This year will prove to be one of the most challenging years for almost every online sales strategy. Gone are the simple days of ecommerce sites and banner ads. Organizations must now allocate scarce dollars between multiple options, including the unproven waters of social commerce and mobile apps. In addition, almost every Company now understands the term 'multichannel; the Internet does not exist separately from their offline sales…

There's a new trend with affiliate networks that is sure to impact 'social' commerce.  Many of the traditional players are now parsing up their systems and giving users the ability to break out segments of a site and 'socialize' the products offering up them to friends via FaceBook, Blogs, etc.  The revenue potential is unknown, but the ease of use is sure to get some traction. 

Test links setup below (using PopShops) option:

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We've just finished up our web strategy research in junction with our partners at InformationWeek.

The report, based on Yeoman's President Mike Healey's research survey of 326 business technology professionals, shows that 44% of respondents run more than five distinct sites, and only 39% of those with consumer sites provide integrated cross-site search and navigation.

The big surprise, almost everyone (89%) lack a collaborative interdepartmental online approach. This report…

Yeoman's Mike Healey just completed his annual survey of how social networking applications are used within enterprises.  Before you think this is about execs tweeting, think again.

The survey, done in junction with InformationWeek looks at how organizations use any social networking application, either internally or externally. How do organizations fair?  Not well...Here's a snippet of the report.

(You can download the whole report for free it InformationWeek -…

The Yeoman team was pleased to sponsor and support the York Center for Wildlifes' (http://www.yorkcenterforwildlife.org) latest fundraising project - the Story of Freyja. The children's book was self-published by the Center using artwork drawn by York school kids.

Yeoman's role?  Help them take this 'product' to market.  As you know, we help manufacturer's rethink their approach to online sales and distribution, looking at…

We're pleased to be working on another annual research report with the Linux Foundation on enterprise use of Linux. Part of this research includes a survey of Linux adopters and enterprise IT professionals. Does that include you? Then be sure to chime in!

Your responses will be used as part of an upcoming report on Linux trends in the enterprise. As an extra incentive, we're also offering a chance to win one of two $500 Amazon.com gift…

Amazon.com started out primarily as an online bookseller. But they're not just selling books anymore. Amazon now has its own ePublishing division, and they made headlines recently when CIA-operative turned thriller writer Barry Eisler turned down a half million advance from what he terms "Legacy" publishing house St. Martin's Press to ePublish with Amazon.

Originally planning to self-publish electronically, Amazon wooed Eisler with a "hybrid deal" that was too sweet…

Do your customers and prospects actually “friend” “like” and “fan” business pages on Facebook? And if they do, how does that translate into sales?

Chadwick Martin Bailey recently conducted a survey to find out how consumers interact with brands on Facebook. Our top takeaways:

• A lot of people actually spend time on Facebook: 52% of Americans spend at least one hour per week on Facebook
• People don’t “like” brands indiscriminately: 78% of…

Thinking of restricting your employees' social media access while they're on the clock? Think again. Recent research from Robert Half and the Univeristy of Melbourne suggests that allowing employees to use the Internet for web surfing and social networking actually helps them be MORE productive, as this graphic demonstrates. Why? Sometimes just taking a few minutes to unwind can help reset your brain and make you fresh to start in again on that massive project that was due…

Students heading to college this fall are the best equipped, technologically speaking, of any adult today.   How many digital doodads are in that backpack anyway?  Let’s take a look and see what’s inside…

According to a survey published by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 96% of undergraduate students own a cell phone, 88% a laptop and 84% an iPOD/MP3 player.  Compare those stats to those of the average adult, of whom only 82% own a cell phone, 52% a laptop and 45% an…

We here at Yeoman are very interested in how customers and prospects interact with brands online. Inc. Magazine recently ran an article on 4 new services that promise to measure your brand's social media influence- and presumably influence you to make some important decisions on how much hard cash to spend on soft marketing initiatives. 

But can you really wrap numbers around…

General Mills is one of the few major corporations that has focused its web precense strategy to help sell specific brands. They've embarked on a focused plan to leverage social media sites (Facebook, MySpace, etc) to help promote their Gluten Free Brownie mix, specifically for people with Celiac disease. This group represents 2% of the US population, so leveraging the different options on the web is a great steps.



Read more at…

Groupon is a very stealthy Company.  They very quietly acquired Zappedy last week for about $10 buck.  Zappedy is an ecommerce platform for small businesses.

So what you say?  This is a big move for Groupon.  Their previous acquisitions were either other 'deal' sites like German CityDeals or Companies that could bolster their core offering like US based Pelago who made location focused software.

Zappedy shows that Groupon is thinking beyond the quick hit revenue associated with…

There's a very slick and visually catchy report on "The State of the Internet" from the website onlineschools.org,  that covers all sorts of interesting Internet factoids, from the minutiae (152 MILLION blogs?!?) to the grand, including which countries consider Internet access an inalienable right, and which ones consider it threatening enough to severely limit access to their citizens.

It includes a counter showing you how many folks have visited the Internet for the first…

Zynga, the San Francisco, CA start-up of games FarmVille and CityVille, played on Facebook’s website filed for an IPO (Initial Public Offering) in a deal that values the company at $20 billion.  Zynga, reported net income of $91 million on revenue of $597 million in 2010.  Its revenue comes from the sale of “virtual” goods such as tractors in FarmVille and “energy” in CityVille.

John Deere & Co. manufactures and distributes “real”…