Thoughts from the Shelf

A recent survey conducted by Digital Media firm Guava on trends of the 2010 UK search industry, added weight to the general coconscious that in the aftermath of the tough financial climate in 2009, businesses are looking to expand their search budgets for SEM and take a cautious step towards Social Media Marketing.

A copy of the 2010 search trends report is available from the Guava site.

Paid Search Services:

Keyword research still leads the list of paid search activity with 77% of clients actively researching keywords prior to running paid search campaigns. A worrying statistic, leaving 23% of businesses are relying on other means to establish a paid search strategy.

Up 10% and 11% respectively was contextual advertising and competitor research as advertisers look to exploit gaps in an increasingly competitive market place and look to utilise new, cheaper mediums for paid search display.

Organic Search Services

Again keyword research topped the charts with 69% of companies researching terms before they create an SEO campaign. Surprisingly this was up 12%, suggesting in a tough financial climate, businesses are becoming more aware of the benefit of putting long term SEO strategies in place.
Social media consultation was an activity only 35% of people sought, suggesting the ineffective way of measuring an ROI on social media platforms is preventing businesses from committing reduced budgets to social media projects.

That said social media marketing was one area of the search market that record substantial growth with 59% of companies partaking in social media marketing in 2010, up 25% on 2009.
Interestingly the local search market has reached a plateau, even with Google’s quest for both personalised and regionalised search results. Shopping comparison site also saw a reduction of 1%, down to 26%.

The hard times are over

With 60% of companies looking to increase their organic search budget in 2010 and 52% their paid budgets, we are moving into a period where both markets will become increasingly competitive.
With 49% and 22% of companies intending to spend over £50k in 2010 on paid and organic search respectively, and more importantly significantly more are looking at medium budgets above £5k, it’s clear that businesses are looking to further expand excising organic search strategies. Could this be that they have proved a welcome safety net in hard times and businesses are waking up to their true value, especially in lean times where paid search budgets are pruned.

Objectives

72% of companies do still however look at SEO as a means to drive traffic to a website. With 54% of companies partaking in paid search looking to convert directly into direct sales, it seems that there is a misconception about how valuable target organic traffic can be to a site. With a typical conversion rate 50% higher than paid search, businesses still regard ‘free organic traffic’ as a ‘catch all’ as opposed to targeted sales generation tool.

This is again very different for social media where a huge 72% of companies see social media projects as nothing more than a brand building exercise. Again it seems the harsh reality of not being able to determine and ROI is preventing companies from viewing social media as a credible medium for sales generation.

Poorly converting websites and lack of internal resource is still the biggest barrier to paid and organic search marketing. For social networks 43% of retailers deem measuring success as the biggest hurdle to committing budget to the medium.
Conclusion

There is no surprise that Twitter and Linkedin have recorded impressive growth rates over the last twelve months, up 32% and 14% respectively and the continued growth of Facebook is also up 13%. Compared to the decline of social bookmarking sites Digg, Delicious and Wikipedia, down 8%, 7% and 6% respectively, a trend is developing in social media where users are requiring increasing levels of interactivity online.

The success of the Facebook plug-in and its integration into many ecommerce sites suggests added interactivity is the way users want shop online, effectively connecting with social networking sites whilst visiting different retailers. With one constant profile across the web, users are embracing the ability to recommend products and shop whilst connected to a social network.

In our introduction to affiliate marketing we are taking a case study to view how an affiliate management system can boost a sites reach to customers as well as earn webmasters an extra dollar a day.

The first thing in partaking in affiliate marketing is registering with an affiliate network. There are many to choose from and commission rates of merchants registered to each network vary hugely.
To name a few of the leading affiliate networks – Affiliate Future, Affiliate Window, Commission Junction and Trade Doubler – all have a huge selection of merchants signed up and offer an array of affiliate options.

There are several ways to partake in an affiliate campaign, decide on a merchant first or to make monetise an existing site. If you choose to monetise and existing site you may find yourself in a particular niche receiving highly targeted traffic. You only problem therefore is to select appropriate merchants whose product would best suit your established audience.

To target an audience from scratch you will first have to research the sector in order to select an area that either interests you the most as the webmaster, or most likely would has the potential to make you the most money.

When identifying a sector to target you should identify and evaluate several areas. The commission rate offered by leading merchants in that sector is important to you as an affiliate, as you will want to link to sites with the most appealing product ranges in order to boost conversion. The competitiveness of the sector is also important if you are entering a market and trying to establish yourself.

Lastly you should research as much site centric data as possible including the average basket size of merchants as well as conversion rates. Most leading merchants will advertise this data in order to encourage affiliate sign ups, but it’s essential to get the biggest slice of the pie by sending visitors to sites that you can trust will convert users with good average basket values.

As one case study Oak Furniture Land are a leading merchant on both Affiliate Future and Affiliate Window. With an average shopping basket size is over £700 and 2% ecommerce conversion rate, an established audience convert high value orders due to amazing prices on coffee tables, sideboards and other hardwood furniture.

We will view next time third party affiliate management and affiliate marketing in the social sphere and how that can affect you potential earnings. This particular merchant’s affiliate program is run by Existem and direct affiliation is also an option.

Haiti earthquake – the problems get worse.

Just a note of support to the millions of people suffering ring after the catastrophic Haiti earthquake earlier this month.  Charity donations are still urgently needed to support the owrk of aid agencies working at the haiti earthquake disaster zone.

I have been watching the news coverage for several days, and the Haitian people seem to be remarkably peaceful and patient given the enormity of their crisis and need. Despite the problems with roads, there should be a way to get supplies into Port Au Prince. News programmes are showing doctors operating with rusted saws – at least the doctors are being resourceful and helping the people, but after this many days, there should be more organized help for these people affected by the earthquake in Haiti.

Flights to Dubai Desert Experiences

Bonkers Dubai is like no other city on earth. Sprouting from the desert, it boasts the tallest, biggest, fastest and largest of just about everything – flashy.

Dubai is fast becoming a popular destination for travellers – both Dubai and Abu Dhabi Airport are major international hubs – and holiday makeres who find cheap flights to Dubai allow them to explore this crazy town

Float above Dubai in a hot air balloon

If you start to feel blasé about Dubai’s extraordinary architecture, it could be time to escape the city and see the dramatic desert landscapes that surround it. One of the most exciting ways to see the desert is to take a sunrise trip in a hot air balloon. The tropical cityscape lies in one direction, and the rugged Hajj mountains in the other, with desert stretching as far as the eye can see.

http://www.ballooning.ae/

Bash some dunes

If heights aren’t your thing and hot air ballooning is out, give dune bashing a try. This desert safari experience involves riding the sand dunes in a 4×4 vehicle, often with other activities included in the package, such as a camel ride, an evening barbecue, and belly dancing performances. There are heaps of tour companies in Dubai offering dune bashing safaris, so they’re easy to arrange for individuals or groups. Not for those who get car sick easily!

Live your Formula 1 racing dream

If you’ve ever played the latest Xbox 360 and PS3 games and dreamed of climbing into a F1-style single seater, and getting strapped in to drive on a race track, get yourself down to  Dubai Autodrome’s Race & Drive Centre. Wings, slick racing tyres and the roar of 180 BHP: you get to drive a high performance racing car and learn advanced driving techniques from an experienced instructor who acts as your co-driver. Fast and fun.

http://www.dubaiautodrome.com

Charity Christmas Cards

Christmas shopping has begun early for the Shelf the aim is to have all cards and presents ready to send the moment there is a window of postal opportunity. This years cards shall be selected from the wonderful charity christmas cards offered by organisations who hope to provide relief natural disasters around the world.

Educational Toys

It may just be that I’m in a particularly bad mood, having been into the toy department of a noted High Street chain store (are we allowed to mention brand names?) to find shelves labelled ‘Boys’ Toys’ and ‘Girls’ Toys’, where the boys’ toys were Lego, dig-your-own-dinosaur kits and generally anything constructive, educational or interesting, while the girls’ toys were, without exception, pink and sparkly, and were concerned with personal appearance and/or celebrity, but I find this actually offensive (it’s tomorrow, and I’m still cross).

Open a savings account with Fish Bank

One marvelous educational toy to get both boys and girls learning about money is the Fish Bank – a perfect way to get the kids to start a savings account

Quirky and interactive, fish bank creatively rewards your saving with cool animations each time you deposit a coin. Able to recognise all sterling coins, it automatically keeps track of the total amount of money deposited and you can even set a savings account goal to reach so when the goal is met there is a payoff.

Charity Gifts for Children?

The popularity of charity gifts may encourage you to choose something for a child.  With the bes intentions at heart we would warn to tread carefully.

I don’t think a present of a goat for a child as a present at all. As for myself I certainly would not appreciate getting a goat. Am I the only one who feels this way – or have I missed the point?