As reported by Propero Digital, blogging is a very useful online marketing tool when used as a part of an overall marketing strategy. The launch of the latest iPhone model, 3GS, proves it. Furthermore its a viral phenomenon: its not just on the Apple blogs where people are hearing about the iPhone its on other people’s too.

A Nielsen Online report said that the buzz a week before the 3G S release increased its blog mentions by 1,226%. When the phone became available on the 19th of June, the blog figures doubled compared to the week before.

A positive blogging buzz is exciting for online marketing. Its viral potential is something that cannot be purchased but is only effective if the product is perfect for the market, otherwise the value of viral marketing turns on its head and becomes a quickly spreading disaster.

Apple was the most visited computer hardware manufacturer site in May 2009. It drew 55,716 visitors compared to Hewlett Packard therefore it’s potential for being picked up on blogging sites is therefore huge but it can happen for small companies too. All you need is something that captures the public’s imagination.

In 2008 two Northern Ireland students Paddy Donnelly and Lee Munroe, launched The Big Word Project which invited people to create a new dictionary. They sell words to individuals who can then link those words to their websites and thus ‘creating a new tapestry of words, meaning altogether different things.’ Currently they charge $1 per letter and the proceeds have gone to pay for their Masters Degrees. This site has attracted the attention of bloggers worldwide which has helped them to raise the money that they need.

The internet provides opportunities to do business with people from all over the world but in our rush to reach out across continents we shouldn’t forget the importance of local trade and the rewards that it can bring us. Google Local Business Finder provides a platform from which to advertise your business to local people.

Why is local trade important
Obviously some businesses rely almost solely on local trade. Retail shops for example cannot do without it. What’s good about Local Business Finder is that it can enable members of your local community to find out a bit more about your business and perhaps encourage them to choose to visit your premises over your competitors.

For more niche businesses local passing trade is also very important but casting the net a little further afield can increase your customer base and enable your clients to regard you as a ’specialist’ to whom they are happy to return to time and time again despite the fact that they have to travel a little further.

Google Local Business Finder is a local search engine tool designed to help your business communicate with your customers and potential customers. It has the following features:

Free listing - you can advertise your business for free and you can customise your entry to include information that helps you stand out from your competitors.

Customer Incentives
You can offer incentives to your potential clients in the form of coupons to encourage them to visit you.

Powerful Feedback
Google Local Business Finder offers a new and free reporting dashboard which enables you to see where your customers come from and what they searched for to find you. This feedback can enable you to make better marketing and business decisions.

Linked to Google Maps
Your listings are included in Google Maps so that your customers find you easily.

Email marketing is currently being used as a cheap and convenient way to get messages across to existing and potential customers. Recent research presented by Smith-Harmon, an agency providing email marketing strategy services, suggests that email navigation bars can be tweaked in order for them to achieve their best potential.

A horizontal navigation bar
65% of companies that include a horizontal navigation bar in their emails found that they were more effective in driving clicks onto their sites than the main content of the email. Also 65% found that this method also had a better conversion rate than the main content.

Aaron Smith, co-founder and principal of Smith-Harmon said,
‘An email designer I know once half-joked that he wished he could send out emails that were just a navigation bar. That’s how effective they are at driving engagement.’

A navigation bar that fits
Emails are usually narrower than websites therefore using a navigation bar that fits is important to maintain the usability and aesthetic appeal of your email. Using smaller bars means that you should use fewer navigations links.

Pick five or six of your top-performing site destinations. If you have lots of areas for exploration you can consider adding a link to ‘more places’ which enables the user to look at everything you have to offer without an overcrowded email.

Highlight important areas
Navigation bars can be adapted depending on your current needs. For example during a sale you can highlight relevant tabs. According to Smith-Harmon, ‘We’ve found that rendering the ‘sale’ link in red is an effective trick for driving sales.’  Additionally seasonal changes can be reflected in new navigation buttons.

Use HTLM in navigation bars
50% of users block visual content automatically from email and you could loose potential custom if you ignore this. Using HTML ensures that all readers can access your material easily.

Just over two weeks ago Microsoft launched a major rebrand of their online search engine. Live Search has been transformed into Bing with great success so far.

Figures published by Hitwise, the internet research company, show that in the UK Bing has overtaken Yahoo! Search as the second most popular search engine. However, Google, are still all-powerful with 85.6% of the market share. Bing hold 3.11% and Yahoo! Search UK and Ireland are trailing with 2.24%

The new figures are likely to be unnaturally inflated as people will have been drawn to have a look the new site. Bing looks appealing, more modern, clean and fresh and promises to give you ‘better UK results than ever before and will evolve in the coming months to give you a richer search experience through a range of innovative features.’

Currently Bing is in its beta version, it seems slow to download the home page although there is no problem with the speed of the search results. It’s home page image changes everyday which is a great and simple idea and mirrors Google’s occasional change of logo to reflect events and important dates. Bing allows you to have a quick look at sites to give you an overall impression before you commit to clicking through. The name is fabulous: short, fun and very memorable.

In theory businesses and products rise to the top because they are good and better than the competition. Google is so successful that it has become a household name and to ‘google’ something is an expression that is now in the dictionary. Google is prone to continually launching new products in beta version and inviting users to give feedback. This creates a great ‘buzz’ around its brand which Microsoft are now capitalising on too.

However, other search engines trail far behind Google and it will be interesting to see if Microsoft’s Bing will have the impact it expects.  If it does, developers will be tracking how best to ‘work with Bing’ in the same way that they closely scrutinise how to optimise a site in accordance to the Google guidelines.

More and more companies have an online presence and consequently consumers are becoming more sophisticated. A recent survey by bimouthmedia has found that European users are abandoning brand name searches in favour of longer more targeted searches.

bigmouthmedia looked at search behaviour in Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Denmark and found that most Europeans now use two or three words in a search.

Andrew Girdwood, Head of Search at bigmouthmedia said, ‘Over the past few years consumers have become far more savvy about search, and as the recession drives people to hunt for the very best available deals, we’re seeing them adopt a sophisticated approach with the majority now employing more complicated phrases to find their way around the web.’

The Italians, British and Germans were more likely to use four words (16%, 15%, 15% respectively) whereas only 10% of Spanish people were likely to do this and still favoured the use of mainly one word searches.

Research published earlier this year by Hitwise reported that word searches of over 8 words were up by 22% in the US and overall the number of words had increase by 10% over a one year period. bigmouthmedia found that overall brand name searches were down. This may be related to the recession where perhaps cost has become more important than well known brands.

Girdwood added: ‘Clearly, the way that users approach the search landscape is changing. As consumers continue to become more comfortable with the technology and the sheer volume of online information proliferates it will be interesting to see how this trend develops over the next few years and how it may force many big brand companies to reassess their digital marketing strategies.’

Sophisticated Consumers
Consumers are becoming more sophisticated but there are increasing numbers of businesses vying for their attention. More and more companies are becoming aware that to stay on top of the search engines listings they need to be more specific and hone in on the ‘right’ keywords that consumers are using. Consumers are becoming aware that the more specific they are the more likely they are to get good results from their searches. They are also impatient and want results quickly. And ultimately business wants as much useable traffic for as little effort as possible.

Business needs to keep up with consumer demand
To stay ahead of the search engine game business needs several things:

-A ‘feel’ for what is generally going on the web
-Access to the latest search engine trends
-A detailed knowledge of what search engines need
-Detailed technical knowledge about search engine optimisation that will enable them to link their products with consumer search engine techniques

The web feels like an organism that is growing and adapting quickly to its environment and visa versa and we have a symbiotic relationship with it. For business to rise to the top in this environment it needs to be aware on a micro as well as macro level. So getting a ‘feel’ for what is going on is just as important as analysing search data.