WebProWorld Marketing Forum |
Sometimes I Just Can't See a Site's Business Model!
It seems like more and more Sites I look at, I just flat out fail in seeing the
"Business Model". Evidently they are making money, and in many cases;
"GOBS OF MONEY".
How can I stay organized?
As a marketer, I have a ton of digital information stored all over my computer.
My file folder hierarchies are organized by Product line, then by such folders
as: Advertising, Competition, Customers, Editorials, Evaluations, Graphics, Info
Releases, Press Releases, Projects, Reports, Sample User Case Studies...
Self-Help Google Ads Troubleshoot Guide
This is a great peer driven community, but it does seem to get monotonous to see
the same questions get posted over, and over again. Google has a great set of
resources, but rarely seem to get used or read. Well, here's another one that
people will likely choose to ignore before asking, but I'll post it anyway
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Articles |
Is Old Media And Advertising Dead?
Henry Copeland of BlogAds seems to think so. He spoke at Ad:Tech on Monday and
said the online advertising model is faster to change and gives advertisers more
control and even better, it's much less expensive in both money and resources.
Is Privacy Sacrificed Upon Search Ads Altar?
All the search engine/portal personalization, tailoring, and customization come
at a price: unique user data, and that may be a tradeoff that more users become
unwilling to make.
Curry
Starting Podcast Ad Network
Targeted podcasts that focus on specific niche audiences appeal to advertisers,
and the Podfather himself will launch an ad network to bring marketers together
with podcasters.
Yahoo Testing Pay Per Call Ads
Yahoo has been giving pay-per-call a test drive in Yahoo Local, and using Ingenio's
service to provide the ads.
CBS Follows ABC, NBC, WB, & UPN Online
Only Fox hasn't made a full-length episode of a broadcast TV show available in
some manner online, now that CBS has plans to do so with 'Threshold'.
Online Teens, Mainline Content Creators
Ever wonder what your teenagers are doing? How are they spending their time? There's
a legitimate chance they're loading something online. According to the new Pew
Internet and American Life Project study, 57% of online teens create content for
the Internet. This means about 12 million kids, 12-17 or about half of all teens
are content creators.
Google Paying For AdSense Referrals
A new Google AdSense feature was announced today that allows website operators
to place referral buttons on their sites for AdSense or Mozilla Firefox browser
with the Google Toolbar. Every referral wins cash for webmasters.
Avoid Duplicate Content Penalty on PPC Landing Pages!
There are recent posts in marketing forums worrying over "duplicate content"
penalties concerns when creating pages intended as Pay-Per-Click landing pages.
First a couple of definitions:
How To Make Use Of Cheap Internet Banner Advertising
For years now, internet banner advertising has captured the World Wide Web for
it has become a large help in saving an amount of money while reaching beyond
territories.
Effective Job Cost Tracking in the Advertising Industry
In today's competitive business climate, advertising agency clients are taking
a closer look at how they purchase advertising products and services. The trends:
Advertising in RSS Feeds
As publishers have moved towards monetizing RSS feeds, their have been vibrant
discussions as to whether advertisements in feeds are viable or whether they will
drive subscribers away
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11.09.05
Tips For Effective Email Marketing
 By Robert Burko
Over the past few years, research has continued to prove the benefits of e-mail
marketing for business: low costs, high conversion rates and detailed tracking
are all notable features.
But e-mail marketing is becoming much more than just a tool for spammers and e-businesses.
Consumers are becoming increasingly savvy on the differences between spam and
permission-based emails, and more and more of them are accepting permission-based
e-mail marketing as a positive replacement for direct mail.
The best news is that the majority of people who receive permission-based e-mails
open, on average, 78% of them.
Jupiter Research reports effective email marketing campaigns can produce nine
times the revenues and 18 times the profits of broadcast mailings. But crafting
an effective business email is both an art and a science. Here is a list of factors,
potential problems and effective solutions to keep in mind:
1. Spam! Spam! Spam! I don't need any Viagra!
The average consumer receives more than 300 emails a week, 62% of which are spam.
No wonder there's such hostility towards the industry. But spam filters, bulk
folders and "report spam" features are helping consumers become more at ease about
the perils of spam. While 89% of users cited spam as a major concern in 2003,
that number dropped to 85% in 2004, proportionally to an increase in the use of
spam-fighting tools.
So as a permission-based business email marketer, what can you do? One tip is
to remind your subscribers to add you to their "safe senders" list. The second,
and most important, tactic is to make sure your email marketing service provider
has a good relationship with ISPs. This will ensure that your email marketing
campaigns go into your subscribers' inboxes, not their junk mail folders. When
choosing an email marketing software, make sure the company has strict anti-spam
policies and complies with the guidelines of Can-Spam.
2. Images and formatting: Why do my emails look broken?
Broken email campaigns are an increasing concern among email marketers, especially
since several companies and web-based email providers now block graphics as a
measure to combat spam. In fact, according to ClickZ, 40% of email marketing messages
delivered to inboxes are "broken."
So what's the solution? Some email marketing programs publish all your sent email
campaigns to a secure location on the web (a location only original recipients
of the email can access, thanks to encrypted technology that automatically authenticates
the user). In some programs, the technology also ensures you can track your users'
behaviors, even if they are reading your email campaign at the secure web location.
3. Personalization and relevant content: In a business e-mail, one size does
not fit all.
In a recent study by DoubleClick, email users were 72% more likely to respond
to a business e-mail if its content was based on the interests they had specified.
That number points out the absolute importance of allowing users to choose their
own interest groups and have control over which business e-mails they receive.
The most popular interest categories, according to the study, are coupons and
household goods.
But you're coupon is no good unless the user opens the email. Users in the study
said the most compelling reason for them to open a business email is the name
in the "from" field. So it's a good idea to make sure your company name is clearly
stated there. Another major factor is the "subject" line. Users cite discount
offers and interesting news as the most compelling subject lines, followed by
new product announcements and free shipping offers.
4. Click-through and conversion: Show me the money!
So the user has opened your email and read the content. Great. But where's the
sale? There's good news here. For one, consumers are increasingly likely to make
purchases as a direct result of a business email campaign. One-third of users
in the DoubleClick study had purchased something by clicking a link on an email.
Another 42% clicked on an email link for more information, then purchased the
product at a later time. Second, online couponing is booming: 73% of consumers
have redeemed an online coupon for an online purchase, and 59% have redeemed an
online coupon offline.
In terms of industries, the top performers are travel, hardware/software, electronics,
apparel, food, home furnishings, gifts/flowers and sporting goods. All companies
sending business emails in those categories said between 71% and 80% of recipients
have purchased their products because of an email campaign.
There's no need to fret if your company doesn't fit in to one of those industries.
The overall landscape for email marketing conversions is looking brighter every
day. The average click-to-purchase rate has increased nearly 30% since 2004 and
the average orders-per-email-delivered rate has increased more than 18% since
last year.
5. Stats tracking: Who are my real consumers?
E-mail marketing is an increasingly popular tool in effective CRM, and it's about
time more businesses recognize that. First off, if your provider's email services
for business do not include detailed, real-time tracking, you're getting a raw
deal. Real-time tracking is now an industry standard, and it's highly valuable,
as it allows you to see the exact moment a user opens your campaign, clicks on
your link and makes that purchase. Studying your users can help you improve your
communications efforts, so each campaign performs better than the last (several
email service providers also let you compare the performance of your campaigns).
But many marketers are still in the dark. According to a recent WebTrends research,
only 5% of marketers are very confident in the measurement of their online marketing
efforts, while 26% admit they're "flying blind." WebTrends says the low confidence
comes from a lack of knowledge when it comes to measurement, which means there's
still a lot of work to be done.
In email marketing, a blind shot won't take you very far. But if you aim properly
by following these essential rules of play, you should soon be reaping the same
major results as so many online and offline businesses.
About the Author:
Robert Burko is the president and founder of Eliteweb.cc (http://www.eliteweb.cc),
a web portal that provides Fortune 500 solutions for small and medium-sized businesses.
Eliteweb.cc's Elite Email Marketing program is optimized for all the above tips.
For a 30-day Free trial, visit http://business.eliteweb.cc/services/EmailMarketing/ |
