Absolute Top Five Search Engine Marketing Myths Uncovered!
Absolute Top Five Search Engine Marketing Myths Uncovered!
by: Lee Traupel
Its no secret that Search Engine marketing can drive significant amounts of very qualified traffic to a web site as 85% of Internet users utilize search engines to find/research for goods and services. The problem for many companies is the difficulty they face sifting through conflicting information and hyperbole! Here is my top five list of myths that need to be run to ground.
Big Picture Myth One Search...
All Along the Digital Watchtower
All Along the Digital Watchtower
by: Lee Traupel
It's no secret interactive (web-based) marketing has arrived. The IDC research group just released a study in late June of this year indicating 99.9% of a survey of executives and entrepreneurs said they currently conduct online marketing activities, or, are in the process of implementing or initiating some form of interactive marketing. The problem or challenge that many of these executives (marketing, management, etc.) and entrepreneurs...
Branding On The Web Is Like Mining For Fools Gold
Branding On The Web Is Like Mining For Fools Gold
by: Lee Traupel
I am sick and tired of marketing geeks touting the beauty of branding, brand building and just spouting branding in any context, especially when the term is used with "internet" or "web" or "digital!" You can't have a conversation today for more than five minutes without some marketing type throwing in a line about brand building!
Branding doesn't work with the net's warp speed - look at some of the leading online brand...
Creating Effective Opt-in E-Mail Campaigns
Creating Effective Opt-in E-Mail Campaigns
by: Lee Traupel
It's been said before, but important to re-emphasize, e-mail is the "killer application" of the information age. According to the latest Forrester Research numbers, the permission based e-mail industry is projected to grow from $164M (USD) in 1999 to $7.3B by 2005. E-mail is also rapidly moving from a textual communications process to one that is rich in multimedia content via server-based streaming audio or video. Virtually anyone,...
Credit Reports
A credit report is maintained for virtually every consumer in the United States who has had any financial activity of any kind and/or who has had a credit card or banking relationship of any type.
A credit report is based on a numerical rating system with the higher a score (an excellent ranking is considered 750-850) the better. Most financial institutions refer to a consumer's credit report as they are making a decision on providing a loan and the interest rates that you are provided can in...
Developing a Winning e-Commerce Strategy
Developing a Winning e-Commerce Strategy
by: Lee Traupel
One bright spot on the economic horizons around the world seems to be continued consumer spending and e-commerce is clearly a part of this, with sales estimated to be in excess of $9.9 billion in the next three months according to ACNielsen. But there is a dark cloud hovering over this sunny e-commerce landscape called poor web site design. Let's explore some of the reasons why consumers are not reaching for their credit cards after...
Don't Become Another .com Road Kill
Don't Become Another .com Road Kill
by: Lee Traupel
Remember those Super Bowl and World Cup commercials where you saw talking hand puppets, scantily dressed women, cowboys herding cats and crude lettering on cardboard? Can you actually name one .com company that paid for these millions of dollar/eurodollars for brand awareness ads?
Doesn't this type of marketing remind you of a IPO.com frenzied "drunken sailor school of budgeting" - meaning, spend like a drunken sailor hitting his/her...
Driving Qualified Traffic Using Directories
Driving Qualified Traffic Using Directories
by: Lee Traupel
Some education is essential to enlighten you about this form of interactive marketing. Directories aren't Search Engines; they are web sites or information portals which use analysts on staff to review submissions from companies who want to be listed in their Directory. Yahoo would be the penultimate example of this type of a portal. But there are literally thousands of other sites that group and list web sites based on their...
E-Mail Newsletter Marketing Essentials
E-Mail Newsletter Marketing Essentials
by: Lee Traupel
If Gutenberg were alive today he would be in publishing heaven! Forget the printing press, the web has fast-forwarded self-publishing in ways that are evolving so rapidly it's becoming difficult to integrate technology and process to leverage the opportunities. Any company, regardless of their size and marketing resources should be publishing an opt-in e-mail newsletter - it's a very low cost way to build community with customers, keep...
Emerging Methods for Effective Search Engine Ranking
Emerging Methods for Effective Search Engine Ranking
by: Lee Traupel
Search Engine traffic has always been and continues to be one of the best ways to drive qualified traffic to a web site - it presents information about goods and services when the interest level is high and it can be acted on immediately. Up till now opt-in e-mail marketing has been an effective complement to search engine ranking campaigns; but the never-ending deluge of Spam is rapidly ruining the effectiveness of opt-in...
Fast Forwarding your Business with Instant Messaging
Fast Forwarding your Business with Instant Messaging
by: Lee Traupel
Instant Messaging is rapidly becoming accepted in the business community as a viable communications tool and process - it's faster than e-mail, free on the client side, even a novice user can easily grasp the interface in just a few minutes and it enables remote workers and business partners to "talk" and share files and information effortlessly using the in-place infrastructure of the internet. Its mushrooming in...
Finally - New Spam Prevention Product That Works!
Finally - New Spam Prevention Product That Works!
by: Lee Traupel
Businesses and consumers are drowning in a never-ending deluge of Spam (junk mail) - according to reports just released by Quris, Inc. Spam has increased 450% from June of 2001 to now. Furthermore, 70% of respondents indicated they are receiving so much e-mail in the form of Spam that it's negating their acceptance and responsiveness to legitimate opt-in e-mail messages (permission based). The average business user is forced...
Forget Conventional Marketing - Embrace the Web!
Forget Conventional Marketing - Embrace the Web!
by: Lee Traupel
Tactical marketing processes are once again undergoing fundamental shifts from traditional to web-based processes. Many traditional marketing firms/agencies are still touting the tried and true to their clients; i.e. Tradeshow attendance, Print, Traditional PR, TV and Radio. However, these conventional marketing processes work best for broad market awareness and/or branding, especially for a Fortune 1K company with significant...
Fundamental Strategic Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
Fundamental Strategic Marketing Mistakes to Avoid
by: Lee Traupel
This is a pretty tough global economy and it is critical for a company to leverage every bit of their marketing resources. So, if this is the case, why are so many companies shooting themselves in the proverbial foot by breaking some of the most fundamental rules of marketing? It's a very simple question with complex answers - here are some of the pitfalls to avoid:
1) Believing a second rate web site communicates...
Google's AdWords Select(tm) Groundbreaking Program
Google's AdWords Select(tm) Groundbreaking Program
by: Lee Traupel
One of the absolute best online marketing processes available to any business today is Google's AdWords Select advertising program. It produces immediate results within minutes after being setup, drives highly qualified traffic via selected keywords and can be monitored and modified on a 24/7 basis via Google's excellent online interface. There are no hidden fees - it costs a mere $5. USD to setup a campaign and requires a...
Growing Your Company In Today's Chaotic Market!
Growing Your Company In Today's Chaotic Market!
by: Lee Traupel
I think we've all heard enough bad news to last us few months to last us several lifetimes! Our mantra for clients is "get over it" - cut your losses when where you can and focus on the basic building blocks to grow your business. Here are some fundamentals we recommend to any company that wants to survive and grow in this chaotic market:
1. Practice maniacal focus! Who is your customer, how do you reach them with your...
Has Your Design Firm Run Amuck With Your Web Site?
Has Your Design Firm Run Amuck With Your Web Site?
by: Lee Traupel
What's happening to good web site design? Somehow we creative types at interactive and traditional ad agencies have run amuck - we're building web sites that may dazzle the senses, but don't really communicate much about our client's business or products and services!
1. Somehow I don't think anyone has a burning desire to spend 30-60 seconds on the Index page of a web site while another fancy Flash animation loads,...
LookSmart Not Small Business Friendly
LookSmart Not Small Business Friendly
by: Lee Traupel
There is a firestorm of negative press regarding LookSmart's recent marketing stumbles via numerous discussion groups, including two of the oldest and most influential, I-Search and I-Advertising Digests. Most of the critiques center on LookSmart's inability to develop viable programs for SMB/SME ("small to medium business or enterprise"), the difficulty in managing their new pay per click "Small Business Listings" advertising program,...
Marketing Maxims for Todays Challenging Times
Marketing Maxims for Todays Challenging Times
by: Lee Traupel
These are turbulent times for all businesses - necessitating streamlined marketing processes that are finely honed to mesh with todays sputtering global economy.
1. Dont stop advertising because the economy is sluggish - increase it, as many of your competitors are foolishly slowing down and you can grab market share! Look at what Dell has done to Gateway in the last eighteen months Gateway has lost 10-20% of their market...
Marketing to Todays Distracted Consumer
Marketing to Todays Distracted Consumer
by: Lee Traupel
The average person today is exposed to a never-ending deluge of 1,700 marketing messages during a single 24-hour period. Look around you, we marketers have pasted, integrated injected and/or overlaid advertising in any possible place imaginable! Case in point, NBC will start to digitally insert commercial billboards into advertising content to be broadcast during the winter Olympics in essence a commercial within a...
Marketing Trends from the Digital Frontlines
Marketing Trends from the Digital Frontlines
by: Lee Traupel
The web and ways to market on the web continue to evolve at warp speed - we see some positive and negative changes occurring - our observations du jour:
1. Publishers are finally starting to charge for branded content. It's still difficult to do, but we are seeing many newsletter publishers charging from $30-100 per subscriber per annum. And, most importantly, many people are finally starting to accept the need to pay for quality...
Maximizing ROI via Web Site Traffic Analysis
Maximizing ROI via Web Site Traffic Analysis
by: Lee Traupel
We are clearly well past the innocent golden age of the Internet Darwinian economics have become the order of the day today. Any company worth their salt must maintain a web site as an information resource and/or to generate incremental ecommerce revenue. Qualified traffic is the name of the game, as its the oxygen that keeps a good ecommerce web site thriving. Consequently, its very important to have an understanding of...
New Realities for E-Mail Marketing
New Realities for E-Mail Marketing
by: Lee Traupel
Spam e-mail is no longer the mild irritant it once was - it's clogging corporate networks and ISP mail servers and has become a real productivity drain, forcing corporate and consumer e-mail users to spend 20-30 minutes a day dealing with this deluge of junk! According to recent figures, unsolicited bulk e-mail now makes up to 36% of all e-mail, up from under 8% just over a year ago. And, what's worse, more and more legitimate e-mail is not...
New Sources for Targeted Web Site Traffic
New Sources for Targeted Web Site Traffic
by: Lee Traupel
Qualified traffic is the lifeblood of any web site today, especially for ecommerce sites that are selling goods or services online. But, many media buyers and/or owners of web sites are paying too much for traffic by relying on top tier PPC ("pay per click") search engines like Overture or Google's Ad Words Select programs and others.
There is a new breed of web site traffic brokers emerging in the interactive marketing world...
Online Advertising Sinks into the Abyss!
Online Advertising Sinks into the Abyss!
by: Lee Traupel
Back in the ancient days of 1994 when Mark Andreesen and his band of hardy programmers were inventing a ground-breaking product/application/way of life called a browser, a dedicated group of entrepreneurs started publishing Netsurfer Digest a modern day "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" for the web. I subscribed to this wonderful newsletter and reference guide back in those heady days of yesteryear and have been a loyal subscriber and...
Raising Capital in Todays New Economy
Raising Capital in Todays New Economy
by: Lee Traupel
Weve helped a number of clients develop business plans and raise capital from angel investors, corporate entities and venture capitalists during the last 6-8 years. Its always a daunting process that can be full of pitfalls and require a tremendous amount of work but it can be done! Here is some perspective gleaned from years of experience.
The most important rule for raising capital to consider is: its never easy to raise...
Redefining Distance to Market Products or Services
Redefining Distance to Market Products or Services by Lee TraupelThe recent terrorist attacks here in the US have caused many companies and individuals to rethink how they want to market to and work with others. As a result, web-enabled presentations and or collaborations are finally coming of age the technology works with a minimum of hassle, it's an efficient way to give marketing presentations, hold meetings, provide training and do product demonstrations. The cost savings can be...
Speed Kills on the Web!
Speed Kills on the Web!
by: Lee Traupel
I only have to point to the 555 plus failed .com companies (according to Web Mergers) as the poster children of the "speed at any cost" business mantra that clearly doesn't work. And these were companies who burnt through significant amounts of capital (in the millions, tens of millions or hundreds of millions in many cases) while they were rushing to get to market.
Do you wonder why every time you talk to someone he or she seems to be in such a...
Surviving The Digital Economy Meltdown!
Surviving The Digital Economy Meltdown!
by: Lee Traupel
"Dying isn't hard for men like us, when every everything around you has been butchered or slaughtered ... living is what's hard." Clint Eastwood to Chief Ten Bears in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"
The bloom is off the rose, the roosters are coming home to roost. Use whatever metaphor fits your business or culture! But get the net/net - the "new digital economy" is starting to get down to some real fundamentals. Don't get caught in the...
Ten Basic Steps For Building A Web Site That Works
Ten Basic Steps For Building A Web Site That Works
by: Lee Traupel
1. Assemble a web site development plan that is integrated with your overall marketing processes; the content should be consistent with offline materials, the graphics/images don't have to be identical with traditional media, but should be consistent with your overall branding, style guide, usage of colors etc.
2. Hire a web site design firm that understands your market position and one that won't get "geek crazy" -...
The New Marketing Landscape
The New Marketing Landscape
by: Lee Traupel
Many of us in the marketing services and/or agency business are starting to see some real tangible marketing patterns emerging that businesses need to be aware of if they want to leverage their marketing dollars in this "post .com implosion economy."
Good Web Site Design increasingly More Important
It's imperative for a company to have a quality web site today - but many firms are still throwing up web sites that are just poorly designed or...
Winning the Search Engine Wars!
Winning the Search Engine Wars!
by: Lee Traupel
Creating and building effective Search Engine marketing campaigns is like trying to nail jello to the wall! The challenge can be daunting to many, requiring very specialized knowledge of process that must be blended with unique and disparate technology. Here is some insight gained from years of experience providing these services to clients.
SE marketing is very effective in driving qualified traffic to a web site. Over 85% of global...
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