I am not normally this excited but this blew me away! ChaCha is a human search engine where a person does the searching for you. I felt bad using the service asking the person to go and find things and off they went searching through google. It was very kind of them as I asked them to find me some forumlas on "Latent semantic indexing Mathmatical formulas". It was very kind of them to find me stuff and I feel guilty that I was that lazy to use the service.
I see this as an interesting step in humanity where not only can we not be bothered to read through books for information we now get other humans to go and find it for us.
Let me know your experience with the service.
Internet Marketing Seminar update
Tickets are starting to be sold to the seminar although there are still quite a few left. Some new sponsors are coming on board and I will post about soon.
Monday, October 23, 2006
Online Marketing Course Website
I have been working hard on the seminar website trying to perfect it and take in everyones feedback. I would be super keen on your feedback about the online marketing course page as its new and as the creator sometimes you miss the easiest things.
The team has also been busily working on the Weet-bix Ashes website which has over 28,000 words in it as we have covered the history of the Ashes. Its phenominal!
Golden Triangle of Websites
One thing that I have recently read about is the Golden triangle of Google when it comes to search engine placement for SEO and SEM. This phenominon is called the Golden triangle because people who use Google do so in a fashion that if you track their eye movements it makes a triangle around the top search results.
As you can see from the diagram above the Golden Triangle of Google is a real thing. It doesnt just pay to be the number one listing, it prints money!
More Information about the Golden Triangle of Google
The key location on Google for visibility as determined by the eye activity in the study is a triangle that extends from the top of the results over to the top of the first result, then down to a point on the left side at the bottom of the "above the fold" visible results. This key area was looked at by 100 percent of the participants. In the study, this was referred to as the "Golden Triangle". Generally, this area appears to include top sponsored, top organic results and Google's alternative results, including shopping, news or local suggestions.
Visibility dropped quickly with organic rankings, starting at a high of 100% for the top listing, dropping to 85% at the bottom of the "above the fold" listings, and then dropping dramatically below the fold from 50% at the top to 20% at the bottom.
Organic Ranking Visibility
(shown in a percentage of participants looking at a listing in this location)
Rank 1 – 100%
Rank 2 – 100%
Rank 3 – 100%
Rank 4 – 85%
Rank 5 – 60%
Rank 6 – 50%
Rank 7 – 50%
Rank 8 – 30%
Rank 9 – 30%
Rank 10 – 20%
Eye scan and click through behavior changes dramatically as users moved "below the fold" to the section of results that required scrolling down. At the top of the page, the amount of eye movement declined rapidly through the top 4 or 5 results, and then at the bottom of the screen, tends to become more consistent through to the end of the page.
In searches where top sponsored results are returned in addition to right sponsored ads, the top ads received much higher visibility, being seen by 80 to 100% of participants, as opposed to 10 to 50% of participants who looked at the side sponsored ads.
On side sponsored ads, the top ranked results received much more in the way of both eye activity and click through. About 50% of participants looked at the top ad, compared to only 10% who looked at ads in the 6, 7 or 8th location on the page.
Side sponsored ad visibility
(shown in percentage of participants looking at an ad in this location)
1 – 50%
2 – 40%
3 – 30%
4 – 20%
5 – 10%
6 – 10%
7 – 10%
8 – 10%
There seems to be a "F" shaped scan pattern, where the eye tends to travel vertically along the far left side of the results looking for visual cues (relevant words, brands, etc) and then scanning to the right if something caught the participant's attention.
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Online Marketing Seminar
http://www.onlinemarketingsydney.com.au/online-marketing-seminar
You can register for the event now.
The seminar came to be after I won the NSW ADMA Young Direct Marketer of the Year award. This sparked a lot of interest and everyone was asking me how an online marketer won a direct marketing award. I think that is a sign of the times now that online marketing is becoming a recognised discipline of direct marketing. I am very focused on electronic direct marketing, I would not say that I am a big online advertising man. So after winning the award everyone asked me what things won me the award. I have broken the elements down into 11 things. I can these my online marketing secrets. The seminar is all about these 11 secrets. Its $49 to attend so it won't break the bank but it will give you a great insight into how to market your business online.
Unfortunately one of my secrets the 7th - "Increasing click through & conversion through paid search marketing" was accidently leaked in an email I sent. You can download it for free on the seminar page.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
Do you Yahoo? What I like about Yahoo! Advertisements
I am a massive .com advocate and so I just LOVE the Yahoo! ads. They arent that present in Australia although I do remember a few of them. Thanks to our global citizen media here is my favourite advertisement from Yahoo! proudly presented by YouTube.
Yahoo Advertisement
What I like is 2 things
1. Brand Promise - Ok from that ad it promises me you can just about do anything from Yahoo!. I think thats a little tall without some serious commitment to follow-through. You could find out about anything you like from Yahoo! although you would need to actually go and do it.
2. YahooooooooooooHoooooo! - I LOVE that part of the ad. I sing it all the time. I feel more a part of the internet everytime I sing it. Its like I am singing the mantra of the .com boom and resurgance all at the one time. Its iconic in my mind of the potential of online and it will one day be a relic/a benchmark of onlines evolution.
Go forth .com Marketers and dominate!
Yahoo Advertisement
What I like is 2 things
1. Brand Promise - Ok from that ad it promises me you can just about do anything from Yahoo!. I think thats a little tall without some serious commitment to follow-through. You could find out about anything you like from Yahoo! although you would need to actually go and do it.
2. YahooooooooooooHoooooo! - I LOVE that part of the ad. I sing it all the time. I feel more a part of the internet everytime I sing it. Its like I am singing the mantra of the .com boom and resurgance all at the one time. Its iconic in my mind of the potential of online and it will one day be a relic/a benchmark of onlines evolution.
Go forth .com Marketers and dominate!
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Online Marketing Strategy - Email List Creation #2
Welcome to the second instalment of Creating an Email List. To recap: you have a little website and some channels pointing to it, sending you web traffic. Converting website visitors into database signups is the key now.
First let me flag 1 thing: although I have written about acquisition channels it is advisable to setup your conversion pages before you start sending traffic to your website. Traffic is expensive and although the internet is still the wild, wild west right now, it is going to get more expensive. In the good old days late night TV advertising spots were FREE. But not now. It is currently the big gun. One day the web will be too. And then it will cost you. So let's get our practice in while we can..
What is Conversion?
Website Conversion is getting your website visitors to give you their email address and allowing you to contact them. In these days of heavy spamming, that sounds like a pretty tall order but if you give people the content they want, they'll be begging you for more.
Think about the kind of content that you would like when you signup for emails. I already do this. I am a big fan of internet marketing and so I signup to some really niche specialists: some on blogging, some on affiliate and some on adsense. These emails keep me enthused. They keep me passionate and help me to keep learning. I challenge myself and subscribe to the theory of always learning and these emails are my tool to do that. So, when I visit others' websites and see that I can signup to their email list I do it. Because I know it will help me to develop.
Now I also like other things - like music - and I signup to this cool Music Review website which sends me a newsletter all the time and keeps me up to date with the latest music. I subscribed to a lot of others but The Elevenmagazine crowd just have this raw energy about them that just keeps me reading each week.
Lets have a closer look at this website:
ElevenMagazine.com uses calls to action to entice users to subscribe to their database.
2 calls to action are on the ElevenMagazine homepage which entice users in. The basic "Subscribe here" call to action on the right hand side is the ever present call to action to get the user to subscribe. The second call to action is the current promotion that is running in the header where you can win a CD just for subscribing. So not only do you get great content but also a chance to win. These are 2 great ways to get subscribers in and not just let them click off from your website.
Next post I will give you some tips on that conversion page and what increases and decreases conversion.
If you enjoyed this content and want to be reminded of more just signup below. I will also throw in a reminder of my up coming in-person seminar I am holding in Sydney.
Fred Schebesta
15 Barr Street, Balmain, NSW, 2041. Call me anytime 02 9818 7300
P.S. If you have any problems or want to discuss something just post a comment and myself and the other readers will help out.
Previous Post
Online Marketing Strategy - Email Listing Building #1
First let me flag 1 thing: although I have written about acquisition channels it is advisable to setup your conversion pages before you start sending traffic to your website. Traffic is expensive and although the internet is still the wild, wild west right now, it is going to get more expensive. In the good old days late night TV advertising spots were FREE. But not now. It is currently the big gun. One day the web will be too. And then it will cost you. So let's get our practice in while we can..
What is Conversion?
Website Conversion is getting your website visitors to give you their email address and allowing you to contact them. In these days of heavy spamming, that sounds like a pretty tall order but if you give people the content they want, they'll be begging you for more.
Think about the kind of content that you would like when you signup for emails. I already do this. I am a big fan of internet marketing and so I signup to some really niche specialists: some on blogging, some on affiliate and some on adsense. These emails keep me enthused. They keep me passionate and help me to keep learning. I challenge myself and subscribe to the theory of always learning and these emails are my tool to do that. So, when I visit others' websites and see that I can signup to their email list I do it. Because I know it will help me to develop.
Now I also like other things - like music - and I signup to this cool Music Review website which sends me a newsletter all the time and keeps me up to date with the latest music. I subscribed to a lot of others but The Elevenmagazine crowd just have this raw energy about them that just keeps me reading each week.
Lets have a closer look at this website:
ElevenMagazine.com uses calls to action to entice users to subscribe to their database.
2 calls to action are on the ElevenMagazine homepage which entice users in. The basic "Subscribe here" call to action on the right hand side is the ever present call to action to get the user to subscribe. The second call to action is the current promotion that is running in the header where you can win a CD just for subscribing. So not only do you get great content but also a chance to win. These are 2 great ways to get subscribers in and not just let them click off from your website.
Get them in before they leave
The key idea here is: that when users visit your website they are looking for something. The worst thing you can have them do is click on and click off - what I call, "go to the moon" (the little blue moon in the previous diagram.) I always suggest putting things in place that convert these users into signups. The more compelling and enticing your offers, the better you will convert.Next post I will give you some tips on that conversion page and what increases and decreases conversion.
If you enjoyed this content and want to be reminded of more just signup below. I will also throw in a reminder of my up coming in-person seminar I am holding in Sydney.
Online Marketing Sydney Email ReminderDon't miss this chance to improve your online marketing. For a limited time I'm offering you:* FREE online marketing tactics. Free is always good isn't it? ;-) * Early bird ticket offers to my seminars to save you money * Email reminders of online marketing strategies so you're the most up to date Your privacy is 100% secure. I personally hate SPAM and will never spam you. |
Fred Schebesta
15 Barr Street, Balmain, NSW, 2041. Call me anytime 02 9818 7300
P.S. If you have any problems or want to discuss something just post a comment and myself and the other readers will help out.
Previous Post
Online Marketing Strategy - Email Listing Building #1
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Online Christmas Game for Marketing Purposes
If you are looking to build a christmas game or perhaps a funny eCard to send to your clients here are some samples to look at.
Bounce the presents into Santas sleigh!
This game got a HUGE response and the top scores that were recorded must have meant people were playing this well into the night and during work hours. With the highscore engine and great graphics in this one you would be looking at around $5-6k to build something comparable.
Santa down the chimney
(Love the sound effects with this one!)
This is a fun game and the sound effects make it great. This caused a storm of comedy and viralness in the financial community when people could send Santa down the burning chimney! This game cost around $4k mark. Not as complicated although quite funny!
Juggle the football
This game worked really well for the World cup and again got a great response rate. This game had some great 3D effects and something much more christmassy and fun would cost around $4.5k. E.g. I would Get presents and juggle them and add in more presents as the number of juggles increased.
All these games would be fully branded in your company colours and branding. If a game is too much on the old budget I would suggest just doing a funny flash eCard with Santa and your brand. Perhaps putting Santa into a funny situation with his elves and reindeer, some nice flash animation and some music always go down well. Something clean and fun like this with some good animation and sound would cost around $2700.
All things considered when you look at your printing, postage and admin work the old flash game tends to be quite cost effective considering the effect it will have with your customers.
Christmas games are great if you really want to stand out this xmas and bring a bit of a cheer to your clients faces. I think the viral element of it is great and its just different and fun. I think the christmas card with a pre-printed signature is kinda boring and just makes me feel old each time I recieve them from other people. Online Christmas games are fun because they engage your audience and you get to show the personal side of your company to your customers.
1. Think about how you are going to deliver your game - Building a game is easy. Promoting it again needs to be thought of. I always suggest a nice HTML and text based email announcing the game to your customers. If you use your email list this will have a great response!
2. Budget to be remembered - Great games cost lots of money ($50k). For christmas I would suggest something between $5-7k. This will get you a good game, a highscore calculator and a forward to a friend functions. Something fun and zippy like this is suggested to have the right level of impact and be remembered over those crappy printed generic cards. The $3-5k games are good too and they will have a good effect although they arent going to last very long. They also tend to be a little less viral.
3. Remember your metrics - I suggest collecting some metrics on your game. The following are a good starting point:
Bounce the presents into Santas sleigh!
This game got a HUGE response and the top scores that were recorded must have meant people were playing this well into the night and during work hours. With the highscore engine and great graphics in this one you would be looking at around $5-6k to build something comparable.
Santa down the chimney
(Love the sound effects with this one!)
This is a fun game and the sound effects make it great. This caused a storm of comedy and viralness in the financial community when people could send Santa down the burning chimney! This game cost around $4k mark. Not as complicated although quite funny!
Juggle the football
This game worked really well for the World cup and again got a great response rate. This game had some great 3D effects and something much more christmassy and fun would cost around $4.5k. E.g. I would Get presents and juggle them and add in more presents as the number of juggles increased.
All these games would be fully branded in your company colours and branding. If a game is too much on the old budget I would suggest just doing a funny flash eCard with Santa and your brand. Perhaps putting Santa into a funny situation with his elves and reindeer, some nice flash animation and some music always go down well. Something clean and fun like this with some good animation and sound would cost around $2700.
All things considered when you look at your printing, postage and admin work the old flash game tends to be quite cost effective considering the effect it will have with your customers.
Christmas games are great if you really want to stand out this xmas and bring a bit of a cheer to your clients faces. I think the viral element of it is great and its just different and fun. I think the christmas card with a pre-printed signature is kinda boring and just makes me feel old each time I recieve them from other people. Online Christmas games are fun because they engage your audience and you get to show the personal side of your company to your customers.
3 tips for making a great online christmas game for your marketing
1. Think about how you are going to deliver your game - Building a game is easy. Promoting it again needs to be thought of. I always suggest a nice HTML and text based email announcing the game to your customers. If you use your email list this will have a great response!
2. Budget to be remembered - Great games cost lots of money ($50k). For christmas I would suggest something between $5-7k. This will get you a good game, a highscore calculator and a forward to a friend functions. Something fun and zippy like this is suggested to have the right level of impact and be remembered over those crappy printed generic cards. The $3-5k games are good too and they will have a good effect although they arent going to last very long. They also tend to be a little less viral.
3. Remember your metrics - I suggest collecting some metrics on your game. The following are a good starting point:
- Number of times played
- Number of forward to friends
- Time spent playing the game
Again if you are interested in getting a game this Christmas going. Now is the perfect time to start discussing, send me an email at Freestyle Media to discuss further
Sunday, October 8, 2006
Online Marketing Strategy - Email List Creation #1
The following post is all about building an email list. I am going to do a few posts on this topic and give you examples of how to build a list up.
The Online Marketing Strategy for this email list building needs a solid platform to start with. Key elements of this include:
1. Website - You need a website to online market. Its really tough to get list signups without a website. Key things here are a reliable hosting platform to server your websites content and a content management system to enable you to manage your content. Or better you have a great Agency on retainer and you just get them to do all the work! ;)
2. Database (eCRM) - A database can be as simple as a signup form or a little more complex like an eCRM to capture customer details. We use a simple system for our clients that can capture any detail from any type of form and store it in a database. It also allows you to easily export the list out of the eCRM into Excel. I love playing around with data in Excel because it makes it really easy to see whats going on. Complex online database queiries leave me personally confused and I much prefer the good old Excel.
3. Email Sending platform - When it comes to sending bulk emails I cringe at Outlook BCC'ng. Any professional marketer needs a decent piece of software. We use quite a few different platforms and it all depends on what you are looking for. You get variation in: Deliverability, reporting, cost of send, ease of use and Technical support. To some degree each of these elements comes at a different cost, I personally go for the low cost solution because I know what I am doing and I just need a bulk mailer.
At first this diagram seems a little bit too simple. But on closer inspection and throughout the next few blog entries I will go into a lot more detail about each box. For now I am going to talk through the whole strategy and discuss the flows.
Acquisition Channels
The first thing that is required is to acquire traffic through to your website. The channels I have flagged here are very low cost and effective for trialing any online marketing. Lets look at each one:
Email - Email here refers to email lists that you have already compiled, Other peoples email lists and purchased email lists.
WOM - Word of mouth is always a key element of any marketing and happens naturally when after you get enough buzz around something. A great way to spread WOM is through email as it travels really fast. I also bundle Website blogs, forum posts and articles written about you in this category as someone else is spreading the word of mouth through the online medium.
PR - Public Relations is all about getting into the press and building your profile. You need to get your articles into the media and ensure you have a link in the articles pointing through to your website. Article PR is a great way of doing this and I will go into more detail about this in a later post.
SEM - Search Engine Marketing (I have bundled SEO and SEM together here) is the bread and butter of any online marketing. If you want to drive targetted traffic to your website start with the search engines and work from there.
The key here is to drive these traffic acquisition channels into a website and get the user to take an action. The best actions are ones that result in that person signing up to the database.
Next post I will go into more detail about the website and converting that user into a database member.
Next Post about Website Conversion into Database
Did you find this useful? I am putting on an in-person seminar soon. You can signup below for early bird offers and updates to the online marketing tactics:
Fred Schebesta
15 Barr Street, Balmain, NSW, 2041. Call me anytime 02 9818 7300
Related Articles
How to Build an Email List Part 2
Laying the Online Marketing Platform
The Online Marketing Strategy for this email list building needs a solid platform to start with. Key elements of this include:
1. Website - You need a website to online market. Its really tough to get list signups without a website. Key things here are a reliable hosting platform to server your websites content and a content management system to enable you to manage your content. Or better you have a great Agency on retainer and you just get them to do all the work! ;)
2. Database (eCRM) - A database can be as simple as a signup form or a little more complex like an eCRM to capture customer details. We use a simple system for our clients that can capture any detail from any type of form and store it in a database. It also allows you to easily export the list out of the eCRM into Excel. I love playing around with data in Excel because it makes it really easy to see whats going on. Complex online database queiries leave me personally confused and I much prefer the good old Excel.
3. Email Sending platform - When it comes to sending bulk emails I cringe at Outlook BCC'ng. Any professional marketer needs a decent piece of software. We use quite a few different platforms and it all depends on what you are looking for. You get variation in: Deliverability, reporting, cost of send, ease of use and Technical support. To some degree each of these elements comes at a different cost, I personally go for the low cost solution because I know what I am doing and I just need a bulk mailer.
The Online Marketing Strategy
At first this diagram seems a little bit too simple. But on closer inspection and throughout the next few blog entries I will go into a lot more detail about each box. For now I am going to talk through the whole strategy and discuss the flows.
Acquisition Channels
The first thing that is required is to acquire traffic through to your website. The channels I have flagged here are very low cost and effective for trialing any online marketing. Lets look at each one:
Email - Email here refers to email lists that you have already compiled, Other peoples email lists and purchased email lists.
WOM - Word of mouth is always a key element of any marketing and happens naturally when after you get enough buzz around something. A great way to spread WOM is through email as it travels really fast. I also bundle Website blogs, forum posts and articles written about you in this category as someone else is spreading the word of mouth through the online medium.
PR - Public Relations is all about getting into the press and building your profile. You need to get your articles into the media and ensure you have a link in the articles pointing through to your website. Article PR is a great way of doing this and I will go into more detail about this in a later post.
SEM - Search Engine Marketing (I have bundled SEO and SEM together here) is the bread and butter of any online marketing. If you want to drive targetted traffic to your website start with the search engines and work from there.
The key here is to drive these traffic acquisition channels into a website and get the user to take an action. The best actions are ones that result in that person signing up to the database.
Next post I will go into more detail about the website and converting that user into a database member.
Next Post about Website Conversion into Database
Did you find this useful? I am putting on an in-person seminar soon. You can signup below for early bird offers and updates to the online marketing tactics:
Online Marketing Sydney Email ReminderDon't miss chances to improve your online marketing. For a limited time I'm offering you:* FREE online marketing tactics. Free is always good isn't it? ;-) * Early bird ticket offers to my seminars to save you money * Email reminders of online marketing strategies so you're the most up to date span style="font-size:85%;">Your privacy is 100% secure. I personally hate SPAM and will never spam you. |
Fred Schebesta
15 Barr Street, Balmain, NSW, 2041. Call me anytime 02 9818 7300
Related Articles
How to Build an Email List Part 2
Wednesday, October 4, 2006
Get your online marketing ready for Christmas!
Have you thought about how you are going to use online marketing to communicate to your customers this christmas? Here are some suggestions:
1. An online christmas game - These work really well as they are different and a fun way of delivering that christmas message
2. An emailout - A short quick and quirky email always goes down well.
3. Putting Christmas trimmings on your website - This is good because it shows that your website is alive and changing. I personally love a good hint of Santa and christmas cheer throuhgout an ordinarily corporate website.
What other ideas do you have for this christmas?
If you need any help with your online marketing this christmas send me an email and I am sure Freestyle Media can help you out.
Games Examples and Ideas
Get those presents in the sley with this great online christmas game
Perhaps a rejig of something with Santa doing some present laying (Love the sound effects with this one!)
Maybe you could rejig this game to be a lot more christmasy
1. An online christmas game - These work really well as they are different and a fun way of delivering that christmas message
2. An emailout - A short quick and quirky email always goes down well.
3. Putting Christmas trimmings on your website - This is good because it shows that your website is alive and changing. I personally love a good hint of Santa and christmas cheer throuhgout an ordinarily corporate website.
What other ideas do you have for this christmas?
If you need any help with your online marketing this christmas send me an email and I am sure Freestyle Media can help you out.
Games Examples and Ideas
Get those presents in the sley with this great online christmas game
Perhaps a rejig of something with Santa doing some present laying (Love the sound effects with this one!)
Maybe you could rejig this game to be a lot more christmasy
Monday, October 2, 2006
How to Solution Sell with online marketing
So you want to sell something from your webpage? Do you want to get your user to take some sort of action? Well your going to have to sell it to them in a way that they understand.
There are 4 steps in selling anything (real estate, entreprise IT, cars, vacuum cleaner..) it doesnt matter what the service is everyone buys in the same way.
4 steps to selling on a webpage
1. Need - Establish the need of the user. "Do you want to stop wasting your money with phony print advertisements and start making sales with online marketing?" The need for the user to get into online marketing and start making more and better sales has been established.
2. Solution - Now that you have that need, I have a solution for you. "The easiest way to learn about online marketing is to attend the Fred Schebesta seminar. You will learn .." Provide a solution to the persons need (sometimes called problem) and by some fluke your solution is the service that you provide.
3. Reason - Give me a good reason as to why I should do that? "One good reason why you should learn from Fred Schebesta's online marketing seminar is you will be able to increase your sales effectiveness and conversion rate of your website." The reason as to why you should buy my solution, to your problem.
4. Benefit - The benefit to you of doing this. "The benefit of this to you is that you will decrease your marketing costs and also be able to target a new online user base." The benefit of fixing your problem, with my solution.
Answer each of these 4 items in detail and communicate them clearly and you have yourself a well presented sale. Whether or not someone buy depends on how well you targetted your message to your audience and whether that person has that problem.
I read a famous salesperson who came upon a customer, he said "Hi Mark, are you satisfied with your printing company and could we be of any assistance?"
Customer, "No, we are fine."
The salesman, "Would you say you are satisfied?"
Customer,"Yes."
The Salesman, "Well here are 2 telephone numbers of my clients. Call them and ask them how they feel about their printing company. I am sure they will tell you that they are ecstatic! Now, could I have any opportunity to discuss how we can make you feel ecstatic about your printing company?"
The Salesman went on to make a sale and a retained customer for life.
How could you use this information in your business?
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