February 26th, 2010
“Organic Search Still Reigns”
A good position in “natural” search results (as opposed to paid ads online) is critical to your web strategy and ultimately to your business growth. Making it onto Page 1 (the top 10 search results) for selected search terms in Google, Yahoo! or Bing has always been a major goal with marketers aware that consumers will give up after the first few listings.
This well-known fact is being confirmed by recent research from iCrossing, analyzing natural-search referrals e.g. web traffic coming from search results in the organic rankings in the search engines. The results showed that only a tiny number of traffic comes from results after the first page.
US Natural Search Visits from Google/Yahoo/Bing by Search Engine Results Page
|
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
| Google |
95.8% |
2.5% |
1.7% |
| Yahoo! |
95.2% |
2.8% |
1.9% |
| Bing |
95.0% |
3.4% |
1.6% |
Note: numbers may not add up to 100% due to rounding. Source: iCrossing
As you can see from the above at least 95% of traffic comes from the first page of results!
Are you on page 1? If not, you need to start looking into how to improve your website’s search engine rankings for your selected search terms. Stay tuned, we will be revealing a serious of tested & proven practices as well as little-know tips for better SEO of your website.
Sources: eMarketer, iCrossing
Tags: Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, search engines, search optimisation, SEO
Posted in Search Engine Optimisation | No Comments »
January 25th, 2010
The marketing tactics most often used on social sites are not necessarily the best ones, as revealed by a survey of B2B and B2C marketers from September 2009 by MarketingProfs.
The most commonly used Facebook marketing tactic was attempting to drive traffic to corporate materials through status updates, followed by ‘friending’ customers, but these tactics were not the most effective. Not surprisingly, even less successful seems to be buying social media ads (be it targeted ones).
2 successful Facebook marketing tactics were:
- Creating a Facebook application around the brand.
- Creating a survey of Fans.
The following is a list of the most used Facebook marketing tactics by both B2B and B2C marketers:
- Creating a survey of “fans”.
- “Friending” recent customers with corporate Facebook profile.
- Using Facebook user data to profile customers.
- Creating a Facebook application around a brand.
- Driving traffic to corporate materials with status updates.
- Buying targeted CPC ads on Facebook.
(As reported by over 600 B2B & B2C marketers who used Facebook marketing tactics; source MarketingProfs “The State of Social Media” provided to eMarketer, Dec 2009)
Tags: Facebook, Online Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing
Posted in Facebook, Social Media Marketing | No Comments »
January 11th, 2010
Twitter and O2 Ireland announced the launch of Twitter SMS service to Irish mobile users just before Christmas.
How to Get Started?
Twitter SMS service is now available for all O2 network users who are eager to use Twitter on the go. O2 is the first carrier to launch Twitter SMS in Ireland. So if you are a lucky O2 customer, all you need to do to start tweeting from your mobile is send “START” to 51210 and either sign up for Twitter or activate your phone with your current Twitter username.
How Much Does It Cost?
Receiving tweets is free but you can only receive 500 Tweets a month – so you might want to be selective about whom you receive Tweets from on your mobile phone. To select who you are getting notifications from you need to select ON and the user’s name e.g. ‘ON mark’, and ‘turn OFF’ everyone else (use OFF/STOP/QUIT/End/Cancel), or you can just turn off users that you don’t want to hear from on your phone: e.g. ‘OFF Elaine’. Make sure to check all cool Twitter commands here. When using Twitter on your mobile it is also good to keep in mind that some of your Twitter friends might not be in the same time zone as you are (It might be not so great to be receiving tweet notifications around the clock 24/7).
Sending texts to Tweeter costs 11c (incl. VAT) per message for Prepay customers and 9c (ex. VAT) for Postpay customers. See more details on the O2 website about the Twitter service.
With more countries and carriers joining the Twitter SMS service gradually, Twitter is turning into a modern day phenomenon, instantly spreading news and information worldwide! If you’re not already using Twitter…give it a shot…but be warned you could get hooked!
Follow O2 Ireland on Twitter and of course you can follow Red Sky too!
Tags: O2 Ireland, Twitter Ireland, Twitter SMS
Posted in Social Media Marketing | No Comments »
December 11th, 2009
According to a recent article in eMarketer.com, holiday web shoppers hit social networks in search of good Christmas offers and deals.
Internet users will be doing plenty of online research about Christmas shopping this year, state two US studies. Shoppers will be heading to social networks for information and deals: research by the Opinion Research Corporation and Yesmail found that 27% of online shoppers who plan to both research and buy Christmas gifts online this year will look for ideas on sites such as Facebook. And 45% will use social networks to research items, compare prices and look for offers.
In a separate study, Deloitte found that 17% of consumers would use social media during their Christmas shopping. 60% of consumers who plan to use social media will be looking for discounts and special offers, Deloitte said, while just over half will research gift ideas and check out friends’ and family members’ wish lists. For more on this story visit eMarketer.com [Source: eMarketer.com]
Tags: Online Shopping, Social Media Marketing, Social Networks
Posted in Social Media Marketing | No Comments »
November 5th, 2009
According to a recent iReach Market Research report, Charismatic brands attract and retain a group of loyal followers (customers) who would go to extremes before switching brands. Charismatic brands are like a best friend in that they:
- 1. Share values, lifestyle, ‘speaks the same language’
- 2. Help in good/bad times (fulfills needs/wants)
- 3. Deliver on promises that they have made
- 4. Provide a sense of belonging, support, loyalty
- 5. According to iReach there are 3 prevailing tenets of Brand Charisma that cut across industries:
- Brand Commitment (“I’ll go out of my way to find it”)
- Brand Affinity (“A brand I feel good associating with”)
- Brand Honor (“It delivers on what it promises”)
So, can you honestly say that you Brand is Charismatic? You’d need strong qualitative and quantitative insights to understand a specific brand’s personality and charisma from the consumer perspective. Worth considering investing some time developing your brand’s charisma! 
Tags: Brand Switching, Branding, Marketing
Posted in Branding | No Comments »
July 24th, 2009
A record number of Irish businesses are setting up online, according to new figures from online payments firm Realex Payments.
The company noted that in June, 110 new businesses had signed up for payment processing services, an increase of 38 percent on previous months. Of these businesses, 25 percent were online retailers. “Recessions can often be the catalyst for entrepreneurs to start their own business. In many respects it’s the ideal time to start a business,” said Realex Payments CEO Colm Lyon.
The company noted that the products being sold online by its new customers include hand-crafted jewellery, IT supplies, party supplies, alarm systems, last-minute holiday deals and electrical goods. “Selling online is a very cost-effective way to start a business; little capital investment is needed, you just need to invest in a website,” said Lyon.
Read the press release on RealexPayments.com.
Tags: company online, ecommerce, Web Technology & Business, website
Posted in Web Technology & Business | No Comments »
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