The recent report that claimed that Internet Explorer
(IE) usersscored lower on IQ tests than users of other Web browsers turns out to have been a hoax.

The ‘report,’ which was published as being from AptiQuant (a fictitious company), took the news world by storm, and was covered on influential websites like CNN, BBC, CNET and Forbes.

In reality, the AptiQuant website was setup by Tarandeep Gill, a web entrepreneur, to create awareness about the incompatibilities of IE6. Continue reading

Browser usage versus IQ: Are IE users living abroad less intelligent than others?

Update: The following news turned out to be a hoax – covered by news websites worldwide. We’ll leave our original story online – enjoy!

“Some marketers have long suspected Internet Explorer users may not be the brightest folk–especially those using antiquated and outdated versions. But now it’s official: a study of web users’ IQs found IE users are the least intelligent of all browser users. Those using IE6 had an average IQ of 80, just short of mental disability (the cut-off is 70). Continue reading

IBM is battling for analytics market share with Google Analytics and Adobe’s Omniture

IBM has launched a new cloud-based Web analytics and digital marketing suite, which can help businesses automate their expat marketing campaigns across online channels.

The IBM Coremetrics Web Analytics and Digital Marketing Optimization Suite will help companies understand their customers’ buying preferences and patterns across digital media, including web sites, social media networks, mobile phones, and tablets. Its goal is to aid companies in designing and delivering tailored online experiences and marketing promotions through real-time, personalized recommendations and email ad targeting. Continue reading

90% of people prefer to browse the web in their native language

Any business targeting expats–whether it’s a huge multinational or a web start-up–faces the hurdle of multiple languages. Chances are your customer base reads at least a little English, but it probably isn’t their language of choice.

Consider the findings of the 2006 book Can’t Read, Won’t Buy, which showed 90% of shoppers wanted access to online information in their native languages. A 2011 EU survey found the same holds true today: 90% of Europeans prefer to browse the web in their mother tongue. Continue reading

In the wake of survey results showing dissatisfied Facebook users and a sharp rise in advertising costs on Facebook, it would not surprise if many expat marketers were hoping for alternatives to Facebook’s monopoly. There are high hopes for Google+, which–despite being the product of a monopolist in another market–seems to offer at least a supplement to a Facebook-dominated social world. Continue reading

David Mercer tackled the question of whether it’s better to blog or run a forum on Business Insider. Blogs and forums are like bread and butter to the expat business, allowing companies to target expat communities with highly specific information and build business by word-of-mouth. They also help boost visibility in the SEO rankings:

conventional wisdom dictates that a blog is the best way to build up a decent body of highly engaging, relevant and SEO enhanced content, over time. This is certainly true and blogs have proven their worth time and time again. Continue reading

The cost of advertising on Facebook is rising fast, according to marketing firm TBG Ditigal’s Global Facebook Advertising Report for Q2 2011, with cost-per-click (CPC) rates up an average 74% across the US, UK, France and Germany. The figures could raise eyebrows among companies marketing to expats, many of whom leverage heavily on social media to build connections with the online expat community. Said the report: Continue reading

Internet marketing has given rise to all manner of bogus cottage industries, not least among them what Internet Marketing Direct CEO John Mu recently called “SEO cyber piracy.” According to Mu, a SEO pirate is a company offering cut-rate deals on internet marketing packages. The reason these companies can afford to undercut their competition is of course that their strategy is grounded firmly in generating garbage links en masse (if you run a blog you’ve probably seen a fair amount of their “product” in the comment sections of your posts). Continue reading

Posted in SEO.

HSBC’s annual Expat Explorer Survey may well be the most famous of all expat campaigns. It was launched in 2008 and has since grown into the world’s largest survey of expats. In 2010 there were over 4,000 respondents in 100 countries around the globe.

When HSBC announced the opening of its 2011 survey, Smart Insights‘ Dave Chaffey posted an insightful interview with Lisa Wood, Head of Marketing at HSBC Bank International. Continue reading