Why would you jump in front of a train?

Well, to throw the switch that deflects that train (a massive traffic surge) into your switchyard (your website).

So, if we extend the metaphor - how do we know a train is coming?
You listen to the telegraph.

And since that feature isn't on anyone's iPhone - what we're really talking about here is listening acutely to the media.

Television, radio, web news outlets - these are all conduits for massive amounts of public (or business) attention.
Attention means traffic.

There is an opportunity to bend public attention to your benefit - but it requires nimbleness - a good reaction time.

For example; a financial planning client is offering a service related to investments.

Careful monitoring of the news reveals topics that are not quite on the public 'radar' (a new program proposed in a government budget, for instance). However, if you were to put out some feelers (perhaps a very low-bid paid search campaign) - you would be monitoring in near-real-time what search traffic is searching for.

When search heats up on any of these terms you have staked out - you can then respond by creating a more robust response by beefing up content on the site, having a specific landing page with relevant actions.

These strategies are persuasive arguments for;
1) employing a long-tail approach to keywords in your paid search efforts
2) quick turnaround on producing content, and
3) frequently reviewing website analytics

So next time that train is a-comin', you get some heads up - and are even awake at that switch.

Blogs are websites

The old-school way of thinking is that blogs are mickey-mouse versions of 'real' websites.
No more, and not in the future.

Blogs are displacing the classic website for a variety of compelling reasons.

The full-sized functionality of blog software, and the enormous uptake of the Open Source software movement opportunity, have made blogs directly compete with CMS - Content Management Software.

We've been using CMS to make easy-to-edit 'websites' for our clients. And guess what? Blogs ARE CMSes! They have many of the same features, and a lot of the underlying robustness required.

ContentRobot has some nice resources on this:
http://www.contentrobot.com/category/blogging/business-blogging

Mobility is one of the great technology themes of our time. Think about it - cellphones, laptops, the internets ... device location independence. Blogs equal mobility/independence of the authoring resource - it goes with you no matter where you are. A web browser, no proprietary software. Any time, any place.

Mobility - and democracy of use - are what will make blogs the indispensable replacement for the static web. Now your blog does what your business requires - not what the IT department has time for.

Keeping it simple - a manifesto

We've always been fans of keeping things simple.

In fact, we view complexity as a red-flag. Is there something we are not supposed to notice? Is there confusion about the central message?

We came across a tract written by our friends at 37signals - famous variously as being the developers of Ruby on Rails, a development environment, and such amazing products for business as Basecamp (project management) and HighRise (contact management).

Getting Real
...is a wonderful manifesto that can apply not only to software development, but any structured endeavor.

Declarations like 'Make it Smaller' and 'Be Relentlessly Truthful' give clues as to how these guys turn out crackerjack products - and still manage to write a book about the process!

Recommended reading.

Landing pages: people aren't stupid.

I'm reviewing the results from a recent Marketing Experiments on-line 'diagnostic clinic' of some submitted test websites. They talk about a formula that encompasses visitor 'friction', 'anxiety', propositions ... all well and good.

What really stands out is the potential upside of paying attention to where you have people land on your website. And what they see when they arrive - 'Landing pages'

So there's the diligent research into keywords, phrases, categories and segments (right?), then the up-front come-on of the PPC ads, tailored to those categories ..... then .... pphhhht (that's the sound of those deflated expectations).

People aren't stupid. They expect the promise (ad) to deliver - with content that is not only relevant, but engaging to *them*. Not configuring landing pages to dovetail with the finely tuned visitor categories ... well, that's just silly. And wasteful of marketing dollars.

So really, how do you implement a landing page strategy?
What if you are using a CMS? Problem?
Who can best create / publish / test / the pages so they can be weeded out, just like an Adwords ad?

Stay tuned. We have some on-the-ground experience to pass on...

DIY research: Google Search Insight

If you had an Adwords account, you might be able to patch this all together - but NOW, Google trending, searches, geo-targeting, categories and some actual numbers are all on call for the public.

Imagine that I sell tickets to the public in Ontario, and want to measure the pulse of public searches:
http://www.google.com/insights/search/#cat=590&q=&geo=CA-ON&date=today%203-m&clp=&cmpt=geo - Here is a pretty compelling list of Top Searches and Rapidly Rising.

I know, it's all cribbed from the formats of other providers - but that's what Google does best. Like the Japanese with technology, only everything is free. (I think I just dated myself there)

A good tool for an overview - but not a comprehensive tool. Still, Google is letting us peek under the hood more than ever before.

Search Engine Strategies 2008

I'm at the Toronto edition of SES 2008 and there is no question: there are a lot of companies in this space. Search marketing has become a multi-billion dollar business, almost overnight.

Why so popular? Well, it's hard to match the targeting, agility and return on your investment, as measured by business results.

Yet search marketing, as with most online marketing, can struggle to connect the dots when it comes to off-line actions. If you don't sell online, you have to be creative in terms of how you measure success - what actions exist (or can you put in place) to measure or indicate adoption, an engaged audience, and a message that 'sticks'?

There are a lot of promising secondary technologies on show; call forwarding, chat ... and many facilitative technologies, like profile matching. At Warren Huska Associates, we've been exposed to many of these, and deploy them when we determine they might serve a customer. Like anything else, we test (and negotiate for a free trial if one is not on offer!) - and measure results, so you can be assured that any given tool or technique is workin' for ya.
- - - - - - -
I still love the Yellow Pages tagline: "The Find Engine". Good for them.

Case Study: Traffic Segments

Use of Web Analytics to qualify traffic

Specialty clothing retailer

Challenged by our initial campaign results, the client was able to test, and then adjust their assumptions about ‘who’ the primary customers of their products were.

Mounting our web analytics on their existing website, we were able to demonstrate the sources of their most profitable traffic. By showing the relationship of keywords, search engines, and referrals, we were able to not only demonstrate where to focus resources, but identify previously unsuspected characteristics of a large segment of their visitors that 'converted' from visitors to customers.

The insight was that people that bought the specialty clothing were not, in fact, the people that used it. Who the purchase decider was - was in fact the caregiver or institution.

These new insights allowed them to re-deploy their marketing in a way that not only dramatically boosted their website inquiries and sales, but also meant they were able to eliminate wasteful spending.

Case Study: Analysis

Use of Analytics to drive conversions

Promotional products company

Conversion is that slippery state where the visitor makes the ‘buy’ or ‘action’ decision – which we were able to progressively refine for a client in a very highly competitive field.

Tuning the filters, campaigns and website itself yielded a continual improvement of results, where to best target their resources, and informed the client further about their most distinct offerings, as seem by the marketplace.

Case Study - Segments

Distinguishing segments (sources, campaigns, keywords)

National Renovation Brand

We validated their conventional ad agency consumer segments - quite a nifty trick given the expense of the agency effort, and even added additional new categories to target revealed with online marketing research.

An additional benefit - demonstrated returns on investment (or not) of specific pre-existing external marketing campaigns, effectively auditing the performance of POS, print and media buys. Our client was able to lay out powerful decision support tools to measure strategic results.

Case Study: Traffic

International ticket vendor

Achieved immediate profile: was instantly featured in selected worldwide online publications, blogs and networks, and generated new customers in markets previously unknown to them.

Careful allocation of resources kept their return on investment at 2000%.

The Drill-Down #1: What? / Why? (Traffic)

1) Website traffic:

Are you merely a showboat?

Just getting people to your website is easy – but it can be very costly, and spectacularly ineffective.

Any number of schemes can flood your site with viewers – but what are you paying for? Can you tell what is happening? Are there hidden penalties?

‘Relevant traffic’ means visitors are already interested in what you have to offer. Relevance is determined by proper research and filtering – creating a storehouse of market research you can use everywhere. We keep you relevant – and your name off blacklists and spamlists.

‘Just traffic’ is overrated and misunderstood.

The Drill-down #2: What? / Why? (Analysis)

2) Site Traffic Analysis:

Which way to downtown?

Measurement is critical – do you want only visitors from Bay Street? Do you want visitors who patronize financial publications, but only those who have a higher historical probability of interest in investments?

What traffic is relevant? Measure it. Test it. Modify it in real time.

The Drill-Down #3: What? / Why? (Conversions)

3) Conversion Analysis:

That was fun – um, did we make any money?

And this is the big secret. With traffic, with analysis, - it is all assumptions until you can measure against your business goals. Are you getting referrals, leads? Do these convert to sales? Or just increase your costs?
Only then can you work back to determine what sources of traffic are worth paying for: most relevant, most cost-effective, and able to generate continued growth.

Hold your online results to business standards.

Your online presence should be a source of pride - for the results it generates your business.

Whether you need to generate leads, disseminate news, provide information, or merely polish your image, Warren Huska Associates has the experience to improve your organization’s online visibility and results.

In-depth understanding of your unique business challenges allows us to position you in the right places, in front of the right people, at the right times. delivering remarkable precision, and constant refinement. Refined information about your market that you can take to the (marketing) bank.

Our Process: a step-by-step

You can take away 'Our Process' as homework: what do you know, or think you know, about your online marketplace?

A typical engagement starts with:

Business Research Interview
Your viewpoint on your markets:

• what makes you unique, distinctive,
• what are the major drivers in your industry,
• who do you feel are your main and indirect competition,
• what are known and assumed audience influencers,
• and what are the audience segments you are currently aware of

Business Web Marketplace Profile
Obtain all the information that will allow you to craft winning messages:

• Unique propositions,
• distinctive characteristics,
• industry influences and trends,
• who is really the competition,
• revealed audience factors and segments

Campaign
Put all this good stuff on the road and monitor, test, and refine:

• Campaign design - use existing website as baseline
• Campaign launch
• Campaign monitoring and adjustment
• Campaign review (1,2,3 week, 1 per month)
• Website campaign modifications - high-value indicated modifications to organization, features and content
• Website search profile improvement - fold in learning from campaigns, monitor and adjust to seasonality