A surprising new study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life project has shown that one out of five Americans do not use the internet. Yes, apparently there really are still people who have resisted the lure of the internet. More →
Just like the internet, WiFi is a utility that we have come, not only to rely on, but to actually expect to be available when we need it in various places we visit. WiFi has become more prominent in our lives because of the popularity of various mobile devices that now allow us to access the internet wherever we are. WiFi has also practically replaced wired networks at home since it is easier to set up and allows multiple devices to connect to it. More →
Oftentimes, someone comes up with a simple idea that is so brilliant, you can’t help but tell yourself, “why didn’t I think of that?â€
One simply brilliant idea that has the potential to be copied all over the world is one that the people at Asahi thought of. The popular Japanese drinks company has implemented what could be described as a moment of extreme ingenuity. The company has turned their vending machines into WiFi hotspots. More →
Here’s news that won’t really surprise you. A study conducted by comScore, majority of the non-computer traffic in the United States has increased by almost seven percent over the month of August this year. The increase in traffic has been largely attributes the use of smartphones, tablets and other portable devices. Smartphone usage has been identified as making up 64 percent of the non-computer traffic in the US, tablets occupy 28 percent.
In another predictable finding of the report, Apple’s various iOS devices dominated the smartphone and tablet categories. In terms of the tablet segment, the iPad made up 97 percent, while iOS smartphones (the various generations of the iPhone) owned 58.5 percent of the smartphone traffic. More →
As many of us music lovers may have realized by now, Spotify has entered the US. Spotify is a DRM-based music streaming service. Spotify, instantly gives me a flashback to my days of Napster. It has similar qualities, although the look is different, and they are also taking a different approach. Spotify requires no downloading, and your favorite song is just a click away. Instantly, I notice some pro’s and cons of using Spotify.
After submitting my email, a few days later I got invite. I am glad that I waited, since I almost immediately purchased the Pro version. I usually like to try out the products I am using before I make any purchase, especially when it comes to music applications. Spotify was an easy download, doesn’t seem to affect my computer too much, and has a nice looking icon that sits in my dock. The design looks like a mixture between old school Napster, and iTunes. Overall, I think it looks good. It is very simple to navigate, and I pretty much picked up on the all features within a few minutes. The best part about Spotify is the immense library they have to offer. You can search virtually any song you can think of, and start  playing instantly. Of course this music is streaming, so you do not worry about download times and taking up space on your computer with large libraries of music. Spotify will actually load all of your music stored in local files as an extenuation of your music listening experience. Very cool! Spotify lets you have your own library and if you are feeling sick of your own music, with the click of a button you can have virtually any song that you like. This makes Spotify a very dynamic music program. More →
The results of a study made by IDC, a market analysis company, revealed that by 2015 more people will be connecting to the internet using smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices compared to people who use the internet through their desktop computers.
The study revealed that smartphones will become the standard mobile phone people will use, completely replacing the “vanilla†phones that only offer standard features. Additionally, the sales of tablets is expected to hit the roof. The growing sales of smartphones and tablets will be so significant that internet users on the PC will hit a wall and then slowly go down. The report also said that this trend will begin in the US, with western Europe and Japan following in short order. More →
If you’re running a website and choose to hire an Internet Marketing Consultant to help grow your user base there are several must have solutions you should request from that consultant. These solutions will not only provide you with more information about your campaigns, they can help ensure that future campaigns for your website are optimized for the best possible ROI (Return on Investment).
Split testing consists of testing various CPM (cost per thousand pageviews), CPC (cost per click) and CPA (cost per action) campaigns at various times of the day, week and even month versus secondary ads. It’s a known fact that internet users tend to follow certain buying trends based on the type of product you are attempting to sell, a good internet marketing consultant will understand how to test different wording and other types of campaigns at different times of the day while tracking what works and when. For example they may place “Free Weight Loss Program for Men” against the ad “Acai Berry Weight Loss for Men” to determine which ad converts the best during the morning hours (that’s a very simple split test example). As the name suggests, you are “splitting” your advertising into several campaigns to track their efficacy. While split testing could provide your company with loses at the start of a campaign, once optimized the benefits should far outweigh the loses.
When I work with outside consultants I not only want to see results, I want to see where my conversion process is failing. Heat maps show exactly where users on a website are clicking, for example do a majority of users click on the upper left hand side of the page? This information then allows me to understand where I should place my highest converting products, affiliate links and general pages. By knowing where a user clicks internet marketers can help you not only bring users to your site, but also get them to view more pages and buy more products using simple human behavior solutions. Â If you are using a banner advertising platform such as Google Ads you can even choose to display different products and affiliate links at different times based off where users tend to click on your website during certain times of the day, week or month.
The ability to monitor your most successful keywords based on campaigns you have launched with an internet marketing consultant is important not only to determine why your visitors are coming to your site, but also so you can understand what aspects of your site need more work. For example if you are an etailer you may have noticed a significant drop in one of your old product lines, that drop could be due to search engine placement, a lack of split testing focus or other variables. While you hire a marketer to market your products, you can help strengthen the success of those same products or information pages on your own by understanding which pages on your website need optimization.
If your internet marketing consultant works for a specific number of hours on your behalf having them manage your social media channels (Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc) could not only help take some work off your hands, it may allow them to better understand your audience through engagement, which in turn should help your third party helper better optimize future marketing campaigns on your behalf. Even just having your social media pages optimized by a marketer while you take care of engagement could be of great help.
An experienced internet marketing consultant will not only provide the services listed above, they will more than likely suggest many of the steps before you even ask. Proper marketing engagement requires not only placing ads on various publisher networks, it requires understanding your website and how to engage with your users. If you can afford to have a marketer act on your behalf for all of the solutions listed above you should be able to receive a well rounded marketing experience.
As much as a convenience mobile Internet can be, it can also add up to your bills quite heftily if you don’t know how to use it right – so make sure you’re prepared to make the most of your time while surfing the Web from your mobile. In some cases, it could be a good idea to install a new browser on your device, and not use the default one – this is especially valid for non-smartphone mobiles, which tend to often have some questionable designs for their browsers.
The device itself is important as well, of course – a phone with a small screen and uncomfortable keyboard can make it very inconvenient to do your browsing and subsequently increase the time you need to do anything when surfing the Web through mobile Internet. Nowadays, there are plenty of good deals for mobiles that are specifically designed for Internet users – so do some shopping around until you find one and go for it – if you’re an active surfer, you’ll be thanking yourself later on!
Don’t just use the Web for your entertainment though – this may sound like redundant advice for some of you folks who’ve been using their mobiles for this purpose for a while, but still – it can also add up to your productivity to a great degree. You can check the schedules for the trains or public transport, check out what’s running at your local cinema, whatever you can think of – be creative and try to really benefit from the powerful mini-computer you’re carrying in your pocket!
It takes having some good pricing plans on your mobile Internet if you want to really make some benefit off of it though, so do your “homework†well before landing on a deal.
The search engine giant is apparently not thrilled over who will control the future outlook of the world wide web.
While Google does not have a problem with a committee or group having a large amount of influence regarding the internet, they are taking issue over the requirements of exactly who will be sitting at the table.
But last week the UN Committee on Science and Technology announced that only governments would be able to sit on a working group set up to examine improvements to the IGF—one of the Internet’s most important discussion forums. This move has been condemned by the Internet Governance Caucus, the Internet Society (ISOC), the International Chamber of Commerce and numerous other organizations—who have published a joint letter (PDF) and launched an online petition to mobilize opposition. Today, I have signed that petition on Google’s behalf because we don’t believe governments should be allowed to grant themselves a monopoly on Internet governance. The current bottoms-up, open approach works—protecting users from vested interests and enabling rapid innovation. (Google Public Policy Blog)
In a post written by Vint Cerf (one of the founding fathers of the Internet), Google seems to be advocating that corporations also have a voice at the table in order to ensure that the internet remains a free place for all.
While it does seem strange for the global governments to lock out corporate entities from joining the Internet Governance Forum (IGF), it could have something to do with Wikileaks whose presence seems to have infuriated the US government (who has been unable to shut them down).
Although having the IGF being composed of just corporations would not be smart (as they would always vote what’s best for their stock holders), one held only by governments could help pave the way towards an Internet with less freedom (especially when it comes to exposing corruption).
