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| Insider
Report: WebmasterWorld PubConference |
 Visit
the WebProWorld forums to discuss the
latest search trends!
Visit WebProWorld for all the coverage of the Search
Engine Strategies in New York.
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| Featured Site for Review: |
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A new e-commerce community
site for a San Fran firm.
Tye-Dye clothing for kids ...
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Search Pets. Google representative Craig Silverstein offered his bizarre
vision of the future of search during one Search
Engine Strategies session. In a speech closely resembling a Star Trek
episode, he shared his new prediction of search moving towards the existence of
search pets hundreds of years from now. These search pets would not necessarily
be like a pet dog, but more like "a genetically engineered beast."
Adding to the science fiction, he believes search pets will be able to understand
emotions and allow people to search for things that aren't necessarily facts.
Helping increase and enhance communication, search pets will understand the way
the world works and the way humans interact. Search pets will be able to determine
and untangle what searchers mean politically and socially.
Google Brain Implants? If the search pets aren’t far out enough for
you, Silverstein also shared his believe that search function brain implants may
be in store in the distant future. Hundreds of years from now, the world of search
as we know it will be completely redefined.
"We'll still search for facts," he says, "but in all likelyhood the facts
will be contained in a brain implant."
Hmmm… so, how would you feel about having Google implanted into your brain?
See what people
on WebProWorld are saying about these predictions…
It’s Official: Site Match is Here. Ever since whispers
about Overture’s new paid inclusion product were leaked at last week’s WebmasterWorld
PubConference, e-Business professionals have been wondering when the service would
be officially released.
 Overture’s
Director of Strategic Alliances Dan Boberg announced the wait is over with the
official launch of Site Match this week.
Yahoo, which owns Overture, introduced Site Match as part of its new Yahoo! Search
technology. With Site Match, users pay an annual subscription fee to submit their
URLs for review. This does not guarantee inclusion into the Yahoo index; however,
Site Match does promise more exposure for users, claiming the sites accepted will
reach 75-80% of Internet users and 50% of searchers.
The Site Match Stink. Site Match does have its downside. The program
can be very expensive, charging $49.00 for the first URL submission plus $10 -
$29 for every additional URL submitted. This doesn’t even include the cost-per-click
fee, which is fifteen to thirty cents per click and varies depending on the industry.
 A
woman named Jackie Jahosky with Specialty-Lights.com
stood up to Yahoo by telling representative Tim Mayer that the pricing is going
to kill small businesses. This resulted in the audience applauding her with claps
and cheers.
Similar sentiment has already been shown on WebProWorld,
a popular forum for e-Business professionals and experts.
"I thought you only get sticker shock from new cars," said Andy Timmins of
EveryContractor.com, "I think I will
pass for now!"
Marlin Fischer of Fischer Enterprises, Inc., agreed. "I'm not taking out a second
mortgage!"
Danny Sullivan responded by saying that eventually everything's going to head
towards the paid format. Keep a heads up for that, he says.
It's understandable that as the search engine grows it wants to make more money
but you have to wonder if this will end up becoming a repeat of what happened
to Netscape…
Stay Away from "Skanky Links" Yesterday's Advanced Link Building session
featured WebGuerrilla President Greg Boser, an infamous Google spammer, on the
same panel as Google's Director of Technology, Craig Silverstein.
Silverstein, who’s been with Google for five years, has seen the evolution of
the importance of links. He said a page’s importance equals the aggregate importance
of pages linking into it. He also said this method is highly spam-resistant. Of
course, this isn’t anything new but these words of wisdom are refreshing to hear
from Google.
 "You
want sites with high Page Ranks to link to you," Silverstein reminded everyone,
"and not to other people.
He recommends using descriptive anchor text and steering away from phrases such
as "Click Here." Get similar sites to link back to your site, attract links with
relevant content, and most importantly, he said, "avoid anything that looks skanky."
This includes link farms and anything deceptive. "Don’t link into bad neighborhoods,"
he warned, calling these types of links "the
Dark Side of the Force."
Greg Boser's three goals of link building.
1. Do whatever it takes to avoid reciprocal linking. Ideally, just have other
sites link to your site.
2. Develop an inbound link structure that will help your organic search listings
3. Develop something that continues after a person quits promoting a particular
campaign. This includes link-building programs through content syndication, web
tools, or desktop applications.
For more hints and tips from Greg Boser and other experts view
the discussions on WebProWorld, your forum for e-Business news and information.
Enjoy!
Garrett French + The WebProNews Team
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What
Causes Customers To Buy On Impulse
 By
User Interface Engineering
 The
Common Wisdom Says It’s Price. We define an impulse purchase as a spontaneous
purchase – an item that a shopper hadn’t planned to buy when they began their
shopping task. Both The Yankee Group and Ernst & Young conducted surveys where
they asked people why they would make impulse purchases on the web. According
to The Yankee Group (November, 2000), 75% of survey respondents indicated that
a "special sale price" would motivate them to make a spontaneous purchase. The
second most influential factor was free shipping (49% of respondents). Ernst &
Young (January, 2000) reported that 88% of impulse purchases were because shoppers
found products that were offered at good price [or] on sale. According to these
surveys the common wisdom is clear: impulse buys are price-related and not due
to any specific design or architecture of the web site.
Watching Buyers Buy ...
 Read
the Full Article
About the Author:
User Interface Engineering is a leading research,
training, and consulting firm specializing in web site and product usability.
Jared M. Spool founded the company back in 1988 and has built UIE
into the largest organization of its kind in the world. With our in-depth research
findings based on user observation, we empower development teams to create usable
web sites that increase customer satisfaction and loyalty.
You can find additional articles at http://www.UIE.com.
© Copyright 2003, User Interface Engineering.
All rights reserved. Reprinted with permission |
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