Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

Table of Contents

E-mail has truly been the killer application for computers in the last ten years. The use of e-mail has grown at astronomical rates, and has provided a new way for friends and families to stay in touch regardless of distance between them. E-mail also offers wonderful potential for business communication. In the past, if a business wanted to send a customer information on a product or promotion it would entail sending out costly direct mail pieces that could seldom be tracked accurately for efficiency. E-mail offers businesses a much cheaper way to stay in contact with customers and build a rapport with them.

It is necessary to address the issue of e-mail spam before continuing with a discussion on e-mail marketing. E-mail spammers are the telemarketers of a new era. They interrupt users with promises of larger (or smaller) body parts, wonder drugs, or scantily clad people when the users are expecting to read messages from friends or family. E-mail spam should never be practiced by a reputable business. E-mail spam undermines credibility and is a nuisance to possible customers. E-mail spam represents “interruption marketing”, or marketing to people when they have not requested information. Seth Godin says of interruption marketing, “The biggest problem with mass-market advertising is that it fights for people's attention by interrupting them. A 30-second spot interrupts a "Seinfeld" episode. A telemarketing call interrupts a family dinner. A print ad interrupts a magazine article. "The interruption model is extremely effective when there's not an overflow of interruptions," Godin says. "But there's too much going on in our lives for us to enjoy being interrupted anymore.” (Taylor, 1998, fastcompany.com)

Business should only practice “permission-based” marketing with e-mail. The idea of permission-based marketing has been perpetuated by Seth Godin who defines it as getting consumers to, “raise their hands" (one of Godin's favorite phrases) - to agree to learn more about a company and its products. "Permission marketing turns strangers into friends and friends into loyal customers," he says. "It's not just about entertainment - it's about education." (Taylor, 1998, fastcompany.com) Educating consumers will be much more important to the future economy than just spewing corporate slogans and propaganda in their face while they are trying to use the bathroom. The “new face” of advertising is much less intrusive, and much more courteous and candid.

E-mail marketing should always be permission driven. Every website should have a way to collect customer e-mail addresses (or several ways), in order to market to them in a permission-based fashion. These e-mail addresses that visitors have volunteered for more information are the gold mine of the Internet. This is what all the hype over the Internet is really all about. It is the ability to more directly communicate with visitors and turn “strangers into friends, and friends into loyal customers”. The Internet represents the unique advertising medium where a community can truly be built between a company and their customers. There are many “rules” for e-mail marketing, but the most important of all is to make sure that it is permission driven, and anticipated by those that it will target.

E-mail marketing gives marketers the ability to monitor the effectiveness of their campaigns. With each e-mail that is sent out, the marketer can determine how many of them were opened by users, how many users visited the website because of the e-mail, and even how many sales were made because of the e-mail campaign. Just imagine if this same level of measurement was available for a billboard or television ad. This level of measurability offers great new opportunities for marketers to create value-added relationships on a personal level with customers.

Appendices
(All in a single document) Appendix 1-1: Overture Search Term
Research Tool

Appendix 1-2: Wordtracker Search Query Research Tool

Appendix 1-3: Google Sets Website Theme Research Tool

Appendix 1-4: Reach/ Acquire/ Convert/ Retain

Chart Appendix 2-5: Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth Information Architecture Flowchart

Appendix 2-6: Search Engine Themes Pyramid Information Architecture Example

Appendix 2-7: Webpage Download Time by File Size Chart

Appendix 2-8: Expected Locations for Common E-commerce Elements

Appendix 2-9: Website Usability Checklist

Appendix 2-10: Text Vs.Code Ratio/ Content Near the Top of Souce Code Examples

Appendix 3-11: Overture Bid Price Tool

Appendix 3-12: Webalizer Website Visitor Tracking Tool

Appendix 3-13: AW STATS Website Visitor Tracking Tool Appendix

3-14: Clicktracks Website Statistics
Analysis Tool

References
Author Notes

Additional Bonus:
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Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites Table of Contents

Planning, Developing, and Promoting a Successful Small Business Website

Small Business Website Marketing Page 41

E-mail Marketing

Planning, Developing, and Promoting Successful Small Business Websites

Table of Contents

Small Business Website Marketing
Page 41