The Stackpile

Constantly there are articles and opinions on Google – the recent merger efforts with DoubleClick, the criticism on the familiar elements and new layout of YouTube, the development of Knol, and on and on.

A lot of the critics are right – Google is building a empire to own the online experience, but they are also trying to improve it for us online users. Google has developed a number of free tools for public use, continues to develop and integrate new technologies for easier searching and is hopefully going to help provide a competitor to Wikipedia that provides some level of accreditation to the information being posted.

I understand everyone’s frustration with the Google empire, but if we let them continue and build functions and ranking that makes sense and allows us to quickly locate the information we are looking for, we may just find ourselves enjoying the search experience. Well, that is if the remove ebay from their listings again and discontinue the use of the keyword term replacement feature in their Adwords system. And, if they can reduce the constant movement of the new TestTube Warp functionality a bit, maybe some of us with motion sickness will be able to enjoy this tool a bit more.

Personally, from the examples of Knol that are available to view, I am interested in this new opportunity as an online user that finds Wikipedia as an untrustworthy resource. Check out an example of Knol. I do agree that if indeed all the top search results through Google start presenting only the Google owned partner sites, such as Knol and YouTube, that this will surely become an issue. And, if the Google executives are that ignorant of the online community’s intelligence and allow this to develop just as the critics are warning, then they are eventually going to end their own success story.

Check out another great feature from Google to help broadcast Nonprofits.

And, if you are still undecided for a candidate in the Presidential Election, although most of the videos are long, the YouChoose’08 page is very interesting.

Posted by Christina on January 3rd, 2008
Filed under Miscellaneous, Search Engine Marketing, Web | No Comments »

The ABA New England Marketing conference in Newport, RI this past Friday touched upon many aspects of the online world, but not much of it was new. More importantly, a good deal of the information was not necessarily relevant to the banking industry. Online marketing efforts can be particularly helpful in tracking results and providing ROI measurements, but this important element seemed to be overlooked.

Particularly when banks are facing the major competitive pressures in the marketplace today, building core deposits and hanging onto a steady lending stream is increasingly difficult. However, there are various ways that banks can target their audience and grow their business with their online applications and online marketing strategies.

The main element I found missing from the conference was how to effectively use new media to target and capture appropriate audience groups. Where was the discussion on turning website visitors to customers? Particularly where Search Engine Marketing and other online marketing and media can target geographies and deliver specific audiences, you are able to target these groups with particular products and messaging.

Of course building an online marketing strategy is greatly dependent on the strength of a bank’s website, and whether the site contains appropriate lead generation applications or forms that capture new accounts or inquiries. However, there are metrics and strategies being employed for our bank clients and other similar professional service clients where online and new media can provide an incredible source of lead generation, and more importantly rapidly grow a client base.

Don’t stop at learning new media and online opportunities, apply them in a way that matches your services and products to those customers searching online.

Posted by Christina on October 24th, 2007
Filed under Banking, Search Engine Marketing, Web | No Comments »

I don’t think I’m the last person to have heard of Adblock, but judging by the amount of coverage I’ve been able to read about it today, I must be pretty close. In case you’re one of the few behind me on this one, Adblock is a plug-in available from Firefox that does, well, exactly what you’d expect something called Adblock to do. Which is interesting, but hardly surprising to anyone familiar with technology, advertising, or the kind of personality that is attracted to pushing the envelope in either field. It seems like there wasn’t a lot of lag time between the advent of pop-up ads before we were offered pop-up ad blockers. More recently, I’m remembering that within two months of launching the iPhone, a hacker found a way to bypass the device’s network restrictions. Technology not only challenges itself, but challenges other industries as well. And in the advertising industry, we’re generally up to the challenge.

Inherent in being creative and capturing attention is the ability to find new and unexpected ways to reach people. I have no doubt that as ad-blocking technology becomes more pervasive, our industry’s response will become more sophisticated. In fact, some of the groundwork is already being laid as marketers launch new ways of presenting themselves through user-generated content and social networking. With about 2.5 million Adblock users worldwide to date, we’ve got some time to prepare for this next wrinkle in the growth of online advertising. Until then, we can continue to read about Adblock and browse through all the Google ads for ad blockers that run adjacent to the articles.

Posted by Kelly on September 17th, 2007
Filed under Advertising, Marketing, Miscellaneous, Search Engine Marketing, Web | No Comments »

A lot of us here at Stackpole were excited by the announcement of the new iPod touch last week. I’m always happy to have a new toy to lust after, and from first glance, the iPod touch, like the iPhone before it, looks like it won’t disappoint. But the announcement of these new device could have larger implications beyond that of shiny new toys to play with. They could bring a whole new set of considerations for web designers.

The iPod touch brings WiFi capability to iPods for the first time. As a result, it incorporates mobile Safari, a nifty version of the Mac web browser, designed especially for the mobile experience. When it was first introduced with the iPhone, Apple hailed mobile Safari as “the most advanced web browser ever on a portable device.” It wasn’t just hype. Mobile Safari (in conjunction with a high resolution screen), lived up to its billing. Websites look very much like they do with a desktop browser. There are exceptions, of course (lack of Flash support being the most glaring), but all in all, mobile Safari puts the web in your hand.

Because of this, some observers were a bit confused when some websites released iPhone-optimized sites soon after the device’s launch. Some of this reaction can be seen here and here. Why would a iPhone-optimized version of a website be needed, if mobile Safari was so darn good at bringing users “the real web?”

This development should not be that surprising. Despite how good a browser it is, mobile Safari is still a web browser for a mobile device. Because of this, the experience will never be the same as it is on the desktop. And nor should it be. The mobile experience has its own set of considerations and challenges. The mobile web experience means small screens, less time to dally, and (often-times) slower connection speeds. Even a great browser can not compensate for these factors.

Does this mean that developers will have to offer iPhone/iPod touch optimized versions of their web sites? Well, sort of. Many sites currently offer mobile versions of their content. Mobile web design is gaining more and more attention from the web development community. There are many reasons to offer a mobile version of your web site. Perhaps your site offers special appeal or use for mobile users. Perhaps, your site is highly bandwidth intensive and requires a more streamlined version that won’t choke mobile browsers. Or perhaps your site incorporates a layout that is too dense for the smaller screens of a mobile device. These are all legitimate reasons to explore adding a mobile version of your site.

But what gets developers knickers in a bunch is the possibility of creating versions of sites designed solely for mobile Safari. To some, this is a move backwards to the days when sites were designed solely for one type of browser. It easy to see the root of these concerns, but they ignore the fact that Apple sees the web as an application environment for the iPhone (as well as the forthcoming iPod touch). The only (authorized) way for third-party developers to put their wares on the iPhone is to develop them as web applications to be run through mobile Safari. As a result, most of the best iPhone-optimized web sites aren’t really web sites, per se. It would be more accurate to label them web applications designed specifically for the device.

Some may see this as a matter of semantics, but I think it really helps frame how web developers should view the iPhone and iPod touch. I would agree that creating a version of a site specifically optimized for the iPhone seems to be a bit overkill, especially if the intent is to simply make a better mobile web experience for visitors. If that is the true intent, your resources would be better served by developing a mobile version of your site that is designed with all mobile devices in mind. It will still work great on mobile Safari and you wouldn’t be excluding the large number of the non-Apple mobile community. Mobile Safari users who want a more robust, desktop-like experience, can still choose to experience the “full” version of the site, if they so choose. On the other hand, if you want to offer an experience that utilizes the unique qualities of the iPhone or iPod touch (the higher resolution screen, the touch screen technology, etc), develop a web application that takes advantages of those qualities. These web applications shouldn’t be a stripped down version of the full site. Rather, they should be robust applications that offer visitors a unique experience that really takes advantage of what these devices can do. We already seeing some really cool stuff and there will only be more as more people get ahold of mobile Safari.

These are interesting times. Only time will tell the true impact of the iPhone, iPod touch and mobile Safari. Until then, it will fun to see how it all shakes out.

Posted by Trev on September 11th, 2007
Filed under Design, Web | No Comments »

In a recent Forrester Research study on the effects online word-of-mouth advertising for automakers is really about the effects of a new media form – consumer generated media. As the online audience continues to grow, word-of-mouth has taken on a new form through internet forums, blogs, wikipedia, discussion lists, email chains, personal websites and more. This consumer generated media (or CGMs) is clearly effecting the purchasing habits of car buyers as found in this recent study, but the impact on public relation and other purchasing behaviors is endless.

Posted by Christina on September 3rd, 2007
Filed under Marketing, Web | No Comments »