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We live in a country that generates the second largest amount of web traffic in the entire world, yet a startling 100 million people in this country, or one-third of the population, do not have broadband Internet access. This compares poorly with countries like South Korea, where 94% of residents have high speed Internet, and yet only 70% of Americans have it. How is it that the United States government is not recognizing the importance of the Internet to communications by making it as accessible as a public utility?
The US is lagging behind in three important areas:

• Providing high speed Internet access to rural areas
• Providing affordable high speed Internet, so even those with a low income have access
• Providing speeds that meet the needs of today’s Internet users.

The Reasons for Limited Access

Despite the fact that the United States was the country to introduce the Internet to the world, it has not kept up with providing adequate access to the masses. Part of the problem lies in the geography of this country. Running wires to provide high speed Internet access in every part of this huge country is a very pricey endeavor. However, this is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the access. Not only has the American government not come through with the technological necessities like fiber optics, it has also let a few companies like Comcast and Verizon control the market.

Quality and Price of Access

While a big part of the problem with the state of the Internet in the United States is actually access to high speed service, the other problematic areas are price and the quality of the service. We have much slower average speeds than South Korea, an average 6.7 Mbps compared to 15.7 Mbps, but we still pay an average of $8 more per month for worse service.

Affordability is a big deal. In New York City alone there are 2.2 million people who cannot afford Internet access. In a country where the Internet is so important, this is unacceptable. In Europe and Asia, you can find very high speed Internet access for $30 or less per month. In our country, comparable service would be $50 to $90 monthly.

Where is All The Money Going?
While the consumer shells out a lot for inadequate service, ATT is enjoying a 95% profit margin on their broadband offerings. We are also lining the pockets of CEOs of the big Internet providers, who earn a sizeable 500-1000 times more than an average worker at their companies.

• AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson makes $22 M
• Time Warner CEO Glenn Britt brings home $16.4 M
• Comcast CEO Brian Roberts earns $27 M
• Verizon CEO Ivan Seidenberg gets $26 M

The rest of our high fees go towards controlling the government, so it doesn’t make affordable Internet access a right like Finland did in 2010. A half a billion dollars spent on government lobbying is significant enough for telecommunications giants to be heard. Providing lucrative jobs to FCC members who voted the way the big companies wanted speaks volumes too.

The average home is projected to use 52GB of data monthly by 2016. The Internet is taking over as the leading communication medium in the nation and the government needs to recognize this. As our need for Internet grows, the federal government needs to respond and bring us on par with countries worldwide that are doing it much better than we are presently.

What Does a $4 Million Ad Get You?

The exposure from that pricey 30 second ad can make a huge impact on your business. In 2011
GoDaddy.com saw a 41% increase in its business in the week following the Super Bowl. During that
same time frame, other Super Bowl advertisers like Groupon and Verizon Wireless saw only a 3% and 2% increase respectively in their business.

Depending on the size of your business and the value of a customer, even a 2-3% increase in business
may warrant the $4 price tag. It was certainly worthwhile for Mercedes-Benz who also advertised during
that game and saw a tidy 9% increase. However, if your market share is already high, your industry
competitive and there is little to distinguish you from competitors, costly Super Bowl ads may not be the way to go.

A Super Bowl ad is no guarantee of success in your business. Super Bowl 34 held in January 2000 had
19 .com advertisers. Of those, 8 no longer exist.

So What is An Advertiser to Do?

Every year companies spend more and more on advertising. The big names that consistently advertise
in the Super Bowl, like Anheuser-Busch, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, General Motors and Walt Disney keepcoming back, so there must be significant value in doing so. In fact the exposure that comes from a Super Bowl ad comes down to about 3 cents per viewer, which is actually a very smart investment.

Opinions vary on whether or not the cost of Super Bowl ads is worth it. This infographic by iSatelliteTV takes a good look at some of the data for Super Bowl ads over the last 10 years. Take a moment and review the stats to see what you think.

]]> http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2013/01/28/are-super-bowl-ads-worth-it-for-advertisers/feed/ 1 http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2012/12/12/relationship-between-sales-and-site-speed/ http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2012/12/12/relationship-between-sales-and-site-speed/#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2012 15:07:18 +0000 Gerad Hoyt http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/?p=21796 ... Read more]]> Much like trending topics on twitter, conversion is a huge topic of conversation for e-commerce business. How can we increase traffic and conversion rate are the top two things an online company is usually focused on. One of the most overlooked aspects of both of those is site speed. Not only does site speed affect the way search engines crawl your site, but it also affects conversion rate.

Typical aspects that may affect site speed are server issues, internet providers, bandwidth and a huge topic is load time. Shoppers expect your page to load fast, whether they are shopping on a typical desktop or laptop, as well as mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. With nearly 10% of shopping now done via mobile device, you're going to want to make sure your site is up to speed.

Here are some quick tips to improve site speed.

1) Use a CDN or content delivery network- For those unfamiliar, these are web servers in separate locations that react to the needs of the content. The server responds based upon which can react the quickest and most accurate.

2) Minimize redirects- It is best to only keep redirects that are absolutely necessary, otherwise remove the page in question. There is no need for multiple redirects to one page. For example, if the target is page A, pages B and C should redirect directly to A, rather than some other course of direction.

3)Reduce DNS Lookups- The browser cannot complete any actions until the DNS is done looking up the IP address for the hostname. Try reducing the number of hostnames to increase page speed. Try A/B testing to figure out which pages are the slowest and then test them after changes are made.

In this infographic by wireless internet provider Zing Broadband, they take a look at how a load time of something as simple as 1 second, can impact your site. The larger your site is, the bigger the impact on your site is for a conversion.

While interesting, the thing that truly stood out to me was the explosion of sales via mobile devices. In just one year from 2011 to 2012 mobile sales increased by 234% to $436 Million! This jump to seems to be more than just the march of progress to a more mobile consumer but a foreshadowing of a larger movement that every digital marketer needs to be thinking about. While consumer usage of smartphones is very high, the purchasing power and behavior have yet to catch up, however the data from Cyber Monday as well as various reports is beginning to show that the tide is turning.

Purchasing behavior is on the verge of exploding

Over the past 3 years the percentage of eCommerce dollars spent from mobile devices has steadily climbed as a result of 1.) Rapid developments in smartphones and evolution in their functionality and 2.) More consumers using their mobile devices as their first or only form of internet access, especially those in rural areas that have been under served by high speed internet providers. comScore estimates that in Q4 2012, mobile devices will reach close to 13% of all online sales.

Mobile isn't done Growing Either

While many of us would be shocked to hear that the mobile market isn't totally saturated yet, but it's true. To date, there are still approximately 110 million people in the US that haven't moved to a smartphone yet. On top of this, the segment that will truly create a skyrocket in mobile sales is the growth of tablets. While tablets have only been available on the commercial market for 3 years and already has reach 40 million units - a number that took smartphones 9 years to reach! With the arrival of mini tablets this segment is poised to grow even more over the next 2 years. With this in mind, by 2015 the IDC projects that more users in the US will access the internet via mobile devices than wireline/desktop devices.

What this means for marketers

For the digital marketer this is a great opportunity to begin to cater to mobile consumers more directly before the market hits full matured and competition expands. Those who fail to test within this growing market segment will be a great disadvantage than those who already testing the waters of mobile eCommerce. What are your thoughts on the increase in mobile over the coming years and what difference will it make to you as a digital marketer? Share your thoughts in the comments below!