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Picture a barcode at your local grocery store. The code consists of lines and numbers, which when read by the proper application, relay product information and cost. Now, take that concept and apply it to Internet marketing and mobile applications and you get a QR code.

QR is short for Quick Response (they can be read quickly by a cell phone). The QR Code is a two-dimensional code, which when scanned by the appropriate device, drives mobile users to an intended location. They are used to take a piece of information from a transitory media and put it in to your cell phone. You may soon see QR Codes in a magazine advert, a web page or even on someone’s t-shirt. Once it is in your cell phone, it may give you details about that business (allowing users to search for nearby locations), or details about the person wearing the t-shirt, show you a URL which you can click to see a trailer for a movie, or it may give you a coupon which you can use in a local outlet.

According to Jeff Weidauer in his Retail Customer Experience report, he points to research that predicts that “two-thirds of retailers are planning a digital mobile initiative launch before the end of this year, and many of these will include a QR code capability.”

Your business, no matter how small or large, could use QR codes in a number of ways. You could add one to your business card containing your contact details so it is easy for someone to add you to their contacts on their cell phone. You can also add them to any print advertising, flyers, posters, invites, tv ads with the inclusion of Facebook and Twitter IDs, links to YouTube videos, event details, contact information, etc…
In conclusion, QR codes are another example of the blurring of the edges of media, as we all rapidly enter this totally connected world. It is the blurring of the lines between our cell phone and the Internet, always on Internet connectivity wherever we are, whatever we are doing and whatever device we have on hand –whether it’s a cellphone, netbook, laptop, pc, camera, or TV.

Getting in the mind of your website visitor

In the last decade, tracking web analytics has rapidly evolved from simply data crunching to a very powerful decision making platform. Web analytics is an important tool for Internet marketers and web designers alike to make choices about how to improve traffic flow, design calls to action, update search engine optimization and enhance the overall strategy of a website.

Paying close attention to visitor behavior on a website through analytics, is very similar to paying attention to the consumer behavior for a store, brand or product.  Think of it this way… a store manager arranges their shop with the most marketable items in places that grab the shopper’s attention and are easily accessible and highly visible. Just as the store manager is looking to make the shopper’s experience more satisfying by arranging their store based on the habits of his consumers, so that it is easy and enjoyable to navigate through, a website creator should take into account what information is most sought after on their website and the habits and pathways visitors are taking to get there.

Without web analytics it is next to impossible to measure and analyze website visitor behavior. Analyzing visitor behavior allows you to determine activity as it affects profit, sales and areas (pages) of interest. Page views, navigation, entry and exit pages, time spent, languages, geographic locations, visits, and keywords used in searches are a few of the features that are able to be determined using web analytics. By simply tracking items that are most often viewed you can learn what items or products on your site, receive the most attention. In this way you can adapt your offerings to attract more traffic and while doing so monitor what sparks and keeps visitor’s attention.

The Net Impact team places special emphasis on the importance of clickstream tracking, or the following of a visitor’s clickstream as they move throughout a website, down to every microscopic detail. This analysis offered by Google under the name Event Tracking Tool,  allows you to track every movement your visitor makes as a unique event. Analyzing every small movement, or micro-conversion, your visitor makes provides you with useful feedback used to make changes to your website to improve your visitor’s experience, which will in turn enhance the overall value of your website. Every micro-conversion a visitor makes is important because, no matter how small the movement is, it is still conversion, you are still getting the visitor to do what you want them to dig deeper and deeper into your website.

An excellent example of this is The Net Impact’s findings with the website www.vangoghgallery.com. VanGoghGallery.com is an online collection of Van Gogh’s works. The website received thousands of visitors each day. The Net Impact helped Van Gogh gallery setup Event Tracking Methods to gain greater insight into the navigation patterns of its main landing pages.  Through event tracking, Van Gogh Gallery was able to determine that the large image links on the page received 98.5% of the click-throughs compared 1.5%  for the side navigation links, going to the same page. This was helpful for determining the elements necessary on each page to get visitors to take the next step.

In conclusion, if you ever wondered how to analyze website user behavior, determine which search terms they come from, which pages are most visited, which pages are of least interest  and how to maximize your ROI, look into implementing  a Web Analytics solution. Analytics will help you conduct a behavioral analysis of your website visitors, and with that information you can make the required changes to your website that will improve your overall conversation rate and make your visitor’s website experience one that is enjoyable.

To find out how The Net Impact can help you with your Google Analytics needs, contact us today for a free assessment and consultation!

Do you want to reach more potential customers online? Or perhaps you are considering to invest some money on advertising? The first type of advertising channel that you should look into is PPC advertising.

Some of the advantages of PPC campaign are listed below:

1. Low cost
You pay only if a visitor clicks through your advertisement. Traditional methods of advertisements are not only slow but expensive. A small budget is enough to start a PPC campaign.

2. Instant results
PPC campaign can be started within a day or two. Once initiated, the campaign can yield instant results, because these ads get immediately listed on the search engines.

3. Keyword- Centric

Since PPC campaigns are  keyword specific, they provide the ability of choosing keywords and phrases that are reflect your business profile. You may also be able to get the detailed information about the search volume for your preferred keywords. Effectivly implementing a keyword research strategy will help you create ads that are targeted at customers who are actually interested in your products/services.

4. Provide market insight
PPC campaigns are helpful in getting an insight into the market. This will let you promote your products/services in the regions of your business profile and interest. You can run ads according to the keyword specific to that particular region. This again brings new business prospects for future marketing strategies to shape up.

5. Decode the customer mindset
Through PPC campaigns you can get an insight into the interest of customers from different areas. It let you understand what a customer is actually looking for. In this way your business gets developed in an efficient way that is in sync with the customers’ expectation.

6. Alert customers about a new product
You can update your clientele and prospective clients about your newly launched brands and services through PPC campaigns. You can build your brand image through PPC campaigns.

Overall PPC Campaigns are an effective and cost-efficient method of online advertising, that bring quick results. But remember that in order to make your pay per click advertising campaign a success, you must  monitor the performance using web analytics. These days there are lots of online tracking tools which can help you in keeping a check on click frauds.

The Net Impact is a full service PPC agency, and our consultation and bid management services are designed to assist you in setting up your pay per click search campaigns from start to finish. The Net Impact provides PPC account management and consulting services in both a supportive and hands-on manner.

What motivates visitors to take action on my website?

Although this seems like a simple question, the answer is not always obvious or easy to define. Many website owners receive a significant amount of visitors to their websites; however, driving visitors to your website is only half of the online success equation. Turning these visitors into customers and having the motivation to answer the question above, are both equally essential to improving your online performance.Website testing can help you answer these questions and improve your website to increase traffic and conversion. Even though A/B Testing is an ongoing process, but when managed properly it will help you realize a greater return on investment.

A/B Testing Case Study

Issue:  The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort is a luxury Georgia resort located on St. Simons Island. The resort receives a large amount of traffic to its website from its search engine optimization and paid search efforts, however, it was seeing a large number of visitors bounce from the home page. Analysis of the site’s Google Analytics statistics showed that the special offer that appeared on the home page was not receiving a large number of clicks (see image below). Knowing that this area of the home page should be great real estate for capturing the attention of potential customers, we decided to run a test to determine the type of message that should be presented in that area, which in turn would lead to a lower bounce rate.

Action: The Net Impact worked with The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort to develop an A/B Google Website Optimizer Test (an easy-to-use tool for testing site content that delivers actionable results) that uses creative variations of the home page. The test ran the original home page, hosting the special offer, against a new variation that provided links to pages which were most popular with visitors. The pages were chosen based on the revenue they generated. The two variations were run against each other in order to determine which message received the greatest amount of interaction. Due to the high volume of traffic on the site, enough data to determine the winner of each test was collected within 2-3 days of the Optimizer test launch. The Net Impact then implemented the changes to the website to reflect the winning home page layout.

Results: The results of the Google Optimizer test showed that the new variation resulted in a 281% increase in clicks from that area of the home page. As a result, the overall bounce rate of the home page decreased by 6.22% during the testing period. Since the implementation of the results of the Google Optimizer tests, The King and Prince Beach & Golf Resort home page has continued to see a decrease in bounces.

Until recently,  companies and PR Firms wrote press releases in a very uniform fashion designed for the eyes of the traditional journalist. But the evolution of online public relations has created an entirely new approach to the writing and distributing process of press releases.

Press release optimization is becoming an increasingly popular form of marketing. Just as optimizing your web site is vital to boost search rankings, so is creating an optimized press release. Internet news aggregators direct visitors to news sources in the same way that search engines direct visitors to web sites. Therefore, it is more effective for a press release to be optimized, and The Net Impact press release services will make your news visible to your target audience.

“Something like 25,000 press releases have been sent to me, resulting in no stories,” writes David Meerman Scott in his bestseller The New Rules of Marketing & PR. “Instead, I think about a subject that I want to cover in a column or an article, and I check out what I can find on blogs and through search engines.”

The purpose behind most online public relations efforts is to increase overall online exposure, which will in turn direct more people to visit your targeted website.  Increased online exposure can lead to greater brand development, a stronger relationship with your public, increased interest from the media, more connections with potential partners and increased lead generation causing greater revenue.

Any topic that will be of interest to prospects, the media and potential partners (such as a new product launch, industry news, events, community activities, etc…) can be used to construct a press release that is search engine optimized and distributed online. Then, distributing optimized press release via newswires has the power to directly reach millions of Internet users, generate inbound links to your website and raise search engine visibility of your website.

Most newswire services offer you an exact report on how many people accessed your optimized release. This is an essential tool in gauging your reads and impressions.  In addition, through other analytical tools, such as Google Analytics, you can determine when someone follows a link to your targeted website through your optimized press release.

Now that online news sites such as Yahoo News and Google News contain such an abundance of press release content and RSS feeds, it is easy to syndicate news. An optimized press release can get you a page one SERP result for your relevant keywords in the search engines, news engines and news websites. So we see that press releases are not only an effective tool for distributing content to the media and consumers, they are easily syndicated creating an excellent opportunity to attract organic traffic and incoming links.

 A well written online press release has the ability to:

1.) Capture the attention of editors, journalists and bloggers looking for compelling topics for news stories

2.) Live on the web indefinitely. Press Releases are  published to various websites and blogs, giving your content a long shelf life as the content is never deleted creating enduring links.

3.) Create conversation on social networks.The press release link will be shared indefinitely through social media marketing, such as Twitter and Facebook

4.) Be viewed by new prospects – your target audience.

*As a result of all of these activities, hyperlinks will generate that will point back to the release creator’s targeted web site.

 If online press releases sound like something your company should be doing but you do not know the right approach,  have the time or the resources, Contact The Net Impact to help you begin your online public relations effort in an organized manner. The Net Impact’s public relations services include press release copy-writing and press release submission through third party online platforms.. We can help you implement a successful public relations strategy into your overall marketing plan.

From dipping their toes into the water with a low-investment campaign to diving off the cliff, today many nonprofits are actively exploring social media. But a common problem many non-profits face is that they blindly leap into social media without implementing a strategy. Without a well created strategy, there is no way to measure your online efforts. This leaves the non-profits at a loss to justify their investment of time, money and resources, or reap valuable insights to improve their efforts. Whether you measure social media success based on how many new volunteers you recruit, the number of sponsorships or donations, the dialogue shared among your online community, or the influx in web traffic, fans and followers, it is vital to measure your results against clear marketing objectives, just as you would with any Internet marketing campaign.

When starting a social media campaign for you non-profit, remember: a simple, yet powerful mission and message can take a campaign far. Non-profits on social networking sites should set goals, update consistently, become a part of the conversation, build community and create value. Without a clear vision and well thought out strategy, it is difficult to encourage an audience to participate. If the time and energy are strategically spent to create a social community, others will help spread your message and your desired results will come.

The social media space provides the non-profit sector with the opportunity to connect and collaborate quickly and inexpensively, and without the help of big company sponsorships. Many non-profits are leveraging social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter, to connect with their supporters online by crowdsourcing ideas, providing feedback and monitoring conversations regarding their organization.

According to Stacey  Monk, Founder and CEO of Epic Change, “Social media is making change possible. With social media, we’re able to hear totally new voices, who might not have had access to mainstream channels, which represents a real shift in power, and where change can originate.”

Recenlty The Net impact, an online interactive agency, teamed with St. Louis based non-profit, the Karla Smith Foundation to help build online aware for their campaign event with BringChange2Mind, a non-profit superheaded by award-winning actress Glenn Close that works to combat the stigma of mental illness. KSF and BringChange2Mind combined forces to host an unprecedented mental health awareness and anti-stigma event, “Change a Mind, Change a Life”, in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Karla Smith Foundation was in need of a strategy to build online buzz around the event and direct traffic to the event website. To quickly and effectively generate awareness around the campaign, The Net Impact worked closely with the Karla Smith Foundation to create the website, www.changeamind.org, for the highly anticipated event. In order to direct traffic to the website and create online awareness, The Net Impact implemented a social media marketing strategy for the campaign, which included a strong presence on Twitter and Facebook. The KSF social networking sites were updated daily with exciting news regarding the event, such as notices of upcoming media appearances, videos and pictures, and sponsorship information. The KSF Facebook and Twitter continued to see steady growth in fans and followers as well an increase in the level of fan engagement in the weeks leading up to the event.

As a result of the social media marketing campaign, KSF was provided with the opportunity to share valuable information with their existing community, increase interest around their event, catch the attention of local media, build their brand awareness and attract new fans and followers to get involved with their organization. Most importantly, the KSF Facebook page now serves as a platform for their online community to share personal experiences and give valuable feedback in real time.

In conclusion, while many non-profits still have a long way to go, the integration of social media in their marketing efforts can help these organizations meet and exceed many different goals. Social  media is a platform that allows people to participate in a conversation about what they think, feel and care about, making social media and excellent space for the non-profit sector to continue to explore.

How do video, social media and advances in mobile effect search? What are the search engines changing?

These were just a few of the questions answered at The Net Impact’s Search Engine Strategies Session on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010. The seminar covered current trends in search engine optimization and highlighted the best presentations from the The Net Impact’s SEO team’s recent trip to the Search Engine Strategies Session held in Chicago December 2009. The three presentations presented focused on B2B, Blended Search and Linking.

The first presentation, presented by Angela Cicerelli, Web Account Manager at The Net Impact, covered blended search. Blended search enhances user experience and is another way to engage with potential customer. If you are having troubles ranking for a keyword, blended search just may be the answer. The presentation discussed why we should care about images and videos in search. Social media sites, such as Flickr and YouTube, are now becoming major sources of  website traffic and are appearing in search results. What to take away from the session regarding blended search – The web isn’t about pages anymore, it’s all about streams, feeds and syndication. If information is important, it will find you.

 

The next presentation, led by Lauren Williamson, Web Content Manager at The Net Impact, highlighted the importance of linking. Link popularity measures the quality and quantity of links pointing to a web page. Recently, social media marketing has become one of the most practical and high quality ways to earn links. The Chicago Search Engine Strategies Session touched on three main reasons why it is important to have a linking program: improve rank, boost traffic and to increase brand exposure. Lauren closed with the statement: “Building links is similar to building relationships – it takes works and is all about quality, not quantity”.

Sonya Sawall, Web Account Manager at The Net Impact, led the final conversation on B2B. Business buyers and decision makers are online, using search engines. Business professionals engage in social networking in order to build relationships that bring business. They rely on search, sometimes throughout the whole buying cycle, and in order to be successful, Internet marketing experts must align their messages with buyers needs throughout each phase of the buying process.

The most important thing learned at The Net Impact’s SES Session: There is one certainty about SEO – the game is always changing. “If you are following a best practice that dates back to 2008 or earlier, toss it away.  It’s now wrong”. 2010 is the year of real-time, personalized results, growing importance of social, community and web mobility. We need to continue to adapt our SEO strategies to stay ahead of the curve.

We hope you all enjoyed the presentation as much as we did, and we look forward to seeing you at the next TNI event!

Check out some great pictures from the event on Flickr!

If you think online social networking is solely for the younger demographic, think again. Thanks to new social networking sites that enable professionals in a wide variety of industries, such as marketing, finance and even medicine, to build meaningful business relationships, social media is now flourishing in the business world.

The Institute for Corporate Productivity recently held a survey and found 65% of business professionals are connecting to social networking websites. Business executives also have turned to online forums, email lists and message boards to sound off on information related to their industries. Of those respondents who do not currently utilize social networks, the top reason (37%) is simply that they don’t know what networks to use. The majority of respondents (59%) said they would likely use social networks if they knew that such use would assist their professional development (31% say they already do), and a full 77% would welcome using them if they though the networks could aid organizational efficiency.

Millions of professionals already turn to broad-based networking sites like LinkedIn to swap job details and contact information, often for job seeking purposes. Recently, LinkedIn reached 43 million active users, with the average age of its members being 41 years. With the growing use of social networking by business professionals, there is a growing number of social networking sites popping up that focus on business users and meeting their needs, that go beyond the broad-based networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn. There are also many niche social networking sites for specific industries, such as legal and medical.

For example: When radiation oncologist Michael Tomblyn recently saw a 21-year-old patient whose eye was protruding from its socket, he turned to his fellow physicians for help. Dozens of doctors offered suggestions, HIV-associated lymphoma or a cocaine-associated sinus problem, eventually steering him toward the correct answer: rhabdomyosarcoma, a fast-growing cancer most often observed in young children. Surprisingly, this diagnosis didn’t take place in a doctor’s lounge. It happened on Sermo.com, the largest online physician community in the US, where practicing US physicians collaborate on difficult cases and exchange observations about drugs, devices and clinical issues., which Dr. Tomblyn and 25,000 doctors like him visit regularly to consult with colleagues specializing in areas from dermatology to psychiatry.

Sermo.com is just one of many targeted social networking sites for professionals. Another example is, Nexly.com, a web-based community designed for the B2B marketplace that provides access to tools and information businesses need in order to better connect. While community tools, like LinkedIn are useful for recruiting purposes, Tom Carlock, CEO of Nexly saw the need for a community created specifically for finding service providers. Nexly.com was created to simplify the process in finding qualified outsourcing services that will results in better buying results.

Nexly is currently in the Beta testing process, and on February 16, 2010, they held a focus group at The Net Impact’s office, in order to validate assumptions and biases in the Beta phase.Check out TNI’s Interview with CEO of Nexly.com, Tim Carlock, on TNI’s YouTube Channel!

Even in the midst of the social media revolution, the behaviors and networking needs of business professionals have not changed, the media simply has. In other words, business professionals are meeting age-old networking needs in new ways. Given the new functions, features and real-time access of social media, social networks have transformed the way  professionals establish and maintain their business relationships.

As more and more business professionals turn to social networks to meet their business objectives, we can only expect to see more targeted social networking sites for professionals continue to pop up on the web. While nothing replaces the quality of face-to-face meetings, social media is a new way to initiate and build relationships and thus, continue to grow one’s professional network.

Do you have any other social networking sites for business that you use?Which one has worked the best for your business?

Original Post at:  www.blog.thenetimpact.com