What does the Internet mean to you?
A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter—and getting smarter faster than most companies.
These markets are conversations. Their members communicate in language that is natural, open, honest, direct, funny and often shocking. Whether explaining or complaining, joking or serious, the human voice is unmistakably genuine. It can't be faked. Many corporations, on the other hand, only know how to talk in the soothing, humorless monotone of the mission statement, marketing brochure, and your-call-is-important-to-us busy signal.
No wonder networked markets have difficulties communication with companies unable or unwilling to speak as they do. But learning to speak in a human voice is not some trick, nor will corporations convince us they are human with lip service about "listening to customers." They will only sound human when they empower real human beings to speak on their behalf.
While many such people already work for companies today, many companies are slow to deliver genuine knowledge, opting instead to crank out rutine "happytalk" that miscommunicates with markets literally too smart to buy it.
However, employees are getting hyperlinked even as markets are. Companies need to listen carefully to both. Mostly, they need to get out of the way so intranetworked employees can converse directly with internetworked markets. Corporate firewalls have kept smart employees in and smart markets out.
It's going to cause real pain to tear those walls down. But the result will be a new kind of conversation. And it will be the most exciting conversation business has ever engaged in.
What Is eMarketing?
Permission-based Opt-in eMail Marketing is here to stay. It is faster, cheaper, more easily quantified, and more effective than any other kind of marketing.
Your customers prefer it too!
eMail Marketing Works
The Direct Marketing Association reported in April that 66% of companies in their survey said their sales increaded as a result of using email marketing. 63% of respondents said that email marketing was their most effective customer retention tool.
Growth of Digital Marketing Initiatives
eMail marketing spending in the U.S. is growing quickly where other forms of advertising are flat or stagnating. eMarketer reports that U.S. companies spent $1.1 billion in 2000, $2.1 Billion in 2001 and $3.3 Billion this year. Jupiter Media Metrix believes the name of the game is diversification--digital marketing initiatives (e-coupons, promotions, and email for example) will generate $19.3 Billion by 2006.
Studies Show Consumers Enjoy eMail Marketing
According to a quarterly study from Valentine Radford, over 50% of consumers agree that email advertising is enjoyable. In fact, more than 80% of online consumers reported that they enjoy receiving email newsletters. In contrast, 75% of e-consumers think banner ads are annoying.
Customer Demand For Permission Based Email Grows
According to DoubleClick's latest consumer study, 77% of consumers want to receive weekly offers via email. 88% of those polled said they have purchased an item because of permission-based email.
Permission eMail Irritates Very Few Net Users
Forty-eight percent of the recipients of permission email are curious to read it, and 13% are eager to read it reports a study released by IMT Strategies. The report found that 30% of those polled were indifferent to permission email, 7% open it "somewhat annoyed," and 2% delete it without reading it.
Other Important Parts of eMarketing
In the ever-changing Internet marketing game it has become quite clear that just having a Web site is not enough. In fact, it is a waste of money. Yet, many firms use a simple Web site as their entire Internet marketing program.
When they decide to market on the Internet, they enlist the help of a Web design firm that knows little or nothing about marketing. Most web site developers only know how to design custom Web sites and move from client to client. They are primarily graphic designers and are seldom equipped to develop a cohesive Internet marketing campaign.
Consequently, millions of web sites end up on the “County Road of the Internet” while traffic roars by on the “Interstate.” To avoid this problem, visualize your Internet marketing strategy in terms of a Web Universe as opposed to an individual site. The Web Universe incorporates several sites that are interrelated and synergistic.
When executed properly, a Web Universe can yield optimal results, and illustrates that the Internet, in spite of the current dot.com malaise, has lost none of its power to catapult organizations into new vistas. To get the most out of your Internet real estate, follow these six steps to creating a Web Universe.
For any Internet marketing program to be successful you need an effective Web site, preferably e-Commerce-equipped, quick to load, easy to navigate, and connected with a reliable traffic tracker. Once this main site is operational, you can follow these six steps to creating your eMarketing Web Universe:
1. Create topic-specific auxiliary pages;
2. Host a Web ring for your customers;
3. Develop an industry portal;
4. Develop an online directory;
5. Create an Intranet;
6. Offer an industry auction.
Step one: Create topic-specific auxiliary pages to help customers find you If you are going to play the Internet game, potential customers must be able to find you. “People who spend five hours per week on the Internet spend about 75 percent of their time searching for information.“ says Bob Massa, founder of Magic-City.Net, a top search engine placement firm in Mc Cloud, OK. “Somewhere between 85 to 90 percent of all Internet users rely on search engines to locate sites. Only 7 percent of these will look past the first three pages of search results.”
Adds Massa: “The most effective way to optimize search engine ranking for your Web site is to develop high-quality, topic-specific pages that lead web surfers to your regular web site and order page.” This approach is particularly effective for “niche” market firms. For example, Victory Corps, an event decorating materials supplier in Brooklyn Center, MN, has attained prominent search engine ranking for its line of parade float supplies.
If you search for “parade float supplies” in any of the major search engines, like AOL, MSN, Google, Dogpile, or Yahoo, the topic-specific pages http://www.1st-paradefloats.com and http://www.at-a-parade-float-supplies.com enjoy a prominent ranking and lead you to the main site, http://www.victorycorps.com Another good example of a topic specific page would be that of Creative Banner, a wholesale sign and banner supply firm. Its site, http://www.123signmakingequipmentandsupplies.com serves a large market and direct visitors to the main site http://www.creativebanner.com.
“Product specific pages have helped us expand our internet exposure tremendously and do so very cost effectively, says Dennis Flaherty, President of Creative Banner. The same can be true for your consulting firm. By creating project-specific auxiliary pages, you can lure potential customers looking for project management, Web hosting, branding, application development—or whatever your specialty.
Step two: Host a Web ring for your customers Offering your customers a free Web site is a great incentive for them to start promoting you on the Web. Create a template-based site loaded with advertising for your services—and offer it free of charge to your customers.
Once you have developed your template, you can host your customer’s sites on your server—like a Web ring—so costs are minimal. With your customers promoting your program to their clientele you are able to substantially extend your Internet presence. No additional staff is necessary. You have simply created a number of new billboards and your customers are providing the exposure.
Step three: Develop an industry portal By creating an industry port for your customers you can invite daily traffic that can be constantly reminded of your services through advertising and links you’re your main page. By offering content and links to content of interest to your customers, you’ll keep them coming back. While most general portals have adopted a Yahoo style of directory and search functions, niche portals like TechTarget’s SearchWin2000.com offer industry-specific content. When linked with your main Web site, portals can produce a significant number of leads.
Step four: Develop an online industry directory Using the same search engine technology as the industry portal, develop a list of 300-500 industry terms and descriptions and turn it into an alphabetical search engine. Link to your main site on every page of this online “dictionary,” and offer it as a free service to other industry portals, franchiser sites, trade magazine Web sites, etc. In addition to representing an opportunity for excellent public relations for your company, it will generate new traffic to your Web site.
Step five: Create your own Intranet An intranet is a private, secure space on the web where your group can easily access and share documents, calendars, and information. It is the ideal online communications tool for businesses, departments, and groups, and includes attractive interactive applications. You can sign up for a subscription-based intranet at Intranets.com to use it to post documents, create group schedules, announce events, and more.
Rick Faulk, vice president of marketing for Intranets.com, said more than 370,000 small businesses and other groups use Intranets.com. "Intranets.com provides the fastest and easiest way for small businesses to communicate and collaborate with customers, co-workers and vendors. We have customers using our intranets for everything-- from marketing and sales to internal communication and bulletin boards."
Step six: Offer an industry auction People love online auctions; just look at the success of e-Bay! So why not create one for your industry group? With a little effort, your industry partners, vendors, and customers will be buying and selling via your site. This activity can be managed online and charging a fee for every completed transaction can provide ancillary profits. Of course, this is another source for excellent PR for your organization and lead generation.
Once your web sites are in place, you should concentrate on the development of promotional support programs in your Web Universe. Following are steps 7 through 12 that support this activity.
Step 7: Follow Up With Your Contacts: Immediately and Automatically An AutoResponse system is a must. It will send an immediate response to any incoming message to your web site(s) with a pre-written response message and it allows for a series of additional, automatic follow-ups. Most people need several follow-up prompts before reaching a buying decision and this program automates the process. To learn exactly how the program works, please see http://www.aweber.com/?16873
Step 8: Create An Industry Directory This online registration device creates an excellent free opportunity to add to your database (for example, please see http://hometownsponsors.com -- click “Find An Event”). You may want to consider making it available for industry viewing. Again, it is an excellent source for expanding your opt-in e-mail list.
“This has been a wonderful program that has helped us generate an enormous number of leads for our products and services,” stated Sylvia Allen, President of Allen Consulting, Inc,., a marketing consulting firm located in Holmdel, NJ. “With this lead generation system our salespeople no longer spend time ‘cold calling’ and working one-to-one. A recent article in ‘Sales and Marketing Management’ emphasized that your good salespeople should be following up on leads, not doing lead generation. This program allows our good salespeople to do this.”
Step 9: Publish Your Own IT Newsletter Take the initiative and publish your company or industry IT newsletter. Your above-mentioned email list will serve as your initial subscriber base. “Start by clearly identifying your objectives for your newsletter – will it be strictly informational to build your brand, or a sales generation tool? Your objectives will dictate the content and tone for your newsletter,” says Gail Goodman, chief executive officer of Roving Software makers of Constant Contact (www.roving.com), one of the most exciting new programs to hit the market.
“Before you send out your first newsletter, make a commitment to respect the privilege of communicating with those who have given you permission to contact them by email with an unsubscribe.” As you build your Web Universe, you will find that your vendors and customers will enthusiastically contribute to your publication and post articles and questions. Your publication therefore will become another source for you to develop new business initiatives and opportunities as well as establishing you as the Center of the Universe!
Step 10: Offer a Free e-Book If your industry is interested in education (and who isn’t nowadays?), this is the best lead-generating device of all. Co-op the e-Book with articles written by vendors, consultants, your industry association, etc.
An eBook is a download document that contains educational information of interest to your customers (please see http://victorycorps.com/ebook_form.html). Before downloading your eBook, have your customers complete a simple online form which will the allow you the opportunity for telephone follow-up. The e-Book itself can be presented as an MS Word or Adobe download file (if you include illustrations). All of this gives you the opportunity to distribute your message without the additional costs associated with printing, postage, etc.!!
Step 11: Ask For Online Referrals. The main source of new business for many companies is referrals from satisfied customers. Expand this concept electronically by putting a referral button on your web sites. Visitors to your web sites will rate them and use this easy prompt to email referrals to friends and colleagues.
Step 12: Create An Online Affiliate Program Let your customers, business allies, and online contacts become your online reps!!! This can be accomplished with the help of an affiliate program which compensates participants for click-throughs to your web site(s), referrals, or commissions per sale. This program will not only generate leads, but can also generate substantial new revenue. “At Commission Junction, we make affiliate marketing easy,” says Lex Sisney, Commission Junction CEO.
Affiliate marketing allows online merchants to extend their reach, build their brand, drive sales and lower customer acquisition costs - all on a pay-for-performance basis. And since we are Web-based, merchants can quickly launch their affiliate program and begin to see results immediately. It enables you to turn the web sites of thousands of affiliates into online partners.” See http://www.cj.com
How To Get Started
1. Build Your Web Universe
To build your organization’s Web Universe, first you need to develop the individual web sites as outlined in Phase A above. If you are already working with your web development firm, ask them for a proposal. You could, of course, try to develop the entire program yourself with the help of free templates available on the Internet, but this is not for the faint of heart!
2. Connect The Dots
With your Web Universe in place you need to link your search engine topic-specific pages to your various “ sites” and then implement the promotional support program in Phase B above. To insure optimal traffic, just put the architecture you developed on a piece of paper and connect the dots. Then go “live” with your program and watch your traffic build. This is the fun part, because results will be instantaneous.
3. Plan A Grand Opening!!!
So your site is up, you are proud of the design, but what about the announcement of its existence? New stores have "Grand Openings" so why not a website, particularly if it includes an on-line store? Just like the conventional grand opening there needs to be a strong statement, celebration, or shall we call it "Fireworks" to attract your traffic. Some reward ideas can include weekend get-aways, hotel certificates and for the top end, a cruise for two To Las Vegas.
4. Add An Unbeatable Giveaway
An effective way to build loyalty to your site is to offer a unique free giveaway. A great example of this is www.VistaPrint.com While many other sites advertise “free” products that are not really free, VistaPrint.com offers 250 full-color, custom printed business cards, an unprecedented $85 value. This is one of the most valuable free offers found anywhere on the web. What’s more, VistaPrint.com ties this great gift offer in with the convenience and power of the Web. Customers easily design their cards right on the VistaPrint.com site.
This approach has made VistaPrint.com one of the most heavily visited sites on the Internet. One truly effective and valuable incentive is VistaPrint’s offer of 250 free business cards which you can design on the Internet and order for delivery in 5-7. This offer is certain to add a star to your Web Universe!!
5. Launch Your Online PR Campaign
Now the only thing left to do is to ”tell the world.” While it sounds like a great deal, free PR is a myth. I wished I had a penny for every news release I ever sent to the press and never got published anywhere!! An innovative alternative is www.infoARAContent.com. Founded in 1996, ARA Content’s mission is to provide informative, high-quality content for reporters, editors and publishers in both print and online media. ARA articles, along with high quality graphics, are available free of charge to editors and can be downloaded or e-mailed directly from www.ARAContent.com Editors are constantly seeking feature articles and supplements to help fill their publications.
By creating a feature article promoting your product or service, you can reach thousands of people nationwide. “Features are informative and introduce the consumer to your product or service at a depth rarely found in advertising,” says Nancy Anderson-Smith, director of marketing. “You are at an immediate advantage because articles are not perceived as commercial. Your consumer is automatically more open to learning about your product. Feature articles can drive consumers to your Web site or your 800 number.”
Where Is The Beef?
With your own Web Universe as outlined above you will move your web site from the abandoned County Road on the web to the cyber Interstate Highway. A lot of work? Undoubtedly. But with a smart IT Services Provider, with the free communication the Internet offers, and with the immediacy of results it is well worth considering a Web Universe strategy for your organization. Without it your web site will remain an abandoned gas station on County Road C. Once in a while it will catch some tumble weed (or, who knows, an alien may show up)………
Why do you need a website?
WHY YOU MUST HAVE A Website For Your Product, Service, or Event!
Your Customers Expect One!
Your customers expect you to be online. 2 years ago a website was a luxury, now it is a necessity that shows you're a serious professional.
Your Competitors Are Online!
Your competitors are online and if you are not, you are missing out on the power of the internet and losing sales to your competitors.
You're Always Open For Business!
Your customers want to do business with you when it is convenient for them, let them get info and buy from you when they are ready, right off your website.
Your Customers Need Info!
The number one reason why consumers will go online is to get more info for future purchases. You have to provide this before your competitors do.
Your Customers Need Directions!
If your customers travel to your business, you need to provide a map and directions for them to find you.
Your Customers Are Guessing!
Don’t make customers guess when you are open.
Your Customers Expect Support!
Provide online help, manuals and documentation to support the products and services you provide.
How do you get a website?
As astonishing as this sounds, in less than 5 minutes you can have a website for your event live on the internet.
The amazing EventWebsiteBuilder technology enables you to quickly build your own professional website, complete with email, pictures, newsletters and much, much more in just a few short minutes. The secret to this earth shattering technology is an incredibly powerful, yet simple software interface.
This interface is so easy to use, over 172,000 websites have already been built using it. Most of these sites were built by people who have little internet experience and some by people who have such limited computer experience they only knew how to use their mouse.
To get more information, please click here!
Website development checklist
Define Your Internet Business Strategic Objectives
A Web site doesn't have to hold the promise of fame and fortune to benefit your business. A bicycle repair shop owner with no dreams of going national, for example, can use a well-designed, well-placed site as an effective advertising tool.
There are also many other ways your business can utilize browser technology to benefit you besides selling something to customers. You need to clearly think through "What do you want your site to accomplish?" before you embark on this Web adventure. "If you don't know where you want to go, any path will get you there."
Everything you do in relation to your site will be affected by what you want to accomplish. Do not progress to step two until you know precisely what results you want. For examples, your site could: serve as a fancy billboard to:
· Promote a desired public image
· Increase knowledge and awareness of a person, a topic, or an organization
· Advertise products or services
· Generate leads
· Create a knowledge base
· Distribute new product information to customers or clients
· Decrease the distribution cost of your catalogue or brochures
· Release information, such as press releases
· Generate traffic (to sell banner ads, for example)
· Provide post-sale product support or customer service information
· Sell products or services directly to Web visitors by offering a new sales channel
· Reduce costs of information distribution · Reduce cost-per-lead
· Shorten sales cycles by better sales staff support and information transfer
· Minimize returns · Improve customer service by offering technical support, tips, tools or training.
· Decrease customer service costs without decreasing customer service
· Increase customer satisfaction
· Build customer loyalty
· Conduct surveys; get information and feedback from prospects or clients
· Increase your international distribution and market penetration
· Test new advertising campaigns
· Keep up with competition
· Lead the industry, not lag
Please visit http://www.net101.com/reasons.html for 20 reasons to put your business online.
Conduct Market Research
One way to help you decide what it is that you want to accomplish is to conduct basic market research. Complete a Strengths - Weaknesses - Opportunities - Threats (SWOT) analysis of your company. Your internet strategy is just one part of your entire business plan, and should be coordinated with the remainder.
In what ways can the internet be used to capitalize on a strength to seize a new opportunity?
How can it be used to improve upon a weakness?
Protect against a threat?
A consultant may help examine your business as a whole and determine what is appropriate. Web designers and hosts (businesses that maintain your site on their servers) often provide such analyses free. Few people would dispute that the single most important thing any business can do to ensure its success is to focus the majority of its resources on satisfying its customers.
Yet most companies spend a disproportionate amount of time, money, energy and staff on routine business processes that have no upside potential to reward them with new or more satisfied customers if they are done well. No web site, e-commerce software or merchant server can automatically make your company successful on the Web.
But true e-business can free you to focus on your customers and let your business be as successful as possible. Until now, only Fortune 500 companies could afford the technology to effectively streamline their operations and free them to focus on more profitable activities. Now, the Internet makes it cost-effective to streamline and automate your commerce-related business processes and prepare you for the Internet commerce boom.
E-business makes it possible to have not only real-time order capture and processing, but also:
· real-time shipping management · real-time inventory management
· real-time replenishment notification · real-time warehouse management
· real-time cash collections / cash settlements
· real-time accounting and financial reporting · automated returns processing
That means communications with the entire supply chain – from the customer to the banks to the supplier to the shipper – are automated in real-time. It also means precious resources – people, money, time and energy – can be freed up from routine, low-ROI activities and redirected to where the money is: superior customer satisfaction. Companies successfully utilizing internet technology seem to have a few things in common.
The web is not a "marketing thing", it is a business thing, a core business infrastructure function. They give critical, day-one priority status, and budget approval, for the strategic process behind their web site. The objectives are clear before the splashy web development.
Their managers have demanded a clear understanding of the business value of the web development - i.e.,:
What is the web going to do for my company?
Where and how will it provide a return on investment and contribute to shareholder value?
And, how will we evaluate or measure that?
Where and how will the site contribute to the effectiveness of the functional areas of the company?
How will the site be evaluated in terms of what each visitor costs and what we will get for our money, by way of spreadsheet analysis, not seat of the pants "market presence" or log analysis?"
With those questions answered, they budget sufficient money for the things like:
· search engine optimization, · affiliate program development,
· customer loyalty programs, · usability design and testing,
· customer satisfaction,
· employee training to maximize internal usage,
· clear specifications for the functionality to be built into the site,
· clear predetermined methods of site evaluation, and · modification and adjustment over time.
They demand that metrics be established such that a demonstrable, positive return on the web investment can be determined.
As the site is continually monitored against predefined goals and expectations that are in support of the core business functions, adjustments are needed from time to time to apply the learnings to support the company goals even better.
What do you need to develop your eNewsletter?
Our programs bring your customers back more frequently and deliver your name to thousands of new customers in your area through email marketing! 90% of your customers have email addresses and are willing to give them to you!
Imagine using email marketing to dramatically increase your sales... it could mean thousands of dollars more for your business each month!
If you're a business owner or organization manager, don't miss this opportunity to INCREASE YOUR REVENUE!!
