Category Archives: Marketing Technology
Using Colors to Enhance Online Marketing
KISSmetrics put out an infographic depicting “How do colors affect purchases?” Shown below, the graphic is an eye-opener for those who are trying to design websites, logos, etc.
Using Color to Enhance Online Presence
I have only posted once about this previously, I believe. However, colors have a definite effect upon the person viewing a webpage. While the Marketing Techblog article “Infographic: Do Colors Impact Online Purchase Behavior?” concentrates upon purchasing behavior, it also points out other aspects that should be taken into consideration as well. For example, do you want the person to have a sense of urgency (red) or be relaxed (green)?
One thing to be aware of, though, is that color can be overdone and is not the only design consideration. This is a very real temptation. Even some WordPress templates I’ve seen look, well, hideous. You don’t want the reputation of causing web surfers’ eyes to bleed or triggering migraines. Be sure to view the entire graphic, as one statistic that jumps out is that 52% of shoppers will not return to a poorly designed website. Speed and convenience are another design consideration, as 64% of online shoppers got tired of waiting on a slow site and didn’t follow through on a purchase. Design is much more than just appealing artwork.
What articles like this should prompt you to ask is, “What effect am I trying to have on visitors to my site?” This infographic can then give you a good indication as to whether or not you are achieving that effect.
Don’t Forget About Our Squidoo Lens for John D’s Computer Services
I wanted to take a moment this week to point out that John D’s Computer Services not only has this blog, but we also have a Squidoo lens for John D’s Computer Services. If you’ve never heard of Squidoo, it is an easy and exciting way to get a web presence up and running quickly, easily and for no cost other than your time. Instead of “sites” or “pages”, Squidoo allows you to create a “lens” to set up your web presence.
Unlike many other sites, it was created by a marketer, Seth Godin. It is built to allow you to market your company, skills or other topic you are interested in without needing to know the technical details. You can actually choose from a few layouts, put in your text, add pictures, and be up and running in under an hour. It has built-in links to Amazon, eBay and more. You can even add an RSS feed from your blog, such as this one, and display it on your lens.
If you have a cause, a burning desire to spread the word about a particular topic, a business or even want to post your resume, I suggest giving it a try.
Geek Friday: Roll Your Own SEO
This is probably more of a “pseudo-geek” post, as it really does not require technological knowledge. However, there are free ways you can advertise yourself online and draw traffic to your blog or website. All it takes is some time.
It’s all about Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It is about finding ways to draw interest in your online presence. it is about raising the number of searches and hits on your pages. All of this is so you can raise your level in Google’s search engine so that even more people, who hopefully turn into customers, can find you.
It’s sort of like a virtual version of a popularity contest. The more popular you are, then the more popular you become. As people start to take notice, they tell others who in turn take notice and tell even more people. The online game is somewhat like that as well. As you build more links and show up on more searches, the more people link and point out your site to others, resulting in higher search engine ratings which allow even more people to find you.
Michael Gray of Graywolf’s SEO Blog put out an excellent article about “13 Ways to Promote your Local Business for Free”. I had already signed up for and used about half of these, but he has some on his list I’d not heard of. I can attest to the power of the ones I have used, so I urge anyone with a business to promote online to read his article and at least give them a try.
Some of the tools can seem a little confusing. Google is one that is always making changes, which makes for constant confusion. For example, Google Base, which is listed in Gray’s article, is now Google Merchant Center. Also, I had thought I had already done the YellowPages.com thing, but when I went back I noticed it had never been verified.
So, I want to point out a couple of things:
- You don’t have to do it all at once. Pick the easy items first and circle back around for the more difficult ones.
- Go back on a regular basis. You might want to tweak the description, add a picture or add or change your tagline. Or, like I learned with YellowPages.com, you might have overlooked something entirely that needs to be corrected before your ad will be placed out there.
I would like to add into the mix, since presumably a lot of you are in NE Ohio, that you will want to hit up Cleveland.com to get added to their business directory as well.
Do be aware that advertising online gains exposure to other advertisers as well as customers. YellowPages.com will probably call you and offer their SEO services, for example, but so might FlyByNight.com. So, be careful. There are a lot of rip-offs out there.
One company, in fact, annoyed me to no end. They only charged $5.95 per month they said. What was not clearly stated is that they also charged per click. Frankly, I suspect their numbers were off, but even if they were correct, it was still $90 per month for the middle-of-the-road plan. It’s not like I noticed a huge gain in customers, either!
However, Cleveland.com has a company they work through, Cleveland Live, LLC, and I noticed the difference right away. If you are a local company targeting mostly local customers, it’s hard to beat, actually.
Unless you just have a huge advertising budget or competition is very fierce, it is my opinion that paying for more than one SEO product is probably not the best use of your money. Each subsequent SEO package brings you rapidly diminishing returns. Also, keep in mind that if you are already buying space in the Yellow Pages, you are probably already paying for SEO in some form. Best to check!
The important thing is to treat your web and/or blog site like any other form of marketing. Promote, tweak, make changes, promote, publish and republish. Then, polish and republish again. Lather, rinse, repeat.
Some other avenues where you can promote your business is on Facebook (I recommend getting your business it’s own page, or people will think you are just there to spam them), eBay Classified and Craig’s List. I have to admit I’ve gotten nothing but spam from Craig’s List, but others swear by it. As with anything, your mileage may vary.
A Word About Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
You have a website. You probably want people to visit it. In order for that to happen, people have to find it. If someone types in certain keywords into a search engine, will your site come up on page 1? Page 2? If your site is listed further down than that, it’s almost guaranteed that very few will find your site.
The art (and anyone who pitches it as a “science” with hard and fast rules should be avoided) of raising one’s ratings on search engines is called Search Engine Optimization (SEO). The reason it is more art than science is because Google, one of the largest search engines out there, does not reveal exact details on how they rank websites. This helps to keep websites from finding flaws in their algorithm and getting artificially higher than expected results.
John D’s Computer & Network Services assists individuals and companies, particularly in the area of organic search engine optimization. This method is slower, but it has longer lasting results. Some SEO companies will not tell you about this method, as it doesn’t generate them as much money. However, this method is vindicated in the article “How SEO Services can offer good traffic for your Website”.
One other popular method that the above article does not go into is paying for search engine placement. You can have a “sponsored” link on Google, Yahoo or other search engines by paying them a certain amount under certain conditions. Ethical search engines make a visual difference between sponsored and normal results, so there isn’t anything unethical about this. However, it should be noted that it is very short term and can potentially be the most costly.
Organic SEO, on the other hand, costs more in time than money. It means analyzing the traffic and making adjustments as you go. It means building a quality website rather than throwing money after short term results. It means offering great content!
That’s why the expression “Content is king” exists. Let’s face it, even if you pay off all of the search engines, prod and bribe a bunch of others to link to your site and tweak keywords all day long, it doesn’t mean a thing if there’s nothing there that people want to read.
New Media Requires New Marketing
Seth Godin is my favorite marketer. In fact, most turn me off completely. However, Godin writes about stuff that transcends marketing and even his writings on marketing make sense.
On blip.tv, someone put up “10 Bestsellers: Using New Media, New Marketing, and New Thinking to Create 10 Bestselling Books”, a presentation he gave to O’Reilly Tools of Change for Publishing Conference, New York City, NY, 11 February 2008.
How do you sell something without marketing it? Oddly enough, Godin manages to do just that! He gives concrete examples from his personal experience about how he sold books. However, he not only doesn’t go about trying to push the physical books, but in one case he even resisted publishing a physical book. As an experiment, then, he actually wrote a “real” book and marketed it as a “real” book, and it did not sell very well!
Godin comes to the conclusion that a physical book is a “souvenir”. That’s how he got the idea for the Purple Cow, which is a very interesting experiment in its own right. The real product, though, are ideas.
Is this is the future of publishing? I don’t know, but it’s a very intriguing idea.
What inventive ideas have you used in your small business to gain traction in the marketplace?
How Technology Can Help, or Hinder, Your Marketing
It’s no secret. A well designed website can attract potential customers, but a poorly designed one can repel them. What other things can attract or repel potential customers?
M-cause is a marketing blog about topics related to good causes. In “What Technology Choices Say About Your Cause”, guest blogger Kenneth J Weiss blogs about “Choosing the right technology and building better user experiences”. However, looking over the suggestions, it is obvious that most if not all of these are applicable to businesses as well.
He wrote:
The classic example is a dusty road sign that says “Fresh Eggs” in hand-scribbled letters. The primary message is “fresh eggs.” The execution of the sign, simple and homemade, supports the secondary message of goods being sold directly from a farm. If the exact same sign were changed to say “Sky Diving Lessons” the lack of professional execution delivers a secondary message that immediately raises concerns about credibility and safety.
What messages are your media efforts sending? Are they intended or unintended?
