Marketing

Bizak.com: Get the Web 2.0 Valuation of Your Start-up

marco 1 Comment

Bizak Web20 Aplication

Check out the new site called bizak – The Web… Quantified.

You go to the website, enter “your biz numbers” and receive and estimate, called The Bizak Estimate. It creates an apples to apples comparison and benchmark that can be used as a starting point for comparative purposes.

The Site is created by Tom O’Keefe, you find further info about him on his site here: tomokeefe.com.

Bizak is a business network which computes the profitability of internet startups and connects entrepreneurs with investors.

Entrepreneurs – compute your business valuation, compare your performance to the industry and connect with investors.

Investors – evaluate the earnings potential of internet startups, compare them to industry benchmarks, and connect with entrepreneurs.

Student Entrepreneurs – are you a student entrepreneur? Bizak can help!

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eMarketer: E-Comerce Sales in Europe

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Came across a chart from eMarketer about the distribution of e-commerce in Europe mentioned in the article: The UK Internet Boom:

E-Commerce Sales Distribution Europe 2006-2011

This is a very interesting find. I would not expect the UK to be this far ahead in Internet sales. Also if you take the size of e.g. UK vs Germany into consideration. To underline their numbers eMarketer says in the article mentioned above:

“A long tradition of catalog and mail-order shopping has contributed to the practice of online buying in the UK,” says Ms. von Abrams.

Is this why so many companies from the US pick the UK as their first “destination” in Europe (besides the language, of course…)? Or is it the other way round, that UK is “exposed” to have more Online shopping choices due to the fact, that there is no language barrier which stops them from ordering on US Internet e-commerce sites?

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Integrated Marketing: Immersive Games – Wired Magazine

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WIRED MAGAZINE has a very interesting and in depth article in ISSUE 16.01, called Secret Websites, Coded Messages: The New World of Immersive Games. Below you will find a short excerpt:

On February 10, 2007, the first night of Nine Inch Nails’ European tour, T-shirts went on sale at a 19th-century Lisbon concert hall with what looked to be a printing error: Random letters in the tour schedule on the back seemed slightly boldfaced. Then a 27-year-old Lisbon photographer named Nuno Foros realized that, strung together, the boldface letters spelled “i am trying to believe.” Foros posted a photo of his T-shirt on the Spiral, the Nine Inch Nails fan forum. People started typing “iamtryingtobelieve.com” into their Web browsers. That led them to a site denouncing something called Parepin, a drug apparently introduced into the US water supply. Ostensibly, Parepin was an antidote to bioterror agents, but in reality, the page declared, it was part of a government plot to confuse and sedate citizens. Email sent to the site’s contact link generated a cryptic auto-response: “I’m drinking the water. So should you.” Online, fans worldwide debated what this had to do with Nine Inch Nails. A setup for the next album? Some kind of interactive game? Or what?

A very interesting read and it shows the new ways used by marketeers to deeply involve the target group in the marketing campaign, make them part “of the story”. The TV show LOST is another example of this, combining many different “media channels”, but all using the Internet to integrate all of them.

Do you have other examples? Leave a comment!

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eBay searches for future growth

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eBay’s growth slowed down in the last year(s). One of the major reactions to slowing down growth rates is to shift from a seller-centric approach to a buyer-centric approach. A sea change! For now the main focus is to advance search results (as eBay has a ever changing inventory).

In a recent article from FastCompany titled “eBay’s Chaos Theory” we learn:

“We haven’t even released an eighth of what we’ve done,” says Billingsley. “That’s what excites me. It hasn’t even begun.” Customized pages are in the works. More social-commerce features. An eBay to Go widget with your favorite auction listings to post on your Web site or your MySpace page, complete with a clock to remind you to bid before it’s too late. It all sounds good.

I am very curious how the currently introduced and the upcoming changes will help eBay to get back to a higher growth rate of soled items. Exciting times!

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Tubemogul: Upload to all major video sites and audience statistics

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Do you make online video? Always go through the hassle of uploading/submitting your video to sever sites? Or gave up and only focused on one (the best?) video site?

Oh, and…. how many users watch my videos on all these platforms? How big was my audience for that specific episode again?

Tubemogul Logo Tubemogul to the rescue!

Everybody how makes web video and/or vlogs will find this site extremely helpful. I have not yet checked it out but heard very positive things about it. Let me know if you have used it and want to share your experience. Leave a comment! Thanks!

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Are you ready for mobile ads?

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There is a very long article today in the WallStreetJournal called Coming Soon to Cellphone Screens — More Ads Than Ever.

Several US Mobile phone operators seem to test how they will be deploying ads on your mobile phone. Yahoo! seems to have a deal already that is placing it on the go2 directory where you find e.g. the nearest restaurant on your phone. In the new search results Yahoo! ads will be placed. Carriers using go2 search and having the links are Verizon Wireless, Sprint and Cingular Wireless.

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Utilizing a corporate blog for company communication

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More and more companies are using corporate blogs as part of their (marketing) communication.
But a blog should be a way to open up to your customers. Another example is the new corporate blog of Dell like Micropersuation writes:

Dell Starts Corporate Blog, But Fails to Address Critical Issues
More importantly, Dell really failed to get the blog going the way that they could have. This was a golden opportunity for the company. They could use the blog to engage the community in a genuine conversation on the critical issues that have dogged them for years now as well as the good things they are doing.

Is your company using or planning to use a corporate blog? What are your experiences with corporate blogs?

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