Three Factors to Consider Before You Jump on the Social Media Bandwagon

by Lee Erickson

Editor's note: See Lee in person at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Driving Sales: What's New + What Works. Catch her session on "Creating a B-to-B Social Media Strategy: A Guide to Defining It and How Your Company Should Take the Social Media Plunge." Sign up for the event and use promo code ESPK08 to save $200 on the registration fee.

If you're like most B2B marketers, you're probably wondering whether you need to jump on the social media bandwagon. You're likely getting asked whether your company should start a blog, open a Facebook account, or be on YouTube.

Every day there's a new hot site, a new viral marketing success (or horror) story, or a new technology to learn about. There's a lot to keep up with, and it's continually evolving.

So how do you decide what to do?

Start by taking a giant step backward and assessing the social media landscape as it relates to your market, your buyers, and your competitors.

Here are three key factors to consider.

1. What's going on in my market?

Identify where your buyers go to learn about new products and services. What are the destination sites and who are the influencers (also known as A-listers) in your market?

How to start:

1. Search the Web:

-Use Google Blog Search and enter the top 5 phrases your prospects would likely use to find information about the issues that your products and services help solve. See
what analyst sites, blogs, online publications, and organizations show up.

-Search Technorati and del.icio.us and look for high-traffic sites.

2. Survey your buyers: Send out a survey asking customers where they go for information about job-related issues. What are their favorite blogs, online publications, organizations, and associations?

3. Ask the experts: Ask industry analysts and leading speakers where they go for information, what sites they write for, provide information to, or blog on.

What to look for:

1. Destination sites: Are there clear destination sites that have active conversations that would appeal to your buyers?

2. Quantity and quality: How many people are joining in? What's the frequency and quality of new posts? Are they talking about things relevant to what you do?

3. Who you should know: Are there respected A-listers or other influencers who you should get to know?

2. What are my competitors doing?

It's important to understand what your competitors are doing in relation to social media. If they're all over the destination sites that your buyers visit, that's a potential competitive threat. If they're not, that could represent a competitive opportunity.

How to start:

1. Search the blogosphere: Use Google Blog Search and enter your competitors' names, products, and company evangelists (if they have any).

2. Review destination sites: Go back to the destination sites that you identified in step one and search for company names, products, and people.

3. Check your competitors' sites: Look for signs that they're engaging visitors in conversation.

What to look for:

1. Activity level: What's your competitors' presence on the Web? Do their names, products/services, or employees show up on destination sites? Are A-listers talking about them in a positive way?

2. Use of social media: What social-media activities are your competitors engaged in? Do they actively engage in blogs, forums, reviews, and critiques—on their sites, on other sites? Do they have a following? Are they engaging their customers in new and different ways?

3. Syndication of content: Are they pushing out or syndicating content to destination sites? Are they educating buyers by providing whitepapers or "how to" guides? Are they establishing a position as a thought leader?

3. What activities do my buyers engage in?

Another critical factor to evaluate is what activities your buyers want to engage in. If your buyer isn't the type to comment on blogs or post ratings or reviews, then it doesn't make sense to put a lot of effort into creating these tools or participation on those types of sites.

On the other hand, if your buyer is already actively engaged in blogs, social-networking sites, or social-bookmarking sites, you can accordingly plan the activities you should focus on.

How to start:

1. Ask them:

- Survey your customers to gauge their participation with social media.

- Use free tools like PollDaddy or SurveyMonkey to create and send surveys to your in-house list, or add a survey to your corporate site.

2. Tap into current research: Both Forrester and Pew (pdf) have conducted research to determine the types of activities that people like to participate in online. You can match the demographics of your buyers, in terms of age and gender, to current research and draw some high-level conclusions about what activities they participate in or whether they engage at all.

What to look for:

Preferred activities:

1. What types of activities to they gravitate toward? Are they online or do they prefer traditional media? Do they read blogs? Participate in social networks?

2. Define "sweet spots" (high-participation activities) and "dead ends" (not interested).

What's next?

By focusing on your market, your customers, and your buyers, you'll be better positioned to build a strategy that works for you and the people you're trying to reach. You'll be less likely to get caught up in the latest craze and more likely to select the right tactics to move your company forward.

The final step is assessing your company's readiness to dive in.

Lee Erickson is cofounder and president of Erickson Barnett (ericksonbarnett.com), a B2B technology marketing firm. She can be reached at lee@ericksonbarnett.com.

The Engagement Game

by Martin Lindstrom

If I were to glance through your media plan, I'm sure I'd discover it contained all the usual, well-known media options. The TV and radio ads, the print ads and the outdoor advertising. We've all been going with these options for years, decades in fact.

We've always known we wouldn't be fired for nominating them. Just like an IT guy wouldn't be fired for installing an IBM solution.

But this security is fast disappearing. One day soon, you will be fired for your adherence to these options.

The computer gaming market's revenue is many times greater, and more rapidly growing, than that of the global movie industry. In 2004, Nielsen was already predicting that, by now, the movie industry would be just one-third the size of the computer gaming industry. So where is Hollywood's marketing power drifting? Online.

Are you ready for the brand building potential inherent in this scenario?

It's fascinating to reflect on the fact that almost every medium has a price which, at a click, you can Google and find out about within seconds. These are fixed and well-known prices, except in once case: the computer gaming channel.

What's the price of placing a commercial message in a computer game? I'm sure you haven't got a clue. Is it $1 per user? A million up front? One cent per second? Who knows? No fixed model exists. No media agency has, yet, really specialized in booking space in computer games.

This is new territory for brand-builders. And new territory often means new prices. New low prices.

Let's do the math. Research from my book, BRANDchild, showed that kids now, for good or bad, spend almost the same time in front of computer games as they do in front of a TV. These numbers will soon trend away from each other as computer games take the lead in the way kids allocate their time.

But here's the really crucial difference: Your TV commercial probably secures some 30 seconds with consumers; your potential computer game commercial is very likely to spend hours with them.

No wonder that Red Bull, the energy drink, claimed it had secured its success because of its appearance in one of the first PlayStation games. "Want more energy?" was the message. I don't have to tell you what the answer was.

If you belong to the IBM gang, inclined toward the secure solution, stop reading now. However, if you believe that TV is no longer the one and only path to brand success, you should be already considering your opportunities in the wonderful world of computer games.

The prices are still low as this is currently unexplored territory. The results are still high as branding clutter is limited. But it's full steam ahead in the computer gaming world.

Sims Online, one of the world's best-established computer game creators, no longer operates in a non-branded world but in a world where players buy McDonald's outlets and sell the company's branded food products, earning "simoleans," the game's currency. Eating that food will also improve players' standing in the game.

This is building brands through interaction. In the past, brands haven't interacted with their customers or been able to engage them in their philosophies. Now the relationship between brand and customer is set to change. Brands are learning that to create an engaged consumer, you have to... engage them. Surprise!

The potential for engagement represented by computer games is kick-starting a wave of brand movement from passive relationships with consumers to relationships that demand constant interaction. These relationships demand that brands adopt a role, play to it, and give constant feedback to consumers.

The ever-dawning world of branding has written another new chapter, this time online. I hope you're part of the story.

Update: The CAN-SPAM Act

Since 2003, the CAN-SPAM Act has regulated various aspects of email marketing campaigns. And now—after a three-year period of consideration—the Federal Trade Commission has announced four new rule provisions you should know about.



Following are the four topics that these new provisions address:

1. An email recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her email address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply email message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future email from a sender.

2. The definition of "sender" was modified by the FTC to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single email message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements.

3. A "sender" of commercial email can include an accurately registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial email display a "valid physical postal address."

4. A definition of the term "person" was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM's obligations are not limited to "natural persons."

The good news: If you're an ethical email marketer, these provisions may well just reinforce what you're already doing for your customers.

The Po!nt: The odds are good you won't need to make major changes to comply with the FTC's revised rules. "From the FTC press release," writes Laura Atkins at the Word to the Wise blog, "it seems that the rules are reasonably sane and any current mailer following best practices will already be in compliance."

Source: Word to the Wise. Read the full post here.

Source: Federal Trade Commission. Read the full press release here.

Optimizing Tactics For Generating Website Traffic‏

By JD Reilly

Internet marketing has been around for as long as there has been the internet. It really took off, though, once the World Wide Web caught fire in the late 1990's.

What many people new to internet marketing lose site of, or perhaps didn't know to begin with, is that internet marketing is based on the fundamental principles of marketing. It just so happens that internet marketers use those principles with a new medium, the web, to reach buyers.

The fundamental principle of marketing is - if you want to sell anything, you need prospective customers.

For many people, knowing how to generate massive amounts of traffic is the "missing link" to internet marketing.

Everyday there are lots of people who struggle to create websites and products, make them look pretty good and then... nothing. Everything was built and nobody showed up!

This is one of the biggest reasons people quit before they are successful.

It doesn't have to be that way. There is no exact strategy that is guaranteed to bring you millions of visitors everyday. However, there are proven techniques for generating huge amounts of traffic, some very quickly and some for free.

Higher traffíc increases the potential for sales and referral commissions. The goal is to boost search engine traffic because this means a wider audience and long-term profit from various sources like ads. That is why there is such a lot of innovation in the field of search engine optimization (SEO).

Long Tails and How They Help

One of the most recent techniques, and a very effective one at that, is the use of LONG TAIL keywords to direct search engine traffic to your website.

The term may sound intimidating, but all it refers to is a new marketing trend. In the past, a few major keywords were identified to pull traffic through search engines. In the new model, websites will be drawing their business from a large variety of low-volume search queries or phrases. So, it's goodbye to all those oft-used, clichéd keywords.

This brings about a paradigm shift in your strategy to identify keywords and phrases. Instead of opting for the most obvious keywords like 'Makíng money online', web marketers now have to identify several keyword phrases that attract streams of low volume traffic. The combined action of several streams of low-volume traffic will eventually add up to high revenue.

To identify Long Tails or multi-word search queries (for that is what they are), you have to pick out the actual phrases that visitors use to arrive at your website. These key phrases are more specific than general. They embody the specific information users are looking for. So, a phrase like "Top 5 SEO techniques to earn money online" will pull in more targeted traffíc than 'makíng money online'. Ultimately, such a strategy leads to an overall jump in web traffíc.

For example, 'Self-hypnosis' is a general keyword. The keyword phrases within this niche would be 'Self-hypnosis to lose weíght' or 'using self-hypnosis techniques to improve memory' or 'benefits of self-hypnosis for controlling anger'.

Methods to Identify Keyword Phrases

Use tracking programs: Certain automated programs generate a number of subject-specific keyword phrases. But you will still have to filter and select specific phrases from a long catalog of results. Further to this, you may have to run your selected phrases through a search volume analyzer, to zero in on the top phrases.

Keyword research tools: Tools like Google's Keywords Tool can help determine the popularity of keywords, thus enabling you to develop a wide variety of secondary keywords to improve web traffíc to your site. Stringing together these words should enable you to identify keyword phrases.

Search boxes: Using on-site search boxes will enable you to monitor specific keyword phrases your visitors are looking for. This way, you get direct feedback from your visitors. This is an amazing method you can use to learn more about the general public's search habits.

Check out your competition: Find out what phrases they are using. Search their meta tags, titles and headers. Here, all the work has been done for you. You only need to fine-tune the words and string them together to make phrases that will pull lots of search engine traffic. Keyword parsing tools help you analyze other websites.

Advantages

By using keyword phrases, you reap a number of benefits:

-High search-engine rankings: Competition will be weaker for the phrases you have identified so you can easily climb to the top of search engine rankings for your particular choice of phrase.

-Higher conversion rates: Since you are using the actual phrase your visitors are looking for, the website traffic you get is highly targeted. People who come to you in this manner are more likely to click the 'Buy Now' button than people who come in out of curiosity.

-Increased inflow: Since you will be using many keyword phrases, you will build up several streams of low-volume customers. These streams will improve your search engine traffic.

-Make more money: Your monetizing potential is high when you pull in search engine traffic because people who come to you are serious about your product, service or information. They are more likely to subscribe to your newsletter or RSS feeds.
Using Long Tails on your websites or Blogs will undoubtedly improve web traffíc to your site.

And of course, more traffíc is always good news!


About The Author
JD Reilly is committed in helping others succeed at marketing online products and implementing strategies for success. The success is built upon-- A focused target market, A product people are hungry for, A marketing strategy, Automation. Learn more Now: Silver Bullet System

Being Green: It Ain't Easy

In a blog post, Beth Ziesenis recalls working at a Colorado dude ranch, and being asked to put placards in guest rooms urging water conservation. They were intended to save on laundry bills and enhance the ranch's image, not to preserve the environment, and the former Peace Corps volunteer took exception to their cynical misrepresentation. "We don't recycle; we don't compost; we don't do anything for the environment," she protested.



Today customers check up on environmental claims. Ziensenis has the following advice for keeping your green credentials honest:

Don't exaggerate. "Buying carbon offsets or wind energy credits can actually give you the 'right' to say your company is powered by alternative energy sources," says Ziesenis, "even if you're plugging your computer into the same power plant you always have."

Put it in writing. Create a green philosophy statement that details how you reuse, reduce and recycle.

Reinforce your commitment. Give tips and keep everyone updated on your green strategies in newsletters and promotions.

The Po!nt: "More consumers are looking for proof of an environmentally conscious agenda by the companies they choose," says Ziesenis. "Before your marketing department wraps your website in a green border, examine your company's policies to make sure you pass the consumer green sniff test."

Source: Life on Avenue Z. Click here for the post.

Be a Shape-Shifter

Did you ever notice how many products or packages are rectangular? Think tissue box. Think cereal box. Think books. Think paper bags! The list is endless.



Apparently, there's a good reason for this focus on the rectangular: the shape appeals to most consumers. But do the size and actual dimensions of the rectangle matter as well? Recent research says yes, they do.

According to design standards, a rectangle's "golden ratio" is reached when the ratio of its long side to its short side is approximately 1.62. Designers use that golden ratio quite a bit.

But researchers have discovered that product preferences and purchasing intentions can change as the ratio of the rectangle is varied. The shape of the rectangle can actually influence purchasing decisions and product perceptions.

The mitigating factor at work here? It's often the relative seriousness of the context in which the product is used. The bigger the fun factor of a product, for instance, the more leeway you may have in its design.

So what's the logical conclusion for marketers? Don't apply a single design rule for rectangles across all product categories. Consider how the product will be used, then test some different dimensions.

The Po!nt: Be a shape-shifter. Pay attention to the shape of products and their packaging to attract consumer attention and approval.

Source: "Ratios In Proportion: What Should the Shape of the Package Be?" by Priva Raghubir and Eric A. Greenleaf. Journal of Marketing, 2006.

Seven Ways To Kill Your Catalog‏

by David Utter

Editor's Note: In our coverage on WebProNews of the ACCM (Annual Conference for Catalog & Multichannel Merchants) Conference, we bring you a look at seven concepts you need to consider for your site. Which ones stand out for you? Drop us a comment and let us know which of these ideas have helped your website the most.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Any dope on the street can make a mistake without exerting any effort. To really wreck an e-commerce site requires effort. Here's how to do it.

(Coverage of the ACCM conference continues at WebProNews Videos. Keep an eye on WebProNews for more notes and videos from the event this week.)

Sure, the session at ACCM 2008 was titled "Maximize Your Web Catalog: Search Optimization, Content & Analytics," but the real value comes from knowing how to completely make your site irrelevant to the engines, and thus to potential customers.

Matt Bailey, founder of SiteLogic, covered several topics where unary webmasters caused themselves and their sites unnecessary grief. Accessibility, for example, became a big deal for retail chain Target's website.

Target made its site in a way that left it less than useful for sight-impaired visitors using screen reader software. Images and image maps lacked any alternative text a screen reader could use. That earned Target an embarrassing lawsuit from the National Federation of the Blind.

Failing to use redirects for changed URLs provides an easy way to send search crawlers into oblivion, taking your site's presence with it. The 301 redirect says this URL doesn't exist any more, Mr. Spider, you want this URL instead, forever afterwards. Temporary URL changes use a 302 redirect.

Then there's inconsistent linking. Optimize those title bars to help avoid the perception that you're presenting duplicate content. If you can hit the same page in different ways, search engines might decide to exclude all of its instances as duplicates.

URLs filled with useless unreadable characters present people with an unmemorable page. Fall out of love with icky URLs and make them something that a regular user recognizes right away, and sees its value. Don't forget a nice favicon, either.

You may have tons of data available for a product or service you sell. Balance is the key. Too much information, like too many different products on one page, dilutes the presentation to the visitor.

If you really want to turn visitors into one-time arrivals, make calls to action obscure and unclear. Navigation that states what it does and does what it states keeps people makes it more likely that online shoppers, who frequently research products over and over before making a buy, will come back to reinforce their wants before making a purchase.

Bailey cited one task e-commerce site publishers need to succeed, and that's analytics. "Number one thing you can do to increase your sales is use analytics," he said, claiming over 70 percent of retailers do not use analytics.

"If you are not doing analytics, you are losing money," said Bailey. You don't really want to leave money on the table. Do you?

About the Author:
David Utter is a staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz covering technology and business. Follow me on Twitter, and you can reach me via email at dutter @ ientry dot com.

You've Got the Power!

No matter how sophisticated our society becomes, it seems we still can't resist vocabulary that appeals to our basic instincts. As a result, there are certain "power" words that can significantly improve your email response rates.



Here's Karen Talavera's Top Ten List of power words you should be using in your email messages. Post it next to your computer, and don't write another line without it!

Top Ten Email Power Words

10. New. Anything that hints at novelty will spur reader curiosity.
9. Save. Everyone loves to get something for less than it's worth.
8. Safety. Volvo has built an entire brand with this word.
7. Proven. It justifies your claim, and eases fear of the unknown.
6. Love. No matter how cynical we get, we're still in love with love.
5. Guarantee. Says Talavera, "It iron-clads your offer."
4. Immediate (also: Now or Instant). Online shoppers want it now.
3. Results. A word that tends to trigger instant conversions.
2. You. Your audience wants to hear what's in it for them.
1. Free. The Number One most potent motivator in direct response.

The ultimate Power Word. CAUTION: Don't overuse it.

Guarantee: Using these words well could help boost your results.

The Po!nt: These words work, if you respect them. "When it comes to power words, less is more," says Talavera. "Use them sparingly and strategically. Power words are just that—powerful—all on their own."

Source: MarketingProfs. Click to read the article.

Creating a Winning Web Site & Online Strategy: Q&A With Aaron Kahlow

While social media tools such as blogs and Twitter are getting all the buzz these days, we can tend to forget that for many companies, the web site is still the main inroad for customers. As a result, web site performance and usability is critical.

Aaron Kahlow is a partner in Business Online and a leader in the field of web site usability. At the MarketingProfs B2B Forum, Aaron will show B2B marketers how they can improve their site, email campaigns, landing pages and the general online customer experience by applying "The Top 10 Foundational Principals of Website Usability."

All this will be done in a very unique "lab" setting at the B2B Forum. Aaron explains more about the format, and gives some tips on how to improve your web site's usability, in this exclusive interview.

At the Marketing Profs B2B Forum, you are conducting a Lab on "Improving the Customer Experience of Your Web Site." Is the 'lab' format different from the standard session or panel we see at most conferences?

Completely different. The Usability Lab gives one on one advice from the subject matter expert on specifically where your web site is straying from the known best practices of web site usability. Moreover, it gives you insight into how that is affecting your customer experience and overall conversion rates.

One of the areas you'll be covering in your lab is seeing your web site as your customers do. What do you think is the biggest misconception that companies have about how visitors use and interact with their websites?

I'd say the biggest misconception is that their customers think like they do. Much like any good relationship, you need to put yourself in the other persons shoes (i.e. the customer). Most marketing professionals are way too "close" to their offering, corporate vernacular and all things related to their industry. So things like nomenclature and content grouping often fall in line with their corporate focused thinking not the users.

In general, do companies seem to be paying more attention to website design now than they did say 3 years ago? Or are they focusing more in other areas online, such as blogging and social media?

Definitely prioritizing the design and usability of their site a lot more. Many realize how bad their site really is and are now budgeting appropriately. The biggest realization is how central the web site is for all marketing efforts, online or offline in how there is usually at least one touch point on the site in any buying cycle.

Social media is being talked about a lot, but like the [just released] Forrrester research tells us, less than 30% are actually doing anything. So a lot of conjecture, not much concrete steps.

There's been a lot of research in recent years into tracking pattern-usage trends and "eyeball-tracking" with web sites. Where do you see the science behind website design going in the future?

I see their being much more widely adopted standards so web sites start having similar structures. This will make it easier for the user so they do not need to re-learn the navigation of a new site every time they go to one, it will be very similar to their more familiar sites:

I know you can't give all your secrets away, but what are a couple of the main areas of site design that are important to customers, that most companies overlook?

Here are the top 3:

1) It's not about design, it's about information architecture. Place more of your budget on the proper website "blueprint" and then layer a nice design.

2) Researching things we all ready know to be true. I hear companies tell me they did a recent study and found that their users like the search box in the top right corner... well we know that was the case 5 years ago. Research the elements that are very specific to your target audience.

3) Remember the search engine optimization and web site usability go hand and hand and 90% of the time work in line with each other.

Why Bother With "LinkedIn" or "Facebook"?‏

By John Clark

That's what I used to ask myself as numerous acquaintances kept tagging me to be part of their realm of contacts in FaceBook.com or LinkedIn.com. It seemed a nuisance until I sat down with an old contact, Don Tinney from EOS Worldside (EOS=Entrepreneurial Operating Systems). Don is an EOS Implementer whose job is quite simple. He says simply, "We make millionaires out of owners of small to medium size companies". So maybe he has something to say I should know.

I was in both LinkedIn and FaceBook and didn't see the significance. My business was humming along just fine and didn't need the distraction. Don forced my mind open a bit and so I took it upon myself to find out if there was some gold to mine there that I had missed. Like hunting for Morel mushrooms, it went from "none to be found" to being surrounded with all kinds of uses. Here is my quick rundown of uses in the hopes all our business partners can begin to take advantage of these tools.

To begin with, I'm going to concentrate on LinkedIn.com because I find it the most dialed in of the two for "business networking". While I'm in Facebook also my contacts there are almost all personal life related. Sure, we all can use a few friends but the majority of my day is more about business and LinkedIn appears to me to have a larger corner on it.

So if you...

-Are new to LinkedIn and don't know how to use it to help your business and career.


-Have been using LinkedIn yet felt like you haven't really accomplished anything with it.


-Are trying to persuade your friends to join LinkedIn and want / need to communicate the value of it.


-Wondering if LinkedIn type sites can help improve your web site's visibility.


-Think there's no real value in LinkedIn.

... this is for you!

Here is a small amount I've learned about using LinkedIn, understanding there are millions of users who know a whole lot more about it than I do. This still should give you a starter kit on the value. It will also be a great link section to teach you as much as you can possibly know about this.

Off-Site Factors Enhance Your Web Site's Ranking More than On-Site Optimization

The original criteria the creators of Google used to rank web sites is still the same as it is today. It ranked sites according to the value of the web sites that linked to the evaluated web site. If you have dozens of important sites with links to your site and those sites are related in subject matter to what your site is all about, it will out-weigh many of the things you put (or fail to put) in your site for rankings.

When you have links to your web site in your LinkedIn or Facebook listings, those are off-site links. If you make recommendations for other people in your circle of contacts and include your web site address as part of your signature then you have even more. Make dozens of good recommendations and receive them in return. It's truly a "giver's gain" world there.

Add to this some effective Public Relations campaigns and you can really begin to boost your rankings. Write articles like this to online magazines and make links to your web site part of your signature. It takes some real honest to goodness work but the results can be magic in your rankings. There is more on how all this works in one of our blog articles: The Most Important Key to Web Site Traffic!

Business Development - Marketing - Sales

We all know that strength of a warm lead. All the initial hurdles have been jumped. Linked in contacts can help you get to the right people. Interested in doing business with Acme Widgets? Do a search in LinkedIn for current and former employees of the company. Find out if any of them are connected to someone you know in your circle. If so, ask that contact to give you a formal introduction.

Before you meet that contact look over their interests if posted. Going to meet someone who is President of the company you want to work with? Look them up in advance and discover their interests and background. See who they know that you may also know. Create common interests and connections from that information and start the conversation warmly.

Did you know that ALL 500 of the Fortune 500 companies are represented on LinkedIn? Either the CEOs or the upper level management are to be found there. There must be something to it. Those who are active on it may just be looking for you and who you are on LinkedIn. If you're not there, they may wonder why. This is dang near as good as the Mason secret handshake without all the silly rituals or red beanie cap.

For a good article on warm calling using LinkedIn see A Guide To Business Development 2.0 .

When searching for companies, uncheck "current companies only" and find out what former employees have to say about the company. What kind of talent has left the company and how fast? Contact them and find out things the company may not want you to know. Learn their weaknesses and how to market to it. The líst is endless.

Increase Your Credibility

Imagine that before agreeing to see you on a sales call the business owner checks to see if you are on LinkedIn. Not being there could be a strike against you because he feels he's flying a little blind in your regard. If you are there, he or she may want to see your background, your connections, or your recommendations. Finding numerous positive reviews from others who have worked with you can create a positive frame of mind. If they know some of the same people you do, it can get even better.

Here it can get even better - receiving calls from buyers who found you on LinkedIn and want to buy something from you. Shocking? See how all this can work in the real world in Using LinkedIn to Make the Sale .

Career Enhancement and Job Search

Enhance your efforts in searching for a job or finding qualified applicants for positions you need to fill. It should be no stretch to your imagination at this point on how you can take advantage of this when looking for career advancement. Use your LinkedIn link as part of your email signature or refer to it in your resume. A large number of HR people and managers will recognize it. If you've done your homework and have numerous recommendations, it can really work in your behalf. Make friends and get recommendations before you need them. The best way is to start by recommending others first.

For more on this check out "Ten Ways to Use LinkedIn" .

Improve Your Website's Visibility

This will be the subject of my next article because this one's getting a bit long. In short, there are two main things that can positively affect your website ranking and visibility with search engines. The first, and least important are your on-site factors. The most important is your off-site factors. This aspect is mostly ignored by business owners and web developers. It is all part of true professional web development. In this regard you will truly get what you paid for.

If you are a member of LinkedIn - log out and then search for yourself. When you find yourself, copy the address from your browser's address bar. Use it for a link in your signature for emails.

Other Sites for More Education:

-Top Ten Reasons to Use LinkedIn
-How do I use LinkedIn to find a job
-How to use LinkedIn to Create Authoritative Content
-Wall Street Journal - The Right Way to use LinkedIn


About The Author
John Clark is the President of Wow Web Works in Kalamazoo, MI. This and other articles of interest are posted on his blog at wowwebworks.com/community. His profile in LinkedIn. You can also contact us at wowwebworks.com or at 269-321-5041.

Do You Really Want a Logo That Only Costs $100?

In a post at his blog, David Airey discusses the strange phenomenon of companies that think they can get a great logo on the cheap. Among the not-unusual postings he observed in online forums was this gem: "The prize for the winning company logo design is $100 USD payable in your paypal the day the contest ends, and the contest deadline will be the 1st of May. We will wait for your creatives, and wish good luck to all contestants. Let the battle begin!"



According to Airey, someone with $100 shouldn't expect more than two hours from a professional design service. "Yes, you might be on a tight budget, as most people starting a business are, but being in business doesn't come cheap," he says.

The Graphic Design Blog follows up on Airey's observations by explaining why your logo should cost more than lunch:

-It's the first impression people have of your company, and needs to last for many years. A logo is also critical for its influence on the look and feel of other marketing materials.

-A good logo requires substantial effort: Research, brainstorming, sketches, four or five options and final tweaking. With a $100 budget, meanwhile, it's likely the designer will produce something generic, and even resort to non-proprietary clip art that could easily appear in other logos.

The Po!nt: "You have to spend money at the beginning or it will end up costing much more for a re-design/re-brand further down the line," says Airey. "[B]ecause you do get what you pay for and you will come to realise your logo is rubbish."

Sources: David Airey's blog and the Graphic Design Blog.

Sprechen-Vous Italiano?

Most Americans won't win any prizes when it comes to communicating in a second language. We typically grasp at the remnants of our high school French or Spanish, filling in the gaps with English and ad hoc sign language. But in a post at the Influential Marketing blog, Rohit Bhargava highlights a young street merchant called Ravi who flips with ease from one language to the next as he sells fans made of peacock feathers.



In the first video, made by an English-speaking tourist and posted to YouTube, the young Ravi—dubbed the Lingo Kid—rattles off his sales pitch in series of languages: French, Italian, German, Arabic, Russian and Japanese. (If you watch closely, you'll notice that he also alters his tone and body language to mirror those of his customers' cultures.) Ravi might not get the grammar and vocabulary exactly right, but that's beside the point: virtually any tourist who encounters Ravi will get the gist of his meaning.

Three years later, the tourist returned and interviewed Ravi—now a teenager—once again. In the second video, he delivers his pitch with greater polish, and appears to have added Mandarin Chinese to his repertoire. Ravi also explains that he has never been to school; he learned each of these languages by listening to his customers.

This remarkable young linguist is your Marketing Inspiration. Says Bhargava, "Both videos together offer one of the most simple marketing lessons that you can imagine … that sometimes it doesn't matter what you're selling, just that you speak the right language."

Are Your Trainees Ready to Take the Reigns?

By Chris Crum

Don't let finding out cost you customers.


New hires have to get their feet wet sometime, but what steps are you taking to ensure that they are really ready to do so before you turn them loose?

This will be more of a factor in some jobs than in others. If you are going to put the hire out there with the customers, make sure they know what they are doing (at least to a reasonable extent).

If they are out there trying to assist customers and they are completely lost, the repercussions can be quite negative. For example, the story I mentioned about the guy at the phone store. I was playing the role of the by-standing observer as my friend patiently waited through an excruciating 30 minutes of "assistance" at the hands of an apparent new hire.

In this case, it's hard to say just how bad the repercussions were. My friend got his phone. I was left with a less than positive impression of the place, but I am not really in the market for their services, so I wasn't really a potential customer anyway, but they didn't know that. I could've been looking for a new provider, and if I was witness to such a ridiculous waste of time in their actual store, why would I want to chance signing a contract with them for a period of years?

I do not blame the employee who didn't know what he was doing. I blame the management that put him out there to deal with customers and equipment that he was obviously not proficient with during a busy hour of the day.

To be fair, I don't know the whole story of why this guy was assumed to be prepared. This is all just based on the impression that I got. It's speculation. But, it wasn't like they were short-handed. There were quite a few employees there working for such a small store, and when the store was that full, perhaps the new guy would've been better off observing a veteran handling some customers. He has to learn, but it shouldn't be at the customers' expense.

Once again, this is not meant to be taken as a rant, but as a real life example of how a business is making poor choices, that hopefully we can all learn from and you can apply that knowledge to your own business.

Before you throw a trainee into the trenches, find some way to test their abilities and be sure they are ready and familiar with what they need to be familiar with to get the job done efficiently. Especially if they are right out there with the customers (or working with dangerous equipment).

Businesses Planning More Web Investments

By Chris Crum

Are you?


I talked recently about how eCommerce may be a good route to go in an era where gas is nearly $4 a gallon, giving customers the option of not having to drive to your store to purchase your products. I also said that things like web design, SEO and online marketing have probably never been more important.

It appears that many see it the same way, if the results from a recent survey conducted by Register.com are any indication. The survey which polled their small business customers on web strategy trends revealed that most intend to make additional investments in web design, SEO, and email marketing over the next year.

"Having a website has become more than a luxury for small businesses and entrepreneurs, it is a necessity" as Register.com CEO Larry Kutscher puts it.

Interesting stats from the survey include:

- 55% of respondents have registered more than one domain name for their business

- 41% saw more than a quarter of their total revenue from web sales

- 20% don't know how much revenue they are getting through their site

- Approximately 70% of the respondents don't expect their web revenue to decline despite economic conditions. (34.6% expect more revenue / 34.5% expect about the same revenue)

- When asked, "What area of technology are you most likely to invest in over the next year?" The top there answers were: website design (53%), SEO (43%), and email marketing (41%).

Do you plan to make significant investments in your site? Hopefully you're not one of those neglecting it entirely.

Online Sales Look Good For Small Businesses

By Doug Caverly

Survey respondents expect steady or increasing revenue


If you haven't started selling stuff online, now would be a great time to do so. Small business owners seem to feel online sales are going to remain strong regardless of how the rest of the economy sinks.

"Approximately 70% of the respondents don't expect their web revenue to decline despite economic conditions," according to Register.com, which talked to 800 small businesses. Exactly 34.5 percent of its respondents plan on seeing the same level of revenue, and 34.6 percent expect the level to rise.

All of the standard disclaimers apply: conditions may be different according to geographic region or market segment, or Register.com's respondents could just be incorrectly optimistic.

With such a strong response, it appears that online sales may really represent a sort of safe haven, though. Chris Crum looked into some of the customer rationale behind this trend. And even if you have a service that can't be sold online, it's probably wise to establish (or revisit and refine) an online presence.

Register.com CEO Larry Kutscher stated, "Having a website has become more than a luxury for small businesses and entrepreneurs, it is a necessity."

Hat tip to Laura Palotie.

Saved Money Is Spending Money‏

by Chris Crum

As if you haven't heard enough about the economy and gas prices, I'm going to attempt to put a slightly different spin on the subject.

The fact remains that people want to save money. This holds true no matter how the economy is, but right now, it is becoming a higher priority for many consumers. It is of course a priority for businesses as well, but saving your customers money could in turn, bring you more business and make you more money. In other words, you've got to spend money to make money...or something like that.

I'm talking about discounts for your customers. Tell us what you think.

Coupons

Whether you are strictly a brick and mortar business, an online business, or a combination of the two, coupons are big. In an era where people are putting gas in their vehicles at nearly $4 per gallon, they are looking to cut costs wherever they can. This means, the more money you can save them, the more likely you are to get their business.

Make your coupons worth their time. Sometimes, it takes more than 10 cents off of an item to spark enough interest to buy.

Sales

General sales apply with basically the same concept, and perhaps are even more effective, especially with brick and mortars. With offering items at sale prices, you are encouraging customers that might not have your coupons to buy from you also.

Offering good sales is a good way to get them to come back. If you build a reputation in the customers' minds as a place that has good sales, they are more likely to revisit your store just to see what you have.

Promotional Giveaways

Every once in a while, give something away for free. This is also a reason for your customers to come back. This could be in the form of a contest, or simply giving a random customer an unexpected bonus prize upon checkout.

It's another great reputation booster and could inspire future sales. You can really be creative with this kind of thing and make it fun for shoppers. Think Shoe Carnival. They actually make a game out of it. They have a wheel that customers can spin and trivia questions that they can answer to win prizes and discounts. Wouldn't you love to shop at a store where there is a chance you could win something every time you shop there?

When all is said and done though, be smart with your discounts. Profit is still the goal obviously, but you may have to give a little more to get more in an era where half of people's paychecks are going to their gas tanks. What ways are you saving your customers money? Are they effective for your business?

Some Branding Tips from the Queen of Burlesque

Though she might be better known for her marriage to rocker Marilyn Manson and her ubiquitous appearance on best-dressed lists, Dita von Teese has been a driving force in the revival of highbrow burlesque. Good Morning America's Amanda Christine Miller, intrigued by von Teese's accomplished personal branding, decided to ask the style icon how she did it.



Says von Teese, "I think that the most important thing—and the point that a lot of people miss—is they're trying so hard to follow a formula, and to fit in to what's the right thing, and you can see it everywhere. They see success. They say, 'That's how you become successful.' But, to me, I always looked at it a different way. I wanted to fill a void, I wanted to be different. That was going to be the secret to my success. And I looked at the people that I think are very, very successful throughout history, and they all had something different, that was maybe a little bit risqué, and they were very individual. And those are the people that stand the test of time. Not just ordinary beauty, or trying to fit in. You have to have something more. And I was always willing to take a chance and believe in what I did."

Your Marketing Inspiration: Von Teese began with an unusual product, carefully cultivated her brand and has enjoyed tremendous success. "I've been performing burlesque since 1991, and it certainly wasn't chic and popular then," she says. "But it is now, because I believed in it."

Finding Inspiration on the Treadmill

When your job asks you to brainstorm on regular basis, even a marketing wunderkind will hit the creative wall once in a while. To keep those mental blocks to a minimum, Dr. Amantha Imber recommends aerobic exercise, citing a study by David Blanchette that concludes a little workout pays big dividends in creativity:



-Group 1 did no exercise prior to their creative task. "Lucky them, some of you might be thinking," says Imber.

-Group 2 participated in 30 minutes of aerobic exercise—such as walking, biking, swimming and running—before undertaking their creative task.

-Group 3 also took 30 minutes of aerobic exercise, but waited for two hours before digging in to their creative task.

But group 1 wasn't so lucky after all. "The researchers found that groups 2 and 3 performed significantly better on the task than the no-exercise group," says Imber. With this in mind, she suggests:

-Going to the gym—or at least for a brisk walk—ahead of your brainstorming sessions.

-Scheduling lunchtime walking groups to encourage creativity during the afternoon.

-Considering mini-workouts when you're in the middle of extended creative sessions.

The Po!nt: Says Imber, "As well as concluding that aerobic exercise enhances creativity, [researchers] also point out that the positive effects of this activity are somewhat enduring, and certainly last at least up to two hours after completing the exercise."

Source: Article submitted by Amantha Imber.

The Ten Commandments of Search Engine Optimization‏

By Bhaskar Thakur

Most of the time when we pitch to a new client we are asked for SEO guarantees. "Your competition has guaranteed top results and submission to 100,000 Search Engines and Directories". We go all out educating clients that Search Engine Optimization is all about smart work and not just adding random keywords and submittíng to every directory possible. I'm writing this article to reach out to the SEO buyers and help them distinguish the crooks from the genuine SEO cos. I've compiled my Search marketing experience over the years in this article. I hope this helps you in selecting your Search Marketing initiative.

Commandment 1: There are No Rank Guarantees. (Period)

Search Engines alone control their indexing and ranking algorithm. Do not try to trick Search Engines. The only way to improve your search engine rank is by playing by the rules. And the rule is very simple: make it logical. Web content is primarily for the site visitor and not crawlers.

If your Search Engine Optimizer sold you magic "Top rank on Google in 10 days flat". Forget it. There are no short cuts. Top ranking in Search Engine Natural Results will take time. Hard work is imperative especially in developing the content on your website and the links to your site.

Commandment 2: Ranking is Not the End, It's the Means.

Ask yourself what will a top search engine rank get you? Most businesses are interested in increasing sales on a website or at the least driving qualified traffic. Ranking for the right keywords (keywords used by your target audience) is important. There are SEOs who will try to show case results for keywords that occur only on your website. Beware such gimmicks.

Commandment 3: Know Your Competition.

"Rank" is relative position and more so in the Search Engines' natural results. How well you do in the search engine results is a function of how much hard work you have done in relation to your competition. Analyze your competition's keywords, links, keyword density and spread, but be sure not to copy your competition.

Commandment 4: Use Search Engine Friendly Design.

A search and visitor friendly design is a must for any successful website. Your website should be compelling enough for repeat visits by search engines and potential customers. Make sure you have search engine friendly URLs and avoid those long URLs with query strings.

Commandment 5: Select Keywords that are Worthy.

You must research your keywords before targeting. There are tools that give you a good idea of a keyword's search potential for example. It is important to know the number of searches for a keyword in the last month, last 6 months and last year. You should also find out the number of web pages that are targeting the keyword. It is advisable to start a campaign with keywords with moderate competition and a high number of searches.

Commandment 6: Write Great Content.

Even if your website site is technically perfect for search engine robots, it won't do you any good unless you also fill it with great content. Great means it has contextual and editorial value. Great content brings repeat visits and increases the chance of conversion. Great content is factual and appeals to your target audience. Your web page should have your desired action embedded in the content and you must ensure that the content is fresh. Keep adding and editing content regularly.

Commandment 7: Use Good Hyper Linking Strategy.

Hyperlinks make your content accessible and contextual. You must hyperlink in the right context within the website and to other websites. Good links are appreciated by the Search Engines and by visitors. No one likes to be taken to a mall selling "Macintosh" when shopping for "apples".

Commandment 8: Write Relevant and Original Meta Content.

Meta content is like a business card. Just as your business card tells who you are and what you do, Meta content tells the search engines the relevance and context of a web page. Resist the temptation to include everything in the Meta content, but make it detailed. Confused? The idea is to include only what is relevant to the page in the Meta Content but to include everything that is relevant.

Commandment 9: Acquire Relevant Links.

The links you acquire are the roads to your web page for search engine bots and visitors. Good links improve your webpage's equity on the World Wide Web and bad links make a dent in your equity and credibility. Be selective in reciprocal linking. Both reciprocal and one way links work, if you are prudent in selecting the links. Submit your website to the relevant sections in relevant directories.

Commandment 10: Consult Experts, If You Need To.

If you have the competence, there are two ways to learn - learning from your mistakes and learning from others' experience. You can choose either. If you have the time and can wait for the online dollars, do it yourself. If you want to get started now, it may be useful to consult the experts.


About The Author
The author is an expert in Search Marketing with over 10 years Onlëne Marketing experience. He heads www.rankuno.com, the specialist in online marketíng and Search Engine Optimization. RankUno empowers its clients around the world with high ROI onlíne marketing programs. He may be reached at bhaskar@rankuno.com.

Enhancing Web Effectiveness With Audio Sound Design‏

By Jerry Bader

The average person is exposed to an assault of stimuli each and every moment of our waking day. Some of this stimulus catches our attention, but much is filtered out as extraneous, useless, or unimportant. This filtering is our way of handling the constant barrage of information we endure. As marketers it is our job to cut through all the meaningless, random white noise of life and penetrate the consciousness of our targeted audience with our marketing messages.

Mere Subliminal Exposure

One of the weapons, tools if you prefer, professional media producers use to create an impression and influence behavior is something called mere subliminal exposure, the process of communication without explicit notice. It is a process and effect that everyone uses every day without ever thinking about it, and it is a necessity in order to deal with, and make sense of, our over-stimulated lives.

The look your spouse gives you at a dinner party, the tone of a simple comment, or the change in body language communicates a message that says, 'stop what you're doing before I get angry,' or 'let's get the heck out of here before I die of boredom.' But whatever the coded meaning, the communication is clear. We all have the ability to decode these kinds of minimal subliminal messages. In fact the inability of some to properly interpret these kinds of signals has lead to unfortunate consequences.

This process is not to be confused with the discredited work of James Vicary, who in 1957 faked the results of subliminal advertising in movie theaters. He claimed and later recanted that by flashing barely noticeable images of popcorn and soft drinks on the screen that it increased sales of the items by a significant amount. However, this abuse of the phenomenon does not negate the fact that people are sensitive to, learn from, and respond to a variety of subtle visual and auditory experiences that influence their behavior. The same can be said of other senses like smell and touch, but since our main concern is how to use this process on website presentations we will leave the more physical encounters to our offline marketing colleagues.

Audio Sound Design - The Art of Hidden Persuasion

The Signature Voice-over

One of the least used but most effective and economical marketing tools a website business has at its disposal is signature voice-over, or Sonic Personality. It establishes your identity and embeds your brand by giving your site a human voice.

It is the sound of the human voice that conveys all the subtlety and nuance of the message you have to deliver. Major advertisers use familiar sounding actors and actresses to deliver personality and impact. Even when an audience doesn't recognize the voice being used, the positive attributes associated with that voice are transferred to the product or service being offered. It is not by random choice that Ford Motor Company chose Keifer Sutherland's Jack Bauer sonic personae for the voice of their television spots or that Chili's restaurants now employs John Corbett's comfortable, friendly, 'Sex and The City' voice instead of the previously grating and irritable sound of comic Wanda Sikes.

Most website businesses cannot afford to hire Hollywood talent to pitch their products. What is important is that the voice you choose is a signature voice, a distinctive sound that delivers the script with character and style employing timber, cadence, and phrasing like only a professional voice actor can do. Of course, you must also give your voice talent the right words to say, which means you provide them with a professionally written script if you want to maximize the effectiveness of your signature voice-over.

When we think of voice-overs we usually think of commercial presentations, but here again most website businesses truly miss the boat when it comes to utilizing Sonic Personality. We all know that text on your website is important in order to attract search engine indexing, unfortunately from a marketing effectiveness point-of-view, text alone lacks impact.

People are impatient and generally do not want to read volumes of text information, and besides, most people find it difficult to read on a computer screen. Even if they do read your material, how much of it is retained, is it associated with your company, or does it just get confused with all the other stuff people see during their busy, business day?

As a solution why not turn all your website copy, including articles, into audio delivered by a professional signature voice, providing people the option of reading the text or sitting back and listening to your words of wisdom?

Of all the multimedia, marketing techniques available to you, a signature voice is the most economical option whether used as a stand-alone element or as part of a visual or video presentation.

Sound Cue Punctuation & Effects

Voice-over is not the only audio method available to the savvy website marketer. You wouldn't write something without using punctuation: it's what makes the words meaningful by providing the cadence necessary for maximizing the impact, but punctuation does not have to be limited to periods, exclamation marks and semicolons. Punctuation can be added in the form of sound cues and audio effects.

Professional audio engineers know what kind of sound to add to a presentation in order to draw people's attention to certain key phrases, words, or points. In the same way a composer arranges the music score for a movie to enhance mood and build excitement, so too does the commercial audio producer turn a dry read into an authentic, memorable experience.

Sound punctuation and audio effects should not be taken lightly; audio sound design, when done properly, is one of the most complex and technical areas of multimedia, far more sophisticated than video and just as important if not more so. Where and how to use trumpet swells, rim shots, and volume variance is not just art, it's science, and it has a profound psychological and emotional effect on the listener.

Custom Composed Music

If voice-over is the most under-utilized Web-marketing tool we have, then music is probably the most abused. No doubt music like sound design is an enormously powerful method of enhancing mood, and drawing attention to specific points and images. Unfortunately slapping on an over-used royalty-free sound loop that's been used on everything from breakfast cereals to incontinence products is not the answer.

For music to be effective it should be unique enough to be associated with your company and arranged in such a way that it increases the presentation's memorability and enhances its experience. In the silent movie era music was the only method of creating this kind of emotional impact, and despite today's full range of visual presentation techniques and special effects, music scoring is still one of the most crucial elements of memorable movie-making.

When it comes to music, you are dealing with the full arsenal of psychological presentation techniques and failure to use it properly may be counter-productive.

Signature Sound Logos

One of the first things people do when they start a business is to have a logo designed. Even novice entrepreneurs recognize that a company needs some kind of visual identity, a short-form tag that conveys the brand image that can be recognized in an instant.

The advent of visual media like television and commercial TV spots did not obscure the importance of the radio-style jingle and what has become known as the sound logo or audio signature. The Maxwell House coffee percolator beat, Kellogs Rice Krispies' 'Snap, Crackle, Pop,' and Tony The Tiger's 'Grrrrrrrrreat!' are all classic examples of audio signature. Today we have the familiar sound of Intel's sound logo, the powerful swell of the THX movie sound tag, and Vonage's original goofy signature audio branding.

In today's multimedia Web environment, your sound logo is every bit as important as your visual identity.

It's Theater of the Mind

Radio has often been referred to as 'theater of the mind' because the combination of voice, sound cues, effects, music, and audio logos helped paint powerful and memorable mental images for the listener. For those old enough to remember radio dramas, the ringing of 'Johnny Dollar's' telephone or the sound of 'Inner Sanctum's' creaking door are forever permanently etched in the minds to anyone whoever heard them.

In a Web environment populated by millions of websites all competing for audience attention, failure to use every marketing tool at your disposal is simply foolish. If you want to be heard, it's time to say what you have to say out-loud.

Yes, That Dress Makes Your Hips Look Big

On a recent visit to J. Crew, Jackie Huba asked the salesperson if a dress made her hips look big. The frank response, "Yes, it does," was followed with a swift recommendation for a more flattering alternative. In a post at the Church of the Customer blog, Huba lauds the honest—and helpful—feedback on what looked good, and what didn't.


She says it's the kind of personalized service she has come to expect from J. Crew under the leadership of CEO Mickey Drexler. "[He] is clearly driven by a fanatical mission to understand what his customers want," writes Huba. "He spends part of almost every day visiting stores … [and] … chats up customers for feedback and comments."

Among the unusually upscale services that seems to have come from those conversations:

-On the way into her dressing room, a salesperson handed Huba a bottle of chilled water, something you don't expect in a mid-range store.

-Shortly after her visit, Huba received a J. Crew offer inviting her to make a complimentary appointment with a personal shopper, even before or after store hours.

The Po!nt: Says Huba, "By listening to customers (not just once, but continually), J. Crew has learned that some of us who aren't afraid to part with our cash want someone to help style us and do it on our schedule."

Source: Church of the Customer blog. Click here for the post.

Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

Samples are often touted as effective tools that give customers a taste of what your product will be like, and increase the likelihood of their buying it in the future. But what makes the consumer's experience with samples a positive one? According to researchers, it's nothing more than feelings.


Research shows that two things affect how much consumers like a product sample:

1. Its informational (cognitive) components. What it is made of, where it is made, etc.

2. Its affective (sensory) components. What it tastes like, how it makes consumers feel.

So, why did feelings get the biggest rating by researchers? Because, contrary to popular wisdom, shopper distraction—conversation, other displays nearby, music, or studying a grocery list—actually increased the likelihood that the customer would buy the product in the future. Rather than being a negative, distractions proved to be good predictors of positive future decisions.

Why? When consumers are distracted, their thoughts veer away from the informational elements of the product. This allows their feelings—the sensory components—to have a greater impact on product judgment, and purchase decisions.

The Po!nt: It's party time! Have consumers sample a new, fun or tasty product in a distracting environment; the distraction makes its affective components stand out, and can actually increase its positive impact.

Source: "The Effect of Distractions While Tasting a Food Sample: The Interplay of Informational and Affective Components in Subsequent Choice", Baba Shiv and Stephen M. Nowlis. Journal of Consumer Research, 2004.

This Can Make or Break Your Email Campaign‏

by Chris Crum

I've written a lot about email marketing over the past week or so, covering ways to keep your messages out of spam filters and general tips on having a successful campaign.

One of the factors of a successful campaign that I touched upon briefly in my last article is...

The Subject Line

The subject line is so important to the success or failure of an email marketing campaign, I think it deserves its own article. Tell us what kinds of subject lines make you want to open.

If you want people to open your email, you have to use a subject line that piques their interest. Otherwise, your message will not be read. That is just a fact.

It May Cost You Your Subscribers

Just because the recipient has signed up to receive messages from you does not mean that he/she will care enough to read every one that you send. In fact, if you send enough that are so unappealing that they don't want to open them, they are likely to just unsubscribe.

Are You Worth Their Time?

We live in a time when most email users receive far more spam than messages they asked for, and wading through messages from anybody at all becomes a time consuming task.

I myself am even to the point where I have to be selective of what email I read from my own sister for example. I love my sister, but she forwards me so many jokes and funny pictures and whatnot, that I just don't have time for all of them. I'm just on her list. They're not sent personally to me usually. I doubt that I am the only one in a situation like this, so let's stop and think.

Who are you to them?

If I'm scrutinizing subject lines even from beloved family members to deem which ones I should open (I will always open personal notes from her), what makes you think the people on your list will open every message you send?

That, my friends, is why having an intriguing subject line is so important. If you have inspired the recipient to open your message, you have conquered one of the greatest hurdles to having a successful campaign.

Tips for Good Ones

I'm not going to get into all of the elements of successful subject lines. I think the article from EmaiLabs I referred to recently does that well enough, so if you are looking for tips, I strongly suggest checking that out.

My goal here has just been to emphasize the importance of the subject line. It is only a small part of your email marketing campaign, but it is one of the most important, and can have a huge effect on the outcome. Thoughts?

Subject Lines: Tell, Don't Sell

In an article at MarketingProfs.com, Josh Nason uses actual subject lines to demonstrate what works—and, just as importantly, what doesn't—when you create email campaigns.



Be sure to check out his list of hits and misses. In the meantime, here's a roundup of the lessons we can draw from them:

-NEVER WRITE LIKE THIS. A subject line written entirely in caps not only looks desperate and unprofessional, it's the equivalent of shouting at the recipient in an online context.

-Be intriguing, but accurate. Your content should deliver what the subject line promises. "If you break the reader's trust early, you'll have to work twice as hard to get it back," says Nason. "Never forget the Golden Rule."

-Have a little fun. A subject line doesn't have to be a somber affair—mix it up and show your company's personality.

-Don't forget to choose the right From name. Nason recommends sticking to your company's name, not that of a team member, or a drawn-out term that doesn't mean anything to the reader. When you do so, there's an added bonus: you don't have to repeat the company name in the subject line, which frees up that valuable real estate.

The Po!nt: Follow a few simple rules to make your subject lines zing. "Think of [a] subject line…like a headline of a newspaper article," says Nason. "If it grabs you, you start to read. If the first few paragraphs keep you engaged (similar to an email 'sweet spot'), you keep on going. You're smart marketers…you get the idea."

Source: MarketingProfs. Click to read the article.

Wake Up Your Sleepy Subscribers

If you do online marketing, you no doubt have a list of contacts who exist in a sort of limbo: they don't seem to open their email, but neither have they taken the trouble to unsubscribe. In a post at his blog, Christopher Barnes says revitalizing these inactive subscribers is just as important as acquiring new readers. His play-by-play suggestions for a successful project to awaken—and reactivate—those sleepy subscribers include:

-Ask them what they want to receive. Giving your subscribers the ability to select preferences means they get relevant messages they'll look forward to opening.

-Make an offer they can't refuse. In the B2B arena, white papers, special discounts, and webinars can renew interest; a B2C audience responds well to special discounts, free samples, and free shipping.

-Threaten to break up. Go ahead and let them know if they don't click, they'll get dropped from the list. Barnes notes that many of your recipients might actually read your missives without enabling images—so give them the chance to let you know they're still there.

-Change your format. Long, text-heavy messages won't appeal to people who sift through email on their phones. "Offer a text format to people who read email on alternative platforms," he recommends. "[M]ake it short and sweet."

The Po!nt: Wake up sleepy subscribers to clean up your list. Says Barnes, "A reactivation campaign…[helps]…clean out the dead wood, re-energize your list and reclaim some of the money you spent acquiring and engaging those addresses in the first place."

Source: Best Practices for Email. Read the full post here.

Top 10 Reasons A Website Fails To Perform

By Gary Klingsheim

You've taken the time to finally build a website, and now it is online. Months go by. Maybe you get a few visitors now and again. Maybe you land on the search engines. Mostly though, it just sits there. Is the website you paid for pulling its weight?

A website is a tool and can be of significant help to your business. It can cut a lot of time you put into giving information to customers. It can answer questions and perform tasks for you. Find out where websites fail to perform and how you can figure out where to make it better.

1. Undefined Website Objectives

Some sites try to do way too much at once, or worse, they have no definable purpose. Many provide no clear objective. A site can do more than look good and flashy and have your contact information.

Websites can be informational, storing content and articles based on a topic. Sites can run eCommerce solutions that help you with your sales process. It can also generate leads, asking customers to fill out forms with their information and interests. It can also be a hybrid site, with mixed purposes, like offering a free ebook or free access to information (informational) in return for contact information (lead generation).

Defining the purpose of your website gives a clear direction to your customers. Where should customers arrive when they find your website? Where do you want them to end up? Using a clear path and clear objectives, you can lead them through your site, your products, and your information, depending on how you need to sell your products. Not all products or services can be sold directly in an eCommerce situation. Maybe you prefer just getting to know your customer a bit more, and being able to forward marketing materials, so a lead generation type of site might be more suitable.

Assign a secondary objective. Maybe after visitors sign up for free access, or an ebook, they are encourage to ask more by contacting your sales reps, or perhaps they can make a direct purchase online. Use a clearly definable call to action. "Email for more information." "Clíck here to sign up." Tell visitors where to go.

2. Unidentified Target Audience

Demographics have been used in marketing for generations. Marketers use the information because it works. Knowing who your audience is defines the purpose to your website and calls out those who qualify and would be interested in your products. Marketing is the one area where discrimination is actually a good thing! You don't want to waste the marketing dollars that draw people to your site who won't need your products in the first place.

Get to know who your clients are. Are they male or female? How old? Where are they located? What do they do for a living? Habits, income levels, preferences, they can all be discovered with a quick email, phone call or have your current customers take surveys and help you figure out what your clients want.

3. Building for the Wrong Audience

Your site can have a purpose and a select audience, but if it doesn't appeal to audiences, they tend to go elsewhere. Finding preferences is only the first step. Once you figure out what your demographic is, it is time to find out what appeals to them, and use that to your advantage. It could be something as simple as site colors and images, to where and how they prefer to use navigation systems and the type of content presented.

Maybe you need simple content, easy to read and understand for younger audiences. Perhaps you need something a bit more technical for professionals. You can even see if you need to add features for those who are visually impaired. Paying attention to your demographic and their preferences can mean building your website around their likes and getting more responses.

4. Oblivious to Web Traffic Sources

A link on a Harry Potter fan club forum to your website can bring in traffic, but does it really bring in the right customers? If you're not directing traffic from sites relevant to yours or where a matching market exists, you might end up with empty hits to your website. It looks pretty on stat pages but it doesn't really do anything.

Refocus your efforts on search engine optimization and focus on keywords that do fit, not just what might be popular. You can plan the sort of traffic you want and focus your outreach efforts on that. Planning your search engine campaigns can make them more effective, bringing the right customers to you. You don't need 1,000 random visitors a day, when 100 qualified visitors will do.

5. Underestimating the Competition

Who says you can't grab ideas from your competition? Find out what they are lacking and draw customers to your site by adding more features and information. Your target audience is searching the web for your product. Don't let your competition become more appealing.

Understand your competition by observing their sites. Where are your competitors linking? Where aren't they? What designs do they use on their site? Does your target audience like that type of design or do they want something better? Figure out how to improve your site and make it better than your competition.

6. Poor Site Communication and Inconsistency

If you're building a website, is one page orange and another blue? Does one page have your logo and another doesn't? People love consistency.

Does your content and images display the right message? Your website might have pretty pictures of your children, or a fun story about what happened to you last Christmas, but is it really what your customers want to know?

Skip the personal info, unless it's relevant and your audience wants to hear about it. You also need to make sure you present your brand in its best light, and consistently give visitors the same presentation every time and on every page. Let your brand stand out.

7. Outdated and Antiquated Site Features

Out with the old. Check your site for old content and images and delete them. Remove old links that go nowhere too. Forget pop ups and old methods of keeping visitors around. Content is great, but if it's so old that it's irrelevant, you'll lose respectability and your expert status.

Stick to new information. Don't be afraid to get rid of old articles and delete old images. Do an update on your site features, like navigation systems and contact forms.

8. Poor Overall Site Performance

You've plastered all there is to know about you on a few pages. Is this the right way to do it? Maybe not. Yes, you've given them something to look at, but you have to remember, your time to impress people on the Internet is limited to just a few seconds. Long passages of text, lengthy forms, even poorly constructed or confusing navigation can slow people down, which leads to people leaving.

Making your website flow is all about making your site easy to read, easy to browse and easy to find what you're looking for. Include a search function, highlight popular pages, and make it simple for people to give you their information. Start with short forms, only the essentials, and a few simple questions. You can get more info later.

9. Lack of Commitment

When was the last time you updated additional information to your website?

Remember those "Website Under Construction" images from the early years of the Internet? Over time, people have learned those images are pointless. Your website is ever evolving, ever needing updating. Your website is isn't ever finished.

You must make a commitment to update information and to improve interest in your site from visitors. It could be as simple as updating a blog once or twice a week, or updating about sales and special events. Give visitors something to come back to, and let them turn into regular guests.

10. Not using an Experienced Web Firm

You do a good job with what you do, and a good business and website owner knows when to call for help. Maybe you're okay with writing content, but you need help with creating navigation and setting up forms. It's okay to ask someone else for help, either with a few pages, or for the entire site design, and leave it to a professional.

It also saves money and time getting someone else to do the complicated things for you. Are you spending weeks on figuring out a web page design set up when it takes a professional a few hours to produce? When you're in business, you consult with professionals who will help you build a better website, develop methods of search engine marketing strategies, and find out how to appeal to your target audience. You save tíme, money, and plenty of headaches.


About The Author
Gary Klingsheim is the Vice President of Moonrise Design. Moonrise is a San Diego web design company specializing in flash web site design and custom web application development. Visit us online today or call us at 415.887.9240 to discuss how we can help you make the most of your online presence.

How to Sneak Past the Bouncers

"This is a truth of the Internet," writes Seth Godin in a post at his eponymous blog. "When traffic comes to your site without focused intent, it bounces. [Seventy-five percent] of all unfocused visitors leave within three seconds. Any site, anywhere, anytime."


Godin calls it "silly traffic" and says it encourages a few typical reactions. You might, for instance, work on ways to catch a bouncer's interest, fantasizing about conversion rates if only ten percent would stick around and make a purchase. Or maybe you find all that traffic intoxicating and attempt to attract more of the same with link bait like controversial content.

He recommends another approach:

-Ignore the bouncers. Instead, engage your existing users by finding ways to increase their participation, up their devotion and make them more valuable.

-Think of existing users as ambassadors. They're far more likely to bring you the focused traffic you really want.

The Po!nt: There's a reason retailers pay premium rents for high-traffic locations when only a few passersby will cross the threshold. "A long time ago, they realized that the shoppers with focused intent are far more valuable," says Godin. "Smart retailers work hard to get focused people to walk in the door and to keep the riff raff walking on down the sidewalk."

Source: Seth Godin's Blog. Click here for the post.

Senior Makes Site Accessible

If you visit a new site called wowOwow.com —or, formally, The Women on the Web—you'll find a guided tour hosted by none other than venerable gossip columnist Liz Smith.

She begins by explaining why a group of longtime friends—including Candice Bergen, Lily Tomlin and Whoopi Goldberg—decided to launch the site: "We've been sharing with each other. And now we want to share some of our thoughts, and some of our experiences, with you." The 85-year-old Smith then explains that the others nominated her for the video on the grounds that she's wowOwow.com's resident tech guru.

"That's what they think," she notes wryly.

But she acquits herself nicely. Because the site's target audience might not even know what "tech guru" means, Smith uses screenshots and clear explanations to illustrate the purpose of various departments, and to show visitors how to find them. An invitation to join the dialogue follows. "[R]egistering is easy," says Smith, "and it's free. First, click on register, then fill out the fields. You'll create your password right here, and hit the create new account button at the bottom." She also makes a helpful note of something we might taken for granted: "If you ever get lost, or you don't know where you are on our site, then just click on the logo at the top here and you'll come right back to our home page."

Smith—a familiar face and the most senior member of the group—uses a well-crafted script and her natural Texan charm to make wowOwow.com feel accessible to the site's entire audience. And that's Marketing Inspiration.

Going Social With B2B Lead Generation: Q&A With Chris Brogan

Chris Brogan has a well-deserved reputation as being one of social-media's true community-builders. Chris, who is a co-founder of PodCamp co-founder as well as the Vice President of Strategy and Technology for CrossTech Media, presents on Successful Lead Generation in a Social Media World at the Marketing Profs B2B Forum. Chris will pull from his own experience building successful social networks to show companies how they can do the same. He'll also talk about using social networks as lead generation tools to build your customer and client base.

Let's say I am a B2B marketer, and am constantly hearing buzz about social media and how it can help my marketing. Why is social media important to my business and why does it deserve my attention?

First, social media is a set of tools that comes with a notion of how those tools might be used (more personable and less cold, hard business). But once we get past that definition, it's important to realize that social media tools are a great way to build relationships of trust and develop business connections long in advance of needing them. These tools manage reputation, attention, and value chain sharing very well, and these are the tools that build business from trust.

What about using social media in a B2B versus B2C context? Are the approaches different or the same?

I approach B2B almost the same way as B2C, because businesses are still full of people. People do business with other people. The only difference is that in B2B, it's not about "how many," it's about "who." I make more specific relationships when in the B2B space. In B2C, I'm a lot more open-ended.

Blogging is scary. What if readers leave comments that are insulting or incorrect? How do I handle negative feedback?

Negative comments happen on and off the blog. The important difference is whether someone is just being rude and obnoxious or whether there's a complaint. If information is incorrect, it's reasonable to correct it politely. If someone is cursing and acting inappropriately, I'd delete the comment and replace it with a brief statement of your policy around such things. NEVER remove what might be a legitimate complaint, comparison to a competitor, etc. THOSE must be dealt with in the community's eye, or trust will be sacrificed.

I like the idea of using social media to expand my client and customer base. But how difficult is that, and how long would it take?

It hasn't taken me more than six months to double my email contacts organically (from 2,000 to 4,609) without much effort. I'm not out harvesting, but through the use of social media, and some other more old-school tools (email newsletters still work great), my relationship tree has grown very nicely, and I'm finding more and more value in it every day.

From a business perspective, what do you think is the biggest misconception that most marketers have about social media?

When marketers see social media as yet another channel to drive a message down, they're missing the boat. Worse, they're making themselves look insensitive, unpleasant, and not worth the community's time. It's a lose-lose. Take the time to understand the digital natives, and your results will be MUCH better.

Man Bites Giraffe: Some Awesome (and Awful) Email Subject Lines

by Josh Nason

If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: subject lines matter when it comes to email marketing. Think of subject lines like the headline of a newspaper article. If it grabs you, you start to read. If the first few paragraphs keep you engaged (similar to an email sweet spot), you keep on going.

Over the past few months, I collected subject lines from all sorts of senders, all based on how they grabbed me the second I saw them. What you'll see here is an exercise in the Sender name, the subject line and a quick analysis of what I liked or despised. There have been no alterations, no punctuation changes and no edits. What you see is what you get.

My hope is that after perusing this piece, you get a sense of what your fellow marketers are doing and how you can be better, resulting in more opens, more views, and more purchases.

Always remember the Golden Rule of email marketing subject lines: Tell what's inside, don't sell what's inside.

From: Facebook
Subject: Pat Magoon sent you a message on Facebook...

This is about as straightforward as it gets, as I know the sender and I know the immediate reason I'm being contacted. Granted, this is an auto-responder based on a specific action, but there is no such thing as a wasted email.

From: Russell Goldstein
Subject: (none)

This was from the ESPN assistant to Le Anne Schreiber, the sports network's ombudsman. It was another auto-reply, but still... no "Thanks for the email to ESPN" or "Your ESPN comment has been received"?

From: AirTran Airways Net Escapes
Subject: 3 Days of Sale Fares for Your Much Needed Vacation!

If I've ever shopped for vacations, I'm usually going for a set location or region and not just a vague offer. Sell me a bit here, guys. Also, do we need a full four-word descriptor for the From? AirTran Airways isn't good enough?

From: Borders
Subject: 30% Coupon—Limited Time

Direct offer, simple source, timeframe established: nice work. I'd like to see "30% off everything" for future mailings to really nail it down.

From: Domino's Pizza
Subject: A Special Offer from your local Domino's Pizza

Ugh. Why so vague? Pizza chain emails traditionally are terrible and do more to deflect opens than intrigue. To date, I have never been blown away or enticed by one of these offers. Ever.

From: AAA Northern New England
Subject: AAA Newsletter—February 2008

Ah, the dreaded (Company X) Newsletter with the month and date. Fun! When I opened up the newsletter, there were all kinds of great discount offers; but, instead, this subject line reads more "library" than "block party."

From: Bob Marley
Subject: Comedian Bob Marley Returns To Boston!!

It's a direct statement that his fans in that area would likely open. Since "Bob Marley" is already in the From line, there's no need to repeat in the subject line. I'd try "Boston dates coming up soon!" instead. Why waste the valuable real estate?

From: CyberLink eNews
Subject: Crucial Blue-ray update, no more HD DVD, Power2Go update, and more

Misspellings and punctuation issues aside, this is fairly informative about what's inside. If you're interested in any of these subjects, you're likely to open this up.

From: Lisa@Fanscape
Subject: Fanscape's February Newsletter

For an organization that appeals to younger people interested in today's rock, there is just one letter to sum this subject line up: zzzzzzzzzzzz.

From: Red River Theatres
Subject: Flick Flash: Films for 2/22 - 2/28

Quick: how many times can you say Flick Flash Films in a row? Red River is a local indie theater that apparently doesn't want to intrigue you to open up the email. Next time, try "Oscar winners appearing all week long" or something fun.

From: Dunkin' Donuts
Subject: Stop by Tuesday 2/26 for a special treat from 1-10 pm

I've written about this email on our company blog, as I love it. Direct date, direct offer and a little mystery ("special treat"). Dunkin's email practices are a model of what other major chains should be doing.

From: 101.7 FNX Promotions
Subject: FNX E-file 2.13.08

Is this a marketing email or an Excel document? You're a radio station, meaning promotions are extremely important to you. This is the best you can come up with? Trying way too hard to be hip with this one.

From: Cybear Club
Subject: Hub Buzz: P.J. is Having a Pajama Party

I love it. It's from the Boston Bruins' email list (the brand could be better represented) and lays out an interesting reason to open: someone is having a pajama party. A hockey guy? What the...? Just like that, I opened it up and saw that veteran P.J. Axelsson is hosting a charity event. Nice work.

From: Apple
Subject: IPod Shuffle. Now just $49.

Doesn't get much more plain and direct than this. If you're interested in a Shuffle and have $50 kickin' around, this is for you. This is an example of marketing at its most basic level: Tell them what you're offering and at what price.

From: The Jimmy Fund
Subject: Join Dustin Pedroia: Show your Red Sox pride

I'm not of the mindset that putting in a Major League Baseball player's name in an email is good enough to get people to open. What if some of the Jimmy Fund list aren't fans? Something like "Join Red Sox player Dustin Pedroia at a special event this Thursday" would be more fitting.

From: Lake Erie Monsters Insider
Subject: Tune In Tonight

To what? This was the first email I had got from the sender in months, so I guess I'm to assume it was a televised game? A suggestion: "Monsters vs. Devils in your living room tonight!"

From: Warped Tour
Subject: Who do YOU want to see open up for The Used?

Who, ME? This is a good direct line that either gets you to vote in this contest or not. I think the random capitalization is hilarious though. What's the point of that?

From: MLSnet.com
Subject: Watch LIVE on ESPN Classic—Inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship 2008

I'd much rather see the From name as Major League Soccer and not the site URL as a best practice. In general, this line is way too wordy. How about "Pan-Pacific Championship on ESPN Classic tonight"? Taking out words like "watch," "live," and the year eliminate what are unnecessary statements (based on the overall intent of the message." And, again, what's with the random capitalization? We must be looking at two isolated cases from MLS and Warped Tour, right?

From: National Football League
Subject: Watch LIVE Workouts from the 2008 NFL Scouting combine Today

Guess not...

So what did we learn?

-Don't discount the importance of the From name. Keep it your company name and not an individual's name or drawn-out term. In addition, keep your company name out of the subject line: It's redundant—a waste of valuable real estate.

-There is no point to using all caps in a subject line. OK? (Unless it's "OK.")
Write a compelling subject line that won't deceive people. If people aren't opening it, that's OK, as you'll have many more campaigns to intrigue them. If you break the receiver's trust early, you'll have to work twice as hard to get it back. Never forget the Golden Rule.

-Most important, have some fun with subject lines! If you're struggling that much with how to talk to your audience in a single-sentence format, give it to someone else to writes. Just make sure that you don't explain the task in all caps, please.

Podcast: Keynote Dan Ariely Reveals the Hidden Forces That Shape Irrational Behavior

by Paul Dunay

When we marketers design a marketing campaign, we typically design them for "rational" buyers. But do buyers ever act rationally?

And what about us? When we make decisions, we think we're in control and making rational choices. But are we?

Dan Ariely, a faculty member at MIT's Sloan School of Management and member of the Media Lab, wrote a book called Predictably Irrational (he publishes a blog, too) dedicated to the study of behaviors. The New York Times bestseller is a fascinating, enlightening read for marketers.

Dan, who is also a visiting professor at Duke University, is going to be the Day One keynote speaker at the MarketingProfs B2B Forum this June 9 and 10 in Boston. In advance of meeting him in Boston (where I will be conducting a panel as well), I talked to Dan about his book and what it means for those of us in the B2B space (podcast, below).

Dan's immersive introduction to irrationality took place many years ago, while he was overcoming injuries sustained in an explosion. The range of treatments in the burn department, and particularly the daily "bath," made him face a variety of irrational behaviors that were immensely painful and persistent.

After that experience, he wanted to understand how to better deliver painful and unavoidable treatments to patients, so he began conducting research in that area.

After completing his initial research project, he became engrossed with the idea that we repeatedly and predictably make the wrong decisions in many aspects of our lives and that research could help change some of these patterns.

A few years later, decision-making and behavioral economics dramatically influenced his personal life when he found himself using all of the knowledge he'd accumulated in an effort to convince his wife to marry him (a decision, he says, was in his best interest, but not necessarily in hers). After managing to convince her, he realized that if understanding decision-making could help him achieve this goal, it could help anyone in daily life.

Predictably Irrational is his attempt to take research findings in behavioral economics and describe them in nonacademic terms so that more people will learn about this type of research, discover the excitement of this field, and possibly use some of the insights to enrich their own lives.

Going Viral With Your B2B Marketing: Q&A With David Meerman Scott

by Mack Collier

David Meerman Scott is an online-thought-leadership and viral-marketing strategist whose programs have won numerous awards and are responsible for selling over one billion dollars in products and services worldwide.

He will be delivering the luncheon keynote on June 10, during the MarketingProfs Business-to-Business Forum 2008, Boston, June 9 & 10. He will discuss "B-to-B Viral Marketing: How to Trigger 'Word-of-Mouse' that Spreads Your Ideas for Free."

Viral marketing has been all the rage in recent years: Companies are intoxicated with the idea of creating the next video that spreads across the Internet and becomes a viral sensation.

But for every successful viral effort there are countless attempts that totally miss the mark. That's why every company that wants to learn more about viral marketing should consult an expert in the field such as David Meerman Scott.

Scott understands why ideas spread in a Web 2.0 world, and he educates his clients on why the "old school" rules of PR and marketing are totally irrelevant in a time of content-sharing on YouTube and Twitter.

Q: Can you explain what exactly viral marketing is, and how it can benefit the B2B marketer?

A: One of the coolest things about the Web is that when an idea takes off, it can propel a brand or company to seemingly instant fame and fortune. For free. Whatever you call it—viral, buzz, word-of-mouse, or word-of-blog—having other people tell your story drives action. One person sends it to another, then that person sends it to yet another, and on and on.

The formula for success includes a combination of some great—and free—Web content (a video, blog entry, interactive tool, or e-book) that provides valuable information (or is groundbreaking or amazing or hilarious), plus a network of people to light the fire and links that make your content very easy to share.

Viral marketing—having others tell and spread your story for you—is one of the most exciting and powerful ways to reach your audiences. It's not easy to harness the power of viral marketing, but any company with thoughtful ideas to share—and clever ways to create interest in them—can, after some careful preparation, gain fame and success on the Web.

Q: We've all heard about how easily an idea or video can go viral on the internet. What makes one video go viral while another doesn't?

A: Viral-marketing success means thinking like a venture capitalist (VC) or film producer. While I think it is difficult to purposely create viral marketing buzz, it is certainly possible, and the best strategy is to emulate the way VCs invest in startup companies and studios create films.

A typical VC follows a maxim stating that most ventures will fail, a few might do OK, and—hopefully—one will take off and become a large enterprise that will repay investors many times the initial investment when it is sold for a lot of money or goes public on the stock market.

Record companies and movie studios follow the same principles, expecting that most of the projects they green-light will have meager sales but that the one hit will more than repay the cost of a bunch of flops.

The problem is that nobody knows with certainty which movie or venture-backed company in the portfolio will succeed, so finding a success is a numbers game requiring investment in many prospects.

The same goes for viral marketing efforts, so think of your viral marketing campaigns in much the same way. Many will be duds that won't spark any interest; a few will generate some notice and basically pay back your investment of the time required to create them; and a handful will go viral and make the entire program of 10 or 20 viral marketing campaigns worthwhile.

Thus, if we apply our venture capital/viral marketing analogy, we might suppose that one needs to think of hundreds of ideas and then choose a handful to "fund" (i.e., actually create).

I've worked with organizations that have thought up literally hundreds of viral marketing ideas over the course of a day's brainstorming session. That's great! You never really know which one is likely to succeed, so the more good ideas, the better.

Q: I'm excited about the idea of creating content that goes viral and spreads like wildfire. But how can I measure the effectiveness of my efforts? How can I tie my viral marketing initiative back to the bottom line and tell if my efforts were a success?

A: Viral marketing is not about sales leads. It is about spreading your ideas.

One of the most important aspects is to step back for a moment and consider your goals in planning a viral marketing initiative.

For decades, B2B marketers have measured against a goal for the number of "sales leads." But a lead requires that people give you their personal information. Most people won't bother, because they don't like being spammed by email once they give an email address and they don't like to receive phone calls from salespeople.

With viral marketing, forget about leads and focus on spreading your ideas. Make your information totally free with no registration required. Give away that e-book or whitepaper. Point people to free video and audio.

Here are some things you can measure:

-How many people are exposed to your ideas?
-How often bloggers are talking about you and your ideas? (And what are the bloggers saying?)
-Where are you appearing in search results for important phrases?
-How many people are engaging with you and are making the choice to speak with you about your offerings?
-Viral marketing is about creating great Web content that people want to consume (and share with others) rather than coercing them to fill out a form to get something.

Q: What if I don't want to start creating videos? Are there ways I can increase the chances of my existing marketing going viral?

A: Viral marketing success comes from self-publishing Web content that people want to share. It's not about gimmicks. It's not about paying an agency to coerce people into doing something. It's not about using something like a whitepaper as "lead bait."

For B2B companies, viral marketing is the most empowering form of marketing there is. You need to think about your buyer personas in order to create something that goes viral. Most organizations fail to create things that go viral because they are too focused on their own egotistical, internally focused "messages" to be successful.

A buyer persona is essentially a demographic group of buyers that you have identified as having a specific interest in your organization or product or a specific market problem that your product solves. By doing some basic research on your buyers (just listen to them!) and then creating content that appeals to them, your viral marketing efforts will be much more effective.

In any business, viral marketing will be more effective with targeted content developed for buyer personas (an e-book, an interactive tool, a Facebook application, a blog, or a contest are all examples). And done well, this more appropriate content will also be beneficial for search engine optimization because the words and phrases used in the copy are targeted specifically to real people with problems that your organization solves.

Q: Let's be honest: The idea of customers spreading marketing messages for a company likely scares many marketers to death! If a company is reluctant to involve customers in distributing its marketing messages, how would you allay such fears?

A: OK, let's really be honest. B2B marketers aren't scared of viral marketing—B2B Marketers are scared of the unknown.

If we're really honest, we admit that B2B marketers are comfortable doing the same old crap year in and year out. They spend tons of money at tradeshows. They spam their customers with inane email "campaigns." They celebrate when they get a mention on page 60 of a Gartner analyst report that only Gartner clients have access to. They pay PR agencies big bucks and all they have to show for it is a two-sentence mention on paragraph ten of a story in a trade magazine that nobody reads. (If this sounds like the marketing at your company, I'd ask a simple question: "How's it working for you?")

If we're really honest, we must realize that buying access with expensive advertising and begging the media and analysts is not effective online. What works online is creating content ourselves—content that people want to share.

If we're really honest, we must realize that we no longer control the sales process. We can't assume that a million dollar direct mail campaign targeting the CIOs of the top 5,000 companies in the world is doomed to fail. That's not what succeeds today.

If we're really honest, we all realize that the way that people find answers to their problems and research problems is to turn first to Google. Viral marketing spreads your ideas so that people find you.

Online Customer Communities Power Routine Innovation

by John Kembel

Competitive companies make innovation a priority. Winning companies make innovation a routine practice.

Though it may sound counterintuitive, "routine innovation"—the ability to capture the magic of innovation in a repeatable process—is the mark of the world's leading brands. These companies are admired, studied, and emulated. They hit home runs year after year by designing great new products that confound their competitors and delight their customers.

I was first introduced to the power of user-centered design as a vehicle for "routine innovation" at Stanford University as a Product Design student in the 1990s. Since then, I've had the opportunity to apply repeatable design processes at various product design companies such as IDEO and have seen them consistently fuel innovation.

More recently, I've supported the ongoing effort to deconstruct and codify the innovation process at Stanford's new Hasso Plattner Institute of Design—known as the "d.school"—as a Consulting Associate Professor and Strategy Board Member. Students and companies alike seek new techniques for consistently sparking creativity.

Though specific methods vary among organizations, the design and innovation process can generally be categorized into three steps:

1. Understand and observe.
2. Generate and prototype.
3. Test and iterate.


Figure: While specific methods vary, the design and innovation process can generally be categorized into the three steps outlined above. Marketers can employ online customer communities to provide the regular, ongoing, meaningful contact with customers that fuel this process.

This three-step innovation process has direct applicability to marketers. Product owners must understand the environment where a product will be used, and the motivations of those who will be using it. They need to rapidly generate compelling product concepts and vet the prototypes with others. And they need to test their concepts, using real-world feedback to produce iterations that move designs forward.

Similarly, outbound marketers can use the process to design and test the effectiveness of new ad concepts, logos, and messaging, ensuring that they will reach their target audience.

Most importantly, to be successful, the innovation process requires regular, ongoing, meaningful contact with customers—a tall order for overtaxed marketing departments.

However, many forward-thinking companies have found the answer: online customer communities built on Web 2.0 social media applications.

It Takes a Community

Online customer communities offer a new solution that gives companies unprecedented access, flexibility, and interaction with their customer base.

Clients can use online customer communities to test concepts with users, get real-time feedback at little or no cost, have customers vote on favorite features, gather input on high-priority features, and more. For the first time, companies can easily and cost-effectively include customers in the design process, and allow them to play a primary role in ongoing product iteration.

Once the lines of communication are open, it's easy to gather "insight on demand," introducing real-time feedback into new product designs, features, or brand concepts. In fact, the kind of direct connection made possible by online customer communities is unique in its ability to fuel the innovation engine across all three steps of the innovation cycle:

1. Understand and observe. Customers have a secure, trusted environment where meaningful conversations can take place. Companies hear rants and raves, discover unknown problems, learn what works and what doesn't, and gain valuable, uncensored insight into the world of product users.

2. Generate and prototype. Product-design teams have access to continuous, ongoing feedback from customers to drive innovation. Customer communities are especially well-suited to support co-creation and the iterative process, bringing clarity to requirements and evolving early designs into great products.

3. Test and iterate. Marketers can conduct in-depth research with product users who are willing and eager to speak their minds. Marketers determine the types of questions to ask, the types of information to obtain, the products on which to focus, the types of media stimuli—advertisements, images, logos, concepts—they want to evaluate, and more.

Case in Point: One Company's Formula

For most organizations, a great way to start is to engage existing customers on existing products. Building customer communities in this way is a low-risk proposition—companies already have products in the hands of their customers and an online community is a great way to get honest, interactive feedback.

With an open and ongoing communication channel, your company will soon discover areas for product improvements, as well as unmet customer needs.

For example, a software company uses a community platform to create a persistent, interactive feedback loop between its customers and its product-development teams. The community includes a "Feature Requests" area that gives the customers an authentic voice in the design cycle. Rather than providing one-time feedback, customers are now an integral part of the day-to-day design process, helping direct the priorities and flow of future development.

For example, customers can:

-Suggest new features and product ideas. Customers post suggestions to a central location that is accessed by the company's employees, product managers, and other customers, so everyone in the community can contribute to the same discussion. Customers not only review existing products but also contribute ideas for how the products should evolve.

-Vote for features that they would like to see implemented. The application tallies votes and dynamically lists the most popular feature requests first, so the most valued requests rise to the top. Ideas can come from any source within the online community—employees, product managers, or customers.

-Comment in real time on users' ideas and requests. This iterative process fosters true collaboration between the company and its customers. Using ideas that have been vetted and refined by customer input, the company efficiently delivers new features that are on the mark.

-Gain visibility into the development status of requested features. Customers are notified when their feature request is delivered. They also get visibility into the company's development processes and timeline, and they see that their requests are noted and acted upon, creating a strong connection between the company and its user base.

As a result of its online customer community, the company gets much more than basic product feedback. It gains deep insight into the needs of customers, and creates ever-greater customer loyalty by embracing customers as co-designers.

Most importantly, the company goes directly to the source for product enhancements, pulling new innovations and ideas directly from the minds of the customers who use, buy, and recommend its products. This is the holy grail of customer-centered product design.

Online customer communities can enable the connections, host the conversations, and facilitate the processes that make routine innovation possible.

You Didn't Know These Things About Email Marketing?‏

By Chris Crum

Tips that will help you achieve a successful campaign...


There's not an exact science to email marketing (or marketing in general for that matter). If there were, everyone engaging in a campaign would be successful. Unfortunately, that is just not the case.

There are however, some things to consider that can significantly enhance your chances of having a successful one, and it's not just about staying out of the spam folders. Although, that is certainly part of it.

Avoiding the Spam Filters

It's not the only factor in a successful campaign, but it's certainly a vital one. I talked about this in more detail the other day, so I'm not going to rehash the entire article here, but suffice it to say, you need your messages to reach your audience before they can convert into any kind of monetization or brand awareness. Also remember: DON"T BE SPAM. Make sure you are in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003.

The Subject Line

Perhaps second only to avoiding the spam filters, in terms of importance, is the subject line. Just because your message managed to avoid getting dumped into the recipient's spam folder doesn't by any stretch of the imagination mean that they are going to open it and read it.

You need to hook them in before you have any hope of them reading your message or clicking on any ads within. You've got to say something here that sparks their interest. There are a variety of approaches to make your subject line more interesting. EmailLabs has a good article on tips for improved subject lines that I suggest reading over. It's four years old, but I think it still pretty much holds up today.

I should also note that the "from" line can be of significant importance. If nothing else, at least make sure it is recognizable to the recipient. Make sure they know and trust who they are receiving the email from.

The Content

Ok, you've managed to avoid getting flagged as spam, and you've included a subject line that was enticing enough to get the recipient interested in what lies inside. You've gotten into their house so to speak. Now like any good salesman, you have to win them over before they kick you out, or close/delete the message.

When choosing the content for your email marketing campaign, keep the audience in mind. Think about why they would have signed up to receive messages from you in the first place. Are you providing them with something that will be of use to them? If not, you might as well forget it. Even if you usually provide interesting content and slip something in there one time, that is only sub-par or not interesting at all, there is a good chance you will lose some subscribers just like that.

Patience is not something that is prevalent among email users. There is just too much garbage coming into pretty much everyone's inboxes. The average user will have no qualms about dropping you like a hot potato.

Do your best to keep it interesting and relevant to your audience.

Ads and Audience

If you are including ads in your campaign, especially if they are for your own clients, the content is of the utmost importance. And just like with content, you need to think about whether or not your ads are relevant to your audience. Of course not every reader is going to be interested in the ads, but it's all about targeting.

From the advertiser's perspective, for example, you might not necessarily want to pay to advertise the latest 50 Cent CD in a newsletter about doilies.

And from the sender's perspective, if you offer a variety of publications, try to steer the advertiser toward one that is more of a right fit for their product. After all, if they're reaching the wrong target, it's not going to be of use to anybody involved. Sure, you may have gotten their money one time, but if they don't get any results, they're not going to want to advertise with you again. Think about the long term.

A couple of other things to keep in mind when it comes to ads are calls to action and frequency. Much like the email's subject line, the ad should have a call to action - something to hook the reader in. The sender and the advertiser should also realize that they are likely to be more successful, by frequently appearing in messages, rather than just expecting "instant gratification" from one campaign. Staying in front of the audience will not only increase brand awareness, but raise the chances of conversion.

Timing

Timing can be a factor in a successful campaign. Not only marketing based on events or holidays, but also the time of day. If you are targeting an audience in the UK, for example, but you are sending from the US, you need to take time zones into consideration, and depending on who you are hoping to reach, try to get your messages sent at the right time of day. Are you hoping to catch people at the office? Get your messages out early. Are you hoping to get them after work? Maybe later is fine. It's just an issue to consider. It can have an effect on your conversion rates.

Are you Prepared for Success?

Are you prepared for a successful campaign? If you are an advertiser running an ad, do you have the resources to manage a lot of incoming traffic? It's not going to reflect well on your brand if a potential customer clicks your ad only to find that your server is down. There's no telling how many sales you could miss out on if this were to occur.

This also applies to the sender if they are just promoting their own website through an email newsletter. Always be prepared to handle a big wave of traffic. This should to an extent correspond with how many people you are sending to.

Before this turns into a book, I will leave you with that. May these tips help you on your way to a successful email marketing campaign. Please share with us any other advice or comments you have regarding this subject.

The Importance of Your Keywords & Content‏

The Small Business Marketing Unleashed conference may be over, but we still have some information from it to share with you in case you missed it. Share your thoughts on the conference.

Our reporter Abby Prince was in attendance and among the video interviews she came away with was one with SuccessWorks Search Marketing Solutions President and CEO Heather Lloyd-Martin.

Be sure to check out that video on our sister site WebProNews to hear some discussion from an expert on content and keyphrases.

Naturally, Heather spoke at the session titled Keywords and Content.

Keywords and content. These things are perhaps more important to the Small Business than even the larger enterprises. Where the big boys tend to already have that brand recognition, people will search specifically for their sites, but for the small business, SEO tactics are ever so important for getting found.

SEO Copywriting

When it comes to copywriting for SEO purposes, Heather says you don't want to overdo the content. Cramming it too full of keywords can actually hurt you.

"Search engines don't pay your bills, but your prospects and customers do," Heather said.

Content that is too obviously laced with keywords for keywords' sake can be a major turn-off for a customer, and it will be hard for them to take your site seriously.

Heather notes that people really buy based on their emotions and decision-making. "People don't buy with the reality, but with a fantasy."

Tapping into those emotions is going to be a little difficult if you are to fixated on keyword cramming.
Before you look into keywords, ask yourself, "What does my product/service really offer?"

List your benefit statements. Think emotional benefits. Need ideas? Watch infomercials!

Keyphrase Research

When conducting keyphrase or keyword research, think of ways to get into your customer's head.

"It's about reaching people at all phases of the buying cycle," says Heather.

This includes the awareness, research, and purchasing phases.


- Awareness - general overarching keyphrases

- Research - reviews, blog posts, brand/features comparison

- Purchase - make/model search

Pages that Heather suggests writing for your site include:


- FAQ pages

- Designer/Manufacturer info pages

- General, "how-to" info (how to choose furniture, how to buy digital camera, etc.)

- Articles

- Blog posts

- Newsletters

I would also like to point out that archiving your newsletter on your site is also a good idea.

Heather suggests using 2-3 keyphrases per page with around 250 words per page depending on the page and content.

Place keyphrases in headlines, subheadlines and hyperlinks, and sprinkle the keyphrases through the copy where they fit and make sense (from a natural writing perspective).

As far as titles, make them read like a compelling headline, create a unique one for every page, and include main keyphrases you are targeting for each page.

Stay tuned to SmallBusinessNewz for yet more helpful tips straight from Small Business Marketing Unleashed.

About the Author:
Chris is a content coordinator and staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz and the iEntry Network. Subscribe to SmallBusinessNewz RSS Feeds.

Time to Wake Up to Email HTML Standards

by Adam Covati

In the mid-'90s, email experts strongly urged, for varied reasons, against using HTML formatting in email marketing messages. But those reasons have largely been made anachronistic by today's technology and the overall evolution of the email channel.

HTML was said to detract from the message, decreasing the functionality of email. However, if you subscribe to any e-newsletters, you know that HTML, especially when it includes images, actually makes messages clearer and easier to understand.

HTML also got a bad reputation for falsely alerting spam filters. Today, however, spam filters are much more sophisticated, taking the sender's reputation into account and looking beyond content.

The argument that HTML emails are larger, implying longer downloads, has also been thrown out the window since high-speed Internet gained popularity.

HTML email marketing is now thriving and widely encouraged for its strong ROI and results. The DMA predicts an ROI of $45.65 for every dollar spent on email marketing in 2008. Email was also voted best marketing vehicle for customer retention, according to Jupiter Research.

HTML email has come a long way, but there is one major pain point that remains: compatibility across all major email accounts.

The purpose of email marketing is defeated when the message never gets through due to coding and design issues. Broken links and images could make the difference between a sale and an opt-out.

That's why, with HTML here to stay, many in the email industry are getting behind The Email Standards Project and its mission to drive the use and support of HTML standards to ensure messages are rendered consistently across all major email clients, including Outlook, and Web-based email such as Hotmail, AOL, Yahoo, etc.

When email designers create a message, they have to take 10-12 of these email clients and their various coding nuances into consideration. Getting even a simple email design to work can be a time-consuming and frustrating task. Having standards in place for even half of the major clients can greatly reduce the cost and time it takes to ensure compatibility.

With HTML coding taken care of, marketers would have more time to focus on the content of their emails. Consumers would benefit from clean formatted emails with working HTML and, potentially more relevant, thoughtful messages.

Unfortunately, a few challenges must be overcome before the email industry can realize the benefits of HTML standards. For one, there are 10-12 major email clients and services that would require HTML standards, and the prospect of getting their support is declining, not improving. Gmail and Windows Live, two of the most popular, offer little to no support for HTML standards.

Ten years ago, the Web Standards Project faced similar challenges in its fight for standards to reduce the cost and complexity of Web site development. Eventually, as more browsers began to support Web standards, designers were able to reduce the time and money spent coding and as a result were able to make lighter, faster, more accessible Web sites. A major difference was that, back then, there were only three or four Web browsers that mattered to site designers.

In addition, email clients are consistently evolving their offerings. Email designers have to deal with coding issues not only across clients but also across the various versions of email services being used.

Some who are involved in the fight for HTML standards have begun establishing guidelines that outline why standards are important and how email clients can support them. The Email Standards Project has created an acid test to help determine the various nuances between clients. However, it is a long process as those email clients continue to evolve and HTML coding must be constantly updated to accommodate the changes they make.

Businesses that are using HTML effectively continue to see better results from email marketing: more clicks, qualified interest and actual sales. Standards are essential to the growth and evolution of the email channel. Email marketers and designers can support the cause by spreading the word via blog posts and articles or by contributing information to the Email Standards Project.

Until those standards have been achieved, here are some things you can do to help ensure that your HTML messages render properly:

-Use table-based positioning—CSS positioning is one of the least-supported email HTML features among the major email clients.
-Use a good balance of text and images, and always send HTML emails with a text version as backup.
-Use multi-part alternatives to allow the email client to choose between text and HTML versions of your message. This is especially important for customers who receive your messages on mobile devices.
-Test, test, test! Test in every email client you can think of to ensure that your message is being properly rendered.
-Avoid embedded Flash, as it does not work consistently in most email clients.


Adam Covati is a product manager at Bronto Software (www.bronto.com). Reach him via Adam@bronto.com.

How to Hear the Voice of Your Customers: Hone First-Person Intelligence From All Forms of Feedback

by David Bean, Ph.D.

Few people call themselves "consumers." Consumers buy or use a product, service or solution. Period. The word connotes a one-way relationship between seller and buyer that fits poorly in today's connected marketplace.

"Customers," however, do far more than merely consume. Depending on their needs, experiences and desires, customers are more inclined to get involved in the marketplace.

Today's technology offers ample opportunities to start conversations with and among customers, fans, foes, competitors, and the press—any person or group who cares to listen and, perhaps, act on the messages received.

Every hour of every day, directly and indirectly, customers place calls, send emails, complete surveys, and talk among themselves online in blogs, product forums, and myriad social networks. They share their thoughts about products and services, their likes and dislikes, and their hopes for future offerings. Customers tell companies about product failures. They request help. And they offer opinions about their experiences that may contain valuable insights for organizations that listen.

However, customers aren't computers. They don't think like databases. And they rarely write with perfect grammar. More challenging still is the volume of all that freeform correspondence. By some estimates, 85% of the information companies collect is not in a form that they can access or analyze—it is unstructured. The Gartner Group reports unstructured data doubles every three months while seven million web pages are published every day. This cacophony presents the one of the biggest challenges companies face today.

This much is known by most large customer-facing organizations. The market is flooded with software that attempts to tag, sort, search, organize, and manage much of this unstructured data. But discovering the facts in this data—"who," "what," "where," "when," "how," and most importantly "why"—is a challenge that leaves most companies scratching their heads.

Companies conduct customer surveys, focus groups, and interviews hoping to capture some sense of it all, only to pass along the results to marketing, sales or research to develop a product, service, or response on the ideas.

How Are Your Marketing and CRM Approaches Faring?

Customer surveys and focus groups are a challenge to arrange and conduct in a method that gathers unbiased data. Though customers might describe some of what they want, the lack of detail in a coded answer or a limited discussion doesn't tell companies enough.

In traditional surveys and focus groups, customers give you answers only to what they're asked. The answers are literally "programmed," effectively silencing opinions and insights that don't fit the scripted mold. Merely knowing that customers like or dislike a product doesn't explain the reasoning behind their opinions. This lack of detail can mislead decision makers and in some cases even undermine product development and corporate initiatives.

Focus groups were designed to give companies greater insight into a representative sample of customers or prospects. The groups are designed to gather primary opinions about specific topics. Even the best focus group leaders, however, struggle to control participants' eagerness to give answers they believe interviewers desire as opposed to their actual opinions. This leads to biased results that often do not correlate well with the customer's actual purchases.

When asked formally, many customers do not know, or cannot communicate effectively, their actual needs and requirements. Moreover, companies often find there isn't enough detail in the data to understand the root cause of a problem or potential concern—let alone what to do about it.

However, outside the corporate-sponsored surveys, and away from the one-way glass in focus group studios, is a wild world where customers share exactly what they think in voluminous amounts. They tell their stories during service calls and write about their experiences online. They are usually truthful, albeit biased toward their own needs, and often detailed about the issue and what they want done about it.

In formal forums, customers are reactive and often leave out their true opinions, and when asked for detail they can't always explain their experiences faithfully because they are discussing issues in theory. However, in the midst of experiencing an issue, people are willing to share their thoughts with as few filters as possible. They'll call a help line. Or rant in online forums. Or rave on a social media site. It's as close to mind reading as companies are likely to get—if they can capture and analyze the data efficiently and effectively.

Tacit Voices Affect Markets

When asked to indicate their overall level of trust in different forms of advertising, customers admit what they trust most is not advertising—but rather what others say, according to a recent report from Forrester Research and Intelliseek. Based on 470 responses recruited from PlanetFeedback.com members, the top choice was a recommendation from other consumers and the fourth choice was consumer opinions posted online. Following feedback in all forms is critical because recommendations and opinions are some of the most trusted and important information a company receives.

Most large companies have a foundation of fact about their customers in their data warehouses and business intelligence systems in the form of structured data: purchase history, coded responses to surveys, service ticket types, and so on. This foundation, however, lacks critical customer information, which floats above the fact plane. Call-center notes, open note sections of surveys, emails, weblogs, chat rooms, online forums, product reviews—and more—must be incorporated into the intelligence-gathering and analysis functions of a company.

Many companies are learning that the only way to be customer-centric and to have a customer-driven business strategy is to leverage this feedback across the organization methodically, comprehensively, efficiently, and effectively.

To do this, companies are staffing senior roles in the organization that focus on customers and report to the CEO, the VP of marketing or other top executive.

With leadership, customer analysis becomes a strategic part of the business. The goal is to get beyond the information historically available in structured surveys or coded fields and instead yield statistically supportable findings from unstructured data for a new generation of quantitatively trained executives and managers.

As they begin to grasp the size and importance of analyzing their customer feedback, companies realize they need to do two things:

1. Expand their analysis to the unstructured components of feedback that can answer such questions as why customers gave certain survey scores, why they report specific service or product issues, and what—at least in their opinion—might be done to improve or correct the situation.

2. Build processes that automatically understand and analyze the detail of the information found in unstructured data, which they then can leverage throughout the organization to help make key business decisions by merging the results with those found in structured data.

How to Hear First-Person Accounts

The quantity of this unstructured data is sometimes challenging to imagine, but its importance is abundantly clear.

One small airline receives 500 emails per day, which totals approximately 65% of the company's direct, unsolicited customer feedback. Nearly every email tells a personal story about someone's flying experience—stories that can help the airline decide on everything from pricing to in-flight services to marketing programs.

Almost all this input is in first-person narrative, a literary technique in which a story is narrated by one character who explicitly refers to himself or herself using words such as "I," "me" or "we." The intensity of tales told in the first person can be striking, especially when the person narrating has something to say about your product or service.

First-person feedback is...

-Focused on the personal
-Constitutes the majority of input
-Contains rich descriptions
-Explores unexpected topics
-Details the "why" of an event or opinion
-Reveals opportunities
-Expects responses
-Provides early warnings
-Affects, most likely, other people
-Impacts revenue

Anyone scanning social-networking sites or popular blogs for an hour will likely find a slew of first-person narratives that meet all those listed criteria.

Analyzing Feedback to Achieve Intelligence

First-person feedback is not just personal. It is rich, honest, unprompted, unscripted, and often revealing. It contains the details behind successes, or failures. It harbors the truth about good intentions gone awry, or lucky breaks. It holds the key to future fortune, or crippling litigation. And it can help employees, managers and executives answer key questions such as these:

-Is our product launch going well?
-What marketing messages resonate most with customers?
-Is there an emerging product issue?
-Where should the product team focus its development dollars?
-Are there more effective methods for positioning current products?
-Which services have the best chance of surviving a turbulent market?
-Is someone committing fraud?
-Is there a product defect in the market?

First-person feedback provides rich, detailed narrative. The passionate give-and-take of online discussions or the constant stream of customer emails is simply impossible for databases and business intelligence software to parse, process, or package into any useful, actionable data without the capabilities offered by text analytics solutions.

Proper analysis of first-person feedback through text analytics enables enterprises to improve their products, services, reputations, and balance sheets. Once the facts are extracted, the tone categorized, the results structured, the data integrated, and the reports delivered, only then can companies claim to have "first-person intelligence" worthy of action.

David Bean, Ph.D. is the founder and CTO of Attensity (www.attensity.com), a text analytics solution provider, and is adjunct assistant professor of applied computational linguistics at the University of Utah.

Engagement—A New Information-Based Form of Advertising

by Lester Wunderman

We at Wunderman—years after having coined the term, and invented the practice of, direct marketing—have, as an agency, made a global commitment to a new dimension of advertising.

I call it an engagement between buyers and sellers. Let me define the term:

Engagement is having to involve one's self in something, as opposed to remaining aloof or independent of it.

Engagement is a promise that carries an obligation by all parties to do something. And not just to do something, but to continue to do it with each other. It can be in the form of an agreement, contract, or commitment.

Engagement is also a commitment to being activated or becoming operational in the present as opposed to some vague promise to do something in the future. Engagement lives in the now and is most likely to continue into the future if properly maintained and nourished.

Engagement in advertising can be enhanced or achieved by information and implemented by all of the contemporary interactive tools of communication. The engagement exists as latent information awaiting, if you will, the kiss of relevance, mutuality, or necessity to awaken it.

In our time, such information can be stored as a live capsule that can remain latent in a PDA or any other "companion" apparatus and germinate, change, and be brought to life when it is both relevant and timely.

Engagement creates the foundation for an ongoing interaction between advertisers and consumers as they experience the adventure of one or more exchanges of their mutual needs and means. The engagement deepens as the interactions increase in frequency and content.

Engagement uses as its base the capsule of consumer information that can germinate and create interaction over time (a good example is the way companies such as Amazon and Microsoft interact with their consumers.)

An engagement between a buyer and a seller begins with a single point of contact. It could be as a sale or an inquiry that, with the appropriate follow-up, can be converted into an ongoing experience for both the seller and the buyer.

It is such an experience or set of experiences that create what we define as an engagement—or at least the potential of creating one.

Once so engaged, sellers and buyers have made a kind of commitment of trust with each other. The commitment must then be sustained by ongoing communications and experiences of mutual benefit.

Lester Wunderman coined the phrase "direct marketing" in 1967. His innovations have influenced the direct response industry ever since. He is chairman emeritus and founder of Wunderman.

Web-Content Conundrum

By Jerry Bader

The Web consumes content like a teenager at an all-you-can-eat buffet. Lots and lots of content makes you more search engine friendly, helps establish your knowledge and expertise, explains in detail what you offer, and justifies that offer with all the explanations, statistics, and rationale you can muster. The problem is no one reads it.

Well that's not exactly true: some people read every scrap of information on your site; they just happen to be the tire-kickers, the people looking for ways to get stuff they don't have to pay for, or they're competitors looking for ways to copy what you do, or worse find something wrong. This is definitely a dilemma that needs to be addressed.

The Answer Lies In The Questions

The answer is obviously not to eliminate all the good stuff you've worked so hard to create, or to bury it where no one will ever see it. When it comes to Web-content ask yourself:

1. Is our content meaningful and relevant, or is it just hype and bunkum?

2. Is our content understandable by our audience, or is it so inarticulate that people just give up, even when they are desperate to find out what you have to say?

3. Does our content hold our audience's attention? Does it just explain, or does it engage, excite, and entertain while at the same time persuade on both a rationale and emotional level?

4. Is our content so intimidating and technical that it leads to more confusion and questions than answers?

5. Is our most important content buried in volumes of extraneous information or advertising copy, making it difficult to access and understand?
If any of these questions describe the text-based information on your website, then perhaps you need to find a way to make that important information more useful to your clients, not just search engines spiders.

When it comes to website content there are five things you need to keep in mind in order to make that content meaningful: Relevance, Clarity, Effectiveness, Memorability, and Personality.

Relevance: The Appropriateness of The Material

The material on your website has to be relevant, it is good for search engine indexing and it is good for establishing your expertise and trustworthiness, a quality that is an absolute necessity in a Web-based business environment, but exactly what constitutes relevant content?

In order for content to be relevant it must serve your overall marketing agenda and at the same time it must be useful to your target audience.

If your goal is to generate long-term clients by establishing a relationship with your website visitors then that relationship has to be symbiotic, that is, it must benefit both you and the your prospective clients. There are far too many websites around that are based on the P.T. Barnum principle that everyone is a sucker and can be conned. At the other end of the spectrum there are also way too many sites that are nothing more than catalogs, a kind of, here it is, take it or leave it approach.

Then there are the sites that provide pages and pages of specifications and features that confuse more than clarify. And finally there are the websites that are nothing more than business cards or display ads, an approach that says to the visitor that you are too cheap, too lazy, or too unimaginative to bother creating an appropriate marketing website.

The fact that search engines seek out relevant content is merely a positive by-product of good content, it is not the ultimate marketing objective, which should be to open up a communication with your audience and start a productive and profitable relationship.

Clarity: The Ability To Be Understood

Is there anything more important than being understood? I assume you have a website because you want to promote and expand your business, but if visitors do not understand who you are, what you do, and why they should pay you to provide them with a product or service, then exactly what are you doing?

Being understood sounds like a simple thing, but it is not. Ask yourself, to whom am I trying to communicate? Is it a search engine robot or a real person? If your main concern is the ever changing search engine indexing machinery then you risk the danger of not being completely understood by the people who visit your website.

There is a certain comfort in dealing with the illusion of certainty that speaks to the mechanics of search engine optimization: all you have to do is follow the rules and you'll be successful. The problem is the game is fixed and the rules keep changing, and more importantly it's the wrong audience. Any order you ever generated was from a real person and if real people don't understand your marketing message, then all that traffic to your site is wasted.

Effectiveness: The Ability to Serve Your Marketing Objectives

Being clear and to the point is important but it doesn't necessarily make your site effective. Dragnet's Sergeant Friday may have wanted, 'just the facts, nothing but the facts' but in the real world people need more.

People are busy and they do not want to waste their time on things that have no meaning for them, and that is the key. Things become meaningful when they engage while they enlighten, educate while they entertain, and persuade while they present. People spend hours upon hours on the Web doing things that could be considered a waste of time and non productive, so the idea that people will not invest their time on your website is just plain wrong. If they won't spend the time, then they aren't really interested or your presentation stinks.

What makes the Web such a powerful marketing tool is its multimedia capability, the opportuníty to communicate using text, images, motion graphics, video, and sound (audio) design. And of all these delivery options the two most effective communication techniques are video and sound (audio) design.

Memorability: The Ability To Stick In Your Audience's Minds

Clarity and effectiveness are vital but if people don't remember who you are, all your hard work will be lost. Maybe you've convinced your audience that your way is the answer, but if they don't remember it was you that told them, then you've wasted the opportuníty.

There are lots of sites around that expect instant response. They present their material and expect you to press a button and give them money. It's not that this can't happen, but it certainly is not what usually happens.

How many times have you wished you could remember that website that had that thing that you didn't need then but you need now? Not every potential customer is ready to buy right away, and if they forget who you are, someone else will benefit from your effort.

Let's put it another way, sales is like sex, while marketing is like a seduction. If you're not prepared to invest in romancing your audience, they'll immediately forget you exist and the sale will go to the business that gets remembered.

In order to create that memory, your website has to be an experience, an experience that resonates and entertains by delivering your marketing message with style and flair, using real human beings, analogy, and the classic story format in a professionally executed performance.

Personality: The Ability To Distinguish You From The Competition

Every business has a personality, an image, an identity that is the sum total of every experience anyone who has ever had contact with your company has ever had. Success online and offline depends on how well you manage that personality.

Your website is part of your public face and in many cases it is your only public face. Your business is not what you sell and it is not you, it is a separate and distinct entity that needs to be treated like a precocious child in need of care and feeding, and development.

Personality starts with a point-of-view and an attitude strong enough to make an impact. And the more mundane your offering, the more important it is to make a statement. Victoria's Secret has little trouble grabbing people's attention, but if it's sandpaper you sell, you better try harder. We especially see this identity crisis with distributors, whose own personality often gets sublimated to the major brands they carry.

Perhaps you remember the J. Peterman character from the old Seinfeld television show. The character was played by, actor and voice-over specialist, John O'Hurley, who is nothing like the real J. Peterman. But the characterization was so strong, and so memorable, that O'Hurley was able to single-handedly rescue the company from financial trouble.

If you're looking to create a Web-personality as effective as John O'Hurley's J. Peterman, you should consider adding a video or audio host to your Web-presentation, one that engages your audience's attention and captures their collective imagination.

A Final Thought

At the end of the day there is one thing about websites that should guide you in your decisions as to what you present and how, and that is simply, websites are for people not search engines. If the people coming to your website don't hear what you have to say, understand what you're offering, and remember who you are, then your website isn't doing what it needs to do for your business.

Leave Evangelism to Billy Graham

While conducting a seminar workshop entitled "Old Media vs. New Media," Lewis Green's enthusiasm for the topic was palpable. And in a post at his blog, he says initial feedback was positive. A review of post-talk surveys, however, revealed that at least one audience member thought the message had crossed into the realm of passionate promotion. Writes Green, "He equated what was being said as social media evangelizing, not as a forum for information, which was the workshop's purpose. And for him, and several others, evangelizing leads to skepticism."


This reaction got Green thinking about customer evangelists in general. And he came to the conclusion that anyone who seems "blinded to reality by their beliefs" isn't necessarily the best representative for your company. In fact, you might actually lose business because potential customers are put off by your evangelists' hard-sell approach. His recommendations:

-Stop using the word 'evangelism,' when the older phrase 'word-of-mouth marketing' is both accurate and less problematic.

-Stop using strategies and tactics designed to encourage overly enthusiastic advocacy. "[L]et's inform, not evangelize," he says. "Let's turn down the volume just a notch."

The Po!nt: The result, according to Green: "[W]e will have loyal customers, who when asked or offered an opportunity to comment on a brand, product or service will appear as a trustworthy and credible admirer of the business we represent or of our business."

Source: bizsolutionsplus. Click here for the post.

We're Drowning in Choice. Help!

If you go to an In-N-Out Burger, don't expect to find an extensive menu. It includes three variations on the same sandwich: a hamburger, a cheeseburger and the Double Double, which comes with two patties and two slices of cheese. You can also order a side of fries and a shake. But that's all. No chicken strips, no salads, no stuffed jalapeños, no kids' meals. You can customize orders from the so-called secret menu—animal style, for instance, adds grilled onions—but dining options are unapologetically limited. And you know what? In-N-Out devotees keep the lines long and the service slow.



In a post at MarketingProfs Daily Fix blog, Paul Barsch argues that there might be something in this less-is-more approach.

"With customers drowning in 'choice' some companies are finding it easier to meet customer needs by simplifying—portfolios, products and services," he says. "Indeed too many choices can cause our customers to experience anxiety and mental exhaustion."

Barsch cites Ford Motor Co.'s decision to simplify the Lincoln Navigator, which had 128 options for its console alone. The Wall Street Journal determined the number of possible combinations at 3.85620482 x 10 to the 215th power. Can you just see a customer's eyes glazing over?

Your Marketing Inspiration: "[W]e need to help our companies focus and prioritize on the things that matter most to our customers," says Barsch.

Online Communities Creating A Lot Of Interest

By Doug Caverly

Participate and customers will come?


Type, type, and type some more if you want, but content creation isn't everything. In fact, new data - although it isn't quite the same as the results of comprehensive survey - indicates communities might be much more important to people.

Anita Campbell thought to compare the phrases "online content" and "online community" using Google Trends. In terms of search volume, that first phrase showed up at a much lower rate; it tended to underperform in terms of news reference volume, as well.

So what does this mean? Well, it's possible everyone is just thinking about how the recession could kill off all the Facebook and MySpace wannabes. What seems more likely, though, is that there's a genuine interest in online communities. Our own David Utter hit on some of the ramifications.

Creating a community from scratch would be a big undertaking, of course, but you can always become more involved with existing sites. Create profiles, groups, and whatever else seems appropriate while trying to form genuine connections and not just spamming everyone in sight.

Campbell wrote, "Small business owners and entrepreneurs have learned that you can develop relationships online and those relationships do lead to real business. It's not just a theoretical nice idea or an excuse to justify wasting time online. Money is changing hands as a result of online relationships."

How to Optimize for Google: Part 3 of 3

By Scott Van Achte, Senior SEO, StepForth

In Part 1 and Part 2 of How to Optimize for Google I discussed general website optimization, links, and Google webmaster tools. In Part 3 we will look at a number of other considerations which play a role in successful rankings in Google, and also touch on some tactics which are best avoided.

Completing Optimization: Other Considerations

Redirects
If you need to use redirects on your site, it is very important to use the correct one. If a page is moving to a new location, or being removed all together, it is very important to have this page redirected to either the new location or the next closest page using a Permanent 301 Redirect.

While rare, if a page is being moved to a new location for a short term, with the intent of it returning to the original location, then and only then, will you want to use a Temporary 302 redirect. For more information please see Redirects: Permanent 301 vs. Temporary 302 .

Non WWW Redirects
To help eliminate page rank split, and provide your site with a little extra value, implement a non-www redirect. What this redirect will do is change the URL to include the "www" whenever a URL is accessed that does not include it. This can help to consolidate links to the correct page and give your site some additional strength. For more help on Non WWW redirects please see: How to 301 Redirect Non-WWW to WWW URL's

HTTP Headers
Check your page headers! If you have implemented any form of redirect on your site including mod rewrites, check your HTTP headers. You may be surprised at what you find. Some forms of redirects may use a 302 code where you really want a 301. By checking your headers you can ensure all is well, and troubleshoot problems. On our website we have added our own HTTP Header Checker for your convenience.

Home Page URL
Never have more than one URL for your home page. If your home page is available and displays on more than one URL, then utilize 301 redirects on all but the main URL you want to focus on - in most cases "http://www.domain.com/". All your links pointing to the home page should direct to the exact same URL otherwise you will split the value of your home page into multiple duplicate URL's.

Google sees "http://www.domain.com" and "http://www.domain.com/index.html" as different pages, but displaying the same content. This splits the overall value of your home page, and can decrease the chances of rankings. By keeping it consistent with a single URL, you remove this split and retain more of the strength.

In theory having your home page split like this could bring with it duplicate content penalties, however, I have yet to see this actually happen - that said, it is best to avoid the risk all together.

XML Sitemap
XML Sitemaps are great for ensuring that Google and the other engines are able to spider your entire site. While an XML sitemap will not directly impact your search rankings it can help as Google is more likely to see any SEO based changes more quickly, which in turn can have an impact.

Robots.txt
This is the first file all search engines look for every time they visit your site. While placing a blank robots.txt file in your root folder will not help with search rankings, it will help reduce 404 errors appearing in your log files.

It is also highly recommended that if your site utilizes an XML sitemap, to include a call to this sitemap within the Robots.txt file. Simply add the following line to ensure that the major engines (including Google) can find your sitemap:

Sitemap: http://www.domain.com/sitemap.xml

Potential Blockages
If you are finding that your site is simply not being indexed it is possible that you are blocking the spiders in one way or another.

Start with checking your main site navigation, if you are using Flash or some other fancy form of navigation that could be your problem right there. Next check your HTTP headers to ensure that your home page is returning a 2xx code which indicates that the clients' request was successfully received. Finally take a look at your Google Webmaster Tools for any noted errors. If you are blocking Google, chances are you will be able to uncover the issue with these steps.

Duplicate Content
Duplicate content can be quite damaging to your rankings. Ensure that all content on your site is unique. Never steal or "borrow" content from another site, and never cut and paste large portions of text from one page of your site to the next. By keeping all pages of your site entirely original you stand the best chances of getting a thumbs up from Google.

Fresh Content / Regular Updates
Update your content. In highly competitive markets, sites with old static content can often slip away. Keep your content fresh and updated to keep bringing Google back to your site. If they find new pages and updated pages with every visit, they will come back more often.

Site Age
The age of your site can also have an effect on search engine rankings. While there is little you can do (short of keeping the same domain) to help on this matter, remember that the longer your site is online, the better its chances for success. It pays to select the perfect domain right from the start and not to change domains mid-stream. Older sites that stand the test of time add a level of authority in Google's eyes. New sites seldom see rankings for competitive terms in their first year.

Note: Site Age is determined not by the date the domain was originally registered by rather by the date Google first discovered content on your site.

Load Time
Load time can have an impact in your Google AdWords Quality Score but it is unknown for sure if it can also impact your organic search rankings. It is best to keep your load time to as little as possible. If it is not already a part of the Google Algorithm, it likely will be soon. Besides, it is also best in order to give your site visitors the best experience possible.

Server Up Time
This can be a rather significant issue. If you find that your web hosting company has a history of down time, change hosts. If Google comes to visit your site once and it is down, not to worry, they will come back, but if Google visits your site often only to find that it is unavailable, you can find yourself with drastically depleted rankings.

Google Local
If you have a traditional brick and mortar store, consider submitting to Google Local . While this will not directly impact your regular organic rankings, you may find your site ranking above the organic results with a "local business results" map listing. This tends to be most common when your business is near the geographic center of a city, and when the search phrase uses a geographic modifier.

W3C Compliant Code
There is much speculation as to if W3C compliant code can have a positive impact on search rankings, and the majority believe "maybe" with some saying "yes". Regardless, it is definitely a good idea to have your site be W3C Compliant if at all possible. Not only may it help you in terms of search rankings, but having compliant code can decrease load times, and help to ensure cross-browser compatibility, all of which are good things. If at all possible, it is recommended that sites be made to be compliant.

Many experts who took part in the SEOMoz "Google Search Engine Ranking Factors" lean towards it not being a big contributor, however, it may be an issue if Google has difficulties indexing a page properly.

A code validation service is available at validator.w3.org .


About The Author
Scott Van Achte is the Senior SEO at StepForth Web Marketing Inc., based in Victoria, BC, Canada and founded in 1997. You can read more of Scott's articles and those of the StepForth team at news.stepforth.com or contact us at StepForth.com, Tel - 250-385-1190, TollFree - 877-385-5526, Fax - 250-385-1198

It's a Small World After All

When Disneyland first opened the It's a Small World ride in the mid-1960s, the catchy chorus of its theme song was largely metaphorical. No more. Advances in technology have made the world a much smaller place for everyone—and opened global opportunities for small businesses like yours.


But before you pursue an international strategy, Huiping Iler of Wintranslation.com says it's important to ensure your website appeals to a global audience. She recommends taking a few key steps:

Learn the lingo. According to Iler, sites that include content in a local language receive preference from search engines like Google and Yahoo. "[W]ithout German content," she says, "the chance of your site showing up in Google.de is next to nil." Search engine optimization aside, the courtesy of speaking the native tongue will also enhance your company's cosmopolitan image.

Dress to impress. A potential customer in the Netherlands or Japan will make purchasing decisions based largely on the quality of your website. So offer information-rich content and appealing site design.

The Po!nt: As German Chancellor Willy Brandt once said, "If I am selling to you, I speak your language. If I am buying from you, dann müssen Sie in meiner Sprache sprechen." In other words, then you must speak my language.

Source: MarketingProfs. Click here for the post.

Passengers: Your Captain Has Screwed Up

You probably know the approach pattern at your home airport very well. So what would you think if your plane were about to touch down when it suddenly jerked skyward, overshot the runway and headed out toward the ocean? Even non-nervous flyers would know something was wrong. Near collision? Problem with the running gear? Inexperienced pilot who needs a do-over?


A MarketingProfs team member experienced this scenario not long ago, and sat patiently waiting for an explanation from the flight deck. Anything at all, if only to confirm that everything was under control. But nada, zip, zilch. It took a full ten minutes—after circling around in a bizarre pattern—for the pilot to give the non-explanation that the plane would be on the ground in a few minutes. Our colleague left the flight seriously pissed off at the lack of communication.

It's never fun to deliver bad news. But in a post at his blog, Tom Peters emphatically underscores the need to keep clients and stakeholders fully informed of "a delay (wee or grand) or glitch (wee or grand)." It's better for everyone to know what's going on, and what you're doing about it, than to leave them seething in the dark.

"Make the call," he writes. "And if you have … let someone know about a glitch … call 'em again to update the status of the fix, or relay the sad but honest news that the fix is more complex than first imagined." It's Marketing Inspiration we can all use.

Top 3 Google Linking Strategies of 2008

By Michael Small

If you're serious about getting great ranking on Google you need to be serious about linking. Of course there are lots of ways to get links so we'll focus on just the methods that are fast, low cost or free and get the best results. Here are three that can put you on top of Google in no time flat!

First let's start with getting inbound links from directories. A link from a directory gets a lot of weight from Google because they value it as a form of endorsement. You've probably used some directories yourself, like Yahoo. Or maybe you've used some without even knowing it, like The Open Directory Project (DMOZ.org) that powers many of the most popular search engines, including Google!

Each directory is different and offers different options for obtaining links to your site. Here's a rundown of how different directories will link to your site...

1.) Free Submission: Just like it sounds. No charges for inclusion. DMOZ.org is the best one and powers Google, AOL and even Yahoo Search (not Yahoo directory.) Just be sure to follow their submission guidelines and pick the most appropriate sub category possible for inclusion. This is extremely important.

2.) Paid Submissions: They charge a fee to review the submitted link and possibly place the page. You might pay a few dollars one tíme, a recurring annual fee or as much as the $300 that Yahoo charges for commercial site review.

3.) Reciprocal Link: These usually require you to link to the directory before they will even consider linking back.

4.) Featured Link: Your link gets a premium spot that you pay for.

5.) Featured Homepage Link: This is a featured link on the homepage. As you've probably guessed, this can get real expensive.

Yahoo is easily the most popular (and most expensive) but it's not the best. It's been my experience that a free listing with DMOZ.org is worth more than a paid listing with Yahoo. Even though Yahoo is more popular as a directory that people actually visit, DMOZ is much more popular with search engines and carries a lot of weight. A "vote" from DMOZ is a big deal indeed.

Here are the five top directories offering free listings. Some even provide inexpensive expedited listing services or featured listings:

1.) dmoz.com
2.) directoryvault.com
3.) domaining.in
4.) getlistedrightnow.com
5.) visitalink.com

There's a site that keeps an updated list of directories, but not all are free. You have to visit each to see if there is any cost. Go to TopWebSiteTips and scroll down to the drop down box at the bottom of the page. Select your desired Google PR and search. If you want to avoid getting niche directories in the results, check the "General Directories Only" box after your first return set and rerun the search.

As a second option, you can also consider paying a submission service to get your site lísted in the major directories. There are plenty that will do it for a reasonable fee. Just be sure they do the following three things:

1.) Manual submission only.
2.) Verify that your site is not already listed.
3.) Provide proof of submission (usually screen captures).

Just search Google for "directory submission service" and you'll get plenty of options. I've used SEONext.com/ in the past with good success. They provide a "slow submission" service that makes your link building appear more natural to Google and other top search engines.

And finally, there is no better way to get quality links than from a traditional reciprocal link campaign. This can be a time consuming step without automated software, but is very important.

Here are 10 steps to a successful reciprocal linking campaign:

1.) Write down the keywords you want to be found for.

2.) Draft a standard letter you can use to easily customize for each site (customization tips at the end.)

3.) Run a search on Google for each keyword and jot down the URL for each match returned (not just the homepage but the URL for the actual page you want the link from, which is the one that came up in the search.)

4.) Remove any direct competitors from the list.

5.) Go back through your list and find the contact info for each site. Record this information.

6.) Create a link to each page you want to get a link from. This should be from the most appropriate page on your site, not the homepage. Do not exceed 10 outbound links per page at most. The fewer, the better.

7.) Send the customized email with the considerations outlined below.

8.) Verify their backlinks.

9.) Remove any outbound links that do not reciprocate within a month or so.

10.) Check your inbound links every couple of weeks. Make sure you are still getting the links you earned and that the people linking to you have not moved you to a less desirable page.
Reciprocal Link Email Tips:

A.) Address the email to a person by name if possible.

B.) Start with a complimentary statement about what you like on their site.

C.) Introduce yourself and your site.

D.) Lead into why you feel your site is a good, non competing match (outline benefits for them and their visitors.)

E.) Mention that you have already linked to their site and hope they feel a reciprocal link will be beneficial. Provide the URL to the page you linked from.

F.) Explain why you linked from the page you did and the anchor text you used to show you understand link strategy.

G.) Request that if they link back they use one of your anchor text suggestions along with the exact URL you want them to link to.

H.) Offer to change the link anchor text of their URL if they wish.

I.) Thank them genuinely for their time and sign with your first name to make it more personal and natural.

You can do all of this manually or invest in a good piece of software to do the difficult and time consuming work for you. Many SEO professionals (myself included) use SEO Elite because it finds the best link partners, automatically gets their contact info and even manages entire campaigns. It's also a link verification system and search engine rank checker so it covers all of my SEO needs nicely ($167.)

So whether you do the work by hand or invest in a time saving "instant gratification" SEO tool, the information in this article can help you to the top of Google in record time. Good luck!

About The Author
Mike Small has been an SEO specialist since 1998 working with clients from start up to the Fortune 500. He has authored five SEO books and is the founder of popular SEO blog SEOpartner.com

How Can You Give Customers a Little Thrill?

"When looking for good ideas about customer service, ask around," writes Paul Williams in a post at the MarketingProfs' Daily Fix blog.



"Exceptional services experiences are rarely forgotten." He even asked his parents for their input on the topic, and they came up with two experiences that made a lasting impression:

-While vacationing on St. Thomas in the 1970s, they made dinner reservations at the Cafe Brittany. On their arrival the couple found two matchbooks embossed with their names. "The restaurant made custom matches for every reservation," explains Williams. "My mom still has them."

-Following LASIK surgery performed by Dr. Peter Polack of Ocala, Fla., his mother received a $25 gift certificate to Barnes & Noble with a card that read, "Enjoy your new eyesight!"

According to Williams, these examples have three things in common:

-They're an unexpected surprise.
-They have relevance for the customer.
-They foster a fond remembrance of the brand.

The Po!nt: Asks Williams, "How can you offer your customers an unexpected surprise, something relevant, and something that helps them remember your brand?"

Source: Daily Fix. Click here for the post.

Yummy! I Can't Wait!

Consumers are notoriously impatient. They want everything and they want it now. But what if they are forced to—gasp!—wait in line? Or—shudder!—wait for delivery? Does delaying consumption negatively impact a person's enjoyment of the product?



Good news! The opposite might actually be true, if you play your marketing cards right. Researchers at Arizona State University found that delays can actually add to the customer experience—if the person anticipates consumption to be pleasant.

(OK. Hold off eating that chocolate bar for a minute. Now, bite. See what we mean?) The delay allows the consumer to savor their anticipation of the product, which adds to their experience.

What does this mean for marketers? It's best to build a yummy factor into the customer experience as much as possible. In particular, design ways to enhance customer anticipation when a delay is necessary. For example, a restaurant might design a waiting area next to the kitchen, where the sights and aromas of the food arouse diners' anticipation.

Or when savvy marketers help consumers anticipate consumption pleasure ("New spring styles on sale this Saturday only!"), they just might make the customer's product experience more enjoyable, too.

The Po!nt: Don't forget the yummy factor in promotions. Imagery that marketers provide about how good product consumption will be may enhance a customer's savoring of the product experience—and their enjoyment of it once they receive it.

Source: "The Effect of a Delay between Choice and Consumption on Consumption Enjoyment" by Stephen M. Nowlis, Naomi Mandel, and Deborah Brown McCabe. Journal of Consumer Research

Consider These Things When Commenting‏

If you haven't noticed, some blogs are a lot stricter with their comment policies than others. Share your thoughts on comment etiquette.

Marketing Through Comments

I have recently advocated using blog comments as a way of promoting your site, but not in a form that is in any way spammy. What I had to say about that was this:

You don't want to go overboard in the linking and branding in blog comments, because the line between promotion and spam is very fine in a venue like this. People reading blog comments want to see insightful conversation and points regarding the article expanded upon and discussed. They don't want to see you advertising your business.

The best way to get traffic from blog comments is to link your name to your site. This will give them the opportunity to see what your business is all about if they like what you have to say. They are not going to click on your link if you just comment to say that you sell jewelry for example. (emphasis added)

Appropriate Marketing Through Comments

After I wrote that article, which was fairly popular, I started noticing a lot of my commenters doing the opposite of what I said, and leaving comments with their links prevalent, and in some cases even inserting their logos linking to their sites.

Now while this tactic may be appropriate in some venues, like say a forum signature, a blog comment is not really the place. I have left a number of the comments up, because I feel like often times, the commenters mean well because they do actually contribute to the conversation. I don't like to delete comments that contribute, and I am happy to have the comments themselves.

The Rules

Other sites and blogs are not as forgiving as I am, however. Many are much more strict with their commenting policies (not that these policies are always visible to the user). Andy Beard for example, just posted his warning for comment spam, which clearly illustrates his take on the matter.

Daria Black has a good set of guidelines to generally follow when it comes to comment etiquette. No set of blog comment rules is universal, but I think Daria's article is a pretty good indication of the average way of thinking for those who are running the blog.

If you stick to those, you'll probably be able to feel confident about your comments not being deleted at just about any blog.

I think the most important rule that probably is universal to all blogs that actually moderate their comments, is to stay on topic. If you have something to say on a different topic, chances are there is a better place for you to be leaving your comment.

Just put yourself in the blogger's shoes before leaving a comment, and ask yourself if you would accept it.

I'd love to hear your comments on commenting. Please share!

About the Author:
Chris is a content coordinator and staff writer for SmallBusinessNewz and the iEntry Network. Subscribe to SmallBusinessNewz RSS Feeds.

The 411 on HTML Standards

In the 1990s, marketing experts routinely told their clients to avoid using HTML in email messages since it hampered functionality, triggered spam filters and took too long to download. Improved technology has since resolved those issues, and made the coding language virtually de rigueur in online campaigns.



But Adam Covati says HTML still has one major hurdle to overcome: compatibility across all major email accounts (eg, Hotmail, AOL, Gmail). Until the industry adopts uniform standards, Covati recommends taking these steps to ensure your HTML messages render properly:

Use table-based positioning. CSS positioning is among the least-supported email HTML features among major email clients.

Use a good balance of text and images. And always send HTML emails with a text version as backup. Also, avoid embedding Flash, as it does not work consistently in most email clients.

Use multi-part alternatives. These enable recipients to choose between text or HTML versions of your message, a critical option for those who receive messages on mobile devices.

Test, test, test! Testing in each email client is the best way to guarantee proper rendering.

The Po!nt: Maximize your HTML compatibility. “Businesses that [use] HTML effectively continue to see better results from email marketing,” says Covati. “[M]ore clicks, qualified interest and actual sales.”

Source: MarketingProfs. Click to read the article.