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June 28, 2007
In addition to today’s Internet Marketing Monitor coverage, we felt these stories were worth pulling out of the multitude of news items for June 28, 2007:
I’ve always wanted an easy way to alter the default route that Google Maps gives me. Sometimes I know a better way than Google. Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just grab ahold of that little blue route line and move it around to the exact route that you want? Well now you can. It’s simple, too. Set a start point… set an end point… and then grab the blue route line where you want to move it and… well… move it!
An interesting question, indeed. The specific question involved whether or not it was better to publish 5 new articles at one time or spread them out over 5 days. I agree with one person’s suggestion that it would be better for users to spread them out. Not only is it easier for readers to process one article at a time, it also gives them a reason to come back. But there is no universal answer to this question. It often depends on the situation. If you’re running tests or looking at a specific result due to a change, it’s better to do them gradually so you can isolate the update that caused the change. If you’ve got technical updates to make (dates, contact information, etc) an all-at-once change would be better. Ultimately… keep your users - and what’s good for them - at the forefront and you should be fine.
I wanted to point this post out because it shows how you can go from the general search engine to more vertical travel results using Yahoo!. In general, I think Yahoo! does a better job handling these kinds of searches. Do a Yahoo! search for “Hotels Barcelona” and compare it to a Google search for the same terms. For me, anyway, Yahoo!’s results are better. I like the filtering options that lead to Yahoo! Travel better than Google’s standard local results.
When it comes to the tech sector, few things can help your brand, product, or company better than a positive review from WSJ columnist Walt Mossberg. On the same token, a negative review can hurt. Badly. Fortunately, Mossberg seems to be a fan of Ask.com’s new interface. In fact, he has nothing but praise for Ask.com. He calls Ask3D “bold”, a “better advance” in unified results (compared to Google), and says that it shows Ask.com places a “higher priority” on ease of use than the competition. In the end, he says that Google deserves credit for universal search (which is debatable), but Ask.com’s interface is more compelling.
Matt McGee’s list, which is targeted at small businesses, is a great overview of what any company (regardless of size, really) embarking down the SEO road should consider. It covers everything from the basics - like URL structure and keyword research - to more philosophical points like dedication to “the process” and the idea of “becoming a student of SEO”. If you’re new to SEO, this is the “essential” post for today. If you’re already familiar with SEO, this is the essential reminder post for today.
If you’ve been telling yourself to build a Google Gadget, but haven’t got around to it yet, this may be the news that gives you the proverbial kick in the butt. Google is starting a new program that awards deserving gadget creators and gadget-centric businesses grant money and seed investments to further develop their gadgets. If your gadget has 250,000 pageviews a week or more, submit a one page proposal to Google about how you’d like to further develop your gadget and, if chosen, get a nice $5000 no-strings grant to move ahead with that development. If your company started as a gadget (or is gadget-centric), you can also apply for a $100,000 seed investment. The Google Code Blog has more details and the Gadget Ventures page lays out the application process. Enjoy skimming the Headlines of Note each day? Subscribe to our feed to get them delivered even quicker - along with other articles published throughout the day. See you all tomorrow!
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