Experian, the global information services company, has further expanded its Marketing Services portfolio in Europe with the launch of Experian Hitwise in France. Experian's Internet measurement service will help domestic and international marketers operating in France to improve their online marketing, content development, affiliate strategies and search tactics.

Google.fr is the most visited website in France, accounting for 1 in every 10 Internet visits

During the week ending 30/01/10, Google France (www.google.fr) was the most visited website in France, picking up 10.38% of all French Internet visits - equivalent to 1 in every 10. Two other Google-owned properties also appeared in the list of the 10 most visited websites in France during the same week: YouTube (www.youtube.com) at number 4 and Google.com at number 7.

Facebook is the second most visited website in France, accounting for 6.83% of all French Internet visits during the week ending 30/01/10. The site accounted for just under half of all French visits to social networks over the same period, picking up over twice as many visits as second placed YouTube.

Windows Live Mail (mail.live.com, also known as Windows Live Hotmail) is the third most visited website in France and the most popular webmail service.

Social networking is a more popular activity in France than in the UK, but online shopping less so

Search Engines are the most visited category of website in France, accounting for 14.27% of all French Internet visits during the week ending 30/01/10. Social Networks and Forums rank second, picking up 12.85% of French Internet visits - more than the 10.61% the industry accounts for in the UK. Shopping and Classifieds websites, on the other hand, account for a higher percentage of Internet visits in the UK (8.74%) than in France (8.44%).

"France and the UK have very similar sized Internet populations, so it is interesting to compare the different ways in which the web is used in the two countries," commented Robin Goad, European Research Director at Experian Hitwise. "In France, more online time is spent on communication and entertainment than in the UK, with Entertainment websites and Webmail services also picking up a higher proportion of visits. On the other hand, people in the UK are more likely to use the Internet to make transactions and look for information. News and Media, Sports, Travel, and Education websites all account for a higher proportion of Internet visits in the UK than in France."

Visit Experian Hitwise France.

Thursday, 4 March, 2010, 3pm New Zealand (NZDST)

Retailers are realising the importance and value the Internet plays as a part of their businesses, and are becoming more sophisticated with their online tactics. In this webinar you will learn about useful tools to keep you abreast of your competitors and how to effectively use online research to develop evidence-based marketing plans. This webinar will cover:

• Learnings from Christmas 2009;
• The impact of social media on retail;
• Key online planning dates for 2010;
• Competitive Intelligence tools that will help you: monitor and chart competitor activity, identify threats and opportunities, foresee consumer habits based on historical trending;
• iPad - an in-depth analysis and opportunities for retailers.

Register for this Experian Hitwise Webinar.

According to Forrester, "Australian's spent more than $23 billion in online shopping last year. A figure that is expected to grow 8 percent a year to $32 billion by 2012." Therefore it is of utmost importance if you have an online e-commerce presence, to engage in effective conversion optimisation strategies on your website.

Conversion Optimisation is the process of analysing how users engage with your website; to identify opportunities for you to convert those potential customers into sales or leads, which in turn can help increase your bottom line and visitor engagement.

Experian Hitwise recently presented a webinar, which provided an introduction to conversion optimisation. The highlights included:

• An overview of best practice conversion optimisation;
• Different types of tests you can run on your website;
• Where to look to improve your conversion rate;
• Key elements for conversion optimisation - tactics, tools, technology and people;
• How to apply conversion optimisation to your business; and
• Case study examples.

Download your copy of the 'Experian Hitwise - How to make conversion optimisation work for your business' webinar recording.

For more information please email search.csm@hitwise.com or call 1800 816 997.

The following report lists the most popular terms typed into a search engine for the week ending 27/02/2010 that resulted in traffic to websites classified by Experian Hitwise within the 'Entertainment - Radio' industry. For example, the most popular search term was 'the edge' representing 2.67% of all search terms that delivered users to websites classified by Experian Hitwise in the 'Entertainment - Radio' industry.

Experian Hitwise newsletter subscribers will receive a 35% discount on one (or all) of these industry renowned events, to be held at the Hilton Sydney on 22-23 April 2010.

Search Engine Boot-Camp and Hall Expo Pass
If you are new to search and social media marketing then, Search Engine Boot-Camp is just for you, as all sessions take a 101 approach to the training.

Search Marketing Expo (SMX)
Targeted towards search and social media practitioners, you will learn how to improve your natural search ranking, social media marketing and paid search advertising.

eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit (EMOS)
With eight years of practice, the eMetrics Marketing Optimization Summit, which debuts in Australia this year, is for C-level online marketing strategists. Put your analytics (the data you already have), to work by streamlining your customer acquisition, conversion and retention. Hear from leading marketers and information technology executives, and see how they're increasing marketing ROI by optimising campaigns, communications, content, and overall customer experience.

For more information click here.

Those boisterous Brits and their audacious automobiles hit our shores recently and it appears as a result, their website featuring event and ticketing information has been given a turbo boost.

The website for Top Gear Live (www.topgearlive.co.nz) which is essentially a live rendition of the hit television show leapt up 1877 places in the Hitwise online rankings to reach 1192 within All Categories and become the 11th most popular Automotive site for the week ending 20/02/2010.

Not surprisingly, Google New Zealand (www.google.co.nz) was the biggest driver of traffic to the website contributing 37.23% of all upstream traffic for the same week and searches for 'top gear live' and 'top gear nz' accounting for a quarter of all searches (12 weeks ending 20/02/2010).

Meanwhile, the most highly represented Mosaic New Zealand Group to visit the website, was 'Symbols of Success' (12 rolling weeks ending 20/02/2010). This group which typically consists of upper class mature families, living in affluent urban areas in major cities, contributed 9.52% of all traffic sent to the website.

Symbols of Success also enjoy social interaction, which fuels a desire to keep up with the cutting edge of fashion and technology so perhaps they're looking to Jeremy and the boys for inspiration on which car will help them keep up and indeed zoom straight past 'The Jones'.