July 18th, 2007 elitani
by Michael Fleischner
If you practice Internet marketing, you know the importance of a high-converting “landing page”—also called a promotional page, jump page, or squeeze page. Effective development of these pages is essential for online marketing success.
After a click from within a Web browser on a search-engine-generated link (organic or paid), the user is directed to a Web site or jump page.
Depending on your promotional tactics, you may be using pay-per-click marketing to generate signups, inquiries, or sales. Regardless of the specific purpose, one fact remains the same—you want the user to take some type of action.
In the steps that follow, I will share some landing-page best practices for increasing conversion rates and getting users to take the action you’re hoping for.
Keep the following concepts in mind when designing your jump page:
Big, Bold, Relevant Headline
If you don’t catch the attention of the browser with a big, bold, headline that is relevant, nothing else matters. This is why expert marketers test multiple jump pages at once—to see which page proves most relevant to those who are browsing.
If a user is searching for tinker toys, the headline should be targeted accordingly—rather than saying, for example, “Hey, check out these toys you can build with.” Doing so is not particularly relevant, and as a result individuals will never get past the first few sentences of your jump page.
Use Visuals
If people have to read beyond your headline and sub-headline before understanding what you’re selling (or offering), you’ll have a difficult time getting them to read any further. This is where visuals come in. Pictures can convey your message quickly and with less effort. Make sure your jump page goes beyond plain text and integrates visuals—a different colored font, pictures, or video.
Testimonials Sell
Would you buy a product you’ve never heard of? What if your best friend told you all about it? People like to buy based on recommendations. This is particularly true of online purchases.
Getting validation from like-minded individuals removes fear and breaks down skepticism. There are a variety of ways to share a testimonial that work (photo and quote, audio recording, video).
Provide Something for Free
Encourage action by offering something free in exchange for name and email address. If you’re actually selling a product from your page, consider giving added bonuses for making a purchase. The more you offer at the price point you’ve identified, the more value you create for your potential customer.
Time-Bound/Limited Offers
Create a sense of urgency with an offer that is only valid for a short time. You may also make your offer available to a limited number of new registrants. Either method works for creating urgency and encouraging a purchase.
You will need to test your time-bound offers to identify the time frame that works best for your potential customer base. The same is true for limited-time offers.
Offer Multiple Payment Options
Believe it or not, some marketers only provide one way for prospective customers to order their product or service. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t work that way, nor should it.
Give users multiple options for how they pay: from credit cards to PayPal, the more the merrier. Also, be sure to include an 800-number for any questions they may have.
Test, Test, Test
No matter how good you think you are, you can always do better. Be sure to test your control page in an effort to improve conversions each time. This ensures that your business will continue to grow and you’ll better understand what works and what doesn’t with your target audience. It will also help you better understand seasonal trends.
* * *
Creating an effective jump page is essential for successful online marketing. Begin with a basic page that follows the criteria mentioned above. Test multiple pages to determine which has the highest conversion rate, and continually tweak the page to improve results.
Doing so ensures that your jump pages will continue to produce long into the future.
Posted in Online Marketing- International | No Comments »
July 15th, 2007 elitani
By Claire Ferris-Lay
Fans of social networking phenomenon Facebook can continue to use the website in the UAE despite fears of an impending ban.
A spokesperson for the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) told Arabian Business that there are “no plans” to ban the second most visited website in the Emirates. “There have been no complaints made about Facebook and there are no plans to stop people using it as of now,” he said.
The future of Facebook looked doubtful following last week’s ban of Orkut.com after a number of complaints were made about sexually explicit material found on the site.
The Google-owned website, designed to reunite friends and keep users in touch with each other, has been banned once before. Mohammed Gheyath, director of Technical Affairs at the TRA said: “Orkut was initially blocked and unblocked before the TRA took over the responsibility of the internet content management.
“The recent blocking decision was based on public requests. The TRA examined the content and then decided to instruct the operators to block the website,” he said.
Gheyath continued: “Websites that offend morals, ethics and values are the ones targeted. Social networking websites, not containing offending material, will not be the subject of any observation from the TRA.”
Originally intended for American university students, Facebook was created in February 2004 by Harvard student Mark Zukerberg.
By the end of the month more than half of the undergraduate population at Harvard were registered on the service.
The site has since become a worldwide smash hit, with 30 million members and average daily hits upwards of 150,000. It is surpassed only by website MySpace.
The UAE has only recently dropped a ban on other sites including MySpace and the video sharing website, YouTube. Meanwhile Maktoob.com and faye3.com have recently teamed up to develop their own Arab social networking site to rival Facebook.
The two sites are working on a joint initiative aimed at providing a service that will allow Arab communities to link up online and share contacts.
Posted in Online Marketing- Middle East | No Comments »
July 13th, 2007 elitani
These are flush times for online marketers.
Internet ad spending grew by a third from 2005 to 2006, according to the Interactive Advertising Bureau and PricewaterhouseCoopers (IAB/PwC).Online ad spending revenues totaled $16.8 billion in 2006, up from $12.5 billion in 2005.
eMarketer benchmarks its own online ad spending estimates against IAB/PwC data. The full-year actual total surpassed eMarketer’s 2006 estimate of $16.4 billion by $400 million.
“It’s been a long time since any medium had three years in a row of 30%-plus ad spending increases,” notes eMarketer senior analyst David Hallerman. “With a 34% gain in 2006, as the new research from IAB/PwC shows, the Internet now matches cable TV from 1983 to 1985 and broadcast TV from 1952 to 1954 for such strong, long-term spending increases.”
Mr. Hallerman added, “Such comparisons to TV advertising are apropos, since online video grabbed everyone’s attention in the past year.”
The growth is not stopping, either, although it is expected to slow. eMarketer estimates that online ad spending will reach $36.5 billion in 2011. That is 13% more than the estimated 2010 total of $32.3 billion.
Looking at those sources that provide several years’ worth of projections, the similarity in the expected trend in online ad spending is apparent, even when the absolute levels vary. A consensus around reduced but still robust growth is very clear.
At varying points over the next three years, Forrester Research, JupiterResearch, Oppenheimer, PricewaterhouseCoopers and Borrell Associates actually see positive growth slipping into the single digits for the first time since the dawn of Internet advertising in the 1990s.
eMarketer’s estimates are more optimistic for three reasons. One, even if the overall economy shows weakness, the increasing audience time spent online and the need for advertising to match that audience will mean shifts away from other media, most notably newspapers and radio. Two, the greater targeting and tracking of advertising online, relative to other media, make spending there far more justifiable in a soft economy. Three, as formats such as online video advertising become more widely used, large brand marketers who have up to now only dipped their toes online will devote increasingly greater budget shares to the Internet.
Posted in Online Marketing- International | No Comments »
July 13th, 2007 elitani
Web 2.0 Revenue Model: The same Underpants Gnome Problem?
Via Steve Rubel, Marketwatch’s Frank Barnako mentions that Rocketboom is still searching for a viable revenue model with Rocketboom founder Andrew Baron mentioning that “It’s frustrating that we haven’t worked it out by now”.
For a website that has “200,000 downloads of Rocketboom shows, seven days a week”, this sounds like troubling news. But why is a “Web 2.0″-ish website still relying on tradition advertising models? Why the concentration on visitors, hits and downloads? Sounds very Dot-Com mindshare/Underpants Gnome (YouTube/Wiki).
Web 2.0 websites like social media websites have very poor CTR rates for traditional online ads compared to more “old school” online media. Assuming that ValleyWag’s report on Facebook is accurate, its very poor indeed. I would assume that a geek/tech vlog would experience similar issues.
Ads for Engagement not Eyeballs?
Rather than focusing on eyeballs, what about engagement of the audience?
Many of my colleagues at e-Storm have been pushing this idea around and its nice to see Shannon Clark do a great comment on it on Steve Rubel’s post:
“I listen to a lot of podcasts - one thing that Podshow at least is doing well in min estimation is in directly incorporating their advertisers into the CONTENT of the shows (generally by discussion of the advertiser by the hosts of the various shows). It is still clear what is being paid for - and as a viewer I have a stronger connection with the host - and thus at least a positive impression of the various brands (because they are supporting a show I enjoy). That said, I personally would prefer that brands which I had more interest in were supporting various shows.”
The content publisher can also go forward and directly ask the audience (via polls, voting, personal preference) the type advertisement the user wants: travel, electronics, BMW 355i, geek furniture etc.
This type of “push (giving advertisements to the audience) & pull (letting the user chose what type of advertisement)” creates good value for both the consumer (gets a commercial that he/she is at least interested in) and advertiser (gets the advertisement to someone who is actively interested). Hopefully, this would translate to higher CPM/CTR/CPA rates for the publisher and better conversion of the advertiser.
In practice, this would translate to a user being able to choose the pre-roll they would see before viewing an online video - this can be chosen on the spot or via registration. Assuming a registered user model, the publisher would have valuable demographic information to better sale ad space to niche advertisers.
This is all not original thinking I know, but it is one that more folks should considered if Rocketboom’s troubles become more common in the Web 2.0 world.
Posted in Online Marketing- International | No Comments »
July 8th, 2007 elitani
posted by Samih Toukan
The power of the Internet lies in enabling individuals and small businesses to do business and to communicate more efficiently with customers in a very cost effective manner. A clear example of this in the region is souq.com .
Souq.com the auction site of Dubai and Jordan and soon to be launched in other Arab countries, enables sellers to setup shops from home at no cost. It provides them with two pillars of the business : infrastructure and customers. People are being able to setup their shops online (infrastructure) and sell to customers (buyer traffic on the site) from the comfort of their home.
There are many examples of small businesses that has setup on souq.com and other examples of individuals who are making money by selling items on the market place. One example worth noting is a woman top seller from Abu Dhabi who created her own business and is selling items on souq.com. She gained good ratings through the reputation system that souq provides and buyers are now comfortable to buy goods from her.
The example of souq.com is a great example of enabling the people and we hope many other businesses will start realizing the power of the net in enabling individuals and businesses to communicate and do business online at lower costs. This is exactly what we need in the Arab world.
Posted in Online Marketing- Middle East | No Comments »