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Insight, Information and Inspiration on women's careers, business, technology and the Industry.
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Everyone wants great search engine rankings, but most still don’t understand how to get there. (And there are those who think they know and don’t want to listen to anyone else…but that’s a whole other story.)
For the rest of us who always want to learn more, when it comes to natural or organic search engine rankings (as opposed to the kind you pay for, like pay per click), there are a number of issues to consider.
Back in the day, SEO (search engine optimization) copywriting wasn’t something most businesses even knew they were looking for. But all that has changed, and understandably so – these days, who isn’t trying to crack the Google code and catapult themselves and their business to the top of the search engine pages??
Most people do not (please don’t be offended) know how to write good, effective SEO copy – they just don’t. Good SEO copy needs to “speak” to two audiences – the target market who ultimately needs to make a buying decision AND the search engines. Both need to be spoken to within the same copy. And that same copy needs to do its job so well that both groups think that that copy is directed right at them.
A tall order, huh?
Learn more specifically what you need to know about good SEO writing for your website and other online marketing in my next blog entry.
I’m constantly scanning the web for innovations and trends, and whenever something catches my eye, I try to mention it in this blog. Recently I’ve noticed an emerging trend about the sites that have caught my eye regarding user-generated content online: User-generated content has moved from being supplementary information to being the main attraction of the site. Sites have moved from using customers’ content as an aid while buying products to now making the customers’ content the actual product for sale on the site.
Continue Reading “User-Generated Content Moves from Side Show to Center Stage”
 Many of us are watching the Chinese market and trying to figure out how to play in that space. I’ve even started taking classes in Chinese (though I must admit I’m still working on my tones). If you’re like me, you’re on the edge of your seat to stop reading about what’s going on in China and instead start experiencing the culture firsthand.
For those of us eager to learn and experience more, I wanted to share a fantastic opportunity: the Rethink China! 2008 sponsored by Moving Target Research Group. This cultural immersion trip gives you access to anthropologists, designers, and other experts in the field. The itinerary looks amazing! You’ll spend 5 days in Beijing, 4 days in Shanghai, 2 in Chongging, Dalian, or Shaoxing, and 3 final days in Hong Kong. It’s a chance to go on an amazing trip that has a huge pay off in your career as well. They’re still finalizing the dates, but tentatively the trip will be June 6 through 19.
In each city, you’ll go on field trips and participate in workshops. According to the website’s description, the program will focus on things such as:
- What’s going on with the so-called “middle class”?
- What about brands?
- What do households care about? How do they differ?
- What about recreation and leisure?
- Product usage in China: Basic things to know (pre-purchase, purchase, transport, sharing in-home, etc.).
- Networking with China-focused colleagues in and outside of your field.
Of course, such an incredible program comes at an incredible price. Early registration opens March 17, 2008 and is US$7995 per person. After April 15, it jumps to US$8995.
And if you happen to know of any place to apply for scholarships to attend something like this, please share. I REALLY want to go! 
Cybersouce came out with an Online Fraud Report that you can download for FREE (registration is required). The report offers “expert analysis reviews aggregate data as well as cuts by company size. Over 18 pages of statistics, analysis, charts and graphs.“
Managing online fraud continues to be a significant and growing cost for merchants of all sizes. Total losses from online payment fraud in the U.S. and Canada have steadily increased as eCommerce continues to grow. What will the trend be this year?
The industry’s most respected online fraud study analyzes benchmark data and practices you can use including:
• Detailed fraud metrics (fraud, chargebacks, credit issues)
• Management practices and tools used/planned
• Process mapping and risk management pipelines
• Budgets (overall and how allocated)
Download your copy now >>
Last Wednesday I attended a wonderful presentation of a case study that chronicled how Nokia moved away from having many separate websites for their Nseries products and consolidated them into one centralized site. Two years ago, Nokia hired the consulting firms R/GA and Sachs Insights to develop the creative approach for a new consolidated site that addressed the global marketplace.
The presentation Global Research Case Study – Nokia Nseries Website Development was presented by NYC Usability Professionals Association. The team traveled around the globe to conduct concept and usability testing. The international cities included:
- New York
- London
- Berlin
- Shanghai
- Madrid
- Istanbul
- Moscow
- New Delhi
- Jakarta
I was very interested to hear what they had to say because over the last couple of years I have gotten away from designing primarily for a global audience. During my five and a half years with IBM, the needs of the global marketplace influenced every decision I made. I designed layouts that accommodated German translations that were a third longer, focused on search engine optimization for Japanese characters, and architected forms that accounted for bidirectional languages like Arabic. But now that I work at Barnes & Noble.com, where our customer base is predominantly American, I was excited to peer over the wall to see what, if anything, had changed in the international web space.
Continue Reading “Can a Single Nokia Website Meet the Needs of Worldwide Users?”
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