Everyone wants to think that their marketing or website survey will get “Top Results”, be a huge success and gather the best results ever – but are we getting the basics right to even stand a chance in the large scheme of things.

Before you start writing your survey questions, consider this:

• Is a survey, web based or hard copy going to achieve the result that you want?
• Focus on one topic at a time (you can always send out multiple surveys and piece a picture together)
• Have a very clear end goal. Make sure your survey questions are going to get you the answer that you are setting out to achieve (test you survey on independents first and analyze your results [Pilot the survey])
• Don’t waste your results – let your tested parties see the overall results (they are more likely to continue helping/completing surveys’ when they see you are using the results in a positive manner)

Ok assuming you are ready to write your questions here are a few pointers to get you started:

TITLE

The survey title is a golden opportunity to instantly summaries a surveys objective and grabs the attention of invited respondents. Respondents are going to invest time in completing your survey so make them feel that their investment is worthwhile.

REMEMBER YOUR OBJECTIVE

Surveys are a tried and tested method of research, however keep it narrow and have a clear objective. Respondents that are not part of your target audience may give you survey inaccurate results.
By phrasing the questions and structuring an answer, surveys can be used in a multitude of ways and for a variety of reasons. When compiling a survey don’t lose sight of its purpose.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

Remember to keep your survey as simple as possible (you want your Respondents to be able to answer the questions easily). Use the same rating scale throughout your surveys and wherever possible use multiple choice questions (Your Respondents are more likely to answer to a suggestion already there)

DON’T LEAD BY THE NOSE

However subtle you think you may be being – you’re NOT. Avoid leading questions, your respondents will object to being asked a question and then being lead by the nose to select the one that you clearly want them to select.

ANSWER THE QUESTION!

Be kind to your respondents and Allow them to decline to answer. If you don’t they may feel uncomfortable and either assume you’re trying to manipulate data, answer inaccurately (tainting your data) or drop out totally.

LAST ORDERS

Make sure you let your respondents know when the survey closes – simply provide a closing date.

Word Count – 440

Ok so we all know about online marketing, SEO, SEF, keywords, Meta data and numerous other acronyms that if you are anything like me drive me totally insane, but are we (that being the royal we) taking full advantage of the tools and platforms that we have readily available to us already.

Long gone are the days where Search Engine Optimization is a “Black Art” and only specific companies charging equally mysterious amounts in fees can help with your search engine optimization, search engine positioning and page rank.

Google has to be one of the most recognized search engines in the world, to such a degree that we actually use the term “Google It” instead of what we really mean which is to search the internet so I will base my comments and thoughts around them.

Google inc make no secret on how you can achieve good website position and page ranking in their search engine, they obviously don’t tell all but provide some great tips on what they see as important. They describe one of the most important steps to improving your website’s ranking is “Relevant Content”.
Google’s newest release “Caffeine” highlights the importance of marketing techniques such as blog articles, news articles and even forums posts. Caffeine web indexing means that new content will now be indexed faster and your website updates will appear in a more “real time” way.

So I guess what I am saying is Google just made the Social Web, Business Blogging, Forums and articles on our websites an even more effective way to promote your business.

Word Count – 263

If you are collecting emails on your website and then sending out marketing newsletters to customers who sign up then you might be wondering what is the best day to send out your newsletter for maximum impact. If you are communicating mostly with businesses then Friday night is probably not a good idea, or is it?

Fortunately there is some research into when the best time for marketing emails is from eROI and their survey gave the following results,

Business to Business Marketing E-Mails – Preferred Day for Receipt
36% Tuesday
33% Monday
15% Wednesday
7% Friday
5% Thursday
3% Sunday
1% Saturday

Business to Consumer Marketing E-Mails – Preferred Day for Receipt
31% Friday
26% Thursday
22% Tuesday
20% Monday
19% Thursday
16% Saturday
11% Sunday

Should Your Website Be Sending Marketing Emails on Monday

The report does only discuss customer preference rather than effectiveness of campaigns and this is a crucial point. What a customer wants is important, of course, but what is successful is key. I would definitely consider doing your own sampling and split testing to determine what is best for your business and for each email marketing campaign. 

I do find it a bit strange to find many customers wanting emails on a Monday. I usually find so much hitting my desk on a Monday that I rarely have time for coffee, never mind a marketing email or newsletter, so I think that these figures are interesting, but you need to do split testing and see what works best for your business.

We all know that Google is a search engine but not everyone knows that Google as a corporation has not only shown the world the power of brand, product and service but also offers us some of the most powerful tools in the web marketplace – for free.

It was a stunning stroke of genius the day that the guy’s and gal’s at Google set to offering the world professional, useful web tools for free.

Google Analytics currently has over 52% of the world’s web tracking market and this is only set to rise as Google techies provide us with more and more powerful elements.
Measuring your marketing is no new thing but by providing anyone and everyone with an easy to use tool that collates, formulates and turns the data into a visual representation of what’s working and what’s not in our online marketing mix is in my option a tool that you would just be foolish to miss out on.

We include a Google Analytics Account setup for all our new clients free of charge, but for those who don’t have it set up or could just do with a little extra help getting started:

Go to the web address http://www.google.com/analytics/sign_up.html to sign up or http://www.google.com/analytics/ and log into your Google account. If we haven’t set an account up for you or you haven’t got a Google Account you will need to set one up first and then create an Analytics account from your control panel. [Setting Up a Google Account]
Overview Page: This is where all the websites that you may be monitoring will be held, Click on the Account Name (which is a hyperlink) to look at the data on the individual websites, select ‘View Report’.

This will give you a visual view of your data:

The graph at the very top (as shown above) represents the visits to your site and breaks it down into daily figures in any one given month.
It provides you with Bounce Rate (the percentage of single-page visits or visits in which the person left your site from the entrance) which indicates how relevant your visitors found the entrance page, Average time your visitors spent on your site (which helps you judge content quality) and New visits (those that have visited your site for the first time)

The map overlay shows you which areas of the world (yes the world) are showing an interest in your website and the traffic overview shows you how those visitors came to find your site.

So immediately you can see the data that Google Analytics captures for you can help you track ROI, and help create a targeted and informative ‘next move’ strategy.

Totally Free and growing all the time ……

Look out for more blogs on this topic and feel free to add a request.

Testimonials for your website are a powerful marketing tool. Your website is a great place to advertise the wonderful things your customers might say about you. Testimonials are great way to differentiate your company website from your competition. If you are particularly customer service driven or you have the widest selection of products then this will bear out in comments your customers will make about you. So how do you ask for a testimonial for your website without pestering customers and how do you accurately record it without demanding a signed, written statement from a customer.

The ‘How’ of Getting a Testimonial

The best way for you to get a testimonial will really will depend on your business. If you have a restaurant, then a customer comment card might be a good idea. Just put on the card that comments may be used on your website. If you have satisfied regulars that you chat with you could explain that you are looking for some feedback from your very best customers and would they mind you using their comments on your website. If they are happy to fill out a form or comment card, great, otherwise just make short accurate notes. Other B2C (business to customer) businesses could use a similar approach to using comment cards but if you work on a B2B (business to business) basis then you have a couple of options. You could send a personal letter asking for feedback or as part of a questionnaire but I find a customer service phone call is the best way to elicit useful feedback. This really has to be a customer service call and not a sales call, so first explain why you are calling and check they have the time to spare for this. Start with asking them about the products or services you have provided and make a few short accurate notes as they talk. Once they have covered all the ground that they want to and you have handled any issues they may be having, you can be sure that you have a satisfied customer. At this point you can simply ask them, it is as simple as that. I would say something like, ‘Thank you for your time today and thank you for your feedback. Would it be OK with you if I posted some of your comments in the testimonials section on our website?’ If they are genuinely happy then nine times out of ten they will be fine with having their comments posted.

The ‘When’ of Getting Testimonials

There is definitely a right and wrong time to ask for a testimonial. The right time is shortly after a successful sale. In the restaurant this could be as the coffees are served (assuming you will have checked that they have been happy with their meal). With a B2B sale this could be a few days or a few weeks after the product was delivered and could be incorporated into any usual customer service calls you might make. The key is to strike after the sale while the customer is most excited about your product, before that enthusiasm dies down.

A Final Note about Website Testimonials

Some marketers and Website Owners believe that testimonials should be written and signed by the customer but this is a bit over the top. Using the methods I’ve outlined above will get you plenty of genuine feedback that you can use. Also, some marketers and Website Owners will make something up and then get then the customer to OK it (and some customers ask for this also). This approach has two issues. Firstly you are missing a genuine opportunity to connect with your customer and make sure that they are happy with your service and secondly, your testimonials will all sound the same and represent the message you want to go out rather than the genuine advantages your business offers that your customers find important.

Ok, so by now we have all heard about Social Media how it works, how much time it takes and what’s involved, but maximising time for such web Marketing remains a challenge.
We were brain storming the other day during a meeting on how we could increase our productivity within the company’s networking activity. How we could still be active on our twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and blog accounts while:

• It doesn’t consume all of our time
• We get a ROI on the time we do commit

Here are some of the suggestions that we came up with and thought we would share them:

• Be firm with either yourself or your staff’s time. Allocate an amount of time that you are going to participate in networking/social media and stick to it, there comes a point where ‘you can do no more’ to increase effectiveness so don’t waste valuable time.
• Don’t be shy at offering links, interaction buttons or even invitations wherever possible.
• Send out an E Newsletter to promote, publish and round up the months networking activities.
• Link your networking together with apps like http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/twitter-tools/
• Don’t *over do it*. Blogging, tweeting and profile updates that are done too often, seem to lose credibility quickly. Post often (@ least once a week), and post quality.
• Give things away. Don’t worry we’re not suggesting you give away a secret formula just give away enough to make your followers a) keep following and b) recommend you as a valuable/credible source.
• Measure! See our previous article. The above will all be totally pointless if you don’t.

Setting up an account is simple, but if you are still having a few problems then here are some pointers to help you on your way:

1. Open a Browser of your choice and go to web address https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount
2. Fill in the details, accept the terms and conditions and create your new account.

3. Google will send you and a verification email (so make sure you use a valid address) that contains a link.
4. Click on the link – hey presto you now have your very own Google Account.

You now have access to an array of tools including Gmail (a free email account), Calendar, Analytics, docs, webmaster tools …..  The list is quite extensive.

Networking -part 1 of 3

Facebook

Founded in February 2004, and currently has over 400 million active users.
Facebook claims to “facilitate the sharing of information through the social graph” and I wouldn’t necessary disagree. Facebook offers photo and video upload, chat, email, a forum (or wall), marketplace (to display items for sale), Event and Groups and additional Pages to mention just a few of its offer’s (full list on the websites fact sheet).
Adding an additional pages or creating groups within your Facebook account is where the term “Become a Fan” is relevant. Creating your own Business Page/Pages is an excellent way to promote you business and keep your “fans” up to date on Events, promotions and marketing info. By creating this community of loyal fans and by making your offerings of interest and benefit you can soon turn a static promotion into a viral one.
* For the few techies reading, Facebook is one of the most-trafficked PHP websites in the world, and utilizes one of the largest MySQL installations anywhere in the world, running thousands of databases.
Want to find out more about Facebook? It’s all here

Twitter

Twitter is the leading micro-blogging site; this instant messaging social tool allows users to blog 140 characters in any single string. Messages can be uploading via a variety of means. Web, mobile app, desktop app, via SMS txt … they really have thought of pretty much everything.
The basic starting point being, you set up an account (which is free by the way), search on areas of interest and follow them or perhaps follow users you may already know that have a twitter account and start micro-blogging about stuff you either find interesting or more importantly others find of interest.
Though all my reading, there seems to be an option that twitter and tweeting your events, announcements and points of interest is the future of PR.
Despite being based on a relatively simple structure (in techie terms that is), twitter allows us to follow others (even our competitors), interact and influence our followers, create lists and interact with the world instantly.
News travels fast, but faster via twitter.

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has 60 million members in over 200 countries and with that in mind you can see that this is no small fry as far as social networking is concerned
According to the official LinkedIn press room, a new member joins the networking site, on average every second, with somewhere in the region of 50% of its uses outside the US.
LinkedIn is very much a business social networking tool. Like with the Facebook you are able to link with contacts/friends (LinkedIn call these connections) which can have second-degree connections and then third-degree connections. Within this web of connections you can build an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world. Sharing skills, knowledge, information, and business opportunities amongst your connections and even offering and accepting recommendations that the entire network can see.
With executives from all Fortune 500 companies being LinkedIn members

MySpace

MySpace was launched in 2003 by eUniverse (an internet Marketing Company based in LA). In 2005 eUniverse (and with it MySpace) was bought by Robert Murdoch’s News Corporation.
In April 2008, based on monthly unique visitors, MySpace was beaten by its main competitor Facebook.
In terms of users, the 100 millionth MySpace account was created on August 9, 2006 and on that basis I would guess they are doing pretty well.
As you would expect, MySpace has the standard blubs, a profile page, about me, who you would like to meet etc. What makes MySpace a little bit different to the others is the extent in how much you can change the visuals of your page. With significant editable sections of the site (both by “Profile Customizer” and html/CSS editing), users are able to brand pages making then total unique.

What makes MySpace stand out from the crowd is the ability to add music files to your pages – the music is added to a player which can then be embedded directly into your profile page.
So, it is no surprise that MySpace is the popular choice amongst the music industry.

Watch this space for Part 2 (Blogging) & Part 3 (Photo Sharing +)