Google's Latest News And 18 Minutes With A 'Data Detective'

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Google made some news in the last few weeks that we hope you’re paying attention to. We briefly comment on Google Instant and Priority Inbox below but if you're short on time, go directly to the embedded video on data visualization. (The player shows 21 minutes but the last three minutes are a commercial.)

With summer 2010 ending this week, we expect to be back at it posting more frequent, shorter posts. That's the plan.

Google Instant Likely To Influence Search Traffic To Your Site

Wednesday brought the launch of Google Instant, which is a change to Google desktop search (browser and mobile search are expected to follow) that produces search results instantly in real-time as you type your query. It’s likely to have an impact on user behavior, traffic reliant on long tail search phrases and online ad-buying. What kind of an impact? It's too early to say. We recommend that you keep an eye on your search traffic analytics.

In addition, we found the analysis in these articles especially helpful:

Priority Inbox Helps Advisors Ignore Your Irrelevant Emails

At the end of the month, Google announced Priority Inbox for Gmail users. Priority Inbox picks up on Gmail user signals such as who they email most and whose emails they open versus senders of emails that go unread or are deleted without having been read.

This is worth your attention to the extent that your customer database includes financial advisors with Gmail addresses. Previously, you still had a shot at reaching Gmail-using advisors no matter how many emails you sent that they didn’t read. With this change and based on advisors’ apathy toward your emails, Gmail may immediately route your communications to an advisor’s "Not Important" section of the Inbox. Ouch—and yet another reason to sharpen your email appeal.

You can read plenty about Google Instant and Priority Inbox elsewhere. They are two examples of the twists and turns and new developments that digital marketers are bombarded with and need to keep current on.

Inspiration For Using Data To Tell Stories

Next up is a TEDGlobal 2010 video. It was released on August 23, we watched it this week and we truly hope that you can find 18 minutes to take it in.

We’ve commented previously about the power and efficiency of communicating data-intensive messages graphically. And we’re continually bookmarking examples of how online publishers have created infographics of financial topics. Graphics aid investor and even advisor understanding.

Think of the possibilities as you watch this TED video of David McCandless, designer and author of Information Is Beautiful, a collection of data visualizations. Self-described "data detective" McCandless designed the Billion Dollar-o-gram, which he elaborates on in the video plus much more.

Join us when we put on our hat as curator of AdvisorTweets.com and moderate an Advisor Perspectives Webinar, “Engage The Media Using Social Media” at 4 p.m. Eastern/3 p.m. Central Wednesday, September 15. For more information including our national and local media and advisor panelists, see our AdvisorTweets blog post and register here.