Mission E-Commerce

The bedrock of conversion rate improvement is testing. However, testing is almost always easier said than done. You might lack the technical or executive support to implement a test program. A test or series of tests might already be in the works, but you’re sitting on your hands while the data is being collected.

What can the motivated marketer do to improve conversions today?

While testing will always provide you with the best guidance in making website conversion improvements, enough testing has been done collectively that certain conversion-facing improvements can be made in the absence of test data.

While you will always want to measure the impact of page changes on conversion rates by comparing data before and after those changes have been made, there are a number of measures you can undertake with relative safety that are almost certain to improve how many visitors complete a website goal.

1. Remove One Unnecessary Web Page Element

Singularly of purpose is important in maximizing conversion rates. In general, the fewer elements you have competing for a visitor’s attention, the more likely that visitor is to follow through on actions that ultimately lead a conversion, whether that conversion takes the form of an online purchase, successfully completing a form, or making a phone call.

If you’re only going to remove one thing to improve your conversion rate, the biggest bang for your buck is almost certainly going to come from removing an unnecessary form element. People don’t like filling in forms, and they also don’t like divulging personal information. By removing an unnecessary form field, you’ll increase the likelihood that a visitor will fill out and submit the form.

Review each form field and ask yourself two questions:  is it helpful to collect this piece of data, and is it necessary?

Gender declaration is a useful example here. If you ask visitors to select “male” or “female” on a form, what use do you make of that information? This is frequently the sort of data that’s collected solely to be able to report on visitor demographics, or is being collected for “future reference.”  In both of these cases, there’s no actual benefit in collecting gender information, so it should be dropped from the form.

Perhaps that information is used – say in differentiating subsequent email offers by gender. Then you need to ask if that information is necessary, even if it is helpful.

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/5-easy-things-you-can-do-to-improve-website-conversions-right-now-77950?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main

Be ready, because there’s a new wave coming: competitive sabotage through SEO due diligence and outing.

Competitive analysis will always be fundamental to search engine optimization. SEO, by nature, is a competitive pursuit: a site climbs the ranks on the backs of other sites, and there’s only room for one URL at the top. Because of the large amount of money at stake, and the dramatic increase in CTR a top position grants, every SEO professional worth their salt will undergo deep competitive analysis if they hope to compete. It is a cornerstone of the work.

And yet, some companies are tempted to push it even further and engage in risky strategies and competitive sabotage in order to get an advantage.

It is not a leap to say that Google has both created and enabled the popularity of this practice. I am not making judgements, simply stating fact.

For years, Google has pushed for its users to issue spam reports, and recently they’ve madesubmitting spam reports even easier whileproactively requesting them at times.

Some outspoken opponents have denigrated this practice as Google policing the Web. While that certainly has an element of truth, the whole picture is not quite so tidy.

Rather than police the Web, Google would seek to police its index. The problem, it seems, is that Google’s index has become more or less synonymous with the Web.

Old Guards & SEO Outing

The old guard of SEO – some of the early professionals when the industry was still comparatively small a few years back – has always practiced according to a certain code. Outing competitors for shady practices was wrong, they said, it undermined the profession. It introduced a corrosive element to SEO as a marketing channel. Outing other SEOs deteriorated the perceived quality of the service and helped create a market for lemons.

Part of search marketing’s evolution has been the natural rise of SEO from webmasters, programmers, and affiliates, to a more corporate and business-like core. Sure, there are still lots of the old guard still practicing out there as well.

As SEO has grown and its constituents have become diversified, the closely held moral codes have begun dissolving. With this has been the play of upstarts such as Digital Due Diligence who bring high-profile SEO outing to the mainstream press. My prediction is that this practice will become more prevalent in the coming years.

Money & Morality

With a distinct moral component this issue can be quite polarizing, and most of the folks I talk to fall in one of two camps. They either feel it is flat-out wrong and against their principles, or they feel it is a legitimate competitive technique.

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/the-coming-tide-of-seo-tattletales-77530?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main

The Q1 smartphone sales figures that were released yesterday by Gartner show that Android has surged and now leading all other smartphone operating systems. These numbers are Q1 sales figures and not reflective of overall market share but the show the direction the overall market is going.

Gartner said “Windows Phone saw only modest sales that reached 1.6 million units in the first quarter of 2011.” It’s not clear what the 3.6 million units attributed to Microsoft (in the chart) reflects vs. the 1.6 million sold in the quote. It could be older versions of Windows Mobile still being sold beside Windows Phones (though it’s hard to believe people are still buying the older Microsoft OS).

Gartner’s belief, which is open to debate, is that Windows Phones will dramatically grow share once the Nokia-Windows handsets hit the market (later this year).

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/android-on-fire-others-not-so-much-78021?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main

Google has added a new feature to the maps one box on the search results. If you search for a zip code or postal code, Google will display a map with an outline around the area of that zip code or postal code.

This feature does not currently work on Google Maps itself but does work when you search Google web search for a zip code such as [10010], which is in Manhattan, New York. It also works for postal codes in London and other locations.

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The NY Times reports on Google’s charm (and spending) offensive in Europe to try seem less like an American intruder and more like a Europe-friendly purveyor of internet search and other services.

Against the backdrop of an European Commission antitrust investigation and criticism from public officials and cultural figures alike, Google has been trying to establish its European bona fides and show respect for local cultures throughout The Continent.

Here are some examples the Times cites of Google’s efforts to woo lawmakers and local populations:

• In Ireland, for example, where the bursting of a huge real estate bubble has left the economy in tatters, Google recently acquired, for 100 million euros, the tallest office building in Dublin . . .
• In Germany, where Google is under criminal investigation over whether its Street View mapping service broke laws on data protection, the company plans to open an Institute for the Internet and Society . . .
• In France, where Google’s efforts to digitize books and other cultural material have been denounced as cultural imperialism by some critics, the new Paris headquarters will house what Google calls a European cultural center.
• Employment is also a perennial concern in France, and Google says it plans to double its French payroll, to 500, over the next two years. Over all, the company plans to hire 1,000 new employees across Europe this year . . .

The article argues that Europe is critical for Google’s growth and that friendly relations with European governments and local populations will significantly aid in that objective.

It remains to be seen whether these efforts, taken together, appease Google’s European critics. However some of the measures above will certainly help.

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/in-europe-google-discovers-all-politics-is-local-too-77322?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main

I wrote a very long examination of the issues that Facebook employed a PR firm to publicize, about how Facebook feels Google may be violating privacy with its Google Social Search product. Here’s a shorter look, especially from the angle of how Facebook itself has enabled Google to do what Facebook is now complaining about.

Facebook said this about Google, in its statement from my original article:

We wanted third parties to verify that people did not approve of the collection and use of information from their accounts on Facebook and other services for inclusion in Google Social Circles—just as Facebook did not approve of use or collection for this purpose.

Facebook has since said it should have handled the issue in a more “transparent” manner, and is no longer working with the firm of Burson-Marsteller, but Facebook hasn’t refuted the allegations that the firm was trying to get out.

This is where an email that Burson-Marsteller sent to privacy and security researcherChristopher Soghoian is instructive. Soghoian was so put off by the pitch that he posted it online, sparking today’s headlines. In part, the email explained:

Google Social Circles does not ask “permission” from individuals who will have their profiles, connections and other personal data shared in the new network. Google will simply “scrape” their information from dozens of sources and compile the data into one massive dossier aligned directly with user’s personally identifiable information.

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/how-facebook-enables-the-google-social-scraping-its-upset-about-76979?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main

Today on the Google home page is a special animated Google logo for the 117th birthday of the late Martha Graham. Martha Graham changed the art of dancing during her era and Google wanted to pay tribute to her 21 years after she passed.

As you can see, the logo is created by a smooth, illustrated dance routine to commemorate her work.

So who is the artist behind making this logo?

The Washington Post reported that it was Ryan Woodward. I confirmed this by checking his Twitter account at @ryanwoodwardart and you can spot two tweets:

Check out Google.com. I worked with the Martha Graham Dance Company and created an animated Google Doodle. Hope you guys like it!

The Google.com Doodle traffic just crashed both my websites and my host tells me I already have “unlimited” bandwidth…? Sorry guys.

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/who-made-the-google-martha-graham-logo-76716

Well, there was a surprise. A Mr Men logo on Google, and another, and another! Little Miss logos, too. All for the May 9 birthday of author / illustrator Roger Hargreaves, who would be 76, if he were alive today.

I know the Mr Men and Little Miss series well, from my years living in Britain. Hargreaves was British, and the characters are part of growing up for any child. But the special Google logos — called “doodles” — aren’t restricted to just Britain. Hargreaves is being honored worldwide.

In addition, Google’s not just showing one logo but several, recognizing different characters. There are 16 different logos running in all.

That’s more than Google’s ever done on one day to recognize something, to my knowledge — and I’ve studied Google’s special logos pretty closely

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As you might expect, I monitor a number of search-related topics being discussed on Twitter. Over the past few days, there’s been spike in funny bit of advice that Google is giving Yahoo — that no one says, “Let’s Yahoo It.” But how did that get started?

Let’s start with the joke first:

Dear Yahoo,

I’ve never heard anyone say, “I don’t know, let’s Yahoo! it…” just saying…

Sincerely, Google

Was It eLDee?

When I first noticed this taking off this week, I traced it back to musician eLDee, who tweeted it out there and got a number of retweets from his 35,000 followers:

Did FunnyFacts Steal The Joke?

Today, I saw a flood of new tweets saying the same thing. This time, they were coming off FunnyFacts_ (yes, with an underscore), which tweets one liner jokes out to its 76,000 followers. It put out this:

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/who-started-the-dear-yahoo-ive-never-heard-anyone-say-lets-yahoo-it-sincerely-google-twitter-joke-75964?utm_source=sel&utm_medium=scap&utm_campaign=web

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Google’s no longer in the “search” business — it’s now in the “knowledge” business. OK, not exactly.

TechCrunch points to a April 11, 2011 SEC filingthat discloses a job-title change for Alan Eustace, Google’s Senior Vice President, Engineering & Research. He has become Google’s Senior Vice President, Knowledge.

It was widely believed that Eustace waspromoted to “SVP of Search,” with the product-centric reorg that recently happened:

• SVP of Search — Alan Eustace
• SVP of Advertising — Susan Wojcicki
• SVP of Mobile/Android — Andy Rubin
• SVP of YouTube — Salar Kamangar
• SVP of Social — Vic Gundotra
• SVP of Chrome — Sundar Pinchai
• SVP of Local & Commerce — Jeff Huber

There are apparently a number of related shifts and reporting changes that occurred along with the substitution of “knowledge” for “search.”

Eustace is still effectively in charge of search. Reporting to him are Amit Singhal, apparently now in charge of search quality, and former lead search engineer Udi Manber, now in charge of cultivating products that are adjacent to core search and that help develop and improve the quality of content — and knowledge — available through Google.

TechCrunch cites sources who say that Larry Page’s emerging vision goes beyond the organization of information to “understanding and facilitating the creation of knowledge.”

An interesting question here is whether this change in Eustace’s title is merely symbolic or reflective of something more substantive and momentous for Google. No doubt all will be revealed in time.

Continue reading: http://searchengineland.com/knowledge-replaces-search-for-google-75739?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=feed-main

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