The other day, when I was just browsing the Internet, I came across this interesting piece of news in ClickZ. This particular report makes mention of the statistics that were revealed by Oneupweb. The report by ClickZ reads like this: Online retailers are still not taking full advantage of search engine optimization (SEO) opportunities with their Web sites, according to a new study by search and interactive marketing agency Oneupweb. In the study, “Once Again… There’s Still Money on the Table: Internet Retailer Study 2007,” Oneupweb looks at the SEO efforts of the top 100 retailers as rated by Internet Retailer magazine. At the top level, Oneupweb found:
· 20 percent of retailers’ sites were well-optimized
· 20 percent of retailers’ sites were moderately optimized
· 34 percent of retailers’ sites were nominally optimized
· 26 percent of retailers’ sites were not optimized at all
Overall findings were similar to those Oneupweb found in studies in 2004 and 2005, though some of the players improved, while others stayed the same, according to Tim Kauffold, director of business development at Oneupweb.

Now, we all know that it is important for a website to be optimised. This is because most people use search engines to actually find and locate websites. According to figures released by Forrester Research, more than 80% of the netizens use a search engine to find a website.

At the same time, an increasing number of people are using the online medium to carry out their shopping. According to the report released by the US Census Bureau, “U.S. retail e-commerce sales reached a little over $93 billion in 2005, up from a revised $76 billion in 2004—an annual gain of 22.2 percent. Rapid growth in e-retail has been the norm. From 2000 to 2005, retail e-sale increased at an average annual growth rate of 27.3 percent, compared with 4.3 percent for total retail sales.” Similarly, a report from the Internet Advertising Bureau also paints a rosy scenario of the online shopping industry in UK. It points out to the data released by the IMRG, which states that 20 million people carried out their shopping via an online medium. It has also predicted that in the year 2007, £42 billion will be spent online by UK shoppers. It also stated that 860 million parcels would be shipped to the UK’s 26 million Internet shoppers. In addition, online shoppers will each spend £1,600 on average.

Therefore, if you do not have SEO friendly site, you might be losing out on a large number of prospective customers and at a time, when e-commerce is registering a strong growth.

Now, if you feel that you are not the proper person as far as implementation of SEO is concerned, then you can approach a web solution company. You can also think about training some of your staff in SEO. There are many institutions offering online SEO courses.

So, if you want to have really grab a share of the online market, then you need to optimise your site for search engines.

In-game advertising on next-generation gaming systems is expected to grow to $852 million by 2011, fueled largely by connectivity enhancements in the consoles. The projection is part of a forecast released by ABI Research. The $852 million spending forecast for 2011 represents a more than ten-fold increase over the $80 million ABI expects this year. Earlier reports placed the category at $56 million in 2005. - The ClickZ Network

Well, if you are an Internet marketing professional or someone who is closely following the trends in internet marketing, then after reading the above-mentioned lines, you must have deduced ‘Oh! So this is the latest avenue for marketing my products and services.”

Large section of the population enjoys playing games. And, some of us might even be die-hard game addicts; though, being one is nothing to boast about. But, if you happen to be a cunning Internet marketing professional, you will say that there exists a large market that can be targeted by simply placing the ads in the video games.

According to Michael Wolf, research director, digital home, at ABI Research, “The growth and interest in this generation [of game consoles] is in part because the number of connected consoles are much, much greater. Attach rates for consoles are around 50 percent for this generation. When you have that many consoles connected to the Internet, it delivers a much wider base to deliver advertising to.”

In-game video advertising also allows you to reach out to your target market in an interesting manner. For instance, you can create an advert revolving around the game itself. This allows you to create a powerful message. In addition, since the advert is based on the game, viewers do not view it as ‘obstructive’. Moreover, the use of animation and latest video techniques adds an extra zing to your ad.

You can also create ads wherein they form a part of the game. For instance, you may create an ad in the form of a puzzle, wherein the player receives extra points or extra life after solving the puzzle. This will make the ad more attractive to the viewer.

So, if you are into Internet marketing, you can surely look forward to in-game advertising as the next big thing.

If you are Internet marketing professional, chances are that you will be looking for a new avenue to reach out to the audience. Most of us are interested in finding new avenues and vistas that will help us to establish a channel of communication. This is because most of us hate traveling down the beaten path. And beaten path, in case of Internet marketing refers to tried and tested forms of Internet marketing such as banner ads, email marketing and PPC [Pay Per Click] etc.

Well, the virtual world is dotted with a countless number of banner ads and then there are thousands of emails being sent on a daily basis, that it is difficult to guarantee success. That’s the reason why I say that, ‘If you are an Internet marketing professional, chances are that you will be looking for a new avenue to reach out to the audience’

Now, can I ask a question? Have you ever encountered the term ‘B2B website’?? All of you reply in unison, “ Of course yes! B2B website stands for Business- to- Business website and it is a platform wherein one business can communicate with the other.”

Well, that’s correct. Now, can I put forth another question, “ Have you ever thought about advertising on a B2B website?”

Hmmm, now advertising on a B2B site might sound like a strange idea to many. But there are statistics that underline the fact that B2B sites can prove to be an effective medium for Internet marketing and web advertising.

Well, data published by the UK Association of Online Publishers has revealed that 71% of visitors to a B2B website have clicked on an ad that is featured on that particular B2B site. In addition, 64% of the visitors have visited the website of the advertiser who had displayed his ad on a B2B site. The survey carried out by UK Association of Online Publishers has also revealed that 53% of the visitors did place a request for additional information.

Now, the aim of any Internet marketing professional is that a person should watch the ad, visit the website of the advertiser and request for information. Well, if the statistics are to be believed, then you should definitely try out advertising on a B2B website.

The data published by the UK Association of Online Publishers also reveals that 45% of those who participated in their survey state that they did purchase the advertised product online and 38% of the respondents turned out to be offline purchasers of the same product.

So, if you are an Internet marketing professional, who is on a look out for a worthy medium of web advertising, a well-known B2B website might just prove to be the perfect option for you.

Just go through this paragraph that was a part of a report that appeared in Reuters - “YouTube, the leader in Internet video search, said on Sunday viewers have are now watching more than 100 million videos per day on its site, marking the surge in demand for its “snack-sized” video fare. YouTube, the leader in Internet video search, said on Sunday viewers have are now watching more than 100 million videos per day on its site, marking the surge in demand for its “snack-sized” video fare.”

And this is the further continuation of the report, ““YouTube videos account for 60 percent of all videos watched online, the company said. Videos are delivered free on YouTube and the company is still working on developing advertising and other means of generating revenue to support the business.”

Now, if you are an Internet marketing professional, the above mentioned paragraphs will be like music to your ears. Video adverts are being viewed as an interesting prospect. It allows the advertisers to craft a variety of elements such as motion picture, sound and animation into their ads. Thus, the end product is very interesting. This makes it easier for the web advertiser to capture the attention of the netizens.

According to the figures released by eMarketer.com, the video marketing and advertising industry is going to be worth $3 billion by the end of 2010. Similarly, according to Bob Hanna, senor vice president of sales with Burst Media-a group that offers publisher sites to advertisers- “This [online video ads] could very well become the dominant form of online advertising … probably within the next 18 to 24 months”

The rising popularity of broadband has also meant that an increasing number of people are now open to the idea of watching online videos.

So, are you interested in creating a video advert for satisfying your online marketing goals? If your answer is yes, then you ought to keep a few things in mind.

Please do not use the ad that you run on TV for your online marketing purpose. Internet and TV are two different formats and TV adverts appear grainy when viewed on the Internet. Also, you should not exceed the time limit of 15 seconds. Long advertisements are a strict no-no.

So, happy video marketing!!!

These days due to many efficient search engines people can easily track a website down. It’s the website these days that is not co-operating. Many of them require user sign-up, which takes up at least 10-15 minutes of valuable user time. Companies who require user sign-up believe that it is essential to them, so they can track and maintain the user statistics.

For e.g. a particular user wants to go into the news archives and source out a particular piece of news that was published way back on, say, June 12, 1900. When the user reaches that website, what happens is that, he/she is required to sign-up. It not only takes time, but tests user patience. That way, these websites not only loose many visitors, but also they don’t let the search engines get into their pages. That way, they score very low on any search engine.

Moreover, these web pages are not even properly organized and sourced. Many of the web pages expire on opening and even if one manages to open a few of them, then there are no site maps, which will guide the user. Such small reckless mistakes can cause huge losses to the website. Many of them, who require sign-ups, use their visitor profiles for advertisers. Any advertiser would only invest in a website, if he sees a certain database of visitors who are likely to be interested in his product.

Many leading newspapers and archive websites have now given access to the users on their paid pages, free of cost. They are willing to do so, on the cost of their current revenue. That way, a user can decide whether he wants to pay for the products that a website has to offer, after he has seen the website and known it. But the company should not relax at it. They have to increase the volume of traffic towards their website, so that the loss they faced by giving their paid pages for free; can be incurred. This way by abiding to some search engine optimization basics, these sites can benefit a lot without going in huge losses.