10 Steps to Measuring Web Site Success

Is your Web site working? How would you know? Clients constantly ask me what they should be measuring, and my answer is always, “It depends.”

So for all of you who have wondered the same thing, here is the handy-dandy Sterne How-To Guide for measuring the success of your Web site.

1. Identify Key Stakeholders

Who cares? Inside your company, I mean.

Ensuring the success of the company Web site is not something that belongs exclusively to one job function or title. It's not something that can be forced on somebody. If you want your site to be successful and you want to measure that success, then you'll have to round up the people who are vitally interested.

Perhaps they have an agenda and see the Web as a way to help. Perhaps they are techno-geeks and just love to mess around with whatever is on the leading edge. Maybe they like the distinction of being an Internet person. The people in your company who care about your site enough to complain about it should also be asked to join the team willing to take some responsibility for it.

2. Identify Key Stakeholders' Primary Goals

With the stakeholders listed, cataloged, alphabetized and (with any luck) in the same room, find out what they want. This is a multi-tiered question that involves finding out what they want out of the Web site on behalf of the company, on behalf of their departments and as individuals. Sometimes these conversations even get down to how individuals are compensated.

You'll need to get the comprehensive list of objectives, goals and aspirations for everybody who has a strong enough opinion about the site to come to a steering committee meeting.

But before you start prioritizing those desired outcomes, it's time to shift your attention outward. There's another batch of people whose opinions about your site matter: site visitors.

3. Identify the Most Important Site Visitors

I've had dozens of conversations with corporate executives about who comes to their Web site and which among them are the most important. The answers are all over the map. They talk about the type of visitor that

* Shows up the most often
* Stays the longest
* Looks at the most pages
* Buys the most stuff
* Buys the most frequently
* Spends the most money

Generally, people tend to agree that the most important type of visitor is the type that's the most profitable over some period of time. But your mileage may vary.

4. Identify the Most Important Visitors' Primary Goals

This is really pretty simple: ease of use, speed, selection, price. It's all about the user experience. Can they quickly and easily get want they want?

5. Prioritize Everybody's Goals

Now, you finally have all the cards on the table. You know what everybody wants and can start horse-trading. A great many goals will synchronize, but you'll also find that some people have strong opinions about whether raising revenue is more important than lowering costs, or if improving customer satisfaction is job one.

This is a political ball game. The person who feels the strongest may or may not be sidelined by the person with the most seniority. The person with the biggest budget may or may not be outflanked by the person with the closest ties to executive management. This is the part that always reminds me of why I don't work in a corporate environment and why such places need outside consultants every now and then.

At the end of the scrimmage, you'll end up with a list of priorities that may or may not be the very best, but at least they are identified, discussed and prioritized by one and all in the room. Many of those people will not have their way, but at least they were present during the process and understand why the spinning logo is deemed more important than revenues at the moment.

6. Determine Critical Metrics

Which metrics signal whether you are moving closer to your goals or further away? If the main goal is More Visitors, then a clear definition of how visitors are counted is necessary (cookies? logins? javascript?). If the main goal is revenue, then you'll need to identify the factors that make up the process of getting from awareness to interest to sale. If customer satisfaction is in the mix, then one and all must agree on the methods used to gather satisfaction data and how to weight it.

Again, the accord among the players is more important than the result.

7. Identify the Necessary Technology

With clear goals and metrics in mind, the selection of a Web analytics vendor becomes vastly simpler. You are no longer choosing between an enormous variety of esoteric technologies, but merely asking whether specific data can be captured, collated, correlated and reported—at what cost—and with what flexibility. Flexibility accounts for the fact that you will change your mind in the future about what else you wish to measure.

8. Check References

A robust set of data gathering technologies, a solid financial foundation and a really nice users' group are all well and good, but how does your prospective Web analytics vendor treat their clients? Talk to their references and ask them for the names of other users your vendor might have been reluctant to reveal. Keep asking questions.

9. Distribute Only the Data That Drives Business Decisions

Do not fall back into the briar patch of circulating reports for the sake of spreading the data around. Dole out those reports only to those who need them to make business decisions. Too much data becomes overwhelming and therefore useless.

10. Accountability, Responsibility, Visibility

Liberté, Egalité and Fraternité may have fueled the French Revolution, but the more mundane accountability, responsibility and integrity will determine whether your Web analytics efforts are going to pay off.

Once you have decided what's important and how to measure it, you have to decide what you're going to do about the results, how often you're going to do it and who is going to be responsible.

When the numbers are periodically published, whose work product gets reviewed? When the numbers are going south, who gets the bamboo shoots under the fingernails? When the numbers improve, who gets the Employee of the Month parking space?

Don't go through all this effort just so you can say, “Yes, we do Web analytics and we have the reports right here to prove it!” Instead, make sure those reports are an integral part of a process of constant improvement. Then you'll know whether your Web site is working or not.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Web Site Content—It's All About the Why

Every week I'm asked to look at business Web sites and tell the owners why they're not getting the results they want.

Some of these sites are straightforward brochures, others are e-commerce catalogs, and some are those direct-mail-style pitches reminiscent of old mail-order magazine subscription schemes. Some have incorporated do-it-yourself audio and video, and some even have such media professionally produced... but, still, the results stink. Why?

'The Close' Is Always Found in 'The Why'

Certainly part of the problem stems from a very narrow definition of what a Web site is: by casting your site in terms of a brochure, catalog, e-commerce-site, blog, or portal, you are falling into the trap of concentrating on "The What" rather than "The Why."

This focus on "The What" is exacerbated by some search engine optimization techniques intended to drive traffic rather than to brand product, sell services, or convert traffic into customers. Traffic is important, but converting that traffic into paying customers is more important. Even the best and brightest search engine optimizers will tell you that their job is to deliver traffic, not orders—closing the deal is your job, and anybody who tells you that closing can be done by means of some automatic never-touched-by-human-hands method is just plain nuts.

What you want to be careful of is search-engine tactics and second-rate media that actually get in the way of effectively delivering your marketing message—of telling your business story, creating a memorable brand image, and above all generating profitable business clients.

Web Video Is a Presentation-Marketing Strategy

If you pay any attention to what's going on, you must be aware of the shift in Web thinking and the acceptance of Web video as a fundamental Web-marketing tool. But like most things, there is a right way and a whole bunch of wrong ways to do it.

Web video is a presentation-marketing strategy, and its strength and power come from its ability to overcome the Web's natural sterile, isolationist environment by incorporating verbal and non-verbal human elements that effectively deliver bold, well-crafted memorable messages.

Can a Web-video campaign cure everything that's wrong with your company, or even your sales department's deficiencies? Of course not. But the right message based on "The Why" using appropriate, cost-effective presentation techniques can position your business, brand your product, and generate sales leads.

Don't fool yourself: You and your sales staff have to close the sale. Do not expect to sit back and count your profits while your Web site runs your business by default. Automatic pilot may work for sites that sell commodity items and nationally branded merchandise backed by millions of dollars of advertising, but unless you fall into that category, it's time to get real.

A New Web Paradigm

Here's a new way of looking at your Web site; and if you "get it," you will be able to refashion your site and reinvent your business in a way that gets you remembered and initiates action by your target market:

Start thinking of your Web site as a stage and all the content on it as players you direct in order to deliver your message and tell your story in a memorable manner to a relevant audience.

So let's break down this Web-presentation model and analyze how it meets your marketing needs.

Your Web site is a stage

Businesses that want to use their Web sites as a marketing vehicle have to get past thinking of them in terms of merely digital print media.

Just as damaging is the overreliance on search optimization or IT technical solutions that have little or no relationship to marketing's primary goal of delivering a memorable message that initiates action on the part of the audience.

Knowing the age, sex, and hat size of the last ten thousand visitors to your site may impress some, but having reams of statistical information on your visitors doesn't necessarily mean you know what that data means or how to use it effectively. In the same vein, tons of traffic generated by the latest SEO manipulation doesn't necessarily translate into business.

Start thinking of your Web site as a stage—a presentation and performance platform that allows your company to present your message to your audience in an entertaining, informative, and memorable manner.

Tell your story in a memorable manner

There are many ways to present what you do and why your audience should care, but the most effective way is to deliver that information in a story format. When people come to your Web site, they are putting you on trial and judging everything that you present, in order to see whether it is relevant and convincing, and whether it resonates with their needs.

In their article "Evidence Evaluation in Complex Decision Making" (in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology), Pennington and Hastie explain that when prosecutors tell their version of events to a jury in story format, they are able to achieve a 78% conviction rate, whereas those who do not use a story format have only a 31% conviction rate.

When visitors come to your Web site, they are putting you on trial for your Web-business life.

Memorable communication is all about the performance

Effective communication begins with the campaign concept. If you don't have a well-defined, focused concept that deals with the "why anybody should care factor," your communication will be muddy and irrelevant. Far too many marketing campaigns try to do too much, and in an effort to get your money's worth say everything and anything that comes to mind. Unfortunately, all you're really doing is confusing people—and your core message never gets heard, let alone understood or remembered.

You need professional presenters who know how to use both verbal and non-verbal performance to get your message across, and of course you've got to give the presenters a script that is well written, entertaining, and informative.

Professional actors and voiceover talent bring infinite subtlety, nuance, and meaning to cleverly written scripts. Add sound effects, signature music, and a few post-production enhancements... and you have a memorable presentation.

What you don't need is complicated sets, props, and locations that increase the cost of production. The Web is not television, and there is no need to absorb inflated expenses based on ad agency cost-plus-pricing fees that bear little relation to effectiveness.

Expensive movie-style productions are just not necessary and lose their impact when delivered in relatively small, Web-friendly formats that need to be easily integrated with additional collateral material that can be used to present more details and to answer frequently asked questions.

Last but Not Least

We can learn a lot from children, including from their relentless quest for the answer to "The Why" of things. We often forget that this is the central issue in our lives, and it is only after we've been told by parents, teachers, bosses, and numerous other authority figures to shut up and do what we've told that we sublimate this need and replace it with the far less meaningful and convincing "What."

But if we as marketers can put our faith in delivering "The Why" using the most people-friendly techniques of verbal and non-verbal digital communication, then we will have learned how to achieve a convincing and memorable Web-marketing presentation.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Don't Settle for Web Site Mediocrity

A recent marketing study by ServiceXRG found that most online shoppers (74.5 percent) use a company Web site to find needed information about products and services. However, less than half (44 percent) said the information provided met their needs and expectations.

Other studies, including by the Nielsen Norman Group show, that only 50 percent of Web visitors scroll down the screen to see what lies below the visible part on their PC monitor. That info highlights the importance of catching and holding the attention of your online consumer with that crucial first impression.

The Two Major Elements of Web Site Success

A Web site has to accomplish only two basic things to deliver success for your business—and, also basic, those two things are mission-critical. A successful Web site must be built from the ground up to attract and capture:

1. The attention of your target audience
2. The attention of the major search engines

If you can accomplish these two great things, your Web site business will have excellent prospects for success. If you design a great-looking, user-friendly site with well-written market copy, but your site is not constructed on search-engine-friendly design principles, no one will get the chance to experience your work of art.

If your site is well-built and well optimized, yet the design is boring and amateurish, then your well-placed Web site will drive customers away and just might as well not exist. Every potential customer who either bounces out of your site or can't even find it is another sale for your competitors.

Practical Information for Building a Powerful Presence

Web site success boils down to being easily found in the first pages of the search engine listings and, once found, grabbing and holding the fickle focus of internet shoppers. The Web site design elements and principles that make these two major goals happen are many and are based on industry best-practices and practical marketing principles.

Following are a few key points to keep in mind as you embark on your journey to Web site dominance:

Research your market and build with your customer in mind

Get a very clear picture before starting your Web site project of who your ideal customer really is. Web site preferences of look and feel vary according to gender, age, culture, and interests and this information will be incredibly valuable when you design your site.

A Few Tips on Color to Get You Started...

• Women prefer red and yellow, whereas men like blue and orange. Women also can sense a much greater range of shade variations.
• Older people tend to like sites that are more conservative, with blue, brown, and gray tones. Young adults and teens are often excited by vibrant colors, contrast, and movement.
• Colors evoke different feelings in different people. When targeting a market audience in other countries, be sure to research the cultural color beliefs of that group. In the US and Western Europe, the color white signifies purity and blessing. However, in China and Japan, white is bad luck and red is the traditional color of brides.
• Make sure to use a good contrast between background color and text color. The best choice is a white background with black text. Gray with black text or black with bright text color are also good choices.

These are just a few Web site fundamentals to consider closely when planning your Web site. Keep the customer always at the forefront of your thoughts when designing your site, with the search engines firmly in mind. Find a well-respected Web design agency to build a custom Web site created with your unique goals and market in mind from the very beginning. Remember that you do get what you pay for and that value and quality, not the lowest bid, should be your focus when planning for long-term Web site success.

Measuring Social Marketing and Media

Hardly a week goes by when you don't read or hear about social marketing or social media. Those terms are frequently used, so it's probably a good idea to first define them.

Social marketing was "born" as a discipline in the 1970s. Philip Kotler & Gerald Zaltman of Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University, in 1971 used the term to describe the application of commercial marketing principles to health, social, and quality-of-life issues.

Social marketing was defined as "seeking to influence social behaviors not to benefit the marketer, but to benefit the target audience and the general society." It leverages the value that consumers/customers have in sharing between themselves and with the brand/manufacturer. It delivers a two-way communication link between the consumer/customer and the brand.

While social marketing was originally developed from the desire that companies had to capitalize on commercial marketing techniques, it has evolved into a more integrative and comprehensive discipline that draws on a wide array of technology, from the traditional media to new media, referred to as "social media."

These social media comprise primarily Internet-based tools for sharing and discussing information, such as viral videos, blogs, and online reviews, to help the company build its business.

Whereas your Web site provides customers and visitors with information about your company and its products—and you use the Internet to enhance your reach through things such as pay-per-click, webinars, and search—social media is about leveraging relationships and networks. It complements other online and offline marketing initiatives.

As more and more companies invest resources into social media and marketing, it's natural to ask the value of this investment is to be measured. Social media and marketing doesn't replace other media, just as radio didn't replace newspaper and television didn't replace radio. Rather, social media are another part of your multichannel-marketing efforts.

The same principles that you apply to determine how much you are going to invest in other media apply to online social media. The first principle is to select your target market. Second, develop consistent relevant messaging and content. Just as with any online effort, content is king when it comes to social media.

Today's challenge with social media and marketing is the same challenge affecting all forms of media: People's attention spans are short and they are easily and quickly distracted. Therefore, just like any other effort, a single strike may not be enough. When you decide to leverage social media you need to deploy it consistently over time.

As with any initiative, you can measure the impact of a social media effort only after you've determined the business outcome it supports and established performance-based objectives. For example, possible objectives could include increasing customer trial, improving brand advocacy/customer loyalty, or increasing share of preference. Each of these objectives should be tied to a business outcome. For example, increasing customer trial or share of preference may be tied to business outcomes around acquiring new customers or accelerating the rate of customer acquisition in order to impact revenue and market share.

The metrics you choose for your social media will be determined after you've established what business outcome needs to be achieved and how the social media supports your marketing objective. However, just as with any communication channel, you will want to have some way to create a measurement framework.

One possible approach is to measure your social media similar to how you measure public relations (PR) using outputs, outcomes, and business results as the basis of your framework. Why choose a framework similar to one used for PR? If you review the purpose of each—PR and social media—you can see that they are kissing cousins.

Public relations is about attempting to favorably influence the impressions and attitudes of a target audience primarily through endorsements (published articles, reports, reviews, etc.) by trusted, credible, objective third parties. Social media isn't very far afield from this idea when you consider that it is designed to have an impact on both engagement and influence through the participation and interaction of third-party networks and communities. They both rely on perceived trusted and credible third parties over which you have very little direct control.

How do you use the outputs, outcomes, and business results framework? First, let's define each category, because each category measures something different:

Outputs measure effectiveness and efficiency, such as... whether the campaign cost-effective, in terms of the number of positive reviews produced by community influencers, or the number of people engaged in a blog discussion on a topic related to your category that includes positive mentions of your company and its product.

Outcomes measure changes, preferably behavioral, resulting from the program/campaign/activity. For example, this could be the quantifiable change in the number of positive reviews for your company's recently launched new product.

Business results measure how the program, campaign, or activity helped the organization achieve a specific business objective. For example, the rate of adoption for your company's new product—that is, the incremental lift in sales for the product as a result of the social media.

The more quantitatively you can measure your social media, the better. The closer those measurements are to business outcomes, even better. How rapidly people in the network engage with you and respond to your "call to action," such as write a review, participate in the blog discussion, or forward something to a colleague.. can all be measured.

What you want to know is whether the social media efforts are having any incremental impact, and if so how much, so you can assess return on investment. Remember to keep the business outcome in mind, such as seeing an increase in the number of people "trialing" your product in order to increase the number of qualified leads in the pipeline and ultimately increase the number of "buyers."

So, even if the social media is producing a good return in terms of its specific metric, if it isn't moving the needle on the business outcome then more than likely you need to revisit your effort.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Effective Online Marketing in a Recession

The Chinese curse, "may you live in interesting times," must have been coined in a business climate similar today's. The credit crunch and its reverberations are being widely felt, nowhere more so than in smaller organizations that have fewer marketing resources than the big boys.

Marketers need help to navigate these tricky economic waters while staying focused on profitable expansion rather than contraction. If you can grow, even in these times, you will emerge on the other side of the economic crisis ahead of the competition.

Creativity, combined with on-demand marketing tools, will help. When budgets are tight is the best time to try new and less-costly techniques leveraging Web 2.0 technologies.

What Is the Right Marketing Mix?

Web 2.0 technologies offer new ways for you to reach your audience for little to no cost. Customers have become inoculated to tired methods like email and even pay-per-click. Waiting for them to visit your Web site is simply insufficient to drive growth. Instead, the new generation of marketing tools includes things like social communities, Web site syndication tools, gadgets, and RSS feeds because they are online ("on-demand"), scaling to any size of audience. The best part is that most Web 2.0 technologies are easy to use and are, often, free.

So which Web 2.0 marketing tools can best help you promote your Web site, content, and applications? Remember that before using any of these you must first work out what specific strategic marketing goals you are trying to achieve. Then, see how some, or all of these options, can work together to achieve your goals.

Social networking platforms are extremely popular now. Create a page on Facebook or MySpace for your company or product. Or you can create your own social network at Ning. Populate your page with gadgets and fresh content. Start a group or a fan page so prospective and current customers can stay in touch.

Web site syndication tools put your Web site on the move. For example, if you put the best elements of your Web site on a community toolbar that sits in the browser, then your company goes everywhere on the Internet that your customer does.

Any content or application can be made into a gadget/widget, which is a simple distribution mechanism because it can be hosted on any Web site, and is easy to install into a browser, social-networking site, personalized start page, or toolbar. Check out Widgetbox, where you can easily make your own widgets.

Syndicate your blog or your Web site with an RSS Feed. Don't wait for people to come to read it. Make it available as an RSS feed, which will be sent to them whenever you update the blog. Most blog tools include an RSS creation tool. These feeds can also be hosted on social community page, community toolbar, and personalized start pages.

There are also some great sharing tools, like ShareThis, which can make it easy for you to syndicate product announcements, press releases, blog updates, media coverage—any content you want—to your various networks simultaneously. It's a better delivery mechanism than simple email because it delivers your content to myriad places, like email lists, your Facebook page, etc. with only a few clicks. Moreover, it can track and measure the entire life of the information.

Analyze It: Is It Working?

The most successful Web 2.0 marketers establish measurable goals and then consistently track the results. Set your specific campaign objectives and establish performance goals for each deployment method.

These goals should be aligned to business needs: for example, conversions to membership or purchase; increased site traffic if you are ad revenue based; and conversions from social networks to your Web site.

Gadgets/widgets can help you measure return traffic to your site and repeat purchases. A tell-a-friend or sharing tool can help you capture the power of your word-of-mouth campaigns and measure conversions from social media.

Most importantly, and unlike email analytics, all these tools and their analytics provide instant feedback so that you can react in real time to campaigns that are working (and those that are not).

Optimize It: Make Adjustments Where Needed

Use your analytics to determine what is working best, and then invest there. Tweaking your program based on analysis should allow you to quickly see results. Success begets success. For example, when you update new content on your Web site and your customers are immediately drawn to it time and time again, you want to be able to syndicate this positive experience with other users.

In some cases, the results will surprise you, but trust the data. Just as importantly, if it doesn't work, stop wasting your time. Ignore emotional attachments to popular campaigns if they don't prove their worth.

Anecdotal feedback from prospective and current customers is just as important. Give your visitors and community ample opportunity to provide feedback about your site, campaigns, and products, and make adjustments accordingly. For example, online surveys are easy to deploy and can centralize the results for comparison.

Web 2.0 technologies are easy to adjust and refresh so that you can react more quickly and tweak your campaigns on the fly.

In Perspective

Waiting for the larger economic picture to improve is not going to make the path ahead any easier. Proceeding with targeted and cost-effective marketing campaigns could mean the difference between success and failure during the downturn. It is worth noting that 16 of the 30 companies in the Dow Jones Industrial Average started in downturns. Will your business be number 17?

Going Green: Moving Printed Newsletters, Statements, and Promotions to Email

In this day and age, one could say "Green is the new Black." More than ever, consumers are engaged in environmentally sound practices. And companies can easily leverage this "Green" trend to not only show their customers their concern with the global environment but also reduce the continually increasing cost of the direct mail process.

There will always be a place for direct mail. However, if you look closely at the type and frequency of your printed pieces that you are sending, organizations can easily identify those items that would be a good fit in the email realm.

Many large travel, banking, and other service providers were the first to jump on the email bandwagon for regularly scheduled statements, newsletters, and other already-existing direct mail advertisements.

Properly executed, consumers find many advantages in receiving these types of communications via email.

Advantages for Consumers

• Review, retrieve, and save electronic pieces for easy reference and reduced clutter.
• Immediately respond to offers or call-to-actions with clicks, not postage.
• Share information electronically by forwarding to a friend.

Advantages for Advertisers

• Reduce cost associated with direct mail pieces.
• Shorten the amount of time and reduce the resources needed from "concept to distribution."
• Customize electronic pieces with more personalized content to increase relevancy for each recipient.
• Decrease the amount of time to provide customers with information that they have requested by using "triggered" or "recurring" messages to send electronic collateral or links.
• Track success of email campaigns through electronic reporting within minutes/hours, not days/weeks.
• Collect other customer information that can be used to tailor unique and customized campaigns based on subscription-collection pages as well as by tracking user activity via visited links.

Identifying the Opportunities and Making the Move

But moving direct mail pieces to an electronic format doesn't happen overnight. Also, not all direct mail pieces are a perfect fit for the email world.

Email-design constraints, along with best practices, need to be fully fleshed out to ensure that you are providing a message that is visually pleasing and relevant, and renders properly in the email inbox.

Steps and Considerations for Print-to-Email Shift

One of the biggest obstacles when moving from a printed direct mail piece to email is not having an email address, or having an email address that is not opted-in to receive your messages.

Direct mail itself has an integral role in converting direct mail customers to email customers:

• Include a subscription link/address for individuals who are receiving printed pieces via your direct mail campaigns.
• Provide a review of the benefits of "Going Green" as it relates to the environment, direct costs back to the consumer, as well as other perceived advantages for your customer.
• If you plan to phase out a particular printed piece, be sure to clearly call out any dates that the customer will need to "enroll by" to ensure that they don't miss future communications.
• Offer incentive for the customer to start receiving your message electronically: a discount on a future purchase, points or miles in a loyalty program, enhanced area for VIP access within your Web site, early announcement of discounts, or special or unique offers tailored exclusively for you email-recipient customers.
• If enrollment incentives are non-transferable (unique to those whom you are specifically collecting email addresses for), create your registration page to require your customer to provide his/her "Customer ID" or "Membership ID." Additional database work on your end is needed to ensure that those you have intended to receive the offer are the ones who qualify.
• Collect email information the correct way: Use two email fields that require the customer to enter his/her email address, and verify that both fields entered match. Use a double-opt-in email communication plan that will generate a message confirming the email subscription selections to further ensure a correct email address.
• Ensure that your Web site has an "Sign Up Today" link on every page to capture new customers
• If you require a "Customer ID" or other type of "Membership ID" to access your Web site, create reminders that ask for their email and subscription authorization.
• Promote your "Green Initiative" on your Web site as well as your current printed direct mail materials.

Taking the steps today to create a road map to a "greener" marketing program can result in significant cost savings in the direct mail channel; doing so will also show your customers that you are a responsible marketer, playing in an ever-growing field with businesses that are trying to make the world just a little better.

The ability to track ROI and campaign success with email can also help drive sales and provide for a more unique and customized user experience that will help strengthen your brand.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

The Internet As A Force In Politics: “Obama Would Not Have Won Without The Internet”

The Internet played a disruptive role in the 2008 election in the same way television played a disruptive role in the 1960 election of John F. Kennedy to president. Neither medium was new in the respective elections, but both “came of age” and swung the election towards the winning candidate. Kennedy, in particular, used television ads extensively in his campaign to reach the American voters directly, and embraced simple things like makeup.

The televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon was probably the most decisive event for the election of 1960. The growth of TV as a new medium, and declined use of radio marked a significant change in how campaigns are ran today. For the TV appearence, Nixon refused to wear make-up and therefore appeared unshaven, tired and sweaty under the lights. Kennedy, however, did wear the make-up and so appeared cooler and more composed than Nixon. Kennedy, before the debate, returned tan and attractive from vacation. Not only did Kennedy appear to be better groomed, and handsome, his suit was navy popping off the grey back drop. Nixon’s suit was grey, blending in to the curtain behind him. With these factors combined, Among TV viewers agreed, Kennedy won the debate. Richard Nixon’s deep, strong, radio appealing voice won over all radio listeners, they agreed Nixon won the debate. Nixon entered the race ahead of Kennedy. Television as a new medium changed presidential elections from this point on, marking the election of 1960 significant. Radio voice failed to prevail over now “candidate centered” television campaigns.

If it wasn’t for the Internet, Obama would not be president. Obama’s YouTube spots gathered an aggregate of 14.5 million viewing hours. The Internet was used by candidates previously, Obama really leveraged the internet fully with online video, blogging, social networking and fundraising.

If the internet is as powerful as electing the first black American President then what can the internet do for your business. Very few businesses use the all the benefits available today online from blogging to social media like facebook and twitter these are just a few I could talk about.

The internet is changing the world forever so make sure you are using all the tools available to change the direction of your business.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

Do i need a website?

Q: My business is very small, just me and two employees, and our product really can't be sold online. Do I really need a website?

A: That's a good question. In fact, it's one of the most important and most frequently asked questions of the digital business age.
So should your business have a website, even if your business is small and sells products or services you don't think can be sold online? My answer in 1998 is the same as my answer today: Yes, if you have a business, you should have a website. Period. No question. Without a doubt.
Also, don't be so quick to dismiss your product as one that can't be sold online. Nowadays, there's very little that can't be sold over the internet. More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online.
Let me clarify one point: I'm not saying you should put all your efforts into selling your wares over the internet, though if your product lends itself to easy online sales, you should certainly be considering it. The point to be made here is that you should at the very least have a presence on the web so that customers, potential employees, business partners and perhaps even investors can quickly and easily find out more about your business and the products or services you have to offer.
That said, it's not enough that you just have a website. You must have a professional-looking site if you want to be taken seriously. Since many consumers now search for information online prior to making a purchase at a brick-and-mortar store, your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost.
One of the great things about the internet is that it has leveled the playing field when it comes to competing with the big boys. As mentioned, you have one shot at making a good first impression. With a well-designed site, your little operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company. The inverse is also true. I've seen many big company websites that were so badly designed and hard to navigate that they completely lacked professionalism and credibility. Good for you, too bad for them.
You may have a small operation, but when it comes to benefiting from a website, size does not matter. I don't care if you're a one-man show or a 10,000-employee corporate giant; if you don't have a website, you're losing business to other companies that do.
Here's the exception to my rule: It's actually better to have no website at all than to have one that makes your business look bad. Your site speaks volumes about your business. It either says, "Hey, look, we take our business so seriously that we have created this wonderful site for our customers!" or it screams, "Hey, look, I let my 10-year-old nephew design my site. Good luck finding anything!"
Your website is an important part of your business. Make sure you treat it as such.

Seven Steps to a Successful Marketing Blog - by Connie Reece

How do you start from scratch yet create a top-ranked marketing blog in less than a year?

If I had anything close to a foolproof formula, I'd be making an infomercial right now rather than writing this article. Nevertheless, I can share some tips from my own experience to help you achieve success with your marketing blog.

1. Read

Before you draw up a plan for your blog, do your homework. Find and read the top marketing bloggers (see Mack Collier's Top 25 list). Don't overlook new voices, however; they may have valuable ideas and a fresh perspective.

It's important to listen before jumping into a conversation—and that's what blogging is all about. Often the back-and-forth discussion that takes place in the comments is the most valuable part of a blog post.

2. Comment

I did nothing but read blogs and bookmark them for about a month before I moved on to Step 2, which is to join the conversation by leaving comments on the blogs that you read.

Rather than a bland "nice post" type of comment, write something that adds to the conversation. Why was the subject important to you? How can you use the information?

Now, when you leave your comment, here's where marketing magic begins. Most blogs have three boxes for personal information to identify the commenter:

• First, your name. Unless you are widely known by a nickname or pseudonym, always use your real name.
• The second piece of information requested is your email address; it will not be visible to readers but lets the author know that you're a real person, not a bot or spammer.
• The third blank to fill out is the URL of your Web site or blog, if you have one. When you add a URL in this space, it creates a hyperlink to your site, and when a reader mouses over your name, your blog title is displayed.

Because you've automatically generated a way for readers to find you, it's considered poor etiquette to use the comment space of someone else's blog for self-promotion. So resist the urge to hijack the comments; make your point, and use no more than one hyperlink. Most blog filters are defaulted to flag as spam any comment with two or more hyperlinks.

3. Write

When you first start writing a blog, it takes a while to find your voice. The best advice I can give you? Don't try to be Mack Collier or Drew McLellan or John Moore—or anybody else.

It's good to quote from industry leaders, but take time to formulate your opinions and express them in your own words. And don't write a lengthy essay that draws final conclusions, which has the effect of shutting off dialogue.

Learn to ask for comments in your post, and phrase them in a way that invites response.

4. Respond

When visitors comment on your blog, follow up with an appropriate response in the comment section. There's a fine line between dominating the conversation and keeping it going, so let several comments accumulate before you address them in the same reply.

Remember that commenters may not revisit your blog to see your reply, although this has been made much easier with new tools that allow RSS or email feeds for individual comments. Toby Bloomberg taught me an early lesson about responding to new commenters: She sent a short email thanking me for the comment and introducing herself. What a nice surprise for this brand-new blogger to get a personal email from the Diva! It started a conversation that has continued to this day.

5. Converse

A blog is not your only venue for interaction with readers and thought leaders. Take the conversation to another forum—a microblogging tool like Twitter, for example, or Facebook. More than 900 people follow me on Twitter, which provides many opportunities for interesting or helpful conversations. When I send a "tweet" with a link to a blog post, I always see a spike in traffic.

I do not treat Twitter, however, as just another marketing channel. Users who send only links and never engage with others will not find Twitter valuable.

6. Connect

Look for ways to extend the conversation to face-to-face meetings with other bloggers: Attend conferences, for example, or invite a local blogger to coffee. These connections will invigorate you and help you become better known in the marketing blogger community. When you visit the blog of a personal connection, it's like catching up with an old friend.

7. Rinse & Repeat

Don't rest on your laurels. Blogging is a long-term commitment, and you need to be aware of that—and prepared for it—going in. A writing schedule, or even an editorial calendar, can be a helpful tool to keep you producing fresh content on a timely basis. Set aside time each day to read and comment on other blogs.

Happy Blogging

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

How New Media Helped a Rural UK Mail Order Company Go Nationwide, Global

Company: Wiggly Wigglers
Contact: Heather Gorringe, Managing Director at Wiggly Wigglers
Location: Blakemere, Herefordshire, UK
Industry: Home and Garden, B2C
Annual revenue: Confidential
Number of employees: 17

Quick Read:

Wiggly Wigglers is a natural-gardening retail company descended from a farm in the countryside between England and Wales. Its products are not high-tech, but its marketing certainly is.

In fact, largely due to Wiggly Wigglers' use of new media to build a stable and successful business, it was recognized by Dell as the No. 1 small business in the United Kingdom in this year's Small Business Excellence Awards—and has made it to the finals of the global award.

Staring in 2005, Wiggly Wigglers Managing Director Heather Gorringe all but abandoned traditional marketing and instead took up a podcast, a blog, a wiki catalog, an e-newsletter, and social media outlets such as Facebook and YouTube.

The company has since reduced its annual marketing costs from over £100,000 to less than £3,000, all the while expanding its customer base and building international brand recognition.

Challenge:

Wiggly Wigglers specializes in natural gardening products such as composting kits, meal worms, English flowers, and native hedges.

"We sell products that gardeners may not know that they want," said Gorringe. "No one is going to wake up in the morning and think, 'Ah-ha, I really do need to be composting my kitchen waste using worms.'"

The company's early challenge lay not only in generating demand for such products but also in building a customer base beyond its immediate area, since it resides in a village of just over 60 people in England's rural West Midlands.

To that end, in 1995 it became one of the first mail order companies in the United Kingdom to incorporate e-commerce. "It's essential that we embrace new technology," Gorringe said. "If we didn't do that, we simply wouldn't have any customers."

Still, e-commerce wasn't enough. The company was spending more than £100,000 a year in marketing with direct mail, print advertising, and its catalog, but sales weren't adding up. The company accountant even suggested that it might be time to give up.

But Gorringe was confident in the company's product offerings and felt she simply needed to connect with people and share her enthusiasm. In 2005, she set out on a new campaign to engage people in a bold attempt to both increase leads and decrease marketing spend.

Campaign:

To generate awareness, Web traffic, and community, Wiggly Wigglers launched the following, all of which linked to the company's Web site:

• A podcast: Every Thursday morning, Gorringe records a program covering an array of gardening- and farm-related topics, with frequent references to the company Web site. Gorringe shares her passion, provides detailed information with all the crucial points intact (which, she noted, were often edited out when she had submitted to media interviews), and address many overlooked topics that listeners may not be able to hear about elsewhere.

The podcasts are available on iTunes and the Wiggly Wigglers Web site (where they are also archived); feed addresses are also made available for users to cut and paste into podcatcher (feed aggregator) software.

To help generate additional interest in the podcasts, Gorringe has included celebrity interviews, and she often asks for user reviews on iTunes.

• A blog: Blog posts are written several times weekly by a Wiggly Wigglers staff member. The blog plays off of the podcast and includes tips, seasonal commentary, and industry and company news. Readers have the option of forwarding a post to a friend and clicking through to the podcast, company Web site, and online retail shop.

Readers and other bloggers are urged to comment and contribute to the blog, and their comments are often included in the podcast. Staff members also visit and comment on other blogs.

• A wiki: The company initiated a wiki to create its latest catalog, encouraging bloggers and others to contribute to the product-selection process. The wiki been effective in generating exposure, since bloggers often relay to their own readers their experiences with the wiki or the products they reviewed or selected.
• A Facebook group: A group was established on the social-networking site for users to ask questions, join in forums, and post photos.
• A YouTube channel: The channel includes videos from the podcast, how-to demonstrations, ads, and other videos about the company.
• An e-newsletter: The Wiggl-e-news is sent out twice a month and reminds readers to revisit the company Web site.

For advertising, the company now spends around £2,000 annually on Google AdWords and less than £1,000 on Facebook ads and other media.

It also conducts a good amount of traditional PR work to encourage journalists to write about the company; it has contributed content to select media and has made two podcasts in partnership with major UK magazines.

Results:

• An estimated 50,000 Web site visitors and close to 700,000 pageviews per month
• An average of 40,000 regular podcast listeners, and up to 100,000 listens each month for the company's top 15 podcasts combined.
• More than 60 reviews on iTunes, 99% of which are 5 stars
• 849 members in the Wiggly Wigglers Facebook group
• Over 10,000 video views on the Wiggly Wigglers YouTube channel
• 43,000 e-newsletter subscribers
• A 97%+ reduction in advertising costs
• Higher Google rankings due to blog and podcast content
• Increased online sales that now account for 50% of the company's total sales

The online campaign has also helped Wiggly Wigglers establish broader, even global reach. The company now has more than 90,000 customers, including some in the US and New Zealand.

Gorringe's podcasts have also been noted by media outlets such as The San Francisco Chronicle, and she has received speaking invitations from India and New York.

Lessons Learned:

Instead of money, Gorringe says, she is "spending time, effort, ingenuity and having genuine conversations with people," and this has resulted in a campaign that is not only low-cost but also more long-term.

The podcast has been particularly effective. "It's not only the short-term gain; people still go right back to podcast number one and work their way through. The longevity of this form of marketing, in my opinion, is unique," she said.

Among the steps that Wiggly Wigglers took to make its new media initiatives, such as the podcast, successful:

• Establishing credibility: Although the Wiggly Wigglers name is lighthearted in nature, the company aim has always been "to ensure that our Web site was not a joke and always delivered lots of useful information," said Gorringe. This was also carried through to the podcast and other media. For example, Gorringe was able to build a strong reputation for her podcast by addressing rarely covered but important issues, interviewing celebrities, generating press coverage and working in connection with major UK magazines, and earning 5-star reviews on iTunes.
• Creating community: Particularly through the podcast, blog, and Facebook group, Wiggly Wigglers has built a following of people with similar interests and provided them an outlet to interact with the company as well as each other. "This enables us to keep that conversation going with people who can then help us learn what they need, and what they want, to keep their gardens going," Gorringe said.
• Further fostering participation: Gorringe doesn't wait for users to rate her podcast, comment on the company blog, or contribute to the wiki catalogue; she asks them directly, and thanks them when they do, by reading the comments and reviews over the podcast. She and other staff also make the effort to visit and comment on other blogs so that those bloggers are more likely to respond in kind.

Related Links:

• Wiggly Wigglers Web site
• Wiggly Wigglers podcast
• Wiggly Wigglers blog
• Wiggly Wigglers Facebook page
• Wiggly Wigglers YouTube channel

Note: In 2007, Wiggly Wigglers' turnover was £2.6 million.

Neil Patel, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada

How Your Business Can Benefit From Using Twitter: Four Proven Strategies

In 2006 it was MySpace, last year it was Facebook, and it seems this year Twitter is what everyone buzzing about.

While people are flocking to the site (Twitter claims that its user-base has increased sixfold in the last year), many marketers still aren't sure how to leverage Twitter as a tool to grow their business. This article will walk you through strategies that you can use on Twitter to reach your customers and grow your business.

First, before you develop your Twitter business strategy, you should become familiar with three Twitter search tools:

1. Twitter Search: Formerly known as Summize, this tool was recently acquired by Twitter and integrated as its search platform. This is like your standard search engine, but it searches only Twitter. So you can search for your business, your employees, and industry-specific terms.
2. TwitterLocal: You specify a location, and TwitterLocal will show you the tweets from people who have included in their profile that they are in that location. For example, you can get results from all Twitter users who say they live in New York City. TwitterLocal will also create a feed that you can subscribe to so that you can get updates as new tweets come in.
3. Twellow: Twellow is a search engine that lets you search for people based on several dozen categories. For example, you can search for people in Social Media, Accounting, Environmentalist, and many other categories. It's a good way to find people who might be interested in a certain subject or industry.

Now, here are four ways you can use Twitter to grow your business.

1. Twitter as a customer service tool

Frank Eliason has become a bit of a social-media superhero this year; he has leveraged his ComcastCares account on Twitter to provide live, real-time customer service for Comcast customers.

Frank and his team monitor Twitter to find people who mention that they are having a problem with their Comcast service or who ask a Comcast-related question; the ComcastCares team swoops in to reply and either help solve their problem or put them in touch with someone who can address their concerns.

This has two big benefits for Comcast. First, it helps solve more problems as they happen for Comcast customers. But a big ancillary benefit is that it improves Comcast's image as the rest of us see how proactive it is about addressing problems and concerns from its customers. That greatly improves Comcast's image and reputation, especially among that early adopters and influentials who use Twitter.

It also makes us wonder why Comcast's competitors aren't doing the same thing that Frank and his team are...

Key action point: Start monitoring Twitter using the above search tools to find out what your customers are saying about your business on Twitter. If you find that they are having customer-service issues, respond to and address their problems as quickly as possible. Also, consider adding an account to Twitter that's devoted to customer service for your company. After you begin spending time on Twitter, customers will begin replying directly to you with their customer service issues, which makes providing support easier.

2. Twitter as a tool to build brand awareness

As you use Twitter, you will see that your number of followers will likely increase. As you develop a network of connections on Twitter, you can then build awareness for your brand or business by making your followers aware of it.

Melanie Notkin did just that by keeping her followers up to date on the progress of her community site for aunts, Savvy Auntie. And as she made friends and connections on Twitter, her network of friends had a vested interest in helping her get the word out about her site.

"When you connect with others on Twitter in an authentic way, reciprocal trust is natural." Notkin explains. "@johndoe Follows @janesmith. I trust him, so I'll trust her. And from those connections comes genuine word-of-mouth support, both within the Twitterverse and out. But if you are inauthentic, and you do more Tweeting than Listening, chances are, no one is listening to you either. That's spam, not community.

I am not "using" Twitter to boost my brand. I am engaged in a reciprocal, supportive community of super smart and helpful people who genuinely want to see me and my company succeed. As I truly do theirs."

Key action point: As you use Twitter to connect with and grow your network, that network will naturally want to promote you and your business. You can create natural WOM for your business, if you are honest and consistent in how you use Twitter.

3. Twitter as a promotional tool

Most Twitter users do not like it if a company uses its Twitter presence as a direct promotional tool. However, if your business already has multiple Twitter accounts set up for real people, it might be a good idea to set aside an account that alerts customers to specials or deals that you are running.

This is what Dell did in setting up an account for Dell Outlet. The beauty of this is that it's completely opt-in, you have to follow Dell Outlet on Twitter in order to hear about Dell's offerings. So if you don't want to be advertised to, simply don't follow that account on Twitter.

Dell opened a Twitter account for Dell Outlet in June 2007 and claims that the account has led to over $500,000 in sales so far. And as of September 2008, the account had over 1,800 followers.

Key action point: Consider offering a separate Twitter account that promotes your products and services exclusively. This way, you allow your employees that are active on Twitter to communicate with your customers, and provide customer service. And as your employees encounter someone on Twitter that's interested in your products, you can point them to your Twitter account where you promote your products and services. This is a very 'hands-off' way to use Twitter as a tool to promote yourself, and it's done in a way that respects how Twitter members use the site.

4. Twitter as a tool to cover live events/breaking news

A great way to use Twitter is to cover live events and relay breaking news to your followers. Partly due to its 140-character limit, Twitter has become a wonderful way to quickly get breaking and live news out to a large audience. In fact, many recent major news stories have been talked about on Twitter hours before mainstream media reported on those stories.

A favorite way that Twitter users use the site is to relay breaking news from conferences or media events. If a company has a major announcement at a conference or press event, it is reported on almost instantly via Twitter. In fact, recent events such as Apple CEO Steve Jobs's announcement of new Apple products has resulted in surges of traffic to Twitter that have all but brought the site to its knees.

Companies are also using Twitter in times of crisis to relay information to their followers. Recently, during Hurricane Gustav, The Home Depot used its Twitter account to get information to followers on how they can protect their home and personal belongings from storm damage. This is a great example of providing information to people on Twitter that they can find value in, but which can also indirectly promote your business.

Key action point: If your company is holding a live event, or a press conference, or if there is any breaking news that you want to report, consider using Twitter as a channel to do so. This is an instance where direct promotion of your business is fine, because breaking news holds inherent value, and people will want to hear about it before others do.

For example, if your company is unveiling its 2009 lineup of products, announce that on Twitter, and also inform your followers where they can get more information about these products. This will also help generate excitement and interest among Twitter users, and likely increase your number of followers.

Above all else, spend some time investigating how Twitter users are using the site, and then begin using the site as others are. Take at a look, for example, at MarketingProfs on Twitter. After becoming used to how the site functions and how users communicate with each other, you will have a better idea of the capabilities of the format, which will help make your efforts more successful.

As with other forms of social media, when you use Twitter always consider whether you are creating value for your customers. Doing so is a wonderful way to ensure that your Twitter strategy has every chance of being a success!

Six Free Tools for Online Reputation Management

Online reputation management consists of tracking your brand and reacting when necessary.
Though sometimes tedious, brand monitoring can save you from a potential disaster when someone cites your name in an article that misrepresents you. Aside from protection, it can help you proactively join conversations around your topic area, helping to get your brand name out there.

It's almost 2009... and if you aren't active online you are missing valuable opportunities to advertise your value to the world—through articles, blog entries, social-network profiles, comments, videos and more.

As both a content producer and consumer, your name is being spread throughout each of these circuits by people you might not even know. In fact, research firm IDC finds that there is more content being created about you than you create yourself.

Part of your brand is in the hands of others, so it's critical that you monitor it before a flame becomes a forest fire.

Do you know what people are saying about you?

If you want to know how to track your presence and monitor your brand, then you are in luck. Below are the top 6 tools for your online reputation management program. They can be used for product and corporate brands in addition to your personal brand. Use each to search, locate and respond when necessary.

Also, they can be leveraged as part of your marketing strategy, to discover your audience and market to them directly.

1. Google—Google.com/alerts

* Definition: Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of query or topic. You can subscribe to each alert through email and RSS.

* Application: Many people use their RSS readers to view these alerts, and PR agencies use alerts to track their campaigns. You can monitor a news story, keep current with your industry and competitors, and see who is writing about you, all at the same time.

* Marketing strategy: Set a comprehensive alert, notifying you of stories, as they happen, for your name, your topic, and even your company. As your feed reader fills up with articles that match your query, you should start a database of bloggers and journalists so that you can market to them directly and form better relationships.

2. Blog posts—Technorati.com

* Definition: If you have a blog, then you have to be on Technorati, which is the largest blog search engine in the world. When you register with it, Technorati tracks "blog reactions," or blogs that link to yours.

* Application: Search for your name on Technorati, and subscribe to RSS alerts so that when someone blogs about you, you find out.

* Marketing strategy: Use Technorati to log every blog that is linking to your own. Keep track of these blogs, and when you write your next post link to them. Doing so will give recognition to those who have recognized yours.

3. Blog comments—backtype.com

* Definition: Recently, a new service came out to solve the problem of monitoring blog comments. Think about it, someone can comment on you on a series of blogs, but if you only track posts you'll really miss out. BackType is a service that lets you find, follow, and share comments from across the Web. Whenever you write a comment with a link to your Web site, BackType attributes it to you.

* Application: Use backtype.com to remind yourself where you commented, discover influencers who are commenting on blogs that you should be reading, and continue conversations that you started previously.

* Marketing strategy: Establish a list of key influencers in your topic area. Then follow their comments from blog to blog and leave your own comment after theirs. This will help build your brand by association.


4. Discussion boards—boardtracker.com

* Definition: Along with blogs and traditional news stories, discussion boards are another channel where people can gather in a community and talk about you. Most people disregard discussion boards until they see other sites commenting on information viewed on them.

* Application: Use boardtracker.com to get instant alerts from threads citing your name.

* Marketing strategy: Find all boards that are related to your subject matter and join the top 2-5, based on the amount of conversations and the volume of registered users. Join the communities by starting threads, while leaving your name and URL at the end of each post.

5. Twitter—search.twitter.com

* Definition: Twitter is a microblogging service, hosting over three million people. Twitter messages (tweets) move at the speed of light, and if you don't catch them they will spread like a virus.

* Application: Using Twitter search, you can locate any instances of your name and tweet back (or remain silent).

* Marketing strategy: As you see tweets with your name attached to them, you should use the "@" sign and the tweeter's account name (e.g., @danschawbel) to respond accordingly. As you respond, you start to build brand recognition and your audience feels that you care and are actively listening.

6. FriendFeed—friendfeed.com/search

* Definition: FriendFeed is a social aggregator. You have the ability to take all of your social accounts, such as YouTube, Delicious, Twitter, blog, and Flickr, and pull them together into a single (Friend) feed.

* Application: You can conduct searches on your brand throughout all social networks at once using this search engine. Aside from learning about the latest video or tweet related to your topic, you can analyze comments that people make under them.

* Marketing strategy: Grab a FriendFeed widget (friendfeed.com/embed/widget) and display it on your Web site or blog, so people get a sense of your social media activity. Also, as you search and locate people who are talking about your brand on FriendFeed, respond to them through comments.

All six of these free tools can be used to monitor and market your company's brand name as well.

If you aren't taking care of your online reputation, others will. It's time to find out what people are saying—and do something about it. Marketing to your audience becomes seamless after you've done your homework using these tools.

Why Google's New Web Browser Chrome Matters to You

Why Google's New Web Browser Chrome Matters to You

Last week Google released Chrome, its new standards-compliant Web browser. But what does that mean to you, the business person? Though Google offers a great comic book that explains the big changes, it is a bit jargon-heavy and, frankly, long at 32 (comic) pages.

So I offer you an introduction of Google Chrome for the layman. We will look briefly at the improvements in the user interface, performance, and technology advancements so that you can more easily decipher why Google Chrome matters to you.

The Big (Browser) Picture

The browsers of yore (if you can call 15 years ago "yore") were built on the assumption that a Web browser was your gateway to the Information Superhighway. Meaning—it was required for entry onto the big road, and any improvement to the browser was by definition an improvement to your Web experience.
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Over time, more and more features were added to the browsers in an effort to help you. The problem is that these features usually ended up hurting more than helping.

* Making up their own stuff. Some sites worked in some browsers, while others did not. This is a well known issue in Web development and often the cause of many Web users' frustrations.
* Increase their "silicon footprint." Browsers have evolved into notorious memory hogs. This means a Web experience with continually worsening rush-hour traffic.
* Crashing your entire system. Browsers tend toward "memory leaks." So if you leave a browser open for a couple of hours, or worse, overnight, you usually wake up a sluggish beast that can only be slain with a computer system reboot.

You've probably heard the phrases Web 2.0 and Web 3.0 (the latter usually stated with sarcasm by many). These terms are also a neat and tidy way to think about Google Chrome.

Chrome aims to revolutionize the browser marketplace by introducing a browser that takes a back seat to your Web surfing. Chrome does the bare minimum of what a Web browser should do, but in the safest, fastest way possible. Google states that it seeks to have the Web visitor "ignore the browser."

In essence, Google is trying to do for the browser what it did for search—revolutionize. Let's first look at the changes in the browser user interface.

Google Chrome's Welcomed Changes to the User Interface

Chrome's interface is absolutely minimalist. Instead of the typical bloated browser interface, you have a few non-distracting options:

* Window tabs
* Navigation buttons (back, forward, refresh)
* URL entry field (called the One Box)
* Options and customization menu

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That's it, really. You don't even have a print button (the reasoning being most Web pages offer better print-versions online. But don't worry, you can still access a print option from the Options menu).

It's a bit disconcerting when you first open up Chrome—you ask "where is all the stuff?" But then you quickly realize you can happily do without all of it.

The biggest change to the browser user interface is the introduction of placing the tabs at the very top of the browser application window. This places the attention on what matters during an online visit—the online content. These tabs can easily be selected and dragged outside the main browser window to open a new browser window. When you open a new tab, it gives you a visual history of your nine most recent visited Web pages and most used search engines and bookmarks. That's one helpful, simple start-up page.

Helpful, Non-Distracting Features

Chrome has some non-intrusive "features" you are likely to find helpful. For example, the browser adds destination suggestions as you type (a feature in Firefox 3.0). It also darkens the main URL of a Web site for improved readability.

My favorite is the downloads feature. When you download a file, the browser provides a very informative animation as to where you can access the downloaded file. Chrome even gives you an option to view your entire download history with a descriptive download history page stating when and what was downloaded.

Another feature is how one can easily and quickly create a link to your favorite Web application (like Gmail) by simply dragging and dropping the bookmark onto your desktop. This type of feature is indicative of the industry's growing awareness that the future is not in applications (or "apps") you install on your computer, but rather apps you access online.

Already, you probably notice that a lot of the applications and tools you use are online (Web mail, online banking, social networking). These type of apps, called "Webapps" will continue to proliferate. Google Chrome hopes to be the browser of choice for Webapps.

Chrome's Technological Advancements

Chrome is based on Webkit, the open source browser engine that powers Apple's Safari for Mac and PC. This is important, because Chrome's "browser base" is already solid (despite the typical memory hogging issues that plague all browsers). Interestingly, Chrome currently runs only in Windows.

Chrome further improves on Webkit, the biggest improvement being how Chrome handles memory.

Rather than having a single process ("thread") store all your browsing sessions, every Webpage is separated into its own process; that is, it's "multi-threaded." This concept isn't new—most operating systems do this to increase system stability. Yet Chrome is the first browser to accomplish this technical feat.

Chrome even has its own Task Manager similar to Window's Task Manager so you can "kill" or cancel processes that are hogging resources, just as in Windows. This is a really, really big evolution in browser development, so let's have a moment of silence to respect it.

Chrome's next big advancement is the JavaScript engine. JavaScript is a powerful scripting language that powers most modern Web applications. The problems are that JavaScript tends to have memory leaks, which in turn hogs memory on your computer. This tends to occur more frequently than in, say, the Flash plug-in. But not anymore. Chrome completely reinvents the javascript wheel with its V8 engine (were car buffs working on Chrome?). Without going into developer-speak details, just understand this: Chrome's processing of JavaScript is fast and powerful. Really fast and powerful.

There is also the matter of performance testing to consider. One of the problems with current browsers is that performance testing was limited to actual user (people) testing. Google added a level of automated testing by leveraging its amazing processing power infrastructure. Instead of waiting for a person to report a bug, it can run thousands of scenarios on many different popular Web sites to ensure full operability. The end result—fewer bugs upon release (and, hopefully, fewer releases).

Finally, if you're concerned about security, there are some great other features to Chrome that you will enjoy, such as Incognito mode. In this mode, your entire Web session will not appear in your browser and search history, and it leaves no traces such as cookies. Simply close your browser and your trail is erased completely. This is a great feature for public computers everywhere.

Getting Started with Google Chrome

Go to Google to download and install Chrome. Within three clicks and one minute, you will be ready to start surfing with Chrome. The default settings are to import your bookmarks from your other browsers, so if you don't want this, click on "Customize Options."

Interestingly, the default settings are not to set Chrome as the default browser. Internet Explorer could learn a lesson on that one.

Try it for a week. If you don't like it, go back to Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Safari. Or uninstall Chrome altogether. There is absolutely no risk.

Closing Thoughts

Will Chrome eat away at Microsoft's already eroding market share? As a Web developer who has seen the rise and fall of Netscape, the monopoly of Internet Explorer, and the meteoric rise of Firefox, my hope is yes.

Because it's nice to see progress in the browser market after Internet Explorer 6's seven years of silent reign.

Welcome back innovation, we missed you.

Email Marketing Disobedience: Six laws of proper e-Newsletter creation, and why you should ignore every one of them

Nobody loves email marketing more than I do. But even I admit that within the grand taxonomy of consumer touchpoints, e-newsletters hold a sorry position.

They're the longwinded busybodies who never get invited to the cool parties. Porcelain-skinned print campaigns turn up their perky, sans-serif noses at e-newsletters' frumpy templates and canned copy. Super Bowl spots kick sand in e-newsletters' bespectacled faces.

Yet, these boxy embodiments of mediocrity move product and build loyalty. Marketing people are aware of this—they've proven it with charts and everything. You need an e-newsletter and you know it.

Before rolling up your sleeves, cranking up the REO Speedwagon, and cooking up some long-form creation-wizard-based love, please review the following six bromides from a recent how-to article phoned in by a reigning email-marketing magnate.

After each, I'll explain how to do the exact opposite so that you can avoid polluting the e-cosystem with mediocre e-newsletters.

1. Share expertise

Wrong—share ignorance. Consider the old Zen adage "the more I know, the less I know." It means the more expertise we have, the more we're dazzled by just how little we currently understand.

Pick something you're marvelously clueless about and confess the fact to your readers. They won't fault you for it—but they just might love you for it. As long as the topic you're "ignorant" about is something they didn't even know they were ignorant about until reading your enlightening e-newsletter.

2. Tell a success story

Wrong—tell a failure story. It humanizes your company and demonstrates your high standards. Example: a legendary 1960s ad for the Volkswagen Beetle showed just the car, with "Lemon" in bold type. The copy explained, "The chrome strip on the glove compartment was blemished and needs to be replaced."

While other car companies waxed self-congratulatory about success, Volkswagen cornered the market talking about failure. You can do the same with your e-newsletters—simply master the art of strategic self-criticism. It never fails.

3. Conduct a relevant interview

Wrong—conduct a gloriously irrelevant interview. Approaching a topic head-on can be a headache—especially if it's been done to death. Try a sideways approach. What can your design firm glean from interviewing a homeless man? How might a chat with a priest spice up your women's fashion newsletter? Why would a software developer pick a farmer's brain about emptying grain bins into semi trailers?


4. Take an in-depth look at a product or service you offer

Wrong—take an in-depth look at a product or service you refuse to offer. As the visionaries of 37signals say in Getting Real (sort of a Thomas Paine's Common Sense for the digital generation), "do less than your competitors in order to beat them."

Embrace l'esprit du moment by poking satirical fun at the superfluous features common to your industry. Waving the simplicity banner while it's still in vogue is smart—and your next e-newsletter is a smart place to wave it.

5. Springboard off of current events

Wrong—springboard off of that which is timeless. Your readers are suffering from information overload—spare them the latest trope on gas prices, politics and Paris Hilton. Realize that the guys reading your scrap metal e-newsletter probably don't give a rat's ass that it's Halloween.

And while you're at it, throw away the springboard. Relying on convoluted conversation-starters is a milquetoast way to win friends and influence people—both in life and in e-newsletters.

6. Ask your readers

Wrong—listen to readers. In the words of Louis Armstrong, "if you have to ask what jazz is, you'll never know." Same wisdom applies to knowing the hearts of your readers. Get in sync with customers' needs by observing their riffs in natural online habitats built around your company. Replace pre-fab surveys with improvised forums. The intuition you gain will free you up to follow the inspiration of the moment and hit the high notes needed to create authentic brand loyalty.


Rebelling against clichés will keep your customers reading, and it'll keep you writing—without falling asleep. This matters. Readers can sense when you're just going through the motions. That can't be good for your brand, regardless of what the stats say.

So ask yourself: Am I excited about my e-newsletter? Does it express my voice and vision? Did I have fun creating it? If you have to ignore an army of email experts' advice (including mine) to get to where you can answer "yes" to those questions, so be it. That's called employing the virtues of e-newsletter disobedience.

Adopting a Web 2.0 Mindset: Walk Before You Wiki

Since Tim O'Reilly coined the phrase "Web 2.0" back in 2004 at a new media conference, companies have been scrambling to figure out how to deploy Web. 2.0 applications... but for all the wrong reasons.

I've observed CEOs pointing to competitors' sites, insisting, "They've got user-generated content so we need to do it," or, "A blog will help with our PR efforts during this downturn."

But where is the customer in the equation?

For all the buzz about blogs, wikis, widgets, and other forms of user-driven Web interactions, the question that's rarely asked is, "Is this what our customers want?"

Recently, when I helped a client pose that question to its Web site users, only 1 out of 10 users asked for social applications. The majority wanted the company to improve its site's core navigation and search functionality.

Essentially, they were asking my client to "walk before you wiki" by enhancing core functionality they use every time they visit the site.

Given the exposure of social applications in the media and in the boardroom, now's the time for Web business owners to make the case for building engaging online interactions with customers.

First, you need to recognize that customers will engage with site features they need and want. Simply put, you can design the most useful, elegant application, but if your customers don't need it—it will eventually languish on your site as another "distraction."

By listening to your customers, you'll understand what they value and need on your site and be able to prioritize new projects based on this information along with business and technical considerations.

Learn to Listen

How can you learn what customers and prospects need from your site? Based on your budget and target audience, there are several ways to effectively glean information. Ideally, you should use a mix of tools and information to get a holistic view of your users to understand what they want from your site, their preferences, behavior, and Web savviness.

Third-party research

To get started and obtain broad insights into your target audience's online needs, consider leveraging third-party research. Research conducted via a consumer panel should provide you with statistically significant data that, when coupled with primary research (see below), can help you make a business case.

If you have a well-defined and narrow target audience (e.g., male, married, age 35-54, high education and income levels, etc.), you can leverage third-party research from firms like Forrester Research (www.forrester.com) that survey consumers and report out on specific online activities they engage in, like banking, shopping, participation on social sites, etc.

Primary research

If your user base straddles age brackets, income levels, geographies, etc., or your online offering doesn't fit neatly into a typical retail or services category, then you should conduct your own research. There are some very effective—and inexpensive—methods you can use depending on your objectives:

* Web analytics: Tap into your analytics data to understand how your site's visitors behave. Are they exiting certain pages at a high rate? Do they tend to search for the same products while ignoring or missing others? Analytics will surface those trends but won't reveal user intent. So while you might not be able to pinpoint what is causing visitors to leave certain pages at a high rate, or search for certain products, you can tee up those issues as scenarios to test in a usability setting.

* Surveys: There are a variety of inexpensive survey tools, including Constant Contact (www.constantcontact.com), Survey Monkey (www.surveymonkey.com), and Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com) that you can use to quickly build and launch customer surveys either on-site or via email. Surveys generate quantitative data about why users visit your site and how they perceived their experience, but, again, they won't reveal user intent.

* Usability testing: Once you've identified a list of user needs and potential issues—based on your analytics and survey data—you can run any problem scenarios through a usability test. Are users telling you they primarily come to your site to find product information but give your site a low rating on its search and browse functionality? Run these kinds of scenarios through usability testing to uncover specific problem areas that you can then work to fix.

Walk Before You Wiki

Before you launch a blog, or enable user-generated content on your site, make sure you can answer the basic question, "Do I know what my visitors need and am I delivering it to them?"

Tackling the 'Too Hard to' Pile of Marketing Accountability

If you're like us, you probably have one of those piles on your desk that keeps being moved from one corner to another. You know, that pile you need to get to but avoid because it will take some real effort to tackle? For many marketing professionals, marketing accountability, analytics, and ROI are in this pile.

Not too long ago at a marketing conference where Laura was speaking, the organizers had set up round tables with specific topics for discussion over breakfast. Laura was sitting at the measuring marketing ROI table (of course, where else would I be sitting?), strategically located right next to the buffet line.

While she was sitting there waiting for people to join her, she kept hearing people say, "Oh, measuring marketing, that's just too hard." Hundreds of marketers were attending this conference, and about two dozen tables of 10 were set to accommodate the early risers. Yet only four other brave souls joined her.

We marketers must stop avoiding this topic and tackle the pile.

As Sylvia Reynolds, CMO of Wells Fargo, has said, "Marketing must be a driver of tangible business results...we must start with the goal in mind and a clear way to measure that goal."

ROI is important for accountability—besides being able to justify spending and enable us to run the marketing organization more effectively and efficiently, knowing what is and isn't working helps marketing achieve greater influence and serve in a more strategic role.

Various surveys suggest that over one-third, and as much as 42%, of marketing budgets are not adequate enough to achieve the outcomes and impact expected. Perhaps your organization like many others is in the thick of budget planning. A key part of budget planning is to establish and validate the money you plan to spend. The more aligned Marketing is with the outcomes of the organization and the more the plan includes performance targets and metrics, the more likely you will be allocated the budget you need to achieve the expected results.

So what does it take to tackle this Marketing Accountability pile? Here are six affordable steps that any marketing organization can take to start whittling away at the marketing accountability and measurement pile.

Focus

Nothing of importance miraculously gets done on its own. Effectively tackling the marketing measurement pile will take all of Covey's seven habits—from taking a proactive approach and beginning with the end in mind (that is, the outcomes you are expected to impact), to keeping the effort a priority when other things present themselves as urgencies, to making marketing measurement a win/win for you, your team, and the rest of the organization.

More than likely, you are going to need a cross-functional team to tackle this pile—people from Finance, Sales, IT, Operations, etc.—working collaboratively to define the metrics and hunt down and organize the data.

Plan an attack

You know that age-old question, "How do you eat an elephant?" The answer: "One bite at a time." That approach is valid for the marketing accountability and ROI question.

If this is a new effort for you, you need to break it into manageable pieces. Quantify your objectives, decide how you will measure them, collect the data that you need to meet the objectives, establish a baseline, gain commitment to the measurement plan, and, finally, measure.


Get data

"Data is the new creative," declares Stephan Chase of Marriott Rewards. Establishing metrics, determining effectiveness, understanding efficiencies... all take data. Without data you cannot monitor and measure results.

And don't assume that you have the data that you need to measure your objectives. For example, if you want to measure how many new customers you interest in a new product, you may find that you need first to determine what a "new" customer is. This may require different views of your customer records or new strategies for evaluating.

Analyze

Once you have the data, the challenge is to generate insights that facilitate fact-based decision-making.

One of the most valuable applications of data and analytics is in leveraging your metrics. The metrics are what enable continuous improvement as you strive to achieve and set new performance standards.

Just looking at numbers doesn't tell you as much as evaluating trends or creating statistical models that help you identify an optimized approach to your marketing efforts. Consider looking at your measurements for what isn't immediately obvious, such as what might have happened if that campaign had gone to the three bottom deciles of customers.

Use a systemized process

You may need to set up systems and processes that enable you to capture and track results on an ongoing basis. Many organizations put a substantial amount of energy into initiating these programs and then let them fizzle as other priorities surface. It takes both process and discipline to sustain a measurement effort.

Systems help you automate a process so that the process can become a manageable part of your day-to-day operations. Today, every marketing organization is moving at a breathless pace. Implementing a test-and-control environment can keep you from having a fatal, head-on collision.

Train

Many marketers are unaccustomed to living in a metrics-based environment. You may need to invest in measurement, analytics, as well as data training and skills development.

Start by taking a skills inventory. Find out who in the organization has data management, analytics, and measurement skills. Decide what skills they need to perform at your expected levels. Develop training that fills the skill gaps.

Doing this in-house allows you to tailor to your needs, but consider courses from universities, associations, and external consultants to fill out your requirements.


Moving marketing performance metrics from the "too hard to" pile to the "we can do it" pile can reap rewards for the entire organization.

Top Tip Today

Three Ways to Improve Your Lead-Nurturing Strategy.

by Kathy Rizzo

Although more than 80% of high-tech marketers say they have a lead-nurturing strategy, 64% say their strategy needs improvement, according to a February 2008 survey by TeleNet Marketing Solutions.

As for which areas of overall lead-generation strategy tech marketers would like to improve in the next year, nurturing of long-term leads was the No. 1 response.

Nurturing shortens the sales cycle and improves return on investment from lead-generation activities, so it is important to reconsider your nurturing strategy frequently. Consider the following three recommendations to enhance your strategy.

1. Add or enhance human-touch strategies

When developing a lasting business relationship, it is critical to engage in verbal communication not only to exchange information but also to build trust. Legitimate relationships are an important part of business—critically important when selling a service or solution. If you rely solely on electronic-based communication to nurture prospects, you are missing a vital element.

Consider the definition of lead nurturing: In a complex sales cycle, nurturing is a relationship-building approach utilizing multiple media to provide relevant information to prospects and engage in an ongoing dialog until qualified prospects are deemed "sales ready."

Another way of looking at the value of human touch is to consider the opportunities missed simply because the prospect is too busy to search the Internet for your company's content or download a whitepaper or respond to your email.

However, if you personally reach out to prospects via well-timed phone calls, you make it easier for your prospect to focus on the problem and take action. This is especially true when the telephone calls are relevant and focused, providing value to the prospect.

Here are three items to consider when you add or enhance a telemarketing (human-touch) nurturing approach.

A. Contact prospects at the opportune time:

• Always look for direction from your prospect (e.g., "Please call me back in two weeks").
• When appropriate, recommend the next phone call based on the buying stage of the prospect. These intervals can be predetermined for each buying stage, making it easy to recommend the next phone call ("C" rated leads are contacted in 30 day intervals, "D" rated leads are contacted in 60 days intervals, etc.).
• Consider the receptiveness of prospects. If they are receptive to new information and frequent communication, shorten the intervals between phone calls. Do not try to force all prospects into the same contact strategy.
• Look for triggering events. Newsworthy events such as a major acquisition may serve as an opportune time to contact a prospect.

B. Train your team on the four goals of each telemarketing contact:

1. Only provide prospects information that is deemed valuable and relevant.
2. Expand prospects' profile by learning more about their current situation and environment. Get them talking!
3. Continue to learn about changing business priorities and critical issues that will affect purchase plans.
4. Determine whether a prospect is "sales ready."

C. Be strategic and think before dialing:

• Think about the extent of the prospect's previous interaction with your company.
• Consider details of prior nurturing practices—conversations, e-communications, content downloaded, events, etc.
• What do you already know about the prospect's situation?
• What else does your sales representative need to know in order to successfully engage in the sales process with this prospect?
• How can you be valuable to the prospect?

A nurturing telemarketing call is very different from a tele-qualification phone call. When integrating telemarketing into a nurturing strategy, pay special attention to the required skill level of your agents. Because calls are not scripted, the agents must be trained on your solution, understand buyer challenges, and have adequate content to convey value to the prospects.

Most importantly, agents should have excellent communication skills; if they do, prospects will view your company as a credible source and viable solution for their business situation.

2. Get back to the basics with your email strategy

Email is an important part of any nurturing strategy. While you can integrate graphic-rich emails into the strategy, it is worthwhile to also include periodic text emails that appear as personalized communication to your prospect.

Develop plain-text email templates that are perceived as relevant and individualized and do not come across as mass advertising.

Create templates that are easily customized by your nurturing team. Messages can be emailed to strategic groups of contacts (e.g., prospects in a specific industry) or sent on a case-by-case basis.

As you create the email templates...

• Keep the text short and limit the information. Many people do a quick scan of their messages in the preview window before opening them, so make the message brief. Be mindful about the amount of information you provide. If you offer all possible information up front, there is little reason for prospects to speak with you. The key is to give just enough relevant information to pique their interest and desire to continue a dialogue with your company.
• Tie your message into a common business issue. Personalize your message to your prospect's industry or job function by stating a unique business issue that they likely face. For instance, "Being in a services industry presents unique challenges such as..." This shows prospects that you understand their situation and are talking directly to them.
• Reference past contact. Whether following up with a prospect because they downloaded a whitepaper or because of a previous conversation, the email should reference the last contact (including the date, if available). This catches the attention of the prospect and acts as a reminder of their previous interest. Examples: "Based on our conversation on March 16" or "Last week you downloaded our special whitepaper titled..."
• Build on your human touch. It is important to have emails come from the persons providing human-touch telemarketing. This tactic helps build the relationship and allows your prospects to identify with a real person within your company. Prospects do not develop relationships with companies, they develop relationships with individuals in those companies.

3. Develop a scorecard to measure effort and ensure the appropriate focus

Every touch is not created equal. Many companies develop scorecards to assess sales-readiness (budget, authority, need, timeframe). While that's an effective use of scoring, it's also recommended that you develop a "nurturing touch" scoring system, whereby a numeric value is assigned to each type of touch (conversation, strategic voicemail, email, mailed fulfillment, etc.).

When creating the scoring system, consider the following:

• Expense of the touch. For instance, a one-on-one conversation is typically the most expensive, so it receives the highest score. Conversely, a text email is less expensive and receives a lower score.
• Impact of the touch. A one-on-one conversation provides the most impact, as information is given and received simultaneously. On the other hand, text emails are read only 40-60% of the time, with a small number resulting in immediate two-way communication.

In this example, the scoring system may give a numeric value of "4" to every conversation and "2" to every email, which accounts for the difference in both the expense and the impact of the two types of touches. By placing a simple score on each touch, you can start to monitor the average score (or effort) required to nurture a "sales-ready" lead.

Prospects should not be engaged in the nurturing process indefinitely. By creating a scoring system, you can evaluate when a prospect reaches a point of diminishing returns. For instance, you may determine that the average score to create a sales-ready lead is 35 points. Use this intelligence to review prospects that are in your nurturing system; those with a very high score can either be removed from the nurturing system or flagged to receive only lower-cost communication.

Keep nurturing activities focused on the most suitable prospects to ensure the success of your program.

Kathy Rizzo is vice-president of marketing for TeleNet Marketing Solutions (www.telenetmarketing.com), which she cofounded in 1999.