From The Editor's Desk
 You'd
think that the dot com failures gave Internet companies a lesson in how
to turn a profit... GUESS NOT!
According to industry sources participation by Internet companies
in high-cost television advertising campaigns will be promising in the
coming years, though some companies showed their reluctance to shell out
their hard earned cash on events such as the Super Bowl. A Wise
choice in this writer's opinion! During the dot-com boom, we
saw Internet startups like Pets.com and Kforce.com fritter away millions
on Super Bowl ads in 1999 and 2000. Didn't seem to impact their
bottom line dramatically but it sure cost a bundle!
In this era of corporate pillaging and sheer waste, I'm wondering when
people are going to wake up to the fact that "it isn't how much you
spend" to promote your products or services online that's going to
make a company profitable, but how you spend it. Companies must
learn to develop online customers at reasonable "acquisition costs",
without breaking the bank. If they don't, bottom line profits
will decline. AOL seems unfazed by their billion dollar losses and
continues to spend a gazillion dollars on media blitzes, so maybe they
have a different twist on how to achieve bottom line profitability. We'll
wait and see!
Selling products or services online starts
with driving visitors to a web site. One effective way of attracting
site visitors is through subscription to the "Google Adwords"
service. With the Google Adwords program, you decide
what you'd like to spend on advertising, and you submit "keywords"
that you feel consumers will enter to locate your web site. When
one of your keywords is entered, your ad appears on the Google search
page page that is displayed for the keyword that was entered. Thus,
you only pay for RESULTS! However, as the keywords
you select become more and more popular, the amount you'll have to
bid to achieve visibility on page 1 or 2 will increase dramatically...and
you'll have to monitor your efforts frequently and make changes often
to achieve your goals.
Most importantly, your site pages will have to be internet ready in
all respects and adhere to various search engine rules in order for
your site to have a chance at achieving good positioning. To
understand all this better, I advise going to a site called SIte
Submit where you'll be able to use their excellent tools to make
your site search engine ready.
Not too long ago, an Internet directory I consulted with, invested
a modest amount of money in Google
Adwords. I can tell you for a fact that for each $50
spent, about 350 new visitors came to the Directory Site to take a
peek. The cost to acquire each visitor? A mere 14 cents a head. Hard
to achieve these days, though.
By: John GumasPresident, Gumas
Advertising
The marketing and promotion of any product or service is a challenge.
What's the best way to market my company? What strategies
should I use? How do I best allocate my budget to get
the greatest impact and return? We've compiled a list of
5 of the most common mistakes companies make when marketing
their products and services.
Mistake #1 - Creating Institutional, Instead of Direct Response,
Advertising Successful direct response advertising is the
process of providing your target audience with a compelling
reason to respond coupled with a strong call to action.
That call to action could be as simple as "call us",
"visit our Web site", or "get a free something."
Typically, prospects will respond if there is a compelling reason
to do so. In everything you do, be sure to give them an
offer they can't refuse. And be sure to create a sense
of urgency - you want to hear from your target immediately.
Mistake #2 - Not Having a USP - A Unique Selling Proposition,
or USP, is what sets you apart from your competition.
Without one, you are just another company out there. What
makes you different from your competitors? What benefit
do you offer that your competitors don't? Some companies
actually make their name part of their USP, such as Best Buy,
Budget Car Rental or Bob's All Natural Foods. Define your
USP and stick to it.
Mistake #3 - Failure to Address Your Customers' Needs
Successful companies always ask their prospects and customers
what they want. They don't assume. The only reason
someone does business with you is to fulfill a need or solve
a problem. You must find out what these needs and desires
are, and then fulfill them better than any of your competitors.
Mistake #4 - Talking Features and Not Benefits
Try not to focus on your company, product or service, but rather
the wants and needs of your target audience. All your
prospect cares about is "what's in it for me?"
In promotional material, emphasize the benefits and then support
those benefits with the product or service's features.
Mistake #5 - Not Having A Back-End - Many companies put
100% of their advertising focus toward generating new customers.
Typically, of those new prospects who respond, a very small
percentage buy. A strong back-end marketing program can
help you close a larger percentage of these prospects over time.
You should develop a separate program that exclusively targets
these prospects. A strong back-end is a very low cost
way to dramatically increase sales.
JG - |
 
By Ira Nikelsberg
Recently, I worked on a project
for Internet Enterprises, Inc. (IEL), a Company headquartered
in Phila Pa. I was very impressed with this simplistic
and sensible online "business offers" service,
and wanted to share it with our readers. As I put pen to
paper though, I realized that this service was a real mouthful,
so I decided to let you view the full details about this
service on IEL's website at http://www.shopperincentives.com.
In a nutshell, IEL will set up a private online
database to contain your customer e-mail addresses and business
offers (with photos) for a one time cost of $200.
Once set up, businesses can edit offers online in minutes...upload
photos...edit text and pricing...and as offers are posted
or edited they are automatically mailed to all of the e-mail
addresses in your private database. The first 2,000 e-mails
are on-the-house, and after that you pay only for e-mails
sent (you won't believe the low cost)...and the only monthly
maintenance you pay for the mail server is $25, no matter
how many e-mail messages you send. Best part, is that you
can test the online offers database. They provide a full
functioning online database where
you can enter a password, and edit offers to your hearts
content.
- IN
|
 
By Ken Braun - CEO - Loungelizard.com
Website design is more complex and comprehensive than just developing
a haphazard design idea and unsystematically implementing it.
The creative theme needs to represent the product, service,
company, or organization that is attempting to be depicted online.
It is imperative that the design theme is conducive to what
the company or organization offers or the initiative is likely
to be unsuccessful. This line of reasoning supports branding
an online image.
Branding is the creation of ownable imagery, a trademark possessed
by a company or organization that makes them distinctive and
identifiable by consumers. Branding is applicable across all
mediums, but often forgotten in the design and implementation
of a Website, where it is equally important. Branding an online
image involves following a methodology in order to establish
the brand, develop the brand, and then implement the brand through
developed creative.
A SWOT Analysis is an appropriate methodology to follow that
is proven effective in creating an online brand image; it is
a company analysis, identifying the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities,
and Threats possessed by a company. The result of this analysis
is the development of an identity that is suitable and recognizable
as your own. A brand emerges from this identity that becomes
applicable in developing online marketing solutions. Online
branding helps to define your business objectives, creating
web presences, such as visual and written messaging that effectively
communicate your brand's personality (look, feel, voice, tone,
culture, unique selling points). The brand identity is thus
transformed into a creative design that appropriately portrays
the business objectives of your company.
The absence of online branding may result in a Website whose
design is unparallel to what the company hopes to effectively
communicate. The addition of this element is the catalyst for
creating a successful initiative and is the value-added approach
to Website design.
-KB
By Scott Buresh
Co-founder and principal of Medium
Blue Internet Marketing
Most companies
that have websites have access to traffic statistics, usually
provided by their web host. Those that don't look at these
files (or use a bargain basement web hosting company that
doesn't provide them) don't know what they are missing- there
is a wealth of information to be found, and reacting to this
information can have a positive impact on a company's bottom
line. What follows are some of the most basic stats that are
typically available, followed by brief suggestions on how
to use the information.
The Myth of "Hits"
Most web surfers have come across sites that boast about "20,000
hits per day" or something similar. But what does this mean?
To an internet marketer, unfortunately, not much. "Hits" actually
refers to the number of requests for information the web server
receives. To use an oversimplified example, if your company
homepage has 20 separate graphics on it, each visitor to that
page will account for 20 hits. If you were boasting of 20,000
hits per day, you would really only be talking about 1000
visitors. Obviously, this statistic is not a fair indication
of actual site visitors, and shouldn't be figured into your
traffic analysis.
Average Visitors (Daily, Weekly, Monthly)
This is the true measure of website activity. Of course, more
traffic is desirable in most circumstances (provided it is
at least somewhat targeted). Without access to this data and
the ability to look at visitor history, it is impossible to
tell if your traffic building initiatives, whether online
or offline, are working. It should be noted that the more
your traffic increases, the more accurate the rest of your
data becomes. This is simply because trends in a larger sample
are more telling than trends in a smaller sample where a small
number of atypical users can skew the results.
Average Time Spent On Site and
Average Page Views Per Visitor
This data can be very useful in determining how your site
is connecting with visitors. If the average time that people
spend on the site is small (for example less than a minute),
or the average visitor only visits one or two pages, it may
indicate some sort of problem. Perhaps your site is attracting
the wrong traffic, with visitors abandoning the site quickly
when they realize it isn't what they were seeking. Perhaps
visitors are confused by the navigation and decide to look
elsewhere. Maybe your site, even though you love it, gives
off an inexplicable bad vibe. Whatever the case, an awareness
of the time people spend on your site and the number of pages
they view can bring a potential problem to your attention,
and help you gauge how effective your solution is.
Most/Least Requested Pages
This information is helpful in determining the "hot" and "cold"
areas of your website. If you notice that a page that you
think is important is not getting any attention, perhaps the
link to this page should be made more prominent or enticing.
On the other hand, if there are areas of the site that you
deem less important that are attracting a great deal of your
traffic, you can shift some of your sales/marketing focus
to those pages. Whatever you find in these stats, you can
bet that it will give you valuable insight into the interests
and motivations of your visitors.
Top Exit Pages
There are probably certain pages of your site where you don't
mind visitors leaving (after all, they can't stay forever).
A confirmation page after they fill out a request for more
information might be one example of a reasonable exit point.
A contact page that tells visitors how to get in touch with
your company might also be acceptable. Unfortunately, it is
unrealistic to assume that each of your visitors is going
to find exactly what they are looking for on your company
site, so it is normal to see a wide range of exit pages. However,
if a high percentage of visitors are leaving on any particular
page, it bears some close scrutiny. Sometimes minor modifications
in content can have a positive impact on visitor retention.
Top Search Phrases
This data can be very useful in understanding what type of
traffic is coming to your site. If you see relevant phrases
that bring you consistent traffic, you can assume that you
are getting some targeted traffic. On the other hand, if there
are predominant phrases people are using to find your site
that are unrelated to your business, you know that at least
some of your traffic is of a lesser quality. In addition,
if you notice that people find your site by typing in the
name of your company, you should be pleased to know that you
have achieved some level of brand awareness. By examining
the search phrases that your visitors are using, you gain
a better understanding of your visitor.
Conclusion
Some people are intimidated by these reports (mostly because
of the sheer volume of data available), but they shouldn't
be. While there are many highly specialized statistics that
can be used for more in-depth analysis of site traffic, the
above areas alone can provide invaluable information on site
visitors and website performance. Remember- this data is available
for a reason. It's up to your company to use it.
There are a lot
of ways to market online without going broke in the process.
My advice to all Internet advertisers...use this effective
medium frequently to "extend the reach" of traditional
print or broadcast media and to reinforce your branding...and
check out some of the reliable online marketing firms and
Process Server and Private Investigator Directories who can
help you develop a strong Internet presence, and perhaps a
high volume of Internet sales. In this lagging economy,
many will work close to the vest on pricing to help you develop
your online and off-line business using guerilla and other
marketing techniques.
Test a variety of reasonably priced online media, and
see what works best for you. When you find a winning
combination, bet the ranch on it!
Whatever you do, keep an open mind to all new advertising
techniques and ...test, test, test.
Let
us hear from you. Just submit the full details of any services
you feel might benefit our readers, and we'll review the information.
If we agree it has merit, we'll publish it in the newsletter.
All submissions should be sent to:
editorials@inetadnews.com
|
|
|
