UK Online Population at its Peak

This is a piece of good news for Internet marketing companies in the UK. The Online population of the country reached its highest-ever figure – 31.8 million unique visitors – in the month of July. However, the most surprising part is that July is the summer holiday season in the country, and most families spend time outside their homes and offices, away from their computers.

According to reports available online, Google attracted 28.2 million visitors in the month, counting for 89 percent of the total online population. At second spot was Microsoft, attracting about 26.9 million unique visitors during the same time period. Websites dealing with travel and holiday packages, flight and hotel bookings, etc had a good time during this summer holiday season.

However, industry experts insist that unpleasant weather is the main reason why people are staying back at home and surfing the Internet as part of domestic recreation activities. Whatever the cause, online businesses are truly having a ball in the UK, raking in huge amounts of profit.

Consumers want 'Return Gift' from Mobile Advertisers

As mobile advertising grows, consumers are becomingly increasingly wise not to be lured by the ads. In fact, according to a latest online study, they are now looking for something in return from these advertisers as the price for standing these 'irritating and intrusive' ads.

The study also found that these ads became more receptive when users found free content with them. For example, a number of companies are giving out free downloads with their mobile ads. It was also discovered that users in developed countries were the least receptive to these ads. Whereas, developing countries had a relatively more tolerant mobile user base.

As a consequence, mobile marketing associations around the globe are formulating strategies to suit their targeted segment and to ensure that they keep away from intrusive tactics and spam advertising.

So, the next time your phone rings, better check it out... you never know what lies in store for you!

Buyers awaiting Google Phone

The air is rife with speculation that search engine kingpin Google is planning to launch its phone in near future. As per latest industry news, the company has already made huge amount of investment in this 'dream' project.

To be known as GPhone, the handset will have compatibility to other Google products like Gmail, Google Search and Google Maps. This means, as a user, we will have the all-inclusive world of Google at our disposal through one mobile phone. It is rumoured that the production contracts for GPhone will be given to a variety of manufacturers. However, another faction believes that the contract will be awarded on the basis of an auction.

Google itself is mum about the project, but a few insiders claim that the company is actually in talks with a few reputed mobile networks and handset manufacturers to customise Google applications in mobile phones.

Even though experts insist that the project will still take some time to take off, buyers in the mobile phone market are eagerly waiting to have a dekko at this supposedly high-profile product.

Microsoft and Ask.com come to small businesses' aid

Small online businesses, rejoice! Global search engine industry giants have come to the aid of your betterment. Microsoft and Ask.com have joined hands to come up with a special scheme, wherein Microsoft Office Live users can get advertising access from Ask.com.

Office Live adManager's beta advertising service will now comprise this special service. Now you can access and manage your keyword advertising accounts directly. In fact, you also have the option of buying advertisements from MSN, Live Search and Ask Sponsored Listings.

Online marketing experts are more than happy with this latest development. In fact, top bosses of Microsoft are going gaga with the coming together of two extremely popular search engines – the first collaboration of its kind. This 'contextual targeting' service is being touted as a platform for small businesses to understand and work on search engine marketing modules.

This scheme is all set to give Google's AdSense programme a tough run for its money. The latter has been extremely successful mainly because it has not faced strong enough competition in the market. With the advent of this power-packed collaboration, Google's might is surely to be put to test.