>75% of US Consumers Now Have High Speed Internet Enabling Higher Bandwidth Website Content

>One of the historic limitations of online marketing has been bandwidth or lack thereof.  Until recently nearly 1/2 of the Internet Users were locked into dial-up or slow Internet connections incapable of online video, many FLASH animations or other high bandwidth activities.

A recent study shows three out of  four connected US consumers already have high-speed Internet, and another 5% will definitely or probably purchase it, according to new data from the Nielsen Company. The recently completed “State of the Media 2010″ indicates HDTVs are the next most commonly owned emerging technology device, with 46% of connected consumers owning one and 10% saying they will definitely or probably purchase one.

Other emerging technology devices with a relatively high rate of ownership among connected consumers include digital video recorders (35%) and handheld multimedia devices (20%).

Websites are typically developed with the ‘lowest common denominator’ in mind to ensure that a potential visitor or buyer on a website with low speed Internet, an older computer or even a smaller monitor will still be able to access, view and navigate the website without difficulty.

With the continued drop in technology costs most connected consumers now have the ability to see and enjoy high bandwidth content such as videos, virtual tours, online video chat and animations.  This will permit website developers and online marketers to take advantage of advancing technologies and reach a wider audience than ever before.

Robert ‘Dot Com’ Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting – Building BETTER Websites & Social Marketing since 1995
816-842-7774 Office

>The Internet’s Top Sources of Referral Traffic are Social Networks

>Social Networking is about MORE than just connecting with others online.  As Internet Builder Consulting has said for years (NAHB IBS 2006, 2007 and Bob Schultz Training 2007, 2008 & 2009) an important key to online marketing is link weight and referral traffic.  A recent study we found posted on ReadWriteWeb.com showed the importance of Social Media Marketing with Facebook listed as the # 1 source of referral traffic online.

Recently the wife of a client who is now in charge of his marketing demanded all of the Social Networking accounts and Social Media Marketing be turned off and because she believed it was “worthless” even after the value of referral links was explained.  Just because someone does not understand or appreciate something does not mean it is worthless – read the article below and decide for yourself on Social Media Marketing!

Top Referrers of Traffic

For the purposes of this analysis, referrers have been segmented into different categories in order to more easily compare traffic. For example, there is no use in comparing Google to Flickr since they are not categorically related. If we’re making a determination which search engine to focus on, Flickr would not be in the mix – and if we’re looking for a photo hosting site, Google would not be in the mix. The four main referral categories that drive virtually all traffic are: Search Engines, Media, Social Bookmarks and Social Networks.

Social Network Referrers

Perhaps the one result that was the most surprising is the Social Networking category. Although Twitter seem to be the talk of the town, Facebook is the 900 pound gorilla when it comes to actually driving website traffic, sending nearly 7 in 10 visitors from the Social Network category. LinkedIn comes in a distant yet still respectable third place.

There is one giant unknown in this area, however. Many Twitter users access the service through applications instead of via Twitter’s website. These applications do not report http-referrer data to Web servers, which makes it impossible to tell where the clicks originate. The same can be said about traffic driven by mobile apps (including Facebook).

All of the other players in the Social Networking category cumulatively amount to less than 3% of inbound website traffic.

Social Bookmark Referrers

Social bookmarking sites are also extremely sought after sources of traffic, with the highest profile member of the group being Digg. Interestingly, this is another case where a smaller source seems to receive a disproportionate amount of attention, since StumbleUpon drives nearly double the traffic to websites.

Another surprising standout in the Social Bookmark category is YCombinator’s Hacker News site, which drives 12% of the traffic in this category. Reddit and Del.icio.us drive 5% and 2%, respectively. Interestingly, SlashDot (the grandaddy of them all) drives close to 0% of traffic to the sites Woopra measures – although webmasters still call the rush of traffic that can take down a website a “Slashdotting”.

Search Referrers

In the Search Engine space, perhaps the only surprise is the absolute dominance of Google when it comes to actually driving traffic to websites. For example, Experian’s Hitwise published a press release setting Google’s share of the search market at 72% in May 2010. However, Woopra is seeing 92% of search visitors originating from Google.

This begs the question: Where does the discrepancy lie?

• Is the Hitwise data set more representative of the whole?
• Are there more searches taking place on other search engines that don’t result in click-throughs to websites?
• StatCounter’s Global Stats seem to closely mirror Woopra’s data.

Regardless of the reason, what we do know is that focusing attention on optimizing for Google search is absolutely the right thing to do. (Here’s the official Google SEO starter guide.)

Media Referrers

The media referrer category is reserved for sites that focus on various forms of multimedia, including images, video and audio. These sites are often overlooked as a source of traffic because they are destination sites; however, media sites can also drive large volumes of traffic.
As an example, world-famous HDR photographer Trey Ratcliff posts travel photos on Flickr, and includes a simple link back to his site in the description of each image he posts.

This technique generated nearly 13,000 pageviews on StuckInCustoms.com in April alone.

What’s more notable is that Flickr is not the dominant referrer in the Media category. YouTube drives 900% more traffic to websites than Flickr. This is accomplished the same way, via links in the description of the video.

Amazingly, 99% of referrer traffic in the Media category comes from only four providers: YouTube, Flickr, Last.FM and Vimeo.

Lessons Learned

The only question we are trying to answer with this analysis is where it makes sense to focus resources and attention in order to drive traffic. So here’s what we know:

• Search engine optimization specifically targeting Google’s index is key. Working hard to satisfy other search providers probably won’t pay off as much as spending the time elsewhere – like Facebook and Twitter promotion.
• If multimedia isn’t part of a site’s strategy to drive traffic, it should be. Adding photos to Flickr and videos to YouTube will not only pay off in terms of adding content for your brand, but will also drive eyeballs to your site.
• Sites that are not seeing traffic from Facebook, Twitter, or both, are missing out on a major traffic-generation source. Additionally, if the balance is not in Facebook’s favor, you are likely under-utilizing this channel.
• Don’t waste time promoting your site on any Social Media network other than Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn. Your time is better spent elsewhere (like YouTube or Flickr for example).
• By all means, submit articles to Digg in the hopes of making it to the homepage, but more importantly make sure articles work their way into StumbleUpon, which can bring a larger, more sustained and less server-crash-creating stream of traffic.
• For those looking to more accurately track Twitter click-throughs, some service providers such as Bit.ly enable tracking of short links. The bad news is that the tracking is not aggregated into existing Web analytics provider data.
• This analysis doesn’t take into consideration back-links (which Web authors should pursue whenever possible) because on the aggregate they do not drive global traffic. However, links from related or high-traffic sites can not only dramatically increase site traffic, they can positively impact search result listings.

Robert ‘Dot Com’ Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting – Building BETTER websites and Online Marketing since 1995
Social Marketing Experts and Social Networking Builders for business
816-842-7774 Office

Internet & Technology Used More by Higher Income Buyers (Your Target Audience)

Higher-income Americans have higher rates of internet and other technology usage than Americans of lower incomes, according to new data from the Pew Internet & American Life Project.

Almost All Higher-income Americans Use The Internet

Currently 95% of Americans who live in households earning $75,000 or more a year use the internet at least occasionally, compared with 70% of those living in households earning less than $75,000. Even among those who use the internet, those with higher incomes are more likely than those with lower income to use technology. Out of the 95% of higher-income internet users:

• 99% use the internet at home, compared with 93% of the internet users in lower brackets
• 93% of higher-income home internet users have some type of broadband connection compared to 85% of the internet users who live in households earning less than $75,000 per year. That means 87% of all those higher income households having broadband high speed internet at home
• 95% of higher-income households own a cell phone compared to 83% of lower income households

The Income Gap Applies to a Wide Variety of Technology Usage

Higher-income Americans are also more likely than those in lesser-income households to own a variety of information and communications gear including:

• 79% of those living in households earning $75,000 or more own desktop computers, compared with 55% of those living in less well-off homes.
• 79% of those living in higher-income households own laptops, compared with 47% of those living in less well-off homes.
• 70% of those living in higher-income households own iPods or other MP3 players, compared with 42% of those living in less well-off homes.
• 54% of those living in higher-income households own game consoles, compared with 41% of those living in less well-off homes.
• 12% of those living in higher-income households own eBook readers such as Kindles, compared with 3% of those living in less well-off homes.
• 9% of those living in higher-income households own tablet computers such as iPads, compared with 3% of those living in less well-off homes.

Wealthier People Use E-Commerce and Make Purchases Online

Significantly more higher-income Americans are conducting e-commerce activities than members of other income groups. Solid majorities of higher-income internet users research products (88%), make travel reservations online (83%), purchase products or services online (81%), perform online banking (74%), use the internet to pay bills (71%), and use online classified sites such as Craigslist (60%).

The Wealthy Also Use Government eCommerce

Overall 82% of internet users (representing 61% of all American adults) looked for information or completed a transaction on a government website between December 2008 and December 2009, according to an earlier
study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project. However, high-income internet users are much more likely than those with lower levels of income to interact with government via online channels.

For example, 91% of internet users earning $50,000 or more a year get information or complete transactions on government websites, compared to 76% of those earning less than $50,000 a year. The largest disparity by income exists in the practice of going online for data about government activities. Fifty percent of internet users earning $50,000 or more a year do so, compared to only 31% of internet users earning less than $50,000 a year.

People with the highest incomes are shopping online to make purchases, research future purchases and 95% of them in ALL age groups are using the Internet. To reach online buyers and sell more for your business contact Internet Builder Consulting for a BETTER website, Social Network Setup or Social Media Marketing and Search Engine Optimization today by calling the office to speak with an Internet & Technology Consultant:

816-842-7774 or Request a Website, SEO or Social Marketing Consultation Online.

Robert ‘Dot Com’ Jackson

Internet Builder Consulting – Building BETTER Websites and Online Marketing since 1995

Social Marketing Builders – Building BETTER Social Networking Solutions for Business

816-842-7774 Office

Social Networking to Reach 38 BILLION by 2015

Combined advertising and promotional spending for Social Networking will hit $38 billion by 2015, roughly 440% more than the $7 billion projected for 2010, according to a new white paper from Borrell Associates.

Social Networking Promotion Spending to Grow 380%
Breaking the combined social network marketing spending stream into advertising and promotional streams, “The Social Networking Explosion: Ad Revenue Outlook” projects that $5 billion of total $7 billion (about 71%) social network marketing spending in 2010 will consist of promotional expenditures.

From 2010 to 2015, social network promotional spending will grow about 380%. In 2011, it will grow 40% to $7 billion, and then slow down to about 14% growth in 2012, totaling $8 billion, However, social network promotional spending will then double to $16 billion in 2013, and continue rapid growth the next year, increasing 31% to $21 billion before slowing again with 12.5% growth to $24 billion in 2015.

Social Networking Advertising Spending will Grow 600%
Although Borrell data shows social network advertising spending will remain at lower levels than promotional spending through the next five years, the total growth rate will be an even higher 600%.  In 2011, social network ad spending will grow 200%, from $2 billion to $6 billion, putting it on close to an even keel with promotional spending.

Ad spending will remain close to promotional spending in 2012, rising almost 17% to $7 billion.  In 2013, ad spending will once again lag behind promotional spending, growing a very healthy 43% to $10 billion. Growth will then continue at a still impressive 20% pace to $12 billion in 2014 and 17% pace to $14 billion in 2015.

Consumers are Fueling Social Network Marketing Spending Growth
Borrell analysis indicates the rapidly growing marketing spend in social networking is fueled by wildly climbing consumer use of social networking services. The paper cites data from comScore which says Facebook alone had more than 100 million unique visitors in the US last December, out of 400 million registered users worldwide.

The average Facebook visitor came to the site 27 times during that month, almost once a day. As of the end of 2009, one hour in every nine spent online was spent on a social network site. More than two-thirds of the nation’s largest businesses recruit new employees through social networks, and 13% more plan to start this year.

To have professional Social Networking built for your business, product or brand contact the Social Network Marketing Experts at Social Marketing Builders or call 816-842-7774 today to speak with an expert who can setup, manage and expand your business online with social networking for as little as $350

Robert ‘Dot Com’ Jackson
Internet Builder Consulting – Building BETTER websites since 1995
Social Marketing Builders – Building Expert Social Network Solutions for Business
Corporate Offices 816-842-7774