Peter Kafka says, “Another installment from the “Facebook Giveth, Facebook Taketh Away” story that all Web publishers are following with intense interest: Below is a chart of Gawker’s U.S. traffic, courtesy of editor Max Read. That first peak, from June, was the site’s third-best month. The peak on the right, from August, indicates that this month will be Gawker’s second-best month. But since you’ve already read the first sentence of this post, you know what happened to create that giant traffic valley in July”. Why Building a Web Business Built on Facebook Is So Scary Re/code  [...]

Pratik Dholakiya says, “Retargeting relies fundamentally on collecting user data and applying it intelligently to expedite conversions. This post looks at the case for retargeting, the working behind it, and how to design ads”. Display retargeting 101: a handy guide to the buzziest ads on the internet ‘Econsultancy’ Blog  [...]

Peter Kafka says, “The last time we checked in on Upworthy, the viral Web-sharing startup, we found that itstraffic was sagging. Not a big deal, said CEO Eli Pariser: The company was training more people to find stuff to share, so it hadn’t spent as much time sharing stuff. Three months later, Upworthy’s traffic is still headed down. After peaking in November, the site is now back to where it was a year ago. In July, it had about eight million visitors, down from a high of 18 million last fall, according to comScore”. Upworthy’s Traffic Goes Lower, but Revenue Is Climbing Re/code  [...]

Richard Joyce says, “The acquisition of [X+1] by Rocketfuel signals the beginning of the end for “programmatic” ad networks. Since the industry’s shift to programmatic, countless ad networks have changed how they market themselves, adjusting their sales language to mimic legitimate programmatic platforms. The “programmatic” ad network insertion order-based and flat-rate business model has prolonged the black box opacity that spurred the need for demand side platforms and exchange based media buying. It’s only fitting that one of the industry’s most successful “programmatic”... [...]

Laura Ramos says, “Phoenix in the summer. To say it’s “hot” is an understatement. Weather reports predict a rather balmy 92 degrees F for Thursday of this week. Mild compared to the last time I attended the Marketing Technology Summit, co-sponsored by the Phoenix chapter of the BMA and the Arizona Technology Council. This year’s hot topic is big data — one of the four market imperatives Forrester believes will help companies to thrive in this digital age where buyers, business-to-business included, control most aspects of the purchase process. I’m... [...]

Clement Teo says, “Every business must transform into a digital business. Digital businesses continuously exploit digital technologies to create new sources of value for their customers and increase their operational agility to serve those customers. In Asia Pacific, CIOs have had limited success in driving digital business transformation. Organizations taking an early lead in transforming their business include Commonwealth Bank of Australia, China’s Ping An Insurance Group, and DBS Bank in Singapore. A true digital business needs to integrate two sides of a digital strategy: digital... [...]

Kurt Wagner says, “Twitter knows best — at least it hopes it does. The social network started surfacing tweets this weekend that users never actually said they wanted to see, a strategy intended to introduce users to new content they wouldn’t otherwise discover. Twitter is showing users tweets that have been favorited by those they follow — meaning you may soon see tweets others didn’t consciously elect to pass along. Twitter is also surfacing tweets from accounts you may not follow, but others in your network do”. Twitter Tinkers With Feeds to Find New Users Re/code  [...]

Melissa Mackey says, “If you’re a small business owner or manager, you already know that your time is valuable. You’re probably on the lookout for time-saving tips that will let you focus on the most important parts of running your business. If you’re managing a PPC campaign, you also probably know that it can be a full-time job. Even those of us who manage PPC campaigns for a living need time-saving tips. Here are 5 tips for saving time in PPC management”. 5 Tips For Saving Time In PPC Management Web Marketing Today  [...]

Michael O’Grady says, “With 44% of all retail sales in Europe set to be offline sales that are influenced by the Web in 2018, it’s not surprising that online display advertising spend in Europe will grow more than three times faster than total advertising spend over the next five years. Forrester’s Online Display Advertising Forecast  shows that online display advertising will continue to cannibalize advertising spend via other channels. Firms are increasingly using video and rich media to engage, entertain, and attract the attention of online users and to enrich their... [...]

Kurt Wagner says, “With an endless barrage of attention, however do celebs separate signal from noise on Twitter? Consider this example last year when one celeb sparked a tweetstorm after being left off a Yahoo list of the top 18 celebrities of 2013. Poor Heidi Klum, who was name-checked multiple times on the thread, probably had no idea this was going on”. Twitter to Verified Users: Talk Amongst Yourselves! Re/code  [...]