My firm’s online but I am real…
Just a quick note to say that I’m featured in the UK’s “The Independent” daily newspaper. The article quotes me as saying that many Internet businesses fail because the people running them don’t plan properly.
Internet Marketing
Holiday web sites arrive late to the party
You would think that the travel industry knew a thing or two about Internet marketing. After all, many people now book flights, holidays and other travel online, rather than in traditional travel agencies or booking offices. However, the latest “Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report” from WebTrends shows that only 23% …
Business urged to respond to changing behaviour
A senior research executive at Universal McCann, Tom Smith, has urged companies to respond now to the changing behaviour of people, rather than wait until it’s too late. He makes his comments in the January 2007 Revolution magazine which published details of Universal McCann’s latest research on blogging. This has …
A new year, so expect changes to Internet marketing
At this time of year you will find dozens of people and organisations making all sorts of predictions about 2007. Many of the predictions will be complete tosh. Others will have some substance. However, there as one prediction tucked away in a list of ten for 2007 that caught my …
Stop focusing on your web site – talk to people!
Every day, web site owners ask me how they can get more business online. Often they are shocked when I say that the most important thing to do is to concentrate their activities offline. The main reason I give is that around 60% of people visit a web site having …
User generated content – it really, really is important
You will have read a few times in this web site that user-generated content, in my view, is an essential component of a good web site. (You can add your comments below if you disagree..!) However, it’s not just me bleating on about this. Every year, Time Magazine announces its …
Don’t make your web site too restrictive – someone will try to get round you
Think back to when you were a child; did you ever try to get round your parents? My seven year old son, Elliot, took us by surprise yesterday. We had been out to the annual Christmas dinner and party held by my wife’s employers. We had left the house at …
Make more money online by establishing your expertise
Just think for a moment about the last time you bought a major item in a store. Did you consider several options first? Did you visit a variety of stores to check prices? Did you chat with a sales assistant to get some questions clarified? If you are like most …
Corporate web sites starting to get more viewers than TV programmes
According to the advertising trade magazine, Advertising Age, some corporate web sites are now getting more viewers than the TV programmes in which the companies also advertise their products. The report shows that the companies that are getting the highest numbers of visitors are those that go beyond simply having …
Your web site almost certainly has poor accessibility for the disabled
According to a new study of accessibility, 97% of web sites are not geared up for disabled Internet users. That means your site (and mine) probably fail the basic tests of being accessible for a variety of disabilities. Interestingly, the study found that 89% of sites had “poor navigation”. Considering …
Internet marketers in the UK – do they know something the Americans don’t?
A study just published on search engine advertising reveals that UK-based Internet companies are spending more than twice the amount per user as their American counterparts. In the USA, advertisers in 2006 will have spent $37.78 online for each Internet user. In the UK, advertisers will be spending $83.33 for …
What is a perfect web site?
If you were to look at a web design magazine these days you would notice that the web sites being hailed as “suberp”, “perfect” or “brilliant” are full of images, multimedia, clever bits of technology and so on. But when you ask Internet users, outside the web design industry, you …
Make your web site into a community
People just love being members of a community. Years ago, when we all lived in small settlements, our community was the group of people we lived with; for many people in the world this is still the case. Nowadays, we are members of several different “communities”. Our locality has taken …
Learning from the Threshers Internet voucher experience
In the UK, the wine and spirits retailer Threshers is front page news because of a discount voucher. It offered an online 40% discount voucher to a few selected people. But the voucher was posted on a blog and was downloaded by 800,000 people. Threshers say they are surprised, but …
Online retailers don’t seem to learn about usability
Every year there are studies of leading web sites to see how close they are getting to providing a good experience for their users. Every year, major businesses and well known brands are criticised in a range of studies for not making their web sites usable. So it comes as …