Web Marketing UK Blog

Google Holds 75 Percent Marketing Share in the U.K., According to WebSideStory

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Mar 2006 09:06:00 +0000

Google Holds 75 Percent Marketing Share in the U.K., According to WebSideStory

Netimperative - Top 10 UK search engines

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 27 Feb 2006 13:34:00 +0000

Netimperative - Top 10 UK search engines: "Top 10 UK search engines By Editorial
17-03-2005 12:21 PM
Related: Research Search
These are the popular search engines currently in the UK, based on volume of searches by UK residents (shown as a percentage of all UK searches), for the four weeks ending 05/03/2005.
The report (which can also be downloaded below) shows that Google is far an away the biggest search engine in the UK, being 55 percentage points ahead of its nearest competitor, MSN Search.
But in terms of advertising inventory, the picture is more consolidated, with MSN holding two of the top ten slots, since people are using both MSN.com and MSN.co.uk. Likewise, the same applies with Yahoo, where US and UK sites are both being used by UK searchers.
The data is significant, since 80% of Internet sessions are believed to start at a search engine, bringing them inordinate power in the online market.

Most the popular search engines based on volume of searches by UK residents (shown as a percentage of all UK searches), for the four weeks ending 05/03/2005.
1. www.google.co.uk (63.33%)2. search.msn.co.uk (7.86)3. www.google.com (7.70)4. uk.search.yahoo.com (5.50%)5. www.ifind.freeserve.com (4.45%)6. search.yahoo.com (2.93%)7. www.ask.com (1.92%)8. search.msn.com (1.22%)9. www.ask.co.uk (1.22%)10. www.altavista.com (0.71%)Source: HitwiseRelated:Google more popular in UK than USTop 20 UK search engines"

UK firms surf the e-business wave - vnunet.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 16 Nov 2005 10:57:00 +0000

Useful update on online business growth in the UK

comScore Study Reveals the Impact of Search Engine Usage on Consumer Buying

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 04 Aug 2005 10:32:00 +0000

comScore Study Reveals the Impact of Search Engine Usage on Consumer Buying

This study underlines the effect of online searches on offline purchases and also on the lead times invlved in many buying cycles. Particularly intereresting is the suggestion that people may use different search words at different stages of the buying process. First searches are likely to be more generic; later stages are more specific as the buyer has already chosen some of the major parameters.

PC Pro: News: UK broadband connections overtake dial-ups

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 02 Jun 2005 07:24:00 +0000

PC Pro: News: UK broadband connections overtake dial-ups: "Wednesday 1st June 2005
UK broadband connections overtake dial-ups 12:38PM
The number of broadband connections in the UK has exceeded dial-up usage for the first time.

BT figures show that there are now more than 7.4 million broadband users, with two million using cable and 5.4 on DSL.

'I know people's memories are short but I don't think that anybody three years ago had even the faintest hope this would happen, said BT CEO Ben Verwaayen. 'I remember when I came into BT it was not in anyone's imagination.'

The new figures also show that BT's share of the retail market continues to fall. Around 31 per cent of DSL users buy direct from BT, a figure that was over 50 per cent not too long ago.

Broadband is now available to 99.6 per cent of UK homes, the same proportion that has running water, Verwaayen noted.
Simon Aughton"

IMRG e-retail results for April 2005

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 27 May 2005 15:24:00 +0000

IMRG: "internet shopping rockets 30% in april - marks the end of rip-off britain : 19/5/2005

* Internet shopping growth accelerated to 30% in April its fastest year-on-year rate of increase for 7 months, while high street trading fell by 1.3%, the biggest fail in a decade
* E-retail's growth rate tripled in the last quarter (from 13.4% in February) while the high street's fell by 4.2% (from 2.9% in February)
* 7% of all retail took place online in April, as 22 million UK consumers bought goods online worth more than �1,374 million
* e-retail sales have increased by 1500% in 5 years (since April 2000), while total UK retail sales have grown just 20%
* �42 billion worth of goods have been bought online by British shoppers since April 2000
* By April 2010, online shopping will have expanded by a further 320%, be approaching �60 billion per annum, and represent almost 20% of all retail. 36 million Britons will shop online by 2010."

Strongest Links - Directory list

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Mar 2005 09:03:00 +0000

Strongest Links - Directory list

Useful list of major directories: 1 list of global/general directories is naturally dominated by US market. The second includes regional and specialist directories

Careless commuters put corporate data at risk - silicon.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 25 Jan 2005 10:26:00 +0000

Careless commuters put corporate data at risk - silicon.com

Here is the latest update to show the importance of correct and timely backup. I also wonder how many of the lost laptops contained data that need not have been on such a risky device in the first place.

Firefox The IE Killer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 21 Jan 2005 10:03:00 +0000

Firefox The IE Killer

Here's an article that provokes some thoughts for change. I am already using Firefox; but I have not really explored all these new features - but this is a note to myself and readers to set aside some time to do so.

marketingsherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 18 Jan 2005 16:56:00 +0000

marketingsherpa.com : Practical News & Case Studies on Internet Advertising, Marketing & PR

This study if internet marketing tactics in the USA is likely to indicate trends for the UK as well

Are You Winning or Losing In Google?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 11 Jan 2005 14:53:00 +0000

When tracking how well you're doing against competitors in Google are you winning, losing or just holding your own?
Don't know? Doesn't surprise me.
Most have no clue if they're winning the Google rankings battle much less the war. Which is a shame since keeping score is so simple. Here's all you do.
Identify the Competition
Track Page Rank
Ferret Out How Many Pages in Google
Gauge Both Quantity and Quality of Inbound Links
Track Traffic
Keep an Eye on Them

That's it. That's all that counts really. Here's how to do it.
Identify Your Competitors
Not hard. Just identify the top 5 competitors in your niche you want to outrank.
Track Page Rank (PR)
Pick the two or three "must-win" keywords you want to come out on top for.
Use the Google toolbar to track the PR of competitors' home pages plus the two or three other pages optimized for those competitive keywords you picked.
Note the PR of each on a spreadsheet.
How Many Pages in Google?
Again pretty simple if you have this tool
In the left hand column you'll see it asks "How well optimized is your web site?"
Now I don't give a rat's behind about mine, necessarily. But I do care about those pesky competitors.
Enter the competitor's URL
Stick in some guesstimate for how many pages on their
site
Hit the "check now" button.
The result will show you how many pages they've got in Google, FAST, alta Vista, and Inktomi. While I track all of them - at least track the pages in Google.
Gauge Quantity and Quality of Inbound Links
It's a cinch if you use MSN or HotBot to get the number or quantity of inbound links since they're more inclusive.
Google on the other hand will only reveal in bound links from PR 4 sites or higher. BAM! There's your take on quality.
Here's how. Using MSN stick:
domain link:www.competitor.com
in the search box.
All pages linking to www.competitor.com are returned.
Do the same with Google for higher PR links. Using

link:www.competitor.com
Record the count of all links plus high quality links on your spreadsheet. (Be sure to subtract the internal links from pages in the web site in question.)
Track Traffic
Use either Alexa's Toolbar or visit Alexa to grab traffic stats.
While far from perfect since it can be manipulated, you can still get a decent estimate of traffic as measured by users with the Alexa toolbar visiting the sites.
To keep it simple just track the traffic rank.
Then to close the loop…
Keep an Eye on Them
Use a page monitoring service to watch competitor sites like a hawk. Sure some would call this spying. But that has such a negative connotation. I prefer monitoring. And here's the free tool to use that makes this automatic.
Change Detect will email you whenever a site it's monitoring for you changes.
This gives you yet one more way to track if the webmaster is actively improving their site or asleep at the switch.
Now the easiest way to recognize trends is to graph what's going on. You'll be able to see right away if the trend is your friend or not.
Look. Don't be blind-sided like a frog in water on the stove. Who will boil to death because he doesn't detect what's going on.
Track your closest rivals
Compare your stats to theirs
Re-act accordingly
It's easy and doesn't take more than 20-30 minutes a week given the tools revealed. Yet doing so gives you the marketing intelligence you need to improve your Google ranking or hold your own. No matter what your competitors are doing.

Devil's Advocate: Who will win the mobile war - Microsoft or Nokia? - silicon.com

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 13:26:00 +0000

Devil's Advocate: Who will win the mobile war - Microsoft or Nokia? - silicon.com

Devil's Advocate: Who will win the mobile war - Microsoft or Nokia?
January 04 2005
by Martin Brampton
It'll make all the difference...
With mobile phones becoming ever more capable, they will soon start to threaten the PC paradigm, says Martin Brampton. This will pit software giant Microsoft against handset giant Nokia, a battle whose outcome will have significant ramifications for all of IT.

Click here to find out more!
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Reader Comments
Post your comment here

The struggle for domination of the software powering mobile phones has barely started. 2005 could well be the year in which it gets hot. Constant evolution of the technology is enabling changes that are likely to be far reaching.

For several reasons, the mobile phone is set to become the most influential portable electronic device. Technology is one. While the constant improvement of every part of the modern computer seems now to have relatively little impact on the desktop, it is making a huge difference for the phone. You can now fit substantial processing power and a good deal of memory into your pocket, along with decent battery life.

With half-gigabyte memory cards now readily available for well under £50, some pundits have suggested we will soon carry round all our important data. When we find a computer, it will just be a device to manage the data we already have in a phone.

Maybe - but the phone itself will soon be powerful enough to do the job itself with perhaps some optional add-ons. Moreover, carrying the whole of your computer software in your pocket may be technically feasible, but the complexities imposed by the intertwining of hardware is liable to make this solution slow to progress.

Another factor is the desirability of connectivity. Wi-Fi hotspots are proving popular. But if you can remember it at all, the history of the Rabbit phone strongly suggests the ubiquitous network always wins out over the hotspot. 3G will improve bandwidth greatly and is likely to enable the operators to compete strongly against commercial Wi-Fi providers.

Phones are steadily squeezing the PDA market. As reviewers increasingly favour phones with productivity applications over PDAs with phones, the justification for the existence of the PDA will melt away. Neat phone add-ons such as Bluetooth folding keyboards are emerging to rival all the advantages PDAs have held in the past.

The residual and most vital issue will be the extent to which people continue to lug around the so-called laptop computer. At present, both phone and laptop are often carried but on occasions when one is left behind, it is always the laptop, never the phone. The more the phone can do, the less temptation there will be to bother with the laptop.

Meanwhile the office environment is slowly but steadily moving towards thin-client deployments, with all the real action taking place on servers. The direct costs may be higher but the improved manageability of this approach is the decisive factor. Not only is infrastructure management extremely costly, the centralised model is much more favourable to rapid change. The laptop fits uncomfortably into this environment, presenting all kinds of security and management problems.

So some time soon we can expect a titanic struggle, with the key players being Nokia and Microsoft. At stake is control of a future IT environment that is polarised between fixed thin-client devices in office locations and highly portable standalone phones with extensive computer functionality.

Microsoft seems certain to play a substantial role in the stationary systems, although Linux will also be important. Despite recent setbacks, Nokia has an immensely strong position in mobile handsets. Some handset makers are keen to work with Microsoft to create smart phones. Others will be chary, noticing the fate of many of the PC makers, including IBM.

Nokia has so far stuck firmly with software maker Symbian, while implementing links to the Microsoft desktop. Neither party has made much headway with providing tools to manage a large population of powerful computing devices that are constantly on the move. Innovation is needed and looks most likely to come from third parties that grab the opportunity.

If Microsoft wins, it will be the dominant force in a greatly expanded computing and communications environment. Nokia will be marginalised as a handset maker for the consumer who has only weak links with large organisations. If Nokia wins, the whole computing environment will be changed.

Comment:

Great review of some major strategic decisions for policies over a 3 year term

http://web4marketing.co.uk

Web Marketing takes off!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 13:26:00 +0000

Web Marketing on Limited Budgets: "E-Commerce Survey of Business, 2003 - Key Findings
�Billion 2002 2003 %
Sales 19.0 39.5 208
Purchases 18.7 39.9 213
Consumer sales 6.4 11.4 178"

Latest survey shows doubling of UK Internet sales in 2003 over the previous year.

Online Backup - Learn from Experience

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 12:23:00 +0000

Online Backup - Learn from Experience: "# There is no point in backing up program files. To prevent copying, most software vendors force you to reinstall from disc or download from the internet each time you want to install.
# However most programs also generate user data. These files must be backed up - and sometimes it is difficult to see where data is filed and to check that it includes all the information generated by its use - customer correspondence, templates, personal configuration etc.
# Floppy disks are now of limited use for taking copies, because so many files are too large for them. The normal alternative to online backup (apart from those horrible tapes!) is to write to a CD. That may be fine for those files you only change once in a blue moon; but is just not realistic for any daily updates. Who can honestly claim to take copies of all their files daily?
# When you do something very infrequently, you forget the details. So, you need SUPPORT - preferably human. I phoned Clunk Click support desk twice and was put through immediately both times. Have you experienced such service recently?"

MarketPosition Monthly - December 2004

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 09:23:00 +0000

MarketPosition Monthly - December 2004: "# Focus on creating a natural incoming link structure that builds steadily but gradually over time.

# Focus on getting links from authoritative sites with high PageRank. If they also happen to be on-topic, then all the better.

# It's ok to get links from less important sites but remember: the lower the PageRank of a referring page, the more you'll want it to match your topic.

# Strive to get your inbound links placed on pages with few outbound links...the fewer the better.

# See to it that the URL format of your referring links are consistently identical.

# Get your keywords into the anchor text of your incoming links as much as possible. However, avoid having all identical incoming link anchor text. Strive for some variety.

# When starting out, focus on the major directories as a source of important links then shift to the topic-specific directories to solidify the theme relevance of your site.

# Work your trade directories, press releases, suppliers, customers, and testimonials as an outside the box approach to building a gradual, solid, lasting, and natural incoming link structure. Think creatively.

# Don't waste a lot of time getting reciprocal links. Their value is diminishing in the current SE environment. We see a time coming when the value of reciprocal links between non-authoritative sites will be discounted or entirely canceled out.

# Avoid reciprocal links with pages that are designed solely for exchanging links.

# Avoid linking back to sites that are unlisted by Google or Yahoo. Seriously avoid linking to link farms, web rings or any site that exhibits behavior contrary to a search engine's recommended protocol. Avoid linking to controversial sites unless they perfectly match the topic of your page.

# Always remember that profits are your goal. More links does not always add more customers. Avoid wasting energy on projects that may increase link counts but add little or nothing to gain customers that generate profits."

My comment:
Good summary for link strategies

www.web4marketing.co.uk

WebProWorld :: View topic - A Comparison of how SE's read sites

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 21 Dec 2004 08:37:00 +0000

WebProWorld :: View topic - A Comparison of how SE's read sites: "

Moderator
Moderator

Joined: 21 Jun 2004
Posts: 752
Location: western PA

PostPosted: December 20 2004
Post subject: A Comparison of how SE's read sites Reply with quote
I've been looking at SERP descriptions as a way of studying SE behaviors, which may show how SE's are seeing on-page content (and code). After all, they need some way to determine relevancy (aside from the power of IBL's), as their findings are displayed (and sometimes highlighted) in SERP's.

As I wonder what order (linearly) the different SE's 'read' your site's information for pulling up relevant matches for a query, perhaps this may help. Layout may have something to do with it too, depending on tables, columns, CSS, etc. I looked at this across Yahoo, Google, MSN, and MSN Beta, for several different sites, keywords, and pages, and noticed a consistency each time. You may want to try this with yours and see if the results are the same.

MSN: Began with description tag content. > Next showed text from top right of the page.

MSN Beta: Began with description tag content. > Next showed content working down left side. > Next showed content working down middle section.

Yahoo: Began with description tag content. (sometimes that's all it showed, even for a short desc., or showed directory desc.) > Skipped left side on-page content and displayed top middle content.

Google: Began with partial desc. tag > Next showed alt tag content mid-way down center section. > Next showed text content working down from mid section.

Anyone seeing similar results? If so, what can we draw from this?"

My comment:

Definitely worth remembering the importance of description tags that seem to have been discounted elsewhere in favour of the page title.

www.web4marketing.co.uk

UK broadband use

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 13:09:00 +0000

Broadband take-up hits 50%

Owen Gibson, new media editor
Tuesday November 30, 2004

The majority of UK internet users now have broadband connections at home, according to figures released today.

The number of people surfing the internet using high-speed broadband internet connections has more than doubled in the past year to more than 11 million.

That means that more than half of the UK's online population of 22.8 million are now accessing the internet at high speed, according to figures from ACNielsen NetRatings.

The dramatic rise in the number of people subscribing to high-speed broadband services, allowing them to access video, music and games online, is likely to provide broadcasters and record labels with a host of new opportunities.

"Twelve months ago high-speed internet users made up less than one quarter of the audience. Now they are more than 50% and we expect this number to keep growing," said ACNielsen's European internet analyst, Gabrielle Prior.

"As the number of high-speed surfers grows in the UK, websites will need to adapt, update and enhance their content to retain visitors and encourage new ones. In the future, websites will be 'sped' out of the market, not 'priced out'."

Yesterday BT announced it was launching a dedicated entertainment division devoted to developing partnerships with broadcasters, movie studios and independent producers.

The mass market acceptance of online music services such as iTunes and Napster has also contributed to the rising popularity of broadband, with high-speed connections making music download speeds around 10 times faster.

But the new research shows that high-speed connections tend to be most popular in larger households with five or more people, meaning that more people than previously thought are surfing over broadband lines.

This is likely to be because larger households get more value from the faster, always on connections that do not tie up the phone line. Six out of 10 internet-enabled households of five or more people have upgraded to broadband.

According to the figures, the dramatic rise in the number of high-speed connections means that 11.5 million people are using broadband at home, an 117% increase on last year.

Meanwhile, the number of people actively surfing the web from home each month in the UK has grown by 15% to 23 million, confounding predictions that the overall universe of home internet users would level out.

Source: Guardian Inlimited

For the future we can assume general use of broadband so our strategies can now be based on that.

UK shopping sites

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 11:35:00 +0000

Yahoo-owned Kelkoo is the front-runner in the U.K., even as parent Yahoo shopping appears in the number nine spot. Although Yahoo Shopping is significantly bolstering its efforts to be a player worldwide, Kelkoo continues to operate as an autonomous organization and will continue to do so going forward, according to Glen Drury, Managing Director of Kelkoo U.K.

Expect a lot of jostling for position among the U.K. shopping search services over the next year, as the current players continue to make improvements, and newcomers like BizRate and PriceGrabber push ahead.

Here's the current list of shopping search leaders, according to Hitwise:

1. Kelkoo
2. Dealtime UK
3. MSN eShop
4. Pricerunner
5. Ciao
6. NexTag
7. NexTag UK
8. Compare Store Prices
9. Yahoo! Shopping
10. Shop Genie

Notably, despite Google's popularity in the U.K., neither Froogle nor the U.K. version of Froogle have yet cracked the top ten in terms of traffic.

Source: Search Engine Watch

UK search engine usage

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Dec 2004 11:25:00 +0000

In April 2004, the average UK search engine user conducted 41.8 searches, higher than the US,Canada, France or Germany.
Of all Uk searches, 77% were on Google, 14 % on Yahoo and 9% on MSN

For detail see comScore

Online purchasing survey upsets easy measures

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Dec 2004 16:55:00 +0000

A new survey from comScore has fascinating data on online consumer purchases.

1) 25% of searchers ultimately purchased a product BUT 92% of these purchases occurred offline.
2) Only 15% of online purchases occurred in the same session as the search itself.
3) Generic search terms accounted for 70% of search volume.

I have long thought that offline sales probably doubled online results but maybe I have been underestimating. Othe survey have already shown an average of 6-7 visits before purchase.

You might be tempted to discount this survey because it was funded by Overture and promotes the importance of searches. However, though these results were from the specific field of consumer electronics, I would not be surprised if similar results are found elsewhere