It should be.

Microsoft offered $44.6 billion to acquire Yahoo. Although former Yahoo CEO Terry Semel did not heed much attention to Microsoft in past years, the two companies are currently in talks as to how and are evaluating how this merger could benefit both parties. Expedience is an issue, as Microsoft is eager to beat Google to both the Chinese and mobile markets.

This is all very fascinating stuff if you are a tech savvy investor, but the potential of Microsoft swallowing Yahoo will also affect every small business owner choosing to sell or advertise on the web. Here are some of the issues that will come into play:

Search Engine Optimization:
Google currently has a 77.1% market share of the search engine market. Yahoo has 12.23%, a decrease of last year’s figures, and MSN has a paltry 3.43% of the market. MSN has often been regarded as a backyard for SEO spammers. Would Microsoft adopt Yahoo’s technology which is regarded as superior to their own and make it the default search engine when you initially open an Explorer window? Would Google still continue to gain market share as it has continued to do through the years? Considering Google and Yahoo use different algorithms, knowing what search engine your potential customers are using and how to adjust can be important in gaining exposure.

Search Engine Marketing:
Microsoft offered $240 million in order to sell ads on Facebook. It is obviously interested in selling ads online. By purchasing Yahoo, it will have access to sell ads on all of Yahoo’s websites, including popular sites like Yahoo News, My Yahoo! and the world’s most popular website, www.yahoo.com. Look for online advertising to get more complicated if Microsoft puts more money into its content networks to compete with Google.

Services:
Do you want Bill Gates and Microsoft shareholders to build your online store, host your photos and email, help you find employees, or list your products in comparative shopping sites? Yahoo owns a considerable amount of online services, and Microsoft does not have much of a track record of creating successful services on the web. Although the Microsoft culture is regarded as more open than the culture at Yahoo, it is up in the air on how this purchase will affect all of Yahoo’s interests.

Look for Google and the EU to continue to challenge this move as monopolistic, with any delay only helping Google.

Michelle Greer, Marketing Specialist
www.volusion.com

Technorati Tags: yahoo acquisition, microsoft/yahoo, yahoo buy, yahoo small business, small business news, ecommerce news, ecommerce, online store, microsoft ad network, seo news, sem news, volusion

Bookmark to:

Have you bought an Obama t-shirt or bumper sticker? If so, you’ve been to store.barackobama.com, the official Barack Obama store. The Obama camp hired Tigereye Designs to set up their shopping cart with Volusion’s eCommerce software. The presidential hopeful raised $32 million in January alone, a record for any candidate ever in a presidential primary. According to what Obama fundraisers told TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, 88 percent of this was raised online through this store and Obama’s official website.

How has the Obama camp prepared for Super Tuesday? The Obama store offers specific t-shirts for each state holding a primary on Super Tuesday. If supporters are not in these states, the store also offers an array of shirts for men, women, and infants.

Want to learn more about Super Tuesday? Check out Wikipedia’s entry on the topic, or you can read and even submit your own Super Tuesday news on nowpublic.com.

–Michelle Greer, Marketing Specialist
http://www.volusion.com

Bookmark to:

You have your designer on speed dial. She makes sure that she has four to five hours to devout to you each time you call. You have had splash intro pages, cascading graphics announcing your next sales, and gorgeous models sporting your latest gear. Now your website is interactive with various cool clubs and that clean, Apple-esque design.Your website is pretty, but did you remember to put your pretty in the right place to get people to buy?The Nielsen Research Group sought and actively seeks to debunk the theory that graphics and colors convert visitors into buyers. In an eye tracking study that measured both the places users viewed and the

intensity of their gaze, Nielsen researchers found that users could not find the population of the United States on the U.S. Census site even though the answer was clearly marked in bold red text with a marketing gimmick tied to it.

Why could 86 percent of users not find the answer? It is in the right column and away from the navigation section. 57% of people in the study were “Search Dominant Users.” When looking for the population, these users turned to the navigation areas at the top and at the left. The “Population Clock” marked in red was nowhere on their radar.

Not convinced that pretty put in the wrong place can take away from your sales? Check out Bryan Eisenberg’s SEMMY award winning post on how a pretty face can push visitors away. How can a girl like the one in this post take emphasis off your products? By looking at you, the viewer, rather than the product itself.

Pretty is not enough. Use pretty to guide your customers to certain behaviors and then watch your conversion rates.

Michelle Greer, Marketing Specialist
www.volusion.com

Technorati Tags: Ecommerce, Sell Online, Start Online Store, Usability Studies, Ecommerce Conversion, Increase Online Sales, Usability Ecommerce, Volusion

Bookmark to: