Guest Teacher on Thursday, December 7

Yesterday, David, the instructor from the other Marketing 437 section, came back into our classroom to teach us all about Search Engine Marketing (SEM). It was a very interesting topic and I learned a great deal from him. One of the main things I learned from David’s lecture was that when posting a website onto the Internet, it is a good quality to have a website that is really searchable, by including keywords that are relevant to the target users/readers. Strong visibility as well as great Portal Presence on the Internet can increase traffic to a website. Visibility on the Internet can be purchased through ads, sponsorships, search engine submissions and search engine rankings. Sites in the top 10 results on search engines have a better chance of being noticed, so different sites try different techniques in order to make that top ten. To measure the Visibility of websites on search engines such as Google, SEM uses techniques such as P4P, standing for Pay for Performance which is also known as CPC, standing for, Cost per click. Another fact that I found interesting about SEM is that marketers/people who use SEM are constantly updating their websites. As technology evolves, so does SEM, so marketers and people have to constantly update their websites to make sure they are updated with the latest technology on the web. I also learned many others things about SEM from David’s lecture, including:

Some reasons Internet users worldwide use search engines are for:

• Research
• Entertainment
• Business
• News
• Banking
• Dictionary
• Comparison shopping
• Shopping / purchases

I know I use the Internet for all of these things. Right now, since I am a dedicated student, I mostly use the internet for research and news. I tend to shop online for things I cannot find or get in stores.

In order to be successful when using SEM marketers must:

1) Establish site objectives

2) Figure out strategic goals

3) Identify an audience and market

4) Know the competition and what they're doing

5) Offer a lot of relevant/useful information

6) Include a lot of creative content. Content should also be up to par with other websites:

a) type, tone, style, architecture, navigation, graphic design, and usability should be crafted so as the website is easy to look at and use.

b) Visibility - search engine optimization

c) Marketing - site promomotion, branding, testimonials

d) Site maintenance

e) Guarantees

f) Links

g) Privacy statement

Useit.com Alertbox Article

Jackob Nielsen’s Alertbox from November 6, 2006, entitled 100 Million Websites found on the website Useit.com discusses how the internet contains 100 Million Websites. According to Netcraft’s latest Web survey the web contains 101,435,253 websites. Although some of these websites are not live, if only half the sites accounted for are maintained today, there are still more than 100 million websites on the Internet that people pay to keep running.

Reaching the 100 million mark is a milestone, and represents the immense growth the Internet has obtained since its creation 15 years ago. The chart below above shows the growth of Internet websites from 1991 until 2006.

From this chart one can see that the Internet has experienced three growth stages:

• Explosive growth: From the years 1991-1997, the internet grew at a rate of 850% each year. During this time frame, each time users went on the web, they encountered something new.
• Rapid growth: From the years 1998-2001, the internet grew at a rate of 150% each year. Since the internet’s rapid growth ended in 2001, all the usability guidelines have been repeatedly confirmed.
• Maturing growth: From the years 2002-2006, the internet grew at a rate of 25% each year. Now, user’s basic expectations have settled and web-designers need to construct their websites accordingly, unless they have something substantially better.

If the internet continues to grow at its current rate of 25 percent, then the internet will reach 200 Million Websites by the year 2010. Even if we are realistic and slow the growth rate of websites on the internet a little, it is fair to predict that the internet will obtain 200 Million Websites by the year 2012. This prediction is fairly reasonable considering there are millions of business and people who do not have internet websites yet. Eventually every business and organization in the world will have a website.

Today when designing a website, the web-designers need to comply with users’ expectations. The internet is no longer a marvel of innovation. It is now used as an everyday tool, and websites need to differentiate themselves by providing both better content and superior solutions to users’ problems.

I agree with the Jakob Nielsen’s article. I think the internet will definitely reach 200 Million Websites by the year 2012. Currently not all businesses possess a website. Eventually all business will have a website. In addition, new business are constantly being developed, and these new business will need and eventually have websites as well.

I also agree that the Web is not a new experience for users anymore and they expect websites to be designed certain ways. Users are goal oriented when they go on the internet; they use the web as a tool to find the answer to their problem. When users go on the web, they usually have a purpose for doing so. Therefore, when designing a website, people need to keep in mind that their sites need to be useable, meaning the websites need to be easy to understand and navigate around.

Clickz.com

Today, I visited the Web site, clickz.com and read the article entitled, Technology Enable Product Placement in CGM, written by Enid Burns and published October 26, 2006. Burns' article discusses how Entertainment Media Works (EMW) plans to enable "plinking," otherwise known as product linking, in consumer-generated media CGM), such as the internet.

Plinking is the process of adding a product or service link to visible objects or images in a video. TimeShift, an advertising and Broadcast Summit at the NAB conference discussed plans for launching this plinking service. Users would freeze a single frame and define an area where the product is located, and then once tagged, the item will be clickable through the runtime of the video, and will link to an e-commerce page, so people can shop for any item of interest they see in these videos. EMW would track the SKU numbers for several products in its database to facilitate matching the tagged product to a measurable lead.

EMW plans to allow both content viewers and user communities to take existing video and add links for a piece of the revenue share. No video aggregator sites have committed to enabling plinking on their sites yet; however a spokesperson for EMW, Ashley Heather, says EMW currently is talking to a handful of these sites at the moment.

Currently, another cross-channel product placement sited called, StarStyle.com, has been developed which allows users to shop for clothes and other products seen on popular TV shows. According to Heather, the site has received 1.2 million visitors in a two-month period and garnered 600,000 click-through the retailer sites.

Think about it, a million pieces of user-generated video are uploaded each day, so plinking has the potential to bring in $250 million in revenues each year if only one percent of viewers of CGM convert.

I chose this article because the topic of product placement has always interested me, so when I saw that product placement is now going to be used on media channels such as the Internet, I wanted to read more to find out about how and when companies plan to do this.

I know when I am watching movies or television with my friends, if we see something we think is cute, we express it to one other, and sometimes we wonder, who makes that shirt, or where can I get those pants. Well, now with the use of technology, we do not have to wonder anymore. Any consumer can go the Web site StarStyle.com to find product information seen on these media, and with the new upcoming technology of plinking, if people/perspective consumers see something they like while watching a video on the internet, the consumer will just simply have to click on the desired object to find out how to buy it. Technology is making it easier for marketers to reach and target their consumers and at the same time, it is making it easier for consumers to either by products or gathers information about certain products of interest.

Guest Professors

Today, the professors from the other sections of Marketing 437, Allon and David, came in and taught our class while our professor was out of town. Both of these men have had several years of Internet Marketing experience. David, for example, built an online campaign for the Web site, Local.com; his job was to drive people to the site; while, Allon has had experience working for Gateway's Experion.

I learned several things from Allon and David today in class. Before they started their lecture, they briefly showed us a book they have their class read entitled, "Don't make me think." This book discusses the topic of Web sites and how they should do just that, not make their visitors think. We then discussed how a Web site should be intuitive, and how people should not have to think when they come to a Web site, for the Web site should be obvious and it should be easy for its visitors or consumers to navigate themselves around the site.

Although Allon and David discussed the basic concepts of marketing that we learn about in Marketin 300, they added material to these basic marketing concepts that I have never learned before. For instance, David and Allon discussed the Marketing Mix with us, otherwise known as the 4 P's: product, price, promotion, and place. However, they did not just stop there. David and Allon took the discussion one step further and informed the class that there are really 7 P's adding people, process, and physical evidence.

Another interesting part of the class discussion was when we took the product life cycle and applied it to companies on the internet. So, we looked at each stage of the product life cycle starting with introduction, then moving to growth, then maturity and finally going into decline and looked at where companies on the internet fall. We did not put any companies in the introduction stage; however, we said YouTube is in the growth stage, Amazon currently fits into the maturity stage, and sadly for AOL it is in the decline stage.
I learned a great deal from David and Allon today in class. These are just the three topics that stood out the most.

Internet Marketing Assignment #2:Consumer Product Reviews (a form of "community" at e-commerce sites)

I went to Zappos.com and found a shoe I was interested in buying. The shoe that captured my eye was a pink sandal made by the brand Reef Costa Rica. By reading the customer reviews, I learned that this shoe was described by one customer as "a great flip-flop...comfortable from day one and super-stylish." Another customer described the reef sandal as "the perfect summer shoe." Practically every review I read stated that this reef sandal was the very comfortable, and dressier than most other flip flops. In addition most of them commented on the reef sandal's arch support, something they claimed was hard to find. One customer loved these sandals so much that she stated, "they are truly not only my fav sandals, but favorite shoes period!" After reading these reviews, I would definitely buy this shoe. How could I not buy a sandal that is super cute, comfortable, and affordable?!

It is a major advantage for consumers to read the reviews on Zappos.com because they can learn about the shoes before they buy them. They might think a shoe looks cute, but then after reading the reviews, they might learn that the shoe is difficult to walk in. Or they might find a shoe on Zappos.com and then read reviews like the ones I read and feel like the shoes are sooo...perfect, they would have to buy them. I think it is smart for Zappos.com to have reviews on its shoes for customers to read because it gives customers insight into the product they are considering buying, making Zappos.com look more reliable than other websites that do not offer reviews/insights into the products sold on their websites. It also makes Zappos.com look more customer friendly than other websites because it goes above and beyond to give its customers all the resources they need to buy the perfect shoe for them.

Personally I would recommend any website, including ones like Kencole.com who only sell their own brand of products, supplying customer reviews because it just make the website more customer friendly. In addition, it makes it easier for customers to compare the quality of different brands of products. For instance, maybe a customer saw a shoe on Zappos.com and then saw a similar shoe on Kencole.com. If the shoe on Kencole.com had a better review than the one on Zappos.com, then the customer would be more likely to buy the shoe found on Kencole.com. Having a section for customer reviews makes the website look more credible and trustworthy because it makes the website seem like that it has nothing to hide.

I really do not shop-online, but the one time I have, I have read the customer recommendations first. I was looking for a book and was told I could only buy it online, so I went to amazon.com and read the reviews on the vender before I bought the book to make sure I was buying the book from someone reliable. I would highly recommend any website to offer consumers recommendations from other previous customers to read because the internet is not as trustworthy of a place to buy products then an in-person store because it is still newer than the "old" way of doing business, and the customer does not receive the product he or she paid for right away; the or she has to wait for it. So, having recommendations on a website for consumers to read makes the entire shopping online experience more settling, reassuring, and trustworthy.

Mktg 430 Blog 1

People have found blogs to be extremely useful for business use, organizational use, marketing use, and media use.

For starters, blogs are useful to these different bodies of people because they provide them a platform to discuss and share their opinions, ideas, and thoughts. Now, through the use of the Internet, people do not need to own a printing press or a broadcasting studio to make their voices heard. Blogs and the Internet make it more accessible for these people to have a voice.

Similarly, blogs also make it easier for businesses to have a long-lasting customer relationship. Before the Internet was invented, the only interaction a company had with its consumers was when the organization was actually in the buying and selling process. However, now through the use of advanced technology, many businesses are starting blog sites, so they can provide customers with instant feedback on any problems the customer might be having with the product. Through blogging, many companies can read about themselves through their customers' prospective to see what they should keep about their services and what they can improve on to make their companies better. Blogs provide instant feedback on the company's performance.

Another advantage blogs give to companies is the idea of humanizing the company and making them more approachable. By giving the company a human voice, it might make its customers feel closer to the company, adding to the long lasting relationship between the organization and the consumer.

Blogs also make it easier for smaller companies with little money to become successful, for they are less expensive then wide spread advertising, but they still reach a mass variety of people. Blogs are aiding in the process of making the field of business equal and fair again. Small businesses now have access to a voice they did not have a decade ago. Blogging has helped small business become successful, for it is the ultimate word-of-mouth type of advertising/positioning most unknown companies are looking for.

Although blogs are extremely helpful in spreading a company's reputation or product line, these businesses that choose to use them must be careful not to make them look like traditional advertising, promotions, or marketing. Blogs need to be honest, fair, and well-balanced in order to be affective. If it sounds like an ad or promotional tool, then the bloggers who read the blog post will call it just that...an ad and promotional tool, discrediting the blog post and the company all at the same time. Blogs are suppose to have run-on sentences and grammatical errors, for that is what gives them the humanistic characteristic other marketing and promotional tools lack.

Blogs are not a fad; they are here to stay. As more and more people are learning about the technology of blogging and what it can do to help them, the more these companies and people in general want to see what its all about. Therefore, the use of blogging will probably only become more popular, sophisticated, and easier over time. As technology becomes for sophisticated, it will be even easier then it is now for people to access and read other's blogs.

As Journalism major, a class I took at my school had us create and write a blog on a particular topic for the entire semester. My group was assigned the topic of energy, so we had to look through three newspaper publications everyday and write about the news about energy for that day. Each person in the group blogged for two weeks. It was actually interesting to see the trends in our topic. It was also interesting to read the comments people left about what was happening in our society due to the increase in energy prices and consumers' reactions to them.

It might be interesting to see my department at my school start a blog about what is going on in the Journalism Department. It could be used as a platform for students to communicate with their professors and other students. I think it would give professors insight into what students think about them, their teaching tactics, and their classes. A blog can be a good way to make the entire department feel connected to each other.