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Open for Business: IIA Annual Conference 2011
Open for Business
The title of this year’s conference is Open for BUSINESS. The audience last year comprised senior managers, decision makers and key industry personnel.
The IIA Conference is unique in that it provides excellent content in an educational and networking environment. Keynote speakers come from companies such as Microsoft, Gruupy.com, and IBM. Click here to read more about the confirmed speakers.
This year will be our most ambitious conference to date. We have more speakers than ever before and it will include a full day of plenary sessions as well as parallel break-out sessions and clinics.
We want you to attend – but more than that, we want you to really join in! This conference is all about you and we’re taking the term ‘conference’ literally: lots of conferring with industry peers, sharing experiences and varying perspectives.
This is an industry conversation. Great speakers are important but we want to know what you think too. So get ready to join the conversation. In fact, if there’s a particular conversation you’ve been yearning to have then let us know in the next week or so.
There will be keynotes in the morning AND afternoon and panel debates morning and afternoon so book your ticket early and don’t miss out.
PRICE: As it’s mid-season sale time, the standard ticket price has been cut by 25% on last year, form €245 to €180.
The member rate is €150 and the early bird (limited to the first 50 tickets) is €120.
Contact Roseanne NOW at roseanne@iia.ie to get one of the 50 exclusive early bird tickets.
Conferences are really good when they are more than just an event – the IIA annual conference is part of a bigger process of dialogue between you, the delegates, the IIA as your representative body, and industry thought leaders, policy shapers and makers. This is your chance to make your voice heard and to change how business is done online in Ireland.
SPONSORSHIP & EXHIBITION OPPORTUNITIES
Sponsorship and exhibition opportunities for 2011 are available.
If you would like to be associated with the IIA brand and benefit from the exposure you will receive by being a sponsor of the IIA Conference in 2011 please download our Sponsorship Opportunities document or contact Joan Mulvihill on 01 5424154 for more information.
Uncategorized
Are you ready to Digitise the Nation again?
Digitise the Nation runs from May 9th 2011 to May 13th 2011. It is a week of free (or cheap!) events to help get everyone online; to digitise the nation.
We want to reach businesses, consumers, students, children, teenagers, parents, and grandparents.
This is an opportunity for everyone to bring their skills and capabilities to the very widest audience, showing everyone how the internet can be used
- to communicate with friends and family,
- to transact business to business and business to consumer;
- for education, self-development, career improvement, social interaction, fundraising and raising awareness and campaigns on local issues.
This is a chance to show how the internet can make life easier, more fulfilling and more fun. We can show people that the internet is the ultimate communication medium and that communication isn’t one-way or two-way but every way!
So if you would like to get involved and run an event in your area please fill out this form. In this form we ask you for contact details, some details about your proposed event and your preferred date for your event.
The event can be a one off event or part of a series. It can be a brand new event, developed for Digitise the Nation, or it can be a longstanding event given a DTN11 twist.
Please contact Roseanne Smith, IIA Membership Manager, at members@iia.ie or 01 542 4154, to discuss your ideas or if you have any other queries.
You can also keep up to the minute about this initiative by following the DTN11 hashtag on Twitter, liking the IIA on Facebook or check out the DTN11 microsite and subscribe for email updates or RSS feeds.
There are a number of excellent sponsorship opportunities available for this initiative that will give the participating company exposure not only at local community level but at an upcoming global awards ceremony. Click here to download a PDF of the opportunities document and get involved.
events, Meetball
Meetball in glorious technicolor
Wednesday evening’s Meetball was a grand evening of networking. As one Meetballer put it:
As well as Alan’s demo about Toddle we were also told about YourLocal.ie by Emer Jameson. All Irish businesses are entitled to a free listing on YourLocal.ie – make sure yours is correct and up to date today. (And based on Des Martin’s blog post yesterday local search gets more important for business everyday.) Gary Mullan from Prosperity also talked to us about the importance about keeping the digitally skilled in Ireland.
If you would like to get along to the very next one on May 25th please register online (don’t worry I’ll remind you closer to May 25th!). Give me a holler on members@iia.ie or 01 5424154 if you would like to demo your company’s products or services.
Guest Blogger, events, search engine optimisation, training, mobile internet, online retail
Local Search Explained: Start your Campaign Today
In advance of his training course next week for the IIA, Des Martin of Local Search Marketing has written this blog post to impress upon us how important local search is for all businesses. If you think your business could benefit from learning more register now for Targeting Local Customers Online. This is a morning course taking place on March 30th and is keenly priced at €200 for non-members and €100 for members.
According to the Kelsey Group, ‘74 percent of internet users perform local searches’.
What is a local search? When you enter a location specific keyword you are performing a ‘local search’. For example searching for ‘dublin pizza’ above. Many of you will have noticed that these local searches now trigger a map in search engine results from Google (Map highlighted in red above. Click on the image for a larger version.).
Note: Search queries with ‘local intent’ also appear. i.e. restaurant, pizza, butcher – by themselves can trigger the map results to appear.
This map and results are generally placed at the top of the search results. More recently Google have begun to blend the local map listings with what were traditionally the organic results (free listings). This can be seen in searches like ‘accountant dublin’ below. The local ranking factors are playing a big part in these blended results (we have highlighted the map and local listing in red).
Google return local and mobile search results based on a different set of criteria to the traditional search results (SERPs). Effectively they use a different algorithm. Small and Local businesses can now compete for prime positions at the top of the search results without spending the large sums of money that were previously required. The key is to focus your efforts in the right areas by building up your company profile across the web. Local Search has been growing in importance for the last few years. It’s time to sit up and take notice.
Why have local searches become so important?
There are several reasons. One of the main reasons is the rise of the smart phone. There are now an estimated 1 million iPhone and Android devices in the Irish market. These people are no longer confined to their PC to perform internet searches. These people actively search for products and services daily while on the move. What’s more these people may be very close to your physical location.
When someone searches for a ‘cork restaurant’ on their smart phone, there is a very good chance that this person is close to the centre of Cork and is likely to have lunch/ dinner in the next hour or two. If your restaurant is in position on the search results, you have a decent chance of converting that searcher to a customer; if not you are ignoring a major segment of the Irish market.
What’s more, mobile searches last considerably less than their PC equivalent. So that person will make up their mind in a short space of time and may find many existing websites awkward to navigate on a mobile phone.
This is where the local listing (Google Places) comes into its own. See mobile screen shot:
Example of a local search conducted on an iphone above.
The mobile searcher is presented with Google Places page information. With the Place page you get information relevant for decision making, this being: map location, directions, click to call phone number. All of this is available in Google without ever having to enter the business website. This is hugely beneficial for mobile searchers. With one further click they can see reviews, street view images of the location and often additional images supplied by the business owner as demonstrated in the screenshots below:
Any Irish business in the retail/ hospitality trade needs to feature prominently for local searches that relate to their products and services. If you don’t feature, you are losing customers.
People searching for local business online are further along in the purchase cycle, the cost of converting each consumer is lower and the return on investment is higher. Targeting these searchers produces real results for local and multi-store retailers.
This is where Local Search becomes an essential part of your online strategy
- Google Places listings are the tip of the Local Search Iceberg. They demonstrate what you can achieve by targeting local search results with Google Places. One million smart phone searchers in Ireland alone.
- Local Optimisation. Local Search can also be applied to onpage optimisation for websites, including designing website alternatives for mobile searchers. Google presents different results for mobile searchers. They rank these results partially based on how well the page will render on the type of phone that submitted the query. For more detail on mobile SEO, here is a great article by Cindy Krum < . This means having a mobile version of your website increasingly important.
- Local pay per click. Targeting local keywords reduces the level of competition and the bid price paid for local keywords in PPC programs like Adwords. Local keywords are more targeted and result in a higher click through rate which will in turn help with your Adwords quality score.
- Local Social Media. Lots going on in this space at present. Facebook recently launched their check in service Facebook Places in Ireland. Facebook Deals is due to follow hot on the heels of Places. This will allow business owners to target local consumers with ‘deal’ based offerings. This promises to be a great promotional tool for local business.
In addition business owners can reward and attract local consumers using existing social media like ‘FourSquare’ and local focused blogging. - Group Buying websites like citydeal.ie (Groupon) have exploded in the past few months. Increasingly local consumers are finding out about ‘local deals’ through these websites. Local Business owners need to adopt a group buying strategy to maximize their return when running group deal promotions. Pay attention to building a relationship with the consumer and gain repeat business rather than be left one time consumer and ultimately a loss.
Begin your local search campaign today:
A local search campaign uses an integrated strategy involving
- Google places listings,
- pay per click advertising,
- search engine optimisation
- and social media
to convert local leads into new customers. An additional area that is fast becoming important for local business is Group Buying websites. These can be a great promotional tool, but you need to factor in the total cost and how to maximize the return on investment.
About the Author:
Des Martin is the director of Local Search Marketing who specialise in local search strategy. Their client list includes sole traders, SMEs, franchises and multi location retailers. Des will be presenting a series of training courses run by the IIA in the coming months.
Uncategorized
OWASP Announces Application Security Conference for 2011 in Dublin, Ireland
OWASP (The Open Web Application Security Project) will be hosting the 2011 Application Security European Conference (http://www.appseceu.org), the premiere web application security conference on the beautiful city of Dublin, at Trinity College Dublin on June 6th-10th, 2011.
AppSec EU 2011 will provide a venue for hundreds of IT professionals interested in securing web technologies to learn, interact, network, and attend presentations and training given by some of the world’s top practitioners of web application security, suitable for everyone from federal decision makers and management to application security engineers and developers.
Executives from Fortune 500 firms along with technical thought leaders such as security architects and lead developers will be traveling to hear the cutting-edge ideas presented by Information Security’s top talent.
OWASP events attract a worldwide audience interested in "what’s next". The conference is expected to draw 300-400 technologists from Government, Financial Services, Media, Pharmaceuticals, Health care, Technology, and many other verticals.
AppSec EU 2011 is currently soliciting presentations & training proposals from researchers, academia and industry on the following topics:
– OWASP Tools and Projects
– Cloud Application Security
– Government Approaches to Application Security
– Application Security Case Studies
– Application Security and Business Risks
– Metrics for Application Security
– Web Services Security
– Source Code Review
– Web Application Security Testing
– Secure Coding Practices
– Privacy Concerns
– Vulnerabilities/Exploits in the Web App World
– Defense & Countermeasures in the Web App World
Papers may be submitted to to https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=appseceu2011 and must be received by Sunday 3rd April 2011. Inquires should be directed to Ireland@owasp.org.
Contact us today or visit http://www.appseceu.org for more information.
social media, personal branding, Web 2.0, search engine optimisation, new technology
An bhfuil Quora againn? (My Seachtain na Gaeilge post)
It’s Seachtain na Gaeilge this, em, fortnight and today is St. Patrick’s Day. As any stalkers readers who have been reading this blog over the last three years will know I am a fluent Irish speaker. In fact I write a monthly technology column for the long-running Irish Langauge Online Zine Beo! My editor has kindly allowed me to republish a recent article I wrote about Quora to help the IIA commemorate Seachtain na Gaeilge.
In this article I give a basic overview of this new curated knowledge site that came out of private beta at the beginning of the year to much acclaim. I didn’t write too much about the business applications of Quora. However I have obviously been thinking about that since and briefly I think they are as follows:
- Share your expertise: when answering a question on Quora you can adjust your bio to suit that question. E.g. I work for the IIA so when I’m answering the question “How can professional associations survive Web 2.0?” I make it clear that I am a membership manager with a professional association. However if I wanted to respond to another question in the Television category I might set my bio to refer to my credentials as a TV critic.
- Gain knowledge: Many complain about the mundanity of much of the content on Facebook and Twitter. “Oh there are two many updates like “I’m on the bus.” In contrast to this Quora is heavily curated and while you can follow those in your network (or not!) you can also choose to follow specific topics (e.g. I am following Social Media Marketing) In fact you can follow only topics and no people at all.
- Build your network: However following topics and questions relating to your industry will allow you to develop your network, especially internationally. Quora’s system which allows users to “vote up” answers will also allow you to quickly recognise who is rated among their peers. This could potentially allow you to scout partners in different regions or, in our case, potential speakers.
- Search: While Quora actively discourages mentioning brand names their site is completely open to the search engines so sharing your knowledge and expertise on a topic that your customers search for and using keywords
cannilynaturally in your responses will only lead those customers back to you. E.g. Check out this thread on “wine opener gadgets“.
What other potential business applications does Quora have? Share your thoughts in the comments below. Also you can read ReadWriteWeb’s thoughts on the applications for Small Business.
Agus anois for my patriotic duty!
Tá giolla nua sa ghairdín a bhfuiltear ag tabhairt an ’Facebook nua’ air. Tá an clú sin tuillte aige toisc an chosúlacht idir a sheirbhís agus “Facebook Questions”. Níl an tseirbhís sin ó Facebook ar fáil ar fud an domhain go fóill, ach tá seirbhís Quora i ngach cearn a bhfuil an t-idirlíon ar fáil. Séard atá i Quora ná ceisteanna curtha, freagartha agus coiméadta ag an bpobal atá in úsáid. Is léir gur thuig bunaitheoirí Quora go raibh daoine ag úsáid an idirlín chun ceisteanna a fhreagairt agus ba léir ó leithéidí Twitter agus Facebook go raibh siad ag cur níos mó muinín i bhfreagraí ó dhaoine in ionad a chur sna freagraí a fuair siad ó chuardach Google.
Is céim nádúrtha i dtimthriall cuardaigh iad Quora is a mhacasamhail. Thosnaigh cuardach le leithéid Yahoo a bhailíodh ábhar spéisiúil agus a choimeádadh é ar a son siúd a bhí ag cuardach eolais. Ach d’éirigh an tIdirlíon i bhfad rómhór, róthapaigh agus cruthaíodh Google. Ach anois tá an-iomarca tuisceana ar algartam Google agus tá an t-inneall seo faoi ionsaí ag na seoltóirí turscair is na scrábaire scáileáin agus is minic nach bhfaightear aon eolas feidhmiúil go dtí an dtríú nó an ceathrú leathanach.
Tháinig ar an saol mar sin, ní hamháin Quora, ach na céadta seirbhísí eile atá ag déanamh iarracht an t-eolas a choimeád in ord agus in eagar don bhrabhsálaí idirlín. Tá ar ndóigh, Yahoo Answers ann ach tá an suíomh seo truaillithe nuair nach bhfuil córas ceart coimeádta air. Féach mar shampla an bailiúchán seo de cheisteanna is de fhreagraí dochreidte. Bí cúramach – tá an t-ábhar seo NSFW mar a deirtear in acrainim Béarla (“Not Safe For Work”).
Níos Deisiúla Fós
Tá neart suíomhanna téacs agus meáin saibhre ann a mhíníonn conas rudaí a dhéanamh is a fhreagraíonn ceisteanna VideoJug, About, WikiHow agus fiú YouTube agus Wikipedia ach tá cúpla rud ann a chabhraíonn le Quora:
- Tá sé simplí agus soiléir: tá an t-inneall cuardaigh ag an mbarr ar fad. Tar éis cuardach a dhéanamh, muna mbíonn do cheist curtha cheana féin romhat, is féidir do cheist féin a chur. Sula gcuirtear an chéad cheist, caithfear ceacht sciobtha a dhéanamh. Tá trí shampla den saghas ceiste atá muintir Quora ag lorg agus caithfidh tú an sampla ceart a roghnú. Rud beag teagascach b’fhéidir, ach is léir go luath go bhfuil foireann Quora dáiríre faoi chaighdeán an ábhair ar a suíomh.
- Agus ag caint ar fhoireann Quora: tá an feidhmchlár idirlín seo cruthaithe ag meitheal innealtóirí iar-Facebook, ina measc Adam d’Angelo an chéad phríomhfheidhmeannach teicneolaíochta ar Facebook. Seo dream daoine a bhfuil saineolas acu, ní hamháin ar chruthú gréasáin sóisialta, ach ar úsáid, mí-úsáid agus ar fhorbairt gréasáin sóisialta.
- Tuiscint agus taithí: leis an tuiscint agus taithí sin, thóg bunaitheoirí Quora gréasán a úsáideann an dá rudaí is tábhachtaí ar an idirlíon le deich mbliana anuas: sóisialtacht agus cuardach. Chruthaigh siad feidhmchlár leis an eolas seo a thit i lár na deighilte eatarthu. Is féidir an suíomh a chuardach ach is féidir cairde is comhluadar a leanúint nó is féidir brabhsáil trí ábhar nó amlíne. Ach mar bharr ar sin, tá Quora oscailte do chuardach Google; muna bhfuil spéis agat mar sin, tumadh isteach i Quora féin, gheobhaidh tú freagra ar do cheist ar Google ar aon nós. Chomh maith leis sin má tá foláirimh eocharfhocal socraithe agat ag Google.com/alerts, ba chóir go bhfaigheadh tú foláirimh ar an ábhar gur spéis leat ó Quora leis. Seo éagsúlacht bhunúsach idir Quora agus Facebook: tá Facebook, don chuid is mó, dúnta ó chuardaigh Google. Ar an taobh sóisialta de, tá Quora go hiomlán nasctha le Twitter, Google agus Facebook tríd a nApi-anna agus is féidir leat do chairde ar na gréasáin sin atá ag úsáid Quora a leanúint gan stró agus is féidir ceisteanna is freagraí a roinnt ar na gréasáin sin freisin.
- Daoine seachas ábhar; ábhar seachas daoine: Is minic a leantar daoine ar Twitter agus leathanaigh ar Facebook mar tá spéis agat san ábhar atá faoi chaibidil ag an duine nó ag an leathanach sin. Ag tógáil ar an mian sin, is féidir tosnú ar Quora trí ábhar a leanúint in ionad daoine. Is féidir cuirithe a chur amach chuig cairde ar leith agus sa chuireadh is féidir ábhar ar leith a lua leo. Mar shampla, nuair a thug mé cuireadh do mo mháthair, iarmhúinteoir Francaise, luaigh mé léi trí eocharfhocal a bhuail isteach go mbeadh sí abalta “múineadh” “An Fhrainc”, “Tuismitheoireacht” agus “Fraincis” a leanúint. Nó i mbéarlagair Quora féin “thug” mé ábhar di.
- Muinín: Ceann de na deacrachtaí is mó le Google, go háirithe anois ó tá sé go hiomlán “imeartha” ag na saineolaí optamú inneall cuardaigh ná nach féidir leat a bheith cinnte gurb iad na torthaí a fhaigheann tú na torthaí is fearr. Ar Quora is féidir vóta a chaitheamh ar son an freagra is fearr ar cheist, is féidir tráchtaireacht a fhágáil ar cheist agus fiú amháin, is féidir eagarthóireacht a dhéanamh, ní hamháin ar fhreagra ach ar an gceist féin. Chomh maith leis sin tá cnaipe chun buíochas a gabháil le freagróir ar leith. Mar sin, go háirithe ar na hábhair is conspóidí, d’fhéadfá a bheith cinnte go leor go bhfuil an pobal ag faireadh air.
Sásamh
Seoladh Quora i lár an samhraidh seo chaite ach bhí sé dúnta do chách seachas an dream a raibh cuireadh faighte acu. Osclaíodh é don saol mór le mí anuas, ach cheana, tá daoine mór le rá ar líne an-tógtha leis, An Scobleizer féin ina measc, a scríobh
“I’m really loving it. I have a hard time explaining why. I’m not the only one, either. Wow.”
Rabhadh amháin áfach: bí ar an eolas gur slogaide ama amach is amach é an suíomh seo agus níl aon nuálacht ag baint leis sin. Is féidir mise a leanúint ag http://www.quora.com/Roseanne-Smith
podcast, events
Audio: Conor O’Neill, Loudervoice, at “8 More Ways to Sell Even More Stuff”
This is the second of the presentations from “8 More Ways to Sell Even More Stuff”, the IIA Conference for Online Retailers that took place in the Burlington at the beginning of the month. Please excuse the slow pace of releasing them – we’ll get there!
[podcast]http://blog.iia.ie/wp-content/uploads/coneillLoudervoice.mp3[/podcast]
In this audio you will hear Conor O’Neill, CEO of Loudervoice, talking about how customer reviews can add credibility to your business and ultimately boost your sales.
(You can also listen to Darren Grant’s case study in a previous post or get the lot via iTunes.)
C’mon he looks like James Bond: how could you not want to listen to a man as dapper as that!
This event was sponsored by: | |
podcast, events, online retail
Audio: Darren Grant, OrganicSupermarket.ie at “8 More Ways to Sell Even More Stuff”
Last week the IIA organised the second in a series of events for online retailers “8 More Ways to Sell Even More Stuff“. I plonked my digital audio recorder on the podium to capture the presentations to share them with you. You can also download the presentations from the Resources section of the IIA website (membership required).
[podcast]http://blog.iia.ie/wp-content/uploads/dgrantorganicsupermarket.mp3[/podcast]
This case study is presented by Darren Grant of OrganicSupermarket.ie who kicks off telling us that he opened The Organic Supermarket in Blackrock the day that the recession officially started. Their business plan was as he says, “A Celtic Tiger business plan” and so he had to think of another way to grow his company that didn’t require credit from the bank that wasn’t forthcoming. He looked to the internet to grow his catchment from 4.5k in the South Dublin area to potentially 4.5m across Ireland.
This event was sponsored by: | |
Uncategorized
2010 Tech Blogger Of The Year Sinéad Cochrane Joins Redfly
Hi I’m Sinéad, the newest member of the RedFly Marketing team. I’m really excited about starting work with RedFly, as I have been searching for an innovative Irish company like RedFly for a long time. This blog post is just a little way for me to introduce myself to our readers.
You can read the rest of Sinéad’s introduction here.
events, online retail
State of the Net 20: Only 23% of businesses selling online. Wha?!
The latest issue of State of the Net is now available online. This is produced in conjunction with Amas and if you are in business in Ireland you should read it. Hard copies are available: just contact the IIA HQ!
This issue covers how Irish Marketers Use Digital, Children Online, Broadband Growth, Businesses Online, Trust Online, and Online Banking.
I’m all about online business at the moment (when am I not?!) but most especially online retail. If you’ve had your head stuck in the sand in the last few weeks you may not be aware that we are holding a conference for online retailers on Thursday, “8 More Ways to Sell Even More Stuff“.
So the reminder of the Information Society Statistics, Enterprise Statistics 2010 from the Central Statistics Office that only 23% of Irish Businesses surveyed are selling online made me gasp for two reasons:
- It’s shocking low.
- That’s a helluvan opportunity
If so few businesses are selling online that means there is space for many more especially in niche markets. Our two case studies at our event on Thursday for example, Garrendenny Lane and OrganicSupermarket.ie are cases in point. Both are niche in their own way and revel in it! I’m looking forward to hearing all about their online business (and how they mix it up with their offline businesses) on Thursday. I hope you can make it along too!