Archive for August 2009

The big three search engines all reported their quarterly earnings last week. No guesses for who came out top of the heap.

Microsoft online ad revenues, the part of the business in which their search engines sit, were down 14% for the quarter. Even further behind, Yahoo figures were down a whopping 16%.

And Google once again confounded the critics and the recession by revealing revenues up another 3%.

This is as much about what Google does right, as what the other two do wrong. When it comes to Microsoft, as we mentioned previously, Bing has gone down very well with both consumers and experts, although some have questioned whether bing will end up being a has-bing…

Microsoft is making other moves to boost its online advertising revenue, with a recent announcement of an online version of their desktop based Office Suite. Although that might be as much about pressure from the likes of Linux based Open Office and of course Google Docs.

Google has recently made further inroads into areas previously dominated by the other two. This month they announced the launch of ad exchange where banner inventory can be openly traded. Yahoo are already in this space, and Microsoft say they too will enter next year. The company that gets it right is ensured another huge revenue stream.

Who is going to win the race? Well from a users perspective I think few can doubt the ease and depth of searching on Google compared to the other two. And the rate of innovation at Google means that anyone else is going to have a hard time catching up. Of course as any advertiser will tell you, Google’s tools far outstrip the others for ease of use and for results too.

Google’s dominance looks pretty set. But I wonder for how long will we put up with a single big company occupying our online experience? Leave us a comment below.

Many has been the time on here where we’ve wondered: ‘what is the point of Twitter?’ Twitter usage has exploded, but for every person who tries it out, it seems like 10 more say ‘I don’t really get it’.

More recently we’ve revealed some tools that help you get more out of Twitter to market your website. These include alerts for specific keywords, and automated following tools. But the truth of the matter is that it’s all a bit vague, and we’re all still finding our way.

And that’s probably why Twitter themselves have come up with ‘Twitter 101′, a step by step beginners guide that shows companies how to use Twitter to generate new business and look after existing customers.

It’s all broken down into 6 sections, starting with the basics such as “What is Twitter?” and “Learn the Lingo”.

There are also lots of case studies that show how companies have managed to fit Twitter into their established marketing channels. Examples include Tasti D Lite, NakedPizza, Pepsi, American Apparel and Dell. Dell of course recently claimed to have generated millions of pounds worth of sales from Twitter, although we previously questioned whether that can be truly measurable.

Twitter has seen the potential that its micro-blogging service has for businesses, and no doubt wants to foster and enhance adoption rates.

On Twitter 101 it says: “The conversational nature of the medium lets you build relationships with customers, partners and other people important to your business.

“Beyond transactions, Twitter gives your constituents direct access to employees and a way to contribute to your company — as marketers say, it shrinks the emotional distance between your company and your customers.

“Plus, the platform lends itself to integration with your existing communication channels and strategies. In combination, those factors can make Twitter a critical piece of your company’s bigger digital footprint.”

At the moment Twitter has said it has no plans to charge for the service. But it’s got to start making money at some point – so this may well be an area that they monetize in future.

If you don’t yet see what the point of Twitter is, then have a look at Twitter 101 to see if that helps you out. Has anyone had any Twitter success (or failure)? Want to follow WebEden on Twitter? Leave us a comment below.

The latest UM ‘Power to the People’ study has revealed that the number of people now online has hit 625million. Of these, nearly two thirds have joined a Social Networking site such as Facebook, Twitter or Myspace.

The growth of social media has been of particular focus to the study. The study questioned 22,729 internet users in 38 countries, which makes it the largest global analysis of social media usage.

It shows that not only are people using social networking sites more and more, but they are using them to do far more things. Users are more likely to use social networks to blog, upload photos & videos and to use their widgets too.

In terms of specifics: 76% of social networkers upload photos; 33.1% now upload videos;  29.1% now write a blog; and 34% install widgets on their profile page.

“Social media is a very fast evolving landscape and one that’s taking an increasingly important role in consumers’ digital lives”, said Glen Parker, research director at UM EMEA.

What does this mean when you’re building a website with WebEden? At the very least, it shows the potential power of people’s online social networks to recommend websites and products. The latest WebEden release allows you to integrate your website with both Facebook and Twitter; invite people to become ‘members’ of your website’; and to update your status from your WebEden website. These call all help you start to harness the power of social networks, in order to drive visitors to your website.

Who has so far had success integrating their site with their social networks? Leave us a comment below.