Should You Delete Your Google Web History

Google’s new privacy policy kicks in on March 1st. According to their announcement, the new policy makes possible for Google to integrate their different products more closely. So, instead of having a separate privacy policy for Youtube, Calendar, Gmail, Search, Analytics, Picasa, Docs, Adwords, etc etc there will be one account and one policy covering …

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Wasting Time or Improving the User Experience?

I’ve become a fan of cohort analysis! Cohorts provide a great way to focus on product development and the effect our RnD is having on customers. Cohort analysis tells us if we’re making the product better or just adding clutter and obsolete features. Often it would be the best to “simply” focus on the existing …

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Right Timing for Email Marketing

You’d better send your marketing emails weekly on Saturday mornings. Then it will get the most clicks and least unsubscribes. That is what the statistics tell us. MailChimp, the email-marketing service, scanned through 10 billion emails as part of their Email Genome Project. Their findings were surprising. Dan Zarrella of HubSpot put together an interesting …

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A Groupon Deal Analysis

Stephen Joyce wrote a great post on how Groupon advertising works. He offers insight into Groupon’s impact on sales and profitability from a local small business’s perspective. The bottom line is: you’re gonna lose! Groupon is the 2-year-old group buying service that has received a great amount of attention (and a billion $ in venture …

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99,9% of Display Ads Are Not Clicked

Are the websites relying on display ads doomed to fail? Only 0,1% of banners get clicks. Most people downright ignore banners altogether. Compare this with search-related ads’ 35x higher click rate and it becomes obvious why so many online media are resorting to gigantic panorama banners and other desperate measures in order to increase their …

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High Margin = Poor End User Experience

Tripadvisor really knows how to monetize travel. And according to a post on Techcrunch: “It’s more or less the worst experience in the world for an end user.” The worst end user experience somehow generates spectacular growth: Tripadvisor’s revenue for Q3/2010 grew by 40% from 2009 (.pdf). It means their revenue for 2010 will be …

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Social Media in Russia

Russia is big in social media. According to Natalya Koroleva from Редкая марка (a marketing agency in Moscow): Russia ranks first in the world in social networks involvement Huh? 1st? Don’t know if that can be true. But after Natalya’s presentation I’m convinced that the russian Internet or Runet is worth a closer look. It’s …

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The Best Location for Your Hotel

Google Maps and hotel data fit together extremely well. Seeing the hotels on a city map along with the most interesting sights (and airports etc.) makes choosing the most suitable accommodation a breeze. Instead of scrolling through long lists of hotels ordered by popularity or profitability, you can pick the hotel next to your favorite …

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Google Follows Microsoft’s Lead?

Google has been reported to be in talks to pay $1 billion to acquire ITA Software – a software company specialized in travel industry. ITA’s customers include Kayak, Tripadvisor, and a number of major airlines. The acquisition would enable Google to become the metasearch for travel information such as flights and accommodation. Considering Google’s vast …

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