One of the successful concepts of Internet marketing is called Viral Marketing. This concept helps spread an idea very quickly among its recipients.

One example of the success of this concept is with singer Marie Digby. She video recorded several famous songs and uploaded them onto YouTube. When visitors searched for the song by the original artist they also found her videos, which quickly brought her fame and the signing to produce a new album.

Seth Godin also talks about this concept in a couple of his blog entries:

“What makes an idea viral?”

and

“Is viral marketing the same as word of mouth?”

A study conducted by Outsell Inc., a market researcher in Burlingame, and reported in the San Francisco Chronicle, reveals a huge fraud charging customers for erroneous clicks. Here’s an alarming summary of the finding as published in the original article:

Clicks believed by advertisers to be fraudulent: 14.6 percent

Money paid by advertisers for bogus clicks: $800 million (2005)

Advertisers who said they were victims of click fraud: 75 percent

Advertisers who said they reduced click-based advertising or plan to: 37 percent

Revenue lost by Google, Yahoo and other Web sites, as a result: $500 million

Advertisers who request refunds because of fraud: 7 percent

Average refund: $9,507

Source: Outsell Inc.

This article appeared on page C – 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle. Click Here to read original article.

According to Stephen Farthing, instructor at the Univ. of Arts in London, (reported in the wsj) the average time a gallery visitor spends in front of a painting is no more than two or three seconds.

As I so often speak about when delivering my speeches, the majority of web visitors spend only few seconds on your home page. These visitors would only spend more time if you successfully and quickly grabbed their attention with points of interest and valuable content and products.

Read my current month article: “Is this your site I’ve just seen driving by?
Why most web sites reject their visitors”

According to the WSJ, it is Online news. And according to Nielsen/Net Rating April 2007 top unique visitors:

MSNBC.com = 33.14 Million

Yahoo.com = 33.12 Million

CNN.com = 27.9 Million

It is the affiliated Internet portals that send visitors to these sites and give them their current edge.

In my current article for our newsletter this month, I discuss the components that create credibility for your web site. Read “Should I use you or how should I use use?” and learn what are these elements.

One of the things that irritates me is when a colleague sends me their stupid jokes and on top of it decides to CC me and the rest of their “favorite” list. Not only do I not care to get additional emails in my Inbox that are stupid, waste of my time and my Internet bandwidth, I now am potentially exposed and on the email distribution list of everyone else that was copied on this email.

My recommendations: When sending your emails to a group of people outside your organization, consider the blind copy option (bcc) before you press the send button.

I vented and I feel better now.

Chad

p.s. Did I mention you keep me off your jokes distribution list?

If you are like me, you probably meet individuals that may greatly benefit from your wisdom and experience working with other clients and may even become your future clients. Why not then simply add them to your newsletter distribution list? Unless you have their permission to do so, I recommend you don’t. I loath the ones that add me to their email list without asking for my permission. I am often times asked as to the proper way of doing it. My recommendation is that it must be permission-based which means that you have received the permission to do so. Here is how to do it:

When you meet them in person, seize the opportunity to let them know of your newsletter packed with great tips and value that they may learn and enjoy getting. Mention that you would like their permission to add their name to your distribution list. If after they get the first one, they do not see the value, all they would need to do is simply email you the request to unsubscribe them or do so themselves (opt-out.) I always get the warm reply that they are looking forward to getting it.

If you did not have the chance to do it in person, ask the same in an email and wait for their reply. If you wish to be more assertive, here is the email format I would use:

“In hopes that this may be of value to you and meets with your permission, I’ve added your email address to our newsletter list. This way I may stay in touch by providing you with monthly insights, tips and strategies on various web, Internet, technology and business issues. Our newsletter, jammed with resources, focuses on providing information and value to our clients. If you do not wish to receive it, just let me know by replying to this email with the subject REMOVE or click on the unsubscribe option when you receive the newsletter.”

Finally, make it easy to register to your newsletter from your web site. I prefer the one registration approach which upon entering your address, immediately adds you to the database. I do not care for the double reply method, which upon your registration sends you and email confirmation to click on to accept it again. I have not seen abuse in the single method approach and do not care to waste my time when I am the one registering.

We get many inquiries over the web, via email, the phone and regular mail, from people interested in our products and services. Here are some of the more amateurish mistakes people make:

1. No contact information such as address and phone number in their email signature. See my email signature example here.

2. No contact information such as phone number or address on their web site. View our web site and notice the bottom of each page.

3. No easy to find “contact us” tab on their web site.

4. Request that we contact them, yet leave a phone number that does not exist or a bogus email.

5. They seem to have an established organization yet they are using emails that do not end with their company’s domain name. Example: Jim who works at an established company that has a web site with the URL of: www.MyCompany.com yet he sends his emails from Jim@Aol.com or Jim@Att.net rather than from his own domain such as Jim@MyCompany.com. Why advertise someone’s else company rather than yours?

If you are making these mistakes, you are not serious about your own business.

Is your web site generating results for you?
Here are the three most important development business site objectives (desired outcomes):

1. Increase business and gain new clients
2. Improve your image, brand and credibility
3. Make it easier to do business with you

Either implement the proper strategy to accomplish all three or ask yourself whether your strategy is working.

To read the other 50 reasons why develop a web site, click here.

The way to increase the chances that your web visitors receive the value from your site and contact you is through your call to action. Each page must have a defined call to action. Here are some you may want to include on your site:

1. Contact us (call /email / fax)
2. Sign up today
3. Join our mailing list
4. Purchase product / service
5. Learn more
6. Take survey
7. Join our online forum
8. Download article / white paper / CD
9. Request consultation / brochure
10. Refer site / article to a friend
11. Click here (is the most popular one and gets the most action)
12. Get your copy today
13. Print friendly option

Here is one such example. Click on the image below.