Visibility Magazine Spring 2012 by Visibility Magazine

THE MAGAZINE FOR ONLINE MARKETING STRATEGIES

Visibility www.visibilitymagazine.com

Spring 2012 | $9.95

Improving Social Visibility By Horst Joepen

Is Affiliate Management in Your Agency Toolbelt? By Peter Hamilton

How to Adjust Your Digital Marketing Playbook in 2012 By Christy Belden

Universal Affiliate Marketing By Geno Prussakov

departments

06 Editorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Note

Read all about the latest happenings with this growing magazine.

08 FEATURED CEO

As an entrepreneur who noticed that the mid-south had a great need for a true internet marketing firm, Adam Heitzman co-founded HigherVisibility. Find out more about his successful journey in our CEO Spotlight.

11 Quarterly Round-Up

Snapshots of all that is happening in the world of internet marketing. Get the scoop on all the news and views in the world of internet marketing. Latest news related to products, tools and strategies being unveiled.

20 Legal Corner

Travis Crabtree looks into the different legal issues with the ever-changing world of online marketing.

28 Visi Book Club

Featuring upcoming and newly released books from the internet marketing industry.

33 Product Review: SourceTrakTM

Ifbyphone is changing the concept of call tracking with SourceTrakTM and improving ROI by optimizing marketing campaigns.

43 Vendor Spotlight: Adlift

Acquisio has a mult-purpose platform that can take care of all your online advertising. Learn more in our Vendor Spotlight.

60 Upcoming Conferences

A guide to upcoming internet marketing related conferences around the globe. At these conferences, you can listen to the insightful experiences of the leading names from the internet marketing industry.

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features

12 Things You Should Never Market Through Search Engine Marketing

If you thought search engine marketing was the answer for all businesses then think again. David Rodnitzky tells you how you can steer clear of search engine marketing potholes.

18 Is Affiliate Management in Your Agency Toolbelt?

Peter Hamilton finds out that there is a way to make the world of affiliate marketing less scary.

25 Taking Search Marketing to the Next Level through Post-Search速 Retargeting

Michael Benedek looks at Post-Search速 and how the software can help with retargeting.

26 How to Adjust Your Digital Marketing Playbook in 2012

Wondering what the digital world has in store for you this New Year? Take some time to read what Christy Belden has to say about the future of digital marketing in 2012.

40 Improving Social Visibility

Social media is not as simple as it may seem. Horst Jospen delves into the depths of using social media for business.

48 Universal Affiliate Marketing

Affiliate marketing is universally applicable, and any online business can be enhanced by running an affiliate program.

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SPRING 2012 www.visibilitymagazine.com

48 Spring 2012

Visibility

editor â&#x20AC;&#x2122; s note

Visibility EDITOR Julie Lynn EXECUTIVE EDITOR Jeev Trika SENIOR PROJECT EDITOR Neeraj Kumar ASSISTANT EDITOR Bonnie Hagen STAFF WRITER Ajay Govind SENIOR DESIGNER Armando Rangel

Welcome Readers!

Horst Joepen | Searchmetrics

It is a brand new year and 2012 has gotten off to a running start in the world of internet marketing. As Visibility Magazine enters its 6th year, we are encouraged with the interest that Visibility has gained world-wide and the wonderful contributors and advertisers that have joined us. The world of internet marketing is ever changing. With each issue of Visibility we try to bring to you the latest and most exciting aspects of this dynamic realm. This year we expect to be hearing a lot about the ever increasing role of mobile phones in internet marketing. With the ability of smart phones to perform marketing feats increasing, it is only obvious that more and more online marketers would choose to adopt this way of reaching their customers. This issue of Visibility will be looking at the latest trends in internet marketing and we are challenging long established norms. Are SEO and affiliate marketing as simple as we think they are? Read more about these topics as we further decipher them in Things You Should Never Market Through Search Engine Marketing by David Rodnitzky, Universal Affiliate Marketing by Geno Prussakov and Is Affiliate Management in Your Agency Toolbelt? by Peter Hamilton. Other great finds include our CEO Spotlight about Adam Heitzman, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, at HigherVisibility and our Vendor Spotlight featuring Acquisio. We hope that you will find this edition of Visibility as engaging and informative as always. We would love to hear suggestions and feedback and contributions are always welcome. Enjoy!

Visibility

Sherry Ng | Lucid Fusio Geno Prussakov | AM Navigator Wil Reynolds | SEER Interactive David Rodnitzky | PPC Associates Alex Schmelkin | Alexander Interactive Brie Stewart | Web Profits Visit us at WWW.VISIBILITYMAGAZINE.COM Mailing Address: P.O Box 1073, Plymouth, IN 46563 Editorial Department Phone: 800-380-4165 Editorial Department Fax: 888-559-8909 Letters to the Editor: editor@visibilitymagazine.com

Julie Lynn, Editor

Rob Laporte | DISC

Spring 2012

Visibility Magazine, LLC SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR INDIRECT DAMAGES RESULTING FROM YOUR ACCESS TO, OR USE OF, OR INABILITY TO USE THE MAGAZINE AND THE MAGAZINE CONTENT, WHETHER BASED ON WARRANTY, CONTRACT, TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE) OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY. Visibility Magazine, LLC WILL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY MISPRINTS.

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24–26 May 2012 • Earls Court • London

Setting the digital agenda since 1992 Europe’s leading show for bringing digital and business together

Image: A visual map of the internet. © The Opte Project.

1992–2012

six wOrlds one evenT digital marketing world

eCommerce world

social media world

content management world

cloud & hosting world

FRee enTRY Visit www.internetworld.co.uk and enter this code for FRee entry: Vi01

mobile world Organised by

featured ceo

Adam Heitzman,

HigherVisibility

TN community to a full service nationwide internet marketing agency. HigherVisibility offers a wide range of online marketing services ranging from Search Engine Optimization, Pay per Click Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Website Design, Affiliate Marketing Management, and much more.

What makes HigherVisibility different from other companies competing in your industry?

We take a practical approach to internet marketing. There are firms especially on the SEO side of the business that will do a little bit of on-page optimization and be done, or they will just build a bunch of links and hope for the best. We focus on the fundamentals that have been tested to produce results through hard work and proven methodologies. We won’t do anything for our clients that we wouldn’t do for our own company.

Tell us more about your firm’s success story

dam Heitzman is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at HigherVisibility, an internet marketing agency located in Memphis, TN. Heitzman founded HigherVisibility in 2008 after he came to the conclusion that the Mid-South was lacking true internet marketing firms. After achieving success locally, HigherVisibility quickly expanded to service clients across the country. Prior to starting HigherVisibility, Heitzman worked for several internet companies as a Chief Marketing Officer and Marketing Manager where he learned the many facets of the internet

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marketing world and the strategies it takes to succeed. Over the years he has consulted and worked with Fortune 500 companies to small businesses on how best to utilize the internet to achieve quantifiable results. Heitzman is a graduate of Christian Brothers University, where he earned his B.A in business management with a minor in psychology, and currently resides in Memphis, Tennessee.

What are your main services?

In just 3 years, HigherVisibility has grown from a small SEO company serving the local Memphis,

We started this firm after we took a good look at the market in Memphis, TN and realized the lack of true internet marketing companies. There were some web design firms and traditional marketing agencies that dabbled in this space, but none that were dedicated solely to online and that did it well. My partners and I had spent our whole careers in the internet marketing space at various companies, so we decided to go out on our own and fill that void in Memphis. After achieving success locally, we used our formula to branch out nationally and now our national client base is much larger than our local Memphis presence.

According to you, what are the most important questions a potential customer should ask a company before choosing a vendor like you? • Can you show me some examples of your success stories? • What is your client load? • What is your experience and qualifications? • How is success measured?

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What are some of the myths in your field? If you were to go ask several people who have at least some SEO knowledge, what they think are the key strategies, you are likely to get a variety of answers. SEO as a whole is one of the most debated technology topics on the Internet. It takes someone who is constantly on top of the ever-changing landscape to research, test, and understand the best practices to know what it will take to achieve high rankings. Here are a few of the myths we hear most often: Meta tag keywords help in Search engine rankings – It has been confirmed by Google themselves that they no longer use this as a ranking factor. I need lots of links - While having links does help it is more about the quality and relevance of links than shear volume. It’s all about PageRank - Anyone who performs SEO wishes this were the case because if it were it would make our lives much easier. You can look at practically any niche in Google and perform a search and see low PageRank URL’s outrank high ones all the time.

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Once my site is optimized and I’m ranking, I am done - Not hardly. SEO is an ongoing process. Competitors are constantly battling for search engine rankings. If you don’t make it part of your ongoing marketing strategy, someone else will.

How do you develop your skills in this continuously changing environment?

Our skills are continuously being developed and tested through actual experiences while optimizing our and our clients’ websites. In addition, we stay on top of the latest news and trends by following our industry contacts, blogs, and forums and also by attending annual trade shows. What do you see as the future of the industry? What will be the challenges? Do you anticipate any drastic changes? Social media will be playing a greater role, but search will remain king. From an industry perspective it would be too hard to replace the targeting and user intent that search provides. From a consumer perspective using search engines to find products or information is much easier. Social media will probably make its

greatest impact not on directing consumers to products, but influencing the results that search engines deliver. The more a product, service, or even company is mentioned through social channels, the greater the impact will be made on the search results. The search engines have been playing close attention to social media and have been integrating “social signals” into their algorithms for a while now. I think that will continue to be a big factor moving forward.

Where do you see your firm in the next 5 years? What about you personally? We plan on being a larger version of who we are today as long as it doesn’t interfere with the quality of the service we provide. We feel we have the right formula to grow and we plan on continuing that growth while delivering the same quality service that we provide today. If things don’t feel right, we won’t do it. We don’t want to lose who we are. For me personally, I hope I will be doing the exact same thing as I am today; I love what I do and the team I work with, so I can’t see it any other way. n

Spring 2012

Visibility

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quarterly round up Amazon to Tweek the Kindle Fire Word has it that the Kindle Fire seems to be the biggest competitor for Apple’s iPad. Fired by the success, Amazon representatives have shared that they will soon be working to improve the existing tab to take care of some complaints that had come their way from early users.

Google Does Its Bit for the Community We all know Google for the good work that the technology giant has done for all of the internet users; however, the latest news making the rounds is about the company’s contribution to society. Google has pledged $11.5 million towards fighting modern day slavery. Google’s contribution to ending slavery is the largest donation made to this cause all around the world. Research shows that more than 27 million people are captured and forced to work against their will. A Google representative has shared that they will be working with organizations that have proven their credibility in this field.

charitable giving and advocacy for Google. “The good news is that there are solutions.” Google initiatives will be spread across the globe. Google will also be working towards making ordinary Americans understand how their everyday purchases might be a result of slavery.

Amazon has shared that upgrading the operating system of the Kindle Fire can greatly improve its speed and overall functions. The company is hoping to better the tablet’s touch screen functionality and the way users can browse.

“Whether it’s by calling the national human trafficking hotline, sending a letter to their senator, or using online advocacy tools, millions of Americans will be able to use their voices to ensure that ending this problem becomes a top priority,” said Bradley Myles, executive director of Polaris Project.

iPad has been the leader in the tablet world since its launch; however, there are many who would say that Kindle is a simple and smaller device that comes at a much lower price tag than the iPad.

“Many people are surprised to learn there are more people trapped in slavery today than any time in history,” said Jacquelline Fuller, director of

However the complaints that have made about the Kindle have worried the makers enough to revamp the tablet. Now it is just waiting to see if the new Kindle Fire will be able to overtake the Apple iPad’s popularity.

Microsoft SkyDrive App for iPhone There is no doubt that Microsoft has made much efforts to bring its Windows phone platform to the forefront but there is no denying that the iPhone still remains the market favorite. Microsoft has launched the SkyDrive App for the iPhone and by doing so is acknowledging the hold that Apple has over the smartphone market. “In addition to their OneNote notebooks, iPhone customers can now access all of their files in SkyDrive, create folders, delete files, and share links to folders and files directly using the Mail app,” Mike Torres, group program manager for SkyDrive Devices and Roaming , said

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when he blogged about the move. This is not the only app that Microsoft has developed keeping iPhone users in mind. Some other apps by Microsoft include Bing and OneNote. The grapevine is buzzing with the news that Microsoft plans on coming out with a tablet-friendly version of Office in 2012 also.

Spring 2012

Visibility

Things You Should Never Market Through

Search Engine Marketing By David Rodnitzky

At my SEM agency – PPC Associates, I talk to a lot of potential clients who are convinced that search engine marketing is going to be the catalyst that turns their company into a massively profitably machine. As the CEO, founder, and de facto Chief Sales Officer, it’s tempting to accept any new client that comes in the door – it keeps the lights on, right?

What I’ve learned, however, over the last four years of business, is that there are many businesses that simply don’t work on Google AdWords, Adcenter (Yahoo/MSN), and other leading SEM platforms. As a result, I often turn away new clients because I know that there is little chance that I can build a long term relationship with them through effective SEM management. Search engine marketing is an incredible marketing channel for many businesses, but it doesn’t work for all businesses.

SEM Problem #1: New Mousetraps There are two primary categories of businesses that are especially challenging in paid search: the first is what I call the new mousetrap. A new mousetrap is any product or service that attempts to change the way people act. An example of a product that did this was TiVo – changing our lives from recording shows on VCRs to “pausing live TV.” An example of a service that did this would be the Internet, or perhaps more specifically, something like Craigslist. We used to rely on the Yellow Pages to find local service providers – now we use Craigslist, or Angie’s List, etc. I really admire inventors that come up with new mousetraps, but that doesn’t mean I want to manage their SEM campaigns. Take TiVo as an example. Let’s say its 1999 – the year TiVo was released – and you are the marketing manager. The CEO comes to you and says: “I want you to market TiVo on all the search engines through SEM – make it so!” What keywords would you buy? Keep in mind that this is the first year the product was released – no one knows the brand, no one knows what a “digital video recorder” is. The logical choice would be to buy “VCR” related terms, perhaps words like “best VCR” or “new VCR.” Perhaps you would try to create ad text that says something like this: “Try TiVo – Better Than a VCR. Pause Live TV!” The problem with this strategy is that people who enter in search queries have a very high level of intent and they are very late in the consideration process. It is very difficult – and often impossible – to

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convince people to change their mind at this stage. As Henry Ford once said, “If I asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Thus, if you tried to market TiVo on paid search in 1999, you would have had an extremely low conversion rate (most users would have just decided to buy a VCR), and for that matter you would have probably had a low click through rate (CTR) as well, which in turn would have raised your cost per click (CPC). The result: you would see few conversions and be paying an arm and a leg for each one you did manage to collect.

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I’ve seen this same scenario repeat itself many times, and that’s why I generally turn down new mousetraps that want to spend a lot of money on traditional paid search. To be successful, a new mousetrap has to market higher up in the consideration stage; rather than trying to ‘fulfill demand’ through search, they need to try to ‘create demand’ through PR, display advertising, video, or virality. In the case of TiVo, instead of wasting money on search ads on Google, I’d recommend a strategy of banner ads – perhaps targeting Web site frequented by early adopters of new technology (something like Engadget or Gizmodo). The ads wouldn’t have a message like “Buy TiVo now – just $200”, but rather something provocative and enticing, something like “In Five Years, VCRs will no longer exist. Be the First on Your Block to Find Out Why.” It’s true that this sort of marketing can now be done quite effectively through SEM platforms – in particular, the Google Display Network (GDN) is a great way to scalably and affordably drive tons of ‘demand creation’ traffic to a product or service. My agency – and I suspect most SEM agencies these days – has become quite proficient in running banner ads on GDN, so we might not literally reject a new mousetrap client. We would, however, have to get commitment from the client that they are willing to invest in display ads that don’t immediately drive conversions, as they might be accustomed to if they had run standard SEM campaigns in the past.

SEM Problem #2: Stuck In The Muddy Middle Search engine marketing is a very efficient marketing channel. In other words, to be able to bid to top positions for competitive keywords, you have to at least equal your competition in margin dollars, conversion

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rates, or marketing savvy – and preferably all three. Sometimes, however, success is almost impossible, simply because your product or service is not unique enough to stand out. Consider this example: let’s say you have developed a new soft drink and you want to market it on AdWords. You have three main competitors – Coke, Pepsi, and a generic brand (think Walmart or CostCo). Coke and Pepsi are going to use their brand to get people to click-through and buy their product; they’ll create ads that say things like “America’s favorite soda for more than 125 years. Enjoy Coke.” Many people will click on these ads and end up buying Coke, because Coke has an incredible and trusted brand. Walmart’s ad, on the other hand, will emphasize price. This sort of ad might read “Six packs of soda – just $.99 each. Stock up now!” Some people will click on these ads – which I call “the low-cost leader” – because they want to save money. Low-cost leaders do quite well in SEM. So if some people are clicking on brands and others are clicking on low-cost leaders, who’s clicking on your ads? The answer is: possibly no one. And if you can’t get clicks, your CPC will increase vis-à-vis the competition. Over time, you’ll get pushed out of the auction. This is what I mean by being stuck in the “muddy middle.” There is a solution. To paraphrase Al Ries, “if you can’t be number one in a category, create a category you can be number one.” If you aren’t the most-trusted soda or the cheapest soda, you’ve got to come up with a way to convince consumers you aren’t a soda at all! Those of you over 30 may remember that 7-Up did this long ago with their campaign called “The Un-Cola.” Enterprise Rent-A-Car didn’t try to become the biggest car rental agency, they became the biggest car rental agency that picks you up! To survive in the muddy middle, you have to come up with strong differentiators to make your product stand-out. This has to touch your entire conversion funnel – from the keywords you buy, your ad text, and your landing pages. This is a very challenging task and, like marketing a new mousetrap, it’s probably a task that’s best perfected farther up the consideration stage, not in SEM. For this reason, clients that come to us with a “me too” product or service, are often turned away – the SEM campaign is just destined for failure!

SEM is Powerful, But Not for Everyone SEM has revolutionized marketing, and in a good way. Quantifiable, profitable, transparent – it’s easy to understand why so many companies want to invest heavily in SEM. As I’ve noted, however, SEM is also very competitive, and its at the very end of a consumer (or business’) consideration stage. Five years ago, you could still be fairly successful in SEM without a team of experts, or without the most competitive product or service. Today, great SEM talent alone cannot save an SEM campaign that should not have been launched in the first place. n

David Rodnitzky is CEO of PPC Associates (www.ppcassociates.com), a leading SEM agency managing more than $50 million of advertising annually for its clients. David has more than 11 years of PPC experience, including senior positions at Rentals.com, FindLaw, Adteractive, and Mercantila. You can reach David at david@ppcassociates.com, follow him on Twitter @ Rodnitzky or read the PPC Associates blog at www.ppcassociates.com/blog.

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seo

Using Your Events to Drive Higher SEO Rankings

nbound marketing is the rage; every marketer these days seems to be working on ways to become a lead magnet and not just a bullhorn marketer. One of the many ways that inbound marketers attempt to grow leads is with webinars, events, conferences, etc. and yet all too often they fail to align these efforts with their SEO strategy. With proper planning, there are several ways to make events more successful and engaging and to leverage them to build links and boost SEO rankings. Any time you hold a major event or conference you not only want to have a successful event but you also would like to build links and win in the rankings. Here are some steps to take before and after your event to maximize your reach and impact by reaching out to the people in your circle with the most social muscle.

Before the Event: If you haven’t named your conference yet, go for a broader title that can attract a more diverse group of attendees and is one that leaves you room to grow. Don’t paint yourself into a corner where you might not be able to hold the conference in a few years because of the ever changing tech landscape. The creator of the “What Myspace Means” conference is going to have trouble drawing anyone to his event, which means all his branding and event recognition goes right down the drain. Use the free search tool at FollowerWonk.com to see the location of

journalists and bloggers you can invite to your conference. Reach out to them ahead of time and make sure to give them reason to attend. Here is a step-by-step way to do this: 1 - Go to followerwonk.com. In the search bar, enter “tech journalist” (http://followerwonk. com/bio/?q=technology%20journalist) or “HR blogger” (http:// followerwonk.com/bio/?q=hr%20blogger) or “NYC interior designer” (http://followerwonk.com/bio/?q=nyc%20interior%20designer), for example, to narrow your search. 2 – Now you have a list of people who fit your criteria. What do you do with it? BE YOURSELF. Reach out, let them know about your conference and explain why they should use their time to attend. Simply stating “Our conference is awesome!” won’t work. You had also better have some media passes for them. 3 – Target existing followers. Keep in mind that some of the people on your target list may already be following you on social networks such as Twitter. Using Followerwonk, you can see who is following your company account and also the accounts of your company’s thought leaders. From this list of followers, you can identify those who might be interested in attending. Also, be sure to encourage event previews with links to your site and post the schedule on Twitter to build buzz.

During/After the Event: Encourage activities that will build throughout and after the event. First, you must have an event hashtag. That being said, unless your conference targets a tech savvy audience, you may need to condition the use of the hashtag by your attendees. To incentivize use of a Twitter hashtag, offer giveaways linked to its use. This will encourage attendees to use the hashtag when sharing tips and insights from the conference. To use this to build links, take this one step further by encouraging attendees to post a blog entry about what they learned and to subsequently post the link on Twitter using the designated hashtag to alert the organizers to it. These bloggers, in turn, should be entered into a higher-level sweepstakes to reward them for writing up a review of the conference. Gifts, depending on your audience and budget, can include an iPad, the Adobe Creative Suite, a Spafinder gift card or free web hosting for a year. You want it to be enough of an incentive that they will actually go home and write up a review. When your conference is over, that’s the time to hustle! You have a

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small window of time when everyone will still be buzzing from the conference and you have to take advantage of it. PubCon, a conference that I attended in 2011, had 724 hashtag tweets even days after the event. This is exactly the kind of exposure you want as a conference organizer. Tracking who is using your designated hashtag will allow you to analyze the data and identify whom to go after for more link building. The first thing that you want to do is research who is using the hashtag and reach out to those with the best blog rankings, most Twitter followers, etc. to let them know about the contest. A sample tweet might be “I noticed you’ve been using our hashtag #xyz. Did you know if you do a write up of the event, you can win XYZ – link?”

This should fit in 140 characters! Go make it happen. You can accomplish this by searching for the hashtag in Twitter to see who is using it and how many followers they have. There are also a number of online tools that you can use. Rowfeeder (https://rowfeeder.com/) lets you search for any keyword (in this case, a hashtag) and pull up people metrics for users that mention the hashtag. This helps you determine who the influencers are. Hashtracking.com (http://www.hashtracking.com) is another resource that offers a similar, although less robust, service. The formula to remember is: Kind of a big deal + blog = quality links. Make it easy for them! Bloggers are notoriously short on time, so it is best to provide them with content that they can readily use. Upload

testimonials, video, images, presentations, and the other assets from your conference as soon as possible. This will allow you to reach out to your audience with the high quality assets they might want to include and link to in their blog posts. If someone has an influential industry publication, industry blog, forum, etc. but they are simply too busy to do a write up, you have one last option: offer to do a write up for them as a guest post in exchange for entering them into the contest. Keeping in mind that you can only recap an event in a few different ways, reserve this only for the very top sites in your space. n

Let’s recap: • If you want to maximize link building then you need to be reaching out before, during and after your event. • Using a designated Twitter hashtag makes it much easier to pool data and find out who is “kind of a big deal” and who is not. • Your window to keep the buzz going after your event is small so use every tool in your (link building) arsenal to take advantage of it.

Wil Reynolds (@wilreynolds) is the founder of SEER Interactive, a Philadelphiabased Internet marketing company that specializes in Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Web analytics. For details, visit SEER online at www.SEERInteractive.com.

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Is Affiliate Management in Your Agency Toolbelt? By Peter Hamilton

magine for a minute that you could call on the power of ten other marketers and agencies to help you get more customers for your clients. Then imagine that they only wanted you to pay them when they provided actual sales and leads for your customers. If you’re like me you’re already thinking about early retirement, but I’m not just teasing you with a business strategy that doesn’t exist. I’m talking managing affiliates for your clients. Yes, I mean that scary world that you’ve been hiding from for years…affiliate marketing. If you have your own online marketing agency you’re nearly operating like an affiliate already. You basically charge your clients a fee to help them connect to new customers. Whether you’re tackling SEO, managing PPC, or buying Display advertising, you are basically working as an affiliate. The only difference between you and a traditional affiliate is that you probably don’t charge your clients based on the sales and leads you actually provide. Let’s break it down. Affiliates come in all shapes and sizes, and their goal is to make the most money they can off of the traffic sources they can develop, already have access to, or even purchase. For example, some affiliates buy traffic on Adwords, sending users to advertising offers where if they generate new conversions they get paid. Sometimes they are paid a percentage of sale or other times a flat fee, but if they are good, affiliates are able to spend less money getting the traffic than

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they make from conversions, which gives them their profit. Think of it like hiring a new employee to manage a pay per click campaign for a client. Instead of paying them a salary, you decide to pay them for the new sales and leads they generated for your client. As you can imagine, this greatly reduces your overhead because your new employee pays for their paycheck before they ever receive it. That is the real beauty of affiliate marketing. As an agency, you can open up an entirely new channel of services that costs very little to get started. In many cases, you’re clients may even do most of the work for you, setting up their own affiliate program and recruiting their own affiliates for you to manage.

Two Ways to Go If you think you’re ready to explore affiliate management for your clients, you need to think about what your clients really need. Are they a brand oriented advertiser that would like to have their own custom affiliate program featured on their website? Or do they just need a boost in traffic and want you to take the reins? Their needs dictate whether you set up your clients with their own, walled off, affiliate program, complete with their own logo and color scheme, or if you simply create one agency wide affiliate network that all of your clients plug into.

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Why do you need to choose a path? Well, this is where you determine how you interact with some sort of tracking and management platform. You need some way to actually track the clicks and conversions generated by your client’s affiliates, and then you’ll need a platform for reporting and billing. You probably even want to give your clients their own login to view real-time reports.

Choosing an Affiliate Tracking Software As the CMO of HasOffers, I can’t lie that I’m pretty biased about affiliate tracking software. However, I really do believe that this is possibly the most important choice to make for your affiliate program, no matter what the scale. Until the last couple of years you didn’t have much of a choice, and the only options were very expensive, but like many things, tracking technology has become less expensive and more reliable. In fact, the advances and availability of accurate tracking technology has empowered thousands more advertisers and agencies to create affiliate programs. Isn’t affiliate tracking software complicated? Well, if you’re a marketing agency already working with analytics platforms it should be a breeze. The major difference lies in conversion tracking. Just like Google Analytics and other marketing analytics platforms, you need to place a tracking code on your client’s website. However, in most cases you only need to place this tracking code on your client’s “thank you” page or the page that signifies a conversion. Once you have the conversion tracking code in place, your tracking platform provides unique links (URLs) for each affiliate to promote your client’s offers.

What Do You Mean, “Offers?” In affiliate marketing, campaigns are often referred to as “offers” because they are action oriented. Offers usually have some specific goal that your client wants the user to reach. Perhaps that is a product purchase, a signup for a service, or maybe even a subscription. However, offers can be crafted to fit just about any business model. In fact, by using what are called “offer goals” you can track more than one action within a single affiliate offer. Crafting the perfect offers for your clients takes a little practice. First you’ll need to find figure out what user action(s) a client is willing to pay for, and then you must determine how much they’re willing to pay. Regardless, make sure your affiliate offers are profitable for everyone involved. You want your client to be profitable so they continue to grow from affiliate sales. You want affiliates to be profitable so they keep sending new customers to your clients, but most importantly, you need to make sure there is enough of a margin for your agency to make money.

Making Money with Affiliates How does my agency make money managing affiliates? The basic idea is that your client pays you an agreed amount for each conversion generated by affiliates you are managing. You then give a portion of that to affiliates, keeping a margin of profit for yourself. There is certainly an art to setting affiliate payouts and balancing the volume affiliates can produce with the top line revenue you are receiving from clients. Start

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with conservative payouts that provide good margins for your agency. You can always increase payouts from there. You can even negotiate unique payouts for individual affiliates that provide high volume and high quality traffic.

You Are in the Prime Position Affiliate marketing is all about relationships, which is why your agency’s most valuable assets are the close relationships you have with your clients (the advertisers). Advertisers are the players that have advertising dollars to spend and who would gladly pay for sure conversions. Most of them are thrilled to let you manage their affiliate programs for a healthy cut of the payouts. To secure an even better relationship with your clients, it is extremely valuable to become their Agency of Record, ensuring the only way affiliates access your clients’ offers is through you. Once you have a tracking platform in place and offers set up, your task is to seek out new affiliates to promote your clients. If you’re client allows it, start by blasting an email to their customers and placing a link to their affiliate program on their homepage. You’re client might even have a few potential affiliates in mind from previous partnerships, and once you get the hang of it you can start searching the web, attending affiliate conferences, and networking to find more affiliates with the right kinds of traffic. This is certainly a learning process, but it isn’t any more difficult than services you are already providing, and the barrier to entry is low. Have I got you thinking? I can promise you it is worth a shot. Start managing affiliates for your clients now and watch it grow into the most profitable piece of your agency. n

Peter joined HasOffers.com before the company launched their first product in 2009. With more than six years of experience in online marketing, Peter has a skilled knowledge of SEO, Display Advertising, PPC, CRO, Retargeting, Social Ads, Social Marketing, PR, Email Marketing, Design and Usability. As CMO at HasOffers, he overseas customer acquisition and retention, partnership development, content creation, web design and brand development. Follow Peter on twitter: @ peterhamilton. To read more from Peter, visit www.HasOffers.com/blog.

Spring 2012

Visibility

legal corner

Changes to COPPA

Do I Market to Minors?

n a prior column, we looked at marketing online to minors with the basics of the Children’s Online Privacy and Protection Act (COPPA). Since then, the FTC proposed changes to COPPA broadening the scope of the law. Today, we take a closer look at those proposed changes and how they may affect you. For the basics on COPPA, go back to my Fall 2011 column (available online at www.visibilitymagazine.com) or visit the FTC’s website at http:// www.ftc.gov/privacy/coppafaqs.shtm.

Why Make Changes? COPPA was passed in 2000. Five years later, the FTC decided no changes were needed. Last summer, the FTC determined they need changes to help, “maintain privacy protections for children who increasingly participate in social networking and interactive gaming, or engage in online activities through a mobile device.” The FTC recommended changes to: • Modify or expand key definitions including personal information; • Update parental notice and consent; and • Update existing safe harbor provisions. Perhaps, most important is the decision not to change COPPA’s age range to cover teens 13-17.

Websites Directed at Children The FTC will continue to use a “totality of the circumstances” to determine if your site is directed at children. COPPA currently includes a non-exhaustive list of factors that include subject matter, visual content, animated characters or child-oriented activities and awards, language and the advertising. The proposed amendments expand the list to include music or the use of celebrities. I don’t visit sites hyped by Justin Bieber – or at least, I would not admit it.

Expanded Definitions of Personal Information COPPA restricts the use of a child’s personal information, but what exactly is considered “personal information?” The proposals broaden it to include more than an email address. The FTC is concerned screen names or user names, VOIP, photographs and geolocation data could allow someone to contact a minor and now all will be considered personal information. The FTC is also broadening what it calls persistent identifiers. Currently, they are limited to website cookies linked to other information relating to a child or parent before it was classified as “personal information.” Under the proposal, a mobile device’s unique identifier or other signals that can link a minor’s activities across various sites or services would also become “personal information” covered by the act. It means target advertising to follow a child on various sites will require parental consent. The FTC opines the industry has not sufficiently regulated itself in this regard, so they are imposing their own rules.

Collection, Release and Publication of Information The amendments clarify COPPA applies even when sites merely encourage children to input information as opposed to requiring them to do so. There

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Written by: is an important distinction between the “release” Travis Crabtree of a child’s information and public disclosure. A “release” refers to a business-to-business use of personal information, while a “public disclosure” means just that. The FTC cares more about a public disclosure than a release. For example, a release may be necessary to maintain the site which the amendments clarify is not a “disclosure.”

Parental Notification and Consent If your site is subject to COPPA, you need to provide parental notice and consent. The existing rules require a posted online notice and direct notice through the mail. The proposals call for a more streamlined approach so that parents are provided real-time notice and clear instructions as to what is collected and done with their children’s information. Rather than policies that appear to be written by lawyers, parents would receive a couple of clear sentences telling them what is being collected about their children and what the parents can do about it. In addition to notice, you have to obtain “verifiable parental consent.” COPPA currently lists several options to document consent including mail or facsimile, requiring a credit card, or having a parent call a tollfree number manned by trained personnel. The changes expand the types of parental consent to include electronically-scanned versions of signed parental consent forms, video conferencing and governmentissued identification - such as a driver’s license - that is checked against a database. The FTC declined to accept texting consent suggesting kids would simply text approval from their parents’ phones. When data is merely collected for internal use and not disclosed, COPPA originally called for an email plus verification. It was meant to be a low cost stop-gap for sites not publicly disclosing a child’s information. It required operators to obtain consent through an email to the parent, in concert with a separate verification step such as confirming the parent’s consent by letter or telephone or later email. When COPPA was passed in 2000, email plus was put into place until something better was developed. Because of its simplicity and certainty, no one innovated. The FTC is proposing a new process where a website can submit a process to the FTC for approval.

It’s Too Much, Is There a Safe Harbor? To further encourage innovation, the FTC wants interested parties to submit proposals on how to obtain verifiable consent for even the more complex sites to create “safe harbor” provisions that will confirm compliance. Many independent organizations are working to create compliance programs, but they will be subject to more intense and frequent reviews. While the proposed changes increase complexity, it also opens to door for innovative solutions to protecting children online. Most sites will not have to worry about complying with COPPA, but if you have reason to believe your site is actively engaging with those under thirteen, then you need to independently confirm compliance using someone well-versed in the law and technology; or find an organization that will do this for you and give you a safe harbor for smooth sailing. n

Do you have a legal question you want answered in the next column? Send your questions to legalcorner@visibilitymagazine.com.

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tablet commerce

How Top Marketers are Adapting to the Challenges of Tablet Commerce

ablets are an exciting new platform for online marketers, with their own set of capacities and limitations. Retail marketing is now being transformed by the touch of a screen, and the future will only continue to become increasingly reliant on new technologies, as we become irrevocably submerged in the promise of the digital era. With the advent of Apple’s iPad and other tablet computers, online retailers have become more interested in the capabilities and limitations of tablets, a tool that is transforming how business, consumer, and social habits are being conducted. According to Forrester Research, mobile commerce is expected to top $6 billion by the year’s end, and by 2016, will constitute 7 percent of total e-commerce sales at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 39 percent. The rate appears to be impressive, but pales in comparison to the expected CAGR for tablet adoption—50 percent through 2015. Sources predict tablets will play a dominant role in mobile commerce in relation to smartphones, as larger screens and more robust capabilities provide a superior shopping and browsing experience. Tablet users have incorporated the device into their livelihoods, growing dependent on its multifaceted capabilities for virtually everything. As such, it is worth considering the hybridism of tablet usage patterns—a mix between those of desktop and mobile devices. Although more portable than desktops, tablets may be primarily used in the home for infinite purposes, including media consumption, reading books or magazines, surfing the web, reading email and, of course, shopping. With tablet optimization becoming pivotal for online retailers, Alexander Interactive evaluated the sites of the ten largest retailers on the web, assessing the quality of their user experience. Currently, with a 68 percent market share, the iPad dominates the tablet device market; for this

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reason, Ai’s evaluation was conducted solely using the iPad. Findings were based on the examination of a multitude of factors related to how well each retailer site performed on a tablet. In addition, Ai examined the subjective judgments on various aspects of the t-commerce experience as a whole. The analysis takes into consideration responsive design, adaptive layout, appropriate content sizing, minimal clutter, finger-swipe support, and optimized form functionality, among others, in providing each retailer with a holistic assessment. It is important to note that, while most of the retailers evaluated in the study offered iPhone/iPad apps, none offered a dedicated, optimized tablet site. If elements of design and development are intended to achieve effectual business goals, retailers have to provide optimized tablet site experiences for their customers, and cannot continue to rely on dedicated mobile apps. Amazon.com, the top revenue-producing internet retailer, is the most tablet-optimized of the ten evaluated, as it offers larger buttons and less aesthetic clutter. The biggest improvement, in terms of UX, comes in the form of a navigational fly-out that lunges from the “Shop by Department” button. The dropdown also functions properly on finger tap, which cannot be said of all dropdown menus in Ai’s report. While the retailer has taken steps to enhance the tablet experience, individual page elements remain quite small—virtually to the point of not being clickable. Staples.com can be seen as the archetype of sites in the report, as it maintains a decent desktop experience that is iPad conducive, but not without palpable flaws. Usability is hindered by a cluttered drop-down menu and search results are particularly inadequate. The introduction of a right side promo bar diminishes the amount of available space for the filtering controls, making it difficult to click, and consequently, reducing the amount of real estate for the individual search results. Online retailer CDW is prominent amongst corporate I.T. departments. According to the Internet Retailer Top 500 guide, the site has generated over $2.7 billion in Web sales in 2010 and consecutively ranks amongst the top 10 in response time and site

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availability. The company does not have a mobile site and relies on its desktop-based site on iPhone and iPad devices. While the experience is not ideal on the iPhone, Ai found the desktop site appropriate and adequate on an iPad. In landscape mode the userinterface is relatively easy to use, though fonts and various elements on the page become more cumbersome to use in portrait mode because of a narrower layout. Although the user-experience on the device was decent, the site offers an Adobe Flash-enabled photo gallery that is not compatible with the iPad. The retailer would find it beneficial to consider hiding this functionality on the device or replacing it with static photography. Best Buy was found to provide a pleasant tablet experience. Despite not being optimized for the iPad, the functionality was commended. Few mistakes were made when navigating and comparing products and reviews were generally useful. While the contents on the site were easy to tap, and featured bright yellow calls-to-action that stood out against other page elements, the company would do well to revisit its shopping cart user-interface. The site does not allow for removal reversals, necessitating that consumers browse back to the product and re-add it to the cart, an oft frustrating exercise. Perhaps Best Buy should consider adding a JavaScript confirmation when removing an item to confirm the user’s intention—a definite win for the site’s tablet users. While all retailers, including Walmart, Sears, Dell, and Office Max, suffer from usability problems, and offer limited tablet shopping experiences, Nike’s tablet-optimized ecommerce site has proven to be eye-opening for e-retailers. Browsing Nike.com reveals an engaging Web site built for the iPad, featuring hi-res photography and a tap-friendly user interface. Product listing pages adapt to the orientation of the tablet, creating simple navigation for customers to locate coveted items. The Four Seasons, also a dedicated t-commerce site, offers a suitable user-experience on the iPad: the homepage fits nicely on the device’s

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display and features swipe-enabled background photography displaying the company’s luxury hotels—it would, however, have been better off had it not relied on its desktop-optimized site for its core functionality. Luxury retailer Gucci’s tablet-optimized site launched in September 2010. The online merchant’s home page exhibits its three most recent collections and tap-friendly navigation at the top of the page. The luminous photography on the site’s category pages is easy to tap-andswipe and product pages feature the ideal amount of content for the tablet. A prominent call-to-action feature, when completing the purchase via the site’s iPad-optimized checkout process, is beneficial for the navigability purposes and customer experience. Retailers must continue to improve their t-commerce UX optimization. Tablet commerce usage continues to make rapid inroads with consumer and business practices; it is only bound to get stronger and will more aggressively shape B2B and B2C ventures. Online merchants must recognize the imminent changes evident in consumer habits and prepare for a tablet based future or proceed with negligible modifications at their peril. n

Alex Schmelkin, co-founder and president of Alexander Interactive (Ai), has been helping companies build their business online since the advent of the Internet. Alex brings 15 years of expertise in online business strategy, web usability and technology to every client engagement, guaranteeing unmatched senior-level counsel and direction around every online initiative. Before founding Ai, Alex co-founded Davanita Design, a New York-based digital agency. After growing from 3 to 20 people, Davanita was acquired by Avatar Technology, where Alex served as president and CEO of the New York division.

Spring 2012

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Taking Search Marketing to the Next Level through

Post-Search® Retargeting By Michael Benedek

earch marketing turns the traditional “average viewer” media model on its head by facilitating advertisers’ exclusive engagement with consumers who have searched for and therefore declared an interest in their products/services within the contextual environment of a search engine page. Despite accounting for approximately 50% of total Internet advertising spend today, search has only scratched the surface of its potential as it still remains for the most part confined to the search engine pages where consumers spend an extremely small proportion of their Internet media consumption time and remain in purchasing mode after leaving without converting.

Post-Search® Retargeting, the next evolution of search marketing, enables advertisers to remain engaged with consumers who recently searched for their product/service-related keywords, when those consumers are outside the search engine environment, browsing ad supported content. While Post-Search® Retargeting can produce significant return on investment when it is done well, it must be executed in a thoughtful and appropriate way. A disciplined development approach to Post-Search® retargeting strategy is critical and there are four essential steps to navigating the Post-Search® retargeting waters. 1. Put the Consumer First. With consumers becoming increasingly aware of online advertising practices, make sure that you are thoughtful about messaging and frequency, with the goal of giving the consumer a nudge in the direction of your brand, rather than the feeling that they’re being followed. Think of it this way, would you be more likely to plan a night out next week at Rondo’s Restaurant after a) Rondo the restaurant owner runs up to you as you’re passing by the entrance, begging you to come in, telling you it’s about time you stepped inside? Or, b) Rondo compliments the bouquet of flowers you are holding and happens to mention that his restaurant offers a wonderful date night deal for couples? It’s all in the approach. It is also important to be time sensitive. If someone searched for “sneakers” two weeks ago, it doesn’t mean that they’re still interested. If they searched for a “luxury car” on the other hand, you may have more time to engage with them.. Finally, make sure you’re tracking conversions to avoid targeting customers who have already made the commitment to your product or service.

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2. Work with an Experienced Partner. One of the reasons why Post-Search® retargeting has yet to reach its full potential is because marketers have a tendency to attempt to navigate the ever-changing terrain on their own. By aligning with an experienced partner, marketers can be confident that their campaigns are leveraging the highest quality data to bring about optimal results. Working with an experienced partner will help you avoid the pitfalls, since there is a good chance they have already corrected the inevitable rookie mistakes of the past, allowing you to tread on a safely paved road. 3. Privacy is Paramount. When embarking on any online advertising campaign, it is vital to ensure that you’re keeping your customers’ privacy top of mind. This means staying away from targeting based on any personally identifiable or sensitive information. You also want to make sure that your Post-Search® retargeting partner collects data in a privacy-sensitive way that allows consumers to opt-out. Nothing will hurt your campaign more than negative word-of-mouth feedback from annoyed consumers. 4. Work with Baby Steps, Slowly and Deliberately. While doing a search takes less than a second, putting together the campaign should take much more thought and effort. Since targeting is done based on keywords, it is important to ensure that all the right keywords have been programmed into the campaign. Once this foundation is in place, be sure to keep updating the campaign as new keywords and trends become relevant, as you do with traditional search engine marketing. With any emerging marketing strategy, the first instinct is to take it to the highest reaches straight out of the gate. While Post-Search® retargeting is so effective in its ability to connect marketers with in-market consumers, there always lies the possibility of improper implementation. By following the above-mentioned four crucial steps, you will help ensure that your campaign is an effective one, and that your brand is seen as intelligent, courteous, thoughtful, and most importantly, one step ahead of the competition. n

Michael Benedek is President and CEO of Datonics LLC, a leading online marketplace for search, consumer purchase-intent, life-stage, and demographic data. Michael can be reached via email at mike@datonics.com.

Spring 2012

Visibility

How to Adjust

Your Digital Marketing Playbook in 2012 By Christy Belden

f Q4 of 2011 is any indication, 2012 should be one of the better years in advertising of late. Businesses are starting to hire and spend on resources, combined with an election year and the Olympics, should make for more dollars being spent on advertising. Digital advertising should receive a huge boon in marketing and media as consumers move more of their activities online and brands follow them into the medium. In helping marketers wade through the digital marketing channels, here is a list of the trends impacting digital marketing in 2012.

SEO 2011 saw many updates to Google, which will impact how digital marketers should manage their SEO efforts in 2012. The Panda updates involved the revaluation of links to reduce the amount of spam and create greater relevance for the end user in the search results. Digital marketers will need to evaluate how their websites drive links to their site. One of the bigger updates occurred in Q4 of 2011 and was known as the ‘Freshness’ update. This update impacted as much as 35% of all searches conducted. The ‘Freshness’ update was designed to promote content based on how new, or fresh, it was. So if you were looking for news stories involving the Super Bowl, you would find content related to the 2012 Super Bowl, not past Super Bowls. As content is spread more quickly through social media networks, the search engines must find ways to gather that information more quickly. Content has always been king but the emphasis on quality, relevant and timely content is paramount. Content is not only about content on a website but the content of your video, posts on social media sites,

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visuals such as infographics, and the tried and true blog. A content marketing will be essential moving forward into 2012.

PPC Both Google and BING have made changes to the features available in PPC ads. Links to pages other than the landing page, phone numbers, business address and even photos of the products can now be added to paid search advertisements. If you have not tested these enhancements in your paid search, or have not tried a paid search campaign in awhile, adding these enhancements can help your ad stand out from the crowd. Another important improvement in paid search is the introduction of Google’s +1 to the ads. If consumers deem your ad relevant, then they can +1 the ad and promote it in their social network. The more an ad is +1’ed, the higher placement it will receive in the paid search results. As the +1 becomes more important, the quality of the paid search ad will become increasingly important.

Google holds approximately 80% of the overall paid search market, whereas BING holds only an 18% paid search market share. This number has been relatively flat since the Search Alliance in 2010. However, recent studies have shown both keywords are cheaper in BING than in Google and BING averages a higher CTR than Google. Lower costs and higher CTR justify allocating a portion of your paid search spend to BING in 2012.

Display Advertising It is not your old banner ad any more. From flash, rich media, to ads in social networks, the display advertising channel is making

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huge advancements. Emphasis has been placed on making ads more engaging and producing results.. After years of flat or declining performance, display ads have started driving more results than ever before with the innovations in the channel. Social media has penetrated multiple digital marketing channels â&#x20AC;&#x201C; including display media. Share buttons have been added to display so you can share or like the ad. Ads have been integrated with social media properties so a consumer can login to a property without leaving the ad. Google has also added +1 to ads so you can see directly in the ad who in your network has liked the same content. These enhancements allow for more interaction with your ad and your brand. Search has become integrated with display advertising through search retargeting. If a user searches on a particular keyword, they are delivered supporting display ads on sites they land on that correlate with the keywords. Search retargeting tries to capture those users who are interested in your product or service but may have not converted. Early research has seen CTR increase 50% on search retargeted ads. Real-time bidding (RTB) is not new technology but it only becomes more and more important as more assets and publishers allow RTB. RTB is an auction based system where media buyers bid on impressions associated with a particular audience. Estimates have shown an increase in CTR performance by 150%. If you are not buying ads in this model, 2012 is the right time to do so.

Social Media Social media marketing has matured as a marketing channel. It is not enough to have a Facebook or Twitter page and hope your consumer will come to the page. It now takes a more strategic approach. Social media, up until now, has been an area of testing different messaging, applications and approaches. Now, analytics shows us what works and 2012 will be the year of the strategic, systematic approach to messaging on social media sites.

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LinkedIn has been the slow, steady engine in the social media space. It has mostly been considered a resume platform for those seeking a job. However, LinkedIn has introduced the ability for company pages to blast messages thus allowing companies to speak directly to the LinkedIn community. This becomes an extremely important tool as companies can position themselves in front the highly educated, affluent audience of LinkedIn. The biggest splash in 2011 for social media was the launch of Google+ in June 2011. Google+ announced business pages in Q4 2011. Although Google+ has not been a Facebook killer, it does have a lot of nice features that make it a compelling social media medium. Additionally, Google+ pages are easily found in search results and can provide an additional asset to be found for in search. With all of the social media networks available, it is important to understand the audiences in each medium, how your business fits into the medium and develop a voice and tone that is appropriate.

Mobile It should not be a surprise that mobile is digital marketing trend for 2012. Some channels work really well with in mobile, such as email and social media. While QR codes and local check-ins have had slower adoptions. However the following will be important to anyone looking to enter the mobile marketing realm. Local Mobile Search is a user search, occurring on your phone, in close proximity to where the phone, and thus the user, is located. For example, if I look up restaurants, the GPS will deliver restaurants in my immediate surroundings. Local mobile search is increasing exponentially and a plan to take advantage of this channel is a must. The mobile wallet/ecommerce received a lot of buzz this past year. However, many phones, including the new iPhone, do not have the technology embedded into the phone to fully capitalize on mobile ecommerce. More phones, beginning in Q1 of this year, are anticipated to incorporate mobile ecommerce. If you are a retailer, this will definitely be an avenue to explore especially in the

second half of the year. Current research has shown tablets are replacing laptops as the technology of choice in the home. Tablets offer a different experience than a laptop. In 2012, understanding the differences between a tablet and laptop and developing strategies specific for a tablet will be important to consider.

Emerging Trends Finally, a digital trends document would not be complete without looking at emerging trends in the digital marketing space. Video advertising are pushing the envelope of what can be done a website. Videos can now interact with the page outside of the video frame to create a unique experience on the page and can be used as a great branding, viral marketing tool. Digital signage has been prominent in primary markets but is now just entering secondary markets. Quick implementation and ease of rotating creative bring a fresh digital approach to a very traditional marketing channel. Digital-out-of-home installations are increasing in the number of executions as the cost decreases. Technologies such as the Xbox Connect have lowered the barriers to entry and allowed smaller outfits to execute this exciting technology. Digital marketing is an ever-changing discipline and is crucial to stay atop of the new technologies being developed and the many ways consumers can now access information. Understanding which new innovations to invest in is crucial and it all pertains to knowing your audience and their behaviors. Matching innovation with audience interests will allow you to take advantage of the new trends and put your business at a competitive advantage. n

Christy Belden is Vice-President of Media + Marketing for LeapFrog Interactive, a full-service digital advertising agency in Louisville. Christy has over 11 years of experience in marketing ranging from event marketing, market research, print and digital marketing. Christy will be the presenter of â&#x20AC;&#x153;Expanding Your Online Footprintâ&#x20AC;? a look at how you can effectively manage and improve your online digital brand.

Spring 2012

Visibility

visi book club

Flash Foresight: How to See the Invisible and Do the Impossible An exerpt from Daniel Burrus’ latest book. “Today we all face more impossible challenges than ever before. But flash foresight lets you transform the impossible into the possible, revealing hidden opportunities and allowing you to solve your biggest problems --- before they happen.”

FLASH

n. 1. a sudden burst of light or glint from a reflective surface. 2. an insight that occurs suddenly and unexpectedly: a flash of inspiration.

FORESIGHT

n. 1. knowledge or insight gained by looking into the future. 2. perception of the nature of events before they occur.

There are two types of trends Hard Trends, trends that will happen and Soft Trends, trends that might happen. Demographics is only one major source of hard trends; another, which we’ll devote much of this book to exploring, is the forward

DATE OF PUBLICATION

PREDICTION / FULFILLMENT The 1990s will see a digital revolution.

1983

FLASH FORESIGHT

n. a sudden burst of insight about the future that produces a new and radically different way of doing something that will open up invisible opportunities and solve seemingly impossible problems before they happen.

thrust of technological advancement. For almost three decades I have published hundreds of predictions that came to be true with accurate timelines by separating hard trends from soft trends. Here are a few examples:

In 1983, we lived in an analog world and the word digital was seldom used in business or education. During the 1990s a global conversion from analog to digital technology sparked multiple predictable revolutions in such fields as cell phones, photography, and e-mail, to name just a few. From the mid-1990s on, businesses will widely use and profit from the Internet.

1988

In 1988 using the Internet required a working knowledge of computer programming, and the idea of a widespread business application seemed like science fiction. With the introduction of the first graphical-interface Web browsers in 1993 and 1994, this barrier was demolished, and the migration of the business community onto Web sites followed over the next several years.

Introduction:

Between 2000 and 2005 we will see the rapid growth of wireless Web access.

Flash foresight uses the data of your five senses, as well as that intuitive sixth sense we all have that some call a gut feeling or hunch. But flash foresight goes further, because in using it you synthesize those sensory and intuitive faculties and project them forward through the dimension of time. A flash foresight is a blinding flash of the future obvious. It is an intuitive grasp of the foreseeable future that, once you see it, reveals hidden opportunities and allows you to solve your biggest problems --- before they happen. Flash foresight will allow anyone to both see and shape his or her future.

In 1996 the Netscape and Microsoft Web browsers were barely one year old, and virtually every computer’s Web access was through a slow wired connection. In mid-1999, Apple introduced its first AirPort (WiFi hub), and the wireless Web was born.

Chapter 1 : Start with Certainty Finding the Fortune in Hard Trends

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1996

In less than ten years, people will have Web browsers on their smartphones. 1996

In 1996 Nokia released the Nokia 9000, the earliest palmtop computer– style smartphone; it was expensive, huge and weighed close to a pound. By 2006 nearly one hundred million Web-capable smartphones were shipping worldwide per year. Social media and social-media marketing will go mobile and will be standard on smartphones by 2010.

2008

In 2008 the business world was just discovering social media; few were taking it seriously, and fewer still were seeing the possibility of it going mobile.

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Hard trends make the future visible. Once you see the distinction of hard trends, you start opening all sorts of doors to new possibilities.

Chapter 2 : Anticipate Eight Pathways of Technological Advancement First, when we say “technological transformation,” let’s be clear on what the driving force is that we’re really talking about. There is nothing in a technology, in and of itself, that drives it to advance; a bicycle doesn’t seek to turn itself into an automobile. More accurately, it is the driving force of human creativity and ingenuity that generates the hard trend of a continuous increase in human knowledge and technological advancement. Steadily increasing knowledge has not only created steadily increasing technological advancement, it has also created a steadily increasing capacity to communicate and collaborate. Increasing knowledge combined with increased communication has created geometrically increasing technological advancement --- and that self-compounding swell has led to the thousandfoot wave now upon us.

The Web’s second iteration, Web 2.0, has been characterized by the user-to-user dimension of content sharing. Peer-to-peer networking was the application used by Napster to offer music file sharing to the masses. Since then we have seen enthusiastic amateurs from around the world work together to classify and post massive amounts of new content on the collective encyclopedia project Wikipedia. Idea-sharing tools (blogs and Twitter), personality-sharing sites (MySpace and Facebook), photo-sharing sites (Flickr), and video-sharing sites (YouTube) are all examples of the content-sharing nature of Web 2.0, which has given rise to the concept of social networking. Thanks to the underlying technology of XML, which allows machines to talk to other machines over the Web, applications as well as individuals can also share data with each other; for example, the connecting of corporate or personal locationbased data to Google Maps.

1. If it can be done, it will be done. 2. If you don’t do it, someone else will. “I’m not telling you anything you don’t already know instinctively. You’ve had flash foresights; we all have. They are those fleeting glimpses we sometimes have of where things might be heading. Have you ever said, “I knew I should have done that,” or “I knew that would happen”? That’s hindsight, and it happens because you don’t typically know ahead of time when your hunch is accurate and when it’s not. Learning how to make that distinction --- between glimpses of the future that are reliable foresight, and those that are simply hunches --- is what this book is about. Flash foresight is a sensibility, a skill you can develop, refine, and strengthen. I’ll show you how it works and how you can make it work for you on a regular basis.” n

1. dematerialization 2. virtualization 3. mobility 4. product intelligence 5. networking 6. interactivity 7. globalization 8. convergence

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Advances in artificial intelligence have created a type of intelligent search that tailors itself to the individual user, learning our parameters and preferences to make our searches automatically more relevant and useful to each of us individually. Soon we will be using a powerful new tool to do a good deal of our Web-based work for us, thanks to an emerging technology called ultraintelligent electronic agents.

Give your customers the ability to do what they can’t currently do but would want to if they only knew it was possible.

THE EIGHT PATHWAYS OF TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT

To date, the World Wide Web has gone through two basic iterations. The first generation, lasting through the end of the nineties, presented the Web as a flat, one-dimensional way of displaying information that could be accessed by keyword searches. Basically, it was humans interacting with computers, which would soon change. Google’s current project to digitize all the world’s books and make their contents available via search is an advanced form of Web 1.0.

If Web 3.0 is the future, then what’s beyond that? Web 4.0, a further iteration of the online experience that will transform how we do everything. The essence of Web 4.0 is this: instead of our having to go searching for what we want, it will come to us.

The New Golden Rule of Business:

To get a clearer picture of the world ahead, it’s helpful to see individual streams within that wave. The hard trend of technological advancement flows through eight specific pathways, each of them a hard trend in itself.

Chapter 3 : Transform

multidimensional experience. Today we talk about going onto the Web to look for information. In the future that language will change: instead, we will speak about going into the Web to learn and interact.

Web 2.0 created an entirely new experience from Web 1.0 --- but that’s all behind us now. Web 2.0 is already old news; the future is Web 3.0. The hallmark of Web 3.0 is that it is an immersive environment. In this new Internet construct, you won’t use the Web, you will enter the Web. Where the essence of the early Internet experience was information search and retrieval, and Web 2.0 was all about interaction and communication, the prime thrust of Web 3.0 will be immersion and

Daniel Burrus is considered one of the world’s leading technology forecasters and business strategists, and is the founder and CEO of Burrus Research, a research and consulting firm that monitors global advancements in technology driven trends to help clients better understand how technological, social and business forces are converging to create enormous, untapped opportunities. He is the author of six books, including the national bestseller Flash Foresight: How To See the Invisible and Do the Impossible, as well as the highly acclaimed Technotrends

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Smart Search Marketing: Using the Same Firm for PPC & SEO

oogle. Bing. Yahoo. The battles for the hearts and minds of today’s consumers aren’t happening in boardrooms – they’re happening on search engines, the frontlines of brand warfare in the digital space. While some brands are just now waking up to the importance of search marketing, many have already dedicated large portions of their advertising budgets to search marketing spend. Now the challenge is to optimize SEM and achieve more meaningful returns from their search investments.

campaigns. Since these pages are included in the site’s organic page index and are usually derived from existing web pages, the result is duplicate content – a sign of diminished site quality for search engines. By hiring the same firm for SEO and paid search, you can avoid duplication and protect the brand’s digital presence from dilution and other threats to branded and non-branded organic search. Google and other search engines will classify more of your content as unique, and deliver higher SERP listings for targeted keywords and search phrases – key indicators of the brand’s organic search strength.

But ironically, even though large numbers of brands recognize the value of paid search and SEO (Search Engine Optimization), and are eager to optimize their investments, few realize the benefits of consolidating their paid and organic search efforts.

2. Consistent and Coordinated Messaging

In many cases, marketers outsource specific search marketing tasks to specialized providers. Yet in their quest to achieve first-rate search support, they do their brand a disservice by recruiting separate firms for SEO and paid search campaigns – a decision that can have a devastating impact on brand messaging and ROI.

Consistent messaging is a hallmark of effective search marketing. But brands that hire different firms to perform paid search and SEO tactics severely handicap their ability to maintain clarity in messaging, increasing the likelihood that that their messaging will wander off-brand.

Ultimately, the benefits of using the same firm for PPC and SEO far outweigh any perceived advantages marketers believe they can gain by splitting these functions across multiple providers. Specifically, there are at least five advantages brands can achieve by using the same provider for paid search and SEO.

1. Better Organic Search Results Organic search is a high value target in search marketing. In a typical search marketing scenario, paid search firms generate landing pages to optimize the success of their

Too many cooks spoil the broth. It’s a convenient saying, but when it comes to the task of content creation and search messaging, it’s a fundamental truth that your brand can’t afford to ignore.

For example, it’s important to make sure that branded ads and organic search results communicate the same messages to consumers. Let’s say you have organic content for a highend product that differentiates on value rather than price. If you’re using two different firms, it’s possible that your content could appear next to a paid search ad that promotes your brand’s low pricing. The consequence of confused brand messaging is frustration among existing customers and an inability to attract new customers, many of whom won’t know what to make of the brand’s conflicting messages. Remember: in search marketing, content counts – and it pays to make sure your brand’s messages are clear, concise and consistent.

3. Clarity of Purpose Hiring two separate firms for SEO and paid search creates a lose/ lose scenario for your brand’s search marketing efforts. Why? Because each firm will be evaluated and incentivized based on performance, which means

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Poor communication leads to misunderstandings, which in turn, create management issues and a highly inefficient search marketing process.

5. Improved Innovation & Experimentation Close coordination between paid search and SEO efforts creates an environment in which innovation and experimentation can thrive. When diverse search marketing functions are linked, opportunities arise for sharing practices and ideas that deliver benefits for both the SEO and PPC side of the equation. A multiple provider approach, on the other hand, inherently stifles creativity and innovation, primarily because it’s much more difficult to coordinate cross-channel activities and experimentation. In a best case scenario, each provider will innovate independently, but never achieve the synergies that are possible through a unified strategy.

they will compete against each other rather than working with each other for online marketing success.

Suppose your PPC firm creates an innovative landing page design that scores big with the brand’s target audience. Will those same strategies be shared with and implemented by the SEO team as a way to improve organic landing pages? Probably not – or at least not until the SEO team has wasted valuable time going down a less productive road.

Firms that are operating on parallel tracks are motivated to exercise exclusive ownership over strategies and information. And that’s a problem for your brand since the sharing of information and ideas is key to discovering what works (and what doesn’t) for both organic and paid search results.

Conversely, the paid search team might invest time and resources in a strategy that seems groundbreaking, but has already been tried and found wanting by the SEO team, resulting in the same outcome as the previous example: Wasted time, inefficient processes and lost opportunities.

The other side of the coin is that using multiple providers for PPC and SEO can unnecessarily confuse the issue of responsibility. For example, who is responsible if a problem with paid search turns up in SEO? The SEO firm or the paid search firm? One thing’s for sure: the paid search team won’t invest resources to solve an organic search problem unless it delivers results for paid search (and vice versa). Nine times out of ten, the client is the one left holding the bag when lines of responsibility become muddy – a risk that can be easily avoided by consolidating paid search and SEO under one roof.

4. Streamlining & Efficiency Paid search and SEO are two distinct functions. However, they’re close enough that the use of multiple providers will inevitably result in duplication of efforts and other process inefficiencies. Strategy meetings, keyword research, content creation, reporting meetings – everything gets doubled with a dual firm approach. More importantly, the cost of performing these identical functions also gets doubled, resulting in wasted investments and lower ROI on your search marketing spend. Another issue that commonly arises when brands hire different firms for SEO and PPC is that the firms have a tendency to get in each other’s way, especially if both organizations have access to the brand’s website.

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In the end, truly effective search marketing is a delicate dance, a dynamic and synergistic process that is best achieved when paid and organic search marketing are performed in close dialogue with each other. The division of SEO and PPC marketing activities interrupts the rhythm of that dance and inevitably results in a lack of teamwork, communication and cooperation.

When brands maintain a unified approach to PPC and organic search marketing by hiring a single firm to fulfill both roles, they create an atmosphere that is ripe for innovation, efficiency and ultimately, increased ROI. n

John Fairley is the Director of Digital Services at Walker Sands, a full-service marketing and public relations firm focused on delivering growth for business to business clients.

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product review

SourceTrak™ by Ifbyphone EDITOR RATING

Very Good

very day, marketers check their progress to determine what’s working and what’s not. Web analytics, email metrics and online ad spend are all rolled up into advanced marketing dashboards. Yet all of these tools miss a crucial conversion channel – inbound leads that come in through the phone. As a result, voice-interactions are largely a missing component in today’s marketing measurement mix. For instance, when online marketers develop PPC ads, some include their company phone number -- but don’t track the inbound calls generated from those ads. This makes it challenging to holistically understand what marketing strategies are working, optimize for the successful strategies, and to ultimately help drive calls that convert to sales. Call tracking, such as what’s achieved through Ifbyphone’s SourceTrak™, gives companies the ability to pinpoint exactly what online and offline marketing campaigns generate those phone calls. This enables marketers to measure a prospect’s conversion path. In other words, when a prospect calls a phone number on an ad, SourceTrak™ captures the call origin, duration, and conversion rate of that call – all compiled into a convenient report. The metrics become even more powerful online. With keyword-level call tracking, marketers can understand which keywords drive phone calls in order to help them optimize their bidding strategy. For instance, depending on the traffic referral source, a web visitor will be shown a unique phone number and the traffic source will be logged. When they answer a call, a salesperson sees exactly what keyword the caller searched for, their location and other relevant information if they are an existing customer (acting like a CRM database). Marketers are not only pressured to optimize their budget, but to actively increase lead flow. Call tracking equips marketers with the capability to perform A/B tests of landing pages with a “call us” call-to-action. Through Ifbyphone’s SourceTrak™, users can place a unique phone number on each page variation of a website, thus measuring differences in the percentage of inbound calls generated from each page. This helps marketers determine exactly what pages and call-to-actions are driving the most leads -- not just the most online leads. All the information is logged and available to export into Google Analytics for analysis. Ifbyphone is changing the concept of call tracking, however, because they don’t stop at call tracking. Ifbyphone can also intelligently connect inbound calls to the right person by “whispering” the caller’s intent to a sales agent. This equips the sales agent with powerful information about the prospect prior to accepting their call. If the first agent is unavailable, Ifbyphone then routes that call to the next available sales agent. According to Ifbyphone, the end goal is not only to have a better understanding of exactly what marketing campaigns and advertising are driving leads and converting into sales, but to optimize those campaigns for better ROI. “Marketing strategy shouldn’t end at call tracking,” says Ifbyphone CEO Irv Shapiro. “Call tracking is a good place to start, but it’s crucial to have a comprehensive strategy when it comes to voice interactions. Efficient lead management and call routing are critical so the most relevant sales person connects with a prospect and closes the sale.” n

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Bottom Line Ifbyphone SourceTrak™ www.ifbyphone.com

Pricing Package pricing from $49.95 - $74.99 per month plus usage, depending on the features

Features • Access Real-Time Reports Online • Custom Phone Lead Distribution • Pre-Qualify Leads and Analyze Call Quality • Inform Sales Reps of a Caller’s Intent • Ideal for Agencies and Marketing Consultants • Google Analytics Call Tracking Integration • SourceTrak SEO • Measure ROI and Increase Lead Flow • Distribute Leads to the Right Sales Person

Pros • Comprehensive features track online and offline marketing campaign success • Easy exportation of data for analysis, including integration with Google Analytics • CRM integration • Efficient call routing and lead management; instantly connects the prospect to the right sales agent to take the call

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How Technology Is Influencing Search Marketing Agencies

here can be no doubt that internet marketing and search engine optimisation are still rapidly expanding. This swift growth is presenting an interesting dilemma for search marketing agencies: how do they adapt their strategy to account for this growth while maintaining a high quality of service? While there is the possibility to take on more staff to manage the increased workload, if they want to maintain maximum profitability, the more feasible option might be to develop technology that can help them manage the bespoke web marketing campaigns they devise for their clients. This is an approach we have taken at Click Consult with the development of our TRAX technologies, which were built with the view of blending innovative, efficient and transparent campaign management tools with the technical proficiency of our SEO programmers and expert account managers. This allows us to maintain our quality of service without completely draining our resources despite consistently achieving a high number of new client acquisitions month after month. There are numerous benefits to developing technologies for search marketing agencies, and in this article, I’d like to explore some of those and how others can adopt the same approach and benefit their clients.

One of the most beneficial elements of developing in-house technology is the quantity of resources that can be saved during the course of a client’s internet marketing campaign. Obviously there are financial benefits because of the reduced man-power needed to manage a campaign, not to mention the time-saving benefits that arise from streamlining the process between strategizing and implementation. A prime example of this is in the clickTELLIGENCE® reporting suite that we have built in-house at Click Consult. It allows both us and the client to monitor their campaigns and services across all platforms (Google, Bing etc.) so they get an honest account of how we as an agency are performing and we have the data available to see where tweaks and improvements are needed. This has turned out to be a highly effective system because while clients have access to their campaign information, they are still only one phone call or email away from their dedicated Account Manager, thus helping to maintain the balance between technology and human interaction. The ability to track individual aspects of campaigns effortlessly and accurately is probably the most significant advantage that our TRAX technologies give us. Whereas in the past, this information might only have been available in complex analytics reports or via the tools of others, we now have it at our fingertips 24/7, as do our clients. Using this information we are able to produce our own more accessible performance reports which translate that data into something genuinely useful that our clients can use to assess the performance of their business online. This helps build trust between the agency and the client because they can feel confident that nothing is being hidden from them. Transparency is a very attractive prospect for businesses that might not be entirely savvy with the workings of search marketing agencies. Other technologies we have developed can measure more specialist and bespoke metrics for our clients. linkTRAX®, for example, produces a detailed analysis about the link profiles of client websites and this helps us accurately plot a link development strategy. socialTRAX™ is a tool that monitors the progress of social media marketing campaigns and is useful in maximising the potential

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of social networks to increase the online visibility for businesses. competitorTRAX® provides sophisticated data about the techniques and link activity of other websites relevant to our clients, and this allows us to informatively devise strategies that are optimised to help the businesses we represent outrank their competitors. We are also constantly developing new technologies, such as ppcTRAX™, a PPC stock management and monitoring application, and roiTRAX®, a technology that accurately monitors all metrics relating to ROI, which are both scheduled for launch in the near future. In total, we have assembled ten unique technologies in-house, all of them designed to fulfil a specific function designed to assist our staff, and more importantly, to improve the quality of the services we offer to our clients. Naturally, agencies are judged by their success, and by developing these innovative and reliable technologies, agencies can really improve their own performance as well as that of their clients.

because the client can be confident that if they encounter any problems they will be able to discuss them with a human expert. As search engine optimisation and all internet marketing continues to expand, agencies have to be looking for way to make their services more efficient. We have been able to do this at Click Consult by developing our TRAX technologies to make our services more effectual and a better quality. However, agencies cannot become completely reliant on these technologies, and the expertise of the staff at the agency is still of paramount importance. Technology really can have a positive influence on search marketing agencies – use it to become more transparent, efficient and accessible, but don’t see it as a replacement for the human interaction between agency and client. n

As previously mentioned, there is a need to strike a balance between how influential technology is and the level of human input. The important thing for an agency is to use technology to improve their search marketing services, but not to become dependent on it. If this equilibrium is not found, then there is the distinct possibility that clients may become alienated if they feel they are not being looked after thoroughly enough. An efficient system is to use account managers with expertise in internet marketing to act as an intermediary between the agency and the client. This ensures that the technology has no negative impact on the client/agency relationship

Matt Bullas is the founder and managing director of Click Consult, a leading UK-based search marketing agency and its specialist search engine optimisation division, SEO Consult. Established in 2003, Click Consult employs more than 85 internet marketing professionals and has over 350 SEO and PPC clients across every major industry, providing a comprehensive range of search marketing services including search engine optimisation, pay per click campaigns, website design and development, social media optimisation and online reputation management. Click Consult’s brands include optimization.co.uk, searchengineoptimisation.co.uk, searchengineoptimization.co.uk, linkbuilding. co.uk, content.co.uk and seoconsult.com.au. Click Consult’s high profile client base includes Engage Mutual Assurance and UK Mail.

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roi

Simple ROI Projecting and Tracking

once heard a joke about an incredibly high-tech world where a scientist won a prestigious award for the invention of paper and pencil. Web marketers are often hypnotized by fancy analytics packages and reports. Such tools are useful – if actually used to decide on actions – but often executives just want a quick yet comprehensive look at the profit earned and/or expected, so that they can decide what web marketing is worth starting, stopping or changing. After those top-level decisions, then the more detailed analytics inform strategy and tactics. Data inputs for Excel projecting and tracking vary in accuracy and ease of acquiring, but all can be ascertained sufficiently. Cost of goods, marketing costs (including in-house employees’ time at hourly rates that factor all compensation) and past

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conversion rates are among the easiest to determine. More difficult is tracking marketing assists from multi-channel clicks over time, but analytics packages are getting better with this tracking. Among the most time-consuming data to ascertain is the monetary value of leads, like calls, form submissions and emails, but this can be done too. At the very least, you could ask yourself what you would pay for a lead. Of course in-house records of offline conversions make such valuation of leads more accurate. The following tables cover PPC, SEO & conversion rate optimization in ecommerce and lead generation.

To save space in this article, I eliminated columns of ROI percentage, which can be useful when measuring against upper management’s targets or against other marketing investments. You can see that adding columns for various factors would be simple enough. These kinds of spreadsheets can be used for any web marketing, and each marketing channel’s table can be combined into Excel workbooks with a table that summarizes and compares. There are ways to directly import data from Google Analytics to Google Doc spreadsheets, but the ease and speed of adding data manually suggests that setting up such automation would take a long time to pay for itself. I have found that such spreadsheets facilitate the sales process and comprise an excellent first paid job for clients. ...continued on page 39

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TWO ROI SPREADSHEETS FOR SEO AND CONVERSION RATE OPTIMIZATION FOR ECOMMERCE

FOR LEAD GENERATION

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TWO ROI SPREADSHEETS FOR PPC FOR ECOMMERCE

FOR LEAD GENERATION

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Rather than sell standard services prioritized during a relatively brief initial sales consultation, I can allocate a budget (and sometimes justify a larger budget) by revealing the ROI of each marketing channel. The client spends a little, learns a lot about their needs and my firm’s quality of work, and becomes better prepared to get budget approvals from bosses or colleagues or, in small businesses, from spouses or inner skeptics. For example, in developing the spreadsheets, I used a small client who has spent a little with us every year since 1998 and has done well. To my surprise (and a little embarrassment) I found that even a pessimistic a 10% increase in organic traffic plus a 20% increase in conversion rates would earn 400% ROI within the first year after website rebranding. The client saw the clear numbers in the simple spreadsheet and signed on immediately and for much more than their typical yearly maintenance

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spend. On the other hand, I’m doing an initial consultation now where I suspect that when I plug in the gross profit figures due to me in a few days, the spreadsheets will show that, sorry, neither SEO nor PPC will be profitable for them, and that therefore the enthusiasm and considerable work so far by this start-up team will prove wasted. Sad though that would be, it’s a lot less sad than their spending tons more and then failing. Should this ROI projecting be part of a free or a paid initial consultations? Each firm must answer this question for themselves, but for the prospective buyer, I offer some caveats about the freebie: 1. The good web marketing firm is likely to enjoy plenty of demand, so unless your business is exceptionally large or otherwise desirable, the firm probably won’t spend much time on a free initial consultation

— at least not by the principles of the firm who know the most. 2. The not so good firm or one that aims to expand rapidly by selling a lot and using a factory model of lower-wage, lowerskilled people has the incentive to make the consultation little more than a proposal that prioritizes by what they sell, not by what you need. n

Rob Laporte is founder and President of DISC, Inc. at 123 Bay Rd, Hadley, MA. Rigorously focused on client ROI since 1997, DISC has clients worldwide, of all types and sizes. DISC offers SEO, PPC, shopping comparison site management, social media consulting, conversion rate optimization, SEO’d site design and build, and SEO training. www.2disc.com, rob@2disc. com, 413-584-6500.

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Improving

Social Visibility

It’s Not Just About How Many People Like You

By Dr. Horst Joepen

t used to be if you didn’t have a web page that could be found by Google and other search engines, the public thought you didn’t exist. Today, the same thing is true with social media. If you don’t have a Facebook Business or Place page, don’t Tweet, or have a LinkedIn profile, customers wonder about your commitment to your business. In addition, businesses who don’t utilize social media are missing out on the ability to communicate with and market to an increasingly large number of customers. How large? Well, in 1997, the Internet reached 50 million users. Between January 2009 and January 2010, Facebook alone gained 100 million users – a 145% growth rate for that one year. With social media, you can invite customers to learn about your brand in a way not possible with traditional marketing and advertising. However, the problem is that unlike traditional marketing and advertising or even SEO and SEM, it’s almost next to impossible to measure the impact and value of social media – especially when you consider all the channels out there. Facebook, Google +1, Delicious, LinkedIn and StumbleUpon, just to name a few of the top social media sites, all have different users and different benefits. It’s virtually impossible to compare and quantify social marketing. Do you know the number of Facebook ‘likes’ vs. ‘shares’ vs. ‘comments’ for your website? Do you know how this compares with your competitors? Can you combine this with detailed analyses of LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, Delicious, and StumbleUpon? Without this capability, social media marketing becomes just another shot in dark – an intuitive sense, rather than a

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campaign based on customer analytics. Searchmetrics offers a tool we call Searchmetrics Essentials that measures “social visibility.” The social visibility score Searchmetrics Essentials calculates factors in trillions of points of data from today’s leading social networks to visually show the social media presence of brands. A social visibility score is calculated using all forms of social activity: Likes, shares, posts, tweets, and more, and can be pinpointed down to a URL.

Capturing quantitative benefits for the first time Here’s a practical example of how Searchmetrics’ tool can be used to analyze a domain or company’s social visibility: between May and the end of August 2011, we calculated the social visibility of various news outlets. We found that among the traditional U.S. newspapers, the New York Times leads in social media visibility followed by the Wall Street Journal, the LA Times and USA Today. Searchmetrics

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The implications for savvy marketers are enormous. Social networks continue only to grow in importance. Facebook now has 800 million (and growing) active users. LinkedIn has 100 million users. More than 200 million tweets are sent each day. Social media is a great way to build brand awareness and have easy high-touch, honest interactions with your customers – turning them from enthusiastic (but passive) fans into transacting customers. And now you can allocate the right amount of resources, in these places, to make sure your brand succeeds and measure this success. n

found the New York Times’ social visibility score to be 110 million with more than 50 million social Links found. By comparison, according to our data, the Huffington Post leads with a social visibility score of 136 million, outperforming the New York Times. Of course, this may be an indicator that the Huffington Post’s target demographic is much more socially visible overall than traditional media. We drilled down even further and looked closely at NYTimes.com URLs to chart how successful particular articles were within the medium. Warren Buffet’s petition for higher taxes, “Top Coddling the Super Rich” (published August 18, 2010), was over six times more visible than the announcement of the death of Osama Bin Laden.

us is that armed with both the social and SEO visibility of your brand, you are able to see the true reach of your social media content. This means you can see instantly what resonates with customers – actually how many users “shared” or “liked” your post – and adjust your marketing campaigns accordingly. This helps you build brand loyalty (by “giving” customers what they want) and generates more word of mouth marketing. With any social media ROI calculation, though, you should be able to distinguish between absolute quantity (i.e. social visibility) and the rate of growth (i.e. the number of new social links per week).

Dr. Horst Joepen is CEO of search and social analytics software services provider, Searchmetrics, where he is responsible for general management and strategy. His company’s online software is used by digital marketing/search agencies and in-house marketing departments to better manage their search engine optimization (SEO) and social media campaigns. Dr. Joepen has a broad background in Internet and software technology and is a successful software entrepreneur in the online marketing, CRM and IT security markets. He founded Webwasher AG, which he successfully sold and is today part of McAfee. He is the author of numerous IT publications and a frequent speaker on SEO trends and tools at international search marketing conferences.

This shows you how it’s easy to quantify the value social media can bring to your content, but what does all this mean for companies using social media for marketing purposes? A few things. The first thing is that knowing this information is crucial because the social media revolution has a strong impact on any online business. The ‘likes,’ tweets, and +1s from Facebook, Twitter and Google + 1 are new, but might already be very important ranking factors for search engines. With the Google Freshness and Panda updates, companies learned quickly that content was king. The more quality, relevant content you provide drives search engine results. Customers sharing and liking your content seems to improve results as well – without significant investment on your part, besides time and knowledge about what your users really like about you and your competitors. The second thing that the example above tells

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Acquisio Acquisio Beginnings Founded in 2003 as a marketing agency, Acquisio provided PPC and SEM management services to clients until 2006. It was then that co-founders Marc Poirier and Richard Couture decided to finally make the software that they wished they’d had all along. Poirier and Couture worked to create a larger, more technology-focused team and launched the Acquisio platform in 2008.

The Acquisio Platform With a focus on providing a comprehensive platform for buying, managing and tracking search, social, and display ads, Acquisio is the platform that today’s digital, interactive, SEM, and advertising agencies choose to manage their clients’ accounts. Cross-channel insights: Acquisio lets marketers track all channels in a single platform. From ad serving to analytics and attribution, Acquisio lets you track all events across search engines, social and display ads from impression to conversion. Tag and track everything from page views to conversions and make intelligent media buying decisions across all channels when you view them in one funnel. Seamless search/PPC access: For search and PPC, the Acquisio platform lets agency marketers seamlessly access all of your client accounts in Google AdWords, Microsoft adCenter, Yahoo! Search Marketing and Baidu. This seamless access saves time , improves efficiency and maximizes results with features like rules-based and algorithmic bid management, automated reporting and cross-engine bulk editing. Truly insightful social media metrics: For marketers involved in social media advertising, Acquisio offers insights beyond vendor-provided analytics. Get everything you need to buy, track, optimize and report on Facebook Social Ads with confidence. With features such as creative generation, campaign automation, reporting and optimization, agency marketers can quickly calculate the value of social media efforts, and turn social impressions into conversions. Display and retargeting: Acquisio also helps agency marketers capture hot leads by offering display retargeting functionality. Never let a conversion slip through your fingers again. Acquisio gives you a second, third and fourth chance to remarket to search visitors who didn’t convert with access to millions of sites and billions of impressions via Google’s Ad Exchange, AdMeld/MeldX, Context Web/ADSDAQ, Rubicon, and AdECN.

Who Uses Acquisio? With more than 2,800 users and 7,000 brands under its management, Acquisio is the multi-channel marketing solution preferred by the world’s leading advertising, marketing, and SEM agencies.

Acquisio’s Accolades and Awards Acquisio’s approach and business model was recognized by several organizations throughout 2011. In October 2011, Acquisio was named the 46th fastest growing technology company on the Deloitte North American Technology Fast 500. The company was also named the 9th fastest growing technology company in Canada in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50. Both accolades were based on the company’s five-year revenue growth. Earlier in 2011, Acquisio closed a $12.1 million round of Series B funding with private growth capital fund Tandem Expansion. And throughout the year, the company has finalized strategic partnerships with leading companies that offer complementary products and services, including Bruce Clay, Inc., The Trade Desk, and LionBridge Technology Inc., among others. n

Acquisio is made for agency marketers. Want to learn more about Acquisio and see if it’s right for you? Check out a quick video overview (http://mkt.acquisio.com/demo.html) of the Acquisio experience, and then sign up to receive a customized demo of the Acquisio platform.

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Contact Information

Amy Hooker, maven communications for Acquisio amy@mavencom.com 910-707-0461

Mission Statement

The leading performance media platform for agencies, Acquisio helps agency marketers buy, track, manage, optimize, retarget, and report on media across all channels including search, display, and social media.

Client List

aimClear / Clix Marketing / Find Me Faster / Page Zero Media / Rocketer / Amaze / Bertelsmann / Cossette / DAC Group / iProspect / Isobar

Company Executives

• Martin LeSauteur, President and CEO • Marc Poirier, Co-Founder and CMO • Richard Couture, Co-Founder and VP Product Management • Martin Mailloux, Chief Technology Officer

Services Offered:

Acquisio provides the industry-leading technology for agencies buying ads on any online channel, allowing them to handle all tasks associated with performance advertising, from ad purchase through conversion tracking and beyond, within a single integrated platform. Unlike other solutions, Acquisio hosts its own third-party ad server and employs a single tracking functionality across channels, allowing agency marketers unparalleled conversion and revenue attribution modeling and reporting capabilities.

Recognitions

• Named 46th fastest growing technology company on the Deloitte North American Technology Fast 500 • Named 9th fastest growing technology company in Canada in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 • Named finalist in 2011 nextMEDIA Digi Awards

Spring 2012

Visibility

ecommerce

Dragon Rising: Maximizing eCommerce Opportunities in China

hina’s economic prowess is well documented. Boasting the world’s second largest economy, China has become a powerhouse in exporting and a key player on the global economic stage.

While competitive threats consume most conversations about the Chinese economy, there is a growing awareness of the flipside of China’s economic boom: the rise of the Chinese consumer. As the U.S. economy struggles to regain its footing, American firms are looking at China as a viable market for their products. This is particularly true for eCommerce retailers, many of whom are salivating over the rising disposable income of Chinese middle class consumers. Over the next few decades, China’s middle class is expected to grow to 600-800 million consumers, wielding an annual disposable income of $2.7 trillion. For eCommerce retailers, China’s enormous spending power makes expansion into the Chinese marketplace a potentially lucrative and effective growth strategy.

Why China is Ripe for eCommerce Sheer buying power isn’t the only reason China is an attractive

market for eCommerce retailers. There are several other factors that reinforce the strength of the Chinese market as an eCommerce target in 2012 and beyond. Foreign products enjoy unusually high demand throughout the Asia Pacific region. Quality concerns and other issues have led many Chinese middle class consumers to avoid local merchandise in favor of branded products originating in the U.S. Chinese consumers not only have money to spend on foreign products – they also have a proclivity for conspicuous consumption. It is widely anticipated that designer fashion, jewelry, perfumes, watches, accessories and lifestyle/recreational product categories will continue to experience exponential growth, creating a range of opportunities for eCommerce providers in the luxury and lifestyle space as the demand for retail and consumer products more than doubles by 2014. Additionally, population distribution and local retail access play a role in the future of eCommerce in China. Large numbers of Chinese consumers lack easy access to retail shopping opportunities; eCommerce allows mainland Chinese consumers to buy foreign consumer and luxury products that would otherwise be inaccessible to them. At the same time, China’s population geography is expected to experience a steady transition from the countryside to urban areas. Over the next twenty years, 350 million Chinese consumers will relocate from rural areas to urban communities with vastly improved mobile and Internet infrastructure – key drivers for the expansion of eCommerce in China. All told, B2C eCommerce sales are forecast to rise from $6.9 billion in 2010 to $223.6 billion in 2015. But to cash in on Chinese eCommerce opportunities, U.S. retailers will need to understand the challenges associated with selling in China and begin laying the groundwork for future success in the Chinese marketplace.

Challenges and Obstacles in China eCommerce The health and vitality of the Chinese market is creating an abundance of opportunities for eCommerce retailers. Yet, retailers interested in expanding their reach to Chinese markets also need to be realistic about the challenges and obstacles they will face, some of which may require the retailer to reinvent certain aspects of their business. 1. Payment Options Most eCommerce merchants are accustomed to standard online payment options like credit cards, PayPal, and so forth. But when it comes to payment options for online purchases, China isn’t nearly as far along as the western world and special handling is required for online retailers trying to set up shop in the region.

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In China, the most common form of payment for eCommerce purchases is Cash on Delivery (COD). Subsequently, successful eCommerce retailers typically list COD as the first payment option for electronic purchases rather than credit cards or user accounts.

Chinese markets isn’t as easy as targeting new western markets, the payoff can be significantly greater. The caveat is that eCommerce brands need to invest the time and energy it takes to establish a strong foundation for their eCommerce efforts in the region.

eCommerce websites that require credit cards incur additional fees in the 5% to 10% range, which frequently prices them out of the marketplace. So to compete effectively in China, your brand may have to make peace with the reality of COD payments as well as a payment system that holds consumer payments until the purchaser is satisfied with the product.

Before launching an eCommerce initiative in China, it’s imperative for retailers to have a comprehensive understanding of China’s historical, political, cultural and economic milieu. Even small oversights can have dramatic consequences on product demand, order fulfillment and ROI. China’s rapid economic growth has created a fluid market environment that demands the execution of periodic review and evaluation mechanisms in eCommerce.

2. Market Relationships It’s important for eCommerce retailers to remember that China is not a traditional market economy, at least not in the sense that westerners have come to understand the term. One of the first differences eCommerce retailers notice is that the Chinese government exerts a much stronger influence over market operations than in the U.S. and other western nations. Layers of bureaucracy and multiple levels of approvals tend to complicate seemingly simple business decisions. For foreign eCommerce providers, strong relationships with local Chinese government officials are a prerequisite. At a minimum, retailers will need to establish connections with government representatives in the major cities and markets they are targeting for eCommerce expansion. 3. Shipping & Fulfillment Shipping and fulfillment may be the most daunting challenges for eCommerce retailers eager to make their mark with Chinese consumers, especially those who are used to the finely tuned fulfillment systems that are achievable in western markets.

Likewise, it’s important for eCommerce retailers to design processes and systems that reflect the unique characteristics of the Chinese marketplace. Payment options, fulfillment routines and other operational systems need to be adapted to the conditions of the Chinese marketplace in order for the brand to make headway with Chinese consumers. n

Karen Jackson is a Vice President at Acquity Group, a leading global brand eCommerce and digital marketing company.

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A substantial number of mainland Chinese consumers live outside of urban centers, in quasi-remote locations that lack the logistics and supply chains retailers have grown to rely on. This fragmentation is more than a minor wrinkle – it’s a major hurdle that needs to be addressed by any retailer operating in China. Fulfillment and delivery capabilities in major Chinese metropolitan areas aren’t much better than they are in the countryside since urban fulfillment is accomplished via a courier system, a somewhat antiquated system that is notorious for slow and erratic delivery times. For now, the courier system is the only option for most eCommerce retailers, even though it is difficult to implement on a broad scale and may be incapable of servicing China’s geographically dispersed consumer base. So from the outset, foreign eCommerce merchants need to prioritize the development of efficient solutions for the storage and delivery of their products to Chinese consumers.

Tips for eCommerce in China China presents a mixed bag of opportunities and challenges for eCommerce brands. Although expanding eCommerce activities to

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Universal Affiliate Marketing By Geno Prussakov

ffiliate marketing is universally applicable, and any online business can be enhanced by running an affiliate program. Since the essence of affiliate marketing is in placing the main emphasis on the actual end-consumer action occurred, it is always a no-lose situation for the merchant (unless you mismanage your program). When starting an affiliate program you decide how to remunerate affiliates, and this is based on the end action you desire to achieve through your affiliate marketing campaigns. Most merchants choose to tie the compensation of affiliates to the registered and confirmed sales or leads (fraudulent, duplicate, and other unqualified actions do not count). If you do not yet have an affiliate program, here’s an exercise worth trying out: go to any search engine, type in a “<your product> affiliate program” key phrase, and see what your competition is already doing. This basic competitive intelligence exercise will make your decision-making a much easier task. In addition to the things mentioned above, another aspect of universality is extremely important to understand. Affiliate marketing exists on the crossroads of all other types of online marketing out there; and I frequently underscore that it is wrong to think of it as a type or channel of marketing. It is more appropriate to understand it as a special marketing context, the undergirding principle of which is its performance-based remunerating model. This model works with any type of marketing: display, contextual, video, social media, and other types of advertising, as well as search engine marketing (SEM), email marketing, and other methods. The main difference with the pre-affiliate model is that advertisers generally post-pay and do it for the actions of their choice, as opposed to pre-paying for the actions of the publisher’s choice (e.g.: banner placement).

Couponing Multiple affiliates are using this method of promotion; and with projections on online coupon use anticipated to increase further, new coupon websites should be expected to spring up. These affiliates play on human psychology of trying to find a product at a discounted price if possible. To satisfy this demand, these affiliates put together collections of coupons from different merchants (see Figure 2). Since the number of coupons gathered on one website can easily exceed several thousands, the key to success is in convenient categorization of deals. The more successful coupon affiliates segment their coupons by verticals, holidays, lowest price markdowns, expiration dates, types of coupons (e.g.: deal of the day, free shipping, buy two ... get third free), and so on.

To illustrate how you may encompass an array of different marketing channels by starting an affiliate program, let’s look at the common types of affiliates, and how they can/will market your business/product.

Data Feeds There is a whole segment of affiliates that work with merchants’ product feeds. They are generally selling products of multiple merchants “under

Marketing Channels & Types of Affiliates To begin with, it is worth noting that successful affiliates seldom exist in a pure form but are more often incorporating several marketing approaches in their strategies. However, for our better understanding of how things work, it is helpful to break down the more popular approaches into groups. They all cover an online marketing channel, and I like to split them into the following five groups (arranging them in an alphabetical order): Content Publishing Affiliates who employ this method build content-saturated websites (see Figure 1) and monetize them by featuring merchants’ links on those properties. Links should be understood as all possible types of affiliate links: banners, widgets, text links, video, product links, and so on. The array of ways in which a content affiliate may advertise a merchant ranges from in-text links to sidebar ads, to separate sections devoted to merchants’ banners, or even a product selection. Examples of content publishers would include both large portals like Forbes.com, popular online forums, and smaller content producers like bloggers.

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one roof ” (Figure 3), importing product information into their websites via the use of data feeds that merchants make available to them. A subgroup of comparison shopping affiliates should definitely be mentioned here. Adding the convenient function of cross-merchant price- or feature-checking to their online engines, they add value by simplifying the product search and comparison process for the end user.

Email Marketing Any individual or organization that has a mailing list of targeted prospects that have opted-in to be contacted can make an excellent email affiliate. Here, just as is the case with any type of affiliate, is it important to emphasize that merchants safeguard their own brand and reputation by partnering with kosher marketers. It must be made explicitly clear that advertising commonly referred to as “spamming” or unsolicited commercial email (UCE) is unacceptable, and will be penalized. Let your emailers know that they may use mailings to customers and opt-in e-mail lists only so long as the recipient is already a customer or subscriber of the affiliate’s services or web site, and recipients have the option to remove themselves from future mailings. Paid Search Many PPC marketing experts turn to affiliate marketing to monetize their skill and expertise. Such affiliates bid on merchant-specific keywords and key phrases at Google (Figure 4), Yahoo!, Bing, and other search engines, and either send the PPC traffic directly to the merchant’s website or via an in-between page of their own (depending on their own goals and the restrictions imposed by the merchant). In multiple situations paid search affiliates can effectively replace either the merchant’s in-house paid search marketing expert, or an outsourced solution. As with every affiliate, the main benefit lies in the fact that PPC affiliate invests his/her own resources, and costs the merchant only when the desirable action occurs.

Loyalty Marketing Loyalty marketing has been around for a while. It has become especially popular when airline companies started using it. They would reward their customers with “frequent flyer miles”, or essentially, points that once accumulated to a certain threshold, would qualify the customer to obtain a free airfare, or other product/service. Now, while traditional loyalty marketing aims to “reward loyal customers for making multiple purchases” (Essentials of Marketing, 2008, italics mine), loyalty affiliate websites focus on one sale/transaction at a time. Loyalty affiliates (also known as incentive affiliates) facilitate the desired end-user action by offering them an incentive. Cashback/rebate offers, donations to charitable organizations and contributions to scholarship funds are by far the most popular forms of incentives used by this type of affiliates (see Figure 5). FatWallet.com, BigCrumbs.com and CashBaq.com are classic examples of incentive affiliate websites. The idea behind such a business model is simple -- share a part of the revenue you receive from the affiliate program with the end-consumer.

Many merchants and affiliate program managers do not know what loyalty affiliates are, and how exactly they operate. This, in some cases, results in low quality affiliate program performance, whereas in others, it may bring about unwanted customer activity. To illustrate how it works when it does work for the merchant, let’s look at the following example: • Merchant A pays 10% commission on all orders • Incentive affiliate offers their visitors a 5% cashback • Everyone (customer, merchant, affiliate) is happy However, there are instances when partnerships with incentive affiliates do not work (and cannot work) for the advertiser/merchant. Let me model three contexts to illustrate such situations. If one of the belowdescribed performance-based payment models describes your current or prospective affiliate program, you want to (a) explain in your program’s Terms and Conditions agreement that you do not work with loyalty affiliates, and (b) screen affiliate applications carefully to look for sign-up requests from incentive/loyalty affiliates. Scenario 1: • Merchant B (hosting company) pays 50% or $25 (whichever is greater) • Incentive affiliate offers $15 cashback on all orders • Problem: customer signs up for 1 month of hosting at $6.95 Scenario 2: • Merchant C (diet supplements merchant) pays $35/sale (including orders for free trials) • Incentive affiliate offers $20 cashback on all order (including free trials) • Problem: customer orders a free trial

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Spring 2012

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Scenario 3: • Merchant D (credit relief company) runs a PPL affiliate program paying $20/lead • Incentive affiliate offers $10 cashback to everyone who fills out the form on the merchant’s website • Problem: obvious

helping each other shop. The more sophisticated and innovative the method is, the more successful the affiliate generally is. Just as it is with other types of affiliates, make sure you partner with marketers that have got ethics on their side, and are helping you build up your brand.

The marketing model used by incentive/loyalty affiliates can work for you when your affiliate program’s specifics allow for such type of online marketing. In certain contexts -- like the three scenarios that I have modeled above -- affiliate program managers should keep the incentive affiliates out of their programs. Additionally, let me emphasize that in cases when there is room for merchant’s partnerships with incentive affiliates, affiliate program managers should regularly monitor their behavior. Some incentive/ loyalty affiliates are known for using cookie-overwriting toolbars, forcing clicks, and engaging in other unethical behavior. Partnerships with kosher incentive affiliates can bring additional sales to your affiliate program. Conversely, partnerships with the wrong types of incentive affiliates can do your program much damage (it will simply not grow beyond the level of sales that a handful of unethical affiliates can refer to you, interfering with the performance of your other online marketing channels; and no decent affiliate will want to work with you). This principle applies not only to this particular type of affiliates, but to any rogue affiliate in the program.

Video Online video is a technology that is enthusiastically accepted by endusers. The number of affiliates that are using it is still relatively small; but expected to grow fast, ; especially since in November 2011 Coull.com have signed a deal with Google Affiliate Network (GAN), granting them exclusive rights to affiliate-link YouTube’s videos. If the affiliate program platform allows for it (as in Figure 7 or in the above-quoted GAN-Coull partnership), you want to provide affiliates with any video creatives (that would track referring clicks and credit commissions when they are due), or allow them to use their own (encouraging them to produce video clips for marketing use). In the least sophisticated scenario, encourage them to at least embed YouTube (or Viddler) videos into the pages of their blogs/websites, complimenting the video with search engine friendly text, and linking to you through an affiliate link.

Social Media This is the area that is quickly gaining popularity among Internet users, and affiliates are happily leveraging this growing acceptance of forums, microblogs, social networks, and other social media channels. Some affiliates are putting together Facebook and iPhone apps and monetize them through affiliate marketing; others are tweeting deals on Twitter (with the help of tools like the one in Figure 6), while yet others create social shopping engines where users could interact with each other,

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Any of the above-listed methods can be generic or nicheoriented. When an affiliate chooses to be “niche” they specialize on a particular vertical only, optimizing their website in such a way that it gets most of that targeted traffic. Examples of popular affiliate niches are: apparel, shoes, entertainment, books and magazines, sports. Note also that my above list does not include those that I call wanna-be-affiliates (banner farms is the best example). Each of the above groups has its super affiliates. You need to understand the way each group works, what problems and challenges they encounter, what factors they are considering while looking for an affiliate program to join, and what they want you, as an affiliate program manager, to help them with once they are on board with your program. The famous Russian emperor Peter the Great was known for striving to learn everything first-hand, from the inside out. With this philosophy in mind, and already being the Emperor of Russia, disguised as a common man, he traveled to the Netherlands, and also to England -- to study shipbuilding and sailing. This knowledge and experience helped him build Russia’s first navy which was instrumental in his wars against the Ottomans and the Swedes. I always encourage affiliate program managers to follow the Emperor’s example, and start affiliate accounts with all major networks and take your time to try yourself in the capacity of PPC affiliate, data feed affiliate, coupon affiliate, social media affiliate, and so on. Try various affiliate tools provided by the networks and

third parties. You will gain invaluable experience in the process. Do not quit those accounts. You can use them later for competitive intelligence too. Popularity Affiliate marketing is one of the most powerful and cost-effective customer acquisition tools available to an online merchant today. You decide what commission to pay, and pay only when results (sales, leads, subscriptions, and/or clicks) are obvious. Remember that unlike with other channels of distribution, affiliate marketing hardly has any advertising and marketing expenses involved yet often shows the best ROI. While affiliate marketing, you pay only for the desired performance. With most other advertising, however, you get no performance guarantee, and generally the results aren’t as good. If you do not yet have an affiliate marketing program, I strongly encourage you look seriously into starting one. n

Award-winning affiliate marketing expert Evgenii “Geno” Prussakov is the founder of AM Navigator, and chair of Affiliate Management Days conference -- the first and only professional forum on affiliate program management. He authored bestselling A Practical Guide to Affiliate Marketing (2007) and Affiliate Program Management: An Hour a Day (2011), and is an internationallyacclaimed speaker, consultant, and affiliate marketing evangelist.

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e - commerce

E-commerce Strategies fan base, followers and email subscribers. By offering such an incentive you are planting the seeds for future sales and new fans of your brand. Take advantage of the advertising opportunities social networks offer. Facebook ads, in particular, allow you to reach a highly targeted audience. Promoted tweets and YouTube videos are also great ways to help your deal stand out amongst the rest. Don’t keep your deal a secret-get it out there. You should also leverage these platforms for your customer service needs. Offering your customers the possibility to get in touch with you through the media sites they visit the most will prove your dedication to your clients and your desire to be available and communicate with them.

f you run an e-commerce business, your company’s strategic direction is most likely heavily relying on online marketing and advertising. However, just being present on the web doesn’t always cut it and you may need to think outside the box to reach your potential customers. The following strategies will help you make your online presence more direct and effective, reach more consumers and, ultimately, improve your bottom-line:

Bring On the Good Deals

Consumers are always looking for promotions and incentives, but how can your business offer deals without breaking the bank? A good way is to leverage second-tier products as promotional pieces to encourage customers to make their purchases. Bottom line: offering a low-cost incentive to your consumers will achieve the same gratification as a giveaway while also keeping your customers coming back for seconds.

Mingle in Social Media

Recognizing how to manage and leverage customer loyalty on your social media platforms will not only increase your brand presence, but also reap tremendous benefits. Social media allows you to interact with your consumers on one of the most dynamic platforms available. Your most ardent fans, brand opponents and casual observers share this interesting space; your voice should not be missing from that group. Your business should be creating consistently interesting and unique “insider” content for your Facebook and Twitter (amongst others) pages. Far too many brands just translate existing communications they sent through email, put in print or showed on TV, to social media. That’s a mistake. People are on social networks for fun, for a break and to discover or share something remarkable. Meaning, they can’t help but remark about it. Look to make your content engaging, amusing, or unexpectedly interesting. Make a game out of it or create a funny video. Regardless of your approach, your content will have the greatest reach if you give people a reason to share it. Also, take a cue from Groupon and seize the opportunity to invite in new customers with an irresistible offer. Make the offer exclusive to people who agree to stay in touch by offering incentives to those who “like” you, “follow” you, or subscribe to your newsletter. This will not only boost your sales for a day, but it will also give you an opportunity to build your

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Finally, be sure to spoil your brand supporters and existing consumers regularly with an engaged and proactive presence online as it will serve to motivate those influencers to spread your positive brand image and promote your business amongst their social circles.

Beyond Borders

For some U.S. e-commerce businesses, international consumers may not make up the bulk of their core sales. However, they are increasingly providing substantive revenue. Consumer’s perceptions of cross-barrier e-commerce have drastically improved in the last few years, and the millions of international consumers now represent power buyers in the U.S. markets. In fact, international orders are often not only high volume with high AOV, but also result in fewer returns. To ensure that your business is ready for the global marketplace, review your technology and services platforms to guarantee that you don’t run into any logistical challenges, especially during busy seasons. Ensure that the customer service team is prepared to address international shoppers for any issues regarding returns, shipping inquiries, payment options and potential custom surcharges.

Make It Mobile

Seventy-nine percent of smartphone consumers use their phones to help with shopping, from comparing prices, finding more product info to locating a retailer. To stay in front of your consumers make sure that your e-commerce store is mobile-friendly. Simplify the purchase process with a straightforward (and secure) checkout process. Then, utilize that platform for exclusive mobile features such as check-ins, GPS localization, SMS offers, or mobile store promotions via emails. If you have some time, you can also create a mobile application, which will directly drive product interest and sales. Some suggestions are product recommendation applications, gift lists, mobile loyalty programs, and QR codes for promotions. Optimize a shopper’s mobile experience and they will look to your store for impulsive mobile purchases moving forward. n

Sherry Ng is a Lead Strategist for the LF Commerce division at Lucid Fusion, a digital agency located in Irvine, CA.

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marketing

How Interactive Are You? The Growing Trend of Market Research Online How Would You Define “Social Online Community”? Everyone may have a different definition for what a social online community is. However, no matter how you define this type of online community, one key aspect remains consistent – communities allow marketers to facilitate conversations and engage consumers. There are many types of online communities: customer support, member affinity, channel enablement, etc.; and which type of community a company chooses to create is based on that company’s specific need. One specific type of community, among the various types of communities, is an interactive marketing online community. Interactive marketing online communities primarily serve to strengthen brand loyalty. Also, these communities are may be public, which means that consumers do not have to become members of the community to obtain access. The array of benefits that companies gain from deploying interactive marketing communities are abundant. Some of these benefits include, that companies are able to: • Understand the needs and wants of customers • Spread messages and increase brand awareness • Find enthusiastic customers and stimulate word of mouth • Increase sales through social commerce • Use customer feedback for product development and process improvement

Growing Type of Interactive Marketing Online Community In the social business realm, a growing aspect of interactive marketing communities is market research. These days, many market research firms are leveraging some type of community software to deploy what has been termed as “Market Research Online Communities” (MROCs). MROC is a term that Forrester Research coined in 2008 for private online communities used for qualitative market research. A MROC differs from a branded interactive marketing community in that its focus is on research, membership is primarily

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by invitation only (therefore the community is private), and the communities themselves may be of limited duration. The market research uses that can be deployed within MROCs include, but are not limited to: • Focus Group Exercises • Polls and Surveys • Forums • Ideation and Voting

MROCs help companies better understand their customers’ desires, needs, motivations and behaviors so that they can better market their products.

In addition, they allow you to have an ongoing discussion with your customers or target audience, swiftly find answers to questions without having to wait weeks or months for results, and involve more of the research or brand team as a part of the process. A great example of the use of MROCs comes from CORE4 Research. CORE4 Research is a fullservice research provider specializing in qualitative and quantitative shopper research. With the use of MROCs, CORE4 Research generates deep insights about consumer buying behavior for its customers through a cycle of ongoing feedback. CORE4 Research realized that consumers increasingly prefer to discuss brands online and via mobile devices, which creates significant opportunities for market research. The company decided to conduct research using social tools (blogs, videos, forums, surveys and more) that are familiar to shoppers and intuitive to use. In addition, CORE4 Research needed to quantify the value of market research for its clients. Its customers, including many Fortune 50 companies, expect continuous and deep insights

about consumer preferences that they can use to deliver on sales targets. The research provider deployed its online communities for targeted market research and actionable business analysis. Online communities provide an ongoing feedback loop where researchers can engage shoppers. With communities, social tools are able to transform research techniques for shelving, packaging, new product feedback and shopping habits. Social market research has even been taken a step further by CORE4 Research with an app that caters to its increasingly mobile consumers. Field Agent™, an app designed and created by a sister company of CORE4 Research, lets participants use their iPhones to contribute photos and feedback via their mobile devices. With online communities, CORE4 Research empowers its customers with market research that improves go-to-market strategies and increases sales. The company helps brands strengthen relationships with consumers, increase retail shelf space, create new product ideas and better understand shoppers. Plus, online communities deliver faster results at a lower cost; combining a community with a mobile shopping task is about half the cost of a traditional focus group with in-store shop-a-longs. CORE4 Research is just one of a growing number of companies using online communities for market research. According to the Fall 2011 GreenBook Research Industry Trends Report (GRIT), 2012 will bring massive growth of online communities in the field of market research. Since social is quickly becoming the new norm, this is just one of the small pieces to the social puzzle that will continue to develop and grow. n

With more than 20 years of leadership experience in enterprise software marketing, sales, business development and social strategy, Chief Marketing Officer Wendy Gibson uses her expertise and customer focus to guide Telligent’s continued success as the leading social community platform provider.

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seo

Estimate and maximize ROI on your SEO project

arketing is only considered effective based on Return on Investment (ROI), and SEO as a marketing vehicle, is always considered one of the best. Long term ROI from a competently executed SEO project is generally extraordinary and many companies owe their rich sales and profits to this fact.

Estimate Your Return On Investment (ROI)

Prior to spending your precious marketing budget on an SEO project predicting the likelihood for ROI on the project is a good idea. To perfectly predict ROI is impossible; but to get a general idea is reasonably simple. Sites involving big ticket sales, with good search volume, and a reasonably niche market are obvious good ROI candidates. Since most sites don’t fit this scenario, a simple mathematical approach works well. For most sites, a bulk of the available traffic resides in a subset of the potential keywords. Therefore, the task at hand is not as daunting as it may first seem. Further, a spreadsheet can be designed with the below formula to model revenue on your highest traffic keywords; modeling various scenarios of conversions, product margins, and keyword positioning.

Building an ROI Estimator for an E-commerce Site SEO project

Monthly margin per keyword = (Conversion Rate % x SERP position % x Monthly Search Traffic) x margin per sale Example: A site with a 1% estimated conversion, achieving the 3rd search position on the first SERP with 74,000 estimated exact match searches and having a $50 margin per sale will produce an estimated $3,633 margin per month per the below: (.01 x .0982 x 74000) $50 = $3,633 margin per month SERP Position 1 = 56.36 % SERP Position 2 = 13.45 % SERP Position 3 = 9.82 % Etc. • SERP Position % from a Cornell University distribution of clicks study October 26, 2006 An ROI can then be calculated based on the formula ROI = (increased margin from SEO investment – Cost of SEO) / Cost of SEO Note: Lead gen sites generally have a higher conversion rate but require a second conversion rate in the calculation for “% of leads closed” that needs to be added to the formula. As stated earlier, this estimate gives a general idea of the gain from an SEO project. However, there are other factors that cannot be calculated

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in a formula that will dramatically impact the ROI on a project.

Outsourcing Your SEO Project

Many companies struggle with the idea of outsourcing their SEO project or using a 3rd party vendor. Controlling the process by having in-house personnel that can be managed and monitored, combined with building institutional knowledge, is generally the argument for having an in-house SEO team. However, most companies don’t have the sales volume to support a team of focused and experienced SEO professionals. In this case, capitalizing on the experience and expertise an SEO company acquires from their success on many varied sites and markets, combined with a complete infrastructure of experienced professionals, will likely generate more first page results than a small in-house team.

Determine Cost vs. Results

Maximizing ROI on your project requires you to continually measure cost vs. performance and to occasionally do comparison tests. A good test to validate the performance of your in-house team is to outsource a subset of your keywords to an SEO company for comparison purposes. Likewise, comparing your current SEO company effectiveness, is as simple as getting some quotes and analysis from some other respected SEO companies. All reputable companies are only too willing to analyze your site and competitive landscape. This process will either validate your current approach or inspire you to test something different. Validation of an SEO test in most cases will be obvious in 60 to 90 days. Best wishes to you and the success of your SEO project! n

Arne Jacobsen is a veteran in the Search Engine Optimization industry and Senior SEO Specialist /Account Representative of VastVision.com which is an Internet Marketing Firm with the main objective of helping businesses achieve top search engine results placement, increased website traffic and ultimately increased ROI. Our goal is to produce extraordinary results with a reasonable budget & unquestionably provide the highest value for dollar SEO Services.

www.visibilitymagazine.com

social media

The Evolution of Facebook Marketing Where we’ve come from and where we’re going…

here are several key pieces of information you should know before you make your new website live, to ensure your traffic levels, sales or leads don’t disappear. Facebook launched in 2004. From its humble beginnings as ‘The Facebook’, created in a Harvard University dorm room, it surpassed all expectations and redefined what social interactions look like today. It is a wellknown and documented story how the social network rose rapidly in popularity, pushed global boundaries and broke into new markets; revolutionizing the way we communicate. But Facebook has done more than change the way we communicate; it has transcended individual interactions… and with this, changed the way that businesses are able to engage with consumers. It is encouraging businesses to create a voice, a face and a personality that both prospects and clients

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can relate to. This shift in marketing towards Facebook identifies a change in how businesses and their consumers interact. This article covers the journey and growth of Facebook as well as sharing important lessons on how to best use the platform for your business.

Facebook Ads

The Creation of Social Ads Facebook Advertising launched in November 2007 and is one of the most powerful advertising platforms available for business. Facebook Ads allow businesses to advertise to their exact demographic and leverage existing relationships within the platform. Advertisers can drive people to their website or to a Facebook Business Page. Facebook Ads are a cost effective way to market a business online as well as building a targeted and engaged Fan base (more about that shortly). Word of Mouth Marketing According to Constant Contact and

Chadwick Martin Bailey (September 2011) 56% of consumers who ‘Like’ a brand on Facebook are more likely to recommend that brand to a friend. Word-of-mouth marketing is undoubtedly one of the most powerful benefits that Facebook offers brands and businesses. One happy customer is likely to spread their good experience and recommendation to their friends. This recommendation is then likely to influence these same friends to choose or consider your business the next time they need your service. Leveraging Relationships Facebook Ads leverage the relationships of users to drive referral and word-of-mouth traffic to brands and businesses. According to Mashable (November 2011) the average Facebook user has 229 friends. If your Facebook Business Page has 1,500 Fans, and

Spring 2012

Visibility

these Fans on average each have 229 friends, the opportunity exists to reach thousands of potential customers. When a Facebook user ‘Likes’ your business page they are becoming a ‘Fan’ of your business and their action shows up in the News Feed for all their friends, family and colleagues to see. Additionally, when you acquire a new Fan you can advertise that fact to their entire network. With advertising, the news of this Fan liking your Page doesn’t just show up in their News Feed but as an Ad in the right hand panel to all their friends, leveraging their existing relationships and giving your business a stamp-of-approval. Demographic and Behavioral Targeting Facebook Ads allow you to target your ads to Facebook users based on the information they share on their personal profiles and what they do on Facebook. The more they share, the more effectively businesses are able to market to them based on their place of work, interests, age, relationship status and many more factors. Facebook currently offers the most unique platform for targeting specific demographics or behaviors in your advertising. For example: A wedding company can target people who have become engaged within the past 6 months (or 12 months), who enjoy the beach and ‘Like’ House and Garden

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Magazine on Facebook. Ad Types The Facebook Ads platform is constantly evolving. There are currently three ways of advertising: Website Ads, Business Page Ads and Sponsored Stories, with each providing various options for manipulating, targeting and creating ads. These include: Website Ads: These are Facebook ads that you can send anywhere on the Internet. Website ads offer more customizations within the ad itself, allowing you to customize the headline, image and description. Business Page Ads: These are ads that drive visitors to a Facebook Business Page instead of a website. The major difference between Website Ads and Business Page Ads is that you cannot edit the headline in Business Page Ads – it simply displays the name of your Facebook Business Page. Sponsored Stories: Sponsored Stories allow you to leverage the relationships of your Fan base by advertising to their entire network. When one of your Fans interacts with your business on Facebook, their interaction is advertised to their entire network. Sponsored Stories has three subcategories: • Page Like Story – appears when someone ‘Likes’ your Facebook Page

• Page Post Like Story – appears when someone ‘Likes’ a Facebook status update / post • Check-In Story – appears when someone ‘Checks-In’ to your business In our experience, the highest conversion rate is achieved through Business Page Ads and Sponsored Stories.

Facebook Business Pages

Why Facebook Business Pages Were Created Facebook Pages were borne out of the popularity of Facebook Groups. Shortly after Groups were introduced in 2004, businesses started utilizing Groups to create social spaces for their brand. Unfortunately this went against Facebook’s Terms of Use as Groups were meant to be dedicated areas for small groups of people, associations and causes, not brands or businesses. Business Pages (also known as ‘Fan Pages’ and ‘Likes Pages’) were launched in November 2007 as a place for businesses, brands, bands, artists and celebrities to communicate and engage with their Fans. Facebook Business Page Features • The ‘Like’ Button: Facebook created a way for their users to place their stamp of approval on businesses, websites, content, media, status updates and check-ins

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Facebook Places

The Launch of Facebook Places Facebook Places is a feature that allows Facebook users to ‘check-in’ at specific locations, whether it is a hotel, a public place or your favourite coffee shop. Facebook Places was launched in August 2010 and works in a similar way to FourSquare except that it is integrated into the Facebook platform. Facebook Places offers unique marketing opportunities for businesses, including:

through the ‘Like’ button. And with the development of the ‘Like’ button came the integration of social plugins for websites that allow website owners to build Facebook Fans directly from their website. ‘Like’ and ‘Send’ social plugins are automatically integrated within Facebook Business Pages and are easy to integrate with any website. • Facebook Landing Pages: Facebook allows businesses to design, develop and integrate landing pages within their Facebook Business Page. Launched in February 2011, this feature has had a huge impact on how businesses can utilize the Facebook platform. Landing pages allow for a customized message to be shared with Fans who first land on a Facebook Business Page. Landing pages also allow businesses to craft different messages for different demographic segments and can be aligned with specific Facebook Ad campaigns. Importantly, a Facebook landing page is essential for ensuring an effective visitorto-fan conversion rate. • Facebook Insights: Insights is Facebook’s analytics tool for Business Pages and provides valuable data on demographics, engagement levels and how Fans interact with content. The platform is continually evolving and was updated as recently as November 2011. Some of the recent additions to Facebook Insights include: • People Talking About This – the number of unique people who have created content about your Page on Facebook in the past week. This includes liking, sharing and commenting on status updates, as well as new Fans. • Weekly Total Reach – how many people were exposed to your messages across the past week. • Virality – How ‘viral’ your content is and how many people are ‘sharing’ your content.

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• Claiming: allows businesses with a set location to setup a Place Page or claim a page that has already been created by people checking-in. • Merging with Business Pages: Facebook Places can be merged with your Facebook Business Page allowing you to display the number of Check-Ins at your location on your business page. • Deals and Offers: In November 2010 Facebook launched the ‘Deals’ component of Facebook Places. The Deals feature allows users to check-in to a restaurant, supermarket, business etc… and be rewarded with a specific deal or offer. For example, Check-in and receive a 15% discount today only! • Support Causes: Facebook Places has been used by businesses for Corporate Social Responsibility campaigns. One example of this is businesses donating $1 for every person who checks in to their business on a specific day / month. • Sponsored Stories: Sponsored Stories ads can be used to advertise the fact that a Facebook user has checked-in to your business, and it advertises it to their entire Facebook network. In August 2011, Facebook Places was upgraded to allow users to share where you’ve been, where you’re headed and where you are now. The upgrade now allows check-ins to be made not just from mobile phones but also desktop computers and tablets.

What’s Next?

Facebook has evolved dramatically since launching in 2004. The marketing opportunities Facebook offers businesses is monumental, most notably Facebook Ads and Facebook Business Pages. Never before have businesses been able to target their consumers at such a granular level, and then communicate and engage with them in an open format that leverages their existing relationships.

As Facebook continues to evolve, there is no doubt that it will form a core component of any marketing strategy. Businesses who are utilizing Facebook effectively are beginning to reap the rewards that Facebook offers. And as the platform further evolves, these benefits will only increase. Is your business utilising Facebook? If not, why not… n

Brie Stewart, Social Media Marketer at Web Profits, lives and breathes social media and plays an integral role in building and executing social media campaigns. Through creative and innovative strategies, Brie focuses on building engagement and two-way conversations for businesses through social media platforms, predominately Facebook and Twitter.

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June 24-27, 2012

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upcoming conferences Refer to this guide for upcoming internet marketing conferences from across the globe.

April 19 - 20, 2012 | Mobile Payments & NFC World Summit Eaton Smart, Hong Kong

‘The total value of mobile payments for digital and physical goods, money transfers and NFC (near field communications) transactions will reach $670 billion by 2015, up from $240 billion this year, according to a study by Juniper Research. The study also said these forecasts represent the gross merchandise value of all purchases or the value of money being transferred. Juniper’s new Mobile Payment Strategies report revealed that all segments will exhibit “2x to 3x” growth over the next five years.

June 13 - 14, 2012 | CRE Awards and CSQS Leadership Summit Cosmopolitan, Hong Kong

The Customer Relationship Excellent (CRE) Awards has recognized many industry leaders and professionals for customer centric service innovation. The participants have come from more international cities and business sectors in both corporate and individual categories, all demonstrating their business successes, best practices and leadership on CRE.

April 25 - 27, 2012 | SME Internet Summit Suntec, Singapore

SME Internet Summit 2012 is the industry’s only summit dedicated to helping Small and Medium Enterprises realize the full potential of the Internet in driving their business. It is about increasing revenue and productivity, and ultimately thriving in these competitive and challenging times.

May 8, 2012 | International CTIA WIRELESS New Orleans, LA

CTIA is All Things Mobile. Now with new dates in May, International CTIA WIRELESS® is even better positioned to meet the needs of the global wireless marketplace. This bold move is more than a change of dates.

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June 13 – 14, 2012 | 4th Cloud Computing World Forum London

The Cloud Computing World Forum is the highest attended cloud event in Europe. It is the only place to discuss and learn about the latest trends in cloud computing, with the biggest names in the industry.

September 10 - 13, 2012 | The Internet Show Africa Johannesburg, South Africa

“Profitable internet business for all business” Africa’s only internet business event! It is a technology showcase exhibition where attendees meet, network and do business with internet business decision-makers from Africa’s big, medium & small enterprises.

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