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In 2008, we considered thousands of Internet Marketing websites for review in this newsletter. Below are our picks for the Top 9 sites for the entire year. WDFM is sponsored by...
Coming Attractions: Upcoming issues of this newsletter include...
If you are new to Web Digest For Marketers, welcome. I invite you to subscribe to this newsletter here. Please forward this newsletter to a colleague you think would find it useful. Thank you. Best Internet Marketing Sites of 2008: Out of the thousands of sites considered, we chose 9 sites that:
Now, without further ado, here's Co-Editor Janet Roberts with the top 9 Internet Marketing sites of 2008. Take it awaaaaay, JR ... 1. Blog Reputation Management Tool BlogPulse tracks blog posts in real time, which means that at any given moment you can search by keyword, URL or brand name to see who's posting about your subject. In addition to providing a graph that highlights the subject or URL's trend or "pulse" over time, this tool has an amazing feature that you should be aware of: When you are served the results of your search, you can click on the graph at any point in time and see the actual blog posts that were written about you. Other features include the option to view the top keywords and trends as organized by BlogPulse, the ability to track conversations across blogs and the ability to create and save your searches. It is offered gratis from Nielsen BuzzMetrics. 2. Twitter Tools Twitter, the short-message service that's like instant messaging on steroids, came into its own as a business application in 2008. Dell, online shoe retailer Zappos, Comcast and other companies use the 140-character messages (called "tweets") to monitor customer sentiment, pass on updates and react almost instantly to problems. This Web site collects 140+ new applications to help you grow your list of followers, make tweeting more efficient and avoid making mistakes that could lead to instant customer backlash. We especially like the search apps, which help you stay on top of who's saying what about you and alert you to issues that need response without taking time away from your other responsibilities. 3. Web Optimization Tool This complimentary service lets you test your Web design in 55 different combinations of Web browsers and operating systems. It's a handy tool to see how different systems can mangle your website using nonstandard code. Type in a Web address, select which browser/OS combinations to test, and click the button. Browsershots uses distributed computing to test your page across a network of users, who send back screenshots showing the results. This tool is important because your response rates are directly affected if your Web pages aren't rendering correctly in the various browsers your customers are using. WDFM is sponsored by...
4. E-Commerce Shopping Cart Information This blog covers more than 100 shopping-cart providers that offer decent options for what is usually a monthly fee. The authors literally take these systems out for a test drive and write about their benefits, shortcomings and unique features. They also provide a step-by-step wizard that first asks if you want to buy a cart, rent a cart or need a gateway system (which connects your current site to a payment process). It then evaluates your specific needs and churns out a variety of options for you to consider. 5. Widget Creator Clearspring's complimentary Launchpad widget builder (in beta at time of writing) takes the "content-to-social network" route. This do-it-yourself tool helps you turn your content into a widget, then gives you access to its integration with all the big-name social media sites such as MySpace, FaceBook and the like. The concept is that someone will come to your website, click the "add to MySpace" (or any other network) sharing button and launch your widget into the viral universe. The company also provides tracking and analysis. The application is available to businesses of any size. Major clients include The Today Show and the NBA. You'll have to measure your own efforts carefully to see how well your widget helps you drive your business goals, but this tool will let you experiment without having to invest a major sum. 6. Email Marketing News Email marketing is one of the most important direct marketing tools for retailers. This blog tracks the email campaigns of the 100 largest online retailers every single day. If you are not an etailer, you will still find much to learn about email marketing here. The coverage ranges from the micro to the macro. On the micro level, the "Subjectivity Scanner" lists the subject lines of all the email messages received on a particular day. Moving beyond today, you will find roundups of the most popular content for a particular week or month. This can help you plan your campaigns better, either to piggyback on what your competitors are doing or to market against the flow. You will also find regular analysis of individual retailers in email action, including their marketing messages and strategy and how they have evolved over time. WDFM is sponsored by...
7. Survey Creator One way to engage visitors and find out how they feel about your site experience is to ask them directly. SurveyGizmo does just that. You can structure your surveys in many ways, including polls, quizzes, landing pages and even mobile marketing campaigns. Extensive analytics and reporting features are included. At time of writing, a basic account was available at no cost. This is an actual working account (as opposed to a test account) that allows you to gather 250 responses per month on an ongoing basis. Pricing for larger survey needs is available at the site. 8. Google Tool This tool shows you the most popular searches on Google in any given hour, plus a list of related news articles and blog posts that support the rise and fall of the traffic surges. If any of them affects your business, you'll see it first here and will be able to react faster. Click on any of the keywords to learn more, including the hourly volume of searches, whether popularity is going up or down and (in some cases) where, geographically, the majority of the searches are coming from. You can also put in your own keywords to see where your topic of choice stands over a selected period of time. We used the phrase "email marketing" over the past 30 days and saw that search interest surged weekly on Wednesdays and had severe dips on Saturdays and Sundays. Or, go back as far as May 15, 2007, to compare results over a longer time period. 9. Data Visualization Tool Need an alternative to Google Analytics, especially for bloggers? This desktop real-time analytics package (runs on Windows, MacOS and Linux) could be it, and it's gratis (in beta at time of writing). It's so comprehensive, we can't list everything in a single review for fear of leaving out something important. Here's a quick rundown: an easy-to-use interface; live visitor tracking, analytics and notifications; one-click access to all the Web sites/blogs you manage, visitor and member tagging, deep searching of statistics; developer tools to customize your Woopra application and plenty of support via FAQs, user forums and tech support. During beta, use is restricted to 10,000 pageviews a day, more than manageable for many of the Internet Marketing consultants who read this. Attention Bloggers and Twitterers: You can link to the contents of this newsletter here and know it will live there permanently.
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12/15/08
Internet Direct Marketing Tip of the Week Why Trust is Key in Online Marketing I saw research recently that showed fully 90% of onliners mistrusted online marketing and websites. This is no great surprise, because too many sites and messages aren't what they appear to be. In this medium, where trust is at a premium, marketers and e-commerce sites alike need to go out of their way to convince the prospect they are legitimate. A slick interface or email message isn't enough. Lots of inbound links from respected sites can help. Real testimonials from real people help. Citizen reviews saying good things about you and your product help. Convincing prospects of your good intentions is the job of branding, some would say. Maybe, in part, that is true. But branding messages that speak of your good intentions aren't going to be nearly as effective as others who say good things about you. In tough times, prospects are going to be hypersensitive to whether you are going to deliver the goods or not. "Can I trust you with my money?" is what many prospects are asking themselves. At the end of the day, I believe people will place a higher value on trust than on the lowest price out there. In short, whether you're in b2b or b2c, you can't commoditize trust. That is good news for trustworthy marketers and e-commerce sites alike. LC Subscribe to this newsletter at no charge here.About WDFM Advertising in WDFM Click for WDFM's latest media kit Housekeeping If you received this issue from a colleague and you want your own subscription, you can get that by visiting Web Digest For Marketers and filling out the subscription form. It takes less than a minute. I encourage you to pass this issue of WDFM along, provided you do not change the copy, you keep the opening and this closing material, and you notify me. Ok, you don't have to notify me, but if you do, I will thank you personally. :) Thanks for reading all the way down to the bottom of this newsletter. :) Cordially, Larry Chase: Publisher |
