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With all of the noise on the web, it’s hard to get your message noticed.  Let’s face it, in today’s economy, being the “best kept secret” isn’t a great marketing strategy.  Creating “buzz” is difficult, and when a potential customer does give you a few seconds of their time, you need to capitalize on it.

While you certainly need to spend time optimizing landing pages and crafting compelling promotions, you also need to focus on developing your brand image – and using video is a great way to do this. 





I’ve come across a few sites lately that are great examples of using video to showcase their brand or to drive their message.  These websites are hosting their own videos as well as using the power of YouTube to promote their message.  Two great examples are Terracycle and Greenpeace.  Check them out and let me know what you think.

Until next time,

Dan

Competing online certainly isn’t getting any easier, nor is it getting any less expensive.  But there is a cost effective way to showcase your products through Natural Search.  Sometimes referred to as SEO, Search Engine Optimization allows Google, Yahoo and MSN to use crawlers to determine what content is on your site and rank it accordingly.  

There are a number of different SEO strategies, and one of them is using a Tag Cloud.  A Tag Cloud is a type of metadata that “helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching.”   Originally developed and used on Flickr, tag clouds not only allow search engines to rank your web site, but they also allow people to quickly identify similar content as they browse your site.

I’ve found an interesting site that will generate a tag cloud for you automatically.  You should check it out.  Tag Cloud Generator will take you through four easy steps.  You can manually create your tags or allow Tag Cloud Generator to do it for you.  Once it is done, you can copy the HTML code directly into your site.

Until next time,

Dan

Being able to establish your place in the market is imperative for survival – but being able to define a brand that resonates with your customers is imperative for success.
 
“Corporate branding is a serious undertaking which entails more skills and activities than just an updated glossy marketing facade with empty jargon” explains Martin Roll from Venture Republic.  Brands must be able to create a “dialogue with an authentic voice.”
 
This ‘authentic voice’ is transmitted through your website.  Not only are you having daily conversations with your customers, but they, in turn, are having conversations about you.  Therefore, your brand messaging must be clear, consistent and relevant.  




 
Keeping a consistent message over time has proven to be difficult for many companies.  The Blake Project, a strategy consulting group, describes successful companies as those businesses that have a “rigorous attention to the brand’s position.”  Over time, however, that attention can wane and companies can stray from having a single, focused brand position.  “The next thing you know, you’re about to come down with a bad case of brand schizophrenia.” 
 
Once your brand lacks focus, you lose your ‘authentic voice’ and then, you lose your customer’s loyalty.
 
Until next time,
 
Dan 
 
( Originally posted on www.Spellman.Typepad.com )
 
    

Because of the nature of my work, I run across a large number of websites that I want to keep track of for future reference.  In fact, I have well over 100 site addresses tucked away in various folders in my “Favorites” file.  Within this collection of sites, there are a few that I reference on a regular basis.  But even with this smaller list, I still have a hard time keeping up with all the content posted each week.

By setting up an RSS feed for this smaller collection of sites, I can quickly scan the contents to see which blog posts I need to read.  RSS stands for “Really Simple Syndication” and is a method for collecting and organizing web content from blogs, newspapers and websites.

In this edition of My Two Cents – 60 Second Web Update, I give a brief overview of RSS.  While you may or may not be familiar with these feeds, they are offered on a number of web sites that you visit regularly.  In fact, look to the right of this post and just below the daily cartoon you will see a square orange icon.  This is the RSS symbol.

Using an RSS feed to syndicate information is not just for blogs and podcasts – it is quickly becoming a standard ecommerce marketing tool.  “If you are interested in great electronics deals”, explains the Wal*Mart website, “you could subscribe to our Rollbacks feed for electronics.  Then whenever we roll back the price of an item, it is automatically added to the feed and it will show up when you view the feed, or it can show up as a short headline in your RSS reader that will link to the appropriate Walmart.com page.”

Take a look around your favorite sites and check for the RSS icon.  You’ll be surprised how often you’ll see it.  Best of all – it’s FREE. 

Until next time,

Dan

( Originally posted on www.Spellman.Typepad.com )
 

There are a number of web metrics you need to track in order to run a profitable web site - one of these is your Bounce Rate.  Avinash Kaushik has written about this metric a number of times and explains that “it is easy to understand, hard to mis-understand and can be applied to any of your efforts.”
 
In this post I’m launching my first edition of my "60 Second Update" video blog.  Here I’ll give a quick look at understanding your bounce rate and how to calculate it.

 

 

While you will definitely want to focus on your highest trafficked landing pages, Kaushik suggests also measuring this metric as it relates to your Referring URLs and Paid Search Terms.  By doing so, you will be able to identify “where you are wasting money and what content on your site needs revisiting.”
 
Until next time,
 
Dan
 
( Originally posted on www.Spellman.Typepad.com )