RULES: There are no
trick questions. You cannot ask the audience but I welcome you to 'Phone
a Friend' (and forward this article onto them!).
*Question 1:
"What happens if you
submit your website to Google more than once?"
A. Nothing.
B. You are at
risk of being penalised for multiple submissions
C. Your
submission is bumped to the back of the queue
*Question 2:
"According to a survey
conducted by AC Nielsen in December 2004 what did people state as their
primary reason for doing their Christmas shopping online?"
A. Saves time
B. Better prices
C. Ability to
find a more personalized gift
*Question 3:
"In Internet terms,
what is a 'spider'?"
A. It's a virus
that spreads using loopholes in certain web technologies
B. It's a
software tool that search engines use to retrieve information from
websites
C. It's another
word for a person that browses websites
*Question 4:
"What is the industry
average click through rate for banner advertisements? I.e. what
percentage of all banner ads are actually clicked on?"
A. 0.39%
B. 1.39%
C. 2.39%
*Question 5:
"According to the
latest research from the Computer Industry Almanac what was the
worldwide online population in 2004? I.e. how many of the people,
worldwide, accessed the Internet at some point in 2004?"
A. 934 million
B. 714 million
C. 579 million
**THE ANSWERS
Q.1 - "What happens
if you submit your website to Google more than once?"
A. Nothing.
Google doesn't mind how
many times you submit your website. However there are search engines out
there that will penalise you for submitting too often. This is what
Google says about submitting to its site:
"You are free to submit
as often as you wish. However, given the nature of our inclusion process
your time is better spent improving the content and links of your site."
Q.2 - "According to
a survey conducted by AC Nielsen in December 2004 what did people state
as their primary reason for doing their Christmas shopping online?"
A. Saves time
78% of the 1007 people
surveyed gave ‘Saves time' as their answer when asked their reasons for
shopping online. The survey findings:
Reasons for Shopping
Online:
Saves time 78% Better
prices 51% More selection 43% Easier shipping 40% Ability to find a more
personalized gift 28% More information available about the products 20%
What this tells us is
that people no longer view the Internet as a low-cost option. So perhaps
you need to take a look at your own website and focus more on making the
buying process as quick and simple as possible rather than trying to cut
prices to attract buyers..
Q. 3 - "In Internet
terms, what is a 'spider'?"
B. It's a
software tool that search engines use to retrieve information from
websites
When your website is
submitted to a search engine the search engine sends out a ‘spider' to
visit your site and retrieve all the information from it. The spider
then returns to the search engine with all the information that is then
added to the search engine's database.
The results you see
when you use a search engine are not live snapshots of websites.
Instead, the results show the information that the spider collected the
last time it visited each website. This is why it is sometimes possible
to see a link that looks fine in the search engine results and then
click on it to find it no longer exists.
This is because the
search engine spider has yet to revisit this website and update the
search engine's records.
Q.4 - "What is the
industry average click through rate for banner advertisements? I.e. what
percentage of all banner ads are actually clicked on?"
A. 0.39%
The latest studies
indicate that only 0.39% of banners shown are actually clicked on. With
powerful graphics and enticing offers this average clickthrough rate can
be improved ten-fold or more. But the point remains that advertising by
using banners alone no longer appears to be viable route unless, that
is, the costs of using this method are exceptionally low.
Q.5 - "According to
the latest research from the Computer Industry Almanac what was the
worldwide online population in 2004? I.e. how many of the people,
worldwide, accessed the Internet at some point in 2004?"
A. 934 million
It's predicted that
this year the online population will hit 1 billion! Not all of these
people will be your potential customers but no matter which way you look
at - there has never been a better time to have a well-marketed website!
**SCORES - How Many
Did You Get Right?
0 - 2: Don't forget -
you learn more in this life from your mistakes than you do from anything
else!
3 - 4: Well done! You
obviously know your stuff or you're good at guessing!
5 out of 5:
Outstanding! Top marks for you!
Michael Cheney is the
Author of The Website Marketing BibleTM:
"High five Michael!
Your bible is superb! The world needs to read it and learn from it." -
Jay Conrad Levinson, Author of "Guerrilla Marketing"
About
Michael Cheney,
Get your free sampler of The Website Marketing BibleTM now and receive
free bonuses worth £159 ($288) -
http://www.websitemarketingbible.com
Channels
