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Since 1997, Vancouver Internet marketing company Think Profits has helped many companies land on page one of Google. Using cutting edge technology and technical skills, the Think Profits team has revolutionized Google optimization, website design and development.
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Barack Obama’s Internet Strategy Old Hat for Vancouver Company
Obama’s stunning electoral success required leveraging the Internet through methods long-utilized by Vancouver-based Internet firm ThinkProfits.com.
NEWS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
NOVEMBER 20, 2007
Vancouver, B,C., Canada – U.S. President-elect Barack Obama’s electoral success was underpinned by his teams and supporters savvy management and utilization of the Internet. Adopting strategies and campaigns commonly found in the business world, Obama’s handlers and campaign team generated groundswell support prior to the Democratic primary and right up to his landslide victory.
“The Obama example helps put an exclamation point on the power and effectiveness of online marketing, branding and sales,” said ThinkProfits.com President and CEO Shawn Moore. “It is encouraging to know that most of what Obama’s team did in 2007 and 2008, we have been doing for years for our clients.”
Obama’s team skillfully crafted and carefully executed an online campaign that not only introduce their candidate to the masses, but also mobilized support – financially first and then with votes on Nov. 4.
“Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president,” said Arianna Huffington, Editor-in-Chief of the Huffington Post. “Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not have been the nominee.”
The Obama campaign deployed a broad range of online initiatives to build financial and popular support, including:
- Careful reputation and news monitoring to ensure brand integrity and protect goodwill.
- Creation of the Obama online store to sell campaign paraphernalia, memorabilia and mementos.
- Capturing emails and “marketing” back to potential supports.
- Search engine optimization of all content to ensure Obama was on top of Google page one and top-of-mind throughout the campaign.
- A compelling Facebook profile to tap into social networks.
- Viral videos that built a buzz around the Obama brand.
- Twitter feeds that issued brief reports to media and supporters on what Obama was doing and thinking.
- Obama widgets that made news and PR easy to syndicate and then distribute.
- You Tube video posts.
“I followed the campaign closely and was very impressed by the Internet strategy employed by Obama’s team,” said Moore. “It wasn't just viral videos and YouTube postings. They carefully segmented Obama’s supporters and then appealed to each differently. For example, the younger, Gen-Y demographic received mobile-friendly text messaging while older, less-mobile voters received news, updates and appeals in short, to-the-point emails.”
Obama’s campaign managers realized and “seized on” the importance of capturing potential supporter information and then communicating with these millions of individuals in a strategic, effective manner.
“Calls to action - such as attending rallies, fundraising and then sending a reminder to vote - were all brilliantly executed,” says Moore. “Days before election day, the Obama campaign was sending daily emails and texts calling for volunteers and encouraging supporters to carpool to the polling stations. Without the Internet, these real-time appeals could not happen in an efficient, cost effective manner.”
Most of the online strategies adopted by Obama are already being deployed by business to protect their reputation, drive sales, enhance marketing campaigns and increase market penetration. For example, email appeals and campaigns are already used to drive sales and promotional announcements while the Facebook and Blog elements reflect an ongoing corporate strategy to plug into social networks.
“Much of what Barack Obama deployed online is fairly common in the business world,” said Moore. “Using the Internet and the myriad tools available to connect with current and future customers and establishing credentials is an ongoing, increasingly refined process.”
About Think Profits.com:
Since 1997, Think Profits.com has been building successful website designs and Internet marketing strategies by providing one-stop Internet services to business. With more than 1,100 client companies in Canada, the United States and Australia, manufacturers, distributors and retailers around the world have built their business with Think Profits.com. Services include: Custom Web Design and Website Development ; Search Engine Optimization (SEO); Internet Marketing; E-Commerce & Custom Shopping Cart Solutions; Secure & Affordable Business Web Hosting; Domain Name Registration; Print and design services; Press release services. Think Profits Inc. offers a full range of Internet marketing services for small businesses right through to multi-national corporations.
For more information, contact:
Shawn Moore
President and CEO
Think Profits.com Inc.
www.thinkprofits.com
390 - 1090 Homer Street,
Vancouver, BC Canada V6B 2W9
Tel: 604.638.1188
Toll Free: 1.877.597.7888
Email: smoore@thinkprofits.com
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Think PR offers expert writing services and comprehensive and targeted distribution networks.
Every business has a story to tell & why arent you telling yours?
Think PR works closely with clients to define, articulate and communicate that client’s products, identity and expertise in an effectively and timely fashion.
Think PR’s targeted press release writing and distribution services are powerful marketing and advertising tools. Exposure, recognition and recommendation through television, newspaper or magazine editorial features or product profiles are crucial and can fast track business growth and accelerate profitability.
To reap that exposure and attention, Think PR writes press releases that are professional, concise and targeted. As well, Think Profits.com’s SEO proficiency extends into Think PR, adding the additional value of search engine optimization that will benefit client’s search engine ratings.
- Press release writing (clients provide minimal information/guidelines, we do the rest)
- Press release rewrite (we carefully rewrite your press release for clarity, newsworthiness, style, content, and for the angle that journalists and media outlets require)
- Press release proofreading and editing (we review your press release and edit for spelling, grammar, clarity, and newsworthiness.)
- Press release writing premium service (SEO services and strategy consultation to tie all marketing efforts together).
For current Think Profits.com clients, Think PR makes perfect sense. With an intimate knowledge of client products, services and markets, producing powerful PR is the logical next-step.
This saves time and money. Business owners want to deal with many items in the shortest time possible. Why spend additional time and pay a public relations firm additional fees to replicate what has already been done at Think Profits.com?
Think PR can handle all PR requirements and hit thousands of crucial contacts, in a timely, cost-effective fashion.
Contact Think PR and learn how to save time, money and resources on all your PR needs.
Think Profits.com Team Attends SEO Conference in San Jose
August 27th, 2007 - Key members of the Think Profits.com team have recently attended one of the premier Search Engine Optimization conferences in
Marissa Mayer, Vice President, Search Products & user Experience of GOOGLE and Shawn Moore, President of Think Profits.com Inc (pictured right) posed together for a media opp., shortly after Marissa delivered her keynote presentation on the future direction of the Google Search Engine and "Universal Search".
"Marissa leads the product management efforts on Google's search products - web search, images, groups, news, Froogle, the Google Toolbar, Google Desktop, Google Labs, and more. She joined Google in 1999 as Google's first femal engineer and led the user interface and webserver teams at that time. Her efforts have included designing and developing Google's search interface, internationalizing the site to more than 100 languages, defining Google News, Gmail, and Orkut, and launching more than 100 features and products on Google.com. Serveral patents have been filed on her work in artificial intelligence and interface design." Taken from Speaker Biographies, Copyright Incisive Media plc and Individual Authors.
Columbia Academy Chooses Think Profits.com Inc To Develop New Website
We proudly announce and welcome new client Columbia Academy of Vancouver British Columbia, Canada. Columbia Academy has trained thousands of successful multi-media pros since 1967; Radio & TV personalities, Audio Engineers & Producers, Film & Video Directors, Cinematographers, and Editors that come from around the world to train here in Vancouver, BC. Think Profits.com will be providing Columbia Academy with a new creative and interactive web design that is search engine friendly to achieve top search engine rankings. We look forward to creating an online success with Columbia Academy in 2007, with their new website launching March 26th, 2007.Another Moore joins Thinkprofits.com
Larry Moore, Former publisher and sales manager of Vancouver Islands premier business newspaper, Business Examiner, and recent Territory Manager of Business Edge, has moved to Thinkprofits.com.Larry, brother of President and CEO, Shawn Moore, was born in Vancouver, educated at Langara College and Simon Fraser University and has a comprehensive background in sales and marketing, business development, publishing, and entrepreneurship. Larry started his sales career in the consumer electronics industry working for firms such as A&B Sound, Sony of Canada, JVC Canada Inc., and later opened his own retail electronics companies in the Lower Mainland and Victoria.
Larry subsequently moved into the advertising industry contracting his services to Dominion Directory and Western Phone Directories where he was involved with Yellow Pages print and online media sales and online sales training.
Larry has recently culminated a 7-year publishing/sales management stint with the Black Press Business Examiner and moved back home to Vancouver where he has been working as Territory Manager for Canadas widest-distributed business newspaper, Business Edge.
I am very excited about the direction of Thinkprofits.com and am very proud to be given the opportunity to become part of its extremely dynamic and professional team, explains Larry. Thinkprofits.com is an obvious leader in online web technology and after ten years of experience has developed a very enviable product line with an unprecedented track record. As Director of Business Development I look forward to working closely with a very dedicated team to assist Thinkprofits.com in its continued path of remarkable growth.
ThinkProfits.com adds a key player from IBM
Tom Labodi, whose twenty-five year sales and marketing career with corporate giants such as Kodak, PriceWaterhouse Coopers and most recently IBM, has joined ThinkProfits.com as Director of Sales.
Labodi started his career as a Systems Analyst in 1982 with Sperry Univac. He was quickly elevated to positions such as Sales Manager, Director of Business Development and VP of Sales for an impressive roster of IT firms that in addition to Kodak, PiceWaterhouse Coopers and IBM, also included the likes of Unisys, FileNet, OmniLogic and Yaletown Technology Group.
Labodi says his approach is simple, its all about helping customers drive increased sales by following tried and proven professional sales methodologies. I have an enthusiasm and passion for helping customers understand the practical use of technology. When implemented, this understanding has proven powerful and instrumental to many companies seeking to increase sales and realize true bottom line results. My ability to gather and assemble sales teams which help deliver the best possible client solutions has been the key to my success, explains Labodi. Many organizations have achieved significant returns on their investments by working with us.
Labodi's comprehensive background in sales and marketing is further enhanced with his education in Computer Science and Business Analysis. He describes his objective, I am able to help clients understand the most efficient and effective ways to leverage technology to support their business objectives.
Think Profits.com, incorporated in 1997, is a Vancouver-based internet marketing firm that specializes in sophisticated web development and precise search engine optimization for large corporations. They have developed proven systems that enable companies to harness the power of the internet to create an online competitive advantage. President and CEO, Shawn Moore welcomes inquiries from such large companies that are rethinking their internet strategies. He encourages them to contact Tom about their internet business objectives.
ThinkProfits.com appoints leading marketing executive
Kari Kylo, former Marketing Director for Brian Jessel BMW has been appointed Marketing Director for ThinkProfits.comWith over twelve years of marketing experience, on both the client and agency sides, Kylo brings with her a diverse portfolio of skills and expertise in advertising, public relations, media buying, sponsorship acquisition and event management. Her passion is in strategic planning and development, and ultimately in making a significant and positive difference in her marketplace.
After completing a Bachelor of Arts degree at UBC, Kylo attended the Marketing Management Program at BCIT. Her agency experience includes the PACE GROUP and DDB, where she worked with such clients as Molson Indy Vancouver, Canada Place Corp., McDonalds, Save-On-Foods and the Rutledge Racing Team.
In 2000, Kylo decided to take on the automotive industry, accepting a position as the director of marketing for Brian Jessel BMW, the number one BMW dealership in Canada. During her six-year tenure, she helped grow the company by over forty-five per cent. Her responsibilities included budgeting, strategic planning, and the implementation of all integrated marketing campaigns. Kylos dedicated efforts in launching and managing a high-end BMW/lifestyle Magazine earned her accolades from the automotive and marketing industries alike.
In addition, Kylo has worked and volunteered with various not-for-profit organizations including the Empty Stocking Fund, Make-a-Wish Foundation Canada, and the Covenant House Vancouver. Think Profits.com, incorporated in 1997, is a Vancouver-based internet marketing firm that specializes in sophisticated web development and precise search engine optimization for large corporations. They have developed proven systems that enable companies to harness the power of the internet to create an online competitive advantage. President and CEO, Shawn Moore welcomes enquiries from such large companies that are rethinking their internet strategies. He is proud to have Kari Kylo on board and encourages all media firms to contact Kari Kylo regarding any marketing opportunities.
November 9, 2005: Stargate SG1 "Stars" Choose Local Internet Marketing & Web Development Team to Produce Women of Sci Fi Calendar Website
Vancouver, BC: Stargate SG1 Actors Christopher Judge, Michael Shanks and their company "Slacktwaddle Inc." have inked a deal with Vancouver-based Internet Marketing and Web Development Company Think Profits.com Inc. to build and market a new sci-fi calendar and web site called: www.womenofsci-fi.com.
[Read complete press release & download media picture, click here]
Aug 20, 2005: Fuijya Japanese Foods celebrates the official launch of their new website design created by Think Profits.com
Vancouver, BC: Fujiya Japanese Foods officially launched it's new ecommerce website design over the weekend with a community celebration at their Venables/Clark, Vancouver store location.
May 16, 2005: Canuck Place Children's Hospice Receives Generous Donation From Think Profits.com Inc.
Vancouver, BC: Canuck Place Children's Hospice's Executive Director, Filomena Nalewajek is delighted to announce the generous donation of Internet Marketing and Search Engine Optimization services from Think Profits.com worth $122,750.00. Canuck Place provides palliative care to children in BC with progressive, life-limiting illnesses
[Read complete press release & download media pictures, click here]
May 12, 2005: Web Design & Development Company Think Profits.com Welcomes New Client: Borderless World Productions -- Vancouver-based Commercial TV/Video Production Company
Quote from client: "I think the greatest benefit of our meeting for Borderless World Productions was your ability to focus our attention on how the web best serves us as a marketing tool. It really has it's own characteristics as a tool for generating leads and for putting the fruit of our service on the vine to be picked easily by our visitors. Your guidance was terrific in getting me to see the internet in a new way. You clearly understand the way people use the internet site and know what to put there for their ease of use. I should have come to you two years ago when we first developed our internet presence."
Greg Stirling, President
Borderless World Productions
http://borderlessworld.ca/
November 2004: Think profits.com launches the "Hot New" Sprott Shaw Community College web site at www.sprott-shaw.com
At over 100 years old, Sprott Shaw Community College Dominates the BC Market and is growing quickly to become one of Canada's Top Educational Institutes with now over 22 campuses across Canada.
Dec 2004: Think Profits.com wins Web design, Internet Marketing & Ecommerce contract for Reliable Parts
Reliable Parts has offices in Canada and the United States and is Canada's largest parts distributor for household appliances for most major brands. Project is set for launch 1st quarter 2005.
Dec 2004: Think Profits.com wins Internet Marketing & Web Design contract for the third straight year for "7 Seas Seafood"
The contract covers complete web design / internet marketing, hosting and ecommerce installations. 7 Seas Seafood is Canada's Largest Seafood distributor with many retail locations throughout the BC Marketplace.
May 1999 - Press Release
Search engines are not built to be the same; that is, the reason that your page is ranked high in one search engine, does not guarantee high position on the others. I would like to reveal the secrets of the major search engines.
Link popularity
Search engines like Excite, Infoseek and Lycos will check how many links there are to your site from others. Links boost the placement of the ranking. Infoseek has a more complex link popularity system which places emphasis on linking site status and relevancy.
Domain Name
The use of keywords in domain names is favored by Altavista, Hotbot, Infoseek, Lycos and Webcrawlers. Keywords in subdomain (secondary) names help too. Do not lump keywords together; separate words by dashes.
Meta Tags
Meta tags are always mentioned when it comes to search engine optimization. To a certain extent, it has been misunderstood that meta tags help in boosting rank postings. AltaVista, Excite, Lycos, Netfind, NorthernLights and WebCrawler have low regard for meta tags and words or text in meta tags. Hence, they will not boost you in these search engines.
Invisible and Tiny Text
Excite is the most "spamable" search engine. It will index invisible and tiny text. Webcrawler and Netfind allow invisible text and Infoseek and NothernLights will index tiny words. Invisible text (to web browsers) can be achieved by specifying foreground and background in the same color. Tiny sized text is placing text on a page in a small font size. A page with predominantly heavy tiny text will be treated as spam by Altavista, HotBot, Lycos, MSN and Webcrawler and they will refuse to index heavily tiny texted web pages.
Index Comments and ALT
Some web page designers insert keywords or phrases in various parts of the web, wanting to give a boost to the keywords. Not all search engines recognise comment as keywords; only HotBot does. ALT text for images is another trick commonly used. However, only AltaVista, InfoSeek and Lycos index ALT text.
Stemming
Infoseek, Lycos and NorthernLights will also search for variations of a word based on its stem. For example, searching for the word "optimization" will result in pages containing "optimize" or "optimizes".
Case Sensitive
AltaVista is the search engine that is case sensitive. If you search for the phrase "search engine optimization" you would get a completely different result than from "search engines optimization".
Consistency
Consistency of keywords throughout the page is viewed as important by Altavista, Hotbot and Webcrawler. Hence, keywords have to be spread over the web page, particularly at the bottom.
That is all for today, folks. If I discover more, I will share with you again.
Learning system accessible online, anytime
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE March 31, 1999
SURREY The long-awaited interactive training system that allows individuals to lead their own application software learning w online, anytime, seven days a week w is now available.Think Profits.com Inc. of Surrey (web site marketing, e-commerce and site-design specialists) is launching a Microsoft-approved, online multimedia training system, and now offers hundreds of application software courses throughout British Columbia.
President Shawn Moore says that his sales team is already very pleased by the enthusiastic response by customers to date. "This computer learning system truly puts you in the driver's seat as you choose what to learn, when and where. It's for the novice, the intermediate, or for network professionals seeking a quality training alternative. These computer courses are available whenever you choose, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and it's clear that the price is far less than what you might pay at a store or through in-class instruction.
"Whether it's Word, Quicken Deluxe 98, Microsoft Office, Internet Explorer, or dozens of others, you can work at your own pace through a training session, or you can access specific answers to very specific questions during your daily computer work or play," states Moore.In addition to the financial value of the low subscription prices and the quick-answer features, this training system service also offers the effectiveness of multimedia narration, animation, examples and exercises; optional pre and post-session assessments; and recognition through a certificate of completion available upon completion of each course.Call (604) 638-1188, or by order directly from www.thinkprofits.com.
Contact:
Shawn Moore, President,
Think Profits.com Inc.
(604) 638-1188
NUA'S HOW MANY ONLINE? - 158.5 Million
NUA is currently looking for demographic information on the Latin American region and the Caribbean in particular. Please send any information you may have to surveys@nua.ie
The latest figure for How Many Online? From Nua is 158.5 million. The breakdown is as follows:
- Africa: 1.14 million.
- Asia/Pacific: 26.97 million
- Europe: 36.55 million.
- Middle East: 0.88 million.
- Canada & USA: 88.33 million.
- South America: 4.63 million.
For more detailed information, see: Nua's How Many Online? http://www.nua.ie/surveys/how_many_online/index.html
NUA's How Many Online? - 153.25 Million
The latest figure for How Many Online? From Nua is 153.25 million. The breakdown is as follows:
- Africa: 1.14 million
- Asia/Pacific: 26.55 million
- Europe: 33.39 million
- Middle East: 0.78 million
- Canada & USA: 87 million
- South America: 4.5 million
ZDNet: Brand is the key to Ecommerce
According to AOL, members of their portal spent a total of USD1 billion online between Thanksgiving and Christmas this year. More importantly, 1.2 million of those were fist time shoppers.
Analysts deduce that this reinforces the idea that users would rather shop from a portal brand they trust than navigate the Web in search of retail sites.
Portals such as AOL, Yahoo and Netcenter all provide links to widely known and popular online stores thus first time users are reassured of the legitimacy of the online shopping store.
Most of the large portals have established partnership deals with usually well-known retail brands. Users trust the portal brand therefore they trust the brand of the retail partner on the portal site.
Portals such as AOL are therefore perfect launching pads for first time users wishing to buy their first product online. One of Yahoo!'s retail partners, Bluefly Inc., reported that in the first half of December 12 percent of their sales came via the Yahoo! portal site. Analysts conclude that brand is the key to growth in Ecommerce.
Article: E-shoppers go bonkers for brand names
ECOMMERCE - Zona Research: Over 50's - Biggest Christmas Online Spenders
New research from Zona Research shows that 1998 was indeed a mammoth year for online shopping. Unprecedented numbers of consumers clambered online with credit card details and spent an average of USD629 each. This represents an increase of 191 percent from last year when a retrospectively paltry USD216 was spent per user.
Those aged between 50 and 54 spent an average of USD626 more than any other age group. This figure is up from USD97 last year and represents an increase of 545 percent in one year. Meanwhile those aged under 25, an age group stereotyped Internet savvy, only spent an average of USD210, a 36 percent increase on last year's USD154.
While men continued to spend more online than women, the amount of women who bought online this year rose dramatically from last year. Men spent an average of USD707, up 145 percent on last year while women spent an average of USD543, an increase of 308 percent on last years figures.
Using a group of 1,000 respondents, Zona found that 61 percent of those who had shopped online expect to spend more money online in the coming year. 26 percent of the average sample family's holiday shopping had been done online. 4 percent of families conducted over 90 percent of their shopping online.
Dell Computers: Number of Online Shoppers to Triple
43 percent of US computer users plan to shop online this holiday season, according to a study by Dell Computers and Louis Harris & Associates. This compares to just 10 percent of computer users in 1997. The findings are based on a survey of 1,943 adult computer users in the US.
The most popular gift items amongst holiday shoppers this year will be books, 46 percent, music, 46 percent, clothes, 37 percent, computer hardware, 32 percent and software, 15 percent. Online shoppers will buy for themselves in different quantities. Top of the list is computer hardware, 51 percent, 41 percent, music, 31 percent, computer hardware, 30 percent, and airline tickets, 20 percent.
Respondents were asked to give their reasons for shopping online. 94 percent of those surveyed cited the fact that there were no opening and closing hours on the Internet. 93 percent said that they liked being able to shop from the comfort of their own homes. 58 percent they could find whatever they needed online and 47 percent believe that shopping online saves money.
IntelliQuest: Ecommerce Predicted to Triple in 1999
81 percent of Internet users plan to shop online in the next twelve months, according to research by IntelliQuest. However, while ecommerce industry will triple in size during 1999, a small number of brands will continue to generate the majority of revenue.
IntelliQuest's E-branding report estimates that to date, 63 percent of US users have made an online purchase. 22 percent made a purchase in the 90 days before the survey was conducted. The study estimates that 73 million Americans had Internet access in the third quarter of 1998.
Consumers were most likely to purchase computer hardware directly from the manufacturer. In retail, brands selling brands was the most successful combination, for example a well-known online bookstore selling branded authors and titles. Amazon.com was the best known brand in the books category, CDNow in music, Microsoft in software, Dell in hardware, Gap in clothing, AOL, Yahoo and Travelocity jointly in Travel, and Yahoo in autos.
The findings are based on a survey of 10,000 Internet users in the US, conducted in September and October 1998. The survey measured online consumers' brand awareness of over 400 products.
Ecommerce Predicted to Top 1 Trillion by 2002
The global ecommerce industry will generate in excess of USD I trillion by 2002, according to the CEO of Cisco Systems, John Chambers. Speaking at the Gartner Group Symposium in Florida, Chambers said that the current eccomerce projections of USD 200 to 300 billion are far too conservative.
Analysts were underestimating the importance of the business-to-consumer trade over the next five years, he said, arguing that there was excessive focus on the business-to-business market.
Speaking about the impact of the Internet on Cisco Systems, Chambers said that Cisco had been able to cut its expenses by USD 500 million by moving its business onto the Internet. The company's annual expenditure is in the region of USD 2.5 billion. Further, the Web accounted for 64 percent of Cisco's overall revenue of USD 8.5 billion last year.
About Town! Think Profits.com on the move!
Shawn Moore, the President of Think Profits.com will be conducting a free informational seminar on Nov. 7th for the Home and Small Business Expo at the Cloverdale Agriplex.
Date: November 7th, Saturday
Times: 10:30 am and 2:30 pm
Location: Cloverdale Agriplex
Topic: An Overview of "Marketing Your Company On The Internet"
There are more than 3000 businesses expected to show for the day's events. Seating is limited for both his presentations. Anyone who is looking to get more information on how the Internet can benefit your company should definitely attend this seminar! Contact your local Chamber for more information.
Newsflash hot off the Internet Wired: Canada Announces Cryptography Policy
The Canadian government announced its new policy on cryptography this week, as part of its strategy to make Canada a world leader in e-commerce by 2000. The policy aims to develop e-commerce opportunities; to establish Canada as a leading exporter of cryptography technology; and to provide appropriate legislation to protect public safety.
Most importantly, the new legislation means that not only can Canadian companies freely export cryptography software around the world but also there is no requirement to furnish the government with a key to encryption codes on software to sold in the domestic market.
The US is unlikely to welcome these developments. It enforces strict regulations prohibiting US companies from selling cryptography products on the international market, in case they are used by terrorist organizations. US legislation also enforces a policy of mandatory key recovery. This means the government must be given the key to every encryption code, enabling it to descramble all encrypted documents.
Nielsen Media Research: Online Purchasing Doubles
Almost a quarter of consumers who connected to the Internet in the first six months of 1998 made an online purchase, according to a study by Nielsen Media Research. The study calculated that of the 78 million people that connected to the Net between January and June 1998, 20 million made an online purchase.
Books were the most popular item, followed by computer hardware and computer software. 5.6 million people purchased a book online, representing an increase of 3.3 million. 4.4 million people purchased computer hardware, up 2.4 million, and 4 million online consumers purchased software, up 1.2 million from September 1997. There was also a significant increase in the number of people making travel purchases, up 1.6 million to 2.8 million, and clothing purchases were up 1.8 million to 2.7 million people.
However, Nielsen found that the number of women purchasing online remained unchanged. The study found that 71 percent of Web purchasers are men, representing the same consumer distribution as in 1997.
Consumers under the age of 35, in keeping with offline purchasing trends, accounted for 64 percent of those who purchased CDs, cassettes, videos Monline, and 65 percent of those who bought clothing online. In comparison, consumers over the age of 35 accounted for 63 percent of those purchasing computer hardware, 59 percent of those purchasing software and 58 percent of those purchasing books online.
The findings are based on a telephone survey of 5,000 randomly selected online consumers, 16 years and older in the US and Canada, conducted in June 1998. Nielsen drew comparisons with a similar study conducted in September 1997.
EDITORIAL - September 1998
The following information is from NUA and a recommended good read by the president of ThinkProfits.com:
Welcome to another weekly edition of Nua Internet Surveys. This newsletter provides information on surveys and reports on the Internet, and is brought to you by Nua - one of Europe's leading Internet consultancies and developers.
What do James Joyce's "Ulysses" and Stephen Hawking's "A Brief History of Time" have in common? Well, both are best-selling books. Both are popularly regarded as great classics in their respective fields of art and science. And both are talked about as being "difficult" books.
This is probably the reason why there's a sort of running joke - that most people who own either of these books never quite manage to get beyond a few opening pages. The joke might very well be true, but I wouldn't bet on it - because I COULDN'T bet on it. It cannot be proved - it's an observation based on anecdotes and circumstantial evidence and a few personal experiences rather than hard facts. The sales department can tell you how many copies have been sold, but after that you have no statistics on what your buyers/readers did next. There is no way of obtaining even rough figures about how many people actually opened the book and went through each page.
Similarly, a newspaper editor knows what makes a good front cover at the news-stand, and within a short time the exact sales figures of a particular day's edition will come in. But more specific statistics are much harder to come by. For example, how many copies were sold but remained unread (just like "Ulysses")? Or how many people flicked through yesterday's TV listings page? There is no way of knowing the average number of times your readers returned to that TV section of your newspaper throughout a night's viewing.
Newspapers and magazines do conduct detailed readership surveys, which give a general picture of their "strong" and "weak" sections - even down to such details as pinpointing the most and least popular columnists. And other media such as TV and radio stations rely on increasingly sophisticated sampling techniques to calculate the overall figures of how many people tuned in to a particular channel or a specific programme.
The common problem of all these "pre-digital" media is that their statistical analysis is never really instant. It's usually over-general, periodic, spasmodic even, partial and expensive.
But for truly digital publishers the terrain is totally different. Websites have plenty of raw data about their visitors, which costs almost nothing to collect. Their "user logs" contain an instant, ongoing, fairly exact and specific snapshot of their traffic patterns.
Though the logs are a potential treasurehouse of information, historically they have mostly been used by system administrators for a quick overview of bandwidth problems. The logs would show peak traffic times, which pages are most popular or rarely visited, how the data is flowing back and forth between your Web server and your users.
The more easy-to-get-at statistics could be turned into elaborate-looking graphs and bar-charts for the site's non-technical people. The set of bottom-line figures they were initially most interested in would have been the sum total of visitors to the site or to a particular page, and maybe the "click-through" levels on specific banner adverts.
Many webmasters ignore their logs completely. Or they take only occasional, cursory glances at them. Others are beginning to move away from the crude macro-level of analysis. They're gravitating towards the less easy-to-get-at figures and the micro-level. And marketing and advertising departments are waking up to the possibilities of using the logs to draw a far more elaborate picture of who their customers are, how they are using the site, and what content they want and expect.
When the logs are combined with user-registration procedures (ones, though, that aren't too complex and daunting) and with a sensible use of cookies, and then put through a growing number of powerful database analysis tools, all that raw data can be transformed into highly meaningful information.
It's almost as though - if you will excuse the pun - by some miracle of the Digital Age the wooden logs have been turned into a living, breathing forest of valuable data.
Soon user logs will no longer be regarded as just dull, dry, "dead" statistics tucked away in the dark recesses of your webserver. They will be at the very heart of the effort to turn websites from mass marketing models into mass customisation ones. You can bet on that.
Is mise le meas,
Mick Cunningham
surveys@nua.ie
