Along the same lines as yesterday’s article, I want to look a little more at how tiny psychological decisions can make all the difference when it comes to a customer saying yes or no.

Typography Really Matters

A recent study just proved it — when it comes to saying yes to something, the simplicity with which it’s presented makes a massive difference. When an exercise program was written up in a difficult font, far more people expected it to be that much harder to start. Whereas when Arial was used, the opposite effect happened — people actually interpreted the exercises (identical in both cases) as easier.

The same went for recipes, where a tough font made an otherwise straightforward recipe seem much more elaborate and difficult than it otherwise was. This is why some restaurants use complex fonts — to convey the difficulty and exclusivity of a particular dish.

How Can This Study Help Our Websites?

We’re not saying this just because we design a ton of successful websites for our clients, but one thing that’s important is to listen to your designers. Even if you don’t always agree with them, a whole lot of decision-making resides behind the choices they’ve made for your website.

When clients don’t have a full branding campaign in place, we often take the time, as an agency, to present them with a new logo idea or two. We purposefully go out of our way to not make these logos complicated, for the very same reasons outlined in the study. Complex typography indicates difficulty and complexity, and when you’re trying to sell something online, turning visitors away with a complex logo and site is the exact opposite of what we want.

Finding the Happy Medium

It’s not always easy to convince someone that a simple logo, done in Helvetica (or any easy-to-read font that looks good) is more effective than the elaborate one they had designed to their exact specifications, but studies like this back up the point.

In the end, of course, we design sites for the clients, not for us, so we always try to find that happy medium. But as an SEO Agency that specializes in creating great, optimized sites from the ground up, we’re really only happy when you’re making money, and when we feel an adjustment here or a simplification there could really drive your conversions up, we won’t hesitate to tell you.

Score Another Win For Split Testing

What’s so incredible about Google’s Website Optimizer is that it brings this kind of analytical, scientific testing to the design process. Sure, a few designers have inveighed against the relentless quantification of the online experience, suggesting that numbers aren’t everything, and we’re not saying they don’t have a point — you can analyze data until the end of time and it’s still not guaranteed to help you make a decision.

But what’s so great about split testing is that it confirms a lot of the solid design & marketing principles that good designers have been pushing anyway — a clear call-to-action, copy that moves visitors from point A to point B in the cleanest, most accessible way possible, and a simple approach that tells users what your site is and why it’s useful in seconds, not minutes.

When clients (and hopefully, one day, you!) work with us to get a site built and maintained, month-in and month-out, these, and thousands of other tiny, informed, crucial decisions make up the difference between one that’s successful and one that falls by the wayside. We’re always reading, always testing, always improving everything we do, and it shows in the results, rankings, and conversions our clients continue to get.

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To get good SEO resulsts, your website needs to have quality content. That’s not all it needs, but when you have a quality SEO company like LoveClients at your back, a lot of the heavy lifting gets done for you.

You don’t need to mess around with complicated optimization and keyword research—that’s what great SEO does for you. But you do need content on your site. That’s right: precise, good writing is very important online.

Whether you need to explain your product, write a catchy “About Your Company” page, or talk about a new offering you’re rolling out, your SEO will always be better when your website contains fresh, interesting information.

Not Everyone is a Writer.

And therein lies the problem. Not everyone can write. It’s just not possible for everyone to be great.

We all write emails every day, and probably do some level of reading, but when it comes to writing in a clear, precise way, many of us are at a loss. It simply takes too much work, too much editing, too much knowledge of those obscure rules of grammar and style to churn out good, readable prose.

Writing is a Skill, Like Many Others.

So if we aren’t farming the writing out to wordier relatives, or hiring overpriced ad agencies to write about our products, what are we doing? Trying to write the stuff ourselves, that’s what.

Writing really is a skill that can be developed and improved, no matter how subtle and frustrating it may seem. There is a wealth of knowledge on how to write well, a lot of it contradictory. Writers are famous for making definitive-sounding declarations on what ‘good’ writing is, only to have another critic come and disagree immediately.

Why Do Authors From Hundreds of Years Ago Have the Best Advice on Good Writing?

So I’ve found some advice for you, narrowing our focus down to four writers—all of whom died before the year 1900. Why go back so far? It’s simple, really:

These pieces of advice were expressly designed to simplify a very complicated beast. Have you ever tried to read literature from 200-300 years ago? Direct, clear, pared-down style did not exist.

Remember, Hemingway and Orwell were centuries away, words were longer, more obscure, and the culture was simply very different. Reading was undertaken with long, sustained concentration, and writing was dense and difficult.

So the writers desperately urging precision and clarity were doing so because these qualities were in very short supply. Their advice is relevant and to the point, no matter how old it is.

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
—Matthew Arnold

I can’t offer much commentary on something so simply expressed. If there’s one word to keep in your mind while writing, you could do far worse than clarity.

Whenever you feel an impulse to perpetrate a piece of exceptionally fine writing, obey it—whole-heartedly—and delete it before sending your manuscript to press.
Murder your darlings.
—Arthur Quiller-Couch

Rightly famous. Get all your bad, puffed-up writing out in the first draft, and then delete it all. Look, he didn’t even say erase or cancel it, he said delete! A man ahead of his time.

You write with ease to show your breeding, But easy writing ’s curst hard reading.
—Richard Brinsley Sheridan

Maybe you’re like me, and read that second line as something to do with ‘crust’. I believe we would use the word ‘cursed’ nowadays. ‘Don’t show off, because it’ll make your writing hard to read‘ has never been expressed so lightly.

The virtue of books is to be readable.
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

I’m sure there are many other virtues, too, but hey—he said it. Write with an audience in mind: your customers.

(Photo by flickr user faeryboots, used under a creative commons license.)

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We’ve all heard about what happened in Iceland. It’s been written about everywhere, and is being held up worldwide as a kind of microcosmic case study on what a country shouldn’t have done when entering the high-stakes world banking system.

Lots of people are busy extracting their own little lessons out of Iceland, so I’m going to go ahead and do the same, and tell you that Iceland can teach us three fundamental lessons about SEO. And they’re good, interesting lessons to boot.

#1: Don’t Use Non-Experts.

The first thing Iceland did wrong was use non-experts. The people who were responsible for running their banks were simply not smart or trained enough to engage with the insane complications of international financial engineering. And yet they went ahead and did it anyway.

If guys from a tiny island that’s only existed as a country for the last 50 years suddenly felt confident enough to start purchasing football teams and foreign banks, can you imagine the number of shifty-but-overconfident SEO companies out there, thinking they can make a quick buck in this still-wild-west world of the internet?

So beware. If an entire country can succumb to a kind of collective hysteria driven by people who really don’t know what they’re doing, what’s to stop any number of incompetent amateurs from getting into the make-money-from-nothing SEO game?

#2: You Can’t Make Money From Nothing.

Speaking of which, that brings us to our next crucial part: Iceland was making money from nothing. The lack of serious oversight and the complexity of the financial transactions meant that Iceland was constantly borrowing against its own currency, inflating it, and then reaping the profits.

But there was a big problem with all of this: most of these riches were coming from nothing. They were the ultimate bubble. So when the crisis hit and Iceland’s currency was suddenly devalued, they were left with huge foreign debt and no real way to pay it off.

The same goes for ‘black hat’ SEO companies. We all know what happened to those Icelandic profits—they disappeared in a few weeks. Pay an SEO that sets up an artificial traffic network that Google suddenly cuts off with a simple change to its code, and your ‘profits’ and ‘traffic’ have disappeared overnight, too.

#3: Not Everyone Can Do Everything.

Finally, there’ s the fact that most of Iceland’s banker kings were former fishermen. Pure old school. Nothing wrong with being a fisherman, except that it sometimes means you aren’t the best person for a new, difficult job.

Same goes for SEO: that old-school ad agency desperately trying to re-brand themselves an SEO company might not be the best company for the job. You might like and trust them, but do they really know the new market? Have they done the research, and can they give you the analysis down to the last detail?

Don’t Force Yourself to Ask for a Bailout.

There’s nothing like a huge financial crisis to bring into sharp relief some fundamentally unsound practices that we should all avoid, no matter what context we’re working in.

Online marketing is growing and expanding at a rapid pace. But it doesn’t mean you need to throw your ethics to the wind and jump on-board, whatever the consequences. You might gain some short term cash (or notoriety) at the beginning, but take Iceland’s lesson to heart: there is no substitute for real, hard work. Don’t wake up one morning and realize this painful lesson is still ahead of you: use Iceland as an example, don’t get ahead of yourself, and stick with integrity.

(photos from flickr users traitlinburke, gudmunda, and de-ve. Used under a creative commons license.)

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If it’s done nothing else, internet search has helped to level the playing field for big and small businesses. Sure, big-biz money helps to pay for television ads and other key strategies for driving up traffic and sales. But when it comes to flexibility, agility, operation costs and speed, the small fish can’t be beat. Large businesses on the other hand take a lot of people to make a decision then a-whole-nother mess of people just to implement it.

In the end a small businesses with a good leader can swim nimbly through any situation whether it be economic, strategic, demand/supply related or anything else. So without further ado, here are the top reasons why the small fish rules the ocean.

ONE: Small Businesses Are for Everyone!
With low start up rates and your choice of business platforms, ideas, inventions, services and products the internet business world is for anyone and everyone with an idea. Innovative and ambitious folks as young as six and as old as… well, I guess as long as you’re not dead you can start a business. Website tools are designed for beginner and intermediate designers alike making website set up easier than ever. All you really need is a computer, internet and a little extra time on your hands.

Computer Economics Inc. of Carlsbad, CA, calculates that approximately 8% of all teenagers in the USA, or about 1.6 million are making at least some kind of income on the internet.

Young Michael Furdyk was only 10 when he started M&S enterprises with his friend, Sean to teach people in their neighborhood how to use their computers. At 16 he sold his first website, MyDesktop.com, for over $1 Million in 1998. Now 26, he is the founder of TakingITGlobal.org which is run by 15 core staff with the help of 50 contractors and “coordinators”. He also consults for several Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft and advocates heavily for Youth IT and Technology Education. Because Furdyk was able to think big, and go big without actually growing big, he was able to dictate where he put his efforts and resources. He was also able to remain flexible and make a quick profit on the turn around of his smaller, less meaningful projects.

TWO: Inexpensive Start up and Maintenance.
If you’re considering putting your business online, don’t think that it needs to be as big or profitable as Furdyk’s. Many online stores have an even less expensive start up and make their owners a reasonable annual living either as a part-time or full time venture.

Take for instance Jessica Jollota of Biddeford, Maine. She started MySilverCrown.net as a place to exhibit and sell her handmade jewelry and gifts. The website startup/maintenance cost is about $15 per month and the sales it generates act as a nice second income.

Worried about the cost of goods, or that wholesale distributers won’t sell to you because your order isn’t big enough? Even wholesalers who would prefer large orders from big retail names, have to recognize when shelf space is getting tighter as more products fill the market. The internet broadens their customer base instantly so it only makes sense to give small, online retailers a good deal on smaller orders.

THREE: Find your niche.
Big businesses need to diversify in order to keep up with business expenses and sustain their profit margins. Small business owners on the other hand, are able to do one thing really well and make a good living for themselves and then some. There’s always holes in the market that are too small for the large companies to deal with in a cost efficient way. Those small holes can mean big profits for a small business owner who is willing to pick it up

One such example is Jibbitz, those little decorative buttons for the popular Croc Shoes. They started out as a fun arts and crafts project for Sheri Schmeizer and her three kids and were soon in demand all over the neighborhood. They knew they had found a unique niche in the Croc market, so the Schmeizers officially launched Jibbitz and in one year they had sold over eight million of them. Since then, Crocs, Inc. has acquired Jibbitz and Mr. and Mrs. Schmeizer operates the wholly owned subsidiary of Crocs Inc. as the President and CEO.

FOUR: Less Stress in Hard Economic Times.
That’s not to say that an economic downturn isn’t stressful or even possibly catastrophic to small businesses. But, thanks to that maneuverability we talked about earlier, small internet businesses or businesses that at least have an internet presence are more likely to come out of those situations intact at least.

When the economy hits a downward spiral, big companies start downsizing and put most of their effort into saving money. Smaller businesses typically have cost effective strategies implemented no matter what the economy is like. The difference is that many small businesses have less overhead to worry about and therefore are running on a wider profit margin than those big corporations. While the big sharks are worrying about their next meal, the little fish is focusing on developing a new niche or territory.

FIVE: Self-Sustaining and Self-Generating Growth.
The amount of revenue a small business brings in determines the level of strategic growth it will undergo or the amount of cutbacks it will have to make. This “bootstrap” strategy (named for the old saying: “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps.”) applies to staffing, outsourcing, physical growth as well as the acquisitions and sales of other businesses.

Most successful small e-businesses only have 1-5 employees along with (possibly) some contract workers. (Wikipedia was a prime example of this for a long time.) When your company starts taking on new projects and revenue then increasing staff to accommodate customer/company demands is reasonable. When times are tough it’s much easier (and ethical) for small businesses to let go of one or two employees if necessary, than it is for large corporations to let go of hundreds or thousands of employees.

This theory also applies to internet marketing, SEO and SEM tactics. Pay-Per-Clicks, keywords and other SEO/M tactics are not only inexpensive, but can easily be adjusted according to which keywords, PPC’s or tactics are bringing in the most visit-to-sale conversions. Although it’s always a bad idea to skimp on marketing, having a revenue-centered plan is always a smart idea so that you never go above your budget line.

SIX: The Anti-Growth Strategy
You’re small, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be picky. Sure, some folks think that they should take on every client that comes their way because “every little bit helps” right?”

Wrong! Customers who aren’t making you a lot of money, don’t pay on time or are taking time away from better paying clients aren’t worth your effort! They can actually take away from your bottom line and make it tough for you to operate a successful business.

This is sage advice for many small business: Don’t grow too fast. Make staying small your growth strategy.

CNNMoney.com did a report in October on a small company called “Incredible Foods” run by Jim Christy. About ten years ago Christy landed Starbucks as one of his new accounts.

“They were opening new stores in northeast Ohio and Pennsylvania in 1998 and wanted me to distribute a single product, a crumb cake.” Christy stated.

I think we all remember how fast Starbucks grew over the last ten years. Christy had to hire two employees just to cover all the paperwork and reports for his Starbucks account. Not to mention the fact that he had to dedicate five trucks for delivery to their multiple locations nationwide, pay for gas, insurance, employee benefits, workers comp and still turn out products for his other clients. Starbucks was generating about 48% of his annual sales. However, Christy was uncomfortable with putting 48% of his eggs in one basket. He felt that by cutting the chord with Starbucks, reducing his staff size from 13 to 6, working out of just one office instead of two and focusing on local markets he would be able to run a stronger company.

It was a risk to give up almost half of his revenue, but he was right for doing it. Last year his company made $2.2 million and he expects a 22% increase in revenue for 2009. Incredible Foods is another great example of a company that had the flexibility to take a risk, stay in control and become stronger by staying small.

SEVEN: More Freedom to Form Strategic Partnerships
Recently Yahoo and Google called it quits on their strategic advertising agreement since it may have possibly brought up some antitrust law issues. Even if corporations can steer around any legal issues that arise with forming a partnership, they still are faced with lengthy approval procedures.

Small businesses don’t have that problem since they aren’t big enough to be a threat to anyone. (At least that’s what we want them to believe, right?) Forming partnerships, whether it be for SEO and advertising purposes or just working on a common project or goal together, can be beneficial for everyone involved. Sometimes all it takes is exchanging a short write up and a links to increase each other’s traffic. Want to make a stir with your partnership? Put it in a press release. You can do it because small businesses have the freedom to create strategic partnerships with whomever (and however) they choose.

April O’Keefe, owner of AOK Herbals in Kittery, Maine, started up her small business for just $5000. Her ability to create strategic partnerships with other locally owned companies is one of her primary marketing and advertising resources – her second being word of mouth referrals from clients. Online, O’Keefe benefits from link exchanges and cross-selling of products and services. Offline, they reap the same benefits in addition to being able to work together as strategic partners with the common goal of educating and empowering their clients and the community they serve.

Because this group of local small businesses is able to stick together and form relationships without government regulation, they are stronger as individual businesses. It is a luxury that big businesses are not always able to enjoy.

EIGHT: A More Personal Approach.
This one is obvious. Small businesses often mean more personal service. Although buying from big businesses can have its advantages, most people are getting increasingly tired of becoming just another sale or number. They want to shop in a place (even online, believe it or not) where they can call or email someone with a question and get a “live” person on the other end. They want quick and reliable service from someone, not some company. You, the business owner, are able to deal with difficult situations and questions directly and immediately. Customers appreciate this and show it with loyalty and referrals.

In the last 5-10 years there has been an increasing awareness of the importance of local economy and small business support. This is why putting an emphasis on your local area in SEO/M efforts is so important. Customers feel that they are contributing to their country or local economy somehow when they know their purchase is from a local or a small business owner. Put your face on the website. Let your clients know who you are and thank them for supporting your local/small business.

NINE: Adapt and Overcome!
There’s obviously an overarching theme here that large businesses lack the flexibility and control that small business owners have. Part of that is the ability to completely change the direction of your business at the drop of a hat. What you’re selling now, may not turn a profit tomorrow.

Today you may be selling friendship bracelets, tomorrow you could be selling ketchup. It’s that easy because you have the flexibility to flow with the market, and enough control over your company to make key decisions quickly without having to consult with anyone else. How, when and why you decide to go from bracelets to ketchup is completely up to you.

TEN: Strategic Marketing
I don’t know if you’ve ever been witness to a corporation who is either

a) Trying to rebrand itself
b) Trying to change their current online marketing strategy, or…
c) Trying to adopt an online marketing strategy… period.

It takes a team of marketing professionals to come up with an idea that has to be approved by some executive or board. Then of course some website designer, copywriter, consultant, board member or manager will always have an objection so in an effort to please as many people as possible they’ll make adjustments. It can take up to 18 months and it’s relatively painful to watch.

What does your small business strategic online marketing plan involve? You and your consultant. That’s it. Your consultant advises you and you make the final decision. The whole thing will take anywhere from 1-30 days to devise and implement. By the time that big corporation implements their strategic online marketing strategy you would have been reaping the benefits of your new online marketing plan for months.

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Yahoo! announced in a press release on November 5th that they are disappointed that Google decided to back out of their advertising agreement proposed back in September. While Google was more easily intimidated by the Department of Justice which had already hired a litigator in order to block the deal, Yahoo! had been trying to work with the DOJ to find a compromise.

Yahoo! President, Sue Decker stated that “Yahoo! continues to believe in the benefits of the agreement and we are disappointed that Google has elected to withdraw… rather than defend it in court.”

The agreement was an essential step in strengthening Yahoo! Corporation. It would have allowed Yahoo! to step up their investment, growth and general business strategies. Decker stated in a memo to her employees that although the Google deal would have helped to accelerate their strategy for growth, Yahoo! still has other deals and efforts in the works. She also went on to say that this fall-through does not change “Yahoo!’s commitment to innovation and growth in search.”

She cited the improvements that Yahoo! has undergone including “monetization and driving query growth.” Decker also noted that just in 2008, Yahoo! has added and developed new ranking models, index updates and expansion and fine-tuned their overall performance. “Not surprisingly, we are seeing results, with the company benefitting from strong RPS gains, as discussed in our Q3 earnings call. Further, we are adding search and contextual ad functionalities on a regular basis.”

At a 2.0 conference in San Francisco, there were questions about whether Yahoo! would allow Microsoft to purchase it under the current circumstances. Yahoo! CEO Jerry Yang replied, “There’s no new news.” But he also stated that buying Yahoo! at the right price would be the best thing Microsoft could possibly do right now. When asked about a possible purchase of AOL, Yang said that he couldn’t talk about it.

Yang did however talk about his commitment to Yahoo!. “I don’t take my position lightly. It’s a very serious obligation… There has been a lot of change, a lot of people coming and leaving, but the plans we’ve tried to execute against have been done and I’m extremely proud…”

Despite their disappointment, execs at Yahoo! seem to be incredibly optimistic and seem to plan on moving forward aggressively. According to Decker’s memo, Yahoo! is stepping up the “efforts to create a more open, efficient and effective marketplace…” This will mean new tools designed for easier interaction between users, advertisers and publishers. Yahoo! also has plans to lead the way in cutting edge technology advances in order to provide better products, services and platforms for customers. As consumers, business owners, marketing professionals and developers we’ll just have to wait and see where Yahoo! really decides to go from here.

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The Defrag Conference held in Denver, Colorado in the beginning of November, played host all of the top execs in the search industry including Tom Chi of Yahoo!, Bradley Allen of Siderian Software, Derek Murphy of Isys Search Software, Tom Tague of Thomson Reuters and more. So naturally there was some incredibly interesting dialogue regarding the future of search going on there. During Steve Larson’s presentation on “Next-Level Discovery: Open Search, Semantic Search, etc.” the top question on everyone’s mind was this: What will the next-generation of search engines look like?

“The only problem with search is that it’s awful, but other than that it works pretty well.” Tom Chi of Yahoo! Corporation said of current search engines. He was referring to the fact that although search is a wonderful and useful tool, it could also be a little more user friendly and helpful. “People are still doing navigational searches for Ebay.com” he added. This is significant because not only are they getting relevant direct results on their results page, they are also getting lots of other stuff they don’t need – both in direct results and in the ads section. It’s become “flooded with too much noise” as Murphy puts it. People hardly know what to do with the millions of results they get.

As a basic internet instructor for adults I see it everyday. Students look up at the top right hand corner and see that there are millions of results for “Gardening” but I can’t get them past the first page for some reason. If what they are looking for isn’t right there in those first ten results, they just give up. They would actually rather try another keyword than venture deeper in to the website. Occasionally I can get them to page two or three, but that’s as far as they’ll go.

Another problem is unintelligent search results. When users search for “eby.com” they don’t get anywhere, even though what they’re looking for is obvious. Major search engines aren’t compelled to change this because those faulty search results yield the same profits that correct ones do.

Yahoo! has started to take steps to help its search platform evolve through SearchMonkey, which I’ve talked about before. It is essentially a mix between a wiki and a search engine in the sense that it allows website owners, developers and programmers to create applications that enhance the users search experience.

Other search engines like are working on vertical search systems that give more specialized results. Siderean is interested in developing a vertical search for business tools, networking and resources. Both Yahoo! and Siderean are taking a smart step forward since part of the problem, according to Tague, is that search corporations need to solve is how to integrate search with social graphs and networking.

So what’s the future of search? Will change come in an amalgam of search, wiki and social networking? Or in an evolutionary bang in proportion to algorithms? No one seems to really know what the gen-next of search will look like. But don’t worry. Users can rest assured that the experts are on it.

Popularity: 44% [?]

About five months ago Google and Yahoo! announced an agreement that would allow Google to advertise on Yahoo!’s paid search result columns, and in turn allow Yahoo! to utilize Google’s AdSense program in the US and Canada. The deal was made in an attempt to strengthen Yahoo! as a corporation after Microsoft tried to take the company over.

Back in September news started leaking out that Google may throw out its deal with Yahoo!. The two companies combined currently handle 80% of internet searches all over the world. It’s understandable then why the US Justice Department was bringing up issues of possible antitrust violations.

Although the US Justice Department had already hired an antitrust litigator, Yahoo! was steadfast in calling the deal lawful, stating that “We have been informed that the Justice Department… is seeking advice from an outside consultant, but we should read nothing into that fact. We remain confident that the deal is lawful.”

Google may have seemed hopeful at first too. However, early this morning Google’s Senior VP and Chief Legal Officer, David Drummond announced that Google would not move forward on the deal.

“…after four months of review, including discussions of various possible changes to the agreement, it’s clear that government regulators and some advertisers continue to have concerns about the agreement. Pressing ahead risked not only a protracted legal battle but also damage to relationships with valued partners.” Stated Drummond in his blog.

Drummond also expressed his regret for having to pull out of the deal since the company felt that I would have been a win-win situation not only for Google and Yahoo!, but for publishers, advertisers and users as well.

Yahoo! had no comment on their Search Blog as of this posting. I’m sure there’s more to come though.

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For those who may not have heard that there was a plethora of publishers and authors attempting to sue Google.com for copyright infringement: Back in 2004 Google.com launched their book search program for which thousands of books from university libraries were scanned and made available on the World Wide Web for public consumption. The book search allowed users to search with a keyword, author name, title, etc, and Google would bring back relevant samples out of those books.

Sounds great, and it was. Unfortunately Google failed to get permission from the authors and publishers before scanning and posting their work. As a result, Google.com was sued (almost exactly three years ago to the day) in 2005 by the Author’s Guild, The Association of American Publishers and several other copyright holders for profiting from their work without properly compensating them for it.

Well on Tuesday, the two sides finally reached a settlement.

So what does this mean for Google, readers, publishers and authors? David Drummond, Google’s Chief Legal Officer stated in his Official Google Blog on Tuesday that

“This agreement is truly groundbreaking in three ways. First, it will give readers digital access to millions of in-copyright books; second, it will create a new market for authors and publishers to sell their works; and third, it will further the efforts of our library partners to preserve and maintain their collections while making books more accessible to students, readers and academic researchers.”

David Drummond, Google

Not only was Drummond pleased, but Founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin expressed their excitement over the deal as well. All in all it was a very fair and beneficial ruling. Let’s do a more detailed breakdown of the settlement to see what Google, the copyright Holders and Readers can expect to happen next…

GOOGLE
The internet giant will be allowed to scan books that have a valid copyright which are also out of print. They can sell online access to individual books within digests and volumes, offer subscriptions to university databases. In the near future they should be allowed to let subscribers print the books that they search for and find on Google.com.

Google is also expected to fund and help to establish a new Book Rights Registry which will be managed by copyright holders. The purpose of this new registry is to “address the orphan works problem” by locating and representing copyright holders, make old and out of copy books more available to the public, and to distribute all royalties that Google pays out.

Of course there’s always the matter of money. Under the settlement Google will be paying out a total f $125 million as an upfront payment and an additional $34.5 million to fund the new registry.

Google Hands Over $125+ million in Settlement

PUBLISHERS AND AUTHORS
Obviously the new Book Rights Registry will be beneficial to all copyright holders since it allows them to be paid fairly for the use of their work. Aside from cashing in on 63% of Google’s book search profits, publishers and authors are getting about $45 million up front – or about sixty bucks per book.

Copyright holders will be able to have more control of how their work will be used. Google will be allowed to give non-subscribers a look at about 20% of the content in each out of print book. Subscribers will have full access to Google’s scanned out of print tomes. In order to offer the same access to in print books, Google will need permission from copyright holders.

Drummond notes in his blog that although the settlement only covers United States users and copyright holders, Google will do it’s best to respect everyone. International authors and publisher will be able to register themselves in the new Book Rights Registry so they can be paid fairly. International users will be able to search and view the full content of out of print texts, “but will not be able to preview or purchase access to books online unless these services are authorized by the rights-holder of a book.”

READERS
Under the agreement, readers will need to subscribe to services in order to view the full text of these books. They will also have greater access to more texts that they wouldn’t have other wise, which was Google’s and the copyright holders’ ultimate goal.

Thanks to a part of the agreement that allows Google and participating libraries to develop new technology and services, users and subscribers with disabilities will also have full access to these books.

For more information on the deal, you can go to Google’s press release.

Popularity: 91% [?]

Well, SearchMonkey has been around for about a year now and there’s good news for developers and website managers/owners whose applications have been rejected by Yahoo! SearchMonkey. They may now qualify for acceptance. For those experimenting with new apps, Yahoo! has introduced their new SearchMonkey Experimental Applications Gallery. Developers can go onto Search Monkey and use the SearchMonkey Developer Tool in order to test out, post and even gain a little popularity for their Experimental Apps.

Nick Cox of Yahoo! Search states in the YSearchBlog that although guidelines for submission are pretty clear, they are willing to bend the rules a little for experimental apps that at least function as intended and don’t have any “major issues.”

Users who are looking for the newest beta applications can go to Yahoo! Search Gallery Beta and select the “Show Experimental Enhancements” link at the bottom. Right above that link it will tell users how many new experimental apps are available. From there you can play around, provide feedback directly to the developers, make feature requests and even get automatic updates on your favorites.

It’s pretty slim pickings right now, but if it’s anything like Google’s App Gallery, (and it kind of is) then I’m sure it will take off pretty quickly with the Yahoo!-lover crowd.

Popularity: 34% [?]

Yahoo! is going to start making some their new website analytics tools available over the next few months. After it’s acquisition of IndexTools last May, Yahoo! has been working hard to develop and perfect their new service, simply named Yahoo! Web Analytics, which will provide feedback for e-biz owners, advertisement and marketing agencies, and online merchants. Complete with real time data, evaluation tools and even insights on how to adjust individual website designs to draw more traffic, this new service will help e-businesses convert more visits to sales and trim down marketing costs as well.

Yahoo! has once again proven why they are Google’s top competitor. For small businesses, Yahoo! will provide real time “enterprise level data” on their e-store including products and marketing. The Custom Microsite service provides tools to track and analyze how visitors spend their time on a merchant’s website and give owners a better idea of how to plan online branding and make their website more user friendly. The third part of Yahoo! Web Analytics, called “Yahoo! Open Strategy” (YOS) is for the developers. It was designed to provide API users with “analytics-enhanced reporting” in order to better understand user engagement and habits. These will be custom made reports and allows developers and e-biz manager follow the latest trends and visitor behaviors.

Yahoo! Web Analytics boasts ten specific services and benefits:

An Executive Dashboard which allows managers to customize the metrics, benchmarks and gauges in order to track progress, identify issues and set achievable goals. What I like about this feature is that every employee can have their own dashboard if you want them to. Personally I would stick with strictly management access, but the point is that you have a choice.

Custom Reporting Wizard allows managers to organize reports and include/exclude data according to what your business needs are.

Advanced Campaign Management measures CPC, CPM, CPA and ROI of each form of advertising. Because it’s real-time information, managers can adjust their budget, and organize reports as needed.

Real Time Segmentation analyzes each customer demographic and segment individually. This will permit managers to view how website visitors are responding to landing pages, campaigns, layouts and calls to action. It also enables managers to identify target groups of visitors so that they can better utilize their marketing budget.

The Live Cost Analysis compares search engine prices from Google, Yahoo! and MSN and integrates the data from revenue on your website, measures your paid search ROI and analyzes keyword effectiveness.

Managers can also analyze purchasing patterns, track product and product combination sales as well as preview their carts and suggest additional items they may be interested in with Yahoo!’s Merchandise Reporting feature. Reports can be created to track cancelled or changed orders and calculate your campaign’s profitability.

Scenario Analysis actually allows mangers to track visitor paths, behavior, and task completions allowing managers to redefine processes for the future as well as how those would have worked well in the past. This goes hand in had with the Advanced Path Analysis feature which allows managers to view popular user paths as a branched map.

Yahoo! Web Analytics allows managers to view and compare multiple reports side by side with their Comparative Reporting feature. Managers can bookmark reports and analyze their history to improve future processes and campaigns.

Marketing Workflow Management allows internet marketing managers to monitor the website and manage reports. This feature allows you to see how random and planned events (such as power failures, website changes or holidays) can affect website traffic. It will also send out an email alert to bring any changes to the manager’s attention. Colleagues can communicate, share notes and reports on their dashboard as well.

Popularity: 81% [?]