The numbers don’t get thrown around very much and I hear more jokes about Bing then I hear suggestions to take it seriously but the fact remains, 24% of users used Alternatives to Google in December 2009. Of course you want your website optimized for Google but you don’t want to forget to find your way over to Bing and the other also-rands to see what they are doing and what they have to say.
Nielson released a new report today that I have added below on search usage from Dec of 2009. Clearly and to no ones suprise Google had maintained its dominant role within the US.
There is a huge group of people using alternative search and this creates a huge question. Are there things I can do to make my business stand out more on Bing and its ilk that are different then what I already do optimize for Google? The easiest answer is to spend some time poking around in those communities and read the posts in search forums, things your SEO Consultant should already be doing (they are doing that right?)
Don’t ever let it be said that bad reviews have no value in marketing your business or nonprofit. It’s a given, when things go wrong businesses can use the momentum from the disaster to motivate employees and speed up critical development. If your on top of this critical thinking you can jump start the motivation even before an analysis of the problem has commenced.
But using disaster to create a marketing campaign might seem like an idea that better resides in outer space. Think what your peers would say if you suddenly showed up on TV or the Web telling your customers you’d dropped the ball and your products are not what they should be. You can just imagine the scene outside your headquarters when the shareholders show up waving torches and brandishing pitchforks yelling for blood. Maybe the best way is to create the campaign around the missteps at the same time you introduce the solution.
Domino’s has done just that, they have created a campaign entitled Pizza Turnaround creating a website and producing a video that celebrates their new pizza while openly showing people who hated the old product. It’s not a new idea Domino’s is using to market themselves, but they do it brilliantly.
Did I call and try one of their new pizzas? You bet I did, and while the real test is will the pizza taste good when I order it 6 months down the road, the one I got the other night was very good and a huge improvement over the last few experiences with this brand. When I think of ordering a pizza for delivery Domino’s is back in the mix because of the taste of their product but without the marketing campaign I would never have called them. Bravo!
Yesterday Pew Internet released another in a long line of in-depth surreys they have complied. The Pew Internet and American Life Project is a nonprofit “fact tank.” This report is simply entitled Internet, Broadband and Cell Phone Statistics
What they found is good news for both consumers and for all those businesses that rely on the internet to drive new business to their websites and also to help maintain their current customer base.
Pew Research said:
In a national survey between November 30 and December 27, 2009, we find:
74% of American adults (ages 18 and older) use the internet – a slight drop from our survey in April 2009, which did not include Spanish interviews. At that time we found that 79% of English-speaking adults use the internet.
60% of American adults use broadband connections at home – a drop that is within the margin of error from 63% in April 2009.
55% of American adults connect to the internet wirelessly, either through a WiFi or WiMax connection via their laptops or through their handheld device like a smart phone. This figure did not change in a statistically significant way during 2009.
Income and Education benchmarks are good news for small businesses offering products and services marketed or sold on the internet. 83% of those making 50,000 – 74,999 are online and use the internet while their brethren making 75,000+ are represented by a whopping 94% internet usage. Users with some college education use the internet at a rate of 87% and 94% of those with a college education are hooked up to the internet. The future looks bright for online marketing as 93% of those in the 18-29 age group report being hooked up to the internet.
Even if the economy does not roar back this year and instead putt-putts its way into summer there are tremendous opportunities to tap into this vast reservoir of users. I hope everyone will make it their resolution to create Useful, Unique and Updated content for their website, it surely is the number one way to get ranking, find users and service loyal customers.
2010 is shaping up to be a banner year for innovation, and everyone is telling us to look forward to new opportunities in the New Year but few are pointing to concrete examples of those opportunities.
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To [...]
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