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Do I have to go to a different site for payment?
I am going to have a go at making a shopping cart from scratch using php and mysql. I'd rather have complete control over the product.
E-commerce
Is E-commerce really worth it? Can someone please give me some feedback on what is the best way to make the most money with E-Commerce!
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Google vs. PayPal
The Wall Street Journal broke the news on Friday that they had received information from sources "in the know" about Google, Inc.'s plans to create an online payment system
Snap, Crackle, Click!
If only pay-per-click campaigns were as easy as a snap of the finger, then every web page could strike it rich at the first try.
Google May Add PayPal To List of Competitors
Reports are going around that Google is considering launching an online payment service...
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| 06.27.05
Google Wallet to Fatten Google's Wallet
 By Jim Hedger
This week, Google leaked information about another very smart thing they've done. Google is about to introduce an online payment system to help facilitate e-commerce.
While search engine observers speculated that Google was going head to head with Pay Pal, CEO Eric Schmitt was quick to dispel rumours that they were gunning for Pay Pal. In an interview with Reuters, Schmitt said that Google was not going to offer a "person-to-person stored-value payments system" like PayPal's, where money is briefly stored in trust during the transfer.
"The payment services we are working on are a natural evolution of Google's existing online products and advertising programs, which today connect millions of consumers and advertisers," Reuters reported Schmitt saying during a brief interview.
Google has been experimenting with a payment system since March of this year when it began testing a third-party system to send payments to webmasters running AdSense advertising.
The move is good for Google, which draws over 95% of current revenues from paid-advertising. Google wallet might put them in the position of facilitating the entire online product purchase experience.
Diversifying services that can be easily monetized is also important for investors who have rewarded the Google with a reversal of a small slump in share prices earlier this week. The reversal might come at the cost of Pay Pal owner eBay whose shares have lost 2% since rumours began circulating two days ago.
About the Author:
Jim Hedger is the SEO Manager of StepForth Search Engine Placement Inc. Based in Victoria, BC, Canada, StepForth is the result of the consolidation of BraveArt Website Management, Promotion Experts, and Phoenix Creative Works, and has provided professional search engine placement and management services since 1997. http://www.stepforth.com/ Tel - 250-385-1190 Toll Free - 877-385-5526 Fax - 250-385-1198 |
Ad Revenues & Ulterior Motives
 By Andrew Goodman
Contrary to what many assume, there remains a lot of useful online ad inventory out there. Those who own good chunks of that inventory are holding tight to it, consolidating it, and trying to grab more of it.
Consider the photo sharing service Flickr, recently acquired by Yahoo. As with search several years ago, it's all the cool aspects of the service itself that catch our attention. The ads that appear on the site are almost an afterthought. Consider, though, how much ad inventory this potentially represents. With upwards of tens of thousands of user-tagged pages that aggregate photos on every conceivable theme, you're talking about a highly targeted ad opportunity that is sizeable enough that it makes a financial difference to the owner of the site.
Up to now, Flickr has been experimenting with both Google AdSense and Yahoo Publisher Network ads. They look similar, and both offerings are evidently struggling to serve relevant ads on these pages. Sometimes they have to fall back on generic photo or blog related ads -- not necessarily a bad thing. Other times, geographic and other markers allow them to show more targeted ads.
What do you think the odds are, now that Flickr is owned by Yahoo, that they'll drop the AdSense ads and go exclusively with the Y! ads? I'd say close to 100%. This just goes to prove that in the runup to an acquisition by one of these two hot competitors, it's not always just about the technology or the strategic value of the team being acquired: you have to factor in the race to own as much targeted ad inventory as possible. That 100% revenue share is tough to ignore, especially considering the fact that revenues are often shared very generously with publisher partners.
Reader Comments...
About the Author:
Andrew Goodman is Principal of Page Zero Media, a marketing consultancy which focuses on maximizing clients' paid search marketing campaigns.
In 1999 Andrew co-founded Traffick.com, an acclaimed "guide to portals" which foresaw the rise of trends such as paid search and semantic analysis. |
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