This is a funny send-up of Google!
http://j-walk.com/other/googlecb/ be sure to view the white paper in "help"

submitted by "Dkunk" AKA: The unknown smart guy!

This is a funny send-up of Google!
http://j-walk.com/other/googlecb/ be sure to view the white paper in "help"

submitted by "Dkunk" AKA: The unknown smart guy!

Yahoo!: Banking Prospects Search Online, Close In Person
by Wendy Davis, Thursday, May 5, 2005 7:01 AM EST

WHILE CONSUMERS ARE USING SEARCH engines to research financial services, many of those who convert to bank customers do so offline in branch offices, according to a new report by Yahoo! Search Marketing, formerly "Overture," and research firm Compete, Inc.

For the report, "The Role of Search Marketing in Financial Decisions," Yahoo! and Compete studied the behavior of 76,000 financial services searchers from its panel of two million online U.S. consumers, from September 2004 to this February, and conducted online surveys of 365 of those searchers. The study defined financial services searchers as those who queried on terms such as loan, savings account, or Chase Bank, across major engines including Yahoo!, Google, MSN, and Ask Jeeves.

Overall, conversion rates were high. Twenty-eight percent of the financial services searchers went on to open deposit accounts within four weeks, while 26 percent applied for a credit card within four weeks, and 8 percent applied for a loan within six weeks.

But many of the converters didn't seal their deals online. More than half--56 percent--of the consumers who opened checking accounts after conducting a search did so at a branch office, while 38 percent of those who opened savings accounts did so in person. (story)

Local Advertisers Getting the Clue

By Stefanie Olsen
Story last modified Mon May 02 04:00:00 PDT 2005

To many Internet companies, Dwin Ngo represents the future.

The owner of a Los Angeles day spa, Ngo has routinely spent thousands of dollars on print ads, each without concrete results. But recently, she found a better deal with Insider Pages, an online social network and reviewers' guide to services in the L.A. area: Ngo pays only $2 each time someone calls her spa for an appointment from an 800 number set up by the service.

"I would pick the Internet over print in a heartbeat, because of the cost," she said. "People who turn to the Internet are looking for you." (Story)