Archive for January, 2009

The other day I penned an e-mail introducing our Recession Buster Pricing that went out to all our customers. In that e-mail I called attention to one specific product that we offer here at Solid Cactus, our Price Match Request. In a nutshell, this product puts a button or a link on your [...]

Back in August 2008, Yahoo! announced that it would be retiring its old checkout system and migrating over to a new system.  Today, that system took full effect.
Today, that migration was complete.   For some Yahoo! stores, when shoppers go to add a product to cart they are greeted with the following message:
Error: order.store.yahoo.com is not [...]

In the classic B-Movie, Plan 9 from Outer Space, The Amazing Criswell predicted that “future events like these will affect you in the future.” He couldn’t be more right. Unfortunately, my prediction for a better economy after the start of the new year hasn’t come to fruition yet and people tell me I’m [...]

In days past, when looking for professional services, you’d open the phone book, turn to the yellow pages and start dialing places to get quotes, store hours, addresses, etc.  And, you may have been attracted to the ad that was bigger, better designed, or even added color.  It’s just how we did things, how we [...]

So as many of you know, I’m one of these nor’easters who splits time between Scranton, PA and Palm Beach, FL. But unlike the typical “snowbirds” I travel back and forth all year long instead of just avoiding winter. After all, the summers down here aren’t much different than the summers up north [...]

Gosh, have I missed Solid Cactus.  I was out for the week, attending my final creative writing residency at Wilkes University.  I spent eight days on campus with fellow students, faculty, guest readers, etc. all culminating with a final banquet honoring the latest graduates, which this time– after 18 months of work and four residencies- [...]

Carl Fedak
Project Manager
“You guys did a great job on the site! The goals were met and anytime something needed to be pushed you were
very honest and kept me updated the whole way.  Great communication and prompt problem solving when any issues arised.  I was very impressed with the service and quality of work. You guys are the [...]

After some office debate over the value of tradeshows and the reasons behind Apple’s sudden decision to drop out of MacWorld (Read More); it appears that Steve Jobs’ declining health was at least a partial factor in his keynote cop out.
Apple’s CEO finally came forward and disclosed a hormonal imbalance that is responsible for his [...]

Whether you’ve been working on Pay Per Click accounts for years, or are still new to the field, there’s a lot of value in a peer review. As someone who’s been working in the field for several years, I like to get a second opinion from time to time in order to keep things fresh. [...]

If you’re ready to add a little “flash” to your Yahoo! Store, you have to check out the latest product from the development lab here at Solid Cactus.
Our Flash Sequence Banners are designed to capture the visitor’s attention and get them to click through to your featured offering. Don’t let the Adobe Flash technology [...]

Time to recognize those Cacti who go above and beyond. Team Members of the Month are picked by their department manager with the exception of administrative staff who are chosen by a company wide vote. Team Members of the Month receive recognition on the “wall of fame,” $25 in Saguaro’s bucks, a reserved [...]

Normally this is the time that you get to relax and put the holiday season behind you. Put your decorations away, haul the Christmas tree to the curb and start working on your New Years Resolutions. Well in PPC land, our work never ends. When one holiday is over we move on to the next. [...]

It’s no secret that many people are switching from Internet Explorer to a different browser, but why? I usually tell people that web standards, security and usability are some of the top reasons. But what if you don’t care that much about those things? Well I just found a website that can hopefully give you [...]

Everywhere the recession mindset is building steam, worries and fear leading to the cutting of all auxiliary components of businesses, including marketing and investments in future development.   Unfortunately this short sighted mindset will lead to a self-fulfilling prophecy where these business are taken out to sea by the recessionary undertoe. 
Granted cutting of costs to [...]

Happy New Year! With a new year comes the need for new objectives, goals, and strategies.
Now is the time to take a look at your PPC ads and refresh. Review the performance of your ads, and pause those that have low clickthrough rates and low conversions; most search engines offer free Ad Performance [...]