Press Release Zone » 2009

July 26, 2009

4 Stealthy Sources Of Powerful Internet Marketing Intelligence

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:24 am

4 Stealthy Sources Of Powerful Internet Marketing Intelligence
By Willie Crawford (c) 2009

In online marketíng it is critical that you keep up with what is going on in your industry. You do need to know who is doing what – and why they are doing it. You do need to take the time to research potential joint venture partners, products, and competing businesses.

Here are four excellent tools and how to use them.

1) Internet Archive – Also known as “The Way Back Machine”.

There are actually many facets to this amazíng site but the feature that I use most is the ability to look at a historical snapshot of a website/domain.

There is a box on the site where you can enter any url, and it will show you “snapshots” taken of that website over time.

For example, if your were to enter my domain “williecrawford.com” you’d be able to sift through actual archived pages from my website between December 1998 and today. Every week or two a new snapshot of the site was taken and stored in the Archive.org database.

That lets you confirm how long a website has been online (provided it was archived), lets you see how a business evolved over time, and will even reveal to you things a marketer may have been testing that perhaps didn’t work out.

I use this tool to confirm how long a site/person has been in business. I also use it to confirm how long a person has actually been in a particular niche or discipline. I use it in deciding who to actually form business relationships with.

If you discover practices contrary to your standards, or that a potential business partner hasn’t been totally honest with you, then you certainly want to proceed with caution… or look deeper.

2) Google Alerts

You can set an alert to have Google notify you via email any time that it finds a new occurrence of a term online (on a webpage, blog, etc.)

I set alerts for my name, my product names, my urls, and competitors’ names/products/urls.

Any time the system finds someone “talking about” the target term, it will send you an email (at whatever frequency you specify) notifying you of the new finds.

Once a day, I get emails notifying me of where my target terms have just been discovered. This points you to places where you are being blogged about, mentioned in articles, discussed on forums, etc.

It could alert you to positive or negative publicity that you want to be aware of.

3) Tweet Beeps – Similar To Google Alerts, Only On Twitter.com .

Found at http://tweetbeep.com, I use Tweet Beeps the same way that I use Google Alerts. Any time that my target phrases are found in ANY Twitter posts, I get a notification.

That will point out to you discussions that you may want to join for various reasons, to include “damage control,” thanking them for a nice compliment, to answer questions about your product, etc.

One creative way to use Tweet Beeps would be to ask those “tweeting” positive things about your product for testimonials, or to become your affiliates.

4) International Association Of Joint Venture Brokers

Found at http://IAJVB.ORG, The International Association of Joint Venture Brokers is a collection of joint venture brokers, super affiliates, product owners, publishers, and webmasters who use the site to keep track of product launches.

The site is a database of upcoming and ongoing product launches, live events, tele-events, and even free giveaways.

Members of the site enter their events into the database as an easy way to recruit new affiliates AND to let other members know that they are “claiming” a given launch date.

Savvy affiliates search through the database looking for product launches in their niche. They understand that when you know about an upcoming launch a month or more in advance, you can do things to gain a tremendous advantage in the search engines before most other affiliates EVER hear rumors of the launch.

During many product launches, your potential customers often go to the search engines to see what reviewers have to say about a given product.

Affiliates who knew about, and obtained a review copy of a product a month in advance, will have their reviews listed at the top of the search engines, getting sales from people who are not even on their lists… or have ever previously visited their websites.

Members pull up the listings of other launches planned in their niche and use that information to plan when they will do their own launch. This keeps them from going “head-to-head” with big launches that would otherwise drown out their own.

This also shows them launches that they could perhaps piggyback on.

They can often get mention of their product INCLUDED in an upcoming product, or they can plan on releasing their product just as the commotion from a big launch is dying down.

Perhaps your product does the same thing as product with a huge launch planned, but your product is cheaper. You could time your launch to catch potential customers who have a heightened awareness of the problem that your product solves, but who couldn’t afford the other product. You can sell to a lot of customers who actually feel POWERFUL resentment towards the product that they wanted but couldn’t afford.

As you can see good intelligence is extremely valuable. You absolutely must know what is going on in your niche. Fortunately, with the above four tools, it’s very easy.
About The Author
Willie Crawford is an internationally-acclaimed speaker, author, seminar and radio show host, and leading Internet marketing expert. When not out fishing in the Gulf of Mexico, Willie can be found sharing his 12 years of online marketíng experience with members of The Internet Marketing Inner Circle. Join them at: http://TheInternetMarketingInnerCircle.com

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July 24, 2009

How To Achieve Top Google Rankings

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:27 am

How To Achieve Top Google Rankings
By Bill Platt (c) 2009 Links and Traffic

For years, it has been well known that Google’s search algorithm is driven by the number and quality of links pointing to a particular URL. And as a result, it was all the rage for some time to buy links on web pages that had a high Google PageRank (PR).

But in March of 2007, Google’s mouthpiece Matt Cutts declared that Google was going to fight back against Paid Links. Google put a shot across the bow of many online marketers, letting them know that the days of easily buying links from high PageRank pages in order to influence a website’s ranking in Google were over.

The Shot Heard Around The World

With Matt Cutts declaration, a world full of online marketers began to cry foul. It was said that “They can’t do that!”

But the truth was and is that the Google Search Algorithm is Google’s intellectual property, and therefore, Google can do anything they want within their algorithms – no matter who those changes might hurt or help.

By the end of the Summer of 2007, the people crying foul had quieted down a bit and got back to the business of trying to find new ways to manipulate their website’s rankings inside of the Google search results. That is the way it has always been and always will be.

The summer of 2007 was just such an oddity… For me, it has always been exciting to challenge the brains at Google to get my websites to rank well within Google’s search algorithms. But for some reason, at that moment in time, many of those who held the top rankings in Google felt as if it was their God-given right to be at the top of Google’s search results, and how dare Google oppose God’s decree in this matter.

Yep, I know I am going to catch flak for that statement – comparing a few webmasters to religious zealots – but that is how I roll sometimes.

For me, Matt Cutts was telling people to work harder to actually “earn” what they have been given. For me, it was a chance to re-dedicate myself to the goal of ranking well in Google for competitive keywords. I did not have to change anything I was already doing, because I have never gained a single ranking in Google by paying for a link from any web page. (wink)

Google’s Search Engineers Are Not Foolish

Matt Cutts has said time and again that Google does not want to attack any problem in their search algorithms by manually deleting any participant in the Google search ranking game.

Instead, Google in every case wants to program a solution to address a particular bad practice.

I guess it might be easier for me to understand since I am also a computer programmer. It is a hobby I really enjoy, and I exercise my mind with computer programming anytime I want to improve my own websites or to build a new website. I keep my brain sharp by solving problems in computer code.

So, whenever I see Google making moves in one direction or another, I try to visualize how I would solve their algorithm problems in computer code.

In my mind, solving the paid links issue was a super-easy solution. Just look at the pages linking to a particular website, and then do a cross-comparison of the PageRank of all of those linking pages. If all of the pages linking to a particular URL have a PageRank of Four or higher, then chances are that those links were artificially created, through some kind of paid linking system.

Let me explain this in an example, where all of the sample web pages have 100 inbound links each:

If Site A has all of its 100 links on pages that have a PageRank of 4 or higher, then that is unnatural and therefore suspect.

If Site B has all of its 100 links on pages that have a PageRank of 0, then those links offer no value to the Internet community as a whole, and therefore Site B should not measured as a quality search result.

If Site C has a mix of PageRank 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 links, then that is more natural in its structure and it also shows that some of the links are considered to have value in the Internet community as a whole. Therefore, Site C has proven itself worthy above Site A and Site B in Google’s search results.

This example should show in no uncertain terms how easy it was for Google to properly address the issue of paid links and to put a stop to people using paid links to manipulate their websites’ ranking in Google’s search algorithms.

Publication Standards

A couple years back, I wrote another article discussing this concept in relationship to article marketing. You can read that article with third-party commentary from Chris McElroy, aka NameCritic, on the Article Content Provider Blog.

In a nutshell, I was discussing the role of article directories in the article marketing industry. Again, this solution came to me from my programming mind. The simple way for Google to have dealt with all of the junk articles that have been written for the purpose of building links to a website is to look at the article in the context of where that article is published.

The article marketing carpet bombers send their articles to hundreds of article directories to get hundreds of links pointing to their website. But the role of the article directory has always been to be a repository where newsletter publishers and webmasters could go to find articles that they would like to reprint in their own newsletters and on their own websites.

Some article directory managers bring a commitment to providing publishers with only quality articles. Other article directory managers approve anything and everything sent to them.

Through computer programming, it is relatively easy to identify which websites are article directories and which ones are not.

If an article is of good quality, then niche website publishers will find the article and put it on their own website. If the article is a crap article, then the only websites that will accept it are those article directories that publish anything and everything given to them.

As a result, it is easy for Google to look at the Linking Portfolio (list of publishing websites) of a single article and to see which articles were considered worthy of reprint by human reviewers. If the article only exists on article directory websites, then the article must not provide any real value to other people. But if the article is of good quality, the article will be able to be located on article directories AND on niche websites.

This concept very elegantly feeds into Google’s overall strategy of determining which web pages people recommend to others. After all, if you look at Google’s PageRank, it is very simply a system which measures how many people have voted on the quality or value of a particular web page.

Expanding On Google’s PageRank Formula

Google loves any system that they can conceive to measure how much value the overall Internet community gives to a particular web page.

Google naturally treats links found in the Yahoo! Business Directory and the Open Directory as higher value links, because the search engineers at Google understand that links in these directories are all approved by a human being.

Google also gives extra value to social bookmarking websites, because the concept behind social bookmarking is that individuals “bookmark” a web page when they find that web page to offer good value to its readers.

Google openly dislikes paid links and can easily identify those paid links, without having to jump through too many hoops. (This should not be confused with paying for a service that will help you increase your rankings in Google. Paying a service provider to provide services to you is very different than just paying for links on high PageRank web pages.)

Google also appreciates reprint articles that have a Linking Portfolio beyond the article directories. Once again, Google appreciates reprint articles that are shown to provide real value to individuals in the greater Internet community.

When you take a close look at the original premise of Google’s PageRank, it has always been about creating systems that measure the value of a web pages to find which web pages will best answer a searcher’s question. Rightfully so, Google believes that the best way to ensure that they are able to give their users good quality search results is to look at what web pages others have already deemed useful.

Herein rests the secret to ranking well in Google’s search results. If you can create content that people will find useful, interesting, and valuable to others, then Google’s search algorithms will look favorably upon your website.

Author’s Note – This article was originally published at: karmaseo.com .

About The Author
Bill Platt has written about SEO and article marketing for a number of years. As the owner of LinksAndTraffic.com Bill has also been providing search engine optimization services to his clients for a number of years. If you are currently spending at least $1000 per month on pay-per-click search advertising, you owe it to yourself to review and consider Bill’s Performance Based SEO Service at: linksandtraffic.com/seo-services/search-marketing.html

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July 23, 2009

Google Caffeine and the New Ranking Factors |

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 7:06 am

Google Caffeine and the New Ranking Factors |
By Titus Hoskins (c) 2009
Google Caffeine is the name given to Google’s “Next Generation” search engine, which it will use to rank and index all the pages on the wonderful world wide web. According to all indications, this is not just another one of Google’s infamous Updates, but a major “Overhaul” of its index and algorithm – the complex formula and calculations Google uses to rank all web pages, including yours.

If that doesn’t sound ominous enough, according to Matt Cutts (Google Spokesperson) one database is already showing Google Caffeine, and the full blown version will be released after the holidays. The reasoning behind this – Google doesn’t want to upset webmasters and site owners during the lucrative holiday buying season. In the past, other major Google Updates have come around this time of the year, most notably the “Florida Update” which severely affected many web sites and webmasters.

Recently, Google has been more aware and much more generous to webmasters by being more open and forthcoming in regards to how it indexes its pages. This time around, webmasters were even given access to a beta version of Caffeine which Google released last summer (’09) where webmasters could check to see how well their keywords and site would fare in this new search index. This beta site (www2.sandbox.google.com) has now been taken down by Google.

Like any professional search engine marketer who works online, I was constantly checking my sites and keywords in Google’s new search engine. I have drawn some conclusions from what I have observed, but please be aware it is often very foolish to draw conclusions and make predictions from a small sampling of results. You can end up with egg on your face very quickly, especially when you consider Google is probably still making adjustments and refinements on Caffeine as it analyzes the results.

However, there are certain ranking factors that even Google is telling us about, mainly “Site Speed” or how fast your site loads will play a part in how its ranked. We have also heard a lot about “Broken Links” and if your page or site has them, then it will probably be ranked lower. Of course, linking out to “Bad Neighborhoods” will probably still not be a good practice, if you want higher rankings within Google.

It should not come as a shock or a surprise, that “Over-All Page Quality” will play a greater role in how well your page ranks. Keep in mind, Google is like any other company putting out a product, if that product doesn’t have a high standard of quality, it reflects badly back on everybody concerned. Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) are the key to all their online revenue, they must do everything in their power to keep that product fast, relevant, current and above all high quality.

Therefore, expect “OnPage Factors” to play a much greater role in Google Caffeine. Quality unique content, page design, good navigation, title, meta tags, description, keyword density, alt tags, page views, bounce rate, traffic numbers, time spent on page, and the number of social bookmarks may play an increased role in achieving high rankings. A perfectly optimized keyworded page, with the keyword in the title, description, meta tags, alt tags, on the page… will probably get you ranked higher in Caffeine, as well as most search engines on the web.

This may be pure speculation on my part, but one of the areas Caffeine will be addressing or incorporating is “Social BookMarking”, that is the number of social bookmarks a page receives will determine how high it is ranked. I also believe one of the major reasons these bookmarks will become much more important has to do with the whole nasty issue of link buying.

Now, the integrity of Google’s index is not in question, but any savvy marketer or webmaster knows any individual or company with deep pockets and huge resources can buy their way into the top spot. Despite Google’s attempt to stop it, link buying and keyword positioning, is a thriving industry on the web. Rightly or wrongly, money and unlimíted resources will get you or your company to the top in organic search, regardless of which search engine you’re targeting.

All moral and ethnical issues aside, the small webmaster and/or online marketer is stuck right in the middle, with Google on one side and these major multinational competitors on the other. Looming on the horizon is Google Caffeine, a new sheriff in town!

What New Rules Will This Sheriff Bring?

The major question here is this: has the importance of backlinking been downplayed in this new index in favor of the keyworded domain and onsite content and optimization? Has there been a major shift to listing more quality content rather than relying on the number of backlinks a site is receiving, even from important related themed sites? The major problem and question to Google is this: if links can be bought, how do you keep your organic results democratic and fair, which was the original intention of Larry Page and Sergey Brin when they started Google in 1998.

One Possible Solution is Social Bookmarking

Will we see an ever growing importance of social bookmarks and links in this new index. It is quite easy to buy 1000 links, but getting 1000 or 10,000 “re-tweets” is a little more difficult. Similarly, getting two or three thousand “diggs” may be a little harder to pull off. Same goes for Del.icio.us bookmarks, Facebook fans… well you get the picture. Will Google’s use of these new social sites make Caffeine faster, more relevant, more current and most importantly of all, can it bring some democracy back into their index?

Of course, nothing in Google’s new index will be that cut and dry, that black and white. Other ranking factors such as age of site, past history and reputation, traffic numbers, authority branding… will all play a role in whether your site gets listed on that all important first page. However, on page factors may play a greater role – title, meta tags, description, keyword density, alt tags, page views, bounce rate, time spent on page, and the number of social bookmarks may play an increased role in achieving high rankings. Website speed or how fast your site loads may also be a new ranking factor.

Underlying this whole issue is the fact which many experienced webmasters/marketers already know, Google’s SERPs are not a one-trick pony anymore. For very lucrative (monetized) keyword phrases, Google’s results are broken up into Five categories… Info listings, Video listings, News Listings, Shopping Listings and Corporate Listings. Forget Caffeine, this is probably the fairest move Google has made in the last few years to make its SERPs more democratic.

Another even more puzzling issue for me concerning Google Caffeine is how much emphasis or ranking power will it place on “Keyworded Domains”, domain names which have your keyword or keyword phrase in them. Will these domains be ranked higher? Webmasters and marketers for years have been telling us we should always pick domain names which have our major keywords in them. Just common sense really, someone searching for “brown widgets” will more likely than not find that item at a domain called brownwidgets(dot)com or brownwidget(dot)com. The major SEO reasoning, all your backlinks will inherently have your searched keyword in the URL, thus bringing it up in the rankings.

Read the rest of Titus’s article at SiteProNews.com
“Google Caffeine and the New Ranking Factors”

About The Author
The author is a full time online affiliate marketer. His livelihood is derived from & dependent upon search engine marketing & daily monitoring of targeted keywords, mainly within Google. He runs numerous sites, including: Free Marketing Tools & Internet Marketing Tools
Titus Hoskins Copyright 2009. This article may be freely distributed if this resource box stays attached.

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July 22, 2009

Ins and Outs of Local Search

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:28 am

Ins and Outs of Local Search

By Scott Van Achte (c) 2009, Senior SEO, StepForth Web Marketing Inc.

As the population with internet access explodes, and more and more people are using search engines to find what they need, the usage of local search also continues to rise. For any sites servicing a local or specific geographic audience, submission to local search based engines is becoming more and more important.

What is it?

In a nutshell local search involves the use of specialized search engines specifically created to focus on a selected geographic region to find local businesses and websites focused on your area.

Local search is commonly utilized as a directory, where users select their location, and narrow their search by categories till they find the listíng they want. In many cases local search engines also guess at the users’ location by using their IP, so when you visit the site and search, for example, “Chinese restaurants” you automatically see results specific to your location.

Google has been doing this for a while to one degree or another. When you perform a search in Google using a geographic modifier the map comes up with results specific to that location. You can also take it one step further and search Google Local specifically.

But Google isn’t the only engine out there focused on local search. There are several of these directories ranging from the better known Best of the Web, right down to small town specific websites offering local search options. You even may find a web directory or guide specifically created for your city, and chances are, it will be a great place for you to submit your site.

Many local directories are free for basic listings along with paid advanced listing options.

Who needs it?
Local search is ideal for anyone serving a specific region, especially those with brick and mortar stores. While you do not necessarily need a physical location, some local search directories, including Google Local, require that you do.

Only recently have small local businesses realized the need to be found in the major search engines. I know that if I am personally looking for a bike tune-up, the first place I turn to is online, to find the various bike shops in my area, if at very least, I search online to find their contact info. I can’t remember the last time I picked up a phone book. As the internet grows in popularity, there are more and more people like me who use it exclusively to find what they want, local or otherwise. For businesses not found within the various local search sites, they are missing out on a growing piece of their market.

Considering the limited expense in getting lísted in local search directories, traditional brick and mortar business can’t afford to not be listed, it’s quickly becoming a necessity.

Why bother?
With more people using these directories, and the incredibly low cost of “free” involved in being listed in many of them, it only makes sense to get listed. These directories, even the lower traffic ones, are a great free source of relevant traffic and the few minutes required to submit to them (usually around 10 minutes or so) only needs to result in a very small handful of site visitors to make it worthwhile.

Where to get listed?
When it comes to local search there are a few places you don’t want to miss such as Google Local. Many local search directories are country specific, so try your searching by using your country name; such as, “Canadian business directory”.

Try to focus your efforts on finding local directories that not only focus on your geographic region, but also offer you something in return.

How to decide if a directory is worthwhile
There are 5 main factors you need to consider when choosing to submít to a local search directory.

1. Location
What geographic regions does the directory serve? Do they serve your location?

2. Relevance
Does a relevant category exist? When you navigate to your appropriate category, are the other business listings relevant to your business? Some local directories may focus only on one industry, such as hotels. If the theme of the directory will not cater to your industry, you certainly don’t need to be listed there.

3. Price
How much does the directory charge? If it is free, it’s most likely worthwhile. If there is a cost associated with the listing, you need to know more to find out if it’s money well spent (which is where the next two points come in).

4. Traffic
Does this directory have much traffic? The quickest way to get a rough idea on this is to check their Alexa rating. Alexa is a rough indicator of how busy a site is, the busier the site, the closer their ranking will be to 1. If the site looks like it has very limited traffic, then you need to find out if the listing will have any SEO benefits if you are to spend any money here. (A low traffic free directory is likely still worthwhile however.)

5. SEO
Will your listing help you with your organic rankings? This is relatively simple to find out. You want to first check the Google Page Rank for their home page. If it is low (less than 5) then this is not one of the major directories. If it is between 5 and 10, then they likely have some authority. Next check the page your listing will actually reside on. Is this page indexed by Google, and does it have any Page Rank? If so, is the link back to your site search engine friendly?

Many local search directories may link to your site using the rel=nofollow tag, or by redirecting through a variety of tracking methods, which can cause your link to have no value in terms of SEO. However, some of them will give you a straight link fully readable by Google, so you will also get the added benefit of increased link density from many of these links. Some directories will also create a brand new page just for you. In that case, your page will not be indexed by Google and will have no Page Rank, but in time, it will. If this is the case, check a few of the listings to see if their pages are indexed.

If Google can not see this link, it has no SEO value. If the directory has no SEO value, and no traffic, it is not worthwhile to pay for this submission. (That said, if it’s a free listing, you may as well list your site there.)

How can I get listed?
Unlike organic SEO, getting lísted in a local directory is often as simple as finding the local directories that are relevant and submitting your site. Once you have decided that a directory is worthwhile, filling in a few online forms and submitting payment where applicable is all it takes. Most paid local directories will have your listing posted within a few days, if not immediately. Free directories can take anywhere form a couple of days to several weeks, depending on their policies, etc.

StepForth will soon be offering a Local Search service, so stay tuned to see what we can do for you.

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 veteran StepForth team at http://news.stepforth.com or contact us at www.stepforth.com, Tel – 250-385-1190 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 250-385-1190 end_of_the_skype_highlighting , TollFree – 877-385-5526 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 877-385-5526 end_of_the_skype_highlighting , Fax – 250-385-1198

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July 15, 2009

Which Website Visitors Are Potential Clients?

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:56 am

Which Website Visitors Are Potential Clients?
By Jerry Bader (c) 2009
With today’s website tracking software and services you can find out a lot about the people who visit your website. You can learn where they’re from, what kind of browser they’re using, how long they stayed on your site, and a whole lot more. But what all this high tech intelligence won’t tell you is what kind of people they are, and how likely they are to be transformed by your Web presentation from viewers to customers.

Your ability to convert website visitors into clients depends on your ability to find the soft underbelly of their subconscious desire. After all, if someone is happy with what they’ve already got, they don’t need you, but if they were truly one hundred percent happy, they wouldn’t bother coming to your website. Therefore every visitor that comes to your site is a potential client whether they know it or not.

The Setup’s The Thing

Your website presentation has to find that annoying little subconscious scab just under the surface and pick at it until it becomes a full blown irritation that fosters discontent and a desire for change. That discontent is your opening to make your value statement.

We refer to this process as The Setup. Like any good presentation you cannot, or rather should not, just blurt out how great you are, but rather you have to set the scene. Like any good story, the punch line, moral, or payoff only works if it is properly setup. Far too many website presentations suffer from premature pitch climax.

The ability to transform viewers into customers requires patience. Entrepreneurial companies tend to view the setup as a waste of time, and they fear losing viewers before they ever get to the so-called “good-stuff.” But without a proper setup, an audience is just not primed to accept what you have to say.

You can’t sell anybody anything unless they understand they’ve not been getting everything they need and deserve. That understanding creates dissatisfaction with your competition and opens the audience’s minds to what you have to provide. In short, the setup needs to touch a psychological nerve.

The Customer Is Always Right – Not Quite

We’ve all heard the expression, “the customer is always right.” The fact is the customer is not always right, and in many cases they don’t really know what they want or what they should have; and sometimes even when they do, they resist it because of a variety of misinformation, misunderstanding, self-doubt, and preconceived notions of conventional wisdom. It’s your website presentation’s job to set visitors on the right path.

Being The Expert Inspires Confidence

You’re supposed to be the expert in what you do, and if you are, you need to have the ability to dig deeper into what people really want, need, and desire. I am always reminded of friends of mine who hired an interior decorator to furnish their new home. The decorator asked them what kind of furniture they liked. They answered that they were looking for Colonial, to which the decorator answered, “No you aren’t. What you want is Country French.” And after he showed my friends what he was talking about they quickly agreed. The decorator knew his business and understood the clients. Yes the clients liked the idea of the homey Colonial look they’d seen, but not being furniture experts they didn’t understand what the options were, and what kind of furniture best suited their lifestyle and budget, while still providing the homey rustic but comfortable aesthetic they wanted. Customer satisfaction is about providing what the client really wants and not necessarily what they say they want.

Learn How To Communicate So Audiences Get It

Let’s face it; we all like to read about how the digital revolution has opened up the business world to more audience influence, but the fact is people are influenced and manipulated and desires created through marketing and advertising as much as ever. How many website owners actually benefit in any meaningful way from social networking and search optimization, or do they do it because it’s expected and promoted by proponents as the tactic du jour.

If you think a particular song you like is played on a thousand radio stations because it’s good, or even because it has a following then you are living in a fantasy world. If you thing the vast majority of viral videos produced by corporations go viral all by themselves then think again.

Audiences are being manipulated and transformed into customers all the time, not because companies responded to what the public says, but rather to how the public reacts to various communication and marketing stimuli. What’s truly incredible is how bad companies are at doing it. With all of the television industries’ research into viewers, they still fail to deliver consistent quality programming that people want to watch. Every Fall new shows are yanked faster than a Nolan Ryan fastball, but the same crappy commercials live-on for what seems an eternity. Television viewers are a captive audience and if they want to watch their favorite show they have to tolerate the commercials (PVRs aside), but the Web is different. If your website presentation stinks, no one is going to stick around to absorb the smell.

Web Television Convergence Has Arrived

If you think of your website presentation as nothing more than a digital brochure, you’re already behind the curve. Welcome to the Web on TV.

All you need is a laptop computer or one of the new gaming consoles attached to your big screen TV to access the Web on television. And as network programmers scramble to get their acts together more and more people are opting to spend their television time on the Web. Kind of makes you rethink what kind of website presentation you should be offering. It’s time to start thinking of your website as your business channel and the content on it as programming. It’s the future and it’s here, now.

Who Visits Your Website?

Before website visitors can be transformed into clients, we have to understand who they are in terms of their mental outlook or frame of mind when they first arrive at your home page.

1. Accidental Tourists
Accidental Tourists are website visitors who find their way to your website by serendipity. Your company’s link may have come up in a search for something mentioned on your website, but not something that’s a core element of your business. But just because these people didn’t really intend to visit a site like yours doesn’t mean they’re a waste of time. Perhaps they hadn’t ever thought of using your product or service, or perhaps they didn’t ever realize how much they really wanted what you have to provide. If your website presentation is exciting, meaningful, and entertaining you at least have the chance to plant the seed of desire for your product or service.

2. Brain Pickers
Brain Pickers show up at your site with little intention to buy anything, in fact they’re there to pick your brain and find out how to do what you do for themselves. But if you’re truly an expert at what you do, you at least have the chance to show these people that what you provide is special, and doing it right requires a company with your skills and resources.

About The Author
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com, www.136words.com, and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (905) 764-1246 end_of_the_skype_highlighting .

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July 14, 2009

Does Your Website Need an Extreme Makeover?

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:26 am

Does Your Website Need an Extreme Makeover?
By Ivana Katz (c) 2009

It was Friday night and I was enjoying a quiet dinner at home, when suddenly CRACK! – part of my tooth broke off! “Damn” I thought, “Now what?”

I immediately went online to see if I could find a dentist that is open on Saturday morning. So I searched and searched. The good news was there were plenty of dentists in my area … the bad news was that I couldn’t find whether they were open on Saturdays. After looking through various websites for about an hour, I narrowed it down to three dentists, who were open on the weekend. But in the end there was no competition as only one of the dentists had a professional looking website!

Don’t get me wrong the website wasn’t flash, but it was clean, easy to navigate and most of all, provided me with the information I was looking for. I phoned the next morning, made an appointment and even got to see a dentist that day!

After that experience, it really hit home … what a difference a professional looking website makes! I am sure most of the dentists in my area are great at what they do, but none of their websites portrayed that. As a result they lost a customer who will spend hundreds, possibly even thousands of dollars on their services.

So if you have a website and are hoping it will bring you lots of visitors who will turn into paying customers, it is EXTREMELY, let me say that again EXTREMELY IMPORTANT that your website:

1. Is Visitor Friendly

What this means is that your customers must be able to find what they are looking for easily and quickly. And that means a great navigational system. Most websites either display their navigation bar on the left or at the top. And since most people are used to this type of navigation, it’s best to stick with it. It also helps to include your navigation bar at the bottom of each page to save your visitors from having to scroll back to the top.

2. Focuses on your customer’s needs

Rather than trying to “sell your business”, let your prospects know how your product/service is going to benefit them. Emphasize the benefits and solve problems. Make this the focus of everything you write on every page of your site. Don’t try to sell visitors your products or service, help them.

3. There are no spelling mistakes

Ensure there are no spelling or grammatical errors. Check that all links are working and graphics display correctly.

4. Proves credibility

Include testimonials from your current customers to show your potential clients that you are trustworthy, reliable and that you provide great service and/or products. Make sure the testimonials are real and if possible provide contact details of the person who supplied you with the testimonial. If you don’t have any right now, get them! Simply email your customers and ask for their feedback on your business and service. Most happy customers will gladly provide this.

You could also include before and after photos. Show the problem picture and beside it show the picture of resolution, with an explanation of your product’s benefits.

5. Has Contact details

Place contact details in as many places as possible. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Create a special “Contact Us” page, include your details in “About Us” page and also at the bottom of each page. Information to include: business name, physical address, mailing address, telephone, fax, email, emergency number, website address and most importantly, don’t forget to include your business hours.

6. Offers a Monëy Back Guarantëe

The longer the guarantee, the more effective it will be. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 1 year or lifetime. Remember you are trying to take the risk out of doing business with you.

7. Provides information that people are looking for

If you don’t provide it, someone else will. Content is still the king. You should include as much information as possible – not only detailed descriptions and prices of your products and services, but also free resources, articles, reports, ebooks relating to your industry, service and products. You can easily source free information on the internet. This will ensure that customers will keep coming back to your website, even if it is just to get information. The more they visit, the more you will stick in their mind as an expert and the next time they are ready to order your products/services, you will be their first choice.

If your website features any of the following, your website definitely needs an EXTREME MAKEOVER or at least a face lift.

1. Flash intros, revolving globes, bevelled line separators, animated mail boxes.

2. Loads of pop up or pop under boxes.

3. Autoplay music. Allow your customer to play music only if they choose.

4. Hit counters of the free variety, which say “you are the 27th visitor”.

5. Date and time stamps, unless your website is updated daily or weekly.

6. Busy backgrounds.

Ask yourself – does my website portray the professional image I want my customers to see? Have I provided all the information that my customers may want or need to know? If you answered no to either of these, call your website designer today or you could lose thousands of dollars as your customers head to your competitor’s door.

About The Author
Ivana Katz of Websites 4 Small Business makes it easy for you to get your business on the internet. If you’re looking for a professional and affordable website designer, visit Websites 4 Small Business and download a website plan for free.

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July 9, 2009

Keeping an Eye on Bounce Rate

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:27 am

Keeping an Eye on Bounce Rate

When you hear the word “bounce”, you’re probably more inclined to associate it with a checking account, not your website. But for those who study and understand website statistics, they understand that “bounce rate” is an important measure of your website’s effectiveness.

Bounce rate, simply put, is the percentage of people who come to your site, then immediately leave without viewing any of the inside content pages. Think of it like window shopping. Say you browse by a shop and don’t really care to enter based on what you saw at first glance through the window. The window in this case is your home page. A bad first impression, or irrelevant content, can chase away a visitor and stop them from freely investigating the full content of your site.

Google Analytics defines bounce rate as:

“The percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance (landing) page. Use this metric to measure visit quality – a high bounce rate generally indicates that site entrance pages aren’t relevant to your visitors.”

Therefore, a high bounce rate is bad but a low bounce rate is a positive sign that your visitors are engaging and exploring your website. So what constitutes a good rate? This is a very hard question to answer, but if you do some research, most say it needs to be under 50%. It also will depend on the type of site that you have. For example, if you’re a blogger, many times a visitor will come to your blog to read the latest updates then leave. Thus more often a blog will have a higher bounce rate than a “normal” site as there is no need for them to go any deeper.

How do you know what your bounce rate is? One free program that makes it easy is “Google Analytics”. Register, list your sites and paste some HTML code on your pages and you’re ready to go. You’ll clearly see your bounce rate go up and down as you view the in-depth reports.

So, how can you improve your bounce rate? First, you’ll need to track the rate over time, and also look at the amount of time your visitors are sticking around. Also, take note of the traffic sources. Where is the majority of the traffic coming from? Search engines, direct links, social networking sites like Stumble Upon or Twitter, etc. The source of the traffic and the quality of that traffic will contribute to the overall bounce rate being higher or lower for the week. Some traffic, depending on the source will naturally convert better than others.

Once you know your statistical rate, you’ll need to start making small changes, then run tests to see if it improves over time. It all starts with trying to improve the usability of your site’s landing page. Translation: what people see when they come to your home page.

You can make changes to the design, look and feel of your site. Make sure there are other links readily available to peak the visitor’s interest so they’ll want to dive further into your content. Of course, you always want to make sure your site’s navigation is user friendly, and that the site itself is easy to use and well organized. Another trick is to play around with different headlines, even change your website’s copy. Another big problem is a heavy load time. Make sure your site loads quickly so the visitor isn’t reaching for their back button before it even finishes loading.

Change one thing at a time, and keep your eye on the bounce rate to see if it improves. If you’re not doing so already, have Google Analytics email your site reports weekly in PDF format. This will make your homework a little easier.

As you can see, bounce rate is an important statistical measure and says a lot about the “stickiness/effectiveness” of your website. There are also those who believe it plays a role in search engine algorithms and how they rank your site. If this is true or not, I don’t know – but if it is true it gives you some extra motivation in working on improving it. For more on this controversial subject see:

SearchEngineLand

WebProNews

By studying your site’s bounce rate, you really can learn a lot as to what’s working and what’s not with your website. It really is an important number to know and one you’ll want to continually strive to improve upon.

Like costly heated air leaking out a drafty window, you’ll want to do what you can to plug those leaks and try to keep visitors at your site a little longer. It’s only when they are fully engaged that they’ll make a purchase, subscribe to your ezine or do whatever action you consider a conversion. In the end, isn’t that what it’s all about? If your site’s been losing visitors as fast as they enter, it’s time to follow the “bounce rate” and make some much needed changes.

About The Author
Merle’s Mission Blog – “Rants, Raves and Random Acts of Kindness” a self proclaimed “Internet Junkie” with a passion for net marketing, affiliate marketing, social networking. An avid Blogger and writer with several niche sites to her credit. Find out more at MerlesWorld.Blogspot.com

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July 8, 2009

Social Media Puts Fortress Journalism Under Siege |

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 6:50 am

Social Media Puts Fortress Journalism Under Siege |
By John Sylvester (c) 2009
In a recent report by Peter Horrocks, Director of BBC World Service, it is clear that as society becomes more networked, the fortress mentality of the mainstream media is increasingly under siege by social media, but they are adapting. There’s a lesson for us all in this.

For so long now, Web 2.0 has been working in the background to subtly but unwittingly undermine mainstream media, especially in America where, for example, RSS is understood and used far more readily than in most other nations. In this, the role of the “fortress journalism” is being steadily eroded as the nature of RSS feeds allow you to choose the BBC for video news, the New York Times for international news, the Guardian for ecological reports and ESPN for sports – so storming the gates of the fortress has been around for some time, but it is only now that publishers are seriously looking at new dissemination models in a more integrated and enlightened manner.

The main problem for the newspaper industry is that journalists have been very slow to recognise the changes that have been happening under their noses, and whilst the major players have all installed news feeds on their websites, they still continue with the assumption that their news product provides a complete set of information for their readers.

However, in the world of Web 2.0, the choices available for a total news information set is beginning to change journalists’ collective mindset: as Jeff Jarvis, Professor of Interactive Journalism at the City University of New York, described it: “Cover what you do best. Link to the rest.”

Social media websites now have millions of users using Web 2.0 platforms such as Facebook and Twitter and, with the immediacy of Twitter alerts, this is now what news consumers are tuning in to.

In a recent article by the Economist, Twitter 1, CNN 0 on the protests in Iran, 10.5 million American TV viewers turned to CNN, but instead of protests many of them saw a repeat of Larry King interviewing “burly motorcycle-builders”. The article went on to illustrate a typical post: “Iran went to hell. Media went to bed“.

This realisation is already transforming the face of journalism, which means building public participation in generating user content and making a paradigm shift from being a “manufacturing industry” to becoming a “service industry”.

But this too has its drawbacks as, without moderation, blog commenting can often descend into a low common denominator that is sometimes determined by tasteless or asinine comments. In one such instance, a group of aboriginal leaders from Canada requested that hate charges be laid against CBC because of some poorly-moderated user comments which escaped into the public domain.

However, it is all too easy to sit back and mock the fortress mentality as outdated but these organisations have always protected good journalism and have also sheltered and given legal protection to journalists from the likes of powerful businessmen and politicians.

So, simply replacing fortresses is not how it is being thought through. As modern society becomes ever more highly networked, the fortress is opening up and is lowering the drawbridge to allow the public inside its walls.

The BBC’s Peter Horrocks states in a recent 92-page document, The Future of Journalism: “Reducing effort in any journalistic section is anathema to the old fortress mindset. Even more disturbingly, it might also mean co-operating explicitly. If the BBC is best in news video and the Telegraph best in text sports reports, why shouldn’t they syndicate that content to each other and save effort?“

By better understanding the medium of change, journalists have their role to play: while the public are still demanding diversity and choice, they also want powerful features and editing that journalism provides best.

What we cannot do away with is investigative reporting and analysis. Now, more than ever before, news organisations need to invest their talents intelligently in and amongst the new media web platforms, or they risk being ignored by an ever-growing number of young people for whom television and newspapers are irrelevant.

So journalism is changing and with it, social media: it is now about being permeable, interactive, 24/7, multi-platform and converged. The best approach and leverage for businesses using Twitter is by providing valuable information to your consumer base via links to relevant articles and helpful advice. And in time your “followers” may well make up your real “customer base”; it is far too early as yet to predict.

New media and Twitter in particular is a wake-up call for all mainstream media outlets and as SEMs, we lead the charge in that we inhabit their world to the extent that we blog, write articles and tweet.

So, on a regular basis, we should aim to:

1. Write about your industry in a way that is useful to your audience, especially with articles. Keep on subject and submit it to the major article sites. If your blog has an associated RSS feed, such as WordPress, all the better. Enter it in the major social media sites as well. Then Tweet it.

2. Twitter is in its infancy, albeit a precocious little chap, and you may see no point in publishing your story as your “followers” are mainly unknown to you and therefore unlikely to read about what you have to say. Do not be deterred as this is the wrong approach: Twitter is here to stay and develop. If the Economist is backing Twitter against CNN, this medium has to be taken seriously.

3. Blogging and article writing should be done regularly. Just writing the odd story on a casual basis is not good enough. You should be consistent in the posting your articles and thorough with your research.

About The Author
John Sylvester is the media director of V9 Design & Build and an expert in search engine optimization and web marketing strategies.

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July 7, 2009

Give Your Site a 10-Point Legal Check-Up

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 3:57 am

Give Your Site a 10-Point Legal Check-Up
By Chip Cooper (c) 2009

It’s early in the year, and it’s time to fulfill your resolution to give your site a quick legal check-up.

Online businesses are now highly regulated, and there’s substantial liability if your site’s not legally compliant. In addition, your customers are becoming more Internet savvy, and a site that’s not legally compliant is not going to be trusted.

So, let’s get started.

Use This Checklist If You Already Have The Basic Site Documents In Place

1. Copyright Notice. Check Your Copyright Notice. Your copyright notice consists of the following elements: the word “copyright” or copyright symbol (c in a circle) followed by the year of first publication followed by the name of the copyright owner. It’s also a good idea to add “All rights reserved worldwide”. Example: Copyright 1996-09 Digital Contracts, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Note that if you update your site from time to time, you should add a date range reflecting the fact that the site has been updated each year within the date range. If you haven’t updated yet for 2009, do it now.

2. Blogs, etc. Have you recently added a blog or any other functionality that permits visitors to post text or digital files to your site? Or, do you plan to do so as part of your marketing plans for 2009? If so, you need to have a DMCA notice in your Terms of Use and you also need to file a DMCA Registration form with the U.S. Copyright Office. These steps will create a “safe harbor” from strict liability for copyright infringement if a site visitor posts infringing material to your site.

3. Personal Information. Do you collect personal information from site visitors? If so, review your Privacy Policy to make sure that you identify all of the categories of personal information you collect and the way in which you share this personal information. If you’ve changed these policies since you posted your Privacy Policy, amend it now… without delay.

4. Data Security. Check your data security measures. If you collect personal information, you are required to implement “reasonable and appropriate” data security measures. These measures are essentially moving targets since data security technology evolves at a relatively rapid pace. What may have been “reasonable and appropriate” a couple of years ago may not pass muster today. Update your security procedures, if necessary.

5. Future Sale of Your Business? If your online business is starting to be successful and generate positive revenue, have you ever considered that you might want to sell it for a profit in the future? If so, be sure that your Privacy Policy specifies that personal information collected may be transferred and shared in the event of a sale. If you don’t do this prior to collecting personal information, you won’t be able to pass it on to your purchaser. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stipulated in recent settlements that personal information collected prior to posting this notice in your Privacy Policy will not be transferable in the event of a sale. And this personal information (your opt-in lists and customer lists) are the real value of your online business.

6. Service Providers. Do you use service providers to provide hosting, site maintenance, SEO services, or other site functions where they have access to your server? If you don’t collect personal information, your answer to this question is immaterial, but if you do (and only an email address will suffice), you need to enter into privacy and security agreements with your service providers. The FTC stipulated in a couple of recent settlements that you would be liable if you don’t.

7. Registration Agreement. Does your site require site visitors to register for certain benefits such as a membership or subscription rights? If so, you need an electronic agreement (a so-called “click-wrapped” agreement where the user clicks on “I ACCEPT”). Your agreement should be presented conspicuously in the registration process and it should require an affirmative act (clicking on “I ACCEPT”) to complete the registration. You also need to be sure that all of your warranty disclaimers and limitations of liability pass muster.

8. Collect Birth Dates? Do you collect the date of birth as part of your registration process? If so, and if this date indicates that children under 13 are registering, you will be liable for substantial damages under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) if you do not comply with COPPA’s stringent requirements. You should either modify your information collection practices or comply with COPPA, or both.

9. Creditor Under FACTA? Do your registered users make periodic payments payable as monthly or quarterly installments, or do you extend credít so that payment is made after receipt of the product or service? If so, you fall within the statutory requirements of the Fair and Accurate Credít Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). FACTA requires that you adopt a “Red Flag” Identity Theft Policy before May 1, 2009, or face substantial liability.

10. Sales Intermediaries? Do you use affiliates or resellers? If so, a recent New York case illustrates that you may be liable for their actions if they violate certain laws acting on your behalf. For example, are your affiliates engaged in illegal spamming activities? If they are offering their own end user license agreements, do they properly disclose certain activities such as the use of pop up ads? You should check your affiliate and reseller agreements and modify them, if required.

Use This Checklist If You Don’t Have Your Site Documents In Place

You may be just starting your online business, or you may have procrastinated a little with your website legal compliance. If you fall into this group, you should get started without delay.

I’ve developed a procedure that will help you determine the correct mix of legal compliance documents for your site. Part of it is set out below.

First, if your site does not collect personal information, you should consider these documents:

a Legal page for your intellectual property notices; and

Terms of Use.

And if you allow site visitors to post text or digital files to your site (for example via a blog, forum, or chat room), you’ll need a DMCA Registration Form (see No. 2 above).

Second, if your site collects personal information, but does not require registration to open an account or to use or purchase a product or service, you should consider these additional documents:

Privacy Policy.

And if you have service providers that have possession of your server or have access rights to it, you’ll need a privacy-security agreement for these service providers (see No. 6 above).

Third, if your site requires registration to open an account or to use or purchase a product or service, you should consider in addition to the foregoing documents, a customer agreement such as:

a software as a service (SaaS) agreement; and/or

a Software License Agreement (for software downloads).

And if you are regulated by FACTA (see No. 9 above), you’ll need a Red Flag Identity Theft Policy — before the May 1, 2009 deadline.

Conclusion

The checklists provided above are not exhaustive. However, they should point you in the right direction as you give your site a new year’s legal compliance check-up.

A simple check-up — and remedial action if necessary — is one of the best investments you can make in your online business.
About The Author
Chip Cooper is a leading intellectual property, software, and Internet attorney who’s advised software and online businesses nationwide for 25+ years. Visit Chip’s DigiContracts.com site and download his FREE newsletter and Special Reports: “Determine Which Legal Documents Your Website Really Needs”, “Draft Your Own Privacy Policy”, and “Write Your Own Website Marketing Copy — Legally”.

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July 5, 2009

Video Microsites – The Brand Story Campaign Solution

Filed under: Internet - Websites - SEO — admin @ 7:00 am

Video Microsites – The Brand Story Campaign Solution
By Jerry Bader (c) 2009
Everybody wants to do more business. Everybody occasionally runs a promo, a new marketing initiative, a product launch, or a new seasonal lineup. Everybody has a website stuffed with all kinds of content ranging from the important to the useless. But only the truly smart business minds understand that campaigns require their own space and identity if they are to succeed. And when it comes to using the Web as your vehicle for such a campaign, the obvious solution is a Video Campaign Microsite.

What’s A Video Campaign Microsite?

Video Campaign Microsites are websites that employ a series of highly focused video presentations designed specifically for the purpose of promoting a single marketing initiative aimed at a highly targeted audience. Video Campaign Microsites are dedicated to delivering an engaging online experience that compels an audience to act by taking advantage of the marketing initiative’s pitch. These sites benefit from removing all the corporate clutter and irrelevant information that inhabits most business websites and generally gets in the way of an effective marketing presentation. Video Microsites are often implemented by means of a direct emaíl campaign or depending on the budget, magazine, television, or radio advertising. You can also channel corporate site traffic by means of a graphical home page link.

There are different styles of video Microsites that you can employ depending on your brand personality and the goals of the campaign.

1. New Product Launch Video Microsites
The launch of a new product or a seasonal line should be an event, and there is no better way to attract attention and generate public and media interest than to create a brand new website environment dedicated to that launch.

2. Promotional Campaign Video Microsites
A sale is just a sale, and today’s sophisticated buyers have seen it all before, so unless you make a big event out of your promotion, all you’ll end up doing is selling your regular customers the products they would have bought anyway but at a lower markup. A big media splash attracts new customers, new media attention, and old customers you’ve lost.

3. How-To Video Microsites
There is nothing more damaging to your brand or your bottom line than customers who hate you, and who tell their friends and colleagues. A surefire way to make people angry is to sell them something they can’t figure out how to use properly, and a buried FAQ, or a complicated list of instructions in twelve languages and 9 point Times Roman is just not going to cut it. A how-to video site can show people how to use and get the most out of your products or services in a way they will understand and appreciate.

4. Video Mocusites
There is one thing that you definitely cannot be on the Web, and that is boring. Boring websites are the kiss of death. The Web is a crowded place and no matter what you’re looking for, there are probably dozens if not hundreds or thousands of other companies doing the exact same thing, the same way, and probably for less money. You may think you’re different but your Web audience won’t, unless you present yourself in a whole new differentiating way; and one way to do that is with a Video Mocusite. A great example of a Video Mocusite was the Chili’s restaurant chain’s PJ Bland’s campaign.

5. Video Docusites
Where the Video Mocusite takes an entertaining, humorous, and satirical approach to communicating your marketing message, Video Docusites takes a look at the history, longevity, innovation, and success of a company in order to build confidence, loyalty, and brand identity. Ford’s Bold Moves Docusite was a good example of this kind of campaign.

6. Concept Video Microsites
A Concept Video Microsite is about presenting an idea. Some products and services are so innovative or different that they can only be sold if you communicate the concept behind them. Other products may be similar to competitors but the way they are sold is different and creative. In these types of instances the Concept Video Microsite is the answer. The SonicPersonality and 136Words sites are examples of Concept Video Microsites.

7. Sponsored Video Webisode Microsites
Sponsored Video Webisode Microsites are a great marketing vehicle for those companies with the guts and foresight to recognize what the Web is all about. These types of campaigns attract an ongoing loyal audience because they are bite-sized mini programs or episodes designed to entertain and/or educate without an overt sales pitch. If conceived and designed properly your program content delivers your emotional and psychological value proposition while the accompanying pre- and post-commercials deliver your direct pitch. Think of it as sponsoring your personal private online mini television series.

8. Demographic Video Microsites
When a company has different campaigns for different demographic markets, it should present them separately to avoid confusion, mixed messages, and a dilution of the brand identity, image, and personality.

Microsites Help You Avoid Information Overload

Fashion and apparel companies, for example, all have seasonal product lines that need to be promoted in a current, if not trendy, manner. Dumping such a campaign into your regular corporate Web environment gets in the way of achieving the campaign’s marketing goals: the audience looking for new products and promotions is not interested in your Investor Relations or Career Opportunities, and likewise, the people looking for jobs and investment information aren’t interested in your holiday specials. It doesn’t matter how good your presentation is if you bury it so no one ever sees it. If website visitors can’t find what they’re looking for fairly quickly, they’re gone.

And why should a fashion or apparel company use video at all? The answer is simple: there is just no better way to present how a garment looks on a real person from all sides and angles, and when they move. Add a little voice-over description and you’ve got your little fashion show designed to move product whether online or in-store. Too many companies, especially e-commerce companies, still ‘think print’ even when they are using the Web as their main marketing communication vehicle.

Microsites Help You Avoid The Confusion of Mixed Messages

If there is one thing that will kill your marketing, branding, and positioning faster than anything else it’s sending mixed messages to multiple audiences using the same venue or vehicle. Fast food companies are continuously running promotions and they use television as their primary marketing communication vehicle. The problem is television commercials are a shotgun approach: you broadcast a commercial and whoever sees it, sees it. Sure there are sophisticated demographic analyses of those who watch what and when, but even with that knowledge the perception-leakage is substantial.

About The Author
Jerry Bader is Senior Partner at MRPwebmedia, a website design firm that specializes in Web-audio and Web-video. Visit www.mrpwebmedia.com, www.136words.com, and www.sonicpersonality.com. Contact at info@mrpwebmedia.com or telephone (905) 764-1246 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting (905) 764-1246 end_of_the_skype_highlighting .

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