Ever wondered what the most popular UK websites are? Well wonder no more.

Below is a list of the 20 most popular websites (according to Hitwise) for the week ending 10/7/2010.

Interesting reading, I am sure you will agree.

Here are some very interesting figures released last week

According to The Daily Telegraph ‘An extra million Britons aged 50 or over have gone online for the first time in the past year, as older people become more confident with the internet.’ So internet users continue to grow.

It’s important to remember that every user if different, but we will start to see trends (in this age range) that will show an increase in search traffic relevant to the over 50’s.

Do you want to tap into this market and is it relevant to your business?

You do, great. So how do you tap into this market?

I would advise the following.

First, what are you looking to achieve. Perhaps you would like to increase your revenue, or are you looking to provide useful information to the over 50’s.

Second, how are you going to go about achieving your goals?
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If you are looking to sell products, it is important that you identify the relevant search terms. Terms that will be used by the over 50’s. Then you need to position yourself at the top of the search engines (Google etc) for the search terms relevant to the products you sell.

Perhaps you are looking to provide quality information to the Masses? One element that can help is Viral Marketing. This can assist in getting your message out there, by encouraging others to spread your words.

These are just a couple of online marketing tips showing how to get the most out of the internet. So, if you are looking to increase sales, or increase brand reputation, the internet can help. But have a structured plan, or speak to someone who can help with your online marketing….

…like Miromedia.

We are frequently having conversations with our clients about the amount of businesses that use the web. And the increase in business to business leads created by the internet. But internet user growth does not stop with business.

Here is an interesting statistic released this week, that may change your view on user behaviour.

‘The British internet audience increased from 36.9 million in May 2009 to 38.8 Million in May  this year.’

Now let’s drill down into these figures a little more, for additional information.

Internet surfers over 50 accounted for 53 per cent of the overall increase.’

Interesting info, I am sure you will agree.

Now that the internet is established as one of the fastest (if not the fastest) ways to get information on a myriad of different subjects. There really is something for everyone.

Seems you’re never too old to see the benefits.

Google has launched it new service which looks to combine TV and the internet. With the use of a special TV set or a normal television plugged into a Google box you can now access content from the web in the comfort of your living room; viewing things like YouTube videos, live streamed content and web pages.

Google TV is a ‘natural extension of the web’ combining two of the most commonly used medium into one mighty content based interface.

Whilst the idea makes a lot of sense there have been a number of similar initiative in the past that have proved unsuccessful so it’s definitely worth holding off on this before opening up your wallet for another technology spend.

Latest results from UK Online Measurement Company (UKOM) show a marked increase in time spent on the internet. According to the report British web users now spend 65% more time on the internet than 3 years ago. So Surfing now accounts for over ‘22 hours per month’ online.

A considerable amount of this time goes to social networking, like Facebook, Twitter and Bebo, or blogs (like this one).

Social Networking sites, and in particular Facebook, are achieving notable successes. In fact, Facebook has now secured an impressive 7.2% of all time spent online in the UK, compared to 6.5% 3 years ago.

• Social networks/blogs – 22.7%
• Email – 7.2%
• Gaming – 6.9%
• Instant Messaging – 4.9%
• Classified/Auctions – 4.7%
• Portals – 4%
• Search 4%
• Software info/products – 3.4%
• News – 2.8%
• Adult – 2.7% 

Source UKOM

Be Search Friendly
What is the point of having a great site if no one ever sees it? None of course!
Before creating your content do you keyword research, what terms your audience or users to your site are likely to search upon, and what keywords they will use. Build the structure of your content around your search engine optimisation with these keywords and keyphrases.
Read the rest of this entry »

The challenge was to increase Outline Skincare’s online presence to increase web traffic, generate sales and increase ROI, while actually driving down overall marketing spend.

Miromedia were recommended to Outline as specialists in search engine optimisation, pay-per-click, email broadcasting, link building, online PR, and social media

The solution was an online marketing strategy which included removing programming issues, managing and adding keyword strategies, content creation and restructure of page layout.

Benefits Since working with Outline when compared to the same previous year period, we have achieved:

• 46% increase in turnover when compared to this time last year
• 60% decrease in marketing spend

And most importantly this was all achieved during a recession!

To download the Outline Case Study please click here.

The vi command in Linux provides the most basic of text editing capabilities from the command line. It is both useful and at the same time extremely clunky without the proper command knowledge. Most of my searching on the web has resulted in many pages assuming that if you know the vi command then you must also know how to use it… I Linux therefore I am, or some such.

However to someone that generally doesn’t need to use the editor that often it can be frustrating trying to make a single character change in a file only accessible via SSH without having to copy the file to a desktop machine, change and copy back. Luckily I have found the following command cheatsheet for the editor:

ctrl-F :Page down
ctrl-B :Page up
$ :Move cursor to end of line
^ :Move cursor to beginning of line
:1 :Move to first line of file
:$ :Move to last line of file
/ :Search for a character string
? :Reverse search for a character string
x :Delete the character at the cursor
dd :Delete the current line
p :Paste data that was cut with x or dd commands
u :Undo

a :Add text after cursor
i :Insert text before cursor
R :Replace text starting at the cursor
o :Insert a new line after the current

esc :Switch from Input mode to Command mode

:w :save without exiting
ZZ :Save and exit
:q! :Exit without saving

So far this small but concise list has proved extremely helpful, all of a sudden the linux vi editor has become a very handy tool to have.

Purchase of MySpace four years ago by Rupert Murdoch heralded a new dawn for social media and social networking. Suddenly these sites were big business. With a 330m price tag many scoffed, but critics were later silenced when a 670m advertising deal with Google for three years was agreed!

Soon however that deal will come to an end and with it more than half of MySpace’s entire revenue. But there are far more important concerns for MySpace and for British born Bebo. Bebo was purchased at a staggering 640m in March of last year by AOL. Those concerns are the decline of these once all dominant sites at the fickle hand of social media users.

The Losers
Surely such big sites can’t just head to obscurity and disappear? Don’t be so sure, British social networking site Friends Reunited enjoyed a 120m purchase from ITV four years ago and was recently valued at one sixth of the figure. The decision to swap from a paid model to a free one came way too late. Users have voted with their feet, the brand is damaged and they won’t be coming back.

Bebo’s traffic dropped 24% this year and now stands at 9 million. As original Beboers come of age they migrate to Facebook suggesting a digital coming of age, Bebo’s biggest problem is that new younger school kids aren’t replacing them below. By Hitwise’s estimates, Bebo’s unique users have fallen 18%, from 8.5 million in April 2008 to 7 million one year later, while Facebook has seen 63% growth to 23.5 million unique users.

Further problems are predicted for MySpace and Bebo, both sites are in comparison very expensive to run and a decline in traffic is hitting their cash flow hard. Add to this MySpace’s deal with Google which is about to end and Bebo’s financial backing in doubt following AOL’s disbanding from Time Warner.

The Winners
Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn are enjoying massive increased popularity however. Twitter for example, has seen a 4,000% increase in new users since the start of this year to 2.5 million unique users a month. Add to these 3rd party apps which add another half of this traffic leading to an even greater impact! Facebook now control 45% of all social media activity on the internet World wide.

Most interestingly it is those social networking sites that have refused to sell to large greedy corporations that have ultimately succeed. Twitter more recently refused a huge deal with Google to advertise on the site.

And while large companies scratch their heads wondering what happened, it seems to me obvious that the reason for the decline is the worst marketing sin of all: assuming your audience are mindless fools, incapable of resisting advertising messages. MySpace is advert saturated, Bebo is advert saturated, and Friend Reunited charged you to watch their adverts. We are savvy, we don’t like adverts, and if the site is advert saturated we leave.

Even facebook fell into the trap, changing its simple and appealing interface for a multi-paged and advert heavy profile. An exodus I’m sure would have taken place had Facebook not been the best of a bad bunch. This could still see the end of Facebook in the next few years?

Ric McHale

There has been a lot written about Google and the power that it wealds. Like it is some sort of all powerful monster squashing everything in its path!

Latest complaints currently revolve around its ‘Street Views’ application. In the U.K. there has been complaints about, among other things, a picture of someone throwing up at the side of the road.

In my opinion some people are missing the point. Google is always adding apps to their free service, in the hope that it will keep our custom, their unchallenged position as number one search engine has allowed them to pioneer new ideas (with the financial backing for experimentation). Google has become an endless source of information.

Who hasn’t Googled to find out some trivial info, or where to go to visit x, y or z. Google is great at thinking outside the box and their primary goal is to stay popular. So you can always expect more from this inventive company.

Julian Wilkins