thinks

• RT @cheeky_geeky: Twitter confirms it will roll out paid, commercial accounts – http://j.mp/4Wz0YN (RT @kim) #
• RT @ThisIsSethsBlog Seth's Blog: Rupert Murdoch has it backwards http://bit.ly/504ZT5 #
• Ugh. That is all. #
• Whew. It was good to get that off my chest. #
• Wow. Very cool. It Came From The Future: The Gorgeous First Else Smartphone [Video] http://viigo.im/1Buc #
• @phillymac Thank you, sir. Hope you – and the whole family – have a great holiday. in reply to phillymac #
• RT @FocusExperts: 10 Pieces of Data You Should Know About Every Customer http://focus.com/c/G3/ #
• @foodwinechickie No. Not even a little bit. in reply to foodwinechickie #
• RT @andybeal: New Post: These Are NOT Your Grandfather's Google Search Ads http://gri.ms/CIM9 by @frankreed #
• Reading @mikemoran Making Pretty URL's for search engine spiders: http://is.gd/53tOL #
• Taking my daughters to see New Moon. My first time. Their 3rd. Kill me. #
• How SMBs Can Capitalize on the Twitter Woes of the Fortune 100 http://viigo.im/1D4i #
• About to watch The Blind Side. Great book. Looking forward to the flick. #

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Last day of the work week here at thinks Central, so I thought I’d just clean up a couple of items in the inbox that don’t seem to justify full posts.

In no particular order, here we go:

1. With publishers hemorrhaging cash, why don’t publishers include affiliate links in their e-books’ cited works? As an avid Kindle reader, it would be really handy to be able to buy certain books – or, better yet, a given chapter of a cited work – from within the book I’m already reading. You’re guaranteed a qualified audience, plus extra revenue.
2. Gizmodo claims Google is trying out a new search interface. Cool.
3. I love Google Insights for Search. Where else can you learn things like the fact that apple pie is more popular than pumpkin pie or stuffing, except for right around Thanksgiving:

   Now go and apply that type of thinking to your business.

4. Want one example? OK. I was curious how many people searched Google for Bing, Bing.com, and Google.com (I also had just “Google” in there, but the scale was absurd. Try it for yourself):

5. And, just for fun, you’ve got to watch the Muppets do Bohemian Rhapsody. It’s a riot:
   

Have a Happy Thanksgiving, Big Thinkers. We’ll catch you next time around.

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Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

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Bing, E-commerce, e-marketing, Google, google, internet marketing, Microsoft, Microsoft Bing, online marketing, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, sem, seo, strategy, tools, what would google do

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Let me get right to the point. I loved Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner’s SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance. It’s a fun, quick, yet thought-provoking read, that questions environmental issues, prostitution (and other criminal activity), organ transplants, altruism and a host of other issues, all in support of its thesis:

“People respond to incentives, although not necessarily in ways that are predictable or manifest.”

While critics such as WaPo’s Ezra Klein contest specific data within the book, those folks seem to miss the point. Much like Michael Lewis’ Moneyball or Douglas Hubbard’s How to Measure Anything, Levitt and Dubner’s real point is that we need to question both what we question and how we ask, as opposed to assuming expertise or conventional wisdom have all the answers. (In fairness to Klein, his refusal to take Levitt and Dubner at face value mirrors their very point, which is to say you’ve got to look into anyone’s numbers to see what they really mean).

Read SuperFreakonomics. You don’t have to agree with every point its authors make – in fact, you’d be wise to question their data. But, what makes the book great is that, in a world of celebrities and talking heads, it represents a model of critical thinking any business person would do well to emulate.

And if you did read SuperFreakonomics: Global Cooling, Patriotic Prostitutes, and Why Suicide Bombers Should Buy Life Insurance, tell us what you thought about it in the comments below.

Full disclosure: I am an Amazon affiliate and am compensated for sales on Amazon originating via this blog. I occasionally receive review copies of books; however, I purchased SuperFreakonomics to write this review.

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Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
book review, book reviews, books, douglas hubbard, douglas hubbard review, how to measure anything, how to measure anything review, measurement, metrics, Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner, SuperFreakonomics, Freakonomics

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• I am in Venice. It rocks. That is all. #
• @susantravels @RobertKCole Good to see your posts from #phocuswright. I almost feel like I'm there. Of course, Venice is OK, too. #
• Getting into my last full day in Venezia. Looking forward to going home, but, man, am I going to miss this beautiful city. #

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Do you check your analytics dashboard every day? Yeah, me neither. We all mean to do it. We know it’s important. But, real life – helping customers, dealing with employees, what-have-you – sometimes takes priority. That’s what makes Google’s new “Analytics Intelligence” and Analytics Alerts so handy.

Basically, the new features within Google Analytics allow you to define events – a big jump in traffic, or worse, a big decline – and receive alerts when those events occur. Here’s what they say about it on the Google Analytics blog:

• Analytics Intelligence: We’re launching the initial phase of an algorithmic driven Intelligence engine to Google Analytics. Analytics Intelligence will provide automatic alerts of significant changes in the data patterns of your site metrics and dimensions over daily, weekly and monthly periods. For instance, Intelligence could call out a 300% surge in visits from YouTube referrals last Tuesday or let you know bounce rates of visitors from Virginia dropped by 70% two weeks ago. Instead of you having to monitor reports and comb through data, Analytics Intelligence alerts you to the most significant information to pay attention to, saving you time and surfacing traffic insights that could affect your business. Now, you can spend your time actually taking action, instead of trying to figure out what needs to be done.
• Custom Alerts make it possible for you to tell Google Analytics what to watch for. You can set daily, weekly, and monthly triggers on different dimensions & metrics, and be notified by email or right in the user interface when the changes actually occur

And here’s Google’s video that explains how to use them:

What do you think? Will Intelligence and Analytics Alerts help your business? Tell us about it in the comments.

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Are you getting enough value out of your small business website? Want to make sure your business makes the most of the local, mobile, social web? thinks helps you understand how to grow your business via the web, every day. Get more than just news. Get understanding. Add thinks to your feed reader today.

Or subscribe via email.

And while you’re at it, don’t forget to follow Tim on Twitter.

Technorati Tags:
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• Anyone know any good in-house SEO types looking for work? I'm helping out a recruiter friend. DM me for more information. #
• @mpayy Hi Trace. Yes, data exists showing that offering more payment options improves conversion. Look for a post tomorrow w/ details. in reply to mpayy #
• Do you think GOOG thinks mobile's going to be big? Google buys mobile ad firm for $750 million http://bit.ly/ULJw8 #
• @ryanbarr Fair question. Of course, you're assuming they could have built it in-house for less. Doing it all stock, they spent no cash. in reply to ryanbarr #
• @ryanbarr I'm certain AdMob will end up under the DoubleClick group. Unless it's vice versa. in reply to ryanbarr #
• With apologies to Chrissie Hynde: I'm back on the train… gang. #
• Reading great SEOmoz article today: Link Building Has Changed http://bit.ly/2jLaXS #
• Train trucking along. Tunes bouncing in my 'buds. How're you all doing tonight? #
• RT @davidjdeal: RT @prebynski 10 Harsh Truths About Corporate Blogging http://bit.ly/4rvrNF #
• Boy. When my wireless broadband card works, it really flies. When it doesn't… meh. #
• Funny. I can't even say why. But funny. RT @LisaBarone: New favorite keyword: scissor lift #
• Ah… my fellow Twitizens. How I have missed you. Where else can one get @anildash and @megfowler and all the rest, bite-sized? #
• @megfowler I'll leave witty responses to that one to @gradontripp. in reply to megfowler #
• Um… by what standard? PC World: Bing Now a Serious Challenger to Google http://bit.ly/3QChu0 #
• I leave for Venice in less than 12 hours. I've never been before and "excited" doesn't begin to cover it. It's going to be fun. #
• @StarrGazr I travel a lot, but Venice seems like such a cool place. I can't wait. in reply to StarrGazr #
• @StarrGazr I suspect I will. I got a new camera for this trip. in reply to StarrGazr #
• @ryanbarr Happy Birthday, Ryan. You get my only #followfriday for the day. You don't look a day over 35. #
• RT @k0zm0zs0ul @lizacosta: “I refuse to walk faintly through life only to arrive safely at death.” – Paulo Coelho #
• @Jason In my experience, (well, OK, my wife's), the first 7.5 months were quick. The last 6 weeks were 5 times longer. in reply to Jason #
• Reading: So You Wanna Do It Like Amazon? | Get Elastic http://bit.ly/1zzYi2 #
• New post: 4 sure e-commerce tips to boost conversion… for sure. (Small Business E-Commerce Link Digest) http://bit.ly/29JY2L #

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