09.26.08
Posted in Mobile Marketing at 7:45 am by Jono
With the iPhone having just been launched in South Africa last night, there is many a happy technophile running around this morning with, arguably, the world’s hottest gadget.
I’m a bit of a Blackberry man myself, and having upgraded not that long ago, it will be a while yet (at least 20 months) until I will have the enviable task of deciding on a device for the next two years of my life – so it will be interesting to see where the iPhone stands then.
But I digress, what this post is really about, is the state of the mobile web in South Africa. Vincent Hoffman over at Submarine wrote a good post about the latest data released by Opera in their recent report on the State of the Mobile Web.
Not surprisingly, the report shows that mobile web usage continues to grow in terms of the number of unique users, page views and volume of data being transferred. Perhaps the most interesting bit of news is that South Africa now ranks sixth in the world for mobile web usage (displacing the US).
This is perhaps not surprising when one considers mobile penetration versus fixed lines and internet via PC (thanks Telkom).
So what are mobile web users looking at on their phones? The Opera Report lists the top sites in South Africa as the following:
- facebook.com
- google.com
- wikipedia.org (back on the list)
- gamejump.com (down from 3)
- yahoo.com (down from 4)
- mxit.co.za
- peperonity.com (up from 8 )
- capetown.gumtree.co.za (up from 10)
- amazon.com (new)
- twilightwap.com (new)
It’s a mixed bag, although, not unexpectedly, social networking takes the top place.
I suppose this list says a fair deal about South African mobile web users’ online habits. The report as a whole though, I feel, just serves as further proof that this is a rapidly expanding channel in South Africa – that presents a number of exciting ways for marketers to reach customers where they are.
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09.19.08
Posted in Social Media at 5:54 am by Jono
Last night, Twitter’s facelift was launched. The interface has been refreshed, and according to the Twitter Blog they are going for a lighter, prettier and more simplified look.
The update includes one new feature (Ajax), but otherwise is mostly cosmetic. The main difference is that the buttons that were above the timeline now appear as tabs down the right hand side of the page. Also, the following, followers and update stats have been moved to the top. Personally, I am not entirely sold on this yet (perhaps I am just a creature of habit), but according to the blog there are more features on the way in the near future, so they needed the extra room.
Using Ajax to view certain tabs rather than reloading the entire page when you click on “Home” or “@Replies” is a neat new feature that certainly seems to speed things up a little.
Overall, I think the look is cleaner. Certainly the design customiser has been greatly improved – and there seem to be a wider range of pre-designed themes.
I think what I perhaps miss most is the search bar. However a Twitter Search button or search bar integrated into the page is a feature we may see soon as many are forecasting.
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09.16.08
Posted in Online Marketing at 10:40 am by Jono
With so much attention always being paid to Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) tips and techniques, there is no shortage of “how to” posts out there. These are invaluable resources. Of course, there is also a lot of nonsensical and outdated information out there too. It’s sometimes hard to differentiate between the two – which is why the best way to learn is by trial and error.
Most SEOs today are self-taught and stay up-to-date by reading blogs and industry newsletters regularly.
The best way to learn is by doing. Of course, ideally, you don’t want to get too experimental with clients websites – and so it’s often best to use your own personal blog or website to test your postulates. But in the end what all this empiricism comes down to is benchmarking, measuring and reporting.
Today, I’d like to look at this side of SEO.
We all know that reporting is an important part of SEO. Indeed, it’s one way we can substantiate return on investment (ROI) for our clients. However, there must be more to this reporting than just looking at aspects such as visibility and ranking reports. I’m not implying that this data isn’t important – and a good indicator of the relative success of a campaign, but there is potential here for misinterpretation and lack of relevance from an ROI (i.e. actual conversions) point of view.
Best practise when it comes to reporting to clients is definitely transparency. There is no point in trying to mask poor performance with clouded stats. At the end of the day, things will not add up, and when it comes to the bottom-line, clients know when they are not receiving value for money.
What should you be looking at then? Clearly, ranking and saturation reporting can not be neglected. But, analytics reporting is certainly the cornerstone for finding actionable data.
In addition to the usual metrics such as referrers, top keywords and top content – KPIs that really matter to a client could include the average value per sale, the revenue per visit and perhaps the organic conversion percentage.
Improved rankings on the SERPs invariably equal more traffic, and more traffic can equal more conversions. It’s important though to make sure that you are getting the right kind of traffic and visibility in the right places.
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