Viral Marketing Case Study

The guys over at Fluxx are up to it again. Look at this data on how posting a little topic in a forum can increase traffic to your site and even relevant traffic if you choose a topic specific to your business.

Fluxx chose the AVP Fan Forum to post a new topic describing its new web site and new clothing line as well as its new volleyball blog.

Here is the immediate data the provided to us:

Date Unique Visits Hits File Size
18 Apr 2005 57 194 744 5.36 MB
19 Apr 2005 63 241 1497 11.41 MB

In one day they were able to double their traffic and from a relevant, pre-qualified source. It doesn't take much to set this kind of tactic up, but viral marketing can prove to be very useful for branding and potential sales if you are setup for online commerce.

Goodbye Overture, Hello Yahoo! Search Marketing

ClickZ, April 18, 2005
The move was announced March 1 at Search Engine Strategies in New York. During his keynote speech, Yahoo! co-founder Jerry Yang said the move was designed to present users with a more unified view of Yahoo! Search. The rebranding includes several product name changes, and a new advertiser center at searchmarketing.yahoo.com where all Yahoo!'s sponsored search offerings and listings submit products have been brought together.

Read more about the Yahoo! Search Marketing News

The only thing I noticed was that is seemed a little more sleek and they were advertising their Product Submit to me under my account info. I liked logging into Overture better, now they added a dropdown to select "their" product. Add more clicks, isn't a usability faux-pas?

Podscasting Case Study Larger than Life

eMarketer cites and questions a new report, "Podcasting Catches On," by Pew, estimating that more than six million American adults - 29 percent of the 22 million U.S. adults who own MP3 players - have listened to a podcast.



Pew admits the numbers are probably overblown, due to a "broad" survey question. But the potential audience is upscale, which should help attract advertisers.


Some 18 percent of households with annual income of more than $75,000 have MP3 or iPod devices.


If you are unsure exactly what a podcast is, InformationWeek defines it as "an audio file that has been published or syndicated online as an RSS feed. It may be music, a radio-style talk show, or other audio content." The term "podcasting" emerged last year, and it is a portmanteau combing the words "iPod" and "broadcasting." Anyone who subscribes to a podcast feed can download the file and transfer it to an iPod or another digital audio device for playback.

Laundry Media is up for Sale

I got an email from someone at a larger search engine company asking if I was interested in selling my search engine marketing firm...hmm, why not?

Details to be published later today.