"eBay is a unique online platform that connects buyers and sellers. Buyers pay nothinng to eBay when they place bids and purchase items from sellers. It si the sellers who pay eBay listing fees and final value fees, (a small percentage of the sales price). eBay has done a superior job of setting up the guidelines and rules that make it a safe environment to by and sell from." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Meyerson, pg138)
So, why use eBay? is a question I need to ask.
EBay has over 125 million registered users It has a global presence in 28 international markets besides the United States.
There are over 20 million items on sale at any given time with over 2 million added daily.
With all these great numbers there is only 1/100th of 1 percent of transactions on eBay that result in confirmed cases of fraud.
What is it that attracts over 10 million visitors to eBay each and every day, from over 30 countries worldwide?
Well there are many possible reasons, and I’m sure that the set of reasons differs between individuals; but the statistics speak for themselves. In our consumer-driven society, people are after new and exciting products at a price they can afford. This is particularly true in the current economic climate; people are struggling to afford the essentials, let alone anything extra.
Why sell on EBay?
Well, it’s very simple. EBay is simply the LARGEST marketplace in the world!
You could open a store, start a company, develop a network, or buy a franchise, and in your entire lifetime you would never be able to advertise your business to the vast number of consumers that frequent eBay in a single day.
You can buy or sell practically anything on eBay; jewelry, shoes, sunglasses, movies, tools, junk that’s sitting in your garage, antiques, books, even cars and houses. The possibilities of items that you can buy or sell on eBay are virtually endless.
When you sell something on eBay, you are literally advertising your item to an international marketplace with MILLIONS of potential buyers. You just can’t get that kind of exposure anywhere else in the world.
Have you ever heard the phrase “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure”? Do you have something in your house that has just been sitting there and you think is totally worthless? Believe me, somebody out there wants it, and they’re on eBay searching for it!
The bottom line is, the profit potential for selling on eBay is simply HUGE. If you are already in business, or if you’re thinking about starting a business, incorporating eBay into your sales plan is an absolute MUST if you want to maximize your profits. If you’re ignoring this huge international marketplace, you’re simply missing out.
Statistics from Tom (ideal-eyewear)
http://www.IdealEyewear.net
"High Quality Sustainable Conception and Visual Design for Global Communication"
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Week 8 EOC - Chapter 11 Speed Selling On The Internet
"The most important activity for any business to thrive and flourish is sale. You can have the greatest products in the world, the most advanced ideas, the highest quality Internet experience, the best customer service, but without sales, it all goes to waste.
Everything in your business is tied to sales and marketing. Everyone in your organization is in the sales and marketing business. Everything you do, from the Web site, to your order fulfillment, to your customer follow-up, is part of your sales and marketing program.
The irony is that most people fear sales and dread the very thought of making a sales call. The reason is that when you sell, you are on the line. There is no place to hide. Sales are a binary event --you win the sale or you don't, it's that simple. Add to this a lack of sales training and fear of rejection and you have a formula for mediocrity, or even worse, abject failure." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, by Mitch Meyerson, pg124)
The book states that sales and marketing go hand in hand. Marketing is used to generate leads, to capture the attention of a suspect and give them enough information so they can determine whether they are interested or not. A sale is to get that person who is interested and convert them into a customer.
When people visit your Web site there are several things that I have learned from this chapter that the Web site needs to accomplish. It needs to educate the prospect by having exciting information about services. This can be accomplished by using attention-grabbing headlines to lead the person to the things you want them to see. The copy needs to describe the benefits that are offered by the services/product. These should appeal to the prospects emotions. People buy on emotion and justify with logic. The copy needs to utilize the four major benefits that create a buying environment, it must answer one of the big four questions: Will this product make me healthier, wealthier, sexier, or save me time? (pg125) This should culminate with a buying decision.
If the prospect decides not to buy, a free report or more information should be offered in order to capture their contact information so that we have this and their permission to continue to market to them. Sales is information collection not information distribution. "You have to collect information on your prospects so that you can market to them. This should be one of the first steps in your sales process--get the prospect's e-mail, name, address, telephone number, fax number, their permission to market to them, and any other data your require. You owe it to your prospects, and you owe it to yourself." (pg131)
Everything in your business is tied to sales and marketing. Everyone in your organization is in the sales and marketing business. Everything you do, from the Web site, to your order fulfillment, to your customer follow-up, is part of your sales and marketing program.
The irony is that most people fear sales and dread the very thought of making a sales call. The reason is that when you sell, you are on the line. There is no place to hide. Sales are a binary event --you win the sale or you don't, it's that simple. Add to this a lack of sales training and fear of rejection and you have a formula for mediocrity, or even worse, abject failure." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, by Mitch Meyerson, pg124)
The book states that sales and marketing go hand in hand. Marketing is used to generate leads, to capture the attention of a suspect and give them enough information so they can determine whether they are interested or not. A sale is to get that person who is interested and convert them into a customer.
When people visit your Web site there are several things that I have learned from this chapter that the Web site needs to accomplish. It needs to educate the prospect by having exciting information about services. This can be accomplished by using attention-grabbing headlines to lead the person to the things you want them to see. The copy needs to describe the benefits that are offered by the services/product. These should appeal to the prospects emotions. People buy on emotion and justify with logic. The copy needs to utilize the four major benefits that create a buying environment, it must answer one of the big four questions: Will this product make me healthier, wealthier, sexier, or save me time? (pg125) This should culminate with a buying decision.
If the prospect decides not to buy, a free report or more information should be offered in order to capture their contact information so that we have this and their permission to continue to market to them. Sales is information collection not information distribution. "You have to collect information on your prospects so that you can market to them. This should be one of the first steps in your sales process--get the prospect's e-mail, name, address, telephone number, fax number, their permission to market to them, and any other data your require. You owe it to your prospects, and you owe it to yourself." (pg131)
Friday, May 21, 2010
Thursday, May 20, 2010
Week 7 EOC - 10 Ways to Build Your Database; Value of Business = Size and Quality of Database
1. Offer something people want in exchange for contact information
2. Engage the customers in things that delight them
3. Do Promotionals, put a time limit on the special offerings
4. Offer something Free for multiple emails
5. Ask for email addresses online, use affiliations
6. Hold contests at theaters or at website
7. Have your vendors collect email addresses
8. Use flyers
9. Make use of cards at the theater/vendor's booths for people to fill out
10. Use direct contact at other movie sites or festivals
2. Engage the customers in things that delight them
3. Do Promotionals, put a time limit on the special offerings
4. Offer something Free for multiple emails
5. Ask for email addresses online, use affiliations
6. Hold contests at theaters or at website
7. Have your vendors collect email addresses
8. Use flyers
9. Make use of cards at the theater/vendor's booths for people to fill out
10. Use direct contact at other movie sites or festivals
Week 7 EOC - Chapter 10 Building Your Business Using Audio, Web, and Video Conferencing
"Today we can't imagine dealing with a company or organization that doesn't have a Web presence. In the near future, the public will think the same thing about companies that are not using audio, Web, and video conferencing technologies to interface with their customers. Prospects will want to hear audio testimonials, listen to and see live product and service presentations, or even have the opportunity to test-drive products online and in real time. Today, these technologies are available to you. They're easy to use, cost-effective, and a necessity if you want your business to be a success." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, by Mitch Meyerson, pg116)
In the ever expanding global marketplace, a business has to stay ahead by implementing the newest technologies. No longer can one depend on the old ways of doing things. Building a business using audio, web, and video conferencing is not applicable to all businesses but does have its place of importance. You can reach people across the oceans using these technologies. People can find out more and any information. It helps build and maintain a strong customer relationship because in marketing relationship is still everything.
Most people have a short attentions span and it is only a matter of seconds before they decide to stay at your site or leave. Once they leave they will probably never return. “They need value-based, timely, rich content that encourages them to return to your site where you are more likely to convert them into customers.” (pg108)
With these new trends your reach is to the global marketplace. Your visibility and credibility is increased where increased visibility is naturally associated with a high level of credibility. It lowers the cost of doing business by decreasing the need to travel. These are tools that give your company leverage needed to reach new levels. "Using them today will create your business of tomorrow.” (pg122)
In the ever expanding global marketplace, a business has to stay ahead by implementing the newest technologies. No longer can one depend on the old ways of doing things. Building a business using audio, web, and video conferencing is not applicable to all businesses but does have its place of importance. You can reach people across the oceans using these technologies. People can find out more and any information. It helps build and maintain a strong customer relationship because in marketing relationship is still everything.
Most people have a short attentions span and it is only a matter of seconds before they decide to stay at your site or leave. Once they leave they will probably never return. “They need value-based, timely, rich content that encourages them to return to your site where you are more likely to convert them into customers.” (pg108)
With these new trends your reach is to the global marketplace. Your visibility and credibility is increased where increased visibility is naturally associated with a high level of credibility. It lowers the cost of doing business by decreasing the need to travel. These are tools that give your company leverage needed to reach new levels. "Using them today will create your business of tomorrow.” (pg122)
Week 7 EOC - Chapter 9 How to Automate Your Online Marketing
"Capturing e-mail addresses. Automate the most important role of your Web site: capturing the e-mail addresses of all your prospects. Your mailing list is critical to all your marketing and literally your most valuable assets. Offer special reports, e-zines, newsletters, insider information, mini-educational courses, advice, or free trials to entice visitors to share their mane and e-mail. When the data is entered, it is automatically placed in your database and added to the appropriate list. Then, e-mail promotions and other benefits over time to build your relationship and gradually earn a prospect's trust, leading to more sales and frequent purchases." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstar, by Mitch Meyerson, pg108)
One of the most important things in a business is earning your customers trust and building a relationship. By getting an e-mail you can communicate with that individual. "Frequency builds trust and relationship." (pg109) Without that e-mail address, once a person leaves your website there is no reason for them to ever return. Without that relationship and trust, a person will never spend money on your site.
A person needs to give you their e-mail address willingly. Therefore, you need to have "value-based, timely, rich content that encourages them to return to your site where you're more likely to convert them into customers." (pg108) From my own personal experiences, getting uninvited e-mails only tends to make a person annoyed and your e-mail will only be deleted without ever getting read.
"Rarely does a customer buy on their first visit to your site and they're just as unlikely to ever return without an invitation and further persuasion." (pg107) No e-mail = no customer base. No customer base = no business. If there are no buyers, your business has little value or life expectancy!
One of the most important things in a business is earning your customers trust and building a relationship. By getting an e-mail you can communicate with that individual. "Frequency builds trust and relationship." (pg109) Without that e-mail address, once a person leaves your website there is no reason for them to ever return. Without that relationship and trust, a person will never spend money on your site.
A person needs to give you their e-mail address willingly. Therefore, you need to have "value-based, timely, rich content that encourages them to return to your site where you're more likely to convert them into customers." (pg108) From my own personal experiences, getting uninvited e-mails only tends to make a person annoyed and your e-mail will only be deleted without ever getting read.
"Rarely does a customer buy on their first visit to your site and they're just as unlikely to ever return without an invitation and further persuasion." (pg107) No e-mail = no customer base. No customer base = no business. If there are no buyers, your business has little value or life expectancy!
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Week 6 EOC - Identify path of final project
The Corporate site is informational
• For use of potential advertisers
• Compelling content – includes current and changing info
• Updated with history of successful campaigns
The Corporate site is interactive and uses involvement device to gather email addresses of movie fans
• Viewer must give email to start relationship
• Email initiates action – simple email that inform viewer about movie and that redirects viewer
• Sends viewer to site that promotes advertisers products with involvement device to gather additional demographic info
Exchanges info for a gift – free line pass and (or) info to get to ticket distribution site
The path of the final project is going to contain involvement devices that will be used to gather e-mail addresses and demographic info. There will be baits that lure and hook the visitor for an e-mail address. Baits such as the chance to see a movie before it is actually out.
The use of bundling will be implemented, by going to an advertised restaurant, not only will you get a deal on a meal, you can pick up your tickets there. This will also be used to promote the advertisers products. So once the visitor gives an e-mail address and clicks submit, a window with an add will pop up for the advertisers product.
The visitor will be told to do something once at this site, to click on some object, which will bring them to another window that will ask for some type of demographic information, such as an age group, how large is there group. This information will be used to sort the visitor into target groups, those that would be interested in this movie and those that would not. The information gathered could be generated for future use of marketing to these other target groups.
Once we have our target market, another window will pop up to tell them where and when they could get their tickets, which will be at the advertiser’s establishment. This whole process is using engagement, getting the user to use their mouse, becoming engaged and a participant of the whole process.
The principle of gifting can be applied once the visitor shows up to the advertiser’s establishment to pick up the tickets.
If the visitor decides to leave the site without making a commitment, we could use a pop up window to ask them their opinion, why they are leaving, if they would like to receive a newsletter of upcoming events and movies in their location by them leaving a zip code.
• For use of potential advertisers
• Compelling content – includes current and changing info
• Updated with history of successful campaigns
The Corporate site is interactive and uses involvement device to gather email addresses of movie fans
• Viewer must give email to start relationship
• Email initiates action – simple email that inform viewer about movie and that redirects viewer
• Sends viewer to site that promotes advertisers products with involvement device to gather additional demographic info
Exchanges info for a gift – free line pass and (or) info to get to ticket distribution site
The path of the final project is going to contain involvement devices that will be used to gather e-mail addresses and demographic info. There will be baits that lure and hook the visitor for an e-mail address. Baits such as the chance to see a movie before it is actually out.
The use of bundling will be implemented, by going to an advertised restaurant, not only will you get a deal on a meal, you can pick up your tickets there. This will also be used to promote the advertisers products. So once the visitor gives an e-mail address and clicks submit, a window with an add will pop up for the advertisers product.
The visitor will be told to do something once at this site, to click on some object, which will bring them to another window that will ask for some type of demographic information, such as an age group, how large is there group. This information will be used to sort the visitor into target groups, those that would be interested in this movie and those that would not. The information gathered could be generated for future use of marketing to these other target groups.
Once we have our target market, another window will pop up to tell them where and when they could get their tickets, which will be at the advertiser’s establishment. This whole process is using engagement, getting the user to use their mouse, becoming engaged and a participant of the whole process.
The principle of gifting can be applied once the visitor shows up to the advertiser’s establishment to pick up the tickets.
If the visitor decides to leave the site without making a commitment, we could use a pop up window to ask them their opinion, why they are leaving, if they would like to receive a newsletter of upcoming events and movies in their location by them leaving a zip code.
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Week 6 EOC - Chapter 8 Traffic Conversion Secrets
"There are far fewer principles than there are tactics. They cause predictable, sustainable, and capital-efficient growth or sudden changes in losses in business if you're using the wrong principles.
Principles answer why your marketing works or doesn't work and specifically in this case your e-marketing, or online marketing. I like to also call a principle a driver or a strategy. A tactic is a technique, some people call it a trick, or tricks, of the trade, and they help execute the e-marketing or marketing that you do in the form of the tools that you use.
...The single biggest difference between a principle and tactic is endurance.
Principles often work forever...But tactics are often obsolete overnight...Apply principle-centered tactics to increase visitor values. (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Meyerson, pg95)
One principle, recycling, caught my attention. Meyerson states that if 3 out of 100 people buy from you are considered supersuccessful and if 5 out of 100 buy that is considered stratosphere proportions. If you have 5 percent conversion that means 95 out of 100 people are leaving your site and they are never coming back. So in recycling you are trying to get back those people and find out why they are leaving and what they want so that you can implement that into your site and get a better percentage of people to do business with you. It's as easy as using things such as an exit pop-up that reads "What's the biggest reason you decided not to give us a try?" to find out what's going on.
"That is recycling in action-it happens every single day while you sleep. It boosts your value per visitor quickly, reliably, and economically. Don't just go after the people landing on your Web page who are intereste. Go after the people who are disinterested, that 98 percent that left you. Go after those people; see if you can get them with exit strategies." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Meyerson, pg100)
Principles answer why your marketing works or doesn't work and specifically in this case your e-marketing, or online marketing. I like to also call a principle a driver or a strategy. A tactic is a technique, some people call it a trick, or tricks, of the trade, and they help execute the e-marketing or marketing that you do in the form of the tools that you use.
...The single biggest difference between a principle and tactic is endurance.
Principles often work forever...But tactics are often obsolete overnight...Apply principle-centered tactics to increase visitor values. (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Meyerson, pg95)
One principle, recycling, caught my attention. Meyerson states that if 3 out of 100 people buy from you are considered supersuccessful and if 5 out of 100 buy that is considered stratosphere proportions. If you have 5 percent conversion that means 95 out of 100 people are leaving your site and they are never coming back. So in recycling you are trying to get back those people and find out why they are leaving and what they want so that you can implement that into your site and get a better percentage of people to do business with you. It's as easy as using things such as an exit pop-up that reads "What's the biggest reason you decided not to give us a try?" to find out what's going on.
"That is recycling in action-it happens every single day while you sleep. It boosts your value per visitor quickly, reliably, and economically. Don't just go after the people landing on your Web page who are intereste. Go after the people who are disinterested, that 98 percent that left you. Go after those people; see if you can get them with exit strategies." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, Mitch Meyerson, pg100)
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Week 5 EOC - Midterm Evaluating My Experience.
In evaluating my experience over the last 5 weeks I must say I have learned a lot. I have learned the areas where I still need work such as; I need to work on my headings and copy, making them more interesting in catching my audiences attention, this is extremely . I need to be able to get a better understanding of my target market, which would also help me with headings and the overall design of my sites.
Even though there are some things that I have to work I do like my Movie Obsession Website. I have tried to incorporate interactivity from the first page on, there is opportunity for the user to interact with the site. I had tried to use the headline to reach out and talk to the user’s emotional condition.
"Marketing is the ability to effectively reach out to a customer and offer them your product, your service, your personality, your information" (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 3)
"The number one reason people go online is to get information." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars pg 23)
I put a lot of information on my site about inspirational movies, offering the older, newer and movies that are not out yet. I put reviews, editorials and a blog so people can see what others might have thought. There is detailed information about each movie; the actors that played in the movies, producers, ratings and movie trailers.
I tried to create my site by following the eight rules for creating an effective Web site pg 25 of Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars.
1. Planning-By knowing that I wanted to present inspirational movies that touched people's lives that created a want in them; wanting to be different; wanting to change; wanting to help change the world around them.
2. Great Content-by presenting movies they had already seen and can relate to and presenting others that they had not seen that others thought were good can arouse their interest in exploring further. I tried to make sure my content was specific, relevant, and focused on their current concerns. I tried to use "Killer content...information that gets people to respond emotionally." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 24) By offering movies and articles on their greatest problems and struggles and then offering a place where they can respond and see what others are going through and how others are facing these same challenges by giving them the opportunity to write about the movies they had seen and how it affected them and by giving them a place to blog.
3. Design- I tried to design my site to be user friendly and easy to look at. The choice of where they wanted to go is presented in uncluttered easy links that are available on each page so that the user can go forward and back without getting lost on the site. The navigation is clear and allows the reader to easily reach the most essential content. The colors are consistent and easy on the eyes. I used headlines to grab their attention, and sub-headlines that told the main story so they could choose whether they wanted to browse or really read.
4. Involvement- I made my site interactive. Instead of just offering the information lay out on a page of text, the user has to click images and links to get to where they want to be. I tried to make it so they would want to explore. They have opportunity to sign in, sign up and share, and win tickets and dinner.
5. Production- The website is online.
In my MySpace project I started to build my online brand. "Customer loyalty is really built on branding and on building a relationship and those two go together.
You have to build this bond with your customers and prospects. You have to build a relationship with them, but at the same time, part of building that relationship is maintaining a consistent theme, identity and message. That's really what branding is about.
Branding is about communicating a message." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 32)
My theme is seen across my MySpace, Blog and Twitter in using the same colors, background and styles. The background I used has words such as create, community, serve, inspire, mentor, make a commitment, support, have vision, impact, invest, education, see potential, have compassion, make change, share knowledge, nurture, believe, etc.
Helping people to help people succeed; this is my message; this is how I want to be identified.
When people see these sites, the logo, the colors, the words, they will think of me. "Psychologists call it contiguous association, and that's really what you're trying to build in branding." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 33)
"In short, customers can immediately associate my products, myself, and my identity. Consistency is so important...the average consumer gets 3,000 commercial messages per day--from TV, billboards, telephone, Internet, and other sources. That's an enormous amount of noise and clutter. How do you cut through that enormous amount of noise and clutter? You must have a consistent message. You must have something that you focus in on and hone in on so people identify it with you. If you don't have a laser-focused message, then there's no chance of cutting through the noise in the marketplace. " (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 35)
I have tried to keep the look, the feel, and the message consistent throughout. I tried to keep the content uncluttered and easy to navigate.
I am also trying to keep a sustainable uniqueness. "A sustainable uniqueness means that you're able to sustain it over a period of time because there's a barrier to entry. In other words there's some reason that your competitors cannot easily match the unique value, the unique benefit, the unique benefit, the unique proposition you're offering to your customers." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg37)
"By finding out what people want to buy, allowing them to buy it from you, and being able to deliver a benefit to them, you are able to sustain over a period of time." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg38)
By allowing people to see you, what you do, your humanness, where you've been, sharing your life with them and allowing them to share with you, opens up a door of communication that builds relationship and hopefully loyalty. It's not about money, it's about people.
I learned how to sign up for a YouTube account, post a video and tag and promote my video to get hits. My YouTube Project is an animation I created in Flash. I did not start out with any particular meaning but I think it now speaks out to what do you believe, do things just happen accidentally, with a big bang, or is there rhyme and reason to what happens. Is it just coincidence or is there a plan. Faith or unbelief?
My Name for the Movie Insider Project is "The Las Vegas Box Office".
My plan is to learn to implement involvement devices and to have a clean design that is easy to navigate. I will be using "Involvement devices which are devices used to get people "involved" with your sales copy. They magnetize people to read every word of your copy...When you use involvement devices, you effectively "own your audience." That is, you hold your audience captive." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg60)
"It's the involvement device that allowed them to articulate their problems in their own words, and type them into that little box. It got a lot of people "involved" in the sales copy, and made them admit they had problems that needed solving." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg61)
I plan on having quizzes and boxes where the user can react with the website. Having involvement devices that gives choices and places for people to write things down helps them to get involved and create a relationship that gives them reason to return to the Website.
"According to master of persuasion, Robert Cialdini, "Writing is believing." When you ask your readers to write down (or in this case, type out) the things they desire, they admit the need for your product or service, and a written commitment is more lasting then a mental commitment. One who writes out a commitment has a higher likelihood of following through on what they have written." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg68-69)
I will also implement the recovery principle. "Here's how the "recovery" involvement device works in a nutshell: If you fail to sell your Web visitors on your primary product at the full price, but succeed in selling them the same product (or maybe even a different product) at a lower unit of sale, you recover the effort and cost of getting them to your Web site, and plug them into your income stream. That's why it's called a recover device." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg69)
A recovery device I plan to use is to offer something in return for the users involvement, such as tickets to a preview, in exchange for an e-mail address. "Seducing the online surfer is both an art and a science that requires the knowledge of consumer psychology as well as an intimacy with the mindset of the Internet population. Involvement devices are simply the catalyst that gets your prospects to respond so that you can start a dialogue and create rapport with them." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg71)
I believe that my Midterm grade should remain an A. I do have to improve on some things but I have, thus far, learned about many tools of marketing and I have tried to implement what I learned into every project that we have done to this date. "Learning marketing that is the ability to effectively reach out to a customer and offer them your product, your service, your personality, your information." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg3)
The some of the tools that I have used are; writing web copy, headlines, sub-headlines to capture the users attention, build interest show benefits, to create seduction, interactivity to get the user physically involved with my Website, branding to build relationships, and implementing involvement and recovery devices to name a few.
Even though there are some things that I have to work I do like my Movie Obsession Website. I have tried to incorporate interactivity from the first page on, there is opportunity for the user to interact with the site. I had tried to use the headline to reach out and talk to the user’s emotional condition.
"Marketing is the ability to effectively reach out to a customer and offer them your product, your service, your personality, your information" (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 3)
"The number one reason people go online is to get information." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars pg 23)
I put a lot of information on my site about inspirational movies, offering the older, newer and movies that are not out yet. I put reviews, editorials and a blog so people can see what others might have thought. There is detailed information about each movie; the actors that played in the movies, producers, ratings and movie trailers.
I tried to create my site by following the eight rules for creating an effective Web site pg 25 of Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars.
1. Planning-By knowing that I wanted to present inspirational movies that touched people's lives that created a want in them; wanting to be different; wanting to change; wanting to help change the world around them.
2. Great Content-by presenting movies they had already seen and can relate to and presenting others that they had not seen that others thought were good can arouse their interest in exploring further. I tried to make sure my content was specific, relevant, and focused on their current concerns. I tried to use "Killer content...information that gets people to respond emotionally." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 24) By offering movies and articles on their greatest problems and struggles and then offering a place where they can respond and see what others are going through and how others are facing these same challenges by giving them the opportunity to write about the movies they had seen and how it affected them and by giving them a place to blog.
3. Design- I tried to design my site to be user friendly and easy to look at. The choice of where they wanted to go is presented in uncluttered easy links that are available on each page so that the user can go forward and back without getting lost on the site. The navigation is clear and allows the reader to easily reach the most essential content. The colors are consistent and easy on the eyes. I used headlines to grab their attention, and sub-headlines that told the main story so they could choose whether they wanted to browse or really read.
4. Involvement- I made my site interactive. Instead of just offering the information lay out on a page of text, the user has to click images and links to get to where they want to be. I tried to make it so they would want to explore. They have opportunity to sign in, sign up and share, and win tickets and dinner.
5. Production- The website is online.
In my MySpace project I started to build my online brand. "Customer loyalty is really built on branding and on building a relationship and those two go together.
You have to build this bond with your customers and prospects. You have to build a relationship with them, but at the same time, part of building that relationship is maintaining a consistent theme, identity and message. That's really what branding is about.
Branding is about communicating a message." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 32)
My theme is seen across my MySpace, Blog and Twitter in using the same colors, background and styles. The background I used has words such as create, community, serve, inspire, mentor, make a commitment, support, have vision, impact, invest, education, see potential, have compassion, make change, share knowledge, nurture, believe, etc.
Helping people to help people succeed; this is my message; this is how I want to be identified.
When people see these sites, the logo, the colors, the words, they will think of me. "Psychologists call it contiguous association, and that's really what you're trying to build in branding." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 33)
"In short, customers can immediately associate my products, myself, and my identity. Consistency is so important...the average consumer gets 3,000 commercial messages per day--from TV, billboards, telephone, Internet, and other sources. That's an enormous amount of noise and clutter. How do you cut through that enormous amount of noise and clutter? You must have a consistent message. You must have something that you focus in on and hone in on so people identify it with you. If you don't have a laser-focused message, then there's no chance of cutting through the noise in the marketplace. " (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg 35)
I have tried to keep the look, the feel, and the message consistent throughout. I tried to keep the content uncluttered and easy to navigate.
I am also trying to keep a sustainable uniqueness. "A sustainable uniqueness means that you're able to sustain it over a period of time because there's a barrier to entry. In other words there's some reason that your competitors cannot easily match the unique value, the unique benefit, the unique benefit, the unique proposition you're offering to your customers." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg37)
"By finding out what people want to buy, allowing them to buy it from you, and being able to deliver a benefit to them, you are able to sustain over a period of time." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg38)
By allowing people to see you, what you do, your humanness, where you've been, sharing your life with them and allowing them to share with you, opens up a door of communication that builds relationship and hopefully loyalty. It's not about money, it's about people.
I learned how to sign up for a YouTube account, post a video and tag and promote my video to get hits. My YouTube Project is an animation I created in Flash. I did not start out with any particular meaning but I think it now speaks out to what do you believe, do things just happen accidentally, with a big bang, or is there rhyme and reason to what happens. Is it just coincidence or is there a plan. Faith or unbelief?
My Name for the Movie Insider Project is "The Las Vegas Box Office".
My plan is to learn to implement involvement devices and to have a clean design that is easy to navigate. I will be using "Involvement devices which are devices used to get people "involved" with your sales copy. They magnetize people to read every word of your copy...When you use involvement devices, you effectively "own your audience." That is, you hold your audience captive." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg60)
"It's the involvement device that allowed them to articulate their problems in their own words, and type them into that little box. It got a lot of people "involved" in the sales copy, and made them admit they had problems that needed solving." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg61)
I plan on having quizzes and boxes where the user can react with the website. Having involvement devices that gives choices and places for people to write things down helps them to get involved and create a relationship that gives them reason to return to the Website.
"According to master of persuasion, Robert Cialdini, "Writing is believing." When you ask your readers to write down (or in this case, type out) the things they desire, they admit the need for your product or service, and a written commitment is more lasting then a mental commitment. One who writes out a commitment has a higher likelihood of following through on what they have written." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg68-69)
I will also implement the recovery principle. "Here's how the "recovery" involvement device works in a nutshell: If you fail to sell your Web visitors on your primary product at the full price, but succeed in selling them the same product (or maybe even a different product) at a lower unit of sale, you recover the effort and cost of getting them to your Web site, and plug them into your income stream. That's why it's called a recover device." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg69)
A recovery device I plan to use is to offer something in return for the users involvement, such as tickets to a preview, in exchange for an e-mail address. "Seducing the online surfer is both an art and a science that requires the knowledge of consumer psychology as well as an intimacy with the mindset of the Internet population. Involvement devices are simply the catalyst that gets your prospects to respond so that you can start a dialogue and create rapport with them." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg71)
I believe that my Midterm grade should remain an A. I do have to improve on some things but I have, thus far, learned about many tools of marketing and I have tried to implement what I learned into every project that we have done to this date. "Learning marketing that is the ability to effectively reach out to a customer and offer them your product, your service, your personality, your information." (Success Secrets of the Online Marketing Superstars, pg3)
The some of the tools that I have used are; writing web copy, headlines, sub-headlines to capture the users attention, build interest show benefits, to create seduction, interactivity to get the user physically involved with my Website, branding to build relationships, and implementing involvement and recovery devices to name a few.
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