The Internet Marketing Specialist

Find Out the Myth and Mastery of Social Media Strategy

2010-08-14T16:06:00.000+01:00

IT’S known by many names and it’s all the rage! I’m talking about social media – also known as social media marketing, social media optimisation, SMO, SMM and social networking. For businesses it has tremendous potential and value, but in simple terms social media is just another communication channel with the world.
But instead of delivering a sales or service message via advertising or marketing, with social media you’re talking to people in the way you would with friends, colleagues or strangers who share the same interests.
Social media used to be for the young Net Generation, as Don Tapscott (Author of Grown Up Digital) calls them, but now the average age on Facebook is 35. LinkedIn has a huge membership between 35 and 54!
As David Mercer, Head of BT Design, told me recently the older generation just can’t help hijacking the Net Gens’ home turf. Or at least words to that effect. Is it fair? I can see his point but the fact we all use phones doesn’t seem to affect the younger generation’s perception of ownership of the mobile world.
Even my eight year old is using social media in the form of Club Penguin (Disney’s MMOG, Massively Multi-Player Online Game). By the time he is in business, social media will be just as integrated in his life as email and mobile phones, if they’re still around.
With 400million active accounts on Facebook getting over 120million unique visitors each month, social media is not going away. But it’s important to remember what your objective is if you want to get involved with social media for personal, business or branding reasons.
Different platforms have different personalities: LinkedIn in business oriented while Facebook is social and works better in engaging individuals. Twitter is real-time news and information on everything from clubs and coffee shops to finance and biochemical research. So each platform should be picked to meet the characteristics of objectives.
Remember, too, that other countries have big platforms. China’s platform is QQ and has over 500million users, Orkut has over 100 million users with over 70 per cent of them from Brazil and India. In Russia, Vkontakte has over 60 million, so pick your playground carefully.
Most of the major platforms offer advertising. Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube all have a pay per click advertising option which can be targeted at an audience with surgical precision...well, field surgery at least. Let’s say I wanted to get people to book me to run workshops in their business.
I could place an advert on LinkedIn targeting Marketing Directors of businesses in the UK with over 250 staff, or perhaps select a few niche industries such as finance, retail and manufacturing. If I get my advert right I will only attract clicks that are likely to convert and, of course, I only pay when they click!
A word of caution: We all put so much information about ourselves on social media that with a little research people can easily find out a lot about you and your business. Reputation management has never been more important.
Using LinkedIn as an example, let’s say I want to meet Mr Smith, CMO of a blue chip brand. I look him up on LinkedIn and see that he is a member of a group called Future Trends. I can also see that he is connected to a friend of mine called Thomas. I join the group called Future Trends and ask Thomas to ask Mr Smith if he could tell me more about this group.
Do we think that hearing from Thomas that someone who shares a common interest would like to meet him would be of interest? One would hope so. There are many ways to manage social media but there is a level of lateral thinking that helps.
When setting up a social media strategy there are many monitoring tools that can be used to plan who you should engage with and where you should have a presence. One of my favorites is Social Radar from Infegy. It gives you a visual representation on how social media accounts are connected, a road map of who’s talking to who on the web.
Through this you can see where most conversations are taking place on your topic. These people are called Influencers and they are an important part of a social media strategy as they help organisations and individuals control the conversations.
Let me tell you a story. A well-known journalist was writing about a big brand’s new sports car on his blog. The journalist was an Influencer because over 50,000 people subscribed to read his blog on a regular basis. His opinion of the new car’s looks was based on a photo he’d seen and unfortunately for the manufacturer the opinion was not a good - the words “back of a bus” and “angry bulldog” come to mind.
Shortly after his opinion hit the net, postings start to appear on blogs and forums echoing his comments. Before long the opinion of even those who have never seen the car is a negative one.
Now if the brand had been monitoring the social biosphere they would have quickly picked up this story and through sentiment monitoring [WHAT’S THIS??] they would have been able to see its negative connotation. They could h,ave seen the topic growing in importance and acted on it. How I hear you say!
Well, my first step would have been to contact the journalist and invite him to experience the car in person. Let’s face it, brands are about experience not just looks. Imagine this...
You invite the journalist to join you for a track day. When he arrives he is presented with a shiny new, highly-polished, top of the range version of the car. First impressions...it looks better than it did in the photos.
Then a test driver shows him how smooth and quiet the car is before slamming it into sports mode to demonstrate the near 200mph speed that the car gracefully achieves in the blink of an eye. After spending a day experiencing this luxury car the journalist has a different opinion.
In the next blog he writes about his fantastic day and admits that the pictures he’d seen didn’t really do it justice. He then enthuses about his positive EXPERIENCE with the car. Very soon his readers have changed their perceptions, too, and the online conversation has been controlled and made positive.
It is through this careful monitoring and strategic engagement that social media can be used as not only a PR machine but also another market to channel. Let me explain...
Using a Twitter client on my iPad I am able to see on a map the names of people who are talking around me. This is being picked up by the geo-tagging of where they where when they last posted a message. I used this in a demonstration in a London restaurant which also had a meeting room and private dining area. To our surprise we found that the CEO of King of Shaves was tweeting next door!
It was too much to resist so we responded to his Tweet and invited him over for a drink and a discussion about how the restaurant might be able to help him and his organisation.
We had a fairly fast response saying that he would drop in when he had a chance. You can imagine how long such a meeting would have taken to set up – if at all – using the traditional route to a CEO of receptionists, gate keepers, PAs etc. Social media opens up opportunities never before available.
Staying on the subject of Twitter, real time search allows you to stoke while the iron is hot. If I was monitoring or searching for the words “need+new+monitor” I would find people who have recently Tweeted that they need a new monitor This information could be very valuable to an online electronic shop.
Engaging people when their requirement is in the forefront of their minds and creating a process that is easy to fulfill this requirement can translate into direct revenue. Software like Radian6 can monitor most conversations taking place on the web in near real-time. It is an engagement tool allowing you to watch, listen and respond - as part of a strategy this is a vital component.
Someone once said that if you see the bandwagon you are already too late to jump on it. What should you consider before leaping on to the social media bandwagon?
First, what is your objective? Are you using social media for PR, brand awareness, a channel to market or because you what to listen to the chatter from your industry?
Second, you should define a strategy of what goals you want to achieve and what message needs to be given to achieve success.
Third, who is going to manage the project? To run social media campaigns properly, you’ll probably need the services of a manager who has good writing skills and a marketing or PR background. This will have a cost implication so you’ll to set KPIs and targets to ensure you achieve a return on the investment.
The good news is that by using YouTube or Facebook to communicate with engaged customers or group members you will discover the cost of contacting your audience is minimal. During his election campaign, Barack Obama was able to communicate with over five million people instantly at no cost on almost a one-to-one to personal level.
Today he has almost 10 million fans on Facebook alone – a few hundred thousand behind Lady Gaga. There aren’t many ways of connecting with an audience that size for free, are there? Can your business operate as efficiently as that? As Obama would say: Yes you can!

Damon Segal

Founder and M.D. Emotio Design Group
www.emotio.co.uk - www.seo-services-uk.eu

Having come from a traditional marketing and design background Damon has seen drawing boards replaced with Macs and paint brushes become Wacom Tablets.

In 1996 Damon built his first website on Adobe's PageMill software and was hooked on the internet; which was great because help was always just a click away!

Having been heavily involved in website design, development and marketing since this point Damon has seen innovation happen on a daily basis. It is one of the fastest-moving industries in the world and limited only by the imagination and skills of those working in it.

Damon is on the Advisory Council for the Global Marketing Network and is a practitioner module advisor for BPP/ARU/GMN Global Marketing Practice MSc, which he also helped create and write. Damon also speaks professionally for a number of organisations including the Academy forf Chief Executives, the London Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Direct Marketing.

Damon founded Emotio Design Group to help brands and business define and deliver integrated marketing services and collateral and to improve their marketing effectiveness. Although Emotio is primarily focused in the digital arena, website design and development it remains strong in branding and its traditional skills of design for print.

Emotio provides websites, branding, marketing consultancy, brochures, search engine optimisation, PPC campaign management, social media optimisation and more. Damon's extensive client list includes Brady Corporation, Bestway, Forever Living Products, Shaun Leane, BNI and The Royal College of GPs.

Contact: +44 (0)20 8385 5050
Email: dsegal@mac.com

2010-02-11T20:27:00.001Z

If talking to yourself is the first sign of madness why do we twitter? Take the poll http://ow.ly/16sAi

2010-01-28T23:53:00.001Z

Have you seen the new Emotio Design Group Website http://ping.fm/pyg3g, check me out int the top right corner

Innovation in Internet Marketing

2010-01-21T11:57:00.001Z

Engaging consumers on a personal level with new and exciting ideas

So where are we now?

Consider these amazing statistics: There are over one trillion unique URLs on the web at any one time – that’s one million million pages. Globalisation is becoming more relevant as over 25% of the world population has access to the internet and the importance of consumer personal engagement is all the buzz. In the UK 18.3 million households (70%) have access to the internet. Over 150 million people access their Facebook account every day, 65 million of these via their mobile device. People are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day. In fact, every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube. So with these facts in mind, how do you take an innovative approach to creating and marketing a web presence?

How the money flows

It has been reported that online retail spend reached £21bn in the UK last year with that figure expected to triple over the next decade. Over the same timeframe traditional spending will fall from £265bn to £247bn, or so says the crystal ball that is Reuters.

According to Paypal, 2010 will see a 235% growth in online grocery shopping to £6.25bn. On Christmas Day 2008, with all the shops closed, online shoppers spent over £100m., and in November and December in 2009 Americans spent $29.1bn online. (source: comScore)

As a response to this demand. we have also seen UK online advertising spend increase to £17.5bn in 2008, representing almost 20% of all media spend in the UK.

So what does this mean? It means businesses and retailers need to get smarter in the way they attract customers and generate sales. Competition is going to be fiercer and margins are going to be attacked even more with consumers being able to compare prices quickly and easily. The focus must be on brand trust, loyalty and differentiation in order to influence market share.

The best way to predict the future is to invent it

In just six years Apple’s online music store iTunes has picked up 25% of the US retail music market, selling over five billion downloads, Facebook has gained over 300 million users and Twitter has grown 1,382% from February 2008 to February 2009. One of the reasons for Twitters amazing success was its open architecture, this creating the conditions for users to innovate and shape the way twitter is used.

Innovations like these change our understanding of how the world works. Ten years ago, if I wanted to find a song that a friend told me to listen to I had to go to a shop and buy the track. Now, I can see what my friend is listening to on his Facebook post then click and hear it immediately free of charge on a site like Spotify.

To keep up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies is almost a full time job in itself. Even more important is having the foresight and understanding of where future internet trends might head.

To understand this we need to examine the environment

Personal profiling and community advertising will start to target customers more effectively than ever before.
The growth in broadband and connection speed will allow more rich media to be delivered, bringing on the rapid growth of Web TV and premium content. This will allow personalised advertising to be delivered via this new exciting medium.
Consumers will be more informed than ever before with live search becoming a growing trend, allowing people to find real time information and reviews.
Web semantics will enable search engines like Google to improve their understanding of words and documents, therefore producing better results.
More prominence will be put on personalisation and localisation. With a large increase in global urbanisation these factors will heavily affect online sales and customer engagements.
The growth of smart mobile phones will mean that consideration for mobile content must be given when creating a website.
The importance of site speed and usability will factor in search engine friendliness. Faster, better-structured sites will be looked at in a favourable way.
Google personalised search will have an effect on site rankings as Google shows results to searchers based on their last 180 days of search history and behaviour, although my understanding is that top rankings will retain a high position even if they may be displaced by one or two positions. The trick will be to look for ways to take advantage of personalised search - for example, making sure your locality is set correctly or that you have a broad spectrum of on-page optimisation that will cast a bigger net.
Social media spheres will influence consumer trends whilst social media monitoring will provide an insight into your brand and sector. Engaging consumers on an emotional level will help grow loyalty and communicate brand differentiation.
An integrated approach to managing social media will need to be defined and adopted in order to streamline management and keep messages consistent. With so many platforms now available, attracting literally billions of visits each month, solutions are being created so that accounts can be linked, allowing single posts to gain the maximum reach.

In Summary

‘Only the paranoid will survive,’ said Andy Grove, chairman of Intel. ‘The more successful you are, the more people want a chunk of your business and then another chunk and then another until there is nothing left.’ This kind of paranoia leads to constant innovation in order to stay ahead.
Innovation should not be confused with change or creativity. Change is not always innovation, changing your website for a better-looking new one is not innovating. Being creative is only having the ideas for innovation, whilst innovation is actually taking those ideas and making them real.

Many of you have creative agencies and creative directors but the real question is how many of you have innovative agencies and innovation directors?
We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. As Frank Tibolt says: Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Damon Segal
Founder and M.D.
Emotio Design Group
www.emotio.co.uk

Having come from a traditional marketing and design background Damon has seen drawing boards replaced with Macs and paint brushes become Wacom Tablets.

In 1996 Damon built his first website on Adobe’s PageMill software and was hooked on theinternet; which was great because help was always just a click away!

Having been heavily involved in website design, development and marketing since this point Damon has seen innovation happen on a daily basis. It is one of the fastest-moving industries in the world and limited only by the imagination and skills of those working in it.

Damon is on the Advisory Council for the Global Marketing Network and is a practitioner module advisor for BPP/ARU/GMN Global Marketing Practice MSc, which he also helped create and write. Damon also speaks professionally for a number of organisations including the Academy forf Chief Executives, the London Chamber of Commerce and the Institute of Direct Marketing.

Damon founded Emotio Design Group to help brands and business define and deliver integrated marketing services and collateral and to improve their marketing effectiveness. Although Emotio is primarily focused in the digital arena, website design and development it remains strong in branding and its traditional skills of design for print.

Emotio provides websites, branding, marketing consultancy, brochures, search engine optimisation, PPC campaign management, social media optimisation and more. Damon’s extensive client list includes Brady Corporation, Bestway, Forever Living Products, Shaun Leane, BNI and The Royal College of GPs.

Integrated Strategy for Social Media Optimisation

2009-12-06T23:40:00.001Z

I am currently working on a strategy to integrate and track social media plaforms

2009-12-06T23:38:00.001Z

I am currently creating a strategy for integrated social media posting

Life in the fast lane of the information highway

2009-07-03T17:32:00.003+01:00

IMAGINE that having a website is like owning a car. Before you buy one you have to decide what you want and what you need.

Should it be fast, economical, luxurious, basic, flash, powerful, loaded with gadgets etc? All these factors will affect the cost of your car; some cars have great engines but don't look good, some cars look great but don't have all the gadgets.

Websites are much the same. You may have a fantastic e-commerce or content management system but the front end of the site – the bit your clients see – may look basic or, dare I say, unprofessional.

Let’s go back to the car analogy. You could buy a middle of the range car with an average engine and then spend money later adding skirts, spoilers, decals and a great paint job.

Or you could go for the whole package and get a luxury fast car that comes with all the whistles and bells. It depends on what you need and what you can afford.

Remember some cars can be upgraded later with extra gadgets and even a more powerful engine. Just like a website.

Think back to when you bought your first car - it was probably the best you could afford at the time to get the job done.

But cars age and technology moves fast, so that car you bought with the CD player could well now benefit from being able to connect to your iPod. You might even decide after a few years you need a bigger boot and more storage space. Just like a website.

Usability is important. When I was younger, I owned a car with a door you had to lift to unlock it. I had to pump the gas three times before turning the ignition and only then would it start.

What if your website worked the same way? If you gave a visitor the keys, do you think they would be able to get the car started? A website - like a car - should work the way we expect it to.

Someone recently told me he hated the fact that so many websites look the same! You could argue the same with cars, after all they usually have four wheels, headlights, brake lights, a steering wheel and an engine.

Most of them put things in the same place, too, but this is for the user’s benefit. As soon as you move the ignition to the middle of the car (like Saab did) or the gears to a lever on the steering column then people get confused and are invariably put off.

Websites are the same. Usability means common factors like logos, navigation, site maps and home buttons should be in a standard place.

That’s not to say innovation doesn’t have its place, but innovation needs to be intuitive and when it's not it can cause more harm than good.

What would you think if you went to buy a car and it had the spare wheel on the roof, eight headlamps and six narrow doors? That’s the kind of user issues some badly-designed websites create.

Now let’s consider maintenance. You wouldn’t expect your car to run forever without looking after it, and you don’t expect all external factors to stay the same.

You know that if you don't change the oil from time to time the engine will break. And if a new law regulates emissions, or your car gets so old the manufacturer stops making spare parts, then things need to change.

It’s exactly the same with a website. If you don't clean your database from time to time, or Google changes the way it looks at a site for indexing, then your site won’t be as effective as it once was.

Here’s a trickier concept to grasp, but persevere because marketing a website correctly is crucial. it’s a very important point. Imagine your pockets are deep enough to run a Formula 1 car, your team hires the best driver and invests a fortune making sure the car’s technology will make it perform to the highest standards.

The only problem is that one team doesn’t know what the next team is doing to ensure they are in with a chance of winning. Odds are the team with the best driver and best car will win, although the mix might be the best car with a good driver just keeps up with the best driver with a good car.

Well, it's the same principle with search engine optimisation. You might spend lots on getting the structure of your website 100% right for Google but with an average digital marketer (the driver) implementing the search engine strategy your results might not be fantastic.

Mind you, you might get the best SEO and the best marketer and still find someone else is doing it better. Perhaps they had more money to spend on a link-building campaign.

Finally there comes a time when you need to change your car. Maybe you got bored with it, maybe you need a bigger one or perhaps you need to make a better impression when you pull up at your client's office.

For these same reasons you will need to change your website, too. Life moves fast online, keeping up is not easy - but sometimes it is necessary. The bad news is that one year of website life is like three car years, so you will have to change your site more often than you would like.

But at least you’ll keep ahead of all the others on the information highway.

Not blogged much because...

2009-06-28T00:22:00.001+01:00

I spend most my days on Twitter! I will ,however, make sure I put some blogs up soon

-- Post From My iPhone

Worldmapper gives a great way to see the world

2009-05-10T10:44:00.001+01:00

See this link to see where the bulk of internet users are in the world http://www.worldmapper.org/animations/internet_users_animation.html or how about this project world populations by 2300! http://www.worldmapper.org/display.php?selected=12

Social Media in Plain English

2009-05-06T16:14:00.000+01:00

This is such a simple but great example of what social media is, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpIOClX1jPE

Most Popular Internet Activities

2009-05-01T07:41:00.000+01:00

Here are percentages of internet users who do such activities online as sending email, playing games, downloading music, and more.

	Percent of Internet users who report this activity
Send or read email	92%
Use a search engine to find information	89
Search for a map or driving directions	86
Look for info on a hobby or interest	83
Research a product or service before buying	81
Check the weather	80
Look for health/medical info	75
Get travel info	73
Get news	73
Buy a product	71
Visit a local, state, or federal government website	66
Buy or make a reservation for travel	64
Surf the Web for fun	62
Go to a website that provides info or support for a specific medical condition or personal situation	58
Research for school or training	57
Watch a video clip or listen to an audio clip	56
Look for "how-to," "do-it-yourself," or repair information	55
Look online for news or information about politics or the upcoming campaigns	55
Look up phone number or address	54
Do any banking online	53
Watch a video on a video-sharing site like YouTube or GoogleVideo	52
Take a virtual tour of a location online	51
Do any type of research for your job	51
Look online for info about a job	47
Get sports scores and info online	45
Get info online about a college, university, or other school you or a family member might attend	45
Download other files such as games, videos, or pictures	42
Get financial info online, such as stock quotes or mortage interest rates	41
Send instant messages	40
Look for info about a place to live	39
Download computer programs from the Internet	39
Pay bills online	38
Download music files to your computer	37
Upload photos to a website so you can share them with others online	37
Look for information on Wikipedia	36
Send or receive text messages using a cell phone	35
Look for religious/spiritual info	35
Play online games	35
Listen to music online at a website	34
Read someone else's online journal, web log, or blog	33
Rate a product, service, or person using an online rating system	32
Use online classified ads or sites like Craig's list	32
Log on to the internet using a wireless device	30
Listen to a live or recorded radio broadcast online, such as a newscast, sporting event, or radio show	29
Categorize or tag online content like a photo, news story, or blog post	28
Search for info about someone you know or might meet	28
Pay to access or download digital content online	28
Share files from own computer with others	27
Download video files to your computer	27
Participate in an online auction	26
Research your family's history or genealogy online	25
Download screensavers from the Internet	23
Chat in a chat room or in an online discussion	22
Download computer games from the Internet	21
Create content for the Internet	19
Download a podcast so you can listen to it or view it at a later time	19
Make a donation to a charity online	18
View live images online of a remote location or person, using a webcam	17
Use an online social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, or Friendster	16
Sell something online	15
Visit an adult website	13
Take a class online just for personal enjoyment or enrichment	13
Participate in an online discussion, a listserv, or other online group that helps people with personal issues or health problems	12
Send or receive an invitation to a meeting or party using an online invitation service	12
Take a class online for credit toward a degree of some kind	12
Create or work on your own online journal or blog	12
Take material you find online—like songs, text, or images—and remix it into your own artistic creation	11
Buy or sell stocks, bonds, or mutual funds	11
Make a phone call online	8
Go to a dating website or other site where you can meet people online	6
Create an avatar or online representation of yourself	6
Download or share adult content online	4

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project tracking surveys (July 22, 2008).

Where Teens Use the Internet

2009-05-01T07:38:00.002+01:00

	Home	School	Library
All teens	89%	77%	60%
Girls	91	76	59
Boys	86	78	60
Age
12–14	89	71	58
15–17	89	82	61
Race/ethnicity
White	91	78	59
Black	80	83	69
Hispanic	85	69	53
Household income
Less than $30,000/yr	70	75	72
$30,000-$49,999	86	88	63
$50,000-$74,999	87	72	55
$75,000+	99	74	57

Source: Pew Internet & American Life Project Teen/Parent Survey on Writing, Sept.—Nov. 2007.

Top 10 Languages on the web

2009-04-26T22:09:00.006+01:00

Ecoaware.co.uk Eco Ideas for an Eco Home or Eco Business

2009-04-18T01:27:00.002+01:00

The idea is that whenever I come across an idea or product that can help with environmental issues I will post it on this website. If you have an idea, product or service that can help the environment then please email me using the send idea button on the site.

www.ecoaware.co.uk

Google Maps Tutorial

2009-04-17T20:45:00.002+01:00

Sorry for the lack of posts recently, I've been really busy and just got back from a week away. This is a really good developers tutorial for Google Maps.

http://maps.forum.nu/gm_custom_controls.html

Google Chrome Experiments

2009-03-24T07:44:00.002Z

When Google Chrome launched last September, it included a powerful JavaScript engine, V8, which was built to make the next generation of web applications perform faster in the browser.

Google Chrome is the fastest growing browser and has overtaken Safari's market share in just months. Although still at a tiny 3.9% or so I wouldn't be surprised if we don't have to start web site compatibility checking this platform in the not to distant future!

The results of their experimentation have been great, with each project turning the browser window into an interactive application, a game, or even a piece of art. Whether you're a casual web surfer or an advanced JavaScript developer, we think you'll appreciate what they've achieved.
http://www.chromeexperiments.com/

A common IT factor

2009-03-10T22:39:00.001Z

IT projects often spend 50% of their time being 90% complete... sound familiar to anyone?

Web Browser Statistics and Trends

2009-02-27T21:54:00.001Z

Statistics are important information. From the statistics below, you can see that Internet Explorer and Firefox are the most common browsers.

Browser Statistics Month by Month

2009	IE7	IE6	IE8	Fx	Chrome	S	O
January	25.7%	18.5%	0.6%	45.5%	3.9%	3.0%	2.3%

2008	IE7	IE6	IE5	Fx	Chrome	S	O
December	26.1%	19.6%		44.4%	3.6%	2.7%	2.4%
November	26.6%	20.0%		44.2%	3.1%	2.7%	2.3%
October	26.9%	20.2%		44.0%	3.0%	2.8%	2.2%
September	26.3%	22.3%		42.6%	3.1%	2.7%	2.0%
August	26.0%	24.5%		43.7%		2.6%	2.1%
July	26.4%	25.3%		42.6%		2.5%	1.9%
June	27.0%	26.5%	0.5%	41.0%		2.6%	1.7%
May	26.5%	27.3%	0.7%	39.8%		2.4%	1.5%
April	24.9%	28.9%	1.0%	39.1%		2.2%	1.4%
March	23.3%	29.5%	1.1%	37.0%		2.1%	1.4%
February	22.7%	30.7%	1.3%	36.5%		2.0%	1.4%
January	21.2%	32.0%	1.5%	36.4%		1.9%	1.4%

2007	IE7	IE6	IE5	Fx	Moz	S	O
November	20.8%	33.6%	1.6%	36.3%	1.2%	1.8%	1.6%
September	20.8%	34.9%	1.5%	35.4%	1.2%	1.6%	1.5%
July	20.1%	36.9%	1.5%	34.5%	1.4%	1.5%	1.9%
May	19.2%	38.1%	1.6%	33.7%	1.3%	1.5%	1.7%
March	18.0%	38.7%	2.0%	31.8%	1.3%	1.6%	1.6%
January	13.3%	42.3%	3.0%	31.0%	1.5%	1.7%	1.5%

2006	IE7	IE6	IE5	Fx	Moz	N7/8	O
November	7.1%	49.9%	3.6%	29.9%	2.5%	0.2%	1.5%
September	2.5%	55.6%	4.0%	27.3%	2.3%	0.4%	1.6%
July	1.9%	56.3%	4.2%	25.5%	2.3%	0.4%	1.4%
May	1.1%	57.4%	4.5%	25.7%	2.3%	0.3%	1.5%
March	0.6%	58.8%	5.3%	24.5%	2.4%	0.5%	1.5%
January	0.2%	60.3%	5.5%	25.0%	3.1%	0.5%	1.6%

2005	IE6	IE5	Fx	Moz	N7	O8	O7
November	62.7%	6.2%	23.6%	2.8%	0.4%	1.3%	0.2%
September	69.8%	5.7%	18.0%	2.5%	0.4%	1.0%	0.2%
July	67.9%	5.9%	19.8%	2.6%	0.5%	0.8%	0.4%
May	64.8%	6.8%	21.0%	3.1%	0.7%	0.7%	0.6%
March	63.6%	8.9%	18.9%	3.3%	1.0%	0.3%	1.6%
January	64.8%	9.7%	16.6%	3.4%	1.1%		1.9%

2004	IE6	IE5	Moz	N3	N7	N4	O7
November	66.0%	10.2%	16.5%	0.2%	1.2%	0.3%	1.6%
September	67.8%	11.2%	13.7%	0.3%	1.4%	0.3%	1.7%
July	67.2%	13.2%	12.6%	0.4%	1.4%	0.4%	1.6%
May	68.1%	13.8%	9.5%	0.6%	1.4%	0.4%	1.6%
March	68.2%	14.6%	7.9%	0.8%	1.4%	0.6%	1.4%
January	68.9%	15.8%	5.5%	0.4%	1.5%	0.5%	1.5%

2003	IE6	IE5	Moz	N3	N7	N4	O7
November	71.2%	13.7%	7.2%	0.5%	1.6%	0.5%	1.9%
September	69.7%	16.9%	6.2%	0.6%	1.5%	0.6%	1.8%
July	66.9%	20.3%	5.7%	0.6%	1.5%	0.6%	1.7%
May	65.0%	22.7%	4.6%	1.0%	1.4%	0.9%	1.4%
March	63.4%	24.6%	4.2%	0.9%	1.4%	1.1%	1.2%
January	55.3%	29.3%	4.0%	1.2%	1.1%	1.7%

2002	IE6	IE5	AOL	N3	N5	N4	IE4
November	53.5%	29.9%	5.2%	1.1%	4.9%	2.0%
September	49.1%	34.4%	4.5%	1.3%	4.5%	2.2%
July	44.4%	40.1%	3.5%	1.2%	3.5%	2.6%	0.5%
May	40.7%	46.0%	2.8%	1.2%	2.7%	3.4%	0.7%
March	36.7%	49.4%	3.0%	1.2%	2.4%	4.1%	0.7%
January	30.1%	55.7%	2.8%	1.3%	2.2%	4.4%	1.0%

IE	Internet Explorer
Fx	Firefox (identified as Mozilla before 2005)
Chrome	Google Chrome
Moz	The Mozilla Suite (Gecko, Netscape)
S	Safari (and Konqueror. Both identified as Mozilla before 2007)
O	Opera
N	Netscape (identified as Mozilla after 2006)
AOL	America Online (based on both Internet Explorer and Mozilla)

Top level domains that sold for a couple of $$$s

2009-02-26T21:51:00.001Z

some research on the top domain name sales of 2008 and found something very interesting. Forty percent of the top domains sold are not developed.

The following information was compiled using sales reported on DNJournal.

Domain Name

Invest.com
FinancialAid.com
LowFare.com
FinancialAide.com
Floor.com
Seks.nl (Sex in Dutch)
Action.com
AR.com
OD.com
BJ.com
Thin.com
Photograph.com
WT.com
11.com
444.com
Tests.com
248.com
Rainbow.com
245.com
Shoppers.com
Modern.com
SanJuan.com
CR.com
Sumo.com
Newlyweds.com
246.com
25.com
Revolution.org
Eggs.com
242.com
252.com
Camps.com
Porn.mobi
AutoClassifieds.com
HotPorn.com
Sevilla.com
Igen.com
Jake.com
Yemen.com
Unet.com

Sales Price

$1,015,000
$480,000
$365,000
$320,000
$275,000
$258,000
$230,000
$225,000
$225,000
$200,000
$200,000
$195,000
$192,000
$188,888
$178,888
$176,505
$175,888
$170,000
$168,888
$166,000
$160,000
$150,000
$150,000
$150,000
$130,000
$124,568
$124,555
$120,000
$112,500
$111,111
$111,111
$110,000
$110,000
$110,000
$107,000
$102,000
$100,000
$100,000
$100,000
$100,000

Sale Date

9/30/08
12/23/08
11/11/08
12/20/08
12/30/08
12/9/08
7/29/08
2/12/08
8/26/08
6/10/08
3/11/08
2/12/08
7/15/08
8/19/08
8/19/08
3/18/08
8/19/08
6/17/08
6/17/08
3/11/08
3/11/08
12/2/08
12/2/08
5/28/08
1/15/08
7/1/08
12/23/08
7/22/08
3/11/08
8/19/08
8/19/08
10/28/08
3/25/08
3/25/08
2/5/08
7/8/08
12/9/08
7/8/08
2/12/08
2/26/08

Status

Parked
Parked
Parked
Parked
Parked
Parked
Under Construction
Parked
Under Construction
Parked
Parked
Parked
One Link
Game*
Game*
Under Construction
Game*
Parked
Game*
Parked
Parked
Parked
Parked
Parked
Nothing
Game*
Game*
Parked
Inactive WP Site
Game*
Game*
Parked
Under Construction
Parked
Parked
Parked
Under Construction
Parked
Parked
Under Construction

The Power of Website Optimiser

2009-02-22T22:16:00.001Z

Google adwords has a fantastic facility that allows you to carry out multi-variant testing

Google says 'You want your ads to be successful. To measure that success, you use click and conversion tracking to gain insight into user behavior on your pages. If users are reaching your pages, but you aren't getting the conversion results you want, what do you do? It's time to make improvements to your site. Website Optimizer can help.

Website Optimizer allows you to test changes in the website content of your pages in order to determine what will be most effective in getting conversions. You choose what parts of a page you'd like to test -- headline, image, promo text - and we'll run an experiment on a portion of your site traffic to determine which content on your site users respond to best. When we've collected enough data, we'll provide you with reliable reports and a suggested course of action in order to optimize your site for maximum business results'

We are using this facility and recommend you do too!

Presentation at the Executive Association of Great Britain

2009-02-19T21:31:00.002Z

Today I presented in the penthouse of the Dorchester Hotel - Park Lane. I went freestyle with my presentation on 'marketing in a downturn'. No projector, no slides! Feed back was great, so all in all a good day. If anyone wants to book me for workshops or speaking se the speakers section of my website www.damonsegal.co.uk

Facebook hits 222 million visits!

2009-01-30T20:46:00.001Z

Facebook.com grew a dramatic 127 percent in the past year to 222 million visitors in December, and now ranks as the top social networking site worldwide.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Facebook Inc. is also the seventh most popular Internet property in the world, according to ComScore, which reported that the worldwide Internet audience above the age of 15 crossed 1 billion last month.

The most popular destinations in December Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) sites, with 777.9 million visitors, followed by Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT), Yahoo Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), AOL, Wikimedia, and Ebay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY).

Fox Interactive Media, owner of MySpace, which was surpassed by Facebook in April, came in 10th with 172.8 million visitors. The Asia-Pacific region accounted for the highest share of global Internet users at 41 percent, followed by Europe, with 28 percent, North America with 18 percent share, Latin America, with 7 percent, and the Middle East and Africa with 5 percent. China represented the largest online audience, with 180 million Internet users, or almost 18 percent of the total worldwide audience, followed by the U.S. with 16.2 percent, Japan with 6 percent, Germany with 3.7 percent and the U.K. with 3.6 percent.

Academy of Chief Executives Speakers Parade

2009-01-28T23:39:00.002Z

Speakers parade went really well in Manchester, Monday, I was in good company with Andy Lopata, Networking Guru, Michael Dodd, Media Trainer, Gary Bailey, Ex Goal Keeper now Leadership Speaker and many others. I scored well 8/10 but waiting for confirmation on this. Best of all I have been booked to speak at the Academy Midlands Regional Meeting.

For a list of my keynotes and workshops see www.damonsegal.co.uk

Facebook Lexicon, big brother is so cool

2009-01-17T00:28:00.002Z

I don't mean the big brother on TV although that is mildly amusing. Facebooks lexicon gives you

Lexicon is a tool to understand what Facebook's users are talking about on Walls.

http://www.facebook.com/lexicon/new/

over 700% increase in Google traffic!

2009-01-15T21:34:00.002Z

We have just achieved from SEPT to DEC a increase of over 700% in traffic from Google organic listings to one of our clients sites. From 600 visits to about 5500 visits. Infact we have increased the site traffic from 7000 visits total to 18,000 visits in that time period. So all in all a great success!

This was done by restructuring the website and optimising researched keywords into each page of the site.

2009-01-11T16:06:00.002Z

Voucher sites are cropping up everywhere. If you have a business and want to build a mailing list and enhance brand loyalty these sites are a great distribution hubs to get the word out. If your a consumer then you'll appreciate the credit crunch value: http://www.myvouchercodes.co.uk

IAB Online Adspend Study H1 2008

2009-01-01T22:13:00.001Z

These are the topline findings from the IAB Online Adspend Study showing details for the first 6 months of 2008. The topline figures were reassuring news, confirming that advertisers are continuing to realise the importance of online advertising to their marketing communications in what has been a difficult marketplace. This tracking study, dating back to 1997, presents the official industry measure and acts as the barometer for the health of the market. Total market size – Jan-June 2008

• Record spend: Online adspend in H1 2008 came in at almost the £1.7 billion mark at £1,682.5m.
• Growth: Spending on internet advertising grew by 21% year-on-year on a like-for-like basis. The advertising industry as a whole declined by -0.7%.
• Market share: Online’s share has grown to 18.7% for H1 2008, up from 14.7% for H1 2007.

Growth in context
• Internet advertising has grown faster than any other mainstream advertising medium.
• The UK advertising market as a whole declined by -0.7% year-on-year – a decrease £65.6m. Online on its own grew by £348.2m.
• All advertising markets experienced decline except for cinema and online.
• Following online’s growth of 21%, Cinema was the next fastest growing medium at 12%.

Advertising formats
The online industry has experienced strong growth across all advertising formats.

• Display: Display advertising accounted for 19.8% of online advertising during H1 2008 with £333.8m spent across all display formats throughout Jan-June 2008.
• Search: Paid-for listings maintained its position as the largest single format with a 58.3% share of the market. £981.0m was spent on search in H1 2008.
• Classifieds: Accounting for 21.5% of the market, classifieds continue their strong growth to £361.6m.
• Solus Email: Still a relatively new category to the IAB Online Adspend Study, with £6.1m being spent by advertisers, accounting for 0.4% of the market.

Source: http://www.iabuk.net

Technorati Link

2008-12-28T23:20:00.001Z

Click this!

Matt Cutts discovers surprising browser stats

2008-11-28T16:26:00.000Z

See article click here

I like this...

2008-11-24T15:18:00.001Z

Reality is the leading cause of stress amongst those in touch with it.
- Jane Wagner

Realbusiness have published article

2008-11-20T16:19:00.001Z

http://www.realbusiness.co.uk/news/how-to/5475156/how-to-manage-marketing-in-a-downturn.thtml#comments

Business networking at its best in London this Christmas

2008-11-20T10:26:00.001Z

I'm sure you know it’s the quality of the network, not the quantity, that counts.

The Executives Association of Great Britain is one of the oldest networking organisations in the UK and can trace its roots back to 1929. The Association has met monthly for nearly 80 years. Meetings take place at the prestigious Dorchester Hotel on Park Lane under the motto "Creating Business" and have generated tens of millions of pounds in business for members. This Christmas the Association is extending an invitation to all businesses in London and across the UK.

Damon Segal, CEO of AGI the association’s Marketing Director, says: “'After five years as a member, I have taken a position on the board to get the message out to a wider audience. In these times it is more important than ever for real businesses to pull together and network with other good quality businesses.
“There are so many networking groups available nowadays that it is all too easy to fall into a group filled with sales-oriented members who are not in senior positions with established businesses. As its name suggests, the Executives Association is just that; our members range from owners and directors to entrepreneurs and senior management.
“We believe that spending time over fine food, a glass or two of wine and finishing off with a focused hour of networking can produce results that will help bolster any business. The Christmas gathering is the crowning event in the Executives Association’s calendar and we want to maximise our attendance with new faces."

Rhidian Jones, MD of leading telemarketing firm Route 2 Market, says: "The Executives Association has been a great support to my business both in comradeship and contracts. Christmas is always great fun and I am always willing to ‘suffer’ a business lunch at the Dorchester. I'll definitely bring some clients to this event as it’s a great way to thank them for their business."

The Executives Association of Great Britain’s Christmas Luncheon will be held on Thursday 11th December. An optional bonus for guests and members is the hour of networking from 10:45am to 11:45am followed by a drinks reception with festive music by The Reading Band of The Salvation Army and then lunch with entertainment. It's a great way to get a feel for the Association and at just £90 + vat a head it won't break the bank. Tables are also available, so why not treat customers or staff.

About the Executives Association of Great Britain

Meeting monthly in London for lunch and networking at the Dorchester Hotel, we always have a top class speaker and members can entertain clients and seek out business opportunities. This year will see the introduction of more events, including more casual evening receptions and social activities.

The Executives Association of Great Britain is a member of the International Executives Association under the Transatlantic division. Within the International Executives Association there are some 110 Executives Associations in the USA, Canada, United Kingdom, Switzerland and South Africa representing over 5000 corporate members.

If you want to be a guest at any of our events you should contact

Jo Gideon, Director of Operations
Email: jo@eagb.biz or Call: 07957 151787
http://www.eagb.biz

How to manage marketing in a downturn economy

2008-11-15T10:25:00.002Z

Why should we keep marketing if no one is buying anything?

Read the answers on my latest article: Launchlab.co.uk

WORLD INTERNET USAGE AND POPULATION STATISTICS

2008-11-12T13:52:00.003Z

World Regions	Population( 2008 Est.)	Internet Usage,Latest Data	% Population( Penetration)	Usage% of World
Africa	955,206,348	51,065,630	5.3%	3.5%
Asia	3,776,181,949	578,538,257	15.3%	37.5%
Europe	800,401,065	384,633,765	48.1%	26.3%
Middle East	197,090,443	41,939,200	21.3%	2.9%
North America	337,167,248	248,241,969	73.6%	17.0%
Latin America/Caribbean	576,091,673	139,009,209	24.1%	9.5%
Oceania/Australia	33,981,562	20,204,331	59.5%	1.4%
World Total	6,676,120,288	1,463,632,361	21.9%	100.0%

As you can see from the above information Europe, North America and Oceana/Australia have a signiﬁcant reach based on usage ﬁgures. The United Kingdom shows that over 68% of the population are internet users (41,817,847 Internet users in June/08, 68.6 % penetration, per Nielsen Net//, 14,361,816 broadband subscribers as of June/07, per OECD, 23.6% p.r.)

Christmas Shopping is set to grow strongly - 13/10/2008

2008-10-25T23:45:00.000+01:00

IMRG research reveals Christmas Shopping is set to grow strongly, their report highlighted some key points

“68% of shoppers [surveyed] said they are more likely to shop online for Christmas presents this year”

“… with 77% of shoppers planning to carry out about half or more of their Christmas shopping online (in 2007 it was 56%) ”

Out of the 2 million people surveyed, “86% of shoppers will research Christmas shopping options before buying in-store”

“59% stated they plan to research gift options in-store before buying online”

“the research also reveals that 58% of respondents are looking to commence their Christmas shopping earlier this year, to spread the cost, citing the economic slowdown as the main reason”

An old Podcast, Conversations that Count

2008-10-25T23:38:00.000+01:00

In this podcast Damon Segal, Managing Director or (AGI) Action Graphic International, a full service branding agency with a specialist area in website development and marketing. Damon has been working with the internet since 1995 and talks with Rob Brown about the importance of internet/digital marketing and its position in the new marketing world.

Wednesday, 7 May 2008
CTC - Rob Brown & Damon Segal

http://www.gmnhome.com/podcasts/Podcast/Entries/2008/5/7_CTC_-_Rob_Brown_%26_Damon_Segal.html

UK vs USA Internet Access

2008-10-25T11:10:00.003+01:00

UK - 60,943,912 population ('08) - Country Area: 244,140 sq km

Capital city: London - population 7,554,236 ('07)

UK Stats vs USA for Internet Access

UK

41,817,847 Internet users in June/08, 68.6 % penetration, per Nielsen Net//.

14,361,816 broadband subscribers as of June/07, per OECD, 23.6% p.r.

USA

US - Population: 303,824,646 - Area: 9,629,047 sq km (3,717,812.82 sq miles)

Capital City: Washington D.C. - population 544,345 ('07)

220,141,969 Internet users as of June/08, 72.5% penetration, Nielsen//NR.

64,614,000 Internet broadband connections as of Dec./06, per FCC-CTIA.

Google Finance

2008-10-22T07:53:00.001+01:00

Here is a Google treat for the times http://finance.google.co.uk/finance

Google USA current hot trends for searching

2008-10-22T00:48:00.002+01:00

See the current hot 100 search terms based on US searching http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends

This one shows you traffic trends for specific sites http://trends.google.com/websites?q=wikipedia.org

Check out the result for mysapce.com, linkedin.com and facebook.com makes for an interesting read!

Keep up to date with social media

2008-10-21T08:29:00.000+01:00

Http://www.socialmedian.com is a great news site for all things social media

-- Post From My iPhone

Facebook Code Resource

2008-10-18T18:32:00.000+01:00

You can do some great development with this stuff! http://wiki.developers.facebook.com/index.php/Main_Page

SMO the new craze

2008-10-17T22:15:00.002+01:00

AGI now has a full social media optimisation service. From Facebook, to managed blogs and online press releases to social bookmarking. Take a look http://www.designerlondon.co.uk/page/SMO-Social-Media-Optimisation

Google alerts help manage your brand reputation

2008-10-17T21:23:00.003+01:00

http://www.google.com/alerts/

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. It is like a modern day press cutting service, you simply enter your search phrase and Google emails you any new posts that appear,