Spectrics - Arkansas Web Design & Strategic Internet Marketing

E-Commerce: Case Study

I'll be honest, I don't know a lot about automotive maintenance.  So my Toyota Avalon has had trouble starting lately.  Naturally, being stubborn, I've been disgruntled - yet satisfied - to jump it every time we've needed to go somewhere for the last few days.  Am I cool or what?

So this morning my bride finally convinces to me just go buy a new battery for the car.  Obviously, I'm not going to get on the Internet to buy a battery.  I wouldn't know exactly what to do once it got to my house.  But I did want to go to the Internet to get some information on car batteries.   

I was prepared to go to AutoZone.  Why AutoZone, you ask?  Honestly, because they advertise a lot.  I trust their brand.  So I Googled something about 'car battery', because I didn't want to come across as an idiot when I took my car to the store.  But something happened along the way...

I clicked on paid ad for Advance Auto Parts, an AutoZone competitor, about 'car batteries'.  Eureka!  It took me to the landing page you can see below:

 

Did I go to the right place or what?  I'm in Internet Car Battery Heaven!

For a second, just think about this landing page.  There are several pictures of car batteries, so they are immediately meeting my needs.  Next, the words 'Fast' and 'Free' jumped out me.  So did I order my battery?  Of course not!

I clicked on the easy to find 'Store Locator' button and found a store right here in Little Rock, Arkansas.  They actually have several stores I could have gone to.  But if I hadn't gone to their website Store Locator I would not have known that I drive by one several times per week. 

In less than an hour, I had called the store and asked how much I should expect to pay for a new battery, had my new battery installed and went to work.  Now my car starts every time!      

So what is the lesson here?  Some businesses still want to quibble about the value of their website.  If it weren't for Advance Auto Parts well done Internet Marketing Car Battery Strategy I would have bought a battery from one of their competitors today.  Instead, I'm going to buy every car battery for the rest of my time in Arkansas from the store I was at this morning. 

Can they trace the purchase to their website?  Probably not, but it is technically possible.  But Internet Marketing is clearly starting to drive offline sales.  Thus ends the case study. 

Web Design: Adobe Flash Design

There seems to be an assumption out there that it is better to have Flash on a website than not.

This is a bit of a sensitive isssue to tackle because so many businesses want Flash and have paid a lot of money for it.  However, the customer is not always right (sorry Customer). 

A) Search engines can't read Flash.  They can, however, read pictures with alt-tags.  So if you are worried about search rankings, Flash is hurting - not helping.

B) Flash is significantly more expensive development work.  (Here's a hint...) That's why web design firms love talking businesses into using Flash.  Maybe it looks great on your website, but it looks even better in their bank account.

C) Aside from the additional costs and possibly harming your traffic levels, Flash rarely supports a business purpose.  And here at Spectrics, we believe that web design should support real business goals.

So do I just loathe Flash?  Not entirely.  There are times that it doesn't violate the previously made points.  Here are a few tips...

• NEVER have a Flash intro page to your website.  Never.
• Flash is actually fantastic for demonstrating how a product works.  Flash literally brings objects to life online in a way static pictures can't.
• As a rule, use Flash on internal pages rather than home pages (and certainly never Intro pages).  A good SEO team should also be working on internal pages, but Flash does less damage to search rankings on internal pages. 

Internet Marketing: Political Search Marketing Follow-Up

Following the Pennsylvania Democrat Debate last night we ran an experiment on Google to test the power of volatile search trends.  Needless to say - It worked! 

For the grand total cost of $0.32 SpectricsConsulting.com sat on Google in the top three results for over 11,000 searches. 

There were several weaknesses to our campaign that I am happy to share:

1. We used debate specific terms like 'abc debate' and 'democratic debate' to post ads targeted at political campaign operatives.  So people were most likely searching for news and we were offering services.  The relevancy of our campaign was painfully low.  But it's fair to assume that politcal operatives were searching the news and our ad might catch their eye. 
2. The idea to ride the debate search wave didn't strike me until almost Midnight CST.  So many of the searches had already occured and people were on their way to bed.  We'll be better prepared for the next event. 

However, to the point, we introduced Spectrics Consulting to 6 individuals in at least three different states. 

Who wouldn't do that for $0.32?

The best part is campaigns could really take advantage of this strategy with the assistance of web analytics to take control of their message with potential voters.

If you are interested in learning more email me or call directly at (501) 425-0861.   

Internet Marketing: Political Campaigns

So tonight Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama duked it out in a 90-minute debate in the hotly contested state of Pennsylvania. 

The truth is, I didn't watch and I don't know the first thing about it.  I was more concerned with the American Idol results (Spectrics officially cheers for David Cook). 

But I did notice this, if you go to Google Trends the results are covered with results about the debate. 

Are the candidates taking advantage of this?  No!  Absolutely amazing. 

Dear Hillary and Barack (and any other campaigns this may reach),

In 21st Century America, Americans are addicted to search engines.  Some of us can't prepare dinner or find any news without them.  So naturally, they are a key tool for helping us decide the Leader of the Free World. 

Have a strategy to bid on relevant and timely keywords.  The term 'Pennsylvania Debate' would cost about $0.03 per click right now on Google! 

Your ads and landing pages would allow you control the conversation with your potential supporters.  You could even control the conversation on specific issues - like being a stronger candidate for the general election.

Once the traffic poured into your website you could analyze your Google Analytics data (both candidates have Google Analytics on their site) to determine what messages and issues resonated more with potential voters.   

If you are interested in how a poltical campaign could develop an efficient search engine strategy for rocking the vote please don't hesitate to contact me.

Web Analytics: Elastic Path & Eric Peterson

The good folks at Elastic Path have lined up Web Analytics Guru Supreme Eric Peterson to present a webinar for online retailers. 

If you are interested in grasping the real power of web analytics for your business go ahead and sign up for the free webinar on Thursday at 11AM CST. 

The topics Eric will be covering are:

• What the measurement landscape looks like for online retailers
• How satisfied online retailers are with their web analytics vendors
• How web analytics has impacted spend on paid search marketing

Please let me know if you decided to attend the webinar and your thoughts on Eric's presentation. 

Internet Marketing: Marketing in an Economic Downturn

Okay, so the economy may be slowing down a bit - at least that is what we are hearing from experts.

But your business has to keep growing. 

The first thing businesses typically cut in a downturn is the marketing budget.  For most businesses, that makes sense. 

But here is the key point: Cut the fat, not the muscle!

So what is the muscle?  Each business has its own muscle in the marketing budget, but an often overlooked option is Pay Per Click and Email Marketing.   

Each of these methods are shockingly efficient and cost effective - you can get started for less than your cable bill. 

Pay Per Click, done properly, does can offer immediate cash returns while collecting new paying customers.

While not as great for gaining new customers, Email Marketing is a superior tool for creating repeat customers. 

To find out more about more about either of these options please contact us. 

Web Design: Don't Pay for Web Design

Too often, web design and development teams, with little actual business experience, get caught up in making websites "look sharp".  They feel like they need to do this to justify themselves. 

One of my favorite examples of this are Flash intros (more on this another time).  But the primary thing Flash intros do is help Flash developers drive nicer cars.  In fact, Flash intros can really hurt websites.

Business websites should serve concrete business goals - like profitability, perhaps?

Websites meet business goals through focusing on usability and conversion rates - not fancy design.

Blogging: Favorite New Blog for 2008

I am a pretty big blog reading fan.  Maybe if I wasn't reading other people's blogs so much I would have more time to blog myself.  But for the most part I have decided that I learn more (read: gain more professional value) from "listening" more than "talking".  It's really amazing what you can learn from some of the best minds in your field from blogging. 

That said - Marc Andreessen has the best blog I have come across in a long time. 

You can find it at http://blog.pmarca.com.

If you are familiar with his blog and his work I would be interested in hearing which of his posts have been your favorite.

Arkansas Business: Career Advice - Get Into Web Analytics

I recently had a conversation with a highly respected web analytics consultant.  We were discussing the current lack of quality web analytics talent available in the marketplace and what is required to hire a good web analyst.  The truth is - it can be a little difficult.

The consultant pointed out that there could be as many as 25,000 websites that could benefit greatly from a good web analytics program.  My guess is that your company has one of these websites.  However, there are only about 4,000 credible web analysts in the entire market place.  Out of the those 4,000 about 1,500 of them work for web analytics vendors; companies like Omniture, Coremetrics and WebTrends. 

Obviously, web analytics talent is in high demand and as the market continues to discover the value of having a great web analyst on site the demand will only increase. 

Recently, Eric Peterson published a report on web analytics salaries.  The numbers are fairly impressive.  With less than 12 months of web analytics experience, web analysts' average salary and bonus is $78,525.  With over 5 years of experience that number jumps to $102,544. 

So what do you do to get started in this new explosive field?  Well, there is a lot of information that you are probably already aware of.  But if you want some real live human advice then send me an email (wkanaday@spectrics.com) - I would love to talk to you about how to get on the right track.

Web Analytics - Know How People Find You

If you don't know how people find your website - you need to.

My story on this is pretty basic.  This blog has the #2 ranking for a keyword term on Google that is actually a total surprise to me.  I found out because I was cruising my Google Analytics account the day and I saw what people had actually searched who came to visit my site.

And it gets better, these people searching this term are actually looking for services that I provide!  How exciting is that. 

However, there is a cloud for this silver lining, there is NOTHING on my site that makes them believe they should pick up the phone and call me.  I'm my own worst enemy here.

But the miracle that is web analytics allows me to figure this out and I will make adjustments to my site to capture these potential clients interest in the future.