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Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Web sites need to shout
If you have a web site it needs to shout out loud to its visitors; it needs to say fairly quickly what the site is about and what people should do with it. The headlines on this page (hopefully...!) tell you quickly that this site is about online success. If that's what your after then this is the page for you. But why do you need to be so obvious. Surely we shouldn't "dumb down" what we are doing? The problem lies in the fact that more and more people are consuming multiple media simultaneously. For instance, around 70% of people surf the web AND watch TV at the same time, according to one recent report. This study also shows that around a third of the people who visit your web site will be reading a newspaper or magazine at the same time as looking at your web site. As the amount of media increases each year, we have to do something in order to consume it all. After all, we only have the same amount of time each year. So, the only way to deal with the excess information is to multitask - deal with two bits of media (or more) at the same time. What this means to online businesses is that you never have the full attention of your web site visitors. You are competing against a TV show, a magazine article and something on the radio - at the same time. That means, the only way your web site is truly going to succeed is if it is so obvious as to what's available for the visitor. Your site needs clear headlines and navigation so that people know exactly what you offer. Otherwise their attention will wander away to the TV or that magazine on their lap. Labels: internet, internet marketing
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Monday, January 29, 2007
Jeremy Jacobs proves you can blog easily
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You also have to be kind to fellow bloggers and reciprocate comments, something Jeremy always does.
Indeed, he's one of the best at being courteous.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Blogging and public relations
It's fairly obvious to most people I meet that blogging has real benefits in terms of establishing and enhancing reputation. In other words, it's a great public relations tool. If you agree, you're not alone. The PR industry itself reckons that blogs are a highly effective tool for business to share information with their publics. According to one study on blogging around 70% of PR companies believe that blogging is important for business. Strange then to see in the same study that only around a third of PR companies actually do any form of blogging, either for themselves of their clients. Is this a case of "do as I say, not do as I do"? Labels: blogging
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It must be human nature. I wrote about a similar phenomenon on my blog. I think people and companies behave in this way for two reasons. 1st, it's because we take ourselves, our skills for granted. I rarely have time to craft a web site for my personal use or motives. 2nd, many of us need a break, when you spend all day working on something, you don't want to go home and work on the same thing for yourself.
Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Online retailers are doing it wrong
There's been a load of cheering recently for the success of online shopping. At Christmas, for instance, many High Street stores in the UK reported lower than usual sales with less footflow than the previous year. But their online counterparts reported record sales. So everyone was happy. What tosh. The average conversion rate of the top retailers online is a mere 2.5% - and they are ecstatic about that..! If only 2.5% of the people who walked into their bricks and mortar stores bought anything they would be out of business pretty sharpish. One of the reasons is that customers online are "cheap". It costs almost nothing to attract them; you can get millions passing by every day. The result is that the top retailers themselves perceive their online customers as ten a penny and treat them as such. Is it any wonder they don't form great relationships and therefore don't buy very much? A typical top retailer will tell you that their online store is worth about the same as one of their bricks and mortar stores. And, remarkably they think that's great. Cloud cuckoo land I say. They are happy with the profit in an online store that generates ten times the amount of footflow as a High Street store? Again, this is an attitude problem. It's highlighted today by a report on the way retailers use emails. This shows that few online retailers even personalise their emails to their customers. They don't even use the proven methods of getting returns on emails and the vast majority don't even promote their products in emails they send to customers. What? Say that again...! Yes, 77% of retailers who send emails to customers do not promote their products in those emails. Once again, this is evidence of major companies failing to understand the true nature of the Internet and how they can profit from it. Labels: internet marketing, shopping
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Good post, but is 2.5% really that bad? Do you have something to compare it to? Personally I have been running Google AdWords accounts for years, and 2.5% conversion on average is great. Granted, this is a different sales process, a bit of an ad hoc method if you will. If 2.5% isn't great, what number would be, and how would you propose retailers attain those sorts of numbers, how would you alter or revise a site/marketing in order to convert more visitors?
Compared with what retailers would expect from their traditional bricks and mortar stores, 2.5% is very bad. A supermarket, for instance, would expect over 80% of footflow to buy something. Conversion rates vary between store types, but if a shop only returned 2.5%, a major retailer would close it down. Some online stores have achieved conversion rates of 50%, but these are from independent entrepreneurs, not major retailers. What this implies is that the small, independent online entrepreneurs who achieve high conversion rates are doing something which the traditional retailers are not doing.
Saturday, January 20, 2007
How to avoid Internet marketing misery
Every day I meet people who want to make their fortune online. They all dream of earning money while they sleep. What they want is a "quick fix"; they want to make a large profit with very little input. "What's the secret?" they ask me. "How do you earn money while you sleep?". Well, here's the secret that will help you avoid Internet marketing misery...I work hard. Yes, I do earn money while I'm asleep, but it's because of all the effort I put in when I'm awake. There is a vast amount of complete tosh on the Internet about making millions by teatime without lifting a finger. Don't believe it. The most successful Internet entrepreneurs are those who put in a great deal of meticulous planning. Yes, they can take long holidays each year; yes they can afford fancy cars, new houses and extra holiday homes. But when they are at their desk they are focusing on the detail. They micro manage each project so that they know it will work.
I've been working with several would-be Internet entrepreneurs and many of them want the online success, but don't actually commit themselves to the amount of detailed planning that needs to be done.
Luckily, today, I've discovered a report which highlights this conundrum and helps Internet marketers focus on what they really need to do in practical terms to succeed online. You can find the report, "The Magic Formula" at http://www.magicformulabook.com. Strangely, it's not "magic" and it's not a "formula"; but it is sensible, no-nonsense, practical advice you can use. Labels: internet, internet marketing
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Every day I meet people who want to make their fortune online. They all dream of earning money while they sleep. What they want is a "quick fix"; they want to make a large profit with very little input.This article is very interesting for making money online, click on the link
to find similar article make money online
Friday, January 19, 2007
How can you make money from user generated content?
A new report on user generated video shows that almost half of all online video watched last year was provided by Internet users themselves. The report also predicts that this will rise to 55% by 2010. In other words, user generated content will dominate. However, for the online video sites user generated videos only represented 15% of revenues. That means more people watch user generated material, but they don't pay for it, or it doesn't support advertising. With the obvious benefits of user generated content and its attraction to Internet users, it is going to be tough for people to make money from it. It requires a wholesale change in business models and attitudes from company directors or individual marketers. Any ideas on how we can make money from user generated video content? So far, traditional models clearly aren't working well. Labels: future, user-generated
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Hi, Graham
It's an interesting point, for sure. I know a little about the fiction writing sphere, which is identical. You can read many millions of short stories online, but the vast majority of them are so poor that you could never get anyone to pay for them in the traditional sense.
What you need to do is to provide a viewer / reader with an easier method of paying online, which is quick and simple, and accepts small payments without killing the netreprise with charges. Micropayments are the future of payment for online content, in my view.
Viewing video content is starting to make more sense, with more people starting to offer video on demand, and the growth of the "entertainment console" - part PC, part widescreen TV, part DVD player / recorder.
Two years will be enough to see this market (paid-for online content) start to flourish, and within five years we'll all be doing it.
You heard it here first!
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Small web sites make more sense for Internet marketers
New research has discovered that advertising gets more click throughs from smaller web sites with less traffic than big sites with millions of visitors. What does this tell me? It suggests that the lower traffic sites are more focused on specific niche topics that are relevant to fewer people. But that means the advertising is more likely to be targeted and therefore is of greater interest. The lesson for Internet marketers is that the more narrowly your focus your site, the more valuable it will become to your visitors. That will make it more likely you'll be able to profit from it. Don't try to be all things to all people; instead, narrow your focus. Want to run a web site on "small business"? Don't. Run a web site on "running a window cleaning business" or "operating a car hire business". In other words, make your web site highly focused. You'll get fewer visitors, so your ego won't do so well. But you'll gain higher click throughs on your product offerings and will therefore make more money. Once again this new study is further evidence for the value of The Long Tail. Labels: internet marketing
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Friday, January 12, 2007
My firm's online but I am real...
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Thursday, January 11, 2007
Blogs are more persuasive than advertising
According to this month's Entrepreneur magazine, consumers are 50% more likely to be influenced by blogs and emails than by radio or TV advertising. So don't let anyone tell you that blogging or email marketing have had their day. And if you're in the TV advertising business - or if your company depends on it because you're a broadcaster - look to get out of that game. TV advertising is in serious decline. We are only just beginning to see what's possible with blogs. What the Entrepreneur statistic shows us is the huge potential impact. Hence your business really will need them. Plus, if their more influential than TV adverts it means that even the humblest companies can have more impact without the need for huge budgets. Labels: blogging, future
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Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Companies need to set up internal blogs - now!
A new survey released by Accenture today shows that the availability of information within a business is seriously hampering productivity. Indeed, it seems that six out of every ten managers are unable to find the information they really need. And most managers waste around two hours a day trying to track down the really important information they want. One of the details of the survey shows that managers are more likely to find information on their competition, than they are on their own company. What this reveals is that many businesses have yet to use the tools of the modern Internet internally. With internal, private blogs, for instance, information sharing would be enhance. That would also happen with intranet-based social networking arrangements. Big businesses are slow to adopt such technological innovations, yet as a result these companies are clearly losing out. By adopting internal blogging and social networks, organisations would have a far easier way to share information - and according to Accenture that's something that is holding companies back. Labels: blogging, internet
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Tuesday, January 09, 2007
Five prerequisites for blogging success
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Monday, January 08, 2007
Holiday web sites arrive late to the party
You would think that the travel industry knew a thing or two about Internet marketing. After all, many people now book flights, holidays and other travel online, rather than in traditional travel agencies or booking offices. However, the latest "Online Retail Holiday Readiness Report" from WebTrends shows that only 23% will not be using price as a means of generating online revenue. In other words, what that means is that 77% of online holiday companies will be using price as their strategy. This is at the same time as the Internet is full of activity on social networking, blogging, and other forms of interactivity. What people want is some kind of relationship with the web site they use. Study after study has shown that price is not the main issue for someone wishing to buy something - particularly something like a holiday. I remember hearing a few years ago that the average profit made per holidaymaker by tour operators was a mere £1 - on the average holiday price of around £500. If that's all they can make, they must be doing something wrong. Now I know; they are solidly focused on price, as their web strategy for 2007 shows. This time next year, they'll be doing a post-mortem on the previous 12 months and wondering why so many holiday makers went "independent" following advice and tips from people on social networking sites. Ho hum. Labels: internet, internet marketing, shopping, social networking
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Business urged to respond to changing behaviour
A senior research executive at Universal McCann, Tom Smith, has urged companies to respond now to the changing behaviour of people, rather than wait until it's too late. He makes his comments in the January 2007 Revolution magazine which published details of Universal McCann's latest research on blogging. This has discovered that 48% of people aged 16 to 44 have visited blogs. Some 26% write blogs and a further 20% plan to start a blog. However, RSS and podcasts are not making much of an impact with very low usage rates. The Universal McCann study also shows how tremendously important social networks are, with 74% of people using them to review products or services. In the same issue of Revolution magazine, John Gaffney of Peppers and Rogers Group suggests that newspapers may soon be the vinyl records of media. Taken together these two reports show the growing importance of the interactive elements of the Internet for many people. It further underlines the need to have an active company blog, to take blogging and social networking seriously and to have it at the heart of your organisation's media strategy. Labels: blogging, future, social networking
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Sunday, January 07, 2007
Is Six Apart blogging company ready to sell?
Today's UK Sunday Times newspaper reports that Mena Trott, the co-owner of Six Apart (who produce TypePad and Movable Type) would be prepared to sell the company for less than $1bn. She also reveals that she wants a family and is going to review the future of the company this year. The article also reports that the blogs written by Times journalists and columnists are all run on Six Apart systems - indicating a close link between the two companies. Perhaps today's article about the "couple who made the big time in blogs" is the first shot in the PR campaign to make the Trotts even richer? With the ever increasing popularity of blogging, the dominance of Google's Blogger and the technical complexities of WordPress, the products from Six Apart are well poised to become even more important. However, they probably need mass investment from a larger media partner. Now just a thought...who owns the Sunday Times? And gosh...! He also owns MySpace...I wonder what developments for Six Apart may be around the corner? Labels: blogging
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I think you're reading a lot into an article where Mena was clearly joking... I've been at Six Apart since the beginning, and the truth is, the planning that goes on around the office by everyone on the staff is about how to get the most people blogging and benefiting from blogs.
We provide (and are very proud to run) blogging tools to the Times, yes, but also to the Guardian and the Economist and the BBC, to Time Magazine and the Washington Post and ABC News, and to scores more. I wouldn't read too much into anyone that we have as a customer.
If anything, the focus on that one quote by Mena shows the traditional media's possible lack of familiarity with the informality of tone that we bloggers are used to. That's probably just a long-winded way of saying "don't take it all too seriously!" :)
Friday, January 05, 2007
A new year, so expect changes to Internet marketing
At this time of year you will find dozens of people and organisations making all sorts of predictions about 2007. Many of the predictions will be complete tosh. Others will have some substance. However, there as one prediction tucked away in a list of ten for 2007 that caught my eye. This was the point that people are more swayed by word of mouth than they are by advertising or direct contact by marketers. This fact was used to suggest that 2007 will see a rise in user generated content. Now, I agree, user generated content is rising all the time and is of clear importance to any web site owner. But the notion that word of mouth sways people more than any direct contact with a marketer is of profound importance to anyone marketing on the web. What you need to do is to get other people talking about you and your products. That will provide you with much greater conversion rates than tweaking your Google AdWords campaign. Labels: internet marketing
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Thanks for this Graham