Internet advertising wanes in 08

“The economy has had a significant impact on the short-term growth of the Internet advertising market,” David Silverman, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers, which contributed to the report, said in a conference call.

Internet advertising in the United States grew to $23.4 billion in 2008, an increase of 10.6 percent from 2007, according to the Internet Advertising Revenue Report from the Interactive Advertising Bureau, a trade group representing online advertisers, as well as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

That was the only category of advertising spending that grew in 2008 other than cable television, which rose 7.8 percent, according to Nielsen figures supplied for the report.

Australia has yet to have an eCommerce boom. For most of the last decade, the infrastructure and installed base just wasn't there. Internet advertising in Australia has largely been limited to imitating conventional marketing.

The former administration was Internet-phobic, releasing constant articles to the press that were intended to scare Australians away from using the Internet and implementing policies that retarded the growth of Internet use for both individuals and small business.
Large business, institutes of higher education, and government were encouraged onto the Net, producing a digital divide that inhibited the development of small business in a more subversive way.

In the last two years as more businesses come to understand the power of the Internet can be applied to their business goals, the influence of the Howard administration has waned.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explor
e. It will be a fascinating and informative journey.

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HP gets into vanity publishing

With a new Web service called MagCloud, Hewlett-Packard hopes to make it easier and cheaper to crank out a magazine than running photocopies at the local copy shop.

Charging 20 cents a page, paid only when a customer orders a copy, H.P. dreams of turning MagCloud into vanity publishing’s equivalent of YouTube. The company, a leading maker of computers and printers, envisions people using their PCs to develop quick magazines commemorating their daughter’s volleyball season or chronicling the intricacies of the Arizona cactus business.

“There are so many of the nichey, maybe weird-at-first communities, that can use this,” said Andrew Bolwell, head of the MagCloud effort at Hewlett-Packard. ..

Yes, sometimes it pays to read foreign newspapers like the NY Times, even in Australia.

For companies looking to establish credibility in niche markets, offering a subscription or free copy of the company magazine is an incredible sales tool. Potential customers will admire the quality, and keep the magazine for its uniqueness and appearance.
Vanity publishing has been an effective, but little-known element in search engine marketing since the advent of lulu.com in Jan 2000.

Many other sites offer variations. Lulu still offers the widest range of services, although the services have become increasingly expensive. A fact that limits some of the feasibility for small businesses somewhat.
Having customers roaming the world with your company name and logo on a tshirt is still very effective. Just look at how many department stores and tech shops require their employees to wear a tshirt -usually with some witty saying- when working and on breaks.

HP's MagCloud will be less expensive than publishing through any of the vanity publishers now in service.

SEO/SEM in Australia is a special issue for so many reasons. Join me was we explore. It will be a fascinating and informative journey. Sphere: Related Content