Ever heard of Bebo? If you’re like us, it rings a few bells, but was long ago stashed away into the box reserved for social networks that fell before the behemoth that is Facebook. It appears that Bebo is aiming for a comeback. The social network, now owned by AOL, is targeting 18-24 year olds that have grown tired of Facebook.

I doubt Bebo will knock Facebook off its throne. Even if every 18-24 guy and gal abandoned Facebook, transporting their networks to Bebo, you’re only talking about 11.8% of the adult population (U.S. Census, 2008 Community Survey). While this demographic accounts for a greater percentage of internet users, older demographics are adopting at a faster rate, and they’re not likely to flock to networks made up of people half their age, or younger. Facebook’s user base will continue to swell. Bebo’s user base will also swell. So who should you be paying attention to?

Both!

The reality is that people adopt different networks and engage in various online behaviors for different reasons. Bebo’s niche targeting approach should serve as a reminder – when developing your online marketing and social media strategies, you need to do three things:

1. Go where your customers are today.
2. Plan for where your customers will be, or migrate to.
3. Pay attention to where the people who will one day be your customers are now, and where they’re going.

Few of our current clients are focused exclusively on the 18-24 market, but Bebo is on our radar. In fact, I’ll be setting up my Bebo account today. Please don’t tell them how old I am.

More than just a blip on the radar, or a short-lived social media meme, the Old Spice Responses video series is an online marketing campaign you should be watching. In case you’re not familiar with the campaign, Old Spice rolled out a new ad spot in February featuring a shirtless manly “man your man could smell like”. Tongue in cheek, humorous and full of over-the-top sophisticated machismo, the ad spot quickly became a favorite on TV and online. This week, Old Spice, marketing agency Wieden + Kennedy and actor Isaiah Mustafa recorded personalized messages to influencers and regular people, responding to comments and questions posted online. It’s important to note that, in many cases, the content selected for response has nothing to do with Old Spice brand or product line.

Watch a few Old Spice Responses. I guarantee you will laugh out loud, literally. Then watch the online response. Conversation in my social circles has gone from a roar, to a low study buzz as the video series has ended, but the blog posts and articles analyzing the campaign’s effectiveness will hum on for quite some time. And for good reason – it’s a smart campaign.

Three articles cut straight to the point on why Old Spice Responses worked so well:

1. Read Write Web – How the Old Spice Videos Are Being Made
2. Mashable – The Old Spice Social Media Campaign by the Numbers
3. justbrand.me – 5 Things @OldSpice Taught Us About Social Media

Still have doubts about the campaign’s significance, consider two more things:

• Reddit reader Pandarr asked @OldSpice Man to record his outgoing voicemail message. His request was granted, and within hours, other readers had downloaded the audio files, spliced it, and built the Old Spice Voicemail Generator. Now anyone can enter their digits and select from a handful of messages to create their own outgoing voicemail greeting.
• The wave of parodies, spoofs, and spinoffs has just begun, and the videos are being circulated nearly as fast as the Old Spice series. They’re unlikely to have the same reach or same effect, but they will continue to fuel the brand awareness of the very campaign they poke fun at.

Now that’s virality!

This week Google has announced a few new twists for marketers who use its AdWords advertising program.

One allows marketers an opportunity to re-engage visitors who clicked-through to their site but left with out converting. The other helps marketers understand how visitors interact with the ads they have placed on Google.com prior to committing a conversion. AdWords Remarketing and Search Funnels in brief:

AdWords Remarketing

• analogous to what other providers call retargeting
• allows an opportunity to re-engage with visitors who clicked on an ad, did not convert, and then visited another site on the Google Content Network
• multiple Remarketing campaigns can run simultaneously

Of the two announcements, this is the one that I’m the most excited to. Just to paint the picture simply, I’ll leverage the example from the AdWords blog:

Here’s an example of how it works. Let’s say you’re a basketball team with tickets that you want to sell. You can put a piece of code on the tickets page of your website, which will let you later show relevant ticket ads (such as last minute discounts) to everyone who has visited that page, as they subsequently browse sites in the Google Content Network. In addition to your own site, you can also remarket to users who visited your YouTube brand channel or clicked your YouTube homepage ad.

You can also run a number of remarketing campaigns at the same time. For example, you could offer discount game tickets to users who’ve previously visited your tickets page, advertise VIP hospitality packages to users who clicked on your “How to get to the arena” page, and advertise a sale on team merchandise to users who previously visited your YouTube brand channel.

There’s a lot of opportunity here, and I can’t wait to do some real-world tests.

AdWords Retargeting is alive and kicking, patiently waiting for you to tinker with it in the AdWords Dashboard.

AdWords Search Funnels

• shows user interaction with AdWords advertisers ads over time
• creates relationships between views, clicks and conversions
• provides the following new reports in the AdWords dashboard: Top Conversions, Search Funnels, Assisted Conversions, First and Last Click Analysis, Time Lag, and Path Length

So, in short, Search Funnels provides a much broader view of how users are exposed to and interact with AdWords Ads overtime leading up to conversions.

Search Funnels sounded relatively tame to me until I watched the explanatory video in the post on the AdWords blog.

A lot of the data sounds good. Maybe the person who does the Google product geek-to-human translation was on sabbatical when the video was pulled together. Learn more about AdWords Funnels on the AdWords Blog. Search Funnels are available in the AdWords Dashboard.

Which of these will have more impact on your future AdWords marketing activities?

Originally posted on the online marketing blog of Terralever’s Scott McAndrew.

Update to Mashable Fans: Pawns in the impressions game – The Social Media Guide responds to fan feedback and adjusts their publishing frequency, but not their engagement.

Two weeks ago, I wrote about Mashable’s practice of phrasing all Facebook updates as questions, most likely in hopes of stimulating fan interaction and conversations, while being noticeably absent from those same conversations.

This past Wednesday, Mashable changed their content posting strategy in response to fan feedback that they were simply posting too much content. Mashable is now using their primary fan page to highlight top stories, and has set up eight additional channels for specific interest areas, such as tech, video, jobs and social media.

The language and style of Mashable’s Facebook posts has also been changing since our initial piece, as Mashable experiments with different approaches. They are still leading many updates with questions, but they are mixing it up a bit, sometimes posting headlines only, sometimes questions only, and sometimes combing both. They have also changed the structure of most questions from the simplistic “Will you watch?” to include references to key points in the article.

I have also noticed a slight increase in Mashable’s engagement in the comments attached to any one post. It is very slight, but perhaps a sign of more to come.

If you’d like to find and follow any one of those channels, visit the Mashable Facebook fan page and check out their favorite pages.

The Social Media Guide asks fans to join in discussion around posts, but don’t participate themselves.

Do you follow Mashable on Facebook? Have you noticed the change in how they post? They’ve recently started asking questions. A lot of them.

Do you think the school was justified in its actions? Or are you simply creeped out?

How do you plan to celebrate Photoshop’s 20th?

What do you think of brands using augmented reality? Does it make you more likely to buy the product?

Be honest: Would you buy/wear these, or is this just a little too nerdy?

And my personal favorite: Will you watch? … Well now, that’s vague.

In the last 3 days (1pm on Tuesday to 1pm today…it’s Friday, by the way, but don’t let me get off topic), Mashable has posted 73 updates. Of those, 58 are questions. 79% are questions. W00t! Mashable wants to know what we think. And they’re going to engage in conversation with us. Right?

Wrong.

Mashable is not participating in the conversation. They’re inviting interaction by asking questions in an attempt to increase activity around each post, which will increase likelihood that posts will make it into the news feeds of more fans and friends-of-fans*, but they are not engaging in the conversations that play out in the comments. The most recent post Tim Burton Talks “Alice in Wonderland” Live on MySpace Tonight [VIDEO] had 24 comments at the time of writing, not a single one from Mashable. A scan of the previous ten posts shows an average of 33 comments, and again, not a single one by Mashable**.

At Terralever, we find this very disappointing. It’s one of the things that we insist our clients not do. Mashable is “The Social Media Guide,” and is the de facto news source for what is happening right now in social. They have also made efforts to truly be a guide by providing several how to resources that help newcomers understand the cultural norms and etiquette that govern social media interaction. This makes their current Facebook behavior all the more deplorable.

We’re not the only ones bothered. Scan fan posts on the Mashable wall, and you’ll see other discontents.

On Monday, Mashable posted this feedback request:

We’re looking to do a better job at serving our Facebook community. Some questions: 1. What would you like to see more of on Mashable’s Facebook page? And less of? 2. Would you like more questions & contests, or would you like us to stick to headlines? 3. Should we share all Mashable posts here, or just selected ones? 4. What other changes would make our Facebook page better? –Pete

Another request for interaction, to which they’ve received 204 comments. Here, Mashable has responded. Once. Out of 203 opportunities.

If Mashable wants to simply leverage their Facebook presence as a firehose that gives fans easy access to their wealth of information, cool. But please don’t use us, your fans, as pawns to gain impressions. That is a violation of our trust, and we will unfan you.

*Facebook uses a complex algorithm to determine what stories appear in your news feeds. This algorithm is a guarded secret, but stories that receive high interaction, via likes and comments, are deemed more relevant and are more likely to appear in your own news feed.

**Disclaimer: Mashable has several writers. It is possible for writers to participate in conversations under their own name, as opposed to as a Mashable admin, but my quick investigation did not reveal any of this activity.

Not every email marketing best practice is an obvious one. In fact, in my experience there are quite a few best practices that companies seem to ignore. Here are 10 email marketing mistakes that you should avoid, the good news is these are all easy best practices to adapt and adhere to.

Below are the common mistakes, and what you can do to avoid them:

1. Not Having a Marketing Plan

Make sure you have a strategy in place before you launch each and every marketing email. Decide on a theme that matches with your business goals and will help you achieve them. Create articles, promotions, tips, and offerings that are in line with the strategy.

2. No Permission

You must have permission from every single one of your recipients before you can send email. It’s more about quality than quantity. Before investing your time and money in an email marketing program, start by getting permission from your customers. It’s easier than you think, and it’ll result in fewer spam complaints, better deliverability, and better open and click results.

3. Unrecognizable Address and/or Domain

Keep a static “From” address and/or domain — subscribers determine if your email is spam or not if it’s not relevant or recognizable. Ask to be added to the recipient’s address book or safe sender list at the top of each email.

4. Poor Subject Lines

Because the subject line is the first thing a reader sees and reads, it is really important to make one that will capture their attention. It should make them want to open the newsletter and read some more. Your subject line should be seven words or less (or 35 characters). Using the following conditions in a subject line can lead to being flagged as SPAM:

• Percent of Capital Letters: Too many uppercase letters compared to lowercase letters
• Repeating Capital Letter: Too many upper case letters in a row (e.g., SALE)
• Gaps: When the words have gaps between letters like s*t*y*l*e
• Repetition: When letters or characters are repeated (*****)
• Special Character Flag: Overuse of special characters (e.g., & $ # @ ( )[ ] !)
• Punctuation Flag: Too much punctuation (…) or the type of punctuation (!)
• Word/Space Ratio: Spammers use blank spaces to catch the recipient’s attention resulting in a high ratio of spaces to words
• First Character Flag/First Word Flag: Subject lines starting with a special character or punctuation. Words like “Free”, “hey”, “Sale” etc.

5. Too Much Unnecessary Content

Keep in mind that you should never put information that is not related to the main topic when writing a newsletter. Be straight to the point. Make it as short as possible but with quality. There will be times that you can’t avoid making your newsletter long — if this is the case, make sure that it will not bore your subscribers to a point that it would make them want to unsubscribe.

6. Bad  Code

Set the pixel width to 600. This prevents the need to scroll to the right—and the potential to lose interest if someone feels they have to do too much work to read your email.

Don’t use CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) in your HTML coding. It is stripped out by many ISPs, so if you want to avoid more testing and revisions keep it basic.

Many ISPs suppress images by default. Do not create your email message out of one big image or your subscribers may only see a blank page with a little, tiny red X. If you use any images, to be on the safe side, feature a view in browser so they have another way to see images if they are suppressed.

7. Failing to Use Call To Actions (CTA)

The top one-third and the left-most area of your emails are the most valuable real estate. Try to place a CTA in those areas, in text and as minimal images. Include two to three instances of your CTA above the fold. Make sure to include at least one graphical and one textual CTA.

8. Poor List Hygiene

Practice good and consistent list hygiene. Most people know to honor opt outs in 10 days to be CAN-SPAM compliant but you should also clean your list(s) of hard bounces after each send, plus monitor soft bounces and remove from your list as needed.

9. No Unsubscribe

Don’t make people jump through hoops to opt out. The unsubscribe link must opt out on the first step, per CAN-SPAM.

10. Not Testing in Different Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

HTML emails look different, depending on which email program you use to view it. Just because it looks good in the preview window, or when you send a test to yourself, it doesn’t mean it’ll look like that for all your recipients. Test your email in all ISPs!

The Society of Digital Agencies today released their 2010 Digital Marketing Report. The report is a must-read for digital marketers, including all companies who work with digital marketers, companies looking to work with digital marketers and pretty much anyone who is interested in what we can expect of digital marketing in 2010. The findings highlight key statistics from over a thousand of the industries top executives, including global brands, traditional and digital agencies, vendor and service providers that operate in the digital space, as well as freelance and independent digital practitioners.

Snapshot of results:

81% of brand executives expect an increase in digital projects for 2010. Of this group, 61% said they will be shifting funds from traditional to digital media. Additionally, when asked about “Top Priorities” for business in 2010, respondents indicated a continued focus on Digital Advertising, Digital Infrastructure and Search Optimization, followed closely by Social Networks/Applications.

In addition to industry statistics, contributors provide:

– past and future trends
– current and up-and-coming digital platforms
– explain the evolution of the social media revolution
– address the shifting roles of producers, advertisers and audiences in an on-demand world

In chapter two of the report, Terralevers’ CEO, Chris Johnson and Strategy Director, Scott McAndrew are highlighted as they speak about the evolution of Facebook where they answer the question, “what’s a marketer to do to innovate in this space?”

The information provided in this report by Terralevers’ very own, plus many other experienced digital marketers is invaluable.

To view the complete report visit, http://sodaspeaks.ning.com/page/digital-marketing-outlook

A recent case study presented by Marketing Sherpa shows that social media is a solid marketing tool for generating leads

The case study discusses 6 social media steps to help fill the sales funnel:

#1 Create a blog to start and join online conversation

#2 Establish an active Twitter account

#3 Create a LinkedIn Group (or Facebook page depending on your demographic)

#4 Modify your press release strategy for blogger coverage

#5 Promote social media channels on your company website and in email signatures

#6 Measure growth of social media accounts and web traffic

Results:

Results of the researched company’s social media campaign showed that there was a dramatic correlation between the use of social media channels and the growth of the company’s web traffic and leads.

After only six months, their campaign resulted in:

– 10,230 unique blog page views in Q3
– 280 Twitter followers
– 141 members of their LinkedIn Group
– 155% increase in unique web visitors

The most important thing to note is that the increased web traffic contributed to the majority of the teams leads.

Leads by source:

– 55% inbound web
– 23% trade shows
– 20.5% email
– 1.5% seminars

Marketing-influenced pipeline by source:

– 75% inbound web
– 17% email
– 4% seminars
– 4% trade shows

The following image shows the growth rate of new lead generation (blue), unique web visits (red), Twitter followers (yellow), LinkedIn group members (green) and blog views (purple) through Q1, Q2 and Q3.

Using social media as a marketing strategy is obviously still very young compared to more traditional marketing concepts however, as it evolves it is becoming less and less complicated to track its affect on your brand and your bottom line.

Social media is an incredible way to create strong relationships with hard-to-find prospects, on a limited budget – but don’t be fooled, it’s not easy and it’s a major commitment. To learn more about the exact strategies the company carried out to get these results, check out the full case study on MarketingSherpa.com.

It’s a new year, a new beginning, a new leaf, which means plenty of new opportunities for your web site and online marketing program. By this time, I am sure you have made your own personal resolution list for 2010, but have you taken the time to make one for you web site? To help you get rolling, I put together a list of key strategies for you to consider.

PPC
1.    Test New Ads – Try out new ad variations, it can never hurt to test out something new and fresh.
2.    Update Landing Pages – If you don’t already have customized PPC landing pages, now is a perfect time to implement them. If you are already utilizing them, analyze your results and make modifications accordingly.

On-Site SEO
1.    Rewrite Title Tags – When was the last time you updated your title tags? My guess is that they could use a little refresh, especially if you have added new products, services, and/or offerings.
2.    Fix broken links/URLs by 301 redirecting them to relevant new pages.

Link Building – Set Monthly Goals
1.    Identify X number of link opportunities per month.
2.    Send X number of link requests per month.
3.    Create X number of new pieces of “link worthy” content a month.

Blog  – Set Weekly Goals
1.    Blog X number of times a week.
2.    Comment on X number of relevant blogs per week.

Social Media – Set Daily Goals
1.    Participate consistently, but don’t force it. Tweet & post when you have something to share, not just for the sake of getting something posted.
2.    Ensure your profile bios are optimized to their full potential.

Email Marketing– Set Monthly Goals
1.    Develop a campaign calendar for the year.
2.    Commit to sending X number of emails per month.
3.    A/B split test your campaigns and messaging.

Analytics
1.    Commit to spending X number of hours per week digging into your analytics.
2.    Analyze the bounce rate for the top 20 landing/entry pages of your web site.
3.    Identify and analyze your biggest abandonment pages and modify them for success.

Tools – Test Out New Tools
If you don’t already have a solid list of online marketing tools to help in your efforts, below are a few of my favorites free tools you can check out:

1.    SEOBook ‘s Backlink Analyzer
2.    SEOmoz’s LinkScape
3.    SpyFu
4.    Google Webmaster Tools

Set goals for your web site and online marketing program. Monitor the success of each of them and then modify the tactics based on the results you see. A resolution list is a perfect starting point. And with a little strategy and planning, your web site is bound to be a success!

Easy ways to spice up your social media efforts, with a little help from Dick and Jane.

A new year is synonymous with starts, either on new goals or on older ones that we’d like to take another crack at. Each goal represents a desire to be better than we were last year. A new year is also synonymous with new lists created to make that path toward success a little bit easier.
Whether you just got started in social media or have been playing in the space for years, there are several ways that you can add a little spice, extend your reach, and increase your impact.

1. Grab your name on every social site you can.
You can lay a foundation for continued social engagement by protecting ownership of your brand name, be it your company name or your own name. Sites that allow users to select a unique handle do so on a first come, first served basis, and while some offer restorative action where copyright or trademark infringement is involved, there’s no guarantee that you’ll recover your name in a timely fashion if some other Dick or Jane beat you to the punch bowl. KnowEm and namechk allow you to see where your username has been claimed. Neither tool contains a comprehensive list of all social sites, but they contain most of the major ones and are a great place to start. Signing up for one account is relatively quick; signing up for a dozen can take considerably more time. If you don’t have the time, KnowEm offers to do them all for you for a fee.

2. Pick one new platform to experiment with.
If you’re already participating in the social media space, you probably have an account on both Facebook and Twitter. These are among the most popular social sites, and every Jane has a profile, but Facebook and Twitter are only the tip of the iceberg. Try adding something new to your mix. You might try category platform, like LinkedIn. As the leading social business networking site, LinkedIn’s groups and answers features could be prime space to further a reputation for knowledge leadership. Or try something more niche that Dick hasn’t discovered yet, like 12seconds. Launched in 2008, the 12seconds micro-video platform is increasingly a space of expression and experimentation by creative individuals and companies.

3. Encourage social inside the company.
If you condemn participation in social networks as a distraction from the work at hand, you undervalue the contribution your employees can be making toward your business’ social efforts on the same networks. Social media is a word of mouth tool, and that word can start to spread from within your office. Embrace social as a way of doing business and allow employees to engage social media to connect with friends and each other, you’ll find in between posting pictures of their weekend hike or scheduling a lunch date with Dick, you’ll get featured. They will comment on how much they love the people they work with, retweet that job posting, and take notice when a Jane, a recent connection they may have yet to met in person, mentions she needs to launch an ecommerce site, which just so happens to be something your company rocks at.

4. Take your online social activities offline.
Your online social presence should augment and enhance in-person interactions. Give people a chance to deepen their relationship with you by interacting with you socially even while offline. Invite Jane and others to join you for happy hour or coffee at a locally-owned business. Open up your office space to Dick’s Historical Autobiography Book Club for their monthly gathering, attend the meetup and get to know the club members and what fascinates them.

5. Find at least one way to engage that has absolutely nothing to do with your core business.
All work and no play makes Dick a dull boy. All work and no play makes your company just another dull company. Nerf wars may spring up in the office during the day when you need a break, but if nobody knows, you’re missing an opportunity to showcase a bit of personality. Why not make the last Friday of each month a themed dress-up (or dress-down) day, post the best photos on Facebook and invite friends and fans to write the captions? Or why not take the engagement offline (tip 4) and organize a weekly meetup at your local dog-park for people who have dogs, as well as those who want dogs?

6. Share media and content that inspires your thinking.
The products and/or services you offer are your output, but what are the inputs that shape how you design and deliver these things? Books, blog posts, TED talks, even outside hobbies – the things you read, see and do have the power to influence how you do business. Share the very best of these via your social profiles. At the very least, you’ll give friends, fans and followers greater insight into the philosophies and values that guide you. At best, you’ll develop deeper relationships with customers, prospects and peers as you engage in idea-driven conversations. And if you’re really lucky, you’ll inspire both Dick and Jane along the way.

½. Be helpful.
We aren’t the first to say this, and we won’t be the last, but some tips are just so important that they are worth repeating… Be helpful. If Dick has a question and you know the answer, or can point him in the direction of a useful resource, do it. If it’s not about your company, product, service or industry, still do it. Never pass up an opportunity to demonstrate to your customers, friends and fans that meeting their needs is important to you.

Let these tips be a starting point to get you headed to more social 2010. As you put each of them in play, please share your ideas, questions and successes. Share your failures too, and the lessons that result, so that we can learn from each other and help each other make this year a rockin’ year.

Originally posted to the Phoenix Business Journal

Terralever has become one of slightly more than two dozen companies to be recognized as a preferred developer by Facebook.

The Tempe-based interactive marketing agency is one of 14 companies in the Facebook preferred developer consultant program, which can build programs for the massive social networking platform.

Terralever has been involved with Facebook applications since 2007 and has built programs for companies ranging from Apple and BMW to Red Bull and the University of Phoenix.

“Clearly, Facebook is one of the most innovative companies in the world. In the last five years they have strategically found ways to capture the attention of users everywhere, attracting more then 350 million active users worldwide,” said Chris Johnson, Terralever CEO. “We are honored and excited to be a part of this new program and to have the opportunity to continue to develop new experiences on Facebook Platform.”

My #1 frustration with Google Analytics since it started has been that it’s always limited you to setting up four goals per profile. This means that if you have more than 4 types of user events on your site that would constitute a “Goal” (shopping cart checkout, newsletter signup, contact form submission, etc), you’d be forced to create an additional profile in Google Analytics to track the additional goals, which means you’d have to flip between multiple profiles to see all your data. Sure, years ago, four might have seemed like plenty of goals…but it’s 2009, people. Fortunately, Google has smiled upon us and increased the limit of number of goals per profile to 20 (4 sets of 5).

Sure, it’d be great to have unlimited goals per profile, but I’ll take 20. Now all of our goal data can live together happily in one profile.

In addition to increasing the amount of goals allowed per profile, Google Analytics has also introduced a new feature called “Analytics Intelligence.” Right now, it’s pretty simple, but it goes a long way in helping you stay on top of what’s happening on your site. The simplest way to understand and take advantage of the new feature is to create a “Custom Alert” by following these steps:

1. Log into your Google Analytics account, select the Analytics account with the profile you want to view, and then click “View Reports” next to the website profile you’d like to view.

2. On the left-hand side, click the “Intelligence” Menu.

3. Beneath the graphs and the gray bar with the date on it, click the “+ Create a Custom Alert” link

4. On the next page, enter the following information in order to create an Alert any time your daily traffic goes beyond a certain number (replace the 200 with a number that would be abnormally high for your site):

Click Create Alert, and you’ve got a custom alert that will trigger each time your daily traffic surpasses that magic number. The alerts will show up on the “Intelligence” report, as well as in your email if you choose.

In addition to custom alerts, Google Analytics creates automatic alerts in the Intelligence report based on your site’s average performance. Automatic reports look at a variety of visitor patterns and changes to make you aware of traffic and other anomalies on your site. The best way to get familiar with all the features the “Intelligence” tab has to offer is by logging in and clicking through the alerts on the bar graph yourself. Maybe you’ll discover something surprising, insightful, and useful about your site’s visitors.

We aren’t talking turkeys, holiday decorations or gift exchanges here…we are talking about Black Friday, Cyber Monday and THE busiest shopping season of the year.  The holiday season is literally right around the corner, but don’t worry if you haven’t devised your online marketing plan…there is still time if you act now. To help you as you work through the hustle and bustle of this holiday season, I put together a few tips.

Sales & Offer
Everyone will have some type of offer, so be sure to make yours a compelling one. Free shipping is always a winner, everyone loves something for free! To help promote the sale/offer, update your home page to include messaging that features the offer and make the design festive to align the holiday season. It’s also a good idea to put a banner on interior pages to reinforce the offer as the users explore your web site.

Also, don’t forget to update your meta descriptions to include the offer; holiday shoppers will be looking for a deal and by including the offer in your meta description, you are likely to stand apart from the rest of the search results. Just make sure you update your meta descriptions after the holidays, or you may have some angry customers still looking for a deal after the holidays are long over.

Pay-Per-Click Advertising
If you are active in Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising, include information about the offer in your ads, this will reinforce the offer and entice users to click on your add. Ad copy should focus on convenience for the shopper. Most marketers focus strictly on pushing their products and services, but consumers are looking for more, especially during the holidays. Showcase things like guaranteed delivery and customer service within the ad copy and don’t be afraid to test out relevant holiday related keywords (i.e. holiday gifts).

Social Media
Use Social Media to push your holiday related content and offers via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, etc. Offer discounts via Twitter and Facebook and reward those who “fan” and “follow” you.  Add AddThis code to your site, which will enable users to share products/items they find on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

Got a product to demo? YouTube is a great platform for product demos. Consider a custom one for the holidays, including a festive background or design.

Email
If you have an opt-in list, then by all means market to them via email. Send targeted campaigns featuring special offers or discounts on products and/or services. Include the offer in your subject line, be festive with the design and keep the messaging timely. Holiday “gift guides” make great content for email campaigns and can tie-in multiple products and/or services into one campaign.

Blogs
Hopefully you already have a blog that supports your web site and/or company, if not…it’s a perfect time to start one.

Blogs are the perfect place to push holiday related content and topics. Make sure not to turn your posts into sales pitches, but instead focus on providing readers valuable content, which will attract readership and ultimately bring more people to your web site.  Use your blog as a platform to communicate on a personal level with your customers with content like gift guides, holiday recipes, shipping tips, shopping lists, etc.  Sound overwhelming? You can pre-write your blogs and schedule them to post during the hectic holiday season.

Consider running a contest/giveaway for people who comment on your posts, offer up a free product or service to one lucky reader – this will encourage comments on your blog.

Make “friends” with other bloggers in your industry and post comments on relevant blogs. This will get links back to your web site and position you well within this space….you never know when you may need to call in a favor. Building relationships with other relevant bloggers will benefit you in the long run, so invest the time now.

Tracking
Don’t forget to track all your efforts via Google Analytics, this will identify the channels and tactics that provided the most value and allow you to plan better for the 2010 holiday season.

Now that you have a plan…make your list, check it twice and put your plan to action. This should leave you with plenty of time for holiday decorations and gift exchanges.

User Experience, also commonly known as UX, is a term not to be taken lightly when it comes to online marketing. It is also a term that I believe is highly misunderstood and often confused with terms such as Usability and User Interface Design.

So, what is User Experience?

Simply put, User Experience is a term used to describe the overall experience and satisfaction a user has when using a product or system. In Terralever’s case, that would be a website or web application but it also applies to a consumers experience using, let’s say, an iPhone, car, dishwasher, airport elevator, gas pump, mail box, office chair, etc…

It’s easy to see why User Experience is often confused with Usability and User Interface Design, after-all, they are both very important elements of the User Experience as a whole – It’s the synergy of many elements that makes up User Experience. This includes Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Human Computer Interaction and Human Factors Engineering, just to name a few.

In online marketing, the perfect User Experience can result in conversions, leads, sales and ultimately success – The question is, have you planned ahead for your customers’ User Experience?

For a more in depth view of User Experience Design check out: www.montparnas.com/articles/what-is-user-experience-design/

Does local search matter? was originally posted on Scott McAndrew’s blog on September 8th 2009

Seen that map on the first page of search results accompanied with a one or a handful of businesses after performing a search on Google, Bing or Yahoo?  Those results are considered to be “local search” results, displaying companies whose products or services align with what the Internet searcher is looking for.

Localized search results appear on search engines search results pages if…

• An individual business is explicitly searched for: “Apple Computer in Cupertino”
• Local intent is expressed by the visitor explicitly when searching for a product or service: “Pizza in Boston, MA”
• Although not explicitly expressed, local intent is assumed, based on the nature of the query itself: “Car wash”

Which business listings appear depends upon a long list of factors (suitable for a post of its own).

How much does having a listing there for a business matter?  The short answer: A lot, assuming that your business provides a product or service locally from a physical location (or several locations).  Keep reading if you’re interested in the long answer.

How many searches are we talking about?

Estimates vary by source on how many searches have local intent.  Those on the lower end of the range cite 20% and those on the higher side generally fall between 30 and 40%.  Calculating how many actual searches that equates to pushes us to numbers which challenge conventional understanding.

Recent ComScore data indicates that in May of this year 14.3 billion core searches were made in the United States.  I’ll forgo doing the math and just assume that we can all agree that local search represents a highly compelling number of searches.

How do user’s interact with a page of search results?

Sometimes images speak louder than words, so let’s start there.  Does the graphic below look familiar?

If you haven’t seen it before it’s a visual depiction of Google users’ attention from an eye-tracking study performed by Enquiro in 2005.  The area of most interest lies in the triangular area at the top left-hand side of the page.  Results from other search engine’s also follow suit.  That triangular area (often referred to as Google’s Golden Triangle) is also precisely where localized search results generally appear (they also occasionally appear further down the search results page).

This image (and the study that it emerged from) are at least a few years old, but it tends to hold true.  Subsequent studies by Google have revealed a similar pattern, even when additional distractions, such as images, are added to the mix.  If anything, its likely that the addition of a map image which accompanies local listings positively influences the attention given they receive.

Do they take any action?

All of this is for not if the Internet searcher doesn’t take action, regardless of the reason.  Recent third-party research provides a strong case for local listings.  There are several studies out there, the following statistics are from a publicly available ComScore/TMP local search study conducted last year:

• The information provided online isn’t lagging offline information.  Users are pleased with what they find, whether their search is offline, online or on a mobile phone, with 9 out of 10 searchers stating they ultimately found what they needed.
• Search engines have become the primary stand-alone source for local business information, ranking higher than the print White or Yellow Pages or websites specifically focused on localized or niche listings.
• After performing a local search the majority of consumers (more than 70%) chose to contact the business (or businesses) offline by telephone or an in-person visit.

That last statistic might be the most compelling of all, connecting that online activity to tangible, offline business.  Conclusion?  If you provide a service or product locally, put local search high on you to-do list for your marketing and advertising and take advantage of this opportunity!

Digg, the popular social bookmarking site, announced this week on their blog that they are incorporating the nofollow tag (rel=”nofollow”) to external links they don’t trust, with the goal of reducing spam.

When submitting to Digg there are really two goals. One is to make it to the front page which will in turn drive a lot of traffic. And by making it to the front page your story is most likely to become very popular and people will want to link to it, which in turn garners a lot of links to your site. These are both great things for your site and from an SEO perspective, the links are golden.

The problem for Digg is that even if a story does not become popular on Digg, the link coming from Digg itself offers some weight to the spammy URL in a search engine crawler’s eyes. The bottom line here is that Digg will no longer pass link juice on to just any link, the downside maybe that legitimate links, in addition to the spammy ones,  may also not get any link love from Digg from now on.

Digg’s blog stated that the nofollow tag will be included on user profiles, comments and unpopular posts, but they made no mention on how popular a link had to be to have the nofollow tag removed.

“We’ve added rel=”nofollow” to any external link that we’re not sure we can vouch for. This includes all external links from comments, user profiles and story pages below a certain threshold of popularity.”

It will be interesting to watch how the rule is implemented over time and see what links Digg deems as trustworthy. The change may mean less link love from Digg but there is no doubt it will provide a better user experience for the Digg community by weeding out the spammers.

Hat Club, a leading retailer of baseball caps, skater hats and accessories, was seeking ways to increase revenue and generate respect and loyalty within their brand for both their online and offline channels. E-commerce was an area the internal marketing team had dabbled in—enough to launch the online sales effort and sell hats online. However, it was time to get more serious about selling merchandise online. Hat Club turned to Terralever to show them how to do it strategically, effectively, and with great success.

Objective:

Terralever and Hat Club wanted to create an online experience that would not only raise, but reset the bar for sports retail e-commerce. High importance was set on creating a strong presence on search engines and stimulating Hat Club Membership to create loyalty, repeat web site visits and revenue.

Solution:

Terralever envisioned a premiere membership-based, e-commerce web site, coupled with a balanced campaign of SEO, PPC, email marketing and social media marketing as Hat Club’s solution. Terralever provided an extensive strategic plan, e-commerce website design and development and a proactive strategy and analytics program.

Results:

Hat Club’s online sales are up 245% since Q2 2008. Hatclub.com, formerly listed as the most poorly performing retail outpost across Hat Club, is currently the top selling, surpassing its counterpart brick and mortar store locations. Awareness and affinity for Hat Club online has grown steadily since the execution of Terralever’s online marketing plan. The combined approach of sustained online marketing and the launch of a new persona-based, search engine optimized website, has produced a steady increase in Hat Club’s online performance metrics.

Comparing web visitors ending Q2 2009 with the same period 2008, Hat Club boasts a 175% increase in traffic, while maintaining an industry enviable balance of returning and new clientele. Additionally, Hat Club increased pageviews and time spent on site by 280%, while reducing the site’s total bounce rate by 15% across the same period. Within the first quarter of proactive online marketing, revenue increased 245% year over year, and continues to trend upward in a down economy.

SUMMARY

Product: Baseball caps & accessories
Retail locations: 21
Online: hatclub.com
Target Market: Fashion-minded millennials
Founded: 2001

Online Results

• Visits:  +175%
• Unique Visitors: +175%
• Pageviews: +280%
• Online Sales: +245%
• Bounce Rate: -15%

Originally posted to Online Marketing Performance by Scott McAndrew on June 25, 2009

There’s a recent study that came out regarding Millennials and social meda that is causing a considerable amount of speculation and interpretation.  The study, released by the Participatory Marketing Network, shows that while Millennials are active participants in social media in general, what they aren’t is all that interested in media darling Twitter.

The study, which questioned 200 panel members between the ages of 18 and 24, reported that while 99 percent of respondents have a profile on a social networking site that only 22 percent of the group say they use Twitter.

While there’s a barrage of articles speculating on why, I personally don’t find this to be all that surprising.  Considering the nature of the networks, and the Millennials themselves, Facebook makes sense.  Twitter does not.

High on the list of Millennials core values are authenticity and transparency.  And, what do Millennials utilize social networks for?  To build and nurture relationships.  Stopping right there the preference toward Facebook over Twitter seems obvious.

On Twitter, you can hide behind a profile and be anyone you want to be.  Don’t want people to know who you really are?  Open a GMail account and sign up.  Create your fake bio and go for it.  Parade around as whomever you want and say whatever you want.  If things don’t work out, start over.

Facebook couldn’t be more different. Facebook is decidedly focused on creating a network of people, not profiles.  While it is possible to make it through the registration process with a made up name and empty bio, what’s next? Its akin to showing up at a black-tie party in a bozo the clown suit.  You’ll definitely find yourself short on friends let alone interaction.

In terms of servicing their users, Facebook also aligns more closely with Millennials needs than Twitter does.  Twitter is a simple messaging platform that allows the broadcast and receipt of 140 character messages.  Yes, Twitter has utility.  One utility.  It does one thing, and not especially well.

Facebook’s offering provides a far richer set of tools, allowing members to interact in a far more dimensional context.  Twitter is a simple messaging system, and not one that Millennials have much of a need for in its current form.

A business blog is a powerful and popular way to communicate with existing and potential customers, sharing knowledge and expertise while building more web site traffic, conversions, and links.

Use your company blog to
•    Introduce new products, specials, and discounts
•    Share information about products or services
•    Manage your online reputation

A blog has to be fed on a regular basis, and providing unique content two or three times a week can become unworkable unless you have a procedure in place for sourcing content within your organization. Some business owners prefer to hire outside copywriters, guiding them in their choice of topics and reviewing the articles prior to publication.

Whatever choice you make for providing blog content, the objective is to encourage a dialogue with your customers. This means responding to their comments and questions, steering the conversation toward mutual understanding and a positive experience.

By doing so, not only can issues be resolved with current customers, but prospective buyers will see that your company is committed to great customer service and satisfaction.

The days are getting warmer, and we’ll soon be seeing young entrepreneurs opening their lemonade stands in front yards across the country.

Some things don’t change all that much – wisdom taken from time-honored lemonade stand marketing strategy can be applied to your online marketing efforts.

1. Perform market research. Talk to the kids who run other lemonade stands around your town and find out how much they sell their lemonade for and what kind of lemonade seems to sell the best.

Find out what keywords searchers are using when they’re looking for your product. Research your competitors’ sites to see what they’re doing to get business.

2. Choose the best location. People don’t look up lemonade stands in the phone book, so you have to make sure they can see you. Find a place with a lot of traffic.

Google PPC ads are a good way to bridge the gap while you’re waiting for your link building efforts to take effect organically.

3. Find your niche. So you’ve got the best lemonade in town, but what if other stands have lemonade that’s just as tasty? Set your stand apart from the crowd by providing something a little different.

Research niche keywords that will bring in traffic that’s considered “low hanging fruit.” This may mean adding content specific to these keywords to draw in those searchers.

4. Advertise your stand. Be sure to have a big, neatly written sign in front of your stand. You can also ask friends to stick a couple brightly colored signs on themselves and ride their bikes around the neighborhood, advertising your lemonade stand.

Make sure your site is correctly optimized and contains content with keywords that reflect what your site is about. Place social media “chicklets” on your site that visitors can click on to recommend your site to others.

5. Keep track of your sales and experiment a bit. You can learn a lot from running a lemonade stand, and the more you learn the more money your stand will make. Use some trial-and-error to make your stand the best it can be, and learn from your mistakes.

Use Google Analytics to learn who is visiting your site, what they’re looking for, and where they’re coming from, and use these metrics to make your marketing efforts more productive.

Good Internet business practices in 2009 include offering low prices, great deals, and coupons.

“Free Shipping” was the online mantra of the holidays. Since the average amount a consumer spends is predicted to decrease quite a bit this year, to entice purchases the trend for 2009 is digital coupons.

87% of money-conscious consumers now prefer to shop at retailers that offer coupons. With the advent of the iPhone, Google Android and other touchscreen smartphones consumers can use their cell phones to look for deals and coupons right at the point of purchase.

Coupon sites have become huge, with one popular site reporting over 5 million unique visitors per month. They offer a Firefox extension, gadgets, widgets and more; as consumers search the web they can instantly be notified of an available coupon for the site they’re visiting. If you have an online coupon to offer, it’s free to add it to the site.

Are you ready for 2009? Your marketing plan needs to include meticulous site SEO, inbound links, good deals to attract buyers, digital coupons, display ads, and PPC.

You can increase your sales conversions by 119% even though the country is in a recession.

Offline advertising spending (newspapers, radio, TV) is being cut back 5 – 16%. Conversely, Internet advertising will increase by at least 9%, which is less than previous years but still on the plus side of the equation.

Back to that great sales conversion increase…here’s how it works:

Display Ads + Search = Increased Sales Conversions

Display ads increase brand awareness and foster engagement – such as visiting your web site or placing a phone call to your business.  Options include graphic ads on relevant sites either directly or via pay-per-click content advertising, and email advertising. Top Internet organic search results coupled with pay-per-click (PPC) ads have proven to be a winning combination for online businesses.

On March 11th, Terralever is introducing the first live webinar of our Online Marketing Webinar Series.  The series will cover a variety of relevant online marketing topics, the first focusing on Maximizing Online Marketing in the Travel Industry.

In these economic times where industries like travel and tourism have felt the impact of change in consumer behavior, there’s never been a better, more important time to leverage online marketing.

Resist the urge to pull back on marketing during these uncertain times. In this webinar, Scott McAndrew, Director of Strategy for Terralever will show you what tourism marketers can do online to cut through the clutter and build brand, lift web traffic, drive conversions and grow market share affordably and effectively.
WHEN: Wednesday, March 11, 2009
10:00 AM PST | 11:00 AM MST | 12:00 PM CST | 1:00 PM EST

PRESENTER: Scott McAndrew, Director of Strategy, Terralever

FOR: Marketers and sales leaders in the travel and tourism industry
- Those seeking ways to boost existing online marketing programs

YOU’LL LEARN:
•    What’s really possible with search engine marketing
•    What local search is and why it’s so important
•    Best practices for increasing the effectiveness of your email marketing
•    Effective ways to participate in social media
•    Why so many online marketing initiatives are set up to fail before they start

About the Presenter:

As Director of Strategy for leading internet marketing and strategy firm, Terralever Scott McAndrew works with clients that include Red Bull, Microsoft, Scottsdale Convention & Visitors Bureau and MiiAmo Spa. Through his long career in online marketing, he’s witnessed firsthand the evolution of the industry and how marketers today can leverage the many opportunities it presents.
To Register for the FREE Webinar go to: http://webinars.terralever.com/default.aspx

It should be no surprise that the popularity of online video is growing.  What might be shocking is how much focus online video will have in 2009.  Back in late December, eMarketer.com wrote and article on a survey conducted by PermissionTV.  The results suggested that more then 2/3 of marketing companies will focus their 2009 marketing budgets on online video.   This is well ahead of social media, search and traditional banner ads.

So this begs the question, how powerful is online video?

Last months presidential inauguration marked a shocking trend in people’s choice to watch streaming video. What was even more shocking, was that nearly every primetime television network was broadcasting the inauguration live, nonetheless people still flocked to the Internet to get their fix!  Here is what CNN was willing to share about the event:

• Cnn.com served more than 25 million live video streams in less then 12 hours on inauguration day.

CNN stated that this was the highest number of live video streams they have ever serviced in a single day.

Until recently, the quality and performance of online video has left much to be desired.  A live event of this magnitude would have certainly produced a questionable viewing experience.  Users want high quality, full screen and they want it immediately.  With the advent of adaptive streaming and new ways of compressing video, users have access to qualities that are comparable to television.  More importantly, businesses are not being forced to spend a fortune just to provide this level of quality.

A great example of this is ABC.com HD video player.   If you have not tried it, please do.  Watching an episode of Lost or Grey’s Anatomy is a really great experience.  The quality is superb and surprisingly, a whole HD episode is less than a gigabyte download.   What that means to the viewer is no more starting a download and coming back later to watch it.   What that means to ABC, is that for less then a dime they can give each of their viewers an entire episode of their favorite show in HD and allow their viewers to experience it on demand!