The Semantic web, product video conversion rates, and the splinternet – The Monday May 3rd Roundup

Ahh the first roundup of May, soon the flowers will be out and the petals falling from the trees and… I’ll be inside writing blog posts. Oh well.

This week we’ve got posts on The Semantic web, product video conversion rates, the splinternet, and why you shouldn’t always trust keyword tools.

• We start the week with a roundup fav: Huo Mah (well, technically Nick LeRoy) on why you shouldn’t always trust keyword research tools.
• Next up Mailchimp has an article on how to use groups to manage your lists. Specifically, they discuss how using groups can enable you to provide segmented content to different users.

• Klikki has 10 must have Drupal modules for SEO. Oh where were you when I was putting a Drupal site together last week?
• HTML 5 is almost here, and DiveintoHTML5 is excited about what it means for the Semantic web. They jump straight to the details, explaining microformats, defining your own vocabulary, and a whole boatload more. Awesome stuff.

• Not much here this week (where are all the analytics guys? None of my reader list has updated), but bit.ly did update its service with a bunch of new analytics features. That’s something I guess.

• GetElastic has a pretty cool case study on the effects of product video on conversion rate. Specifically they examine four hypothesese: Above the fold is better; reduction in competition for clicks is better; a text CTA is better; view size is better. Most of it’s pretty predictable, though having a lot competing elements actually improved viewthrough.
• Smashing has a post on symmetry, and how the use of balance and composition makes more aesthetically pleasing designs. .

• So Apple hates flash, and their argument is pretty good: it gets in the way of Apple being able to control its upgrade path, since they would be reliant on Adobe updating in order to implement new features without breaking every flash app.
• Meanwhile, as Groundswell argues, Apple, Google and Facebook are, in effect, creating a splinternet that will confine users to individual networks. I don’t know if I agree with their analysis though. The splinternet they talk about is still interconnected through open systems, and have to be, lest they greatly reduce the value of their own networks, very different than the splinternet I’m used to talking about.
• Fountains of oil threaten the coast, volcano’s erupt and shut off the connection to North America, piracy, toxic sludge, the arctic is releasing so much methane that you can light it with a match, and Internet Explorer has fallen bellow 60% market share. Truely the end times are upon us.