Source: Branding Strategy Insider Author Ursula Le Guin wrote that “legends of prediction are common throughout the whole Household of Man. Gods speak, spirits speak, computers speak.” What Ms. Le Guin left out were consumers. Consumers speak too. Volumes if you know how to read them. Predictive loyalty metrics allow marketers to decipher consumers’ emotions, expectations, and imminent behaviors in the marketplace. Happily, I am an authority on customer loyalty. And, as real loyalty metrics measure the direction and velocity[...] Continue Reading
Source: Media Post Microsoft has begun layering into Bing search results from Facebook’s social graph. It allows people who log into Bing through Facebook to search and find relevant pages based on “like” authority with help from a social algorithm layered on top. In other words, your friend’s likes influence search results. That’s according to Dave Williams, cofounder of search engine marketing agency 360i, and now founder and CEO of BLiNQ Media. He says that’s quite different from feeding information[...] Continue Reading
Source: Search Engine Journal Google search has changed a lot over the course of the last year. Beyond the most recent update (call it “Panda” or the “Farmer Update” – either way, it’s been an earthquake in the realm of SEO), Google has tapped into the power of HTML5 to make search faster. The concept of Google Instant, which could give you results before you were even done typing, was further enhanced with the presence of Instant Preview. Instant Previews allows users[...] Continue Reading
Source: ZD Net Readability, a company that had a big problem with Apple’s in-app purchase requirements, has relaunched its iOS services as an HTML5 app. Rest assured others will follow. While the Readability move is positioned as a move because of Apple’s requirements, the bottom line here is that developers want to write once and put apps everywhere. HTML 5 is the most expedient way to reach that goal. Let’s face it: As mobile browsers improve and HTML 5 becomes[...] Continue Reading
Source: Updated Dailey Business cards have been in use for decades. They provide a way to introduce new customers or clients to your business and remind current customers that you are ready to serve them. Business cards have always been an inexpensive way to market your business. They worked in the past and they still work today. These days, business cards are just as important as they’ve always been. Perhaps they’re even more important. Every business is feeling the effects[...] Continue Reading
Source: Wired Mozilla is fighting against the notion of closed platforms and device-specific app stores with its “Open Web Applications” platform which launched this week. The browser builder has opened a demo showcase for apps and released documentation and SDKs for budding developers. It’s not just for Firefox though: because the apps run on ubiquitous and open standard technologies like HTML5, CSS and Javascript, you’ll be able to use them on pretty much any browser, operating system or even mobile[...] Continue Reading
Source: CNet The proposal marks an important change at Adobe, one toward increasing engagement with Web technologies. The company continues to try to keep its Flash Player in the online programming vanguard, most recently with yesterday’s Flash Player 10.3 beta and last week’s Flash Player 11 preview. But it’s also contributing both to the WebKit browser engine, via a partnership with Chrome developer Google, and to the mobile version of the jQuery project for conveniently packaged JavaScript libraries that make[...] Continue Reading
Source: Practical Ecommerce A massive change to Google’s search engine ranking algorithm has recently improved query results, while having a negative effect on businesses that had been “gaming” the system or reusing others’ content. The so-called “Farmer” algorithm update went into effect in late February and affected some 11.8 percent of Google search queries in the United States. Weeding Out Bad SEO Tactics Google actually makes about 500 changes to its search-results ranking algorithm — the step-by-step instructions its computers[...] Continue Reading
Source: Marketing Magazine Car manufacturer Mazda is launching its first brand campaign across Europe, focusing on its Japanese heritage. The TV ads, by JWT, have been filmed in Japanese with subtitles. They carry the new global strapline, “Defy Convention”, which was unveiled at last week’s Geneva Motor Show. Each ad portrays the marque as a challenger of conventional thinking. Print, outdoor, and digital activity will feature “brand stories” that delve into Mazda’s history and uncover interesting facts, such as having[...] Continue Reading
Source: PR 20/20 Google is valued at $196 billion dollars. They control 65 percent of the U.S. search market, plan to hire more than 6,000 employees in 2011, and their tightly guarded algorithm determines the fate of millions of businesses online. But Google has a complex and nagging problem — Web spam — which challenges the integrity of its search results, and is creating reputation concerns for a brand that once could do no wrong. In the middle of the[...] Continue Reading
