Andrew Benkard's blog

Hooray for crude solutions

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Thu, 12/22/2011 - 10:16

The good folks at GigaOm take note of a study that shows how web pages have increased in size: 

...The HTTP Archive charted the growth of the average web page and found that average web pages have grown from 726 KB a year ago to 965 KB now...

And a graph: 

A Tiny Failure to Sell

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Tue, 09/20/2011 - 12:03

If you're a college graduate, you know the drill when a rep from your alma mater calls you for updated contact information.

"It's for the alumni directory," they say.

"You're here for my money," you think.

Monitoring web page changes with Page2RSS

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Thu, 04/07/2011 - 08:14

Monitoring what your compeititors and partners are doing can give you the occasional edge in selling, a negotiation, or product decision.

Here's a relatively simple way to monitoring what your compeititors and partners are doing, by learning when their web site changes. 

A nice bit of marketing automation from Wufoo

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Wed, 04/06/2011 - 08:34

Automating the rote tasks of your online marketing allows you to spend more time on more important stuff: talking with your customers, creating engaging content, and measuring what works best.

So today we look at one small improvement in that direction.

Webinar tools - the state of the market

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Fri, 03/25/2011 - 17:10

I've been doing a lot of remote training this month, and quickly surveyed the landscape of webinar services.

For someone who needs to share their computer screen with someone out of the room, it's a good time to be a buyer. There are a number of viable services which make it easy for your viewer (no downloads!), offer integrated audio conferencing, and have a good system for inviting people.

All prices approximate.

Why have a website when you have Facebook?

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Tue, 03/08/2011 - 17:47

My English friend Frank makes cakes.

What begun as a hobby is now a day job. So he made blue polka-dotted business cards, and over coffee on a Sunday morning he handed one to me.

Under his email address was a URL. Was it cakesbyfrank.com? Nope.

www.facebook.com/cakesbyfrank

Did he have any intention of building a "regular" website?

No.

Sending emails to your list? Avoid this pitfall.

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Wed, 12/22/2010 - 08:53

When you blast out a pretty email to your customer list, does it come out pretty? 

Maybe not.

A clear majority of people now use email programs that block images from displaying, by default. This can affect your layout.

This is how it looks when you don't take the proper steps. It looks sloppy and interferes with your message.

5 Perfectly Distracting Services for the Small Business

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Tue, 12/14/2010 - 15:10

The American Express small business site occasionally has good content.

Not today.

5 New Online Services Perfect for Small Businesses

The headline is a red herring.

The article (really, it's just a list) is a grab bag of very very new social media services, each of which will produce a vanishingly small benefit for 98% of actual small businesses.

Is your firm running uphill?

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Tue, 12/07/2010 - 12:03

Have you got that intimidated, guilty feeling? About how much better your competitor ranks for the good search terms, has more Twitter followers and Facebook friends, and has more online "gravity"?

This post is for you:

The Rich Get Richer: True in SEO, Social + All Organic Marketing

The writer is an SEO expert, but his main point touches on why online marketing needs to be thought of holistically.

Making Website Tweaks Easy

Submitted by Andrew Benkard on Wed, 11/24/2010 - 11:52

A recurring theme for 2010 is the increasing availability of web tools that make effective online marketing more accessible. Hot categories include a/b testing, mobile website maintenance, content management systems, and the interoperability of social media tools.

Yesterday I found another modest, but elegant, service that fits right in.

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