According to the 4th Annual Datran Media Marketing & Media survey, email and search were the top two advertising channels that performed the best for companies in 2009. [caption id="attachment_1429" align="alignleft" width="300" caption="Photo courtesy http://www.datranmediasurvey2010.com/"][/caption] With online marketing channels becoming lucrative marketing opportunities, more than 80 percent of the companies surveyed also plan on increasing their digital marketing budget as they approach 2014 and no one plans on decreasing their budget. Online marketing was mostly used for reaching a target audience (84.2%) and generating high quality leads (73.6%). With more companies utilizing the web to marketing their company, product, and services, it is important ...

It is often said that bombarding mailing list subscribers with messages will only send them running. While it is true that sending out emails too often can get annoying, there are times when it is a good idea to break away from the once-a-month schedule. If someone abandons a shopping cart on your website, it can be a good idea to send an email to save the sale. According to an E-Tail Group survey, 20% of merchants sent abandonment emails to capture sales they could have lost. However, it is also important to not overwhelm the customer either. The emails should be ...

The vast majority of U.S. Internet users prefer to use more than one channel [computer, mobile device, in-store, etc.] to research and purchase products and services, according to a survey from ATG and MarketTools. Almost half of the people said they use two channels when shopping for products and services and 24% said they use three or more. One of the main points from this survey showed that the Internet was used as a research tool. The Internet accounts for only 7.7% of total retail sales, but online research was used in 42% of sales, according to the new study "U.S. Online ...

One of the best ways to bring in new customers is by word of mouth. When people share information about companies and businesses, their friends and colleagues see that as reliable information. To create a viral effect, you need to do something so amazing that people will want to share it with everyone they know. Take these 5 steps to create a coupon that will go viral and drive traffic to your company. Make a Big Offer In order to get people's attention you need to provide an offer that is so unbelievable that they will rush to take advantage of it and ...

Creating and maintaining a fully optimized website requires strategy, dedication and understanding of search engine optimization.  The latest statistics reveal that Google owns 76% of the U.S. search market.  To ensure the best search results, Google constantly updates its algorithms, making it harder to achieve and maintain your search engine ranking. Keeping up with search engines is hard work.  Here are a few tips for taking your SEO improvements to the next level. Keep Your Loading Time Down Last year, Google announced that it would begin taking page loading time into consideration when awarding rankings.   In addition to ruining your SEO efforts, a ...

While it may be tempting to put all of the information you have about your company, its products and services on the home page for people to see right away, this is often overwhelming for visitors and can drive people away from your company. Websites should be treated like an online version of a store or business. When you walk into a grocery store, you aren't confronted with flashing lights, blaring music, and every product the store has in stock. Instead, you will see a handful of products with signs and indicators directing you to other items. In the same way, your ...

Having a blog can help generate traffic for your website and increase your SEO rankings. However, actual lead generation begins to grow once blogs offered more blog posts, approximately 20 to 50 articles, according to HubSpot. After you have crossed this number, you will not only make an impact on search engines, but other websites will be more likely to link to your articles. You increase your credibility when you have more than 20 posts on your site. It was found that customers with more than 52 blog posts averaged 77% more leads than those who had between 24-51 articles. Companies that had ...

After you have worked hard on marketing and conversion to bring a new customer to your business, you don't want to lose them right away. It is important to try to turn those people to be repeat customers who you can rely on for business. Customer Retention has proven to be cheaper choice rather than attempting to bring in new clients. Here are 4 ways to keep your customers loyal to your business. Respond to emails quickly. If you make it a point to respond to emails within 15-20 minutes, your clients will not only be surprised by your efficiency, but it ...

According to the survey "Website Design Strategies and Tactics, most e-commerce websites are planning a redesign of their website in 2010. Almost half of the e-commerce websites planning on a redesign are looking to create better organization with updated home and inner pages of their website. They are also looking for better search engine optimization and clearer navigation for the website. About one-third of the retailers are also looking to add video or streaming media as well as customer reviews and ratings. The main reason given by retailers for the redesign is to increase sales and attract new shoppers. It is important to keep ...

Tracking the data for your website can help your company understand not only who is coming to your website, but also help you figure out how to convert those visitors into clients. For businesses new to analytics, it can be daunting to look at all of that information and to know what to do with it. Google Analytics is a free, simple analytics feature that has a handful of information that can help your company. Unique Visitors The number of Unique Visitors tells you how many different people have visited your website. If you want to increase your unique visitors, look at ...