CounterStats.com

Yahoo inc, the California-based search engine, announced recently that it has purchased BlueLithium, the fifth largest online ad network in the U.S. for $300 million, in with the goal of cornering the ever popular market of behavioral ad targeting.

With this deal, Yahoo’s current behavioral ad targeting efforts, aimed primarily at users of Yahoo mail and Yahoo travel, will be strengthened by BlueLithium’s tracking technology, designed to zero in on consumer preferences as they navigate a site, which allowed for a more focused targeting of ad delivery by a business or, in this case, a search engine.

This tracking ability is made possible by the use of cookies small packets of data that record user visits and habits on certain sites, and over time, make it possible for Web sites to target their ads to specific demographics within their consumer base.

According to Yahoo News, www.news.yahoo.com) senior vice president of the Yahoo Publisher Network, Todd Teresi, responded to this purchase of the three year-old, invitation-only BlueLithium network via telephone by saying that this (purchase) will give us (Yahoo) the ability to (deliver) more relevant advertising to consumers not only on the Yahoo network but also off of the network.î

Yahoo’s user base of over 250 million is expected to greatly expand, with the addition of BlueLithium’s nearly 120 million users, and the geo-targeting capabilities of the new tracking technology will allow said users to connect to online customer segments (like who shops at Home Depot, or would want to use a home depot promotion code, featuring marketers that offer products and services tailored to their particular interests, and in some cases, location.

Search Engine Optimization, which targets the behavior of Internet users via the use of searched keywords and other related methods, will likely see benefits from this newer type of behavioral marketing technology, since it will provide a clear, more defined scope of an individual’s search preferences and favorite sites.

It is reported that this acquisition of BlueLithium is expected to be finalized by the fourth quarter of this year, pending regulatory approval and other conditions.

Taguchi testing, also called multivariate testing, is a way to test lots of different variables at the same time. Say what? Well, testing is sometimes not a clear cut issue. Say you want to find out if one thing is better than another. There may be many different variables involved in making that decision. In regular testing, one variable may be used to test, or several different tests can be run using one variable each. But with Taguchi testing, several variables can be tested all at once, saving a tremendous amount of time and giving a much more accurate result.

So what does this have to do with online marketing? Taguchi testing wasn’t developed to be used online at all. It was started to test factory production methods, such as car makers, to improve the way factories could run their expensive tests. But what began on the factory floor has now been proven to be useful elsewhere- including cyberspace.

Taguchi testing has been found to be valuable with PPC ads, web copy, landing pages, and other forms of online advertising. To use the Taguchi testing method, choose an area that you want to be tested. If you have a sales or landing page that you are interested in testing, decide on the variables that might affect that page. This can be the font style, size, color, the layout, the graphics, anything that you are thinking about changing. Alternatives then have to be created for each item that may be changed. This would be choosing an alternative font, or alternate graphics, etc. The next step is to set up several mixes that combine the different variables into different arrangements. The multivariate testing is then done with specialized software made for Taguchi testing.

Are the tests worth it? Think about the tinkering you do to your website or sites. There are likely regular font adjustments, taking out this paragraph, adding another, updating data, adding a new graphic. Imagine if you could do it all at once, and be able to preview all of the different variations that your changes might take before committing to them. What variations might the testing uncover that you never would have thought of yourself? And think of the time that will be saved getting all of this testing over at once.

I used this method of testing on 123inkjets coupon for a client and we were able to get conversions up big time.

Some of the variables might not have been things you thought to test in the first place. Even page elements that you thought were fine might end up looking a lot better in combination with other changed variables. Background images, link colors, all of these things might get tested in he next year, you know, after you get around to testing that top paragraph sometime. But putting them, all together, and getting all of this year’s testing out of the way in such a short time, the time savings alone is worth exploring this type of testing. And, you may find combinations that bring in more buyers with your new and improved page.

Every day the media is full of all kind of statistics and whether they are useful or not is up to each individual. When used properly, statistics can help investors make more informed decisions.

The reasons why statistics are important are as follows:

– Economic statistics keep track of the economy. They explain whether the economy is in an expansion, a recession, a sideways or cyclical motion.

– By monitoring the status of the economy, statistics provide governments with information on what sort of policies can be used to fix whatever problems the economy may be having.However, as we all know, there’s no guarantee that the state will actually fix any problem.

– Statistics provide investors with information that can be useful to make market related investment decisions, i.e. when to buy or sell shares or other securities. Its quite like the statistics you see on TV for the success rates people have with weight loss programs, did they use those medifast coupons, did they actually lose weight? Results not typical tend to be the norm in advertising, and we can learn a lot from that.

Some of the most commonly reported statistics are:

Stock Market Indices:

World-wide investors look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average as an indicator of stock market trends since this index is considered the largest and most important one. No wonder! About 60% of all financial activities in the world either take place in the United States or go via the USA.

The Dow is an index of the stock prices of the 30 largest US corporations based on their market capitalization and other factors that got them a place in the Dow. There are also Dow indices for transportation and utility companies.

On the surface, the above indices tell us whether stock prices are rising, falling or remaining unchanged.

Beneath the surface, they suggest what is happening to business profitability and the overall health of the economy. Other not less important stock market indices include the German Dax, the UK FT-100, Japans Nikkei, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng and the French Cac-40.

Standard & Poor’s 500 index:

This is an index of 500 stocks compared to the Dow’s 30. As such, it is a broader measure of overall stock market prices. This index also incorporates stocks from the Dow or the other U.S. indices like the Nasdaq or Amex, and although they are based on different group of stocks, they still have the same general interpretation.

Consumer Price Index (CPI):

This statistic measures prices in the economy. In particular the CPI is an index of prices of objects that are typically bought by consumers. It includes all sorts of items like cars, TV’s, clothing etc. but excludes commodities that the majority of consumers do not buy like airplanes, ships etc. Essentially, the government sets up a “basket of goods” which is a predetermined number of consumer goods.

The economists keep track of the prices of these goods, and a price increase over a year constitutes a rate of increase in the overall price of the “basket”. This is called inflation. For instance, if average prices have risen by 5% over a one year period, then we can say that the inflation rate is 5%.

That’s why investors are all ears when it comes to the CPI statistic because inflation is one thing they don’t like hearing.

Consumer Confidence Index:

This statistic is an index that indicates the degree of confidence that consumers have in the economy. It is compiled by asking a sample of consumers, in a scientifically valid manner, a series of questions about the economy. The answers are then indexed to indicate the proportion that is relatively confident in the economy.

This statistic can be very useful as consumer spending forms a large part of our economy. If consumers are in a depression over the economy with hardly any confidence, they will not spend and the economy stagnates.

There are a number of other statistics that measure an assortment of things relating to the economy. They include, among others, trade deficit, interest rates, money supply, savings and commodity prices.

Gross Domestic Product (GDP):

This statistic measures the production that takes place in the economy during a three month period. In particular, the GDP measures how much production takes place within the boundaries of a particular country regardless of who does the production.

Other useful measures that come out with the GDP are national income and personal income, which indicate how much income the public gets from producing the GDP.

Real Gross Domestic Product:

This measure is GDP adjusted for inflation. While the GDP is the total amount of production measured in terms of actual prices each year, real GDP uses prices from a previous year.

This indicates how much the physical production changes from one year to the next without muddling things up with higher or lower prices.

Unemployment Rate:

Every quarter, a whole bunch of statistics is released. One such statistic is the unemployment rate which is the percentage of the official workforce that is unemployed.

Employment figures, among others, is one of many indicators of how well the economy and corporations are doing. When the economy and productions go up more people get employed due to the increased demand. So that’s a good sign.

But when no one is employed and instead, people are being retrenched, it’s an indication that corporations might not be doing too well and that they have to get rid of employees that they don’t need or can’t afford anymore. This again has an influence on the company and the economy.

But on the other hand, and this is weird, in good times, when people get fired, it can be a good sign again.

Why?

One reason is because at first demand is high and corporations need more employees to meet that demand. But, like with every economic cycle, when productions have reached their peak and the markets are saturated or even on a decline again, they gradually don’t need so many employees anymore and can start doing with less.

In a stable economic environment retrenching employees then has a positive effect on companies again because it saves them money. There are less people on company’s payrolls and when a company pays out fewer salaries it increases their earnings.

This was the case during the 1999 frenzy where stock markets reached their peak before the bursting of the Internet bubble caused the markets to go on a 3-year decline on March 20, 2000.

Employees were retrenched and on account of the financial effect it had on corporations, stocks went up. Its rather sad benefiting on the misfortune of others, but, unfortunately, that’s the dark side of capitalism.

In an environment of uncertainty and nervousness, a solid and good employment report may cause investors to fear that earnings of companies could go down due to the extra costs in salaries.

Although companies may need the extra workforce due to an increase in demand because of a slowly rising economy, but initially it’s an investment that puts a little pressure on earnings. The increase in expenses then has to be made up for by an increase in profits.

But also, on the other hand, in an environment of uncertainty and nervousness, a solid and good employment report may prove to investors that productivity is increasing which again is good for the economy and the stock markets.

So what we have here kind of resembles a double sided sword. Whether an employment report has a good or bad effect on stock markets entirely depends on the overall economic situation and on how investors, analysts and so-called experts interpret the situation.