Writing our FACES off.

Our New jQuery Plugin

We’ve just published one of the jQuery plugins Matt wrote while working on the new Everbrite redesign project. It’s a slick little plugin that combines the familiarity of a lightbox image viewer with an easy to use thumbnail carousel. This dynamic duo gives users the ability to view a large image while having quick and easy access to an entire gallery of images without needing to open and close the modal window each time.

It’s simple, logical and super handy for sites that need to present a lot of images in gallery format.

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PPC Retargeting

Google PPC Retargeting

Let’s face it; people rarely take action on their first visit. Now this certainly isn’t a new revelation and it certainly isn’t something that’s going to change anytime soon. To make matters worse, this is an even bigger challenge for smaller retailers and lesser know brands and businesses.

For pay-per-click advertisers, this is becoming a larger and larger problem. With the cost per click sky rocketing and competition getting more and more aggressive, the once slam dunk tactic of pay-per-click marketing is starting to loose some of it glory. Read the rest of this entry »

Google SSL Search, End of Analytics?

 Google SSL Search Logo

(Photo from https://www.google.com)

Ouch! I just pinched myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.

This is a nightmare for web analysts and online marketers. Secure Google search means that we will no longer be able to see the referring information of a visitor to our website. That means no keyword information will be sent to web analytics reports! This isn’t only for Google Analytics, not even your $50,000 analytics software will be able to gather the data. Any traffic generated by SEO efforts from a SSL Google search will show up as direct traffic. It’s nearly impossible to measure the success of your marketing efforts if all SSL search traffic is recorded as direct traffic. I’m not sure if they strip out PPC data, but that should be less of an issue due to the growing reporting power of Google AdWords. Read the rest of this entry »

Big Omaha

Big Omaha Title

(Photo by Malone & Company)

A few days ago, Jordon and I made the 500+ mile trek from Milwaukee to Omaha, Nebraska.  No, we didn’t go to try and get a glimpse of Warren Buffet, nor did we go for the steaks (although we did have some great steaks).  We went to hear some of the greatest entrepreneurs and innovators on the web today speak about what drives them to do what they do so well.  Why would we go to Omaha of all places for this?  The second annual Big Omaha conference, of course.

So, what is Big Omaha?  Truthfully, leading up to the event, both Jordon and I had a hard time describing what this event was and why we were so excited to go to it.  I think that the Big Omaha website puts it best, so here it is, straight from the horse’s (or, I guess in this case, cow’s?) mouth:

This event brings together the region’s best and brightest to motivate, challenge, excite and connect with one another, and in turn raise the bar on the level of work we’re producing.

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Yahoo! Search Marketing Desktop Review

Yahoo Search Marketing Desktop

Finally, something of use from Yahoo! Search Marketing. After years of suffering through their online UI, Yahoo! delivered a useful and beautiful desktop application. Adobe Air makes this app work like you’re on top of a cloud; smooth transitions, nice rollovers, and attractive download screens. I actually don’t mind using Yahoo! Search Marketing any longer. I used to dread it. Read the rest of this entry »