Digital Industry Guide
Welcome to the Netimperative Digital Industry Guide 2009, an online directory showcasing companies in the digital sector.
Divided into categories, this guide is a handy one-stop tool, helping you quickly and easily find appropriate contacts within the digital industry.
Each category is introduced with a sector summary to show how the listed companies fit into the bigger digital picture.
We have endeavoured to make the guide as comprehensive as possible by including every company's basic details. The guide also includes paid-for listings carrying additional information on companies.
We hope you find DIG 2009 useful and if you have any feedback regarding this guide please contact us on DIG@netimperative.com.
NEW THIS YEAR
Netimperative has made it even easier to be apart of the Digital Industry Guide by allowing companies to submit their entries online. Please use the following links:
- Create basic entry
- Free basic entry in to the digital industry guide.
- Create basic upgraded entry
- Upgraded entry for just £99.00.
- Create enhanced entry
- Enhanced entry for just £250.00.
Categories
Ad Sales Networks
Digital ad sales networks provide a link between media owners and advertisers. Media owners can turn to ad sales networks to outsource their digital sales activities, who will then negotiate with advertisers and media buying agencies on their behalf. The ad sales networks listed here exist to help you manage the delicate balance between the needs of the media owner, advertiser and consumer.
Ad Serving & Ad Management tools
Ad serving refers to the processes and services involved in placing adverts on sites. Managing ads can be a complex task, with special software needed to select, place, and track various types of adverts within the pages of a site. The ad serving technology companies listed here provide a range of software to Web publishers and agencies, to help you get the best results on ad campaigns.
Affiliate Marketing
Affiliate Marketing involves the use of publishers or affiliates to promote your goods or services on a pay for performance basis. As a merchant or advertiser, your links are placed in content and adverts that are featured on affiliate websites. When a Web user clicks on a link, they are connected to the retailer, and if they purchase something the affiliate receives a small agent or referral fee, often determined as a percentage of the money the customer spends. Most of the providers listed are affiliate networks, but there are also companies who offer programme management of direct programmes or those run through a network.
Content Management
Content management systems help publishers update content, such as text, images or coding, either automatically or manually. They can also manage transactions, such as credit card payments on ecommerce sites. The vendors listed here provide a range of CMS solutions for a range of business needs.
Content Production
Content production firms exist to help websites get the most out of their sites content, both in terms of wording and layout, including hyperlinks and buttons on a Web page. Most content production firms work with media owners to help them optimise their content strategy. This will revolve around the key texts within a homepage to content found deeper in the site and on transactional pages. The following companies provide a range of content production services to help you improve visitor satisfaction and retention.
Digital Consultants/ Professional Services
Digital consultants work with clients and agencies to help achieve their business goals through a combination of training and operational changes. Often companies need guidance developing their digital services but need to do so without considerable investment. Through a consultant, clients have access to deeper levels of expertise than would be feasible for them to retain in-house, and to purchase only as much service from the outside consultant as desired. The term 'professional services' refers to infrequent, technical, or unique functions performed by independent contractors or consultants. Examples of professional services contracts could include: accountants, appraisers, consultants, attorneys, law firms and real estate brokers.
Digital/Advertising Agencies
The digital age has revolutionised the concept of advertising, offering a raft of new ways to connect businesses with potential customers, who in turn can interact with advertising in a variety of new ways.
Email Marketing
Email marketing is a digital offshoot of direct marketing, and as a result has much the same advantages and disadvantages. Done right, it's a highly effective, fast and cost efficient way of advertising and building customer relationships.
Industry Bodies
As the digital industry comes of age, an increasing number of trade bodies are cropping up to help represent and define different sectors in the industry. Trade bodies aim to represent specific sectors to the outside world and provide a forum for the exchange of experiences and ideas.
Lead Generation/ Telemarketing
The practice of lead generation involves the matching of target consumers with corporations, in a bid to boost efficiency and sales. Lead generation services usually work by contacting potential customers on behalf of corporations, gaining a commission on the leads they generate, on either a pay-per-lead and/or a pay-per-sales basis. Listed below are a number of companies offering lead generation and telemarketing services that can help you implement a cost effective method of acquiring new distributors and customers.
Media owners/ Search engines
In the digital industry, media owners could be defined as any owner of a destination site that produces content, but it is often used in a more specific sense to refer to large scale destination sites and portals that generate high volumes of traffic and offer advertising or marketing opportunities. In a similar vein, search engine remain a first port of call for Internet users, offering a gateway to search for information on the web. The following media owners and search engines present a unique set of advertising or partnership opportunities to help you expand your firm's digital presence.
Mobile Marketing
The mobile phone is fast becoming a primary means of communication, not only for voice but also for digital services, such as email, video, music and photos. As mobile technology becomes increasingly sophisticated, with the likes of the iPhone and the Blackberry devices providing a full internet services, mobile marketing is beginning to live up to its potential. Listed below is a selection of mobile marketing firms that offer a range of services that will help you capitalise on this fast growing medium.
Moderation
With the rise of social media, users are beginning to expect a chance to provide feedback as a given. Media is increasingly becoming a two-way process, media owners allowing users to have their say through blog and video comments, forums and social networks. While user recommendations can provide invaluable marketing boost, if left unchecked these outlets can become platform for offensive or negative comments that are harmful to be associated with brand. Moderation is the process of eliminating or lessening extremes. A moderation service may remove unsuitable contributions from the website or forum in accordance with set guidelines. The flowing companies provide a range of moderation systems to help you control your social media and harness the power of community.
Public Relations Agencies
Public relations refers to building relationships between an organisation and its target audiences, in a bid to create awareness and project a positive image of the brand. There are numerous public relations agencies available, which work by liasing with clients to determine the desired message and target audience, and then delivering this inform ation to the media or directly to the public. Listed below are a number of PR firms which to help build and maintain relationships between your brand and its target audience.
Recruitment
Despite its growing influence, work in the digital industry can still be regarded as something of an emerging sector, with less academic qualifications and vocational skills available than more traditional media. This means that finding the right people to make up your team can be hard, time-consuming work, but there are a number of recruitment agencies that can help you in this task. The following listings provide a range of online recruitment services and recruitment agencies that can help you develop a recruitment strategy based on the latest trends, or search for suitable candidates on your behalf.
Research/ Survey tools
Research companies produce sector reports for you to buy, or you can opt to commission an independent research firm to provide specific data for you. Online surveys cut down on administrative time and can negate the need to shuffle through reams of answer papers. Potential respondents are also likely to see online surveys as less obtrusive and time-consuming than having to talk to a marketer out on the street or responding to a posted questionnaire. The survey tool firms here provide a range of services that can provide you with the software tools needed to create and manage a survey, as well as managing the entire process on your behalf. There are a variety of firms listed here that specialise in a number of different areas and research and survey methods, to cater for a variety of data gathering projects.
Rich Media / Streaming
In its broadest sense, rich media refers to any digital media that exhibits a dynamic motion, be it through video, audio or the scrolling text of a news ticker. As digital media evolves and broadband take up increases, rich media is becoming more and more ubiquitous. From streaming TV shows and online music stores to mobile TV and video search engines.
Search Technology
The ability to search for specific subjects online has always been a great time saving tool for users, media owners and advertisers alike. The practice has become so ubiquitous that users often expect a search function as navigation standard for all websites. Failing to include a search feature on a website can be a major detriment in terms of retaining visitors, especially if your site includes a large archive of material. There are a number of search technology firms listed here that provide a range of integrated search features to help you improve site navigation and enhance customer experience.
SEM (Paid Search)
Paid-for search (also called sponsored search) broadly refers to the practice of advertisers paying search engines to be included in a user's search results on relevant, pre-determined keywords. Paid search suppliers include the search engines themselves as well as agencies that are specialist in optimising campaigns with the search engines to maximise effectiveness. Paid search suppliers include the search engines themselves as well as agencies that are specialist in optimising campaigns with the search engines to maximise effectiveness. In these listings you will find a range of accessibility and usability specialists that can help you make the most out of your web site.
SEO (Organic Search)
Search engine optimisation (SEO) refers to the process of altering the structure, content and code of a website to increase its 'visibility' to search engines, and therefore appear higher in organic search results. . The numerous SEO companies here provide a range of services to help tap into the power of search engines and increase the visibility of your site on the Web.
Social Media
In recent years, the Internet has begun to live up to its promise of a connected world, driven by the popularity of social networks. A social media service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social media services provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as email and instant messaging services. The following companies can help you make the most out of these online communities.
Usability & Accessibility
User experience is a catch all term that encompasses two key disciplines- usability and accessibility. Usability refers to the overall experience of a site, in terms of efficiency, effectiveness and satisfaction. Accessibility refers to equality of access for everyone, meaning the removal of ‘barriers to access’ based to disability, technical or environmental limitations. In these listings you will find a range of accessibility and usability specialists that can help you make the most out of your web site.
Web Analytics
Web analytics is often used in the commercial sector to see which parts of a site or advertisment work and which ones do not. UK marketers are increasingly turning to Web analytics firms to help them monitor the success of their online and offline marketing campaigns.
Web Design & Build
Web design and build usually refers to the combined graphical and technical side of Web development, in which a website is created using a combination of images, style sheets or nested tables and computer coding. The Web design and build firms listed here offer a variety of services to help you manage the balancing act between looks and functionality.