Google announced a major overhaul of its Images Search earlier this week, in the first significant revamp since the feature was first introduced in 2001.
With this redesign, Google is keeping true to its ongoing goal of enhancing the online user experience. The new version of Images Search aims to improve user-friendliness and add value by giving more information for less clicks.
One of the changes made to support this objective is the availability of more information about an image on the search results page, without the need to click through to a new page. This is achieved by a user hovering their mouse over a thumbnail image to access a pop-up preview of information such as the URL location of the image.
Another change is the introduction of what Google terms “infinite scroll”: 1000 images are returned to the first results page, so no more clicking through to pages 2, 3 and beyond in order to find the right image. A nifty idea, though to be fair the credit for coming up with it has to go to rival search engine Bing.
The new layout is of particular interest to advertisers with Google AdWords, as text ads on the Images Search results page are now able to include a thumbnail image. As with the images results, users can access a larger version by hovering over ad images.
While only some users are currently able to see the new version of Images Search, Google aims to roll out the update universally by the end of this week.
So… You have a website, you have rankings, and you are getting little or no sales. There can be many reasons for this, but what do the experts look for? What are the signs? And what can YOU do to change them?
The easiest way to track, monitor and analyse these above points is the well known and respected Google Analytics. The first time I was introduced to this amazing program my jaw dropped and the first thing that came out of my mouth was “they can do that?” Fortunately…
Yes they can!
Hours can be wasted looking through Google Analytics…
Mmmm that’s interesting 5 people visited my site from Kent in England … waste of time!
Wow lots of people visit on a Sunday… waste of time!
64% of my mobile visits come from the iphone… waste of time!
What do the professionals look for?
Personally I never look at the front page. From an SEO perspective it is, you guessed it, a waste of time. Jump into Traffic Sources and find out what is really happening.
Direct traffic: Does the business compete in conventional marketing? Send out newsletters? This is where you find out how it is performing. Wow! The site peaks every 12th of the month, drops by 25% the following day, and then settles down to the average traffic. If a newsletter is sent out to existing clientele, it seems to be working, why would you not take advantage of this and sent out a bi-monthly newsletter? Even a smaller weekly newsletter?
A lot of sites send out daily deals, which turn into MASSIVE revenue builders, if your site can handle this – why not?
Referring sites: Do you have an E-Commerce website, but are getting billed every month from affiliate websites? How do you know these are actually worth the traffic? This is the place to find out.
Shopbot.com.au is sending me 1000 visitors and I am making 1 sale of $50 (if you have E-Commerce tracking) a small 1% conversion rate. Are they charging you $200/month, is this worth it? Perhaps, but at least you know the figures now.
Keywords: Knowing how much traffic is great!! But what are you comparing it to? Comparing to the previous month is good, but search trends differ from month to month, especially during the end and the middle of the year. Create an excel sheet with the rankings you have on each keyword, and the traffic it brings to the website. You can estimate what is the best keyword to work on, and how hard it will be to get more traffic, and ultimately more sales.
When you are checking the keyword traffic total to the previous months make sure to remove the website or business name, then you will be able to truly see how much the search engines are bringing you.
Analytics is a very complex tool, using it properly can create massive amounts of traffic and sales, learning how to use it takes time, but is definitelyworth it!
It has been announced last week that Google has purchased Metaweb in an aim to further improve search, with efforts for rich snippets and search answer such as fact-finding search query answers.
An example provided is if you search [Barack Obama birthday] in the search box. The answer of his birth date is presented at the top of the search results.
Ideally Google would like to see the longer tail search query questions to be generating the relevant answer and information in the above manner.
Metaweb was originally founded in 2005 with the aim for websites to have “richer and more engaging” content and website interaction. Metaweb have an extremely large database with information on over 11 million topics/things such as celebrities, companies, movies, holiday destination providing site owners with third party content access, with theinformation being pulled from a wide variety of content sources.
What is so different to this database of information, is the way it is collaborates and ties together the information.
The idea and utilisation of Metaweb on your website could be extremely beneficial and make the search and collection of available data to present on your site easier and more interactive.
Agreed, it looks a lot like every other iPhone model we’ve ever seen. But behind the clone-like exterior is a cornucopia of new-and-improved features, including crisper resolution and display, speedier navigation between apps and documents, and real-time video calls.
And to the joy of Apple fanboys everywhere, and the ire of iPhone detractors, this latest incarnation comes with the long-awaited ability to multitask.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs hails the iPhone 4 as Apple’s greatest win, selling more units in its first 3 days on the market than any other product released by the company to date.
Others would disagree – the iPhone 4 has been slammed by many consumers and media sources as a colossal fail. Shiny new applications and advanced features are great fun, but the iPhone 4 has trouble performing the most fundamental function expected of a cellular telephone device: making calls.
An apparent flaw in the iPhone 4’s antenna results in phone calls dropping out, particularly in weak signal areas, when a user’s hand covers or even touches a particular spot on the device’s lower left corner. An oversight which immediately led to consumer and stockholder demands for a 1.5 billion USD recall of what appeared to be a defective product.
However, Steve Jobs fought back at a press conference by claiming that the antenna problem was not unique to the iPhone 4, so a recall was not required. Apple’s CEO claimed that his company was being singled out and picked by media and critics because of its success, and used video demonstrations to point the finger at rival smartphone companies RIM, HTC and Samsung for having similar reception issues with their products.
Samsung, HTC and RIM have since fired back against the antenna allegations, producing data of their own to illustrate that the iPhone 4’s connectivity problems are far more serious than those of their own smartphones.
It seems though that Jobs has effectively taken the heat off of Apple for the time being, and avoided the need for a costly recall.
Adding to the consumer confusion, Apple has offered the “Band Aid solution” of a free case that prevents calls from failing. It has also publicised statistics that initial iPhone 4 returns are lower than first-release iPhone 3GS returns (so people must be happier with the product, right?).
And naturally, reminded everyone that the so-called bad antenna does not affect every user – for some, it has actually made call functionality better.
So, is the iPhone 4 a win or a fail? Like so many other things in life, I guess it depends whether you’re Steve Jobs or anyone else.
Social media has its place in every online marketing campaign. However, how you use it to its best effect for generating returns for your business, or for giving value to your customers, will be very different from business to business. I work with many different types of businesses and entrepreneurs, and there is no one single strategy that will suit them all.
The type of social media interactions you want and the motivation behind a social media campaign will differ for every situation. Some businesses wish to simply interact with current customers to increase satisfaction and enjoyment of their products or services. Another reason would be to improve exposure and branding. The more common reason is to drive traffic to a site in order to generate leads and increase sales.
If you are not sure what you want to achieve through social media or even what you could achieve with it then follow these simple steps to test the waters and have a splash around in the Web 2.0 ocean.
1. Focus your attention on one or two choice platforms. Don’t spread yourself too thin or you won’t be able to determine which platform is working for you as you’ll be too busy working hard for all of them! Trial a couple at a time to learn and grow, then evaluate the effectiveness of your strategy and reevaluate it if necessary.
2. Set your performance targets and measure them. Simple yet not often done. Once you have chosen your platform, come up with a rough idea as to what it is you want to try and achieve and set some targets. This will help you gauge their effectiveness, but also help you determine how much time to invest in social media moving forward. Think re-tweets, blog posts, referral traffic, fans, connections, enquiries, etc.
3. Don’t clog the line! As a rule, don’t post information that you wouldn’t want to receive in a frequency that you wouldn’t want to receive it. Avoid over posting information promoting your business as this will spam your followers and turn them off.
4. Are there niche social media sites that serve your industry? Considering the amount of social media sites out there, this is quite likely. Find them and interact. These people are interested in what you’ve got and will be happy to interact and hear about what you have to say.
5. Follow people who are doing it right, take notes and do it how they do it.
6. Make it easy for people to follow you by adding widgets to your site.
So what are you waiting for? Jump in and start swimming!
Click here to read more on social media tips for beginners.
In a recent act of defiance and an attempt to pre-empt the refusal of a search licence, Google (not wanting to be blamed for censored search results) has redirected Chinese users to a Hong Kong based Google server in the hopes of proving that the Chinese Government is censoring results rather than the search engine.
A compromise has been agreed upon between Google and the Chinese Government, which will allow users to search Chinese internet sites via Google.
This licence has since been renewed, and Google will continue to show all Chinese search results through its Hong Kong based server. Unfortunately, this server will run through “the great firewall of China” and many results will load extremely slow, or not at all.
In reflection this is a win for both the Chinese Government and Google.
Google still has a footprint in the search market – although not the biggest, and the Chinese Government has shown both internally and externally that it is willing to balance economic issues and censorship.
Does this mean that the Chinese Government is becoming lenient to outside influences? Or perhaps this is a very clever way to control the flow of information.
Google has been allowed to trade in the Booming Mobile phone industry, but in another slap in the face, the search functionality in its Android based phone has been striped and replaced with the competition – Baidu.
“Many analysts were stunned by the moves and question whether Google was acting prudently in risking its spot in the world’s largest Internet Market”
Mobile advertising is the way of the future, according to recent reports from US research companies Pew and ABI. With increasing numbers of consumers turning to mobile devices capable of full wireless connectivity, and mobile networks and web browsers becoming progressively more refined, industry analysts are predicting that a boom in mobile advertising is not far off.
Studies conducted in May and June this year indicate that advertiser spend on mobile device marketing will increase fourfold over the next five years. Currently, 40% of American consumers use Internet-capable mobile devices, and advertisers invest $313 million USD annually in campaigns targeted to mobile markets.
Both the sophistication and use of mobile smartphones and tablets has proliferated in recent years, and shows no signs of slowing. The release of Apple’s hotly anticipated iPad, and competitor tablet devices such as the HP Slate and the Dell Streak, marks a paradigm shift in how wireless mobile devices are marketed and consumed.
While wireless music and video games are nothing new, content such as films and television series is now proliferating in the mobile space. Forms of media once traditionally confined to the home or office are now available to people on the go, and advertisers are set to capitalise on a market in perpetual motion.
Advances in mobile technology and online usability also permit advertising on a more interactive and personalised level than was previously possible. Speedier networks allow for users to engage in real-time multi-player apps and games, while more powerful devices are capable of supporting Flash and other rich media advertisements.
And of course, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter are evolving to capture mobile audiences. These lucrative demographics can only widen as smartphones become more affordable and readily available.
The challenge to advertisers now is to keep up with rapidly moving markets that are anything but house-bound and static.
Australian online retailers are now at an advantage, benefiting from Google’s E-Commerce Search platform. Trailed in the US and UK, and now to be released in Australia. This is a big step forward to sales conversion for larger E-Commerce websites.
Concluded from data released from PayPal, 40% of Australia’s online retail spending is actually thrown overseas, also that online retail spending will increase from $24 billion (2009) to $33.8 billion (2012).
Why is all this revenue being pushed overseas? Google’s head of retail, entertainment and consumer products, William Easton says “less than 50% of the top 50 retailers in Australia don’t have a comprehensive in-site search. We can compare this to walking into a retail store and being ignored by the sales person.”
So what is this? Basically Google’s search algorithm working for you internally, with features that would benefit an E-Commerce store. The search is powered by Google, but the user interface is custom built by the online store owner.
E-Commerce search has many features used to make online shopping easier and quicker for the user, ultimately creating more sales. Filters are available allowing you to refine searchs, and featured products are viewable toward the top of the page, and even Google’s famous spell check it also provides infrastructure for up to 50,000 products!!
This platform has shown success throughout the UK and the US, and is now available in Australia for a small fee: US$25,000. Peanuts in comparison to the potential revenue generated from happy and repeat customers.
Social media and iPhone apps have arrived on the Australian and New Zealand slopes this winter, providing the skiing and boarding enthusiast options to track the ‘air time’ from a jump, or the newbie skier or boarder to track their way around the mountain if lost on a run.
Snow resorts such as Perisher, Falls Creek and Mount Bulla have launched mini sites, iPhone apps, e-news subscriptions and text messages for snow bunnies to track their ski miles, find a friend on the slope, access the snow reports and find a warm food or drink spot on the slope or in the village.
An online community, snowtweeters.com, collates all snow-related tweets for your chosen ski or ride destination.
For the diehard skier or boarder, there are two fun iPhone apps:
Ski-o-meter: tracks your downhill speed, distance covered, and provides a diagram of the slopes height profile and speed over time.
Hangtimer : records how much time you spend in the air when making a ski hump in terrain park and where in the world you did it.
“Skippable” ads are being introduced by YouTube later in the year. This new format will enable users to skip the pre-roll ads that are included within the video, whilst advertisers won’t be charged a cent for skipped ads. According to Google’s senior product manager, Baljeet Singh.
YouTube began studying skippable ads late last year. “We’ve been playing around with it for the last three quarters and seeing really great results… skip rates varied dramatically based on the quality of the ads.” Mr. Singh said.
Here is an example of an ad playing and the option to skip on the top right hand side of the video.
Skip Youtube Ads
YouTube also offers users a choice of ads they can see within a video, particularly in longer videos.
Youtube ad selection
Based on strong data correlating skip rates with ad quality, Google will encourage companies to create higher quality ads suited for their audience and hence improve effectiveness by this user option to skip.
However for the moment, Singh says that YouTube is still “experimenting” with more models for YouTube and its focus is still behind advertising.
How do you think this will impact on your viewing experience?
