Archive for March, 2010:


Bing is Gaining on Google

Look out big G, Bing is on it’s way to chipping away small percentages of market share each month.  Bing is slowly adding really cool features and some like Bing Maps might even trump Google’s offerings.  With the power of Microsoft behind it Bing will eventually succeed and become a place where Search Marketers will actually see $$ from their SEO efforts.

Bing has made a conscious effort to keep the homepage or more importantly the search page simple just like Google.  Yahoo’s recent changes made things a little to busy for most users.  Bing really needs to improve the relevancy of their results as Google still does very, very well in terms of producing the most relevant results for a search query.

Here are Ten Reasons why Bing is starting to catch up to Google, courtesy of eweek.com.

1. Market share means something

Google is easily leading the pack in the search space, but Microsoft is gaining some ground. The latest figures peg Microsoft’s share at 11.5 percent, up from 11.3 percent in January. On a month-to-month basis that’s not much, and Microsoft’s gain is mainly at the expense of Yahoo at this point. But cumulatively, since Microsoft launched Bing, its share gain is nothing to scoff at.Microsoft’s share was a fraction of that before Bing was released. As more and more people use Bing, some are obviously liking what they see. That could be troublesome for Google in the future.

2. It’s simple too

One of the issues that affected Yahoo search in recent years was that its search page had become increasingly cluttered and confusing. This proved to be a major turnoff for users, especially compared with Google, which offered a simple page with just a prominent search box. Users liked it and kept coming back. Bing’s search page is also simple. It also presents prominent search box, making it easy for novice Web users to input a query and move on. Simplicity is essential in search.

Get 3 through 10 . . .

Era of Frugality

Published by in Uncategorized on March 23rd, 2010 | No Comments »

We are living in an interesting time.  The opportunities to save money on everything are pretty amazing.  Ever since we all got smacked in the face with this recession we’ve decided to get back to some of the basics.  In 2009 coupons saw an increase in use up 27% from 2008 and Americans cashed in $3.3 billion dollars worth of coupons.

With the growth of the Internet it’s become increasingly easier to stay on top of deals and in fact some websites do all of the work for you.  The only thing you have to do is to purchase the Sunday paper and keep and date the various books of coupons.  It really is amazing the deals that are available out there for items you really use.  Recently,  my wife purchased $90 worth of groceries for $21.  She saved $69, seriously!

It takes a minimal amount of work to keep up with some of the deals, you need to leverage the power of the Internet to help you take care of some of the labor.  Use Social Media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and various RSS feeds to stay on top of products that you use.  Becoming a “Fan” of a particular product on Facebook can yield free samples or highly discounted products.  Within the last week we became friends of Sun Chips and Wheat Thins and received a free bag of chips and a $2.00 coupon off Wheat Thins.  The bottom line is you need to tweak your lifestyle slightly to benefit from this and the benefit is almost noticeable within the first 45 – 60 days.  Make it your new hobby, and see the benefit in your wallet.

Here are a couple of sites to get you started:

  • Coupon Mom – Free site, great info for grocery and drug stores (CVS, Walgreens)
  • The Grocery Game – $80 per quarter tons of great info, and a full product database with estimated sale dates
  • Help With Coupons – Great aggregate coupon site, features grocery, social media, and manufacturer deals
  • Coupon Surfer – Super deals with local and national coupons
  • Coupons.com – Name says it all, tons of manufacturer coupons, the gold standard of coupon sites

Add your own comments.  Share your experiences and resources with the rest of us.

© Nathan Sauser
CyberChimps