Ecommerce & Web Marketing Research: December 11 - 20 2005

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December 20 2005

New TTB blog launched, new RSS feed!

I've been putting it off since March of 2004 and finally found some time to get the new blog happening. Consequently, these updates will now shift to our new ecommerce and web marketing research blog! Heck, you can even leave comments if you feel the need :)

Also, for those of you using our RSS feed, please note that this has also changed. Here's the new link:

http://www.tamingthebeast.net/blog/feed/ 

I decided to launch the new blog so close to Xmas to give me more time to clean it up and do some further bug hunting while things are generally quiet. I hope you enjoy the new format. See you on the blog!

December 16 2005

Over 5 billion searches/ AJ the dark horse?

According to Nielsen//NetRatings, the number of search engine queries exceeded 5 billion in October 2005, which represents a growth of 15 percent from five months ago. 

Ask Jeeves has been the fastest growing search engine out of the top five with a 77 percent increase in the number of searches. Hmm.. kudos to the team at AJ! Still, this needs to be viewed in perspective - AJ's overall market share is currently 2.6% - so they have a great deal of work ahead of them. 

It will be very interesting to watch their movement from here; especially with Microsoft becoming more aggressive. It was recently announced that MSN would be providing search results to AOL, a move that surely made Steve Balmer smile and the team at G utter some choice words :).

but..... Google has been reported (17th December) to have bought a 5% slice of AOL, which I assume means that they will continue to provide search results. This reminds me of a few years ago where there was so much in the way of merger and takeover activity, it was really difficult to keep tabs on who was doing what to whom :).

Google still maintains dominance with the largest market share of 48%. Yahoo had 21.8%, MSN 11.3% and AOL 7.2%.

Image search requests also skyrocketed by 36.6% percent from five months prior. Local search is one to keep an eye on too - up over 19% and general web searches grew at a very respectable 14.2%.

Read more of the Nielsen Netratings search report (pdf)

Related: Search engine optimization tutorials

December 14 2005

40% won't buy from smaller ecommerce merchants

Results from the latest TRUSTe 2005 Holiday Shopping/Online Trust Survey reveals some disturbing insights for small ecommerce merchants. This is the second time in the last few months I've seen similar results from different research findings.

The report states that while 78% of over 1,000 US Internet users surveyed intend to purchase some items online this year, 69% will curtail purchases due to trust issues. Over 40% stated they will not be purchasing from smaller online merchants because of privacy concerns, sticking with well-established and sizeable online brands.

The top five factors preventing online purchases during this holiday season:

• identity theft - 49%

• spam resulting from online purchases - 39%

• credit card theft - 39%

• spyware - 38%

• wanting a hands-on shopping experience - 35%

The concerns relating to spam were interesting; I would never have thought that would have been an issue preventing purchasing, just for signups for newsletters etc. It's an indication that consumers, while having purchased something from an online retailer, really don't wish to be hammered with offers afterwards. It's something to bear in mind with your own clients.

Read more of the Truste Holiday Shopping/Online Trust Survey

Related - Learn more about minimizing shopping cart abandonment.

Learn more about drop shipping Dropshipping - an effective & simpler way to make more from ecommerce!

December 12 2005

Black hat vs. White hat and search engines

Search engine spam and pagejacking is the bane of many webmasters and marketers existence. Working hard to write pages that stay within the guidelines of most search engines becomes very frustrating when you see spam pages littering the top slots of search engine results. 

I came across a very interesting debate the other day between a "white hat" SEOP, i.e. someone who optimizes pages for search engines, but is careful not to take things too far and a self proclaimed "black hat". It was quite refreshing to read the spammers' justifications/strategy and I have to admit he did make some very good points. Does this mean I'm about to be lured over to the dark side of the force? Not at all... yet ;).

You be the judge.

Read Black Hat vs. White Hat Search Spam Debate

Learn more about ethical (well, what's ethical today anyway) optimization techniques.

Youth - the online marketing dream

We all know that the youth of today are pretty switched on to new technology, but a recent report from Forrester Research shows just how valuable this demographic slice is - not just in terms of what can be marketed to them now, but "branding" them for the future.

Some of the key findings:

• 83% of young people use IM in comparison with 32% of adults.

• Over 75% have a cell phone.

• 25% state they will purchase an MP3 player some time in the next year. 

• They average almost 11 hours each week online

• Nearly 20% of those aged 12 - 17 spend at least 20 hours per week online.

• 52% state a reliance on recommendations from friends or family when making a purchase 

Read more of the Forrester Research report on youth. 

Internet advertising spending to double by 2010

Advertising on the Internet is projected to be 10% of the entire USA ad market in 4 years, according to Park Associates - a doubling of last years slice. The research firm also stated that the annual compound growth rate of online advertising is expected to increase 14 percent over the next five years.

Read more.

New article - SEM/SEO glossary

Does all the jargon used in the search engine marketing and optimization industry have your head in a spin? Do marketers tell you that your IBL/OBL balance is out of synch and all you can do is to nod sagely for fear of ridicule? Did you know that a ROAD isn't just something you drive on? Crack the jargon of the SEM and SEO buffs with our new glossary.

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