After interviewing 2,000 online consumers, ecommerce trading solutions provider eCommera found that nearly half of consumers (42 per cent) prefer to buy from an aggregated online retailer offering a choice of brands. Just 13.6 per cent of shoppers actually go directly to a brand’s website with one-stop shops such as Amazon their preferred first point of call.

Despite brand building inspiring trust among consumers, ultimately convenience appears to be the main incentive for shoppers online.

The report also revealed that consumers are more likely to visit a website that is recommended by family or friends, with word of mouth one of the two key factors in online browsing. While 7 out of 10 identified personal recommendations as influential to their decision, just 21 per cent said advertising on TV, radio and print had played a part and 35 per cent of consumers said Google search is one of the top two factors when choosing a website to buy products online.

Fortunately for H&M and Zara, the brand’s high street presence was cited as the second most important factor by 46 per cent of those surveyed.

H&M’s online store will go live on 16 September and will sell clothing for men, women and children as well as soft furnishings, which are currently unavailable in its 168 UK high-street stores. Zara will also complement its 65 UK stores by selling fashion online for the first time.

The industry regulator has discovered that the average customer is now charged for a speed of up to 11.5 mbit/s, but receives just 5.2 mbit/s.

For over a decade UKFast has been focussed on the importance of speed online and as such we were relatively unsurprised by Google’s revelation that speed plays a part in SEO. Google webmaster’s blog states: “Like us, our users place a lot of value in speed – that’s why we’ve decided to take site speed into account in our search rankings.”

However if we are to listen to the latest from Ofcom, it seems that irrespective of Google’s attempts to prioritise companies with fast page load speeds, many internet users are still facing a frustratingly slow experience when surfing the web.

Ofcom’s research has also revealed that the majority of customers questioned now consider broadband to be “as essential as a utility” and that users of Orange and BT broadband packages routinely receive less than one-third of the speeds they were paying for at peak times.

As a leading hosting provider, we understand the importance of having the right tools for the job. If top broadband speeds are to be achieved, companies need a firm foundation on which to build their network, and this is what the government has been promising the UK for some time.

Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt, who is ultimately responsible for broadband, has recently delayed a commitment for a universal broadband service of 2 mbit/s until 2015, pushing it back from 2012.

The Government maintains, however, that Britain will have “the best broadband network in Europe” by the end of the parliament. Mr Hunt has promised that the focus will be on the next-generation of fibre networks, which BT has said it will deliver to two-thirds of the country by 2015.

Essentially it is still very much open for debate whose responsibility it is to keep the web running at top speed. However, at UKFast we are keen to grab the bull by its horns and work with web based companies, broadband providers and the government alike to create an infrastructure which ensures top speeds online.

If you want to find out more about how we are planning to build online Britain or apply for a £1000 hosting fund, check out the details of our ‘Growth Through Innovation’ fund.

As bargain-hunting reaches fever pitch, it is estimated that web sales now account for 33p of every £1 spent in the summer sales.

With 62 per cent of consumers quizzed reporting that buying online is less hassle than on the high street, avoiding the stress of crowds and long queues seems to be the greatest pull of online shopping.

Grabbing the best bargains also appears to be a cause for the migration online, with 53 per cent of shoppers believing that web sales offer more choice and better discounts.

Highlighting the change in shopping patterns encouraged by the unstable economic climate, in addition to shopping online, users also appear to be spending longer researching purchases with the busiest online shopping day arriving over a month after the sales began.

With the report by Opinion Matters for Kelkoo finding that 51 per cent of consumers believe there is ultimately a better range of products available online, it is not surprising that Accessorize is the latest High Street store to launch a standalone website this week.

HMV has also unveiled its attempt to diversify its entertainment brand with the launch of a new digital download service, HMV Digital. Complementing its nationwide stores, the download service will see the brand challenge Apple’s iTunes in the digital download market.

After the coalition government abandoned plans to roll out nationwide broadband fibre in its emergency budget, BT has now revealed that the actual cost to realise the government’s vision would be around £2bn.

With the cost of delivering basic broadband in rural areas also expected to rocket, there is little money, except for the £175m allocated from the Digital Switchover, to fund the roll out.

Consequently, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt has suggested that a more realistic target for achieving universal 2 Mbps access will be in the lifetime of the Parliament rather than 2012 as originally suggested.

Unfortunately without the suggested £2bn, Britain can only expect to fall further behind Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands in the super-fast broadband league if someone doesn’t step in.

Supporting the results of our recent round table on Building Online Britain, the government is therefore placing the onus on the industry to drive this forward. Although industry experts decided a collective approach is better for growing the UK’s online offering, it was widely regarded that businesses, entrepreneurs and educational institutions should be left to develop things with little government input.

Despite firms like Rutland Telecom taking the initiative and raising money from householders to improve broadband services, resistance from BT et al means that it may be an uphill battle to reach the two million homes needed though.

As grandparents join social media sites as a new way to connect with their family and friends, the presence of over 50s online has resulted in a five per cent increase in the total number of UK online users.

With 14 million images uploaded to Facebook every day, social networking sites have become a valuable resource connecting older generations with the outside world.

Behind community sites, the 50-plus internet audience is also interested in health and videos online, with RealAge and Flixxy possessing the largest market share, according to the recent study.

In the research by UKOM almost two million more Britons were shown to have gone online since May 2009, totaling 38.8million. While men over 50 were found to show the largest growth, accounting for 38 per cent of all new users, women over 50 represented just 15 per cent of new users followed closely by women aged 21- 34 (14 per cent) and females aged between 12-20 (12 per cent).

As this study demonstrates the increasing value of the Grey Pound, a number of industries, in particular travel, are already showing a desire to take advantage.

The Times is taking a tiered approach to the paywall. Currently, it does not cost us to read news from the site, but we must register. Already this is causing a fairly substantial drop in traffic according to the data collected by Hitwise, the Experian owned web monitor.

Early indications suggest that the site, which has always ranked in competition with rivals like the Telegraph and the Guardian, has in a matter of weeks lost visitor share to fall into line with less busy websites such as the Independent, the Mirror and the FT. A steady decline over the last two weeks has seen the sites traffic share reduce by more than 50% in comparison to its position at the start of this month.

Looking at the data, the Telegraph appears to have benefited from the new registration process the most out of the other dailies. Although, downstream data from thetimes.co.uk shows that a quarter of all traffic is going direct to register. The question is – how many of those are completing the process and going on to read the news and how many of these will be willing to continue doing that when they also have to pay for it?

It will be interesting to see whether further developments drop the Times below the FT.com which already has a paywall in place for much of its news. The FT being more niche in its content could have the upper hand.

We’ll keep an eye on this and let you know more results once the paywall has gone in place.

While green IT and the National Programme for IT took a back seat in George Osborne’s economic plans, the IT industry has emerged relatively unscathed from the coalition’s first budget.

IT entrepreneurs in particular look to benefit from an increase in their tax free income allowance, as the government hopes to combat public spending cuts with tax breaks for the private sector. A concern close to our own hearts, these tax incentives will help to keep talent in the UK and compete on a global level. The commitment to review tax regulation around intellectual property and technological research and development will also enhance the competitiveness of the UK.

Additional positive effects of the Budget will see the capital gains tax rate of 10 per cent for entrepreneurs extended from the first £2million to £5million. North West start ups will also enjoy a holiday from national insurance contributions for their first year of business for the first 10 employees.

Chancellor George Osborne has confirmed that the 50p a month landline tax will also be scrapped with the onus for rolling-out super-fast broadband placed back on the private sector.

Despite an obvious focus on encouraging growth within the industry over the next five years, the Chancellor did announce that the Northwest Regional Development Agency will have many of its powers stripped in lieu of a new ‘local enterprise partnership’. Private sector initiatives such as UKFast’s ‘Growth Through Innovation’ scheme will therefore become more important than ever for aspiring SMEs.

Following its influential role in Barack Obama’s 2008 US election campaign, the key party leaders have all identified Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as ways to engage new voters.

From The Conservative Party’s ad takeover of the YouTube homepage today to Labour’s application which enables supporters to update their Facebook and Twitter status, this general election has identified how important this new medium is to political campaigning.

While the first ever election TV debates drew audiences in excess of 10 million, social networking has engaged audiences on a global scale providing a critical arena where politicians are questioned directly by those entering the polling stations and not just in the studio audience.

By identifying online opportunities through their media specialists Windfall Media, the Liberal Democrats (who boasted the most Facebook friends) felt they were able to better understand the online audience and their needs. As a result of listening to voters through blogs, forums and micro-communities, ultimately they felt more able to convey their message. Whether they have done this effectively remains to be seen…

Of course with the benefits social media has brought there have also been repercussions, with candidates falling foul of inappropriate tweeting and the immediacy and transparency social media offers.

Fundamentally, as users become increasingly concerned with engaging with each other, and disinterested with the political parties who represent them, Twitter and Facebook have given the power back to the voters and now must be an essential part of any election campaign.

Experts are largely attributing the shift to the security concerns surrounding IE, combined with the successful advertising and ever faster new releases from Google. That’s right; it seems speed is an important factor yet again.

While Internet Explorer held a huge 95 per cent of the market share in 2003, today’s study reveals that it now has only 60 per cent.

Google Chrome however may have a comparatively small 6.7 per cent of the market, but this marks a vast increase on the 1.7 per cent they held last year.

Gartner researcher Jeffrey Mann said there could be several reasons behind the demise of internet explorer.

“There are more viable alternatives now.” he said, “Google has been advertising and there is just a great awareness that there are alternatives.”

He went on to say that the recent security issues with IE 6 could have also played a role as many people using this version of the browser were advised to find an alternative.

“There were a lot of people using IE6 and some will have said that if they are going to change, they may as well look at some alternatives,” he stated.

With Google advertising Chrome heavily, and the “browser ballot” in Europe offering millions of consumers the chance to change their browser easily, it is clear to see why the market has begun to shift.

The news of this shift has proved to be rather timely as Google announced the release of another, even speedier Chrome offering earlier this week.

According to Google, the new beta version represents a 30 to 35 per cent rise in performance across the two of the most important browser benchmarks, the V8 Benchmark Suite and the SunSpider Benchmark.

Seth Rosenblatt of CNET said in his review of the new Chrome release: “Chrome 4 is blazingly fast, more stable than previous versions, and introduces support for extensions, bookmark syncing, and some HTML5 innovations.”

He continued: “Chrome’s interface is a drastic departure from other browsers. Minimal design with sophisticated technology make the Web faster, safer, and easier.” And it seems that these qualities are exactly what customers are now demanding of their internet browsers.

Jeffrey Mann feels that Microsoft may remain dominant in the browser market for quite some time, however he predicts a “long, slow rise” for rivals to Internet Explorer.

According to a blog post published on Friday, faster sites not only improve user experience and reduce operating costs, but now thanks to Google, appear higher in search rankings.

While changes to the algorithm are usually closely guarded, the transparency of this latest update offers a refreshing insight into Google’s attempt to create a better experience for users.

With research suggesting that even a half-second delay can encourage users to look elsewhere, speeding up websites has been confirmed as an essential factor in customer retention and helping site owners achieve that elusive page 1 spot. If only someone had figured this out before…

Already in place for US searches, speed will now be considered across the board. As you would expect, relevance will still weigh most heavily but it is great to see that Google is encouraging other businesses to take speed and in turn the customer experience very seriously.

For more information, visit http://code.google.com/speed.

With UKFast’s network consistently rated as the fastest by Webperf, visit http://www.ukfast.co.uk/fast-host.html to find out how you can take advantage of Google’s latest change.

Travel experts at the UKFast round table

Bringing in experts from around the UK, we had:

With a wealth of experience from non-conflicted areas of the industry we were able to have an open and comprehensive debate about the development of travel since the advent of the web.

It’s an incredible industry to profile. One of the fastest growing and quickest to adopt new technologies, travel has set pace for e-commerce online and experienced a more extensive online development than others.

And the general consensus was that the industry is in a saturated state with real change needed. Not because of the last few years of global recession but because of a lack of exclusivity and an evolution that has removed consumer trust.

With the collapse of XL, last year saw consumers return in droves to the trusted brands of the high street, they still brought their travel online in growing proportions, but they did it with the likes of Thomas Cook and Thomson. A growing fear of online travel brands – and there are thousands of them – has made it a tough environment to operate in.

That is, unless you are offering a level of exclusivity. According to our experts, finding a niche has been one way to continue growing. We shouldn’t forget that the web grew in its infancy through the opportunities it brought for every single niche project to reach a large audience. The travel industry appears now to be recognising this potential. It is forecast to be one of the hottest strategies for 2010.

The big question is – how do you create exclusivity in an industry where hundreds of other companies could be offering the same package, flight, weekend, hotel…?

I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on this.

You can read more about the round table in the UKFast press office.

However, proving that no businesses can do without any advertising, notoriously ad shy Google has just launched a major global campaign.

The search engine giant is famous for building its empire with very little advertising. It was a rare example of a unique product that does an excellent job and therefore ‘sells itself’. But now the “Gone Google” multi media campaign is an attempt to steal away Microsoft business applications customers.

The campaign line “Gone Google” refers to the 1.7m businesses that the company claims have embraced its services, the Guardian reports.

“It is the first and very highly visible integrated ad campaign that we have run,” said Dave Armstrong, head of marketing for Google Enterprise for Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Gone Google is a concept that we are at a tipping point where you [businesses] need to move to a new model. Look at how Google has brought products to the enterprise market, we have done it differently than some of the other competitors.”

The ad campaign reflects the fact that even the Google brand name is not enough when venturing into new markets. Google apps are not its core search engine offering, so users’ acceptance is not guaranteed. They need to be convinced.

Ironically, much of Google’s advertising campaign will use traditional media, such as print and billboard.

In a similar vein, UKFast has been embracing more traditional marketing avenues recently. As a web hosting business we do most of our advertising online. However, last week UKFast was the main attraction at Ecommerce Expo in London.

The show represented a significant investment in offline marketing for us but it was a major success for the business. We met face to face with around 2,000 potential clients and partners of the future and the UKFast brand will certainly resonate even more amongst those engage in ecommerce going forward.

What our attendance at Ecommerce Expo 2009 shows is that when planned and targeted, offline marketing can still be very effective.

The staggeringly large figure reinforces just how incredibly popular YouTube is and it shows that online video is a powerful media for today and for tomorrow.

A billion hits is the equivalent to one in six of all people on Earth visiting the site on a daily basis. In reality the figure does not represent an audience of a billion, instead the viewing numbers will be in the no less impressive millions but that in its self reflects the powerful draw that YouTube now commands. Consider everyone you know who uses the Internet and ponder how many of them never visit the YouTube site. The answer is probably very few.

The reasons for the online channel’s popularity are numerous. Specific content draws a deliberate audience but perhaps the most important factor is the incidental audience. That is those who are draw in by videos and video links posted on other sites. In fact, if we consider our own use of YouTube, probably more often that not we find ourselves on the site without having consciously wanting to end up their when we started browsing.

This indicates the power that streamed video content has to engage the online audience and its potential for boosting visitors to our own sites. UKFast has an in-house film department that’s main purpose is to populate ukfast.co.uk with quality video content.

We have dedicated resources to this endeavour for many years now because we understand the value online video offers. Our videos are very popular but they also uniquely offer a window into our business and the people that make our business tick. They help to show the human face of the company.

YouTube enjoys a significant incidental audience but the reverse can also be true. UKFast has its own YouTube section where all of our videos are posted. Currently, there are hundreds of UKFast titles on the site with a viewing audience of thousands. So YouTube has become a window on UKFast.

If a picture can speak a thousand words, then in 2009 a YouTube streamed video can reach a billion minds (nearly!).

The news reflects the fact that Google continues to be on the up. Microsoft’s Bing briefly made a small dent but seems to be on the decline again, while Yahoo is struggling with a fight back (adverts have started appearing on British TV!). However, many think that their efforts are for nought because Google’s dominance is entrenched.

And don’t be fooled that this is just the result of critical mass. Despite its lofty position, Google is not resting. It continues to innovate to keep its offering fresh and relevant to its user’s requirements today.

The firm has recently added social media posts to its search returns to provide an enhance range of results for users and soon it will introduce electronic books. Furthermore, Google has undertaken a great deal of research into the effects of speed on the user experience, finding that faster is better. Read more on the importance of speed to the user experience online.

In addition to all of this, Google’s impressive profits boost is also a reflection of a strengthening advertising market. Across the world online has been the only growth sector in the advertising market during the recession, while in the UK it has just overtaken TV for total spend. So with Google’s dominance of the pay per click sector, the future continues to forecast rising profits.

Associated articles: Google UK revenues up to £466m

Well they say variety is the spice of life and it terms of delivering a wide scope of options, including social media would be a good thing. This move also allows Google to seem current and with the times as it acknowledges the importance and popularity of social media. At the very least it offers a useful search tool for use on the networking sites themselves.

On the other hand, with literally billions of web pages available, we all know the internet is also crammed full of useless information and all too often we have to filter through it to find what we want. Would linking to social networking opinion threads represent the latest version of this dross?

To give Google and alike their due, the accuracy of their searches is good. They know that presenting users with poor search returns would be bad for business, so relevancy is a major factor for them. This therefore should ensure that what social media additions they make should be pretty relevant and this can only enhance the options available.

The key is maintaining clarity in the presentation of the results. As long as the user knows that they are opinion posts to discussion threads etc, they are empowered to continue to assess the information presented as before.

So variety and more information have to be good things, as long as they are displayed in the right way – and that is surely the goal for any website at any time.

It is no secret that commercial broadcasters have been struggling to maintain revenues with the recession taking its toll. However, the economic downturn does not fully answer the story. Even before the difficult financial times hit home, TV’s ad revenue was already under siege from the rapidly growing Internet market.

To a certain degree the Internet is beating TV at its own game by placing ads on web streamed videos but the online route to the viewer also offers other benefits that TV advertising cannot. This includes targeted ads and click-through ads, and this is to not mention the impact of unique online advertising phenomena such as pay per click.

So, in the first six months of this year 23.5% of all ad spend in the UK was taken by online forms while television commanded just 21.9%.

To date the world’s other major markets have not matched the UK’s milestone. In the US, online ads make up 15.4% of the total market and still trail TV, while globally the web advertising figure stands at 13.2%.

So the UK leads the way in Internet advertising. It seems that our commercial sector is ahead of the curve in appreciating the enhanced opportunities to connect with potential customers that web advertising offers. And while TV is just about holding on in the rest of the world, it is surely only a matter of time before online overtakes TV across the globe.

associated articles: Online advertising ‘overtakes TV’

Despite all the top flight football teams, cricket, ice hockey and rugby league in the Manchester area, Guinness Premiership outfit Sale Sharks match days are officially the best hospitality for meeting real industry heavyweights.

It seems that the difference is the shape of the ball on the field. Rugby attracts the decision makers of business more than football, or any other sport for that matter, and its hospitality costs less. So investing in Sharks hospitality delivers an unmatched ROI.

And it’s not just about getting an opportunity to meet Manchester’s boardroom fillers. Hospitality at the Sharks is legendary for providing a fantastic experience. In addition to prime match seats in the corporate box, attendees receive a three-course meal in the exclusive Insider Suite and, unlike football, get the chance to meet the players after the game.

UKFast is the new main sponsor of the Sale Sharks and as such will be enjoying 28 hospitality seats per home game for the coming season. It all kicks-off this Friday against current champions Leicester Tigers.

UKFast clients can select a match at which to join us by fill in a hospitality form here:http://pdf.ukfast.net/sharks_fixtures09-10.pdf. Meanwhile, for more information on UKFast’s sponsorship of the Sale Sharks visit: http://www.ukfast.co.uk/sale-sharks-press-area.html.

Anyone with a great idea for an online business can get the chance to benefit from six months of free hosting from the UK’s fastest hosting provider by entering the UKFastTrack. However, they must apply by August 31st, that’s just weeks away.

We have already had many applications from entrepreneurs with brilliant ideas for online businesses and we are getting very excited about picking out five finalists in September.

For those of you who are not totally clued up on the UKFastTrack here are the competition details:

Five lucky finalists will be selected in September from all of the applications received by Aug 31st 09. These finalists will be given a super-fast UKFast SEO Server and associated hosting support for free for six months. That means £15,000 worth of free hosting infrastructure to help the online entrepreneurs to get their ideas off the ground.

After six months, the winner will be the business that enjoys the largest growth over the duration of the competition and their prize will be a further six months free hosting with UKFast.

If you have a winning idea for an online business don’t miss out on this fantastic opportunity to get industry-leading hosting for free. Visit the UKFastTrack web page to apply now.

Finalists will benefit from using the UKFast SEO Server. This is a bespoke server designed to deliver consistently rapid speed. Speed is vital to success online because it delivers high Google rankings and happy customers. And having a faster website than your competitors can make all the difference to your business. Find out more about the SEO Server and how it can help you business to succeed.

The snappy new strip, created by the visionary partnership of the club’s merchandise manager Lisa Robinson and long-term kit makers Cotton Traders, is designed to infuse the speed and power of the Sharks’ style of rugby into their on-field uniform.

The electric blue and white fabric maintains the iconic Sharks’ ‘colours’ while also bringing the brand bang up to date for the impending new season. The shirt also sports the UKFast logo boldly at its centre as the new main sponsor.

The UKFast brand will soon be highly visible around all the leading rugby venues in England, including Welford Road, The Stoop and The Rec. It will also adorn the Shark’s European kit as they play the oval ball giants Cardiff and Toulouse in next year’s Heineken Cup.

And the new kit will be seen on new star signing World Cup winner Ben Cohen alongside current England men Andrew Sheridan, Mathew Tait and Mark Cueto. Watch the Sharks’ stars talking about the challenges ahead in the new season.

The replica shirts will retail at £45 for adults and £35 for children and are due to arrive in the club shop in early September, the MEN reports.

To celebrate the landmark tie-up between Sale Sharks and UKFast, the long-term partners are rewarding 100 loyal fans with a free European top. To claim the free shirt fans simply have to quote promotional code UKF-EURO-01 when booking a Gold or Silver season ticket. This offer is strictly limited to the first 100 respondents, so call now on 08444 994 994.

For more information on the Sharks or to purchase tickets, visit their UKFast powered website: http://www.salesharks.com/.

But what is Google Love?

Google Love: (Goo gle Love)|goo:gul:luv|noun

What your business experiences when you align it with Google’s speed model. Result – better Google rankings, better quality score, lower PPC costs, more traffic, longer visit duration, more pages visited, more likely to buy, more likely to return.

Phrase: I want my business to have Google Love.

Google Love is what your business experiences when it delivers the attributes that Google believes are key to giving the end users a fantastic experience.

Central to this is speed. The faster your website loads the more Google Love you receive and that could mean that your search links appear higher that rivals who have spent more on their Adword terms.

Find out how to achieve Google Love

Many UKFast clients are enjoying the warm enveloping feeling of Google Love right now. This includes a growth in traffic of 300% in a month for one and a 300% sales growth in just a week for another.

Read about more unbelievable achievements UKFast clients are getting with the speed of our network and the attainment of Google Love.

Watch UKFast clients talking about achieving Google Love through speed.

Therefore, fast hosting can deliver high Google rankings and extremely happy customers. And that means repeat customers, more traffic and bigger profits. And if you host with the fastest around you get a competitive edge on your rivals. An edge than could deliver 300% sales growth in a week. Just ask UKFast client Top Furniture.

After switching to a rapid UKFast server on the high speed UKFast network Top Furniture experienced a phenomenal 300% increase in revenues in just seven days. And they are not the only ones to experience impressive growth with a super-speedy UKFast solution.

All Join On increased site traffic 300% inside the first two months after switching to UKFast, while Lets Stay Together improved to a page 1 Google ranking within six weeks of launch thanks to its faster website.

Read more on how fast hosting can make all the difference to your online business at http://www.ukfast.co.uk/results.html.

And don’t forget what Google has to say on the subject:
Google states that:

• A 0.5 second delay in the page load speed of your website can reduce traffic by 20%.
• A 30% increase in page load speed can result in a 30% increase in customers.
• It’s fair to say that a speedy site will rank better (it’s true for adverts, as well).

The move is an attempt to achieve greater communication between the various national and international agencies and the business and IT worlds to deliver a more intuitive and responsive defence.

An Office of Cyber Security (OCS) will be established in Whitehall, while a Cyber Security Operations Centre (CSOC) will be placed in Cheltenham. Their remit will be to create a united and coherent UK response to the cyber threat.

The news, in conjunction with President Obama’s recent announcements of similar action in the States, represents a significant shift in thinking by governments to a realisation of just how costly cyber crime is.

US President Barack Obama said the cyber threat was “one of the most serious economic and national security challenges we face as a nation”. Now Gordon Brown’s Government is also catching on.

And a co-ordinated approach is the right course of action. Information is power and we can empower each other by sharing knowledge of cyber crime activity. Furthermore, our online systems are linked so points of weakness can potentially expose us all.

And we are not talking about insignificant operations. The web is now home to big business with millions of pounds traded every day online (adding up to an estimated UK total in 2009 of £68.4 billion). Access to critical infrastructure such as energy and banking networks are also now accessibly online.

This is why tackling cyber crime is vitally important. The potential disruption is huge. So it is gratifying that the UK government, in conjunction with others, is starting to give the issue the focus it needs. But let’s not leave it just to them. We can all play our part by ensuring our systems are fully protected. After all, it benefits us as well.

At UKFast we believe that every business trading on the internet should receive a high level of security at infrastructure level. You can find out more at: http://www.ukfast.co.uk/secure-your-business.html.

The UKFastTrack offers budding entrepreneurs a golden opportunity to give their business idea the best possible start by providing £15,000 worth of top-class hosting support. This includes the use of our revolutionary new SEO Servers, which are built for speed, and our industry-leading technical and marketing support.

We believe the SEO Servers can make the difference between success and failure and the web is buzzing with excitement amongst would-be internet entrepreneurs wanting to test it out. For a taste of the interest check out the UKFast discussion page on Twitter. News of the competition is also spreading amongst online business media as a result of our high-profile launch at the British Grand Prix last week: http://www.startups.co.uk/6678842909712360167/hunt-is-on-for-next-web-success.html.

For anyone not yet up to speed on the rules of the competition, the UKFastTrack will see five finalists selected from an open application process by a UKFast panel in September. The competing candidates will then get six months to build up their businesses using the power of the SEO Servers. The winner will be the business that enjoys the largest growth over the duration of the competition and their prize will be a further six months free hosting with UKFast.

Applications are already flooding in, so to make sure you don’t miss out on a chance to kick-start your business with free hosting from the industry leader, go to http://www.ukfast.co.uk/ukfasttrack.html.

UKFast is at the British Formula 1 Grand Prix today for the first of three days of fun with clients. However, it’s not just about enjoying top class motor sport. The fastest racing cars in the world also form the perfect backdrop to UKFast’s launch of the fastest servers available in the UK.

Today UKFast’s senior management have unveiled the SEO Server, a custom designed hosting unit that is perfect for powering internet business growth. The new hardware, which is guaranteed to revolutionise business online, has everything an operation needs to quickly make a success of their web venture.

It’s most important attribute is its fantastic speed. And that means the SEO Server is perfect for quickly establishing high Google rankings and a large, loyal customer base.

Why is this? Well Google rewards websites that deliver a positive user experience and the search giant rates quick loading sites as the most important factor in a good experience. Similarly, customers are more likely to stay loyal to an online business that gives them a consistently swift service. In fact did you know that a 30% increase in page load speed can result in a 30% increase in customers? Or that 51% of web customers abandon slow loading pages?

We are excited about the difference the SEO Server will have and to make sure everyone knows about it we have also launched today the UKFastTrack, a search for the next big online business venture.

The UKFastTrack will give ten entrepreneurs six months free hosting with a SEO Server and associated support worth in the region of £15,000. The ten finalists will be selected from an open application process which starts today! The winner will be the business that enjoys the largest sustained growth over the duration of the competition and their prize will be a further six months free hosting with UKFast.

For more information on how the SEO Server is set to transform the face of online business or to enter the UKFastTrack competition, visit http://www.ukfast.co.uk/seo-hosting-server.html.

Seriously, the Economist Intelligence Unit global liveability survey (a very highly regarded authority) has classed Manchester as the top UK city to live and work in. Out of a list of 140 worldwide cities scrutinised in the review, Manchester came 46^th, while London was only 51^st. Vancouver was top with Vienna a close second. Manchester also beat New York, Milan and Rome.

The news is fantastic to read as it helps to further put Manchester on the map. At UKFast we have been at the heart of the digital revolution in Manchester and have been talking our great city up for many years. So this is a great help to that cause.

Manchester is definitely the exciting focus for the bourgeoning North West hot bed of media and online talent and business. Soon the city will welcome cohorts of BBC departments to its new Media City in the heavily redeveloped Salford Quays, while the city centre is already the home to many major international companies including Adidas, AIG, Bank of New York and Google.

The city is also a great place to live with a fantastic restaurant and night-life culture, iconic music venues and excellent sports and leisure facilities.

So a combination of Manchester and our newly achieved lofty position of 31 in The Times Best Companies to Work For list makes UKFast a great place to be in 2009.

Source: TheBusinessDesk.com

It all started so well with the Lions’ 20 points up after 20 minutes against the Free State Cheetahs. However, the home side stormed back and in the end the Lions held on by just 2 points – 26 to 24.

Sale Sharks Andrew Sheridan once again put in a powerful performance and was one of the more consistent Lions players but once again playing for a faltering side will no doubt leave him concerned about test selection.

Also, I would just like to mention Mark Cueto. In all the Lions excitement I forgot to mention the Sharks’ speedy winger was in action for England at the weekend in a rare outing at Old Trafford.

It was perhaps fitting that at the footballing ‘theatre of dreams’ Cueto created two tries for teammate Delon Armitage using his kicking skills. It was just like watching Ronaldo in the white of England!

Congratulations to England for their impressive 37 – 15 win over World Cup semi-finalists Argentina and to all the organisers and sponsors for bringing a successful rugby road show to the city of Manchester.

Apparently, we have become quite savvy about spotting email threats, so the scammers and malware purveyors are turning to new fertile ground on sites such as Facebook and Bebo.

Advice for staying safe when social networking ranges from not responding to unusual email alerts, to not accepting friend requests from people you don’t know. However, this week I read an article which highlighted a much more fundamental potential security risk users could be exposing themselves to.

The risk is identity theft and it is all to do with what personal details we put on our profiles. Many organisations, such as some banks, rely on our personal information to verify who we are. Things such as date of birth, middle name, pet’s name etc.

This is exactly the sort of information we offer up on our social networking personal pages. On Facebook for example, you can have your full date of birth (and therefore age) displayed.  Cyber criminals can easily harvest this information to attempt to commit identity fraud. So the obvious advice here is to not put your full date of birth on the profile page.

Taking the point into a wider context, identity fraud is a serious matter for businesses. Companies have a responsibility to protect their customers’ sensitive details, while on the other side customers will not give their business to those they cannot trust.

As a hosting provider, we at UKFast hold very sensitive data, so our security needs to be impeccable. We operate state-of-the-art data centres that boast best-of-breed multi-layered security measures and we have a unique password protection system in place for every client. So we wont be asking our clients their date of birth!

Sheridan did play in the British Lion’s victorious first game but the result was far from the comfortable romp expected.

So Sheridan and his teammates from that first game know they need a big performance against the Free State Cheetahs tomorrow to enhance their chances of making the test side.

And expect Sherry to do just that as he is a Shark that is not used to taking a backward step (or should that be a backward swim!).

UKFast, the Sale Sharks’ new main sponsor, will be urging Sheridan on when he takes to the field in Bloemfontein. Having been a key focal point for our sponsorship and rebranding campaign (see here) he is very popular with the cohort of rugby fans at the office.

Come on Sheridan find your roar this Saturday!

P.S. – A little indulgent but I could not resist drawing on the commonalities between the Lions and UKFast this weekend. As the Lions prepare to further their campaign against the Cheetahs, we are continuing our high profile ‘Cheetah’ campaign on the subject of the importance of speed for web businesses. Read more on our campaign here.

Google, in fact, suggests that speed is the most important factor of all in determining search engine results making it therefore vital for online businesses to ensure they have the server infrastructure that can deliver consistent top performances.

Apparently, the speed that your website loads by can vary from browser to browser, that is why the major players have been battling it out in the quickness stakes with Chrome and Internet Explored both bringing out recent research that suggests that they are the speediest.

However, the browser selected is irrelevant if web traders opt for second rate hosting. UKFast prides itself on having the fastest network in the UK. If you want to check out the speed of your site to see if your business is being harmed by a lack of server grunt visit the UKFast home page at www.ukfast.co.uk.

Meanwhile, Google’s Chrome continues to battle with the likes of the afore-mentioned IE, Firefox and Safari for browser supremacy. User reviews indicate that Chrome has got the speed x-factor but it still lacks the usability and toys of the more mature offerings.

In May last year there was uproar when Google announced that it was changing its rules to allow paid search ad bidders to bid on rival trademarks. The development was highly controversial because it effectively allowed companies to highjack the traffic heading for their rivals, thus undermining the rivals’ hard earned market profile.

One of the few crumbs of comfort the 2008 changes offered was that bidders would not be allowed to use rival trademark words in their Google search ads. So at least a searcher would not be confused by seeing the company name they wanted in what turned out to be a rival’s ad and link.

But that crumb has now disintegrated. Now barely a year later and Google has decided to flex its might again by allowing the use of trademarked words in ads. This means firms now face the prospect of Google searchers inputting their name and getting a top result containing said name prominently BUT the link will be to a bitter rival!

How many searchers will just click the link oblivious to the intricacies of the situation?

The developments represent a fresh round of worry for businesses and potentially more Google advertising expenses. So how can the search titan justify it?

Well, Google says that it all goes to giving the user a better experience and the accuracy of search returns will actually be even better. Part of this argument has merit. The new rules will allow retailers to use the trademark names of the brands they sell, so better representing their products to searchers.

However, many would argue the real reason lies within the recent concession by Ari Balogh, Yahoo’s chief technology officer, that Google has clearly won the search engine game.

The defeatist revelation comes as Balogh says that Yahoo is looking into social networking as a new expansion frontier. It also shows that Google’s market dominance is such that it has the luxury of dictating terms to business clients.

Whichever way you see it, the result can be said to be another positive step for Google!

The agreement is a historic one, involving a seven figure sum for a three year deal. It is also a very exciting one for us at UKFast because it means our brand new logo will be on the chests of the likes of Dwayne Peel, Mathew Tait, Ben Cohen and Andrew Sheridan every game next year.

The shirt has already been designed and it can be seen, along with a wealth of other interesting information, on our specially created online press area at: http://www.ukfast.co.uk/sale-sharks-press-area.html.

The shirt colours and design synergise with our new logo to make the whole kit a moving reminder of UKFast and our new brand identity of professionalism, technical excellence and speed.

The deal represents a new milestone for us and a new dawn for the Sharks. For our part, we are very pleased that despite the difficult general economic conditions our business has continued to deliver strong returns so that we can confidently invest this significant sum into sponsoring Sale.

As for the Sharks, the French revolution is over. Saint Andre, Chabal and co have departed. Welshman Kingsley Jones has taken on the top job, England legend Jason Robinson has returned as a coach and the club have a four year plan to recapture the top spot in the Premiership.

All of this adds up to exciting times for Sale Sharks and UKFast, and as main sponsors we will be able to share the experience with 28 guests at every home match! Bring on September!

But I wasn’t sure. Twitter’s format seemed so limited that I struggled to see the commercial viability. Many companies have a Twitter presence. In fact figures now suggest that the majority of firms now have some sort of Twitter account. But is this just lip service?

Others have their doubts too. In its April edition EN magazine argues that Twitter does not offer the marketer anything new and that phone and email are still stronger communication tools.

Then there is the debate over the future of Twitter itself. New research suggests that after the first month Twitter loses about 60% of its new users. This attrition rate is much higher than for other forms of social media and it worryingly suggests that the rapid blogging site’s user numbers may be widely overstated.

There are many well know companies with Twitter profiles but these are set up as free accounts just as an individual would use the service. The do not represent income for Twitter.

So, as one commentator has stated, is Twitter trying to saddle the commercial horse after it has bolted out of the stable? If companies are happy to use Twitter as a marketing message board for free and with concerns over real user numbers, can Twitter really be effectively commercialised.

Maybe the venture capitalists backing the service also don’t really believe its commercial potential. Maybe they are just hedging their bets on someone like Facebook offering to buy Twitter for big money with its own misguided belief that it can generate revenues from Twitter!

So I remain unconvinced. Just because an online platform proves popular does not necessarily mean it will be commercial success. If anyone, the real winners are likely to be the businesses that use Twitter for free to post links back to their real online commercial tool – their own website.

In terms of pure visitor numbers the likes of YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are undoubted giants of the internet but all are yet to successfully convert their popularity into commercial gain.

YouTube for example is predicted to have 375 million unique visitors in 2009 by Credit Suisse but the Google owned video streaming site is also predicted to make a loss of $470m by the same banking organisation.

Not the idea ecommerce model!

Making money from sites such as YouTube, Facebook etc. is immediately hampered by their high running costs. If you have millions of visitors requesting video or interactive features you need lots of servers and lots of broadband capacity.

Going back to the YouTube figures, Credit Suisse calculates that it will spend $360 million on bandwidth costs this year because of 75 billion video stream requests.

The other side to the uneven equation is the lack of commercial leverage. YouTube gets money from in-video ads and from broadcasters to host their content. But this has so far been more limited than expected and disagreements have resulted in many content providers pulling out of deals.

Meanwhile, Twitter is just embarking on tentative steps to commercialise its offering. This exercise will be fascinating to watch as Twitter is arguably a more restricted format than YouTube.

And then there is the dirty phrase in social media of ‘paid-for services’. Whispers have started up about Facebook possibly becoming a paid for site if bought out.

This is the most direct form of leveraging income as it charges the user not partner advertisers and in theory it could deliver huge incomes. However, sites would take a big gamble with this strategy. Social media users seem to hold strongly to the idea that they should be free to the end user and are likely to, at worst rebel and boycott, at least drift away to a free rival. Look at friendsreunited.com for an example.

No doubt Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion with an eye to raking in the revenue. Facebook was similarly valued (at one point last year) at $15 billion based on theoretical commercial value.

The reality is social media have yet to deliver a successful commercial model. Can it be done? And who will be the first to succeed?

The golden ticket continued into the 90s with the Windows series of operating systems and desktop applications becoming not just the most popular options but the accepted standard. And now into a third decade there are many computer users the world over that are probably unaware that there is an alternative to Windows, Word and Outlook.

Yes, Microsoft has been the archetypal business success story of finding an underserved market, developing the right product, securing a dominant share and then convincing the buyer that it is the market. Those who tried to compete were crushed under the Microsoft juggernaut as it continued along its path of irresistible force.

Until now that is! Microsoft’s mega truck is still going strong of course but now a small dent has appeared in its bodywork in the form of Encarta’s demise. The software giant has announced that Encarta will be taken offline in the autumn in the wake of the realisation that it cannot compete with internet source such as Wikipedia.

It is not a massive blow for Microsoft as Encarta was a tiny piece of the puzzle, but the symbolism is big. For the first time it is Microsoft’s product that is out off date and obsolete. What it used to regularly do to others has now been done to it and finally Microsoft has found itself behind the innovation curve.

Microsoft is still going strong, with a raft of quality products but the days of total domination are probably now confined to history, as will be Encarta soon.

whitehotproperty.co.uk, “the UK’s only dedicated repossession and part exchanged property website”, has announced that it has “added” Google Street View. Frustratingly, I could not get the application to work when I had a look at the website, maybe it is an April fool’s joke!

Anyway, when it does work it will be a valuable addition. As whitehotproperty says: “the facility will enable buyers to get a realistic feel for the surrounding area, particularly when researching local amenities and public transport stops.”

When it comes to buying a house it’s all about location, location, location. So having the ability to look around the area without leaving your front room is a huge positive. Surely all online estate agents will eventually offer Street View on their websites. It will be interesting to see how the facility affects business.

What this story certainly does show is the power of the internet to enable online businesses to offer a unique customer experience. No other trading medium can combine interactivity and convenience like it. That is why ebusiness continues to be a strong growth sector.

Supporters of the technology marvel at its cleverness and talk about how the service can revolutionise how people research cities to visit and houses to buy. Opponents argue it invades individual privacy and is a potential security hazard. And then there are those that don’t see it as a big deal.

Street View is not new of course. It was launched in the US last year but British cities have only just become available to view online and this is what has sparked so much reaction on this side of the Atlantic.

I must admit that my personal view is also conflicted. Last year I delighted at being able to ‘virtually’ walk down streets in US cities. The Street View technology allowed me to appreciate these cities in a way that I could not have done previously. So on that basis the service is truly original and useful.

However, on the flip side I cannot help but feel that Google is also riding rough shot over individuals’ wishes. The company does say it will implement reasonable requests to remove pictures but is that the wrong way round? Should we have to tell Google to remove sensitive images? Or should they not be taking them in the first place?

The company does have the law on its side (Japan wont let it by the way) and it does make an effort to blur faces and number plates. But ultimately, are we losing a bit more of our privacy for a service that is only titillating not evolutionary and all because Google is preoccupied with the idea of ‘can we do it?’ over ‘should we do it?’?

The strength of the Internet is its amazing scope of potential. It has improved the human condition immeasurably over the years and Google has been at the heart of much of it. However, its virtues can also be wasted on rather pointless (if clever) applications. Which is Google Street View?

Part of what attracts us to support rugby are the parallels we can draw between our business and the 15-a-side game. Our MD Lawrence Jones is unwavering in his belief that UKFast’s success is down to the people that work here. We are the leading hosting provider in the UK because it can be said that our team is greater than the sum of its parts.

The exact same qualities are what made Wales the 6 Nations grand slam champion in 2008. The Welsh players are all expert rugby professionals but what made them unbeatable in last year’s competition was how they combined as a team. Each game they delivered a better performance than their opponents to achieve the win.

The intangible ingredients for success in sport are the same for business: hard work, commitment to excellence and a steadfast will to be the best.

This afternoon Wales host Ireland at the fantastic cathedral of rugby that is the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff. Ireland is the only country still with a chance of winning the grand slam (winning all five games) but Wales can still win the championship if the team wins by 13 points or more.

Welsh pundits think their players will do it if they play at their best, as if Wales on top form is unbeatable. However, that is to misunderstand the real impressiveness of the 2008 Welsh grand slam and the threat posed by Ireland. No matter how talented your team is the keys are always to respect the opposition, not succumb to complacency and find a way to perform better than them. That is why Wales won last year and it is a great example for all businesses as they strive to more forward.

Apparently Google intends to monitor user habits in order to target ads and this has alarmed privacy advocates who believe such acts are too much of an invasion.

However, the public seem less bothered. In fact, with the one caveat that their personal details are not linked to the recorded habits, Brits like the idea of having ads that are related to their interests offered on sites like Google or Yahoo and that to do so would enhance their user experience.

Targeted ads of course already exist. Social networking sites such as Facebook use subscribers’ personal details to focus advertising and this is a big source of income for them.

From a personal perspective I must admit that I was rather slow to appreciate this on my Facebook account. For weeks I was seeing many rugby related ads, thinking that the company was just making a big Facebook advertising push before realising that these ads were specifically targeted to me using my data.

At first I felt slightly violated, as if my personal details had been used against me without my permission but then I realised that no one else had been given my information and that in fact I was benefitting from seeing ads that did actually interest me. To date I haven’t responded to the ads but I’m happy to know that company and its products exist.

While some may not like the idea (they will be able to opt out), most I think will be happy with targeted ads because they fit in well with the Internet ethos for rapid availability of desired information. If targeted ads give us more of what we want in a shorter period of time then most of us would regard this as an enhanced online experience.

So get ready for lots more targeted ads and a more personalised feel to your browsing.

The benefits of communicating in this way are numerous. Blogging offers immediacy and the flexibility to speak to customers and partners in a slightly less formal way. It is also a great way to convey your company philosophy through the topics you tackle and the sensibilities with which you speak on those topics.

Blogging also gives your team members a voice, allowing them to contribute their thoughts to the business blogging narrative. However, a word of warning, there can be a downside to company blogging, just ask Ryanair!

The Irish budget airline was recently caught up in an online argument with an IT blogger. In fact, a Ryanair employee got extremely abusive towards the blogger, calling him an idiot. The airlines official line to bring the matter to a sensible, mature conclusion was to reiterate that the blogger was an ‘idiot’.

Well, actually if you asked Ryanair they would probably claim not to see a downside but most companies with a sense of the importance of customer relations and public perception would.

Giving your team a voice means unleashing multiple personalities onto the blog sphere and individual sensibilities are unlikely to always be in line with the company. So it is important to set parameters to ensure your team is blogging on appropriate subjects and in acceptable ways. This doesn’t mean censorship or editorial control, simply sensibly guidelines to ensure the business is not negatively affected by posts.

It is good to find innovative ways to connect with your customers, just make sure you are making the right connections.

The second trend that I noticed is the surprisingly high number of changes in the top 10 compared to last year. Only five survive from the 2008 top 10 and Rolls Royce Group is the only survivor that climbed the list. Google to be fair could not go up but Microsoft, BP and GlaxoSmithKline all fell down the list.

Sony and Nokia’s arrival in the top five is a big positive to the technology sector, which occupies four of the top five spots this year. Furthermore, while British Airways and FedEx dropped out of the top 10, London Stock Exchange and Bupa came in.

Interesting stuff, but how does the Centre for Brand Analysis determine its rankings? Apparently, Business Superbrands identifies the country’s strongest B2B brands according to the views of a panel of experts and over 1,500 business professionals.

So not a totally scientific or all encompassing process but yet still a worthy snapshot. It does offer a perception of the brands and this is what brand building is all about, particularly in the current economic environment.

And through it all Google remains top!

One of our key areas for innovation is the advancement of green technologies and business processes and recent research conducted in the US indicates that customers are still looking for such products.

This is down to a continued commitment to environmentally friendly policies and because green innovation often means cost savings through energy savings.

So even in a time of economic downturn you can continue to fulfil your green agendas while keeping to the balance sheet.

How do we at UKFast do this? Every generation of server hardware is more energy efficient than the last, so by ensuring that we are always sourcing cutting edge technology we can consistently deliver high energy efficiencies.

Furthermore, as a growing hosting business we are constantly expanding our stable of data centres. Each time we add a new facility to our network we insist on the highest standards of energy efficiency. This delivers the environmental commitment that our clients want while also affording us the opportunity to keep overheads down.

And we engage in other green initiatives, such as tree planting in Wales to offset our energy output.

While the current economic climate understandably leaves many businesses wanting to cut back, they should not compromise on their core values. By maintaining a steadfast commitment, firms convey to clients stability, honesty and reliability. The end product is reassurance and that is highly prized in today’s market.

In fact very wrong. PPC plays a key part in delivering high Google rankings, but it is not the only factor. Google is all about delivering a good experience to users. If its search links do not meet requirements users are unsatisfied and that hurts Google’s business.

Therefore, it is in the search giant’s interest to rate links on the quality of user experience they give. So in addition to paying for prominence, other factors taken into account are relevance and speed. Yes speed. Many are unaware of the effect it plays but recent research has revealed to Google that speed is a key part in user satisfaction.

According to Google VP Marissa Mayer, just a half second delay in website loading speed will cause a 20% drop in traffic.

What does this mean to you and your PPC campaign? Well, it means that you could be spending more money on PPC than your competitors but be lower in the listings, all because they have faster servers.

So now is not the time to cut corners on your hosting. To get the speed you need to be successful you need to invest in your server. It will repay you!

The answer is everywhere. OK a slightly facetious answer that isn’t that helpful but the point I’m making is that advertising online does work despite what some surveys may say and that you should spread you brand around.

And the Internet Advertising Bureau’s ‘Receptivity of the Online Audience’ report agrees. Sorcha Proctor, IAB’s research manager, says “(our) study highlights the need for retail brands to get in front of Internet users at every point of the online customer journey and emphasises the need to respect consumers if they want them to engage effectively with their marketing messages.”

It is not a coincidence that online ad spend is rapidly catching TV. It is because the audience is there in their millions and as the Internet is a more interactive experience, users are naturally more engaged in what they are doing when online and therefore are more likely to respond to advertising. This is particularly true of advertising that can be intelligently targeted, something that TV and print ads cannot be.

Talking about engaging advertising, Yahoo has announced that it is to roll out its ‘Rich ads’ format after a successful trial. The new ads offer a more extensive search ad platform incorporating engaging features such as images, logos and video. According to Yahoo, the brands that tested the concept experienced up to 25% increases in click-through rates.

Interestingly, the Yahoo developments come just days after a report suggested that Google PPC click through rates had dropped by nearly 10% since the company introduced rival bidding on trademarked terms.

Maybe Yahoo has stolen a march on Google and is poised to win back some precious ground. Either way brands should be staying faithful to advertising online. It is a winning strategy.

Read part 1

However, new research from the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising states average click-through-rates have decreased from 28.9% to 20.9% since the change, so companies are paying more to get less back. Who is the winner? Google certainly but in the long term so can you if you appreciate that it isn’t all just about PPC.

We have launched a new advertising slogan designed to convey the message that speed is key to a successful hosting solution. This is partly due to the obvious reasons that speedy servers mean quick loading websites and therefore happy online users. However, it is also important in terms of Google rankings.

Google rewards websites that deliver a strong customer experience, so quick loading and rapid responsiveness win big Google points.

PPC will always have its place in effective, rounded online marketing but remember the speed and reliability of your server is also crucial and maybe investing in a quality server solution from a proven hosting company will mean that you don’t have to be a slave to PPC campaigns.

First of all a YouGov report suggested that online advertising was pretty ineffective, well at least on major sites it was. The 2009 Online Advertising Attitudes report, commissioned by ad network Addvantage Media, said that 57% of consumers rarely pay attention to ads on major sites.

Hummmmmm!

Furthermore, it stated that 56% of ABC1 adults mainly only visited specialist niche sites dedicated to their interests, bypassing major sites. The conclusion being – don’t advertise on major websites, it wont pay.

As someone who works for an online company, this is of serious interest to me. Anyone engaged in advertising wants a good ROI, especially in the current climate, so we don’t want to be getting it wrong!

Maybe switching to advertising on social media is the way to go. This brings me to the other interesting article this week. Apparently Twitter, the booming micro-blogging site, is exploring the possibility of charging firms for advertising on its website. Twitter co-founder Biz Stone has not said what they would do or charge exactly, only that he saw plenty of corporate interest.

But wait! The YouGov report says that 26% of users never pay attention to the advertising on social media sites and 36% claim not to pay any significant attention to it.

Damn! What can be the answer?

In all seriousness, I’m always suspicious of surveys regarding advertising. I believe that we all like to think that we are too clever to be influenced by ads and so we play down their effect, which of course leads to under representative survey results.

However, these two stories raise the interesting point about the future development of online advertising. The sector is rapidly catching TV for total spend, so it is big business, involving major sums of cash. And it can be the crucial difference for many businesses.

So, I think this subject needs some further thought, which I will impart in a future post.

Read part 2

Let’s starts with some astonishing facts. Cisco calculated that last year 120 billion spam messages were sent daily worldwide. That was double the previous year. Furthermore, it is generally agreed that at least 80% of all emails sent are spam.

In November 2008 the global volume of spam mail decreased by at least 50% when a naughty ISP called McColo was forced to close down and around 83% of all spam emails in 2007 contained a URL link to a malware spouting website.

Hmmm, abundant nasty stuff.

We have all learnt to be wary of unsolicited emails but the cybercriminals continually reinvent their ruses to try and catch us out. Most recently they have latched onto the popularity of social networking sites to try to entice victims in. “My name’s Candy, I’m 19, blonde and I think you’re hot. Add me as a friend”, you get the picture.

So what should we do to guard against Candy’s hidden delights?

Rule one: common sense. If it is unsolicited get rid. The size of your manhood is perfectly fine anyway.

Rule two: recognise the tell tail signs. If it’s pharmaceuticals, lottery wins, Nigerian bank accounts or hot 19 year olds it’s not for you (face it you’re too old anyway!). Delete.

Rule three: spam filters. Configure your email to siphon off the dodgy looking messages. Get them bagged off in a folder marked ‘nice try’.

Rule Four: get anti-spam software for your PC. Load up on some spam busting kit to stop the nasty beggars even getting to your inbox.

And if you are a business, don’t forget the importance of addressing your spam issue. Time for some more startling stats.

In Australia, losses from wasted personnel time and bandwidth usage due to spam are estimated to have cost business A$2 billion a year in 2007. Again in 2007, the California legislature found that spam cost US organisations more than $13 billion. And, University of Iowa research in 2004 concluded that US business lost almost 6,000 work days per year because of staff dealing with spam.

So spam is dangerous and highly resource consuming. To avoid the costly effects of spam get prepared. Be ready to delete on sight and install up to date anti-spam software. Don’t underestimate it and don’t risk it.

The reality is in fact that Woolies has not been revived from cardiac arrest at all. What has in fact happened is Shop Direct has bought the Woolworth’s brand. So essentially the new online Woolies shop will have nothing to do with the failed business except for using its familiar name.

But this is of course the point. In retail, branding is a crucial factor to success. Importantly, the Woolworths name has a marketable existing connection to people in the UK. We are familiar with it, many of us like it and many of us trust it. By investing in the Woolworths name, Shop Direct is leapfrogging the difficult brand building stage. It is buying established retail status.

Shop Direct CEO Mark Newton-Jones: “Woolworths is a much-loved brand that engenders huge affection among British consumers and is an important part of the country’s retail heritage.”

What is interesting in particular from my point of view is that Shop Direct believes that Woolworths can work as an online brand. The old company had a website, it wasn’t too bad, but it was not a titan of online retailing. So I wait with interest to see if it works.

What this move does reinforce is the realisation by UK businesses, especially retailers, that their future must incorporate an online element. In difficult times Woolies’ prohibitive high street overheads were ultimately its death nail. Web retailers have far smaller overheads to deal with and far bigger potential customer bases. So can Woolworths succeed in its second coming? Well its chances are better than on the high street.

According to the authors of ‘Digital Britain’, the UK Government should introduce legislation forcing internet service providers to gather information on customers engaged in illegal file-sharing. The document also says ISPs should be responsible for handing out warnings to said unlawful file swappers.

Protecting rights-holders and punishing infringers is, of course, absolutely justifiable but why unfairly burden the ISPs with the responsibility to police the crackdown? The whole affair smacks of the Government legislating to force Britain plc to take part in its big brother operations. After all, let us not forget about Brown and co’s plan to capture and store everyone’s emails!

And it is not just about burdening the ISPs with a potentially costly responsibility that isn’t theirs to bear. It also affects general confidence and trust in the Internet. If users feel that their ISP is recording their user habits they are more likely to shy away and that cannot be a progressive course of action for Digital Britain.

Instead of press ganging ISPs to sign up to police state Britain, we should be looking at ways of encouraging legal Web usage. If providers offer a viable and more attractive legal alternative then the issue can remedy itself.

Why not try offering the carrot before bashing the Internet provider with a stick!

While each industry is preoccupied with how the report affects them everyone seems to be united in questioning the relevant expertise of the author Lord Carter. In fact many say the report is riddled with poor conclusions based on misassumptions drawn from fundamental misunderstanding of the digital arena.

For example, a 2 megabit per second connection for all by 2012 is proposed. But that is puny even by today’s standards! And as the UK is already 99% connected, taking a further three years to get to 100% is hardly ambitious.

Then there is the question of who is going to pay for all the upgrades. Listening to each interested party the argument seems to be a universal “someone else”. No one is sure who should or will pay, all they are certain of is that it shouldn’t be them.

Commenting on the report, Peter Mandelson said: “This report sets out a strategy for building a knowledge economy where our most valuable assets are the skills and innovation that underpin our digital industries. This is absolutely vital if Britain is to benefit fully from some of the greatest economic opportunities on offer this century.”

He is absolutely right, the problem is I don’t think he, or Lord Carter, really know what they are talking about. The interim report seems to be a half-baked affair, full of stodgy wording, rhetoric and confusion. I only hope that the final edition will offer real ambition backed by real understanding of the issues.

We wait to see.