Many people are surprised to learn that YouTube is the second-largest search engine. Therefore it is a shock to many search marketing professionals that clients, including large brands, neglect to formulate or act on strategies for YouTube optimization.
Many people are surprised to learn that YouTube is the second-largest search engine. Yep, it’s bigger than Yahoo [...]

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There is no easy answer to the question, “What will be the next Twitter?” Yesterday, it was Friendster and then MySpace; today we are hooked on YouTube, Facebook, and, undeniably, Twitter — our friendly neighborhood microblogging buzz juggernaut. So who has staying power and what is next on the horizon for big digital breakthroughs?
In the [...]

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Let’s examine the user experience and five other common usability issues a typical user may find when shopping for and purchasing a product online
Last month, I showed you how to fix five of the most-common 10 usability issues found in order flows.
Let’s examine the user experience and five other common usability issues a typical user [...]

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A recent survey conducted by Market Metrix and TripAdvisor found that 85% of hotels have no guidelines for monitoring, responding to or acting on guest reviews. Perhaps this lack of direction explains why, according to TripAdvisor, only 4% of negative reviews are responded to!
Although the hospitality industry is still in the beginning stages of [...]

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A new report, to be released Tuesday by Forrester Research, found that far from embracing the do-it-yourself era, many consumers were fed up with the complicated process of planning and booking travel.
“What we’ve seen is growing frustration,” said Henry H. Harteveldt, a Forrester travel analyst. “Consumers see other Web sites becoming easier to use – [...]

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The recession is taking a toll on travel industry loyalty marketing and rewards programs, according to Colloquy research on U.S. consumer attitudes and perceptions.
The travel-specific results indicate that customers are consolidating their spend with fewer hotels and fewer airlines as the travel-whenever-you-want-for-business “bubble” has burst, and consumers are no longer able to earn elite status [...]

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US Internet users have responded to the economic downturn by using the Web to save money. Coupons have played a large role.
According to the “State of the US Online Retail Economy in Q1 2009” study, from comScore, online coupon services have enjoyed a huge surge in popularity during the recession. Since March 2008 year-over-year growth [...]

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City Tours is a new addition to Google Labs that puts Google squarely in the tourism business: Give it a city name, and Google not only suggests sites to see, but it also maps out a multi-day itinerary and proposes a minute-by-minute travel schedule for you to follow.
And what’s really impressive is that City Tours [...]

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Sure, it makes sense for most businesses to follow their customers into the world of social media. But before doing so, they must have a firm grasp on how to measure the ROI of those ventures.
For organizations, social media can serve as a private media channel that allows corporate control of the messaging. Social networks [...]

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