Blog Entries

Announcing A Better Way to Exchange Links

raul@confluente.com — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Webology eBusiness Solutions is happy to announce that we are on the verge of launching Inbound Link Market, a new internet marketing platform.

Inbound links are one of the most important factors determining your search rank. However, getting quality inbound links is difficult and time consuming.

Inbound Link Market provides a better way to exchange links. You get credits for every link you supply; use these credits to acquire inbound links for your own site. Using credits facil [...]

New Ways to Target Your Marketing Message

raul@confluente.com — Mon, 12 May 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Mike Moran wrote an interesting post in his blog, Biznology. He argues that the importance of search engines as a marketing platform is likely to decline as new technologies, like social networks, give people new ways to find information.

This got me thinking about two related issues. What are the advantages and disa [...]

Video Intoduction to Google Analytics

raul@confluente.com — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0100

This video was created by Google and provides a glimpse of the benefits Google Analytics provides.

Google Analytics takes advantage of the software as a service model to provide affordable business intelligence software to small businesses. It has loads of features, it is easy to implement and it is totally free. Small businesses can use Google Analytics to optimize websites, improve conversion rates, and make online advertising more effective.

Unfortunately many businesses do n [...]

Competing on Analytics Book Review Part I

raul@confluente.com — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0100

I recently read Competing on Analytics: The New Science of Winning by Thomas Davenport and Jeanne Harris. Davenport and Harris argue that analytics make businesses more successful. Therefore, they believe, analytics will be a central part of future business competition.

The book is divided into two parts. Part one defines analytical competition, and argues that “analytical competitors” are more successful than their non-analytical rivals. Part two provides a primer for buil [...]

Competing on Analytics Book Review Part II

raul@confluente.com — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Summary of Part I: Then Nature of Analytical Competition

In Competing on Analytics, the authors define analytics as "the extensive use of data, statistical and quantitative analysis, explanatory and predictive models, and fact-based management to drive decisions and actions." Analytical competitors are those businesses that use analytics most extensively.

Part one of the book explores the link between analytical competition and business performance. The authors argue tha [...]

Competeing on Analytics Book Review Part III

raul@confluente.com — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0100

What is Missing from Competing on Analytics

The book does a great job of introducing the reader to the benefits of analytics. But it does not help us understand when using analytics is most appropriate.

The authors' definition of analytics emphasizes quantitative and statistical analysis. There are two problems with this approach. First, not all useful evidence is quantitative in nature. Second, not all analytical reasoning is based on data or evidence. Yet these other forms of analysi [...]

Competing on Analytics Book Review Part IV

raul@confluente.com — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Does Analytics Really Improve Business Performance?

The book's main argument is that analytics improve business performance. The authors reason that decisions based on evidence are more likely to be correct than those based on intuition. Since analytics provide evidence to decision makers, analytics help businesses make better decision and out perform their rivals.

We have seen a couple problems with this reasoning. First, the choice between evidence-based decision making and intuition [...]

Small Business Digital Divide

raul@confluente.com — Sat, 15 Mar 2008 05:00:00 +0100

Poor people and minorities have always been less likely than average to use the web and less likely to have internet access at home. However, there is also a small business digital divide.

Smaller businesses with fewer resources generally make lighter user of information technologies. The same is true for minority-owned businesses. For example, HispanicBusiness.com reports that Hispanic-owned businesses are less likely than average to use the internet [...]