LexisClick Online Marketing

The deal struck between Microsoft and Yahoo! Last week, which sees Yahoo!’s search facility being powered by Microsoft’s technology for the next ten years, could have big implications for the future of search.

Yahoo!’s website will use Microsoft’s Bing search engine as Microsoft endeavours to take a larger share of the search market from the über-search giant Google. In return, Yahoo! will manage Microsoft’s search advertising business. Yahoo! will receive 88 per cent for ad sales accompanying search results on its site.

Rather than stepping out of the search market, as some rivals have suggested, Yahoo!’s Yoelle Maarek told the Daily Telegraph that the deal was actually “liberating” Yahoo!, enabling its team to focus their energy on front-end search innovations instead of making back-end tweaks.

This is an exciting time for Yahoo!, who also recently announced a partnership with Twitter that enables users to access personal real-time Twitter feeds from their Yahoo! homepage. These deals are both parts of Yahoo!’s goals of becoming more social and increasing its advertising strength.

But what does this mean for the future of search? Could the Google Giant really be under threat?

In three words: We doubt it.

Google has been getting some bad press recently, and is currently subject to European Union antitrust investigations. The online community wasn’t exactly “buzzing” about Google’s entry to the social media market, and in Italy Google executives were jailed after a video of a boy being bullied was posted on the site.

The thing about Google, though, is that it is constantly innovating while competitors chase to keep up. It has recently announced that it will be buying Picknik, an online photo editing service, while the latest beta of browser Chrome includes automatic translation options and enhanced privacy. And among the flurry of bad news last week, Google also launched a new advertising service, DoubleClick for Publishers, which combines AdManager with the DoubleClick DART platform – giving batter ad placement algorithms and enhancements to tracking and reporting of ads.

I think the Yahoo!-Microsoft partnership is an interesting move and ensures that energy and innovation continue to be injected into the world of search at some pace – which can only be a positive thing for everyone.

Read the full Daily Telegraph interview with Yahoo!’s Yoelle Maarek.

Marketing General, Search Engine Optimisation Google, Online Advertising, Online Marketing, Yahoo!

Mystery abounds in the music world over the identity of iamamiwhoami, an unknown (or at least for the moment unrecognisable) artist taking YouTube by storm.

The mystery videos, which feature a distorted blonde female singing, have caught the eye of Shane Richmond at the Daily Telegraph, who wrote an interesting piece speculating as to the singer’s identity, while music bloggers and fans are busy trying to guess the puzzle.

Viral videos are of course, nothing new. In fact, they predate sites such as YouTube and Google Video, originally being emailed and forwarded on from one friend to another. With the exponential grow of video and social networking sites, the popularity of virals exploded, and we all have our own particular favourites that we remember months or even years after we first clicked on them.

It goes without saying that virals can be amazing marketing tools – think of the Cadbury’s drumming Gorilla, for example, viewed more than a million times – but what makes a really good viral?

First, and most important, content is king. Humour is vital, of course, but funny is not the only thing that matters – your content should also be suitably different, unlike anything a viewer has seen before, which will make them more likely to want to talk about what they’ve seen, share it with their colleagues and friends.

Your viral content has also got to be something most people can identify with. For example, if you are selling a piece of high-level computing equipment, the ‘geek’ jokes that go down well among your colleagues might not have enough mass appeal for a wider audience (for that read your target customers) to find humour or that word-of-mouth factor in.

The guessing-game element from the iamamiwhoami videos acts as a perfect hook, as bloggers love having a mystery to solve. Names being tossed into the ring as potential stars of the campaign include Little Boots and Christina Aguilera, and if one of them turns out to be the true star, there will be much loved kudos for the blogger who named them first.

Short and sweet is another often-told message about viral videos. Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes: perhaps they’re sneaking a five minute break at work, or are sent a link to your viral campaign in an inbox containing 40 other messages. Remember time is precious – videos of two to three minutes are more likely to be watched and shared than an eight-minute epic, no matter how well produced or funny it is.

For information about how we can help with online marketing, contact us today.

We want to know what your favourite virals are – what stands out to you? Among mine are the hilarious FAIL blog and the Where The Hell Is Matt? series featuring Matt Harding dancing all over the world.

Let us know your favourite virals by leaving a comment on this thread!

Inspiration, Marketing General Online Marketing, online video, viral

I’ve just finished listening to a very interesting webcast by UK Shadow Chancellor George Osborne, during which he was asked about the competitiveness of the UK’s digital economy.

Osborne likened the development of super-speed broadband to that of canals, railways and road systems in centuries past, and I think that’s a fantastic analogy.

Should the Conservatives get elected at the next election (rumoured by pretty much everyone to be in May) they have plans to utilise part of the BBC Licence Fee to pay for the rolling out of superfast broadband to help ensure the UK remains and grows as a competitor in the digital economy.

Listening to Osborne’s speech, I couldn’t help thinking that the same was true for the UK’s millions of businesses.

A recent report by Kelkoo reveals that UK consumers were responsible for almost a third of all European online sales in 2009. The average annual spend by consumers in the UK was £1,102 on 37 items, while the rest of Europe spent, on average, £774 on 20 items.

Kelkoo forecast that in 2010 UK online retail sales will grow by 12.4% to £42.7 billion, while total retail sales will grow by just 1.7%. European online sales will grow by 20% to reach £153 billion.

Bruce Fair, Managing Director of Kelkoo UK, said of the findings: “2010 is when we will really start to see online sales achieving a significant share of overall retail trade in the UK. While the retail industry is showing slow signs of recovery, the online shopping sector bucked the trend in 2009 delivering double-digit growth, and is expected to continue to perform strongly in 2010.”

That means that getting your online marketing strategy right is more vital than ever this year.

With so many businesses, large and small, online, what you first need to think about is what makes your business stand out from the crowd. Can you offer the best prices, the fastest service, the most knowledge and professionalism in your market?

Identifying what it is that makes your business unique – and will attract and retain the customers you want – is an essential part of your business’s online strategy. Then there’s social media – how best can you use it to market your products and services?

These are just a couple of points you must consider when planning your online sales and marketing strategy. For expert advice on all aspects of online advertising, marketing and web design, contact LexisClick today.

Marketing General, Social Media Marketing Online Advertising, Online Marketing, Social media for business, Social Media Marketing, Web Design

Confidence and optimism are returning to marketing budgets, the latest IPA/BDO Bellweather survey reports.

While marketing spend fell for the ninth quarter in a row in the final quarter of 2009, the rate of that fall was at its slowest for almost two years, since the first quarter of 2008.

The survey reports that 35% of the firms questioned saw prospects improving, indicating confidence in the recovery from recession. This is, of course, still a slow and careful process.

Internet advertising budgets were among the winners, being revised up for the second quarter in a row., and while marketing spend was revised down in sales promotion and main media, this was at a slower rate.

The key to getting the best out of your marketing budget, no matter how big or small it is, is to ensure you’re spending wisely – getting the best possible results for your outlay. Whether you’re focusing your marketing spend on email marketing, online SEO, online advertising or a mixture of options, it’s always a good idea to seek expert advice.

Companies such as LexisClick live and breathe online marketing, and can help you make the most of your marketing budget.

To read the IPA Bellwether Report, click here.

To find out more about LexisClick’s services, click here.

Marketing General Online Marketing

If you’re new to the world of online marketing, terms such as SEO and Google Analytics can seem like little more than gobbledygook. Even if your business has had a presence on the web for some time, many people, particularly smaller businesses, don’t fully understand the terms or the services offered by the likes of Google, and thus their websites aren’t working as well as they should for their business.

In a recent article for the Sydney Herald, Valerie Khoo explored how relatively few people knew about the power of Google to help boost sales and raise the bottom line. Many were scared off by the terminology, or reluctant to admit they didn’t fully understand it. But it’s vital that business owners don’t shy away from the useful tools available to help their online marketing strategy.

At LexisClick, we specialise in SEO and know just how important it is to your business. That’s why we work with you to fully understand your business’s needs and objectives. We also have experts in website analytics, including the increasingly ubiquitous Google Analytics tool, and can help you to get the best from its features.

Stephen Bavister, Director of LexisClick, said: “We’re aware that, like anyone working in the industry, it’s easy to get caught up in the jargon – which can be confusing for people unfamiliar with the terminology. That’s why we’re happy to explain things in layman’s terms and don’t expect that you have to understand all the jargon to get the most out of online marketing. We’re conscious that it’s easy to blind people with science; we take care not to do that.”

If you’d like more information about our services, please contact us.

Read the Sydney Herald article in full here:

www.smh.com.au/news/technology/search-for-sales-success/2009/04/14/1239474853817.html

B2B Online Marketing, Google Analytics, Marketing General, Search Engine Optimisation Google Analytics, Online Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, SEO, Website Testing