I get asked this question quite a bit when I tell people I do digital marketing strategy for a living. Even those who have an idea of what digital marketing is about still find it hard to place a finger on what the term “digital marketing” exactly means. I was grateful to find a blog post asking and answering this very question “What is Digital Marketing Anyway?” The blog post has a good answer and comes with an amazingly comprehensive infographic explaining what digital marketing encompasses. I have posted the infographic below for your convenience.
So Facebook introduced a new search engine. It was all over the news a few weeks ago and so I signed up for the beta version. From the news coverage it was made out to be the equivalent of Facebook declaring war on Google in an attempt to win the search war. Well, let me tell you how much Facebook’s Open Graph Search sucks and it’s DOA in my book. This screenshot pretty much explains why:
I did a search for “Nepalese people in Phoenix, AZ”. With no results. You might think that is a strange search. My point exactly. But a little background. I am a Nepalese person living in the Phoenix, AZ area. A good chunk of the the Nepalese people living in Phoenix, Arizona are connected to me on Facebook. Not only that, a good chunk of my social network contacts comprises of Nepalese people. And what does Facebook return for this search? Nothing. Nada. Zilch. Zero.
When I did click on the last entry, it pushed me to a web search. Really?
Quite a Google killer there!
And if you say I’m doing the search wrong. You miss the point. Search needs to be simple. I enter my query, hit enter and boom I get my results.
So there!
Quite a declaration of war on Google from Facebook. Not!
Next.
Responsive web design is a web design technique where the website automatically adapts based on the device. I always show people the BostonGlobe.com website when explaining responsive design. Visit the website on a desktop browser and resize the width of the browser. As you will see, the content re-prioritizes itself based on the width. The idea behind responsive web design is that a single website can provide an optimal experience on all device types. This would include smartphone, tablets, laptops and desktops.
Now the question is when should you choose a responsive design website and when should you go for a straight up mobile version of your website. Google has a comprehensive post on its blog on the subject. But here is a quick chart to help you make that decision:
I think it is better to go with a responsive design website. The extra development time and budget required will be absolutely worth it. Who wants to maintain two websites anyway?
This is a form of the individual mandate, whereby an online retailer imposes a tax on IE 7 users (for not using an upgraded browser) :
An online retailer has pledged to attach a 6.8 percent tax to any purchases made from the Internet Explorer 7 browser.
The added fee went into effect yesterday on Kogan.com and shows up as “Internet Explorer 7 TAX (6.8%) on a user’s bill upon checkout. This can, of course, be avoided by upgrading to the most recent version of Internet Explorer, IE9, or using another, current browser.
“The way we’ve been able to keep our prices so low is by using technology to make our business efficient and streamlined,” Kogan wrote in a blog post. “One of the things stopping that is our Web team having to spend a lot of time making our new website look normal on IE7.”
Why 6.8 percent? Kogan said it is 0.1 percent for every month IE7 has been on the market.
Those on non-Microsoft browsers will not face a surcharge; Mozilla’s Firefox and Google’s Chrome employ frequent, automatic updates, so users do not have to worry about upgrading themselves.
What do you think?
Should IE 7 users be taxed like this?
Tags: Browsers, Individual Mandate, Internet Explorer 7, Tax
I just read on GeekWire where a Microsoft exec claims Bing is as good or better than Google. Here is what the introductory paragraph says:
Microsoft’s internal testing shows that Bing’s search results are quantifiably as relevant or, in some cases, more relevant than those from Google’s search engine.
So I put the two search engines to a test. I searched for “weather in Gilbert, AZ” on both search engines. The results are below. Now you tell me which is more relevant to the user and which search engine is better.
Here is Google’s result. Accurate. To the point. Most importantly relevant.
Now here is Bing’s result. As a reminder, I searched for weather in Gilbert, AZ. Bing shows me weather from every big city in Arizona EXCEPT Gilbert, Az.
Now you tell me where my next search will be conducted? No amount of marketing will change this kind of perception if Bing can’t deliver on basic, common searches phrases.
Tags: Bing, Google, search engines
Saw this infographic on Mashable (via HighTable.com) and was facinated by the numbers. Take a look:
The mobile web is exploding. Every business strategy decision needs to consider the mobile web moving forward and for many brands there is little time to waste.
Very interesting to see the correlation between tweet volume for a URL and its position on search.
Full analysis on Marketing Charts.
Tags: search position, tweet volume
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