Coldwell Banker Kansas City Loses the Online Buyer

Everywhere today there are signs of failure, countless articles on various ideas for motivation, reaching more customers or just staying in business. Along the same lines it is important to note where companies, marketers and salespeople have gone wrong even with the best intentions. Starting this online illustration off is a group of Coldwell Banker offices within a particular region who were sold the idea to 'turn off' all of their websites and individual online marketing to use only one website they could all share.

In terms of search engine marketing a website should be considered an online billboard where a single billboard is only capable of reaching a small target audience on a specific location of the road. If buyers drive home on the road your billboard happens to be located then you have the opportunity to present your message to those buyers. Anyone who drives home another way or lives in another part of town will never see the billboard nor will they ever have a chance to see your advertising. A website works much the same way in that a single website will never rank very well or be listed very high in a wide range of buyer search results.

Search Engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN, etc.) rank websites higher or lower based upon the content, traffic, number of links and related websites and even website locations. Thus a single website will never be 'everything to every search engine' and will never rank highly for more than a few specific search terms or keywords. With Coldwell Banker offices abandoning ten (10) individual websites for the local offices that previously contained specific information for each region or area to all share a single template website the local offices lost the ability to prospective reach home buyers, sellers and relocation customers on search engines. The intention may have been to share resources or lower marketing costs but the result was a loss of 90% of their potential online reach within all search engines.

One of the specific Coldwell Banker offices hosted the website at our website hosting facility with an average monthly Unique Users (unique visitors or prospective clients) of 4,400 and 882 active home buyers who had created accounts within the website to search for or save homes for sale in the local market. The monthly investment to maintain the website was $150 which equates to 3 cents per unique user (potential customer) per month before considering the 882 active buyers who created an account on the website.

The website was ranked # 1 on Google and Yahoo for specific search terms pertinent to the locations of offices such as 'Coldwell Banker Overland Park' or 'Coldwell Banker Kansas City' branding the company to thousands of home buyers and sellers every month (important to note there are several Coldwell Banker offices in the area but this website showed up #1). The website was turned off, all 882 active customers with home search accounts on the website were kicked off without notice and the website is no longer ranked on any search engine within the first two pages.

Somewhere along the way a salesperson from a website design company sold a local Coldwell Banker Relocation office on the idea that they should design a single website for all of the local offices to share. Maybe the idea was to save money, maybe they wanted to try and compete with Reece and Nichols who typically has 50% of the local market listings and uses one website or maybe it was just so the relocation company could get a fee for every single home sold by any local Coldwell Banker office. Whatever the reason was the local Coldwell Banker offices lost a tremendous opportunity to reach more customers through their individual websites (online billboards) and proved there is more than one way to lose business in a tough market.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet * Technology Expert

http://www.builderconsulting.com/

913-814-8844 Office

Does Social Networking Bring Business?

Several educational offerings about Social Networking were offered at the 2009 NAHB IBS in Las Vegas this month sharing a wide range of ideas. Many different options were shared with direct examples of builders, real estate professionals and companies marketing via social networking groups. Myspace.com, Ning.com, Facebook.com, Activerain.com, LinkedIn.com and dozens of others portrayed an endless list of options to share a message.

The difficult aspect of social networking in marketing is correlating any resulting leads or sales. Any additional opportunity to reach prospective customers or place an 'online billboard' is beneficial yet there seems to lack a single direct method of converting social browsers to buyers. Most social networking websites are provided free of charge so a return on investment only includes the time required to collect, publish and update the information on each of the portals.

Marketing is either targeted or not; social networking is the new hot marketing idea (even though it has been around for years) though it has not yet been refined to a targeted marketing tool. Anyone considering the launch of a social networking marketing campaign should first start with a Blog followed by one or two of the thousands of other social marketing portals to practice upon. Blogs have always been well liked by the search engines so they are an excellent proven opportunity.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844

Social Media Tools for Easy Online Marketing

Some of the best places to market today are FREE, more classified ads are placed daily on Craigslist.com than any other website except Ebay (who happened to buy Craigslist) while there are dozens of other similar websites used for online ads. Most users simply post an ad online using the basic ad creation tools built into each classified ad website causing the ads to blend in with others easily. A way to augment your online ads is to create a 'webpage' using HTML and external image hosting yet this requires some level of website design skill, the software and time to develop the ad; most people will not take the time to do this.

Another solution is to use the excellent online tools, What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) HTML Editors that create the webpage for you through a few basic steps. One such website is vFlyer www.vflyer.com enabling customized online ad creation for Real Estate, Rental/Leasing, Automotive/Cars and Marketing Companies. Setup of an account and basic flyers is FREE with a small paid subscription service available for those who post multiple ads each month.

Another online website with FREE social media marketing tools is Easy Auto Sales www.EasyAutoSales.com specifically setup for for automotive ad creation, classifieds and posting. The Easy Auto Sales website incorporates unique tools such as Facebook integration, history of buyer/seller ads, creation of custom HTML for posting the ad on other websites and direct feeds to many search engines showcasing any auto posted within the website to buyers on Yahoo and Google FREE of charge. Functionality includes online community forums of automotive questions, car clubs and vehicle research.

Last but not least is the Postlets Classified Ad Creation and Marketing website www.Postlets.com primarily focused on real estate ad creation while incorporating tools for cars and trucks as well. The unique feature of Postlets is that the ads created are marketed directly to all of the following top social media websites for FREE once the ad is completed:

	craigslist
	Facebook
	FrontDoor
	Google Base
	HotPads
	MySpace
	Oodle
	Trulia
	Twitter
	Vast
	Zillow

The basic Postlets account is FREE enabling full access to the website, ad creation and basic marketing tools. Enhanced options create a complete website for online ads with enhanced marketing for each of the individual posts at a nominal charge of $5 for one, $40 for 10 or $75 for 25 ads including the website and marketing. That equates to $3 per ad at the bulk rate which is much less expensive than newspapers or other online paid advertising websites.

To request additional information on other online marketing, social media or website development contact Builder Consulting www.BuilderConsulting.com

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet & Technology Expert

Builder Consulting - Building Better Websites with Results Since 1995

913-814-8844

Is it Blogging or Bragging - there is a difference

Do you ever feel like some Bloggers suffer from a since of direction or creativity? After reviewing dozens of blogs around the country from self proclaimed professionals you find several who have a post with useful information followed by a blog bragging that they sold something to someone. Anyone who mistakenly subscribed to that type of blog would be greatly disappointed to see Blog posting about some trade show or who got hired since that information belongs on the company news area or on a Blog dedicated to company news.

Consider if the Wall Street Journal went from publishing useful news one day to only publishing information about some new printing machine and the great people they have on staff the next day - No News and a clear lack of focus. Most often this type of random blogging is done by bloggers with a lack of content or ideas to simply 'show' they have posted something...anything...desperate to keep new content. Keep online content consistent, consider how a prospective client may perceive the content of a blog and never post junk in place of valuable information just to show your doing something!

Online users looking for information on a Blog will be disappointed to find a blog full of bragging.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Office

Back to the Basics...Sales & Marketing First

The past week has been spent speaking with marketing directors, sales managers and consultants about their Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, ActiveRain and other online social networking accounts. One sales manager shared and email from marketing firm outlining a several month long marketing campaign done by creating a fake person on Facebook intended on tricking buyers into coming to see homes for sale. The email shared that several people had agreed to be be Facebook friends with the fake person and even attended a party at a new urban condo unit. There was no information on how people reacted when they found out they had been tricked into visiting the community by a salesperson though the email did share say the marketing had lots of buzz until it was shut down by Facebook for violating terms of use and creating fake accounts. Are legitimate marketing professionals now Twittering for customers or spending months on fake online profiles creating fake people to trick buyers into viewing their products or location?

Would someone who was tricked into visiting a home by a fake person on a fake online account be the best prospective buyer? What ever happened to generating leads and sales through marketing? What happened to connecting with buyers through legitimate methods such as a well developed and search engine optimized website or effective targeted email marketing followed by personal calls to prospects to help generate interest. There are home buyers out there and the majority of buyers are using the Internet to search for homes, legitimate buyers are looking for a home for the best price not trying to be entertained or invited to a party. Multiple opportunities to reach buyers and share a message is good though quite a few marketing firms seem to be focusing efforts on random items online tools or Tweets while forgetting the basics of Sales and Marketing!

Build a better website, buy online advertising to put yourself in front of prospective buyers where they are looking then focus efforts on Twittering and creating online areas to chat with someone in hopes they may buy something. Back to the basics, the basics changed moving away from newspaper and print ads to the Internet Super Highway where you can reach more buyers and sell more...if the basics are done properly.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

http://www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Offices

Almost everything from cars to homes to websites

After everything the economy, people and companies have been through it seems that everyone deserves a reward for making it through the challenges. Today, homes are being sold for pennies on the dollar, mortgage rates are low, a classic muscle car can be found for a few thousand dollars (watch Barrett Jackson Auctions sometime), Walmart has 'lower price' signs everywhere and you can buy a new car for almost nothing. Anyone who made it through the past two years without losing everything is in an incredible position to buy anything.

There are foreclosed homes for sale in the Kansas City market for as little as $10,000-50,000 without structural or major work required; other real estate professionals share it is the same in most places. Older areas of town have homes with mortgages where unfortunate people paid for 20 years then lost the home. This means the balance on the loan is only what remains from the purchase price 20 years ago after payments have been made for 20 years and the home appreciated. Hence a home valued at $50,000 in 1979 may have appreciated to a value of $75,000 with a remaining loan balance of $15,000 when the home was foreclosed so the bank can only sell it for the balance of the loan (foreclosing on homes is not to be for profit above the loan balance).

It is a great time to buy investment property, rental homes or even an extra home downtown for those nights the drive back from cocktail hour seems too far! Homes are not the only excellent deal, search on Ebay Motors or Craigslist anytime to find $80,000 supercharged Jaguar Luxury Sedans selling for $10,000 in perfect running condition. Less common vehicles such as Austin Martin Ultra-performance sports cars that sold for $144,000 a few years ago are selling for $25,000 when the people who blew their money on such luxury items now need the cash to pay bills. There is something very wrong and something very right about this transfer of assets though it did create opportunity.

Invest in yourself and your business, have a new website built to reach new customers, take advantage of social media and networking. Everything done today returns your investment in the future so get ahead of the competition now while business is slow, but increasing and consumer confidence is improving.

If you have the money stashed away or happen to be one of the well performing companies it is a great time to look for a new office building, a car, LCD TV or investment properties. The economy was hurt when consumers became scared to spend money, buy a home or invest but the time has come to correct this and get a great deal at the same time. Invest in real estate, buy a nice car, take someone out to dinner and help make things better while enjoying life in the process!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

www.BuilderConsulting.com

913-814-8844 Office

Online Classifieds Usage Double Since 2005

According to the latest Pew Internet Research study nearly 50% of all Internet users are using online classifieds. Forty-nine percent of online adults surveyed said they have visited sites like Craigslist, Kijiji and Oodle, up from only 22% in 2005. The study says that 9% of Internet users visit these sites on any given day, compared with 4% four years ago.

Online classifieds are particularly popular with 25 to 44 year old Internet users, more than half of whom use Internet classifieds, while just under half of 18 to 24 year olds and 45 to 54 year olds 49% and 48%, respectively use online classifieds.

Those figures fall for users over 55 with 35% of 55 to 64 year olds using classified websites, while 26% of Internet users over 65 do.

Use of classified sites also increases with income and education, with online adults earning $50,000 or more, as well as college graduates, considerably more likely to have visited them. The Pew Research study highlights the growing importance of online classifieds to Internet users and reflects the changes in the audience for classified ads in terms of those who place them and those who make purchases using online classified websites which devastated a key revenue source for traditional newspapers.

Craigslist is by far the most used website in the United States. In March 2009 all classified websites averaged 53.8 million unique visitors, up 7% from February. Craigslist alone had 42.2 million unique visitors in the month of March (out of the total 53.8 million total users). Newspaper classified revenue fell from 17.4 Billion to $10 billion over the same period with real estate classifieds down 52% since their peak in 2006. Total Internet ads revanue for newspapers in 2008 was $3.1 billion according to the Newspaper Association of America.

Just as past studies of online users have shown, adults living in households with incomes of $50,000 or more a year are significantly more likely to visit and use classified ads sites than lower earners. More than half (56%) of higher income Internet users use sites like Craigslist, compared with 47% of those making $30,000-$49,999 and 42% of those making less than $30,000 a year. In addition, online adults making $50,000 or more are more than twice as likely as those earning less than $30,000 a year to use online classified ads on a typical day.

The Internet continues to be the strong point in business and live with the numbers clearly showing adaptation by the average user.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
www.BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Office

Decision Search Engine

June 1st 2009 Microsoft launched the new 'Decision Search Engine' intent on improving the way search results are displayed. Commercials on national prime time TV show people speaking random words associated with what others asked them as a way to illustrate the frustration of search results on many search engines. Microsoft launched a YouTube channel with the new search engine to share advertisments www.YouTube.com/Bing An example of this includes a commercial where a wife asks about 'Hawaii' and the husband begins saying all types of words that have to do with Hawaii such as 'Hawaii 5-0', surf lingo and other items that would commonly come up on a search engine related to Hawaii.

The Bing.com search engine looks at the context of what users are searching for and then makes a decision on which search results make the most sense to display. With the launch of the new Bing.com search engine Microsoft overtook the # 2 position behind Google temporarily jumping ahead of Yahoo.com with 16.28% of the market share. Yahoo moved down to 10.22% of the market share with Google remaining at 71.47% of the search engine market share according to StatCounter reports June 4th.

Microsoft has launched several new cutting edge technologies in the past few months including Photosynth.net enabling users worldwide to combine images creating extremely detailed 'video like' 3D images online. What remains to be seen is if the Bing.com search engine will be a long term competitor with Yahoo.com or Google.com using intelligent search results and new technologies.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

Internet & Technology Expert

BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Online Solutions Since 1995

913-814-8844 Office

It's Hard to Go Back on Poor Online Marketing Decisions

In traditional marketing a bad decision about an ad layout lasts only as long as the current issue. When it comes to the Internet a poor decision or uneducated choice can have lasting implications on success of a business. Something placed on the Internet is easily found years later, even if it was deleted or only online for a short time. Conversely something found online today may not be easily found tomorrow if the wrong decisions are made or a disreputable online marketing company is used.

Any true online marketing expert understands the value and importance of 'link weight' pertaining to website visits from potential buyers and how a search engine ranks a website The higher the ranking by a search engine the more times a website will be seen and visited by potential customers and conversely if a website is not ranked well it will never be viewed or visited by potential buyers. Google has published the fact that a primary website ranking algorithm for ranking websites is how many other websites link to a website and what the value of those websites is. This was best illustrated in the 2004 Presidential Election where Democrats placed links to the George Bush profile on thousands of websites with the term 'miserable failure' resulting in George Bush being the 1st item shown on Google when users searched for 'miserable failure'. If a website has dozens of other highly valued websites linking TO it then Google considers that website of higher value and ranks the website higher in search results.

The same works in reverse meaning that a website with several highly ranked websites linking TO it will be perceived as lower value if those other websites no longer link to the website. Search Engines often consider this in terms of companies going out of business or offering less valued or less important services. When a Search Engine tracks links moving from one website to others the link weight is lowered for the negative links being moved away thus lowering the ranking and reach of the website. The result of this is much lower traffic often resulting in less leads and lower sales instantly without a simple solution to repair. An unfortunate example of this was a website Builder Consulting built for a Tulsa home builder that went from less than 400 users per month to over 4,000 monthly user visits (potential buyers visiting the website).

When the company hired a new marketing manager she decided to cancel all online marketing and move the website to a new website company she liked with disastrous results. Builder Consulting had steadily increased the website traffic to an average of 2,200 unique users (buyrs) visiting per month. After the new marketing director changed the website to a new website company the website had a 92.08% decrease in unque buyer visits in less than one month to a low of 161 visitors to the website; less than it had ever been in more than a decade. The significant changes made to the online marketing led to a catastrophic result for the customer in less than one month that will not easily be resolved with several months effort.

There may be another change in marketing ahead when the owner of the company finds out his website is down 92.08% simply because of a poor choice made that caused the company to lose 92% of potential client visits to the website in less than 30 days. Little things have a large affect online, watch out for anyone promising unrealistic results or unquantifiable actions since there are far more bad online marketers than there are good ones.

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com
913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

Netextinct - Business, Services & Items the Internet is making extinct

Netextinct –adjective

1. no longer in existence; that has ended or died out: travel agencies are quickly becoming netextinct.

2. no longer in use; obsolete: a netextinct business

3. having ceased operations; no longer active: an extinct business due to the Internet

The Internet provides millions of people instant access to information, products, services, friends and constantly evolves as a child coming of age. With the apparent benefits there have been those affected by netextinction replacing their business model or service with the click of a mouse. Consider when was the last time you called a travel agency to book an airline ticket? Online classified ads are up 500% while newspapers fail or close their doors daily. Car dealerships now accept that most buyers have researched prices, makes, models and know more about the vehicle they want to purchase (due to the Internet) than the salespeople making the classic 'used car salesperson' obsolete.

These businesses have become netextinct; victims of the ecommerce (another word that never existed before the Internet). What other businesses or services would you consider to be netextinct or in process of netextinction?

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites Since 1995

913-814-8844 Corporate Offices

How To Use eZineArticles To Promote Your Articles And Build Backlinks

After last week's video on article marketing, I received a lot of comments and questions about article marketing. One of the most popular questions is where you should be submitting your articles and how to write them. If you are looking for a really good article creator, I suggest you go to an article software review website like Culzee.com and read their reviews. Once you've created an article and are ready to begin submitting to directories, you can use a piece of software or start with the most popular directories like eZineArticles.com. Ezines, GoArticles.com, and other top directories work like a mall.

Webmasters in search of content visit these article directories in order to find fresh content for their websites and blogs. When they publish the content, it appears on site with your author information. Your author box should always include links back to your website or blog - this is article marketing at its best.

In this video, I spend a few minutes showing you how to sign up at one of the leading article directories on the Internet. Once you've opened an account, you can quickly and easily go through the article submission process. Follow me as I show you how to submit an article on EzineArticles.com step-by-step. As you submit articles you'll be developing valuable backlinks from the article directory itself and every time your article is used by a webmaster on a different website or blog.

If you're not article marketing, get started now. Watch this video and start the article marketing process!

Article Marketing Made Simple

Article marketing. Can it really do what everyone says it can? Are you using article marketing as part of your overall marketing strategy? I've been a big fan of article marketing since 2004 when I launched my first marketing web sites.

In this brief video, I show you the effect of article marketing on my overall search engine rankings and traffic for my main web site as well as share my review of top article marketing software packages. If you want to save time and get significant results, than be sure to check out Culzee.com for free article marketing information.

A Case Study Of How One Company Is Using Twitter To Grow Their Business

On my never-ending quest to find individuals and companies succeeding with Social Media I hit a goldmine. In a single word, Shutterstock. In today's post I share how one company, in a VERY crowded space, is dominating the niche with Twitter!

Shutterstock is a microstock company, which means that photographers upload their photos to the site, which in turns sells them to graphic designers, news agencies, marketers, pretty much anyone who needs stock imagery. The photographers receive a commission every time one of their images is sold. Basically it's crowdsourcing, as Shutterstock outsources the task of taking stock photos to the general public.

There are several of these microstock companies aside from Shutterstock; other ones include iStockphoto, Dreamstime, Fotolia, Big Stock Xchang, etc. When Twitter started blowing up, around six months ago, all these companies tried to stake a presence on this glitzy new social media platform. So far, Shutterstock appears to have been the most successful. Why?

1. Right from the start, Shutterstock identified their audience and offered them exactly what they wanted: free, useful stuff. In this case, Shutterstock's audience was comprised mainly of graphic designers and photographers, so Shutterstock began to post free vectors and images every week on its Twitter account, as well as links to Shutterstock generated articles containing photography tips, Photoshop and Illustrator tutorials, etc.

2. Shutterstock began to actively engage people who mentioned their service in their Tweets; every week Shutterstock responded to @shutterstock comments, to either offer technical advice, voice appreciation or ameliorate concerns. Doing this, and doing this in a specific, casual tone, made Shutterstock's followers feel like they had a direct pipeline into the company.

3. Many bloggers use Shutterstock as an image source for their blogs, so Shutterstock began to Tweet each blog post by an influential blogger that featured a Shutterstock image. Since bloggers are really the rockstars of Twitter, with a devoted readership base, this helped channel new people to Shutterstock, and also demonstrated that respectable bloggers used the service. Basically, Shutterstock used Twitter to network with popular bloggers.

4. This one's important! Shutterstock went back through its site and embedded link buttons to Twitter and Facebook throughout all of the site's pages. This way, whenever anyone new signed up to the site, or uploaded an image or collected a payment, their was a little button that they could click on that automatically made them a Facebook fan/Twitter follower of Shutterstock.

5. On top of all this, Shutterstock designed a simple and imaginative application for their photo submitters could called Shuttertweet. This application sends out a Tweet from a Shutterstock photographer's Twitter account once a day announcing their sales and accepted images. Since many Shutterstock photographers are looking to promote their portfolios, this was an attractive service that many photographers signed up for. Now, with @shutterstock appearing in so many people's news feeds, Shutterstock is channeling more interest than ever.

At this stage of the Twitter craze, the number of followers of each of the major stock image services seem to tell the tale:

Shutterstock:11,194
Istock:2,198
Getty Images: 1,218
Dreamstime:754
Fotolia: 223
Big Stock Photo: 168
stockxchng: 137

Shutterstock has created a vibrant Twitter community that continues to experience an accelerated rate of growth. The only question now is to see how this will translate for the company's bottom line which will no doubt benefit from the added traffic, exposure, and social media success they are experiencing!

 

Tweeting for Business, Other Social Media Marketing

There has been a tremendous amount of hype the past few months about social networking, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn.com and dozens of other websites designed to connect socially.  One primary item lacking is a Return on Investment (ROI) analysis to determine if the social marketing is a fad or truly valuable to a business.  In terms of the messages being shared they range from "I am selling something" or "I am writing an agreement" to perfectly valid news and information about business, websites, marketing and life.

Next there are the groups of people working together who all connect with you and share the SAME message at the same time bombarding people with an endless ongoing stream of Tweets and Facebook updates and annoyances.  The people and companies using social media marketing to just throw anything up and hope it helps are doomed to fail.  Nobody wants to be sent the same message from 10 different people within 20 seconds; never have your entire company or marketing agency send the same message out within any short time.  If there is a valid observation, business idea, success story (not that you are writing a contract, that is narcissistic and not going to impress anyone) then be sure to Tweet away.

Consider posting ideas that improve the lives or business for customers and friends.  If you have a business and personal account try to keep them somewhat separate; it is ok to be friends with clients but not ok to bombard either with inappropriate photos or messages.  A friend in the computer industry recently published his Facebook profile and connected with numerous clients and new prospects online only to realize later he has place 'I LIKE BEER AND WOMEN' as the only interest listed in his profile.  It was an oversight where he was being sarcastic rushing through the profile setup but it came across as unprofessional, he changed it.

No Matter What...restrain the urge to post or publish junk or useless information or things that do not apply to your target audience or company just because you have nothing else to share.  There are days that need no social media marketing, it is better to share pertinent interesting information that people will read than to just post something to say you did.  Twitter is great for entertainment and shopping, there are MILLIONS of people following actors and public figures who share all types of random thoughts from bathroom breaks to drinking coffee that some people apparently find interesting.  Rather than posting similar items without any potential for ROI consider linking social networking accounts so they all update at the same time.

Cross linking the accounts permits the sharing of valid interesting information (and some junk, we all do it) without spending every day logging into dozens of websites trying to remember username or password hoping someone might find what you shared worth reading.  Since I setup and began to actively post valid information I have had two new legitimate (paying) business customers come from Facebook.  Checking the hundreds of followers on Twitter I noticed most of my x-girlfriends, a few people I fired, some other local website companies hoping they might learn how to get a website listed on search engines and dozens of other people I am sure will become stalkers in the near future...no paying customers yet but what the heck it's free!

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson

BuilderSocialMedia.com - Building Social Media for Business

BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites & Internet Solutions since 1995

913-814-8844

A Lesson On Email Marketing And Purchase Behavior

I recently started focusing again on email to help me spread the word and ultimately take my marketing to the next level.  I was introduced to a concept by an industry leader many years ago that I want to share with all of you in today’s post.  

The concept is called the “purchase decision process” and was taught to me by a leader in direct marketing.  Essentially the concept is simple, understand enough about your prospects buying behavior to map out the process they go through when making a purchase.  For example, where do your customers start the purchase process?  Research? Referrals? What happens next?

 

Email is a great way to learn about the purchase decision process of your niche as well as take advantage of it for the benefit of prospect and company.  What I mean is that if you can help consumers by laying out a process they are comfortable with and prefer, you will experience less resistance when attempting to make a sale.

 

Likewise, your prospect will actually enjoy the process of evaluating your offer and making a purchase.  This provides a win-win for both parties and can significantly influence conversion rates.  Some tips I can share with you are:

1.     Capture email information at the beginning of your online conversion process.  When individuals bail out of your funnel, auto send an email with an opportunity to contact you about their interrupted purchase and give them a way to easily return to where they left.

 

2.    Create a follow up communication plan that moves them through the purchase decision process one step at a time.  The follow up emails do not have to be numerous, just aligned to their purchase process.

 

3.    Test your creative, offers, purchase process communications, and so on.  Continually work to improve conversion rates.

 

If you think about the purchase decision process of your prospects, can you clearly identify each step?  If not, spend some time thinking about the process and how you can help consumers move through that process quickly.

 

Set up auto-responders that take advantage of your knowledge from the moment users abandon your site.  Capture email address up front in order to make this viable.  Follow these simple rules and you’ll see site conversions improve.

Web 3.0 Is Here. Do You Know About It?

If you’re wondering what’s in store for the World Wide Web in 2010, you don’t have to think too hard.  I’ve been hearing a lot lately about what’s next for the Internet and it’s simply stated as Web 3.0.  Not sure what Web 3.0 is all about?  Simply stated, the concept of Web 3.0, the next iteration after Web 2.0, is about the sophistication of the web and the experience it’s going to create for each of us.

Web 3.0, also referred to as the Semantic web, uses artificial intelligence to improve your online experience.  It’s personalization taken to the next level.  Today when you visit a web site or browse the Web data is being collected about you, browsing behavior, and the sites you visit.  Imagine if all of this information was collected, processed, and built into a personal profile that would customize your online experiences?  Well, that’s what Web 3.0 promises to do.

Since the new Web will take past behavior like online purchases, browsing behavior, searches, etc. into consideration when building your personal profile, your experience online will be customized to you.  There are already concepts like a recommendation engine and a retail recommender that are in use today on some leading web sites.

Long gone will be the days of receiving promotional emails for stuff you don’t want – when you don’t want it.  In fact, chances are that interactions online and off will seem freakishly accurate.

For example, let’s say I only buy jeans once a year (I admit it… it’s true).  And let’s also say that I always buy them around the same time from the same online store – the GAP maybe.  Okay, now enter Web 3.0.  My interaction with the GAP online and offline will work very differently than it does today.  Not a week goes by now where I receive some type of promotion from GAP in my email and even my physical address.  And yes, I throw these things out and delete all of the email because I’m don’t buy scarves!  

In the future, the GAP is only going to contact me once, maybe two times each year to remind me about my annual jean buying day and the communication, web pages I visit, and checkout experience will all be customized based on my previous activities.  In fact, the non-response to emails and post cards should also yield less junk mail.  As my behaviors are recorded and fed into the latest artificial intelligence, I’m going to see less of what I don’t want and more of what I do want.

The best part of Web 3.0 from my perspective is that it not only works from a user’s perspective but also from a web site or retailer perspective.  You won’t be getting communication in any form that doesn’t work for you and your online experiences will be customized for you and you alone.  Trying to sell me on the “best selling products” or “top recommendations” may work today but won’t be necessary in the future.  Give me my top recommendations based on my buying behavior and preferences – not what the masses think.

Concerned about privacy?  I’ve got news for you.  If you knew what web sites are tracking today and the wealth of knowledge out there on the Internet, you’d probably have a heart attack.  I do believe that users should still have to give permission for this type of tracking and data aggregation to occur but my feeling is that you’re better off embracing it that throwing the concept to the wind.  Besides, Internet security continues to advance as well so one would think that additional protections are going to come with advances in Web technology.

So here we are.  The signs of Web 3.0 are here.  Keep your eyes and ears open for the continued evolution of the web. As marketers, we need to decide how we are going to leverage this information, technology, and improve the overall user experience.  That's our job and will be our focus in the months and years to come!

Free Traffic Exists If You Know Where To Look!

Many web site owners spend a lot of time building the next great application, web portal, or informational web site only to discover that creating a great site is only the first step.  A fantastic web site that doesn’t have any visitors holds no value.  So how do you generate traffic to your web site?  There are a variety of ways to generate traffic but some of the best are free.

In this week’s video, I’ll show you how to generate free traffic to your web site using traffic exchanges.  Top exchanges like Traffic Swarm  and EasyHits4U are free to join and can easily generate thousands of targeted visitors to your website.

Traffic exchanges are exactly what the name infers.  You are essentially exchanging traffic.  Here’s how they work.  You sign up for an account and “visit” other web sites.  Each time you view a web site or squeeze page, you earn credits.  These credits can be used for traffic.  After you earn a certain number of credits, your web pages are shown throughout the traffic exchange network.  Each time these pages are viewed by other members, you are charged a certain number of credits.

It may sound a bit confusing but actually it’s quite simple.  You browse web pages and other members browse yours.  The most productive way to utilize traffic exchanges is with the help of high converting squeeze pages.  If all you want to do is drive traffic, then you can easily set your web sites home page as your main display URL.  If on the other hand you are looking to build a list, develop powerful squeeze pages with an offer that encourages individuals to click through or sign up.

Over time you can generate a significant number of views for your web site or web page. Set your browsing page as your start page each time you open your browser.  This takes less than a few seconds to set up and can generate additional credits for you.  Most exchanges, including Traffic Swarm provide benefits for specific actions like loading your start page.

Premium versions are also available on traffic exchanges, allowing you to earn credits even faster.  Once you’ve begun using traffic exchanges, and see the type of traffic they are delivering, consider premium options.  The quality of traffic you receive can vary greatly from exchange to exchange so make sure you’re tracking properly and focus not just on traffic but on conversions are well.

There are tons of additional tools to help generate traffic to your web site at little or no cost.  I’ll cover additional tactics in the future but suggest that you start using traffic exchanges today to get visitors to your website.

An Essential Part Of The Marketing Mix

It seems as though I get more and more questions about Blogging.  Should my web site also have a blog?  What type of blog content should I publish?  How often should I publish to my blog?  Can I make money with my blog?  These are all really good questions and the topic of today's post.

First, let's start with my definition of a blog. A blog is a content rich site that allows you to post updates on a regular basis.  If blogging for you is an arduous process, then you're doing it all wrong.  Blogging should be fun and should be related to your business.  For example, this blog (The Marketing Blog) is all about marketing with a focus on Internet marketing.  Why?  Because I love it.  I don't need to get paid to write about Internet marketing because it's a true passion.

Okay, so now you know what to blog about, let's respond to the question "Should I have a blog?".  If you've met the criteria above and have something to blog about, my answer is an emphatic "YES".  Blogging is great, it's fun and easy to do.  I've found that it's also a two-way street.  Your followers interact with the content via comments and suggest great topics for future posts.  The benefit of blogging is both personal as well as marketing-focused.  By talking about your business on a regular basis you can generate positive awareness and make your offerings more appealing to your target market.

After starting your blog with Blogger or WordPress, make it accessible from your main web site.  This helps in search engine placement and can drive a considerable amount of traffic to your blog.  Have a clear goal in mind for your blogging with one caveat.  Always use your blog to provide value.  Whether through market information, content, or resources, your blog needs to give before it gets.  Once you've set a goal for yourself commit to that goal and work towards it each and every week.

Blogging can be a great experience but you have to be willing to set specific goals and deliver value on a regular basis.  If you do, over time you'll find that blogging provides significant value to both you and your readers.  Happy Blogging!!!

Be Part Of My Next Book

A couple of months ago, one of my readers was inquiring about the techniques I reveal in my top selling SEO book, SEO Made Simple.  Specifically, she wanted to know how I learned the techniques that I share for achieving top search engine rankings quickly and easily.

After some discussion, she asked me about my involvement with pay-per-click (PPC) marketing.  Then it dawned on me.  Could there really be a need to simplify the process of making money with PPC as there is for SEO?  After reaching out to a few of the individuals I've worked with in the past and getting feedback through blog posts, Twitter, social networking, and so on, there definitely seems to be a wealth of knowledge on pay-per-click marketing.

That is to say, there's too much information out there.  If you're like me, you've probably bought a whole bunch of "get rich quick" schemes about PPC advertising.  There are tons of courses, ebooks, and webinars on the subject but I wasn't able to find an authoritative guide that says, "To make money with PPC, do this, then this..".  As a result, I've decided to write my next book about PPC marketing.

Here's where you come in..

Do you have any specific questions regarding PPC advertising?  Have you failed?  Have you been successful?  I want to hear about it.  I might even use you as a case study in my book.  Let me know about your experiences and needs as an Internet marketer.  It is my intention to deliver the best information with quickly and in a manner that's easy to comprehend.

PPC Made Simple is going to be written in the same format as my first book with additional video tutorials and online resources.  Let me know what you'd like covered and I'll be sure to integrate it into this tell all guide.  I'll open up my own Google AdWords accounts and show you how I manage thousands of keywords and campaigns to sell products online.

Please submit your ideas via comments!

Facebook More Important

Like it or not the pornography industry has led the growth of the Internet since day one.  Sex has been the top searched word on the Internet since the Internet started but the world is changing.  The constant expansion and use of Social Networking has finally overtaken the top spot as the most searched term. 

Twitter has seen the most month to month growth (see Blog post on Social Media here http://buildersocialmedia.blogspot.com/2009/10/almost-20-percent-of-internet-users.html ) but Facebook is now the top searched word on the Internet worldwide.  The Internet has grown up and touches the daily lives of nearly every person through Tweets, Social Networking, Email, Search Engines, Online Classifieds and entertainment. 

Robert 'Dot Com' Jackson
BuilderConsulting.com - Building Better Websites and Online Marketing Solutions since 1995
913-814-8844 Office