» Marketing

Many of us ecommerce merchants already know a thing or two about Pay Per Click (PPC). We pretty much know it’s a popular advertising model used on websites and that sometimes it works perfectly and other times… not so much. How can we really make sure that we’re using it correctly? Wondering what are some useful tips and tricks you can use to take advantage of it at its fullest?
 
First, let’s talk about the best approach for writing and formatting the ad text. As a basic rule, use well-written and clear language that revolves around the specific highlights of the product, this is a must! When possible, it’s important to add metaphors or “word pictures” that complement and enhance the ad. Phrasing your text as a question, telling a story with it or emphasizing an immediate or rapid result, works best.
 
Many companies use different techniques to attract customers depending on what they have to offer, for example…If there’s a free trial available, stressing the “try before you buy” proposition is a very good idea. If your ad is destined to advertise your product or service for a short time, challenging the customer to “discover or experience” it before time’s up could be an effective practice.

Here are a few quick tips:
•    Be creative
•    Create trust
•    Compare your product/service to another
•    Offer guarantees
•    Emphasize special offers
•    Use powerful words such as “how to”, “free”, “incredible”, “learn”, “save”, perfect”, “break-through”
•    … Just let your imagination go!
 
To optimize your use of space, whenever its necessary, abbreviate, use symbols and swap out words with a shorter synonym to make room for other text. Also make sure you highlight your special offers, in percentage, money, amount or “Free Shipping (Free S&H)”.
 
Effective ad texts that are proven appealing to customers include:

•    “Do you make this mistake?”
•    “The real truth about…”
•    “How to…”
•    “Tired of…?”
•    “The best kept secret is…”
•    “Are you aware of…?”
As you can see, it’s not difficult to use these texts to create a good-looking ad or even combine some of them to improve your results.  Think outside the box, it will surely pay off!

This was recorded LIVE in Las Vegas at the eCommerce Summit 2010

Every day, thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs miss out on millions of dollars in revenue simply because they don’t know how to utilize the Internet for marketing and selling. This is NOT your same old ABC stuff, these are actual eCommerce practices for Social Media that will yield bottom line results and amp up your business.

 

 

You comments from the #ICENotes hash tag. You can use Twitter to add comments here by simply including the #ICENotes hash tag. Enter your comments, I would really like to hear them!

You can listen to the full presentation above, the slides are below and here is a little information for you…

In the meantime, let me share with you a few links to get you started:

1. HootSuite - You can track, analyze, and review your links. You can schedule tweets for another time. You can search, separate, and organize your friends. It takes 5 different tools I was using and puts them all into one place.
2. Free Ecommerce Icons – Nice set of Icons that will help you create some wonderful images on your website.
3. Rapportive - This neat little Firefox add-on is a MUST HAVE for Gmail users!! Instead of showing you worthless Google Ads that don’t mean a thing to you… you will now see the sender’s photo, social media links, and some of the last Tweets they wrote. WOW! Use this tool to get personal with your customers and keep that customer for life.
4. Wibiya - This little toolbar is perfect for blogs or websites. You can add translation tools, testimonials, search, twitter, facebook, and many other tools that will help keep your customers interactive with you and your website.
5. Survey Monkey – Do you know what your customers want? Do you know what your customers need? Why not ask them instead of assuming? With Survey Monkey you can now get input from your customers… for FREE
6. TubeMogul – Why upload your videos to just YouTube when you can upload your videos to several online websites with one click of a button? TubeMogul will help you save time and help your search engine rankings!
7. Kampyle - Get honest feedback from your customers that you can use to make your website better. This wonderful feedback form will help you learn what you are doing right… and wrong.

Thanks to Shawna Fennell for compiling the list of tool, check her full blog post HERE and here me on her show with a post presentation interview below…

Post Presentation Interview with Shawna Fennel

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OR Click to Download

 

You can listen to the full presentation above with the slides.

In the meantime, let me share with you a few links to get you started:

1. HootSuite - You can track, analyze, and review your links. You can schedule tweets for another time. You can search, separate, and organize your friends. It takes 5 different tools I was using and puts them all into one place.
2. Free Ecommerce Icons – Nice set of Icons that will help you create some wonderful images on your website.
3. Rapportive - This neat little Firefox add-on is a MUST HAVE for Gmail users!! Instead of showing you worthless Google Ads that don’t mean a thing to you… you will now see the sender’s photo, social media links, and some of the last Tweets they wrote. WOW! Use this tool to get personal with your customers and keep that customer for life.
4. Wibiya - This little toolbar is perfect for blogs or websites. You can add translation tools, testimonials, search, twitter, facebook, and many other tools that will help keep your customers interactive with you and your website.
5. Survey Monkey – Do you know what your customers want? Do you know what your customers need? Why not ask them instead of assuming? With Survey Monkey you can now get input from your customers… for FREE
6. TubeMogul – Why upload your videos to just YouTube when you can upload your videos to several online websites with one click of a button? TubeMogul will help you save time and help your search engine rankings!
7. Kampyle - Get honest feedback from your customers that you can use to make your website better. This wonderful feedback form will help you learn what you are doing right… and wrong.

Thanks to Shawna Fennell for compiling the list of tool, check her blog post HERE

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This is Part 2 in my series on Bubble Networking, please see Part 1 as well.

Whales and Guppies: Where are your Bubbles swimming?

Surrounding yourself with non-toxic people that are where you want to be

In networking, social media, your personal life, etc, deciding who to surround ourselves with is a huge concept.  I define these as Whales and Guppies. Whales are the ‘Rock Stars’, those that are where you someday hope to be. They are big mammals in a vast ocean of space. Top of their game and kicking butt in the market.

Guppies are those that are where you are, or possibly still trying to get to where you are. The Big fish in the little Pond is the one that is an authority on everything, but expert on nothing, as they swim in the little goldfish bowl (They don’t even have a pond) and we do not even consider them too much.

So ask yourself, “Do I want to be surrounded by guppies in the pond, or the whales in the ocean?” Toxic or Non-Toxic? It is as simple as being asked paper or plastic at the grocery store.

The end result affects you, therefore, yes it is your decision to make. Take ownership of it and allow no one else to think themselves important enough to make this decision for you.

Remember that swimming in the little pond shortens the eyesight, and stunts growth. An organism will only grow to the limits of its container, where do you want to stop your growth?

Consider surrounding yourself with those that are where you WANT to be, while maintaining contact with those in your same level. Let’s break it down with a simple example:

A mom and pop business starting out in the garage. Networking with others in this position is a very good thing, as you share the same challenges and gain insight from the solutions of others (guppies). Consider also creating a bubble of those that are where you want to be – networking with those that have gone from the garage to the warehouse, is also extremely important (whales). These people inspire us, their very presence tells you everyday that success is obtainable. Their conversation forces you to think beyond your garage, expand your mind and your capabilities. The learning potential is infinitesimal.

Maintain these two bubbles, make a conscious decision about how much time you want to spend developing these bubbles. This decision should be directly based on the level of success you wish to obtain, and the importance of each individual in each bubble.

Toxic or Non-Toxic Relationships

According to Wikipedia, Toxicity is the degree to which a toxin is able to damage an exposed organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as … en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toxicity

You are the organism and toxic people can be and actually ARE damaging. They drain your resources, damage your mindset and in general hold you back from achieving your goals.

Take assessment of all your relationships both business and personal, virtual and physical. Is the relation ship toxic or non-toxic. When defining toxic, you know the type of toxic personalities I am speaking of;

• The Whiners – that ‘nothing is ever right’ person, they always need and find something to complain about. You and only you decide how much of you and your time these types can have. And yes, it is okay to fire them completely from your networking efforts.
• The Wishers – that “I wish I had that kind of luck folks”. You know these people, no matter what you accomplish via your hard work, they turn it in to “you are so lucky”. They never identify the outcome of hard work, planning and strategy, they turn it into just dumb luck.
• The Worriers – that person who can take every thing you think, do or say and find the negative about it. You can say the sun is beautiful today and they got to tell you about a guy who got skin cancer! … Need I say more?!?

Let these types go and feel the clean waters of the ocean. Empower yourself. If a weed grew up in your flower bed you would pull it out with no hesitation or mercy – same concept in your bubble network – pull out the toxic ones and toss them to the side, gently if they are loved ones LOL.

Begin NOW to empower yourself to create positive Bubbles, allow yourself to make conscious decisions about the people you allow into your Bubbles. They are your bubbles, you make the decisions. Keep those Bubbles nurtured, growing and expanding naturally.

I am really starting to look forward to Thursdays now, just for the opportunity to post these discussions and then follow it. I really am learning alot and the resources are fascinating. If you missed any of these informative discussions, be sure to check back to the prior weeks:

• Week #1 : Brands and Branding: What is it?
• Week #2 : Keyword Research

These weekly topical discussion are really a great resource and I am enjoying the information that is being shared. 

Each Thursday we will post a topic related to us as merchants and the the COMMUNITY…YOU GUYS will come in on the comments and post. You can post your comments on the subject, links to articles or posts to other blogs on the topic, you can post links to YouTube videos or Podcast episodes. I do not care what you post as long as it furthers the education of the community, it qualifies. But of course this will ONLY work if you participate. I want to see if the community would participate to make it great. Come on guys, lets each one, teach one!!!

Topic this week?

Marketing Channels: Which one is the BEST for WHAT and WHY? 

Is it eBay? Or maybe Amazon? Even Craigslist? How bout them Comparative Shopping Engines (CSE’s), or even Etsy, Bonanzle, etc. OH dayam this is time for the showdown! Let’s go for the gusto…LMAO

OK, I need your input now so lets start posting to the thread topical information on Brands and Branding.

Brent Leary and myself got into a great discussion about how some pretend to have influence simply because they have a few followers.

Listen to this episode of B.S. Walks NOW!
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Show Notes:

1:20 Outlook for 2010 in Business is optimistic
2:10 National Retail eCommerce numbers beat expectations
3:52 Amazon Kindle e-book sales crush it
5:20 The Apple iPad reviews
8:27 Lessons from Conan O’Brian from Tonight Show
12:00 The Appearance of influence with social media
15:03 The @Wiseman23 Twitter threat 
17:23 Tit-for-Tatter-Twitterers
18:00 Measuring Influence
18:00 Brian Clark (Copybloger.com)
18:39 Guy Kawasaki on Twitter
18:50 Oprah Winfrey on Twitter
19:07 Bill Gates on Twitter
19:30 Chris Brogan/Liz Strauss/Gary Vaynerchuk
23:30 Man vs. Wild
25:10 Levar Burton

Brent recently blogged on this topic with a post called Please Stop Automatically Equating Number of Twitter Followers With Real Influence

So can Twitter make you appear to look influential in a short amount of time? Apparently so, because people will give you the time of day if you have thousands of followers. Can you automate the process of appearing influential on Twitter? Absolutely – I’ve seen people’s followership rise quickly.. people I’ve never heard of before (regular non celeb types), even when they weren’t tweeting all that much…mostly through using some kind of service.

— Brent Leary

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Ecommerce edutainment on demand  

Be sure to subscribe so you do not miss an episode.

Are you building a business or do you just have a job as you grow old? Are you creating an enterprise or just going through the motions? Can you make it through the challenges, should you just QUIT or be exceptional?

Seth says average is for LOSERS…wow! Seth joined AuctionBytes to talk about his book, "The Dip: A little book that teaches you when to quit (and when to stick)." Seth gives some examples of eBay sellers who go beyond selling commodity products at commodity prices and get through the dip to become "exceptional."

—Ina Steiner (AuctionBytes writer)   

You really should listen or re-listen to this AuctionBytes interview from May 2007 today. You should absolutely listen, take notes and take action. One of the best interviews Ina ever did and this one alone changed my business!

Listen to the Interview NOW!
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Press "Play" to listen now

Ecommerce edutainment on demand  

Be sure to subscribe so you do not miss an episode.

Hey guys, in 2010 the efforts of ColderICE.com really is shifting and expanding. The ability to grasp some of the best minds and education is a constant obsession for me. Over the last year of doing this blog I have had the opportunity to come in contact with some AMAZING people. True thought leaders in disciplines that are critical for our small business success. One of those people is Charles Lumpkin and he has been gracious enough to provide me with some KILLER ecommerce SEO content for you guys.

Charles is an ecommerce SEO expert who deals with online marketing for enterprise and small business application. Charles has run thousands of online marketing campaigns and launched hundreds of web sites. These experiences give him a pretty good feel about which strategies deliver the best results quickly and efficiently.

Lumpkin is a huge believer in testing and market research. he likes to get into the market and understand it’s unique opportunities and weaknesses with as little time, money and effort as possible.

This is the first of several guest posts by Charles Lumpkin of CharlesLumkin.com

Please Rate Subscribe to the Blog

 

Charles Lumpkin

Charles Lumpkin + Partners
http://www.CharlesLumpkin.com

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What is the nonsense of the economy of free? Well it is not that complicated it is the ability to make sales and income using FREE stuff. There are books and goodwill evangelist that are trying to convince businesses and business owners that marketing with free stuff is a good "new" idea?

How in the world is this such a new idea? Hell, that has been around at least since the phone book. You want to see the marketing of free work in the real world? Just go to a Sam’s Club on a Saturday afternoon, you get free taste samples on every aisle. Must we always state and attempt to explain the obvious to the ignorant? LMAO

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eCommerce Ad Platform Earns Click Quality Accreditation From ImServices Group, Certifying Compliance With IAB Click Guidelines

SAN JOSE, Calif., – December 17, 2009 – Today eBay AdCommerce (www.adcommerce.com) announced the successful completion of click measurement accreditation by ImServices Group, indicating eBay’s full compliance with the Interactive Advertising Bureau’s (IAB) Click Measurement Guidelines. The IAB guidelines provide a rigorous methodology to help companies define and measure valid clicks and eliminate fraudulent ones. eBay AdCommerce is among a small group of industry leaders that are first to achieve this distinction, demonstrating a clear focus on transparency and accuracy for its advertisers.

“eBay is dedicated to ensuring that we deliver the highest quality traffic to our advertising partners and that AdCommerce advertisers are not charged for invalid or fraudulent clicks,” said Alexis Van De Wyer, director of advertising for eBay. “This accreditation of AdCommerce demonstrates eBay’s commitment to adhering to IAB industry standard ad measurement practices, and to offering a robust, transparent and reliable ad platform to eBay advertisers.”

“eBay is dedicated to ensuring that we deliver the highest quality traffic to our advertising partners and that AdCommerce advertisers are not charged for invalid or fraudulent clicks,” 

—Alexis Van De Wyer, director of advertising for eBay

AdCommerce is an advertising tool for eBay sellers designed to increase visibility of their products among eBay’s millions of online shoppers. Through AdCommerce, sellers can purchase pay-per-click ads on eBay.com and other AdCommerce partners to get in front of a huge audience of buyers – at the exact moment they are looking to buy.

“We applaud eBay for being among the first to adopt the IAB’s Click Measurement Guidelines,” said Randall Rothenberg, President and CEO of the IAB. “We are confident that many other organizations in our membership will adopt these Guidelines as one of the most important ways to assure marketers that the clicks they pay for are real.”

These two presentations are focusing on social media and its possible uses for businesses. The first one is conceptual while the second on is factual with data rich content. 

While not new, shiny or a hot topic any more, email marketing is still one of the BEST ways to interact with your customer base and to engage them in your sales funnel.  

Amazingly the principles of "good" marketing ideas are almost timeless. Yes, this presentation below was given more than 4 years ago. It includes 101 ideas for internet marketing and about 95% are STILL RELEVENT! Just goes to show how timeless solid information can be.