Global reach of internet has made it inevitable for the developer of the website to make it multilingual for the optimum use of the medium and to ensure that every website visitor can make use of it. Only English or using a single language on website makes it futile for the countries using a different language and restricts the use of the website.
Culture and native language is given a lot of importance of importance throughout the world and so by bringing a native language to the electronic medium will help you connect with the visitors on a personal level. If the content and media files (picture, video’s etc…) on the files are in their mother-tongue they can relate and use them.
Native English-speakers are no longer the online majority, Consumers like to surf/shop in their own language, Properly localized content is essential for trust, Non-English SEO is less competitive, puts the user in a ‘cultural comfort zone‘ due to their being able to navigate, understand and interact with the website brings you are new customers It is very important for organizations who sell products or provides services to places in a larger radius to have a multilingual website with all the mainstream languages like English, Chinese, French etc…
Multilingual website is still in its early stages, however, multilingual website will become essential part of an internet presence.
Joomla! is a content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications. It was released in 2005 and Within its first year of release, Joomla was downloaded 2.5 million times.
Content management system is software that keeps track of every piece of content on your Web site; a major advantage of using a CMS is that it requires almost no technical skill or knowledge to manage.
Joomla! is free, it’s easy to use and keep the site updated and add new content effortlessly , it has over 5000 free and commercial plug-ins which are easy to implement and Loads of Built-in Extensions and Modules. It comes with 3 templates and thousands of others can be downloaded, installed and even be customised. Using Joomla! you can modify HTML, PHP, and CSS code if you choose to.
Joomla! is extremely flexible and there are several goods books and tutorial videos out there for beginners with exercises to get you used to all the nooks and crannies in Joomla!
Joomla! offers consistency, for both you and your clients, supportability, functionality, flexibility, repeatability, control, growth, extensive list of extensions with differing features and functions, all with different styles and methods, find what you suits you, your needs, your clients requirements.
It can be used for business and merchant sites, community portals, personal online spaces or even complex corporate websites.
An online business is one where all marketing and selling of products or services are done through the Internet, it is convenient and profitable as you have complete control over the functioning, you save space related expenditure, and you have a flexible work schedule.
Three steps of online business are:
1- Management of workgroup – recruiting, internal communication, information sharing etc…
2- Electronic links with suppliers for procurement of stocks, and processing of payments.
3- Online promotion and marketing and then processing of customer purchases and payments and customer support
It’s not only easier for the business owner but also for the customer as instead of going to the vendor and buying he can order what he needs just by a click it broadens consumer choice as they can select how and when should the product/service be delivered.
Business works with a link between workers, suppliers, distributors and customers, for smooth functioning of any business there should be a smooth flow of products, information and finances.
Existing payment schemes for e-businesses are online payments made using debit/credit cards, cash on delivery, bank payments made after placing the order, bank transfers. It is very important for online business to have every payment option possible as the usage of plastic money in relatively low in developing countries. The biggest challenge online businesses face the lack of trust while making online transactions, so it is very important to ensure the privacy and security of the online the online transactions.
It has become easier to setup a business because of this and online businesses have led to intensified price competition benefiting the customer as finding information has become easier and several option are available and as every seller offers their best price.
The most beneficial, effective place for location-based targeted marketing is the social media; it connects you to the people instantly and is cost effective. Its a new world of opportunity and information exchange between the marketer and customer.
What is Social Media?
Social media is any form of online publication or presence that allows end users to engage in multi-directional conversations in or around the content on the website. Some types of social media are forums, message boards, blogs, wikis and podcasts and Social Media applications include Google, Facebook and YouTube.
Advertisers should recognize this shift in consumer pattern and have to follow it by extensive and growing use of social media campaigns. Large and mid-size or small businesses also can benefit significantly from this marketing opportunity.
Apart from outstanding visibility there are many more benefits of social media marketing, it helps in
Brand building,
Customer service and feedback
Lead generation
Increasing referrals
Build New relationships
Targeted Marketing is simpler through Social Media Marketing as people generally self indentify themselves and state their location, Marketers can leverage the wealth of geographic data, All that is supposed to be done is generate interest by using interesting content and by proving some incentives, basically the visitor should feel that the information is worth his while and the rest is taken care of.
The path is clear where geographic data is available, by using this variable to help fine-tune your targeting strategy, providing memorable experiences that are relevant for the local audiences; there are millions you can reach.
The auction system developed and released by Google in October 2000 that enables advertisers to bid on particular keywords they would like to purchase. When a Google user enters the word in a search, the buyer’s Web site is more likely to appear at the top of the sponsored links on the search results page. Its effectiveness has made it Google’s flagship advertising product and main source of revenue, fetching them billions of dollars since its inception.
Geo Targeting in AdWords
AdWords is a marvelous way of targeted advertising because your ads are shown to the people who are searching for your product/service using local/national Google server, but because of its global reach geographic targeting is important to reach the customers near your business location.
While creating an AdWords campaign the location you want your ads to can be specified, whether its particular continent, country, city or region. A feature called custom targeting allows you to select a radius around you business address where you wish to advertise. Furthermore you can even draw a specific area where you wish your ads to be shown
For example if your business location is Auckland and a computer used in Auckland searching for a place to rent a car, your ad will appear in the SERP as that place comes inside the radius you’ve selected and you have a new customer, at the same time if a person in Hamilton searching for the same thing won’t see your ad and hence you save advertising cost as you pay per click.
What is Geo Targeting?
Geo Targeting is determining the physical location of a website visitor and delivering different content to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/zip code, organization, IP address, ISP or other criteria.
Why is Geo Targeting important?
Internet has given marketers a global audience, and because it’s a faster medium internet has become the most preferred way to, search for information regarding products/services and even to purchase them. Online promotions reach everyone across the world but it is important to be in the right place (SERP) at the right time and hence geographical intelligence should be integrated with all aspects of online marketing.
As an online marketer you should do everything possible to reach the person who wishes to buy the product/service you provide. Once you identify your most lucrative geographic market you can promote your products as per the region, country, city or province or be more specific and use longitude and latitudes.
Geo Targeting makes it easier for you to reach your target audience and your potential customers to reach you. It is more effective and lucrative for location specific services, For Example a restaurant which can be used by only if the person goes there and delivers only within specific area. It is also important for SEO, search engines have country-specific counterparts. Your website will rank higher in the location you get more traffic from and the advertisers on your website can reach their target audience.
Geo-marketing is an imperative factor in targeted marketing as it has direct impact on modern trade and also saves time and moneys. So implement Geo-Targeting today.
Google’s Product manager Jonathan Effrat is an extremely happy man. He is the product Manger for recently launched new product by Google called “Google Instant”. This new product can save 2-5 seconds per search.
Before Google Instant, the typical searcher took more than 9 seconds to enter a search term, and we saw many examples of searches that took 30-90 seconds to type. 15 new technologies contribute to Google Instant functionality. But hey if you don’t like it then simple turn it off, you can turn off Google Instant by clicking the link next to the search box on any search results page, or by visiting your Preferences page.
Google Instant is a new search enhancement that shows results as you type. The most obvious change is that you get to the right content much faster than before because you don’t have to finish typing your full search term, or even press “search.” Another shift is that seeing results as you type helps you formulate a better search term by providing instant feedback. You can now adapt your search on the fly until the results match exactly what you want. In time, we may wonder how search ever worked in any other way. Google Instant benefits 1. Faster Searches: By predicting your search and showing results before you finish typing, Google Instant can save 2-5 seconds per search. 2. Smarter Predictions: Even when you don’t know exactly what you’re looking for, predictions help guide your search. The top prediction is shown in grey text directly in the search box, so you can stop typing as soon as you see what you need. 3. Instant Results: Start typing and results appear right before your eyes. Until now, you had to type a full search term, hit return, and hope for the right results. Now results appear instantly as you type, helping you see where you’re headed, every step of the way.
I believe that we are about to have another big shift in advertising. There are rumbling that seem to suggest that the big boys of the technology media world are going to make a major push. Our future hasn’t simply flowed out in front of us for several years. It comes in bursts and fits among long periods of claim. The financial downturn and the overall lack of enthusiasm for consumer marketing was one of those periods of claim, and it’s just about over.
These are the plans of the big 4
1.Twitter has suddenly become very serious about making money out of its service. It seems intent on shutting off a number of ways that outsiders have been making money, possibly to ensure that its offering- promoted tweets-has the absolute best chance of capturing a brand’s excitement (and dollars). 2.Facebook has expanded its reach, probably too far. Facebook is the icarus of media properties, forever going too far with its ideas, only to have its concepts melt under the harsh heat of consumer concern. The facebook push into the rest of the web has hit a wall, but it will find a way to scale it. 3. Apple has begun making serious plans around iAd and the Federal Trade Commission has approved Google’s purchase of AdMob. This means that mobile advertising is going to be easier to execute, efficient to traffic, and rigorously measured. 4.Google has announced Google TV a technology and set up box that will essentially make your home TV a web browser, capable of showing video on the web. In addition to being a huge boon to the porn industry, this should open up piles and piles of online video inventory. Google’s not great at hardware but hopefully its partners will take the lend on developing cool items that you want in your media center.
In media, we have gone from the “CBS Evening News” to “The Situation Room.” We have gone from browsing the web to always on. We have gone from personal websites to blogs to Twitter feeds. We have gone from documentaries to live feeds. We live in a world where we want what’s happening to be piped into our lives now, and there sees to be no limit to the number of windows we can have open or device we can interact with. We are on a human-media quest for real time, and it’s time advertising joins in.
There’s lot happening, and it’s all part of the same underlying trend. I think there’s one root cause that’s driving the supply side, the demand side and the underlying infrastructure, and that is, bluntly, the need for speed. The term “real time” has been applied to a few different corners of technology, and has been adopted from computer science. The technical definition of real-time computing is, well, totally beyond my comprehension. You’re welcome to try to sort it out on Wikipedia.
In advertising, we are beginning to not only understand this need for speed, but also to have the tools to take advantage of the opportunity. This means the advertisers can continue to push forward with innovation, but towards a particular direction making. Happy Reading Beats Blog.
Google NZ is the most popular site in the country of NZ. With an Alexa Rank of 1 and millions of hits daily it is one website that every business in NZ wants to look at. But hey there are others too!!
There are around 3500 search engines in the world but ironically the BIG Gis the one that matters the other search engines are having a very small pie in the online search engine market .The term “search engine” is often used generically to describe both crawler-based search engines and human-powered directories. These two types of search engines gather their listings in radically different ways.
Crawler-Based Search Engines
Crawler-based search engines, such as Google, create their listings automatically. They “crawl” or “spider” the web, then people search through what they have found.
If you change your web pages, crawler-based search engines eventually find these changes, and that can affect how you are listed. Page titles, body copy and other elements all play a role.
Human-Powered Directories
A human-powered directory, such as the Open Directory, depends on humans for its listings. You submit a short description to the directory for your entire site, or editors write one for sites they review. A search looks for matches only in the descriptions submitted.
Changing your web pages has no effect on your listing. Things that are useful for improving a listing with a search engine have nothing to do with improving a listing in a directory. The only exception is that a good site, with good content, might be more likely to get reviewed for free than a poor site.
“Hybrid Search Engines” Or Mixed Results
In the web’s early days, it used to be that a search engine either presented crawler-based results or human-powered listings. Today, it extremely common for both types of results to be presented. Usually, a hybrid search engine will favor one type of listings over another. For example, MSN Search is more likely to present human-powered listings from LookSmart. However, it does also present crawler-based results (as provided by Inktomi), especially for more obscure queries.
Will tell about how does exactly search engine works in my subsequent posts !! Happy reading the Beats Blog !!
Ever use LinkedIn for Networking? LinkedIn gives you easy tools to search and segment not only your network, but also the community at-large. Peering into specific industries, companies, and niches is as simple as an advanced search. Well a lot of people in NZ use LinkedIn and why not they should it is a powerhouse of business networking in the online world.
Connection in LinkedIn is like a friend in Facebook and in LinkedIn every connection in your network is a potential lead. Actively managing them becomes much simpler with a tool like LinkedIn. Connections themselves are opting in, updating their contact information, and guiding you (with their activity) to what really motivates them to action.
Some clever strategies to fully leverage the features of marketing with LinkedIn include:
* Responding to LinkedIn Questions, as well as posting your own
* Visiting targeted profiles with privacy settings off, it is like leaving your business card behind
* Request connections and referrals from your existing network
As they say it is the second degree of contacts in LinkedIn that will matter the most. Keep an eye on the second and third degree contacts
Watching your LinkedIn dashboard is like being a fly on the wall as your network of opportunities work to find answers and solutions to their challenges. Maybe it should be called the opportunity dashboard. This concept allows for you to wait for the perfect opportunity to dive in for a deal, this is your LinkedIn marketing strategy in action. My 2 cents while using LinkedIn
• Check your contacts and see who might benefit from knowing each other. Then introduce them to each other, using InMail or traditional email (not the LinkedIn introduction function)
• Create a short newsletter for your LinkedIn contacts to let them know what’s happening in your career or job-search
• Mentor a fellow employee or a colleague who needs a job
• Find your next project work team by checking their skills on their LinkedIn profiles
• Keep track of your colleague’s promotions and title changes on LinkedIn and send congratulations. They will probably show up on their profile or Network Updates before the company newsletter
• If your employer doesn’t have online networking tools, start a LinkedIn group. Consider inviting alumni, too
• Network with professionals in similar roles in your industry
• Use LinkedIn’s Outlook toolbar or use Xobni, from Xobni.com to find new contacts
• Research Career 2.0 — what you’ll do if or when your current job is gone
Remember, networking is more about giving than getting. Build your karma.
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