WEB MARKETING THAT IMPROVES THE ODDS

How do you budget for your website? "Get a few quotes" is the normal response. That, surprisingly, is probably the worst thing you can do. There's a cookie cutter process (we'll call it CCP) that graphic designer-led web developers use that is almost always based solely upon graphic design and coding. Typically, this may be 70% graphic design and 30% coding = price. There's often reference to SEO being 'built in' to the design but this should sound warning bells, since without resaerch this is meaningless.

If you want a 1999 style web brochure, and you've got very deep pockets to get visitors to your website, then the CCP approach may work for you. But if you want traffic, conversions, visitor engagement and an ROI then it's a no-no.

The plan for monetizing your website should never happen after the site is built. It should be the reason the site is built, and the blueprint for building it.

What's the alternative to CCP? Well, effective websites usually comprise 1.) research to find a viable keyword niche (not to be confused with 'research' that simply counts search volume; 2.) wireframing, where the site is built with (gulp) NO creative to figure out the SEO structure, usability and call for action(s); 3.) initial content population, to determine how it presents, keyword optimization and structure options for the target mediums (browser, phone, PS3 ....+ whatever); 4.) then, and only then, creative development to skin the content in a way that reflects your ID and desired market position; 5.) testing, to discover what search engines actually see Vs what you perceive they see; 6.) social networking linkages; 7.) a content development plan since you will not outrank incumbents without providing enough relevant content; 8.) Link building (in certain markets), since popular sites outrank isolated ones.

What does this all mean? It means that if you have a limited budget, don't blow it on graphic design. CCP is 70% graphic design, 30% coding and 0% consideration of your ROI. Consider setting a budget of 10% for creative and you'll spend your money much more wisely. The process should always start with research, never with graphic design.


Pursuit of the Original - why web design doesn't always need to be original

A lot of web designers strive to be original, to make each site design unique. The motivation is to differentiate yourself as a creative artist. This is a worthy goal, but (like the call of the mythological Sirens) the call to continuous creative originality can also be deceiving. It leads many virtuous designs onto the rocks.

The fundamental problem is: most truly new things (ideas, products, or genetic mutations) fail. That is the way of the world.

Now visited by over two-thirds of the global online population, 'Member Communities,' which includes both social networks and blogs, has become the fourth most popular online category – ahead of personal email.

• One in every 11 minutes online globally is accounted for by social network and blogging sites.
• The social network and blogging audience is becoming more diverse in terms of age: the biggest increase in visitors during 2008 to 'Member Community' Web sites globally came from the 35-49 year old age group (+11.3 million).
• Mobile is playing an increasingly important role in social networking. Nielsen found UK mobile Web users have the greatest propensity to visit a social network through their handset, with 23 percent (2 million people) doing so, compared to 19 percent in the US (10.6 million people).
  
• These numbers are a big increase over last year – up 249 percent in the UK and 156 percent in the US.

Full Neilsen article

Richard Branson sees a once-in-a-century opportunity to challenge seemingly invincible companies and brands.


Don't be gloomy; the time is just right to be like me - Times Online

Fortunes are made out of recessions. A lot of entrepreneurs get going in the economic depths because the barriers to entry are lower.

Times were good. For many 'it was the best of times' with no qualifier. Opportunities were low-hanging fruit. Consumer behaviour had gotten predictable. Many businesses had no need for marketing. They were at or over capacity. This has left many gaps in the market for online search. One client, in a major US State, was amazed when we told him that nobody had optimised for 'builder, [city]'. He now gets a steady stream of leads that has kept him afloat. Another, a software vendor, has modified his program to cater for the growth in job seeking (see the stats below).

Early beneficiaries of the downturn are fast food joints. All over the western world, demand for burgers and pizzas has gone up faster than you can say 'calorie density'. Anyone for low price 'fine dining'? Want to piggyback on 'pizza' search terms?

Health clubs subs would be the first to go in a downturn. Right? Well, no actually, they have gone up in every recession. It seems that without the structure of a job to go to, the gym equals the place to go think. Without overtime, the opportunity to go to the gym is there. In the USA, Health clubs have become big business. Multi state clubs can't optimise for local markets. Check out the gaps.


Americans’ Online Search Behavior Points to Significant Increase in Personal Financial Turmoil

Searches for several terms related to the economic downturn showed dramatic gains during the past year. Among the most notable increases were searches relating to the deteriorating job market, including searches using the term “unemployment” (up 206 percent to 8.2 million searches) and “unemployment benefits” (up 247 percent to 748,000 searches). Meanwhile, terms relating to personal asset situations, including “mortgage” (up 72 percent to 7.8 million searches), “bankruptcy” (up 156 percent to 2.6 million searches), and “foreclosure” (up 67 percent to 1.4 million searches) also grew strongly. And Americans, resilient as they are, are seeking ways to save money, as evidenced by the increase in the number of searches for “coupons” (up 161 percent to 19.9 million) and “discount” (up 26 percent to 7.9 million).

The demise of the glossy magazine may be matched with reciprocal growth in their online equivalents.


Web publishers see a burgeoning opportunity in womens' content - DMNews

Women's sites were one of the fastest growing Web site categories in 2008, gaining 46% more unique visitors than that category saw in 2007, according to ComScore. Their growth rate is only 4% behind job search sites, the leading category in that stat, and the 102,146,000 total unique visitors to women's sites trumped job sites by 18,826,000.