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Alexander McCall-Smith Engages Web 2.0

The Daily Telegraph is in the middle of a 20-week serialisation of an online book created by author Alexander McCall-Smith, his first such project. New Media Knowledge caught up with the organisers to discuss ‘Corduroy Mansions’.

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Business Brief: Video Advertising Looks to Future

Google has announced it will incentivise advertisers on its video properties as well as launching research programmes into how Web users consume Internet video material. New Media Knowledge spoke to a number of industry players to gauge their views on where the video advertising market is going.

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‘Virtual Home’ for Ex-Pats in London Established

A social network aimed at providing information for ex-pats living in London has been established. New Media Knowledge met the site’s co-founder to find out more.

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• Rough Guide to: Social Media and the Law
• Record Visits for UK Blog Sites
• Clearing Congestion
• Rough Guide to: Pay-Per-Click Advertising
• Opinion: What Happens to Newspapers?
• LinkedIn Adds Business Applications
• What Happens to Newspapers?

Related Articles

• Alexander McCall-Smith Engages Web 2.0

  The Daily Telegraph is in the middle of a 20-week serialisation of an online book created by author Alexander McCall-Smith, his first such project. New Media Knowledge caught up with the organisers to discuss ‘Corduroy Mansions’. more

• Business Brief: Video Advertising Looks to Future

  Google has announced it will incentivise advertisers on its video properties as well as launching research programmes into how Web users consume Internet video material. New Media Knowledge spoke to a number of industry players to gauge their views on where the video advertising market is going. more

• Rough Guide to: Social Media and the Law

  Virgin Atlantic was forced to take action this month when staff reportedly criticised safety standards and passengers’ class status on social network, Facebook. As more businesses look to engage social networking, what are the potential dangers they should look out for? New Media Knowledge spoke to a lawyer to find out more. more

• Record Visits for UK Blog Sites

  Nearly half of the UK’s online population visited at least one blog during August, according to a survey. Yet one recent report said blogging’s day has passed, so what’s the true reflection? New Media Knowledge spoke to three prominent bloggers for their take. more

• Rough Guide to: Pay-Per-Click Advertising

  Pay-per-click (PPC) advertising on the Web has been one of the major growth sectors in marketing. Last year, Internet search engine Google overtook ITV for monies received from advertising and nearly $2 billion was spent on PPC globally. New Media Knowledge spoke to a PPC consultant to gauge what companies looking at the technology should consider. more

Blogs not in the Marketing Mix

A survey from Webtrends shows that few businesses have embraced the ‘push-button publishing’  power of blogs and that email remains the number one marketing tool for firms on the Web.

Only one in twenty online businesses use blogs on a regular basis, despite the recognition from 85% of them that an effective web presence is important to achieving their sales and marketing objectives.

In a survey of 200 internet marketers, there was a sharp drop-off between the most popular tools (email, analytics and website optimisation) and social media tools such as blogs.

E-Direct mail – Often 46% / Never 21%

Web analytics – Often 37% / Never 26%

Web optimisation – Often 36% / Never 20%

Online competitions – Often 8% / Never 48%

Website / E-News sponsorship – Often 8% / Never 58%

Viral marketing – Often 5% / Never 63%

Blogs – Often 5% / Never 78%

Podcasts – Often 4% / Never 81%

Web seminars – Often 3% / Never 77%

However, those companies that did use podcasts were often far more satisfied with the results than they were with the results of traditional tools. Podcasts achieved the highest ranking of any web marketing tool, with almost half of businesses satisfied with the results of their efforts. One caveat to this is the small size of the sample in this poll. If only 8 businesses out of the 200 used podcasts, then their opinions about its effectiveness, while interesting, are not statistically reliable. Business bloggers remain ambivalent about the effectiveness of the tool, with 29% satisfied, 27% unsatisfied and the remaining 44% undecided. Again, the reliability of this measure is somewhat questionable, given that only 10 businesses used blogs in the sample.

Podcasts – Satisfied 44% / Unsatisfied 18%

Web analytics – Satisfied 42% / Unsatisfied 23%

E-Direct mail – Satisfied 36% / Unsatisfied 24%

Online competitions – Satisfied 29% / Unsatisfied 23%

Web optimisation – Satisfied 29% / Unsatisfied 25%

Blogs – Satisfied 29% / Unsatisfied 27%

Website / E-News sponsorship – Satisfied 21% / Unsatisfied 29%

Viral marketing – Satisfied 14% / Unsatisfied 43%

Web seminars – Satisfied 13% / Unsatisfied 33%

However, Webtrends, despite its specialisation in analytics tools, is keen for businesses to embrace the power of blogs. “Blogging is much more than a “nice to have” in business today,” said Nick Sharp, VP and general manager EMEA, WebTrends. “With the power to publish, share and influence, this new consumer movement is impacting every aspect of the business world. Some experts predict that businesses that are not blogging now, may not exist in a couple of year’s time. In contrast, Gartner forecasts that blogging will peak in 2007, levelling off as the number of bloggers reaches 100 million, when the novelty value of the medium will wear off, and new bloggers will offset the number of writers who abandon their creation out of boredom.

“Corporate blogs can be very effective communication tools within or on behalf of a corporate community. Not surprisingly, more firms are paying greater attention to what bloggers are saying about them. A dissatisfied customer airing negative views can damage corporate reputation over night.”