A Web Marketing Review of BarackObama.com

The video is looking at Barack Obama's web site from a web marketing perspective. Discussing some of the pros and some of the cons of what Barack is doing online.

Web Marketing Watch 2007 Web Marketing Predictions

Linkback tool at Google's Webmaster Central

A Web Marketing Review of Mitt Romney

The video is looking at Mitt Romney's web site from a web marketing perspective. Discussing some of the pros and some of the cons of what Mitt Romney is doing online.

A Web Marketing Review of Rudy Giuliani and his web site.

This video is looking at Rudy Giuliani's web site from a web marketing perspective. Discussing some of the pros and some of the cons of what Rudy Giuliani is doing online.

Free Key Phrase Research Tools

We are all fortunate to have a variety of free key phrase research tools. I look at
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/searc...

Internet Marketing - Search Engine Optimization - Google

Internet Marketing - Search Engine Optimization

Right Media Spurs Network Sparring Over Small Site Inventory

By Kate Kaye | January 29, 2007 | Source

As more and more small publisher ad networks come on board, Right Media has created an exchange system forcing network competition to serve ads on lesser-trafficked sites. RMX Direct pits networks against one another, awarding ad serving rights to the one agreeing to pay the highest cost per impression. Right Media has selected nine partner networks for the service, which also provides publishers with reporting.

"RMX Direct is about providing a tool for you to manage those small advertiser solutions… making them compete with each other," said Right Media Director of Business Development Patrick McCarthy. While in beta, the system has signed on 750 publishers. These are sites "that don't have sales forces so they're primarily using ad networks to fill their ad space," added McCarthy, who said sites from blogs to gaming sites and community forums are using the service. Sites with any amount of traffic are welcome to join the exchange, which is free to them.

In addition to employing the system for use with any or all of Right Media's nine partner networks, publishers can also send networks such as Google AdSense and Advertising.com into the ring to duke it out, if they are part of those networks. The system keeps track of all bids from all ad campaigns and creatives and knows how much its network partners are willing to pay to place those ads. In the case of non-partner networks, the system estimates the maximum amount a network might pay, according to McCarthy. If a partner network pays the highest, Right Media serves the ad, while it redirects that ad call to non-partners paying the most.

In December, 3.75 billion ad impressions were served through the system, earning publishers more than $1.4 million in ad revenue, according to the company. Each network pays publishers separately on a monthly basis, McCarthy added.

In addition to its own Remix Media ad network, the firm has chosen CPX Interactive, Bannerconnect, Adtegrity.com, Oridian, Active Response Group, Rydium, Accelerator Media and Directa Networks as network exchange partners.

Managing and understanding which networks are delivering the most revenues can be a challenge for publishers using multiple networks. RMX Direct provides full reporting by advertiser and ad size, in addition to showing publishers which networks perform best in which countries. It also offers frequency reporting, which determines the amount paid the publisher each time the same user is served the same ad. "The earlier ad views might be paying a lot more," said more McCarthy, noting cost per impression often dwindles each time the same ad is served to a particular user.

Publishers also can use the company's Media Guard system, which lets them eliminate certain advertiser categories from the pool of potential ads that could be served on their sites. They also have the ability to choose to run only ads priced in particular ways, such as CPM or CPA.

Right media charges networks a monthly fee to access its ad inventory, in addition to taking a cut of the revenues from ads run through RMX Direct. Yahoo purchased a 20 percent stake in Right Media in October.

Habeas Offers E-mail Reputation Checks to Small Business

By Matthew G. Nelson | February 7, 2007 | Source

The importance of verifying one's reputation on blocked sender lists, once only the purview of major industry players, has trickled down to even very small businesses, according to Habeas, an e-mail trust authority firm that is now offering a slimmed down version of its reputation checking service for just those companies.

When it found itself turning away small business owners unwilling to invest several thousand dollars to monitor their status on blocklists, Habeas began offering its Reputation Monitoring, or RepMon, service as the small business version of its enterprise system.

"Our core strength tends to be in the small- to mid-sized enterprise… That’s our sweet spot. But we have at least a 1,000 people in any given month who could be legitimate customers, but they are very small," said J.F. Sullivan, vice president of marketing for Habeas. "They might be small SoHo types of business, and they still have issues with deliverability."

As part of the RepMon Web-based, automated service, Habeas will check five ISP addresses and two domains for a business against several tiers of blocklists, as well as perform proprietary infrastructure tests and provide alerts if an address is ever added to a blocklist, according to Sullivan. The service generally takes two days to complete and the results are presented online at the Habeas Web site with "an overall reputation assessment, the good, the bad, and the ugly, given on the top of the page," said Sullivan. "For $20 bucks a month you get the same exact product that enterprise users have to watch their business, matched to a smaller business."

Habeas started offering its high volume e-mail sender reputation service, RepCheck, in July 2005 and has gone on to create a whitelist database, SenderIndex, of approved senders has added other e-mail services.

The number of queries Habeas receives from small businesses is indicative that even the smallest lists owners are coming to terms with deliverability and reputation concerns, said Stefan Pollard, director of consulting services for EmailLabs, an e-mail service provider, and a columnist for ClickZ

"Everybody who is sending e-mail has finally gotten the message that there are these blocklists out there preventing your mail from going through, and are looking for ways to keep their reputation clean. There is a big gap from the numbers of e-mails they send out and the number being received, and that difference is the number that got blocked by reputation," said Pollard. "E-mail has made its way down to the Mom and Pop restaurants and they also have to face all the same challenges that all the large senders have to deal with. They are becoming more savvy about their own marketing capabilities."

The increase in small business realizing the challenges in e-mail marketing blocklists also comes when large enterprises are moving on to other problems, said David Daniels, vice president of analyst firm Jupiter Research.

"When we've asked marketers about their top challenges, e-mail deliverability is the top challenge for small business, those with revenues under $10 million. But when we look at larger companies, it's now dropped down to number five," said Daniels. "So for smaller business they are feeling the pain more. They are experiencing the challenges that most marketers were feeling a couple of years ago."

Study: Smallest Businesses Are Heaviest Web Users

By Michelle Paolillo | February 20, 2007 | Source

"Micro-business" executives spend more time online than other small business executives and overall Internet users, according to a recent survey by Jupiter Research. The report found this select group of executives, those working in a company with less than five employees, spends more time online than with any other media source.

A total of 449 micro-business executives responded to the survey, which was conducted to compare their media patterns with those of traditional small business execs and average online users. The results show micro-business executives spend a median of 17 hours per week online, exceeding the overall online user's 15 hours a week and the traditional small business executive's 10 hours. And their time spent with the Web beat out all other media, including magazines and newspapers (two hours a week each), radio (five hours) and television (14 hours), according to the report.

"Because they spend more time online than other small business executives, we learned that the Internet is an extremely important method [for] targeting these individuals," says Sonal Gandhi, Jupiter Research analyst and lead author of the report.

Though they spend more time online, these executives are not necessarily more Web-savvy than other professionals. For example, micro-business executives do embrace some forms of social media, including reading and posting on message boards and blogs; but, according to Gandhi, this is no more than the average user.

"We kind of knew this segment was more active online than the average users," she noted. "They are embracing some next generation tools and technology, but not more than the average user, which was surprising."

Newspaper sites have the greatest reach with the segment: 14 percent of respondents said they visit them regularly each month, according to the report. But their online time is also spread thinly across many functions, including search, gathering local information and researching travel arrangements.

"Having a balance of both banner ads and search marketing is important," said Gandhi. "In general we advise that online marketers do more sophisticated behavioral and contextual targeting to get to these segments. Micro-business executives are all over the place, so it is hard to find them in one place."

In addition, these execs seem to love customization, be it of e-mail newsletters, offers or other services. The report notes that offering exclusive information will help B-to-B marketers get personal information from these users.

Gandhi plans to revisit the data in six months to see what has progressed. "I think the participation in next generation tools and technologies such as blogs and social networking is likely to be higher in the coming year," she predicted.

ASPs to Bring CRM to Small Businesses

By Michael Pastore | March 15, 2001 | Source

Worldwide customer relationship management (CRM) spending will reach $76.3 billion in 2005, up from $23 billion in 2000, according to Gartner, Inc. But Datamonitor predicts small businesses will rely on ASPs to get a piece of the pie.

"Customer loyalty has always been valuable, but today it is vital for success," said Rob DeSisto, Gartner vice president. "CRM is a business strategy and any notion of applying technology to customer relationships will fail unless business executives understand clearly the key decisions they must make."

According to Datamonitor, the North American market for CRM software will grow from $3.9 billion in 2000 to $11.9 billion by 2005. Datamonitor predicts the CRM market will grow most rapidly in the government, entertainment and Internet retailing industries. This growth reflects the increasing significance of CRM solutions and e-business strategy among companies not traditionally associated with CRM. The rapidly growing small to mid-sized enterprise (SME) sector will also play a part in driving the operational CRM market as SMEs begin to adopt channel-based solutions.

Revenues accrued through the ASP channel, currently the least significant channel for vendors, will grow 128 percent in the next five years to be worth $431 million to CRM software vendors in 2005. Datamonitor's findings indicated that the ASP channel, worth a mere $7 million to CRM software vendors in North America in 2000, will be driven by the SME market, which will use ASPs to adopt CRM solutions they previously could not afford.

"Traditionally, the CRM market has been dominated by the enterprise sector," said Robin Goad, analyst with Datamonitor. "The cost of implementing a CRM strategy has been a significant barrier to entry for customers in the SME sector. The ASP channel will remove this barrier, offering key benefits to SMEs such as reduced cost, ease of integration, savings on IT labor, and access to new applications."

Datamonitor recommends that vendor wanting to exploit the SME market must build relationships with partners to gain market share and embrace the ASP channel. ASPs must take advantage of CRM applications to improve their product offering. Datamonitor predicts the share of ASP revenues derived from CRM applications in North America will grow from 14 percent in 2000 to 21 percent in 2005.

"Currently, hybrid distribution channels are the most significant channels for CRM vendors in North America, accounting for 48 percent of vendors' revenues," Goad said. "We believe that CRM vendors must partner aggressively to take advantage of the current trend towards hybrid distribution channels, as we have seen with Siebel and IBM, and Oracle and Cisco."

PPC for SME: Small But Growing

By Robyn Greenspan | March 8, 2004 | Source

Small- and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) are beginning to buy their way into the paid search market, according to a report from The Kelsey Group and ConStat, but the majority haven't yet recognized the importance of pay-per-click (PPC) pricing. The collaborative study revealed that only a small portion of SMEs are currently involved in PPC, but there is potential for a substantial number to join the ranks over the next year.

Culled from the responses of 460 advertising decision makers at small- and medium-sized enterprises, the survey found that 11 percent were currently involved in PPC, and 34 percent were interested in using PPC. Nearly three-quarters (73 percent) of the interested prospects expect to implement PPC within the next year.

Greg Sterling, director of The Kelsey Group's Digital Directories: Interactive Local Media Continuous Advisory Service, commented on the inspiration for SMEs to utilize PPC: "In our sample, which has a comparatively small number of actual PPC users, but a larger number that are 'interested in' it (combined total of these categories was 200), the attraction appears to be the perception that PPC will drive traffic to company Web sites and that it's a low-cost method of acquiring customers."

Paid search players have been working on ways to bring SMEs, and especially local businesses, into the ranks of their advertisers. Most recently, FindWhat.com teamed with Verizon SuperPages.com to introduce PPC pricing to the Internet yellow pages site. Google is beta testing features that let advertisers target their ads by region, and Overture is working on local search that involves targeting by radius.

Sterling found that SMEs are primarily interested in using PPC to drive traffic to Web sites, with two-thirds of respondents claiming traffic as the major reason to implement the program. More than half (56 percent) cite the low cost of PPC, while 52 percent believe PPC is a less expensive method for acquiring customers.

The majority of respondents — 43 percent — indicated they weren't interested in PPC at all, while 12 percent were unsure. Sterling cites the perception that PPC is a niche activity, as 60 percent of those who were not interested believed paid search was not appropriate for their businesses.

Despite current misperceptions, PPC captures 23 percent of advertising budgets, and the survey found evidence that 54 percent of PPC users expect to increase their paid search activities over the next year.

Currently, SMEs that are using PPC have little need for outside management resources as 48 percent are using only one general message for all ads, and updating it infrequently.

"Only 20 percent [of respondents] expressed an interest in or were using outside administrators. However, as PPC expands beyond this population of 'early adopters,' there will be a definite need, in our view, for outside help to create and manage campaigns. This is especially true of traditional small businesses that have historically relied on 'offline' forms of advertising such as newspaper classifieds and print yellow pages," Sterling noted.

Which SMEs Choose PPC?

By Kevin Newcomb | November 23, 2004 | Source

Small and medium-sized businesses that use performance-based online marketing fall into three main groups based on the age of their business, use of technology, and preference for measuring results, according to The Kelsey Group.

A report released this week lists three segments of the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) marketplace most inclined to adopt performance-based Internet marketing -- newer businesses, "tech-forward" organizations, and direct mail marketers.

"People speak of a 'small-business market,' yet in essence there is no such thing," said Neal Polachek, senior VP of research and consulting for The Kelsey Group. "While there are common SME characteristics, there is also remarkable diversity. What this report reveals is that there are certain categories of small businesses that are much more likely to adopt online marketing than others."

The report found that businesses that have been in operation less than 10 years, especially service-based ones, embrace performance-based marketing online. These businesses typically generate fewer revenues, but allocate more dollars to marketing compared with more established businesses and even young product-based businesses, Polachek said. For this reason, they are generally interested in measurable advertising vehicles to ensure an efficient return on investment, he said.

"Tech-forward" SMEs, with high-speed Internet access and a Web site, tend to utilize technology to its fullest extent, the report found. These businesses show no signs of relying on traditional advertising and marketing approaches, according to the report.

The Kelsey Group analyzed the data and found implications that the use of direct mail by a small-business marketer may be a signal that a business owner is more oriented toward measuring media performance. Therefore, this group tends to be more inclined to devote resources to media that can show a demonstrable and dependable positive rate of return, such as performance-based online marketing, Polachek said.

Web 'revolutionised' British business

24/11/2006 | Source

The internet has vastly altered the way that UK businesses operate and fundamentally changed the way that goods and services are marketed, according to major new research.

Over half of companies would use the words 'substantial' or 'revolutionary' when describing the effect of online communications on their business, according to a survey commissioned by Google and the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

In addition, three out of five consumers say that the net has given them more power over their choice of the products that they buy.

Richard Lambert, director-general of the CBI, said: "Six years after the dot.com bubble burst, the internet is driving really substantial change among businesses. Firms are learning more about harnessing the internet to benefit their staff, their customers and their future prospects."

He added: "Serious investment is going into new internet technologies and this is set to increase."

Meanwhile, Nikesh Arora, vice president of European operations at Google, said that the net now offers businesses "a huge opportunity".

He continued: "Technology and social change give business the chance to reach customers on a previously unimaginable global scale. Consumers are active online, want to find out more information about products and to buy online."

Over 70 per cent of consumers say that they look at other customers' comments before they buy illustrating the importance of user-generated content.

Online retailing 'to grow 40%'

20/11/2006 | Source
Internet shopping is to undergo huge growth in the next year as more consumers are getting access to broadband connections, according to latest research.

Sales over the net will reach £42 billion in 2007, up from £30 billion this year, according to the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG) and online consumption is predicted to break the £7 billion barrier over the upcoming festive period.

This trend supports the findings from the latest research by the Office for National Statistics which said that the fastest growing part of the retail sector was in that of non-physical stores in the last three months. Its growth of 3.3 per cent is its strongest since July 2004 and is believed to be due to increased growth by specialist internet retailers.

James Roper, chief executive at IMRG, said: "The take up of broadband is one of the main factors leading this. Shopping online without broadband can be a bit of a pain, but more and more people are getting quicker connections and finding it easier to do."

He added that the growth of online retailing will continue into the long-term: "There has also been impetus from the extra investment made on the supply side. Big retailers, such as John Lewis, Comet and Tesco, are seeing the benefit, but it really is only just starting."

Online ads record huge growth in 2006

07/02/2007 | Source

Web advertising grew by a faster rate than any other sector last year as marketing firms increasingly look to the internet to generate publicity for their products.

Although official figures are not released until this summer, figures from Nielsen Media Research obtained by Media Week show that ad spending on the net rose to more than $417 million, up 25 per cent.

Such was the rapid growth of online marketing that only two other sectors, outdoor and national newspapers, recorded a rise over the last 12 months and even these only grew by one and two percent respectively.

Magazines, cinema and radio all saw revenues fall while television fared worst of all with a slump of nearly six per cent.

But Adam Smith, futures director at Group M, told the publication it is not yet possible to conclude that there has been a shift in the industry.

"The big question, which at the moment we can't answer, is whether the money in online is migrating from other media, or whether it is new money," he said.

"The audiences that traditional media seem to be losing are the younger audiences, which is where advertisers are looking to spend more money online. It's reasonable to infer the money is migrating."

Furthermore, estimates from eMarketer predict that online spending in the UK is set for huge growth over the next three years.

The research firm expects spending on the internet to jump 20 per cent over the course 2007 and rocket to $216.69 per user in three years time, a rise of 48 per cent.

Online marketing resource site launched for SMEs

20/02/2007 | Source

A hi-tech internet firm has launched a new online resource specially aimed at small businesses looking to increase the effectiveness of their online communications.

AT&T is launching the portal as part of an advertising campaign running in USA Today and the Wall Street Journal and believes that providing high quality information can become an effective marketing tool.

In order to introduce SME owners to the benefits of online marketing, the portal will include a series of free web-based seminars. USAToday.com columnist Steve Strauss, an SME expert, will lead the tutorials, which include topics such as the Small Business Bible and Establishing Your Web Presence.

"The people who operate small businesses are the growth drivers of our nation's economy and represent an important and valued segment of AT&T's customers," said John Regan, vice president, AT&T business marketing.

"Our new online resources provide easy and free access to an array of information that small business owners can find helpful in managing and growing their business."

Using Web 2.0 technology the portal also aims to create a community of users who can ask experts and each other questions about how to market their business online.

SME telecom firm launches SEO campaign

01/02/2007 | Source

A telecommunications firm looking to sell its products to small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has undertaken a major internet marketing campaign, with search engine optimization (SEO) techniques at its core.

T1 Solutions, which deals in a variety of broadband internet connections, has joined forces with online marketing firm eVisibility to increase its popularity on search engines and bring it contact with its potential market.

According to Jupiter Media Metrix, 80 per cent of products bought online begin with the customer entering terms in a search engine and so it is of paramount importance for a business of any size to increase its ranking on major search sites such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN.

Danny DeMichele, president of eVisibility, said: "We are really happy about working with T1 Solutions on their internet marketing campaign. I project that their natural search listing ranking will rise significantly through our specialized SEO services.

He added: "They [T1 Solutions] will be helping many more companies with their telecommunications services in 2007."

As T1 Solutions offers niche products carefully tailored to SMEs, without SEO their presence can often be crowded out by the major providers, who are not necessarily in tune with SMEs' needs.

Actinic Survey Finds Ecommerce Confidence Remains High Amongst UK SMEs

Release Date: 15 May 2002 | Source
15 May 2002 (A0203) ~ Today Actinic, the leading ecommerce software
supplier, announces the results of its second annual report on the status
of the UK ecommerce market amongst small and medium enterprises
(SMEs). The key highlights show that ecommerce is still gaining acceptance
as an effective sales medium amongst SMEs; that there has been a
significant leap in profitable sites; and that the importance of the
internet to business is still increasing. A PDF copy of the report is
available at http://www.actinicftp.co.uk/docs/ecreport02.pdf

The 2002 survey collected responses from 250 independently selected
organisations with 1 - 249 employees, all of whom had a live web site. Its
aims were to establish the adoption and intention to adopt online trading
amongst UK SMEs, and to monitor the experiences, expectations and
perceptions towards ecommerce.

Summary of Key Messages

Ecommerce still gaining ground amongst UK SMEs

The adoption of ecommerce amongst SMEs remains static at 26% of the sample
in 2002, versus 25% in 2001. A further 11% of SMEs (who have not yet
implemented ecommerce) have firm plans to develop an online sales facility
during the next twelve months. Phil Rothwell, business development director
at Actinic comments, "This highlights that whilst many ecommerce sites have
ceased trading over the last year, new ecommerce sites are still being
set-up at a similar rate and many new sites are currently being
planned. Confidence is still out there."

Ecommerce profitability increases and fuels further development and upgrades

An impressive 72% of ecommerce sites claimed profitability during 2002,
over 59% in 2001. In addition 61% of respondents plan further development
to their ecommerce site. "Again, we see this as a reflection of an
increasing confidence amongst site owners for further investment," says
Rothwell.

The importance of the internet to business is still increasing

Another finding that emerged is that respondents currently consider
ecommerce to be the most important business use of the internet and they
also believe that this is set to become even stronger in the future. For
those businesses with no plans for ecommerce a key reason given was the
lack of customer demand, suggesting that it is still the consumer who is
driving companies onto the net. According to Rothwell, "Businesses are
doing the right thing in listening to their customers, but they haven't
grasped the potential benefits to themselves in terms of cost savings and
increased efficiency."

SMEs missing out on web marketing claims research

Date: 25 June 2003 | Source

New research released by BT Openworld has discovered that less than a quarter of SMEs use the web as a marketing channel, despite the obvious advantages.

The study revealed that 32% of SMEs rely on personal visits to promote their products and services, with telephone communication coming a close second as a preferred way of marketing.

But less than one in four SMEs use the web and email to generate new business, which BT Openworld head of business broadband Jerry Thompson claims is "an important channel in the sales and marketing mix".

Thompson acknowledges that visiting customers and prospects is an excellent way of building personal relationships and encouraging sales, but said: "For SMEs looking to punch above their weight and compete with larger players, it may not be practical as it's such a time consuming activity."

He argues that the 24-hour nature of the web means potential customers can access sales and marketing information, making it a vital promotional channel.

"The web is an ideal tool for SMEs keen to build up awareness amongst their target audience, whether it's simply communicating via email, setting up a web site or full blown e-commerce and online sales engines," added Thompson.

SMEs ignore search engine importance and lose their share of £19.2 billion online sales

02 Mar 2006 | Source

49 per cent of SMEs might never be found online.

Almost half of all small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) do not submit their websites to search engines, research carried out by Fasthosts (http://www.fasthosts.co.uk) has found. Additionally, a massive 66 per cent of internet users and potential customers indicated that they only looked at the first two pages of search results. These two findings mean that most small businesses may never be discovered online, resulting in loss of revenue every day they are not visible on the web. Fasthosts’ SMEs On The Web survey asked more than 2,000 SMEs about their search engine practices, attitudes towards sponsored links and favoured search engines.

In 2005, UK consumers spent £19.2 billion online on goods and services and that figure is forecast to grow by 36 per cent in 2006 (IMRG). Consumers use search engines as a first point of call to search for products and services, and 89 per cent of respondents stated that Google was their search engine of choice. However, companies need to ensure a high listing within the natural results on the left hand side, as 30 per cent of respondents indicated that they never click on sponsored links.

“Our study once again shows the importance of search engines. In 2006, no business can afford to be invisible online, yet too many SMEs are,” commented Andrew Michael, CEO, Fasthosts. “I was amazed to see that SMEs are not considering how much they personally use search engines when it comes to the importance of ranking for their own company. If you are not listed on Google, your web site might as well not be online,” he added.

Fasthosts’ TrafficDriver offers a free search engine submission service with its business web hosting package. The package includes an easy to use site creation tool and automated monthly search engine submissions - furthermore it has integrated advanced search engine optimisation to establish and improve sites search rankings. By using these Fasthosts tools companies can create an online presence and generate traffic within days.

2094 businesses participated in the online survey carried out during January and February 2006 by Fasthosts. 49 per cent of respondents admitted that they do not submit their website to search engines, which accounted for 1,026 votes. To take part in the survey, and to see the full results, please visit

Surges in internet traffic this Christmas could cost SMEs £5 billion

29 Nov 2006 | Source

Small business web infrastructure creaking under 200 per cent site traffic increase

UK small businesses are set to miss out on their share of the £5bn online Christmas spending (source: Interactive Media in Retail Group), because they are unable to cope with the massive surges in website traffic. Websites of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), already creaking due to basic infrastructure, are set to collapse as site traffic increases by an average of 200 per cent, warns the UK's largest web hosting company, Fasthosts.

SMEs running their websites on in-house, single server solutions are in danger of driving customers to competitors or larger online traders, by having slow and unresponsive sites. Broadband is empowering more consumers with faster internet connections than ever, and shoppers are becoming less tolerant of poorly performing websites.

With half of the UK's adult population shopping online for Christmas 2005, and spending an average of £208 each during the 10-week run-up to Christmas (source: IMRG), the need for a website to perform well under increased demand is essential.

"As online competition increases, it amazes me that so many SMEs are willing to chance their Christmas sales. Ensuring that your website is supported by the correct infrastructure is vital to provide a quality buying experience" said Stephen Holford, Director of Product Marketing, Fasthosts. "Having the right sort of hosting package is key if businesses are going to reap the benefits of the Christmas revenue window. To make this Christmas a success for SMEs, the right hosting is as important as turkey and mince pies."

Designed to respond to the individual website's operating needs, Fasthosts' hosting platform - whether powered by a dedicated server or a shared server package - provides businesses with the power to cope with unlimited amounts of traffic. Scalability at times of high demand is essential for capitalising on peak consumer spending periods. Demonstrating maximum reliability and security ensures customers not only buy with confidence at Christmas, but throughout the calendar year.

The Fasthosts web hosting environment has the following measures in place to deal with surges in website usage:

• Multiple, redundant gigabit internet connectivity with different providers to cope with any network connectivity provider outage and ensure optimal internet routing.

• Load balancing in case of any single web server outage - so if one server fails, website traffic can be directed to another fully-operational server.

• Fully-redundant power supply, so in the event of a power-cut, servers have an uninterrupted supply of electricity so they can continue hosting websites as usual.

• High availability email provided by use of large mail server clusters which cope transparently with any single mail server outage.

• 24/7 technical support even on Christmas and New Year's Day helps SMEs keep their online business running and snap up any bargain hunters.

'Free' Web Hosting Costs SME's Dearly

Consumers are wary of businesses using free hosting sites | Source

Many UK businesses are inadvertently driving their customers to competitors by using free web hosting to set up their online presence. Research conducted by Fasthosts Internet Ltd. (www.fasthosts.co.uk) has found that many small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are unaware of the hidden costs of free hosting which can have a substantial impact on their future growth and success.

By using free hosting providers, SMEs are opening themselves up to a number of potential problems the research found. To start, businesses will usually have to append their name onto the end of the free hosts' domain name, e.g., www.freewebhostdomainname.com/user/yourbusiness/.html - making it difficult to remember. Businesses that lack their own domain name are often regarded as disreputable or even illegitimate, and tend to be avoided by web-savvy customers. This distrust is accentuated by a lack of website security features, pop-up adverts (placed by the free hosting providers) and the absence of designated company email addresses.

Fasthosts' 'How Free Is Hosting?' research analysed 100 free hosting providers and found that, on average, the space offered is 338 MB, and that bandwidth allowances are often heavily restricted. These limits are quickly reached should the SMEs website be a success. Furthermore, if the owner decides to finally register a specific domain name, they will need a new web site address and will in effect have to start all over again - which could result in businesses losing customers they had attracted through their original website.

Additionally, small businesses using free hosting are often unable to offer their customers the use of a secure shopping cart or secure ordering system, making the set-up of an online store very complex. SMEs may even need to add outside tools and buy in separate security solutions to get the facilities they need - which could end up costing more than comparable "inclusive" e-commerce hosting solutions from paid-for providers.

"There is no such thing as a free lunch, and in an attempt to save costs online, UK SMEs are shooting themselves in the foot." said Andrew Michael, CEO, Fasthosts Internet. "With so many online scams being reported, it's no wonder internet users are getting increasingly wary about buying from companies through websites. Yet it amazes me that so many businesses don't have their own domain name or web space -they are inadvertently helping their competitors!"

Businesses that use free web hosting are often vulnerable to the following factors, all of which are provided by a paid-for host:

• Unreliable servers with frequent down time
  

• Low-priority bandwidth giving slow site performanc
  

• Small bandwidth allowances causing payment to be required or worse still, the website being shut down
  

• No secure server space for enabling online product orders
  

• No backups for user files
  

• No scripting support for features such as drop down menus, dynamic text, etc
  

• No out of hours suppor
  

• Difficulty being identified by search engines
  

• Adverts - the site owner often has no control over the volume or content of these adverts
  

• Complicated and difficult to remember website addresses.

Industry Average Click Fraud Rate Down Slightly

Click Fraud Rate Hits 13.8 Percent as Online Advertising Growth Slows | Source

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – October 18, 2006 – Click Forensics™, LLC today released the latest industry Pay Per Click (PPC) fraud figures for the third quarter 2006 from the search advertising industry’s leading independent click fraud reporting service – the Click Fraud Index™ (www.ClickFraudIndex.com). The Click Fraud Index monitors and reports on data gathered from the Click Fraud Network™, which more than 2,500 online advertisers and their agencies have joined. Network members can track their online campaigns for click fraud free of charge. Key findings from data reported for Q3 2006 include:

* The overall industry average click fraud rate was 13.8 percent versus the average of 14.1 percent for Q2 and 13.7 percent for Q1
* The industry average click fraud rate for high-priced search terms was 20.9 percent in Q3 versus 20.2 percent in Q2. High-priced terms are defined as terms that cost over $2.00. These high-priced terms often make up the majority of an advertiser’s total spend.
* The industry average click fraud rate for companies running online advertising campaigns through:
o Tier 1 search providers, such as Yahoo! and Google, was 11.9 percent in Q3 versus 12.8 percent in Q2 and 12.1 percent in Q1
o Tier 2 search providers was 23.2 percent in Q3 versus 20.3 percent in Q2 and 21.3 percent in Q1
o Tier 3 search providers was 25.6 percent in Q3 versus 27.1 percent in Q2 and 29.8 percent in Q1
* The average PPC term cost for the top key terms across the five biggest search advertising industries – Retail, Financial Services, Health & Fitness, Technology, and Entertainment – for Q3 was $3.92. This compares to $4.51 in Q2 and $4.75 in Q1.

“The industry average click fraud rate continues to hover between 13 to 14 percent,” said Tom Cuthbert, president and CEO of Click Forensics, LLC.” As the Q4 holiday season approaches, companies are expecting to spend more on PPC advertising than any other time of the year. It will be important for advertisers to watch their campaigns closely for potential click fraud. This is especially true for the traffic they receive from affiliate sites, which are showing indications of higher levels of potential click fraud.”

The Click Fraud Index publishes data collected from the Click Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), the industry’s first independent third-party click fraud detection service dedicated to helping companies more accurately monitor their online advertising campaigns for PPC fraud. Click fraud data is tracked and published on a monthly and quarterly basis for specific search providers, industries and trends. Using CF Analytics™, a patent-pending click fraud detection technology, the Click Fraud Network allows advertisers to track their online campaigns for potential click fraud. The service is unique in that it monitors online campaigns for click fraud by correlating data collected from search provider campaigns and the advertisers own web sites – providing the industry’s most accurate view of click fraud to date.

About Click Forensics, LLC
Click Forensics, LLC is the leading provider of third-party technology and services that help online advertisers, agencies and search providers to better identify pay per click fraud. The company runs the top independent click fraud detection service in the industry, the Click Fraud Network (www.ClickFraudNetwork.com), which monitors online advertising campaigns for click fraud free of charge. Click Forensics also provides an enterprise-class solution to help advertisers with campaigns of 100,000 clicks or more per month to track click fraud. More information on Click Forensics and its offerings are available at www.ClickForensics.com.

Old fashioned computing practices cost small businesses £18 billion annually

21 nov 2005 | Source

In-house servers are risky and cost ineffective but still number one choice for SMEs.

Small to medium size UK businesses are wasting money every day and putting the future of their business in jeopardy through old fashioned computing practices, which are costing them £18 billion annually. This is the conclusion of the Server Solutions Study by Fasthosts, the UK's largest independent hosting company.

Fasthosts conducted a study into server computing solutions in SME businesses. It examined the basic solutions needed to set up a server securely in-house in comparison to using hosted services. The study revealed that many small businesses in the UK host their server in-house because of the out-dated belief that this allows maximum access and security. Following an examination of the SME server computing environment, the opposite was found to be the case, as hosting a server within the company premises requires careful consideration and preparation.

Analysis revealed that the minimum requirements for SMEs running a server in-house are a power failure system to ensure the server can be shut down safely in case of an emergency; SDSL internet connection for maximum upload speed; a remote control card for access to the server from outside the office; a firewall for security and additional considerations such as air conditioning; physical security and remote back up. The study found that the cost for these quickly add up and on an ongoing basis impact the bottom line. (Source: National Statistics and Fasthosts' Server Solutions Study, 2005)

However, when these systems are not in place the future of any small business can be at risk. Especially small businesses in London have a very low three-year survival rate at 62.8% in contrast to Northern Ireland (72.4%), Wales (86%) and Scotland (65.3%) (Source: Confederation of British Industry, 2005).

"In our experience many businesses are still stuck in 1980s computing mentality," comments Andrew Michael, CEO of Fasthosts. "They need to move and embrace new computing practices. It is impossible to put value on data so it needs to be kept under maximum security - data is the lifeblood of any business. Only a hosted environment offers the required security solutions in a cost effective bundle, however the SME market remains largely ignorant of this."

Fasthosts carried out the Server Solution Study to analyse its dedicated server offering and ensure it matches the needs of the marketplace. Fasthosts offers hosted services for servers in a highly secure, air conditioned data centre in the UK. The hosted servers can be set up instantly online and come with a private LAN, easy to use control panel, full remote control and firewall. An SDSL connection can be added as well as secure database hosting.

The Server Solutions Study was carried out in November 2005 and examined the costs of essential solutions needed to host a server securely and safely in-house versus hosting it at a remote data centre. The study examined the UK SME server computing environment, including all factors essential to secure maximum uptime and the security of business critical data. Key solutions examined included air conditioning, SDSL, UPS, firewall, remote control card which are provided by most hosting providers as part of a standard hosting package.

UK SMEs failing to capitalise on Blogosphere, study reveals

28 Sep 2006 | Source

SMEs see blogs as business opportunity, but only 3% act.

Nearly half of small businesses would use a blog to drive traffic to their website and increase sales according to new research from the UK's largest hosting provider, Fasthosts. However, only three per cent of the 2,000 small and medium enterprises (SMEs) questioned are actually intending to start a blog.

Findings from Fasthosts research paper 'Blogging For Business' suggests that SMEs understand the potential business benefits that running a blog on their website could bring, but are failing to put this awareness into action and create one.

There are currently 53.9 million blogs in existence, with 75,000 new ones created daily (Source: Technorati). Blogs provide an excellent opportunity for interactivity and building relationships with potential customers. They encourage the website owner to regularly update the content on their site and is one of the most effective means of ensuring people regularly visit your website.

Fasthosts research found that 26 per cent of respondents needed a blog to be updated daily to ensure they returned. However, just over one third of participants indicated that as long as the blog was informative and interesting, it didn't matter to them how regularly it was updated.

"In today’s hyper-competitive market, blogs provide a fantastic way for small businesses to differentiate themselves through personalising their website and attracting more customers," said Andrew Michael, CEO, Fasthosts. "The corporate blogs of large companies are bound by corporate guidelines and gate keepers, so for small businesses there is far greater opportunity for interesting comment and genuine dialogue with customers."

2295 businesses participated in the online survey carried out between June and August 2006 by Fasthosts. Three per cent of respondents stated that they intended to start a blog, which accounted for 69 votes. To take part in the latest research on SMEs' server use, visit www.fasthosts.co.uk/poll

SMEs Most Likely to Adopt Internet Marketing Are Newer Businesses, ‘Tech-Forward’ Organizations or Direct Mail Marketers

New Kelsey Group report identifies segments of small business that are more inclined to adopt pay-per-click and other forms of online marketing

Friday, 26 November 2004 | Source

In a new report released this week, The Kelsey Group identifies segments of the small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) marketplace that are inclined to adopt Internet marketing. The three segments most likely to include online in their marketing mix are newer businesses, “tech-forward” organizations, and direct mail marketers.

The report, entitled “The Elusive Small Business Advertiser: A Segmentation Analysis,” uses data gathered from several proprietary studies and ongoing SME tracking research conducted by The Kelsey Group to segment and evaluate this critical marketplace.

“People speak of a ‘small-business market,’ yet in essence there is no such thing,” said Neal Polachek, senior vice president, research and consulting, for The Kelsey Group. “While there are common SME characteristics, there is also remarkable diversity. What this report reveals is that there are certain categories of small businesses that are much more likely to adopt online marketing than others.”

In examining all the data using various segmentation approaches, The Kelsey Group determined that there are SMEs that possess certain general characteristics suggesting that they are more likely to adopt performance-based online marketing. The Kelsey Group defines the three key segments as follows:

• Newer (Service) SMEs. Businesses that have been in operation less than 10 years typically generate fewer revenues, but allocate more dollars to marketing. Such businesses are more likely to be interested in and potentially measure the performance of their efforts. In particular, service businesses appear to spend a greater percentage of revenues on marketing than product sellers, and either are or would be interested in measurable advertising vehicles to ensure an efficient return on investment.

• “Tech-Forward” SMEs. These businesses have high-speed Internet access and a Web site. This segment is engaged in utilizing technology to its fullest extent, and shows no signs of relying on traditional advertising and marketing approaches.

• Direct Mail Marketers. The data suggest that the use of direct mail by small-business marketers may be a signal that a business owner is more oriented toward measuring media performance. As such, this group may be more inclined to devote resources to digital media that can show a demonstrable and dependable positive rate of return.

In this report, The Kelsey Group offers a range of analytic and segmentation frameworks, including: employee size/headcount; annual revenues and marketing spend; years in business; market segment/vertical identification; SME advertisers as consumer-users; Yellow Pages spending/marketing; and technology orientation.

Using the internet to market to SMEs

29 January 2007 | Source

The internet is making the job of marketing to notoriously hard-to-reach SMEs much simpler. Andrew Blackwood, UK country manager of Companeo, explains.

It is a curiosity that while the UK boasts more than 4.3 million small and medium sized enterprises, many suppliers struggle to tap in to this potentially lucrative market. So what is the cause of this disconnect?

Firstly, suppliers are effectively shooting fish. Generally, SMEs conduct between eight and 10 significant supplier searches each year. These searches tend not to follow any discernible pattern, but they are usually based around key events in their business life, such as an office move or ownership change. This means that suppliers can only second guess when one of these major changes is likely to occur. This is in marked contrast with larger enterprises, which tend to buy goods and services on a contractual basis, meaning suppliers know – or can find out readily – when a contract is due for renewal and pitch the account. Even if the supplier doesn’t win the contract at the first attempt, it will invariably know now when the contract is due for renewal and invest resources in winning the business the second time around.

Secondly, it is far easier for suppliers to target the appropriate person in a large enterprise, as such organisations often employ a procurement or facilities manager whose responsibility it is to negotiate contracts with suppliers. Conversely, the person responsible for purchasing decisions in SMEs varies from business to business. In some SMEs, it may be the managing director or the finance officer that pulls the purchasing strings; in others it may be the office manager. For suppliers, cold calling just to establish the right contact at an SME is a time and cost-intensive process.

Finally, even if a supplier does know intuitively when an SME is looking to buy, and it has the right contact, it still may not consider pursuing a sale to be worth its while, as any purchase is likely to be relatively low value. Compare this to a large enterprise with, for example, 1,000 employees and it is not hard to predict where suppliers are going to invest their resources.

And so we’re left with a situation where SMEs need supplies but feel that large organisations will not be interested in them; and those large companies believe that the SME represents another source of revenue but one that is simply not cost effective to pursue.

Until now.

The internet – what else? – is bridging the SME-supplier gap. It offers the opportunity, through an online marketplace, to connect SMEs and supplier organisation in a way that is beneficial to both. The premise is very simple. An SME visits an online marketplace and searches for the required products or services by categories, such as ‘finance’ or ‘IT’, then completes a short online questionnaire outlining its specific requirements. Customer service teams working behind the scenes at these websites then match the requirements to produce a shortlist of prospective suppliers that meet the SME’s requirements. Then they respond to the SME and pass on the lead to the chosen suppliers.

And so the hitherto problem of forging a lasting relationship between supplier and SME is solved. SMEs benefit because they can concentrate on their core business and let someone else do the running around to research the right suppliers for them – free of charge. Suppliers are obliged to respond promptly to the SME. For SMEs, this is a welcome departure from purchasing experiences past, when many did not receive a response at all, believe it or not, when contacting suppliers directly.

The system pays dividends for suppliers, too. When the supplier gets a lead, they are already on the shortlist for an SME at a time when the SME is actively looking to buy. As a result, suppliers are competing for the sale with far fewer companies than in an open marketplace, and users only get responses from suppliers that can meet their defined requirements.

It’s a marketing vehicle that’s proving to be as effective as it is simple. Research conducted by Companeo found 92 per cent of SMEs using the service are either ‘satisfied’ or ‘very satisfied’. Suppliers, too, are getting in on the act. They pay an annual fee per proposition, plus a cost per qualified lead generated, and are reaping the rewards – the average return on investment is 7 to 1.

So, the internet has done it again. Forget being the conduit for millions of burgeoning relationships born on social networking websites; one of its most understated achievements has been reconciling the SME with the supplier.

Online marketing boosts SME's Xmas profits

21/12/2006 | Source

In one of the first reports so far this year of small and medium sized businesses cashing in on the Christmas retail rush, a Californian hi-tech consumer products firm has announced that its online sales have risen by 40 per cent this festive season, partly due to its innovative webmarketing strategy.

Employees at Newegg.com are reportedly struggling to fulfil their ship orders in time for Christmas as the company's online marketing strategy has proved a hit with internet consumers.

Focusing on user-generated content, the site asks customers to write their own reviews of their products providing prospective buyers with an honest viewpoint.

Customer product reviews on the site yesterday topped the 500,000 mark.

"Customers want honest feedback and that is what the product reviews provide," said Chad Chen, Newegg's vice president of marketing.

"With our transparent review format, you see both the good and the bad. Allowing both types of feedback along with a rating system provides the customer with an opportunity to make an informed decision before they buy."

Newegg.com also encourages customers to rate their products on a scale of one to five.

Small Firms and the Internet: Force or Farce?

International Trade Forum - Issue 1/1999 | Source

Should small firms in developing countries take the plunge and invest in setting up an Internet site now? What lessons can they learn from Internet pioneers?
There are lessons in a recent Internet study of small and medium-sized exporters in the United States. The conclusion of participating firms: they plan to keep using theInternet for marketing and customer support, although they did not sell as much as they had expected.
Will a web site increase my exports? Is it worth my time and financial resources to design and maintain a web site? What is the essence of a well-designed, high-traffic web site? Are small businesses selling products and services on theInternet or it is the domain of large businesses? What is the average ratio of “hits” to sales?
Thousands of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still ask these questions, as the Internet evolves into a marketing medium that someday may be as common as advertising in the newspaper, at a trade show, or in a trade journal. The Internet is an ever-changing, increasingly popular, untested marketing medium that confuses, frustrates, and yet gives hope to millions of SMEs attempting to penetrate foreign markets using the Internet as their launching pad.

Scores of articles have been written regarding the exploding use of the Internet, but actual research is sparse regarding how consumers use the Internet to purchase products and services, successful e-marketing techniques, analysis of “hits to sales” levels, and overall constraints of e-commerce. SMEs in developing countries should benefit from the research that exists when developing their own successful e-commerce strategies to compete with firms across the globe.
In 1996, 15 Michigan-based small businesses were selected to study their experiences as they marketed their products and services on theInternet. The study aimed to identify common pitfalls and successes of Internet marketing, share results with SMEs as they begin to market on the Internet, and help SMEs decide if Internet is a wise investment.
As part of the project study, help was provided to design company web sites; set up e-mail accounts; conduct training sessions; and track the number of visits, sales leads, and salesfor the duration of the study.

Great expectations
SMEs in this study did not want to simply design a web site to attract customers. Many expected to market products and services by providing on-line quotes, advertise in more markets at less expense, use e-mail as amarketing tool, and decrease the costs of printing marketing materials. They also expected to sell products and services over the Internet , enhance credibility by projecting a professional image, answer questions about products or services in several languages, and conduct foreign market research. Finally, the companies wanted to improve customer service, by providing same-day service, getting feedback from customers, offering paperless documentation, improving response time to customer queries, and using e-mail as a customer communication tool.

Frustrations
During the course of the study, the SMEs sold next to nothing on the Internet, despite the best attempts by e-commerce experts, in-depth training, constant analysis of constraints, and changing of web site content and othermarketing techniques.
The study revealed that the low sales figures resulted from a combination of constraints related to competency, time, finance, marketing and technology. Most firms had limited knowledge about how various computer technologies could contribute to an overall e-commerce strategy. Firms were frustrated that they were unable to update the web sites—they were too reliant on expensive web designers andInternet Service Providers who were not responsive to their specific problems or questions. Due to staffing constraints, many firms were frustrated that there was no time to respond to the increase in inquiries, to useInternet as a research tool, or to develop and keep the web site current.

They also found it difficult to design a site with truly useful information for clients. Firms were frustrated that search engines did not list their site prominently—due to too much competition on the Internet—which meant it was difficult to get existing and potential customers to visit the site. Also, firms found it difficult to register key words with search engines that would be obvious to customers searchingfor a product or service on the Internet.
The firms were disappointed by the low level of visits to the web site, relative to the company’s investment in marketing and sales via the Internet. They found that in addition to the US$ 30 per month web site maintenance fee and an initial US$ 1500 to design a basic web site, there were significant research, development, staffing, promotion, maintenance, and other costs. This illustrates why it is importantfor an SME to set up a business plan that tracks investment and return over time. (See box, above, for an example of measuring a site’s impact.)

A marketing presence
Firms in the study nevertheless remained optimistic about how Internet will help enhance credibility, market research, marketing and sales capacity.
The study found that firms with an active marketing strategy generate more visits to the web site. To attract new visitors, promoting the web site is essential. In addition, updating the site with useful information tended to foster repeat usage.
Consider, for example, the promotion for the Michigan Small Business Development Center site. Initially designed in May 1996, the number of visits increased very slowlyfor about a year until the Center launched a promotion campaign. The campaign consisted of sending waves of 1,500 humorous postcards to over 8,000 firms and organizations. It was an inexpensive yet successful way to generate greater interest in the site.For every 1,500 postcards sent per month, roughly 300 new viewers visited the web site. The conclusion? A constant marketing awareness campaign results in a greater number of visits.

Lessons learned for developing countries
The firms reached potential clients in new international markets through reactive or passive marketing using search engines, and through a proactive promotion by the firm to encourage existing and potential customers to visit the site.
Many firms felt that Internet marketing provides substantially more advertising value because it reaches a wider and more targeted market than traditional marketing mediums (in other words, firms can reach many more specific potential clients).
Because of the initial success reaching targeted customers in a relatively inexpensive venue, many firms expressed willingness to investmarketing dollars in updating and expanding their web site rather than spending funds of traditional marketing venues such as trade shows or newspaper advertisements.
Firms that did sell adopted a proactive, multi-faceted approach to advertising their web site which was updated on a monthly basis. They did not abandon theInternet as an e-commerce strategy due to lack of sales. They viewed the Internet as a way to enhance services to customers as an investment in the future. This approach was integrated into an overall e-commerce strategy embraced by a cross-section of the firm’s employees.
The bottom line is that it is important to design an e-commence strategy that is responsive to customer needs because the only guarantee e-commerce provides is that theInternet will help you find foreign clients, information, and, perhaps, sell products.

Sarah McCue is ITC’s Adviser on Practical Guides. Boxes in this article are adapted from the book, “Internet: Force or Farce?” Michigan Small Business Development Center, United States

Source

http://www.tradeforum.org/news/fullstory.php/aid/110/Small_Firms_and_the_Internet:_Force_or_Farce_.html