What Do These Online Retail Statistics For 2008 Show?

SPECIAL COMMENTARY

By Michael Lambet, CEO of MerchantAdvantage

Well, here we are at the end of 2008 and everyone is either holding their breath to see how things went, or shouting expletives about what they already think they know.  As with all matters of such magnitude, the online retail environment had some bumps, and some interesting growth as well.

After a quick review of some serious statistics by comScore– I was pleased to see the online retail segment that we address almost doubling in volume over last year.  In the face of our current economic setting this is no small feat.

In one portion of the statistics e-commerce revenue was divided into “Referral Tactict” categories such as: Search, e-mail, Comparison Shopping, Coupons and Other.  As a preliminary statement they note that over 33% of online sales activity occurred through a referral mechanism as listed within their Referral Tactic categories, and this overall statistic is up a few percentage points from last year.

You can, and should review their detailed stats when you have the time, but I found this particular chart enlightening.  Quickly, the tactics and parameters were – Search which was down a few points (no surprise there), e-mail was up a bit, Comparison Shopping was almost double the previous year, Coupons were up slightly, and the “Other” category was down.

SEARCH – Sales referrals from Search is one category, and I didn’t see a clear distinction between SEM and SEO.  In either case, the measurement as it stands shows a subtle drop.  I believe there are two main factors that lead to this drop:

1. Monthly cost of SEM in click costs has gone up (though not necessarily the cost per click) and SEO fees are up as well (to the firms hired to “enhance and optimize”, and   
2. Merchants have become more savvy about tracking click to purchase conversions, and are diverting efforts to those that they know will convert.

EMAIL- Email has grown in percentage points, despite the “DON’T SPAM ME” epidemic. It really just goes to show you that there is a way around virtually every marketing obstacle.  With appropriate email partners such as Blue Hornet and Vertical Response, there’s no reason retailers shouldn’t be re-marketing to their existing consumers.  So, revenues caused by emailed referrals was up from 11% last year to just over 16% all “referral tactic” based marketing for online retailers.

COMPARISON SHOPPING – We prefer the acronym CSE be translated as Consumer Shopping Engine these days. But, this category jumps from 2.5% of referral based revenues to 4.7%.

This number may be a bit deceiving as it shows itself as the percentage of all revenues, but not all online retailers use CSEs. So, the question arises, of those merchants using CSEs, which percentage of their referral based revenues are attributed to CSEs?  Obviously more than 4.7%.  So, it’s great being a part of a company that helps merchants market in a segment that is becoming more and more successful.

COUPONS - Coupons went up, but from 1.1% to 1.8%. I think that coupon sites have gotten a bad rap; the thought being that only cost conscious consumers (sometimes called bottom dwellers) use them.  True or not, these are consumers you likely would not have found as they do not frequent your site, nor do they necessarily frequent Consumer Shopping Engines or any other more traditional marketing venues.

There are a few pricing models, but none of them are expensive, and once you’ve got a cost conscious consumer, you presumably have convinced them that you provide a cost effective product line. So, re-market to these humans…  All in all Coupons are clearly becoming a more popular venue.

OTHER – Hmmmmmm. Well, I am an advocate of using unique methods and exploring your options.  Further, Web 2.0 and other new “inventions” have really come a long way. So, in general I’d say the “Other” category should have gone up.   But “nay nay” says comScore.

I would suggest that random and lesser known parts of the “Other” category brought down some of the more successful components of the other grouping.  Product reviews, blogs, and the like seem to be doing well for those merchants with the time to pursue such efforts.  I am wondering how much of the “Other” category is Print, billboards or even standing out in the street and yelling.  Anyway, this ever so broad category was down from 28.7% to 22.9% - which I think is a significant amount, even if it doesn’t really suggest any particular call to action.

Although the 2008 Holiday shopping season grew ever so modestly (6%) over 2007, I think too much focus is placed on the “Modestly”  and “Holiday” season words, and not enough on 2008  vs.  2007. 

Perhaps online retailers need to look more at the rest of the year (9% growth) as an area of focus.  Online retailers, and retailers in general have simply accepted that November and December are THE MONTHS to make all the years revenues look good.  They were never happy about entrusting two months for their overall annual profitability. And yet that consistently is where they look for the big bucks.  Why slight those other pleasant months by not giving them your attentions?

Even if your individual profits only grew 6% over what you would have made without additional efforts, that can often offset a somewhat disastrous holiday season.  And if that disastrous season don’t happen, papa’s gonna buy you a brand new wagon!  (translated: all the better for you).

So, I guess what I’m trying to extrapolate from this information is that sometimes you have to fight the fights that you can win, and that may not be so seasonal as you thought.

-- Michael Lambert, CEO, MerchantAdvantage

Survey Says: Site Search, SEO and Email Marketing are Key for E-tailing Success

eTaildTail and MerchantAdvantage are proud to offer insights from our friends in the ecommerce and mobile commerce industries to help online merchants improve their online maketing efforts and increase sales and return on ad spend.

This week, Geoff Brash of SLI Systems, the industry leader in intelligent storefront site search solutions, provides an insightful look into those technologies that help online merchants most effectively.

The study, and Geoff's subsequent commentary, covers what technologies online merchants found the most important to implement today to improve onsite conversions and build trust in the marketplace of their storefront and brand.

Thank you Geoff for participating in the eTaildTail community and helping us all learn a little bit more on how to be effective etailers!

Guest Commentary from Geoff Brash, SLI Systems:

"Are you giving top priority – and adequate resources – to making the most of site search, SEO, and e-mail marketing? 

We recently polled more than 300 U.S. retailers about what e-commerce technologies matter the most when promoting their online businesses, and these three e-commerce technologies scored the highest among several others, including user-generated content, static and dynamic ads, social media and more.  In fact, 90% of the survey participants said that search is a “critical,” “very important” or “important” factor in the success of their business. 

Those surveyed also said that the effectiveness of site search and SEO will continue to get better over the next three years.  Meanwhile, 40% of the retailer respondents are testing out new online tools as a way to strengthen their marketing efforts, by starting company blogs and podcasts. 

Almost the same number (38%) said that user-generated content – for example, ratings and reviews – is also gaining in popularity.  Have you incorporated any of these innovative approaches into your marketing efforts? 

What have your experiences been?

There are many more interesting findings from our survey, including the fact that about 90% of the retailers who tracked results said that after adding site search, sales increased or conversion rates improved.   

With the holiday season just around the corner, now is the perfect time to incorporate some of these important technologies if you’re not already.

If you’re interested in seeing the full results of our survey, please visit www.sli-systems.com."

Thank you Geoff and onward we charge to make our online storefronts the most productive that they can be for the Holiday shopping season -- even in a touch economy.

-- Chip Arndt

Convert Your Clicks: Combine Search Marketing and Landing Page Optimization Intelligently

Here is some good advice from our friends over at Yahoo! Search Marketing.  I learned a lot, I hope you do too.
 
And this piece follows up nicely on yesterday's blog and my prior entry titled:

"Why YOU "Can" Fail With Google Adwords...AND Any Adword Campaign"

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for that blog entry and thoughts therein and also read below for valuable advice and tips and tricks to maximize your search, adword campaigns.

-- Chip

By Amy Borowicz

Ten landing page tips to turn visitors into customers

"There’s something about a ten-item list that makes us want to get all Hestonian on you and break out the archaic pronouns, especially when it comes to something like getting people who visit your site to actually buy from you. After all, you work hard to get clicks. What could be more important than turning those clicks into customers?

But we’re kind of a live-and-let-live bunch here, and we’re not so big on telling people what they have to do. So consider these a set of suggestions about how to help optimize your landing pages. That way, when people get to your site, they’ll be more likely to make a purchase.

1. Tell them why they should buy from you

Clarity of your value proposition is the most important factor in determining whether a customer buys from you or not. Ask yourself the question: “Why should I buy from this site?”

2. Keep ‘em with you

Protect your landing pages from the #1 threat to conversions: site flow disruption. After identifying a unique and compelling Value Proposition, you must ensure that you express it throughout your sales process in a clear, consistent and compelling way. Eliminate site flow disruption to help maximize conversions.

3. Don’t try to say too much

Don’t clutter your landing page with unnecessary details. Instead:
• Clearly state your key message using as few words as possible
• Use summary descriptions, sub-headings, bulleted lists and short paragraphs
• Adopt a standard one-column format for easy reading.

4. Make it simple

Improve the user experience with a site that is easy to navigate. A simple page layout that employs a clean visual and straightforward design is best. Here’s how:

• Design your site with a clear hierarchy with color and contrast for easily legible text
• Use meaningful and high-quality graphics (don’t clutter with too many)
• Use breadcrumbs to let visitors know where they are on your site
• Employ a clickable logo that takes the visitor to your homepage
• Use color to distinguish between visited and unvisited links.

Just as important, make sure you don’t:

• Employ horizontal scrolling
• Direct links to new browser windows
• Have flash-based content unless required.

5. Call them to action

Focus on one primary action per screen (don’t stuff too many products onto one screen). Make the call-to-action button clearly visible without having to scroll; don’t bury it under pages of information. Consider using tabs or a pop-up box to consolidate information.

6. Get specific

Provide product details and a large product image while displaying incentives—such as free shipping and warranty information—high on the page and close to the product. Don’t discourage visitors by requiring registration to your site.

7. Flaunt what you’ve got

What differentiates you from your competitors? Free shipping (both ways?), discounts, a 365-day warranty, price protection, privacy, customer service, etc.? If you’ve got it, flaunt it!

8. Search yourself

Make your site easy to navigate by helping potential customers find what they are looking for as quickly and easily as possible. A search feature box should be simple and visible with a type-in field, not a link. To help increase conversions, make sure your search results link to product pages.

9. Rally the believers

Credibility is a true testament: people don’t buy from websites, people buy from people. Thus, testimonials from devout customers—or even a letter from the CEO/Editor—persuades the unbelieving.

10. Let them make the choice

“Why should I buy this specific product?” Almost every e-tailer forgets about this, but it’s the question that’s key to Mr. or Ms. Customer’s mind. Prove to him or her why they should buy this over the competitive product by offering reviews, ratings and comparisons."

<<<CLICK HERE>>> for full article on the Yahoo! Search Marketing Blog

Search Engine Traffic: Does it Really Lead to Sales?

I have received lots of emails asking me about search engine campaigns and whether or not they drive quality traffic = click to sales to their website, and how to integrate regular search, on the likes of Google Search, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, Looksmart and Ask.com, with shopping comparison search using comparison shopping engines.

I believe that intelligent online marketers can increase their ROI (return on investment) whether they use just search engines as Yahoo!, Google, MSN Search, Looksmart or Ask.com OR comparison shopping engines as Shopzilla, PriceGrabber, Pricerunner, Smarter, GolfPricer.com, Ciao, or over 100 others....OR, and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND THIS APPROACH, use BOTH.

The reason that I recommend both as that a combined, or integrated, campaign will increase organic search and traffic to your site.  So here are some statistics that I thought you all should see.

The information below is from "Major Search Engine Traffic Analysis" as presented by representatives from Hitwise, Neilsen/NetRatings and others at the 2007 search Engine Strategies conference in London.  The data is almost 10 months old but relevant none the less.

-- Chip

Retail Websites Receive 25 Percent Of Their Traffic From Search Engines

Over past two years, significant changes have occurred in the way U.S. Internet users search. The following are some key changes in how search has impacted traffic to Shopping websites.

In May 2007, search engines were responsible for 25 percent of visits going to Shopping websites, an increase of 0.7 percent since May 2006.

Google is the most prominent source of traffic for Shopping websites, and is growing more rapidly as a source of shopping traffic than the search engine category as a whole. In May 2007, Google accounted for 15.6 percent of Shopping visits, an increase of 8.7 percent since May 2006.

Single word search queries (including domain and URL searches) accounted for 23.7 percent of search terms sending traffic to Shopping websites in May 2007. This number increased by 20 percent since May 2005, indicating that search toolbars are being used more frequently as a primary means of navigation.

Source: Hitwise

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

• 93% of all internet traffic is generated from internet search engines
• 89% of them are first-time visitors
• 99% of internet searchers do not search beyond the top 30 results
• 97% of them never look beyond the top three results
• Top 10 positions receive 78% more traffic than those in positions 11-30
• 65% of online revenue is generated from websites in the top three positions on search engine results pages (SERPs)
• 93% of global consumers use search engines to find websites
• 76.7% of Google users use the natural search links (organic, unpaid listings)

Source: Forrester Research, 2006

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And here are some figures from February 2007...which have only gotten better over the last year. Note: The research institutes usually take a year to update their data to esnure accuracy.

These search engine statistics were presented by representatives from Hitwise, Neilsen/NetRatings and others at the recent Search Engine Strategies conference in London.

Global search engine use:

• 256 million people visited a search engine in December 2006 – this represents 81% of global internet users.
• The global search audience has grown by 10% over the last year, while the total Internet audience grew 8%.
• Search engine use grew dramatically in France (27%) and Spain (21%), ahead of the US (8%), though the US remains the largest search market
• Search is most popular in the UK (85%), France (83%) and Spain (83%). For the US, the figure is 77%.
  The average search engine user views 93 search pages a month, taking an average of 27 minutes.
  Google’s global dominance:
• Google’s audience has grown almost 2.5 times the rate of search’s. It now has almost 3 times the audience of Yahoo Search.
• Google had a 71.6% share of the global search market between August 2006 and January 2007.
  In the same period, Yahoo had an 11.1% share of the market.
• From January 20 to February 12 this year, Google’s share dropped to 67.1%

SLIDES AND AUDIO Now Available of "Online Marketing Alternatives Webinar for Small to Mid Sized Businesses"

Hello eTaildTail community....I thought the webinar today was full of great information and great examples of some sample marketing campaigns you can execute with as little as $1,500 a month.

If you missed today's MerchantAdvantage webinar on "Alternative Online Marketing Methods for Small to Mid Sized Online Merchants" you can download the slides and audio from the front of MerchantAdvantage's site.

>>>> CLICK HERE and it is FREE! <<<<<<<<<

Over 250 people participated in the webinar, so don't miss out!  Enjoy

--- Chip

Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups and Small to Midsized Online Merchants: Part 2 (continued from Friday October 26 -- Please see prior blog for the first part of the story)

eTaildTail fiends and community are expanding across the globe and providing wonderful insights to help small to mid sized online merchants.  Here is the second part of the 2 part series that speaks to issues small to mid sized merchants have all of the time with marketing solutions and implementation therein.   

I recommend reading it carefully, as it really can help.  I participated in helping write the article but rather than summarize it, I feel it is important to post it here for you all to process on your own time.

Chip

Part 2 -- continued from Friday, October 26

by By Andrew K. Burger -- syndicated columnist at e-commerce Times and friend to eTaildTail

"Just how important is marketing to the aspiring e-tailer? "Critical. Automated marketing for startups and SMBs is the price of admission. Understanding and improving the customer experience is how to stand out from the crowd," commented Eric Feige, general manager at Usability Sciences.

There is a wealth of options out there for startup online retailers looking to craft and manage all-important marketing  campaigns and programs, as Part 1 of this series notes.

While e-tail technology and support continues to get cheaper and become more ubiquitous, the barriers to commercial success are also growing. Larger and more established retailers continue to invest their resources and get better at using the online channel, while the ranks of new and small and medium-sized business  (SMB) market entrants swell. These factors are several reasons why e-tail startups are learning from the experiences of others and tapping as many avenues of support and advice as they can, particularly when it comes to e-marketing and automating the marketing function to the greatest degree possible.

Just how important is marketing to the aspiring e-tailer? "Critical. Automated marketing for startups and SMBs is the price of admission. Understanding and improving the customer experience is how to stand out from the crowd," commented Eric Feige, general manager at Usability Sciences.

E-Marketing Challenges

The main challenges facing startups include ensuring they employ people with a keen understanding of marketing, specialize in the e-tailers' particular line of business and have the technical acuity required to manage campaigns, according to Affect Strategies' President Sandra Fathi.

"When e-tailers outsource or assign to 'experts' SEM (search engine marketing) or SEO (search engine optimization), often the person is an expert on how to perform the task but not the topic or store they are performing it for," Fathi told the E-Commerce Times. "This can create very expensive problems. Thousands of dollars could be spent optimizing the site for the wrong keywords or creating Google AdWords campaigns that attract the wrong search customer."

To avoid this pitfall, startups "must be sure they understand exactly what type of services they are buying and understand how to evaluate and measure their marketing campaigns. Online marketing is fluid and constantly changing. E-tailers need to monitor their campaigns closely to make sure they are continuously performing," she said.

Leveraging Data

Companies such as MerchantAdvantage offer products and services that startups can use to automate online marketing processes and move up the e-marketing learning curve quickly. The company's Channalytics data analysis and data feed management software offers the means whereby startups can automate the time-consuming processes of collecting, organizing and analyzing e-tail site data and using it to create and manage online marketing campaigns and programs.

CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY>>> Please click over to read all of it at e-commerce Times -- it is really helpful and no obligations if you click over -- Promise! Just lots of helpful advice.

Marketing Automation Solutions for Startups and Small to Midsized Online Merchants: Part 1

eTaildTail friends and community are expanding across the globe and providing wonderful insights to help small to mid sized online merchants.  Here is the first part of a wonderful 2 part series that speaks to issues small to mid sized merchants have all of the time with marketing solutions and implementation therein. 

I recommend reading it carefully over the weekend, as it really can help.  I participated in helping write the article but rather than summarize it, I feel it is important to post it here for you all to process on your own time.

Enjoy...Part 2 will be posted Monday.

Have a great weekend!

Chip

PS Don't forget to root for the Red Sox! LOL

by By Andrew K. Burger -- syndicated columnist at e-commerce news and friend to eTaildTail

"Most small e-tailers do not have extensive marketing departments, said Affect Strategies' President Sandra Fathi. "They cannot hire a seasoned expert for every task, nor should they. However, there a plenty of tools and programs that help automate processes to make their marketing programs more efficient and their employees more productive."

Designing effective marketing  campaigns and finding the right marketing mix are primary concerns for any online retailer. They are especially important for startups and small to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) competing with larger and better established e-tailers, as well as the rapidly growing number of their SMB peers.

Creating marketing campaigns and finding the right channels is a process of continual experimentation and refinement. It also entails building up an expert's store of knowledge about your customers, products, markets and suppliers, as well as how to make use of analytical tools and data feeds to capitalize on them.

This in turn means that startup e-tailers need to roll up their sleeves and get close and personal with all the raw data that an online retail business  generates and the various data collection, analysis and automated marketing tools and methods on offer.

Automating Marketing: The Basics

Efforts aimed at automating marketing, according to MerchantAdvantage's Michael Lambert, can basically be divided into two categories: automating marketing efforts while maintaining control and responsibility for them, and hiring a third-party to manage and handle various marketing efforts on an e-tailer's behalf."...continued"

CLICK HERE FOR FULL STORY>>> Please click over to read all of it at e-commerce Times -- it is really helpful and no obligations if you click over -- Promise! Just lots of helpful advice.

Prepared For the Holidays Properly? Last Minute Hints for Online Merchants to Grow Sales

Okay, much of the following information probably has been addressed by each of you, but it is worth noting again as you still have time to ensure that you have least considered some merchandizing tips for the holiday season, which may be helpful to bring in more sales and new loyal customers.

There is no question that shopping online during the holidays has increased and with the advent of mobile commerce it will grow. I am one of those who do not agree with Wall Street analysts and Research companies that online shopping is going to level off by 2010. It will continue to grow as the next generation of young folks “lives and breathes” online and on their cellular devices.  As long as online retailers continue to be innovative to reach them and understand the power of the functionalities of new cellualr devices (as the Iphone ....and others will follow) = online retail will grow. Period. 

But that is 2010 and it is now 2007.  So what can you do right now to make online shoppers’ experiences more robust so they buy more products from you? 

Some of the tips are obvious, others may not be, and I sure you all have ones that I have not thought of, so, at the very least, I hope the following stimulates conversation within your company to make your shopping season the best that it can be!

1. Comprehensive Content for Product Descriptions on Storefront AND Data Feeds to Marketing Channels, Shopping Destination Sites, Comparison Shopping Engines and Affiliate Sites

This seems so obvious yet many online merchants fail to think like “all” consumers and instead list products how they would like them listed, often missing important information that a buyer might want to see before a purchase.

Tip: Every detail is important to list: good pictures, side view pictures of products, product number (especially if it is electronics), manufacturer name, unique product descriptions (descriptions provided by the manufacturer are often boring and if you use them without providing your own “twist” what differentiates you from others selling the same thing?), easy to read and understand shipping costs, all in cost, product review(s), and “hacker safe” site logo(s), to name just a few.

2. SEO, Keyword Buys Should Mirror Your Product Catalog and Be Directed to Proper Landing Pages on Your Storefront

Sounds obvious right? 

It is astonishing how many online merchants spend lots of money on SEO and keywords yet fail to have the “linked reference” that pops up on a search engine or shopping comparison site direct back to the properly optimized and exciting offers on your storefront.  Think of it like walking into a brick and mortar store through the supply room.  Would you be excited to buy a product if that was the entrance? 

Of course, you need to direct the consumer to a landing page with the product they are looking for, but that landing page can have “helpful” ideas for other products, specials, upsell promos, and other exciting marketing language to draw customers deeper into your storefront. 

Tip: For a perfect example of what I am referring to see www.Cooking.com

3. Avoid all “Controllable” System Roadblocks to a Consumer Buying a Product

We are all human and by definition are imperfect, but we can certainly try to eliminate things that would turn off any customer.

Tip: Pretend you are a customer and go through the entire process and all possible options to buy a product from you. 

a. call your 800 number and see what they do, feel how they treat you, listen to what they say on the phone, hear the tone in their voice, and then determine if the person answering that call is presenting your company in the best light, and, most importantly,  do they make it easy for you to take the next step to purchase a prodcut and if you don't want to purchase make you want to come back?

b. Make an online purchase on your storefront, make two, make three = go through the entire process and determine if it is efficient, the shopping cart is efficient and easy to use, the payment process system is easy, there is excellent follow through, polite email or personal follow up, and on time delivery.

c. Know your inventory levels and, if you run out, make sure you have a system in place to guide an excited customer through the proper channels to get them that product "soon" and/or guide them to another “suggested and similar” product and let them know when and if the product will be available.

d. Try new technologies, as online live chat, for excellent customer follow up, product education and the like. AND make sure that these new ideas do not interfere with executing what you are already doing very well, ergo, only adopt new technologies if you have the time, money and resources to execute them well and not leave behind what you are already doing well.

Remember, human beings are imperfect so excellent customer service cultures are not easy to build and they are even easier to destroy.

4. Promotions Might Sound Great But They Can Destroy Margins

This is a hard one as we all want to “give away a freebie”, but these freebies, if not controlled properly, can destroy profits and frankly make your business look cheap, from the marketing side.

Creative solutions, discounted shipping, free shipping, special promotions for purchases over a certain dollar amount, special follow on coupons, and many other things are all great and need to be managed properly.

Tip: There lots of ways to do this, be savvy, think, do your research on how others do it and check out www.LLBean.com -- this is not the only site to look into but they do a nice job of packaging a sale with clicks and links to gift cards, promotions, gift wrapping and the like.

5. MultiChannel..If You Can

Simple.  If you have a brick and mortar location, offer an off line, in-store pick up option online = this brings the customer to you twice!

6. MultiChannel Marketing…IfYou Can

Simple. Use and test more than a few marketing channels, affiliate sites, comparison shopping engines, shopping destination sites, and other areas to market your storefront product catalog.  Try a new type of fun marketing effort called "couparison shopping" over at www.MyCoupons.com -- I kind of like it and it is different = it just may lead to great sales and branding.

If you are confused by what I mean check out www.MerchantAdvantage.com and see what they can do to help guide you, they also have a comprehensive lists of shopping destination sites to test and see which ones may work best for you.

7. Gift Cards….Gift Cards….Gift Cards….Did I say Gift Cards?

They work.  How is that for blunt?

Gift cards work because they are often bought in addition to a purchase, instead of a purchase (by indecisive people like me…LOL) and best of all they are cash upfront in your pocket.

Again see how www.LLBean.com does it for reference purposes. 

Tip: Yes, you have to have a good system in place to manage this promotion and yes, some people redeem gift cards months later, but sometimes they don’t and you still made money.

Oh yeah, always have an expiration date on the card for easier management purposes (some say no…I say yes…you decide what is best for you).  If you do use gift cards let them expire in a 8-12 months – 6 months is too short.

AND FINALLY THE MOST IMPORTANT TWO:

8. Establish Cut Off Dates for Holiday Deliveries

Simple....and make sure that you make it easy to read and the language is clear.  For example:

Last Day to Ship to Arrive Before December 20 is _________
Last Day to Ship to Arrive Before December 21 is _________
Last Day to Ship to Arrive Before December 24 is ___________.....you get the point.

Tip: Place a nice little “box” with this information on the original landing page, the shopping cart page, and the final check out page (prominently on the last two).

9. Be Nice, Follow Up, Be Human, and Love Your Customer

Emails are easy ways to communicate and bond with your customer and professionally cover the following important follow up items:

1. thank you for visiting our site and looking at our products
2. thank you for your order = order confirmation
3. tracking information to follow order
4. delivery confirmation (always a nice touch)
5. exposure and awareness of new product launches, specials, and promotions
6. thank you for being a customer, loyal customer, preferred customer
7. newsletter follow up (if you have one)
8. Other?!?...be creative!

Tip: Never underestimate the power of the 3 P’s to customer follow up in any form of direct electronic or personal direct communication: Polite, Prompt, and Precise!!!

Good luck as you prepare for the holiday shopping season.

Pay Per Click Advertising Advice For Beginners: One Step At A Time...

I was going to write a pithy entry about how to get started to properly and intelligently use "pay per click" advertising.  Once again, I found someone far smarter than me who I think encapsulated a rationale and excellent strategy to incorporate "pay per click" advertising into your online marketing efforts.

Please CLICK HERE for full story, or read below -- Ed

About The Author

Martin Lemieux
Smartads - President
http://www.smartads.info

Affordable web site design & Web Site Marketing Tips
http://www.flyinggelatingames.com

"Pay per click advertising is an on-going and growing arsenal for all entrepreneurs world wide. Whether your have a small business or a large business, buying a search engine placement is definitely the way to go.

Why fight a never ending battle against some of the worlds best webmasters who have years of experience and are deticated to search engine placement 24 hours a day, 7 days a week?

Don't fight the battle, win the battle by utilizing pay per click search engine marketing!

1st Thing 1st: Testing Your Market Place...

If you've never attempted a pay per click campaign, a good idea is to start with a small budget in order to test your market place.

The key is to find what your potential customers are searching for. There's no better place to test that out by going to Google. Google allows you to pay for a small ad off to the right within a small green box.

Huh? If you've never seen these small ads within Google, go to: http://www.google.com

If you type in "web design" in google's search engine, you will no doubt get the regular results on the left, as well as a list of small ads off to the right within small green boxes.

Underneath the small green boxes, you will see a link that says; "Place your ad here". Another route is by going here: http://adwords.google.com

Please do yourself a favor and deticate yourself to a small ad within Google in order to learn the ropes and utilize an inexpensive way to some fabulous research information.

You'll want to determine how much you are willing to pay for 1 month. It could be as low as $20, but I recommend starting out with $50.00 to start your 1st campaign.

Try coming up with an ad that's catchy and to the point!

Ex. Legal Services

Get A FREE Consultation!

Legal Services in Ontario

legalservices.com

After that you need to predetermine the "Key Phrases" you think that your potential clients are typing in Google when it comes to your product or service.

EX. "Legal Services".

When Google asks you to enter your key words or phrases, you might want to try entering something like this....

Legal Services

Lawyers in Ontario

Law Services

Lawyer Services

Lawyer Services in Ontario

Try using as many as you can think of... Google will later show you the most popular key phrases compared to the key phrases that don't work at all.

Please Note: I am using Google's Adwords as an example because of how easy it is to log into your account at any time and check to see how many people have seen your ad and how many people have actually clicked on your ad to visit your site.

Once you've entered your "Key Words & Phrases" now you're going to be asked to enter the maximum amount of money you want to pay every time someone clicks on your ad.

Ex. If someone searches "Legal Services", you enter that you will pay a maximum of 0.07cts per click.

This will give you a pre-qualified potential client for 0.07cts.

Let's move on a little now..

Assuming that your ad is all set up and already on the way. Now you can return to Google, log into your account and see how your "Key Words & Key Phrases" are performing with your campaign.

It might read something like this....

Legal Services -- Ad was viewed 2000 times -- Clicked on 100 times.

Lawyers in Ontario -- Ad was viewed 4560 times -- Clicked on 9 times.

Now you will get a much better understanding at what your potential clients are searching for and what they are actually clicking on.

KEY NOTE: Try to experiment with this as much as possible and as quickly as possible so you can really begin your Pay Per Click Search Engine Marketing.

Are you ready???

Now that you have your predetermined key words of phrases you want to use, you can now start looking into pay per click campaigns. Per per click search engines are a little different compared to the Google Adwords because instead of getting a small ad off to the right you are now going to bid on actual search engine placements.

1st thing you want to do is to visit a pay per click search engine. For instance, you might want to visit: www.goto.com or www.lycos.com or any other pay per click search engine online and test your new key words to determine what the top placements are paying for those spots.

Ex. Let's use "Lawyer Services" again, type in that phrase in any ppc search engine and look at the top placements! It should read something like this...

5) Legal Services.com

Our firm is dedicated to helping you win your case each and every time.

Cost: $0.10

The key is to look at the cost. The cost is what "Legal Services.com" was willing to pay for the 5th search engine placement.

And there you go, you now have the basic knowledge to plan out a pay per click campaign. Always remember to lay out how much you are willing to commit to your search engine campaign and keep yourself to it.

I recommend to all my clients to atleast master the Google Adword program. Google's search engine is the #1 hotspot on the internet for potential clients, why not get a slice of the pie!

Good Luck To All!"

Marketing Tools to Selling Online: Use One, Use All, and See Sales Grow!

Many online merchants in the eTaildTail community have asked me about the many marketing tools available to them to market their product catalog, brand, and storefront online.   Below I summarize 6 obvious ones that when used in concert together can be very effective in driving traffic, and hopeful sales, to your website. 

This does not include email marketing,which is a "science" unto itself...and something no one has really mastered!  But if you want a very cool (inexpensive) new rich, media, video email application that has back-end tracking and is very cool, ad works, check out www.FLIMP.net.  Tell them eTaildTail sent you.

I realize that unlimited marketing budgets are a scarcity, LOL, so may I suggest that you draw a pie chart, determine how much money you have to allocate for marketing for 6 moths and 12 months and then allocate appropriate funds to do AT LEAST 3 of the below effectively and continually. 

Ideally you should do all 6, but again budgets are probably a constraint.   The reason I say do at least 3 is that they work in concert with each other and search engines will pick up each campaign, thus increasing your relevancy in organic search by Google, Yahoo and others.

Happy marketing!

1. Affiliate Marketing:
Affiliate marketing is a relationship between web site owners, storefronts, merchants, and any body who sells online.  It is basically an inter related partnership where we all try and drive traffic to each other’s sites by appealing to a “similar” customer base from one site to another.  Websites will put merchants’ advertisement (usually text link or banner) on their page and then a merchant pays commission from each revenue deal. Sometimes these relationships revolve around leads and not necessarily sales, so be creative when you create an affiliate program. 

The advantage of pure revenue based promotions is that everyone only makes money from an actual sale =  you don’t lose money just time setting the program up.

If you want to start your own affiliate program you can buy one of many available scripts or use some of affiliate networks like Link Share or Commission Junction – but before these please understand the all in costs associated with working them, as they do charge a commission for leads.

2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO):
Search engine optimization is one of the most effective (and one of the hardest) ways to reach targeted customers. If you are a search engine optimization specialist, optimize your web site for effective keywords that relate to your product line = think like a consumer = what would they type in a search engine to try and find your product?

If you know nothing about SEO, find some basic information on Internet and optimize for easy keywords or hire an SEO company – they can be expensive but they do work. The advantage of SEO is that you can target visitors who want to buy products you offer. The disadvantage is the long time necessary for successful optimization = 12 months campaigns work, anything less you are probably wasting your time.

3. Pay Per Click (PPC) on Organic/General Search Engines:
There are several search engines offering pay per click programs and they can be very effective and there are companies that also will manage this for you. Simply what PPC advertising on search engines is that an online merchant chooses keywords they like and then bid on them. 

It sounds easy but many online merchants get caught in a bidding war and they lose site of the cost of the click in relation to the effectiveness of that keyword. 

One friend of mine noted the following:  “If consumers search for a specific keyword, the advertisements targeted for this keyword are displayed. If more advertisers select the same keyword the advertisements are sorted by the bid (except google AdWords, there the advertisement position depends on the bid and click rate). The big advantage of pay per click system is the fact that you can start your campaign in a few minutes.”

4. Pay Per Click (PPC)/Revenue Share on Shopping Comparison Sites/Destinations/Marketplaces:
There are over 100 shopping comparison sites and marketplaces. Think of them as virtual online malls. These include Amazon, Shop.com, eBay, Shopzilla, GolfPricer.com and many, many more.  www.MerchantAdvantage.com feeds to over 125 channels, so ask them about all of them.

Most business models on these sites are PPC, where you pay a fee for a click through lead to your site and others are commission based, where you only pay on an actual sale.  The fees related to both types of marketing efforts vary from site to site and product category to product category.
 
These marketing channels act in a similar way to Point 3 above, but they are specific for shopping.  Rather than buying associated keywords for general search to get folks to find your products, you send a product catalog feed to these marketing channels for them to “display” your products for their customers.

When a customer comes to the “virtual online mall” they see your product and click to buy.  And you either pay for the lead (PPC) or a commission on the revenue/sale.

5. Banner Exchanges:
You include a HTML code to your web site and each time somebody visits the site where the HTML code is placed a banner will be displayed and you receive credits (usually 1/2 - 1 credit depending on the exchange ratio). For each credit you "earn" your banner will be displayed on another banner exchange member’s page. This type of promotion is good for branding but it will increase your traffic very little – industry average is 0.5 - 1 % only (depending on click rate of your banner). 

It is wise to combine this method with other strategies listed here.

6. Promotional Coupon Codes:
Everybody is happy with a free gift or some discount. Right?  A lot of online marketers take advantage of this fact. There are many promotional coupon code directories on Internet – just google one.  Or try www.mycoupons.com or www.couponmountain.com and away you go.

To do execute this all correctly, just list your coupon code to “coupon”  web sites. The best ting to do, if you have the time, is to try a combination of promotional coupon codes strategy and affiliate marketing. Give your publishers promo codes or special affiliate links. If the visitor clicks this link, s/he gets a discount, a free gift, free shipping or other benefits = every one is happy.  These can be very effective and very easy to manage once you have it all set up!

HELPFUL HINTS FOR THE DAY:

There are many online marketing methods that can help you get traffic, leads, branding, and sales.  Some work well along but by implementing 3 or more you should start to see some great benefits to building your business.  Some methods, which are explained above, include:

1. Affiliate Marketing
2. Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
3. Pay Per Click (PPC) on Organic/General Search Engine
4. Pay Per Click (PPC)/Revenue Share on Shopping Comparison Sites/Destinations/Marketplaces
5. Banner Exchanges
6. Promotional Coupon Codes