Is SA up to speed in web marketing?

Those online show real growth

May 01, 2010 Edition 1

Staff Reporter

While digital marketing was driving significant structural and operational changes in global marketing groups, according to the recent State of Marketing Report and Outlook Audit from the global Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) Council, the big question is whether South Africa is lagging behind or catching up.

To marketing analyst Chris Moerdyk, one of the 600 CMO members worldwide who took part in the survey, the answer is simple: "In spite of recent cost reductions in South Africa, broadband access is still far too expensive and speed painfully slow to allow business to take advantage of the massive growth in digital marketing being experienced in other countries."

But, there is good news, he said.

"While consumers might well be forced by budget and bandwidth to be slow on the digital uptake relative to their counterparts in developed countries, niche industries are certainly making more and more use of online sources to do business and get quick information."

While the South African media industry followed the world into a recession peppered with media closures, dropping circulations and falling revenues, some local online operations were showing healthy all-round increases.

Moerdyk, non-executive chairman of the country's biggest marketing and media online portal, www.bizcommunity.com, said the company set revenue records in mid-recession last year and in March this year broke all of its previous records for revenue, page visits, unique users and subscriptions.

Managing director Robin Parker said: "It is evident from market shifts this year that entrepreneurial South Africa intends trading itself out of the doldrums. This sector was the most impacted during the trying times last year. With the promise of an active year, smaller South African businesses are responding to the online marketing promise and choosing market leaders to get their message across. There appears to be a new determination not to just ride it out, but to prosper."

Bizcommunity co-founder Andre Rademan said: "Our own surge in website activity at the start of 2010 was a good sign that digital marketing is growing significantly. Our March page impressions were up 23 percent (3.7 million) on the average for 2009. Our recruitment section is also showing strong growth with a 33 percent increase in job ads relative to 2009, indicating that companies are recruiting in expectation of a recovery during 2010."

The CMO's 2010 State of Marketing Report and Outlook Audit found that "a big focus is now on building internal customer analytics and digital resource capabilities".

Among the findings were:

• Investing in digital demand generation and online relationship building ranks among top initiatives to maximise the impact and value of marketing in 2010.

• 38 percent of respondents are exploring new routes to market and alternative media; 62 percent will crunch customer data to improve segmentation and targeting.

• 35 percent of marketers expect to initiate or undertake transformational marketing projects to improve go-to-market effectiveness.

View this Article

So you think you’re an SEO huh? Here’s a fun and educational Google Quiz

I just took the quiz today and it was pretty helpful to see all the common questions which are mostly related to the repeated questions appearing in the Google Webmasters Help forum, so if you frequent there, you might find most of them easy.

I must say this has been really benefiting…

Well, prove it to big Dawgz...

Take a quiz here!

The quiz must be taken by Wednesday, January 27 at 5PM PST. And there are no prizes for winning, it is just for fun.

Google said they would follow up with the correct answers after the quiz results have been tallied.

SEO Comics - So SEO is not always serious stuff you know?

Are u Ready for the semantic web (Web 3.0) ? I am… *Anticipating*

You've decided to go see a movie and grab a bite to eat afterward. You're in the mood for a comedy and some incredibly spicy Mexican food. Booting up your PC, you open a Web browser and head to Google to search for theater, movie and restaurant information. You need to know which movies are playing in the theaters near you, so you spend some time reading short descriptions of each film before making your choice. Also, you want to see which Mexican restaurants are close to each of these theaters. And, you may want to check for customer reviews for the restaurants. In total, you visit half a dozen Web sites before you're ready to head out the door.

Some Internet experts believe the next generation of the Web -- Web 3.0 -- will make tasks like your search for movies and food faster and easier. Instead of multiple searches, you might type a complex sentence or two in your Web 3.0 browser, and the Web will do the rest. In our example, you could type "I want to see a funny movie and then eat at a good Mexican restaurant. What are my options?" The Web 3.0 browser will analyze your response, search the Internet for all possible answers, and then organize the results for you.

That's not all. Many of these experts believe that the Web 3.0 browser will act like a personal assistant. As you search the Web, the browser learns what you are interested in. The more you use the Web, the more your browser learns about you and the less specific you'll need to be with your questions. Eventually you might be able to ask your browser open questions like "where should I go for lunch?" Your browser would consult its records of what you like and dislike, take into account your current location and then suggest a list of restaurants.

To understand where the Web is going, we need to take a quick look at where it's been. Keep reading for a quick lesson on the evolution of the Web.

Web 3.0 Approaches

You never know how future technology will eventually turn out. In the case of Web 3.0, most Internetexperts agree about its general traits. They believe that Web 3.0 will provide users with richer and more relevant experiences. Many also believe that with Web 3.0, every user will have a unique Internet profilebased on that user's browsing history. Web 3.0 will use this profile to tailor the browsing experience to each individual. That means that if two different people each performed an Internet search with the same keywords using the same service, they'd receive different results determined by their individual profiles.

The technologies and software required for this kind of application aren't yet mature. Services likeTiVO and Pandora (reminds me of Avatar in 3d- Great movie) provide individualized content based on user input, but they both rely on a trial-and-error approach that isn't as efficient as what the experts say Web 3.0 will be. More importantly, both TiVO and Pandora have a limited scope -- television shows and music, respectively -- whereas Web 3.0 will involve all the information on the Internet.
Some experts believe that the foundation for Web 3.0 will be application programming interfaces(APIs). An API is an interface designed to allow developers to create applications that take advantage of a certain set of resources. Many Web 2.0 sites include APIs that give programmers access to the sites' unique data and capabilities. For example, Facebook's API allows developers to create programs that use Facebook as a staging ground for games, quizzes, product reviews and more.

One Web 2.0 trend that could help the development of Web 3.0 is the mashup. A mashup is the combination of two or more applications into a single application. For example, a developer might combine a program that lets users review restaurants with Google Maps. The new mashup application could show not only restaurant reviews, but also map them out so that the user could see the restaurants' locations. Some Internet experts believe that creating mashups will be so easy in Web 3.0 that anyone will be able to do it.

Other experts think that Web 3.0 will start fresh. Instead of using HTML as the basic coding language, it will rely on some new -- and unnamed -- language. These experts suggest it might be easier to start from scratch rather than try to change the current Web. However, this version of Web 3.0 is so theoretical that it's practically impossible to say how it will work.
The man responsible for the World Wide Web has his own theory of what the future of the Web will be. He calls it the Semantic Web, and many Internet experts borrow heavily from his work when talking about Web 3.0. What exactly is the Semantic Web? Keep reading to find out.



People keep asking what Web 3.0 is. I think maybe when you've got an overlay of scalable vector graphics - everything rippling and folding and looking misty — on Web 2.0 and access to a semantic Web integrated across a huge space of data, you'll have access to an unbelievable data resource."

– Tim Berners-Lee, 2006

It's not a cost It's an investment!

Sadly, many people have succumb to the snake oil that some shady SEOs are pushing. They say they have the secret to getting you top ranked in Google, Yahoo! and any other search engine in 7 days or less. They claim to have the bulletproof plan to solve all your SEO worries. All you have to do is pay 79.95 + tax and the nominal 19.95 shipping and handling charges.


The facts of SEO are not strange or mystical. They are clearly defined, well referenced and readily reproduced. Yes, it is quite possible to rank in 7 days, but don’t believe the hype and definitely don’t pay for an overnight cure all to solve your SEO woes. Instead, learn what is myth and what is fact. Learn where to begin your SEO journey, and where to continue it. Pick up the tools of the trade and begin to build a solid SEO campaign

Common Myths of SEO Debunked… Sort of

Myth: There is some mystical secret formula that SEOs use to calculate, analyze and optimize a website and/or web page.

Fact: Oh, there are formulas alright and some people even treat them as a secret, but they are far from mystical. Actually, most methodologies for analyzing SEO factors both on and off-page are very scientific. They are based on factors that can be readily quantified and often are defined on specific rule sets. As changes occur in search engine algorithms, so do these formulas. Complicated, perhaps, but there is nothing mystical here. With enough research and time, anyone can learn the very same formulas used by even the best SEOs.
Even so, you don’t have to invest years of research to learn the basic formulas that many SEOs use. There are many sites around the give the average webmaster an interface to these formulas in the form of web based tools, browser toolbars and desktop applications. Such tools are only a starting point and are useful for basic optimization; they do not replace the experience of a skilled SEO.


Myth: There is some complicated scientific method used to optimize a website and/or web page.

Fact: The scientific method, in itself is not complicated. As CJ Jenkins recently pointed out, the scientific method is very straight-forward and is most certainly applicable to SEO. However, how the scientific method is applied to your SEO campaign will differ on a per campaign basis. The main idea is to use a structured approach to determining the needs of the client, develop an approach to solve the need, test the proposed solutions, repeat as necessary and report the results.
Whenever possible and practical, the scientific method should be used when defining and working on a SEO campaign. This will allow for much more useful results.
Myth: There are prerequisites on authority you have to achieve before you can reach page one on any search engine.

Fact: Let’s look at this myth with an analogy. Have you ever played “king of the hill”? It isn’t always the biggest kid on the block to ends up the king and no king stays there forever. Usually, the most creative and resourceful kid is the one that ends up being king.



CONTACT US
Speak to one of our Internet marketing consultants today. We have the capacity to tie together online with offline marketing like no other. EVER combines experience from both print media marketing and Internet advertising to maximize your ROI under one strategy.