Finally this month, we’re proud to announce the launch of an updated version of the web search workshop’s website, which can be seen here.

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Overture UK has just announced that they will be following the lead of their US parent and renaming themselves as Yahoo! Search Marketing at the end of February, along with all of the other European Overture sites. This change has been expected for some time and follows the acquisition of Overture in 2003 by Yahoo! who wanted to own part of the pay-per-click advertising market.

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This time last year we made 5 predictions for 2005 and so we can now look back on them with a mixture of outcomes, as they were a mixed batch! Some did take place, as predicted, and others were some way off the mark - at least last year - so we review what really happened.

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The use of website statistics is extremely valuable and can provide essential data regarding visits to a website and usage, which in turn can help to develop the site’s content and marketing activities. However, the wide range of statistical packages also represent a variety of different methods of recording and analysing online traffic data, plus there can also be discrepancies between this information and statistics provided by online advertising activities, such as pay-per-click advertising or banner adverts.

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Latest figures from Hitwise, the online traffic measurement company, report on search engine usage and market share in the UK during September 2005. This continues to show the dominance of the 4 main search properties in this country, and in particular, Google’s overwhelming superiority being maintained. The report also tracks the usage of different vertical search options, such as news, image and local search.

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ABC Electronic (ABCe) is an organisation that provides an industry standard measurement in the UK for websites that wish to sell advertising and need independently verified statistics on their visitor numbers and usage data. In such a confusing area where websites tend to quote a wide array of statistics gathered in different ways - including the irrelevant figure of ‘hits’ - the ABCe site can provide some valuable data on the state of the Internet market.

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The IAB has been a representative body for the online marketing industry since 1997. Originally called the Interactive Advertising Bureau, the organisation has recently marked the arrival of a new Chief Executive by renaming itself as the Internet Advertising Bureau.

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A new href="http://www.iabuk.net/index.php?class=news&view=959">report issued
by the Interactive Advertising Bureau shows that over the last year there has
been a big increase in online advertising spend in the UK, with an 80% rise over
the last year. In comparison, the advertising industry as a whole grew just in
line with inflation by only 3%.

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A useful href="http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,2769-1150819,00.html"
target="_blank">article appeared recently in The Sunday Times, which provides
advice on creating an effective website. This is based on recent research that
claimed that a typical business could increase online sales by 64% if it
improved its online services. The feature gives examples of ways that a site can
be developed to enhance the user’s experience and help to convert more visits to
sales.

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