Is there a correlation between confidence and success?

Is there a correlation between confidence and success? | http://shar.es/mtzeo 

What do you think? Does money affect how we are?

Green marketing and social media Blogs

Two new blog posts at Bloggertone

Green is the new black

Who's scared of the big bad social media

Enjoy!

Will the internet kill the newspaper?

According to a number of news sources from the onset of the year, online marketing and advertising is on the up! Outsell publishing research say that online spending is set to rise to almost 10%. World Wide Worx tells us that the growth of users in South Africa is 5m. Over 50% from Belgium have an internet presence, which although low for the population, demographics show that Belgium is a wealth, educated audience.

What's the reason? Companies are now seeing the value of online advertising

Internet availability, or lack of it, has been a thorn in the side of online marketers for a long time. Less surfers = less traffic = less busines online. Its a simple calculation.
But as the internet age matures, the new formula is:
Rising no. surfers + availability of internet + online options = more traffic + more interest + more spending online.

Its a win-win situation for businesses. The cost of maintaining a website and online marketing is low compared to traditional marketing methods. But the factor which rates the highest is measurement.

All website traffic and online campaigns can be tracked effectivity.
Customer interaction - check!
Customer trending - check!
Customer purchases - check!

See my write up on Google Analytics for more on tracking.
 
Video killed the radio, but will the internet kill the newspaper?

Which social player are you?

The social web is an intricate weave of strategy, gameplans, networking and just plain socialising.
Just for fun, here's the social lineup of the main players, but which one are you?



Meet the social players

The strategy kings
Calculated to the nth degree.
Target driven and particular.
Only accepts friend requests from like-minded individuals and those with 1000,000 friends (See Obsessives)

The 'lump it all up there' s
Get the job done approach
No'one will read it anyway
No time to interact (busy posting)

The Obsessives
1000,000 friends and followers (and counting!)
Tweets in the bath
Logs on whilst on holiday and at the pub to message from phone

The new social businessman/woman
Activily searches for well known brands (potential business)
Activily searches for past bosses (look at me now- I'm 'friends' with Dell, Apple and Cisco)
Sets up accounts for Mam, Dad, Uncle John, Cousin Karen and Midas, the ginger tomcat (And, you got it - links to them all!)

The Cyber-techno whizz
All social sites are linked to one source that automatically feed to the website
Widgets galore including a microphone hook-up (why type, when you can talk)
Laughs at all the new social businessman/women

Post your closest match either here or on Facebook - don't be shy now!

I'm a blend of Strategy king and Cyber-techno whizz

Advanced Google Analytics - what you should be doing

Advanced Analtics - What you should be doing

You've got a website - thats great!
You're tracking it using Google Analytics - even better!!

But are you using all the features in a way that makes the most of having it in the first place?

If so, you will be familiar with the following:

Filters - Permanently filters traffic into smaller, targeted segments for  - Easier analysis.

Advanced segments - Within reports to internally filter and compare metrics over a set period of time - One metric against another ie direct Vs refferal, organic V's PPC, Unique V's returning.

Campaign variables - Use to track emails, banners etc -  Measure individual conversions and compare performace.

SEO - Combine keywords of the company name with direct search traffic as these falsify data - Definition of true referral keyterms.

Goals - Especially useful for booking steps - enter all funnel steps to monitor abandonment rate - Builds a picture of what customers are doing along the booking path/lead up to a goal.

E-commerce - Track sales, cost data and purchase patterns - Compare product performance and conversion rate.

Site search - Insights into internal search terms - What do your visitors want and do you have it? Do keyterms searched match the ones defined?


Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a web-based statistical reporting solution which tracks activity on your website/s. By monitoring your traffic, you can gain insights and marketing trends which determine how well your website and associated digital marketing is working for you.

Google Analytics can be used for the purpose of tracking:

General traffic statistics
Goals and conversions
Referral, direct and search engine traffic
Marketing campaign effectiveness
Geo-graphical locations
Website segments
Adwords campaigns
E-commerce metrics

If you would like to take your results to the next level, get in touch.
Monthly reports which contain valuable and in-depth marketing insights, thus allowing for periodic adjustments to your website and marketing campaigns are available from €150 per month. Training available on-site.

Carlton hotel expansion

Carlton hotels Ireland has now taken over Fels Point Hotel in Tralee, Kerry.
For months now, Fels Point's future has hung in the balance after difficulties with the Zoe Group (former owners). Now all staff are breathing easy again and seem quite happy to be part of the established Carlton Hotel Group.

Carlton Hotels owns a further nine properties across Ireland; Dublin Airport, Galway, Kinsale, Limerick, Wexford, Westport, Donegal, Ballinasloe and Kildare. Each, a four star, and boasting conference facilities, leisure Clubs and elegant surroundings.

Google gets real time tweets

For the first time (and after much speculation) Google is finally publishing real-time tweets.
That means any searches now contain the most recent Twitter responses.

For example: A search on 'Cheryl Cole' brings up this little scroller menu. If you hold tight for a few seconds, you will note it changes. Impressive!

 So what does this mean for marketers? If you tweet the latest topics, you get published for a few seconds ??

Google has also included search filters to allow you to limit results to those within the last hour, day or week. Filters can also display just video content, news, blogs, updates and much more.
My recommendation - make the most of multi-media and publish as much as you can online.