For those shopping carts owners who advertise with Ask.com…

Ask.com is launching a new sponsored listings contextual product.

So how is Ask’s new contextual product different from Google Adsense and Yahoo Publisher Network?  There’s two differences:

1. Publishers will be able to set ‘page yield’ thresholds and ‘relevancy’ thresholds.  There will be levers to allow publishers to determine if they want higher paying ads or if they want more relevant ads.
2.  The new contextual ads will have “very customized” interfaces such as customized backgrounds and graphics.  Find out more and view some images of Ask’s new contextual product.

The Ask contextual product will initially launch with Ask’s own network of sites including Match.com and TicketMaster.  Individual publishers will have to wait a little while to gain access.

Current Ask sponsored listing advertisers will be opted into the content network automatically - so be aware of this if you’re a current Ask advertiser.   In addition, advertisers will be able to preview the new tools and features they have before the launch date; the week of May 21st.

Technorati Tags: Ask, PPC, Google Adsense, Contextual advertising, Ask.com, ecommerce
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

Google has been ranked the most powerful brand of 2007, above businesses like Coca Cola, Microsoft and eBay 

The BRANDZ Top 100 most powerful brand of 2007 was created by Millward Brown Optimor.  The ranking is measured by their dollar value.  So, here’s the stats I think you might find interesting…

The top 5 were:

1. Google with $66.4 billion
2. General Electric with $61.9 billion
3. Microsoft with $55 billion
4. Coca-Cola with $44.1 billion
5. China Mobile with $41.2 billion

Other companies that may be of interest to you include:

eBay at number 43
Yahoo at number 42
Amazon at number 92

Some of these rankings came as a little surprise to me, what do you think?

Google’s certainly didn’t.  Google is on the growth curve.  Google dominate search and having this power has allowed them to jump into other areas of advertising where by ’search’ is central.  Google are sure to jump into more areas as they continue to grow, but who can blame them?

Here you can see the full list of Top 100 Brands  (PDF)

Technorati Tags: google, brandz, ecommerce, search marketing, top 100
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |  

Internet shopping carts have quickly developed (and continue to develop) to make online shopping completely seamless - turning online shopping, for some, the “Ultimate Liberating Experience” - Wayne Miller, E-commerce Times.

This summarises another one of the articles I would like to bring to your attention.  The article, over at Ecommerce Times, describes how and why it is possible for us to “live at a level of comfort and convenience that medieval royalty could never have imagined”.  Worth a read: Online Shopping: For Some, the Ultimate Liberating Experience

Experian today announced that they have acquired Hitwise for a reported sum of $240m. 

What with Google acquiring DoubleClick and rumours rife that Ebay could be buying social networking site StumbleUpon, this must be the season of extravagant web purchases!

What is Experian?

Experian provides analytical services to organisations and consumers.  They list their main activities as credit services, decision analytics (mostly credit and fraud related) and marketing solutions.

What is Hitwise?

Hitwise provides daily insights on how 25 million people interact with over 900,000 websites in multiple industries. Such information, like what people are searching for in your industry, who your competition is and who your largest market is, helps clients better plan, implement and report on search marketing, online branding and much more.

Why did Experian want Hitwise?

“Companies are increasingly shifting from mass marketing through established media, such as direct mail, to more targeted marketing through many more channels, including email, Internet and mobile devices. Through its expertise in website monitoring, Hitwise extends the range of marketing services that Experian can offer its clients.” Hitwise Press Release

Apparently Experian has been partnering with Hitwise for about four years now, so the companies obviously know each other pretty well.  Other bloggers have put the aquisition down to Hitwise’s excellent blogging relations and talent for interacting with social media that has raised revenues and thus contributed to the aquisition. 

So who’ll be buying who next?

Technorati Tags: hitwise, experian, ecommerce, e-commerce
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |