Search is key for travel planning.

I just read " "The Traveler's Road to Decision," released from Google and OTX on Tuesday, there are some interesting point that I would summarize as following.

- Business travelers are more likely to seek out money-saving packages, access travel sites from their mobile phone, and become a rewards travel program member.

- 25% of business travelers are more likely to access information on their phone, and 83% of business travelers belong to a rewards program.

- Most Search advertisers still don't share the message of specific rewards programs in search campaign yet.

- Google found research to booking could stretch as far as 18.1 weeks on average. That's when more generic phrases are searched on.

- Consumers rely on search engines throughout the trip-planning process more so than travel search sites

- When consumers looking information about hotels, 81% rely on search engines when looking for business overnight accommodations vs. 67% personal; 74% business air travel vs. 59%; 60% destinations vs. 59% personal; and 51% vacation activities vs. 55% personal.

- Travel videos have also become important as people plan trips.

Online video is used through the entire planning process

I really love video , always watch it daily. It make me feel relax , not reading entire of day!

Travel videos have also become important as people plan trips. YouTube as the most popular site for videos on both business and leisure travel. Video helps people to visualize the surroundings and make better choices on where to stay and what to do. Also it created by peers are looked upon as being more trusted, compared with the videos that companies create to peddle goods and services. Online video is used through the entire planning process. When thinking about taking a trip, 63% of people turn to videos for personal travel vs. 66% for business; 47% and 56% when thinking about what type of trip to take; 60% and 64% when choosing a destination; 64% and 66% when looking for activity ideas; and 57% and 66% when deciding on accommodations and transportation, respectively. It all process that people decide where to go , what to do and where to stay. As social network and user generate content become more trustworthy source of content, people believe it!

Amazon to acquire Zappos.com for $847 Million

Wow, that's cool!. Amazon announced today to acquire apparel and footwear retailer Zappos.com for $847 Millon. Zappos, the popular online retailer ranked 3rd last week among online retailers within the Apparel and Accessories category behind Victoria’s Secret and Old Navy. Both Amazon and Zappos.com are well-known for the breadth of product offerings, so it is not surprising that they share much of their audiences. The deal would be the most expensive purchase in Amazon's recent history, according to FactSet Research. Amazon's priciest acquisition this decade was Audible Inc. - which provided audio editions of books and newspapers - for $ 280.7 million cash in early 2008, according to FactSet.



Zappos is one of company that utilize huge effort to social media that they make their customers feel warms, I think Amazon may adapt and utilize from those channels as well.

The target group of Amazon & Zappos is nearly same target that you can see figure above.

70-75 year old age bracket is one of the fastest-growing segments of the online population

It quite interesting to develop some market to senior citizens in USA. The 70-75 year old age bracket is one of the fastest-growing segments of the online population, according to the Pew Center for the Internet and American Life. In 2005, 25 percent of them used the Internet. Last year, 45 percent went online. Older surfers use the Web primarily for searches for things such as health information, e-mail, and buying products.

2.2 billion - Global Internet Population by 2013

I just found the new research from Forrester about projection of the Internet population will hit 2.2 billion people by 2013. Of that tally, 43 percent of the Internet population will be in Asia. There are some interesting points in the the research paper as following.

• 17 percent of the online population will reside in China. Tha'ts really big market. The search engine war between Baidu VS Google.
• Growth rates in the U.S., Western Europe and other industrialized nations will be between 1 percent and 3 percent.
• Online penetration in the U.S. will rise to 82 percent in 2013, up from 73 percent. That rate will put it on par with other Internet saturated countries. • Russia and Turkey growth will grow 8 percent a year.
• Africa and the Middle East will show strong growth to hit 13 percent of the online population in 2013.

Search continues to lead interactive spend followed by display.

I have just read about the trend report from Forrester about Interactive Marketing industry will reach $55 Billion dollars, There are some interesting point as following.

- Search continues to lead interactive spend followed by display.

- Social media assets (like internal blogs, community sites) are really the only emerging media getting traction in today's economic climate.

But anyway overall advertising budgets will decline. With dollars moving out of traditional media toward less expensive and more efficient interactive tools, marketers will actually need less money to accomplish their current advertising goals.

Google Analytics Individual Qualification Test

Finally I have a chance to take the Google Analytics Individual Qualification Test today. It quite good to have it. The questions which has in exam about 70 questions. That's take about 90 minutes. After that you will get the certificate like this immediately. It will valid only 18 months. Oh that need to re take an exam again!

Google Revenue Second Quarter 2009

Google reported revenues of $5.52 billion in the second quarter of 2009, representing a 3% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $5.37 billion.

Google Sites Revenues – Google-owned sites generated revenues of $3.65 billion, or 66% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2009. This represents a 3% increase over second quarter 2008 revenues of $3.53 billion.

Google Network Revenues – Google’s partner sites generated revenues, through AdSense programs, of $1.68 billion, or 31% of total revenues, in the second quarter of 2009. This represents a 2% increase from second quarter 2008 network revenues of $1.66 billion.

International Revenues – Revenues from outside of the United States totaled $2.91 billion, representing 53% of total revenues in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 52% in the first quarter of 2009 and second quarter of 2008.

Revenues from the United Kingdom totaled $715 million, representing 13% of revenues in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 14% in the second quarter of 2008.

Paid Clicks – Aggregate paid clicks, which include clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of AdSense partners, increased approximately 15% over the second quarter of 2008 and decreased approximately 2% over the first quarter of 2009.

Cost-Per-Click – Average cost-per-click, which includes clicks related to ads served on Google sites and the sites of AdSense partners, decreased approximately 13% over the second quarter of 2008 and increased approximately 5% over the first quarter of 2009.

TAC - Traffic Acquisition Costs, the portion of revenues shared with Google’s partners, decreased to $1.45 billion in the second quarter of 2009, compared to TAC of $1.47 billion in the second quarter of 2008 TAC as a percentage of advertising revenues was 27% in the second quarter of 2009, compared to 28% in the second quarter of 2008.

The majority of TAC is related to amounts ultimately paid to our AdSense partners, which totaled $1.24 billion in the second quarter of 2009. TAC also includes amounts ultimately paid to certain distribution partners and others who direct traffic to our website, which totaled $218 million in the second quarter of 2009.

Elle(21 years), Power Girl in Youtube!

Elle becomes the powerful girl in Youtube and Social Network now that she build the great community via Youtube and other social network sites. She now got almost 3 Million Channel Views with more than 64,o00 Subscribers in her channel. Elle , 21 years old running her own Beauty Channel that cover the makeup tutorials, hauls , tips and tricks and video blogs. This below is info from her profile. She uses many ways to connect with her target group to get update information via Facebook and Twitter. She has more than 11,500 followers in Twitter account. She also running the contest via her channel as well.

This kind of thing is really interesting and you can see how powerful if we use it in the right way.

Let's check it out here youtube here : http://www.youtube.com/user/AllThatGlitters21

This is some figure that her channel quite performs very well,

#28 - Most Subscribed (All Time) - Gurus

#22 - Most Viewed (Today 15 July 2009) - Gurus

#94 - Most Viewed (Today Today 15 July 2009) - Partners

#26 - Most Viewed (This Week) - Gurus

#9 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Gurus

#69 - Most Viewed (This Month) - Partners

Facebook 250 Million Users Count Officially

It just 3 months ago that they annouce that Facebook user reach 200 million users, today (15 July 2009), Mark announce again that they got officially 250 millions. That's amazing 3 month, 50 million new users and back to January (6months and half) got 150 million, it means in 6 months period , they got new 100 million users worldwide. That's power of social network!

Let to continue follow the Twitter , this year, their annual growth more than 1164% comparing to facebook 248%