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Would you like to receive regular email updates of my ecommerce and marketing research, plus news of additions to the site? Subscribe today for free via the form in the right hand column of this page! August 18 2005 Get inside AdSenseIf you're one of the many publishers participating in Google Adsense, this will interest you. Google have launched Inside Adense; a blog with the purpose of providing publishers with optimization tips and making the most from the Adsense program. Not much out there yet, but well worth bookmarking and keeping an eye on. Also check out my recent article - Adsense strategies; it provides an overview of the program, revenue boosting tips and equally as important - the "don'ts"
Search engines - does size count?Every day, I get a stack of emails about size being important, to the stage I feel quite inadequate - I think you know the type of emails I'm talking about :). But does size really count in terms of search engine page indices? Sure, a search engine can have too few pages in their database rendering searches often fruitless, but at the other end of the spectrum, is it possible the same can happen too? Can there be so many pages that it becomes harder to find the information you want? Finally, should the engine with most number of pages indexed be declared the winner? Danny Sullivan from Search Engine Watch recently published and very interesting article on this subject; in fact it's one of the most passionate pieces I've seen authored by Danny - well worth a read.
August 16 2005 Firefox vs. IE - what's the buzz?There's been a widely quoted press release from NetApplications making the rounds that states use of FireFox decreased .7% to 8.07% in July whereas IE usage grew grew to 87.2% in July. One months figures do not necessarily signify a downwards trend :). It's definitely not a "sky is falling" scenario for the Firefox team and I don't think we'll see a Netscape type situation in the near future, but given that IE7 will be released in the not too distant future, there's interesting times ahead. As I've stated repeatedly over the last couple of years, much to the disgust of some of my colleagues, Firefox, while a great product is just like any other popular software. It would not be the security cancer cure that many expected - a big factor in why people switched from IE in the first place. While Firefox had only a tiny slice of the market, only a small slice of the hacker community was interested. Now it's got more attention from users, it's equally received more attention from darker forces. It's just the way things work. My prediction is that the Firefox slice of the market won't progress much more than what it is now. In fact, it may even contract a little with the release and subsequent marketing of IE7. Added to that, the Mozilla Corporation has now been formed - a for-profit organization handling development, distribution and marketing of Firefox and Thunderbird. While Mozilla has stated it will never be publicly traded company, it's a move sure to send a shiver up the spine of some of it's ultra-purist anti-commercial user base, many of whom are dedicated evangelists of the software. Whatever happens, the team at FireFox have performed a great service - not only with a real alternative to IE, but they've also forced MS to pull their fingers out and get IE7 happening :). India - more on this growing online marketIt would seem to me that our compadres in India are absolutely everywhere on the web and that a big chunk of of the population is online, but according to a report published on Emarketer, that's not the case. Internet penetration rate for country remains below 5%, with just 8% growth in the past year - a total of approximately 22.7 million users (The Internet & Online Association of India estimates it at 25 million). It may not sound like a huge number, but bear in mind, that's more than the entire population of Australia. What they "lack" in numbers, they definitely make up for in attendance with almost 40% using the web at least 5 times a day! Around 50% of those surveyed are involved in business and equal numbers also have a credit card. While it's true that a substantial slice of the population is impoverished and may never be online consumers, consider this: The Internet & Online Association of India expects the online population to grow to 100 million in just a couple of years. Added to that, online spending by users in India is predicted to increase by 300%. These surfers are people who are very accustomed and in tune with Western trends. It's a totally different scenario to catering to China (see below). See my earlier post on the online prospects for India for further details and resources.
August 14 2005 Using free stuff as a lure in marketingI'm sure you've been to a site offering free items as a lure to purchasing premium products, only to find the free item was a waste of time. So is there a place for freebies in web marketing? For sure, but you just need to be careful how you implement it. Read my latest article on freebies in marketing for some tips. August 12 2005 Want a piece of the online China market?I've been saying off and on for the last few years that China is the next great frontier for marketers and ecommerce generally. Have I busted into that market? Not even close and I haven't really even tried. It's not the type of market you "bust" into by any means, much research needs to be done. The usual western-type aggressive marketing techniques will not work over there. One piece of advice I can give is what a Chinese business associate passed on to me - it's *all* about Guanxi (connections) and a business etiquette that is vastly different to ours. I've written a little more about doing business in China plus listed some marketing resources in a previous report. Yahoo have understood this with their $1 billion, 40% stake in Alibaba.com, Chinas largest trade directory. Why didn't Yahoo just launch their own product? Yahoo's Jerry Yang stated that to be "successful as a foreign company in China there has to be a tremendous amount of local knowledge and local relationships." So, if you're thinking about hitting the online market in China in a big way - don't go it alone; try and establish some relationships there first. If you haven't got a billion dollars to burn, one way in is to offer something that most Chinese entrepreneurs want - an "in" on the Western market. You can use a service like AliBaba.com to scope out companies you may be able to assist. Helping a Chinese company out could bring big dividends in terms of introductions to other companies that may be interested in your product, or perhaps through them providing you with "insider" advice on how to approach the marketplace. If you do have a few dollars to put into your research, employ a cross-cultural consultant that specializes in China. Internet Retailer Conference 2005The first Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition was held recently and according to the conference summaries, the common theme was that ecommerce, specifically retailing, is rapidly maturing - and it's survival of the fittest and fastest more than ever. Amongst the topics at the conference (you can read notes from each on the Internet Retailer site):
plus over a dozen other subjects - well worth a read over your morning coffee. View the Internet Retailer 2005 summaries
Online travel purchases increasingAccording to Feedback Research, people are increasingly relying on the Internet to plan and purchase summer travel. In their recent survey, 81% of respondents who have been or or are planning to go on summer vacation are using the Internet to research or plan their holidays. 61% purchased or planned to purchase airline tickets online, up 11% on last year and 52% purchased or planned to purchase hotel accommodations online, an increase of 12% on 2004 ValueClick acquires FastClickIn a move that will position ValueClick as one the largest online advertising networks, the company has announced their intention to acquire the FastClick Ad Network . In recent years, ValueClick has gobbled up other big names including Commission Junction, BeFree and MediaPlex. The FastClick Ad Network had a reach of over 71 percent of all Internet earlier this year according to comScore Media Metrix and has a publisher network of over 9,000 sites; Taming the Beast.net among them. We've been an affiliate of FastClick for around 4 years now and I can honestly say they've been great to work with - so good, I've only needed to contact them once or twice during our entire association; and that was for just general advice. They provide a wide range of media, including banners of many sizes, pop-unders, in-vues, interstitials and more. Learn more about FastClick's offerings for publishers and advertisers.
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In Loving Memory - Mignon Ann Bloch
copyright (c) 1999-2007 Taming the Beast Adelaide - South Australia
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