Harvey Norman raises white flag in online fight

Electronics and furniture retailer Harvey Norman will launch anonline store “within weeks,” signalling it will cease its public battle with the government over internet shopping, according to sources knowledgeable in the matter.

The insiders confirmed a News Ltd report that Gerry Harvey, the retailer's managing director, would soon unveil a "sizeable internet presence”.

“My heart's beating very strongly on whether we make any money out of it," he told News. "I haven't got any choice. I've got to cannibalise our stores."

The rise of online shopping has put pressure on Australia's so-called bricks and mortar retailers who face higher costs for staff, distribution and real estate than their internet rivals. The rising value of the Australian dollar has supercharged the trend of local consumers shopping online from retailers based in the US, UK and elsewhere.

That squeeze helped send store-based retailers REDgroup - owner of Borders and Angus & Robertson book shops - into administration last month. Owners of clothing retailer Colorado said today they would have to place the company into administration after a recovery plan was rejected by creditors.

Harvey Norman declined multiple requests for comment on the plans. The retailer extensively upgraded its website in late 2009, adding many needed functions for online sales  - except the ability for consumers to purchase directly.

Back down

Harvey Norman's decision to compete for internet sales comes after Mr Harvey set off a firestorm of in November when he singled out the federal government for allowing consumers to buy online merchandise valued up to a $1000 from overseas without paying GST.

The retailer later said he would create on offshore website that would skirt paying GST by shipping to consumers directly from China. Rival retailer Myer has already embarked on a similar plan.

Harvey Norman's planned move online is understood to be under the Harvey Norman brand name. It's also understood a compromise was reached between Harvey Norman and its franchisees to divide online revenue based on customer locations.

The electronics retailer's franchise model and extensive property holdings were long considered stumbling blocks to Harvey Norman's entry into the online market, industry sources said.

Southern Cross equities retail analyst Paresh Patel said the online move was an acknowledgment of the shifting retail environment.

In addition to eroding traditional sales, the shift may also put pressure on commercial property values, he said.

“If sales online take off then what does it mean for the store and the rents they can demand for the store owners?” said Mr Patel.

The structural shift in the way retailing works in Australia wasn't just an issue for Harvey Norman but for big property owners Westfield and Centro, as well, Mr Patel said.

eBay Australia head of communications Daniel Feiler welcomed Harvey Norman's move online.

“From eBay's perspective having more Australian retailers come online is a good thing because we think e-commerce is growing quickly and it's just going to grow the pie more quickly,” Mr Feiler said.

Story by Chris Zappone www.smh.com.au

Sensis shrinks the Yellow Pages

I’ve been wondering when Sensis would start to trim this old stalwart, now that the majority of people search for businesses on line.

Research has been around for a long time indicating the decreasing number of people that actually use the traditional form of Yellow Pages, so it’s not a surprising they would scale this down, wonder why it has taken them so long. 

They have still persevered though in charging small business owners like wounded bulls for the privilege of advertising in a medium that has been reaching less and less people everyday.

For those of you who would like to read the full story from the Sydney Morning Herald, I’ve included it below for you:

 

“The familiar sight of unclaimed phonebooks stacked outside apartment blocks will be around for a little longer - but it’s certain to be a smaller pile from next year.

Telstra subsidiary Sensis will scrap the second volume of the Yellow Pages print edition in response to competition from the internet, pushing its less profitable categories online as it tries to halt a slide in earnings.

Sensis will cut the second book by cutting the large number of categories - more than 2000 - which contribute just 11 per cent of Yellow Pages revenue but add sizeable bulk and cost to the print product.

Categories such as government administration, defence, forestry and agriculture categories are amongst those to have won less than 10 per cent of the advertising pie for Sensis and may be amongst those to be axed.

By contrast, more than half of Yellow Pages revenue comes from 230 ‘‘tier one’’ categories and nearly 40 per cent from 530 ‘‘middle tier’’ categories. Sensis considers the health and construction industries as prime clients with more than 40 per cent of market share.

Sensis claims that most of us still go to the Yellow Pages to look for a plumber.

About 10 per cent of Sensis’s costs come from printing and distributing the Yellow Pages.

With the Yellow Pages under pressure from online search engines, many users are either opting out of receiving the books or throwing the directories straight into the recycling bin when they arrive.

Sensis said that so far 20,000 Australians have asked not to receive the Yellow Pages directories.

The dominant online search engine Google is often criticised by small and medium enterprises for its AdWords function which is seen as poor for local searches. The emergence of classified websites such as carsales.com.au, realestate.com.au and Seek.com.au have also eroded the attraction of the Yellow Pages.

Sensis boss Bruce Akhurst said earnings would fall this year and for the next two years as costs are cut and it invests in its digital business. He said that while the print directory still had a ‘‘valuable role to play ... we recognise the shift to digital is likely to continue.’’

Telstra’s crown jewel never met targets set by former boss Sol Trujillo in November 2005 for Sensis to double revenue to $3 billion by 2011. Its ability to reach the forecasts were to be a key part in the success or otherwise of Telstra’s five-year turnaround strategy.

Financial analysts are disappointed at the division’s outlook. Mark McDonnell from BBY said it was unsatisfactory. ‘‘I think this reflects very poorly on the business and its management.’’

Story by Michael Evans www.smh.com.au

SMBs Turn to Social Before Search

Social media is the top online marketing channel for small businesses after company websites

According to the American Express OPEN and Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO) “Small Business Search Marketing Survey”, US small businesses recognize word-of-mouth as the top way their customers find them, followed by the internet and search engines.

The reliance on word-of-mouth—likely along with the low cost in dollars of participating—has led small businesses to make social media their No. 2 online marketing effort, after company websites. As of March 2011, 44% of respondents to the survey used social media for marketing, vs. 28% who used SEO and 21% who used paid search. Looking ahead, more small businesses planned to add social media marketing this year than either search tactic.

Other research supports the finding that small businesses have made social a top priority. A February 2011 MerchantCircle survey found over 70% of US local small businesses used Facebook for marketing, while only about two-thirds used Google and one-third used Bing.

While 57.2% of small business respondents told Ad-ology that social media was at least somewhat useful at generating leads, the MerchantCircle survey found local small businesses were more likely to say search engine marketing was an effective channel than social networks, at 40.2% vs. 36.7%.

Social may have an easier learning curve and require less direct spending by small businesses that are less experienced with online marketing—and the “must-do” factor helps as well—but time-tested online marketing methods like search should not be ignored. Search, in particular, unquestionably helps businesses get found by consumers right when they’re looking to buy.

Facebook Has Big Lead in Avg. Monthly Minutes

While Facebook.com trailed Google in unique US monthly audience during February 2011, the average Facebook user spent substantially more time on the site than any users of any other sites, according to new data from The Nielsen Company.

Google had a unique audience of about 147.9 million, 13% more than Facebook’s unique audience of about 130.8 million.

Time is On Facebook’s Side.

 

The average Facebook user spent about six hours and 36 minutes on the site during February 2010. That is roughly triple the average monthly time of two hours and 10 minutes on Yahoo, the site with next-highest average minutes total. Google ranked fifth at one hour and 15 minutes.

Multi-category, Map Sites Dominate Travel Category

Map and multi-category sites remain the most popular type of travel websites; Google Maps led the way with 67.3 million unique US visitors in February 2011, followed by MapQuest (24.7 million) and Yahoo Local (13.1 million). Despite the shorter month, both MapQuest and Yahoo Local saw slight increases in the average time visitors spent on their site.

Map sites account for four of the 10 most popular travel sites, while multi-category travel sites – led by Expedia, account for half of the top 10. Southwest Airlines, at sixth, is the sole airline represented in the top 10 during February 2011.

Multi-category travel sites TripAdvisor and Orbitz were the only other two among the top 10 to see an increase in the average amount of time (16.7% and 10.9%, respectively) visitors spent on the site compared to the longer January 2011 month.

Overall MOM Web Usage Down

Month-over-month unique audience and average time spent figures were down, in some cases by more than 10% (and approaching 20% for certain travel sites), for all the top 10 web brands and six of the top 10 travel sites. Overall US web usage figures for February 2011 demonstrate these trends follow the norm.

For example, in February, the average US web user had 54 sessions, down 8.4% from 59 the prior month. Domains visited dropped 8.1%, from an average of 99 to 91 per person. There were also declines in month-over-month average per person figures for web page views, PC time, duration of web page viewed, and active digital media universe. The current digital media universe stayed virtually flat at a little less than 300 million.

Google, Yahoo UA Down, Facebook UA Up from Feb. ‘10

While February being a short month is likely a reason for at least some of the generally decreased topline statistics compared to the prior month, a year-over-year comparison of Nielsen data shows Google had more visitors in February 2010. Google also held the largest unique web audience in February, but at almost 154 million it was about 5% higher than Google’s February 2011 audience.

Meanwhile, Facebook, ranked third among web brands in February 2010, grew its year-over-year unique audience 10%, from 118.8 million to 130.8 million. This allowed it to switch places with February 2010 number two Yahoo, which lost about 6% of its unique audience of 134.1 million, recording about 126.5 million in February 2011.

Facebook’s Diversification Drives Continued Growth

Site evolves into all-purpose web destination for messaging, video-sharing, gaming and more

 

Facebook, the largest social network in the US as well as the world, has been adding members at a rapid clip for the past two years. While that growth will moderate now that the social network is reaching a saturation point among many age groups, it will continue to gain audience for the foreseeable future.

eMarketer estimates that 132.5 million people in the US will be users of Facebook this year; by 2013, that number will increase to 152.1 million.

“Facebook’s recent successes—and its future prospects—are intrinsically connected with the site’s diversification,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Facebook Users: The Juggernaut Rolls On.” “What started out as a pure-play social network has evolved into an all-purpose destination that is beginning to replace email, instant messaging, video sharing, gaming and other activities that were otherwise scattered across unconnected venues.”

This growth will be driven primarily by increased Facebook use among older boomers and seniors. At the same time, teens and young adults will remain the site’s most active and engaged age groups. Compared with other age groups, they show extremely high penetration rates, spend more time on the site and have more friends in their networks.

The 18-to-44 age segment represents the largest demographic slice, 56.7% of Facebook users, and is a key target for marketers.

“With so many options to promote their brands on Facebook and its partner sites, marketers have little choice but to formulate a cohesive social media strategy,” said Verna. “Whether they advertise on Facebook, seed viral content on the site, build their digital presence through branded pages, use the ‘like’ button in their own content or mine data from users’ newsfeeds, marketers have a wealth of methods for monetizing the massive Facebook audience.”

A Look at the True Twitter Audience

Not as large as many optimistic estimates

Reports of Twitter usage can vary widely. The company itself reported that as of September 2010, 175 million accounts had been created. Firms that track unique visitors to Twitter.com tallied between approximately 20 million and 26 million per month last year.

But because of duplicate accounts, international users, “Twitter quitters” and the fact that many visitors to Twitter.com are simply reading public tweets and not truly using the service, those numbers are nearly all higher than survey data that asks internet users about their online and mobile habits.

“Twitter users are a sizeable and growing bunch, but their numbers are considerably smaller than those disseminated by many media outlets and Twitter itself,” said Paul Verna, eMarketer senior analyst and author of the new report, “Twitter Users: A Vocal Minority.” “In the US, this means tens of millions of users, as opposed to hundreds of millions.”

eMarketer estimates that 20.6 million US adults will access a Twitter account at least monthly this year, up 26.3% from 16.4 million last year. Growth will continue in the double digits through 2013, when nearly 28 million adults will be Twitter users.

This estimate is primarily based on a meta-analysis of surveys that polled people on their actual use of Twitter, regardless of platform.

A demographic profile of Twitter users from the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that 10% of US female internet users and 7% of US male internet users used Twitter. The service was decidedly more popular among younger adults, a result supported by other research.

Mobile is a large and growing platform for Twitter users. comScore noted that in January 2011, 7.8 million US mobile device subscribers used Twitter on their phones—a steep 66% increase over the previous January.

“Brands should consider the demographics and usage habits of the Twitter audience as they plan marketing initiatives and ad buys on Twitter,” said Verna. “Setting realistic expectations based on a thorough data analysis will yield better results than getting swept up in overhyped estimates.”

Days of Double-Digit Growth in Social Network Users Are Over

Reaching a saturation point in some age groups

Social networking now reaches most internet users in the US and has become an integral part of their lives. Thanks to the rapid growth of Facebook, updating status, posting comments and sharing links with friends have become routine activities for millions of people.

eMarketer estimates nearly 150 million US web users will use social networks via any device at least monthly this year, bringing the reach of such sites to 63.7% of the online population. But the days of double-digit growth in users are over as social networking reaches a saturation point. By 2013, 164.2 million Americans will use social networks, or 67% of internet users.

“With fewer new users signing up, social network users will be more sophisticated and discerning about the people and brands they want to engage with,” said Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer principal analyst and author of the new report, “US Social Network Usage: 2011 Demographic and Behavioral Trends.”

Even as the social network audience has broadened to include a significant number of people from the Generation X, boomer and senior age segments, the youngest age groups are still the most represented, active and engaged. The enormous usage increases in some older age groups over the past two years will be less pronounced in the coming years.

Still, more than half of internet users ages 45 to 64 and over four out of five 12- to- 34-year-old online users will be regular social network users in 2011. The highest penetration level of all age groups will remain in the 18-to-24 age group, where 90% of internet users will use social networks this year.

“In 2011, social networks will need to cement their relationships with their users, particularly people ages 35 and older, in order to keep them engaged,” said Williamson. “Marketers and media companies can contribute to this effort by creating compelling user experiences that make people want to stay connected to social networks so they can gain access to experiences, deals or content they may not be able to find anywhere else.”

Blog Commenting Software

There are a number of factors that search engines use to rank a web site, and as search engines often change the algorithms used to determine rank it can sometimes be very difficult to keep up to date.

One of the factors that Google for example uses to rank web sites is back links, or the number of incoming votes from external web sites or domains to a web site. The more votes for a web site, the higher Google and other search engines will place your web site in the SERP’s .

Other factors also come into play, the age of your domain name, the older your domain name is the better as search engines will trust your site more than a newer site, how much authority or page rank your site has, how may web pages are trying to rank in the top 10 for your keyword and even how long your domain name is registered for are all factors.

The reason back links are important, is the more votes a site has usually indicates the popularity of that site and its content with other web users. Search engines love popular sites.

It is harder to generate votes for a static web site than it is for a blog based site such as Wordpress, due to the fact that most blogs are updated on a daily basis whereas most static based sites often get few or no updates.

One of the techniques that you can use to generate back links for your site is by placing comments on blogs that you either read or follow on the web. This is even better, if you can find a blog that allows for a “follow” link back to your web site.

What is a follow link? Some time ago Google invented a piece of code that can be inserted into a hyperlink that tells search engines “not to follow” that link from its place on a web page.

This essentially stops most search engines from following the link, so it effectively stops the link juice, it does not however stop the traffic from following a link on your site.

Web pages that have 100 or more links on them can be penalised by search engines and in this, read Google, so if you have a web page that features a lot of advertising links, say for example on your home page, then you could be penalised for having a lot of links, this is usually one of the tell-tale signs of a spam site.

Likewise, having no code placed in the link means that a search engine will follow the link and discover in some cases new web sites. You can also use this method if you’d like to get your web site indexed quickly in the search engines, as placing a link on a web site already in Google’s index will result in your site being indexed quickly as Google will “follow” the link.

Creating votes or back links for your web site, whether you use a blog based site or a static web site is not easy, there are some web masters who believe that the process of link building is easy, that’s because they like to use paid link building services and a quick search on the web will uncover a number of these services on the web. But you need to be very careful with buying links, Google frowns on this and will penalise your web site if it catches you doing it.

One of the ways you can build back links to your web site is by commenting on other writers or companies blogs, most of these blogs still allow follow links back to your blog, and if they happen to have a very high page rank with Google, this adds considerable SEO value to your blog.

If you have a blog and want to start building links this way, one thing you do not want to do ever, is to use automated blog commenting software, I find with my blogs, I constantly get comments that are generated by these stupid software programs.

These comments often have no relationship to my article, are blatant advertising or add nothing to the discussion and it’s very obvious that they have been generated by a software program because in most cases we humans do not speak this way.

I will delete them without a second thought as they add nothing to my blog.

So when creating your comment, always make sure that you make it relevant either to the content on the blog or the story you have been reading, if you do this, the blogger will appreciate that they have a real person taking the time to comment and you’ll always get published which includes your link.

Long-Tail Websites Boost Ad Efficiency

Placements on smaller, niche sites increase response to ads

Many advertisers stick to the top sites on the web when planning an online campaign, but overlooking less-trafficked sites could be a mistake.

A study by contextual targeting firm CONTEXTWEB of more than 1,000 ad campaigns across 18,000 publisher sites during the second half of 2010 found that ads placed on long-tail sites—those with an overall reach smaller than 1.5% of the internet population—had a significant lift in clickthrough rate compared with ads on larger web properties. Overall, long-tail sites lifted click rates by 24%.

All advertiser verticals studied showed lift when ads were placed on sites in the long tail. Alcohol ads enjoyed the highest lift, at 50%, while automotive advertisers experienced a lift of only 12%.

The site categories that provided the biggest lift in the long tail were education, technology and computing, and hobbies and games. Some site categories, including pets, home and garden, arts and entertainment, parenting and family, and automotive had a negative lift.

However, accounting for the decreased cost of placing ads on long-tail sites, even a negative lift often translates into a more efficient ad.

Not only can the long tail provide greater efficiency in clicks for advertisers’ dollar, according to the report, it is critical in providing a truly mass reach for ad campaigns. The large crop of long-tail sites frequently provides access to a large audience unduplicated by top sites in the same category, and often with similar demographics as visitors to those top sites. And according to comScore, the vast majority of time spent on the web is spent with long-tail sites, while the lion’s share of ad dollars is spent on the short tail.

Advertising on top websites is, of course, still critical, especially for major campaigns or for branding. But advertisers can use the long tail as a low-cost, efficient way to augment the reach and scale of their campaigns.

Less Than Half of Small Biz Have Web Sites

Less Than Half of Small Biz Have Sites

Less than half (45%) of small businesses have websites, according to data analyzed by data management firm Formstack. However, this figure, recorded by Discover Credit Cards in 2009, still represents roughly 36% growth from 33% in 2007.

Formstack defines a small business as having maximum annual sales of less than $5 million.

Small Biz Owners Don’t See Internet Need

The most common reason given by small business owners lacking a website is that their business currently does not need one (41%). This is more than double the percent who gave the next-most-popular answer, cost (19%). The other leading reason is lack of time (16%).

Thirteen percent of new small businesses plan on getting a website for their business.

Only 1/3 of Small Biz Sites Include E-commerce

Only about one-third (30%) of small businesses which have a website use it for e-commerce. The dominant use for websites by small businesses is general information (80%). This is almost double the percentage citing the next-most-popular use, customer service (45%), and is also far greater than the percentage capturing online leads (35%).

E-commerce Grows with Annual Sales

Unsurprisingly, small businesses are generally more likely to engage in e-commerce as their annual sales volume grows. However, small businesses generating $1 to $2.49 million annually are slightly more likely (69%) than small businesses generating $2.5 to $4.9 million (67%) to perform e-commerce.

However, both these figures dwarf the e-commerce percentages of small businesses generating annual sales of $500,000 to $999,000 (49%) and $100,000 to $499,000 (45%).

Other Findings

• Thirteen percent of online small businesses plan to put more money toward social networking, while slightly larger percentages plan to increase spending on email marketing (15%) and their website (17%).
• About 9% of online retailers (all sizes) engage in m-commerce.
• 37% of smartphone users have purchased an item via m-commerce.
• US e-commerce retail sales totaled $41.5 billion in Q3 2010, up 4.2% from $36.5 billion in Q3 2009.

SMB Marketers Segment Emails by Preference, Behavior

Small-to-midsized business (SMB) marketers are primarily interested in segmenting emails by recipient preferences and behaviors, according to a recent study by GetResponse. The “2010 Email Marketing Trends Study” indicates that almost six in ten SMB marketers (59.4%) plan to segment their emails according to interest-based preferences of the recipients. The second most popular technique, segmenting emails based on recent recipient open or click-rate activity, was selected by 34.9% of recipients.

Australian consumers behind on web travel fees

With the Aussie dollar leading the greenback, it's no surprise the US has become a destination of choice for travel-loving Australians.

But it seems Australia is lagging behind the US when it comes to booking holidays over the internet and paying fees and charges for the service.

A major online travel agency says Australia is one of the few countries in the world where booking fees are still a feature of the online travel market.

But pressure is growing for Aussie sites to cut booking fees, as the sector competes to stay ahead of airlines and hotel chains who are increasingly seeking to win consumers over the internet.

'Surprisingly, Australia is one of the rare countries in the world that charges booking fees for online travel transactions,' Expedia Australia and New Zealand general manager Nicholas Chu said.

'We don't charge booking fees in the US anymore, most of the countries in Europe don't charge booking fees.'

Expedia.com cut booking fees 18 months ago in response to market demand, Mr Chu said, although it was not the first in the US to do so.

Research conducted by Expedia earlier this year found there is nearly universal hatred among Australian consumers - 75 per cent of us - for the booking fees.

'In the US, which is a much more mature online travel market, everyone is aware of fees, and I can tell you that no one wants to pay fees,' Mr Chu said.

'Why would you pay an extra $50 for nothing, while if you book directly with the carrier you won't have to pay the fee.'

Mr Chu's comments come in the wake of action by the consumer watchdog against a group of airlines who failed to display airfares inclusive of all fees and charges.

The group of eight carriers, including Tiger Airways, Air Asia X, and Qantas subsidiary Jetstar, reached a deal with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) last week.

But laws that prevent component pricing by airlines don't apply to booking fees charged by online travel websites.

According to the ACCC that's because travel sites charge fees across an entire booking, rather than per flight.

In Australia, online travel sites have captured about 20 to 30 per cent of the market, compared with 50 per cent penetration in the US.

Margins for online retailers are being squeezed as airlines and hotel chains compete by offering bookings directly from their websites.

Mr Chu said the industry must respond with greater transparency, cut fees and charges and focus on adding value for the customer.

'What was quite interesting was that actually when people were aware of fees they were quite angry about those,' Mr Chu said.

'Why would they have to pay for something that they are doing by themselves?'

Mr Chu said fees contributed a small portion of revenue and Expedia had 'been able to compensate for that with the increased volume'.

'The whole idea is to offer consumers added value that they won't get from the supplier direct.'

'We need to be transparent, but we also need to bring something, we need to add value for consumers.'

Story source www.bigpond.com

Search Behaviour Shines Spotlight on Organic Results

Paid search ads tend to be overlooked

Search has become a nearly ubiquitous online activity and Google remains the undisputed king—receiving the largest share of search ad revenue and traffic. But an eye-tracking study by user experience research firm User Centric adds a new perspective. Its research indicates that most search users overlook search ads almost entirely.

The findings showed organic search results were viewed 100% of the time, and participants spent an average of 14.7 and 10.7 seconds looking at organic search results on Google and Bing, respectively. However, only 28% of participants looked at right-side ads on Google, and just 21% did the same on Bing—spending around 1 second viewing all ads combined on each search engine. To put this in perspective, searchers who viewed the left-hand site navigation spent more time doing so than they did viewing ads on both search engines.

One caveat to the study: It was an artificial search environment. The participants were given search terms to use and may not have been using their preferred search engine. However, participants searched on both sites in this study, and the results were statistically significant.

With users spending nearly all their time viewing organic search results, Hitwise’s latest numbers give some further insight. Bing and Yahoo!’s success rates, meaning searches that resulted in a click, are just over 81% whereas Google sits much lower at 65.6% in December 2010 and January 2011.

Although the sheer volume of searches Google handles may bring down its success rate, the difference been Google and Bing is still large enough to draw conclusions. First, users were shown to spend the vast majority of their time looking at organic search results on both search engines, and Bing’s success rate is 16 percentage points higher than Google’s. Therefore, even though Google has more traffic than Bing, the Microsoft search engine generates a greater share of relevant traffic per search.

Additionally, this data indicates that SEO is more essential than ever. Users have learned to overlook search ads, and they will continue to ignore such ads as they become even more search-savvy over time.

SEO will become increasingly challenging as users start to rely on search engines for different reasons. A recent study from Forrester Research found that internet users were 22 percentage points less likely in 2010 to rely on search engines to find websites than they were in 2004. Although this doesn’t mean people are using search engines less to find information about product types or branded goods, it does mean that they are relying on search less to find websites specifically.

Perhaps this change is because internet users are becoming more knowledgeable and do not need to rely on search to find popular sites such as Facebook and YouTube. Also, they may be relying on social media more to find websites. No matter the reason, this data indicates that search users’ behaviour is in constant flux. As search users continue to change their behaviour, marketers will need to adjust their SEO strategy to keep up.

Australian .com.au domain names hit 2 million

WHEN Lloyd Borrett set up a website in the mid-1990s for a local computer company, he had to move overseas to find a suitable domain name - well before it was fashionable to do so.

The restrictions on Australian domain names meant that he could not reserve expert.com.au for Expert, an IT business later acquired by Indian outsourcer Infosys for $31 million. Similar generic names such as florist.com.au or computer.com.au were not for sale.

''Basically, any word in the dictionary was excluded,'' said Mr Borrett, who now works for anti-virus and security company AVG . ''So I went to Norfolk Island instead and registered expert.nf because they had just opened up a registry there.''

The Australian rules were gradually relaxed and the trade in domain names ending in .au has boomed.

Last night, total registrations on Australia's country-code top-level domain reached 2 million, indicating that Australian businesses, which make up almost 86 per cent of .au domain names, prefer local internet real estate. Almost a quarter of a million .au domains have been sold this financial year.

The domain registry manager, AusRegistry, was not able to identify the exact holder of the 2 millionth domain name because the total includes new registrations and those that lapse in what is effectively a five steps forward-two steps back motion.

The milestone does not mean there are 2 million Australian websites, because many of the .au domains registered are inactive, or are used to redirect web traffic to other sites. Also, many Australian residents, companies or organisations maintain websites on the global generic top-level domains such as .com, .net, .org or .info. There are more than 93 million domains registered on the .com top-level domain alone.

Germany manages the largest country-code top-level domain, with 14.1 million, followed by Britain with 9 million registrations.

Australia's tight rules for domain name registration were devised by a University of Melbourne computer engineer and lawyer, Robert Elz, who connected Australia to the internet in late 1989.

Mr Elz, an academic who now lives in Thailand, later handed over the management of Australian domains to a university spinoff company, Melbourne IT, which later listed on the ASX and continues as an internet services and hosting company.

The boom period of the internet in the late 1990s featured accusations of cybersquatting on domain names, especially in the .com name space, but Australia was largely immune from those difficulties because of Mr Elz's rules.

Australian businesses on the web were perceived as trustworthy and still are, said Glenn Gore, the chief technology officer at Melbourne IT.

''It was good for business in how people trust those companies using a .com.au address,'' Mr Gore said.

''If it ends in .com.au, you know that it was not some fly-by-night operation. There has to be a real business behind it.''

This did not mean Australian domain name policies were without controversy. Many webmasters complained of high costs to register an internet name and third-party resellers of domains were frustrated by the rules.

Mr Elz handed over policy and regulation to a new domain name authority, Australian Domain Administration Ltd, known as auDA, and in 2002, AusRegistry won a tender to manage a fully independent registry of .au domain names.

Over the past decade, the auDA board has gradually relaxed the controls of internet name management and sales in Australia while still maintaining the integrity of the system.

''The biggest reform milestone was introducing the new registry in 2002, said Paul Szyndler, auDA's general manager of public affairs.

From then on, anybody could set up a business to sell the domain names and the competition led to large price falls for those setting up websites.

Story by Glenn Mulcaster www.smh.com.au

Android Takes Lead in Smartphone OS Share

 

When it comes to US consumer marketshare by operating system, Android (29%) appears to be pulling ahead of RIM Blackberry (27%) and Apple iOS (27%), according to new Nielsen Company analysis of January 2011 data. But an analysis by manufacturer shows RIM and Apple to be the winners compared to other device makers, since they are the only ones creating and selling smartphones with their respective operating systems.

HTC, Motorola Follw in OS Share

HTC follows with 12% of consumer smartphone owners having an HTC Android device and 7% owning an HTC device running a Microsoft OS. Ten percent of consumer smartphone owners had a Motorola Android device and 1% owned a Motorola device running a Microsoft OS.

The other device manufacturer representing a significant percentage of consumers using a smartphone with the Android OS is Samsung (5%). Two percent of consumers also use a Samsung smartphone running Microsoft OS.

Ten percent of consumer smartphone owners use a device running Microsoft OS. The Palm/Web and Symbian operating systems combined only account for roughly 8% of the US smartphone market.

Android Skews Younger

Of the three most popular US smartphone operating systems, Android seems to attract more young consumers. About 21% of Android users are 18-24 (representing six of Android’s 29 share percentage points), compared to about 15% of RIM Blackberry and Apple iOS users (four of 27 percentage points each).

The youngest adult consumers segment is where Android has a notable edge on its two chief rivals. Percentages of all other age brackets are fairly similar.

comScore: Google 2nd-Biggest Smartphone OS in ‘10

The rapid adoption of Google Android mobile devices during 2010 made Google the second-largest smartphone operating system (OS) in the US by the end of the year, trailing only market leader RIM, according to a new white paper from comScore. “The 2010 US Digital Year in Review” indicates that among smartphone OS platforms, RIM retained its lead with 31.6% market share in December 2010 (although decreasing roughly one-quarter from 41.6% the previous year).

NBN legislation passes lower house

After hours of debate, the National Broadband Network bill and relevant legislation have passed the lower house.

They will now go to the Senate for consideration.

Infrastructure Minister Anthony Albanese says it's a historic step forward toward the NBN.

Attempts by Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull to have the legislation amended have failed.

Facebook to Surpass Yahoo! in Display Ad Revenues This Year

More than one in five US display dollars will go to the social network

For the first time, the largest share of US display ad revenues will go to Facebook, eMarketer estimates. The social network’s 80.9% growth in display ad revenues, to $2.19 billion this year, will mean Facebook sees 21.6% of all US display ad dollars.

That will put it ahead of Yahoo!, where eMarketer estimates display revenues will be up 16%. Yahoo!’s market share will inch up to 16.4%, while display gains at Google push the site’s share of display spending to 12.6%. Meanwhile, AOL will drop from 5.3% of display ad revenues in 2010 to 4.4% this year.

“Yahoo!’s US display ad revenues will increase by double digits each year from 2010 through 2012. Despite that, not only will Facebook’s display revenues surpass Yahoo!’s this year, Google’s revenues will exceed Yahoo!’s next year,” said David Hallerman, principal analyst at eMarketer. “What that leapfrogging trend confirms is the strong demand among brand marketers for online display ad placements.”

In the search market, Google will solidify its position as the top site with an increase in market share of nearly 4 percentage points, to 75.2%. eMarketer expects Microsoft, where search revenues will be up 16.4% in 2011, to increase its market share slightly for the next two years, while search revenues at Yahoo! will continue a slow decline, dropping to $1.1 billion this year from $1.28 billion in 2010.

Declines will also continue at AOL throughout the forecast period.

“Even as some observers expect Google’s search revenues to fall due to competition from Bing, the reported revenue reality shows that after a relatively ‘slow’ Q1 2010, net US ad revenues at Google grew by 27% or more each of the following three quarters,” noted Hallerman. “It will be hard for Bing to stop the Google juggernaut, and, in fact, Bing’s search gains are basically accompanied by Yahoo!’s search losses.”

“In fact, Google’s gains in search will help its display business, and vice versa, as more and more marketers will see the benefits of linking those two ad formats through a single provider,” said Hallerman. “That same trend will help Microsoft—but not as much as Google—since Bing’s search dollars are a mere fraction of the marketer investment with Google.”

Top Viral Videos - Feb. 2011

 

Ads that originally aired during the 2011 Super Bowl and videos featuring autos were heavily featured in the list of the 10 most-shared online videos tracked by Unruly Media during February 2011. In addition, seven of the 10 videos featured some type of vehicle, making February the second straight month viewers felt a need for speed.

Videos Put Viewers in Super Mood

Three of the top 10 most-shared videos in February 2011 began as ads aired during the 2011 Super Bowl (Feb. 6, 2011). These include the top two videos, “Volkswagen Commercial: The Force” and “Chrysler Eminem Super Bowl Commercial: Imported from Detroit.”

Another Volkswagen Super Bowl ad, “Volkswagen Commercial: Black Beetle,” made the list at number seven. Interestingly, perennial Super Bowl advertiser Doritos scored the ninth spot on the list with “Doritos Crash the Super Bowl 2010 Finalist: House Rules,” originally aired during the 2010 Super Bowl.

Super Bowl ads are noted for their production values, humor and use of celebrities. The top video featured a little boy dressed as “Star Wars” villain Darth Vader and combined humor with feel-good cutesiness and pop culture. Volksagen’s other “Black Beetle” commercial offered top-notch stop-motion photography and the Chrysler commercial featured music from Eminem, one of the most popular musical performers of the past decade (and a Detroit native). The 2010 Doritos spot also offers a potent combination of humor and an adorable little kid.

Keep Things Moving

Following a January when five of the top 10 videos featured a vehicle, February’s list included seven vehicular videos. These included three auto commercials (the two Volkswagen ads and the Chrysler ads), the two installments of the popular “Gymkhana” series of extreme stunt driving videos, a video of extreme biker Danny MacAskill performing daring deeds across Scotland, and the longtime favorite Evian video of rollerblading babies, proving once again cute little kids sell big.

Indian Video Scores Again

For the second straight month, a video aimed at the Indian market cracked the top 10. Following an Indian McDonald’s ad which ranked in January, this month “Silent Indian National Anthem,” a patriotic video showing Indian schoolchildren standing and saluting while an instrumental version of the Indian national anthem plays in the background, was ranked number nine.

India is the world’s second-most-populous country and has a rapidly growing economy, making it a potentially lucrative market for viral videos.

Top 10 Most-shared Online Videos February 2011

1. Volkswagen - Commercial: The Force
2. Chrysler - Eminem Super Bowl Commercial: Imported from Detroit
3. DC Shoes - Ken Block’s Gymkhana Three, Part 2 – Ultimate Playground, L’Autodrome
4. Evian – Roller Babies
5. Trance Urban - The Most Amazing Beat Box Video Ever
6. Danny MacAskill – Way Back Home
7. Volkswagen - Commercial: Black Beetle
8. Silent Indian National Anthem
9. Doritos - Crash the Super Bowl 2010 Finalist: House Rules
10. DC Shoes – Ken Block’s Gymkhana Two, The Infomercial

Online Video Gains Momentum

The online video market continued to gain momentum in 2010, with an average of 179 million Americans watching video each month, according to a new white paper from comScore. “The 2010 US Digital Year in Review” indicates that engagement levels also rose during the year, with viewers watching online videos more frequently.

More than 88.6 million people watched online video on an average day in December 2010 (up 32% from December 2009), while viewing sessions totaled 5.8 billion for the month (up 13% year-over-year). Americans also spent about 12% more hours viewing online video in 2010 (14.2) compared the prior year (12.7) due to increased content consumption and more video ad streams. The average American streamed a record 201 videos in December 2010, up 8% from 187 a year earlier.

Social Media Is Not Killing Email

Email remains the top choice for marketing communications among all age groups

 

The latest death knell for email was sounded by data in comScore’s “2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review” report, which noted a decline in time spent with web-based email among all US internet users under 55. Users ages 12 to 17, who have been most likely to drop email in favor of other online communications like social networking, had the steepest decline in usage, down 59%.

But web-based email checked at a desktop computer is only one slice of all email communications, and email represents an overwhelmingly important communications channel.

According to research from customer relationship marketing agency Merkle, 87% of internet users checked personal email daily in 2010, a number that has changed little since 2007. Among those with a separate email account for commercial email, 60% checked daily, down just 1 percentage point since 2008.

Further, social media usage is hardly taking away from email. Rather, social media users are significantly more likely than other internet users to check their email four or more times per day, and less likely to check infrequently.

Mobile access is also encouraging email users to check more often. More than half (55%) of those surveyed who had an internet-enabled mobile phone checked their personal email using their phone, and nearly two-thirds of mobile email users checked their account at least once a day.

There is some evidence that personal communications are shifting away from email, though. Messages from friends and family are taking up a smaller share of all time spent with email, while the share spent with commercial emails is rising. And the proportion of respondents spending at least 20 minutes per week with email from friends and family fell from 71% in 2009 to 66% in 2010.

But email is still a major method of communicating for the vast majority of internet users. Across all age groups, it was the top choice for receiving commercial communications. Most respondents preferred the phone for personal communication, but email was the most important online channel for communicating with friends and family among every age group except 18- to 29-year-olds, a demographic for whom email was tied with social networks.