SWeCS NEWSLETTER - February 2007
Welcome to this month's South West eCommerce newsletter.
In this issue...
- Google Increases Worldwide Search Dominance
- This Fortnight's Question
- .EU Domains Now Available
- Valentines Day Flowers
- Resources For Small Business
GOOGLE INCREASES WORLDWIDE SEARCH DOMINANCE
Net Applications have released figures showing worldwide search engine usage as at 1 January 2007, comparing it to 1 January 2006, and found that Google have increased their share slightly, confirming again that they are the world's largest search engine by far.
The survey found that Google.com increased it's market share from 48% in January 2006 to 52% in January 2007, and other Google sites also increased, such as Google UK from 7.5% to 8.5%. Overall, Google's total market share rose from 67% to 76%.
This confirms that Google is such an important search engine for you to monitor, if you have a website. Because they command three quarters of the search market (which is more than 1 billion searches per day), your position in the Google results can have a significant impact on your website's traffic.
But Google's 75% share of the market also raises an obvious point. 25% of searches are not done through Google. Next in line is the Yahoo network (10.5%), followed by MSN (5%). While the remainder is made up of a large number of smaller search engines, it is worthwhile checking how you rank in other search engines besides Google too, because of the huge amount of searches being done out there.
THIS FORTNIGHT'S QUESTION
This fortnight's question comes Becky:
"What is affiliate marketing?"
Affiliate marketing is when merchants offer a commision for sale of their products, and website owners (called Publishers, or Affiliates) place the merchant's link on their website, and they earn a commission for any sales that come from them. Affiliate programs are managed by sophisticated tracking systems, which can tell who the referral came from, and credit them with the money.
For example, we run an affiliate program. If you were to add our logo/link to your site (after approval), and someone clicks on it and visits our site, and then purchases something, you would earn a commission. The system even tracks people for up to 30 days, so if the visitor leaves our site but then returns 2 weeks later and purchases something, you still get the commission.
Affiliate marketing is usually a win/win situation for everyone, as the merchant sells more, and Affiliates are able to earn extra money by referring customers.
Got a question? Send it to us at admin@southwestecommerce.com and we'll do our best to answer it, as well as publish one every
fortnight for everyone to see.
.EU DOMAINS NOW AVAILABLE
South West eCommerce now sells .EU domains, the new top level domains for European businesses.
This adds to our large range of domain types available, which includes:
.com
.net
.org
.biz
.info
.com.au
.net.au
.org.au
.asn.au
.id.au
.co.uk
.org.uk
.me.uk
.uk.com
.us.com
.us
.ca
.tv
.cc
.eu
.de
.cn
.com.cn
.net.nz
.co.nz
You can search for available domain names at any time at http://domains.southwestecommerce.net.au.
VALENTINES DAY FLOWERS
South West eCommerce manages a couple of flower delivery websites, so if you're looking to buy flowers for that special someone this Valentines Day, we can recommend the following two sites:
www.theflowerplace.com.au - for deliveries across Australia through a network of local florists
www.usaflowersonline.com - for deliveries anywhere in the USA or Canada
RESOURCES FOR SMALL BUSINESS
Browse through the SWeCS Ecommerce Library, full of FREE information about getting more out of the Internet. Sections include Web Site Development, Web Site Promotion & Internet Marketing, Online Commerce, Computer & Technical Issues, and Miscellaneous.
The SWeCS Newsletter archives provides a wealth of FREE information on small business and the Internet. Browse through the main topics or search for your particular query.
Start up another income stream, by earning commissions for each referral who signs up for one of our services.
Do you know of a resource that should be added
here? Email us and let us know. There is only one
condition - it must be free.
OTHER EMAIL NEWSLETTERS
Here's some other email newsletters you might
like:
www.dunsboroughbayvillageresort.com/news/newsindex.htm
http://derekstockley.com/newsletters/news-index.html
This newsletter is produced by South West eCommerce
Strategies - © 2007
PO Box 2340, Bunbury, WA 6230
Ph: (08) 9721 1326
Fax: (08) 9721 1352
Email: admin@southwestecommerce.com
Web Site: www.southwestecommerce.com
