Read Part 1 (Newbie Online Secret Number 1 - Using The Proper 'Tools')
One of the newbie most common mistakes is not targeting right market. This contributed to the fall of newbie in online business for the first six month.
This common mistake is not only happen in newbie marketer, but experienced marketers as well. They are choosing a market that is too broad.
How can you tell when the market is too broad?
Normally, you will find very low conversion rates and very high traffic with little sales. Even though you change your offer, they are still no people want to buy it.
There are two important areas that you have to look into. They need a close match between the two as well.
i.) Product
ii.) Keyword describing the market
For example: "internet marketing". There are plenty of products to choose from. You can name it. The mistake that most newbie or even myself at the beginning stage driving traffics with "internet marketing tips/secrets". The keywords are absolutely relevant. Unfortunately, there aren't targeted for products.
See....There are heap of people of all ages searching the information to succeed in internet marketing. If I were to promote the general e-book about dating, there are thousands of competitors with resources and brand exposure.
Unless your information is so special to else they can get the same information from other website because there are unlimited options out there.
To properly target into the "internet marketing" niche, you need to find a smaller segment market and research products that can fit your targeted audience.
To excel you have to specialize in a subject. For example, if you decide to target those who are sick of their job and looking for replacement income from online business. You will definitely not using "internet marketing tips/secrets" keywords starting your pay-per-click campaign.
If you focus on the one subject your audience most interested in, I can guarantee that your sales will go through the roof. Of course, back to basis, you have to do proper market research before start. The key interests' area can be life-long hobby or expertise from your education or work life.
Seriously, it is difficult for newbie to go market that has limited knowledge. If you don't understand your market well then you really don't know what they're looking for, or whether it's the type of information they'll pay a price to get their hands on.
I will reveal another trick here on narrowing down your market to a targeted "sub-market". You can go to Amazon.com and check the popular titles. I suggest you revisit your research if you encountered trouble with market you're in currently.
You might be in the wrong market. However, it might also be that you've targeted the wrong product to that market, or just need to switch over to a different segment of that market.
If you think market-targeting might be what's holding you back, and then don't hesitate in making the necessary changes. It is far better to take a step back now, than keep plugging away with the same results for another month or more. A quick course correction may be all you need to start seeing your desired results.
Saturday, October 20, 2007
Newbie Online Secret Number 1 - Using The Proper 'Tools'
Out in the market, there are heap of people want to be successful online. Unfortunately, there are 95% newbie failing in first six months. If you observe closely, you will realize that most of them are doing the business with a "trying" mentality. They reluctant to invest money something there are uncertain. There are running the businesses with employee mindsets. Basically, there are the three major tools you need to have to project a professionalism image to your customer. There are a proper domain name, real web hosting and an autoresponder. The perception of credibility is the big factor that influences customer's buying decisions when they see your URL.
For example: if there are two "Bass Fishing" eBook URL below, which URL would you rather click on it?
hostingforfree.com/joshua/bassfishing
or
bashfishing.com/
It's really obvious right? By looking at the URL, you intuitively believe found information close to what you're looking for. With the free hosting, the newbie have limited control over editing your web pages, uploading images and inserting code for things like autoresponders. Maybe some of might not know what is an autoresponder. Autoresponder is tools helping capturing contact information of visitors come to your site. By the way, most of the sales not made from first visit. You need name and email address to follow-up with them.
The two major tools that I have covered above is a must for all internet marketers, either newbie or Gurus. There are no exceptional.
One more great tool that should posses is the 'link cloaking'. It doesn't have significant effect to the regular merchants, but it's crucial for affiliate marketers. There are complaints saying the hop link is too ugly and customer do not want to click on them, hop link is too "obvious" and people will avoid clicking on them for the sake denying you a commission and commissions stealing by replacing your affiliate nicknames.
In the marketing, there are lots of different link-cloaking tools available. You can either use the pay "script" if you are within your budget or you can use the free cloaking service by tinyurl. All in all, the tools recommended above are necessary for a newbie success online.
Continue reading..... Newbie Online Secret Number 2 - Targeting The Right Market
Must read:
A Wealthy Marketer Shows How To Get Results Online
For example: if there are two "Bass Fishing" eBook URL below, which URL would you rather click on it?
hostingforfree.com/joshua/bassfishing
or
bashfishing.com/
It's really obvious right? By looking at the URL, you intuitively believe found information close to what you're looking for. With the free hosting, the newbie have limited control over editing your web pages, uploading images and inserting code for things like autoresponders. Maybe some of might not know what is an autoresponder. Autoresponder is tools helping capturing contact information of visitors come to your site. By the way, most of the sales not made from first visit. You need name and email address to follow-up with them.
The two major tools that I have covered above is a must for all internet marketers, either newbie or Gurus. There are no exceptional.
One more great tool that should posses is the 'link cloaking'. It doesn't have significant effect to the regular merchants, but it's crucial for affiliate marketers. There are complaints saying the hop link is too ugly and customer do not want to click on them, hop link is too "obvious" and people will avoid clicking on them for the sake denying you a commission and commissions stealing by replacing your affiliate nicknames.
In the marketing, there are lots of different link-cloaking tools available. You can either use the pay "script" if you are within your budget or you can use the free cloaking service by tinyurl. All in all, the tools recommended above are necessary for a newbie success online.
Continue reading..... Newbie Online Secret Number 2 - Targeting The Right Market
Must read:
A Wealthy Marketer Shows How To Get Results Online
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Is E-Wealth Really Possible For You?
Even though you see web sites every day that say online marketing is your effortless path to wealth, it's not necessarily as easy as that. Even though many will try, few will succeed.
For some, the jobs they have at present are unsatisfying, or their daily lives are in some way of the filling. They may think that online marketing provides a means for effortless wealth and fulfillment. Indeed, many struggle today, holding two or three jobs just to get by, unable to save much money if any at all. With these types of burdens, there's little time for fun activities or just plain relaxing. Always, finances are a worry, or how to pay this or that bill next. More and more time is spent worrying about money or pursuing ways to actively make it so as to "get ahead." This can become an unending and vicious cycle.
This is where the Internet can help you. Literally billions of people every day use the Internet; in addition, the Internet is, indeed, a gateway to wealth for many people who have discovered its secrets. Every day, more and more people access the Internet to make purchases online, discover information they didn't know about before, or to do other activities that can make the next innovative entrepreneur rich relatively quickly. These are all commodities that customers need to use, buy or sell.
Because it seems deceptively simple by all appearances, every day, men and women go on the Internet in hopes of striking it rich. Simply going online and looking for results on any search engine will show you millions of sites that promise their programs will be what will make you rich.
Even though it seems exciting, of course, for most of these programs, it's too good to be true. Yes, indeed, these people promise you that these programs will make you rich, especially if you send them your money and millions of other customers do too, but it's not likely that most of these programs will make you rich themselves. How do you sort the valid opportunities from the useless?
First, do your homework and be prepared to actually work for what you get. If you do find a truly valid good program, it will be one where you will have to put in the time you need to so as to succeed. There is no such thing as "getting rich quick," unless, of course, you win the lottery or come into some sort of inheritance. In short, you have to work for what you get; the key is to find something that you are good at and enjoy, and that really is a valid opportunity. You will be spending hours doing this, so you might as well enjoy doing it.
Second, persevere. It's not likely you'll make money right away; you have to put in some time and a significant amount of effort to make anything succeed, even something that truly is meant to be your ticket to wealth. As you work, you'll develop strategies and probably a business plan as well. You will have a learning curve as you get your feet under you, but then it will become easier as you integrate your talents.
In short, the biggest secret to making your online business a success is to persevere. It won't be easy and most won't succeed because they don't understand that you need to work hard in order to succeed anywhere, even online. You'll need to strive and get through some difficult times, probably, before you eventually do succeed.
There are many courses, audio and video recordings, and e-books that will provide you a good place to start. Many of these are free or very low cost. You may also want to invest, eventually, in some mentoring programs or one-on-one by coaching experts; however, this is a significantly more expensive method than free or very low cost more "mainstream" methods, and therefore, you'll want to wait until you have some disposal income to try these out, if you ever do. Whatever you do, don't buy into a "get rich quick" marketing scheme that will do nothing more than take your money. Of course, you will need a few basic elements, such as your own web site, so you'll need such tools as a hosted service. However, these are basic tools that can be bought anywhere and don't need to be geared to a particular marketing system.
Once you've got this in place, you'll need to get your sites published so that you increase traffic to your site and eventually, it's hoped, to convert some of that traffic to buying customers.
There are many different ways you can generate traffic. One way is to write articles and publish them. Advertising is key to your business's success. Many authors have written excellent materials on this particular subject. Do some online research and read up on this type of information, to give yourself a place to start.
Another thing you can do as you experience this learning curve is to focus on one particular element at a time before you move on to the next. This will give you time to integrate each element thoroughly so that you learn marketing as quickly as you can while still doing so very efficiently.
Even though it helps to diversify and you can do so in several related areas, beware of spreading yourself too thin and trying to do too many completely diverse things. This only makes you look like a "jack of all trades, but master of none." In addition, if you spread yourself too thin, you won't have the focus you need for a specific area. Focus on areas that are related to each other and only one or two at a time. As you become more expert, you can elaborate further later. Your focus now is to become good in one or two particular areas so that you can be seen as an expert in that field or niche.
Many hopes that you will be inspired to pursue your own dreams as you read this, knowing that even though odds may seem insurmountable, they are not. Steady and careful effort is the way to success. May you have success in everything you desire.
By Kevin Sinclair
Make sure you've read:
Viral Marketing Techniques - 5 Top Tips
The Golden Keys of E-Commerce
For some, the jobs they have at present are unsatisfying, or their daily lives are in some way of the filling. They may think that online marketing provides a means for effortless wealth and fulfillment. Indeed, many struggle today, holding two or three jobs just to get by, unable to save much money if any at all. With these types of burdens, there's little time for fun activities or just plain relaxing. Always, finances are a worry, or how to pay this or that bill next. More and more time is spent worrying about money or pursuing ways to actively make it so as to "get ahead." This can become an unending and vicious cycle.
This is where the Internet can help you. Literally billions of people every day use the Internet; in addition, the Internet is, indeed, a gateway to wealth for many people who have discovered its secrets. Every day, more and more people access the Internet to make purchases online, discover information they didn't know about before, or to do other activities that can make the next innovative entrepreneur rich relatively quickly. These are all commodities that customers need to use, buy or sell.
Because it seems deceptively simple by all appearances, every day, men and women go on the Internet in hopes of striking it rich. Simply going online and looking for results on any search engine will show you millions of sites that promise their programs will be what will make you rich.
Even though it seems exciting, of course, for most of these programs, it's too good to be true. Yes, indeed, these people promise you that these programs will make you rich, especially if you send them your money and millions of other customers do too, but it's not likely that most of these programs will make you rich themselves. How do you sort the valid opportunities from the useless?
First, do your homework and be prepared to actually work for what you get. If you do find a truly valid good program, it will be one where you will have to put in the time you need to so as to succeed. There is no such thing as "getting rich quick," unless, of course, you win the lottery or come into some sort of inheritance. In short, you have to work for what you get; the key is to find something that you are good at and enjoy, and that really is a valid opportunity. You will be spending hours doing this, so you might as well enjoy doing it.
Second, persevere. It's not likely you'll make money right away; you have to put in some time and a significant amount of effort to make anything succeed, even something that truly is meant to be your ticket to wealth. As you work, you'll develop strategies and probably a business plan as well. You will have a learning curve as you get your feet under you, but then it will become easier as you integrate your talents.
In short, the biggest secret to making your online business a success is to persevere. It won't be easy and most won't succeed because they don't understand that you need to work hard in order to succeed anywhere, even online. You'll need to strive and get through some difficult times, probably, before you eventually do succeed.
There are many courses, audio and video recordings, and e-books that will provide you a good place to start. Many of these are free or very low cost. You may also want to invest, eventually, in some mentoring programs or one-on-one by coaching experts; however, this is a significantly more expensive method than free or very low cost more "mainstream" methods, and therefore, you'll want to wait until you have some disposal income to try these out, if you ever do. Whatever you do, don't buy into a "get rich quick" marketing scheme that will do nothing more than take your money. Of course, you will need a few basic elements, such as your own web site, so you'll need such tools as a hosted service. However, these are basic tools that can be bought anywhere and don't need to be geared to a particular marketing system.
Once you've got this in place, you'll need to get your sites published so that you increase traffic to your site and eventually, it's hoped, to convert some of that traffic to buying customers.
There are many different ways you can generate traffic. One way is to write articles and publish them. Advertising is key to your business's success. Many authors have written excellent materials on this particular subject. Do some online research and read up on this type of information, to give yourself a place to start.
Another thing you can do as you experience this learning curve is to focus on one particular element at a time before you move on to the next. This will give you time to integrate each element thoroughly so that you learn marketing as quickly as you can while still doing so very efficiently.
Even though it helps to diversify and you can do so in several related areas, beware of spreading yourself too thin and trying to do too many completely diverse things. This only makes you look like a "jack of all trades, but master of none." In addition, if you spread yourself too thin, you won't have the focus you need for a specific area. Focus on areas that are related to each other and only one or two at a time. As you become more expert, you can elaborate further later. Your focus now is to become good in one or two particular areas so that you can be seen as an expert in that field or niche.
Many hopes that you will be inspired to pursue your own dreams as you read this, knowing that even though odds may seem insurmountable, they are not. Steady and careful effort is the way to success. May you have success in everything you desire.
By Kevin Sinclair
Make sure you've read:
Viral Marketing Techniques - 5 Top Tips
The Golden Keys of E-Commerce
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Widen Your Web Site Audience with RSS Feeds
RSS, which stands for "really simple syndication," is a technology that allows for easy, automatic distribution of Web site content. Your content is fed to special readers as soon as it is published, allowing subscribers to read it immediately. It is a relatively quick and easy way to expose users to fresh content, while simultaneously helping promote your site to search engines.
RSS feeds can be a highly effective marketing tool that can increase your exposure to users and improve your search engine ranking. RSS feeds are free, and all major blogging software comes with the capability to publish a feed.
These feeds creates a unique, automatically updating Web page that feed readers can understand. When someone subscribes to your RSS feed, they copy that page's URL into a feed reader. The feed reader lets subscribers easily view excerpts or full articles you've published on your site.
Someone receiving your content via RSS may no longer visit your site, which may seem like you're shooting yourself in the foot. However, publishers who enable RSS believe that by making it easier to share their content, they're more likely to lure people back to the site. Also, many people browse large RSS directories looking for things to read. By submitting your feed to such a directory (known as an aggregator) your most recent story always gets added to these services. This increases your exposure, and it adds to the overall number of sites that link to you, an important factor in search engine optimization.
The only drawback to RSS is the amount of time it takes to keep creating fresh content. If you don't publish new content on a regular basis, your blog will not only lose its utility to those who read and subscribe to its RSS feed, it will also lose favor with search engines.
There are many different RSS feed formats available including Atom, straight XML, and numerous RSS 1.0 and 2.0 formats. Not all feed readers can understand all formats. Services like FeedBurner will automatically convert your RSS feed into every available format for the widest range of readers. FeedBurner also adds useful traffic-tracking tools that let you know how many people are using your feed and what stories they're clicking on.
Remember, though, that on the Web, content is king. While RSS will often increase your exposure, ultimately it is the overall quality of your content, your ability to engage an audience, and your site's usefulness that will draw and keep users.
RSS feeds can be a highly effective marketing tool that can increase your exposure to users and improve your search engine ranking. RSS feeds are free, and all major blogging software comes with the capability to publish a feed.
These feeds creates a unique, automatically updating Web page that feed readers can understand. When someone subscribes to your RSS feed, they copy that page's URL into a feed reader. The feed reader lets subscribers easily view excerpts or full articles you've published on your site.
Someone receiving your content via RSS may no longer visit your site, which may seem like you're shooting yourself in the foot. However, publishers who enable RSS believe that by making it easier to share their content, they're more likely to lure people back to the site. Also, many people browse large RSS directories looking for things to read. By submitting your feed to such a directory (known as an aggregator) your most recent story always gets added to these services. This increases your exposure, and it adds to the overall number of sites that link to you, an important factor in search engine optimization.
The only drawback to RSS is the amount of time it takes to keep creating fresh content. If you don't publish new content on a regular basis, your blog will not only lose its utility to those who read and subscribe to its RSS feed, it will also lose favor with search engines.
There are many different RSS feed formats available including Atom, straight XML, and numerous RSS 1.0 and 2.0 formats. Not all feed readers can understand all formats. Services like FeedBurner will automatically convert your RSS feed into every available format for the widest range of readers. FeedBurner also adds useful traffic-tracking tools that let you know how many people are using your feed and what stories they're clicking on.
Remember, though, that on the Web, content is king. While RSS will often increase your exposure, ultimately it is the overall quality of your content, your ability to engage an audience, and your site's usefulness that will draw and keep users.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
How to Make Your Podcast Guest Look Like a Rock Star
Having a knowledgeable expert on your podcast positions you as an industry leader. That's why it's important to do everything you can to make your expert look like a rock star.
Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts when it comes to podcast interviews, specifically focusing on how to make your guest look like a rock star (or thought leader).
Do research on the person you’re going to interview. Prepare some questions, get their bio and write down all the things that make them great.
Do get the spelling and pronunciation of your guest’s name correct before you start recording.
On the scheduled day and time of the interview, don’t leave your guest scrambling to figure out how to contact you. Since you arranged the interview, you have to make contact with your guest.
Do send interview questions at least a week before the interview. The day before is no good.
Do remind your guest that the interview is being recorded. This will put your guest at ease and help him or her to relax.
Do let your guest do the talking. He or she is the expert, so let their expertise shine through.
Do edit all the verbal clutter your guest makes. This will cause you extra work, but doing so makes your guest sound polished and articulate.
Do follow up with a thank you email and a link to the podcast interview that your guest appears on.
Do provide instructions on how the person can access and download their interview. Not everyone is well versed on how to listen to a podcast.
Do provide your audience with a URL to your guest’s website under a special section called Show Resources.
Do provide a blurb that your guest can copy and paste and send off to their colleagues, network and/or mailing list. This helps you to increase your audience and gain additional subscribers by using your guest’s database to promote your podcast.
By Leesa Barnes
Here’s a list of do’s and don’ts when it comes to podcast interviews, specifically focusing on how to make your guest look like a rock star (or thought leader).
Do research on the person you’re going to interview. Prepare some questions, get their bio and write down all the things that make them great.
Do get the spelling and pronunciation of your guest’s name correct before you start recording.
On the scheduled day and time of the interview, don’t leave your guest scrambling to figure out how to contact you. Since you arranged the interview, you have to make contact with your guest.
Do send interview questions at least a week before the interview. The day before is no good.
Do remind your guest that the interview is being recorded. This will put your guest at ease and help him or her to relax.
Do let your guest do the talking. He or she is the expert, so let their expertise shine through.
Do edit all the verbal clutter your guest makes. This will cause you extra work, but doing so makes your guest sound polished and articulate.
Do follow up with a thank you email and a link to the podcast interview that your guest appears on.
Do provide instructions on how the person can access and download their interview. Not everyone is well versed on how to listen to a podcast.
Do provide your audience with a URL to your guest’s website under a special section called Show Resources.
Do provide a blurb that your guest can copy and paste and send off to their colleagues, network and/or mailing list. This helps you to increase your audience and gain additional subscribers by using your guest’s database to promote your podcast.
By Leesa Barnes
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
5 Reasons to Transcribe Your Podcast
Podcasting is the method of distributing files, or information (Audio/Video) over the internet for the audience to listen or view. Often times Podcasters monetize their podcast by having advertisers sponsoring their show. But many Podcasters have difficulty monetizing there Podcast following the traditional advertising model.
This article talks about 5 reasons how Podcasters can monetize their podcast by transcribing.
Following are the top 5 Reasons to Transcribe your podcast and Monetize from them
1. Make your Podcast Transcripts available for SALE. Transcribe your Podcast and make it available for SALE. This way people who prefer to read (than to listen) can buy your Podcast transcript and read them at leisure.
2. Make your Podcast search engine (Google/Yahoo/Live) friendly and be more visible on the web by transcribing your Podcasts.
3. Millions of people speak English, but they don’t all speak the same English. English pronunciation is much different in different parts of the world; Cover broader audience by breaking the accent barrier, put it in text so anyone on the web from any part of the world can read them.
4. Not everyone can listen/hear (hearing impaired) your Podcast, transcribe your Podcast and make it available to those who much deserve.
5. Use formatted transcripts embedded with banner links and other marketing materials for advertising and monetizes your podcasts. This can be your second source of advertisement revenue other than your traditional podcast advertisement.
This article talks about 5 reasons how Podcasters can monetize their podcast by transcribing.
Following are the top 5 Reasons to Transcribe your podcast and Monetize from them
1. Make your Podcast Transcripts available for SALE. Transcribe your Podcast and make it available for SALE. This way people who prefer to read (than to listen) can buy your Podcast transcript and read them at leisure.
2. Make your Podcast search engine (Google/Yahoo/Live) friendly and be more visible on the web by transcribing your Podcasts.
3. Millions of people speak English, but they don’t all speak the same English. English pronunciation is much different in different parts of the world; Cover broader audience by breaking the accent barrier, put it in text so anyone on the web from any part of the world can read them.
4. Not everyone can listen/hear (hearing impaired) your Podcast, transcribe your Podcast and make it available to those who much deserve.
5. Use formatted transcripts embedded with banner links and other marketing materials for advertising and monetizes your podcasts. This can be your second source of advertisement revenue other than your traditional podcast advertisement.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Top 10 Direct Mail Mistakes
There are some people who make a career out of direct mail. Most people, however, get the general idea but make errors along the way. Below are the most common mistakes that you will encounter with a direct mail campaign.
Using the wrong list. Perhaps the biggest mistake that you can make is to use a mailing list that does not represent your target audience. Too many people send out mailings, receive no response, and wonder why. Make sure that your list is current and targeted to meet your needs.
Poor copy. It may only be 100 or even 25 words, but they need to be the right words. Take the time to do several rewrites until the copy will grab the reader's attention.
No call to action. If you don't tell the reader what you want them to do, it defeats the point of sending the direct mail piece. Do you want them to call you? Email you? Send in the enclosed postcard? Buy something? Make it clear what they should do or they will not respond.
No testing. Too many people learn the hard way that their direct mail piece is not effective. It should be common practice to test out anything you plan to use to market or advertise your business in order to see if it makes an impact.
Using hype over meat. It is all too common to hype your product or service with superlatives instead of highlighting and explaining the actual benefits of your product or service.
Not proofing the copy. There are too many stories of great direct marketing pieces that were missing phone numbers, addresses, or other key information. Errors in the copy are also too prevalent. Proofreading is an important aspect of all of your marketing campaigns. If you feel that you are lacking in those skills, hire someone to proof your copy. Or ask a colleague who has a way with words to take a look at your text.
Not focusing on your headline. One of the reasons we all toss direct mail quickly is because it does not grab us. Somewhere between boring headlines and gimmicks is a smart use of a headline that catches someone's eye without insulting their intelligence. You only have a few seconds to grab the reader, therefore you need to put great stock into your headline.
Highlighting form over function. One common mistake is placing too much focus on the design elements of the direct mailing piece, which results in marvelous four-color graphics, interesting shapes, and eye-catching color, but a discrediting loss of content.
No follow up. Many businesses send out brochures, fliers, and other materials with no follow-up plan. Follow-up refers to calling, mailing additional information, or at least being prepared to fulfill requests for the product or for additional information.
Not tapping into expert advice. Direct mailing has been around for many years because when it works it works very well. Many people have spent their careers mastering the art of direct mailing. They know the right words to use and the best ways to get results. However, far too few people tap into this bank of knowledge. Do your research and learn from experts in the field.
Using the wrong list. Perhaps the biggest mistake that you can make is to use a mailing list that does not represent your target audience. Too many people send out mailings, receive no response, and wonder why. Make sure that your list is current and targeted to meet your needs.
Poor copy. It may only be 100 or even 25 words, but they need to be the right words. Take the time to do several rewrites until the copy will grab the reader's attention.
No call to action. If you don't tell the reader what you want them to do, it defeats the point of sending the direct mail piece. Do you want them to call you? Email you? Send in the enclosed postcard? Buy something? Make it clear what they should do or they will not respond.
No testing. Too many people learn the hard way that their direct mail piece is not effective. It should be common practice to test out anything you plan to use to market or advertise your business in order to see if it makes an impact.
Using hype over meat. It is all too common to hype your product or service with superlatives instead of highlighting and explaining the actual benefits of your product or service.
Not proofing the copy. There are too many stories of great direct marketing pieces that were missing phone numbers, addresses, or other key information. Errors in the copy are also too prevalent. Proofreading is an important aspect of all of your marketing campaigns. If you feel that you are lacking in those skills, hire someone to proof your copy. Or ask a colleague who has a way with words to take a look at your text.
Not focusing on your headline. One of the reasons we all toss direct mail quickly is because it does not grab us. Somewhere between boring headlines and gimmicks is a smart use of a headline that catches someone's eye without insulting their intelligence. You only have a few seconds to grab the reader, therefore you need to put great stock into your headline.
Highlighting form over function. One common mistake is placing too much focus on the design elements of the direct mailing piece, which results in marvelous four-color graphics, interesting shapes, and eye-catching color, but a discrediting loss of content.
No follow up. Many businesses send out brochures, fliers, and other materials with no follow-up plan. Follow-up refers to calling, mailing additional information, or at least being prepared to fulfill requests for the product or for additional information.
Not tapping into expert advice. Direct mailing has been around for many years because when it works it works very well. Many people have spent their careers mastering the art of direct mailing. They know the right words to use and the best ways to get results. However, far too few people tap into this bank of knowledge. Do your research and learn from experts in the field.
Sunday, September 16, 2007
What is the best way to achieve a high conversion rate with my Internet marketing campaign?
The success of an Internet marketing campaign can be measured by a high conversion rate. Depending on your site and your type of business, your conversion rate may be based on convincing readers to become subscribers, encouraging people to buy something, or enticing prospective customers from another site with an ad. The best way to convert users is to provide them with all the information they need to make an informed decision.
Because online marketing is largely direct response, you need to encourage the customer to act. And action is determined by letting customers know what and why they should click. They need a compelling differentiated benefit:
Compelling because it sparks them to act.
Differentiated because it is different than they can get elsewhere.
Benefit because they have to get value out of it.
You may want to lure customers to your site, for instance, with a discount on a service you provide. You advertise the discount in an email newsletter. A potential customer is exposed to the email link and is attracted to the discount that you are offering. When potential customers click on the link, they need to go to a page that is designed to educate them about the discount and entice them to sign up for your service. You will most likely lose customers if that link goes to your home page because home pages have the lowest conversion rate in terms of purchasing.
In addition, by sending people to a specific page to learn more about your offer, you can easily measure the conversion rate A?? the percentage who sign up for your offer compared with the total visitors to that page. Keep in mind that it often takes people more than one visit to a site to convert them.
make sure to read these articles:
Top 10 Internet Marketing Mistakes
Make Some Noise
Technorati Profile
Because online marketing is largely direct response, you need to encourage the customer to act. And action is determined by letting customers know what and why they should click. They need a compelling differentiated benefit:
Compelling because it sparks them to act.
Differentiated because it is different than they can get elsewhere.
Benefit because they have to get value out of it.
You may want to lure customers to your site, for instance, with a discount on a service you provide. You advertise the discount in an email newsletter. A potential customer is exposed to the email link and is attracted to the discount that you are offering. When potential customers click on the link, they need to go to a page that is designed to educate them about the discount and entice them to sign up for your service. You will most likely lose customers if that link goes to your home page because home pages have the lowest conversion rate in terms of purchasing.
In addition, by sending people to a specific page to learn more about your offer, you can easily measure the conversion rate A?? the percentage who sign up for your offer compared with the total visitors to that page. Keep in mind that it often takes people more than one visit to a site to convert them.
make sure to read these articles:
Top 10 Internet Marketing Mistakes
Make Some Noise
Technorati Profile
Thursday, September 13, 2007
It works. It's cheap. So come and learn it
If you have a website, it’s clear that you are really interested in driving traffic to your site.
It’s basic in internet marketing. You can find thousands of articles revealing you the secret of
attracting visitors to you site. But it is clear that there are only few basic principles of it.
1 You can buy it
2 You can get it from search engines
3 You can take it from other resources (forums, blogs, free social recorces)
The first method is really good, but it’s expensive. What if don’t have a huge budget and you are a broad-minded person.
If you are from this category, and I think you are or what are doing here? You look for the cheap way of getting what you want. So the other two are just what you’re looking for.
I’m not going to tell you about SEO, because I’m not good at it. But it is very good for driving traffic.
What about the third way. It’s clear too. You know about all this web opportunities we have.
But it can take all your time. You have to register everywhere, spend lots of time posting something about your business. That is absolutely unsuitable.
What are the secret ways?
Forums can be used to create a buzz about your site and eventual traffic creation. What if you offer some of its residents to be monetized for posting and putting links to your site. If think there is a huge crowd of young people who want to earn something just doing something in their freetime. Some bloggers are alike with them. There are thousands of blogs, and I think you can find some suitable for your business. But not all of them are well monetized. Try to make a both sides advantageous offer.
Be broad-minded. Spend less, get more.
It’s basic in internet marketing. You can find thousands of articles revealing you the secret of
attracting visitors to you site. But it is clear that there are only few basic principles of it.
1 You can buy it
2 You can get it from search engines
3 You can take it from other resources (forums, blogs, free social recorces)
The first method is really good, but it’s expensive. What if don’t have a huge budget and you are a broad-minded person.
If you are from this category, and I think you are or what are doing here? You look for the cheap way of getting what you want. So the other two are just what you’re looking for.
I’m not going to tell you about SEO, because I’m not good at it. But it is very good for driving traffic.
What about the third way. It’s clear too. You know about all this web opportunities we have.
But it can take all your time. You have to register everywhere, spend lots of time posting something about your business. That is absolutely unsuitable.
What are the secret ways?
Forums can be used to create a buzz about your site and eventual traffic creation. What if you offer some of its residents to be monetized for posting and putting links to your site. If think there is a huge crowd of young people who want to earn something just doing something in their freetime. Some bloggers are alike with them. There are thousands of blogs, and I think you can find some suitable for your business. But not all of them are well monetized. Try to make a both sides advantageous offer.
Be broad-minded. Spend less, get more.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
How to Use Podcasting
Although podcasting is new, it is well on its way to becoming a mainstream medium of communication. Podcasting, simply put, are audio files that are delivered via RSS. Many people believe that podcasting is used solely for the distribution of music files, but nothing could be further from the truth. This emerging method of audio file distribution has opened an array of marketing and communication opportunities to businesses. Currently, most people who are familiar with podcasting are technically savvy; however, it is clear that podcasting will be more than a passing fad, as many businesses are adopting podcasting and employing it in unusual yet powerful ways. Podcasting can be used for talk shows, tutorials, music demos, educational training, stories, comedy clips, debates, and even foreign language tutorials.
While RSS has had the capacity to include audio files for a few years, only recently have entrepreneurs made the conceptual leap, taking advantage of the new power held within this communication medium. In reality, podcasters currently cover the gamut; some are professional broadcasters, while others are obvious amateurs.
Podcasts are usually published with associated meta information that includes descriptive data about each specific audio file. This allows listeners to determine which audio items are of interest to them. If listeners use a news aggregator that supports podcasting, they will automatically receive updates in their feed reader or news aggregation software when a new podcast exists for a feed to which they have subscribed.
Why is podcasting so beneficial to the subscriber?
Unlike with traditional radio, with podcasting, the subscriber decides what content he or she receives. Podcasting is extremely useful to subscribers, because users can easily receive desired information and listen to it at any time. The material, once downloaded, can be listened to and viewed on wireless handhelds, allowing subscribers to utilize time on the road.
Topic-specific radio talk shows with commentaries, interviews, and debates can now be heard at the time and place of the listener's choosing. Consider, for example, the benefits for educational tutorials and foreign language instruction: Lessons could be listened to during a work commute. Supplementary class lectures, step by step tutorials, or walking guides are all possible using podcasting. An unlimited collection of audio books for elderly or visually-impaired listeners only scratches the surface of what is possible in the future of podcasting.
The fate of podcasting is in the hands of the subscribers. Subscribers can easily delete podcast feeds that do not satisfy their needs with the single tap of a button. Ultimately, the subscriber maintains control and determines which podcasts of which to take advantage. This level of listener control intrinsically builds in superior quality control and ensures that the most innovative instructional and interesting podcast feeds survive.
The technology is fresh and, like the Internet, is opening doors for entrepreneurs. As podcasting evolves, users will find more and more creative audio content to deliver. The low barrier to entry has forced this new medium to the forefront, as businesses and individuals have little to lose in adding podcasting as a communication channel.
While RSS has had the capacity to include audio files for a few years, only recently have entrepreneurs made the conceptual leap, taking advantage of the new power held within this communication medium. In reality, podcasters currently cover the gamut; some are professional broadcasters, while others are obvious amateurs.
Podcasts are usually published with associated meta information that includes descriptive data about each specific audio file. This allows listeners to determine which audio items are of interest to them. If listeners use a news aggregator that supports podcasting, they will automatically receive updates in their feed reader or news aggregation software when a new podcast exists for a feed to which they have subscribed.
Why is podcasting so beneficial to the subscriber?
Unlike with traditional radio, with podcasting, the subscriber decides what content he or she receives. Podcasting is extremely useful to subscribers, because users can easily receive desired information and listen to it at any time. The material, once downloaded, can be listened to and viewed on wireless handhelds, allowing subscribers to utilize time on the road.
Topic-specific radio talk shows with commentaries, interviews, and debates can now be heard at the time and place of the listener's choosing. Consider, for example, the benefits for educational tutorials and foreign language instruction: Lessons could be listened to during a work commute. Supplementary class lectures, step by step tutorials, or walking guides are all possible using podcasting. An unlimited collection of audio books for elderly or visually-impaired listeners only scratches the surface of what is possible in the future of podcasting.
The fate of podcasting is in the hands of the subscribers. Subscribers can easily delete podcast feeds that do not satisfy their needs with the single tap of a button. Ultimately, the subscriber maintains control and determines which podcasts of which to take advantage. This level of listener control intrinsically builds in superior quality control and ensures that the most innovative instructional and interesting podcast feeds survive.
The technology is fresh and, like the Internet, is opening doors for entrepreneurs. As podcasting evolves, users will find more and more creative audio content to deliver. The low barrier to entry has forced this new medium to the forefront, as businesses and individuals have little to lose in adding podcasting as a communication channel.
Sunday, September 9, 2007
How to Hire an Ad Agency
10 guiding principles to consider the next time you're looking for an advertising agency
Here's a staggering statistic: In the month of June alone, accounts worth over $1.7 billion changed advertising agencies. And that's only among the six largest advertising agency holding companies. It doesn't include any of the brands that shifted their accounts to thousands of independent agencies across America.
Why so much turnover? One reason is the diminishing tenure of the chief marketing officers who hire agencies—an average of less than two years, according to one recent study. But even in companies where the marketing staff is stable, the temptation to shop for a new agency can be strong.
Advertising is an exciting, visible business, and when another brand's agency is making news, it can make their grass appear greener. Plus, it's a business based on experience, confidence and trust. When trust breaks down, relationships end.
Whatever the reason for an agency switch, too many companies make their selection based on the wrong criteria. That causes heartache, inefficiency, and a significant amount of lost productivity.
I'd like to offer 10 guiding principles to follow the next time you're looking for an advertising agency. Let's start with the five things you shouldn't do:
1. Don't limit your search geographically. Yes, the most expedient way to build trust is in face-to-face relationships, but that doesn't mean trust can't also be built across miles. After all, some of the strongest marriages have been built after long periods of physical separation which allow time for reflection for both parties about what really matters.
Keep in mind that what you're looking for is the correct fit; restricting your search from the outset to a defined geographic area is unnecessarily limiting. If you had a legal problem that a specialist across the country could solve, you'd be crazy to limit your search to only those firms that are most convenient. With the amount of money you're likely spending on advertising, the stakes are just as high.
In this day of the Internet, e-mail, FedEx (FDX), faxes, PDFs, WebE (WEBX), text messaging, and mobile phones, communication is easy and instantaneous. In fact, my firm often uses the Internet to make presentations to even our local clients. And when we do meet in person with our clients across the country, meetings are usually focused and efficient because we've planned them in advance and our time is limited.
2. Don't screen out agencies based on size. If you're a small company, you shouldn't rule out big agencies; sure, you may not be a huge profit center for them but perhaps you represent a new industry they are interested in or a chance to do award-winning work. Maybe they have the precise expertise you need hidden in one of their account groups.
Similarly, larger clients shouldn't exclude small agencies from their consideration. Consider how small agencies develop. Talented people enter the business working for an established agency. The good ones grow with the agency. The great ones move up and eventually run the agency. And the really great ones think: "I can do this better myself" and go off to start their own shops. It's a continuous cycle of renewal, one reason why agencies at the top of the heap tend to change fairly often.
Talented people at the helm of small agencies are likely to have more experience than the mid-level staffers that would be assigned to your account at a big firm. Services not offered by the agency can be outsourced, and scale can be bought. It's the attention and ideas that matter.
3. Don't make industry experience a requirement. What most brands need is to increase differentiation from competitors, and agencies with a lot of category experience might be subject to industry group-think. No agency will ever know as much as you do about your industry, so you should hire them for what they do know: the art of marketing and communications.
One of the things I love about being in the advertising business is the cross-pollination of ideas gained from working across a variety of industries. Every industry is unique, but they all share common characteristics. Often what we learn serving a client in one industry triggers a fresh idea for a client in another.
Will an agency that doesn't know your industry face a learning curve? Certainly, and perhaps a steep one. But if you find the right partner that learning curve will quickly shrink as it disappears into the rearview mirror of a successful relationship. If you want something different, go with somebody different.
4. Don't ask for—or even entertain—speculative work. Speculative campaigns are the bane of the agency business. Spec campaigns are like steroids, artificially inflating the appearance of an agency and often overstating its true capabilities.
It's easy to think that by asking for speculative work you're getting true sample of the agency's work, but you're not. The timeline is artificial, the discovery process is shortchanged, and in the excitement of a new business pitch an agency can focus disproportionate resources on the task, something unlikely to happen in an ongoing relationship. It's a dirty little secret of the agency business that freelancers are often brought on board to help develop spec work—freelancers nowhere to be found once the agency is awarded the account.
But the biggest reason not to ask for spec work is that the best agencies—the ones you really want—won't do it. They don't have to simply because their services are in demand. The more an agency is willing to jump through speculative hoops for you, the more you should be suspicious. If they're ready to give away their work there must not be a very good market for it.
5. Don't let a spreadsheet make your decision. It may help if you develop some sort of checklist to track and evaluate an agency's capabilities, but don't go so far as to develop a scoring system and award your account to the agency with the highest average. Not every element on your list will be of equal value and a scoresheet can easily introduce an impressive-looking, but false, equation into the decision. If it helps you bring some element of discipline to the process, fine, but in the end you have to go with your gut.
So how should you select your next advertising agency? Like this:
1. Do determine what you need. The worst thing you can do is hire an agency to do a job and then not let them do it. Do you need someone to lead or someone to follow? A firm that can develop strategy or an expert at execution? A company that likes to have fun or one that's all business? Someone to take orders or someone who will challenge your thinking? There are literally thousands of agencies in America and they offer every possible approach and suite of services. Don't reflexively seek the hot shop of the moment, seek the one that best meets your needs. If you don't know exactly what you need, well, you need an agency that can help you figure it out. They're out there too.
2. Do notice the advertising that you admire. Look for campaigns that you think are smart, or creative, or have been around for a long time (a good indicator of success), and find out who did them. Most of the time a simple search on Google (GOOG) or through the archives of Advertising Age or Adweek will turn up the name of the agency, or you can call the company advertised and simply ask them who does their work.Another idea is to look through award annuals, particularly "Communication Arts," "The One Show," and the EFFIE Awards. Yes, awards matter. Research shows a high degree of correlation between award-winning advertising and sales results. Leo Burnett Worldwide, one of the oldest and most respected advertising agencies in America, has undertaken four different studies over a 15-year period that demonstrate the link. Using a variety of methodologies, each study has demonstrated remarkable consistency of results: Of the most awarded ads in the world, 82% to 86% correlate with business success.
In what other industry would you think that awards don't matter? Wouldn't you feel better if you hair stylist was an award-winner? Your golf instructor? Your cardiologist? Your pilot? All other things being equal, it only makes sense to hire someone whose peers have a great deal of respect for their work.
3. Do initiate a conversation. Send the agency partners a letter or an e-mail, or give them a call. Spend a few minutes on the phone together and you'll get an immediate sense of chemistry and interest. Ask them about the history of the firm, who the current clients are, what their principles are. Ask them if they've heard of your brand and are aware of its issues. If yes, explore their initial, top-of-mind thinking. If not, don't dismiss them. Not everybody can stay on top of every industry.
4. Do invite the agency to your place to review a handful of case studies. Keep in mind that you're not looking to see if they have good outcomes to report (all of them will) but to understand the thinking behind how they arrived at their solutions. Learn about their process, what it is, how it works, and how it might fit your company and culture. Is it methodical? Inspiration-based? Involving? Inventive?
You want to imagine your brand at their agency and see how they would go about addressing your issues. Let the senior principals handle this part, and don't initially insist on a presentation from the team that will work on your account—often agencies don't know at this stage of the process. Like spec creative, spec staffing is a dangerous game to play. And people below the executive suite may not be familiar enough with all of the agency's work to fairly represent the most appropriate case studies.
5. Do narrow your list to two or three agencies and spend time at their shop. Lots of time. Meet their teams. Experience their culture. Initiate conversations with people in each department. Inquire about their jobs. Ask to see what they're working on (as long as it's not confidential). Go out to lunch with them. See if you like them, and give them the opportunity to do the same.
Have them answer a handful of difficult questions. Don't surprise them with the questions, but send them ahead of time. The point is to get honest insight, not quick comebacks. What was the last account you lost, and why? Who was the worst client you've served (without naming names) and why? Who is the best client you have and why? Describe a big failure or flop you've had, what happened, and how you responded. Where do you see our account fitting into your agency? What will we mean to you, now and in the future? Just like in any relationship, you're probing to gain insight into the company's personality and character.
When you find a good fit, discuss with them the best way to ensure a long and successful relationship. Come to clear agreement on your expectations for staffing, compensation and service. Then fire the starter's gun and let them work.
The correct route to hiring an agency is not a simple task. It takes time. But it's better to do it right once than wrong twice (or three or four times). A bad agency decision can set your brand back years. Go through the discipline and hard work of making a good choice. Then you can get down to the fun and excitement of inventing the future together.
Here's a staggering statistic: In the month of June alone, accounts worth over $1.7 billion changed advertising agencies. And that's only among the six largest advertising agency holding companies. It doesn't include any of the brands that shifted their accounts to thousands of independent agencies across America.
Why so much turnover? One reason is the diminishing tenure of the chief marketing officers who hire agencies—an average of less than two years, according to one recent study. But even in companies where the marketing staff is stable, the temptation to shop for a new agency can be strong.
Advertising is an exciting, visible business, and when another brand's agency is making news, it can make their grass appear greener. Plus, it's a business based on experience, confidence and trust. When trust breaks down, relationships end.
Whatever the reason for an agency switch, too many companies make their selection based on the wrong criteria. That causes heartache, inefficiency, and a significant amount of lost productivity.
I'd like to offer 10 guiding principles to follow the next time you're looking for an advertising agency. Let's start with the five things you shouldn't do:
1. Don't limit your search geographically. Yes, the most expedient way to build trust is in face-to-face relationships, but that doesn't mean trust can't also be built across miles. After all, some of the strongest marriages have been built after long periods of physical separation which allow time for reflection for both parties about what really matters.
Keep in mind that what you're looking for is the correct fit; restricting your search from the outset to a defined geographic area is unnecessarily limiting. If you had a legal problem that a specialist across the country could solve, you'd be crazy to limit your search to only those firms that are most convenient. With the amount of money you're likely spending on advertising, the stakes are just as high.
In this day of the Internet, e-mail, FedEx (FDX), faxes, PDFs, WebE (WEBX), text messaging, and mobile phones, communication is easy and instantaneous. In fact, my firm often uses the Internet to make presentations to even our local clients. And when we do meet in person with our clients across the country, meetings are usually focused and efficient because we've planned them in advance and our time is limited.
2. Don't screen out agencies based on size. If you're a small company, you shouldn't rule out big agencies; sure, you may not be a huge profit center for them but perhaps you represent a new industry they are interested in or a chance to do award-winning work. Maybe they have the precise expertise you need hidden in one of their account groups.
Similarly, larger clients shouldn't exclude small agencies from their consideration. Consider how small agencies develop. Talented people enter the business working for an established agency. The good ones grow with the agency. The great ones move up and eventually run the agency. And the really great ones think: "I can do this better myself" and go off to start their own shops. It's a continuous cycle of renewal, one reason why agencies at the top of the heap tend to change fairly often.
Talented people at the helm of small agencies are likely to have more experience than the mid-level staffers that would be assigned to your account at a big firm. Services not offered by the agency can be outsourced, and scale can be bought. It's the attention and ideas that matter.
3. Don't make industry experience a requirement. What most brands need is to increase differentiation from competitors, and agencies with a lot of category experience might be subject to industry group-think. No agency will ever know as much as you do about your industry, so you should hire them for what they do know: the art of marketing and communications.
One of the things I love about being in the advertising business is the cross-pollination of ideas gained from working across a variety of industries. Every industry is unique, but they all share common characteristics. Often what we learn serving a client in one industry triggers a fresh idea for a client in another.
Will an agency that doesn't know your industry face a learning curve? Certainly, and perhaps a steep one. But if you find the right partner that learning curve will quickly shrink as it disappears into the rearview mirror of a successful relationship. If you want something different, go with somebody different.
4. Don't ask for—or even entertain—speculative work. Speculative campaigns are the bane of the agency business. Spec campaigns are like steroids, artificially inflating the appearance of an agency and often overstating its true capabilities.
It's easy to think that by asking for speculative work you're getting true sample of the agency's work, but you're not. The timeline is artificial, the discovery process is shortchanged, and in the excitement of a new business pitch an agency can focus disproportionate resources on the task, something unlikely to happen in an ongoing relationship. It's a dirty little secret of the agency business that freelancers are often brought on board to help develop spec work—freelancers nowhere to be found once the agency is awarded the account.
But the biggest reason not to ask for spec work is that the best agencies—the ones you really want—won't do it. They don't have to simply because their services are in demand. The more an agency is willing to jump through speculative hoops for you, the more you should be suspicious. If they're ready to give away their work there must not be a very good market for it.
5. Don't let a spreadsheet make your decision. It may help if you develop some sort of checklist to track and evaluate an agency's capabilities, but don't go so far as to develop a scoring system and award your account to the agency with the highest average. Not every element on your list will be of equal value and a scoresheet can easily introduce an impressive-looking, but false, equation into the decision. If it helps you bring some element of discipline to the process, fine, but in the end you have to go with your gut.
So how should you select your next advertising agency? Like this:
1. Do determine what you need. The worst thing you can do is hire an agency to do a job and then not let them do it. Do you need someone to lead or someone to follow? A firm that can develop strategy or an expert at execution? A company that likes to have fun or one that's all business? Someone to take orders or someone who will challenge your thinking? There are literally thousands of agencies in America and they offer every possible approach and suite of services. Don't reflexively seek the hot shop of the moment, seek the one that best meets your needs. If you don't know exactly what you need, well, you need an agency that can help you figure it out. They're out there too.
2. Do notice the advertising that you admire. Look for campaigns that you think are smart, or creative, or have been around for a long time (a good indicator of success), and find out who did them. Most of the time a simple search on Google (GOOG) or through the archives of Advertising Age or Adweek will turn up the name of the agency, or you can call the company advertised and simply ask them who does their work.Another idea is to look through award annuals, particularly "Communication Arts," "The One Show," and the EFFIE Awards. Yes, awards matter. Research shows a high degree of correlation between award-winning advertising and sales results. Leo Burnett Worldwide, one of the oldest and most respected advertising agencies in America, has undertaken four different studies over a 15-year period that demonstrate the link. Using a variety of methodologies, each study has demonstrated remarkable consistency of results: Of the most awarded ads in the world, 82% to 86% correlate with business success.
In what other industry would you think that awards don't matter? Wouldn't you feel better if you hair stylist was an award-winner? Your golf instructor? Your cardiologist? Your pilot? All other things being equal, it only makes sense to hire someone whose peers have a great deal of respect for their work.
3. Do initiate a conversation. Send the agency partners a letter or an e-mail, or give them a call. Spend a few minutes on the phone together and you'll get an immediate sense of chemistry and interest. Ask them about the history of the firm, who the current clients are, what their principles are. Ask them if they've heard of your brand and are aware of its issues. If yes, explore their initial, top-of-mind thinking. If not, don't dismiss them. Not everybody can stay on top of every industry.
4. Do invite the agency to your place to review a handful of case studies. Keep in mind that you're not looking to see if they have good outcomes to report (all of them will) but to understand the thinking behind how they arrived at their solutions. Learn about their process, what it is, how it works, and how it might fit your company and culture. Is it methodical? Inspiration-based? Involving? Inventive?
You want to imagine your brand at their agency and see how they would go about addressing your issues. Let the senior principals handle this part, and don't initially insist on a presentation from the team that will work on your account—often agencies don't know at this stage of the process. Like spec creative, spec staffing is a dangerous game to play. And people below the executive suite may not be familiar enough with all of the agency's work to fairly represent the most appropriate case studies.
5. Do narrow your list to two or three agencies and spend time at their shop. Lots of time. Meet their teams. Experience their culture. Initiate conversations with people in each department. Inquire about their jobs. Ask to see what they're working on (as long as it's not confidential). Go out to lunch with them. See if you like them, and give them the opportunity to do the same.
Have them answer a handful of difficult questions. Don't surprise them with the questions, but send them ahead of time. The point is to get honest insight, not quick comebacks. What was the last account you lost, and why? Who was the worst client you've served (without naming names) and why? Who is the best client you have and why? Describe a big failure or flop you've had, what happened, and how you responded. Where do you see our account fitting into your agency? What will we mean to you, now and in the future? Just like in any relationship, you're probing to gain insight into the company's personality and character.
When you find a good fit, discuss with them the best way to ensure a long and successful relationship. Come to clear agreement on your expectations for staffing, compensation and service. Then fire the starter's gun and let them work.
The correct route to hiring an agency is not a simple task. It takes time. But it's better to do it right once than wrong twice (or three or four times). A bad agency decision can set your brand back years. Go through the discipline and hard work of making a good choice. Then you can get down to the fun and excitement of inventing the future together.
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Profiting from Social Networking
Users at social network Facebook are exploring software applications by outside developers, but the question remains: How do you make money from them?
Here are two potentially billion-dollar questions: How can you turn the Web's social-network users into consumers? And how can you turn idle browsing into a flourishing bottom line? Back in May, marketers hoped they might have the answer when social-networking giant Facebook opened its network to external developers. This instantly allowed them potential direct access to a user group of millions who are notoriously unimpressed by traditional advertising methods. The only challenge: developing real-world applications that users might want to embed in their profiles, which would have a real-world effect beyond mere entertainment.
Three months later, it's clear that there's no foolproof formula for success. Companies categorize their own applications from a list of 22 options and, as such, "businesses" come from across the board. In fact, the most popular "business" listing is Total Sports Fan, a sports application run by Boris Silver, a Wharton School student who has no plans to exploit the app as a business. In fact, he says, he listed it in that category because "he just kind of wanted to." This free-and-easy attitude is all part of the territory, and other, more serious-minded ventures need to not only understand this attitude but be willing to live with it.
Know Your Audience
Four of the most popular applications within the category include the virtual trading program Fantasy Stock Exchange, a recruitment specialist called Jobster Career Networking, an environmental activist app known as I am Green, and a person-to-person loan service called the Lending Club, which has what may be the most successful business model. Though they've attracted 174,000 users among them to date, capitalizing on those users is still a challenge. Here, we assess what they're doing right, analyze what they could be doing better, and determine what their stories can teach other companies that want to enter the space.
First: This is Facebook, kids. Despite its exploding demographic, this is still a forum for the young: 56.4% of users are under 35, according to ComScore. Applications need to be appropriate and relevant to that audience. Those hoping to extract money from a Facebook user need to understand what's at the network's core. Kevin Rablois, vice-president for strategy at San Francisco-based Slide, the largest developer of Facebook applications, says there are two ways for a business application to grow: through exploiting its social side or by providing users with a means for self-expression.
The Fantasy Stock Exchange (FSX) application, sponsored by virtual stock trading site HedgeStop.com, is currently the second most popular business application, with 92,000 users signing up since its launch in early July. On the application, as on its mother site, users trade virtual money based on real-time figures provided by NYSE and NASDAQ. The application loads content directly from HedgeStop.com and the 18- to 35-year-old players using it represent a similar demographic to those already using the company's core Web site.
Getting Beyond Marketing
HedgeStop.com hopes to earn money by selling banner advertising space on its application pages, promoting the idea that virtual traders can be real spenders. But since Chief Executive Daniel Carroll admits that targeted users are "mostly beginners" who don't yet have real funds to trade, they are also unlikely to be big spenders. Not to mention that an old-fashioned ad business model rather misses the point of the forum. Young users are wary of potential manipulation, and may be turned off FSX altogether if advertising gets too intrusive. Finally, the application has yet to offer features unique to Facebook. There seems to be no reason users shouldn't simply go right to HedgeStop.com.
It's a common mistake, says Facebook Senior Platform Manager Dave Morin. According to him, too many companies still see applications as marketing rather than as new business. They bring users to an application either to advertise to them or to build a connection they hope will subsequently send users off Facebook and to their main business—a company Web site, say, or its online store. Instead, companies should be trying to make the application into a self-sustaining business that generates revenue through the service it provides on Facebook. "The applications that are the most successful are the ones that integrate seamlessly into Facebook," Morin says, a model that conveniently supports Facebook's own business ambitions.
A Business-to-Business Model
At the same time, most users expect Facebook to be entertaining and, well, free, so getting them to pay for an application directly is unlikely. Companies such as the career networking site Jobster.com are trying to get other businesses to pay for access to Facebook users.
On Jobster's Facebook application, called Jobster Career Networking, users post résumés and declare career goals. Jobster then feeds those résumés to companies such as Nike (NKE), GE (GE), and Merrill Lynch (MER), which pay a $100 monthly premium fee to access résumés from Facebook. That's in addition to the $300 they pay for résumés from the main Jobster.com database. It's a premium they're prepared to pay to access young workers with perhaps nontraditional backgrounds. "We aren't after the companies that want a classic job board," says Jobster's Vice-President for Corporate Communications Christian Anderson. In its first month on Facebook, Jobster Career Networking moved 300 companies from regular to premium membership and brought in 50 new partners, generating several hundred thousand dollars in revenue, according to Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg.
Given that Facebook is a social network whose main function is entertainment, there's a danger that job hunting may not be an activity users wish to load onto their profile, when they can do so just as well on Jobster.com or any other job search site. In fact, mixing business with pleasure is a concern for users who might not want their new boss hearing about their high jinks on vacation. This reality could provide a stumbling block for Jobster's latest feature, which enables users to add endorsements from Facebook friends to their résumé cover letters.
Rablois is skeptical of Jobster's plan. "Why would I want recommendations of my skills or a dedication posted along with drunken photographs?" he wonders. And won't employers disregard friends' recommendations as entirely, unashamedly biased?
Jobster's Anderson says users have expressed the same concern. "We've really had to work to clarify that companies won't see your profile, that you won't be 'friending' companies." Consequently, says Anderson, they won't be able to judge the friends you cite as references; they'll just know how many recommendations you have. But this means that Jobster Career Networking has to restrict its links to the social core of Facebook to function as a professional application. It's a risky strategy. Given that the application adds little to users' experience of Facebook, they might as well use Jobster.com or other recruitment sites. If users ultimately decide against linking their private and professional lives, companies will be quick to pull their support. For now, though, it's paying off: 52,000 users have downloaded the application since late July.
Showing a Green Side
I am Green lets users list simple environmentally conscious choices they make in their daily lives on their public Facebook profiles.
On the application's main page, users can talk about green technology, organic produce, and environmental issues. Founder Karel Baloun, a former Facebook employee, plans to monetize his 27,494 users by selling advertising space and selling green products on manufacturers' behalf. Baloun says he'll avoid young users' hostility to advertising by providing content only from the green companies they already like and discuss on the application page and by polling them about the brands they'd like to see involved.
Slide's Rablois thinks this might work, because users committed to a niche cause might be eager to buy green products. Then again, potential sponsors might not pay much to participate in such a niche market. Like HedgeStop.com, Baloun is trying to bring an old media business model into a new media space.
Fees for Lending Service
The smallest of these four business applications may be the closest to developing the most appropriate business model. On Lending Club, a person-to-person lending company that launched via a Facebook application in May, the social component is at the center of its business model. Borrowers load the application to meet up with lenders from within their existing Facebook networks and social groups. They then negotiate rates directly. Once an agreement has been made, they head to LendingClub.com, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., to enter bank account details, so funds can be transferred directly between accounts. Lending Club takes a small cut, up to 3%, of each loan.
Says LendingClub CEO Renaud Laplanche, "Person-to-person lending works best in an a environment where people feel connected to one another, lending to friends and friends of friends." He also claims that peers trust peers to give better rates than a bank. So far, the site has attracted 13,163 users. With its 3% transaction fees, Laplanche estimates that by the end of August, the company will have moved $1 million since its June launch. But the revenue for the company in the same three-month interval is only $30,000. Given the minimal costs of maintaining the Web site and its relatively small staff of 21 people, this may be enough for now, but as the application grows, its infrastructure costs will expand. Raising the company's commission, however, would quickly jeopardize its value proposition to users.
Facebook, where users expect applications to augment their social experience with little effort and at no cost, may be a tough environment for companies whose ultimate goal is making a buck, especially since so many companies are still trying to work with traditional ad models. Ultimately, the most successful applications are those whose business model, brand identity, and natural users match the culture and demographic on the network. As such, the top applications may not provide plug-and-play solutions for every brand hoping to enter Facebook. But the lessons they teach about the need for authenticity and relevancy are universal tenets for marketers in the Web 2.0 age.
Here are two potentially billion-dollar questions: How can you turn the Web's social-network users into consumers? And how can you turn idle browsing into a flourishing bottom line? Back in May, marketers hoped they might have the answer when social-networking giant Facebook opened its network to external developers. This instantly allowed them potential direct access to a user group of millions who are notoriously unimpressed by traditional advertising methods. The only challenge: developing real-world applications that users might want to embed in their profiles, which would have a real-world effect beyond mere entertainment.
Three months later, it's clear that there's no foolproof formula for success. Companies categorize their own applications from a list of 22 options and, as such, "businesses" come from across the board. In fact, the most popular "business" listing is Total Sports Fan, a sports application run by Boris Silver, a Wharton School student who has no plans to exploit the app as a business. In fact, he says, he listed it in that category because "he just kind of wanted to." This free-and-easy attitude is all part of the territory, and other, more serious-minded ventures need to not only understand this attitude but be willing to live with it.
Know Your Audience
Four of the most popular applications within the category include the virtual trading program Fantasy Stock Exchange, a recruitment specialist called Jobster Career Networking, an environmental activist app known as I am Green, and a person-to-person loan service called the Lending Club, which has what may be the most successful business model. Though they've attracted 174,000 users among them to date, capitalizing on those users is still a challenge. Here, we assess what they're doing right, analyze what they could be doing better, and determine what their stories can teach other companies that want to enter the space.
First: This is Facebook, kids. Despite its exploding demographic, this is still a forum for the young: 56.4% of users are under 35, according to ComScore. Applications need to be appropriate and relevant to that audience. Those hoping to extract money from a Facebook user need to understand what's at the network's core. Kevin Rablois, vice-president for strategy at San Francisco-based Slide, the largest developer of Facebook applications, says there are two ways for a business application to grow: through exploiting its social side or by providing users with a means for self-expression.
The Fantasy Stock Exchange (FSX) application, sponsored by virtual stock trading site HedgeStop.com, is currently the second most popular business application, with 92,000 users signing up since its launch in early July. On the application, as on its mother site, users trade virtual money based on real-time figures provided by NYSE and NASDAQ. The application loads content directly from HedgeStop.com and the 18- to 35-year-old players using it represent a similar demographic to those already using the company's core Web site.
Getting Beyond Marketing
HedgeStop.com hopes to earn money by selling banner advertising space on its application pages, promoting the idea that virtual traders can be real spenders. But since Chief Executive Daniel Carroll admits that targeted users are "mostly beginners" who don't yet have real funds to trade, they are also unlikely to be big spenders. Not to mention that an old-fashioned ad business model rather misses the point of the forum. Young users are wary of potential manipulation, and may be turned off FSX altogether if advertising gets too intrusive. Finally, the application has yet to offer features unique to Facebook. There seems to be no reason users shouldn't simply go right to HedgeStop.com.
It's a common mistake, says Facebook Senior Platform Manager Dave Morin. According to him, too many companies still see applications as marketing rather than as new business. They bring users to an application either to advertise to them or to build a connection they hope will subsequently send users off Facebook and to their main business—a company Web site, say, or its online store. Instead, companies should be trying to make the application into a self-sustaining business that generates revenue through the service it provides on Facebook. "The applications that are the most successful are the ones that integrate seamlessly into Facebook," Morin says, a model that conveniently supports Facebook's own business ambitions.
A Business-to-Business Model
At the same time, most users expect Facebook to be entertaining and, well, free, so getting them to pay for an application directly is unlikely. Companies such as the career networking site Jobster.com are trying to get other businesses to pay for access to Facebook users.
On Jobster's Facebook application, called Jobster Career Networking, users post résumés and declare career goals. Jobster then feeds those résumés to companies such as Nike (NKE), GE (GE), and Merrill Lynch (MER), which pay a $100 monthly premium fee to access résumés from Facebook. That's in addition to the $300 they pay for résumés from the main Jobster.com database. It's a premium they're prepared to pay to access young workers with perhaps nontraditional backgrounds. "We aren't after the companies that want a classic job board," says Jobster's Vice-President for Corporate Communications Christian Anderson. In its first month on Facebook, Jobster Career Networking moved 300 companies from regular to premium membership and brought in 50 new partners, generating several hundred thousand dollars in revenue, according to Jobster CEO Jason Goldberg.
Given that Facebook is a social network whose main function is entertainment, there's a danger that job hunting may not be an activity users wish to load onto their profile, when they can do so just as well on Jobster.com or any other job search site. In fact, mixing business with pleasure is a concern for users who might not want their new boss hearing about their high jinks on vacation. This reality could provide a stumbling block for Jobster's latest feature, which enables users to add endorsements from Facebook friends to their résumé cover letters.
Rablois is skeptical of Jobster's plan. "Why would I want recommendations of my skills or a dedication posted along with drunken photographs?" he wonders. And won't employers disregard friends' recommendations as entirely, unashamedly biased?
Jobster's Anderson says users have expressed the same concern. "We've really had to work to clarify that companies won't see your profile, that you won't be 'friending' companies." Consequently, says Anderson, they won't be able to judge the friends you cite as references; they'll just know how many recommendations you have. But this means that Jobster Career Networking has to restrict its links to the social core of Facebook to function as a professional application. It's a risky strategy. Given that the application adds little to users' experience of Facebook, they might as well use Jobster.com or other recruitment sites. If users ultimately decide against linking their private and professional lives, companies will be quick to pull their support. For now, though, it's paying off: 52,000 users have downloaded the application since late July.
Showing a Green Side
I am Green lets users list simple environmentally conscious choices they make in their daily lives on their public Facebook profiles.
On the application's main page, users can talk about green technology, organic produce, and environmental issues. Founder Karel Baloun, a former Facebook employee, plans to monetize his 27,494 users by selling advertising space and selling green products on manufacturers' behalf. Baloun says he'll avoid young users' hostility to advertising by providing content only from the green companies they already like and discuss on the application page and by polling them about the brands they'd like to see involved.
Slide's Rablois thinks this might work, because users committed to a niche cause might be eager to buy green products. Then again, potential sponsors might not pay much to participate in such a niche market. Like HedgeStop.com, Baloun is trying to bring an old media business model into a new media space.
Fees for Lending Service
The smallest of these four business applications may be the closest to developing the most appropriate business model. On Lending Club, a person-to-person lending company that launched via a Facebook application in May, the social component is at the center of its business model. Borrowers load the application to meet up with lenders from within their existing Facebook networks and social groups. They then negotiate rates directly. Once an agreement has been made, they head to LendingClub.com, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., to enter bank account details, so funds can be transferred directly between accounts. Lending Club takes a small cut, up to 3%, of each loan.
Says LendingClub CEO Renaud Laplanche, "Person-to-person lending works best in an a environment where people feel connected to one another, lending to friends and friends of friends." He also claims that peers trust peers to give better rates than a bank. So far, the site has attracted 13,163 users. With its 3% transaction fees, Laplanche estimates that by the end of August, the company will have moved $1 million since its June launch. But the revenue for the company in the same three-month interval is only $30,000. Given the minimal costs of maintaining the Web site and its relatively small staff of 21 people, this may be enough for now, but as the application grows, its infrastructure costs will expand. Raising the company's commission, however, would quickly jeopardize its value proposition to users.
Facebook, where users expect applications to augment their social experience with little effort and at no cost, may be a tough environment for companies whose ultimate goal is making a buck, especially since so many companies are still trying to work with traditional ad models. Ultimately, the most successful applications are those whose business model, brand identity, and natural users match the culture and demographic on the network. As such, the top applications may not provide plug-and-play solutions for every brand hoping to enter Facebook. But the lessons they teach about the need for authenticity and relevancy are universal tenets for marketers in the Web 2.0 age.
Friday, September 7, 2007
10+ Unusual Ways To Make Easy Money On The Internet If You Love Writing.
Here are some easy ways to make money, if you like writing. (I probably should have said simple ways to make money, rather than easy ways to make money, because there is a difference between simple and easy. But who cares, this is about how to make easy money quickly).
1. Make easy money online naming domains. The original idea comes from Dane Carson’s blog. While you can earn money as a contributor for services such as PickyDomains.Com, here is a better idea. Go to Google or any other search engine, find sucky domain names and contact their owners directly, offering them your services. The key to success is to make it 100% risk free. Inform your prospective clients that you’ll accept money only if they like your domain name. If you come up with one approved domain name a day and charge what PickyDomain charges, you can make $1500 a month. Another twist – come up with cool domain names, like SiteToRemember.Com or ItsMe.Com, register them yourself and sell them on the aftermarket.
2. eBay arbitrage. A lot of people like buying stuff on eBay, because it’s cheap. And some people never buy on eBay, because they are afraid of being ripped off. Here is your solution to making easy money on eBay. Go to Craigslist.Com and see what items people buy and sell most often. Look at prices. Then go to eBay and see, if you can get it cheaper. Once you find your niche, you can buy things on eBay (or better yet, act as a representative for an eBay powerseller) and sell them for a profit using local classifieds and Craigslist. You can do this online as well. Set up a proxy store, and when you get an order, simply buy the same item on eBay for less, substituting shipping address from your own to that of your buyer.
3. eBay copywriting. If you are good at copywriting, go to eBay and look for highticket items, like boats. Find auctions with totally sucky descriptions. Contact an owner and inform him or her that good description of his or her item is likely to increase the chances of that item being sold. Then offer your services for a 1% of the selling price. You can use free eBay software
4. Get Paid Writing Reviews. This idea comes from a blog called Business Ideas That Work. A site called SoftwareJudge.Com pays up to 50 dollars per good review. However, if you are good at reviewing software, you can do this on your own. Go to CNET or any other site that lists software. Find sites that don’t have any reviews or testimonials. Contact developers directly, offering them your review services. Good reviews and testimonials increases sales, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties convincing developers that they need your services. And you get free software and games too! Oh, and you don't have to limit yourself to software alone.
5. Social Bookmark Whoring (oops, I meant to say PR). This is really easy money online. RedDit and Digg can bring a crapload of traffic. And traffic means money. If you have experience creating linkbate titles and getting to the top, why not offer your services? Say, you charge 10 dollars for submitting news to RedDit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Furl, NewsVine, Fark and all the other social bookmarting sites. The key is to work only with interesting stories, so you don’t become a spammer. 10 news a day and you are 100 dollars richer. You can probably work out a deal with online PR agencies, because they are totally clueless about this.
6. Writing Google AdWords Ads. Every time I see “Cake Icing. Used And New. eBay.Com” type ads or “Four best sites on killing your wife”, it makes me wonder. Aren’t there any GOOD AdWords ads copywriters? Look’s like a great job to me. The ads are only three lines long and if you charge 10 bucks per ad, you can make a lot of money. And the customers are easy to find, too. Just look at all these terrible ads that Google displays on their search engine and contextual network.
7. Wacky blogs. Steve Pavlina gets over 300 dollars a day from AdSense alone, writing on wacky topics, like polyphasic sleep, astral projection and psychic development. Or take David Icke, who claims that president Bush in an alien and a reptilian. Your blog doesn’t have to be true, it just has to be interesting.
8. Blog whoring. There are a number of services, like PayPerPost.Com, that pay for promotional blogposts. Once again, you can do the same thing, cutting the middleman out.
9. Unique Personal Ads. Write memorable personal ads for online daters. Most personal ads suck. “Hi, my name is Bambie, I’m a Vergo, I’m 19 and I love dogs.” Here is my favorite personal ad. If people pay for resume writing, they might pay for a great personal ad.
10. Poet For Hire. This is nothing new. Still, if you love writing poetry, why not make some money with your rhymes.
11. Don’t EVEN THINK about majoring in English, Medieval Literature, Journalism or GET A REAL JOB, IF YOU WERE DUMB ENOUGH TO DO SO. Just kidding. If you love writing, just write, and the money will follow.
Source: the man who I admire, Dmitri Davydov
1. Make easy money online naming domains. The original idea comes from Dane Carson’s blog. While you can earn money as a contributor for services such as PickyDomains.Com, here is a better idea. Go to Google or any other search engine, find sucky domain names and contact their owners directly, offering them your services. The key to success is to make it 100% risk free. Inform your prospective clients that you’ll accept money only if they like your domain name. If you come up with one approved domain name a day and charge what PickyDomain charges, you can make $1500 a month. Another twist – come up with cool domain names, like SiteToRemember.Com or ItsMe.Com, register them yourself and sell them on the aftermarket.
2. eBay arbitrage. A lot of people like buying stuff on eBay, because it’s cheap. And some people never buy on eBay, because they are afraid of being ripped off. Here is your solution to making easy money on eBay. Go to Craigslist.Com and see what items people buy and sell most often. Look at prices. Then go to eBay and see, if you can get it cheaper. Once you find your niche, you can buy things on eBay (or better yet, act as a representative for an eBay powerseller) and sell them for a profit using local classifieds and Craigslist. You can do this online as well. Set up a proxy store, and when you get an order, simply buy the same item on eBay for less, substituting shipping address from your own to that of your buyer.
3. eBay copywriting. If you are good at copywriting, go to eBay and look for highticket items, like boats. Find auctions with totally sucky descriptions. Contact an owner and inform him or her that good description of his or her item is likely to increase the chances of that item being sold. Then offer your services for a 1% of the selling price. You can use free eBay software
4. Get Paid Writing Reviews. This idea comes from a blog called Business Ideas That Work. A site called SoftwareJudge.Com pays up to 50 dollars per good review. However, if you are good at reviewing software, you can do this on your own. Go to CNET or any other site that lists software. Find sites that don’t have any reviews or testimonials. Contact developers directly, offering them your review services. Good reviews and testimonials increases sales, so you shouldn’t have any difficulties convincing developers that they need your services. And you get free software and games too! Oh, and you don't have to limit yourself to software alone.
5. Social Bookmark Whoring (oops, I meant to say PR). This is really easy money online. RedDit and Digg can bring a crapload of traffic. And traffic means money. If you have experience creating linkbate titles and getting to the top, why not offer your services? Say, you charge 10 dollars for submitting news to RedDit, Digg, StumbleUpon, Furl, NewsVine, Fark and all the other social bookmarting sites. The key is to work only with interesting stories, so you don’t become a spammer. 10 news a day and you are 100 dollars richer. You can probably work out a deal with online PR agencies, because they are totally clueless about this.
6. Writing Google AdWords Ads. Every time I see “Cake Icing. Used And New. eBay.Com” type ads or “Four best sites on killing your wife”, it makes me wonder. Aren’t there any GOOD AdWords ads copywriters? Look’s like a great job to me. The ads are only three lines long and if you charge 10 bucks per ad, you can make a lot of money. And the customers are easy to find, too. Just look at all these terrible ads that Google displays on their search engine and contextual network.
7. Wacky blogs. Steve Pavlina gets over 300 dollars a day from AdSense alone, writing on wacky topics, like polyphasic sleep, astral projection and psychic development. Or take David Icke, who claims that president Bush in an alien and a reptilian. Your blog doesn’t have to be true, it just has to be interesting.
8. Blog whoring. There are a number of services, like PayPerPost.Com, that pay for promotional blogposts. Once again, you can do the same thing, cutting the middleman out.
9. Unique Personal Ads. Write memorable personal ads for online daters. Most personal ads suck. “Hi, my name is Bambie, I’m a Vergo, I’m 19 and I love dogs.” Here is my favorite personal ad. If people pay for resume writing, they might pay for a great personal ad.
10. Poet For Hire. This is nothing new. Still, if you love writing poetry, why not make some money with your rhymes.
11. Don’t EVEN THINK about majoring in English, Medieval Literature, Journalism or GET A REAL JOB, IF YOU WERE DUMB ENOUGH TO DO SO. Just kidding. If you love writing, just write, and the money will follow.
Source: the man who I admire, Dmitri Davydov
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Do Not Drop Your Web Site Off the Search Engine Cliff
By Kim Krause Berg
If you've been feeling like Tom Cruise climbing up the side of some remote jagged mountain in the blazing hot sun and concerned you're facing "mission impossible", chances are you own a web site.
Adding to the intense thrill of web site ownership are keyword comparisons and bidding for good keyword positions in search engines. You might hire a search engine optimization specialist who can track elusive algorithm clues and is unfazed by page rank drama. Your programmers and designers insist they get along. The marketing department actually believes deadlines are met. The new bank account is waiting for fresh revenue. And oh yes, it's assumed someone will come looking for your web site and wants to use it.
You did build it for them, right?
For every search result, there is the possibility that:
a. The engine will display a description that makes sense. Or not.
b. The page the search engine refers to does what the description said it would do and is about what the search engine said it would cover. Or not.
Your SEO/SEM, if you hired a good one, helped you write your title tag statement and Meta page description and structured it so it makes sense in SERPs (search engine results pages).
Your Usability professional, if you hired one, evaluated the page to make sure it would meet customer expectations and convince visitors there are other hot pages inside the web site to look at too. Without call to action prompts, well displayed, logically labeled navigation links and credible content, the chance of someone remaining on that page is pretty slim.
Says Gordon Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc., in a recent Search Day article written by Shari Thurow, called Creating Compelling Search Engine Ads and Landing Pages, "Once searchers arrive on your landing pages, you have 13.2 seconds to convince visitors that they are on the right site."Impossible Mission?
Had enough of web page abandonment? Are those cost per click fees putting you further in credit card debt and not producing any bang for your buck? Which part of "understand your web site visitor" didn't make it to the drawing board?
I know this is hard. You're not a mind reader. Unless you have access to costly studies and data about who to build your web site for and their computer usage habits, chances are you simply wanted a web site and hoped people would find it and use it. By incorporating the skills and expertise of an SEO/SEM along with a user centered design specialist, you will not be wastefully tossing your web site off the search engine cliff. Rather, your adoring fans will clamor up the cliff to get to it.
Sometimes a web designer is also trained in these fields or is partnered with people who are. This is something to consider when shopping around for web site assistance.
Here are some things to keep in mind when studying your web site. You can also ask your team to consider these points.
1. What happens after your site reaches top rank? It's lonely up there, if nobody notices your page or understands the page description. How effective is high rank? Do people really click on "sponsored" pages vs. natural results?
2. Pay attention to inside "landing" pages. Optimize them for easy indexing and point visitors to your homepage, sale products or free stuff.
3. Be wise about what you invest. Every cost per click must be productive. If not, a usability web site review can locate roadblocks.
4. It's about the user experience. Really. It's a common habit for web site owners to create the site for themselves based on what they like and want. When you receive a complaint, consider it a favor. Yes, some people are mean and critical. But, enhancements are improvements that sometimes benefit a lot of people, and you too, in the long run.
5. Don't settle for minimum effort. One of your goals is to reach potential customers and readers. Your optimized pages reach people looking for them. Your user centered pages reach people wanting to use them and will refer them to friends.
6. Your competition does it better. Not by packing hidden keywords and buying links, but by carefully targeting keywords, providing cleverly written content and delivering user centered design.
7. Think sustainability. If you plan on your web site being around for a while, make this a checkpoint for every future decision related to your site. If someone has an idea that won't impact the long-term sustainability of the site, the site may disappear out of sheer user boredom. And search do engines notice.
8. Understanding your visitors and customers allows for more creative keyword combinations. Put a feedback form on your web site. Ask them how they found your web site. Ask them what keywords they used. Ask them why they came or what they wanted to find. Ask them if they found what they were looking for and if not, provide room for comments so they can explain what happened. This information is a gold mine for you.
9. Never mislead your visitors. Be accurate with what you say a site or page is about. Search results relevancy establishes trust from the start.
10. The elegance of action. The act of landing on a relevant, accurate, persuasive, interesting page leads to the fluid, unencumbered desire to know more and click deeper. Aim for this.
Do not drop your web site over the search engine cliff without considering the usability effect. Design it to be productive and user centered. This will pay off in many ways. Remember your original requirements and goals and trace back every dollar you spend to meeting them. Marketing efforts are strengthened when you make your visitors feel welcome, informed and productive once they arrive at your web site.
If you've been feeling like Tom Cruise climbing up the side of some remote jagged mountain in the blazing hot sun and concerned you're facing "mission impossible", chances are you own a web site.
Adding to the intense thrill of web site ownership are keyword comparisons and bidding for good keyword positions in search engines. You might hire a search engine optimization specialist who can track elusive algorithm clues and is unfazed by page rank drama. Your programmers and designers insist they get along. The marketing department actually believes deadlines are met. The new bank account is waiting for fresh revenue. And oh yes, it's assumed someone will come looking for your web site and wants to use it.
You did build it for them, right?
For every search result, there is the possibility that:
a. The engine will display a description that makes sense. Or not.
b. The page the search engine refers to does what the description said it would do and is about what the search engine said it would cover. Or not.
Your SEO/SEM, if you hired a good one, helped you write your title tag statement and Meta page description and structured it so it makes sense in SERPs (search engine results pages).
Your Usability professional, if you hired one, evaluated the page to make sure it would meet customer expectations and convince visitors there are other hot pages inside the web site to look at too. Without call to action prompts, well displayed, logically labeled navigation links and credible content, the chance of someone remaining on that page is pretty slim.
Says Gordon Hotchkiss, President and CEO of Enquiro Search Solutions, Inc., in a recent Search Day article written by Shari Thurow, called Creating Compelling Search Engine Ads and Landing Pages, "Once searchers arrive on your landing pages, you have 13.2 seconds to convince visitors that they are on the right site."Impossible Mission?
Had enough of web page abandonment? Are those cost per click fees putting you further in credit card debt and not producing any bang for your buck? Which part of "understand your web site visitor" didn't make it to the drawing board?
I know this is hard. You're not a mind reader. Unless you have access to costly studies and data about who to build your web site for and their computer usage habits, chances are you simply wanted a web site and hoped people would find it and use it. By incorporating the skills and expertise of an SEO/SEM along with a user centered design specialist, you will not be wastefully tossing your web site off the search engine cliff. Rather, your adoring fans will clamor up the cliff to get to it.
Sometimes a web designer is also trained in these fields or is partnered with people who are. This is something to consider when shopping around for web site assistance.
Here are some things to keep in mind when studying your web site. You can also ask your team to consider these points.
1. What happens after your site reaches top rank? It's lonely up there, if nobody notices your page or understands the page description. How effective is high rank? Do people really click on "sponsored" pages vs. natural results?
2. Pay attention to inside "landing" pages. Optimize them for easy indexing and point visitors to your homepage, sale products or free stuff.
3. Be wise about what you invest. Every cost per click must be productive. If not, a usability web site review can locate roadblocks.
4. It's about the user experience. Really. It's a common habit for web site owners to create the site for themselves based on what they like and want. When you receive a complaint, consider it a favor. Yes, some people are mean and critical. But, enhancements are improvements that sometimes benefit a lot of people, and you too, in the long run.
5. Don't settle for minimum effort. One of your goals is to reach potential customers and readers. Your optimized pages reach people looking for them. Your user centered pages reach people wanting to use them and will refer them to friends.
6. Your competition does it better. Not by packing hidden keywords and buying links, but by carefully targeting keywords, providing cleverly written content and delivering user centered design.
7. Think sustainability. If you plan on your web site being around for a while, make this a checkpoint for every future decision related to your site. If someone has an idea that won't impact the long-term sustainability of the site, the site may disappear out of sheer user boredom. And search do engines notice.
8. Understanding your visitors and customers allows for more creative keyword combinations. Put a feedback form on your web site. Ask them how they found your web site. Ask them what keywords they used. Ask them why they came or what they wanted to find. Ask them if they found what they were looking for and if not, provide room for comments so they can explain what happened. This information is a gold mine for you.
9. Never mislead your visitors. Be accurate with what you say a site or page is about. Search results relevancy establishes trust from the start.
10. The elegance of action. The act of landing on a relevant, accurate, persuasive, interesting page leads to the fluid, unencumbered desire to know more and click deeper. Aim for this.
Do not drop your web site over the search engine cliff without considering the usability effect. Design it to be productive and user centered. This will pay off in many ways. Remember your original requirements and goals and trace back every dollar you spend to meeting them. Marketing efforts are strengthened when you make your visitors feel welcome, informed and productive once they arrive at your web site.
NBC in Deal With Amazon to Sell Shows on the Web
NBC Universal significantly deepened its relationship with Amazon’s digital video download service after a dispute with Apple over the pricing of television shows on iTunes.
The media conglomerate, part of General Electric, said yesterday that Amazon had agreed to give it something that Apple would not: greater flexibility in the pricing and packaging of video downloads. As a result, NBC Universal said it had agreed to sell a wide variety of television programming on Amazon’s fledgling Unbox download service, including the drama “Heroes” and the comedies “The Office” and “30 Rock.” Episodes will be available on Unbox the day after they are shown.
While Amazon is still working to determine pricing, Unbox typically charges more for newer releases than for older ones. Unbox also gives consumers more options, including whether to rent a movie for $3.99 or buy a download for $14.99. Amazon agreed to offer promotions, including a 30 percent discount when buying full seasons of television shows.
Apple sells episodes of television shows for a flat $1.99, with movies priced at $9.99.
Last week, NBC Universal became the first television and movie company to publicly challenge Apple’s pricing as too low, saying it would not renew its contract with iTunes without a change in its pricing. Apple retaliated by saying it would not add new episodes of NBC shows to the iTunes inventory.
NBC Universal’s decision to be a partner with an Apple rival could embolden other media companies to do the same. The News Corporation in particular has been grumbling about Apple’s prices. And Amazon has now shown that it is waiting with open arms.
“Amazon is a company that understands the value we provide as content owners to its business,” said Jean-Briac Perrette, president of NBC Universal Digital Distribution.
Amazon hopes NBC Universal’s inventory will give Unbox a much-needed boost. Unveiled in September 2006, the service is a distant competitor to iTunes and has suffered from scattered service problems, including lengthy waits for downloads.
While Amazon has solved many of the problems, Unbox is still limited in one important aspect: It is not compatible with Apple’s iPods, which are by far the most popular portable video players.
Unbox allows consumers to rent or buy video for viewing on a personal computer or certain portable video players. Unbox can also deliver video directly to TV sets through TiVo devices.
In addition to new episodes of returning series, NBC Universal said it would allow Unbox customers to download free — in advance of their network premieres — the pilot episodes of new series, including a “Bionic Woman” remake and “Journeyman,” about a man who travels through time to help people in trouble.
NBC Universal has long offered library movies like “Psycho” and “Animal House” on Unbox and later this year will begin offering newer releases like the comedies “Knocked Up” and “Evan Almighty.”
The media conglomerate, part of General Electric, said yesterday that Amazon had agreed to give it something that Apple would not: greater flexibility in the pricing and packaging of video downloads. As a result, NBC Universal said it had agreed to sell a wide variety of television programming on Amazon’s fledgling Unbox download service, including the drama “Heroes” and the comedies “The Office” and “30 Rock.” Episodes will be available on Unbox the day after they are shown.
While Amazon is still working to determine pricing, Unbox typically charges more for newer releases than for older ones. Unbox also gives consumers more options, including whether to rent a movie for $3.99 or buy a download for $14.99. Amazon agreed to offer promotions, including a 30 percent discount when buying full seasons of television shows.
Apple sells episodes of television shows for a flat $1.99, with movies priced at $9.99.
Last week, NBC Universal became the first television and movie company to publicly challenge Apple’s pricing as too low, saying it would not renew its contract with iTunes without a change in its pricing. Apple retaliated by saying it would not add new episodes of NBC shows to the iTunes inventory.
NBC Universal’s decision to be a partner with an Apple rival could embolden other media companies to do the same. The News Corporation in particular has been grumbling about Apple’s prices. And Amazon has now shown that it is waiting with open arms.
“Amazon is a company that understands the value we provide as content owners to its business,” said Jean-Briac Perrette, president of NBC Universal Digital Distribution.
Amazon hopes NBC Universal’s inventory will give Unbox a much-needed boost. Unveiled in September 2006, the service is a distant competitor to iTunes and has suffered from scattered service problems, including lengthy waits for downloads.
While Amazon has solved many of the problems, Unbox is still limited in one important aspect: It is not compatible with Apple’s iPods, which are by far the most popular portable video players.
Unbox allows consumers to rent or buy video for viewing on a personal computer or certain portable video players. Unbox can also deliver video directly to TV sets through TiVo devices.
In addition to new episodes of returning series, NBC Universal said it would allow Unbox customers to download free — in advance of their network premieres — the pilot episodes of new series, including a “Bionic Woman” remake and “Journeyman,” about a man who travels through time to help people in trouble.
NBC Universal has long offered library movies like “Psycho” and “Animal House” on Unbox and later this year will begin offering newer releases like the comedies “Knocked Up” and “Evan Almighty.”
I'd start with news
Yahoo! Escalates Online-Advertising.
In its attempt to boost ad revenue and win the advertising share competition with Google, Yahoo! has decided to buy online ad group BlueLithium for almost $300m, a deal bound to be completed by the last quarter of 2007.Ranked the fifth-largest advertising network in the US and being the first in the UK, the three-year BlueLithium has 145 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore Media Metrix. Named Innovator of the Year by Always On in 2006 and receiving enough votes to be included in the top 100 private companies in America, the group earned Yahoo!’s trust to become a wholly-owned subsidiary.120-employee BlueLithium purchases banners and other sorts of graphical-display ad slots on almost 1,000 sites of other Web publishers and it further sells them to advertisers. BlueLithium is a legitimate choice for Yahoo! who announced a 2.3 percent drop in the second quarter ad revenue, as Todd Teresi, senior vice president of the Yahoo Publisher Network highlighted: “With our goal of creating the largest global ad network, this really moves us along the continuum.”The San Jose, Calif.-based ad network initially planned to hold public offering in the near future, now considering itself perfect for Yahoo!’s struggle to augment the number of places of the advertisements it sells. The gist of BlueLithium business strategy is the so-called behavioral-targeting technology, enabling advertisers to have their ads displayed to certain groups of consumers based on their online interests.Yahoo!, also completed the purchase of Right Media Inc., an online-advertising company in April in change of $680 million, after initially buying a 20 percent stake of the company in October. In June Yahoo, decided to combine its Search and Display advertising sales teams in the US under the management of David Karnstedt, currently senior vice president of Yahoo's Search sales business.Internet giants have shown a well-determined interest in developing their online ad revenues, with important purchases made by Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.Shortly after Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.1 billions, the Redmond company announced the acquisition of digital marketing firm aQuantive for 6 billion dollars in a bid to prevent Google's total domination of the online advertising market.In July, Time Warner’s AOL announced it will acquire ad firm TACODA which offers a technology that enables advertisers to serve highly relevant ads based on consumers’ online behaviors,for an undisclosed sum. According to sources familiar with the deal the company paid $275 million for TACODA.
In its attempt to boost ad revenue and win the advertising share competition with Google, Yahoo! has decided to buy online ad group BlueLithium for almost $300m, a deal bound to be completed by the last quarter of 2007.Ranked the fifth-largest advertising network in the US and being the first in the UK, the three-year BlueLithium has 145 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore Media Metrix. Named Innovator of the Year by Always On in 2006 and receiving enough votes to be included in the top 100 private companies in America, the group earned Yahoo!’s trust to become a wholly-owned subsidiary.120-employee BlueLithium purchases banners and other sorts of graphical-display ad slots on almost 1,000 sites of other Web publishers and it further sells them to advertisers. BlueLithium is a legitimate choice for Yahoo! who announced a 2.3 percent drop in the second quarter ad revenue, as Todd Teresi, senior vice president of the Yahoo Publisher Network highlighted: “With our goal of creating the largest global ad network, this really moves us along the continuum.”The San Jose, Calif.-based ad network initially planned to hold public offering in the near future, now considering itself perfect for Yahoo!’s struggle to augment the number of places of the advertisements it sells. The gist of BlueLithium business strategy is the so-called behavioral-targeting technology, enabling advertisers to have their ads displayed to certain groups of consumers based on their online interests.Yahoo!, also completed the purchase of Right Media Inc., an online-advertising company in April in change of $680 million, after initially buying a 20 percent stake of the company in October. In June Yahoo, decided to combine its Search and Display advertising sales teams in the US under the management of David Karnstedt, currently senior vice president of Yahoo's Search sales business.Internet giants have shown a well-determined interest in developing their online ad revenues, with important purchases made by Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp.Shortly after Google acquired DoubleClick for $3.1 billions, the Redmond company announced the acquisition of digital marketing firm aQuantive for 6 billion dollars in a bid to prevent Google's total domination of the online advertising market.In July, Time Warner’s AOL announced it will acquire ad firm TACODA which offers a technology that enables advertisers to serve highly relevant ads based on consumers’ online behaviors,for an undisclosed sum. According to sources familiar with the deal the company paid $275 million for TACODA.
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