Internet auction site eBay has bought StumbleUpon, a website that recommends other websites, for $75m (£38m).
The deal means eBay will get access to almost 2.5 million registered users, who recommend sites to each other.

Users get search results that are based on their profiles, which the site says gives them more relevant results than a regular search engine.

EBay had $3.5bn in cash last month and has been on an acquisition spree buying firms such as Shopping.com and StubHub.

StumbleUpon was founded in 2001 by three Canadian software engineers in Calgary.

It is free for users and generates revenue through advertising, although users may pay an annual fee to avoid seeing any adverts.

StumbleUpon’s founders and managers will become eBay employees and eBay’s Michael Buhr will become its general manager.

Source: BBC

More From pstilgoe

• View PDF documents in a webpart
• Content Type Toolbar Web Part
• Recommendations for SharePoint Application Pool Settings

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

GROWTH in the online advertising industry shows few signs of slowing, with ads generated by search engines and directories surging ahead of banners, pop-ups and classified ads.

Advertisers spent $294 million advertising online in the first quarter of 2007, according to the first report delivered by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The January-March quarter has always been the weakest and this appears likely to occur again this year, with the market dipping 7 per cent on the preceding quarter. But it was 50 per cent up on the same quarter last year, leading observers to tip the medium will finish the financial year at $1.15 billion.

Search engines and directories such as Yellow Pages continue to pull away from the rest of the pack, with the area pulling in $139.5 million in the quarter, representing nearly half of all the dollars spent online. Display and classifieds share the remainder equally, according to PwC’s Online Advertising Expenditure Report.

But the report by PwC noted that figures were likely to be conservative as, unlike its predecessor, it does not include revenue estimates for publishers who refuse to disclose figures. The one exception it has to make is Google, which with Yahoo! makes up 80 per cent of the search and categories market.

Steve Allen, of Fusion Strategy, said he was comfortable with his forecast that the online ad market would grow by 54 per cent to $1.5 billion by the end of 2007. “Senior figures don’t suggest to us that there is any waning of interest in bookings to the internet,” he said.

He was surprised at the acceleration of growth in search and directories but, because Google refused to disclose its figures, it was still a matter of guesswork.

“The method PWC employs is different … there’s been a debate for some time about what Google is writing in this country and we certainly feel it was being under-reported, but that was in the past. It might be different now.”

Analysts expect Google to write about $300 million in ads this calender year.

A Google spokesman said the company continued to keep its figures to itself.

“However, what we can say is that we are observing strong growth in this segment as more businesses are becoming aware of including search in their marketing. And, we think search has got some way to go in terms of growth in Australia.”

Source: Sydney Herald

More From pstilgoe

• How to add Google Gadgets to Sharepoint sites
• Ad spend helps Google triple profits
• Search ads lose ground to video ads

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

If you have a client who cannot run Autocad 2007 that is bundled with Inventor 11 because of a ‘invalid licence error’ it is probably because in the registry its set to a ‘standalone licence’ & needs to be set to a ‘network licence’.

You can do this by editing the registry as instructed below:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\AutoCAD\Rxx.x\ACAD-xxxx:xxx\AdLM]
“Type”=dword:00000019
19=network license NLM
2a=standalone licence SLM

More From pstilgoe

• Error: There is no file with URL ‘http://test-url’ in this Web.
• This page cannot be edited in SharePoint Designer
• Turn On Archive Logging to troubleshoot licence issues

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

Active Directory users can receive email but not send through their Blackberry device

Granting the Full Mailbox Access permission implicitly granted permission to send as the mailbox owner. This meant that another account that has the Full Mailbox Access permission could send e-mail messages that appeared as if they were sent by the mailbox owner.

Many Microsoft Exchange customers have requested that Send As permission be separated from the Full Mailbox Access permission for the following two reasons:

• To deter e-mail spoofing.
• To make sure that e-mail messages that are sent by a delegate can always be clearly distinguished from e-mail messages that are sent by the actual mailbox owner.

All new versions of the Exchange Information Store will now explicitly require the Send As permission in order to send e-mail messages as the mailbox owner.

To override this to allow the user to send email from the Blackberry device follow the steps below:

Task 1:

Make sure that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is running as a separate, unique account
Make sure that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server is running as a separate account that is specifically created for administrative tasks. By default, this account is called “BESAdmin.”

If you have a separate account for administering the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, go to task 2.

If you do not have a separate account, create a separate account. Then, use this account to perform administrative tasks. For instructions about how to do this, visit one of the following BlackBerry Web sites, as appropriate for the version of BlackBerry Enterprise Server that you are running.

If you are running BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.0 or BlackBerry Enterprise Server 4.1, visit the following BlackBerry Web site:
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=9174704&sliceId=&dialogID=11024244&stateId=1 0 11020632 (http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=9174704&sliceId=&dialogID=11024244&stateId=1 0 11020632)

If you are running BlackBerry Enterprise Server 3.6, visit the following BlackBerry Web site:
http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB04334&sliceId=SAL_Public&dialogID=11016727&stateId=1 0 11020358 (http://www.blackberry.com/btsc/search.do?cmd=displayKC&docType=kc&externalId=KB04334&sliceId=SAL_Public&dialogID=11016727&stateId=1 0 11020358)

Task 2:

Make sure that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account has the correct permissions
Verify that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account has the correct permissions.

Note If the account is within a domain, make sure that the account is a member of only the Domain Users group. On a domain controller, the account should be member of the Built-in Administrators group. 1. On the BlackBerry Enterprise Server, follow these steps: a. Make sure that the account is a member of the Local Administrators Group.
b. Assign “Log on Locally” and “Log on as a Service” permissions to the account.

2. Grant Exchange View-Only Administrator permissions at the administrative group level. To do this, follow these steps:

a. In Exchange System Manager, right-click the first Exchange Server administrative group name, and then click Delegate Control.
b. Notice that the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account is listed as having the role of Exchange View-Only Administrator.

3. Grant “Send As,” “Receive As,” and “Administer Information Store” permissions at the server level for each Exchange Server server. To do this, follow these steps:

a. In Exchange System Manager, right-click the first Exchange Server administrative group name, and then expand the Servers group.
b. Right-click an Exchange Server server, click Properties, and then click Security.
c. In the top pane, select the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account. In the bottom pane, make sure that the “Send As,” “Receive As,” and “Administer Information Store” permissions are set to Allow.
d. Repeat steps 3b and 3c for each Exchange Server server.

4. Grant “Send As,” “Receive As,” and “Administer Information Store” permissions to the mailbox store. To do this, follow these steps:

a. In Exchange System Manager, right-click the first Exchange administrative group name, and then expand the Servers group.
b. Expand the first mailbox store group, right-click each mailbox store, click Properties, and then click Security.
c. In the top pane, select the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account. In the bottom pane, make sure that the “Send As,” “Receive As,” and “Administer Information Store” permissions are set to Allow.
d. Repeat steps 4b and 4c for each mailbox store on each Exchange Server server.

5. In the Active Directory Users and Computers snap-in, follow these steps: a. Right-click the user for which you want to add permissions, and then click Properties.
b. On the Security tab, add the BlackBerry Enterprise Server service account, and then click to select the Send As check box.

If you are not running Exchange Server 2003, see task 3.

Task 3:

Clear the cache on the BlackBerry Enterprise Server

To clear the permissions cache in the Information Store, restart the Blackberry-related services and restart the Microsoft Exchange Information store. After you restart the Information Store, you must restart the RIM Blackberry-related services to give the “BESAdmin” account the newly-added Send As permission on the Exchange Information Store.

If you are an administrator in the domain (ie. a MS protected account) you need to also do the following:

(Note: Microsoft do not recommend doing the following but their best practise isn’t very usable for many blackberry / exchange users who are also admins for their Active Directory.)

Run the following command on a DC:

dsacls “cn=AdminSDHolder,cn=System,dc=domain,dc=com” /G “domain.com\BESAdmin:CA;Send As”

Replacing Domain with YOUR domain.

The dsacls tool is not a standard util but you can download it from here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/thankyou.aspx?familyId=6ec50b78-8be1-4e81-b3be-4e7ac4f0912d&displayLang=en

Also if you are having trouble executing the above command it is probably because you are specifiying the LDAP info incorrectly, you can download a free tool http://www.ldapadministrator.com which will let you browse to the AdminSDHolder object. Then by looking at the tool bar you will see the exact path needed to use in the dsacls command example above.

All should work fine now!

More From pstilgoe

• Import data from CSV and SQL to a SharePoint list
• Creating a scheduled email reminder using Sharepoint Designer
• How can I configure the system to let users change their passwords without logging on to the domain?

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

It takes an entrepreneurial fire in your belly to start a business and make it succeed. Not everyone has it. How do you know if you have what it takes to start a business? There’s really no way to know for sure.

But I do find things in common among the emotional and family fabric of people ready to consider an entrepreneurial venture.

You don’t have to fit all seven of these categories to be a good candidate for entrepreneurship. But it probably wouldn’t hurt. In general, the more you have in common with these characteristics, the closer you probably are to being ready to try going out on your own.

1.
You come from a line of people who couldn’t work for someone else. I don’t mean that in a negative way. People who are successful at establishing their own business tend to have had parents who worked for themselves. It’s usually easier to get a job with a company than to start your own business; people who strike out on their own often have the direct example of a parent to look to.

2.
You’re a rubbish employee. No need to sugar-coat this one. People who start their own businesses tend to have been fired from or quit more than one job. I’m not saying you were laid off for lack of work or moved from one job to a better-paying one. You were asked to leave, or you quit before they could fire you. Think of it as the marketplace telling you that the only person who can effectively motivate and manage you is yourself.

3.
You see more than one definition of “job security.” I am truly envious of the few people I know who have stayed with one employer for 25 or 30 years. They look very secure. But how many people do you know who are able to stay with one company for that long? In a rapidly changing economy, job security can be frighteningly fleeting.

4.
You’ve gone as far as you can go, or you’re not going anywhere at all. Sometimes the motivation to start a new venture comes from having reached the top of the pile where you are, looking around, and saying, “What’s next?” Early success can be wonderful, but early retirement can sometimes drive energetic and motivated people totally crazy.

5.
You’ve done the market research already. Don’t even talk to me about your great business idea if you haven’t put the time into figuring out if there’s a market for your product or service. As the people behind any number of failed Internet ventures will tell you, “cool” doesn’t necessarily translate into “profitable.” Don’t bother building it if you haven’t figured out whether there’s a good chance the customers will come.

6.
You’ve got the support of your family. Starting a business is stressful under the best of circumstances. Trying to do it without the support of your spouse or other significant family members or friends would probably be unbearable.

7.
You know you cannot do it alone. You might excel at promoting a business. Maybe you love running the financial end of the enterprise. You could be someone who starts a business because you have unique creative or technical know-how to create a product.

Any of the above is possible, but it’s unlikely that you are going to excel at all of these tasks — or at all of the tasks involved in running any business. Forget all that doing it alone stuff. You are going to need some help sometime.

The willingness to get that help — having employees, partners or consultants for those areas in which you are not an expert — is one indicator of likely future success. “No successful entrepreneur has ever succeeded alone,” development consultant Ernesto Sirolli writes in “Ripples From the Zambezi.” “The person who is most capable of enlisting the support of others is the most likely to succeed.”

More From pstilgoe

• Import data from CSV and SQL to a SharePoint list
• Creating Wealth – A Matter Of Focus
• Why You Need To Value Your Money

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

About Windows Shows the version of Windows currently installed on the system. Winver.exe

Command Prompt Opens a Command-Prompt window. Cmd.exe

Event Viewer Displays monitoring and troubleshooting messages from Windows and other programs. Eventvwr.msc

Internet Options Internet Explorer Settings. Inetcpl.cpl

Internet Protocol Configuration IPCONFIG is a command-line tool used to control network connections on Windows-based computers. Ipconfig.exe or Ipconfig.exe /all

Network Diagnostics Network Diagnostics scans your system to gather information about your hardware, software, and network connections. Netsh.exe diag gui

Programs Add or remove programs and Windows components. Appwiz.cpl

Registry Editor Make changes to the Windows registry. Regedit.exe

Security Center Configure Automatic Updates, Windows Firewall, and Internet Properties settings. Wscui.cpl

System Information View advanced information about hardware and software settings. Msinfo32 .exe

System Properties View basic information about your computer’s system settings. Sysdm.cpl

System Restore Restore computer to a previous state. %SystemRoot%\System32\restore\Rstrui.exe

Task Manager Provides details about programs and processes running on your computer. Taskmgr.exe

More From pstilgoe

• I am connected to the VPN but cannot access the Internet.
• Useful Internet Marketing Tools
• Useful Cloaking Script

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

Registration of new web addresses has dropped off because of a shortage of names, according to the head of one of Britain’s biggest resellers of domain names.

“People setting up a new business are as likely to buy up and old name that is not being used as register a new one. It is very hard to find one that is not already in use,” said Ditlev Bredahl, Danish chief executive of UK2.net.

“I’d guess that 80 percent of the words in the dictionary have already been used. That’s why people are coming up with names like Skype and Joost.”

Bredahl reckoned that at peak in the year 2000 UK2 sold 38 percent of the .co.uk names in Britain, acting as a sales channel for the domain registrar Nominet. “We could offer the cheapest prices because UK2 had automated the whole process.”

A combination of fewer new registrations and stiffer competition forced UK2 to rethink its business. In what Bredahl described as major turnaround it invested in servers, with a infrastructure and staff to support them, and began to host ecommerce and other web servers.

By 2005 domain registration accounted for just 46 percent of its business; now the proportion is closer to 30 percent, though the number of registrations has risen.

UK2 offers “turnkey” ecommerce hosting including stock management and payment facilities using Paypal or Google Checkout from £9.95 a month. “We’ve have got it to the point where virtually all you need to do is upload your product details,” he claimed.

A lot of new sites are started by people who are running a business over eBay and want to try setting up on their own.

More From pstilgoe

• Content Type Toolbar Web Part
• Enhanced Content Query Web Part
• Omnis / Micross Out Of Licences

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

Full backup

A full backup, which Microsoft calls a normal backup, backs up every selected file, regardless of the status of the archive bit. When the backup completes, the backup software turns off the archive bit for every file that was backed up. Note that “full” is a misnomer because a full backup backs up only the files you have selected, which may be as little as one directory or even a single file, so in that sense Microsoft’s terminology is actually more accurate. Given the choice, full backup is the method to use because all files are on one tape, which makes it much easier to retrieve files from tape when necessary. Relative to partial backups, full backups also increase redundancy because all files are on all tapes. That means that if one tape fails, you may still be able to retrieve a given file from another tape.

Differential backup
A differential backup is a partial backup that copies a selected file to tape only if the archive bit for that file is turned on, indicating that it has changed since the last full backup. A differential backup leaves the archive bits unchanged on the files it copies. Accordingly, any differential backup set contains all files that have changed since the last full backup. A differential backup set run soon after a full backup will contain relatively few files. One run soon before the next full backup is due will contain many files, including those contained on all previous differential backup sets since the last full backup. When you use differential backup, a complete backup set comprises only two tapes or tape sets: the tape that contains the last full backup and the tape that contains the most recent differential backup.

Incremental backup
An incremental backup is another form of partial backup. Like differential backups, Incremental Backups copy a selected file to tape only if the archive bit for that file is turned on. Unlike the differential backup, however, the incremental backup clears the archive bits for the files it backs up. An incremental backup set therefore contains only files that have changed since the last full backup or the last incremental backup. If you run an incremental backup daily, files changed on Monday are on the Monday tape, files changed on Tuesday are on the Tuesday tape, and so forth. When you use an incremental backup scheme, a complete backup set comprises the tape that contains the last full backup and all of the tapes that contain every incremental backup done since the last normal backup. The only advantages of incremental backups are that they minimize backup time and keep multiple versions of files that change frequently. The disadvantages are that backed-up files are scattered across multiple tapes, making it difficult to locate any particular file you need to restore, and that there is no redundancy. That is, each file is stored only on one tape.

Full copy backup
A full copy backup (which Microsoft calls a copy backup) is identical to a full backup except for the last step. The full backup finishes by turning off the archive bit on all files that have been backed up. The full copy backup instead leaves the archive bits unchanged. The full copy backup is useful only if you are using a combination of full backups and incremental or differential partial backups. The full copy backup allows you to make a duplicate “full” backup—e.g., for storage offsite, without altering the state of the hard drive you are backing up, which would destroy the integrity of the partial backup rotation.

More From pstilgoe

• Import data from CSV and SQL to a SharePoint list
• Creating filtered views in Sharepoint
• MOSS 2007 Backup & Restore methods from Technet

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

ADTECH has revealed the results of its latest browser analysis indicating that the current click-through rate of 0.18%, representing the lowest since the ad serving technology firm started the measurement in 2004.

Then, the average was 0.33 per cent.

“We know from our regular ad analyses that click-through rates oscillate,“ commented Dirk Freytag, CEO at ADTECH. “They typically take a hit at the beginning of the year and rise with the temperatures and then hold a stable level until the end of the year.”

Freytag continued: “The decreasing numbers overall in my opinion are due to the fact that the users have increasingly gotten used to online advertising during the last years. Banners are now commonplace on the Internet. New formats, such as video ads are needed to draw attention and generate clicks. Layer and Leaderboards in contrast have a high reminder potential even
beyond the Web.”

Click-through behaviour also varies significantly between banner formats andp countries. On average, the majority of clicks results from video ads (4.6 per cent) as well as pop-ups and layer ads at 0.6 per cent. Users click on the traditional full size banner more often (0.2 per cent) than the new large-format ad spaces such as Skyscraper (0.11 and 0.15 per cent) or Leaderboard (0.12 per cent).

The research identified the French and Italians as the most eager to click. Their click-through rates of 0.24 and 0.23 per cent respectively are double the rates of the Danes and Finns (0.1 per cent each).

Source: Netimperative

More From pstilgoe

• Ad spend helps Google triple profits
• Online advertising growing fast
• Google Adwords – Ad quality score

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

To completely uninstall Autodesk Inventor® from the system, follow the procedure below.

Log in as the Local System Administrator and disable any virus scanning programs.
In the Windows Control Panel, double-click the Add/Remove Programs icon.
Select Autodesk Inventor, click Remove.
Select Autodesk Inventor Professional Modules (if installed), click Remove.
Select Autodesk Vault 4 Client, Click Remove
Select Autodesk DM Server, Click remove
Select Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (AUTODESKVAULT), and Remove
Select Microsoft SQL Server Desktop Engine (INVENTORCONTENTCENTER), and remove
In Windows Explorer, delete the following directories:
C:\Program Files\ Autodesk\Inventor 10 (and Inventor Professional 10)
C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Autodesk\Inventor 10 (and Inventor Professional 10)
Go to C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server and delete both MSSQL$AUTODESKVAULT and MSSQL$AUTODESKCONTENTCENTER,

On the Start menu (Windows), click Run.
In the Run dialog box, enter regedit in the Open box and click OK.
In the the Registry Editor, locate the following subkeys and delete them:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Autodesk\Autodesk Inventor 10 (and Inventor Professional 10)
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Autodesk\ Inventor\RegistryVersion 10
Exit the Registry Editor and reboot the computer.
Install your new Software following the install proceedures found on the Product DVD.
Once the system is clean, you can then reinstall Inventor and any other Autodesk products you removed.

Warning! Problems caused by improperly editing the Windows registry could render your computer operating system unusable. Microsoft provides a wealth of critical information that you need to know about the registry in the Microsoft Knowledge Base at http://support.microsoft.com.

Use the Microsoft® Registry Editor only at your own risk and only after backing up the registry as well as the system.dat and user.dat files as outlined for your operating system in the Microsoft Knowledge Base and in the related Autodesk Technical Solution, TS66513. Additional information about the registry is also contained in the Help topics in the Microsoft Registry Editor.

More From pstilgoe

• How to auto populate InfoPath forms using the people picker
• How to uninstall Sharepoint templates
• How can I configure the system to let users change their passwords without logging on to the domain?

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

Yahoo! is stepping up its battle with Google for internet advertising. Only days after Google bought online ad specialist DoubleClick for $3.1bn, Yahoo! is buying the 80% of Right Media it doesn’t own for $680m. Right Media runs an online advertising exchange, which will make it easier for Yahoo! to place small ads alongside searches. DoubleClick is trying to copy it. Yahoo!, lagging in the race, has found the right direction, at a lower price.

More From pstilgoe

• How to add Google Gadgets to Sharepoint sites
• Google Now With 77% UK Market Share
• Top news sites globally: Yahoo! News, CNN, MSNBC

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

As Google moves ahead with its acquisition of online advertising powerhouse DoubleClick, Yahoo continues to wage its own battle with Google on several fronts, including in the field of Web analytics. While Google takes a give ‘em all they could want and more approach, Yahoo aims to give Web marketers a more focused set of stats and graphs — hopefully, just what they need.

Search engine marketers rely on Web analytics to tell them which key words are working — and which ones are not. So when Yahoo launched a “Full Analytics” option within its new Panama search-marketing system, it turned a few heads.
Despite the buzz, however, there is still plenty of marketplace confusion surrounding Yahoo’s analytics platform and how it compares to and contrasts with what Google Analytics has to offer. In fact, some Search Engine Marketing (SEM) consultants interviewed for this column were unaware that Yahoo even offers anything beyond the simple metrics it has historically made available to online marketers through its Advertiser Web Services program.

Although some experts might not think of Yahoo as a big player in the Web analytics game, Yahoo would beg to differ.

The Players

In case you haven’t been keeping an eye on the blow-by-blow competition between Yahoo and Google on the analytics front, here’s a little history to bring you up to speed.

When Yahoo acquired Overture in 2003, it inherited Keylime Software’s analytics and paid-search management tools. Overture had snapped up Keylime for $9.5 million just before Yahoo closed its $1.63 billion buyout of the popular platform. And now, Keylime’s deep analysis software is being used as the foundation for the analytics capabilities included in Yahoo’s Panama search-marketing system.

On the other side of the board is Google who acquired Urchin Software, a Web analytics firm that measured traffic to thousands of popular Internet sites, in March 2005 for an undisclosed amount. Google said its motive for acquiring Urchin was to provide Web site owners the information they need to optimize the user experience and generate greater ROI on their advertising spending.

The Yahoo Approach

Paul Apodaca, who is the director of program management for Yahoo Search Marketing shared his insights with us about Yahoo’s strategy.

“Our Web analytics program,” he explained, “was developed from the standpoint of someone trying to understand their Web site’s performance, whether that be a marketer or an IT person. But our Full Analytics program doesn’t show all of those reports. We have tailored the display to suit the specific needs of search engine marketers.”

Apodaca just hinted at the first major difference between Yahoo’s Full Analytics offering and Google Analytics: Yahoo isn’t giving search engine marketers information it deems unnecessary to their online advertising mission.

The Google Way

Google, by contrast, uses its Urchin roots to track and display all visitor data, from visitors and pageviews to conversion funnels and so on. In short, Google Analytics offers a more comprehensive view of a Web site’s activity — not just search engine activity.

Brett Crosby, Sr., manager for Google Analytics, said as search has become more relevant and more people are using it, Web analytics has taken on a more important role in helping advertisers understand not only how customers are finding the site, but also what those visitors are doing when they get there. “Google Analytics helps advertisers get higher margins because they can use the data to create a better experience for their customers,” said Crosby, who was one of the co-founders of Urchin.

Google Analytics allows for cross-segmentation of data in 18 different ways, including by keyword, location and browser. In all, there are 82 reports from which to analyze the data, such as by geographic location, site overlay (which allows Web site owners to see the Web site with analytics data overlaid on the site), and e-commerce tracking to measure the value of conversions.

“Google Analytics offers geotargeting,” Crosby explained. “That means customers can not only identify new opportunities to advertise online, but they can also measure the impact of print campaigns by seeing if they get geographic bumps in regions where they advertised.”

Too Much Information?

That’s all well and good, but from where Yahoo’s Apodaca sits, 82 reports are just too many for Internet marketers. That’s why Yahoo Full Analytics offers only 14. According to Apodaca, Yahoo has streamlined its offering based on two principles: don’t give search engine marketers information they don’t need and don’t give search engine marketers information they won’t understand. “The marketing guys just want to know which five reports to look at,” he explains. “They want a snapshot of how the campaign is performing.”

To put it another way, they want to know how much money they spent on a given day and how many conversions it got them. Beyond that, search engine marketers can drill down into more detail and see the number of impressions and clicks on specific ad campaigns to see which are performing the best. They can also manage keywords and use filters that narrow the data field based on specific questions, such as the performance of banner ads or sponsored search. Yahoo Full Analytics can measure visitor activity all the way from the inbound click to the conversion.

“The way we deliver information to search engine marketers is different from Google,” Apodaca said. “We aren’t reporting on natural searches. We only report on campaign-related activity. We have the ability to provide something similar to Google Analytics but our philosophy is to arm advertisers with appropriate campaign information.”

The Price To Pay

Users of Google Analytics and Yahoo’s Panama Full Analytics have their own views. Yahoo’s Panama is not nearly as robust as Google Analytics, according to Tom Bianco, CEO of Atlantic Consulting and Sales, an e-commerce consulting firm. “Google Analytics is graphically superior, with more charts, geo maps, [and] the all-important site overlay so you can do multivariate testing,” he says. But, in Bianco’s opinion, neither Google nor Yahoo does a good job of segmenting the opposition’s pay-per-click (PPC) campaigns.

Another difference between Google Analytics and Yahoo’s Full Analytics option within Panama is the price. Google Analytics is free whereas Yahoo is charging a premium for access to its Full Analytics. Apodaca declined to disclose the fee, but Cindy Krum, a senior Search Engine Optimization analyst at Blue Moon Works, an interactive marketing agency with clients like Timex and Bluefly, noted that the Full Analytics option is only available to gold level users who spend more than $6,000 on SEM per year.

“It has yet to be seen if Yahoo will parlay advances made with the Panama update into a more universal and sophisticated free Web analytics software that tracks and reports on all site traffic, like Google Analytics,” Krum said. She noted that Panama offers robust event and conversion tracking that is similar to the pay-per-click tracking available in Google Analytics, though she said it’s not much better than the PPC tracking Google currently offers in AdWords.

At the end of the day, analytics beauty may be in the eye of the beholder. Clearly, Google Analytics and the Full Analytics option in Panama are two entirely different programs, yet with a common goal: to track Web site activity. Your choice of programs, really, depends on how much of that activity you want to track and on which search engine you choose to deploy your advertising spend. Google Analytics though, may have an offer search engine marketers can’t refuse: it’s free.

Source: http://www.cio-today.com

More From pstilgoe

• ‘Cheating’ the search engines
• Google’s Shadow Payroll Is Not Such a Secret Anymore
• Fraud nags at Google’s grand strategy

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts

If you use a password policy in a Windows 2000 domain and you migrated some or all of the users to Active Directory (AD) with the AD Migration tool, users who attempt to change their passwords as soon as they receive the Password Change Notification message might receive the following error message:

You do not have permission to change your password.

However, users who choose not to change their passwords when the Password Change Notification message appears (by clicking No) are logged on with their old passwords and then can change their passwords.

This system behavior occurs when the Everyone group hasn’t been granted the Change Password right on the user object. Users can’t change their passwords over the null session connection (anonymous logon relies on the Everyone group to carry out this action) established between the workstation and a domain controller. Instead, an authenticated session is required to change a password (i.e., users must be logged on to change their passwords).

To change the permissions setting for the Everyone group, take the following steps:

Start the AD Users and Computers snap-in (Start, Programs, Administrative Tools, Active Directory Users and Computers).

Select the View menu and enable Advanced Features.

Right-click the container hosting the user object to which you want to grant the Change Password right (e.g., Users), then click Properties.

Select the Security tab. Ensure that the Everyone group is listed in the Name box. If it isn’t, click Advanced, then add the Everyone group to the list from the Advanced Access Control Settings dialog box. If the Everyone group is listed, click Advanced.

Click the Everyone group in the list, then click View/Edit to edit the group’s permissions. In the Apply Onto box, click User Objects.

In the Permissions section, select the Allow check box for “Change Password.”

More From pstilgoe

• How to auto populate InfoPath forms using the people picker
• I am connected to the VPN but cannot access the Internet.
• The K2 Setup Manager requires the logged on user to have domain user privileges to proceed

Ask pstilgoe To Recommend Your Posts