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If you no longer wish to receive this email Friday 15, January 2010
A look back at 2009, a look forward to 2010
Dear Valued Customer,
2009 proved to be the hangover (recession) following the financial meltdown of 2008, leading to very challenging times for many organisations.
I am however very pleased to report that the web systems we provide experienced a 40% increase in activity and were responsible for handling in excess of 2 million visitors viewing nearly 10million web pages in 2009, culminating in nearly £3million online transactional value with non web transactional processes approaching £30million!
We have some really exciting developments for 2010 with a summary of what are great online marketing techniques (see the online marketing section below - clients only), plus new tools available to make the most of that web traffic.
Our clients will be befitting from upgrades to our Content Management System (CMS) and Mail Manager in January as follows;
- Paste content directly from Microsoft Word - apply content with ease, improve speed and accuracy of content application
- Improved Spell Check - uses an improved dictionary and now scans content faster to ensure professional copy at the click of a button
- Improved Linking - advanced links that can open popups, links to anchors, e-mails or any kind of web resource
- W3C Compliance - the CMS will now produce web content compliant to W3C standards making it more accessible and according to some sources, more SEO friendly
- An 'intuitive context menu' - displays when you right click images, tables and other layout items to give quick control over those elements
- Anchors - the problem with Internet Explorer 7 & 8 browsers is now fixed
An alternative to our email marketing system Mail Manager is now available and known as 'Broadcast', with the following benefits;
- Create and send email campaigns - Import your custom HTML and CSS with a single click and use our integrated testing tools to make sure they look great in all email programs
- Manage lists and subscribers - We take all the pain out of list management by handling the messy stuff like bounces and unsubscribes automatically
- Reporting and analytics - Great looking reports that let you measure the effectiveness of every campaign you send. Go beyond opens and link clicks and measure your campaign related sales, conversions and ROI with the Google Analytics integration option.
Follow this link to see BroadCast in action.
To recap on some of the trends and figures referred to last year....
- Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) - Websites with relevant content and credible links will continue to rule the search rankings. Search Engines are already beginning to pay more attention to date of publication, geo location, mobile device browsers and social media content.
- Paid Search (PPC) - Continues to give instant results but can be costly when compared to organic search (SEO) and needs to be managed closely.
- Email Marketing - is still deemed to be the primary form of communication by most consumers even with the menace of unwanted email. With the low cost of building a permission based list, a focus is needed to keep that list up to date with new tools to assist in achieving this.
- Social Media Marketing - One main attraction to marketers is that social networks provide lots of eyeballs and these networks continue to strive to create revenue generation. 2010 should be the year to incorporate a Facebook or Twitter page and test, test, test.
- Rich media such as Video - with obvious benefits continues to grow in use and represents a great opportunity. Faster broadband speeds (Up To 50 Mbps) have been made available in 2009 but this is still limited to the bigger cities.
- Mobile web - demand is increasing dramatically for mobile applications thanks to devices such as the iPhone and as mentioned above is becoming an increasingly important part of the marketing mix.
- Blogging remains as good as the content within it so while this can help to increase the bottom line, blogs need constant maintenance and careful application of content to help produce consistent conversions.
- IPTV (Internet Protocol Television) continues to develop with the BBC iPlayer leading the way. Many other channels now embrace this medium for catch-up options.
- Affiliate Marketing, Web Positioning (Search Engine Optimisation) & PPC (Pay Per Click) continues to be a key part of the marketing mix as web marketing spend increases despite the economic downturn. Tracking of results is key and Conversion Rate Optimisation CRO will be the focus.
If you are looking for proven and reliable mission critical hosting and support for your online presence then look no further.
I hope you enjoy this newsletter and we very much look forward to working with you in the coming 12 months, so here's wishing you a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous 2010.
Regards
David Morgan (Managing Director)
Don't put your business at risk with inferior hosting & support! If you do not receive this level of service and proactive support from your existing web developers then you need to talk to us FREE on 0800 074 8575 or contact us online
Search Engine News - Real Time Search has arrived from guess who??
In December, Google launched its Real Time Search results which displays news as it is happening with feeds from News sites, Blog posts and Twitter.
Latest Virus News - Check live virus info here
Ensure you keep up to speed with the necessary updates right here!
Brought to you in conjunction with Sophos Anti Virus - Click Here for live info on the latest viruses and hoaxes
If you use a computer whether it be standalone or on a network, you need to protect your system! Good protection is achieved by having a security policy which incorporates regular Operating System updates, deploying Anti Virus software and installing a Firewall.
OS updates can be obtained from Microsoft and affordable Anti Virus and firewall software/hardware is available from various suppliers so there really are no excuses for being caught out.
Please ensure you take the necessary steps to ensure against compromising your network.
Fast Fact - 76.4% of the UK population is now online
As at September 2009 there were 1.73 Billion Web users worldwide, up nearly 19% on the previous year, with 46.7 million total Internet users in the UK (76.4% of the population) up from 41.8 million.
Source: InternetWorldStats.com
FREE & Other useful Software
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For further info/download please click here
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Online Marketing
Services, Updates & Upgrades
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