Paid Content: Unobtrusive Micropayments using Hyperlink Auditing

One of the problems surrounding micropayments is the ways in which they will be implemented. If users aren’t satisfied with the ways in which they are required pay for content, they simply won’t pay for it - this makes usability key to success. If micropayments are introduced, big mouth media would like to see the introduction of an unobtrusive way for users to continue browsing the web in the same way they have for years, but still being charged for content or clicks.

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Paid Content: Unobtrusive Micropayments using Hyperlink Auditing

Online advertising overtakes TV spend in the UK

The Guardian reports that television advertising has been the UK’s leading advertising medium for almost 50 years - but with people in the UK now spending more time online than watching TV , it has taken the internet market less than a decade to overtake television as the leading advertising sector. Internet advertising now accounts for 23.5 per cent of all UK advertising spend, compared to 21.9 per cent for TV commercials.

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Online advertising overtakes TV spend in the UK

Secret service investigates Facebook Obama assassination poll

A Facebook poll asking users to vote whether US President Barack Obama should be killed was hastily removed from the social networking site after its existence was revealed to company officials. The poll was created by a user of the third-party application Polls, which has now been pulled from Facebook. Facebook’s director of policy communications Barry Schnitt told Raw Story on Monday: “The application that enabled a user to create the offensive poll was brought to our attention this morning and was disabled.

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Secret service investigates Facebook Obama assassination poll

Google Introduces the Google Merchant Centre

Yesterday, Google announced the launch of the Google Merchant Centre, a replacement for Google Base - at least from the admin point of view. Those submitting products to Google will now use the Google Merchant Centre to submit product feeds, check on the status of items and check which products are performing best

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Google Introduces the Google Merchant Centre

Paid Content Debate: Are Google Subscribed Links the solution for publishers?

At a recent conference, Rupert Murdoch, chairman and managing director of News Corporation (News Corp) recently announced a 47 percent slide in profits that the director blamed on the company’s business model - providing news content for free. Mr Murdoch stated his belief that users would be willing to pay if companies began charging users for news content

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Paid Content Debate: Are Google Subscribed Links the solution for publishers?

Orange to sell iPhones in the UK

It seems that a new agreement with Orange has ended O2’s exclusive deal with Apple as the UK’s sole provider of the iPhone. Orange has told its network subscribers that they will be able to buy their iPhone offering at an unspecified date “later this year,” according to BBC News. Principle analyst of Informa Telecoms and Media, Dave McQueen stated that “pricing will be key” to determining Orange’s success.

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Orange to sell iPhones in the UK

3 Most Important Email Marketing Statistics

Are you using email marketing to reach more customers? If you are here are three most important statistics that you need to look at on each of your campaigns.

1. Open Rate - this is the number of people who opened the email you sent. Most email marketing programs will provide you with this statistic as a number or a percentage of the emails that you sent. One thing to remember is that this number is not extremely accurate. It should be considered as a guideline and for comparison between campaigns. The reasons are that the tracking is most often done using a small script embedded in your email message. Anyone who has turned off scripts or is opening your email offline would not be included. It is also important to note that opening the email does not mean reading the email.

2. Click Through Rate (CTR) - This is probably the most important statistic of any email campaign. The CTR of your email campaign indicates how many people clicked a particular link in your email. This means they opened it and read it and clicked the link to arrive at your website. This is also a great measurement tool to evaluate different call-to-action methods you employ. The higher the CTR the more effective your call-to-action is.

3. Conversion Rate - This is the number of people who clicked the link on your email, came to your website and purchased the product or service. The conversion rate is generally a low number and anything above 2% is considered a good conversion rate. This is a great way to evaluate the success of your email campaign. However, if your email and visitor tracking systems are not integrated you will have to calculate this on your own. The best way to do this is to include a unique identifier in the links on your email and then track how many visitors who came to that link purchased your product or service.

These are the 3 most important elements of your email marketing program. Most email marketing tools will provide you with lots more information, but with a basic understanding of these three statistics you will be able to compare the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Microsoft withdraws Musiware service from mobile providers

Microsoft has informed wireless carriers that it is withdrawing the Musiwave mobile tunes service once their current contracts expire. In an exclusive report, the Register revealed that wireless operators were informed of Microsoft’s decision by an open letter received on Wednesday 9 September. Musiwave was acquired by Microsoft in November 2007 for $46 million.

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Microsoft withdraws Musiware service from mobile providers

TV exec wants BBC iPlayer to charge viewers

Many web users will be unhappy to hear the news that Lorraine Heggessey, the chief executive of Talkback Thames, has stated she thinks that users of the free BBC iPlayer service should be charged. She was speaking at a BBC event on Tuesday when her suggestion of “micro-payments” was made. The chief executive of parent company Fremantle, Tony Cohen, also expressed belief that the catch up TV service should grab the revenue opportunity.

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TV exec wants BBC iPlayer to charge viewers

Web 2.0 E-Buzz Word For Internet Marketing

We hear a lot of talk about Web 2.0 and marketing in the Web 2.0 era, but what is Web 2.0 and how can it be used for internet marketing? Web 2.0 means including user generated content and social networking. In the early years websites provided information to users. However, in recent times it is all about the content provided by users, their opinions, ratings and how they perceive something. One of the best examples of the use of web 2.0 was the last presidential election.

Marketing in the web 2.0 era provides a host of new benefits for website hosts. A combination of social media sites such as Facebook, MySpace, Digg, Twitter, StumbleUpon, blogs and other such websites provides marketers with the ability to reach users easily in a cost effective manner. These websites also provide a great source of backlinks and traffic to the websites. Creating a web 2.0 website means that your users will post real reviews of your product or service. These reviews can help you better your product or service and provide something great that will become a huge success. Also, it provides you with a means of interacting with your customers or users on a much higher level than before.

Web 2.0 provides significant benefits to an organization or brand that is hitting the market for the first time. Building awareness is now easier with social networking sites and social media such as YouTube and Flickr. Driving organic, quality traffic to your new website is also made easier with viral marketing on sites such as Twitter and StumbleUpon. Web 2.0 and social media and networks have changed the way the web operates and their benefits are available to everyone.

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