The Long Tail, Chris Anderson
The Long Tail took form over nearly two years as an “open-source research project” on Chris Anderson’s blog at www.longtail.com. This experiment in book development, where he shared data and ideas in progress and many smart readers helped improve them, fleshed out the theory and stress-tested the analysis, which made the book far better than it would have been if he had worked on it in isolation. It also suggested applications in industries he never expected, from beer to fashion, which has hugely expanded the scope the research.
Posted on October 6, 2006 at 3:01 pm by admin · Permalink
In: Book Reviews · Tagged with: business, Chris Anderson, internet, long tail, marketing, worth reading, zipf
In: Book Reviews · Tagged with: business, Chris Anderson, internet, long tail, marketing, worth reading, zipf
on October 6, 2006 at 3:36 pm
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This book clearly expresses ideas that I’ve been living with for the last couple of years. The idea that there is greater conversion when you are away for the “noise”. I think this is even more true in today’s environment when consumers are more resistant to being marketed too. The Internet makes it easier for consumers to research information they may need in order to make an informed buying decision. Once they have this information the company that provides the most resonance with the conclusions that the consumer has reach will have a better chance of consumating a deal.
I see the Long Tail in practice everyday as I look at which keywords lead to conversions for my clients. Popular keywords convert at less than 10%, in most cases less than 5% whereas Long Tail keywords convert above 50%. The low volume of visits associated with Long Tail keywords is offset by the high conversion rate. Anderson’s book does a great job of explaining why this is happening.
on December 18, 2009 at 8:31 am
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[...] read and enjoyed The Long Tail I decided to pick up Chris Anderson’s new book Free: The Future of a Radical Price. I [...]