Internet Marketing

Trafficand

Brand Building

Topics

• Smart browsing• Traffic as value• Traffic through visibility

– Domain branding– Managing your portal presence– Publicity and word of mouth

• Paying for traffic– Alliance and co-branding– Online ads

• Evaluating traffic sources

Traffic as Value

• Value is based on scarcity of supply, not necessarily benefits

• The supply of Web content is growing faster than the number of users

• While the volume of online material provides ever-increasing value to network users, the the battle for attention is severe

Value and Scarcity

Headline

Paraphrase current articles on the battle for traffic

Publication & Date

Traffic as ValueElements of a Web Traffic Plan

Destination Site

Search & Directory

Publicity

Paid Advertising

External Links

Domain Name/Brand

Fig. 9.3: Sources of Traffic

• Acquiring traffic is expensive,

and critical to Web marketing success

• First step: make the site easy to find by new users

• The steps in Figure 9.3 build on each other

Traffic as ValueElements of a Web Traffic

Plan

Montly Retention Rate Advertising Cost

Time Needed to Reach 100,000

Active Users

100% $70,000 2.5 months

95% $80,000 3 months

90% $100,000 4 months

85% $140,000 6 months

80% $380,000 19 months to exeed 99,000

75% ** Can't reach

The Value of Loyalty in Building Traffi cTable 9.2

• Retaining traffic is profitable• Site loyalty dramatically lowers the cost of

maintaining web site traffic• Fewer new users must be attracted to maintain a

profitable user base

Traffic as ValueElements of a Web Traffic

PlanDeveloping Traffic Requires Value

• Visit duration is the online equivalent to time in a store

• Long visit duration allows:– More time to communicate the message of the

site

– Additional opportunities to engage in commerce

– More chances to build commitment and loyalty

– Exposure to more advertising or alliance partner impression

Traffic as ValueC

um

ula

tive P

rob.

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%0 20 40 60 80 100

L = Length of user's visit measured in # of page views

Figure 9.4 – Length of Time Visitors Spend on the Xerox Company Web Site

• Visit duration is a good measure of customer value

• The higher the value of a site, the longer the duration of visits

Elements of a Web Traffic Plan

Threshold

Traffic Through VisibilityTraffic Builders: Domain

Names• A domain name is the address a customer

uses to find your site

• Poorly chosen names can hinder success

• Once chosen, domain names can be difficult to change without significant expense

• A domain name strategy should– Reinforce branding

– Build traffic

– Anticipate consumer behavior and mistakes

Traffic Through VisibilityTraffic Builders: Domain

Names

Figure 9.6: Three Different Ways of Getting to the Coca-Cola Homepage

Traffic Through VisibilityGuidelines for Effective Domain

NamesDomain Naming Goals Benefits

Obtain a Category Domain

www.jeans.com

I f a small or little known fi rm can secure a category item, it may be

able to launch an eff ective online business.

Avoid Domains Challenging to

Encode www.geens4u.com

Avoid confusing and hard-to-keep-straight domains. Domains should

be memorable f rom both visual and sound cues. Consumers may need

to store this in memory f rom a radio or billboard ad.

Avoid Long and Complicated

Domains f rom Third-Party

Hosing Arrangements

www.aol.com/ jeans/

Third-party hosting should not be an excuse to avoid domain

registration. This will cause a problem with user recall.

Avoid Automatic CGI Clutter -

Especially the Homepage

www.jeans.com/ cgi-bin/ abc123

Some systems store the location of the originating page as a keyword

in the address. This can confuse users, limit word of mouth, and look

strange.

Register Related I tems and

Common Typos

www.bluejeans.com,

www.jeens.com,

www.bellbottoms.com

The cost of registering domain names is trivial compared to the cost

of acquiring traffi c. Registering related names, and even common

typographical errors, helps build traffi c and prevent brand dilution.

Tab

le 9

.4

Traffic Through VisibilityTraffic Builders: Portal

Presence• Search engines and directories are common

ways to find a company’s web site

• Problems– A single search often produces thousands of

results

– Less than 1 percent of Web pages show up in all four of the most popular search engines

Traffic Through VisibilityTraffic Builders: Portal

Presence• Search engines retrieve pages on the basis of

keywords, meta-tags, page titles & other content

• Secure a high ranking– Classify your site with proper keywords,

descriptors and categories– Make sure important Web pages are listed with all

major search engines• Multiple listing is important to ensure exposure, as each

search engine will return a different set of results to a query

– Work with directories (like Yahoo!) to make sure they properly locate your site

Headline

It’s usually possible to find current news on which search engines and directories

drive the most traffic

Publication & Date

Traffic Through Visibility

• A specialized portal focuses on a specific industry

• Special directories provide editorial control by industry experts, categorization schemes and the ability to reflect rapid change in a particular industry

The Emergence of Specialized Portals

Example – www.pikenet.com (real estate)

Traffic Through VisibilityElectronic Word of Mouth and

Diffusion• Positive word of mouth and publicity motivate potential users into trial

• Loyal users are the main source of positive word of mouth

• Nonusers and disgruntled consumers are more likely to provide negative comments

Pool of

Potential

Users

M

External

Publicity

Trial

Loyal Users

Nonusers

Switchers

+ Word of Mouth

- Word of Mouth

Figure 9.9 Influences on Trial

Traffic Through Visibility

• E-mail among friends and biz acquaintances

• Usenet groups• E-mail listservs• AOL and other online forums• Industry portal discussion areas• Online and traditional media coverage of

the Net

Net Word-of-Mouth Technologies

The Net amplifies the power and accelerates the speed of user

feedback

Traffic Through Visibility

• Opinion leaders are well-respected industry participants journalists, or lead users known for expertise

• Reaching opinion leaders is a key success factor of an e-commerce strategy

• Opinion leaders can be reached via e-mail and social networks

Opinion Leaders Online

Traffic Through VisibilityURL Placement

• Integrate your domain name wherever possible– Manuals, warranties, software programs

– Familiar advertising settings

•Billboards, buses, bills, company brochures, radio advertisements, public speeches, menus in restaurants, park benches, shopping bags

• To track which medium is driving traffic– Use unique identifiers

– Use different Web addresses with different media messages

Paying for Traffic

• Banner ads are the dominant form of online advertising– Clickable graphic images that take a user to

another Web location

• Pricing is usually based on the number of impressions– Negotiated prices, volume discounts, and

barter arrangements are common– Each banner also carries a unique identifier

• This allows a business to track the effectiveness of each placement in generating traffic

Interactive Advertising

Paying for TrafficOnline Advertising

EffectivenessFrom Visits to Purchases

$15 per 1,000 impressions

Cost per Visitor @ 2%

click through

Cost per Purchases @ 5%

conversion f rom visitors

to buyers $.75/ .05=$15.00 per purchaser

Cost per I mpression

$.015 each

$0.015/ .02=$.75 per visitor

0.02

0.98

Pool of Impressions

0.95

0.05

Pool of VisitorsFrom Impressions to

Clicks

Fig. 9.13 – The Declining Number of Viewers at Each Step of an Advertising Chain

Paying for TrafficOnline Advertising

Effectiveness• Online ad banners are simple to create

and implement– Experimentation is cheap and easy

• Click-through rates are fairly low• Higher click-through rates associated with:

– Bold colors– Top-of-page placement– Animation– Call to action– Limited frequency of exposure

Paying for Traffic

• Banner click-through rates are often as low as 2 percent

• This reduces the effect of online brand building

• Many feel that branding still requires the power and imagery of television and radio until users have better technology

Brand Building with Banner Ads

Paying for Traffic

• Paid advertising may be necessary to create the initial visibility to search engines

• Several of the search engines use external links to traffic to determine a site’s indexing frequency and placement in result lists

• Advertising reinforces the effectiveness of free media

• Initial studies indicate that banner ads can help build brand awareness

• Even with no click-through, banners can trigger post-exposure visits to sites

Brand Building with Banner Ads

Paying for Traffic

• Some sites generate sufficient traffic with other measures

• If a business has a regional market, it’s best to avoid online advertising on sites with national or international scope

• Regional sites, however, may be a great opportunity for online advertising– CitySearch, SideWalk, JustGo, Yahoo!

Online Advertising May Not Fit All Companies

Evaluating Traffic Sources

• Measurable sources of traffic include:– Search engines and directories– E-mail promotions– Publicity campaigns aimed at building awareness

and trial– Links from newspaper articles and press releases– Dedicated software updates and links– Paid advertising expenditures to steer traffic to

the site– Alliances and co-branding to generate traffic from

affiliate sites

• Web-log and commerce server data enable marketers to measure these sources

Measuring the Returns

Evaluating Traffic SourcesTracking Search Terms

1. free sample 6. dhea

2. creatine 7. sex

3. ripped fuel 8. chrysin

4. hmb 9. melatonin

5. protein 10. glucosamine

• Important to monitor the top-ranked keywords visitors use to find a site

• Provides useful snapshot of the ways visitors remember and categorize a site

Evaluating Traffic SourcesMeasuring the Returns

Figure 9.18 Traffic Value

Revenues per

Visit and per Page View are

quite high

Evaluating Sources of Traffic