Kerstin Baker-Ash

Mothercare's Not-So-Subtle Upsell

It's that time of the year again when shoppers, tired of the crowds at malls and showering before they go out, turn to the internet for some holiday relief. I'm one of these shoppers (not the un-showered, I like to be clean), and most of my holiday shopping this year will be done in my house with a cup of tea and a credit card. There are lots of little people in our world now, and we're delighted to be doing some gift acquiring for our expanding family in the UK. Mothercare has a great 3 for 2 deal on, and I'm a big fan. 

No surprise that the "interstitial" page takes me to related items for an upsell pitch. As an internet marketer, I think that using upselling pages before checkout are a fantastic idea - it's logical and it's a great way to achieve incremental sales goals. What I don't like is that companies treat consumers like they're idiots online when they're actually pretty savvy. My upsell page from Mothercare was just that:

Okay, so it's not the biggest deal in the world, but I wish that IT people or even search consultants who are the architects of the site taxonomy would use something just a bit less obvious. The subtle play goes down a lot smoother.

New Look to the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP)

I rarely get excited about SERP changes but after the Google+ announcement and even since +1, there have been indications that something big was happening at Google. I love the clean design and fresh look of the Google Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It's a bit busier, but I think Google's minimalist design of the last decade was lacking in personality. With Google now being all about social, it's time their SERPs reflected that in the ability to interact (I'm logged in on Google+) and share like we've never been able to before.

It's a beautiful thing.

Small Donation - Big Difference

My father's company, Teacher's Life, sponsors scholarships for graduating high school students every year. One of the scholarship's recipients, who is in her third year of university, is acting as the director of fundraising for Kujali Congo. Kujali was founded to protect children from militas and provide a primary school education to children who would not otherwise be able to afford it. In Lukanga alone, there are 2,000 children - only half are able to get a primary school education as their parents are unable to afford the $21 annual tuition fee. Thanks to Teacher's Life, the Grade Four class at Mbalala School in Lukanga have had their entire tuition paid for the year. 

I'm talking about this not because it's a plug for my dad's company, but because it shows the huge difference small donations can make to the lives of people who are less fortunate than ourselves. The DRC has seen upheaval which is incomprehensible to outsiders, and Kujali Congo is slowly adding options to a future for children who would otherwise only know poverty and violence. If you want to get involved, please contact kujalicongofundraising at gmail.com.

Display And Search: Integration

An article I wrote on the importance of integrating Search and Display has been featured on ClickZ. Rather than pushing duplicate content around the internet, have a read and let me know what you think.

Google Maps Streetview Pegman Icon - Personalized?

This is new. Is the Google Maps Streetview Pegman Icon now personalized? I was searching for directions on this very early morning when I saw the gold gender-unspecific Pegman replaced with a personalized Pegman version - a brown-haired, blue dress wearing mini-me. Sure, I'm not wearing blue right now (my pyjamas are grey and red, because you all needed to know that), but later today? Google knows the future.

Anyone else seen the new personalized Streetview icon on Google Maps?

The Solar Queen

My step-sister and brother-in-law gave this to us as a gift, and it's a brilliant little gadget. Using the solar power in her handbag, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II royally waves to passers-by. We are very amused.

 

The Solar Queen was designed by Chris Collicott and is available through Kikkerland (@kikkerlandnyc).

Ray Allen: 3 Point King

Tonight, Ray Allen of the peerless Boston Celtics, hit his 2561st 3-pointer. It makes him the NBA's all-time highest 3-point scorer, surpassing Reggie MIller in 315 fewer games, no less. Watch how proud it makes his mother, as well as everyone in Red's Army.

 

Ushiwakamaru: The Best Sushi In New York City - No, the WORLD!

I haven't really blogged about food here, mainly because the blog isn't about food. I'm still at the struggling-for-a-blog-definition between PPC/SEM and Working Mommy stuff, but I digress. This isn't about that. This is about the best sushi restaurant in New York City, possibly the world.

I was recently on business in New York, and after a long day it was decided that we'd look for a sushi place. Staying near Times Square, it didn't really make sense to try out any local sushi places; Times Square food is overpriced, poorly prepared and might taste fantastic to a tourist from Woonsocket, South Dakota. We're foodie snobs - Times Square was out.

Yelp to the rescue on a smart phone, and the third result gave an interesting, compelling review. We hopped in a cab and hightailed it to Greenwich Village/Soho (although it's on the north side of W Houston). Tucked away like a little, dimly lit bodega, it's almost like Ushiwakamura doesn't want to be found. Not that it needs to be - the place was hopping at 9pm. We were all thankfully very adventurous, and started picking and choosing things off the menu at random. I don't remember what half of the sushi or sashimi was called - it didn't matter, everything was fantastic, the tuna and needlefish sashimi in particular were so delicious it called for seconds. A smidgen of self restraint was the only thing keeping us from thirds, even after our bellies were full of gorgeous, delectable sushi delights.

And here follows what can only be described as sushi and sashimi food pornography. It's grainy because the cellphone camera isn't the best, but it kind of gives it that dirty, exciting feeling you can only get from watching sushi porn:

Talented sushi and sashimi chefs preparing our dinner. The curious gentleman on the left was picking up an order to go, and as he left he shouted "see you tomorrow". That's loyalty. And deep pockets.

I didn't eat all of the selection here, but I was told it was just as delicious as what I did eat. From left to right: monkfish liver, octopus and seaweed, red snapper roe.

This was the most delightful selection of the evening at Ushiwakamaru in New York: needlefish or sayori sashimi with real, mouthwatering wasabi.

Time for dessert: Zenzai, which is red beans, rice cakes, strawberries and vanilla ice cream. Fabulous!

A sidenote - Ushiwakamaru (牛若丸) was the childhood name of the famous Japanese warrior Minamoto no Yoshitsune (源 義経). Next time I'm at Ushiwakamaru in New York City - and there will be a next time - I'll ask chef Hideo Kuribara the story behind the name.

Ushiwakamaru is nestled between Soho and Greenwich Village at 136 W Houston St., New York, NY 10012. Cross streets are MacDougal and Sullivan.

Google's Buggy Floating Maps

Google's annoying floating map issue could've started out life as an engineering bug, quickly snowballing into a real pain for paid search marketers. Not familiar with the issue? Basically, scrolling down any page with map results past the imaginary fold results in the non-premium ads on the right hand side of the page to disappear underneath the map.

It's annoying from a UI point of view - Google Maps follows you down the page, but weren't you scrolling down because the top half wasn't necessarily relevant to you? It's also very frustrating from a paid search marketing point of view. Some SEM folks have commented that their best conversion rates or ROI result in clicks on ads in position four - that disappears when the map disappears the ad. Suddenly, your SERPs go from this:

Turns into this:

At the bottom of the page, bloomsnroses.com completely disappears.

It's a head scratcher, only because it clearly isn't designed to help with UI - it's more of a revenue blocker. I can't see how that makes any commercial sense, but it's been going on for a while. Oversight, unfixable bug or buggy revelation?

Direct Online Marketing recorded a video of this back in October that shows the buggy floating maps results in real time:

 

Hometown Toronto Pride

Toronto. Rap. Video.

Fantastic. I'm neither too old or too proper to like a bit of hometown T-Dot pride. Loving the Anthem video from Kardinal Offishall, even if the person who uploaded it can't spell his name properly...