Solid Gold Data: Mining Metrics

Keepin' An Eye On the Competition.

Data mining is the practice of collecting and storing information in humongous data bases. The information is gathered from opt ins, on-line surveys, forms and other “voluntary” means of collecting information, usually from customers and buyers and about customers and buyers.

Who uses data mining? Retail outlets, insurance companies, banks, airlines and other industries that not only collect data, but derive benefit from analyzing that data in a scientific, systematic manner to improve service and profit margins. And if it works for the big guys, it’ll work for you (only on a slightly smaller scale).

What are we looking for?

Using data mining technology, industries are looking for trends before they become trends. Relationships between customer A and widget B. Patterns of activity, unusual events – the list is endless and growing all the time.

The fact is, billions and billions of pages are stored on computers and billions of those billions of pages are available through any search engine. And while this information can help your on-line activities in a general way, data mining your own historical repository of data will reveal useful information about activities closer to home – yours!

If you’ve been in business on-line for any length of time, even a couple of years, you’re sitting on solid gold marketing data. Your database of customers and what they bought, where they live and how they pay. And you can use an analysis of this information to improve the performance of your web site.

How can it help me?

Probably the most useful way data mining will help small- to mid-sized site owners is by defining the target demographic – the characteristics of most buyers. Men or women? Age? Zip code? Income bracket? Using data harvesting and analytic software, you’ll quickly be able to develop a picture of that perfect buyer – the one who buys the most, most often.

This information equips you to develop marketing campaigns targeted specifically at your key demographic. If you’re selling knitting supplies, using a Harley-Davidson as the centerpiece of your e-mail campaign probably won’t pull as much as a nice picture of a kitten playing with a ball of yarn. Data harvesting enables site owners (and huge media and retail conglomerates) to target their marketing with pinpoint precision. (You don’t think those Gap ads were created by accident, do you?)

Interactive Marketing

Of most importance to on-line business owners, interactive marketing appeals to visitors to your web site. What can visitors do? Where can they go? What can they learn? And see?

By analyzing harvested data, you can track the movements of site visitors to determine which features draw attention and which are just taking up space. “Google Analytics” will even perform the analysis for you, indicating in GUI form which site pages attract attention and which are quickly passed over.

For on-line retailers, this kind of analysis defines your most valuable digital real estate and, obviously, this is where you’d place your most popular or profitable products, announcements of upcoming sales and other “targeted” information.

Is it working?

It would be nice to know if your Adsense program was pulling better than your banners placed on a dozen different sites. Data harvesting will give you the answer quickly once you establish a baseline.

The baseline is what’s happening now – the status quo. With an established baseline, you have a yardstick by which to measure whether your PPC program should get more dollars while your click-through rate on banners isn’t worth the money you’re spending.

Is it bogus?

Large, on-line (and real world) retailers use data harvesting to better detect fraudulent activity. For example, MasterCard will quickly contact cardholders in whose accounts unusual activity has occurred. For example, using data harvesting, the credit card company knows you’ve never made a purchase of anything in Taiwan. Then, in a matter of two hours, 23 transactions from Taiwan all show up on your card. Now that’s called an anomaly – something out of the ordinary.

The MasterCard program continues with follow through. The cardholder of the account in question is likely to get a call from a MasterCard representative to see if, indeed, you did purchase 23 racing bikes in Taiwan within the past 24 hours. If not, they can often void the transaction before it actually takes place.

Will it make my customers happier?

Much. You’ll be ahead of the curve on spotting trends so you’ll have the latest when visitors come to shop. You’ll be able to better predict seasonal buying patterns for your particular goods or services. You’ll be able to improve warehousing, order handling, inventory management and more – even if the inventory is stored in a spare bedroom.

Where do I get this wonderful tool?

You’ve got the data – or at least you should have it, if you’ve been in business for a while. That customer data just needs to be analyzed to better equip you to refine your site, better target your ideal buyer, identify trends ahead of the competition, better identify fraud and deliver the precise product at the precise time to the exact right buyer. Metrics and analytical software, like Google Analytics, will help crunch the raw data into meaningful results.

If you haven’t started using the information you have on your hard drive, you’re wasting some of the best information you’ll ever have concerning the success of your business.

Use it or lose it.

Need more information on what your competitors are upto? Who doesn't. Call me or drop me a line and let's mine that gold.

Accessibility: It's What a Blog is All About

Is your web site accessible?

Accessibility, when discussing web sites, includes a number of factors: easy navigation, understandable site text, no dead ends requiring a browser back click to escape (lots of users don’t even know browsers HAVE a back click).

Let’s start with the bottom line- yours: the easier it is for a site visitor to perform the most desired action (MDA), the more times that MDA will be performed.

Let’s Start With Navigation

Whether you go with a navigation bar at the top of the screen or a menu list in the first column far left, your navigation must be:

• simple
• unambiguous
• truthful
• always available
• always in the same location

Avoid numerous tabs, drop-down or flyout menus. Keep it simple. If visitors are faced with too many choices too soon on arriving at the site, chances are they’ll bounce.

Keep the navigation unambiguous. It’s routine to have a "Contact Us” page on a web site. If you label the contact link “Company Authority,” visitors are going to be totally confused. And again, bounce.

Truthful is just what it says. If the link says “Product Descriptions,” don’t make the visitor read through another landing page of sell copy. Deliver what the link says and go directly to the products.

Always available is an aspect of keeping visitors on site longer, and the longer they stick around, the more likely they are to perform the MDA. So, the navigation bar or menu should be available from every page so the visitor can surf at will, unencumbered by what YOU think the visitor wants to know.

Finally, keep the nav tabs in the same place. Don’t move them from bar to menu and back to bar. The last thing you want is a visitor trying to figure out how to return to the contact page to make contact.

Keep it simple. The fewer clicks required to get the visitor to perform the MDA, the better. So, go through the process and eliminate every unnecessary side road, dead end and yet another landing page.

Accessible Content

If your client site is for a professional medical dispenser, you can assume that the visitors have some knowledge of the subject, i.e. you don’t have to start from square one. But you still have to stay on target pointing out the benefits of buying the client’s medical products.

On the other hand, if you’re writing text for a hearing aid retail outlet, accessible text is understandable by the reader. So first, toss the thesaurus. Find the simplest, shortest way to say what needs to be said about products and services.

Be helpful and supportive to the new visitor. Make things simple to find, simple to learn and simple to bookmark. Returning visitors are gold. Eventually they buy something so earning a bookmark is a very good thing.

Skip the hype. Educate the visitor using simple terms, no jargon and listing benefits rather than features. This is the stuff site visitors want to know.

Finally, lay out the text so it can be scanned rather than read. No big, long paragraphs. Visitors scan from upper left to lower right so put your most important info upper left on the screen.

The easier it is to buy something, opt-in for a newsletter, or to complete a form, the more often those MDAs are performed. So make it as simple as possible (why do you think Amazon offers a one-click checkout? How easy can it be?).

Accessibility benefits both site owner and site visitor – a win-win. Also a no brainer.

Need some help with your website? NP. Visit my site and let's get down to work.

Hey, Where the Heck Did I Go? SEO Disappears From Blog!!!

Apologies for not tending to this blog more frequently. I keep two other blogs active and this poor, lonesome pile of pixels seems to be neglected. So much to do, so little time.

So, where the heck did I go and what can we learn from this unexplained absence?

Working for a Livin'

Love Huey Lewis and the News. Any way, I've been writing for clients whose checks clear. And the topics are all over the board, from selling services in a small community to knowledge management and its inherent bias. (Actually the most fun of all.)

Here's the point: you never know what's going to float over the transom and land on your desk so (1) remember every inane fact and statistic you ever hear and (2) learn to use the web to research 'cause if it's been wrote it's somewhere on line.

If you want to do this for a living, or at least make it worth your time, you have to be able to conduct research quickly - plow through an academic article and make sense of some technology you never heard of. So, first I've been working and that's always a good thing for a good copywriter. Oh, and blogs take second place to a check that clears.

Flogging My Blogs

In addition to this little piece of heaven, I post to two other blogs and have a website that is the ultimate landing spot for prospects. So, I post to my other two blogs more frequently and the more I (or you blog) the faster you get indexed. It's amazing. I can post this little riff this morning and this afternoon they'll be and e-mail alert in my in-box. I love search engines.

But search engine bots get tired of coming back and seeing the same-old same-old. So, add a post now and then. In this case, I post 4-6 times on my other blogs and that drives more traffic to my site than Google organic for my primary keyword - freelance seo copywriter. 

Off-site blogs  create more targets for surfers. Just make sure that all of your contact points are linked so your blogs are tied to your Linkedin profile, MySpace, twitter, etc. This creates your own little weblet, which in turn, creates a larger presence on the web and more site traffic

And I've seen a nice little jump in my alexa.com numbers, my google analytics and I've gotten three new gigs in the past month from folks who saw a blog post, a piece of syndicated content or an answer on Linkedin - all free, guerrilla marketing.

So, I am sorry for being absent but I have been working building SERPs links. Last time I checked i was over 1,800.

Get the picture?

Twitter: Technology At Light Speed

Twitter has been around about as long as the jar of pickles in my fridge yet, in its short existence, Twitter has evolved into an industry with widgets, gadgets and plugins so the whole world now knows what I had for breakfast.

However, Twitter – described as “IM on steroids” – is a perfect example of how new technology remains a growth industry, web-wise.

Twitter Evolves

When the service first hit the web, people posted inane stuff. “I’m at the airport.” “I just finished a three 3 bartinni lush.” “Barack rocks.” Who cares? But, in very short order Tweets figured out various ways to use Twitter to drive traffic to sites, blogs, webinars and every other destination a Tweet can reach.

There’s actually a lot of good stuff posted in those 140 character blocks and each day, Twitter users are finding new uses for this potent outlet. I use it to flog my blogs, announce posts to SEOmoz (are you listening, Rebecca?) and other posts to content syndication sites. ezine.com offers a service that automatically posts accepted submissions – a little side benefit for the author and, of course, for ezine’s Chris Knight, a voracious Tweet. Knight uses Twitter to drive new submissions and, as such, he’s one of the most popular Tweets.

And now, introducing Twitter Spam. Spitter? It needs a name. Any way, companies are now collecting Tweets like baseball cards. Some businesses have 10,000+ Tweets – direct links to an audience made up of potential buyers who signed up to “Follow” XYZ Plumbing” and its daily specials.

And all of this has happened in a matter of 24 months.

The Twitter Industry

If you Google Twitter gadgets you’ll get a couple hundred thousand hits. You’ll also develop a long list of Twitter-related sites that offer Twitter-related services – including Twitter metrics.

Twitseeker provides a lot of data on individual tweets – your 140-character posts including your name and a link to your site or blog, an –ever expanding category cloud and a simple click to link function that enables you to follow Tweets with similar interests.

Twitterholic parses stats as you grow in popularity among other Tweets. Today, CNN ranks #1 among Twitterers followed by Barack Obama. (Don’t bother sending a direct message to the President. He hasn’t answered one of the 3,287 I’ve sent him, though I did get a visit from some nice Secret Service folks.)

Tweetstat does a couple of things. First, it takes Twitter mobile for Twitter junkies who can’t go10 minutes without checking in. The site also provides simple metrics associated with your tweeting activity and those whom you’ve opted to follow. BTW, avoid the collectors – the Tweets who send out automated connects (yes, that’s now part of the Twitter culture) followed by an automated “thank you and let’s hook up” return Tweet (RT). I’ve had to block a number of Tweets I chose to follow because my Twitter page was crammed with Twitter Spam.

One of the most cleaver, Twitter-based sub-services is Twibes. It’s like “American Idol” for Twitter users. It’s also a big, gigantic chain letter. Here’s the deal.

A follower selects you and nine other Tweets as his or her favorites. You’re promptly notified “I chose you as my favorite” by email. The email also encourages you to “return the favor” by nominating your friend. However, to do so, you have to nominate 10 total Tweets who, in turn, receive the email and on and on and on. Great marketing and another way to call attention to yourself. Twibes even hawks a book for $5 called “Twitter Trick: How To Get More Followers.”

Finally, to keep all this connectivity organized, check out Tweetdeck. This software displays all posts from those you follow, direct messages and @ replies – public messages directed specifically to you.

It also shrinks URLs down to size, saving a few characters for text.

Twitter is bound to grow in impact in the hours ahead. There are Tweet blogs where you’ll discover “tweet secrets,” and more and better uses will be found for this tool.

If you don’t already, consider Twitter. Maybe you can figure out how to make more of what’s already sprouting up around this communications technology growing at light speed.

Six Places to Earn Money for Your Words

The need for content, both in print and on the web, is massive even in this tanking economy. If anything, the bad business climate has companies scrambling for new marketing outlets, most on line.

And that means work for you. Here are six places that are actually looking for writers and are willing to pay them – in real dollars!. So, if you can string words in to sentences, you can earn money for your efforts. Check out these outlets for content.

1. odesk. Odesk is an outsource hook-up site, connecting service buyers and providers. The site has a number of categories – site design, coding and writing.

Just looked and there are over 200 gigs listed on odesk this morning, divided into general categories to make your search for a gig that much easier. Tech writer? 74 job listings on odesk this morning.

What are you waiting for?

2. Elance. Perhaps the most widely-known outsource hook-up site, Elance has taken strides of late to improve its image in this web space. Many of the writing jobs are for words by the pound. I saw one job – 1000 articles – top bid $500! That’s 50 cents an article.

However, if you’re good you can cherry pick the buyers looking for quality over quantity. Bid low until you gain some feedback from happy buyers. Then up your price gradually.

3. Helium. You don’t think of Helium as a paying site. It’s a content syndication site, right? Well, that’s the biz’s bread and butter but the site also posts paying gigs. You’re competing against a lot of other writers but the site is flogging the fact that one woman made $5K in six months writing for Helium.

Sounds perfect for the work-at-home parent. No commitment.

4. Guru. Another outsourcing site that’s coming up fast. The quality of its postings has improved meaning better paying gigs for you. Again, these on-line sites have postings that change daily so keep going back to see what’s new.

They’re all ideal for part-timers and newbs looking to gain experience and creds.

5. Your local newspaper. The local Picayune is desperate for content. A friend of mine, a Registered Nurse, writes a weekly health column for the local rag. $50 bucks a week. Now, given the amount of time said friend works on her columns – interviews, research, first and second draft, she makes less than minimum wage.

But she’s got a clip book – one that adds to her credibility as a writer – a reliable writer who can hit a deadline every week for years – even if she only gets $50 a week. It’s the creds that count here.

And those clippings can be compiled into a book on health and wellness since the RN friend owns the copyright. Sweet.

So, open your accounts or contact the local editor and offer to do a column on your particular expertise – gardening to low-cost living and consumer tips. Build your clip book and charge $10 a column. Watch that editor jump!

You start working at “burger-flipping” wages but as you gain experience, confidence and credibility, you and your words become better and more valuable.

Start here.

Creating the Perfect Landing Page

A landing page is the first page a visitor sees upon clicking a link to your site, either from another site, through organic search results or a PPC link. The landing page MAY be the home page, but not necessarily. A visitor can land deep on your site based on the search words that were employed or which link was clicked.

 

So, in effect, almost any page can be a landing page, though some SEOs contend that a landing page is always a sell page. Not true. In fact, a landing page that makes a strong sales pitch isn’t a good landing page and you’ll see a high ratio of bounces as visitors determine, “This isn’t what I was looking for!”

 

The Characteristics of a Good Landing Page

There are quite a few, so let’s look at the characteristics of a quality landing page in detail. This is worth knowing. Most site owners slap together a home page with a dash of information, a bunch of sales copy and a “BUY” button that takes the visitor to the checkout. Bad. Very bad. You don’t sell the product or service before the visitor even knows what that product or service is.

 

Also, it’s important to bear in mind that a landing page should appeal to the visitors needs, NOT your wants. You want to sell something or obtain an opt in. The visitor doesn’t care what you want so keep landing pages targeted at visitors, not making the sale. That’s comes later.

 

Easy, Straightforward Navigation

If visitors land in site zones that don’t meet their needs, it’s a good idea to provide a navigation bar to take them to the zone or home page, archives or checkout so they can conduct their business and move on to the next item on the day’s agenda.

 

You don’t always know where a visitor will land so provide easy navigation on all pages. A site map is useful and a big “HOME” link will keep visitors on site longer.

 

Meet the Visitors’ Expectations

Regardless of how visitors reach your site, they have certain expectations when they access a landing page. They clicked on the link to your site for a reason – to meet a need or want.

 

If your landing pages consist of opt-ins, a log-in (Sign Up Now) or a bunch of links to affiliates, that visitor is so long gone you won’t have time to see the dust settle.

 

Define Your Business

On every landing page? Yep. Every page has the potential to be a home page – the first page the visitor sees – so every page should be constructed with information in mind.

 

Now, this doesn’t mean you post your three-page company mission statement on every page. That’s a waste of good pixels. Instead, use taglines, headers and product pictures to define quickly what your business is about. We’ve mentioned in previous posts that the average time visitors spend assessing the value of a site is a whopping six seconds. SIX SECONDS! If visitors don’t know what you’re about in six seconds, you lose them.

 

Perform All Aspects of Sales

From quality materials to free overnight shipping, a well-designed landing page must serve as a primary sell page within the site without sounding like a heap of hype. That means visitors learn about the benefits of your products or services (use bulleted text instead of long paragraphs), manage any visitor objections and describe the “iron-clad, 30-day, no-hassle, money-back guarantee” in six seconds or less.

 

Large headlines grab attention. Headlines should describe benefits to the user instead of product features. For example, selling a paper shredder, which is the grabber?

 

The Acme 5000 comes with a 1.5 horsepower motor. (feature) Or;

 

The Acme 5000 is so powerful, it’ll shred a Cadillac. (benefit)

 

Convert

All landing pages must also be designed to convert visitors to buyers. That means easy access to product descriptions, shopping cart and check-out. Or, in the case of services, the landing page needs complete contact information IN BIG TYPE, not in six-point type at the bottom of the page. Visitors have questions before they convert. Provide every means available to answer those questions and establish personal contact.

 

Provide a toll-free number on every landing page and staff client care 24/7. You never know when a call will come in, and often, a client care call turns into a sale – once all questions are answered, all objections addressed.

 

Build Trust

Man, that landing page has to do a lot!

 

In this case, however, trust is more a perception than a reality. Trust builders include:

 

• impartial product reviews from journals and periodicals;  

 

• customer testimonials (real ones, please);

 

• customer-generated  reviews (it works for Amazon, it’ll work for you);

 

• logos from web security companies like VeriSign and Hacker Free;

 

• assuring text that you don’t sell buyer lists and all information is confidential;

 

• a guarantee.

 

Impress with Quality Design

Does the look of your site reflect industry standards? If you’re the marketing director for a large accounting consultancy, a site that employs “spray paint” text won’t fit the image you’re trying to project to a gaggle of CPAs. Instead, quiet, confident professionalism is what you want to project in the look of your site. Save the spray paint for the “chopper shop” sites.

 

The look of your site should reflect company values – cool and hot or sedate and conservative – the look of every site page makes a subliminal statement about your business image.

 

Keep Body Text Industry Appropriate.

If you’re main demographic is teens, the body text can be “like OMG totally casual 4U.” However, if your target demographic wear three-piece suits, they won’t appreciate being called “dawg,” or “dude.” Your site’s body text, from home page to check-out should be comfortable reading for that target buyer.

 

Be Straight With Visitors

No bait and switch, no added fees (restocking fees??), no hidden extras that’ll cost the visitor more. The fastest way to lose a hot prospect is to deceive so if the landing page says FREE SHIPPING, that shouldn’t just apply to “orders over $100,” on interior pages, it should apply to all orders.

 

Forget Branding. Who Cares?

Branding is important to you. It isn’t to potential buyers who come in through a side door landing page. Visitors come to your site for solutions and benefits, not to see your really clean logo and clever catch phrase.

 

Save branding for the “About Us” page. Visitors who click on this link are expecting a little self-congratulatory back slapping here. On landing pages, the product or service takes precedence over branding your business, at least in the customers’ eyes.

 

The key to a successful landing page is simple: provide what the visitor wants, not what you want, which is a sale. Visitors need time and they must feel secure and comfortable before the sale is made.

 

Put your needs aside. Save it for the “Order Now” page. That’s where you can sell. Otherwise, meet visitors’ expectations wherever they land.

 

Then, once they land, they may want to check out some of the scenery as they work their way to the checkout.

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