**************************************
SearchWrite SearchNews
Caching Better Results in Search Marketing
Vol II, Issue 033 9.29.05
**************************************

CACHING THE LATEST RESULTS IN SEARCH MARKETING....

@@@@@@@@@
Google Debs as On-Demand TV Network
@@@@@@@@@

In another first for Google, the company is offering an "on demand" streamed cybercast of the UPN show, "Everybody Hates Chris" (based on the life of comedian Chris Rock). The  television program can be viewed on your computer desktop via Google's embedded video player. "This is the first time Google users can watch an episode of a brand new television show on Google Video," said Susan Wojcicki, VP of product management for Google. 

<http://video.google.com/chris.html>

@@@@@@@@@
"Roll Your Own" Search Engine with "ROLLYO"
@@@@@@@@@ 

Rollyo allows you to create and publish your own personal search engine, based on a compilation of websites you choose to include in the search. What's more, Rollyo gives birth to the term "Designer Search Engine" since it invites users to try out the custom search engine compilaions  of such celebrities as Debra Messing, Arianna Huffington, and Diane Von Furstenberg who have been dubbed Rollyo "High Rollers."

To set up (or “roll”) a search, you are asked to pick a category, name up to 20 websites (for indexing), and tag the search. A search can be public or private — public searches are ranked by popularity and listed on the site. You can also share searches with others directly.

In the words of a Rollyo publicist, "Rollyo puts the power of Yahoo! Search in your hands, by giving you the tools to create your own personal search engines - with no programming required. All you have to do is pick the sites you want to search, and we’ll create a custom search engine for you."

By the way, your trusty editor was one of the initial Rollyo beta testers and sworn to secrecy...until this week's public debut that is!


@@@@@@@@@
Paid Local Search Market to Triple in 2006
@@@@@@@@@ 

The paid local search advertising market will nearly triple to $907 million in 2006, according to research firm Borrell Associates.

In its annual study of the local online ad market, Borrell Associates also found that spending on local search will far outpace spending on local online display ads. Local search advertising is expected to reach $4.07 billion by 2010, accounting for nearly half of all local online advertising.  Overall, local online ad spending will jump from $4.1 billion this year to a projected $5.7 billion in 2006, according to the report.


@@@@@@@@@
Interest Peaks with Position
@@@@@@@@@ 

This week's AlertBox newsletter, authored by Sun Microsystems Usability Expert, Jakob Nielsen, explains how search engine users click the results listings' top entry much more often than can be explained by relevancy ratings alone. 

Researchers at Cornell University found that 42% of users clicked the top search hit,  compared to 8% of users who clicked the second hit. Nothing brand spanking new there. What is interesting is the researchers’ second test which swapped the order of the top two search hits. In other words, what was originally the number two entry in the search engine's prioritization ended up on top, and the top entry was relegated to second place.

In this swapped condition, users still clicked on the top entry 34% of the time and on the second hit 12% of the time.

This study goes far to address why users tend to click on the top hit. There are two plausible explanations:

    * Search engines are so good at judging relevancy that they almost always place the best hit on top.
    * Users click the top hit not because it's any better, but simply because it's first. This might be due to sheer laziness (after all, you start from the top) or because users assume the search engine places the best hit on top, whether that's actually true or not. 


@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Vivisimo to Power Search on FirstGov
@@@@@@@@@@@@@

Vivisimo has been awarded a federal government contract to provide search techology to the U.S. Government's FirstGov.gov portal. 

As part of the agreement, Vivisimo teamed with Microsoft's MSN Search Web service to provide search results for the government domain.

The announcement also points out that Vivisimio plans to use its own crawling technology to develop focused/targeted crawls of some government (federal and local) material and then combine and cluster with MSN results. 


@@@@@@@@@
Searching for a Human? Try these IVR Phone System Shortcuts
@@@@@@@@@

https://www.quickbase.com/db/bam6rdiey?a=q&qid=5


@@@@@@@@@
SEO Tip of the Week:  Know Your KPI's - Key Performance Indicators
@@@@@@@@@

This week we're getting back to Web traffic basics by understanding where to focus your attention even before you optimize your first keyword. Learning the ABC's of Web Analytics actually starts with K-P-I.


A Key Performance Indicator, or KPI for short, is a quantifiable website measurement that reflects whether you are successfully meeting or falling short of your websites business goals. One KPI that is a tell-tale sign of successful ecommerce sales and lead generation strategies is "Page views per session." You calculate it by combining the number of visitors by the number of pages viewed.  So if 1,000 visitors viewed 2,000 pages the mean page views per visit KPI would be 2, (2,000 / 1000 = 2).

If it takes five pages for your visitors to buy something then your goal should be to get an average KPI of at least five page views per session. Otherwise it means that the vast majority of your visitors aren’t going deep enough into the process. If you have a low page views per session KPI then your next step is to use your analytics system to show you where the problem lies. 

It may be that you’re driving the wrong kind of visitors, such as people who aren’t interested in your offer. It may be that you don’t have enough compelling content to keep visitors interested. It may be that your shopping cart has a problem with abandonment or your lead generation process is too long. In all cases, your "page views per session" KPI is the first warning signal and you can monitor it quite easily.


**********************
Catch past installments of SearchWrite SearchNews in the
Archives.

http://www.searchwrite.com/Pages/searchnews.htm

**********************

You have been reading "SearchWrite SearchNews," a weekly compilation of the best in Internet Search Tips, Techniques & Technology published at http://www.searchwrite.com.  To subscribe, send e-mail to searchnews @ searchwrite.com with the word "subscribe" in the SUBJECT: line: The request must be sent from the account location you wish to add to the list.  To unsubscribe, send e-mail to searchnews @ searchwrite.com with the word "unsubscribe" (no quotes) in the SUBJECT: line.  Address questions, comments, requests, submissions, etc. to larry @ searchwrite.com

© 2005 SearchWrite All Rights Reserved  Any all other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Contact SearchWrite for Seattle Search Marketing and SEO Services including Organic Search Engine Optimization, Pay per Click (PPC) campaigns, Google AdWords Support, Yahoo Search Marketing Campaigns, Shopping Engine Feeds, Copy and Landing Page Testing, and more.