Website marketing and sales opportunities 'to soar'

Sales lead generation opportunities will continue to grow quickly across online platforms in the coming years, new research suggests.

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A report by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) notes that the UK's internet economy is now worth £100 billion, or 7.2 per cent of the UK's GDP last year.

It also showed that for every £1 of e-commerce goods and service imported, the country exports £2.80.

BCG commented: "The report finds that this share is likely to grow by about ten per cent annually, reaching ten per cent of GDP by 2015."

In addition, the group found that internet firms now employ around 250,000 of the people currently working in the UK.

The news comes after recent figures from comScore showed that the UK is second only to the Netherlands in terms of European nations that make most use of the internet.

It was found that in the UK, the average website visits per visitor score was 71.3 for September 2010.

Online Marketing for Beginners

While everyone is tightening their belts due to the crisis in the economy, many have turned to online marketing. With millions and millions of people using the internet, any type of online business would certainly have its fair share of potential customers.

Doing business in the world wide web may charge you less as compared to putting up a real or physical business, gives you the convenience of working at home and could well cut your normal working hours each day.

Here are some things to consider when opening an online business:

Brainstorming

This is the initial step and could very well be the key factor in your success. Look for a good digital product to promote, easy to sell and has lots of potential clients such as ebooks and computer softwares.

Marketing Strategy

Develop a marketing plan and strategy to be used for your campaign. Determine the demographics such as age, gender and location of persons that are most likely to purchase your product. This will help you target your customers and in doing so, could save you a lot of time and money.

Promotion and Implementation

There are a lot of free tools and platforms that can be used to promote digital products or your website itself. Try using social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Myspace to advertise your products. This way, you are able to use a free service and reach out to a wide range of potential customers. You may also consider making use of optimization service providers to help you market your products. Though it may cost you some cash, it could save you time and effort.

With problems in the economy, everyone is trying to look for a good business to earn money. The key to success is utilizing all the resources available and make good use of it. The internet has been a great tool not only for communication but also for business as well.

Google traffic figures good for online marketing services

Businesses using Google's range of internet marketing services should be interested to learn the search giant has increased its traffic share to 6.4 per cent of all internet utilize.

The record figures, complied by online security firm Arbor Networks, include records for the company's search engine, as well as statistics for its other areas such as YouTube.

Craig Labovitz, who conducted the research for Arbor, said even with overall internet usage rising by 40 to 45 per cent a year, Google's share was still impressive.

"While its not news that Google is big, what is amazing is how much bigger [it] continues to get," he said.

The numbers may be further fine news for the search engine's advertisers and investors, coming shortly after the organisation announced increased profits for the third quarter of the year.

Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Google, said the brand had an "excellent quarter" and "continued to show significant momentum".

Alternative search engines could help online marketing services

Businesses looking to maximise their search engine optimisation services should be looking beyond Google at alternative strategies, according to one specialist.

Writing for Search Engine Watch, Bas van den Beld highlighted several key search tools focusing on niche or particular types of content that all marketers should be thinking about.

Mr Van Den Beld emphasised sites such as YouTube, which receives two billion views a day, as a chance of which search marketers will almost certainly be aware, but few have taken full advantage of.

"Many people are surprised to learn that YouTube is the second major search engine," Mr Van Den Beld said, pointing out that the video sharing site deals with more searches than Bing or Yahoo.

With 1.5 million business-oriented queries on the site each week and a hugely diverse user base, YouTube is "the place to be", according to Mr Van Den Beld.

He added with YouTube videos showing up in Google's universal results, it offers an extra opportunity for marketers to get their products to the top of the web's biggest search engine.

Mr Van Den Beld also suggested social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook as brilliant options for marketers looking to broaden their search potential.

WebiMax's Online Marketing Efforts Optimize Sites Big and Small

WebiMax.com (www.webimax.com), an online marketing firm concentrating on search engine optimization, supplies its services to businesses of all sizes big and small. The SEO company is currently ranked as the number-one provider of search engine optimization by TopSEOs.com. WebiMax's dynamic group is able to address online marketing needs of all companies regardless of their age, search engine rank, and size.

CEO, Ken Wisnefski envisioned an online marketing company that could handle the wishes of any client. "In the beginning of my own career, I remember being intimidated by the 'bigger' players within my industry," relates Wisnefski. "I knew my business could help clients just as much as my larger competitors who enjoyed more exposure, I just needed a little push to get me on my way to better rankings on the search engines. We get a lot of online marketing clients who have the same issues, and I am proud that WebiMax has the tools and experience to address them. On the other hand, some bigger companies desire to keep their good rankings and popularity, and we have the resources to help them as well. Our online marketing tactics are customized to fit each client, their size, and present online marketing needs."

VP of Online Marketing, Todd Bailey, relays a story about newly helping a client get their site online and optimized in just a few weeks. "A client came to us with a loose vision for a site," remembers Bailey. "The client had a common idea at first, then members of our team spent several days with them formulating something more tangible. From there, our Web design team came up with great images and designs to match the client's vision; our copywriting team researched and composed optimized copy using germane keywords to their industry and products; and, our pay-per-click team helped begin a Google AdWords campaign to get them some immediate exposure on the search engines. The client was amazed to see how their 'loose idea' came to fruition via a entirely optimized and great looking site in just a few weeks."

My Online Business Strategy - The Secret to Affiliate Marketing Success

Gary Gregory today launched an innovative marketing product that features live online support and an easy to use system for all experience levels. My Online Business Strategy (M.O.B.S.) is designed to provide affiliate marketers with a simple process to quickly create a successful online business.

Unlike some other marketing systems that require extensive knowledge of marketing theory and terminology, Gary Gregory's My Online Business Strategy can be used by beginners with no experience in marketing or search engine optimization. The new system uses a popular web platform with proven results in quickly building up search engine traffic.

My Online Business Strategy uses a process that appeals to search engine algorithms and that can start drawing visitors even before users have completed all the necessary steps. According to Gregory, the M.O.B.S. process will ensure users of a steady flow of traffic, and many sites consistently attract between 500 to 5000 unique visitors every day.

The vast majority of online shoppers still use the major search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing to find products that they are interested in purchasing. Attracting online business requires web sites to place highly on search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords that pertain to their products and services. However, many internet marketers have found that achieving good search results is difficult in such a competitive marketplace.

Unlike other marketing products, My Online Business Strategy features live support so that clients will be able to get the help they need without long delays. According to Gregory, his system is the only product that internet marketers will need to make money online. M.O.B.S. is geared toward beginners and those who have struggled with internet marketing and in that vein features live support for the entire life of the product.

Vistaprint Enables Micro Businesses to Easily Adopt Search Marketing

Vistaprint N.V. (VPRT 37.75, +0.05, +0.13%) , a important online provider of professional marketing products and services to micro businesses and the home, today announced the launch of its Search Engine Optimizer (SEO) tool as well as custom blogs for its user-friendly internet marketing packages. The two fresh features were designed to be simple and effective for any micro business looking to increase its search engine rankings and highlight Vistaprint's desire to help micro businesses easily and effectively utilize online marketing. The company's internet marketing team has also set up exact accounts on social networking platforms to keep the growing number of Vistaprint customers up to date with the latest changes while educating them on the best practices in the industry.

"Micro businesses and small businesses of all kinds are marketing online because they've realized that's where a lot of potential clients are going to find them," said Whitney Pegden, senior product marketing associate at Vistaprint. "While we have added a number of fresh and exciting features to our websites packages -- including contact forms, maps, shopping carts and matching email addresses for domains -- we're also focused on educating our customers to help them succeed. We're providing tools that guide them through things like search marketing with copywriting, which will maximize their online efforts. Our goal is to make internet marketing as easy as designing a business card."

The new features add to a broader suite of internet marketing products and services offered by Vistaprint, with custom websites, email marketing and online search profiles. The newly launched SEO tool helps customers to quickly and easily optimize their site to be found by search engines and also assists customers in creating relevant content that will help to develop their site ranking. The tool, which is integrated into Vistaprint's website builder, uses an optimization report card which evaluates a user's site and allows them to capitalize on search opportunities immediately. The SEO tool makes it extremely easy for non-technical users to optimize their site and improve their rank without any prior knowledge of search marketing. The tool costs $9.99 per month and can be easily added to any existing Vistaprint website package.

The Future of Online Marketing Is Here

Marketing is highly important to every kind of business. It is important to make sure that your business is getting the recognition that it deserves as well as making sure enough people are able to learn about your company for you to grow. What many have already found is it is possible to grow as long as there is a focus on online marketing. While SEO and PPC programs are still very big throughout the web, there are more people than ever subscribing to social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

The reason why so many companies have been finding their place on the social networking sites is because of the ability to reach out to clients in a very organic way. It is not forced to gain attention from clients when you are simply making general announcements about the company and the things you are doing. Those who are into your company will be sure to follow your company online and they will surely get their friends involved as well. There are a few reasons why this advertising method is such a winner for so many different kinds of companies.

The price is right

One of the greatest things about marketing via Facebook or Twitter is that you do not have to have a huge budget. Both of the services are free to sign up for. The only thing it costs you is your time. Creating posts and tweets does not even take that much time to accomplish. Usually the job for social network marketing will fall to one person in the company and even then, it will be a part time responsibility. There are very few companies which invest a lot into these kinds of marketing strategies, yet there are big payoffs for the work you put into them.

Go to where the clients are

Marketing is very much like real estate in that location is everything. There is a natural link between where you market your company and the response you will get from your marketing methods. The best idea is to simply go to where the people you are trying to reach congregate at. Doing so will make it where you will be seen by those you are trying to reach. Since the majority of young, fresh clients with disposable income are on Facebook and Twitter, it is the location where more companies want to make sure they appear.

Access to all

One of the dilemmas companies have to face online is what kind of device they will make their websites geared towards. Having to choose between a regular computer, an iPhone and an iPad is enough to make any company nervous. The good news about marketing through Facebook and Twitter is they have done all of the hard work for you. Your information can be accessed by all through any device which has the ability to view the different social networking sites. This will make it where your company is viewable to all those you are looking reach no matter where they might be.

Google to offer new online course for ppc marketing users

Google is to launch a new online course covering remarketing.

Posting on the blog for its pay per click marketing service AdWords, Gordon Zhu said the one-hour, interactive session will take place on October 20th.

"Remarketing is a simple way to connect with your website visitors," he added.

It works by allowing advertisers to show tailored offers, such as last minute discounts, to people who have already visited their website via the Google Display Network.

The online course, which will include a question and answer session, will cover the benefits of the practice, as well as a guide to setting up remarketing in an AdWords account.

In a recent article for Search Engine Land, John Perich said remarketing could help firms to boost their acquisition rates by offering them a second opportunity to attract potential customers who did not convert the first time around.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in SEO, Pay Per Click Services, Multilingual Search Marketing and Website Conversion Enhancement services.

Search Engine Marketing Agency Helps Clients Reach No.1 on Google

A growing Search Engine Optimisation Agency up in Lancashire have been quietly pushing their clients into number one positions on Google for search terms such as “press release delivery”, “laptops”, “touch screen” and “memory card”.


According to the rankings produced by topseo.com, who rank online marketing companies from the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and India, Custard Media are the fourth best SCO agency in the UK. They are ranked number one in the country by topseo.com for social media optimisation, content formation and reputation management.


Custard Media Managing Director Ssam Allcock stated, “We have specific expertise in-house which is unmatched in the UK for an agency of our size. This allows us to achieve outstanding results for our client base. We are able to quickly rank websites highly for some very competitive search conditions and we’re delighted that such a trusted authority as topseos.com has recognised our abilities.”

online marketing services boost Google profits

A rise in aggregate paid clicks and higher revenues from ads shown on partner sites helped Google record a 32 per cent annual increase in its third quarter profits.

The search engine recorded net income of $2.17 billion (£1.35 billion) between July and September, up from $1.64 billion during the corresponding period of last year.

Revenue from pay per click services for Google sites and AdSense partners rose by 16 per cent year-on-year and was four per cent higher compared with the second quarter.

Meanwhile, ads on the Google Network brought in $2.2 billion, or 30 per cent of total earnings, an increase of 22 per cent on Q3 2009.

The bulk of revenue came from sites owned by the company, such as YouTube. At $4.67 billion, this was also up 22 per cent on 12 months earlier.

Just over half (52 per cent) of earnings came from outside the US, the same level as the second quarter but down one per cent year-on-year.

"Google had an excellent quarter," said the search engine's chief executive Eric Schmidt.

"Our core business grew very well and our newer businesses – particularly display and mobile – continued to show significant momentum."

During the third quarter, Google's worldwide full-time workforce grew from 21,805 to 23,331.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.

Google set to remain top target for search engine marketing

Google is set to remain the top target for online marketing after it increased the number of queries it handled during September.

Figures from comScore show the company's sites processed 10.59 billion explicit core searches from home, work and university locations last month, up three per cent on August.

Google remained well ahead of Yahoo!, which accounted for 2.68 billion queries, down two per cent from the previous survey.

Microsoft, which is taking on Yahoo!'s pay per click marketing accounts as part of the companies' Search Alliance deal, saw its site handle 1.79 billion explicit core searches in September, a three per cent increase on August.

Overall, comScore said Google accounted for 62.9 per cent of the total core searches conducted on the top five search engines last month.

Yahoo! had a 19.2 per cent share and Microsoft was on 12.5 per cent.

The top five was completed by the Ask Network on 3.4 per cent and AOL on two per cent.

LSF Interactive and KENSHOO Announce Partnership to Enhance Online Media Buying Offerings

LSF Interactive, a technology-focused global online marketing and media buying solutions and services company, today announced its partnership with KENSHOO, a global leader in search marketing and online advertising technology. The partnership brings together the custom optimization for which LSF Interactive is known and KENSHOO’s proprietary search marketing platform, offering unparalleled online media buying efficiency for client campaigns.

“This partnership helps position our organization at the forefront of online media buying, ahead of some of the largest paid search managers in the world,” said Daniel Laury, LSF Interactive’s president and CEO. “We will now be able to more quickly evaluate and react to data for client campaigns, and provide improved reporting and dashboarding capabilities, both in the U.S. and in Europe, giving LSF Interactive a significant edge in mastering large SEM campaigns on behalf of its clients.”

LSF Interactive will combine proprietary tools like Analytics+, and more than 10 years of search engine marketing experience, with KENSHOO’s industry-leading platform, KENSHOO Search™. The pairing will help make paid search campaigns more streamlined and ensure the most comprehensive and strategic approach is applied. It will also advance LSF Interactive’s goal of creating synergies between all online advertising options including paid search and display, and allow for proper attribution management.

The combined methodologies are being beta tested among select clients, and LSF Interactive plans to leverage a new platform for its global clients over the coming months.

“We’re thrilled that LSF Interactive has selected KENSHOO to power its paid search campaigns,” said Yoav Izhar-Prato, CEO of KENSHOO. “The KENSHOO Search™ platform will allow LSF to continue delivering innovative strategies and bottom-line results for its clients.”

Bradenton and Lakewood Ranch Online Marketing Seminar Offered by Manatee County Chamber of Commerce

Manatee County area businesses will have the opportunity to attend a joint educational event on the topic of "Mobile Marketing via Tagging", Tuesday October 12 in the Manatee Chamber's Lakewood Ranch Office at the McClure Center.

Online PR News – 11-October-2010 – Lakewood Ranch, FL - October 08, 2010 -- The Manatee Chamber of Commerce, in partnership with Lakewood Ranch, is offering a FREE SEMINAR on "Tagging" on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 at 9:30 AM at the Chamber's Lakewood Ranch Office at the McClure Center, 4215 Concept Court.

Troy Newport of Webtivity Design Solutions and a representative from Lakewood Ranch / Microsoft will present information on 2D barcode technology (QR Codes and Microsoft Tags) and ways companies can use this technology to promote a person, a business, or their products and services.

Registration is required to attend this event. The registration form can be found at http://www.manateechamber.com/articles/mobiletagging.pdf'

About 2D Barcode Technology:
A 2D barcode can be viewed in similar terms as a Universal Product Code (UPC), except UPCs can only represent numbers. 2D barcodes can be used to represent text, web addresses and other data. Newer smartphones now include the scanning software necessary to take advantage of this technology, while a quick application download will integrate with older smartphones to enable the functionality. Once the software is on a phone, the user simply aims the camera phone at a 2D barcode, and the smartphone scans the code.

About Manatee Chamber of Commerce:
The Manatee Chamber of Commerce, a Florida Chamber of Commerce, is located in Bradenton, Florida and serves Anna Maria Island, Bradenton, Bradenton Beach, Ellenton, Holmes Beach, Lakewood Ranch, Longboat Key, Palmetto, Parrish, and Myakka City. Lakewood Ranch and Longboat Key are bi-County areas, split between Sarasota and Manatee. The Chamber provides education and networking opportunities, job / employment assistance, and small business start-up counseling while working on community issues such as legislation, water, transportation, and general quality of life. The Manatee Chamber has a full-service Better Business Council, Drug-Free Workplace Program, and Economic Development Council.

japanese users "most connected" to mobile online marketing services

Japanese mobile users are "most connected" to media through their devices, according to a new report comparing the country's market to Europe and the US.

The comScore study found that 75.2 per cent of smartphone subscribers in Japan access a browser, downloaded content or used applications during June.

This compared to 43.7 per cent of those in the US and 38.5 per cent in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy.

Some 59.3 per cent of Japanese subscribers went online during the month, compared to 31.1 per cent in America and 25.8 per cent in the European markets.

Mark Donovan, comScore's senior vice-president of mobile, said the report shows use of mobile media is accelerating across the globe, but there are "dramatic differences" in how it is consumed.

Users of internet marketing services looking to establish themselves in multiple markets therefore need to understand "usage dynamics across geographies" in order to achieve successful campaigns, he added.

The study comes after comScore revealed there were 234 million smartphone subscribers in the US during the three months to August.

Yahoo! launches online PR drive for new search experiences

Yahoo! is rolling out a set of new "Search Experiences".

The California-based company said the features are the first in a series of improvements that will bring more news and entertainment together in a single page.

With a new set of shortcuts, users will be able to view film trailers, listen to songs from a forthcoming album, see the latest photos and read tweets about popular topics.

Yahoo! said the move builds on its recent introduction of contextual search tools like the "Infinite Browser", which helps individuals find related content about a particular news story.

It added that the changes will also make the search engine "even more popular" with the target audiences of online marketing services.

The latest announcement comes after Yahoo! chief products officer Blake Irving said it would be overhauling a number of features including search and email in bid to "get its cool back" and challenge the dominance of Google.

According to comScore, Yahoo! handled 2.7 billion searches in August compared to Google's 10.2 billion.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – a provider of SEO Services & Pay Per Click strategies.

The buzz network: Online marketing finds new ways to engage moviegoers

When it comes to using anything digital to advertise movies, the buzzword is “engagement.”

Unlike traditional movie advertising, such as trailers, billboards and bus ads, digital advertising is by nature interactive. Web banners expand with a click. Trailers are found, played and passed along to the next user via a share module. Games, quizzes and other content propagate due to the gleeful posting of high scores on Facebook. Engagement, advertisers hope, creates consumers who will go out and buy tickets to a movie, and tell their friends while they’re at it.

“Digital is 100% of an opportunity to engage with that user on a really emotional level,” Dimitry Ioffe, CEO of The Visionaire Group (www.TVGLA.com), states. “Make them laugh, make them cry, surprise them. The trailer and print is a very isolating individual experience. It’s just advertising talking directly at you and you don’t have a way to talk back or engage in any capacity.”

Besides being emotionally involving, the web allows users to easily e-mail a friend or post a link on Facebook, Twitter, Digg and a host of other sites. “How often do I see a billboard on the bus and run and tell a friend?” Jason Yim, CEO of Trigger LA (www.triggerglobal.com), asks. “For a conversion, the Internet’s a lot more powerful.”

Because most digital advertising requires the user to do some hunting or clicking, the medium has become an especially popular way to feed information to “fanboys” and “fangirls” who are already passionate about a comic book or novel that’s headed to theatres. On the Internet, a studio can post information about an anticipated project as soon as it’s announced in trade magazines, to “start controlling, creating an experience for the target person,” according to Ioffe. They can also reassure audiences about the direction the adaptation is taking.

IAB reports 10% increase in online marketing revenues

Online advertising spend increased by ten per cent during the first six months of 2010, according to a new joint report.

Research conducted by the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) and Big Four firm PricewaterhouseCoopers indicates that online video, social and 'performance' marketing supported a rebound in the market following the UK's exit from recession.

UK marketers invested £1.969 billion on web-based advertising between January and June 2010, as the medium achieved a record market share of 24.3 per cent.

The IAB said the return to double-digit growth mirrored the general recovery of the entire advertising industry, where total UK expenditure rose by 6.3 per cent to £8.1 billion during the first two quarters of the year.

Online display advertising spend increased by 6.4 per cent to £381 million, taking a 19.3 per cent share of online advertising, with banners accounting for £272 million of this.

Video marketing spend continued to soar, rising by 82 per cent to £20.7 billion, while social media advertising accounted for an estimated 13 per cent of internet advertising spend, the report stated.

Social Media Dashboard Can Help Businesses Coordinate Online Marketing

Companies of all sizes and entrepreneurs from all industries are being told that in order to be successful in the 21st century, they need to develop a compelling digital marketing strategy that incorporates social media usage.

Doesn't it get overwhelming though when one has to keep track of a myriad of Facebook pages, Twitter feeds and LinkedIn accounts?

Tech experts point out that the best way to keep track of your businesses' social media presence without the unnecessary confusion, is through a so-called networking "dashboard."

Most dashboards are relatively inexpensive online programs that give users a bird's eye view of all their social media activity.

One of the least expensive programs is called HootSuite and is available for under $6.00. This tool ensures that entrepreneurs are able to keep watch over their social media presence on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, all on the same page, thus saving them from having to log on to each site separately, or having to fish for new user comments. HootSuite also offers a more basic, limited version that is free of charge.

Jungle Torch may also soon become an indispensable online tool for businesses. The app allows users to determine how best to improve their company's search engine optimisation (SEO), by showing them how their websites rank in major search engines.