December 26, 2008

Google Search Results Have Holiday Spirit

Posted by Lisa Raehsler under holiday search, search engine marketing | Tags: , , , |
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xmas-resultsSearching for “Christmas” on Google yields sponsored results with a neat little holiday border around them. “Christmas”, “Christmas cards”, “Christmas stocking”, and even “Christmas sales” showed the festive border.

In 8 out of 10 of the top searches for “Christmas”, the border appeared:

  1. christmas tree
  2. christmas lyrics
  3. merry christmas
  4. christmas songs
  5. christmas cards
  6. christmas 2008
  7. christmas gifts
  8. christmas music
  9. christmas lights
  10. christmas song

(top searches According to Google Insights for Search)

Also interesting is searches for “marry christmas” increased 40% from last year, showing we’ve become badder spellers. Lucky we have Google, who shows the results for “merry”.

Marry Xmas!

You can leave the "x" in "xmas"

You can leave the "x" in "xmas"

 

December 17, 2008

My Yammer Trial: Not Bad

Posted by Lisa Raehsler under social media, social networking | Tags: , , , , , |
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yammer

My email inbox is officially out-of-control. I can’t find anything and it’s over the storage limit almost everyday. This is the reason I’ve been trying out Yammer. Have you heard of it?

Yammer, a “Twitter for business”, was launched in September of this year and also won the top prize at TechCrunch50. (TechCrunch50 is a showcase for startups to present their idea to venture capitalists, entrepreneurs, and the press.)

Yammer allows co-workers to make quick status updates on what they’re working on. They require a corporate email address to sign-up which ensures privacy.

Once in Yammer, you access a feed of messages limited to folks working for the same company. You can create private groups to limit communications to a select team or project. Users can also have threaded discussions, “follow” co-workers, attach files, and create a professional profile.

Mobile nuts can use their phone to send and receive messages via SMS through either iPhone or Blackberry apps.

A co-worker and I have been testing Yammer for three weeks now. Our everyday use is mostly asking quick questions and posting updates when stuff is done. I’ve been using the desktop AIR app for PCs for posting. The app is convenient and has a pop-up window when there is a new message. With just two of us in the trail, I like the pop-up. I can imagine this would start to get annoying with a larger group.

So far, the overall technology has been dependable and user-friendly. We’ve found it reduces the volume of emails for short updates which was sorta the point from the beginning. My main concern is less tech savvy employees may resist using this. I can easily see someone intending to post in the “private group” and instead posting in the public group. That would be awkward…

Since the base product is free, you can give it shout without any investment at this point. Or you can just use it to chat with co-workers– nice. :)

 

December 1, 2008

Yahoo’s Top Searches of 2008: Predictable

Posted by Lisa Raehsler under search | Tags: , , , |
1 Comment 
Why do we care?

Why do we care?

The final tally is in and Yahoo has reported on the top searches of 2008. The top searches are, unfortunately, predictable.

The full report at Y! Buzz is actually interesting with a great Flashback report with a 2008 vs. 2007 Analysis for geeks who love to get into the details of even guilty pleasure type news…

Top 10 Searches: 2008

  1. Britney Spears
  2. WWE
  3. Barack Obama
  4. Miley Cyrus
  5. RuneScape (multi player game)
  6. Jessica Alba
  7. Naruto (a manga and anime series)
  8. Lindsay Lohan
  9. Angelina Jolie
  10. American Idol
 

November 14, 2008

Web Content and Writing Tips

Posted by Lisa Raehsler under content, copywriting, online marketing | Tags: , , , , , |
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Ginny Redish at MIMA "Web Content Session" Nov 12, 2008

Ginny Redish at MIMA

I’ve been on Web content strategy binge lately. I’ve been wondering if one way we can increase the effectiveness of our online efforts is simply have smarter copy?

MIMA to the rescue. I was thrilled when MIMA recently hosted a Web Content event featuring speaker Ginny Redish, author of the best-selling book Letting Go of the Words - Writing Web Content that Works. Redish focused on the concept of speaking to the site visitor and giving them what they need. Seems like a basic concept, but this is often lost on many marketing folks who put up websites.

Consider the difference between print and online content:

Print- Push Technology, you start the engagement with the customer.
Web- Pull Technology, the visitor starts the conversation.

If the visitor is starting the conversation and the average time spent on the homepage is 30 seconds, you have to capture their attention… fast.

Overall Tips for Web Content:

  • Mesh your business goals with the visitors’ goals
  • Visitor is not looking for a document, he is looking for information
  • Don’t focus on YOU, how wonderful you are, your mission statement, etc
  • Don’t put a lot of words on the page, put the right words on the page
  • Respect visitors’ time: use short paragraphs, lists, visuals

Content Writing Tips:

  • Use language appropriate to the visitor based on the target audience
  • Heat maps show an F pattern is used when scanning content, so using bold headings and sub-headings to make it easier to scan and break up copy
  • Change paragraphs to bulleted lists
  • Put the main point first (inverted pyramid)
  • Use personal pronouns
  • Put yourself in the place of the visitor and consider questions the visitor may have, then get to the point with the answer
  • Add links, if appropriate, to keep the visitor engaged on your site and to keep them from searching elsewhere
  • Name links (and anchor text) in a way that the visitor will know what to expect when they click
  • Find out what keywords visitors are searching for to reach your site and write with these keywords in mind

These tips are a great starting point for anyone wanting to optimize their website content. For the complete presentation, a video can be found: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/858588

 

November 9, 2008

2008 Election: Who Won Online?

Posted by Lisa Raehsler under online marketing, social media, social networking | Tags: , , , , , , , , , |
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Obama's campaign Facebook page
Obama

We all know who won the election, but both Barack Obama and John McCain relied on online media and social networking more than in any past election.  Who formed the best connections and communities online? Did this really have an impact on the outcome?

Consider the following:

According to Pewinternet.org, a record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the Internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views, and mobilize others.

Democrats are more active online than Republicans and are more likely to participate in online communities. They say they’re more heavily influenced in their voting decisions by information they find online, according to data released by Rubicon Consulting.

Perhaps the most interesting /disturbing of all to me is Google endorses Barack Obama.

Some Fun Numbers from the Internet

Google Searches: Obama-related search terms were used almost twice as much as McCain in the last 30 days, according to data from Google Insights for Search. Google has also has created a special 2008 US Election Trends page.

Website Traffic: According to compete.com, Obama’s website had twice as many visitors in the past year as McCain.

Link Power: Obama’s website has many more external links pointing to it than McCain’s website, according to Yahoo Site Explorer.

YouTube: Both candidates have YouTube Channels, but Obama’s channel has significantly more views:

Facebook: With more than 110 million active users, Obama had more supporters from this community.

  • Obama: 2.2 million supporters
  • McCain: 192,000 supporters

Even with this small snapshot of numbers from around the Internet, it’s clear to see the Web presence of Obama’s campaign has been significant and pivotal in the way it has rallied supporters and formed communities around the now president-elect.

And now, your moment of Zen:

Google hearts Obama

Google hearts Obama

 

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