It was announced today that Google is acquiring the Silicon Valley-based start-up Clever Sense. Clever Sense is the maker of the mobile application Alfred, which delivers personalized recommendations for nearby restaurants, coffee shops, bars and nightclubs using a combination of artificial intelligence and machine-learning algorithms. According to TechCrunch, Clever Sense was in talk last week with Groupon about a possible deal, but Google […]
Definition of Website Monetization In my previous post Is Your Website Ready I discussed various website monetization models and how important it is to have a well-designed website that is sticky and converts your site visitors into buyers, business leads, donors or brand enthusiasts. Website monetization is a very important concept that you need to spend some […]
Here is how Google’s home page looked when it was launched in 1997 by Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who where Stanford PhD students then. You can check how your favorite brands’ websites looked like going as far back as the inception of the Internet using WayBack Machine. Here is how Yahoo looked like (remember that it started as a directory) when […]
Search Engine Marketing Definition Here is my definition of Search Engine Marketing (SEM): Search Engine Marketing (aka pay-per-click) is the process of buying keyword-targeted ads to deliver relevant experience to consumers actively searching for your product or service at a positive ROI. The key components of my definition are: 1. Relevant Message 2. Customers […]
According to FreeWheel Video Monetization Report (Q3 2011) video ad views grew 128% in 2011. This year has seen 97 percent video view growth, but video ads have grown even more, with 7.2 billion ad views – a 128 percent increase. Note that the growth of Mobile contributed a great deal to the increase in […]
I was not surprised at all when I came across this statistic. A new “merchant confidence survey” from MerchantCircle/Reply.com, among 2,500 US small businesses, finds that search engine optimization (SEO) is the marketing channel they would choose if they could choose only one. The question asked was: “If you had to put all your marketing time and budget into […]
I just finished reading “Crush It!” by Gary Vaynerchuk and wanted to quote his take on the evolution of the Internet, it really hits the nail on its head. From Gary and my POV below: “Today’s entrepreneurs are building on top of a foundation that has changed our society forever, something that goes much deeper than Twitter, [Google] […]
44% of Global Online Ad Revenue controlled by Google and on track to exceed 50% soon. What is more, ZenithOptimedia says that globally paid search will represent nearly 50 percent of all online advertising this year. Overall the internet represents only 16 percent of global ad revenue according to ZenithOptimedia. TV, by comparison, is 40.2 percent of all ad […]
Google has announced couple changes to its search technology (search algorithms or algo). The most important changes include better indexing of blogs, identifying original content and parked domain detection. My first take is that I was quite surprised to learn about the “New ‘parked domain’ classifier,” which allows Google to detect parked domains more easily, making them less likely to show […]
Is Your Website Designed for Monetization? Before you begin buying any pay-per-click ads on Google or spending money on an SEO consultant, you must look at your website with a critical eye to make sure it is is designed for monetization. Otherwise, you will throw your cash away and, worse of all, you will assign […]
It was a long anticipated move, but, finally, Google allowed businesses, brands and any non-human entity to participate in its Google+ social network, through new Google+ Pages that are launching today. Here is a link to the official Google blog post. What does it mean for your business? You should be thinking about starting a Google+Page for your company […]