http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Web-Design/Marketing A listing of the most recently indexed works about Design and Web Design and Marketing in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Design/Web-Design/Marketing http://tc.eserver.org/35515.html http://tc.eserver.org/35515.html Google has a bidding methodology called Budget Optimizer that attempts to maximize the traffic you receive for the keywords in a campaign. This is useful for early buying cycle keywords. However, every keyword should be reaching some goal regardless of where it falls into the buying cycle. It was difficult to track the effectiveness of these campaigns until recently when Google made some changes to Google Analytics. Now you can more effectively bid on early buying cycle keywords, or keywords that you want exposure for, but do not have direct returns by combining the new Google Analytics goals with a budget optimizer campaign. http://tc.eserver.org/35102.html http://tc.eserver.org/35102.html In this article, I’ll discuss the cognitive elements at the intersection of advertising and human behavior. By taking an approach to advertising that looks at the impact psychological factors have on customer behavior, I’ve learned that customers respond directly to online advertisements, as we can see from their emotions, behavior, and interactions on the Web. http://tc.eserver.org/34939.html http://tc.eserver.org/34939.html Wiggly, distracting, or poorly placed ads irritate users. Worse, they teach site visitors to ignore whole sections of layout. Yet some online ads work. They capture visitors visually, and present an engaging hook. They get visitors to click. Even, at times, from the home page. So what's the difference? http://tc.eserver.org/34957.html http://tc.eserver.org/34957.html Web advertisers resort to many unethical approaches (in my personal opinion) under the pretext of creativity. Let us learn about it. http://tc.eserver.org/34748.html http://tc.eserver.org/34748.html Content-based sales means using high-quality content to generate traffic, which you then use to earn money (but not necessarily on the web-site). http://tc.eserver.org/34738.html http://tc.eserver.org/34738.html How you write your copy really makes a huge difference to your online sales. And even if you don't sell products directly, good sales copy will help you persuade the user to make a donation, subscribe to your newsletter or complete an application form. Here's how you do it. http://tc.eserver.org/34662.html http://tc.eserver.org/34662.html For too long we've been suffering the tyranny of lowest-common-denominator fare, subjected to brain-dead summer blockbusters and manufactured pop. Why? Economics. Many of our assumptions about popular taste are actually artifacts of poor supply-and-demand matching - a market response to inefficient distribution. The main problem, if that's the word, is that we live in the physical world and, until recently, most of our entertainment media did, too. http://tc.eserver.org/34482.html http://tc.eserver.org/34482.html I've been asked several times to give presentations on the basics of social media marketing, and have now refined my 15 minute introductory tour to the point where I think it's fairly good (and I'm really damn picky about my presentations). The following presentation (in visual and text form) should be helpful for anyone trying to convince their bosses, team or cohorts that investing in SMM is a worthwhile pursuit. http://tc.eserver.org/34484.html http://tc.eserver.org/34484.html The number of excellent resources that have come out since the beginning of the year on attracting links and building traffic has really mushroomed. Plus there are some timeless classics that are still very relevant today. I think it makes sense to compile the very best in one handy location and share it, so here’s my entire collection. If I missed your link and traffic resource let me know and I’ll take a look. http://tc.eserver.org/34400.html http://tc.eserver.org/34400.html Is it better to have 500,000 followers on Twitter? Or is it better to have 100 followers who are engaged and targeted? Is it better to have a website with 5000 pages of content, or a website with 50 pages of well thought out, valuable material? I am not trying to dictate an answer by using value terms in my questions, despite the fact that I am very much of the opinion that less is more and quality trumps quantity, but recent events are arising which may be proving me wrong. http://tc.eserver.org/34389.html http://tc.eserver.org/34389.html Social media is so powerful and diverse that just about the only thing that can get in the way of an organization making the most of it is the idea that social media cannot be exploited without a "strategy." That makes about as much sense as stopping you as you slide your key into the ignition and insisting you first develop a strategy that encompasses your automobile needs for tonight, tomorrow, and every day in the future. http://tc.eserver.org/33928.html http://tc.eserver.org/33928.html Here's a 7 step strategic plan that should fit most small businesses. Naturally a good deal of hustle will be needed to implement this kind of plan while doing everything else you need to do to keep your business afloat. There are businesses that can help you implement this plan as well- wink, wink. But if you can dedicate the time and resources I have no doubt that you will see serious ROI. I have seen it in my business and with many of our clients. http://tc.eserver.org/33929.html http://tc.eserver.org/33929.html Most users believe that MySpace started as some kind of fluke—a happy accident that began in Anderson's bedroom or garage—and many still don't wonder, know, or care about the site's real business history and model. Heralded as a haven of DIY self-expression, MySpace was actually created by executives whose backgrounds are anchored in spam and mass marketing. The real genius of MySpace lies in its re-imagining and repackaging of spam. While most internet users expend time and energy attempting to keep it out, MySpace is spam that they actually invite in. http://tc.eserver.org/33583.html http://tc.eserver.org/33583.html Every large corporation has a marketing strategy that outlines what it wants to say to customers, but many of them still aren’t using their homepages effectively to highlight that message. http://tc.eserver.org/33406.html http://tc.eserver.org/33406.html Both AdWords and YSM are much more complicated beasts than the old banner networks ever were, and coming to grips with them can be a bit of a headache. http://tc.eserver.org/33316.html http://tc.eserver.org/33316.html Twitter, often referred to as the water cooler of the Internet, teaches us the art of brevity by limiting communication to 140 characters or less. But unless you can compress instructional content in ingenious ways, you’ll find Twitter limiting as a method for delivering documentation. Instead, Twitter is better used for the following: eavesdropping on customer conversations; putting a personal face on your company; and increasing the reach of your announcements. http://tc.eserver.org/33051.html http://tc.eserver.org/33051.html The intranet needs to have a strong brand, a sense of identity that, at a basic level, distinguishes it from the public website and other information sources within the organisation. Beyond this, the intranet brand should be designed to build staff trust, and to convey a clear sense of what the intranet can offer and when it should be used. This briefing explores the role of the intranet's brand identity, as well as outlining how to put it into practice. http://tc.eserver.org/32900.html http://tc.eserver.org/32900.html It has long been acknowledged in the study of usability, that the usability of a product affects the associated brand identity. While study of usability is universal to any product design, it has sprung up with the advent of the world wide web. It is becoming more important of individuals and institutions to establish a strong on-line identity for themselves or their products. http://tc.eserver.org/32827.html http://tc.eserver.org/32827.html "Self-Googling" -- searching for your own name on the popular Google search engine -- may seem like an innocuous act of vanity, but a University at Buffalo communications professor recommends it as a shrewd form of "personal brand management" in the digital age. http://tc.eserver.org/32754.html http://tc.eserver.org/32754.html One of the best ways to spread the word about your website is to let your audience do it for you. http://tc.eserver.org/31918.html http://tc.eserver.org/31918.html With companies moving business online, the Internet has become a source of profit for them. We all know how this works. You establish an online presence, sell your brand well—and you make money. Let’s rewind. We are selling our brands online, but doing it well is the challenge. To do it well, keep the following in mind: customer research is an important factor in generating business revenues, so it must be done right—that is, at the right place and at the right time; the online medium should not be the only way of gathering customer information; recognizing emerging trends—behavioral, demographic and emotional—helps companies move forward strategically. http://tc.eserver.org/31560.html http://tc.eserver.org/31560.html Spending on search engine marketing (SEM) is rising dramatically, yet surprisingly few companies are measuring the effectiveness of their campaigns. In a short survey conducted by web analytics vendor NetIQ, more than 800 participants responded to questions about their search engine marketing efforts and their attempts to measure success. The survey responses provide interesting insights into the state of search engine marketing ROI. http://tc.eserver.org/31539.html http://tc.eserver.org/31539.html People and organizations generally understand the concept of the Internet's global reach. However, few see their Web presence as international, and even fewer have sites appropriate for audiences beyond their borders. As global competition grows and new markets emerge, building an effective international Web presence is becoming ever more critical. http://tc.eserver.org/31508.html http://tc.eserver.org/31508.html We urgently need a quick crash course on web site management; otherwise, connecting with potential customers will become a very tough challenge. Lucky are those who have a unique domain name without the additional baggage of extraneous language, numbers, dashes or slashes. Studies have shown that 90 percent of business names are problematic. These problems are serious issues for achieving higher visibility. http://tc.eserver.org/31386.html http://tc.eserver.org/31386.html Linda, an American living abroad in a country with limited merchandise, orders online for books, contact lenses, and smoked ham. Her Dutch husband buys from www.amazon.com and www.ebay.com because U.S.-based retail web sites offer a wide range of goods at a cheaper price than their adopted country, including lower import duties and lower shipping costs from U.S.-based cargo carriers. http://tc.eserver.org/31384.html http://tc.eserver.org/31384.html The Internet is a free medium, just like roads and highways. There are those who walk and those who run, some who drive taxis, some Ferraris, and others tractor-trailers. To each his own-the roads are all free. Thank heaven. With such a powerful tool at our command, why is so much of the Internet so underutilized, and why is so much of Internet marketing so increasingly ineffective? http://tc.eserver.org/31065.html http://tc.eserver.org/31065.html 98 percent of Internet shoppers leave ecommerce sites without buying. That is why Internet-savvy marketers are starting to use retargeting technology to pursuing customers who have left their website and recapture lost sales. http://tc.eserver.org/31064.html http://tc.eserver.org/31064.html The prevalence of online banners and text ads have made all but the most annoying online ads nearly transparent to online users. To stand out from the crowd, some marketers are turning to a simple, relevant and transparent advertising format: the text link. http://tc.eserver.org/28860.html http://tc.eserver.org/28860.html This introduction to search engine optimization will outline some of the basic principles of SEO and explain how they can be used to improve your web pages' performance in search results. http://tc.eserver.org/28688.html http://tc.eserver.org/28688.html As user experience professionals, we have the opportunity to work more closely with brand and marketing specialists to clearly articulate the brand perception we want to elicit from our customers. Brand perception is, in part, an expectation on the part of a customer regarding future interactions with a company and its products and services. To achieve our desired brand perception, we must consistently represent and deliver the brand values we have led customers to expect. http://tc.eserver.org/28296.html http://tc.eserver.org/28296.html Find out how to avoid sneaky marketing practices that users can see through. Instead, provide honest and useful content and watch the number of repeat site visitors soar. http://tc.eserver.org/28286.html http://tc.eserver.org/28286.html You can hear the sighs of relief as the website localization project comes to a close or enters maintenance mode. However organized the client and however professional the localization vendor, website localization is a painful process. Now it's over--at least we can tick the box that says 'have multilingual website.' After all, is that not the reason we localized in the first place? http://tc.eserver.org/28150.html http://tc.eserver.org/28150.html I think that the people who give the testimonials do so for the additional exposure they receive for their own names, sites and businesses. I also think they do some mutual back-scratching, and hype each other's products and services. In other words, the testimonials are just additional sales text. They have no credibility as outside, third-party endorsements. http://tc.eserver.org/26146.html http://tc.eserver.org/26146.html My worst experiences with hospitality sites have been to do with vague location, online timetables, poor follow-up communication, and out of date information. I have wasted days as a result, which I hate. http://tc.eserver.org/25940.html http://tc.eserver.org/25940.html Not only should your website be clear on what your company delivers, it should also indicate what you do not deliver. Below are some tips for achieving this clarity. http://tc.eserver.org/25939.html http://tc.eserver.org/25939.html Your website serves as an opportunity to give your new contacts a deeper understanding of what your business can do for them. http://tc.eserver.org/25793.html http://tc.eserver.org/25793.html Writing ezine articles can be a massive benefit to your business - find out exactly why! http://tc.eserver.org/25603.html http://tc.eserver.org/25603.html Site advertisements can interfere with content and disrupt layout. Yet they are most often part of website requirements, forcing IAs to come up with strategies for incorportating them. Is there a graceful way to handle ads online? http://tc.eserver.org/25602.html http://tc.eserver.org/25602.html Despite the increasing number of website ads, consumers aren’t necessarily getting their feathers ruffled more, they’re getting smarter. http://tc.eserver.org/25533.html http://tc.eserver.org/25533.html Ten years ago, Tim Berners-Lee invented the web. Five years ago, advertisers started discovering it. Now they are poised to wreck it. Double-Click’s poison cookie has Alan Herrell foaming at the mouth as he explains why Clickthru is Evil. http://tc.eserver.org/25513.html http://tc.eserver.org/25513.html Anyone can put up a web page, but putting one up that actually sells requires some skill. Discover exactly what you need to do! http://tc.eserver.org/25223.html http://tc.eserver.org/25223.html The trouble with using text as a branding tool on web pages is that it gets in the way of what visitors are looking for. Visitors want and expect text to be useful and information. They are in 'active' and 'engaged' mode. They are searching. They want something. Text that isn't useful is disappointing. http://tc.eserver.org/25216.html http://tc.eserver.org/25216.html Every web site needs to provide a tangible and timely return on investment (ROI). Your company's web site should be one of the most active and accountable members of its marketing team. http://tc.eserver.org/25100.html http://tc.eserver.org/25100.html The Internet is a new marketing frontier where the rules and regulations are rapidly evolving. Governments throughout the world aim to redress this imbalance by providing protection to their citizens through laws and regulations which control the use of advertising. http://tc.eserver.org/24684.html http://tc.eserver.org/24684.html Instead of thinking of your web site in terms of flowcharts and site maps, consider these five reasons your web site is like a pinball game. http://tc.eserver.org/24577.html http://tc.eserver.org/24577.html Even public relations web sites must be user-centered in design and content. Narcissistic, arrogant PR sites are counter-productive in the digital age of transparency, fault-admission, and altruism via shared information. Find out why Martha Talks is a web site failure from a usability and ethics point of view. http://tc.eserver.org/24337.html http://tc.eserver.org/24337.html Search engine text ads can outperform most banner ads, even when users aren't clicking. Five tips to make your text ads more effective. http://tc.eserver.org/24138.html http://tc.eserver.org/24138.html The voice of commerce grates terribly online when it is misplaced. When I'm reading someone's weblog, I do not want to be offered the opportunity to buy a t-shirt or baseball cap. http://tc.eserver.org/23284.html http://tc.eserver.org/23284.html In traditional user-centred design, focus is on users’ needs and their use of the product, while marketing is left to the marketing department. On the web, usability and marketing go hand in hand. Whether commercial or not, a web site has to meet the need of its users and at the same time convince them to take action, for the objectives behind the site to be meet. http://tc.eserver.org/23243.html http://tc.eserver.org/23243.html Learn how to write the perfect testimonial and enhance your website's credibility. http://tc.eserver.org/22720.html http://tc.eserver.org/22720.html Link building is an essential part of any online marketing strategy. Learn how to in this article. http://tc.eserver.org/22071.html http://tc.eserver.org/22071.html Submitting your website to every search engine is an incredibly time-consuming process. There are hundreds and hundreds of them out there - no doubt, you've come across the companies who'll submit your website to 1000 search engines for you. Search engine professionals know that the vast majority of these search engines have a very low usage rate and will drive hardly any traffic your way. In fact, it's only a handful of search engines that drive the majority of traffic from search engines to websites. http://tc.eserver.org/22000.html http://tc.eserver.org/22000.html How to determine the ROI for Pay for Inclusion and Pay per Click marketing strategies. http://tc.eserver.org/21548.html http://tc.eserver.org/21548.html Since finding the right keywords is the most important step in any SEO endeavor, it is imperative that you find the ones your target audience is using. http://tc.eserver.org/21148.html http://tc.eserver.org/21148.html I asked folks if they wanted to permanently sponsor some of my web content on WebWord.com. The idea is rather simple. You give me money, and I give you ad space on some of my web pages forever. No one else will ever advertise on these pages at WebWord.com. Your ad is forever bound to that page. You get long lasting, and repeated value for your sponsorship dollars. I thought I had a good idea. But, I didn't get any responses. http://tc.eserver.org/21150.html http://tc.eserver.org/21150.html I recently have read a lot about the use of banner ads. My short answer is that they don't work. They might be useful for branding and image campaigns but they are not usable and users don't like them at all. http://tc.eserver.org/21156.html http://tc.eserver.org/21156.html There are basically two types of companies. The first see the Internet as a poison pill, the rest see it a magic bullet. The poison pill companies fear the Web. They see the rush of companies onto the Internet, and they feel that they must join the stampede. They are bitter, they feel slow, and they are angry that the Web has changed the game. The magic bullet companies see the Web as a new frontier, they embrace change, and they capitalize on the Internet hysteria. Rather than simply throwing a Web site out there, they are making the Internet part of their business. They are building the Internet into their strategic plans, and they are taking it for a ride. http://tc.eserver.org/21058.html http://tc.eserver.org/21058.html Though it's sometimes tough to implement, making marketers feel as if they're going in circles, closed-loop marketing can help you adjust marketing campaigns to deliver highly targeted content and advertising. http://tc.eserver.org/21062.html http://tc.eserver.org/21062.html It's commonly thought that investing in loyalty-building features such as personalization is a sure-fire way to increase profits. This is because it costs less to keep a customer than to attract one in the first place. However, a deeper look into the economic value of Web site enhancements might have you changing your priorities. http://tc.eserver.org/21057.html http://tc.eserver.org/21057.html Profiling individuals on the Web allows us to not only select which message to deliver to each individual, but also helps us learn about the needs and interests of each person. This can be used to segment an audience in ways that traditional direct marketers have only dreamed of. http://tc.eserver.org/21013.html http://tc.eserver.org/21013.html Advertising-supported websites will soon be a thing of the past. As I predicted a year ago, sites began charging for services in 2001. Although most sites are still not handling payments right, two innovative European projects hold much hope for 2002. http://tc.eserver.org/20899.html http://tc.eserver.org/20899.html Banner ads are not a particularly useful way of getting people to 'click', but inserting a plain vanilla link just might be. http://tc.eserver.org/20842.html http://tc.eserver.org/20842.html Marketers have many ways to influence customers' purchasing behavior and decisions. They start with advertising aimed at acquiring new customers and continue through sales and customer service that generate repeat orders. Until recently, it was normal for many of these functions to be performed by a company's different departments, which did not act as a unified team. http://tc.eserver.org/20849.html http://tc.eserver.org/20849.html While many scour the web for new ideas on web design, others are looking elsewhere. http://tc.eserver.org/20846.html http://tc.eserver.org/20846.html The concept of personalizing for customers is certainly not new. But the Web elevates it to a near art form. The Web is the perfect marketing environment for precision marketing, because individuals can be uniquely identified, and a message can be tailored specifically to them. http://tc.eserver.org/20841.html http://tc.eserver.org/20841.html The key to a successful advertising campaign is repetition. The same is true for a successful Web site. Marketing managers know that repeat contact with prospects develops an affinity for your products and services - and therefore, greater revenue. http://tc.eserver.org/20844.html http://tc.eserver.org/20844.html Web personalization allows you to have a Web site that tailors Web content to a Web user's preferences and other profile information. In addition, a personalization system logs every Web page displayed to every user so you can develop a "clickstream" view of what they saw, when they saw it, and for how long. Just imagine what you could learn about your audience with a complete understanding of their Web usage. http://tc.eserver.org/20806.html http://tc.eserver.org/20806.html Know their needs, advertise your products, give good service, offer specials, educate and keep in touch. http://tc.eserver.org/19348.html http://tc.eserver.org/19348.html Did you know that a site visitor forms his or her first impression about your site within the first nine seconds of a visit? Making sure your color scheme is in contour with your site's content and visitors, is very important. You want the color scheme to enhance your site and it's content, not distract or confuse your users. Color gives users cues as to your site's navigation, grouping of content, importance, relationships, etc. For this reason, color is an essential element of Web site design. Most of the people relate to color similarly online and offline. Visitors to your site, whether they know it or not, respond to colors and other visual elements on your web site on a psychological level. An intrigued (and non-confused) site visitor is more likely to engage in the goal of your site -- whether it is meant to inform, entertain, or to sell goods or services. http://tc.eserver.org/19282.html http://tc.eserver.org/19282.html Regular web users will almost certainly be aware of an increasing amount of ‘invasive’ advertising appearing online. A variety of methods are now being used to make online advertising almost unavoidable for the user. http://tc.eserver.org/19289.html http://tc.eserver.org/19289.html Improving ‘brand experience’ online is not normally regarded as the primary goal of a usability strategy. In some circles usability and branding would even be seen as mutually exclusive, based on the assumption that successful branding relies on ever more garish visual design and an extensive use of animation, audio streaming, or whatever the latest cutting-edge technology might happen to be. http://tc.eserver.org/19121.html http://tc.eserver.org/19121.html There are many reasons why advertisements don't work well on the Web, but it is most unsettling when an ad actually portrays something relevant to users and still fails. Why would this occur? Well, to start, we must consider why text ads work so well on search engines. Each user has a goal -- perhaps it is to learn about digital cameras, perhaps to purchase a book. In either case, users' attention is focused on whatever gets them to their goal; they ignore everything else. When users enter search queries, the targeted ads that the engine returns relate directly to what users are after. Hence, they look at and follow the ads. Indeed, such advertisements probably have an advantage over the plain search results because they show both that the advertiser is competent and has a direct interest in serving consumers. http://tc.eserver.org/19122.html http://tc.eserver.org/19122.html Text-only advertisements work far better than banners, but is this only due to their novelty? Search engine text ads will retain their superiority over time, but text ads on other sites will work only if they focus on directly meeting users' needs. http://tc.eserver.org/10885.html http://tc.eserver.org/10885.html The online adult industry leads the B2C marketplace. On the web's ghost-town Main Street, populated with derelict online storefronts, the Porn Saloon is still open and still doing good business (though not as good as before). Given that success in our culture is associated with making money, the online adult industry is showing the rest of the industry a possible path to online success. Designers, developers, and site owners can learn from the porn industry. Not from its generally ridiculous branding and graphics, but rather from its affiliate programs, technology, and customer service.