Goongee Search Marketing Blog
Marketing
Land’s End Advertising Dollars Going To The Recycling Center
Nov 19th
Ho-Ho-Ho! It’s getting to be Christmas time and the high season for catalog shopping is on.
No one seems to know this better than Land’s End. For the second year in a row my mailbox has been stuffed with barrages of Land’s End catalogs featuring Men’s wear, Women’s wear and kidswear. By prank or by computer mishap, the catalogs don’t stop coming in names of people that I’ve never heard of, and apparently the only way to discontinue the mailings is with a C code that’s on the back of every catalog.
Last year around this time I spent approximately a half an hour on the phone with a customer service representative reading off numerous C codes in order to remove them from their mailing list. There must have been more names because this year the catalogs are back.
I called the 800 number again this morning to have two more names removed and requested that no more catalogs be sent to my home. The customer service rep told me that there was no way to remove the mailings
by address and suggested that I call them back when I get more catalogs to have them removed. Not exactly the most user friendly way of doing business.
Knowing a little about databases, it seems hard to believe that a techie whiz at Land’s End isn’t able to delete entries by an address field.
In today’s cash strapped world, I wonder why any company – big or small – wants to waste money on advertising that won’t ever earn a return?
Sadly, the only destination for Land’s End advertising dollars is going to be the local recycling center, where it will at least do a bit of good..
Targeted Website Traffic – Why It Matters
Apr 21st
Targeted website traffic is the goal of all successful online publishers and retailers. Targeted website traffic helps to improve sales conversions and produce a better return on investment from advertising and promotional expenses.
The more targeted your website traffic is, the more likely you are to sell your product or service to your visitor and increase your website profitability. So you ask, where exactly does this ‘targeted traffic’ come from?
There are many ways to build targeted website traffic. An advertising campaign is one way to build targeted traffic through Pay Per Click advertising and directory submissions. Both of these methods allow advertisers to purchase affordable advertising on keywords that they are targeting and when an interested party searches for those keywords they find you.
Companies or individuals that don’t have the time or the knowledge to incorporate these techniques oftentimes use professional Search Engine Optimization firms to oversee their advertising campaigns on a contractual basis. Although SEO services might cost a bit more than doing it yourself, these managed campaigns are handled by firms that specialize in driving targeted traffic to your website at a fixed cost, so your advertising dollars are ‘set’ and aren’t likely to skyrocket if you forget to log into your advertising account.
Ideally, all of your advertising dollars should produce enough revenue to cover the expense of the ads and produce a profit. Targeted website traffic will help to achieve the goal of profitability.
Best Affiliate Programs – What To Consider
Apr 17th
A successful affiliate program is part of building a powerful business online. There are numerous affiliate programs available to web publishers these days, so it’s important to consider what type of affiliate program would be best suited to your web visitors. Here are some suggestions for choosing the best affiliate programs available to you.
1. Know your visitors. The more you know about the people that visit your website, the better. Demographics are everything! For instance, if a large proportion of your website visitors are females aged 12-17, chances are that an affiliate program that sells films that star Bruce Lee is likely to be less successful than an affiliate program that sells books by Stephenie Mayer.
2. Know what action your visitor is expected to take. Not all affiliate programs are the same – some affiliate programs pay based on generating a sale, while others might pay for generating a lead or a ‘click.’ Have an understanding of what your visitor is expected to do in order to generate revenue so you aren’t surprised when payout time rolls around.
3. Research the affiliate program. Before plastering advertisements and banners all over your website be sure that the affiliate you’re considering is reliable. Longstanding programs like Google Adsense and Amazon are pretty safe bets for non-obtrusive ads. These programs allow you to control the look and feel and don’t require a maintenance to keep them up to date. In the case of Amazon, some offerings expire and old ad code must be removed. Both of these programs have a minimum payout that must be met before you’re eligible for payment.
In the case of ‘second-tier’ advertisers, it’s wise to do a quick Internet search and find recent feedback from other publishers regarding timely payments, overall performance and satisfaction. Are other publishers reporting problems with functionality, performance or payouts? If you find an excessive amount of negative comments on a program, you might want to think twice before running their ad code.
I hope that these tips for finding the best affiliate programs are helpful as you build your successful website!
Use Customer Service To Increase Sales
Jan 8th
Customer service is an important part of operating any business, online or offline.
How you treat your customer could be the difference in whether or not a consumer decides to patronize your business again in the future. It’s a well known fact that repeat customers are the bread and butter of a lot of businesses.
A good offline example of this would be a mom and pop diner. You know the type of place I’m talking about – you walk in and the waitress knows your name and automatically knows that you take your coffee with cream and sugar. You know that when you eat there you can expect a decent meal at a fair price and the proprietors are happy that you stopped by. The level of product and service is enough to make you want to eat there again and again.
Customer relationships in online business are a little different, but still follow the same basic principles.
Trusted customer relationships are probably even more important when conducting business online because you don’t really get a chance to meet your customer face to face and introduce yourself. The only interaction you’re likely to have with your buyer is by way of a telephone call, an Email and/or delivering your product or service, as described, in a timely and accurate fashion. These things will be determining factors in whether or not a customer will buy from you again.
If you offer prompt and courteous customer care and accurate order processing in a world where this has fallen to the wayside, the chances to sell more products are much greater. If a consumer knows that they can depend on you to deliver the products and services they need, you’re likely to be the first retailer they turn to one when they need to purchase again.
Along with excellent customer care, you might also offer additional incentives or bonuses to repeat customers.
Offline, many retailers offer loyalty cards that offer the end consumer discounts or other incentives to spend at their stores. Online, you might consider offering expedited shipping at no extra charge or a “buy one – get one” deal. In difficult economic times, these small tokens are worth a lot. Your customer might sing praises of your exemplary customer care and tell five or ten friends, family members or business associates, making even more sales opportunities for you.
The opportunity cost of treating a customer with disrespect or falling short on delivering what you advertise is never worth it and making a customer happy is worth money in the bank.
10 Things To Consider Before Getting Started Multilevel Marketing
Jan 4th
Before you decide to sign on with a multi level marketing company, here are 10 questions you should ask before making a commitment to selling their products and services.
1. Does the company have more than 7 years in the business?
If you want your marketing efforts to succeed in the present and future, choose a proven long running company. Keep in mind that 90% of multilevel companies fail in the first two years. No one wants to invest precious time and resources, not to mention their future, into a venture that might not be in business tomorrow, next week or next year.
2. Is the multilevel marketing company well capitalized?
Does the company you’re considering have the money and capitalization it takes to grow, to maintain a solid infrastructure and to attract talented leaders? Are they up to date on technology? Most importantly, do they pay their affiliate commissions accurately and in a timely fashion?
Amazon Posts Best Holiday Season Ever
Dec 29th
Despite weak consumer sentiment, Amazon.com, one of the largest merchants on the internet, is a beacon in the retailer storm.
While many other offline retailers rushed to sell inventory, sometimes at drastically reduced prices, Amazon posted record sales for the holiday season. The internet retailer reported a preliminary sales figure of 6.3 items shipped worldwide as of December 15, 2008.
In a statement released by Amazon, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com said, “We are extremely grateful to our customers. We wish everyone happy holidays and the very best for the coming year.”
Amazon operates both domestically in North America (Canada and the US) and internationally with Amazon.co.uk, serving the UK; Amazon.de, serving Denmark; Amazon.co.jp, serving Japan; and Amazon.fr, serving France. The company also operates a large scale affiliate program that allows web publishers to earn a commission on sales generated from visitors to their website.
Scandals on Wall Street, unemployment, credit freezes and home foreclosures are all being blamed as factors for decreased holiday spending in the United States, but Amazon bucked this trend.
Amazon reports their official fourth quarter earnings in January.
Better And Faster Article Writing
Dec 23rd
Want to write articles faster while maintaining high quality?
Of course you do! Who’d choose to write slowly if they could choose to write quickly and well?
You’re about to read some important writing tips. These tips will help you produce better articles faster, meaning you’ll be able to free up time to do other things.
GoDaddy.com Superbowl Commercial
Feb 4th
I’ve never quite been able to figure out exactly how GoDaddy.com ties into the Superbowl, but somehow this domain registration company is able to pull off a spot.
Here’s this year’s GoDaddy Superbowl commercial:
Enjoy!
AOL Is Still Losing
Aug 1st
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that internet access is no longer the trusted dial in connection that once reigned supreme.
This method of connecting to the internet has been losing it’s popularity as high speed methods like cable, DSL and even fiber optics have replaced it and what was the once largest ISP, AOL tried to deal with lost subscribers by cranking up their advertiser revenues.
AOL reinstated their free Email program in an effort to lure people back to using their services, but even that wasn’t enough to stop the declining membership rolls. They reported 10.9 million paying dial-up customers as of June 30, 2007, down from a high of 26.7 million paying subscribers in September 2002.
AOL currently accounts for 11% of their parent company, Time Warner’s revenues.
What are your thoughts on AOL? Were all of those free installation CD’s worth it?
eHarmony To Implement Voice Over IP For Love Connections
Jul 16th
It’s funny how online dating is coming back full circle. Online matchmaking company eHarmony recently announced that they were implementing VoIP (Voice Over IP) to help people make love connections.
The new service will protect users by not disclosing any personal information such as their home or business address or personal phone numbers of the subscriber.
“Online services have brought a new way for people to meet, but the structure of how two people come together hasn’t changed since the beginning of time,” says Greg Waldorf, CEO of eHarmony. “People want to take gradual steps toward an ultimate relationship. The connection starts online, and it leads to a phone call.”
The new service is expected to cost around $6.00 monthly for unlimited phone calls.
What do you think of this move by eHarmony? Do you think it will be a winner for daters online?