The threat of Facebook becoming a part of people’s every day lives is growing.  Consuming more of users’ online time, and that doesn’t appear to be abaiting. Facebook has a great deal of control over users privacy, therefore is a powerful marketing tool for content and online retail. Facebook offers users a many reasons to use it, and in some cases it’s not really even a conscious decision. A recent South Park episode illustrates how Facebook is sucking more people in. Facebook is the latest fad, therefore millions of people are using it.

How important is Facebook to your online business?

Facebook is already taking up a position in e-commerce with a service called Payvment, which is offers a Facebook storefront application to retailers. The concept is simple – a Facebook user gets a discount on merchandise by becoming a fan of the retailer who using Payvment. This will drive some interest in Facebook e-commerce and user engagement with retail brands.

Businesses are getting used to the idea of  social media but now want to know about Return on Investment.

How Payvment’s Facebook storefront app works.

B. Acts as a network of retailers from which customers can make multiple purchases across, all in one checkout process (money is then divided up among the retailers on the back-end)

C. Each retailer provides a gateway to other shopping brands.

D. Retailers set any percentage they wish to offer in exchange for becoming a fan.

Here’s what a page might look like to a fan or non-fan:

This may be perceived as a form of endorsement but it may be reasoned the same principles apply when becoming a member of a club or joining a mailing list. Not all friends are alerted when the user becomes a fan.

Payvment’s also lets users add comments and reviews to storefronts. Built-in spam protection allows retailer to control inappropriate content in the comment and review section of their storefront.

Facebook’s terms of use restruct Payvment sellers from selling inappropriate content such as alcohol, tobacco, munitions and items that promote hate, criminal/terrorist activities, or items that infringe upon the rights of a third party.

Whether you are going to use an app like Payvment or not, it is possibe to start monetizing Facebook fans and achieving  ROI on social media. We expect this type of service will become more popular within the Facebook system.

by Mike Mills

Understanding the internet fundamentals will help you in appraising a domain name.

Criteria for evaluation

Top level domain names (TLDs) are very important. This sets the memorability of the domain, good TLDs express a more professional and experienced business. COM, NET, and ORG are currently the most credible and best known TLDs. As time passes the familiarity and credibility of newer TLDs will probably increase.
The TLD of DOT com is valued higher.

Some factors that affect the value of the domain name are:

• Total number of characters. The lesser the more valuable and easier it is to remember and type.
• Hyphens generally detract from the value of a domain because they can be easily forgotten.
• Digits in a domain name, as in cars4sale.com, decrease the value of a domain.

Criteria for appraising by the Market Factors

The number of words in a domain affects its value.
Names with fewer words can be more memorable, and therefore more valuable.

Search engines can help us determine how much content exists on the Internet with the keywords of a domain. The Internet frequency of these words is a good way of determining the current buyers market for individual terms and the level of industry-specific activity. This element is very time sensitive, the popularity of a given term may fluctuate often as the market changes and new areas grow.

The index of the search value of a domains keywords is used to determine it’s value in a sellers and advertising market.

Google can help rate the value of a domain by determining the search frequency of the words in the domain in comparison to other search lists. This can be used to indicate what is hot in the industry at any given time.

Proper names can affect the value by estimating the demand for particular terms used in the domain.

Web sites are complicated, no matter how big or small, so how do we really know their true status on the web?
For a start, consider the homepage as there are at least 7 inspection points to check for search engine suitability.

How can we be sure that a site’s investment is maximising returns?
Site inspection by a qualified and experienced developer will surf, test and look behind the scenes of web sites. Areas such as:

• Design and code
• Search engine ranking
• Linking strategies
• Traditional off-line marketing strategies
• E-Mail campaigns
• Paid advertising

We will attempt to demyth some of the older internet strategies, that are still in use, and provide clear direction on the future of web marketing.

Real value will come from knowing the status of your web site and understanding current on-line technologies.

Google tops the brand list, according to BrandZ’s top 100 brand ranking for 2008. For the second year in a row with an estimated value at $85,057 million, Google leads other heavyweights, such as GE, Microsoft, China Mobile, IBM, and Apple.

Source: WebGuild