Marketing Tom - Internet Marketing

First Impressions On the Web Do Count

I was in a meeting yesterday with a client and prospective Web developer and we were discussing how the way that people searched for information had changed. The client was convinced that the Internet was the way forward for their high-value purchase, B2B products. They also said something very interesting and relevant, “first impressions count as much today as they have always done”.

We were sat in a room where the key, "traditional" tools for competitor and/or B2B search/research could be found – Yellow Pages and Kelly’s. Even though these are increasingly being seen as tools of the past, along with local libraries, I still speak to clients who view the Internet with reluctance/cynicism and still use these methods (if I don't have my machine in front of me, I use them as a last resort). Common phrases from these clients include: “that’s not the way that people in my industry find out about companies”, “people haven’t got time to use the Internet” or “our clients tend to speak to others in the industry for recommendations”.

All of these are perfectly good arguments but, let’s not beat about the bush, the Internet has changed everything – and especially so if you’re living in the UK, USA and other countries that have fully embraced the technology. When people are looking for company information they tend to use the Internet, when they receive a business card from you they check out your Web address and when someone recommends your business they will check out your company on-line. So many B2B companies develop websites which so badly reflect their product and service offerings and often leave potential clients bewildered, underwhelmed and convinced they will not work with that organization.

The bottom line is this – your clients are going to check you out on the Internet, Google is the favoured tool for doing background and market research  and first impressions do count.

Jeremy Zawodny Puts The Record Straight

A basic rule when writing for the web is: Get Your Facts Right.

Donna Bogatin didn't

And Jeremy Zawodny lambasted her for it (very publicly)!

Do You Write With Passion?

If you're blogging, this caption should be your mantra. All the best blogs are written with a passion for what they write. Be passionate about your subject and let that passion come out on your blog.

Some of the Web's Silliest (Unwritten) Rules

Bryan Eisenberg demonstrates in an article on Clickz - Unwritten Internet Rules - how silly (unwritten) laws are starting to find their ways into the online world. Bryan says that:

Solid rules and best practices are great for managing well-established systems and keep social order. Online, following unwritten rules can be a recipe for rotten conversion.

Here are some of his favourite unwritten Internet rules:

Unwritten Rule 1: When in doubt, create a link that reads "click here."
Unwritten Rule 2: Use lots of "more info" links.
Unwritten Rule 3: Use as many vague hyperlinks as possible, such as "read more," "continue reading," and "next."
Unwritten Rule 4: Write for search engines.
Unwritten Rule 5: Short copy is better online. Or: Long copy is better online.

Why are they such silly rules? Check out Bryan's article to find out.

 

Technorati Tags: permission marketing |web content

How to Turn Vague Attributes into Compelling Copy

Copy is one of the key elements in turning visitors to your site into buyers. It also makes a hell of a lot of sense from a search engine perspective. Jonathan Kranz, in an article in Marketing Profs - Three Ways to Turn Vague Attributes Into Compelling Copy  - talks about how big attributes have little credibility and how they end up diluting your message. He tells people to focus on the following 3 techniques for "transforming vague attributes into compelling copy":

1. Look for the "objective correlative" (Read the article for more on this!)
2. Learn from your customers
"Sometimes they send letters, sometimes you solicit their endorsements. Sometimes you find their comments buried in the back pages of an otherwise tedious and misleading market research report under the rubric "unprompted remarks." Mine this material, because nothing you can say for yourself (or for your client) is as valuable as what real customers have to say about you."
3. Speak from the attribute
"Truly smart people don't go around telling other people they're smart; otherwise, we'd assume they were idiots. Instead, they do and say things that reflect their intelligence—and by doing so, inspire respect."

How to Use Case Studies Properly

Website case studies are such a good way to give visitors, and potential customers, the chance to see how your business solutions have made a difference to your clients.

However, more often than not corporate sites will list down their products, services, data specifications and FAQ's but forget to tell the story from the perspective of their most important asset, the client. A good case study should achieve the following broad  objectives:

1. It should outline what the client company does.
2. It should discuss the role that your product/service played and
3. It should identify the benefits that have arisen from its use.

The case studies section for the project management tool, Basecamp (see image), ticks all the right boxes in this respect. Visitors to the site can see view how a cross-section of their clients have used the product - they invited them to answer a questionnaire about the product. The case studies, which are easy and interesting to read, also throw up some ideas for use of the tool that people may not have thought about, too. Simple, yet so effective.

Does Your Website Lack Personality?

The other day I was reviewing a site that had been developed for one of my clients (previous to engaging me!). This B2B site had a few thousand products, was relatively easy to navigate around and offered clients the ability to pay through a variety of means – their terms and conditions were spot on, too.

However, one glaring omission was the fact that the site didn’t tell the visitors who they were, what their experience was or even how their service was different. This was not a start-up company either. These people had many years of industry experience, knew the industry and their clients intimately, knew their products and their applications inside out and had clients across the length and breadth of the UK, from small sole traders to large multinationals.

With this sort of background you would have thought that they would be SHOUTING it from the rooftops, or at least their Web site!

But not one single page, paragraph or sentence mentioned the company’s pedigree.

This is not an isolated case, either – I have probably dealt with around 3 companies in the last month who have developed sites which lack, what I would call, personality. 

How NOT To Write Online Ads

This article by James Hering put a smile on my face this morning: Why I Love Online Badvertising

Briefly, these are the gems that he cites can be found in bad adverts:

● Develop your message with absolutely no conceptual idea.
● Load the ad with lots of really annoying flashing colors
● Cram as many words as possible into a small space
● Use abbreviations and code words to slam even more words in there
● Let's not bother with a clear call to action.

Writing Good Case Studies

I almost always suggest to businesses, especially business-to-business organisations, that they set aside one area of their site for case studies. Ideally, this would be linked to the products/services section or the client portfolio area. Case studies provide an ideal opportunity to push visitors further down the decision making path and should help to add more credibility to your product offerings. The help people answer the question: 'What can this company do for me?'

Jerry Fireman, of marketing communications company Structured Information, writes an interesting article in Marketingprofs.com on How to Develop Case Histories. This detailed article provides information on sourcing information; how to work with your clients to get the best story; writing the case studies and publishing them. The article may focus on writing case studies for off-line channels, though the points it raises are equally of relevance to the on-line world.

Writing Good Web Copy

Internet Marketing is not JUST about search engine optimisation and submission. So many people focus on how to get to visitors to a Web site without thinking about what you, the site owner, are going to tell them or expect them to do when they there. Writing good copy that forces your visitor to act takes a long time to get right – here are some good tips to get you started from Gwyneth Dyer in an article entitled Writing Web Copy That Works, from MarketingProfs.com. Let me list her top 10:

1. Connect with readers immediately
2. Use the tenets of good persuasive writing
3. Write in the first or second person
4. Find an authentic voice
5. Use an inverted-pyramid style
6. Write in self-contained, clearly labeled blocks
7. Write so readers can scan
8. Apprehend suspicious sentences
9. Be consistent
10. Finished? Read your copy aloud!

Search Engine Marketing - Site Content (Step 3)

This is one area which people pay don’t pay enough attention to on a Web page. The key thing to remember is this: “you must make sure that your site is both search engine and visitor friendly”.