The Evolving Internet Marketer

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 …

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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