Why Advertising is Failing on the Internet

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/22/why-advertising-is-failing-on-the-internet/

We all hate those flashy, color filled ads that fill up the margins on each web site we visit and are forever popping up on our desktop. Most of us don't even take the time to figure out what it is they're advertising before we close them or divert to another web page. Regardless of whether you pay them any attention or not, they are making someone on the earth some money.

Though in recent years, internet advertising revenue has declined and continues to do so. The author gives three main reasons on why online advertising will fail in years to come. Consumers do not trust ads, do not want ads, and do not need ads. Agreed. But isn't this the case for all advertisements in general? (Except funny Superbowl commercials, of course.)

Sure, traditional advertising (i.e. full page newspaper ads and 30 second television commercials) cannot be carried over to the internet. Most internet ads are small and easily overlooked and do not have nearly the space for the information presented in traditional ads. Traditional advertising will never become obsolete just for that reason- it cannot be replaced by online advertising.

No matter what angry comments or responses you may read about this article, there is absolutely no one who loves to see/watch advertisements. A perfect point was made about channel surfing or waiting to get a snack to avoid commercials. How would any DVR system be successful if we all wanted to watch the commercials?

Regardless of the statistics and facts about the decline in internet advertising, there will always be a place for it. Some one is going to pay some one to display his or her product/service on some one else's website. Surely it will never reach the heights and success it once did because of customers reviewing products instead of purchasing strictly from advertisements, but online advertising will never completely vanish.

Capitalize on the Growing Online Advertising Market @ Yahoo! Video

Blogs Will Change Your Business

Stephen Baker and Heather Green
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_18/b3931001_mz001.htm

Another important part of the Web 2.0 world is blogging. Most people cringe at the sound of the word but even more read, create, and edit millions of blogs every day. People blog about every thing. Right now, I'm blogging about blogging. It's very easy to understand that blogs are here to stay and as this article explains, they can be an essential part to any business.

General Motors may not be having the greatest luck with the economy but they have embraced the blogging for business concept. Vice-chairman Bob Lutz heads a large part of GM's blogging and has received much praise from the public because of his balanced responses.

Though blogging can help and even change your business for the better, there are, like every thing else in the world, consequences. Blogs, unless opted to be private, can be viewed by anyone on the internet at any time. Be careful what you post.

Take programmer Mark Jen for example. Jen, an employee of Google, blogged about the company's health care and "free food." It wasn't anything serious at all, but Google fired him because of it. Jen now works for Plaxo, helping coordinate their blogs.

Along with helping business reach their customers on a more personal level and adding another way to advertise, blogs have become so popular they are even creating more jobs. Thousands of people like Jen are now being hired to create, manage, post, and edit company's blogs.

Whether you read and post everyday or are like myself and can't even stand to write a 300 word blog once a week, you must embrace the concept. Many of the millions of blogs on the internet are pointless, stream of consciousness personal blogs that have no significance to anything. Yet, there are plenty that are very useful and businesses have realized the potential they have.

Social Networking Demographics: Boomers Jump In, Gen Y Plateaus
http://www.micropersuasion.com/2009/03/social-networking-demographics.html

For many years, the Baby Boomer generation has failed, and almost feared, to embrace the numerous advances in technology and the internet. My immediate family, with the exception of my sister, have just now begun to send text messages and emails. Others in the generation however, are jumping on the band wagon of even newer, more complex technology.

The statistics listed in this article are quite astounding. The idea that the younger generations are the sole users of the internet and its features can now be put to rest. There are many more Baby Boomers joining social networks such as MySpace and Facebook, reading and creating blogs, as well as watching and posting videos to websites like YouTube.

While the same number of Generation Y'ers are using Facebook, YouTube, and the like, the increase has slowed tremendously. There are only so many people in their teens, twenties, and thirties but the total number of Generation Y users probably crushes the number of Baby Boomers on the web. However, Boomers are constantly picking up the technology and adding more and more users each day.

I have noticed just in the past four months that the average age of my friends list on Facebook (almost to 800 friends) keeps increasing. Aunts, uncles, old grade school teachers, and even some of my friends' parents send me a friend request every other day. Facebook also has a new application that will list the ages of all your friends (if they choose to post it) and find the average age and most common age on your friends list.

Only now can we hope this trend continues and our elders will quit calling and pestering us with questions about "this damn computer/internet." If Baby Boomers are able to get involved in social networking and even creating blogs, their PC literacy will continue to increase and evolve. This in turn will speed up the already lightening fast progression of technology and cause even more objects and instruments to become obsolete.




Bring on the boomers