“I only advertise in the Liverpool Echo on Thursdays” were the words from one printer (now out of business).

I remember that particular conversation like it was yesterday.

“The Internet?  Nobody is going to buy a car on the Internet” said a car dealer.  “No, but they will source them on the Internet” I replied in frustration. Sniggers and shakes of heads all round.  It was the beginning of a long day.

The car lot in Crosby closed down four years ago. (Coincidentally, I popped in for replacement wing mirror a couple of weeks prior to the close and enquired why the business was closing down.  “The Internet – Everyone looks on the Internet” was the response. (he didn’t recognise me as the young pup touting for business a few years earlier, probably because I’d put on two stone in weight and I didn’t remind him.)

“We can’t go on the Internet, as competitors will see what we do…”  …the ill-fated words of another business owner, who’s long established bricks and mortar business bit the dust.

Selling websites as a startup business back in those days was tough. Fortunately, it was followed by a stampede to get on-line and we’ve seen plenty of great success stories along the way (more about those another day)

10 years later

10 years later, the Internet  is THE dominant platform for business.

Website -> Google SEO -> Sales -> Customer Support/Service -> Bingo!

That’s the script for success, yes?

No, It’s not going to cut it over the next decade.

The Explosion of Social Media

Web 2.0, Social Media, Twitter, Facebook….  Buzzwords but nothing worth taking too seriously, right?   Wrong.  This is almost a case of Deja-vu from the non-believers a decade earlier.

I’m going to talk about Facebook in particular.

“Facebook… Nah, I don’t use it, it’s not for me“… Well, 600 million do. It’s the fastest growing website in history.  It passed Google for traffic in the USA last year.  It’s the #2 website in the UK after Google.  If you don’t know what on earth Facebook is, then make it your business to find out.

The following video illustrates the phenomenal growth of Facebook and why, as a business you have to start mobilising your social media forces.

Our View

Like the early days of the Internet back in the day, Social Media is not a fad. It’s here to stay and growing at an unprecedented and phenomenal rate.

Now The Good News… Most small to medium sized businesses have been relatively slow on the uptake. Sure, some have paid lip service by setting up a bog standard Facebook fan page.  See http://www.facebook.com/pages/Universal-Lighting-Systems/200117113337445 .  These guys set up this page a long time ago and have a staggering 2 likes!   That’s lip service.

Check out the difference with http://www.facebook.com/marketingforaccountants . These set up last week and have 150+ “likes” already.  The difference? They aren’t paying lip service.  They have customised landing pages, sign up forms, calls to action etc…

We’ve seen companies with thousands of “Likes”.

So What is a “Like” and what’s the value?

A “Like” is when a Facebook user clicks to “Like” the page.  It’s essentially the same as a Facebook user adding another user as a friend. Every announcement you make on your page will be seen by them.  Essentially, they become your “subscribers” – basically prospects for your service and/or products.  Not only that, Facebook is Viral. If a user “Likes” your page then all of their friends will see that they have liked it (and the average Facebook user has 120 linked friends)

As Facebook moves into Search (treading on Google’s toes) we believe “Likes” and “Reviews” will play a much bigger role in the ranking of search results (much like backlinks did for Google search results), so it’s essential to get on board Facebook NOW.  Start building the likes and reviews.  Be well positioned as the Facebook phenomena grows and grows.

We are offering a customised Fan Page mini-site development service.  Click here now for details.

Listed by Unique Visits with page impressions in brackets:

Results exclude Google, who are #1 in the world and by their own reckoning #2 in the USA (surpassed by Facebook in 2010)

1 facebook.com 590,000,000 (760,000,000,000)
2 youtube.com 490,000,000 (92,000,000,000)
3 yahoo.com 400,000,000 (70,000,000,000)
4 live.com 330,000,000 (37,000,000,000)
5 wikipedia.org 260,000,000 (6,400,000,000)
6 msn.com 250,000,000 (13,000,000,000)
7 baidu.com 230,000,000 (110,000,000,000)
8 blogspot.com 210,000,000 (4,800,000,000)
9 microsoft.com 190,000,000 (3,300,000,000)
10 qq.com 190,000,000 (53,000,000,000)

See Also:

• Top 10 Websites in the USA
• Top 10 Websites in the UK
• Facebook Fan Pages for Business

Results exclude Google, who are #1 in the world and by their own reckoning #2 in the USA (surpassed by Facebook in 2010)

1 facebook.com 26,000,000 (64,000,000,000)
2 bbc.co.uk 18,000,000 (2,200,000,000)
3 youtube.com 17,000,000 (4,300,000,000)
4 live.com 16,000,000 (2,300,000,000)
5 yahoo.com 14,000,000 (3,300,000,000)
6 amazon.co.uk 12,000,000 (1,600,000,000)
7 ebay.co.uk 12,000,000 (4,800,000,000)
8 msn.com 9,900,000 (800,000,000)
9 wikipedia.org 9,100,000 (370,000,000)
10 argos.co.uk 5,600,000 (550,000,000)

See Also:

• Top 10 Websites by Traffic (World)
• Top 10 Websites in the USA
• Facebook Fan Pages for Business

Listed by Unique Visits with page impressions in brackets:

Results exclude Google, who are #1 in the world and by their own reckoning #2 in the USA (surpassed by Facebook in 2010)

1     facebook.com     130,000,000 (290,000,000,000)
2     yahoo.com     110,000,000 (33,600,000,000)
3     youtube.com     88,000,000 (27,000,000,000)
4     amazon.com     50,000,000 (6,400,000,000)
5     msn.com     46,000,000 (4,400,000,000)
6     live.com     45,000,000 (6,600,000,000)
7     wikipedia.org     42,000,000 (1,500,000,000)
8     ebay.com     34,000,000 (9,600,000,000)
9     bing.com     34,000,000 (2,300,000,000)
10     craigslist.org     28,000,000 (15,000,000,000)

See Also:

• Top 10 Websites by Traffic (World)
• Top 10 Websites in the UK
• Facebook Fan Pages for Business

Mike Storey

CONGRATULATIONS are in order for the former leader of  Liverpool City Council  Mike Storey,  who has been appointed a Lib-Dem peer and will take a seat in the House of Lords.

Mike Storey served the city for over 7 years as leader and has been involved in local politics for nearly 40 years.  He was instrumental in delivering Liverpool’s successful Capital of Culture bid and extensive involvement in promoting the city on a regional, national and international level to drive the regeneration of recent years.

Mr Storey is still the headteacher of Halewood school, so may find himself being called “Sir” inside and outside of work  from now on!

Congratulations to a deserving servant of the City of Liverpool.

Clients pressure designers to ’force’ sites to work in IE6, and designers, not wanting to lose business, comply, using hacks and workarounds. This wastes time and money. While Microsoft is encouraging companies and developers to move on from IE6, designers need to unite, and we all need to move on.