The Evolving Internet Marketer

Andy’s writing a new book and underlying this is a framework for global domination he’s developed called Instant Global Impact Framework. I hope this doesn’t include jack-booted armies of Wibbelites occupying our major cities and controlling newkular armageddon!

Like most bright ideas Andy presents his in a simple context consisting of 3 Buttons: Search –> Subscribe –> Buy. Revolutionary? Not really but it provides an easy-to-grasp conceptual framework within which we can consider and configure a more effective marketing effort for our selves, products and services either on or offline. 

Check out his post at http://andywibbels.com/2008/11/the-three-buttons/. It’s the first in a series.

The great folks at SEOMoz.org have put together a phenomenal toolbox for Internet & Web Marketers and Site Owners of every persuasion from neophyte to know-it-all. Danny Dover of SEOmoz has compiled a collection of nearly 100 tools and web marketing resources that will help you boost your internet marketing efforts not 1, not 2 but 3 levels up! Thanks Danny and check out The Internet Marketing Handbook today!

<– A glimpse of the nearly 100, mostly free tools and resources in The Internet Marketing Handbook!

Online retailers might want to take a look at Atlas Solutions’ Holiday Online Shopping Report: 2006-2007 when planning your advertising and promotional spend for the upcoming holiday season.

A couple of things that stand out about online holiday shopping behavior:

• Monday’s rule as far as online shopping goes and the peak time is between noon and 4 p.m. EST (correspondig with the workweek lunch hour)
• Tuesday’s are close behind in online shopping volume in the weeks leading up to Christmas
• The second Monday (tagged Cyber Monday) before Christmas has established itself as the busiest online shopping day showing sales activity almost 90 % greater than average. This year’s Cyber Monday will fall on December 15th if the study’s data holds true.

Strategies for getting your share of the online shopping dollar?

1. Plan your online advertising or email promotional campaign to coincide with the Monday & Tuesday workweek lunch hour buying rush
2. Emphasize guaranteed shipping delivery as the clock winds down to Christmas

Click Atlas Solutions’ Holiday Online Shopping Report to access all the details…

Some very general but relevant, all the same, thoughts about leveraging social media from our friends at the Direct Marketing Association Training Source:

Listening — this is a great opportunity to understand your customers, monitor what they are saying about you and address their needs and wants

Talking — spread the word about what your company is doing, new launches, products, press releases, etc.

Energizing — reach out to your most loyal customers, let them know they are valued, and they will continue to sing your praises

Supporting — provide a platform where your product users can support each other, ask and answer one another’s questions

Embracing — after mastering the other four steps, allow your most engaged customers into your workspace. This is a great opportunity to get feedback before products go to market

Okay, can we all have a group hug now!

Do you like your site’s design but your graphic artist or web designer is no longer available? Now you want to make changes but you have images that use fonts and color schemes and you don’t which fonts or color schemes were used? 

Aside from things like ftp login info, domain registration documentation and all of that stuff, you also should know what the colors and fonts were used in creating your site graphics. It can save a lot of aggravation later.

By the way, a couple of nice tools that will help you solve these mysteries if need be…

To find the name of the fonts used, check out “What the Font”. I used this on a recent client site where we were building a new header for his blog which used the existing site header but needed a new label. 

To figure out the color I use a Firefox addon called Colorzilla - it’s simple and works quite well. 

Caught a snippet of an interview with Chris Pirillo of Lockergnome at Viewzi.tv. When asked how he’d improve search, Chris stated that the problem with search is that it lacks context.

That’s exactly the problem that I have with search, context. In my view it’s not just what I’m looking for but why I’m looking for it. The why is the critical component that so often leads me to frustration at the search results I receive.

What’s this have to do with this post’s title? Well Chris also spoke to crowdsourcing as the way he injects context into his own personal quest for answers. It struck me - maybe I’m slow - that this is the key to social media from Tweeter & Plurk to LinkedIn & Plaxo to Delicious & Digg. Context. By asking the crowd for their advice you’re able, albeit slower than the millisecond-delivered responses of Google and other search engines, to seek and apply the context that’s missing from your everyday inquiries.

But, it also seems that, to get context, you have to give context so use the social net to seek context but don’t forget to help others obtain it too.

Marketing Sherpa makes a great point when they tell us to hand our copywriters a list of relevant keywords along with the other product and service information we give them prior to writing copy for our web pages.

Here’s a great check list of the most important places to insert our keywords:

• Headlines
• Subheads
• First paragraph of body copy
• First bullet point on a list
• Copy immediately next to or included on an action item (click link, button, toll-free number, reply card, etc.)
• Blog categories, topics and tags

Read Before You Write Copy or Blog, Make a Keyword List on the SherpaBlog for a comprehensive primer on using keywords to develop website copy.

Cleaning up my inbox and came across this list from the folks at SiteLab. I work with a lot of clients on redesigning their sites and this list rings true. I’ve condensed the content a bit but you can probably find the entire message online at www.sitelab.com.

SiteLab’s Top 10 Reasons to Redesign Your Company Website

1. Rookie or a Pro? - The site looks amateurish and parts of the site are broken.
   … studies have shown that people form an opinion of a website within the first three seconds of viewing it.
2. Is this thing on? - The site doesn’t ask viewers to do something.
   … Give your customer an easy way to take action.
3. One and done - Viewers don’t have a reason to return to your site.
   Give visitors a reason to return… Make your website an important part of your customers lives.
4. So last year - The information on the site is obviously dated.
   …consider using some kind of content management system … to keep it fresh. 
5. This is taking forever to load!?!? - The pictures on the site aren’t “optimized.”
6. Quick Info - The body text is too long.
   … optimize your site for search engines.
7. I found you - Get Better Search Engine Optimization For Your Website
   … For the best search engine optimization results, you should definitely consider having your website redesigned.
8. 404 Error - The site is down or can’t be found.
   … consider a new hosting service … Search engine optimization is the answer.
9. If you can’t beat them join them? - Your website looks like all your competitors websites
   How unique is your website?…
10. Are you a luxury brand? - The design of your website doesn’t reflect your company image.
    …make sure your website fits.

SiteLab had more to say on the above topics but you get the idea. If your site is old, dated, poorly optimized for search or suffering from poor design, consider an overhaul. 

If you don’t have an inhouse or outside web development team call or email me and I’ll be happy to do a preliminary review and phone consult for free. Mention this post and contact me at 303-800-5522 or tom.gray@gemsolv.com

Is your blog a bestseller or languishing in the bargain bin?

Marketing Sherpa has released a chart summarizing the impact of blogs and listing the 3 absolutes that, in their analysis of thousands of corporate blogs, are essential to making your blog “must read” reading…

First, the chart:

Nothing outrageous here. Blogs improve search rankings and findability online. Establish you as an expert. Introduces you to new prospects, customers and other, potential constituencies. Gives you an opportunity to engage your audience in a dialog through the mechanism of comments, trackbacks and so forth and gives you a mechanism to generate new business. Good stuff.

What are the Blogging Absolutes According to M/Sherpa?

Nothing outrageous here either. Just good solid advice…

Genuine, heartfelt content

Regular updates

Focus

I like to tell my clients to blog to their clients or prospects as though they were addressing their curiosity and interest at a cocktail party, coffee shop or other casual setting. None of the bluff and bluster of high-toned marketing communications that too often baffles more than clarifies… Your readers have an interest, problem or opportunity and they want to know, succinctly and without jargon, how your solution addresses their needs for information, solutions or resources. So you tell them and, in a way, that seeks to create understanding rather than the confusion of too much of our marketing communications.

Regular updates are key or, at the least, consistency of publication. It’s okay if you only blog once a week as long as you blog once a week (I know, an area I need to improve). Your community newspaper earns your subscriptions because it’s delivered at roughly the same time every day of the week. If it just showed up randomly it has no opportunity to establish itself as an integral part of its subscribers morning/evening routine and it won’t be subscribed to for long - regardless of how compelling its content.

Finally … focus. In a world of infinite information its impossible to be all things to all people, so don’t try. Find that niche of focus that allows you the opportunity for domination. If you covet multiple niches then create multiple blogs to give your expertise in that arena the outlet it seeks but don’t try to cram it all in to a one-size-fits-all vehicle. Doesn’t work. You might be interested in ProBlogger Darren Rowse early experience as a guide. He ran a kitchen sink blog that contained a bit of everything but only when he realized that his money posts were those that dealt with his passion for digital photography, and created a blog to focus only on that, was his path to professional blogging super stardom set…

Follow the simple advice above and from MarketingSherpa and you’ll be well on the way to making your blog a digital must-read!

Source: New Chart: Craft Your Blog for Maximum Impact: 3 Absolutes to Make it a Must-Read

Marketing Sherpa provides great information and guidance on what works, and doesn’t, in all aspects of marketing.

They recently published a chart reflecting the results of a poll conducted with webinar attendees. The results, if you’re a vendor, should be eye opening.

Why do you lose business? Why does your customer loyalty stink? The lie we tell ourselves is that our competitors offered a superior price. The truth? Our service sucks.

If you’re into pain, take a look at the following chart and link through to Marketing Sherpa’s analysis (but be forewarned, they only make these results publicly available for a limited time…):

Source: Marketing Sherpa - Customers & Vendors Disagree on Loyalty

Marketing Sherpa’s Analyis: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.html?id=30719