CarocoFull

Marketers still struggling with social media

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:25:17 +0000

According to a new article on Marketing Weeks' website, many online marketers are still struggling with making their social media investments work, despite their continuing and growing investment in the medium. This appears to be the result of a combination of poor social media marketing strategies and missing web analytics.

The article reports on a new survey from the Chartered Institute of Marketing, which suggests that just over a third, 35.5 per cent, of the 900 UK marketers spoken to think that their current social media activity is "not at all effective", with a mere 13.7 per cent thinking it is "extremely effective".

However, the great majority, 74.5 per cent, still intend to increase their investment in social media next year, despite seemingly either not knowing how current investments are performing or getting little value for money from them. Facebook seems to be the most successful social media brand for marketers at present. Sixteen per cent said they are generating a return on investment from it, with 15 per cent saying this about Twitter, though the study took place before the latter's launch of a simpler automated ad service, which is likely to make the platform more appealing to smaller internet marketers.

Social media marketing is no longer a new invention, and for marketers to struggle on investing without having a good grip on the ROI of their investment would suggest that a broader view of the channel is required. Wider metrics such as customer satisfaction, net promoter scores and referral likelihood are more suited to social media measurement than many traditional ROI metrics, and until marketers appreciate this, dissatisfaction with social media marketing will remain high.

Consumers dislike behavioural ad targeting, says study

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 11:20:52 +0000

Most online marketers would like to be able to target their advertising to online consumers who exhibit behaviours that suggest they are interested in what the marketer has to sell; promoting holidays to those looking at flight prices, potentially to those who have posted on a social network expressing their desire to get away. For example, according to a report from Econsultancy, some 75 per cent of UK companies are thought to use Facebook now as a marketing channel, often using consumers' personal information to target them with bespoke offers.

However, using consumers' personal information for internet marketing to them is not without controversy. A new article on Econsultancy this week highlights some new research from UK polling company YouGov that suggests that targeting adverts to consumers based on their social media activity is unpopular.

The survey, which spoke to 1,275 UK consumers, suggested that almost half, 47 per cent, of social media users do not like seeing advertisements that are based on their profile activities. Some 44 per cent claim they wouldn't be more interested in products that their friends have followed or liked, whilst 43 per cent are unlikely to talk about a product on a social media site, even after hearing something positive about it. Just under a quarter of respondents actually said they use Facebook less now than they did a year ago, and 19 per cent expect to use it less in a year that they do today.

Behavioural advertising is not about to go away, but it would seem that marketers need to be considerably more subtle about it if they are not to turn users away.

Experts question whether Wikipedia has too much prominence on Google

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 11:03:38 +0000

Google remains one of the planet's leading search engines, attracting millions of traffic every day. However, it has been questioned by some experts whether the search engine gives too much prominence to Wikipedia over other websites.

A new study undertaken by Intelligent Positioning, highlighted that in many cases, Google seem to favour Wikipedia in its search findings. For 99 per cent of searches on Google UK, Wikipedia appears on page one according to research of 1,000 randomly generated search terms. The ramifications are great if you are creating SEO content, as it could mean that whatever terms you are using, you will also lose out on a top spot to Wikipedia.

The data of the study revealed that of the 99 per cent appearances of Wikipedia on the first page, 96 per cent of the entries were found in the top five positions. Looked at in even detail, it is noted that 56 per cent of searches have Wikipedia placed at number one, whilst the online encyclopaedia appears in second place for 24 per cent of searches.

Though it is unsurprising that Wikipedia provides lucrative search results for many informational terms, experts have highlighted that there are cases where some of the website's lower quality pages still appear high in the rankings, even though they have little content on them.

Wikipedia remains the undeniable king of content for Google search, and in many cases offers readers with the ideal answer to their questions. However, for those developing marketing strategies, looking at Wikipedia search terms will help define keywords that could be used for SEO content.

Digital marketers hold social media as a top priority

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:31:39 +0000

It has been found in a study of digital marketing trends that social media engagement remains a number one priority for online advertising agencies. The report, published by Econsultancy, showed that some of the most exciting opportunities for the year ahead lay in social media, and that companies could take advantage of the platform to increase business interest and sales.

Though the Quarterly Digital Intelligence Briefing revealed that digital agencies understand social media to be an important platform, the survey also discovered that many companies lacked the analytic and measurement tools to understand long-term growth. Alongside search engine marketing, social media engagement is a key priority, with those questioned in the report placing the two areas ahead of mobile optimisation, content marketing and conversion rate optimisation. Meanwhile, of the companies asked about the most exciting prospect for 2012, 54 per cent put social media engagement ahead of all other areas, indicating that this niche would see huge growth this year.

Such data shows that actively engaging with social media is one of the areas at the forefront of internet marketing. This is not at all surprising seeing as the modern day consumer wants to be able to interact with brands and companies far in advance of purchasing products or services. However, the report has established that agencies need to invest far more into their analytics tools if they wish to see social media engagement provide a successful long-term area in which to push up sales and business.

Drinks body initiates online campaign for alcohol marketing

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 11:49:28 +0000

Changes could be coming to how companies advertise alcoholic beverages online, with the European Forum for Responsible Drinking (EFRD) initiating a campaign to urge responsible marketing on the internet. Like many sectors, the alcoholic drinks industry has turned to social media and internet marketing as a way to increase sales. EFRD is now looking to ensure that advertisement is done in a safe way, revealing that they have produced supportive guidelines on the matter.

In September 2011, the Distilled Spirits Council of the US joined forces with the EFRD to produce a report of self-regulatory guidelines to aid online promoters market their beverages responsibly. EFRD has now announced that it has launched a new training tool on its website to offer even more guidance to agencies and marketers working with drinks companies.

Included in the guidelines are suggestions that alcohol branded pages on Facebook cannot be accessed by people under 18. In addition, the report indicates that companies should seek to remove inappropriate content generated by users from their Facebook pages in less than 48 hours.

The move is an important step in online marketing after a number of lobbying groups accused drinks brands of exploiting social media to draw young consumers into their market. With social media continuing to see increased use, especially from the younger generation, the EFRD said that it was important to ensure that marketing is carried out responsibly. In addition, for brands following the self-regulated guidelines, changes in social media use could be noted in the upcoming months.

Google add new languages to web analytics

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 10:05:55 +0000

If you are running a website of any kind and are trying to get an in-depth look at visitor diversity, Google Analytics offers an ideal tool to use. With easy integration into any website so that you can compare web traffic, sources, length of time spent on your site and much more, the internet tool has become a vital resource for many. Now, Google Analytics have revealed that it has added nine new languages to the service.

Website analytics are a powerful tool that can provide you with the data you need to increase any marketing efforts that you may be making. Wherever in the world you may be, you can utilise the service to break down the traffic to your website and discover the real people behind the statistics. In addition, though Google already provided the service in 31 languages, they have added a further nine.

The newly introduced languages including Arabic, Croatian, Hebrew, Hindi, Latvian, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian and Ukrainian, allowing an increased number of individuals to utilise the free services to benefit their marketing campaigns. Changing languages within the tool is easy, and you need only activate Google Analytics latest version. A quick navigation to the tool's settings page then allows you to change text to any one of the nine new languages.

For any website owner looking into internet marketing, the latest additional language options may offer increased ease of use. In addition, if you are using Adwords and other strategies to drive website traffic, being able to utilise Google Analytics in your native language will offer many benefits.

Marketing innovation in 2012

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:07:19 +0000

With so much going on in internet marketing and the digital world as a whole, it is hard to figure out what the real developments to keep an eye on are and what is likely to end up falling by the wayside. A new post on the Econsultancy blog provides some guidance, as the company spoke to a number of experts to get their views. So, what is going to be hot in 2012?

* Mobiles: specifically, more multichannel integration using smartphones and tablets. Expect to see a boom in applications developed specifically for tablets, as well as marketing campaigns that place the mobile at the heart of a multiple channel strategy.

* More efficient use of data: the amount of data available to marketers has exploded over the last few years, and few marketers make full (or any?) real use of it. Being able to truly track channel attribution, for example, will be a strong demand in 2012, as well as a drive towards consolidation of data into a single platform or easy to use dashboard. Marketers need to be able to see all their relevant data in one place, to be able to see the wider context and ideally compare the ROI of all their marketing channels together using a common set of measurements.

* Growing importance of video: especially given the increasingly practicality of watching video and catch-up television across your smartphone. Video coupled with marketing, such as vouchers, could be a big thing in 2012.

Do you agree? What are your recommendations on what to watch out for in 2012?

First survey: consumers dislike Google personalised results

Fri, 10 Feb 2012 10:50:41 +0000

Google's new personalised search, which provides users with search results tailored to them using knowledge from previous searches as well as information from their social links, has been rolled out for around a month in the US, and we are starting to see some initial consumer feedback on the service.

Recently, market research company, Ask Your Target Market surveyed 400 US adults about their usage of and attitudes to the new personalised search. According to this, it would seem that the majority of these respondents are currently ambivalent, at best, about the new functionality.
According to the survey, 38 per cent of respondents always use Google when they need a search engine, just fewer than 28 per cent mostly use Google, 15.5 per cent sometimes use it and 17 per cent use a different search engine. When asked whether they "like the idea of personalizing search results based on past searches and info from your social networking sites?"

Just 15.5 per cent said an unequivocal yes, whilst 45 per cent said no, they thought everyone should see the same results when searching the same keyword; 39 per cent said yes but they had some concerns about privacy. Over 44 per cent said they would be more likely to use Google+ if they knew they would get more tailored search results.

Of course, having more experience with the tool might change user's minds, and this is a very small, early survey. However, it does give food for thought; is the relentless push towards search and internet marketing personalisation really what users want?

SEO: good or bad?

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:43:49 +0000

According to a new story, a fairly new Google employee, Jon Rockway, has stated publicly "SEO is bad for the internet". Why does he say this? Well, according to him, SEO "can't scale" and "isn't good for users or the internet at large ... manipulating Google results shouldn't be something that you feel entitled to be able to do."

While this would seem an odd thing for a Google employee to say, on further reading, it would seem that Rockway is a little unsure as to what he is really referring to when he talks about SEO; he goes on to say that "If you want to rank highly in Google, be relevant for the user currently searching. Engage him in social media or email, provide relevant information about what you're selling, and, generally, be a "good match" for what the user wants."

As far as we can see, that is pretty much what good SEO is all about anyway; making sure your site is genuinely interesting and relevant for your target audience, and recognised as such through social linkages from your peers, experts and consumers. What Rockway appears to dislike so much is the deliberate padding of sites with search terms, or filling with generic content with popular terms thrown in almost randomly. This is not good SEO, and the Google algorithm is increasingly wise to the behaviour anyway.

Good SEO works to improve both websites and results for searchers, in addition to the paid for ads prompted by their search. What do you think? Is SEO good for the internet?

Super Bowl Ads Get Users Googling

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 10:56:40 +0000

Whether you are an American Football fan or not, you cannot help but have seen coverage of this year's Super Bowl over the last couple of days. What is interesting about the Super Bowl, for even those with an antipathy towards televised sports, is that a huge amount of the buzz online these days is not about the game itself, but about the ads and entertainment, both TV spots and internet marketing, that surround it, and how they drive online behaviour.

According to a new post over at Searchenginewatch, the most searched term during the game was not either team, the New York Giants or the New England Patriots, but Madonna, who performed during the half time break. The actual term "half time show" was the second most popular search term during the game itself. During the game, just under half, 41 per cent, of people searching for Super Bowl related terms used their mobiles to do so, illustrating the now common behaviour in both the US and Europe of simultaneously multimedia multitasking.

Super Bowl commercials or teaser ads were watched an amazing 30 million times on YouTube before the game even began this weekend. Whilst the game was being played, the number of tweets per minute peaked at over 12k per second, the second highest number of all time, the first being Japanese anime movie Castle in the Sky, which exceeded 25k per second in December 2011. This just goes to show that even during the most exciting of events, the urge to jump online is now very hard to resist for many.

Olympics to Boost UK Ad Spend

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 16:44:36 +0000

A new study by Warc, the marketing research company, forecasts that UK ad spend will rise by over four per cent this year, driven in part by the Olympics. The report, the International Ad Forecast, actually suggests that spend in most major advertising markets will rise in 2012, overall, they forecast the market to grow by 4.5 per cent (though this falls to a real rise of 1.9 per cent when inflation is taken into account).

The greatest growth will be seen in the fast moving, less recession-hit economies of India, Russia and China, all of whom are forecast to grow by at least 11.5 per cent, with Brazil not far behind at 8.5 per cent (at current prices).

By contrast, countries such as France and Germany in recessionary Europe will see single digit growth of around one per cent, with Italy actually forecast to see a reduction in spend of 0.8 per cent. This is the only country to see a contraction in spend though, which, given the economic climate, should be at least a little encouraging.

Over in the US, the growing media juggernauts that are the presidential election campaigns were forecast to help boost US ad spend by 4.1 per cent in 2012. Canada is forecast to hit a little higher, at 5.1 per cent, whilst Japan will see just 2.5 per cent growth. A different study suggests that US online advertising spend will overtake print for the first time this year, a major milestone that we'll probably see much trumpeted if it happens.

Worldwide FMCG giant Proctor and Gamble has already said that it is now looking to rapidly move more of the its $10 billion a year ad budget into digital marketing, having somewhat belatedly realised the cost efficiencies that internet marketing can bring it; expect to see other global brands doing the same.

How Affiliate Sites Can Best Exploit SEO

Mon, 06 Feb 2012 09:36:14 +0000

If you are running a network of affiliates as part of an affiliate marketing strategy, or simply work as an affiliate yourself, it is worth taking note of an interesting new article published on Searchenginewatch.

The article addresses how affiliates can use SEO to their advantage to make themselves stand out in a very crowded marketplace.

Some of the top tips include, firstly, clearly defining your niche, where many affiliates fail; by trying to appeal widely and thus develop a number of affiliate partnerships, generic affiliate sites fail to appeal to any partners. A site has to have a clearly defined target audience, and add value to them over and above what their partners can. Ideally, a target niche should have less competitive (and thus cheaper) keywords.

Speaking of keywords, another tip is to ensure the keywords you are using are realistic. In a competitive environment, there is no point trying to, for example, outbid Amazon for "Dan Brown". Instead, spend some time in figuring out what the lower traffic but more realistic terms for your budget and targets might be.

Then, you have to make sure your site is relevant for your niche and your keywords. The best way to do this is to publish interesting, relevant and unique content; nothing cut and pasted from other sources, and nothing generic. Keep content fresh and encourage other sites (and readers) to link to it, and link back to relevant, high quality sites.

None of this need be overly expensive, but if your affiliate strategy is to be successful, it is all essential stuff.

Facebook Finally Go For IPO

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 10:40:12 +0000

The worst kept secret of the last few weeks is now finally official confirmed; the goliath of the social networking world, Facebook, is finally filing for an IPO.

The S-1 filing document placed for the offering in the US makes for interesting reading for those who have been watching the rise of the social media brand, from its humble college based origins of some mere eight years ago to the market-dominating (and guiding) worldwide name it is today,

For example, over the past two years, advertising revenue has increased from $764 million to over $3.1 billion, an almost four-fold rise. What is the reason for this? According to the filing, it is down to a significant increase in the number of ads delivered. In that time, the number of ad placements on a page has increased from four to seven. Additionally, Facebook has managed to push the average price per ad delivered up 18 per cent.

Interestingly, some 12 per cent of Facebook's revenue came from one source last year; online games developer Zynga, which runs the very popular Facebook in-app games Farmville and Words With Friends, amongst others. This just goes to show how much time is spent with the network playing games, rather than reading updates or posting status messages; intriguing for those hoping to engage with Facebook for internet marketing.

There are apparently some 845 million Facebook users around the world, an impressive half of which are active daily, and some 400 million mobile users.

It will of course be interesting to see how the share price fares after the initial excitement wears off, but with these figures, it would be a brave move to suggest anything other than continued growth for the brand right now.

Paid Search Up To $20billion In 2012

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:29:51 +0000

The advertising market as a whole is one of the first to feel the pinch in a recession, but internet marketing spending would appear to be continuing to buck the trend. According to a new report from eMarketer, US paid search ad spending is forecast to hit almost $20 billion in 2012, up from around $15 billion in 2011, an increase of some 27 per cent, after the growth of almost 29 per cent in 2011.

The Olympics and summer elections in the US are forecast to boost paid search spend this year, but growth is forecast to continue for some years. By 2016, US paid search spend is forecast to be around $29 billion, having grown some six per cent over the previous year.

Google is expected to remain the dominant player in the market, with around 78 per cent of the US market this year and 80 per cent in 2014, with Microsoft remaining a distant second, not expanding its share above nine per cent. Both Yahoo! and AOL are forecast to be losers in the battle for search revenues, seeing their collective share fall from 5.5 per cent to less than four per cent.
Alongside this, eMarketer forecast that mobile ad spending is expected to grow some 89 per cent in 2012, to over $2.5 billion, with growth continuing strongly for the next five years. In 2016, the market is forecast to exceed $10 billion; again, Google lead the pack with a market share of around 75 per cent.

With paid search both online and on mobile remaining extremely healthy, it's going to be more important than ever to get your PPC and SEO strategies right, and keep at least half an eye on the mobile implications.

Web Presence Vital Part of FMCG Marketing, Says New Report

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 10:41:41 +0000

Big FMCG brands have been spending millions on their websites for a number of years, with varying success. Of course, it's hard as a manufacturer of, say, shampoo or fizzy pop to figure out the actual impact on sales that his website has, but a new study suggests that good FMCG websites can increase visitor spend significantly.

The study, conducted by Accenture, comScore and dunnhumbyUSA, looked at 10 US food and household brands with $40m to $3bn in annual sales. Apparently, the study found that visitors to a FMCG brand website were likely to spend 37 per cent more than non-visitors, and over 50 per cent more within the overall sector. Visitors to the 'best' of the ten sites apparently spent over 200 per cent more on the brand than non-visitors spent, and were prepared to spend more per unit on the brand.

When it comes to what 'best' actually means, the study identified three issues that correlate with higher in store sales; these were fresh content, engaging content, and strong and convincing brand messaging. Interestingly, these are all elements that feed positively into an SEO strategy, with Google's latest algorithm looking for new, relevant content, so it is a good sign that great SEO content would appear to be good sales content too.

Of course, Google is also now looking increasingly for social signals too, which would suggest sites need to get users interacting and positively engaging with the sites and ideally making their engagement public using Facebook 'Likes' for example. However, the report is encouraging in its suggestion that strategies for sales and SEO can dovetail so well.

What Does Social Commerce Actually Mean?

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 11:29:54 +0000

The phrase "social commerce" became a favourite phrase on many a digital analyst report in the past year, but does the internet marketing and affiliate management business really understand what is meant by the term?

Well, Facebook does not think so, and is prepared to invest real money in trying to bring some clarity to the market. According to Gavin Sathianathan, Facebook's strategic partner manager, "It's really important we nail what we mean by social commerce ... at Facebook, we do not equate 'social commerce' with opening a store within the network."

Of course, that is exactly what several big name brands have been doing recently, including online retailer Asos, Unilever and even Amazon has tried selling Pampers nappies to online parents via the network. Other brands such as John Lewis, on other hand, have stated that selling via social networks in this way is not on their agenda.

Facebook is keen to put across the idea that social commerce is about far more than simply setting up a store; for example, Facebook would love stores to integrate social functionality such as "Like" buttons into their own online retail sites. Sathianathan is keen to talk to FMCG brands and supermarkets, not traditionally big retailers of "social" items, but Sathianthan has high hopes:"a can of baked beans may not be social but the meal you have them with could."

Facebook need to get brands to start thinking about social sharing in a wider context, and it will be interesting to see if any UK supermarkets start sprinkling their recipe and forum sites with social media links.

Optimising PPC for Phone Calls

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 11:31:15 +0000

Paid search ads, or PPC, are a staple ingredient of most internet marketers' arsenals. However, how can you measure their success, especially if the primary call to action is to prompt a phone call or other communication rather than a direct online purchase? A new post over on the Searchenginewatch blog offers some suggestions on how to measure and optimise those PPC ads.

Three methods are suggested to help. Firstly, keep measuring the basic click conversion rate and maintain a clear call to action such as "Call Us" or "Click to email". Of course, these will not all lead to sales, but they will give you a good insight into the type of messaging that is resonating with your target audience. Equally, it will give you insight into what does not work, and what kind of messaging results in poor quality leads, e.g. does "Discount for first 100 callers" result in higher quality leads than "Lowest Price Guarantee"?

Secondly, using several phone numbers to track where responses are triggered. If the call to action on a PPC ad differs from that on, say, a display ad, you can track the volume and quality of calls that come into each number and thus gain insight into how each channel is performing.

Thirdly, train up call staff to ask a few simple questions of callers. It might be as simple as, "Where did you see our number?" and then probing quickly to check if the source was Google, another search engine or a display ad or your own site. The interchange takes seconds and if recorded properly gives another string of insight, as it can now be linked directly to sales.

UK Leads the World in Smartphone Adoption

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 09:24:37 +0000

If you are a marketer engaged in internet marketing or SEO in the UK, the growing proliferation of smartphones, and the increased amount of internet browsing done on them, will not have escaped your notice. Now, some new data released by Microsoft illustrates just how important it has become for many brands to take mobile browsing and searching into account in their marketing and retailing strategies.

The research, conducted for Google by Ipsos, surveyed consumers in the advanced internet economies of UK, US, Germany, France and Japan in 2011. According to the results, the UK has actually become the greatest adopter of smartphones, with almost half (45 per cent) of the population owning one, ownership grew from 30 per cent in January to 45 per cent in October 2011. By contrast, 38 per cent of consumers in the US and France own such a device, 23 per cent in Germany and - perhaps surprisingly, just 17 per cent in Japan.

According to the survey, just over half of smartphone owners surf the internet on the phones every day, combining it with more traditional access too, as 75 per cent also use their computer to access the web every day. One in ten smartphone owners also own a tablet device, such as an iPad.

These stats serve to show that any internet marketing strategy needs to at least start to consider the cross channel implications (and opportunities) of consumers encountering the campaign on multiple, different devices; a problem that is only going to grow as smartphone and tablet adoption shows no sign of slowing.

Google's New Search Impacts PPC and SEO

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:55:51 +0000

Google's new Search Plus Your World, the new search pages which incorporate more social media results, such as information from your Google+ pages if you are logged in, is now live on the US Google.com site, so is a reality for millions of Google users.

For internet marketers, the impact on both SEO and PPC could be significant, as a new post from Econsultancy demonstrates. Why will this be?

For a start, the new search pages allow brands to explicit link their business Google+ pages with their AdWords accounts. This enables any +1s earned by the AdWords account to be also credited to the associated Google+ Page, which will see brands actively pushing the +1 opportunity, and consumers slowly becoming more aware of it. The importance of customers discussing and recommending a brand will become increasingly important as Google+ accounts appear alongside more and more results.

Additionally, a new tactic now available is the ability to align pictures shared using Google+ with your PPC ads. Therefore, if a Google+ business user has product images on their site, these images can appear alongside a PPC ad generated from a relevant search term. At present, pictures are mostly bland product images, but in the future advertisers could place more attractive or direct messages within their Google+ pages that will integrate with the PPC campaigns, generating a more positive call to action.

Another impact on PPC is the tendency for Google to push older content up, if it's still being talked about, offering PPC users the opportunity to use paid ads to promote newer products.

It is fair to say marketers will take some time to get to grips with the new Google Plus Your World, and we will be watching the market closely.

How Google Made $37.9 Billion in 2011

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 15:05:39 +0000

Internet marketing giant Google has spent a lot of time and money in the last year or so pushing various social media efforts, as well as redeveloping its search algorithm and relaunching Google Analytics. Overall, they generated almost $38 billion in 2011. Where does Google's money actually come from? An article on Searchenginewatch sheds some light.

Almost all, 96 per cent, comes from advertising. Just 10 industries accounted for over 60 per cent of Google's US revenues including Finance and Insurance (accounting for almost 10 per cent on its own), retailers and general merchandise, and travel and tourism.

The biggest spender in the US was Lowe's, a national home improvement chain, who spent an estimated $59 billion in 2011, that's over $161,000 every day, with Amazon a close second with a spend of around $55 million. The top spending travel brand was hotel bookings facilitator, Bookings.com, at $40 million.

Google themselves don't release data, so this is just educated guesswork, but it is interesting to see which industries remain big spenders; the millions spent by retailers, travel companies and consumer electronics companies would suggest that US consumers are still spending, despite the recessionary climate. Popular, and thus expensive, keywords such as "self-employed health insurance" and "accredited online college degrees" would suggest US citizens are setting up in business for themselves, and trying to get more qualifications.

Average cost per click actually declined some eight per cent over the year, and with more people using Google than ever, marketers need to make sure they are making the most of the call-to-action medium they have.

The Long Tail for Affiliate Marketing

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 11:17:56 +0000

The concept of the Long Tail online, the idea that the economies of online selling now make it profitable for online retailers to sell low-demand products that offline retailers would not stock, as the "long tail" of demand exists for them, has been around for a number of years. Mostly it is applied to major retailers such as Amazon, who can offer pretty much anything, as they do not have storage and display costs.

Now, in the first of two articles, Econsultancy has written about how to make the most of Long Tail opportunities with your own affiliate-marketing programme. In this case, the affiliates form the long tail; many thousands, possibly, of little affiliates who sell very small volumes individually but collectively make up a significant business.

For example, most users find products they are looking for through search, but no internet-marketing programme will cover every possible relevant search term; however, affiliates will often rank naturally for some of these uncovered terms.

As the post recognises, using this potentially effectively is tricky. According to Affiliate Window, the top 200 affiliates (on a network of 75,000+) account for the vast majority of all commissions paid. However, some 47 per cent of affiliates generate at least one click, suggesting that improving conversion could generate significant additional revenue.

Of course, not all affiliates have this potential; part of the art is discerning between those that do and those that are inactive or non-performing, and weeding them out. However, the potential is there for your smaller affiliates to drive measureable revenue, done properly.

UK Retailers to Prioritise Mobile over Social In 2012

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 09:31:38 +0000

According to a new article in NMA, a number of brands speaking at a trade event this week in London have said that their new channel focus in 2012 will be on mobile, rather than on social media, despite the industry buzz about the latter channel.

Brands such as clothing retailers ASOS and French Connection and cosmetics brand Dove have already experimented with selling through Facebook, either taking a store approach or selling through links within their news feed.

However, major brands such as John Lewis and Reiss told NMA that they would not be following in these footsteps just yet. Both brands will continue to engage with consumers across social media, using the channel for customer service, but look to mobile and tablets as a priority in the coming year. According to Reiss, devices using Apple's operating system, effectively the iPad and iPhone, already account for around 20 per cent of its online web traffic, and result in a higher average order value than computer based browsing.

John Lewis, meanwhile, will also be looking in placing online kiosks in their high street stores, to enable customers to browse and shop directly whilst also having access to assistance, as well as continuing their extensive internet marketing strategy.

This insight comes at the same time as the online retail trade organisation IMRG released its latest survey showing that UK consumers spent almost £8 billion online in December, a figure which is 16.5 per cent up on the year before, impressive numbers given the state of the economy, and boding well for online retail in 2012.

Internet Marketing Trends to Watch

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 09:51:36 +0000

After a year that brought us Google Plus, the ongoing cookies debate and Panda, what can we look forward to in the internet marketing space in 2012? A new post on econsultancy makes some interesting suggestions:

1. Marketers will finally get their heads (and analytics) around the tricky concept of cross and multi-channel attribution. As more and more marketers develop campaigns that use a number of online and offline channels, the value of these efforts is now such that it has become vital to figure out the true value that each channel brings, and how combining them brings a value greater than the individual channels.
2. Paid search and performance marketing will gain more mobile ad pounds at the expense of apps. In 2011, apps were the hot subject; however, tracking consumer activity within apps has proved hard, so in 2012, expect to see budgets swinging back into the more trackable and demonstrably successful paid search and performance ads.
3. Google will maintain their ad dominance. New tools to enable advertisers to make better use of their ad inventory, such as quality score management, will enable the search giant to keep its top dog status even in the face of serious competition from the likes of Facebook. Innovations across retail, travel search and local offers are also likely.
4. Social scores become ever more important. Getting those +1s and Likes is no longer a nice to have; it is an essential for any marketer using SEO or PPC marketing, given their growing importance in search engine algorithms.

Do you agree - what are your key priorities in 2012?

Paid Search Converts Holiday Shoppers Successfully

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 10:17:15 +0000

Some new stats released for the end of last year in the US show that not only did online shopping sales show significant increases year on year, but also that global paid search spend was up significantly, driven by some impressive conversion rates.

Overall, stats from comScore show that over $37 billion was spent in retail e-commerce in November and December 2011, with the week beginning 18 December hitting over $6 billion. Physical stores are said to have enjoyed a 4 per cent rise in revenues year on year, whilst online shopping grew by over 10 per cent. Additionally, paid search spend increased by 31 per cent in 2011 over the 2010 holiday shopping season; numbers from Covario suggest nearer 21 per cent, but still significant double-digit growth.

Stats from software company, Kenshoo, suggest that returns on internet marketing ad spend were significant; in the UK, advertisers generated over £13 in sales per £1 in online paid search spend, with an average retail cost per click of 20 pence.

The power of mobile devices in online retail is clearly demonstrated too. More than 14 per cent of the December ad clicks analyzed by Kenshoo happened across a mobile device, with 8 per cent happening on a tablet device, with these 8 per cent resulting in an impressive conversion rate of 2.72 per cent and almost $150 in revenue per conversion.

Unsurprisingly, Google continues to dominate the paid search space, apart from Asia Pacific, where Baidu now has a firm foothold. In the US and UK though, the search giant continues to be the dominant player for paid search business.

SEO and Social Media In 2012

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 12:22:43 +0000

Over the last year or so, the interaction of SEO, PPC and social media has become increasingly important for all internet marketers, though the concept has evolved so quickly that few businesses have effectively worked out the impact on their markets. A new post on the Searchenginewatch blog makes some suggestions as to how we will see businesses starting to approach this opportunity in the coming year. Some of their top tips?

Firstly, more sophisticated monitoring of social media, leading to concrete implications for marketing strategies. Many companies of all sizes have been listening to social media buzz for a while, but many have lacked the impetus or understanding to translate the disparate data into campaign plans. In 2012, tools and teams will start to make these decisions.

Secondly, is the collaboration between SEO and social media teams. This one is inevitable, as Google increasingly takes social signals into account in its algorithm, as well as the new Search Plus Your World results interface, traditional search tactics will need to change to account for this.

Thirdly, the combination of social, local and mobile will drive integrated campaigns. Localized mobile content combined with social media, such as deals disseminated on the spot through FourSquare, will take an increasingly slice of the marketing budget.

Lastly, is a focus on quality content. Of course, reputable brands have always been concerned about this, but 2011's Panda updates have refocused everyone's minds, and we can but hope they remain focused. At heart, quality content remains the key to successful SEO, something all marketers would do well to remember.

Affiliates Drive Significant Sales Growth

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 10:16:59 +0000

With online sales holding up well in the face of a poor economic outlook, as consumers look online for bargains, a new article from New Media Age this week suggests that sales through affiliate marketing are also growing rapidly.

According to the article, affiliate network LinkShare has claimed that online sales via its network of affiliates grew 38 per cent between 2010 and 2011, compared to a market average of 18 per cent (according to the IMRG). LinkShare also claimed that smartphones were increasingly driving affiliate related research and sales, with consumers looking for online discounts, according to a recent poll by the company, 41 per cent of online consumers say they have bought something online that they had not previously considered purchasing because of an online voucher or offer.

This is backed up by comments from mobile affiliate network Vouchercloud, which have published its own research suggesting that its users saved over £10m on their purchases made in November and December. The company, which launched Blackberry and Windows Phone versions of its app this week to complement the iPhone app, works with high street names such as Oasis and the Disney Store to offer discount vouchers that can be printed or downloaded to a mobile phone. According to Greg LeTocq, MD of Vouchercloes, some 6,000 vouchers were downloaded every day on the run up to Christmas, with 400 actually being used every hour.

With consumers' demand for deals and bargains online unlikely to abate soon, affiliate success is likely to continue through 2012.

Tablet Shopping Experience Lags the PC

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:22:22 +0000

Consumer spending on ecommerce was higher than ever this holiday season, despite ongoing economic problems, which is encouraging for all those engaged in online retail or internet marketing. Additionally, according to a new report, online consumers are increasingly satisfied with their online shopping experiences, on computers at least.

The report, Baynote's Annual Holiday Shopping Experience Survey, found that the great majority of respondents (84 per cent) rated their online shopping experience between Cyber Monday (November 28 in 2011) and Christmas Eve either "good" or "excellent", up from 78 per cent in 2010.

According to these shoppers, the keys to a good experience were an efficient checkout process, the availability of customer reviews and the offering of personalised recommendations based on previous shopping behaviours. Interestingly, most consumers, 80 per cent, said that social networks did not influence their purchase decisions, although 20 per cent said they had made a purchase based on a Facebook recommendation, and 9 per cent had actually purchased something from a Facebook page. However, overall the Facebook e-commerce experience on average only garnered a C+ grade, suggesting that much work needs to be done to make the social network a viable ecommerce channel in the long term.

The key gripe consumers had was with the mobile device experience; shopping over a tablet scored a B-.

With many tablet users (60 per cent) suggesting they would look to use their tablet to shop online this year (as opposed to just 21 per cent of mobile phone users), online retailers would do well to think about improving the tablet ecommerce experience.

Tablet Shopping Experience Lags the PC

Mon, 16 Jan 2012 10:20:20 +0000

Social Sharing Icons Boost Email CTR

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 10:20:10 +0000

Links enabling users to share content are ubiquitous these days, on anything from blog posts to news articles and even internet marketing emails. However, what evidence do we have that adding such sharing options increases the reach of the message?

Well, according to a new report by email marketing provider GetResponse, adding social sharing options into email can improve response rates significantly.

The research found that almost a fifth, 18.3 per cent, of marketers were now including social sharing icons into their emails, which was an increase of 40 per cent over this time last year. Just over half of them only included one such icon, with 40.6 per cent including two, 7.4 per cent including three and 0.1 per cent putting four icons on their email. Facebook, placed on 91 per cent of the emails that had sharing icons.

By analysing over 2,200 million sent emails, GetResponse discovered that emails with sharing options generated a click through rate of 5.6 per cent on average, considerably higher than the 2.6 per cent average CTR achieved by those without sharing options. Emails with LinkedIn sharing icons generated a staggering 9.6 per cent CTR on average, well above the norm. On average, emails were getting 23 shares on Facebook for every 10,000 emails opened, as well as seven tweets and four shares on LinkedIn.

It would seem that consumers' urge to feel they can share anything they are remotely interested in seems to translate into interest in content that allows them to do so, even if they do not end up actually sharing it in the end.

Google Launch "Search plus Your World"

Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:41:10 +0000

When Google launched its version of a social network, Google+ last year, there was a lot of commentary about the perceived inevitability that they would combine the network with the search product at some point.

Well, that point has arrived. Google have now announced that they are "transforming Google into a search engine that understands not only content, but also people and relationships". In other words, they are now going to be incorporating Google+ information too, terming the new service "Search plus Your World". Specifically, there are three new features:

* Personal results - these are the Google+ results such as photos and posts, including both things you have posted and things that have been shared with you. For example, a search for a holiday destination may now produce posts from friends talking about the same destination, or photos they have posted.
* Profiles in Search - people's profiles will now appear in both autocomplete and search. Typing a friend's name gives you an autocomplete of their full name, and selecting a predicted profile takes you to a page about them, including their Google+ profile of course.
* People and Pages - helping searchers find people profiles and Google+ pages on specific topics, with quick links to connect with them.

These developments should surprise no one, and yet a minority of users will see this, as most searchers do not have Google accounts. However, the implications for search engine marketing and SEO could be profound, how do you target when everyone gets their own unique search results? So, we will be watching closely.

Google Accepting Illegal Ads, Shows BBC Report

Wed, 11 Jan 2012 09:46:15 +0000

According to a new BBC report spotted by Searchengineland, search engine marketing ads for, amongst other things, illegal ticket resellers offering Olympics tickets, cannabis advertising and fake ID card sellers could be found online until very recently.

The investigation, by 5 Live Investigates, was prompted by a consumer complaining that she had tried to buy Olympics tickets from a retailer she found by searching on Google, believing that because the URL appeared top in the paid for search advertisements that the company had to be legitimate. The consumer paid £750 for the tickets online, but apparently became suspicious when the company requested a faxed copy of her signature, and subsequently found out that the company was not an official reseller and the tickets did not exist.

Whilst some in the industry might question the assumption that Google ads equals safe, there is little doubt that many mainstream consumers have this impression. It is far from the first time that Google have been rapped for taking ads from dodgy sources; they recently agreed to pay a $500m penalty in the US for accepting ads from Canadian pharmacies illegally selling to US consumers.

Of course, it is hard for Google to ensure that every single ad comes from a legitimate source, and it does employ both technology and human barriers to try to ensure this. However, it is a salutary reminder to all that even the biggest of companies can be hoodwinked by illegal retailers sometimes.

Free Benchmarking Tool Launched In US

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 10:05:42 +0000

One of the biggest challenges for ecommerce companies can be figuring out how they are performing compared to their competitors, without paying out large amounts of money for market researchers or consultants to conduct bespoke studies.

Now, a new offering from the US based eCommerce Foundation may make it easier to do so. They have launched a free e-commerce benchmarking tool that is intended to help online businesses compare themselves against industry norms, and over 100 relevant KPIs. The study takes the form of an online survey, aimed at both B2C and B2B online retailers.

Metrics that can be reported on include website traffic and conversion rates, cost metrics such as average transaction cost, internal measures such as number of employees, as well as points for existing and planned innovations.

Participating companies are allowed to remain anonymous, with manual checks to help ensure consistency and to watch out for errors, unintentional or otherwise. A healthy measure of scepticism will be useful in interpreting data to start with, as the data will only be interesting once a large number of retailers choose to take part, but the idea is sound and it will be interesting to see how uptake goes.
Whilst the survey will obviously be dominated by US participants, these kinds of website analytics are very valuable to all online retailers and marketers, so given that it is free, what do you have to lose?

What's Hot in Web Analytics?

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 09:49:42 +0000

The year 2011 was a busy year for webmasters and others engaged in website analytics, with multiple changes in Google algorithms and Google Analytics, including the launch of paid for service Google Premium. Additionally, there have been many rumblings and complaints about the new EU privacy regulations around cookies, particularly the UK's interpretation of them. Now, a new post on the Econsultancy blog presents some interesting suggestions as to what will be occupying analysts' time this year:

* The enforcement of the cookie legislation, which having been postponed, is now due to hit in May. So far, the implications of explicit user agreement to data gathering have been largely ignored by developers, but if the enforcement is made, websites will have to start making difficult decisions about effective implementation.
* The integration of on and offsite metrics will continue to be a headache whilst being increasingly important, as customer lean on offsite conversations and information such as social media and coupon sites in making purchase decisions.
* Social analytics will be a big topic of discussion. Some of the topics to be discussed will be what can be measured and what is actually useful for small and medium sized, mainstream website owners? How can these analytics be used in conjunction with your everyday site analytics?

Getting your analytics right is an ever-ongoing, iterative process at the best of times, and with several disruptions such as new cookie implementation and changes in search engine processes, every analytics user is likely to be kept on their toes in 2012.

Tablets to Drive 2012 Ecommerce

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 09:58:22 +0000

With some 30m iPads sold so far alone worldwide, the penetration of tablet devices into the consumer market has been nothing short of staggering. Given their relatively high cost, consumers who use them tend to have a higher disposable income than average, making them attractive targets for internet marketing.

Now, some new research indicates that tablets may be the key driver of ecommerce across portable devices this next year, with shopping across tablets such as iPads likely to equal that of purchases across smartphones such as the iPhone.

The study, conducted by consultants Logan Tod, surveyed over 1,000 respondents at the end of December 2012 and discovered that already, 14 per cent of them had used an iPad or other tablet device to make an online purchase this Christmas. Overall, 15 per cent had used a mobile to purchase, a figure that is more than double the seven per cent that had done so a year ago.

Logan Tod are forecasting ecommerce sales growth of between 18 per cent and 22 per cent between this past Christmas and Christmas 2012, with over a quarter of respondents saying they will spend more online next Christmas than they did this year. What can retailers do to encourage purchase? Well, 57 per cent of respondents would buy more if there were more low cost delivery options, 45 per cent wanted better stock availability and 46 per cent wanted improved payment options, and unsurprisingly, 48 per cent asked for more money saving offers.

Study Shows Google Algorithm Success

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:50:41 +0000

Many of you will remember the ongoing debates last year about the changes to Google's search algorithm, which were intended to improve the quality of organic search results; at one point, Google even posted a list of advice on how those doing search engine optimisation could ensure their website was not penalised. The changes were met with mixed opinions.

Now a new study suggests that the new algorithm is indeed having the desired effect; poor quality websites are disappearing from the top organic search results because of the implementations. The test looked at 50 search terms known to be of key interest to content farms in March 2011 and then again in August after some key changes had been made. For the purpose of the study, poor quality sites were defined as "uninformative sites whose primary function appears to be displaying adverts".

For example, for the search query "how to train for a marathon", a number of sites offering generic lists of tips appeared in the March results, but not in August's, having been replaced by reputable sites such as Runner's World. The study reported similar results across the queries.

Of course, the algorithm has been continually tweaked since August, but the studies we have seen so far all suggest that the major updates last year seem to have been a success. What do you think?

Majority of UK Consumer Now Access News Online

Wed, 04 Jan 2012 09:55:11 +0000

Many online consumers are used to accessing the latest news headlines on their smartphone, or perhaps on a tablet PC on their commute; it would appear that they are in good company. According to a new UK study, the majority of UK consumers now consume at least some of their news content online.

According to the research by media advisors Oliver and Ohibaum, some 68 per cent of UK consumers now access some news content online. This still lags the percentage who use TV, which stands at 75 per cent, but comfortably exceeds the number who use newspapers, which is only just over half the population at 54 per cent, with 40 per cent using the radio.

On average, a newspaper reader reads two newspapers, whilst the average online news consumer casts a wider net, visiting just over five sites each.

With content providers increasingly having to weight business models between internet marketing and charging for content, comes the insight that just 3.8 per cent of news users actually pay for their online news. However, those using tablet devices are considerably more likely to pay, 19 per cent, to be precise.

Of course, tablet owners are more likely to have a higher income that the average user, which would explain their increased propensity to spend on online content; however, for news brands looking to increase revenue through subscriptions, tablets offer a ray of hope in an otherwise bleak landscape.

Top Trends For 2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:49:19 +0000

Happy New Year, and welcome to our first blog post of 2012.

A new post on the Econsultancy blog on the first Monday of this New Year highlights some of the top trends in online search marketing and social media for internet marketing brands to look out for in 2012. These include:

* More adoption from mainstream companies of marketing automation technologies and social CRM
* Social CRM - using social media to connect with and support consumers, such as reaching out to users across Twitter, has up until now been the forte of socially-forward brands such as Dell or SouthWest Airlines, but will increasingly be a more widespread tool
* Search engines will increasingly consider social signals in search results; a good social media presence will be become essential for a top organic search engine marketing position.
* Both customers and employees become accepted marketing conduits. Using social media to listen to customer comments and start to respond to them is one-step; the next, more challenging, is to utilise employees and influential engaged consumers as evangelists for the brand. One key challenge, the definition and measurement of "influential", which will differ by brand and by marketing goal

Whilst there are examples of big, market leading brands making inroads into these ventures already, most mainstream companies and brands still fall short in their understanding and development of the potential of integrating social media and search marketing. Whilst marketing budgets will remain constrained in 2012, expect to see more low-level experimentation with integration from many a well-known brand; it should be an interesting year!

Facebook Trial Brand-Consumer Private Messages

Fri, 23 Dec 2011 10:41:41 +0000

If you use Facebook on a personal basis, you will probably be familiar with the functionality that allows you to send private messages to your friends as well as posting on their wall for public consumption. However, up until now, companies that run official Pages on Facebook, for internet marketing or PR purposes for example, have not been able to use this functionality; they have not been able to send or accept private messages from individuals.

Now, the social network is beginning to roll out functionality that will allow this as a communication tool. At present, if an individual consumer wishes to communicate directly with a brand, they can only do so by posting on the brands wall, where every other fan of the brand can see their message, and the brands' reply. However, it seems that Facebook is now trialling a system where consumers can send a private message to a brand. The communication has to be initiated by the consumer; this is not a licence for unlimited one to one messaging from a brand to individuals, though once the consumer has sent a message they can reply.

The implication for brands using Facebook is considerable; up until now, Twitter has ruled the one-to-one side of brand-fan communication and customer service within social media, but this new functionality would allow this to go on within Facebook too.

There is no clear message on when the idea will roll out worldwide, but keep an eye out, as it is likely to spread fast.

Integrating SEO Into Your Business

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 13:44:09 +0000

Despite SEO being a must for many firms for a number of years, the integration of the needs of SEO and the rest of the business often leaves much to be desired! Short of running a complete site audit every time someone makes a change, how can you improve the integration of SEO into your business and ensure that the overall business strategy takes account of SEO needs?
In a perfect world, SEO should be part of a product or business plan from the beginning. This means, realistically, you need senior level understanding of the value SEO brings, and advocacy of SEO right from the top. Get the CMO or Marketing Director on board, and never again should you receive a marketing plan about to go live that takes no account of your proven target keywords or long-term SEO strategy.
Indeed, the best way to ensure the company appreciates the need for and value of integrated SEO is to ensure as many people in the company as possible are up to speed on the benefits, even having a few working as SEO advocates or proponents to encourage colleagues. Get them to show their teams some simple analytics on how good SEO can boost traffic and conversions - and their bottom line!
SEO should be seen as a positive enhancement to a process, not a bolted-on, resented step that slows production or development. Link SEO to real profits and you will be surprised how many SEO advocates come out of the woodwork!

What's Hot and What's not?

Mon, 19 Dec 2011 09:51:49 +0000

When it comes to Google search engine marketing, it is always interesting to know what is popular, what is trending, and what is not making an impact. If this is the kind of data that interests you, Google's latest Zeigeist list is just up your street.

So, what is Google Zeigeist? Well, it is information based on the billions of searches that users do on Google over the year, taking data from multiple sources such as Insights for Search as well as internal Google analytics. The analysis filters out spam and repeat queries to produce lists of the most popular topics researched, as well as the topics that are fastest rising and falling.

In the UK, the fastest rising search of the year overall was, unsurprisingly, the Royal Wedding, with the iPhone 5 and game FIFA 12 coming in second and third.

The most popular travel destinations searched for from the UK were Las Vegas, New York and Disneyland Paris, whilst the Haye vs Klitschko boxing match in November pipped Olympic tickets 2012 as the fastest rising sports related search. Vampire flick, Breaking Dawn was the fastest rising movie, whilst American reality TV star Ryan Dunn was the fastest rising person (and Nick Clegg the fastest falling).

In terms of general information, the most popular search was on how to revise, closely followed by how to snog, both perhaps indicating the volume of searches carried out by students in the UK.

There is much more data where that came from, by country too, so why not look and see whether what you thought was hot in 2011 really was?

How Well Do You Know Google?

Fri, 16 Dec 2011 09:57:32 +0000

We all know that Google dominates when it comes to online search advertising, but some new statistics about the world's largest search engine may well surprise you.

In 2010, Google generated some $29 billion in revenues, the great majority (97 per cent) of which comes from advertising and search engine marketing. According to research by Kantar Media, a division of worldwide ad agency WPP, the biggest Global search spenders are IAC/Interactive Corp, which many of us could have forgiven for not having heard of, they own Ask.com and Match.com and a number of other brands. The other big spenders are brands familiar to all, Amazon, for example, is estimated to have spent some $118 million on search in the first nine months of 2011, which of course does not include the major ad spending around Christmas. Travel aggregator Expedia spent over $92 million, whilst Microsoft, one of Google's key competitors, spent over $70 million.

As well as the data on who are the top advertisers, other new data from BusinessMBA also shows how Google puts the competition in the shade. For example, the most expensive keyword categories are thought to be "insurance", "loans" and "mortgage", bad news for financial services' marketing budgets.

The most impressive figure is the suggestion that Google receives 1 billion unique visitors a month. That's one seventh of the entire worlds' population using Google in a month, each spending around 200 minutes on the search engine, an average of around seven minutes every day.

US Consumers Snub Social Networks When Looking For Local Info

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 09:45:19 +0000

The nature of social networks in connecting users with their friends, often those who live nearby, has led to many commentators suggesting that such networks are an important source of local information, and thus a good place for local internet marketing.

However, a new study from the US based Pew Internet & American Life Foundation would suggest that, in the US, at least, this is not the case. The web itself, and search engines specifically, are very important sources of information on local shops and services, but social media not so.

The survey spoke to around 1,000 US adults and found that over just a quarter of them relied on the internet for information "about local restaurants, bars, and clubs". Thirty-eight per cent of these users go to search engines, 17 per cent to specialty websites (likely to be local directories) and just three per cent rely on social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. For other types of business, around 30 per cent of all users used the internet, with a third of them relying on search engines, with just one per cent relying on social networks. Additionally, almost half of the respondents used their mobile phones to get local news and information, the mobile nature of these devices leading to their use whilst users are out and about, perhaps for a restaurant recommendation on an evening out.

Whilst the day of social networks as a mine of useful local information may well come, it would appear to be some way off yet; search engines very much rule the roost for this type of information right now.

Need Help With Google Analytics?

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 09:45:38 +0000

If you use Google's free analytics packages to review and oversee your web analytics, it can sometimes be hard to keep on top of the new features and functions that the service has introduced. In many cases, users are overwhelmed with data and fail to see through the clutter to the important points, or to act upon them.

Now, some advice posted on Econsultancy could help web analysts and marketers get to grips with some of the finer points. A variety of articles has been collated, including:

* How to monitor purchase latency: figuring out the number of days between purchases, so you can determine the optimum time to market, remarket or reach out to consumers with help. How long do average customers leave between purchases, and can you identify those who are in danger of not returning?
* How to determine the best time to send emails: looking at customer behaviours by bespoke time segments to figure out the most effective time to send reminder emails, or call to action offers. This data can also help with time targeted PPC ads.
* How to track on page leads: how to monitor the activity and usefulness of on page lead items such as contact us forms, email signup boxes, subscriptions, downloads and registrations. How valuable are they in increasing conversions?

If you are struggling with the wealth of data you get from Google Analytics, a review of these articles might be a good place to start.

Paid Search Drives Offline Sales Too

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 10:37:19 +0000

The success of investing in paid search and SEO for online marketing has generally been measured in terms of clickthroughs and online sales contributable to those clicks.

However, a new study from the US would appear to suggest that success measures should also take into consideration offline sales driven by online searches too. According to the study, conducted by US retail marketing firm RevTrax, for every $1 in online sales generated by paid search, there is another $6 in in-store revenues also generated.

The study looked at two years of data, using landing pages with coupons and unique IDs to track sales that were prompted by an online search. Coupons IDs could also be tracked back to the keyword used. Using this tracking, RevTrax measured the in store sales influenced by the paid search advertising. The results suggested that around 9 per cent of clicks on a paid search ad generated a physical store sale, with the average click on a paid search ad driving around $15 of in store revenue. For every $1 in sales driven online, paid search drove around $6 in offline sales.

Whilst the study is based on US data, the implications for UK and European based paid search marketing are also interesting. Are your paid search campaigns optimised simply for driving online sales, or do they take into account users' offline behaviour? Are you using coupons or codes to track any such behaviour? If not, then you could potentially be undervaluing the impact of paid search considerably.

Tablets Find Their (Evening) Niche

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 10:21:56 +0000

The concept of media multitasking, surfing the internet whilst interacting with other media simultaneously, such as watching TV or texting, has been growing in popularity for a number of years, especially amongst younger consumers. Now the behaviour is set to increase, according to new research.

The new study, from the UK Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB), says that consumers see tablet devices such as iPads as the ideal format of device for surfing whilst sitting in front of the television. The research showed that just over a half, 51 per cent, of all tablet uses happened in front of the television. Tablet owners are actually 50 per cent more likely to use their device in front of the TV than they are to use their mobile phone or computer.

The evening is the most popular time to use a tablet, with more than 50 per cent of tablet interactions happening between 7pm and 12pm. Interestingly for those using internet marketing targeted at devices, 27 per cent of survey respondents claimed to be clicking on ads on their tablets more now than ever, with 65 per cent browsing stores using them.

From being a device looking for a purpose, tablets appear to have found a definite niche in consumers' lives as well as becoming an attractive device for advertisers. With Christmas likely, to see many more users waking up to a tablet in their stockings, the future for tablet based marketing looks rosy.

Google Take 44 Per Cent of Global Ad Market

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 09:43:51 +0000

Google has been dominant in the internet marketing game for a number of years, but were you aware just how dominant? With increasing competition in digital marketing, SEO, web analytics etc, you might think that the search might be losing ground, but in fact the behemoth is actually gaining ground.

According to new data from ZenithOptimedia, in 2006, Google's share of the global internet, ad market was just over a third at a shade under 35 per cent. Yahoo! was its closest competitor, with around 19 per cent. In 2010, Google controlled some 44 per cent of the market, with Yahoo! remaining the runner up but now at just 8.3 per cent. Biggest gainer over the period has been Facebook, who took just 0.2 per cent of the market in 2006 but just over 3 per cent in 2010, a percentage that is likely to have doubled again this year, surpassing Microsoft.

Google is also now the engine behind around 85 per cent of all searches, with Microsoft, Yahoo! and AOL supporting just 13.8 per cent between them. Paid search accounts for half of internet marketing spend, growing at around 16 per cent a year, although that growth has slowed due to a diversion of some spend to mobile experimentation. Display advertising is also growing healthily under trying economic circumstances, at just fewer than 19 per cent a year.

Overall, Zenith is cautiously optimistic about the growths in global ad spend for the next three years despite the global economic uncertainty. Events such as the Olympics, European Football Championship and US Presidential Olympics give 2012 a boost, combined with Japan's recovery from the devastating earthquake and tsunami. So a slight ray of sunshine in the economic gloom, from one notable forecaster, at least.

Reuters Summit Sees Doom and Gloom For 2012

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 10:06:22 +0000

If you are an online marketer looking at your budgets for 2012 and beyond, some comments on a new post on the Econsultancy blog may well ring very true.

At the Reuters Global Media Summit last week, publishers were apparently bracing themselves for a "bleak" 2012, hedging their bets against a continuation or possible worsening of the global economic crisis. With this in mind, advertising agreements are being shortened; a marketing agreement that might previously have been set for six or nine months is now being agreed for just two or three. Sir Martin Sorrell, CEO of WPP, is quoted as saying "You just can't run your business on the basis that something will turn up, so you have to plan on the basis that it doesn't turn up".

From a digital publishers' standpoint of course, this approach may actually be good news. The key advantages that digital marketing has over traditional print and online channels, the speed of implementation, testing and change, as well as the in depth web analytics easily and cheaply available, should make the channel more, not less, appealing in times of constraint. AdWords, for example, can be bought online instantaneously, and pulled as quickly, if the data shows they are not delivering.

Much as publishers would love to bank year-long ad deals, online they have been used to the more short term for quite some time, and online channels are completely geared up for the rapidity and flexibility the new austere regime is demanding. Which can only be good for online marketing, don't you think?

Facebook's Most Shared Articles of 2011

Wed, 07 Dec 2011 10:17:46 +0000

Yes, we know 2011 is not over yet, but Facebook have already issued a list of "most shared" articles for the year in the US. This is interesting, as it shows those interested in web analytics the types of stories that gain the most traction on the social network, even though we might think of it still as somewhere we go to connect with friends.

The top 40-shared articles actually come from just six news sources, primarily Yahoo and CNN, with the New York Times, Huffington Post, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal rounding out the six. Yahoo! scored 12 of the most shared articles, closely followed by CNN with 10.

The most shared article was actually a series of sliding photos from CNN before and after the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, showing vividly the extent of the devastation. The second most popular article was "What teachers really want to tell parents"; perhaps reflecting the fact that average Facebook users are more likely now to be in their 30s (and parents) than they are young users.

A skim of the headlines of the other articles would suggest that most fall into the "light entertainment" type ("No your zodiac sign hasn't changed" and "Giant crocodile captured alive in Philippines" for example) rather than serious news.

With a number of news sites now incorporating "passive sharing" (e.g. posting that you have read an article on your wall when you read it in their Facebook app without you actually having to "share" or "like" it) the amount of news articles shared is likely to increase. However, only time will tell whether Facebook is really somewhere users will go for news, rather than simply some light relief.

YouTube Redesign to Make Content Discovery Easier

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 08:39:50 +0000

If either you have visited YouTube over the last few days, as a consumer or to check out some of the thousands of internet marketing videos hosted there, you will have noticed some big changes. The design of the video site was given "one of the biggest redesigns in YouTube history" some 18 months ago, so what has actually improved this time round?

This new homepage redesign is driven by the immense depth and breadth of content that the site now covers; there are some 3 billion videos viewed every day, eight years of new content uploaded in the same period, and YouTube are desperately trying to build quality amidst the quantity with content from famous personalities and content makers. Some better navigation and tracking was sorely needed.

Now, users who have a YouTube account can make their own customisable Channel list which pins to the homepage, browse recommended Channels, and link their account to other social media accounts (currently Facebook and Google+) to share choices and see what their friends are watching. New Channel design templates will also help marketers create more tailored experiences. For example, one is focused towards blogs and promotes the most recent content first, whilst the other is designed for networks to choose its own prominently featured content.

Apparently, this is just the start; expect more changes soon. If you are using YouTube for marketing, tell us what you think; has the redesign improved the marketer experience?

Online Ads Generate Higher ROI than TV

Fri, 02 Dec 2011 09:55:46 +0000

As the percentage of overall marketing spend that is invested in internet marketing continues to grow, it should hit around 27 per cent this year, more and more marketers are in search of research that indicates how best to invest their marketing budgets across media.

Now, a new study written about over at NetImperative suggests that online advertising (for FMCG companies, at least) delivers a significantly higher return on investments and sales increase than television advertising, and hits a reach equivalent to press and outdoor marketing.

The research, carried out by GfK's Media Efficiency Panel, looked at eight major FMCG related advertising campaigns to both evaluate the effects of cross media marketing on short-term sales and to estimate the return on investment (ROI).

Some of the key findings include:

* Online delivers better short term sales ROI
* Digital marketing campaigns reached some 33 per cent of the online population
* Online consistently produced a higher sales uplift than offline campaigns, an average uplift of nine per cent, compared to six per cent for outdoor and seven per cent for television
* A minimum of 25 per cent of consumers exposed to at least one online ad never saw the TV ads, whilst 46 per cent of those exposed to ads on YouTube and other online videos didn't
* Online video delivered an average ROI almost double the ROI of current television marketing

Of course, no channel exists in a vacuum, and understanding the interplay of channels is vital; but if your Marketing Directors are wavering over internet marketing, these stats might just tip the balance.