Archive for December, 2008

Every year Google gives it AdWords advertisers a bit of a boost just around Christmas time in the form of eye catching dividers that certainly increase CTR. This year is no different, take a look for yourself! I’ve found a few good ones, but I’d be interested to know if you’ve found anymore. Read on for some findings.

This morning, while doing a random search in Google, I noticed a new addition to their suggest tool: ads. It seems that Google has been trying out a lot of little tweaks lately, particular focused on better monetizing their ads.

We’re just churning them out these days! We’re happy to announce we’ve launched a Lead Generation website for the folks at Sheppard Pratt. The Retreat at Sheppard Pratt is a psychiatric retreat located in Baltimore, MD, operated by the world-renowned Sheppard Pratt Health System.

One of the programs that has been in the Google labs for some time is Google Search Wiki. The idea is that users can personalize their search results by voting sites up the results page, or even removing sites that aren’t particularly useful. Well, Google Search Wiki has graduated from the lab and now finds itself as the default behavior for anyone that is logged into Google.

The big question? What effect does this have on natural search results? Read on for more.

PPC advertising during these “tough times” is an interesting beast. On one hand, eCommerce store owners may be underwhelmed by their sales figures and conversion rates compared to last year. On the other, with each user searching more and broadband adoption continuing throughout the world, raw search traffic has nowhere to go but up.

More searches + Less Likely Buyers + Higher Competition = More Wasted Ad Spend. Not good. Read on to find out what you should be doing to make sure your ad spend ROI isn’t headed the same way as the economy.

Today Google announced it has opened up its Google Friend Connect service to anyone willing to give it a shot. It joins every other Google service in having the “beta” tag, so use at your own risk, but there could be some real benefit for bloggers and even eCommerce stores.

Last week our friend Joanna Lord launched her site The Online Beat featuring an interview with Groove CEO Ethan Giffin. The Online Beat is a great job resource for anyone looking to compile all of the major job provider’s information into one click, and features some great interview and résumé advice, as well. Hmm…A site that makes searching for a job easier, with unemployment steadily rising? Something tells me Joanna’s site may be getting some solid use for some time. Read on for an excerpt and a link to the interview with Ethan.

We’ve launched another eCommerce website! ClassicGourmetBaskets.com is a Maryland-based company selling pre-made and custom gift baskets to individuals and small businesses all the way up to large corporations.