I just watch Mr. Bezos’ YouTube video (below) where he outlines some of the basic principles of Amazon’s success as well as outlines some of the rationale behind the Zappos acquisition. Mr. Bezos had some very great things to say about the leadership and culture at Zappos. Check out the video yourself.
It just so happens that I decided to play with the Overlay.tv tool right after reading the Wordcamp 2009 presentation from Matt. (Matt, I really hope you don’t mind). I must say the overall Overlay experience was pretty smooth and easy, I created this overlay in about 30 minutes with no issues, no crashes, no loss of work. The UI is simple and easy so you should have no issues. Considering who I just overlayed I would ask the question… Matt - Is this video spam or what?
Matt presented the following presentation at Wordcamp 2009 recently. Some interesting info, mostly common sense but it really reinforces the point that Wordpress is one of the greatest tools ever as it has such a great community of tool builders. This all may be tuff you already know but I installed a new plugin after reviewing this presentation on Google ranking factors.
I started to evaluate both the Interspire shopping cart software and Volusion shopping cart software last week from the perspective of the SME and will try to log some interesting points of comparison over the coming weeks.
So far Volusion is a clear winner when it comes to drop shipping and managing multiple fulfillment partners. Drop shipping is non-existent in the Interspire shopping cart but through some calls with their support teams its coming soon.
One really cool feature that stands out in the Volusion shopping cart solution is the zoom on photos that is built into the cart. Any product image can be zoomed in on by the user. Very cool.
In the Volusion model I am also concerned about the potential overages that may come with the hosted version, you are given a set bandwidth limit and if you are over you are charged 1 cent / mb / month. I have not worked out the traffic / # of SKUs / formula to calculate but may soon.
A point for the Interspire shopping cart when it comes to free templates, the Interspire templates are much nicer and best of all free. The volusion free templates look like the original default templates from Yahoo stores. I made the point with them that they should be giving them away for free but the lowly CSR tried to make a case that they took investment and resources. I can’t say this enough, if you are in a service model and after a long term relationship with a client why charge for these little things? I mean switching costs are low in my mind so why not give them away?
Anyhow right now I am leaning towards the Interspire cart even though I may be limited initially in the number of SKUs I can sell, its just easier.
I will try to update as I get more information on both.
Over the past few quarters, as the economy slows and consumer spending slows affiliate programs have been growing and in some companies growing faster than search engine marketing programs. I had a good conversation with a major clothing retailer recently that about the growth that he has been seeing and skeptically we were both uncertain if it was true growth or a shift by consumers to the types of promotions offered through affiliate programs.
In most affiliate programs there are a group of “coupon sites”, sites whose sole purpose is to consolidate and provide users with unique offers or coupon codes. While there are several other groups of affiliates that participate more at the awareness or consideration levels of the purchase funnel the coupon code websites are at the base of the purchase funnel. When savvy customer has researched and evaluated their product and decided to purchase a quick search on Google will generally result in several sites offering coupon codes to improve the current offer. The theory is that as consumers become more cost conscious more and more will search out a coupon code prior to purchase.
One question that arose was “Will a consumer, after researching and evaluating a product, change their mind if they do not find a coupon code?” or better yet, “If your search engine marketing program is also built on a revenue share model but on a different platform than your affiliate program.. Are you paying twice? Is it worth it?”
I will try to keep you posted as we begin to answer these questions, please comment if you have any insight to share.
Now, I know what I am going to say is not perfect but I have recently almost doubled traffic to this blog by adding an automated translation widget. On the right hand navigation you will see a series of flags that link to an automated translation from Google. So over a couple of days I know have a site in 30 languages and as the translated versions get indexed I am starting to get search traffic in each of these languages. The plugin I am using is from an organization called Nothing to Hide (N2H) and is one of the many available for Wordpress blogs. If you are using Wordpress the check it out and double your traffic.
Today Amazon has changed its policy for their Associates Affiliate Program not compensate partners for paid search and data feed referrals. This is a significant change in policy that will could serve as a precedent for affiliate programs in many other industries. See the email below for the email Amazon sent to its associate partners.
We’re writing to let you know about a change to the Amazon Associates Program. After careful review of how we are investing our advertising resources, we have made the decision to no longer pay referral fees to Associates who send users to www.amazon.com, www.amazon.ca, or www.endless.com through keyword bidding and other paid search on Google, Yahoo, MSN, and other search engines, and their extended search networks. If you’re not sure if this change affects you, please visit this page for FAQs.
As of May 1, 2009, Associates will not be paid referral fees for paid search traffic. Also, in connection with this change, as of May 1, 2009, Amazon will no longer make data feeds available to Associates for the purpose of sending users to the Amazon websites in the US or Canada via paid search.
This change applies only to the Associates programs in North America. If you are conducting paid search activities in connection with one of Amazon’s Associates Programs outside of the US and Canada, please refer to the applicable country’s Associates Program Operating Agreement for relevant terms and conditions.
We appreciate your continued support and participation in this advertising Program. If you have questions or concerns, please write to us by using the Contact Us form available on Associates Central.
Sincerely,
The Amazon Associates Program
One thing of note is that this change or at least this email refers to only North America so the rest of world may still be able to promote through paid search and data feeds. Amazon cites a review of their advertising investments so they must have done some analysis that encouraging competition drives their CPC costs higher over time.
One thing to think about is that this type of change may not be for everyone, or every region. Depending on the success and penetration of your PPC and feed programs you may want to evaluate this on a case by base basis. It all depends if you are fully maximized for traffic and conversion. I think that Amazon may have reached this point and realized that if they do this they may add the 5% back their bottom line.
See the following FAQ on the changes to the Amazon Associates program.
They actually lauched CADIE finally to the general public, after years of confidential government testing Google Cadie is finally available for mass consumption. Anyone who uses Google CADIE will find that it will resolve all of your online computing needs and completely satisfy your April Fool’s Day appetite… HAHA, nice one Google, Google CADIE sounds like one to watch.
For a complete archive of all Google’s April Fool’s day pranks and other hoaxes visit Wikipedia.
I was playing around with Compete.com’s data tonight and decided to continue the facebook vs myspace trend information. Using the visit report from Compete.com you can see that December 2008 was the critical timeframe where facebook really overtook myspace. One thing to note is that when as facebook traffic continue to grow there has not been a significant decline in myspace traffic making me think that facebook is really targeting new incremental users and a bit of a different audience segment. There looks to be the start of a sharper decrease to myspace traffic in February but we will have to wait for a few more data points to truly understand the pattern.
Serious inquiries only, email rmcharlebois@yahoo.com for information.
Year: 2006
Make: BMW Certified Series
Model: 325i
Model Detail: Sport Package / Premium Package
Color: Black
Interior: Black
Style: Leatherette
Transmission: 6 Speed Manual
Drive Train: Rear Wheel
Engine Size: 3.0 Litre, 6 Cyl.
Doors: 4
Passengers: 5
Mileage: 75,000 kms
Price: $27,999 CAD
Tires: 17″ Summer tires on rims / Winter 16″ tires on rims
Other Features: Heated sport seats, seat driver memory, sport suspension, full tint, glass sunroof, folding side mirrors, fog lights, keyless entry, touch start ignition, audio input, rain sensor wipers, cruise control, traction control, mirrors adjust when in reverse for curb view, air bags everywhere, xenon headlights, magnetic power brakes, power windows, power locks, dual climate controls, power seats, anti-lock brakes, and more. You won’t be disappointed.
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