Internet Ad Revenues Hit $17B, Set Record

Internet advertising revenues jumped to a record high of $17 billion, in the first half of 2012 — a year-over-year 14 percent increase, an IAB Internet Advertising Revenue Report by the Interactive Advertising Bureau and Pwc US has found.

The report reveals mobile created considerable growth, surging 95 percent to $1.2 billion in the first half of 2012, up from $636 million in the first two quarters of 2011.

Digital video rose 18 percent year-over-year, bringing in a bit more than $1 billion in revenue in the first  part of 2012 compared to nearly $900 million in the first six months of half 2011.
Totalling  $8.1 billion, search revenues jumped 19 percent from nearly $6.8 billion during the parallel timeframe in 2011.
Display-related advertising profits in the early half of the year added up to almost $5.6 billion — 33 percent of 2012 half-year revenues, up four percent from $5.3 billion in the first half of 2011.
Retail advertising is the largest segment of Internet ad spending with 20 percent of the total profits sitting at $3.4 billion.

“This report establishes that marketers increasingly embrace mobile and digital video (and) interactive platforms … on the heels of a study from Harvard Business School … that points to the ad-supported internet ecosystem as a critical driver of the U.S. economy,” says IAB president and CEO Randall Rothenberg.
Post from: SiteProNews

About YouTube Marketing

Promoting a business can be extremely taxing, especially when you’re just getting started. If you’re into checking out marketing blogs, you’ve probably come across some information about YouTube marketing. This form of advertising falls under the umbrella of video advertising, which falls under the even larger umbrella of Internet marketing. Take a look at some specifics of this business strategy to deepen your understanding about its importance and utilize it to help popularize your products or services.

Why Online Video Advertising?

Video marketing is one of the leading advertising platforms on the Internet. People of all ages and from different backgrounds are taking advantage of this promotional opportunity in an effort to maximize the visibility of their business. It falls under the concept of showing rather than telling and continues to draw an abundance of viewers if done correctly. There are several types of video marketing. The primary kinds include article video marketing, viral video marketing and social video marketing. Individuals can utilize one or multiple forms according to their specific needs and intentions. If you’re not certain about how to implement videos, it’s a good idea to consult with a professional or consider audio production schools in your area that’ll provide thorough instruction:

Article Video Marketing

This type of video marketing typically interests those who prefer the less time-consuming practice of watching informational videos rather than reading articles. Video marketing involves businesses or individuals developing numerous short clips that display the contents of articles written beforehand. Most videos are between two and five minutes and cover a wide range of topics. After the videos are created, they’re uploaded onto popular video-sharing websites to target an audience.

Articles can be converted into videos in a number of ways. One of the most popular ways is to turn the written pieces into a PowerPoint presentation or animated slideshow. Pictures and a voiceover narration are usually added to the presentation before it’s recorded via screen capture software and put on the Internet for viewing pleasure. An alternative involves recording an article and saving it as an MP3 file. Afterwards, video layout software is used to change the audio to a video. The finished product is then exported and uploaded to relevant websites for exposure.

Viral Video Marketing

Another form of online video advertising is viral video marketing which contains humorous events, eyewitness incidents or clips from comedy sketches on television. Many clips are shot by amateurs on mobile devices and edited with the use of economical tools and software before being published on video sharing sites, social networking sites and personal websites.

Most viral videos are created as a dialogue and shared with the intention of entertaining family and friends, although many people use it as a way to engage prospective customers. This option has benefited word-of-mouth marketing and was preceded by email-sharing. These videos continue to increase in popularity in a variety of sectors, including education and music. However, fans of this concept must be careful not to violate copyright laws, as this has been a major downside to viral video-making and has been the result of several problems within the entertainment industry.

Social Video Marketing

This choice is equally significant. Social video marketing (SVM) is similar to viral video marketing in that it engages a wide audience through the distribution of video. However, the notion of self-expression tends to be more evident. This form of video marketing relies heavily on social theory, consumer culture theory, and economic theory.

SVM also intends to leave a deeper contextual message, rather than simply being a pass-along model between sender and recipient. In other words, a more individualistic approach is taken and the finished product tends to have more depth as it forms solid relationships and builds trust between publishers and viewers.

Introducing YouTube

Despite the kind of video marketing used, many advertisers can attest to the benefits of sharing their clips on YouTube. This video-sharing site attracts millions of visitors on a regular basis and contains a large host of products, including music videos, TV clips, movie clips, video blogs, and original clips. Although mostly individuals upload videos on the site, several major corporations have been known to make contributions as well.

Content is constantly investigated by YouTube’s employees. Explicit or offensive material can only be viewed by registered users. This group also has the privilege of uploading videos, as well as watching them. Unregistered users, on the other hand, solely have the right to view distributed clips.

Besides uploading, YouTube also contains other valuable features. Playback is a major attribute on the site and enables users to view finished products if an Adobe Flash Player plug-in is installed on their computer. Browsers that support specific HTML5 versions, such as advanced video coding and WebM, also afford individuals the opportunity to view videos, although some clips are still inaccessible with this alternative. Additional features include 3D videos, various platforms and a new localization system.

How it All Began

At the beginning of 2005, YouTube was established by three former PayPal employees. The entire concept of the video-sharing website was developed over the course of a few months and started out as a technology start-up company. Its headquarters were initially located in San Mateo, California.

After its inception, the site grew faster than anticipated. By the summer of 2006, it was reported that thousands of videos were being uploaded every day and millions of viewers were watching clips per day. Numbers continued to increase and moved into the billions by 2010. Since then, YouTube has embarked on several new concepts, such as the ability to upload full-length videos and the free streaming of specific content. A new design was also launched to provide additional benefits to users.

Today, YouTube is headquartered in San Bruno, California. After being acquired by Google, the Google+ social networking site was integrated with YouTube which allow the site’s videos to be viewed from Google’s interface. YouTube is a dominant force in the online business market in the United States and it also ranks relatively high in other regions, including the United Kingdom. As of 2012, more than 4 billion videos are streamed per day.

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Article by James Chapman. Learn more about YouTube marketing.http://AppliedOnlineMarketing.com

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Internet Trends That Will Affect Your Business This Year

We are already seeing new trends and developments in social media this year with the significant growth in popularity of interest-based sites like Twitter and Pinterest. Consumer purchasing is moving towards, and becoming increasingly influenced by, websites and social sites that share people’s passions and interests as well as customer reviews of products and services.

These are the new frontiers for customer-engagement which are already affecting your business and which your PR and marketing strategy needs to prepare for and embrace.

1. More User Reviews and Ratings on Websites:

Reviews are becoming extremely influential in consumer purchasing decisions. Groups like TripAdvisor on which no hotelier wants to get on the wrong side, already have the capacity to make or break a business. The adage, ‘you’re only as good as your last job’ reflects how companies and service providers are increasingly being seen by the public. A bad review has significant commercial implications for the organization involved. The trend now is to gather as many ‘good reviews’, ratings and product endorsements as possible and post them where they can be seen on your website.

2. Information / Social Media Relevance:

With access to over 98,000 tweets, 695,000 Facebook status updates, 79,364 Facebook wall posts and 600 new YouTube videos uploaded every minute of the day (not to mention the average 147 daily emails we receive in a working day), consumers are clearly suffering from ‘white noise’ and information overload. What they want now is to be given the information they are interested in immediately or they’ll look elsewhere. The ability to match your business/product information with the right people is becoming
the major driver of success.

3. Social Reputation Management:

It’s staggering how many UK organizations don’t have a tried and tested crisis communications plan ready to deal with social media relations when disaster strikes. However, the recent example of the Costa Concordia cruise disaster has woken many up to doing something about it this year. The ship’s sinking and the incompetence of the captain has been widely broadcast, embarrassing and costing the Costa and Carnival brands dearly in terms of public confidence and also, the reputation of the cruise ship industry as a whole, forcing it to re-evaluate itself.

4. Social Media:

Social Media is having an increasing influence on search results. It’s already happening with search engines like Google crawling social media sites such as Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook. This includes user generated reviews and ratings from social media consumer conversations.

5. Social Customer Relations Management (SCRM):

Truly customer-centric companies are recognizing that social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, Google+, and social interest sites like Pinterest, are cost-effective and quick ways to ensure their customers always keep them ‘in sight’ and ‘in mind’. Social customer relations have become an integral part of their customer relationship management activities. This year, however, we’re going to see more social media ‘newbies’ catching-on and reaping the rewards.

6. Social and Website Competitions:

These have become a great way to make your company stand out from the crowd and drive people to your website and product offerings. The US and Canada do this very well and UK/European organizations are starting to pay attention and enjoy the benefits as well.

7. Do-It-Yourself TV:

Smartphones, tablets, YouTube and Skype which allow people to visually communicate and share information and experiences are starting to take-off in a big way and will need to become an integrated part of the ‘customer experience’.

8. Real-Time, Geo-Marketing Promotions:

More retailers and high street service providers will be starting to use geo-marketing techniques to connect to consumers shopping or visiting their neighborhood and offering deals and incentives directly to their mobile phones.

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Article by Arthur Camp-Sorensen. E=MC2 PR Ltd email:info@emc2publicrelations.com | 01747 871752

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Why People Get Their Identities Stolen

The recent spate of news on major compromises of user data has gotten a lot of attention, but in fact most victims of identity theft get compromised in less spectacular ways.

I spoke with Justin Feffer about identity theft in the real world. Feffer is an instructor at FBI-LEEDA, a national non-profit which works to educate and advance law enforcement. He's a cyber crimes investigator in southern California. Feffer says the main things for users to look out for are:

1. Malware, particularly keyloggers, installed on the computer. Obviously these can steal your identity by capturing the keys you press and the screens you see. You can prevent them by running as standard user, running up to date antivirus software, keeping your operating system and applications up to date and exercising caution.
2. Misconfigured peer-to-peer apps are also a common mistake of users. If a user configures P2P applications like Limewire to share too large a portion of the file system, such as all of My Documents, then other users on the network can see anything you put there, such as your Quicken file. If you have kids, make sure they don't install and misconfigure such apps.
3. Phishing is not quite the threat it used to be, but it's still widely used. Nowadays the real phishing threat comes from targeted phishing attacks called spear phishing, in which the attacker uses some prior knowledge of you to tailor the phishing e-mail to what you would expect in a real one. In the recent massive Shady RAT attack described by McAfee, the initial attack vector into victimized organizations was a spear phish. Be aware of the site you are actually viewing and be especially suspicious of links that come in unsolicited e-mails.
4. Nigerian-type scams are also probably never going to go away because they rely on human weaknesses. When you receive an unsolicited offer that sounds too good to be true, it is.
5. Criminals often install skimmers on ATMs and other card reading devices, including credit card readers. These are devices which install over the reader appear to be part of the machine. When you insert your card the skimmer reads it and records the information on it. They are often used in combination with surreptitious cameras to record the keys you press for the PIN. Feffer says that in southern California skimmers are especially popular on gas pump, but they are also being used on the smaller point of sale readers found in stores.

How to speed up Internet connection

1. Click Start - Run - type "gpedit.msc" (without quotation marks ") This will bring up the " Windows Policy ".
   
2. Then go to: Local Computer Policy -  Computer Configuration - Administrative Templates - Network -  QOS Packet Schedule.
   
3. On view right select "Limit Reservable Bandwidth", there is written "Not Configured" -  doubel click (there is a new look, "Limit reservable bandwidth Properties").
   If you want to know the opening statement in the "Explain". It says a statement by default windows uses 20% of your bandwidth.
   
4. Back to "Settings" and select "Enabled" and change 20% to 0%. Click Ok.
   
5. Then install Mozilla Firefox on your laptop or pc computer.
   
6. Then install the add-ons in the browser mozilla faster fox.
   

After that restart your pc and laptop and feel the improved performance of your Internet connection speed.

How to increase internet speed using Firetune

There are many ways to increase our internet speed. Maybe you've already tried the tweaks on this site. This one is when you are using firefox. Here is the tips, but before you start it, you have to prepare these ones

FireFox
This obviously needs no introduction, but if you're using some other browser, then I really recommend you to switch to FireFox immediately.

FireTune 
Here we present you, a mind-blowing tweak for FireFox, which gives your Internet a new high, thus providing optimum browsing experience.

Got them. What now? Lets get going:
I'm assuming that you're already installed and using FireFox.

1. Install it. After installation, Click on "Create backup configuration" first.
   
   
   Please click the above image to enlarge* (Popup blocker must be disabled)
   
   
2. Next, choose the settings according to your needs and computer configuration. Be sure to check out the other two tabs viz. "Other Optimizations" & "Other useful settings" too.
   
   
3. Click Tune It! (FireFox should be closed first).
   

I recommend using FireTune once every one week. Reason being, from my personal experience – My Internet Browsing Speed increases after using FireTune once. But it changes substantially, and reverts back to the old speed after some days.

Just make sure you have a backup of your previous configuration (Prevention is better than cure!).