I have written in the past of the growing European online market and why North American retail sites should make themselves friendly to European customers. An exchange rate favorable to the Euro makes American products affordable to European customers. While Europeans are getting online in incredible numbers European ecommerce lags somewhat behind.

A study just released by the European Commission throws some light on the online buying habits of European consumers. Here are some highlights;

27% of the population of Europe made some sort of online purchase over the last twelve months. This is good news, there are more than 460 million people in Europe with nearly 240 million regular internet users. Upcoming expansion of the European Union should add another 25 million regular web users.

Those making online purchases were about equally divided between making those buys at home or at the work place. No big surprise there, the numbers roughly match the habits of North America.

Only 6% of the population made online purchases from outside their own region. Ouch. This statistic and other in the study reveal that European are extremely suspicious of foreign purchases. 71% said they feared it would be harder to resolve disputes and 68% believed themselves more likely to a victim of a scam.

While that 6% may seem paltry, keep in mind that 6% of the European population still equals 27.6 million purchases assuming only one per person. Also remember that the questions about regions outside of the respondent’s own were meant to apply to other European Union members. For example, how does a buyer in France feel about making online purchases from a company in Sweden. As a result it is only with caution that they should be applied to companies elsewhere.

I also suggest that European’s confidence in online shopping will grow as slowly but surely they gain experience with international orders. Check in this time next year and see if that 6% hasn’t grown to 10 or 12%.

You may recall that recently America Online accidentally posted the compiled search information for more than 650,000 subscribers for anyone to see. The excuse was incompetence, a researcher was said to be to blame. Two employee have been fired, and the company’s chief technology officer has resigned. As a result of the blunder AOL also pledged to name its first chief privacy officer.

At first AOL tried a no harm, no foul defense since the revealed data contained no names as AOL had substituted numeric IDs for the subscribers’ real names. However, as the company soon admitted, the search queries themselves often contain personally identifiable data, revealing names, credit card numbers and medical conditions.

That much information makes it fairly easy to identify the users if someone bothers to try. For example, The New York Times was able to trace user Thelma Arnold, 62, of Lilburn, Ga., and The Washington Post identified JoAnn Whitman, 55, of Grand Junction, Colo., based on information they obtained from the AOL posting.

Three AOL subscribers who suddenly found records of their Internet searches widely distributed online are suing the company under privacy laws and are seeking an end to its retention of search-related data. They are two unnamed Californians and Kasadore Ramkissoon of Richmond County, N.Y.

Hear that search engines, a suit challenging your right to store this valuable data. I advise you take a long look at your business model and California’s history of privacy related rulings. The suit was filed last Friday in U.S. District Court in Oakland, Calif. and seeks class-action status. It does not specify the amount of damages being sought.

The lawsuit is the first of what will likely be many suits, in the wake of AOL’s betrayal of their customer’s reasonable expectation of security. In the end it will probably not prove to be an end to the practice but this addition to the long and colorful history of America Online might teach search engines that they must handle this information with unending vigilance or pay the consequences.

Everyone has said it before and I’m going to say it again, the world is a strange place. To illustrate this; consider the following. Microsoft has long been rightly criticized for, among other things, flaws in Internet Explorer, particularly those related to security. Mozilla on the other hand has a reputation for being far more resistant to the hazards of the web such as spyware and dangerous viruses. The FireFox browser given away by Mozilla is used by many who regard Internet Explorer as simply not worth the hassles created by it security problems.

Now the curious part, a woman with the unlikely name of Window Snyder worked with security issues for Microsoft. Her accomplishments included an effort to bring hackers into a dialogue with Microsoft to help the company learn from the misdeeds of others. She has now been hired as the head of security for Mozilla.

Ignoring the oddity of someone named Window working for Microsoft, a coincidence no doubt, there is a certain disconnect between a person coming from a company whose security is suspect to a company noted for its safety. On the surface it has a touch of the lit match being in charge of the dynamite to it.

Of course, a fuller understanding of the issue might reveal that Ms. Snyder was a voice crying in the wilderness, trying with heroic resolve to make her bosses as Microsoft understand just how much their customers hated losing their privacy and getting pop up advertising. Mozilla might have been cruising along in an environment in which their apparent resistance to spyware and the like was merely a result of a very small market share. They weren’t having security problems because no one was bothering to try.

She has told the media that she intends operate Mozilla’s security in a more open environment by sharing improvements with whoever is interested and fix some old code problems in FireFox she believes to be potentially dangerous. She also wants a more open approach to the security research community that will improve the Internet for users everywhere. Rather an odd notion, open environment and security, but I must applaud the sentiment.

However, at least until more is known, fans of FireFox must hope that the problems with Internet Explorer security couldn’t be left at Window Snyder’s door. I like FireFox and wish it only the best so I will look forward to Ms. Snyder’s reign of open environments and trust she will keep all that junk off my computer.

Search engine marketing is transforming at lightening speed. This transformation is being forced by marketers who need to target specific markets. Google, Yahoo and MSN crawl through billions of websites. A majority of the searches done on the major search engines is either a consumer related search or a web surfer looking for information on a topic. It’s simply not possible to sift through billions of web pages. Business to Business marketers are now relying on vertical search engines ( also know as specialized search engines ) to target the audiences that are relevant to their business models. Web users are also becoming much more reliant on vertical search engines to quickly find information, products, or research on a certain topic or industry.
Vertical Search engines, like Toptenwholesale.com , offer both marketers and users a very unique experience. Toptenwholesale focuses on being the information super highway of wholesale merchandise. A store owner, reseller, ebay seller, or retailer can find millions of products offered by 1000’s of wholesalers at any time. One will also find editorial coverage on the industry, forums, and blogs all related to wholesale, wholesale marketing, product sourcing, and successful strategies for reselling merchandise. Wholesalers, Importers, and manufactures know that they can reach a highly qualified buyer by advertising on Toptenwholesale or one of its affiliate sites ( Wholesaleu , Offpricenetwork, or Wholezilla). Well over 15,000 retailers use Toptenwholesale and its network every day locate wholesale goods and over 1000 wholesalers use the Toptenwholesale to display their wholesale goods in front of an entire marketplace.
Marketers are always thirsty for new ways to increase their ROI. In the inline game, this can online be done by increasing your CTR ( click through ratio) which will inevitably lead to much higher conversion ratio. Businesses need conversions, not clicks. It’s very true that Goofgle and Yahoo can you send 1000’s of clicks a day. But let’s face it, it makes much for sense for a marketer to pay top dollar to get 100 clicks and 10 conversions, than have to fight for 1000 clicks and get only 10 conversions. Google and Yahoo are great search engines. There is just no way fore them to truly regulate the types og keywords that their clients are purchasing. A small wholesale company, imoprting goods and reselling them to stores, should not have to compete against companies like Sam’s Club and Costco for keywords like “wholesale”. Wholesale is defined as the business of buying and selling goods in quantity, at a discount, so that those goods can be resold to consumers. Do you go to Costco to buy goods and resell them to your neighbor? I don’t think so. Small mom and pop wholesalers can not compete with an advertising budget as enormous as Costco’s in the online marketing world. The only way to compete is to find vertical , niche outlets where true regulation is done, and an ROI can be achieved with out breaking the bank.
As SEM ( search engine marketing ) transforms, marketers will continually hunt down niche marketers for their clients. The major engines are already trying to address this threat they face. However, the problem with gigantic companies, is that it’s almost impossible for them to think niche. Google and Yahoo have laid a great foundation. It’s now time build and construct new levels of search in the spirit of giving the internet user and marketer much better, more relevant experience.

Jason

I’ve been trying to follow the Hewlett Packard leak fiasco in the news and have found it rather baffling. I think I’ve got it largely sorted out now and have discovered that the root of my misunderstanding came from the peculiar use of language that has surrounded the story. It is not surprising to me that statements coming out of Patricia Dunn’s camp and from HP are couched in double speak but the media covering the story have contributed to the confusion as well.

Here in brief is what has happened. Patricia Dunn, a one time journalist and chairwoman of the hardware giant, became enraged over leaks to the media that seemed to be coming from the HP board of directors. It was ultimately revealed that board member George Keyworth had given sensitive information to the technology and news website CNET.com.

The problems for Dunn arise from the method by which the source of the leak was revealed. Dunn hired an unnamed private investigation firm to dig up the source. The PI’s used a tactic called pretexting to get ahold of the phone records of HP board members and journalists.

This term, pretexting is where the confusion begins. Pretexting is when someone contacts a phone company or other company pretending to be someone else, in order to get that person’s confidential records. Another, more common word for this activity might be lying or perhaps fraud. Dunn would later claim that she was unaware of the use of the technique and that it was undertaken by the contracted firm without her knowledge. That may be, but responsibility is still hers.

Now let’s be absolutely clear about this. Dunn’s lackeys used the social security numbers of board members, one has to wonder how they came by those, to pretend to be that person in order to obtain phone records from Vonage and other companies. You might well ask why hasn’t anybody gone to jail for this and the answer is that might yet. The California attorney general has said charges might be on the way.

Another board member, Tom Perkins, was suspected of being the source of the leak after he resigned from the company but it was revealed that he resigned in disgust over Dunn’s handling of the leak.

It was announced today that Keyworth and Dunn will both be leaving HP. In Dunn’s case by the first of next year. However don’t think this is the end of the drama, my guess is more will be revealed and more heads will roll.

**Yahoo Warns of Slower Ad Growth
In Some Categories, Rattling Investors***

A slowing in search engine marketing is far from happening. Yes, the majors: Google, Yahoo, MSN will inevitably see slow downs due to 1 fact: Marketers in the B2B sector are searching for vertical search engines and other , more targeted, places to spend thier ad dollars. It’s true, that for as little as .10 , .15 cents a click one can get a massive amounts of clicks on Google or Yahoo. I don’t know about you, but I’m not after clicks. Madison Avenue wants a higher ROI and that only come by improving your CTR ( click through ratio ) and conversion ration. It’s much more appealing for B2B marketers to default to a minimum .50 cent bid and have thier ads served on targeted search engines like Toptenwholesale or Business.com
The internet search game is going to change dramatically over the next 5 years. Change will be led by marketers; as they seek online outlets focused on THIER business instead of thier wallets.

Jason

If you are looking for some alternate sources of SEO and SEM, I highly reccomend taking a look at Paul Bruemmer’s blog. Paul is truly one of the few REAL experts on SEO and a pioneer of search engine marketing. I’ve found Paul’s blog, located at http://paulbruemmer.typepad.com to be an incredible source of knowledge for booth rookie seo’s and the most seasoned experts in the field. Go and take a peek. You’ll be thrilled with some of the secrets he makes availialbe to the public.

Jason

I recently came across a very interesting series of articles on PCWorld.com that provides a list of the 25 worst web sites and dot.com busts ever. The list contains a more a less equal mix of sites that have died the deaths they deserve and those that continue to offend the eye, the sense of decency, and all rules of practical design.

The list is of interest for a number of reasons. First of all it is entertaining to be reminded of the ridiculous excess of the high flying and heady days of the 90s when no amount of money was too much to spend on web businesses that didn’t really do anything. Such as;

Number 17: Boo.com- This was a a fashion retail site loaded with top heavy animation that burned through $120 million in invested money in about six months.

Other sites simply remind us that we live in what is likely the most self absorbed and superficial era in human history. Such as;

Number 14: BidForSurgery.com- A site that allows those unhappy with their noses, bust sizes, or flab to find the best deals on unnecessary surgery. You’ll notice that nothing about this site pandering to human insecurity is in the past tense, its live and visited everyday.

Some additions to the list are simply horrid business models. Such as;

Number 5: AllAdvantage.com- This site paid people 50 cents an hour to surf and watch banner ads all day, plus a pittance of 10 cents per hour for every other unemployable surfer they convince to sign up. The company managed to raise $135 million in venture capital and convince 2 million users to sign up before it folded in 2001. In the end nobody cared about the opinions of those who could live on 50 cents an hour.

I won’t say what the number one worst site of all time is but I believe you will be unpleasantly surprised. Enjoy.

Let’s face it, when I query the term “wholesale” on Google and find 232,000,000 matching results, I almost cringe at attempting to locate a result that would possess any relevancy to what I am looking for. The Tier 1’s ( yahoo, google, msn) are getting too big, to fast. Google has over 100,000 advertisers. Now, you be the judge in this scenario of what makes more sense:
1) You are small importer of a hot new remote control car.
2) You would like to fund a ppc account and do some paid search.
3) Ok..You go to google and set a budget of $25 a day on the keyword “wholesale remote control cars”.

Bingo…Now you’re ready to get some killer response because we all now that there can’t be too many wholesale companies out there buying the search term “wholesale remote control cars”.

Errrrr…..Wrong! As a matter of fact, I just counted over 78 advertisers purchasing that terms. Companies like: Yahoo, Ebay and Autosite are all purchasing that term. How in the world do you plan on competing with multi billion dollar companies? Better yet, why in bloody heck is Google letting companies that have nothing to do with that search term, purchase keywords that have absolutely no relevancy to their business? Here is your answer: Google does the best they can to monitor and approve ads. However, there is no way possible to monitor everything out there. The very fact that companies like Yahoo, Ford, UPS, Salesforce, or Ebay can purchase any keyowrd they want to ( just for the sake of traffic) should raise the eyeballs of every marketer on Madison Avenue. Your budget of $25 a day will never, ever, ever let you compete, or be on the top of a sponsored search result when forced to compete against those with budgets of 1,000,000 a day. Yes folks, that $1 MILLION DOLLARS a day.

Vertical Search attempts to solve that problem. Vertical engines place a high level of integrity on their search results and tend to focus on 1 or 2 specific market niches. Take a look at Toptenwholesale or even Buisness.com. Toptenwholesale is B2B only search engine where only true wholesale companies can advertise. Users, or retailers, that come to the site expect to find true wholesale sources when they come to Toptenwholesale looking for wholesale products. If one were to go Google, and do a search for wholesale electronics, they would find companies like Best Buy and Circuit City on top the paid search results. We all know that those two companies are retail stores, not wholesalers! So, in effect, those paid search results being brought to you by Google really stink. Now, go to Toptenwholesale, and do a search for wholesale electronics, and tell me what you find. Companies like: Jacob’s Trading, Via Trading and Big Deals Outlet. These are true wholesale companies who have exclusive agreements with major brand names or big box retailers on true wholesale goods such as : tv’s, dvd players and ipod’s.
Vertical search is not the reinvention of the wheel. It’s the fine tuning of the great work that Google and others have done to pioneer search. There are 1000’s of industries and professions throughout the world. Through pure capitalism, on vertical engines, the best of the breed in any industry will fight to be on top offering searchers are highly relevant result to what they are searching for. Advertisers are also willing to pay much more for qualified leads. Though a vertical search engine will never get the kind of traffic that is generated by a 1000 pound gorilla like Google or Yahoo, the type of traffic that goes to sites like Toptenwholesale, Business.com, Searchenginestratedgies.com or Webdeveloper.com are very savvy users who marketers pay very close attention to.
As an industry professional, and advanced web surfer, I can assure you that I tend to turn to industry specific sites and search engines before I try Google or Yahoo. I just know that I’ll find a better search result, and the last thing I want to do is sort through 232,000,000 results. Hopefully they’ll start listening soon.

Jason-

You may not know it yet but a things have changed quite a bit in the rarified air of search engine giants recently. With practically no media publicity Microsoft has launched a completely new engine. Well, perhaps completely new is stretching it a bit, presumably it is in fact an extension and re-branding of MSN.

At the new venture’s announcement in San Francisco, Bill Gates proclaimed this the era of “Live” software and bragged that Microsoft will play a major role in birthing a new generation of computing. Normally you would think an event like this would inspire the kind of promotional frenzy that leads to million dollar Super Bowl spots and Internet deluge but for some reason Microsoft has been curiously quiet on the matter.

Even its publicity department played down the significance on any announcement coming from the event before it happened. Long time industry watchers say the announcement was eerily similar to the occasion in December, 1995 when Gates let it casually slip that he was planning to devour Netscape and so began Microsoft dominance of online browsers and endless legal problems.

While much remains to be seen about how precisely the new services and site will differ from the existing ones but what is clear is that Microsoft has been taking a beating in recent years from Yahoo, Google, and online B2B services such as SalesForce. During the announcement Gates revealed plans to create two sets of web services, one for normal browsers, called Windows Live, and one for small businesses, called Office Live.

Windows Live will have many of the features that has made Yahoo so successful, including personalized pages and the ability to draw upon sources from all over the web to build those pages. It sure to change but you can take a look now if you like here.