It might seem a little early to be planning ahead to the festive season, but not so for online businesses…apparently. Preparedness is essential in the competitive world of Internet salesmanship. Despite Britain being bathed in summer sun and with temperatures looking set to eclipse all existing records, Christmas is already at the forefront of some people’s minds.
As highlighted on the Future Now blog, this Christmas is going to be more cut-throat than usual for many retailers. Consumers have less money to spend and will be looking to make it go further. Whilst it may not be the time to be decking the halls or dusting off your It’s a Wonderful Life DVD, e-commerce sites need to be ready earlier than ever with a winning Yuletide strategy.
More…
Wikipedia rarely escapes the ire of academics or journalists for its purporting of truth in a user-generated environment. Whilst the level of accuracy is usually reasonably good, there are occasional aberrations that highlight the potential misuse of the site.
Earlier in the week Michael Jackson fans became embroiled in a mad scramble to edit and update his status based upon the developing news story surrounding his death. Even before it was confirmed, the singer’s page announced he had passed away, moving some to change it in order to reflect this. Confusion reigned though when fans refused to accept the unofficial news and removed all references to it. This ultimately caused Wikipedia to halt all editing on Jackson’s page until the news could be verified.
More…
If you have a business blog, whether it serves independently or as part of a main website, you want to be ensuring that your posts are reaching out to the largest possible audience. Keywords provide a vital part of improving visibility on search engines, as such it is essential that you are targeting the optimum terms for your site.
Wordtracker provide an extremely useful service, allowing you to type in words and phrases before providing statistical data on the most popular examples relating to your search. Obviously if you’re in the middle of writing an engaging blog post you probably don’t want to be jumping between sites too often, so they’ve now come up with an incredibly helpful tool called SEO Blogger.
More…
Google CEO Eric Schmidt has publicly slammed state intrusion determining how civilians use the Internet. In the report by The Telegraph, Schmidt claims that “if they don’t listen to us it is at their peril” – very ominous indeed; which serves as a thinly veiled attack on governments throughout the world, most notably Iran and China, who have decided to step in and filter what can be searched for.
The importance of the Internet in the creation and subsequent proliferation of news has come into focus in recent weeks. Ordinarily secretive states with little or no foreign journalistic contact, have had their barriers smudged by increasing numbers of videos and messages from within their own populous. Facebook, YouTube and Twitter have been right at the cutting edge of this distribution; a process that has invariably also involved the world’s most popular search engine, Google.
More…
Worldwide news stories don’t come much bigger than the death of an icon. The sad news of Michael Jackson’s passing yesterday encouraged a hoarding flotilla of mourning fans and curious web users online to find out the latest reports.
Unprecedented volumes of traffic crippled websites reporting his death, including TMZ and the LA Times websites. Social media, as always, was first on the scene when it came to providing 140 character eulogies and passing respects on. Demand has been and continues to be extremely high, with Tweets and Facebook groups memorialising the singer and his legacy.
More…
According to a recent report from Bloomberg, the numbers of customers using Facebook advertising within the past year have trebled,. The proliferation of targeted advertisements, which is in stark contrast to Twitter’s stand against paid ads, has clearly caught the attention of businesses and marketers everywhere, as well as the consumers.
By utilising the data that Facebook have on record, including location, age, interests and relationship status, advertisers can hone in on their key demographic and really achieve some eye-catching results. Due to the vast nature of the social networking site’s reach, you can connect with thousands, if not millions of potential customers through a single advertisement. Similarly you can localise your adverts, benefiting smaller businesses looking to trade within a certain region.
More…
Woolworths is still a name that evokes nostalgia. Its demise at the end of last year left customers, commentators and employees shocked, if not entirely surprised. For years they gradually lost relevance and consumer interest as their diversified range could no longer compete with the specialist stores on their doorstep.
But like a Phoenix rising out of the ashes, along comes a re-vamped Woolworths.co.uk to cast aside the smouldering rubble of its former high street glory. This time though, they are listening to their customers. Offering a far more selective range and reintroducing some of their old favourites, including pick n mix, to show that online business is as vibrant as ever; even for those companies that have failed in the real world.
More…
Bit.ly have published a new tool this week which allows you to segment bit.ly social media traffic within Google Analytics.
The tool can be found here – bit.ly Google Analytics Campaign Tool. You will be required to download a copy of the tool by choosing ‘File > Create a copy’
More…
Eco Worrier are a Hampshire based specialist in sourcing and retailing Green and Eco Friendly Household Products, through research and testing they are able to help their customers find only those products that will work effectively around the home.
As people become more concerned about the environment the demand for Eco Friendly Products continues to rise all the time, furthermore with the boom in internet shopping Eco Worrier are more than aware that having a strong online presence will be integral to the success of the business.
More…
Copywriting is a vital part of the overall SEO process, there can be little doubting that. However, it isn’t necessarily a part of SEO itself per se.
Take, for example, a football journalist. It’s their job to read the game, understand what is happening on and off the pitch and formulate a report as an end product; but that doesn’t make them a footballer. Copywriting, particularly when done online, is exactly the same.
More…
Addictomatic (Addict-o-matic) is a free service that allows you to search multiple sites on the Internet for news, hot topics, blogs and more.
More…
A new service has come to light further linking Google AdWords with Google Analytics and meaning that you can now import your Analytics Goals into your AdWords Account.
Goals are the primary measurement of a desired action on a website including:
• Page views
• Contact requests
• Email registrations
• Making a purchase
• Adding product to shopping cart
More…
If you find the way you search news boring and outdated, you’ll be pleased to know that the good people at Google Labs have created a solution – the beautifully titled, Google Flipper.
Leaving intelligent marine mammal comments aside, Google Flipper has been designed to make the process of searching through Google News far easier. Rather than the usual headline text and short blurb, Flipper will now allow you to see a thumbnail of the front page of each story. Giving you a sneak peak before committing to actually reading it.
More…
As the world’s attention continues to be drawn by the civil unrest in Iran, two of the Internet’s giants have stepped in to help those voices be heard and understood. Almost simultaneously, Facebook and Google have launched Persian services to accommodate this growing need for communication.
Within their Translate service, Google have added Persian (still showing as an Alpha, so developments may need to be made); allowing messages to and from the troubled Gulf state to be understood with greater ease. Of course, there are millions of people who speak Persian, so this will have a long-term benefit; however, the timing of this addition is probably far from coincidental.
More…
For anyone using Twitter, the ability to analyse their data is made very easy, dare I say enjoyable, with Twitter Analyzer.
This free service provides an overview of your Twitter activity, for example, the number of “Tweets” on a given day and the reach of your readers.
More…
