Welcome back, friends.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays no matter what it is you celebrate, or if you celebrate at all. If you were one of the lucky ones, you probably scored a few consecutive days off last week and that’s certainly nothing to complain about…just ask John Arbuckle.

Many of us are in the process of recovering, not from overindulging in food or drink, but from spending too much. Sometimes it’s hard not to go overboard, the spirit of giving being so overwhelming and all, but other times it’s simply a matter of not keeping track.

And other times it’s a matter of procrastination.

After looping around the mall parking lot for an hour just 2 days before Christmas, and failing to find a spot, I decided it wasn’t worth the hassle and ventured into the curious world of online shopping. My mom got PJs and perfume…or at least she WILL get them…when they arrive. I ordered them on Amazon. She’ll understand, right?? - JustRyan, Web Magician, Wpromote

People flocked to Amazon this year to do their shopping

Many of you may have found yourselves in Ryan’s shoes last week, scouring Amazon for last minute deals and gifts you never remembered to get. Some of you (like me) may have even spent more than you planned in a last-ditch effort to get something worthy. Still, a countless slew of others found themselves holiday shopping on Amazon for different reasons this year - like convenience, savings, or general sanity (after all, shoppers are known to get pretty irrational during the holidays) - to the tune of a record-breaking 6.3 million items on Amazon’s peak shopping day, Dec. 15th. That’s an estimated 73 items per second being bought around the world and this news comes in the wake of reports that 2008 was the worst retail holiday season in decades.

Does Amazon’s success story mean ecommerce will skyrocket in 2009?

Maybe. But if you want a piece of the online retail pie, you better get serious about your marketing tactics. Even with the success of big fish like Amazon, ecommerce sites overall report strikingly low conversion rates, partially due to aggressive data collection practices, as pointed out by Brendan Regan in a recent post on GrokDot.com, FutureNow’s awesome marketing blog.

Of course, there are lots of factors that go into a successful ecommerce site, and if you want to make it a priority, you can always ask an expert:

If you’re in the ecommerce market, you’re up against serious competition. A combination of factors can determine your bottom line, from PPC campaigns to website creative and overall customer communications strategy. As 2009 approaches and the economy softens, now is the time to optimize your websites and partner with a good affiliate to drive sales. The more aggressive you are online, the better chance you have to make the sale - and we can help you do that. Call me. - Uncle Scott Elling, Director of Performance Marketing, Wpromote

And that’s all she wrote.

Be sure to check out “Reflections on 2008” by Wpromote’s very own Mike Mothner and stay tuned for the highly-anticipated last Wpromote vlog of 2008. Oh, and don’t forget to return next week for a special edition of Tues News!

Happy New Year!

Save this Post!

Hide Sites

Sorry about the one-week hiatus for the Tues News, but when a client has something to say, we at Wpromote want to make sure that a dynamic, super snazzy column like the Tues News doesn’t outshine it. Anyway, as tonight is the third night of Hanukkah as well as the eve of Christmas Eve, we’ll take a look at what’s going on during the holidays in the world of search engines and search marketing:

• What does Google want for Christmas? YOUR OBEDIENCE, HUMAN! No, but seriously, as Google gets more powerful and less trustworthy, it might behoove us to take notice and begin planning for the eventual uprising of the Google army.
• But don’t worry, even though Google may have the vast majority of this economy’s holiday cheer, they aren’t letting it go to their heads. Just ask their employees, who will be enjoying a free Google android phone in lieu of the $1,000 bonus they got last year for the holidays. Hope you guys can afford the new data plan!
• Social Media is a complicated mess when it comes to advertising. As a search evangelist, I have my doubts. However, just in time for the New Year, we’ve found a great article about why 2009 is the year for social media over at marketingpilgrim.com. Believe it or don’t believe it, but it’s an interesting read.

Happy holidays, everyone, and thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

Save this Post!

Hide Sites

We’re running low on time today, and by that, I mean I’m running low on time. That means, we’ve got to get some links out and we’ve got to do them fast. On your horse, guys, here comes a lightning round version of the Tues News:

• We all know that Google Quality Score is something of a black box. Well, Google recently revealed that conversions are at least one component that is not going into the mysterious formula. Good to know, especially during these tough economic times.
• Happy days are here again, la la la-la la ‘eer again… Okay, I don’t know how that song goes, but I do know that I love Google ads and I love Scotch. Finally, booze and Google unite to allow hard alcohol ads on everyone’s favorite search behemoth. Is this a sign of the tough financial times or is Google just finally losening up its tie? Who cares?! There are single malts to be bought!
• For all of you out there looking for some better way to measure the “goodness” of a website’s SEO than the Google PageRank bar, look no further than SEOmoz’s new Firefox extension toolbar. This should give you an unbiased (we hope) snapshot of a site’s SEO juice without making you burn any of the precious calories that should be reserved for elbowing your fellow Americans in the schnoz at the Wal-Mart this holiday season.

All done! Thank you for indulging me as I zipped through this week’s top search engine marketing stories. Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

Save this Post!

Hide Sites

Thanks for checking our the news on another lovely Tues. Actually, it’s overcast and only 58 degrees, so it’s not as lovely as it probably could be. Still, every Tues is as good as its news and I believe that we’ve got some good stuff for you. We do an awful lot of talking about Google around here, but, since Yahoo is doing an onsite visit this week here at Wpromote, we decided to talk about them for a change. So, Yahoo, put your face on, because we’re going to put you in the spotlight today!

• Remember Carl Icahn? Well, he’s buying up more Yahoo stock and contemplating on the future of his newest plaything. Will his pick be the next CEO? Is there any stopping this guy if you disagree with him? Will a new CEO be able to make a positive impact at Yahoo? Only time will tell.
• Hold your horses, there, Carl. You might not be the only person interested in controlling the destiny of the #2 search engine on the planet. It looks like Jonathan Miller, former CEO of AOL, is looking to raise money for the purchase. We don’t know if this is hope on the horizon, but at least there is something on the horizon for beleaguered Yahoo.
• The people at MarketWatch present a year in review for Yahoo search. Lists include the top ten searches for categories such as economic, political, Olympics, celebrity and more! And, of course, there’s the overall top searches, the top five of which looks like this:

1. Britney Spears
2. WWE
3. Barack Obama
4. Miley Cyrus
5. RuneScape

That’s right, here in the US, our interest in the future governance of our country is dwarfed only by our obsession with a singer who isn’t a real singer and a sport that isn’t a real sport. Congrats America; I’ll bet your parents are really proud!

Thanks for stopping by. Read up on and keep up with the online world; keep reading Tues News! Catch ya later!

Save this Post!

Hide Sites