Posted by:
Wendy Montes de Oca
April 11, 2008
Issue #394
"We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either."
– Steve Ballmer
You’ve probably heard about Web 2.0. It’s all the rage these days. But do you really know what it is? More important, do you know how to use it to your advantage?
Today, I’m going to reveal one Web 2.0 technique you can use to help attract targeted, qualified prospective customers to your website. But first, here’s the 411.
Web 2.0 isn’t a newfangled Internet technology or software. And it’s not a marketing tactic, per se. It’s simply the evolution of the Internet into an environment of interactivity, reader participation, and usability. This, in effect, changes users’ Web behavior. As Tim O’Reilly – founder of O’Reilly Media and the guy who coined the term "Web 2.0" – puts it … it’s "harnessing collective intelligence" through user-generated content.
Web 2.0 opens up the dialog between user and website or blog. This connection can help generate traffic and a viral buzz. Patrick Coffey pointed out in a recent ETR article – How to Get a Bunch of Useless Traffic to Your Website – that not all Web 2.0 traffic is a good thing. But from a search engine marketing (SEM) standpoint, the benefits are clear and measurable: More traffic and frequent interactivity (or posts) equal better organic (free) rankings in search engine results.
Getting good organic rankings is a powerful way to find qualified prospective customers. A recent eye-tracking survey of people doing an Internet search showed that 70 percent of the time their eyes go to the upper-left side of the search results (the organic listings). Their eyes go to the right side of the search results (the paid listings) only 30 percent of the time.
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Posted by:
Wendy Montes de Oca
February 22, 2008
Issue #360
"We can believe that we know where the world should go. But unless we’re in touch with our customers, our model of the world can diverge from reality. There’s no substitute for innovation, of course, but innovation is no substitute for being in touch, either."
– Steve Ballmer
You’ve probably heard about Web 2.0. It’s all the rage these days. But do you really know what it is? More important, do you know how to use it to your advantage?
Today, I’m going to reveal one Web 2.0 technique you can use to help attract targeted, qualified prospective customers to your website. But first, here’s the 411.
Web 2.0 isn’t a newfangled Internet technology or software. And it’s not a marketing tactic, per se. It’s simply the evolution of the Internet into an environment of interactivity, reader participation, and usability. This, in effect, changes users’ Web behavior. As Tim O’Reilly – founder of O’Reilly Media and the guy who coined the term "Web 2.0" – puts it … it’s "harnessing collective intelligence" through user-generated content.
Web 2.0 opens up the dialog between user and website or blog. This connection can help generate traffic and a viral buzz. Patrick Coffey pointed out in a recent ETR article – How to Get a Bunch of Useless Traffic to Your Website – that not all Web 2.0 traffic is a good thing. But from a search engine marketing (SEM) standpoint, the benefits are clear and measurable: More traffic and frequent interactivity (or posts) equal better organic (free) rankings in search engine results.
Getting good organic rankings is a powerful way to find qualified prospective customers. A recent eye-tracking survey of people doing an Internet search showed that 70 percent of the time their eyes go to the upper-left side of the search results (the organic listings). Their eyes go to the right side of the search results (the paid listings) only 30 percent of the time.
(more…)
Posted by:
Wendy Montes de Oca
January 10, 2008
Issue #329
“I’ve always believed the greater danger is not aiming too high, but too low, settling for a bogey rather than shooting for an eagle.”
– Peter Scott
One of the best ways to build your online business is to build your house list of potential customers. But you can also do it by changing the way you market to your existing customers. Today, I want to show you how breaking up your existing customer database can boost your sales.
Data mining, or database marketing, is basically the art of slicing and dicing your own in-house list of names. You do this to help increase the response to your online sales promotions.
You see, once you divide your list of names into smaller groups ("segmentation"), you can specialize your product offers. Then, by targeting your offer based on customer needs, you’ll be promoting products to people who are more likely to buy them. You increase your customers’ satisfaction as well as your potential conversion rates. (The conversion rate is the number of people who not only read your offer but actually purchase the product.) And higher conversion rates means more money for your company.
One proven model is the RFM method. It’s practiced by direct-response marketers all over the world, and is a marketing method we use here at ETR.
"R" stands for Recency, how recently a customer has made a purchase. "F" stands for Frequency, how often the customer makes a purchase. And "M" stands for Monetary, how much the customer spends.
Here’s how you can use the RFM method to help lift your sales.
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Posted by:
Wendy Montes de Oca
November 15, 2007
Issue #282
“If you don’t get noticed, you don’t have anything.
You just have to be noticed, but the art is in getting noticed naturally,
without screaming or without tricks.”
– Leo Burnett
Synchronization of your content distribution channels – via online media, PR, and SEM (search engine marketing) – will help maximize and monetize your website traffic.
For any online business, a list of potential customers is your most precious possession and your ticket to selling your products. That’s why two of the first things you need to do is build your e-list and create buzz about whatever it is that you’re selling.
Building an e-list from nothing can be challenging, but the proven method I’m about to explain can help drive traffic to your website and increase your "visibility" on the Web … which, in turn, helps you add hundreds, even thousands, of new prospective customers to your list.
The Internet offers dozens of ways to get your name and ideas out to people who will want to be added to your e-list. You can use pay-per-click ads on Google, you can send out press releases about your latest offers, you can form partnerships with e-letter publishers who write on a subject related to your product line, you can conduct targeted media buys for banner or other display ads, you can optimize your site to get it ranked higher in the major search engines … and much more.
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