Internet Marketing Weblog
Garret Cunningham | 10:41 am | January 10, 2008 | News, Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
Google has announced the coming release of a new plusbox to be displayed below local business ads which appear in position 1 - 3 above Google search results.
When users see the box they can click on the ‘+’ and watch it open to display a map, address, driving instructions, and phone number.
This is all in addtion to how the local business ads appeared in the past with the location below the display url.
There will be no additional charge for clicks on the ‘+’, charges will still only occur when someone clicks on the ad.
This new feature will take affect automatically, so no need to alter your current ad settings, but if you don’t have a local business ad created, you won’t see any changes for your ads.
Garret Cunningham | 10:41 am | January 9, 2008 | News, Pay-Per-Click (PPC)
As of the December 12th, Google Launched Adwords Editor 5.0.
Some major updates have taken place since the last release, as the tool now also includes features to deal with local business ads.
We look forward to seeing what tools are included in the next release, but hopefully some of the other search engines will have caught up by that stage and released an editor tool of their own!
Just make sure you post or save any changes you have made on your current edition of editor before upgrading, otherwise everything will be lost…
You can download the AdWords Editor here.
Garret Cunningham | 10:40 am | January 8, 2008 | News
For the first few weeks in Decemebr the online Checkout battle has turned in the favour of Google as the traffic to the new Checkout tools website has overtaken the of paypal Paypal according to stats produced by Hitwise.
The difference in traffic is minimal with a 0.05% difference in share.
Initial suggestions though report this does not neccessarily indicate more users are spending with Google as analyisis of downstream from the two payment sites indicates more users are leaving Google Checkout and returning to retailers’ sites, potentially as a result of users abandoning thier transaction.
We expect the competition will continue to heat up between these two Giants, hopefully to the advantage of the user as each strive to gain market share through increased user experience and lower charges.
Watch this space…
View the official Hitwise Post Here.
Neil Yeomans | 2:28 pm | January 7, 2008 | News, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Social Media
Wikia Search Alpha went live today. This much anticipated search engine goes against the closed nature of the major search engines and advocates open-source, transparency and user participation:
Wikia’s search engine concept is that of trusted user feedback from a community of users acting together in an open, transparent, public way. Of course, before we start, we have no user feedback data. So the results are pretty bad. But we expect them to improve rapidly in coming weeks, so please bookmark the site and return often.
http://alpha.search.wikia.com/about.html
Julian Sharpe | 1:56 pm | | News
A Kellar Fay Group/ Bazaarvoice report surveyed 1,300 US online reviewers and found that the vast majority of reviews left on websites are positive.
It has been previously found by Bazaarvoice that the average rating in online reviews is 4.3 out of 5, and 87% of reviews left by the survey group were generally positive.
So what type of consumer is writing these positive reviews? The survey shows that these reviews are from active internet users with the internet taking up a proportion of their day to day life. One fifth of the reviewers leave comments on blogs and forums, one quarter are active on social networks, and over three quarters (77%) send ten e-mails everyday.
The survey suggests that it is not just the reviews that are positive but the reasons for writing them. The vast majority (90%) of the of the people surveyed explained that their motivation was to help inform other consumers purchase decisions. While 70% wanted to help retailers improve their product ranges and 79% wrote their reviews to reward the companies. These statistics suggest consumer’s brand loyalty, and could also mean a catalyst for encouraging loyalty in other consumers.
This loyalty to brand is also implied by the statistic that reviewers are more likely to post reviews directly onto a retailer’s site than on independent review sites. And 65% post reviews of they purchase offline suggesting the consumer’s ongoing dedication to a brand if they believe in it.
According to Bazaarvoice CEO Brett Hurt, companies need not be scared of allowing customer feedback on their sites: “This debunks a major myth about word of mouth and should encourage companies and chief marketing officers to be more comfortable with ‘letting go’ and inviting consumers to talk about their experiences.”
In E-consultancy’s recent Social Commerce Report it was found that more retailers are ‘letting go’ wising up to the benefits of adopting ratings and reviews. While reviews are only being used by 28% of the UK’s online retailers, more than half are considering adding this feature to their websites. Online reviews are being recognised as a valid marketing tool, with word of mouth becoming an integral part of company’s route to market.
Julian Sharpe | 1:58 pm | January 6, 2008 | News
At 1.09pm on 10.12.07 online shopping peaked with an enormous three quarters of a million pounds (£767, 500) being spent by consumers in one minute. The peak followed predictions from online retail body IMRG that Monday would be the UK’s biggest online shopping day ever, with sales worth £350 million (nma.co.uk 10.12.07). Carl Clump, CEO of Retail Decisions said, ‘Christmas internet shopping traditionally peaks on Monday’s as people buy online during their lunch break to save on more trips to the high street.
Our data supports the ongoing trend that internet retailers are enjoying another bumper Christmas.’ It has also been reported that online Christmas sales are forecast to reach £17.6 bn, a jump of 82% over the same period in 2006.
High value items such as computer games and accessories for the Nintendo Wii were apparently the items in most demand, followed by the iPod shuffle and iPod nano.
It seems that it’s not just over the festive period that people will be buying on the internet. The total sales for this years online shopping is expected to reach over £50bn beating last year’s total was which was £30.2bn. This figure beats the predictions made by IMRG earlier this year suggesting unprecedented, positive and very lucrative consumer behaviour for online retailers.
Online shopping, it would seem, is a growing trend, with each year’s sales going from strength to strength. Initially a form of shopping approached with some trepidation by consumers it seems to be growing as one of the preferred methods of buying goods now, especially at a time when traditional high street shops are busy. Online shopping is the perfect antidote to escaping huge queues and annoying bustle, providing a stress free alternative to shopping, with the added bonus of all your items being delivered to your door.
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