Research published today shows that around half of the FTSE 100 companies do not have the technological capability to accept job applications online. That is putting them at a strategic advantage. Job hunters now use the Internet as a prime source of vacancies and want to use the online services to complete their applications. Most young people only use the Internet for job hunting, which means that the biggest companies in Britain are making it unlikely they’ll be able to attract new employees. Of course, the big businesses will probably blame it on lack of interest by young people. But yet again, this survey shows once more that big business is failing to understand the Internet and its relevance in today’s society.

Labels: internet, shopping

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Listening to the radio this morning I discovered that the biggest online retailer is the UK supermarket, Tesco. This company is a true phenomenon. One pound in every seven of the British economy is spent in Tesco stores. And today I discovered that it takes £1billion online – two thirds of all online grocery purchases are made at Tesco.com, with the remainder being shared by all the other online supermarkets. So, what does Tesco do that the others don’t? Firstly, Tesco has spent a great deal of time, money and effort in promoting its stores offline. In other words it has used traditional marketing techniques to drive people to its online store. Many Internet businesses neglect this, believing they can survive solely online; you can’t you need offline promotion techniques more than online ones – Tesco proves that. Furthermore, their store has a clean, easy to navigate shop front. No complex menu structures, but easy to understand directions of where to go for what you want. Once you start shopping, you discover that the store is fast – no waiting for the servers to update things. Considerable investment in technology has meant their online store responds quickly. One of the main reasons for shoppers to leave an Internet retail site is lack of speed. If you have an online shop, it must respond quickly which often means you need your own dedicated server to speed things up. So, Tesco’s success shows what you really need for online success, is a well structured and responsive web site that is largely promoted outside the Internet.

Labels: internet marketing

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Once again, research has confirmed what I’ve thought for ages – businesses just don’t understand blogging. A three month study involving nearly 2,500 businesses by Fasthosts has shown that the majority believe blogs have powerful business uses. But only 3% of companies in the survey actually plan to start a blog..! In other words, businesses appear to be aware of the huge benefits blogging will bring but are failing to take any action. That’s a real problem – businesses who do not have blogs will find it tougher to compete. Equally, many businesses without blogs will not be able to counter any negative blogs criticising their products and services. In other words, businesses that don’t set up a blog pretty quickly, will almost certainly lose trade and may even close down as a result. Blogs are no longer a business “nice to have” – they are absolutely essential to business survival.

Labels: blogging, internet

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I’ve just discovered a fantastic program that will help you track how well your web site is doing, as well as how often your articles get used around the Internet. I’ve also negotiated a special deal that will last only a few more hours. So be quick, click on this link to find out more about how you can track your pages for greater SEO – and for a mere $25.

http://www.sitepagetracker.com/grahamjones-special.php

Labels: internet, internet marketing

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I was at a meeting yesterday when one of the people I was speaking with picked up my business card and said “So, what is an Internet Psychologist anyway?”. So I explained, I help people succeed online by tapping into the psychology of the Internet. If you are running a business online, I help you ensure you connect with your users at the human, emotional level, helping you to make more money as a result. If you are following a career path, I help you ensure you use the Internet for its maximum effect as a leader, for instance. As a psychologist I have studied the way people behave online and the way the Internet integrates with our everyday activities. In a sense, I’m like a retail psychologist – that’s a psychologist who helps shop owners understand the behaviour of their customers. I help web site owners understand the behaviour of their visitors.

Labels: internet

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A survey of 750 of the world’s leading “futurists” has revealed a largely negative view of how the Internet will affect our lives by the year 2020. According to the research, we’ll have less access to the Internet because of limitations imposed by governments. The futurists also believe addiction to online virtual reality will be a major difficulty and that the Internet will be a hotbed for the production of terrorism. So, shall we all give up now? Of course not. This pessimistic view of the Internet is unlikely to come true. True enough, some governments will try to restrict Internet access, some people will get addicted to virtual reality and some people will be able to connect with those who have extremist views. But these kind of things have happened in human society for thousands of years, without the Internet. To suggest that the Internet is going to bring these things about is nonsense. Luckily one Berkeley professor who has commented on the research has said that social norms will iron out the worst excesses of the Internet. And that is right. The psychology of the Internet is little different to the behavioural aspects of human society without the web. We have had addiction, attempts by governments to control us and extremism without the Internet. And besides, futurists once predicted that the microwave oven would spell the end of eating out in restaurants..!

Labels: future, politics

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A couple from Lincolnshire, UK, had the surprise of their life this week when they found their three-year-old son, Jack, had bought a car from E-bay. And it was not just any car; it was a £9,000 bright pink Nissan Figaro. Luckily, the seller saw the funny side and didn’t hold the couple to the deal. However, this story shows that children can easily use the Internet – my son aged six does so and has been surfing the web for a couple of years now. Once they master the mouse, children find the Internet highly appealing thanks to bright colours, movement and the ability to zip from one topic to the next within seconds. And this story also shows one other important factor – children can so easily use the Internet, parents may need to provide some controls to prevent them spending all your money!

Labels: internet

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Google is a superb service for Internet marketers. It helps buyers find what you sell. However, for people selling particular products Google hasn’t been as helpful as it might. Shoppers had to use Google’s side-kick, Froogle for shopping. Since this wasn’t as well known as Google, many marketers found their products were not getting the level of publicity they would have liked. Well, in time for the Christmas shopping rush, Google is about to change. Froogle material is getting incorporated into the main search engine. So too is the experimental “Google Base”, already used by some Internet marketers. What will happen now is that shoppers will be automatically be presented with enhanced search options if they are looking to buy products online. That means Internet marketers who get their web sites organised and set up appropriately for Google are likely to see significant benefits.

Labels: internet marketing

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Internet criminals are targeting home users because they are easy prey. A new report by Symantec shows that attempts to hack into personal details have gone up by 81% in the past year. Many of these criminal acts succeed, as do the spam emails that we all get. They succeed because most people take no protection. Having an unprotected PC is the same as leaving your doors and windows open with a big sign outside your house saying “come on in, take what you like, I’m not going to even try to stop you”. Crime figures on our streets are falling; the criminals are now moving online.

Labels: internet

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The UK newspaper, The Guardian, suggests today that politicians need to harness the power of blogging. Indeed, the article says “The political party that can harness blogs to its cause is the one that will win the Internet campaigning war.” But it’s more important than that. Politics is losing more than the ability to campaign online. Few young people are interested in politics. Why? Well, the politicians live in a newspaper world, and young people live in an online, interconnected world. That’s why blogging is so important, not just for politicians, but for all organisations trying to connect with younger people. You need to do it via the Internet.

Labels: blogging

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According to the web testing company, Scivisum, 78% of Internet shoppers have become so frustrated with trying to buy something online they have switched off their computers. "Web rage" as it is being called is when someone tries to buy something from a web site, but too many clicks or technical problems lead to intense frustration. Slight delays in returning pages to people, for instance, are a cause of frustration. In these days of high speed broadband, Internet shoppers expect rapid responses. If your web site doesn't react quickly, if your server platform has technical problems or inadequacies, it's almost certain you are losing purchasers. According to Deri Jones the CEO of Scivisum, "online shoppers are showing zero tolerance to poor performance". So, you have been warned!

Labels: shopping

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The chances are you know where your prized possessions are. If I asked you to find your iPod or your mobile phone, you could probably get it within seconds. If I asked you where your partner was at the moment, or a member of your family, you could probably be reasonably accurate as to their whereabouts. But if I asked you where your passport was, you'd probably have to think. At least if you're like most people that's the case. In a new survey 72% of people instantly knew where their iPod was, but only half of the people in the survey could say where their passport was. So what does this tell us? It shows that you care for the things you love. And do you love your passport? Thought not. But therein lies a problem; if we don't love our official documents, and why should we, it means we probably don't care for them that much. And that means they are more easily open to criminals. So how much do you care for your Internet official documents? Passwords? Logins? Or other Internet based information. Is it any wonder that identity fraud is so easy. We are going to have to start loving our passwords as much as our iPods.

Labels: internet

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Few companies have written policies on blogs. People have been fired from their firms for blogging "from the inside". There are anonymous blogs apparently spilling the beans about particular companies. Plus, people who work for companies comment on blogs around the world. All of this activity has a significant impact on corporate reputation, yet most companies have no idea it is going on, let alone know what to do about it. Luckily an Arizona law firm has come up with some handy tips on setting blogging policies.

Labels: blogging, internet

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A report out today suggests that online retailers are losing millions of pounds each year because their sites are not accessible enough. What that means is that people with disabilities, such as sight problems, or a lack of an ability to use a keyboard, are not able to use many shopping sites. This means that retailers are losing out significantly. Millions of people with disabilities could be shopping online, but aren’t. When you think of it, the Internet is the perfect place to go shopping for those with disabilities. So it makes sense for retailers to adapt their sites to make that possible. However, few sites are accessible, in spite of legislation which requires it. They may not wish to stick to the letter of the law, but to avoid changing web sites is simply refusing cash. And that should be a big incentive for Internet retailers to change.

Labels: internet, internet marketing, shopping

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A new survey of blogging reveals that many large businesses see the value of blogging, but are not really doing anything about it. The study of 450 companies found that even though most of them understand what a blog is and that it would be valuable for their business, six out of ten of them aren’t blogging because of lack of time. A further 57% say they don’t know what to write about. That’s a problem. Blogging is not a “nice to have” in business these days. Indeed, Business Week magazine said last year it was a prerequisite for modern companies. When I’m giving speeches on blogging I make it clear that businesses who are not blogging now, will probably not be businesses in a couple of years time. It is that crucial. So, with six out of ten businesses in this survey not blogging because of lack of time, it suggests their eyes are not on the ball. They are spending time doing other things which could ultimately prove to be less important to their company than starting a blog.

Labels: blogging

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A survey of small businesses in New York has revealed a pretty poor usage of Internet marketing techniques. The research involved 600 businesses and found that two thirds of them use the Internet to increase sales. But the data also reveals that most of the respondents have a strategy of “hope” rather than any practical use of good Internet marketing. For instance, 65% of the companies don’t optimise their web sites. Only two in ten use an pay per click advertising. This is in spite of the companies in the survey claiming that the Internet was a key marketing channel for them. The data implies that most firms are setting up a web site and then hoping it will produce increased sales. That’s the same technique as producing a pile of printed brochures and leaving them on a street corner. What’s more worrying is the fact that the survey showed that even in the next six months most companies don’t plan any changes. There is obviously a significant misunderstanding in business as to the role of the Internet in helping to increase sales.

Labels: internet marketing

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Today’s Guardian newspaper in London, England, says that companies can no longer ignore online marketing. According to a report in the “Inside Marketing and PR” section, Leo Ryan, a partner in Ryan, Morrison & MacMillan said: “Every company and every brand is now realising that online simply has to be a part of their marketing mix.” But the report goes on to point out that finding people with expertise and experience in online marketing is very difficult. What’s clear is that there is a growing demand for Internet marketing experience in large companies, but very few people who can fill that gap. Getting expertise in online marketing is a clear way to getting promotion at work because of the skills gap that exists. Finding out more about Internet marketing is another good strategy in ensuring career progress. Clearly what will happen is that promotions will go to people with experience of Internet marketing. If you want to get on in today’s world, you need to understand Internet marketing and PR.

Labels: internet marketing

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There is a great deal of advice on the Internet about how to make money from your blog. Much of it is over hyped nonsense about how you can become a millionaire overnight without having to write anything, just chucking tons of text produced by other people onto a page. Apparently do this and you’ll be rich…! That’s a bit like saying I’ll  give you a box load of unrelated physical products and if you stand on a street corner you’ll sell the lot and become rich. Nonsense. However, you can make money from blogging – I do. But I don’t promise to make you an overnight millionaire – but I do promise to help you make a business from blogging. You can find out how to do that on my workshop on blogging, taking place this October.

Labels: blogging, internet marketing

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At January 23, 2007 12:34 AM  Anonymous said…

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