Website design newsletter
Every month we publish interesting news articles relating to website design, search engine trends and other exciting changes happening online.
May 2007
Contents
Average 84% of e-mail users click-through email newsletters
Influencers rely on the internet as a resource
What is Web 2.0?
Average 84% of e-mail users click-through email newsletters
April 2007
84% percent of e-mail users have clicked through from e-mail offers, according to Epsilon, a database marketing and e-mail marketing provider, in its findings from research conducted in North America. The survey of more than 400 e-mail users revealed generally high satisfaction with e-mail and mailbox providers, as well as high responsiveness to e-mail communication efforts across multiple channels. Additionally, the data indicate that e-mail campaigns exert a powerful influence over other marketing channels' performance.
The survey also found 73% of respondents report having made an online purchase as the result of receiving a relevant e-mail offer and 51% of respondents report having clicked "forward to a friend" links in marketing e-mail.
Source: www.btobonline.com
Influencers rely on the internet as a resource
April 2007
Once thought to be a experts in a particular field, new research indicates influencers are individuals who gain self-worth by giving good advice. That's according to findings from the CNET Networks study "Understanding Influence, and Making it Work for You."
Influencers build large social networks and interact with 100 or more people each month. Moderately-connected individuals report connections with between 11 and 99 people each month, while less-connected individuals have 10 or fewer connections with close or casual friends, neighbours, family members, co-workers, and church or civic organization members. The study finds a correlation between network size and self-reported influence activity. Fewer than half the less-connected group is asked for opinions or advice, versus 75 percent of the highly-connected cohort.
"There are few people that are highly-connected, they are influence brokers," said Ted Smith, research fellow at CNET Networks. "They are responsible for educating everyone else."
Technology plays a role in research and communication for information distribution within influencer networks. "Research shows that the larger the network, the greater the role of technology in staying connected. Technology enables the maintenance and frequency of connections." the report said.
Within the highly-connected group, e-mail (84) and in-person discussion (88) are the most frequent interactions. Phone (46), instant messaging (16), and text messaging (15) occur with lower frequency.
Research suggests a diamond-shaped marketing model. Those with many and few social connections, respectively, sit at the narrow points at the top and bottom, while moderately-connected individuals fill in the wide area in the middle. This differs from the more commonly used pyramid model. The report suggests "the 1-10 or pyramid model, where influence comes from a few highly-connected people who advise the unconnected masses, is inaccurate, and points instead to the significant potential of the moderately-connected majority." For marketers, the study concludes, "Instead of focusing on the top-tier, more marketing messages and dollars should be directed towards the untapped 'center of the diamond.'"
Recommendations Include:
CNET worked with Reality Check Research to conduct a quantitative online survey. Surveys were conducted across seven of the publisher's online properties, and additional in-depth interviews and behavioral analysis of Web site usage were conducted. Over 12,000 respondents took part in the survey, and about 40 interviews were conducted.
Source: www.clickz.com and www.cnetnetworks.com
What is Web 2.0?
April 2007
Whether you use your computer for work or fun, the programs you use generally have one thing in common - they are stored on your PC. Increasingly though, that software is moving online.
The move to put more and more of those familiar programs on to the web has been happening for a while but its latest incarnation has won the name of Web 2.0.
What is it - the definition is imprecise at best, but it loosely describes a category of websites that are known for interactivity, collaboration and community.
Online applications Developments in underlying web technology make this all possible and mean that what the sites can do is very new. Simplicity is often the key. Often it is an online application that does one thing and does it well.
Some examples include:
In a basic way it demonstrates how web browsers are gradually being used by consumers for far more than just looking around in cyberspace.
The future?
As people gravitate to the internet for more and more free services and solutions the web browser could become the central window through which our daily lives are conducted, potentially replacing most desktop applications.
Software giants like Microsoft and Adobe have been launching their own online applications, some of which resemble their well-known retail titles.
Adobe has released a stripped-down web version of its video editing software, called Remix, and later this year plans to launch an internet version of its very successful photo manipulation program, Photoshop.
"Microsoft and Adobe are in a bind," says Nick Thompson, senior editor of Wired Magazine. "They make tons of money from the software they sell in shrink-wrapped boxes. But they also know that the future is online software. So what do they do?"
"I think they're doing two things. I think they are genuinely trying to figure out how to make this work, because they know it's going to be a big part of their companies in 10 years."
Meanwhile Google has been building an entire suite of free online applications over the past few years. Docs and Spreadsheets is a product that most consumers could happily use instead of Microsoft Office, with multi-user, location free collaboration being an added benefit.
One incentive for companies to supply online software is compatibility. In one go all customers can be upgraded to the newest version and create files that are universally compatible, unlike different generations of Word documents.
To older users of desktop applications, who are usually more cautious about their online activity, this might seem disconcerting, but for younger computer users, the MySpace generation who freely flaunt the details of their personal lives, it might be not be such a big deal.
Source: www.bbc.co.uk
