Archive for June, 2009
Monday, June 29th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Microsoft’s Bing “decision engine” is still making headlines weeks after its May 25 debut. In the Business Week article, “Bing Gains In Search Share,” author Paul McDougall points out Bing’s share of the search-engine market increased from 13.7 percent in its first week to 16.7 percent in its third week.
In my earlier eHarbor Blog entry, entitled “Bing decision engine good for online marketing,” I said Bing can be good for ecommerce. It will probably force Internet marketers to get more specific in the keywords they target for search engine optimization and pay-per-click campaigns.
Plus, Bing includes a cashback feature that allows online shoppers to compare product prices and earn discounts at certain stores. If you’re looking to expand the number of potential buyers you reach online, you would be wise to take part in this service.
The Business Week article also says Bing is trying to compete with Google and even emerge as the top search engine some day. However, Google accounts for 65 percent of all searches done online right now, so it might be years before we’ll see who will be the victor.
Competition is great and it’s certainly going to inspire better services in both Bing and Google. Hopefully, these changes will continue to benefit the ecommerce industry.
The photo of Bing vs. Google is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Tom Purves.
Tags: article, Bing, Business Week, Ecommerce, eHarbor, internet, marketing, Microsoft, news, online, Pay-Per-Click, positive, search engine, SEO
Posted in Ecommerce, Search Engines | 5 Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
eHarbor, Inc.’s softball team closed out its regular season on Wednesday, June 18 with a 6-4 record. That is the best record we have ever had.
The final game gave eHarbor a rematch with one of the teams it lost to a few weeks ago. You can read about that game in my blog entry, “eHarbor, Inc. softball humbled by 2 losses.” The good news is that our loss against this team was by a much closer margin than in our previous game. Hopefully, we’ll meet them again in the post-season, which began this week, and we’ll win when it really counts.
Here are the highlights of our last game of the season:
- Two players went 3 for 3
- Our outfielders made several amazing catches
- Our defense was strong, keeping the other team from scoring too many runs
Some season highlights include:
- The top batter on the team went 13 for 15
- Two players had batting averages above 80 percent
- 12 of our 13 batters had batting averages of 50 percent or better
- Oliver Bigler, our CEO who is featured in BusinessQ magazine, went 10 for 17
As I said before, our record this season is quite good for an Internet marketing company. We’ll keep you posted on our post-season games in the eHarbor Blog. We hope to make it all the way this year!
Tags: baseball, company, eHarbor, oliver bigler, orem, positive, provo, sport, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 23rd, 2009
By Robert Lockard
As promised, here is a follow-up to my blog entry on the eHarbor summer party, which was held on June 12 and 13. That was a fun event. Many eHarbor, Inc. employees came to Kelly’s Grove in Hobble Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah, on that Friday night to enjoy a barbecue and play games.
I had expected to watch a movie on Friday night, but we instead sang karaoke. It was a lot of fun, and we learned more about each other’s personalities through our singing than we would have by watching a movie. Oliver Bigler, our CEO who was recently profiled in BusinessQ magazine, emceed the karaoke and he even sang a couple of songs, himself.
My wife and I don’t have any camping supplies, so we decided to go home that night instead of camping out with many of the other families in attendance. The sky had been threatening to rain most of the evening. We heard thunder and saw lightning several times before we finally headed home.
On the way, the rain became so heavy it was almost blinding. It felt like a flash flood. Being from Washington, I’m used to heavy rain, but this was beyond what I’m normally prepared for. It was as though someone was dumping a bucket of water on our windshield every second we drove.
We stayed off the freeway and took a regular road home because I could hardly see the lanes, and I felt safer going at a slower speed. We made it safely to our destination and enjoyed the rest of the storm from the safety of our home. I love falling asleep to the sound of rain. The thunder was elegant, as well.
On Saturday morning, I had planned on returning to the eHarbor summer party, but the clouds still threatened to rain, so I thought it best to do something indoors. I heard the E-lympics were fun, though. I would have liked to have seen and participated in them. Oh well.
Tags: company, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, oliver bigler, positive, utah, weather
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 1 Comment »
Friday, June 19th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Search engine optimization is a good thing for businesses to get their names and services on top of Google and other search engines, where customers will find them. However, SEO can also be used for malevolent purposes that can make our job as online marketers more difficult.
Malware creators are targeting popular 
keywords to get their damaging viruses onto an increasing number of unsuspecting users’ computers, according to a CNN article, “What are the most dangerous search terms on the Internet?” Some of the most dangerous search terms you can look up because of these malware sites include:
- Screen savers
- Free games
- Work from home
- Olympics
- Videos
- Celebrities
- Music
- News
This presents a serious challenge to the ecommerce industry. How can online consumers know which websites are legitimate and which will do them harm? Some antivirus software can automatically check websites for viruses, which can help consumers know which search results are safe to click.
We can work on gaining their trust, as well. This goes back to earning online shoppers’ trust, as I discussed in an earlier blog entry. If you want to learn six ways to develop trusting relationships with potential clients, I recommend reading that post.
eHarbor, Inc. and its affiliates offer safe SEO, paid-search and custom-design solutions for online businesses.
The photo of the Danger! Thin Ice sign is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Sister72.
Tags: advice, article, CNN, computer virus, consumer, eHarbor, internet, marketing, news, online, search engine, search engine optimization, SEO, trust
Posted in Ecommerce, SEO, Search Engines | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, June 17th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
After its 26-0 blowout victory on May 27, the eHarbor, Inc. softball team was humbled by two losses, one on June 3 and the other on June 10. The good news is that tonight our team has a chance to return the favor to the team that beat us by more than 10 points on June 3.
Here are some of the highlights of the June 10 game:
- One eHarbor player batted 1.000
- Three of our players went 3 for 4
- One of the players who went 3 for 4 hit 3 doubles
- One player hit an out-of-the-park home run
Tonight’s game will be our last game of the season before heading into the post-season playoffs. Our record is 6-3 right now, which is pretty good for a company that focuses on ecommerce and online marketing. Speaking of which, we’ve got a great blog entry on search engine optimization and computer viruses on Friday. Stay tuned to the eHarbor Blog!
Tags: baseball, company, eHarbor, event, Fun, game, orem, provo, sport, utah
Posted in Fun, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Monday, June 15th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Oliver Bigler, the founder and CEO of eHarbor, Inc., was spotlighted in the summer 2009 issue of Utah Valley BusinessQ on page 63. This magazine highlights good small-business practices and entrepreneurial achievements in the area south of Salt Lake City.
The feature focuses on Bigler’s ability to think on his feet and remain flexible in his business decisions. His ideas have led to a change in eHarbor’s and its affiliates’ focus from search engine optimization to website hosting and ecommerce solutions.
Bigler joined what would become eHarbor in 2002 after working as a Strategy Business Consultant for the Monitor Group in Cambridge, Mass. Bigler started targeting a growing segment of the online market: small to mid-size business and ecommerce. Submit Solution was the first entity created under Bigler’s leadership, followed shortly thereafter by Real Estate Promoter, which focused on search-engine marketing and lead generation in the online real estate market. In 2003, Bigler created a new corporate entity to house the increasing number of divisions. That new entity was named eHarbor, Inc.
I talked a bit about Bigler in my second blog entry “eHarbor’s future: Swinging for the fence.” He has big plans for 2009, and many of them have already come to fruition. Be sure to check out the redesigned Magellan Commerce website. You’ll see many other positive changes this year as we work on new designs for our other affiliates, such as Submit Solution. Exciting news keeps coming from eHarbor, Inc.
Tags: business, company, Ecommerce, eHarbor, magellan commerce, marketing, Media, news, oliver bigler, Real Estate Promoter, Submit Solution, Utah Valley BusinessQ
Posted in Ecommerce, Media, eHarbor | 5 Comments »
Thursday, June 11th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Those of you who read my April blog entry “eHarbor summer party coming in June” know this weekend is the time of this long-awaited event. It will be held in Hobble Creek Canyon, near Springville, Utah. On Friday night, we’ll enjoy a barbecue and outdoor movie. I’m definitely excited for that.
eHarbor, Inc. employees will be able to camp out that night and compete in water e-lympics Saturday morning. Here are some of the activities the e-lympics will include:
· Water volleyball
· Watermelon-eating contest
· Water-balloon toss
· Water kickball
· Hula-hoop contest
· 3-legged race
I hope the clouds will begin to part and the rain will stop by Friday. I grew up in the Puget Sound area of Washington state, so I’m used to rain and clouds. But here in Utah, I’ve been trying to get used to the extreme cold of winter and extreme heat of summer. I don’t mind having cool weather in the summer, but it’s starting to throw me off a little.
Anyway, even if it’s not the best weather, I’m sure we’ll have fun. On Monday, I watched a play of “Beauty and the Beast” at the Scera Shell outdoor theatre in Orem, Utah. It rained on us for a while leading up to the start of the play. But I enjoyed that play so much I hardly minded the rain at all.
Before the summer party, each eHarbor department (Support, Marketing/PR, Design, etc.) was asked to create a flag to represent it. There were some really creative designs, and I am excited to see them at this event. I hope to get some great pictures of them and other things for a future blog post.
The photo of the tarp sagging with rain is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of nalilo.
Tags: company, eHarbor, event, flag, Fun, movie, orem, positive, sport, summer, utah, Washington, weather
Posted in Fun, Movies, eHarbor | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
Microsoft’s new Bing search engine is quite an impressive tool for Web users and online marketers. I read an article in USA Today, entitled Bing it on: Microsoft overhauls search, again, which gives some excellent info about this new search engine.
Bing includes search suggestions on results pages to help people narrow their searches and find exactly what they’re looking for. This is what I talked about in my eHarbor Blog entry, “Paid search about to get complicated.” Web users want to find information, products and services faster, so they’re using an increasing number of keywords in their searches.
Including suggested search terms on a results page is nothing new. Google includes them on many of their results pages, as well.
I noticed there are no paid listings on Bing results pages. Maybe that is because the service is just getting started and has not yet had time to develop pricing and other metrics to charge for pay-per-click ads. This could present a challenge to ecommerce, but there is probably a solution, whether it is more investment in search engine optimization, social media or other marketing strategies.
Microsoft calls Bing a “decision engine” instead of a search engine. That has a nice ring to it. They call it that because it is supposed to help people make decisions, instead of just provide a whole slew of disorganized information.
I like the fact that Bing gives price comparisons and reviews of products, 30-second clips of videos on results pages, and its image results page is huge! You just scroll down to see all the images, instead of clicking on lots of pages in Google and waiting for them to show up.
What does Bing mean for ecommerce? It will probably reward companies that work hard on online marketing on SEO with high search ranking and quick access for consumers to their websites. We’ll need to continue to refine the search terms we target. It’ll be interesting to see everything that happens.
The photo of the Bing search engine is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of Kimberly Saia.
Tags: article, Bing, CNN, Ecommerce, eHarbor, google, marketing, Microsoft, msn, new, online, Paid Search, positive, PPC, search engine, SEO, Social Media
Posted in Ecommerce, SEO, Search Engines | 2 Comments »
Friday, June 5th, 2009
By Robert Lockard
As a follow-up to my eHarbor Blog entry on Facebook’s growing pains, I would like to talk about Facebook recently receiving $200 million. I read about it in a CNN article, entitled “Facebook scores $200 million.”
Facebook has certainly not had any trouble getting new subscribers during this recession. In April, it surpassed 200 million users, an amazing number considering the company started just four years ago.
However, Facebook has had a bit of trouble obtaining investment capital since the start of the recession. That’s understandable, since investors and consumers are trying to be extra careful about where they spend their money.
I found it particularly interesting that the article mentioned Facebook’s overall value fell from roughly $15 billion in October 2007 to about $10 billion in May 2009. That drop coincides with my blog entry “Marketers cut social media presence when they need it most.” As times get tough, companies cut back on things they consider to be nonessential, and social-media sites like Facebook and Twitter are being neglected a bit.
Social media is an important part of marketing strategies now that so many of our potential and current customers are using those services. It’s a great way to stay in contact with them. Facebook’s growth and success could affect the way we market products and services in the future so it is wise to be a part of it. Just remember that social media is not search engine optimization, and both should be used to effectively reach customers.
The Russian company that invested $200 million in Facebook said they think Facebook could become one of the largest Internet companies in the world some day. Seventy percent of their users are already outside the United States, so they’re on their way.
The photo of the pile of dollar bills is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of mmarchin.
Tags: article, CNN, company, Ecommerce, eHarbor, facebook, future, marketing, news, positive, Social Media
Posted in Ecommerce, Media | 2 Comments »
