Email Newsletters vs. Blogs

When WebMarketCentral was first launched, the plan was to offer an associated newsletter. After careful consideration, this ain't gonna happen. E-newsletters were, not so many years ago, a clever and unique idea (good newsletters anyway). Just a few short years later, email newsletters are beyond ubiquitous. Even the most laggard of sites offer one. People are sick of them. Email in-boxes are overflowing, few people are signing up, and fewer still are actually opening the newsletters they do receive.

Suzanne Falter-Barns does a great job addressing the issue of blogs vs. e-newsletters here. Blogs are more immediate, faster, easier, less formal, and with comments, more interactive.

In the case of WebMarketCentral, I thought about what my newsletter would include if I wrote one: a link to my latest blog posting, e-commerce news and Web marketing news headlines, a sponsor or two, and some humor. Since pretty much all of that is already available on the site -- generally with RSS feeds as well -- I decided, instead of writing a newsletter every week, I would offer a build-your-own-newsletter capability on the site. It won't have an elegant format, but it will get the job done. And it won't clutter up your in-box.

Oh, and another highly useful marketing site: Mike's Marketing Tools offers an excellent search engine rank checking tool that lets you quickly and easily see how well your site shows up, for any search term you specify, on 10 leading search engines. Very slick.

*****

Terms: newsletter marketing, blogging, Mike's Marketing Tools, search engine position check, search engine rank check, Web marketing news

The Web marketing resource portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com

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Two Helpful Marketing Research Sites

Got marketing research to do? Want to stay current on a topic, industry or company? Here are a couple of sites that can help.

One that's probably familiar is Individual.com. This is a free customized news service that enables you to choose topics you'd like to track -- news, trends and analysis on your competitors, customers and target markets -- and then scans and delivers this content to you via email and the Web. While it includes ads, and doesn't have the wide breadth of sources of a fee-based service like Moreover, it does a reasonably good job of keeping you informed about the topic(s) of interest to you on a budget.

A second helpful tool, one that I hadn't heard of until recently, is BPubs.com. This is a search engine that searches only business publications. If you're looking for information on a specific company or industry and are overwhelmed by the worthless crap turned up by standard search engines, BPubs.com can help by narrowing your search to only business publication sources.

*****

Terms: marketing research tools, Individual.com, BPubs.com, business research

The online marketing and e-commerce portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com

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How to Start in a New Marketing Role – RAPIMMR

It’s not the most elegant of acronyms, but it is a solid approach to new marketing campaigns or roles. I was recently pointed to a report from Spencer Stuart titled “A Blueprint for Top Marketers’ First 100 Days.” It’s short and worth a read, but I was expecting more of a detailed roadmap. What their advice comes down to is: talk to lots of people in your new company, establish relationships, and get them on board with your plans. That advice is solid and useful, but hardly profound.

So, here’s the roadmap I would propose, based on the acronym RAPIMMR:

R: Research. Jumping in right away with a “master plan” based on your past experience, but with no input or buy-in from your new co-workers, is a recipe for disaster. Ask lots of questions, of lots of people. What’s been done in the past? What’s worked, and what hasn’t? What’s been considered, but not tried? Ask about marketing programs, key messages, competition, and objectives. Do this both to gain knowledge as well as establish relationships. Who has great ideas? Who is really knowledgeable about certain topics?

To quote Kelly Vizzini, CMO at application virtualization company DataSynapse, from Marketing Sherpa’s case study on the firm: “When marketers go to new jobs, some say `Here’s my plan I’m going to do all these things.’ That’s the kiss of death. Why would I presume to create a whiz bang plan when I haven’t sat down and talked to my own internal audience? You have to sit down and ask them where their pain is, what works, and where are you struggling?”

Also critical is to learn about the company’s systems in place. Suppose that you want to do a targeted email campaign to existing customers in a particular industry segment; has the company even done market segmentation? Can you easily pull the list you need? Do they have tools in place to track the results once the campaign is launched? If not, you’ll need to pursue other ideas (while also working to get adequate system capabilities in place).

A: Analyze. Armed with the raw data, discussion notes and other facts from your research, what does it mean? What conclusions can you draw? What tactics are even realistic in the short term? What should you avoid? Who needs to be involved? Why am I asking so many questions? Because this analysis will be a key part of the next step, which is…

P: Plan. Based on your research and analysis of the results, develop your marketing plans for the appropriate time frame (immediate, quarter, annual). Consider messaging, medium and of course, budget. Discuss this up and down the authority change, to get the right people on board (and of course budget approval). Tweak as necessary.

I: Implement. With your plan and budget approved, now is the time to take action. Fully develop your messages, obtain lists, contact publishers, make changes to your Web site, etc. – make it happen.

M: Monitor (and modify). Track your results in as close to real-time as possible, and make mid-course adjustments as necessary. How are keywords performing; did you bid too little or too much for certain words? Tweak your bids. Are certain messages pulling better than others? If you are asking for registration or direct purchase, how are conversions; does the landing page and/or registration form need changes?

M: Measure. At the appropriate point – end of the quarter or campaign – summarize your results. Which programs did well? How does your cost per lead or sale compare across different media or campaigns? Gather all of the key information and metrics for the last stage of this cycle, which is…

R: Review. With measurement data and analysis in hand, determine what worked well, what could be done better, and what if anything failed. Review this with the key people you identified back in the first “R” (Research) stage. Share your results and get their input. This final “R” now serves as the initial “R” for you next round of analysis, planning and implementation, so that over time, this acronym actually becomes RAPIMMRAPIMMRAPIMMR… Not melodic perhaps, but (hopefully) solidly methodic.

*****

Terms: starting in a new marketing role, a marketers first 100 days, planning marketing campaigns, strategic planning for marketers, developing marketing plans

The portal for Web marketers: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com

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WMC Interviews: Yvonne DiVita

I was honored this week to speak with author, blogger and expert on smart marketing to women online, Yvonne DiVita. Her book Dickless Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online is raising eyebrows and helping smart marketers improve their results, and her witty and widely-read blog was honored as one of the Best Blogs of 2005 by Marketing Sherpa.

WebMarketCentral (WMC): What did you do before Windsor Media Enterprises? What’s your background?

Yvonne DiVita (YD): I've been a writer for my entire life. In fact, I got myself in trouble in 2nd grade because all I did was write (and illustrate -- boy those pics should be worth $$) stories about kids and pets. My teacher called my mother. Together, they tried to convince me I needed to do things like math and science, too. Guess I buckled -- I made it into the third grade and beyond.

So, writing is in my blood. From thereon, I spent the majority of my time writing and reading. In high school I was the one everyone came to for help with term papers, although I really didn't like writing term papers. It was a prediction of future competency, however. Today, instead of writing fiction (though I still do that), I'm primarily a business writer. From the contacts and experiences of writing for business, came my desire to help other writers in their pursuit of publication. Now, I'm both writer and publisher.

WMC: How, when and why did you get started in this business?

YD: Short version -- I was frustrated being an employee. Though I had plenty of opportunities to write, I worked for a number of start-ups in the late 1990s, as a web-content writer, and I was being published both online and off, I wasn't accomplishing any real goals. I was merely pleasing others. During that time, I began to notice that women were flocking to the Internet -- many times to shop. Their busy lives were preventing them from getting out to the all-American mall. So, I thought, "Hey, here's a place I can make a difference." And, I wrote a book on Smart Marketing to Women Online. The title, BTW, is more provocative -- Dick*less Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online, a guide to getting women to shop at YOUR website. In the book I advise businesses to get their marketing message in front of JANE, as opposed to DICK, because Jane controls the sale of over 85% of the goods and services in this country.

I chose to published via print-on-demand, rather than struggle with a traditional publishing method, and have all rights to my book revert to my publisher. I knew POD would allow me to be in control, and to maintain my copyright. The experience was less than pleasant. The company I chose was reputable -- they had been in business for over five years, a lifetime in the POD world, and they had many, many books to their credit. Their customer service, however, was lacking. In the end, I was a frustrated customer. I did not end up with something I could be proud of (contentwise, yes -- bookwise, no) and...the POD firm refused to market the book because of the title. As if they didn't know the title from day one!

When I discovered the book was being printed right here in my hometown of Rochester, NY, and that WE are the hub of the print-on-demand world, I knew what I had to do. I knew I had to start my own POD firm, and offer authors a complete range of services, from cover design to page layout, to editing, proofing, testimonials, and even marketing. And, that's what I did. Two years ago. Windsor Media Enterprises, LLC gave birth to WME Books, and I'm glad it did.

WMC: Who do you target? Who is your ideal or typical client?

YD: Over the last two years we have refined our business model. I don't do fiction. The market for it is huge, but saturated. And, my core niche is women in business. So, WME Books targets professional women in law, medicine, and business. We enjoy working with men, also. But, the hope is that we can encourage more professional women to write books and use POD as their publishing model.

WMC: What is your key differentiator (or differentiators)? What separates you from your competition?

YD: We're online experts. I, personally, since writing my book, have a large, worldwide connection to the women's market. Since women buy and read over 60% of the books published (in the U.S.), it stands to reason that marketing books to the women's market is the best approach. That's what we do. We use the Internet (primarily blogs) to connect our authors and their books to their core audience. Because blogs are excellent book marketing tools. No other POD firm offers that kind of cutting-edge marketing.

WMC: How do you market/promote your business?

YD: We don't do much marketing, other than writing in Lip-Sticking (my marketing to women online blog) and Aha! (our authors-helping-authors blog). We've been very fortunate to have clients come to us via referrals. Down the road, I'd like to do a direct mail piece to women's organizations. I speak, also. So far I've spoken in Illinois, Denver, TX, NYC, and locally around upstate NY. That helps get the word out effectively, also. And, it sells books.

WMC: What’s the biggest or most important marketing lesson you’ve learned since you got started in all this?

YD: The most important marketing lesson I've learned is to differentiate myself from my competition, and to be comfortable with that differentiation. It pays to be in a niche market, but only if you understand the niche and can talk the talk. We know writing and publishing, and we know blogging. Together, those three elements of our business make us stand out from the crowd.

WMC: Anything else you’d like to add?

YD: I'd like to add that marketing requires attention and effort. NOTHING is for free! Don't believe those folks who try to sell you "10 Ways to Market Your Business on a Budget." That's sales-speak for a lot of bad advice. You can market on a budget, indeed. But, it takes EFFORT and CREATIVITY! I suggest folks read Mark Hughes' new book, Buzz Marketing. He has some original, engaging, smart ideas and he gives concrete examples.

And, don't forget...if you want to get in front of the women's market online, you can't beat my book: Dick*less Marketing: Smart Marketing to Women Online. I'm working on Smarter Marketing to Women Online, the 2nd in the Dick*less Marketing series, which should be out in early 2006. Watch for an announcement on the Lip-Sticking blog.

*****

Terms: Yvonne DiVita, smart marketing to women online, Dick*less Marketing, Mark Hughes, Buzz Marketing, Windsor Media Enterprises, publish-on-demand, book marketing

The Web site marketing strategy portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com

Blogging for Business

Recently added to WebMarketCentral.com, the Web marketing portal, are three new pages providing Internet marketers with everything they need to know (for now) about creating and maintaining an effective business-related blog. I've compiled everything I know and was able to find about business blogging onto these three pages: Why Write a Blog for Business?, How to Create an Effective Business Blog, and Best Practices in Blog Marketing (how to promote your blog once it's built). Also included are links to some of the most helpful blogs devoted to business blogging, such as Business Blog Consulting and Why Marketers Should Blog.

A few samples:

A blog is a place where your employees can speak to customers and prospects in their own unique voices. It is a place to demonstrate the collected knowledge and expertise of your company (that is, your people). And, through comments, it is a place to have a conversation with your customers and prospects, informally and openly. Compared to other marketing media, a blog is closest to a (well-written and informative) newsletter, but easier, faster, cheaper, and with the benefit of interaction. (More)

Blogs are fast and easy to create. Anyone in your company with an interesting story to tell or knowledge to share can contribute. They are less formal than a newsletter. They are interactive. And they are loved by the media as well as by search engines. (More)

Use keywords and key phrases in your blog posts. Keep in mind that search engines like Google treat each post as a separately searchable page, so simply using one to three keywords or phrases in each post is sufficient to get your blog noticed. (More)

The navigation on the WMC site has also been improved, with new separate areas for the directory of Web marketing resources and online marketing knowledge.

I hope you find the new stuff useful.

*****

Terms: business blogging, blogging for business, business blog, marketing blog, Internet marketing resources, Web marketing directory, how to promote your Web site

The Web marketing strategy portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com

WMC Interviews: Farrakh Azhar

I had the distinct pleasure this week of talking to Farrakh Azhar, founder and CEO of WebGreeter / LiveAdmins. While there are several companies that offer Web site chat software, WebGreeter is unique in offering both the software (hosted) and the operators who handle the chat sessions. In short, WebGreeter customers not only have no software to install, they also don't have to staff the Web chat function. Customers pay only for what "chat resources" they use, and still get all the advtanges of greeting prospects as they visit their sites: increased visit length, greater "stickiness," and ultimately higher conversion of visitors to customers.

WebMarketCentral (WMC) : What did you do before starting WebGreeter / Live Admins?

Farrakh Azhar (FA): I began my professional experience as a businessman, helping the family-business in Import/Export, Retail and Manufacturing. After graduating from Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) in 1991, I started working for International Business Machines (IBM), assisting them in Data Networking and Operations. Later, I became a consultant and started designing, engineering and implementing large IT infrastructure projects for fortune 500 clients.

My consultancy experience increased by accepting assignments related to IT infrastructure projects with large IT bases such as Ameritech/SBC, People’s Gas (Gas Company of Chicago) Key Stone Steel Mill, The U.S. Military and Chicago Public Schools (one of the largest school systems in the U.S.).

I joined ABN AMRO in 1997 as a Project Manager in the Network Services Group and was promoted to Senior Project Manager and Systems Officer after six months.

I went on to help the bank develop project management lifecycles and processes in order to make the deliverables produced by the IT organization more market driven and cost effective, making products more attractive for the potential customers and enhancing the efficacy of the entire process. I also helped the bank build a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) team, service level management team, and a procurement team.

WMC: How, when and why did you get started in this business?

FA: It was while I working with Fortune 500's of Chicago develop and implement business and technical processes that I struck upon the idea on an online live service support team. So, I did some research, wrote an 80-page business plan, decided to start my own business, and started working on it. This, coupled with my process engineering background and business sense that I had acquired earlier, helped me with the execution on this business plan. It seemed like a logical progression at the time.

WMC: Who do you target, i.e. describe your ideal or typical client?

FA: Our business strategy has been to grow from smaller customers to larger ones, and therefore we have been targeting larger customer as we go along. Currently we are targeting customers with a large web presence in the retail space who can utilize both our customer service and sales support abilities.

WMC: What is your key differentiator (or differentiators), that is, what separates you from your competition?

FA: Well, we do not have much of a competition today in our space. But, we do have a bunch of businesses who are trying to sell software-only solutions. We are in the business of providing the human representatives who sit behind the computer screens all day long and greet every one who lands on our customer's website. This is what differentiates us from all the rest of the businesses associated with the Live Chat support space.

WMC: How do you market/promote your business?

FA: We use multiple marketing methods such as outbound call centers, email, search engine marketing (SEM), banners, PR, and last but not the least, word of mouth which has proven to be the foremost and best marketing strategy for us by far.

WMC: What’s the biggest or most important marketing lesson you’ve learned since you founded Live Admins?

FA: My biggest lesson learned was when I decided to put my staff on the phones and chat at the same time. We learned the hard way, that once you put a person on the chat, he/she can not work the phones. This is because, once you are on the phone, you cannot do anything else. Since then, we have had two different teams, one for chat support and one for phone support. I will urge other organizations who are thinking of implementing chat and phone support utilizing the same people to learn from our mistakes. Think through your call center processes before you do this; for the most part I recommend the two separate teams theory.

WMC: Anything else you’d like to add?

FA: Another lesson I learned was not to spend our marketing dollars on print media. I was spending huge amounts on print media and chamber of commerce-type networking which did not materialize for us at all. The reason: our customers are predominantly web-driven people who understood the web very well, and are most were getting their information from the web for most of their business and personal requirements.

Also you can get a clearer picture of the workings of our service from the following press release:


Web Greeters Offer Opportunity to Keep in Touch With Online Visitors

CHICAGO (May 5, 2005) – Online businesses are in a fierce competition to lure in visitors to their sites and turn those visitors to customers. Still, between 95 percent and 97 percent of them click away within two minutes.

A 3-year-old company in Chicagoland has come up with a simple but smashing solution: Web Greeters. Web Greeters offers Web site owners an opportunity to keep in touch with their online visitors in real time with real salespeople available on the Web site. The idea is not to wait for the visitor to click but to greet every qualified visitor and say: "Hello. I am the Web site greeter. How can I help?" before they end up on a competitor's Web site.

"After providing this service for the past three years and our extensive research before that, we found that most visitors who end up on a Web site by mistake leave within the first 30 to 40 seconds," said LiveAdmins CEO and founder Farrakh Azhar. "The rest would click away usually to a competitor's Web site within 2 minutes. Of the ones who stayed for 2 minutes, they can’t even remember which site they visited the next morning. Because of this knowledge, we greet the visitor first to engage them in a pleasant chat and to keep them on the site longer.

"Our service not only provides a software tool but also a small team of well-trained sales personnel allocated to each specific Web site operating from remote locations in Asian countries. These Web greeters help visitors browse through the site, provide information and answer queries.

"Apart from our research findings and the extensive training our operators go through, our operators also have real-time information about each visitor on screen such as from which site they are coming from, on which page of the Web site they are currently on, what they are reading and how long have they been here. All this information provided by our software helps our operators in their decision-making process while they greet each visitor individually to convert them into customers.

“During our three years of experience, we manage to keep between 10 percent and 35 percent of visitors on the site whereas without Web greeters only between 3 percent and 5 percent of visitors stay on a site for more than 2 minutes. That is a substantial increase in the conversion ratio with the help of Web greeters.

"We have also found out that the number of visitors willing to continue a chat with our greeters varies in different industries. The percentage for the least-likely industry comes to average 10 percent, which again is a substantial number.

"These percentages are indicative of visitors who not only willingly chat with our greeters but also trust them to leave their phone numbers along with e-mail addresses for further contact. In contrast, only about 3 percent of visitors leave their contact information on a site and that mostly is just an e-mail address.

"To visitors who decline to chat, our greeters are trained to say: 'Thanks for coming to our Web site. If you need any help, feel free to click on the button and I'll be here to help.'

"We have found that between 20 percent and 30 percent of the visitors who initially decline to chat but continue browsing by themselves end up clicking for the online help once they have settled into the site. It was also found that the response was much better if the look and feel of the chat window was customized to integrate with the Website design.

"When we asked the owners what they felt was the best feature of the service, most said that the best part of the service is that it is provided for 12 hours, which spans working hours across all time zones in the U.S. Our business is kept open even during off hours of the day with a polite and professional salesperson who gives the visitor a feeling that we care while generating many more qualified leads.

"We're the most experienced company in the area of implementing chat-based Web site customer service and sales support. We have put in a lot of research and effort into learning what to say, how to say it, when to say it and when to throw a smiling face to ease difficult moods. We found that between 25 percent and 30 percent of second-time visitors ask to talk to the same live agent they chatted with before, which is proof of Web greeters building relationships with customers to benefit the sites.”

The service becomes very affordable as compared to phone-based call center services since live Web greeters can have multiple conversations simultaneously. This enables the Web site owners to greet and get in touch with many more visitors for much less and even during late and off hours of the day.

A testimonial from one of our satisfied customer sums it all: “We are very happy with the service," said Verne Harnish, a member of Gazelles. "The key point you need to make is that having a Web site without a Web greeter is like having a store without any people in it. I couldn’t imagine walking into Nordstrom and just wandering around while hoping to find something and then purchasing it. While some people might like this, I like to walk up to a person, tell them what I’m looking for and have them take me right to where it is.”

More testimonials are available online here: http://www.webgreeter.com. You can view a TV interview with Azhar here: http://www.liveadmins.com/newcltv.htm. A list of present customers can be made available on request.


To view this document online please go to : http://www.eprairie.com/releases/viewrelease.asp?postID=407


*****

Terms: online chat, chat software, search engine marketing, SEM, Web Greeter, WebGreeter, Live Admins, LiveAdmins

The e-commerce portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com

One Company That "Gets" the Web -- And One That Doesn't

While doing some Web strategy consulting work recently for a large office products company, I evaluated several competitors' Web sites. One site -- Avery.com -- stood out not only as the best in the industry, but as an example of creativity and utility uncommon in any industry. Another competitor -- MeadWestvaco -- unfortunately for them, served as a prime counter-example (or perhaps an example of how to do almost everything wrong). I have no association with either of these companies, and my comments are intended to be illustrative and constructively critical rather than disparaging.

Avery is a company that really "gets" the Web, and it shows throughout their site. It has all of the basics one would expect, such as full e-commerce capability and a newsletter aimed at their target market, office managers. A nice touch is that all past issues of the newsletter are kept online in a searchable archive. Even more impressive, back issues are searchable by section, topic or specific issue; and most are available in both HTML (better for online reading) and PDF (better for printing) format.

In the Photo ID section, the "Three Ways to Buy" feature simplifies this process (online, by phone, or using an online form to contact an Avery representative).

The “Ideas” section shows Avery products in use for specific business and home projects (e.g. “Give thoughtful client gifts”). Their “Advanced Search…Office Products” feature is very useful – it enables visitors to select exactly what areas of the site they want to search (site-wide, products, ideas or software).

Avery has a large selection of clever and creative “product demos” done in Flash – these show the features and advantages of each product. For example, here’s one for Printable Hanging File Tabs. This is very cool.

Possibly the coolest feature on the site, however, is rather than merely providing templates or downloadable software, they have a feature called “Avery Print." You simply select which Avery product you’d like to print – for example, 1/3-cut filing labels – click “Next,” personalize a design, enter your text for the labels, review your labels, then print them. Complete instructions and troubleshooting help are provided. You can even save projects on their site for later re-use or modification. This is way ahead of their competition.

On the other end of the spectrum is MeadWestvaco. I’ve never seen a large company Web site, and rarely even a small company Web site, this incredibly awful. They still use frames, for example, which are highly navigation- and search-engine-unfriendly.

The logo in the upper left corner of the site leads to a separate corporate site rather than to the MeadWestvaco home page, which would be standard navigation practice.

They offer free clipart -- but the selection is extremely limited. Their templates apparently don't support versions of Microsoft Word newer than Word 2000 (PC) or Word 98 (Mac). They also offer two free applications for download, called KwikFill and EzEnvelope -- but the site offers no explanation of what these applications do, how they work, or what they are compatible with, just a "download" button.

The copyright date on this page is 2000, and the company’s history abruptly ends in 2001.

Although the site lists products (catalog items) on pages like this one, it provides absolutely no information about how or where to purchase their products. Maybe you should click that shopping basket graphic on the left? (Whoops, sorry, forgot about the frames; from that last link, you'll have to go back to the home page to see the shopping cart.) Nope, that tells you that your cart is empty and sends you back to the catalog!

MeadWestvaco’s sister sites are a bit better, but not much. AtAGlance.com offers e-commerce functionality, but when I clicked on the first product in the “Expanding Files” product line, the site gave me this message: “OUT OF STOCK We're sorry, this product is currently out of stock and there are no substitutes available at this time. Note: Color is determined at time of shipment. We cannot accept requests for specific colors.” The product comes in different colors, but I can’t tell them which color I want??!! In fact, when I first visited this site, three of the four products listed in this category were out of stock. Hmmm…try a different category? How about Folders / Portfolios? Two of the first three products in that category were also listed as out of stock.

In the “Where to Find Our Products” section on the At-A-Glance site, they list retail stores that carry their products – but they don’t link to any of their sites online, so you can’t immediately check the retailers’ Web sites for availability of any of the products listed as out of stock on the At-A-Glance site. Are you a business purchaser looking for a dealer? The site doesn’t list dealers on their site, but gives you a link to “email us” for dealer information – unfortunately, this is a dead link.

What would you expect to find in the “What’s New” section of the site – the latest company news perhaps? Nope, it just shows a photo and description of a new product – but no way to order the product from this page!

In the FAQ section on the At-A-Glance site, under “Why isn’t the Mead product I’m looking for on your Web site?”, one answer is that some products can be found on Mead.com. However, when you visit the Mead site, and click on “Shop,” the link takes you…back to the At-A-Glance site. Ouch.

Some companies get this stuff, and some don't; in short order, the latter are likely to have their lunch eaten by the former.

*****

Terms: web site design, web strategy, e-commerce best practices

The Web marketing and e-commerce portal: WebMarketCentral.com

Contact Tom Pick: tomATwebmarketcentral.com