An issue that repeatedly comes up for businesses is monitoring their online reputation. With all the new mediums these days, it’s hard to keep up with who is saying what about you and your business. If you have any customers, it’s safe to assume someone has said something about your business online. The easiest way to monitor this is by utilizing Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts). Simply enter your keywords, frequency and your email address. I recommend setting ‘Type’ to comprehensive so you get full coverage across the web.
Use this tool to see where your site is being mentioned and in what context. If it’s good, then you should be happy and you may want to consider some marketing opportunities with that site. If it’s not all good, then you use it as an opportunity to correct the issue and make the customer happy.
I'm not going to name the business that recently benefited from using this Google service because they're trying to dig out of a whole caused by one of their customer service reps and its a public company. I was having lunch with the marketing manager and the topic of online reputation management came up. He wanted to know what he could to monitor the business and I suggested Google Alerts. Two days later, I get an email thanking me for this little but significant suggestion because he found a couple things. First, he got an alert for a total of 53 postings about a particular customer service representative who was very harsh with customers and basically didn't provide a level of service consistent with company policy. Several customers stated the rep used foul language with them, called them 'stupid' and hung up on several callers. The rep was immediately terminated. The other incident involved some issues of insider information being leaked to the public which is huge for a public company. After two weeks, the perpetrator was discovered and disciplined. This saved the company hundreds of thousands in fines from the SEC.
In short, if you're concerned about your business reputation on the web then you need to sign up now!
Contact MJM Ecommerce for ecommerce and online marketing solutions
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
Numbers to Chew On
For those online marketers or business managers who engage in PPC and SEO take a look at these numbers from Nielson ReelResearch:
- When a brand name appeared in both natural search and paid search results, the brand attracted 92% of the total clicks
- Natural placement without paid search attracted only 60% of clicks
I’m going to write about advertising’s impact on search queries and how you can monetize other people’s efforts…so come back soon.
- When a brand name appeared in both natural search and paid search results, the brand attracted 92% of the total clicks
- Natural placement without paid search attracted only 60% of clicks
I’m going to write about advertising’s impact on search queries and how you can monetize other people’s efforts…so come back soon.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Promotions Test
I recently ran a split test on an email list featuring two unique promotions. The first was free ground shipping on orders of $85 or more and the other was 15% off $85 or more. I chose $85 because I wanted to raise the bar by 10% over the current site AOV.
Each promotion was mailed to over 70,000 subscribers (total list is over 140K) and I waited to see which performed better. It was amazing to see how many orders were submitted for the free shipping promotion. In fact, the 15% discount email only generated 13 orders compared to the 89 orders for Free Shipping. I realize the studies show that more people are willing to pay full price and receive a shipping discount, but, I wanted to see if it held true for this subscriber base. The shipping cost on an $85 order is $7.50 and its clear that the better savings belonged to the 15% discount. According to this test, more people were willing to pay full price on products and receive free shipping because shipping costs are seen as an inconvenience. Be careful when you do a shipping promotion. You should clearly define the restrictions of free shipping because you don't want to send an order to Mexico (for example) for free.
Test promotions on your subscriber base and see what works for you. Always be willing to test because its the only way you'll learn what works and what doesn't work.
Each promotion was mailed to over 70,000 subscribers (total list is over 140K) and I waited to see which performed better. It was amazing to see how many orders were submitted for the free shipping promotion. In fact, the 15% discount email only generated 13 orders compared to the 89 orders for Free Shipping. I realize the studies show that more people are willing to pay full price and receive a shipping discount, but, I wanted to see if it held true for this subscriber base. The shipping cost on an $85 order is $7.50 and its clear that the better savings belonged to the 15% discount. According to this test, more people were willing to pay full price on products and receive free shipping because shipping costs are seen as an inconvenience. Be careful when you do a shipping promotion. You should clearly define the restrictions of free shipping because you don't want to send an order to Mexico (for example) for free.
Test promotions on your subscriber base and see what works for you. Always be willing to test because its the only way you'll learn what works and what doesn't work.
SEO Software
Recently I was doing a google search for 'seo software' to keep abreast of any recent developments that may have occurred. I cam across SheerSEO which was the fifth listing on the first page of results. I hadn't seen them before, but, I was compelled to visit their site because the description line hit two things I was looking for: Google position and backlinks.
It turns out to be a great piece of SEO software that all internet marketers should add to their SEO toolbelt. I'm not ready to replace the other program we currently use (Web Position) because it doesn't have all the capabilities I want. However, its a web based application that provides me with data I can use when I'm out of the office and without my own computer. It can also be especially useful for small businesses that don't have large budgets or extensive SEO knowledge, but, need insight into their site's search engine performance.
Visit the site at www.sheerseo.com.
It turns out to be a great piece of SEO software that all internet marketers should add to their SEO toolbelt. I'm not ready to replace the other program we currently use (Web Position) because it doesn't have all the capabilities I want. However, its a web based application that provides me with data I can use when I'm out of the office and without my own computer. It can also be especially useful for small businesses that don't have large budgets or extensive SEO knowledge, but, need insight into their site's search engine performance.
Visit the site at www.sheerseo.com.
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Crazy Egg – Visitor Visualization Analytics
I read about this in a blog a couple weeks ago and that evening installed it on MJM Ecommece’s site. It’s a rather nice looking tool and simply takes what you get in Google Analytics (site overlay report) and makes it a little prettier. I’m using the free version of the tool at the moment to better understand the value of this tool. The subscription plans, otherwise, are very inexpensive.
It’ll be an excellent tool to visualize effectiveness of a new design or navigation scheme. We have an A/B test in the works and we’ll be sure to use Crazy Egg to supplement our reporting on the effectiveness of the test pages.
Try it on your site and let us know what you think. Visit www.crazyegg.com.
It’ll be an excellent tool to visualize effectiveness of a new design or navigation scheme. We have an A/B test in the works and we’ll be sure to use Crazy Egg to supplement our reporting on the effectiveness of the test pages.
Try it on your site and let us know what you think. Visit www.crazyegg.com.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Google Matching Strategy: Broad, Phrase or Exact?
Google AdWords allows users to enter identical search terms with different matching options. For instance, you can purchase the broad match term Buy Books. Any search query that contains "Buy" and "Books" regardless of order or other terms used may display a paid search listing because of the broad match term Buy Books used.
However, most paid search should not stop here. Broad match terms are often more expensive because you are competing with more matching and, hence, more competitors. A good option is to also include phrase match and exact match for the same terms. In this way, users can often pay lower cost-per-clicks when search engine users type in exact phrases.
In this case, you would enter and bid on the following keywords:
Buy Books -- Broad Match: Any search query that contains Buy and Books in any order and with any additional terms may serve your ad.
"Buy Books" -- Phrase Match: Any terms outside of the term Buy Books will result in this being served as long as "Buy Books" is in this exact order.
[Buy Books] -- Exact Match: only this exact term will generated a served results. Any additional terms, e.g. I Buy Books, will cause this to not be a match.
Remember, you can also set negative keywords. Negative keywords are terms you set in Google and will cause your ads to not display if certain terms are included with the search query.
Using matching options and negative keywords allows users to target different search niches and also gives better bidding options. Often times broad-match terms may need to be removed yet phrase and exact match options will yield positive results.
For help with your paid search campaigns, visit MJM Ecommerce.
However, most paid search should not stop here. Broad match terms are often more expensive because you are competing with more matching and, hence, more competitors. A good option is to also include phrase match and exact match for the same terms. In this way, users can often pay lower cost-per-clicks when search engine users type in exact phrases.
In this case, you would enter and bid on the following keywords:
Buy Books -- Broad Match: Any search query that contains Buy and Books in any order and with any additional terms may serve your ad.
"Buy Books" -- Phrase Match: Any terms outside of the term Buy Books will result in this being served as long as "Buy Books" is in this exact order.
[Buy Books] -- Exact Match: only this exact term will generated a served results. Any additional terms, e.g. I Buy Books, will cause this to not be a match.
Remember, you can also set negative keywords. Negative keywords are terms you set in Google and will cause your ads to not display if certain terms are included with the search query.
Using matching options and negative keywords allows users to target different search niches and also gives better bidding options. Often times broad-match terms may need to be removed yet phrase and exact match options will yield positive results.
For help with your paid search campaigns, visit MJM Ecommerce.
Thursday, January 24, 2008
Keyword Strategy
I was going through a potential client’s existing keyword list for their paid search campaign and found an incredible hodge podge of terms that indicated a lack of clear objectives and strategy.
Whether you’re starting a new campaign or reorganizing a current one, you should ask yourself several questions, but, there is one I want to focus on:
1. What terms have people used to find my site?
Simple question right? You’ll be amazed at how many people don’t know this or simply rattle off terms in their PPC campaign. Use your analytics package to scour for terms that have been proven traffic generators. Look for patterns. Are people doing general searches and finding your site (i.e. t-shirt)? Are visitors finding your site by using your company name (i.e. company x)? Is it a combination of both (i.e. company x t-shirts)? Are they showing a propensity to buy through their queries (i.e. discount t-shirts)? Create a simple spread sheet that breaks out the terms under the following headers:
- generic
- generic plus brand
- buy trigger terms
- generic plus brand plus buy trigger
Do searches on these terms and do a competitive analysis. Where do you rank organically? Are there a lot of ads for that term? If you don’t rank well organically, buy the term. If there aren’t any other ads, buy the term. If you rank well, don’t see other ads…buy the term. You get the drift…buy the term and test it.
Use suggestions from Google/Yahoo/MSN and use tools like Word Tracker and Good Keywords to build out a more robust list. The point is to capture browsers at all phases of their buying cycle. The first phase is general research where the customer searches for a broad term like ‘t-shirt.’ After doing some research, the customer finds your company and does another search for ‘company x t-shirts’ to get more information on your company. The visitor likes what they see about your company and starts moving towards buying your product, but, now the focus shifts to finding the best price. Now the query is ‘discount t-shirt.’ The visitor finds your ad yet again and decides that you’re a prominent player in this category and wants to find the best price for your product. The query is now ‘discount company x t-shirt.’ Your ad appears again and you’ve closed the loop.
The cost to get that sale is going to depend on the competitive landscape for the term, but, you landed the sale and now you can work on building a profitable relationship. You should also buy placements for your specific product SKUs. You’ll find that people will do a search for your product SKU in the hopes of finding it elsewhere. If you’re selling a homogenous product (i.e. stereo) visit sites like Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City or other dominant players in your industry and buy ads for their model numbers.
Here’s an example: I went to Amazon and did a search for ‘Sony TV.’ I picked up the ASIN # B000HGQJZW and did a search on it. You’ll see Amazon listed organically because its specific to Amazon. Better yet, there are no ads! Great opportunity to buy a cheap term and pick off customers from Amazon. I’ve had great success using this little strategy in the past.
Try this out and let me know if you need any help.
Whether you’re starting a new campaign or reorganizing a current one, you should ask yourself several questions, but, there is one I want to focus on:
1. What terms have people used to find my site?
Simple question right? You’ll be amazed at how many people don’t know this or simply rattle off terms in their PPC campaign. Use your analytics package to scour for terms that have been proven traffic generators. Look for patterns. Are people doing general searches and finding your site (i.e. t-shirt)? Are visitors finding your site by using your company name (i.e. company x)? Is it a combination of both (i.e. company x t-shirts)? Are they showing a propensity to buy through their queries (i.e. discount t-shirts)? Create a simple spread sheet that breaks out the terms under the following headers:
- generic
- generic plus brand
- buy trigger terms
- generic plus brand plus buy trigger
Do searches on these terms and do a competitive analysis. Where do you rank organically? Are there a lot of ads for that term? If you don’t rank well organically, buy the term. If there aren’t any other ads, buy the term. If you rank well, don’t see other ads…buy the term. You get the drift…buy the term and test it.
Use suggestions from Google/Yahoo/MSN and use tools like Word Tracker and Good Keywords to build out a more robust list. The point is to capture browsers at all phases of their buying cycle. The first phase is general research where the customer searches for a broad term like ‘t-shirt.’ After doing some research, the customer finds your company and does another search for ‘company x t-shirts’ to get more information on your company. The visitor likes what they see about your company and starts moving towards buying your product, but, now the focus shifts to finding the best price. Now the query is ‘discount t-shirt.’ The visitor finds your ad yet again and decides that you’re a prominent player in this category and wants to find the best price for your product. The query is now ‘discount company x t-shirt.’ Your ad appears again and you’ve closed the loop.
The cost to get that sale is going to depend on the competitive landscape for the term, but, you landed the sale and now you can work on building a profitable relationship. You should also buy placements for your specific product SKUs. You’ll find that people will do a search for your product SKU in the hopes of finding it elsewhere. If you’re selling a homogenous product (i.e. stereo) visit sites like Amazon, Best Buy, Circuit City or other dominant players in your industry and buy ads for their model numbers.
Here’s an example: I went to Amazon and did a search for ‘Sony TV.’ I picked up the ASIN # B000HGQJZW and did a search on it. You’ll see Amazon listed organically because its specific to Amazon. Better yet, there are no ads! Great opportunity to buy a cheap term and pick off customers from Amazon. I’ve had great success using this little strategy in the past.
Try this out and let me know if you need any help.
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