ONLINE HOLIDAY SHOPPING: Cyber Mondays
Earn Big
What Black Friday is to the Malls, Cyber Mondays
are to the Internet. This online holiday spending phenomenon
was formally acknowledged in 2005 by the National Retail Federation.
It is the spike in online buying that occurs each Monday following
Thanksgiving, up until the Monday before Christmas.
Research at the Direct Marketing Association
(DMA) reveals that Cyber Monday buying spikes continue to grow
at a significant pace year after year. Out of convenience,
and possibly lack of time, people are buying online, while
at work. Full
Story at DMA Direct...>>
Long Tail Search: It's the Little Words
that Count
A search phrase we're hearing a lot lately is "the
long tail of search," a term first coined by Wired editor
Chris Anderson when he published his article on the topic in
October 2004, and later released a book with the title. At
the recent DMA07 conference in Chicago search marketers were
vocal in using “long tail” in their discussions
about best search optimization practices in 2007.
What’s a Long Tail?
Long tail keywords are terms that are less popular, so less
competitive, but when used consistently over-time, they can
be responsible for driving significant levels of website
traffic, equal to that of the most popular, competitive keywords.
Long tail phrases are multi-phrase search queries
used by visitors to find your website. These seemingly less-valuable
words are much more targeted than general keywords and because
of their specificity, they are more representative of buyers
nearing the purchase stage of their buying process.
In fact, buyers arriving at your site as the
result of a multi-phrase search term have been shown to have higher
conversion rates, buy more, and buy at higher prices: MORE>>
brandUNITY
FRIENDS IN THE NEWS:
Though the holidays bring family members together,
communication challenges are sometimes never more apparent.
If you'd like to move through this season with greater ease
than previous years, consider taking a holiday communication
workshop from Kathleen Macferren, a leading non-violent communication
expert.
Kathleen Macferren, founder of Strength
of Connection, LLC, is an in-demand keynote speaker and seminar
leader who travels around the world, addressing community groups,
prisons, churches, and hospitals. She focuses on integrating
personal development with social change to bring about constructive
exchange and conflict resolution.
She will be offering several workshops for individuals,
families, and youth, beginning November 30. The first workshop, "Communicating
Across Difference," addresses the dimensions of diversity.
Two other trainings offered in December are for adults and
youth, creating connection and mutual respect through proven,
non-violent techniques.
To learn more, or to register for the workshops,
visit the Strength
of Connection website.
Dale Terwedo of Terwedo
Financial Services, one of brandUNITY's trusted advisors
at Vistage, writes a regular financial column for the Snohomish
County Business Journal.
In his recent eNews he reports that despite
the slumping housing market, rising oil prices and a weak dollar,
the U.S. economy will not slip into recession, according to
University of Michigan economists. Experts report that there
is enough resilience in the economy to keep output expanding.
The Fed's actions to contain credit crises are lending support
to economic activity.
That's great news for Q1 2008. comScore,
Inc. (NASDAQ: SCOR), a leader in measuring the digital
world, released the first in a series of twice weekly holiday
season e-commerce updates, revealing that the first 18 days
of the holiday season saw more than $7 billion in online
retail spending, a 17-percent gain versus the corresponding
days last year.
Here's to all of us wrapping up 2007 strong!
We here at brandUNITY wish all of you a happy and prosperous
Q4!
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