Director of First Impressions (Salaried Employee or Temp)?
Posted on | August 13, 2008 | jeff baker
Everyone agrees that you do NOT get a second chance to make a first impression. Companies spend a lot of time and money thinking about tradeshows, brochures, business cards, logos and other forms of collateral. The part that amazes me is how little thought (or understanding) is given towards their web site.
A web site is more than a first impression. It is your Director of First Impressions. In most organizations, Director level positions are held by those who are experienced enough to make strategic decisions on behalf of the company. Directors also carry the accountability that goes along with this level of responsibility. Suggesting that a company place a $10/hr temporary employee in a Director role would be completely out of the question.
Is your web site a Director of First Impressions (i.e. experienced, responsible, leading users in the right direction) or is it a $10/hr temporary employee that’s more interested in doing its own thing and leading people off your site by design or lack of support? Do you pay your web site what it’s worth or is it an underpaid, underdeveloped representative of your company?
As fiscal budgets are being reviewed, perhaps it is time to evaluate what you are willing to pay (spend on) your website.
Blue Ocean Strategy – Original Thought or Just a Reflection of “Myopia”?
Posted on | July 22, 2008 | joshua lyall
A little while back, I finally got down to Blue Ocean Strategy in my ever-renewing stack of new books. Any book based not in opinion but in research gets my attention. In this case W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne spent a decade formulating their ideas based on analysis of 150 strategic moves across a variety of industries and eras (comparable to a lite version of a Jim Collins project).
Kim and Mauborgne came to the conclusion that most current industries are already overcrowded with quality competitors who are fighting over a limited number of potential customers (i.e., Red Oceans). They contend that in order for companies to experience significant growth in the future they need to look for uncontested market space (i.e., a Blue Ocean) outside of what they may consider their current market.
The authors provide an excellent systematic approach for a Blue Ocean search, but the big idea behind the book doesn’t feel that new. Almost 50 years ago, father of modern marketing Theodore Levitt spelled out these same essential elements in his most famous article, “Marketing Myopia”.
SEO Quick Tip: Meta Description
Posted on | July 22, 2008 | drew stauffer
Following up on my last SEO tip, SEO Quick Tip: Title Tags, today’s SEO quick tip deals with the meta description tag. The meta description tag is in the head section of every webpage and is a short description of the content on the page.
Second to the title tag, the meta description tag is the biggest influence in whether or not a user will click on your listing. If your description is well written and accurately describes the content, then you can easily increase your CTR (click through rate).
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Sears Launches Cool Web-Centric Effort Targeted to Teens
Posted on | July 16, 2008 | mike zeller
OK this is a tad long but this is a cool marketing effort by retail giant Sears, in their quest to connect with teens.
| Sears To Teens: This Is Not Your Parents’ Department Store |
| by Karl Greenberg, Wednesday, Jul 16, 2008 5:00 AM ET |
 Sears is hoping to convince tweens and teens that it is not their parents’ department store.
The Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based retailer is launching an interactive “back to school” marketing campaign, “Don’t Just Go Back. Arrive,” involving some 13 Web sites and custom animation, virtual worlds and social networking. The Web campaign aims to drive consumers to Sears’ online “Arrive Lounge.” The site features a five-part video in which “High School Musical” star Vanessa Hudgens struggles to find the right style for the first day of school. Site visitors can vote for the male cast member who will star with Hudgens in the final episode of the series. An associated sweepstakes dangles a Vanessa Hudgens concert at the winner’s school, private jet and limo rides to arrive at school in style and a jet shopping trip to Hollywood. There is also a music mixing tool that allows site visitors to create music videos and post them to YouTube, Facebook and MySpace. Sears will also have product placement in MTV’s romantic comedy feature film “The American Mall.” Sears will include VIP Access Cards in its loyalty program, which dangles entry into various sweepstakes and notification of exclusive sales at Sears and Sears.com. The Web sites included in the effort are Alloy.com, Disney and Nickelodeon, which will have Sears messaging that directs consumers back to the ArriveLounge, per the company. Web partners that are offering various virtual versions of Sears stores and boutiques with back-to-school themes are Zwinky.com with a Sears virtual store; a Sears boutique at Meez.com; Sears Back-To-School branded experiences at GoFish.com; a Sears back to school section on Nick.com; custom games for Sears on Addicting.com. Other teen-centric sites in which Sears will promote the real by using the virtual include FunBrain.com, Poptropica.com, NeoPets.com; Facebook; MySpace. Seventeen and CosmoGIRL! magazines are doing print and online promotions with Sears back-to-school content. “Expanding our marketing strategy into the online world of user communities and social networking is a critical means of developing engagement and brand loyalty within the youth demographic,” says Richard Gerstein, Sears’ SVP and chief marketing officer, in a release. “By modifying our strategy to reach tweens in their own environment, we are demonstrating to them how Sears can be a part of their life, from their entertainment to their school wardrobe.” |
Welcome to “The New Clutter”: Everyone Who’s Trying to “Cut Through The Clutter”
Posted on | July 9, 2008 | steve whigham
Seems like everyone’s feverishly yapping these days about the need to ”cut through the clutter” while spazzing out on their fourth Red Bull of the morning. But just what happens when everyone starts cutting through the clutter at the same time–and in the same way? Take a look around. Welcome to 2008, The Birth of “The New Clutter.”
To say you’re wanting to “cut through the clutter” and then actually doing it are two separate issues. Unfortunately, they are rarely connected. That’s good news for the serious idea person (which I’m assuming you are–or at least want to be.) Cutting through the clutter is still a simple proposition, but a simplicity most are not willing to embrace. Why? Because it’s hard. Simple, but hard. But it’s doable with a certain discipline to your idea making. And that’s what I’d like to discuss with you… about going to the 15th.
One Easy Way to Generate Traffic
Posted on | July 8, 2008 | drew stauffer
Traffic for any website is usually a main goal, but a lot of people don’t know how to generate traffic. I hear it all the time in the office, “We need to get the word out.” Then weeks or months later, nothing has happened.
We’ve all heard that creating unique and compelling content is the best way to get links and attract people to your website, but what happens when you’ve created your fantastic content and your traffic still isn’t increasing?
Users aren’t going to flock to your website as soon as you publish what you consider to be the most important piece of content on the web; you have to let people know.
» Continue Reading
Where is Your Sitemap?
Posted on | July 3, 2008 | drew stauffer
Sitemap pages are a great way to let the search engines know what content is on your website. But what kind of sitemap are you using?
You could use a regular page from your website, an HTML, PHP, ASP, or whatever type of page will work. These pages are great for users because they list all of the pages in your website. Ideally, you would also include a description for each page so a user would know what they’re going to get when they click the link, instead of just a word that lists the page names.
These pages will help the search engines but not nearly as much as an XML Sitemap. An XML Sitemap is a page that you can literally upload to the search engines to let them know specifically what pages you have on your website instead of waiting for them to find all of your pages.
Through Google Webmaster Tools you can submit your XML Sitemap, and once your site is verified, you can get a lot of extra information about your website, including:
- Any errors your site has
- Last time your site was searched by Google
- A content analysis that will give you information about your titles and descriptions
- Your top search queries
- Crawl Stats
- Both external and internal link data
- Plus a lot more
You can easily generate an XML Sitemap through many sources, I prefer XML-Sitmaps.com. Simply enter your URL and the site does the rest. It will spit out your perfect XML Sitemap that you’ll then submit to Google.
Follow all the steps in Webmaster Tools and you’ll be well on your way to making sure your entire website is as Google friendly as possible.
Synaptic Navigation
Posted on | July 2, 2008 | jeff baker
Synaptic navigation is the art of presenting the web site user with a custom navigation experience. Synaptic navigation allows users to follow their own thought process while navigating your site. For example, if a user is looking at a specific product or service and sees a link or call out to related information, there is a chance that they will stay engaged on your site longer.
Usually backed up by linear or traditional navigation and robust search capabilities, synaptic navigation is a departure from directing users down a specific path to what you think they are looking for. The challenge is for designers and developers to think about all the ways content can link to itself throughout the site.
Most web sites attempt to follow the three click rule. If users can’t find what they need within three clicks, they will most likely move on to your competitor’s site. Users are becoming more savvy and want to build a relationship with you on their own terms. Synaptic navigation is one way to do this. Another way is through using PURLs (personalized urls). In the world of B2B and B2C, personalized URLs can make a significant impact on your users. We’ll take a look at PURLs in another post.
USA Today Speaks with Matt Cutts About Search Engine Optimization
Posted on | June 26, 2008 | drew stauffer
Earlier this week, Jefferson Graham from USA Today sat down with Matt Cutts, head of Google’s Webspam team, to discuss search engine optimization. Matt gave some basic tips that can help any webmaster achieve better rankings on Google. Here are some of the highlights:
- Use the keywords and phrases that people would search for your site in your content.
- Create good title and description tags.
- Get other sites to link to you.
- Create a blog and post often.
- Use free tools like Google’s Webmaster Central Tools and Google Local.
In the article Matt goes into detail about each tip and how webmasters can utilize these suggestions to begin to optimize their own web pages. Matt also goes on to dispel other myths that people associate with search engine optimization such as paying for advertising to get better rankings.
There is also a video of the interview if you just don’t have time to read the post. Either way, it’s great information for anyone interested in search engine optimization.
Email Checklist
Posted on | June 17, 2008 | drew stauffer
Seth Godin, author of “Purple Cow: Transform Your Business by Being Remarkable” and “All Marketers Are Liars” has compiled an email checklist that is definitely worth a read. Seth goes through a 36 point checklist just to make sure every email is perfect.
Here are a few of the ones that stood out to me:
13. Am I angry? (If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour)
14. Could I do this note better with a phone call?
16. Is there anything in this email I don’t want the attorney general, the media or my boss seeing? (If so, hit delete).
32. If this is a press release, am I really sure that the recipient is going to be delighted to get it? Or am I taking advantage of the asymmetrical nature of email–free to send, expensive investment of time to read or delete?
33. Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?
35. Bonus: Does the subject line make it easy to understand what’s to come and likely it will get filed properly?
Check out Seth’s post and let us know what you think. Are your emails as perfect as they could be?