The Lonely Marketer

As most bloggers can relate, I get a few emails a week asking me to check out a site, product, or service. Some are obviously spam and others are legitimate requests. Recently, I received a nice email from James at adverlicio.us.His email was obviously not spam. In fact, it was one of the better I’ve seen. He related to my site well and said his one-of-a-kind site of archived online ads could offer the small business marketing manager a source of research and inspiration.

I checked it out, of course, but hadn’t plan to write about it. Well, I’m in the market for a new online banner ad approach and sought out adverlicio.us. James was right - I found some ideas and enjoyed the search. Thus, I thought the site deserved a post! There is some great creative out there and I like the site logo (top left).

I’ve recently become a fan of banner ads that somehow engage the reader to interact. This one by Yahoo caught my eye.

With the moving of my blog and some recent travel I almost missed being tagged by Chris! I just checked my old blog and found the incoming link. Sorry for the delay, Chris!

Looks like we have an intriguing set of questions floating around. They made me think a little.

1. What have you learned so far from visitors to your blog?

One, I’ve learned that there are a ton of great people to communicate with via blogging. Since I’ve started this blog, I’ve made contact with some very interesting people who have shared a ton of useful information. Secondly, I’ve learned that there will always be something to learn. I can’t imagine I’ll ever sit back and say that I know everything about a certain topic. Someone will always know something I don’t.

2. If someone would offer to pay for a course (or more) for you, what would that course be?

I’m split between cooking and woodworking. Odd combo, I know! My wife bought me a grilling cookbook for my last birthday and I’ve really enjoyed trying new recipes on the grill. I’ve also always loved woodworking. I think I inherited the interest, but once kids came along there wasn’t as much time to try different projects. Someday, I’ll get back there. Okay, throw in a class on wine tasting as well!

3. Are you satisfied with what you’ve achieved in 2006, in general?

Yes and no. Our second child came last year (and yes, I consider navigating through the first year an achievement) and I had a good year in my job. I also launched this site of which I’m proud. Are there things with which I’m not satisfied? Of course! That’s my personality, but when it comes to what’s important in life - all is good.

4. Has blogging changed your life or your personality in any way?

I wouldn’t say my life has changed, but I’ve enjoyed expressing my self and sharing ideas via writing. That part of my personality has come out and I’ve had a blast!

5. If you had the opportunity to meet one person that you admire the most in the world, who would that person be?

To be honest, nobody earth shattering comes to mind. Of course, there are people I’d enjoy meeting, but they wouldn’t be people I admire the most in the world. That’s a pretty high pedestal already occupied.

Thanks for including me, Chris! I have no idea who has been tagged by this and who has not. If you made my list below, it’s because I enjoy your blog and appreciate your content. If you’ve been tagged previously or don’t want to participate, no problem.

Chris Winfield

David Temple

Michael Jensen

Jody

Paul Jahn

I came across this article by Gregory A. Patterson in my local Minneapolis Star & Tribune newspaper. The article caught my eye because my wife and I recently signed on with Marvin Windows to install new windows in our home. I couldn’t be happier with the decision now that I see Marvin has transformed their marketing to take advantage of current web marketing trends with their new web video advertising campaign.

“Warroad-based Marvin sells fiberglass through its Integrity Windows & Doors unit, which cut its print advertising budget to pay for the Web campaign.

“We reallocated communications efforts toward media that we knew builders and contractors were using much more frequently,” said Mary Haugh, vice president and account director for Martin/Williams Advertising, the Minneapolis firm that created the campaign.

The Web video ads feature two working-class guys — “Carl and Stu” — who perform what can comically be called industrial tests; there’s nothing remotely scientific about them.”

Another example of a company cutting print and display advertising and transitioning those funds to a web medium that has a better chance of surviving and spreading.

The ads are classic! I watched all of them. They’re creative, simple, and humorous. Plus, the site they’re hosted on loads them and “Carl and Stu” quickly which I like when promoting products via video. They’ve also incorporated a way to share the videos with friends which I think could really help this effort spread.

Check Carl and Stu out if you get a minute. I hope the windows are as good when they’re installed!

A week ago I did a quick post highlighting the fact that I was amazed at how many small typos I made in many of my previous posts. I challenged you, my readers, to find 5 typos in that post. Michael, from SoloSEO, names three in his post comment and indicated he had found all of them, but didn’t want to spoil it for the rest.

Interestingly enough, that post got more traffic than any other post I had last week. Here was the text - the five errors are highlighted:

“I recently moved all my content from a previous blog to my new site and after looking over some of my older content I couldn’t believe some of the simple spelling mistakes I had made - and published! Granted blogging is often done at a quicker pace and with less review, but as a marketer, I should know better.

Whether your writing for the web, a brochure, or a quick company descriptoin, reviewing your spelling and grammar may be one of the most important tasks you do. What you’re putting on paper or the web creates an image of your business. Considering you have just a few seconds to win over potential customers, a bad image created from a spelling error can destroy your chances of winning a new client. To many mistakes could also affect SEO and SEM work.

So, I’ve decided to test my readers. I’ve planted some spelling errors in the text of this post. Can you find them? And no, I’m not trying to trick anyone - their are actual errors intentionally placed on this page. How good are your editing skills? Read the post and to find the answer, go to my About page.”

There was some debate via email as to whether “affect” is actually wrong. I think the correct use would be “effect”. Other readers did not agree.

The whole point of the post is that quality - affects or effects - what readers think of us, our blogs and our companies via our marketing. I’ve visited blogs where it is obvious that the author does not put the time into correcting his or her grammar or spelling. When that’s the case, I question whether I should take the time to return.
Does that matter to you?

Some good news for small businesses who purchase permission-based email lists for use in their email marketing campaigns - the prices are dropping! A BtoB Online article by Carol Krol talks about the trend:

“E-mail list pricing for both b-to-b and consumer lists continue to decrease, according to list manager Worldata in its Worldata List Price Index.

B-to-b permission-based e-mail lists commanded an average price of $273/M this month, a 1.4% decrease compared with January 2006.

Worldata said the decreased pricing in the b-to-b e-mail category reflects growth in the number of lists available.

B-to-b e-mail lists were the highest-priced category among all lists, including business catalogs, business magazines, databases and attendee/membership lists, with newsletter lists a distant second. Newsletter lists commanded an average $172/M, a decrease of 3.4% from last year.”

The main reason I’m writing about this news tid-bit is because I find that sellers of permission-based email lists are always willing to negotiate pricing. Some of the price points in this article will give you leverage when talking about how much you’re willing to pay.

I’m in Orlando this week attending a trade show so my posts have been slower, but I did get the chance to read some great posts today. There is some interesting content floating around! I’ve also come across some good articles which I’ve listed below.

First, some great posts:

• Matt McGee of Small Business SEM had two posts worth noting. In one post he responds to Danny Sullivan’s viewpoint regarding small business and the use of search engines vs. social media sites. Read Matt’s stance with which I whole-heartedly agree. Matt’s Ultimate Guide to Building the Perfect Link is also a great read.
• Drew’s Marketing Minute has a post about a PDF he created out of a series of posts he did regarding the marketing wisdom of Walt Disney. Very well done!
• Nick Rice of Small Business Branding had a post regarding 9 Branding Tips for Small Businesses. I know I have quite a few small business readers of this blog so this information should be of interest.
• Paul Dunay of Buzz Marketing for Technology had a relevant post regarding the rise of online advertising and its popularity in the UK.

Second, some quality articles:

• iMedia Connection had a couple articles worth checking out - 5 Reasons Why Search Campaigns Fail and Customize Email for Pull Marketing.
• They also ran a good article about guidelines for promoting B2B sites on vertical search engines.

Hope you can find some good information in here!

I recently moved all my content from a previous blog to my new site and after looking over some of my older content I couldn’t believe some of the simple spelling mistakes I had made - and published! Granted blogging is often done at a quicker pace and with less review, but as a marketer, I should know better.

Whether your writing for the web, a brochure, or a quick company descriptoin, reviewing your spelling and grammar may be one of the most important tasks you do. What you’re putting on paper or the web creates an image of your business. Considering you have just a few seconds to win over potential customers, a bad image created from a spelling error can destroy your chances of winning a new client. To many mistakes could also affect SEO and SEM work.

So, I’ve decided to test my readers. I’ve planted some spelling errors in the text of this post. Can you find them? And no, I’m not trying to trick anyone - their are actual errors intentionally placed on this page. How good are your editing skills? Read the post and to find the answer, go to my About page.

I love statistics. How could you not? Statistics offer you the chance to see what worked in the past and hints as to how you might succeed in the future. The stats that most interest me these days (besides Fantasy Baseball stats) are website and search marketing analytics.

For any small business marketer, analytics are a low-cost way to monitor the effectiveness of your online (and some off-line) marketing programs. You can monitor which keywords are performing well in organic and paid search campaigns, monitor conversions, track landing pages, see where your visitors are located, and much more. But, did you know that search marketing has an alter ego?

To the delight of many small businesses, search marketing doubles as a market research tool. Many analytics packages are cheap (or free) these days which offers marketers a chance to take a snap shot of their target market without spending alot of time or money. Let’s outline a few ways you can conduct market research through your analytics:

Long-tailed keywords: Checking what search terms were used to get to your site can offer you insight into what interests your customers the most. Let’s take a simple example (and please note I have no experience with selling shoes). Say, for instance, you sold shoes online. Typical terms that lead to your site may include running shoes, tennis shoes, dress shoes, etc. If you’re monitoring your logs you may start to see trends on customer searches - for instance, “black plain-toe dress shoes” or “women’s low-heel dress shoes”. If you see trends develop around color, style, ect. you may be seeing the interests of your customers come out via their searching behavior. With this information, you can select product imagery or descriptive text in upcoming ads or landing page content that might put you a step ahead of your competition in landing a conversion.

Navigational Analysis: The Google Analytics package I’m using for one of my sites has a great navigational feature that allows you to open up any page on your site and see where people click to from that page. What a great way to spy on your visitors and learn what they’re really after (hopefully not the exit!). Finding popular links in your site can help you learn what is currently popular with your customers. Maybe its time to push that material to the home page or use it in upcoming online or print ads?

Bounce rate vs. Page Views: Select a few of the keywords that are at the core of your business and analyze what happens when searchers click on your organic or paid ad result when searching on those keywords. Do they click through to more information on your site or do they leave without any more page views? Results can give you feedback on how your products and services are connecting with your target audience. If a keyword represents a popular product or service in the marketplace and your bounce rate is high, it’s obvious your customers are looking for something else than what you have to offer. Possibly a different variation? If page views are high (and hopefully conversions) on certain keywords, you must be hitting the mark. Maybe its time to transition your approach on those keywords to some of your higher bounce rate keywords.

Organic Page Views vs. PPC Page Views: Ever wonder where your customers are in their buying cycle? Organic page views vs. PPC page views may offer you some insight. Some may argue, but I believe PPC clicks are from people who have gone past the research phase and are moving into the buying or researching vendor phase in the search marketing funnel. Again, take a few of the keywords at the core of your business and see which search result - organic or PPC - is getting more page views. This can help you understand where your customers are in the decision process and how you can tailor a message to take advantage of that.

Location of Clicks: I enjoy seeing from where in the world clicks come to get to my sites. Far reaching places I’ve never heard of show up in my logs. This is valuable information. Perhaps you’re seeing a rise in clicks from Europe or maybe, if you’re a more local US establishment, you’re seeing clicks coming from a bordering state. Either way, if a trend becomes significant, the time may have come to offer products or services in that bordering state or time for a focused ad campaign in Europe.

Market research is very time consuming and if you’re a small business marketer, it means time is being pulled from something else. The above methods can save you time and money and offer you in-depth insights into the interests and habits of your customers. Do you use analytics for any market research I don’t mention above?

The new Lonely Marketer is now open! I’ve made the leap from Wordpress.com to the hosted version of Wordpress at my new domain - www.lonelymarketer.com. The early success of this blog has motivated me to expand the content and capabilities (and yes, I finally get the MyBlogLog widget!).

I first want to thank all of you that have made this blog a success thus far. I appreciate all the readers that have subscribed and all the community members that have commented and linked into my posts. There is a great group of marketing professionals in this community and I’m excited to be a part of it.

For those of you subscribed, I’m hoping your subscription just rolls over to the new site. If for some reason you experience problems or notice something not right, please contact me. I’d also like any feedback on the new site - positive or negative. I’m always looking for ways to improve.

Lastly, I want to thank Matt McGee and Lee Odden for not only having great content on their sites that helped me get my new domain set up, but also for answering questions offline via email. Thank you! Other incredible sites from which I got information for my move include Search Engine Land, Marketing Pilgrim, SEO by the Sea and Andy Beard.

For more background on me and my blog, check out the About page and the Lonely Marketer Defined page which outlines how the name came to be.

As always THANK YOU for visiting!

My posting will be light the next couple of days as I pack up and move the Lonely Marketer to a new site. I’m planning to have everything up and running by Sunday and a full week’s worth of posts coming next week. Please keep an eye out for the official launch!