Outdoor sporting goods cataloger Cabelaโs tracks overall SEO program performance by comparing, week-to-week, the percentage of keywords ranked in Googleโs top four, along with the percentage in the top 10. The keyword sample includes 90 โtailโ (product-specific) keywords and nearly 2,000 general keywords. During and after the migration from SearchDex to GravityStream, this metric was watched very closely to gauge performance. โGravityStream caught right up and quickly blew past,โ says Derek Fortna marketing programs manager for Cabelaโs. The collection of additional metrics began once GravityStream migration was complete. These include the following: 3 keyword yield per page runs between eight and 20; two to
Online product reviews can create opportunities around one of the oldest direct marketing tools: customer testimonials. Such reviews and ratings can drive conversions on your Web site. Take Petco.com, for instance. Visitors that browse the top-rated product pages on Petco.com convert 49 percent more often and spend 63 percent more than browsers using other categories, according to the pet supplies marketerโs vice president of e-commerce John Lazarchic. He revealed these facts and a number of tips at a session at the eTail conference, held earlier this month in Palm Desert, Calif. 1. Solicit initial reviews through promotions. โWhen we first launched the program, we promoted
For smaller catalogers like Chinaberry, the Web can certainly be the great equalizer. Here are some tactics used by Chinaberryโs namesake childrenโs books and toys catalog and its spiritual gifts catalog Isabella. Search engine marketing: Both catalogs use Google AdWords for prospecting. โGoogle is the most compatible for us in sending us our types of prospects,โ he explains. โMSN is starting to do well, and everyone is waiting for the Yahoo! paid search relaunch. Weโve had Yahoo! on hold for a few months until its โProject Panamaโ has its full rollout.โ Affiliate marketing program: Using Performicsโ tracking system, Chinaberry can monitor the online relationships
For many catalogers, paid search will be the single most important channel for new customer acquisition this year. Here are what I believe to be the 12 best ways to do it. 1. Focus on Google. The reality is, Google controls more than two-thirds of the search market and is growing rapidly. Yahoo! continues to lose market share each quarter. MSN is a far distant third. Ask.com is even further back. Allocate your attention proportional to your ad spend. Donโt completely ignore Yahoo! or MSN, but invest the most love and attention in your Google campaigns. Youโll be rewarded with the largest return for your time.
The most successful Web sites are those that serve the interests of customers rather than organizations. Practically all Web sites, whether they are intranets or public Web sites, start off with an organization-centric worldview. Following are 10 tips to make your Web site more customer-centric. 1. You are not your customer. Never fall into the fatal trap of thinking that all you have to do to understand your customers is look into your heart. Constantly research, test and change things that arenโt working. 2. Your language is not your customersโ language. Just 4,000 people per month search for โlow faresโ (industry language) online, while 2 million
Below, our annual index of all stories that appeared in Catalog Success throughout 2006, including this issue. (For easy reference, use the print screen.) Cataloger Profiles Cover Stories United Receptacle: โB-to-B Goes โPlug and Playโโ by Alicia Orr Suman, January Reiman Publications: โThe Synergistic Approachโ by Alicia Orr Suman, February Boston Proper: โBillion-Dollar Opportunityโ by Donna Loyle, May Spiegel Brands: โHow Spiegel Recoveredโ by Paul Miller, June Smarthome Direct: โGrowth the Smart Wayโ by Matt Griffin, July J&L Industrial Supply: โShaped Up, Shipped Outโ by Paul Miller, August Northern Safety Co.: โSafely Ahead of the Gameโ by Matt Griffin, September AmeriMark Direct: โSteady
The Web is an essential channel for catalogers. Customers expect catalog companies to have effective, well-designed e-commerce sites. The Internet is undergoing a period of rapid innovation, often labeled โWeb 2.0.โ It includes tagging, visual search, wikis and Ajax. Web 2.0 technologies will transform online retail over the next two years. Catalogers will need to upgrade their sites to remain competitive. I suggest you read this monthโs column with a computer close by โ as Iโll tour some Online Retail 2.0 ideas that will transform e-commerce. The first stop is del.icio.us, the social tagging site. (Go to del.icio.us/catalogsuccess, and youโll find a
Consumers will use the Internet for about 29 percent of their shopping this year, according to a recently released National Retail Federation survey conducted by BIGResearch. This includes both browsing and buying behavior. These shoppers are expected to spend an average of $791 on holiday shopping. Other data revealed by the survey: * 47.1 percent of consumers plan to make at least one purchase online this year; * 88.7 percent regularly or occasionally examine products online before purchasing in a store; * 23.6 percent start their product research on Google; * 7.2 percent start their research on Yahoo!; * 5.5 percent start their research
What online offers are most effective today? To answer this question, Iโll revisit 14th century Japanese poetry, tap the insights of experts at the three leading search engines and talk return shipping with two leading online retailers. Todayโs Advertising Haiku Haiku is a Japanese poetic form dating to the 1400s. Haiku poems consist of three lines of five, seven and five syllables. When written well, these poems can pack a powerful emotional punch. Todayโs online advertising equivalent of haiku is paid search advertising. Taking Google AdWords as the archetype, a pay-per-click ad consists of a 25-character title, two 35-character lines of ad copy and a 35-character
As we roll through the mid-2000s, one could easily transform the saying, โwhatโs old is new again,โ to โwhatโs new is old already.โ Rapidly evolving technology is changing American business faster than ever, and itโs swiftly altering the catalog/multichannel retail business. On our end, weโve embraced change in this issue, our first full-fledged redesign in five years. Along with our new, eye-pleasing look, youโll see some new columns and departments, such as Association for Postal Commerce President Gene Del Polito writing the new Understanding Postal column and catalog acquisitions expert Larry West heading the new Acquisitions & Valuations column. Watch for additional expert columnists