoping to hear more good news about economic recovery.
With that in mind, let’s look at the most important finance people examine when scrutinizing earnings news, and what marketing strategy has to do with those numbers.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bid management, conversion optimization, ebit, economic recovery, growth indicators, operating expenses
Tried and true PPC trends you can take to the bank
Oct 15, 2009 Economics, Google Adwords, Google Analytics, Landing Pages, PPC Programs
At first, I thought it was curious that my paid search campaigns would show relatively consistent patterns on a monthly and yearly basis. Trends that I blogged about before some 2 years ago, still hold true today while others have become even more obvious. Needless to say, knowing about these trends gives you a significant leg up on the competition, and verifying which patterns exist for your industry is as easy as tuning your campaign reporting to historical dates in the past.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Google Adwords, holiday phenomenon, paid search trends, ppc trends, seasonal search trends
Taking the backwards "IT" out of Online Marketing
Sep 10, 2009 Economics, Google Analytics, New Technology, Webmaster Tips
In the best of scenarios, collectively, the IT department within an organization is an extremely busy place, with the hustle and bustle of scoping, engineering, implementing, and testing every phase of an online web property. Priorities on projects originating from product development, marketing, sales, and support have to be weighed accordingly. However, with the ever-changing world of online marketing, companies have to be increasingly more agile, and aware of changes across the enterprise.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: content management systems, google website optimizer, information technology, legacy systems, multivariate testing, opportunity cost, work meetings
Day 2: No longer a newbie, still a female and keeping her clothes on
Aug 12, 2009 Economics, PPC Basics, SES Tour
Having gone down the rabbit hole last night as well, I wasn’t surprised the first session was a bit of a snoozer in terms of attendance. Even with a promising session title: “Igniting Viral Campaigns: From Links to Generated Content”, the absenteeism was sharply felt, just like the fricking cold air cutting through the entire venue. Good thing I picked up an “I’m with Stupid” Shirt from StupidSEO.com to keep from slipping into hypothermia.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: beginner sem, beginner seo, google keynote fail, ses san jose 2009, stupid seo t-shirt
SES San Jose 2009 Day 1 Recap: Clay Shirky, Analytics, Conversion and more, oh my!
Aug 11, 2009 Analytics Tools, Bing, Economics, Google, Mobile, New Technology, PPC Programs, SEO, SES Tour, Social Media, Webmaster Tips, Yahoo
Given the recent economic downturn and attendance numbers in a downward spiral over the past year or so, turnout for SES San Jose, the granddaddy of all online marketing shows, was surprisingly optimistic. Not only are all major search engines, agencies, and tool providers on hand for the festivities, experts from all walks of marketing disciplines are presenting on their specialties. It’s the perfect storm, in the perfect weather, at the perfect time for optimizing online marketing.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Bing, global websites, Google, online marketing, search engine strategies, ses san jose 2009, Yahoo
Finding and Keeping Top Online Marketing Talent
Jul 17, 2009 Economics, Search Engines, Social Media
Read the rest of this entry »
The first reaction I’m probably going to get for writing such a hot-button topic is, “Garry, why’d you talk about my company”. Don’t you worry, it’s not your company, or my company, or any company, it’s most companies. Face it, if you knew the questions to ask, skills to look for, business processes to change, you’d be retiring at forty in the Caribbean or embarking on your fourth start-up. Finding and keeping top online marketing talent is tough, mainly because of the things you can’t change.
Tags: blogging, employee retention, employment, Facebook, finding top talent, keeping top talent, linkedin, online marketing
Solid Online Marketing Tips for a Shaky Economy
Jun 25, 2009 Bing, Economics, Google Analytics, Landing Pages, New Technology, PPC Basics, SEO, Social Media, Webmaster Tips
Read the rest of this entry »
With all the talk lately about new and emerging technologies, social spheres, and potential easy wins in online marketing, it’s hard to decipher the signal from the noise. A shaky economy doesn’t help matters, because many companies are moving to either increase short-term gains or foster long-term strategy and right the boat. Fragmented advice is easy to come by, so I present to you one cohesive strategy of online marketing with a few tactical real-world examples of how you might implement change.
Tags: digital media, online marketing tips, paid search, shaky economy, smooze, social media optimization, twitter
Google Wave extends features of Google Docs, gets social
Jun 1, 2009 Economics, New Technology, Search Engines
Am I the only one that isn’t too excited about Google Wave? What’s promised as the next big thing in social media and online collaboration definitely sounds interesting, but it’s definitely still a pipedream. Will it be a flashy new Google Docs-type platform, or will it fall flat, like Google Knol?
One thing is for certain, the technology is pretty cool. Think of all the internet was promised to be, and think of what it is today. Now think about the possibilites of actually working from home, across business units, and from across the world. Now you’re getting closer to Wave…
Tags: google docs, google knol, google wave
Google Adwords allows Trademark Usage in Search Ads
May 19, 2009 Economics, Google Adwords
Whoa, didn’t see this one coming. In a surprising move yesterday, Google announced that advertisers would be allowed to use trademarked terms in their search ads, making for quite the conversation piece admidst legal uncertainty surrounding rights-holders. The older rule allowed advertisers to request Google remove trademark and brand names from ad text, thereby providing some protection for owners. Is this good or bad? Depends which side of the fence you’re sitting on.
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: brand protection, Google Adwords, keyword protection, legal issues, reserved keywords
