Numbers tell the story - sorta

From the Global Thoughtz Australia blog, we learn:

Australian Internet Users Profile

(by Alban Guillemot)

Best practice online marketing requires a good knowledge of your target audience so that you can develop a tailored online strategy. If you are planning an online marketing campaign in Australia, the following information will help you to find out who is the typical Australian internet user.

According to the latest census from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, 58% of the Australian population has access to internet. 20% of the Australian population still rely on dial up connection, while 37% has broadband access.

• More Girls

Based on Hitwise Data for the last 12 weeks, it appears that the typical Australian internet user is more likely to be a girl, as 52.02% are female, whereas 47.98% are male.

• Over 35

Looking at the demographics, a large proportion of the Australian internet population is over 35 years old (66.3%), with a high proportion of users over 55 (26.28%). The 18-24 years old slice represents only 13.77%.

• From the East Coast

More than 81% of the Australian Internet population lives on the East Coast (NSW, VIC, ACT, TAS, QLD) with around 34% for New South Wales. South Australia and Northern Territory only account for 8%, while Western Australia represents 11%.

What's significant there?
First, it's surprising to see the large proportion of over 35s (66%) on the Net - and most of them using broadband.
Over a quarter of those over 55 use the Internet. That's a greater proportion than the UK (18%) and the US (17%).
Why are these numbers interesting? Most marketing online and offline is targeted at the 15-34 age group. Based on these numbers, they represent just under 1/3 of those with Internet access.
The reason the marketing is targeted at this group is an Australian marketing adage that this age group spends nearly half the money for consumer goods.
Banks and retail outlets offer easy credit for these new consumers. It comes as a surprise to many aussies how much harder it is to get a credit card after they turn 36.

emarketer shows some interesting statistics about Australians using broadband. (look down the page a little..) 13.6 million Australians, or 66%, have access to the Net. 4.3 million or 53.9% of all households, have broadband access.
The broadband numbers are a little misleading. You'd have to live here to know it, but over half of those don't have adequate service and/or are not using broadband as the OECD defines it - at least 256mbits.

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

Best (or worst?) example

Sometimes you wonder why a company builds a website.
A home conveyancing company (which I will not name) provides one of the best examples of the need for SEO. Or is it worst?

The site is done entirely in Flash. No keywords. No description of the content. Not even an ALT tag on the Flash. Only the TITLE reflects the company name. There are no HEADER tags.
It's attractive and easy to navigate in Flash, and presents the company well. But no search engine will see any of that. Because the content cannot be seen by the search engines, the TITLE has no relevancy (as recorded in Whois...)
There are no links to the site. It has not been registered with any search engines or directories. In fact, even if you search on the company name on Google, it will not appear.
The content has not changed since the site was set up over three years ago.

The site is essentially invisible. The popular estimate is that about half the webpages on the Net have not been indexed. This site is one of this silent majority.

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