Daniel Buchuk on the launch of SimilarWeb

As part of our occasional feature giving readers the low down on new tools for digital marketers to collect insight, in this post we ask Daniel Buchuk from SimilarWeb to introduce their service. SimilarWeb enables companies to benchmark performance against competitors. If you're interested in this process and other tools available, check out our post detailing competitor benchmarking services. 

During the interview, Daniel talks about the story behind SimilarWeb, why their tools are different to those in the marketplace such as Alexa or Compete and the availability of  free features.

1. What inspired you to create SimilarWeb, when there are already other competitor benchmarking tools?

There's an increasing demand for online competitive intelligence and existing high-end tools in the market are often too complex and unaffordable for the mid market. There are simply no solutions…

An interview with Matt Lawson of ao.com on their ecommerce strategy

Matt Lawson is Head of Conversion at ao.com.

In this interview he describes how they have  grown their business through keeping the web experience focused on the customer through constant feedback, review and testing. Today ao.com are the UK's largest online kitchen retailer with over 4000 large appliances ready for Next Day Delivery.

Their About page is one of the best we've seen for showcasing the proposition and integrating customer feedback and social networking. Taking such care with the About page may not be essential for established high-street retailers, but is important for online pureplays and startups. We also like the way their masthead below the navigation showcases their proposition.

Not that ao.com can be called a startup…

I think the way in which site design style evolves on the web is fascinating . Any site visitor can tell within a second or two when a site appears dated, and if it is, then it's immediately damaging to the brand. Getting the relationship off on the wrong foot. Whether a site design is effective naturally depends on the ability of the designers at a web design agency to select a modern design style with  interactive design elements. That's why all marketers need to keep in touch with rationale behind the latest design styles and why I was keen to talk to a Twitter contact, Jim Callender of Callender Creates, a web design agency whose client portfolio showcases current design styles well. As a freelancer, Jim has worked on many high profile site such as the Times Online redesign, eBay, Royal Mail, Travelbag, Expedia, Halifax and Audi. Awarded 'Digital Freelancer of the…

The popularity of video has led to a resurgence in interest in marketing using webcasting as a way to reach and engage business audiences, particularly given the reductions in travel budgets.   In this interview I ask Charlie Blackburn of webcasting service provider BrightTALK to take me through the options and give us some examples of what works.

Are webinars still effective?

Q. Webinars are still a core technique for engaging professional business-to-business audiences, but I think most would say they're suffering from burn out and it's more difficult to get audiences to attend. I expect you to say this isn't the case, but how do you show new clients there is still an appetite from decision makers for webinars. [Answer: Charlie Blackburn, Co-Founder BrightTALK] You're right that I don't agree. The obvious analogy is the continued growth of audiences watching videos, both online and increasingly…

Four affiliate marketing experts give their view on key developments in 2012 and their predictions for 2013

With 2012 coming to a close I wanted to look back at the past year. Understanding the changes we have seen helps to outline potential growth areas for 2013. To get a good perspective I asked a number of leading experts in the affiliate marketing field to give me their views on where they see affiliate marketing developing in 2013. A big "thank you" to: Fiona Robertson, Head of Performance at agency LBi; Kevin Edwards, Strategy Director for Affiliate Window; Geno Prussakov, author, consultant, founder and chair of Affiliate Management Days conference Matt Bailey, Commercial Director at Performance Horizon Group

Question 1. What for you has been the biggest development in affiliate marketing in 2012?

Fiona Robertson (FR): The continued progression away from a standalone…

Kath Pay interviews Dela Quist about why he thinks "more is more"

Hands up those who have always been told that “less is more” when it comes to sending emails? Well I had the opportunity to interview the often-controversial Dela Quist of Alchemy Worx to ask his thoughts on the “how much is too much?” question that vexes email marketing, or, as he sees it, “how little is too little”? Of course, this advice comes with a disclaimer – commonsense needs to be used and as Dela puts it ‘Muppets’ shouldn’t be following this advice dogmatically without the input of logic and commonsense. But none of us are Muppets are we? It’s a matter of applying Dela’s advice to your database, watching the results and determining the correct frequency based on the response of your database – Have conversions increased? Has it helped you to meet your KPI’s?…

An interview covering the process, tools and skills needed to increase conversion, leads and sales

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="246" caption="Karl and Ben at the Googleplex"][/caption] Many web consultants have relevant-but-similar backgrounds. They're experts at design, or pay-per-click advertising, or another specialty. But when I recently met Ben Jesson and Karl Blanks from Conversion Rate Experts their background didn't fit the norm. Their company was founded when a real-life rocket scientist teamed up with a internet marketing specialist to look at websites through unconventional eyes. This unusual perspective has turned out to be highly profitable for their clientele, which includes firms like Google, Vodafone, and Sony. In this interview we explore how Conversion Rate Experts approaches optimisation since I think companies, agencies and consultants can learn a lot to their approach to returning the commercial returns from websites of all types. I've asked them about the process…

A review with Geno Prussakov

Affiliate marketing is still a core online marketing technique for many businesses like retail, travel and financial services. The principles of working with and incentivising partners can also be applied to many other areas. To understand how to make affiliate marketing work better from a marketers point-of-view, I've always turned to Geno Prussakov (@ePrussakov), initially through his first book, A practical guide to affiliate marketing and more recently through his latest book from Wiley, [amazon-product text="Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day" type="text"]0470651733[/amazon-product] and his excellent AM Navigator blog. He's also founder and chair of Affiliate Management Days conference and a speaker at many other conferences. If its one of your new years resolutions to attend an affiliate conference, check out Geno's guide to affiliate marketing events and conferences in…

An interview with Oliver Birleson of Maxsi Limited

Following on from our posts and discussions on how to best implement the cookie law by May 2012, we're going to take a look at some of the technology and consulting solutions available to help marketers comply. Our first post is an interview with Oliver Birleson of MaxSi Limited who are offering a cookie free analytics system based on their established eVisitAnalyst product.

Question: Why have you developed your solution?

We have developed eVisit Analyst 8 due to the demand for an analytics system which retains optimal functionalisation regardless of whether or not visitors have disabled cookies. Moreover, as the Information Commissioner's Office have deemed analytics as 'non-essential' cookies, there is the need for an analytics system that is not reliant upon visitors giving their positive consent to store cookies. Users of eVisit can therefore have an analytics system which does not fluctuate dependant…

4 steps to getting more from LinkedIn by LinkedIn expert Jan Vermeiren

November 7th update When I originally did this interview with Jan in August, he mentioned that he was working on an updated version of his "How to really use LinkedIn". This update is just published, so this note to alert you that you that you can - download Second edition - How to Really Use Linked In. It's worth taking a look since it has over 200 pages of detailed practical advice which can help marketers use LinkedIn both for themselves personally and their company. It's also free - charity donation encouraged, so kudos to Jan.

Linked In Interview

I first heard Jan speak about how businesses can get more from LinkedIn in this podcast which is definitely worth a listen. I was interested in his practical tips on how businesses can use LinkedIn, so I thought it…