Archive for July, 2008

Most of the fastest moving search queries conducted by Britons last week pertained to the entertainment category, according to new figures released by Hitwise.

Robin Goad, research director at Hitwise UK, noted in a blog post that the quickest rising search term for the week ending July 26th was ‘now 70′ - relating to the popular chart hits compilation.

Numerous searches relating to the latest Batman film, The Dark Knight, also appeared in the top ten, including ‘christian bale’, ‘heath ledger’, ‘batman’ and ‘dark knight’.

Mr Goad said that the film’s extensive coverage in the press had helped to drive traffic to both cinemas and general film websites.

"As you can see from the chart below, last week UK internet traffic to our entertainment – movies category reached its highest level this year," he explained.

Last week, Hitwise published research suggesting that while MySpace is the most popular social media site in the US, Facebook currently has the biggest market share in the UK.

A lack of consideration for disabled internet users could hold implications for how well a website does in search engine rankings, an expert has claimed.

E-consultancy researcher Graham Charlton said that poor site accessibility could be a reflection of an equally poor search engine marketing strategy.

He also highlighted that businesses could be overlooking lucrative markets by failing to make their sites accessible for the 8.5 million people in the UK who are disabled - with 3.5 million of these unable to use a traditional keyboard at all.

"If your website is not accessible to these people, you are missing out on a vast potential market," Mr Charlton commented, adding: "The other thing is that if your website’s not accessible for disabled users, the chances are that your search engine optimisation is not that great either."

According to E-consultancy’s Usability and Accessibility Buyer’s Guide 2008, the market for web accessibility services is set to expand partly as a result of the growing number of businesses becoming more aware of the importance of usability for online marketing purposes.

Search engine marketing (SEM) is "by far" the most popular form of online advertising among small companies, it has been argued.

Writing in the Small Talk section of HartfordBusiness.com, expert Rhonda Abrams says the technique is well regarded among such organisations because they are charged on a pay-per-click basis.

Describing SEM, she states: "You get to choose the keywords you think are most likely to lead prospects to you and a sponsored link comes up on the side or the top of the search results."

Ms Abrams adds that search engines provide a tool to assist firms in the selection of the keywords they use and also supply information to help them refine their ads to achieve maximum effectiveness.

Meanwhile, Mark Jackson of Search Engine Watch recently suggested that website usability and search engine optimisation often overlap, meaning marketers could benefit by making websites more user-friendly.

Successful search engine optimisation (SEO) is crucial for firms that wish to increase their profiles on the internet, it has been argued.

According to a TechLeader blog post by Shaun Oakes, there are a number of considerations that must be noted.

He said: "Probably the most important aspect of building a strong web presence is ensuring that your website is targeting the correct key phrases."

Mr Oakes stated that keywords and phrases must be popular among internet users.

He added that companies should also take into account the extent to which words and phrases appear on competitors’ sites, since some popular references can appear on millions of pages.

Recently, Julie Batten of the ClickZ Network advised firms to build their websites around the principles of SEO, since it is easier to conform to such rules during the design stage than it is to alter an existing site.

Microsoft is to expand its relationship with social media site Facebook, according to reports.

A source familiar with the matter revealed that, under the terms of the new arrangement, the internet and software giant will enhance an existing arrangement under which Microsoft serves graphic ad displays on Facebook’s pages.

Microsoft already has an agreement with Facebook which identifies it as the exclusive provider of banner advertising and sponsored links for the site.

The new deal, which is due to be completed next month, will enable Microsoft to build up the stature of its Windows Live Search, as well as to expand the coverage of its search advertising service.

According to comments made by Matt Grainger in PC Retail, Microsoft is under pressure to "break into" the internet search market following its recent failure to take over rival firm Yahoo!.

The expert added: "This deal will guarantee it more traffic, which will boost the effectiveness of its search technology and deliver more relevant advertising to users."

The increase in popularity of online pr in Japan has benefited Yahoo!, it has been suggested.

According to a statement made by the firm, companies in the Asian country are increasingly shifting their marketing resources towards online advertising and away from more traditional outlets, such as newspapers and television.

Figures released by the search engine provider suggest that Yahoo! Japan saw an increase in net profit of 18 per cent over the three months to June, Thomson Financial reports.

The company reportedly saw net profits of 19.16 billion yen (£89.99 million) during the period, compared to 16.2 billion yen for the same time last year.

It also predicted that it will see net profits of between 18.4 billion yen and 19.6 billion yen in the three months to September.

Meanwhile, the recently-released 2009 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide, compiled by Marketing Sherpa, indicated that global spending on search engine marketing has increased by 30 per cent over the last year.

Google may begin to branch out into the display advertising sector, it has been claimed.

Speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in the US this week, Google chief executive Eric Schmit outlined some of the possibilities emerging in the current market, CNET News.com reports.

Revenue opportunities could be boosted in display advertising by switching from offline to online forms of marketing, Mr Schmit said.

In this way, competition with rivals such as Microsoft could be intensified.

"I think the opportunity for display is pretty large … Customers who buy text ads are also busy buying display ads from other sources. So it’s a big space," Mr Schmidt remarked.

This week, Google launched its online encyclopaedia, which allows users to write and upload articles on any subject matter.

Although Knol will be similar in kind to Wikipedia, it will differ by having the writers’ names attached to their articles and the authors can also incorporate AdSense ads into their work.

Businesses are spending more on search marketing this year than they were 12 months ago, a new report from Marketing Sherpa has indicated.

The total global search marketing spend has risen by 30 per cent in the past year, with paid ads, search engine optimisation (SEO) and search campaigns attracting about 50 per cent of total online marketing budgets, according to the 2009 Search Marketing Benchmark Guide.

"We’re seeing a sea change in the credibility and practice of SEO," the report’s authors noted in its executive summary.

"Once considered something of a ‘dark art’, SEO is joining PR and email marketing as legitimate forms of inexpensive marketing."

Meanwhile, a report released by Dr Dave Chaffey of E-consultancy earlier this month indicated that the digital marketing spend in the UK has doubled since 2005.

Some 23 per cent of the country’s total communications budget is now invested in digital marketing channels, a figure which is further supported by the new Marketing Sherpa data.

Facebook’s share of the UK social networking market has soared from 15.75 per cent in June 2007 to 45.29 per cent last month.

This is according to new statistics released by Hitwise, which also show that closest rivals Bebo and MySpace, by contrast, each dropped a significant proportion of market share over the same period.

"Taking a broader definition of Web 2.0 sites, the declining market share of Bebo and MySpace is even more marked," Hitwise UK research director Robin Goad said in a blog post.

Indeed, in the Web 2.0 category of sites, Facebook is still the leader in terms of market share, followed by YouTube, Bebo, Wikipedia and MySpace, according to the figures.

Mr Goad added that these top five Web 2.0 sites now account for one in 15 of all internet visits made by UK web users.

Facebook is currently rolling out a revamp of its site to incorporate a cleaner visual design and increased use of the Wall and feeds features.

Expenditure on internet marketing has more than doubled since 2005, according to a new study.

Outlined in E-consultancy’s Best Practice Guide to Managing Digital Channels, the research findings show that 23 per cent of ad budgets now go towards digital platforms, compared with 11 per cent three years ago.

The report also indicated that just 22 per cent of marketers follow a plan when conducting online advertising initiatives, while 44 per cent integrate e-commerce operations into their marketing functions.

Dr Dave Chaffey, lead author of the publication, told E-consultancy that businesses who have taken up online marketing recently may be the most likely to significantly increase their spending on the medium over the next three years.

"For later adopters, their spend could and probably should double over the next three years, particularly with the economic climate encouraging investments into more accountable, direct response digital media like paid search," he remarked.

Tim Armstrong of Google recently predicted in an interview with Canadian Business magazine that social networking will become a much bigger part of online marketing campaigns in the future.