eRetail Stores Web Traffic Sources

Biggest referral gainer in 2006 is myspace, accounting for 2% of traffic. Here's more detail:

• Social networking sites account for 6% of traffic
• Search engines are the main source, accounting for 26% of a retail stores' online traffic. Google (16%) is the main driver, with Yahoo (5%) in second place, and MSN (2%) in third.
• Email drives 9% of the traffic.
• Web directories, including shopping comparison sites, account for 5.5% of a retail sites traffic.

Lesson for executives and marketers: if you need to grow your traffic, look for the various online means above to fuel your growth if your ratios aren't there today.

Random Musings: according to Hitwise, retail categores benefiting the most from search engine traffic are groceries and alcohol, victoria secret like clothing and accessories, and house and garden products.

Information Sources: article from OnlineMedia, written on 12/7/06, titled "Social Networking Sites Fuel E-Commerce Traffic"

SEO 2007 Fundamentals

Keep your web architecture simple, and don't game the system! Here is a summary moving into 2007 for SEO (a.k.a. FREE search):

• Keep the duplicate content on your site to a minimum. Write original copy.
• Simplify your URL's -- minimize the number of variables in them.
• Don't play the linking "farm" game for both inlinks and outlinks.
• Don't expect buried pages on your site to get picked up by the search engines.
• Add meta descriptions to the pages you want picked up.
• Make sure your title tags and page titles are relevant to each page.
• Add alt tags to all your graphics (descriptions that appear when you scroll over graphics).

Good luck!

j. Bruce / www.SalesDrivenMarketing.com

Web Transforms Art Sales

If you sell art online, this is a must read article for you... j. Bruce/ www.SalesDrivenMarketing.com

By Ross Fadner, December 21, 2006

Web Transforms Art Sales ReutersFor art dealers, the Internet is becoming just another way to sell their clients' works. Renowned collector Charles Saatchi is launching a Web site specifically to house the works of art students.

As art prices soar, collectors say they have less time to travel to galleries and shows to see new works. Similarly, painters and sculptors are having a hard time being seen in a fragmented and growing environment. So the Web is the best place for many artists to get their works seen. Many also participate in social networks like MySpace, but Saatchi is hoping to attract student art through his new site, called STUART (for student art).

The student-only site has already attracted more than 2,000 art students, and is only accessible as a link from his main gallery address: www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk. The proprietor has promised not to buy any art from the site for a year because he wants it to become independent. For some students, the site is already working. Many report selling work quickly. Collectors and museum curators said the Web is helpful for doing research, though not necessarily for buying online

Email Manager & Social Networking Site for Experts. Any Good?

Two sites worth checking out:

www.illumio.com
Illumio allows you to: 1) establish yourself as an expert in your field so that people can find you with related questions, and 2) lets you quickly find an expert to answer a question you have.

The key is how many people sign up and use it. Without critical mass, I'm not sure if the site will work.

www.BoxBe.com
Allows you to check all your email -- from different email boxes -- in ONE in box, and says it prevents unwanted email from reaching this inbox.


Props to my friend Andy in Silicon Valley for bringing these two sites to my attention!

j. Bruce
www.SalesDrivenMarketing.com

Before Spending Money On Advertising

I see this over and over and over again. Small to mid-size companies, sometimes regional players, that spend a lot of money on offline and online advertising, do not know how to evaluate their advertising expenditures.

Companies must know if their ad campaigns are branding based, or direct response oriented. Sales driven marketing is all about spending marketing dollars only if it breaks even, or generates a profit.

There are basic lead to sale conversion numbers that companies can use to model out if an ad campaign will be effective. If you're advertising on billboards, TV, radio, newspapers, or phone books, make sure you use unique 1-800 number so you can back into exactly how many leads that ad spend gives you, ultimately allowing you to know how many sales that ad provides you. You'll know, or should know, how many people (leads) your sales team needs to talk to in order to meet your monthly sales goals.

The same philosophy applies to online sales. How many visitors does your website need to generate the number of leads (or sales) your sales team requires to meet your monthly sales goals? These are questions that need thought about in order to spend your hard earned marketing dollars wisely. If you sell a high-end, big-ticket item, the website is better used for lead generation activities. People sell better than websites, but people want to research and find you online. Let them, but then give them a reason to get a customized response from a professional sales person.

Any ad agency that doesn't coach you to evaluate your marketing spend this way, is an agency after your buck without being accountable for their performance to you.

j. Bruce
www.SalesDrivenMarketing.com