Uba Kontrovasie

Google Trends for Websites

I think Google Trends for websites is great for a number of reasons:

- Firstly it allows you to compare traffic by competitor

- Secondly it allows you spot the performance of your competitors through known seasonality curves

- It is also an effective way to measure share of voice within Google across competitors, who gets the most searches at the end of the conversion funnel?

- Great tool to aid the planning of your PPC budget or content planning for NSO

I’m sure this little add-on will inspire all types of associative theories and methods to interpret the information provided.

At this stage my guess is that Google Trends for websites will not be able to provide trends for less prominent websites in the same way the original Google Trends cannot provide curves for niche keywords.

Hopefully this will change over time, providing people in the search business and marketing with more detailed information to aid planning.

Tags: Digital Planning, Google, Natural Search Optimisation (NSO), PPC, Search & New Media, Search & New Media, website trends

Opera 9.50

I recently updated my version of Opera as you do…I’ve always been a big fan of opera and if it had all the plugins that Firefox had it would definitely be my default browser.

Opera renders as well as Safari and it has all the keyboard functionality of Firefox, in addition to all of this it is fast, real fast.

It would be great to see more opera uptake in the market along with more developers building plug-ins for it. Firefox has really taken off especially with all its backing from Google. IMHO Opera is a more superior product and given the same degree of exposure I believe it has the potential to take some real market share

Like Dr. Pepper I’d say try it, you might like it

Tags: browsing, Google, IMHO Opera, internet, opera, Pepper I'd

Apple launch iPhone 3G

Steve Jobs officially unveiled the iPhone 3G at the WWDC 2008 event yesterday. What can I say…it’s already on my wish list! What’s even more impressive is that Apple provided independent developers an SDK, which has really improved some of the functionality the new phone has to offer.
With Apple and others launching SDK’s for their platforms, it won’t be long before we see media/creative agencies launching branded apps for the iPhone.

The keynote included a speech by a part time developer from the UK who built a music application in his spare time, the application was so impressive it’s now available to buy on Apple’s apps store.
Apple are being really clever about ways to fuel to their ideas. If 1000’s of independent developers compile useful apps for their hardware it’s creative fuel for Apple themselves to make their own applications better by getting soo much free exposure to good ideas.

Apple has made the iPhone 3G available for $199 USD across 22 core markets, which will eventually be 70 worldwide markets by the end of 2008. Apple making their phone affordable and attractive will increase the numbers of people who are on faster mobile bandwidths.

So is this truly the year for mobile? We hope so in the new media world at least. The iPhone 3G will have an effect on the 3G mobile market akin to the effect that Magners had on cider. The launch of one key product had a halo effect on sales for cider across the industry and across all brands.

3G has been around for years but with the launch of the iPhone 3G people will re-investigate the technology and Apples’ offering. Not everybody will go for the iPhone as some will still prefer Windows Mobile or Symbian powered handsets for the sake of full desktop compatibility.

The main point still sticks however, the launch of this phone will inadvertently increase the sales of 3G devices across the mobile sector.

Well done to Apple for not only developing a very slick piece of hardware but also adding a new lease of life to the 3G comms market.

Right…where’s my wallet and my PUK code ☺

Tags: 3G, 3G devices, Apple, iphone, media world, media/creative agencies, Mobile, new media, Steve Jobs, United Kingdom, USD

Google first click free

Recently people began to question Googles views on cloaking despite their clear guidelines as the New York Times had content ranking on Google news, which when users clicked through required a subscription. This is essentially cloaking via IP delivery and serving search engine bots a different version of content from what the public sees.

NYT was essentially a “walled garden”, however it appeared to be open in the eyes of the search engines, many people suspected unofficial agreements being made between Google and the NYT.

This may have been true at the time but since then Google launched first click free a service which allows providers of premium news content to have their content indexed and ranked within Google News whilst only providing excerpts of the full articles to surfers, requesting for a subscription fee to continue reading.

This is great news for publishers who rely on advertising/subscription driven business models as having “first click free” traffic will ensure consistent revenue is generated from new content and strategic placement of calls to sale at the end of article excerpts will help to drive paid subscriptions.

Another reason why this is a win for publishers is that publishers have been known to use paid search advertising to drive traffic and increase page impressions and ad impressions through targeting the search “long tail” and buying as much inventory on low CPC’s as possible. As Google tighten their paid search guidelines through the quality score system it will become harder for affiliates and publishers to make revenues via arbitraging traffic.

“First click free” will hopefully counteract the growing stringencies of paid search advertising for publishers at least.

Tags: advertising/subscription, content, Google, Natural Search Optimisation (NSO), paid search advertising, paid search guidelines, search engine, search engine bots, search engines, the New York Times, traffic driving

The Pharcyde - Passing me By

I stumbled on this track listening to Last FM and it sure did bring back a few memories, I suggest people check it out. Its on the Bizarre Album II.

Tags: Bizarre Album II, hip hop, Last FM, Old skool, the pharcyde

Primark and Sweatshops

With all the hot water retailers like Primark have got into, I became intrigued by all the press and media attention.

Sweatshops have been around for years, manufacturers such as Nike and GAP have also come under fire for using cheap labour in their overseas factories, providing employees with miniscule wages and diabolical working conditions.

The corporations claim they are supporting local economies by paying workers peanuts for manufacturing hundreds of garments each day, locals say if they didn’t work in the factories they wouldn’t have any other sustainable means of income.

Places like India have “fair trade” factories where the unit costs can double, however foreign fashion buying powers scrutinise over price and they prefer cheaper manufacturers.

My personal opinion is where possible do buy fair trade, why? Well…it may not make a huge difference to the grand scheme of things but you certainly do get what you pay for. A piece of clothing part assembled by hand and made with good material is sure to last you longer than something mass produced with cheap materials and more importantly cheap labour.

If one quality, fair trade garment can last you the same length as three cheap garments that’s three sweatshop produced pieces of clothing you do not need to buy.

Adding weight to one argument also attracts attention to another, what does “fair trade” really mean? If a company is putting together garments with an ethically managed workforce, where are they sourcing their material?

Is managing their workforce ethically coming at the price of land, which has been cleared for mass cotton farming? Are the factory owners buying cheaper materials that are being produced by another slaved system? Are mass cotton farms wiping out small cotton farmers? Is cotton unnaturally grown, genetically modified or sprayed with chemicals?

The truth is no consumer can un-earth of any this via the shelves of department stores and shopping centres. What we really need is more “fair trade, organic” ranges in stores. Great! I hear people say here goes another hippie…and they’re probably right. Realistically how feasible would it be for the majority if not a whole country to wear “fair trade, organic” garments? Not very!

So what’s the solution to the problem? Buy less! Buy for need! Easier said than done, we are all (including me) victims of fashion or have a degree of desire to conform to the sartorial expectations of the people around us.

Like everything else it is our opinions and lifestyles that need to change over time for any real difference to truly materialise. With me personally a certain degree of “needs analysis” does go through my mind when I go shopping, if not for the sake of my wallet than for the sake of the bigger picture.

Tags: chemicals, ethical clothing, fair trade, fashion, GAP, India, media attention, Nike, organic