Buzz!Words

Help Users Imagine Themselves There

A recent Pew Internet and American Life study shows that 45% of online US adults have taken a virtual tour online.  About 2 million US users take a virtual tour a day. I don't have Canadian stats, although my guess would be that more than 45% of Canadian users have tried virtual tours, since there is a higher level of high speed internet service in Canada. 

This is great news for online marketers who target consumers at distance, including accommodations operators, tourist attraction operators, real estate agents and cultural exhibits. 

We've always known that pictures help to sell an experience, whether on TV or in print.  Now we know that a virtual tour can help people imagine themselves there, whether living in a house or going on vacation. 

There are lots of inexpensive, high quality virtual tour companies.  A good local company in southwestern Ontario is Virtual Properties.

Try a virtual tour on your website, and see if you can increase your online bookings. 

Prospecting on the Web for Service Businesses

Summary:  For service driven businesses, such as financial planning, health services or other information rich industries, the web has been a marketing tool that many businesses have avoided.  From my discussions with clients, it's mainly because they don't see the web as a prospecting tool. 

I think it's time to think of the web differently.   I found a great site from the Wellesley Hills Group that effectively contradicts that point. 

Their article, 7 Myths about Service Lead Generation really hit home with me.  They argue that tactics like websites and direct mail do work for service businesses, they just need to be designed differently for the purchase process of service customers.  Wellesley Hills also has a whole series of valuable marketing, sales and business development articles for service firms.  I'm certainly going to use some of this information as I build my business marketing plan. 

Marketing 101 - Writing for the Web

Today's post is a mini tutorial on writing for the web.  These ideas come from 3 sources:  Dr. Jacob Nielsen, a web usability expert; MarketingProfs.com, a marketing knowledge portal and the Stanford Web Credibility Project. 

Make it concise:

• Half the word count of normal writing
• Start with the conclusion
• One idea per paragraph

Make it Credible:

• Outbount links to credible sources of information
• Always reference your sources
• Always have contact info and detailed background of website owner

Make it Readable:

• Bullet lists
• Clear subheadings
• Short paragraphs
• Lots of white space
• Summary paragraphs

Make it Objective:

• Use neutral language
• Don't exaggerate or boast

Make it About the Visitor:

• Understand your readers needs
• Write the site about the reader, not about you, your company or your organization
• Get feedback from your visitors, engage them
• Make sure you update your material regularly

Website Credibility

Forgive my obsession with all things website these days. I've been doing some fine tuning of my own site, to improve its credibility, and I ran across a great list from Stanford University Persuasive Technology lab called 10 Guidelines to Boost Your Website Credbility.

Given all the badly designed websites out there, with content that is hard to read, not useful or just over the top "sales speak", these guidelines are really useful rules to live by.

Web as an Important Shopping Tool

Just finished reading the monthly Food Marketing Institute/Neilsen/Phil Lempert e-newsletter. Its filled with info about the food marketing industry. Phil also runs one of the best websites on the industry, called SuperMarketGuru.com.

The newsletter has a brief piece on the importance of the internet to shopping behaviour that is worth looking at. The article is based on a poll conducted on the SuperMarketGuru web site.

I can give you a quick summary of the newsletter article. Keep in mind that the respondents to the poll are all people who are actively on line, so it probably overstates the importance of the web. Here are the findings: 1) 58% said that they are "always" connected. 2) 98% indicated that they used the web for email, 78% for news and 64% for gathering information before going out to shop. 3) 53% shopped on line.

It is interesting to note that the respondents used the Internet to gather information for shopping much more often than they used the medium to do the actual purchasing; underscoring the importance to include detailed and compelling product information on websites.

This reinforces my rant from last week about retailers needing to provide consumers with detailed on line information about their product offering, not just "brochureware" websites. Consumers will be using the internet more and more to determine which stores to shop at. You could be eliminated before the consumer even steps in your door.

OnLine Marketing for Small Business

Just read an interesting study from the real estate industry (from the London St Thomas Real Estate Board). In Canada, 72% of real estate searches begins on line. This is a pretty radical number. It means the whole way the industry does business is changing. In fact, this post just isn't about real estate. This post is about small business in general.

Consumers use the internet for research. Often they will do their "homework" on line comparing what each business offers, before they actually go into an office or store. The message here is, although you may not do actual sales transactions online, you still have to have a website that provides enough information to help a consumer include you in their list of possibilities. They may eliminate you if they can't find you online or if your website doesn't provide them with the information they want.

I was recently planning a 150 km trip to St. Jacob's, Ontario to go furniture shopping. A quick hop online showed me that most of the companies that I wanted to check out didn't have websites. I didn't bother going to those stores because I couldn't be sure that they carried what I wanted, and I didn't want to waste a lot of time. For those companies that did have websites only a few had samples of their product online. Those sites allowed me to figure out which stores carried the type of furniture (contemporary) that I was looking for. That eliminated all but 2 stores. I was able to go to those 2 stores and find what I was looking for efficiently. That 30 minutes online saved me hours of traipsing from store to store.

The same article on real estate also shows that 33% of search engine users believe that the number one rank on the results page is the number one brand for the industry.

Overall small business people are going to have to become more sophisticated in search engine marketing, advertising and website design and promotion if they are going to compete with larger companies. They are going to have to use their key advantage -- small businesses are much closer to their customers and know what they need and want. Now those small businesses just have to translate that knowledge to the new marketing world. It's becoming much easier to create web sites and online shopping sites with new content management software. More about content management software in a later post.

Everyone Needs Marketing

I've been thinking about marketing for the past few days, especially as it fits in the context of a consulting business. A blinding glimpse of the obvious has occurred to me. Everyone Needs Marketing. It isn't just about running the business, paying the bills, doing stuff. Potential customers have to know that you exist.

The big problem is that marketing is something that is easy to put off. And many businesses do. I've heard it all before - I don't have time; I don't have money; I don't know where to start.

My suggestion is to find the time, don't spend a lot of money, and find someone to help who does know where to start. But get started.

Here are a couple of websites that are useful marketing resources. BulidingBrands.com and BrandChannel.com

Annoying Website Marketing

I can't say it any better than Jason O'Connor did in marketingprofs.com about Ten Things I Hate in a Website. Here's a little titbit to whet your whistle:

When I click to a Web site that has five different fonts and colors, scrolls down to the core of the Earth, incorporates words that flutter about and big fat blocks of text, lists no phone number and has content dated 1996, I scream and know deep down that pulling my fingernails out wouldn't be as torturous as having to remain there a minute longer.

All I can add is that the best way to figure out if you have issues with your website is to ask your clients, friends and family. Many of them will tell you what drives them nuts. Then do something about it!

Websites Made Easy

It's not longer the domain of the big companies to have a professional, frequently updated website. With new content management software that is available on the market today, you can have a great looking website that can be updated in real time without any insane costs.

I've used Think Digital Media to provide me with some great content management software. They also host the site, at about the same cost per month as other hosting companies. They have a basic set up charge, which depends on the size of the website, but pays for the design and set up. The set up charges start around $300 for a 3 page site, and go up depending on the complexity of the site. In addition, if you are a retailer, there is an online store that is available.

The best part about this software, is once its set up, you control all of your content, and can change it on the internet in real time. No more waiting for a webmaster to change the site. Check out Sharen Realty GMAC Real Estate and McIntyre TV & Appliances to see how professional your website can look.