Source: Pew Internet

Customer groups gather information in certain ways leading to the point at which they buy a product.

An effective marketing campaign concentrates on how potential customers search for information, so the marketing information is available when and where customers are looking for it.

For example, golfers can be divided into three groups of buyers: pioneers, early followers and late followers.

Pioneers like to be the first to buy and experiment with a new product. They enjoy the intrigue of being on the cutting edge of golf innovation. They look for information on new products in golf magazines, watch what various pros are using, and even search the Internet for tips on new equipment.

A manufacturer of golf equipment usually starts out by giving their clubs to a few pros try to and by running publicity stories using the pros for endorsements.

Increasingly those manufactures are also taking their clubs to driving ranges for customers to try and using the internet as a way of finding their pioneering buyers.

There is not much point in advertising a brand new golf product to the general public. Most golfers won’t use the product until the pioneers at their favorite course have endorsed it.

The most effective marketing tactics coordinate marketing communication and promotions with the actual process the target customers goes through when deciding to buy a product.

You want to be sure to place your marketing messages in the places where customers look for information on your type of product or services.

Your website copy makes or breaks your rankings. Rankings are all about relevancy. Where do search engine look for keywords when evaluating websites? The word on each page.

If you display keywords to visitors, then your pages are indeed relevant for these terms.

Unfortunately, many companies incorporate their existing marketing material into their sites. This copy won’t contain all of the relevant keywords you now know that your target audiences is looking for in search engines.

You will also need to study your competitors’ pages that rank well to see how many total words they are using and how many times that keyword is mentioned.

Internet is the medium on which online users spend the most time (32.7 hours/week), according to IDC. This is equivalent to almost half of the total time spent each week using all media (70.6 hours), almost twice as much time as spent watching television (16.4 hours), and more than eight times as much time as spent reading newspapers and magazines (3.9 hours).

Meta Data or meta tags, provides information about the content of a website. It’s an HTML tag that doesn’t impact page layout but contains data attributes.

In the early days of SEO, simply placing keywords in these tags influenced page rankings significantly. Today, numerous search engine marketers proclaim “Meta tags are dead!”

When search engines pull a title and description for your website listing, a majority will display the meta data you provide.

Without meta data, search engine will grab the first text lines from the page.

Use meta data as a way to control your website listings and prevent search engines from randomly selecting irrelevant copy from your site. The three meta tags to use:

• Title
• Description
• Keywords

Write custom copy for the meta data of each web page you want to rank well in the search engines. You can also review your competitors’ HTML code for ideas.

In 2001 19% of US employers told ePolicy institute they were monitoring time logged on and keystrokes. In 2005, it was 36%. In 2007 that number had grown to 45%.

We are given the opportunity to redesign Business in Christ new website.

The new website will be launched towards the end of May 2008.

Business in Christ is about uniting business leaders to give their best in serving and supporting great commission work through indigenous Christian efforts in the nations.

Business in Christ continues to develop the added value services as they are focused on supplying needed technology, communications and infrastructure support for great commission work in the nations through partnerships with individuals and organizations dedicated to GO and spread the good news and love of Jesus Christ’s finished work on the cross.

Link popularity generally refers to the number and quality of content-relevant websites that link to yours.

Search engines place a heavy evaluation emphasis on inbound links because it is assumed that if other sites link to yours, you offer VALUABLE content to web users. An inbound link therefore appears as an online testimonial to search engine spiders. Popular sites score major ranking points.

There are 4 simple steps that you can do to utilize link popularity campaign to gain a better web ranking for your website.

1. Find high-ranked sites. Avoid web rings that only link from one site to another site. Don’t place links to your site in guestbooks, classified ads or forums either.

2. Request an inbound link. The most efficient way of asking for a site link is to email the webmaster or marketing director. Customize each email to get a response and avoid being mislabeled as a spammer.

3. Hyperlink KEYWORDS in your description. Include one of your KEYWORD PHRASES in your description which should also be hyperlinked to your website. This will be more effective than hyperlink your company’s name. For example: Sky Soft consulting is a web consulting firm in Seattle providing custom website development and website application development. (Notice that I hyperlink the keywords such as web consulting, website development and website application).

4. Use relevant landing pages. Divide your inbound links among secondary theme pages; don’t send them all to the home page. Because each site page should be optimized for a different but related group of keywords, each page needs its own inbound links – individual site pages, not entire sites, compete for rankings

An Effective landing page, often referred to as a destination URL or target URL, impacts your bottom line.

Landing pages aren’t necessarily part of your main website. However, how your landing page is designed impacts your conversion rates.

Here are some suggestions to reduce distraction while leading customers to the checkout line.

Position critical information above the fold
Product information, incentives and the order button should all be seen on your landing page without scrolling. This section of a web page is also referred to as “above the fold.” VERIFY that KEY SELLING information is VISIBLE on multiple computer screen resolutions. Your webmaster may have designed your site for 1024X768 screen resolution, without considering other sizes – your audience members who use an 800X600 screen resolution will see a smaller portion of the web page.

Reduce navigational choices
One of the reasons why home pages don’t work well as landing pages is that they have too many navigational choices. Landing pages should have fewer links on the page.

Use action words
Have you ever been ready to buy something online, and once you are on the product page thought. “where is the buy button?” Put ACTION WORDS like “buy” or “order” and add “today,” “here,” or “now” to these words contributes to the sense of urgency you want to foster.

Vertical search is not prevalently utilized by users of the big-three search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN). 35% of search engine users do not use vertical search, and 25% do not recall if they have clicked a result after having used vertical search (60% combined), according to iProspect.

A result presented after an “image search” is clicked by 26% of users (the most frequently clicked vertical search category). The second most commonly clicked vertical search category is “news search” at 17%, followed by “video search” at just 10%.

Note: Vertical search, part of a larger subgrouping known as “specialized” search, is a relatively new tier in the Internet search industry consisting of search engines that focus on specific businesses. Most of the time, people are looking for something very specific related to their businesses. That’s where vertical search sites come in. Vertical search engines deliver to businesses what the big sites can’t without the use of complex keyword combinations: relevant and essential content versus an exhaustive return of information.

The number of internet users in the five major countries is approaching 46.3 mln, a 16% increase from the 39.8 mln in January 2007, according to an Analytics 2.0.

The number of Puerto Rican and US Hispanic internet users has grown at the same rate, bringing the total to 66 mln. 60% of total internet users in the five major countries of the region are using one of the above-noted social networks, whereas 77% of internet users in Puerto Rico and the US Hispanic market are doing so.

We have the honor and opportunity to design a new website for the 2008 9th Annual CTC/PSS Golf Tournament.

This event will be held on Monday, June 23rd, 2008, opening at the Rainier Golf & Country Club and closing with a memorable finale at the 76th Floor of the Columbia Tower Club.

This prestigious charity event and silent auction, benefiting the Outdoors for All Foundation, will bring together the community leaders of Seattle along with its social and business elite for a fun and memorable day out on the golf course, followed by an elegant dinner and award ceremony at the CTC.

About Columbia Tower Club (CTC):
Tradition, Elegance & Prestige

For over 18 years, the Columbia Tower Club of Seattle has been a reception site of choice for countless wedding receptions, rehearsal dinners, engagement parties, corporate events large and small, birthday celebrations, and many other business and social engagements. The Club’s beautifully decorated dining rooms and meeting rooms offer panoramic, breathtaking views of both the downtown skyline and Capitol areas, as well as the historic countryside. Our standards of service and attention to every fine detail are so exacting that each guest is made to feel that they are truly in a home away from home, with each need professionally met and every expectation exceeded.

About Puget Sound Society (PSS):

Puget Sound Society is continuing its dynamic growth - enjoy “best of the best” theater, sporting and concert tickets both locally and nationally, conveniently located athletics with state-of-the-art facilities, including swimming and tennis, and -as always- outstanding golf at outstanding rates. This One Club Membership, Multiple Club Access level of Membership has grown from 3 to 32 properties in the last nine years, with a national Society Club Network of more than 315 clubs.

Add private wine tasting, exclusive travel packages, and special private Club events throughout the Puget Sound area and experience the incomparable value and personal service of a Society Membership.

http://ctc-pss.com/golf/

This is an interesting statistic that I read.

Research suggests that prospective customers really do want to hear from you after your phone call or sales presentation. Email might be a good thing to do.

50%+ of consumers are open to receiving an interactive follow-up when they are interested in as company.

66% of men in the age 35 to 44 age bracket are interested in follow-ups – making them the most interested in follow-ups.

50% of female consumers 18 to 24 would like a follow-up e-mail after they have expressed interests in a company.

45% of U.S. consumers prefer an e-mail personalized to their needs, while 28% prefer an e-mail with general information and 6% prefer text message.

Source: Entrepreneur Magazine, March 2008 Edition

35.5% of all web users 18 years and older are spending three or more hours per day on the Internet, and four out of every ten 18-34 year olds exceeding three hours daily.

Interestingly, among web surfers 18 years and older an average of 15 minutes of every online hour is done from the workplace. Men are more likely than women (32.8% vs. 28.4%) to use work as the primary location.

The survey also found that higher income households are more likely to say that work is the primary location from where they access the Internet.

Respondents indicate that surfing while on the job is often not work related, with 26.2% of online time at work spent on personal activities.

Men spend more online time at work on personal tasks than women (28.0% vs. 24.2%); and the youngest age segment, 18-24 years old, spend 34.4% of online time at work surfing for personal reasons.

When asked why they surf the web at work for personal use, respondents most frequently cited the need to stay informed during the day (33.8%). Other reasons were boredom (20.5%), staying in contact with family and friends (18.5%) and convenience (i.e. faster Web connection than home, more accessible computer, convenient time to conduct online services), Burst Media says.

64% of online teens were Content Creators during 2007, according to Pew Internet & American Life Project. Content creators are online teens who have created or worked on a blog or a Web page, shared original creative content, or remixed content they found online into a new creation. That is an increase from 57% who were content creators in 2004 survey. 59% of all teens report some type of content creating activity, compared with 50% in the previous study.