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Holiday Shopping: Most People Will Buy At Least One Gift Online

posted on October 31, 2011

Tomorrow is November 1, and that means that if you aren’t already hawking your holiday wares, you’re late. But don’t worry. MarketLive just published their 2011 Holiday Shopper Survey and it’s loaded with information that will help online retailers see black this holiday season.

83% of those surveyed said they were planning to buy at least some of their gifts online. This is a small rise over last year. One in four said they plan to do most of their shopping online.

Even if they aren’t buying, consumers are using the internet to research products. 61% said they’d use their computers and mobile devices to get the lay of the land before plunking down their hard-earned cash.

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Adwords Location Improvements Help Local Advertisers Target Better

posted on October 31, 2011

One of the most important features of Google Adwords has been the ability for advertisers to target specific locations to ensure that their ad spend was happening in the geography of their business. This goes a long way to being more efficient with spend and helps stretch an ad budget due to less waste.

Today Google has announced improvements in how local marketers can target their Adwords efforts. This comes from the Inside Adwords blog.

Today, many businesses are using location targeting in their online ad campaigns to reach the right customers and improve campaign performance. Online agency iProspect, for example, uses location targeting to focus on top performing geographic areas for their client Talbots. As a result, they were able to lower their cost-per-click (CPC) by 36 percent, driving higher quality leads at a lower cost.

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Google Maps API Charge A Sign of Things to Come?

posted on October 31, 2011

As of January 1, 2012 Google is going to start charging for API calls to Google Maps that exceed 25,000 per day.

According to Management Today

Websites that are likely to be hit by the ‘map tax’ include travel firms, hotel chains and big corporations that use Google Maps to direct customers to headquarters, destinations and tourist hotspots.

So, the question is, how much will companies pay for the map privilege? Word on the web is that Google will charge $4 per 1,000 views in excess of the daily limit.

Google denies reneging on its ‘do no evil’ mantra with the charge, insisting that it ‘will only affect 0.35% of users’.

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Deal Hunters Talk Scary Villains and Scarier Halloween Spending

posted on October 31, 2011

It’s Halloween and we thought we’d kick off the holiday with the results of two scary surveys from online saving sites.

First up is CouponCabin. They asked their visitors to state which scary movie villain best represented their financial situation. The results were surprisingly positive — if you can call identifying with Michael Meyer positive.

When asked which famous scary movie characters best described their current financial states, U.S. adults said:

  • Michael Myers from “Halloween” – I’m superhuman; no matter what circumstances arise, I find a way to make ends meet – 32 percent
  • Ghostface from “Scream” – Unexpected financial circumstances catch me when I least expect it – 11 percent
  • Freddy Krueger from “Nightmare on Elm Street” – My financial situation haunts my dreams and I lay awake at night worrying about it – 11 percent

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YouTube Channels Coming

posted on October 31, 2011

Last Friday Google announced that it will be expanding the channels of original content that will be coming to YouTube. They did this in the new Google understated fashion with a blog post on YouTube and the dribbling of information getting to the press. If you would like to sign up to be notified as to when these channels go online you can here.

The Guardian reports that there are in the neighborhood of 100 channels that are planned.

YouTube has unveiled its latest challenge to the TV industry with the launch of 100 online channels of original programming from partners including the Wall Street Journal, Madonna, Ashton Kutcher and online magazine Slate.

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Advertising and Marketing Jobs Are All About the Numbers

posted on October 31, 2011

Not too long ago, if someone was looking for a job in marketing you could feel confident that through networking and knowing the right people there would be something for everyone. After all, marketing is about psychology and understanding buying behaviors and knowing what buttons to push and when.

Well, while that may apply somewhat today it is not the norm anymore. In fact, the skill sets for today’s marketing jobs are starting to seem more like those needed to be an economist rolled up in a technologist who also understands marketing. As most in the advertising and marketing field are finding, there are not as many of those out there as you might think.

The New York Times reports

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Cup of Joe: This Dog Is An Idiot, Or Maybe Not.

posted on October 29, 2011

The other night I posted the above video on Google+ with the caption, “What an idiot.” Shortly after, the amazing Melanie Phung responded with:

It’s a matter of framing the assumptions. If you assume he wanted to come in, then, yes, he’s an idiot. But if you understand that he just wanted to sit on the deck and stare at his reflection in the window, then he’s just a chill dog. (And he doesn’t appreciate his owner filming him and trying to make him look like an idiot, thankyouverymuch.)

Wow Melanie! Bring out the wisdom!