Ok, I'm done feeling sorry for myself. I've been following my personal website and the school website projects I'm conducting with google analytics.
Unless I'm not clicking on the correct report, I must admit to being a bit disappointed. I thought analytics would allow me to see exactly who was visiting my site and when. The only thing I've been able to see so far is how many hits I have. I've been researching all the other ways I can analyze and hopefully improve my site in order to please/convert visitors into customers. I must say, the "free shipping" proposal is not an unreasonable one. If a customer is ordering $100 or more in product from my website, I think paying $6.50 for them to receive their product is not a bad exchange, huh? So, thank you James, for bringing this to my attention. It doesn't always have to be about profit, I'm finding.
Right now, it's more about getting product in the hands of the public. This is the only way to truly spread the word. It's most important to have people touching, smelling and experiencing the products so they can talk about them, fall in love with them and want to have them in their life always.... ahhh, what a concept, eh?
In my interactive marketing course, this week, it was all about analyzing the data. The big question is, 'at what point in their web shopping experience did your website lose the customer or cause them to abandon the activity in which they were engaged?'
The other big question was, 'what is the efficacy behind using multiple channels to get the sale and how do you measure which channel was most effective?' This was a very intriguing presentation/discussion. In any sort of sales these days, any sort of physical experience with the product before the actual purchase would be a desired situation for the marketer/business owner, right? So why take away the most common/easiest way to experience (to a small degree) the product, which is normally in the catalog that is mailed out to the consumer on a regular basis?
It seemed as though some of my classmates felt that the catalog is a dying method of marketing. The instructors for the night shot that theory down, poste haste. I completely agree. I also felt that this phrase "the pass along" doesn't truly indicate the importance of that catalog landing in the hands of someone that it wasn't necessarily mailed to but... the person became a customer after seeing the catalog.
Case in point: One of my colleagues in the MLM business lives in Coral Springs, Fla. She had mailed out catalogs and even left some catalogs at her dentist's office. She received a call from a man who had found her catalog at a fast food restaurant and wanted to order the products for his wife. How cool is that? My colleague had no clue how her catalogue had made it to this area of town for he was much further away than it seemed reasonable for her catalog to travel based on the original location but, she didn't question it. She took the order, counted her blessings and continues (to this day) to spread her catalogs far and wide.
That just reinforces...you just never know who you will touch with those direct mail campaigns...you just never know. I'm still looking for an article so I'll be back. In the meantime, enjoy having a look at another of my websites. There's lots of healthy stuff on there ( I personally recommend Projoba Pollenburst- item # pj330 if for any reason you need to boost your energy levels naturally-it's made with green tea and flower pollen, ahhh)... www.youngevityonline.com/rhondae
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Simon says..."the best way to get your site ranking up is...SEO"
The focus of my two marketing courses of late has been SEO. I thought I would share this article that was sent to me.
http://smallbusiness.logoworks.com/newsletter/index.php/06/2008/03/7-steps-to-great-rankings-on-google/?intsrc=M6%7CNL%7C150
So my next question is...what happens when you're doing everything you think you're supposed to be doing by the standards given and you're still not popular enough to be ranked higher than what you already are?
Can I just say that it truly SUCKED when I found out that rankings are nothing more than popularity contests? Have I already shared how much I hate that notion? If so, sorry but what does a person have to do just to get ahead?
You follow the rules, you do what you're told and then BAM, oh, yeah, you've gotta be popular too. SUCKS!!! Especially for those of us who have never been popular. Now we have to jump through even more hoops in an effort to be popular.
http://smallbusiness.logoworks.com/newsletter/index.php/06/2008/03/7-steps-to-great-rankings-on-google/?intsrc=M6%7CNL%7C150
So my next question is...what happens when you're doing everything you think you're supposed to be doing by the standards given and you're still not popular enough to be ranked higher than what you already are?
Can I just say that it truly SUCKED when I found out that rankings are nothing more than popularity contests? Have I already shared how much I hate that notion? If so, sorry but what does a person have to do just to get ahead?
You follow the rules, you do what you're told and then BAM, oh, yeah, you've gotta be popular too. SUCKS!!! Especially for those of us who have never been popular. Now we have to jump through even more hoops in an effort to be popular.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Mkt 798
In class this evening, we had a presenter Randall Coe, VP Marketing for Bosch. I just have to say that I couldn't relate his presentation and talking points to the project we are working on for this course in 798 nor did I feel I could relate it for use in my business model.
It was evident that Mr. Coe knew his stuff. He was well versed in the intricacies of courting the retailer, knowing where is target market shopped and their behavior.
My burning question is: How do his "big idea" strategies relate to me. I'm still processeing the information so perhaps after I've had more time to digest the presentation, I will be able to take more from his presentation.
I want to be sure that I'm clearly understood when I say I couldn't relate. Ididn't mean the information wasn't valuable. I'm sure that other students were able to take away valuable information that will help them in their business. I simply say that I could not relate his ideas and philosophies to that of the small business owner who is...me.
A couple of things I did garner from the discussion were basic philosophies that are in practice within Bosch.
1. Growth profit fuels innovation- I agree with this because without making money, a red hole is created wherein your activity at the bank shows a steady outflowing of cash vs influx. There is also less or no money to use to go forward with the vision of the company.
2. Segments are about behavior- This is also true. When you identify a segment, especially the desired segment, you, as a business owner must go out of your way to learn about the behavior practiced that will bring about your (the company) desired effect...conversion as well as repeat and loyal spending customers.
3. How to maintain price integrity- Now this is a concept I believe I'm struggling with for some reason. In my opinion, maintaining price integrity is a fine line when you have to consider your profit margin. Sure you want your customer to feel they are getting great value for their money but, at the same time, you want them to value your product as a product that is of the finest quality and sometimes you have to pay more to get the best quality. I suspect this may be of interest to "niche" retailers. For example, what about jewelry retailers-specifically, diamond retailers. If I, as the consumer, go to a diamond retailer and find a diamond that is 1/2 or even 1/3 the price that it is listed with another retailer who is considered to be a quality retailer, I, as the consumer will immediately begin to wonder, "what's wrong with this diamond? Is it a real diamond, is it flawed more than the jeweler will admit",and so on and so forth. So, that is why I say maintaining price integrity is a fine line-for the previously stated reason.
Do you all agree with me? I'm curious.
I have a wonderful article I would like to share. I will post it shortly. Thank you for stopping by!
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/smallbusinessbranding/~3/417695775/
Rhonda
It was evident that Mr. Coe knew his stuff. He was well versed in the intricacies of courting the retailer, knowing where is target market shopped and their behavior.
My burning question is: How do his "big idea" strategies relate to me. I'm still processeing the information so perhaps after I've had more time to digest the presentation, I will be able to take more from his presentation.
I want to be sure that I'm clearly understood when I say I couldn't relate. Ididn't mean the information wasn't valuable. I'm sure that other students were able to take away valuable information that will help them in their business. I simply say that I could not relate his ideas and philosophies to that of the small business owner who is...me.
A couple of things I did garner from the discussion were basic philosophies that are in practice within Bosch.
1. Growth profit fuels innovation- I agree with this because without making money, a red hole is created wherein your activity at the bank shows a steady outflowing of cash vs influx. There is also less or no money to use to go forward with the vision of the company.
2. Segments are about behavior- This is also true. When you identify a segment, especially the desired segment, you, as a business owner must go out of your way to learn about the behavior practiced that will bring about your (the company) desired effect...conversion as well as repeat and loyal spending customers.
3. How to maintain price integrity- Now this is a concept I believe I'm struggling with for some reason. In my opinion, maintaining price integrity is a fine line when you have to consider your profit margin. Sure you want your customer to feel they are getting great value for their money but, at the same time, you want them to value your product as a product that is of the finest quality and sometimes you have to pay more to get the best quality. I suspect this may be of interest to "niche" retailers. For example, what about jewelry retailers-specifically, diamond retailers. If I, as the consumer, go to a diamond retailer and find a diamond that is 1/2 or even 1/3 the price that it is listed with another retailer who is considered to be a quality retailer, I, as the consumer will immediately begin to wonder, "what's wrong with this diamond? Is it a real diamond, is it flawed more than the jeweler will admit",and so on and so forth. So, that is why I say maintaining price integrity is a fine line-for the previously stated reason.
Do you all agree with me? I'm curious.
I have a wonderful article I would like to share. I will post it shortly. Thank you for stopping by!
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/smallbusinessbranding/~3/417695775/
Rhonda
Conversions
In both of my MKT courses, we discussed using SEO to generate conversions, I found this cool link, http://smallbusiness.att.yahoo.com/r-article-a-113050-m-3-sc-17-7_deadly_design_sins_that_can_kill_your_conversions-i , that gives a little more detail about conversions and things that will for sure keep you from getting them.
This is certainly something we want to pay attention to if we want to make sure we are making the best use of keywords, SEO and the like. Do you agree?
After talking with Matt in my interactive marketing class last week, I realized what I needed to do in order to remove the ghost link that was showing up on google. He told me it was a '404' which was a page to nowhere. I wasn't sure what to call it but I suppose I learned a new term. The term is used to refer to a page or link that -when clicked- is an empty page. This can discourage visitors that are navigating or trying to navigate to/on your website. This can be a killer if you're trying to convert a 'surfer' or 'information seeker' into a returning or loyal customer.
And isn't that what every web host wants, loyal customers...lots of 'em?
This is certainly something we want to pay attention to if we want to make sure we are making the best use of keywords, SEO and the like. Do you agree?
After talking with Matt in my interactive marketing class last week, I realized what I needed to do in order to remove the ghost link that was showing up on google. He told me it was a '404' which was a page to nowhere. I wasn't sure what to call it but I suppose I learned a new term. The term is used to refer to a page or link that -when clicked- is an empty page. This can discourage visitors that are navigating or trying to navigate to/on your website. This can be a killer if you're trying to convert a 'surfer' or 'information seeker' into a returning or loyal customer.
And isn't that what every web host wants, loyal customers...lots of 'em?
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Google vs Yahoo
Google seems to be all the rage. Everyone loves google, it's all about google. Does this mean I am the last man (person) standing to still be using yahoo as my primary search engine? I mean, what is the real difference between the two? Well, we know that it's a popularity contest right? But aren't they equally popular? I feel as though it depends on your service provider. Since I'm primarily with SBC, I naturally turned to yahoo as my first point of reference when I started all this internet/search engine op/browser/hosting/marketing, etc.
They (yahoo) seem to have information that is just as good as google's. When I enter information in the search engine, whether it is Google or Yahoo, I get the same information so why is one better than the other?
I know, I know, Google is taking over the world, they have even become a verb! How many people do you hear saying, "No worries, I'll just 'google it'." on a regular basis?
Yahoo hasn't become a verb. I don't hear people saying, "No worries, I'll just 'yahoo it'." That doesn't even sound right come to think of it.
So, am I to conclude that because 'google it' sounds better, they are more popular and will hence, be taking over the world in the near future? If that's the case, I guess Yahoo had better get on it and find a way to 'verbalize' their name.
I know I've been going on and on about which search engine is better but I've been wondering about links lately too. Check out this link I found which gives information about SEO, exchange links and getting more traffic to your site.
http://www.outranksmart.com/
They (yahoo) seem to have information that is just as good as google's. When I enter information in the search engine, whether it is Google or Yahoo, I get the same information so why is one better than the other?
I know, I know, Google is taking over the world, they have even become a verb! How many people do you hear saying, "No worries, I'll just 'google it'." on a regular basis?
Yahoo hasn't become a verb. I don't hear people saying, "No worries, I'll just 'yahoo it'." That doesn't even sound right come to think of it.
So, am I to conclude that because 'google it' sounds better, they are more popular and will hence, be taking over the world in the near future? If that's the case, I guess Yahoo had better get on it and find a way to 'verbalize' their name.
I know I've been going on and on about which search engine is better but I've been wondering about links lately too. Check out this link I found which gives information about SEO, exchange links and getting more traffic to your site.
http://www.outranksmart.com/
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