NetNews our ONLINE NEWSLETTER (NetNews July 2004)
Developments in web marketing, site design, and web services
The Online Newsletter from Net Commerce Solutions
“E-commerce takes off!” - apart from the 123% rise in UK online shopping (see 3), the recent Economist Article describes it neatly – US web users will spend c$120 billion dollars online this year: the range of goods bought online widens steadily (clothing was the biggest category of goods purchased online last Christmas) with further growth being driven by broadband.
This certainly squares with what we are finding on a daily basis, and the level of activity and new client discussions is greater than at any stage since we kicked off the business four years ago – we hope the growth in web volumes is helping to lift your own business too.
1. NET ISSUES
Important issues that could impact on your website approach
Accessibility
The issue remains live for all web site operators, flowing from the Disability Discrimination Act 1995, and the Disability Rights Commission Act 1999 - under the 1995 regulations all providers of goods and services must ensure that the disabled are not discriminated against, and have equality of access.
Although there remain minimal formal standards, or case law relating to web site accessibility, the Disability Commissioner ( www.drc-gb.org ) is increasing the pressure on web site operators to improve the accessibility levels – the recent DRC review of 1000 web sites found that 81% failed to meet the necessary standards.
The World Wide Web Consortium (WWW) has offered standards, embracing 3 levels of accessibility, ie Level A – basic accessibility, enabling most people to gain access to your site: Level AA – majority of disabled users will be able to access your web site and Level AAA – achieving the highest standards of accessibility.
There are web tools which will give you a virtually instant appraisal of your site against those standards, ie http://bobby.watchfire.com , - alternatively, NCS would be happy to assist in generating the assessment for you, and in defining and quantifying the cost of any improvement steps needed. In the meantime the Disability Commissioner has cautioned that web site operators are exposed to possible legal action by disabled consumers.
2. NET HAPPENINGS
News and themes from the Internet - home and abroad
Technology enablers still developing strongly………
WAP - in April page impressions averaged 47m per day – another record month (per MDA) with monthly volumes staying well above 1bn per month.
Broadband – nearly 25% of the UK population is connected to Broadband – almost double the level achieved last year, which stood at 12.5% in Feb 2003 (Brand Republic) There are 3.9m UK users, with 40,000 new connections each week.
Across Europe, Broadband penetration is likely to hit 20% by end 2004 and 41% by end 2008 (FT 15/6 Creative Business).
Internet – narrowband internet user volumes are now declining as users switch to Broadband – in UK, the % of total adults using narrowband has declined from 73% to 67% over the past year.(Imrg)
Online Shopping Update - UK and global figures showing strong growth…..
A stream of recent data has shown both the growth and the further potential in online shopping :
- in UK, Britons doubled their online spending in the first quarter of 2004 – year on year increase was 123%. Online grocery sales more than trebled, and books, music and travel surged also (Visa/Imrg)
- Debenhams is closing its mail order catalogue, and moving its home shopping to the internet – they achieved a 90% increase in their internet shopping service last year (Imrg)
- although US online sales now run at $55bn pa, it still represents only 1.6% of total sales – ie huge scope remains for increased online buying (Economist)
- Tesco.com’s sales exceeded £500m in year ended February – sales grew by 29%
Internet marketing spend growing, ……
Internet marketing spend is still growing faster than any other marketing media , with 20% of companies now allocating in excess of 5% of their marketing budgets to online marketing. (ipa.co.uk)
3. NET TIPS
Some hints you could consider
Not just the Home Page – its easy to over-focus on the Home Page. Content-rich sites draw traffic, but often the content focus is mainly on the Home Page, not the internal pages – if properly optimised, they can be critical also.
Title Tags – the company name or not? – if you wish to use the company name in the title tag, don’t restrict it to that – be sure to add a keyword or two to help attract relevant traffic that doesn’t know your name!
How many words ie per page? – you need to give the search engines plenty of keyword-rich copy to help them classify your site properly – a broad yardstick of about 250 words seems to be optimal:
- with our extensive Search Engine experience,NCS is happy to assist in reviewing any of the foregoing with you.
Can you see the picture? – we still get approaches from new clients who don’t have access to web stats. The minimum is online, near realtime, data which you can check daily, weekly, monthly etc.
Not hits, but visitors – probably still the most misunderstood aspect of site stats tracking. It’s the visitor, not the hit, figure which matters – hits can be the separate components of a page which have been pulled by the server.
4. NCS FOCUS
News and services from NCS that might help
Looks matter! – we agree with the view that more than 50% of a site’s appeal stems from its visual impact. Our latest designs have been well received, and further examples will be added to the portfolio over the coming month.
Be Dynamic! – NCS static/dynamic site mix has changed considerably. Majority of new sites being developed are now dynamically-based. Apart from making it easier to add features and functionality, it can also assist the ongoing Content Management process – we would be happy to explore the options further.
5. NET NOTHINGS you probably already know that:
“Googling It”- means checking it out online before you buy it – up to 75% of cars
have been ‘Googled’ online’ ie before the buyer goes to the dealer!
“Cloaking” - is not a dress code term, but the description of a dubious search
engine process which hides the real content from the search
engines - now banned by several search engines.
Dave Abernethy,
Managing Director,
Net Commerce Solutions Ltd
Tel: (+44) (0) 870 246 7642
info@net-commerce-solutions.co.uk Web site: www.net-commerce-solutions.co.uk
Registered in England and Wales. Company number 4052885: 6 Bramble Close, Harpenden, Hertfordshire, AL5 4AN
|
