Twitter opening a base in the UK would make 'perfect sense'

That is according to Justin Cooke, chair of the British Interactive Media Association, who said that having a base in the UK would make "just right sense" for Twitter and would help them "establish a stronghold into Europe and beyond".

Previous this week the Daily Telegraph reported that Prime Minister David Cameron and Mayor of London Boris Johnson released a personal plea to Twitter to create a new European HQ in the UK.

The move could see a number of businesses working closely with Twitter, helping them to develop their online marketing campaigns.

Mr Cooke added that a move to the UK by the micro blogging site could also help make a more technology-educated nation.

Small Businesses Using Online Tools For Marketing

Small businesses have been using social networking tools more than ever before, according to a latest survey by an online marketing group.

While word-of-mouth was at the top of the list, with 90.6 percent of people saying that the form was very main, online tools were found to be more important than ever, according to the poll conducted by Constant Contact. Sixty-eight percent said that their site was very important, while 58.6 percent felt the same way about email marketing.

"Small businesses are also slower to adopt social media, in part because many of them lack a strong web presence to start with," wrote Debra Aho Williamson for eMarketer.

Local Online Marketing: Google Places Becomes Very Important

Everyone currently and then, like a bird pooping on your favorite shirt, something happens and you must adapt to the circumstances. The novel idea of walking under that huge tree doesn’t seem so smart anymore, you won’t leave banana peels on the floor if you slip and drop, and you’ll stop ignoring Google Places when you realize how main the platform truly is.

When it comes to online marketing, companies that rely on local clients absolutely must have a Google Places account. I suggest going for the win and signing up for the “Tags” as a way to boost exposure and raise click-throughs. Tags are fundamentally features that provide improved exposure by displaying additional information about one’s business — featured website link, coupon, live update from business owner, etc. They’re an excellent technique to stand out from the crowd.

Mobile sites may be be better than apps for online marketing services

Internet marketing services looking to take advantage of the growing numbers of mobile shoppers may find a site optimised for the platform could be better than an app, one expert has stated.

Econsultancy's senior reporter Graham Charlton said that, while recognised brands could appeal to an existing consumer base with apps, the same may not be true for less established names.

Companies that rely on customers finding their services through search engines may attract more customers if they have a well-designed mobile website that can be easily used by people searching through their smartphone, he explained.

Vietnam has big potential in online marketing: Google

A representative of Google in South East Asia shared his optimistic view on Vietnam market in a seminar on export solutions and online marketing on Wednesday, citing the increasing number of Internet user in the country.

Ghislain Le Chatelier told the seminar “Export Solutions and Online Marketing Applications for enterprises” that he saw big potential in the market where internet users are growing rapidly to around 26 million internet users currently.

The head of Online Sales and Operations for South East Asia of Google said that e-commerce that is growing fast in Vietnam will also support the online marketing and advertising.

“I’m very optimistic with the trends that more and more people are going to do their exports online,” he said the seminar held by the Emerald Consulting in HCMC on Wednesday.

SEO is the 'shop window' for online marketing

Search engine optimisation (SEO) is the "shop window" for engaging customers online and its value for businesses cannot be underestimated.

That is according to Gemma Greaves, marketing director at The Marketing Society, who added that SEO has become a "key tactic" in online marketing strategies now.

Zenith Optimedia's forecast previous this week that online advertising expenditure is set to grow three times quicker than the whole advertising market over the next three years.

Online ad revenues continue growth in 2010

Firms are seeing greater revenue from their B2B online marketing initiatives, according to a current report from eMarketer, highlighting the importance of internet-based communication channels to brands.

Internet ad revenue exploded during 2010, with eMarketer predicting a 13.9 percent growth over the last year. The firm anticipates this trend will continue, with online marketing expenditures increasing by double digits for the next four years and surpassing $40 billion by 2014.

Online marketing

Marketing as we have always known it is slowly coming to an end. When you think of the word marketing you are probably thinking about costly newspaper and magazine ads, billboards, radio, television and the works. Although these marketing tools can still be very successful, you might just want to begin opening yourself up to the online world. Millions of people search the internet daily for businesses or merely just socialising with friends and family. The fact of the matter is that if you do not have an online presence, people might be missing your product and as every generation becomes more technologically inclined online marketing is the way to go.

There are quite a few different ways of online marketing. One of the most popular trends these days are to use social networking portals like Facebook and Twitter to get to the literally millions of daily users. By being active on these social networks you will always be "top of mind" when these people, friends and family come to that inevitable moment in their lives where they either require your service or know someone else who could benefit it.

Massive Passive Profits for Effortless Internet Marketing

Massive Passive Profit brings trust for those who are already desperate to earn money from their online marketing efforts. As well as for those you want to enter the marketing world even without internet marketing knowledge and for those who have been trying different internet marketing techniques but still end up with negative results.

How can this be possible? Bill McRea and Mike Williams designed the Massive Passive Profit Software to automate the processes in internet marketing. Both creators of the software claim the application to be an autopilot as it builds a site with necessary themes and plug-ins, builds the content, builds up links and sets up the monetization system to monitor earnings from the website.

Then what should the website owner do? Just let the software do the task while waiting for the cash to flow. This is where the term passive profit rooted. You are passive as a marketer for you are not really doing any marketing efforts and yet, you are getting overwhelming traffic to your site bringing in more profits than you can imagine.

Email, Social Media Level Playing Field For SMBs

If social media is online marketing's present marquee star, email is its veteran performer: It may not generate the headlines, but it dutifully shows up for work every day. The tactic has often appealed to small and midsize businesses (SMBs) because of its relatively low expenses (compared with, say, print or TV) and scalability.

Email can be an valuable, cost-efficient way to reach an audience of 5,000 or 5 million, depending on the budget and the business, while a full-page ad in USA Today is, well, a complete page ad in USA Today -- a very visible pulpit, if you can afford it, but one less likely to suit resource-constrained SMBs or their particular markets.

FTC proposes Do Not Track tool for Web marketing

Federal regulators are proposing to create a "Do Not Track" tool for the Internet so that people could avoid marketers from tracking their Web browsing habits and other online activities in order to target advertising.

The proposal, inspired by the government's existing "Do Not Call" registry for telemarketers, is one of a series of recommendations outlined in a privacy statement released Wednesday by the Federal Trade Commission. The report lays out a broad framework for protecting consumer privacy both online and offline as personal data collection becomes ubiquitous — often without consumer knowledge.

The FTC trust the report will help guide the marketing industry as it develops self-regulatory principles to define acceptable corporate behavior and inform lawmakers and other policymakers as they draft new rules of the road to protect privacy. The FTC has limited authority to write those rules itself, so new regulations would likely need congressional action.

Protecting consumer privacy, the agency says, is critical as marketers — mainly online marketers — are analyzing the websites consumers visit, the online links they click, Internet searches, online and offline purchases, the physical locations of mobile phones and other wireless devices and all sorts of personal information disclosed on social networking sites.

One in ten to access online marketing services via mobile

One in ten consumers in the UK will use their cell phone device to make Christmas purchases this year, according to a new survey.

Econsultancy reports the figures, complied by Tesco, reveal a third of people take advantage of their smartphones as it allows them to fit shopping into busy schedules and offers reduced pressure levels.

The study also showed it is not just those on the move who may be considering this method of shopping, as half of respondents stated they used their phone while watching TV, with one in four accessing online services during their commute to and from work.

A similar trend has been seen in the US, where a current report by the Mobile Marketing Association found 59 per cent of people in the country are planning to use their mobile for internet shopping, with 13 per cent paying for gifts through their device.

Online Spending Up on Turkey Day and Black Friday

It appears as if turkey isn’t the only thing consumed on Thanksgiving Day as the online purchase number reported by comScore shows a 28% raise in online commerce for the holiday.

That raise was also reported for the Black Friday online event. We await, of course, data from CyberMonday but until it actually happens we’ll refrain from giving numbers

As has been the case for the past few years, year over year numbers need to be considered in the context of what the before year has been like. We are still slogging through the worst recession in a long time (oh wait that’s right, the recession is over according to Washington’s latest Fantasy Economist League report). As a result, when you see big increases year over year it’s not always a sign of huge growth. It’s more like a sign of the hope of recovery.

So however you look at it, it is improvement. Also an improvement is the apparent shift from concentrating so much on one day (Black Friday) and seeing how offline sales for the holiday weekend were up. Whenever we get too myopic and concentrate on one thing too much we tend to create bad assumptions which will be followed by bad decisions. That’s bad policy.

Email marketing in the time of social media

Ironically, the increase of social networking sites and social media have caused email volumes to soar rather than decline. What’s more, industry research shows that many internet users check their email before they do anything else when they wake up in the morning.

In a current study release by the US Direct Marketing Association, it was shown that email delivers the best ROI against all the other online marketing options, including social media.

The fact is that email still plays a central role in most users’ online lives, but marketers have not yet caught up to how much its role has changed in the past five years. There are higher email volumes than ever before, which means that content requires to be highly targeted and relevant to break through the noise.

Email is still a channel that offers enormous reach and flexibility for marketers, but we do need to use it in a more engaging and sophisticated manner if we are to create the most of its potential in a socially networked world.

Companies need to align their social media and email campaigns more closely than they have to date. For example, they should create it simpler for their customers to share email promotions via Twitter and Facebook than most do at the moment.

They also need to tap into the psychology of the active online user who likes to be first with main news or interesting special offers.

Retail Holiday Online Marketing: Has Black Friday and Cyber Monday Come Early This Year?

While it's not surprising that online holiday deals are being publicized prior to Cyber Monday, I was surprised to see advertising no longer promoting "pre-Thanksgiving sales" but instead Black Friday before Black Friday sales (giving the impression that the prices are slashed almost as much.) This year shops are opening even earlier and many are posting their Black Friday sales online Thanksgiving Eve. Will this take away from relaxing into a tryptophan induced coma on turkey day to opt for the insanity of holiday shopping online earlier than what we've seen in years past ? And how does that affect Cyber Monday?

When some may enjoy the physical exhaustion and adrenaline rush of shopping the brick and mortar stores on Black Friday, the internet has provided a portal to the similar level of price reduction minus the insanity of camping outside a store and dealing with the crowds. Cyber Monday has been designated when we will see the biggest rate cuts...but has the current serge of pre-holiday sales make Cyber Monday seem almost like any other day of discounts in the holiday shopping season? To be honest, it seems like it is beginning to blur a bit.

Online marketing services see e-commerce growth in October

Current figures from the Interactive Media in Retail Group and Capgemini sale index showed internet marketing services experienced significant growth in e-commerce during October.

Shoppers in the UK spent a total of £5.2 billion on the internet during the previous month – the equivalent of £85 per person, which was an increase of 23 per cent when compared with the same period a year ago.

Chris Webster, chief of retail consulting and technology at Capgemini, said the results were better than expected and reminded retailers now is a crucial time to be exploring innovative strategies and promotion to gain an edge over the competition.

"The web is consistently seen as the place to go for bargains and retailers with an online presence should utilize this to their advantage", he added.

The study comes as eMarketer forecasts sales in the US online sector are expected to reach $38.5 billion (£24.3 billion) over the festive season.

Google's online marketing services strategy includes social media

Google has stated the use of social media is a part of the company's online PR strategy, but denied it was focusing its attention on rivalling Facebook.

The Independent reports the organisation's chief financial officer Patrick Pichette told Australian television social features would be included in "many of our products".

However, he stressed search was still the firm's primary product and any social elements are "just one chapter" of the digital world, along with developments such as cloud computing and mobile services.

Mr Pichette also dismissed the plan that Facebook, which recently introduced a messaging service that has been hyped as a 'gmail killer', was becoming his organisation's main rival.

Continuing, he stated the key principle of Google was "understanding the internet is changing the world" and making money was not the company's only aim.

He added the search engine aimed to be at the heart of a "dramatically expanding" digital economy where innovation was vital.

Apple to launch online marketing services in December

Apple has announced its iAd mobile marketing method will become available to European businesses from December.

The company said the system will allow advertisers to "reach millions of iPhone and iPod touch users right in their favourite apps" and offer developers a fresh source of income.

Several main advertisers in the country have signed up for the service since it was introduced to the US in July and the feature is expected to account for 21 per cent of the nation's mobile display marketing revenue.

Major European brands that have agreed to use the system include Renault, Louis Vuitton and L'Oreal.

Marc Menesguen, head of strategic marketing at the beauty product maker, stated iAd would offer online marketing services providers an "unparalleled opportunity to reach and serve the most engaged and discerning customers".

The content will be available to users with products running Apple's iOS platform, which according to a current report by Gartner was responsible for 16.7 per cent of the smartphone market in the third quarter of 2010.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – experts in Search Engine Marketing & Internet Marketing.

US online marketing services worth $6.4bn in last quarter

Online marketing companies in the US saw revenues of $6.4 billion (£4 billion) in the third quarter of 2010, according to a new report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).

The figure was the highest quarterly result ever and showed a 17 per cent increase from the same period a year ago, the organisation stated.

David Silverman, a partner at PwC, noted the statistics demonstrated an "accelerating shift in consumer behaviour towards the internet and away from traditional media".

President and chief executive officer of IAB Randall Rothenberg said companies are using internet marketing services to engage with their customers and the sector is a key contributor to the growth of the economy.

The group's current half-yearly report revealed search was the main focus of online advertising, responsible for 47 per cent of revenue, more than double the 23 per cent that was provided by display banners, the next biggest sector.

News brought to you by ClickThrough – a best practice Internet Marketing Agency.

RVT.com Adds iPad, Facebook and Google DFP Functionality for More Powerful Online Marketing Presence

RVT.com, the leading Internet classified ad site for fresh and used RVs for sale, travel and 5th wheel trailers, motor homes and campers, has launched three new online marketing initiatives, including an iPad RV shopper magazine, a Facebook Marketplace presence and a new partnership with Google DFP (Dart for Publishers) for targeted RV ad placement by geography, category or keyword.

The new RVT.com Buy & Sell Magazine for iPad, the first of its kind, is a dynamic tablet-formatted digital magazine that allows RV shoppers to browse or search RVT.com's entire inventory of over 40,000 new and used RVs for sale from more than 430 RV dealers and thousands of private sellers.

"This dynamic magazine-style version of RVT.com puts our inventory in the hands of thousands of RVers with an interface that allows the RV Shopper to quickly and easily 'flip' through RVs for sale in his/her region," said Shawn Friesen, RVT.com marketing director. "It is the most enjoyable and convenient way to shop for RVs online, and will generate more quality leads for our RV dealer, industry and individual advertisers." The new app will be available for download from iTunes later this month.