1. What is the best way to generate sales online? A Forbes study shows that 48% of marketers said that search engine optimization (SEO) was the best method for generating conversions online. It’s always easier to start when visitors have some level of intent.

2. Search drives more sales, but shoppers are thinking longer before buying.

3. Does Google Analytics overstate the value of search? Econsultancy research shows that it might.  Make sure to at least set your cookies for 30 days.

4.…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 6/12/09"

1. Econsultancy shares how the Verified by Visa program may be a conversion killer.

2. Dr. Ralph Wilson interviews my good friend Avinash at the eMetrics summit about Useful Key Performance indicators for small business. Ralph also did a few interviews with me. Here is the first one on “The Winning Edge“:

3. Mars Chocolates is being punished for a bad ‘Fling’ – first when people search for the website they end up sending people to a porn site. If that wasn’t…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 5/28/09"

1.Google Analytics announced some changes to the referring urls coming from Google search engine results. We later learn that Google adds rank information to referral URL.

2. Google Analytics also announces the availability of a read-only API to their application. Several customer examples of applications built on this API are announced, including FutureNow’s OnTarget for Google Analytics. We can now leverage customer’s Google Analytics tags and bring in the data into OnTarget where our analysts can provide you your to-do list of conversion…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 4/23/09"

Did you miss my webinar last week with ClickZ? A recording of Post-Click Marketing: Maximizing Conversions Once Visitors Arrive was just made available.

Roy William’s published the 10 things never to do in your advertising. How many are you doing?

Why Advertising Is Failing On The Internet – I don’t completely agree with the author but Danny Sullivan strongly disagrees.

Which one of the 14 Types of Twitter Personalities are you? I am most like the Link Mogul/Retweeter.

Linda does a great job explaining Personalization: What Sort-By…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 3/23/09"

According to copywriting legend Eugene Schwartz, a headline’s main job isn’t to sell; it’s to gain the readers attention and compel them to read the ad.  And this is sound advice, but the Internet also requires one other thing in today’s web 2.0 copy world… Step 1. Scent: Web copy adds the requirement of scent.  Your headlines and sub headlines have to assure visitors that they’re in the right place.  A compelling headline that doesn’t orient readers…

...continue to read "3-Steps for Writing (and testing) Great Headlines"

The spending level for Valentine’s Day gifts this year will be slightly lower than last year – $140 to be spent by men (versus $166 in 2008), and $75 (versus $90) to be spent by women, according to the BrandKeys Valentine’s Day Index, writes RetailerDaily.

Mature consumers prefer single-image advertisements over ads with multi-image collages by a margin of 66% to 34%, and also gravitate to images that show products and lifestyles,  according to a recent image-preference survey by Creating Results according to…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 2/8/09"

Don’t miss the 15 year old and still current Calvin & Hobbes on the financial crisis http://bit.ly/RqdH.

Don’t miss my interview with David Szetela on PPC Rockstars today. You’ll hear us discuss the top page and ad elements that every PPC advertiser should test.

What do you think – Is Twitter the Next Second Life? http://tinyurl.com/8nof7j. You may also want to read The State Of The Twittersphere? http://tinyurl.com/6upklq. GigaOm claims Followers Aren’t Really Friends on Twitter. This leads to some of the challenge of…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 12/29/08"

Thank you dear readers. We are so grateful to you, the readers who give us your most valuable gift, your time. Below you’ll find a list of posts that were the most popular, most commented and most linked too posts on this blog in 2008.

We have diverse readership, which includes B2B marketers, retailers, publishers, non-profits, Fortune 500 managers, small business owners, lots of consultants and all sorts of surprising people. We love all of your comments, additional advice and dedication…

...continue to read "The Best of GrokDotCom 2008"

Online Retail Sales Stats: Consumers Buying But Spending Less – Interesting trend analysis from my friends at Rimm-Kaufman. As background, they manage search for over 100 clients, mostly online retailers, mostly B2C. Their clients spend about $100 million combined on paid search clicks annually.

This is horrific – Retailers Report a Sales Collapse.

Amazon is launching “Frustration-Free packaging“. – I think this is an interesting way to save thumbs, offer “greener” packaging and differentiate their offering.

8 Tips for Selling Social Marketing to CFOs –…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 11/7/08"

Wenda Harris Millard “Flat is the new up.” quoted at the recent EconWomen conference. She touches on some of the consumer trends this 2008 holiday season.

25 Web Form Optimization Tips – Covers most of the basics, a good reminder.

Usability of Toilet Paper – who could resist this analysis, especially as my friend David Dalka reminded me – P&G said at a search conference, no one would ever blog about toilet paper. Should it be bottom up or top down?

If you are so inclined…

...continue to read "TheGrok’s Not-To-Miss Links for the Week 10/31/08"