New eCommerce award open for entries

Best practice and excellence in Irish eCommerce will be recognised in the upcoming Retail Excellence Ireland Awards. These annual awards are a prestigious event in the Irish retail sector calendar, with over 600 entries each year. The winner of the new 'eCommerce Website of the Year' award will receive a digital marketing campaign to the value of EUR20,000, plus help from award sponsor Google with digital strategy and marketing. The awards are open to all retailers with eCommerce operations and you do not need to be a member of Retail Excellence Ireland to enter. The deadline for entries is 27 May. For more details see Amas.ie.

Irish firms prefer tape as backup

Nearly half of Irish organisations choose to back up sensitive data on tape, according to a survey of 500 companies by IT Force and ICS. Some 95 percent of respondents said they back up data in general, with 88 percent backing up on a daily basis. Furthermore, 61 percent have a documented disaster recovery plan. Tape was the most widespread method of backing up data at 45 percent, while 16 percent used disk-based methods. Some 23.2 percent used online backup services, up from 7 percent in 2010. In spite of the reliance on traditional backup methods, 38 percent admitted to a significant data loss incident. Among these, 18 percent said they never managed to retrieve all of the data that was lost. For more on this story go to SiliconRepublic.com.

Blogging improves lead generation: study

A new study by US software provider Hubspot shows why blogging is essential to small business's marketing plans. The annual 'State of Inbound Marketing' study found that, over the past two years, the percentage of respondents with a company blog has grown from 48 percent to 65 percent. Fifty-five percent of those who blog said blogging as a marketing tool came in at "below average cost". In addition, 57 percent of companies who blog say they've acquired a customer through a blog-generated lead, an increase of 11 percent since 2010. The survey also showed a direct correlation between blog post frequency and new customer acquisition. For more on this story, see Smallbiztrends.com.

EU surfers want native language content

A new study of European web surfers found that over half use a language other than their own when online, highlighting the importance of investment in online translation tools and multilingual content. The Eurobarometer study shows that 44 percent of online users in the EU feel they are missing out because web pages are not in a language they understand, and only 18 percent actually buy online in a foreign language. Trenton Moss, director at web consultancy Webcredible, said that language expansion has to be a key factor if firms want to extend their global reach, but warned that it is "not only about translating labels and content". People are often frustrated, he said, by sites that claim to be available in multiple languages but actually have just a few pages translated. For more, visit V3.co.uk.

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Clayton Hotel, Ballybrit, Galway, May 20th
This half-day training seminar presented by Praxisnow will show attendees how to market their business on the internet using 'organic placement' on search engines - emphasising Google, Bing and Yahoo. The course is designed for business owners and senior marketing staff to help them and manage their company's SEO initiative.

This new government-backed initiative aims to get companies with no web presence online for free and in less than 30 minutes. It's estimated that 40 percent of Irish SMEs do not currently have a website or online presence. Irish ISP Blacknight Solutions will provide participants with a free website and free domain hosting for one year. Google will provide a coupon for online advertising worth EUR100. Meanwhile, An Post will provide support and advice to participating businesses about selling online. The City and County Enterprise Boards are also involved in the project.