Tis the Season to Shop Online

Online shopping this holiday season is expected to top $19 billion according to ComScore Networks--an increase of 24% over last year. Who is spending all this money? Shop.org provides the following breakdown:

• 50.8 % of people aged 18-24
• 49.2% of people aged 25-34
• 40.5% of people aged 35-44
• 33.8% of people aged 45-54
• 26.0% of people aged 55-64 and
• 17.4% of people over 65.

Employer attitudes about workers shopping online have also softened with an increasing number allowing the practice as long as online shopping doesn't interfere with an employee's work. Saavy companies are even setting up computers for this purpose in company breakrooms and cafeterias to promote appropriate shopping behavior.

Thanks for reading...

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
GeMSolv.com

Go Local with Google Local Search

Sure the internet allows you to do business in Singapore, Sydney & Siam (Thailand to you youngsters) but sometimes it's just enough for you to do business in your own backyard. If that's the case then make sure your business and your website are listed in Google's local search appliance.

You don't need to be a techno-savant to obtain a listing and you don't even need to hire one (although I'm available if your time is more valuable than mine - quite likely or if you're a techno-unsavant ;-).

What is Google Local Search?

Google local search takes the power of Google to your neighborhood by combining local business details with their renowned mapping technology - think of it like the yellow pages on steriods. Made your spouse angry (something about, "no honey, you don't look THAT fat..." OOPS!) and need to 'fix it' in a hurry? Get online. Go to local.google.com. Enter the terms 'flowers' and 'your address' (flowers near 123 Main Street, 00011). Punch the search button and voilà, problem almost solved (To solve it ... get in car, drive .9 mile, buy expensive arrangement, contritely present to spouse ... there! problem solved)!

How Do I Get Listed In Local Google?

Well if you already have a listing in your local telephone directory, chances are you're already listed in Google Local. But, if you want to enhance your listing; make sure that you're listed in the right category; or add a link to your then you can create a Google account and take control of your own listing. How? Well start here at Google Local's help center. The process is simple although you will need to provide a mailing address as they actually mail you (it takes a 2-4 weeks) your account activation instructions.

What's the Local Search Payoff?

For one, local exposure beyond the phone book and, in my case, local exposure period as I don't have a listing in the yellow pages. More importantly, while it might be near impossible to secure top listing on the global search planet as mapped by Google, Yahoo, MSN Search, et al, you can definitely get top listing on your own little piece of terra internetta.

Take a look at my listing ... to find me locally I went to local.google.com and entered 'web marketing 80227' in the search terms box... and boom, there I am; #2 with a bullet. And, if I click on the Details tab (only available if you have an account - another reason to get one), this is what you'll see...

So don't delay, go Loco for Local and make sure that your business is visible in your own neck of the woods. By the way, Google Local is not the only game in town as far as local search goes. Yahoo has local search available as do other search providers. So get Muy Loco and check them all out!

Thanks for reading...

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
GeMSolv.com

Gray eMarketing Solutions wishes you a very ...

May you have much to be Thankful for!

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
GeMSolv.com

Get More Mileage from Your Archived Ezine or Newsletter Articles

Do you publish an ezine or newsletter? Here's an idea to get more mileage from your archived editions. Compile them as an ebook and either offer them as a premium for new subscribers or, if the content is sufficiently valuable, sell it through your on-line store. Spend the time to give your compilation extra value by categorizing your articles and adding introductions to each section. Create an eCover and add a table of contents and even an index if appropriate. Be sure and include cross promotions to other products and services you provide at appropriate places in the content. Whether you sell it or not, be sure and promote its availability to our existing list and encourage them to promote it to their circles of influence.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
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Your Home Page is Your Storefront; Invite Visitors In

Read the excerpt from the article below and frame its approach to doorways within the context of your own web doorway. Your home page is an 8 second invitation that will either persuade a visitor that you have the answers to their questions or to return them to the search page where they'll click on the next likely suspect. So here's a key - know what questions your prospects are seeking the answers for and be sure that your Home page gives them confidence that if they enter, they will find those answers...

Roll Out the Welcome Mat
In retail environments, doorways should entice people to enter. This also makes them an ideal opportunity to create a distinctive impression. When surfing-oriented clothing company Pacific Sunwear wanted a redesign, Gensler’s team created a high-concept entryway for its mall stores. “Instead of a sign above the door,” Duvall says, “we used a curved portal as an entrance.” Looking through the portal, customers’ eyes are drawn to the illuminated wall at the back of the store where shoes are displayed. (source: Corporate Identity through Architecture, Business 2.0, November 2005 - Article URL—may require registration)

Quick observations:

• The store entryway (its graphics) enhance, frame and reveal the stores content. It doesn't detract or obscure what's within. Question: Do you hide your web offerings between unnecessary and distracting graphics or flash animations?
• "...customers’ eyes are drawn to the illuminated wall at the back of the store..." Question: Are your Calls to Action (the decisions or actions you want your visitors to take - click, subscribe, buy, contact) clear and enticing? I can't even see the shoe wall in the picture above and I'm enticed by them.

So next time you go to the mall, consider which stores invite you in and why are you compelled to enter then look at your site. Does it engage you in the same way? If not it might be time for some remodeling.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
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Key Email Marketing Alerts for 2006 from MarketingSherpa

The folks at MarketingSherpa.com have published a new, free Executive Summary: 4 Key Email Marketing Alerts for 2006 as a teaser for their for-purchase, "Email Marketing Benchmark Guide 2006." A compendious report with over 310 charts and Eyetracking Heatmaps.

The Summary maintains that Email marketing still represents one of the best direct marketing plays out there but that the level of effort required for success has increased. It's not necessarily a case of out-working the competion as it is out-thinking them.

What does the summary summarize? My take on their 4 Alerts is...

• Alert #1. If your results stink, don't blame the medium, it's probably poor execution.

• Alert #2. Contrary to intuiton, emails with pictures get read more than text only emails. Apparently pictures, even dull ones, invite a level of engagement that plain old text can't match. Caveat: Don't expect your results to skyrocket because you put a pretty picture or 2 in your content. Thoughtful design and layout count more than ever along with strong offers and calls to act.

• Alert #3. New names to your list produce better than old names. Confused by list segmentation? Not sure it's worth the bother? This is a segmentation tactic you can easily sink your teeth into. MarketingSherpa's advice ... create a special introductory offer series of communications to new subscribes that are delivered over the first 60 days that they're on your list.

• Alert #4. To paraphrase General Sherman, "I tell you, filters are hell!" And work place filters are twice as hellacious as at home filters. Educate yourself about constructing messages to avoid tripping filters and scan your bounce lists (see my blog on this topic) to determine who's blocking you en masse and who you might be able to approach with a personal appeal to allow you through the corporate filters.

Download the free Summary here or visit the Sherpa Store if you want to lay out the big bucks for the entire Benchmark Guide.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
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Here's a Thought Shower for you Mate!

With Wintervale fast approaching, don't be a deferred success. Click on over to The Global Language Monitor's list of Top Politically inCorrect Words for 2005! As relevant for womyn--regardless of their Intrinsic Aptitude--as it is for Mates. Enjoy!

Tom
tom.gray@gemsolv.com

Sendmefile.com - when you need to send or save large files fast

• Ever need to get a large computer file to someone but it's too big to email?
  
• Or maybe you have to get a critical presentation to several people in a short period of time.
• Is your computer about to crash and you don't have a way to back things up in a hurry?

Then check out http://www.sendmefile.com/howto.htm (link is to their How To page as Home page is a little busy with the ads that support the site). This service is free, no registration required. You can upload a file of up to 100mb in size and keep it stored on their servers for 28 days. You can upload files at their site or download either their IE or Firefox compatible toolbars for uploading files directly from your browser.

By the way, I tested the system myself; it took less than 2 minutes to upload a 3mb file (high speed cable connection) and email a download link to 2 colleagues. Downloading the saved files is hassle free also - no registration, no questions asked (oh, except for do you want to Open or Save the file to disk.)

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
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Who Says Spam Can't Be Funny?

In the category of Turning Sow's Ears into Silk Purses ... spamusement.com!

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
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Improving Your Web Site's Navigation - Lessons from the Supermarket

I was recently reminded of some research I'd read a few months back on a study conducted by Wharton researchers that used RFID tags to track supermarket shopping paths. The results were eye-opening for the researchers and have interesting implications for web navigation development--as well as supermarket planners(!). (If you want to read Wharton's overview or order the actual research reference: Tag Team: Tracking the Patterns of Supermarket Shoppers - Knowledge@Wharton)

Among their findings, the study authors report:

• Grocery shoppers don't weave up and down all aisles—a pattern commonly thought to dominate store travel. Instead, most shoppers 'tend only to travel select aisles, and rarely in the systematic up and down patterns most tend to consider the dominant travel pattern.'
• Once they enter an aisle, shoppers rarely make it to the other end. Instead, they 'travel by short excursions into and out of the aisle rather than traversing its entire length.'
• Shoppers prefer a counter-clockwise shopping experience. They tend to shop more quickly as they approach the checkout counters. Shoppers' behavior is driven more by their location in the store than the merchandise in front of them.
• The perimeter of the store—often called the 'racetrack'—is actually the shopper's home base, not just the space covered between aisles. 'Whereas previous folklore perpetuated the myth that the perimeter of the store was visited incidental to successive aisle traverses, we now know that it often serves as the main thoroughfare, effectively a home base from which shoppers take quick trips into the aisles,' the paper states.

Great stuff for supermarket layerouters but what are the implications for your site? Consider these...

• Your visitors don't 'weave up and down' all the links on your site. They are there on a mission and could care less about 99% of your site. They're only interest lies in finding the arugula, so to speak, that they haven't been able to find in any other 'supermarket' so far. What you need to do? Don't count on your visitor's sense of adventure and discovery to find what their looking for. Make it easy for them to know exactly what and where the stuff they need is located on your site.

• Web site visitors are 'dippers' too. They dip in and out of sections of your site looking for the answers to the needs that drove them to your site in the first place. Make sure that your navigation structure supports 'dipping'. Keep a link to your Home page prominently displayed on every page. Use breadcrumbs to allow visitors to know where they are and to easily back out of where they don't want to be.

• Where are the hot spots on your site. What are the high traffic locations and how can you 'merchandise' those areas to best advantage in persuading your site visitors to take the actions that you—and they—want them to take?

• Your Home page is the North Star of your site. Most everything on your site revolves around it. Make sure it's not perceived as a revolving door but as an invitation to delve deeper into what you have to offer as well as a welcome respite when a visitor needs to catch her breath or bearings before 'dipping' further into your site.

So next time your at the supermarket consider how you shop, the paths you take and the factors that influence the decisions you make then see how you can apply your lessons learned at the A&P to your site.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com
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Big Bad Blogs ... NOT - A report from the folks at Reveries.com

Tim Manners, editor of Cool News of the Day - a quick daily read about, you guessed it, what's cool in marketing - took on main stream media's reporting of blogs as bad news for marketers. His arsenal, a comprehensive survey that asked how we, as marketers, perceive and use blogs. A few of his findings (as summarized by Senior Reveries Editor Peter F. Eder) are reported below...

• Level of concern about bloggers as a marketer
  
  Of the 258 respondents to the question, only 12.4% (32) were very concerned, and another 26.2% (66) were a little uneasy.
  
  The largest percentage, 31.4% (81) were not very concerned, and an additional 11.2% (29) were not at all concerned. 12.4% (32) noted that they still don’t have enough information.
  
  The 18 verbatim replies to this question are illuminating, stressing a positive attitude. 15 of them noted how excited, how positive, how intrigued they are by the possibilities of using blogs. (My emphasis.)
  

• How is blogging viewed as a marketing tool?
  
  64% of the 259 respondents see blogging as having some level of importance as a marketing tool, with 18.5% (48) noting it very important. Only 9.3% (24) noted it as being unimportant.
  
  As in the previous question, more than 20% did not yet know enough about it to comment.
  

• What form of blogging is envisioned as being in the marketing toolkit?
  
  This question received only 142 responses, and of these, 28.9% (41) noted all of the above.
  
  Of the specifics noted, 24.6% (35) noted monitoring blogs on consumer opinions, and 19.7% (28) checked viral marketing on blogs. Another (9.9% (14) noted corporate blogs.
  

• What purpose is most important for marketers?
  
  Slightly more than half of the 260 respondents, 54.2% (141) noted it is most important to listen to what bloggers are saying. 4.6% (12) noted it most important to being out there as a company or brand.
  
  Another 36.2% (94) noted that both are most important.

Source: http://www.reveries.com/reverb/research/blogs/

It seems clear that saavy marketers are paying attention to blogs and that they are excited about the opportunities that blogs represent.

Technorati, the leading blog search engine, says the size of the known “blogosphere” is over 21 million blogs and counting. The total number of weblogs tracked by Technorati has doubled every five months for the past three years. With the millions of blogs populating the blogosphere it only makes sense to use this unprecedented resource to inform, engage and learn from your prospective customers or maybe your existing ones. Run a search on your own company or product on Technorati or another of the blog tracking engines. What you find may surprise you.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com

What to do about your BOUNCING emails...

I recently did some e-mailing list consolidation for a client and in the process cleared out a couple of thousand bounced emails from her previous lists to create a 'good' master list. So now we have several thousand names that - as best we could tell - have never bounced. It's a good thing.

We launch our regular monthly newsletter to the new list and I eagerly await the campaign stats. Pretty good, all in all. Good open and click through rates. Low unsubscribes and a bounce rate of only 2.4%. So we're happy but even a low bounce rate multiplied by several thousand names can be a big number and I'm interested in finding out more...

After downloading and reviewing the bounce report one thing stood out like a sore thumb. Only 8% of the domains accounted for over 44% of the bounces and 2/3s of those were due to fewer than 3% of the domains mailed.

What should you do about Bounces?

It looks like a larger number of our emails aren't getting past the email gatekeepers at these companies and it makes sense if your email is being blocked at a particular company or ISP, to ask your subscribers or customers there to contact their company's email postmaster and request to have your email "un-blocked." Best way to do this is to make a call--if you have a personal contact--or to send an email request from your own server and in plain text.

In your request be sure to tell them what email addresses they should unblock. This is particularly important if you're using a 3rd party email broadcaster like Constant Contact or Vertical Response (like we do). Ask them to add these to their own Safe Sender's list or email program address book as well as place a request to their corporate email gatekeepers or ISP (Internet Service Provider like Comcast, Earthlink & AOL) to let your missives through.

What does ignoring your Bounce Rate cost you?

Do the math. Say you have 1,000 names on your emailing list and you have a 3% bounce rate and, to keep things simple, your list is growing by 10% a month. Over the course of the year you'll lose 300 subscribers. Multiply this number by your lead acquisition costs. Does it cost you $1.00, $5.00, $10.00 to obtain a lead? So does losing 300 subscribers cost you $300, $1,500 or $3,000.

Put another way, what's your closing rate? If 10% of your leads convert to active prospects and you close 10% of your active prospects, that's 1%. Now losing 3 potential customers out of those 300 lost subscribers doesn't matter muc if you're average sale is ten bucks. You've lost $30. Oh well. But what if you're average sale is $10,000 (like some of my customers). Then you've lost, potentially, $30,000. Hmmm. Almost looks like serious money.

Now 1 final nail in the coffin of your desire to do nothing ... Multiply those 3 customers by their lifetime value. Do they only spend $10 at a time but they spend it every month. Do they spend $10,000 at a time and they'll spend it 3 times in the course of your relationship? And don't even get me started on referrals, word-of-mouth, etc.

So catch those bounces and make them good. You won't recover all of them but enough to make it more than worth while.

AN IMPORTANT NOTE TO COMMERCIAL EMAIL BROADCAST SERVICE USERS: Once you've done the work to resolve your bounce problem be sure to ask your broadcast vendor to 'debounce' your list otherwise all your good work may go for naught.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com

Stopping the Spam Bots (or at least slowing them down)

Tired of dealing with spam in your inbox? Wondering how they ever got your address? Well insidious little software programs called spambots continually crawl websites harvesting email addresses.

How to deal? You can substitute the word 'at' for the symbol '@' in your email address. Like this...

• tom.gray'at'gemsolv.com (Please replace the 'at' with @ in your email program)
  

...but that's a little awkward and it requires your visitors to actually do something. Always dangerous as they may find it easier to hit the back button then cut, paste and substitute to email you.

Here's a clever software solution to prevent spambots from harvesting your email addresses... Email Address Encoder from West Bay Web encodes your email address into a decimal format which most spambots will ignore at the code level of your web site but looks like plain English to your visitors.

For example, in my source code, my email address looks something like this after I've run it through the encoder:

<a href="mailto:&#116;&#111;&#109;&#046;&#103;&#114;...

...while visitors will see: tom.gray@gemsolv.com .

Pass this web address on to whoever maintains your web site and have them replace all of your site's listed email addresses with their encoded counterparts and prepare yourself to spend less time cleaning spam from your inbox!

• Go to: http://www.wbwip.com/wbw/emailencoder.html¹

By the way, you can also just substitute the @ sign in your email address with its decimal equivalent and likely achieve the same effect. Change your html source code to look like this...

<A HREF="mailto:name&#64;domain.com">Contact Us</A> and what you'll see on the page itself is Contact Us.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com

---

(¹Note: Obviously, you want to test this in your own browser. I tested my encoded email in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.x, Mozilla Firefox 1.07--what a browser should be--and AOL Ver. 9 and it worked like a charm, be sure to test your emails before relaunching your pages.)

Catching Phish...

Heard the term 'Phishing' but not quite sure what it means? Phishing refers to the evil attempt by crooks to steal your identity by using fear tactics to overcome your common sense. This image represents a 'phishing' expedition for the account information of eBay users...

Click on image to see it full size (opens new window)

How do you tell if it's a 'phish' or not (other than its rancid smell)?

First, no responsible retailer, on-line merchant, bank or other financial institution will ever ask you for account information over the internet. They just won't. Period. So rule #1: If an email asks for account information assume that it's bogus and delete it or report it.

Rule #2: If you're not sure, call, email or stop by the institution in question but don't use the contact information listed in the questionable email.

Tech tip: With certain email programs (later versions of Microsoft Outlook for example) you can hover over (place your mouse pointer over the link without clicking on it) a message's links to determine what the real link is.

For example, on the screen above I've hovered over the link begining "http://signin.ebay.com..." -- which looks legitimate -- to reveal the true link (in the rectangular box) which begins "http://ns.satrichai..." You can also 'right click' with your mouse in the message body and select "View Source" and review the html source code to see where your clicks will really lead you. Here's an example of what to look for:

You see...

Go to http://www.legitimate-web-site.com

...but by looking at the code you'd see something like the following line showing the real destination of the link to be the 'scams-r-us' site:

‹p›Go to ‹a href="http://www.scams-r-us.com"›http://www.legitimate-web-site.com/‹/a›‹/p›

Don't take the bait. Remember, "When in doubt: DELETE."

Check out the Anti-Phishing Working Group site for more information.

Thanks for reading,

tom.gray@gemsolv.com

Compass? I don't need no stinkin' compass!

Tired of wandering lost in strange cities looking for which side of the tree the moss is growing on? Then you'll be happy to know that Google Maps is now available - free - on your wireless phone...assuming that you you have an Internet enabled phone (and service) from Cingular, Sprint Nextel or T-Mobile.

By the way, if you aren't familiar with Google Maps, check them out because once you use their mapping service, you'll never go back to anyone else's. The satellite and hybrid views are too cool.