On Fri 7th October I gave a talk at Archant’s Digital Suffolk event as an introduction to conversion rate optimisation, and the principles of gaining more customers from your existing traffic. Here’s the full presentation: How to turn visitors into customers
After yesterday’s “shock” news that Google has accused Bing of copying its search results (and Bing basically said – so what?) Brett Tabke of PubCon / WMW took up the mantle of those of us thinking “But Google’s hardly whiter than white?”
His comments were so good I thought they should be archived for posterity.
Did Bing whine when Google copied their homepage background look-n-feel?
Did Bing whine when Google copied Bings' 'mouse over preview' option?
Did Yahoo whine when Google copied the "Instant" serps action that a Yahoo intern coded in 2004?
Did Bing whine (atleast in public) about Google buying ITA to compete and control Bing's Farecast option?
Did Bing whine when Google added the copycat look of the left side serp menu?
Did Bing whine whing when Google copied their image search results form and function?
Did Bing whine when Google essentially copied Bings entire SERP look-n-feel?
But @ you guys (Bing/G) copy the ENTIRE web, Why wouldn't they copy you as a signal too!? They'd be incompetent if they didn't.
Then there is that little bit about the book - umm scanning - ya, lets calling scanning - not copying - not infringement...scanning.
And Google cynic Graywolf also tweeted:
I love how google said for years they couldnt manually promote sites ... but today we learned thats not really true
Everything that’s too good to be true usually is either too short lived (follow links on Twitter posts) or hastily removed as soon as it become public.
It seems that the same thing has happened with Facebook pages. Previously Facebook pages used to give follow links to those happy to create FBML applications, which meant Page status updates could also be gamed
Taking a look around Facebook pages today, I noticed all these previously followed links appear to be nofollowed, adding an “untrusted link” state to the code.
So while for some it was “make hay while the sun shines” it looks like the Facebook links will now go the same way as so many social media sites such as Digg, Twitter and others.
I love my iPhone, really I do. But recently there have been several things that I’ve come to notice that really try my patience. There are the little things like the number of key taps it takes to actually make a call, the random slow downs and various others, but my most recent bug-bear is that iPhone can’t edit the calendar assigned to an event. Yup, that’s right folks, as soon as a calendar event is created using all the UI goodness of the wheels for choosing the time to make you warm and fuzzy, you’re done, tying it to a calendar for life. Of course, this is an exageration and you could just walk on home and edit the calendar on your Mac, or Google calendar if it’s synced that way. But no, I really wouldn’t mind being able to move a calendar event from a “Work” calendar to a “Personal” one if I’ve screwed it up; heck, maybe even back again if I’m feeling particularly wild.
Luckily, I’m not going (more) mad or noticing this iPhone calendar bug – or “non-chargable feature” as I like to call it. I know I should be more careful and remember to set the calendar when I create an event, but I don’t. I forget and I get mad at myself because it’s usually easier to delete and create a new event rather than remember to log in later to do it. For an “enterprise ready” phone, the iPhone has a got a lot of quirks – sorry “non-chargeable features”…
Yes, the question really is that simple. I was on a WIFI connection and sat with my iPhone and thought, “I’ll just go check the price on that 13″ MBP I really want” for the umpteenth time and it came to me – why doesn’t Apple have an app for its own retail store? It seems I’m not alone in thinking it would be a good idea, even with the quick and dirty CSS option of a dedicated iPhone UI as Amazon does, it doesn’t have to be a full blown app. (Although I’d prefer that myself, I’m all for offline browsing.)
Not only would having a dedicated app allow us Apple fan-boys (self-confessed, but I admit their failings too) to geek out at every available opportunity, but imagine the upselling and extra features you could include. Here are a few I thought about off the top of my head:
- The ability to watch, or even stream keynotes
- General Apple news feeds
- Latest product spotlight integrated in a similar way to the main site
- Time bounds offers and specials exclusively via the app
- Make it transactional
- Start wishlists of products and accessories
- Product monitoring for price or spec changes
- Highlight refurbished products more easily
- Account management and shipping information for all outstanding orders wherever placed
- Account recognition, so takes you directly to the Education store if you’re signed in
Basically, that was just thinking about this for a few minutes, I’m sure the very clever people at Apple can think of other, (probably better) features. My point really is that for a company that knows the dedication of its fan base, alongside their heavy promotion of the app store concept and iPhone product, I just find it a little odd they don’t “practice what they preach” and release an app themselves.
It does seem that some companies are making good progress with tapping into the mobile market, with Ocado’s home shopping app receiving good initial reviews. I’m not suggesting that every retailer flags down this bandwagon and hops on board, but for Apple, it certainly feels like a natural and obvious fit.
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