4/29/2003 03:52:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Tech Investor: Overture's sour notes - Apr. 28, 2003 It created pay-for-placement ads. Now it's facing a big problem: Google is stealing its business.
To slip out of the noose that Google has placed around its neck, Overture needs to take action -- and fast. First and foremost, it must diversify its revenue stream. Currently, its top two customers, Yahoo! and Microsoft account for 65 percent of total revenues. Its top 10 clients account for 83 percent.
This is why I don't speculate on stocks. Google is really on a roll these days and Overture investors are starting to run for the hills. The good news is Overture is strongly positioning itself as a global leader - not just a U.S. leader. This has the potential of far surpassing the amount of money available in the American market. But that is a long-term goal. Right now the playing field is here in the States. The scary thing from my perspective is, the 65% Overture is now banking on from Yahoo! and Microsoft is probably not going to last forever.|W|P|200218088|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/28/2003 03:42:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Earth from a different perspective
The purpose of the site is to provide a consistently updated, central point of access to the superset of Nasa�s Earth science-related images, animations, and data visualisations. These images are considered to be public domain and, as such, are freely available to the interested public-at-large, the media, scientists, and educators for re-use and/or re-publication. There are currently 5079 records in the database (41.6GB).
This site is really impressive. The above link is to an article about the site. But you can find the actual site here:Visible Earth - a searchable directory of images, visualization, and animations of the Earth. Really amazing!|W|P|200212304|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/28/2003 01:30:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|GOOGLE ACQUIRES APPLIED SEMANTICS
"Applied Semantics is a proven innovator in semantic text processing and online advertising," said Sergey Brin, Google's co-founder and president of Technology. "This acquisition will enable Google to create new technologies that make online advertising more useful to users, publishers and advertisers alike."
Imagine a day when you type in a phrase in a search engine and it doesn't just show you the listings that have that exact phrase or part of that phrase on the page. Instead, the engine takes your query, determines what you mean when you type in that phrase and then shows you pages that discuss that topic. The results may not even have any of the words you initially typed in the search box. This is what this acquisition is about - presenting context-based ads in related content. But this is just the start. This is where much of search is heading. What does this mean from a visitor's standpoint? This is going to be like heaven. It will be like the search engine has ESP. What does this mean from a site owner's standpoint? It's going to make the search engine optimization of today look like kindergarten art. Owners will be forced to become content centers - just like Google has wanted all along. You will either have content or you won't appear in the results.|W|P|200211595|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/27/2003 08:44:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|The Open Directory Updates Its Index Did you submit a site to DMOZ in the last several months and never see your listing get placed? Well this week may be your lucky week.|W|P|200215660|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/22/2003 04:07:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Speaking of Overture, I attended a lunch, put on by the Cleveland Chapter of AIP, that featured some representatives from Overture. They were quite friendly and, I think, offered some nice insight into the workings of Overture. I didn't feel like I came away with any "secrets" to share. Sorry everyone. While listening to engine representatives is always nice, it wasn't what really made an impression on me today. What impressed me, by far, were the thoroughly intelligent questions people asked. They were asking questions about conversion utilities, positioning strategies within the top spots, affiliate marketing troubles, potential problems with Overture partner strategies with Gator... just to name a few. I felt, Paul Elliott, the President of AIP handled the event very well. I was very proud of Cleveland. Nice job everyone! |W|P|200184183|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/22/2003 03:44:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overture Makes Official S. Korea Debut "... having already sewn up 92 percent of the market." With their acquisition of Fast and AltaVista (both major players outside of the U.S.), Overture is making stong ties with the rest of the world.|W|P|200184062|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/22/2003 08:31:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo! News - Overture Closes $70 Million Web-Search Acquisition It's official! Overture now owns Fast Search & Transfer for a cool $70 million in cash.|W|P|200181648|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/18/2003 12:49:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Retailing: Many Merchants Lack Measurement
When the 200 senior executives that participated in the study were asked to rank their top technology initiatives for 2003, measurement was dead last. Nearly half (43 percent) [of the sites surveyed] could not provide shopping cart abandonment figures and 14 percent could not identify customer conversion rates.
This is the new frontier. We are going to start seeing a big surge in companies offering these kinds of services - primarily because it's important. But I wouldn't run out and start your conversion analysis company. My instinct is it is going to become commoditized, much like email marketing has. That warning won't be enough to hold back the companies that enter this arena as experts. It seems too good a market to pass up. There will be, and are, companies that offer this service at a very high level. But the services for small guys are mostly going to be done with plug and play software tools at a low monthly fee.|W|P|200167133|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/18/2003 12:37:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Traffic Patterns: Traffic Patterns of March 2003 The top 4 most accessed sites: AOL Time Warner, Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google. Is your company appearing on these sites for your industry-targeted key phrases?|W|P|200167075|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/18/2003 09:54:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|SEO Outperforms Overture
The cost? $79,000 for both sites... [for] 300 keywords
If you are considering search engine optimization, get used to those numbers. Those are the numbers we're seeing more and more. |W|P|200166343|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/17/2003 03:40:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Premium ads officially over
No new or renewed campaigns after June 1st but they will honour all exsisting contracts.
|W|P|200163385|W|P|Premium ads officially over|W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/17/2003 03:36:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Google tactics invade city's mayoral race I was waiting to see politicians get involved in search marketing. It seems the Toronto mayoral race is getting involved. So much so, they are bidding on each other's name.|W|P|200163359|W|P|globetechnology.com: News|W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/17/2003 03:31:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Traffick | Who is Sarah Williams of TrafficMagnet?
Have you ever received an email from Sarah Williams or Christine Hall of Traffic Magnet? If you have a website and an email address you probably have. We receive around an email a week like this from TrafficMagnet. They're also often forwarded to us from clients asking whether this service is worth using. Hopefully this puts the issue to rest for our clients and anyone else who stumbles across this page.
|W|P|200163326|W|P|Traffick | Who is Sarah Williams of TrafficMagnet?|W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/17/2003 08:54:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|What was on your company's complimentary lunch and dinner menu yesterday? Here is what the folks at Google had.|W|P|200161043|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/16/2003 01:42:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Have you ever been at work and you don't actually feel like doing any work, but you've surfed all your favorite web sites? Are you afraid you might get so bored that you will actually start doing work? Well, don't cave! I've got just the cure for those moments. Check out the AlltheWeb :: Last 10 queries. It shows you the last 10 things people searched for on AlltheWeb. You can hit the refresh button on at the bottom of the page to see the next 10 things, and then the next 10 things. It's like a little window into the psyche of searchers.|W|P|200157344|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/16/2003 12:14:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Have you learned from your mistakes as to why your site didn't get indexed in the last "Google Dance" and made all the necessary corrections? I hope so, because Google is out making its deep crawl right now: Googlebot/2.1 (+http://www.googlebot.com/bot.html)" is at it again. You can learn more about Googlebot here.|W|P|200156862|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/16/2003 12:00:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Google PageRank gets a lot of publicity in the search engine world. The basic premise is, the higher the PageRank a site has, the higher the site usually ranks in Google listings. Ultimately, this is not always the case, but that's another story. Here is a list at WebMasterWorld of the sites that have a perfect 10 of 10 PageRank. There aren't that many of them: The PR 10 Club|W|P|200156778|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/15/2003 09:27:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P| Article by SageRock.com The second tier pay per click engine, Search123, is growing fast thanks to quality listings, intense customer service, and a policy of sharing profits with those driving business their way.|W|P|200150149|W|P|Getting Personal with Pay Per Click Engine Search123.com|W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/15/2003 06:35:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|

LinkingMatters.com
A free report to help website owners and publishers plan effective linking strategies - includes guidelines, worksheets and links to over 50 articles on linking.

|W|P|200149297|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/14/2003 03:00:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|ROI Tracking Press Release - PPC Management
Once that click occurs, ConversionRuler.com tracks the click itself as well as other user actions that may occur, such as a catalog request, newsletter sign-up, or the dollar amount of any sale. Then, ConversionRuler.com sends a summary of those actions back to the advertiser and displays them in PPC Pro. In the end, the advertiser knows exactly how much has been spent on the purchase of clicks, and exactly what the results have been in terms of sales and other important actions. To date, no other company has offered a product with these capabilities at a price that is affordable for small and medium-sized businesses.
This might be confusing to understand, but basically, the new program will tell you the cost of each key phrase and then tell you if it is accomplishing the response you want. I've been waiting for this kind of service to come down in price and now it seems it has. While I haven't tried this service yet, this is the kind of pay per click tracking mechanism needed for any site that wants some sort of action from a visitor. In an industry that doesn't always have good news for the little guy, this is just that sort of news. We will probably begin seeing this level of tracking to permeate through the bid management tool sector. |W|P|200146411|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/14/2003 01:02:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Bid to keep Jazeera off the Internet
The Aljazeera Net (AJN), Qatar�s first web-based news portal, which faced repeated hacker threats has now come under new attack: from US-based lobbyists who are pressurising server owners there against hosting these websites.
Al Jazeera, the first completely uncensored TV channel in the Arab world, Al-Jazeera Net is based in Doha, Qatar, the tiny Gulf Arab state from where the United States has been conducting its military campaign in Iraq. This is something we need to watch. It appears now that our own government is not happy with how Al Jazeera is portraying the war. It technically would not be hard for a government agency to attack the servers so no one can read the news. I'm not saying that is what is happening. But I am saying that it is possible. Here are some more links about Al Jazeera so you can learn more about it: In defense of al-Jazeera Al Jazeera launches English service I would give you a link to http://english.aljazeera.net but it often doesn't work. |W|P|200145771|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/14/2003 11:05:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overture March search figures showing The Overture Inventory tool can be helpful in seeing how often a phrase is searched. It's a free and easy way to get a feel for what phrases relating to your industry are being searched. This thread from WMW gives you links to the Inventory tools for Overture in the U.S., UK, Germany, and France.|W|P|200145075|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/11/2003 01:24:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overture joins scumware company Gator
Gator's SearchScout program will deliver eight to ten Overture pay-per-click text ads in a pop-under window when a Gator user does a search on a selected keyword or phrase associated with those listings. Yes, the new windows will pop up even if you do a search at Google.
If you are advertising with any cost per click engine, you should have some awareness of where your listings are being published. With Overture's new partnership, you may very well be making your perspective customers more angry than anything.|W|P|200134160|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/11/2003 10:06:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Analytics boost Discovery.com�s search engine traffic by 300%, sales by 35% Search engine optimization works, folks. There are many people who see the whole process as something not unlike voodoo. But it appears even a site like Discovery.com needed some good old fashion SEO.|W|P|200132879|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/11/2003 10:01:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo! and Inktomi announce completion of acquisition Inktomi
"Bringing together a powerful combination of Yahoo!'s global audience and unmatched breadth and depth of services with Inktomi's leading search technology, will allow us to create one of the most relevant, comprehensive and highest quality search offerings on the Web for both our affiliate partners and Yahoo!," said Terry Semel, Yahoo! chairman and CEO.
|W|P|200132841|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/11/2003 08:55:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|OK. Now you all should take what I'm about to tell you very carefully. If not, you might just be yet another helpless sole that will be added the cult of the Google Dance. Virtually every month Google updates their entire database. Also every month, more and more people have become uncontrollably obsessed with this update. There are a couple reasons for this. First, and probably most importantly, it really has become a sort of cult. People that follow the forums closely see all of these people going mad when the update is going to happen and consequently the madness spreads to them. However, there are people (people who probably started the psychosis) that make their entire living on Google. These people (usually affiliate marketers) are typically running web sites where they sell the products or services of other companies. The affiliate marketers usually make money every time someone completes a desired action, like filling out a form, or the visitor buys a product. The companies who agree to pay the affiliate usually have little or no idea how these people are making all of this happen. Or it is too cost prohibitive to ramp up an optimization campaign. Let me show you an example of this. Check out this link: Google Search: diet pill Most of the top sites here are affiliates. If you go through any of the top sites and select a product to buy, you will see that the shopping cart goes to another site that has a referring id attached to the address. The site that referred the visitor to buy the product makes money on each sale - and it's probably a nice amount of money. It could easily be $20 per sale, no matter what the cost of the product was. The lifetime of that new customer will typically more than pay for it. Now you might be saying, "Man, I got to get involved in that scheme." It's not as easy as you might think. The people who run these 'diet pill' sites are top notch search engine marketers. And further more, those people are probably making "top-notch-search-engine-marketer" money. It is not uncommon for these affiliate marketers to make $10,000 -$40,000 PER MONTH! And many of those people are making more. The downside to all of this is, most of that money is coming from Google. If an update goes bad for these people they are suddenly out of money and they have gone from living the high life to looking for a regular job. So, now you know what all the fuss is about. If you feel like you are strong enough to fight off the sirens of the Google Dance, you can read the forum threads of this dance. They start here: Update Cassandra! Google Monthly Update (Incidentally, "Cassandra" is just a name the WebMasterWorld people chose. They name each update - much like hurricanes are named. Last month's update was named "Boston".) The update thread continues here: Update Cassandra! Google Monthly Update Part 2 Google Update Checker - so you can see if there are any changes in the databases. Google Update History - Here you can see when each update happened. For a while, people suspected the updates happened with the phases of the moon. The update goes back to July 2000. Google 4x4 Surfer - Brett created this so you can get a visual feel for the changes taking place during an update. Don't blame me if you find yourself up for nights on end next month because you are now a Google Dance convert. |W|P|200132362|W|P|The April Google Dance|W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/11/2003 07:48:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Google Search: link:http://www.yahoo.com You'll have to act fast to see this, this month. But here is what an update looks like over multiple domains at Google: www.google.com www2.google.com www3.google.com www-ex.google.com By checking the number of links on each of these domains you can see an update taking place right before your eyes.|W|P|200132017|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/10/2003 01:20:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo! Revises Estimates Upward, Reports Profit
The results, which beat analysts' expectations, continued a four-quarter profitability streak for the media company, which predicted it would do better this year than it had previously expected.
|W|P|200128053|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/10/2003 01:18:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Data Mining the Lycos 50 This is an interesting article by Chris Sherman at SearchEngineWatch. The Lycos 50 gives you a pretty good look at what is being searched. There are different sections of the Lycos 50. Lycos 50 with Aaron Schatz Their FAQ The Lycos 50 Elite - list of the most popular topics in the history of the Lycos 50. Lycos 50 Archives since 1999 Lycos 50 -- Lycos 50 Raw: 2003 Edition - this is their unedited list. It's pretty shocking that it's not that "shocking".|W|P|200128042|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/09/2003 10:23:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Search Engine Watch: Tips About Internet Search Engines & Search Engine Submission If you aren't familiar with this site, it is the definitive resource for search engine information. It it run by Danny Sullivan, a very nice guy. This is the first time the site has ever been redesigned. You can see the old design here.|W|P|200120918|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/07/2003 11:11:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo! Tour of New Search If you would like to learn more about the new Yahoo features they've got a tour you can take.|W|P|200109385|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/07/2003 10:42:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo Launching New Search Engine Yahoo (and MSN) really have it out for Google. Yahoo is currently underway in changing their search page. You can see an initial draft of it here. Also, here is a story about the update. Click here to read it.. They write:
In a challenge to rival Google Inc., Internet search provider Yahoo Inc. (YHOO) Monday unveiled changes to its technology to insert directly information such as maps, yellow-page listings and weather forecasts into search results.
It's almost like the war is giving Yahoo a bit of the pre-emptive bug. Don't forget:
In December, Yahoo signaled the need to develop its own search technology by buying Inktomi Inc. for $235 million.
Quoted from the same article.|W|P|200109204|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/05/2003 06:32:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overture signs deal with Gator | CNET News.com
Overture Services has signed a three-year deal with Gator to display its sponsored search listings on pages that pop under those of rival and partner Web sites... Search experts have criticized Gator's Search Scout for its potential to alienate Overture's established advertisers, as well as those of other search providers. Because advertisers of Overture and other services expect to reach people contextually through search--for instance, when they are in a particular mindset--they could be disappointed to realize that they are delivering pop-under ads that people often open well after the fact.
I was at a conference last month that had an Overture representative on a panel. The guy got barraged pretty hard with questions about Gator. There are many people who feel it crosses the line of ethics. |W|P|200102736|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/04/2003 02:14:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo is about to spend big money Rocky wonders if maybe they'll buy Google. That would be a shock. The conglomeration of all these engines, while a bit disturbing, is actually just helping put the search industry seriously on the map.|W|P|200098335|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/04/2003 02:09:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overture Jumps as Yahoo! Grabs Cash
A Yahoo! spokeswoman acknowledged Friday morning that the money could be used for "future potential acquisitions," but declined to be more specific about potential targets, such as Overture.
My bet was for Yahoo to buy a smaller company. But this might be Overture's lucky day.|W|P|200098300|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/04/2003 11:54:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Reuters - Amazon to feature Google search and ad links
Google's search functions won't replace Amazon's own internal search engine but rather complement it, Amazon said. For example, a user searching for music CDs will see links to concert ticketing agencies within their search results, a service that Amazon currently doesn't offer.
This continues to add to the big news of the search world. This deal is going to add to the competition Overture is probably feeling right now. |W|P|200097532|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/03/2003 02:38:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Would you like to work at a place that offers: Great culture and amazing perks such as massage therapy and all the snacks you can eat. Free gourmet lunches served daily. Spacious, colorful, fun work environment. Then you need a job at Google: Google�Job Opportunities |W|P|200092855|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/03/2003 02:27:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Singingfish Paid Inclusion
Do you have audio or video streams, mp3s, or other downloads you want the world to see? Would you like to easily and cost-efficiently distribute your multimedia to people who are eager to enjoy and buy your content? Sign up with Singingfish Paid Inclusion, and you'll reach the right people far more efficiently than with banner ads or email campaigns.
|W|P|200092765|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/03/2003 02:23:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Reuters | Microsoft Says to Take Aim at Google
"We do view Google more and more as a competitor. We believe that we can provide consumers with a better product and a better user experience. That's something that we're actively looking at doing," Bob Visse, director of marketing for Microsoft's MSN Internet services division, said.
So, does that mean Microsoft wants to buy Google or just bury them, competition-wise? It will be fun to see.|W|P|200092744|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/03/2003 02:17:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Microsoft Denies Paid-Search Plans
Overture Services and Microsoft denied an analyst's report on Wednesday that said Microsoft would develop its own paid-search service that would put its relationship with Overture in jeopardy.
|W|P|200092714|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/03/2003 01:07:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Have you ever signed up for the distributed computing project, SETI@home? Well now you can help LookSmart crawl the web. Google has 10,000 servers crawling the web. If this program catches on, LookSmart could have 1 million. You can read about it here: SearchDay - Help LookSmart Crawl the Web - 3 April 2003 Or you can go directly to their site here: Grub.|W|P|200092306|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 02:49:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|NYPOST.COM Business: Technology YAHOO! TO BUY U.K. ONLINE PAY-FOR-PLACEMENT AD FIRM By BEN SILVERMAN
"If you look at Yahoo!'s operating plan, they want to double revenue per user from 35 cents in 2001 to 70 cents. And search is the company's biggest strategic initiative and biggest growth area," Weinstein said.
This article is just a rumor that everyone denies. But... As written earlier today, Overture has got to be on its toes. Yahoo and MSN want more of the revenue of cost per click advertising. Buying an engine probably makes the most sense - time-wise and cost-wise.|W|P|200087052|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 02:18:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Where Are They Now? Danny Sullivan really hit the news hard today. This interesting article takes a look at where all the engines are today.|W|P|200086860|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 02:15:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Google And The Big Brother Nomination Article explores allegations by Google Watch that Google is a threat to privacy Danny Sullivan takes each accusation one at a time:
Accusation 1: Google's immortal cookie Accusation 2: Google records everything they can Accusation 3: Google retains all data indefinitely Accusation 4: Google won't say why they need this data Accusation 5: Google hires spooks Accusation 6: Google's toolbar is spyware Accusation 7: Google's cache copy is illegal Accusation 8: Google is not your friend Accusation 9: Google is a privacy time bomb
Google has taken over SO much of web search that people are starting some pretty shocking conspiracy theories. But it's not as bad as one might think: Search Privacy At Google & Other Search Engines |W|P|200086839|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 01:33:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Yahoo! News - Al-Jazeera most sought-after in Internet searches
The Web portal Lycos reported that "Al-Jazeera" and variant spellings became its top search term last week, with three times more searches than "sex."
|W|P|200086609|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 01:29:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Report: Microsoft eyes paid search | CNET News.com
Microsoft is significantly stepping up its investment in search technology, including paid models, in a move that could eventually supplant its relationship with Overture Services, according to a new research report.
"They" say you should never base your business model on a couple big fish. A significant part of Overture's business comes from MSN and Yahoo. But it makes sense for those two properties to either buy another cost per click engine or develop something from the ground up. If Overture gets too big they likely would look at a property like FindWhat.com - leaving Overture stranded without their big fish buddies. This field is a hot bed of activity. It's fun to watch what's going to happen next.|W|P|200086586|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 01:03:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|

This is why I like NetTracker better than any other statistical program:

  • The program enables you to track any marketing effort specifically to a desired outcome.
    • This is handy when doing online pay per click advertisement.
    • You can see what phrases are drawing in visitors that are doing your desired action and which ones are not.
    • Ex. Your Overture phrase �cnc machine tool� gets people to fill out your form for more information. It costs you $0.47 per click.
    • Ex. Your Overture phrase �machine tool� doesn�t get anyone to fill out your form. It costs you $0.80 per click.
    • Knowing this information saves you a lot of money.
  • This can also be used to track offline promotions as well
    • You can implement a direct response mail campaign that the call to action is to go to a specific page of your web site.
    • Ex: You could do an A/B test where one mailing directs people to www.yoursite.com/info.html and another mailing goes to www.yoursite.com/moreinfo.html
    • You can track the number of people who do your most wanted response from each mailing. Knowing this enables you to focus on the mailing that works and then distribute it to a much wider audience.
  • NetTracker also enables you to tie your online database to a �data conduit� so you can track the movement of specific people through your site.
    • The NetTracker Data Conduits enable you to pull data from external databases (such as MySQL, ODBC, Oracle, PostgreSQL, and Sybase databases) into NetTracker reports. For example, using a data conduit you can view directly in each NetTracker report each visitor�s name, company, address, phone number, and the names of the products that were viewed.
    • This means if Joe Smith fills out your online form and the data is inserted into a database, every time Joe comes to your site you will be able to see how he maneuvered through your site.
    • Knowing this information lets you see what interests Joe. Knowing this enables you to interact with him on a much more knowledgeable level.
    • This information can be very useful when creating a proposal for Joe�s company.
|W|P|200086432|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/02/2003 07:06:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Today's News on the Net from Business Wire
Teoma Provides Search Results to Mamma.com: Prominent Meta-Search Engine Now Includes Teoma Search Technology to Better its Internet Search Tool
|W|P|200084644|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/01/2003 04:49:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Google Technology
The technology behind Google's great results As a Google user, you're familiar with the speed and accuracy of a Google search. How exactly does Google manage to find the right results for every query as quickly as it does? The heart of Google's search technology is PigeonRank�, a system for ranking web pages developed by Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin at Stanford University.
hehe. April Fools!|W|P|200081662|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/01/2003 03:52:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|SamSpade.org While I'm on to cool information available, my friend Greg Boser pointed me to this site. You can find a lot of pretty amazing info about a site here.|W|P|200081286|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/01/2003 03:51:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|AlltheWeb.com: results for "http://www.sagerock.com" Brett Tabke at WMW(WebMasterWorld.com) made this interesting discovery. If you put your full domain name in the AlltheWeb.com search bar you get a lot of interesting info. The link above is for SageRock. It shows this: Find all 219 external web pages that link to "http://www.sagerock.com" Find all 42 external web pages that contain the term "http://www.sagerock.com" Find all 79 web pages indexed under "http://www.sagerock.com" Discover who owns "sagerock.com" See how "www.sagerock.com" used to look Powerful stuff!|W|P|200081278|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/01/2003 03:36:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overtue Penny Bids Join the Annals of History - Overture now starts the bidding at $0.10 for every bid. They have a $50 maximum cost per click bid spend right now. You might think that is an outrageous amount, but I see more and more industries doing insane bidding. Increasingly, you have to know what you're doing in this game. If you aren't tracking every single phrase (bid to conversion) you probably are just throwing money away.|W|P|200081189|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/01/2003 03:32:00 PM|W|P|Sage|W|P|Overture Expanding Globally With MSN Korea - Some people laugh when we say Overture is taking over the world. But it's really not that far off. They are pushing really hard to make a big impact worldwide. Concerning Korea, the article writes: "With MSN sewed up in Korea, Overture has a solid footprint for its official launch there in the next few months. Earlier this year, Overture signed a three-year deal with Daum Communications, which runs the top portal in Korea, to use its paid listings. These two deals, combined with a pact with smaller portal Dreamwiz, would give it a reach 92 percent in the Korean market, Overture said." - Pretty impressive!|W|P|200081153|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com4/01/2003 09:51:00 AM|W|P|Sage|W|P|What SEOs Expect From Their Clients - free search engine optimization articles A good match of client/provider relations is really tricky. This article might give you some insight in what to look for when pursuing a search marketing professional.|W|P|91774809|W|P||W|P|sagerock@gmail.com