Acceller (formerly BuyTelco) has been a reference client of ours for the past 4 years. In that time, we’ve been fortunate to see BuyTelco.com become one of America’s top resources to compare Cable, DSL and High-Speed Internet options. But today, we’re especially proud of Acceller because they’ve been named #54 on the “Inc. 500″ list, with 2,250% growth. (The Inc. 500 ranks top U.S. companies based on growth acceleration for the last few years.)

Acceller CEO Steve McKean is happy to point…

...continue to read "How to Grow 2,250% While Launching a New Online Business"

Men, I’m going to let you in on a little known secret: most women are wearing the wrong size bra.Women, I’m going to let you in on a little known secret as well: most women are wearing the wrong size bra.

Zafu.com is a company actually providing a solution to this problem. But is their advertising helping or hurting them?

Would you buy a bra from this man?

This ad on YouTube has gotten mixed reactions. Some women find it funny, some find it…

...continue to read "Would You Buy a Bra From This Man?"

When a man looks at an ad, and a woman looks at that same ad, do they see the same thing?

We all have internal biases, life histories, and sensitivities. These personal experiences influence how we see the world around us, including how we react to different advertisements.

When I saw this banner ad, it instantly told me this is not a learning institution for me.

Graphic Design and Business are the two areas of study that interest me, but those have male…

...continue to read "What Are Your Ad Images Saying to Women?"

How much time, money, and resources do you spend optimizing your conversion rate?

If you’re like many of us, the answer to this question would choke a rhino.

Tally up the megabytes of spreadsheets e-mailed to execs, the time exhausted gazing at analytics dashboards, and the invoice stacks courtesy of technology vendors. Then, count up the efforts poured into your PPC (define) campaigns, SEO (define), and A/B and multivariate testing.

It’s not for a lack of effort that the conversion rate needle refuses…

...continue to read "Conversion Rate Basics"

It’s a sad day in social media when Facebook deletes Ranger Rick, the National Wildlife Federation’s beloved spokes-raccoon.

On Facebook, networks grow organically — often slowly — and by deleting Ranger Rick, the NWF’s entire 500-person network was brutally poached.

Sure, this public relations gaff seems more to do with a flawed policy and/or housekeeping algorithm than contempt for nature conservation, but it’s still absurd. Perhaps it wouldn’t be so scandalicious if it weren’t for the fact that Paris Hilton and Hillary…

...continue to read "Facebook Deletes Ranger Rick, Saves Paris Hilton Clones"

After all the debate unleashed by Avinash Kaushik’s latest monthly list of Top-Ranked Web Analytics Blogs I decided I should take a dig in to this issue. He’s been publishing this list for the past year based on the blogs’ Technorati rankings. Recently, Eric Peterson from Web Analytics Demystified asked to be excluded because he felt using Technorati’s flawed algorithm muddied the outcome.

Avinash had already applied a new method, using a regression formula that paired Technorati score with Feedburner subscriber data.…

...continue to read "Web Analytics Blogs: A Top 10?"

On his Marketing Productivity Blog, Jim Novo drills down into the misconception that PRIZM (define) clusters can be more predictive than actual human behavior. A rare breed of marketer who understands both the statistical and behavior ends of the spectrum, Jim explains the danger of distorting one’s vision by gazing only through the PRIZM:

[...] what is the likelihood these households reflect the overall “label” of the PRIZM cluster? Combine this with the fact that for customer analysis, demographics are generally descriptive…

...continue to read "PRIZM Clusters Not as Predictive as Behavior"

PetSmart.com’s site relaunch gives us another great example of how drop-down menus interfere with a site’s usability. For instance, the drop-down menu for the “Dogs” category goes down past the bottom of the page. Those who aren’t proficient in using the scroll wheel on their mouse won’t even be able to get to the options presented below the fold.

When designing for 1024 x 768 resolution, don’t assume that the browser window is completely open.

There are a couple of easy fixes…

...continue to read "PetSmart.com — A New Low for Drop-down Menus"

Date: October 13-18, 2007

Location: Chicago, McCormick Place West

About: At this year’s DMA Conference & Expo, Bryan Eisenberg will presenting his Call to Action workshop (normally $895) inclusive with the price of admission. Based on his bestselling book Call to Action: Secret Formulas to Improve Online Results, the workshop covers all the basics of online marketing optimization. The best part: you’ll work with Bryan directly to get fresh ideas on how to boost conversion rates and improve the visitor experience. This will be the last…

...continue to read "Direct Marketing Association Conference & Exhibition: Chicago"

Imagine being able to compare prices for airfares, hotels and retail products, with customer reviews, directly in your browser.  SmartShopper — a plug-in for Microsoft Internet Explorer (they’ll add Firefox next quarter) — does just that.

Our friends at CenterNetworks spoke with SmartShopper CEO Oren Dobronsky about this exciting new tool for consumers and e-commerce shops.

The add-on is only .5 mb in size Automatically recognizes any product or travel offering Oren’s mission statement is to, “make the comparative shopping experience better and…

...continue to read "A Pricing Engine That Takes it to the Browser"