My Blogging Experience

So this is my 10th and final blog...

I started blogging in September for the first time and didn't really know what blogging was about. There was not a lot of guidance given so I gave it my best shot. I have read some blogs that have been given awards and I didn't really see what was so special about them. I have also read some random blogs that I found online and they were just people blogging about their lives or things that were important to them. I suppose if I knew those people well I might have enjoyed reading their blogs but I didn't really have any interest. I think some people are naturally talented at writing and enjoy expressing themselves in words so I can see why people do it. I thought the blogs with titles were more difficult to write and preferred to have some freedom when writing them. But personally I think blogging is not for me. 

I found that I didn't know what type of content to put into my blog. I wrote about myself and I wrote facts and figures. I wrote from my notes and I wrote my opinion. I don't know if I really went down the right road in them. Also I am not one for writing down my feelings or even talking about my feelings so I felt the blogs are kind of embarrassing to write. I don't really want anyone to read them to be honest. My friends from Egypt have been asking can they read my blog about Egypt but I don't want them to, so I haven't told them they are actually online! 

I think maybe one day I will blog again when I really have got something interesting to blog about. I noticed my dad has a blog for his job and he talks about the industry he is in and articles he finds interesting. He never told me he had one until I told him I would be writing one and he gave me some tips. So maybe when I am working I will write one. I found blogger was hard to use and I couldn't really figure out how to change stuff around and put ads on my page which I would have liked to do. From looking at some of my classmates blogs they obviously knew what they were doing as they look so professional. But anyway I gave it a try and I suppose I will find out soon if I really am a talented blogger!

I can't believe there is a 'blogger's choice awards'. This just shows how huge the blogging world is. I would never have even thought it was that big until I searched for it. If I was a talented blogger I might actually make money from it or even get an award, imagine one day that might actually be me. I think I need to work on my writing skills first. Anyway here is the link to the blogger's choice awards, check out some of the best blogs in the world: Blogger's Choice Awards. The categories are pretty funny for example the hottest daddy blog! haha! Who comes up with these things I wonder. 

So I'm going to say goodbye for now to the blogging world and concentrate on my exams and enjoy Christmas. Maybe after Christmas I will have something exciting to blog about. Watch this space!

Happy Christmas Bloggers!

Au revoir! 

Mobile Commerce

It is amazing how far the world of technology has come. From the dial up connection internet to wireless internet for metropolitan areas. I remember when my dad got his first Wap phone and I was amazed that he could get internet on his phone. I think I only got my first phone in those days and it was a Motorolla brick! By 2004 there were 1.5 Billion Wap phones. I never used one of those phones but I can imagine they were a lot slower than smart phones today. By 2005 there were 60 million wireless internet users. By 2006, 60% of internet was used from personal wireless devices. Now the wireless market is worth nearly 90 Billion worldwide.

Mobile phones are something that you bring everywhere with you. They can do so much in one simple device. Contact people, take photos, make recordings, listen to music, for the internet, play games and you can use any of the applications available. Instead of just bringing your purse and keys you bring a mobile phone too. This may have been something unthinkable 15 or 20 years ago. It is an all in one device.

M-Commerce is the use of the internet for purchasing goods and services and also for transmitting messages using wireless mobile devices. Businesses increasingly use wireless to cut costs, increase flexibility, and create new products and services. It helps businesses stay in touch with customers, suppliers and employees. This increases worker productivity as it takes less time to contact the suppliers etc. For businesses it has also been the source of new products, services and sales channels for example internet "hot spots". 

The wireless technologies have come a long way from 1G to 3G, Infrared, Bluetooth, Wifi and WiMax. Infrared is basic and used in remote controls, PDA's and phones. It requires 'line of sight' in order to work, but it is cheap to produce. Bluetooth is a small form of wireless communication and the cost of production is low and it works within a distance of 10 meters. Wifi is almost universally available and all laptops were wireless enabled by 2005. Although security has been a target of negative publicity so there is Wifi protected access. The cost of Wifi has come down dramatically but is still quite high.

I bought a Blackberry recently and I love it. I got a great deal for 20 euro per month I get free internet and free texts to any network. It is so handy for sending and receiving emails as I never have to use my laptop for this and I can send them anywhere I go. It also means I can use Wifi wherever I go because it is a smart phone. If I am waiting for any important emails and don't have access to a computer I can just check my phone. I can download thousands of apps so I am never really bored when I have my phone with me. I can Instant message my friends abroad who also have a Blackberry and it is free. Most of my friends have smart phones these days as there are so many out there now that are not too expensive. Smart phones are probably one of the most popular Christmas presents this year. I think soon everyone will have one and it will just be normal to have one. I heard from a friend that works in Coca Cola that all the staff were given Blackberry's for free and their bills are all paid for. This sounded like an advantage to me but he told me it is so they are always contactable and have no excuse about being away from their computers. So maybe for the employees it is more of an annoyance.

I wonder will Santa order online this year

Digital Marketing

Digital Marketing has become one of the most popular ways of marketing. It has a greater reach than any other media. From 10am to 7pm online marketing is reaching a much bigger audience than any other marketing tool. It is obvious this is true from just looking around the workplace or the library or even on public transport. Nearly everyone is using the internet in some way during these times whether it is for pleasure or for work purposes, so why not use this as a form of communicating your product or service to your target audience. Technological and Societal factors have effected the impact of television commercials, I agree with this even from my own experience. I used to always watch television but now I mainly watch it on my laptop. I know a lot of people who use the internet in their spare time rather than watching t.v. and businesses have taken advantage of this by advertising on sites where people watch movies and t.v. shows. Television is not as special as it used to be when it was becoming more advanced and "high tech". The internet has become an alternative to it. 




Digital marketing increases brand awareness and more cost effective. Pay per click ad's can be as cheap as 10cent per click when you compare this to the cost of a television advertisement it is a hug drop. To have one advertisement on during XFactor it costs £250,000, that is without the price of producing the ad. Although this is a great spot for a business to have it is a once off and it is not consistent. An online ad can be kept consistent and regular therefore increasing brand awareness. It is said that younger audiences are influenced more by the web, this is an advantage today because as younger people grow up they will continue to use the web. Cheaper broadband and cheaper technology is also enabling digital marketing to grow as people continue to invest in new technologies and better broadband. Digital marketing can contribute to any marketing communications objective a marketer may have. One downfall I believe is that 79% of people scan and webpage and 57% of people scan an email, therefore the less and more concise information the better, which could be a disadvantage.

As we all know Google is one of the first sites people go to find information about any subject in the world. Whenever there is a question that can't be answered we say "Google it!" and usually this question is answered. For such a basic webpage it is extremely popular, so advertising here is a great advantage. But how can you get to number one on Google? That is the question! This is called search engine optimization which is growing annually by 65%. There are other search engines like Yahoo and Msn but Google is the most popular.We made a website recently which encouraged me to think what could I put on my website that would make it high on the Google list. 
So this is what I found was important:

• Key Phrases- 2 word (33%) and 3 word(26%) phrases are usually typed into Google. So have phrases on your page which are about this length.
• Title- A Unique title is important, it should be short, attractive and enticing.
• Links- It is also good to get links to your site or get links from reputable sites with similar themes because Google picks up on these. 

A cheaper way of advertising on search engines is targeted advertising using Adwords:

1. You pick a region to target
2. Create a short a sweet advertisement
3. Pick keywords
4. Set a budget

This is usually done by cost per click and a daily budget is put on it for example if a cost per click is 10cent then your daily budget could be 10euro to keep track of costs. Your ad position is determined by  the click through rate. Although search engines prefer ugly web pages and lots of text it is also important to keep the design of your web page right and appealing to it's visitors. Your offline marketing can also be integrated into your online marketing. To measure your websites online success you can use Google analytics which will tell you how your website is doing. 
Google Analytics

The Facebook Era

I was just thinking today about when I did not have Facebook in my life... I remember when I joined it was when I just got back from Australia 2 years ago and I wanted to stay in contact with my friends over there. It was already so popular over there but I was still using BEBO another social networking site, which at the time was the bees knees of social networking in Ireland. Sadly Facebook ruined that for them.
I remember joining and none of my friends in Ireland had a Facebook so I was not very interested in using it but I used it sometimes.

Then came Erasmus, the year for Facebook. I became a Facebook addict in Germany. On it all day talking to people from home, talking to people from Erasmus, even talking to my friends that lived in the apartment next door. It just shows how lazy I am I would sit in bed and chat on it instead of calling in to them to have a proper conversation. I don't think its just me though, everyone does it. It's like no one wants to actually talk anymore. I suppose texting started this off but now you can send messages to anyone anywhere in the world through Facebook. I would be on Facebook all day in my apartment because I had no television and in the winter there was so much snow we did not leave home too often. We would take photos just to put on Facebook instead of to get printed and bring home to show family. This would never have happened 10 years ago. You could find out what events were on and where people were at all times by using Facebook therefore a phone was not needed in Germany to contact anyone. 

But I have come to the stage where I am over it. I log on for 2 mins and I log off, I log on, I log off, I log on, I log off...etc! It is boring, I have lost all interest in anything going on. At the moment there is two topics on everyones status's XFactor and Snow, neither of which I am interested in. But I get bored and go back on so thats why I'm thinking what did I do before when I was bored. It is crazy how much Facebook has taken over, everyone has a page even businesses. It was Facebook's 6th birthday this year (I didn't know websites had birthdays). The so-called age of privacy is gone! I would love to know if it will ever switch off like BEBO did. I never thought BEBO would and it did because people lost interest. Imagine if it shut down for one day what would people do??

I did add a video to my page today, this guy has kept me entertained when Facebook couldn't!