Website Magazine

Referral Source Messages on WordPress

Peter A. Prestipino — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:04:00 GMT

Personalization comes in many forms on the Web these days. While you may not know everything about the user(s) visiting your WordPress weblog, you might be surprised to learn that you actually have a lot more data than you think about each user session.

Oftentimes data about user sessions is wasted while the user is actually visiting. Most of us don't do anything with the data being bassed by the referrer. By acknowledging the referral source of the visitor during the visit however and providing them a custom (hopefully compelling message), you can dramatically increase the chance the user either shares your message or converts on your unique selling proposition.

For example, say you want to encourage the Twitter followers that visit your weblog to sign up for an email newsletter. Or perhaps you want all visitors from search engines to access a specific piece of content, or to have visitors from Delicious or Facebook share the page they are visiting with their friends and colleagues. Sounds like a pretty good idea, right?

Here are two excellent WordPress plugins to make the most from what you know about the source of the visitor:

WP Greet Box is perhaps the best known of the plugins for displaying referrer messages to visitors. Notable features in WP Greet Box include the ability to choose where (top or bottom) greeting messages are placed, the ability to detect the visitor's search keywords, the ability to set a timeout, and a whole lot more, which make for an excellent experience for users. My favorite feature is the ability to detect the keywords that drove the initial visit; this enables you (the blogger) to show posts related to that search term or phrase (see below.

Referrer Detector is another plugin that provides comparable functionality to WP Greet Box. Notable features include the ability to set the message position, a custom tag which can be used when you don't want to show a greeting, option to exclude URLs, and a STAT panel to get data reporting about visitors. New in version 4.1 was the ability to display related posts and in v4.2 users can now opt to show the welcome box in lightbox stule using SimpleModal jQuery plugin.

Here's an example of WP Greet Box and its related posts feature (based on the keyword passed from the referral source):

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bit.ly Pro Going Self-Service (Open Beta)

Peter A. Prestipino — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:49:00 GMT

URL shortening service bit.ly announced last week that since the launch its Pro-level service, the demand has been so high that they will soon be releasing a self-service website for companies interesting in setting up their own Bit.ly-esque service.

The bit.ly Pro service has two tiers – a free version and an enterprise edition.

Users of the free Pro service will have access to a white label version of bit.ly for a custom short URL (with up to 10,000 shorten requests a day), an analytics dashboard, and finally can use/promote their own bit.ly button, so users can share content on social media sites like Twitter and Facebook using a custom short URL.

The enterprise edition of bit.ly provides all the same features as the free service, and additional dashboard features, including additional analytics, third-party application support, and end-to-end branding, as well as a customer service and support plan.

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Microsoft Gets Facebook Search But Loses Ads

Peter A. Prestipino — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:35:00 GMT

Microsoft announced three quite significant modifications to Bing’s search deal with Facebook. The two companies first announced the collaboration back in 2006 and the relationship has been expanding since.

This latest extension of the agreement will see Bing provide Facebook users access to a range of search features beyond the standard set of links, including “richer answers” according to the announcement. This might include additional content in line with results categories found on Bing, including images, news, travel, or even shopping. Note: these features are coming soon.

The next change is that the Bing-Facebook search integration is going worldwide to the more than 400 million people using Facebook.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, Facebook will take over the selling of its own display ad space for the first time since the start of the original agreement. Microsoft will continue provide search ads. The continuation of the Web search deal enables Microsoft/Bing to continue driving performance across its own social media and communication tools, including Windows Live Messenger and Hotmail, and through content environments across MSN and Xbox Live.

General manager at Bing, Jon Tinter, remarked: "Facebook has been a close and valued partner of Microsoft for a number of years. We have worked together on several fronts all designed to create great experiences and services."

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Are Businesses Drinking the Social Media Kool-Aid?

Mike Phillips — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 21:30:00 GMT

E-mail marketing firm Exact Target, in conjunction with Econsultancy, has released results of a report on digital marketing budgets that shines some light on what businesses are planning to do this year - and not do. What's very interesting (and alarming) is that many companies have decided to spend their budgets on some marketing channels somewhat blindly.

The survey included data from more than 1,000 respondents in December 2009 and January 2010. Of those, 648 are client-side organizations, and 385 are agency/supplier-side, both from the US (45 percent) and the UK (33 percent).

When asked about their planned marketing spend on social media for 2010, 70 percent of respondents said they would increase spend on off-site social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) while 64 percent said they would increase spend on on-site social media (blogs, or ratings and reviews). Also, 56 percent say they will increase spend on mobile marketing. At the same time, just 54 percent said they would increase spend on e-mail marketing.

But when asked about measurable ROI for these channels, respondents appear to be rolling the dice. In terms of ability to measure, just 19 percent of respondents say that measurability is "good" for on-site social media and 17 percent for off-site. As far as mobile marketing, just 17 percent say that measurable ROI is "good." That's in stark contrast to e-mail marketing, where more than 50 percent say measurability is "good."

It would appear that measurable ROI is much higher for a proven channel like e-mail and significantly less than social media or mobile. Either these businesses are measuring social media and mobile through unseen means, or they're drinking the social media Kool-Aid.

Does this fall in line with your marketing budgets for 2010? Please leave a comment below and tell us if you're on the bandwagon, or sticking with what's worked in the past?

And don't miss Website Magazine's upcoming April 2010 issue, where we address concrete strategies for e-mail marketing.

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Modular Video Optimization in Practice

Peter A. Prestipino — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 20:30:00 GMT

Websites today are finely tuned conversion machines driving users toward clear conversion goals. There is no room for luxuries, “nice-to-haves” or Internet fads … except when it comes to online video.

While sites fall over themselves scrambling to put video on their home pages and landing pages, very few are placing the same demands on video that they do on pictures, forms and text. Why should video be treated like any less of a conversion tactic than other elements of a Web page?

Read more about Modular Video Optimization
This article originally appeared in the March 2010 edition of Website Magazine

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Automatic Video Banners, Treepodia

Peter A. Prestipino — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:22:00 GMT

Automated video technology and services provider Treepodia announced the availability of a solution designed to enable e-commerce and information-rich web sites to automatically showcase videos in the form of a banner on any page they choose.

Treepodia’s Smart Banner videos are shown in rotating fashion each time a visitor comes to a website (or any website). Smart Banner tracks the videos that generate the most click-throughs over time and eventually determines top-performing videos to feature in the on-site banners.

“Many e-commerce companies have already discovered the value of video in enhancing the customer experience and increasing sales. We developed the smart video banner tool to take this technique to the next level by giving companies a way to drive more visibility of their best performing videos and maximize the value of their most valuable web site real estate – the home page,” said Dr. Melody King, vice president of marketing for Treepodia. “Our new Smart Banner offering works with companies’ existing videos, so it’s another way for businesses to improve the ROI of their video campaigns.”

I think the real value in Smart Banner is primarily that it generates visibility for videos, which potentially could increase the number of visitors that will view product videos. Because video has a naturally conversion rate, you can see what kind of an impact technology like this could bring to the table.

An example of Treepodia’s Smart Banner application can be seen on U.S.-based eye care retailer EyeBuyDirect.com. Another retailer using the Smart Banner application is German health and beauty retailer BeautyNet.de. Both sites are running banners with a series of videos — when the page is refreshed, a new video begins to play.

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The Most Popular Browser... in the World?

Peter A. Prestipino — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:00:00 GMT

NetMarketShare, which monitors market share and usage of major Web browsers, has released their January 2010 report.

They report reveals that IE (holds a solid 62.12% of all browser usage) followed by Firefox (24.13%), Chrome (5.22%), Safari (4.53%) and Opera ((2.38%). Do note that all versions of browsers are included in NetMarketShare’s report.

Google’s Chrome Browser gained 0.6% of global usage share in January at the expense of both IE and Firefox, which both lost share during the last month. Our own anaytics reveal that Chrome is the only one of the browsers listed to have gained significant share. Chrom usage on our own site is up to just over 8%.

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Affiliate Tax Battle Heats Up in Colorado

Mike Phillips — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 21:30:00 GMT

The affiliate tax (or Amazon tax) just gained some momentum in Colorado, passing through the House. The bill (HB-1193) is now moving to the Senate. The argument against the tax is the same - that taxing out-of-state retailers who use Colorado-based affiliate advertisers will destroy businesses and result in less overall revenue for the state.

As expected, both retailers and affiliates are working to keep this bill off the books. Overstock.com recently sent a note to its affiliates, stating they will be forced to terminate relationships of Colorado-based affiliates should the bill pass into law. Overstock has already implemented this measure in states where the bill has become law - New York, North Carolina and Rhode Island. And while Overstock is the most outspoken on the issue, it won't be the only online retailer to shut down local affiliates.

Rhode Island presents an interesting case as it pertaines to the affiliate tax. The Providence Business News reports that Rhode Island has yet to collect any taxes as a result of the tax law. In addition to the lack of collection, less taxable income is being produced in the state. Amazon has already dropped their affiliate operations from Rhode Island.

Genral Treasurer Frank T. Caprio, who is running for governor of Rhode Island said, "The affiliate tax has hurt Rhode Island businesses and stifled their growth, as they’ve been shut out of some of the world’s largest marketplaces, and [it] should be repealed immediately."

David Asseoff, CEO of Denver-based internet marketing company Adperio (who generates $35 million per year in revenue) said, "It's going to kill jobs, there will be no incremental revenue the bill is flawed from the get go and unfortunately businesses like ours and our industry are going to suffer we anticipate over four thousand jobs," said Adperio CEO David Asseoff, "Affiliates, many of them small moms and pops are going to lose their business."

This will be an interesting battle to watch in the coming days and weeks. To stay up-to-date on developments, check out this forum at ABestWeb, this Facebook Group and use the #advertisingtax hashtag on Twitter.

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Deadline for IAC Awards Extended

Peter A. Prestipino — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:00:00 GMT

The Web Marketing Association has extended the deadline to enter the 8th annual Internet Advertising Competition to midnight on February 12, 2009.

If you’re not familiar with IAC, awards are presented for industry categories and advertising formats such as online ads (including banners, pop-ups, interstitials), rich media ads, email messages, online newsletter campaign, websites (microsites and landing pages), and integrated ad campaigns. New categories this year include mobile apps and online video.

Also, an award will be given to the agency who wins the most awards in the 2010 IAC Awards. If you’re looking for some recognition on the work you do all year long, submit your work at IACAward.org.

Slideshare Gets Channels

Peter A. Prestipino — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:30:00 GMT

Online sharing community SlideShare launched a new service dubbed Channels which provides custom-branded microsites. Several companies including agencies Razorfish and Ogilvy have already secured their brands on the website – you might want to consider doing the same (hint, hint).

Slideshare, for years, has been a great source of visitor traffic and exposure for a lot of business professionals, and the new Channels (microsite) feature will further enable the services users’ (all 25 million monthly unique visitors) to let their brands engage more deeply with their audience. It also presents a good opportunity for businesses to sponsor (advertise on) topical channel content.

Channels are but the latest addition to SlideShare. The services other business products, including AdShare and LeadShare, compliment the custom-branded sites almost perfectly in my opinion. “Our vision is to build a new type of advertising that both community and advertisers will embrace," said Rashmi Sinha, CEO & co-founder of SlideShare. "With Channels, LeadShare and Adshare we provide integrated solutions for social media with direct business results."

You Stink at Personalization

Peter A. Prestipino — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 17:00:00 GMT

Recommendation service provider ChoiceStream, which provides its technology to many leading Internet retailers including Tesco, Zappos, Borders, Blockbuster and Ticketmaster, announced part 2 of the findings of their 2009 Personalization Survey – the first part can be found here.

The quality of the product recommendations on retailers’ sites declined significantly year over year with more shoppers reporting that they received poor quality recommendations in 2009 versus 2008. The survey also found a discrepancy in recommendation quality between retail categories with shoppers giving music and entertainment stores top scores while rating toy stores and office supplied at the bottom.

Overall, the number of online shoppers who received poor quality recommendations in 2009 was 59 percent, which represents a 31 percent increase over the 45 percent reported in 2008. When asked for a reason why the recommendations were considered poor, the majority of shoppers responded that the recommendations were for products that were unrelated to what they were looking for. Separately, shoppers were asked to rate the quality of product recommendations across 10 retail categories. On average, only 17 percent of shoppers rate retailers’ recommendations as ‘excellent.’ There is also a wide discrepancy in recommendation quality between the categories. For example, music and entertainment stores are 48 percent more likely to receive excellent ratings than toy or office supply stores.

"It's unfortunate, but not surprising, that so many consumers report receiving poor quality product recommendations. Consumers expect more from recommendations than they did even a year ago. They expect them to be accurate and on target, so when they're not, shoppers are disappointed," said Lori Trahan, vice president of marketing at ChoiceStream. "It's also true that as product recommendations become more pervasive and more recommendation providers enter the market to meet demand, these vendors lack the in-market experience necessary to create good quality recommendations. This should highlight for retailers the importance of working with solution providers that have deep expertise in analyzing specific shopping behaviors and factoring them into their recommendation strategy."

Drooling Over Droolr - WM Site of the Day

Peter A. Prestipino — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Stateless Systems, a web development company focused on building user driven sites (and creator of RetailMeNot.com), the web’s most popular online destination for coupons, today announced the release of Droolr.com, the wishlist for geeks. On Droolr.com, geeks—and the people who love them—can share, discover and vote on the latest in gadgets, electronics and novelty items.

“We love gadget blogs, but they have limitations in that users can’t vote on items or share opinions directly with friends,” said Guy King, co-founder, Stateless Systems. “Now when users read about an item they want, they can post it to Droolr.com and share it with friends in a Tweet or Facebook post.”

There are no restrictions on the items that can be submitted and products that receive the most votes rise to the top, meaning that the community collectively determines which items appear on the Droolr.com home page. Every item has a discussion attached to let users comment and share opinions with the community.

Ustream - The Next YouTube?

Mike Phillips — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 17:29:00 GMT

Ustream (ustream.tv) is making a push to become the Web's live broadcast leader, and perhaps the next online video revolution. Recently they released Ustream Producer; a desktop app that helps users create more professional live broadcasts. Now, instead of a simple one-dimensional live webcast, users can import audio and video media to include in the broadcast, incorporate picture in picture co-hosting, pop-out chat rooms, screencast within the broadcast, syndicate to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and AIM, and produce higher quality streams; all for free. A paid version for a one-time fee of $199 allows for even more customization.

YouTube proved that consumers are willing and actively watching online video, and live webcasting might just be the next big thing. For businesses, a live broadcast can bring consumers closer to a brand, in real-time.

Look no further than Steve Jobs and Apple to see the enormous impact a live product announcement can have. Businesses can build buzz through all networks they use to announce a "live product unveiling," then easily use Ustream to execute the task. A live broadcast has much more "flair" than simply embedding, tweeting or e-mailing a pre-recorded video. It also carries a different attitude. A live broadcast has a user-friendly feel and less a marketing tilt that can accompany pre-recorded video.

Media websites can take advantage of Ustream to air live interviews and updates from events they are attending, or to cover local events as they unfold. This holds the advantage of being "first" in any crowded industry.

Live webinars can help a business educate their consumers when time is of the essence.

Ustream recently announced a series of new funding that has the potential to raise $75 million, or even more. One of the main uses of this funding will be to expand services in Asia - an enormous audience that will no doubt catapult the site past its current mark of 50 million live video viewers in January. What's more, Ustream has an iPhone app for video streaming - another important touch point for savvy audiences made even more important with the release of the media-friendly iPad. Ustream apps have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times.

Should you decide to broadcast live using Ustream, remember that it's just that - live. You won't be able to edit or make adjustments. Consider a detailed plan before broadcasting and make a few non-live trial runs first. Just like any video, you have a limited time to capture users' attention and make a good impression.

Visit Ustream to learn more about Ustream Producer.

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The Planet Slashes Prices

Peter A. Prestipino — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:37:00 GMT

IT hosting provider ThePlanet announced some significant price reductions across its product line.

Prices on new server orders are reduced from 7 to 30 percent, while RAM and hard drives are reduced by 50 percent. Couple that with a recent announcement that every new server bundle now includes Symantec business-class antivirus software, 10GB of Storage Cloud, the company’s robust cloud storage solution, and the choice of either Parallels Plesk Panel or cPanel/WebHost Manager (WHM) and you’ve got yourself a real opportunity to consider switching web hosting providers.

“We’re focusing on value and how we deliver even better, more responsive customer experience from every vector of our business,” said The Planet’s Chairman and CEO Douglas J. Erwin. “We want to make The Planet an easier company to do business with across the board, backed by the quality of our data centers, network and an 86 percent customer satisfaction rating. During the course of the year we’re planning additional programs, seminars and education opportunities that will underscore why we’re the uncontested value leader in the industry.”

Twedemption Twitter Tool

Peter A. Prestipino — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 19:30:00 GMT

Once you pass a certain number of followers on Twitter, the direct messages you receive can be overwhelming. That’s why when I saw Twedemption this morning I was immediately intrigued.

The application, developed by Blast Applications, allows users to delete multiple or all direct messages at once – something Twitter does not allow you to do.

“We wanted to solve a wide-spread issue plaguing thousands of Twitter users,” says Dino Luzzi, CEO of Blast Applications. “If you’ve been following a lot of people and accumulating a large group of followers, it’s very likely you’ve received a lot of auto generated direct messages.”

Twedemption costs $5.99 (one-time fee). While potentially useful for power Twitter users, this ultimately might be a solution without a problem.

BlastApplications creates applications for the iPhone, Facebook, and Twitter. Some of its more notable Twitter apps include Twuition.com, Tweexchange.com and Tweact.com.