Email Marketing
Social Networkers reach out more with cellphones
By Edward C. Baig, USA Today
Bree Warner frequents MySpace to connect with old friends, make new ones and drum up jobs. More often than not, the 27-year-old Los Angeles actress/photographer isn’t in front of a computer. Instead, she uploads pictures and taps into the celebrated social network from her Helio cellphone.
Between photo shoots or on the set, the phone “is really convenient because I use MySpace so much for networking,” she says.
So do her peers. “Almost everyone I know has a Sidekick or a BlackBerry, and I can only imagine how much they use it to check their MySpace/Facebook messages,” says Long Island graphics designer Liz Degen, 21.
The cellphone in your pocket or purse is becoming fertile territory for the hugely popular — some say over hyped — social-networking trend. Though social networks take different forms, they typically link folks with common interests and values. The mobile variety tends to appeal to the throngs of young people who have an insatiable desire to stay connected at all times.
Just as you receive e-mail and instant messages on your cell, you can now access the “status updates” and buddy profiles that are a fixture on social networks. Some start-ups are using location-based technologies to let cellular subscribers keep tabs on pals close by. Yet wireless carriers, handset makers and social-networking upstarts confront a challenge: turning mobile networking into a profitable venture.
Senior analyst Jill Aldort of the Yankee Group calls “mobile social networking a hot market with lukewarm potential.” She says just 8% of adult mobile phone owners in the USA regularly access mobile social-networking services and sees that rising to 20% in 2011. From subscription, browsing and messaging fees, Aldort says, U.S. carriers will take in about $1.5 billion in 2011, up from about $560 million this year. “That’s not a big number.”
For all its promise, mobile social networking “is where the Internet was in 1994,” says Tristan Louis, an analyst at TNL.net.
In many respects, mobile is a natural extension of the PC social-networking experience. Phones provide an immediacy not typically possible on a PC. “I think it’s going to be more pre-emptive, more spontaneous,” says Padmasree Warrior, Motorola’s chief technology officer.
Folks can comment on a restaurant, concert or dinner date during the activity. “People don’t want to wait until they get home to read about the latest exploits of their friends,” says Roger Entner, senior vice president at IAG Research. “And friends may not wait until they get home to tell them how the date went.”
Jyri Engeström, co-founder of mobile blogging site Jaiku, says, “Mobile social networking is more like ‘social peripheral vision.’ You have an idea what people who somehow matter to you are up to.”
Some networkers don’t even have a computer. Frederick Ghahramani, co-founder of AirG, which manages social-networking communities on Sprint Nextel, AT&T, Virgin Mobile, Boost Mobile and other carriers, says 59% of its 20 million unique users around the world don’t own or share a PC.
Of course, mobile networkers encounter different obstacles than their PC comrades do. Typing on many handsets is a hassle. Many devices lack keyboards. Screens are small, coverage spotty.
“Plenty of times, and usually times I need it, service goes down and leaves me with nothing,” complains Anthony Dobrini. The junior at Stony Brook University in Long Island spends hours on his Sidekick promoting concerts part time through MySpace.
Tech giants push mobile
Through it all, name-brand tech companies are focusing on mobile. This summer, Nokia bought Seattle-area start-up Twango, a service that lets consumers share pictures and video captured over the phone.
After months of speculation about a Google Phone, Google last week showcased Android, an open platform for mobile devices that may well spur social applications. It came days after the release of OpenSocial in which Google teamed with MySpace, LinkedIn and other social networks on a platform to spread social software applications across cyberspace.
Andy Rubin, Google’s director of mobile platforms, imagines, among other things, an instant-messaging-like buddy list that is “sorted by how close they are to me no matter where I am. That can be pretty cool.”
Google already owns Dodgeball.com, which keeps cellphone users in touch with friends in the same location. It also snapped up Jaiku and another start-up, Zingku, which lets people send “mobile fliers” and pictures to trusted friends.
Last month, Facebook unveiled a mobile platform to encourage its 80,000 developers to extend applications to phones. It also teamed with Research In Motion to put its service on BlackBerry smartphones. People can tag and upload photos and send Facebook invitations from their BlackBerry’s address book.
Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz says its mobile user base is growing faster than the website. As of the end of October, Facebook’s 4 million distinct active users across its mobile lineup generated more than 300 million page views. “Things that are inherently social are inherently mobile,” Moskovitz says.
Verizon Wireless is among the advertising partners Facebook announced last week. “We believe that there is an opportunity in social networking for consumers and businesses that mobility may uniquely provide,” Verizon spokesman Jeffrey Nelson says. “All the ingredients for the stew seem to be there. What’s the secret sauce that makes it tremendous?”
Helio CEO Sky Dayton refers to mobile as “social networking 2.0.” The upstart carrier, jointly owned by EarthLink and South Korea’s SK Telecom, recognized the potential early on: MySpace was a core feature the moment Helio handsets became available in 2006.
Dayton says Helio’s average revenue per user is nearly $90, compared with the industry average of about $50. With only $200 million in annualized revenue and 140,000 members, Helio is tiny compared with rivals. Versions of MySpace are also on AT&T, Sprint and T-Mobile.
“Mobile is an important strategic growth initiative,” says Amit Kapur, vice president for business development at MySpace.
T-Mobile noticed that 85% of the Web page views on its youth-oriented Sidekick devices went to MySpace. Its new MySpace Mobile application, with a custom interface and real-time alerts, will be free until the end of the year, after which the carrier is expected to charge $1.99 a month.
Still, the path to profitability for mobile social-networking ventures is muddy.
Biz Stone, the co-founder of “microblogging” company Twitter, admits the company is spending more than it’s making. “We’re approaching this with restraint,” he says. Twitter hasn’t publicly committed to a business model for its mobile service, which is based around short, frequent messages that keep friends and family updated on what you are doing.
The Yankee Group’s revenue projections do not include potential advertising revenue, which Engeström of Jaiku believes is the most promising way for social-networking companies to strike gold: “If you get millions of users, that trumps other business models.”
Motorola’s Warrior says it could make money by selling devices that allow people with common interests to share information over “peer-to-peer” networks that bypass the traditional carriers. Kids on a school bus, for example, might share music, with content providers getting a portion of revenue.
Other opportunities:
•Business. You’re attending a conference and want to know if anyone in your network is close by. Or you want to get the skinny on a sales prospect. Lucian Beebe, director of product management at business-oriented social networker LinkedIn, says you shouldn’t have to go through several screens on a phone to find the answers.
Beebe says a mobile LinkedIn is likely to look very different from services that tend to be more socially or entertainment-oriented. “We’re not trying to create an application where people spend (a lot of) time,” he says. “We want to get you in, solve your problem and get you out as fast as possible.”
•Where are you? The chatter about mobile networking inevitably leads to a discussion of location-based technologies. Helio devices include Buddy Beacon, a service that can broadcast your whereabouts to friends.
“I may want to go for a burger tonight — are there any friends around?” asks Dan Gilmartin, vice president of marketing at uLocate in Boston, which powers the application for Helio.
The goal of MeetMoi, another service, is to turn the phone into Cupid. You upload your address, and it buzzes other singles in the area. Members can swap flirty text messages and arrange a rendezvous. It typically costs about $10 a month on top of your carrier’s messaging charges.
Mobile games producer Digital Chocolate is developing a social game called AvaPeeps FlirtNation on Boost Mobile. You create an avatar, or “Peep,” and flirt with other Peeps on MySpace, Facebook and your phone. The cost is about $5 a month after a free trial.
Sometimes you just want the advice of a friend. The Yelp service is built around real people writing restaurant, shopping and other reviews. “For us, the marriage of local content on the go is the holy grail,” says CEO Jeremy Stoppelman.
Instant gratification
Seattle start-up Pelago is in beta, or test mode, for its Whrrl “social discovery” service. When Whrrl members go to a new restaurant, for example, they can write an instant review and post pictures. The information is mapped and made available in real time to network friends.
“Knowing something about the person who knows something about a place is ridiculously valuable,” says Pelago co-founder and CEO Jeff Holden.
Early Whrrl user Joan Jablonski of Chicago hasn’t tried the mobile application. But she sees Whrrl as “the future of socializing or at least going out and finding a place to meet.” If a restaurant is too smoky or crowded, she says, you can text everyone in your network on the fly.
But location-based networking has Big Brother implications.
“It’s really cool, but it’s also possibly the creepiest thing happening,” says Facebook’s Moskovitz. Privacy controls are crucial. Buddy Beacon, for one, lets you switch to a “cloak” mode to stay under the radar.
“Your friends are following your life as it is happening and, obviously, you control how much of that you want to share,” Dayton says.
Gina Reno, 37, an AirG customer on Boost and a Chicago waitress, typifies skittish consumers. “I have a GPS locator on my phone. I don’t feel comfortable with that yet.”
Mobile social networking of one sort or another appears inevitable. Is it over hyped? Is there money to be made? Says Mark Bole, CEO of social media start-up ShoZu: “The answer to both is categorically yes.”
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Interchanges.com Featured in the Jacksonville Business Journal
See and be Seen
Businesses large and small can improve their bottom line by improving their Web search ability.
By Dolly Penland – Correspondent
There are an estimated 1.17 billion people regularly using the Internet nowadays, according to the research Web site, InternetWorldStats.com. That means small businesses really can sell their wares locally and globally – if potential customers find their Web sites.
If you build it and they don’t come, your Web site just isn’t doing its job.
“There are millions and millions of little Web sites that are very nice looking, but compare it to a beautiful billboard,” said Chris Patterson, CEO of Internet Marketing / Web Site Development firm Interchanges.com. “If it’s in the middle of the woods, it’s not doing any good. You need to take that billboard out of the woods.”
An effective Web site, with good content, will only attract and retain customers if it ranks high on search engines such as Google, Yahoo! or MSN, thus making search engine optimization a key part of any Internet marketing strategy.
One strategy is to pay for a higher ranking. However, a good IT company or in-house staff guru also can use organic search engine optimization methods.
“Internet marketing has evolved quite a bit from just 2003, particularly search engines,” said Shaleen Shah, president of Seventhman, an Orange Park-based software and web site development company.
“There used to be a time when businesses would add metadata, key words and things like that, that helped them get ranked on search engines,” Shah said. “Whereas now, search engines have evolved so much, it’s almost an art to [know what it takes to] be ranked well. This is especially true when you want to get ranking for high-frequency key words.”
That was the case with The Waterhouse Group and its high-frequency key words, such as the words “sales” and “training.”
“I have been involved with the Internet since it was a top-secret military tool,” said Steve Waterhouse, president of the sales and training consulting firm. Waterhouse isn’t kidding – he’s a former Raytheon Co. design engineer who worked on the Patriot missile. “We started early using the Internet as a business tool back in 1991 or 1992.
Waterhouse’s company, also based in Orange Park, enjoyed high search-engine rankings all that time until about three years ago when it slipped. That’s when he contacted Seventhman.
“They got us from, I think it was [being ranked] in the 20s and in a matter of weeks, we were at No.1,” Waterhouse said. “We have sat at No.1 since then.” That means when the keywords “sales” and “training” are queried on Google, The Waterhouse Group pops up at or near the top.
The Waterhouse Group was getting about 15 to 20 unique visitors a day, but is now getting more than 100 each day. “I get all the leads I need just by being No.1,” Waterhouse said. “My business does just fine simply from the Internet [-generated] business.”
Useful content that is updated regularly is key to attracting customers, Internet marketers said. “You want to have the right information for people doing their due diligence on products or services,” Patterson said.
Useful content also improves a site’s ranking on the search engines. “Google really values content. So, you can please Google and position on the products or services at the same time,” Patterson said.
“I would put that around 20 percent to 25 percent,” Shah said. “How fresh the content is also makes an impact, 5 percent to 10 percent. A tremendous amount is created with link-building with other Web sites”
The criteria for Web site rankings are complicated and in constant flux. So when hiring a company to give a site a boost, it’s important to look for current experience and good results. The big search engines have spent years refining algorithms to prevent artificially inflated rankings. Officials with this companies frown on attempts to game the system.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )Can You Afford Not to Optimize Your Site?
by Lisa Wehr
If your responsibility is to increase online revenue, you’ll need the right resources.
Investing in a search engine marketing campaign is like spending money on any other type of marketing. The costs parallel the challenges, and everyone’s challenges are different.
The scope of search engine optimization and marketing is extensive in regards to application and implementation. Search engine marketing—also known as Web site marketing, Internet marketing and Web site promotion—can help create a solid Internet foundation on which your business can build.
Because every business is unique, your first task is to clearly identify what it is you want to accomplish. Do you want more brand visibility? Do you want to reach a specific audience? Obtain a higher position in Google? Increase online sales?
After you identify your business goals, partner with a reputable search engine marketer (SEM)—also known as a search engine optimization (SEO) company. These specialize in the technology that generates traffic and positions for clients. A knowledgeable, experienced SEM/SEO can assist you every step of the way while keeping the best interests of your business in mind.
But before we delve into the fundamentals of how search engine marketing can increase your online revenue, let’s take a look at some of the benefits of successful search engine marketing to get a sense of what can be accomplished.
Consider the following examples:
A nationally recognized healthcare complex made $185 for every dollar spent on search engine optimization and marketing during its first year. The healthcare company’s goals were to increase Web traffic and target a specific audience that would, ultimately, improve the quality of its traffic. The comprehensive campaign included keyword and Web site architecture analysis, optimization of Web site and press release content, and the installation of tracking technology that monitors and evaluates the healthcare facility’s investment.
A 75-year-old Fortune 500 cataloger of business and institutional supplies now has more than 650 keywords in Top 10 search engine positions and more than 940 keywords in Top 30 search engine positions—up from nothing in the course of just one year.
A nationally recognized furniture manufacturer, working within a tight budget and with a limited number of keywords, optimized for several highly competitive terms. After optimization, the furniture manufacturer reached more than 100 “Top 10” search engine positions and more than 130 “Top 30” search engine positions for these highly competitive terms.
A specialty grocer’s homepage was as rare in the search engine listings as the unique, hard-to-find products it sold. After a year of search engine optimization, the grocer has sold $7 for every dollar invested in its search engine marketing campaign.
An international chemical giant needed to fix problems created by a previous search engine practitioner. They also wanted to increase traffic and educate a targeted audience. In less than a year, the company reached its traffic goals and moved from six Top 10 positions in the search engines to 500. Top 30 positions rose from 20 to more than 680.
This is just a small sample of cases where the right combination of resources and talent significantly increased online revenues for a business.
The Five P’s of Search Engine Marketing
Let’s put a little twist on the five traditional principles, or P’s, of marketing. For each category (product, place, price, position and promotion), we have added a little information for you to chew on.
I want my cake right now (Product). Being able to easily find a product on the Web is a value-added service for many customers. Despite the time of day or night, location or even the weather, customers can get what they what from you—if your product promptly appears within the first few results pages of the customer’s search engine of choice (which, according to most recent studies, is probably Google, MSN, AOL or Yahoo!). The sale of your products and services can quickly escalate based on how convenient it is for your customers to research, inquire and ultimately make a purchase. How quickly can they find your products or services? Can they learn more about those products or services and buy them from you right now? Is it a safe, simple procedure?
Where can I find that cake? (Place). A bakery can sell its famous cakes from a brick building down the street, from a kiosk in a food court or from the results pages of a search engine. When a customer walks into a bakery, he can immediately see whether there are any chocolate cakes—but what about the baker’s Web site? How will the customer know if the baker has any chocolate cakes? The answer is keyword. If your Web site does not contain the keywords customers use to find a specific product, it’s just like having an empty shelf at the bakery. With conscientious search engine optimization, you can put your products and services on the shelf—at eye level.
How much is that cake? (Price). Comprehensive search engine optimization and marketing can help reduce the cost of generating leads and sales. You can pass those savings on to your customer, enjoy a stronger profit margin or benefit from both. Plus, search analytics can provide you with the data and the analysis needed to generate leads and demonstrate your savings, quarter after quarter.
Is that the best cake you’ve got? (Position). What do you suppose happens to your reputation if the products and services you sell don’t readily appear within the first few pages of a Google search? You may be judged irrelevant. Nonexistent. Ouch. A successful campaign, however, can permit smaller players to walk among giants. It levels the proverbial playing field. And don’t forget—you can add to your visibility with pay-per-click advertising and let your customers know you’re ready to deal. Your reputation is resuscitated. Your presence is felt.
My friends love your cake—can we get a group discount? (Promotion). Obviously, the exposure of being well positioned naturally in search results promotes your product or service—potential customers usually scroll through only the first few pages of search engine results before giving up and moving on. But have you considered how paid search campaigns could also offer price promotions and seasonal products or launch new services? And how a well-optimized press release can rise to the top of a journalist’s list of resources? Or on the list of an investor, analyst, franchisee, or most importantly, a customer? And where does a customer go to get more information about an advertised sweepstakes or self-fulfilling promotion? You get the idea.
So what should you, the marketer, glean from all this information about search engine optimization and marketing?
First, familiarize yourself with it. Learn how search engines search. Learn the importance of keyword selection. Define objectives for your business and your Web site and make a list of the goals you wish to achieve. Learn who the players are, then partner with a SEM/SEO that bases success on results, not just potential.
Be sure that the companies you consider can clearly track, measure and demonstrate a return on your investment, and that they have the tools to report and evaluate Top 10 and Top 30 search engine positions. Your SEM/SEO should also provide analytics that reveal search engine traffic increases as optimization efforts take effect and grow over time. As with any great recipe for success, superior results are always measurable.
Finally, ask your SEM/SEO partner if it can define actions (such as downloading articles, subscribing to newsletters or requesting information) that convert Web site users into prospects, and then qualify them as suitable leads. Prior to optimization, your SEM/SEO should be able to benchmark conversion rates and, as optimization takes effect, document how your site is attracting qualified prospects.
The key to increasing your online revenue through search engine marketing requires a team effort—the right combination of resources and talent. And, because of all the buzz about search engine optimization being on the rise, it is common knowledge that competition for Top 10 and Top 30 search engine positions is going to intensify.
After you’ve done a little homework, answer this questions: Can you afford not to optimize your site?
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( 2 so far )Combining Email Marketing with Web Marketing
by Ron Evans
Email marketing is incredibly effective at maintaining customer loyalty, as well as converting interested prospects into customers. However, for the acquisition of a new prospect, email marketing may not be the most ideal method due to the proliferation of unwanted offers. So how do you get these “hand-raisers” to give you the permission to market to them in the first place? Here are some online marketing techniques that combine well with email marketing.
Search Engine Listings
Search engines and directories such as Yahoo and MSN are still one of the first sources that people go to when looking for information online. The searcher is trying to find a solution to a problem, and their psychology is such that they can be highly receptive to your message if it is relevant to solving that problem. Once they have clicked thru to your web site, your goal is to get them to volunteer their email address to allow you to continue the dialog with them. You can only achieve this by giving them a valid reason for doing so. For well-known brand names, simply asking for the information may be enough. For newer or niche-focused companies, techniques such as providing information of value like a report, or actual giveaways are needed to convince most visitors to participate.
Pay Per Click Search Listings
Pay Per Click (PPC) listing services such as Overture and Google’s AdWords have all of the same benefits as non-paid search engine listings. There may be somewhat less credibility, as searchers are more skeptical of paid listings. However, this is more than countered by the predictability of the results. PPC listings are far superior to traditional search engines from the perspective of an advertiser because of both the immediacy with which you can obtain a listing, as well as the ability to achieve a specific desired ranking. Promotion becomes simpler because you get the positioning you are willing to pay for. And once you have paid for a visitor to click-thru to your site, your next objective is getting them to tell you their email address, so you can maximize your Return On Investment (ROI).
Content-Based Marketing
Creating original content is one of the best ways to demonstrate expertise and establish credibility for a company as an authority in a particular field. Allowing other web sites and online newsletters to republish this content along with a link back to your site is an excellent way to acquire new prospects. Many people would like to receive further information from an expert that they respect, and are quite willing to not just receive, but also anticipate receiving email from a said expert.
Newsletter Sponsorship
Although not quite as good at establishing credibility as is creating content, ads that are located in someone else’s email newsletter do tend to get noticed in a good light. By carefully selecting the correct target audience, along with proper timing, these ads can deliver qualified prospects to your site. And once they get there, your brilliant call to action and your well-crafted content will convince them to start a “conversation” by giving you their email address.
Site Sponsorship
Like newsletter sponsorship, site sponsorship ads do tend to get noticed in a better light than banner advertising. Combining sponsorship with content (the so-called “Advertorial”) can get more attention than advertising alone. Again, proper targeting and a compelling call to action are critical for achieving a response.
Conclusion
Give people a reason to ‘talk’ to your company and you can concentrate on talking to the people that already want to hear from you. Anything else wastes your time and annoys non-prospects unnecessarily. You can generate new leads by using other forms of online marketing, and then stay in touch with these prospects over the courtship process of getting them to become customers by using email marketing, and you will have adopted a powerful online marketing strategy.
Read Full Post | Make a Comment ( None so far )
Top 10 Email Marketing Tips
#10 Build Your List at Every Opportunity
Build your list at every opportunity you have. If you have a retail location, add a point-of-sale sign up form. At conferences or events, ask everyone you speak with if you may add them to your list after you exchange business cards. Finally, add your newsletter sign-up form to every page on your web site.
#9 Avoid Excess Punctuation or Capitalization
Don’t use ALL CAPS or multiple exclamation marks within your subject line or body. Doing this will trigger spam filters.
#8 Include both Plain Text and HTML
Be sure to include both a plain text and an HTML version of your newsletter. If you don’t include a plain text message, around 5% of your recipients will see a message with nothing in it.
#7 Familiarity Encourages Opens
Make the From Name for your messages either your company name or the name of a person at your company. Once you choose a From Name, keep it consistent. During the split second decision subscribers make whether to open your email, the most important factor in their decision is whether the From Name is familiar to them.
#6 Add a Note about Deliverability
To improve message deliverability, add a message at the top of your emails that says something like: “To ensure receipt of our emails, please add something@yourcompany.com to your Address Book.”
#5 Be consistent with your sending frequency.
Pick a schedule, whether it is weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly and as often as you can stick to that schedule. This way, your customers will come to expect and anticipate your company’s communications.
#4 Timing is key with Business to Business Communication — In most cases it is best to send business to business emails Tuesday through Thursday. We’ve found that the best times of the day to send are just after the start of the day around 9:30am or just after lunch around 1:30pm. It is best to avoid sending business to business emails after 4:00pm or on weekends.
#3 Timing is key with Business to Consumer Communication — In most cases it is best to send business to consumer emails either between 5:00pm and 8:00pm Tuesday through Thursday or between Friday evening and Sunday afternoon.
#2 Only include content relevant to the type of content the person has requested. As long as one provides value–whether by providing content on a topic a recipient is interested in or a discount off a product related to one purchased previously—-people will allow you to continue to contact them.
#1 Only send emails to persons who have requested to receive them. Unsolicited email is, of course, called spam. Sending spam will ruin any legitimate organization’s reputation and brand value startlingly quickly. Rule number one of becoming an intelligent email marketer is to never send unsolicited email.
Interchanges specializes in Newsletter Marketing Campaigns, if you are interested in learning how we can increase your bottom line please click here >>
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