Archive for November, 2009
Top Internet Trends of 2000-2009: E-commerce
If you are an ecommerce entrepreneur, you understand how important it is to have Google’s approval!
There is a saying that you will hear/see many times on the internet: “If you don’t exist on Google, you don’t exist.”
This is so true. To have a successful, thriving high-traffic and high- sales online store, you absolutely must be prominently featured in Google search.
Internet retail research has shown that very few consumers will go past the first page of a search. The closer you are to the top of the page, the better off you are!
So, what can you do to make Google like you and want to put you first?
Here are some pointers to making your ecommerce website more popular with the Google search engine:
- Instead of trying to work out or try some complicated, never-fail formula for SEO, write your content so that it will flow smoothly for the reader. This doesn’t mean forget about SEO, it simply means don’t make it the be-all and end-all of your content. Google likes it when you don’t overdo the SEO stuff!
- Ask your friends and/or relatives if they genuinely like the content you are writing for the web. If they like it, there is an excellent chance that Google will like it, too.
- Update your content frequently. This is one of the most effective ways you can get in Google’s good books! Google loves fresh content, so if you supply it, you are helping your website be a favorite with this search giant.
- Have a blog for your ecommerce business and share valuable, informative content with readers so that you build up a solid base of followers who read your blog posts. Google likes popular, influential websites that have lots of friends and followers.
- Use SEO with SMO, or Social Media Optimization. Google responds very well to websites who are adept at combining these two things.
The more favorably your ecommerce website is viewed by Google, the more successful it will be!
So, make sure that you schedule time at least every week or so to keep your website up to speed and keeping Google happy!
Twitter, Facebook lead charge in social networking craze
YOU might not get it, but you had better get used to it. Social networking online is now so ingrained in modern society that the most popular online community, Facebook, has more than 300 million users worldwide who spend more than eight billion minutes on the site every day.
In the past 12 months social networking services have reached unprecedented levels of popularity in Australia.
Twitter has led the way, albeit from a lower base, with 1150 per cent growth in the past 12 months, lifting it from 0.12 per cent market share to 1.54 per cent (more than 800,000 visits, not including mobile phone use).
Celebrities such as US actor Ashton Kutcher have helped fan the popularity, with about four million people following his every “tweet”.
Facebook has continued its domination, boasting just under 50 per cent market share in Australia, compared with 30 per cent a year ago.
YouTube grew by 8 per cent, giving it a 13 per cent share, while MySpace has 6.5 per cent. Experts say the explosion in popularity of social networking sites can be attributed to people wanting to participate in everyday activities.
Social network strategist Laurel Papworth said social media was taking the internet back to its origins, as an extension of a community.
“Our social network is our society,” Ms Papworth said.
“I first joined in 1989 and then the first round of the internet was really community-driven.
“But then web pages came along that looked pretty but . . . contained dead content. There was no feeling of community, but that is changing now.”
Brisbane-based Tara Talbot said her platform of choice was Facebook. Ms Talbot logs on about four times a day, using the service to stay in close touch with about 50 of her 480 friends.
But the 25-year-old was dismissive of Twitter as a useful tool. “I think it’s ridiculous,” she said. “I really don’t care that someone twitters to say they are going to the shop.”
Ms Papworth predicts the next big thing will be Livestream, which allows people to film and broadcast directly on to the web.
“What this means is that sports events are screwed, because anybody in the audience . . . 100 people could all be live streaming the (game) and giving their commentary to their friends,” she said.
