Use Online Data to Inform Multiple Campaigns

For many businesses, a great number of conversions happen in the real world, not online. Use what you learn online through your marketing and post-Web analytics strategy to inform offline campaigns.

What works well in e-mail might also work with direct mail. Successful online video spots can be expanded into television ads. Do you get a lot of clicks on a particular banner ad? That eye-catching ad might make a good billboard or print advertisement.

Search is one of the most measureable marketing channels available, giving you invaluable insight into your customers’ wants and needs. However, the sheer amount of data you can capture from search campaigns can sometimes be a pitfall for marketers who are overwhelmed by information overload. This is where goal-setting is so vital to the success of search analytics.

Paid search is perhaps the best online source to shape offline campaigns because it can help uncover the keywords and benefits that resonate most strongly with your target audiences. But it doesn’t stop there. By keeping an eye on the origin of your clicks, you can even discover new audiences and sources for leads. Your ads might be getting clicks from a corner of the Web you never considered a part of your target audience.

By exploring these sources you can then dig deeper and find the portals where that particular audience spends their time on the Web, even offline, thereby opening new channels of exposure for your brand.

One of the biggest advantages of today’s online tools is the power to integrate multiple layers of data. By taking advantage of these systems you will find not only the channels that offer the best return on investment for your business, but entirely new areas of expansion and profit.

SEO Steps on Link Building

Most of the times when I talk to the client on doing SEM, I give them three main SEM options on which we can work to improve the rankings as well as drive more traffic. The 1st option is SEO (Search Engine Optimization), 2nd option is Paid Search (PPC) and 3rd option is LINK BUILDING. When we go into the detail and start explaining this to the client, most of the times the toughest to explain is Link Building.

Much has changed in the world of link building. Older strategies like directory submissions, pressreleases, and of course buying text links are no longer as effective as they once were. What hasn’t changed is that a successful link-building campaign is the key to a winning search engine optimization strategy. Let’s review a six-step plan to start a successful link-building campaign for new websites.

1. Invest In General Directories:

Submitting a site to a directory nets a website its first “authority” links. It is also the fastest way for search engines to find and index pages. Submit to the following directories in order of importance: DMOZ, free; Yahoo Directory, $299 annually;Best of the Web, $99.95 annually; Business.com, $299 annually; GoGuides, $69.95; and JoeAnt, $39.99.When submitting to directories always get listed in more than one category and don’t forget about regional categories. Not sure if this investment is worth it? Check the search engine results pages (SERPs) for keywords and see if competitor pages have links from these directories. If they do, make the investment.And if they don’t, this may be what pushes a site ahead of its competition in search results.

2. Submit to Niche Directories:

Submitting a site to directories that focus on a specific industry can provide more value than general directory submissions. Most niche directories are typically more flexible (allowing anchor text to be used), are more topically relevant and often authoritative. You will get valuable links from sources that are sometimes overlooked by your competitors.

3. Create Social Media Profiles:

It’s absolutely essential to build a profile on social media sites for your company name, brand and as an individual. This will allow you to promote content to a large audience which can lead to many incoming links. While most social media sites do not pass on Google PageRank, some do. Even if you don’t have the time to build out these social profiles, at least reserve your name(s). Don’t forget sites like Meetup.com, for example, which passes on Google PageRank and links to your site with the anchor text of your choice.

4. SERP Link Building:


This stage of link building takes time and patience. Do a Google search for your top keywords and see what websites are ranking in the top 50 or 100 positions. These are all potential link targets. Start with the top results and move down the list, because these links tend to have the highest Google PageRank. To get them to link to you, see if the website has a “Links” or “Resources” section and request a link. Also consider expanding to noncompeting but related sites to request links from their pages that complement your content. Offer to guest
blog or contribute an article and you’ll build a longterm link partner.

5. Create a Blog:

Create a blog and after it is up and running with a few actual posts, submit it to the top blog directories (search ‘blog directories’ at WebsiteMagazine.com for a few resources). If you don’t link to your own domain or subdomains within posts, the incoming links won’t count and the effort will be wasted. If you don’t have time to write content for your blog, consider hiring freelance writers to write for you. Promote your blog posts within your social media profiles and watch the links increase over time.

6. Write Articles Targeting Social Media:

This takes the most creativity and hard work but is certainly doable. In order to be successful, it helps to build up your social media profiles and have an active friend network. The key is to create content that appeals to a social media-centric audience. The result is many more links to your website. This is a trial and error process; don’t expect every article to be a huge success. Keep trying new articles topics and link baiting techniques. When one takes off, it will make up for the others that didn’t get much traction.

The key to the six-step plan is systematically repeating the process. If you can manage to master any one of these forms of link building, you’ll be well on your way to the top of the SERPs.

Happy SEOing!

Important steps to succeed in Online Marketing

“I want to market my business on the Web, but how do I get traffic to my site?” one client asked recently. “And if I want to sell my product or service using e-mail marketing, who do I send the e-mails to?”

Here is one online marketing methodology that has been proven effective for many different types of businesses.

The primary concept is that online marketing works best when you e-mail to people who already know you.

Therefore, successful online marketers build their “house file” or “e-list” (lists of prospects and their e-mail addresses) using the process outlined below, and then sell to those people via e-mail marketing:

1. Build a Web site that positions you as an expert or guru in your field (see steps 2 and 3 below). This is the “base of operations” for your online marketing campaign.
   
   
2. This Web site should include a home page, an “About the Company” page, your bio, and a page with brief descriptions of your products and services (each product or service description can link to a longer document on the individual item).
   
   
3. You should also have an “Articles Page” where you post articles you have written on your area of specialty, and where visitors can read and download these articles for free.
   
   
4. Write a short special report or white paper on your area of expertise, and make this available to people who visit your site. They can download it for free as a PDF, but in exchange, they have to register and give you their e-mail address (and any other information you want to capture).
   
   
5. Consider also offering a monthly online newsletter, or “e-zine.” People who visit your site can subscribe free if they register and give you their e-mail address. You may want to give the visitor the option of checking a box that reads: “I give you and other companies you select permission to send me e-mail about products, services, news, and offers that may be of interest to me.”
   
   
6. The more “content” (useful information) on your site, the better. More people will be attracted to your site, and they will spend more time on it. They will also tell others about your site. You can even add a feature that allows your visitors to e-mail your articles to their friends — a good idea since it spreads the word about you and your site.
   
   
7. The model is to drive traffic to your site where you get them to sign up for either your free report or free e-zine. Once they register, you have their e-mail address and can now market to them via e-mail as often as you like at no extra cost.
   
   
8. The bulk of your online leads, sales, and profits will come from repeat e-mail marketing to this “house” e-list of prospects. Therefore your goal is to build a large e-list of qualified prospects as quickly and inexpensively as you can.
   
   
9. There are a number of online marketing options, which can drive traffic to your site. These include: free publicity; e-mail marketing; banner advertising; co-registrations; affiliate marketing; search engine optimization; direct mail; and e-zine advertising. (I will cover all of these topics in upcoming columns.)
   
   
10. The key to success is to try a lot of different tactics in small and inexpensive tests, throw out the ones that don’t work, and do more of the ones that are effective.
    

Another question that comes up is frequency: How often can you send promotional e-mail offers to your house e-list?

Every time you send an e-mail to your house file, a small percentage of the list will “unsubscribe,” meaning they ask to be taken off your list. The number of people who unsubscribe is called the “opt-out rate.”

Start increasing the frequency of promotional e-mail to your house file. As soon as the opt-out rate spikes upward, stop. You have now reached your maximum frequency.

Many marketers have discovered that the frequency of e-mail promotion to the house file can be much higher than previously thought. Some are successfully e-mailing different offers to their house e-list as often as two times a day or even more.

This is good news for marketers, since the more frequently you can e-mail offers to your list, the more money you can make.

How to approach Social Media Marketing

I've been creating and executing social media marketing strategies for the past one year for clients. The crowds are interesting - in the days when monies being cut to save jobs - is growing from all sorts of organizations. I hear some very common questions from a wide groups of interested parties, and would like to clarify how to approach social media.

We need to start by recognizing that social media marketing is not free.

BusinessWeek, in their excellent February article called Debunking Six Social Media Myths, exposed this brilliantly as Myth #1, and stated that $50,000 is a beginning point for a two- to three-month social media campaign. In my experience, I believe that's about right. In spite of the free tools out there, every brand needs a strategic approach to social media in order to gain any traction.

In my experience, a strategic approach to social media success takes five phases:

Phase 1 - Discovery

In this phase, we explore three variables:

1. People: Who are your prospects and customers, and how do they feel about your brand, service and products? Are they talking about you online? If so, what is your online reputation? (Positive, negative, neutral?)
2. Competition: What are your competitors doing online? Where can we leapfrog them? What is their online reputation?
3. Spiders: How easy is it for you to be found by an average searcher who may be searching for your products online? (Keywords, site optimization, Search Engine Optimization [SEO], etc. come into play here.)

Phase 2 - Strategy

In this phase, we explore the opportunities and establish the objectives of a social media plan - based on the lessons we've learned in the Discovery phase. Questions include:

• What do you want your prospects and customers to think of you, and how do you want them to experience you, once you've begun your dialogue?
• How is this different from their current perception?
• How might we further pay off your brand promise, and distinguish your customer experience from competitors?
• and many more

This Phase is usually highly collaborative; and involves key players from around an organization, not just the marketing folks.

Phase 3 - Skills

Once we have developed a Strategy, we?ll review an organization's internal resources to identify gaps. Whose skills need building? How might we best train participants? And to what extent would it be wise to train the employee base about what to expect?

(Hint: I always recommend getting everyone up to speed on any social media program - when I was at ISHIR, GSK out to be one of the most valuable things we did in support of, and preparation for, one of the most interesting, Digital Marketing I've ever managed.)

In my experience, getting your employees up to speed on social media marketing usually requires a couple of training sessions held on-site. These are generally in-depth training sessions tailored to select audiences in the company ? e.g. your marketing and PR teams, your customer service folks, your executives and the entire organization.

Phase 4 - Execution

As we prepare to implement our strategy, we determine which tools to use, how they interface with your existing infrastructure, and ensure the processes and platforms are properly tied together. We explore the following:

• Are your systems all operating together as desired?
• Is there a crisis communications plan in place? Do participants know what it is?
• Are your company policies updated for blogging, texting and IM and other social media tools?
• Are your employees aware of your policies? If not, do we need to train them?
• Will your CRM system interface with your social media tools? How will you move people into your sales process? etc.

Phase 5 - Maintenance

After the launch, Maintenance becomes key. In this phase, I make myself available for whatever comes up; checking in weekly with the team, make suggestions on content, make reminders for activities, and generally ensure the organization is thriving online.

Any experienced social media expert will have a stepped approach and methodology to launching an organization safely into the social realm.

Working with Mashups

What is a Mashup?

A platform that enables end users to create, deploy, and share Web applications or Web widgets by combining multiple data sources with little or no coding.

These days Mashups are becoming as easy to create as posting a blog and are gaining traction among consumers who are beginning to create, not just use, their own mashups. New tools and services like Pageflakes, Netvibes iGoogle, Yahoo! Pipes, and Microsoft Popfly are empowering nontechnical users to create and share their own mashups.

These easy-to-use offerings go well beyond basic mashups, offering users a powerful engine for creating their own mashups. Integrating information from many systems is a long-standing enterprise problem, and, as a result, mashups enter a crowded landscape of existing legacy software investments. So what makes a mashup unique?

How do Mashups differ from existing enterprise software?

User-generated. The biggest single difference between mashups and traditional enterprise software is that the person creating them is not necessarily in the IT department. Traditional apps are typically rigid, leaving little room for user customization, or, in the case of formal EAI projects, require major IT oversight. Mashup platforms, by contrast, are designed to empower business users to create their own dashboards, applications, and reporting tools, with little or no IT oversight.

Easy to use. With the major exception of business analysts, few line-of-business (LOB) employees have the technical know-how to provision their own portal pages, build their own reports, or integrate data sources. At best, Microsoft Excel is the only major application that nearly all LOB employees can make use of for looking at data from a range of applications and sources. For example, an employee can export regional sales target data from apps like Siebel, then import data from a custom sales incentive system to determine estimate payouts for sales reps. While this solution does not scale well, it is easy and accessible. Like Excel, mashup platforms don’t require a deep technical skill set, relying instead on simple visualization tools for the heavy computation.

Both ad hoc and formalized. For most businesses, there is a sharp dividing line between the ad hoc tossing of data into Microsoft Excel and the more formal design, implementation, and use of traditional enterprise systems — such as customer relationship management (CRM) and business intelligence (BI). Mashup platforms are beginning to smoothly handle both ad hoc and formal applications, adding life-cycle management, security, and scalability to simple mashups and allowing users to implement them in more permanent business processes with little risk. A simple mashup for order reconciliation, for example, that slowly gains features and users over time can be maintained like a formal, business-critical application.

Web centric. Due to their heritage as a Web 2.0 innovation, mashup platforms take a Webcentric design approach, which has several key advantages over traditional enterprise software. First, mashup platforms typically have no preference for internal or external data, allowing users to seamlessly combine CRM data with external data, this Web centricity makes sharing mashups between users easy and convenient. And finally, content is updated in real time, unlike an application like Excel, which requires manual data input and is often simply a repository for static, outdated data.

What are the different types of Mashups?

Presentation layer mashup. The presentation layer mashup, or mashup on the glass, is the most basic form of mashup. Here, data and content are simply presented alongside other, unrelated data in a unified view. iGoogle and MyYahoo! are examples of presentation layer mashups, and within the enterprise they most closely resemble basic portals, with a panel for each distinct data source.

Data mashup. A level of magnitude more complex than a presentation layer mashup, the data mashup allows users to combine, manipulate, and tie together disparate data sources to present a unified view.

Process mashup. The most complex of the three, process mashups allow users to mashup not just data sources but also business processes themselves, customizing process design and invoking business logic across multiple applications. Here, mashups begin to look much like business process management engines.

How should the maketers put a strategy to work on the mashups?

It appears that mashups are certainly cool, but they are notreally on the top. The growth has been steady, but not really explosive. This begs the question: why?

There are several reasons, the primary one being that most current mashups are created for fun and not for business. Enthusiasts with some spare time on their hands are building these during their evenings and weekends, without having monetization in mind. The second reason is that APIs, as with any software libraries, have a learning curve. Certainly Internet companies are trying to expose their services in the simplest possible way, but not everything can be made simple.

Is this what mashups will be - a playground for enthusiasts? I believe that the answer is 'yes'. Even though services like Yahoo! Pipes, Teqlo and Dapper are working to simplify the process of creating mashups, it will likely remain a fairly technical exercise done by enthusiasts.

However, it is also likely that we will see companies and products taking ideas from many mashups and creating applications with the combined functionality. For example, taking ideas from the best mashups (like Cloudalicious) and creating a set of tools for bloggers and marketers would be very useful. So mashups will, I think, become the labs of the web - where rapid prototyping is done by enthusiasts, which gives rise to more integrated offerings by web companies.