Doug's Web Marketing Blog

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noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 04:25:00 +0000

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Boomers Mix TV with Their PCs - eMarketer

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 14:47:00 +0000

Boomers Mix TV with Their PCs - eMarketer
My friend DS was telling me yesterday that the first thing he and his wife do when then get home after work, is pet the cat, and then open their laptops. They check their e-mail and surf the web. They put the TV on as background noise.
In our house, we are not quite boomers. We do have a computer connected to the web at all times. It's handy for looking up websites referenced from TV. Not just websites mentionned in commercials. Almost every talk show has a guest plugging something which has a website for more information.

You've got to be boisterous to get results

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 18:38:00 +0000

Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has built a reality-television empire with his abrasive style, ready arsenal of barbed insults and propensity for four-letter words. It all adds up to great television. But in the case of Kitchen Nightmares, which focuses on Ramsay's attempts to save failing restaurants, the entertainment is also packed with entrepreneurial insight.

"I like the show," says Janine Popick at the Vertical Response blog, "because he gets down into the inner workings of a small business and peels away the onion to find any issues that might be hampering the business from growing."

She finds six business lessons in the story arc of each episode. Here are some:

Ramsay starts with an honest assessment of the situation. You cannot fix something until you know what's wrong, and he always begins by observing a typical lunch or dinner service. Most are, predictably, disastrous. "He also takes to the streets," notes Popick. "In many shows he walks the streets of the town to observe other restaurants and he'll stop people and ask what they think about the restaurant he's trying to help."

He then identifies, and tries to rectify, fundamental problems. A strong business is built on a strong foundation. Disturbingly, almost all of the restaurants on Kitchen Nightmares share one failure in common: filthy kitchens that must be cleaned before anything else can happen. Beyond that, Ramsay addresses the unique mix of issues challenging each restaurant—everything from poor leadership to overambitious menus to subpar chefs.

Whatever you think of Gordon Ramsay, you just might benefit from his simple formula for jumpstarting a struggling business.
Source: Vertical Response. Click here for the full post.

Not Bloggin Enough

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 17:03:00 +0000

Clearly I'm not blogging enough. You know what they say? "The Shoemaker's children have not shoes and the Web Developer has no blog posts". Must be the seven jobs I'm working on. Sorry for the delay everyone!

Today I wanted to remind you to make sure you are backing up your hard drives and using reliable virus protection.

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 17:48:00 +0000

At the start of my presentation last week to the delegates of the OAAS, I mentioned some marketing publisher sources. These are great resources for information about marketing in the web industry. Here are a few of the web marketing and technology sites that I visit on a daily basis. I find them useful, hopefully you will too!

They are a great source of marketing intel. Some of the sites require a membership for the premium content. They all offer some type of free daily content on the subject of marketing for the web. Most of these marketing sources offer newsreader subscription services as well.

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 13:44:00 +0000

I presented a seminar topic on web content to delegates of the annual OAAS convention last Friday. Posted here is a copy of the PowerPoint. (which I will apologize for as it is a little dry).

Content can be the 'Do It Yourself' part of your website. Unlike the other aspects where hiring a professional is recommended, content is very DIY, and therefore less costly than other forms of website development. The real cost of content is the time you have to put into it to be successful.

Over the next few days I'll answer some of the questions which were asked at the seminar. Some relate to web content, other questions are simply general web development issues.

How much does it cost to have a website built?
Where are the cheapest hosts?
What is the relationship between images and text?
How important is content on the home page?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 13:41:00 +0000

Cost cutting measures are being considered all throughout any business that is looking to pull through these economic times. Some might be looking at IT as a place to cut costs, but if your critical communications tools like email and telephony, aren't reliable and interrupt your operations, the results can dramatically damage your financial outlook! There is a compelling business need for investment in robust email communication now more than ever. This is not the time to lose focus on the survivability of critical communication gateways. Recession amplifies the cost and consequences of business interruptions - to recover from disaster or an unplanned outage means consuming budget and time that companies can no longer afford.

Keeping the lines of communication open between you and your prospects and customers can make a difference in your future prosperity.

I'll be speaking at the Ontario Association of Agricultural Societies annual convention at the Royal York hotel on Friday. My topic is "content and how it is important to your fair or festival".

Final Virus Termination

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 16:16:00 +0000

It appears as though I've finally removed the holiday virus from my PC. This post doesn't have much to do with web marketing except that if I didn't have a working computer, there wouldn't be much of anything web from me.

Malwarebytes Anti-Malware is the best removal tool for this type of infection. If you've got malware, here's how to get rid of it.

Please download Malwarebytes Anti-Malware and save it to your desktop.alternate download link 1 alternate download link 2
Make sure you are connected to the Internet.
Double-click on Download_mbam-setup.exe to install the application.
When the installation begins, follow the prompts and do not make any changes to default settings.
When installation has finished, make sure you leave both of these checked:
Update Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Launch Malwarebytes' Anti-Malware
Then click Finish.
MBAM will automatically start and you will be asked to update the program before performing a scan. If an update is found, the program will automatically update itself. Press the OK button to close that box and continue. If you encounter any problems while downloading the updates, manually download them from here and just double-click on mbam-rules.exe to install.
On the Scanner tab:
Make sure the "Perform Quick Scan" option is selected.
Then click on the Scan button.
If asked to select the drives to scan, leave all the drives selected and click on the Start Scan button.
The scan will begin and "Scan in progress" will show at the top. It may take some time to complete so please be patient.
When the scan is finished, a message box will say "The scan completed successfully. Click 'Show Results' to display all objects found".
Click OK to close the message box and continue with the removal process.
Back at the main Scanner screen, click on the Show Results button to see a list of any malware that was found.
Make sure that everything is checked, and click Remove Selected.
When removal is completed, a log report will open in Notepad and you may be prompted to restart your computer. (see Note below)
The log is automatically saved and can be viewed by clicking the Logs tab in MBAM.
Note: If MBAM encounters a file that is difficult to remove, you will be presented with 1 of 2 prompts. Click OK to either and let MBAM proceed with the disinfection process. If asked to restart the computer, please do so immediately. Failure to reboot will prevent MBAM from removing all the malware.

Even the Webguy Gets a Virus

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Over the holidays, my personal computer recieved an anwanted gift. I picked up a Trojan virus. It is completely my fault. It was a very difficult virus to remove. I want to give a shout out to my new friend Buckeye_Sam over at bleepingcomputers.com. He had some excellent advice that I will pass along here.

Here are some simple steps in order to keep your computer clean and secure:

1. Make your Internet Explorer more secure - This can be done by following these simple instructions:
Make your Internet Explorer more secure - This can be done by following these simple instructions:

From within Internet Explorer click on the Tools menu and then click on Options.
Click once on the Security tab
Click once on the Internet icon so it becomes highlighted.
Click once on the Custom Level button.
1. Change the Download signed ActiveX controls to Prompt
2. Change the Download unsigned ActiveX controls to Disable
3. Change the Initialize and script ActiveX controls not marked as safe to Disable
4. Change the Installation of desktop items to Prompt
5. Change the Launching programs and files in an IFRAME to Prompt
6. Change the Navigate sub-frames across different domains to Prompt
7. When all these settings have been made, click on the OK button.

2. Use an AntiVirus Software - It is very important that your computer has an anti-virus software running on your machine. This alone can save you a lot of trouble with malware in the future. See this link for a listing of some online & their stand-alone antivirus programs:Virus, Spyware, and Malware Protection and Removal Resources

3. Update your AntiVirus Software - It is imperitive that you update your Antivirus software at least once a week (Even more if you wish). If you do not update your antivirus software then it will not be able to catch any of the new variants that may come out.

4. Use a Firewall - I can not stress how important it is that you use a Firewall on your computer. Without a firewall your computer is succeptible to being hacked and taken over. I am very serious about this and see it happen almost every day with my clients. Simply using a Firewall in its default configuration can lower your risk greatly.For a tutorial on Firewalls and a listing of some available ones see the link below:Understanding and Using Firewalls

5. Visit Microsoft's Windows Update Site Frequently - It is important that you visit http://www.windowsupdate.com/ regularly. This will ensure your computer has always the latest security updates available installed on your computer. If there are new updates to install, install them immediately, reboot your computer, and revisit the site until there are no more critical updates.

6. Install Spybot - Search and Destroy - Install and download Spybot - Search and Destroy with its TeaTimer option. This will provide realtime spyware & hijacker protection on your computer alongside your virus protection. You should also scan your computer with program on a regular basis just as you would an antivirus software. A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here:Using Spybot - Search & Destroy to remove Spyware , Malware, and Hijackers

7. Install Ad-Aware - Install and download Ad-Aware. ou should also scan your computer with program on a regular basis just as you would an antivirus software in conjunction with Spybot.A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here:Using Ad-aware to remove Spyware, Malware, & Hijackers from Your Computer

8. Install SpywareBlaster - SpywareBlaster will added a large list of programs and sites into your Internet Explorer settings that will protect you from running and downloading known malicious programs.A tutorial on installing & using this product can be found here:Using SpywareBlaster to protect your computer from Spyware and Malware

9. Update all these programs regularly - Make sure you update all the programs I have listed regularly. Without regular updates you WILL NOT be protected when new malicious programs are released.

Thanks again Buckeye_Sam and the folks at bleepingcomputer.com.

Down for Everyone or Just Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 15:31:00 +0000

You head for a Web site, but you get an error. I know you've said it: "Is the site down, or is it my problem?"Now there's a way to find out. Type a Web site's URL into Down for Everyone or Just Me? (a smartly named site, no?), and it will give you the scoop. Very handy -- using it keeps you from bothering coworkers or members of your buddy list.
Fixes for Wi-Fi woes: If you use Wi-Fi, turning your router's Quality of Service (QoS) settings on will definitely help with some applications.

A Robot Network Seeks to Enlist Your Computer

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 19:07:00 +0000

A fascinating — and horrifying — new article in The New York Times offers the lowdown on "zombie computers," the half-a-million-or-so machines that are converted, assembled into systems called "botnets" and forced to do a shadowy figure’s bidding, namely in the form of automated programs that send the majority of e-mail spam, illegally seek financial information and install malicious software on still more PCs.
In 2003 and 2004 Microsoft was deeply shaken by a succession of malicious software worm programs with names like "Blaster" and "Sasser", that raced through the Internet, sowing chaos within corporations and among home computer users. Blaster was a personal affront to the software firm that has long prided itself on its technology prowess. The program contained a hidden message mocking Microsoft’s co-founder: "billy gates why do you make this possible? Stop making money and fix your software!!" The company maintains that its current software is less vulnerable, but even as it fixed some problems, the threat to the world’s computers has become far greater. Mr. Campana said that there had been ups and downs in the fight against a new kind of criminal who could hide virtually anywhere in the world and strike with devilish cleverness. "I come in every morning, and I think we’re making progress," he said. At the same time, he said, botnets are not going to go away any time soon. "There are a lot of very smart people doing very bad things," he said.

So what’s a user to do?
First, take Microsoft’s Malicious Software Removal Tool out for a ride. Then make sure your firewall is up and you’re up to date with all security patches.
Then pray. Because these zombies are hard to find, much less kill. Just last week, Secunia, a computer security firm, tested a dozen leading PC security suites and found that the best one detected only 64 out of 300 software vulnerabilities.

Browser Window Size

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:21:00 +0000

Have you noticed a horizontal scroll bar showing up more frequently in your web browser? More Web sites these days seem to be designed for larger monitors. However a larger monitor doesn't necessarily mean a larger browser window.

I don't keep my browser window maximized on my desktop. I find it to be a waste of real estate as most Web sites don't fill the content area of my large screen. So I minimize my browser window to the size of an 800x600 resolution screen. This makes it easy to have multiple windows open at the same time.

Lately I've noticed many sites in my browser are activating the annoying horizontal scroll bar. It is an unpleasant surfing experience to have to scroll from left to right. Since my Internet Explorer window is set to a width of 800 pixels, apparently more web designers are producing layouts which require a canvas of 1024 pixels to display the page without horizontal scroll. Webmonkey.com has some good text about this topic.

MSN.ca is incorporating user selectable widow sizes. Page options at http://sympatico.msn.ca/ offer the narrow view (800x600) and wide screen view (1024x768) At MSN.ca, the visitor has a choice. This is the most clever solution to the problem of horizontal scrolling.

I hear often, "what size should I design my web page?" There are many answers to that question. Mainly, you want to find out what your visitors are using for a browser window size. Plus you can check the browser stats available at http://www.upsdell.com/BrowserNews/stat_trends.htm#browser

It is important to note that the display resolution says little about the size of the browser window, and users can normally resize the browser window. Consequently no particular browser window size should be assumed.

The safest size to ensure that nobody is scrolling horizontally is 800 pixels. You could have your site created for 1024 pixels if you think you'll have content to fill it. The 1024 size will annoy some Visitors until they resize their browser windows to the larger layout. The best solution is to do it like MSN.ca and create a layout that can be manipulated by the user.

how to handle negative comments on your blog

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 15:14:00 +0000

In a post at his Web Strategy by Jeremiah blog, Jeremiah Owyang addresses a challenging scenario that often presents itself in social media these days: how to handle negative comments left by an unhappy customer on your site, forum or blog. The two-way nature of social media, according to Owyang, means you must face these basic realities:

Negative comments are a fact of life. You can't please all your customers all the time; some will voice their complaints online.
Deleting negative comments makes things worse. Think a customer is disgruntled now? Wait until they take the discussion elsewhere with the additional, and valid, accusation of censorship.

A negative comment can have a positive outcome by following this advice from Owyang:

View negative comments as an alert system. By keeping close tabs on problems, you can manage them in real time. "Why wait for them to bubble up elsewhere on the Web?" he argues.
Impress unhappy customers with your response. "In most cases," says Owyang, "these are individuals that want you to improve your product, so embrace them, acknowledge them, and get them involved in providing solutions." They could leave the experience singing your praises.
Earn the trust of other customers. Having the confidence to encourage customer insight, whatever it is, tells observers you're committed to responsive customer service.

"The savvy strategist will realize that by bringing the problems and issues closer to home, you'll actually have a few advantages," says Owyang. "By acknowledging and fixing these problems in public, you ... can turn this into a very positive experience."
Source: Web Strategy by Jeremiah. Click here for the post.

Web is tuned in with radio ads

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Radio and the Internet are a perfect tag-team when it comes to boosting purchase intent, according to a study from Foundation Research.

According to the study, 57% of radio listeners visited a website for further information based on an ad they heard on radio, with 60% of those people ultimately making a purchase. The study also found that 39% of Canadians 18+ listen to radio while online.

The findings are based on telephone interviews with 1,028 Canadians 18+ conducted in October of 2007.

The study also found that while total daily media time decreased in 2007, time spent with radio and the Internet increased by 5% and 17% respectively.
Marketing Daily

Google tops Microsoft as most visited

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 17:01:00 +0000

For the first time ever, Google has topped Microsoft's web properties as the most visited in Canada.
In January, Google websites, including Google.ca and YouTube, reached 22.44 million unique visitors, slightly more than Microsoft sites, which had 22.42 million unique visitors, according to data from comScore Media Metrix released yesterday.
Google has been gaining on Microsoft's sites, which include MSN and Hotmail, in recent years. Yahoo ranked third behind Google and Microsoft with 16.5 million unique Canadian visitors, followed by Facebook (15.3 million) and eBay (13.8 million). Rounding out the top 10 were: Wikipedia sites (11.7 million), AOL LLC (10.7 million), Yellow Pages Group (9.7 million), Amazon (9.5 million), Apple (8.7 million) and Canoe Network (8.6 million).
As of January, the total Internet audience in Canada was 23.8 million.
ComScore data also showed that Softvoyage.com, a travel industry site, was the fastest gaining web property, with a 53% jump in unique visitors in January compared to December 2007. It had 2.7 million visitors during January. It was followed by Workopolis.com and Monster Worldwide, which saw their visitors jump 49% and 41% respectively.
As for the most popular web categories, it seemed that after the Christmas break, reality started to set in for most Canadians. Sites devoted to taxes were tops, with a 44% increase in January over December. Number two was retail-health care (34%), followed by hotels/resorts (32%).

Which Social network is for you?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:51:00 +0000

Facebook, Ning or LibraryThing? - Plugging into the best social network for you With so many social networks dotting the Web, it's hard to know which ones are worth your time and effort. To help clarify this, itbusiness.ca examines 17 alternatives - and shows you how to get the most out of each service.

Blogs Explained - Again

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 16:35:00 +0000

It's February 25, 2008, some might think it's too late or redundant to explain what a blog is. The timing couldn't be better to talk about blogs now. Blogs used to be strictly personal thoughts shared among the web savvy. Today, blogs continue to provide a freedom of expression while at the same time offering something useful for business, a marketing opportunity.

I've been blogging for 7 years. Initially I got onboard because of my curiosity. Being in the web industry, I'm continually looking at emerging trends. In February 2002, I posted this message to my douvan.com blog; "What's a blog? It's like having a diary but everyone can read it. blogs (aka "web logs") can be used for all sorts of different things. Some people use them to vent, some use them to communicate to others indirectly. Some use them to let friends know how they're doing, etc."

Wikipedia defines blog as:
A blog is a website where entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronological order. "blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.
Many blogs provide commentary or news on a particular subject; others function as more personal online diaries. A typical blog combines text, images, and links to other blogs, web pages, and other media related to its topic. The ability for readers to leave comments in an interactive format is an important part of many blogs. Most blogs are primarily textual, although some focus on art (artlog), photographs (photoblog), sketchblog, videos (vlog), music (MP3 blog), audio (podcasting) are part of a wider network of social media. As of December 2007, blog search engine Technorati was tracking more than 112 million blogs.

So, what is a blog?
A blog is just a Web site driven by a content management system. What makes it so popular? blogging itself made the blog popular. Blogging is publicized by most other media as a legitimate output format. Today's blog is easy and possible as a result of the applications created by programmers. Blog tools and programs make it possible for anyone to manage content on a Web site.

Who is a blogger?
Even Martha Stewart is blogging. A blogger is a content contributor. Thanks to the blog applications, a blogger can be anyone, HTML skills are not required. As often as possible, the blogger should post content in the form of news, opinions, text and links to her blog space. The title of blogger has in fact become esteemed in the eyes of the public. The blog is recognized as its own media channel like newspaper or radio. Some people are full time paid employees in the position of blogger.

Technology has made it easy for anyone to be a blogger. And anyone can have a blog. Remember, a blog is just a Web site. A blog page on your existing website can help to increase content and provide information in a way your visitors demand.

Create Valuable Content
When the content in your blog is valuable, you create a web environment where visitors can interact with you. Valuable blog content are the words, pictures, audio or video related to your industry. The text found throughout the rest of your site, such as product pages or company history is given from the company perspective. Your industry blog should be written from a personal point of view. Visitors are more likely to identify with the blogger than the head office. The blogger can gain additional trust and credibility by allowing feedback and posting comments.

If you don't have a blog, get one.
The marketing opportunity is to provide feedback using this social media and increase search engine rankings as a result of the valuable content. A blog will bring more visitors to your Web site and allow your visitors to give their opinions.

Google Experiments

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 19:40:00 +0000

Google is always experimenting with new features aimed at improving the search experience and so far, it's been pretty obvious that they know what they're doing. Most people in this part of Ontario use Google every day, multiple times a day.

The Search Engine of choice in fact is Google by over 85% compared to the other Search Engines. One of the reason why Google is so popular is that theyr'e always improving the user experience with enhancements or expanding on new ideas.

Join an experiments to see how it can improve your search.

Alternate views for search results
Keyword suggestions (I've been using this one for a while, it's fascinating to see the suggested searches)
Keyboard shortcuts
Left-hand search navigation
Right-hand contextual search navigation

Check them out and if you've got the time, join one of the experiments and share your experience. You might even find it will save you time.

Canadian Market Healthy - 21.8 million Internet Users

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 17:33:00 +0000

Canada is a relatively mature Internet market. 65.3% of the people in Canada use the Internet at least once in a month. There will no doubt be some growth in the future. What this means to me; Canadians are using the Web, which is good for all of us marketing on the Web. Check out the complete ClickZ article.

Spam Report

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:24:00 +0000

In the last few months of 2007, spam has become more inventive.

In 2007 spammers waged stock pump-and-dump campaigns on the public using Adobe Acrobat PDF format files in order to evade traditional defenses. Later in the year this moved-up a gear by using other file attachment formats, including Microsoft Excel, Word, ZIP and more notably, MP3. The latter example comprised of an audio file attachment where the recipient could at last listen to the spam message being relayed to them.

Although overall spam has gone down slightly, the proportion of spam that is new and previously unknown has increased and is now more sophisticated and more difficult to stop using simple traffic management controls, such as traditional anti-spam software and appliances.

Several of WeGo.ca’s Clients have noticed an increase in spam messages which were not being filtered as usual. There has also been an increase in the number of bounce-back spams in 2007. This is where spammers spoof the from: and reply-to: addresses in the original spam message. The spoofed addressee then receives a bounce-back message from the recipients’ mail servers when the message cannot be delivered correctly. In some cases this may work as a form of social engineering, as the recipient may believe a non-delivery report to be genuine, and is then duped into reading the spam message.

For more statistics on spam and email threats, please visit Barracuda Central, a 24/7 security operations center that continuously monitors and blocks the latest Internet threats, at http://www.barracudacentral.com/.

What You Can Do to Fight Spam?

1. Enable Outlook 2003 Spam Filters. Microsoft Outlook® 2003 has many new features to block junk e-mail (spam). The most notable feature is Microsoft's Junk E-Mail Filter with Microsoft SmartScreen Technology. SmartScreen Technology is based on a machine-learning Bayesian technology that uses a probability-based algorithms to determine whether email is legitimate or spam. Visit Visit SiteDeveloper for a full tutorial and explanation on how to enable full spam filtering for Microsoft Outlook 2003.

2. Ignore Delivery Failures of Messages You Did Not Send. If you wonder why you are getting delivery failures for messages you know you did not send, the cause is likely junk-mail from a spammer. You should delete these messages without opening.

3. Don't Respond to Spam Messages. Never respond to a spam message in your inbox. This usually results in more spam. Encourage friends, coworkers, and relatives to NEVER respond to spam and to avoid purchasing anything that is being marketed via spam.

Need More Help?

If you find that spam is still clogging your inbox, there are additional steps we could take. Contact me to discuss if a third party spam filter provider or mail server upgrade is right for your e-mail account.

Legion of Influencers Use E-Mail

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Thu, 03 May 2007 11:41:00 +0000

Is the current definition of "influencer" too narrow?
Everyone has some influence, but people with larger networks use more technology to spread theirs, according to "Understanding Influence, and Making It Work For You: A CNet Networks Study."
Highly connected people use e-mail to keep up with their dozens of contacts. In fact, they use e-mail far more often than the phone to stay in touch.

The study also found that regardless of how connected they were, everyone was interested in about the same number of topics, and that influencers tend to pass along information they consider both unique and trusted. "Influencers" in this sense are people interested in a topic who are trying to spread the word, not just an elite set of people with charisma or sway.
The number of "influencers" who could contribute to a word-of-mouth campaign is therefore huge, since most of the population is at least moderately connected.

It all comes back to having something worth spreading the word about. Marketers surveyed by Osterman Research for BoldMouth, a Faber, Va.–based word-of-mouth marketing company, said that satisfied customers, along with great products or services, were the most important things needed to generate word-of-mouth.

Spread the word more effectively. Read eMarketer's E-Mail and Word-of-Mouth: Connect with Your Best Customers report.

Outsourcing Web Needs and Any Other Business Specialties

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 20:26:00 +0000

A business teacher of mine told me about a problem his former student was having. The student had recently started a business. The business teacher went for a visit and found the new-business owner struggling in front of his computer with a stack of receipts and bills. The business owner explained that he had some accounting to do and it was just taking too long. He was spending two days a month doing his books.

The answer to this account problem is outsourcing. The new business owner wasted two days he could have been out selling or doing his actual business. Those extra days work could more than pay for a bookkeeper. The quality of a Bookkeeper’s work would also be superior.

If you are here looking for a Webmaster to handle your next project, it is probably because your expertise is not in the field of web design and development. Outsourcing your web project is a good idea. It frees up the time it would take you to learn and create a web product, and concentrate on what you do best, sell your product or service. There are many skills and abilities that a seasoned Webmaster can perform. Let’s face it, unless you are in the internet industry, you would be wasting a lot of time attempting to learn the web business.

Outsourcing can make your business easier to run and more profitable. You'll free up time and resources so you can concentrate on your core business concerns. WeGo offers a broad range of integrated web services to move your company forward. More than ever, business survival depends upon the ability to effectively market and promote your services online, as well as keeping costs down. For your next web project, outsourcing may be the perfect solution to make the difference in your bottom line.

How many small businesses use e-business?

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 15:08:00 +0000

As defined by Industry Canada's 2006 report - Key Small Busniess Statistics.

Engaging in electronic business (e-business) is defined as leveraging “the Internet for providing or sharing information, or for delivering services, and/or realizing some or all of its revenues from Internet based transactions and/or the manufacture and sale of Internet-related products or services.” In addition to online purchases and transactions (referred to as e-commerce), e-business includes portfolio management, business planning, and Internet or intranet-based communication between a business and its clients, suppliers and other partners.

Embracing e-business can offer many benefits to a firm, regardless of its size. Using the Internet as a business tool can improve coordination within the production process, improve communication with suppliers and customers, optimize supply sources and increase a firm’s presence in the marketplace.

However, the extent to which firms use e-business, and for what purposes, varies considerably depending on a firm’s size.

Strategis Report PDF

Search, Search, Search…

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 07 Dec 2005 21:58:00 +0000

Yeah, I've been searchin'

A-a searchin'

Oh, yeah, searchin' every which a-way

Most of today's online users probably aren't familiar with the Coaster's hit of the 60's, but they know the feeling.

According to a new study just released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, "Search engines have become an increasingly important part of the online experience of American internet users." On an average day, nearly 60 million people use search engines.

Over the past year there has been a sharp increase in search activity. From June 2004 to Septemeber 2005 the use of search engines on a typical day rose from 30% to 41% of the internet-using population, which itself has grown in the past year.

At the same time, the total number of people using search engines on an average day jumped from roughly 38 million to about 59 million — an increase of roughly 55%.

comScore Media Metrix data, derived from a different methodology, show that from September 2004 to September 2005 the average daily use of search engines jumped from 49.3 million users to 60.7 million — an increase of 23%.

In either case, it is clear that the use of search engines is edging up on e-mail as the primary internet activity on any given day.

However, the Pew data shows that on a typical day, e-mail use is still the most popular internet activity. On any given day, about 52% of US Internet users send and receive e-mail, up from 45% in June of 2004.

Obviously, e-mail continues to be a powerful application accounting for a great part of users' online time and attention.

Overall, there is little difference between the sizes of the e-mailing population and the search-engine using population. Pew data shows that 91% of all Internet users have at one time sent or receive e-mail, compared to 90% of Internet users have used search engines.

To put e-mail use and search-engine use in perspective, Pew compared them to other Internet activities on an average day.

According to the latest comScore data, Google is the most heavily-used search engine. In October 2005 the site had 89.8 million unique visitors, followed by Yahoo! Search with 68 million unique visitors.

For more information on this topic, read eMarketer's Search Engine Marketing report.

Level of Search Engine Optimization Not Optimal

noreply@blogger.com (Doug van Wolde) — Wed, 08 Sep 2004 03:10:00 +0000

Less than 10% of the Fortune 100 is effectively using search engine optimization for their Web sites, according to a new study by Oneupweb.

Integrated search engine marketing firm Oneupweb analyzed the main corporate sites of Fortune magazine's top 100 companies to determine the level of effectiveness with which
each company has used search engine optimization (SEO).

The analysis indicates that the number of companies effectively using SEO is quite
small — only nine of the 100 companies in the study. Oneupweb's
criteria for effective use is based on the practice of both "ethical" and "unethical" SEO
methods. "Ethical" methods include pertinent keywords in tags and relevant
titles and body text, whereas "unethical" methods include invisible
text and image links, keyword tags not related to the business sector
and other methods used to trick search engines.

Those deemed moderate SEO users by Oneupweb are those firms which employ too few
optimization techniques or use enough but employ them ineffectively.
Moderate SEO users account for 47% of the Fortune 100. About the same
percentage of companies, 44%, use no SEO at all. This is a slight change
from a survey Oneupweb conducted in 2002, which found that over 50%
of Fortune 100 companies did not use SEO at all, while 44% used some
methods, and only 3% had effectively optimized their site for search.

Comparing the level of SEO to a company's position in a search engine's rankings,
Oneupweb finds that search engine optimization can pay off. Companies
with effective SEO often end up in the top 10 search results on Google
for their respective keywords. This year, 7 out of the 9 firms effectively
using SEO had placement in the top 10 Google results presented for
a search on their respective primary keywords. On the other hand, a
lack of SEO efforts results in over 80% of those companies missing
the Google top 10 list altogether.

Although there has been a general migration towards SEO, Oneupweb is surprised that
it hasn't been adopted by more companies since 2002. Indeed, while
the number of firms not using optimization at all has dropped below
50%, analysts expected many more effectively-optimized sites in 2004 — as
many as 30. Oneupweb expects a future study to show all of the Fortune
100 employing at least moderately-optimized sites.

Although Fortune 100 companies often benefit from name recognition and a commanding
position in their industry, poor site design can still result in lower
search engine rankings. Conversely, competitors have an opportunity
to take advantage of this sluggishness by making sure their SEO is
top notch so that they can gain a higher profile in search results
and thus among online customers at large.