We all know the "Live Chat" chick -- that "smiling woman wearing a headset." Hansen's Natural beverages offers this one-up on their Contact page: a well-dressed man with green and yellow hair, listening intently through a tin can to whatever it is you have to say.

Which image would be more likely to get your attention? The pretty girl or the crazy guy? Research shows that people ignore slick stock images 85 percent of the time.

Jakob Nielsen and Kara Pernice, authors of Eyetracking Web Usability (compare prices) find that "high contrast between the subject and background of an image may be the main factor that determines whether people look at the image."

This interesting study establishes that people use peripheral vision to size up the value of an image. In fact, many people approach a web page that is cluttered with unnecessary images as an obstacle course to be navigated, as their eyes try to follow the text while avoiding coming into direct contact with any image.

The authors conclude that, "for Web users, a picture of a tree on a plain white background is more iconic and easier to decipher than a picture of a tree in front of other trees or bushes."

It's just as the old saying goes, "you can't see the forest for the trees."

Overstock and JC Penney have been penalized by Google for trying to game the search results, according to a report by CNN Money. The companies were found to have set up fake websites that linked back to their own, which caused Google's algorithm to rank them higher.

Connect with Claire: LinkedIn | Twitter

In keeping with the theme of rock bands and customer-centric business models that put "fans in the front row," you need look no further than the venerable rock band, the Grateful Dead.

I had just arrived at the Online Marketing Summit in San Diego and was outside on the patio eating one of those cardboard box lunches when Brian Halligan started his keynote address. Halligan is Founder and CEO of HubSpot and co-author, (along with David Meerman Scott) of Marketing Lessons from the Grateful Dead: What Every Business Can Learn From the Most Iconic Band In History. (Compare Prices)

I finished my cookie and scooted my chair over so I could give him my undivided attention, and also have a better view of a most impressive collection of memorabilia, which someone had the foresight to preserve. It was a road trip of a speech that left me wishing I had kept all those "Live at the Fillmore" posters which once plastered my bedroom wall.

Realizing this was a "must have" book for my library, I immediately ordered it from Amazon. Two days later it arrived in my mailbox and I laughed out loud when I pulled out this little hard-cover book with a poster on the cover and pulpy, large-print pages. OK, so I used to paint flowers on my face, wear peace sign earrings and go to the park with a tambourine. I can totally relate to this book, even though the authors didn't discover the Dead until after the end of Disco.

But that just underscores the point that there is something about the common bond shared by diehard Deadheads that runs deeper than any relationship a company could ever hope to forge with fans in the furnace of social media. Read More...

Have you ever wondered how the top ten hosted eCommerce solutions would stack up in a Google keyword search as compared to rock stars, pop stars, R&B artists and one hit wonders?  Well, here we go...

1. Volusion (49,500) Buffalo Springfield, Eric Burdon, Fats Domino, Johnny Rivers, Marty Robbins, Pat Boone, and Sly and the Family Stone
2. Shopify (40,500) Chubby Checker, Rosemary Clooney, and Zwan
3. Big Commerce (27,100) David Soul, Grace Slick, Helen Reddy, Men Without Hats, Richie Havens, Shaun Cassidy, The Commodores, and Wilson Pickett
4. WebSphere Commerce Express (22,200) Captain and Tennille, Cilla Black, Dave Clark Five, Des'ree, Digable Planets, Gene Vincent, Kajagoogoo, Pete Best, Peter & Gordon,  Ray Anthony,  Rita Coolidge, Robert Goulet, Skeeter Davis, and Thomas Dolby
5. ShopSite (18,100) Big Bopper, Blue Cheer, Debbie Boone, Dixie Cups, Fifth Dimension, Herman's Hermits,  Jan Hammer, Jerry Butler, Spencer Davis Group, and Toni Basil
6. 3D Cart (12,100) Benny Mardones, Booker T & the MGs, Country Joe & the Fish, Norman Greenbaum, Phoebe Snow, Quicksilver Messenger Service,  The Contours,  The Vapors, and Vikki Carr
7. Miva Merchant (8,100) Bobby Blue Bland, C.W. McCall, Eddie Grant, Joan Osbourne, Johnny Crawford, Lou Christie, Mr. Cheeks, and Thelma Houston
8. UltraCart (2,900) Doris Troy, Homer and Jethro,  The Electric Prunes, Trik Turner, and Under the Influence of Giants
9. Zoovy (2,400) Bob Lind
10. Nexternal (1,600) Horst Jankowski

Next time, we'll up the ante a little...

Connect with Claire: LinkedIn | Twitter