Internet Information

Internet Information Information about the growth and impact of the Internet that is of interest to web site owners and developers. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Class Information • The clinic is a free series of sessions that has been in continuous operation for ten years. • Topics consist of various issues of interest and importance to site owners, webmasters, and professionals practicing search engine optimization techniques. • The goal is to help people learn to use the Internet more effectively to market their businesses. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Class Information • Schedules & notes are posted to the internet. • To find them, search in Google for “internet marketing clinic” Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Class Information • 1st page in the listings points to the information page. Click on this page to go to the page containing class scheduling information. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Class Information • Information will be shown here about whether there is a class scheduled for the day, and what the topic will be. • Changes & cancellations will be posted here as soon as known. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Class Information • Notes from the classes will be posted to the site. • There are no handouts! This is where the information is available. Click on this link to find notes from the classes! Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Class Requirements • There are none. This is a free class! • The UH SBDC hosts the classes for us and needs to get evaluations from the participants. • You should have received a form when you came in through the doors off the elevators. • Please be sure to complete the form and turn it in at the end of the class. • This is important to get a head count for the class and keep the services free to all! Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

How much of the web is indexed? Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers Research Study by Dogpile.com In Collaboration with Researchers from the University of Pittsburgh and the Pennsylvania State University, April 2005

Do search engines get the same pages in searches? Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers SearchDay #1107 - Search Engine Results Continuing to Diverge, SearchEngineWatch

Who gets the unique results?(Pages not appearing on other SE) Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers SearchDay #1107 - Search Engine Results Continuing to Diverge, SearchEngineWatch

Googling the Bottom Line • First month a site appeared on the second or third page of Google results, traffic increased five times from the previous month • In the second month, traffic was nine times greater • The number of unique visitors tripled when a company moved up from page two to page one • In the second month doubled again to more than six times the traffic it received before it broke the top 10 • Correlating impact on sales: 42 percent more the first month, and nearly double the second month Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers “Googling the Bottom Line”, By Adam L. Penenberg http://www.wired.com/news/culture/0,1284,66485,00.html

Searcher Attitudes - 8 Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers iProspect Search Engine User Attitude Survey, April-May 2004, http://www.iprospect.com/premiumPDFs/iProspectSurveyComplete.pdf

Impact of Rank - 1 Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers How Search Engine Rank Impacts Traffic, Nico Brooks, Atlas One Point,, http://www.atlasdmt.com/media/pdfs/insights/RankReport.pdf

Map of the Internet • Map emphasizes the inter-connected nature of the Internet. • Illustrates the value of being linked to the right sites! • Try to imagine where your site appears in this map! Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers Mapping the Internet and Intranets, given 29 January 2003. , http://research.lumeta.com/ches/talks/index.html

Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

The future “Home Computer” • Scientists from the RAND Corporation have created this model to illustrate how a "home computer" could look in the year 2004. However, the needed technology will not be economically feasible for the average home. Also, the scientists readily admit that the computer will require not yet invented technology to actually work, but 50 years from now, scientific progress is expected to solve these problems. With teletype interface and the Fortran language, the computer will be easy to use. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

MSN Search Characteristics • Like Google, MSN's spider finds new sites by following links directed to those sites. • MSN revisits sites very frequently as well. • Over the past year, MSN has compiled a 5-Billion site database. • MSN looks at the number of links directed to that site. • It is assumed by most that anchor text plays a major role in the ranking algorithm. • Sites with great text and clear internal link-paths are ranking very well with MSN. • Strong, keyword enriched titles and body text continue to provide strong placements. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers "MSN(beta) Is Now Live",Internet Search Engine Database, January 20, 2005,By: Jim Hedger, http://www.isedb.com/news/article/1094

MSN Search Characteristics (cont.) • Size matters with MSN • larger sites with long-term content appear to be doing very well under more generic keyword searches. • A website that has a large number of incoming links will get noticed and spidered a number of times. • Google is taking a very refined approach to contextual-quality • Yahoo and MSN seem more interested in the number of links. • Titles make a big difference at all three . • MSN also seems to be able to read text found in drop-down menus such as the ones on the right hand side of the Field Turf index page. • MSN states on its "How MSN Search Works" page that pages that are active will be spidered more frequently and achieve stronger rankings. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers "MSN(beta) Is Now Live",Internet Search Engine Database, January 20, 2005,By: Jim Hedger, http://www.isedb.com/news/article/1094

Search Engine Shoppers • Market share of all U.S. visits to Shopping and Classifieds sites reached their highest weekly levels during the week ending Dec. 11, 2004, 9.73%. • Google: 4.26% • Yahoo! Search: 2.24% • MSN Search: 0.54% • Search engines are stronger in sending their users to varying retail segments: • Google: Books, Sports and Fitness, and Music. • Yahoo! Search: Video and Games, Automotive and Classifieds. • MSN Search: Apparel & Accessories, House & Garden and Appliances & Electronics. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers Search Engines Drive Traffic to Shopping Sites, By Ina Steiner, AuctionBytes.com, December 15, 2004, http://www.auctionbytes.com/cab/abn/y04/m12/i15/s03

Suddenly, Retail Clicks • Online sales in the United States last year increased 51 percent, to $114 billion • Internet retailers … break-even in 2002 to an average operating profit of 21 percent in 2003 • Some 79 percent … in the black, up from 70 percent in 2002 and 56 percent in 2001 • Web-based retailing is still not quite 10 years old • Several reasons for rising profits • marketing costs -- $8 per order in 2002 to $4 last year • falling cost of .. merchandise, attributed to .. ability to negotiate better deals with wholesalers as Internet retailers start selling in volume Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers Wasshington Post, “.COM” By Leslie WalkerThursday, June 3, 2004; Page E01 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10057-2004Jun2.html

Internet Retail Sales Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers http://news.zdnet.com/html/bb/z/w/20041027verisign.html

Share Of Searches: May 2004 comScore Media Metrix Search Engine Ratings, By Danny Sullivan, Editor, July 23, 2004 http://searchenginewatch.com/reports/article.php/2156431 Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Yahoo Sees Huge Demand For Searches • Internet searches will grow from $3 billion to $11 billion over the next five years. • Already, 20 to 25 percent of online queries have some local component. • “We are seeing users start to look for local information.” • some competitive advantages over Google, … 141 million registered users … visit Yahoo's Web site each month. • A significant part of the growth in search is coming from existing Internet users, who are doing more and more searches each day. Washington Post , Friday, May 14, 2004; Page E01 , http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25522-2004May13.html?referrer=email Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Most Important US Search Sites(based on audience reach*) • Google , 39 percent of active Internet surfers (or 59.3 million unique viewers) • Yahoo and MSN approx. 30 percent each. • Yahoo: 45.7 million unique users • MSN: 44.6 million. Source: Search Engine Facts 9 March 2004 * Audience reach: percentage of US home and work Internet users estimated to have searched on each site at least once during the month through a web browser or some other "online" means. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Home Internet Access in U.S. Hits 75 Percent • Nearly three of four people in the United States have Internet access at home • An estimated 204.3 million people, 74.9 percent of the population above the age of two and living in households equipped with a fixed-line phone, had Internet access. (up from 66 percent in February 2003.) • U.S. women were slightly more likely to be Web surfers than their male counterparts • Internet penetration for women aged 35 to 54 was 81.7 percent, compared with 80.2 percent for men in the same age group. • For the 25 to 34 age group, Internet usage was 77 percent for women and 75.6 percent for men. • Women make the majority of purchases and household decisions. Source: Reuters Internet Report, Thu Mar 18,12:51 PM ET, http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=582&e=1&u=/nm/20040318/wr_nm/tech_internet_dc Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers

Online market continues to expand dramatically • Online retail sales last year rose to $55 billion, 1.6% of total retail sales (U.S.Dept of Commerce) • Excludes online travel services: • Expedia.com & hotels.com alone sold $10 billion. • Excludes financial services, ticket sales agencies, online dating & other miscellaneous sectors. • Pornography is reported to be $2 billion. • Gambling is estimated at $6 billion. • Also excludes “grey market” sectors, such as online pharmacies from Canada. • Does not consider B2B transactions, also growing. • Influence over offline purchases also growing. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers “A survey of e-commerce”, The Economist, May 15th, 2004

Consumer behavior changes • Sears reports 20% of appliance customers shopped first online. • New car buyers start research online (3 of 4). • Buyers will “arbitrage” purchasing decisions. • For instance, use the internet to research a cmera. • Visit a store for “hands-on” demo. • Return to internet to shop for best price. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers “A survey of e-commerce”, The Economist, May 15th, 2004

“Why websites matter” • A company that neglects its website may be committing commercial suicide. • A website is increasingly becoming the gateway to a company’s brand, products, and services – even if the company does not sell online. • A useless website suggests a useless company, and a rival is only a mouse-click away. • … companies have to ensure that they appear high up in internet search results.” Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers “A survey of e-commerce”, The Economist, May 15th, 2004

Spending patterns • Convenience seems to have overtaken price as the main reason for shopping online. • The merchant “value proposition” can alter the decision to purchase: • Shoppers may just prefer one merchant over another. • Free shipping may be offered on multiple purchases. • Site may have made recommendations based on prior history. Computer Productivity Consulting Richard G. Myers “A survey of e-commerce”, The Economist, May 15th, 2004

Internet Information