Google’s Product Bid for DIY Wallet Share
“Google has been on a tear this past month in the DIY realm,” notes Mike Blumenthal in his bi-monthly conversation with David Mihm. “Three major product rollouts in a 30-day span; Websites, Posts and now SMS messaging. And Google only needs uptake on one of them to get a chance to sell Adwords Express.”
Street Fight Daily: Yelp’s Revenue Up 40%, Amazon to Launch Shopping Channel
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… Yelp Swings to Loss, But Revenue Jumps 40% (Wall Street Journal)… Amazon Brings Ecommerce to Fire TV and Prepares to Launch Its Own Shopping Channel (GeekWire)… New Mobile Search Startup Focuses on Apps (New York Times)…
How Google Is Fixing Its Small Business Problem
A few years ago, the paradox threatened to undermine the fundamentals of one of Google’s core revenues-generating products, AdWords. In 2011, the churn rate in its search advertising product spiked, leaving managers, including Joe DeMike, now the head of the customer experience lab at Google, scuttling to find a solution…
Street Fight Daily: First Data’s Turnaround, Offline Sellers’ Search Spending
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal publishing, marketing, commerce, and technology… KKR Banks on Bisignano Forging Apple Deal at First Data (Bloomberg)… More than Half of Top 25 Google AdWords Spenders Sell Mostly Offline (Screenwerk)… The Case Against Everything on Demand (Recode)…
Street Fight Daily: Netherlands Hyperlocal Success, Mobile Adwords
A roundup of today’s big stories in hyperlocal content, commerce, and technology...
In the Netherlands, a Patch-like Hyperlocal Network Is Nearing Profit (Nieman Lab)…
Dennis Crowley On Reinventing Foursquare (TechCrunch)…
Google’s AdWords System Goes Mobile (Forbes)…
Infographic: Retailers Were Second-Largest Source of Google Ad Revenue in 2011
A new infographic released by search marketing software provider WordStream looks at the breakdown of industries that account for the 96 percent of Google’s income that comes from keyword advertising. While the finance and insurance industry took the top spot, retailers and general merchandise companies (including small local business owners) came in second…
SMBs and Self-Service: Are We There Yet?
The question of whether or when SMBs are going to self-provision online marketing has been a topic of intense debate for at least a decade. Signs now point to the emergence of solutions simple enough to make self-service viable within three to five years. Ultimately, rather than a do-it-yourself vs. do-it-for-me dichotomy, we’re likely to see an increasingly stratified local market that looks a lot like a three-cabin airplane seating chart.