The world’s largest retailer has made an acquisition that suggests its future involves smart technology. Walmart has just bought mobile app developer, Small Society. In dollar terms, it probably wasn’t a big deal, at least for the corporate giant. But for me, it was an interesting move. Let me explain why. 1.  Walmart has a digital technology research division based in Silicon Valley called @WalmartLabs Yes, that’s the name of the department, not their Twitter handle. And yeah, I didn’t know they had an uber cool tech outpost either! Since acquiring social eCommerce startup, Kosmix, last April for $300 million, Walmart has gone Read More

For those who receive our newsletter, we all made predictions for the coming year and one of mine was “Google+ will have a big year particularly when it integrates search results.” Well it’s happened and a whole lot quicker than I imagined and being labelled as Google’s “Search Plus Your World”. For me, it was a no-brainer — a way to get numbers and action on their own social system (Google+) and a way to improve search personalization. The way it works is to combine private and public content into a single set of search result listings. Some question the Read More

In case you didn’t know already, the days of applying single tools in Internet marketing are long gone. You can no longer just use SEO, or PPC or blogs to attract your ideal audience. The trick is to create the right mix. Yes, it would be great if you could follow a recipe, Martha Stewart-style. But the best results come from creating your very own concoction. So, how do you work out the right mix? Fortunately, Internet marketing allows you to test what works with your target audience. You can experiment with email marketing campaigns, keywords, search marketing, pay-per-click, article Read More

WordPress plugin upgrades are a fact of life for any website administrator and staying up-to-date with the latest software versions is something I recommend. Ever since WordPress made it one-click easy to update plugins (and even the WordPress core) a few years back, many have been lulled into complacency – updating the easy way without proper backups and testing. In fact, many leading WordPress hosts (likepage.ly) are now in the habit of updating plugins automatically. I was reminded of this when upgrading one of my favorite little plugins, Redirector by Ralf Hortt. This plugin does an amazing job in allowing Read More

Why should I choose your product or service over your competition’s offering? Because it’s better, cheaper, or faster? According to Simon Sinek, this is how most organizations make their pitch to customers and because everyone is making the same claim, there’s no unique point of difference. The good news is Sinek has a nifty way of coming up with what he believes makes you special. He calls it ‘The Golden Circle’. Let’s go visual. Picture a bulls-eye with three circles. Written on the inner circle is the word ‘why’, the next circle reads ‘how’, and the outer circle has ‘what’. Read More

Browsing around the Google Currents app on my new Galaxy Nexus toy/phone, I saw an article from TechCrunch that caught my eye: Google has been experimenting with a possible role with email subscription management. Google, of course, is the king of experimental projects. The Internet is littered with dozens of Google projects that made a brief appearance in our Internet world, only to be discontinued. And there are certainly hundreds of projects that didn’t even become public. This particular experiment isn’t a surprise but it’s still notable. It shows Google is taking a more holistic view of online marketing and Read More

During the week before Christmas, I had some free time, so I went to the local mall and did some window shopping.  I was browsing the sales for Lands End clothing in Sears, when I heard, over the store intercom, “Code 2, Lands End area.” I looked around for firemen or security personnel, and seeing neither, I browsed for another 15 minutes, hearing the same page a couple of more times. As I neared the register with my intended purchase, the customer standing there was expressing her displeasure with something. She was not loud nor rude, just stating her case. Read More

I was walking through an underground section of Philadelphia called Market East. I noticed a lady walking around with a basket looking intently at those seated and once in awhile she would go over to someone and speak with them. I asked someone near by what that was all about.  I was told that she is there every day at lunch time. She works for Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC). She looks for those people who have food from KFC and when she finds someone she hands them a wrapped mint and reminds them that KFC has unlimited drink refills. I Read More

The phrase ‘Art and Science‘ can aptly be applied to many things. Consider parenting, as an example.  There is no shortage of books on the science of parenting. Expectant parents can read them and commit them to memory, and some of the information is actually useful. The art of parenting involves getting to know the child that is yours and figuring out what actually works for them to feed, nurture, educate and civilize them to be productive members of society. We can apply this to Search Engine Optimization, too, as was nicely done in an article on Search Engine Watch called Read More

If you have visited a Starbucks coffee shop in the last year (and especially the last few months), you’ll notice that a lot of people are paying with their iPhones and Android devices.  In fact, my local Starbucks cashier volunteered this morning that the company’s mobile payment app had been used for some 25 million transaction in the past year. Huh. Now, I use the app and it works for me – it’s convenient, already in my hand, and paperless.  No more rewards card swiping – it’s all in one digital package!  However, I hadn’t thought too much about what Read More