E-consultancy - Internet Marketing News and Blogs

VCs taking in more than they're producing

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

The notion that the business of venture capital is broken is one that I've discussed multiple times before.

In short, I (and many others) have observed a major problem with venture capital in recent times - too many VCs with too much money chasing too few "good" opportunities.

Measuring online success

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

How do you measure the success of an online business, given the current economic climate?

An SMS primer

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:45:00 GMT

With the mobile internet attracting more and more attention and use, it's getting very difficult for online businesses to ignore the world of mobile.

SMS (Short Message Service) is the technology behind text messaging and even though it's far from being the most cutting-edge mobile technology, it's often the first one companies will experiment with because it's the most widely-used. Over 200 billion SMS messages were sent in 2007.

Top 10 tips for retailers to combat the economic downturn

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 16:10:00 GMT

Despite the current economic climate, retailers should continue to explore investments in technologies that provide an enhanced customer experience, improved customer service and optimised operational efficiencies in order to improve their competitive position.

The tips that follow contain both short-term tactical opportunities to improve performance and increase efficiencies, as well as medium to longer term strategic choices that will deliver sustainable and incremental growth.

Universities failing internet-minded students

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 15:40:00 GMT

Kudos to Bigmouthmedia for its campaign to raise awareness of digital marketing among students and graduates, who are apparently unaware that it is a career option.

The internet industry at large is very much a career option, and its a shame that universities and colleges arent doing more to promote digital as a serious alternative for marketing and business-orientated students, as well as the tech-minded (who are better catered for).

Q&A: Richard Weaver of Majestic Wines

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 12:06:00 GMT

Majestic Wines has been in the news this week,with the slowing economy hitting the company's pre tax profits.

Despite the drop in offline sales, Majestic continues to grow online, with an impressive 11.5% year on year increase in website orders compared with last year.

I have been talking to Majestic Wines' e-commerce manager Richard Weaver about the company's approach to selling wine online...

Tax neednt be taxing! Online imports to become tax-free

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:00:00 GMT

A new ruling on import tax will benefit thousands of online UK shoppers and businesses.

But, as always with tax, there are certain strict rules...

A beginner's guide to optimising video content

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:30:00 GMT

It is becoming increasingly important to consider search engine optimisation (SEO) tactics when creating video or any non-text content.

As the web becomes an increasingly competitive marketplace, companies are striving to build dynamic, exciting, thrilling pages to capture their consumers' confidence.

Tips for reserve and collect services

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Plenty of shoppers are researching online and buying offline, so the 'reserve and collect' services offered by multichannel retailers are a great tool.

When done well, they can help customers check whether items are in stock before they actually go and visit a store, as well as providing another option when products are unavailable for delivery.

Could online ad spending drop by 40%?

Tue, 18 Nov 2008 08:45:00 GMT

Nick Denton, the owner of the blog "empire" Gawker Media, has some advice for ad-supported online businesses: prepare for the market to get much, much worse.

E-consultancy reveals Innovation Awards shortlist

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 15:11:00 GMT

E-consultancys inaugural Innovation Awards attracted around 230 entries across 13 categories. We were truly delighted by the response, which included some fantastic submissions that highlight truly cutting-edge innovation.

After more than a week of heavy deliberation we can now announce the shortlist, as follows...

Adding online chat to your website

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:15:00 GMT

Community features, while not right for everyone, can be a useful way for many online publishers to create more loyalty amongst users and keep them hanging around longer.

While social networks and blogs are all the rage, one shouldn't forget about message boards and chat when considering community.

Has YouTube discovered the solution to its monetization woes?

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Google's challenges in monetizing the world's most popular online video service, YouTube, are well-known.

Site review: Sky Shopping

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Launched last week, Sky Shopping is a price comparison site displaying products from retailers including M&S, John Lewis and Comet.

There are already plenty of shopping comparison sites out there, so is this one any different?

Xmas online retail predictions round-up

Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:45:00 GMT

With consumers' spending power on the high street expected to be hit by a slowing economy, e-commerce is expected by some to be the one bright spot for retailers this Christmas.

IMRG released its predictions for Q4 yesterday, forecasting a 15% year on year rise in online shopping.

With this in mind, I've taken a look at some other predictions for Christmas 2008 for the UK and US markets...

Sun Microsystems axes 6,000 staff, digs PR hole, jumps in

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 15:28:00 GMT

Is the press release terminally ill? After seeing how Sun Microsystems announced a batch of layoffs Im starting to think that it might be.

Sun has axed up to 6,000 of its workforce, or as much as 18% of total headcount, as part of a plan to reduce annual costs by $800m.

Given the economic climate this is understandable, but rather than being upfront about it Sun has chosen to bury the bad news among marketese and feelgood sloganeering.

Six WordPress ad-related plugins

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT

Monetizing a blog can be hard. If you're using WordPress, eliminate some of the time you're probably spending managing your ads so that you can focus on producing great content and finding ways to better monetize that content.

Here are 6 WordPress plugins to help you do just that.

The Web Week in Review

Fri, 14 Nov 2008 08:50:00 GMT

Few things are certain in today's crazy world but the weekend is one of them. So without further ado, here's this week's The Web Week in Review.

Fight club: BBC Mobile v ITV Mobile

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 09:30:00 GMT

ITV has been adding more video content to its mobile service recently, as well as promoting it between TV programmes.

With this in mind, I decided to take a look at the site and compare it with the BBC's offering, which was upgraded earlier this year...

Site review: FT.com revamp

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:45:00 GMT

The Financial Times began rolling out changes to its website earlier this week, with a new look and very pink homepage being the first major update.

This is the first stage of an ongoing redesign process and so far it looks like a big improvement. I've taken a closer look at the changes...

Microsoft looks to its own app store

Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:45:00 GMT

Everybody is jumping on the "app store" bandwagon.

The model that Apple has used quite successfully with the iPhone is being adopted by the makers of the Blackberry, RIM; and Google will be offering an app store of its own for Android applications.

More reasons to offer free shipping

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 10:00:00 GMT

We've blogged about the benefits of free delivery as an effective sales driver, and it seems that more retailers are offering it this year.

According to a post on This Week in Etail, the number of US retailers offering free shipping has jumped from 31% to 41% over the past couple of weeks as they attempt to appeal to holiday shoppers.

Judging by some of the emails I've been getting recently, more UK retailers are also offering the incentive this Christmas.

Using Twitter for customer service

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:30:00 GMT

Microblogging service Twitter is not only useful for online marketers, or to link to interesting blog posts; it can also be an effective customer service tool.

Rebecca on SEOmoz has provided an interesting case study describing how Comcast used Twitter to solve an issue for her; something other companies can potentially learn from.

MySpace prepares for launch of virtual payment system

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 09:00:00 GMT

MySpace may be the top social network when it comes to monetization, but with revenues apparently falling short of expectations, it's looking for new ways to make money.

At the Web 2.0 Summit last week, COO Amit Kapur announced that MySpace will be launching a virtual payment and gift system that enables it to earn real cash by selling virtual goods to its users.

US retailers need to improve SEO - study

Wed, 12 Nov 2008 08:45:00 GMT

Many Fortune 500 companies, retailers included, have plenty of scope to improve their natural search ranking for main keywords.

While these firms are spending plenty on search ads for their targeted keywords, 72% of Fortune 500 firms were not even in the first five pages on organic search results for these terms, according to a US study (PDF) by Conductor and SkyFu.