Profile: GM, Global Research Hitwise Bill Tancer is the General Manager, Global Research at Hitwise. Bill brings 12+ years of marketing, market research and corporate strategy experience to Hitwise. As the GM for Global Research, Bill leads a team of research analysts in the US, UK and Australia, providing cutting-edge research and insight into online consumer behavior and the application of online competitive intelligence. Bill's analysis of the online landscape has been quoted extensively in the press, including the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, USA Today, Business Week, Television Week, Forbes Online and CNN Money. Bill is a frequent guest on CNBC, and has been interviewed on MSNBC, NPR, Dow Jones Marketwatch, CNN Radio and CBS Radio. Bill speaks frequently as a keynote and main agenda speaker at industry events such as Web 2.0 EXPO, Searchnomics 2007, J.P. Morgan Global Internet Conference, O'Reilly Money: Tech Conference, Columbia Business School Innovative Marketing Conference, Shop.org, Internet Retailer, Search Engine Strategies, E-tail, Ad:tech and PhocusWright. Additionally, he is the author of the weekly online column for TIME, "The Science of Search." He was also named Television Week's "12 to Watch" for 2008. Bill has served on the board of directors for SEMPO and he is currently on the advisory board for the PEW Internet and American Life Project. Prior to joining Hitwise, Bill has led market research and strategy teams at LookSmart, Zaplet, NBC Internet and Pacific Bell Internet Services. Bill has also covered the Internet sector for Gartner Group as a senior technology marketplace consultant. Bill has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Florida in Quantitative Management and a Juris Doctorate degree from the Walter F. George School of Law, Mercer University.
Real Estate Category and Hurricane Katrina
While we normally see a seasonal drop in visits to the Hitwise Business & Finance – Real Estate Category (which contains 982 sites and comprised 0.45% Internet visits for the week ending 10/1/05)starting in mid-summer, visits to the category took an unprecedented hit the last week of August leading into September. Hypothesis: Hurricane Katrina and [...]
October Breast Cancer Awareness Month
There really is no end to the insight that search term data can provide. Given that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month, I was wondering, do awareness months really make a difference? Measuring the volume of searches on “breast cancer” can provide insight into Internet user’s awareness. Considering the fact that early detection is a [...]
GM Employee Discount Post Mortem
News broke today that the GM Employee Discount program is over. While the GM Employee discount program may not have provided the sales push that GM was hoping for, examination of searches for “GM Employee Discount” compared against market share of visits to the GM site (www.gm.com) indicate that the program may have provided GM [...]
Batman is in, Elmo is out
Last month we issued a press release that included data on the most searched for Halloween Costumes. This morning I decided to take another look at the data to see what’s hot this year versus last year. Using the Hitwise Search Term Suggestion, I queried on all search terms containing “costume” for the four weeks [...]
Notes from Vegas: Search Terms and the Competitive Substitute
Here’s an interesting concept. While preparing for the Casino Affiliate Convention in Vegas, I stumbled upon the following chart depicting volume of searches on two terms “Online Poker” and “Sports Betting.” In our charting lingo, we would describe these two terms as having a loose butterfly effect (or more technically a negative corellation).
Search Term Pairs
One of the latest trends in Hitwise Search Term Charting is the concept of charting in related word-pairs. In the example listed below, (which is featured in LeeAnn Prescott’s upcoming Apparrel and Accessories Report) we’ve charted the volume of searches for “engagement rings” and “wedding dresses.” Notice the spike in “engagement rings” searches immediately before [...]