Will we or won’t we pay? The Times has been getting on with bricking up online access to its news pages by starting the process of requesting visitor registration ahead of charging, due to commence this week. Is this the first act of Web 3.0 or an error of judgement?
Internet conferences and web seminars have long been discussing whether the end of the first phase of the open net was in sight, given that brands like Google, Apple, eBay, Facebook and Twitter have come to dominate the landscape, even as Microsoft’s all pervasive software stranglehold has been loosened. Read more
As mobile internet revs up in the decade of realtime search, visitors expect fast loading sites and instant access. Users still have little tolerance for slow loading websites, leading to time critical sales or info gathering being all too easily lost to a competitor!
There was a time when the most common reason for a slow loading webpage onto a deskbound PC was the large image. Today, website accessibility by netbooks, mobile smartphones and tablets is expected to be instant, even if a webpage is densely populated by all manner of static and moving imagery. Read more
Last week’s announcement that Google has obtained a patent for technology software to help identify ‘inadequate content’ is a wake up call for businesses and their web design and marketing agencies to improve uploaded content quality and focus on niche long tail search phrases.
Increasing market segmentation is being driven by a combination of consumer led search behaviour, such as the use of highly specific channels, made possible through the emergence of mobile applications and the Twitter social media platform of 140 character messaging. Read more
The web 2.0 principle of informal social media engagement is established. The mobile internet is well underway. Yet a recent web study finds that the websites of many brands and businesses still do little to engage with visitors and potential customers.
This is unlikely to be the fault of their website design and marketing agency team, who would, no doubt, have presented the possibilities for today’s approach to online marketing and developing brand identity visibility. Beyond simple transaction and price comparison, the message is that a company’s potential niche audience market needs to be attracted to online engagement or their longer term interest is diverted elsewhere.
The adoption of social interaction via email marketing newsletters, Blogs, Forums, Twitter, Facebook and site community groups tends to be reflected by market sector and possibly one sided perception of demand. For some businesses, the extent of their attempt to reach out to their potential audience may be no more than the odd newsletter once a quarterly or the one time setting up of a newspage or blog that is soon neglected and only updated a few times a year, if that!
For most SMEs, forays into PPC gobble up nearly all their available ‘advertising’ budget, generating modest response and disappointment in the short term, and thus, lack of interest in exploring much beyond basic SEO tweaking of the home page. Read more
Web product launches are rolled out almost daily, it seems, providing new platforms and opening up channels, which call upon everyone to keep up! The biggest area of concern is inevitably, website accessibility, and latest updates look at legal compliance for products like iPad.
The British Standards Institute (BSI) has just published revised guidelines regarding legal obligations for making web products accessible to the disabled and elderly. The standard is titled ‘BS 8878 Web Accessibility – Code of Practice’, scheduled to be finalised to replace the Disability and Discrimination Act later this year.
BS 8878 addresses ease of accessibility for web products on mobile phones, TVs, game consoles and other computer products, such as iPads – focusing on devices other than desktop computers, which can present access challenges for both developers and users. Developers face further difficulties when successful access on one product does not necessarily translate to all such products.
The guidelines will directly impact website design agencies and their clients, entailing action to be taken to bring sites into line and enable eases of access via the new mediums. The test for meeting the standard takes into account whether an adjustment is reasonable, based on a platform’s importance, popularity and likelihood for use by disabled or elderly users, although it may seem to business owners that it’s highly unlikely that senior citizens would be accessing the net via an iPad in large numbers! Read more
Everyone seems to be talking up mobile internet these days whilst the launch of iPhone 4 is no doubt setting many an Apple lover’s pulse racing. Mobile is predicted to be the web access king within just 36 months.
Digital media and marketing pundits are, like those notorious World Cup ‘vuvuzelas’, trumpeting in loud unison that the mobile phone will overtake the traditional PC as the world’s most used web-access device by 2013. It‘s estimated that the combined number of smartphones and web browser phone devices will exceed 1.82 billion units, also by 2013, eclipsing the 1.78 billion total for PCs.
So where does this leave the many small business owners and medium sized companies desperately trying to adjust their online marketing campaigns to the relentless tide of web technology channels and platforms? Read more
Online engagement is key to succeeding in today’s multi channel environment. It is the new definition of online marketing, which every SME without the track records of larger, more established organisations must understand if they are to profit from the new opportunities for creating meaningful connections.
Raising the flag of your brand identity and keeping it visibly waving on the web is dependent on business owners understanding how the online social media landscape works. Consistent and meaningful contact is axiomatic to building a strong network and maintaining the momentum of being an active member to sustain engagement.
Even today, many business owners will not principally think of the web as a place to make connections, but only rather to employ paid search marketing strategies to the traditional end goal of attracting sales. Beyond this, as a means to simply communicate. Both approaches are just not true anymore!
When it comes to communicating, social media tools can be more effective than even one-to-one person meetings, especially when trying to build an international network. Business networking online is now as valuable as offline and the rules of engagement to build relationships are critical elements. Read more
Predictions for mobile internet to overtake desktop internet use in just five years means it’s now time for businesses to begin online marketing campaigns that incorporate this channel. Using HTML5, mobile apps are taking off big time!
It is estimated that there are 326,000 mobile websites worldwide, compared to 148,000 iPhone apps and 24,000 Android apps. Early in 2010, a 600 percent growth in traffic to mobile websites over the past year was also reported, and just last week, a white paper predicted that web apps will soon become more practical than native apps.
So what does this mean for the business owner and his web design and marketing team, endeavouring to keep pace with the rapidly changing eCommerce landscape? The shifting focusing onto the mobile web means a company can deliver their message to all smartphone platforms, not just the one device, or even the deskbound PC, laptop or netbook.
Up to now, the mobile web has been preoccupied with the all pervasive iPhone, Android, and now even iPad apps. When looking at the mobile as a total system, marketing strategies should be built that work across all channels and devices from the very beginning. Apps, by definition, are not cross platform, but companies want to target audiences and establish their brand identity on multiple devices with minimal adaptation in a process similar to website accessibility. Read more
The ‘Hand Of Clod’ can be applied to quite a few individuals who score own goals when they fail to understand recipient expectations with different channel messaging platforms. A good striker knows when and how to get through.
In business, as in the social media context, knowing when and what means to get your message across is critical if your online marketing campaigns are to succeed. With a profusion of channels now available, it is tempting to use every platform, in the mistaken belief that being seen and heard everywhere will imprint your brand identity with a wider audience take up.
But if one lesson is to be learnt by business owners working with their web design and marketing teams, it is that target market audiences are more likely to appreciate your efforts to reach them, if you show that you are in tune with what they want to hear, in the way they want to hear, by choosing the right means when attempting to connect. Thus, uou are more likely to gain a desired response.
Today, the mobile SMS can takes its place alongside the email marketing message, as an effective means of getting your message through. But to succeed, ’best practice’ is demanded. The development of mobile internet means etiquettes of practice will soon be established to avoid ‘overload’ and the sense of being constantly pursued. As in all traditional marketing strategies, focused targeting must consider the most appropriate manner of delivering the actual content of the message. Read more
The message is clear – website accessibility is more critical than ever before. Beyond common browser compatibility, eCommerce now needs to consider the ability of their sites to be readily accessed and search friendly for mobile platforms and the avalanche of tablet readers now entering the consumer marketplace.
It’s the year of the mobile app and many savvy companies would have already instructed their website design team to optimise the site pages as best as possible for user friendly mobile search. Not only that, web designers ought to be busy creating mobile apps for their client’s specific market niche, to be downloaded onto iPhone, enabling instant brand access by loyalty audiences at the touch of a stylus! Read more
Paying to drive visitor search traffic and push up site rankings appears to have once more been favoured by UK companies backing short term ROI over long term organic listings and establishing social media presence.
According to a new Search Engine Marketing report of more than 500 companies and agencies, UK firms have been increasing their investment in paid search and SEO over the last 12 months, even though lack of internal resources is the biggest problem affecting the success of marketing strategies by this method.
The findings show that almost half of UK businesses (49%) are now spending at least £50,000 a year on paid search marketing, up from 45% last year and 39% in 2008, while there has been a significant decrease in the proportion of those who spend less than £5,000 a year on paid search, from 25% last year to 14% this year. Read more
The global success of YouTube, now celebrating its 5th year, reinforces video as a key online marketing tool. The rise of mobile internet and latest smart platforms, such as iPad and Streak, means a website without a video can be losing valuable traffic.
Incorporating video into website marketing strategies has become one of the most well known and best promotional methods you can adopt online. Well-executed videos with great content can grab attention faster than any other advertising medium. Read more
