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Google+ attracts big brands

Fri, 11 May 2012 11:17:51 +0000

Search engine giant Google may generate the vast majority of its income from search engine marketing, but that does not stop it continually trying to expand its offerings. Its latest venture into social media, Google+, was the subject of some scepticism when first launched, but appears to be confounding these critics, at least in terms of attracting big name brands to the service.

According to some new stats from social media analytics company Simply Measured, 22 per cent of the top 100 brands according to Interbrand have Google+ circles of over 100,000 users. In all, 64 of the top 100 brands now operate Google+ pages, most of who started in the first month that the service was launched, although Nike, who only launched in the last couple of months, already has over 100,000 members. The total number of circlers has grown by 138 per cent in the past three months.

The leading brand from the Interbrand list is Ferrari, who has over 730k members, closely followed by H&M with 680k and Gucci with 595k. Overall, automotive, electronics and luxury brands have attracted the most circlers so far. Circler engagement is apparently up 112 per cent.

These are impressive numbers, but look distinctly less impressive when you realise that, for example, Ferrari has over eight million likes on its branded Facebook page. Of course, Facebook has been around significantly longer so it is a slightly unfair comparison, but the question remains, what does Google+ give brands that Facebook does not?

Social Media

Privacy Directive implementation looms

Thu, 10 May 2012 11:24:17 +0000

After years of debate and postponement, the implementation of the EU e-Privacy Directive is almost upon us, and all those engaged in internet marketing will be affected in some way by it. According to a new survey, the majority of consumers, 89 per cent, think the new EU cookie directive is a positive step, despite the fact that three quarters of them had not heard of it before they were surveyed. Of those who had heard of it, just 16 per cent were fully aware of what would be happening. Almost a quarter of respondents, 23 per cent, were happy for sites to use cookies to improve their browsing experience, though it is not made clear what “improve their browsing experience” might actually mean.

Of course, without knowing exactly how the survey explained the new directive, it is hard to conclude firmly that consumers are in favour of it. According to another recent survey, this time from eConsultancy, 77 per cent of consumers are concerned about their privacy when buying and browsing online.

Worryingly, a third of consumers in the first survey thought that cookies could be used to transmit Trojans and viruses, suggesting that many users may reject cookies for that reason as well as (or instead of ) privacy concerns. It is clear that consumers need educating about what cookies are and why they exist, but many marketers fear that the demands for overt and informed consent will lead to ill-thought out popup messages, resulting in an almost automatic decline from users.

Realistically, cookies do little harm, and often much good in terms of improving user experiences and keeping content free. The challenge will be communicating this to users under the terms of the new directive.

Internet Marketing

Write content for your visitorsâ

Wed, 09 May 2012 11:21:02 +0000

When it comes to writing SEO content, one of the best ways to ensure that people keep coming back to your website is to ensure that the content has been provided with your users’ goals in mind. While your end goal might be to sell a product or service, your visitors might wish to be entertained or learn something new. If you can provide content that achieves a goal for your visitor, then you are certain to ensure that he or she will return to your site frequently and that he or she will recommend you to friends on social networking sites. In addition, he or she will think of you when the time comes that he or she is looking for a product or service similar to the ones that you provide.

Website owners need to accept that not all visits to their sites will end up in a conversion be that a sale, a phone call or whatever the owners’ goals are. However, driving traffic to your site is of paramount importance and by making sure that the visitor achieves his or her goal, you become more likely to achieve yours in the future.

Interact with your website users, find out just what their goals are and try to provide them. With social networking making it easier than ever to put website owners and their visitors in touch with each other, the ability to find out what a potential customer wants and be able to deliver it has never been easier.

Adwords changes

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:37:36 +0000

Adwords, Google’s PPC (pay per click) settings are now due to change so that they no longer rotate evenly after 30 days.

The ‘rotate evenly’ feature has been extremely popular with people using Google’s PPC service. The change will now require users who have been using ads to test landing pages or even copy-based conversions to be limited to a 30-day trial period. Any users who do not change the setting within the previous 30 days will see their ads automatically converted to ‘optimised for clicks’. Regarding the change, Google has said: “This change will enable us to provide users with the most relevant ad experience and should help advertisers improve the performance of their Adwords accounts. “

Pay per click internet marketing as a strategy has been gaining in popularity in recent years, as people realise that users are not put off by ‘sponsored’ links, as once had been the impression. Google is one of the most popular and familiar services for offering PPC campaigns and its AdSense programme have millions of members.

Users are now presented with three options when setting their ads:

1. Rotate evenly.

2. Optimise for clicks.

3. Optimise for conversions.

The change has already happened and users will start to see the settings change 30 days after their creative was last edited or enabled. Changes are rarely welcomed at first but it is believed that this change being implemented by Google will offer advertisers a higher rate of return on their ads.

PPC
Internet Marketing

Almost three quarters of smartphone owners use social media daily

Tue, 08 May 2012 12:24:24 +0000

In a report which was recently issued, it has been revealed that 73 per cent of smartphone owners use social media via a social networking app at least once a day while a further 19 per cent use their phone to access these networks at least once a week.

The survey, which was conducted by Lightspeed Research, showed that tablet owners tend to lean towards using business apps more than social media. Sixty-three per cent used their devices for business, with finance and banking apps having been used daily by around 56 per cent of tablet owners. Only 32 per cent used their tablets to access social networking apps.

The research lends more credence to the fact that marketers need to diversify their internet marketing efforts and ensure that they are able to take advantage of the many platforms, devices and application opportunities that are available if they really wish to see their company surge ahead of their competition.

Pricing was also shown to be an important factor, with most people who paid for tablet apps not paying more than £3 for each one. However, it was revealed that 10 per cent of the people had paid more than £5 for an app at one time or another. The survey also revealed that tablet owners are likely to spend more than their smartphone counterparts, with almost one fifth of the people spending more than £30 over the previous six months on apps.

Internet Marketing

User timings to measure website performance

Fri, 04 May 2012 10:50:19 +0000

Using user timings, a website owner has the ability to track and define custom timings regarding websites. The report will show the load time or execution speed of any hit no matter how discreet as well as detailing user interactions and events that you have decided to track, according to a post on Google.

The information is able to let a website owner see how long it is taking images to load as well as other resources, how long it takes a particular site to respond when a link is clicked as well as timings for AJAX actions. One of the benefits of user timings is that they will not interfere with a company’s page view count, making it by far the preferred way of tracking timings in website analytics.

As part of Google’s mission to make the internet faster, it provides site speed reports as part of Google Analytics, which are invaluable to those people who wish to make sure that their site is loading properly and as fast as possible. With one of the main causes of people leaving a website being site lag, it is a vital tool and one that webmasters should utilise.

Using a simple JavaScript timing code, a website owner can then track custom timings that he has defined via his Google Analytics dashboard. These are set using categories and variables, as well as labels that are optional and aim to help better organisation. Various categories can be tracked as well as several timings within each category.

Analytics

Online reviews worth more than word of mouth

Thu, 03 May 2012 11:09:13 +0000

It has been revealed by a survey that was published on econsultancy.com that when it comes to advertising, consumers are relying more on online reviews than word of mouth. The survey, which was conducted by Eccomplished, discovered that almost one third of respondents, 31 per cent, said they had read a review online before deciding upon making a purchase compared to only 23 per cent who asked for advice from friends or family.

The survey further revealed that only six per cent had sought advice on a social media site, with 18 per cent taking their advice from the comments that had been left on online articles. Surprisingly, the main method when it comes to researching a product is to view it on a marketplace like the one offered by Amazon where respondents said they can find “a huge range and associated recommendations and reviews”.

The value of reviews on e-commerce sites has previously shown that if a product can gain 50 or more reviews that it can be converted in to an increase of 4.6 per cent in sales, while 63 per cent of people are more likely to actually purchase from a website that offers reviews from users.

These figures, which might offer little by way of surprise, are expected to be tested as social media gains a foothold and more and more people turn to those platforms in order to seek instant advice in a manner that provides feedback to any questions they might have in real time.

Social Media

Is it time to build a blog network?

Wed, 02 May 2012 10:15:03 +0000

There is no doubt about the power that popular blogs and bloggers wield in social media circles. More and more companies are making the decision to build a blog network in to their online marketing strategy as a way of attracting and keeping a new and improved customer base, but how does a company know if it is the right move for it?

If there is a clear affinity on display between a brand, audience and blogger, then a company should begin to look at the benefits of building a blog network in to its site. Ensuring that the blogger has a trusted reputation is essential and can save many months of hard work in building a reputation that would come when a company uses an unknown blogger. That being said, there is a benefit in using staff from your own company who have shown a flair for writing. However, remember that blogs are more informal than a lot of other content that is available on the internet, so a company should consider if this more informal approach will fit with its image. If done correctly, a blog network can also help build a site’s SEO needs.

Building a successful blog network brings many benefits to all the parties involved, according to Brand Republic. The bloggers can receive payment for something they had previously done free; readers will receive added content with entertainment value, while the company will receive added exposure for its brand.

The three pillars of SEO

Tue, 01 May 2012 10:57:24 +0000

For those who are eager to get ahead with their search engine optimisation program, it is easy to become bogged down in the latest trends and SEO techniques. When it all comes down to it, there are three fundamental keys to SEO. If a company gets them right, the rest should fall into place naturally.

1. Content – Content is certainly of the main importance in this instance and the better optimised your text can be while containing your keywords, the better your chances of appearing high on the search ranking pages are. Know what your target keywords are and then do your best to integrate them naturally into your site, rather than peppering your site with content that is loaded with keywords but means little to anyone.

2. Authority – Be the authority in your industry. Your competitor might have lots of content but you should make sure that you have lots of great content. Not only will it help with rankings, it will also help your customers spread the word about your site that, as far as marketing strategies go, is invaluable.

3. Opportunity – Do not miss the chance to make your site better. Check that all your tags are where they should be, your pages are correctly titled and your Meta data is as it should be.

These three basic steps will move your site up the search engine rankings far faster than any other newer, more complicated techniques.

Social media marketing management

Mon, 30 Apr 2012 11:12:41 +0000

Without doubt, one of the most effective ways of reaching a target audience throughout the history of marketing has been word of mouth. People are more inclined to trust a product that has been recommended by someone they trust. All though internet marketing campaigns are extremely effective, nothing is as reliable as a campaign that inspires potential customers to help promote your brand for you.

With the meteoric rise in popularity of social media, companies are given the opportunity of reaching millions of potential customers as well as the ability to help them spread their messages in a way that is cost-effective and returns guaranteed results. Managing a Twitter or Facebook account might seem like a tireless task but with help from Caroco, a company can relax and know that its social media accounts are in safe hands.

Caroco helps keep your company’s brand uniform across all platforms, while producing content that is engaging and has the ability to go viral and reach an unprecedented number of potential customers, while integrating seamlessly with your online presence that you have already established. This means that progress and many other metrics will be tracked, campaigns will be tailored to suit individual needs and goals will be easily monitored, so you can relax and know that your social media and internet marketing campaign is under control.

There is no need to fear social media any longer. As companies who are embracing the platforms surge forward, make sure that you are not one of the ones being left behind.

Social Media
marketing

Affiliate sales over mobile treble in a year

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 10:20:00 +0000

As consumers' access to and use of the mobile internet accelerates, traffic to affiliates using mobile devices similarly increases, further reinforcing the need for those using affiliate marketing to optimise their sites for mobile screens.

Some research from Affiliate Window reveals just how rapidly traffic and, most importantly, sales through affiliates has grown in the past year. In December 2010, traffic through mobile devices was tracking at 2.4 per cent of all network traffic, and accounting for 1.7 per cent of sales. After 15 months, in March 2012, traffic was up to around 10 per cent of network traffic and an impressive 6.6 per cent of sales. Furthermore, Affiliate Window forecast that by the end of 2012, just fewer than 15 per cent of transactions would take place across mobile devices.

Unfortunately, because a number of online retailers have failed to make their sites optimised for mobile device access, conversion rates once users reach the retailer sites have dropped as traffic increases, leading to an increased number of disappointed shoppers and a significant volume of lost sales. These lost sales are even more important when you realise that the average basket value for mobile is higher than through desktop, for example, on iPhone, basket values were 25 per cent higher through mobile optimised sites. Affiliates are also not tracking all conversions through mobile effectively yet, leading to poor data and missed opportunities.

Therefore, if your retail site is not optimised for mobile devices, do you have a plan for optimisation, and if not why not?

Affiliate
Marketing
Sales

OFT crack down on misleading affiliates

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:56:32 +0000

If you run an affiliate marketing network or are an affiliate marketer yourself, then a report just published over at Marketing Week will be of interest.

Affiliate marketing as an industry has done a lot of work to change its reputation from the slightly shady side of the internet marketing industry to something far more reputable, with many big name high street and online brands such as Marks and Spencer, Comet and Boden using it as a major online marketing channel. However, not all affiliate marketers seem to be toeing the line when it comes to respectability and inevitably, this attracts the attention of the regulators.

Now, the Office of Fair Trading has taken action against an affiliate network, MoreNiche, which specialises in affiliate promoting and selling health and beauty products such as diet aids. The affiliates were found to be publishing paid for ads but passing them off as independent consumer reviews, and some affiliates failed to make it clear they were being paid for affiliate promotions. MoreNiche has apparently agreed to suspend the affiliate that did not remove the offending content.

According to Cavendish Elithorn, Senior Director of the Goods and Consumer group of the OFT, “When looking at online reviews and comments, it is important that consumers are not misled about the status of what they are reading, who has written it and why it has been written … Ensuring transparency and fairness in online transactions is a key priority for the OFT and we will continue to take action when appropriate.”

Internet Marketing
affiliate marketing

Optimising Social Media for Search

Wed, 25 Apr 2012 12:20:23 +0000

For many years, traditional SEO has been all about optimising your own web site to appear high in users' organic search results when they search using relevant terms such as your brand name, or terms relating to items that the brand sells. However, it is becoming increasingly important to optimize your social media presence for search engine purposes, such as making sure Facebook pages and Twitter feeds appear in searches.

So, how best to go about optimising your social media search engine content to promote it on search engines? A few top tips:

* Make sure your social pages have a name or tag that directly relates to your brand, rather than a marketing line; consumers search on brands, not catchphrases. Keep the pages fresh with relevant content, ensuring that whenever you interact with another brand or person, you tag them (and encourage them to tag you), creating more and stronger links that are more likely to appear in searches
* Link Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and blog posts from everywhere relevant on your website itself, rather than just the "blog page", and this includes the home page. Social content is not a specific type of content that needs its own area; it should be linked from everywhere where it is contextually relevant.
* Encourage audiences to Like, Follow, +1 etc your content; all these are likely to feed positively into search engine results
* Talk about relevant brands and products in your own postings, and encourage followers to talk about them too

Getting traffic to your social media efforts should be approached with the same professionalism as generating SEO on your own site, in order to reap the potentially large rewards.

SEO
Search Engine

How Google identifies â

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 10:14:41 +0000

The inner workings of Google are normally shrouded in multiple levels of secrecy. However, a new Google post reported on Searchengineland throws some light on some of these activities.

Whilst Google is never going to let the entire internet-marketing world in on its deepest secrets, it is its unique value after all, the recent criticism the company has received seems to have galvanized a culture of slightly more openness.

As David W. Baker, Google Director of Engineering for the advertising team says: “I think Google has been remiss about being transparent about what we do … There has been a fear that if we talk about these bad things it’ll draw attention to the negative.” Google’s business is based on reliable ads; users need to trust the ads or they will not click.

The three-pronged review system looks at the ad itself, the site it relates to and the overall account. Ads go through two levels of automated review, with escalation to a human if necessary. The site review uses machine learning models and a rules engine to look at all sites and ads on the system to check whether sites meet Google’s guidelines. Finally, the account review looks at patterns around such things as IP addresses, ads, keywords and previous ads.

Of course, it is a never ending and thankless process but working for better search ads should benefit not only Google but also the search market as a whole.

Internet Marketing
Google
Bad ads

UK adopts mobile commerce faster than the US

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:15:19 +0000

Europeans were quicker to adopt mobile phones than their counterparts were over the pond, so it may not come as much of a surprise that they have taken up mobile shopping faster than US consumers too, according to a new study.

According to the research from RichRelevance, mobile shopping now accounts for around 9.1 per cent of ecommerce sales, up from 8.2 per cent since Christmas, almost double the 4.6 per cent it makes up for in the US. The data comes from over one billion shopping sessions on UK and US retail websites in the year, so far up to 25th March 2012.

Unsurprisingly, the iPad dominates the mobile shopping market in both territories, accounting for 82 per cent of mobile sales in the UK and 89 per cent in the US. Conversion rates were actually highest on desktops, at 3.6 per cent in March, with the iPad coming in second at 2.9 per cent, leaving the iPhone trailing at 1.2 per cent, it’s small screen not lending itself to online purchases as well as the larger format mobile device.

The average size of a purchase across a mobile device was actually higher than across desktops, perhaps continuing to reflect the higher income demographic of the average iPad and iPhone owner over the mass market of desktop owners. In March, the average value of a mobile purchase was £109.68 (£135 over iPhone, £111 in the iPad) versus £100.05 on the desktop. Consumers browsing on the iPad unsurprisingly viewed the most pages, with peak use at 4pm, 8pm and 10pm, suggesting users are browsing whilst sitting quietly in the evening, perhaps with the TV on in the background, and indicating that retail SEO strategy needs to take these mobile browsers seriously.

SEO
mobile commerce

Marketers say prospects are good, but keep budgets flat

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 10:25:37 +0000

According to a new report, confidence seems to be finally returning to the offline and internet marketing worlds, although that confidence does not seem to be trickling down into increased budgets just yet.

The report, the latest IPA Bellwether survey, spoke to 300 senior marketers. Around 38 per cent of them said they were now more upbeat about the prospects for their company than they were at the end of 2011, against around 14 per cent who were more pessimistic now. When asked about their industry as a whole, around a quarter were more optimistic than at the end of 2011, up from around 10 per cent in Q4 2011

However, despite many marketers starting to be a little more optimistic about their company and their industry, increasing marketing spend has not made it to their agenda yet. Whilst 22 per cent of interviewees did say that their budgets were up in Q1 2012, 21 per cent actually said they were down.

For those who had started to increased spend, digital marketing seems to be the engine of growth. While main media spend on TV, press and radio declined 2.7 per cent, spend on display ads, banner ads and social media grew 7.8 per cent, with search spend up 4.7 per cent.

Looking further into 2012, 31 per cent of respondents said they were looking to spend more than in 2011, although 24 per cent thought they would spend less.

With the Olympics and the Diamond Jubilee coming up, 2012 should be a big year for marketers, though it seems at present many are being cautious about committed investment.

Internet Marketing
digital marketing
prospects

What do consumers search for?

Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:11:25 +0000

If you are spending money on SEO and PPC in order to drive traffic, it is vital to understand how consumers search and what kind of terms they generally use when looking for relevant content or businesses. Whilst you can track which terms do best at converting for you, it is also important to understand the wider market, especially in fast moving markets where popular terms might change frequently.

A new article over at Searchenginewatch offers some suggestions on how to keep your knowledge fresh. For example, Google Trends will allow you to access Google’s own database of billions of searches and query the data by time, location or languages. You can compare specific terms, as well as looking at what is hot right now. Yahoo! Buzz Log will show you top searches by Yahoo! users with their rank, buzz score and movements over time, and Bing Trends reports on its blog about search trends over the previous year.

Moving away from general search, Twitter Search allows you to figure out what people are posting about on Twitter by keyword, hashtag or username and even looks at emoticons to figure out attitudes. YouTube keyword tool will show keyword suggestions with monthly search volume, whilst YouTube Trends suggests popular videos based on keywords and video views.

Gathering insight into how people search and how this is changing is vital insight for developing new PPC and SEO strategies, and the above services will help you do that, free.

SEO
PPC
consumers

Hulu to charge for completed ad views only

Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:05:36 +0000

Figuring out how to charge for internet marketing has been a thorny issue for many years; do advertisers charge per click, per view, per engagement or by a more complex methodology involving user journeys? Cost per click or per view has been the preferred method since the beginning, but is fraught with problems and offers little insight into whether users have actually engaged with the advertising rather than, for example, clicking by mistake when aiming for a content link.

Now, online video advertising company Hulu has made a bold move to highlight to clients that it wants advertisers to be completely happy with the service they receive from its video advertising investments. Apparently, the company has moved the ad beacons that count video views for purposes of charging advertisers to the end of videos. This means that advertisers will not be charged for consumers watching their ads, unless the consumer actually watches the ad all the way to the end.

Hulu apparently gets an ad completion rate of a very high 96 per cent, which indicates that it is confident that the new charging policy will not hit its revenues unduly and if anything, is likely to encourage advertisers through suggesting a high level of confidence in the ad product. Only charging for full views is a clear indication of Hulu’s intention to be advertiser focused though and puts a marker down for other publishers; how many others have the confidence in their advertising products that Hulu does?

Internet Marketing
ad views
charges

Watch For Transition To Yahoo! Search Transition To Microsoft This Month

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:09:18 +0000

Back in 2009, it came as little surprise to most PPC and SEO experts that search also-rans Microsoft and Yahoo! decided to pool resources when it came to providing search services. Microsoft's Bing search engine was to become the exclusive search platform for Yahoo! services, Yahoo!'s own search being made defunct, with Yahoo! becoming the sales force for both brands' premium seach products. AdCenter would allow self-serve search advertising, with the brands retaining their own separate display ad services and sales teams

What has come as a bit of a surprise is the length of time it has taken the agreement to come to real-life fruition. As a new post over at Searchengineland, the transition will start in earnest this week, with Yahoo! search users in France, Ireland and the UK starting to see ads sourced through Microsoft's adCenter next week.

If you are still using Yahoo!'s platform in those countries, then you will need to move to adCenter, as Yahoo! accounts will start to become read-only very soon. However, Microsoft do suggest continuing to monitor both adCenter and your Yahoo! search marketing account, as there will be a transition phase between the two; as clicks in Yahoo! decline, clicks in adCenter will grow.

The switch from Yahoo! to Microsoft is supposed to start happening in the next few days, and to be finished by the end of April, with the change coming to Austria, Switzerland and Germany later in 2012.

SEO
PPC
Microsoft
Yahoo!

What is your online reputation like?

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 10:49:57 +0000

All brands, regardless of their own online strategies, are almost certainly being talked about online and not necessarily in a good way. Essential to a good internet marketing strategy, online monitoring of your brand reputation has become a more onerous and complex task over the last few years. A new article on Econsultancy offers some suggestions on how to monitor and protect your company’s reputation online.

The first advice is to use multilingual tools. Both Google and Yahoo alerts can be easily set up to send you automated emails to alert you when your brand name is mentioned, but if you are operating in multiple counties and languages, you will need to be aware of the local language alert options. For example, search engine Baidu dominates in the Chinese market.

It should not need saying, but from the evidence of some recent big name campaigns, the second point seems to bear repeating; be careful on social media. It is very easy, for example, for a marketing manager to make an ill-thought-through comment on Twitter that can go worldwide in a matter of minutes. Equally, ignoring valid and sensible customer comments can backfire; social media is about a conversation, after all.

On a positive note, encouraging online reviews can lead to a good online buzz about your product, with reviews on your own site generating a feel of trust amongst visitors. If some are negative, then reply in a supportive manner, this goes a long way to repairing a relationship and is always easier than trying to fight an internet-wide social media fire.

Internet Marketing
Econsultancy
online strategies

Paid search spend continues to rise

Fri, 13 Apr 2012 10:48:12 +0000

A handful of new reports, looking at the current state of the search engine marketing business, suggest that paid search is continuing its seemingly inexhaustible growth, but not equally across all markets. Additionally, Google’s cost per click (CPC) appears to be falling, whilst competitors, albeit minor ones have grown.

According to the reports from Covario, Efficient Frontier and Rimm Kaufman, paid search in the US is up at least 15 per cent; Rimm, who serve a lot of retailers, suggest search spend is up some 30 per cent in Q1 2012 over a year ago.

Efficient Frontier suggest that Google CPCs have fallen by around five per cent year on year (Rimm say seven per cent), and declined in Q1 2012 over Q4 2011 as well, whilst Yahoo and Bing’s CPC had actually grown by 18 per cent in the same time period (Rimm think 15 per cent). The biggest drop, 17 per cent, was noted by Efficient Frontier in the retail sector. When which, combined with the impressive growth in spend, implies a significant uptick in retail paid search activity, maybe prompted by post-Christmas sales? Covario noted a three per cent drop from Q4 2011 to Q1 2012, which it suggests is driven by algorithm changes, which should see prices stabilise during the second half of 2012.

One of the biggest trends noted was the shift to search across mobile devices. According to Efficient Frontier, paid search spend on these devices accounted for 7.7 per cent of all search spend in the first quarter of 2012, with spend on tablets exceeding that on smartphones.

Internet Marketing
search engine marketing
cost per click

The changing art of SEO

Thu, 12 Apr 2012 10:44:56 +0000

The art of SEO has changed considerably over the last few years, as Google constantly tweaks and occasionally majorly overhauls its search algorithm, in the endless hunt for more sophisticated and accurate search results. The days of it being relatively easy to tweak a site to maximise SEO performance are long over.

All of this means that SEO experts have also had to evolve with the times. Now, a new post over at Econsultancy introduces the concept of linkpreneurs, experts in the art of SEO and content linking in the new environment. So what does a linkpreneur do?

Firstly, they think in public relation terms; a link building strategy is part of a much bigger marketing strategy, aimed at maximising relevant traffic from any source. They also focus on natural links, rather than automated ones from generic networks, which focus on getting volume rather than quality.

A focus on Google is inevitable, but good linkpreneurs will have other options too; a wide, relevant network of sites that pass good traffic to your site, removing the dangerous 100 per cent reliance on Google’s continued dominance. This network will be carefully nurtured, with personal outreach to industry influencers, and it depends on building positive relationships. Connecting through social media such as Twitter and LinkedIn goes hand in hand with this strategy, and the integration of social signals is only getting greater.

So, are you a SEO linkpreneur, and if not, why not?

Internet Marketing

More investment in mobile ads needed by brands

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:50:03 +0000

Experts in the field of mobile advertising have suggested that brands continue to under-invest in the area, despite the smartphone market continuing to grow at a phenomenal rate. The Marketing Week report said that there only remained a “six month window” for investment, before prices soared from the current cheap cost per click (CPC) rates being noted.

The latest figures from Adobe’s digital advertising update showed that the first three months of 2012 saw under-investment in mobile and tablet search ads, with SEO consultants and mobile marketers urged to snap up prices whilst they were low. Current costs for tablet ads are approximately 20 per cent of their PC counterparts, whilst mobile adverts are around half the cost. Whilst the conversion rates are also lower, at about 25 per cent less than traditional desktop computers, the lower costs offer increased returns for investment.

Adobe’s director of new product innovation, Jonathan Beeston, said: “Any advertiser worth their salt has already built a mobile or tablet strategy, or is in the middle of planning it now, but I think the window of opportunity (in terms of low-priced CPC) is short, in six months we’ll see a different marketplace as demand rises.”

The mobile and tablet market is not going away, and advertising is set to become far more mobile in the future as companies look to gadgets as a way to market services and products. However, if Mr Beeston’s views are correct and prices begin to soar in six months time, firms must start investing now whilst returns are as high as possible.

SEO
mobile advertising
digital advertising

Google expert shares common SEO mistakes

Tue, 10 Apr 2012 14:19:50 +0000

One of Google’s Developer Programs Tech Leads, Maile Ohye, has offered advice on the official Google blog for those using SEO. There remain some common mistakes that people make when trying to optimise their internet marketing campaigns, and Ms Ohye has outlined some important points that should be considered.

Firstly, it is vital for individuals to determine why their website should rank at number one and how the ranking is helpful to searchers. It is also important to ensure that any SEO goals are targeted towards a company’s overall online goals, rather than just one division. It can be easy to push an SEO campaign for one particular area of a company, but a good advertising strategy should allow searchers to find a website’s entire content, not just one small section.

Another area that Ms Ohye has highlighted is that many companies are stuck in SEO trends and they find it hard to think outside of the box. Instead of focusing on the latest trends and tricks in the industry to attract traffic, individuals should attempt to create a strategy which will encourages lasting visitors to their site rather than those who have been brought in with the latest tools but who have no desire to purchase.

Finally, it is important for modern digital firms to ensure that their online environment is as flexible as possible. A common mistake is to develop processes and an infrastructure that make testing improvements very difficult. One of the best ways to succeed is to ensure that alterations can be tested quickly and easily without negatively affecting time and money.

seo
google
internet marketing

Expert claims that marketers need to shoulder sales responsibility

Mon, 09 Apr 2012 15:05:01 +0000

It has been revealed in a new Marketing Week report that those working in marketing departments need to shoulder the responsibility of sales targets in addition to their colleagues in sales divisions. These are the views of Neil Rackham, a sales consultant to AT&T, Xerox and IBM, who said that marketers had far more insight into website analytics and other strategic figures than sales staff; insights that often generate sales.

Speaking on the topic of marketers and sales teams working together, Mr Rackham explained that company performances could be boosted if marketers offered their transactional and consultative sales figures to other departments. The expert also said that in the modern day, marketers were key personnel for generating revenue through brand building, direct marketing and advertising, and so passing individuals some sales responsibility should not be a great leap of faith.

"One can argue that marketing has created the demand for transactional purchases as customers now have access to all the product information online. They are also aware of the brand as a result of the marketing campaign," he said. Marketers often use data such as website analytics and SEO content to make advertising campaigns more successful. This can have a direct effect on the number of online sales made, resulting in Mr Rackham airing the views that marketers should shoulder some of the responsibility for making sales and should be provided with sales quotes in the same way as their sales team colleagues are.

internet marketing

Online report indicates internet-advertising trends for 2012

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:53:12 +0000

With the first quarter of 2012 having already past, some companies are already publishing reports of the online trends being noted this year. Now, IgnitionOne has revealed as part of its online report that there has already been a 30.3 per cent rise in search advertising, when compared to figures for the same period in 2011.

For those looking into internet marketing, it is clear that search advertising is already proving popular in 2012. Whilst there has been a 4.4 per cent fall in the use of Google CPC's, clicks and click through rates have climbed by 29.1 per cent and 20.4 per cent respectively. With users being able to select results more easily themselves, new ad formats are proving popular in the search advertising sector, offering marketers better results for paid search investments.

Though Google remains a market leader, IgnitionOne also discovered that Yahoo/Bing is providing more competition to the sector, largely due to the company's broad match keyword push. Whilst traffic has hardly increased, there has been a 40 per cent year on year gain on broad keywords, and with Yahoo/Bing increasing their advertising spends by 46.4 per cent as compared to Google's 26.4 per cent, the two brands have noted the best three months since they merged.

IgnitionOne's final internet advertising indication is that the tablet and mobile search market continue to rocket. Mobile clicks for the mobile search have leapt by 246.1 per cent, with impressions also gaining by 119.1 per cent. In addition, tablet click through rates are now at 3.1 per cent, 0.6 per cent above those of PC rates, clearly showing that the mobile and tablet markets continue to be vital for any internet marketing strategy.

internet marketing
Online report

Google reveals new Google+ Ads

Thu, 05 Apr 2012 10:27:34 +0000

Whilst Google's social networking website, Google+, may not have proved the huge instant hit that the firm would have liked, it has now revealed an integrated Google Ads feature for the site. Google+ business pages were launched in November 2011, offering firms the chance to post company news, send out tailored group messages and interact with customers on an entirely new level. Now, Google Ads will be joining the social networking site, allowing business to take advantage of new internet marketing possibilities.

Google Ads will be available to businesses and their advertising partners, allowing companies to display products, tips, hangouts and training to viewers through integrated advertising. The company has highlighted a number of features of Google+ Ads, including the ability to look at important insights in search, mobile, YouTube and Google Analytics use. The Google Ads page will also offer the chance for businesses to attend Hangouts with product experts and receive tips and training on using the Google+ ads to maximise performance.

Google Ads have seen extreme success for many companies, enabling products and information to be disseminated across the web through affiliate linking, which benefits both business and affiliates. With the latest Google+ news, it means that Google Ads can be integrated into circles and other business pages, offering the chance for companies using Google+ to increase their network of customers and business contacts. In addition, offering the reward of smarter decision-making and increase revenue, integrating Google Ads will be an attractive option for many.

Internet Marketing
Google
Google+

Social media marketers more likely to use SEO than PPC

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 10:16:10 +0000

For many internet marketers, using social media goes hand in hand with the use of search engine marketing strategies. However, a new study out reveals those marketers who use social media are far more likely to use SEO in their marketing as well, rather than use paid for search advertising (PPC).

The survey, from the Social Media Examiner, talked to more than 3,800 social media marketers in a number of countries about their online marketing investments. According to the results, search engine optimisation (SEO) was the second most popular, coming behind only email marketing; 65 per cent used SEO whilst the great majority, 87 per cent, used email. Just 38 per cent said they used paid search marketing, or PPC, behind Event marketing (64 per cent), press releases (55 per cent) and direct mail (41 per cent).

Interestingly, very few of the social media marketers in the survey used channels other than the internet; a third, 36 per cent, used print ads, 17 per cent used radio and just 10 per cent used televisions ads.

Looking forward, 68 per cent were planning to increase their SEO spending, with just 43 per cent planning to increase PPC.

If marketers are looking to engage consumers on their social media presences and own websites or do not sell directly online, it makes sense that SEO may be more appealing, if they have made significant investments in the sophisticated design and linking of their own content rather than try to compete for PPC slots. Of course, this strategy requires that intelligent site development is a given.

Tips for transitioning your Facebook brand pages to Timeline

Tue, 03 Apr 2012 09:53:57 +0000

If you already have a page on Facebook as part of your internet marketing strategy, you are probably aware that Facebook's brand pages are in the process of moving from the standard layout into the Timeline layout. This means you will need to do some tweaking of your pages, and it is not as simple as just letting it happen. Some preliminary research from Vitrue suggests that if not done properly, the transition could lose you some fan engagement.

Their initial survey indicates that just over half, 52 per cent, of brands that voluntarily moved over before the deadline actually saw a decline in their levels of overall engagement. However, it's not all bad news. Just over a quarter, 27 per cent, of brands saw a significant increase of 20 per cent in engagement when having used 'best practise', defined in this case as having shareable content, visual elements that take advantage of the new layout's increased focus on images and prioritising content for the now vital 'milestones'.

According to Facebook itself, top tips for making the transition successfully include an eye catching cover photo, a clearly branded profile image that adds those oh-so-important milestones to the timeline rather than leaving them embarrassingly blank, pinning an important post to the top for a week, reordering views and apps into easy to use order and actively managing the page.

Many brands launch a Facebook page and leave it to its own devices; this strategy, never wise, will be the brands downfall in the age of the Timeline.

Internet Marketing
FaceBook

Social media generates higher value conversions

Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:29:44 +0000

Are you combining your SEO efforts with using social media to gain exposure to brands? A new study from e-Dialog and ClearSaleing suggests that if you are not, now might be a good place to start.

According to the research, conversions that occur after a consumer has been exposed to a brand via social media such as Facebook or Twitter result in orders over $280, equivalent to around £175, whereas orders that result from natural search drive orders worth around $100, £63.

Social media also produces higher average revenue per click at $5.24, versus both paid search at $4.38 and email $3.18.

According to the report, improving conversion rates are as dependent on the consumer experience and brand exposure before they even reach the brand site as it is on the purchase experience on the site itself. For example, adding in a display advertisement to the customer journey overall drove revenue per order of $206, some 65 per cent higher than the average order value of around $135.

As the report states: "although social media is still in its early states in terms of revenue capture, it is proving a core channel for capturing intent and driving quality customers." Of course, over time, the average revenue gap is likely to close as social media marketing becomes more prevalent, the study does provide more evidence that the channel is becoming more of a must-have in an online marketer's arsenal.

Social Media
Advertising
SEO

Facebook uses own conferences to launch new advertising options

Fri, 30 Mar 2012 10:12:36 +0000

If you are using Facebook as part of your internet marketing strategy, some announcements from the social network in Europe this week might be of interest. The brand is currently taking its Facebook Marketing Conference on tour, and having already hit New York and Tokyo, landed in London this week.

The network has used the conferences to announce three new ad products:

* Reach generator; a tool that should allow marketers to buy a specific level of reach, priced according to the size of a brand's fan base. The idea is to take engaging content and amplify reach by resurfacing it as an ad.
* Offers; a replacement for mobile-based check in deals, with users able to click on deal and have it sent to their email address.
* Premium ads; a set of new ad placements to provide higher impact. These include on the news feed and on the right hand side on the home page, on log out, and a new news feed on mobile devices.

In addition, new business pages adopting the format of the timeline that consumers now use will be introduced with cover photos, milestones and the new ability to pin posts to the top of the page. The new formats will be available in around four to six weeks, though precise details are at present sketchy. Having announced the formats in Europe as well as the US and Japan would suggest they will be available worldwide from the start, though that is not confirmed yet.

Internet Marketing
Facebook

Mobile clicks to hit 25 per cent of paid search market in 2012?

Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:10:50 +0000

If you are using SEO and PPC specifically targeting the mobile audience, there is some good news out for you today. According to a new study, mobile devices will account for a quarter of all paid search ad clicks across Google properties by the end of this year, up from just five per cent at the beginning of 2011, and 12 per cent at the end of the year.

The report from Marin looks specifically at the US but there is no reason to believe the UK market will be significantly different. According to the report, click through rates on mobile phones are some 72 per cent higher than on desktop computers. Ad spend is up too, with mobile search spend now accounting for almost nine per cent of advertisers' mobile search spend, up from 3.4 per cent.

Tablets accounted for over a third of mobile clicks, 37.9 per cent, by the end of 2011, with Marin forecasting this will grow to 45 per cent by the end of 2012. Click through rates (CTRs) on tablets have reached 3.12 per cent, higher than CTRs on desktops, 2.39 per cent, but still lower than CTRs across smartphones, at 4.12 per cent. Smartphones also achieve the lowest cost per click, at $0.53, with tablets reaching $0.63 and desktops $0.83. However, conversion rates are lowest on smartphones, at just two per cent, with tablets getting 4.9 per cent and desktops 5.2 per cent. In the UK, interestingly, CTRs are highest on tablets, 4.69 per cent, with smartphones at 4.3 per cent and desktops at 2.8 per cent.

If you have been putting off optimising your site for mobile and tablets, it is becoming obvious that by the end of this year, that will put you behind the game as far as consumers are concerned. Can you take that risk?

SEO
PPC
Smartphones

Over ?1bn of goods abandoned in shopping carts in 2011

Wed, 28 Mar 2012 12:38:07 +0000

If you have a transactional shopping site, you are probably well used to the experience of consumers putting goods in their shopping carts but then abandoning them. If so, then according to a new study by Experian, you are far from alone.

According to the research, over £1 billion worth of online transactions were abandoned in the UK last year. Around 20 per cent of these transactions were not taken to another store but abandoned completely, meaning some £214m in possible revenues for UK online retailers was lost when consumers changed their minds or came up against an obstacle.

Almost half, 44 per cent, of UK shoppers were found to have abandoned at least one online shopping basket last year, with the study suggesting that becoming frustrated with the length and complexity of identity verification was an issue.

Other studies, such as an Econsultancy survey, suggest that unexpectedly high delivery charges, high prices, concerns about payment security and technical problems are all more of an issue than identification verification. Forcing users to register to use a checkout also turns users off.

If you have this issue, intelligent use of web analytics can cast some light on these problems:

Where do users drop out and where do they go next?
Do they look in the FAQ for delivery details, suggesting that you should put them more clearly in the checkout process?

People will always change their minds about purchases, but anything you can do that will smooth their path will increase conversions.

Web Analytics
Internet Shopping
Security

Display ads data now integrated into AdWords

Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:57:11 +0000

Marketers using PPC and display advertising as well as SEO to boost their search engine rankings will be pleased to hear that Google has unveiled some changes to its AdWords interface. It is designed to make it easier to buy and track display advertising across its networks. According to Google, more than 99 per cent of its top search advertisers take display advertising from it too.

The new interface, to be rolled out gradually over a few weeks, will now have a Display Network option which allows users to target, bid and optimise their display campaigns in the same interface as their paid for search advertising.

Of course, it has been possible for a while to use the AdWords interface to monitor display advertising as well, but as Brad Bender, Google's Director of Product Management, says: "AdWords was initially built for search advertising, and display capabilities were built on top of that platform. Display evolved with a whole range of formats available ... but the interface hadn't changed. For a while, we've been talking about making display buying much easier. We've revamped AdWords to make that possible."

Additionally, Google has improved the contextual engine that matches the ads to pages based on keywords. The "Next-Gen Keyword Contextual Targeting" capability now allows users to monitor the performance of display ads at keyword level, rather than in ad groups as previously. This should make it easier to extend PPC search campaigns over to display too, and enable far more granular data reporting, definitely a good thing when it comes to maximising the value from internet marketing.

Internet Marketing
Internet Advertising
Google

Inbound marketing in Vogue

Mon, 26 Mar 2012 11:48:43 +0000

Are you making the most of the inbound marketing opportunities offered by social media and other types of internet marketing? According to online business community G+, not to be confused with Google+, almost half, 47 per cent, of companies are expected to increase their inbound marketing budget in 2012.

Inbound marketing is the idea that you can capture interested consumers by pulling them to you with interesting, relevant marketing, something that internet marketing, social media especially, can excel at. Its attraction is cost; according to G+, the average cost of acquiring a new lead through outbound marketing in 2011 was $373, against just $143 from inbound marketing, less than half the price.

According to the report from G+, 47 per cent of companies are increasing their inbound marketing budget for 2012 and 42 per cent are keeping their budgets stable. Over half of companies who are increasing their budgets are doing so because they have had previous success with such marketing techniques.

The report also suggests that more than half of marketers, 58 per cent, are now spending more than six hours a week on social media marketing alone, with 34 per cent spending more than 11 hours.

With consumers adoption of various types of social media, be that established brands such as Facebook or new entrants such as Pinterest, showing no sign of abating, expecting interest in the financial and marketing benefits of inbound marketing to continue growing through 2012 and beyond.

Internet Marketing
Internet Advertising
Social Media

Is Pinterest of marketing interest yet?

Fri, 23 Mar 2012 10:20:46 +0000

If you have a Facebook or Twitter account, you are likely to come across posts from friends telling you that they have "pinned" something to the Pinterest board, or you may even be a member yourself. As a digital marketer looking at all sorts of internet marketing, is Pinterest something that should be on your radar yet?

If you have not come across it yet, Pinterest describes itself as a "virtual pinboard". Consumers sign up by integrating it with either a Facebook or Twitter account, and can then set about creating their own pinboards based around their interests. They could have one all about UK politics, for example, and another about cupcake baking. When they post to a board, Pinterest then posts to their Facebook and Twitter account; the whole thing revolves around sharing and recommending, in a visual way.

At present, the majority of users are women, with the site having started in the US mid-west and spread rapidly by recommendation. It has approximately 12 million registered users, with around 2.2 million daily users, up from a negligible user base less than a year ago.

So should Pinterest be on your marketing radar? Well, if you sell products that are visually appealing, to young (18-40) year old female consumers, then yes. As a recommendation tool, it is already proving its power. Dabble in the Pinterest waters by setting up an account and sharing appealing content, paired with great images that readers will want to pin to their own boards. It is still early days, but experimenting now could pay great dividends as the site continues to expand.

Social Media
Pinterest

Google launch social tracking tools at SES New York

Thu, 22 Mar 2012 10:34:13 +0000

It is the SES (Search Engine Strategies) New York conference this week, and already Google have announced a new service for marketers looking to better track their social media activities.

This new web analytics tool is intended to allow marketers to attribute both the 'last click' source of traffic, sales or whatever their conversion metric is and track back the full 'funnel' value of social media. Therefore, the tools allow marketers to look at the total number of conversions from visitors who have 'touched' a relevant social media account in the run up to making the relevant conversion.

For example, the new reports show marketers how many visits they have had via social referral, how many conversions, assisted social conversions and last interaction social conversions as well as conversion value. Currently, Google says it is tracking 400 networks around the world, including Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, and LinkedIn, though they can obviously only track public conversations; what takes place in private groups is not included. Some brands are Social Data Hub partners, who will push more in-depth analysis of activities to the tool.

Of course, for this to work, the marketer needs to have assigned goals and values to interactions, so hopefully it will also work as a good push to prompt marketers to actually define these things for both marketing and social media investments, as they are still often lacking despite the channel attracting significant marketing spend.

Web Analytics
SEO
Google

UK mobile ad spend in 2011 tops ?200m

Wed, 21 Mar 2012 10:42:26 +0000

According to new stats out from the IAB this week, the amount of investment in mobile ad spend in the UK has rocketed up to a record £203.2 million for 2011, an impressive increase of 157 per cent over 2010.

The figures from IAB and PricewaterhouseCooper (PwC) are attributed by the IAB to the rapidly growing use of smartphone apps and mobile social media such as Facebook and Twitter. A steady reduction in mobile internet tariffs as well as growing uptake of smartphones has led to an explosion in mobile content usage, with over half, 53 per cent, of UK adults now owning some sort of smartphone.

According to the report, the entertainment and media industry accounted for nearly a quarter of the mobile ad spend, though interestingly this has dropped from almost a third in 2010. Both retail and FMCG have increased their share of the total spend, particularly retail, which has grown from 5.5 per cent of the market to 12.3 per cent. Spend on display ads have grown to almost £69m, half of which is spent on apps. The spending on mobile search engine marketing increased by 145 per cent to £134.3m, as consumers continued to search for products and services on the move.

Incredibly, the total display ad spend for mobile in 2008 was just £14.2m, so spend has grown some 500 per cent in just three years. With another IAB survey suggesting that 90 per cent of agencies think mobile will be the fastest growing media for the next five years, 2012 spend figures could easily top the £500m mark.

SEO
search engine

UK search traffic continues to increase

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 10:23:30 +0000

Traffic to UK search engines continued its relentless upwards trend in February this year, according to the latest data. According to the research, from Experian Hitwise, UK online consumers made some 2.2 billion visits to search engines in February 2012, which is up around eight per cent on the year before. The great majority of those visits are, unsurprisingly, to search giant Google that captures around 91.6 per cent of traffic, which is up 0.89 per cent year on year.

Microsoft and Yahoo! together manage to attract just over 6.2 per cent of searches, a share which has actually gone down from 7.4 per cent a year earlier, illustrating just how hard it is even for players with deep pockets to compete against the sheer overwhelming dominance of Google. This also shows the rationale for these players to be combining their services in the UK, as individually their businesses barely make a dent in Google's market. It will be interesting to see over the next few months whether the combined might of Bing and Yahoo! can push their market share much above the seven per cent mark.

Other interesting points from the report include:

* Some 2.3 billion visits were made to search engines in the prime Christmas shopping month of December 2011, which is the highest number of monthly visits ever.
* Over a third, 35 per cent, of online website traffic is now thought to be from search, further emphasising the importance of getting both your SEO and PPC strategies right.
* The most searched for term in the UK was "Facebook".

SEO
Traffic
Search Engines

Cracking multilingual SEO

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 12:16:45 +0000

If you are operating in a market that crosses country borders, an increasingly common occurrence given the lack of international boundaries online, then you may have the challenge of trying to develop an SEO strategy across multiple languages. Given the complexity of good SEO, this can feel like an impossible challenge. If so, a new article on Searchenginewatch suggests some strategies that can help.

One of the first steps is to understand the right multilingual keywords for your site. A simple straight translation of your English keywords may not yield the right terms; you need to ensure the words actually denote the same product or service in each language. The article recommends getting a professional agency or local employee to provide correct translations. Google AdWords will give you a feel for what terms are being searched for in each geographical territory.

Once you have the right terms, you need to make sure they crop up in relevant copy on your website. For your SEO to work, the terms need to be used in relevant and interesting content that adds value to a visitor. If you cannot do that, then you need to question seriously whether you have the right terms. Keep the content fresh and topical; can you write a regular blog on a relevant subject, or weekly news updates?

Finally, bear in mind that outside the Western world, Google is not necessarily king. Baidu rules in China for example, and Yandex in Russia; use your learning from the domestic market to explore the new ones, and test continuously.

SEO
Search Engine
Translations

Real time buying appeals to VOD ad clients

Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:53:27 +0000

Given the growth in interest in both online video advertising and real time bidding for ad spots, it was only a matter of time before the two came together. Now, according to a new story over at New Media Age, a survey from Audience measurement company Collective suggests that over half, 51 per cent of video on demand advertising buyers would like to trial real-time bidding for their video purchases.

Their Online Video Advertising Market report also suggested that nearly a quarter of respondents, 24 per cent, felt more confident about the possible value generated by real time bidding, and liked the control it could give them. Just 13 per cent of respondents did not see the need for real time bidding for video.

The potential market being discussed is growing significantly; the average campaign budget for video on demand advertising had increased by over 10 per cent to £49k since the last report six months ago. Additionally, 64 per cent said they would further increase their spending by over 25 per cent in the next six months, with no respondents thinking they will reduce their spending.

Real time buying, usually across ad exchanges, has become a hot topic over recent months, with many types of internet marketing such as display and mobile advertising experimenting with the idea. Of course, those using PPC advertising will be familiar with the idea of bidding and paying for eyeballs on a dynamic platform, but for many display advertisers it remains new territory; expect that to change in 2012 as the appeal grows.

Internet Marketing
VOD
Real time buying

Majority of Facebook pages â

Thu, 15 Mar 2012 10:49:22 +0000

According to a blog post revealing some new research about brand page use on Facebook, over at Econsultancy, the great majority of Facebook brand pages are pretty much left alone most of the time. The research from Recommend.ly suggested that 82 per cent of brand pages on Facebook get less than five page updates every month; that is just over one a week. Some 91 per cent of conversation pages are largely ignored.

The analysis was based on 1.7 million Facebook brand pages, and further revealed that local businesses were the most likely to let their pages lie fallow, joining in with just six per cent of the conversations started on their page.

This would suggest that Facebook’s recent move to try to educate small and medium sized businesses on how to make the best of having a Facebook brand page comes at the right time, as well as its offer of free advertising to SMEs in Europe.

Of course, not every company needs to be updating its page several times a day, and there is little business benefit to making unnecessary and uninteresting posts; this is just as likely to alienate fans as engage them. However, if consumers are asking questions or having relevant discussions or are interested enough to bother to “like” a brand, then brands need to be on the ball quickly to provide the appropriate response.

Regularly updated, relevant Facebook pages also have SEO benefit, so it is important to understand the right balance for your business.

SEO
Econsultancy
Facebook

Increasing mobile affiliate revenue

Wed, 14 Mar 2012 10:47:19 +0000

As the use of smartphones in the UK continues to increase, the amount of serious shopping and hunting for businesses done through the mobile channel is growing rapidly. According to a new article on Econsultancy, some 65 per cent of mobile owners routinely use their mobile devices to find businesses for in-store purchases, whilst 13 per cent of UK consumers made a purchase via a mobile, and 19 per cent have compared prices and looked at product reviews while shopping.

Therefore, the opportunities for affiliate marketing via mobile are growing too; how can advertisers and publishers make the most of this?

According to the article, the first thing to think about is how people use their mobiles. Keeping it simple for them is the key; they do not have the time or inclination to type lots, and screens are still relatively small. Simple product shots with direct calls to action work better than lots of product details. Also, think about the right mobile channel; is it an app, such as VoucherCloud, or a mobile site? The geo-location capabilities of mobile devices opens up a world of opportunity for linking mobile users with businesses immediately local to them, and this information needs to be quick and easy for them to access when the impulse takes them.

The article also issues a timely reminder to ensure that affiliate network pixels are attached to the relevant confirmation pages of mobile sites, to make sure that the source of traffic can be monitored properly from phones and tablets as well as traditional computers or laptops. If you do not reward the right people, chances are they will start looking for other partners.

Affiliate
Mobile
Adverts

IAB launch affiliate guidelines around privacy regulations

Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:25:35 +0000

Despite the current reluctance to enforce them, the revised European Privacy and Electronics Communications Regulations technically came into force last May. The regulations have implications for any online advertisers or marketer who collects data about visitors, most commonly in the form of cookies, as it requires giving consumers far more information about what information is being used, why it is being collected and giving them the option to opt out.

Now, the Affiliate Marketing Council, a group of over 100 industry experts across affiliate networks, agencies, publishers and advertisers and part of the IAB (Internet Advertising Bureau) has released its guidelines around the directive for its affiliate marketing members, as well as suggesting a separate campaign to push awareness of affiliate marketing as a viable and successful performance marketing channel.

The guidelines, called the Consumer Transparency Framework, are aimed at helping affiliates understand and implement the implications of the revised regulations. It gives affiliates advice on how to make privacy and cookie policies visible on sites, as well as advising that such policies should be "easy to understand", "honest and accurate" and "helpful and empowering". Advice is also given about conducting a cookie audit.

Separately, the IAB is discussing how best to possibly reposition the affiliate marketing sector as more "performance marketing", with perhaps third party independent verification of data and revenues. Despite being a well-established marketing model, affiliate marketing still sometimes retains an impression of being less of a legitimate channel than say search marketing, and anything that addresses this should be a good thing.

Affiliate
IAB
Cookies

Consumer privacy vs better search results?

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 12:10:12 +0000

A recent report from research company Pew Internet reveals some interesting insights into what consumers think about their search engine experiences, revealing that whilst they dislike the idea of Google using their personal data to improve searches, they are happy with the result.

The great majority of respondents to the survey, 91 per cent, said that they always or most of the time find the information they are looking for when they use search engines. They trust the results, too; almost three quarters think that the information they get is accurate and trustworthy. Over half, 55 per cent, reckon the quality of search results is going up. Largely, they are thinking "Google" when seeing the terms search engine; 83 per cent say it is the search engine they use most often.

Conversely, the majority of respondents thought it was a bad thing if "a search engine collects information about your searches and then uses it to rank your future search results, because it may limit the information you get online and what search results you see."

Search results are getting better because of a number of things such as better algorithms and more sophisticated search engine optimisation, but also because of an immense amount of user behavioural data such as context tracking. Consumers want, and think they are getting better, faster and more accurate search results and indeed, more relevant advertising. A degree of personal data is required to achieve that.

SEO
Google
Privacy

Google share top tips to avoid site removal

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 10:23:51 +0000

By now, it is well known that Google takes a pretty hard line when it comes to removing websites from its index if they do not think they add enough value to search users. The Panda algorithm updates from last year were focused on rewarding sites that did add value by showing them higher on the organic search results, and Google removed a number of sites from the search index completely. Now, an article on Searchenginewatch reveals that Google has issued some top tips to free web hosting companies, often the host of choice for poorly maintained, low investment sites, on how to avoid having sites they host removed. It is in their interest to pay attention, as if Google observes a high number of poor value sites from one host it reserves the right to remove all of that host's sites, effectively wiping out his business, as generating visitors through SEO is often the lifeblood of the small site.

Some of the tips include:

* Have a clear abuse policy, and stick to it.
* Use verification tools to prevent automated scripts from creating sites.
* Identify spam indicators such as form completion time, user names and multiple sign-ins from the same IP range.
* Monitor for spam signals such as known spam keywords, too many ad blocks above the fold, or multiple redirects.

For those thinking of using a free web host, the list is important too; if the host does not follow these guidelines, your site stands the very real risk of being collateral damage, taken down due to the poor nature of other hosted sites. Therefore, doing a little homework is well worth the effort.

SEO
Google

Google to launch video AdWords in spring?

Thu, 08 Mar 2012 11:58:12 +0000

SEO
AdWords
Google

Will Google+ magnify SEO keyword data problems?

Wed, 07 Mar 2012 12:04:21 +0000

According to a new article over at New Media Age, brands such as Moneysupermarket and mobile provider 02 plan to keep a close eye on the UK's uptake of Google+, which they believe may increase data problems already starting to emerge.

Google has already implemented a program that hides keyword referrals from searches from users logged in to a Google account, which effectively means that when a site gets a user who clicks through from a natural search result, they cannot see which link generated the click. In the US, some 20 per cent of natural search traffic is reported to be affected.

Yet, the problem has not migrated to the UK, but many SEO experts believe it is only a matter of time. At present, only around 2-5 per cent of traffic is being affected in the UK, but brands such as Moneysupermarket think this will grow once the program is launched across Google.co.uk, and Google+ starts to gain serious traction. According to them, all advertisers should be concerned, but especially those who work in very competitive verticals and depend on high levels of natural search optimisation for their search generated traffic.

Clearly, at present, the impact on UK brands and sites is negligible and Google+'s relatively slow uptake is not likely to change that in the short term. However, brands would do well to start thinking about strategies for dealing with a reduction for data they get from Google, such as making the most of the data they have now to mine the most insight they can.

SEO
Keywords
Google

First winners of TradeDoubler's incubator scheme announced

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 13:16:40 +0000

Remember we told you some months ago about the new business incubator scheme from affiliate marketing network TradeDoubler, to find some small, new affiliates who would get resources and mentoring as well as free office space for a year? Well, the first six winners have been announced.

Over time, the Zoo project aims to pick 20 affiliates to benefit from TradeDoubler's expertise. So what kinds of businesses are appealing to the affiliate network right now? The first set of winners are:

Boomah, a site that allows users to buy online from a wide variety of name brands and donate their cash back to a favourite charity as well as benefiting themselves.
As Seen On The TV, which aims to promote products users might have seen on screen.
PicYeah, offering sponsored photo frames.
Hot Drops, a content platform aimed at 18-34 year olds.
AWESEM, a site optimisation company.
Stylenest, an online magazine focusing on fashion and style, aimed at mothers who wish to retain their style throughout parenthood.

As far as we can see, there is nothing particularly unique about these businesses, but we are guessing these are markets that TradeDoubler see as being lucrative over at least the short term. The next round of winners will be announced in May, and it will be interesting to see if anything a little more inspiring is chosen second time round.

Internet Marketing
Affiliate Marketing
Incubator Scheme

New Google privacy policy takes effect

Mon, 05 Mar 2012 12:21:32 +0000

Despite continued objections to the changes from a variety of consumer groups and regulators, Google has moved forward with its new privacy policy on March 1.

The new policy, announced back in January, now states that the search engine marketing giant will combine information from signed-in users across the vast majority of Google products, in order to show them more relevant advertising and search results. The idea is to treat an individual as a single user across all products, though Chrome, Chrome OS, Books and Google Wallet are exempted for a variety of reasons. Overall, some 60 privacy policies are being merged into one.

According to a new blog post by Google's Director of privacy, product and engineering, "the new policy doesn't change any existing privacy settings or how any personal information is shared outside of Google."

However, the changes have been the subject of much criticism, including the French data protection regulators who are leading the pan-European Article 29 Working Party's investigation on the proposals, recently declaring them unlawful and asked Google to postpone the changes.

Of course, consumers worried about how the policies can always sign out of their account at any time, or indeed not log on; but given the advantages of having a unified account and the general inertia of most mainstream consumers, this is likely to be a minority reaction.

With the EU Justice Commissioner having told the BBC that the policy is in breach of European Law, expect the chatter around this to run and run.

Social Media
Advertising
Google

Facebook makes real time analytics available

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 11:41:46 +0000

Given the speed of change of content on social networks such as Facebook, it is vital that any web analytics you are using about marketing or monitoring on such media is as up to date as possible.

Now, Facebook has made this easier to achieve by announcing that later this month, it will be allowing page owners access to its data in real time rather than the two day delay that is currently imposed, which can be a lifetime in social media. For marketers operating time sensitive marketing across the network, this is great news, as well as being invaluable for those dealing with a brand or online problem that is being discussed on the social network. Making decisions on a moment-by-moment basis will now be possible.

Of course, there is a caveat here; just because the data exists does not mean you are capable of making immediate marketing decisions, nor that you should be, necessarily. Jumping in to change a campaign based on real time data is actually a considered decision and must be based on hard and fast experience, not on a panicked reaction to a post not getting the expected reaction, for example.
However, if used properly, this data should allow marketers to make the most out of their investments in the network, by figuring out which content that takes off quickly and which really does not, and how to react quickly when it looks like something is going awry.

Analytics
Internet Marketing
Facebook

Optimising for different mobile devices

Thu, 01 Mar 2012 11:01:44 +0000

When research is presented about how consumers are using mobile devices to access to web and search online, you could be misled into thinking that all mobile devices present the same challenge; what works on one device will work on another.

According to a new article on Searchenginewatch, over half of all new phones purchased in the U.S. are now smartphones, and there are thought to be over 36 million tablet devices in the U.S. since the end of 2011. Consumers use these devices differently, and both sites and internet marketing campaigns must take account of this, as well as the web analytics measured.

For examples, phones are very much a constant presence; owners on the go, looking for restaurants, directions, news updates and price comparisons; 63 per cent of smartphone access in the US is done via the mobile network. Tablets are generally used in the home, with 92 per cent of access taking place across a WiFi network. Tablet use is more relaxed; often part of a multi-channel experience (e.g. used whilst watching TV) and behaviours are more akin to downtime PC use. Consumers also spend more through tablets; according to Performics, both desktops and tablets achieve revenue per click average of over $2.50, whilst mobiles languish under half a dollar.

This means, for example, that a smartphone strategy should bear in mind the short sharp interactions a mobile user will have, focusing on the top search positions and adding location details and maps as well as click to call. For tablets, PPC campaigns can take in lower search positions, and should drive users to tablet specific content pages (preferably without flash, since iPads cannot deal with it).

Internet Marketing
Internet Advertising
Web Analytics

High street still "central" to shopping process

Wed, 29 Feb 2012 11:45:33 +0000

Given the trade press is full of how the value of online shopping and affiliate marketing continues to grow and how consumers are increasingly moving towards phone and tablet browsing and buying, you could be forgiven for forgetting the traditional stores' input into our shopping decisions. However, according to some new research, the UK high street remains central to British shopper's researching and purchasing processes.

According to the survey from Shoppercentric, the great majority of UK shoppers, 87 per cent, used a store as part of their purchase journey in the month before the survey, though of course that does not necessarily mean they bought anything there. Even for the youngest survey group, those aged 18-24, 80 per cent used a store in the past month, it being the most popular retail channel even for this group, beating the 73 per cent who used a laptop or netbook.

Interestingly, women and men were not significantly different in their research channels, though smartphones were more likely to be used by men, 18 per cent, than women, seven per cent, and desktop PCs were skewed towards males, 50 per cent versus 34 per cent. On the other hand, laptops were slightly more popular, 60 per cent with women, than men, 51 per cent.

Just under half of respondents, 45 per cent, said they would "always love going to the shops, no matter what new technologies are available".

Realistically, many channels influence a growing percentage of today's purchases and many consumers are happy to buy across whichever channel suits them at the time. The key to retail success is appreciating this and making it as easy as possible for them to do so.

Internet Marketing
Affiliate Marketing
High Street

How did Google and Yahoo do at the Oscars?

Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:20:32 +0000

No, you did not miss the Google or Yahoo movie; we mean, how did their Oscar night predictions turn out in the end? Both search engine-marketing brands issued their top tips for Oscar night success in the day or so before the awards on Sunday, based on varying types of search trends; how many gongs did they take away on the night?

Firstly, for best picture, Google predicted an underdog winner in Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, whilst Yahoo reckoned that War Horse would take the statuette. Why is this? Well, Google looked at search trends for the last couple of years and found that it wasn't the most searched for film that ended up winning the Best Picture Oscar, but the one that combined an upward trend in at least four consecutive weeks during the previous year and the highest percentage of searches originating from New York state. Yahoo, on the other hand, chose its winner based on simple search volume.

In the end, both were wrong; The Artist took the award, as tipped by Yahoo's contributing editor for movies, ironically.

For best actor, both picked George Clooney, as maintaining a steady search volume throughout the year; both missed the eventual winner, Jean Dujardin, completely. For best actress, Google suggested Rooney Mara, though leant towards Meryl Streep as well, whilst Yahoo went for Viola Davis; in the end, Meryl Streep was victorious.

On this showing, neither Google nor Yahoo would be up for a Best Search Predictions Oscar just yet.

SEO
Search Engine Marketing
Oscars

Innovation winners for 2012

Mon, 27 Feb 2012 12:22:39 +0000

It is always interesting to see what the internet marketing industry thinks is the most exciting or innovative developments it has seen recently, so we thought we would look at some of the results from the recent Econsultancy Innovation Awards. These awards, held at the end of last week, offered prizes for the best examples of innovation in digital marketing and e-commerce over the last year.

One of the most unusual winning campaigns was Net-A-Porter's image recognition Window Shop campaign. The online retailer won the Innovation in Mobile Marketing award for its augmented reality shop window, which allowed users with iPads or iPhones to point their device's camera at the window and see full rotating product models and video showcases as well as product information and an online shop. The brand was also awarded the overall prize of the Grand Prix, for constantly pushing the envelope with its social, mobile and ecommerce applications.

Other winners included Debenhams, Affiliate Window and Affilinet, who took the Innovation in Affiliate Marketing award for their multichannel campaign that offered vouchers redeemable in store. Majestic wine won the Innovation in Multichannel Marketing gong, for its integration of the in-store and online experiences; each store was given the ability to customise their own web presence to reflect what was actually happening in their location (e.g. tastings, offers) to connect directly with their local community. Another form on augmented reality for Tesco won the Innovation in Ecommerce Award; a full list of winners and judges' comments can be found on the Econsultancy website.

Internet Marketing
Affiliate Marketing
Innovation Awards

Using LinkedIn for advertising

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:36:28 +0000

You are probably a member of LinkedIn already, the social network designed to link business, but have you thought of using it for internet marketing? The network currently has over 150 million professional members, self-selecting, attractive target audiences for many marketers, yet most marketers think of using it just for advertising jobs. A new post over on the Searchenginewatch blog gives some useful basic tips for setting up an ad campaign using the network.

Once you have established your company presence by creating a business account, which can then be linked to any other employees of the company already on the system, you can start building your first ads.

Some of the top tips from the article include:

Set a budget in place before you start. LinkedIn sets a minimum CPC for the ads (lowest is around $2), and can suggest a good CPC for you depending on your targets. It has a minimum daily budget requirement of $10.
Understand whom exactly you are targeting. Who is likely to be the buyer of your product or service within a company?
Think creatively about job titles. Knowing who you want to target is the first step, figuring out what they might be called in different organisations is quite another.
Go hunting for relevant groups. Again, groups are likely to have different names, so you will need to spend some time finding the right ones.

Getting started with LinkedIn is not hard, but it really rewards a little time spent upfront really understanding what is out there and how people are using it.

Social Media
Marketing
LinkedIn

Online ads drive auto brand awareness

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 11:58:39 +0000

For years, online advertisers have known that simply measuring the results of online display marketing by the success of their immediate call to action, click through rate being the most prevalent, does not capture a proper view of the ROI of such advertising investment. Now, according to a new article on NMA, a new report has revealed how internet marketing display ads for cars can lead to a positive increase in brand awareness, which cannot be measured from click through rates.

The report from a combination of IAB/Nielsen/NM Incite and four car manufacturers (BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes and Range Rover) tracked the path to conversion for 50,000 consumers and suggested that between 4 per cent and 10 per cent of consumers tracked converted to sales after visiting the brand websites.

The online display advertising was found to play a major role in increasing brand awareness; for example, for one brand, between 34 per cent and 38 per cent of consumers had only been exposed to online display ads and then visited the brand site within a week of seeing the ad. According to the results, the average customer journey lasts over a week, a week in which the consumer sees two display ads, makes 0.6 natural search clicks, 0.2 sponsored search clicks and sees 0.1 mentions of the brand within social media.

The research also showed that between 52 per cent and 64 per cent of visitors to the car sites had been exposed to online advertising including search or display, with up to 50 per cent of those exposed to display ads also using search, a clear indicator of the need for a multichannel, integrated online strategy.

Internet Marketing
Return on Investment
Cars

US news sites fail to target advertising

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 12:34:46 +0000

Given the relative ease of targeting users by their online browsing behaviours, particularly for big, frequently visited sites, you might have thought that the major online US newspapers would have been extensively using this internet marketing capability already. However, a new study covered on SearchEngineWatch suggests that this is not the case.

According to the study, from the Pew Research Centre, just three out of the 22 sites they examined appeared to use high levels of ad targeting. In these examples, just under half, 45 per cent, or more of advertising differed from one user to the next. The three sites that delivered the highest targeting were the New York Times, with 47 per cent, CNN with 45 per cent, and Yahoo News perhaps unsurprisingly leading the pack at 67 per cent. Three other sites, CBS, USA Today and MSNBC, were reported as having somewhere between 29 per cent and 40 per cent of ads differing between online readers. Some sites with little or no apparent targeting included FoxNews.com, WashingtonPost.com and Newsweek.com

Google was spotted as having a strong presence on the news sites, usually powering the small, box-like sponsored link ads that were seen on 38 per cent of the sites. A quarter of the ads observed were actually in-house ads, advertising the brands' own products such as subscriptions or other papers, and just under half, 46 per cent, were simple static banners.

By not targeting more ads to their usually large consumer bases, it would seem that these major news brands are missing a trick and could be at risk of losing ad revenue to better-equipped publishers, a potential disaster in these recessionary times.

Internet Marketing
Target Advertising
Google

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.

Social Media
Marketing
Facebook

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.

Social Media
Advertising
Facebook

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.

Internet Marketing
Google
Wikipedia

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.

SEO
Econsultancy
Social Media

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.

Internet Marketing
Internet Advertising
Alcohol

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.

Analytics
Google

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?

Internet Marketing

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?

Internet Martketing
SEO
Google

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?

SEO
Search Engine
New Story

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.

Internet Marketing
Google
Super Bowl

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.

Internet Marketing
New Study
Olympics

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.

SEO
Affiliate
Search Engine

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.

Internet Marketing
FaceBook
IPO

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.

Internet Marketing
Paid Search
PPC
SEO

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.

SEO
Websites
Sales

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.

Social Media
Social Commerce
Facebook

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.

PPC
Search Ads
Success

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.

Internet Marketing
SEO
New Data
Smartphone

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.

SEO
PPC
Google

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.

Internet Marketing
Google
Search Engine

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.

affiliate-marketing
Internet Marketing
Econsultancy

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
Mobile
Social
UK Retailers

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?

Internet Marketing
Google Plus
Analytics

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.

Internet Marketing
Holiday Shoppers
Paid Search

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.

SEO
PPC
Social Media

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.

Affiliate
Affiliate Marketing
Sales Growth

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.

Internet Marketing
Report
Tablet
PC

Tablet Shopping Experience Lags the PC

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

Internet Marketing
Tablet
PC

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.

Internet Marketing
Social Sharing
Email
CTR

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.

SEO
Google

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.

SEO
BBC
Google
Ads

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?

Analytics
Web Analytics

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.

Analytics

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.

Internet Marketing
Tablet

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?

SEO
Google
search results

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.

Internet Marketing
Online News

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!

Internet Marketing
Top Trends

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.

Social Media
FaceBook
Private Message

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!

SEO
Business

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?

SEO
Search Engine Marketing
Zeigeist

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.

SEO
Google
Search Engine Marketing

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.

Internet Marketing
Social Networks
Study