Download - Ch09 Brand Building
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
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