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

Inexpensive Site Search Tool for Small to Mid-Sized Online Merchants! A Great Product? Looks Like It is A Winner!

"New Google fee-based service, Custom Search Business Edition, lets users build search pages for their own Web sites!" -- PC Commerce

I am excited for small to mid-sized online merchants by this announcement of the Google Custom Search™ Business Edition.  There are wonderful companies that do sophisticated on site search, such as www.SLISystems.com, but now many, many small businesses can experiment at a price they can afford.

This tool can be used by any online website, but we will limit comments for the www.eTaildTail.com community to how it helps small to mid-sizd online merchants who want more sales and branding.

For the possible naysayer out there: Yes, it is Google that is launching this product. Yes, they are a billion dollar company that seems to be controlling most aspects of our online life. Yes, they are leveraging their existing technology. Yes, they are introducing news ways to get their adwords campaigns used more to make even more money, but so what…this new product is useful and might really help online merchants retain more customers and sell more product. 

The best part of about this new product is that the onsite search product is very affordable to try. And if it does not work for you then stop using it. How easy is that? 

Here is an overview for you and how you can implement this onsite tool right away.

What Is This Onsite Search Service All About?

Custom Search Business Edition is a feed-based service that visitors to your online storefront can use to search within that web site, on a customized search page, for relevant products.

Google has a version of this product, that was introduced last October and is FREE, but ad-supported. A key difference with the paid edition is that businesses can customize the search page with their own logo and color scheme. They can also modify results by manipulating an XML (Extensible Markup Language) feed of the raw search results, to guide visitors toward products the company wants to sell.

Custom Search Business Edition uses the same index Google uses to deliver its other search results, and Google's own servers are used for searches. To set up the service, customers follow a set-up wizard and copy a small amount of code to their Web site. They get access to a reporting graph with daily and monthly views of how many times people used the search engine and what search terms they used.

Google markets the product this way: “In three simple steps, businesses can sign up online for the hosted service, and in less than 10 minutes customers and visitors are able to search their site using the power of Google's search technology, for more relevant results.”

What Will It Cost Me?

Small to Mid-Sized Online Merchants: The service is priced at $100 per year for Web sites with up to 500 pages, and $500 for up to 50,000 pages.

Larger Online Merchants: Google also sells the Google Search Appliance, starting at $30,000 for 500,000 documents, which indexes material in file servers, content management systems, databases and other sources. It also offers the Mini Search Appliance starting at $1,995 for 50,000 documents.

How Do I Start?

To set up the Custom Search Business Edition, businesses simply:
1. Identify the site(s) to search, and select either all or selective searching of content
2. Add the search box and customize the appearance by adding logo and matching the site's look and feel
3. Further customize search results with refinements that reflect site content (such as sectional groupings)

What Are The Benefits of On Site Search?

With the Custom Search Business Edition, small businesses get:

• Site search hosted by Google, eliminating the need to install and maintain their own technology
• Power and reliability of Google's infrastructure
• Relevant results and sub-second query response times characteristic of Google.com
• Ability to easily set up, purchase, and manage results online
• Full customization of search results available through an XML API
• Reporting features that give insight into visitor behaviors
• Options for email and phone support available through the Google Enterprise group
• Choice about whether to include ads or not

What If I Need More Help Setting Up and Using This New Service?

For more information about Custom Search Business Edition and other enterprise search products, visit http://google.com/enterprise/csbe Google is pretty good at supporting their products!

Helpful Hints for the Day:

1. This quotation below sums it up pretty nicely and no I don’t own any Google stock!

"Millions of businesses have a web presence but offer users no ability to search their site," said Dave Girouard, vice president and general manager, Google Enterprise. "While many of these businesses invest in search advertising and search engine optimization to help customers find their business, customers are left on their own to navigate content once they land on a site. As Google continues to make search technology more accessible to businesses of all sizes -- first with our appliances and now with hosted search services -- we are reducing the hurdles of cost, complexity and time so that small businesses can help customers find what they need every step of the way."

2. Remember that site search can help retain customers and lead to more sales.

3. If you don’t like the product, the risk/cost to you is $100-$500 for 1 year to experiment with an online site search tool that might really help make your site more user friendly and lead to more sales and better customer interaction. 

4. This is a no brainer, if you have some time to spare to implement it.  My suggestion: "Make the time."

Free Marketing – Yes, It Does Exist!

I thought that this would be an excellent way to go into the 4th of July week for all online merchants = FREE Marketing, now isn't that nice?!? -- Ed

by Kevin Packler, Product Specialist at www.MerchantAdvantage.com

There are still ways to do some old fashioned free guerilla style marketing and the opportunities are growing.

1) "Froogle" aka "GoogleBase" aka "Google Product Search"

The biggest free shopping comparison engine is produced by the master of free goods, Google. Google Product Search, which is built on top of the GoogleBase platform. The GoogleBase format allows numerous options from customized product attributes to the feeding of the actual address of physical stores to be displayed on Google Maps. Google Product Search (GPS) takes over for the formerly known Froogle comparison engine, which was originally rolled out in 2002. For people who signed up under the Froogle banner, GPS is not as big as it once was. A significant amount of traffic was lost when the Froogle link was removed from the Google home page and replaced with Google Video. However, the GPS site is still bigger than most, and will certainly be making a push to rival Amazon.com and eBay by adding shopping cart functionality with Google Checkout. Even though large already, this is the current sleeping giant of comparison engines and marketplaces. Once a solid and firm direction develops, exponential growth will follow.

2) MSN Live Product Search Beta

This shopping comparison engine is another sleeper which seems to be on the heels of GoogleBase as a place to submit products with the possibility of expanding to other areas. MSN Shopping is already a large site, but this site should not to be confused with the MSN Live Product Search version. Some nice things about MSN Live Beta:

A. Backed by a large corporation, showing good long term prospects.
B. Relatively new, so there is limited competition from potential rival merchants.
C. Products are searchable by Google, so the listings appear in MSN Live’s search, and also as results in a regular Google search. This means essentially a merchant can have Google showing results not only from the merchant site and GPS, but also will show Live submissions in the same results query. This is potentially giving triple coverage for free!

3) TheFind.com

TheFind.com, like MSN Live, is also in beta stage but features a robust selection, and for the purposes of this article, this site is most importantly free. TheFind features the ability to have a bot scan a recommended merchant’s site and list the selection on TheFind. This can replace the work of having to configure a product file. Whether the site stays free depends on the company’s internal strategy, but for now it offers another great source of qualified traffic.

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. READ everything above, it is simple and straightforward, and act on it!

Keywords are Essential to Master When Using CSEs..Why?

Yesterday, I commented on why mapping feeds to CSEs and shopping destination sites is so important to ensure that you are getting your products listed properly on these sites.  Today, I want to comment on how to make sure that your products appear exactly “where they should” on the shopping comparison sites now that you have mapped your data properly and your feeds are going to the CSEs and other marketplaces without error messages.

I am going use the CSE Shopzilla to give you one example of how the proper use of “Keywords” in your data feeds will help you get your products listed in all of the right places.

Shopzilla is one of the largest and most popular CSEs among merchants and consumers.  This does not mean that an online merchant should list their products elsewhere, quite to the contrary, I suggest testing many CSEs but for this example Shopzilla works well.

So what are keywords?  Keywords are associated “words” that a consumer might type into the search feature on a CSE to find your product.  Here is the way I look at identifying keywords. In this sense, I am not specifically speaking about a specific ‘keywords’ field, but instead the grammar and numbers used to describe a product overall.

1. Pretend you are a consumer searching online for your product in a CSE.  What “might” the consumer type to find your digital camera? Obvious choices: digital camera, Sony (manufacturer’s name), zoom lens, 500 s (product code or model number), powershot (product name). Less obvious choices (but very important): gift, 5 mega pixel, digital zoom, etc.  Get the point? There are no right keywords, only ones that you think match what a customer may queries when they go online.  And remember big companies spend thousands and thousands of dollars per month on consultants with their “computer programs” to help them with this feature, so don’t feel bad if you don’t get it right the first time.  Lots of time keywords are trial and error, asking your marketing rep at the CSE for their advice, and using a little ol common sense!
2. Think like Shopzilla, who is also trying to think like a consumer. Shopzilla reps work hard to do the exact same process as in point 1 above.  Hopefully you are in sync in the way Shopzilla identifies and tracks keywords. This not perfect science so be patient.

Shopzilla allows the online merchant to list their products in categories and at the product level.  Also, Shopzilla has an “attribute system” whereby essential “word choice” in product definitions allows you to ensure that a certain product is listed at a deeper granularity of search.  In other words, Shopzilla has included an additional level of category information that is not defined formally in their category structure, but rather is sourced and then sorted from terminology in the product information description.  Makes sense?  Here is a real life example.

Let’s look at Shopzilla’s ‘Golf Gifts & Equipment’ category. To do this, and follow along, type in “golf clubs” in the search feature on Shopzilla.  This is the resulting page:

http://www.shopzilla.com/8B--Golf_Gifts_Equipment_-_cat_id--12070300__keyword--golf%20clubs__search_box--1__sfsk--7

This is the end of the category system, but in this category, there are several other groups created by terminology [see left hand side of page] such as “Sets”, “Divers”, “Iron Sets”, “Irons”, “Sets with Bags”, “Fairway Woods”, “Wedges”, and “More”.

[An aside, as a former professional golfer, a long, long time ago, we all know that no one uses “fairway woods”, but rather “fairway metals”…but nobody is perfect!!!]

Anyway, all of these “sub-groups” are populated not by category assignment or feeding of Shopzilla’s category ID#, but instead by keywords and terminology included in the product name and description fields, ergo in the marketing description fields that you send to Shopzilla in your original feed.

Shopzilla then identifies these “key word attributes” and ensures that your product also is listed in their “sub categories”, but only if their algorithm identifies the keywords in other fields you originally send.  Just so you all know, these sub-categories are wonderful and are very helpful for an online consumer better refine their search to find the exact product they are looking for, so we like this. 

The issue for merchants is that because these “sub-categories” are not fields that you can assign products to in your feed from the start, but rather they are organically searched for by Shopzilla’s “algorithm” and then listed automatically, how do you ensure that your all of your Drivers get listed under “golf clubs” and ALSO “the sub category of “Drivers?” 

Easy…add the “key word” of “Driver” in the product SKU description and/or fields where you can describe your product. Then your “Drivers” will get listed in the proper general category and in any sub categories that Shopzilla creates to better assist an online consumer to find the driver they are looking to buy.  If you do this your drivers will be listed in the url above AND here:

http://www.shopzilla.com/8B--Golf_Gifts_Equipment_-_att361176--210148-__cat_id--12070300__keyword--golf%20clubs
 
So a mastery of keywords as they relate to your products is essential to ensure that the products you send these in your original feeds are then mapped in fields, categories, and all sub-categories that CSEs have created on their site.

The next question you probably will ask is why don’t CSEs just give you “all” of these options to start with? 

Good question and the answer is…they are beginning too, but be patient it takes time to figure out the best way to categorize certain products and then get that new taxonomy to their tech team to program and then to online merchants.

It is a process and nothing is perfect and maybe, someday, if the CSE’s can actually categorize on many levels based strictly on an attribute and keyword systems and remove a need to send CSE specific taxonomy, that will make life easier for everyone.  Just an idea for any CSE reading out there!

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. "Key Words" are essential to master as they help you ensure your products are listed in the right places and all appropriate places on CSEs.

2. There are no right key words...you have to get inside the head of the consmer and the CSE and think like they think...what key words would you type in to find your product?

3. ALL CSEs will identify key words and then list your products on their site accordingly...so use key words!

4. Whatever system, product, company or person you use to send your data feeds make sure that they are able to send your products with key words easily...and then make sure they manipulate and update those key words over time to ensure that you are up to speed with the marketplace and your CSEs new sub categories.

Marketing Experiments Landing Page Optimization Course...

"….significantly increase revenues from your e-commerce landing pages..."

Okay that is their tagline, not mine! But....

Marketing Experiments ("ME") is an excellent company and while the seminar is NOT free, it costs $595; I believe it can be a very, very useful use of your time and money primarily because ME does excellent work.  My prediction is that the money you spend you will make back quickly in optimizing your site. But those are just my thoughts.

I do not get anything for giving all of you online merchants this information, but the satisfaction of knowing that you all might increase your online sales.

I hope the seminar helps as I can vouch that every time I have attend an online ME couse/seminar/webinar it has been very helpful.  I know we are all deluged with “sources for information” but Marketing Experiments is one of the tops, outside of eTaildtail.com of course! LOL

Oh yeah, and eTaildTail.com is free…so maybe just keep reading here.  No, in all seriousness, please see if this seminar may be right for you, as ME is really very good and recognized as industry experts by many of us who have been doing online retailing for years.

Here are the details of the seminar, as they were sent to me, and no I do not make commissions or kick backs if you sign up! Promise! :-)

Have a great weekend. -- Ed

“Dear Marketing Experiments Subscriber,

Our Landing Page Optimization Certification Course for e-commerce sites begins on May 24, 2007.
This is a seven-session, on-demand certification course, during which you will learn proven strategies to optimize your e-commerce landing pages. Click here for more details:

https://www.marketingexperiments.com/secure/offer.php?id=135

Over the last five years, after conducting thousands of tests for research partners across a broad range of industries, we have developed the Marketing Experiments Conversion Index. This unique and proven Conversion Index forms the basis of what we will teach you during this course.

Here is just part of what you will learn:
• How to develop a value proposition that will motivate your page visitors
• How to reduce friction and encourage page visitors to move forward and take action
• How to increase page relevance and reduce visitor anxiety
• How to design landing pages that engage and hold the attention of your readers
• How to test and track metrics regarding your pages and analyze results to make further improvements

In addition to the on-demand resources that are provided in the online Learning Lab, we will also assist you one-on-one if you need additional help.

In other words, we do all that we can to make sure you learn the course content and pass the final exam.
Upon your successful completion, we will provide you with a credential of professional certification which you can add to your resume, or display in your office.

Register now... we cannot accept registrations once the course has begun on May 24th. To maintain the student/teacher ratio, the number of seats is limited, so we strongly encourage you to register now. You will find more information and registration details on our Landing Page Optimization Professional Certification Course information page.

https://www.marketingexperiments.com/secure/offer.php?id=135

If you have any questions before enrolling, please call us at
(904) 305-6524.

Sincerely yours,

The Marketing Experiments Team

P.S. Remember, this course begins May 24th, and we cannot accept applications once the course has begun. Please register immediately to reserve your seat.”

Get Ready For Mobile E-Commerce!!!

It was a rainy down here in South Florida this morning and now it is sunny!  So for today I wanted to focus on what I think will be a great boon for all internet retailers, not just the big guys. In other words, what bright future lays ahead for small to mid sized businesses to make money online?

I am speaking of e-commerce over wireless handheld devices, otherwise affectionately known as "m-commerce."  Look around you today at your children and those under 30.  Stare at them for 5 minutes and let me know if they don’t check their phone or “smart” phone for IMs, new music selections, RSS feeds, updates on American Idol, the latest Hollywood movie trailer, or the latest You-Tube “funny.”  The simple fact is that everyone is using one device, namely their “smart” phone, to do anything but cook dinner.

Now that 2.0 is here we will see a proliferation of all sorts of information being pushed to those 2 x 2 inch screens.  Just because you might be too old to get it [or see it... :-) ] don’t think the under 30’s have not adopted this practice hook, line and sinker.  They have and they will be using m-commerce just like the 40+ generation (yes that’s me) adopted the internet 10-15 years ago.

While only 12% of US Households with a mobile carrier use their data services, according to Forrester Research, that is a huge number considering that wireless carriers as T-Mobile, ATT/Cingular, Sprint, Verizon and others have only begun to accommodate m-commerce. Oh yeah and EVERYONE now has a wireless device if not 2.

We are at the dawn, see the sunshine analogy was coming along eventually, whereby any online merchant should be considering how they will format their data to reach these “smart” devices with a 2 x 2 inch screen. And we all know that there are no standards, yet, so I suggest you start working with companies who can help you on this next stage of wireless marketing.

This includes:

- viewing a FULL web page (very few people like to scroll on their phone)
- redeemable coupon sent to wireless devices
- special holiday gift reminders, and my favorite,
- sending an IM or e-mail to “opt-in” customers who have decided to receive special offers from their favorite merchants as they walk within 500 yards or less of your brick and mortar store.

If you are a retailer just getting to know how powerful online marketing can be to increase sales, maybe you can wait a few months before asking questions about m-commerce. But if you want to stay ahead of the curve, and be a leader in offering clients the next cool way to purchase products, start considering m-commerce; if you wait you may miss a great opportunity to differentiate your self from your competition and add value to your brand.

I will write more into the future on this great new industry, which is really just a new distribution method of what we are all doing already online.

Oh and if you don’t believe me, Chetan Sharma, President of Chetan Sharma Consulting states: “It is inevitable…that mobile devices will become an accepted way to conduct transactions.”

HELPFUL TIPS FOR THE DAY:

1. Don't under estimate the power and revenue potential of leveraging m-commerce to your existing marketing strategies.

2. Start asking your friends, consultants, and third party vendor providers the best practices to leverage this next wave of e-commerce = m-commerce!

3. If you think you can ignore this trend in the marketplace...you are WRONG. 

4. Undertstand the m-commerce marketplace now because it is really only a new distribution method for what you are already doing online.