Monthly Archives: March 2007
what good is flash?
okay, I know this aint no new topic. Still it intrigues me. As a big SEO evangelist, I have always preached the pro-html message rather than the flash message.
All the aspects of page themes with relevant search engine friendly copy and how the search engines love sites with relevant content that can be spidered, etc, etc is the stuff that keeps SEO firms alive.
” If you do so badly want to use flash, please don’t do it on your home page”, I’ve been telling people.
Yet, ad agencies and other design companies just love flash to show off what they can do.
A case in point is the Lowe Bull web site. I must say that I love the site and think it so totally different that it most certainly stands out. If I know about Lowe Bull and want to see what they have to offer, I will of course go directly to the site and therefore search wont be that important.
If I search for “ad agencies in south africa” on google.co.za, they are not in the top 50 results. In fact the only top agency there is Jupiter Drawing Room in no. 49.
These agencies however have big clients and lots of business. The point being that search is not the alpha and omega of online marketing or any marketing for that matter.
These guys may do very well on Web PR, email marketing, blogs, etc. I just can’t say. In fact they may even believe that their marketing is the word-of-mouth type and referrals and face to face engagements with potential clients.
So, ensuring that you have a well rounded and integrated marketing plan aimed at your target market is what it is all about.
For some though, the major focus may be search and for others it may be flyers at the robots! Just make sure you have a strategy and a plan and that it encompasses all the tools at your disposal that are relevant to your market.
Or so I think…
Best of the Blogs
Best of the blogs
So, what makes one blog better than another? The fact that it gets read by more people, has more and regular postings, many trackbacks and links or just good solid or entertaining content?
The SA Blog awards will be held on Friday in Jhb.
Time: 6:30 for 7pm
Dress: Smart casual
Address: Riverbend Junction, Riverbend Rd. Off Witkoppen Rd. North Riding
Programme: Formal awards between 7 – 9pm
Bring: Cash for bar and food [light snack platters will be provided, but something more substantial is for your own account]
So, will we then know why who was voted for what?
In the mean time, Amatomu, SA’s answer to Technorati, that lists blogs, has a Top 100 blog list.
The top 10 are:
| 1 | Keo.co.za
An independent take on South African Rugby and Cricket.
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| 2 | So Close
A popular blog written by an ex-infertile, wine drinking mother of twins living in Cape Town.
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| 3 | Tectonic
Geek news you can use
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| 4 | ChumpStyle
ChumpStyle is your online source for all that is awesome on the web today, anything from videos, pictures, nights out, crazy stories, to current affairs.
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| 5 | Oppikoppi
Deep in South African Music
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| 6 | Your Group of Web AddiCT(s);
This business of Web Application Development, Design & Innovation in Cape Town. Our passion, Your blog. Something old, some new, something borrowed, something YOU!
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| 7 | PEAS ON TOAST
Hook ups, break ups, fuck ups, cover ups. I cause my own chaos. Not everyone is going to like my bitchin’. But it sure makes me feel better at the time.
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| 8 | The Muso
SA.INDIE.MUSIC
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| 9 | Splattermail
Award-winning pop culture blog. A sarcastic window on celebrity gossip, current affairs, music, movies and anything (or anyone) else that takes our fancy, all with a South African flavour.
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| 10 | The Trash Media Blog
Politically incorrect pro-liberal-pro-conservative wannabe satire.
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Nowhere does it state how this was compiled or what the criteria is for this listing. I can only assume that it is by popularity.
You can have your blog ranked by registering and then adding some code to your blog. Does this mean that only those that are registered can feature in the top 100?
Time to find out.
No, this blog has not (yet) made the Top 100!
Pay per action
Pay-per-click has been made popular by Google. Although it is still a major focus of their services and while MSN and Yahoo! are busy perfecting their pay per click models, Google has started testing pay per action.
The ads are placed on publisher’s sites and the advertiser pays every time an action has taken place as a result of the ad.
It may be a page view, a registration for a service, a completed lead form or a sale.
Google will set-up the mechanics and manage the process, for a fee of course.
This is just what every advertiser would like to see: paying on results only. Those just after branding will still use PPC and traditional banner ads.
Others have been offering this service for a while: Advertising.com, ValueClick and Snap.com.
What the success will be for Google, how much money they will make with it and how they will control click (or action) fraud, remains to be seen. At this stage it is just in test phase.
If this takes off, it will most certainly put more pressure on the TV ad and billboard guys.
For more details read the BusinessWeek’s version of the story.
Video Advertising
As online marketing and advertising is increasingly getting a bigger slice of total adspend, so the advertisers are looking at new and more innovative mediums to get their message accross. This makes video advertising the ideal tool to do what banners and emails can’t.
According to NYTimes.com Video advertising, while less than 5 percent of online spending, is the fastest-growing advertising category online, generating $410 million last year, an increase of 82 percent from 2005, according to eMarketer, an online advertising research firm.
Advertisers like Internet commercials linked to online video because it allows them to communicate their brand messages with sight, sound and motion. And Web sites like video ads because they are paid more for each viewer than they typically would be with simple text or banner ads.
A quick look at the web sites of some of SA’s online agencies to see who offers or mentions online video advertising revealed the following:
Acceleration: mentions only rich media
Stonewall+: no mention at all
Apurimac Media: only mention is of rich media, no further explanation
Quirk: mentions online promotion and advertising, nothing on video
34: no mention at all
I am sure that at least some (if not all ) of these agencies and some others do offer video advertising. I just find it surprising that they don’t explicitly mention it or have any references or case studies about it.
Surely we are not that behind when it comes to this application…?
Launch of first Study of the SA Online Travel and Tourism Industry
20 MARCH 2007,Johannesburg, The Online Travel and Tourism Industry (OTTI) study; “Gearing up for 2010: What the SA Online Travel and Tourism Industry needs to do”, currently underway is commissioned and co-sponsored by South African Tourism (SAT), First National Bank (FNB), Tourism Enterprise Programme (TEP) and Quirk eMarketing. It is also endorsed by SATSA. The OTTI Report, which will be defining for this Industry, aims to detail the effective use of the online channel for communication and service delivery in the Travel and Tourism Industry in South Africa.
The travel and tourism industry has been an early adopter of the Internet. Numerous small tourism businesses derive a large portion of their income from Internet bookings. Large tour operators and brokers have been using the Internet as a marketing tool and information channel between themselves and their agents around the world. The research aims to determine the technical quality of websites, their ability to facilitate doing business with 4 kinds of important customers both local and international. Lastly the study will look at companies’ email responsiveness.
The research is being conducted by BlueRiverStone in association with Japie Swanepoel and Ingrid Rubin of Longtail, both experienced experts in the industry. The same methodology as developed for the Best Corporate Website Awards by BlueRiverStone is being adapted and applied to the South African travel and tourism industry.
The Sponsors intend that research findings will be utilised to support and increase the quality of online services in the industry, leading up to the 2010 World Cup, to match if not exceed global standards.
This research will be conducted on one hundred (100) South African Tourism businesses segmented into the following categories:
- Airlines
- Car rental companies
- Accommodation
- Game Experience
- Tour operators
The report based on the research will be released at Indaba in May 2007 at the South African Tourism Online Marketing Educational Seminar.
The report will set the benchmarks in company practice, uncovering trends, conventions and plain good ideas. Ultimately it seeks to be a resource and reference point for the Internet in South Africa, increasing awareness of the value of the Internet for Travel and Tourism companies, not only for themselves, but also as ambassadors of South Africa in the global travel and tourism industry.
Contacts:
Japie Swanepoel Japie@24.com 082 44 33 033
Ingrid Rubin rubin@mwebbiz.co.za
Ian Kruger (BlueRiverStone) ian@blueriverstone.com
Let’s learn from Rwanda
I have previously read that Rwanda is the most advanced country in Africa when it come to telecoms. I must say, I read it with quite some disbelief.
I have now come accross another acrticle on BusinessinAfrica online discussing the same topic.
Here is an excerpt from Andrew Mack and Jeremy Goldberg’s article called: Rwanda’s knowledge revolution
Today over 1200 primary schools (not to mention secondary and university classrooms) have computers available. It’s currently estimated that some 10 percent of all Rwanda’s secondary schools already have wireless internet access, and plans are underway to expand this substantially. According to Musabayezu Narcisse, Secretary General in the country’s Ministry of Education, “As of today (December 2006) [the Government has] given out 4 000 computers to secondary schools around the country.” This combined with a proliferation of private access points — Kigali is home to literally dozens of internet cafes — has put Rwanda on a steep path to integrating IT into everyday life and development. Quite a change from 2002.
At the same time, the country also set high goals for spending and investment in infrastructure to match the focus on training. In March of 2006 Rwanda committed to spend some $1bn to build and promote telecentres, specifically aimed at bringing rural areas online and promoting broader-based use of technology for business. This spending was part of an overall concentration in science. In January of this year Kagame reminded his fellow heads of state at an African Union summit that the country had set its science and technology spending at 1,6 percent of GDP, bringing it in line with typical OECD nations (as opposed to other African nations, which average less than 0.5%). He compared the IT future of Rwanda to that of Australia, as opposed to Kenya.
I find this truly fascinating and even embarrassing as a South Africa to know that with all our resources we are not even accomplishing what this small war ravaged country is managing to do.
I am keen to go and see what it is all about.
Anyone wanna go to Rwanda?
3G costs dropping again
Great was my joy when I read of the drop in 3G costs of Vodacom. I can only hope that the other players will follow suit ( or have the already done so?)
Three months ago I signed up for the 500Meg account at R 350 per month. As from 1 April, the 1 Gig account will be R 349. That’s double the bandwidth for R1 less than what I paid 3 months ago.
This excludes the modem.
iBurst charges R389 for their 1524MB package based on a 24 month agreement, MWEB charges R 145 for 1 gig access without line rental. Telkom R516 for their DSL 1024, excluding line rental.
Good to know that the rates are still dropping. Now just to get out of those 24 month contracts…
Blogging because you can
Blogging just because you like it, want to share your views or opinions or because you may want to create awareness about a certain topic or business are all good reasons to blog.
How about doing it just because you can?
This was my thinking when I read about an Egyptian blogger being jailed for his views.
Karim Suleiman, a 22 year old was jailed for 4 years this month because the government didn’t like his views as expressed on his blog.
Wow, that’s rough! We always tend to complain about what is said in the press, how the government often distorts matters and how it is so difficult to level the playing field when it comes to mass media. At least we can post whatever we wish on a blog, a free tool and all it takes is our time and effort and being connected to the www.
My point: if you have an issue, be it the government gravy train, aids treatment, taxes, the Z factor, etc, don’t just mumble about it, blog it! That way you get to say what is on your heart and if it is of interest to other they will read and comment in return.
Who knows when we won’t be able to blog anymore?
Surely that can NEVER happen here. Wait, there’s a knock on my door…..
Brian May’s feedback
I scanned the article about Brian May’s blog in the Sunday Times and emailed on to him at his assistant Jen’s request when I sent an email to his blog.
Today I received the following from him about the article:
Bri
