Healthy Blog Reviews

Wow. A site / concept that is barely 1 ½ years old that hits the $1 billion valuation mark? I had to see if I stepped into some worm hole that took me back in time to the late 1990’s. Apparently I have not and neither has Groupon who, by landing $135 million in an additional funding through Digital Sky Technology and Battery Ventures, has attained a standing that very few sites in the world can claim: a $1 billion valuation. As reported at All Things Digital and the press release of this news: Chicago/Moscow, April. 19, 2010–Groupon, the leading social commerce site, today announced that DST, a leading global internet investment group, will lead an investment round of $135 million in the Company. A portion of the investment will be used to fuel Groupon’s global expansion, and the rest will be used to facilitate liquidity for employees and early investors. Good day to be part of that group for sure. Groupon started out as The Point by Founder Andrew Mason. For a Groupon history lesson check out this explanation of how Groupon got to where it is. Just a reminder, Digital Sky Technology, the primary investor in this round of financing is that same company that put $200 mil into Facebook last year. To this point the company had received about $36 million in total with $30 million of that coming from Accel Partners and the initial approximately $6 million coming from an angel investor and New Enterprise Associates. After watching an interview with Groupon’s Mason , it’s hard not to root for him considering his attitude and demeanor. He doesn’t act like the typical Internet high flier and his self-deprecating style (he says in the interview kind of under his breath that “It’s all a mistake”) makes him likable. In a world where bravado and chest-thumping rule the day, his approach is refreshing. Of course, once this kind of success hits you have to do a “wait and see” if it’s going to stick. So despite many copycats in the marketplace Groupon moves on. It would be interesting to hear any stories from Pilgrims about using Groupon and your experience with it. Tell us in the comment section now.

Tags: accel-partners, digital, enterprise, Groupon, groupon-logo, investment, marketplace, press-release, technology, things-digital
Posted April 19, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media

Each month we tell you about reports that have come out which talk about the fact that Google is still leading in search. It pains me to write these sometimes because there is nothing to make anyone stand up and take notice. I think we all get it that Google is the dominant search engine across the board. Where it can get interesting, though, is just how dominant Google is in search for a major business segment online: the enterprise. The latest findings from iCrossing have been reported by MediaPost . To be fair, the author of the article I am referring to is an iCrossing employee. In this instance, though, there is less concern for results being “skewed” since there is no real advantage to iCrossing in reporting these findings (other than some market exposure, of course). So what’s the difference between Google in general and Google with regard to enterprise search? Even more dominance. Sorry all of you bing and Yahoo folks who would like to see something else. The reality is that when people are searching for business information Google is clearly the search engine of choice. I know it is for me personally. I’ll let some pictures tell the story. With Google having 80% of the enterprise search market it becomes a bit ridiculous to consider that bing is gaining on Yahoo and AOL lost 25% of its enterprise search traffic according to the study. It feels nearly irrelevant but considering the overall size of the market can you afford to ignore the 16% of the enterprise search market that bing and Yahoo currently hold? So rather than ponder the “Why is this so?” questions let’s consider another angle. As marketers, whether you are working with enterprise accounts or not, what percentage of your efforts in search are focused on Google? Is it 80%? Is it higher? How do you really view bing and Yahoo as search options and how much money and effort do you direct to these engines? Lastly, do you really see these numbers ever changing? If so, how and what might be the cause?

Tags: difference, enterprise, media, Search, tell-the-story, the-enterprise, Yahoo, yahoo-as-search
Posted March 18, 2010 by cgseo under Social Media