Ecommerce & Web Marketing Research: January 21-31 2005

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30th January 2005

New article - search engine optimization software

I've steered clear of optimization software for the past few years, mostly because some of the side effects I've witnessed. I've changed my stance on this after recently reviewing a very interesting submission/optimization package. Learn more about the software, some of the challenges of using optimization applications and trial a free version in my search engine optimization software review.

Free site submission and optimization software. Download the free version today or read our WebCEO review!

29th January 2005

Identity theft : higher percentage occurs offline

The Better Business Bureau has published the findings of their 2005 Identity Fraud Survey Report, based on four thousand telephone interviews with consumers.

Surprisingly, it appears that the Internet as being the main conduit for identity theft is a myth. Online-related fraud problems seem to be less costly and not as widespread as previously assumed. 

Online methods of identity theft constituted under 12% of all known causes during 2004, around half of those origination from spyware.

Learn more about preventing online identity theft.

27 January 2005

Need Windows updates? You'll need a licence..

In another strategy in Microsoft's continuing battle against privacy, from the middle of this year, all Windows users will need to validate their Windows installation as genuine before being able to download software and drivers from the Windows support site. 

According to this article on Computer Weekly, security patches downloads will not be restricted - for the time being.

Shopping cart software Learn more about shopping carts or read our reviews of some the best shopping cart software around! Need to learn more about merchant accounts or payment processors? Try our ecommerce guides

25 January 2005

Sponsored search results ok, but keep it clear

The Pew Internet and American Life Project have released results of their "Search Engine Users" report, based on a survey conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates between May 14 and June 17, 2004, among a sample of 2,200 adults. Amongst the findings:

Search engine usage

• 84% of participants had used search engines. On any day, 56% of those online use search engines.

• 52% of people surveys say they are “very confident” in using search engines

• 87% of searchers have successful search experiences most of the time

• 68% of search feel that search engines are a fair and unbiased source of information

• 19% stated they don’t place that level of trust in search engines.

Participants views of paid ads

• 38% of search engine users are aware of the difference between paid and unpaid results

• 62% are unaware of the distinction

• 18% of all participants stated they can always tell paid and free results

• 70% of searchers are comfortable with the concept paid or sponsored results.

• 45% of searchers would stop using engines if they thought the engines weren't clear about offering some results for pay.

Download the Search Engine Users report (PDF - 469kb)

Google VOIP gossip

After Google placed a job ad for a "dark fiber" expert to develop a global backbone network, the industry started buzzing about the Mighty G's next move. It wasn't long before many respected online journals were theorizing that Google may be considering moving into the world of VOIP (Voice Over IP). 

One of the VOIP related theories was that Google would incorporate the technology into search engine results - i.e. a search would submit a query, the results would display and if the merchant was hooked in with "GVOIP", the searcher could click a button and be connected to that merchants' sales staff - and Google would collect a fee for the service. 

Even if "GVOIP" isn't imminent, it's an interesting rumor and marketing concept.

Learn more about VOIP (Voice Over IP)

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22 January 2005

Google takes on blog comment spamming

Like guestbooks a couple of years ago, blogs have become a spammers haven. Just in the last 24 hours, a blog I maintain has received over 100 spam submissions. Spammers target blogs as it's well know that backlinks with relevant anchor text to their sites from other sites can help boost them in search engine rankings

In December, I wrote briefly about some tools and strategies blog owners can use to reduce spam in some popular blogging software packages.

It seems that Google has now had a gutful too. Google is encouraging blog owners to insert a tag "rel="nofollow"" in link coding of comments. This will inform the the search engine to ignore links that contain it.

Tools are rapidly being developed for popular blog software applications that allow for this code to be automatically inserted - it seems that Yahoo and MSN will soon also recognize this tag.

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2/3 of online transactions via Broadband

According to a report released by Nielsen Netratings, broadband users purchase more and more often than their dialup counterparts:

• A broadband user average spend is $158.21 whereas narrowband average is $117.89

• In November 04, 69% of retail purchases  were conducted via a broadband connection

• Broadband shoppers convert at a higher rate than dialup users

• Broadband users make more shopping visits and stay in a session longer than narrowband shoppers.

Read more of the report (PDF)

Learn about minimizing shopping cart abandonment

eBay overestimated by 1 cent, shareholders sell

I've often kicked myself about not buying tech shares, and then I see stuff like this and remember why I don't.

It seems that eBay was 1 cent out on analysts' profit estimates, which then greatly contributed to the stock closing down over $19 per share. This reportedly wiped over $13 billion from the value of the company in one fell swoop, even though eBay had earned a profit of 33 cents a share - a nice profit.

I don't profess to know a lot about the stock market, but this kind of behavior by shareholders is quite disgusting. This is the reason why our current systems are not sustainable. Companies go public, produce a profit, then the next year they are expected to increase on that profit - that cannot go on forever. In the meantime, staff lose their jobs and quality of service generally decreases - all in the name of the shareholders. 

This mindset has always been the case, but I believe it's been particularly rampant since the dot com boom days. The expectation from shareholders is just so much higher, even after the lessons of the bust.

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